The Ancients (Book#1)

Ch.1- Judgement

On a sunny day, in a place called Clover there lived a man who was as happy as he could be. He had a loving wife with two beautiful children. This man's name was Clay Hunter, and he was a very clever, determined, wise, and a brave man. Although he didn't see the tragedy ahead that soon came to take what was dear to him and it all started a mystical night in the Clover Forest.

It was a quiet night, you couldn't even hear the slightest cricket. Clay was walking through the forest like any other normal day in his life living with his family. He came to a stop after walking for about fifteen minutes down a forested path where you could see the grass growing in between the pebbles. The smell of freshness swept anyone away. He arrived at his usual training grounds, where he trained for three hours straight. Clay worked on his skills and his weapons strength. As clay was training he would try new things like swinging his sword to the left, then to the right, then down , then suddenly up. He was proud of his new technique he had just created but he knew it needed plenty of training to make it perfect. After all he was known as the great swordsman back in the capital.

As he was taking a rest after three hours of training his body and mind as well as his soul, he sat down on a bench he had made when he first came to this spot. The old oak from the bench was starting to splinter up so you could see the sap on the inside. Looking up at the sky he smiled and inhaled the fresh breeze that swept his hair over to the side a little. God how he loved the sky, how he loved the freedom. The air turned stale and Clay looked around noticing that the birds stopped chirping.Suddenly he heard a creak in the woods in front of him. He swept his head in front of him and stared at it, holding his gaze in front of him he slowly started turning away, but he thought he saw something, or was it a feeling of a stare. Clay got up and dropped his sword on the bench, his body wouldn't move. He stood there silent looking into the darker part of the forest in front of him. He met the gaze of two golden eyes. Two eyes that seemed like they've taken the lives of many that have met them. Clay stood there in fear, a fear that seemed he could not shake for the longest time, time that felt like it stopped forever.

Clay suddenly broke free of the gaze the he had met. It vanished within a blink of an eye. Looking around startled by the eyes, Clay soon started to hear the birds panic. Turning around he then saw a group of birds fly from the trees. All of a sudden he heard the blazing flames arose from where his home was, where his children were, where his wife was. His mind was full of thoughts that seemed to think of the worst possibilities. Clay picked up his sword in a second and ran towards the flames with extreme agility. Jumping over fallen trees, running through the muddy swamp, listening, he then heard screams. His eyes began to fill with tears, tears of grief and worry started flowing down his face when he saw his home on fire. His breath caught, his legs not wanting to move forward.He looked down onto the floor seeing heavily imprinted footsteps on the ground leading to the front of the house, he exhaled heavily in fear, he followed the footprints and stopped as he saw blood on the ground. As he looked up he saw his wife's necklace on a rock, fear ran through his veins, picking up the necklace Clay looked around for his wife in panic, the worst fear and worry any man has ever felt coursing its way into his heart. Instead what he found was a soldier, a  soldier wearing all black. The soldier stood there, with silver and black armor shining in the fire light. Clay looked at the soldier following his arms, the soldier was holding his wife in his hands by her neck. She was already dead, as Clay noticed the blood running down her cold pale body to the ground as a dagger was in her stomach and her throat was slit open. Clay just stood there with tears running down his face. His heart feeling as if it was going to explode with pain. Then he looked to the left, another soldier was standing there and what he saw made him wish he didn't see it. The soldier was wiping blood off of his sword, he then put it away and set a stack of bodies on fire. Clay looked down to where the soldiers feet were. His children's heads laid on the ground burned and cut with a symbol, their eyes bleeding, showing fear, agony, pain on their pale faces. His heart broke into pieces, Clay yelled out “NO!!!!”, in agony, he then fell to his knees dropping his sword to the ground full of blood. Looking at the soldiers he then saw one of them turn to face him, they were startled but firm as the one wearing all black grinned. He was wearing a mask, covered in blood and silver. Clay held out his wife's necklace in his hand, he then dropped his gaze at the soldier to the necklace and began to cry tears of grief, loneliness, and sorrow.