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umm. Hi *waves nervously*. Personally I feel a bit cheap posting this up here but I'm going to go and do it anyway. It's the first chapter of a book I'm writting currently, admittedly not a massive amount happens in it really but it's a good taster. The book is the first in what I plan to be a trilogy, the trilogy being called "The Dark Shard Saga". This first book is entitled "Tears Of Black" and here is said chapter, grammer and spelling mistakes included :P

Chapter 1 - Blossome Falls

Light arced over the horizon as the sun slowly crept out of sight. The sky was filled with red and up high the outline of the moon peeked through in the dimming light. A light breeze blew by carrying newly fallen blossoms across the vast green fields that populated the surrounding area of Oakwood. A crystal of ice spun on it’s axis levitated 30 feet above a small hill, sparkles of rainbow filtering through it as if it were a prism. The ice shattered suddenly as it was pierced by an arrow, shards a of the cold material rained down towards the ground and Alistair roared triumphantly punching the air with his fist.
“I told you I could hit it, even with this breeze my aim is as perfect as ever” He gleefully and slightly arrogantly remarked. Not that he was an arrogant young man, he was far from it. Often terribly modest, he was always striving to improve and these one on one training sessions with Julia during the summer had certainly refined his archery skills.
“Oh you think that was something do you? Watch this then” Julia boasted readying herself. Now young Julia was slightly more, for the lack of a better word, competitive. You would be too if your father was the guild master of the Oakwood warriors guild, not to mention a legendary warrior. Driven by her fathers impressive prowess at both magiks and combat she had chosen to become an apprentice mage, even if her father wished she had not. Alas Julia was a stubborn girl and when she had made her mind up there was little he could do to change it. Moving her hands round in a circular motion Julia closed her eyes and murmured a spell under her breath. Between her hands another two ice crystals formed and she smirked at Alistair, levitating them up into the dusk sky. Smiling she swung her staff in an upwards arc, a burst of bright colours fizzled out of it’s tip detonating between the two crystals destroying them instantly and bursting into a bright explosion that lit up the sky. Spinning her staff around she cockily winked at Alistair, a huge grin across her face.
“Fireworks? That’s it? Fireworks?” Alistair said playfully
“Give me three ice crystals and I’ll show you a real trick”
Julia nodded at his request and after a bit of magiks manipulation she sent three ice crystals high into the air. Drawing three arrows he placed them onto his bowstring and pulled back with all his might, closing one eye to get a better bead on his target. Julia smiled, he was sticking his tongue out again, he always did it when he concentrated. She let out a sly giggle which was soon silenced as he jaw dropped open in disbelief. The arrows flew like lightning bolts from his bow and passed straight through the ice crystals as if they were nothing more then parchment. She frowned as Alistair mimicked her victory wink and then crossed her arms moodily.
“Luck” she said only half joking
“You're jealous” he said laughing
“Jealous? How could I possibly be jealous of someone covered in blossoms?”
“eh?”
With that she shoved him backwards, his arms flailed in front of him as he tumbled into a ditch full to the brim with blossoms. She laughed loudly as he sank without a trace under the pink and white petals and crept closer towards the edge ready to push him back in if he tried to climb out. After a few moments, when Alistair still hadn’t surfaced, she began to get increasingly worried and looked deeper, even going as far as to call out his name. That was just what he needed to pinpoint her position, bursting out of the ditch Alistair grabbed her by the waist and dragged her into the ditch with him. Clambering back out of the ditch Julia spat out some petals that had gotten in her mouth and brushed off the others stuck to her clothes.
“No fair” she cried out “I was worried about you! you caught me off guard!”
“A warrior should never be caught off guard” Alistair replied as he jumped out of the ditch pulling blossom out of his clothes.
“I’ll give you warrior!” Julia shouted playfully as she pounced on him. They rolled down the hill grappling and giggling till they landed at the bottom in a heap. Alistair pinned Julia to the ground by pushing down hard on her shoulders. Despite struggling hard she couldn’t get free.
“Get off me” she said
“Not yet, not until you say who trained the best today”
“Well that’s easy, it was me”
Alistair frowned
“Fine…it was you” she said under her breath
“Sorry I couldn’t hear you? Who trained best?” he said toying with her
“Ok you trained best!” she shouted “now get off before I have to resort to dirty tactics”
Alistair eased off his grip and rolled off her to one side, laid flat on his back and looked up at the sky. The sun was almost completely gone and the night air was filled with sparkling stars. Julia dusted herself off before joining him star gazing, it was a long time before either of them spoke a word. Unsurprisingly it was the outspoken Julia who broke the silence.
“what do you think they are? The stars I mean?” she queried
“I don’t know Julia, I’ve heard some say that they’re fireflies, far from home, who have gotten lost in the sky and now they dedicate their lives to lighting the way, so no one else gets lost and can‘t find their way home” he answered sincerely
“Aww that’s sweet… a complete load…but sweet” she jested
“Ok ok…what do you think they are?”
“Oh I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about”
“Well now’s as good a time as ever” he said pushing for an answer
“Well…no it’s dumb forget it” Julia said evadingly sitting up and flicking bit of grass out of her hair.
“Oh come on, dumber then fireflies?” Alistair said pushing himself into a sitting position. Julia turned away and sniffed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
“Are you ok?” he asked putting his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him and smiled meekly before once more turning her gaze to the stars.
“I’ll be fine, but shouldn’t we get back. We are already breaking the towns curfew” she said springing to her feet.
“You’re probably right…you dad will be having a fit” he replied. Getting to his feet Alistair noticed a wide grin stretched across Julia’s face.
“What?” he asked curiously
“Race ya!” she hollered. Quickly turning on her heels she vanished up the hill. Caught off guard by this sudden challenge Alistair slipped and scrambled his way up the hill in pursuit.
“Hey! No Fair, I wasn’t ready!” he called after her
“You snooze, you lose!” she yelled back disappearing down the hills slope and kicking up a cloud of dust behind her. Grabbing his bow and arrows from the top of the hill Alistair began gaining ground by cheekily jumping the last half of the slope. Rolling as he landed he burst into a sprint and quickly caught up with her as they neared the town.
“First one to the guild door?” he asked through gasps of air
