“Dimitri and Theo.” Ray yelled not looking up from his clipboard.

The ninth and tenth floor of the main building were combined into an all purpose training room. There were free weights, a large training mat, and a running track that encircled the room. Fifteen of the seventeen magically adept children were separated in different rotating stations while the other two spared.

Dimitri and Theo stepped on to the mat holding their training swords.

“First to three hits wins, I will step in if you take it too far.” Ray said. “Ready…begin.”

Theo teleported forward bringing his sword down. Dimitri side-stepped and made a horizontal slash with his sword. Theo teleported again barely missing the strike. Dimitri focused and summoned three earth orbs. The sand and dirt in the nearby containers came forward and formed three small rocks that orbited around Dimitri. He lunged forward striking with a vertical slash. Theo blocked the attack but was hit in the chest by one of the orbiting rocks. He was thrusted backwards onto the mat. Theo rolled and swatted at the other rocks with his sword. One of them missed him and rolled to the floor. Theo threw the sword at Dimitri. Dimitri swatted at it with his sword and moved forward to strike the unarmed Theo. Theo rolled to miss the sword and brought a fist upward striking Dimitri in the jaw. With his other hand he grabbed Dimitri's sword hand and twisted it. Dimitri dropped his sword and they began exchanging hand to hand blows. Dimitri with a left jab. Theo ducked and came back with a right cross. Dimitri grabbed the arm and rolled backward with the toss, throwing Theo upward. Theo recovered mid air and pulled his sword toward him with his telekinesis. Dimitri formed a fire orb and grabbed it with his hand forming a fist. Theo spun forward in a rolling dive, slashing the sword downward with his momentum. Dimitri brought his fist upward for the final blow. Ray rushed in, catching Theo by the arm and throwing him into the nearby cushion on the wall. With a water orb, Ray grabbed Dimitri’s flame lit hand and steam filled the area.

“Good job, you two. Nice use of telekinesis to recover your sword Theo. Try not to throw it away next time. Daggers, knives, and stars are ok to throw, but you never want to intentionally disarm yourself. Dimitri, I liked how you orbited the earth. That sort of maneuver can be a good shield when fighting multiple enemies.” Ray stated, helping Theo up and directed them both to the center of the mat. The two pledges shook hands and everyone rotated to the next station when the bell rang.

Collin

Collin got up from his desk at around Five in the afternoon. He had spent the entire day looking over reports and sorting out the next few weeks worth of work to be done. Ground had just broken on the rail system. The docking station was built and about a mile of railway had been laid down. Further digging had begun on the mines and some interesting discoveries had already been found. Through the eastern part of Boar Canyon through a path connecting with the old mine, an entire civilization of gnomes were found to be living and working peacefully. Gnomes are a protected species. They are typically harmless and next to dwarves are some of the best miners in the continent. They were very friendly to the pledge who happened to break into their habitat. He quickly closed the area and reported it to the nearest Master. Ray was scheduled to meet with the head gnome sometime next week after the festival had ended.

Collin took a quick shower and changed into more festive clothing. Tonight was the opening celebration for the Winter Festival. They used to have them in the old days but for some reason had stopped. One of the requests made by the people was to bring back some of the old traditions from 3 lords ago. Collin made his way up to Ray's cottage. Ray should be getting changed and ready. He was supposed to make a speech within the hour. Collin arrived at the top of the building and looked around.

“Ray! Where are you at? We have to get going!” Collin Yelled

Mace walked up carrying a ball and Collin Threw it to the other side of the roof. Mace ran after it, his nubbed tail wagging back and forth.

“Over here.” Collin heard from the other side of the large tree.

When the main building was finalized, Ray placed his house at the very top. He brought some special tree from way down south and planted it on the side of the mountain. it had already grown so much in the past few years to where you could see it from the Village Gates.

“What kind of tree is this again?” Collin asked, running his hand around the trunk and looking up at its many branches.

“Dogwood.” Ray said. “Minh’s family gave it to me to bring back and plant.

“Oh yes. Why does it have no leaves and such a reddish trunk.”

“Leaves die in the winter. They will come back here in a couple months.” Ray said

Collin walked around the tree and saw Ray sitting on a mat with his legs crossed. Four orbs of different natures were orbiting around him. Multiple mana crystals lay in front of him.

