Chapter 2: Home Again

Aromir woke as if planted on the world. The time it normally takes to remember a dream in full comprehension and retention meant nothing to Aromir, as quick as his eyes opened he remembered everything his parents had told him. Within a second Aromir was at a full run with the agility no man ever knew. He ran towards the remnants of his village. Instead of running for hours, Aromir felt as if he was running for years, the cramps and aches never stopped because he never stopped. Some unseen force was driving him to what was left of the only home he had ever known. Fighting fatigue and exhaustion, the boy ran until he was upon the entrance of his father's estate.

Aromir's house was on the opposite end of the main town road of the town square. D'mont was the biggest "village" in the province, and the only thing that kept it from being a town was that it had a mayor instead of a governor, and that there were no garrisoned soldiers of the capital because there was no keep or hold within the village to house them. D'mont was known as the smithy's town. Metallurgists, smiths, and blade masters are what made up the majority of the populace. There were other folk that lived there too, like farmers millers, and most importantly of all brewers. It was also the only village in the country to have paved roads and a sewage system.

Aromir had been a proud son of D'mont, one of the only boys his age assumed to gain entry to academy. He never had many friends growing up, due to the fact that his father kept him busy with his studies. He either had his head in a book or a sword in his hand. Kandir was a good teacher, and to the same extent a greater father. His lessons in the practical worlds of scholar and fighting always had an extension into life in general. Analee had as much to do with Aromir's upbringing as Kandir did. When Kandir was busy testing for the blade smiths, Analee would tutor Aromir in his studies, and when he was done she would teach him to cook, which was a favorite subject with him.

All of these memories were slowly sinking in as Aromir walked through his ashen home. It was hard to remember where everything was, as exhausted as he was. Finally Aromir found his parents room, or what was left of it. He had recognized it by the metallic bed frame his father had bought for his mother as a wedding gift. Once polished brass formed in the likeness of a tree, the frame was twisted and covered in soot. Aromir pushed it across the floor and searched for the lose floor board. After a few minutes of searching Aromir pried the floor board and found not a small container but a huge crate underneath the floor. Using the old practice sword he had kept with him he brought up the flooring under where the bed had been. As he pulled the crate into the light he found it to be a simple wooden crate made simply for storage. When Aromir inspected the top of the box he found a bound leather pouch with a note inside of it. The note read: The contents of this box are to be passed to my son in the event of my death.

Aromir immediately recognized the handwriting as his father's. As fast as he could he could he removed the lid of the crate, and gazed in awe inside. Left to him where his father's sword presented to him from the High Council when he had accepted the teaching position at the academy. The broadsword was as long as Aromir's arm, from his neck to his finger tips. The scabbard was course black leather over thin steel, embossed with gold inlays of his father's name, and at the tip was a point guard with a leaf overlapping a wave of sea. When his eyes came to the hilt his breath was stolen from him. The hilt of the sword was made of a metal Aromir had never seen before, both brilliant and dull. The hilt came out from the middle of the blade and tapered out into large diamond shapes at the end of which were two end caps engraved with his father's sign, a phoenix inside of an inferno. The handle was simple leather wrapped steel two handed taper with the pommel in the same fashion as the hilt.