“As always” she replied just as they passed through the town gates and skidded round the corner. The houses and shops flew past as they approached the guild door both jumping into the air and sliding across the floor. There was an almighty crash as they both bundled into the door. “I guess it’s a draw then” Julia said shaking her head and trying to cleared her now dazed mind. Leaning against the door they helped one another up. “I can settle for a draw” Alistair said.
Suddenly the great guild door swung open and with both of them leaning on it they ended up in a heap on the guild floor, bursting into a fit of laughter the two of them barely noticed Julia’s father standing over them. The great Mace Merryn, known throughout greater plains as a powerful warrior, even his name symbolised a weapon . He had fought in the great war against The Darkness, a powerful demon that saw to consume the world of Emphira, and enslave it’s populace. He was one of the 4 great hero’s that stood against The Darkness. They battled for a night and a day before the beast finally fell and his armies crumbled to dust. With the threat of The Darkness gone Mace sort out a quiet life and many year later settled down in the town Oakwood where he married a beautiful young lady named Julia. A name that their daughter would later bear in her memory, For tragically she would not live through childbirth. Some say when she died a part of Mace died with her, and in some senses that was true. The warrior Mace disappeared for good, and he dedicated his life to his newborn daughter. It wasn’t until Julia insisted on becoming an apprentice mage that he agreed to be head of the warriors guild, if only so he could keep an eye on her.
“You’re late, you should have been back hours ago. Before the setting of the sun is the curfew, your lucky the gates weren’t locked!” he bellowed. Pushing Alistair off her, Julia clambered to her feet and instinctively argued her case.
“We were back in time father, why do you always make such a big deal out of things”
“The curfew is there for the townsfolk’s protection, you can’t expect me to bend the rule even for my daughter “
“The curfew is stupid”
“You may think that now but if you have seen the things that lurk in the darkness of the forest you would not be so hasty to call it that” he explained before getting down on one knee bring his eyes down to her level.
“now listen to me, your all I have, I love you and I don’t want anything to happen to you. That is why I’m harder on you then I may be with the others in the guild, but it’s only because I want to protect you, so I’m asking you sincerely, keep within the town walls at night”
Julia shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her feet guiltily.
“I’m sorry father if I made you worry” she said softly.
“that’s ok, just don’t do it again ok?”
She nodded in approval, and grinned sweetly back at him.
“That’s my girl…and where might I ask do you think you are going young Alistair?” Mace said standing back up to full height. Alistair had thought he’d avoided his lecture, he had been slowly slipping out the doorway when Mace had caught him.
“Get back over here” the guild master ordered.
Alistair reluctantly obliged, hanging his head in shame
“I almost expect this kind of behaviour from Julia, but with you it is a surprise. Obviously older doesn’t mean wiser. I know you want to train hard but this is not the way, do you understand”
“Yes guild master, it won’t happen again”
“Good, now you two run along before I can think of a way to punish you”.
The two of them ran off in the direction of the library just as the High Mage Rose emerged with some books. Bumping into her they almost knocked them clean out of her hands.
“Hey watch where you are going!” she cried juggling the stack of books as they wobbled back and forth.
“Sorry” they both chanted in unison, disappearing into the library. Walking over to a nearby desk Rose threw the books down, puffs of dust billowing out of their old pages. She had been down there most of the day, categorising the library and looking for books on shielding ones self from dark Magiks in preparation for her lesson the following day. The hunt had gone well and the 3 books she found would make the lesson move along a lot more smoothly, she had also found a book entitled ‘The Darkness’ by Mace’s request.
“Good news, I’ve found that book you wanted” she said while adjusting her glasses
“I’m not sure what you want it for, after all you were one of the four who defeated the creature where you not”
“Yes that is correct, but it is still important that the younglings learn about it. We may have defeated it all those years ago but Demons like this have a habit of never staying dead.”
“Hmmm you do have a point, you are not the first warriors to have killed the creature, the one you faced was it’s third incarnation I believe so it’s quite possible it will resurface again. But lets be frank that will not be in our life times” she said chuckling.
Rose handed him the book from the desk and scooped up her collection before making her way down the hall towards her quarters. Stopping just shy of her door she twisted her head back to once more talk with the guild master.
“I see your daughter missed the curfew again, she certainly has got a lot of spirit in her. Maybe you can get her to direct it more towards her studies then playing with that young lad Alistair.” She said letting out a long sigh. ” This always happens to girls around her age, so easily distract”
“Were you not ‘distracted’ when you were her age Rose?” Mace jested
“Most certainly not, I didn’t get to be a High Mage playing kiss chase I hope you know” she said slightly offended before retiring to her quarters.
Meanwhile Julia and Alistair were busy searching the library high and low, Alistair was rummaging through a pile of books Julia and thrown to the floor while she was atop the library ladder searching the books at the very peak of the bookcase.
“She always keeps the best stuff up here, I know it’s got to be here somewhere”
“What are we even looking for? I could have found it and not even known” Alistair moaned throwing another book over his shoulder
“Believe me this book kind of stands out…oh here it is” she said grabbing it and sliding down the ladder.
The book was a dusty relic, old and frail looking with a black cover and a golden latch that held it shut.
“it doesn’t look all that special” Alistair voiced
“Oh you apprentice warriors, so naïve. It’s not about appearances, it’s about what is on the inside. Now if I can just get this lock off”.
Julia struggled with the book, pulling as hard as she could to open it but it seemed impregnable. Quickly searching her pockets she pulled out a thin piece of metal that’d she had double folded and had been using for the last few months as a makeshift lock pick. Undoubtedly if her father hand found out it was her who had been sneaking into the kitchens and eating the blueberry pies there would be hell to pay, luckily her midnight feasts had gone unnoticed so far. Spinning the book around in her hands, lock pick in mouth, she searched for the lock, but oddly there wasn’t one on it.
“Hmm, that’s strange” she mumbled to herself
“What is?” Alistair asked
“There doesn’t appear to be a lock, which means Rose must have cast a binding spell on it”
“Well…maybe we should just leave it alone then” he suggested nervously.
