           The Chronicles of Time
	Chapter 1. The boy who would be a Hero

The Fox clad in the while hooded cloak stands on top of the building, he looks over at the readers and says taking a step away from the edge, “Alright then, I’ll tell you my tale, it will take some time so we might want to get comfortable, perhaps we should go else where.” He snaps his fingers the world around him fading into a white void, he then takes a walk over to a chair and says now holding a cup, “would you like some tea? Ok, ok I know, you want me to start the story now. Ok, lets see, where should I start.” He rubs his hand on his foxy muzzle then says after taking a deep drink from his cup, “well I could start from the very beginning, but that would be to long and unlike myself you don‘t have that long. I know I’ll start a few days from the end of the old world.” 

He snaps his fingers once again, the white void now filling with trees and lush landscapes, rolling hills and a fields full of bright beautiful flowers. He says looking over the hill, “it seems like it was just yesterday that I was here, uh well now you don’t want me to give anything any now do you.” He takes a look at a watch on his arm, vanishing as he looks away. He says pointing toward the north, “aw just about time, look over there, this is where we’ll start this Chronicle of mine. Shall we?” He snaps his fingers once more, suddenly being inside of the market of the village, foxes with bright red fur walking about the market place going about there days, none noticing Alex as he walks about the stalls. He says as he stops in front of a brick store, “here we are, should be just about now.” A young fox boy, no older then twelve, dashes from the inside of the store with a cloth bag under his arm. The store keeper chases after him shouting thief which doesn’t take long to get the notice of several guards wearing medieval looking suits of armor.

Alex snaps his fingers, everyone now stopped in their tracks, the young boy in mid step. He says setting his hand on the boys head, “well what do you think of our little hero here, I know what you’re thinking he’s stealing from the market, he’s nothing more then a petty thief right? Well like all things there is a story behind this, but my time here is up, there are things that need my attention right now so I must take my leave. Please feel free to follow the boy, then you’ll discover the beginning of my story.” He vanishes in a flash of light, everything starting to resume its movement once he is gone. The guards resume chasing the young cub, holding the bag under his right arm. His clothes, tattered and old looking barely staying on his body as he runs through alleyways and pathways as he tries to lose the guards. He finds himself at a fence which with a little effort he gets over with the bag intact. He looks back for just a moment as the guards try to follow but their armor making it hard to get over the fence in. He takes off leaving the guards in the dust.

~a few minuets later~

He walks along a dirt road next to a river and several old buildings and as he reaches the end of the pathway, he comes upon an old broken down shack. He approaches a small shack like house and walks inside, once Inside of the house he walks past an old broken table, looking over at small one person bed, and moving one of the few chairs. He sets the bag on the table as little fox girl skips over to him grabs him from behind. she says as he turns and gives her a hug, “Hi Alex, I missed you.” The young cub, a little under the age of eight wearing an old faded pink dress, which stands out well against her cherry red fur and the two black patches on her hands. She asks as she looks inside the bag, Alex taking a seat in a chair, “so big brother, did you get anything for dinner? I’m getting hungry.” Alex reaches into the bag on the old table and pulls out an apple and hands it to her he then says, “Well Sara, I did manage to get a few things for dinner, I’ll start making it in a little bit, in the meantime eat this apple ok?”

Sara takes the apple and happily starts to eat it, She walks over to a chair and quietly eats watching Alex as he sits down near the corner of the room where he then says quietly to himself, “I’m sorry father, I had to steal again. I didn’t want to but I had no choice, I have to feed Sara and myself some way and if they won‘t give me a chance to earn the money then so be it.” He sits there holding a small chain with a cross pendent on it, as suddenly the door is kicked in by two guards. Alex jumps to his feet and runs over to his sister as he stands in front of her, one of the guards says, “finally found you boy, this time you and your sister are both going to jail.” Alex says as he grabs a flimsily little knife, “you all expect me to pay for food, yet you all refuse to allow me to work for money then you all get mad when I have no choice but to steal.” One of the guards makes a move to try and grab Sara, Alex quickly tries to stab him only to have the other guard knock the knife from his hands. As the other guard grabs Alex someone says from the doorway, “that will be enough of that.” The guards turn to see an old fox who says as he walks into the shack, leaning on a cane, “let them go right now.” One of the guards says as he takes a hold of Sara, “former captain Miller what are you doing here?”

The old fox says as he bops the end of his cane on the ground, “retired or not if you don’t put then down I will show you why I was captain of the guard.” The taller guard says as he takes a firmer grip on Alex‘s collar, “I cant do that sir. This brat was caught red handed stealing from a store in the market.” Mr. Miller nods, taking a leather pouch off his waist and asks, “how much was the items he stole?” The guard says thinking about what the shop keeper told him, “I It was believe seven medalins* sir.” Miller says as he takes seven oval shaped coins from the bag and hands them to one of the guards, “Seven medalins, you where going to throw this boy and his little sister in jail for the paltry sum. Well takes these and give them to the shopkeeper, let him know that the boy will not steal again.” The guards nod letting Alex and Sara go, then as the two guards leave Miller says, “looks like I got here just in time didn’t I Alex?”

