Part 1.

  An ominous auburn light burned the evening sky, heat and smoke filled the air of a small village located deep in the countryside. The whinny of horses, clangs of iron and screams of terror resonated all around.

  The normally quiet hamlet was home to less than fifty people, it was no more than a blimp on any local map, neigh invisible on the greater maps of the world, but this village held a deep secret that even the locals didn’t know about. This village had become a refuge for a long-lost line of nobility from a far away land. Outcasts and shunned by their own kind, they made an arduous journey across the western sea, and landed on the continent of Andorius.

  Andorius was a continent that consisted of primarily Humes, it was to such a degree that for every, one non-Hume, there were four hundred and ninety-nine Humes. This meant that most people, especially those who you would find in this tiny village, had never even laid eyes on a non-Hume before. Which is what made this rather unsuspecting and rather insignificant settlement so worthwhile. This village had become the home to three non-Humes, without the townsfolk ever even realizing.

  First there was the male, Kenzō, a large strapping man with a wide frame, short cropped black hair, and narrow eyes. He was a man of very few words, but always helpful to everyone around whenever they needed some extra muscle.

  Next was Tamamo, a beautiful slender woman. She too had dark hair, but it was long and silky. Unlike the man that was with her, she often looked rather frail and dainty. She was more sociable than Kenzō, but never really strayed too far from the home, as her main duty was to take care of the child, they had with them.

  The final member of the troupe was a small child. She was called Ina, by those around her. When they first appeared at the village, she was extremely tiny and frail, as if she had just been born. After a few years though, she had seemed to have grown rather quickly. She was sociable and full of life, often playing with the local children, who had taken to calling her ‘big sis’, due to ‘victory at the mill’ over the biggest boy in town Adim.

  The three had settled in nicely in the quaint distant part of the world and had planned on living a life away from all the troubles of the outside world. That was until that night the knights came. It was in the middle of the night when everyone who was of good nature was resting their heads, when loud thumps and neighing were heard outside, then light and smoke ran through the village and fire broke out.

  Without warning the wooden door to their home was smashed in and two men, plated and armed with sword and shield pushed their way inside. Kenzō leapt from the bed and bound on one of the intruders. His muscular build, not just for show, the force of his assault was enough to shatter the man’s ribs through his armor. He then quickly leapt back to avoid the strike of the other man’s blade, and squared himself against his opponent, who lifted his shield in an attempt to ward off another attack.

  Kenzō motioned to Tamamo to make an escape. She rushed from the bed towards the small child, who was standing at the foot of her bed, too in shock to make a sound. Wrapping the young girl in the linen from her bed, she picked her up, showing a surprising amount of strength for her small build. She crashed out the back door and bolted towards the village fence. She had gone but three strides before she heard yelling behind her, and a troop of men bathed in torchlight came running after her. Choosing not to look back, she increased her pace, moving faster than anyone had the right to. She rounded the corner of the miller’s house to see the back gate of the village, and the two mounted soldiers that stood guard. If she could just get past them, she could lose them in the wild.

  Back inside their home Kenzō tangled with the remaining soldier. He had kept a sword in the house for protection, but he couldn’t look away from his opponent to fetch it, and the sword of the other knight lay behind his assailant and beyond his reach. He had made a few attempts to trade blows already, but the shield was in fact doing its job well, and without the initiative he had at the beginning of the fight, this warrior was planning to just exhaust him before landing a finishing blow. The only real option Kenzō could think of was to shift and attack him with all of his might. To give him that opening, he grabbed the nearby chair and lugged it at his enemy. The momentary opening that this gave him, he lunged forward and kicked the knight back out the door on his rump.

  Using this space of time, Kenzō began shifting, his body grew larger, and fur came out from under his skin, ripping it. His mouth and nose began to stretch and became elongated, with fangs replacing teeth and a snout forming. His eye color changed from dark brown almost black beads and into pale blue discs. The transformation had lasted but just a second or two, any longer and it would have been more of a hinderance than a useful ability for warfare. He walked toward the downed man, who’s eyes were watering with fear, and the distinct scent of urine could be smelled by Kenzō’s very sensitive nose. Without hesitating, he lunged his claws through the plate and into the mans abdomen, then quickly turning and moving up, and crushing the mans heart inside his chest. When he retracted his arm from inside the man, he gave a simple quick shake, removing the blood from his dark fur.

