The next winter hit hard. It was cold, very cold. He was not used
to it yet despite having been born into it so many years ago. He
woke up to the sound of wolves howling in the distance, they
sounded big. Probably Dorynies. His father started calling him
out of his room in order to aid the village against the attack.
‘Alduin, come here! And fetch me my bow! Do so quickly we
haven’t much time!’ His father shouted in a way befitting of his
status.
Aeden the Golden they called him. Alduin followed his orders and
quickly started running out of the house. As he glimpsed out
of the door, into his line of sight immediately emerged three
wolves.
‘I knew those were Dorynies’ howls!’ He told himself quietly,
smiling.
Three frighteningly large ones, around three meters tall and one
meter wide each, wearing dark-brown fur, shivering void-black
eyes and fangs that do not fall short off a cutlass. He threw his
father’s bow to him while also unsheathing his dagger from
its scabbard, preparing for the wolves’ attacks. Despite being
one of the youngest in his village, he was still considered the
deadliest of the rookies as a result of his father’s tough training
routine throughout his childhood. At the feeble age of nine
he had already mastered the usage of daggers and basic ice
spells such as Ice-Touch and Ice Spikes, which was regarded
as very impressive even amongst the Elves who were way more
physically capable and intelligent than humans. With such quick
progress, at the age of eleven he was already a formidable foe.
Though his goal was not just to become powerful, he was striving
to become a Hekket.
His father and him were already completely in sync due
to their long years of training together. They were swift. As
one shot his arrow the other manifested his catlike reflexes –
using the arrow as a distraction to land a fatal blow to the wolf’s
essential organs with his blade. They killed one, then two, then
three of them all by themselves, both very excited of Alduin’s
progress towards becoming a guard and following his father’s
footsteps.
With the end of the raid came the shouts and cheers of cele-
bration – and with that a feast! Snow Elves are not as gracious
or royal as the High Elves or humans, but they do tend to throw
balls and feasts when the time or need for one arises. Alduin
knew today was a great day for him, he had proved both to his
father and to his village that he is worthy of the title of Hekket.
He wondered whether his uncle would attend. In Snow Elf vil-
lages Hekkets are chosen once every ten years (one hundred and
ten in human years) between villagers that are at least twelve
years of age and have already earned the village’s respect as both
fearsome fighters and potential commanders.
‘Only two more years!’ He shouted to his dad, grinning.
‘Yes,’ his father responded with a quick smile.
As years passed the villagers began looking up to Alduin, having
kept assigning him with several tests and tasks in order to assess
his resolve and virtue. One of them consisted of sending him
off to the wilderness to survive all by himself for a year in the ice-cold arctic lands they called home - Euphata. In that exam
he had proven himself to be very capable and strong-willed for
he had not only survived for a year, but two. It was finally 28th
of Ruyen, 1220 MDW. Today was the day the Hekket trials were
planned to finally take place, after more than a hundred humans
years from their previous occurrence. He was thirteen years old
now and finally able to take on the last test for him to become a
Hekket. Alduin was obviously very excited. You could see it on
his very face, always smiling like he’d just won something. He
woke up a few hours before sunrise in order to prepare for his
examination today.
Tradition dictated that in order to participate in the Hekket
trials one must pay a tribute – the bodies of two Dorynies, two
snow tigers, three bunnies, one snow fox, one bear and one snow
lion. Tradition also dictated that the hunt for these creatures
must begin and end exactly on the day as the trials themselves.
In addition, each contender must chant a Cylie spell and finish
obtaining the required tributes before the spell wears out so he
had to begin early. He ate his breakfast (a few slices of bread
with leftover bunny stew his mother cooked last night), wore his
hunting gear and went out of the house. As he exited his house
he saw three youngsters going on their way to fetch their own
tributes.
‘I see I’ve got competition,’ he said to himself and waved to
his competitors, wishing them luck.
They waved back at him.
‘Vetir cillie, yur u cillie!’ He shouted.
This spell showed how much time one has left until a specific
event would begin. It was mostly used by elven prophets to
inform people of the time they had left before something ter-
rible was deemed to occur, like a natural disaster or the death
of someone specific. When activated, one’s arm would be filled with elvish runes glowing in the color of ice and each rune rep-
resented a whole hour. Only extremely skilled mages were able
to set the spell to a specific event and so Alduin was not able to
do so by himself.
His father, being the overseer of the trials had installed
magical seals on all exits. When a seal detected the presence of
Cylie, it would set it to wear out the moment the hunting phase
of the trials was supposed to end. He exited the town and as he
had done so, all of the runes disappeared except for only four to
remain.
‘Only four hours huh? Harsh! I’ll make it!’ He thought to
himself and smiled briefly.
‘Let’s see... Hm.... Dorynies, bears and wolves are not active
at this hour. I’ll start with getting the bunnies, then the fox and
then the tigers!’
