The Forgotten World

The Forgotten World - Part 2

The next day Grandma Peggy told the village about her newly adopted son. They were all surprised, as one will understand such an event is not normal and had never occurred in Yayman before. Never the less, the baby boy was accepted by the community with open arms.

Having decided to raise the child herself, Grandma Peggy named the baby boy Alex, after the founder of Yayman itself, Alexander.

Alex grew into an energetic and bright young boy. However Alex possessed one unusual feature. His red hair marked him out as 'weirdo' amongst the children his age.

The kids would look at his hair and give him a weird look, sometimes continuing on to ridicule him. A boy by the name of Jim once even started a fight with Alex and Jim regretted that decision severely. From then one, the other children stopped ridiculing him… to his face that is.

Alex was able to make a friend though, and a great one at that.

Michelle was just as energetic and bright as Alex. Also capable of putting up a good fight with most boys and girls her age but like Alex, won't be the one to provoke it. She overlooked Alex's red hair and saw him as who he truly was on the inside.

The duo began spending time together from a young age. The longer the two spent time in each-others company and the more they came to like each other. They played, joked, worked and learnt together.

Over the years, the two became inseparable.

At the age of 15, both Alex and Michelle could've been mistaken for twins. They were both a little over 5 feet tall, had long hair, a light complexion and were slim built. The most apparent differences were that Alex had red hair instead of blonde, brown eyes instead of blue and the obvious differences between boy and girl.

In Yayman, it was custom to teach children how to tend to the farm from the age of 10. When they reached the age of 15, they were also taught how to hunt and defend them self with man-made weapons.

A few miles east of Yayman, past the acres of grass surrounding the village, were far spreading woods.

Deep within this home to both predator and prey laid a small meadow, hundred feet wide and open to the sky. It is here where Alex and Michelle are taking their weekly sparring lesson. And it is here where our story truly begins.

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"Take this!" Ales challenged as he arced his wooden sword at Michelle.

"Too slow," she replied. She brought her shield round to intercept his sword. Using her momentum, she stepped forward and twirled, her sword swinging out towards Alex.

Alex saw her motive and jumped back, out of range of her sword. He brought his shield out in front of him, prepared for another strike.

'It ain't gonna be that easy" Alex reminded Michelle. She had a frown on her face, clearly disappointed.

"I know" she sighed. Her smile returned and she took on a stance, ready to strike. Alex followed suit, and their swords clashed.

They exchanged more blows for the next hour, fainting strikes and parrying when needed. Again and again both tried to get the upper hand, so they could end the days sparring class with a successful hit to any vital points on the body and claim victory. They panted with every swing of their sword and breathed heavily from exhaustion but they didn't hold back. Neither planned on letting the other win.

Soon enough, Alex messed up. Attempting to dodge, Alex stumbled backwards and fell. Taking the opportunity to her advantage, Michelle pounced on Alex before he could move. With her left arm across resting on Alex’s torso, she held her sword to his throat.