Chapter 1: Blood and Tears
The forest was unpleasantly humid in the intense rays of the late afternoon sun, and Jayden River was beginning to tire.
“Jude…” she panted, out of breath and close to collapsing. “Can we… stop now? Just for… a bit?”
Jude Dominic, her teacher, cocked his head and graced her with a wry smile, indicating mock disappointment. But Jayden knew better. Jude was a very strict teacher, but one wouldn’t know it from simply being around him when he wasn’t training.
“Had enough already, Jayden?” he said, showing no signs of even the slightest fatigue. “Forgive me. When I took you on as my student I had every expectation that you were willing to endure any sort and any length of training. Am I to assume my trust was misplaced?”
Jayden summoned the last reserves of her energy, firming her grip on her wooden training sword and settling into her fighting stance.
“No sir!” she said loudly.
“Now, come at me! And watch for my first blow!”
To look at her, one wouldn’t know that Jayden was actually a proficient swordswoman. She stood at average height for a girl of 19, with long brown hair drawn back by a ragged headband, and brownish green eyes that exuded sheer determination. She wore tattered green pants and a top comprised of white bandages. At her hip was the battered sword Jude had given her when they first started training, almost a year ago.
Jude, though not much older, looked every bit the competent swordsman. Standing tall with a moderate build, he had long blond hair and ocean blue eyes, and had the beginnings of a beard growing at his chin. He wore a dark coat over his swordmaster’s robes, and he kept his own sword in plain view, prominently riding his left hip.
For a long time Jude had watched his future pupil train with her brother, Lee. Lee was an extremely gifted swordsman in the village guard, and Jayden had shown promise even when sparring against him.
Several years earlier, Jude had left their village and trained under some of the most skilled sword masters in Lycia, and had come back with a polished fighting style all his own.
A style Jayden had very much wanted to learn. And with persistence, she had convinced 26-year-old Jude Dominic to take on a pupil.
Jayden charged her teacher, watching his sword out of the corner of her eye. Halfway there, Jude raised his weapon for a horizontal blow. She moved her sword to an appropriate blocking position and in no time at all her blade and Jude’s clashed.
Taken aback by the force of the first blow, Jayden didn’t see the next one coming less than a second later. Jude’s sword came at her on her left side, where she had carelessly left herself open.
But her teacher stopped his blade, less than an inch from her shoulder.
“Had we been enemies on the field of battle,” said Jude, withdrawing his blade and stepping back. “That mistake would have cost you your life.”
Jayden stepped back, frowning at the ease with which he had beaten her.
“Come on, now,” she said, stepping back. “You can’t go all-out on a novice like me.”
“If I don’t, how will you learn to fight when you’re outclassed in a real battle? If you can’t absorb my blows by blocking, dodge them!”
Jayden drew a breath and once again ran at Jude. The distance to cover was smaller this time, so there was less time for Jude to react. Even so, she noticed his subtle change in posture as he readies himself for her attack. Just before reaching him, she fell to the ground and rolled under his initial horizontal swipe and around to his back. She came out of her maneuver with a swing at his ankles.
Jude jumped to avoid Jayden’s attack and countered by thrusting his blade directly toward her. But Jayden swung her blade to misdirect it and came out of the parry with another blow of her own, which was skillfully blocked by Jude’s sword.
At that moment the air grew cold. A sudden chill ran down Jayden’s spine, accompanied by a sudden tiredness that made her feel almost like collapsing. Disconcerted, she let down her weapon and backed away from her teacher. Once she had regained her senses, she cast a confused look at Jude, whom she noticed was a bit fatigued, himself.
“Jude, was that…?” her voice trailed off.
“I don‘t know,” said the sword master, casting a wary glance skyward. “But I have a hunch.”
Jayden followed his gaze. The sky had grown suddenly darker, though it wasn’t even dusk yet, not to mention that she and Jude hadn’t been training for more than an hour. It was a strange, unnatural twilight that now seemed to weigh her down.
When she looked back at her teacher, his face was white. And suddenly she knew that something was very wrong.
“Come on,” said Jude as he took off down the trail toward their village. “Bring your sword.”
Though thoroughly confused, Jayden tossed her training sword aside and hurriedly grabbed her cloak from where it lay. With an effort, she ran after her teacher, pulling on her cloak and securing her real sword to her hip as she went. Whatever this was, it was certainly more pressing than training.
“Jude, what happened?” she shouted ahead.
Jude didn’t answer. In a way, it was more disconcerting than any answer he could have given her. But she pressed on even so, struggling to catch up to her teacher, and wondering what could possibly be going on.
