The Sword of the Ancients
Chapter One
    It was a gray and cloudy day in the city of Tarrok. The streets were busy with people going to and from the market. Vee Grelok watch them go by. He then looked up at the great Castle Forax high atop the hilltop in the center of the city. It looked particularly foreboding this day.
    “Vee!” came the cry of Tuvolt, his boss and owner of  The Drunken Hound Inn, “Come and get me some help here. We’re busy today!”
    “Coming,” Vee called back.
    He took one final glance at Forax before he went back inside the inn. It was indeed busy as Tuvolt said. The tables and bar were filled with all sorts of people. From ruffians to warriors to simple house folk. Behind the bar was Tuvolt, his bald head shining in the dim light with sweat and grease. When he saw Vee he waved him over.
    Vee picked his way through the crowd until he was before Tuvolt. Tuvolt didn’t even greet him, instead placing a few plates with steaming food on them on the counter. Tuvolt told him to take them to tables three and four and Vee quickly did so.
    Being oh so careful not to drop any of the food, Vee got to the tables, gave the food to their consumers, and then went back to Tuvolt to repeat the process. It took nearly all day but by the time the sun set all their customers either left or rented a room.
    Few people were left by the time a mysterious dark robed figure stepped into the inn. He was tall and had wide shoulders. His face was shadowed by a hood, denying Vee to look at his face. Tuvolt was washing the counter when the tall figure stepped in.
    “Evening sir,” Tuvolt greeted as the figure took a seat at the bar, “May I get you something?”
    “Ale and whatever you have to eat,” the figure said quietly, “And I’d also like to speak with Vee Grelok.”
    “Vee?” Tuvolt asked as Vee slowly got to his feet, “What do you need to see him for?”
    “That is something I shall discuss with him,” the figure responded, shifting slightly to face an approaching Vee.
    "I’m Vee,” Vee said uncertainly, “What is is you wish to speak to me about, stranger?”
    The hooded figure looked Vee up and down before turning his attention back to Tuvolt.
    “I’d like a room,” he said, placing a  small sack of gold coins on the counter, “One that can offer us the utmost in privacy.”
    “Down the hall and to the left,” Tuvolt answered as he took the sack.
    The figure nodded and motioned Vee to follow.
    “Bring my food into the room, would you,” the figure told Tuvolt, making it more of a command rather than a question. 
    Vee followed the tall figure down the darkened hall and to the specified room. The figure crossed over to a small table set in the middle of the room and lit a candle. He then pulled up two chairs and motioned Vee to sit.
    “Shut the door,” he said to Vee.
    Vee complied and quietly shut the door with a click before he took a seat across the table from the cloaked figure. With a sigh, the figure slowly raised his hands and pulled back the hood, revealing the face of a man in his early forties with light brown skin. His hair was short and a dark brown that was close to black. He had a neatly trimmed goatee and piercing blue eyes that spoke of years of intelligence and experience. If Vee hadn’t known any better, he would have mistaken him for his father.
    They inspected each other silently in the dim candle light. Vee looked at the black leather armor that the man wore under his cloak. He then found his eyes drifting to the man’s sword scabbard. Like his armor, it was black but unlike his armor, it had a symbol of a white wolf’s head.
Vee’s eyes widened in disbelief as he came to realize who this person really was. The man noticed the look on Vee’s face and followed his stare down to his exposed scabbard.
    “I see that you recognize this symbol?” the man asked Vee.
    Vee nodded dumbly.
    “You’re a Guardian,” Vee whispered in awe, “Protector of the Viendissi.”
    The Guardian nodded. “Yes, indeed. Though the Viendissi seemed to have forgotten that nowadays.”
    “B-but,” Vee sputtered, “I thought the Guardians were disbanded. They weren’t needed anymore… The Dark Ones were defeated…”
    The Guardian shook his head.
    “No boy,” the Guardian said darkly, “Not defeated. Delayed, but not defeated.”
    Vee shook his head to clear it as all this information was being absorbed.
    The Dark Ones not defeated? How could that be?! The great Agathar himself closed the Rift. He slew the Dark Master. How were they not defeated?
    Vee was explaining all this to the Guardian as if he didn’t know.
    “I know,” the Guardian cut him short, “Don’t you think I don’t know the history of my order?”
    Vee apologized as Tuvolt entered the room with one plate of steaming hot food and two mugs of ale.
    “Here you go,” Tuvolt said, setting down the food and one mug of ale in front of the Guardian and the other mug in front of Vee.
    He caught Vee’s worried look and asked, “Is everything alright?”
    “Yes, yes. Fine,” the Guardian said through a mouthful of food.
    Tuvolt looked at Vee and asked with his eyes the same question. Vee nodded sheepishly and took a sip of his ale.
    Tuvolt placed a reassuring hand on Vee’s shoulder before he stepped out of the room.
    “Call me if you need anything,” Tuvolt said before he shut the door.
    It wasn’t until Tuvolt’s footsteps had disappeared that Vee asked the Guardian a question.
    “Okay, okay,” he said, “So let’s say that you are a Guardian, and that the Dark Ones are still a threat, what does this have to do with me?”
    The Guardian swallowed his food and chased it down with a gulp of ale before he answered Vee’s question.
    “Simple,” the Guardian said, “You’re the descendant of Agathar.”
    Vee froze. The descendant of Agathar? Impossible!
    “I’m sorry,” Vee said, “But I am no descendant of Agathar. I am but a poor farmer’s boy who comes from a long line of poor farmers.”
