**THANKS FOR READING MY BOOK IT MEANS A LOT*

The fluff on his chair was a crimson red fabric that only was found in the best workshops. It also had smooth golden designs imprinted on them. As he walked over to it he gave a quick glance to his right before sitting down and relaxing any tension that rested in his arms. After a few seconds, a knock on the door was heard.

He sighed and said, "Enter." Then following after, a young female servant had come in holding a tray that had a glass of peppermint tea.

As she looked down, she gave him a glass of peppermint tea that the peasants would harvest from the fields and brew it into a tea. He gave a quick nod, and she exited the room. He put the tea which had been on the tray on his desk. He blew it so it cooled down which would allow him to drink it faster.

He took a sip and savored it. He dropped it back onto the tray and dipped his quill pen into a dark black ink contained in a jar. He opened up the first book Silica gave him that had a black hardcover and was well presented.

He read the cover which had read, "The Great War Of Lazoreth" and he proceeded to read the first chapter.

He sipped some of the tea before proceeding, "There once was a ruler who had been named Azora. He was the first king and had been a good king, but in his last years of ruling, he had grown greedy. He wanted more wealth than he already had, and he was annihilated. Shortly after his fall, an enemy country who had been greedy for wealth, called upon five other nations to devour Lazoreth. And that's how the great war started. But somebody on the inside leaked the information that the king had fallen.

It all had made sense to him now. He remembered the worried face the king gave to everybody when he had been talking about spies. He must have felt his life was endangered, then a spy would report his death and another great war would start. This one would be even bigger."

Isaac sighed and closed his eyes before flipping through all the pages giving them a brief read. The rest of the pages, he had thought to be nonsense, but he knew the information he needed to know and he closed the book.

He grabbed the glass cup, and finished the remaining tea, then headed to his bed. He laid down and crossed his feet. He didn't go to sleep but he only faded away into his thoughts. He thought of everything that had happened recently. The competition, the book. It had all been too much, but then the voice of the princess came up in his head saying, "If you can't do it, why don't you step out." He thought about it for a while. Even if the voice was just him daydreaming he thought of it deeply.

Then suddenly someone's footsteps padded quickly to his room and opened the door. She breathed heavily and took her time to get her breath again.

She held her head low and said. "I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to get here quickly... I forgot your bowl of fruits," she said with shame.

She handed him a wooden bowl of fruits that had been boiled over the fire and had been dressed with honey. He knew not to talk to the servants because usually, they would be the ones getting in trouble for supposedly starting the conversation. So he gave a respectful nod, and with the knife that had been on the side of the wooden bowl. He stabbed the fruits and then grabbed it with his hands and ate them.

He tossed her one silver coin and cocked his head showing that she could leave now... She wanted to express her gratitude by saying "thank you" which was the least she could say, but she knew the consequences of communicating with her superior.

She walked out of the room, with her face held even lower and a soft smile appeared on her face. Not the evil one, the one of gratitude. He smiled back at her, even though she had been facing the stair and quietly whispered. "Thank you."

She turned around and tried her hardest not to look at him while she closed the door. He closed his eyes one more time, and then his mind completely faded away. His eyes refused to open when he tried to wake up. All the lights in his room were still turned on so he must have fallen asleep early.

He took a bath and had servants pick out his outfit, then, he rushed downstairs for breakfast. He sat down on a chair where his mom had already been, sitting on the chair beside him. She looked at Isaac and ran her fingers through his silky golden hair and gasped. "We need to cut it immediately."

"Mom!" he groaned.

"Go to the living room and the slaves will trim it." She said,

"Can I at least finish eating first!?" he replied.

She nodded.

The servant who had been preparing the food put a wooden bowl of fresh vegetables on the counter, and he and his mom enjoyed the food. After he finished his food, he went to the living room and waited for one of the servants to trim his hair and give him a fresh cut.

⥊⥁⥋

After he had gotten a haircut, he had been taken to the room where he had his lessons with his tutor. "That is why we can't allow that to happen. If another Great War starts Lazoreth would not have a history!" "Isaac, you're doing very well!" Silica said.

He grinned and felt better, he felt like he had been making progress.

"You can head onto Ambrose for your horse riding, have fun!" she said.

He got up and sprinted away. "Thanks!" he yelled.

When he reached the garden, Ambrose greeted Isaac and gave him a bag. "You're gonna take this and bring it to a small hut in the forest for today's training," he said.

Beside him, he was a brown horse who had seemed to be younger, but not a child. He held it's leash tight and said, "First, you must find a bond with it, make it trust you. This can be created by feeding it, or giving affection." he said.

He held a bag of grains and Isaac reached for the horse and attempted to rub her back with his fingers, just like his father had done in the arena, but the horse only screeched and moved away. Thankfully, Ambrose had been holding it tightly so it didn't run away.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought..." Isaac said.

He reached for the bag of grains, grabbing more, and this time, he took a more gentle approach and softly patted her back, then he put the grain right in front of its mouth so she could eat it.

This time, he had been satisfied with the results. It had slowly eaten the grains that he held out in front of it and became calmer.

"That's a start," he said.

