Prologue
The wind was bashing against the steep cliffs, rain pouring down, finding its way into a cleft in the cliffs where a baby was crying.
Chapter 1
"Wake up Jake," Jim said, shaking him roughly. "It's seven thirty, you were supposed to feed the pigs and hens an hour ago! "What?" Jake said sleepily.
"You're such a lazy boy, always sleeping in! Me and my wife, we took you in as a small child when your mother died, and we feed you and give you a place to sleep, and all you can do to repay us is sleep in," Jim said, almost shouting now.
Huh, thanks, Jake thought angrily, I eat the pigs leftovers, do all the work 'round here, and I sleep in the barn. But Jake didn't dare say that. It was true that Jim had found him as a baby in the high cliffs when Jim was sheltering from the rain; and if Jim kicked him out he'd have nowhere to go. Jake had never even been outside of the farm fence.
-•-
It was two in the afternoon and it was finally starting to cool down after Jake had been in the burning hot sun all day. He was used to it though, as he always had to work outside. He was at the front gate, sweeping the leaves off the path, when walking up the trail leading to the gate was a very peculiar looking person. He looked very small, until Jake realised he was hunched up. He had long skinny legs and short stubby arms. Wrapped around him was a big cloak that was bright green and he was wearing brown clothes. On his head was a pointy brown hat. His eyes were a deep brown with green specks and his hair was bright green.
-•-
The man walked up to Jake. "Good morning young Jake, how are you?"
"Um, good thanks,"Jake said."Not to be rude sir, but who are you and how do you know my name?"
"I'm Olin, Earth wizard, and I know who you are because you are the child of prophecy!" The wizard said.
-•-
Now Jake was really puzzled. "What are you talking about?" Jake said.
"The prophecy of white fire! The prophecy said there would be a boy born with purple hair and eyes that were two different colors. It was foreseen by the great King John, controller of all elements, that one day the kingdom of Argithia would be plunged into darkness, and that day was two years ago when the evil Necromaner Evescene took over, sucking all the life out of our king. Now ghosts and demons regularly patrol the city, and everyone hides away in fear of her. But, it was foreseen that when the boy reached the age of
thirteen, as it is your birthday today, that he would need to be trained in the art of wizardry, but not just any wizardry, the ancient and very rare art of dragonessence. There hasn't been a dragonesser in two hundred years! It is said they can speak to dragons, and that you can harness their white fire powers, and that is what can destroy Evescene!"
Jake sat there listening, gobsmacked. "Let me go get my guardian."
Chapter 2
Thirty minutes later Jim and Olin were sitting at the dining table talking. "You can't have him!" Jim said. "He's my best worker on the farm!"
"I'm your only worker," Jake muttered under his breath.
"But he's the child of prophecy," Olin said.
"I don't care if he's the blooming king of Argithia, you can't have him!" Yelled Jim.
"You don't own me!" Jake yelled back.
"Now lets all just calm down," Olin said diplomatically. Olin turned to Jim. "I can offer you a large sum of money! Name your price."
"Read my lips wizard, N...O," Jim said slowly.
"Fine," Olin said, teeth clenched. He stood up, wrapped his cloak around him, and marched out, slamming the door behind him.
-•-
"Wait," Jake yelled, running after Olin.
"Come back here now boy," Jim yelled, but Jake just ignored him. He caught up to Olin and said, "I'm coming with you."
"Great," said Olin.
"Uh oh, here comes Jim," said Jake.
But Olin wasn't listening. He had his eyes closed, saying strange things. Suddenly strange gooey liquid came out of the ground. Jim accidentally stepped in it and it hardened around his feet. Jim roared. "How did you do that?" Jake asked Olin.
"I'm an earth wizard," said Olin. And then they set off on the journey of a lifetime.
Chapter 3
"Are we there yet?" Asked Jake for the tenth time.
"We've only been walking for half an hour!" Olin replied. Jake lapsed back into silence, his head down. Then he realized the ground where they were walking was filled with beautiful flowers. He looked up around him and saw that there was more vegetation and trees surrounding them as they walked forward. We must be close, he thought. That's when ahead he saw a magnificent thing.
-•-
"Wow," Jake breathed.
"It's quite magnificent isn't it," Olin said with a smile. "You're looking at the hollow of Earthessence, the main source of power for all Earth wizards." And it was truly amazing, as the sun was setting fireflies lit up everything, and four of the biggest trees Jake had ever seen formed a diamond shape, connected by many pathways running from all the branches of the trees. Up in the branches were hundreds of house built on three of the trees. Jake thought they looked like a treehouse he'd seen in a book once. But the really amazing thing was on the biggest tree that was closest to Olin and Jake. There was a hall made entirely of vines and plants. Flowers were growing all over the vines. There were lots of people who looked like Olin walking in and out. They would walk up to the hall and the vines would create a small doorway and they would walk in. To get up the trees people would get into a wooden barrel and tug two ropes connected to the barrels, and then the ropes would pull them up. To get down though was all Jake was looking at. There was lots of slides winding down around the tree. It was the most amazing thing Jake had ever seen.
-•-
The puller (that's what Jake decided to call them) was surprisingly fast in pulling Jake and Olin up, and now they were standing in front of the vine hall. Jake started to walk up to it but Olin grabbed his arm. "We're going this way," he said.
"Ok." Jake and Olin walked around the back of the hall. They were walking close to the edge when Jake suddenly slipped. "Jake,"Olin yelled.
-•-
Jake shut his eyes and braced himself, expecting to slam into the ground when he felt a jerking sensation. He looked up and saw Olin with his eyes closed, saying something under his breath while a vine wrapped around Jake's foot pulled Jake up to Olin. "Well that was a close one," Olin said, wiping his face.
"How did you do that?" Jake asked again.
"I told you, I'm an Earth wizard," Olin said, as if that explained everything. Jake was very quiet after that. He seemed like he was still in shock. Olin kept walking around the tree, this time holding Jake's hand. When the got around the back, Olin brushed some moss away to reveal a trapdoor. He beckoned to Jake, and then climbed down. They were inside of the tree. They walked down a corridor and into a small room.
-•-
The room was in a circular shape and was lit up by lanterns hanging. The were three old people sitting in ornately carved wooden thrones. Olin was down on one knee, so Jake decided to do the same. "Rise dragonesser and Olin," said the lady in the middle. "I am Deborah, and this is Steven and Hal," she said, pointing to the men either side of her.
