《Blood and Bones》


 Prologue- He Rises

    ~several 100 meters underneath Elms~


    In the darkness a being stirred. It''sconsciousness awakened by an unknown factor or else it would''ve slept for another eon. As it''s eyelids slowly opened it''s sight was filled with darkness, and as it moved it''s arms and legs they got stuck on the edges of the small crawlspace that trapped it.


    ''Where am I?'' The entity thought to itself. As silence answered it''s question, it felt a slight tremor coming from above. As it debated on whether sleeping was a better alternative than checking it''s surroundings another tremor came from above. An anger overwhelmed it''s thoughts for a second.


    ''That''s... Odd, well i have nothing better to do,'' the entity''s thoughts took a turn as it remembered the feeling of the emotions it had so long forgotten. As it decided to check out the source of the tremors, it''s muscles began to squirm as if thousands of worms were living underneath it''s skin. It''s body began to emit craking sounds and it''s once hibernating cells began to come to life.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ''My body feels different somehow, how long have i slept?'' The entity''s thoughts came up with all kinds of possibilities. However, silence once again answered it''s thoughts.


    ''I guess I''ll find answers elsewhere,'' as the entity had it''s mind set on going out, it streched a hand through the dirt above it and began it''s ascent. the tightly packed sand and rocks were more like a slightly thicker version of water as the entity seemed to easily climb his way. The tremors increased in strength and occurance, and a strange smile plastered itself to the entity''s face.


    Author''s note:


    hey guys this is my first novel, well first chapterish prologue(kinda short though). I just write for fun. I''ll accept all criticism or praise. Maybe you might like the story or hate it, but critics are always welcome. I''ll write when I have free time, so expect something.


    Thanks for reading guys!! I''m really excited almost as much as our MC!

 Chapter 1- Servant #1

    The Dunes, a place devoid of any life and it''s sands span for many miles and then some. During the days the temperatures reach upwards in the 120''s and the nights grow as cold as -80''s. It''s one of the best places to be if you have a death wish, and currently there are 12 middle aged men wearing completely white clothing chasing a man in tattered blue cloth that barely covered his privates.


    ~P.O.V. Of Hesso~


    We have been chasing this dirty exile for so long I have grown so bored. Although I''m only a lower squad commander in the lands of sorcery, it''s still the lands which strike fear into all the other small kingdoms that constantly fight for borders. Any solder from within our lands has enough strength to rival a fairly large squad of soldiers of those kingdoms.


    However now I, Hesso the sorcerer, who has transcended a mere mortal, have to now chase a wounded exile because an old lady foresaw some cataclysmic apocalypse mumbo jumbo! This is outrageous! Once I get back I''ll give those geezers my wrath!


    Alright! I''ll do that ahahaha! Just you wait for me after I execute this exile, run a few missions, rise through the ranks I''ll have all of those old things on their knees maybe even steal a few daughters for myself.


    "Hahahaha, alright you stepping stone to my rise to fame submit yourself to me and I''ll...."


    ----------------------------------------


    Commander Hesso''s grand speech was cut short by a what lay before his target and the perusers. In front of the thirteen men lay thousands of bones each perfectly white and strewn here and there. As the thirteen men looked closer the bones appeared to be human bones! However what made their hairs stand on end and made the grown men tremble, was that a eerie, sinister aura was being emitted from the very grounds the bones rested on.


    Audibly clenching his teeth, the man in blue first overcame this oppressing feeling and sprinted off into the forrest of bones.


    "H,hey! You idiots the target is getting away! If we lose him you all lose your heads!" Seeing his target run off Hesso''s initial fear subsided and urged his men to run after their prey. After hearing their commander''s aggravated words the men in white hurriedly began to chase after the man in blue.


    "suulrah noct ah!"Following the slew of random sounds coming from two of the foremost men in white clothes, a black symbol painted onto their palms lit up and started to shine a deep iridescent blue. Then, a semi transparent prism shot out of both their plams from the symbol and connected to the prism was an equally transparent chain. The two prisms connected to chains flew to the man in blue as if both had a mind of their own. The two who had sent the chains stood there with their eyes closed and their arms outstretched and symbols on their plams still shining brightly. The man in blue who was still running for his life took a quick glance behind himself and grinded his teeth when he saw those two semi transparent chains flying at him. He hurriedly slapped the air in front of him and spat a few broken words inaudible to the chasers and a silvery-blue light shone in a peculiar shape, and then a thin sword about 2 feet in length patterned with 12 symbols that ran on the blade of the sword. The sword was the same color as the light that it cam out of and appeared to have no guard only a blade connected to a handle, and other than the symbols the sword has no other decorations. However, as soon as the man in blue pulled out the sword from a faint azure aura surrounded the man and his sword.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "azu sar grandiose!"After the man in blue yelled out these words, three symbols on the sword lit up and the azure aura started to get sucked into the shining shapes. The man then swung the sword at the incoming chains and an azure line burst out of the sword with a flash of light and smashed into the chains with a loud boom that shook the surroundings. The two men in white who sent out the chains suddenly fell down and seemed to faint.


    "This... So i guess you''re not just any exile, huh." The smile that held only contempt slowly disappeared from Hesso''s face, and a serious expression revealed itself as he gazed at the azure aura around his target. As Hesso glanced at his easily dispached men who were lying on the ground motionless, his body began to emit a a dark green aura that looked to overwhelm the azure aura coming from the man. The grounds started to tremble as the two auras were so close to each other, and every so often the auras would touch and a sound as if an explosion took place.


    Then, as if both auras were never there a formless, oppressive feeling spread out from the ground. Both sides faces grew pale as they tried to find a source.


    "Great warrior, help me and I''ll grant you my life for servitude!" The first to act was the man in blue clothes as he kneeled down and begged for salvation. The men in white were speachless; they had never seen someone who so abruptly gave up his dignity and bowed to another.


    BooOOM


    As if answering the man a loud explosion occured from the ground and dirt and sand flew everywhere concealing whatever appeared in a veil of earth.


    "Hmmmm I''ll think about it, but what makes so sure I''ll make you servant #1 for the great me." A slightly childish voice came from the veil that answered the man. As everyone was quite confused the veil of earth slowly dispersed revealing a child in red rags with milky white skin,piercing red eyes, andgrayish white hair. Everyone remained silent baffled by the presentation.

 Chapter 2- Kinda Hungry

    Everyone gazed at the young child who seemed around the age of 7-8. Everything was off about him from his smooth looking white skin to his dark red rags that drapped over his body as if he recently lost a third of his size. The man in blue who so readily bowed down felt like his gamble betrayed him. Everyone was stunned and no one dared to break the silence as everyone just stared dumbfounded at the boy.


    "Hahahaha," Hesso''s laugh broke the silence first as his once tense nerves started to loosen up. He was at first extremely afraid of the random expert in the middle of nowhere, but after the boy appeared he seemed to forget about the oppresive feeling from earlier. Turning his attention away from the boy, and he began to materialize his dark green aura from earlier...


    Nothing...


    Nothing close to an aura appeared around Hesso as if it didn''t exist in the first place. As Hesso''s thoughts spiraled around all possibilities, but the more he came up with the larger his questions became. The other nine men in white stood there silently awaiting their commander''s orders.


    The man in blue, who was still kneeling down to the child, tried to make sense of the situation. While Hesso''s thoughts were all jumbled up, the man in blue wanted to pose many questions to the child. Why are you here? Who are you? How did you get here? Why the hell am I servant #1?!


    "Although your abilities are so-so, I have no idea where I am or what is going on, so I''ll give you the pleasure to be my servant. Be grateful little worm not many can say they have this position." The boy spoke in a pleasing voice and if one discarded the contents it would be quite beautiful. The boy''s sparkling red eyes looked meaningfully at the man in blue kneeling in front of him. The boy seemed to want an answer to his gracious proposal.


    "Thank you for such a outstanding position undeserving for myself, I am known as Engil." The man in blue exhaled the words almost as a sign that showed he was going to place all the bets on this young boy. Seemingly pleased by his answer the young boy nodded his head in approval. After acknowledging Engil the boy turned toward the men in white as a smile spread across his immature face. The smile was warm and filled with emotion almost as if staring at a sun, but instead of feeling joy and comfort to the smile the nine men shuddered as if they were sent into a snowstorm in the second month of snow. However despite their small inkling of fear they stood their ground patiently awaiting orders.


    "Well then snacks, wake up that ignorant appitizer from his day dreams and let''s get started." The boy said such confusing words that everyone just stood there not knowing how to react. The men in white started chanting some unknown words as if to prepare for any movements, but the child just stood there gazing at their actions with the same warm smile on his face.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ~ P.O.V. of Engil ~


    I have been on the run for several months now with no second of rest. I had ran away from the Lands of Sorcery in the hopes of getting away from their corrupt system. Although I was treated like a traitor and chased after, it was normally only one or two soldiers who I could easily kill or escape from. Then all of a sudden I am now being chased by squad after squad of highly trained elites. Even with my strength I could only get rid of a couple before hitting my limit, and to make matters worse when I was tired and wasn''t paying attention they ambushed me forcing me to use skills with high amounts a recoil damage. This caused my my current situation of having to run away from such weaklings and being forced to bow my head to someone else. Well to be truthful I''d rather live as a coward than die an unjust death. However I can''t help it if I feel nervous about putting my life in the hands of a young child.


    Staring at the child in front of me after saying those outrageous comments I nervously look towards my pursuers. Exhaling a small breath, as they look quite unnerved as well, I start to look for a way out of the situation if the boy can''t handle them.


    STAB!


    Hearing a noise I come out of my thoughts to see the boy sticking his hand through the chest of one of the men in white. The man had a look as if he hadn''t even seen the boy move and just now realized that a small hand was inserted in his chest. The boy still had the same smile stuck to his face as he slowly pulled his bloodstained hand from the man''s chest. Not taking a second to think or say anything the men in white each held out their right hands each with a glowing symbol on the palm.


    "Shatter." A baritone voice that seemed to shake the ground filled everyone''s ears and all the sounds around them disappeared into thin air.


    CrrrAAaacccCKkkkK


    The presence of sound once again assulted everyone as the men in white realized that their glowing symbols were no longer there along with their right arms! All that remained was a bloody stump on each of them. Commander Hesso realized as he looked at his stump that they weren''t facing a child, but something more along the lines of a monster. Some of his men started to scream in agony at the pain of losing an appendage finally hit them. Hesso wasn''t fairing any better as the fear that he so easily forgotten earlier resurfaced and as he was about to open his mouth and admit surrender, the child started the slaughter.


    STAB! STAB!STABSTABSTAB! STAB!


    The constant sound of rending flesh nailed itself into the mind of the commander as he kneeled down defeated with his one intact arm hanging by his side. The screams of his underlings further emphasized his lack of judgment and inevitable demise. The boy strolled up in front of the defeated commander as if he way taking a stroll in the park he appeared as if he didn''t just commit mass murder. Then the boy unhesitatingly thrusted his small blood stained hand into the chest of commander Hesso and watched as the life drained from his eyes.


    Just looking at the spectacle before me i was dumbfounded. A young boy who appears to be no older than 7-8 slaughtered an elite group of highly trained sorcerers. I guess I''ve seen it all. I''m suppose to be a servant to this demon. I laughed inwardly about that fact. I then organized my thoughts and looked at the boy in a new light.


    "Servant, I woke up not too long ago, so I''m kinda hungry find me something to eat. Oh and call me Roen, no, master Roen, yea that sounds better."

 Chapter 3- The Continent of Elms

    Chapter 3 - The Continent of Elms


    While looking at the child who introduced himself as Roen, Engil debated on whether or not running away in this situation would help. Could he even get far enough away from this monster? First off out of everything he could''ve asked for he want food? Am I really a servant?!


    Watching Engil''s reactions Roen gave a small chuckle and began to walk in the direction of where the men came from. Engil dejectedly looked at the child with an array of mixed feelings, but resigned to his fate and started to follow after accepting this new master. Who knows he might just become an almighty master alongside the child or maybe die in a ditch the next day.


    "By the way, who are those guys? What''d they even want with you?" Asked by Roen, Engil turned to face the child only now to notice that the boy''s mouth didn''t match his words. Slightly confused he calmed down his need for an answer, and politely replied to Roen.


    "They were men from the Lands of Sorcery sent to kill me for running away. I have no idea why they sent such a force, but they take great pride in secrecy and strength leading them to kill all exiles no matter the cost."


    "Lands of Sorcery? What''s with that lack of creativity in naming sense. Don''t tell me the place we are in now is called the lands of bones and that place over there is the lands of sand." Roen commented by pointing towards the sand dunes in the horizon and the boneyard that they were currently walking through. Engil gazed at Roen half in astonishment and half in an attempt to get answers, but once again came up with nothing.


    "Those people with terrible naming sense are part of the strongest force in the entirety of the continent of Elms. It''s best to not provoke them because most kingdoms near us look to those guys as if they were gods. No mater how powerful you are it''s not wise to offends gods."


    "God huh...alright your advice will be noted and probably discarded at one point. Anyways you said the ''continent of Elms'' what is that? Can you eat it? You didn''t forget about my meal right?"


    "You''re a weird one aren''t you? Terrifying but weird. To answer your question the continent of Elms I currently where you are in at the moment, the continent is surrounded by the Serpent Sea which is why we haven''t tried to expand the continent''s borders or explore what is beyond. As you already know the continent''s biggest super power is the Lands of Sorcery, who take up a little less than half the continent. The rest is split between 5 other kingdoms who are constantly fighting. There''s never a time for peace."Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Serpent Sea? Sounds fun yea. Oh yea what were those glowing thingys that sucked in ether." The boy''s question threw Engil off guard. Engil was about to comment about the dangers of the Serpent Sea, but the word ''ether'' stopped his thought process. Ether is an old energy that was said to be used by the ancients, but the way of using that ancient energy has become lost over time. Wasn''t this just a monstrous child? No matter how strong one is even ancients would be dead now.


    "I''m sorry for my silence i had to think for a little. Well those ''thingys'' are called runes, and the ''ether'' hasn''t been used for billions of years. As such it is thought to be a myth."


    ''Ether is a myth? I''m in an odd place, my time is all wrong, just how long was i asleep for.'' As the boy was lost in his thoughts the two remained silent and didn''t move.


    "Tell me what would you consider the strongest in this continent right now." The boy''s sudden question after a long silence caught him by surprise and gave a wry smile as if to say the child was the strongest being here.


    "I know my strength, now tell me others i am in no mood to play games right now." Hearing the change in tone gave Engil''s deeply rooted fear of the boy a relapse. Calming his nerves Engil opened his mouth.


    "Right, let me explain from the start. Everyone has the capacity to start using ''aura'' however to even begin one must go through many life and death struggles or through the method of counter balance which can be achieved in many ways. When one awakens their ''aura'' that will be the largest increase a person will have pertaining to their aggregate ''aura''. From then on they will have to train in control and over the years their ''aura'' will grow along with their life expectancy. When one gets to the point where one can materialize their aura then they have entered the ''materialization phase''. Their aura will take on an amorphous shape and a random color that differs from person to person. We don''t really know what color has to do with aura as of right now. When their aura increases in purity and density then one can begin to condense their aura. This allows a wider variety of attacks and an overall stronger increase in strength. This stage is the pinnacle of this continent and any further stage we have no knowledge of. Does that answer your questions."


    "Some. Also you don''t seem to be showing me the respect of your master."


    "Ah! My apologies it''s just I haven''t gotten used to being a servant of a child."


    "I see well I guess that''s.... Wait you said child?!?"


    "Yes? Aren''t you a human child."


    Realizing something Roen started to examine his body. After inspecting every inch of his body, he turned to Engil with clear tears in his eyes.


    "This is surprising." Out of all that Roen learned today this piece of information was the most shocking to him.

 Chapter 4- Ten Thousand Soul Sealing Array

    Chapter 4- Ten Thousand Soul Sealing Array


    "So are you not supposed to be a child?" A hint of understanding was in Engil''s words. He finally understood that this child wasn''t a monster without reason. However the circumstances that achieved the child in front of him were still unknown.


    "No, neither am I supposed to be human." Roen''s next words sent shock and confusion into Engil''s mind.


    ''Is this a side effect from the method. I still have unanswered questions. Staying put will not be an efficient use of my time it''s time to move.'' Staring off into the horizon with eyes filled with intelligence unbefitting of a child, Roen made up his mind to move forward. Realizing that he could move his body the way he desired he felt no pressure to regain his previous body.


    "Well then, let''s get a move on being here at night definitely shouldn''t be a good thing." Already coming to terms with his body Roen then started his way out of the boneyard. Seeing Roen moving away Engil hurriedly picked himself out of his thoughts and obediently followed. The two remained in silence for the most part, and although Engil still had many unanswered questions, seeing Roen''s serious face he save those for later.


    Due to not utilizing aura it took them till night fall to reach the perimeter of the boneyard. Thus the two set to make camp there for the night. Engil pulled out a sheet of paper with a rune looking like and upside down fish that contained other odd shapes within it. Seeing the new rune Roen got a little curious and wondered what it could be used for.


    "Ains gar nak ta," following the chant from Engil the rune started to suck in his aura and produced a warm flame. Slowly setting the flame down on the ground, Engil looked at Roen''s amusement and lightly chuckled. The two began to set up blankets made from the clothes of the Lands of Sorcery soldiers from earlier. Laying in their blankets the two spoke no words as the gazed at the bright flame being produced from the rune. Slowing thinking about the events that transpired Engil wordlessly drifted off to sleep, and Roen soon followed as his human child body forced him to close his eyes and rest.


    After an uneventful night the two woke up and started to pack. Engil pulled out two pieces of dried meat that he scavenged from his pursuers earlier, and handed one to Roen.


    "No thanks."


    "I thought you said you were hungry?"


    "Since when did I say I eat human foods." Roen said with a mischievous smile that held several different meanings.


    "Then what do you..."


    "You''ll see," cutting off Engil, Roen gave a brief response and turned to leave the boneyard.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Clink.


    As they were leaving a strange sound barely audible due to them once again resuming their silence rang out.


    Click. Clink. Clink. Click.


    vrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRR


    A crescendo started as the ground started to tremble and a series of strange sounds followed. Engil seemed to want to say something, but when he glanced at Roen''s pale white face a incomprehensible fear spread out from him.


    All of a sudden, the sands that spanned for miles around the boneyard disappeared, and a black ground with millions of glowing lines appeared around them. Oddly enough the human bones that weathered though the ages each automatically reassembled themselves and the glowing lines spread onto them. The ground started to shake and the air started to vibrate. Engil was amazed at the whole process, but an ominous feeling hung over the air. Roen didn''t have the leisure to be amazed and he quickly started sprinting away without a word of warning to Engil. As if the energy for the word ''run'' would mean his downfall. Engil quickly chased after Roen as his fears for the upcoming were coming true. Both of them were sprinting side by side not saying anything, and every now and then Roen would swivel his head as if looking for something. The glowing lines increased in size and in brightness as the vibrations in the air continued to increase and the ground felt like it would break apart at any moment.


    Roen stopped on top of a line that looked exactly like the others around it, but if one looked closely the brightness of it was slightly less than the surroundings. However the serious look on his face didn''t relieve any of Engil''s tensions. Seeming to ponder about something for a second Roen turned to Engil, but before he could say anything ten chains started to wrap around his body. The chains looked very real and most certainly felt like the real deal seeing as to how Roen struggled to break free of them. However the chains kept releasing wisps of blue light from where Roen was struggling. Engil''s eye began to look for the source of the ethereal chains, and found that the tens of thousands of human skeletons were holding the ten chains that bound Roen. Absolutely horrified at the sight Engil gave a silent prayer to Roen, and was about to sprint off when a formless energy rooted him in place.


    "Sorry about this." Roen''s child like voice hung in his ears and then an incomprehensible pain hit him. It felt like all the bones in his body had shattered and were being ripped out of his flesh. He felt like his blood was being forcibly pulled from his body and all his organs were drying up as he became a husk no greater than those of a skeleton. Then before he could pass out he felt a cool breeze the instantly soothed him. As he looked around he saw a dome made of lumpy white material and a dark red coat started to cover it. He couldn''t find Roen anywhere and the only area he could be in is the dome.


    ''He couldn''t have left me to die right?'' Engil''s thoughts were answered by a bright multicolored light that shined from the distance. Although there was about a mile or so distance away, Engil felt a terrible aura coming from that light. The light was not slow by any means it passed the boneyard they just ran away from in an instant.


    ''It''s too fast!!?!'' Engil tried to come up with something to escape, but he couldn''t find salvation this time. He took a closer look at the light and realized that everything that entered the light the ground, sand, and even the skeletons were obliterated. Engil closed his eyes as if resigning to his fate.


    "Oops. My bad shouldn''t leave you out here yea?" A voice as if belonging to an angel rang in his head. Then darkness devoured him.

 Chapter 5- Soulmancer

    Chapter 5 - Soulmancer


    ~ thousand of miles away the Dunes ~


    At the top of a heavily fortified tower was a room with very little furnishings. Placed on the North, South, East, and West directions were four windows that perfectly displayed the outside at a high vantage point. Facing out the east window one could see thousands of soldiers resting in scattered camps, training in various areas, or suiting up for the next battle. There was six men who stood around a circular table with a map that seemed to be of the immediate area spread out for the others to see. A man in his early forties with a hideous scar that ran down from the bottom of his hairline and tucked under his chin was pointing at various plots of land on the map and seemed to be in the middle of explaining a battle strategy when the table started to shake. Confused he looked around only to see the other confused looks of his trusted generals. The tower began to quiver and tremble as if it wanted to break.


    "M,my king! Behind you!" The general opposite to the man with the hideous scar suddenly spoke up and everyone''s gaze concentrated to the south window. It was first a small line almost like a string however it appeared to be way off in the distance. It stretched from the ground and pierced way off into the sky. The only way that everyone could''ve even noticed it was that is gave off an impressive amount of light nearly blinding them. Then, it grew from the size of a string to enough to cover the width of their window, but it didn''t stop there it kept spreading as if it desired to devour the entire sky. It only stopped after it had blanketed everyone''s view of the south''s horizon. Some soldiers sat down in defeat, some just gazed in amazement, others ran trying to escape and be anywhere just not there. The king stood at the window with a face that had relief plastered over it the multicolored light seemed to have stopped spreading the sheer size and that terrifying energy that is gave off screamed of danger.


    "Quick, find the source of that light. An unknown variable is undesirable as of right now." The king was the first to act as the light slowly dimmed and vanished. The generals saluted and left the room until it was just the king standing in the room alone. When the king made sure that all of the generals had left, he sighed and turned to look out the south window. He was reminded of the message the oracle had sent: ''When the light of heaven falls, pray whatever it was meant for falls as well.''


    ~ The Crescent ~


    A huge curved crater carved the ground as water from the surrounding ocean filled it in slowly. The edges of the crater were vertical almost as if the land was hand carved. This was the area people once called the Dunes. Those who were outside the radius of the curtain of light saw it clearly carve out the once barren portion of the continent. Some who believed the light to be a test of their god jumped into willingly, but after they were disintegrated on the spot no one else wanted to prove their faith. Many speculations were going around such as they saw a man in blue robes being chased by a group in white and they were the cause of this, they saw a godly weapon that struck down into the land and that was the aftermath of it''s collision, or a monster of unprecedented strength went on a rampage and the continent ended up in it''s current state.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    However the size of the crater left much to be undiscovered such as on the southernmost tip of the crescent a half destroyed white dome with a slightly red exterior.


    ~ P.O.V. Of Engil ~


    It was dark and cold. Everywhere I looked all I could find was more darkness. It seemed endless, could this be what death is like. I wish I brought a candle.


    "Speak only what I want to know and nothing else. Why was that here?!?!!" A voice boomed throughout my dark surroundings making it hard to trace where it had came from. The voice brought with it a terrifying presence that dared to rip me to shreds if I didn''t answer what it wanted.


    "I, I am sorry I don''t know what your king of hell means I just died recently and have no idea what it is you could want." Although terrified Engil raised his statement in protest. I die and then am blamed for something I have no idea about, what horrible luck.


    "Speak less nonsense! You clearly said that the strongest people in this continent were only at the aura condensation level! However! Those three spells couldn''t be completed without thousands of gallons of heavenly hydra blood, and thousands of experts in at least the soul merging stage! Speak now or I will grind your soul into my next meal!" The voice once again thundered into Engil''s ears with many words he didn''t understand. The voice was low and hard to put it to a face he has heard before, but it felt oddly familiar.


    "Roen?"


    "Could you please answer my questions this is really not helping anybody at the moment." A slightly resigned voice echoed out and Engil understood some of what was going on.


    "I already told you what I know, and honestly I don''t even know about half of what you said." After his words a sigh of resignation flowed into the surroundings.


    "Come out." At those words Engil felt an overpowering force and his eyes adjusted to find himself looking over a vast expanse of water. He felt like his body was flying and carried no mass. As he began to examine his body all he could see was a semi transparent amorphous azure glow.


    ''This?! I was right i am dead.''


    "You''re not dead, idiot."


    ''Reading my thoughts! That''s unfair!''


    "Anyways I''m honestly surprised as well. To think you would keep your consciousness as a soul although I believe that sword is the cause it''s still worthy of praise." As Engil turned around he saw Roen or more like what was left of him. They were both inside a hemisphere of white lumpy material that carried a red sheen to it, but Roen was sprawled on the ground with his red eyes bloodshot, missing half his face and both his left arm and leg, there were several other holes in his torso and a gapping hole right through the center of his chest. Oddly enough blood didn''t seem to want to come out of any of his wounds.


    "Ahhh~ this is quite painful now be a good servant and get me some food."


    "I don''t know how to tell you this, but food might not help in your condition. Might I suggest a great coffin making shop they''ll be perfect."


    "I didn''t ask for your comments. I probably should have told you this sooner, but now''s a perfect time. I am a soulmancer What that means is get me some souls. Preferably without a consciousness, unlike yourself, and bring them to me."


    "And if I leave you to die."


    "Obviously I''ll devour your consciousness and form a new body around it. Duh."


    "As I was saying one fresh plate full of souls picked just you my master coming up!" At that Engil turned around and left to find a tasty treat for his hungry captor.

 Chapter 6-When Life Gives You Souls You Make Soul Juice

    Chapter 6 - When Life Gives You Souls You Make Soul Juice


    In the southern most part of the new crescent landmark of the Continent of Elms there exists a hunter''s hotspot known as the Wolf Woods. Here, many hunters will come to find the many different species of wolves that inhabit these woods. At one entrance to the forrest on nearly the opposite side of where The crater is there exists a town that is mainly for hunter''s who make a living off of selling the wolves'' materials. However if one was to travel southward for a couple of miles they would find an azure glowing wisp moving about in between the trees.


    ~ P.O.V. Of Engil ~


    After spending a good hour wandering around and getting used to his soul body I have come to three realizations. One, I seem to be lost. Two, how do I gather souls. Three, how do carry any souls without arms.


    ''I guess I should''ve asked Roen before i left huh? No helping it I must turn around.''


    ''I figured this would happen.'' As I was about to turn back Roen''s voice popped into my head. Honestly I''m no longer astonished by much. I''ve seen too much in too little of time.


    ''Oh great master of mine beseech me your will, so I may carry out your orders.''


    ''Shut up you sarcastic pebble, you''re now a soul all you need to do is possess a living creature and kill someone and as long as you bring their dead bodies back to me I can work from there. Oh and if you get lost and can''t find your way back to me just concentrate on how you remember me and a faint connection will guide you back.''


    ''Hmmm I see, alright and wasn''t I already a worm, does becoming a pebble downgrade or upgrade me?'' Roen''s responses became nonexistent after that comment.


    After spending another hour searching for any signs of life I came across a pack of wolves.


    ''Does it matter if it is an animal body?''


    ''No, being the Soulmancer that I am although high-grade souls are a trouble with my current state, any ordinary soul is a walk in the park though.''


    ''Yes, and does it matter if it is an animal body?''


    ''...sure.''


    At that I quickly moved my soul into the body of the largest wolf. After thrashing around for a good thirty seconds I could finally move the wolf''s body, or should I say my body. I felt like i could release aura and so when I tried a faint azure aura started to surround my wolf body. Giving the best wolf smile I could I gazed at the pack that was now staring back at me. I guess I can somewhat feel what Roen feels when staring down at weaklings. It feels damn good. I became the wolf pack''s worst nightmare that day. I triumphantly carried five dead wolves on my back as I followed the connection that Roen told me about.


    "You know, why haven''t you died yet?"


    "It''s one of the perks of being a Soulmancer, as long as my soul is not completely destroyed I can keep rebuilding my body."


    "Are you gonna tell me the rest of those perks?"


    "Mmmm, nah I''ll keep them a secret till a time arises for me to tell you."


    "Can I become a Soulmancer as well, so I don''t have to stay in rental bodies." A little dejected by his response Engil throws another question at Roen hoping for the best.


    "Nope, you have no aptitude for it really, but I can show you how to use you new soul body. I see you''ve already learned you can use your aura as long as you possess a body." Nodding at his servant''s adaptability Roen then starts to examine the five wolf bodies laid out in front of it. Five small grey wisps then appeared above their bodies and flew to the space in front of Roen. Those souls then started to smash into each other, and after each collision the already small souls would grow smaller and a small grey drop of liquid fell into Roen''s outstretched right palm. Taking the liquid in his palm Roen brings it to his mouth and begins to slurp it down as if it was a refreshing drink.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "Ahhh~ the magic of soul juice." Watching Roen''s sieved body refill itself, Engil waited for the process to continue, but after all the holes in his torso and chest were filled he stopped regenerating.


    "I have to get more now don''t I?"


    "Preferably stronger souls."


    "Yes your highness." Answering with a little resignation Engil turned his wolf body back to the forrest in search of stronger souls.


    ~ P.O.V. Of Darius ~


    I have been hunting in these woods for over a decade with my mates. My expert wolf slaying team consists of a five man party: two archers named Randolph and Clyde, a knife wielder named Darcie, and the front liners Caleb and I both have a bronze buckler shield and a iron bastard sword. It''s easy picking off the wolves who stray to far from the larger packs and even if we get into a skirmish with around 30 wolves we can all at least get away without any major injuries. After the god''s light came down or whatever people are calling it, many hunters are saying it''s a bad omen while others are saying it can bring in more people to the town. Honestly I don''t care as long as it doesn''t ruin my payday. We''re currently on our way to a fairly large wolf den hope that there will be some stragglers on the outskirts.


    We have Darcie scout ahead and make sure to double check our target''s surroundings. After identifying that it''s alone Caleb and I confront the wolf while our archers circle around aiming for blindspots whenever they are open. Darcie also circles looking for any way to make substantial damage.


    Our first target of the day seems to be a large silverback wolf which it is very common to find them alone, because they either travel in small packs or choose to go alone. They are most definitely one of the strongest wolves in these forests and even myself has to stay alert when fighting one. The wolf is in a clearing standing there as if it was waiting for us. An odd thought crossed my mind as I thought I saw the wolf smile back at me, but erasing the unease I was feeling I gave a battle cry and charged at the wolf with Caleb at my side.


    Snap! Snap!


    Fwoosh! Fwoosh!


    I gave a start after hearing some peculiar noises that sounded from the position of our archers. However the once motionless wolf now pounced at Caleb with a speed where Caleb barely had time to raise his shield. Defending from an awkward position, Caleb fell and hit the ground. I thought he would immediately get up, but his body started twitching and then thrashing. Then he stopped and cautiously got up. Since I was distracted I didn''t have time to check the wolf or throw any counter in, but I worked my senses to make sure it didn''t move suddenly for the kill. Caleb gave me a look with unease and signaled me with his eyes to be careful. Returning his concern I faced toward the wolf to find that it appeared to be mad. Did we do something?


    We knew not to make another reckless charge, and slowly moved to opposite side of the wolf. The wolf once again was standing still as if taunting our efforts to bring it down. Damn! Where is everyone else. Suddenly the wolf once again pounced toward Caleb, and it all happened in an instant. The wolf''s paws were the first to collide into the bronze shield, but with a insane amount of agility the wolf angled it''s body in a way so that it faced Caleb''s overhead arm clutching tightly to his sword. Then as soon as the wolf reached Caleb, who was currently in mid swing, it bounded off his shield with a force comparable to a thousand pound boulder being smashed into you, and stretched it''s neck till it''s jaws clamped tightly to the joint of Caleb''s arm. A sickening ripping sound followed by Caleb''s agonized screams.


    "Darius! It''s a trap! Randolph and Clyde are both unconscious inside a weird wooden cage that I can''t open!" Darcie''s panicked shouts reached my hears as another snapping sound rung out followed by a familiar scream. Only caring about my comrade''s livelihood, I ignored Darcie''s warnings and rushed to Caleb''s aid. As I reached Caleb''s side I started to assess and attend to his injuries. He had half his right arm ripped off and the other half was laying nearby, and as my gaze traveled farther down there was numerous puncture wounds around his knee each with a good amount of blood flowing out. From the way the leg was bent it was easy to see the joint was broken and as to what extent I didn''t have time to find out. Quickly rotating my body to face the monstrous beast, but it wasn''t in my sight all I saw was a flash of blue light and the wolf disappeared. I tried to follow the light, and it appeared to travel to my left. Wait, wasn''t Darcie to my left?! Rapidly turning again I saw Darcie''s limp body her neck profusely bleeding from the jaws of that beast. A faint blue aura spread out from the beast, and I fell to my knees.


    "A,a,aura m,materialization...." I couldn''t stop the words that flowed out from the depths of his fear, I resigned to my fate. We, we never had a chance against that monster. I closed my eyes and let those jaws of death close tightly around my neck.

 Chapter 7- Obviously We Pillage the Village

    Chapter 7- Obviously We Pillage the Village


    After a long struggle of bringing the five dead bodies back to Roen, Engil sat and watched as Roen wordlessly wrenched their souls out of their bodies and made them collide into each other producing a sparkling clear liquid that fell into his palm. Once again slurping down the liquid as if he was in a desert and it was the first drink he had in a year.


    "You know, that stuff you drink kinda looks like clear piss."


    "I''m starting to get the feeling that you hold no servile attitude towards me."


    "Well give me my body back."


    "Can''t, I already used it for that." Roen retorted while pointing his regenerating hand at the half destroyed white dome.


    "...how."


    "Well it''s the same principle of those runes you have. I''m just using something else as a medium." Roen said with a nasty smile, as the rest of his injured face filled in and he regained his lost limbs.


    "Well come on let''s get a move on whoever set those series of traps should think I''m dead, but I don''t wanna test that theory until I regain the rest of my strength." As Roen said these words he pulled the air in front of the destroyed dome and it seemed to break apart and gather in a small sphere in his palm. The sphere then started to unravel making it look like fabric, and if Engil hadn''t known it was his bones and blood that Roen was manipulating he would be quite dazzled at the display. Soon a pure white robe with dark red trimming covered up the once tattered body of Roen. It matched well with his piercing red eyes and white skin that resembles that of snow.


    "If I didn''t know you were male I would honestly believe you look pretty."


    "I''m starting to grow tired of your opinions. Anyways let''s go have some fun. I''ve been feeling a small gathering of human souls only a couple miles from here they''ll be perfect nutrients for my injured soul."


    "Injured soul?"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Ah did I forget to tell you? That multicolored light is called the soul shattering imprint. It was a spell made specifically to target the soul. A couple of old humans made it in the hopes of eradicating me. Quite foolish no?"


    "In the end what exactly are you."


    "No comment." Roen gave a smile at Engil as he quickly turned and started to walk towards the woods. Engil gave a defeated sigh and trotted off after his incomprehensible master.


    As the two made their way through the supposedly dangerous Wolf Woods, killing any living thing that crossed their path, and those unlucky wolves'' blood and bones were mysteriously absorbed by the clothing of Roen. Watching Roen take the souls and eat them directly instead of liquifying them Engil got a little curious, but kept silent since Roen''s face didn''t contain his usual happy grin. The next hour was spent in silence.


    "Is there something wrong with the situation. Why the long face?" Roen glanced at Engil with a hint of annoyance before he replied.


    "My soul seems to have taken more damage than I thought. I am going to need at least a couple billion ordinary souls just to heal that injury, and that''ll take too long."


    "Why are you in such a rush?"


    "Revenge is a dish best served warm, preferably with a nice warm stake to the eye and a extra helping of brutal beatings." Engil couldn''t deny Roen''s logic and chose to nod in agreement. The two reached a fairly large hill that was about several hundred feet away from the town situated near the edge of the woods. Gazing at the town Roen regained his lost sense of drive and a beautiful smile started to spread on his face. Looking at the smile Engil shivered as if the surrounding temperature just reached sub zero.


