《Xenarra: The Dragon Throne》


 -2 A Brief History

    (A/N: This does not have to be read. It is basically a information dump.)


    Chapter 0.1 : The age of creation


    Before the Worlds and various Realms existed there was nothing. Then due to an unforeseen event occurring the five true Gods were born. Their names have been long lost but they were the true God of Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Magic. At first in their lives they were confused and curious. After a while they got bored. All there was around them was an endless void. So they combined their powers to create the elements such as fire, wind, water and many others. For these elements they made the elemental realms. Each of the elements was different from each other and the true Gods but they could interact together leading to different weathers and states occurring. So from this Ice, storms and hurricanes and freak events were born. After a while the first elements gained a kind of setinance. But only part of these were controlled by the sentant elements. They became known as the Primordial Spirits.


    In time the True Gods began to get born with the primordial elements. So they combined the powers for the last time and the words were created. The Primordial elements filled these worlds with the elements. This caused the worlds to be filled with the elements leading to all nature of occuancing. It leads to the Deserts forming, Jungles, Oceans and many other habitats forming. But the True Gods still felt that the world was empty. So they created the dragons. They were a strong species but the species became arrogant. The species was also blessed by the primordial elements as well. This leads to the various species of Dragon to be born such as the Fire Dragon. The dragons who were blessed by the primordial elements had a great control over them. They became known as the True Dragons. They were then given a way of recording down their own knowledge by the True Gods. This would become known as the Draconic Script.


    But the True Gods became unhappy with the power the Dragons possessed. So the gods were created. They were blessed with unending youth by the True God of Life and Death. The True God of magic taught them the use of the Arcane art of magic. The True God of order then showed them the art of writing but each of the clans of the Gods created their slight differences in their way of writing. The True God of chaos however blessed or some say cursed them with emotions. This would eventually lead to the War of the Gods. But before that each of the True Gods made a race of people in their own image. So the elder races were born. The Eldar who are the ancestors of the various races of the Elves of today. Other notable elder races include the Dwarves, the lizard and cat peoples. Though the current races of them have long since detonated from the ancestor races becoming shadows of their former selves. These races were blessed by the various Gods leading to them being taught different languages. All of these races were blessed by the true God of magic. This leads them to all be able to use magic in their own ways. So the mages were born.


    In time more races began appearing such as the rat people, Green skinned people and many others. The last to come into being was the Human race. They were the weakest of all the races but had one advantage over all of the others. They were able to have mutated bloodlines which was combined with the elder races. This leads to the birth of half blood races. They were of a massive variety. The most powerful was the dragon kin. Their power eventually led them to establish a massive empire. But that is a story for another time.


    The worlds now were filled with so much life and action the true Gods could never get bored. What came after was much more terrifying. The True Gods had finally realized that they had used too much of their power in the creation of the universe. So in a last act of defiance to save them from vanishing into the void. Then formed the God realm, the Under Realm and set up clear laws so no one could become too powerful. With the True Gods gone. A war occurred between the God Clans and the various elder races occured to see who would become the new overlords of the universe. In the end there was no victor. All that was left was the destruction of most of the God clans leaving only two clans alive. The deterioration of the elder bloodlines or just those races being completely destroyed. The survivors were the only people who didn''t join the war. The Primordial spirits. They swore that if anyone were going to try and become the new overlord that the Primordial spirits and the other races would band together and stop that race. This was done to stop another war of that magnitude to occur.


    This was the end of the age that became known as the age of creation.


    Chapter 0.2: The age of the survivors also known as the golden age


    Not Long after the end of the war the races realized that the portals that they used to go between each of the realms were disappearing. This led to mass panic among the survivors as they didnt want to be cut off from the places they were born and called home. So a group of talented mages from all of the races came forward to stabilize the portals. In the end they made what they called the tower of the void. It used an unknown energy which was able to keep the portals around but they could be active permanently but only activated when it was needed at a great use of this energy. This group eventually began to disappear over time. They only were remembered now as the void tower. A group that doesn''t interfere in the politics of the various worlds and realms.


    A few centuries after this event the races had to rebuild their homes and civilisation. Then so began what would be known as the golden age. mIt was a time of great breakthroughs in magical knowledge with many theories being developed and expanded on. It was also the time of those who wielded Qi in battle. They began setting down rules and set up more structured ways to pass on what they knew to their inheritors. The mages eventually created the mage towers. They were numerous as mages ended up finding so many on so many different worlds. The most major ones were the Tower of the elements, the Tower the Arcane and the Tower of writing. Each focused on a different area of magic. The Qi wielders established the Sects. The most major of those was the War God Sect, Blades Sect and the Azure sect.


    With those organisations being present the power of individuals began to rise. The more disjointed and separate races such as the humans began to unite as one power. The most powerful of the human empires that emerged was the Empire of the Sun. It was the strongest by far. It dominated its world where it was founded then began to spread out and expand to more worlds until it had around 18 worlds under it. This was until it began to collapse with the death of the last line of its imperial family. With the death of the last heir the various worlds declared independence and set up the Human council. Which was to the outside world one nation but to them it was a group of worlds that constantly fought each other for dominance.


    As the age progressed a race of half human''s gained dominance. They were also half dragons. In the end the various clans formed an empire which was known as the Draconic Imperium. It was made up of mainly 5 great clans. And lots of lesser clans. Each clan excelled in certain areas. Such as the first clan being talented in soul arts, the second was talented in light magic, the third dark magic, the fourth was mainly made up of talented cultivators and the fifth clan was talented in killing and strategy making them excellent generals. As well as being part dragon they all had an affinity to fire in many forms. As they got stronger they learned that they had the ability to tame dragons and ride them into war


    So the dragon riders were born. The empire was constantly growing on its world and gaining power. As the age ended and the age of blood began the empire had a massive civil war that led to its collapse and the central area becoming uninhibited except by some resentments of other factions.


    During the empire''s collapse the gate to the under realm opened letting forth its inhabitants the demons to come forth on multiple realms and worlds. They waged war on all that met so with the collapse of the empire the demons became the main inhabitants of the central area.


    The Eldar ended up disappearing as their bloodline became weaker. The elves who were the eldar''s descendants became predominant. They were made up of a variety of races dark, high, wood, sea and many others. They divided into separate kingdoms. Each belonging to their respective races.


    There one goal became to make themselves the eldar again.


    As the age was coming to an end. The demons were swarming the worlds. The great human empires had collapsed or were undergoing devastating wars. Then something even worse happened: the portals between the worlds and various realms completely collapsed causing many people to be cut off and outposts left alone. People tried to find the void tower but they had completely disappeared. What happened next was worse without support from the other worlds the sects led their disciples to war. With their sacrifice the demons were forced back but all knowledge of cultivation was lost with them.


    Chapter 0.3: The age of blood


    This is an age of war, an age of slaughter.


    With the knowledge of cultivation gone on the world. It lacked really strong warriors that led to the value of images increasing drastically and the use of bloodlines that enhance aspects of a person being valued as well.


    In the beginning of the age lots of empires and kingdoms rose and fell in rapid succession


    There was constant war with the demons to keep them at bay. In the central province of the destroyed draconic Imperium.


    Now it is 257 years after the age began. The age of blood is only getting worse.


    Written by Ehrwig Volgenger


    Taken from stories and myths and legends about the era''s as no one actual knows what happened.

 1 A Dragon and a figure

    A massive dragon was laying on a dusty stone floor. It appeared to be in a cave, that cave went in two directions. No matter which way you looked, all you could see was darkness.  The dragon looked to be on its last breaths. Its scales had lost their deep black colour, now looking more grey. Its horns which once looked to be blood red were now broken and looking more grey much like the scales.


    It appeared to be sleeping but if one looked closely you could see that the dragon was watching its surroundings carefully. This was due to the golden glow that was shining over the caves floor, which made the dusty floor look like it was covered in gold.


    At one end of the cave a majestic red light appeared, alongside a heat that many could not withstand. The cave floor in that area instantly became black from the heat burning the floor. The red light seemed like it was flickering and if you looked at the walls themselves it was like the light was dancing. Then the light and the heat receded as a faint outline of a figure could be seen.


    The dragon merely glanced at the light before mumbling, "You have finally come then." The dragon''s corse voice echoed through the cave as he spoke.


    "I would not like to see an old friend die without any family or friends around him. After all your children are all dead. Even the ones you blessed, there bloodline is too thin to be considered one of your kin." The figure''s voice was soft but it had a slight fire to it that would warm the people who heard it.


    The dragon paused before speaking as if he was reflecting on the past. In his eyes a tinge of sadness could be seen. "Yes, the ones who I considered family died long ago. I wouldn''t consider you a friend. If I was your friend your people would laugh at yourself for being a friend with a lesser species. Especially when you blessed my kind with much of our power over fire."


    The dragon then groaned and its head fell to the floor with a crash. As he began to look up again. He began to plead with the figure which would stun all the creatures of this world into silence."My time is coming. How I wish one of my children survived!...When I take my last breath could you do me one last favour? Make sure my body is gone so none of those demons or there mutated followers can use it in there foul experiments."


    The figure smiled at the dragon, it was if he had expected something like this to have been spoken.


    "I would gladly do that for someone like yourself. You are after all the last True Dragon, the last of the dragon mages. You would not deserve to be tormented once you have died."


    The great dragon slowly began to rise up. Once standing on its legs it let out an all mighty ROAR! Then as it collapsed letting out its last breath. It sent a message to the figure, "It''s funny as I die, I sense one person whose bloodline has the potential to be my kin. Protect him please at least until he becomes strong enough¡­. Goodbye old friend."


    "You finally called me a friend in the end," the being said this while letting out a sigh. He then slowly began to walk towards the now dead dragon.


    Then with a movement of the figures hand the red light that was around him began to glow even brighter and hotter until it encompassed the dragon. Once the light receded all that was left was a black mark where the dragon had been. The cave after that person had left was plunged into a massive darkness.

 2 Aerouant Adoh

    Aerouant Adoh. I hate my name, my parents have this obsession with dragons. So they went and changed our family name when I was born to Aerouant which in the language of the Imperium means Dragon. Then they named me Adoh which means fire. My name literally means dragon fire. What sort of name is that.


    Next to me was my brother Calum, he is just slightly shorter than me. His hair is black like mine but my eyes are golden like our mother''s, while his is green like our father''s. We both are walking towards our house where we live with our parents.


    "So how many of the old man''s plants did you get picked up today?" I asked curiously as he always manages to get more done than me. Which is starting to get extremely annoying.


    "I only managed to get two hundered and fifty six picked today. It''s not that much. I should be able to do better."


    I just looked at him.


    "Only two hundered and fifty six! What is wrong with your head! That''s...that''s insane!" I stopped in the middle of the road and started complaining and yelling at him about how he always manages to pick so much. We continued like this for a good 10 minutes. But not once did he complain, after all I swear he does it to make me annoyed.


    Once I had calmed down. We carried on walking to our house. We lived in a small rural village called Black Spire village. The biggest problem with the name is that there is no black spire near our village. Which made the name really odd for all the travellers and villagers who lived here. The village was really standard. There was an inn, a blacksmith and around six or seven different farms.


    After walking down the main road while complaining about how it needs repairs badly. This was due to one of us always triping up on the loose cobbles. We reached our home. I pushed open the large oak gate so that we could both get through into the central courtyard of our home. It was not the largest house in the village but it most definitely not the smallest either.


    Our father had bought this with his money when he moved from the provincial capital city twenty four years ago. He was a rather talented scholar of a falling noble family, so although he did not have loads of money compared to the common people he was extremely wealthy.


    "Boys is that you?" Our mother yelled out from the kitchen as we came into the courtyard.


    "Yeah mum we''re home." After I said that she walked out to see us. There was the most stunning smile on her face. It was the famous smile of the village. The smile that could stop any argument.


    Our mother though looked really odd compared to most people. Her eyes and her hair is a golden colour and her cheeks were rosy like a setting sun. "Why did you marry dad again mum?" I asked in a confused voice after all it was like having an angel and a pig married together. With a slight smile she started to tell the story.


    "Well when I moved from my home, there was a great war going on. My family and me, were trying to run from this war, we reached a city called Dragrad there we used the last of our wealth to buy some rooms in a tavern. We stayed for a few days. One day after coming back from roaming the city I came to the inn to find my family in chains. Apparently we had not paid some debt and were being enslaved.


    On seeing me arrive my father told me to run and tried to resist the slavers, in response to his act the slavers¡­.stabbed him in the chest, then they...cut off his head." At this point she was frozen staring into the distance with a tear running down her face.


    After pausing for a few seconds to get her emotions in check she carried on. "While running from the guards I ended up in the main market of the city. There were so many people there. You have never seen so many nice and colourful things¡­. Anyway I was running through the market. The slavers were right behind me. Then like a knight your father appeared before me. He stopped me running, his guards chased off the slavers but by the time they got to my family the slavers had taken my sister and mother and killed my brother¡­." She paused for a second again. "After that your father took care of me. We eventually fell in love and I followed him here when he said he wanted to be a farmer. We then married then you two came along." After that she finished her story. Me and brother ran straight into her and gave her a massive hug. We stayed like that for a few minutes.


    "Alright you two, go get yourselves cleaned up for dinner."


    I walked into my room. After going through the oak door, I entered my room. It was fairly simple, a wooden bed in the centre with some straw and animal fur for comfort and warmth. There was also a fireplace made of a black stone called dracionite. It was a material that was able to absorb the smoke the fire generates so that the room doesn''t become a smokey paradise. There was also a small dresser made of oak. Which had some of my most important belongings in.


    I also had one book wrapped in some black leather. It was written in the common language which I had spent painful hours under my father''s strict tutelage to learn how to read and write in. He also taught me the draconic script, which is the writing of the old imperium, but I don''t see the point in learning that after all only the top tier nobles ever use it.


    As I didn''t have long left before dinner was going to be ready. I quickly grabbed some cold water and heated it above the fireplace. Once that was done I washed off all the dirt and grime that was on me from a long day''s work in the fields. Then I put on some fresh clothes made of linen. These were the nicest clothes I had. The clothes were soft, comfortable to wear and in my favourite colour black. Then I walked towards the main room of the house where we always eat our meals. It was a custom our family has had for a long time. We eat our meals in the same room together, if one person is not there we do not eat until they are.


    Just outside the door I saw my brother. He was in a similar attire but instead of a black his clothes were white.


    "So you going to tell them tonight?" He asked.


    While looking at him in a questioning way. "Tell them what?"


    "Don''t play dum with me Adoh, I know you are leaving next week to go to the city to enlist in the army!" Although he said this in a raised manner it was still quiet enough so that our parents couldn''t hear.


    "Yeah, I''m going to tell them tonight. It''s been long enough."


    I then felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking behind me it was my father. He had a stoic expression.


    "Aeruonouant Adoh!"

 3 The Meal

    My father''s sudden loud yell caused me to jump. "Dad¡­.So ummm how long have you been there?"


    "Long enough Adoh...we will talk after dinner." His reply was quick and sharp as always. After going in, we all sat down at the table which was covered in food. My favourite was there, lamb shanks covered in my mum''s lamb sauce. This dish was divine. Better than divine. It was not even fit for the gods to eat, in my opinion and yet I get to eat it. There was also a salad dish with little pieces of cheese in it which was then covered in a bit of yellow oil and some herbs to enhance the taste. It was so colourful with reds, greens and oranges all in a slight yellow shine. There was also a beef dish, a chicken dish and finally a potato dish.


    "Why is there so much food, mum," I asked in a confused manner. I couldn''t understand. Normally there was only one dish when we had our meal but now there was a feast.


    "Well you are going are you not?."


    After she said that I froze. All that went through my mind was how did she know. I only told my brother and the merchant who I was going to travel with to the city. I looked at my brother. If my eyes could kill he would be dead a thousand times over. After all it must have been him who told her.


    My mother seeing my gaze just smiled at me then in a light cheery voice she said "Your brother didn''t tell me anything. It''s a mother''s job to know what her son wants to do and where he is going. Plus we mother''s have got a mother''s instinct. It really does help us when it comes to our children."


    Then my father quietly mentioned, "Plus the merchant told us."


    My mother who seemed to have ears like an eagle at that moment, "What are you talking about?" She glared daggers at my father. Then the two began to argue with each other but with massive smiles on their faces. "I love you honey."


    "I love you too, sweety."


    Then I realised something at that point, "Why did you sound angry earlier dad."


    "Well if you cant let your family know that you are going. How are you going to survive in the army fighting demons and other kingdoms soldiers?"


    "That''s enough about this talk of demons and war. Lets eat first," my mother had that look. That look where if you argue you will be doing something bad. Last time she had that look my father ended up cleaning out the village pig sty, the chicken coop and finally the toilet which was shared by nearly everyone. Then when he got home, he wasn''t let in until he didn''t smell of poo.


    Remembering that we all stopped talking and got straight back into our meal. I took mainly my favourite but a little bit of the others as well. While eating we talked about our days and other miscellaneous subjects. It turned out my dad had been at the inn meeting an old friend of his, who lived in the city. So I had somewhere to stay while I was waiting for the recruitment day to begin.


    Once we had all finished my mum asked me to help her clear up and wash the dishes. So once my father and brother had moved away to do something else. I began to clear up first, I started by taking the plates and the mugs off the table after all we were not wealthy enough to have glasses. Then I wiped the table down with a cloth. Then started to wash the plates up in some warm water. Once they were clean, I then dried them up. "Adoh come sit in here with me, I want to talk to you."


    I went to the table and pulled a chair out to sit down on. "You want to talk about me leaving don''t you? Just know that I won''t be changing my mind."


    Just like earlier she smiled. After a slight pause, "I''m not going to try and stop you, I know you really want to go but be careful. I will not be one of the mothers who buries their own child. What I want to tell you is don''t say to anyone that I have the same colour eyes as you. It will bring a lot of trouble to me and your father. Also we will always be here for you, no matter where you are or what you have done we will be here for you. This will always be your home¡­.. Now go find your father, he wanted to say something to you as well."


    Stifling a sob "Mum," I gave her a hug, we stayed like that for a few minutes.


    "Now off with you." She gave me a light tap on the head as I left.


    I walked to my father''s study guessing that was where he was going to be. His door was left just slightly open. As I went in the door gave a slight creak. He was standing by the fire, his black hair was just let loose so it was laying on his shoulders. After I closed the door he turned, hearing the slight bang as it closed, then he looked at me. His green eyes felt like they could see all of my secrets. We stayed like that for a minutes. Feeling nervous from how he was looking at me I decided to talk first. "So mum said that you wanted to talk with me."


    He let out a soft sigh. "Are you sure you want to go and risk your life on the battlefield? Take lives and see your friends be killed and mutilated all around? Can you deal with the pain? The pressure?" He paused letting out a breath. "Of course you are. Come here I have something I want to give you." As I walked closer to him. He grabbed the box that was sitting on top of his fire. It was an old box. It had scratch marks all over it, there was a slight chip in the side. The latch that held it down looked worn as well. As I was watching he opened the box. Compared to the outside the inside looked nearly untouched. There was a cushion inside made of what looked like silk. On the cushion was a badge in the shape of a dragon head. It was made up of a black metal and had some red jewel probably a ruby as its eyes.


    "This is a dragon medallion. Only show it if you get into trouble, the owner of the medallion which will be you has the power to command anyone to fulfill one wish. So use it wisely."


    After he passed it to me, I felt some markings on the back, it read ''¨®ir an t¨¦ a rinne fi¨²ntas m¨®r.'' It meant, ''For he, who did great merit.'' It was in the old dracionite language.


    "Now go to bed, you have a big day tomorrow."


    "Goodnight dad."


    I then walked through the house back to my room. After putting the medallion down on the notice for military recruitment that I got from a passing ranger. I got into bed. I feel asleep thinking about my mother and her smile from dinner.

 4 Leaving Home

    The next day I woke early just as the sun was rising. I raised my body to feel how cold it was outside of my bed. It felt so cold, as soon as I felt the cold, I fell straight back into my bed and pulled the fur tighter over myself to try and keep more of the warmth near me. Then I closed my eyes slowly drifting back into sleep.


    Splash! I woke up in a flash as I felt cold water cover my body. As the water was dripping off my hair I looked up, seeing my brother laughing his head off. He had the bucket in his hand.


    "Calum!" I yelled at him as I jumped out of bed. As soon as he saw me move he sprinted off out of my room. Just as I was going to leave my room, I realised that the clothes I had on were soaked and that you could see straight through them. Blushing as I thought what could have happened if I went chasing Calum, I quickly got some dry clothes on and left my room to find my brother. So that I could get some revenge on him.


    While I was wandering around the house to find him, I went into the kitchen to grab some breakfast. My mother seeing me pointed at a plate left on the table with some bread and a little bit of meat left over from the meal last night. I grabbed that then scoffed it down. As I had then noticed that I was starving. Saying thanks as I left, I then carried on looking around the house for him. After a while of looking and not finding him. I decided that he must have left the house. As I was about to leave through the gate my father called me.


    "I''m glad that I caught you just before you left. I wanted to tell you that I spoke to the merchant and that he would be willing to take you to the city today." Seeing the confused look on my face he chuckled. Then he gave me a leather pouch. After it was in my hands I nearly dropped it surprised at the weight. "In there, is some money. As you are going to the city early, enjoy yourself. See what the city had to offer. Also you only have an hour before the merchant goes so make sure to be ready."


    After he told me that I raced back to my room thinking about all the things I needed to pack.  As I got there my mother was walking out of my room with a backed bag and the medallion in her hands. Seeing me she handed it all to me.  "Go on Adoh, head off to the village square the merchant will be there waiting."


    Surprised at how everyone seemed like they wanted me gone. I headed towards the square of the town. As I was going, the old man who me and my brother were doing some work for appeared in front of me. "Adoh my boy, I know that you are going and to say thank you to you for helping out these old bones of mine for so long. I wanted to give you something. This has been passed down by my family for generations. As I got no children I would like you to keep it safe." He then passed me a red jewel. It was beautiful. As I looked at it, I could see my face reflected on its surface.


    "I couldn''t take this.." Cutting me off.


    "It is a gift. It would be rude if you refused to accept." Sighing at the old man''s stubbornness. I said thank you and carried on heading towards the town square. This time there was no one who stopped me to talk or say bye.


    Arriving at the village square, I saw the merchant and his caravan. It was much larger than usual. He only normally had around one or two coaches but this time there was, at least eight. It seemed like there was more going out of the village as well. The extra coaches looked newer and more well designed. They also had some kind of crest on them. This told me they were nobles or at least had some affiliation to a noble house. As I was admiring the newer coaches the merchant noticed me and came over. He was a fat man of a joyful nature. Today he was wearing what seemed like his finest clothes. They looked like silk. It was mainly in green and there was a gold ring on his finger which showed he was part of the merchant''s guild.


    "Ho, it seemed like you made it in time adoh. If you go to the second coach over there, you can store your luggage. Then you will be riding in the fourth coach down. I quickly noticed that these were the older coaches but did as the merchant had said. Once I had made sure my bag was secured properly I went to sit down and wait to go.


    Then I saw my family near the fourth coach. Waiting to say goodbye. As I got close to them, I noticed a bucket filled with water nearby by them. Without any warning I grabbed it and chucked the water over my brother who had finally appeared. "That was for earlier Calum," with a smug look I turned to my parents.


    Then we began to say our goodbye. I probably wouldn''t be able to see them again until I at least finish my training and first deployment.


    "Adoh when you get to the city I want you to go and find my friend''s house straight away. If you can''t find where it is just show a guard this. They will help you find his home." He then handed me a note with the address of the house on.


    Then it was my mum''s turn. "You have some money don''t you? You have your clothes?..Of course you do, I did that myself? You have what your father gave you?....I don''t want you to go...You are my baby boy.." My father, seeing my mother about to break down and possibly flood the village with her crying, gently grabbed her and whispered something into her ear. What he had said seemingly worked as she calmed down and gave me one last hug before telling me to say my to my brother.


    As I went up to my brother he gave me that cheeky smile he always seemed to has on but under it I could see he didn''t want me to leave. That made my heart warm. "When you get back, your name will be sounding round the village as the great general who beat the demon hordes."


    Smiling at what he said "No my name will be sounding around the whole kingdom."


    "I''m going to miss you Adoh."


    "I''m going to miss you to Calum."


    Then a horn sounded, singling that the cavern was going to be moving soon. I was pushed away by my brother. "You better be going then." I gave him one last hug before climbing onto the coach. As it began to set off I waved goodbye to them until I could no longer see them. Sitting down I thought to myself my new life was about to begin.

 5 Mana and Bloodlines

    As I looked around the coach, I noticed that I was not alone. There was a man sitting in the seat the furthest away from me. He was wearing what looked like a scholar''s robe but it was a bit different, it had a crest on it. The same crest as what was on the coaches we were currently travling with. As I was closer to it now, I could see what it was easier. It looked like a tower in the clouds. An odd crest to have for a noble house I thought to myself. The man''s robes were in a sky blue colour and they looked like they were made of silk. Seeing that, I thought to myself. ''He should have a rich background.''


    Sensing my gaze he looked at me quizzically. I just gave him a light smile and decided that looking out of the window was better. All that was passing were fields which were dwarfed by the mountains that were surrounding them all on their sides. Thinking back to the geography lessons my father taught me I worked out that the city must be nearer to the duchy capital which was a few leagues away from the border with the wasteland.


    The man on the other end of the coach seemed to get more bored as the journey was going on. He kept on looking at me and opening his mouth to speak then deciding not to and stopping. After another few minutes he got up and sat down next to me. Then at long last he tried to speak, "So where are you travelling to?"


    In a slightly annoyed tone due to how impolite he was I said, "I am Adoh it is nice to meet you. What is your name? I''m travelling to the nearby city." I then turned back and carried on looking out the window.


    Looking terrible at how he had seemingly offended me so easily he apologised. "I am a mage apprentice heading to the mage tower in the capital. I plan on joining another cavern to get there. That is what this symbol represents. If I was a full fledged mage I would be in our coaches not this one." Then he stopped, I was waiting for a minute for him to carry on. Once realising that he wasn''t I looked away again.


    Feeling slightly nervous after knowing he was a mage, "So ummm, mister mage what is your esteemed name?" He looked at me like I was an idiot.


    "Why are you being so polite for, you are descended from one of the great clans of the old imperium aren''t you?"


    I almost laughed out loud, "Me descended from one of the great Dragon Lord clans, that''s the best joke I have heard yet."


    The mage, muttering to himself. "But those eyes." Looking at me, "Did you not know then that golden eyes mean that you are descended from one of the great clans, the great clans who were descendants of the True Dragons. You have one of the five of the strongest draconic bloodlines ever blessed on us without knowing. It is kind of funny isn''t it?" I looked at him speechless, all I could think was that meant my mother was a great clan descendant. These were the Great clans! The clans which dominated the old empire producing Emperors, the best generals, heroes and not to mention Dragon Lords.


    I was still looking bewildered as he carried on. "Seeing as you don''t know about that you must not know how to use mana. That''s such a shame for someone with a bloodline like yours. We have a while, I guess I could teach you a little, at least how to sense it. So what do you know about mana?"


    Looking embarrassed after all I was taught how to write, not how to use magic."Well, the thing is I don''t really know anything, umm... What was your name again?"


    "My name is Lars Embers. Anyway mana is all around us. It can never exist in anything though like our bodies. That is Qi but the art to use that was lost when the sects were all killed forcing the demon forces back when the Imperium fell. We mages use mana by making runes in the air by drawing or writing. The other way it can be used is by using an incarnation of one of the old languages such as Asguardian or old draconian. But before being able to use it, you need to be able to sense it. This is what I will try to teach you."


    He was chucking so much information at me so quickly that I barely could up with it all. Every time I thought that I had caught up he chucked a new term at me. I was glad for the temporary respite of his words. Only to be more confused as he came closer to me. Then to my worst fears he carried on.


    "What I want you to do next is close your eyes and try to feel around yourself with your other senses. I want you to feel the mana moving around. Feel it as it goes by you."


    After listening to him I did as he had said. First I closed my eyes. Then I started to try and use my senses to feel the mana as he described at first all I could feel was the wind moving around. Then I tried to use more senses. I could feel the heat of the sun on my face, I could feel the couch bounce up and down showing we were on an uneven road. I could hear birds chirping and the wind making the leaves rustle. But I could not feel the mana. I opened my eyes while letting out a sigh. "


    You should not give up so easily even the best mages could not do it on their first try plus you have not gone under a mana awakening which allows you to sense the mana and use it more easily."


    Hearing his encouragement I decided that I would try and practise on being able to sense as we carried on to the city.


    A few days later we were beginning to get closer to the city. I had still not sensed the mana as he had described making me slightly depressed but his words of encouragement helped me make up the will so that I could carry on. Though I had discovered one problem with Lars he would not ever shut up. All he did was talk and talk and talk. I felt like my ears would burst from all of his talking. As he began to talk to me again I decided to listren.


    If it was another one of his stories I would just zone out and practise sensing mana. "So when you finally are able to sense the mana. You will probably work out very quickly it seems red. There is a simple explanation for this, the draconic bloodline you have means you have a greater affinity to fire. Unlike the stories this does not mean you can not use other elements but you can just sense the fire mana more easily. So if you want to achieve a true sense of mana don''t stop trying to sense it until all you sense is a rainbow of colours when sensing mana."


    Then he shut up, which was a well received change from all of the talking. Looking out of the window again I saw a massive stone wall. I was stunned it was nothing like what I had seen before. Putting my head further out the window I saw the gate in which I would be able to enter the city through. It was massive and not only that there were hundreds..no thousands of people moving through the gate and leaving by gate. I could also see a massive red dragon banner. It was the banner of the dragon duke. The lord of our duchy. It was a red dragon holding two swords on a black background. It was terrifying yet it felt right. Especially when I thought about the dukes background of being the best general in the kingdom. As I was watching the gate got closer and closer. Due to the mages coaches we were able to get through the gate quickly. We sped through the streets before arriving at a coach stand.


    I made sure I had the medallion in my pocket and got off the coach.

 6 The Dragon Knights

    After getting off the coach the first thing I noticed was the buildings looked so much more fancy compared to the buildings off my village. They were made of a mixture of black stone and a wood which had been painted red. It was done so that the wood made a pavilion along the two sides of the street. This way it looked like if it rained the people had somewhere to walk in and they would be dry. Then on the roofs there were tiles. These are things we did not have back home. All there was, was just straw roofs, not even the richest people back home had tiles on their rooftops. Then as I noticed earlier the actual houses had black stone walls. I couldn''t see into the houses but I assumed that it had a similar style as the outside of the house. The road which I was standing on was a mixture of cobbled and paved stone depending on what part of the road you were on. It looked brand new as there were no cracks or dirt on them.


    "You going to let me get down Adoh or are you just going to stand there and carry on gawking at the city. This isn''t even the best part. You should see the castle or the main street. It looks so beautiful. I could show you if you want before getting the next coach I need to get?" He looked at me smiling, I don''t think he realised it would be probably nicer to go without his mouth that doesn''t stop talking.


    "I think it would be better if I go alone, I have to find a friend of my father first so I have a place to stay. But thank you for offering." He looked sad for a moment before his smile came back. "So this is goodbye. I have a feeling we will see each other again, but it will be stuttering at your power. Anyway goodbye Adoh."


    "Goodbye Lars, I wish you luck with your studies at the tower." I then walked to where my bag was stored. After getting it out of the coach I grabbed the leather pouch I had inside of it. I looked inside it to see how much they had given me. There were two black coins in there. I froze, they had given me two black dragon coins.


    These were worth twenty gold dragons between them. Which was two hundred silver dragons, so two thousand bronze dragons. That''s more than four years worth of money my family could make all together. This was insane money, with this I could live like a king back home.


    After making sure the money was safe, I left the point where the coach had stopped and headed into the city itself proper. There were so many people. They all looked different as well. Some were in red, others were in blue, there were greens, yellows, white and so many more I couldn''t see them. After a few minutes I realised the people were looking at me as they walked past. I could vaguely hear some things they were saying, "Look at him, he must be from the country with how he is looking at everything."


    "He smells, do they not have baths in the country."


    "Who let a peasant into our glorious city."


    After hearing a few of the comments I stopped gawking and looked down at the floor feeling like I was worthless and that I didn''t deserve to be there. Then I heard a faint sound of horse hooves. Then a loud noise of a trumpet. Everyone cleared the road at that instant. Not going what was going on I followed the other''s onto the side of the street.


    Then the sound of horses got louder and louder. Then some people in armour came round the corner. They looked so strong and powerful. Their armour was in the duke''s colour of black and red. Each one had different weapons but each seemed like they could use them with ease. I heard some whisper behind me that they were the dragon knights. These were part of the elite military order of the duke. Each one was personally selected and had gone through some of the toughest training and battles imaginable. If I could these were the people I would like to be. The strongest soldier. Have people look up to me in awe and not call me names. I wanted to be a dragon knight.


    Once they had gone I decided that I should finally find where my father''s lived. So I started walking down all the streets I could trying to find him. After I had given up and was sitting on a stone bunch a little boy came up to me. "Are you lost sir?"


    "Yeah I am, I can''t find my father''s friend''s house. It says he lives in the inferno district and that his house is number sixteen. I can''t even find the district." I sighed and then felt even more depressed than I already was at not being able to find his house.


    The boy looked at me then smiled, "I know where that is if you would follow me." I got up and started to follow the kid around the streets. It felt like a maze to me. Also a smell was beginning to cover the area. I couldn''t quite work out where I had smelt it before. Also the houses around me seemed to be getting more dirty and rundown the further we walked. "Are you sure this is the way?" The boy looked at me "Of course it is sir, we are nearly there."


    I nodded at his word. I followed him for a few more minutes. He stopped on one road that was really dirty. It smelt worse than the other streets as well. The boy turned around and looked at me. "You really are a dumb country bumkin. You must be rich as well wanting to go to the inferno district. Boss, come out, he is just a fat pig."


    All around me out of the tattered buildings which looking at them again didn''t deserve to be called buildings. There were around eleven men in total. They all were basically wearing rags, the colour on them had dimmed, they mostly had frayed ends. This was all except for one man who didn''t look as poor. His clothes looked more new but not brand new as it had a couple of stains of some kind of drink on it. He also looked more healthy compared to the others. ''He must be the boss.'' I thought to myself.


    He looked at me for a minute before picking up a damaged rusted dagger of the floor. Then he pointed at me and opened his mouth showing his yellow teeth. "Why did you just hand over your money boy, then you get to keep your pretty life." I looked around for anything to hold at least to give me a weapon as I didn''t think that they would let me live after I had given away my money. Seeing me looking around and not replying the gang boss''s face morphed into a sadistic smile. "Seems like you want death then...get him lads."


    Then a yell echoed into the streets as some armed guards rushed in with their swords drawn. All of the gang members'' faces changed into one of fear straight away. The boss yelled out one word "RUN!" But by then it was already too late as the guards were upon them.


    The first two weren''t even able to resist as the swords of the guards went straight through their bodies causing blood to spurt out over the mud filled ground. Seeing their fellow gang members die they grabbed some rocks and tried to fight back, but what could rocks do to the armoured guards. Those eight were cut down where they stood without being able to offer any resistance at all. Their bodies just flopped down onto the ground with blood leaking out of the various killing sword moves that they had sustained.


