The Beginning
“Two young lovers, who had never once touched, nor conversed. Although they knew each other well by stolen glances, they would ultimately find each other through turmoil and distraught circumstances.” A young mother of two had just said this to her children before the eldest, Elizabeth, asked for the whole story. Her mother replied, “Yes.” Then she began the whole story.
“I will tell you about the characters first so that you will understand the story. First there is Ephrain Dicarlo, a blacksmith in the kingdom of Berble. Ephrain was a tall young man, with blazing blue eyes, and dark, shoulder length hair. Then there is Rowena Fwain, a beautiful, fair maiden, who was the oldest of her five brothers and sisters. Rowena had fiery, red hair, green eyes, and was a little taller than the average woman.
“Oh, she sounds gorgeous mother, is there love in this story?” Elizabeth interrupted once again. Her mother simply nodded her head up and down in a graceful manner.
“I hope there will be adventure as well.” William added, attempting to compete with his sister. His mother simply nodded her head once more before saying, “If you two do not stop, I will never be able to get to those parts.”
The children whispered their apologies under their breaths. The mother smiled. “Shall I continue then?” Both of the children nodded.
“Alright, well also in the kingdom, there was a sour king and his good son Sir Eric, who was in sword tournaments almost every day. People continuously challenged him, and he accepted because he knew he would always win. Kataleen Fuentes, another character in our story was an evil sorceress.”
“The kingdom I am about to describe is very much like ours; then again it is not. The kingdom was shaped in a rectangular form, with the King’s castle in the center. There were small thatch-roofed inn, pub, vendors, and even homes, in various places. There was one church, which had a pond adjacent to it. A bridge went over the pond, so that the village people could get to church every Sunday. On the other side of the kingdom there was an area where Sir Eric’s tournaments were held. Outside the double guarded gates and past the mote were homes and there were farmhouses in small groups, where you could find beautiful meadows. And past that, well the mountain ranges were there. Now, that you know this, let’s begin our story before it gets too late.”
Once upon a time, in a not so far away place, lived a blacksmith named Ephrain. He grew up with the blacksmith, Tony, because he did not know who or where his parents were. He was dropped off on the blacksmith’s doorstep when he was seven years old. He had no memory of his parents or what they looked like. In fact, he did not remember anything from his childhood up until he arrived at the blacksmith’s door. Except he could remember two things, a ship with white sail passing another ship with a purple sail, and his childhood friend Sir Eric, looking at him with his huge emerald eyes.
Life as a blacksmith was fairly simple, as it was the 1204 year in our realm. His jobs were to make swords and deliver them, to whoever ordered them. Sometimes he got orders all the way from Kafe, which was a week’s journey on foot. Every other day, Ephrain would go about the same routine. He would wake up and cook first meal. Then he would go to the shop and heat the metal, mold it, and let it cool. He would then go and eat whatever was available for second meal. When he returned to the shop, he would reheat the metal, shape it, and sharpen it. After this long and tiring process he would go to Acott’s, to relax and hear town gossip. The following day he would deliver swords.