    "Well, as they say when you''ve lost something, take it back as brutally as possible and make sure to step on all those who get in the way."


    "If anyone other than you said that I will begin to grill myself and jump into the Serpent Sea to be a well cooked appetizer for one of those beasts."


    "Ah well it''s the thought that counts."


    "Yea sure. Anyways why''re we on the outskirts of town are we looking for a damsel in distress or something." Roen looked at Engil as if he said something weird, and covered his mouth as he laughed in contempt.


    "No you idiot. Obviously we''re here to pillage the village. You know the usual, kill steal, repeat. No rape though that''s too much for my tastes. I wonder how they taste. Anyways I''m hungry we''ll charge on my battle cry."


    "Aye aye captain." With another sigh Engil turned to face the village.


    ''Maybe it might have been better to die back there.'' Dreaming about how blissful hell could be compared to his lifetime of servitude as a amorphous blob of floating comebacks, Engil was awakened by his master''s battle cry full of bloodlust and battle craze.


    "HUUUUUUNNNNNGGGGRRRRYYYY!!!"


    ''Did, did he just scream hungry? Was that really the signal to attack? Can''t I just sit this one out?'' Full of indignation Engil began to run at the village feeling very uncommitted.


    ''Well life won''t get boring at least.''

 Chapter 8- Sweet Freedom

    Chapter 8- Sweet Freedom


    ~ P.O.V. Of Tyor ~


    I am part of the mighty race known as Thorns. We have complete dominance over plants. We are very prideful, but very loyal because after we have a master we can never have another. However, as of right now, I am a slave. I can no longer choose my master because of those bastards who dare sneak up on a man in the middle of his business. I would do something to escape, being the prideful existence such as myself, but they have a sorcerer. One who has transcended the limits and has power to overwhelm even an elder Thorn. Although he is strong since he sides with those bastards I will never recognize him.


    Currently they have taking me to an outlier village in southern most region of Elms. Our voyage was halted by a mysterious light that blanketed the south. One can''t go anywhere without hearing something about that phenomenon. I have been planning an escape for awhile now, but that sorcerer had realized that and now I have a rune marking on the back of my neck that tracks any movement I make. It''s so frustrating I cannot talk without permission, cannot eat without permission, cannot even relieve myself without their permission!! My prideful nature is going crazy! I am a Thorn! Not an ornament for another''s name! As soon as I get the chance I will murder everyone here. That is my vow, my oath, this vendetta shall be settled in my death or theirs. The chance will come, I must be patient and bide my time till the moment arises then I''ll become the sharp blade that streaks across their necks.


    Three days ago we arrived at our destination called Wolvern. This place reeks of wolf carcasses and even our small trek through the town to the trading center I spotted at least a dozen or so wolf pelts left out to dry. There was a slew of buff men in varying armors with all kinds of odd looking weapons. One man even carried a harpoon. Are they still hunting wolves? Anyways this town feels like if someone doesn''t include the word ''wolf'' in their daily life they''ll be publicly executed.


    Recently, during our stay in the town, I have had doubts on my plans for escape. The reason being is that the sorcerer has been keeping more tabs on me than a man who believes his wife is cheating. I have no breathing room, how can I even act if an existence like that is constantly breathing down my neck. In my frustration I hit a wall of my cell. It hurt.


    Five days have passed since we have arrived at this village. I was shown at an auction and I saw many looks that wandered in my direction. I guess that our race might have better looks than normal humans, but seriously I''m a guy and they''re guys as well. A shiver runs down my spine at the thought. Luckily no one could even pay for my starting price. Hallelujah for the bastards being cheapskates. I never thought I''d thank them for something. There has been a rumor spreading around that an elite group of wolf hunters has gone missing lately. Other than that nothing worth mentioning, unless you consider an overbearing sorcerer in that. I wish that monster would come and just destroy the town.


    It was the night of the eighth day I awoke to sounds of explosions and yelling. I quickly jumped to my feet and rushed to look out the bars. The once pitch black night sky was an ominous blood red color that looked to be moving in a circular manner. My enclosure was a small hole in the ground with a grate attached over the hole. Standard stuff for slaves. I stuck my head out of the biggest hole in the grate and saw pandemonium. The whole village was set ablaze there were weird purple wolves that ran around and chased the men. The purple wolves all had red eyes and after watching for awhile I learned that they were impervious to physical attacks. A sword was swung so impressively that it split the air and traveled at a speed eyes would have trouble to follow however the blade effortlessly passed through the body of the wolf, and then the wolf would bite onto their necks either puncturing their jugulars or snapping it completely. The scariest thing was that these immortal wolves came in packs of ten or twenty at a time and swarmed the helpless men.


    As I was wondering if some of the faster men would get away, I realized the blood red sky surrounded the the small village and anyone who came into contact with it would be shredded into oblivion. Then the wolves started to come in the direction of the trading center, and the screams of my tormentors beautifully played out. Listening to that melody I sat down and started laughing maniacally.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Serves them right! I have no idea what being they disturbed or what hornet''s nest they kicked, but thank you. Ah I''ll probably be dying with them soon. The screams suddenly stopped along with my laughter. What''s going on? There was no longer any noise as if the whole thing was a dream. No!!! Don''t be a dream! I got up with a speed that would impress anyone and thrusted my head through the nearest gap in the grate. What I saw shocked me. The men who I despised with every cell of my being were still alive. However they all appeared to be on the ground wounded or unconscious. The purple wolves surrounded them gnashing their teeth every now in then as if to assert their dominance. The sorcerer stood near my cell with a bronze spear in one hand and a handful of papers with the same rune drawn on each in the other. He gazed at the purple wolves with a hint of surprise and fear, but he didn''t move a muscle. Then he appeared, a boy who looked no older than 8 he wore a snow white gown that had a dark red trimming and was secured onto his body with a thick red sash. His eyes were as red as blood and his grayish white hair cascaded down past his shoulders and stopped around his lower back. He had pure white skin that matched well with his gown both were unblemished and without imperfections. His face had a warming smile that could probably stop a child from crying and melt even the coldest of ice. He was like a god who descended from heaven to save these people from this hell. The ever so real purple wolves disappeared without a trace as if they never even came. The only thing that reminded people of them was the injuries of the men on the ground.


    "Who, what are you?" A man on the ground asked in a nervous voice. The reverence in his voice seemed as if he was looking at a saint envoy of the gods.


    "Your ending." The boy gave a brief answer, his smile still stained onto his face, but it now was beginning to twist into a more sinister symbol in the minds of everyone.


    "Thros!" The first to act was the sorcerer as he used a shortened chant and a symbol on the ground a few feet from the boy started shinning. The next moment the sorcerer appeared over the rune and quickly tossed his stack of papers at the boy. The boy stood there lazily watching the sorcerer''s actions as if it was a great play.


    "Thros!" Annoyed by the boy he chanted once again and disappeared and reappeared on the boy''s right side. Thrusting his spear into the boy''s side without hesitation he held a look of complete confidence as if the end was already in sight. The next moment surprised everyone as the boy, instead of being impaled, calmly stood on the blade and spear shaft seemingly weightless. The sorcerer quickly jumped back extremely startled by the boy''s agility.


    "Are you done with your struggle, worm?" The boy''s pleasant voice meandered it''s way into everyone''s ears saying that he was just playing around up till this point. Furious, the sorcerer chanted a slew of words and phrases and his body started to flash in the spaces around the boy thrusting out his spear every so often. Not even showing the slightest surprise, the boy calmly swayed his upper body and casually dodged the incoming spears.


    Suddenly the boy gave a sigh and tens of white spears grew out of his gown and pierced out into the area surrounding him. As if not satisfied by the process the boy gave a small wave of his hand and the tens of spears started to branch out rapidly making it look like a tree was growing at a breakneck speed. There was a scream of pain and all the spears suddenly shifted towards the noise bombarding the area in a white forrest. Pleased by his own actions the boy started walking my way and the tens of branched out spears retracted back to the gown revealing the body of the sorcerer who now resembled swiss cheese.


    Stopping in front of my grate the boy gazed down at my head that I am ashamed to say is stuck in the gap. Returning his gaze he gave a light laugh.


    "Why were you laughing earlier?" Oddly the boy''s smiling face disappeared and it was replaced by another that seemed to be troubled by something.


    "They do not deserve my pity, I laughed because I only have hatred for them." I spoke my heart, I don''t know if I overstepped my bounds, but for some reason I didn''t want to lie to this boy.


    "Fair enough, freedom is sweet no?"


    "Excuse me?" The boy''s question caught be off guard and I had no idea how to answer.


    "Get freedom with your own hands." At that the boy pressed down on the grate and shattered it. Then a white spear extended slowly from his gown and he handed it to me.


    Overwhelmed with emotions I grasped tightly onto the spear thinking if I let go I would lose this moment forever. I turned towards the men who beat me, tortured me, laughed at my pain, and tried to take away my pride. Tears welled up in my eyes and in a small voice I answered the question from earlier,"Yea, freedom is sweet."


    I stepped towards the men on the ground. I am a Thorn. I was once a slave, but now I am free in every sense of the word.

 Chapter 9- Blood

    Chapter 9- Blood


    ~ P.O.V. Of Roen ~


    After my magnificent battlecry I immediately set up a blood barrier using the blood I had collected on the way here.


    I sent the wolf form Engil off telling him to set fire to the houses and round up all the woman and children in a wide open area. I used a spell from my Soulmancer techniques called ''perfect mirror'' in which I use unliquidated souls and create copies on themselves that follow my every order. Of course the abilities of the copies and appearances depend on the quality of the soul. Anyways I sent out my ethereal wolves because I was too lazy to hunt for everyone, but I personally made my way towards what I believe is the commerce district. Sending my wolves to quickly clean up the trash. However I hear laughter. Thinking someone has gone crazy I show my appearance, which stops the chaos for some reason, and look over to find a person with green eyes and green hair they have a slightly tanned skin that looks kinda like dirt. Is this a dirt-grass man? There is a strong soul signature coming from him. He reminds me of some unpleasant memories. Ahhhh my mood has soured. It''s cool it''s cool just keep smiling.


    "Who, what are you?" An injured man comes up to me and asks a stupid question. Ugh I don''t really wanna waste my time here. I just wanna meet that dirt-grass man and leave with my day.


    "Your ending." I simply reply because since he took his time to ask me a question I should be polite and give him the truth with a smile.


    Then another rude man appeared. He was a sorcerer like those white clothed men except he used a different rune. He is obviously more suited for combat than those ones I killed earlier, however he is still weak. At first I let him come because I am still intrigued by this new form of spells and the concept of aura. Engil thinks I use aura and convinced himself that is why I over power him. What an idiot. He trains in his aura when he should train his body and mind. Oh well it''s fun to watch him squirm around and his comments give me a sense of closeness, so he''s not useless. As expected of my #1 servant.


    After looking at the man''s techniques for awhile I, still confused over the whole aura thing. Ah things come in time. Gotta get back to repairing my damaged soul, aura can wait for later. At that I decided to end the man with my newly made technique. I imagined thousands of spears, but right now my skills with utilizing blood and bone are quite non existent compared to my soul spells. It took longer than expected, but the skill did it''s job so I was quite pleased. Now getting serious I asked the prisoner,"Why were you laughing earlier?"


    "They do not deserve my pity, I laughed because I only have hatred for them." Listening to him I was somewhat reminded of myself. Sighing on the inside I asked him a question I already knew the answer to,This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Fair enough, freedom is sweet no?"


    "Excuse me?" Apparently my question caught him off guard, but that''s only secondary I''ll be quiet and let the thought sink in.


    "Get freedom with your own hands." Saying that, I broke him out of his prison and gave him a weapon made from my bone cloak. He seemed very surprised by my actions, but I could feel the determination coming from the depths of his soul. There was a slight resonance that vibrated my soul. That''s... Interesting...


    Watching the dirt-grass man in dirty rags calmly stab the wounded to death and end the lives of those unconscious, I remembered that resonance I felt earlier. Was it just my imagination? Oh well what''s done is done it''s not in my being to force my opinions on everyone. However he is entertaining, there seems to be small plants that trip, bind or strangle people. I guess that''s a spell, but I fell no aura being used. Is it a race specific thing? As I thought he''s an interesting specimen.


    --------------------------------------


    As Tyor finished off the last of the restrained men who had enslaved him, he felt as if a great weight was lifted off his shoulders. Turning around he gazed at the boy walking towards him. He quickly knelt down as he swore in his heart that he would follow this being of great power even if it cost him his life.


    "Why are you kneeling?" Roen was a little confused.


    "I am kneeling to my king." Tyor respectfully answered with a vast array of emotions surging in his voice. Seeing Roen''s confused face Tyor continued,"What I mean is that I am from the race known as Thorns. We can only acknowledge one king and since you saved my life I will give it back to you."


    "I see~ well it''d be rude of me to turn down your offer. You can call me Roen. What can I call you?" Roen is not one to turn down more servants, and he was already interested in the man from the race of Thorns. As the spear that was still in the hand of Tyor was absorbed back into Roen''s gown, Tyor began to speak again,


    "Responding to my king, I am known as Tyor. As I have already said I am from the race of Thorns. I shall serve you to the best of my ability," Thinking about something for a second Tyor added,"Also I don''t swing that way."


    Tyor''s serious face stared straight at Roen. There was a silence.


    "Alright then." Roen then cut his wrist and some blood started to trickle out of the wound. His gown formed into a small chalice that caught the spilling blood. He then passed the chalice over to Tyor.


    "Drink." On the command Tyor took the chalice and downed the thick red liquid without a second thought. Watching his actions Roen nodded silently. Tyor felt a warm feeling spread out from his body as the blood seemed to become absorbed by his body. There was a stinging pain that came from the top of his head, and several blood red barbs started poking through his scalp making it seem as if Tyor was wearing a blood red crown. A presence that resembled a king started to emit from the body Tyor, and he started to feel a slight tugging on his soul. Quickly discovering that he could feel a faint connection to his master.


    Watching Tyor''s transformation Roen had a bright smile on his face. Then he began to connect his soul to Tyor''s. After he accomplished all that he could Roen began to walk towards the location Engil was currently at along with around a hundred untouched, fresh souls.


    "Come, we''ll test your abilities. I have a couple subjects for you." Roen said those words as he walked and Tyor, having finished his evolution, followed obediently.

 Chapter 10- Phantom Knights

    Chapter 10-Phantom Knights


    When Roen and Tyor reunited with Engil, who is still inhabiting the silverback wolf''s body, they saw a couple hundred women and children all huddled into the middle of a dirt covered plaza. Fear was evident throughout everyone''s faces and some children were crying. Engil explained that some of the more crazed men attempted to either kill or rape some of the women here. To that Roen gave a small sigh and began to introduce his two servants.


    "I see you''ve been through some troubles. Anyways suck it up," pointing to Engil and Tyor, Roen continued,"Worm meet slightly stronger worm."


    "Who''s who?" Engil enquired and sneaked a glance at Tyor who held a look of confidence as if he knew the answer was as clear as day.


    "Does it matter?" Shooting down Engil''s question, Roen turned to the crowd of scattered women and children with a smile.


    "Hear me pitiful worms! I shall only speak once and not repeat myself!" Ignoring the commotion and confusion caused by his child appearance Roen continued explaining.


    "I have just recently arrived in your fine village and I have given my best courtesy. I even came with gifts. Now what I want from you all is some clothes for my companions, a map, and some well made bottles." Once Roen finished his demands there was even more confusion in the crowd, but ignoring them he turned around and a white chair formed from his clothes. He sat down with a gaze that urged someone to follow his will. Those women and children who looked at him all had the same thought for a second. He is a king!


    After waiting a couple of minutes a pair of young pretty girls go up and hand Roen his requested items. Giving the clothes to Tyor, the map to Engil, and keeping the bottles to himself.


    "If I may ask your highness why you attacked out poor village and killed off our men decreasing our chances of survival." As the crowd awaited further orders from the boy Roen and his servants started to move away. Startled by their movements that indicated they would leave them and old lady walked over to Roen and asked these words.


    "I am no king. I will not attend to your lives; survive on your own." Taken aback by Roen''s harsh words the old lady grew silent for a moment.


    "Then why didn''t you kill us as well!"


    "Because killing women and children gives me indigestion." Saying that Roen once again turned and left no longer paying attention to the old lady. Engil and Tyor followed suit following Roen''s disappearing figure.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    After they were a ways away from the village, Engil broke the silence,


    "So what''s the real reason you couldn''t kill them." Roen just glanced at Engil and continued moving giving off the impression that he doesn''t want to talk. Tyor silently respected his master''s decision and withheld his questions.


    The silence continued till night fell and Engil lit a campfire while Tyor made the camp. As everyone was lying next to the fire Engil once again spoke,


    "You know it''s no good to sulk all day. I should be the one sulking instead of you. All I have to my name right now is a stubborn, crazy, and battle driven master."


    "Shut up worm." Roen''s voice played into the surroundings as usual and a small smile quickly vanished from his face. Noticing that Engil gave himself a pat on the back and continued the conversation,


    "So why did you ask for bottles?"


    "I am creating phantom guards."


    "Yea sure phantom guards, gotcha it''s all clear to me now...Please explain." Instead of answering Roen pulled out a bottle, conjured up some wolf souls and shoved them into the bottle then pricking his finger Roen let a couple of drops of blood fall into the bottle and used a cork to seal it up. After Engil saw the whole process he stared at the bottle waiting for something to happen. Nothing. One minute passed still nothing. Thirty minutes passed still nothing. Roen and Tyor left him and both of them went to sleep.


    In the morning Roen and Tyor were met with Engil still staring at the bottle waiting for something to happen.


    "I haven''t started the process yet." Roen spoke between stifled laughter. Upon hearing the truth Engil gave a couple curse words and ran off. Watching Engil run away Roen turned to Tyor, "Now that the annoyance is gone we need to work fast. Make sure no one approaches me while I work."


    To Roen''s words Tyor nodded and threw both his hands out. Tyor''s red barb crown started to glow and thousands of red vines shot out of the ground. These vines surrounded both Tyor and Roen as they formed a makeshift circular wall. Not even glancing at Tyor''s face full of self praise, Roen pulled out another bottle shoved some random souls into it dropped a few droplets of blood and placed it next to the one from yesterday. Forming a white spear he then drew a few lines inside a circle. Taking out even more souls Roen liquified them and let the liquid flow into the lines.


    Taking a bottle in each hand Roen stood in the middle of the circle and his body began to absorb the liquid souls and a bright blue vein running from his feet to his palm started shining. The souls in the two bottles began to viciously attack each other and the blood started to get drawn into the conflict. When the liquid soul dried up Roen had a bright smile on his face when he looked into the two bottles.


    "Come my minions and follow my command." Roen''s voice took on a deep bass and the ground shook with each word. Then he uncorked each of the bottles as a purples gas spilled out. The gas then formed into two shapes a man and a wolf however there was some very distinct differences. The wolf''s body was dark purple with glowing red line strewn her and there and on it''s spine was a series of spikes that protruded in a intimidating fashion. The man was an average height, quite skinny, and he was a similar color except he has glowing blue lines and in his hands was a sword that looked awe fully like the one Engil used if one didn''t count the fact that it was three times as long and twice as thick.


    "Damn I''m awesome." Roen laughed while looking at his phantom knights who began to kneel before him.

 Chapter 11- Daring Debut!

    Chapter 11- Daring Debut!


    Eight days later, a group of three travelers wearing gray cloaks that covered their and two wolves a silverback wolf and a weird purple wolf with red veins that protruded from its body and had a light glow to them. arrived on the outskirts of the medium sized traders center Thistleburn village. Thistleburn village is situated in a small clearing in the middle of a trade route. It has the luxury of being the checkpoint of many traders on their way to and from the deep parts of the woods. It''s main trade partner in Wolvern, which is about a 3 month journey from here, hadn''t contacted the main trade firm through pigeon in a couple of days and the higher ups have been getting increasingly worried. Their fears and worries were intensified by receiving several accounts of villages being ransacked with no man, woman, or child being spared.


    "Engil take these two and scout out the area. Use our link to tell me any information that could help us." A childish voice rang out from underneath the smallest cloak. The voice was oddly directed towards the the wolf, and if anyone was watching the exchange they would see the wolf nod as if it could understand human tongue.


    Watching the three figures leaving the boy turned to his other companion an excitedly exclaimed,"Let''s begin operation K."


    "If I may ask, did we even have operations A through J?"


    "Details are unimportant!" The man''s logical question was immediately turned down by the boy''s enthusiastic response.


    "If we are going to raise hell I can do the work. There is no need for you to dirty your hands." The man bowed respectfully and offered a rather questionable choice of words if others were listening.


    "No, we are not barbarians who kill every breathing thing in our way... I take that back we are not hooligans who disrupt public life in every town they come across."


    "If I may I don''t believe calling it a simple ''disruption'' will suffice maybe more along the lines of complete upheaval of public order."


    "You''ve been talking with Engil too much. He is in his rebellious stage, so do not mind him." The boy answered the man as they made their way towards the gates of the town.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Halt!" Arriving at the gate entrance the two were greeted by a guard in shiny armor a pole arm and a shield. The two waved at the guard and continued into the town.


    "Don''t you have ears I said halt!" The enraged by the two''s actions screamed louder grabbing the attention of some people who were wandering around the area. The two in question turned around looked at the guard then at each other and shrugged. Furious with their actions the guard said through gritted teeth, "Take off your cloaks all mysterious individuals must be questioned about the annihilation of several villages."


    Hearing the guards words the two removed their cloaks slowly as to show them that they''re not making any sudden movements. The larger cloak fell to the ground first and underneath was a middle aged man with handsome features, tanned skin and soft looking green hair that matched his eyes. He was wearing a helmet that only covered the top of his head and leather armor that was without any marks or indentions in it, almost brand new. Then when the second cloak fell everyone''s gaze concentrated on a young boy with grayish white hair that fell a little short of his shoulders. He had pale skin that most people attributed to wealthier noble sons, and was adorned with a green silk robe that was laced with gold thread further increasing his appeal. His face easily overshadowed the middle aged. Just staring into his alluring red eyes most of the women in the crowd had a dangerous glint in their eye almost as if they were about to go to war. These two were of course Roen and Tyor.


    Feeling the tension in the air the guard cursed these two in front of him and burrowing his jealousy he said, "Alright now I must take you to questioning. If you refuse then I will arrest you."


    "No." Roen was the one to answer and the guard was about to arrest them when the child rushed up to him and easily knocked him down with a push.


    Slap!


    A sudden sound of the guard''s face being slapped echoed through the ears of everyone. Roen began to repeatedly slap the guard while yelling.


    "You! *Slap!* Dare! *Slap!* Get *Slap!* In! *Slap!* The! *Slap!* Of! *Slap!* My! *Slap!* Debut! *Slap!*."


    Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!


    "What do you have to say for yourself!" Roen''s shouted at the guard pressing him for an answer.


    "The putrid existence seems to be asleep master. Maybe your soothing voice lulled him to dreamland." Tyor replied with a completely serious face.


    "I guess... But what about my town debut."


    "This is only a medium sized village you can have your debut in a real town next time."


    "Goodie! Hmmm~ what are you all doing here? Move you''re in my way." Roen seemed to realize that they were surrounded by a crowd of stunned people. Tyor simply shoved people out of the way to pave a path for Roen, leaving the crowd stunned. Switching their lines of sight from the two departing into their village to the guard out cold they all shared similar thoughts.


    ''Did anything happen between that boy and this guard that would lead to this?'' Everyone seemed to empathize with the poor guard who was just doing his job. Well no one blamed him for running into those two crazies.

 Chapter 12- To the Future! And To Jail!

    Chapter 12- To the Future! and to Jail!


    ~ P.O.V. Of Tyor ~


    I was amazed at the speed at which we got to our destination, Thistleburn Village, a journey normally taking close to 3 months now was only 7 days. Of course this is all due to the phantom knights that my mater made. Wonderful creatures they are, but don''t speak much maybe an occasional ''uuargh'' though. When they were first made I was enthralled by their appearance. Then I as handled like a sack thrown over the shoulder of the skinny one and we sprinted off to find Engil. I was forced to watch my blood vines wither away without me. I''ll never forget you my babies.


    Anyways the first night was spent finding Engil, who we found exhausted and caught in several bear traps. Healing his injuries we planned our route to be a village quite far from the one my master burned to the ground, and the next seven days were a blur. I mean literally a blur we were moving at such a high speed that I started to get sick. We could''ve made it faster if we carried Engil, but master said it was punishment and so we waited for him to come into camp exhausted from running all day to catch us.


    I feel like my responses with my master have a tinge of un servility. I believe it could be the master''s blood that flows in me that is changing me not just physically, but mentally too.


    We soon arrived at an inn a local pointed out to us. It was a medium sized building kinda run down if you ask me when we went in we were greeted by a well built man who didn''t ask for payment and showed us to our rooms. I don''t know much about inns or how most things work in a society, but something is fishy about this whole situation.


    After settling down I entered master''s room and sat down in a chair in front of him. He had his eyes closed concentrating on something. Thinking he''s most likely in a conversation with Engil I begin to look around I saw a bed nightstand and a window. A room for my master is not this! Filled with rage about this establishment''s audacity to have a room such as this to house my master, the thought of destroying the town comes to mind. As I began to formulate my plan to bring about a mass slaughter my master''s eyes open.


    -----------------------------------


    "Engil has found that two rival kingdoms are about to wage war over some past conflicts. Also he seemed to be withholding a piece of information from me. Hahaha wait till I see him again I''ll make him squirm like a good little worm."


    "Maybe he has his reasons master."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "Reason is for sane people." Unable to retort his master Tyor closes his mouth and begins to think.


    "Does master want to intervene in the war?"


    "Not intervene more like join."


    "I see. If I may be so rude as to asking why master seeks to be stronger?" To Tyor''s question Roen quieted down and thought for a good amount of time before looking Tyor in the eye. Roen''s face resembled the firt time he was talking to Tyor, a troubled face with hints of sadness that contrasted to his usual moods.


    "I was born in this world hunted down because of my very existence. I have climbed out of the very depths of hell more times than you have hairs on your head. Seeking strength is like a second nature to me. I never want my past to repeat. And now as soon as I woke up I was nearly killed again! Those bastards try to kill me! Well, right now I need strength, so that later I can walk right up to them and they will hand me their own heads!"


    Tyor didn''t know how to respond, or more like he couldn''t. His master''s motive was more profound than he could imagine. Who is it that has the power to rival his master? Who is it that he strives for so much power?


    "I recommend going to the Land of Sorcery, they have existed since the beginning of Elm''s history they will surely have the answers my master seeks."


    "I was already planning on going to that society of worms from the start, but wouldn''t it be more fun if we break down their doors and force an answer out of them?" Roen exclaimed with that signature warm smile of his. Tyor wordlessly responded with a nod; if his master goes it would be foolish if he didn''t follow.


    "Two travelers inside the building! Come out now and be arrested or we will begin to burn the inn to the ground!" A commanding shout came from outside. Tyor was about to go out and start some mass murder, but Roen''s hand stopped him. Although confused by his master''s actions, Tyor didn''t resist and the two walked out of the inn. They saw the inn keeper decked out in full body armor, and the two realized they had fallen for a trap.


    "You two are to be arrested and executed by three days time for the crime of assaulting a guard who was also the mayor''s son!" The commanding officer had shiny silver armor and a sword to match. His attire screamed ''look at me I''m important''. Tyor was wondering if Roen had a plan or was just playing around.


    "We submit!" Roen''s surrender gave both a wave of relief and confusion to the surrounding knights. The information they received was that a overly vicious boy with an extremely strong bodyguard ruthlessly attacked a guard. Looking over the two, who could easily beat women in a contest of looks, the knights wondered if they had the wrong people.


    "Hurry put them in chains and take them to jail! Tsk disgusting criminals!" The Knights hesitatingly followed their commander''s orders while apologizing to the poor duo. That mayor''s son is probably sending these two to death because he was jealous. All the knights concluded that must be the case and gave a light sigh.


    While being sent to jail the Roen and Tyor gave no resistance and quietly entered their respective cells.


    "Mind wanting to fill me in master."


    "Ahhaha well let''s just say that a party is about to start and we have some uninvited guests." Roen''s smile was like a candle in the darkness and Tyor shivered at the sight. Although he had no idea who the uninvited guests were or why they were here, he gave a silent prayer to them wishing them some happiness before their eternal rest.

 Chapter 13- The Guests of Honor?

    Chapter 13- The Guests of Honor?


    ~ P.O.V. Of Roen ~


    Currently I''m in a 8 foot by 8 foot stone suite. It''s fully equipped with state of the art security, and the only downside is the service. They call this place ''jail'' and it''s got such great reviews that they have one in nearly every town and city. Some people even stay in the place for life! How wonderful!


    I had wanted to get a great view on the show that was happening in the city at the moment, so I obviously had to get a great room from a respected inn. However my window is quite high for my current body to get a comfortable view. I kindly did a few modifications.


    BOOM!


    Blowing out the wall I had a magnificent panoramic of the city that I''ve been told is just a town.


    I pulled out a white ball from my pocket. The guards to this place rudely told us to keep our clothes instead of giving us the free outfit that comes with the room. Naturally this white ball is my clothes that I feel the most comfortable in. Putting it on I hear a sound coming from the left wall.


    Crack! Bang! Bang!


    Turning to the noise I see my trusted servant Tyor breaking thorough his cell into mine. Recently I think he''s learning to be a bit rebellious from Engil, but I''ll correct him later.


    "Come. Sit, the show''s just about to start!" I''m a little excited myself I wonder how it''ll turn out. These unexpected guests dare to parade into my fun! Not on my watch no one will ransack a village that I''m about to ransack! I had already sensed a gathering of around a couple hundred souls outside the village in the cover of trees and foliage, and seeing that they might interrupt me I asked Engil to investigate. The souls, who Engil identified as people, seem to be gearing up for a war. I had originally planned to kill a few in order to complete my clothes and gather some souls, but there''s nothing wrong with letting someone else do your work.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    -------------------------------------


    Screams and shouts resounded through the village as men in white armor wielding various silver weapons. One can easily see they are strong and well supplied. This was not a simple raid by bandits. Unfortunately for the guards manned at the walls they did not receive the information the enemy was at the gates.


    The guards fought valiantly, but it was all a futile effort. The guards were at an overwhelming disadvantage in manpower as some of them were trying to escort citizens out. It wasn''t long till the gates of the city came down and the ''uninvited guests'' arrived. With most of the guards killed and the rest scatter throughout the citizens, pandemonium ensued. Some parts of the city were set ablaze, there were white armored men running around stealing, raping, killing, and all the while two sets of eyes watched the this hell with unwavering attention.


    Those two were naturally Roen and Tyor. Tyor gazed with emotionless eyes at the spectacle and Roen''s smile soured long ago. He was staring at a man in the middle of the white armored intruders. The man wore a similarly colored robe and in his hand he held a black orb. Every so often the man would wander next to a corpse and hold the orb over it. At his actions Roen closed his eyes, and Tyor got up and started stretching. Tyor had seen his master''s face change as soon as the man with the black orb arrived. He guessed that Roen was giving orders to Engil an the two phantoms.


    "Tyor, kill everyone, I don''t need any witnesses. Also if you can bring me ten survivors anything less is fine as well, I need at least one alive. Engil and my phantoms have started to move. Don''t touch that one with the orb, he is mine. Secure the surroundings I don''t wish anyone to escape."


    "Your will shall be done." Giving a brief response to his master Tyor started to head outside the village gates.


    "I''m sorry for not acting sooner. Maybe then you could at least have a chance to survive." Roen faced toward the village as if addressing everyone and then moved toward the man with the orb''s position. Roen''s clothes began to writhe like billions of worms and two bony wings sprouted out. The red sash on his waist seemed to liquify, spread to the wings and cover the spaces as if it was the webbing in the bony wings. A mask shaped like a human skull extended from his outstretched and and covered his face.


    "You crash another''s party uninvited, kill someone else''s prey, kill innocent women and children, and most importantly you have started the party without the main guests of honor! For your crimes I issue immediate execution!"

 Chapter 14-The Party Starts and its Over

    Chapter 14- The Party Begins and it''s Over


    ~ P.O.V. Of Intruder Commander ~


    Trash! All of them! How am I, an almighty aura user, supposed to become a sorcerer with such a small amount of soldiers! I had awakened my aura 5 years ago and was offered an unknown treasure item that was said to produce a sorcerer. My king sent me on a secret mission to find how to use it. It wasn''t until recently that I discovered it liked being around dead bodies. After razing a couple small villages in areas that opposed my king, I found that the orb started to become increasingly darker. This must be the way! I''ll kill as many as need be for my king!


    "Commander we have run into some troubles!" A soldier came up to my elite squad and reported an abnormality. It''s just a medium sized village what''s the worse they can do?


    "Bring these two and go settle your trifling affair." Pointing at two random knights in my entourage to handle it, I dismissed the matter entirely from my head.


    "Sir..."


    "What is it now?!"


    "To be completely honest I have no idea." My subordinate gave those words and pointed at an incoming figure. It was horrifying. It wore a mask that was made out of a human skull with body armor that formed a scale like pattern. There was a moving red beast underneath the armor seen every so often when the scales would shift and a red undergarment constantly writhing was seen. However the most eye catching thing was a pair of red wings that clearly showed human bones underneath the red film. Through the mask were two bright red eyes and seemed to contain a sea of hatred made even the men who had witnessed the horrors of war more times than there are days in a year shiver with fright.


    "Who are y..."


    "Shhhhh~, Don''t speak, don''t move, don''t even think. Just stand there right now because to me you are nothing but a bug waiting to be squashed." A thick baritone voice shook the ground and some of the weaker knights fainted on the spot. I, having awakened my aura, overcame the feeling and started working to think who could possibly be under that armor. Probably he is just wearing that to scare us. To think we''ve been tricked.


    "Do you know who we are! We are the direct subordinates of the king of the Thaolos Kingdom! Surrender now and I might offer you a quick death!"


    "I already know who you are. You are an unnecessary existence." The beast in armor spoke in his deep voice again and began to walk slowly towards the group of elite knights.


    -----------------------------------------


    The battlefield that was once filled with screams of villagers changed in a second.


    In one part of the village a skinny purple man with glowing blue veins dragged a giant sword behind him leaving an equally large gash in the ground. In front of him was a group of white armored men they were all shivering some holding their swords up high while trying to calm their nerves while others cried and begged for mercy. The purple man''s lifeless eyes just gazed at them and increased his speed.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Watching the purple man''s advance, the soldiers flinched and the front line raised their shields. The purple man maintained his speed quickly reaching a striking distance of the shield barrier, and with a speed that could only be described as godly a purple line flashed across them. The light tore through metal, flesh, bone as if they were paper. The front line fell in a pool of blood with their eyes open obviously not knowing how their end came.


    "Quick, he''s overextended, kill him!" The man who had taken the initiative to lead yelled and charged at the purple man before he could ready another strike. A rune that was shining on the giant sword''s body quickly dimmed and a different rune lit up. Nobody seemed to notice this occurrence, but they did notice that the purple man was no longer in the area they were rushing to. Then a bright purple light blinded their eyes and they felt something pass along their necks.


    The purple man walked over the decapitated bodies with the same lifeless eyes. He wondered until he found another group of breathing humans and repeated his actions, following the orders he was given.


    ------------------------------------------


    In another area two wolves weaved in and out of a group of white armored soldiers randomly killing those who dared to step into their path of destruction. The men were terrified. One wolf was a purple monstrosity sprouting blades from it''s skin that could easily pierce their plated armor. The other had a azure aura around it and although most of them had an idea of what it was, they chose not to speak because those who could do such a thing were all treated on the same level as a king. Some came to terms with their fate and others tried to run, but there was no escape unless they were dead.


    "You know we make a great team." After the two had slaughtered the armored men the wolf emitting an azure aura spoke to the purple wolf. The purple wolf gave no indication of hearing him and sniffed the air a few time then ran off in a direction that would give it more prey to hunt.


    "Quite shy huh." The wolf with the azure aura followed after the purple wolf after it''s comment.


    ------------------------------------------


    On the outskirts of the town stood a tanned man with green hair that matched his eyes. He appeared to be wearing a red crown, but if one looked closer the crown was attached to his head. Next to him stood a silhouette that resembled him except it body was made out of odd red vines.


