17 A Sad Story Begins part one Ethon’s story

The nocturne sky was sometime beautiful to look at.

"My name is Edas, call me Elder Edas from now on" the Great Ancient Bloodline Black Fangs Panther told Ethon with a profound voice. Ethon looked at him in silence. Elder Edas didn't know what was thinking in that moment the kid, but Elder Edas made a promise to look for Ethon's safety.

The royal army was peacefully sleeping in the 'eternal rest' zone. Kent got bored but he didn't want to sleep, so the solution he found was to train more. He launched different Lightning's magic spells to a enormous rock he found. Kent knew that that rock was there to train because there where traces of fight and spells. It was said that before the Lord born, the Spirit Forest was a perfect place to send experts to train and achieve the level that was beyond humans. Sadly, after the Lord born and the war between him and the hero ended, the Spirit Forest became more dangerous than before, and the ancient records where lost because for some unknown reason the hero burnt them all leaving humanity to be weaker.

Nowadays, the Royal Academy found that some ancient records weren't burn like it was said and started to impart them to the young generations.

The First Prince and Princess were the third generation to receive that knowledge, and the military force of Gorfal grew stronger.

Ethon knew he must train with all his might to protect his love ones. He thought about how he would got stronger and an interesting idea appear in his mind.

"Elder Edas, I want to become stronger. The only way I found to achieve my goal is to have Elder Edas be my master and me to become your disciple" Ethon was serious, and his voice had a stroke of coldness and determination.

Elder Edas looked at him with his two profound and dark eyes for a long time. He understood why Ethon wanted to become stronger, but for some reason Elder Edas felt a faint chilling when he saw those deep and black eyes, the bright that was lost seven years ago returned to Ethon's eyes and a lightly killing intent could be felt surrounding Ethon. That feeling could be cause by only one person in all Parvend, and that person was the Lord.

'He finally returned, finally our master came back' fear and admiration were reflect in Elder Edas' eyes. Elder Edas was a cub when the Lord was the ruler of all Parvend, so the Lord, now Ethon, didn't know him and that was the reason he didn't recognize Elder Edas.

"My way of teaching is harder than the human's ones, are you sure you can take it to the end?" Elder Edas looked at him grimly.

In his lifetime, he took three humans as his disciples and just one had succeeded, the other two died in mysterious ways. Elder Edas was excited and worried when Ethon told him he wanted to be his disciple, but with the danger, Elder Edas wasn't to sure to have him like a disciple. What would happened if the newly born Lord die before he achieve the reason of his return? Elder Edas didn't want to carry that sin with him, but he also gave Ethon the chance to choose. In other words, Elder Edas was accepting him as a disciple. Ethon looked at him with his cold gaze.

"I will suffer what I must suffer" his words were full of determination.

Elder Edas gave him a last glance and turned his back to him.

"Follow me. Before your training begin, you must know something that you don't remember" Elder Edas began to walk deeper inside the forest. Ethon followed him.

Kent looked tired. He knew that something was amiss with the forest. After training for more than half an hour, the rock he was pummeling didn't show any signs of been cracked, instead, it seemed that it became stronger. He was thinking about that while walking. He didn't note that he left behind the 'eternal rest' zone.

"This Forest has an aura of darkness and sadness. The lullaby that me and my forces heard was telling a melancholic story, but nostalgic like it was remembering the past and what happen before these days" Kent muttered to himself.

For some unknown reason, Kent thought that the answer of all the mysteries of the Spirit Forest had something in common with that lullaby and the kid who was the one that the lullaby was sang for. However, there was still something to his deduction that was missing. He continued walking straightforward going deeper and deeper.

The forest turned darker.

Ethon felt that he was in that place in his first life, but he couldn't remember it. It felt like something was blocking his memories that tried to force their way to let Ethon remember. However, no matter of his memories tried to get out, they couldn't.

Finally they arrive to an open space.

Elder Edas looked around until he found an enormous stone that was standing in the center like it was a supreme presence. Ethon looked at the stone with his bright eyes, he felt that that stone was something important for the Spirit Forest, and the atmosphere felt melancholic and sleepy. Elder Edas turned his gaze to Ethon.

"Hey kid! Don't get sleepy here. This place is an 'eternal rest' zone. It's effects are stronger than other zones, but in contrast you can resist and don't sleep. But your senses might get confused" the panther said with a calm voice.

Ethon was feeling tired, but after hearing Elder Edas' words his senses returned to normal.

"This place feels sad, like something tragic happened" Ethon didn't like to show his emotions, but his voice left a trace of sadness.

"Yes, you are right. Something tragic happened here, and the Spirit Forest have been lamenting everyday in every 'eternal rest' zone with a sad lullaby. However, the lullaby was wrote for a kid, and that kid died a long time ago"

Ethon didn't understand why his master was telling him that story.

Suddenly, noises were heard near the place Ethon and his master where. Elder Edas got tense and was ready to attack for any signal of malicious the other party show. The figure that was slowly waking didn't notice the tense atmosphere that was surrounding him. Ethon recognized him, it was no one but Prince Kent.

Kent was still in his thoughts.

His concentration was interrupt by someone who was looking at him intensely. He turned to see the source of that intense look and he found that it was the kid he was looking for. Then, his body began to ache and the feeling of burning began to be something he couldn't afford to resist. The pain was something indescriptible, the feeling of being burn alive was terrifying.

"Kid Kent, don't think that Ethon is the one you are looking for, breath and think that he is a kid that lives in the forest" the voice of Elder Edas calmed Kent. He did what he was told for, and the burning sensation began to slowly disappear.

Maybe his mission was to capture that kid, but Kent appreciated his life more than to complete his mission.

When Kent calmed finally himself, he looked at Ethon with a complicated expression, and Ethon looked at him with a killing intent gaze.

Elder Edas looked at them, and laughed. It was a while that he witness the enmity between two youngsters.

"Kid Kent, you must return with your soldiers. The Royal Army will arrive soon, and they will take you to your home. Don't worry, when the time comes you will know what is this stone" Elder Edas smiled at Kent and showed him the path he needed to take. Kent nodded in agreement and left. Doubts could be seen in his eyes, but he kept silence.

Ethon looked at his departure and frowned.

"He kill Elder Esti, and also caused the death of Salgot. He deserves to die" Ethon was angry.

"You are right, but you must learn that sometimes you need to let go your own emotions and looked to the future" Elder Edas told him calmly "Now, I must introduce you who the owner of this tomb is" he walked and got close to the stone. In a part of it was something written.

Ethon got closer, and what he read stunned him.

"This... something is amiss. This can't be" the confused expression in Ethon's face didn't surprise his master.

"What you see,is the reality. A sad story was written, and it's end haven't been written. Maybe a da comes when the Spirit Forest return to its peaceful era" Elder Edas sighed sadly.

The words that were written in the tomb said: "Here Rest In Peace our beloved hero Tirrel Vold"