Note: The Gods and Goddesses used in this work are creations resulting from a collab between myself, Wraith, Shinobis, EnaiKirai, Dark, Naoki, and others. These can be found in a Google Doc which I can link in the comments (if asked for), and are free to use for anyone. The ones used in my work will be mainly of my creation, but I will note that they are available to use for anyone.
Sorry for the (really) late chapter btw, went all out on world creation. 20 pages so far, half of that is on just magick theory XD
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I darted forward, dodging the wooden sword that swung down on me and entering into my opponents guard, standing on tip toe to grab his collar and bring down his neck to meet my wooden short sword. He dropped his weapon down, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm no match for the young master." He said, laughing nervously. I was currently training with the knight's in my family's guard. Of course, they were telling the truth when they said so. I was already five and completely dominating the knights. When I first sparred with a knife, he didn't take me seriously... until he was kissing the stone floor. After doing this to the next 10 knights who tried to get the best of me, they stopped messing around and acknowledge my superior skills.
My father had declared me a naturally born warrior and given me to the head of guard to train- an expert of the S rank. For your information, ranks go from F to A, and then special ranks consist of S, SS, and SSS. Those with the rank of S are no more than twenty people in the world, while those ranking SSS can be counted on one hand (at least to the knowledge of the general masses). Monsters were also ranked similarly, although magic beasts of the same rank as a warrior are usually slightly stronger than that warrior. This is due to some special constitution of their body or some such complicated nonsense.
As such, it can be said that the head of our guard happened to be extremely powerful. As expected from a noble family who just barely lost to the king in terms of influence. On that note, I decided it was time to stop training and get ready. We would be heading to the Kingdom's capital, Caelin, named after the High God of Creation. It would usually take two weeks by carriage to reach the capital, but since only myself and father were going, we would be taking the dragon. That's right, dragon. It seems that dragons these days have really fallen low. Now weaker breeds were subject to the whims of sentient races such as humans, elves, dwarves, demons, and other such peoples. They were used as couriers and transport, as well as mounts, although only available as so to select people and the Dragon Bound- contractors of dragons who ride them into battle.
With the dragon, a two week journey would turn into a two day one. We would be staying at the capital itself for three weeks. I already had all the clothes packed, now I just needed something to take up my time. Like books. Or... books. Even though I had grown, my desire for new books still hadn't changed. I already finished off all of the books in our library and was currently three fourths of the way through the new books I had gotten on my fifth birthday, which had been a month and a half earlier.
"Big Brutha!!" A little baby came toddling into my room as I was scanning through book titles, roughly a year or so younger than myself. He had curly and sleek black hair paired with storm gray eyes and chubby cheeks. Only a blind man would be unable to perceive how adorable he was. The baby, Raoult, had become extremely attached to me. As in, the first words he said had been "Big Brutha", and the next ones being "rain" or more precisely, my name, "Raine". This caused my father to be positively heartbroken for a good month afterwards. I had also garnered some anger from the first wife, and damn can she be scary when she's angry. She has this smile on but you can just tell from her aura that she wants to strangle you to death. It reminded me of my mother in my previous life... I still break out into a cold sweat just thinking about it.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"What shall this servant of yours do for you young master?" I asked politely, my voice smooth as I bowed to Raoult with a flourish. He giggled and clapped, patting my head of fluffy white hair.
"Big Brutha play with me!" He said, hands on his hips.
"I apologize, but I am unable to comply. This one has to engage in a previous arrangement, please do forgive me." I replied. Although I treated him well, and like the heir he was (or should be), I wouldn't spoil him, especially not to the point that it interfered with the activities of myself. Additionally, a spoiled noble is no good! To surpass myself in terms of ability, he must be flawless. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. So far his performance was pretty good, and he was intelligent, but it was still underneath my own. I did not have many doubts on whether he would not be able to surpass me or not though, since I had memories of my past life while Raoult didn't.
"Uuuu..." Big giant tears welled up in my younger brother's eyes as he stared at me.
I looked at him for a moment before turning my attention to the bookshelf, looking for a specific title. In a few moment I had found it as my younger bro wimpered and whined bhind me. I took it out and turned back to face him, holding it out to the kid. "Raoult. Do you know where your name is from?" I asked. He shook is head so I continued. "Raoult is the God of Courage and Patron Deity of Warriors. It is also the name of a clan from years past, whom had given birth to many legends that are still told today."
He stared at me with wide, sparkly eyes. "Do you know what this book is?" I asked him. He shook his head again. "This book has in it records of that same family I mentioned. Read it. When you are finished I expect you to know every single word, for they are the stories of your namesake. You should strive to be as they were." I said, handing him the book. He took it and held it tightly to his chest, nodding vigorously. "Now your brother has to go somewhere for a while. You will be done with the book when I come back, right?" I said, staring at him. He nodded again. This was the method I used to placate my brother. Mention something about some legend, get him motivated, and give him something to do that will occupy him for a good amount of time. It always works.
Grinning, I shooed him away and went back to packing. Inside my bag went: three books, two on magick theory and one of history; snacks; parchment, ink, and a quill pen; and finally a magick orb for seers. I hefted up the bag onto my shoulder and headed up to the highest point in our castle- the roof of the eastern tower.
"The king huh..." I muttered, my memories going back to an earlier age.
A marble room coated in blood.
A king upon a throne of bones.
The scent of death thick in the air around me.
Screams echo as flames lick the black sky, dark smoke covering the moon.
I shivered, bringing myself back to the present. Things had happened in those five years of travel, things I stored deep in the corner of my mind to gather dust and never be remembered again. One of the reasons why the majority of our family had been extreme shut ins.
Opening the wooden door to the roof, my father stood there talking to some other people, a large wyvern that was partially falling off the roof, saddled and ready to go. "You all packed and ready son?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded and he said a final thing to the armored men he was talking to before smoothly mounting the dragon, reaching his hand down for me to grab. I took it.