    "That should be that last one." Speaking to himself the man gave a nod and a slight smile.


    "Now child kill anyone who comes close." The man''s cold tone could send shivers down the spine of any battle hardened veteran.


    As he said those words the vines gave a little wriggle as if to accept and quietly stood there waiting for any breathing entity to cross it''s path.


    Suddenly the red vines on it''s arm shot out at a blinding speed and engulfed what seemed to be an animal. When the vines returned all that was left was a limp husk of a deer devoid off any organs.


    Similar red vine silhouettes were stationed around the village ensuring the death of any who trued to leave.


    ------------------------------------------


    Within a circle of dismembered knights a lone figure stood with red wings coming from his scale like armor. The blood that splattered onto his scale seemed to be pulled into the garment underneath.


    The only one alive was a man in white garments holding a black orb tightly in one hand. His thoughts were a mess, his judgment flooded with fear. What is that monster? Why do I have the misfortune to run into it? All the man saw was the monster slowly walk past his elite knights and as they tried to make a move a bright red flash occurred. The knight was dead in a pool of his own blood the next moment. He didn''t know if the flash was the monster moving or the results of it''s attacks and the blood of his men being spilled.


    "W,what are you?"


    "You have no need to know." Saying that the man felt his sight become lower for a second and then darkness consumed his thoughts.


    The monster''s appearance underwent a change and Roen appeared wearing his usual white gown with red trimmings and a dark red sash. He wordlessly went over to the headless body and tore the black orb from his fingers. Then looking back at the body said,


    "Don''t worry there''ll be others following you to keep you company."

 Chapter 15-Mutation of the Soul

    Chapter 15- Mutation of the Soul


    In a burned down village strewn with corpses stood Roen and his servants. In front of the five were three men who had looks of complete terror painted onto their faces.


    The men were the people who had invaded the village last night. They were captured by the monsters that decimated their friends and brought to face a young boy.


    "So why did we have to gather these guys?" Engil''s question broke the silence.


    "You speak too much, just shut up and watch." Feeling wronged by Roen''s rebut Engil started pouting, but still paid close attention to his actions.


    Roen took out the black orb that he stole from the invaders commander. He then walked toward the terrified trio and lightly tapped the orb on the middle one''s forehead. A black marking began to carve itself into the man''s body. The markings ignored the man''s screams and continued to engrave themselves deeply into his flesh.


    Then the man stopped screaming and started to bloat as if he was balloon. He kept expanding until he was about 7 feet in diameter. Instead of an explosion of meat chunks the human ballon began to deflate, and blood red horns began to pierce themselves through his skin as it deflated to its initial state. The once human knight was now a grotesque monstrosity. It stood 5 feet tall now with the same black markings strewn across it''s skin. There were tens of red horns of various shapes and sizes poking out of it''s body. It''s eyes were a deep red devoid of any emotion except for one, an endless rage that threatened to consume all who stare too deeply.


    AaaaaRrRRrrrrggggghhhh!


    A roar deafened the surroundings and a shockwave followed. The creature, now out of the restraints, grabbed the two knights next to it by the necks and with a loud snap ended their lives. Changing it''s line of sight towards towards Roen, Tyor, and Engil it gave them a glance, turned around and started running.


    "You, kill him." Roen pointed toward his human shaped phantom knight and gave an order. The purple man said nothing and pulled out it''s giant sword. The forth rune on the blade lit up and the purple man disappeared. He reappeared next to the mutated knight slashing his huge sword at it in a horizontal manner. The monster bent it''s upper body in an incredulous manner and a loud snap was heard from it''s spine. Without a hint of pain it''s arm shot out with a force comparable to a cannon and smashed into the purple man. The purple man was sent flying and crashed through several buildings.


    The monster corrected itself broken spine and looked cautiously at the holes created by the purple man''s body flying through. Suddenly the purple man reappeared next to the monster and instead of rashly slashing out he stood there warily watching the monstrosity. The two watched each other''s movements for a little while, and the first one to move was the purple man. He raised his sword up high and the fifth and seventh rune both lit up. The monster jumped back to get out of the sword''s reach, but as it believed it escaped, the tip of the sword extended and cleaved it''s right arm off.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    AaaaAaARrRrRrrrrggggGgHHh!


    A pained yell echoed as the monster looked at it''s severed arm then at the purple man a deep anger evident in it''s gaze. The purple man returned it''s gaze without a fluctuation of emotion. Oddly the area where the arm was cut off wasn''t bleeding! Quickly advancing to the monster''s right side, the fifth and seventh rune on the sword shining brightly, and slashed at the open wound. With a reaction close to lightning the monster turned it''s body and a large red horn caught the blade mid swing.


    BOOOOM


    Following the collision cracks spread throughout the ground. The two separated and repeated their endless struggle without rest for around an hour. The purple man would surround the monster with a flurry of attacks. The monster would respond by intercepting each with it''s horns, and every so often dodging the extending sword.


    This exchange ended when the monster suddenly stopped moving, and it''s body started to break down. That fact didn''t matter to the purple man and it kept hacking at it''s motionless body until it resembled pulp.


    "That''s enough." Roen''s face had a permanent scowl glued onto it. He went over to what was once the body of the monster and held out his hand. A purple gas started to emit from the mass of blood and bone, and went toward the purple man. Then the purple man''s eyes started to glow with an inkling of intelligence.


    "Can you now tell me what that was?" Engil enquired Roen and nervously glanced at the black orb.


    "That was a mutation of the soul, as for what it does," Roen paused and pointed at the monster''s remains, "About who it affects it''s any who get near this orb, but don''t worry it won''t affect you guys."


    Roen calmly explained the basic idea of the mutation of the soul. Realizing this Engil and Tyor were enlightened to Roen''s actions.


    "The oh esteemed master of mine what will we do with that?" Engil sarcastically replied to break up the serious atmosphere.


    "First off don''t talk when I am talking and secondly I''m going to eat this." Engil was about to retort that no one was talking, but when he heard the rest of Roen''s statement he grew quiet.


    "Master if you say that this black orb can mutate others how was that man unaffected?"


    "I believe it''s because of his aura or this egg is still young."


    "Wait! Just wait a second! You said you''re gonna eat that! There are many ways to commit suicide, but why use something that''ll kill us as well!"


    "I''ve already gone through it once before." Roen''s comment shut Engil up for good this time and seeing this Roen continued, "Now go find survivors from their previous attacks. I know there''ll be some, but don''t worry I want each of you to split up and travel with one of my phantom Knights they''ll guide you to the survivors who have been marked by the egg."


    "You keep saying that thing is an egg, what is it really?"


    "Go before I turn you into my next snack."


    "Stingy."


    Watching the departing figures of Tyor and Engil followed by the two phantom knights Roen sighed, and then started to devour the black orb.

 Chapter 16- A Wild Princess Appears!

    Chapter 16- A Wild Princess Appears!


    Roen was calmly sitting with his eyes closed surrounded by a bunch of decaying bodies. He has currently been sitting there for three days and nights after eating all of the black orb. He showed no signs of becoming a balloon or any that could be counted as uncomfortable.


    "Guh. I can never get used to that taste."


    Roen''s eyelids slowly opened as he spat out those words. Taking a look at his surroundings he got up started moving around, collecting the souls that he was forced to leave alone due to the egg''s marking.


    ''Roen!!!?!?!!!'' A loud shout that came from Engil rang out into Roen''s head. Roen angrily put down what he was doing and waited a bit to calm himself down.


    ''What is it?''


    ''What the hell! We found one of these monsters just yesterday and both my purple wolf companion and I nearly died! Wasn''t the one the other guy fought the same thing!''


    ''Suck it up!''


    ''I''m gonna die next time! Don''t you worry about your #1 servant!?''


    ''For the record your servant #1, not the #1 servant.''


    ''Can''t you at least act like a caring master once?''


    ''Not to those who act like children.''


    Engil''s comments stopped after that and Roen finally had some peace and quiet. Then he once again looked at his surroundings, seemed to have found something in the distance, and started to walk towards the forrest humming as he went.


    ------------------------------------------


    ~ P.O.V. Of the princess ~


    My feet hurt, my heart feels like it''s about to burst out of my chest, the tears that were streaming down my face earlier have seemed to dry up. I push myself to keep moving, I can''t let people''s sacrifices go to waste. I must survive.


    I feel the soles of my feet are wet with blood. My dress has been ripped in many places due to outstretched branches and unkempt foliage. However my appearance is the last thing I have on my mind. I rest for a while then change the direction I was running in. I''m tired to the point where it wouldn''t be weird to pass out. Thinking like so my eyelids begin to grow heavy, my body starts to sway and I feel my consciousness is pulling me away from reality. Then faces of two maids and an old man with a thick mustache flash through her head. I grit my teeth, I must keep moving!This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    How long have I been running? One day? Two? Maybe three, but they all seem to mix together. I''m incapable of telling where I am going anymore. The only sounds I hear are the howling and yelping of wolves letting me know I still need to keep moving.


    HOOOOOWWWWL


    I guess it''s time to run again. I got up to run, but I wouldn''t move. What''s going on? There''s nothing stopping me why can''t I move? Come on move! Move! Move!


    My once dried up tears once again pour down my face. I curse the fact that I didn''t train more with my brothers and sisters. I curse the fact that we''re always at war! I curse the people who commit acts of atrocities and kill so many innocents! I curse the god that just watches this hell that we live in!


    My rage at my uselessness is cut off by a voice I remember all too well.


    "Kekeke my dear princess I''m grateful you finally decided to hand yourself in."


    Standing a couple feet to my right stood a man with hunched shoulders and wore a large wolf pelt that shrouded his other features. Surrounding the man was a pack of around 20 silverback wolves. If looks could kill the man in front of me would probably be killed multiple times already.


    "Now now don''t look at me like that you''ll hurt my feelings. Kekeke but if I have to say something you certainly look even more appetizing."


    "Bas...tard."


    It hurt to talk, that one word caused my lungs to feel as if I just inhaled fire.


    Then a white figure caught my eye. Pure white was all my blurred vision could make out.


    "Who are you? Ah well it''s your fault to walk in on something you shouldn''t see boy. Kekeke my wolves just love pretty one like yourself."


    Hearing the words coming from that man I tried to yell at the being in white to run, but my never came out. I don''t want anymore people to die for my sake! Run away! Leave me! Don''t die like the others...


    "I don''t care how little worms struggle on the ground. Move."


    A voice akin to silver bells chanted through my ears. I was completely entranced I forgot about my battered body for a second. It was enough. I stumbled to my feet and slowly staggered,with haggard breath, in front of the white being.


    "Please...run..." I painfully exhaled those words while making sure that man didn''t make any sudden movements. He didn''t. He just stood there with an amused face as if he was watching a great play.


    "Kekeke this is too much I''m barely containing myself. Kekeke ah don''t worry I''ll make sure you have a wonderful face of despair. Kill the boy first!"


    No!! Is what I tried to scream, but just holding myself up was beginning to get impossible. My eyesight blurred I don''t know if it was because of the tears or exhaustion, but I obviously didn''t have time to figure out.


    Then the world turned red. A sinister, blood red. There were sounds of distant cries and yelps, and I thought I heard that man''s voice included in that red world. The nearby growling of the wolves faded away and my conscious drifted off. I could barely hear the voice akin to bells right before everything faded away.


    "Tsk you worms. Don''t worry and rest I''m going to work you to the bone when you wake up."

 Chapter 17- Towards Thaolos!

    Chapter 17- Towards Thaolos!


    The princess woke up a day later obviously exhausted from her constant cardio. She cautiously scanned her surroundings and heaved a sigh of relief when the man draped in the wolf pelt was nowhere to be found. Then she spotted a child in white robes embroidered with a striking red border and a deep red sash. As her gazed traveled up to the child''s face, she locked onto his uncommon red eyes seeming to get lost in their brilliance.


    "I see you''re awake now." Roen''s voice broke her free of her trance and a light blush reddened her cheeks.


    "Good, now let''s get moving."


    "Umm..." The princess was a little confused at Roen''s assertiveness and got flustered.


    ''What am I doing he''s just a child.'' Again getting lost in her thoughts. At first she was wondering what happened to that white figure, but came to the realization that the one who came to her rescue must''ve been this child.


    "Umm, I''m sorry for not introducing myself I am Eliana Greystone. I am the forth princess of..."


    "I don''t care who you are or where you come from. I saved you because my other two servants don''t know much other than being stronger than your average worm." Roen''s cold tone shot Eliana down instantly and she bit back her words. The two walked forward for a couple of minutes before Eliana couldn''t stand the silence.


    "Why did you save me then?"


    "You don''t listen well do you, I need information on the current matters of this country. You are just a means to that end nothing more, nothing less."


    "Can I at least have your name."


    "Roen."


    "Thank you for saving me Roen."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Upon learning Roen''s name the first thing Eliana did was bow and sincerely thank him. Roen stopped and took a deep look at the princess.


    "I was just clearing my path. Anyways put this on I don''t want people to think my servants wear rags." Saying so Roen took out the emerald green robes he wore in Thistleburn village and handed it to her.


    "Umm I''m sorry did you call me your servant?"


    "Obviously...your life is mine." Roen''s comment made the young girl''s face turn a deep crimson.


    "I, I''m sorry but you need to get my father''s permission first."


    "Anyways tell me what I want to know and guide me to this Thaolos Kingdom."


    "Thaolos Kingdom?!"


    "Is there something wrong."


    "You''re not crazy right? That''s THE Thaolos Kingdom. Those monsters kill for fun, they have nearly 20 sorcerers, and rumor has it that they have a collaboration with the Lands of Sorcery."


    "Perfect they sound like my kind of people. Now let''s go, lead the way."


    Eliana looked at Roen with even more questions in her eyes, but hiding her interest she resigned to his wishes. If he was going to tell her he would. The mysteriousness of Roen enchanted her and she wanted to see where this adventure could take her.


    "Um if I take you there would you help me after your done with your business."


    "You''re a weird servant just take me to my destination and if you so desire to leave then I won''t stop you."


    "You know you''re not like other guys normally they''d be all over the idea of being a princess''s hero."


    "There are no heroes. Just some are slightly less evil." Roen ended the conversation and Eliana went behind the nearest tree to get changed. The two traveled towards the nearest village so that Eliana could get her bearings. She tried her best to fill Roen in on the basic tensions of the 5 kingdoms as well as their standings. She had mentioned that she came from the Higloas Kingdom, but Roen only cared about the Thaolos Kingdom at the time. Surprisingly they were only a couple hours from a town that was governed by a noble who recognized Eliana.


    "Princess! Where have you been the whole kingdom has been worried sick!"


    "I was nearly murdered by our own kingdom''s sorcerer." Giving a wry smile to the fake concerns of the noble, Eliana glossed over the matter quickly and tried to get out of the awkward encounter. She quickly left the noble before Roen said something.


    Eliana hurriedly gathered supplies for the long journey and urged Roen to set off immediately. By the following morning they left without alarming anyone.


    "Are we finally moving servant?"


    "Eliana."


    "Excuse me?"


    "Don''t call me servant call me by my name."


    "I don''t think you have the authority to command me servant. Anyways let''s just go I don''t have time to argue with you."


    Following the exchange the two began their long journey towards the Eastern most Thaolos kingdom capital.

 Chapter 18- The Adventures of Engil!... and some Tyor

    Chapter 18- The Adventures of Engil!... and some Tyor


    ~ P.O.V. Of Engil ~


    Be the wolf. Become one with your inner wolf. Chanting my mantra I opened my aura coated jaws and bit deeply into the arm of a flailing ten foot monstrosity. Seeing the chance I created my purple companion jumped onto it''s shell and extended a blade into it''s head hole. Apparently getting a blade into it''s cranium doesn''t sit well with it, and it started to randomly smash into the ground. Cursing my master who gave my such a task I jump to the ground and reposition myself. This marks the fifteenth time we have repeated this process.


    Then the monster starts to tremble and from the hole we''ve been stabbing, seven snake heads pop out covered in wounds. The fourteen eyes have a murderous glint to them. Geez I hate my work.


    I started to condense my aura and clenched my teeth violently, but instead of my jaws colliding into each a sword hilt hinders them. This is precisely my treasure sword that I haven''t used since I was a human. However being the genius that I am, and begging Roen a little, I figured out to materialize it.


    The familiar thin 2 foot long sword rested in my wolfy jaws. Pouring my aura into the sword, two runes lit up and I slashed out at the necks of the heads. Although they were paying attention, they couldn''t react to the sharp energy that flew past and instantly severed four heads. The severed stumps suddenly burst into flames and the monster''s loud wail boomed through the forrest.


    "Do it now!"


    Shouting towards my trusted purple companion he recognized the signal that we had mastered through the power of camaraderie. Five large spikes shot themselves out from the purple wolf''s body and catapulted themselves toward the monster. Two of the spikes caught the monster in the knees and which instantly broke from the collision. The two spikes passed through the joints and nailed themselves into the ground. It was simple from then on as we just wait for an opening on the thrashing beast and slowly hacked it apart.


    "Whew, good job purply."This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Grrrr."


    "My thoughts exactly."


    It was an annoying thing really. It was equipped with a huge shell that hid it''s vital points, and we only reached this point after two days of constant fighting. For some reason whenever we came across a wondering group of warriors or a trade caravan it would prioritize them over us. When I asked the all knowing Roen he said something about how they always seek ''unmarked souls''. He didn''t say anything else though. As usual. Ugh I guess I have to check in with him now.


    ''Roen we got another one. These things seem to be getting stronger and bigger. Purply and I might die you know, don''t you have anything to say to your lovable servant?''


    ''Don''t name my phantoms.''


    ''Why not it fits.''


    ''Just shut it ugh anyways good work. I got to go Eliana is calling me.''


    ''WAIT WAIT WAIT JUST A TITAN''S NIPPLE OF A SECOND!!! WHO THE HELL IS ELIANA!!?!??!''


    ''Did you just say titan''s nipple?''


    ''IRRELEVANT! OH MASTER OF MINE YOU BETTER NOT BE GETTING ALL HOT AND FLUSTERED WITH A GIRL WHILE I AM RISKING MY LIFE KILLING THESE MONSTERS!?!''


    ''I think you need some more correction, you''re tone is not the kind that pleases me.''


    ''AS I WAS SAYING I WISH YOU THE BEST REMEMBER TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH!''


    "Can you believe it purply our master is a sex fiend!"


    "Grrrr."


    "My thoughts exactly!"


    "Haaa~ anyways where''s the next one?"


    On hearing Engil''s words the purple wolf began to go towards the east. Engil checked the map he stored on a nap sack on his back.


    ''The further east we go the more frequently we run into these things. Any further and we''ll reach the Thaolos Kingdom.''


    "Let''s go purply! The more we kill the more we can rub it in the face of Roen!"


    "Grrrr."


    "Sometimes I hate your comments."


    ------------------------------------------


    ~ P.O.V. Of Tyor ~


    My travels have been uneventful. I miss my master. All I have to do is wrap my blood vines around the monster and let my master''s phantom knight stab it till it dies. Although it is easy, there is really nothing I can do. Sometimes I just leave it all to the phantom knight, and whenever I ask if I can take the next one all he responds is with ''grrrrr''. It''s nice that they can finally respond to a question, but hearing only animal noises for weeks can get on anyone''s nerves. My only joy is when I report to master.


    ''Master, we have eliminated another one.''


    ''Good...''


    ''Is there something I can assist you with?''


    ''Yes actually, what is a gift for a woman who is in a bad mood.''


    ''Ah the new servant hmmm~ well during my time in slavery I have picked up quite a few likes and dislikes of the opposite gender as such you picked the right person to help you. Maybe a sword?''


    ''I see...''


    ''Oh, and master, ''


    ''Yes?''


    ''Remember to wear protection.''


    ''Sometimes I hate you more than Engil.''

 Chapter 19- Monster Road

    Chapter 19- Monster Road


    On a dirt paved path that cut through the woods was a small caravan of five wooden wagons. Thirty bulky men and women on horseback surrounded the caravan in a defensive manner.


    In the foremost wagon sat seven people. Four were heavily armed guards that surrounded a young boy around the age of 15-16. He wore a bright solid blue robe that matched well with his deep blue eyes and short brown hair. He had an air of confidence about him and gently fanned himself with a foldable fan situated in his right hand. His eyes sometimes glanced at the two others in the same wagon, or to be more precise a young girl around his age.


    She wore an emerald green dress that one can easily see was just recently tailored to fit her. However that fact didn''t take away from the girl''s features. Although she wasn''t an outstanding beauty, she was a short, amber haired girl with bright hazel eyes, and rosy red lips. She had a certain charm about her that just ignited the desire to protect her. If it wasn''t for the sharp looking saber hanging on her hip one would think she was a defenseless angel.


    Next to her sat a child who appeared to be around the age of 12 or 13. He wore a white robe with red trimmings and a dark red sash. Frankly the the young noble despised this child. He would always say rude things to the girl and at times she looked like she was about to cry.


    These two were naturally Eliana and Roen. The had joined this caravan a few days back hoping to save time. Roen had complained that walking was the only way to go, but after Eliana persuaded him he finally resigned to the decision. The two had already noticed the young noble''s glares filled with lust and malice, and if Eliana didn''t again persuade Roen he would''ve caused a bloodbath.


    "Still aren''t you growing a little too fast I don''t think human children grow as fast as you do."


    "Haven''t we been over this before? As long as my soul repairs itself I can restore my body, or at least make myself older. I can''t stand being looked down on."


    "Don''t you think it''s better to slow it down in front of others, so that you''re not treated like a monster?"


    "I am a monster. It would be weird if they didn''t treat me as such."


    Roen and Eliana had grown from complete strangers to a seemingly normal couple. Minus the fact that they were not a couple and just master and servant. However Roen no longer coldly addressed Eliana like before, and Eliana took this as a sign that he was warming up to her. She already knew he wasn''t human and needed the souls of the living to survive. She would try to make conversations with him daily, and soon learned of his deeds. At first she was shocked at how someone would intentionally create mass slaughter, but the more she knew the faster that astonishment faded away.


    One of the knights standing guard of the young noble stared to walk towards Roen and Eliana after the young noble whispered somethings into his ear.


    Eliana subconsciously reached for her saber on her waist. Although she couldn''t be considered anywhere close to proficient, she could at least put up a fight, and it''s not like Roen would step up to save her again. He said to her that she must fight her own battles to become strong because he can''t always stay by her side. Knowing this Eliana was determined to be recognized by Roen, so right now she was not afraid of the approaching knight.


    "My master sends a request for your ladyship to join him for dinner."


    "Tell him I must politely decline."


    "My master urges you to reconsider."


    "Tell him that if he wants a partner so badly that there are some fine horses outside to consider."


    "You dare!"


    Eliana''s insult shocked the knight and he pulled out his sword in anger. Eliana unsheathed her saber in response.


    "You wrench hold your toungue! Or I will cut you dow...."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    GRRaaaAARrRrrrgGGgg


    A horrifying yelling stopped the man mid sentence as the wagon came to an abrupt stop. The knight''s face suddenly paled and he turned to the young noble, and after receiving a nod, left the wagon followed by the other three knights. Roen''s eyes were already wide open and he looked at nervous Eliana.


    "I presume we have hit a bump in the road."


    Saying so Roen calmly got to his feet and exited the wagon with Eliana close behind. The young noble was left alone in the wagon staring dumbfounded by the two that just exited.


    Coming outside Roen and Eliana slowly took in the monstrosity before them. Standing on four legs was an abnormally large lizard. On it''s for feet it already reached a height of 5 feet, and from it''s massive head to it''s thick tail the monster was around 20 feet long. It was covered in black and red scales that served as a kind of plate armor. It''s claws were akin to sharp blades that gouged out the ground with every step.


    GGGggaaAARRrRrrgGgg!!


    An even fiercer yell invaded the surrounding warrior''s eardrums. They had been opting to surround the monster with the speed of their horses however it''s yell made the horses begin to try to run away in fear. Quickly dismounting, the seasoned warriors slowly decreased the diameter of their encirclement. Two of the bigger warriors on opposite sides shot from the encirclement at a speed that surpassed the horses. They were obviously using aura.


    They quickly reached the sides of the giant lizard and before it could counter their charge they gave two quick slashes into it''s flesh. The swords experienced some resistance upon contact, and the two warriors retreated back into the encirclement. The monster''s angered shouts shook the ground and it started to slam it''s tail at the warriors surrounding it. The trees that the weaker warriors were hiding behind proved to be useless as the lizard''s tail easily snapped some of the thickest of the trees. Except for the two warriors, their formation quickly fell apart.


    "Those worms seem to be having trouble."


    "Help them then!"


    "I have no obligation to."


    "Then give me the ability to help. I know you can."


    "You cannot save them all. Some are already dying and others have injuries that''ll put them out of commission for life."


    "Then let me be selfish."


    The determination in Eliana''s eyes intrigued Roen, so he gave her a simple power boost.


    "You have 2 minutes. Anymore and the spell will lose effect. I will not use anymore souls for your foolishness."


    "Thank you."


    Eliana was already sprinting off at five times her original speed when she thanked Roen. She hurriedly ran to the aid of the closest warrior, and prioritized dragging the injured and dead away from the battle raging between the two aura users and giant lizard. The whole process was completed in one minute.


    She then charged at the giant lizard with her unsheathed saber clasped tightly into her left hand. The two warriors quickly adapted to her interference and switched their defensive stance into a more aggressive one. However their assault was coming to a close as Eliana knew she had no time left to continue. She retreated back while telling them her circumstances as quickly as possible.


    After she joined they easily overwhelmed the lizard, and they dealt enough damage so her leaving was only a minor setback. They killed the beast by the afternoon after a piling deep cuts all over it''s body and letting it bleed to death. The two aura users were given a heroes welcome after they returned exhausted.


    "For your assistance in saving our brothers, little lady you have our deepest thanks." The larger of the two men walked over to Eliana as she was resting from Roen''s spell. He had a large scar on his exposed chest and wore bearskin pants that wrapped tightly to his legs. He was currently bleeding from many places and had his right arm in a sling.


    "Although I have no idea how you got that strength, it should probably come with a price. Here take this it helps soothe pain." The large man handed Eliana a jar of medicinal paste and left to go dress his wounds.


    "Did you accomplish your goals." Roen questioned Eliana who was currently rubbing the paste on her arms and legs.


    "Some people still died..."


    "Considering the fact that many more would as well, you did good."


    "I need to be stronger though. So strong that I don''t have to lose anyone else."


    "You will fail." Roen''s comment immediately killed the conversation and Eliana started brooding over his words with an unsatisfied expression. When they got back to their wagon, the young noble started to profusely apologize to Eliana as he believed she was aura user. The two spent the rest of their day in silence till night fell.


    "Tell me why there are so many marked souls on this path."


    "Marked souls? Do you mean that monster was marked by this egg that you spoke of earlier."


    "I have no shred of doubt that the monsters we have been seeing have been marked by an egg. I don''t believe that there would be so many marked souls in a certain area."


    "Well this road has been named the Monster Road ever since 500 years ago."


    "This is rather an unsettling piece of information." Roen''s expression turned grim and he began to brood over what Eliana had just told him. Seeing him become like so Eliana stopped and slowly slipped off into sleep.


    The next morning Roen awoke to find that Eliana had disappeared! He quickly scanned the wagon and left with haste. When the bright morning light greeted his eyes he found her training with the the warriors she saved the other day. He sighed at his anxiousness. Then gazing at the forrest around him he seemed to be lost in thought.


    ''Please let me be wrong.'' Roen''s thoughts held a trace of fear.

 Chapter 20- Awakening Aura!

    Chapter 20- Awakening Aura!


    The caravan had been traveling for 2 months now and Eliana had been accepted by everyone. She helped cook, nurse some warriors injuries, and what many respected the most was that she fought on the front lines with the burly men and women.


    Currently their caravan was under attack by a beast known as the stone fist ape. They were a hype aggressive pack group with roughly the same features of a normal ape, but they were stronger and faster and had hands coated in stone. Eliana was fighting valiantly against two at the same time because the man who helped her side was injured.


    Sidestepping a hammer fist from one ape and parrying the fist of another Eliana gave a quick thrust into the side one the one on the right. After a little resistance the saber slid perfectly between the bones like she planned. Enraged by letting one of his pack get hurt, the ape threw a blind punch at Eliana. Smiling, Eliana suddenly let go of the saber and jumped back barely dodging the blow, while the already flying punch smashed into the wounded ape''s side. Taking the moment when they were separated, Eliana threw her right hand at the unwounded ape''s face. Her target: the eyes.


    GGgguuuUoooOoo!


    The monster ape let out a heart rending cry as Eliana tore out it''s right eye. After pulling it''s eye out she quickly ducked to the ground and, in one motion using her free left hand, she threw a handful of dirt into the ape''s only eye. Then while the blinded ape was thrashing about, she rushed over to the one with her saber in it''s side. Ruthlessly killing the ape still disoriented by it''s companion''s strike.


    After finally killing one, she turned to the blinded one and easily evaded it''s frenzied rampage stabbing the saber into it''s chest. Throughout the whole ordeal she did not bat an eye once or show a shred of mercy. The innocent and kind girl that Roen saved was almost no where to be found. To top it off she immediately ran off to help the other warriors in killing the rest of the apes.


    "I guess you''re quite savage now huh?" Roen''s comment made its way to Eliana''s ears and she instantly turned red. She couldn''t refute him. After spending weeks fighting against monsters, and barely holding onto your life one has to pick up a few nasty tricks to survive.


    "Thanks for saving my skin."


    "Great work out there girl!"


    "Nice job today blood princess."


    Comments and thanks came from the warriors whose group had dwindled down to a mere 17 of the original 30. However the title ''blood princess'' came along when the warriors realized the origin of Eliana, but on the lie that she was running away to become strong they naturally accepted her. Even the once arrogant young noble had a complete change of character towards her.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    That night a large banquet was held for the caravan in celebration for fending off the monsters. The warriors were especially rowdy because who knows if they''ll survive the next day, they are ''live in the moment'' type of people.


    Everyone was making merry and singing tales of their heroics around a crackling fire, jugs of alcohol clashing endlessly, laughter, shouts, and the sounds of the forrest all blended together to create a rowdy symphony. That is everyone but Roen, who sat far away from the light of the fire, in the cold night. A bottle of glowing blue light was being drained by him in a greedily fashion. When he finally finished the contents he gazed into the night sky with many emotions being expressed in his eyes.


    Sometimes he would gaze back at the rambunctious party happening at the camp, but he never joined. That was not his world anymore. Suddenly standing up he staggered off deeper into the woods searching for a release of his emotions.


    He came to a clearing that was obviously made recently by a fairly big monster. Searching for it''s signs he quickly found it''s tracks. His eyes glowed with bloodlust. In a small area around him no small animal dared to make a sound or movement in the presence of this death god.


    GGGGUUUUOOOOOO!


    A familiar animal scream pounded into him. A warm smile broke out onto his face as he gazed at the large lizard.


    "Come, let me show you how low you are."


    Saying those words two purple spheres started to coalesce in his palms. If one looked closely they could see a face that was constantly being pulled back into the ball. Without a sound Roen instantly appeared next to the giant lizard and lightly pressed one of the purple spheres into it''s side. The purple sphere seemed to easily pass through the tough hide of the monster and disappear. The giant lizard turned toward Roen with surprise, as if it say a ghost and jumped away a considerable distance. It now paid Roen all of its attention.


    "You can''t run, burst!"


    Following Roen''s words the area where Roen inserted the sphere blasted open leaving a hole in the lizard''s side.


    "Tsk too weak, arc!"


    Without giving the lizard time to so much as scream Roen''s next slew of words changed the other purple sphere in his hand into a spear that plunged itself into the hole created by the first. The monster instantly died this time with a large column missing from it''s midsection. Instead of brightening his mood Roen''s face held nothing but a sour expression.


    Walking back to the caravan, Roen was in deep thought.


    ''To think it took two single word spells to kill such a lizard. If my predictions are correct, then this will be quite unpleasant.''


    Reaching the area where he left Roen took a quick look at the campfire. However instead of a huge party, everyone was surrounding something or someone. Looking closer to the center Roen''s eyes grew wide open and he instantly appeared next to Eliana. She was on the ground sweating profusely with both her eyes tightly closed.


    "Who did this!" Roen''s angry shout awakened everyone from staring at he who had appeared out of nowhere.


    "Little one please calm yourself, she is merely awakening her aura."


    "Explain yourself!" Roen''s anger had barely subsided as he glared at the crowd.


    "Well everyone''s awakening is different, but she has a common one so it was easy to point out. She should be fine when she wakes up."


    Although Roen knew she should be fine, he stayed next to her awaiting her revival.


    The following morning Eliana awakened to find her body was full of energy. Then she finally saw Roen staring at her intently with drowsiness evident in his eyes.


    "Did you stay up to make sure I''m ok?"


    "A master who disregards his servants is not fit to be a master."


    "So that''s a yes?"


    "Good morning."

 Chapter 21- Storms Brew

    Chapter 21- Storms Brew


    After Eliana awakened her aura the amount of people getting injured or killed in monster attacks has fallen drastically. She has been slowly getting the feel of aura with the help of the two veteran warriors.


    As they got closer to the capital the encounters with monsters increased instead of decreasing. Eliana said that it was because of this high concentration of dangers that the Thaolos Kingdom had extremely strong army.


    Roen still ostracized himself from the people of the caravan, but every once in awhile would glance at Eliana when she fought. It was not out of affection more like he was interested in aura. Ever since she had awakened her aura he had grown increasingly interested in it.


    The young noble also introduced himself as George Whitewater, the son of a wealthy merchant union. He had offered to send word of Eliana''s awakening to her home country. She declined the offer, however after handing her a letter, she was visibly shaken. Roen walked over to assess her worries.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "My father has gone to war."


    "Then what is the problem? A king should take responsibility for his people."


    "Not when most of the nobles are conspiring against him."


    "Then I guess that''s unfortunate."


    Roen''s comment irritated Eliana and she briskly turned and stomped off. They had made a deal for her to take him to the Thaolos Kingdom and until then she has to stay. Roen wouldn''t bend to her demands plus he still needed her to study aura.


    ------------------------------------------Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Hurry up and stab me."


    "Again? But I''ve already..."


    "A worm''s attack cannot kill me. Now hurry up."


    Roen and Eliana were sparing in the middle of the forrest far away from the rest of the caravan. Well by sparing it was more like Eliana stabbing Roen with her saber coated in aura. Roen had enough holes through his body that he resembled swiss cheese


    "I think I felt something that time."


    "Are you not mistaking the blade currently inserted in your chest?"


    "Oops..."


    They continued this process till Eliana ran out of aura. Roen had yet to sense anything after the entire ordeal.


    "This is slightly frustrating..."


    "It''s because it''s not a life or death situation."


    "That''s fine then, I don''t really need it anyways."


    Roen ended their stabbing session and let the tired Eliana rest. Roen spent the rest of the day looking for beasts to kill and ended up purging the surrounding area. He returned to a rowdy crowd surrounding the campfire. Passing by quietly he went to a secluded wagon and sat down with his eyes closed.


    ''Roen?! Thank goodness we have been trying to contact you for so long!''


    ''We?''


    ''Yea, I met Tyor earlier, but that''s not the problem. Why did the phantom knights suddenly disappear?''


    ''Because you went too far.''


    ''I''m sorry?''


    ''Listen very closely, I''m about to reach the Thaolos kingdom capital. I presume you''re close by as well.''


    ''Yea, but what does that...''


    ''Just listen, we are currently in enemy territory. An enemy that will either kill us instantly or very slowly.''


    At Roen''s words both side drew deathly quiet. Then Tyor came and asked,


    ''I believe master has a way to survive?''


    ''I do not.''


    Both sides grew silent once again.


    ''Why can''t we run away then?'' Engil''s terrified voice came through. A being capable of making Roen afraid was a calamity of epic proportions.


    ''There is only one way to survive this storm and that is to throw yourself into the eye.''


    ''Well, I wish you the best of luck then.''


    ''If you leave, your chances of dying by my hand increase.''


    ''Do, do you at least have a plan?''


    ''Meet me at the capital.''


    ''So that''s a no huh.''


    Ending the orders in a somber tone Roen got up slowly and left the wagon heading towards his own. The party was still going on, the warriors were still yelling at the top of their lungs, the alcohol tasted no differ than yesterday, the meat grilled by the fire the same way. Everyone was still alive and kicking just like yesterday. Nothing seemed out of place, yet they were all unaware of the storm brewing in the east.

