Crimson Heroes: The Silver Hero- prologue+Chapter 1

Prologue

The king scratched his head in his study. The candle to his right was fading slowly, and the night began to grow cold.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. The king stood up wearily, deciding whether or not to open the door. He knew he probably should. He scraped his slippers on the ground walking sluggishly to the door, and slowly opened the handle. A middle-age man with a scruffy beard waltzed inside.

“I’ve got news, M' lord,” he said.

“What is the news, Hal?” asked the king.

“I might be able to find someone that can do the job. I think I found a special child for this part. He seems so perfect.”

“Are you sure of this?” the king asked somnolently.

“Positive.”

“Well,” the king said. “bring him to me. I want to look at him. I want to see his face, to make sure he is the one.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

The man left the room with a whish of wind rolling through. It knocked the candle over blowing out the fire. The king was left alone in his study, speechless.

Chapter 1

There I stood… lonely as ever.

No one else seemed to pay any attention to me. I guess that’s how I like it. I know that’s how it’s supposed to be.

I’m a nobody.

I didn’t have a class that I belonged to, which meant I had no skills. Most kids around the age twelve—my age—would have already been chosen to join the ranks of warriors.

Perhaps my hair was too long for them. That's what my mom would tell me from time to time. "You better cut your hair son!"she would nag. I liked it this way, though. If they couldn't understand than tough.

There were Dawn Knights, Dusk Killers, Blaze Eaters, Ice Warriors, and Sky Breakers. Dawn Knights used their maces to fight off the undead and darkness, and they could also heal themselves. Dusk Killers could use shadowy powers with knuckles to destroy anything in their path. Blaze Eaters could use fire powers with a staff to burn anything that might attack them, they could also steal the life from inside something and make it their own. Ice Warriors could use a sword and shield for good defense, and they could freeze foes to the core. Then there were Sky Breakers. That was what I wanted to be. Sky Breakers could take in a million hits from a Balrog and still live to tell the tale, and they attacked wickedly fast with huge spears.

I picked a stick off of the meadow ground. I struck a tree over and over at extreme speeds like a Sky Breaker would. I felt my fist moving so fast with rhythm and tempo in the strikes.

Right step forward, strike. Right step backward, block. Left step forward, stab three times. I felt great. It was only a tree though. Soon I would be able to do this in real life. I knew I would; I could feel it.

“Drake!” my mom called. “Drake, it’s time for dinner, honey!”

“Coming, Mom!” I yelled back. I finished the strike. Forward and… whack! A tree branch hit me in the head. I fell to the ground in agony. I put my hand over my head and felt a bump. Ouch…

I guess I could always use some more practice. I got up and hurried over to my little cottage.

Dinner was nothing special, mashed potatoes and beans. “No meat?” I asked sarcastically. “None today, son, sorry. Perhaps for breakfast if you wake up early for your bacon, your highness, and make sure to fold your golden bed. I’ll have a nice hot bath ready for you afterward,” Mom said back. We both looked at each other and laughed. The price of meat was so high nowadays that only the richest people could only eat some every other day. We hadn’t seen an animal in fifteen years. It was a joke to think we could have some casually for dinner.

I smiled at my mom. She always said I had my dad’s smile. I never knew my dad—he disappeared when I was very young. The only thing Mom says about him is that he was a brave hero.

I think he was a Sky Breaker. That’s why I wanted to be like my dad. “Don’t worry, Mom. One day I’ll be a famous Sky Breaker and I’ll haul in the meat like it was river water.”

Mom let out a giggle. “I do believe you can be a great hero. They are going to choose you one of these days, they have to.”

They wouldn’t.

It had seemed like it was so long since my “recommendation” entered the kingdom walls, and no one’s been by to say they might want me.

I waited and waited and nothing seemed to happen. But one night, I overheard my mom talking to someone in the living room after I “went to bed”. I inched the door open. “Don’t you think that he would be great with me?” said a male voice.

“I just don’t know right now, Hal. Maybe you should leave.”

“I could make him strong, just like me! He deserves to know what he can do—his potential.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of, Hal! I don’t want him to be like you. You should go.”

The man left the house and I wondered if that man could be my father. Like I said, I didn’t know my dad. For all I knew, he could still be alive and leaving my porch right now. What if he was trying to tell my mom that he wanted me for the sky breakers? Finally!

I don’t know why, but I had this feeling I would see Hal, again pretty soon.