“Are you really going to imbue all of these?” Collin asked, picking up an empty one sitting in one of the boxes. Collin closed his eyes and focused his mana trying to fill the crystal. The Crystal glowed bright and then settled as the mana swirled around through the crystal. Collin placed the crystal in his pocket. “Are we going to teach the kids this?”

“Eventually, Their bodies aren't strong enough yet. They also can’t seem to sit still long enough to focus.” Ray stated.

The last of the mana crystals filled and glowed to a reddish color and Ray opened his eyes and stood up. He grabbed his coat, put on his shoes and whistled to Mace who came back over with his ball.

“Ready for the party?’ Ray asked

“I hear there are some out of village girls here. Be my wingman for the night.” Collin grinned

“I am always your wingman and you are always striking out.” Ray laughed.

They looked over the edge of the building before heading down. The sun had set but the night was lit up with many lanterns and hanging lights. There were streamers and ribbons draped over buildings. Many fire and light orbs floated around in an overlapping figure 8. In the center square there was a large pillar of ice that appeared to be sculpted into some sort of figure. They could not make it out from the roof and decided to go down.

They arrived at the ground floor and walked out into the square. People were everywhere enjoying the many food wagons, live music, and activities. Children were playing and singing and divulging lots of candy. They had a special shipment of sweets brought in from the kingdom for the event and the villagers were losing their minds over it. In the center of the square was a shape of….Mace. The Puppy Mace was in ice shaped form.

“What the hell Collin?” Ray said looking up at the House size sculpture of Mace sitting like a good boy with his tongue out. A ball sitting at his feet

“There was a poll at the school and in the village. The options were not good. Some wanted a dragon, others wanted you in some sort of dignifying stance, there was even mention of your berserker form throwing Maggie’s Bakery at some cowering demon, but Georgie suggested the great Mace and you know how everyone loves Georgie so here we are.” Collin stated

“As far as options go, I guess this is the better one. Look, they even got his tattoo.” Ray said pointing towards the king chess piece engraved into the ice Mace Sculpture.

Mace popped up from his pouch on Ray’s back and jumped down to go sniff the sculpture. He licked the ice and then turned and hiked a leg up as yellow liquid hit the side of the sculpture.

“See Mace Loves it! He is even claiming it for his own.” Collin said smiling

Georgie came running up to Mace and petted him. “Lord Ray, Can we play with Mr. Mace?’ She said to Ray. Ray nodded and Georgie picked Mace up and ran off towards the other children.

The Music died down and Ray made his way up to the stage, He gave an introduction to the village and all of the visitors. He mentioned all the interesting activities that were to be held during the 3-day festival.

He mentioned the occupation of boar canyon and the reopening of the mines. This received a large round of applause from the villagers. He reiterated the promise that he made to them 3 years prior of how he would restore the village to its formal status and make sure that all villagers were taken care of. He thanked everyone for all the hard work that they have done and continued to do and then walked off of the stage to a large amount of happy yells and screams from the crowd.

Ray and Collin made their way down through the streets checking on the different vendors and tasting all the different foods. They stopped in and saw Ray’s mom and brother Dean. Dean was about five years younger than Ray and spent most of his time in the kingdom working at one of the many shops. They caught up for a bit. Dean’s large fluffy dog Goose ran around and sniffed all of the people coming in and out.

There was a commotion heard from outside and they exited to check on what was going on. They pushed through the crowd and made their way to a circle of people surrounding two men and a girl holding a dog. Theo and Dayton had their daggers drawn and were standing in front of Georgie ready to pounce.

“What’s going on?” Ray yelled, causing everyone to get quiet.

“Give us the dog and you won’t get hurt girlie.” one of the men stated. He was dark complected, short but bulky. He had a dark smudge on his right chin. Ray walked closer and noticed that it wasn't a smudge but appeared to be a black chess piece tattoo of a Pawn.

Ray put his hand on the two boys' shoulders.

“Georgie, go find your mother. Boys go with her. I will handle this.” Ray stated. “Sir the dog is not yours to take. Why are you harassing these children.”

“That dog needs to be disposed of. He has a white chess piece branded on his neck!” The Man said, reaching to grab Mace. Mace disappeared and reappeared in Ray’s pouch; he popped his head out and growled at the man.

“What does his brand have to do with anything?” Ray asked, pulling his sleeve up and showing his tattoo. “ You want to kill me also? This is my bond.”