  Kenzō stepped outside his door, there in the middle of the village, the inhabitants had been corralled and bound, waiting for whatever fate had instore for them. Their eyes were glued to the beast that was calmly walking outside of the home of their newest family. The raiders grouped in mass around Kenzō, who was unfazed, and simply eyed them all down, numbering the order in which he planned to slaughter them. He extended his claws and before anyone could react, they were inside one of the soldiers. The man next to him lunged forward, only to then be sliced in two across his midsection.

  The armor was like a thin layer of paper before his claws, and his speed and power greatly exceeded what any of these men were capable of. He had one goal in mind, cause enough of a commotion that it would draw all the men to him. If he killed them all he won, if he didn’t, as long as the girls could get away he still won. All was going well until he heard a cry from behind him. A woman, in a tattered garment, was dragged from a horse. Behind one of the men, a small child, hands bound behind her was slung over the horse. The moment that Kenzō had thought he could win, he realized he had in fact already lost. The sight of this provided the men the moment they needed, and together the pounced on the wolf, who had up unto this point been in absolute control. He didn’t even wince as the men repeatedly ran their swords in and out of his body, blood spilling from him in torrents. Even when his body dropped lifeless to the floor his eyes never left the disheveled woman, who could only weep tears and gnash her teeth at the knights.

  The two men dismounted their horses, smiling and laughing at their conquest. One of them took their sword from the scabbard, went up to the corpse and brought it down, decapitating the head from the body. It was then impaled on a spear and hoisted in the air, too much jubilation. Another man went over to the remains, exposed his tool and pissed on the corpse with a haughty laugh. The man who decapitated the fallen warrior started to give orders to the other soldiers, who then rushed around and started killing villagers. If they were old or were male, there was no mercy.

  The bound woman, who had been quiet in her grief up to this point let out a wail of grief and anger. She too began to change forms, growing slightly taller, fuller, revealing dark violet fur, and sprouting three long beautiful tails tipped with a shade of baby blue. Her bonds could not contain her, nor her rage over the loss of her comrade. Unlike her comrade who was a full fledged warrior, she flung spells from the tips of her tails at her adversaries. Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, all matter of elements were at her disposal. She launched a full assault against the men, who were unprepared for such an assault.

  She quickly had the upper hand, but in a contest with magic, the key is monitoring your magic use, so as to not run out. Something that, in her fury, she neglected. It wasn’t terribly long before the men, hiding behind anything that they were able to find, where now in a position to retaliate, and Tamamo knew this. In her final moments she turned around toward the child, who was only half conscious and whispered.

  “I am sorry sweety. Live for all of us.” As the spears came close, her body vanished in light, which shot up, then disappeared into the child. The child could cry for only a second, before her voice was snuffed out with a knock on head from the butt of a sword. The remaining men, then divided up the women and chose homes for themselves. That night the village was burned off the face of the world, and its existence, which had largely gone unnoticed by any authority, vanished before it could ever be added to any maps.

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Part 2.

  “How could you save the world, if you are just a fake Hero!?” groaned a clergyman from the side. “The summon has failed. The world is doomed!” he cried out.

  “Quickly my lord. We must make an example of him, to appease the people, and allow us to try again.” Screamed another man of the cloth.

  I stared up at the lord from atop his dais, in his highchair. “If you don’t think I can do it, challenge me. Let me go a few rounds with one of your knights. Minus the big grizzly at your side, I have a feeling he isn’t actually human.” I said with a smile on my face.

  There was no smile on the lord’s face, his eyes were cold, and calculating. Our stare down seemed to go on and on. ‘Royden.” He boomed.

  “Sir!” said a voice at the back of the group of martial men on my left. Out stepped a man, just a few centimeters taller than myself, and not much older than my current age. He was well built, nearly a full stone heavier, and wore it well. His beard was groomed, and full, with strong facial features.

  “Royden, you will, and Mr. Satō will display your martial prowess before the court. If you have the chance to, kill him. If you can do that, he wasn’t much a Hero then.” The Prince finished with a wave of his hand. Unlike what my world had prepared me for with tales of gallant knights and their duels. There was no salute, there was no exchange of names, just a sword, swung right at my head.

