A Long time ago, the Kingdom of King Richard in the land of Merikia, was the greatest kingdom the world of Zelith had to offer. The land was full of life, like its king. All the people respected Richard and loved him dearly for his loyalty to his people. When things were tough and the people were in trouble, Richard always was the voice in the darkness, leading his people into better times. Eventually Richard had 2 sons, twin brothers in fact. Each with qualities unique to being future king. Richard named his son Verick after his great great grandfather, and Sam after his mother’s father. Richard didn’t believe in the Rule of age, were whoever was oldest would inherit the will of the father. He knew this was no way to decide the leader and protector of his people. Especially since each boy were born seconds apart. Richard would have none of that and would in time leave a plan for who would inherit his kingdom. He knew of the great kings of the past and how they decided who would look after what they had left behind after they have past. Often enough, ruin would follow the kingdom that was left to the eldest heir whether it be incompetence, greed, mutiny among siblings and family. Worst if it was to simply have power. Richard was sure that none of his boys would turn into these kind of men, but he had to be sure. His plan would one day lead his sons to inherit the burden of king and to protect the people who were guarded inside the kingdom. For Richard was not a man of power, wealth, or material but of the people he swore he would protect after his father before him left the kingdom into his hands. And so today Verick and Sam turn ten years old, and is the day they start preparing for their future role as the future kings hands in guarding the kingdom of Merikia. We are going to follow Verick on his journey as the son of King Richard, ruler of Merikia.

Chapter 1: 1 birthday, 2 boys?

Like every year, Birthday was perhaps the most anticipated day of the year to Verick, besides the celebration of king nick. But as of today, both Verick and Sam are supposed to start attending to duties that the royal family are responsible for. But Verick and Sam were both sleeping, and unaware that it was already morning, the morning of their 10th birthday. Sam was the first to wake up, raising his arms to the sky to pop his tight joints and yawn wilder then any jungle cat. Verick, having been awoken by Sam’s notorious yawn lifted one eyelid towards his dresser. On the dresser stood one of the only watches ever made. Made by famous inventor Dennis Hawk, or Dr. Hawkins. The watch’s ticking was mute but still audible. As Verick’s eye adjusted, he could finally just make out the time. It was five minutes till Eight, meaning breakfast was going to be served in just five minutes. Verick slowly turned his eye to his brother to see if he was awake. Settling on the lump covered in sheets, Verick’s eye focused on his brother’s face, but he was too late. Sam was already awake and he had a smirk on his face.

"Looks like we’ll be late again Verick.’ Said Sam groggily, afterwards yawning loudly and obnoxiously at his brother. Verick, still groggy from a night without sleep sat up from his bed and also stretched, Getting the kinks and cracks out of his body, he then jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. Verick turned to see Sam putting on his shoes before combing his hair back with his hands. Verick did the same but he dressed it to the side, he wasn’t aiming to look just look his twin. Verick now dressed for the new day started walking towards the door when Sam whizzed by him and said, “First to breakfeast gets dinner first.” Verick dashed after him and yelled back, “your on.”

Verick was the last to bolt out of the boys room slid by the railing that lined the upper hall of one of the high floors in the castle. Missing the railing, Verick instead ran straight into one of the suits of armor that lined the many halls in the castle. Verick waited for one of the long swords that the knight was clutching to fall and decapitate him but the suit only shook, almost angry at this princes rude awakening. The suits helmet seemed to peer down on Verick menacingly and if the suit could talk, it would probably say, "You mind not slamming into me every time you 2 dingle-berries race each other. Sam was not as clumsy as Verick and grabbed the door frame to sling shot him to the lead. Verick was still rubbing his head and peered up back at the old suit of armor. The suit now seemed to have another thing to say, " you gonna just sit there or you gonna catch up to idiot two?" Verick pushed himself off the floor and started closing the gap between him and Sam. Sam being the more agile of the two brothers was getting closer to the spiral staircase. Verick was summoning all the strength he could to catch up with his brother. Verick was now right behind trying to maneuver around Sam to get ahead. Verick had his chance when Sam decided to take the right side of the staircase, the longer side to run down. Verick taking the left side was now passing Sam. Both brothers took a second to look at each other. Being twins there shouldn’t be any differences between the brothers but each had unique personalities that reflected on how they dressed and looked. Sam was a bit more arrogant then Verick so he liked to take more risk reflecting the hoodie he would always wear along with a much longer haircut that scaled his head. Both brothers having the same colored and shaped... well...everything, from light brown/blonde hair, to a Peach tempered skin, and the same thin long pointed ears. What was different was their eye colors. Verick was gifted with his fathers eyes, being a sapphire blue and Sam’s being a near crimson red. Both brothers being distracted by the stupid look they gave each other, they didn’t see the maid walking up the stairs, probably to see if they were awake for breakfast. Sam was the first to turn his ahead and quickly tried to slow his decent. Verick was confused and then saw what Sam was looking at but only had seconds to react. The only bright idea he could come up with was to slide down in-between the maidens legs. It was a good thing Sarah was the one sent up, otherwise Verick would not have the room to slip under her. The stairs though had its toll on Verick’s bum as the hard wooden staircase didn’t take too kindly to Verick sliding bottom down the stairs. Verick someone was able to use the momentum to slide up on his feet near the bottom of the staircase. he made it to the landing of the stairs so now all he had to do was run down the main staircase to the entrance of the dining hall."Almost there, can’t believe he isn’t right behind me." Unaware to him the problem Verick was about to experience is he was going down the stairs way too fast for his own good. Verick turned to the main-staircase that was much steeper then the stairs he just went down and was seconds to ending this race that fueled the brothers rivalry. Verick was just a few more steps from the bottom,when his feet didnt catch up with the rest of his body causing him to tumble the rest of the way down the stairs, hitting his head on what he fathomed was the stairs, the wall, the railing, and finally the floor. With a tear forming in one eye, Verrick was actually ecstatic. A smile forming on his face, he slowly started to get up, rubbing the huge knot now forming on his head. Wheezing and almost out of breath, Verrick said.

