A young man snuck through the dimly lit halls of the Dark Kingdom castle, what little sun they got in the spring was blocked out by the curtains.

He rounded a corner and looked into a large round room. Statues of the past rulers of the kingdom sat against the wall all the way around the room, the kingdom's seal was plastered on the floor, and a huge door stood across from where he peered in.

A sly smile spread across his face that quickly faded when he heard a soft knock behind him. He looked down the hall he had come from but didn't see anything. He then turned back to the room and was surprised to see a Brotherhood member, an older man with yellow eyes, blocking his path.

The men slowly stepped towards each other before the younger rushed in to attack. The elder dodged the attack easily, annoying the young man.

After he dodged a couple more attacks, the Brotherhood member knocked the attacker off his feet. He then grabbed the boy's sword, pointed it at him, and sighed.

"At least try, Varian," the man said then handed the sword back to him. "Seriously Hector, you know I'm better with a bow and arrow, you could've at least gone easy on me," the boy responded as he stood up. "I was, you need to master more than one weapon if you're going to join the Brotherhood." "Uncle Hector-". "So I suggest you train more before doing this test again," Hector finished then left the room.

🟦

" 'I suggest you train more.' I've trained for eight years!" Varian began ranting to the princess as he shot arrow after arrow at a target, hitting a bullseye every time.

" 'You need to master more than one weapon if you're going to join the Brotherhood.' When I was ten, the king told me to choose a weapon and that when I master it I would join the Brotherhood," he continued, "I'd say I've mastered my weapon of choice, I haven't missed a bullseye in two years!". "Really? Wow that's impressive," the princess said. "Thank you Luna!". "You're welcome Varian!".

"You guys just yelling at each other?" The prince asked as he walked into the castle training grounds towards them. "I was ranting, Eugene," Varian replied, getting ready to fire another arrow. "That didn't sound like ranting." "It was!" the boy snapped. Eugene then looked at his sister.

"He's mad," Luna stated. "Yeah I can tell," her brother replied, turning his gaze back to Varian, who had lowered his bow. "I'm sorry, it's just...". "You failed again, didn't you?" The prince gently asked. Varian then put down his bow and sat on the ground.

"It's like Hector wants me to fail!" The boy responded, messing with the black feathers on the end of an arrow, "I mean, sure, I could use more practice with a sword but-". "He's making you use swords for the test?" Eugene interrupted. "Swords, spears, maces, halberds, everything except a bow," Varian answered then sighed. "He knows we only need to master one weapon at first, right?" Eugene asked. "Oh he knows, he just hates me," the boy responded, running his fingers over the black rock arrowhead.

The three were quiet for a moment. "I almost passed the time I used a bo staff, but he won't let me use it again cause he knows I have a chance to beat him with it," Varian said, breaking the silence.

He then took off his left black fingerless glove and looked at the faint symbol on the back of his hand. "All I want to do is join the Brotherhood, to be like my father, Adira, the king... you." He glanced over to Eugene before continuing. "But Hector won't let me," the archer finished, on the verge of tears. He stared at the arrow in his hand for a moment before throwing it at the target.

Eugene and Luna looked at the target for a second then Luna looked back to Varian. "You still haven't missed," she said, putting her head on his shoulder. He looked at her then at the target and chuckled; the arrow he just threw hit the bullseye.

"Can you do that again?" Eugene asked, still staring at the target, "get a bullseye without your bow?". Varian nodded then stood up. He grabbed an arrow from the quiver on his back and threw it, hitting the bullseye again.

Eugene turned to the boy with a sly smile.

"I think I know how you can pass that test."

⚫

"You're not ready Varian, I thought it was obvious after that last test," Hector stated. "Adira thinks I'm ready, my dad thinks I'm ready, Eugene knows I'm ready, even the king thinks I'm ready," the boy responded, "You're the only Brotherhood member who doesn't, why?"

"You're just not ready, you can't even use a sword," the man answered. "Cause I'm not a swordsmen, I'm an archer," Varian replied calmly then paused for a moment.

"So you won't let me use a bow, fine, but can I at least try with just the arrows? Just once?" the archer asked, "then I won't ask to retake it till I can give you a decent sword fight."

The man gave him a confused look before reluctantly agreeing. The test began within the hour.

🟦

"Eugene," Varian called as he stepped into the prince's chamber after the test. "Did you pass?" The prince asked, putting down the Flynn Ryder book he was reading. The archer then looked down, slowly working off his left glove.

A small smile crept onto his face as Varian looked at his hand. His smile grew as he lifted his hand, showing Eugene the newly gray symbol on the back of it.

"In two weeks, I'm gonna be an official member of the Brotherhood!" Varian exclaimed proudly. "You passed?!". "I passed!"

"Yes! I knew you could do it! We need to celebrate, let's hit the town," Eugene suggested. "Gene, it's a full moon, you know, when the rocks go crazy and no one in the kingdom is supposed to go out," the boy responded.

"I know, I know but.." The prince stopped, looking out the window, "Hey, do you see that?". Varian followed Eugene's gaze and saw a light slowly floating towards the kingdom. "What is it?" The eighteen year old asked then the prince grabbed his spyglass."Looks like... a hot air balloon?" The man answered, looking through the spyglass.

"There's never been a balloon this close before," the archer stated. "I'll tell my dad," Eugene said before Varian opened the window. "Nah, I bet I can hit it," the boy replied, useing his fingers to measure the distance from the ground to the balloon.

Varian then grabbed his bow from his shoulder and an arrow from the quiver on his back.

"Kid, I know you're a master archer, but there's no way you're gonna hit that," twenty four year old said, watching as Varian launched the arrow out the window. "Really?" The boy responded.

They both looked back to the window and watched as the light slowly fell to the ground.

"Okay, if we're not going into town to celebrate you passing the test, we're going to celebrate that shot, that was really impressive," Eugene said. "We're gonna get in trouble, you realize that right?" Varian asked with a smile. "Oh yeah, but when has that ever bothered us?" The prince responded as he grabbed his shadow blade. "Good point," the boy replied with a chuckle.

With that, the two men were on their way out of the castle.

🔷️

Once they stepped out the castle both men were on high alert. The usual sounds of crickets and cicadas was replaced with an eerie silence and the occasional soft crackle of a rock emerging. Sections of the ground were very faintly glowing a pale blue, revealing the path where new rocks would grow that evening.

As they continued through town, they began to hear some soft chatter. Varian and Eugene scanned the area, looking for the source of the sound.

"There," the prince said, pointing towards the outermostpart of town, not too far from them. Varian looked where he was pointing and saw two cloaked figures wandering away from the bridge. "What are they doing?" Varian questioned as the crackle of the growing rocks grew louder.

He watched the dull path of light grow longer, then looked back towards the castle to see the rocks quickly beginning to rise from the ground. "Um, do the rocks seem to be growing faster than usual?" He asked. The prince nodded as he watched the rocks for a moment before looking back to the two strangers. "They're heading towards the path!" Eugene exclaimed, causing Varian to look towards the hooded figures.

As the rocks began growing faster, Varian and Eugene raced towards the strangers, each on opposite sides of the path. "Watch out!" Varian yelled as he took his bow off his back. He grabbed an arrow from his quiver, stopped for a second, and launched it, stopping the taller of the two strangers, but the other wandered directly into the rocks' path, which seemed to make them grow even faster.

"Watch out!" The archer yelled again, the black rocks quickly gaining on them. They whooshed past Varian and straight at the stranger. Eugene jumped to push her out of the way then there was a blinding blue light.