My First Day at the Academy

This was one of the happiest days of my life. Just a week prior, Father received a letter from his good friend, Armin Saberlin. The letter said that the Charr were on the hunt again. They had come as far as the Great Northern Wall and had skirmished with soldiers outside Ascalon City itself. Saberlin remembered me from the time I spent with his son, Dieter, and thought that I would be a good candidate for the Ascalon Academy.

I was hesitant at first. I knew that the Academy was the best place to grow as a ranger, but it also meant leaving my family behind and dedicating myself to the kingdom. I might have refused unless Father hadn't shown something to me.

My very first bow.

Not that I hadn't used a bow before. I was a pretty good shot, even in those days, but that was with someone else's bow. This one was different. Custom crafted for my own hand, it felt like a part of myself that I never knew was missing. Father handed me the bow. He told me how proud he was of me and I saw tears in his eyes. I'm not prone to crying, but I wept that day.

So there I am, standing before the gates of Ascalon Academy, my whole future ahead of me. Not that I would be admitted immediately. I still had to prove my abilities as a ranger and decide what secondary path I would learn. And I had no idea what would soon befall the kingdom.

It's strange to look at myself now, knowing what was to come. You can see that I'm a little awkward in my first leathers. My bow is discretely hidden away from the Ascalon guards. But if you look real close, you might see something else: I was on an adventure.