“Don’t be silly, this is the best chance we are going to get to see what’s inside. Rose is busy with tomorrows lessons, my father is probably doing his patrol of the outer walls and everyone else is most likely getting an early night due to the festival tomorrow” she reasoned
“Festival? Oh no not again! I completely forgot I was supposed to introducing your father at the feast, I haven’t even begun to think of what I’m going to say!” he panicked
“Don’t be daft, you know my father hates all that mushy speak stuff”
“That not the point, I trained really hard this year and this was meant to be my reward. I’m so stupid”
“Talking about how great my dad is for ten minutes is a reward? jeeze I’d hate to see the punishments” Julia joked.
“I have to go, I need to start preparing” Alistair explained as he made his way to the door
“Hey you can’t leave…” Julia called after him
“Sorry Julia, it’ll have to wait” Alistair said as he slipped out the library closing the door behind him.
“Fine I’ll do it alone” she shouted after him, as much to convince herself as anything. Looking around the vast circular room she searched the place top and bottom for a high level binding spell book. Julia sighed to herself, it seemed as though Mage Rose wasn’t as dumb as some of her classmates hand taken her for. All the high level binding books were missing, she must have them in her office. Feeling somewhat defeated she sat down on the floor and crossed her legs, once more giving the book a little tug. Then suddenly something sprung to mind, an incantation her father used to use to lock the front door, what was the word he used to unlock it again? Pressing her fingers into her temple she strained trying to remember the word he used, she knew it was something that began with an ‘A’ so she started sounding it out.
“Arithica? No… Artious? No…Armpit? Oh of course not…oh bugger” she said frustrated. “Oh…o…Ortious?” she said snapping her fingers Joyfully.
That was it, the book sprung open, it was an ‘O’ not an ‘A’. Giggling wildly with delight she scooped up the book a quickly flicked though. I was written in the ancient language that unfortunately she could barely understand, she picked up on a few of the key words and spoke them out loud. “Future…Sight…”. She couldn’t quite grasp what it was on about but none the less she carried on. Reading the words out loud she felt the room shake like an earthquake. The books tumbled from their cases as the roof was ripped away, rain clouds now poured their contents into the room drenching her instantly.
“What’s going on!” she cried out “Help me, someone help me!”. Spinning around she was face to face with a man wearing a dark cloak, and a mask covering his face. The mask was a bright white and the eye sockets were the deepest of black. Little artistic tears had been painted onto the mask in the same black. Grabbing her by the throat the stranger picked her off the ground and began coking her with one hand. Dragging her face close to his, he shouted at her, his eyes turning to pits of burning fire. “MACE!” it bellowed.
“Julia! Julia! Snapped out of it!”
Julia opened her eyes to see her father holding her by the shoulders and shaking her, a worried expression across his face. “oh thanks the goddess your ok”. Julia‘s face was the picture of bewilderment, what had just happen?
“Give me that” Rose snapped as she snatched the book from Julia’s hands.
“This kind of Magik is way to dangerous for someone as young as you. Your lucky you didn’t get yourself killed. How did you manage to break the binding spell?” she lectured
“That’s quite enough High Mage, can’t you see she’s shaken by this ordeal. I think your interrogation can wait till the morning”
“But…”
“no buts, I’ll take care of this from here” Mace stated sternly, not allowing her to finish her sentence.
Reluctantly Rose stepped down and briskly left the library in quite a huff, the book safely tucked under her arm.
“Julia, what did you see?” Mace asked her softly, a soothing tenderness in his voice.
“oh it was awful” she said hugging him, tightly winding her arms around his waist and resting her head on the silken shirt her was wearing.
“There was an earthquake, a storm and the whole library caught fire. Then this man wearing a white mask with teardrops painted on it came out of nowhere. He tried to coke me and screamed your name at me…it was horrible”. She explained, her voice sounding stressed as she rushed the words out.
Mace gently caressed her hair and spoke reassuringly to her
“Don’t worry, it was just a dark vision, nothing more then a exaggerated nightmare. Now I think it may be time we went home don’t you?”.
Julia nodded. “Come on then“ he encouraged out stretching his hand. Taking him by the hand Julia was lead out of the library, but she couldn’t help but peak over her shoulder on the way out, just in case the masked man was their waiting for her. Exiting through the main guild door Julia walked on ahead for a bit as her father locked up, making sure not to stray to far from him. She had been distracted by a lone firefly buzzing around by the towns clothes shop. She watched as it flew repeatedly into the glass window pane, trying to get inside. Her father came over as soon as the final bolt was drawn across the great door and stood behind her. “Do you think he’s lost?” She queried
“Maybe” he replied
“What if he can’t find his way home?”
“If home is what he truly desires, then he will find it…Come along Julia you should have been in bed hours ago” he said walking away, Julia running after him.
Arriving home Julia quick lit one of the lamps and carried it over to the dinner table placing it in the centre. It was a humble home with only 3 rooms, two of which where the bedrooms. The main room had a little stove and the table with 4 chairs around it. Each piece of furniture had been hand made by her father, as it turned out he was quite the craftsman. Discarding her clothes and throwing her staff down by her bed, Julia quickly slipping into her nightey. Leaning on the inside frame of her bedroom door she questioned her father. “Are you going to bed too?” she asked
“Not quite yet, I’ve got a book I’d like to read first” he said
“What’s it about?” she said inquisitively leaving her room and peaking over his shoulder.
“It’s a book about The Darkness”
“Oh I love stories about when you were a hero… can you read it to me?”
“Not tonight, you should be getting some sleep anyway. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow”
“You mean a boring lesson with High Mage Rose about Magik shields, followed by cooking a feast for all the men in the village…Sounds like so much fun” she whined sarcastically
“It’s tradition”
“Hmm tradition…Well traditionally the father is meant to read the daughter a bed time story” she said making puppy dog eyes at him
“Ok, I’ll tell you a story from when I was younger”. he said submitting
“Has it got goblins in it?”
“Yes, now hurry up and get in bed”. Laughing loudly she excitedly bounded into her room and dived into bed. Mace smiled to himself as he went to tell yet another story of his younger years, leaving the book on the table. He told her wild stories of dragons, goblins and foul beasts. He told her of heroic deeds, and noble warriors. She slipped softly to sleep with her fathers past adventures firmly in her mind, to dream of adventures of her own. If she only knew the adventure that was about to unfold, and the price she would have to pay for it.