The bunnies required for the trials only lived in forests. The
nearest forest to the village was the great forest ‘Vel Anot’a Fa’. It
was named that way because of its unique phenomenons. It was
created via magic by the first clan chief of Alduin’s village many
years ago inside of a huge ball of ice. The forest was protected
by a very strong magic barrier that hides it in plain sight and
was only penetrable by a specific school of magic called ‘Key’ –
unsealing magic.
Magic in Vanthea was mainly used through chants, spo-
ken in Omnitongue and must be pronounced the exact way as
intended (including grammar) or one may face severe conse-
quences. Best case was that the spell itself would just not work
(or would work but weaker than intended). Worst case was that
you would lose a limb forever. He remembered the words. They
were Sner, Nor and Din. The problem was remembering in which
order he should utter them! He decided to go by instinct, be-
cause to be frank he had no time to waste...
‘Din nor sner!’ He shouted.
Nothing happened so he tried again.
‘Sner din nor!’
And again.
‘Nor din sner!’
He was correct! Immediately emerged a tremendously big ice-
ball that stood in front of him. After a few seconds it suddenly
cracked and revealed an enormous forest inside! Alduin quickly
ran inside of it before the crack closed itself up again and started
his hunt for the bunnies.
‘This is so bizarre. I’ve never been here before. Actually, I’ve
never even seen green leaves before! All I ever saw was trees
covered by thick snow,’ he said, extremely excited.
When he realized that he was caught in awe instead of looking
for the bunnies he slapped himself on the cheeks, gave himself
a word of reassurance and went on his way to look for them. Fi-
nally, he found a few droppings that seemed to belong to a bunny.
He proceeded to smell and examine them and then climbed on
a tree to look for his first kill. For a human, this task may be
immensely difficult. Bunnies are tiny and very quiet. Snow
Elves however or rather Elves in general have extremely useful
hearing and seeing abilities. Their hearing is a lot clearer, their
depth perception is better, they can assess the distance between
them and a target and can easily locate a small animal from a
few kilometers away.
He started looking for a bunny using his supernatural eyes
and suddenly after a few seconds had caught a glimpse of one!
He quickly took out his bow and shot it instantly.
‘Drawing my bow this time took less than a second! I am
improving! Two bunnies to go,’ he shouted with a big smile
drawing from one cheek to the other.
He’d already gotten used to the terrain by now. The only thing
left was locating two more bunnies which he had successfully
achieved using his supernatural ears. He heard a noise between two bushes about six hundred meters away from him.
He quickly but silently started sprinting towards it and as he
took out his dagger and unleashed one powerful thrust towards
the bush, he heard a bunch of bunnies crying in agony. Behind
the bushes was a small family of bunnies. One mother and her
two offspring.
‘They said three bunnies, not three adult bunnies! I’m done
here. Hehe. Now it’s time to get out of here and start looking
for a fox,’ he said to himself.
He began rehearsing the correct chant to reopen the exit out of
the forest so he wouldn’t find himself stuck inside. The ice ball
opened and he swiftly ran out of it. The next target on his list
was a snow fox – a very rare find but also a truly majestic one.
At this time of day they were either looking for food or hiding in
holes in the ice for protection and warmth.
Locating a fox would be much more complicated than lo-
cating the bunnies back in the forest. They left droppings that
were easily noticeable on the forest ground while the snowy land-
scape was vast. Trying to find a few droppings on it was nearly
impossible. He knew his only way of finding a fox would be to
look for their usual prey - lemmings or pools in the ice where the
foxes would hunt small penguins, fish or other small rodents in
the area. He decided to use his sense of sight in order to locate
those animals and through them, locate a fox. Suddenly, as he
was walking carefully on the ice floor trying to find an animal,
he had heard a mighty roar of a large animal.
—
‘Are you coming, son?’
‘Yes.’
‘Today we will practice a very specific sword art that my
father taught me when I was your age. If you impress me with
your progress I will tell your mother to prepare your favorite
food today! Enough motivation for you?’ Aeden smiled.
‘Yes!’
‘Good! Follow me!’
Alduin followed his father who was as usual, sprinting rather
than taking his time. He must not fall behind! A five-year-old
elvish fighter of his reputation and repertoire should be able to
keep up with this speed. His father took him to a pond where
many wolves used for daily fishing. He threw one of his swords
at him, testing his reflexes.
‘Ouch!’
He managed to catch the sword but it was a little too late. It hit
his chest hard.
‘Never lose focus.’
‘Yes, father.’
‘Now. I am now going to demonstrate a move called Whirl-
wind Spider. Charge at me and try to land a horizontal strike to
my chest.’