  I ducked and dodged his blows, left, right, above, center. His sweeping attacked my legs, which I jumped over to the side, giving me more distance and an angle on him. I returned with my own sweep across his mid-section. He didn’t even bother to move or parry, instead believe the armor to take the blow, but just before I strike connected, the mana that I had been building up in my hand revealed a metal rod, which rang true against his plate metal, and echoed throughout the hall.

  It was more of a surprise than the pain that afflicted him. No doubt he had never seen someone magically summon a weapon in the middle of the fight. To call it summoning, though, would be incorrect. One of the abilities that I asked for was Mastery Over Matter, this means that I could create, manipulate or destroy anything which I know has mass. This ability though, had to be broken up into three separate abilities and would all level individually. However, this did mean that I could create basically anything I needed, when I needed it, given I still had the magic for it. To put that into perspective, I created an iron rod, and my magic dropped from 25 -> 15. So, in its current state, this ability still had a lot of room for growth.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  While parry attack became easier with a weapon, it was quickly obvious that my hunk of metal was outclassed by his forged blade. As a flurry of blows came in, I closed the distance, with the rod, blocking the blade, and with my free hand, grabbing onto his arm. I adjusted my stance, throwing one leg back between his, closing the hold on his arm with my other, which had by now dropped my weapon, and threw him over my shoulder and onto his back. I then followed him down, while channeling mana in my hand, touching his armor, it vanished. He was now helpless under me, with no protection, his weapon out of reach, and at my mercy.

  Looking up at the lord I said, “Shall I continue, and pummel your man to death, or shall we call it here?” I really had no desire to kill a man that had done no wrong and was simply following his lord’s order. Hordin hesitated for a second, but then waved his hand, issuing an end to the duel. “Umm... sorry about your armor, you’re going to need a new set.” I said, reaching out a hand to help him up. He took it, rose quickly, turned to his lord, and bowed.

  “So it is apparent that you can fight, Ryoden wasn’t a handicap, he is one of the better duelists in my employ. You have convinced me of your courage, but will it be enough to accomplish your task.” Said Hordin sternly.

  “Well, currently, no. Frankly, after that I am quite tired. I haven’t practiced any form of martial arts in at least a decade, only been a scrap twice since, so… I’m out of practice.” I replied while trying to catch my breath. “Luckily Vathsvala was kind enough to turn back the years on my body, so I’ll be able to adjust fairly quickly. Plus, I know that this isn’t a system that is usually used with you fine folk, but in Hero’s terms, I’m still only level one. So, plenty of room to grow.” I said, brandishing my trademark smile.

  “Vardi is this true!?” questioned Hordin, surprise and doubt in his voice.

  “Yes sir, tha-that is cor-correc-correct sir.” Stuttered the clergyman still at the bottom of the dais, holding the oversized book.

  “Is this a surprise? I’m brand new to this.” I asked aloud.

  “Both Hero’s before were summoned at a level of 10, and already had the stats that were the pinnacle of human effort, but in every area. They were smarter. Stronger, wiser than anyone else on the planet. And they came here at a level comparable to their age. You though, you come at level one, yet you already have the ability to challenge men who have been training for warfare for nearly two decades. Not to mention, a will power that far exceeds anyone I have met.” Hordin finished by stroking his beard and losing himself in thought.

  “Umm… I am a bit confused by the last part, my willpower?” I said with a raised hand.

  “The entire time since you have been in this room, I have been trying to break your will with my ‘Commander Authority’ ability. If it had worked, with but a simple command, you would be on your knees, and subservient to my will. Yet every time that I tried it, it would fail and bounce back at me. You have an incredibly power will.” Hordin said.

  “Huh… well that could be because of a few things. I am American, and we can be pretty thick-headed, once we get the idea to do something, you can bet we are going to do it, even if it pisses off everyone else in the room. Essentially you tell me to do something I don’t want to do, you will never get me to do it, and you try to tell me not to do something I want to do, I will go through you to do it. The point is, only one woman… two women have ever made me do anything I didn’t want to do, and neither of them exist in this world.” I said with my first two fingers raised in the air.

  “All you need to know is that that means, I’m a really angry dog, who has no leash. I came here to accomplish very specific tasks given to me by the Gods. Afterward, I will look to claim my reward.” I continued. Hordin quickly shot a glance over to the young woman next to him. “No, not the princess! She is too young. It would be like sleeping with one of my daughter’s friends…” I responded, giving a shake at the idea.

  “What I will need from you, however, is some assistance. I will need someone to accompany me, and help me grind up some levels.” I said with a smirk.