    This meant that all that was left was the boss. He lifted up his dagger looking like he was going to attempt to fight back, at that moment he threw the dagger at the guards and turned to run almost simultaneously. The dagger was caught by one of the guards as it was about to hit the gap between his armour. With that dagger he threw it back to the running gang boss. With a thud it embedded itself in the back of the feeling boss''s skull killing him instantly.


    At that moment the boy who hadn''t noticed disappeared, reappeared in front of one of the guards. "So will you give me my tip for showing you where they were ambushing people." The guard just snorted and with hesitation lifted his sword up then cut the boys head clean off.


    "You think I deal with backstabbers." I watched the boys head roll around on the floor as the light dimmed in his eyes. Once it had completely dimmed I looked at the guards.


    "Thank you for saving me sirs."


    The guard after taking off his helmet gave me a slight smile. "It''s no problem, it is our job to protect the citizens from thugs like these after all. They usually lure in new comers to the city who get lost, so we would be happy to show you the way to where you would like to go."


    Happy at the guard''s generosity, I told him where my dad''s friend lived. They then began to lead me away from the site of the slaughter. Just before we left the run down street I looked back remembering this event and swearing to myself I would not be put in such a position again. As we walked by various streets I noticed that the guards began to relax more as we left the rundown area of the city almost like there was something there that they feared themselves. Which in my mind after seeing their display of power should be impossible.


    I glubbed at the thought of what could scare such strong men as these.


    Around ten minutes later of walking in near silence we had arrived outside a house. The lead guard turned to me and gave me a slight salute before walking off. Looking at the outside of my dad''s friends house it looked extravagant. The material seemed to be much more expensive than the buildings that I first saw although it was in the same design. I thought to myself as I went to knock on the door that my dad''s friend must certainly be wealthy.

 7 Paul

    Knock, Knock, Knock.


    After knocking on the door a couple of times on the solid wood door. I waited for someone to come and let me in the house. As I was waiting I looked at the door as there was not much else to see around me. It was well made and looked hand crafted, I couldn''t tell what kind of wood it was though. There were also some faint blue lines running across the door in odd shapes. I thought it was some kind art that was on the door. Above the door there was just the house number on the wall. It was made of metal, probably bronze going by the colour of the metal.


    Then as I was gazing around at the street watching people go by, some looking busy and some looking relaxed. I heard a soft click behind me and light flooded where I was standing outside of the door. I turned around quickly.


    I saw a woman standing there. She was wearing a long white dress with some black clothing covering her chest area. I also noticed that her hair was black as it dangled down almost all the way to her waist. Seeing me looking at her so intensely she blushed slightly. Then in a squeaky high pitched voice, "Ahem, may I help you sir."


    My ears slightly hurt from how high her voice was, "Yes I am Aerounant Adoh, I was told to come here by my father to see his friend."


    Her face froze for a second then formed a gentle smile. "So you are Adoh, the master will be happy that you are here at last, he was starting to worry where you were, he wouldn''t want his nephew to disappear before being able to meet him after all." She then ushered me into the house and closed the door behind me once I was inside.


    At that moment I realised she said something odd. She called me a nephew of my dad''s friend. "Umm Miss, did you just say nephew."


    She gave me a quick glance before saying, "Of course I did, it''s not like your dad wouldn''t mention he has a brother. Now take off your shoes and hand me your bag. If you follow the hallway down you will reach a room, the master is in there." After taking my shoes off and leaving them where she indicated and then handed her my bag. She walked off down one of the other hallways.


    I then looked in the direction she pointed to. It had a rather eccentric look as well as a exotic look. The floor was made out of a dark wood but when I stepped on it, it was like walking on hay or something really soft. On the walls where lots of different ornate pots with them being a multitude of different designs and colours. Some looked like bird designs, one even looked like it was a massive mountain with a red liquid coming out of the top. I remembered my dad showed me a picture of this once he said it was called a volcano by some and a fire mountain by others. At that time I asked why things have so many different names. All he said was that different people don''t like to call the same thing the same as they all live differently. He said this was people having different cultures.


    Just about as I was going to enter the room that I had been told to I saw a picture. It was titled rise of the Imperium. On it were people riding dragons, the dragon lords. There were five of them in total each one representing a great clan. In the centre of the picture there were five weapons; the fire spear, a black bow, a white knife, a wooden wand and a red sword. In the caption under the title it said.


    ''When the clans unite, lay down their weapons, an empire is born.''


    As I was looking at the picture a voice much like my dad sounded behind me. "It''s a great picture isn''t it? It shows the five great clans uniting and deciding on the first emperor of the imperium as well as the founding of the Imperium itself. The site where they did this would later become the capital of the Imperium."


    I turned around as he was speaking. The man looked so much like my dad it was uncanny. There were a few slight differences though. He had a scar just below his left eye, he was also more skinny than my father and also less tanned but this was probably because my dad worked in the fields nearly every day. "So you must be Adoh, then I am Paul, your father''s younger brother."


    I shifted my weight from side to side, "I am sorry to say Mr.Paul my father never told me he had a brother. He just said that you were his friend."


    Smiling to himself as if he already knew this was the case paul continued, "I guessed this was the case, there is a long story behind this. Why don''t I tell you the story over some dinner."


    He then led the way down a few different hallways until we arrived in what looked like a dinning room. After we both sat down some more women came out with some food similar to what the girl who greeted me wore. The only difference was that they had green on their chests instead of black. After putting down the food on the table in front of us both they left. Picking up some long sticks which were called stabbing sticks I began to eat the food in front of me. After trying a bit of the meat in front of me I worked out that it was lamb. It fell apart in my mouth, I couldn''t help myself but grab another bit of the meat and eat it as quickly as possible. "This is delicious," I yelled out.


    "I''m glad you like it," Paul said with a hearty laugh. "Now I will tell you the story about why your father won''t speak about me. It all started when he came home with your mother in tow. At the time our family still were nobles and our parents because of this strongly disapproved. He fought with them for a long time regarding this matter. Eventually he decided to leave and went to live in a village. With him going our parents disowned him and cut him off from all forms of inheritance. Obviously there is much more to the story especially when it concerns your mother but that is up to them to tell you not me."


    At that moment a maid walked in, with a curtsy "Master, the baron of Stonehelm is here to see you." His face changed into one of anger very quickly. Though just as quickly it calmed down, "I am so sorry Adoh, this shouldn''t have been happening. I will let a maid guide you to your room. Then tomorrow I will take you to the army administration building."


    As soon as he had finished he rushed off to deal with the baron. The maid who let me into the house suddenly appeared. "If you would follow me Mr.Adoh." Getting up I quickly followed her to my room. She opened my door to let me in. "I hope everything is to your satisfaction Mr."


    Replying without looking at her. "It most definitely is." I then heard the door close. Thinking I was finally alone, I turned around only to see the maid starting to take her clothes off.


    Reacting so quickly I thought that I would burn a whole in my floor, so I stopped her. Looking at me with teary eyes. "Am I-I not... b-beautiful enough?" She hiccupped.


    "Of course you are, it''s just that I ummm am not ready for something like this yet."


    Smiling at what I had said, she made sure her clothes were back on properly before leaving the room. Once she had left I turned around and crashed straight into the bed falling asleep.

 8 The Army

    I woke up feeling like I was floating on the clouds. It was comfy. As I opened my eyes an unfamiliar site entered my view. Then I rembermerded everything that happened yesterday. With a groan I lifted my head up from the pillows. ''I really do hate mornings.'' I thought to myself.


    Looking around the room I slept in last night I noticed how extravagant it was. There was a chair in the corner, it had cushions on it looking to be made of cotton or silk, they were stuffed with some kind of feather as well. The chair itself was made to look esquiate. Then there was also a glass. It was a reflective glass so that I could look at myself. Next to that there was a small bucket with water in it so that I could clean myself. There was also a set of clothes on the chair.


    Getting out of bed I went over to the chair to look at the clothes. On them was a note from Paul saying that they were for me to wear. They were drastically different to what I had worn previously. They were made out of a black silk or cotton but whatever it felt so light to touch. I took off the clothes I was wearing and changed into the new ones. The newer clothes fitted so much better as well. I felt like a new person, it was great. Then I made sure I had the medallion and my money and left to go find Paul.


    After opening the door a different maid was standing outside of my room. She gave me a slight bow and indicated for me to follow her. As I did she led me back to the main hallway where I first met Paul. She then lightly knocked on the door that led to the room where I was supposed to find him.


    "Come in." After opening the door for me the maid left to carry on with her other duties I assumed. Seeing me Paul''s face lit up. He pulled out the chair next to himself showing me where to sit down. Once I had sat down I noticed the light breakfast in front of me. There wasn''t much there but it looked really good. I picked up a bread roll and began to eat it as my uncle set out what he wanted to do today before we went to the army administration building.


    He wanted to let me store my money that I had as I wouldn''t need it in the army, then he wanted to get me some more newer clothes from a shop. After that then go to the building. Confused at the tasks we had to do even though I was only joining the army he explained it to me further. "We need to make a good impression on any officers there so that you get assigned to a better regiment once your training is over."


    Once we had finished the food we set out. First we went to a bank to store my money. I was going to be using the same bank as Paul, this is because he said that they were trustworthy and that they have branch stores all over our kingdom and the other neighbouring kingdoms. The bank was called the black gold vault. We were not there long. There was only one problem though as I tried to give my black dragon coins to the bank attendant she refused and got a manger. Seeing what I was going to be depositing. They offered me a silver VIP status, which meant that I would get a five percent interest on all my funds stored in the bank.


    After getting that we then went to the clothes shop there I just got measured so that they had my size for my clothes I wanted. Then I picked the material and the design as well as the colour that I wanted. I just decided to keep it easy and kept it all the same to the clothes I was wearing now just with slight differences in the fact that I wanted to have a dragon on it somewhere. Paul paid for it all, so that meant he paid fifty six gold dragons and nine silver dragons. It was expensive for just some clothes I thought but as I am not paying for them, it''s not too bad I guess. He said that once the clothes were ready that they would be stored at his house until my training period is finished.


    Next we went to the last place we had to go to, the place where I would leave him and continue on with my life in the army. After a short walk we arrived in the administration district. It didn''t take me long to work out which building was the one for the army. Apart from the soldiers standing guard outside there was a massive statue of a hero wielding a sword. That sword was the black sword of one of the great clans. It was the last time it appeared in public. It was used at that time to slay an Asura, the strongest level of demon. The hero wasn''t known by his name only by his title, the Slayer.


    Just before I walked through the doors Paul, my uncle, stopped. "Adoh, here is where we must say goodbye. At least for now anyway, I wish you the best of luck in the battlefield. May Noikany bless your battles."


    "Goodbye uncle Paul." As I walked away from him into the building I thought about all that had happened for me to get here. From the journey with Lars, to nearly being robbed and seeing death for the first time. Which didn''t affect me as much as it probably should have. Then to meet my new found uncle and our day together.


    Then I walked through the doors into the building. All I could think was that it looked impressive. There were massive pillars made of black stone. The floor was white in contrast to the walls and the pillars. I had a quick look around at a few signs telling me where various offices were from messages to recruitment. I followed directions to where I wanted to go, ending up at a much smaller hall. There was a wooden desk at the end and chairs lining both sides of the hall, but there was just one problem. I was the only one there.


    I decided it would be best to go to the desk and see if I could find anyone there. My footsteps echoed around the room as I slowly walked to the desk. Once I had got there I saw that there was someone sitting in the chair asleep. I gave him a slight nudge to wake up. To my surprise as soon as I got within inches of him his eyes snapped open. My hand froze not knowing what to do. He looked up at my face with a frown. "Why are you here?"


    "I am here to join up sir."


    He looked at me and then laughed. "I am no sir kid, it is sergeant to you. You got it. If you want to join up sign here and here. Then walk over there." I did as he said as quickly as I could. Once I was standing where he told me to be. He muttered something under breath. Then another person walked through the door which I had come in the hall by. That person seeing me told me to follow them. I followed this new person round various hallways and through different rooms until I ended up in a room with lots of people like me. Then I heard a yell.


    "Welcome to the army!"

 9 The Army part II

    "I am Captain Aviel. Commanding officer of the newly formed fifth training battalion. That is the unit you pieces of useless meat will belong to from now on. When you leave us, you will be well made and sculpted meat fit for the king''s table. This will be hell. If you don''t think it will be, you are an idiot! Now split into four even groups."


    Everyone did extremely quickly mainly out of fear of this man who was yelling at everyone. Once we had formed into the groups he wanted. There was a person left without a group. The capitain saw him trying to find a group. His face changed into a very ugly smile. He slowly walked to the person, as he got closer the whole room went silent.


    The captain held out his hand in it a cudgel appeared. It had no distinctive features just that it was hard and looked heavy. Once he was right behind the man. His feet slammed the floor with a lound, Bang! The man jumped up with a frightened look on his face. "I said get into four groups! What the hell are you doing legionary!" The man didn''t say anything but just shrunk back. Seeing how he responded the captain got more angry. "You think you can fight demons being scared like this. You are useless!" He then swung the cudgel into the man''s gut sending him crashing into the floor. The man let out a howl of pain and grabbed his gut where he was hit. "This is military discipline. Orders will be followed. Or there will be consequences." With that he kicked the man moaning on the floor and looked at us with a gaze of hate. I realized at that moment my life was going to be hell.


    A few days later we had been marched out to a training camp somewhere in the wilderness near the city I think. The four groups we had been split into were companies from that into five smaller groups called squads. I was part of the second company, sixth squad. In my company was me, a person called Leo, then there was Jack, Ethan, Joseph, Zane, Jax, Adam, Skylar and the man who was beaten, Jason. They were all nice people.


    Today we were marching in full kit like the last few days. That included our armour, a sword, a spear and all of our kit which included tents, cooking tools and much more. It was terrible, we would trek through anything with all of this on such as mud. The bastard Captain even made us cross a lake. By the time we had gotten back to the camp we were all shivering from the water that had socked everything that we had worn.


    After another month the training period was coming to an end. We stopped the constant marching training after around two weeks of doing it. We then moved on to weapon practise. All it consisted of was stabbing with the spear. The sword training was being able to stab and slash. The shield training was just bringing it up to be able to block. We then practiced combinations with shield and sword, then spear and shield. All that was, was being able to combine what we learnt together and use a shield and sword at the time. Then once everyone in the battalion, which I had learnt to be two hundred people, were or at least seemed to be proficient in using their weapons we were told to break camp and move out somewhere else.


    "Leo you got the pots in your bag," I yelled out as I couldn''t find them.


    "Of course I do Adoh, you got the fire starting kit." Conversations like this could be heard all over the camp as everyone made sure that they had all of their supplies and kit. Then a horn sounded out over the camp. This signaled the mustering call.


    "We got everything?" I said this as me and the others in our squad grabbed our bags and put them on our packs. Making sure that my sword was in its sheath correctly. I then grabbed the shield up, attaching it to my arm and finally picking up the spear.


    I moved quickly to the steadily growing column of legionaries. Me and the rest of my squad quickly fell in with the rest of our company fearing what the captain would do if we were late. Luckily for us and everyone else no one was late. With the sound of a trumpet we began to march.


    Dum, dum, dum. There was a steady drum beat sounding out, to make sure that everyone kept in step and to ensure that nobody walked into anyone''s back. After a few hours of the marching I could hear another drum beat and then another. Then before my eyes I saw a few more battalions appear to the sides of us. Then the order for halt was sounded. I was so busy looking around that I walked straight into the back of the person in front of me. It was Leo, "God be damned Adoh, watch where you are going or we will all be flogged." Once saying this he looked around to make sure that none of the officers heard him say anything.


    "Battalion attention, Salute." Following the orders we gave a military salute which basically was dipping our spears down slightly and looking up at the same time.


    "Now that the three newest battalions are united together. The regiment will conduct a full training exercise near the black border. This for those who do not know is the border we have with the demon''s. We will not be in any danger though as we will be held near the back of the frontline."


    BOOOOOOOM!


    With a massive noise of a drum all three battalions set off. I was surprised at where we were going though as althougth we will be held at the back, the black border is one of the most dangerous places in the world. It has frequent incursions made by the demons most which end up in massive battles. As I was thinking about where we''re going I had forgotten about one fact that we had only been training for a month. We barely could fight a bandit outpost let alone demons.


    What followed was another ten days of marching. When we had stopped for the night the various companies just kept to themselves. There was not a sense of camaraderie amongst anyone. Most people thought that they would be gone before long so they didn''t make that many friends. Our company was different. We all depend on each other a lot. This meant as we had learned early on that orders were easier to achieve. It also meant that no one would be beaten to within an inch of their lives like a young man of another unit.


    A rumour had spread round that night though that we were actually going really near the border itself as we were asked to recover some supplies for the front line units. I just dismissed it as everyone else did. After all who would say fresh troops right next to an insanely dangerous place.

 10 Demons Part I

    Then the next day we broke camp and marched where we were told to as the previous days. Around a few hours after starting we were told to halt. Then we were all broken down into companies and told to search the area.


    As I was looking around I could see mountains on either side of us. We must be in some kind of valley I thought to myself. But apart from the mountains itself the valley floor which we were on was really flat, but was covered in short yellow grass. Though the grass being yellow means that it is dying but at the same time it is odd that it is dying due to the fact that there has been lots of rain recently. The only notable feature apart from the flat grassland was a rock outcropping about a ten minutes walk behind us.


    Aviel the captain walked up to where our battalion was in the column. "Our orders are that we need to disperse and find the lost supplies. You will split into companies and search the areas allocated to you. First company you will search in east from here, second company you will search south from here. Me and the rest of the second company began to head south to search which meant that we had to go back where we just came from.


    We all began to walk back slowly looking around not seeing anything. "So Leo¡­," the mustering call interrupted what I had to say. We all looked at each other feeling confused at why we had been recalled minutes after us all leaving. "We better get moving to get back, don''t want the captain to lose his nut again. Isn''t that right Jason," Jason just gave me a slight nod of his head. Jason never really talked much at all. We all joked that he was mute until he told us all to shut our mouths. It didn''t long for us to get back.


    The captain looked flustered and a bit scared. "All of you into battle formation quickly!" We all were confused at the order to get ready for battle but our training showed itself at that time as we all formed up with the other battalions in a massive wall of bodies. Those at the front placed their shields down which were rectangular. This enabled us to form a wall. Then spears would come out from them and the first three ranks behind them. The last two ranks would have their spears left pointing upwards. I was in the last rank, on the left side of the formation. As I was wondering why we had been made to form a battle formation I then felt the ground began to tremble. It was like when there were loads of cattle being moved around. Then in the distance I could see a dark blob appear.


    The blob slowly got closer and closer. Although I couldn''t make out what they were yet there must have been around a quarter of our total number. Though the officers that I could see all were pale and were slightly trembling which confused me a lot.


    Then I could make them out as they were getting closer. They were around seven ft so taller than any of us. Also all had dark skin if not black. Their faces all looked like animals as well. Some of them looked like goats, some foxes and others even looked like cows. Their eyes were all blood red. Completely blood red. After seeing their eyes I finally worked out what they were. They were demons!


    The equipment they had didn''t look that bad though. Most were wearing a kind of animal hide. It didn''t cover their whole body unlike our armour leaving vital points wide open to be attacked. They were all using a different kind of weapon it seemed. Though the weapons were all black and looked rather crudely made except for a few which looked like they had been forged rather than chucked together.


    The majority of them were going for the centre of our formation with not as many breaking off to the sides towards where I was. The order to brace came out as they got closer. Every one tightened their grips and prepared to receive the charge. I could hear people calling out prayers to the God of war and some to the God of death. Then I couldn''t hear anything except the sound of the demons feet smashing into the ground. I also could hear the roar of the demons as they got closer it was like hearing a lion roar but a couple of hundered at once.


    Then all I could hear was the bang,bang,Bang,Bang,BANG,BANG! SMASH! They then hit our formation or should I say went straight through it. At that point I heard the screams of pain that ripped through the air.


    "Adoh snap out of it!" The yell from someone snapped me out the trance I had fallen into. "Charge!" With a roar we all counter charged the demons that were breaking through our lines. I grasped my spear and shield tightly. I raced towards one demon that was more broken off from the rest. It had its back turned towards me, with a yell I stabbed out with my spear and the back of its neck that would kill it instantly. To my surprise it turned round, blocking my spear blow by smacking my spear to the ground. My hand hurt so much that I let go of the spear. The demon then swung his weapon straight towards my head.


    Crack. I had managed to bring my shield up intime to block the blow. But it was so strong it broke my shield as well as then knocking me off my feet and sending me a few yards back. Looking up I saw the demon have a smile on its face as it dragged its weapon as it walked forwards towards me.


    At that moment all the screams and roars in the battlefield went silent. It was like it was just me and the demon. It was walking towards me so slowly. I was trying to get my sword out of its sheath but it was stuck. Then a shadow covered me. I looked up to see the demon standing there above me. I closed my eyes waiting for death. "Sorry bro." I whispered that to myself as I heard the weapon coming down.


    At that moment I was shovered along the floor. Then felt a hot liquid spray over me. Opening my eyes I saw Jason. He had saved me but now. "No¡­." I whispered.


    His head had been split open by the strike off the demon. What surprised him was that he had saved me though. He barely spoke to me or anyone before and now he was dead. I was able to look around. All I saw was a one sided massacre we were being butchered. As I was looking around I saw Leo being held by his head. Then with a squelch his head was burst. "NOOO!" Leo''s death ignited something inside of me. I grabbed my sword and tore it out of its sheath. Then I got up looking at the demon that nearly killed me.


    "May Noikany bless me."

 11 Demons Part II

    After muttering my chant to the God of war. I sprinted at the demon with the sword in my hand. It was a standard military issue longsword, so there was nothing special about it except the hilt with a dragon on it.


    The demon saw me coming. It turned towards me, getting itself ready to receive my attack. The weapon in its hand was dripping with the blood of the people it had killed including Jason. Once I was within stabbing range, I stabbed at its neck. It just smacked my blade away like it was nothing. Then related with a swing of its weapon. Seeing that if I received the attack it would cleave me in two. I hurrendly rolled to the side.


    Thawk. Its weapon smashed into the ground. It tried to pull it out but it was stuck. Seeing my chance I slashed at its exposed neck.


    I heard the lovely sound of a sword tearing into flesh. But it wasn''t its neck. It had sacrificed its arm to save its own life. It let out a groan at the pain. Following the training, I twisted the sword and pulled it out, mangling the arm in the process. This made it so that its seemingly dominant arm was unusable. Once the sword was removed, I moved back to give myself some space to react.


    With its good arm the demon moved trying to grab me. I just managed to get under its arm but my helmet was scrapped off in the process. Seeing that I had another opening. I attacked as quickly as possible with a stab of the sword. I was too close at this point for it to dodge. The sword went straight through the demon. Taking out my sword the same way as before. The demon was left howling in pain on the ground. Fearing it to be able to attack me again. I put the sword straight through the head of the demon killing it at long last.


    "That was for you Jason, rest well brother."


    After killing the demon I looked around up. We were losing completely. The commanders were nowhere to be seen. So they had died or ran off leaving us behind. I tried to see if I could find any of my other squad mates but all I could see was Jax left standing. He was with some other people I didn''t recognise fighting against a lone demon. I raced off trying to help them.


    I dogged various other fights seeing the now all to numbing sight of people being ripped apart and killed by the demons. The battlefield was riddled with corpses at this point, of mainly our side but there were demons that had been killed as well. As I arrived near Jax and the group he was with. The demon seemed to be going berserk. Its eyes were glowing a brighter red and its muscles looked like they were beginning to swell up. Though while it was going into this state, I saw that it seemed like it wasn''t reacting too much at all.


    Thinking about the previous fight I had just had. I decided that quick stabbing attacks would be more useful to me. So seeing a spear laying on the ground next to a dead legionnaire. I quickly picked up the spear. The spear being better at stabbing as well as being longer, I thought would make a more useful weapon.


    The other people around me and Jax attacked to act as a sort of distraction but would go for a killing move if they saw an opportunity. Seeing my chance as the demon blocked the thirteenth blow made against it. I quickly lashed out with the spear going straight for the head to end the fight quickly. Much to my suprise the blow connected, killing the demon instantly.


    Jax looked at me covered in blood. "Thanks Adoh, We would all probably be dead by now if it wasn''t for you."


    "It''s fine, you are my brother after all. Everyone else a friend of my brother is a friend of mine." I had to talk rather loud to be heard over the screams and war cries. "I think we should head back to the rock outcropping that we passed. It would be easier to defend and hold out until reinforcements arrive." Everyone nodded at my suggestion. So we all began to run away from the battlefield and to the rocks.


    Seeing us leave. A few of the other legionnaires decided that it would be best to follow us. Looking back there were around eighteen of us. The rest of our side left on the battlefield was slowly being killed off as most if not all were isolated from everyone else.


    There were also some demons that had already seen us fleeing and had decided it seemed that it would be better to chase us. "Hurry up, they''re coming." Then much to my horror Jax who was next to me was hit in the back by a spear. It went straight through him.


    I stopped at his body. "Jax¡­.why¡­.why did this happen¡­.we were only meant to find some supplies...why¡­..WHY!" A couple of the others who were passing me decided that I shouldn''t be left behind. They grabbed me by my arms and started to drag me away. I struggled, kicked and screamed. Not wanting to leave the last of my brothers in arms. "Let me die with him, leave meeeee!"


    They were not hearing any of my demands and dragged me the whole distance to the rocks. Beginning to calm down, I looked around. There were only nine of us in the end who had made it.


    The demons had now finished off the last people on the battlefield and were walking towards us like we had no chance of escape. It was like we were all already dead men. It sounded so odd though. It was silent. None of us made any noise. The screams had all stopped. Not even the advancing demons were making any noise. It was kind of beautiful in a way. We had a moment of silence before we were all going to be killed. We had run here only to die later than anyone else.


    Looking around for a weapon to fight with as I had left the spear that I was using on Jax''s body. Someone seeing me who had somehow managed to keep both their spear and sword. "I saw how you killed that demon on your own. Have my sword." The others around us heard this. Everyone looked at me with respect. Then as if it was all pre planned, bent down on their knees to me. "We would like you to lead us in our final moments!" They all yelled this out in one voice. I was stunned. "Please get up¡­" They all looked at me with gazes of respect and loyalty. I felt undeserving of their looks. Then looked behind me seeing all the people that had died. Leo, Jason, Jax and the others too.


    "I say we charge out. Let us die as heroes! Let us avenge our comrades! Who is with me!" With a mighty roar all nine of us charged out against the demons.

 12 Demons Part III

    There were nine of us. Covered in the blood of our fallen comrades, demons and our own blood. Nine charging against at least over one hundred at fifty. Not one of us faltered as we ran. It was a charge to our deaths. Not one of us cared. We were going to be able to join our comrades. Die the death of a warrior. The demon''s seeing us had frozen for a second. Then with a roar they all began to charge at us.


    Then a horn was heard in the air. Wait, a horn. Dragon blood and demons alike froze and looked where the noise of the horn came from. There were at least six hundred of them. Riding those horses were soldiers covered head to toe in a medium armour. Whatever it was though, it was glowing in a pale blue light. That means that it is runic armour. As they got closer I saw two banners. One was the dukes banner the same as in the city. The other was similar to it but the dragon was black and the background was red. The dragon was holding a spear and a sword in each of its hands. On the banner was a metal black dragon.


    After seeing all of that, I realised who they were. They were the Dragon Knights. The soldiers I saw when I first got to the city. The most elite troops in the duchy, they are probably the most elite in the surrounding kingdoms. So seeing them here was a very big surprise and relief for me. The others around me are properly relieved as well. It meant that we should not die anymore, hopefully. The demons seeing what was coming, charged at the knights instead of us.


    We all let out a breath that none of us knew that we had been holding in. "We actually are going to be able to survive." I knelt down onto the ground. Then dropping my weapon, just layed down. I am exhausted, I thought to myself. Glancing around the other eight people were doing the same thing.


    Crash! We heard the sound of the knights and demons reaching each other. Unlike our fight with screams filing the air, this one had a lot more roaring which I guess is the demons'' noise they make for basically anything. Then it was completely quiet except for the sound of some horses. Then I heard the noise of the horses getting closer to us. Looking up there were three knights coming towards us.


    Seeing this I got up and ushered everyone else to stand up as well. The knight''s stopped in front of us. "Where are your officers?" He had taken off his helmet and was looking down at us with a gentle smile on his face. As the acting or I guess chosen leader I decided to be the spokesperson.


    "None of us have any idea sir knight." I was respectful and didn''t look him in the eye as we were told to do when speaking to someone of a higher rank in unit and normal rank.


    He looked more confused at that point. "What unit are you from?" I looked at him confused. Does he not know who we are, I thought to myself. "We don''t have a unit name sir, we are a training unit I guess." Hearing what I said his face changed to one of anger.


    "Where is the rest of your unit?" Seeing his reaction I thought I had done something wrong but still replied to his question.


    "They are about a ten minutes march that way sir. But you won''t find anything there. They are all¡­.hic..dead." Hearing what I said and how we looked he seemed to realise something.


    "I am sorry. I didn''t mean to ...."


    "You don''t have to be sorry sir, in fact we should be thanking you. If it was not for you we would have all been killed by the demons." Seeing our looks of respect he smiled again.


    "We will help you bury your comrades then we will escort you to the camp where it is safe. Questions will probably be asked as well then."


    As we walked to the battle site I began to get acquainted with the other survivors. Orodreath a big man with long black hair, there was also Thengel opposite to Orodreath completely, he was skinny with blond hair. Heruwine was somewhere in the middle of the two but his hair was blood red. Gram was an average build with black hair, Oswald was like Gram and as we were speaking it turned out that they were twins. Then there was Belegorn, Swain, Guthbrand and Halstein. They all were surprisingly brothers. There were very few differences between them except age and eye colour. They all had different coloured eyes. Which was a bit odd if you asked me.


    Once we had arrived at the site of the battlefield I swore I could hear one of the knights mutter under his breath that, "These were brave souls to fight demons and not route at the first site of them. They would have made fine soldiers."


    It took us nearly the rest of the day to gather up the dead and bury them all. We didn''t really have anything to mark the graves with, so we put the banner of each battalion in the center of the burial site. Taking a piece of armour of a soldier one of the knights carved onto eat. Here lies the brave souls of the Dragon blood. May they find peace in their deaths. May their glory go with them into the next life.


    After that to get back to the camp quickly we were told to ride double with some of the knights. I was choses to ride with the knight who I had spoken to earlier. "So Adoh, your name is that right?" I nodded my head. "Which great clan are you from?" He said that while whispering so the others around wouldn''t be able to hear.


    "I''m not sir knight." I couldn''t see his face but I thought that it would have been one of surprise. Surprising me though he didn''t carry on with the conversation. We rode in a few minutes of silence after that.


    "So I overheard that you had killed two demons on your own. Is that true?"


    "Yes it is at least for one, but for the other it was more of a team effort I just landed the killing blow."We were silent for another few minutes. #


    "You wouldn''t have had your bloodline awakening yet than ever, I guess. That makes what you did and the fact that you all survived more remarkable. Even if they were all only lesser demons." I thought to myself I guess the bloodline awakening thing is like the mana awakening thing Lar''s told me about. But lesser demon I have no idea what that is.


    "Ummm sir knight, what do you mean by lesser demon?"


    He let out a slight chuckle. "I forget you wouldn''t have learned basic demon classification yet. Basically a lesser demon is the weakest of all demons, then it is a greater demon, then a superior demon. Above that you don''t have the permission to know yet. But to give you an idea a superior demon would need a company of dragon knights to kill. That would be at a tremendous loss of life at that.


    "Ah we are here."

 13 The For

    Looking ahead I saw a colossal black stone fortress. The gate house was made to look like the mouth of a dragon. With the gate itself made of a black wood with black metal to reinforce it. Around the walls there were towers that spiraled up until they reached a point. It was in a way like a work of art. But one one made to defend.


    "Welcome to Black Fire Fortress."


    As we approached the gate it opened slowly with a loud creak. Only once we were through the gate itself did the horses begin to slow down. As we moved through the fort i noticed people''s gaze first looking in awe at the knights then seeing us who were clearly not knights there expressions changed to one of confusion.


    Eventually we stopped in what looked like the stables as there were piles of hay scattered around and areas for horses to be kept. There were wooden water troughs as well scattered around. We all dismounted. I nearly fell over and my feet hit the floor. My legs and my ass felt like they were lead.


    "Ajax, take them to the infirmary to make sure their wounds don''t get infected and get them cleaned up."


    The knight Ajax looked at us indicated for us to follow him. As we were about to leave the commander of the knights yelled out again. "Get them out of the blood soaked kit first." Ajax smiled. Gave a quick salute then led us two what he called the baths. When we got to where he was leading us I realised what he called the baths was just a bucket of water. Standing where he told us to. He pulled on an old weathered rope. This led to the plank of wood above us to point down letting out a torrent of ice cold water. I looked down straight away to stop the water getting into my eyes. Looking down I could see the water turning into a deep shade of red as it washed the blood off of us.


    "Hahaha. You don''t stink of that foul blood anymore. I can finally talk to you without gagging. Come on, I''ll show you the way." It turned out that the giant looking, scarred man was more friendly than I thought he would be by looking at him. As he took us to the infirmary he told us a bit about the fort. It turned out it was from the early days of the Imperium. It was meant to serve as an outpost to warn and slow any invasions.


    Then we arrived outside of a thick door. It has no distinguishing features at all. All there was, was a red handle on the door. "Alright, this is where I will leave you all. I wish you the best of luck in the future. You will all make brilliant soldiers I think." Ajax walked off waving his hand goodbye. I looked around at the others.


    "Let''s get this done then." I pushed open the door without any trouble surprising me when I looked at its size. Going in we entered a spotless room. It was surprisingly clean for an infirmary.


    A man in full white clothes walked in. "So why are you here then?" He was rather small but his presence gave a surprising calming aura among all of us.


    "We are here under orders, to make sure that we haven''t sustained any major wounds and have our wounds cleaned out."


    We followed him into a hallway which had doors running down the side. "Each of you go into a room. There will be someone to come see you shortly." I ended up in room number eight. There wasn''t much in it but a bed to lay on. There was also a mirror and some water. There was a window in the back of the room which enabled the room to be filled with natural light.


    As I was going to look outside of the window I heard the door behind me open up. Turning around I saw a woman in white walk into the room. Instead of trousers like the man she was wearing a skirt. "Please sit down on the bed." I did as she said. Then looking at my armour that I still hand. She frowned slightly. Muttering some words under breath. A flame appeared on the top of one of her fingers. It then turned into a very small blade. She used it to cut off my armour which fell to the floor with a bang. It revealed the linen top I had underneath. Well it was more linen rags now as there were numerous rips all over it. Then using the flame she made a few small cuts on my top causing it to fall off my body revealing my upper half of my body.


    She let out a small gasp seeing my torso. Looking down I understood her gasp very clearly. I was covered in small cuts and scrapes. There was also lots of bruising on the side of my body where I had been chucked by Jason before he was killed. What surprised me most was that I had not felt any of this at all. Like it was new that I was looking at it, the pain came all at once. Feeling it I feel backwards on to the bed while letting out a gasp.