Alduin did as was instructed. Just before it seemed like the sword
would slash open his father’s torso, he did a backflip, landed
on all fours stretched out. Then, used his left arm to spin his
body around for a kick to Alduin’s legs, knocking him off his
feet. Then, Aeden immediately launched himself to stand on his
left hand, curled his arm muscles and threw himself in the air
for a pirouette that ended with a vertical strike. Alduin tried to
defend himself using his bare arms making the shape of an X.
The sound of a bone cracking was instantly heard.
‘Ouch!!! Ow! Ow! Ow! You broke my right arm! My good
arm!’
‘It will heal. I heard Ley taught you restoration magic. Use
it.’
‘I only know how to cast it with my good hand...’ Tears
started dropping from his eyes.
‘Then practice. I made sure the sword would be dull enough
not to cut you but pain is important for training to be effective.
You need to have motivation to dodge or this would be futile.’
‘Yes, father,’ he sighed while wiping his tears.
Aeden threw him a note on which the chants for the restoration
spell were written.
‘I know you tend to forget things so I prepared this for you.’
‘Thank you, father.’
‘Gladly. Now heal yourself and practice this move on me.’
He took the piece of paper and began reading the words in a calm
voice. Spells work less efficiently when one is not completely
calm minded.
‘Benejil ant. Benejil tvek u ant.’
It did not seem to work and it took him five tries to get his arm
fixed.
‘Now. Let’s begin,’ his fahter said affirmly.
His father swiftly executed a horizontal slashed which Alduin
failed to dodge and one of his ribs broke. He screamed but knew
it didn’t faze his father. He healed himself and got back on his
feet, ready for the next iteration. He failed again and again and
again but after about two hours was able to execute the backflip
part of the routine. It wasn’t enough because he was hit on the
head with his father’s sword shortly after.
‘Again!’
Two hours later he had managed to both dodge, backflip and
begin practicing the pirouette. This was good practice for many
skills he would require as a Hekket. Restoration magic are cru-
cial as these special operatives usually guard alone and therefore
must be able to handle their own medical care. It was also good
practice for his reflexes, agility, acrobatics and coordination.
The sun had finally gone down and with it the end of today’s
training.
‘You mastered almost half of this routine. Well done! Your
reward is well deserved!’
‘Thank you, father,’ he said having difficulty to breathe nor-
mally.
‘Tomorrow we will continue practicing it if I have time.’
—
‘What in Munesa is that? A bear?!’ He shouted, panicking
as he wasn’t ready for such a dangerous foe.
He saw a native polar bear charging towards him while revealing
its big sharp teeth. Bears may be smaller than Dorynies but they
are still very fearsome foes. Extremely dangerous when caught
off-guard. He quickly snapped out of his panic and drew his
bow. He remembered his training. Two arrows to the bear’s
eyes, thus taking the bear’s ability to see. Next, he shot three
arrows directly to the bear’s forehead, promising a kill.
‘Phew... That was close! At least I got the bear checked off
my list. Now where is this stupid fox?’
He cut off the bear’s head and attached it to his belt using a small
strap of leather. The sun had risen and the beginning of the trials
was closing by. He had to finish his checklist before the Cylie
spell wore out or else he would be disqualified automatically,
destroying both his father’s and his own reputation.
He started frowning as he thought he had no way of finding
a fox in such short time. The landscape was vast and the snow
was blinding. As his spirit started wearing off he remembered
something his uncle taught him. A spell that he learnt from his
time with the Wood Elves during his journey around the region.
The spell named ‘Animal Call’ was crafted by the first wood Elves
in order to make hunting a lot simpler for their younglings.
Alduin decided to try it out.
‘Hmm.... So, it’s ‘An vetir yul jerda, ternas quo’... And then
I need to add the name of the animal right? So fox is Pheolet.
Okay! An vetir yul jerda, ternas quo pheolet!’ He shouted.
Almost instantly, he heard the high-tone howl of a fox from afar
and its stomps on the ground as it started running towards him.
He was not aware whether the spell had made the animal obey
or whether he chanted it wrong and caused the animal to go
on a violent frenzy. It didn’t matter however since foxes, even
in a magical land such as this, are not dangerous enough for
him to fret. He decided he mustn’t wait and used the most basic
offense magic he knew.
‘Serandi u uli!’
An ice spike blasted from his hand and hit the fox right in its
head, killing it immediately.
‘Okay, so... Three bunnies, check. One bear, check. One
snow fox, check. Now it’s time for finding myself two tigers and
a lion. I’ll leave the Dorynies for the end as they are the most
dangerous on this list,’ he said, breathing heavily.
Finding snow tigers and lions was not an easy task yet it was
rendered a lot easier because of the animal call spell. He shouted
the words in Omnitongue but then grew impatient due to the
lack of some sort of sign that it had actually worked. He decided
to risk his life a bit and call the two tigers and lion at the same
time! Almost immediately he started hearing the roars of mul-
tiple big ‘kittens’ (as he liked to call them in his very arrogant
manner). However, it seemed that he did forget one word in
the spell that specified the number of animals to be summoned.