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Part 3.

  Standing on a hillside I could overlook the city in its entirety. In the distance a large lake could be seen, the sunlight glistening off the water. The city itself was built in layers. The old city, which was at the very heart and surrounded the castle’s outer walls, actually had the newest buildings. It was where the nobility and ultra-wealthy made their home. It itself was surrounded by a large thick wall, and had gates in each of the cardinal directions, this was the original city wall, which was well maintained to this day.

  Then you had a large section of the city which was divided into three parts. You had the Cathedral district in the east, while the head of the church himself stayed inside his castle apartments, he made the occasional visit for holy services to the large cathedral in the middle city. In the west, was the military district, now each part of the city had a barracks of its own, allowing for even stationing of guards and soldiers all around, but this section included training grounds, forges, fletchers, as well as the magic academy, where young students would make the trip to train their magical talents. As for the north and southern sections, they were for the general population, storefronts lined the main ways, with homes and apartments tucked further in. The decorations, while not as elaborate as in the old city, were nothing to scoff at, as the merchant guild spent plenty of coin to spruce up the place.

  Now for the new town, this was the dregs of the otherwise beautiful cityscape. They were where the poorest found shelter and where the uncivilized made a living. They were in four parts, in the intermediary directions, this limited travel of the people in and out of them. They were also closed off sections without an exit, other than in to the middle city, guarded by large study gates and portcullis. This allowed for a way to control what was considered to be, the undesirable population, as well as creating large screens on massive parts of the outer wall, which was so thick in each of the cardinal directions, your only choices where to attack the gates and sacrifice many men, or to scale the walls and hope your party could get gates open. Those who thought that they could use one of the new towns, would only find themselves in a massive killing zone to archer fire and magic bombardment.

  “I’ll give it to you, Faustus is a pretty impressive city, and it is only the fifth largest city in the world?” I asked.

  “Yes, Agerdoria, the Imperial Capital is by far the largest, that we can say. While by reports, it beats Kyogo, the historic capital of the Beastmen, we only know of old records of the Dwarf city Dwaldwell, since all non-Dwarves have been barred entry, and any and all information is strictly monitored. So, until some Dwarf spills the beans… Agerdoria is the largest. There is also Makshebaha to the far north on the Eastern continent in the Sandsea. Due to lucrative deals with traders from all over the world, it grew into a grand city next to the Deep Oasis. I don’t know why anyone would willing live in a desert though.” Grumbled Royden.

  “I hear you, personally I hate the sand. Part of the reason why in all those years when I was younger, I never bothered visiting the beach in my back yard. Sand just seems to get everywhere. The view was nice, but I may have visited it twice, in seven years.” I said with a sigh, remembering a more youthful time.

  “It is weird to hear someone like you talk about day past, considering how old you look.” Quipped Royden.

  “Tell me about, first thing I notice when I got to my lodgings in the castle. When I looked in the mirror, the face I saw was way different. Goodbye to my greys! Hello young boyish good looks!” I chimed.

  “You also don’t seem to speak like the age you say. At least that matches your looks though.” He added.

  “I think it had something to do with Vathsala’s rewind. It is more than just my looks that seemed to be rewound. I have tons more energy, and there are times when my body and mind don’t necessarily agree, if you know what I mean.” I said nudging him.

  “I don’t follow…” he responded.

  “Alright, truth is, the princess is really pretty. On the inside I am like hey, she is too young, and If I was in my old body, no problem. Except in this body, the thought of the princess… is well… exciting.” I said coyly.

  “I see, then the princess may be a good reward for you. HAHAHA” He chuckled loudly as we walked to the east, where the largest forest in the world extended itself just far enough to almost kiss the city of Faustus.

  Stepping inside the forest was like jumping into yet another world. The air was musty, the canopy was dense, giving little room for light to permeate through. Looking around at the trees, they were thick, and tall, even the ones on the border.

  “This forest is old.” I stated.

  “Yes, legend has is that the forest predates all living things. That the Earth Goddess made her bed here, and that the trees grew up all around her, giving her a blanket to keep her warm in the cold nights.” Royden added.

  “Are you a strong believer?” I asked.

  This was a rather rhetorical question, considering unlike in my own world, there gods here were very active in the running of the world. They very much existed, being that I just spent the last year with one of them, and on occasion four others would also show up.