 Chapter 22- Farewells and Reunions

    Chapter 22- Farewells and Reunions


    At the entrance to a town stood Roen and Eliana. Both had grown immensely in the time they spent together. Eliana was now an aura user, a person who wielded a great amount of power and authority. Roen had amazingly grown to be a handsome 16 year old boy and amazingly his usual clothing grew with him.


    "Thaolos kingdom capital is down that path over there about an afternoons journey and you should see it."


    "I see, then I guess this completes your task you are free to follow me or go back to your home."


    Eliana stared at Roen as he said those words. She looked as if a knife had been pierced through chest. Tears welled up in her eyes. She already had prepared herself for this moment, but she wanted their time together to last longer.


    "Could, could you wait for my return?" Eliana said very weakly and stifled her sobs to present a coherent sentence.


    "Wait? No I cannot wait. However Engil said that the Lands of Sorcery is only a years travel by foot from here."


    Eliana was crushed by Roen''s comment at first, but after listening to the whole statement she nodded her head. She resolved herself and turned back towards the caravan they rode with.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Yes...I was only stopping by..."


    Eliana replied to the caravan leader in a distant tone.


    A couple days later at dawn, the caravan stocked up on supplies and people and was finally ready to head out. The warrior group that fought with Eliana had stayed at a nearby inn, so to make sure they went with her caravan.


    Roen watched the wagons slowly leave. His expressionless face concealed his emotions, and he turned around, heading back into the town.


    "ROOOOEEENNN!!!"


    A shout from a familiar voice made Roen perk his ears up.


    "ONE YEAR FROM NOW AND DON''T YOU FORGET!!"


    Eliana''s shouts carried themselves across the town, and through the cries of disgruntled sleepy voices Roen walked back to his inn with a slight skip in his step.


    ------------------------------------------


    Five days later Roen was outside the town sitting on a white throne facing toward the forrest. He propped his head up with his left hand and the other was lightly tapping the right armrest. One could easily see the impatience in his expressions. Suddenly his eyes locked onto movement between the trees.


    "Took you slow servants long enough."


    After his voice laced with annoyance played out into his surroundings two figures appeared. One was a large silver back wolf with a backpack strapped onto it''s back and the other was a man with green eyes, hair, and tanned skin in silver armor without a helmet or weapon. They were Tyor and Engil.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Sorry master this dumb wolf got us lost thinking he smelled a treasure."


    "I''ve said this before I swear I saw an elf from the legends. Hooo~ you know if we caught one they''d give us three wishes."


    "Stop your lover''s quarrel we need to move. Right now time is of the essence."


    ""Lover''s quarrel?""


    The two''s thoughts came to a unique unison to Roen''s choice of words. However before Engil could come up with anything to say, Roen''s serious countenance shut his mouth. They quietly followed Roen till they reached the capital.


    They reached the capital before the sun went below the horizon, and the sight they saw was breathtaking. The entire city was as if it was torn out of a picture. The fading light highlighted the incredible ramparts that stood an impressive 50 feet tall. The whole Capital was at an uphill slant that rose above the ramparts as it reached the center. In the middle of it all was a castle unlike any others. Instead of stone it was made out of an eye catching shiny black material that had runes plastered over it''s surface. Three towers erected themselves out from the monstrous building that seemed to overlook the surrounding kingdom. The oddest thing was that four spider like appendages jutted out from the bottom of the castle and buried themselves into the nearby ground.


    "So that''s the Sage''s Castle." Engil suddenly spoke with a hint of awe as he gazed at the sight greedily taking in the picturesque moment.


    "Don''t just leave us wondering about it. Speak."


    "Haha well my uneducated ducklings, the Sage''s Castle is that giant thing that is currently serving as a royal family living quarters was said to be an insane weapon of massive proportions."


    "Can we use it?"


    "I don''t know."


    Engil wanted to say no, but looking at the determination in Roen''s eyes he consented to a vague reply. They calmly walked towards the entrance awaiting for Engil to be detained because of his wolf body. However the expected didn''t happen, and for some reason the guards didn''t even spare them a glance as the three passed through the gates. Tyor and Engil wore perplexed expressions while Roen''s grew increasingly grimmer.


    "Master if I may ask about the details of the plan now?"


    "We go to the king."


    "That''s it?"


    "Simple is better no?" Roen''s tone threw Tyor through a loop and set Engil''s nerves on fire.


    "Oh all seeing master of mine, we have our lives on the line! With such a simple plan can you guarantee them?"


    "There are no guarantees."


    "Yes yes philosophy is fine and all, but I prefer life over philosophy!"


    "Well it already knows were here. It''s been watching us through these marked ones." Roen said an awfully ambiguous statement while pointing around himself.


    "You''ve been say stuff about marked ones this and marked ones that can you now explain to us what exactly those are?!!"


    "Calm your tone when you''re talking to master."


    "Shut up movable garden! This is my life on the line! I still have things I must do!"


    Engil''s temper rose by the minute. The tense situation was taking it''s toll on him and he couldn''t find a step on this slippery predicament.


    "Marked ones or marked souls are basically sacrifices. They hold no will when it comes time for them to become the sacrifice because it is inevitable at that point."


    "So those guards and everything that we''ve been killing till now are just sacrifices?!"


    "Yes, however it''s not just the guards it''s this entire kingdom."


    "Wait wait let me guess. Said being that takes these sacrifices becomes stronger for each one right?"


    "For once you are correct."


    "Damn, I hate my genius."


    The three walked in silence taking in all of Roen''s words and understanding the gravity of the situation.


    It wasn''t until the sun had set long ago and the chill of night settled in till they reached the gaping hole in the that was made for the massive doors that protected the castle. However the doors were wide open at the moment and guards lined the hallways with blank faces and black markings spread throughout their bodies. A chill ran through the hallway that invaded the people to the very bones and bombarded their flesh with it''s icy presence.


    Roen did not falter, stepped through the open doors and into the castle. Engil and Tyor looked at each other and quickly chased after him.

 Chapter 23- The Situation Escalates

    Chapter 23- The Situation Escalates


    Roen, Engil, and Tyor are currently walking through the path that the guards have so kindly made for them. Or to be more exact they felt like pigs being guided their slaughter. Roen especially didn''t take kindly to being led by another, but for reasons unknown to Tyor and Engil he didn''t make a comment.


    They walked through the path lined by blank faced guards, and pillars filled with runes and hallways covered with mysterious lines. After walking for what seemed like hours they came across a doorway. Although not as big as the main entrance, it was equally as grand. It had intricate carvings of beasts and monsters that were almost about to jump out. Pure gold shined in some places and gold runic markings shined in others.


    "Hey I have an idea! Why don''t you blow up this place with your Soulmancer stuff?"


    "I would if I could, but using souls to fight a creature that gets stronger with the sacrifices of souls is not the best idea."


    "Point noted."


    Engil was shaken by Roen''s response and nervously looked around as if the walls would envelop him. Not caring about his servant''s mental states, Roen stuck both his hands out and pushed open the majestic doors.


    What greeted their sights was not a throne room nor a gorgeously decorated hallway. It was a dreary environment; pillars jutted out abruptly all over the place, a cold fog rolled around their ankles, and a glass pedestal stood in the middle of the chaotic scenery. Resting on it was an orb that contained a deep purple hue and appeared to be lightly pulsing.


    Then a man walked out of one of the pillar shadows. He resembled a skeleton, and if it wasn''t for the fear evident in his eyes he would''ve fit the role. He held two black spheres that shined brightly as if threatening to consume the man in their light.


    "Please... Leave ..." The man spoke in a raspy tone that held a great sadness.


    "Thanks for the reminder we were just leaving!" Engil spoke first and was about to sprint off, but Roen caught him by the back pack on his back. Roen''s face held a trace of understanding and his darkened feature slowly softened.


    "We have come to kill. Please rest and we will purge this curse."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "You... Can''t... This monster... There is only more death... Please... Run." The man spoke in exhaustion. Desperation plagued his features and a slight fear was directed to the glass pedestal.


    "You two get ready for a fight." Roen''s tone had a hint of hurry and upon noticing this they hurriedly prepared for war. Engil tightly clamped his teeth around his sword as an azure aura wrapped around him. Tyor had already spawned several blood vine silhouettes of himself, and a sword and shield both composed of blood vines shout out of his armor and solidly formed into his hands. Roen''s usual white robe had already morphed into a scale mail type of armor and two sets of bony wings covered in a blood red film shot out for the back. The white armor around his hand slowly inflated and turned into gauntlets that had groves running up and down it''s exterior, and a red liquid flowed out of the scale mail and into the groves forming intricate patterns.


    "Please..." The man''s plea was cut short and the light from the two black spheres abruptly intensifying. The light engulfed the man and both the spheres and him disappeared.


    Suddenly the previously motionless guards started to rush into the room, but not just the guards the citizens in the city started to rush toward the castle. A crescendo of feet started to sprint toward the capital. The entire population of Thaolos was condensing at the capital.


    "Roen, I why are they acting like this."


    "They are following the orders of that." Roen pointed toward the pulsating orb on the pedestal.


    "And uh, what is that?"


    "That is a sealed soul, and right now it''s trying to use all the sacrifices to build it''s body."


    "And I assume that when it builds this body it''ll be stronger?"


    "You''re on a roll with these correct guesses."


    "It''s a curse."


    Engil sighed and looked around at the surrounding blank faced people. He began to gather his aura with the intention to kill as many as possible. Then a gauntlet came in front of him.


    "Stop. Don''t kill anyone, being this close will just make it easier for it to absorb the souls."


    Roen''s comment halted both Tyor and Engil''s movements.


    "What do we do then master?" Tyor asked the question that both he and Engil had on their minds.


    "Destroy that orb before it gets a chance to regain it''s body."


    "Wait! Then why didn''t we do that in the first place?!"


    "Because I was unsure of what type of soul is sealed in there."


    "So we know now?"


    "To be honest I still don''t know, but we don''t have any better options now do we?"


    Tyor was already heading toward the orb while Roen and Engil were talking, and they soon followed. There was already a 30 foot separation of Tyor and the orb, but the people being controlled by the orb started to bloat. Their features were twisting, breaking, and rebuilding into monsters. The once deathly quiet surroundings turned into a sea of inhuman roars and screeches.


    The monsters in the room threw themselves at the trio.


    "Roen! Can we kill them now!"


    "Start the slaughter!"


    ""On it."" Roen''s body tore into the surrounding monsters, Engil''s sword flashed between the bodies of the monsters spraying blood and guts on the floor, and Tyor''s vines speared themselves randomly impaling the monsters into a bloody garden. Then sealed soul on the pedestal pulsed faster as the three killed their way over to it.

 Chapter 24- Things Cant Possibly Get Worse!

    Chapter 24- Things Can''t Possibly Get Worse!


    Bodies of monsters were cast on the ground like dirt on roads. In a blanket of blood, Roen killed the wall of bodies faster than Engil and Tyor could keep up. Eventually they were forced to kill the ones lucky enough to survive Roen''s attacks.


    However no matter how many they killed, many more would always flood in from outside, but their goal was never to kill them all. They were creating a path straight to the glass pedestal, and upon realizing this the monsters moved as a single entity to protect it. The fight grew increasingly brutal.


    Roen moved like a hurricane to compensate. His hands became like lightning and accurately struck weak points in every monster that came into his range. The two sets of wings on his back became sharp swords that would split the wave of monsters to and fro. Tyor''s blood vine silhouettes would sometimes flood into the wall of monsters wrapping them up for enough time for Roen or Engil to separate their heads from their bodies.


    The grotesque creatures were unwavering at the three''s brutality and increased their attacks.


    10 feet away!


    They had only covered 20 feet and Engil was beginning to feel fatigue from the overuse of his aura. Roen was still fiercely fighting with his physical body and robe. Every so often Roen would extend a white spear covered in red veins out of his hand and pierce through a line of monsters, but would never reach the orb. Tyor was still strongly supplying support and the blood vines grew into the dead bodies forming into more vines.


    8 feet!


    Engil had nearly exhausted all of his aura and had taken a couple hits. His condition was unknown. Tyor let his blood vines do the work for him, and went over to Engil to check him.


    6 feet!


    The monsters began to notice that Engil was injured and some of the ones flooding in started to attack them. Tyor was ferociously protecting Engil blocking with his blood vine shield and cutting their bodies to pieces. Roen was still desperately trying to spear the orb, but a monster would jump into the spears path.


    5 feet!


    Tyor had taken a few serious hits and was bleeding from several places. Blood vines had extended from his body and were sucking in the blood of those around him to replace what he''s lost. Engil had finally staggered to his feet, but his sword was gone leaving him to bite at the monster''s tough skin. Roen''s monstrous physical body was obviously reaching it''s limits and the speed at which he killed was slowing down.


    4 feet!


    Tyor and Engil were struggling to survive. They barely were able to hold onto their lives at this point. Cuts, gashes and bruises were littered on Engil''s body. Tyor''s blood vines were easy targets once they gorged on enough blood and were easily smashed apart. Roen''s scale mail had cracks spread throughout and was missing at parts. The once terrifying bone wings had lost their majesty; two were ripped in half while the other two were missing completely. However Roen''s face held onto his determination and had a slight trace of madness.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    3 feet!


    The endless tides of monsters gave no more ground as they piled into the room from any possible crevice. Roen shot spear after spear in an attempt to destroy the orb, but the tide was completely unaffected and never missed an opportunity to stop the spear. The monsters surrounding Tyor had long since fainted leaving Engil to protect the two of them.


    Clink! Crack! Crack! Crash!


    A spear finally connected! The monster wave froze and everything fell silent. The only sound was pained heavy breathing coming from the three.


    "Did, did, we win?" Engil was speaking through long breaths and he was having trouble standing in his body.


    "No, those were just the small fry."


    A sense of loss was filling them as Roen''s eyes squinted to see if they had made it in time. He spotted a figure moving in the middle of the frozen monsters. Then an immeasurable sucking force started to originate from the orb''s previous position. The only ones affected by it seemed to be the monsters and even the ones outside began to flow into the vortex. The bodies started to compress and formed a pink fleshy sphere.


    "Roen... I don''t suppose we made it did we?"


    "No, things can''t be worse. I can''t use my spells and were all exhausted."


    Suddenly an arm extended from the fleshy ball and two legs followed it. Then another arm extended from the same side followed by a pair on the other. The body started to ripple and steam began to emit from the skin surrounding it. A head popped out and a pair of red eyes were seen. The whole process happened in the blink of an eye.


    Roen''s face held a indescribable anger as he gazed at the being taking shape in front of him. However the being paid him no mind, and scanned his surroundings glancing over Engil and Tyor then finally locked eyes with Roen.


    "Hahaha I was wondering why I woke up so much earlier than expected. Turns out someone else''s sacrifice was kicking up a storm in my territory. Tell me, who has your life." The being''s words did not seem to match his mouth as if the words were being translated. However what he said startled Engil.


    ''Did he just say Roen is another''s sacrifice?''


    "I am no one''s sacrifice! I have killed my captor, and every other monster just like you! And now you will die by my hands, so that I can use your body to tell your queen that I am coming for her head!"


    "Empty words."


    The being disappeared from the spot it was just standing from and before anyone could react, lightly pushed Roen with it''s two right arms sending him flying through the walls.


    "Seriously, I wake up to such weaklings." The being turned around to the speach less Engil and the unconscious Tyor, but heard a sound behind him.


    Roen slowly came back in through the hole that he was previously sent through. Blood was seeping from in between the scales on his armor.


    "Madness script, verse one."


    Following Roen''s words his armor started to writhe and twist while his eyes never left the body of the being. A deeply rooted anger burned deeply in his eyes. Roen''s originally white hair turned blood red and every step he took shook the castle.


    "Hoo~ that looks fun." The being''s carefree tone overlooked the oppressive feeling coming from Roen. Then he disappeared and again sent the same attack at Roen. However Roen was prepared this time and the writhing white cloak separated from the path of the fist allowing it to pierce right through his chest.

 Chapter 25- Madness Script

    Chapter 25- Madness Script


    ~ P.O.V. Of The Being ~


    "Hahaahaahah! What about all that talk earlier! Didn''t you say something about a queen, too bad, too bad, but that old hag''s been dead for thousands of years!"


    Ahh~ it feels so good to have a body again. I can finally kill all I want. Those ones in the corner behind me are already weakened by my sacrifices enhanced by my soul. I can kill them anytime I want, but what is that white cloth. Wasn''t it that boy''s magical armament? Why does it keep moving even though it''s master''s dead?


    Feeling a small prick I look down at one of my arms still inserted into the boy''s body. I take my hand out to let the body crumple to the floor...


    I can''t take my hand out...


    What?! What is going on?!


    "Boy! What did you do?!"


    "You''re body is in such great shape I hope you let me borrow it." The boy''s mouth wasn''t moving however sounds definitely came from his direction.


    What is going on!


    "Haha I''m lucky, to think you were only of the Varnus races."


    "You, how do you know of the Nightmare races!"


    This is crazy! No one should know our races! Not even if they were a sacrifice!


    "Speak! Who are you!"


    "I am the nightmare for you Nightmares."


    The cloth... The voice is coming from the cloth. I finally singled in on it, but what is this feeling? I feel like I need to get out of here no matter what. What is going on?


    "Hahaha I was originally worried you might be any other race like a Loctus or Narvious. I am indeed lucky, but I need to finish this off quickly. Madness script is always a danger to use."


    "You... What are ..."


    I didn''t get to finish my sentence before the cloth turned into the body of the boy and my hand was inserted into the constantly writhing white cloth. The prickling sensation that I felt earlier came again. And again. And again. It kept on intensifying until it felt like a fire was consuming my arm.


    My senses are screaming danger, so I immediately tore off that right arm. It''s painful, but I can easily regrow another one. I need to refocus on the boy. However when I turned to where the boy was I saw the cloth, and I could distinctly feel the boy''s presence behind me. When did they switch?Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Can you feel it. That slowly creeping madness."


    The voice of the boy seemed to be far away yet close. Is this what that earlier spell was?!


    "It seems you have realized it already, for a Varnus you''re quite perceptive. Yes, the first verse of the madness script. Immobilize the enemy''s senses."


    "Impossible! Magic can only affect the person themselves or their environment!"


    "It seems I need to speed things up, after all you are from the Nightmare races. It''s taking quite a toll on my soul to use one script."


    This is unreal. However I refuse to just hand down my life. I create a shockwave to disrupt my surroundings. Then quickly punch the ground to cave in the floor.


    BOOM! BOOM!


    Guh?! What?! I took damage on myself!! How?!


    "Hey now don''t go trying to commit suicide. Or were you aiming for the floor, but accidentally hit yourself in the chest?"


    Is his magic real? However he said that he needs to finish this quickly, so I need to drag this on. I sprint off into the winding corridors leaving the boy behind.


    "Hahaha no matter how many mind games you play, my physical body will always ... What the hell."


    I could''ve sworn I ran into the other rooms. Why am I back in this one? What was that magic?


    "Welcome back, you decided to stay huh."


    Can I not run? What can I do?! I''ve never been in a situation like this, what is this?!!!


    "As much fun as I''m having I guess all good things must come to an end."


    Watching his movements carefully I decided not to move a muscle. This magic is powerful, but if he can''t deal any damage to me it''s useless.


    That white cloth begins to fly at me again. I''ll dodge it this time. Leaping to the side I evade the incoming dangerous cloth.


    Crunch!


    What...


    Didn''t I evade?


    "Although you were smarter for your race you never did learn, did you." I look at the smiling face of the boy as the white cloth engulfed my body.


    "In the end who really are you?"


    "Haven''t I already answered that; I am the nightmare for you Nightmares."


    ------------------------------------------


    Engil watched the entire event play out. He watched as Roen toyed with that monster like it was a little kid. Awe, admiration, and denial were all reflected in his eyes.


    "Why''d you go and scare the hell out of us if you could''ve handled the situation that way!?"


    "Idiot, you think that spell works on all the Nightmare races in my current state. We are probably the luckiest people right now to get out alive from a Nightmare race that had reformed it''s body."


    "What is a Nightmare?"


    "I''ll save that for later. Anyways pick Tyor up I have almost finished absorbing the body of that Varnus."


    Engil was still wanting to press for an answer, but when he took a better look at Roen he could see that the other was panting and shaking heavily. He was extremely happy about surviving, but the whole fight felt surreal. He listened to Roen and held Tyor firmly on his back with a rope from his backpack.


    ''Let''s hope nothing happens right now.''


    The three staggered through the hallways. Roen was wearing a green robe, he said that his usual clothes still haven''t finished digesting the Varnus'' body. Then Engil felt a slight tremor coming from the surroundings. A white cloth was flying from the direction of where they left and situated itself onto Roen. Immediately Roen''s face paled.


    "Run now!"


    vvrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRR!


    Roen''s shout was overlapped by a humming crescendo. The undisturbed runes and lines that painted the rooms all began to light up.


    RUMBLE


    The whole castle began to shake. Then a booming voice shook the walls that it came from.


    "HAHAHAHA YOU DARE TRY TO KILL ME!! YOU UNDERESTIMATE THE NIGHTMARE RACES!! I''M GOING TO KILL YOU AND REFORM MY BODY WITH YOURS!"

 Chapter 26- The Sages Castle!

    Chapter 26- The Sage''s Castle


    Roen and Engil were currently running to the best of their abilities while dragging Tyor on the ground. All around them runes and lines were lighting up and shining brightly.


    Suddenly a spear, made from runes, would rocket towards their direction. Roen would give an annoyed sigh while Engil would step out of its way with Tyor. They completed this action as if they had plenty of practice. The castle around them would groan and quake sending cracks into the floor and ceiling.


    "This is getting annoying Roen, why are we getting no where."


    "You said this whole thing used to be a weapon right?"


    "Yea, but how does that..."


    "He fused his soul into these runes somehow, but can you stop it."


    "I don''t know what you''re saying."


    "You know runes right? I don''t, so you have to shut this thing down."


    "You want me to shut down a system of runes that not even those old monsters in the Lands of Sorcery can''t even start?"


    "Well you can always let his soul fuse with this weapon which I advise you not to."


    Engil was still debating on whether or not death was a better option.


    "Aarrgh! Fine, but most likely I need to get back into the room we were just in. However if he can keep manipulating these rooms, that''ll be impossible."


    "Leave that to me."


    Saying that Roen''s originally white cloth turned into a pitch black, tight fit outerwear. Two black arms burst out from Roen''s shoulders and Roen''s hair changed into black that matched the outerwear.


    "This is always a nice feeling."


    Roen then turned to a wall and shot forward. With each step visibly imprinting itself into the floor. As he reached the wall his two right hands clasped palms and struck the wall in tandem.


    BOOOOOOOOM!


    A thunderous sound deafened the surroundings and the wall caved in exposing the outside. The walls immediately began to reform themselves and, without wasting a breath, Roen rushed over to the surprised Engil holding onto Tyor and threw them out the closing gap.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "YOU BASTARD HOW DARE YOU USE MY BODY!!"


    "Humph let me show you how to truely use the Varnus'' body."


    Roen then clasped all four arms together above his head and silver markings started to reveal themselves starting from his hands. Sweat began to pour from Roen''s face as the markings climbed up his arms. The voice of the castle grew silent for a second, and,without another word, tens of rune spears launched themselves at Roen from all angles. All the spears hit their mark, but Roen''s face held no notice of the pain as the silver markings stopped after forming on all four of his forearms. He shut his eyes quickly and sent his thoughts to Engil.


    ''I leave it to you.''


    Then he swung the four arms down like they were a heavenly hammer crushing whatever was beneath them.


    ~ P.O.V. Of Engil ~


    He threw me too far. I flew all the way past the ramparts and outside the city. Guh! Hitting the ground with a force akin to having a hammer crashing into my ribs I saved myself from most of the force by using Tyor as a cushion. I quickly check Tyor for signs of breathing and what do you know the bastard''s still alive. I wish him a good rest as I bury his body him in the ground. Of course I leave a breathing hole. I think.


    Turning to look at the Sage''s Castle with it''s four spider like appendages stamping the ground, and think it''s an amazing sight. Looks like a giant four legged spider with a grand castle on it''s back minus the spider and plus the Nightmare''s soul or whatever it was that Roen told me about.


    I could probably run away now. I mean Roen has a lot of trump cards right? He''ll just give me a few bashes afterwards and say that I would''ve gotten in the way right?


    ''I leave it to you.'' Roen''s voice retorted through my thoughts.


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!


    A huge explosion that felt like the ground was experiencing the wrath of a god occurred. I had the pleasure of witnessing the huge moving castle suddenly being plunged into the ground. From where I stood I could see a massive collision of the castle there was a huge dust cloud covering most the castle and the parts I did see were in a disastrous state. The original three towers at the top had broken to a almost crumbled one and the ever so majestic walls were in shambles. I could still feel the ground shaking heavily from the aftershock. Parts of the 50 foot tall ramparts began to crumble, and the ground was split open in other parts.


    He handled it alright...


    However, to my horror, the castle started to restore itself brick by brick in an almost snail like manner.


    Roen''s words rang through my head again.


    Can''t I just run away? Why do I have to risk my life for something I have no idea how to do?


    No matter what excuse I told myself my wolf paws wouldn''t move from that spot.


    Come on Roen what sick joke are you playing?! I''m not as strong as you or even Tyor!! I''m not even that good with runes!What can I do in this situation?!


    Roen''s words kept staining my thoughts with every excuse I could muster.


    "Roen you think I''ll work just because you say it!! Fat chance, I''m not gonna risk my life for something so crazy!!" I screamed towards the castle. All my anger and frustration were concentrated into my venting. Roen''s words were no longer echoing in my head.


    My body is no longer rigid I can finally run away. I will forever remember you Roen.


    I take my first step. Then my next step. The rest of my paws follow. My body starts to trot, then run, and finally sprint. I sprint with all the energy I can muster towards the slowly reforming castle.

 Chapter 27- A Wolfs Pride

    Chapter 27- A Wolf''s Pride


    ~ P.O.V. Of Engil ~


    The harder I sprint, the more my injuries worsen. I stumble on every crack that catches my feet. I feel that blood gushing from the multiple wounds I received in the earlier fight. I feel broken bones sliding and trying to break through my skin. I feel all this, but somehow I don''t feel anything. Is it adrenaline?


    "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!"


    A voice came from the castle it was full of anger and malice. At the moment I couldn''t care less, I only have one chance that Roen probably gave his life for. If not then I''ll find him and run away. We can live. We will live.


    I repeat those phrases as I run. The castle was yelling and screaming, but that only served to lessen the quietness of the surroundings. However I felt a danger coming from the only surviving tower. The runes on it began to glow and it felt like it was sucking the air from the surroundings. Although I couldn''t understand most of the glowing runes on it, I could roughly guess as fire began to engulf the entire broken tower. Then the fire started to congregate into top, and a thick red ray shot out and swept a little to my right and disappeared into the distance.


    Fwoooosh!


    A sound as if the air was combusted occurred and to my right was a sea of fire that stretched on for miles. That''s unfair.


    "HAHAHA DO YOU REALIZE HOW EASILY I CAN KILL YOU! IT JUST TAKES SECONDS AND YOU ARE UP IN FLAMES!"


    Ignoring the provocation I start to coalesce the remaining aura I have. If I am correct then that tower has a 30 second charge time and most likely he won''t shoot himself, so I just need to cover around 70 feet in 30 seconds. Plenty of time to spare. I shoot out of the spot I was standing and start closing in on the castle.


    The air starts to get hotter and I can feel a couple of my hairs burning. The broken tower has began to charge up again. 30 feet left! The tower looks as if an inferno was condensed onto it''s surface, pretty cool if you ask me. My aura in my legs start to dry up.


    No!! Just 10 more feet come on! The inferno climbs up the tower and starts to condense into the top. One more push and I''ll make it inside!! I howl at the top of my lungs encouraging myself.


    Crash! Fwoooooosh!


    The two sounds intermingled in my ears as I crashed through a glass window of the castle.


    "Haha I made it now wait for me I coming to shut you down!"


    Saying the line I''ve been holding in for a while I get up...


    I can''t get up...


    I look at the cause, my whole back end was severed by the red ray of light. The charred flesh smell carried itself into my well developed sense of smell and a feeling of despair took over me.


    I look around the room. This is not the room I needed to be in. I need to get moving. I grit my teeth and start to drag what''s left of my body with me. My speed is slow, but I need a chance to strike. I keep moving through the ever changing hallways. The feeling of death never takes me over. Maybe it''s because this body never belonged to me? No time to be wondering about that now though.


    The thought of finding the control room quickly escapes my plans. This fiend is just changing the rooms into a giant loop. I''ll never get out at this pace. I begin to look at the unfamiliar runes trying to gain a glimpse of how to win. That''s odd, I never thought I wanted to win. Why do I want to win now? Didn''t I want to run?


    "YOURE A ODD LITTLE WOLF, HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD?"


    Ignoring the castle''s questions I continue to study the runes. For a second, I thought I saw one of them glow slightly red for a second.


    "I am originally not a wolf, however now that I have been a wolf for awhile I''ve learned how prideful wolves can be. I shall never bow my head down to others nor will I turn my back on someone who has given me theirs!"Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "HHAAAHAH SO YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN DEFEAT ME WITH SOME WOLVES'' PRIDE?HAHAHAHA."


    The laughter continued and I saw a rune change to a slightly red color. I acted immediately and released my soul from the wolf''s body heading straight for that rune. I forced my amorphous blue blob to squeeze through the rune and I arrived in a pitch black space similar to when Roen first made me a soul. However there was a massive purple soul with features similar to the monster that Roen should''ve killed earlier.


    "You?! How''d did you..."


    "Didn''t I say not to underestimate this wolf?"


    "I don''t believe you did."


    "Well I thought it so it''s good enough!"


    Honestly I didn''t think that would work. I just realized that he needed a rune to project his voice, but souls normally cannot speak. Thinking of this I looked for something similar to the emitter rune that he was probably using to accomplish something similar. Luckily the rune he uses turns a slight shade of red unnoticeable if one doesn''t look closely enough. Whew plan is a success.... Now that I''ve got this far I can''t back down.


    "Hoh~ I was originally surprised, however now that you''re here what do you hope to accomplish."


    "A wolf always goes for the kill."


    "But you are no wolf."


    The purple ethereal figure disappears and I feel a pressure grabbing part of me.


    RIIIIIIIPP!


    "Aaaaaarrrrggghh!"


    What was that?! It was so painful?!!


    "Hahaaha you think that you can win with just words? Let me savor ripping your soul to shreds!"


    Damnit he ripped my soul?! Is that allowed?! I need something to protect myself why can''t souls use aura?!!


    As if answering my prayers an azure two foot sword with twelve rune markings on the blade flashed in front of me. Hooray! But how do I hold this with an amorphous blob body. Right now that purple guy is conceited thinking I''m an easy target, so it''s a perfect opportunity. Man I love overly confident enemies. I need to somehow use this sword. I try using a corner of my blob and am somehow able to hold onto the sword. Again hooray.


    "Are you done already?"


    "Yes thank you for waiting. You''re a nice bad guy aren''t you?"


    "I''m still going to rip you to shreds."


    "Please be gentle."


    The purple figure once again disappears, but I reflexively slice my sword to the right. I connect with something and look to see the purple, semi-clear hand holding onto the body of my blade.


    Snap!


    With a disdainful smile he ruthlessly breaks my sword in half. I stare at the blade point that he tosses over his shoulder. I''m too shocked to move. This can''t be happening right?


    RIIIIIIP!


    I''m too numb from loosing my sword to react to the pain.


    "Are you not going to react anymore?"


    Can I even stand a chance against a monster Roen couldn''t completely kill.... That''s right how could I forget this monster stood toe to toe with Roen! I''m the conceited one for thinking I can win.


    "Guess that''s all a wolves'' pride is huh. Well then I guess I''ll put you out of your misery."


    Wolves'' pride? That''s right the wolves never bowed down when Roen or I killed them. They faced death and took it. I could feel a slight tug on my soul. A howl was constantly being echoed within me. A wolf that is what I am, however I am no wolf I am Engil! I felt the howling begin to etch itself into my very being with every howl.


    The broken sword in my blob hand began to shake and I could hear a low howl coming from it as well. The twelve runes were lighting up and shining in a deep azure light.


    "What, what is going on?!!"


    The panicked shouts of the purple monster were second only to the howling inside my soul. Or was I howling? My sword began to shorten and a curvature started to form. The body of the blade began to widen and the guard disappeared entirely.


    The new sword had only three runes on it, and it''s shape drastically changed. It looked exactly like a one foot long wolf''s tooth attached to a blade handle. I felt a strong connection towards it almost as if we were one and I realized that my originally blob ''hand'' had turned into an azure blue human hand! I checked the rest of my ethereal body and I appear to have regained my original human body minus the fact that I''m still a soul.


    The panicking massive purple soul was suddenly no longer massive. I could look him in his nonexistent eyes now!


    "What?! First it was that crazy boy with his insane methods and now someone who can merge their soul with a beast!!?"


    His words confused me a little. I had no time to react to his words. Something was telling me I needed to move now this was my chance. I took a step and instantly shot past the purple soul. I succeeded in taking two of his arms off.


    "AaaaaaAaAaArRrRrrrrrggggGghhhh!!!"


    His pained screams reached my ears, but didn''t phase me at all. I could see fear in his eyes. Tracing back our conversations he is probably afraid of this Wolf thingy.


    I decided to finish it in the next move and the rune closest to the handle lit up. A giant azure wolf came pouncing out of the blade as I moved. The wolf easily filled this space we were in and the purple soul just stood there accepting his foretold death which the wolf kindly granted to him.


    The wolf disappeared whilst howling and after it was gone I felt a feeling as if being robbed of all my energy. The howling in my soul ceased and a calm took over the surroundings. I felt my conscious fading away.


    I won...


    Hell yeah...


    Roen can suck it!!


    ... And Anna... Wait for me.... I''ll be there soon....

 Chapter 28- The Event The Shook the Continent

    Chapter 28- The Continent in Shock


    When Engil woke up the sun was already high in the sky. He was in the ruins of what was once the grand Sage''s Castle. However now the castle is in shambles, and is not crumbling. A vast expanse of flames still brightly burns and extends beyond he line of sight. Engil stands up slowly on his two legs.


    "Wait!!"


    Engil''s shout of shock tore open the once quiet surroundings. He quickly moved his tense muscles and stretched his unused tendons. He felt the air flood his lungs as his diaphragm contracted and his nostrils flared. He wriggled his toes on the cold stone ground. He felt the blood flow through his veins as he held out an open palm. He had his human body back!


    There were some differences though. He appeared to have a fuller build and his skin was whiter than it once was. He felt that his vision and smell stayed that same as if he was still a wolf, and he had a tattoo of a howling wolf on his shoulder. Most importantly he was naked!


    "First I need some clothes, then I''ll look for Roen."


    Saying his thoughts out loud he set his priorities on finding clothes. He found the body of the dead silverback wolf that he once inhabited. He felt a little odd looking at the scene, but noticed a small backpack on it''s back. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that that the backpack was still unburnt. Quickly sorting out through it Engil took a blue robe that he graciously stole for a few towns back.


    Then he turned to look for Roen. For some reason the connection to Roen''s soul disappeared when that huge explosion rang out and now he is forced to use his senses to find the troublesome master.


    ''Hopefully Tyor is alright.''


    Finally remembering the companion he buried alive Engil gave some thought and dismissed it from his mind. Using his superior sense of smell Engil started to sniff the ground.


    ''Then again what does Roen smell like?''


    "What are you doing idiot?"


    Engil happily turned around to see Roen in his usual clothes unharmed.


    "I was looking for you geez, you know what I had to go through because of you."


    "Yes, I''ve seen while you were asleep. Pretty impressive actually. To think that you could destroy a Nightmare race''s soul albeit that Varnus'' have the weakest soul out of all of them, but good job nonetheless."


    "That''s the weakest..."


    "Yes, however they have pretty sturdy physical bodies, so their not bad."This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "Sometimes I hate your nonchalant attitude."


    Engil turned away from Roen, and started to walk to dig up Tyor.


    "If you''re going to Tyor he dug himself out two days ago after I woke up."


    "What?! I thought I was only asleep for a day?"


    "Your soul fused with a spirit of a wolf, something even I would have a difficult time doing, you could''ve died if I hadn''t woke up and stabilized your soul."


    "Uh thanks then."


    Engil was a little shocked by Roen''s statements and apparently he had been asleep for awhile. Roen then ignored Engil as he was realizing the severity of his circumstances. Roen turned and started to head away from the sea of flames.


