The monks lived a secluded life with hardly any visitors making the long and dangerous journey up the mountain. The monastery was tucked into the mountain under a large outcropped rock. The earlier monks had burrowed into the mountain creating a network of tunnels and chambers that served as accommodation for them. A large room had been carved out in the centre of the network and was where the monks took their meals and practiced their chosen arts. The room was decorated with life-sized stone dragons that always seemed to Kellyn to be watching them. The network of tunnels was decorated with murals of dragons in epic battles, or flying high in the sky. In the flickering light of the torches Kellyn was sure she could see the dragons moving around in the paintings. The only place she seemed able to escape the dragons stony gaze was by squeezing through a ventilation shaft and out onto the snow mountain top.
Kellyn had been living with the monks since she was three years old, the monks told her that her father had offered her to them for training, though she couldn’t remember what had truly happened. She trained hard with the monks, and they taught her the magic of the Old Dragons – the sign magic. She had studied it for years before she was able to successfully perform her first sign. It had been a simple summoning sign but it had delighted her to see the stone bowl flying towards her. Once the magic had begun to flow within her, the signs became easier to master and she was eventually able to even formulate some of her own.
The monks lead a simple life for the most part, they broke their fast with bread and porridge before engaging in morning prayer before setting out offerings to the Old Dragons. They spent the hours before lunch in quiet meditation or practicing their chosen combat arts. The monastery had been around since the time of the Great Dragons and had once been the main training academy for the elite forces of Molthar. It had long been forgotten about by inhabitants of the cities below them, but the arts of the masters that had once taught here remained. After lunch the monks gathered in the main chamber for another round of prayers before they set about their academic pursuits. Many of the monks chose to read through old scrolls containing details of the Old Dragons and their riders, the elite forces of Molthar. In the caverns beneath the monastery multiple large chambers contained shelf upon shelf of scrolls and books that contained the history of the dragon riders.
Kellyn spent most of her time when she first arrived in her small room. Outside her door was a man she saw as a giant. His huge form was covered in hair and scars and his face showed no emotion. She was terrified of him and spent many of her nights cowering under her thin blanket. There was no reprieve when morning came as the woman that had been assigned to her was cruel and merciless. The woman called herself Saavil, a name Kellyn had struggled to pronounce at three years old. Many times she had received a harsh punishment for her inability to correctly pronounce the name. It was during one of those punishments that Kellyn came to know her guard.
It had been late in the evening when Kellyn had been sent to her room for the night. She had gratefully crawled under the blanket on her bed after a long day of fumbling with bows and arrows. She had only been there a few moments when she heard her caretaker’s voice outside arguing with her guard. She had never heard him speak and as his deep voice resonated off the rock walls she thought she heard some warmth in his tone. She saw him move to block her way into the room, but she brushed him aside with a hissed threat. Kellyn didn’t understand why the man didn’t stop her, he was bigger than the woman and must be stronger, and if it came to it surely he would win. The woman stalked over glaring venomously at her. Kellyn looked out at her from behind her legs as she sat on the bed, fear freezing her blood as Saavil approached. Saavil pulled her roughly from the bed with one hand and before Kellyn had found her feet the other hand came swiftly to her face, causing her to fall to the ground. The woman made a sign in the air and invisible knives tore at Kellyn’s skin. Tears ran from her eyes as screams fled her mouth involuntarily. She could hear the woman laughing coldly as she stood over Kellyn’s curled up form. Saavil’s foot found its way to Kellyn’s stomach, knocking the air from her.
The pain subsided slightly and Kellyn thought she heard someone growling through her pain muddled mind but she couldn’t be sure. She lay there curled on the floor in a pool of her own blood, darkness began creeping up on her when she felt someone shaking her shoulder gently and calling her name. It took her a few moments to be able to open her eyes and see the man that usually towered above her kneeling down, concern showing clearly on his face. She closed her eyes again, drifting into the darkness that awaited her.
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