  “Yes. I believe all the gods are there. My patron is Ternora, the Earth Goddess. She is like a beautiful kind mother who cares for all her children. She has provided us with this glorious land for us to build our homes and live our lives, and our fields with bountiful harvests to fill our bellies. Ternora is a great Goddess.” He preached on.

  “She is also an incredibly heavy drinker. She was the one god that I never could quite get a grasp on. All she ever did was smile and drink.” I thought quietly.

  “Gotcha. Yeah, she sure seemed quite motherly when I spent time with her.” I chuckled.

  “Tell me, what was she like!?” He begged.

  “Well…” I was interrupted by a sound coming from the nearby brush.

  Both of us stood there, hands poised on the hilts of our blades, waiting for the next move to be made. This time around I chose to take some weaponry, and some basic light armor with me. Nothing fancy and nothing that would bog me down either. I was always a nimble fighter who preferred to not get hit rather than just weather the blows.

  Just as we relaxed our stance a large rodent of a rather unusual size lunged forward from the bush. I rushed forward to meet it, drawing my blade. As we closed in, it cut to the left, and sent its tail at me, I raised the short sword with two hands, fending the blow and making a jagged slice in the rodent’s tail. Which then gave a blood gurgling shriek and turned toward me to strike with its paws this time. While its attention was on me though, Royden had skirted around the battlefield and launched an attack from its flank, slicing at his hindquarters. Due to the new wound and unable to continue his intended attack it tried to make a break for the brush, but the weight of its large body was too much for just one good leg, and it proved to be a fruitless attempt. I came up from the side, shoving my blade between his shoulder blades, giving it a twist once it had sunken deep. One loud howl, followed by a weak one and finally it lay dead.

  “Congratulations on your first kill.” Said Royden patting me on the back. I returned with a clap on his bicep.

  “One down… many more to go. At least we have dinner.” I joked.

  His smile assured me that my joke was spot on.

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Part 4.

  “Yes sir. All is going according to plan. They should be attacking the village tonight.” Said a quiet whisper.

  “Good… good.” Responded a short plump man. He wore the most ostentatious of clothing imaginable, a doublet with gold embroidery, a wool jerkin encrusted lavishly in gemstones, as well as a red over gown. He wore a large gold chain which was attached to the over gown from one shoulder to the other, in the center was a large ruby which should have hung, but instead was taught against a large, oversized ruff that lay around his neck. His pearl white hose stretched up from over polished leather shoes and disappeared into the opening of his doublet.

  “Send this to the men. Once they have had their fun, take the girl to Faustus. I will enjoy her there. They are not to spoil her; I will not have my time ruined by their carelessness.” He barked. With that, the owner of the whisper left to complete his mission. “I am so excited. I have never had a beast girl before.” He exclaimed.

  Picking up a bell from his desk, he rang it twice. In entered a maid, she was young, blond, and wore a sorrowful face, which winced at each and every move the man made.

  “Is our guest who told us about the village still within the manor?” He asked.

  “Yes, Lord Platz. He is resting the in the guest room as we speak.” She quickly responded. Fearing to keep the lord waiting for even a second longer than needed.

  “Good…good. Have Phillip go see him. I think he will enjoy that.” He chuckled

  The girl winced at the mere mention of the name, but she bowed low and quickly left the room.

  “Good…good. Everything is good. Tomorrow we will head for the capital. One last meeting with the pathetic Prince. If all goes as planned this realm will be mine!” He cheered alone.

  “It seems all is well.” Said a voice in the room. It came from nowhere and everywhere all at the same time.

  “My lord!” Platz said, now kneeling in the middle of the room. “What is your desire?”

  “A report on your progress, Gluttony.” It asked authoritatively.

  “The group has been located; the jewel should be within hand soon.” Platz said with reverence.

  “Wonderful news. I can feel it, my return is coming. Long have I waited to feel the wind on my face, and the earth at my feet. The feel of the warmth on my skin and water in my hands.” The voice said coolly. “I will now go check on Pride. Do not stray from the plan Platz.” It warned.

  “Of course, my lord. Soon…soon we will be able to bask under your glorious rule.” Said the kneeling, Margrave.

  The voice was gone, and the air in the room cleared up, the short man rushed to his desk, grabbed the bell and rang it three times. Instantly, in came a maid and chef with a full plater.

  “I need a snack!”