    I heard an angelic voice at that moment. "Wait here, I will go get some materials to help you." I didn''t hear her leaving or coming back. I found out that she was back when I saw her face appear above me. My heart froze for a moment as I looked at her. She was beautiful. Her skin was a darker shade than mine so she probably came from somewhere out of the kingdom. Seeing me gaze so intensely at her face she blushed. Her face looked like it was her who had been in the battle not me. Then she applied something onto my cuts. My face froze. "Ahhhhhhhhhh," I yelled out in pain. Then she applied some bandages onto them before applying the same paste like a slave to my bruised side. Although the pain wasn''t as intense it still hurt alot.


    Just before she left she looked back at me. "I am Sam by the way."


    Then I blacked out. By the time I had come to the room was pitch black. Slowly dragging myself out of the bed. I went to the window looking outside. The fort walls had lots of red lights going all the way along. I could also see some soldiers on patrol in the streets with torches in their hands. It seemed peaceful, if I hadn''t known any better I would have thought that this was an inland fort where there was no danger present. Not a fort on the border pof one of the most dangerous places in this area of the world.


    Seeing that there was no reason to carry on being awake I decided to try and get some more sleep. Getting back into bed I drifted to sleep with thoughts in my head of the woman called Sam.

 14 Message from the General

    Bang, bang, bang. "May I come in?"


    I woke up to that noise. I thought I was back home at that point with my mother coming into my room to wake me up. Then the battle, the knights, the fortress and the woman called sam all came back to me. Sigh, "Come in."


    The man who I first saw yesterday came in. "How are you?" He looked concerned which surprised me. He only looked calm yesterday no other emotion showed on his face at all. "I am fine, why would you ask the question anyway?"


    He walked up to me, started to check me other, "You were screaming all of last night, saying the names Jason and Leo over and over again. Who are they? Might I ask?" After he told me that I remembered how they died and felt some tears running down my face. As I dried my tears up, "They were my squad mates. They both killed my demons." After I had said that his calm face resurfaced once more. "Anyway your wounds have healed very well. A message came for you as well."


    After passing the message over to me he said goodbye and left quietly. The message was simple. It just ordered me to report to the general who was in charge of the fort as well as the surrounding legions.


    Getting out of the bed slowly, I felt no pain at all. I carefully put some fresh clothes over myself avoiding moving the bandages in case my body wasn''t fully healed. Then with a fright I realised that I didn''t have the medallion with me. I looked all over for it. Only to see it hanging off from the mirror. Going over to it and picking it up. I carefully put it on, thankful that I hadn''t lost it.


    Just as I was about to leave I saw a piece of paper that must have been behind my medallion had fallen to the floor.


    Adoh, all though we never really spoke much. You seemed like a nice person so I cleaned the blood of the medallion for you. It looks important and as a mage it emits mana type that I have never seen before.Therefore I wouldn''t lose it if I were you.


    Signed, Sam


    It was a letter from the woman from yesterday. After finding out that she was a mage I was wondering why she would even be in a military infirmary and the part about the mana was interesting to say the least. Though it is not like I could sense mana though so it was a little bit useless. I turned it over randomly to see if there was any more writing on the back. To my surprise there was.


    If you find this that means you care about me or you were just being curious. I doubt you will ever be able to see me again so if there is any love there in you it is pointless. I am sorry.


    Goodbye


    Seeing what was on the back I felt my heart crack. She is ruthless I thought to myself. Putting the note in a pocket to keep it safe. I opened my door and left my room. Walking down the hallway back to the first room I entered I walked past a range of people. Some were medical staff, others wounded soldiers. There was even one man I couldn''t tell. He was rather tall but thin and was in full black with a hood up so I couldn''t see his face.


    As I was about to leave I was stopped by a yell. "Excuse me, could you please and come fill out these forms before you leave." I went other to the area I was yelled at from. It was a woman in similar clothing as Sam but she looked far less beautiful than sam. "Can you read and write or would you like me to do it?"


    Taking the forms off her, "I can do it, thank you." The forms were basic. It just wanted my name, rank and unit. I filled in my name and rank but stopped over the unit as I didn''t have one anymore. Looking at the woman, "Excuse me, what do I put in the unit? As it''s just that the unit I was with doesn''t exist anymore."


    She looked back at me with a face of guilt and a little bit of shame. "I am sorry, I did not think you were one of the nine. Just leave it blank for now." As I didn''t have anymore to fill out on the form I gave it back to her and left. As I was leaving I heard someone say something that caught my interest. "Look, he is one of the nine. The nine rookies who survived a demon attack without undergoing a bloodline awakening. The nine must be insanely strong to survive but looking at him I think that they are just lucky."


    After I left I walked through the fort to the general''s office but this was only after getting directions from a helpful man who seemed like it was his day off as he didn''t have any amour on at all or a weapon with him.


    After following the man''s directions I passed the practise grounds, the barracks and the storage area before approaching the keep where the general was staying and it was also where his office was. I walked up to the gate to enter the keep. "Halt, state your purpose for entering the keep legionarry and show proof of why you are as well!"


    I took out the message stating that I had to see the general and handed it over to the guard. After reading it he seemed to have worked something out. "So is it true that you have not undergone an awakening and that you fought demons? Also that one of the nine killed a demon in one on one combat? The last thing is it true that you were charging to your deaths basically instead of trying to run when the knights arrived? "


    Smiling at all of the questions that he suddenly had thrown my way. "Yes we fought the demons without an awakening. Yes one of us killed one in single combat in fact that was me. Yeah we were charging to our deaths when the knights arrived."


    Finding out it was me who killed the demon it looked like he was about to bombard me with more questions. "I am sorry but I do really have to go."


    He then worked out that he had been a bit inappropriate. "I''m sorry for all that it is just the first time something like this has happened. The general is in the keep. When you get there show the guard on the door your message and he will let you in. Once in there you will probably be met by an adjendent officer who will lead you to the general himself. "A word of advice. The adjendent officer thinks that they are highly important so flatter them a lot they will like."


    As I left heading to the keep I thanked him and said goodbye.

 15 The General

    I began to walk towards the keep itself. It was higher than the surrounding walls and looked more magnificent than its surroundings as well but it was still made in the same black stone. The keep had a slight shine to it as well.


    As I approached the gate to enter the keep there was two guards on both sides. I thought that they are veterans due to how battle scarred their armour was and that they seemed to be relaxed and alert at the same time.


    The gate itself was made of black wood and black metal. I guess this was so that it kept with the general colour scheme of the fort. On the gate was a design of a battlefield. There was a man holding a sword with a colossal dragon behind him. Together they were fighting what seemed to be an army of something. I could also see other dragons coming over the mountainside in the distance. It was a magnificent scene.


    Approaching the gate I heard the familiar order to halt. Doing as the guard said I handed over the message straight away. "I see, if you wait here the adjundent will be here shortly to take you to the general. You have been warned about him right." I nodded saying I had been warned.


    A few minutes later the adjendunt arrived. He was a fat man. His hair was greasy and it looked like his skin had a layer of grease on it as well. His uniform was scruffy and unkempt. It also looked like it had perminment water or probably grease indented in it. His eyes looked squinted as he gazed at me as he walked along the hallway. His belly flopped up and down at every step he took.


    Seeing him coming I gave him a full military salute. Which was done by standing at attention and bringing my hand and part of my arm horizontally over my chest. His face turned into a really ugly smile seeing this. In a raspy voice like he was struggling to breath, "I like you already legionary."


    Seeing him happy I decided to praise him more. "Sir, if I didn''t salute you, it would be a disgrace after all everyone knows about how it is you who really keep the army going." My falatery seemed to be working as his pig looking face seemed to be getting wider and wider which I assumed that it showed him trying to smile.


    "Follow me, we got to go speak to the general. I wish I could keep you to myself...Sigh...you would make a great subordinate, especially after meeting you I think this more." He seemed like a good person to me. I could not really understand what the guards were saying about him after meeting him for myself. I guess they were just trying to scare me.


    At that moment he stopped, turning around to look at me, which shouldn''t be possible considering the size of his belly. "So you don''t want to be under me huh, I will make sure your career will get nowhere. You are an ungrateful piece of garbage. No wonder your unit was nearly wiped out. I bet that the story of you killing a demon in solo combat was just made up wasn''t it. Yes, I can see it in your garbage face that it was. There is no point in me wasting my breath on you. Just follow me!"


    When I heard what he called my unit. I froze. I felt anger overtaking me. All I wanted to do was punch that pig face of his into a bloody pulp. Then chuck his pig ass body into a sty where it belonged. Just as I was about to throw a punch I thought about what would happen if I did. At least it would be a court marshal and be drummed out of the military with a stain on my record. But more likely I would be executed for hitting a superior officer. I breathed deeply a couple of times to cool down, slowly trying to relax a bit.


    Seeing that I was not going to react like he thought I would, the adjendunt snorted then turned around walking off. I picked up my pace following him. But decided against saying anything else on the way in fear of causing him to give me another tongue lashing.


    We walked down so many different hallways. They all were dark but were lighted up by regularly placed torches on the walls. There were not many decorations as well. Just a lot of old flags most damaged and stained showing that they had been through countless battles. I could also see that as we got closer to the office they seemed to get newer and newer. This I could tell by the colours slowly becoming more vibrant as time passed they also looked less frayed although they all had damage from various battles.


    We then stopped outside of the simplest door I had seen so far. The adjendunt knocked on the door. "Come in!" A short, swift reply was heard. The adjendunt opened the door letting me in. As I walked by him, he put his leg out slightly attempting to try and trip me up. Lucky from all my time spent back home playing with my brother I expected something like this and was able to take a bigger step avoiding his leg.


    I thought I heard a snot of annoyance but ignored it as I was now looking straight at the general. He was in complete contrast to the adjendunt. He looked clean and well kept. His uniform had no creases; it looked as if he had never worn it before. He had a stern look on his face but under that there was a kind of tranquility like he had achieved some kind of inner peace. But the most important feature I had noticed were his eyes. They were golden like mine.


    "Legionary Adoh reporting as ordered, Sir!" I gave a prompt and perfect salute. It made the salute I gave to the adjendent look like it was a salute done by a brand new recruit. Which to be honest I was not long ago. I heard the door close behind as the adjendunt left.


    We stayed quiet for a few minutes as the general looked at me up and down. Briefly stopping at my eyes before his gaze moved on. "I would like you to tell me what exactly happened on the battlefield and the events leading up to it. Oh and there is no point in lying I can tell."


    So I told him what happened event by event. From meeting up with the other battalions, to us marching into the valley, to us stopping and being ordered to search for some missing supplies, to the recall, then to the demon attacks and finally to the officers disappearing in the battle. To me fighting the demons, then running to the rocks. Then the charge and the knights. His face changed at different points from a frown when I spoke about why we were in the valley,then to a deeper frown when the officers disappeared and to a smile with my duel then finally a greater smile to the sucide charge.

 16 Bloodline Awakening

    Once I had finished he was looking at me in amazement. "So you did all of that without a bloodline awakening. That is really impressive. About your eyes I am guessing that you are like me, a forgotten clan member."


    "Forgotten, I don''t really get what you mean sir."


    Sigh. "So you do know that you are a descendant of one of the five great clans of the Imperium right?" Seeing me nod he carried on, "Well those who did not know that they are descended from one of the great clans are called the forgotten. As we have forgotten about our heritage or so they say."


    Surprised at how nice the general was answering my questions, I smiled slightly. Then I indicated that I had understood what he had said with the slight movement of my head. "So anyway sir, you asked for me to be here."


    "Ah yes Adoh, on behalf of the duchy and its military system I wish to apologise for the suition you were found in. I would also like to apologise to your dead comrades. I know what it is like to lose those whom you fought with. This battle will go down in the records as probably one of the worst military disasters that has ever happened before." After saying that he stopped for a few minutes as if deciding something. "Since you have already been in combat your''s and the other eight surviors training will be deemed complete. So I would like you to come back to the keep at night and I will personally oversee your first bloodline awakening.


    This was a huge honour. "Thank you sir so much. You have no¡­." He cut me off suddenly.


    "There is no need to apologize. This is the least I could do for all nine of you. In fact it should be me being thankful that I have just gained some excellent warriors after all not many can survive a demon attack without any preparation or having undergone an awakening. Now go, come back here later tonight."


    I gave another salute then left the room. I followed the way I had come leaving the keep saying bye to the guards. Not knowing what to do until this evening I decided that I should try and find the other''s and see what they had been up to.


    Thinking the easiest way to find them was by going back to the infirmary and asking one of the staff there if they knew anything of where they had gone would be the best way to find them. So I did just that. I passed everything I had on my way to the keep but in the opposite direction arriving much quicker back at the infirmary than the time it had taken me to get to the keep.


    After entering one of the staff saw me. It was the woman who had me sign the forms. "Back so soon Adoh, you must be hunting injuries. Maybe it was so you could come back and see me." She sent a slightly flirtatious gaze in my direction.


    Much to her disappointment though, "I am here to find out what happened to the others who I came in here with yesterday." Muttering something under her breath she looked through files similar to the one she made me sign earlier. After taking out eight of them she looked them over. "It seems here they had said they would be staying in the barracks in a temporary residence until they are assigned to a unit. It is area K, building four."


    "Thank you for your help."


    As I left I heard a quiet voice, "It''s no problem but why couldn''t you have just come back for me not your comrades."


    After leaving I went back towards the keep as I had seen the barracks on the way. Once I got into the barracks area. I could see loads of buildings. Walking down the main road until I found area K, I saw loads of off duty soldiers trying to relax and enjoy their time. Area K was different though as it had barely anyone in it at all. Looking at the buildings they each had numbers on their doors. I went past each building until I got to the building with the number four.


    It was a small building with probably only twenty rooms and most. It had a tiled roof and had a few windows. Knocking, I entered the building. On entering I saw the others talking excitedly. Seeing me they all stopped. "Adoh, did you see the general as well." They all said that at the same time. It was like they had rehearsed it but seeing their faces nearly breaking down into a laughing fit I knew that they hadn''t.


    I proceeded to tell them about my time with the general and everything he had said. Our discussion went on for a long time before we all knew it, it was time for us to go for the awakening. As we walked to the keep everything was quiet and dark. It was like the fort was deserted, a stark contrast to the day. Passing the guards at the gate, we were let in without any fuss. I looked for the guard I spoke to earlier but he was not there. I had assumed that the guard shift had changed.


    We entered the keep being guided by what seemed like a low ranking logistics officer. We went down a few flights of stairs to an underground room. Not that you could tell though as it looked exactly the same as the rest of the keep.


    We entered a well lit room. There were only two other people inside, the general and another man I did not recognise. The room itself was fairly plain except for a magnificent statue of a battle worn dragon. There was also a massive runic carving on the floor. It was in old draconic I think which is older than the script my father taught me. The writing was all in red, with an ornate looking dagger laying in the middle.


    "Adoh, may you please enter the circle and go to where the dagger is laying."


    Walking to where I was told. I didn''t say a word. Once getting there I was told to stand still but pick up the dagger first. Then the other man beside the general began to mutter a language I haven''t heard before. He slowly got louder and was repeating what he said over and over again.The markings on the floor began to glow red. "Now cut your hand Adoh, letting your blood drip onto the floor."


    I did what he said immediately. Cutting open my hand letting my blood flood onto the floor. When it touches the markings. They lit up even more furiously than before. Then scaring me, my blood turned into fire. The fire followed my blood back into my hand.


    I screamed in pain. It felt like I was burning inside of my body. Then I saw something. There was a figure shrouded in black, in his hands was something but I couldn''t tell what it was. Behind him was what looked like a massive dragon but like the man I couldn''t see it clearly.


    Then the vision stopped.

 17 The new member

    As I regained my full vision I noticed that my hand that I had cut was fully healed. Also I could see further into the dark and noise more especially just around me. As I took a step forward I nearly fell over. I moved so much faster than before. I also felt like I was stronger as well. I thought to myself no wonder they said it was harder to fight demon''s without awakening. They make you so much stronger I felt like I could kill hundreds of the lesser demons now.


    I slowly stepped back out of the circle so others could have their awakening. Next up was Gram. He went forward and did the same as me. The same chant was heard. I then saw his blood ignite like mine and the fire go up his blood into his hand. This time I could see what happened. It looks like he has fire for blood as his blood vessels were bright red, then what would I assume when he had his vision his body became covered in flames. Once his vision was ending I saw the flames dying down. Once that had gone he nearly fell over before adjusting himself to his new found strength. The other seven all went up next, their awakenings were all virtually the same.


    Once everyone was finished.The general looked at us for a few moments. "Adoh as a reward for killing the demons, I hereby promote you to sergeant. All you will also be made into a first class unit. I haven''t found a company yet but I have an idea of who will fill up the squad so it is full strength. So for now you will be an independent squad who will be under my direct command.


    "Thank you sir!" We all yelled at the same time. I was so surprised at what he had said as were the others I assumed. What he had said meant that we would be in close contact with him, allowing us to be noticed more, so therefore we would have a higher chance for promotion. Which is exactly what I want.


    "Now all of you go back to your barracks and report to the training field in the morning. The new member of your squad will be there¡­...Adoh before you leave can we talk." I can go to where the general is. As I got closer to him everyone else in the room had left. Once the door had closed, "So Adoh what did you see in your vision, we can try and use it to determine which clan you are from."


    In an exuberant voice, "I didn''t really so much just a figure holding something and a massive dragon I assume in the background."


    He sighed after I said that. "Guess only more bloodline awakening will male the image clearer. Now go, you have a long day tomorrow."


    After getting back to the barracks everyone got up and gave me a mini salute. "Well now you lead us officially by rank now. We won''t just follow you due to your skill anymore." Their declaration caused a little smile to come to my face.


    "We are brothers, I may lead us but if you don''t like where I lead, say that you don''t and I will stop. For now I lead us...to bed." After that we all found ourselves a bed and went almost immediately to sleep. The next day I woke up first and got into some clothes to train in. Then I woke everyone up, just like how I was woken up on my last day at home by my brother. With a bucket of water.It woke them all up rather quickly. Though I got some nasty looks as well to go with it.


    Once they were all changed and dried. We grabbed some light food for breakfast from the food master. Then headed to the training grounds. On arriving there was a woman in armor like us. Seeing us she walked towards us. "Which one of you is sergeant Adoh."


    "I am an error legionary." I was confused at why she was here.


    "I am legionary Usha. I am not dragon blood but phoenix blood. I am here because, ummm, I was exiled from my home and I want to gain the skills and strength to go home on my own and live a proper life." She said this all while standing to attention. She had long dark hair and hair eyes were a hazel colour. She looked fair but also had a resolve in her eyes that I didn''t see much.


    "Fall in then with the others. We have got a lot of training to do." Following orders she fell in with the others. I caught some of them gazing at her ass. Which was clearly showing her armour. An evil grin emerged on my face.


    "Squad. Do ten laps around the field. Fall out."


    Once they had finished that, there still was no one out here to teach us. So I got her to pick up a weapon and spare it against each other. I ended up against grim. It was just some basic stabbing and a few slashes. I tried parrying them and even a little counter stab when I blocked him once. At that moment I heard a voice.


    "Stop there, I think I can tell what you can all do. Which one of you is Adoh? I am Alfonzo by the way. I am not from here as you can tell by my name." His voice was light which was surprising. He was battle scarred as well but looked quite light, definitely not blucky.


    "I am Adoh, sir." He looked at me up and down taking a good look at me. Then he walked around me, poking my body at different parts. As he stood in front of me again. It felt like his eyes were staring straight into my soul.


    "You will do nicely. You should be able to wield mana extremely well. Do you know how to sense it? If so can you sense it?" I nodded to his first question but shook my head to the second as I haven''t had much time trying to practise since I left my uncle''s house. "Ok, I see. If you go over there get yourself settled and don''t leave until you can sense something at least.


    I did as he said. Walked over to a shaded area and sat down cross legged on to the dirt. Just like I was shown that time by Lars. I let my senses go and spread out around me trying to feel mana. Just like before I had no luck. Then remembering Sam''s note I took out the medallion and tried to sense the special mana like she did. Much to my surprise I felt something. It was like the medallion was emitting a blood red light.


    I focused my senses on it. It felt hot but at the same time dangerous. It thought I could hear screams reminding me of the recent battle but on a scale much worse. It would make the battle I was in look like child''s play. As I opened my eyes to my surprise it was night time. The trainer Alfonzo was still here.


    "Good you didn''t take as long as I thought you would. In fact it didn''t take you long at all. Only a couple of days."

 18 New Orders

    "Only a couple of days!" I yell. How am I not hungry or more importantly how did I not notice the flow of time I thought to myself. I hurriedly try to stand up but then the lack of food then hits me and I land back on to my ass.


    "Eat this Adoh, it will help with hunger." He handed me a pill. After putting it into my mouth, I felt all of the hunger pains in my body go away. "Though you will need some real food though. That pill will not subsidise real food. It''s just useful to keep going in a battle." After that I walked off to go and find some actual food to eat.


    I went to the cafeteria. After arriving I had a look at all the food they had available to be eaten. As I was looking at it I felt a hand slap on my shoulder. "You seem to be around Adoh, promoted to sergeant as well. Also a first tier unit. You have been busy." The speaker was the knight Ajax. In the end I choose the meat dish with some rice to go with it.


    I went and sat down with Ajax at a smaller table at his invitation. "I heard that you are under the direct command of the general. It''s a good thing yes but you will get some of the hardest missions out there. It will have a high chance of death so be careful, ok."


    I was surprised at the concern he was showing me after all we only met by chance and have barely spoken.


    We didn''t speak much after that. We both just focused on eating our food. Which for me was delicious. It reminded me of home. The long days working on the fields for whichever farmer needed help the most. Then walking home with my brother joking as we went. To the well prepared meals by mum. It was nice back then.


    After I had finished my meal I said bye to Ajaz and walked back to the barracks to get some rest in an actual bed. I said hello to the others as I went through and made sure Usha had her own room so that none of them would pep on her as she got changed. Once I had got into my own room which as a sergeant I got, I saw a bag on the bed with a note on it.It said it was from my uncle. It must be my clothes I thought to myself. I took out all of the clothes hanging them all up in a wardrobe or putting them into the cupboard I had. Then once that was done I fell into my bed.


    The next few days were all very similar. I would get up, then get the others up. Get foid then head to the training field. The training itself changed from day to day. It included advanced weapon combat and some unarmed combat. This made us all be able to do a much greater range of attacks and defensive moves with the weapons we used and also be able to fight effectively without weapons as well.


    We also had a range of classes on demons going into further detail on how to tell each type of demon apart from each other as well as each type''s known strengths and weaknesses. This class also included some advanced tactics to engage the demons as well. We were taught some basic first aid and survival skills as well. This would enable us to stay alive in the field a bit easier we were told.


    The last thing was just unique to me for now. That was learning to use mana effectively now that I was beginning to be able to sense it. This included some basic incarnations such as enhance. Once I got that I had to direct it to the part of my body or weapon I wanted to enhance. The knights I was told could enhance all of their body and their weapons at the same time. This amazed me as I could barely get what I wanted to enhance, to enhance and if I did it would be fairly weak. Due to this I had to do mandatory mana practise in my own time. I was also taught a simple breathing technique that would allow me to enter the focused state to sense mana quicker.


    Throughout the training period the squad became a lot closer as well. Usha also got no lewd looks anymore. At one time she caught Ordreath giving her a look and proceeded to floor him. After that point the looks stopped. Now they were only one of respect. Though they all kept on pestering me for the way to sense mana. This was starting to get annoying.


    After another week of the training a knock on the door of our barracks came. When I opened it there was a messenger. The message he gave me told the squad to report to the general immediately. I quickly gathered everyone up and we all set off. "So why do you think the general wants to see us." Halstein asked everyone.


    I looked at him, "It''s not our place to ask why, it''s our place to do and die."


    Everyone looked at what I said with a hint of confusion etched onto all of their faces. "What sort of saying is that Adoh," Usha looked more confused than the rest. I smiled slightly and waved at the guards at the gate of the keep who let us in without any trouble. I guess they were told to just let us in.


    "It is something I had read before, Usha. An old saying of the human empire''s soldiers. Then I would be given sucide orders a lot. They would say that to comfort themselves in the fact that the orders they were given weren''t there''s to question. Just to carry out." As I finished explaining the origins of the saying we got into the keep.


    Once we got through the door we met the adjendunt. He scowled hard when he said more. We all gave him a salute. He just walked off down the hallway towards the general''s office. "Follow me trash."


    Following him all my squad members gave me surprised gazes. I guess they are wondering how I managed to piss off the adjendunt. It didn''t take long for us to reach the office of the general. I gave a slight knock before entering with the rest of my squad. We all formed a quick line and gave a salute.


    "Stand to...¡­.Now I want you all here today for a very simple mission, you all need to escort a messenger to the dragon palace in the duchies capital. You shouldn''t face any obstructions in this but if you do¡­.Kill all who get in your way."


    I was surprised at the effective kill order of anyone who questions us. It couldn''t help but make me think of what kind of message we were going to be effectively escorting. "Sir, it would be easier for us if the messenger wasn''t there. So, ummm, why not just give us the message directly?" I asked the commander.


    He looked at me for a moment. "Dismissed, you have your orders, be ready to leave at first light tomorrow."

 19 The First Mission

    We all went back to the barracks and went to sleep early. To try and sleep well at least before we set out. The next day I had a quick wash trying to wake myself up as it was dark outside. Then I made sure all of the others were up. I just put on some cheaper clothes though as although the expensive clothes are nice and comfy the armour which I will have on will ruin them. We all then made the walk to the amoury, where we would get all of our equipment for the mission coming up.


    After arriving at the armoury we found it locked up. "Damm it, where are they? It should be unlocked for us." I was mumbling as we walked trying to find the master of weapons, who was in charge of the amoury. After searching for a while I decided to look in the room he was staying in. I banged my fist on his door for a minute, until I heard footsteps coming from the other side. With a creak the door opened.


    A fat man who reminded me of the adjendunt appeared on the other side of the door. "Who is bashing on my door at this early hour? I will have you flogged!" He was pissed probably due to being woken up from sleep, at least, that''s what I thought, until I saw a woman appear with barely any clothes on. I saw Usha''s hand clench seeing that. I gave a quick salute as he was my superior, then explained the situation. "Hmmm, how strange my brother never mentioned this? Sigh, ruining my peaceful night it seems¡­.Just give me a second sergeant."


    He then went back into his room. I heard swearing at the noise of crashing of objects. Then the man came out stroking the scantily dressed woman''s ass. He gave a lewd smile as he left. It didn''t take long for us to reach the armoury. He opened up the door and let us in showing us all of the armor types and different weapons.


    We all went into the area where the first class units equipment is stored. First, I grabbed some leather armor with fur on the inside, so that when I am moving the armor doesn''t cause me to have any rashes or blisters. Once that was all tight, I put on some chainmail, then light plate armor, so my vital points were all covered. Then I attached a belt which had a sword sheath build into it, on so my sword could be with me. Then I grabbed that sword and also got a spear and a shield. However, as a tier one, all of these have runic enchantment''s such as durability, sharpness, weight(Lesser) also a strengthening enchantment as well. This just makes us that bit more effective in battle.


    After we all had all of our gear on, I made sure we all had packs on our backs with essential medical supplies, rope and some basic camping equipment. Then we moved over to the food stores getting some basic rations packed away before heading over to where we were going to be meeting the messenger.


    We were not waiting for long as the messenger arrived on a horse. He didn''t look that interesting. He was just average in all aspects. The only thing that made him stand out was the fact that he was riding a horse which not many people were able to do in this area apart from officers and knights. So this would make us all stand out more from anyone else which made me frown. "You don''t think you couldn''t ride a horse, it would draw attention to us."


    All I got was a "hmph!" In response, ''guess not then'' I thought to myself. We then began to head down to the gate. The messenger was in the middle, with me in front, Gram behind and the others on both sides. This way the messenger will be totally surrounded by us, giving him the highest amount of protection on all sides.


    After we finally got out of the fort, we began to pick up the pass a bit. After all, the message seemed to be fairly important. The messenger wanted to go via the most direct route to the city which made sense. This meant we would be able to follow a road all the way there. The most likely chance of us getting attacked would be when we crossed through the woods. The rest of the journey would be mainly in open terrain.


    The first day of traveling was fairly uneventful. The squad just talked among ourselves as we walked. The messenger seemed to be fine with that. He just rode on in the middle of us silently. Though he spoke as it was getting nearer to nightfall. "Say, why don''t we stop up here and make camp sergeant?"


    I looked at him quickly before carrying on to scan the area. "I don''t think so, we will keep on going until we are nearer to the river that is up ahead. This way we have fresh water and it means we won''t have to watch one direction at night." He shut up again after my reply. After around another hour of traveling we made it to where I wanted to set up camp.


    We unpacked the tents for ourselves while usha went to find some fire wood so that we could start a small fire. It didn''t take us long at all to get all of our sleeping arrangements sorted out. When Usha came back, we assembled the wood in the centre of the camp for the fire. Going up to it I lit some kindling with a match. Then used that to get the fire going slowly adding bigger and bigger pieces of wood. Then I let it go down to embers so that we could cook on it without burning all of our food.


    Then we cooked a little of the salted meat and ate it alongside some bread for our dinner. I had just finished arranging the night watch when the messenger who I now know was named Anubis, an odd name, an old name. "So which tent am I sleeping in?" I looked at him and laughed. I just pointed to the floor. "I''m sleeping on the floor!"


    "Of course you are if you didn''t bring anything that is your fault." I then went to bed myself. Throughout the night I heard lots of moans and grumbling. It made me smile a bit that he was suffering. In the morning we had a quick meal then set off. Anubis looked so tired, under his eyes were black circles.


    A few hours later we neared the forest. Before we entered I made sure everyone stopped and was ready for an ambush if one took place. We all tightened our packs and held our spears that bit tighter. They looked nervous. "We are the nine and Usha, this is not worse than demons, so we will be fine, don''t worry yourselves."


    Then we entered the forest. It was dark and thick, the leaves of the trees blocked out most of the sun. It wasn''t for this dragon I doubt we would be able to see I thought to myself. Only after we had entered. A yell could be heard from the forest.

 20 Assassins

    Following that around five people came rushing out of one side. They were in greens and browns and all holding bows. "Stand down everyone, they are just hunters." The hunters ran past us into the other side of the woods. They didn''t even glance at us. We all relaxed a bit and moved off again, following the path through the woods.


    The path itself was not well maintained. It was muddy for us on foot, hard to trek through at times. Even the horse got nearly stuck at one point. When it did, the messenger Anubis, was nearly thrown off straight into the mud. Which would have been funny, seeing him get soaked in mud as he had been a snoob the whole journey so far. I let out as a sigh as it seems we will have to be spending the night in the woods. "Everyone keep an eye out for a place we can make camp. We need to get it set up before night falls and it becomes completely dark."


    We trekked for about another hour before seeing a small clearing up ahead. We all moved into the clearing. It wasn''t that big, just big enough for a few tents and a fire. We all got quickly to work, including Anubis. His horse was tied up, people went to gather wood for a fire and set up some small snares. The rest got the tents set up. We were all vigilant, making sure that there was no one that could approach us from the forest, without any warning.


    Once everything was set the fire was going. I made a small spit and some rabbits had been caught. They were skinned and gutted, we left them hanging for a little bit as well so that any blood ran out of them. Once all of this was done the rabbits were attached to the spit and we slowly cooked them. As they cooked we all sat around the fire, talking to each other. Anubis who don''t speak that much to us for obvious reasons, spoke up. "So ummmm, I know I have been a twat, and well I ummm, i just wanted to say sorry for that, I have been rude and horrible to the people protecting me, I don''t deserve people such as yourselves to protect me."


    I stared at him surprised, he had actually apologized. It was odd, an arrogant and rude person had apologised. All I could think was that the nights outside had changed his mind a little on how he thought he should act. I shrugged my shoulders passing him a bit of the rabbit meat that had just finished cooking. "Thank you Adoh, I really am sorry though."


    "Why don''t you sleep in a tent tonight, I will just stay out here and keep watch for a while." He looked at me surprised. I don''t think he expected me to be so nice to him so quickly. Not long after that everyone else went to bed just leaving me up. I sat down and placed my sword in its sheath on my lap. Then lent back just staring at the fire seeing images in the flames while I listen for anyone approaching us.


    Probably around three hours after they all had gone to sleep, I heard the crack of a branch being broken. My eyes darted to where the noise came from as I stood up, my sword in my hand drawn out of its sheath. Then there was another crack, then another. Whatever was coming and was getting closer. I picked up my sheath and chucked it at one of the tents waking up its occupants. "There is something coming, Get the others up and be ready," I whispered. They all got out but only had the leather armor on as there was not enough time to get all of our amour on.


    Everyone was up by now all of us with swords drawn except for Anubis who didn''t bring any weapons to my annoyance so he was using a dagger someone had leant. The fire had not completely gone out yet. So in our weapon we could see the fire reflected off of them. There were a couple of cracks sounding together. Then nothing. It was silent. I scanned the tree line trying to see a figure or hear anything to give away where whatever it was, was coming from.


    Then I saw something. A shadow near one of the trees. The little light that there was had somehow reflected off of the human looking figure''s eyes. Now that I had seen it, I wouldn''t take my eyes off of it. Then it disappeared. Then I heard a buzzing sound come from behind me. "Everyone get down," Anubis yelled out. Hearing him I hit the floor with a thud. Next to my face there was another thud. Looking over there was an arrow there sticking out of the ground. Then I heard the noise of people running towards us.


    "Everyone get up! They''re attacking and watch out for the archer!" I yelled out a few orders in quick concession. As I was I jumped to my feet and rushed towards the attackers with my sword in hand. They were dressed in black completely, all holding daggers in their hands. "Assassins," I muttered. There were only five of them though. Which wouldn''t be too bad.


    I used both of my hands to grip my sword so this way I would have more control over it and be able to put in more power behind it. I reached the first assassin fairly quickly. I started off with a stab to the throat followed by two slashes to both sides of his body. This was a basic combination attack I had been taught. But I had enhanced my arms with some mana allowing for me to be able to go quicker. All of my blows collected and with a load of blood being vomited out the assassin died.


    The over four assassins were engaged by the others. I headed off into the woods though to find the archer. It was dark. I couldn''t see that far in front of me at all so I was moving fairly slowly. Then I heard a crack behind me. I swung around with my sword slashing at the side as I did. But much to my surprise there was nothing there. Then I stabbed behind me hearing a crack. But only stabbed into the tree there. "Lig mo sh¨²ile a bheith l¨¢idir," I muttered, moving the mana I could to my eyes, enhancing my vision a bit.


    This allowed me to see more in the darkness, then I noticed a shadow on the floor. He was in the tree''s above me I realised. After working out which tree he was in. I tightened my grip on my sword and swung at the tree. This didn''t do much but moved it a little. Then with a bang he had fallen out of it. I pointed my sword and his throat. "Who do you work for!" I yelled out.


    All I could hear was "You were meant to be weak," in a muffled voice. Then he forced his head onto my sword killing himself. I wiped the blood of my sword on his clothes and walked back into the clearing. The other assassins were all dead. It seemed like they hadn''t put up much of a fight.