    "Now that you''re awake, let''s get moving you''re lucky that we didn''t leave you behind."


    "I am sooooo honored for my master''s concern."


    Engil replied while rolling his eyes and the two started their trek to the Lands of Sorcery.


    ------------------------------------------


    Unbeknownst to the three the destruction of the entire Thaolos Kingdom has reached the ears of the other four kings. The sudden disappearance of the entire population of the kingdom, the huge explosion that could be heard for miles and the tremor that followed, and the sea of fire that sprouted out of no where with a heat that allowed no one to pass. All these events all happened in succession and the four other kingdoms were terrified.


    A force capable of wiping out the strongest kingdom that reigned with an iron fist for 500 years. Such a force would be akin to a calamity. At first they believed that the Sage''s Castle was the cause, but remembering the massive wall of light several months ago they changed their thoughts.


    When the wars that were raging on got word of the disaster they immediately called for a ceasefire. Two kingdoms that were previously at each other''s necks began to collaborate to understand the destruction of Thaolos. The disaster came to be known as the ''Shock of the Continent''.


    ~the royal court of the Higloas Kingdom~


    A man wearing a gold embroidered cloak with a red sparrow styled into the back was currently sitting on the throne with a steady expression. He was a broad shouldered man and his body was fitted in silver armor that had lost it''s luster a long time ago. He appeared to be more of a general of the battlefield, but he was the king of the Higloas Kingdom.


    "My king, I implore you to reconsider working with those barbarians. They will stab you in the back at any chance they get!"


    A man with a giant wall shield stood up and smacked the U shaped table that multiple others sat around. The king in his throne did not stir at the outburst and gave a heavy sigh.


    "We are going through troubling times. We have an unknown entity that can annihilate us easily. I''d rather deal with a backstabbing then face an unknown."


    "The king truly is wise!"


    "The king''s wisdom surpasses us!"


    "The king''s sight sees far into the future!"


    All kinds of praise rang out from one side of the table. Nobles dressed in luxurious and expansive fine silk devoured well cooked quail and boar and spoke praise of the king between breaths. The king just sat in his throne not even acknowledging those annoyances.


    The king was already in a bad mood. He had received word that his youngest daughter was on a trip in the Thaolos kingdom, but he never received another note. His worries were well founded as he uncovered an assassination plot that was staged to frame another kingdom. However he could not find any proof on the nobles he knew were involved. To condemn others to die without a justifiable cause was not the way he liked to deal with the situation.


    "My king I bring news of your youngest daughter!!"


    A man in merchant attire was led into the room by 6 royal guardsmen. The words he said shocked the entire room and gave the merchant their undivided attention. The room was deathly quiet in anticipation for the next series of words.

 Chapter 29- Blood Stains

    Chapter 29- Blood Stains


    On a dirt path in the east two figures and a white wolf stagger on towards an unknown destination. They''re naturally Roen, Tyor, and Engil. Engil had turned into a wolf from his once human body one night and has been sulking ever since.


    "Roen~ why am I still so hungry even after I ate all that dried meat? Why did I turn back to a wolf? Where''s a map?"


    "You are an idiot right? Don''t you listen to anything I tell you? Your body formed around your soul like mine does, so you have to consume souls to keep on living on the upside though you won''t die unless your soul is destroyed. And I don''t believe many people on this continent have the power to do that, that is except for Nightmare races... Anyways as for your wolf body, I don''t know enough about merged souls, so figure that part by yourself."


    "Grrrr... Where is Purply?"


    "They are currently absorbing the leftovers in a special place. Also don''t name him that. "


    Engil didn''t stop his grumbling till Roen gave him a couple souls to eat. Tyor had a grumpy expression on his face throughout the whole conversation.


    "You''re not still mad about me burying you? I did it for your own safety not out if a grudge or anything prior to that!" Engil interpreted Tyor''s expression as his fault and explained his righteous reasons.


    "No I''m not mad at all~"


    "Really! That''s great, but Roen... Are we lost?"


    "Tyor I think Engil needs time to cool off."


    "With pleasure master."


    Without a moment of hesitation Tyor surrounded Engil in thick red vines and pulled him under the ground till only his head was popping out of the ground. Roen and Tyor then began to walk to their unknown destination.


    "He''s still mad isn''t he...... Guys?"


    Ignoring Engil''s cries for help the two walk for awhile.


    "Master, I do believe we are lost."


    "Shut up, or you''ll end up like him."


    Roen and Tyor had returned to Engil''s position and had been walking in circles for hours. Their long journey had just began and had already hit a major impasse.


    ------------------------------------------


    ~ Higloas Kingdom Royal Court ~


    A man in merchant attire explained the circumstances of the king''s youngest daughter the way his son had told him. The nobles and generals in the room all listened intensively afraid to miss a single word. Some had looks of utter shock at the mention of an assassination attempt, others had faces with mixed emotions, and the king wore an expression of joy and relief at the mention that his daughter was still alive and on her way home. However details such as Roen and her awakening her aura was withheld.


    "Hahaha~ thank you for your information. Guards he means no harm you don''t need to stand so close to him." The king''s mood was joyful and a huge smile was plastered on his face. He invited the merchant to sit down at the feast however the merchant declined.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Fine you don''t need to sit if you don''t what to. However for giving such critical information may I know your name?"


    "William Whitewater, I received information from my son that your daughter was traveling to Thaolos, then back. Now that I have told you this I will take my leave, I bid your highness farewell."


    The merchant bowed and left as fast as he came. The court room was silent, all eyes were on the king awaiting his next action. Looking into the eyes of his retainers the king gave his command, "Russ, take twenty of your men and twenty of my best horses, bring back Eliana safely!"


    "If it is your will, I will serve!"


    The hot blooded man with the huge shield stood up and knocked his right fist on his left chest. He left the room quickly as if afraid someone would stop him. The king clenched his fists tightly as he watched Russ leave the room; he prayed that nothing would go wrong.


    ~ P.O.V. Of Russ ~


    I urge my men to move faster. Based on the route the princess will take we will meet her at the province of duke Weller. The problem is that the duke is one of the main suspects of the assassination attempt on the princess. I am worried he will attack her to make sure we don''t hear her confession.


    Two months of almost constant running we arrive at the entrance to the main city to duke Weller''s province. The meeting point of where the princess should be at.


    However instead of calm city life, we are greeted by screaming and the stench of blood. My insides start to twist and my face grows pale.


    "Hurry men!"


    My trusted soldiers understand my unease and silently follow my rushed orders. We charge to the origins of the blood smell. What we see shocked us all to the core. Bodies were strewn here and there, blood stains were littering the ground presenting a massive struggle. However the dead all belonged to duke Weller''s men.


    There were around 30 men in various armors ruthlessly killing those that tried to run. They each appeared to be as strong as my trusted 20 strongest men. If we fought I doubt we would have a low amount of casualties on both sides. Judging that they ignored the shocked civilians, they are not bandits. I didn''t move a muscle and my men just watched them finish their slaughter.


    They all turned towards our direction when the duke''s men were killed. A shiver ran down the spines of us all as we looked at their uncaring eyes that didn''t even bat an eye at their previous atrocities. We may be soldiers however such an slaughter is not a common occurrence. I must handle this situation carefully.


    "WE GREET THE GENERAL!!"


    However before I could do anything, the men saluted and greeted me.


    What... What''s going on?


    One of the men slowly went up to me showing he meant no harm and respectfully said, "General, the princess is over there, she has been waiting for you." The man pointed deeper into the center where the blood painting the ground got thicker.


    I quickly thanked the man and left for the direction he pointed in. Although I was wary of them and prepared for any tricks, they just let us pass without even glancing at us. Who were these men?


    The scent of blood painted the air and made some of my battle hardened soldiers gag. That was when we met three people. Two of whom were large men, one had a large scar on his chest and the other only had one arm. However the pressure I felt from them was much greater than the group we had met before.


    ''Aura users!?''


    The thought invaded my mind. I had the pleasure to meet the king''s five protecter aura users once, and now these two men have the same presence as them. The two aura users were much worse than the group we had met earlier; the two could easily decimate my entire squad. Was this all a trap? How was I supposed to guess they had aura users!?


    "You must be the general the princess has told us all about you ever since she heard you were coming to pick her up. We are her friends, you have no need to be fearful of us." The man with the scar on his chest spoke words to lessen our ease, but it only served to add more questions than answers.


    "Uncle Russ!! Over here!" A familiar voice woke me up from the shock of the aura users and all our eyes landed on the source. A woman in the middle of a bloodstained floor with white armor stained in blood that is glistened red when the sun hit it. She carried a saber on her waist and a powerful presence that definitely overpowered that of the two we had seen before. The had long auburn hair the had flecks of blood painting it like was a canvas, and two hazel eyes that reminded me of the king''s.


    "P,princess Eliana?"


    Remembering the young and kind princess in my head, I couldn''t tie the two together. What happened? Is this really the princess? Eventually the facts presented themselves and the notion that this woman was the princess. Given the exception of the two aura users from before, the princess''s change made everyone stare dumbfounded with mouths agape.

 Chapter 30- Return of an Executioner

    Chapter 30- Return of an Executioner


    Overcoming his initial shock Russ took in the new princess. The fact that she was a aura user started to sink in as well. However when he asked what happened to her, she only gave vague answers and was clearly hiding som things. Her strength and status gave her the right to her silence. Russ gave a wry smile to the meeting of the king to his beloved daughter.


    The journey back to the Higloas capital took one month longer than intended. The reason for that was that every time there was a bandit group that was terrorizing the nearby villagers Eliana would hunt them down and kill them all. Her ruthless methods further solidified the notion that the princess Russ had once known was gone, and her cold eyes that stared into those she mercilessly murdered sent shivers down the spines of Russ''s soldiers.


    ''They were sent to protect her right?'' The soldiers all had the same thoughts.


    "Uncle Russ can you tell father to gather all the nobles and generals. Also send notice that they need to gather by the end of the day." Eliana turned towards Russ and commanded as they were reaching the gates of the capital.


    "Yes, I will, but why so sudden?" Russ immediately accepted her command, and questioned her hasty actions. He had learned through these past three months that she had become a terrifying strategic mind and wouldn''t even bat an eye at killing hundreds.


    "That''s a surprise for everyone." Eliana gave a slight smile in response and Russ could only shudder upwardly curved lips.


    Later that day all the nobles and generals were in the royal court sitting in their respective seats. The king was seated on his throne and two similarly featured men sat on his right while a woman in a dress and three women wearing veils sat on his left. Everyone knew they were called in by princess Eliana, but the one who gave them their invitations, Russ, had explained nothing.


    BANG!


    Suddenly the large double doors abruptly opened with a bang and Eliana strode into the room with two men following her. She was dressed as if going to war and her two followers were similarly dressed. Her sudden appearance and attire confused everyone in the room with the exception of Russ, who was understanding her actions.


    "Him, him, him, him, ......." Eliana began to point at several nobles and some generals and almost half of people in the room were pointed out when she was finished.


    "Bring the minimum men required, those who resist kill them, imprison the women and children." Her words were heard by everyone and most were still trying to wrap their heads around the situation. The two followers nodded and left leaving everyone terrified by the situation.


    "What, what do you think you''re doing?! Do you know the gravity of your absurd words?! I''m sorry my king, but being bossed around by a young girl who doesn''t even know the battlefield is not what I came here for?!" Similar cries of disapproval resounded throughout the court and the king sat there wondering why his daughter had seemed to change.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Wait what about those two that just left she told them to go mess with our families and territories?!" A noble in silk screamed and ordered several of his personal guards to chase them down. Other nobles responded the same way as well and a small squadron of 30 men in armor to charge at the door.


    Eliana, who was originally silently watching them, unsheathed her saber and slowly walked towards the charge. Everyone''s eyes nearly left their sockets at her actions, but after she began to effortlessly cut down the 30 men their eyes could only be described by rolling on the floor. The court was silent. No one even dared to let out a breath of air.


    "Now that that is over with to those that I pointed at earlier I will present you with two choices: one, you wash your necks and kneel in front of me or two, I have to spare some extra exercise and kill you slowly." Eliana spoke slowly and clearly making sure she drilled every last word into the heads of everyone.


    "Who do you think you..." The noble didn''t have time to finish his sentence before his head was rolling on the shiny stone floor. Eliana was standing next to the corpse with chilling eyes casually holding her saber. The nobles and generals who were pointed at earlier saw her as an emissary for the god of death.


    "No matter if you have strength now or are the king''s daughter, you cannot go killing people unjustly!" An upright general stood up and righteously protested Eliana''s actions.


    "Those who I pointed at are guilty of plotting assassination of me and are colluding with enemy kingdoms. If you desire more proof my men will bring it here tomorrow, but that''ll be too late." After finishing her rebuttal Eliana appeared next to another one she sentenced to death and wordlessly decapitated him. The room quickly fell into chaos as Eliana disappeared and reappeared behind those she condemned dispatching everyone before they could leave.


    The celebration that had been prepared for her arrival had been successfully smashed into dust. Blood painted the floor a sinister red, the men who were not targeted were standing, at the ready, making sure this volatile princess didn''t make any moves on them. The king, queen, and the other sons and daughters were all stunned silent at her actions. The only one who looked the most disinterested was Russ who was currently eating the food prepared in front of him.


    "E,Eliana what have you done?" The king finally spoke with great trepidation and many emotions were swirling in his eyes.


    "I was just getting rid of some trash for you. Now you don''t have to worry that much about them stabbing you in the back. Also don''t worry about repercussions, my companions will handle their families and whoever they are colluding with will lose ground in our kingdom. If you give me some soldiers I will form a special forces division that will make countries shudder in fear when they hear our name." Eliana stated her thoughts on the matter and explained to her father. The nobles and generals who were not killed swore in their hearts to never get on this demoness'' bad side. The king was at first worried about how the citizens would react, but when Eliana explained that her companions were getting evidence he cooled down a bit and ordered some men to help. He still not gotten used to his daughter who had changed so much. Even more so for his wife, who had fainted halfway through.


    Russ watched the entire spectacle and thought, ''My king, you sent your daughter away to save her, but instead of coming back her innocent self, she came back the executioner you needed to get everything moving.'' Russ laughed inwardly awaiting the next grand achievement.

 Chapter 31- The Blood Hounds

    Chapter 31- The Blood Hounds


    ~ Higloas Kingdom ~


    Early the next morning the king gave the order to his most trusted generals to send troops to his daughter''s household as she requested. The generals didn''t dare send anyone who was substandard and drove it into the leaving soldiers that they must never provoke to young miss. They were at first pensive and confused at the evident fear in the eyes of the generals they respected so much.


    379 soldiers were all sent towards the place that the princess had designated. When they arrived they met the princess in tight fitting clothes sitting on a nearby rock in the middle of a clearing. The surroundings were far away from the nearest village and the trek took all of them half a day to reach this deep in the woods. They were exhausted from marching in their armors and when they saw the princess some opted to sit down and await further order.


    "Do not sit!" The princess had infused aura into her command and her volume reached even those in the back.


    "In all due respect we are all tired could we please rest for a bit?" A braver soldier who wasn''t educated in aura said while in the process of sitting down.


    Then the princess suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to the man who had a surprised expression and started to rain down punches and kicks onto him. She didn''t even give him the time to cry out in pain till he fell unconscious and even then she didn''t let up until she stopped. Everyone was terrified. No one dared to make even a movement in the downward direction they all stood perfectly erect like statues.


    "You and you, carry him back you all are disqualified from being in this elite force." Eliana pointed to two men who were originally sitting down in the back, but jumped up in fright at her ruthlessness. Strength was feared by all and she certainly had the strength to be feared.


    "We do not have the luxury to rest because our enemies will easily slit your throats whenever they see the chance," Eliana stared everyone down and began her monologue, "You all are here because it was my father''s orders, and now my orders are the law. You will train, eat, and survive those who don''t meet the margin will be sentenced with a beating similar to that one just now. If you leave send a note to your general and he will send another in your place. Those of you who survive will become a part of a force without equal. I assure you of this!"


    When she finished many men began to walk away leaving only 200 out of the original 379 left. They were all drawn to the phrase ''force without equal''. They were convinced of princess Eliana''s strength and desired to follow.


    "Good then those of you who are staying, I want you to spar with me till you cannot move. If you can still move by the end then run until you are drained of energy." Eliana''s words were clear as day, but sounded like a sharpening blade to those 200. The first victim bravely walked up and drew his weapon. His eyes were locked firmly onto any of Eliana''s movements.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Eliana did not use any aura and rushed at him with a sturdy broken branch. A few minutes later the man was lying down battered and bruised while Eliana was was without any signs of exertion.


    "Next." Eliana unceremoniously called out her next sacrifice and slowly beat down the whole 200 soldiers one by one. She had worked up no small amount of sweat and was breathing fairly heavily. She had only used her aura to help her physical body push through the continuous beatings.


    "I see you all are well." Another voice rang out from the woods and those who were still conscious saw a large man with a scar on his chest.


    "Gus how was your mission?" Eliana greeted the man warmly and inquired him about her recent orders.


    "The woman and children have been relocated to the location you specified, and any able bodied men have been put into the slave unit you told the king to arrange."


    "Good work, anyways in about two hours introduce them to the rest and lead them to our actual training grounds."


    "And if they don''t wake up?"


    "Leave them, we have no place for the weak."


    Eliana left the soldiers and Gus as she headed deeper into the forrest. Gus sighed and gave a whistle. At that signal 10 others came out from the surrounding trees and gathered around Gus.


    "Ahem, listen up, listen up, I am named Gus and as for these guys you can ask them on your ''free time''. Anyways I''m about to take you guys to hell, those who survive can join us in the Blood Hounds." After two hours past Gus kept it as short as possible and turned around in the direction that the princess had left earlier. His ten subordinates followed him quickly.


    "Oh yea and you''d all better follow me, it''s easy to get lost here. You don''t wanna take the shortcut to hell because then you most certainly won''t come back." At Gus'' reminder the 200 soldiers quickly got up and followed him leaving a dust cloud in their wake.


    After walking for days the tired soldiers reached a huge campsite in the middle of the woods. Log cabins littered the area with women and children moving about on the small dirt paths laid out. There was a huge cliff face on the east side of the camp that connected to a larger mountain that overshadowed the campsite. The men wondered if they had stumbled into heaven instead of hell.


    "Haha I know what you all are thinking, but don''t get your hopes up. Our little lady will make sure to crush your hopes." Gus shot down their fantasies quickly before they had time to take root and reminded them of why they were here. Then he headed in the direction of a small cabin on the edge of the camp. Every time they passed a woman or child Gus would take the time to greet them and they would greet back, but fear was a common emotion displayed in their faces.


    Some of the soldiers gave a closer look to the women and children and discovered that they were all from noble families. Although they didn''t seem like the more pampered nobles, they were definitely part of some families.


    "Um, Gus sir, why are noble families living this far out from the towns and villages?" A soldier asked Gus after working up a little courage.


    "That''s because we executed their families due to trying to overthrow the king and attempting to assassinate the young miss."


    "Oh I see." The soldier didn''t know how to respond to such an answer and the others who were ready with questions quickly shut up.


    "I see you all made it safely." The princess walked out of the small log cabin and greeted Gus. She then gave a long stare at all the men and opened her mouth, "Alright, I''ll be short. Now that you''re here the only way out is to either die or get killed running away. I''m pretty sure you saw how Gus handled those beasts right? Well then let''s get started, those of you who survive will become part of the Blood Hounds."


    The 7th day of the second month of snow was the day that the most feared and the strongest elite small army was started.

 Chapter 32- Forest of Elves

    Chapter 32- Forest of Elves


    Roen, Tyor, and Engil had been lost for around a month after they destroyed Thaolos and have resorted to following Engil''s directions. The three quickly discovered run down village after village of what was once the Thaolos Kingdom. Tyor and Engil already had a grasp on how terrifying the Nightmare race was on Roen''s constant reminders, but after witnessing how many lives one took to just recreate their body a cold sweat covered their backs. Then they looked at Roen thinking, ''If Nightmare races are so terrifying then what is this guy?''


    Wanting to save some time they travelled through the forests following Engil''s sense of smell.


    "Hey Roen why don''t you use your Soulmancer sense thingy and find the closest civilization?" Engil inquired Roen with his pointed teeth. He had finally returned to a human body after some testing, but he couldn''t get it quite right and would end up as a disturbing mix of human and wolf parts. Luckily only his nails and teeth changed this time around.


    "Because this area used to be the grounds of an existing Nightmare race I cannot pinpoint any exact location of souls and they''ll all be obscured." Roen said with a light sigh, grumbling that the whole situation was annoying him.


    "There, there master we will soon find some great souls for you to satisfy yourself." Tyor quickly tried to console Roen and urged Engil, with his eyes, to change to subject quickly.


    "That''s right! Roen you have been telling us a lot about these Nightmare races, but what exactly are they?" Engil quickly took Tyor''s signal and gloriously changed the subject by pretending to be a troubled student ready for his master''s teachings.


    "They are a plague. There are 29 races in total each with their own characteristics and abilities. However they exist in a different space that is very hard to cross over, and most normally need around the amount that Varnus needed to build their bodies. If we''re just talking about bringing their souls into our space then a few hundred souls would be enough for any of them. Each one is dangerous in their own right especially to beings like you and me since they can attack both our physical bodies and souls." Roen spoke fluidly and a deep hatred unmistakably flowed along with his words. Engil and Tyor caught not of that and decided to not pursue the cause of such an anger. Engil signaled Tyor that it was his turn, but they were both interrupted when an arrow lodged itself into Engil''s skull.


    Engil fell down as quickly as the arrow punctured his cranium and pretended to be dead. Roen calmly blocked two arrows that were headed towards his direction with an air rending speed, and Tyor summoned his blood vines that quickly surrounded him in an impenetrable sphere.


    "Who''s there! You dare attack us then be prepared to hand over your entrails!" Tyor''s enraged shout resounded through the once quiet forest.


    "Shut up you demon''s servant, you three reek of demons! You must be up to no good! You demons hold no power in these sacred woods!" An elegant voice flowed out of the surrounding trees and it sounded akin to chimes in the wind. Two arrows seemed to materialize from two trees and shot towards the group again.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Little elf come out. You''re tricks are meaningless in front of me." Roen spoke in an oddly patient tone as he easily deflected the incoming arrows. The arrows increased in frequency in response. Roen sighed and his white robes turned a pitch black and began to tighten around his body. Suddenly he disappeared and a feminine scream rang out and Roen reappeared while holding onto the arm of a woman.


    She had a milky white skin tone and wore a deep blue dress that sparkled in the sun light. Her face was one of rage however her beautiful features were not taken away. She had deep blue eyes and long blonde hair that cascaded down her shoulders and reached her thighs. She was fiercely striking Roen and was constantly screaming. However the most striking thing was her short pointed ears.


    "Stop trying to use your magic I''ve already sealed it. Also take us to your elder seer... Please." Tyor had an expression of disbelief as he heard such words coming out of Roen''s mouth. Engil had to try his best not to laugh, and he was forced to tremble on the ground.


    "I will never help demons!" The woman screamed into Roen''s ear while continuing to hit him.


    "Yes yes we know, now take us quickly your elder seer or else I''ll raze this forest to the ground then ask her myself." Roen was quite fed up with this feisty woman and resorted to threats in the end.


    "Don''t! Fine I''ll take you, but you must swear on your soul you will not hurt the forest!"


    "I swear on my soul I will not hurt your forests."


    The woman nodded and a green aura flowed out from the two trees nearest to her. The tree''s aura turned into a spinning circle that slowly grew larger. The space inside the circle began to distort and twist into a spiral that was floating in mid air.


    "Here, I will lead you to the seer." The woman spoke angrily and waited fro Roen and Tyor to move. Tyor had long ago released his blood vine sphere and was kicking Engil telling him to wake up. The woman screamed when Engil sat up while pulling the arrow out of his face. Roen just calmly watched and turned towards the woman.


    "If I may have your name?"


    "Sarah Evergreen, apprentice elf seer." Sarah said through gritted teeth as if she was forced to speak and angrily stomped into the spiral. Roen motioned for Engil and Tyor to follow and carelessly entered. Tyor and Engil entered into the spiral after exchanging glances.


    "Amazing..."


    "Told you it was elves."


    Both Engil and Tyor had looks of awe as they gazed at what laid out before them. Huge trees of various species stood erect from the dark soil. Stairs were built into the trunks and they spiraled towards the canopy. At varying heights ropes, hammocks, and houses dotted the trees and their branches. The leaves in the canopy were a translucent green that allowed the sunlight to pass through with ease making everything have a green tinge. The sound of laughter lingered in the air and children with blonde hair and blue eyes and features similar to Sarah''s, though without pointed ears, were running and playing in the treetops. Older men and women with pointed ears and different colors of hair were walking on the paths in the trees.


    However when Roen, Tyor, and Engil appeared all the older elves turned towards the three with hostility clear in their eyes. Tyor and Engil grew a little nervous about the hatred present, but Roen just smiled and looked around taking in his surroundings.


    "It''s been so long since I''ve been to the Forests of Elves. Always a wonderful sight every time I visit." Roen spoke out loud and Sarah was perturbed by Roen''s comment, but before she could say anything a woman in white grew out from a tree.


    "Sarah why did you bring demons in here? Wait, no you two are not demons...but what exactly are you?" The woman who appeared didn''t display any aggression and was more interested in the three who felt like they were of the Nightmare races but not.

 Chapter 33- Elder Seer

    Chapter 33- Elder Seer


    "I am Roen, I know your Elder seer let me meet her." Roen explained and kindly asked the mysterious woman.


    "I did not ask who you are. I asked what you are." The mysterious woman''s previous peaceful continence was replaced with a threatening stance. Tyor was already annoyed by the crowd of hostility and when this mysterious woman was getting ready to attack his master he lost it.


    "Understand the consequences of your actions woman!" Tyor yelled and blood vines erupted from his arms. They started to encircle the woman and turned into spikes that plunged themselves at her. The mysterious woman reacted by pulling a white branch out of thin air and lightly tapping the air in front of her twice. Suddenly the blood vines halted their assault and began to petrify at an alarming rate.


    "I believe it is you who should understand who it is you''re talking to. Now boy, what are you?" After the blood vines had petrified, the petrifaction spread to Tyor and quickly solidified him. She then turned to Roen and pushed for an answer with a face full of confidence and pride.


    "Stop it Theresa! They already swore on their souls not to harm the forests and I must show them to the Elder seer!" As Roen was about to act, Sarah jumped in front of the three and explained. The elves who were watching held traces of disgust when she told them.


    "Do you not know how to think! If it wasn''t for the seer, you''d be in sentenced to deep sleep long ago!" Theresa berated Sarah harshly and lightly waved the white brach. The once petrified Tyor regained movement and he angrily stared at the mysterious woman.


    "I will not harm them then. However I will not let them pass unless that thing tell me what it is right now!"


    "Ahh~ well I''ll apologize to Silvia later, hey you can insult whoever you like, but understand the gravity of your mistakes." Roen spoke fluently and slowly as if afraid no one would hear him. His clothes fluttered and a rose made of blood formed in his right hand while a purple sphere coalesced in his left.


    The sphere and blood rose both were terrifying to the nearby elves and all of them unconsciously took a step back. However they still stayed and held confidence in Theresa.


    "You dare use such evil spells here!" Theresa was enraged and waved her white branch in a fury. A gray colored aura began to radiate from the ground and gather around the white branch. The once fertile ground surrounding her turned into a grey stone and some parts of the air began to solidify into stone and the spread launched itself at Roen.


    Roen replied by rotating his left hand in a circle and the purple sphere turned into a purple ring. Then he placed the blood rose into the ring and the ring wrapped around the rose. He carefully placed his creation on the ground and smiled at the woman named Theresa while pulling Sarah behind himself.


    "Bloom."


    Following Roen''s words the surrounding ground shivered and then several hundred red petals started to shoot out from the blood rose he set on the ground earlier. The once unstoppable petrification halted and immediately got blown apart by the blood red pedals. However before the pedals could reach Theresa, a huge gale swept past the entire forest and the blood pedals lost their shape returning to their originally liquid state.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "I see you are quite displeased by our hospitality, but please don''t take your anger out on rowdy children." A voice floated down from a descending figure. The figure appeared to be walking on steps made of wind and their long green dress fluttered with each step.


    When the figure appeared all the surrounding elves hastily kneeled and bowed their heads. Roen''s mood did not sour when his spell was destroyed easily on the contrary he appeared to be quite happy. However his smile quickly faded away when the figure came closer and everyone could see her features.


    Her face was veiled by a light green cloth that concealed her facial features. Her body was curvaceous, but was mostly covered by her long flowing green dress.


    "Who are you? Where is Silvia?" Roen''s words held a hint of worry and apprehension.


    "I am the Elder Seer whom you wanted to see so much. As for Elder Seer Silvia, she died several million years ago." The woman''s voice spoke calmly and matter of factly. Roen''s face paled at the woman''s words and he fell to his knees.


    "I''m sorry, I just need, some time." Roen spoke in broke up sentences and was obviously distressed by the Woman''s words. Engil and Tyor silently watched Roen''s mental struggle, respecting his wishes. The Elder Seer silently told the surrounding elves to leave after seeing that Roen or the others will not make any dangerous movements.


    "Ok I''m alright now, I presume Silvia or a previous Seer told you about me, so can you tell me about what has happened while I was asleep?" Roen calmed his nerves after awhile and asked the Elder Seer.


    "I was told about you yes, but your appearance is quite different and your name is also different. If it wasn''t for you using souls in your spell I wouldn''t have tied the two together."


    "Yes I don''t know the reason for my change, and there are many other things I need to figure out."


    "Then allow me to decrease what you need to know. This continent of Elms is actually a small island that was cut off from the original continent. In fact it was supposed to be a prison, for you." The Elder Seer went silent when she said those words, as to let it sink in and then continued, "However Elder Seer Silvia secretly smuggled several thousands of people here and brainwashed them through several hundreds of years. The supporters of the Nightmare races found out about this, but they couldn''t find this island anymore thanks to Elder Seer Silvia giving her life to shroud this continent in mist with the use of her grand spells."


    "Silvia..." Roen spoke softly and was barely audible, but the Elder Seer still heard this and gave a slight smile.


    "However an anomaly was birthed about a thousand years after Silvia died. The once shrouding mists gathered on half of the island and a entity known as the Lands of Sorcery. We were only told a little bit about you, and that if you ever came we should help. We originally believed you were part of the Lands of Sorcery, but now that you''re here and asking for information then even we have no idea what they are." The Elder Seer gave a wry smile as she said this and looked into Roen''s red eyes.


    "That''s fine I''ll ask them myself, but I''m a little too weak right now. Anyways, that is all I needed, so we''ll be on our way." Roen thanked the Seer and asked her to send them out. Soon the spiraling aura was again suspended in front of them.


    "Oh by the way you should take Sarah with you. It is impossible for an elf to get lost in the woods plus she has some good magic that can help you find your way." The Seer stopped them before they could get leave and started to list off Sarah''s strong points.


    "No thanks, we''ll be good, we prefer walking on our own. Also thank you, Silvia you have done more for me than I can ever repay." Roen bowed to the trees and spoke in a respectful tone. Then he kicked the confused duo into the portal.


    "Now what is it you wanted to really say?" Instead of leaving Roen turned and faced the Elder Seer as if seeing through her veil.


    "Haha~ nothing much really it''s just that, are you sure you can feed that thing?" The Elder Seer continence grew serious as she paused and nervously pointed at Roen''s white robe.


    "No...but for my revenge, I must satisfy it the best that I can." Roen answered and left leaving the Elder Seer standing there.


    She made some hand signals after they left and a shadow darted through the spiral before it closed.

 Chapter 34- Bandits!

    Chapter 34- Bandits!


    Roen, Tyor, and Engil had long left the Forest of Elves and were left in the forest they previously in. Tyor and Engil had been waiting in the spot for several days watching the hovering spiral. After the first day they deduced that time probably flows faster when outside the Forest of Elves. They were originally worried when Roen would show up, because if he came out and they were not there he might beat them like there was no tomorrow them when he found them again. The two shivered at the thought and decided to stay.


    It took a whole 5 days for Roen to finally appear and he had an expression of deep thought.


    "So, apparently you''re an old man?" Engil disregarded the mood in the group and directly asked Roen. Both he and Tyor had realized that the more they knew about Roen the more questions came up, so they silently decided to wait for times when he would tell them.


    "Don''t ask stupid questions, anyways the stop in the Elves Forest has allowed my senses to adapt to the Varnus''s influence. I''ve been sensing the release of souls nearby; meaning that there must be a village nearby." Roen didn''t spare a thought and turned to where his senses were leading him.


    "You know I miss the good old days of not getting lost. Why didn''t we take the offer of help from those nice elves?" Engil followed Roen and asked while they traversed the forest.


    "We have already received enough help from them. Anymore and that would be a debt I cannot repay."


    "Hmmm~... So you had the hots for this Silvia chick right?"


    "Tyor I believe Engil prefers to have an early death."


    "Understood." Tyor instantly summoned his blood vines and dragged Engil into the ground until only his head was showing. Roen picked up a large stone and placed it on top of his exposed head while nodding as if he had done a grand deed. Then the two left Engil there.


    "Guys..." Engil felt like an abandoned puppy.


    Two days later at night a floating spiral appeared and a figure shot out of it. Although the figure was shrouded in darkness, two piercing blue eyes could be seen scanning the area. The figure placed their hand on the nearest tree and disappeared.


    Engil was struggling in the ground. He had found out that Roen probably casted some kind of magic on the stone since he couldn''t shake it off his head and the blood vines had not died off, so he knew Tyor hadn''t gone to far. He had tried changing into a wolf, but that only caused him to sink further into the ground and only his snout was sticking out of the ground with the large stone resting on his nose.


    Then he smelled a familiar scent. An unmistakably fresh scent that tickled his nose the first time he had met her.


    "Sarah! Help me!" Engil gave his most pained shout pleading for help. A shrouded figure came out of the shadows and Sarah''s features were illuminated in the moonlight.


    "Little wolf how can you talk? Hang on a second I''ll get you out." Sarah talked in an uncharacteristically cute voice towards the trapped Engil. A couple minutes later Engil was freed by Sarah''s weird magic.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Thank you, a couple of bad men trapped me in there." Engil noticed that Sarah didn''t recognize who he was and decided to get revenge on Roen and Tyor through the help of Sarah.


    "Ah! Those guys, I knew they were no good people! Come little wolf we''ll go get your revenge!" Sarah seemed to know who he was talking about, placed her hand on the nearest tree and grabbed onto Engil''s fur. The two disappeared and the next thing Engil knew was that he was standing in front of Roen and Tyor. Sarah''s face was one of rage and Engil was terrified by this girl''s way of suicide.


    "Master Engil has returned and we appear to have a guest." Tyor spoke matter of factly as he explained to Roen who had been staring the two in front of him.


    "Sarah why are you here?" Roen was a little perplexed by the situation and astonished by how she had suddenly appeared in front of him. Then seeming to come to a conclusion in his mind he hit his fist into an open palm.


    "You monsters! How could you torture a creature of the forests!" Sarah disregarded Roen''s question and hundreds of wooden arrows started to surround her angling themselves at Roen and Tyor.


    "I see so Engil tricked you." Roen came to an understanding quickly and a purple ball shot out from the back of his right hand as he waved it. It directly struck Engil, but instead of causing damage he turned back into his human appearance. Sarah looked dumbfounded at Engil and a deep blush grew on her face, then the hundreds of wooden arrows angled themselves towards Engil.


    "Now that that is over, what are you doing here Sarah?" Roen spoke to Sarah who was sitting down while leaning on a tree while Tyor helped Engil remove the wooden arrows from his body.


    "It was an order from the Elder Seer."


    "You do know that I need to kill others to survive right? I''ve always helped the elves kill Nightmares, but I have my own purposes. You''re race is a lover of life, being with me will only be detrimental." Roen explained his circumstances to Sarah expecting her to give up.


    "No, I have nowhere else to go. I have already stolen a sacred branch from the tree of beginnings." Sarah explained and showed a silver tattoo on her right forearm. Roen''s eyes nearly left their sockets as soon as Sarah showed her tattoo.


    "You, you are crazy. Hahahah alright you can be another one of my servants!" Roen started to laugh and just like that he acquired another servant. Sarah looked displeased by him say she was a ''servant'', but didn''t have any attempt to resist the title. Tyor looked at the two enviously and accidentally stabbed Engil, several times, with the wooden arrow in his hand. Engil had a hurt look on his face as he willed for his body to reconstruct itself.


