Chapter 2: 1
One thousand years passed since that day and a threat arose. A threat so bad it would make knights and assassins tremble. His name was Moar—an evil warlock. Many people believed Moar was a demon that had come to destroy all of humanity. Others believed he was there to rule over all of Daria. But no one truly knows what Moar wants. All people know is if you see undead walking around you'd best run. Because Moar is close by and he does not show any mercy.
" Wake up!" The Sergeant yelled slapping Rivers on the face.
Rivers jumped up with a yell.
" Ah! What was that for!" Rivers yelled rubbing his cheek. " I thought today we took a break from training!"
The Sergeant slapped him again. " Don't you yell at me, boy! And you clearly don't remember the meeting we had last night." He stood up straight. " The king has commanded all Remaining soldiers to meet in the training area. He... Well, you'll find out why when you get there." The sergeant turned and walked out of the room without looking back to see if Rivers got out of bed.
' Shoot I completely forgot we were supposed to wake up early today.' John thought. " Why do we have to have a meeting this early." He got up and out of bed. He looked at himself in the mirror. Then looked at the mark on his chest. " When am I going to unlock you?" He asked as if the mark could talk back.
John Rivers was born with his mark. As a kid, he heard great stories of casters who slew dragons and saved kingdoms. He knew he wanted to be just like those casters. So he joined the army hoping his power would be unlocked one day. He heard the only way to unlock your magical powers was through an act of heroism. He also heard it could be unlocked through a great act of kindness. He didn't know which was true.
John put on his shirt and shoes and then headed out the door. He walked down the hallway and into the dining room. He waved hello to Albert, the cook.
" Hello, Albert. What's for breakfast this morning?"
" Sergeant said no breakfast until the meetings are over," Albert said.
" Please Albert, you still owe me for getting those goblins out of the kitchen." Albert sighed.
" Don't tell anyone." He said pointing at John. He reached behind himself and pulled out a sandwich. " Hurry up and eat it before someone sees."
" Thank you, Albert," John said taking the sandwich. He quickly inhaled the sandwich as he headed out towards the training area.
All the other soldiers were there standing in straight rows. Standing in front of everyone were the sergeant and the general. And in front of them stood the king of Yokly. The general turned towards John.
" You're late!" He shouted.
" Sorry general!" John shouted back. " I was just having a pleasant dream about going on a date with your mother! A lovely woman she is!"
The general walked over to John and got in his face. The General, Roy Tinkit's face turned red as a tomato. " One hundred pushups now!" He yelled. John could tell the general wanted to punch him but wouldn't because the king was watching. John peeked behind the general and saw the king holding in a laugh.
It was well known that the king of Yokly has a good sense of humor. Roy turned around and walked back to his spot next to the sergeant.
John got down on his hands and started his one hundred pushups. Just as he reached pushup number ten, the king spoke.
" Hello, Soldiers! I hope you are all doing well! You are all wondering why I have gathered you all here! I understand today was a break from training! I am sorry I had to call you all at this time! As you all know the warlock Moar has not been seen for two whole months. He may be gone but his army of undead are still very much alive. I have a very important mission for you all! Moars' undead army has been wandering around getting into towns and blocking trade routes. Unfortunately, all of our trade routes have been blocked! I have sent all of our trained soldiers to clear most of the trade routes!"
Yokly was the newest kingdom of Daria only 57 years old. Because they were the youngest kingdom they had a tiny army of only 200 soldiers.
" I'm just going to skip to the end! I am sending you twenty-five soldiers to clear a trade route. I think two months of training will be enough to help you get through this fight! But because you only had two months' worth of training I'm going to send you to the area with the least amount of undead sightings just a day away from here! The supplies have already been packed! I hope you are ready men! This is where you prove yourselves! That is all!"
" Ra Ra!" The soldiers shouted! The king turned and walked towards the stables.
The general spoke up,
" Everyone say goodbye to your loved ones and prepare for the trip! We leave at first light! You are all dismissed!" The general and the sergeant turned and followed after the king.
" Get up, John." Said one soldier.
John got up off the sandy ground and patted his hands together to get the sand off.
" If he finds out I didn't complete my 100 pushups we're gonna be in so much trouble." Said, John.
" Don't worry about it. I doubt he'll find out." The soldier said.
" Whatever you say, Logan." John looked at the sky. " So this is it. Our first mission."
" It's gonna be an easy one." Said, Logan. " We just gotta re-kill a few zombies. It'll be a piece of cake."
" Yeah? I hope so." John said as he started to walk back towards the dining room.
"I'm starving! Can't wait to eat!" Logan said rubbing his stomach.
Later that morning John and Logan went into town. John was looking into a window at a pair of gold rings when Logan spoke up.
" Oh shoot!" Logan shouted.
" What is it?!" John said Turning from the rings to look at Logan. But it was nothing to worry about. Logan was tackled by a pair of big dogs. John recognized the dogs. Both had black fur with white ears. They were Molly and Jack, The Fer's family pets. John could never tell which was which but Logan had no problem telling them apart. John walked over to the dogs. They were licking Logan's face as if they were trying to lick it clean off.
" I missed you guys too!" Logan said patting the dogs. After a few minutes, the dogs calmed down and got off of Logan. " So where are Mom and Dad?" The dog's ears flopped down and they started to whimper. " You guys got out again? How many times have I told you to stop running away?" The dogs began to whimper even louder. Some people turned to look at the dogs. " Okay. Okay. Stop whining. Let's get you guys back home." Logan looked up at John. " I was gonna just wait till later to say goodbye to Mom and Dad but I guess we'll do it now." They began to walk toward the edge of town.
They made it to a small house at the edge of town.