Shortly after, Ambrose let go of the horse's leash and slowly walked away with his hands held out, clenched. Which made the horse think he had grains in his hands. Then he said, "Come here, Raven."

Raven slowly advanced toward Ambrose, and he put his hand out, indicating Raven to stop. Then, she did and put her head down low for Ambrose to pat her.

Ambrose laughed, then walked toward her and patted her, gently running his fingers down her brown silky hair. He turned to Isaac and motioned for him to do what he just did. Isaac sighed and approached Raven. He had been an unfamiliar face so slow and steady would be the best option. He tried to cause as little noise as possible and he switched places with Ambrose.

Isaac said, "Come here, Raven." In a soft tone while putting his hands out and clenching them making Raven think he had food.

Raven listened for the most part, but. When Isaac was too focused on Raven, he opened up his hands revealing he had nothing and acted quickly. In defense, Raven charged at Isaac with full speed and he fell to the ground. Luckily, he used his arms to take less damage, but that added to the pain that he felt, but only in his arms.

"You ok?" Ambrose asked.

"I'm all right!" Isaac said, but as he slowly got up his arm began buzzing with pain.

He tightened his arms which partially helped with the pain but he needed treatment. Ambrose thought of an idea to try and ride the horse instead of teaching him to earn Raven's trust.

"I'll try just one more time, then we can do that," Isaac said.

Ambrose nodded and Isaac clenched his left hand again, smiling this time. "Come here," he said but Raven charged at him again, this time, Ambrose held its leash, tightly.

"That was close," he said.

Isaac sighed and let Ambrose help him get on to Raven's back. When he got on, he patted her, exactly like Ambrose. He slowly ran his hands through Raven's silky hair and she seemed to have been liking it.

He grabbed the bag that Ambrose held out that he would be delivering and he yanked the saddle. The horse then dashed away and he looked back and saw Ambrose holding a thumbs up, and smiling.

"Hold on tight!" He yelled.

Then he held Raven tighter for support, and she ran even further. This time she ran onto the streets and on the road to Gleneden forest. Most of the people had been looking at Isaac like he was a madman. Probably because he looked so young, and he had been riding a horse, but he didn't care, because the fun he was experiencing was unreal.

Raven somehow knew where Isaac wanted to go and she stopped in front of Gleneden forest. The forest had been so gloomy, so dark, and most trees were dead and tall. But then as he got down from Raven's back he realized Ambrose had given him no directions on where the hut was and gave him no warning on what he could expect to see.

The ferocious beasts that could be there... It all gave him anxiety.

He jumped off of Raven, grabbed her leash, and tied it around a tall and skinny tree. Raven screeched, so Isaac patted her on the back and she calmed down. He took the bag and looked inside it. There he saw many bottles of what seemed to be medicine so after getting a good look at it he tied it around his waist and started to look for any sort of house - or hut.

He began running around the forest, which had been filled with the growls of wild bears and the screeches of birds on the ground as their life slipped away.

Then, he remembered as his mother once told him, if you can't see any sort of threat don't be scared. And never run away. However, this time it had been hard to do that because whatever had been in the bushes came out and charged at him.

He tried not to look at it, or yell but it was useless because it kept charging. After a good thirty seconds, he managed to climb on a tall tree and leave the bear's sight, however, the only problem was to get down... Before getting down, he used this as an opportunity to look at the forest's landscape and all its properties and he found a field, it contained many fine fruits and vegetables which were still intact which meant one thing. Somebody had been living there.

After he figured out how to climb down from the tree, he found the hut across a river that had big waves coming and had no bridge except a thin plank of wood that had already been severely damaged.

"What have you got me into Ambrose!" he complained.

He closed his eyes, then quickly sprinted across the thin plank of wood. He ran to the hut and knocked on the door but nobody answered, so he knocked a second time and still, nobody answered. So he left the bag at the door, hoping the wrong person wouldn't steal it, or the animals wouldn't devour it. Regardless, whoever had lived there, they had surely been Ambrose's friend.

The trees that had been supper tall, which was probably how it was so dark. His footsteps were as loud as ever and it displeased him so he slowed down, and when he got to the small plank of wood, he noticed a bit of it had fallen off.

"Here we go..." he said with a worried tone.

He went on it and once he began walking, he felt safer. But then, he looked down at the rivers and became frightened. He closed his eyes, and just as he opened them, he heard the sound of a growling bear, and it was hungry.

When it came out of the bush, its claws were sharp and it's fur light, when it looked at him it ran all the way to him with the intent to knock him over or even eat him.

His instincts took over and he ran backward, then he lost his balance and tripped. He held onto the plank as tightly as he could but then he thought it was all over for him when he saw the next wave coming up. He began panicking and then, he heard the snapping of a wood piece. The wood began cracking and he hadn't had much time left to climb up.

The wave that was coming got bigger as it came closer to him, so with all Isaac's upper body strength, he climbed to the top of the plank and gasped... But then, the plank snapped in half and he drowned in the waves.

More and more waves came, causing him to move closer to the ocean that was ahead. Either he would drown in the ocean, or he would be the animal's dinner, but deep down he knew he would be dancing with death.