Chapter Two: Tales of Old

I got home shortly after departing Wickerton. Uncle Maurice was waiting for me.

"Hello uncle." I greeted him. "Is everything ok?"

He shook his head at me.

"No kid it's not ok, I forgot about the ongoing war in Otterton, they started recruiting people from our town. You'll be fine though you're not of age." He grumbled.

I got off my horse and handed them to my uncle. He took Neptune back to the stable and fed them some. He walked back over towards me carrying the backer of food I had procured on my trip. We walked into our home and I took off my shoes, placing them by the door.

"Nephew come over here please, I have something for you."

I walked over to my aunt at her request. She motioned for me to sit in a chair opposite her. I sat down as she required and faced towards her.

"Thomas you are like a son to me, however you did still have a real mother. Before her passing she asked me to make sure you get this when you are almost eighteen years old…"

She paused and produced a beautifully engraved pendant from a small box on the table. On it, it read 'Latrana'. It was silver with bronze details such as the swirls and flower-like patterns. The pendant was circular and had a brown leather stop attached to it so you could wear it around your neck.

"This belonged to your great grandmother and had been passed down for generations. She was on your mothers side. She was an amazing person, your great grandma. Single handedly she ran a rebellion. The same one that the empire defeated seventeen years ago."

She sighed, staring at the pendant. My great grandmother was a rebellion fighter! A leader in the rebellion! This was possibly the coolest thing I could ever find out about my family. I wish the rebellion was still around to fight against the evil empire. I'd help to restore peace to our planet.

"Thomas… There is a prophecy about a boy. A descendant of the great Latrana. I don't know completely about this prophecy as it was your uncle who studied it. Once you are of age he will tell you more about it. Everything will make sense in time my boy. For now you must hold onto this."

She handed me the pendant. It was about the size of an egg, but circular rather than egg shaped. It was fairly lightweight to my surprise. It seemed to weigh almost nothing. I help it up to the light letting it shine off of all the silver places. It felt truly magical. In that moment I knew no matter how special it may be I would never take it off.

"Thank you aunt, this is truly the best gift I have ever received, I will keep it safe." I promised her.

She chuckled and patted my head. "My little Thomas is all grown up. Such a lovely young man you are becoming." She smiled. "Now go to your uncle. He needs your help feeding the animals and collecting the vegetables for dinner. Go on, don't dawdle now."

She ushered me towards the door.

"Ok, ok, I'll be back soon!"

I called out as I waved to her, walking away from the house. She smiled and shut the door behind me. Time to go help uncle Maurice.

It didn't take a very long time to find him. He was beefing over the pig pen feeding our littlest piglet. We never eat out animals that we breed and look after. We normally sell them for a good price when the time is right.

"Ah hello Thomas. Your aunt sent you out did she? Ah and she gave you the pendant I see. Very good. That means it's time."

He nodded his head and stood up straight.

"Tom, are you familiar with the tales of dragons and magicka that once filled our land?" He inquired.

I nodded eagerly. I was completely obsessed with the tales of magic. It was said that long ago there were people who could harness elemental magic. There was earth, the strongest, water, fire, air and dark. Dark magic was illegal yet when used correctly could be stronger than anything you could ever imagine. The people created items. Jewellery or pieces of armour that would connect to a person's inner magicka. It would be able to tell whether the person used pure magic or dark magic. However around one thousand years ago this ability was hidden away and trampled on by those who sought control. Those such as the empire. Since then, magic has long been forgotten by the people of our world. Only in the far corners of our planet can you find traces of people who can use magic freely. Most of these people however are being hunted down and destroyed by the new empire. Power scares them. Magic scares them even more. I'm not sure why. As for dragons, well… to my knowledge they were hunted to extinction over thirty years ago maybe even longer. The empire wiped them out. There had been dragons for every element including an additional one. Light. The dragons are the ones who blessed humankind with their magicka allowing us to live a life free of most danger such as hunger and cold. Now we have been left to fend for ourselves. No magicka. No dragons. No cyclops, trolls, goblins, Minotaur or any beast. Although not all of those lived in peace with us. Cyclops and goblins and their horse-like creatures hated humans. Maybe for a good reason. Minotaurs lived in the mountainous corners of Tangora. That's our planet if you didn't know. Then there was Horatio Larona. In direct translation from their ancient dialect their name meant long walker. Humankind called them white demons. No one who has ever encountered Horatio Larona has lived to tell the tale. But enough about all of that history.

"Yes uncle, I am very familiar with the subject." I confirmed.

He nodded, "good. Then it's time I tell you something else about your great grandmother." He paused as if it was as necessary as breathing. "She was an earth wielder, blessed with the abilities to control the element, she was the last of their kind. Neither your grandfather or your mother possessed any ability to control the earth so all hope of restoring the earth wielder guild was lost. However, on your eighteenth birthday you will hold the pendant under moonlight. Upon your pendant, magic will react to it. If it turns to a golden and silver colour, replacing the bronze, you have magic. If not you don't and the prophecy will never be true."

The prophecy. I wonder what this prophecy is. It seems to be very important. Why haven't I heard anything about the prophecy until now? What else aren't they telling me? Could I be part of this prophecy? I had so many questions but I didn't want to ask them yet. I wanted my parents to be here. They could help me to make sense of this all. I never really knew them and yet I feel like I miss them. It feels as if they are still here. Maybe on a spiritual level they are. None of that really matters right now.

"Here Tom, take this inside to your aunt, tell her to start our dinner, yeah?"

He handed me a sack of vegetables

"Ok uncle…"

I carried the sack into our home, opening the door and leaving it open for when he comes back. I placed the sack onto a side in our cookery area.

"Hey aunt, uncle Maurice tells me to tell you he wants you to start dinner." I told her.

She smiled and nodded. "Good, good. Go set the table Thomas."

She handed me a few plates and some cutlery. Maurice came in a few moments later after I had set everything down. I waited around an hour, reading my book on battles fought in the past. Mostly I had been trying to answer all of my questions. My birthday was in two days. The day after tomorrow. It felt like a lot of pressure to put on me. They couldn't have told me about this earlier could they? They just had to leave it until almost the last minute. Honestly I was kind of mad at them. Mad at them for not telling me. My family history was so much cooler than they had led me to believe. I was torn from my thoughts when my aunt set the food down in front of us. I was hungry.

"Tuck in while it's still hot boys."

We started to eat. She had made a lovely platter of potatoes with a tomato based filling and carrots and peas on the side. Everything was cooked to perfection. It was a lovely meal. We all got interrupted halfway through our meal when we heard a knock at our door.

"Probably some lost boy." My uncle grunted.

The door knocked again. My aunt got up to answer the door.

"Hello?"

She asked, opening the door. Her face went pale and her hand fell to her side in shock. She gasped at the person standing there. The person interrupting our perfect day. A soldier. A soldier from the empire.

"We're here for Thomas Latrana."