It was a cool windy night in the city of Ascer, the capital of Meircri. Azalea was staring out the window of her small crumbly home. She could see small shapes flying around in the night. The glowing of the pretty creatures gave light to the street. Just hours before, her father had passed away. Now it was just she and her brother, Tristan. For a nine-year-old girl, she had lost a lot of her family. Her mother had died from the terrible sickness that had spread through Ascer a few months after Azalea's birth. Her father had fallen into depression which had only increased two years later when his brother and his family had been killed after a terrifying attack by the neighboring country, Eidos.

Meircri and Eidos had many skirmishes with one another which over time had turned into a terrible war. Many had been killed and Azalea was incredibly lucky as her older brother had protected her when her uncle, aunt and cousin had been killed. Eventually more sickness spread through Ascer and her father had been one of the few affected by it. The poor man was too depressed to fight against it and had died earlier this day. Thankfully, Azalea and Tristan had one guardian left, their grand mother. The old woman lived deep in the forest and was rarely spotted in the city and they had seldom visited her. She had moved away because she was so sickened by the useless war Ascer had involved it self in.

Even with her long cloak Azalea could feel the night chill. Her brother came and stood next to her, holding her in his arms.

"It's okay Azalea." He spoke softly. Azalea knew he had been crying. "Grandmother will take good care of you. As strange as she may seem, she loves you but probably not as much as I love you." Tristan tried to give out a laugh but today was not a day to make jokes.

Tristan and Azalea had a very strong bond even with six years between them. It was easy to see they were related not just because of their connection but because of their unique eyes. Both had dark violet eyes and midnight black hair.

It took a moment for Azalea to notice what her brother had just said.

"What do you mean good care of me? Don't you mean us!"?

Tristan smiled at her sharp mind.

"Azalea, my sixteenth birthday is coming soon and you know what some men do when they turn sixteen." Azalea knew exactly what that was.

Men over the age of sixteen were asked to join the other many soldiers of Meircri to fight against Eidos. Some though had no choice of joining especially orphans. It didn't take a smart person to realise that Azalea's father was going to die so Tristan had secretly volunteered to join the army and in three months would leave his home and possibly never return.

"Tristan, no! You can't leave me! I need you!" she wailed. "I don't even want to live with grandmother, I want to live with you!"

Fat tears fell down Azalea's cheeks and even though she couldn't see properly due to the tears, she could tell her brother was crying too. Tristan held Azalea even tighter who was struggling, trying to escape his grip but eventually giving up and crying even harder. "They need me too, Azalea…"

Seven years later

"Tristan, His lordship Duke Remington wants to see you immediately." Peter said as he passed Tristan a towel.

Tristan smiled at his good friend. He and Peter along with a few other unfortunate men had been forced to use their magical abilities to create weapons to fight against Eidos.

Tristan sighed. "Doesn't he know that I refuse to ever help him!" He wiped the sweat from his shirt and put away the sword he was currently working on. Peter shook his head and Tristan began making his way to the Dukes office. As he walked down the corridor outside, he could hear thousands of men training. They swung their swords this way and that. He couldn't help but chuckling to himself. Here they were, fighting with a sword while he could use magic to destroy whole cities!

Tristan opened the large doors to the Dukes Headquarters and found himself standing in front of five men dressed in strange black armour along with large silver swords. The swords were massive and Tristan was surprised they could hold them. Two of them wore long black coats and one had black clothe tired around is forehead. The Duke was there too dressed in his finest clothes.

"Have I come at a bad time?" Tristan asked sarcastically. He used to be polite in front his elders but after everything he had been through because of the duke, he couldn't care less.

"Not at all Tristan, otherwise I wouldn't have invited you."

Tristan sighed, closed the large door behind him and walked in further. The Duke glared at Tristan for a moment and then remembered why he was here.

"Back to the point. Tristan, in case you have not noticed but these five men are Ascer's greatest fighters; Dominic, Vincent, Tal, Stefan and Ascer's prince himself, Theodore but I also like to call him nephew."

The chubby man chuckled and Theodore smiled but kept his eyes down in embarrassment.

"As you may have heard but recently one has been killed--"

"I thought their identities were kept secret?" interrupted Tristan.

The Duke cleared his throat and began talking again. "Tristan, let me finish! I am giving you the opportunity to be the sixth member of the black hawks. You have the brains, power and strength. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about your attitude. What do you say boy?"

Tristan raised an eyebrow and gave a confused look towards the five dangerous men standing to his left. "Sorry sir but I'll pass."

Tristan began making his way out but was interrupted by the Duke.

"Stop right there Tristan! Stop acting like a child and grow up! I'm extremely frustrated at you!" Yelled Duke Remington.

Tristan gave out a laugh and turned to face the Duke.

"All you want me for is to use my magic. Get over it; I'll never use my power for such a useless cause! You plan to destroy the whole of Eidos! Many innocent people will die but you couldn't give a donkey's behind, you selfish asshole!"

In a sudden flash of movement, the five men had circled Tristan and had their weapons ready to attack.

"What are you going to do? Kill me?" Tristan mocked and the circle opened. He walked through and out the doors.

"Watch your back pretty eyes!" called one of the men behind him.