The two men’s eyes went wide. The other gentleman, Ray noticed, had a Black Pawn Chess piece around the right side of his neck. He had long hair pulled back in a ponytail. He was a bit taller but less bulky and carried an assortment of knives around his belt.

Both men reached for their weapons but Ray was quicker. He grabbed both men and disappeared from sight.

“Alright everyone, Lord Ray has this handled! Let’s get back to the party!” Collin yelled over the crowd. Everyone went back to what they were doing and the festivities resumed.

Collin walked toward the gates and found the nearest guard. He advised them to be on the lookout for shady men matching the other two’s description. He then proceeded back to the main building.

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“Collin?” a voice came from behind. Collin turned to see a beautiful woman walking up to him. She wore a bluish white dress and had long brown hair that waved halfway down her back. She wore wide rim glasses and carried a satchel stuffed with books. a pink ribbon was tied in her hair.

“Annie? Is that you!? Collin said, taking Annie in for a big hug. “How have you been?”

“I am good. Just here to see my parents and enjoy the festival. How are you? How is Ray? Is he here?” She asked looking around the crowd for him.

“You just missed him. He had to take care of some rowdy guests. Wow! It’s been what? Ten, Fifteen years? You look amazing. Tim said you were up in Manchester right?”

“Yeah, I am an assistant librarian there. Dad said you are the new Vice Lord? That's interesting.” She said, “I love what you two are doing with the place. Dad sends me regular updates on everything. He is absolutely dumbfounded about the deer you brought him a couple weeks ago.”

“Yeah It is a funny story about old man Willy actually. Ray could tell you. listen, I would love to catch up but I need to get back to the main building. I need to speak to William about something. Are you going to stay for the whole festival? Ray would love to see you.” Collin said

“I actually will be leaving in the morning. It was good to see you though. You should come visit Manchester sometime. Bring Ray okay?” She said giving Collin another hug and walking back toward her dad’s shop.

Collin watched her leave, noticing just how well that dress complimented her figure. “Ray is going to be so mad he missed this.” Collin said to himself.

Ray may never have the heart for it again. Losing Minh absolutely destroyed him, but if there was ever a chance it could happen. Collin smiled. "It would hit him like a wagon full of bricks and no one would be able to do anything about it."

“Excuse me? Are you Vice Lord Collin Chintzy?” A man asked, walking up from behind interrupting Collin’s thought.

“Yes, that is me. How can I help you? Collin said shaking the man's hand

The man gave him a letter and then disappeared into the crowd. Collin watched him leave and then looked at the letter. It was sealed with the King's Stamp. The Envelope had a gold border around the edges. Collin opened the letter and it read as follows.

Lord Ray and Vice Lord Collin of the Goldenleaf Village Region XI,

You are hereby charged and ordered to present yourselves for trial on the 26th day of December .

Charges: Theft of land rightfully owed to the Vice Lord of Manchester Region XI and potential heir to the throne of Gridarnia, Prince Wristbane Montigue.

Failure to appear will result in a bounty of 1 million gold each.

Sincerely,

Draconis Archbore,

Assistance to the King

“This is bullshit!” Collin yelled out loud “You do realize this is utter bullshit right?” Collin asked the sky and then proceeded back into the building.

Ray

Ray landed in a field five miles to the south of the village in a large clearing surrounded by forest. The moon’s light provided just enough light for him to see where he was. Ray had placed a teleportation stone here just in case he ever went berserk again. The ground had signs of previous times where he had needed to use it. Trees were broken and limbs lay everywhere. Part of the earth was scorched and broken up as if an earthquake had hit. Ray moved and sat on a large boulder and waited for the others. The 2 men landed with a thump and slowly got up on their feet. They looked around and saw Ray staring at them.

“Welcome, Please tell me why you want to kill me and my puppy?” Ray stated

“We are from the order of Black. We must kill you. It is a demand from our god to kill all who bear the white chess piece markings.” The man on the left said.

“Why?” Ray asked. You haven't told me why?”

“You do not know?” the man on the right side. “You the queen and your mut the King and you do not know?!

“He must not have activated his power. He is but a youngling. We should kill them both now.” The left said, grabbing his sword.

“Yes, we should kill him and Adrielle will reward us”

Ray did not miss the name. Adrielle who was a Demon that he fought years prior. Adrielle sent mages to the Goldenleaf intent on absorbing some of the ambient mana in the mountain. One of the Mages, Mirrikh, had somehow recognized Minh. He had waited until Ray had been sent away on an adventure and before confronting her. The fight was evidently pretty epic. Mirrikh managed to curse Minh before fleeing the village. She died less than three years later. Ray was not taking the mourning process well at all.

