Though it was summer, there was a chill in the air and Lucas could tell    that it would start raining before morning. He’d be home before then, but it still made him shiver. This was his third night in a row on watch, and the late nights were starting to wear on him. For once, he was actually looking forward to going home at the end of his shift.

Normally, a guard would only work a couple of nights every month, but Lucas was looking for a reason to spend as much time away from home as he could, so he would regularly relieve other guards, who would willing go spend their nights away from the wall, happily at home with their families.

Guard watch at the wall wasn’t a particularly difficult task, almost every able body villager under the age of forty would have to serve their nights during a month. Every one was trained in the art of combat, though it was rarely an art they would have to practice. Siddan was peaceful. Even the magical realm that laid outside its walls was peaceful, for the most part.

The guards weren’t keeping an eye out for intruders or anything of the such. They were positioned on the wall to keep the more aggressive creatures from entering and disturbing the peace. Siddan was a human village after all, just because it happened to lay on the boarder between the human realm and the magical realm didn’t mean that it should be disturbed by goblins on a regular basis.

So, Lucas stood, looking out into the darkness, peering between the trees at a sign of movement that he knew probably wasn’t there, his bow at the ready, slack in his hands, his sword sheathed at his side.

Lucas had been training in combat since he was twelve. Most other boys in the village didn’t start training with weapons until they were fourteen, but Lucas had been persistent, so persistent that he had taken down one of the arms teachers to prove that he was skilled enough to begin his training early.

His teachers considered him a prodigy in arms and he excelled in the training program, soon becoming the youngest guard on the wall at the age of sixteen.
The first night he was scheduled for the watch, his younger brother, Colin, came to the wall to wish him luck. Lucas had always looked after Colin, they were close. That was until Colin had first shown signs of being a magician.

The most important people in the village of Siddan are the magicians. They are the last remaining connection the village has to the original occupants, humans who were given the ability to control the magic of the realm outside their gates. It was given to them as a means of survival against the creatures, against other humans living in the realm. It was given to them so they could better protect the gates to the human world, so they could make sure that the magical world and the human world stayed separated.

As the need for magic died over the centuries, creatures stopped attacking, other humans in the realm started to die off and fade away, less and less villagers were born with the gift. At the time, Siddan only had twelve magicians. Once a child showed the ability to control magic, they would be removed from all weapons training and immediately trained by fellow magicians in the skills they would need to control magic. That magic would be used to protect the city, keep it thriving.

When Colin was ten, he had started to manipulate water in a rain puddle outside the village hall. Siddan’s leader, Eric, a magician, saw him and brought him to the other magicians and started his basic training.

Since then, Lucas wanted to be out of his house as often as possible. His mother had become unbearable, praising Colin, letting him do as he pleased, scolding Lucas for no reason. Lucas didn’t resent his brother, but he needed an escape. So, he started to train. If Colin could be a magician, then he would be the best warrior he could be.

And now, on a cool summer night, Lucas was standing watch for the third night in a row. He stared out into the forest beyond the wall, thinking he saw a movement, but he was sure it was nothing. That was until he saw the light from two torches coming from the same place.

Lucas hesitated for a moment, watching the lights as the darted through the tress, disappearing and reappearing. He needed to make sure that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing before he sounded an alarm to the other guards further along the wall.

The lights had suddenly stopped, they were further away from the wall now, but he could still see them in the darkness. Lucas waited.

Suddenly there was a horrendous sound, something that Lucas couldn’t identify. Then a horrible, terrified scream ripped through the trees. Lucas turned to his left and rang the warning bell once before climbing down a ladder and leaping down to the ground. He ran toward the torches without waiting for back up.

More screams came from the trees and as he got closer, he could see who was making them. Three younger boys stood backed up against a tree, trembling at the creature standing before them.

Lucas had only ever read stories about the Questing Beast because no one had seen one in centuries. It was a described as a horrible animal hybrid, a combination of the most dangerous aspects of creatures to make it fast, strong, dangerous, and deadly.

The Questing Beast was as tall as a stallion and as broad as an ox. Its legs were strong like a horse, but nimble like deer, allowing it to be agile and move smoothly as it paced back and forth in front of the boys. Its fur was covered in spots that could keep it camouflaged in the trees and its tail whipped back and forth, cutting through the air like a lizards tail, sharp scales ready to cut into an opponent.

As Lucas approached, trying to assess the situation, he couldn’t help but stare at the long snake like neck swaying back and forth, inching closer and closer to the boys. The dragon like face and sharp teeth snapping at them as though daring them to fight back.