so I hope you enjoyed it. If it gets a good response I may well put up some more. If you can't wat that long go find my dA page. Well thanks for reading if you got this far, byebyes :mrgreen:

Pretty good so far :D .

Just one question. About how old are Julia dn Alistar? In the beginning, I thought they were in there perhaps mid or late teens, but the end of the story the seemed around their early teens.

Julia is 14 and Alistair is 16.

thank you for reading, glad that you seemed to enjoy it :D

Thank you for the info :D . And your welcome!

Not bad, you manage to feed enough to the reader in order to keep him interested. Your language is a little intermittent, though. I'd rather you post the story here, because I'm too lazy to go on your dA. Also, try posting it in small bits. It makes it easier to read.

tah for reading, I'll load up more of it but in small chunks for ya ;). I think your probably correct as far as my language goes, it's not great ;).

Here we go, the first part of chapter 2. It's going to be uploaded in more bitesize peices now :D

Chapter 2 - Reflections part 1

Julia jumped out of her skin and almost tumbled clear out of bed when a loud banging on her door snapped her out of her slumber. The rhythmic banging repeated but this time was followed by her fathers voice, muffled by the oak door.
“Wake up in there, it is high time you got yourself to the guild. You know how High Mage Rose gets when your late for lessons” he said. Julia rolled her eyes and slumped back down into bed.
“She can wait” she said quietly to herself
The banging came once more, and the door creaked open, Mace peaking his head into the room.
“Now come on, get up you lazy so and so.”
“Ok, ok” Julia replied sighing “But can you get out my room so I can get ready?”
“Why? It’s nothing I haven’t seen already when you were but a baby” he joked
“Daaaaad!” she whined all embarrassed. Mace pulled his head out of the doorway and closed the door behind him. As he made his way towards the front door of the house he called back to her.
“Fine. I have to go as it is, I must get the younglings ready for the archery contest this evening. Your friend Alistair will be competing I expect. He‘s a fine archer”
“Like I care” she said a hint of jealousy in her voice as she pulled her red shirt over her head.
“Goodbye sweetie” he shouted as he left the house
“Bye Dad” Julia answered, fastening her skirt and jumping into her shoes. She then casually walked over to the mirror and started brushing her hair, despite being rather late for her lesson. She took her time with it and tied a nice yellow ribbon into a bow that sat atop her head and then grabbed her staff that she had left lent against the wall last night. Exiting her room she grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and made her way out the front door slamming it behind her. She was walking slowly towards the town center, and the home of the guild building, when a familiar voice coming from behind called to her.
“Julia! Julia wait up!” came Alistair’s desperate cries as he ran to catch up to her.
“Good morning Alistair, something the matter?” She asked
“Your father, has he left for the guild yet?” he said anxiously
“Yup, I’m sure he’s there by now”
Alistair groaned and slapped himself on the forehead. Swinging his bow over his shoulder he shook his head in disgrace.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure my Dad’s prize student is allowed to be late every once and a while” Julia reassured him as the passed by the bakers shop. It seemed that the bakers were working in overdrive in preparation for the celebrations.
“I wonder if they’ll be making pear crumble again this year?” she voiced as she took a bite out of her apple a peered through the bakeries glass window
“I wouldn’t have thought you’d want to see another pear crumble after last year. You ate some much of it you almost threw up” Alistair laughed
“It’ll take more then that to put me off pear crumble” she smiled, taking another bite out of her breakfast.
The two of them happily joked away and recalled events of last years festival as they approached the guild doors. Once inside they said their goodbyes and split off to go to their lessons. Julia drew closer to Rose’s lecture room, dragging her feet and trying to spend as long as possible in getting to the door. Putting her ear to the door she could hear the lesson was already underway. She took a deep breathe, preparing herself for the verbal onslaught she was about to receive as she opened the door. The door creaked open and the class went silent as she wandered in, all her fellow classmates turned their heads to see who it was making an entrance. Once they realised who it was they all turned back towards the teacher, one of them even rolling his eyes and sighing.
“Nice of you to finally join us miss Merryn” Rose said sarcastically.
“Sit” she continued pointing towards the desks that filled most of the room.
Julia chose to sit in the same place she had always done, as far away from Rose as she could possibly get and far away from the other students. Julia was a lot younger then the other students in her class, at only 14 she was a good 4 years younger then most of the class. Julia had started learning the ways of magik at the tender age of 9 and had shown such a gift for it that she was almost instantly enrolled in the guilds mage apprenticeship. She was the youngest ever in the history of the guild to be accepted, and her fathers appointment as head of the Oakwood guild shortly afterwards brought along with it many rumours about he acceptance. Rose’s lecture soon began to fade into background noise as Julia starred out of the classrooms window, watching the birds in a tree nearby. She was jolted out of her day dream when a piece of chalk hit her in the side of the head. Rubbing her head where she had just been struck she turned her eyes to the front of the class. There Rose stood hands on hips and fire in her eyes.
“Young lady, have you been listening to a thing I’ve said?” she asked frowning heavily.
“Umm, yes…” Julia lied.
“Really? Then what did I just say?”
“You said ’young lady, have you been listening to a thing I’ve said’ Ms Rose” Julia replied, a slight smirk crossing her face as she did so. A hushed snigger arose from the other students as Rose began fuming.
“Do you think yourself a jester?” she said highly unimpressed by Julia’s antics.
She then strode up the room and slammed her hands on Julia’s desk.
“I have no time for jesters, Miss Merryn. Even less so for those who steal from the library and meddle with magik they cannot possible wield.”