"I finally did it, i finally beat him at his own game."

"Who did you beat again?" a voice coming from in front of Verrick caused him to stumble and trip on the stairs behind him. Again hitting his head on the hard wooden floor caused the knot on his head to grow even bigger.

"Eww, that’s gotta hurt, you ok?" Verrick looked up in amazement to see his brother, already down the stairs, with his head sticking out the door that would lead to the dining hall. Sam had tears in his eyes and a hand over his mouth as he was trying not to burst out laughing at Verick’s ridiculous bump on his head.

"I gotta admit, when i first saw you hit those stairs, I thought i was gonna lose it, but now its just too sad." Verick jolted to his feet and looked at Sam with a furrowed brow and squinted eyes. Sweat was pouring down the sides of his face rolling down to his chin and making pops as the sweat beads started hitting the floor. The feeling of confusion and pain filled his head as the knot on his head grew bigger and bigger like adding water to a sponge.

"Sam, how did you make it here before me?" With Verricks eyes trained on Sam, Sam stepped fully out now and had both hands wrapped around the back of his head. Sams eyes first turned away but now looking at Verrick, calmly said.

"I went down the railing, thought it would be fun." Verrick’s face was of that of confusion and anger. "How did he do it, i would have seen him coming down the railing in front of me so how did i miss him?" Verick turned to the staircase behind him. The stairs were made of oak wood, polished and shined to last. The stairs spiraled up with openings leading to the many floors in the castle, The railings stood roughly 4 feet around the staircase and floors, too short for him to have missed Sam sliding down ahead of him. Instead of oak, the railings were made of a dull grey steal that just looked dreadful next to the stairs. Like wearing boots with shorts, it just didn’t look right. Verick returned his eyes to Sam, folded his arms and asked,

" When did you pass me, theres no way i could have missed you coming down the railing." Sam then start laughing and pointed at Verick saying,

" It was when you took a fall down the stairs, thats when i slipped by." "I swear, every time you fall or trip its in slow motion, just so funny."

Sam started laughing some more and Verick was getting irritated at this point.

“Well, looks like I win again Verick, I’m still the fastest in the family.”

Thats when Verick lost it, a vain splitting across his forhead in anger and resentment towards his brother. He fealt cheated out of his victory over his Sam and believed he should have won.

“You cheated, you can’t use a railing for seeing who’s the FASTEST, have you know honor?” Sam stopped laughing and looked at Verick more seriously but still had a slight smirk on his face.

“Maybe if you could keep up every time I race you around a corner, I wouldn’t get bored of outrunning my own shadow. Face it, your just way to slow Vick."

You the audience might be thinking why Sam said he was the fastest of the family, when theres still their dad Richard. He’s a grown freak in man and was slower than Sam when he is only ten years old? Well even Richard couldn’t catch up to Sam. It was like his legs were breed to run, he could outrun a horse if he wanted to.

“You know, If you weren’t heir to the greatest kingdom on the map, those legs would only be useful for being the pizza delivery guy.” Sam dropped the smirk and sighed, then started walking up to his brother. Sam could see the bump on Verick’s head and really had to keep himself from laughing but knew it would just upset him even more. He saw the look in his brothers eyes and they were of contempt and anger towards him. Sam knew that Verick would get over it but it was their birthday today so he wanted to start with a high note for his brother, he still loved him afterall. Putting a hand on Verick’s shoulder, Sam said

“Oh common Vick, don’t be sore just because you can’t outrun me, you should be more upset about that bump on your head. It looks like its gonna sprout some arms and try pushing out from your head. Verrick felt the bump on his head and winced, at that point Verick just hoped he didn’t have a concussion. Not the best start to his birthday. Sam saw that his brother was both down from losing and in some pain, so he pushed Verick and said, Comon, let’s go get some breakfast before it get’s cold. I’d hate to keep Jhon from waiting." Sam punched Verick’s shoulder, in a loving way and locked shoulders with Verick to the morning table. And yes there is a morning table, a lunch table, a dinner table, even a dessert table that we put on the dinner table, looks realy nice to.