    We cleared the area, then checked their bodies for any valuables and information of who they were, which there were none. So we then buried them and broke camp.

 21 Arrogance

    After breaking camp, we carried on following the road. It wasn''t that bad in terms of the mud on the road any more, although it was still dark so we couldn''t go that quickly as we still had to watch our footing carefully. Not much happened, as it was dark there were not many animals about so it was silent except for the sound of our walking. No one said anything though.


    That was the first time we had killed someone. A real person. It feels different from the demons. I know it was life or death. But killing someone. He had a life. A family probably as well. My mind wandered down that route. What would happen to the family, probably into slavery due to the debt they would build up. Then my shoulder was slapped by Anubis. "Don''t go down that thought track Adoh, it is a ''spiral into madness''. All you need to think, is that it was life or death, you or him, if you didn''t kill him, you would be dead."


    His words seemed to snap me out of the spiral into madness as he put. As I looked ahead, I could see the tree''s thinning out, signaling the end of the forest itself. I let out a sigh of relief as there is little chance of us being attacked now.


    As we finally managed to get out of the forest, what greeted us was a sight which I really didn''t want to see. There were around a couple of hundred armoured soldiers. But they were not part of the army. By the looks of it they were a noble''s private guard. My squad and I quickly formed a line in front of Anubis, who had got off of his horse as soon as he saw what was ahead. In his hands was the bow of the dead archer from the assassin, he also had the arrows in a bag slung across his back and one of their knives held to him by his belt.


    I looked across our new opponents carefully, they were slowly getting into some kind of formation. But the speed they were doing it at meant two things. One they think that they could kill us easily no matter what we do or what I am hoping for, two they are useless and have not been trained so that means their combat ability will be crap giving us a chance to get out of here alive.


    Someone on a horse then came out of their ranks, coming towards us. Just by looking at his face I had already determined he was one of those arrogant nobles who were useless and had inherited everything they owned, thinking that they were better than others. After being about five meters in front of us he stopped. In the arrogant, self important tone I expected to have, "Ah, why don''t you hand over this messenger and we can all be on our way? Some money could be in it for you. If you hand him over?"


    I laughed. I know that it would remove all chances of a deal and could lead to our deaths. But does that really mean that we would abandon our orders at the sight of a couple hundred guards and a bag of gold. We had charged the same number of demons for God sake and this buffoon thought that we would give Anubis up. "Why don''t you get down from that high horse of yours and come down here and fight me for him. Or are you going to send your men in and cause some to die, hiding behind them. You are a disgrace to your family."


    His men behind him, started looking side to side and whispering among themselves. I smiled at his reaction, it seems like my second guess was right, they are untrained and also not that loyal it seems. The noble looked back at his men. Seeing that no one was moving to help him even after he had indicated to attack, he got off his horse. Off of his horse he took out a sword. I walked towards him, "To first blood, right? I can''t kill a noble, it would get me in a lot of trouble." All he did was nod and grip his sword.


    We were standing facing each other in the middle of our two parties. Him holding his longsword I guessed. I had a sword in my right hand and my shield in my left. He started by stabbing me. It was so clumsy, it was wobbling as his strike came in, like he couldn''t bear the sword''s weight. I gave a simple parry with my shield. Blocking his attack with very little effort as I expected. Then with my sword he gave his arm a little cut causing him to bleed.


    With the cut I gave him, he fell back screaming in pain. I froze for a second. I hadn''t cut him hard I thought. I looked down at his arm seeing what I thought I did. "So we will be on our way then, as I won." I went back and grabbed my spear, heading off with the others. The nobles guards opened a path through them. We walked through it, watching them all carefully for any kind of movement. Then just as we were about to get through them all the nobles voice rang out. "Kill them, he cut me, kill them all!"


    "Shit!" I used my spear effectively as I could killing the only guards left in the way. Running off on the road towards the city, which now wasn''t that far away. Right behind me and the others were the noble''s guards, who had built up some couarde and seemed to be up for a fight at long last. We were running and running for around twenty minutes, it seemed like the guards were not going to be giving up so easily. "Anubis, ride ahead, get to the city, we will slow them down. Looking at my chest, I pulled the medallion off my neck. Use this, get us help!" I slapped the horse''s ass sending it off. "Hurry up!" I yell.


    Then with the others formed a circle formation. Once all of our shields were locked and spears pointing out. The guards hit us. It was a mighty bang. A few of them ended up impaling themselves on the spears that were pointing out towards them. The rest began to move around us. Trapping us in. I was surprised our formation didn''t break due to the sheer amount of them. Then they were pushing in so close, I gave the order to drop spears and we all drew our swords.


    None of us moved that much, only an occasional bash with the shield and a quick stab. Most of the fight was them pushing at us with their weight trying to make a gap. Some tried to use their weapons but they were all too big for a fight like this. Then I heard that annoying noble voice again, "Trapped are we now. You will all die here, for hitting this noble personage."


    "Damm, I wish I killed that twat now." The others just smiled and carried on the simple tactic we were using. "Hold on guys, help will arrive soon." The next part I didn''t say out loud.


    I hope.

 22 A Desire For Strength

    The battle continued, not much had happened still, they were unorganised and failing to make any headway and we were slowly getting more and more tired. Their bodies were also beginning to pile up as well. Although it had taken a long time. "Damm, where is Anubis? He should be here by now," I muttered.


    Almost like magic, a new commanding voice was heard. " In the name of the Duke, stop all fighting, if not you will die." We all got distracted a bit and that moment allowed one of our attackers to hit Swain in the shoulder. He screamed out in pain, as the blow dug into his arm.


    Hearing his scream, I had looked over. Seeing what had happened, there was a feeling of rage building up in my body. ''I am weak.'' is all I could think, first it was when I was getting robbed, then it was the battle with the demons and now this. In that moment I made up my mind. ''I must get stronger to stop my comrades from dying and being put into bad battles all the time.


    I heard an order to charge from the voice. Whether it was including us, I didn''t know. So I made sure we all held the formation and stopped all attacks for now. "Can you still hold Swain?" I was worried, if they continued to attack him and he collapsed. We could all die. All I got was a grunt in response, showing that he would hold.


    The thundering of hooves and boots could be heard. The guards that I could see, were slowly beginning to drift and run away from the battle, not wanting to be killed. Once the last of them had run off, I could see Anubis with the man who had led some troops to save us. Before going to them, I made sure that Swain''s arm was treated and had some temporary bandage on, so that the wound would not be infected.


    Then I led everyone over to Anubis and his new friend. As I arrived the medallion was thrown back at me. The man looked at me for a second before saying in a much more gentle voice, "This is an odd medallion, I won''t ask where you got it from but it is very odd. It has three requests instead of one. Use the two remaining requests carefully. There may still be a much worse reason that you will need to use it."


    Then he left us, making sure the men he had brought with him were organised. It seemed like that had caught the noble as well. I couldn''t hear what was said but the noble lost his head for whatever it was. I was surprised to put it mildly. A noble was just flat out executed. Then after that we began to head to the city. I wanted to get swain''s arm looked at as quickly as possible. As long as we were quick some healing magic could be used hopefully.


    We arrived at long last at the capital of the duchy. On the city gate was the name Wyverngate which is the name of the city. The walls were white and the city itself seemed much brighter than the other city I had been to. It also seemed more busy as well. Though the city was dwarfed by the colossal keep that overlooked it. The home of the Duke.


    We had to go to the military building which was near the keep, so that the message would be delivered successfully, according to the mission. We got a few looks as we walked through the city. We were smelling of blood and Swain being hurt as well, got us just as many if not more looks. Though as we were in uniform of the army, nobody stopped us from going on our way. In fact more people got out of our way than in it making our time moving through the streets easier.


    With most people getting out of our way we passed through the gates into the inner city where the administration buildings and other more important buildings were located. I had the others take Swain to the hospital to make sure his shoulder gets looked at. While me and Anubis carried on walking to the military building.


    "You should have seen the commanders face, Adoh. It was brilliant. He was so surprised when I showed him the medallion. He was staring and kept looking at me and the medallion. It was like, he had seen a ghost. When he had finally got off his state, the first thing he asked me was if this was real. Once he had confirmed it was real, he then finally asked me what I needed him to do. Though once I had said it the rubies on the medallion lit up, then it made an odd noise before shaking a little, then it turned back to normal. The commander''s face was after that, well perfect."


    Listening to the story of Anubis using the medallion made me laugh so much, I nearly doubled over at one point as he described the facial expressions of the commander. Admist my laughing and his talking we had finally reached the military building. It was nearly identical to the one where I had enlisted into the army but this one was only bigger, much, much bigger.


    As we walked in, I stopped laughing and Anubis stopped telling his story. The atmosphere inside was, ummmm, the best way to put it would be to say tense, extremely tense. Anubis as he had been here before led us to the place we had to go. Though this was only after we had undergone a few security checks. Me having blood on me, raised some eyebrows for some reason.


    It didn''t take us long to reach the place where we had to go. "Adoh, could you wait outside please? This will be easier and quicker, if I go in alone." I nodded in acknowledgement and just standing around outside. My thoughts ended up drifting to Sam. I was wondering where she had gone, what was she doing. My hands unconsciously drifted to where I was keeping it. Then as my thoughts were about to get deeper, the door opened and Anubis walked out with a smile. "It''s all done Adoh, you and your squad get a day rest here, then you must leave back to the fort immediately after that. There is some trouble at the border apparently."


    I left him there, heading to the infirmary, going to find the others. As I was walking I smiled to myself, getting a sense of deja vu. It was just like at the fortress, going back to the infirmary trying to find them. This time however, I ran into them on the way there. It seemed like they had used some healing magic on Swain''s shoulder. I told them what I had been told. They were happy at the rest we would be getting but when I got on to the trouble at the border, they frowned. "Looks like we will be back fighting demons, huh, Adoh?" At the mention of what was to come Swain looked particularly unhappy. I guess he hadn''t got over our last encounter with them yet.


    To lighten the mood, "All drinks are on me tonight." That made their smiles come back but I knew what was behind them, a fear, a fear of demons. I still had fears of that battle, no massacre, so they probably did too.

 23 The Demon War

    After our day break we set off, heading back to the fort. We were going as quickly as we could. All they had told us officially was that there was trouble but I heard rumours of something much worse. The second demon war has begun.


    We were moving much faster back on the route we had come. Obviously this was after the right preparations, we had made sure to restock on supplies and other essentials that were needed. Every step that we took on our journey was sure, not one word was spoken. We only stopped for food and rest, this was so that we could cut down on our travel time.


    Around a day away from the fort we ran into some soldiers, who were running towards us. They were all looking scared. Most important of all, I didn''t see anyone of a rank above me there. "Halt!" I yelled at the soldiers as they were running towards me. To my surprise they all did. "I am Sergeant Adoh, where the hell are you all going?"


    One of them came forward, looking at him he was a sergeant as well but his rank markings were in silver not gold which would be what mine where if I had them yet. "Say, why don''t you get out of our way and let us leave, then act like you never saw us." I shoved my spear through his blabbering mouth not giving him any chance to react. It looked like he was trying to suck it.


    "Deserters will be killed, as will traitors. I am Sergeant Adoh, a tier one legionary. You all look like tier two, so therefore as the highest ranking member here, I am taking command." There were only a few people who did not agree with what I had said. They were killed off quickly, to stop their beliefs from spreading.


    After reorganising all them into squads and a few companies, it had turned out that there were three hundred and thirty seven of them. I made the rest of my squad into the temporary company commanders and we all began to head out in the direction of the fort. We were travelling at a much slower pace now, this was due to the fact that our numbers had increased and it was also due to the fact the numbers which we had gained didn''t want to go in this direction at all.


    A day later we arrived outside the fort. It was under siege. It was surrounded by demons. I gave the order to stop and hide. We did not need an army of demons charging towards us at all. I was trying to find an opening where we could charge in or a commander we could kill to try and cause a mass riot like in the stories. But to my disappointment, I could see nothing at all. "Give the order to make camp, but no fires." This was said to no one in particular


    "Yes sir," a man near me replied and then raced off to carry out my orders. I was happy for the discipline the army had again, most of them obeyed my orders without complaint. Those who did, well were executed. My actions would be considered tyrannical by some, but this was war, not peace. Victory is everything here and more so discipline and order. I let out a soft sigh as I gazed at the fort. At least it seemed like the gate was still holding.


    The others in my squad came up behind me and looked at the fort as well. "Damm, no way we can break through that, plus this lot will run if the order to attack was given." We all murmed in agreement. Sighing again, I looked at them.


    "We will stay here for now. If there is a chance we take it, even if it is only us. Its a few more than we charged last time though," Usha looked confused but the others got my stupid joke and smiled a bit. "I will take the first watch, all of you go get some rest." After they heard my orders, they all left to do whatever they had to do. ''Who knew commanding was so hard?'' I thought to myself. ''All of their lives could be lost at one decision,'' I sighed again before carrying to watch the siege.


    The next few days not much had happened. Me and the other nine tried to raise the morale so if we attacked they wouldn''t all refuse to attack with us. The siege itself was the same as before. Any attack the demons made were stopped by the defenders and repulsed with lots of losses to the demons side I hoped.


    On this day something different happened. I heard a horn sound out from the fort. I rushed to the spot where I could see what was going on. The gate of the fort was opening and they were charging out. I was surprised for a moment. "Every one, prepare for battle." My yell seemed to freeze other people as well. It took another yell from me to snap them out of it and gather themselves so that we could get ready to move.


    Once they were all gathered. I stood in front of them. "Those of you who will not wish to join us in an attack, step back now." Adding on to the list of surprises that had been happening today, not one of them stepped back, in fact they all stepped forward. "It seems that, ummmm, you all will join me. Form assault formation." My words caused them to form a simple yet effective formation, the assault formation or known to others as the wedge formation.


    I moved them up to the spot where they could wait unnoticed but at the same time attack swiftly. Then we waited. Then we waited some more, then some more. I was waiting for the troops from the city to get close enough that we could reach and help them without getting cut apart before we reached them. Then after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, I got everyone to move out of our hiding place.


    The troops breaking out saw us, they began to break out in our direction. "Battalion, prepare to attack." My orders sent a slight ripple through the ranks but not one routed, they stayed firm. Around me, my squad appeared and took formation on either side of me. We formed the point of the formation.


    "Charge."

 24 Greater Demon

    We charged at the demons, head on. It was crazy, just like the time before(earlier) but that time, we charged to die, not like this time. This time we were charging to save our own. Though in actual fact we were not charging. "Shield wall!" It took them a few seconds, they did react in the end though and stopped their charge to form a shield wall. Though it wasn''t as strong as it could be, we were lacking numbers after all.


    The sound of metal rubbing against each was heard as well as scratching noise. They were trying to get in as tight as possible it seems, though that does make sense because we are meant to be recovering a charge. "Don''t get packed in. On my command, retreat!" All I could do was yell, so that I could be heard over the roars as well as the heavy footsteps of our troops and the demons charging towards us.


    As the first of our troops got past us, "Retreat!" They didn''t need to be told twice. The second I yelled out the order, they turned and ran. I mean, not many are crazy enough to charge at demons. Talking about the demons, they were right on our tails. A quick glance behind me, told me all I needed to know about what was going on. The reason why it was taking the demons so long was that, every time they reached another fleeing unit, they would stop, turn around and try to slow the demons down; giving the rest, a greater chance to escape.


    Turning around, I focused on running so that I could escape or at least get to the top of the ridge. Getting to the top of the ridge, I looked back again, it was different. It was the same last battle. I could see Jax''s body, Leo''s and so many others. Then I felt something warm, was it my blood? How could I feel that though? Then my vision changed back to normal but this time it seemed like everything was clearer, though there was one feeling: the feeling to kill. Shaking my head, to try and shake it off, I focused again. Seeing the last of the fleeing troops stop, turn and fight, I looked away.


    Gathering up the people around me, we headed back the way we had come from. There was nothing we could do for the others. Not with a force of demons that big anyway. I didn''t bother to try and count how many were around me. There were clearly way too many troops to try and count. All in different uniforms, from heavy to light and different ranks could be seen all over as well.


    Everyone just had one thought and intention it seemed,that is, to get as far away from here and the demons as possible. We didn''t stop moving until nightfall. As we moved, my squad which got separated from me in the retreat managed to find me or I found them. "So what do you all think happened to the legionaries we brought back here?"


    As if my words could summon things from the void, a voice yelled out, "There over here!" Out of the darkness, they appeared, every last one of them. Forming a neat formation, "All counted for and reporting, Sergeant!" On sergeant they all gave me a salute. Each one came up to me, in twos or threes and some alone. "Thank you for making us back, if it wasn''t for you we wouldn''t be getting called brave or thanked by the other troops." They all said. ''Not that we really did much, we just moved forwards giving them a point to run to, plus most of you would have ran anyway.'' Ignoring my thoughts, I smiled and made sure each one was alright before speaking to the next.


    It took forever. By the time I had finished talking to the last one, it must have been the middle of the night at least. I tried to get to sleep, as my eyes were slowly closing a scream woke me and others around up. Someone near me said, "That sounds close, way to close for comfort." Then more screams could be heard all over the place.


    Looking around, I got my equipment and headed off to the direction where there were no screams. Following me was my squad and the other people around us, including the second tier unit. As I walked, all I could hear after a while was the sounds of walking and breathing. There was also the sound of a heavy snort in front of me.


    ''Wait, in front of me.''


    I looked into the darkness trying to see anything. "Anyone got a torch back there?" Someone comes up behind me with an unlit torch. After all, if it was lit, the demons, which I assume were causing the screams, will catch us.


    Taking the torch off him, I light and then throw it in front of me. "Shit." In front of us were ten demons but their weapons were all crafted properly, which made them into greater demons. I tried to get her to go back but I heard something even worse from the back. They could hear the screams getting closer and whatever it was, was also speeding up. Looking to the sides, I thought about running that way.


    As I was thinking what to do, the demons looked at us. A lot of situations went through my head very quickly, all ended in failure. Someone had to stop them at least for a second and for the others to escape they would have to run off into the sides of the woods, to try and escape. But the thing is, I would have to fight them and the rest of my squad, this was due to as far as I knew we were the only tier one troops here, the rest seemed to be lower. "If you are tier one get to the front!" A shout from me only proved my guess, no one came forward except my squad.


    I made sure my orders were being passed down, though what had surprised me was that the demons hadn''t made a move yet even though they had clearly noticed us. I took off what excess equipment I had. This was so I was left in my armour and had my shield and weapons. "Remember we are only slowing them down, go defensive, unless you see a kill hit and you can definitely kill, don''t attack."


    Then we moved forward towards them, as we did the other people behind us ran to the sides. The demons finally moved and it was towards us like I hoped. Though there was one thing which I didn''t expect. The moment I stopped one of their blows with my shield, I nearly collapsed.


    "Don''t let them hit you!" I yell out. I get grunts or yells in response.


    "Acla¨ªocht a mh¨¦ad¨²," I feel the mana begin to gather towards me, reinforcing my legs and muscles a little bit allowing me to have increased agility. It was just in time as I was just able to roll away as the next blow came crashing down. I thought I saw an opening in that moment and stabbed out with the spear. To my anguish, it stopped the spear in its tracks by catching it. Abandoning the spear I move away drawing my sword.

 25 Ranger

    Assessing the situation with my sword is hard, it doesn''t take me that long at all to realise that it is all going wrong and quickly. The greater demons are way stronger than I thought, we were being overwhelmed and quickly. `We need to get out of here before we are all killed. The others must have got far enough by now. If I use some mana, go on a full attack, I could hold them for a few seconds to allow the others to get away.''


    "When I say, all of you get back!"..."feabhas a chur ar an gcorp," This was the most demanding spell I had ever tried to use, I felt the mana which I was channeling, go all around my body and enhance everything. The feeling was amazing, I felt so strong but it seemed like I would only be able to hold it for a few minutes at most.


    "Get back, now!" At my words the others got back and ran off into the woods. ''I hope this works,'' I felt like I was flying as I moved to the demons much quicker compared to before. With a couple of flurries of my sword and attacked in rapid succession, hoping that if I could keep them on the defensive they can''t attack me.


    Feeling I had only around a minute, before I ran out of control of the mana. I turned and well ran. As I did I slowly began to stop enhancing my body, stopping enhancing my agility and dexterity last. I didn''t bother to look back, I just ran and ran. All I could think now was if I stopped I could be caught by the demons, now that I am tired from the last fight and slightly injured from stopping the initial blow I blocked, I would be probably killed.


    ''I wonder what happened to the knights and the general, they must still be in the fort. I just hope none of the others were killed..''


    A hand came over my mouth and my legs were taking out almost simultaneously. I reached for the dagger that I had but my hands were suddenly held as well. "Stop moving too much, we are not your enemy." The voice was soft but raspy as well. Whoever it was, let go of me, getting to my feet quickly, I looked around but couldn''t see anyone.


    "We are behind you." I turned around and stepped back, tripping up as I did. From the floor, I was able to see who had basically floored me. It was a group of people, ten of them. In what looked like black clothing. They reminded me a bit of the person I saw in the infirmary before, the man in full black, I couldn''t see his face if I remember rightly.


    "Who are you?" As I say this, I get to my feet again. I also draw the dagger and get in a combat position if they change their mind and attack me.


    "We are rangers sergeant. Now relax and tell us what the hell is going on in these woods!"After hearing that they are rangers I relaxed but didn''t put my dagger away.


    ''So these are rangers, huh. The soldiers who go beyond the black border and keep watch for demons and kill them. The group nicknamed the blood ravens. The hunters or assassins as some call them, but how can they not know what is going on.''


    "You don''t know what happened?" I gave them a face filled with confusion.


    "You think we would ask if we knew. What do you take us for, those dumb skull knights?"


    "If you really don''t know...the black fort was under siege by a horde of demons, a lot of the people here broke out and are running from the fort, but it seems the demons followed us into the woods and now well, you can guess what''s happening." As if to prove my point a scream rang out at that moment.


    The rangers then ignored me, forming a slight circle, they began to discuss what to do. After a while, it seemed like they had come to a discussion on what to do. "Ummm, can I go now then or do you want me to go with you?"


    They all looked at me again, as if to say, you are still here. After coming out of their stupor, one glanced at another before speaking. "You look like you can use a sword or at least a dagger as you seem to know the basic teaching of not dropping it. I have known enough tier one troops been killed for thinking themselves safe. Come with us for now. Just be quiet and get rid of most of that heavy armour. It is useless for you now."


    I did as the ranger who was speaking to me said. I removed all of the metal armour I had on, just leaving me in the leather that was underneath it. Then I grabbed my sword and put the dagger in its sheath. Making sure I was done, the rangers walked off. Without a word, I followed them.


    Crack!


    "Damm, watch where you are walking! You want to bring the demons to us!" I was yelled at by a few of them, only for stepping on a stick causing it to break.


    ''Why don''t you shut up, your voice probably brings them closer to us than me stepping on a stick.'' I didn''t say it out loud though. If I did, it would end in me being yelled at more, or more likely being abandoned here. Wherever here is.


    We were walking in silence after that. I got used to avoiding the sticks on the floor after a while as well. The one thing that confused me though, is the fact that we were going away from the fort but not to the city, in fact it was just to the mountains.


    ''They may not be rangers, they could be mountain bandits or something. Look at what they are wearing! How could that even be called a uniform?''


    By the time we had gotten near to the mountains, the sun had risen. They led me into a small cave which very quickly ended and opened up into a mountain path. Following it up, all I could see was the grey, jagged mountains in front, to my sides. The path itself seemed like a track used by goats as they climbed on the mountains.


    It then opened up onto a small plateau with a cave entrance on it. "May the dragons rain." The one who seemed to be the leader of the supposed rangers spoke to the cave.


    Out of it came a voice, "And may they rain down fire. There should only be ten of you, who is the other person?"


    The ranger seemed to think for a bit as I guess he had realized that he didn''t know my name. Looking at me, "Go on then, tell him who you are."


    Looking at the cave which I felt was odd, so I tried to find the person speaking in it. "I am sergeant Adoh, a tier one soldier. No unit as of yet."


    "Ah, you are one of the nine. I have heard of you. Welcome to ranger outpost nine."

 26 Ranger Outpost Nine

    I was led into the cave, inside it was much more spacious than I thought. After the initial entry point which was narrow, it opened up into a massive cavern, which had five pathways leading off of it.


    The cavern seemed to have its form of a natural chimney or something like it. This was due to the fire in the centre, letting off a lot of smoke, that smoke seemed to all go to one point on the top of the cavern. Apart from the fire, there were a lot of chairs and tables scattered around, as well as a place to cook food it seemed. Though by the spit over the fire, it looked like they would eat hunted animals more often than not.


    I was looking down each of the pathways, the entrance to each was slightly different though. One had nothing over it, another had a dagger in a black sheath, the next an image of a black raven, there was also one with a red raven and the last was an eye. A voice took me out of my curistoy. It was the voice of the person who I was talking to in the cave earlier.


    "Here, have a drink. It''s good stuff."


    Taking the cup from the man''s hand, I looked up at him. Unlike the others I could see walking around, what he wore was completely different to the others. He had the full black clothing like I had seen before. However, he had a dragon''s face on his shoulder, it was like a badge but I didn''t recognise it at all.


    Smelling the drink before taking a sip, I got a sweet aroma. Thinking it was going to be really sweet, I took a sip. After I had, the man couldn''t help but laugh at my face. ''This tastes like the smell of shit, what did they put in this?''


    I spat out the little I had drunk, putting the cup down on the nearest table to me. I put it down so hard, the drink in it sloshed around and spilled onto the table a little a bit.


    "What the hell is that?"


    After a few minutes, the man had finally calmed down from his laughter. That is the innards of a goat and the paste from urine and excrement mixed together, then some cheap beer, all mixed together and then enough herbs to make it smell nice. It''s what we call the dragon''s breath. It makes any person who drinks more awake.


    ''More like dragons shit, though I get why he gave it to me. Especially considering it seems like they have no idea what is happening at the fort or in the woods. I wonder if any of the others got out. Damm, I should have asked the rangers back in the woods if they could have helped me.''


    The man sat down next to me, on a chair he had pulled over. "So I want you to tell me what has exactly happened over the past few days and include your mission in it. I know you left escorting a messenger."


    I told him everything I knew, from start to finish, though the occasional question from the man, allowed me to talk about some details that I had missed. Once I had finished, he didn''t say anything for a few moments, as if he was thinking over what I had said.


    ''He must be important around here or really disliked. Everyone who has come in or left all have stayed well away from us. Though they all keep on looking at me with some form of curistoy and some have a hostile look in their eyes, I haven''t done anything. Sigh, guess you meet good and bad people everywhere.''


    "Ok, I have heard enough of what is going on. We won''t be able to do much to affect the situation now. So might as well stay here for the time being."


    He then got up and went over to what looked like a kind of altar which I hadn''t noticed before. On the altar was a small statue of a raven, he touched it then left it for a second. After doing a few movements and muttering something it lit up, then went to how it was before.


    "Sir ranger, can I go and find some survivors and bring them back or send some rangers to do it maybe."


    One of them who was listening in, snorted. "You think you can order us around, you ungrateful bastard, if it wasn''t for us you would probably be dead."


    Looking at the man who had yelled at me. I felt anger rush into me at that point. "You piece of trash, I fought against ten greater demons alone, even if it was for only a few minutes. Aside from that before your ranger friends basically kidnapped me, I was doing perfectly fine."


    He shut up after that. Looking next to me, the ranger who was speaking to me had at some point moved next me. I felt my hairs on the back of my neck rise up, I hadn''t even noticed him move.


    ''If he wanted to kill me, I would be dead by now. He must be an assassin of some kind.''


    "Adoh, listen to me. I can''t stop you from leaving if that is your choice but you can''t come back here. This place is a secret. No one except the rangers know of its existence. Not only that, if you left and happened to run into people, where would you go? The demons have long since filled that forest now. You would be lucky to even meet someone alive, let alone finding a dead body. But as I said, it is your choice."


    ''Damm, what do I do? If I go, it seems like I will be killed and die by the demon''s hands. If I stay, I may be safe but some people here probably would not hesitate to kill me in my sleep.''


    Making up my mind, "I would rather stay here, it is safer."


    ''I may be crazy sometimes, but I am not running into a forest of demons. That is a death sentence. I doubt anyone could survive that.''


    The man had a small smile at my decision. "Well then, we will need to find you somewhere to sleep. Also my name is Erebus kid. Just call me sir though. I liked the sound of that. Dubh takes the kid into the rookie room and finds him a place to sleep."


    Dubh it seemed was the one who I had a small argument with earlier. He then got up and me into the pathway with nothing over it. It was a small walk, we ended up into a smaller cavern.


    "Find your own place to sleep. I don''t want to deal with people like you. Golden eye bastards who think that they are better than the rest of us. You descendants have it all good, when we are all left dying in the dirt. If I were you, I would be careful in the night, let me tell you, your eyes won''t help you then."


    "I''m not one of the¡­"


    "Did I ask for you to reply to me?"


    He then left, walking back the way we had come.

 27 Erebus

    After Dubh had left, I looked around at where he had left me. It seemed like the recruits didn''t get much. Also it seemed like there weren''t many. Looking around, I had only found twenty beds, ten of those were occupied. It looked like there was only one trainee squad here at the moment. I would have said it was odd, but I don''t know much about the rangers, to be honest, unless you were or are a ranger, I doubt, you would know much about them.


    It took me a while but I finally decided on the bed I would sleep in. It was the most hidden and out of the way of all of the beds,. iIt also wasn''t near any of the other occupied beds as well.


    I took off the leather armour that I had left on as well as the sword. Took the dagger out of its sheath and placed it under the pillow. This was in case Dubh did come in the middle of the night as he threatened. Then after getting into the bed, I quickly fell asleep, all of the previous days fatigue and exhaustion finally catching up to me.


    As it turned out, it wasn''t Dubh who came in the middle of the night, but Erebus. "Adoh, get up. That''s not much to do here for you, but if you are here you can be useful."


    Slowly waking up by the shaking on my shoulder, I first thought that it was Dubh. So along that line of thought, my hand went to grab the dagger under the pillow. I found nothing.


    "Oh, looking for this." He held the knife in front of me. "It is an odd trait to keep weapons on you while sleeping, especially when you are friendly. Even more so for someone as new to the army as you."


    It was at that point, I worked out it was in fact not Dubh but it was Erebus. ''If I got my dagger and attacked and hurt him. Lucky I didn''t. If I did the consequence of attacking a superior is death''


    Thinking about the punishment, a cold sweat formed on the back of my neck. Seeing me begin to sweat, Erebus looked at me oddly. Then looking down he saw the dagger in his hand.


    "You think you could have even made a scratch on me. Now that is funny. Kid come with me. I will show you why."


    He took me out and onto the plateau outside of the cave. I was able to get my armour back on though and I got my dagger back. Just before I left, I went back and grabbed my sword, nearly forgetting it.


    Seeing me run back to grab my sword., Erebus just had a look of disbelief. I heard him muttering, "How can he forget his sword, especially after showing the intelligence of sleeping with his dagger."


    On the plateau, it was just us. I had my sword drawn and he had nothing. "So you don''t want to get a weapon or anything. You could get hurt."


    "Kid, you are about two hundered years early and missing a dragon if you think you can hurt me. Now come."


    I ran straight at him, with the intention of not allowing anytime to get into any position or cast any magic. As expected I arrived before him extremely quickly. I started with a stab, which he dodged, then followed with a slash at his torso and head. Both of those he dodged. After my third attack, he retaliated, this was with a normal looking punch to my chest.


    My whole body and every sense I had, if I knew they existed or not screamed one thing. Dangerous. I jumped back, to get out of his range which would be limited, considering he had no weapon.


    "It seems your reflexes and senses are at least good kid, though try harder, I am unarmed after all."


    ''Damm, if all of his attacks make me feel such a sense of danger. How will I be able to stay in close quarters long enough to land a hit. Unless I don''t stay in for long.''


    I quickly looked around trying to find anything that could help me in my fight. There was nothing, just the empty, flat plateau.


    ''If I go all out, I could maybe force him back and at least touch him.''


    "comhlacht a fheabhs¨²." I felt the familiar feeling of mana cover my body. Without any warning, I sprinted straight towards him. When I was about one metre away, I threw my sword at him. As I expected he was able to dodge the sword. Though by the time he had turned towards me again, I was right next to him with my dagger in hand.


    With my dagger in hand, I attacked his neck with a stab. It was the closted vital point I could attack, that the dagger would be effective against. It was going well, then a pressure fell on me that was so great that I fell to my knees. The dagger falling to the floor alongside me.


    The pressure felt so powerful, so dangerous, so bloodthirsty. My face and whole body was beginning to go white, I could also feel myself shaking as well. Then the pressure disappeared as if it was never there.


    "Well done kid, that move at the end was good. You managed to catch me by surprise, though with a spell like that¡­.Who taught you how to use mana?"


    ''You are asking me about mana. I should ask you about what kind of attack or power that pressure was. It was too strong¡­.too scary.''


    "Umm, well, I wasn''t taught how to use mana, just how to sense it and the basics about being able to use it to enhance my body and weapons."


    He looked at me for a second. "Hey kid, how much do you know about mana?"


    "Not that much sir." I had finally managed to get back to my feet at this point.


    "Come on, let''s sit down and I will tell you a bit."


    Going back into the cave, we found an empty couple of seats. Someone brought us both a drink and gave me a pat on the back. "You should be happy, new people, not many can get Erebus here to use his aura."


    ''So that is what it was. An aura. Though I heard that they were lost a long time ago.''


    I had many questions about Erebus now. It was obvious that he wasn''t in charge here but was treated with a lot of respect as well as that he was not part of the five ranger units I had been told of earlier.


    "Kid, I am going to keep this short and simple, ok?"


    I nodded for him to continue.


    "So basically mana is a type of energy that is present in the world and can be used in lots of ways. To name a few would be elemental magic, magic engineering and rune crafting, conjuration, spirit magic, necromancy and enhancement magic like you use. They are but a few. Some like elemental magic are about the use of certain elements, others are about the soul like spirit. Though enhancement magic is different. It is basically mages trying to use mana like Qi was once used."


    When he mentioned Qi, I was a bit confused, I remember Lance talking about it before but he never really said what it was. "Sir, what is Qi and the difference between it and mana."


    "You got there before me kid, let me finish first. So anyway mages have tried to use mana like Qi. They have had one problem though, the body of humans much like many other living things can''t absorb mana. So enhancement magic works outside your body, reinforcing parts of your body on the outside. Which I don''t understand how it all works but that''s the idea of it."


    "Umm, sir what about Qi, you didn''t answer my question." He gave me a look that I thought would be able to kill me.


    "Qi from what I know, is an energy like mana but it instead lives inside the body of humans and other living things. Would have been used I guess as a way to enforce the actions of the body. It would have been great for a warrior. It''s a shame the uses of it were lost."


    ''So thats what Qi is, it sounds like a wonderful energy as Erebus put it.''


    "Go get some food kid, you need it."

 28 Slayer Sword Style

    I went over to the fire, where some rangers were cooking a goat on the spit over the fire. It looked like it was nearly done.


