The small Village of Rivenwood was nothing more than a speck on the map, surrounded by thick forests and Mountain ranges that stretched toward the heavens. It was the kind of place where nothing much happened, and the people liked it that way. But hidden within the mundane simplicity of village life was a boy, no older than sixteen, who had no past.
His name was Aelric, and he had been found on the edge of the village forest as a baby, with no markings, no family, and nothing to his name but a strange pendant around his neck. The villagers took him in, raising him as one of their own, but even after sixteen years, no one could explain where he had come from.
Aelric had always known he was different. There was something about the way he felt the world, the way the wind seemed to whisper to him, the way the trees bent ever so slightly in his presence, and the strange, unexplainable power that surged through him at times of great emotion. But he kept these things to himself, fearing that revealing his oddities would only lead to more questions he could not answer.
One morning, as Aelric was working in the village blacksmith's shop, a group of travelers arrived. They were unlike anyone he had ever seen, clad in long robes, their eyes glowing faintly with magic. they bore the crest of the ancient city of Elanor, the last known stronghold of magic users.
One of them, a woman with sharp, sliver eyes, approached him.
"You," she said, her voice steady. "You are the one we seek." Aelric felt a chill run down his spine. "Me? I think you've made a mistake."
"No mistake," the woman replied, her gaze unwavering. "You bear the mark of the prophecy. The pendant you wear belongs to the Lost Heir of Eldoria." Aelric's heart raced as he instinctively clutched the pendant around his neck. "Lost Heir? That's not possible. I'm Just... I'm just a blacksmith's apprentice."