《Runes and Spellblades》


 Prologue

    "The coffers are running dry my lord, at this rate we will have to raise the taxes again." A lady masked in shadow and hiding under a hood relayed. "How close are the preparations for the war? Once that starts money will be no issue." "We have started the skirmishes along the border sir, but the true war front is still a year away my lord." The king of Nutrilla stared down at the hooded figure from atop his scarred nose with clenched fists around the armrests of his throne. "Well if money is such an issue then we will just have to move up our preparations." "But sir, the troops will not be fully-" "I said to move up the preparations!" The king screamed. "Now spread the word and get out of my sight!" The hooded figure quickly stood up and in a puff of mist disappeared without saying another word. The scarred and stout-looking king stood in his chambers alone and starred across the room to a decoration resembling a bird bath, but with crimson liquid filling the bowl and skulls decorating the sides. "Will your army be ready to assist us in the upcoming war?" The king spoke into the bowl. "Of course as long as you keep up your end of the deal." A deep conniving voice responded with a ripple of the liquid. "I can even send some help for your skirmishes for the small price of a little blood." Without even responding or hesitation the king grabs his dagger of his belt and nicks his palm letting the blood drip into the bowl. As the blood hits the liquid it starts to glow and the room begins to shake. Slowly what seems like a tear in space starts to open and ugly red-skinned fiends begin to spill into the kings'' chambers and line up waiting for orders. "Have fun with the extra firepower. Do not forget the price for failing to uphold your end of the deal. The Gloom Mother demands results." The voice says as it slowly drains out of the room. "I will not fail her greatness, for the simple fact that I can''t afford to." The king replied while commanding the newly spawned fiends on which battalions to join. "Now it is time to start really putting my plan into progress, we will destroy the outer towns first to make their food stock suffer and put fear into the hearts of the people. Even their precious mage and spellblade forces won''t be able to stand up to our power. The Land of Xertia will be mine and then I will truly rule this world." The king thought to himself. As the king continues to monologue to himself he walks out to the balcony to a truly grim sight. Rough tents and broken-down buildings were the only things in sight besides a church that seemed to be doing fine by taking advantage of faith in the trying times for Nutrilla. Plague and poverty swept the streets, but all would be fixed when they took of Xertia. They would finally be in their rightful place above those dreaded northerners. "Xertia will be crushed under our feet and then they will be the ones to struggle, they will be the ones to work for us with nothing in return. We will be back to our true glory as the country with the best mages." While the king continues with his thoughts the sun gets cut off for a brief moment, covered by the moon for just a second. As the light comes back, anyone who could see the king would see an impossibly large, way too toothy smile. The king slams his cane down and with a pulse of mana, a siren starts to blare from the capital. The signal to increase the raids of the outer towns of Xertia. Stomps of small squadrons of fiends and mages mixed together can be heard as they march towards the border towns full of villagers with no idea of what was to come and no way to stop it.


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 Snowfall

    Heat


    That was what Nick felt staring into the fire that his entire family sat around. His father, mother, and little sister all surrounded the fire on a cold evening after just another day working on the boring old farm. All Nick wanted to do was have something more in his life. He wanted adventure, exploration, anything other than working on this farm for the rest of his life. It was not a bad way to live, but he felt a calling for something more. Staring into the crackling fire, Nick imagined himself training and working towards being a spellblade. He had dreamed of it since he was just a little kid, it was one of the highest honors in the country.


    Spellblades were warriors that trained with the blade for years becoming the best of the best. They stood unrivaled in close combat and with the swords that gave them their namesake. Spellblades the actual blades were made of special metal that was able to generate mana and it allowed the wielder to share the usage of that mana. Runes are symbols for mana to pass through that shapes it to work as a spell. By imprinting small runes onto the blades they can store up to 6 different spells to allow the wielders to enhance themselves in battle.


    Runes have another use, they can make people into mages the mana using ranged counter-part to the spellblades. Mages awaken on their 18th birthday when they receive a rune on their bodies. These runes vary in size and number, most mages only received one rune and they would not be very large. The larger the rune the more free-use of mana the mage would have. Every rune coincides with an element by the general shape of the rune. Most common is fire, water, earth, and wind with some rarer ones being lightning, ice, and nature, but there are many elements out there and therefore many different runes.


