Rubious looked up from his work, and saw his sister, Sharon, sitting on the porch playing with her cat. The picture made him smile, it had been three years since their parents' death, killed by trollocs in the night, and he was eighteen then, barely old enough to take care of himself. Rubious quickly pushed thoughts of his parents away. It was just Sharon and him on the farm. They lived about two miles from Fal Dara. Rubious pulled back his shoulder length black hair, then bent back to his work.

Suddenly, Rubious heard some unexpected noises, but they were familiar sounds. He could never forget those sounds. Rubious looked up and saw what he feared. Ten trollocs were walking toward the house, toward Sharon. Without thought Rubious grabbed the axe he had been using, and ran at the trollocs. I can't let them get her! He told himself. When he was about to swing the axe, to take a trolloc head, the beast turned and backhanded Rubious away. He hit a wall, hard. He could hear Sharon screaming through the ringing in his ears.

He opened his eyes, and saw through blurred vision the trollocs carrying awayhis sister. I won't let you take her! He screamed inside his head. He ran at the trollocs, unarmed. Without realizing what he had done, he Channeled fire and the trollocs burst into flames. Rubious stopped dead in his tracks. He instantly knew what had happened. I Channeled!

When he finally came to his senses, he realized that he heard a woman's scream mixed with the trolloc cries. Oh no. What have I done? He slowly walked to the burning trollocs and saw his sister already dead and burned. He fell to his knees and began weeping. She is dead, and it's my fault. He told himself. Rubious looked down and saw her favorite crimson handkerchief. He picked it up and tied his hair back with it. This is all that I have left of her.

Rubious walked toward the home of his best friend . Brilven needs to know what happened. He knocked and Brilven appeared at the door. Usually when they met they made little jokes about each other, but today wasn't an ordinary day, and Brilven sensed that. "What's wrong, Rubious?" He asked.

"Sharon is dead... I killed her." Rubious said.

"What? Are you serious?" Brilven asked, with a shocked expression on his face.

"Yes. Trollocs came to the farm and took her. I killed them all. I made them burn... I channeled." Rubious told his friend.

"What are you going to do?" Rubious could hear the fear in his friend's voice, but he couldn't blame him.

"I'm going to the Black Tower. To serve the Dragon Reborn. I have to learn to control it, so that will never happen again," he answered.

"When do you leave?"

"I'm leaving right now. Good bye Brilven." Rubious said. Brilven had always been the brother he never had. They had gone through everything together. But now they might never see each other again. Rubious turned and walked toward his horse, Brilven didn't try to stop him. Rubious mounted his horse and rode southwest toward Andor.

Rubious, travel-weary and worn out, stumbled through a forest. He had lost his horse and all his money on the trip from Shienar. He had gone the long way, down through Cairhien and over to Andor instead of through Tar Valon. He wanted to avoid Aes Sedai as much as possible. There was something strange about the forest, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. There was something... familiar in the air. Rubious stumbled into a clearing. There was a town in the middle of the forest. There were a lot of men in black coats. Without any strength left, he fell to the ground in exhaustion and slept.

The dream was the same, it was always the same. He stood and watched while Sharon burned. He cried, but he couldn't stop it, and he couldn't tell if tears of joy or sorrow fell. But they fell.

Rubious woke in a small room. There were two men with him. "Where am I?" Rubious asked.

"The Black Tower," one of the men responded.

I made it. He wasn't happy about that, but he was glad he hadn't died. Rubious mentally prepared himself, to begin his new life. The life of a weapon.