    ''Why are we having a goat for breakfast though? It''s an odd breakfast''


    Seeing me come over, they cut a bit of the leg off, then put it onto a wooden plate and handed it to me. "Here kid, you will need it, get some meat on you. You won''t survive out there in the cold with how you are looking now. Have a drink as well, it will help your soul. Aura attacks are never nice." He then handed me a mug, filled up with some brown liquid, which must have been hot as it was steaming.


    Then I walked over to the table with Erebus, taking a sip of my drink.


    ''It''s bitter and hot but tastes really good. It does feel like I could relax while drinking this.''


    "Kid, they gave you some coffee huh. That''s expensive stuff. It had to be imported from the Traossa Empire."


    "The Traossa empire¡­.I don''t think I have heard of it, sir?"


    He looked at me for a second. "You are meant to be educated in stuff right. You got to know of the local kingdoms and borders. Please tell me you know that?"


    "I know we are in the Taerean Kingdom. There is the Ovraton kingdom in the east, Slaecia dynasty in the south and the Waidour kingdom, which is in the west, all border us. We, alongside some land beyond the black border to the north which we only border, make up the old southern province of the Draconic Imperium."


    "At least you know the basics then. You are right but the black border isn''t an exact border, it changes every year. The Traossa empire basically makes up the border of our three neighbouring nations. There are also some enclaves around here such as there being an Elven nation nearby, which we have historically fairly good relations with."


    ''Elves! I never knew that there were elves near us. I wonder what type of elves they are, there are so many that they could be.''


    "Anyway kid, that is the basic geography lesson of the region which we are in. We are lucky really. If it wasn''t for a lot of internal strife recently, the Traossa empire would have long conquered us and we would be under one of its many Arch Dukes."


    I took another sip of my drink, ignoring the meat. '' The coffee is so good. It tastes so bitter, yet it is so good.''


    "Kid, finish up your food. There is nothing else to do, so I will teach you how to use that sword of yours. The basic military sword art is useless, definitely against demons. I will teach you the Slayer sword art. As you can probably guess, it was made by the Slayer for one thing. To kill. Though I will teach you the black set, which is focused on dealing with demons."


    I finished eating the goat meat fairly quickly after that and drank the last of the coffee. Then going back out to the plateau, I found Erebus. Though, now there were others out here, doing their own practise of various weapon arts and physical exercise.


    "Watch what I do carefully kid."


    He went through the forms of the set. There were eleven in total. Nine made for attack and two for defence. They all were centered around one thing. Speed. The reason I was told made it simple, demon''s were strong in attacks and defence. Their skin was hard to pierce, so you had to be quick and hit their vitals to kill them.


    He had me focusing on the first move. It seemed simple as all it was, was a stab at where the neck would be. But time after time, I got it wrong. Sometimes my arm was too low, others, it was shaking, some I got the attack right but didn''t take my weapon back correctly.


    It took me till nearly nightfall to start to get it right. At the moment after I had done it right for the tenth time in a row, Erebus had a little smile on his face.


    "Now kid, all that is left is to apply mana. You will need to enforce the weapon and your whole body for it to be effective. This is while you are moving, taking it away and sometimes while you have already started the attack. This is the hard part of the style: the use of mana. It makes this move into three different moves, depending on when you use mana."


    I froze hearing what he had said.


    ''Use mana like that, but the concentration that will require will be insane. In a battle situation, it will be even harder. Let alone under an aura, like Erebus used earlier."


    Though as instructed I began to try, starting with my body as I knew I could do that already, then, I tried to enhance my weapon. I failed. Then I failed again and failed more for the next few tries. So I decided this time to start with the sword. It worked, now I began to slowly enhance my body with mana but I failed again.


    "Damm! Why is this so hard?"


    Erebus, hearing my yelling, came out of the cave.


    "Kid, calm your ass down, it''s not meant to be easy. Especially when it was made by one of the best warrior and mage that the world had seen in decades as well as the fact he wielded the black sword. It was not made for you."


    I followed him inside and after getting some more food. After eating all up, I went back to the bed I was sleeping in. As I went in the other beds which were being used by people, now and their owners in them. Seeing me walk in, they all stopped talking.


    The leader of the ten of them looked at me and spoke up. "Who are you?"


    "I am Adoh, what about all of you?"


    "Look at him, he is not a ranger. We don''t have to talk to him, he doesn''t deserve to be here. I''m going to sleep."


    The leader looked over at his companion. "Don''t mind him, he is just annoyed about how our mission was recalled. He thinks we can sneak past a horde of demons. Any way I am Dolok, it''s nice to meet you, Adoh. Anyway, try not to make too much noise, the gruby will kill us."


    "I heard that Dolok, and Adoh, you better listen to him. Now. Shut Up!"


    After that loud yell, I went over to my bed, much like yesterday I took off my armour and took the dagger out of the sheath and put it under my pillow. Through the sword this time, I left in arms reach. I''m not sure why I was doing all of this. I doubt Dubh, who I have not seen all day, will do anything, but it is better to be safe than sorry.


    I put my head onto the pillow thinking about the day. The biggest thing was being taught the new sword style. But I still couldn''t work out why I was being taught it. I was not a ranger or his family or even an officer or noble. There was no reason at all to be taught it.


    ''Who knows except him? I might as well sleep and ask Erebus tomorrow.''

 29 Cultists

    In the night, I was woken up again. This time though, it was Dubh. No thought was needed. My hand went straight to the dagger.


    "Adoh, no need for fighting. We are under attack, they have found us. The cult of Asmodai have found us. We need to leave now."


    His words shocked me up and out of bed. I didn''t know who Asmodai was but if he had a cult, that means bad news for us. Cults are usually bad news, they usually practise dark and evil magic. They haven''t been heard of in a long time though. So, I am not sure why they are here.


    After making sure all of my amour was on correctly, I ran into the main cavern, sword and dagger in hand. Once I got into the cavern, I had to fight my way through all of the rangers to get next to Erebus. Seeing me, his dark face, lightened up a little but it was still as dark as the thunder clouds.


    "Sir, Dubh said something about a cult of Asmodai, what are they?"


    "Kid, there is not much time to explain. What you called demons are not real demons, they are just animals corroded by demonic energy. Asmodai is one of the seventy two kings of hell. A real demon. His cult are humans mainly, some dragon kin like us and other races. They live beyond the black border so you don''t see them much at all. We need to go now. Stay close kid."


    Then, we all headed out onto the plateau. Some rangers with bows came running up the pass from the woods. "They are at the bottom, we can''t escape that way. The major was killed as well. Erebus, we don''t know your rank or what unit you are from, but you are the strongest here. Please, lead us."


    Erebus, then against everyone''s expectation, said no. He then pointed out the next highest ranking ranger which unfortunately was Dubh. He gave me a glance before arranging everyone and getting us to move up the mountain on another pass that had been hidden until some cast a spell making it visible.


    "Captain Sir, me and my squad would request to be left behind and slow down the cult."


    "Dolok are you sure? You haven''t even finished your full training yet." Dubh had a frown on his face as he said this slowly, pronouncing every word. Yet, I and everyone here could see he was glad, whether it was because he didn''t like Dolok or just that he was glad someone would be staying behind to slow the cultist''s down no one knew, except Dubh.


    "Yes Captain, we are sure." It was a firm reply. No fear or doubt could be seen on any of their faces.


    "Show them the real hell, the hell we make. For we are rangers, the sword in the dark."


    Then we all set off, on the mountain path, leaving Dolok and his squad behind.


    "Sir Erebus who are you exactly?"


    "Kid, it took you way too long to ask that question. I can''t answer you though, what I do is classified. Just know I am no longer a ranger."


    ''The mysteries about Erebus, just keep on growing. Who knows so much, has advanced combat skills and is greatly respected by all of the rangers but he can''t tell me. He is a special person that I can tell.''


    The mountain path was dangerous. The rocks on it were loose, making it so that we could easily slip. To do so would mean, certain death. This is because on one side of us was a solid mountain wall, the other a sheer drop. At the bottom of this, I had been told, were the woods. But at the speed you would fall, if you fell, they would be more like a forest of stakes, each one capable of killing you.


    After a while, there was still no sign of anyone following us, Dolok and his squad or cultist.


    ''Poor Dolok, he seemed like a good person. His squad as well seemed nice, even if I barely spoke to any of them, the grumpy one was included in that as well. This just reminded me of my own weakness again. If only I was stronger¡­.''


    "Kid, there is no point thinking about what you could have done. They died the death they wanted. It was for us, for you. If not, you would probably be one of the first to fall¡­...Focus on the path! Don''t fall!"


    I slipped, thanks to Erebus''s quik reactions, I didn''t slip off the path. The sound of rocks bashing onto the cliff as they fell down caused a lot of eyes to look in my direction. My face was heating up and my mistake. Seeing how I was reacting they all began to judge me in their heads, not that any of them said it out loud though.


    Then, we slowly began to head down the mountain. It didn''t take long for us all to reach the bottom. Once there everyone sat down, exhausted from the journey. No matter how you said it, traveling for hours on a path in the mountains is hard.


    "Everyone, chances are we won''t be able to get back to our frontlines, so we are going to head to one of the other outposts. If they are abandoned we will head to the fort. Move out."


    ''I couldn''t help but compare them to the knights. Obviously they had the main differences. They all acted differently though. A lot of them were more reserved and felt dangerous. The knights were generally quite outgoing, and gave a feeling of calm and that I was protected. They all interacted more as well. The rangers just kept to their squads. That was it.''


    "Kid, come on. I am not going to drag you through this woodland. If you want to stay fine, but I will hate to see all of the work I have put into you, go to waste."


    Following Erebus, through the woodland, it didn''t take long to arrive at a ranger outpost. What we found was horrifying.


    Their bodies were at stake.


    Some had been burned.


    Some impaled.


    The others, well, had been ripped apart. Their innards were covering the floor and if it wasn''t, birds were pricking their bodies apart.


    Leaving that gruesome scene, we arrived at the next outpost as the sun was falling from the sky. This one unlike the other, didn''t have any corpses outside. It had been abandoned. Some people went in and just confirmed most of the guesses we all had.


    "Everyone, we will make camp here tonight. No fires."


    Then, Dubh pointed to a few people making them keep watch for the first part of the night. Then I followed Erebus to a spot further away from the others.


    "Kid, get some sleep, you will need it. Dubh is well known for not liking people who slow the rest of us down. Can''t have him disliking you more, can we?"


    Then I just layed down on the stone, looking at the stars. All I could think of was the scene from earlier. It was different to the battlefield. It was bloody and wrong. I hope Dolok didn''t end up like that.

 30 Back to the for

    The next day, after I had gotten up, the order was given for us to head to the fort. It didn''t take long to break the camp, as there were no fires that would need to be put out or tents taken down. I much like that day before I was with Erebus.


    Moving to the fort though was not as simple as how we had been moving the previous days. We had to avoid all tracks and roads, incase of any demons or cultists moving along them. This meant a lot of the time, branches and undergrowth had to be cut away before we could move on.


    Around the middle of the afternoon, we arrived at the same spot, where I watched the demon horde attack the fort previously. This time though there was no demon horde surrounding the fort. In fact it looked like it was empty. This surprised me as I thought the demons would have occupied it, if not them, the cultists would have had enough intelligence to see the advantage of occupying it, but they hadn''t or at least it seems like they hadn''t.


    "Kid, you will need to keep up your guard from now on. We don''t know what will be in the fort."


    Hearing the words of Erebus, I took my sword out of my sheath and made sure I could easily get my dagger, incase of me having my sword knocked out of my hand in a battle.


    As we got closer to the black walls of the fort, I noticed that there was no flag or banners, showing who owned the fort. In fact, it looked like it had more been abandoned by its owner''s, than been attacked and lost to demons.


    As we approached the main gate, we began to vear to the left.


    ''Huh, I thought we would be going through the main gate, unless the intend to go to the western, side gate, but that is smaller and there is a higher chance of us getting trapped if we were attacked by enemy forces.''


    Then Dubh, who was at the front of the line stopped walking forwards. This caused everyone else to stop as well. Looking around I could see that it was just me, who was confused.


    ''What if there is a kind of secret passage around here, that would explain more why we didn''t go through the main gate. Though if anyone inside has found it, we would be walking straight into an ambush.''


    As if he could read my mind, Dubh turned around , looking at me briefly first, before looking at the others around me. "Those of you who do not know, there is a secret passage here. It will lead us straight into the keep itself. From there we will head to the armoury at resupply with anything we need."


    Then he touched the wall, in an odd pattern while muttering what I assumed was a spell. Once he was done, the outline of a door slowly became visible, in the solid black rock that made the wall up. It didn''t take long for it to become a real door.


    ''The magic that would be needed to make something like this must be insane. To be able to camouflage a doorway, so well that no one apart from those who know about its existence, could find it. I wonder if this magic exists elsewhere.''


    Then we all headed into the darkness, that was the tunnel into the keep. Once we were all inside, the door closed behind us, surprisingly at that point, the tunnel lightened up. Looking around I tried to find the light source. After a few initiates of looking I found nothing.


    ''It must be another type of magic. The people who built this fort must have been some of the best mages who have ever lived.''


    As we moved the tunnel slanted down, which made sense as to get to the keep, we would need to pass below the rest of the fort. The journey didn''t seem to take long. We passed through a few chambers, which had other tunnels leading off into the darkness heading to other parts of the fort I assumed. Though it was like the tunnel where we wanted to go, as there was always one tunnel light up, in each chamber.


    After leaving what was the second chamber, we began to go up. Then just as I thought we would be reaching the top, the lights went off. Fear seemed to grip everyone as I could hear the sound of metal leaving its scabbards, which I assumed to be swords and daggers.


    Then like it was the voice of god, Dubh''s voice rang out in the darkness. "Everyone calm down, it is fine. The lights are meant to go out as we reach the end." Then as he said, I could hear the sound of stone rubbing against stone, it was the same noise as when the passage into the tunnels was opened for us. Then I could see again.


    Moving out of the tunnels into the keep itself, what I saw surprised me again. The keep looked like it was as if nothing had happened, this was except for the fact that the torches on the walls had not been lit. Apart from that though, everything seemed to be in place and it looked perfectly clean.


    Though we were not in the keep for that long. We all headed out straight to the armoury as Dubh had said we would before. Outside of the keep and its walls, the state of the fort was different. The buildings all showed signs of damage from battle or from the general destruction that seemed to have happened. Most if not all of the buildings had massive gaping holes in them as if something rammed into or had just gone straight through them. There were also blood stains, all over. Though the odd thing was that the bodies who these blood stains belong to, were nowhere to be seen.


    No one said a word as we moved through the fort to the armoury. Everyone just looked at the destruction. I felt like I should feel more for what I was seeing but I didn''t, not really. This place was meant to be my home, but as I hadn''t really spent much time here, it felt like nothing to me.


    Some of the rangers however, I noticed tears falling onto the floor. This is when I realised, even if this fort did not mean much to me, to them, this probably was home, a place for them to relax and not constantly watching their own backs, like they do in the wild.


    Then we arrived at the armoury, it looked like something had tried to break in to it. As there were dents all over the door way. Dubh walked up to it. In his hand a key appeared, which fitted into the keyhole for the door perfectly, unlocking it, he let us all inside.


    Inside, unlike the time before, the weapon racks were nearly empty. There were only a couple of swords left around. Though they all look like they had seen better days. A Lot of them had cracks or had signs that they would break apart as soon as someone touched them.


    ''Why would they even keep weapons like these around? No one will ever use them.''

 31 The Swords Trial Part I

    I reached out and touched one of the swords out of my curiosity of them being there. When the tip of my finger touched it, I felt hell. It was like the sword was a war in itself. I quickly took my hand away from it.


    "Kid, I would leave those swords alone. They are weapons who have seen countless wars, no one knows where they are from, just that they are old."


    I went past them all, looking for a minute at each, but not wanting to touch them, after the feeling from the first sword I touched. Then I arrived in front of one of them that looked different to the rest, it looked older and yet I felt like I was drawn to it.


    Touching it like I touched the other sword previously, I felt the same feeling at first but then it changed to something else, it felt calming. Grabbing the sword fukky and pulling itself out of the weapon rack, the rust on the sword disappeared a bit, then a voice sounded out in my head.


    "Well, who are you to have disrupted my rest, A dragon kin. Interesting and you are one of those, with that bloodline. You better take the test, to see if you are worthy. Bye."


    Then in front of my eyes, I appeared in a battle. I didn''t recognise it though and I didn''t recognise any of the people who were fighting. Then that voice appeared in my head again. "This is the battle of Black Spire. I thought it would be a bit special as you were born and lived on this site. Your goal is simple, survive."


    ''So Black Spire, had a battle here before. I wonder why I have never heard of it until now.''


    There seemed to be two different sides engaged in the fighting, one side, had mainly red armour on and the other had mainly blue. Looking at myself, I was wearing the red looking armour. In my hand was a simple sword, it had nothing on it that would make it stand out or look special.


    "Well, your time is up to prepare, I hope you can survive."


    Then, I heard it. The sounds of weapons clashing against each other, as well as against bodies of people. The screams when someone was hit as well as the screams of war cries. The yell of some basic orders, could also be heard over the noise of the battle.


    The smell as well was horrible, the smell of blood was everywhere. The smell of human waste as well as people were releasing the contents of their bodies as they died.


    As a sword came for my head, I reacted, mainly by instinct from the training I had undergone. I raised the sword in my hand up to parry. With the load noise of metal clashing and the sudden force applied to my sword, I realised I had succeeded.


    It also shocked me out of my thoughts, reminding I was in the middle of a battle. Looking up at the person who attacked me, I saw a face of pure hate. Confused as I didn''t know what was really happening. I responded with a simple stab, which much to my surprise succeeded with ease.


    The face of hate which I had just seen, had changed into one of surprise. Looking up at me, the man in blue muttered, "How? The use of Qi is banned in war. How did yo¡­" He then slumped down on my sword, dead.


    I took out my sword, looking around at the battle. The red side that I seemed to belong to was losing, it was obvious as well. Grimacing, I thought of the one task, that voice had given me, to survive, but in the face of the battle which my side was losing, that seemed impossible.


    ''If I want to survive, I have a few choices, run away from the battle or somehow cause the outcome of this battle to change. If I flee though I have a feeling that I will fail. It may be surviving but is that the way it wanted me to survive.''


    Seeing someone else, coming towards me, with aim to kill me. I responded and attacked first, ending his life before he could realise what was going on. At this moment it dawned on me, I was faster and stronger than any one else around me.


    ''Maybe it has something to do with my bloodline, the voice could have caused it to carry through to whatever this is with me.''


    Gripping my sword tighter, I quickly looked around, trying to find the strongest of the opposing sides fighters. It didn''t take long.


    I saw a man that was bigger than everyone else around him. In his hands was a great sword, that he was swinging around with ease. Cleaving bodies in two all over the place.


    I began to move towards him, killing anyone who got in my way as quickly as I could. The man saw me coming. After splitting someone in half from the top of his head, down to their groin, he moved towards me. Then with a roar, he ran at me. His massive body hurtling towards me, much quicker than I thought that could be possible.


    I took the basic stance of the sword style that Erebus had taught me. Although it was designed to fight demons, that man''s size, could make him similar to one. Spreading my feet apart and slightly bending my body down, to give me a solid foundation. I watched him approach.


    Although it wasn''t doing much, as he barged across towards me, some swords would appear and slash and stab at him, leaving small cuts across his body from which blood was slowly beginning to seep out.


    When he was around a few metres from me. I moved, as fast as I could. I drew my arm back with the sword, like I was going to draw a bow. Then with all of my force, I simply pushed my arm forwards. This caused the sword, in my hand, to move straight to the man''s chest. Due to the speed of which the sword was moving, he wasn''t able to respond in time. The sword with a loud squelch, went straight through his chest, into his heart.


    With drawing the sword quickly, I made a couple of quick slashes on his arms, before stabbing his throat. This was done, to make sure he was dead and stop any kind of attack, as he can move in an attack even after he was dead due to the mind still not resending to the fact that the body had been killed so it can still react.


    Looking around, I noticed the look of pride and a slight bit of happiness on the other red soldiers faces, as I finished killing the man. Then a yell emerged around me as the killing of the man motivated everyone around me.


    I was somehow pushed to the front of the group of red troops I was with. That was when I saw it. A massive dragon had just come over the hill. It black scales were shining as the sun reflected on it. With a roar, it descended onto the battlefield. Bleaching fire onto the blue troops.


    I heard there screams and could smell the burnt flesh. But one thing stood out to me more than anything else. I could see a person on the dragons back.


    It was a Dragon Lord.


    The strongest people in the Imperium.


    The master of dragons.


    Lords of fire.


    Leaders of us the dragon kin.

 32 The Swords Trail Part II

    The dragon and its master, left after flying over the field a few times, though by the time they had left, the blue troops had lost at least half of their troops. The smell though was still horrible, but looking across the field of burned bodies and the scorched field. I could see the rest of the blue troops, they seemed to be shaking a bit. It seems like the dragon had scared them, so their morale seemed to be lowered.


    I began to move forwards, slowly at first, making sure I was not alone. Seeing more of the red troops follow me, I slowly began to speed up. Once I was completely through the land where the dragon fire had burned. I broke into a fall sprint charging towards the blue soldiers.


    The roar that came from all the red troops around me, made my blood boil and all I wanted now was to fight. Then survive, this battle and get back to my world.


    It didn''t take long to get to the blue troops.


    A few hours later, I was covered in crimson blood.


    "Well done, you have survived and not only that but made a big contribution to the battle. You are definitely worthy to use me in battle."


    Then the scene of where I was changed again. Now I was on what seemed like an endless field. It all looked the same, except for the rock that was a few metres in front of me. In that rock was a sword. It looked fairly plain except for the black handle and the odd writing on the blade. That writing I couldn''t even recognize.


    As I walked up to the sword, it began to glow. Then that glow all gathered in one spot before flying out of the sword much to my astounded mind. Then to shock me even more, that glow formed a figure.


    "So, you finally get to see my true form. You have passed the test well done."


    Stuttering out, "What...are you?"


    "I am in simple terms for you to understand, a weapon spirit."


    My began to spin at what the spirit had said.


    ''A weapon spirit. What is that? I have never heard of anyone or any books, mention something like this.''


    Seeing my dazed expression, the spirit began to explain.


    "Basically, weapons forged from certain materials and in a certain way can become sentient. This way is usually with the blood of a person or an animal. After a period of time, the spirit slowly begins to wake up. Then the last step for not to gain sentients is usually for weapons, in a massive battle. What you saw was the battle I awakened. Then the weapons from then on are known as magic weapons."


    ''Magic weapons'' was a term I had heard before though. They were usually used by heroes in stories or great kings and emperors. An example would be the weapons of the great clans of the Imperium. Such as the black sword.''


    "Any that is enough of talking. Come other and take my handle, then you may leave this world and return to yours."


    As I walked up to the sword, the spirit returned to it. Standing in front of it, I grabbed the handle and lifted it up. As I did so, everything returned back to the barracks, though in my hand was the sword. Looking exactly like it did, in the spirit''s world.


    Looking around I saw Erebus and the few others near me, with expressions of shock on. Much like I did, when I first saw the spirit, their faces were the exact same.


    "Adoh, what is that you are holding?"


    ''Is this sword so surprising, that he forgot to call me kid!''


    "Umm..it is a sword, sir."


    "Kid, don''t play stupid with me, I just saw its apperance change completely in your hand and you tell me it is just a sword!"


    "Well to be exact, it is a magic sword sir."


    He dropped the dagger that was in his hand.


    "Did you just say magic sword!"


    "Yes sir, this a magic sword, which is called that because of the¡­"


    "Kid, don''t say. The reason why it is called this, is always kept secret by its user. Just say its name."


    "I am night''s fall."


    The sword''s voice sounded out again in my head.


    ''Wait you can still speak?''


    "Of course I can, also I can listen to your thoughts just so you know."


    "The sword is called night''s fall sir."


    "Ok, it will be recorded when we are back on our side of the border, for now, make sure that you have everything that you will need."


    After he left, I went back to gathering what I needed. It was just some basic materials and supplies but I also got on some better light armour, which was much more suited to be used than the leather armour that I had on previously. That was basically, just under armour.


    Once I made sure I was ready to go and also having found a sheath for my new sword. I met up with the rangers who were outside. Dubh was looking at me, as I came out.


    "Nice sword, you better use it well."


    Then he turned around and led us all off. We went straight through the fort this time, instead of going through the tunnels. We didn''t run into anyone as we left by the main gate.


    Looking around, Dubh led us towards the forest, away from the fort and the black land, which is what the rangers called all of the land beyond the black order. This time we went to, where I had gone previously, the duke''s city.


    As we entered into the forest, a message came down the line, that we all had to be as quiet as possible. As there could be demons, or cultists in the forest.


    The trek was fairly boring. There was nothing to see or do, except walk. Sometimes I would see blood stains on the trees and some of the leaves that had fallen onto the ground but like in the fort, I could see no bodies no matter where I looked.


    ''There should be loads of bodies around. Where are they all? Also thinking about it, I didn''t see any bodies really outside of the fort as well. What the hell is going on with all of these missing bodies.''


    "My dear owner, the bodies could be used in a blood ritual."


    The sword''s voice sounded in my head again. I released as well, the sword was old. It probably would have seen the first demon war and chances are, it also saw most, if not all of the Imperiums rule of the land.


    ''What''s a blood ritual?''


    "It is nice to see that you are using me, my dear owner. A blood ritual can be a lot of things, but most of the time they are used in summoning demons or devils from the kingdoms of hell."


    Shaking my head at the information I had been told, I went to tell Erebus about it, but he just looked at me and said, "If it is about the bodies, I already have a fairly good idea of what they will be used for. As does Dubh. Just walk."


    Doing as I have been told, I fell back into the line and walked.

 33 The Biggest Battle Ye

    A few days later, not much had changed. We were still walking forwards towards where the frontline should be. Although we were going at a slower pace, we would reach the duchy''s capital city soon, which was worrying as we definitely had not passed the frontline yet.


    As we walked I could tell that we were getting closer to it though. As the bloodstains seemed fresher as did the other signs of battle that were around, such as the ground still having footprints in them from heavy infantry. Finally as well we saw bodies. This meant two things, one the bodies had not yet been removed by whoever was moving them as the frontline was close, or they did not need any more bodies. I personally was hoping for the first of the two.


    After a few more hours of traveling, we could hear the faint sounds of battle. Which as I looked around, made expressions of relief appear on nearly everys face''s.


    "Alright, we will take a break early today. Once it is over, we will have to sneak past and probably break through the demon''s lines. So be ready, some of you will die."


    Hearing Dubh''s speech, I would say it was rousing and inspired me, but well it didn''t. Taking note, if I was ever in command, I needed to be good at speeches, I found a spot on the ground and sat down, resting my back against the tree.


    ''I hope the others are alive and managed to get back to outside safely, I am glad as well this sword listened to me the other day when I said I didn''t want it to read my thoughts. That voice was starting to get annoying.''


    I felt a hand shake me, opening my eyes, I saw that it was Erebus.


    "Come on kid, it is time to get moving. Damm, I can hear something coming, be ready to move."


    Getting up, I looked around and I saw the rangers who were alot like me, getting shaken and told to get ready. I heard a thud, from where Erebus had gone. Looking in that direction, I saw him coming back, with a dagger in his hand. There was black blood dripping down off of it.


    "That was a patrol, we won''t have much time before they know that we are here. Dubh, what are your orders."


    "Damm, sneaking through won''t be an option now. We will have to break through. Form the star dragon formation. I hope to see you all on the other side."


    I was directed by Erebus and a few other rangers, to a point in the formation. I was positioned on the outside, of the right point.


    The formation itself was rather simple. It was made up of three points, which were shaped a bit like claws, these points would be connected to the body which would have the strongest fighters, who would kill anything that was tricked into coming close by the points.


    Then we began to move.


    Starting off, it was slow at first, as we still wanted to avoid detection for as long as possible. The few demons we did run into, were all lesser grade demons, so they were taken out easily.


    ''The assassination style fighting is insane, they are all only taking one attack to kill the demon they come across. Why does nobody talk about the rangers more? They are just as skilled as the knights in this regard.''


    Now it was my turn, there was a lesser demon, walking straight towards me. Crouching low, into the bushes and undergrowth, I hid myself completely and waited for its approach. As I was waiting the spirit''s voice appeared again.


    "When you attack, stab straight into the beast''s neck and up through its head. It will kill it instantly. Oh, use me to do it. I have not felt the feeling of blood in years."


    Taking out my sword quietly, I didn''t have to wait much longer for the beast to arrive. As it got close enough to me so that I could strike, I moved forwards and upa at the demon. The sword piercing straight through where the spirit had said. The demon was killed instantly and without letting out a noise.


    I felt my back warm up a bit, as the rangers all seemed to stare at me. This didn''t last for long though as a roar could be heard throughout the forest of where we were.


    Then I ran, along with the others, we all ran straight to where we could hear the fighting taking place. As I barreled through the last part of the forest, I saw it. The battlefield. Compared to the others I have been in and the one in the spirits world, this one seemed bigger and more deadly.


    I could make out thousands of soldiers, in a wide variety of formations, all moving towards the demon horde. Allow the horde did seem much smaller than what it was before. I guess this is due to the fact that there have been lots of demons being killed as they advanced.


    It didn''t take the demons that long to notice that we had just gotten out of the woods. A deep voice came from the demon''s lines.


    "More of them to our back''s. Kill them all and you will get a blood feast tonight."


    After the voice had finished speaking, a loud roar could be heard from the demons, as at least a quarter of the horde turned around and charged towards.


    "Shit. How can we charge through all of that?"


    A Lot of the other rangers on the points had said similar things, and they thought it as their faces suddenly became extremely grim. At that moment Erebus ran past me. As he moved, I felt the air around me tighten and suddenly become heavy. Looking at the demons, it seemed like they were struggling against something.


    ''It must be his aura, but can he fight all of those at once?''


    Then we all began to move, with Dubh motivating us as we went, his way of motivating that is. Which was on the lines of move or you will be feeling my fist.


    It didn''t take long for us to reach the demons, lucky I wasn''t at the very tip of the point, but I felt sorry for the one who was. He slashed and stabbed at the demons, as we got to them, as we slowly penetrated into the demon''s ranks, I started to attack, always aiming for their vital points, aiming to kill them as soon as I could.


    Erebus must have a really good control of his aura as well, as it only affected the demons and not us. This made it much easier for us as the demons were not moving as quickly meaning that we could attack them quicker and get past them much more quickly.


    It only took around five minutes for us to get past the demons, as I got out, I could see our next challenge. The rest of the demon horde as well as the halestorm of magic and arrows that was currently being used to keep them at bay.

 34 The Black Sword

    With more rangers breaking through the demons that had rushed towards us. I began to move forwards again. I only had one task now, that was to get through to the other side of this horde.


    ''Hey, ummm, Night''s Fall, if that is your name? Do you have any advice or help you can give me? To get through all of the demons.''


    "Well, if we had had more time, I would have taught you how to break one of the seal''s placed on me, but we didn''t so I never brought it up. That would have helped. For now, focus as much mana onto me as possible, this can cause the seal''s to be weakened for a bit, this is the only time it will work though. So think about this carefully."


    Without thinking, like he suggested, I muttered the incarnation for enhancement, making as much mana as I could gather focus on the sword.


    I heard nine cracks, which I guess were the seal''s he had mentioned being weakened. Then right in front of my eyes, the sword began to change, it got darker and darker until it was black. It was a black sword.


    ''Wait, black sword. That means that this is¡­.''


    "Yes I am that black sword, now stop thinking and attack, we haven''t got time for all of this."


    Listening to what the sword soad, I began to move. As I did, I slowly sped up. I was now in a flat out sprint. Most people would call me stupid as I would cause myself to be exsusted before I even reached the demons. But in this case those people would definitely be wrong, Night fall was sending what felt like constant pluses of energy into my body. I didn''t know what it was, but it was wiping away any form of fatigue I could feel, constantly making me reinvigorated.


    I could feel the sword begin to tremble as I ran as well. It seemed like the spirit was excited for what was about to come.


    Reaching the demons, I didn''t stop to fight any, I just almost carved a path through them. Most of the time, I wouldn''t actually do any real damage, just a few little cuts. They also seemed to try and avoid the blade edge of the word though. As if it was something that could kill them as soon as it touched them.


    It didn''t take me long to realise that I was beginning to slow down though. Then it hit me. I was right in the middle of an horde of demons. Seeing a massive variety of weapons coming to kill me, I tried to block them. Clang by clang, I thought I had succeeded before I heard a splat as an axe embedded itself into my arm. The pain didn''t come at first.


    As I looked across, seeing the axe in arm, I screamed.


    "Ahhhh!"


    The pain was unreal, looking back up, I sword another axe coming to my face. This was going to claim my life. Seeing my life flash before my eyes, I felt a tear slide down my face.


    ''I wish I could see you again bro. I miss you all.''


    The pain felt like it resided a bit as I watched the axe get closer to my face.


    I could hear something coming, but it sounded so far away. Then I saw an arrow come through a demon''s head, before hitting the axe, coming to end my life. It made the axe thud into the ground next to me. The demon tried to rip it out but it seems stuck.


    Trying to ignore the pain in my arm. I used the hand of my other arm, to grip the sword and stab upwards, going through the demon''s throat. Killing it. Losing all of the energy in my body, I collapsed to the floor, landing in a pool of my blood as well as the demons.


    It seemed like the energy provided by the sword, couldn''t even stop this. The amount of blood I seemed to have lost and still was losing must have been insane.


    Then in a conscious state, I felt someone pick up. The sword slipped out of my hand and the energy that it was providing me, stopped.


    "Come on kid. You gotta make it."


    I seemed to be able to hear a voice that pierced straight through the state that I was in. I began to slowly close my eyes, feeling sleep calling to me. Just about as I was going to let go. A massive pain enveloped my body as the axe was ripped out of my shoulder. This woke me back up completely.


    I let out another gruelling roar.


    Then I felt a warm, heat envelop my shoulder, where the wound was, though I still didn''t have the energy to move so I couldn''t see what was going on. Then it got hotter and hotter. I thought at one point someone was trying to burn me, but then the heat went away and was replaced by an itchy sensation.


    "Sleep now kid, you will be fine when you wake up."


    The voice which seemed to have some kind of special power, caused me to go straight to sleep as soon as it was finished speaking.


    Groaning, I woke up in what looked like a tent of some kind. Sliding out of the bed I had been in, I fell onto the floor with a bang.


    Hearing the noise some people rushed inside the tent. Seeing me up, one came towards me and the other out of the tent.


    "Here, you should get back into the bed, you need rest, your body won''t have fully recovered yet."


    The woman, who I now think was some kind of doctor, helped me back into the bed.


    Then the memory of the battle came back. Looking straight to where the axe had hit me, all I saw was my skin. There was no scar marks, no indication that I had been wounded at all.


    "What the...but I thought I had bee¡­."


    "It is good to see that you are up, kid. You gave me a scare there, I thought I had lost you."


    "Erebus, I mean sir. Where am I? What happened?"


