I gasped in a breath as a cold like water struck me. I was lying on something hard; I forced my eyes open and pushed myself up. The ground was flat and smooth, like a cut diamond, ominous white lines wound through it, like worms. Glancing up I saw that I was surrounded by mist, grey and thick, I could hardly see further than a few feet in any direction. I stood shakily, glancing down at where I had been stabbed, there was no blood or pain, and instead I was bare chested with the dark red lower robes I had worn on my freedom day.

“Hello” I called meekly

“Hello” a quizzical voice called back “Tulip is that you?”

“Daemon is that you, where are you”

“Stay where you are; keep talking I’ll find you”

“Ok” I called less cared now

“Tell me what happened, you panicked and when I tried to emerge I couldn’t”

“It was the Emperor he stabbed me. Oh no, Lucas!”

“What!”

“He’s with the emperor”

“Calm down Tulip, you’re getting louder I’m almost there” I turned around, as I heard the faint pattering of feet. I gasped as a boy of about seventeen, came running out of the mist, dressed in the same red robe as me, his long white hair trailing behind him. He came to a halt before me, breathing heavily, his muscled chest rising and falling heavily.

“You’re... me”

“Yes, we share a body, I haven’t one of my own, but what did you say about Lucas”

“He’s still out there, I have to help him, how do I get out of here!” I indicated the mist around us.

“I don’t know, normally your mind isn’t like this, normally I see what you see.”

“Tulip, wake up we’re here” both me and my double snapped our heads to our rights, as I felt a sharp pain of a slap. “If you don’t wake the $^^^ up, I’ll hurt him. Isn’t that right Lucas” There was a shriek of pain muffled just as the voice was.

“Please! Don’t hurt him! I’ll do what you want!”

“Tulip calm down, I’ll know what to do”

“What tell m...” I was stopped mid sentence as lips clamped to mine, I responded to the kiss, not knowing why, he pulled away, eyebrows furrowed, as I stood there swaying slightly.

“Thought that’d work oh well, this will” A fist collided with my face.

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Author guidance for This story

This story follows a young boy in the turbulent times in this fictional world.
In this fictional world, the know world is shattered, after a millennium of war the old kingdom, built upon magical might, has collapsed. Now a small empire, known as Furmetari is building, under the iron fist of the emperor, a mysterious figure, who few have met and rules the kingdom from his capital by lake Drakeshrad, so named because of the myth that a dragon, lays sleeping at its bed. The empire is surrounded by the frontier; the inhabitants of the empire know little of what happens beyond the frontier, all they see are the emperor's armies going forth to dominate in his name, and a new region entering the empire.
Some phrases:
Names:
Names come in four parts:
The first name: the family name: bonding name: Bond
Here is a list of stuff to help: I will add as I go along.

Okercra:a small iron mining village in the shadow of mount Oker
Vas:Serf bond, this denotes the social rank of serf, and bonds the serf to the bond which follows, this is commonly a place or person. If it is a place, the serf is bonded to the owner and if it is a person they are bonded to that person.
Vra:denotes ownership, and responsibility of a bond, commonly a lord would hold this title, the only lord to hold the title 'Vra Genghis" is the monarch of the Empire
Family name: The name of the family, the head of a family effectively owns all the members of the family; this is commonly a father of a family. The ownership is not extended to sons over the age of 14 who merely respect the wishes of the father figure. Once a son marries into a new family, they become the head of that family. For the simple serfs this is effective, but gets more complicated in the aristocracy with more than one grandfather controlling the same massive families, often leading to disputes, and rank is called in to settle the hierarchy.
Ves:The rarest bond, this bond literally means no bond, the bondless are freemen and women and are exceptionally rare, there has only been one in known history at that was the emperor before he took power and pulled the surrounding serfdoms under his control. In order to become bondless, the bond holder of an individual must not only release them from it but have the express permission of the emperor to do so.
Oker:The serfdom surrounding Mount Oker, one of the smallest and newest of the 164 serfdoms which make up the empire.
Okerta:a farming village near the Lucas family manor,
Beluse:The massive serfdom which lies between Oker and the rest of the Empire, populated mainly by farmers and lumber workers, the serfdom is dominated by the Beluse forest which provides most of the lumber for the other serfdoms in the region. The Beluse family is a powerful family with strong connections and a strong army. The Father of Beluse is rumoured to wish to expand his lands. Most of Beluse live in the large town of Beluseford a key trading town and source of the wealth which feeds the Beluse family army hundreds strong.

updated Apr 21 '11 by d-w