Julia looked straight down at the floor avoiding eye contact with the enraged High Mage, her mouth became dry and she ever so slightly shuffled her chair away from Rose. The room suddenly went deathly silent.
“Oh yes, don’t think for a second I’ve forgotten about your little escapade last night. I’ve had enough, get out of my class room, go on be gone with you.” she instructed pointing towards the door. Julia looked up, her face fully of dismay. “But…” she blurted out.
“Out!” Rose yelled . She didn’t have to be told a third time, picking up her staff Julia sulked out of the room slamming the doors behind her. Walking down the hallway Julia found it hard to stop herself from smiling despite being thrown out of class. All things considered missing a day’s lessons wasn’t going to make a big difference she was already ahead of her class, as much as Rose hated to admit it, and now she was free for the day. Stopping at the end of the hall she scratched her head and tried to think of what to do, she grinned uncontrollable when an idea popped into her head.
She poked her head out of the door an into the courtyard. Alistair, and the rest of his class where at the far end all lined up in front of the archery range. Her father walked from one end of the line to the other, his calm tone carried across the courtyard to her ears.
“Archery is a formidable asset to any warrior. It’s gives you the opportunity to engage a target at range where the possibility of psychical retaliation is greatly reduced, because frankly no one really wants to charge towards someone firing a bow at them now do they.” Mace said with a hint of humour in his voice. He stopped mid way down the line and then stepped backwards to address them all face to face.
“Now then, I know some of you have been practicing this art form outside of classes, which is fine by me. Practice makes perfect after all, and you have gotten a lot better for it. Unfortunately some of you have, by some miracle, gotten noticeably worse, here’s look at you Garbath” He joked. Garbath was one of the younger students, well known for his playful nature, spiky blue hair and a fondness for practical jokes. Garbath smiled back at Mace. “I would hardly say I’ve gotten worse master Mace, merely found new and exciting ways to fail miserably “ he said a silly smirk crossing his face.
“That you have indeed” Mace laugh uproariously. Composing himself Mace continued with his speech.
“Behind me as you are fully aware is the target range, what you don’t know however is that we will be having an archery contest after this years feast”. The students could barely contain their excitement and cheerfully began hushed conversation between themselves.
“And the prize? Well that is something I’ve been pondering” he said stroking his chin.
“Is it a cake?” Garbath asked.
“No, something far better” Mace said grinning
“Two cakes?” Garbath joked.
The class began to giggle uncontrollable at his silly questions, even though they knew he was joking there was always a sense of sincerity it his line of questioning.
“Close but not quite. Do you all remember that finely crafted katana master Henios gifted to me last year at this very festival?”
“The one they say can cut through stone as if it was parchment?” Replied Jorge somewhere near the end of the line, almost jumping up and down with excitement. Mace nodded.
“No way that is beyond awesome!” Kari shouted pushing Jorge out of her way so she could see if Mace had the weapon with him “I’ve got to win this contest” she continued.
“Na ah! I’m winning this one” Garbath argued sticking out his tongue.
“Well, there is only one way to solve this argument. To the target range!” Mace called out spinning on his heels and marching up the targets, the rabble of his class following him eager to improve their skill before the contest that evening. As the students began taking practice shots spurred on by Mace’s encouraging word Julia crept into the courtyard and made he way closer hugging the guild walls as she did so. Coming to pillar which supported the over hanging roof an idea popping into Julia’s head. Quickly shimmying up the pillar Julia clambered on the guilds low hanging roof and quietly tip toed across it before sitting down and watching the warriors in training taking pot shots at the straw mannequin they used as targets. They where perched upon wooden stakes and had big red circles painted on their chests. As various arrows thudded into them and they rocked back and forth, their arms flailing. She watched as many of the arrows flew off target, blown off course by the light wind blowing trough the courtyard. Garbath sighed as he missed another target, seeing that he was struggling Mace stood behind him putting his giant hand on the youngsters shoulder.
“You’re not compensating for the wind” he said softly leaning forward and guiding Garbath’s bow towards the left of the target.
“Try that” Mace suggested
“But it’s not even aimed at the target” Garbath said confused
“Trust me”
Mace winked and then stepped back, leaving Garbath to it. Garbath wasn’t entirely convinced, but let the arrow fly none the less. He let out a cry of delight as the shaft embedded it’s self deep in the mannequins chest. Cheers of approval arose from his fellow class mates.
“You actually hit one, Mace truly is a miracle worker” Kari said before releasing and arrow herself into the same target.
“I knew you had it in you somewhere buddy” Alistair said patting him on the shoulder. Garbath beamed and quickly drew another arrow, eager to repeat his feat. Alistair turned back toward his own target and carefully drew an arrow. Pulling back a string with all his might he closed on eye and aimed, but just out of the corner of his eye he catch a glimpse of Julia standing on top of the Guild roof waving madly at him. Losing his composure the arrow whizzed out of his hand and found it mark in the mannequin’s groin. Mace winced “Oooh, that has got to hurt. I would have thought with all that practice you‘ve been up to lately with my daughter you‘d be a better shot Alistair” Alistair laughed and scratched the back of his head as he tried to think up a suitable answer.
“Maybe he has been practicing something else” Kari said making kissing sounds
“Hey…” Alistair started. His response was cut short by a familiar voice being carried across the courtyard.
“Jealousy will get you no where Kari!” Julia shouted playfully as she jumped from the roof and landed elegantly on the courtyard’s dusty ground. Dusting off her skirt she strode over staff in hand and pointed it at Kari. “We all know how you feel about Alistair” she said winking at her. Kari went bright red and turned away from Julia. “I…I don’t know what you mean” She said shyly.

