It had been a few years since I met my friends Mariel and Jerek. By age eight most children began showing signs of what path they’d eventually take.

  Nothing was permanent, of course—people could change their occupation later in life—but the Empire made it difficult. Parents were expected to guide their children early so they wouldn’t “regret” anything later.

  For me, I couldn’t decide what I liked more: my mother’s books and magic, or my father’s swordsmanship. I begged both of them to teach me, but they almost always declined.

  There were restrictions, they said.

  Learning both magic and swordsmanship could lead to hurting yourself—or others—if you weren’t careful.

  Still, after enough prodding, I was finally given permission to learn both.

  My training schedule was simple. I’d wake up, help around the house, then train with my mother to practice magic. By early afternoon I’d join my father for cardio or weight training as a warm-up before sword drills.

  I wasn’t very good. In fact, I got knocked on my ass constantly—by both of them.

  Which was impressive, considering my father used a wooden sword and barely swung. My mother only used low-level lucen magic.

  Lucen magic was the essence of warmth, care, and healing. Morvain magic was the opposite — destructive, chaotic, offensive.

  It felt like there was more to it than that, but I wouldn’t understand what was missing until much later.

  After training I’d typically wash up and head into town to meet with Mariel and Jerek. Jerek’s parents were not very approving of him leaving to hang out with non-nobles but he didn’t care.

  Our favorite place to meet was the guild. It was easy because we all lived relatively close, kids were allowed, and we all loved stories of the adventurers. Not to mention Mariel’s father was here pretty often so naturally Mariel was as well.

  “In a few years do you guys want to maybe go into a dungeon?” Mariel blurted to us.

  I hadn’t really put much thought into it, but that would certainly be fun. The guild does allow kids to enter one but we’d have to be a little older, and have at least a mid-rank adventurer with us.

  Fortunately Mariel’s father was an A-rank adventurer, and mid-rank is considered C-rank.

  Jerek’s nobility peered through with his response. “Of course, I’d love to.”

  I’ll work with him on his arrogance but that’s a project for another day.

  “Absolutely, just make sure your father knows ahead of time. I don’t want to take him off guard with a field trip to a lower-ranked dungeon.”

  Mariel smirked and nodded.

  We heard some commotion outside so we poked our heads out of the guild.

  “Please everyone! We must press on, orders from the emperor himself for–”

  I stopped listening again. Torian Gale again. Upbeat and annoying. Like a noble but worse somehow.

  Then I noticed the soldiers surrounding him had both swords and books. Normally mages carried books, in case they needed spells they didn’t use often. And normally only brawlers had melee weapons.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Why did all of them have both?

  “Who are they?” I asked my friends.

  Jerek fixed his tie. “The Iron Legion.”

  That was the first day I learned about The Iron Legion.

  At the annual ceremony The Iron Hammer always makes an appearance. That’s the actual military though. The Iron Legion was different perhaps?

  I looked at him with a dumb look on my face.

  “How are you training in both swordsmanship and magical prowess and not know one thing about the end goal of that training?”

  Mariel jutted in. “Maybe Cade just liked both Magic and Swords and asked his parents to teach him both? I mean I am learning the sword and magic, but just healing magic.”

  Jerek sighed. “Very well. The Iron Legion are Torian Gale’s personal soldiers. Not employed by the military. Possibly stronger than the Iron Hammer, it’s unclear.”

  I nodded. I was enjoying hearing about the Legion.

  “That said,” Jerek continued. “The main reason they’re there is the ability to dual wield is rare, and impressive. As of right now beyond our Grand Marshals, there’s maybe ten or so in the whole country who dual wield.”

  The dumb look on my face went away. “Oh, that makes sense now.”

  “Not to mention their traits.” He went on.

  That dumb look is back on my face. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed again. “When a person is born it’s a clean slate. As that person grows up and trains in their own ways, they’ll gain a trait that’s special, sometimes unique to them, sometimes not. Their trait helps them grow more in their respective class.”

  I think I was understanding.

  “So with that in mind, your father has been a swordsman since around your age. That’s because his trait manifested very early in his life.”

  Makes sense.

  “The Legion excel at magic and swordsmanship, but their trait is still one or the other. But they’ve trained very hard to control both effectively.”

  I nodded one last time before we wrapped up for the day. I was prepared to listen to Torian Gale when he blabbered his annoying voice next.

  I took the long way back home as the sky went darker. I felt I needed to process something. Or perhaps I just needed time away from people, so I could focus on breathing, listening, feeling the wind between my fingertips.

  When I got back home, dinner was already prepared. Nothing was out of the ordinary, my mother and father drank and ate like best friends always did, and I just played along.

  I helped clean up after dinner then went to my room.

  The Legion was making my head spin. I felt like they were my destiny, my calling. At the same time though, I could feel something else tugging at me.

  When I tried thinking further on it I realized I had left my window open and a gust of wind had flipped pages in the booklet I had acquired a few years back.

  I still couldn’t read anything but I figured I’d examine the booklet again.

  The writing wasn’t in just one person's handwriting, it was a collection of different people’s writing. And that’s about all I could tell. I flipped a few pages and saw something I hadn’t noticed before.

  There was a page that showed the same figure from the ruins. Multiple pages, multiple pictures.

  Looking at her made my pulse quicken.

  Perhaps a God? No, there are only three. The God of Order, God of Control, and God of Law.

  Or maybe…?

  My mothers voice cut through my thoughts. “Cade, we’re going to head to bed. Goodnight, we’ll see you in the morning.”

  I closed the book. “Goodnight mother and father.” The light went out and I tried to fall asleep. But this was the first restless night of many.

  I eventually got some sleep but not a lot. I masked it well though. I made sure to help with morning chores, and put on my best face for training time.

  Basically to get any kind of elemental magic, you first have to give it a base. The base is lucen or morvain magic. Then you use elements to shape the magic.

  For example if you take a lucen base, then shape it with fire you gain a warm healing spell. If you shape it with water you get purification water.

  If you used morvain magic as the base instead you’d get a burning projectile with fire, or you’d get a steady stream of flowing water.

  My mother used her magic to spray water on me.

  “I can tell you’re not in your own head dear, what’s wrong?”

  I snapped back to reality. “Nothing, I was just thinking about something.”

  She nodded and began her lesson again.

  I went through the motions until it was time to train with my father.

  He struck first and I blocked it. Nothing unusual, I was good for the first ten seconds or so usually, and then I’d falter.

  This time I felt weird though. As if looking at the booklet the night prior had made a change in me.

  My heart felt like it was drumming again, and the atmosphere around me was becoming clearer. My father went for a thrust attack.

  On instinct I parried it and had an opening to go on the offense, but I was too surprised at my parry.

  Why did my heartbeat feel so loud?

  I didn't do anything with my opening however, so he simply countered and knocked me on my ass.

  “Well done, Cade. Next time try to stab me with the sword, and not your eyes.”

  I nodded and took his hand to get back up.

  As insignificant as that seemed too, I felt this also would set me on my path permanently.

  Not to mention, it was the first interference.