Two tigers had indeed emerged... But also a whole pack of lions!
Ice spikes began getting launched in the air along with mul-
tiple arrows. Some of them missed but some of them hit their
marks. Three lions went down, then five then eight but he also
had to look out for the tigers that had so ‘conveniently’ decided
to emerge from the other side of the terrain! He tried to look
for an offensive spell that could hit multiple targets at the same
time. For some reason the ferocious beasts kept appearing out
of nowhere, just as if he had kept chanting the spell on and on again. The sheer number of beasts that stood in front of him
was insane. He wasn’t even able to count them all due to their
annoying decision to constantly move.
Alduin was very afraid. He had never fought this many
opponents before but he kept his cool and tried to look for an
elegant solution. His father always said ‘When in doubt, make
the doubt perish’, to which he responded with ‘Easier said than
done, father!’ time and time again. This time however he knew
exactly what his father meant. It is natural to be in doubt when
in a dire situation but you need to assess the risks and come up
with a solution that has a minimal risk alongside a high chance
for success. It wasn’t the existence of doubt that was the problem,
it was letting it remain in your head. In a tough situation you
must act fast to avoid your demise. He must decide what to do
unless he wants to turn into these kittens’ breakfast.
After a few minutes of dodging their claws, killing a bunch
with ice magic and his dagger, an idea had suddenly popped
in his head. He remembered the time his uncle went fishing
with him. Ley enjoyed showing off spells he had learnt from
his journeys. This time, with an area attack. It was a sort of
an ice-release spell but was rather a manifestation of the snow
around him, making it gather in the shape of a circle, and then
muster it together into very thick ice using powerful pressure.
The snow had then become a circular blade that expanded its
radius around him. As he got in the water the circle had begun
expanding and shrinking in some sort of vibration, cutting every
single living being in the radius of a few dozen meters.
‘This could work!!!!! I just need to figure out the words...
Hmm... YES! Uli, feni to balerisa set ant!’ He screamed, almost
desperately.
It worked. It took almost his entire energy but it worked! The
tigers and lions were immediately slayed. He stood there alone,
bleeding and sweating. It was very hard for him to breathe as this spell was a lot more than he anticipated, or even was capable
of doing.
‘I hate those things! Stupid... Fucking... Kittens... And
their stupid... Fucking... Claws!!!’
He suddenly fell to the ground and in his mind he heard his
father’s voice shouting ‘No cursing, boy!’. He pulled his head
out of the snow, rolled his eyes and got back on his feet.
‘What an asshole!’
‘I heard that!’ His father responded and made him fall to
the ground again.
‘Are you spying on me, father?’ He asked him in his mind.
He was answered by nothing but silence.
‘Okay... Wow. [Strong exhale]. [Sigh]. So, now I just need
to kill a few Dorynies and I’m done. Right? Damn! I almost
died! I thought this test would be simple, just as the previous
ones. Never mind! Dorynies are usually found in.... Yeah! They
are usually found in caves surrounding the water, because their
prey is animals that hunt fish like foxes, wolves or even bears. I
think I remember seeing a pack of them yesterday. I’ll go that
way!’
The Cylie had only one rune left on it, meaning he had to kill
two Dorynies in an hour or else he would get kicked out of the
competition. At least he was right about the location of the pack.
They had been staying there, probably hoping for some kind of
snack to appear before them. Ironically, that’s exactly what had
happened.
Alduin knew how to deal with Dorynies. One needs to use
fire as they are weak to it. Unfortunately, he didn’t know any
fire spells but he did know how to light a torch. Plus, flame-
lit arrows were also a valid option. All he needed to do was to
successfully avoid their attacks and only hit them straight in the
head. Missing the mark was not an option.
He sneaked into their cave, swiftly and silently as to not disturb their slumber. He then took two rocks, poured oil on
his arrows and lit them on fire using the spark from hitting one
rock with the other. The bang caused the Dorynies to wake up
and start looking for the tasty intruder. He knew he had no time
to waste and must use stealth if he wanted to keep his loins in
their rightful place. He climbed up a tall rock and waited there
patiently for his first victim to appear. He killed two Betas with
five flaming arrows straight to the skull and the remaining two
betas using a dagger. He attached two heads to his belt and let
out a smirk. The real challenge immediately began. An Alpha
Dorynie is much larger than a beta. Its fur was crimson red, his
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eyes piercing blue and each claw is the size of Alduin’s arm.
‘Arrows wouldn’t work on it,’ he thought to himself.
‘Also my blade wouldn’t work! I have to use fire magic, but
how? I don’t know any flame spells and I’ve never fought an
alpha before. Sneaking is not an option as well as it could very
easily find me. Alpha Dorynies are much more capable...’
