In a small nameless village.
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"I'm going out to play in the woods mom." yelled Drake as he ran out the door after finishing breakfast. "I'll be back home in a few hours"
"Alright sweetie," his mom shouted back "stay safe out there and have fun."
'I hope I am not too late. I can't wait to play with Alric and James. Wonder what we are playing today.'
Drake ran for about 5 minutes to get to the forest south of the village. 'Lucky me, I'm first to get here. I guess I'll wander in the forest edge waiting for them to get here.' Not long after he found a good stick that he could use to imitate swinging a sword. 'nice weight to it. It will make a nice practice sword. I hope the others get here soon or I will go crazy from all this boredom.
As Drake was swinging the sword at a nearby tree he started to lose track of time and before he knew it a few hours had passed. He only noticed when his stomach started to grumble in protest that it needed food. 'A few hours have passed and it is now time for lunch, I hope nothing serious happened to Alric and James. Wonder if they got grounded for not doing their chores yesterday. I told them to do them so we can play all day today.'
Drake started to walk back home to get some lunch. As he was walking he started to notice smoke in the distance and a gnawing sense of foreboding started to take root in the pit of his stomach. As he got closer to the village the he started to notice the smoke was black like a house had caught fire and panic set in.
"Oh no, I hope mom and dad are fine" He said anxiously as he started to run despite being exhausted from swinging the stick for a few hours straight. As he got close to the village a deep and menacing roar echoed from over the hill. The roar was so terrifying for him that he stopped dead in his tracks for a couple of minutes unable to think or move.
"What was that? Did a magic beast attack the village?" Drake wondered aloud. Just as the thought was spoken he suddenly realized something terrible had happened and started to run with all his might to get to the village. Hoping and praying that nothing had happened to his parents and the village.
Just as he crested the final small hill before the village a huge shadow passed over his head and roared once more as it flew away. Drake looked back and saw a huge four legged creature that any child could recognize from all the stories and tales about them.
'What is a dragon doing here? Did it save the village? Or did it attack the village? I really hope it saved the village.' Drake thought as he turned back toward the village and saw a scene that made him think he was at the wrong place. His entire village was gone. All that was left was a series of smouldering piles of burning wood and humanoid figures stuck in place as they ran away.
"NOOOOOOOOOO! MOM! DAD!"
Drake was hysterical as he ran faster than he ever had before towards his home. When he got there all that was left was a pile of ash with a couple huddled together just outside the hut. It was his mom and dad.
Drake collapsed to his knees and screamed till his throat was so sore that he could no longer make any noise. His whole world had collapsed around him.
A few hours had passed before Drake started to move again. Or maybe it was a couple days. He wasn't sure as the billowing smoke had blotted out the sky, and the smouldering embers and the raging fire that had spread to the crops had kept whatever semblance of cold away. All Drake knew was that he would kill the dragon that had taken everything away from him.
Drake got up and started to walk to the nearest city that his parents and other farmers would sometimes go there to sell any excess crops from the village and buy certain items they could not make there. Just as he started his trek Drake heard the sound of hooves beating the ground as they made their way toward the village.
As the sound drew closer Drake noticed that the band of riders were the local garrison of the nearby city. He had seen them a couple times as they rode out to deal with bandits on the few occasions that he went to the city with his parents.
"Is that you Drake?" shouted one of them as they started coming to a stop near him.
"By the gods what happened here?" Asked the leader of the group.
"I don't know what exactly happened, but I saw a dragon flying away just as I was returning for lunch." Drake uttered. "When I saw the village I ran home and f- fou-" unable to complete his sentence he started wailing and crying.
"Hush child. Close your eyes and rest for now. When you wake up you will feel better." muttered the warrior monk of the group as he gently rapped Drake on the back of the neck to knock him out.
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Drake opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. Confused due to having just woken up he thought he might have slept over at either Alric's or James' house. After about a minute all the memories of yesterday came rushing back to the forefront of his mind alongside the jumbled feeling's of despair and sadness at losing everything he every one he ever knew, as well as a primal hatred and desire to rip the dragon to pieces for destroying the world as he knew it.
"I am relieved to see you awake now young one" A voice off to the side said. "you have been asleep for 3 whole days"
"I can see the hatred and desire for vengeance in your eyes" Said a monk as Drake turned his head to the side. "I hope you do not let vengeance and hatred cloud your mind and lead you to a disastrous end. Though I feel my words will do little to dissuade you from this course, so instead I will offer you this." Said the monk as he handed a tray of food to Drake to eat
"Stay with me here in this temple for ten years while I train you in martial arts and hone both your body and mind to the best of my abilities. This way you can have a path to follow with out wandering aimlessly to your death. Hopefully my teachings will allow you to fulfill your desire without being controlled by your emotions. What say you young one?" Asked the monk
Drake thought about it for a few minutes as he ate the food off the tray. When he was done eating the food from the tray he replied "Thank you for the food. I look forward to learning from you." "What should I call you?" Asked Drake
The monk replied "For the next ten years you may call me Master Ten-Zen"