    "Kid, you were nearly dead by the time I had got to you. The axe had been pushed deep into your shoulder, cutting through the bone and whatever else was there. I picked up and got through the demons to here, the forward hospital. Some potions and extremely hard restoration spells were used. But they managed to fix the wound. Anyway once you are up to it, the duke wants to see you. It is not every day a wielder of a magic sword appears. I didn''t mention what happened when I got to you, at how the sword changed colour back to how it was when you first got it. Your secret is safe."


    It took me a little while to get what he meant. Then it clicked, the sword and me causing the seals to be weakened and it turned black, the spirit saying it was that sword. It all came back at once.


    "Thank you sir. Where is the sword?"


    "Ah yes how could I forget, here you go kid. I will see you soon."


    After Erebus passed me the sword he left. Gripping the sword, I felt a pulse of energy enter my body.


    "You are fine. That''s good. I don''t want to disappear again and be left on a weapon rack."


    ''Tell me everything about you. I need to know now."

 35 The Camp

    The sword glowed slightly, before the spirit left the sword, appearing in front of me.


    "Don''t worry, no one except you can see or hear me. If you talk out loud now as well, no one will be able to hear you as well, so you don''t have to worry about looking crazy."


    "How can you do that? I get you are a spirit, but how can you make people not be able to hear me?"


    "Well it is a kind of magic only usable by spirits. I know you want to know everything you can about me, but you can''t, at least not everything. As I said earlier, my power is contained behind seals. There are five of them in total. Depending on which seal you unlock my appearance will change."


    "So is that why, when I stopped channeling mana into you and your seals, your appearance changed back to as it is now. I guess that makes sense, but how do I break the seals?"


    ''What sort of sword has its power sealed in the first place, what kind of idiot would seal the sword''s power. It doesn''t make sense at all. I wonder what seal the black sword is then.''


    "In my black form, that is the form I take after the third seal is broken. It has been a long time, since all of my seals have been broken." The spirit seemed nostalgic.


    "Anyway, the way to break each seal is different. The first just requires a certain amount of mana, which once you get to the condensing stage you will be able to do. The second needs your bloodline to be awakened up to the fifth awakening. The third seal needs you to have seen your soul and after that I can not tell you yet."


    "What is the condensing stage and what do you mean by seeing your soul? I have never heard of that before."


    "They relate to certain stages as the mana path and the soul path. The other path is the Qi path. A dragon lord is someone who uses all three of these paths. You will be able to find out more about the paths as you progress. For now I would suggest becoming a member of a mage tower so you can work on the mana path. The other path''s as far as I know have been lost. Maybe the elves now on the soul path, but I can''t be sure?"


    Someone entered the tent I was in, when I looked back after seeing it was only a doctor, the spirit had left and was back inside of the sword.


    ''Damm, where did you go? I thought you said that no one can see you?''


    "It is fine, I have told you most of what I can anyway. You have to meet the duke right? It will be more interesting than talking to me. Plus, keeping an important noble and your commanding officer waiting is never a good idea. I need to rest. Appearing in front of you, used more energy than I thought."


    ''What does it mean by energy? It has never mentioned that before. Damm spirit, as usually it is not telling me everything. Anyway I wonder what the duke is like?"


    Getting out of the bed, with the doctor''s help. I am able to stand on my own.


    "It seems like you are fine. Normally, I would have you stay here for longer but we need as many beds available as we can here. There are too many wounded soldiers coming in from the front line. It would be good if everyone learned a basic healing spell."


    The doctor started to talk more to himself at that point. He was going on and on about how the medical staff were always over worked when a massive battle happened as no one apart from them knew any healing magic or basic medical skills. It seemed like from what he was saying, it was a really major problem.


    Then some servant walked in and handed me clothes to put on.


    She said, "You will need these if you are going to be meeting the duke. My master, Erebus says he will see you in the duke''s tent."


    The clothes the servant passed me were one of the sets I bought when I went shopping with uncle Paul. It was a one made of a black colored silk, with a white dragon on it. It felt so nice to wear when compared to the armour, I have had to wear recently.


    Once I had the clothes on. I left the tent, once outside, I could hear the loud noise of the camp. Lots of people talking and the sound of footsteps and drums. I could also just hear the sound of the battle.


    ''I wonder how, when I was inside the tent I wasn''t able to hear any of this.''


    "There was probably some kind of sound cancelling rune inscribed onto the tent somewhere." The spirit must have recovered its energy that it spoke of, due to the fact that it was talking again and I could just feel another presence in mind.


    The servant who handed me the clothes was standing outside of the tent. Seemingly waiting for me. She was in all black, but compared to my loose clothing, here''s fit her body tightly, allowing her to show off her curves and all of her assets.


    "Follow me, my master said, that you are important and that I should treat you well. Honestly, I do not see how at all."


    I just smiled at the servant girls, little remarks. Finding them slightly funny as well. She led me through the camp. There were hundreds of different banners around. Some I recognised, some I didn''t recognise at all.


    Seeing me looking around at all of the different banners, the servant girl started to speak again. "While you were out, the kings and the rest of the vassals arrived with their troops. Then this morning, the other kingdom''s troops arrived. This is why there are so many banners now."


    "The other kingdom has sent its troops?"


    "Yes, all of them, except the empire. It was a shock for all of us here, when they marched in earlier. I thought some fights would break out. Lucky they didn''t. Any way we are here."


    The dukes tent was bigger than all of the other tents around it. As well as having a massive empty space outside of the front of the tent, which could be used for a range of things. There was also two banners outside. One was the duke''s own banner. The red dragon with swords on a black background. There was also the kingdom''s banner. Which was just an ordinary looking sword, on a white banner. The tent itself was black.


    As I arrived outside the tent flap. I heard someone inside announce my arrival.


    Then a rough voice said, "Enter."

 36 The Choice

    After the voice said enter, I looked around for a moment unsure if he meant me or not. Seeing the servant, she was looking at me then the door, implying for me to go in.


    I took one step forward, as I did, the tent flap opened on its own, revealing the insides of the tent to me, Or at least part of the insides of the tent. From what I could see, there were a few chairs scattered about, around a fire, on which there was an animal being roasted.


    As I walked further in, I was able to see more of the inside of the tent. The duke was sitting in what looked like a small throne. Around him, were a group of generals, one of which was the general in charge of the fort where I was stationed and was the one who sent me off, on the escort mission.


    The throne looking chair was black mainly, with its arms looking like red dragons. Who were roaring. There was a plain looking sword leaning against the dukes chair as well. The only thing that made it look different than the other swords, was the red jewel encrusted into the pommel.


    The duke himself was a broad shouldered, giant of a man. He seemed quite blunt as he was speaking to the generals. Then he saw me, standing awarkdally in the door.


    "Come on in, know one here is gonna kill ya. Well unless you try to kill me or them, but that is a different matter completely. Let me have a look at you. Adoh, is your name right. Come here."


    I was stunned for a while at how he was speaking. He was a high noble and sounded more like a commoner than me. As I went into the room itself, I saw servants, around the hall seemingly waiting for something to do, or some orders to be given for them to do.


    "So you got a magic sword huh. You better be able to use it well. I will give you one offer, it doesn''t matter if you accept or not. But I will want you to decide on the right decision for you and for the duchy and the kingdom as a whole."


    ''What kind of kind offer will he be giving me? What does he mean by what is best for me? It is obvious he wants me on his side, with his help though I will be able to gain lots more strength and power quickly.''


    "Anyway, the offer is this. I will let you skip the normal procedure and give you the choice now of the three paths. The ranger academy, the knight school, or you can go into the officer training camp. I would like you to pick the knight school, I can give you the most support but as I said it is up to you."


    ''What the! What kind of offer is that.''


    The sword spirit then spoke up. "This is a good chance for you. So think carefully about what you want to do. Don''t make a mistake here that will haunt you for the rest of your life."


    ''Ok, so I have to make a decision right. Well, if I choose the officer training, I will become a high ranking officer, which will give me lots of troops to command, but my own personal strength will not be affected that much, in fact in my decline. The choice of choosing to become a knight is good for my strength and I will get the duke''s support whatever that is. So chances are I won''t fail the training program and be allowed in, but I will only become a reserve knight until a knight dies and I can replace them as a full fledged knight. Then there is the last choice, the rangers. I would get stronger, and will become a ranger fully quicker but it has the highest chance of death out of all three of the choices.''


    "So what do you choose, Adoh." The duke started to speak to me again. I realised that I had been standing there silently for a few minutes and I was getting odd glares from all of the people in the room, including the servants.


    "Ah, well to be honest sir duke, I am not sure what I want to do. This is so sudden, I am so happy that you are giving me this opportunity. But I am just not sure what to do at all."


    The duke just looked at me for a minute. "I need a decision now, if you don''t. They will snatch you away, which can not happen at all costs." After he said this, he seemed to be thinking of something.


    "Who will be taking me sir duke?"


    I was confused as it sounded like he was worried about someone kidnapping me if i didn''t take his offer, which is a really odd thing. I am still a solider, after all, sworn to serve the duke.


    "Ah, umm,you don''t have to worry about that. Just focus on making your decision. It will affect your life forever. So what will it be; ranger, knight or officer."


    "Before I say sir duke, what did you mean by helping me?"


    "That''s simple, I would give you monetary support and make sure you have the best teachers as well as giving you the best equipment. Support like that. Now decide, there is no more pushing the decision back."


    Just before I said that, I would like to go for knight training. I remembered Erebus and the power and respect he had. He said he was a ranger before, his current job.


    "I would like to attend the ranger academy. Also sir duke, would I be able to take my squad, if they are still alive, along with me?"


    "You realise I can give you no help at all if you choose to become a ranger and that you have the highest chance of death, if you become one."


    I nodded, showing that I knew what he meant.


    He let a breath which I hadn''t realised he must have been holding in. "Ok then, you will go to the ranger academy. Yes, if your squadmates are alive they have to go with you. The rangers value their squad above everything."


    "Thank you sir duke." As I said this, I bowed towards him.


    "Don''t bow, now go. You are not needed here any longer. Someone will come find you later."


    Turning around promptly, I left the tent. Allowing the duke and his generals to carry on there meeting

 37 Reunion

    Getting outside of the tent. The grin that had been trying to appear the whole time, once I had heard the offer, broke out.


    ''This is the best equipment thing that could have possibly happened. Not only will I get stronger, I am progressing quickly. Maybe I will make it big, in something I do and get a nobility title. That would be the best. For me and everyone back home.''


    The servant of Erebus was still standing outside. I only noticed her when she let out a small sigh at the goofy gri, that was plastered across my face.


    "My master would like to speak with you, now that you are done with the duke. Please follow me."


    I just nodded my head as I walked behind her. This time we didn''t stop at all, also she didn''t talk to me as well.


    So it didn''t take us long to arrive at another part of the camp. This part had the dukes banner flying over it. Signifying that it was where the dukes troops were camped.


    She led me to a tent which was out the way of the rest. As I walked past the soldiers though, I could feel their gazes piercing into my back. I also heard some mummers and that I had a magic sword.


    The tent that Erebus had, looked alot like the dukes tent. Except that it was smaller and lacked the banners outside the front of it.


    The servant walked straight in. Holding the tent flap open for me to enter it as well.


    Walking in, I saw Erebus sitting on a small chair, looking at his sword.


    "Sir, you wanted to see me."


    "Ah, yes kid. Do you mind telling me what the duke wanted off of you?"


    "He just wanted to give me a choice. A choice of the path I want to take from where I am now. I choose to be a ranger. Not that it was what he wanted me to do though."


    "Well that''s good. I''m glad you choose to be a ranger, it is probably the best choice for someone from a more common background. The knight and officer academies are filled with people who think that their noble status is more important than their skill. It often causes people who are not nobles to give up and leave or in the worst case, be murdered."


    My face paled when he said this. ''Even if the duke gave me his support, my life could have been forfeit as soon as I arrived.''


    "Until someone comes to get you. I would have Dorcha here, take you to where you will be staying. I think you will find some of your comrades there. So have a good night."


    Dorcha the servant. Led me out of Erebus''s tent after I had said goodbye, we walked in between a few tents, arriving at a smaller campfire. Then she stopped.


    "I will be leaving you here. If you go to the fire, I am sure you will find someone who will help you."


    Just before she left, I grabbed her arm.


    "Thank you, for helping me find my way around."


    She smiled at me for the first time since I had met her.


    "It''s fine. If you want to meet me later. Just walk to where the servants are camped. If you come. I think we both would have a lot of fun in the night."


    Then she walked off, giving me a little wave, before she was completely out of my sight.


    After seeing her go, I turned around and walked to the campfire. As I got next to it


    Some arms clammed round my waist, holding me there. Then I felt the tip of a knife touch the back of my throat.


    "Sergeant, how are you already getting offers of women to join them in their beds at night? It''s not fair. I have been trying for days and nothing is working."


    "How about Ordreath you take the knife off of my throat and I will tell you."


    "Really? Ok."


    As soon as he took the knife away from my throat. I turned around looking at his expectant face. I said, "Well, you need to be handsome and nice. Oh and have a magic sword."


    As I said the last part, his face turned into one of annoyance.


    "Damm, it seems like I need one of those. Why don''t you lend me your one sergeant. I really need this."


    "Ordreath, this is the first time in days we have seen each other and you are asking for my sword so that you can get laid! Come on! What do you think I am?"


    He then turned a bit sheepish, this was due to the fact a lot of people were now watching us as they had heard what I had yelled out. But to my surprise and Oredreath''s they all started asking for my sword as well.


    "What are you all? Are you all sex driven beasts?"


    In unison they yelled, "Yes!"


    Something in my mind cracked at that point.


    "I am going. Who needs to be around people like all of you."


    ''Usha should be around here somewhere, I hope. She better not like to be like this lot. Well if hse is, I will be walking into the dragon den.''


    It didn''t take me long to arrive at a different area of the duke''s camp. Here it was filled with women. As soon as I entered I garnered a lot of attention. Unfortunately for me, it was a lot of bad attention as all of their eyes seemed like they wanted to suck my soul away and cut off my private parts. As more of their gazes went there, I subconsciously moved my hand to cover it.


    ''I am not losing these, dream on.''


    "Adoh, is that really you?"


    My eyes darted to the origin of the voice. It was usha.


    "Yes of course it is me. It''s not like someone stole my body now is it."


    She stood up and walked over to me. When she stood in front me, I got a massive slap.


    My face sore, from the slap. I looked at her with eyes of confusion. Then before giving me a chance to react. She slapped the other side of my cheek.


    Before she could slap me again. I grabbed both of her arms.


    "God dammit, Usha. What has gotten into you?"


    "Well let me think Adih, how about you disappearing for days? We all thought you were dead."


    She broke down into tears at that moment and rushed into my chest.


    ''What the hell is going on? Usha is crying, Ordreath has become a sex focused beast.''


    As I thought about what the others could be like, I froze as I heard some footsteps behind me. Turning around with Usha in my arms, I saw Ordreath and the over eight of them.


    "Welcome back Adoh, well welcome back to the living, our magic sword wielding sergeant."

 38 The Ranger Academy

    ''So they are alive. This is great! It seems like they have changed though...I can''t tell what it is. I would say that they seem more mature, but is not that as they were already mature. I don''t know maybe it is that they are more battle hardened, or that they have mourned for me as Usha said. Perhaps they have changed as they thought that they lost a comrade and friend. Or maybe it''s..''


    "Adoh! Snap out of it! You don''t need to think it all through, just ask us and we will tell you. Including Ordreaths new, ummm, habits."


    It was Swain who had spoken to me, as well as yelled in my ear for the first part, to get me out of my head.


    "Ok, you didn''t have to yell so loud you know. It hurts, when you have someone yell into your ear."


    He smiled slightly, "It is good to see that you are back with us. They all thought that you were dead, but not me. No. I was the only one who said that you were still alive and just held up somewhere, and with you here that proves my point."


    "Says the one, who was in tears, at the funeral." Ordreath muttered, with a grin on his face, probably saying so for Swain revealing his new habit.


    "All of you, before we all descend into arguments and fights." I paused for a minute as I looked at Swain and Ordereath. "I got some news to share, due to certain events and me going into possession of this sword, we are all going to be sent to the rangers training acadm.."


    There was a flash of light and I along with the other nine appeared in a different place. Then I felt a massive nauseating feeling before I bent over and let out all of my insides, from the noise and smell the others were vomiting as well.


    "Well let it all out, I know teleporting is hard for the first timers, but please can you hurry the hell up."


    My head slowly began to rise up, from vomiting all over the floor. There was a man standing in front of us. In the usually ranger uniform, in fact there was nothing on it except that it showed he was a ranger. Seeing me look up at him, he smiled slightly at me. But for some reason that smile made my whole body tense up as if it was being stared at by an apex predator.


    The others also began to stop throwing up all over the room, and began to look around, their eyes settling on the man looking like a ranger.


    With us all looking at him he began to speak, "Well you are squad nine hundred and fifty seven of the ranger training program. Welcome and well done on being selected, the good news is you all passed our test. This is your room, I will be here in the morning to grab you. One last thing, I would clean up the vomit if I were you. It is going to stink."


    Just as he started he turned around a left. Leaving us all alone. One the door slammed signaling that he had left completely. I looked around at the others,


    "Should we get this cleaned up then."


    I walked off, around the room trying to find something to use to clean up all of the vomit. When I came back, everyone had one thing or had found where something was that we would need.


    It didn''t take long for us after all of that to get the vomit all cleaned up and removed, but the smell still remained. Then usha came forward with something and sprayed it around, making the air smell nice.


    I looked at her in gratitude and she smiled back in return. Then walked back to the bed she had chosen. Before I knew it, all of the beds had been chosen without me having a choice. I ended up with the bed nearest the door, which had a draft running under it. As I laid into bed I shivered at the cold air, apart from that the room itself was surprisingly warm.


    The next day, as promised the no name ranger came by and woke us all up, with a load of water being chucked into my head and the others as well had a load of water chucked into them. As you could except this woke us all up extremely quickly.


    "Aight then, all of you get some clothes on and follow me." He then just stood there waiting and not moving. "Well what are you waiting for, your mothers to come change you?"


    His words sparked us into action, it didn''t take long for all of our wet clothes to come and off and be replaced by the newer and better fitting ranger clothing that we had been provided.


    ''These clothes are so much nicer than the normal clothes that we were given for being in the army. They are much thicker and warmer as well as hug the shape of my body more and feel like they won''t get in the way of me having to move.''


    "Now follow me to the training room. As we go you are not allowed to touch anything, just keep your hands to yourself."


    He led us out of our room into a hallway. It was very similar to our room in fact. Black walls, no windows and torches lining the walls, but only just enough light so that we could see what we were doing.


    Following him, down the hallway and into another one, there were random weapons and paintings and occasional parchments dotted about on the wall. As the ranger said, not to touch, I didn''t, just looked at everything with my eyes.


    We walked into a massive room, unlike everywhere else we had been so far, it had windows which lit up the black walls and the whole room in light. Which caused me to squint as my eyes had grown quite accustomed to the little light that our room and the hallways provided.


    The ranger stopped about five steps in front of us and turned around. "Well as I said last night, this is the ranger academy, your stay here will include for the first few weeks some survival training as well as weapon practise. The rangers are firm believers of using the weapons that they feel the most comfortable with, this as you might expect leads them to master that weapon. So before your survival training starts, you will begin trying as many weapons as you possibly can. Then next you will be sent to a mage tower, to learn the basics about mana. Depending how well you do in the first weeks of training will change the amount of time you get in the mage tower. So get the first weeks done well. Magic is useful."


    Then once he had finished his lengthy introduction, he walked over to the weapon rack which as he said had a lot of weapons on it, there swords, sabers and other bladed weapons for one hand and two. There were polearms, bows, crossbows as well as something which would help practice with unarmed combat as well.


    "You,umm, Adoh, you will be just using a sword. Orders from the top. I will be back later. Enjoy the weapons."


    After he finished saying what he had to say, he just walked off.

 39 A Training Dummy?

    I walked over to a wooden longsword, that was on the rack, grumbling as I did. I really wanted to try out some different weapons, like the cool looking glaive or even a bow, just something different than a sword.


    The sword was heavy in my hand. It seemed like they had been made so that they would be heavier than the real thing. This would enable a ranger to be faster in the field if they are used to using heavier weapons as well as they will be able to pick up heavier objects.


    After getting a feel for the weight of the sword. I give it a couple of swings, to see what it would be like. As I expected it was hard, the weight the weapon had meant that allowed my swings would be quicker once I had got the swing moving, stopping was harder than normal, so on both of the swings I did, the sword smashed into the floor as I did both slashes towards the ground.


    Then seeing some practice dummies in the corner, I moved over to them. Unlike how I expected them to be made of straw, they were in fact made by a type of wood which I didn''t recognise at all. They looked extremely life-like and had exquisitely carved wooden swords and shields in their hands. I moved one of them over, further into the more open area of the training room.


    After I had made sure it was placed on.the ground and wouldn''t fall over if I hit it, I noticed some writing on the back. It read, ''This apparition was made in the blalk tower of the eighty fourth year of the age of Aurum.''


    ''I have never heard of the age of Aurum before, I guess it could be the name of a king or maybe someone powerful, who knows, but whatever this means, it should definitely be old.''


    I move in front of it and take the basic sword stance than Erebus taught me. Then I began with the first move of the sword style I knew. There was a massive thwack. When the wood of the sword, hit the training dummy. Taking a look at it, in case I had broken it, I was so surprised that there were no scratch marks on it at all. Then as I was looking at it, some blue lines appeared all over it. Then they went away, but left the eyes of the dummy glowing blue.


    As I was looking closely at its eyes, I suddenly felt a sense of danger, looking around I saw that there was no one else in the room, except me and the others. When I looked back, to carry on inspecting the dummy. It was gone.


    "What the fuc.."


    I was smashed into my back, landing onto the floor. Looking behind me, I saw the dummy. It was moving and had appeared to be the thing that had smashed me in the back.


    ''What the hell. I never knew dummies could move. No dummys can''t move. So this must be something different completely, no wonder it was left in the corner.''


    I slowly got back up, my eyes never leaving the dummy. Once I was standing up completely again. The dummy moved. It was quick, very quick. I only just managed to bring my sword up in time to block its hit and before I knew it another blow, was raining in on the other side of my body. I took a step back as I blocked to my left side at the same time.


    This time it did not attack immediately after, I had blocked it but instead reiterated a little back.Seeing it retreat, I went on the offensive, but wasn''t too rash as I was expecting it to attack at me again.


    I stabbed and slashed multiple times, but failed to break through its defense as everytime it would just block but oddly it did not retaliate even though I was definitely leaving lots of openings which it could exploit.


    That was until, after I stabbed to its throat, it doged my attack and came straight at my face.


    "Damm, what is the thing? How can it be so strong and fast?"


    I just move back as quickly as I can, smashing away its blow down to the floor. Seeing that I have no chance of victory if I carry on like I am at the moment, I use a few spells and enhance my body.


    When it comes at me again, it seems a bit slower so at least now, I can see its attack coming for me ear;ier. This allows me to counter its attack. I parry its blow, then coming off that, slash towards its head. For the first time since our fight had begun, I heard a thwack.


    ''At last, I am glad that worked. If it hadn''t I would probably run out of energy and collapse. Who knows, if it would have stopped its attacks or just kept on going''


    After seeing that it was not moving anymore, I dispelled all of the spells I had cast but as was doing this I did not stop watching the dummy. Then it glowed blue again, when the colour had gone, its eyes looked just like normal wood again. Only then did I sit down on the floor, recovering my energy.


    Once I felt that I had sufficient energy, I got up and carefully moved the dummy back to where I had found it. Once it was back, I found some normal straw dummies. Casualty hitting one of them to see if it would glow, I got odd looks from the others in the room.


    "What did you not see the other dummy I had to fight earlier? That thing was crazy."


    I only muttered in response to how odd and crazy I was, it seemed like they didn''t see what had happened or hear it, which was odd considering the fact that it was insanely loud at least to me.


    Shaking my head, thinking that they must be just playing around with me, I turned back to the nicer straw dummy and began to practice the sword moves of which I knew. A Lot of them were fairly simple, so i was able to perform them right fairly quickly. Remembering how Erebus had said that I needed to be able to do them while I had my body enhanced as well as the weapon I was using, I began to slowly practice that. I failed a lot, running out of energy or enough control over the mana itself before I was able to finish casting the spell.


    This was until the twenty ninth attempt of which I was able to do it at last. This caused the biggest smile that anyone has ever seen to form on my face.


    "Yes, at last I have finally done it." I yelled this out and my voice echoed around the room back to me. I got the looks of the others again and heard similar mutterings as before that I must be crazy.


    Then I suddenly felt really weak, and out of energy.


    ''Shit, I forgot to stop casting the spell.''


    Then everything went dark.

 40 Purity Of The Ancestor

    When I woke up, I felt a splitting headache, everywhere I looked was blurring in and out of focus, not only that my whole body felt like it was on fire, then dumped into ice water, before being chucked back in a fire.


    "Shit, it fucking hurts."


    I heard a voice. "Well that is what is what happens, when you lose the energy to keep your mana under control. It invades your body, causing you a lot of pain as it shouldn''t be there so it tries to go through your body, so where you enhance is where the damage happens, as it seems you were enhancing your whole body, so well, your whole body hurts."


    ''The voice was so loud, damm, why is this person shouting so loud.''


    "You haven''t recovered yet, I will put you back to sleep. When you wake up next you should be fine. Hopefully."


    Then in my blurred vision, I saw a light, come closer and closer until it touched the spot between my eyes. Then I went back to sleep.


    When I opened my eyes, I was in the realm of the sword spirit. Looking around I saw the sword next to the rock, just like the last time I was here.


    ''What the hell, I might as well go through another one of those battle''s or at least have someone to talk to. It is better than being alone.''


    Walking up to the sword, it glowed like last time and appeared before me.


    It looked surprised to me here. This was further reinforced by how it was looking at me. "How are you here? You can''t be here. It is impossible, only those I allow or those of the purest bloodline can come here. I would have detected it if you had such a pure bloodline."


    Stopping ranting to itself, it walked over to me and began to look at me, touching me occansily.


    "This is impossible. How can your bloodline become purer? It is as pure as the blood of the maker."


    Pushing its hands away, as I worked out from how it was touching me, it was solid or at least fairly solid right now, rather than just a light.


    "Explain what the hell you are talking about. What do you mean bloodline purity. I thought bloodlines could only be awakened."


    It looked at me for a second as if deciding on something. Seemingly reaching its decision.


    "Well, you are right, the bloodline can be awakened, but have you noticed how some people who awaken their bloodlines are weaker than others and some have different traits."


    I nodded to show that I had understood, allowing I haven''t really seen any of what he was saying, at least not yet.


    "Well, every person will be born with their bloodline being of a certain purity. The pureier your bloodline, the stronger the awakening of it will make you. So this will allow that person to awaken more traits of the dragon that blessed their ancestor with their bloodline. Oh, also just so you know, the so called great clans were decided from one of the strongest dragons and the person who was first blessed will have the purest bloodline, which should be impossible to be seen again. But you have that purity."


    All of what he said confused me alot. How could someone''s blood hold so many secrets and power, not only that, why has no one said anything about bloodline purity before. It is not like they don''t know about it. They must know, right?


    I suddenly felt the realm shake a bit. The spirit looked up and the sky.


    "It seems you are waking up. Time for you to go. I don''t know how you got in here, but be careful. Not everyone you have met, is who they seem to be."


    With that worrying warning from the spirit, my vision went black, before I woke in a bed, in what seemed like a hospital room.


    A doctor seeing my eyes open, smiled at me slightly. He came over at pulled a chair up, sitting next to me.


    "It is good to see you awake again, the first time, I have no idea how you managed to wake yourself up but you looked around and seemed to focus on something before blacking out again. Well looking at the symptoms, it seems like you collapsed due to losing control of your mana and undergoing what is called mana overflow."


    Listening to what the doctor said, there was one thing that confused me. I clearly heard a voice talking to me, before that light appeared and caused me to blackout again.


    "Docter, are you sure that there was no one, who spoke to me when I came to. I clearly remember seeing a light, I think it was a red light like fire as well as hearing this voice which at the time was really loud."


    The doctor looked at me concerned, then who picked up some instruments before, using them to check a few things.


    "Well this is confusing, what you are describing is like the voices said to have been heard by other patients but they all share one symptom, which you do not clearly have. As well as this vision. None of the other patients have had them before. This is confusing. Very confusing indeed."


    ''So if there was no one here, what was that? He said that other people have heard voices before but have had no visions. Wait, could my sudden increase in the purity of my bloodline be related to this. If it is, what kind of being could do something without being detected at all.''


    The doctor then carried on, after being quiet for a few minutes, seemingly thinking about what I had told him.


    "Well your body seems to be recovered so I see no reason keeping you here any longer. There will be someone who will come by soon to teleport you to where you need to be."


    Not long after he left, a man who appeared to be a mage walked in. The mage was wearing long robes, but there was no simple to show which of the mage towers he was part of. Just a purple rim around the edges of his robes.


    Walking up to me, he grabbed my arm without saying a word. Then I heard him mutter a long drawn out spell as well as drawing something into the air. After a few minutes of him doing this, we vanished.


    When I could see again, I was back in the training room, where I had blacked out. The mage disappeared again after doing what he had done before.


    This left me alone in the room, which was much darker than the last time I was in this room. Looking out of the window, I could see the night sky but nothing else. It seemed like there was something blurring my vision of the land. I guess they wanted to keep the location of the academy secret.


    I could hear some footsteps coming from one of the hallways, it was a repetitive sound. Each step was perfectly timed after each other to make it sound like the person was taking the exact same time to step every time.


    I saw the same ranger who I first met when I arrived at the academy. Seeing me by the window, he walked over.


    "The view is beautiful isn''t it. Nothing else but the endless expanse of darkness. Well, you better go back to your dorm room. Just don''t push yourself like that again. Oh and well done for landing a hit on that dummy. I haven''t seen anyone do that in a long time at least not at the level you are now."


    He walked off again.


    Thinking about what he said I realised that he must have been there for the whole time, watching us.

 41 A Fight Among Comrades Part I

    I slowly went through the dark hallways, back to the dorm room. When I arrived it was much how I had left it. The only difference was that it seemed cleaner than before and there were some water marks on the floor, where something had been mopped recently. Walking other to the bed I had, I sat down on it. As I did, there was a massive creak.


    ''This wasn''t here before.''


    Looking under the mattress, I noticed that most of the slats had been taken out. This is why it creaked, the slats could barely support my weight. I heard some steps come down the hallway, then the door opening, though it was well oiled, if it didn''t hit the wall, I wouldn''t have noticed that it opened.


    Looking over at the door. I saw the other nine all walk in, chatting among themselves. Seeing me they all smiled, but when they noticed that my mattress was up so that I could see the slats. Their smiles turned into nervous expressions.


    "So was it all of you, who have been stealing the slats from my bed? Or was it only one, but the others new? Or was it none of you have stolen it and they just randomly have disappeared."


    They all were moving from foot to foot, looking at each other, their eyes urging each other to speak. It was rather comical to watch. They all knew what happened, but none of them seemed like they wanted to say it. We were like that for a few minutes, me looking at them and them looking around at each other nervously.


    "Are one of you going to answer me or are we going to stand here all day?"


    I was starting to get annoyed, why can''t they just answer me?


    Seeing my face, it was Usha who took a step forward and spoke up.


    "Well you see Adoh, we were told that wood for the fire had to be provided by us, so as you were not here, we used the wooden slats as firewood."


    ''Her explanation did make sense, but well the hell did they not use any of the others bed slats, why only mine.''


    As I was thinking this, I glanced at their bed''s. Seeing where I was looking Usha spoke up. "To be honest, we were told that you would not be back for months. What happened to you should have apparently taken you out completely. We only found out that you were coming back and were well today."


    "Wait Usha, did you just say that I was meant to be out for months, but the doctor didn''t say anything about that. I just assumed that I recovered normally. Anyway, I guess that I understand your reasons, but as I am back, how will you be replacing the slats that at least have to have?"


    They all looked relieved when I said that I understood why they had used my slats, but upon hearing the last part of my sentence their eyes all turned to each other, looking carefully. Then they all except Usha herself, turned and looked at Usha.


    "Our spokesperson would be happy, we are all sure!"


    ''What has happened to these people, not even talking and just chucking one of them out and sacrificing her. I know, this will show them.''


    "I see, so all of you eight will give slats to me and Usha. I got it."


    Their smirking faces froze when I said that.


    "Adoh, are you sure that''s what you mean. We just said we were giving Usha''s bed''s slats to you and you want us to give ours to the two of you. Adoh, there is only one of you and seven of us. We are not going that far for just you." This was all said by Belegorn.


    I looked at him for a moment. Then I snapped.


    "How dare you! I am a sergeant. You are a legionnaire. If I say something you will obey. If you have a problem, register your complaints with a senior officer. Oh yeah, we don''t have one currently. So Legionnaire Belegorn. Obey your orders!"


    He looked at me and walked off. As he left the doorway. He looked back and yelled. "Come on then sergeant. Let''s show us what you are made of."


    I looked at them all for a second, and then sighed.


    ''Why do they have to have to fight me? I guess I can see at least how much they have progressed.''


    I followed them out and down to the training room. Walking over to the weapon rack, I picked out a long sword, just like the one I used before to fight the dummy. I turned back to look at them. Belegorn was using a glaive, Orodreath a great sword, Herawine was using a bow, Thenel was using two axes, Gram a sword like me but he had a shield, Halstein was using a spear and finally Oswold had some kind of gauntlet on as it seemed like he would be fighting hand to hand.


    Once it liked I was ready, then took a basic formation. Oswald and Gram were at the front. Thenel was on the left side and Orodreath was on the right. Belegorn and Halstein were behind the two at the front and finally Herawine was at the back.


    "Are you all sure you want to do this?"


    What I got in response was an arrow heading to my face. Jumping to the side to avoid, I saw them all moving for me. It looked like they were going to try and envelope me. Then attack me from all sides.


    ''This looks like it will be fun. I need to remove Herawine first. His arrows are going to be a problem. So if I cut past Orodreath, that sword looks like it will be slow to use.''


    Just as I thought of a plan, I moved, heading straight for Orodreath. He swung his sword down at me, much quicker than I thought he would. It will still be dogable. I just took a slight step inside so that I was closer to him. As I snuck past, I aimed a stab to his head, which hit with a massive thump. He then collapsed to the floor.


    I carried on straight for Herawain who had now in this couple of second exchange loaded another arrow and shot it towards me. To avoid it, I rolled forwards. It landed behind me somewhere. I got up from the roll as quickly as I could. Dashing forwards to knock out Herawine. I managed to avoid the others, though a spear stabbed out at me, which would have impaled me if not for me smashing it down to the ground.


    Once I had gotten past this, there was an arrow nearly in my face. At that moment it felt like my blood was heating up again. In a bust of speed I managed to just avoid the arrow and reach Herawine, smashing his face with my free hand. This caused him to crumple down to the floor.


    Turning around, they were all looking at me astounded at the move I had just managed to pull off. Then seeing that their comrades were not getting up, their face hardened. They then came at me again. This time though the two polearm users were in front with Thengal giving support. The other two were going round to attack on my flanks by the look of it.