Nice job! I really like the dialgoue. Also, I do not think Mace will be too happy about seeing Julia about of class...

thank you, her dad takes it rather well, he's a big softy on her really.

Chapter 2 - Reflections part 2

“Julia, shouldn’t you be in class?” Mace asked walking up behind her and crossing his arms. She laughed nervously before turning around to face her father. “We got let out early…or rather I did…again” she said clutching her staff behind her back. Mace frowned and let out a little sigh.
“Ok everyone, class dismissed. Feel free to continue practicing if you so wish, I however have other maters to attend to so I will see you all at the festival this afternoon” he said clapping his hands together to get his classes attention.
“You on the other hand are coming we me” he whispered softly into Julia’s ear
“Right you are Master Mace” Jorge said as Mace made his way towards the guild doors, Julia following behind hanging her head.
“Julia are we still…” Alistair began only for Julia to butt in again.
“You bet cha’!” She called waving as she disappearing inside.
As soon as Mace disappeared in door he slung his bow over his back and made his way to the guilds garden gate.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Kari called after him
“Unlike some people Kari I have better things to do then practice archery all day, besides I’ll beat you lot no matter how much you practice” He arrogantly boasted as he reached the gates.
“Keep telling yourself that Jorge” Kari said rolling her eyes.
She fired another arrow and watched it as it hit dead center of the red circle painted on the mannequin’s chest.
“Wait up I’ll come with you” Garbath called to Jorge. He jogged over towards him and almost dropped all his equipment as he stumbled along.
“Hey the more the merrier, why don’t you come too Kari?” Jorge called over.
“Why would I want to?” she sneered letting loose another arrow.
“Because if you don’t we are going to stand here and bug you till you do” Garbath said.
Kari lowered her bow and sighed. Looking over to the garden gate she saw Garbath and Jorge waiting, both grinning like idiots and waving her over. She walked over to Alistair and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Are you coming too Alistair?” she asked sweetly
“Not right now Kari, I’m going to hang around and wait for Julia”
“oh…Julia, um yeah of course. How stupid of me” she said awkwardly. She turned and walked away from him shaking her head and made her way towards the awaiting a Garbath and Jorge. Her head dipped low she kicked a stone across the courtyard, it bouncing a few times kicking up little clouds of thin dust as it stuck the ground.
“Blown off eh?” Jorge sniggered
“Shut up” she snapped “Just, shut up…”
Mace ushered his daughter into his class room holding the door open for her. She sulked in and sat on one off the desks, flicking her hair back out of her eyes. Mace closed the door and moved over to his desk taking a flagon of mead out of the draw and pouring some into a mug that sat atop the desk. He stood there looking at her, the disappointment clearly visible on his face.
“What?” Julia shrugged
“You know what Julia” he replied, taking a sip from his mug as he did so.
Julia crossed her arms and turned away from him, she starred out of the window for a little bit before speaking again.
“I didn’t want to be thrown out, maybe you should be talking to Rose instead of me” She said grudgingly. Mace let out a little sign and then walked over to her putting his hand on her shoulder.
“Rose my not be the easiest of people to get along with, especially for someone who is as headstrong as yourself, but she means well” he said.
“Means well” Julia mumbled laughing at the idea.
“Who do you think recommended you be enrolled within the guild?”
“You mean…” Julia started looking up at her father with a surprised look on her face. He nodded and then continued to enlighten his daughter to the situation.
“ She said to me that you were the most promising student she had ever seen. It was her who ultimately convinced master Henios to enrol you, despite your young age.”
“Then why is she so mean to me?”
“She is just hard on you because she knows your potential and she hates seeing you take your studies so lightly”. Julia looked down at her feet, and played with he hair curling it round her little finger.
“Just promise me that you’ll try a little harder to get along” Mace said sweetly as he pulled her closer to him and gave her half a hug. Julia couldn’t help but let a smile creep across her face, tilting her head back to look up at Mace she answered.
“Ok I promise” she said.
“That’s my girl, now off you pop I told the kitchen staff you’d be down to help” Mace said playful as he ruffled her hair.
“You what?” Julia cried “but I was going to go to the gardens with Alistair, you have to let me go I promised him” she begged. Mace stroked his chin and after much deliberation Mace responded
“Ok, go along an have some fun, but I want you back to help with setting up the displays”
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” She shouted excitedly jumping off the table and giving him a big hug.
“You’re the best dad ever”
“I know…now quickly run along before I change my mind”
With that Julia dashed out of the door and into the sunlit courtyard once more. Happily she skipped towards Alistair who was leant against one of the support beams by the door.
“I was beginning to wonder if you were coming back “ Alistair said
“oh you do worry about the strangest things”
“I wasn’t worrying, just wondering” he protested
“sure you were, now lets get going I’m fed up with this dusty old courtyard I need some grass to lay down on and some leaves to roll around in”.
Julia imminently began to spin around twirling her skirt. The soft breeze blowing her hair out behind her like the tail on a dragon. She gestured for Alistair to follow her with a little flick of the head and made her way across the courtyard to the garden gates.
“Your in an awfully good mood. What happened in there?” Alistair asked
“Oh lets just say I’m finally beginning to understand High Mage Rose” Julia replied pushing open the gate and stepping through.