Before Lucas could get into a position to jump the beast, one of the boys stepped forward, taking the beasts challenge. He was smaller than the other boys, his shaggy black hair hung in his face, which was trying to stay strong, but every time the monsters head moved back and forth, a small crack of fear would show itself.

Fear rose in Lucas’ chest when the boy stepped forward. It was his fourteen year old brother, Colin. Colin stood in front, his arms at the ready to perform what little defensive magic he knew. Lucas knew that fighting was not his strong suite, so, before he could second guess himself, Lucas lept from his hiding spot in the brush, yelling, calling the attention of the beast.

The beast turned and made a horrible sound as it set its sights on Lucas. He had his sword at the ready, prepared to fight, but his mind was still thinking about Colin and the others.

"Run!" Lucas yelled.

Two of the boys grabbed a torch and ran as fast as they could toward the wall. Colin grabbed the remaining torch, but stayed in front of the tree.

"You can’t see in the dark, Lucas," he yelled at his brother.

"Get out of here before you get hurt," Lucas called back. "I’ve got this."

Lucas attacked, swinging his blade, trying to catch the creature on the neck. It was too fast and just simply swayed its head in the other direction. So, Lucas aimed for the body, but the beast jumped away using its powerful and nimble legs. Lucas attacked again, but as the beast moved around him, he somehow managed to get behind the beast.

He raised his sword, with an open chance to injure the beast enough to give him and Colin time to run for the wall. As he brought his sword down, the razor whip like tail came at him cutting deep gashes across his chest. It didn’t stop him, however, from bringing his sword down. What he didn’t expect was for the beast to rear, kicking him backwards into the tree, his sword falling next to his arm.

His head smacked hard against the trunk, making his vision blurry and spotted. He tried to focus, but everything was spinning. He say a figure step in front of him. He heard the strange hiss of the monster. He heard Colin say something to him, though he didn’t understand him. Lucas grabbed for his sword and tried to get to his feet, but he couldn’t manage.

Suddenly Colin let out a powerful yell and there was a bright green flash. Lucas closed his eyes as the light grew brighter. He could feel heat like fire against his skin and he could see light moving through his eyelids. The creature let out a struggled sound as the light faded away.
Lucas opened his eyes, everything was still a bit blurry, but he could make out two distinct bodies fallen on the ground in front of him. The first was Colin, collapsed and unconscious, the second was the body of the beast. Without realizing what he was doing and not knowing where the energy came from, Lucas stood, picked up his sword and walked to the beast.

Standing over it, he couldn’t tell if it was alive or dead. It didn’t move, no sign of breathing, but he knew he couldn’t take the chance that this monster would follow back to the village. So, with what little strength he had left, Lucas raised his sword, and brought it down on the creatures neck, decapitating the beast, killing it for good.

Lucas rushed to Colin’s side, hoping he wasn’t too late, but as he sat down beside his brother, Colin was coming to. There was a shout from in the woods and Lucas could see torches approaching through the trees.

"Lucas," Colin said quietly as he rubbed his head. "What happened?"

Lucas didn’t answer Colin right away, he was too relieved that he was alright. He wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.

"Colin, you are an idiot," Lucas said leaning away and helping his brother stand. "What were you doing out here?"

"Thomas and Neil were dared to spend the night out here," he said. "I couldn’t let them come alone, completely defenseless."

"You are an idiot," Lucas said.

Suddenly the woods lit up as a group of twenty warriors came through the trees. In the lead was Eric, the village leader, a magical torch lighting the way as if it were daylight. Eric stopped and motioned for the others to follow suit. He looked at the brothers and down at the decapitated beast on the forest floor.

"Are you two alright?" Eric asked. Lucas nodded. "Who killed the beast?"

Colin looked at Lucas, as if he was expecting him to immediately step forward, but the truth was that Lucas didn’t know if he had actually killed the beast, or it if had been dead before. He looked down at his brother, the brother he had been protecting since they were children, the brother he knew had done something incredible to the beast before Lucas came to. The brother he knew had no recollection of what had happened.

"I did," Lucas said as he picked his blood stained sword off the ground. "I killed the beast."

"Do you know what this beast is?" Eric asked with an astonished expression. "This is the Questing beast. This is the creature sent by the gods that can only be killed by the great warrior. It has only ever been defeated once in our history. Do you understand what this means, Lucas Sullivan?"

Lucas looked back at his brother, who was quiet, studying the beast that laid at their feet. Lucas knew exactly what claiming to have killed this beast meant for him. He knew exactly what would happen if he admitted to killing this beast instead of expressing his uncertainty about its death. Colin looked up at Lucas and Lucas knew that this was the best way to protect his brother.

"Yes," Lucas said. "It means that I am a Great Warrior. The first in centuries."