It seemed real moonlight, or at least, what Lady Ysabel told him to be real moonlight. Sometimes, children used to ask her how beautiful the Earth was before the Dark Day, the day Sun died and Xis settled on the blue planet.

Ladies told them about flowers, birds and other animals that frolicked in the meadows. About the sea, rivers, and waterfalls. Children were fascinated by the book's ill.u.s.trations: colorful different landscapes. It was real until it finished.

Dag was remembering as much as possible about those images. He flopped in his bed thinking about his past on Earth. And on his parents.

His mother.

Where was she? Was she an incubator for real? Was she dead? His father was certainly dead, Xis

killed him. He wouldn't mind that much, now he had the chance to restart.

94% Norse, 4% Roman. Dag started focusing on those numbers. Why Roman? He was absolutely Norse, the percentage was higher but.. what about his 4% of roman blood?

Finally, after about an hour, he fell asleep.

The morning showed up and with her, the rooster started singing. Dag slowly opened his eyes. He was the only one in the room. n.o.body else was on the bed

"Oh no, I'm late…where are they now?"

He quickly stood up and put on his leather shoes. He opened the bedroom door: the main room was empty. With a feeling of disorientation, he ran getting out of the house.

Outside, the sunlight was so bright, that he couldn' keep his eyes open. After some seconds he saw Asa, feeding the cows.

"Good morning sleepyhead! I made an exception for today, it is your real first day here. From tomorrow, I'll wake you up with a bucket of cold water!"

Asa was smiling. Dag waved his hand, then scratched his head.

"So? What do you want to do? If you come closer, I can tell you how to reach Jernhest's Library. You will meet a lot of interesting people that will…"

"I'll go to the Arena" interrupted Dag.

"The arena? Taya said you are not an able fighter, you'll get hurt. Listen, kid, life is yours, choose wisely who do you want to become. The choice is free" said Asa.

Dag walked to her:

"I will be a great warrior and I will discover more about my blood. I feel that there is something I should know since I was a baby" said Dag in a secure tone.

Asa looked at him, at his face. There was something in his blue eyes, something burning. He spoke true.

"Well, if this is your choice… wait for Eirik, he will go to town to sell our wood at the market. Go with him, he'll drive you close to the arena. Next time you'll go on your own"

"Okay, thank you!"

Dag sat on the gra.s.s, waiting.

Eirik was finis.h.i.+ng to dispose perfectly half-chopped trunks on an old wooden coach, pulled by a brown and white spotted horse.

Then he looked at Dag: he didn't seem very happy to give him a ride.

"Let's go puppy, I heard you"

with a jump, Eirik got on the couch and picked up the reins. Dag climbed the step to get on, helping himself with his hand.

He turned back, looking at Asa: she was smiling, as always, watching her kids going on their own.

During the trip, Dag tried several times to speak to Eirik, but he was not such a good interlocutor. The only information Dag obtained was that Eirik was 12 years old, he was 4 years older.

On the road, Dag studied carefully his new older brother: he was a cheeky boy, his hands were wide and calloused, despite his young age, probably because he was learning the lumberjack job.

His glance focused on the road, while he chewed a licorice stick. Dag tried to learn the route from the house to town.

They finally get in Jernhest's city center, the journey was faster than the day before, with Taya.

"See you, puppy, here you are. This is the arena"

as soon as Dag got off the couch, Eirik whizzed away.

Dag looked at the arena. Without noticing, he was trembling. He inspired, then he walked towards the entrance. He remembered the day before and he felt pain on the hand the boy stomped with the s.h.i.+eld.

Once entered the arena, without a word, he moved to the weapons rack. He grabbed a sword and started to hit the training dummy, while the other fellows fought against each other.

Most of them didn't care about him, but somebody did: a group of three boys and a girl looked at Dag, defiantly. Among them, there was the boy that Dag blinded and defeated.

He got closer to Dag and, from behind, he punched his back. Dag brought down his wooden sword and touching his back, painfully crouched. He stood up, grabbing his sword. Without saying anything, he continued hitting the dummy with his back to the boy.

The boy moved his arm swinging the sword against Dag when a hand grabbed it. It was Taya's.

"Kid is that you? I rode you to the farmers' house yesterday… Dag! Is that your name?"

"Yes"

"Hahaha, and what are you doing here at the Arena, Dag?" answered Taya with her hands on her hips.

"I'm here to fight, to become a great warrior" stated Dag.

The guys around him started laughing loudly.

"He could not be a great warrior even in 100 years, Master Taya" said the boy

"Quiet Finn, n.o.body told you to speak" Taya silenced the boy

"There are two new recruits that joined us today. Karl and Freydis, step forward"

From the group of guys behind them, a boy and a girl walked forward. Both fellows had red hair. He was a young kid, probably of the same age as Eirik. He seemed to be more scared of Dag.

The girl, Freydis had red hair and light skin. Her big brown eyes s.h.i.+ned at the sunlight. She was shorter than the other guy, probably younger.

Perhaps they were brothers.