Chapter 2

Sweat was pouring down Daemons back like a river as he successfully managed to block an incoming attack from Mr Leon. Wielding a giant, glistening silver broad sword, standing at double Daemon's height with short cropped black, deep blue eyes and bulging muscles he was a force to be reckoned with and extremely intimidating.

"Can we call it quits," Daemon managed to pant out between gasps of air, still continuing to doge and block Leon's seemingly never ending barrage of attacks. This was a game of Leon's, Daemon was allowed a sword but was only allowed to block or dodge the barrage of blows that he sent me wether they were with his gigantic sword or bare fists. Supposedly it was meant to build up the boys 'stamina'.

"It's only been an hour and a half hours, this will stop when we reach two hours," his voice rumbled out. Damn, those were the worst words ever spoken in Daemons opinion. He was about to complain about how unfair this was until Leon cut off his trail of thoughts with his next sentence. "If you complain it will be fifty laps around our house right after we finish."

That shut Daemon up before he even opened his mouth and he decided to actually focus in an attempt to make this agonising training session less strenuous.

"Open your mind, stop moving so much, a slight movement is enough to dodge!" Mr Leon shouted the same advice he had told me for the past month. But I couldn't figure out what he meant.

Focusing with all of his senses Daemon started to decipher what Leon meant before a blow to his side sent him right out of my thoughts and to the ever inviting floor. This continued for the next twenty minutes as it had for the past month. But then it finally hit Daemon straight after he got a nice blow to stomach that is. If he moved just less then ten centimetres to the right, slightly bowed his back he could dodge, Leon's sword whistled over his head coming less then an inch from Daemons face. But Daemon had finally figured it out - he didn't need to completely move back or duck to the floor or jump as high as possible, he only had to move a minuscule amount.

But this was still no easy task, the slightest slip up and it could be off with his head. He had to focus his senses so he could correctly avoid the broad sword and not get skewered or chopped up like a carrot. Hear the swish of the blade as it sailed through the air, feel the air part where the blade went, see it swinging towards him and that it had a small dent near the base of the handle, smell the saltiness around him and taste the metallic taste the sword gave off. Then at high speed decide the best course of action to successfully avoid contact while minimising movement. But after finally understanding what Leon meant, Daemon practised for an additional two hours, as even though he was a beginner and still horrible at doing this he wanted to become great.

"You've finally got the start of it," Leon said a grin on his face and clapped a giant hand on Daemons shoulder. Daemon had to brace his body to not crumble from the force and pressure of Leon's hand but couldn't stop the wince that contorted his face from the brutal whack meant to be a supportive pat.

... 1 year later (nine years old and last major time skip)

"Happy birthday Daemon!" Annabelle screeched while she came out with a simple vanilla cake and nine candles. As soon as she put the cake down she went for one of her most deadly and feared moves. The cheek pinch. As her hand reached through the air in an attempt to attack Daemon he viscously swatted it down with all the might he could muster. Unfortunately that sent both Leon and Annabelle into a fit of laughter.

After the laughter died down they all had a slice of cake which was surprisingly good and then Annabelle and Leon went to their room to retrieve something. They sat back on the old oak seats which created under there weight while the fire pit roared in corner to keep them warm during the chilling nights. They passed Daemon a small package wrapped in brown paper.

"You can't get me presents, you already let me live with you!" Daemon exclaimed in shock. They just chuckled and urged him to continue with hand gestures.

"Don't worry it's nothing big, but as you know tomorrow all the nine year old are brought Evolit Kingdom. We just want you to say safe." Annabelle ranted.

Slowly he tore about the brown paper packaging which made an obnoxious tearing noise and saw a simple necklace. It wasn't girly or anything, a simple black string with a miniature metal bottle connected to it.

"Is there anything in the bottle," he enquired, curiosity filling his young mind.

"Inside of there is an extremely rare and potent poison, Zarb poison, created by an rare plant only found in the Fort mountains, and it must be extracted properly otherwise it is useless. Inside that bottle there is exactly one millilitre. That is enough to kill any human or paralyse a fully grown dragon for over six hours. Be careful when you go to Evolit Kingdom and don't trust easily." Annabelle warned. But Daemon wasn't paying full attention, as he was still processing how powerful the poison was, paralyse a dragon! Unbelievable and shocking, he would make sure this stayed a secret. He looked up to inquire how she got the poison but a single glance from her was enough to shut him up. Annabelle specialised in poisons and alchemy and taught Daemon much during these four years. He hoped he didn't have a dragon familiar and would be able to return to them.

That night Daemon went to bed still processing. He still desperately hoped he didn't have a dragon familiar, he had over heard some of the children from town talking and they said that if you pissed off your own dragon too much it would eat you. He didn't actually believe that because supposedly the bond let you feel each other emotions vaguely so it would be extremely painful for the dragon along with you. Also there were weak and strong dragons, a monarch of sorts between them and if you got a weak dragon the stronger ones would target you. Luckily the chances were in my favour only 30% of children had a dragon familiar.

The other thing I couldn't get my mind off was what my spirit would materialise as. I didn't particularly care what it turned out to be, but I was still curious. Weapon spirits were pretty rare and powerful along with most animals spirits. The most common spirits were nature spirits, like trees or vines. Certain spirits had affiliations to certain elements which a person could control to an extent. But only some spirits, probably around half. For example someone with a vine spirit may have an earth affinity and be able to control certain aspects of the earth or they may not. A rather interesting topic for Daemon to contemplate

All night his mind spun in circles going through thousands of not millions of scenarios of what could happen.