I was young then, I can barely remember a time before the raid. The only thing I remember of my parents is that they were kind and loving people. They raised me themselves and never told anyone about the magical objects or the prophecy. Those first few years were happy, we were busy building our town and doing other work. We built a castle and then a farm. It was even before my sixteenth birthday when my father told me about the ancient prophecy.
He told me about the land of my birth and about how a great ruler had risen with the help of a powerful wizard. The great ruler was a tyrant and began to steal from his own people to feed his false habits. My parents were brave souls and saw the situation for what it was. A few others agreed with them, but most still believed that the great ruler could not be that bad. The thought of a tyrant on a throne was a frightening thing. My parents, who were working in the castle itself, realized that it may soon be time to return to our home and prepare to fight.
They turned to me and said that I would be an important part of the battle with whatever magical objects they could muster. I knew that they were worried, but they never showed it to me. I always believed that they were looking down on me and not loving me— they were my parents, after all. All of us felt that the end of the great ruler was near, but nothing was ever said. After sharing our plans with each other, my mother went to draw a map to the location of the prophecy. She gave it to me to be kept safe and she warned me to not tell anyone about it.
She had secretly gathered five pieces of wood, each one representing some object. The wood pieces were carved with fantastic symbols and inscribed with a short story. She had carved the story of the world on one piece of wood. On another piece, she wrote about a powerful crystal. The last three pieces held carvings for the other three objects.
The great ruler and the evil wizard had figured out what my parents were up to. There was never any proof of it, but my parents had been good at hiding what they were doing. Regardless of the evidence, the guards came to our small family home with the intent of killing us all. The guards attacked and my parents were killed.
I did as I had been instructed and grabbed the piece of wood that held the story of the world on it. I grabbed my trusty slingshot and readied myself to run to the safety of our hidden campsite. I ran out of our house and down the road to the forest. I ran into the forest, taking a wrong turn and tripping on a fallen tree. I landed badly and nearly lost consciousness. I had a break in my ribs, and one arm was dislocated. I had a dream that a light appeared in my home, and that a family member had come to save me.
When I awoke I was in a hospital bed. I was possessed with a pain that made me happy to be alive. My friends had come to my rescue and taken me back to our secret campsite. My friends I mean Aaron, Karen, and Sal. We lived in the outskirts of a nearby town, working as lumberjacks. Our family had lived near the forest our whole lives and we used them to supply the town. The townspeople only got to see the lumber we had gathered, but they never heard of our talks or our plans to help them.
I felt that my friends were good friends, but I think they were more scared of something happening to me than they were loyal to me. Still, they healed my injuries and we continued with our daily lives. Since that terrible day I decided to heal up and make our town a better place. If that included fighting the great ruler, then I would be ready for it. It was time to move on.
Over the next few years we worked hard. We built new homes and met couples that we helped marry. We completed a large portion of the town and soon it was time to go find the legendary objects that would save us from the ruler and his evil wizard. I looked around the campsite and could not see anything that I could use for protection that wouldn't be completely useless.
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