Walking into the breakfast room, the boys eyes widened as they breathed in and out heavily through their nose. Their favorite breakfast was made this morning by their favorite cook, Le jhon. Le jhon turned to the boys, giving a heartwarming smile,

“Morning boys, heard you making a racket coming down those stairs. Did someone fall or something." Thats when john turned his eyes to Vericks head and saw the bump that had sprouted from it. Thats when john laughed and wiped a tear from his eye saying, " let me guess, you fell down some stairs didnt you Verick."

"Not funny john, shouldn’t you be worried or something about the state of my head."

"How can i be worried, nothing could crack that hard head of yours open. Youll be fine little man." Sam snickered at Johns comment while Verick just folded his arms and looked the other way. Both Verick and Sam then proceeded to the table and sat down closest to john still preparing their breakfast.

"So, you two must be starving, let’s see if your favorite food can calm down the monster crawling out of your head Verick.” Le john was a bit of a husky man with a swirly thick mustache, but a smile that was contagious and an outfit that just fit him perfectly. A Checkered white and black shirt underneath his stupendous blue apron, with of course the head-chef’s hat to top it all off. But Le john was still a bit too comfortable talking to the king’s sons in such a noncaring way. But that’s why the boys loved john. He could both cook, and talk to them like they were a couple of normal boys. Even if he wasn’t the greatest of role models. “So, which one of you stallions won today ay.” As I sat up on the chair and scooted towards the table, Sam was happy enough to answer saying,

“I won of course, and Vick didn’t even come close.” I turned to Sam and said,

” oh shut it, you only won because you cheated.” Verick also thought, " man, I hope he doesn’t blab on about that for the rest of the day." Le jhon raised his eyebrows after hearing this and questioned,

“Really now, Sam how did you cheat?” Sam scoffed and said,

“I used the railing to slide down the stairs quicker, just using my resources.”

“More like using your head to cheat.” I thought as I rested my chin on my hand. Le Jhon sighed and said,

“ boys, its good using the resources around you to beat each other in a race, but if you really wanted to find out who’s faster than simply agree on some terms.”

“What do you mean,” both me and Sam scoffed looking away from one another annoyed. Le jhon turned to the stove and flipped the pancakes, salted the eggs, and seasoned the bacon, then turned his head.

“What I mean is, if you were to say it was a foot race then you can only run on your two feet throughout the whole race. Honestly to me, your races are a bit too complicated to figure out in the castle boys, especially if one of you trips you could slam right into one of the suits of armor or god forbid one of the weapon cabinets. Best if you go race outside, and if you ever need me just holler. Im a pretty mean judge when it comes to racing.” John smiled and thought to himself, “And I can get some bets going around to spice things up a bit.” Le John turned around with 2 plates filled with heaping piles of pancakes with eggs and bacon on the side. Le jhon set the plates and front of the two boys and they both said, “Thanks for the food John, your always the best cook.” At that Le John gave us his big smile, bowed and left us to our breakfast. As John was about to step out of the room, another man walked into John and knocked him on his butt. John whimpered, “ mmmm ow ow ow ow,’ After rubbing the now sore part of his rump, John raised his fists up at the assailant and said, “ What’s wrong with you, can’t you watch where your…”, But John stopped mid-sentence mouth gaping half open and starting quickly apologizing saying, “I’m sorry Richard, I didn’t know..”, but before John finished what he was saying, the man was holding his hands up and said gently, “ Its all right John, my fault for not watching where I was going.” Richard offered his hand to John. John looked at Richards hand and slowly grasped it before being pulled up to his feet. “Now,” said Richard, “Do you have breakfeast waiting.” John’s face went red and quickly looked down and started twitling his thumbs.

“Um John, u okay?” John looked up at Richard fearfully and said, “ Im sorry, but the kitchen ran out of the ingredients for your breakfast sire. Richard started laughing which seemed to put John off balance because he looked even more worried, but Richard looked at John and calmly said, “it’s alright, ill grab leftovers I have sitting in the room upstairs. John looked at the two boys then back to Richard, bowed his head and quickly headed out again with sweet beeds trailing behind him. Richard kept his gaze on John till he was out of eyesight.

“ Is he still nervous around me, Richard seemed to ask himself.”