" Home sweet home." Said, Logan. John turned to Logan
" I hope your mom doesn't freak out when you tell her where we're going tomorrow," John said.
" She'll probably be sad. But it's alright. It's just a few zombies. Not like we're taking on Moar himself." Logan turned towards the front door and knocked.
The door swung open to reveal a small round man in a red robe.
" Hey, Dad!" Yelled Logan wrapping his arms around his father, pulling him in and up off the ground in a fierce bear hug.
" Logan!" His father exclaimed. " What brings you home so soon!?" Logan put his father down.
" I have to tell both you and Mom at the same time. Okay?"
" Ok, son." Said Logan's dad. He turned to John. " John! How have you been?"
" I've been well Mister Fer."
" How many times have I told you, boy? Call me Percy." John looked at the ground and then looked back up at Percy.
" I'm sorry, Percy."
"That's more like it." Percy then noticed the two dogs trying to sneak in from around him. " Jack! Molly! Where have you two been!? We've been looking for you all morning! Back inside now!" He pointed inside the house and the dogs did as commanded. their ears flopping down in sadness. " Boys please come inside! We just made some bacon and eggs."
Stepping into the small home John looked around. It looked the same as when he left two months ago. There were a couple of chairs in front of a fireplace. And the kitchen was filled with food. The house was filled with the fresh smell of bacon.
" Kila!" Percy yelled.
" What!" Came a voice from the back of the house.
" Logan and John are here!" He yelled
" Here I come!" Yelled Kila. A small, slim woman came rushing out from a bedroom. Her hair was in a towel, and she was also in a red robe. She quickly ran over to Logan and wrapped her arms around him. " Logan! I've missed you so much! How are you? I hope they're treating you well at that training camp! If they're not I'll go right up there and give them a piece of my mind!"
" I'm okay, mom. And yes, they've been treating me well. Well… As well as you can get for a training camp."
Then Kila turned to John.
" How are you, John? I hope you haven't been causing trouble."
John and Logan glanced at each other.
" Nope. I haven't been in any trouble." John and Logan knew Kila would give them a big speech about respect if she heard what John said to the general earlier that morning.
" That's good," she said. " What brings you boys home so early? I thought you were supposed to train for five months." Kila and Percy stared at Logan and John. after a couple of long seconds, John spoke up.
" We're leaving for a mission tomorrow." John and Logan looked at Percy and Kila for a moment. And when they didn't say anything, John continued. " Some undead are blocking one of the trade routes, so we're going out to deal with them."
Kila turned to Logan.
" But you are still in training. Why not send a group of trained soldiers to deal with it?"
Logan spoke up
" All of the other soldiers are out dealing with bigger threats. So the king is sending us to deal with this."
Kila looked worried. " Don't worry mom. It's just some zombies. We will take them out quickly and be back here by the day after tomorrow."
" Alright, son if you have to do this we won't stop you." Said Percy. " Just please be careful out there." Then he turned to John. " You watch my son's back. He never was much of a fighter." Percy said with a laugh. " Now let's eat. Breakfast is ready." He said rubbing his hands together.
John and Logan spent the rest of the day at his parent's house. They talked and laughed and had a good time. Before the day was over, John and Logan told the parents that they had to get back to the camp before tomorrow. They said their goodbyes and began walking back to the camp.
" Mom took that surprisingly well," Logan said
" Yeah. I thought she was gonna start begging you to stay." John said. Halfway on their trip back to camp John remembered something.
" Logan you go on back to camp. I got one more thing I need to do." Logan turned around to face John. He looked like he was going to ask what he was talking about, but then a look of realization came to his face. He nodded and kept walking towards the training camp.
John Turned around and began walking to the cemetery.
" Hey, mom. Hey, Dad." John said to the gravestones. The one on the right read Johnny Rivers. And the one on the left read Faith Rivers. " I'm going on my first mission tomorrow. I'm a little excited. I finally got to test out my skills after training for two months. It's just some zombies blocking a trade route so nothing too extreme. Mr and Mrs Fer are doing well. They told me to watch after Logan. So I'm gonna make sure nothing bad happens to him." John's voice began to tremble. " I can't lose anyone else." John dropped to his knees remembering the day his parents died. He began to cry.
John's parents died 10 years ago in a mugging gone wrong. One night after walking home from Logan's house, John and his parents were mugged by two men. John's father Johnny did his best to take down the two men. But the men were very strong and had knives. Johnny was stabbed to death. John's mother, Faith did her best to get John as far away from the men as she could. But the men quickly caught up to them. the men grabbed Faith by the hair and slit her throat. John ran as fast as he could towards the guard's cabin. But he too was caught. The men stood around him wondering what to do with him.
" We should just kill him now!" One of the men said.
" No! He's just a boy!" The other man said.
" How old are ya son?" Said the same man. John was too stunned to speak. He was scared. No Terrified. He stared up at the men from the ground.
" Don't worry son we're not gonna kill ya. Just as long as you don't tell anyone what we look like." The man grabbed John by the shoulders and stood him straight up and dusted him off with his hands.
" Now get lost." Said the other man. John began running. He didn't know where he was running to. He just kept running as far as his legs would carry him.
John looked at his parents' graves. Eyes soaked with tears
Why hadn't the men killed him that day? Why did his mother and father need to die? Then John remembered what happened a few months after his parents' murder. The guards had caught his parents' killers. They were caught mugging another man one night and were taken to jail. One of the men confessed to killing over 12 people. The two men were executed a week later. John watched as the men were hanged. He felt a mix of emotion happiness for the killers finally being caught and sadness that the killers didn't rot in jail longer.
After ten minutes of silence, John got up and looked at his parent's graves for the last time.
" Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad." He began his walk back towards the training camp.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone