As Isaac arrived at his home, the sound of two swords clashing rang in the air. He ran behind his house, only to see his uncle, Conner, and his dad, Erick. They were both dueling in a one versus one in their garden.

They were fighting behind a fountain in an open field that was used for Erick's training. Conner quickly backed up, dodging Erickś strike for his hand, and caught his breath before lunging forward, almost piercing Erick's lower chest. Erick deflected it by rotating his sword. Conner advanced on Erick, causing him to roll on the floor, scattering the bright orange sand. He got up and swung his sword, but Conner kicked Erick's foot, almost making Erick fall, but he grabbed onto Conner's jacket for support, causing his sword to fly out from his grip.

"I win," Conner said with a wide smirk on his face.

"You got lucky this time," Erick said looking behind him as he finally noticed Isaac.

Isaac ran towards Erick and Conner yelling in excitement, ¨That was amazing guys! I'm next!"

Erick laughed, but then his face then turned serious as he spoke, "Let's head inside for dinner, I'll be helping your mother with some preparations." As Erick began to walk to the door, he lumped his back in exhaustion and gave out a big sigh. Then he opened the backyard door and entered the house.

Isaac bent down and reached for his father's sword thinking twice before he went into a stance and held the sword tightly. "You're not gonna give that to your father?" Conner asked in confusion.

"If I did then I would miss out on this amazing opportunity, Uncle," Isaac said, giving a devilish smirk.

Isaac smirked, charging forward with full speed, the sword in front of him. His boots dragged against the ground, causing dust to fly everywhere, slowing him down. When he got closer to Conner, he was pushed to the side, allowing Conner a chance to strike Isaac. Conner then swung his sword violently at Isaac, causing Isaac to roll on the floor.

Isaac fell to the ground, so Conner used this advantage to strike him in the neck. With Isaac's remaining strength, he swung his sword with great speed and strength and hit Conner's sword causing it to fly in the air. The clash of the two words rang in the air as both swords took flight in the air.

Issac rolled on the ground and got back up. "Were you really going to strike me?" he asked.

"Of course not, but the youngsters always fall for that trick," Conner replied.

"Then I can't believe I fell for that," Isaac replied.

Then a loud voice yelled, "Both of you inside, now!"

Isaac turned his head around as he questioned, "Mom?" Isaac walked over and grabbed his father's sword, noticing the rough nicks on the top of the sword. He massaged the tip of the sword and felt a sharp bump that cut his thumb.

He looked down at his thumb and saw blood gushing out from beneath his nail, growing bigger and dripping down from under his nail. His thumb then began to tremor as he felt a sharp pain as if his whole thumb had been cut off. "Ow!" he groaned.

"What's wrong?" his mother asked.

"It's nothing," Isaac replied.

He always knew he had been a bad liar, but he figured nobody would create a big deal out of it. "Well, let's get you guys cleaned up, and we'll have dinner together," She said with a slight cough. Isaac got up, giving Erick's sword to Conner so he could give it to Erick.

All of them walked inside and went to the dining room. He ripped apart a piece of his garment and tied it around his thumb, stopping most of the bleeding. As the sun went down, he moved one chair aside and sat at the dinner table with his family to eat the feast that his mom had prepared.

¨Uncle... I need you to train me, please, I request this of you.¨ Isaac said,

His father then turned to Conner and said, "What do you say, Conner? He's the right age and he can learn a thing or two from you."

Conner replied, "I guess so... however, If I teach you. You will use it for good, not bad."

"I swear on the saints," Isaac said.

"Fine, then I'll teach you," Conner replied, "But why do you ask?" Issac then whispered into Conner's ear when his mother was facing the other way. Conner looked back at him in shock, then smirked. They all put napkins on their left shoulder. With his knife, he reached for some bread, and deer meat.

"These spices taste really good!" Isaac said, forgetting about what was just whispered. His mother chuckled and thanked Isaac. Erick wiped his mouth and kissed Scarlet, Isaac's mother.

Isaac settled his elbow on the table and placed his fingers over his mouth, yawning. Conner struck him in the head with full force. "Don't ever rest your elbows on the table!" he yelled.

He lifted his elbow from the table and groaned. Isaac wanted to tell the rest of his family what the king had said, so with great courage, he spoke aloud, "Mom, dad... The princess is doing a contest to decide her mate. I want to enter... Isaac said.

"You want to do what!?" Scarlet asked.

He froze for a second, fearful of getting in trouble. He avoided making eye contact with his mom but he glanced from the corner of his eye, noticing that her eyes looked down at the table. For a quick second, her eyes met Isaac's as she quickly spoke, "You're not doing that," Scarlet said.

"But..."

"Don't start this with me, Isaac!" she said, raising her voice.

"Scarlet," Erick looked at her straight in the eyes and whispered in her ear. She shook her head.

Erick looked over to Isaac and Conner and said, "We don't want this feast to get cold, do we?"

Then Scarlet laughed, and she kissed Erick, he slowly kissed her back. "I love you so much," was heard as she whispered it to her lover. Erick kissed her cheek one last time and wiped his mouth. He used both of his hands to grab his goblet and drank the wine that was inside it. He placed his goblet back on the table and lightly panted.

"Isaac," She then paused before continuing, "You won't see your father and uncle for a very long time after today, so treat them both with respect."

He tilted his head and then nodded, confused at why she said that.

"Actually, I should go and feed the horses. We don't want them to collapse on our journey," Conner said. He wiped his mouth with the napkin that was placed on his left shoulder and got up. He grabbed his bag and exited the house.

Scarlet got up and said, "This was a good meal." She grabbed all the dishes and headed over to the sink. She scrubbed all the plates in over the pot that was placed on top of the boiling hot fire.

Erick soon exited the house, presumably to talk with Connor. Isaac remembered that they had only been visiting because the king had been nice enough to let them relax, but their long week of relaxing ended tonight.

He watched as they slowly got on their horses and rode away from his window, hoping that they would be safe. Issac got up and went to his closet. As he approached it, he noticed a shiny metal glowing in the darkness. He had never seen such a shiny piece of metal. It was a classic metal sword that seemed to be recently bought.

He excited himself of the thought itself and he thought of this as the start. He would win the contest, marry the princess... and win the throne...

¨No!¨ he immediately yelled tears streaming down his cold red cheeks.