Merlesh

Chapter 1 - A Servant Turned Prodigy

     It was a dark and stormy night. The sounds of thunder echoed throughout the town as lightning filled the sky with bright light, revealing a young child sitting in front of a gate. This child was none other than Merlesh. Merlesh was just abandoned by his father and left there with nothing but his own name and a book filled with scribbles. A few moments later the guards were doing their normal patrol around the castle walls despite the storm. Merlesh could hear the sound of clanging armor and two men talking amongst themselves. Frightened and alone Merlesh scrambled to run away but slipped and fell on the ground letting out a loud groan from the pain. Alerted to the noise the guards quickly ran over to find a child on the ground grabbing at his knee that was bleeding. Angrily the guards opened the gate and grabbed the boy by the arms lifting him off his feet towards the castle.

     As the guards arrived to the main entrance of the castle's interior they threw the boy onto the ground holding tightly at his shoulder as to not let him escape. The guard slammed his fist covered in armor on the door, knocking on it. As it opened a servant woman opened the door only to have the young Merlesh shoved at her feet. "Keep your little friends under a lock and key next time or it will be off with his head!" One of the guards shouted. Not realizing what was happening the woman immediately got onto her knees and bowed thanking the guards for the thoughtfulness. Once the guards had left she quickly shut the door and grabbed Merlesh by his arm pulling at him, "Don't you ever go out on your own again! I mean really come on! Trying to leave this castle when the wonderful Amberford's have given us everything you would ever need! A bed, a roof, food, water, safet-" As she goes to look at the child she realizes it is not who she thought it was and is in fact a stranger to her eyes.  Quickly she ran with the boy into the servants quarters below the castle shutting and locking the door behind her. "Who are you boy!?" the servant had yelled at him while shaking him by his shoulders. "My name is Merlesh!" The boy shouted back as he shoved the woman away from him. The woman's face grew bright red with anger. "Well 'Merlesh' what are you doing here in his masters' castle!". Merlesh just looked around backing up into the wall and holding onto his book his father left him. The woman quickly snatched the book away from the young Merlesh's hands only to open and see it was filled with nothing but scribbles. "This book doesn't even say anything!" The woman shouted only to put the book down and see how truly frightened and confused Merlesh was. Quickly she calmed down and sat next to Merlesh on the ground and handed him back his book asking him, "So Merlesh, how old are you?" Reluctantly Merlesh said "Thirteen." "Do you know where you are? Who brought you here?" she asked. Merlesh replied "I don't know....my father left me here...." The woman's face glowed red with anger once again "REALLY!? WHAT KIND OF IDIOT WOULD ABANDON HIS OWN SON HERE!?" she shouted at the top of her lungs attracting the attention of the other servant women. "Maria what on earth are you screaming for!?" one of the women shouted as 2 more girls came form the other room. "The guards brought me this boy from outside thinking he was a runaway servant! His own father left him here during this crazy storm!". The other women gasped as they went to bring the boy a blanket to warm up with.