    "So where are we going?" Sarah suddenly stood up and asked as she dusted off her pants. Now that they had a good look at her Engil and Tyor noticed she changed her dress to a more tight fitting outfit. She wore darker colors that contrasted with her white skin and her pointed ears were folded back so they currently looked like normal ears if one didn''t look any closer.


    "That way. I''m pretty sure you can get us there instantly if you save up for a day or two." Roen pointed in the direction they had been walking in and told Sarah.


    "Nope, if I borrow some of the branch''s power then we can move now." Sarah showed her silver tattoo with pride.


    "Great, the faster the better." Roen immediately answered and Sarah placed her hand on the tree next to her. She then linked hand with Roen and motioned fro both Tyor and Engil to come as well. As soon as everyone was connected they all disappeared from the spot with a small swish of the wind.


    They appeared on the outskirts of the woods and were greeted with the sight of a village up in flames. There were screams of the villagers that plagued the air and men in black clothing were running amok in the chaos catching anyone they passed or cutting them down with the swords they carried. Roen wore a warm smile on his face as he looked at the chaos, while Sarah had one of disgust and several wooden arrows floated around her. Tyor and Engil already knew what was going to happen as they readied themselves.


    "As I thought, there are always fun in this place. Anyways lets join the festivities shall we?" Roen had an impatient look on his face like a child in a toy store.


    "Your happiness annoys me." Sarah said and sprinted off towards the village in chaos.


    "I guess she has no patience. Alright we''ll go on my signal." Roen turned towards Engil and Tyor telling them and quickly turned back to the village.


    "Never mind just go!" Roen yelled and sprinted off leaving Engil and Tyor rolling their eyes at their incomprehensible master.

 Chapter 35- Intwined Fates

    Chapter 35- Intwined Fates


    ~ P.O.V. Of Roen ~


    "Remember to not kill women or children also, find Sarah if you see her. She doesn''t have a soul mark yet." I tell my servants my rules and run off. Honestly I am in need of some souls. The Madness Script and all those spells I have been using on top of both Engil and I needing souls for food; these factors are draining my reserves fast.


    Then there is this Land of Sorcery that is shrouded in mystery. The unknown always makes me nervous. I need to regain some of my past strength.


    I look at the village in flames and spot my target. A man with a sword was charging at some women and children. I change into the Varnus''s variation and my body fills up with raw power. I rush at the man and immediately smash into him sending him flying through several buildings, sometimes this speed is hard to adjust. I shrug at my miscalculation and go to gather his soul and all the lingering souls in the area.


    "P,please, help us!" A woman comes up to me with a tear stained face. It appears she thinks I''m her savior. I gave a little laugh at her foolishness and decide not to reply.


    ''The last thing this world need is a hero.'' I think to myself as I leave the woman''s plea unanswered. I move the way I desire, no one can change that.


    A few minutes later and footprints of blood trail behind me. I have successfully calibrated my body to this speed. I have taken most of the souls in the area and have decided to leave the rest for Engil. That pup needs to learn how to feed himself.


    ''Roen we have found Sarah... We need you here now." Engil''s voice held some urgency that Roen wasn''t expecting leaving him to wonder what is going on.


    BOOM!


    Suddenly a loud explosion echoes in my ears and turning to the noise I see a white tree growing at an impossible rate. Sighing at the naivety of Sarah two black arms sprout out of my back.


    Boom!


    A smaller explosion occurs due to my drastic increase in speed as I push off the ground towards the white tree. I instantly appear at my destination and I see Sarah being slowly engulfed by the white tree as it extends it''s branches towards the whatever it can find. Those who are caught by the white branches loose all hope of escape and the tree grows faster.


    "Sarah! Please control your emotions, or else the branch of the Tree of Beginnings will consume you!" I yelled towards the Sarah currently embedded in the trunk of the tree. I know her state of mind is in chaos easily by scanning the scene. There are two bodies of dead children by the tree both of them have deep slash marks on their backs. There is a trail of blood that leads up to their positions, so I''m assuming either they ran for the help of Sarah or Sarah tried to bring them out of danger and they lost too much blood. However for an elf to lose her self control that badly, she''s quite interesting.


    However Sarah doesn''t react to my words, and the tree keeps on sapping the life of the people it holds. So I ready myself and dodge the incoming branches. I need to reach the source. At first I try to go through with my Varnus''s body, but my path is cut off from Sarah when the branches and roots block my path. The roots that have shot out from the ground curl themselves into a spear and propel themselves towards me. I couldn''t react fast enough and my body is sent flying by the impact.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Boom!


    My landing created a indention into the ground and several buildings were torn through. The surviving bandits and villagers were all in disarray I could see Tyor''s blood vines rounding up villagers and bandits alike. I directed him earlier to keep them away from the tree.


    Standing up I loosen my four shoulders and lower my body till two of my four hands are digging into the ground. My legs are storing power and my muscles are tensing. Then silver marking begin to crawl up my hands digging into the ground starting from my fingertips. Similar marks appear on my feet and I feel the weight on my body grow lighter. I adjust my aim in Sarah''s direction. If I can''t charge in normally then I''ll break down whatever is in my path!


    BOOOOOOOM!


    Releasing my stored power and shooting off from my initial position the surrounding ground was instantly disintegrated. Stones turned to soil and soil fell apart at each of my steps. The roots and branches that had been in my way earlier didn''t even have time to react to my speed as I passed by them in milliseconds. I could hear a sonic boom as I tore Sarah out of the tree and carefully knocked her out.


    As Sarah was taken out and lost consciousness the flourishing white tree immediately started to wither and die. I felt my body begin to tire out as if all my energy had been depleted.


    ''I guess four is my limit huh.'' Thinking this to myself I look at the white tree as it fell apart. Then I see the similarity withered bodies of those who were unfortunate enough to be taken by it. Engil was amongst them, but he had used some aura to stave off the tree.


    ''Now I see. Is this your will Silvia?'' I laugh to myself as I stare at the unconscious Sarah in my arms. My cloth looses it''s black hue and slowly turns back to white.


    ------------------------------------------


    In front of Roen was the tied up bandits and unconscious villagers. Sarah had been incapacitated and was laid on the ground as Engil was still recovering from having his aura sucked from him. Tyor stood respectfully by Roen''s side and gazed over the 15 surviving bandits as well.


    Fear contaminated their eyes and their bodies shivered at the monsters standing in front of them. They were nearly wiped out by this group of four.


    "W,what c,could your excellency d,desire?" The largest of the bandits spoke in a trembling voice as he glanced nervously at Roen and the destruction caused to the village.


    "Tell me you''re bandits right? Are you any good at what you do?" Roen asked while looking over the fifteen.


    "Y,yes we are b,bandits, w,we consider ourselves g,good at what we d,do." The largest of the bandits spoke truthfully, but was still stuttering. Roen checked over them more closely this time and roved in between the men.


    "Ok, you all shall be my eyes and ears. You hold no other option, those who quit shall die. I want you to find information for me. come out." At Roen''s words a purple mist rolled out of his body and began to form into the shape of a man. A skinny, purple man with black and silver markings on body formed and kneeled to Roen. On the man''s back was a huge blade that contained 12 markings and easily dwarfed any blade that could be wielded by men.


    "Separate and inhabit these fifteen bodies. Send me everything and if they try to reveal anything about me, sever their lives." As Roen spoke the fifteen men swore in their hearts to never disobey this terrifying boy of around 16.


    "Y,es." The purple man spoke in a short broken up voice that was neither pleasant nor terrible to the ear. Engil was making a fuss about wanting to talk to purply again, but Tyor shut him up by wrapping his mouth with blood vines. Then the purple man broke up into 15 separate mists.


    "Do not resist." Roen warned the scared bandits before sending the mists into their bodies. The men trembled a little before black markings appeared on their skin and their eyes turned into a deep purple. Then they regained their normal features and gazed at Roen in reverence as if he was a god.


    "Whatever you know carry it to your graves." Roen said and asked Tyor to release them. As soon as they were released they all darted off in different directions, each of them eager to follow Roen''s will.


    Sarah started to show signs of regaining her consciousness. Seeing this Roen asked Tyor and Egil to make up a story about what happened to the sleeping villager''s village. Then Roen took the awakening Sarah off into a broken down house making sure he was away from any prying eyes.


    "Speak, I thought you were kicked out because of stealing a branch of the Tree of Beginnings. What is your relation to Silvia?" Roen spoke as he looked deep into Sarah''s eyes and pulled out a chair to sit in.

 Chapter 36- Silvias Will

    Chapter 36- Silvia''s Will


    "Are you really the elves'' savior? Your methods are akin to brutes." Sarah''s voice flowed itself into Roen''s ears.


    "Is it my servant''s mission to never answer my questions? No, what I do to achieve my goals is none of your concern as a servant you cannot dispute." Roen spoke in a condescending tone and a dangerous glint was apparent in his eyes.


    "I have no idea of my lineage I only know that I needed to have the branch of the Tree of Beginnings implanted in my body to stabilize it. You should know what I am right? I was always excluded from the rest and never told anything." Sarah sighed and responded to Roen''s previous question and awaited his answer. Roen didn''t speak for awhile and just examined the person sitting across from him for awhile.


    "The child of a Nightmare race and a pure being that is what an elf is. However when an elf and a Nightmare race have a child the result is an unstable being incapable of living in either the world of souls or the physical world." Roen''s eyes looked deep into Sarah''s as if seeing right through her. Sarah shivered as she gazed into his eyes and tears started to well up.


    "Then what am I supposed to do! This world was never fair to me from the moment I was born!! I try protecting the forests, but I never got any recognition!! I just want some fairness for all that I do!!" Sarah''s anguished cries told of her sorrow and unwillingness to accept her reality.


    "Only the strong have to right to dictate fairness, and right now you are weak... Follow me and you''ll be able to make gods tremble." Roen stood up and left her with those words still ringing in her ears.


    ''Silvia, I do not know why I have woken up so late nor do I know much about your troubles, but this child is so alike you. Do not worry I will not lose another this time!'' Roen reconfirmed his convictions and strode off to where Engil and Tyor were waiting.


    He reunited with the duo and they told him about the ruse they told to the villagers and sent them off towards different villages and cities. Roen told Engil to start eating his own souls or else he would get to dependent on Roen. Engil grumpily went off to feast on some souls, and as he was leaving Sarah showed up with a determined look on her face.


    "Let me join." She looked directly at Roen and stated.


    "You do realize the path we walk is filled with blood and death right?"


    "Then I will become the reaper who walks the battlefield."


    "Hoo~ I like your resolve." Roen smiled and laughed at Sarah''s response. Then a purple sphere coalesced into his palm and formed into a odd looking rectangular seal with unknown lettering inside it. He presented it toward Sarah and she ceremoniously took it into her lower abdomen. Her body shook for a couple second and a connection was formed in between Roen and her.


    Roen nodded at the result and sat down and closed his eyes, communicating with the fifteen enslaved bandits. Tyor looked at Sarah curiously and suddenly spoke, "I was told about elves by my father, they are supposed to be pure beings and never supposed to take a life. Why is it that you all hold so much hatred towards the Nightmare races?"Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "We were told told us that we must kill them." Sarah answered without a hint of hesitation seemingly convinced that whatever she was told was the law.


    "You do not have any doubt?"


    "Doubting the Elder Seer is grounds for execution."


    "I see..." Tyor ended the conversation and prayed that someone would take him out of this awkward situation. For once he missed Engil. As if his prayers had been answered a large wolf was happily trotting over to the group.


    "What''d I miss?" Engil was that Tyor was more silent than usual and Sarah was standing a couple centimeters too close to Roen.


    "We have a new comrade in our ''crazy master'' club or whatever you call it." Tyor said softly fearing that Roen might be listening. The last thing he wanted was their master to throw a tantrum and take it out on them.


    "Hmm~ I see then you must go through initiation." Engil transformed into a human like form except for his arms which were still wolf paws. Then he took out a small paper with an odd rune on it. Inserting some aura into the rune the paper slowly grew into a bucket. Sarah didn''t even glance at his actions and continued ignoring him.


    "Now go and find three food items and some water and put it in the bucket, mix and then drink."


    "Engil, what are you talking abo..."


    "What the hell are you two idiots doing?" Before Tyor had a chance Roen had opened his eyes and was listening in on Engil''s nonsense. It wasn''t until after a severe beating did Roen finally listened to their explanation. After hearing their explanation Roen continued to beat Engil till he had to recreate his body.


    "Whew you must''ve been a punching bag in your last life. Anyways lets get going, one of the ''shadows'' I sent out said that there''s a nearby bandit hideout with the specifications that I needed, so let''s go." Roen loosened his shoulders and started off in the direction he was notified in. Tyor and Sarah silently followed while Engil was grumbling about his rights in the back of the group.


    When they were quite a ways away from the village and the people Roen stopped and turned towards the three.


    "We are all too weak, killing a ton of small fries will get us nowhere. Out of all of us only Engil has awakened his aura. Although I still have no idea what aura is, it''s power will probably be needed. On that note, attack me." Roen''s sudden words confused the three, but when his clothing started to change into a black tightly fit outerwear the three grew serious.


    Engil had changed into his wolf form and materialized his wolf fang blade. Tyor had summoned seven humanoid beasts made of blood vines, as well as a sword and shield made of blood vines. Sarah had already summoned hundreds of wooden arrows with her mysterious spells as they circled around her. Roen had already sprouted two more black arms and looked down on their preparations.


    They all knew their chances if Roen fought seriously, but it appeared that he wasn''t going all out. The first to move was Sarah''s wooden arrows that flew in a swarm and threatened to engulf him. Roen didn''t even blink as the sea of arrows swallowed him whole. Tyor didn''t believe that would take him down and sent his blood vines to intercept him. However before the vines could react a black shadow broke out of the sea and tore through two of the closest blood vine beasts. The shadow then disappeared and darkness took over the three''s consciousness.


    "Weak, You three would be dead if I was an actual enemy. Again." The three woke up to Roen''s insults and grudgingly stood up. They all readied them selves again and Roen made all their attempts futile. This process repeated several times until they were dead tired and didn''t even dare to move.


    Roen looked at the three exhausted people in front of him and then turned his gaze deeper into the forests. He needs strength, him knowing of Silvia''s death convinced him of this. He needed to expand his knowledge of aura, so he sent his shadows to find strong aura users and study them through any means possible. He began to laugh at his current state and a small tear formed at the corner of his eye, but never fell.


    ''I don''t know what the future holds, but this chance that you have given me with your life, I will not lose.'' Roen stared at the moon and closed his eyes, sending his thoughts to the fifteen shadows that were slowly spreading into the continent of Elms.


    ''Things are about to get quite fun...'' Roen had a childish smile stuck to his face and if anyone was here to gaze upon him they would''ve sworn they saw a god of death about to reap.

 Chapter 37- The Undercurrents of a Calamity

    Chapter 37- The Undercurrents of a Calamity


    In the middle of a forest on the border of the Higloas Kingdom a clearing was currently filled with the sounds of clashing metal and the smell of blood. There was roughly 200 men in a deadlocked brawl. It was chaos, they fought as if the man in from of them had killed their family and hung their corpses from the kingdom walls. However no one was killed in this massive struggle, those injured would be brought away by a gust of wind and all of a sudden they were carried to get healed by a nurse, but that was no gust of wind it was an aura user!


    6 aura users in one space! They were the apex of the land, no one could undermine their words. However they all stood by and saved the lives of regular warriors. If anyone would witness 6 aura users obeying any menial command like this they would swear they saw an elf in their soup! And to top it off a 17 year old girl was watching over the men as if she was a top ranking general.


    This was but a common occurrence in the Blood Hound unit.


    "Alright stop!" Eliana gave a brisk command and all 200 men halted their movements and stood at the ready. As she gazed over her obedient soldier a grin spread on her face. This bloodbath was only a minor exercise that was cut out for them, but the final result made them into killing machines. She made them into soldiers that could strike fear into the hearts of the continent, but she was not content at all. Over the past 7 months she had been in the forests drilling them through hell, yet there was only 4 other aura awakenings!


    She understood that her talent should be greater than them hence it gave her the ability to become stronger faster. They, on the other hand, still became strong at a noticeable rate albeit not as fast as her. Her training never stopped either, she would pit herself against the 6 other aura users and still beat them! She felt her training was stagnating lately so she tried to pick up sorcery. She failed in the end.


    "Princess you have summons from his highness." A respectful carrier delivered a small note and announced. The king had come around the first month to observe her and have a real reunion with his daughter. He wasn''t shocked at all by her brutal treatment of the soldiers because he already had known that she had changed; to what extent he was still unsure.


    Traveling for a couple days Eliana arrived back at the capital and went into the king''s conference room. She entered the large double doors and glittering gold covered pillars that lined the single hallway in two parallel rows. Enormous windows stretched all the way to the ceiling letting the midday''s light flood the hall. Majestic murals were painted on the ceiling that contained various pictures of life and death struggles. A purple and gold embroidered rug was situated on the floor leading all the way to the king''s throne. However no one sat there because the king was standing and greeting two men who the princess had never seen before.


    One of them wore a black outfit the shrouded his figure, but his imposing might left a great impression of him. The other looked to be a man right out of a fairy tale, he wore a light blue robe that straddled his ankles and when he shifted his body one could see a silver rune covered armor that didn''t seem to reflect light and just absorbed it. When Eliana entered all three of these men turned to face her.


    "Eliana you have arrived just in time. Allow me to introduce these two," The king was the first to speak and he respectfully presented the two,"The one in the blue is a sorcerer from the Lands of Sorcery, he is a young master of one of the elders there and he said he has come to see you personally. And this gentleman here said he comes from someone who knows you very well I believe you said his name was... Now what was it again? It was an odd name wasn''t it?"


    "Roen, this lowly one is only one of the fifteen lowest that serve him." The man in black spoke in a gruff tone and a peculiar purple glint shined in his eye for a second.


    "Ah yes anyways as I was..."


    "ROEN! You said you came from Roen right?! Tell me how is he!" The princess cut off her father and instantly rushed towards the man in black. The king saw this and gave a wry smile to the man who had come from the Lands of Sorcery only to see as disdainful look casting itself at the man in black.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Yes I am one of his many eyes and ears. I was sent to tell you that my master is stirring up the south at the moment and wants to change the preordained date to two years from now." The man in black said some pretty ambiguous statements that could have been interpreted in any way.


    "Isn''t the south in conflict at the moment?" The king''s voice invaded the conversation and inquired. He was very curious about the master of such a formidable man. And to make matters worse the one in front of him only said that he was one of his lowest retainers!! The king began to put assumptions on to who the mysterious man''s master was, and when he reached one conclusion that he might be the one who annihilated the Thaolos Kingdom he quickly dismissed his thoughts to be impossible.


    "Hmph, who cares if weaklings fight. Eliana come with me the Lands of Sorcery want you." The man in blue finally spoke and quickly got to his point.


    "Weaklings like you and your pitiful master will never have the chance to enter our holy zone." The man from the Lands of Sorcery turned to the man in black and spat out venomous words. The man in black started to manically laugh in response.


    "Haha~ that''s a wonderful joke. Anyways princess my master said to take revenge with your own hands in around a month or two, that is when you''ll have your chance." The man in black began to walk out of the room as he finished his message.


    "Wait didn''t you say you needed something from my kingdom?" The king yelled at the leaving man as he remembered when he first met the mysterious man, who said that ''they'' might need something from him.


    "Ah about that, all you need to do is play along. With your life as collateral of course." The man in black seemed to fade into the shadows made by the large doors and disappeared. Seeing the man disappear before his eyes the king was very surprised and stared at the spot for awhile expecting something else to happen.


    "He''s quite good being able to run away like that. Oh well, Eliana let''s get going now." The men in blue spoke without missing a beat and immediately grabbed for Eliana''s wrist.


    "Who do you think you are!?" Eliana yelled and quickly retreated from his grab.


    "You have been rude and have been so familiar with me calling me ''Eliana'' I don''t believe I gave you permission to talk to me like so." Eliana spat out those words and left the room quickly. The man in blue hadn''t even expected such a response and just dumbly stood there. A red blush crossed his face and his anger exploded out,


    "Who do you think you are! My words are law! Yours are nothing!" The man roared and shot towards Eliana with a ferocious glint in his eyes. The king had no time to react, the aura users that normally guard him were too far away to react either and even if they did they believed that their efforts would be futile in front of this man.


    "Who do I think I am...Let me tell you this I. Am. Roen''s. LOVER."


    ""Huh...""


    The king and the man in blue didn''t have any time to react as Eliana''s fist connected to the man''s face claiming his consciousness instantly. Eliana spat on the fainted man and left leaving the king with a wry smile as he was thinking of ways to soothe this situation.


    Eliana returned back to the training grounds and the Blood Hounds returned to their grueling training.


    ------------------------------------------


    ~ the Southern kingdom of Cordias ~


    The capital of the Cordias Kingdom was situated in a mountain and was known as the impenetrable fortress. Not many would have much luck in attacking it in a siege. Those sturdy walls had stood for centuries and this has grown to be a symbol of the kingdom''s strength. They were bold enough to put their capital on the outskirts of their territory to protect it''s interior. And for the most part it worked, normally it would deter most attackers before they even reached it.


    However a massive army was encamped outside the walls and the pressure they gave off didn''t even waver in front if the walls. Each soldier was equipped with a simple double edged sword strapped to their waists and a spear was tightly held in their hands. Those who couldn''t wear plate armor wore leather armor and many donned wooden and metal shields alike. There was siege weapons scattered about the ranks if men in specific patterns. The bloodlust in their eyes signaled that they were about to attack at any moment so long as they were given the signal.


    From a nearby hill a 16 year old boy in white robes sat on a protruding rock and gazed over the whole moment. A warm smile was plastered on his face as he closed his eyes. Suddenly he stood up and walked down the hill. There was about a couple miles till he reached the battlefield, so he should be safe from that distance. That is if he was headed in the opposite direction. His unfaltering steps brought him every closer to the war about to take place with his smile still stuck on his features.


    "Let''s begin." His voice could not be heard by anyone, but his tone carried a weight that would easily engulf the massive army in seconds.

 Chapter 38- In the Palm of His Hand

    Chapter 38- In the Palm of His Hand


    Roen had a smile has been stuck to his face for the past day. He was remembering his actions that caused the spectacle in front of him. All he had to do was portray some of my escapades as the product of some neighboring kingdoms, assassinate some important people, and escalate past grudges. Roen closed his eyes and signal the 4 nearby shadows implanted into both the preparing armies.


    ''Roen, why are we doing this, this doesn''t sit that well with morals?'' Engil''s worried voice rang in Roen''s head.


    ''You have some twisted morals, you kill so easily when it''s villages, but when it comes to the bigger stuff you get all flustered.'' Roen retorted as he got up and walked towards the giant walls connected mountain.


    ''It just doesn''t sit right with me, the way we went about this when we can just wipe them out in an less round about manner.'' Engil spoke without reserve as he was stationed in the middle of the army outside the walls. He had been listening to the angry shouts around him and had been regretting manipulating these people. They already had the power to easily overthrow any kingdom, but Roen insisted on going through the trouble to set this whole thing up.


    ''You are a servant just follow my plans, there are many things you need to known and many things you needn''t.'' Roen answered Engil''s dissatisfaction and the conversation was cut off before Engil could say anything more. Engil gave a sigh and sat up with the moving crowd of soldiers heading towards the giant Cordias walls.


    ''Master, Sarah and I have reached our respective positions.'' Tyor''s voice echoed in Roen''s head with his usual respectful tone. Roen nodded and a white throne formed behind him as he sat down between the Giant walls of the Cordias Kingdom and the massive army. His smile slowly turned into a serious face as six purple spheres coalesced around him and started to spin. They spun faster and faster until they seemed to unravel into a thin purple string.


    "Go." Roen spoke and the ends of the string flew out in the directions they were facing. The purple lines shot towards the ground and disappeared after reaching a certain distance. Roen''s clothes then started to separate into sections; A blood orb, a white bone orb, and a black orb all circled around Roen. Seeing this Roen held out his right hand and a crystal clear orb formed and floated above his palm. Six purple lines wriggled out of the ground and connected to the clear orb.


    ''Bring them to me.'' Roen gave an order to and awaited the clash of the two kingdoms.


    ------------------------------------------


    Shouts and battlecries erupted from the massive army as they began their assault on the giant Cordias walls. Their siege weapons creaked and groaned as they advanced as well. The ground trembled as thousands of feet trampled their way toward the looming walls. The grassy flatlands that once surrounded the Cordias capital was now flooded with the invading army.


    "SHIELDS!!"


    A loud cry rang out after the army advanced and everyone raised wooden shields above their heads. Then arrows blocked out the sky flying towards the sea of people. The descending arrows lodged themselves into the risen shields and no one noticed that some of the arrows were completely wooden and penetrated most of the left side of the army. Some of the commanders noticed more casualties to the left and gradually shifted their forces to the right to attack the weaker side. Or what they believed was the weaker side.


    Hulking catapults made their way to their effective range and started to hurl large boulders and rocks. The walls shook and pieces of stone flew everywhere. However the walls stood firm no matter how many times the catapult''s projectiles slammed onto it''s surface. There was a peculiar orange film that instantly intercepted the flying rock, but only at the spot the rock landed on.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "Commander, it appears they do have sorcerers as you predicted." A man in leather armor holding a long metal spyglass up to his eye said out loud. A man in silver armor with a large halberd laying over his shoulder walked up to the man who had just finished speaking.


    "That''s fine the initial assault is just a distraction for our forces to have enough time. As long as there are no unexpected situations we should be fine, but this is war there''ll always be unexpected situations..." The commander spoke solemnly and slowly as if to stress each fact. The sounds of yells and bodies falling fill their ears and the air as they kept their struggle going. They already knew they were only a distraction, so they tried to minimize the amount of damage done to these forces. However they were the only ones who knew their task, the normal troops and lower ranked commanders believed they were the main attack force.


    The commander cursed their generals as he saw the troops getting slain by the ceaseless barrage of arrows. They were charging to their deaths before even reaching the massive walls. And then even if they did one or two people would amount to much. They were not given any ladders or siege towers to even penetrate Cordias'' defenses.


    "Commander, we have a report!" A skinny man in light, easy to move in attire was riding a horse over the the commander''s position.


    "Speak."


    "There''s been a sighting of on outsider in the middle of the battle zone, but the thing is..."


    "What, do not trail off. Go on and tell me!"


    "He appears to be a boy in white clothes and is sitting on a white throne. He seems to be resting because his eyes are closed."


    "A boy? Noble? Is that it, if it is then don''t mind him. It''s his fault if he brings about his own death." The commander dismissed the matter and turned around to focus on commanding the troops.


    "B,but sir, the arrows don''t land anywhere near him!" A shout from the messenger came from behind the commander and the commander instantly turned around with a hopeful expression.


    "Is that true?"


    "Every word sir, some lower commanders have begun to use the area as a place to treat the wounded and rest."


    "Bring me." The commander flooded his legs with his aura and sped alongside the speeding horse of the messenger. They arrived a few minutes after they left and the commander was greeted by several soldiers that were lazing about the grass. He noticed that the arrows that had plagued his path were no longer descending upon him. However his sense for danger, that was homed through his many battles, was telling him this place was even more dangerous than charging straight at the walls.


    Then he spotted the boy sitting in the throne. There were several soldiers who were investigating the boy and the mysterious orbs that were floating around him. The commander had is senses screaming at him to run, and he was about to order the command however a loud explosion cut him off.


    BOOM!


    HOOOWL!


    A wolf''s howl followed the explosion and a giant transparent wolf started to trample the soldiers around it. The soldiers ran away from the wolf and were unknowingly being corralled into the space where no arrows fell. The commander realized this fact, but he was helpless to stop the crazed crowd. The hordes of people screamed and ran while their commanders tried to take command of the situation and give some control. No one noticed a hollow red vine extending out of the ground and releasing bursts of an unknown gas.


    "Calm down, calm down! Everyone reorganize yoursel...." The commander with the halberd was screaming at the crowds when a bright purple light started to emit from the ground. Everyone grew silent and some tried to leave a light, but a mysterious force constrained them inside.


    Roen opened his eyelids and calmy observed the panicking soldiers. The hallucinogens that were affecting the soldiers had no affect on him and he slowly got up out of his throne. The surrounding soldiers were confused at his actions and started to question him.


    "Who are you and what is this?" A man in silver armor and a large halberd walked up to Roen and asked. Roen was at first astonished by the man''s ability to resist the air filled with hallucinogens, but he realized that the man was an aura user and was constantly expending his aura to protect his rationality.


    "Who I am is not important, but I am here regretfully tell you I''m sorry you''re sacrifice is for a good cause." Roen parted his lips and smiled warmly at the man.


    Clang. Rattle. Clang Clang


    The sounds of chains rattling filled the man''s ears before he could respond to the odd words of Roen. Then the sounds grew louder as the ground started to shake and the purple light blinded everyone''s sight.


    "I''ve always hated this spell.." Roen''s voice somehow invaded the commander''s ears and he felt his body slowly lose it''s function.

 Chapter 39- Old Bones

    Chapter 39- Old Bones


    As the bright purple light died down and the rumbling ceased six dark red chains were in Roen''s hands. The bodies of the soldiers that the light engulfed were nowhere to be found. The only thing that reminded anyone that they were here was the bloodstains they left behind. The few soldiers who were lucky enough to not be inside the purple light were dumbfounded by the disappearance of their comrades. The arrows that were raining down without end had stopped once the blinding purple light shot out from the ground.


    Clank


    Roen yanked on the six chains and the ground trembled.


    Clank


    Again Roen yanked the chains and the air shook as six ethereal chains floating in the air connected with the chains in Roen''s hands.


    Clank!


    Roen yanked the chains and two enormous doors were slowly pulled out of thin air. The doors were a little taller than the walls of the Cordias capital. The doors were carved with various draconic images and flying beasts. An ancient and overwhelming feeling poured out from the doors and everyone who gazed upon them sensed a unparalleled fear welling up inside them.


    Clank!


    Roen fearlessly pulled the chains and the two doors were opened by a crack. Then the six dark red chains detached themselves from the six ethereal chains and flew into the space between the two doors.


    Whoosh!


    A icy breeze flew out of the doors and the soldiers on the walls felt a mind numbing cold befall them. Then the chains started to rattle and Roen continuously pulled on them with all his strength. After several minutes a white figure was seen inside the pitch black abyss in the two doors. A huge skull of an unknown beast slowly emerged from the opening. The dark red chains ensnared the skull and continued further onto it''s massive body. The unknown beast''s body barely fit the already giant opening that the two doors gave, and it''s glory was finally for all to see.


    A huge skeleton. A hulking mass of solid bone presented itself to the eyes of all those who participated in the war. The beast''s whole body easily cover a mile in length, but most of it''s length was due to it''s long bone tail that extended for more than twice it''s body size. It rested on six bone legs that exuded strength signifying that if it still had it''s flesh it''s strength would be enough to crumble the Cordias walls like paper. At the end of each foot was a set of claws no shorter than 8 feet long. They were so sharp that the ground was gouged and split from them being dragged out. Six blood red bone wings jutted out from it''s back in a way that resembled once majestic wings. It''s vertebrae led all the way up to a reptilian head with a terrifying set of fangs. And although some bones were missing, that fact didn''t take away from it''s indomitable pressure.


    Roen looked up at the monstrosity that he pulled out and grinned. He signaled Tyor and Engil to come to him as quick as possible.


    It only took a couple of minutes till the two arrived by Roen''s side, but their gazes were locked on the giant chained skeleton. Roen handed them each a chain to hold onto and they gripped their chains with all their might afraid that the skeleton would start a rampage.


    "Roen, that''s a dragon, right?" Engil was the first to speak up in a trembling voice as he asked Roen while his eyes were locked onto any movements the thing made.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "You can think of it like that."


    "Will you ever give me a straight answer?"


    "You can think of it like that."


    "Wonderful..." Engil rolled his eyes at his master''s repeated responses and curiously glanced at the giant dragon skeleton. He remembered seeing something similar in shape, but he couldn''t quite put his finger on it.


    Suddenly they all felt an immense tug on the chains. Tyor and Engil immediately tensed up as they felt a wave of immense strength almost rip the chains from their hands.


    "Haha you feel that~ this old bag of bones seems to remember me a little!" Roen shouted as he felt the tug on the chains and a cruel smile spread across his face.


    "Wait! That huge monster is still alive!" Engil screamed while Tyor glanced over at Roen with pleading eyes. They were both hoping for a denial.


    "Probably...no wait, yep yeah it''s alive. Quite a slow waker huh." Roen nonchalantly crushed their hopes to pieces. Tired looks appeared on their faces as they slumped their shoulders at their crazy master''s actions.


    "So, oh great master Roen you have a way to deal with this guy right?" Engil questioned Roen hoping for a a little hope in the situation.


    "Yeah I need you two to hold it down for about an hour or so." Roen answered and started to hand the other for chains to Engil and Tyor.


    "Master what about Sarah?" Tyor chimed in with an quizzical look.


    "Ah she has another important job to do, don''t worry." Roen finished splitting the dark red chains between the two and started walking towards the giant dragon skeleton. Roen''s white cloth turned pitch black and two black arms sprung out from his shoulder blades. Roen''s face was pale white and he appeared to be holding back his breathe.


    The giant skull suddenly shook and miraculously tilted down to look at the approaching Roen. Two fires burned in the depressions in it''s skull that used to be for it''s eyes. Those two fires radiated intense hatred and madness that threatened to consume everyone if it ever was released.


    The two bony jaws opened and amazingly an ancient indecipherable voice boomed from the opening of the dragon skeleton''s maw! Tyor and Engil felt their bodies shake when the voice first went through them. Roen calmly answered in the same ancient indecipherable voice, but it was less threatening.


    The two went back and forth for a little while and Roen turned back to Tyor and Engil slowly while keeping an eye on the giant skeleton. He had an uneasy expression that was poorly concealed behind his pale face.


    "Well, good luck!" Roen put strength into his legs and blasted off with an unparalleled speed before Engil and Tyor could react. The dark red chains that once held tightly to the monstrous skeleton slowly dissolved into the air, and it''s bones creaked and groaned as it carefully moved. It spread it''s bony wings and took a couple steps forward allowing it to raise it''s ribcage. The two fires in it''s eye sockets cautiously scanned the surroundings and suddenly locked onto Tyor and Engil!


    "Tyor, if I die tell Roen I''m going to kill him." Tyor didn''t acknowledge Engil''s words and just held out both his hands and millions of tiny blood vines shot out from his skin. The vines formed into a blood red bastard sword and a tower shield that looked more like a wall other than the fact that it was red. Both of Tyor''s creations were no longer like before where they roughly took a shape, but were now nearly exact replicas of the weapons!


    Engil sighed and exerted some force into the air in front of him and his fang sword magically appeared in the his hand. A deep azure aura started to surround him and he took out a couple talismans. Around him was three large azure wolves that patiently stood by his sides. They looked similar to when Roen had summoned wolf souls, however if anyone from the Lands of Sorcery saw this they would scream in partly horror and surprise that Engil had mastered ''aura condensation''!


    "Didn''t you awaken your aura a couple days ago? Why aren''t you using much?" Engil inquired Tyor after he prepared himself.


    "I used too much when I was releasing my spores. Unfortunately I do not have the amount that you have." Tyor spoke solemnly without taking his eyes off of the skeletal dragon.


    ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!


    A deafening roar shook the air and the skeletal dragon pushed off the ground and amazingly took to the air! Although it''s ascent was a little shaky, it stayed in the air with it''s long tail dragging on the ground behind it. It took a few turns in the air and dived straight for Engil and Tyor, it''s eyes filled with hatred as if they had killed his brother!


    "I think I need a pay raise after this." Engil said as he ordered his azure wolves.


    "We don''t get paid idiot."


    "So now you decide to retort me!"


    Their quarrel was cut short as they realized they had no time to mess around. They both wore fearless expressions and faced off against the huge beast diving at them!

 Chapter 40- A Weapon for a Monster

    Chapter 40- A Weapon for a Monster


    The giant bone dragon was barreling towards Tyor and Engil, but neither dared to back down. They seemed to come to a silent strategy as Tyor was the first to move out and he positioned himself in front of it''s path. He slammed the bottom of his wall shield into the ground and three large walls made of blood vines abruptly rose up from the ground. His actions were swift and seamless only taking seconds.


