The Prologue;
The sun allowed its rays and their flakes of floating morning dust to shine through the window of a small ordinary house that belonged to an ordinary peasant family. The light emanating from the sun’s rays usually exposed the jovial family life that dwelled within this house, this home. It shined on each of the family members' smiling faces and energetic bodies filled with light and life. But not that day, the day when everyone in the Haynes family sat still with solemn faces struggling to cover up their feelings of shock, since Koen, the eldest child of three announced early that morning:
“Father, mother, Althea, Odeleya - I think I just received.. a draft letter! I must read it to you all right now!”
After he tore open the envelope with great excitement, he read aloud:
“Every man aged 15-25 in the Three Kingdoms of Aechairious - Aevum, Lyterra, and Fyn, must go to the castle in the capital city of Pheorus to train to become soldiers and fight against the island kingdom of Lazica. If a man from Aevum, Lyterra, or Fyn aged 15-25 refuses to come to the Pheorus castle by the seventh of this March, they must pay 5,000 Cythills to Pheorus Castle. If any young man refuses to fight and cannot pay the fine, they will end up in the Pheorus Prison. I’m seventeen and I'm from Aevum, so this is my chance to become a knight! One time I read that I don’t have to be from a noble family to become a knight, since I can just prove myself in battle and then start knight training.”
“Koen, are you sure you can fight in this war.. and survive? I can’t bear even the thought of you, my only son, dying in battle.” His mother, Anka, replied with a low and soft voice to keep herself from crying. Then, she gave him a soft kiss on the head.
“Anka, he has to fight. He was chosen by the council of Aecharious.”
“You’re right, but he’s our only son now, since Soren died in battle about a decade ago, and he was even younger than you, Koen. He was FIFTEEN when he was drafted for the last war! FIFTEEN! It’s outrageous! Koen, I know you remember Soren; He was a good older brother to all three of you, espeically with you Koen. You would play pretend knight training almost every afternoon with him.”
“Yes, of course I do, that’s exactly why I want to fight. Soren wanted to become a knight, but he died before he got the chance. I want to start out as a soldier then become a knight to honor him and all that he’s done for me.” Koen uttered that statement in a firm, confident, and respectful tone, to ensure that he was honoring his parents and acknowledging his mother’s emotions of grief, anxiety, and anger as he was expressing himself.
“If you have your heart set on this, then listen to me - you must survive, for me, and for the rest of our family,” Anka demanded while walking up to Koen to make sure that he was looking directly into her tear-filled eyes.
“Anka, he cannot guarantee that. The best young men often die in war; That's just the way it is,” Soren the First, his father replied solemnly, while Althea and Odeleya remained shocked and speechless. Both sisters were too busy to speak since words, sentences, and even paragraphs of their worries about Koen were filling their minds.