They walked into the garden and followed the little stone path way as it weaved through the old willow trees. It was an amazing sight, the trees blowing with the wind, the birds singing on their branches, and the flowers coming into bloom busy bees flying from on to the next. Julia watched as a family of squirrels rushed across the canopy and darted down a nearby tree. They rushed down the path and bounded up the ancient oak tree that dominated the gardens. Sitting under it flicking stones into the pond were Kari, Jorge and Garbath. It was Kari who spotted them first and she waved them both over. “Alistair, we’re over here!” she called out. Julia and Alistair quickened their pace and joined them by the great oak, sitting down in the shade it’s branches provided.
“Glad you two could finally make it. Kari‘s got a little game she wants to play and apparently we need the pair of ya’ otherwise it won‘t work” Jorge said throwing another pebble into the pond.
“Actually we only need Julia really, but you two come as a package deal these days it seems”
“Why do you need me?” Julia asked.
Kari got to her feet and snapped a twig from a nearby branch, parading around she twirled it with a flick of her wrist pointing it at Julia.
“Because, you’re a wizard” She said.
“I’m not a wizard…I’m a mage” Julia corrected.
“What’s the difference?”
“She don’t have a pointy hat…” Garbath said crossing his arms and looking quite smug with himself.
“Garbath that’s stupid” Jorge stated rather coldly and slapping him on the head.
Julia shook her head and got to her feet picking up her staff as she did so.
“I don’t see what this has to do with anything” She said.
“Because I’ve got this”
Kari chucked the twig to one side a stuffed her hand down her top. Rummaging around for a bit she pulled out a piece of parchment. Opening it up she turned it around so they could all see.
“Ta dah” she said all excited.
“Can I see what else you have down that top of yours…” Garbath said mouth wide open
“Yeah me too” Jorge agreed
“You certainly may not…and stop bloody looking at me like that!” Kari said crossing hers to cover up her chest. Alistair tried hard not to giggle as the two of them gawped at Kari, though he couldn’t blame them. She was a very pretty young girl, sweet and innocent. Not that you’d believe it by the way she acted sometimes. She had the strangest pure white hair he had ever seen and a pair of haunting pale blue eyes to match it.
“Let me see that” Julia said taking the piece of parchment from Kari’s hand. She held it up to the light, the sunbeams seeping through it’s soft thin skin and turning it a light red colour.
“Where on Emphira did you get this from” she asked
“My sister, she said it’s great fun”
“Did she tell you what it is?”
“umm…no” Kari said scratching her head
“It’s reflective magik, magik for kiddies. My Dad taught me how to do this when I was nine. It’s not as fun as you think” Julia said handing it back to Kari
“Well we won’t know till we try, show us Julia” Jorge said.
Rolling her eyes Julia made her way of to the edge of the pond kneeling down where the water was clearest. She waved Jorge over and he came and knelt down beside her.
“So, what do I do” he asked a little bewildered
“Just keep looking into the water, while I cast the spelling” Julia said pointing into the water. Jorge stared into the water while Julia out stretched her hand out it’s surface. It began to glow with a dim blue light as she spoke the word’s that powered the spell.
“Reflectium Retora” she whispered.
“Wow this is awesome” Jorge said delighted
“What is what’s happening?” Garbath asked getting to his feet and peaking into the water.
“It’s that time we stole Kari’s clothes when she went swimming in the river” Jorge said pointing
“That’s great! Let me look”
“That time you what!” Kari yelled
“Oh right, you didn’t know that was us did you?” Jorge laughed nervously. Kari didn’t respond, she just leered at him angrily crossing her arms. Alistair stood up and joined the ramble around the pond standing behind Julia.
“So this spell shows you the past?” he asked
“Not exactly. It shows you a reflection of the past, more a memory. So you could, say, see an event you didn’t witness yourself.”
“So who’s shall we see next?” he queried
“oh mine, let it be mine!” Garbath yelled sticking his hand up and waving it in the air as if he was in the class room.
“I don’t want to see anything out of your pervert mind” Kari snapped.
“Why don’t you show us something from your memories Julia, after all you’re the one who cast the spell” she continued
“Oh I don’t know” she said shyly. Her response was met but an uproar from her friends urging her to show them something from her past.
“fine” she said giving in to them. A small cheer went up as she looked into the water and cast the spell once more. At first nothing seemed to happen, and the group exchanged puzzled looks. Just as Jorge was about to break the silence the water began to swirl gently at first but gradually it began to get more violently and the water darkened. Julia tried to look away but she couldn’t, the pull of the maelstrom tugged at her viscously. The soft breeze that had been blowing through the gardens turned to a gale, and the youngsters started to panic. Jorge and Garbath covered their heads with their hands and parts of the great oak begun to fall from it’s mighty branches. Kari whimpered and grabbed hold of Alistair as he tried to get to Julia. His cries went unanswered as she starred blank eyed into the water. She saw the guild in all it’s glory be struck down by a black storm it’s raining pouring down sizzling on the fires that burned through the guild, and it’s flashed of lightning filling the night sky. It the middle of the courtyard was her father lying on the ground, his eyes empty and dark. Standing over him was the Masked man that she had seen last night, his laughter echoing through the darkness and piercing her very soul. Julia blacked out and slumped into the pond disappearing beneath the water.
“Julia!” Alistair cried out.
Rushing over to the waters edge he pulled her unconscious body from the water. Just as suddenly as the gale had began it stopped, the water returned to it’s crystal clear visage, and the gardens returned to peace once more. Julia was freezing to touch, Alistair took off his rangers cloak and rapped it round her to keep her warm.
“What the hell just happened” Jorge said breathing in and out deeply
“I have no idea, but whatever it was lets pray it doesn’t come back…for all our sakes” Alistair said brushing Julia’s wet hair away from her face.