Verick responded, “He still thinks it was his fault the pig wasn’t cooked thoroughly remember father.” Richard snapped his fingers and said sharply, “That’s it, he should realy get over that.” Richard turned to Verick and Sam smiling and said, “Happy Birthday boys.” “Thanks dad,” first said Verick. “Tanks, Aaad,” Said Sam still shoveling food. Verick gave Sam a stink eye but Richard only chuckled at the remark and leaned on the table watching the two boys eat. “So, what are you plans for the day hmm?” Sam looked at Verick for the answer, Which was ok for him because he didn’t want Sam to spit out half the food he was storing. “We haven’t decided yet, we were thinking with meeting up with some of our friends since they wanted to celebrate the day with us to.” Richard started scratching his  chin and responded, “ Not a bad plan, I need you to do something first if that’s ok son.” “Yea sure, what do you want?” Richard started to pace the room now and looked into one of the kitchen mirrors. What looked back was a man with a chiseled face covered in a strained beard. His hair was freely laid back with the color of hazelnut. Deep lines cut through his forehead and a scar shaped like an X covered his left cheek. Otherwise Richard was a healthy well sculpted man with many years still ahead of himself. Richard still looking into the mirror but eyeing his son in the reflection then asked, “can you visit Buck by the docks before you seek out your friends, He mentioned he’s got both you and Sam present.” Verick finished chewing his food and nodded at his father and said, “ No problem, do you have any idea what he got us?” Richard turned around and said mischievously, “No, but he always has something up his sleeve.” Before Verick could respond, a man came running into the kitchen and almost ran into Richard but slid past him and hit the counter behind him. Richard crossed his arms and asked, “ What is it that’s so important that you run in here like a bat outa hell?” Gasping for air, the messenger held up a small blue envelope with a waxed seal pressed on it. Before Verick could distinguished what it was, Richard quickly snatched the letter from the mans hand and started studying it. “Where did you get this,” Richard asked. The man still wheezing said, “ A raven sire, it came in twenty minutes ago at the Pidgeon coup, as soon as we recognized the symbol I started running it to you. Richard patted the mans back and said, “ good work, Dom and Finn to meet me in the blue room in two hours, hurry so they know to make haste.” The messenger nodded and bolted out of the room, already rested from his dash here. Richard looked back at the boys and said, “Don’t worry, somethings come up so im meeting with friends of my own to figure this out.” Verick looked at the envelope in his fathers hand and could barely make out the waxed seal. It was a lion’s head in mid roar. Sam looked at Verick and back to Richard and swallowed for the first time. “ Dad, you haven’t even read the letter yet, how do you know something is up?” Richard gave Sam a reassuring smile and said, “ Only one man could send a letter with this seal on it, and its either good news or bad news.” “You two don’t worry about my work for the day and instead enjoy yours, its your birthday, and we’ll have plenty of time to talk about it when you get back home later.” Richard then hugged both Verick and Sam then strutted out of the room leaving the boys  a bit confused but unworried about the events ahead.
            Then Sam poured what seemed a gallon of syrup on his pancakes then dug  into the other half of his pankakes. With a mouthful of pancakes and syrup dripping down his chin he turned to me and asked. “Well Bruver, wot are ee oing ooday.” After sputtering syrup on the table and consequently on my face, I wiped up the mess and gave my brother a disgusted look.

“After we’re done stuffing our faces and you learning how to eat and talk at the same time.” Well catch up with John, Becca, Savannah, and maybe Jacob. Again, like he didn’t hear the part about how to eat, Sam stuffed his face with eggs this time sputtering, “And then what?” At first I was surprised that I could actually understand him, but I saw he swallowed before talking so I didn’t give him too much credit for talking with a mouth full. “You’ll find out when we get there, besides it’s about time we let our friends decide on what to do, I’m tired of you all asking me.”

“It’s only because you know how to have fun Vick.”

He’s got me there, if it was up to him we would be playing hide n Seek, and that sounds dull as hell. “Fine, I’ve got an idea for a game but were gonna need some rope.” Sam chugged the rest of his milk and turned to me with a ridiculous milkstach and said,” you’re not planning on hanging one of us are you Vick?” I smirked and replied,” if I was hanging anyone it would be you, at least you could get out of something like that. Besides that’s not what I had in mind, I’ll tell you more about the game when we meet up with the others alright?”

Sam leaned back in his chair and exhaled,” fiiine. Where do you plan on getting the rope anyway?” That was a good question, I usually made up things as I go along but I don’t know where to get some rope. We may be living in a freakin castle, but that doesn’t mean we have rooms filled with ropes with a salesemen pitching, “come on up, come on up and get ya rope here. One inch, 2 inch, or 3 inches, we got ropes in all shapes and sizes. Verick face palmed and said, “ Of course, we can just get the rope from Buck, we gotta see him anyways.” Sam finished the last bite of his breakfast, looked back at Verick and asked, “You ready?” Verick looked back at his plate which still had 2 pancakes and an egg. Verick sighed, but grabbed the boiled egg and shoved it in his mouth. “ Now I am.”

Chapter 2: The Captain and his ship

Verick and Sam started making their way down the town square outside their castles view. A they walked down street after street, townsfolk would stop what they were doing just to either bow their heads towards the kings sons, or simply to wish them a happy birthday. But the boys didn’t want to stick around for any praise, even if it meant getting free gifts from their admirers. The boys were on a mission and they weren’t going to be distracted by anything. after what seemed like an hour of continuously shuffling past crowds of people offering gifts or giving them birthday wishes. The boys made it to their destination of the Garen docks. There are alot of ships on the docks with fishermen to regular sailers lining the wooden planks. But there is one sailer in particular that they were looking for. Slumped up against a barrel of rum sat the greatest sailer in the Canavian fleet. Sir Buck Rodgers, But the boys just called him Buck. Verick walked over to Bucks slumped up corpse and started lightly kicking his boots. All that accomplished was Buck turning over in his sleep, with a snoring that could rival that of the fattest pig around. Thats when Sam picked up a bucket and said,"Step aside, ill show you how its done." Sam pushed Verick aside leaving him crossarmed and annoyed. Sam was now standing over Buck, the bucket of water weighing heavily in his hands. Then in one swoop, Sam swung the bucket forward slamming water all over Bucks face and clothes. The first thing to come out of Bucks mouth after jumping foward with a wild look to his eye was. "Who in the Shite has the gall to pore a bucket of water in Captain Buck Rodgers face." But after looking down to seeing the kings sons staring up curiously at his soaken face, Buck turned a furious face into a dull annoyed portrait. "oh, its just you to Shite’s, what is it this time."

