BLADES AND BONES

Chapter 1: Hellish Origins

The putrid scent of decaying corpses, piles of human flesh. A mountainous pile of about four to five feet high and some carcasses, mutilated body parts, are scattered on the dead plain. No one would dare stay close to an utter disgust. For a curse is upon the town, the village and the whole country of Azdamar, the forgotten place where only a few venture bravely but was never known to return home. Its quite the puzzle where and when the origin of the mysterious deaths started. Some folks near the border said that they've seen beasts wandering at night. Some said it was the doing of a Soul Reaper. But as the years passed, the more the country became a threat. It has affected villages across the neighboring countries. Less and less stories were reported about the incident. There's no one left to tell the tale. Until, an unlikely visitor arrives...

Set in the dark ages where medieval age clash with Victorian era, many remained to be aspiring knights and train in the king's spacious farm anyone would mistake its a forest with a wooden fence surrounding it. Still, there are small houses built for workers and squires to live in. Not far from those quarters is the stable where horses, cows, lambs and goats are kept. A farmer was on his way to feed the animals. The main characteristics of the man: gray-eyed, on his early forties, tall, with poorly shaven chin and dishevelled pale blond hair parted on the left side. Usually wearing two layers of cotton-made clothes of different lengths of sleeves in earthly colors and dark greenish-brown pants to protect his abnormally sensitive white skin, matched with a wide-brimmed brown hat and knee high soiled boots. He carried two buckets of water full. The weight of the burden was nothing for a man with a burly upper body and agile pair of legs enough to support heavy things. He was called 'Kesk', the albino farmer. Not a soul knows where he came from. Neither Kesk himself. What everybody knows is that he has been working for a long time under different kings. Raised by farmers without parents. His case wasn't unusual. There were many of them who came from unknown origins but, they're lucky to find work ever since the reign of the kind King Julio Trazavan up to the present, King Pejulo Trazavan. For decades, the Trazavan ruled the country San Tima, a far country southeast of Azdamar. Kesk has always admired the Trazavan family thereby serving them wholeheartedly. He even earned their loyalty among the many workers in the San Tima castle. His service surpassed the common tasks of a farmer but never breaking the laws. The man had a particular interest. He collects broken things and fixes them, remodelling it into a new machine. Obsessed with tinkering. Indeed, he could invent. It was his passion. In a dark age, it comes to a surprise, so rare, a genius in a country. Anyone as wise as him either gets killed by envious people or get dragged by madness, eventually sucked by darkness and never seen again. Regardless, he was one of the gifted people safely living in the place. With his genuine love for the family, the King offered a promotion as his right hand. The albino was too humble to take it. Saying it was not appropriate for a farmer to be above the ranks of knights and advisers suchlike because he was afraid of attracting too much attention that could destroy him later. He often treated himself as a mere peasant. Nothing more. The King let him be until he finds another way to lift his position in a more proper way which seemed acceptable to Kesk. And not for long, another opportunity arrived. King Pejulo Trazavan arranged a marriage to his twenty-six year old daughter, Yureka, but Kesk disapproved saying it wasn't right to rush things such as marrying the young adult woman despite the obvious admiration of the lady to the farmer. Yes, the king does not mind the gap of age and wealth between two persons but he totally understood why the man refused. A day after the proposal of marriage, Kesk was back to his duties. After he was done feeding the domestic creatures, before mid-day, he would water the crops and vegetables. That was his daily plan. Today, however, he noticed something odd in the stable. He also counts the animals on breakfast time and at night before sleeping. One of the horses were missing. He counted again thinking it was a minor miscalculation yet, the numbers didn't add to twenty-eight which was the actual number of horses kept in the stable last night according to his counting. Whereby, only a dozen were commonly used by knights for their patrolling duties around the castle everyday and the albino saw those horses tethered on the fence while their masters ate morning food. The farmers do the monitoring of animals especially Kesk who does it diligently which is no wonder that he could quickly tell if they were incomplete. Knights and anyone who wanted to borrow a horse had to ask the farmers or the king first. But, nobody asked him yet. The primary thing he thought was that the princess borrowed the horse for an equestrian adventure around the farm. He tucked worry inside his gut for the while and began looking for the missing animal. The blond picked the fastest horse colored dark brown which he named Luis. Galloping pass the big, tall woods into the deepest parts of the forest. He shouted the princess's name several times.