Drayco was born the same day his mother passed on. His birth had killed her, yet no one ever blamed him for the occurrence. His father was a decent man with a very strict personality. Drayco had no brothers or sisters and was a fairly silent child, afraid of saying the wrong thing. Despite that as he aged he developed an independent streak.

He grew up in a medium sized port town. Thick double walls and forest kept them isolated from many towns save the trading partners. Few unknown merchants passed through the village and when one did, they were always kept under the watchful eye of the elite Holy Guard, led by Drayco’s father, Dragonus. There was a small mercenary army that protected the city, one hundred men strong and led by the Holy Guard. There was a busy town square, but unlike most cities the church was not located in it. A bustling market with stands and shops adorned the square. The church in the town was a glorious white stone building with large, heavy doors. In the towns early days it served as a stronghold against attack. But time changed it into a place of worship.

Drayconis as a teen enjoyed his free time in the town. He would spend time with his friends, many who were also trainees for the Holy Guard, each showing a specialty that Drayco only wished to have. He trained with bows at the same time as Bezik and Saia. His sword training always was with his friend’s Norris, while Corideth mocked from the sidelines. Drayco never fought Corideth in the fighters preferred hand to hand, though he did pick up some of the older man’s moves. Though he lived the life of a normal teen after training. He preferred to fish and find places of the town he’d not seen before. Once he’d even seen Saia and her twin Sayio arguing about who Norris liked more. Drayco couldn’t help but mock them for a time afterwards, but it all stopped one day.

When Drayco turned nineteen he was accepted into the ranks of the Holy Guard. There were thirty members in total and the newest guard, Drayco, was joined by his friends the night of his acceptance. They all were accepted together and had been assigned as a team. Dragonus was getting older; gray had already taken control of his hair, but he still ran the Holy Guard. It was at the ceremony that the mock-royal family gave Dragonus complete control over the mercenaries, who had decided to take up the job as a noble army without the same pay.

Even though he was accepted to the Holy Guard, he still wanted to be a merchant. He’d always wanted to travel and he saw being a merchant as the best way. But the time never came, because after two months of roaming the streets of Mret he became enthralled with his position. He didn’t care about the respect, but the fact that some of the marketers and shop-owners tried to use him to find lost wares and even thieves that didn’t exist, just to earn some money.

It was that same year that he had asked the lovely Saia to marry him. They were set to wed the night of twentieth birthday.

The night Drayco turned twenty was the night his life changed. His father had come to him the night before and had said in a very cryptic manner to take Saia and leave the city. The night of his birthday he went to get Saia and Sayio to take them both from the town. He never made it to their home. Halfway there the Black Guard took him, which was another elite group that was run privately by Elonol Horm, the fake princess of the town.

He was thrown from the city and spent time there, instructed by the Black Guard to hunt down some bandits. He knew it was a plow, and he used a merchant as a screen to get back into the city. When he went to the barracks of the Holy Guard they had all been slaughtered. He searched the bodies and found only his fathers pendant, still hanging from his father’s neck, above a stab wound. He removed it just as three of the Black Guard came in.

Saia and Sayio were still alive when he escaped the capture of the guard. He left the town with only a sword, which he’d stolen from the corpse of a Black Guard member, his father’s pendant, and a new friend, a merchant.

Two months after he left he was informed they’d both been killed. He spent the next three years trying to find the person responsible for their death, which brought him Avalon and Tharkas city.

He blamed himself, and had taken quest after quest in hopes that one-day he would die. Until he came across his friend Norris…who’d he’d seen as a corpse. That day forward he has hunted and ended up killing the demonic versions of his friends, his love and her sister were his most recent victims, though he doubted any of them were truly dead.

Now his new urge to travel and leave the past behind him has brought him to a merchant’s paradise. He wonders if he’ll meet his merchant friend on the island of Rionolaithnu, though he isn’t sure…..

<To be continued>