A Pen Dipped in Ink; The Story Begins

Sol Noct sat on the small wooden bench, elbows to his knees, head in his hands. Well, he thought, this was a predicament. He was in a most interesting circumstance. Or rather, an interesting lack of circumstances. He though he'd been gearing up for some grand journey when he had left his uncle's home, but it seemed to him that he was far from anything grand. In fact, it was actually quite pathetic if he was being perfectly honest with himself.

If he knew the town as well as he thought, he'd only made it a few blocks since he had left. As it turned out, this whole traveling thing was markedly harder than the books made it seem. The smallest of sighs escaped his lips. Had his sister had this much trouble when she'd left on her own journey? Somehow, Sol doubted it. His elder sister had always been remarkably strong willed, head strong even. And he was a touch jealous. Her first steps on the road had likely been far more proud and noble. No, he thought, no awkwardly sitting on benches for Stella. She'd have forced herself down a road before long.

Sol frowned. Well, he thought, he'd not be the disappointment in his family. With a grunt, he pulled himself up and readjusted his rapier so that it hung from his belt. A gift from his sister, he noted, so it was not as if he were making this journey alone. Sol stretched, his joints and bones popping into place as he took his first steps away from the bench. Now, he thought, all he had to do was find a way. A way to what? Well, he thought, he'd figure that much out later.

Sol walked down the street, his rapier bouncing with each step. He walked with his hands held tight behind his back, eyes alert, looking at each facet of the world as if it were new to him. He'd need to be at attention for this. The world rewarded the attentive, or so he had been told.

Slowly, he turned off into an alley. He could not say why, no he did it on impulse, intuition. He felt a tugging in his mind. Curiosity? Maybe. That sense of adventure that guided him, it was dragging him this way. Sol squinted through the dim light of the alley. Well, he thought, not the cheeriest place, but it would do for an adventure.

It was a strange sensation. The alley seemed quite dark, too dark to be natural, in fact. Just as any sense of danger would set in, however, Sol would find himself standing on a platform that was decidedly not of the world he was most familiar with. It was of an unusual make, a stained glass platform that, upon closer inspection depicted himself, his sister, and the Uncle that raised them. Around the platform was nothing but inky blackness, a never ending void. No matter where he would look, it would be the same... Just this platform he was standing upon.

"A young heart eager for adventure.", a voice would finally call out to him, though he could understand it's words, he could not truly hear it's voice, rather, it didn't sound like a voice at all. It was the definition of a paradox and yet, it was not a hostile entity. "Power sleeps within you...", it added as a stone pedestal would then begin to rise out of the glass platform. A flash of light would reveal of a red shield floating above it.

Shortly there after, a second pedestal would rise in the same fashion, and this time a blue staff floated above it. "It will give you strength.", it would state as a third pedestal rose, a sword floating above it. "Choose well. One to keep, one to sacrifice.", a beam of light would then shine onto the staff. "The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin.", the beam would then shift towards the sword. "The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction."

With that the beam would then travel towards the shield. "The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.", after finishing, the beam of light would vanish, though it would not leave Sol in total darkness by doing so. "The choice is yours. Take your time."