    The bone dragon gave no motion that telegraphed a change in it''s path and charged headfirst into the walls of red vines. However when the dragon came into contact with the walls, they all started to bend with the impact!


    "Engil hurry up!" Tyor shouted through his grit teeth. He was using his aura to dissipate the force of the dragon''s charge, but the sheer weight of it was causing the walls to give.


    "Calm down you ninny, when have I ever disappointed you." Engil''s calm voice entered Tyor''s ears when he lazily walked up next to him. Tyor just looked at him with annoyed eyes seeming to say, ''all the time!'' The three azure wolves that had once been at Engil''s feet had turned into three runes that hovered around Engil''s fang sword.


    Fwoosh!


    Suddenly the fires in the eye sockets of the bone dragon burned brightly and the blood vines in front of it started to burn to ashes. It broke through Tyor''s defenses in a second after it released the fire in it''s eyes and Tyor beautifully sidestepped the incoming skull putting Engil in it''s path. Engil had a confident smile on his face as he held out his free left hand.


    BOOOM!


    An explosion occurred as the skull collided with Engil''s free palm. A dust cloud easily a mile in size flew up in the air and blocked sight of Engil. And as it slowly dispersed a figure was seen with an azure aura enveloping his left side and a little of the surrounding ground. Engil had survived the insane collision and stopped the destructive charge of the bone dragon!


    "Hahaha good work Tyor! Plan ''make me look awesome'' has reached it''s final act!" Engil laughed idiotically and gave more aura into his fingers and they lodged themselves into the huge skull in front of him, locking the bone dragon in place. He raised his fang sword above his head and the three azure runes rapidly circled the sword.


    "Ah I''ve always wanted to use this!" Engil had a childish smile on his face as he swung his sword downwards. Tyor didn''t even have a chance to retort Engil''s earlier words when four deafening howls sung from Engil''s sword. Then an azure light bathed their eyes with it''s glory, blocking the sight of the battle between the three.


    ------------------------------------------


    The soldiers on the Cordias walls were going through a range of emotions. Fear was one of the main ones though.


    They had witnessed how nearly the entire charging enemy army had disappeared in a purple light. Then a mysterious double door was yanked out of thin air by a figure in a white cloth holding six red chains. Then a bone dragon was pulled out from the door way by the white figure. And as if to mock their already dropped jaws the huge bone dragon, that easily was several miles long, came to life and started to fly in the air creating huge gales wherever it went!


    Some soldiers on the wall had fallen to their knees at such a spectacle while some of the more experienced commanders sent orders to retreat. The situation was on the brink of chaos as the people were moved out of the mountain city in droves. The royal family was also being escorted out , but the king had chosen to stay with his soldiers. He wore a flowing grey cloak and heavy battle armor. A large war hammer rested in his hands and a bushy red beard grew out of his face. He looked to be a courageous man, but his short height took away from his heroic image.


    "My king you should leave with your family and the people of the kingdom." A general in silver armor spoke while kneeling next to his king who gazed at the dragon from the tops of the walls.


    "Derik did you know that my ancestors used to be dwarves? And this mountain holds their great legacy! I will not let some beast ruin the legacy of my ancestors or I would disgrace their efforts!" The king didn''t turn around and slowly spoke to the kneeling general. The fervor in his speech made the general''s blood boil as a new light dawned on him.


    Dwarves! His king was a descendant from such a heavenly race! Dwarves were known for their large beards and short stature. However they were renowned for their skills to turn a simple rock into a heavenly weapon. And if they were given any metal they would turn it into something that could rival any godly being!


    "Haha I see you understand now! Then you must also know why I mustn''t leave this capital, or more specifically this mountain."


    "My king, you m,must mean that inside this mountain is a weapon from your ancestors, t,the dwarves!" The general stuttered as he spoke when he came to the realization of his king''s actions. With the help of the weapon made from the hands of dwarves, they might have a chance at defeating the bone dragon.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    BOOM!


    An explosion rang out and the king and general, as well as those who were still positioned at the wall witnessed the scene of Engil stopping the dragon. A hero was born in their eyes, he was like a fearless immortal from story books that faced off against stacked odds and still came out unscathed. The image of him swinging his sword and the bright azure line that separated the land it touched thoroughly engraved itself into their minds. They were on the verge of celebrating.


    However, to their horror, the bright azure light died down and a the bone dragon still moved! The bony legs on it''s left side had been cleanly cut off and one of it''s red bone wings was laying on the ground, but other than that it still looked unfazed.


    ROOOOOOAAAAAAR!


    The dragon screamed and the soldiers had to cover their ears from the volume of it''s anger. It''s body abruptly rose into the air and several large red vines exploded from the ground in an attempt to constrain it. However it already learned it''s lesson and the vines caught fire as soon as they reached it''s vicinity.


    "Quick come with me we need to get to the mountain!" The king yelled to the general and started running towards the mountain. He had a worrisome look on his face. The general took it as the king was worried because the bone dragon had ditched the hero and was currently furiously charging at the capital.


    Then the city started to shake as if a million giants were jumping around and destroying the ground. The mountain that the city was built within was shaking vigorously. A light orange aura was being exuded from it and the earthquake continued to rise in intensity. The once great streets of the capital were cracking apart. The houses were crumbling to shambles and even the Cordias walls showed signs of giving way in some parts.


    "My king be careful! This dragon is using some weird attacks!" The general yelled after the king who was currently a little ways ahead of him. They were both using aura to run at their fastest speeds.


    "This is not the dragon! Someone is trying to get into the mountain!" An anxious expression painted the king''s face. The dragon was worse enough, but now someone was trying to steal his ancestors'' life work! However he knew that the seal to the weapon was beyond his ability, for all he knew no one could forcibly open it using pure force.


    That was until a visible crack spread from the base of the mountain''s orange aura. The king''s face paled and with a tremendous shattering sound the orange film that once covered the mountain broke apart like glass. The king wordlessly increased his speed. His thoughts were going haywire, he could no longer use his reasoning now. The general loyally followed the king and gave no comment to the king''s obviously frantic behavior.


    ------------------------------------------


    ''Sarah, have you and purply finished laying out the spell formations?'' Roen asked Sarah through his connection with her after he had finished destroying the seal to the mountain.


    ''Yes, the shadows that we have on hand here helped as well... Also what is with that terrible naming sense for the phantom knight?''


    ''Shut up I said it by accident! Anyways regroup with Tyor and Engil they''re probably doing something stupid like trying to kill that beast.'' Roen gave his angriest mental response and the connection shut off. His black suit had reverted back to his original white robe after he had finished the seal.


    "Hahaha I still can''t believe that there would be a dwarven weapon here! Silvia must''ve had a hand in this or else my luck wouldn''t be this good! Ahh~ I remember when the dwarves were driven to extinction because of their godly abilities. Good times good times~" Roen had a look of reminisce as if he was remembering a peaceful stroll in the park. The smile on his face only grew larger as he entered into a small pathway in the mountain.


    The path was a small opening and jagged stone lined the edges of it. It was obviously wasn''t maintained for a long time. The deeper Roen went the further the path sloped and a ancient powerful presence stained the air. Roen had a look of extreme giddiness and excitement.


    Then the path opened up to a large dome that had a stepped altar in the middle of it. Various precious ores of differing shapes, sizes, and colors were scattered throughout the room.


    A golden pillar of light fell from above the altar as if it was afraid someone might miss it. And floating within the light was a seven foot long glaive with a one and a half foot long black blade! Around the weapon sparks of black and gold lightning flashed out into the surrounding air. It''s pole end was made of pure gold with lines that pulsed a fierce red light and looked almost like the veins of an animal. The black blade came out from the open mouth of a dragon head that seemed as if it grew out from the pole. The pressure the weapon released was enough to make the pressure the bone dragon released feel like child''s play!


    "So who is it that dares to wake me from my sleep!" An dignified and arrogant voice shook the air and echoed in the dome shaped room. Roen instantly realized the weapon was speaking, but paid it no heed and moved about the room collecting any ores that caught his eye.


    "Ahem maybe you didn''t hear me previously that''s alright, I said, who dares wake me!" The voice came back again. It was less dignified than the last time, but the majesty that was held within would make any king bow with honor. Roen however continued to collect the ores and then his white robes would occasionally devour some of the more precious ores he took.


    "So it was you boy! Haha well do you have what it takes to wield me! The conquerer of nations! The blade that plagues the battlefield! The slayer of devils and heroes alike! The mighty, the unparalleled, the most amazingly handsome and attractive blade in all... Hey hey, what are you doing don''t just grab a guy like that!" Roen had finished looting the rare ores and unceremoniously took the beautiful glaive and started to run out the tunnel leading outside.


    "Shut up! I hoped my servants would buy me more time! To think that that beast would try to devour such weak souls! Aaargh my carefully planned agenda!" Roen screamed in anger and grief. He had planned for so long, but the end result was still out of his hands. He had not expected Tyor and Engil to display such an astonishing strength that it made the bone dragon run to weaker souls to restore it''s body! He cursed how strong his servants have become!


    "Help! Someone I''m being kidnapped by a madman!" The glaive cried out as it realized that it''s lightning had no effect on this mysterious boy. His heavenly lightning that was used to smite devils couldn''t even pass through the boy''s robes!


    "Now I know why there are not many dwarven weapons...you all are extremely annoying." Roen''s hurtful words shut the talkative glaive up. If it could shed tears, then rivers would be flowing.


    "That''s better, now shall we go hunt ourselves an old adversary?" Roen laughed and increased his speed while the grieving glaive was forced to follow along with Roen in his vice like grip.

 Chapter 41- Creature of Calamity

    <ul>


    <li>Chapter 41- Creature of Calamity</li>


    </ul>


    Roen soon exited the mountain and was greeted with the sight of a massive bone dragon laying waste to the soldiers on top of the walls. His expression turned gloomier as he saw souls from the dead soldiers being absorbed into the dragon and it slowly regained it''s muscle and skin. The arms and wings that were previously cut off were being restored as well.


    "Hey boy what are you doing here!" A man in heavy armor and a flowing cloak was running towards Roen. When his eyes landed on the glaive in Roen''s hands he nearly lost his mind.


    "Let go of the weapon in your hands now! I am king Leonard, and I command you to release it this instant!!" The king was seething with rage he had to stop himself from killing the boy in front of him. The general in silver armor had caught up and looked at the impressive glaive in the boy''s hand. A look of awe and anger filled the two as they both verbally and silently waited for the boy to hand them the mighty weapon.


    "Ah you are a descendant of my makers! Great! Please help me this crazy boy has taken me hostage! And oh shit is that a Draconis from the Nightmare Realm!?" The once silent glaive started yelling again and pleaded the king and general.


    "Boy we don''t have much time! That weapon in your hands is the only tool that can give us hope in out time of need. Please hand it to me." The king was at first astonished that the weapon could speak, but that wasn''t the weirdest part of the day so he let it slide. He took up a peaceful approach to the boy thinking that his earlier remarks must''ve scared him a little.


    "Ahem, let me explain myself. I am Roen, you can think of me as a sort of hero." Roen spoke odd words and his white cloth began to writhe like snakes and take to form of white scales and four blood red boney wings sprouted out from his back.


    "That form! Are you in collusion with that dragon!?" The King shout thinking he came to the right conclusion.


    "This! Boy, are you really a boy?!" However the glaive gave a rather questionable response and stopped resisting Roen''s grip. It had realized that Roen wasn''t a boy, but a monster. And the cloak that changed it''s shape was the answer.


    Roen didn''t answer and with the wave of his hand smoky purple boots with odd symbols and lines appeared on his feet. Taking a step Roen ditched the king and his general easily stepping over the ruins of the city. It took only minutes for Roen the arrive at the walls and look upon the rampage of the bone dragon.


    He arrived on a nearby building roof and purple boots disappeared. Roen suddenly bent over and coughed up some blood! He was panting heavily and he quickly took out some bottles with shiny blue liquid in them. He emptied the liquid souls into his open mouth and his breathing stabilized.


    "I see what''s going on. You must''ve summoned the doors, and gave part of your own soul as sacrifice. Hmmmm~ you must''ve used quite a bit of souls as well huh." The glaive suddenly spoke and realized Roen''s predicament easily. It released some of it''s lighting, but the lightning seemed to miss Roen completely.


    "Although you kidnapped me, you''re interesting. Sitting in a cave for so long is boring, quickly now take me to bloody battles so I may drink the blood of my enemies!" The glaive pleaded and Roen silently advanced towards the dragon.


    Tyor figured out that the dragon must be a Nightmare race and was evacuating the soldiers with his blood vines. Or more like he was flinging them away. Sarah had long since regrouped with the two and was helping Tyor evacuate the people. Engil was trying to get the rampaging dragon''s attention, but as the dragon killed more the force and speed of it''s blows changed rapidly.


    Engil was screaming and wailing as three azure wolves ran about biting the dragon and dragging people away. He prided himself at how much of a nuisance he can be. However the dragon was easily regaining it''s flesh faster than Engil, Tyor, and Sarah could wound it. They all opted to keep as many people away as possible, so as to try to reduce the rate at which it recovered.


    "Holy Mother Karen! This thing won''t go down! When''s Roen coming back?!" Engil shouted out as he was sent flying by the dragon''s single attack. His body made cracking sounds as the bones fit themselves back into place.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "He''s on his way! Sarah said that he needed to get something from the mountain!" Tyor answered back quickly while using he wall shield to block flying debris and protect the fleeing soldiers.


    "I hope he brings the mountain..." Engil grumbled as he repositioned himself and shot towards the dragon again.


    Their efforts were all in vain as they couldn''t stop the dragon from killing everyone. The wounds on it''s body were all superficial and even the deeper ones would be mended in seconds.


    "HAHAHAHA YOU WEAK ANTS! I AM FINALLY FULL AGAIN! NOW YOU THREE PAWNS OF THAT DEMON WILL DIE ALONG WITH HIM!" The dragon had finally rebuilt it''s body and it turned towards Tyor, Engil, and Sarah.


    Silvery black scales plated it''s body giving it the feeling of an impenetrable fortress. The six blood red wings furled out and the black webbing in each of them seemed to absorb any light that touched them. It''s body rippled with muscles that easily crumbled the walls it stood on. The fires that had burned so brightly in it''s eye sockets spread across it top of it''s face and down it''s spine like a wildfire.


    "HAHAHA~ Calamity Cloak!" The dragon''s voice changed into a deeper baritone like when Roen casted his spells. The fires on it''s body flared up and spilled onto the rest of it''s scales. Tornadoes began to form under it''s wings and the fire flooded into those forming pillars of flame that burned everything in their path. Clouds above darkened and lighting flashed everywhere striking randomly and destroying mercilessly. In contrast to the dragon''s coat of flames the ground it stepped on froze almost instantly and threatened to turn the top of the wall into a glacier.


    "Great, that''s just wonderful." Engil stared at the sheer violation of nature that dragon spewed out unendingly. The walking calamity laughed as it strode towards the three. They couldn''t see it''s face through the flames, but they could guess it held a disgusting confidence that matched it''s demeanor.


    "Geez we haven''t seen each other in so long how dare you forget about me so soon." A teasing voice that fit nowhere in this situation carried itself to the ears of everyone present and, a child in white scale armor with blood red bone wings landed in front of the calamity''s path. He held onto an impressive glaive that screamed powerful.


    "Hey, hey don''t go taunting him! That one is most definitely of a royal lineage of the Draconis race!" Another voice rang out and only a few people realized that the voice came from the glaive in the boy''s hand!


    "Roen! My wonderful monster master, you''ve come to save your most loyal servant right!?" Engil was overcome with emotions as he stared at the back of Roen. He never thought he would miss a man so much in his life until now.


    "Tch, you''re still alive. Anyways you three help evacuate the people, they''ll only serve to increase his strength and become nuisances." Roen commanded and Tyor and Sarah went right off to work. Engil, on the other hand, was sulking about how he works so hard for no appreciation.


    "YOU DARE SHOW YOURSELF IN FRONT OF ME! IF I DON''T RIP YOU TO A MILLION PIECES I WONT BE ABLE TO MEET MY RACE IN DEATH!!" The fire on the dragon''s body grew with his anger and the natural disasters surrounding him grew in intensity as well. Two flame pillars were sent towards Roen with the command from dragon and the lightning in the clouds seemed as if they found a new target.


    BOOM!


    The collision of the flame pillars and lightning made part of the walls crumble into dust. However when the dust cleared Roen still stood there without a scratch on him, and a faint gold and black barrier surrounded his body.


    "A DWARVEN WEAPON!? YOU FIEND HOW DARE YOU?! Solar Calamity!" Following the dragon''s chant a huge ball of fire formed above it''s head and an intense heat wave engulfed the surroundings. The stones that it stood on melted the wooden structures in the city caught fire instantly and the grass and plant life turned into a sea of flame. The soldiers who were unlucky enough to stand anywhere on the walls combusted and died horribly. Tyor, Engil, and Sarah had left and were barely protecting themselves from the heat.


    "Phew, some like it hot huh..." Roen barely gave any notice to the heat as he felt quite comfortable in his armor.


    "YOU! STOP USING THE BODIES OF MY FAMILY!!" The dragon instantly figured out why Roen was unscathed despite using such a powerful attack.


    "Hahaha~ well let me allow you to join them." Roen stabbed his glaive into the air above himself and lightning fell down in a circle surrounding the Cordias capital and several miles out. Shining runes flowed up from the points where the lightning fell in a pink and purple clear barrier rose up high into the sky disappearing in the clouds.


    The runes held an incredible suction force, but oddly no one was effected by the runes. No one other than the natural disasters the dragon had summoned. From the fire pillars that surrounded it to the giant sun that rose over it''s head, everything that the dragon summoned dispersed into oblivion as soon as it came into contact with the pink and purple barriers!


    "THIS, HOW ARE YOU ABSORBING ETHER DIRECTLY!? THAT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE, YOU SHOULD BE IMPLODING FROM THE SHEER ENERGY FROM MY SPELLS!!!" The dragon went nuts and as the wildfire that had once covered it''s face disappeared an expression of pure terror was seen.


    "I''ll show you what a true creature of calamity is." Roen spoke slowly and walked forward with every word the glaive rested in his right hand and he dragged it behind him carving a deep crevice in the stone. The glaive was shining brightly almost as if it had been injected with the light of the sun, and it was vibrating ever so slightly as if expecting a grand slaughter from the one who wielded it.

 Chapter 42- Eradication Bolt

    Chapter 42- Eradication Bolt


    Roen''s plans were impeccable. Other than the small hiccup in the growth of his servants, Roen had planned everything. From the soldiers movements to the Draconis''s spells. He had spent the time to study some runes Engil had on him and realized that most of them pertained to spells that originated from ether. All he had to do was modify the runes to be a large ether consuming formation. Roen was never well versed in using ether, so he needed the dwarven weapon to act as a conduit to run the giant spell.


    "I feel bloated..." The shining glaive broke the tension. Roen couldn''t blame it because currently a massive amount of ether was being channeled through it.


    "Suck it up, you dare call yourself a weapon created by a dwarf!" Roen spoke condescendingly towards the whining glaive as he slowly advanced towards the fleeing Draconis.


    "Humph, seriously I am made for generals such. Not for mages to channel ether through! Still how much of a monster can you be to create and control such a huge spell?" The glaive retaliated to Roen''s insult as it wounded his pride.


    "There are many things that you don''t need to know. Anyways give me your name or grand spell before I feed you to this." Roen threatened the glaive and the white scales on his arms started to wriggle towards it.


    "Stop! Please alright, alright, I''ll give you my grand spell, but my name cannot be given to anyone who a don''t recognize as my one master!" The glaive was extremely fearful of Roen''s cloak. And regretfully sent some of the light that surrounded it up Roen''s arm to his head.


    Roen paused for a second and digested the specifics of the spell, and a smile spread across his face as he began walking towards the panicking Draconis again.


    "Although it can''t use it''s magic, it can still use it''s racial magic and it has that insane body. Plus it is still a royal bloodline Draconis be careful." The glaive warned Roen and the blinding light that surrounded it slowly got pulled into it''s black blade.


    Roen nodded but didn''t verbally answer and stopped a good distance away from the Draconis. It was flying around the fields that it had previously burned examining the pink and purple barrier that trapped it. When the fire that covered it''s face saw Roen moving towards it, it''s rage reignited and aggressively turned to face Roen.


    "WHO ARE YOU?! HOW CAN YOU DO ALL THIS?! WHY DO YOU HAVE MY BRETHREN''S BODY?!" In it''s usual booming voice it furiously questioned Roen. However the madness and anger that it held was no longer there, and only confusion remained.


    "Seriously I thought you would remember me," Roen sighed and shrugged his shoulders mumbling something about about how he needs to plan better then continued, "Well it doesn''t matter who I was, I am now Roen!"


    "ROEN? VERY WELL, SINCE YOU CAN OPEN THE DOORS TO THE NIGHTMARE REALM I CANNOT LET YOU LIVE! HOWEVER SINCE I WAS ORIGINALLY JUST A PUPPET OF MY ANGER, AND NOW THAT I HAVE REGAINED MY SANITY I WONT UNDERESTIMATE YOU!" The Draconis grew serious and he mumbled a couple of inaudible words after he spoke. Roen was a little surprised that the Draconis could forget about him, but after he realized that it was originally a being of pure anger a smile of confidence grew on his face.


    ''This might not be that bad then...'' Roen thought to himself as he remembered the backlash of after using that specific spell. He assumed that the spell dissipated due to his giant spell from earlier. And he quickly sent a message to he servants to get everyone out of the barrier.


    "''Immortal Anger'' right?" Roen suddenly asked with his confident smile.


    "YOU... HOW DO YOU..." The Draconis immediately stopped chanting his support spells and took a more cautious approach to Roen after he said the correct spell that it was previously under.


    "Hahaha don''t worry about it." Roen gave a lazy response and disappeared from his spot.


    He reappeared above the giant dragon''s head with three purple spheres circling him and purple greaves on his legs. His original scale mail had turned into a tight fitting black suit and two more arms were already formed out of his back.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Depth Charge!" Two of the purple spheres flew in front of the glaive as Roen thrusted it at the Draconis''s head!


    BOOM!


    An explosion occurred as they collided and Roen flew several feet back. The third purple sphere grew smaller and Roen stabilized himself in the air! The purple greaves were shining brightly and the air underneath Roen felt solid.


    "POWERFUL, VERY POWERFUL! YOU ARE A MYSTERIOUS BOY WITH UNREASONABLE METHODS!! I WILL GIVE YOU THE HONOR OF LETTING ME SIPHON OFF YOUR SOUL TO HELP ME RESTORE MY RACE!!" The Draconis was only reeling from the impact and had not real damage done to him. It turned towards Roen, who stood in the air above it, and it saw twenty similar purple spears behind Roen.


    "Grand Arc!" The twenty spheres all came to life and turned into twenty long strings. The strings came together and formed into a large purple spear around 20 feet in length. Then it shot out at an unreasonable speed towards the spot Roen had previously hit!


    The Draconis tried to evade, but the spear would make impossible twists and turns every time it moved. The spear had locked onto it''s target and would not miss.


    "Draconis Script!" Following his words thousands of runes of various sizes spread across the scales of the huge mile long Draconis. The space around it rippled and the ripples grew larger around the top of it''s head as it tore a opening in the space itself! The ripped hole in space instantly engulfed Roen''s purple spear and closed itself off before it could escape.


    "YOU FORCED ME TO USE MY RACIAL MAGIC, THIS IS THE END OF THE LINE FOR YOU NOW BOY!!" The Draconis wasn''t eager to finish off Roen just yet and seven slivery black spheres formed around it using the ripples of space. These spheres seemed to make the ripples in space curve around it and a pulling force constantly tugged Roen towards them. The force even effected some of the ground below the aerial battle, lifting large and small rocks and pieces of earth into the air.


    "Damn, you just had to go and let it use it''s racial magic, and to make matters worse it''s a spacial distortion magic. I wanna go back to my mountain..." The glaive whined, but it knew the Roen probably had something up his sleeve to handle the situation.


    However the Draconis was very mindful of Roen''s long range tactics, and willed the ripples in space to start folding in front of him. Then he instantly appeared right behind Roen as if he was there from the beginning! It flipped it''s massive body and brought down it''s giant tail down on Roen like a mighty whip.


    Roen had expected this and quickly rotated his body 180 degrees raising up the pole end of the glaive with his two right arms.


    BOOM!


    The collision of the two created a shockwave and they both separated a few feet. Roen was already conjuring two purple spheres in his left hand and felt his right arms go numb. He couldn''t take many more of those strikes, he needed to get some distance.


    However before he started to move he felt like his body was being weighed down by a million weights, and he found it very difficult to move. Four silvery black spheres were around him and the Draconis had found the moment it waited for!


    Not wasting a second of Roen''s inactivity, it teleported to Roen''s side again and this time slashed at him with it''s claws. Those claws tore the space it grated against and unerringly flew at Roen. The glaive was screaming at Roen to do something, but Roen had his eyes closed as if he wasn''t in the battle anymore.


    BOOOOM!


    A twenty meter long purple spear traveling at a speed that made it look like a bolt of lightning struck down right on the crown of the Draconis'' head!


    ROOOOOOAAAAAAR!


    An anguished cry rang out from the Draconis in response. Roen held his confident smile and the two purple spheres in his hands changed into chains that started to encase the humongous body of the Draconis.


    "You didn''t destroy my Arc Spear, you just merely displaced it. That spell will never miss as long as I supply it with enough energy." Roen laughed at the Draconis in chains and raised the glaive above his head. He couldn''t really use any spell that could mortally wound the Draconis, but he had many that could disorient it and trap it. And this was his plan all from the start!


    A large amount of energy started to flow from the air to Roen and then into the glaive. Silvery veins popped out all over Roen''s body and his eyes grew bloodshot. He could feel his muscles ripping and bones snapping under the pressure of the grand spell flowing through him and into the vibrating glaive. Storm clouds formed over head and flashes of lightning and sounds of thunder echoed in Roen''s body like in the clouds above. He strained himself as he brought his free left arms to hold onto the pole end of the glaive.


    The Draconis was thrashing about in the purple chains, trying to teleport or use his silvery black spheres to break himself free. To his despair every nick or scratch that he created would instantly repair and the cycle would continue. Roen coldly watched the struggling Draconis and brought down the glaive without a second thought.


    "Eradication Bolt!"


    Light. That is how most would describe it. A blinding light, that consumed all that it touched. It was a heavenly spear that pierced down from the sky and ripped through the very continent itself!


    Those who saw it from a distance of around a couple hundred miles away or more could see it clearly. It was a pillar of pure lightning that struck for no more than a second, and it disappeared as fast as it came. The only thing that remained and reminded everyone that what they just witnessed was real, was a gaping hole of what was once a proud kingdom.

 Chapter 43- Soul Merger

    Chapter 43- Soul Merger


    Engil was horrified by the scene he witnessed. Tyor, Sarah, and he all barely escaped the blast radius of the magic Roen casted. If they hadn''t received Roen''s message to get away as fast as possible they all might''ve been burned to a crisp.


    "I, I''m glad Roen''s on our side." Engil stuttered out loud and turned to look at the faces of his companions hoping to share his feelings. Sarah had the same ''don''t bother me'' face she always wore and Tyor couldn''t care less about Engil''s comments.


    "Sometimes I just wanna be loved guys... Ah but is Roen ok? He doesn''t look too good right now." Engil was used to their silence and decided to switch the topic.


    "Oh that''s right. Master had forgotten to tell you the true purpose of this entire ordeal, but the fact that his entire plan went almost perfectly is one of the most terrifying aspects of master." Like magic Tyor instantly opened his mouth as soon as Engil mentioned Roen.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Do you really believe Roen would go out of the way to plan for a couple of months just to kill that dragon?"


    "Doesn''t Roen hate the Nightmare races with a passion? He''s just extremely meticulous right? Doesn''t that answer that?"


    "Both are true, but the real reason Roen went through all this work is because of that weapon in his hand." Tyor gave a wry smile at Engil, who was just now understanding Roen''s motives.


    ------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile above the giant hole in the continent two figures floated in the air. Sometimes one of them would drop a few feet suddenly and struggle to get back to staring into each other''s eyes. Each had an intense feeling of wanting to rip the other apart in their fight for survival.


    Roen was breathing hard while blood flowed from wounds all over his body his purple greaves were faintly shining and barely kept him afloat. Several of his bones were protruding from his body and he seemed to have trouble holding up the golden glaive. The only thing that was still fine was the two giant doors Roen had summoned earlier and the ground underneath it.


    The Draconis wasn''t fairing any better as it was having trouble keeping itself steady above the giant chasm below it. Scorch marks plastered it''s once majestic scales, it had lost four of it''s wings and blood was kept pouring out of the gashes that cut deep into it''s flesh. Despite all this it still struggled to stay alive.


    "What?! My grand spell didn''t kill it?! More importantly how are you still alive boy?!" The glaive was screaming while Roen held a wry smile on his face. The glaive believed that Roen couldn''t survive the recoil of it''s grand spell, so with Roen still breathing it was greatly shocked.


    "Do you really believe I would voluntarily kill myself?" Roen answered with another question and continued,"However right now I have no hope of defeating the Draconis, so quickly tell me your name before it recovers!"


    "No matter what you say I will not tell you my name!"


    "Let me put it this way, you are a dwarven weapon and that is a Nightmare race. You need not worry about any other details only that you need to kill it." Roen spoke slowly afraid the intelligent glaive would miss anything.


    "I still won''t budg..."


    "I remember hearing that the Draconis race was dying out, they need anything with a conscious to act as a foundation for their youth. They found that using the consciousness of weapons, especially dwarven ones, are the perfect nutrition for the little ones." Roen cut the the glaive off and gave some unsettling pieces of information. The glaive went silent and stayed that way for a good minute or two. The decision to make Roen it''s master was a hard one, and it would rather let Roen die then submit.


    However the situation wasn''t the appropriate place to take a long time to think over things. It knew this fact because the Draconis had already started to heal itself ever so slowly. If what Roen had said was true then if it recovered, both of them would undoubtedly die!


    The huge formation that had consumed the ether in the air was destroyed by the previous spell. Both of their lives rested on whether or not the glaive would trust in Roen and accept him as it''s master.


    "Quickly we don''t have much time!!" Roen shout at the glaive in his hands with a tense expression.


    "Alright fine, I will accept you, but you must bring us out of this alive," the glaive spoke with great loss as the situation forced him down this path and after Roen nodded it continued, "My mighty name was bestowed upon me by the three dwarven masters who gave their lives to forge me for their vengeance: Fury''s Lightning."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    As the glaive spoke its true name a sense of a fullness filled Roen and he felt something invading his injured soul. The invader had an incomparably sharp feeling to it as it pushed its way into Roen''s soul. This was the soul of the glaive in Roen''s hand.


    "You have a weird soul, it''s like a conglomerate of many different souls. Geez I guess I can''t be too picky anymore, anyways quickly merge our two souls!" The glaive spoke urgently while Roen had already closed his eyes and examined the new soul that was trying to merge with his. It was a bright gold entity shaped like a lightning bolt that seemed blurry at times and clear at others; it refused to settle on a specific shape preferring a orderly chaotic shape.


    A smile couldn''t help but to diffuse onto Roen''s face. He willed his soul to to swallow the glaive''s soul and when the two came in contact a stinging pain ran throughout his body like every single cell in his body was getting shocked with the energy of a lightning bolt.


    "Idiot why are you so hasty!" The glaive panicked at Roen''s sudden actions, but when it was trying to pull back its soul and forcibly stop the merger it realized that its soul was stuck inside Roen''s! It was surprised at the weird occurrence that would normally be impossible. Normally one would not be able to control souls that still have their consciousness present!


    The glaive stopped its efforts and let Roen go through this trial. And Roen went through a drastic change as a line of gold dyed a portion of his originally white hair and his red eyes now had circle of gold surrounding each of his pupils. His body started to emit the black and gold lightning that was further increased around the glaive. He felt his soul repairing itself with the glaive''s presence, but he didn''t directly consume it more like they both supported and healed each other in a symbiotic relationship.


    "Perfect, I have finally healed around 30 percent of my soul! Now how shall you like to die!" Roen glared at the Draconis with an extremely warm and beautiful smile. The Draconis witnessed Roen''s whole transformation and was greatly astonished. It realized that it would die today considering Roen was the first to recover, but it held no anger towards him.


    "AH HOW REFRESHING IT WAS TO FINALLY FIGHT ONCE AGAIN! LET ME ASK OF YOU ONE THING BEFORE YOU DISPATCH ME. WOULD YOU PLEASE SPREAD WORD TO MY KIN AND TELL THEM IM SORRY I COULD NOT SEE THEM AGAIN?" The Draconis spoke solemnly and gave heartfelt words despite it''s threatening size and appearance. However when Roen heard these words his facial features contorted, instead of loosening up.


    "You dare ask me for such a thing?! Do you not know how much blood is split in reverence of you so called ''Godly Races''?!! Do you not know how many families you kill just to further your own goals!??! And laugh as you watch their corpses burn! You pests brand your sacrifices and turn them into mindless monsters!! Do you even begin to understand the pain that those sacrifices go through??!" Roen grew angrier with every word and the gold and black lightning that discharged out of him grew fiercer and fiercer. It started to emit a faint purple light, but Roen had no time to pay attention to that since all his time was paid to his anger.


    "I am definitely not the one to preach to you about this! However I kill to further my purpose, and that purpose is to eradicate every last Nightmare race!! Even death will not stop my vengeance!" Roen strode towards the startled Draconis with lightning crackling in every step. The Draconis had not expected Roen''s hatred to be so deep and wondered what could''ve possibly happened to this boy.


    "THE KALIARS ISN''T IT?" Suddenly a name came to mind of a once powerful Nighmare race.


    "What about them?" Roen was obviously pausing at the mention of the name.


    "IF IT QUELLS YOUR ANGER I WANT YOU TO KNOW THEY EXIST NO LONGER FOR SOME REASON THEY ALL WERE KILLED OFF MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO!" The Draconis spoke righteously and wanted to help Roen get rid of his anger even in his dying breath.


    "I know, I was that one who eradicated those pests." Roen spoke no further and lightning flashed striking the Draconis right on the crown of its head. When the light subsided Roen stood on top of it''s skull with the glaive piercing into it.


    "Strike."


    BOOM!


    A bolt of golden lightning struck the handle of the glaive and transferred the powerful might of heaven into the body of the Draconis. The lightning cracked open its skull instantly and shocked it''s organs, killing it. Roen''s robes greedily went in through the cracks of the skull wanting to begin it''s feast.


    "Strike."


    BOOM!


    The scene repeated itself, but other than Roen''s robes being unfazed by the lightning the giant body only shook again. The wounds all over it''s body began to leak traces of blow up organs.


    "Strike."


    BOOM!


    "Strike."


    BOOM!


    "Strike."


    BOOM!


    "Strike."


    BOOM!


    "Stri..."


    "Stop!" The glaive''s voice interrupted Roen and forcibly stopped the channeling of the spell.


    "Why do you stop me?" Roen said calmly, but his tone was one of intense rage. His eyes were out of focus and it felt like he wasn''t completely there.


    "Isn''t it already dead? Why do you keep on wasting your time?"


    "Damnit I went into a trance again! Ahhh that''s never good, thanks for your help anyways." Roen''s eyes refocused and he grew angry at himself. He turned to the direction Engil, Tyor, and Sarah were waiting at and slowly made his way over.


    "What about those dangerous robes of yours?" The glaive wondered because Roen did not wait for his white robes to finish eating the body of the Draconis and just left.


    "It''ll take awhile for that guy to fully devour that much, so in the mean time let''s meet my other servants!" Roen had already gotten over the entire battle and wanted to rest. He picked up his pace and even happily skipped towards the meeting place.


    However the glaive remember Roen''s earlier words about him going into a trance.


    ''I won''t think too much on the subject, but when he went into that state even I felt a little enraged. Is it because our souls are merged now? Or could he really be using ''madness script''?'' The glaive resolved itself to throughly question Roen whenever it got the chance.

 Chapter 44- A Heros Welcome

    Chapter 44- A Hero''s Welcome


    Roen released his purple greaves and fell to the ground beneath him. Engil, Tyor,and Sarah were and behind the three was a large man in silver armor and next to him was a man with a dashing beard and short height. The group stood at the edge of the abyss Roen had created earlier. The plant life had been killed and the forests were in a tattered appearance around them.


    "I''m sorry I doubted you." The king kneeled suddenly to the surprise of the general who stood next to him. He hesitated before following his king''s motions and knelt before Roen as well.