Suddenly, the alpha caught his scent and began charging to-
wards him. Alduin decided to run away and hide for a short
while. He recalled something his uncle told him many times
before which he had always associated with cowardice. Now
however it starting making a lot of sense.
—
‘Today I will tell you about the story where I was almost crucified
by a unit of Roman soldiers that caught me stealing their gold.
Oops, sorry... Borrowing their gold. My bad,’ he laughed.
Alduin rolled his eyes. Ley took a sip from his wooden tankard.
‘Roman?’ He asked.
‘Yes! They were a Tri-[Burp] Trireme crew of the Roman
Republic. I will tell you about them in greater detail next time.’
‘Alright, go on.’
‘I was visiting port Piraeus in Greece. I assume you know of
Greece, right?’
‘It is where the ancestor of all ancestors lived!’ Alduin grinned
childishly.
‘Yes! In planet Earth, or 0x403 as The Order calls it. You are
very knowledgeable I see!’
‘What were Roman soldiers doing in Greece?’ Alduin blushed
visibly.
‘Great question! Apparently the Romans were controlling
Greece at the time. Until like 189 MDW or so.’
‘Ah.’
‘Yes. So... This one time a friend of mine told me about a
naval unit rumored to possess such epic treasure that I just had
to borrow it! Right under the deck in the ship’s hold.’
‘Have you fought at sea, uncle?’
‘Yes. Many times! I love the smell of salt and rum as I punch,
kick and slice up good men! And they were really good men.
Tragic.’
‘Yes... Very...’ Alduin rolled his eyes again.
‘I asked my contacts in Piraeus when the ship was deemed
to arrive. I had to wait for two days before they finally came.
Once they boarded I jumped into the water and immediately
began climbing onto the ship with my superb acrobatics. When
an opportunity arose I sneaked into the ship’s hold and started
’accessing’ the biggest looking chest i could find!’
‘So infiltrating their ship was that easy?’
‘Nope!' He burped, 'They eventually caught me stea-... Looking at
the treasure.’
‘Ha!’ Alduin shouted sarcastically.
‘Unfortunately, some Dunbar soldier decided it was time
for their pre-voyage inventory assessment and caught me in the
act!’
‘And what happened then?’
‘He started yelling for backup and eventually the captain
had me seized. After a brief questioning to which I responded with sheer honesty he had decided to beat me in the head with
the gold I was searching for! It was so very shiny!’
‘You kind of deserved that though...’
‘Right you are! Anyways... They locked me up in a cage. I
heard the captain telling his men that he was going to a tav-
ern nearby to relax a bit. I waited for the next change in guard
which took a few hours of utter boredom. When it finally hap-
pened I used magic to make myself appear like their captain
and convinced the guard to release me.’
‘Did he actually believe you?’
‘Yes! I shouted ‘prisoner escaped’ and rallied up my men to
try and find me. I even joined them in their search for a few
hours!’
‘So stupid...’
‘Yes! After it stopped being funny I just shouted ‘I found
him’ and turned myself back. Their faces! You should have been
there! They were so terribly confused!’
Alduin laughed
‘They circled me awfully quickly so I just sprinted towards
the captain’s quarters and grabbed the shiniest thing I could
find. It was a golden goblet with a bunch of diamonds attached
to it. Then I immediately used that invisibility spell I taught you
and escaped.’
‘Why didn’t you fight them? Humans are weak. You could
have taken so much gold!’
‘Killing soldiers of the Roman empire could get me in seri-
ous trouble. [Burp] Plus, I love [Hiccup] love the wine in Greece
and wouldn’t want to lose my access to it! See? Even mentioning
it makes me all excited!’
‘Uh... Uh-huh.’
‘It was a time where I wasn’t skilled enough in combat. A
unit of that size could have easily made that day my last. I’d
much rather like to keep my trousers, thank you.’
‘Keep my trousers?’
‘Survive I mean. I like my trousers as much as I love life
itself. Made them myself from scales of a dragon and fur from a
Dorynie alpha! Look how astonishingly beautiful they are!’
‘Right... What’s your point?’
‘There is no honor in death, child. [Burp]. Life is great!
There is plenty of food, booze and women to go around. Don’t
waste your life on futile, worthless shit! Money isn’t worth it,
despite the nearly endless possibilities that it unlocks.’
—
He took his bow and rushed towards the exit, barely making
it out without getting his hand torn off by the alpha’s claws.
He made it outside and started running toward the Colosseum
which was positioned around two kilometers northeast of the
village. One misstep or slip and it could be the end for not only
his chances to become a Hekket but also to continue existing.
It seemed that the Dorynie was not fully awake and found it
hard to focus on one tiny Elf running away from it. It gave up
eventually. It was now a lone alpha since its entire pack had been
slain. In terms of nutrition it should definitely survive since
Dorynies were cannibalistic and could consume each other shall
the need arise.