     After some time had passed Merlesh fell asleep wrapped up in his blankets. "Well don't just leave him on the ground Maria, we have extra beds, lets put him in one." Lenora had said. Maria nodded and agreed with her and they took him to a bed for him to have a good nights rest. As nightfall passed and morning dawned the boy was awakened to a shadowy figure standing over him. "HEY WAKE UP!!!" The little girl shouted. Merlesh woke up in pure fear and fell off the bed the opposite side of the girl. Merlesh went to hold his knew which was previously injured after falling while trying to run away from the guards but noticed there was a bandage on it. "Yea I did that for you! My name is Alexis! Its nice to meet you!." She shouted as she put her hand out to shake Merlesh's. "M-My name is Merlesh, nice to meet you to?" Merlesh quietly said as he reached his hand out to shake hers. She immediately grabbed it and began shaking vigorously. She noticed Merlesh's discomfort in his face and she had a good laugh out of it before stopping. "You're the kid they found outside in the storm huh?" Alexis had asked him. Merlesh simply nodded in agreement with her. As Merlesh went to get up out of his bed Maria walked into the room telling Merlesh to get up that it was time to be a proper servant to Mr. Amberford. As she dressed him in a proper servants attire he and Alexis both followed Maria to Mr. Amberford's quarters to see what he required to be done for the day. After walking for what seemed like forever to Merlesh they finally reached Master Amberford's quarters they were greeted by a highly extravagant doorway cascaded in elvish engravings. As Merlesh was stunned by the purity of the door in its design Maria went to knock. Before she could even lay a hand on the door to knock they heard "Come in! It's open!". Maria let out a smile and looked at Merlesh as he displayed a very confused look wondering how the man knew they were there. Maria began opening the door to reveal papers scattered all over the floor everywhere along with opened books. "Master you really mustn't make such a mess!" Maria said as she went to pick up the papers and books gesturing for Alexis and Merlesh to help her. "I truly am sorry Maria, I was just on the verge of creating something new. A new magic something that will change everything." As Master Amberford finished his sentence he began to turn around and noticed Merlesh. "Young man are you new here? What's your name?" Master Amberford said. Merlesh sweating out of pure nervousness sporadically said "Yes sir! My name is M-Merlesh!". "What is your last name young man?" Amberford questioned while kneeling in front of him to look him in the eye. "I'm not sure what my last name is sir. My parents never told me." Merlesh replied. As Amberford focused deeper into Merlesh's eyes he envisioned a galaxy expanding beyond comprehension. Taken aback by this vision Amberford fell backwards on his behind. "Master Amberford are you okay!?" Maria yelled as she quickly ran over to help him up. "Yes I'm fine I just need to get some rest, I've been up all night reading over my notes. You all may retire for the day as I rest. I appreciate the help very much. As they walked out of his room and down the stairways he went to his door and told one of the guards to keep an eye on Merlesh for the time being. The guard simply nodded and began trailing the three from a ways behind. 

     "So what will we do now Maria?" Alexis asked. "We can return to the quarters and rest for the work the Master will require soon enough." Maria said. As they returned back Merlesh laid back down in bed and thought about Amberford falling backwards after looking into his eyes. Thinking it was nothing Merlesh began resting and ended up falling asleep. Only to be woken up my Maria in a few hours. "Merlesh wake up boy! The guards are here to take you to Master Amberford! You must be dressed properly and show respect!" she screamed. Merlesh got up quickly and began getting dressed and cleaning his face. After a few seconds he ran outside the door only to be stopped by a guard who told Merlesh to follow him. As they reached the grand entrance he once saw previously the doors began opening on their own only to reveal Amberford and another man both sitting down at his table discussing the writing on a scroll. Amberford stands up and bows and greet the young Merlesh into his area. "Come Merlesh! We were just speaking about you. Please take a seat." Amberford said. Merlesh confused and nervous, quickly sat down in the chair offered to him. As he sat down Amberford handed him a glass filled with tea for him to drink. As soon as Merlesh reached out and grabbed the glass the engravings began glowing with a deep purple aura. Shocked Merlesh quickly set the glass down and looked at Amberford and his companion in shock. Amberford and the companion began smiling and laughing as they tapped their drinks together. Merlesh still confused and shocked "Master Amberford what was that?". After taking a big drink he looked at Merlesh and told him "When we first met I looked into your eyes, your soul. Inside I found a vast power hidden away. This power of course would be known as magic." Merlesh had a confused look on his face this whole time and as he went to speak up he was quickly cut off by Amberford again "You may be wondering what the aura on the glass was, yes? To put it simply it shows what element of magic your soul is most attuned to. Red would be for fire, Blue for water, Brown for earth and so on and so forth. However! Your aura glowed a dark purple which I am not familiar with. Herald, if you would be so kind as to get the boy a new set of clothes! For now young Merlesh you shall be my personal student. I will teach you everything I know to help you grow and prosper!" Amberford exclaimed with passion. Merlesh didn't have time to think about what had happened just now as Gerald began leading him to the closet to get him finer clothing. As Herald was pulling out different size shirts and pants and holding them up to Merlesh to see if they fit him or not, Merlesh looked back to Amberford who had a gleeful grin as he searched through multiple books attempting to understand the meaning behind the dark aura he has witnessed.