• *Prologue*
    Old Stories

    Coalton County, Ohio
    February 17, 1870


    The scent of wood smoke and roses always took him back there; to the boy he was and would never be again.
    The Knights came for them during his tenth summer. In those days, Dimitri was slight of build, though his father always said his big hands and feet predicted height and broad shoulders when he was grown. He was the youngest, a little spoiled, the only one of four children to display the telltale sign of a warrior’s stone. His parents were proud that it took him two days to do a week’s worth of work. Not quickly, exactly, but highly efficient.
    They had been back only a fortnight after a month on the run. It was a mistake to come back. Dimitri knew that, afterword, but his father was a farmer, and a farmer cannot afford to stay out of the fields too long during the growing season. Besides, the Knights’ previous attacks had been haphazard affairs.
    He thought that he should return home tonight. Maybe if he brought dinner home, he would be forgiven for running away. Besides, he had never stayed out this long before and he was eager to get back home. Before he went home anyway, at least he should get some dinner. After sitting at the river for two hours, he had caught at least twenty-five catfish. Those were the rarest fish in this part of town and he could have sold them for a lot of money, but he decided that he would take them home and help to feed his family. As he was almost home, he saw smoke rising through the forest. He quickened his pace and hurried to his home faster. Before he got there, he saw a shadow of something that has not been seen for millions of years. It was a dragon. He strove to remember what he had learned in school every year of his life that he had gone to school. The memory came to him very quickly. Sometimes the souls of lost or defeated dragons appear on the surface, looking for a new body to inhabit. If you allow one to inhabit you, you will have all of their power at your convience. If the lost soul stays long, you will begin to look like the original body of the soul. Sometimes the original body can look like a human being. Whatever form the dragon was in when it was killed, banished, or completely destroyed is the form you will take. Once the soul has become fully compatible and accustomed to you, it will let you use its power to do anything. Most of them can shapeshift. Beware of the black and silver shadow. It is the most powerful, but also the hardest to control. Many have died trying to control the spirit and have been controlled by itstead. They have to be destroyed before the soul can gain full control of the body or all will be lost. One day, a young boy will emerge and find the soul and will master it. He will become the dragon warrior. Dimitri remembered this in a matter of minutes. He looked at the shadow. The colors were the colors of the prophesy, black and silver. He did a quick once over. It looked good enough. “Well, I guess I just have to find out. If it is indeed the dark soul, then maybe I will be the one to master it.” Indeed it was the one that was spoken in about in the prophesy. He walked over to the shadow just barely floating over the ground. He spoke to it.” Are you the shadow that will bring about the destruction of the world if you are allowed into a human body? You must answer me since you cannot tell a lie until you have a body. Also, I know that you may not enter a body without the other soul’s consent. I will give you my consent if you tell me who you are and what you can do.” The shadow spoke one word. “Yes.” Then it spoke a full sentence. “I must speak to you through your mind though. That way, I know when you are lying as well. In addition, I cannot speak to you this way for long. It drains my energy too quickly. If I stay like this too long, I will fade away, I will not be destroyed. You must speak to me with your mind. Think what you want to say aloud. Say my name in your mind. I will answer you when you have called me over to talk to you.