"What, no happy birthday Buck, thought we would get a little more praise then that."

Buck just slumped back down next to his crate, reached behind him for a bottle inside, uncorked and started downing it like a glass of water. After wiping his scruffy beard full of the drool of coconut rum and shame, Buck said with disdain, " Happy eleventh birthday boys, do i need to sing the song?"

Verick and Sam eyed each other in confusement for a second, then Verick said, "actually we turned ten today Buck, and god knows that we dont want to hear your dreadful screeching. It be like listening to the sirens you keep telling stories about."

"ah comon, all the lads know im a good singer. And sirens are goods singers, sing you a tune that would have men jump to their deaths from the decks of any ship." Buck closed his eyes and started humming a tune.

Sam just rolled his eyes and said, " riiight, your the sensation of the town, people just begging for you to perform on the streets."

Buck stopped humming and burst out laughing, and even started rolling around on the docks, apparently already feeling tipsy from the bottle he just consumed. Buck then looked back up at the boys in curiousity and casually took another bottle from the crate behind him." So seriously, what can i do for you boys?"

Verick then unfolded his arms and pointed to the rope laying on the edge of the dock next to Buck’s ship. The Zilean Scourge, rumored to be the fastest ship in the seas, and the one to single handedly sink 3 flag ships from the rogue country Zilick, which is how it got the name. but that was years ago and now the ship is in rough shape with its sails torn, sides full of sea barnacles, and deck full of just plain scum. decks havent been mopped in weeks. Buck saw Verick looking at the dock, ignoring the finger pointing towards the rope that he actually wanted

"We need the rope from the ship, if you dont mind." Buck gave a toothy grin and rose up from the sad spot he made next to his favorite crate.

Buck then started eyeing the boys curiously and began stroking his beard. He then turned towards the ship and then back at the boys, a hint of a smile started forming between Bucks face and beard.

"Ok boys, you can have the rope, but you have to do me a favor first."

Sam frowned, looked at Verick then back at Buck.

"What do you mean a favor, we don’t have time for your shenanigans Buck, its our birthday today remember?

"Oh i remember, i also remember you boys borrowing my spyglass weeks before, and i still haven’t seen the sucker since." So now you boys are going to earn my present for you today."

Verick eyed Buck cautiously and saw Buck leaning towards the ship, and asked," what did you have in mind Captain Rodger?"

Buck Gave Verick a coneiving smile, ’Trying to get on my goodside wont help Prince Verick." Buck then stopped off the dock onto the Zilean Scourge and waved Verick and Sam to also step on the ship. Verick looked at Sam but all Sam did was hunch his shoulders then stepped ahead of Verick onto the ship.

Being on the Zilean Scourge for the boys was spooky, The sails of the ship was ripped and shaggy from one end to another. The masts on the ship was oily, and the deck was even more disgusting standing on it then looking at it. Buck disappeared under the ships lower compartments. Once the boys knew that Buck was out of earshot, they then started whispering to each other.

"Verick, this is the coolest thing ever, Buck actually let us on the legendary ship the Zilean Scourge. Ive heard stories but the ships looks so much better in person."

Verick just rolled his eyes then pointed to everything around him, "does this realy look like the ship that was talked about, its in a complete mess, what the heck does Buck want us on the ship on for anyways. Hes never let us look around on it before."

Sam just ignored Verick and walked towards one of the cannons on the ships sides, "Verick, dont tell me this isnt cool. The ship still has the cannons from the battle of Vesily."

Sam was about to say something else when the compartment door on the deck of the ship burst open, and Sam immediately dash toward his brothers side, awaiting to see what Buck had in store for them. Buck struggled with 2 mops in one hand and another bottle of rum in the other, after finally making his way towards the boys without slipping on the scum on the deck, Buck shoved the mops into the boys hands and then pointed at the ground of what is the deck.

"See this ere deck boys, as ye can see, its filthier then Maggots roosting in a rats nest, thats why you will have the pleasure of mopping this ere main deck of the ship."

Sam was already mopping before Buck could finish but Verick could only give Buck a mean look.

"Or, if you dont want my rope, then you can just drop the mops now and scurry off to whatever floats your boat today, hahahha."

Sam nudged Verick with the end of his mop and Verick just sighed and started mopping the floors the same as his brother, The water used to mopping the floors was conveniently already on the deck but was suspiciously filled with Bucks spit mixed with Seawater because it smelled horrid.

It only took the boys 3 hours to finish swabbing the deck, and during that time Buck was slumped back at his crate going through bottle after bottle until he slumped over asleep on the docks. Sam and Verick having felt like the Swabbed the deck to near perfection decided to give Buck a rude awakening. They had a little bit of what they called, "Bucks Deck Cleaner."This time the boys was leaning over Buck on the ship so they were sure he wouldnt see it coming. Sam would give the countdown with his fingers.. 1....2....3 GO! at 3 Verick let loose the bucket of Bucks deck cleaner all over Buck, Buck didnt jump up or start cursing, he just gave a toothy grin and looked up at the boys.