Alduin couldn’t care less regarding the alpha’s newly found
social status in the wild. He finally made it to the arena when
the last rune had almost faded out completely. Almost too late
but also sufficiently early. In the entrance were standing many
people, shouting as they welcomed the children back from their
quest. It had later become known that a few children didn’t sur-
vive the ordeal. Some of them used to be Alduin’s friends, even
his best friend Yulia with whom he’d been friends throughout
his entire childhood. He sobbed out in utter grief and after a few minutes decided to use it as fuel for the upcoming tests. After
all, death was to be expected and his goal was more important
to him than depression. He promised to mourn her death in the
evening, after it all ends.
There were stalls where the candidates would place their
spoils of war and get their entry ticket to the tournament. The
Hekket tournaments as they were later presented to Alduin
were quite cruel. They appeared to be some type of a gladiator
ring but instead of providing each candidate with a weapon
the candidate must make a weapon out of the ‘spoils’ he had
gathered today, with only an hour to do so. Meaning, Alduin
must craft a weapon out of the bodies of Dorynies, bears, tigers
and so forth... Or at least what was left of them.
‘How in Munesa do I do that?’ He thought to himself.
‘Son. Language.’
‘Right... Right... Sorry, father.’
The problem was that he had never crafted weapons before, let
alone from literal animal products. He took out two of the Do-
rynies’ teeth, cut off their skin and tied them all together. Then
he covered the improvised handle with a fox’s fur. He used the
tigers’ teeth to prepare himself some throwing knives. Finally,
time was up! He made himself one ‘sword’ (if you could even call
it a sword) and five throwing knives in the time he was given. It
was time for the grand battle to begin. His family cheered him
on as he entered the arena. His eyes met the happy gaze of Ley
who was still wearing his long black robes.
‘He... He’s here!!!’ Alduin was in pure ecstasy.
He desired to impress his uncle. He saw he had about thirty-
four competitors and the audience bore incredible numbers. He
saw faces he had never seen before. His father told him that the
Hekket trials were very famous in Euphata and many outsiders
had come to witness the rituals and goings on. Apparently, the trials were shared publicly, meaning that all of the Snow Elf
villages in the region participated in them. Each one had its
own turn in the cycle to host it and luckily for Alduin, his turn
had come along with that of his village. His opponents looked
fearsome. Some of them were a lot more masculine than him.
Some seemed a lot swifter and agile. Some seemed a lot older
than him and he could spot two competitors that were at least
thirty years old.
‘Losers... Mhmm, hehe.’
There were bow users, sword users, spear users and many more
creative ideas. Alduin had really no clue as to how someone
could make a bow out of animal corpses so he just stood there
in utter awe and childish curiosity. The match began. You could
see friends forming alliances during the fight in order to ensure
better chances for survival. It was known that only the last five
survivors would win the title of Hekket but the contestants
chose to remain optimistic.
His opponents weren’t only the young Elves competing but
also wild beasts that were caged in by Aeden’s soldiers. On a
tall pillar stood a man holding a sheet of paper, announcing
the amount of survivors left. The numbers dropped extremely
quickly because, well... Many were either exhausted, injured or
both from the entry exam, becoming easy targets for the ones
the test was simple for. Some were eaten by bears, some were
first cut open by some other competitor and only then devoured
whole. Utter madness engulfed the arena. Alduin had killed
about five contestants, lost four of his fingers and had blood
and sweat dripping all over him. Some of the blood was his. He
hoped that not most of it. For a quick second he turned his head
towards his family, hoping to get a look of approval from his
father, though strangely he wasn’t watching the battle; Alduin
saw one of his father’s Hekkets whispering in his ear and he
appeared concerned, nodding worriedly. Distant screams for help were ignored by the crowd as the spectacle of the Hekket
trials was just too interesting. Had something happened?
Eventually it was announced that there were only ten sur-
vivors with Alduin standing amongst them. He was trembling
and exhausted but still very eager to win. He turned his gaze to-
wards his father again, maybe this time he would pay attention
to him, at least a quick nod, but he wasn’t there. A few minutes
later it was shouted that there were nine, eight, seven remain-
ing. It was nearly over and his excitement could not have been
more apparent. Suddenly, cries of wolves, women and children
were heard from outside the Colosseum’s gates! The sky turned
red and there was a very strong scent of iron in the air.
—
‘What? Where am I? What am I? Who are you?’
‘I... I don’t know... Who are you?’
‘I have no idea... Where are we? Why is there no one here
other than us?’
‘I don’t know... I don’t remember anything!!!’ It started
panicking.
The two beings were floating next to each other, facing the vast
landscape.
‘It is beautiful here. I don’t know how to describe this with
other words!’
‘Yes but why are we here?’
‘Again, I have no idea...’
‘This place seems abandoned. It is nothing but a very large
piece of land with no one on it except for us... Shall we try
looking for someone to ask in case there are people residing
here after all?’
‘We can try...’
