Embraced by darkness, armed with the great sword of Shadow…nah, too dramatic. He leaned back from the table and took a deep sigh. How to tell a story without making it too dramatic. How was he supposed to do that? Once again he grabbed the pencil and started writing. He didn’t notice the shady character behind him in time, suddenly he felt a blade between his ribs, he tried to scream but a mere whisper escaped his lips. Everything went black and he fell down on the floor. The assassin had a wicked smile on his face, one more of the rebels were gone, he thought. His mission completed and his master would soon free him from this life. Soon, he would enter the sacred chamber, and meet the emperor. The assassin whispered a word and disappeared with a flick of his hand. With a wheezing breath the robe-clad man wrote something down. Then he gave into the blackness, and death carried his body away.

A crescent moon appeared behind the clouds as the young man produced his fire maker, a little gadget that he bought of a merchant he had met during his travel to one of the farms. He flicked it and a small flame was emitted from the top of it. Careful not to burn his fingers, he tilted the little box and lit the small pile of wood in front of him. As the fire spread thru the tree his friends were revealed. A gray donkey and an orange carrot. The carrot started mumbling about something but he ignored it. Stupid task he had assigned anyway. Find a carrot and make it speak, that was his master’s words. His master’s tower was located deep in the middle of a forest, no real civilization anywhere close. He had traveled for almost a week to find just a farm. Then he had to steal a carrot since he couldn’t convince the farmer to sell him one carrot, nope the stubborn man insisted on selling at least a dozen to him. Anyway, he had fulfilled his task and all that remained now was to get back to the Tower.

The days flew by and soon he sighted the tower. He left the donkey and his talking carrot outside and went upstairs. He shouted hello, as he ascended. His master had told him that he should never approach a friendly magician without greeting them. As he entered the study room he was stunned by as surprising sight. A simple robe laid on the floor, apparently someone left it there. He knew his master wasn’t an untidy man, so why was there a robe on the floor. He took it up and folded it and then he noticed the hole in it, a hole shaped as a knife. He tossed the robe away, disgusted by his sudden insight of what happened. He fell to his knees by the shock; his mind tried to understand it, but failed. He looked down and thru his tears he saw something, glowing letters on a piece of paper. It was written in an ancient rune alphabet, he knew he couldn’t read it but someway he did it. As he did the ink dried and the glow flew against him. He could feel it in his blood burning like fire.
“So, the rebel had an apprentice, eh?”
He turned around, and turned face to face with a strange creature. It resembled a human, but was covered in shadows, eyes glowing red and hands with razor-sharp claws, one of the forsaken magicians! But they were only fairy tales, to scare children with. His mind denied the very existence of the living beast in front of him. But with an inhuman exert he focused his mind, started to gather the power around him, preparing himself for a fight.
“You wont get anywhere with that, the word of power died with your master. You can’t use any magic without that.”
He crumbled under the immense power that gathered in his body. He couldn’t keep it, had to release it somehow. What was this word of power that the had to use?
“Resistance is useless, give in now, before I crush you like the insect you are.”
He ignored it and tried to remember what his masters had learnt him. Magic was three things, often referred to as the trinity; a focused mind, a flow of power and a…a….what was it. Damn it, he couldn’t remember.
“What are you thinking of, you cant save yourself from this even if you knew one of the seven words.”
A word, that was what he needed. A Word of Power. The word written on that paper, it must’ve been one. He imagined the magician covered in ice and fire, and muttered the word. Suddenly the power disappeared out of him. The magician screamed, but it was damped. He opened his eyes and saw the man covered in ice. The red eyes nailed him, he tried to avoid them but couldn’t, his mind started to fell apart as the forsaken flayed his senses. Then the fire he had called upon appeared, and burned the man to ashes. Everything went black and he dropped to the floor.

“You lazy little boy, wake up!”
“Ain\'t helping, gotta shout louder”
“Ok, ok. Why don’t you try?”
“No need for, he’s waking up now.”
He opened his eyes with an annoyed look in his face. The carrot sat on his stomach, loudly speaking with the donkey beside him.
“Guys stop screaming, I’m awake.
“See, told ya he was wakening up”
He turned his head around, the tower was gone. Or not gone, more like turned into a ruin. As if he had slept for a century or more.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Wadya mean what happened? You ran into the tower, then there was this big loud boom and the tower was covered in ice and fire on the same time, then a black snake-like thing flew away and the tower started to fell apart and turn into a ruin and then we found you lying there looking all dead but the...”
“Hey, slow down a little. What did this black thing look like? Red eyes? Claws?
“Yah, exactly like that…why ye ask? Is it important?
He was silent for a second, and then answered.
“Nah, not really. I guess they are invincible anyway.
“Invincible, who is invincible?
“The magician of course, the black thing you saw.”
The carrot and the donkey looked at each other and their faces exploded in laughter. The young man’s face turned into a grave expression and they both quickly calmed down.
“I don’t believe u fought him.” The carrot said with a stubborn look.
“Did I say you have too? Believe me or not, but whatever you guys saw I fought a magician, one of the lost ones. And he killed my master, and he tried to kill me. That’s why we got to flee. He’ll come back, and he won’t be alone then.”

