Adoian Darkeyes Part 5

Adoian woke up in his room. Still being sleepy he looked near the window and saw Savios.

"What are you doing here?" asked Adoian excited.

"Your father called me... He said it was your tutor's idea. So wake up and come quickly, I want to see what is this all about."!

On their way, outside, they saw Starset, one of Adoian older brothers.

"Hi, brother."

"Morning, Adoian. Good luck with your class."

"Thanks."

Adoian briefly saw how his uncle looked at his brother worried. It was like he knew something about his brother that he didn't.

After exiting the house, they met with Emma.

"What's this all about?" asked Adoian.

"I found you a trainer. You said you need someone to train you to stay in the shadow. I kept thinking about it, and your uncle seems a perfect choice. What do you say?"

"Well, if he agrees." looking at Savios.

"This sounds interesting. I will train you with one condition. If you can find me. Let's go to the garden in the labyrinth, I am going to explain myself better there."

Both of them followed Savios to the garden. There they saw the immense labyrinth of the Darkeyes estate. Being 30 feet tall, it was a nightmare to anyone in the family. There were even some legends about this labyrinth. They said that in the heart of the labyrinth there is a treasure, but there are gruesome creatures that guard the place. Adoian knew that his father forbade him and his brothers to enter in it.

"I am not allowed to enter it." said Adoian.

"Then don't. My arts are not something that should be thought to people who play by the rules. I am going to stay there for 1 day. If you want, come and find me. Bye!" And with that Savios seemingly vanished from the eyes of the kids.

"What will you do?" asked Emma.

"Obviously I will enter. There are so many questions that I have for him."

And so Adoian entered his family's labyrinth. But soon after he entered it, something strange happened. It was like there was something in there calling for him. He forgot that he was looking for Savios. He wanted to find out what was in the center of that place. He continued forward for a little bit and then he saw something like a dark snake in front of him. After looking at it more, he realized that in fact, the snake was looking at him, too.

"What could this be? It looks like the illusions that I can make. I shall just go past him."

And so he did. He passed the snake and went deeper and deeper into the labyrinth until he found a note.

"Nice you came. I am waiting for you in the center of the labyrinth. See you there, boy." And a dagger near it.

Adoian took the beautiful dagger that Savios left him. He looked at it and it was beautiful. It was shining, it had a small piece of jewelry on the handle, and the blade was made out of silver. He took the paper again and saw something else on the paper.

"Follow the line, and be cautios for the owl."

"What line?" And then, while looking down he saw something like a golden thread.

"This thread."

And so he did. He followed the thread, but it was very hard. From time to time, when there was a decision to make he saw in the opposite directions treasures, gold, weapons, trinkets even some artifacts that he read about. But he followed the thread. He saw nymphs, small dragons, and other creatures, but he kept following the thread until he heard from far away the song of an owl.

Adoian Darkeyes part 4

Next morning Adoian looked outside and saw his new teacher, Emma, practicing what seemed like some sort of a spell. He kept watching her until he saw a giant fireball coming from her and hitting the dummy that she used for practice.

"That was really cool." and he started running outside to meet her.

"I see that you are early today."

"You said you will teach me that trick."

"Okay, come here. This is a little more complicated, let's start with something easier. Let's try to cast a minor illusion"

"What is a minor illusion?"

"A minor illusion is a spell that can be done in a second and creates a small visual or a sound illusion, for example."

As she said that all of a sudden in front of Adoian appeared a small box. When he tried to touch the box it disappeared and out of nowhere, he heard a small alarm sound.

"This is what a minor illusion can do."

"Okay, that will do for today, so how do I do it?" and Emma started to explain how he could use minor illusion. During the lecture, Adoian remained pretty confused on how exactly this type of spell was supposed to be cast.

"Enough with this now, we should start our history lecture. Master Darkeyes told me that you must have at least some basic knowledge about the history and the politics of the elves until next month. If you manage to do well on your exam, I'll teach you even more. But before starting the next lecture, did you have any magic teachers until now?"

"No, not really. Honestly, I've never shown any interest towards magic. I'll probably never be very good at it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I don't know. I guess that is only a feeling, but what I enjoy is using my agility to resolve problems. Also, I really like hiding in the shadows. Maybe it's just me, but I feel safer there, no one will come there to harm me, or bore me."

"You should then talk with some scouts, they are used to do this type of things. Actually, no, that wouldn't be appropriate for you."

"I've trained under some scouts, but they are boring. They want me to do some reconnaissance, and then return."

"Let's talk about this a little bit later, if you pass your exam, I might be able to bring someone who can help you."

After two more hours of study, in which Adoian did his best to try and listen and memorate what Emma told him, the lesson ended. Adoian asked Emma:

"Why are you trying so hard? You are from a very respected family, you could just continue what your father does, not to mention you are smart and cunning and you could do great in politics."