 42 A Fight Among Comrades Part II

    They redacted quickly, with a thrust of the spear and the glavie chopping down towards me. As I had the spell casted though, I was going much quicker than they anticipated so both of their attacks missed, but only by a hair''s breadth, I felt the wind coming off of their attacks, messing with my hair.


    ''Damm, that was close. On a hit from any of them, I will be out cold, I can''t afford that, not with them doubting my strength, the arrogant bastards. The glaive looks especially nasty though, I better avoid getting hit by it.''


    I focus back on the fight. The two in the back, had while I was thinking began to rush up to me, at the moment they were just passing Belegorn and Halstein. As they passed I saw the two polearm users tense slightly, which is odd. It was like they didn''t trust each other, in my head I thought they would have, especially considering they all chose to fight me as one.


    Seeing that if I continued to go forward, I would be meeting four people instead of two, I jumped to the side, to avoid what would be a certain loss for me. Landing I rolled to avoid the glavie smashing into the ground where I would have been if I didn''t move.


    "That was close."


    Hearing my muttering, a smile formed on Belegorn''s face. The glaive that was on the floor, was then shoved along towards me. The tip of it is looking to stab into me. Seeing this I hurriedly moved from where I was, being forced further and further back. After about thirty steps, I smiled.


    "You are a bit far from your team aren''t you now?"


    He froze then he looked back. In the second that he did, I moved. My sword left behind images as it moved. I dealt to quick but light slashes to his chest, before a heavy stab right into the spot that the slashes met. This caused him to stumble back, but not knock him down and out.


    Frowning slightly as that combination should have finished him off, I moved forwards being careful of his glavie which was moving around erratically as he was going back. I couldn''t be too careful though, as I wanted to finish him before he had help arrive.


    Getting in close to him, while ducking under a blow from the glaive, I pushed him with my shoulder, sending him smashing to the floor. As he was down, I finished him with a chop, onto his temple. The blow was so strong, it caused him to start to bleed, but did the trick and knocked him out.


    ''I would be sorry, but damn you all. You are making this so hard for me.''


    By the time I had finished him off, Oswald had caught up and arrived. Taking a seemingly basic stance. He sent out two jabs to my face. They were quick. Really quick. I didn''t even have a chance to react and was forced to take them head on.


    The blows were hard. It left my head ringing a bit and I could feel, blood dripping down my face. This angered me.


    "How dare you! You damn bastard! All of you are! I will destroy you!"


    My body felt like it was an inferno. My blood especially. It was like it was boiling. A similar thing had happened to me before. This time it was worse and I lost complete control of my body. Not complete control, more like I knew what I was doing but was being influenced to fight harder. To kill.


    The feeling slowly taking control, had a mind of its own. A style of fighting of its own. I casted lots of spells seamlessly, putting my body in a full state of enhancement, then my weapon, this way I would be now, putting out my full power.


    Then I saw some words in my head and muttered them, not that I had any idea what it meant. All I felt was the feeling in my body cool, then the feeling the heat, it exploded. My whole body felt like it was on fire.


    As my eyes looked around, I saw a reflection in the window. My eyes had gone red. Not like normal red. They crimson red. The colour of blood . I then focused on Oswald. I smashed his head with the pommel of my sword. He went down, but as he was going I landed a kick straight into his abdomen, this led to him coughing blood.


    Then, I moved over him. Slowly advancing forward watching the three remaining fighters. Thenel,Gram and Halstein. They had formed up, so that Gram was in the centre and the others scattered around him, but they were close together and didn''t seem willing to move for me now.


    I moved around them trying to find a weak spot, but as I did, they roasted so I was always seeing the same thing. That only left me one option, to charge at them.


    So I did. I sprinted stargt for Gram, preparing to stab into his shield. Seeing me coming, he prepared a block. Almost completely hiding behind the tower shield that was in his hand. As I reached him, stead of stabbing him like I had made out that I would, I used his shield as a step and valued over them all, landing behind Halstein. As I landed I swang round, with my sword slashing as I did. Supported from the moment of my rapid turning, the sword smashed into his side.


    This wounded him, then I followed this up with multiple slashes. All I could see was after images, not even I knew how many times aty slashed at him before he collapsed. I had heard multiple cracks though, so I had probably broken multiple of his bones in the process.


    This only took a few seconds to occur. In that time, no one had reacted to what I did. As Halstein collapsed I grabbed his spear with my empty hand. Using it, I stabbed into Grams back, pushing him away from the others. Running after him, I brandished my swords a few times. This ended with him collapsing to the floor out cold.


    Finally I stopped and turned around, to the remaining opponent, Thengal and his two axes.


    Thengal face was ashen, he had just worsened me destroy the other two in mere seconds. To my surprise, he started to cast multiple spells, enhancing himself like I had done. But he stopped short of enhancing his weapons, so in terms of magic I had a slight advantage still. Now though, the gap that was between us had been greatly reduced.


    We rushed at each other at the same time. Using the advantage of range that my sword gave me, I tried to keep out of his attack range by mainly using stabs only getting occansialy getting in closer, when I saw an opening for a quick slash. But to my announcement he used his axes effictly blocking my attacks and more often than not, would use the advantage of him having two weapons and would launch a slash to me, with the free axe he had.


    We had seemingly entered a stalemate, which for me was bad, as I knew from experience that I could only keep up this spell for so long and once I had dispelled it, I would be at a serious disadvantage.


    To my surprise though, Thengal went on the offensive. He came at me and at the same time he threw the axe his left hand at me. This forced me to dodge as we were so close, I would have no time to move to block the attack.


    By the time I had recovered from the dodge he was on me. His axe slashing wildly all over. There was no structure, no technique to his axe blow, they were random and all over. Some people would say that this would make it easier to fight against. But it definitely wasn''t. His axe blows were coming in so quickly, that I had no chance at all to look where to attack, let alone attack. All I could do for now was focus on doging all of his strikes and avoid losing.


    Feeling that my mind was starting to ache, I realised that the time for me to stop casting the spell was here. At that moment I thought of one last idea that could win me the fight.


    I dropped my sword making me a bit quicker, then after dodging his next blow, I jumped at him. Dispelling the enhancement spells I had casted. This caused me to slow down a little bit, but not by much as I was already in the air and the momentum I had couldn''t be stopped.


    He wasn''t able to react at all as I hoped. So I was able to tackle him to the ground unhindered. Ending up on top of him. I got up quickly, smashing his face with my fist over and over, so that he had no chance to recover and win. I didn''t stop at all, not even when his face was bloodied and nose most certainly broken. What called me out of my rampage, was being smashed on the back of my head with something.


    Looking back, I saw that it was Usha. She had hit me with a sword on the back of my head. Her face was mortified. All I could see was fear.


    "Adoh. What have you done? Stop! You are killing him!"


    Her words caused that influence over me to vanish as if it was never there. I looked around at their bodies. All of them.


    "Oh Gods! What have I done?"

 43 A Civil War?

    I couldn''t believe it. I had beaten them all so badly. Thengal''s face. Well it didn''t even look like a face anymore. It was just a bloody mess. My hands as well. They are covered in blood. I slowly got to my feet, nearly falling down at one more point. Once I was on my feet completely, still shaking and feeling complete and utter despair. I heard someone clapping.


    My eyes instantly focused onto the noise. All I could see was the darkness of the hallway. But as the clapping got louder an old man walked into the room. He was wearing what seemed like normal robes, but on them I could see the occasional flicker of runes appear on the clothes. As well as that once he entered the hall, a pressure fell down onto me though I could tell that he wasn''t doing it intentionally. It was just a natural pressure he was producing.


    As he walked in, I also noticed that the ranger who was in charge of overseeing us was with him, but was standing back and every time his gaze landed on the old man, it was filled with a kind of reverence and fervour that I have never seen before. I then looked back at the old man.


    ''He must be really strong, for that kind of look from the ranger.''


    Then what was more surprising, was Erebus who appeared seemingly by melting out of the shadows, like he was a part of the shadows themselves. What was even more surprising was that he too, fell in behind the old man.


    ''Just who is he?''


    He walked straight through the room, his eyes never leaving mine. As he got closer to me, the pressure he was releasing was slowly getting stronger but this was only due to him being the source of it so the closer he is to me, the stronger the pressure will be.


    Once he stood in front of me, the pressure itself disappeared as if it was never there at all. A let out of a breath, it was at that moment I realised that I had not really been breathing. A layed there panting like a dog for a few minutes. Once I was breathing normally, I slowly got to my feet. Standing in front of the man, all of the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as well as all of my senses were screaming at me to run. This man is dangerous.


    After what seemed like an entirety of silence the man finally spoke. His voice was gravely and firm, which was in stark contrast to his appearance.


    "So, you are the one I have been hearing so much about. Looking around it seems like there was a good reason for that. Come on now, get up. Come walk with me, we have much to talk about."


    I looked around at the others, their bloody bodies. Seeing me look at them, the old man had a slight smile on his face.


    "Don''t worry about them, they will be fine. I will have these to others here to see their injuries. Now come on then, these bones of mine won''t last forever you know."


    He walked off towards the glass, which I had looked out of before. Arriving in front of it he muttered something and drew something into the air. Once he was finished, a white, glowing writing appeared in the air. It then imprinted itself onto the glass. Where it imprinted itself a doorway appeared in the glass, stunning me.


    The old man walked on through the opening. He stopped a few minutes in, then turned back to look at me. "Are you coming or would you like to become a skeleton before we talk."


    Sensing the annoyance in his voice, I stopped staring in astonishment and hurried after him. Once I was through the doorway, it sealed behind us. Contrary to my expectations, instead of becoming pitch black, the passage which we were now in, was well lit up.


    It seemed like this was done with a series of lambs but on each lap there were a large number of different runes inscribed onto them.


    After letting me gawk off for a moment, the old man began to walk down the passageway. The passage itself was made of what seemed to be a solid stone. The stone itself was black, it was so well cleaned that I could see a reflection of myself in it. The roof at the walls were the exact same except for the lamps on the wall.


    "So you seem to be strong, at least strong enough to beat the hell out of all of them back there. So tell me, what do you know about the fall of the imperium?"


    "The fall?", I mutter more to myse;f than to him.


    "Yes, the fall. I won''t repeat myself."


    "The imperium fell, due to a portal to the underrealm opening in the capital of the Imperium. The holy city of Ymountin. Then demons emerged destroying the capital and the Imperium collapsed not long after and was overrun by demons."


    The old man looked at me, then he started laughing and laughing. After a few minutes he stopped, then looked towards me and started laughing again. This repeated for a little while, by the time he stopped completely, I was astonished at how long someone could laugh.


    "The Imperium fell because it was in the middle of a civil war. The demons had no opposition when they emerged. It was a slaughter or so the books and records say. That''s why I was laughing. If there was no civil war the Imperium would have annihilated the demons the moment they left their portals. Unfortunately that was not the case and you know the outcome."


    What he told me surprised me alot. In all of the records and the lessons I had been taught there was never any record of a civil war occurring in the Imperium at all. Not even the trace of one, in fact there was never any record of any major problem in the Imperium which as I know think about it, does seem rather stupid of me to belive that there was never any problems at all.


    As we carried on down the hallway, there were multiple pictures and carvings on the walls. Each depicting many scenes. From massive battles, to people who I assume are kings sitting on their thrones. There were also images of dragons and weapons. As we got to the end of the hallway. We entered a chamber as I looked around, all I could see was a massive picture.


    It seemed to be depicting some kind of battle. There were two sides one in red and the other in blue, the most notable thing about the battle was a massive black spire in the background. There was also someone leading the red soldiers, his sword was covered in blood and behind the red troops followed him as if he was the leader.


    ''Isn''t this the battle which I fought in that trial. That would mean I was that person¡­. What is this battle?''


    Seeing me looking at the picture, the old man chuckled. "This is the battle of black spire. The man leading the red troops is the first man to awaken part of his bloodline on his own. He would later become the traitor of the blades of vengeance. They were dragon slayers."


    After saying that he walked off through the door, out of this chamber. Leaving me alone. Looking around one more time, I followed him out.

 44 An Altar

    As I neared the doors into the next chamber I noticed that they were different to any door I had ever seen. They were made out of the same black material that the hallway behind me had used but the door itself was covered in carvings.


    The cravings seemed to depict a scene of someone who fought dragons and seemed to kill them, then absorbed something from them. As it went on, the person seemed to change and stopped killing the dragons and instead began to help them. In the end it showed the figure leading a load of people through what looked like a kind of portal.


    Finally getting through the door, I entered a massive chamber, which was at least five times the size of the previous one. Though unlike the artistic drawings in the previous chamber this one seemed to be empty.


    Looking around, I quickly walked over to the old man. Who was standing in front of an altar. The altar itself was made of.the same material as everything else I had seen. It was a small carving of a dragon, this dragon was chained up. There seemed to be something dripping down from its neck. Following the dripping liquid I noticed a blow l where it would have the floor. In that bowl was a black liquid.


    The old man seemed to be waiting for something. After a few more seconds, the eyes of this dragon lit up. They were a pale grey colour though. The liquid that had been coming out of the altar turned the same pale grey as well.


    "Adoh, I am about to offer you a choice. You may take the bowl and drink the liquid and join the knight order of the shadows. Alternatively you may leave and you will forget everything you have seen and become an ordinary ranger. This decision is up to you. I will be waiting outside." After he finished what he had to say. He turned around and left the room. With a massive boom. The doors closed after him, leaving me alone with this grey liquid.


    I looked at the liquid for a few minutes. The colour seemed so bright in contrast to the rest of the room. Making it seem like it was glowing.


    ''Do I drink this or not. They are obviously strong or at least well respected. They must have a strong connection with the rangers as well. In terms of combat power, the old man, I don''t know much about, but he feels dangerous and Erebus well he is definitely strong. The old man at least seems to know a lot and the aura ability. What I don''t know about them is a lot. It could be a cult. I might as well. I can always try to escape later on.''


    Bending down, as I grabbed the bowl so that I could drink the liquid. The liquid flowing out of the altar stopped. Seeing this I froze for a second before carrying on. I then brought it fo my lips and drank all of the liquid in one go. Feeling nothing happening I put the bowl back.


    After I had done that, the pale grey eyes began to glow even brighter. I then felt my body cool down abruptly. I felt like I was frozen. After a few minutes I warmed back up and felt normal. Looking around nothing had changed and after inspecting my body I had not changed as well.


    Then I heard the noise of the door opening. Looking back I saw the old man walking towards me. Smiling. "I think you made a great choice. Follow me now adept. It''s time for you to truly meet the order."


    I followed him off into the dark, it turned out that there were more corridors and chambers. We walked through so many, I couldn''t count them all. By the time we stopped I was in what looked like a kitchen.


    "What are you looking at? Food will not cook itself you know. You will need to eat where you are going. The tower''s are wondrous places but deadly. The competition there is nasty."


    I went to work getting some food and cutting it up. Then cooked it quickly. It didn''t take me long to produce two sizzling meals.


    I sat down with the old man, giving him.the portion of food I had made him. He took a few bites before looking at me in surprise. "You are a good cook." He said, astonished. As a reward I will give you a little tip. "The towers are places to learn magic. They are also a place of knowledge. Use the libraries they have. Learn about the past and the world. It will be more useful to you than you know."


    Once I had finished my food. I went into one of the rooms connecting to the kitchen. In it were some fine clothes to wear and a bed. There was also an area to clean myself up.


    After cleaning myself fully as I couldn''t remember the last time I had a wash. I hoped to go to bed. Falling asleep quickly.


    The next morning I had a quick wash and then got changed into the fine clothes that had been left out for me. Once I was ready I left the room and had a little bite to eat before following the old man off again.


    This time I was led out of the mountain which was where the training camp was located. Here they were just a stable, in it were a few horses near an immaculately crafted carriage. Going near it, I noticed numerous carvings of dragons as well as magic scenes of fire and frost being used in battles between mages.


    I looked once more at the old man, who scolded me, telling me to get into the carriage and be on my way to the tower. In his words, "You have a lot to learn."


    The carriage inside was just as luxuries as the outside. It had a dark oak wood which made up most of the frame. The cushions and pillows were covered in a black fabric which felt like silk. Sitting down inside of it, I felt as if I was royalty. The old man stood at the door and I thought I saw a smile as I turned to look at him, if I did though it disappeared as fast as it appeared. He muttered good luck as he closed the door and sent me off.


    The carriage itself had no driver and the horses seemed to know where they were going so I layed back and enjoyed the comfort of the journey. Due to there being no windows I couldn''t see outside though, the only source of light I had was a lamb, which seemed to be powered magically.


    The ride itself was about a couple of hours long. I was starting to go a bit bored until I heard a yell to open a gate. Following that I had the rattle of chains and a creaking noise as this gate I assumed was opened. A few minutes later the carriage stopped, knowing it was time for me to get off I moved towards the door.

 45 The Mage Tower

    As I reached the door I heard the voice of the sword spirit in my head.


    "You are not going to leave me in this carriage are you?"


    Turning around again, I saw the sword hidden away into a side compartment, obviously someone had gotten it for me and moved it here.


    ''I am glad someone moved this for me, if they didn''t I probalb;y would have ended up leaving it back at the rangers training area.''


    Once I had the sword, I turned around and left the carriage. Once I was outside of it on the cobelled ground, I was gobsmacked. All I could see was a massive tower, leading up into the sky. It had multiple different colours. Some of these were black , white, silver, bronze and there were so many more. I couldn''t even see the top of the tower as it passed through the clouds and continued to rise up.


    Around the tower though, it wasn''t empty. It was far from it. There were tens of massive halls, each looking completely different. Coming in and out of them were hundreds if not thousands of people all in the mages robes. Surrounding these halls, were multiple smaller buildings, these all looked similar but each one had a small difference.


    Not only that there were lots of open spaced area''s, some of which were covered in greeny and seemed really peaceful others seemed barren and plain. But on them I could see people casting spell after spell, each one dealing lots of damage to the ground before the ground healed itself.I then heard the sound of a voie coughing behind me. I quickly turned around, surprised that I didn''t even notice the presence of the person being there.


    The person in question was Lars.


    "Lars, is that you?"


    The person I called Lars frowned for a second as he peered closer to my face, then he stepped back as his face lit up.


    "Adoh, is that really you? I didn''t recognise you at first. You look so different and that carriage is special to say the least. We can catch up later hopefully. I got to get you registered. So could you follow me."


    I followed him into one of the smaller buildings near to the gate. The gate itself seemed and looked ordinary, except for all of the runes carving all of it. This reminded me I was in a different world now. Not the world of the army, but the world of magic, the world of the mages. Around the gate were knights. They were covered head to toe in heavy plate armour, all of them were using short swords and shields. The only way to differentiate them were the different coloured plumes coming out of the top of their helmets.


    After entering the building for my registration. I noticed loads of different tools around the room, each one was emitting runes almost as if the runes were constantly activating and being drawn into the air, like I had seen the old man do, when he opened up the hidden passageway. Walking up to the desk, Lars greeted the mage who was behind the desk. The mage looked at me after him and Lars had finished speaking.


    "I am Master Zohaifa, the master of the element of lightning. You can just call me Zohaifa."


    Master Zohaifa looked different to everyone else I had seen so far. His skin was much darker, not only that though. His eyes were drastically different, his eyes were blue. As I looked at them briefly I thought I was looking at a bolt of lightning. It made all of the hairs of my body stand up.


    He walked over to one of the devices on the side of the wall. He indicated for me to walk up to it. The device itself was a bronze colour and was shaped like a massive staff. Apart from that it had a small crystal which I would have to put my hands on to, then it had two crystals put embedded into the shaft and at the tip of it, there was a bigger crystal embedded there.


    Touching the crystal as I had been instructed to do, the whole thing lit up. There were a myriad of colours that appeared. The first was a bright red colour, then a pale grey and finally the last colour which appeared in the crystal at the top was a mixture of the red and grey and emitted an aura that reminded me of the destruction on the battlefield. As each of the colours appeared I saw, the Master mage noted down each one that was except for the last colour though. He just looked at it and did nothing else.


    Next he moved me over to another device, this one was much smaller than the other one. But there was still a staff and a cysta in it for my hands and a bigger crystal at the tip of the staff. Like the previous staff I put my hands into the crystal, which lit up, flying through various different colours before stopping at a bronze colour. He wrote that down as well.


    Then he looked up at my face. "So looking at your eyes you must be a part of one of the great clans, could you please tell me which one?"


    I froze for a couple of seconds before looking down feeling slightly ashamed. "I am not from any of them, I am one of the forgotten." After I said that he looked up at me, with a hint of pity in them, but as I looked at him, I worked out quickly that pity was not for me.


    "Well, those clan basterds will be sorry, they are missing a talent such as yours." He then chuckled to himself for a few minutes, when he stopped he looked at me again. "You have a high affinity for fire and death. Your perception, which is how we measure your talent is at the bronze rank. So you know the highest is gold the lowest is white. You have the third strongest perception possible. You will have a strong future. Remember though your affinity just means you will have an easier time using those sort of spells, you can still use any element you wish."


    After he finished speaking, he looked at Lars and told him to take me to the hall of elements.


    Just as I was about to leave I turned and looked at the Master. "What was the last colour that appeared, what does it mean? It reminded me of the battlefield."


    As he looked up at me, he sighed. "Honestly, I wish I could tell you. But I as well as everyone else have no idea what it means at all. All I know is that it has some link with Qi and that is it."


    Lars led me out of the building after that, and began to lead me to the grandest looming of all of the different halls. "I am amazed, Adoh currently you have the sixth highest perception of all of the apprentices here. I don''t think you know, but that is amazing. Even if your affinities are impressive, fire is fairly common here due to the dragonblood lines that everyone has, but the affinity for death is rare. I wonder how you have it. Your ancestors must have been interesting. The only way for affinities to appear is generally to bloodlines or a blessing and I doubt you have been blessed by death."


    He began to go on, like he did back in the carriage when I was heading to meet my uncle. I smiled slightly as I looked around. ''It is so different here compared to the army, it seems so peaceful.''


    It didn''t take long before we arrived in front one of the halls, Lars told me to wait where I was as he went to find someone. A few minutes later I saw him coming back with another person. This person stood in front of me for a minute before walking off into the hall. Lars told me to follow him. As I got near to the hall, I could feel the mana radiating off of it, even without trying to sense it.


    As we arrived in front of the doors, the man I had to follow walked in, I followed him in, then I was shrouded in darkness.

 46 Breaking out of the Illusion

    I looked around everywhere. All I could see was the darkness that had suddenly covered me up. I walked in one direction for a while. After around five minutes of walking, the darkness was still present.


    "What the hell is this?" I muttered angrily.


    After realising that nothing I was doing was helping, I just sat down on the ground. At least I think it is the ground. I can''t see anything at all, not even my own hand in front of my face.


    With nothing else to do, I started to use the breathing technique I have been taught and began to try and sense the mana in the air. It didn''t take me long at all, as I have been practicing every spare minute I have gotten.


    In this state I could sense that the mana in one direction was really thin and in another it was really thick, though I couldn''t tell what sort it was.


    ''Maybe if I head into the thinner area I will be able to find the way out. The thickest area should be the core of whatever this is.''


    Standing up, I began to walk in the direction of where the mana was thinnest. After walking in that direction for about ten minutes I noticed no change at all. Frowning. I checked to see if I had turned off in a different direction.


    It turned out I had, though I didn''t think I did. Making sure I was going in the right direction, I headed off. Like before around ten minutes in, I checked the mana to see but found that I had turned again.


    ''This is odd, I definitely am going in the right direction. I might as well go to the centre then. If I can get there that is.''


    This time I set off to where the mana density was the highest. After around four minutes of walking, there was a change around me. In the darkness there was slight flickering of runes appearing on the ground before they disappeared some seconds later.


    After watching the runes appear and disappear, I noticed that they were all appearing in a circle around a small area. I stepped into that area but nothing happened.


    I stood there for a minute, trying to remember anything I knew about runes. After thinking about it, I realised that I knew nothing at all.


    ''I guess I could try hitting the floor.''


    I took the sword out. Enhancing it as I went. Holding it with both hands and the point aiming to the floor. I stabbed into the ground. As I did, I heard a crack and the darkness around me faded to reveal a massive well lit hall.


    Only once all of the darkness was gone did I take my sword out of the ground and return it to its scabbard.


    Looking around, I could see lots of people wandering around and somewhere sitting down. They were all in a drawn out circle. Looking down I saw the same circle around me.


    ''They must be in a similar illusion as was in.''


    I then heard some clapping from behind me. Turning around I saw a group of people. At a quick count, I made this group at least sixty people. Though I only recognised Master Zophia in that group.


    The person clapping looked far more important than the others; he also looked much older and had a long grey flowing beard. His robes were long and were rubbing over the floor.


    "As explained by someone with your potential, you completed the test in a much quicker time compared to your peers and they started well before you. Anyway I am the Arch Mage of this tower. I formally welcome you Adoh as the first of the four thousandth and nine hundred and eighth patch of disciples."


    After the Arch Mage finished his seemingly scripted speech. He went quiet and focused on the others taking their test. I was left standing there awkwardly. Until one of the Master''s stood up and indicated for me to follow her.


    I quickly left, the circle I was in and entered the hallway with the Master mage. She had black hair and was pale but her cheeks had a rosy glint to them.


    "I heard you have an affinity with darkness. Is that right? Please say yes! I really want to teach someone about it. No one ever wants to learn. So please say yes. Please."


    I froze for a minute. A master mage was begging me to say that I had an affinity to teach me! It should have been the other way around.


    "Umm, yeah I do have that affinity."


    Hearing my reply a massive smile emerged on her face and she gave me a massive hug, her whole body pressing against mine.


    After hugging me and letting out squealing noises for a few minutes, she let go. "Well then you will meet me here tomorrow morning, don''t mention what happened. Good day to you disciple."


    She then left and took her stand on the stands again. Leaving me in the hallway.


    I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes. Before entering the hall again and waiting to the side, to see who breaks out of the illusion next.


    I wasn''t waiting for long. Eight people broke it almost simultaneously. The arch mage gave the exact same speech, except for a change in name and the place they achieved. All of which got second as they finished at the same time.


    Much like me they stood there awkwardly through a few moments later more and more people began to break out. It didn''t take much longer for everyone else to finish breaking out their illusions.


    "Well, lots of good potential I see, I hereby invite you all to the welcoming feast later on tonight, now you are all dismissed. Please follow the relevant people to your quarters. Thank you."


    Then people appeared all around the room. As they did, the various displaces like me went to a certain person, some of the newer people had up to ten people around and others only had one. Looking at all of the people who had appeared, I quickly worked out that I didn''t recognise anyone at all.


    I looked around again, in the corner I noticed one person with no one around them at all. That person was staring straight at me, in fact the stare was so intense I would have thought that he could see into my soul if I didn''t know any better. I hurriedly walked over to him, it only took me a few minutes to cross the whole of the hall.


    As I arrived next to him, he didn''t stay anything at all. He just stood there looking at me. I just took it as silent approval. I remained quiet. Then with a wave of his hand the arch ,age teleported us all outside.


    Only then, did the person I was with talk to me.


    "Follow me."


    After that he briskly walked off towards a load of one story buildings. Following him, it didn''t take us long to arrive at what was a rather reserved location. The building itself looked old, but was well decorated and well kept. He led me up to the door, then making sure I arrived and knew how to get in he left.

 47 The Feas

    After he left, I imbued the door with mana like he told me how to do. It is very similar, virtually the same in fact, to enhancing objects with mana. So it didn''t take me long to do it. Once I had, there was a soft click and the door opened itself for me.


    Inside was fairly basic. There was the main room which I was in currently. There was also a room with a bed and a cupboard to store my clothes. The only other room was a bathroom. The house was all fully furnished but the main room itself was empty except for a mat on the floor and a small, low table in front of it.


    After looking around the house fully, I quickly found myself bored and with nothing to do. I cleaned myself up for the feast later on. Then I put on some fresh clothes. These were fairly plain but had the badge of the tower on the front and under that badge was a small star.


    Once I was ready to go, I looked around and noticed that I still had nothing to do akd had around an hour left until I would have to go. Looking around, I went over to the mat and sat down on it. I then began to practice sensing the mana around me. Just about as I was going to fall into a sort of trance I heard a knocking on the door.


    Shaking my head as I stood up, I noticed the time¡­.An hour had already gone by.


    ''But it only felt like a few minutes.''


    I walked to the door, opening it I found the person who took me to the house standing outside. Bewas pacing back and forth. When he saw me open the door. The frown that was on his began to disappear.


    "Finally, now come on, I don''t want to waste my day." Then he turned around and walked without waiting for me to explain.


    I quickly hurried after him as if I lost him, I doubt that I would be able to find my way in this maze. Once he caught up, he looked back only for a second before speeding up even more. At this point I was nearly running so that I could keep up with him.


    A few minutes went by and before I knew it. We were in front of a massive hall. There were thousands of people hanging around outside the hall. All of them in different coloured clothing and fancy robes.


    I heard the other mage who had led me here let out a sigh. He turned to me. "You go into the hall. Someone will direct you to where you need to be."


    Doing as he said, I walked up to and into the hall. Once inside I saw hundreds of long tables each with two long benches on both sides so that people could sit down.


    As I saw in the hallway. I was noticed by a few people, one of whom was the master mage who begged me to.be her student. Seeing me there, she walked over with a little smile on her face. As she got closer she began to speak, her voice echoing around the hall.


    "Adoh, would you like to become my personal disciple. Learn my path and study the element of darkness."


    By the time she was finished, she was standing right in front of me. The rest of the hall went silent and everyone was looking at us. Honesty, I was surprised. I did not expect this at all.


    "I do and would follow you. My master."


    When I finished, her smile became even broader.


    She then lent in and whispered into my ear."You will enjoy your lessons and I mean really enjoy."


    After that she gave me a little.smile before walking back to her seat and showing me where I will be sitting.


    Looking around the table, I noticed that the few people that were sitting down already were all giving me dirty looks and some were just interested. Not one of them though wished to speak with me. Slowly seemed to be moving away from me as well.


    I decided to ignore them and just let my gaze wander around the hall. Above me was an illusion. This one though was a starry sky and was beautiful.


    The rest of the hall.was decorated in massive banners each with different shapes on and different colours. Apart from all of that though the hall was fairly plain as it was just white stone. Though it was a pristine white.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The Arch mage smashed his stave that was in his hand to.the ground to get everyone''s attention. Looking around at all of the new mages he smiled and announced the official beginning of the feast. As he did the door opened and all of the mages waiting around outside, came in and took a seat.


    Once everyone was seated, food appeared in front of us all on varying different platters. Once they did, I could hear lots of oohs and ahhs. Going around, before the hall erupted into a noisy mess.


    I began to grab some food before giving it a little taste, it turned out that it was delicious. Without pausing for a second, I proceeded to eat and eat, barely stopping as I wanted to eat as much of this food as could.


    Meanwhile as I was indulging my appetite. Some people had appeared behind me. I carried on eating, but slowly over time I noticed them there and there were more people beginning to join them.


    "Do you like watching people eat their food? You do not like to harass my food are you?"


    The one who I assumed was the leader. Almost coughed up.what he was eating at one I said. There were a few snickers going around as well.


    Hearing all of the snickering his face went scarlet before he silenced them with a look. Then he looked back at me.


    "If you have any guts come outside and fight me."


    I almost felt like laughing, but managed to hold it in. This fool obviously does not know anything about me. Compared to a demon, he will be like fighting a child. So I stood up.and walked straight outside. As I did, I noticed the concerned gaze of my master. I just gave her a little smile.


    Outside, it was just me and him and his friends.


    "So what are the rules for this?"


    He just looked at me like I was an idiot.


    "There are no rules, I don''t want peopl¡­"


    At that point my fist had already smashed into his face. Taking a little step back, I enhanced myself quickly. Before lunging in again.


    Two swift punches to one of his friends and another punch to another. They were all down and the rest of his friends ran off. Leaving me alone with him, who had just managed to get up.


    I walked to him slowly. Upon reaching him, I smashed my fist into his gut causing him to bend over. Then brought my knee into his face rapidly. This caused him to hit the floor out cold.


    Dusting myself off, I walked back into the hall and carried on eating the amazing food.

 48 My First Lesson

    The rest of the feast went by without any more major disturbances. There were a few speeches and some toasts for various things and people. At one point I got odd stares from quite a few people. Though some of them were more of curiosity than anything else. Once the feast ended, I was a first year student given a map. Taking a quick look at it I realised it was blank. After putting a bit of my blood on it which apparently binded it to me. It showed all of the places I had been so far.


    After looking at that for a few minutes, I headed back to the house I was staying in. As I arrived inside the house, I noticed that there were a few people standing outside of it. Five people to be exact. All of them had golden eyes like me and seemed close b but yet there was a nervous energy between all of them. Seeing me coming they all smiled slightly.


    I stopped around four metres away from them, in case they tried something, so this way I would be able to react and defend myself.


    The one who stood closest to me and also seemed like the oldest of the five stepped forward.


    "We all represent the great clans, all five of them. All we would like to know is which of the clans are you from and why we were not told about you coming and why are you here? Not with the rest of us from the clans." He said it like it was a matter of fact and that he was right.


    ''So these are the great clans huh. This lot just seems like stuck up pricks.''


    "Could you all please, leave me alone. I am not one of you a lot. I am just someone whose family was forgotten. Now leave me alone." As I said this, I strood past them and opened then slammed my door in their faces.


    I could hear them outside talking to each other, I couldn''t make out everything that they said but what I could hear was, "How could he be one of the forgotten, his potential is higher than anyone from the clans, except for the main branches, but then not even some of them¡­..his sword as¡­...we need to find out more."


    After talking for a few minutes they all left. After making sure that they had all gone, I got unchanged and jumped into bed, looking forward to what the sunrise would bring.


    The next morning I got up early and headed to where the food hall was meant to be. The map took some getting used to though. I took the wrong path a couple of times. After I arrived it turned out that I was one of the only people there. Shrugging my shoulders and


    thinking nothing of it, I joined the small que and quickly got some food to eat.


    Sitting down in a corner, where I wouldn''t be easily noticed.. I ate my food and watched as more and more people slowly turned up, the last few were running though. The one in the front yelled as soon as he got into the hall, "They are coming, everyone scatters, get out of here."


    At his words every single person except me, jumped up and removed their plates, before scattering down the various hallways that lead out of the room. Not even a minute later five big groups walked in, all out of different hallways. Seeing each other, they sat down but each group watched the other. Though every single one of them had golden eyes. Thinking of the people from last night, I guess this is the clan people that are here.


    Even though I was hidden in a corner, it didn''t take long for someone to notice me. I got a few looks, before someone stood up and walked over to me. Standing in front of me, he blocked off most of the light. I looked up to him slowly, after finishing the last of my food. As he was about to say something, he saw my eyes, then looked a bit confused.


    As he was deliberating what to do, I stood up and moved around him. Then as I was watched by everyone in the hall, I left though as I was about to leave I thought of something. I turned around apparently and looked at each of the people who came to my place last night. I ended on the one who was speaking. "I don''t mind you coming to my house but when you carry out your investigations on who I am. Don''t go near my family."