    One day I will be able to train with a real sword and protect the people around me, as long as I do not receive a rune tomorrow, but what are the chances of that only 1 in every 10,000 people have even the chance to become a mage.


    "Hey, Nick are you alright? It''s your big day tomorrow, but you look like I just told you to go sow the fields all by yourself." Kayd Nicks'' father said.


    "Oh sorry, was just deep in thought, if you don''t mind I''m going to excuse myself for the night," Nick said shaking himself from his thoughts and getting up from around the campfire.


    "Alright son, love you and we will see you tomorrow for your big day."


    "Love you too Dad," Nick replied as he walked towards the house. Walking into his room Nick looked into the mirror hanging on the wall. A fair-looking young man with cool blue eyes and short white hair looked back. Stepping away from the mirror he took a look around his room. The neat and made bed in the corner, the rough-looking rug in the middle of the room, the wardrobe in the corner full of summer clothes as the cold season lasted only around 4 weeks in his hometown, and finally the wooden sword laid up against the wall next to the door. Nick had been self-teaching himself how to use the sword for years now ever since a spellblade visited Millcoast. Nick was mesmerized by the way his movements were enhanced when his sword started to glow and when he set the sword on fire. Nick knew then and there he had to become a spellblade.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.Nick walked over and picked up the sword, moving to the center of his room, and began practicing the movements that he tried his best to recall from memory what he saw that day. He had gotten pretty good for someone without proper teaching, of course, he had never been in a sword fight or anything close to a fight his entire life. After about an hour and a half of sweat-inducing practice that made him burn hot even in the cold season, Nick decided to call it a night and changed clothes. He had a lot to look forward to tomorrow. After all, you only turn 18 once, and he was begging the stars not to give him a rune. Anyone with a rune had to immediately report it and was taken to the capital to be trained. For most, it was an honour, but for Nick who only wanted to be a spellblade, it sounded worse than death.


    Nick awoke the next morning after a peaceful sleep. Immediately hopping out of bed with excitement Nick ran toward the mirror ready to inspect himself and make sure he was clear of any mystical magical tattoos. Stripping off his shirt his front was clear, with no black marks anywhere to be seen other than his birthmark above his heart. He was about to rejoice aloud when he caught something. Sweat started to trickle down his brow even with the freezing temperatures outside. Slowly turning around his worst fears became realized, two giant marks covered his entire back. "No no no no no NO!" Nick screamed while furiously scratching his back helplessly trying to rip off the marks. "This can not be happening, not only did I get a rune, but two? They will never let me be anything other than a mage." Tears started to well in his eyes, sure most people would love to receive two runes especially ones as big as his were, but Nick never wanted to stand on the sidelines and fling boring spells. "I have to hide this, no one can know. All my hard work to get into the tournament will be over."


    The tournament is an event held once every five years that the citizens of the border towns of Xertia can participate in. The top 5 participants got a scholarship to attend the spellblade academy in the capital. That was what Nick was training for and what he now hopes he can still do as long as he can hide the runes. As Nick continued to stare in horror while thinking about how to hide them, he finally realized the shapes, a large snowflake covered the topside of his back with a somewhat smaller spiral under it that looked like what a child would draw to show a breeze.


    Ice and wind, how fitting for the cold season


    Footsteps sounded outside the door, thinking quickly Nick threw on a shirt and a heavy jacket just to be sure. "Hey Nick, happy birthday ready for your big day?" his father asked opening the door slowly and peeking in. "Uh, y-yeah dad sure." Nick stammered back following his father as he walked toward the kitchen. "Where are mom and Sierra, dad?" "They went out to get your birthday surprise, they didn''t tell me where they were going because they know I can''t keep a secret from you." Nick looked out the window while his father spoke and saw the first signs of snow. Small white specks fell from the sky and melted when they hit the ground. Nick had never seen snow, it got cold in Millcoast, but never cold enough to snow in at least the last 18 years. "Snow! That must mean some good luck for you today!" His father said.


    Or it could be horribly bad luck


    Just as Nick thought this he heard something just as rare as snow in Millcoast, the emergency bells in the center of town. They were only rung when there was a fire or a pack of beasts came from the woods and destroyed the crops.


    Yep definitely bad luck today, first the runes and now the emergency bells. What else could go wrong?