Great update!

Mace took the news of Julia getting kicked out of class much better than I expected

hehe like I said he's a softy really. I put it down to her not having her mother around, so he is very lenient on her :D

the saga continues :P

The Dark Shard: Chapter 3 - Shadow part 1

Julia eased her eyes open, a consistent throbbing pounding inside her head. She felt like she’d been kicked by a mule. At first her vision was blurred, she couldn’t make out anything other then some black shadows moving above her and muffled voices trying to break through the forced silence. As the seconds past the voices became clearer, more coherent and the shadows became the faces of her friends, their visages a mix of concern and relief.
“She’s coming to”
“Oh thank the Goddess, she’s ok”
“Julia? Can you hear us? Julia?”
Julia blinked repeatedly, trying to clear her head. Her eyes felt heavy and as she tried to push herself up it felt as if her limbs were made of lead.
“What happened…and why am I all wet?” She asked her voice horse and strained.
“We were hoping you could tell us” Kari replied outstretching her hand. Julia winced as she was pulled to her feet by her friends. She initially stumbled when she tried to stand by herself falling into Alistair’s arms, he caught her and helped her over to the great oak tree where she was able to lean against it. She ran her hands through her soaked hair and nursed her temple, trying in vain to stop the throbbing inside her head. The cool breeze blew though the gardens causing her to shiver ever so slightly, so she pulled Alistair’s cloak tighter around herself to combat this sudden rush of cold.
“Something weird happened when you cast that reflections spell” Garbath said to her.
“Yeah, it was damn freaky. Then you fell in water and Alistair here had to pulled you out” Jorge added, patting Alistair on the shoulder.
“Really? I don’t remember a thing…” She sighed.
“Maybe I should speak to my sister, it was her spell after all” Kari said thinking out loud.
“Well it can’t hurt, me and Jorge will come with you” Garbath said jogging over to her and putting his arm over her shoulder, a stupid grin on his face. Kari frowned , and narrowed her stare at him.
“Why the hell do you want to come?” She said, her tone laced with suspicion.
“Oh just so I can hang out with you my best buddy” Garbath smirked squeezing her tightly.
“He still has that dumb crush on Cass…” Jorge sighed.
“Can you blame me? honestly, you can’t can you?” Garbath reasoned.
Kari pushed him away from her violently. He flailed his arms as he stumbled over and fell flat on his back. Bouncing back to his feet nimbly he acted nonchalantly, dusting himself off as if nothing had happened despite him obviously feeling rather embarrassed. Kari shook her head and made her way down the path, still fuming muttering to herself something about Garbath being a jerk. Jorge followed her with Garbath tagging along behind.
“Oh come on Kari, what was that for” Garbath called after here
“Shut up Garbath you jerk” She snapped
“What? What I do?”
They disappeared around the corner the willow trees blocking them from view although Garbath protests could still be heard for a few minutes afterwards. Julia stood lent against the hard wood of the great oak, her eyes transfixed on the waters surface, hoping that starring at it would in some way remind her what had transpired. Alistair let her be and began gathering up their things and strapping them over his back. Returning to Julia’s side, he joined her in leaning against the tree and cast his eyes over the innocent looking pound.
“Are you ok?” He asked sincerely.
“I think so” She said smiling for the first time since regaining consciousness. She pushed herself away from the oak and casually picked up a pebble that laid on the ground tossing it into the water before her.
“I guess I just messed up the spell that’s all”
“Is that all it is?”
Julia paused for a short moment picking up another pebble and throwing it in the air, catching it as it fell back down towards her open hand.
“There might be something else” She said quietly, speaking in almost a hushed whisper.
“Just before it all went black. I could have sworn I saw something in the river, but it wasn’t a memory. More of a nightmare, and the more I think about it the more it haunts me…” She said letting the pebble slip out of her hand and fall to the ground.
“What did you see?” Alistair asked walking up behind her and putting his hand on her shoulder.
“That’s the thing, I don’t remember. But I have a terrible feeling about it”
“Do you want to go see your father about it?”
“I think he has enough to worry about with the festival tonight. I won’t worry him with this, it’s probably nothing anyway” she said dismissively.
“Well then lets at least get you out of those wet clothes, come on I’ll take you home”
“Aww aren’t you just the big hero” She said mockingly.
Taking his hand Julia was lead away from the pond and the great oak, still she couldn’t resist looking over her shoulder for one last gaze into the water. She continued to watch it even as they rounded the corner by the willow trees, only letting up once it was clearly out of sight.

Not bad. The story's pretty interesting, although for the life of me I couldn't tell you why. It might be the character dialog, I guess.

You still have a bit of a problem with your language. There are grammar mistakes, missing punctuation marks and plenty of mixed up homophones. Other than that, I can safely say I enjoy reading this.

I also predict that the guild will be destroyed either during or shortly after the festival.

Good update!

I also agree that something is going to happen at the festival, or at least right after it.

I guess every character (or at least the very young ones) have a crush on somebody.