"So, you finished swabbing the deck did ya?"

Sam mocking saluted Buck and said, "Yes captain, deck has been swabbed completely." Buck rose from his usual spot and step onto the ship looking around the deck and taking a finger swab to test it out. Despite the cleaner the boys used to mop the deck, it actually turned out realy well, any cleaner then the deck would glisten.

"Nicely done boys, here." Buck threw the rope into Sams arm and took a final swig of the bottle of Rum clutched into his arms for the last hour. Looked at Verick then asked

" What do you plan to do with the rope Verick, nothing short of stupid I hope."

"No worries Buck, its not like im going to hang Sammy here."

Verick grabbed Sams neck and started jokingly choking, "I can do it myself see."

Buck just grinned and spit something into the crack in the docks in front of him. Then he waved his hand towards the rope and said, "Take it, my gift to you for swabbing the deck and becoming twelve today, But"

"Ten Buck."

"Dont care, were even so just get off my dock while i continue my date with this beautiful crate of Monican rum"

Sam then ran off the deck with the rope around his arm, Verick close behind him, Verick and Sam then gave a solute to Buck then ran off the docks and back into the street.

"Well Verick we got the rope, is it time to meet up with the others."

Verick stopped and listened for a second, " Do you hear that Sam."

"Hear what?" Sam looked to where Verick was gazing at and saw nothing. "Stop zoning out, we’ve got to," thats when Sam to heard what was distracting Verrick. "What is that?"

"I dont know," Verick said with the look of curiosity on his face. Verick knew it was someone singing but the song was very foreign to him. Nobody he knew could sing music this strange and complex. "Isnt it someone singing, except its weird. "Ive never heard anything like it before, right sam?"

"No, i havent either." Sam looked back to Verick and grinned, "We’re gonna check that out, right?" Verick smiled back, " thought we were heading back to the others Sammy?"

"That can wait, we cant pass up meeting whoever can come up with that, Plus its our job to know as many newcomers as possible."

Sam started walking further down the docks Verick close behind, both turning away from the entrance to town from which they came from. As the boys walked farther and farther down the docks, the singing only got louder. Sam looked behind towards Verick, "I think we’re getting close, keep your eye out for this guy." "How do you know its a guy?" Sam sighed annoyingly at his brother and said, "Dont realy care Vick if its a girl, boy, or a freaking bird, just keep an eye out would ya." Verick eyed his brother, annoyed at his sarcasm Verick started looking at the boats they were passing admiring some of the clever names they had. As they made their way past many of the fishing boats and dingys, The singing grew louder and louder and words were starting to form out of the noise. Verick was trying to make out the singing, pondering what could possibly make up the words for this ridiculous song. The singing then was completely audible and thats when Sam suddenly stopped. With no warning Verick walked right into Sam whilst looking at one of the hefty boats off to the side with the name, "Real Nauti," written on the back, what an interesting name. "Hey, whats the big.." Verick stopped short of what he was saying when he noticed Sam had his eyes on something further down the docks. Verick peered around him and saw what he was looking at or rather who he was looking at.

Then looked at Sam and nodded yes. They started walking towards the old man sitting in a dingy.

Chapter 3, the man in the dingy

The boys stopped in front of the man sitting in the dingy, but the man kept playing his instrument, undisturbed by the boy’s sudden presence. Sam and Verick waited for the man to finish playing his instrument, but as time went on the music was only getting louder and more complex. Finally Sam walked over to the dingy and gave it a big kick. The sudden jolt to the boat stopped the music abruptly and almost caused the man in the dingy to fall overboard from his tiny vessel. The old man old, “Whooaa, what?” Verick gave Sam a good punch behind the head and said,” don’t you have any manners, u could’ve tilted the boat and drowned the man.” Ow ow ow” said Sam in reply, “what you do that for?”

“You know why,” said Verick in response. As the old man regained his balance, he looked up at the boys with squinty eyes, probably blinded by the sunlight behind them. “What, who’s there,” said the old man in the dingy? Verick got the chance to study the old man more clearly now that he had a closer look. The man wore a simple dark blue robe, with patterns lining the stitches in the cloak. The man’s face looked to be worn, weathered by the years the man has lived through. What was strange was his eyes that glowed full of energy and hidden power, displaying a brilliant light blue color that was both rare and beautiful. Verick has never seen such brilliant eyes before. After looking at the man more carefully, he could tell the body was old and weathered, but the spirit was still young behind the old man’s eyes. The old man also bolstered a great white beard and mane behind him, more testament to the man’s age. The man’s eyes went from squinting to wide open once the man got a good look at the two boys standing over him on the docks.

“Oh, it’s you two boys, but you’re a bit too early,” Said the man as he rose up from his little vessel nestled by the dock. Verick was confused by what the man said. Verick knew he has never seen this man before, but he clearly recognized both him and Sam, but also that he knew they were coming to the docks, but how? Sam spoke up first, asking the old man, “I think your confused mister, me and my brother have never seen you before so you shouldn’t recognize us.” The old man chuckled, and said, “of course I know you boys, your Richards sons and my have you two grown. I haven’t seen you two since you were wee toddlers, but I can recognize the look in both you boys eyes from anywhere. Verick found what the man said to be strange, like how can you recognize someone just by the look someone gives you, especially since according to the man we were babies when he last met us. One thing also stuck out to Verick.

