The Dou-Jin Apprentice of Monsters and Men In the Beginning

Chapter 1 The Chosen One

Chapter 1

The Chosen One

The late afternoon spring heavy laden clouds hung heavy in the sky after the afternoons monsoon had hit that day leaving the day dreadfully sultry. People stood doing nothing were even sweating without exerting any energy. Even though it was near the beginning of spring it felt more like mid-summer. The day was near the upper eighties to low nineties.

A tall fourteen year old Zepherion boy named Stephanous Dragonsbane, human in all appearances just much larger. He was about a foot taller than the average human male child of fourteen and six inches taller than the average Zepher young boy of his age which made him about six and a half feet tall. He was quite handsome as was common among zepherion men and women, but Stephanous had even more than his share of good looks. He had short spiky snow white hair, he had violet colored eyes that all the girls in Dallon loved and admired, and he had well developed muscle definition for a young man who was covered with sweat.

Sweat streamed down through his hair and over his chest and back soaking the waistband of his trousers. He was chopping wood even though there appeared to be no need for wood. Since the beginning of summer had set on in the beginning of spring.

All the girls in Dallon swooned over Stephanous whenever he came into town to buy whatever was needed for the farm, but Stephanous was oblivious to all the gawking and stares of the girls. He never noticed them cupping their hands over one another's ears and whispering about how much they admired him, he never noticed them leaning on their elbows just staring at him, and he never noticed anything about the girls even girl nearly six years older noticed him. He thought that some of the girls were pretty and even liked one or two of them at the school, but he never talked to them because he was too bashful and he didn't think that they liked him anyway. After all he was a dirt poor farm kid and he had ragged clothes compared to the village kids and nothing to offer the girls at school in the way of flowers or anything.

Stephanous was a hard dedicated worker. If someone in town gave him silver to go buy something he got it as fast as he could and gave them the proper change back not keeping any for himself like some of the other kids did. He had an apprentice job with the blacksmith in town and he was always to work on time and he never left work early unless the blacksmith let him go.

Girls would have to be shooed away from the smithy from watching Stephanous work, but Stephanous was too focused on his work to even notice them. The blacksmith use to kid him about the girls, but whenever Stephanous glanced around there were never any girls, so he figured the blacksmith was just pulling his chain for fun.

When his mother sent him to do a task he got right on it and got it done and was onto the next task, unlike his brothers and sister who never did anything without being told several times or being threatened with a spanking with a switch. He was Mr. Goody-two-shoe to his siblings, to his face and behind his back.

Stephanous was working on chopping wood. He methodically chopped and stacked, chopped and stacked without even thinking about what he was doing. Chop and stack chop and stack; it was all second nature to him. Chop and stack, his mind numbly wandered from one of the village girls name Veronica. She was a beautiful raven haired girl with soft curling black hair and the softest face in the world. Stephanous knew he'd never have a chance with a girl like that. She was too pretty and nice for him. Chop stack, the swimming hole that was about a hundred yards from the house where he went and chased frogs and fished. Chop and stack, and so his mind went on wandering from one thing to another.

Even the nights were warm in the country of Zepher. Zepher was a fairly rugged country, but it did have spots of good farmland in the river areas which was where Stephanous lived. The rest of Zepher was rocky and dirty for its terrain. It was mostly desert country except for the valley oasis's that followed the three rivers. The Humbug, Boulderado, and the Walking River were the main rivers but there were other small creeks and streams that ran through the Zepherion lands that allowed farmers to grown family crops and water cattle and livestock.

Stephanous's mother was named Inger was a six foot nine woman with golden

blonde hair pulled back bound into a wrist thick braid that hung down to her waist. She leaned on her hoe as she gazed at her children admiring them. They made her life worth living.

Stephanous's thirteen year old brother Chester who was a foot shorter that Stephanous had flaming crimson hair that hung down to his shoulders and his face was full of freckles it was hard to tell if their was more tan to his face or freckles. He was chasing a butterfly with his hoe until Inger told him to get back to work and to stop goofing off.

Chester worked in the five acre garden with Cameron pulling out weeds that poked through the soil. With the recent rain it made pulling the weeds a lot easier. Even though they were young they had done the job many times before with his mother and older brother and could tell a vegetable plant from a weed. They had been doing the chore for many years. If they couldn't tell a carrot sprout from a weed then they had no business eating at the dinner table.

Stephanous's second brother was twelve years old and was named Cameron. Cameron was six inches shorter than Chester and had bright orange hair. Cameron was picking his nose and looking at his boogers. He could help but wonder how they formed in his nose before wiping the crusty thing on his pant and started digging for another one. Then Inger had to get onto him about hoeing weeds in the garden as well.

The young boys were covered in dirty muddy soil, despite their special shoes, though as they weren't exactly the most organized or cleanly about the task. It was extremely hard to tell where the boys ended and the garden began.

Last in the family was the boys' half-sister Debreila who was eleven years old and was average height for a human child of eleven as she was half human. She didn't have the height of the Zepher people but she held their beauty with elegance and perfection.

Stephanous's father had died when he was three by an attack of a saber-toothed tiger while defending the livestock. Stephanous's father was carried off and eaten while the livestock was left alone.

Shortly thereafter their mother was raped by human and zepher raiders on the farm that came to rustle livestock. Inger had tried to fight the men off, but there were twelve of them and she was all alone.

With the livestock gone the town refused to help find the rustlers because Inger hadn't fought the raiders off, but Inger had brothers and brother-in-laws on both sides of the family and they did find the rustlers and the livestock. The rustlers were skinned alive and their skins displayed outside the farm to scare off any other raiders from trying to steal from the farm.

Inger had become pregnant with Debreila and she brought her to term and took care of her instead of leaving her to die in the wild as was the custom the Zepherion people. The village banished her and her daughter Debreila from ever coming into the village for goods, so it was up to her sons and extended family to do all the shopping for her.

The young mother worked in the muddy garden. They wore special shoes that were built on dowels that kept their feet out of the mud while they hoed weeds. The chores of feeding the cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs had been completed for the day and the evening milk wasn't due for a few hours. She kept a close eye on her children like a mother hen. Her children were her life and she didn't know what she would do without them.

Debreila hung clothes on the clothes line. The young girl had golden hair and had golden eyes which set her apart from everyone. Golden eyes were a mark of true utter beauty to all the zepher, but since she was a bastard child she was overlooked by the village. Otherwise the village would have honored her greatly and young boys who would have been betrothed to her the mother picking the richest and most worthy, which meant royalty.

Debreila had gotten bored and was now walking around the yard with a sheet over her head pretending to be a ghost. She chased the chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. That is until Inger told her to get back to work hanging clothes.