    “Indeed,” the Guardian agreed, “A long line of farmer’s that start from Raki, Agathar’s son.”
    Vee was about to protest when the Guardian cut him off.
    “You see,” the Guardian continued, “Agathar had two children, a boy and a girl. His daughter, Wer, decided to follow her father’s footsteps and join the Guardians. His son Raki, however, decided to lead a life away from his family’s heritage of war and violence. He opted for a simpler life, a farmer’s life, and his descendants followed suite.”
    “But if that’s true,”  Vee protested, “Then how come my family never knew about it? Surely something as important as that would’ve been passed along, generation to generation.”
    The Guardian shrugged. “Raki wanted a new life. A life away from his father’s heritage so that he could protect his loved ones from enemies of Agathar. So he changed his name and moved far away. Morak Grelok, that was his new name. A name that you no doubt recognize.”
    Vee did in fact know that name. Morak was the one who established the old Grelok farm, the same farm that his family had lived on for generations. The same farm that Vee sought to escape by coming to to the city of Tarrok.
    “There has to be someone else,” Vee said after a few moments of silence, ‘Someone who has more experience than me. I am but a simple Viendissi working for a simple innkeeper, and before that I was but a simple farmer’s boy.”
    But the Guardian slowly shook his head.
    “There is no one else,” he said grimly, “You’re it boy.”
    Vee looked up at him as the news slowly sunk in.
    “What do you mean “No one else”?” he asked, “Are you telling me that-”
    “They’re dead,” the Guardian finished Vee’s sentence, “Everyone. Well, everyone except you that is.”
    Vee leaned back in his chair in despair as the news took hold.
    “My parents?’ he whispered, “My-my family?”
    “I did say everyone, didn’t I?”
    “But how?”
    The Guardian sighed and scratched his head. “The Dark Ones. They’ve been quite busy hunting down the descendants of Agathar. Including your family.”
Vee felt his whole world crumble. His family dead and he was the only survivor. Not only the only survivor but the only hope for the Viendissi. Only those of the blood of Agathar could wield the magic of the Sword of the Ancients, the sword that had defeated the Dark Ones before. That was, of course, if Vee truly was the descendant of Agathar, which he still doubted.
    “I’m sorry, Vee,” the Guardian said quietly, interrupting Vee’s thoughts, “I would have saved them if I could, but the Dark Ones were too quick. It is only by a miracle that I have made it here first before them.”
    Suspicion suddenly risen in Vee as he took in those last few words.
    “Yes,” Vee said quietly, fear and anger mingling, “It is a miracle isn’t it?”
    “I’m no Dark One lad,” the Guardian said, and to prove it he took off the glove on his right hand and cut the palm of his hand with a dagger. Red blood seeped out of his wound and the blade glistened with blood.
    Vee relaxed then. The Dark Ones bled black, not red. That still didn’t comfort him however. His family was still dead and he was still being hunted.
    “So then,” Vee said as the Guardian bandaged his wound, “What do we do?”
    “We’re going to the Guardian headquarters, Razor Point, high in the Razor Mountains. There we will find the other members of my order as well as food and shelter. From there, I don’t know.”
    The Guardian rose from his seat then, pulling his hood over to conceal his face.
    “We’re leaving now?” Asked a startled Vee.
    “Of course,” the Guardian replied without looking at him, “The Dark Ones have been quicker than us in finding your kin. For once, the tables have turned. Thusly, we should take advantage of this while we can.”
    “Wait a second,” Vee said, “You can’t just expect me to leave just like that. I need some time to…”
    “We have no time,” the Guardian cut him short, “We must go as soon as possible.”
    “Please,” Vee asked, “At least give me some time to pack and explain this to Tuvolt.”
    The Guardian sighed in annoyance but gave his consent. Vee quickly took this time to gather supplies for their long journey and explain the situation to Tuvolt in private. At first, Vee had intended to tell Tuvolt very little but ended up telling him the whole story anyway.
    “We’ll be heading towards Razor Point up[ in the Razor Mountains,” Vee finished, “And from there, I don’t know.”
    Tuvolt, who had been quietly listening to all Vee had to say, cleared his throat and adjust his tunic.
    “Well boy,” Tuvolt said, “Looks like you’ve got quite the journey ahead of you, eh?”
    Vee nodded wordlessly.
    “Well then,” Tuvolt continued, “I won’t delay you any longer then. Just know that you’re always welcome back and that you’ll always have a job here no matter what.”
    Tuvolt smiled and extended a hand and Vee shook it. Before long, Vee was outside of the inn, hood concealing his face, waiting as the Guardian finished up his conversation with Tuvolt.
    “Be wary of any tall, hooded people who come in from here on out,” the Guardian advised the old innkeeper, “Especially those who ask for Vee.”
    Tuvolt nodded. “I’ll make sure not tell them anything.”
    The Guardian seemed satisfied and quickly motioned to Vee to follow as he started walking down the long dark street.
    Vee quickly followed and waved a last goodbye to Tuvolt, who stood outside the inn a moment longer before he disappeared back inside.
    “So,” Vee said when he caught up to the Guardian, “Since we’re going to be traveling together for quite a while, I find it appropriate if we were to know each others names. You already know mine but I don’t recall you ever telling me yours.”
    The Guardian snorted.
    “I’m Hyat,” the Guardian answered.
    Vee nodded in satisfaction and followed Hyat out of the city of Tarrok and into the wilderness beyond, feeling both excited and terrified as his journey begun.