    "Hmmm~ it''s ok worms sometimes have a hard time seeing what''s right in front of them." Roen glossed over the matter quickly and threw out a comment that could be along the lines of an insult and philosophy. He turned to Engil, Tyor, and Sarah as he introduced them to his glaive. The king and general were still kneeling, they were following the custom to wait for someone to tell them to stand up.


    "So this guy is a super powerful weapon of mass destruction?" Engil was carefully examining the glaive in Roen''s hand while Tyor nodded.


    "Hey, hey, don''t get to close! Yours might react negatively towards me, it is still young so it is more subject to change." The glaive suddenly yelled out and startled Engil so much that he fell back.


    "I had expected his weapon was special, but is it really a dwarven weapon?" Roen interjected and directly asked. Engil paid close attention and even Sarah grew a little curious to where the conversation was headed.


    "Sorta, it was definitely forged by dwarves, but it wasn''t given a consciousness so it can only be considered an incomplete for now." The glaive''s words made everyone''s heads turn towards Engil. His face was of pure surprise, and after noticing everyone staring at him he quickly regained his composure.


    "Well some say it''s not the man who chooses his great weapon, but rather a great weapon to choose a great man." Engil took on a scholarly tone as if he was educating children. Everyone groaned and blamed his insane luck as they turned away to ignore him.


    "Um, if I may ask you said something about how you were created by my ancestors?" The king had been fidgeting for awhile and finally worked up the courage to ask the glaive.


    "Oh yea, you have a small amount of dwarven blood in you. However I have no idea if they were your ancestors exactly; I only know that you carry the dwarf bloodline. Sorry." The glaive said and the king grew silent for awhile then expressed his thanks once again. The group fell into a silence again while Roen stared back the Draconis''s body that was now encased in a cocoon of his robes.


    He turned his sights to the giant doors that were still wide open, and were now leaking a black gas that tumbled down into the abyss it rose above. Sighing he extended his free left hand out and a red chain shot out from his palm. The chain connected to one of the doors, and with an impressive yank Roen closed one of the open doors.


    "Phew, hey you you''re a king right?" Roen suddenly asked the king who had long since stopped kneeling and was conversing with his general away from Roen''s group.


    "Watch your tone!!" The general had enough of Roen''s disrespectful tone and finally exploded. He reached for the sword on his hip while supplying his legs with an ample amount of aura. He knew he stood no chance against Roen, but he wanted to show a threatening front. Roen just smiled and disregarded him while waiting for the king to answer.


    "Please don''t fight, you stand no chance anyways Derik. Please address me as King Leonard or Leonard, how may I help you?" Leonard had accepted the Roen had the strength to back up his arrogance, so he decided that it is better to get on friendly terms with such a monster.


    "Well you see those doors," Roen asked while pointing towards the doors he summoned and after he saw Leonard nod he continued, "You see those doors are a sort of connection to a different plane of existence called the Nightmare Realm. What I need from you is to watch these because I can''t fully close them or else I''ll need to have to use an annoying amount of souls and part of my own just to bring it back."


    "I see... And by ''watch'' them you mean?" Leonard already knew what Roen meant, but he wanted to confirm it with him.


    "Hehe obviously make sure nothing comes out obviously." Roen smiled while Leonard and Derik shivered as they gazed at the abyss.


    "Oh and don''t worry I''ll leave this guy to help you contact me as well as give you a pretty good source of protection." Roen quickly added as he saw the unease in their eyes and his clothes fluttered as a purple wolf or more like a wolf pup appeared by his side.


    The two stared at the purple pup that looked like it couldn''t even hurt a fly. It had red and silver veins strewn throughout it''s body. The paws of the pup were a pitch black that emitted a black smoke as well. The pup looked harmless at first glance, but it had sharp silver eyes that radiated a killing intent capable of putting a well trained general to shame.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Don''t underestimate him, he is cultivated by me personally after all." Roen warned Leonard and Derik with a sentence full of pride. The two nodded vigorously as they remembered Roen''s recent feats.


    "Um great heroes if I may ask where it is that you might be heading?" Derik asked nervously.


    "Higloas kingdom why?" Roen bluntly told them the truth.


    "Um if you don''t mind, could you take our citizens with you. My friend in the Higloas capital owes me one, so if you could escort my citizens to his capital. I don''t know if I can protect them as our main wall of defense has been destroyed." King Leonard gave a wry smile as he gazed towards the gaping hole of what was once his impenetrable capital.


    "Hmmm, I guess it wouldn''t hurt to lay low for awhile. Also we need to rest and train, so sure I will escort them. However I won''t become their nanny." Roen surprisingly accepted and Tyor, Engil, and Sarah were forced to follow as well.


    "Great! They all want to meet the heroes that fought and defeated the dragon!" King Leonard grew excited when Roen accepted because he was worried for his citizen''s safety during the long journey to the Higloas Kingdom.


    ------------------------------------------


    Engil couldn''t handle the silence during the talks with the king and Roen. To stave his boredom he started up a conversation with Roen''s glaive.


    "So you do know you fell right into Roen''s plans right?"


    "Humph, I already knew when I saw the Draconis."


    "Tough."


    "I feel like we share the same struggle."


    "Comrade in pain! We must have code names now!!"


    "What an odd occurrence I just thought the same thing!"


    "Alright you shall be Goldy while you can call me the true wolf!"


    "These names... What great naming sense!"


    And just like that a man and a weapon shared an uncommon bond through an uncommon master.


    ------------------------------------------


    When Roen and the group traveled for a couple minutes that arrived at a clearing with multiple wooden carriages linked together. Roen had counted 40 in total. However the most impressive thing was the citizens were all looking towards their direction without saying a word.


    Some had looks of awe and reverence while other shared tears in their eyes.


    Whoosh


    In an almost synchronized motion everyone knelt before them. Some people fell down and started crying tears of joy.


    "Thank you heroes!"


    "Thank you!"


    "Thanks for saving out skins!"


    "Thank you heroes!"


    Similar shouts and thanks rang out in a symphony of gratitude. It was an overwhelming scene that made Roen, Engil, Tyor, and even Sarah shocked to the core. They had obviously not expected this.


    "I can see how some can addicted to this feeling." Roen said out loud while smiling at the masses.


    Later that day there was a celebration held for the their heroes. Alcohol, cooked meat, and songs filled the air. Everyone was laughing and partying around the warmth of the bonfire the citizens had made earlier. Tyor and Sarah had joined the festivities and were munching down on some grilled vegetables and meats while enjoying the fire. Engil was going around enjoying his popularity while cracking jokes every now and then stealing a bite to eat every chance he could get. He had nothing to eat except liquified souls for so long he nearly forgot the taste of meat.


    Roen sat on a log away from most of the party, but he still watched everyone while drinking a glowing blue drink in a bottle. Every now and then a grateful soldier or citizens came up to him and gave him their personal thanks while trying to start up a conversation, but he stated that he wanted to be alone so they silently left and respected his wishes.


    "Why do you not join them?" The glaive''s voice rang out in his head. Roen had summoned it back into his body since it had the function to store itself in a space within his body and it would be wasteful not to use it.


    "I am content just watching from a distance." Roen said solemnly with a tinge of sadness in his voice.


    "You''re a troubled child aren''t you?" The glaive cut off it''s connection with Roen and let him be. After it had merged with his soul his had a basic idea of Roen''s personality, and it realized Roen didn''t like to show most of his feelings outright.


    Roen sighed at the glaive''s comment and went back to drinking his liquified souls. He tilted his head up and gazed at the stars overhead.


    ''Am I really content with this?'' Roen asked himself, but he couldn''t figure out if he was referring to the party or something greater.


    "Mister?"


    "Hmm?" Roen threw himself out of his thoughts as a petite voice woke him. He moved his eyes downwards to see a girl around the age of 5 looking up at him with deep blue eyes and holding out a plate with food on it.


    "Mister needs to eet?" The girl slurred her words cutely while tilting her head to one side.


    "No thank you, I am fine. You can go and play with your friends I rather be alone." Roen denied her and tried to send her away. However she just threw the plate away and sat next to Roen on the log he was sitting next to.


    "Hey, what are you doing?" Roen grew a little annoyed by the girl''s persistence. He was about to pull her away when she suddenly leaned on him while clutching his sleeve. Then he saw the tears in her tightly shut eyes. She was mumbling something that would normally be inaudible, but Roen knew exactly what she was saying even without having to listen.


    He put back his hands back and let her stay with him. She slowly cried herself to sleep and he brought her back to the camp. He brought her into where the newly orphaned children were located and only left till he was sure she was safe.


    Roen closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly.


    ''I already knew this would be hard, but am I really making the right choice in all this? No, no, I won''t waver. I cannot. I cannot reverse death, and I will not give up my conviction so easily! For those I step on in my path for vengeance I am sorry; I have those I must kill!'' Roen was thinking, but he didn''t realize that his thoughts were also shared with the glaive. The glaive heard every word as clear as day and only sighed at Roen''s foolishness.

 Chapter 45- The Hunt Begins

    Chapter 45- The Hunt Begins


    The sun rose high in the sky by the time everyone was ready to set out. Roen had bid the King Leonard and Derik goodbye. They had once again given their thanks to Roen and, stationed soldiers around the abyss according to Roen''s instructions.


    "Roen!" A loud voice broke up the calming atmosphere of the slow caravan of carriages. Engil was seen in his wolf form running around with children clinging to his back.


    "What is it?" Roen was sitting on top of a wooden carriage and was just soaking up the sun. He had been trying to relax when Engil had decided to bother him.


    "Didn''t you take a little girl back to the orphanage late at night?"


    "She was tired, so I let her sleep." Roen tried to dismiss the matter quickly and rid himself of an annoyance. However Engil had a toothy grin on his face.


    "Is that all that you did? Hmmm~ what would Eliana say about that?" Engil wanted to tease Roen a little, and tried to take advantage of the fact that he had children clinging to him to avoid Roen''s wrath.


    "Strike." A small golden bolt of lightning accurately hit Engil and he fell to the ground twitching. The children all screamed and ran way, but were all uninjured.


    "Ah~ finally some peace and quiet." Roen exhaled a breath of air and closed his eyes. Since Engil had mentioned it he wondered what Eliana was doing at the moment. If memory served him right he guessed that she would be currently attacking the kingdom that had caused her so much trouble. As per his suggestion of course.


    Suddenly a white cloth came flying at Roen and morphed around him in the shape of his usual robes. He examined the changes and grinned happily while listening to the chirping of birds and sounds of chatter.


    "Peaceful isn''t it?" A voice rang out from Roen''s head and he knew that his glaive was speaking.


    "Yes, they all live in such happiness despite the hardships that they face. I''m quite envious." Roen spoke truthful words since he knew his glaive was not going to tell anyone.


    "Then why don''t you try to give up your vengeance? Try to live a peaceful life, you already have enough strength to survive and protect those close to you."


    "I have had thoughts about such a matter, but I realized that I lost something long ago. I''m just trying to find it."


    "Then why the need for vengeance?"


    "Because I need to make sure that there is no stone left unturned. Even if I have to crack every single skull of my enemies open and search the insides. I will find it." Roen''s ruthless words silenced the glaive''s words and soon the peaceful atmosphere returned. Warm sunlight shone of Roen''s face as he closed his eyes for some much needed rest.


    ------------------------------------------


    ~ Capital of Korick Kingdom ~


    In the dead of night the sentries were lazing away as they believed that nobody would try to attack them since they came to an agreement of ceasefire with their neighboring Higloas kingdom. Though they hated each other to the bone, most agreed considering the unusual decimation of the Thaolos kingdom.


    Then just recently there was a giant flash of light that seemed as if a second sun was shining in the sky. This event spurred many high officials and kings to start banding together in their time of confusion.


    The war between the Cordias kingdom and the Liliit kingdom had instantly been ceased since there had been an immeasurable amount of casualties. Both kingdoms had sealed off their information networks and their recent war was soon shrouded in mystery.


    Rumors were the best source of information in the ranks of the Korick soldiers.


    "Hey did you hear?"


    "What, are you talking about the massacre at the Cordias walls?" A lanky soldier and a lightly pudgy soldier started up a conversation since they were already slacking off of work. They both were lazing around the rations and drinking week old ale.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Yeah yeah, I heard it was a an apostle of a goddess! They carried the wind in their hands and had weapons carved from the goddess herself!"


    "No, you got it all wrong! Ya see I''ve got connections with a Cordias soldier, and he was sayin'' that it was a child cloaked in pure white! My guess is that he is some prodigy of the Land of Sorcery; that place has always been extremely powerful and mysterious." The lanky man who had just spoke his hypothesis laid back trying to give off an all knowing image. The slightly pudgy soldier just laughed while spittle containing the stale bread he was hastily eat earlier flew everywhere.


    "Hahaha you think a child can have that power! Impossible, he was probably some old man and that connection of yours was just seeing it wrong!"


    "Hey, hey, quit hogging the bread! You can doubt me, but don''t take all the food!" The lanky man quickly snatched up the stale bread that was in the pudgy soldier''s hands.


    Suddenly two arms locked around the soldier''s necks and rested in their shoulders.


    "Hey you guys heard about Cordias?" An overly familiar man suddenly poked his head out from between them and eyed the ale greedily.


    "Ha! We know what you''re after John! No, you''re getting none of our alcohol! Go scavenge off of the others!" The pudgy soldier said in a furious attack of spit.


    "No, no, you misjudge me too soon you know. I just wanted to share my side of the story you know! Apparently there''s talk of a dragon appearing. And not just any dragon, it was an elder dragon!" The overly familiar soldier said proudly while sticking out his chest and slowing inching towards the bottle of ale. The two soldiers just looked at each other and started to laugh hysterically.


    "Hahahaha you hear that! He says it was a dragon! Hahaha that''s too funny!"


    "Hey is there something wrong with you! Hahaha dragons are myths, fairy tales, they are your imagination! Hahahaha! I bet he would believe it if I gave him a bow and arrow and tell him it was a ancient dragon slaying weapon!"


    "Hey, I killed a lizard just recently. Maybe I am now a dragon slayer!" The two broke into a series of gut clenching laughter while insulting the overly familiar man, who was leaving the area quickly with a bottle of ale in his hands. It wasn''t until later did they notice that they''ve been robbed.


    "That damn wastrel! He took our hard earned alcohol!" The two erupted in anger when they realized the overly familiar man was already long gone. They picked up their spears and raced after his trail. They ran outside into the cold night and found the man standing on top of one of the walls staring at them with a smile. A sudden shiver ran down their spine, but they put that into the back of their mind as they charged at the man.


    "I''m sorry to say this, but I guess this is where we part." They had almost reached the man when they heard these ominous words and the man''s eyes glowed purple for a second before he disappeared. They rubbed their eyes for a second trying to understand what he had done.


    "Did, did he every have the ability to go invisible?"


    "N,no, he just survived a couple of battles and then was stationed at security a long time ago. He should be a useless drunkard..." The pudgy soldier answered the lanky soldier''s question with a trembling voice. They both were trying to wrap their heads around what he had done.


    Swish


    Swish


    Suddenly they heard two undistinguishable noises and when they turned they saw the head of an arrow right before it pierced through their windpipes. They quickly lost the luster in their eyes as they both slumped to the floor in unison.


    Several black clothed figures appeared around the dead bodied and two of them stripped their clothes while putting on the Korick''s soldier''s armor. They threw the bodies in an inconspicuous place while tidying up their appearance.


    "You two stay here and monitor all their movements. Send a light if anything unexpected happens." A female voice rises out of one of the black clothed figures and leaves with the other five after giving orders.


    "Princess, the targets are coming up." A gruff voice comes out of another black clothed individual and he addresses the female.


    "Take aim...Fire." In a quick series of movements the two men in the back of the group pull out bows that were situated on their backs, notch an arrow, and release.


    Swish


    Swish


    Thud


    Thud


    The previous events repeated themselves over again till the group was reduced to only the female member and the gruff voiced individual.


    "Have your men secured the gates?" The female asked without looking towards the man.


    "Yes, we''re ready to move out on your command."


    "Good, go regroup and wait for my signal." The female turned and left; leaving the gruff voiced individual to travel on his own.


    The female landed lightly on the ceiling of a large building and removed her face veil. She had wild, short cut amber hair and sharp hazel eyes.


    "Princess Eliana." A familiar voice sounded out from the shadows and the overly familiar man showed himself. He was cloaked in a pitch black cloak that seemed to blend in with the night. He only exposed his head or else Eliana would have a troubling time finding him.


    "Tell Roen thanks for your help, but please let me do this on my own." Eliana spoke with a mixture of gratitude and brutality. She had resolved herself to rid the people who had tried to kill her, and didn''t want Roen to interfere. This was something she had to do on her own. The overly familiar man bowed and put on his hood quickly disappearing into the darkness.


    Once Eliana was left alone she pulled out a bow and arrow and attached a small piece of paper to the shaft of the arrow. After making sure it was secure she shot it in the direction of the gates of the Korick capital walls. She put back on her veil and turned towards the castle in the center of the city.


    "Let the Blood Hounds hunt well tonight." She gave an ominous declaration while her unhindered steps swayed towards the castle.

 Chapter 46- Revenge is Best Served Hot

    Chapter 46- Revenge is Best Served Hot


    Eliana moved like the wind as she traversed across the rooftops with ease. Each step propelled her 7 to 8 feet and she quickly arrived in front of a large mansion.


    She pulled out her dark red saber and a sinister light shined in her eyes. Each of her steps cracked the stone pavement beneath her feet. She was like a wild beast about to rip the enemy in front of her apart.


    She swung her saber and a blood red light flashed. The impressive 30 foot doorway split wide open and crashed loudly onto the ground. She strode forward and pointed the point of her saber in the direction of one of the rooms.


    "Come out you swine! Princess Eliana declares your life null and void!" Eliana''s arrogant words spurred some of the resting guards into action.


    Five of them rushed at her together completely unaware of the destroyed gates behind her. All of them were armed with shiny silver swords that appeared to be newly bought. They wore matching iron armors that hung loosely over their bodies.


    She moved like the wind and with one quick motion she appeared before the five in seconds. As they were startled by her instant speed a red line flew across their necks. She simply walked passed them after and strode towards the room she had pointed at. The five tried to stop her, but they couldn''t make a single move and then their line of sight fell lower and lower.


    Their headless bodies slumped to the floor with blood carelessly spilling out onto the ground.


    "Who do you think you are barging in here and recklessly killing my men!" An angry voice clearly infused with aura boomed out and the windows exploded into many shards. A bulky man jumped out of the window and landed in front of Eliana.


    "I''ll ask you again before I kill you, who are you?" The man''s eyes narrowed at Eliana since her black outerwear made her resemble an assassin more than a warrior.


    "Duke Lyon do you really not remember me?" Eliana spoke again while supplying aura into her muscles cracking the floor underneath her. She stored a massive amount of power into her legs as she was like a lion about to pounce on her prey.


    "No..."


    Boom!


    Before duke lyon could elaborate on his sentence Eliana suddenly rushed at him with a blinding speed. He was already prepared for her strike and he raised his sword up to catch her strike.


    Clang!


    The clashing of metal locked them together as both the sword and saber connected. The duke had a confident look on his face simply looking down on the fact that his attacker was a female. Eliana had expected such a result and quickly disengaged from a contest of strength.


    "Hahaha, hey woman I don''t know what you thought your chances of killing me would be, but they instantly dropped to zero when you decided to engage me in face to face combat." Duke Lyon laughed loudly, but still didn''t look down on his opponent. Although he knew he was stronger from that previous engagement, she had still held up against him for longer than he thought possible. He groaned at the fact that he offended such a powerful foe as he readied his body for the next strike.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Eliana cautiously circled around him looking to find any openings in his stance only to come up with nothing. She knew the constraints of the non materialized aura, so she carefully planned out what to do with as little explosive movements as possible. She lowered her stance and her blade tip cut into the loose dirt.


    "Haha giving up now, don''t worry I know how to treat a woman well." Duke Lyon grinned disgustingly while trying to taunt Eliana into any reckless attacks. He knew that a fighter who only relied on explosive movements would quickly run out of aura unless they had reached the realm of aura materialization. He saw her put her stance down, but he only grew even more cautious. He clearly knew this woman would rather die than surrender, so he presumed that she was trying to make him let his guard down.


    After believing he had cracked her trick, Eliana denied his claims by once again charging at him. The confidence in his defense was unmatched and he brought his sword up once again to perfectly block her attack.


    Swish!


    Suddenly she swung her saber, but she was too far to connect her saber with even his shadow. The duke was confused by her actions and was soon enlightened as dirt and gravel flew into his eyes! He tried to stay calm and use his other senses to find her. He found nothing.


    Stab! Crack!


    Then a sharp pain was felt in his sword arm. And then she disabled the arm completely when the twisted the saber inserted into his forearm. A small scream of pain ran out of the duke''s mouth right before Eliana quickly moved in and stabbed him in the abdomen.


    "Do you still not remember me? The princess you had wanted to kill, even conspired with her own country''s nobles to have erased, killed her friends and servants! All for what?! A war! Well here you go you''ve got yourself a war." Eliana had long since removed her veil and when the duke had a good look at her his eyes bulged out of their sockets. He had a hard time believed that a girl with no aura had survived an assassination attempt from a master of aura, and even became a extremely strong aura user herself. If he hadn''t seen it now he would''ve never believed something like this would be possible.


    Eliana had purposefully shown herself and declared war on him just to see the look in his eyes as she cut him down on equal terms. Then she added more aura into her saber as she slowly brought the blade up into his sternum.


    AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!


    Anguished cries rang out into the darkness, but Eliana still ruthlessly bisected him slowly savoring the revenge Roen had given to her. He had given her enough time to train her soldiers and plan her steps. Then he provided ample intel and distractions. It''d be a miracle if she had not succeeded. However she was not done, she still needed to cut of the head of the Korick kingdom! And finally end this conflict.


    She was sick of the two countries always at odds with each other and never making any decisive attacks. They were always making sure their manpower stayed equal with the enemy. They never wanted to make any gambles. Eliana didn''t like long drawn out conflict, and decided it would be best to get her revenge and kill the king in one fell swoop.


    She turned to look at the castle in the center of the city and a determined look flashed across her face. Screams and billowing columns of flame and smoke told her that her special unit was making their way to their destination. Her plan was proceeding perfectly and she pulled her veil back onto her face.


    Carefully blending into the night Eliana once again took off; this time her direction was to regroup with a small splinter squadron on standby.


    She reached a small inn in the middle of an inconvenient alleyway. Twelve men loitered about in similar black clothing. When they saw Eliana approach they all saluted and started to warm their bodies up.


    "You''re comrades are currently causing mass destruction in an attempt to distract as many people as possible, do not waste their sacrifices!" Eliana gave a short speech and moved out. The rest followed quickly behind her displaying the fact that they were amazingly all aura users!


    "Princess don''t you think this plan might be a little too, you know, simple?" A familiar gruff voiced individual sounded out his worries.


    "I remember a quote from my lover: simple is always better." Eliana responded without a hint of pause.


    "I don''t remember Roen being your lover princess..."


    "Oh it''s fine he just doesn''t know it yet." The princess declared in a commanding tone. And the friendly atmosphere that presented itself calmed everyone''s nerves for the task that they were about to undertake. To kill a king!

 Chapter 47- Shadows

    Chapter 47- Shadows


    The squad of thirteen advanced at an unreasonable pace clearly showing off their ability as aura users. They paused every now and again to not be caught by any patrols or soldier that were on their way towards the mass destruction the Blood Hounds were creating. The inferno they had kicked up now had consumed hundreds of of houses and buildings. It razed lives, buildings, and soldiers who strayed to close.


    The people were frantically trying to put it out and the guards around the capital were searching for the source while putting out as many flames as possible. Shouts and smoke dominated the air and chaos reined the atmosphere. And under this no one noticed a small group of thirteen pass by.


    Eliana and the twelve aura users reached the above standard walls that surrounded the castle in the center of the circular city. She gave a quick hand sign and three men with bows strapped to their back began to fire off arrows at the wall. Their arrows were abnormally quick and deeply inserted themselves into the stone wall.


    Eliana shot towards the wall while toting a long rope wrapped around her left shoulder. She jumped and grasped onto the first arrow lodged into the wall. Before the wooden shaft broke under her weight she kicked off the wall and grabbed the next arrow. She repeated this till she reached the top of the wall and tied the rope onto a large stone that stuck out from the top of the wall and threw the rest down the wall.


    The twelve saw this and moved one at a time and deftly climbed up the rope. The slight noises they made attracted a couple of guards to their direction, but they were all effortlessly cut down by Eliana before they could even make a sound. As soon as the twelve all made it up the wall Eliana gave a couple of hand signs and the group split up into two equal groups of six.


    The two groups separated in two opposite directions; one going left while the other advanced right. Eliana joined the group in right which started to head deeper into the palace. The group that went left quickly started to dispatch guards stationed on the walls while splitting off every time they killed one and taking their uniform and manning the position of the man they just killed.


    Eliana''s group had a greatly slowed speed as they fanned out and accompanied the shadows as they scoured the innards of the royal palace. They purged any unlucky guard or noble they came across and kept searching any rooms they came across. The stench of blood increased as their uninterrupted slaughter continued. However their conquest was going too well.


    Eliana had first noticed that there was no aura users as they made their way in, and she quickly motioned for everyone to stop. They heeded her motions and began to retreat. They moved swiftly as if they were born in the shadows and quickly made their way out of the palace. When they reached the outside there was no more sounds of screams and the inferno that had burned with no end was gone as it never existed to begin with.


    Then four lights shot up in the sky! They were the places that Eliana had originally placed her soldiers to stand watch.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Something is going wrong, quickly retreat! Regroup with the others if you can." Eliana hurriedly commanded the six behind her and they quickly ran towards where the other six had gone.


    Suddenly an immense pressure descended down on Eliana and she nearly blanked out from it. Four silhouettes stood around Eliana and looked at her with a condescending glare.


    They all were cloaked in a similar black fitting cloth. One of them held a black sphere in his hand that appeared to be vibrating fiercely.


    "So is this the one master wants?" One of the black figures spoke in an annoyingly high male voice.


    "Apparently, well master wants her lover, so he sent us thinking that she''ll have guards. Although she had a ton of small fry, there were twelve good one in her entourage." A female voice rang out from one of the black figures and spoke some ominous words.


    "What did you do to my soldiers?!" Eliana couldn''t stand their arrogant and yelled at them in her rage.


    "Watch your tone. You do not have the right to know, all you need to do is obediently come with us!" The man with the black sphere aggressively spoke and a grey aura exuded into his surroundings signifying that he had mastered aura materialization! Eliana sucked in a cold breath of air when she saw this and she went silent. She knew that they could easily kill her, so her revenge would have to wait.


    "Fine." Eliana spoke through gritted teeth and submitted to them for now.


    "Wow, she gave up easily!" The female voice rang out again.


    "I expected her to immediately attack us thinking we killed her comrades though." A disappointed male voice rang from the same one. At this point Eliana had confirmed the genders of three of them while the fourth one remained silent the entire time.


    "We did kill most of them though! Hahaaha it was fun, we did let some away we should have a game while we hunt them down!" The annoying male voice came out again and Eliana had to grit her teeth at their clear provocation.


    "I''m sorry to interrupt your fun, but I should inform you that I''m here to stop your antics." A overly familiar voice interrupted everyone''s thoughts and a figure wearing a cloak of darkness emerged out of Eliana''s shadow.


    "Who are you?" The man holding the black sphere asked in a voice containing much apprehension. He sensed a dangerous feeling from this new arrival. And the fact that he had been so close and still be undetectable shocked the four.


    "Ah don''t worry I forgot my name when I was given a new life by my master. I am less than a servant to my master, more like a pawn." The shadow cloaked figure spoke once again and disappeared in a bunch of black smoke.


    Stab!


    "What the hell..." The annoyingly high voiced male was suddenly pierced through the chest by his shadow. The life from his eyes slowly dissipated and he slumped to the floor.


    "A moment of carelessness can lead to death." A figure rose out of the dead man''s shadow and wagged his finger in disappointment.


    Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!


    The wind stirred up from the three remaining arrogant people as they all materialized their aura. A grey aura wrapped around the man with the black sphere while a red aura surrounded the other two. They had long since abandoned their previous demeanors and carefully watched his movements now.


    "Do you not know who we are?! We are disciples from the Lands of Sorcery!" The female screamed in her anger which enlightened Eliana on her attackers.


    "Oh~ so that''s who you are. Well then on that note, I don''t have to hold back." The shadow cloaked figure suddenly turned into a wispy purple humanoid shape. His body grew larger and two deep purple light shone at where his head should be.


    "You''ll regret your decision." The woman gnashed her teeth as she spoke and the red aura surrounding trembled as she spoke.


    "It is impossible for me to regret." The shadow spoke in a deep baritone.

 Chapter 48- The Black Sphere

    Chapter 48- The Black Sphere


    ~ P.O.V. Of Eliana ~


    I had my suspicions for the origins of the four, and when they had claimed that they came from the Lands of Sorcery I eased up a little. I knew Roen was heading there to find what he wanted to know. If I was captured I would just have to endure. I had resolved myself then the shadow that I contacted Roen through appeared.


    He was an unreasonable existence just like him. I knew Roen was getting stronger and stronger so much that I found it hard pressed to catch up to him. I wanted to follow him, but looking at the writhing mass of purple darkness confronting three aura materialization users I could only give a sigh.


    "Princess if you don''t mind, could you step away for awhile. This might get a little rough." The deep voice of the shadow echoed into my ears and I followed his advice. I backed up several feet and started to run off to the direction where I had sent the six from earlier.


    ------------------------------------------


    "Hey our target is getting away!" The female spoke out loud again. She was already enraged at the entire situation and even losing one of their own, and then if their target gets away they would lose all respect.


    "Don''t worry we just need to deal with that." The man holding the sphere said trying to calm her down while motioning towards their other stoic member. The wordless man suddenly shot towards the writhing shadow after receiving the signal.


    His red aura that surrounded him formed into two spirals that rotated around his fists. Then his right hand shot forward sending a ball of red aura at the shadow. It seemed to cause friction in the air and a trail of fire was created in it''s wake.


    BOOM!


    A fiery explosion engulfed the writing shadow and it''s silhouette was lost in the sea of flames. The black figure who had caused this was just standing motionless gazing at the rising flames.


    "That!? Wasn''t that partial aura condensation!?" The female voiced out her surprise and instantly forgot about the shadow. She still had a covering on her face which had concealed her face full of shock.


    "Don''t be surprised, this zombie is just a simple creation of master. He said he had used a small part of his soul to create such a monstrosity!" The man holding the black sphere said with hints of disdain towards his female companion. He had loathed her overly confident attitude as it was only a crutch in critical situations.


    "Come back we need to fin..."


    "Hey, don''t forget about me now." A human figure walked out of the sea of flames. He held no features on his body. The only thing they could recognize him by was the two purple lights that shined where his eyes should be. His body was completely black as if the night had consumed him. It was only if they looked closely could they even see his shape.


    His steps weren''t even the least bit faltered from the flame. He held out his right arm parallel to the ground and pointed it at the female. She grew increasingly nervous about what this monster was going to do and she encased her body in a think red aura.


    "Useless tactics." The black shadow spat out and his arm turned into a black spear that shot towards the female. She moved her aura in front of her in an attempt to black the attack.


    Then as if the spear was composed of millions of different organisms it''s sides all flowed and curved around her red aura. A grey aura pervaded the air and came in front of the path of the two different streams of black substance. However their efforts proved to futile as the streams split again and curved around the grey aura.


    Stab!


    The black streams all cut into the woman and killed her before she had a chance to scream in pain.


    "And then there was one." The black shadow scoffed at the man holding the black sphere.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "What do you mean isn''t there still two?"


    "I don''t count puppets. Besides as long as as I kill the puppeteer it''ll all end."


    "Yes, yes, true." The man holding the black sphere was already standing over the body of the dead female. The black sphere was shining a sinister light and vibrating vigorously.


    "Come back." The human puppet shot to the side of the man with the black sphere. Then before the black shadow had a chance to intervene the man shoved the vibrating black sphere into the chest of the human puppet.


    "What, what did you just do?!" The black shadow had some idea to what that was since his master was Roen. However he had not expected the sphere to suddenly jump from barely active to about to release a Nightmare race after it had absorbed the soul of the female aura materialization user. He quickly pounced at the two in an attempt to stop the worst from happening.


    His body formed several spears of darkness that flew at the two as he charged. However he had underestimated his opponents and the gray aura simply shrugged off the black spears. The black shadow instantly understood that the man had allowed him to kill the woman so her could harvest her soul.


    He picked up his pace and his purple eyes glowed even fiercer that ever. He knew his soul was connected to the other fourteen and he could draw power and strength from them if he wished. He had drawn enough to almost shatter his own human host, but that didn''t matter at the moment. He had to destroy the black sphere before the Nightmare race inside was released.


    Crack! Crack crack crack! Crack!


    A series of cracks broke the black shadow''s resolve. The black sphere in the chest of the human puppet shattered and the pieces entered the flesh of the it in an entirely gruesome fashion. However it kept it''s stoic face like usual.


    That was until it''s skin started to boil and bubble. It''s features twisted, it''s bones cracked and pierced through it''s skin forming a series of thick hallow cylinders that jutted out from it''s back and elbows. It''s eyes turned a sickening green color and the black cloth wrapping it was torn asunder revealing a body with writhing muscles and hallowed bones sticking out here and there. The hair on it''s head was slowly replaced by smaller hallow bones that formed into a sort of apparatus and covered it''s face once again.


    "Hoo~ to think I''d be lucky enough to get a body when I came through!" A incredibly raspy voice came through the apparatus and the surroundings immediately quieted down.


    "Hey help me kill this guy quickly!" The man with the grey aura suddenly commanded the monstrosity.


    "Hahahaha, why should I help a weakling like yourself. Sorry but I have other plans to attend to, so help yourself." The raspy voice coldly spoke and turned to leave. However it soon realized it couldn''t move it''s body. It quickly reassessed it''s new body and a deep anger burned in it''s green eyes.


    "Despicable! You use such an evil method to use corpses as a puppet!" The raspy voice was now filled with an unbridled anger, but it was helpless in the situation.


    "That''s right, and I also can terminate your body and soul with a simple thought, so you should show me some more respect! Oh and just so you know if I die you die as well." The man had an increase in confidence when he knew the monster was on his side.


    "Damn! To think that I, a great Toxsius, would fall to a simply puppet! Hey no hard feelings I don''t have anything against you, but I can''t really move my own body the way I want right now." The Toxsius spoke towards the black shadow and held out his left palm and a hallow bone cylinder was jutting out from the middle of his hand. A light green gas started to leak out from every single hallow bone that pierced through his skin and wherever that gas touched it would start to bubble over and liquify.


    "Toxsius Script!" Following the Toxsius'' chant the light green gas started to condense into liquid and gather around his left arm. Then it formed the rough shape of a lance and the light green color slowly turned into a sinister dark green.


    "I guess this is as far as I can make it for now..." The Toxsius seemed to be evaluating himself and he casually threw the dark green lance. Despite the casual toss the lance instantly turned into a blur and inserted itself right next to the black shadow.


    The black shadow didn''t even have a chance to see the lance. He looked nervously at the area where the spear was inserted. The ground was smoking and disgustingly bubbling while the lance still retained it''s shape perfectly despite it''s liquid nature. Is he had been hit by that he would''ve been killed instantly.


    "Hey! What the hell, I asked you to kill him not miss him!" The man started to yell hysterically at the Toxsius after he had seen that the lance had missed.


    "Stop yelling, geez he couldn''t be any more dead. He is standing so close to me and my lance, so he is already contaminated with so much of my poison that even his soul will erode at this point. You''re only alive because my body won''t let me." The Toxsius spoke with pride at his poison and the dark green lance shot back to his hand and entered his body through the hallow bones.


    After the Toxsius spoke the black shadow felt that he had lost control of his body and fell to the ground. The darkness that had covered him started to bubble up and erode away slowly. He knew death was coming, so he gave up on resisting and hoped that Eliana had made it a safe distance away.


    "Alright now that that annoyance is gone, let us go after our real target." The man eagerly spoke and wanted to return back to his hunt for Eliana. The Toxsius took one last look at the dying shadow and he felt a familiar feeling from him.


    "This soul signature..." He couldn''t quite remember what he forgot and before he could think any further on the matter he was forced to follow after the man.