"Well, I just don't like the idea of doing the same thing. Also, I have an older brother who likes politics so I would like to let him handle that sort of business. I just want to escape that life. I am proud of who I am, and of my family. But I don't want to have such a life, I want to travel to see the world, to make unlikely friends. A life in a clustered space sounds extremely boring. What about you, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know... I want to travel... I want to escape... Sorry, can we meet tomorrow?"

"Adoian! How much are you going to run away from your decisions? If you want something you must fight for it."

"I want to run away, I don't like this place... But how can I do that? I love my family. But I will leave. Not yet, but I will."

"Tell me when you do that, we can start traveling together."

"That would be nice," said Adoian smiling.

After Adoian returned to his bedroom he started picklocking and to his surprise, he was getting better at it. And so Adoian went to sleep thinking about a place which he wanted to visit first.

Adoian Darkeyes part 3

"The Elven Kingdom is ruled by a king. He receives help from twelve councilors. Your family is in this council. After this circle called the main one comes the secondary circle which consists of some old families who help the twelve. My family is in this circle. And then there is the third circle, which consists of 36 families who are elected by the people to represent them. Those people have the responsibility to find out the needs of the people. They also announce to the people what the king says. Do you have any questions so far?"

"Who actually rules the kingdom? And why the need for such a complicated system? And why should I care about this?"

"The king. To make people more comfortable. And because you were born in a noble family."

"But I don't care about politics."

"Well, unfortunately, you probably won't have a choice. You won't be the family heir but even so, you must learn those things." 

"You know what? I'm bored, we will continue the lesson tomorrow."

Adoian tried to leave the room but as he did, the door and window slammed shut and he remained in the room.

"Until the end of the class, you won't leave this room."

Adoian looked at her with admiration and said:

"How did you do this?"

"This is a simple trick."

"Can you teach me?"

"Let's finish the lesson and we will see after that."

And so the lesson continued revolving around how the elves got here and why King Sartai decided for this type of government.

"I'm tired. Can we stop?"

"You did well for the first lesson. This was an introduction so it took a little bit more, from now on the lessons will take around two hours."

"Can you show me now how to do that?" 

"Go and rest will see about that tomorrow."

Adoian left the room thinking about what a cool prank will that be for his brothers. As he went he sees his oldest brother Fayrun.

"Oh, did you finish your lesson with that Darkblood girl?"

"Someone is jealous that he had his lesson with an elvish elder?"

"Adoian you should be careful not to make me angry. After all, I will be Lord Darkeyes and you, no one."

"Oh! Thank God I won't have that nasty name." 

At that moment, his brother throws a fist at Adoian, which sends him straight to the ground.

"That's your place, Adoian."

"Stop it Fayrun!"

Adoian looked around and saw another one of his elder brothers Dionis.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Hitting our youngest brother? I won't let you spoil the name of our family anymore with that kind of behaviour. If you want a fight, try me." 

"Dionis. You will pay too." And he left.

"Adoian, you should not make Fayrun that angry. You might have a lot to suffer because of him." 

"I don't like the way he looks at me. Like I'm no one. Thank you for your help."

"Adoian, listen to the girl tutoring you, she will bring a lot of good things upon you. I've met her. She is an interesting one. You know what? I've seen you learned swordsmanship, let's practice a little."

Adoian went with his brother to the training grounds where some of his family's guards were training and practicing.

"Master Dionis you came to play?"

"No. Today I'm seeing what my brother has learned so please give us some privacy."

"Right, have fun young masters."

"Pick your weapons."

"I'll take a dagger and a rapier."

"Nice choice, then I'll take a sword and shield. Show me what you've learned."

Before having any time to prepare, Dionis jumps in front of Adoian and tried to strike him. But Adoian managed to dodge very quickly, getting behind his brother and throwing his wood knife at him. Hitting his brother in the arm he held the shield.

"That was really good. I'm going to throw my shield. Be prepared."

Dionis threw himself into the battle and after a small exchange of blows, Adoian fell to the ground.

"You're improving very quickly. Soon I might be in trouble."

"Please, brother. You went easy on me. After all, you are a Captain at such a young age. At dueling, you are probably the best in our family."

"So you knew. Well, I've never fought our father, but between us brothers that's true."

"Is our father skilled in swordsmanship?"

"I really don't know. He never wants to spar with me. But I've heard that he had a duel 80 years ago with a Goliath and that the Goliath never stood a chance." 

"I'm going to my room to rest a little."

"Okay, but remember this. You can do great things if you use your abilities to the fullest."

"Thanks, brother!" and Adoian went to his room. 

After he got there he started to work with the thieve's tools, trying to picklock the small chest that he had. And for the first time, he managed to do so. With this in mind, Adoian goes to sleep thinking about how tomorrow he will learn such an interesting trick.