It was raining, everything was soaking wet and he wasn’t able to light the fire. Damn rain, he thought. He flicked the little box once again, but the little flame was quickly extinguished by the rain. That was it; the fire maker didn’t work so he had to use magic. After his duel with the other magician he had discovered that he could use magic without speaking. So he painted a picture of a little cozy fire in his mind, and then made it real. It was hard do describe it, but of what he could remember from his lesson magic required the trinity and a little imaginary. His master had also said that he had to speak the word, but if apparently there was another way. With enough focus there was no need for the word to be spoken, it was enough to know it.
\"At least that proves you know magic.\"
The carrot had came back, and he was now looking suspiciously at the color shifting fire.
\"Whats the matter, fire as fire. I want my food hot.\"
\"Hm, lets just hope none\'ll see that. Would be kinda hard to explain what we are doing here with a green fire.\"
\"Common, who would be out here?\"
\"Your memory is even smaller than your mind, forgot about the magician?\"
\"Right, maybe we should hide it?\"
\"You know what, you aren\'t that stupid after all.\"
\"Thanks a lot, I\'m feeling really happy now after you told me I\'m not stupid...\"
The carrot disappeared in the shadows and he was alone with the peculiar fire.

A ray of sunlight tickled his eyes, he was terribly hungry and once again the carrot was jumping on his chest crying for him to wake up. So he opened his eyes and said:
\"What\'s the matter with you anyway, jumping and screaming all the time?\"
\"You never told us your name.\"
\"Why would I do that?\"
\"Well otherwise I just call ye The Great Creator Of The World First Talking Carrot, and that wouldn\'t be that good, right?\"
\"I must\'ve thought of something very annoying because your personality sure is that. Alright, you can call me Gallahan, or Gal if that suits you better.\"
\"Gal it is then, Oh Great Creator of the World First Talking Carrot.\"
\"You just can\'t stop.\"
\"Nope, not when it is this fun.\"
He stood up, and lighted the fire again, cooked himself a quick meal with more use of magic and then realised how useless a fire was, even a color shifting one, when he could use magic. He packed all the stuff back in his backpack, and then started walking. The carrot soon appeared up from the backpack and started talking. He ignored it as good as he could and hoped that the donkey would survive in the wildlife.

A couple of days later he finally reached the end of the forest, and the little village of Forest’s Edge. It was approximately ten houses, with a main street in the middle and an inn, and a temple. As he approached the inn a short man appeared at the door, he shouted something and then quickly ducked as a arrow came flying. He sprinted towards Gal and a moment after a much larger man exited the inn, with a bow in his hands. He raised his bow, and fired another arrow. Without hesitation he raised a shield between them, and the arrow was crushed against it. The short man stopped and looked at him, his eyes widened and then he said:
“I’ve been waiting for you, Gallahan, apprentice of grandmaster magician Lekhe, but apparently I drank a little too much and won a little to much of that man’s money. Care to help me a little?”
He thought about it for a second, a stranger saying he knew him that was pretty suspicious. He could not afford to get caught, they would kill him on sight, to get his word. There was a big difference between raising a shield between a unknown man and an arrow and actually follow him around. He decided to help him, but to be careful.
“Sure, ill help you, if you tell me what you want.”
He stretched out his mind and made the angry man faint, it was quite easy if one knew what to do. Wheezing and panting like a broken bagpipes, the short man stopped in front of him.
“I am Heshlag, soldier for hire, thief and everything in between. Whatever you need.”
“You know the name of my master, how?”
“Because we both server the same authority, they share what they know with persons they trust. I was actually stationed here to keep an eye out for you, just in case I guess. So why are you here?”
“Lekhe is dead, one of the magicians killed him. I was sent out on some stupid task to create a…” At this point the carrot bounced up of his backpack and shouted:
“The Worlds First Talking Carrot!”
…and yeah, that’s him. So what will we do now?
“My orders are to escort you to the Hold. Once there I guess they will tell you what to do next.

And so, Heshlag and Gallahan begun their journey to the mysterious Hold.