“What do you mean we are early, why were you expecting us?” The old man opened his mouth to answer Verick but before he could say anything Sam stopped the old man and said, “What was that…thing that you were playing?”

The old man stopped short of what he was about to say and looked at the instrument he was holding and said, “Oh, this thing, well right now it’s a guitar.” The old man held up the guitar, and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Sorry if my music was in poor taste, was trying to keep myself busy before you boys arrived, I guessed thats why you kicked my boat hahaha.” Sam smiled, Verick understood why his brother cut the man off from answering his question. Sam was always good at being friendly to strangers he just met. “Oh no, the reason why we were looking for u in the first place was because we loved it, in fact I was wondering if I could give it a try.”

The old man smiled and handed the guitar to Sam, as Sam started strumming the strings on the guitar, the old man turned his eyes to Verick and crossed his arms. “So you wanted to know how I knew you were coming here to see me?”

Verick nodded yes to the old man acknowledging his question and that he wanted answered. The old Man studied Verick closely but before he could answer him the air screeched a horrible sound, Verick covered his ears and looked to see what could make such a horrible noise but when he turned it was something worse then a beast ready to pounce onto them. He only saw Sam holding the guitar except one of the strings was broke. Sam nervously laughed and shyly said, “ ummm, sorry about that hehe, I think I broke your guitar mister.” Verick grabbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, and thought to himself, “ Sam just broke this old guys guitar and now he’s gonna be pissed with us.” But instead of expecting an explosion of anger erupting from the old man, instead he laughed and said, “That’s alright, I break the strings on it all the time, easy to fix.” Sam held up the guitar to the man, and the man grabbed it. Verick waited for the man to pull out a string from somewhere inside his robe, instead something else happened, something very unexpected. The old man held up the guitar towards himself and began whispering to it. Verick thought at this point the man must be crazy, whispering to guitars and pretending to predict both him and sams arrival. Verick was about to ask what the old man was doing but he was stopped short by what he saw. The severed ends of the string on the guitar began to waver then float in the air, hovering inches from each other. Verick was shocked, he didn’t believe in magic but the busted strings were actually levitating on the guitar. The strings inched closer to each until the two ends were close, so close they looked to be a hairs length from each other. The old man began whispering something inaudible to the boys towards the strings. Immediately the two ends glowed and fused with each other and become one whole string again. Sam inched closer to Verick and whispered to him, “are you seeing what im seeing, how is he able to do that?” Verick was too dumbstruck to respond to Sam, but he immediately knew what the man was but still had no idea why he was waiting for him and Sam. The old man plucked the string, testing its strength and the sound it made, he then played a few notes on the guitar and said, good as new. The boys watched the old man, entranced by his actions and waiting to see what sort of magic he would perform next. The old man, satisfied by the sounds the plucked strings made, looked up from his guitar and saw Verick and Sam looking shocked. You could fire a cannon, but the two boys wouldn’t pay it any attention. The Man began nervously rubbing the back of his head and started nervously laughing, im guessing you boys haven’t seen something like that before huh. Sam for the first time was at a lost for words, he was as shocked as Verick was and it wasn’t easy to surprise Sam. Verick broke the awkward silence, “yea, we usually don’t see people whispering to objects and fixing them using magic tricks.” The old man laughed some more and said, “yea I bet, except that wasn’t a magic.” Sam was able to choke up some words finally, “If it wasn’t a trick then what was it.”

The old man scratched his head this time, at this pointed Verick assumed there was something wrong with the man, always needing to rub or scratch some part of his head. The man spoke up again, “well it was magic of course, what else could it be.”

Verick was also at a loss for words at this point, he has never seen real magic before, and can assume Sam hasn’t either. After seeing it for the first time he couldn’t believe it. For him seeing was believing but this time he couldn’t believe what he saw. “So you’re a wizard right, is that how you knew we were coming”, Sam said slowly, trying to get past the magic him and Verick just witnessed.

The old man responded, “Yes and no, I am technically a wizard but it’s not accurate to call me that.” Verick was confused by the man’s answer and asked, “If you’re not a wizard then what are you, and who are you?”

The old man started to pull on his beard this time and closed his eyes. Verick and Sam waited patiently for the man to answer them. It seemed it took a lot of thought for the old man to answer their question because minutes seem to fly by as birds flew by landing on the docks and the water beside them. Out of the corner of his eye, Verick saw one of the birds, a pelican grab a fish swimming by one of the posts of the docks and swallow it whole. Verick returned his attention to the old man when he finally shifted his position and opened his eyes. It seemed the old man was able to think of his proper introductions to the boys. The old man opened his mouth and said, “I am the guardian of the king of Riven, and my name is Alexander, wielder of the staff of Ronan, but you can call me Alex.”

