Thalos turned just as Garrick jogged up beside him nudging his shoulder hard enough to make Thalos stumble, his usual grin wide across his face. His dark blonde hair was a tangled mess that started to freeze at the edges, and his green eyes were always filled with mischief. He was taller than Thalos by a little more than a hand's length, his frame was still wiry and lean, a young boy who hasn't yet grown into his full strength.
"I'm pretty sure you miss more classes than i do" Thalos mostly said it to himself, he didn't think Garrick heard. "Anyway, why are you up so early?"
"I didn't have a choice" Garrick shrugged his shoulders over dramatically "My father had me stacking leather and hides all morning. You'd think we were selling them to a king the way he scolded me over every mistake" He rubbed his hands together "I can still smell the tannin"
"I am pretty sure that's just how you always smell," Thalos smirked. Garrick pushed him lightly "Yeah, yeah keep talking and I'll tell Brynn. Oh Brynn, the great Thalos begged me to ask you to go on another one of your amazing adventures maybe we ca" Thalos checked his shoulder against Garricks "That's enough I actually need to stay out of trouble today"
"Okay whatever you say, but don't come complaining to me when we discover a super cool amazing hideout and your not invited" Thalos just smiled and shook his head. While walking in silence he heard Garrick humming a tune he didn't recognize. This was common, anytime Garrick didn't know what to say, or was just bored he would start humming, Thalos stopped asking a long time ago.
As the Great hall loomed ahead, rising above the smaller buildings, its large double wooden doors were already ajar, light passed through the doors as people moved in and out. Just before they reached the entrance, two more figures appeared from the side street leading in from the western side of the great hall. Brynn and Orin, Already in conversation.
Brynn, as usual, was speaking with her hands, making large wild gestures, her bright red hair catching in the wind adding to the chaotic scene, as Orin walked beside her, his hood from his cloak over his head. Brynn spotted them first, raised her hand straight in the air, and then brought it down quickly with one finger pointing at Thalos and Garrick. "They are here Orin!" Orin looked as though Brynn already dragged him through a pack of snow boars. "Of course they are here Brynn, we all go to school here." Brynn grabbed Orin's shoulders and shook him "You are so boring!! can't you at least pretend to be excited" Orin sighed "Oh wow. Look our friends, exactly where they are every morning" Brynn stopped shaking him "Fine you are never any fun"
Thalos walked up, seeing Brynn with her arms crossed obviously looking away from Orin, twirling a strand of red hair around one of her fingers, a clear sign she was upset. "What did you do to him now?" "I didn't do anything, because he WON'T do anything" Garrick started laughing "we can always just bring the fun to him" Before anyone could answer Elara Stepped out from the doors of the Great hall her dark braids neatly tucked inside her cloak, her eyes narrowing at the group. "You all are so loud. Are you all going in? Or is everyone just going to stand outside like idiots?"
"Oh yes the only non-idiot is here" Brynn smirked. The group followed her inside. The lesson was about to begin.
The Great hall was more than just a place of learning. It was the heart of Frosthelm. It kept scripts and books that the humans had long before the march north. Its thick walls were strong enough to resist even the worst of storms, braced by massive wooden beams that went straight up and arched overhead. At the center of it all, Sitting above the main chamber was the carved antler of a massive Snowstrider. Legends often read that this one came from a mythical creature that the old heroes hunted in the forest long ago. It hung high on the ceiling, mounted in place by iron brackets, Its smooth ivory surface held old runes and carvings that even the elders no longer knew their meanings. Unlike the smaller antlers, this one pulsed with a deep blue glow, stronger than any others in the village, Its light streaking along the wooden beams like icicles across the sky.
The glow from the antler met the firelight below, creating an unsettling contrast, the warm golden rays of the fire, clashing with the cold blue above, the result was something otherworldly. Thalos and his friends walked into the main hall and headed to the western wall, where the doors to the classrooms awaited them. As Elara pushed open the wooden door, rows of wooden benches lined the rooms, students sat on furs and leathers placed on the floor. The small braziers that lined the walls made the cold more bearable, but their breath was still faintly visible in the air.
Thalos sat on a pile of frostfox fur, and ran his fingers on the old carvings and runes on the wooden bench. Garrick took a seat beside him, sitting crossed-legged and crossed armed. The voices of the other children talking, interrupted his thoughts.
"I can't wait till we are older and we can start using a sword" Garrick's voice sounded distracted, lost in thought.
Thalos didn't reply, he thought of what he would do once he turned seventeen. He thought about spending the rest of his life cutting wood, and leaving to hunt like his father. He thought about whether he would be stuck in Frosthelm all his life. Then Mistress Elwen entered and walked to the front of the room. She was a thin woman, dark hair pulled back tightly, with fur and beads that rattled softly every time she moved. Her gaze was known for silencing even the loudest students.