    Then I left heading off to the hall of elements as my master should be there by now, waiting for me. It did not take me long at all to arrive at the hall, but this time as I entered I did not go into an illusion but instead entered a wide hall, with hundreds of smaller doorways and decorations. I went down the hall, past rooms with a multitude of colours and designs. Near the very end of the hall, I noticed what I was looking for. The design on the door itself was simple. It just showed a mage walking in the dark, though I was assuming it was the dark as the door was black.


    I slowly pushed the door open, inside I found that it was just me and that my master was not here yet. Sitting down, at a desk right in front of where I assumed that my master would be teaching from, I began to patiently wait for her.


    I wasn''t for long at all. When she came in, she was wearing a tight fitting black dress. Although it only went down to her knees. Seeing me sitting there. Her face lit up into a smile.


    "I''m so glad that you are here." Hehehe. "This will be so fun!"


    She then walked forwards, getting closer and closer to me. Then when she was nearly right in front of me, she bent over showing me her cleavage. Although I didn''t want to, I could feel my blood racing and my body heating up.


    Seeing how I was reacting she smiled, showing me all of her teeth. "That will be some your test later, if you do well."


    I got what she meant instantly. I then focused on her on what she said next.


    "Mana, is what we call the energy we use for magic. It comes in various ways and so can be used in lots of different ways. To use it we have to sense it. Mages are categorised in a few ways, the main way for adepts and disciples like you is how much mana you can sense. As well as how far away, this will determine when in combat where you are able to cast your spells. So in short, the further you can sense mana, the more powerful the spell as you have more space to vast the spell."


    What she just said, although it was basic and about mana in general, greatly widened what I knew about mana. Then she went into far more depth.

 49 First lessons

    I could see her watching me carefully as she further explained some concepts about mana. It was interesting and useful, but a lot of it did not really apply to me right now. Though the bit about how each element has separate specialities within it, was interesting.


    "Now then, let''s get onto one of your core subjects. Darkness."


    I began to focus on her, again. This time paying my full attention. Ready to take in and sear everything she says into my skull.


    "First thing you will have to decide on a specialty. I will teach you the basic stuff, yes. A specialty is important so you have an aim and know where you will be going with the element. You can choose shadows, death and last of all chaos or well it''s like hell magic. It''s not evil, just more related to destruction. Your fire magic would go well with this."


    I looked at her, a bit confused when she mentioned fire magic.


    Seeing my look, she had an odd look on her face, before she went a bit red.


    "Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you, You can, if you wish, study the fire element as well. Well, I assumed you would. It boosts the highest amount of destructive capability among all of the elements. That is if you lose it like that. Like all elements it has its own spelisations. One last thing, you will need to decide on an element as a base. Basically, that element will be your main element and you can use others yes, but other elements will alter your main element. Such as hell fire, or you can have well honestly, I don''t know. It is too hard to do it like that. So I would suggest using fire as your base as you have the highest affinity with it."


    Once she finished speaking, she took a big breath. Then looked at me and smiled.


    "That is the basics covered, now you better go to the fire hall. It is not that far."


    I stood up to go, but then I remembered what she had said about a reward, turning around to ask her about it. She was there in front of me. She gave me a little kiss on my cheek, then pushed me out of the door, slamming it in my face.


    I stood there for a minute, confused at what had happened. Then I began to walk off to the fire hall. Once I arrived, I noticed one thing. It was packed. I just managed to find a free space, though it was right at the back of the hall.


    When the master walked in, it was with alot of dramatic flair. He walked in through a door way made of fire. Though from what I had previously leanred, that was not actually that hard to do, it was just some basic manipulation of mana.


    The lesson started off, very similar to what I just learned. Although there was alot more questions as time went on. The specialties i found out were, magma user, fire weaver and inferno. Inferno focused on the destruction side and the heat fire generated, magam was more focused on liquid fire and fire weaver was the control of fire. The basics were spells for attacking such as flames, fireball, fire spears as well as the fire wall for defences, though I can think of ways so that it can be used for an attack. In fact the only difference with my previous lesson was that instead of talking about darkness magic, he was speaking about fire magic.


    I began to lose focus in the lesson and began, thinking of the demons again and my last encounter with them. That battle, as I alongside the others charged through. Then my wound, as I thought about the axe in my shoulder, I subconsciously moved my hand over it and grimaced as I remembered the pain. A few people around me looked at me oddly.


    The closest to me, a man of around my height came a bit closer near my ear. "Are you alright?" He whispered to me.


    I looked over to him. "I am just remembering something."


    The cryptic answer I gave, did nothing to dissuade him from talking to me as I hoped, instead it seemed like he was more interested in talking to me now, than before.


    "What could be so bad that you make that face for? It is not like you were in a battle." Though he was still whispering, it was like his voice was an explosion going off next to my ear.


    "You are right in that, I was in a battle, a big one at that. Now leave me alone."


    After finishing talking to him, I began to try and focus on the end of the lesson. It didn''t last much longer and the teachy left in the same flashy way as he had entered. I was one of the first up and out of the door. I headed for the library as I wanted to see what kind of information there was there. Though not just about magic, I wanted to find more about the world itself.


    The library was like the hall elements. It was one of the massive halls. As I entered the library, what I found was a small entrance. On the walls, were scenes of a massive war. Lots of different races all fighting for what looked like five divine thrones which were empty. All of what was said on the sign for it, was an artistic representation of the great war.


    As I was looking at the art work, the person who was next to me in the class came up behind me.


    "So what battle were you in? Also when was it? I don''t meet soldiers often. Especially here."


    After I had seen who it was, I sighed lightly, at the fact that he was still curious about me.


    "I never knew what it was called, and to be honest i''m not even sure how long ago it was. All I can tell you is that it was a massive battle against the demons."


    After I told him that I had been fighting demons, the look on the man''s face became a somber one.


    "I can''t imagine what that was like, anyway I have a great respect for those who have fought the demons, once I am strong enough, I will be there, alongside my older brother Ajax." As he spoke he began to light up more and more, when he got to the part about Ajax, there was a fanatical glint in his eyes.


    "Is your brother a knight by any chance."


    He looked at me in surprise. "How did you know that..wait. Do you know my brother?"


    "Yeah I do then. I met him once."


    When I said that I heard someone yell my name. Walking through the door was the people I floored last night, but only this time it wasn''t just the five of them.

 49 Specialities

    I could see her watching me carefully as she further explained some concepts about mana. It was interesting and useful, but a lot of it did not really apply to me right now. Though the bit about how each element has separate specialities within it, was interesting.


    "Now then, let''s get onto one of your core subjects. Darkness."


    I began to focus on her, again. This time paying my full attention. Ready to take in and sear everything she says into my skull.


    "First thing you will have to decide on a specialty. I will teach you the basic stuff, yes. A specialty is important so you have an aim and know where you will be going with the element. You can choose shadows, death and last of all chaos or well it''s like hell magic. It''s not evil, just more related to destruction. Your fire magic would go well with this."


    I looked at her, a bit confused when she mentioned fire magic.


    Seeing my look, she had an odd look on her face, before she went a bit red.


    "Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you, You can, if you wish, study the fire element as well. Well, I assumed you would. It boosts the highest amount of destructive capability among all of the elements. That is if you lose it like that. Like all elements it has its own spelisations. One last thing, you will need to decide on an element as a base. Basically, that element will be your main element and you can use others yes, but other elements will alter your main element. Such as hell fire, or you can have well honestly, I don''t know. It is too hard to do it like that. So I would suggest using fire as your base as you have the highest affinity with it."


    Once she finished speaking, she took a big breath. Then looked at me and smiled.


    "That is the basics covered, now you better go to the fire hall. It is not that far."


    I stood up to go, but then I remembered what she had said about a reward, turning around to ask her about it. She was there in front of me. She gave me a little kiss on my cheek, then pushed me out of the door, slamming it in my face.


    I stood there for a minute, confused at what had happened. Then I began to walk off to the fire hall. Once I arrived, I noticed one thing. It was packed. I just managed to find a free space, though it was right at the back of the hall.


    When the master walked in, it was with alot of dramatic flair. He walked in through a door way made of fire. Though from what I had previously leanred, that was not actually that hard to do, it was just some basic manipulation of mana.


    The lesson started off, very similar to what I just learned. Although there was alot more questions as time went on. The specialties i found out were, magma user, fire weaver and inferno. Inferno focused on the destruction side and the heat fire generated, magam was more focused on liquid fire and fire weaver was the control of fire. The basics were spells for attacking such as flames, fireball, fire spears as well as the fire wall for defences, though I can think of ways so that it can be used for an attack. In fact the only difference with my previous lesson was that instead of talking about darkness magic, he was speaking about fire magic.


    I began to lose focus in the lesson and began, thinking of the demons again and my last encounter with them. That battle, as I alongside the others charged through. Then my wound, as I thought about the axe in my shoulder, I subconsciously moved my hand over it and grimaced as I remembered the pain. A few people around me looked at me oddly.


    The closest to me, a man of around my height came a bit closer near my ear. "Are you alright?" He whispered to me.


    I looked over to him. "I am just remembering something."


    The cryptic answer I gave, did nothing to dissuade him from talking to me as I hoped, instead it seemed like he was more interested in talking to me now, than before.


    "What could be so bad that you make that face for? It is not like you were in a battle." Though he was still whispering, it was like his voice was an explosion going off next to my ear.


    "You are right in that, I was in a battle, a big one at that. Now leave me alone."


    After finishing talking to him, I began to try and focus on the end of the lesson. It didn''t last much longer and the teachy left in the same flashy way as he had entered. I was one of the first up and out of the door. I headed for the library as I wanted to see what kind of information there was there. Though not just about magic, I wanted to find more about the world itself.


    The library was like the hall elements. It was one of the massive halls. As I entered the library, what I found was a small entrance. On the walls, were scenes of a massive war. Lots of different races all fighting for what looked like five divine thrones which were empty. All of what was said on the sign for it, was an artistic representation of the great war.


    As I was looking at the art work, the person who was next to me in the class came up behind me.


    "So what battle were you in? Also when was it? I don''t meet soldiers often. Especially here."


    After I had seen who it was, I sighed lightly, at the fact that he was still curious about me.


    "I never knew what it was called, and to be honest i''m not even sure how long ago it was. All I can tell you is that it was a massive battle against the demons."


    After I told him that I had been fighting demons, the look on the man''s face became a somber one.


    "I can''t imagine what that was like, anyway I have a great respect for those who have fought the demons, once I am strong enough, I will be there, alongside my older brother Ajax." As he spoke he began to light up more and more, when he got to the part about Ajax, there was a fanatical glint in his eyes.


    "Is your brother a knight by any chance."


    He looked at me in surprise. "How did you know that..wait. Do you know my brother?"


    "Yeah I do then. I met him once."


    When I said that I heard someone yell my name. Walking through the door was the people I floored last night, but only this time it wasn''t just the five of them.

 50 Alyx

    It was a group of at least twenty people, all of them came in looking at me, each with a fierce look on their face. None had any weapons which for me would normally be a good thing, but here it is definitely not and I could see higher year students in the group which meant I would be getting offensive spells chucked at me.


    A let a sigh as I began to regret leaving my sword back at the house I was using. As I looked through them, I noticed not all seemed like mages, some seemed more like warriors which would ruin my chances at rushing in and engaging them in a melee as they would tie me down as the others got to a safe distance.


    Looking at the man I was talking to, I now registered even more that I had not asked for his name. "You better go, there problem is with me, not you."


    He just looked at me and then laughed. "I will not be leaving you that quickly, they came at you with me here. They can forget about leaving that easily."


    As he turned and looked at them, all of my senses screamed to get away from him, it was as if a monster had awoken right next me. I couldn''t help but be stunned. How could someone be able to release such an aura. I know he is the brother of a knight but this is not something I think Ajax could even release.


    The massive gang of people, for the first time since they came in, focused on the person next to me. Upon seeing his face, all of them had an expression of horror plastered over their faces. They all began to step back, most tripping over each other. At how they were reacting, I looked in surprise at the man next to me.


    Waiting until they had all gone I asked, "Who exactly are you?"


    He just looked at me and smiled, "I already said I am Ajax''s little brother. I am known as Alyx. Similar to my bro''s name. Anyway would you like to go in, I don''t like being desturbed that much."


    We both walked into the main library together, we got a few glances, but not much attention was paid to us. Alyx walked off to a section on alchemy. I after looking around for a bit decided to walk to the section dedicated to the world itself and the various nations in it.


    The first book I picked up was titled, ''A Quick Guide To The Empire''. It was a relatively new book, or at least it looked new to me. Finding a seat in an area secluded from the rest of the library, I opened up the book.


    ''The Empire as it is commonly known or The Empire of Monica, occupies the majority of the southern territories of the old Imperium, as well as a lot of newer terriers which is where the empire comes from. It is made up of twelve Arch Dukes, each who is sworn to serve the Emperor. Under each Arch Duke are a number of Grand Dukes, under them are the normal Dukes¡­..The Empire in recent times has been in a bloody civil war deciding who will succeed the throne. This is due to the Emperor of the last dynasty dying and there being no heirs to the throne, effectively causing the main line of the imperial family to extinct.''


    The book, although called a simple guide, went into a great deal about the Imperial family as well as the various Arch Duke''s families. Covering their territories and connections to the throne and it gave a rough guide to their total strength. By the time I had finished the book, I was amazed at this Empire as it was known. Though I was worried at the same time, this is due to once the Empire''s war for its throne is over, the kingdom as well as the surroundings kingdoms will likely be invaded as the Empire wants to expand its own land, especially to the old lands of the Imperium as they connect a lot of relics and secrets which could lead them to the power of the Imperium.


    As I was about to pick up another book, Alyx came round the corner with Lars each of them talking quite joyfully. Upon seeing me they both smiled. Alyx said, "Come on Adoh, lets go get some food. It is nearly past the time for the evening meal already."


    Looking at the time, I realised it was. Hurriedly getting to my feet I moved over to them and the three of us walked to the dinner hall. Inside as it was nearly the end of the time of which everyone could come and get dinner, there was nearly no one inside at all.


    It didn''t take as long to get some food, and then find a table to sit down together. Unlike my breakfast, this meal was so much more fun, mainly because I had people that I could talk to. Most of it though was them asking me about how the army was. I described to them some of the fights and the battle''s I had been in. Then went on to talk about some of the things I had seen, though I never mentioned anything at all about the shadows.


    Once we all had finished they both took me to a place they called the meditation hall. Like the library and the hall of elements it was another one of the massive halls that had seen when I first arrived here.


    It was like the other halls, as we got closer I looked up to the tower. It looked so magnificent. The other two, seeing my gaze, smiled to themselves.


    "You know Adoh, if you do well in the tournament at the end of this month, you will be let into the tower and will be able to use what is inside to help you." Alyx said.


    I looked at him oddly. "What do you mean let in? I thought that the tower would be open all the time."


    Hearing my reply the both chuckled to themselves for a minute. "Adoh, though they are called the mage towers, in fact they are far older than us and they are more like a special training ground. At least after the fourth floor that is. The floors up to that are as you say, open all the time, but know one will be able to get any real benefit from being there." This time it was Lars who replied to me.


    As we were talking, we quickly arrived at the hall. Going inside what I found was a massive open area, dotted with small bridges and rivers as well as a couple of waterfalls and lakes. The whole area just made me much more relaxed and more focused. It didn''t take me long to think of why this place was called the meditation hall, it was in fact a perfect place to meditate.


    I left the two of them and found my own spot. Sitting down I began to focus on the mana around me. This time though instead of looking at the mana in general, I tried to see the darkness and fire attributed mana.


    After focusing and finding them, my vision was all black and red. I started to feel really cold and yet I was hot at the same time. The fire mana was beautiful to look at though as it circled around the blackness which was the darkness type.


    My focus was sent away when I felt a hand slap my shoulder.

 51 Elemental Body

    Feeling all of my focus go, I looked up at the person who had slapped my shoulder with a furious expression. As I saw the person''s face however, I nearly choked on my fury. I had just thought of beating up the Arch Mage himself. Making sure that he had my attention.


    "Would you mind coming with me so that we can have a cup of tea or wine? Whatever takes your fancy," he said.


    I only nodded as I still wasn''t exactly sure how I should be addressing him. With my reply, he smiled and wrote some complicated runes and spoke in a language I didn''t recognise at all, once he was done a black tear appeared in front of us. He invited me to walk through. Getting up I took a few steps and stood in front of it, looking inside. All I could see was darkness and a light at the end, it appeared if it was a kind of tunnel. Shrugging my shoulders as I didn''t think he would hurt me, I stepped through.


    It only took a second for me to pass through the dark tunnel, on the other side what I found was a small office, though it seemed more like a main room of a house where people would come to relax. This was due to the whole room emitting a cosy feeling, the smoldering fire in the fireplace helped with this alot.


    At the Arch Mage''s invitation I sat down on one of the chairs, a few minutes later he brought over two cups of tea for us both. Sitting down opposite me, he had a small sip and let out a long sigh. Placing the cup down onto the table, he then looked at me.


    "I can almost guarantee that you are wondering why I have called you here? The main reason is simple, I know you are a shadow and now you are also a master mage''s successor and the darkness element at that. I also know you will not just focus on the mage path, you will have to progress on all of the paths. Anyway what I wanted to tell you is that as long as you succeed in making your mana core which I would say will be some kind of flame, I will allow you to join in on the tower trials, so that means you have a month. If you are not ready by then, you will not be allowed in. Ever."


    Once he had finished what he had to say, he waved his hands.


    In the blink of an eye I had appeared in my house. I was frozen, this time he didn''t even need to cast the spell, he just did it.


    The next couple of weeks went by quickly with nothing major or even minor happening at all. I learned about varying types of magic languages which mages used when writing and also when enchanting. The major two available to us were dwarven runes, old draconic script as well as loads of minor languages though some were not finished or not available at our level as they were two complicated for us currently. At the sword spirits'' advice I chose the old draconic script as he said it would help in my future. Apart from that I learned more about the fire element and chose to become a fire weaver but the darkness element I had chosen the shadows path.


    Currently I am in the meditation hall, I am about to attempt the creation of my mana core, which once done I can truly call myself a mage.


    I entered the focused state and then focused more onto the two elements that I wished to use. This is the easy part I had been told. Then I began to slowly mutter incarceration and write some words in the air. Once I had finished the fire mana began to slowly come towards me, using what I had learnt with body enhancement spells, I began to control the fire mana into a small ball. I took a breath once I had done that.


    Then I did the same but this time with the darkness element. Now I could see two balls in front of me, one red and the other black. Next I with a few more incarnations I formed what was called a core array, this would help stabilize the mana for the next stage. Carefully I manipulated the balls of mana into the array. Once inside I could tell that I would not be able to hold them for much longer. I hurriedly began the process of merging the two elements. What happened next could only be described as anarchy.


    The elements upon closing in on each other, were going berserk, if it wasn''t for the array suppressing the energy they were releasing I would have been severely injured by now. After a long and tense period though the energy finally began to calm down. What I could see now was a red and black ball of mana in front of me.


    Next a cast a long series of spells of which the mana from the ball was all used up, it then flowed around my body and began to force its way inside my body. The pain was the worst I had ever felt. This is mainly due to the fact that mana should not exist in my body. Using it I began to purify my elemental body as I had learned. This was what I apparently used to see the mana and was separated from my normal body but only just, so if I didn''t do it right I would suffer from a severe backlash.


    After around thirty minutes of extreme pain, it was done, I forced the remaining mana out of my body completely. My mana body as it was called I could now actively sense and feel. Inside of it I could feel a singular flame, though this flame was dark and cast a much bigger shadow than it normally should be able to. This was a shadow flame. My shadow flame.


    Once I had made sure that I was safe and all of the mana had been expelled from my body I stood up and slowly stretched my arms. Then I began to slowly walk to my house which now had a few more furnishings for making it a much more cosy and relaxing place for me to be in.


    Once I had got through the door, I tried to cast a simple spell of which I succeeded and a black flame appeared on my finger. I smiled when I succeeded. I had done it. I had become mage and a mage with a dual core at that. Although I could use other types of magic, the core would enable me to use that type with ease and I would require much less effort to cast spells of that type, so the uses of a dual element core went without saying.


    Feeling exhausted after my day, I headed over to my bed and sat on the end first. I then before succumbing to my exhaustion, wrote a letter to my family back home, the first I had done. In the letter I told them about my travels and what had happened, leaving out the shadows as they were a secret force. Of which I was still confused on how the Arch Mage knew of their existence. Finishing the letter, I then collapsed on my bed, falling asleep instantly.

 52 Abundant Mana

    The next day once I had gotten food, I went to show my master my achievement of making my mana core, also she could test what happened to my elemental body as something has definitely happened to it, I doubt I would go through so much pain if nothing happened. Also I finally feel like getting a proper explanation of mana as until I found out about the core, I didn''t think that mana could exist in my body at all.


    As I walked through the hall of elements I gained lots of glances and looks. This was due to people finding out that I used the darkness element as well as that I was the successor of my master. What I had gained made a lot of people very jealous, which is understandable I guess.


    As I had guessed she would be, my master was inside of the room which she taught me in, it also had become her office as well. Seeing me she smiled, as I was about to speak her face changed into what only could be described as fury. Even the mana around us both started to react to her emotion, so violently.


    "Adoh! Why the hell would you attempt to do that without telling me? It is dangerous! You could have crippled yourself! Why? Whyy!" Nearer the end her voice cracked as she started to cry, the mana calmed down though.


    I let out a sigh of relief at this. Walking closer to her, I knelt down next to her, as I did she fell into my chest, her tears making my clothes damp. Unsure what I should do, I put my arms worldly around her and gave her a hug as well as patted her back, as she cried.


    After she stopped crying and cleaned herself up. She looked back at me.


    Her voice cracking as she spoke, "So did you make a dual core then?" Nodding my head she then continued. "Stay still, I need to make sure that you haven''t damaged your body at all...both of them."


    She then moved the mana around me, probing my body with it, feeling satisfied that my physical body was fine. She then brought her hand to my forehead before tapping it gently with her finger. As she did, I felt someone looking at my elemental body. It was odd to put it lightly. After a few minutes I felt the presence withdraw.


    She looked at me then smiled. "You did it all right and I sense no damage at all. Not only that you refined your elemental body properly as well. I don''t feel any impurities at all, which is very good for your progress in the future. As well as that your core seemed to be impressive."


    Glad that she seemed to be fully calm now. I stood off of the floor. "So Master, could you tell me about the elemental body. I am confused about it. It doesn''t make sense with what everyone has told me so far."


    She gave me a knowing smile, it was like she had been expecting me to answer that question.


    "To put it simply, no one knows. But what we do know is that the elemental body which holds your core,is actually separate from your actual body, so they are not connected but it is like your physical body holds the elemental body. This means like you have done, mana passes through your body to the elemental one, but can''t stay there as it will harm you."


    Honestly her explanation didn''t make much sense at all. It seemed like she was telling me the opposite of what I had already been told, but what I did get was that my normal body is a vessel for an elemental body. This in itself makes no sense to me at all.


    "Now as I hear, you have to show the Arch mage that you have reached this level so that you can enter the tower. Hehehe." She then chuckled slightly. "Well at least joi the competition for a slot to enter the tower."


    She then led me out of the room, sending me on my way to the Arch mage. I left the hall and walked towards the tower. As I did I couldn''t help but look at the tower itself. It was massive. The whote blocks of stone that made it, looked pristine as they always did. It was like nothing could change the colour of them at all. Jokingly, I thought, ''If I came back here in a thousand years the tower will still look the exact same.''


    As I got closer, I could see the runes on the tower flickering. I entered the tower, through a massive open door way. As I crossed the threshold I felt a wave of heat blast into my face. The outside cool air, disappearing completely.


    Heading towards the Arch mage''s office, I found no one around as I walked.


    The Arch mage''s office had the least obvious door it could have ever had. Knocking a few times, I heard a loud yell to enter. As I did, I saw him standing near the window sending what only could be described as beams of light into the sky.


    "Ah Adoh, it seems that you have done with our deal already. Seems like you are just as good as what your talent says you are. Any way as promised you can join the competition in a few weeks. Oh, its spells only. So you will not be able to use that sword of yours."


    Once he said that he went back, sending beams of light at the sky. Taking that as I should go. I turned around and left. Not sure what I should do with the rest of my day I headed to the meditation hall. I wanted to see how quickly I really could see the fire and darkness mana and manipulate it.


    The hall was surprisingly empty. This meant that there was no one around the best spots. Walking up to them, I could feel already that it was better here than where I normally sit. As I reached one of the points that could be used to meditate`. It felt exhilarating. I could almost feel the mana around me with my fingers. It was that dense. Sitting down. As soon as I focused a little bit, I saw so much red and black around me instantly. I reached out with my hand and it was like water as I waved my hand through it. The mana all moved away in ripples.


    It was an amazing feeling and sight. I thought quickly of some basic spells. First I tried to make flames, I did it in seconds and it was powerful. Much more than usual. This is due to the sure abundance of mana I guess. Then I made a dark bolt. It appeared and flew at a high speed, crashing into the wall, though it did no damage at all.


    ''The walls are strong in here it seems.''


    Hearing people come in, I stood up and walked out of the hall. I decided that I would find Lars and tell him about my success as well as Alyx. It took me a few minutes to find them. In the end they were on one of the practice fields casting some spells, some were insanely powerful. Lars was using winds spells, so he was mainly using different kinds of winds blades. Alyx was a fire user, who focused on destruction by the looks of it. As his path suggests, his spells were destructive. All of the spells he used attacked a wide area, this would make him talented at group combat, but not so strong in single combat.


    Seeing me, they both smiled and came up to me.

 53 The True Nature Of The Clans

    Once they were next to me, they then had questioning looks on their faces, looking at me in surprise. Lars yelled out, "Adoh! You have made your core already?"


    I could see that Alyx wanted to know as well, though he did not yell out his question in surprise like Lar''s.


    Smiling as I spoke. "Yes I have. Though how can you tell?"


    Lars although it seemed he already knew, froze with his mouth open.


    ''I could probably fit a whole turnip in there and have room to spare.'' That thought made me chuckle a bit, Alyx joined in quickly. In the end the chuckling became all out laughter. We got a lot of odd looks from the other people that were near us.


    Lars eventually closed his mouth and began to go red from embarrassment, as he had seemingly worked out that we were laughing at him.


    As we had nothing to laugh about now, we eventually stopped but me and Alyx still had massive grins plastered on our faces.


    "Adoh anyway, once you work out more of your core, you can have your elemental vision or maa vision whatever you wish to call it, at around twenty five percent active all the time. So we can tell as the mana reacts differently to those who have a core. There are exceptions, but that is the main rule." Once Alyx had finished, it dawned on me why. In fact it makes perfect sense.


    The two seeing my almost enlightened gaze just smiled at me. Then they both talk me off to teach me some more of the basic fire spells which they both seemed to know. Apparently if you were around here for long enough you pick up fire spells, this is due to the fact almost everyone here uses them. Or at least this is what I was told by Lars who by practise is a wind mage.


    A week had passed and the tournament was days away now. Today though was the qualifying matches for the main tournament. Of which much to my annoyance I had to take part in as well. In the past week, I had been with Lars and Alyx as well as my two teachers learning as much as I could. If I wasn''t with them I was in the Library or Meditation hall. I had leant a wide variety of new spells, through the fire weaver path was more about making objects and control with fire, so it had fewer spells and would be up to me how I would use it. Darkness however I was focusing on the shadow path much to the surprise of my master. It only had a few combat spells however.


    The que to enter the tournament grounds were long, from what I had been told each individual wishing to take part would undergo a test which would determine their rough strength at least in terms of how far they can sense mana. This would enable the fights to be fairly fair, at least in this stage.


    As I was queuing, I could hear lots of commotion near the back of the line. Curious about what was going on, I turned around. What I saw astonished me. There was a massive group of people ignoring the group as I looked at them. I saw that they were people from the great clans, behind them though in twos and the occasional bigger group of three or maybe even four. Were people who were not part of the clans.


    What astonished me though is that all of the commotion was for those people. Turning to the person next to me, who appeared to recognise who those people are.


    "Excuse me, who are those people?"


    The person I asked looked at me in surprise but when he saw that I was only a new student, the surprise went away.


    "I guess you do not know as you are new to the tower. Those people are the most talented individuals here. Much more so than the great clan people, not only that some are successor displaced as well. They are the best around here and will only come out for the major events like this one. Also you have golden eyes why are you not with that lot."


    ''The people from the great clans are really not liked at all here, not only that it seems like they are not the most powerful around. I am glad I am not one of them now, if I was I doubt I would have been made a successor disciples at all.''


    "I am not one of them, in fact we don''t really talk at all, I just try to avoid them. People like me I have heard tend to be discriminated against quite badly by them." As I spoke I was watching the people the man had called the successor disciples.


    ''So they are the others huh. I can''t tell much about them from here but they all seem strong. Really strong.''


    The man hearing what I said gave me a look of what I thought was pity. "You are the forgotten or whatever you lot are called nowadays. Not many of your people around now, most have been taken in by a clan now and returned or remembered as they call it. From what I heard some didn''t want to go and let''s just say it was messy. So I would watch yourself, especially in the world outside."


    ''So the great clan''s are like that. I better be careful, especially when I am outside of the tower''s land. I don''t want to end up running into one of the stronger members of the clans. I better make sure they are safe back home. They will be in more danger than me.''


    "Thank you for telling me that. Oh and good luck in the competition."


    "You too." After he said that simple reply, he began to just watch the people walking by us.


    As time went on, I got closer and closer to where the testing was taking place. All it was by the looks of it, was a machine that seemed to measure how far you could manipulate mana.


    ''It looks like it would be easy to cheat in something like this.''


    As I thought of that, the machine flared a bright red. The person in question then started bubbling and cursing, he had also gone really pale. The master next to him, just shook her head. Looking at the people still in the que.


    "This is what happens if you try to hide the truth, you will get a rather nasty attack on your soul. For those of you who don''t know what that does. It hurts alot and will drastically affect your ability to lose mana for a while. For those with a weak soul. It could leave you hospitalised for a while." Once she finished speaking, she indicated for the next person to come forward.


    It turned out to be me. Approaching quickly. I put my hands on the crystal much like the machines I used when I had first arrived here not so long ago. What happened next was that I was almost forced into a focused state and I could see the mana all around me. I faintly heard. The voice of the master to show my limits. Doing it as far as I could, it turned out that I could use mana up to a few metres away.


    After making sure I didn''t cheat, I was let inside the main arena.

 54 Fights With Mages

    The main arena was divided into ten smaller fields each had ten rings on them for fights to take place. Each field represented a power level with the first holding the weakest and the tenth holding the strongest. I had been assigned to field two. So in comparison to others I was still helplessly weak.


    Walking over to the field did not take me much time at all. The field had a couple of hundred people hanging around each waiting for something. As I was trying to work out what they were waiting for. I felt a searing pain on my wrist.


    "Fuck." I let out a little curse quietly. Looking around no one had heard me or at least they did not show that they had anyway. On my wrist was the number three hundred and forty seven.


    Then there was a low buzzing noise in the air. Looking up I saw above each of the fields two numbers appearing. As each one did, the people with which had the number seared onto their wrist moved up to the first platform. This happened again and again, until all ten of the platforms were filled.


    "BANG!"


    With a loud bang, the people in the rings all began to start casting spells at each other. Their aim was to knock the other person down or out of the ring or have so that they are in a killing move. Once you lose a fight, you are disqualified and have to leave.The aim is to have ten victors in each field. Then the same will happen again and again, until there is a total of one hindered victors from each field.


    The fight itself did not take as long as I had expected it to. One of the mages who appeared to be a wind mage. Used what seemed like a simple wind blade, and sent their opponent flying out of the ring. Just before the loser smashed into the floor. The number on his wrist lit up and he disappeared.


    Once the winner had left the ring, the numbers appeared again. Choosing the next opponents. The fights after this all took different times. Easily showing the difference in the ability of the mages present. After about one hundred fights my number appeared in the sky, I also felt a slight shock from my wrist, indicating that it was my turn as well.


    I walked through the few people left where I was standing and reached the ring. My opponent reached the ring at the same time as I did. As I expected her to be she was a fire mage. The main thing that Lars and Alyx had taught me, or at least showed me was different ways that I could use my core.


    Neither of us talked. A couple of seconds later I saw a transparent barrier appear, that I had not seen before. Seeing it my opponent immediately began casting a spell. Not wanting to fall behind her in the least I casted some mana in the shape of a sword.


    I could see that as soon as I did that, she looked at me with a sneer. Obviously thinking that she had won already.


    In response I used one of the most basic shadow spells that I knew. It was aptly named shadow. What it did was make the area I could control pitch black. Now even with my fire sword in my hand she could not see me exactly. Unfortunately it only stretched about three meters out in all directions. Not quite reaching her, but it was big enough that even if she used an exploding spell it would not hit me.


    In the cover of the darkness I began to move forward approaching her quickly. Even at the edge of the darkness which I was now at, she could still not see me. I smiled at this.


    She in response was sending fire balls into the darkness over and over. None of them came near me at all. I moved along the edge until I was as close to her as I could get. This way only two metres separated us. Once I was ready I dashed out of the darkness with the sword in a revere grip. I arrived in mere seconds to her side. The sword against her neck.


    Before she or me could say anything she disappeared and all that was left in the ring was me. I casually strolled out not wasting any time and joined the other victors. As I did I got a few gazes, all of them curious. Getting near them I had quite a few complaints on the use of the two spells together.


    After that they all went back to watching the fights. It didn''t take long for this round to end. What was next was a similar thing to before just that there were a lot less people who would be fighting.


    I went up fifth this time, not having a long wait at all.


    In the ring my opponent this time was a wind mage. Unlike the previous fight however he walked up to me first and offered his hand. Shaking it.


    "Your fight before looked interesting, good luck. This will be fun."


    It seemed to me that he was some kind of battle manic. The joyful smile on his face however disappeared and was replaced with one of extreme focus and determination. As soon as the barrier came up, he sent multiple wind blades at me.


    I immediately rolled to the side and made the fire sword appear in my hand like last time. With it I blocked some of his attacks as well as dodged them as I slowly moved closer towards him.


    After getting within three metres of him, the amount of wind blades increased as well as an occansal wind ball, which was very painful and impossible to block with a sword. This forced me to go back a bit where I could at least survive.


    I tried lots of ways to get closer but all failed. I was also unable to cast the shadow spell again as he wasn''t giving me enough time with his barrage of spells.


    ''Damm, guess I will have to use that already.''


    I raced closer to him, getting to the three meter point again. This time I got rid of my sword by throwing it at him making it a spear as I did. He blocked it easily but this gave me enough time to prepare my next attack. I casted multiple shadow blades very similar to his wind blades, but instead of sending them at him. I wove them around him, forcing him to focus on defence and not attack me.


    Unfortunately he was able to stop them actually hitting him each time.


    Once he had finished dealing with them, he looked around for me. Seeing me he sent multiple wind balls at me. They all passed straight through me as if I wasn''t there.


    ''The shadow clone spell worked well.''


    As soon as he had attacked my real body appeared behind him, I had a fire dagger at him. Making him lose. Just before he disappeared.


    "That was a good spell and trap. Though against over opponents be careful. A lot of people have tricks up their sleeves." He then disappeared.


    I walked off the ring to the other winners, thinking of his words. It seemed like I was not the only one who had some tricks but I was more surprised that he told me about it.