And I’m Verick, this is my brother Sam , we are the heirs of Richard, king of Riven, which by the way has never mentioned you, or the fact that we have a guardian wizard magic man around. The old man laughed at Verick’s own introductions and snarky remark and said, “well Verick and Sam, sorry to have been a surprise for the both of you, I figured your father would have told you two about me already, but the real reason I knew you were coming was because he told me to come and wait for you here in the first place. Verick and Sam looked at each other and Verick spoke to Alexander, “We told father that we were going to see Captain Buck Rodgers by the docks so I guess it makes sense for him to tell you to wait here, but if it wasn’t for your music u might have missed us. Sam spoke up when Verick mentioned music, “yea we definitely were drawn to the music you performed but what you said earlier still has me confused.”

“What do you mean,” said both Verick and the Alex. Sam Shrugged and said, “ I thought I heard you say that right now, what you were playing on is a guitar, what did you mean by that?” Verick remembered the old man saying that, and something else confused him. “Yea, and what did you mean you were the wielder of the staff of Ronan. You don’t seem to be carrying a staff with you.”

The old man sighed, and spoke condescendingly, “Can’t you put two and two together, honestly so simple?” Verick looked to Sam for the answer but his brother just shrugged and gave him a look that said, “I don’t know what the crazy old man means, ask him.”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about” Verick said, “Just tell us what you mean” the old man nodded and said mischievously, “why don’t I just show you hmm.” Just then the air around Verick shifted towards the old man. The old man’s eyes began to glow this time as he whispered to the guitar again. Verick was almost frightened, the amount of power coming from Alex could be felt by him, Verick looked to Sam and saw his brother bracing himself for whatever Alex was about to do. Alex’s whispering turned to chanting as the guitar the old man was holding began to shake and creak. The guitar that Alexander was holding looked to be on the brink of exploding from the pressure it was experiencing, Verick was about to cover his eyes but he kept them open long enough to see something more astonishing then he saw before. The guitars shaking continued, but now it started to glow. The strings came apart from the guitar and carved its way into the wood shaping it into something else. The wood grew darker and more ancient, and the bulky part of the instrument began to compress and almost squeeze together. What was left of the guitar began to twist and round itself out. Cracks began to form and crawl across the new creation. The cracks spider webbed and met again to create complex signs throughout the born object; Verick started recognizing these signs and symbols to be runes that etched its way across the newborn staff both up down and across leaving no place on the staff unmarked. The strings still visible began carving its way across the base and top of the staff and melded with the staff leaving a trail of gold and silver linings. The top of the staff bubbled and grew until the figure of the staff was more distinguished from the rest of its transformation. Verick expected something glamorous to make up the mast of the new staff, but instead the head of the staff only twisted like a tree root and stopped short revealing the face of a lion twisting and recovering from the sudden burst of energy. Its head shook and struggled almost trying to break free froms its current fixed position. Verick was petrified, the lion was so lifelike that he believed it would burst out of the staff to devour them all. Verick flinched when the lion turned its head towards him, the glowing red eyes of the lions head made him turn away fearing something awful would happen next, but suddenly everything grew still. Verick slowly turned, putting his eyes back again on the staff, but the glowing had dissipated and the lions head was frozen unlively but in mid roar.

Verick noticed that Sam ducked behind one of the fishing crates a sailor left on the docks. Sam still shaking asked, “Is it over?” Verick turned to Alexander and asked angrily, “Why didn’t you warn us, we thought we were going to explode?!” Alexander only went back to rubbing the back of his head and apologized to the boys and said, “It’s been awhile since it’s been in its original form, and it almost has a mind of its own. It was glad to be freed from constraints of a guitar.” The eyes of the lion started to glow again, and Alex almost turned towards it but immediately refocused its gaze on the two boys still shaken up by the even. Then Alex started explaining that the staff isn’t meant for transforming frequently but it was necessary to keep a low profile while he was in Riven. The boys nodded, still stupefied from the event but could breathe a little easier.

Sam spoke up again with another question, “You still didn’t tell us why you were waiting for us, what is it that you want, why did you have to disguise your staff in the first place.” Alexander raised a hand and said, “Easy easy, I was just getting to that, but I’m not sure you’re going to like what I have to say, in fact you might think I’ve been lying up to this point.”

“What do you mean,” said Sam, “Just tell us what you have to say and we can go from there.” Verick turned to Sam and could tell he was thinking the same thing he was, whatever message Alexander has for them can’t be good. Alexander closed his eyes, and it became very quiet, the waves from the sea pushed back and forth against the steps of the docks. Both seagulls and pelicans buzzed above the boys, some dropped to the posts to rest while others swooped down to grab whatever will fill their hunger. Alexander began mumbling something inaudible to the boys

“What,” said Verick, “we can’t hear you?” Alexander sighed and opened his eyes again, but this time a shadow passed over them and hung like vultures. His gaze weighed heavy on the boys and almost made them turn away. Finally, Alexander opened his mouth again and said in a voice that was both low and stiff, I first came to warn your father and now the both of you.” Alexander swallowed and almost choked on his own words and continued, “A dark force has returned from long ago to come and destroy Velden and its people, but its main goal is to capture and kill your father. He wanted me to come and take you away while he stays behind to confront the force by himself.

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