It was the day of "The Chosen Knights" in Duxinburge, England. Elegard Nightingale was a skinny, non - muscular fifteen year old boy, who could barely hold a sword, yet he was one of the young lads that entered the lottery, although it was not by choice. Elegard's mother, Tabitha, forced him to enter the lottery because she said he needed to man up, help fight in war for once. Elegard was always reading a book, or playing with action figures and wooden swords. So, every boy, girl, woman, and man stood in the middle of hobbit park, waiting for the king to announce the chosen ones. The king said aloud, "Hello, my dearest subjects, the lucky lads who were chosen this afternoon are," the king holds a long pause," Edgar Paddington, Sullivan Cooper." The king announces many other names, but finally he said," and Elegard Nightingale. Thank you ladies and gentleman, and have a marvelous, marvelous rest of the day." Elegard was very disappointed, his greatest fear was dying, especially in war.

Elegard packed his things, and brought everything that he needed. A few minutes later, Elegard’s sister Melody walked into his room. She handed him an orange shiny rock with a swirl on it, attached to a string of wool. "For good luck," she said putting it around his neck. Elegard gave a faint smile feeling very nervous, watching as his sister left the room.

Elegard left his room, and rushed out of his house to the castle. For he didn't want to be late on his first day being a knight. When he arrived at the king's castle, he saw every young lad that was picked to be a knight, lined up. The king was looking down at a list and giving every boy lined up a duty. When it was Elegard's turn to be given a duty he felt a little excited, but then that's when he heard the king say,"Elegard you'll be working with me." Elegard's stomach dropped, for he did not want to embarrass himself in front of the one and only king.

"Uh, Mr. King, what exactly will I be working on with you?"asked Elegard.

"Please, call me...King Apocalypse," answered King Apocalypse,"and you will be working on feeding me grapes."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right, did you say feeding you grapes?" asked Elegard.

"Well of course, you didn't think you were actually going to fight, right?" King Apocalypse laughed,"well now, chop, chop, start picking some." Elegard knew that grapes were King Apocalypse's favorite, so he hurried along. Right before Elegard left the castle, a tall, scrawny boy, with a brown satchel, ran through the doors of the castle in a hurry. He nearly knocked down Elegard.

All of the Knights gathered in front of King Apocalypse's thrown, waiting for King Apocalypse to say it's time for war. Unexpectedly, Elegard was handed armor."Wait, there must be some mistake..." Elegard was cut off. "Let’s go to war!" King Apocalypse yelled. Everyone chanted, and ran out of the castle doors to the battle field. Elegard rushed to put on his armor, struggling to carry his sword.

On the battle field, there was a long grassy field that stretched out further than ever. Elegard was so nervous, he figured that the French army could smell his fear across the land. Then, the French Army started charging at the Duxinburge Army with swords and arrows. Elegard felt as if his feet were frozen to the ground, every bone in his body went numb. So, he did the first thing that came to mind, run. Elegard dropped his sword and ran for his life, not even looking back.

After running for minutes, maybe even miles, Elegard really felt numb. Yet, he even found himself in a forest, but not a scary forest, one that was comforting. It smelled like pine trees and maple syrup. He could just smell the magic that filled the air. Although the forest was very delightful, he had no idea where in Duxinburge he was. So, he walked, well it was more like a limp than a walk, but he walked and walked, until he found a yellow brick bridge that led to what looked like an enchanted land. Elegard had never seen anything like it, so he went toward it.

After crossing a bridge that he had never seen before, he was slightly confused. Elegard didn't think through on what he was going to do after running away from war. Where was he going to stay for the night? Elegard sat on a very bumpy uncomfortable rock to think. Until he heard a whisper. "Hey, hey you? Over here." Elegard looked around, but didnt' see a thing. Then, Elegard did what he would have never imagined doing, but he looked under the bridge. There he saw a green hairy troll, with long pink hair that poked straight up in the air. "Hi." Answered the troll. Elegard jumped back and screamed in fright, for he had never seen such a thing before. The troll jumped out from under the bridge,"Hey, you need some help?"

Elegard stood up, for the troll was small with a green body, with pink hair, and big gray eyes. It was kind of cute."Um...yeah actually, I do need some help," Elegard finally answered after the long awkward silence,"do you know where the closest village is?"

"Why yes I do, now that wasn't so hard was it?" the troll replied,"take this yellow path to the end, and once the yellow path starts going into a red path, make a left. There, you will find a village up ahead."

"Thank you, and sorry for being so mean," Elegard answered with more confidence.

"Oh its' ok, I do come off as a little scary sometimes," said the troll. Elegard nodded as he watched the troll go back under the bridge, then he started walking on the path.

When Elegard got to the end of the yellow brick path, he turned left, just like the troll had told him. Far ahead he saw a very large village. Elegard walked toward it although all he saw were horses, but these weren't just normal horses. From the waste down it looked like a horse, but when he looked up, it looked just like a human. Elegard glanced to the right of his shoulder, and he read a sign that said, 'Centaur Village'. Elegard was just about to turn the other way until a Centaur walked up and said,"hello, my name is Mellow, the king of this Centaur Village, who might you be?" Elegard froze, this was the second weirdest thing he had saw in that same day. "H...h...hi. M...m...my name is Elegard," Elegard stuttered.

"Why hello Elegard, why don't you come over to my castle, and we could have a little chat over some tea," said Mellow.

Mellow's castle was in the center of the village, it was tall, and glistened in the sun. "So, my boy, what brings you here?" asked Mellow as he poured hot steaming tea into Elegard's tea cup. Elegard told Mellow everything, although he was still stunned by what, or who he was talking to. "I understand my boy, sometimes we can't be as brave as we wish," said Mellow,"but that ends today, stay for a while. I could teach you how to fight, how to defend yourself." Elegard nodded,"Okay, but I have to leave sooner or later, although I would be delighted to stay for a while."

"Alright, how about a week?" asked Mellow. Elegard nodded. "Your training starts tomorrow morning at seven, meet me at the front entrance of my castle," replied Mellow. Mellow escorted Elegard to where he would stay. It was quite small, but it would do the trick.

The next morning, Elegard was awoken by a loud horn, when he looked at the time it read, 6:50. Elegard rushed out of bed, brushed his teeth, and put on the fresh clothes that Mellow had lye on his sofa the other night. Elegard rushed out of the door without eating breakfast, for he did not want to find out how centaur's acted when they were upset. Luckily, Elegard had just made it to Mellow's castle entrance at seven on the dot. "Alright Elegard..." Mellow stops in the middle of his sentence,"what a beautiful amulet, where did you get it from?"

"Oh, this thing, my sister gave it to me, as a good luck charm," replied Elegard.

"That's not just any amulet, if I'm not mistaken, that's The Amulet of Lost Souls," said Mellow, "The Amulet of Lost Souls is a magical stone that holds all magic from past wizards and fairies. I have no idea how you could have gotten a hold of it."

"Wow, I'm holding magic around my neck right now?" asked Elegard.

"Well, yes technically, how about I teach you how to use it, my grandmother used to be an amulet keeper, she showed me how to use it when I was younger," said Mellow.

"Sounds good, lets learn some magic," replied Elegard.