The Valors

Chapter 1: The Guilding (Cadmar)

I woke up on the most important day of my life, and jumped out of bed and put on my best tunic, with a gold sash and dark pants. Then I scoffed down a quick breakfast and went to wake my dad up.My dad got out of bed and saddled our horse Clover and surprised me by letting me ride while he led Clover through the quiet morning streets to the castle. When we arrived I was starting to feel nervous despite my outward appearance of great impatience. I tied up Clover, and made towards the main gate. At the gate my dad wished me luck and told me I might be the youngest of seven but that didn't make all right to slack off telling me that I was going to get the best guild mates, but no pressure or anything. I took a deep breath and walked into the main hall where I was awed by the sheer size of the room, I'd seen the castle from the market place in the main square, I'd even waited outside for my parents to come out of all city meetings between the guilds, but I had always imagined the room as much smaller.

I walked to the back of a line of waiting kids, all in their best clothes. While I waited I pretended I was going to be allowed to choose my guildmates and looked around the crowd for people I would choose. There was a girl with bright blue eyes doing the same in front of me and I liked the determination in her eyes. The other kids I noticed were all looking away from me and I find it hard to judge someone without looking at their eyes.

A gong sounded and everyone fell silent, some of the adults stepping to the front of the stage. Then Jayden Battle stepped forward and addressed us.

"Decided and Undecided, All of you here are here for a reason, you are here to learn the ways of the world, to become proficient at magic, to have fun, and most importantly to build friendships. You are here to make your guild which may one-day help rule the free city of Vallen." his words called to me and I could see it called others as well because we leaned forward to hear more. "Our great city was founded by our first king, Vallen Gold he formed the first guild and each of his guildmates went on to form one of the sectors of the council, these sectors still stand today and each and every one of you and your guilds will join one of these sectors after your three years of training, in these years you will grow and develop your skills becoming an essential part of our city" "Renleor will now call the names of the five children who have been selected from dozens of teachers recommendations, who will choose the others to join them in their guilds to start with though they may not necessarily stay as the leader once the guilds have formed." I could sense the impatience and tension growing at this sentence and I couldn't help leaning even further forward in excitement. Renleor a short yet stout and hardened warrior walked to the front of the stage and proclaimed

"Willow Forestglade" He paused and waited as she walked up to the stage and the continued

"Galen Sliver" He smiled and joined Willow at the front

"Aeleis Shade" He sprinted up the steps and almost crashed into Galen

"Fireylor Spiritflame" They gracefully strode forward

"Cadmar Legend"

I jerked to attention confused, but my best friend, Eldar, prodded me in the back and I bounded up to the stage and stood to attention like the others. Then from the front of the line to me, people started to call one name each of the people they wanted in their Guild. I knew that the Guilding would probably be the most important day of my life thus far and when it came to my turn to choose, I chose Eldar. I asked for Fife Summer but he declined and instead I chose the elf girl I had noticed earlier. My next decision was the young noble in the dark cloak, after that, I chose the alchemist's daughter, as our final member to make up the five.

Then we were all taken to the training meadows and shown our meadow. Jayden Battle was to be our instructor for the next 3 years and he told us that we had the next hour to ourselves and then we had to come and tell him our Guild name and our Guild leader. We went to our assigned meadow taking in the path of moss and the blanket of leaves covering the forest floor. I glanced around noticing mostly oak, elm, willow and rowan trees. We got to our meadow and I asked

"Who do you guys think our leader should be?"

"You!" said Eldar as if stating the most obvious thing in the world, with an eye-roll.

"I might've been the one to choose you guys, but that doesn't mean I'll be the best leader, like Jayden said before"

"No, you're a natural leader Cadmar, think about all the times you take the lead in anything you do" said Eldar and he nudged me with his elbow, laughing, I laughed too and everyone else joined in. I was glad that none of my guildmates seemed to have bad blood between them but I was still nervous about everyone being friends with one another.

"Ok, guys, we need to decide on a name now, how about we each suggest something and then agree on the best name"

"Ok, good idea, My suggestion is "The Heroes" answered Eldar, quick to support me, I gave him a quick nod showing my appreciation and he grinned back.

"OrbLighters?," asked the sky elf girl

"Would 'The StormChasers' " work?" suggested the alchemist's daughter

"Is "The Bravehearts" okay?" I asked

"Valorous," Said the young noble

"Let's put in to vote," I told them. The decision was unanimous, we were the Valors. Since we still had a while before we had to go, I got everyone to introduce themselves and some things they are good at. The noble said that they were good at climbing and claimed to be the fastest kid in Vallen, their name is Luca and their preferred pronouns are they and them. The alchemist's daughter likes to make potions and enjoys baking, her name is Valera. Audra, The Sky elf loves archery. Eldar told us that he loves riding dragons and he couldn't stop making things, which I already knew but it was helpful for the others. I told everyone that I liked sword fighting and had done lots of practice.

With that out of the way, we went back to the main meadow and told Jayden our Guild name and leader.

"Good job, you can all go home and rest, it's been a long day, be ready to report here at sunrise with your stuff. You have an even longer day tomorrow, you'll all want a good long sleep, trust me" he said this and I nodded, already walking back to the city with my new friends.