The two started charging forward. They had no goal in mind
other than trying to find another individual to question regard-
ing their existence. It seemed helpless however as the land was completely and utterly empty. There were no creatures nor build-
ings. Just earth, water and the sky. They kept on going for hours
on end. The time it took for them to forfeit their search was
immeasurable and currently unknown.
‘Well... It seems we are alone here after all.’
‘Yes.’
‘Hmm...’
‘Mmm...’
‘About our names, I have an idea.’
‘What is it?’
‘If no one here is able to recall what our name is, not even
us... Maybe we could just name each other?’
‘I like that idea. What did you have in mind?’
‘For you I thought about either Hala or Vaonie.’
‘I prefer Vaonie. What about a name for you?’
‘Do you have an idea?’
‘I am not very creative.’
‘Hmm... Lulia? Jul? Entus? Austomia? V... Veridia?’
‘Austomia was the one I liked the most.’
‘So, Austomia it is!’
‘So...’
‘So...?’
‘What now?’
‘I think we should figure out why we are here.’
‘Yes. Maybe we were put here to rule this place? After all
we are the only ones here... We could try to come up with new
names for things, make them our own.’
‘What a god complex you have, Vaonie... Luckily for you, I
too possess this personality trait.’
Vaonie generated a sound that could be interpreted as a laugh,
just not by any person with his right mind still intact. Vaonie
and Austomia resembled orbs. Floating around and uttering
words in a language not yet known to anyone. For some reason
they were able to understand each other despite the fact that this
language wasn’t even invented yet. The dialogue you are reading right now has been directly translated via ancient sources of
information and dictionaries.
‘What would you like to name first?’ Austomia asked.
‘This broad thing above us. I want to name it ‘Jul”
‘Fine.’
‘And I wish to name the thing that is below us ‘Veridia”
‘All you did was copy my ideas!’
The same bizarre sound came out again.
‘I will name this region ‘Heonmeyu” Vaonie said.
‘Did we just run out of things to name?’
‘Unfortunately, I think so... I do hope we are mistaken... It
would be very boring.’
‘Hmm... What if we can just create new things?’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know. What if I just think of something and it would
just appear?’
‘I personally think you have officially lost it.’
‘Do you have anything better to do?’
‘True.’
‘Let me try.’
Vaonie began thinking about a certain creature but nothing
happened.
‘Maybe you need to say the word ‘create’?’
‘That sounds way too convenient, but sure I can give it a try.’
Vaonie tried again.
‘Create!’
Out of thin air a being appeared. It bore large wings made of
steel. Hair the color of Jul. Its eyes were the color of Veridia
and its skin had no color named after it yet. It wore no clothes
and after an unknown time period disappeared again into thin
air.
‘Such lazy writing!’ You, right now.
‘That was... Interesting! Now we know we are able to create
things! Maybe we are meant to rule this place.’
‘Maybe...’
‘What do you call it?’
‘I call it ‘Tyrewhiin’. Now you try it!’
Austomia began the same process. This time the same creature
but a bit different appeared. It was no longer naked but wore
something resembling knight armor in human culture. The
armor was shiny and resembled silver. The creature had a large
spear attached to its hip which made it fall a bunch of times due
to the lack of balance it had caused.
‘You should have put that thing someplace else on its thing.’
‘Thing in its thing?’
‘The thing that is itself. I call it ‘Tvek’. And the thing that
is on it that made it fall. I call it ‘Platir’.’
‘So you claim I should have put the platir somewhere else in
its tvek?’
‘Yes!’
Austomia and Vaonie began a journey of creating more and more
words, creatures, concepts and beings. All of them entirely new.
They altered the appearance, abilities, strengths, weaknesses
and so forth of several creatures like the tyrewhiin whose skin
color is now called ‘Pol’. Eventually they had ran out of ideas for
beings to create and name. Suddenly, Austomia had yet another
‘clever’ idea.
‘What if we create more beings like us?’
‘Flying senkels?’
‘No, you know what I mean! More gods like us!’
‘Will they also be able to create things?’
‘No, I think that would just invite trouble. They could be our
own Qulteba! We will base them on us.’
‘Interesting... How many did you have in mind?’
‘Twelve.’
‘Go on with it then. I am intrigued!’
‘I need your help in this for precision.’
‘Alright.’
Their thoughts intertwined and from them immediately emerged
twelve new flying orbs. Their ‘parents’ taught them how to speak
and what the names of everything were. The children were
named, in the chronological order of creation, Hanali, Jaone,
Anor, Kans, Astrugiel, Lodus, Ophiin, Ayur?, Gonuiel, Pholexu,
Kyyn and Fema.