Certainly their training hadn’t triggered this sudden change in weather. And she didn’t understand why Jude had looked so gravely serious when he had glanced back at her just then. But she knew him well enough to know when to simply act on faith.
An icy wind chilled her body, bringing her thoughts to the present. She pulled her cloak tightly around herself to keep warm, but the cold only seemed to grip her more tightly. So she quickened her pace instead, trying not to imagine the worst.
When they reached the village, they both slowed their pace.
It wasn’t how Jayden had imagined it. There seemed to be no emergency at all. Everything was in place, except for one thing.
The village, typically bustling and full of life, was completely and utterly deserted, and totally silent save for the chilly wind blowing through the streets. Odd, indeed. There was an eerie feeling about the air, as if the village had been abandoned for years. Jayden drew her cloak more tightly around herself as she stopped behind her teacher.
“Jayden, be very careful,” said Jude, unsheathing his real sword and glancing warily left and right. “Come on.”
As Jude cautiously advanced, Jayden briefly thought of pointing out to him that it was abundantly clear that something was amiss, but the thought lasted only a moment before more important things filled her mind. She followed him slowly.
“Maybe everyone went inside because of the cold?” Jayden offered hopefully. But even as she said it, she knew that it wasn’t the case. Only wishful thinking.
“No,” Jude confirmed grimly. “That wind isn‘t natural. It came from inland.”
“What do you mean? It’s… just the weather, right? What’s the rush?”
“You saw how quickly the wind came,” said Jude quietly. “You know as well as I do that this isn’t natural weather. This is magic.”
“Magic?” Jayden echoed. “But I’ve never heard of any magic that can do this. I mean, there‘s wind and ice magic, but usually it’s a lot flashier, and… ”
“You would do well to pay attention to your history class,” Jude said vacantly, his eyes darting cautiously left to right.
“History, Jude?”
“Surely you’ve learned of the ancient forbidden magic, Jayden?”
“You mean what they call dark magic? You mean this…” Jayden’s voice trailed off. There was no need to finish.
Jude nodded. “It would seem so, yes.”
For a long moment Jayden simply stood there, a million thoughts racing through her mind. Ancient offensive magic was often called dark magic, commonly feared and rarely used. Where other schools of magic had found practical everyday use, dark magic was used only to kill. If this was ancient magic, where were the casters? And more importantly, why was it being cast?
Instantly she took off at a run, hardly hearing Jude’s protests. Blind to every other thought, she could only think of one thing: to find her family.
All sense of time seemed to escape her as she dashed through the streets. She didn’t know how long she ran, and she hardly noticed Jude running behind her. At length she felt a hand grab her shoulder, and she spun around to face its owner, her sword at the ready…
But it was only Jude.
“Jayden! Listen to me! Do you hear that?”
Jayden heard nothing through the torrent of thoughts rushing through her mind.
“Calm down,” Jude urged her. “Whatever is going on, you won’t be able to help if you’re not calm. Now, take a few deep breaths.”
Reluctantly, Jayden complied. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Basic breathing techniques, the way they'd gone over it in training. And now that her mind was clear, she could hear the sound Jude had pointed out.
A distant murmuring reached her ears, almost a whisper, and yet it filled the air. A chill ran down her spine, and she visibly shivered.
“Come on,” her teacher said as he sidled along the wall of a nearby hut. Jayden joined him and followed him to the corner of the hut. Jude cautiously cast a look around the corner, then looked back at Jayden, his expression only just readable enough for her to know that something had happened.
Crouching low, she crept past him and peered around the corner…
And froze.
Littering the streets were the limp and motionless bodies of dozens of people. Each of them possessing a fatal injury. And each of them a familiar face. The entire village lay slaughtered, their corpses carelessly laying like rag dolls across the dirt road.
And marching through the streets was an uncountable number of chanting robed men, their faces hidden beneath the shadow of their hoods. Their unknowable anthem filled the air, seeming to come from every direction at once and accompanied by a strange wind that also seemed to have no clear direction.
It all fit. The scene before her fit everything she had been taught about forbidden magic.
Jayden scowled through her tears. These men were the reason everyone was dead. And as she drew her sword she made a vow…
They would die, too. Even if she, Jayden River, had to go with them.
At that moment she charged the nearest group of the men, screaming as she lifted her sword high over her head, ignoring Jude’s protests.
One of the men turned to face her, and began muttering under his breath. And at that moment her body went cold, and everything faded to blackness.
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