Thunder was released early from his council duties and he laid on the ground staring at the sky. I remember that he had a thing for clouds, for some reason. He loved watching them float by, all lazy-like. I was swinging a sword, trying to check if the balance was right.

I’m sorry, a sword? I thought you were a blacksmith.

Don’t interrupt, I’m getting to it.

I apologize.

The King of Zel’hitia had asked all blacksmiths across the kingdom to start making swords to boost the weaponry of the kingdom’s armies. My father and I thought it was a weird request, seeing as there should be plenty of weapon smiths in the kingdom’s capital, Goliad. But regardless of what we thought, we submitted to the king’s request and started making swords. I remember they were very crude weapons. We were simply not trained for this type of work. My father allowed me to take one of the swords, if only to swing it around and test the balance. It was that sword that I was carrying with me when I met up with Thunder.

So back to my story. Thunder and I were catching up on the hill, me swinging the sword and Thunder looking at the sky. I remember that we were discussing what our plans would be when we reached the age of maturity. Thunder told me that he would probably just stay with his family and help his father with the inn. When he asked me about my plans, I reminded him that I was thinking of joining the military, if only to offer my blacksmith skills. He was sad at that, I could tell. Admittedly, I kind of felt the same way. If I left to join the military, there was no telling when I would see him or my family again. We both got kind of sad from that thought and fell silent for a while. Thunder then broke the silence by laughing out loud, pointing out the fact that the sword I was carrying looked very crude and that I looked like an ape as I swung the weapon. Joining the military might be a terrible decision, he joked.

He roared with laughter and I moved to deal him a punch or two. Luckily, for him anyways, I was interrupted. I probably could have given him a few bruises if it wasn’t for the redhead running up the hill. Thunder immediately stopped laughing and got real nervous. Now it was my turn to chuckle, and he shot me a dark look. Trianna Lobeck was the name of this particular women. She was the daughter of Frederik Lobeck, a professor that had been sent to the city from the capital many years earlier. Thunder practically fell in love at first sight, but worked hard to hide it. I personally felt that he failed in that regard, but that’s probably because I could read him like a book.

Trianna finally reached us, hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath. I shot some googly eyes at Thunder, who only glared harder at me. When her breathing finally normalized, she stood up and looked at us. Thunder’s face immediately changed to careful relaxation. I fought hard to hold back my laughter.

“Have you heard of the strangers that arrived at Westfall today?”

Thunder and I looked at each other in confusion and told her that we hadn’t.

“These two men walked into the city, headed straight for the inn, and the older one announced that he had a warning that needed to be given to anyone that would listen”, she told us. “He said he would make his announcement just before the sun set, to anyone that would listen.”

She informed us that the duo was waiting at Thunder’s inn. When they were asked for a name, the older man gave the name of “Prophet”. The younger man didn’t speak at all, but simply kept his eyes down. No-one had seen them before, and the city was buzzing with curiosity. The sun was getting lower in the sky at this point, so we agreed to see what he had to say.