—
The walls of the arena were smashed open like they were nothing
but tea leaves and into the arena entered a hoard of Vaermiraiits. Their numbers were big, very big. Blood was splashing
everywhere. Most of them were wearing dark-gray battle ar-
mor made of metal on which was engraved the shape of a silver
tear in the middle of the torso, short brown capes, silver elegant
circlets on their heads and two axes in their arms. A vampire
general ordered his minions to kill or kidnap everyone in sight.
The women were mostly kidnapped in order to be used both for
pleasure and the occasional thirst for blood.
Alduin was attacked by three vampire soldiers ganging up
on him to no avail as the arena had warmed him up for battle.
They were wearing black chain-mail armor and silver helmets
covering their eyes almost entirely. After all, all they needed was
their sense of smell. Some fought using their claws and some
using regular weapons like halberds, axes, swords and spears.
Their armor stood no chance against his ugly, improvised and
yet also quite deadly weapons.
During the turmoil he had begun looking for people he knew
in order to strategically group up and fight together. Doing so
had left quite a mark on his heart however as while searching
a variety of corpses had entered his sight. Tragically amongst
them were laid to rest the bodies of his mother, elder sister and
most of his childhood friends. All he had left now was his father
and uncle... The arena was already smeared in blood and bodies
of hundreds of Elves. It seemed that the vampires were very
excited to find so much of fresh meat all in one place.
‘So much food in one place!’ The general shouted and laughed
loudly.
Alduin began panicking. The sight of his dead relatives filled
him with misery, agony and hatred. He sprinted to his mother.
‘Mom! Wake up, please! Mom!!!’ He screamed and shook
her torso, his hands grabbing her shoulders, sobbing but to no
avail, ‘Please!!!’ He screamed again and caressed her hair with
his right hand.
He closed her eyes with his fingers and then tried the same with
his sister.
‘Veridia, please! Wake up! Open your eyes! I beg you!
Please!!!’ His face was soaked with tears.
Eventually, he gave up and looked away, trying to escape the
realization that they were dead. He knew he could not best the
hoard, especially because he had never been taught how to fight
them. He witnessed his father taking on three generals all by
himself but it was clear that he would eventually lose in a very
short while. Behind Aeden a black figure was laying on a large
pool of blood on the snow. Focusing his eyes on it had made it
clear that it was the body of his uncle Ley. A person Alduin had
cherished and adored immensely. He was desperate. He started
crying for help from the gods and got angry as he was met with
no response. He blamed them for his agony and started running
towards the vampire generals. Hoping he could at least die with honor. Live and die a warrior. Aeden and Alduin fought together
like twins, in complete and utter sync. One general ironically
collapsed from sheer loss of blood. They spared him no time to
lick some blood off the ground in order to heal and so he had
eventually perished. It was not enough, however.
The two remaining generals successfully stuck their claws
in Aeden’s chest who was already mortally wounded from before.
Alduin started crying and lost all manner of patience and sanity.
He knew he was going to die so making foolish mistakes didn’t
seem as shameful to him as they once did. He tried to punch
the general that stood in front of him right in his ugly little face,
hoping to make him lose consciousness so he could focus on one
enemy at a time. It did not work. The general caught his fist in
the air, turned him around and broke his arm. Alduin screamed
from shuddering pain.
‘Look what we have here... Quite daring I say. Hey, Gozo!
Look at this little pipsqueak!’ The general laughed and said.
‘He seems tasty, there’s something you just can’t beat when
it comes to child meat! I like his eyes, let’s take him with us!
Don’t hurt him, I want him for myself!’ Gozo replied, smirking
and laughing.
‘Fine! Here, take him!’
‘Come with me you little insect, you’re mine now!’
‘Why won’t you just kill me and be done with it? I am begging
you I have nothing left!’ Alduin cried.
‘Why do you think that I care? You’re mine and that’s that,
now be quiet and stay tasty before I simply take your arm instead
of merely breaking it!’
Alduin could not fathom the situation he was in. He woke up
today to the thought of fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming
a Hekket. Instead, his entire clan was slaughtered, his family
included, and he would become a slave of a Vaermiraiit clan.
He was all alone in the world now. He wanted to shout, fight and kick but he knew it would only anger the general Gozo which
would worsen his condition. He decided to act mature and
accept the situation as it was.
‘Maybe if I get them to like me, they’d spare me and I could
start a new life somewhere else!’ He said to himself.
Alduin sighed.
‘I know it sounds stupid but do you actually have any better
plan?’ He replied to himself.
The vampires started scavenging the arena while taking all tasty
looking corpses they could find. They also pillaged through the
village’s houses, taking jewelry and any other shiny looking ob-
jects. Gozo cuffed Alduin up with metal he found on the ground
and put him on his massive shoulder.
‘Guys, let’s get going! This has been fun! Let’s enjoy our
spoils back at base!’ He shouted to his men.
Alduin could see the village getting further and further away.
Smaller and smaller in perspective. It would probably be his last
time seeing his home.
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Author's note - I hope to get reviews and feedback. Thank you :)