He nods as Sara runs over and hugs his leg, she then says, “thanks old man Miller.” Alex bops her on the head and says as he walks over to the old fox, “Hey that’s disrespectful.” He laughs then says as he rubs Alex‘s ears, “well I will have to be going, why not come to my house some time tomorrow, I’ll have some errands that you can run for me. It’ll be a good chance for you to make some money and for me to save my poor joints.” Alex nods and once Mr. Miller has gone, he turns to Sara and says, “lets get started on dinner shall we?” His little sister nods, the cub running over to get a small metal wire frame then setting it near a hole in the floor, Alex takes a piece of wood and tosses it into the hole. Before he can continue someone snaps their fingers, making the two cubs stop in their tracks, a gray scale taking place of the color of the world. The much Older Alex walks in and says as he lowers the hood on his cloak, “Well its not much, but yes this is what me and my sister had to call home when we were little.” 

He walks over and rubs his hand on Sara’s ears then says, “Perhaps its time for a little back story, some of you must be wondering why two young cubs are living alone in a shack, Here why don’t we let them make dinner while we talk.” He snaps his fingers which causes the two cubs to move once again, fire now igniting in the young Alex’s hand. He drops it into the hole in the floor setting the logs aflame. Young Alex says as he looks over at his little sister, “alright Sara lets go get some water for the stew.” the Little cub nods and helps her brother pick up a few buckets, they then run outside to go fill them in the river. Now alone in the shack, the older Alex says lifting his hood, “She’s a little cutie isn’t she? Yes, back then I’d do anything to protect her, after all she was all I had, I can’t tell you how many nights I went hungry to make sure she had enough to eat.” 

He walks over and sits in a chair and says as he rests, “ok now for that back story, you see when I was little I discovered that I could not only control fire but make it, nearly burnt my house down once, but that’s a story for another time. After that event the villagers were afraid of me, they wanted to kick me out at first, but dad kept them all in line. This is when things take a turn for the worse, you see my mother died giving birth to Sara, it was a hard blow to the family but dad kept us afloat. How ever one day the village was attacked by humans, you’ll learn about them later, but dad died in the battle. Oh here they come, me and my sister are back with the water, you know for thrown together stews, they sure tasted great, I often feel like making some just for nostalgia.” Young Alex carries two of the buckets into the shack, Sara struggles with the third one; older Alex now no where to be seen. They take all three buckets over to the frame after which, Sara rushes over to the other side of the room, grabbing a small black pot then setting it onto the frame for her brother, who began pouring his two buckets into the pot. As the water starts to heat in the pot, Alex turns to the bag of food and says, “Alright sis can you go get the knife so I can cut up the stuff for the stew?”

Sara nods and runs over to where the was and picks it up off the floor then brings it over to Alex, who is now at the table washing the Vegetables in a bucket of water that Sara had brought in. She hands him the knife which he gives it a few dunks in the water then swings it a few times. He starts to cut the vegetables and the small amount of meat he had stolen from the shop in the market district and as he finishes he put the diced vegetables and meat in the pot of water. He then stops and sneezes, Sara watching as the Fire almost explodes. Alex says wile taking a look in the fire pit as Sara laughs, “damn ruined the wood. Sara stay here I'm going to get more.” Sara smiles and says trying not to giggle, “Ok big brother, I’ll stay here but don’t take to long.” He smiles then leaves the house where he walks outside. he looks over at a small bin near the right hand side of the door and opens it and as he looks inside he sees a few logs and grabs them. He then puts them under his arms and says, “last of the wood I’ll have to go cut some more tomorrow.” He takes the wood inside and places it in the dieing fire pit, Sara pulling up a chair to sit next to him and wait till he said the food as ready.

~some time later~

Alex sits quietly in a chair looking over at Sara who is playing with what looks to be a doll wile she sits on the bed. Alex gets out of his chair then walks over to the now bubbling pot where he takes a small spoon from a pouch and takes a small taste. Sara hops off the bed and hurries over to him where he gives the spoon to her; she hops up and down a few times in excitement. Alex walks over to a leather bag that sits on the bed and picks it up, He takes it to the pot where he opens it and takes a few herbs out then throws them in the stew. he takes the spoon from his sister and stirs them in then walking over to where the one bowl they had sat and brings it to the stew pot and fills it up. He hands it to Sara who says it a little protest, “No brother, you take the first bowl, you deserve it more then me.” Alex says, clearly hiding how hungry he is, “No I'm not that hungry so you go ahead and eat the first bowl.” Sara takes the bowl and sits at the table and as she starts to eat the stew Alex goes out side and sits on a stump near the lumber bin and he says to himself, “well dad we made it through another day and I might have gotten a job I might not make much, but I wont have to steal any more; I bet your happy about that. I know how much you hate people who steal.”

Sara walks outside with the now empty bowl and says as she walks over to him, “Big brother I finished, now you can use the bowl, so come get some dinner.” Alex smiles and nods, getting up off of the stump and walks over to the house with her and shuts the door behind him.

~end of chapter~




*Author notes*

Medalins-
A blackened oval shaped coin used by the Foxes as currency. Its worth decided by size, ranging from the size of a penny to a quarter.