She clapped her hands twice. It was something she did, it was her way of saying the class was about to begin, the murmurs and voices slowly fell into silence as she scanned the room looking each student in the eye before starting. "Now then everyone, are we ready to begin?" She turned and walked to the front of the class. "Today I have a surprise, so we are going to talk about the other races" Everyone shifted at the thought. While fascinating, history lessons were more frustrating than anything. Frustrating because we lost so much. And history of the other races were even rarer.
Mistress Elwen folded her arms "Who here knows the other races ?" A girl near the front of the class blurted out. "Elves, Small people, And beast people!" small chuckles made their way through the class. Thalos saw Elara shaking her head at the answer. "Close lyra, Elves, Dwarves, and Beastmen, though beast people aren't wrong. We have come to call them Beastmen" Mistress Elwen turned and pulled back rows of hanging furs that were put up before they arrived. Behind them was a large map carved in tanned hide. She picked up a small bone that was shaped into a fine point at the end. "As everyone knows our world is called Beloria. We were pushed away from the main lands, and forced to live in endless winters." Her hands started in the middle of the map that read Beloria, and slowly trailed up to the top middle of the map, just under drawings of mountains with the text Frosthelm. "From the last time we heard about them, the dwarves took over the eastern fields and kept going east, our tales tell us that there are massive mountains that the dwarves carved into, living inside the stone."
The bone pointer drifted back down to the middle right, as she moved her hand until the pointer was off of the map. Thalos followed the pointer. He had heard of the other races, but no one talked about them. Why did they attack us? Why hasn't any other race come looking for us? A sharp crackling of bone to hide brought Thalos back to the lesson.
Mistress Elwen struck the hide with the bone pointer, right at the center of the map. "The middle fields and south once belonged to us and the beastmen, and to the far west past the Vyrath river the elves used their magic to seal themselves off from the rest of the world." Her hand moved from the far right, to the far left of the map, then tracing the massive river that circled around the entire continent, streams and rivers cutting far into land. She turned back to the class "any questions?"
A few hands shot up into the air. She picked a young boy near the back. "Why did they hate us?" "Good question. We don't know the exact answer, but there was a large war that drove us here" Brynn's voice came next, loud, her arms crossed with an annoyed look on her face."Then why didn't we just fight back? We could've pummeled those weaklings!" Mistress Elwen smiled softly. "You should really raise your hand Brynn, But we did fight back, and we lost, as you all know humans can't use magic. And that was our biggest weakness." The class fell silent, they didn't often talk about magic, or the wonders of the world. But compared to the other races, humans were the least gifted, and they all knew that.
Mistress Elwen reached for a book that was behind her wooden table. Its deep emerald cover absorbed the blue glow from above and the orange flames lining the walls, making the silver text shimmer like untouched ice under the sun. The letters along its spine, unlike the sloppy, and crude human text, seemed etched not on, but within the book itself. It was an elven script.
"This", She said, opening the cover to reveal the first pages. "It is one of the only Elven books that made it with us. With this, even if we can't use magic the same way the elves did, we can see it." As the first pages opened, lights danced around the book, green, blue, purple, orbs that were creating an image. The image came into view, elven text came to life, the colors changed once more, and in the pictures there was a massive river, elves were gathered on either side of it, holding some sort of festival.
"Elven books are much different then ours, as you can see, instead of text, the elves weave magic into their pages in an art form called Lumiscription, Using this, images can be projected instead. We are still studying the elven language, but this book is titled, The Tales Of The Vyrath"
A murmur spread through the students, as they watched the images in fascination, Thalos felt a pull toward it. Something about the book, the images, sparked his curiosity more than anything could in Frosthelm. "What is the Vyrath?" Thalos meant to think it, but he must have mistakenly said it loud enough for others to hear.
"That is what we all want to know about Thalos" Thalos broke his gaze from the book, and looked up at Mistress Elwen. She had a soft, almost sad expression, "All we know is that the Vyrath played a pivotal role in creation. It's a river that touches the furthest reaches of Beloria, it is said the Vyrath is the reason for all life, even to this day we keep old sayings such as, By The Grace Of The Vyrath. Sadly we may never recover the true stories"
The lesson continued, but Thalos barely heard the rest, His eyes remained on the elven book, his imagination spawning to life old wars, magical beings, celebrations, all centered around the Vyrath. He imagined himself a mighty warrior, capable of using the strongest of magic, whatever that may be. Protecting the innocent, And defeating evil. His imagination only deepened as every time the light touched the letters on the book they shimmered and seemed to shift as he watched them. But this was all in a young boy's head. The lesson ended and Garrick nudged him to get up. The world disappeared, the warrior he was vanished, and he was once again sitting on the cold floor. A young boy who will be forever stuck in the snow.