Ray turned serious in the blink of an eye. He set Mace down and told him to head back to the village. Mace teleported away but did not leave. He landed in a nearby tree and hid himself from view two hundred yards away from the three humans. Ray noticed this but did not do anything. Maybe saying it out loud would be enough.

Ray lunged forward bringing a fist down on the man to the left, rotating and bringing his leg up to kick the man on the right. The skinnier one on the right side stepped and threw a dagger from his sheath as he leaped backward drawing his sword. Ray drew his sword and launched forward going blow for blow with the skinner man. Their swords sparking in the night as the larger man lay on the ground motionless. Ray knew the man was simply knocked out. He would come too shortly and this fight would need to be finished before then. Ray threw one of his daggers at the skinnier man which narrowly missed. Using his power Ray brought the dagger back trying to catch the man off guard. The skinner man ducked again and Ray caught it with his other hand. They engaged once more striking and deflecting. Dodging and striking the other. Ray could see they were pretty evenly matched. Ray summoned an earth and water orb attacking the ground and turning it into thick mud causing the skinnier man to sink. With a wind and fire orb Ray dried the area making the ground as solid as stone holding that man in place. Before Ray could make a killing blow, he sensed someone from behind and dodged to the side. The larger man had awakened and was attacking with his fist punching and slamming the ground trying to crush Ray with his mana blows. The Skinnier man frantically began attacking the ground trying to free himself while Ray engaged with the larger man. Ray managed to find an opening and brought his sword down striking the man between the shoulder and neck. The blade moved an inch downward and stopped. Ray tried to pull it free but it was stuck. He let go and jumped back narrowly missing a punch from the larger man. The Skinnier one broke free and walked up to stand beside his counterpart.

“Normal means will not work on him” the Skinnier one said

“Let’s show him our true power then” the larger man said

The larger bulky man on the left touched his chess piece and muttered some sort of incantation. His Body doubled in size and two additional arms sprouted from his back. His hair was replaced with two dark horns that spun around themselves. The other man did the same thing with his chess piece and wings sprung out of his back. A large serpent tail formed on his underside and two horns spread outward from his head. The four armed beast bit into his arm and pulled out four identical two handed swords. The winged beast took to the sky and rushed towards Ray.

Ray dodged to the left and manifested another sword. All of his gear was at home but with the lord system he was capable of manifesting it to him at will. He slashed at the beast and clipped a leg. The four armed beast came rushing forward slashing with his swords in a wildly manner. Ray formed three fire orbs and shot them upwards in the sky they combined and set off an explosion two hundred feet in the air. The flames scattered and fell to the ground catching on the two beasts. Ray dodged and ran to the other side of the clearing trying to create some distance and kill some time. Ray took a small tube of dwarven whiskey out and poured it down his throat. He continued to dodge and run narrowly avoiding the attacks. There was no opening he could find and he was about half way done with his mana. Ray needed to buy some more time. Just long enough for the whiskey to work. He felt himself begin to black out. His motions become more and more fluid but sporadic. His mind became foggy as the presence came to him.

“You want me to help with this?” a voice came into Ray's mind “You want me to fight your battles for you? I should let you just lay there drunk in your own vomit”

“Why do we have to have a conversation every time?” Ray responded. “ Can’t you see I am busy. Also who are these people?”

Nothing

“Berserker!” Ray yelled. The effects of the alcohol were finally hitting him.

The two demons came rushing forward and Ray attempted to dodge from the on coming assault and was grabbed and thrown back into the middle of the clearing. He formed a wind and water orb and ice flattened the land allowing him to slide further away. He threw a ground orb and a wall formed upward blocking the path of the demon to the left. He manifested his sword and rushed forward again with an air orb pushing him faster toward the beast.

“I do not have the mana for this Berserker. I need your help. Fight with me please!” Ray yelled, draining the remaining two crystals.

Ray slashed at the winged beast and managed to slice one of its arms off. It howled in pain and began spitting fire balls. Ray formed 3 water orbs and had them orbit around him. The four armed beast came from behind at such lightning speed and grabbed him from behind. The beast began squeezing its Arms. Ray felt a rib crack and he began to lose consciousness as the water orbs splashed down on him.

“Fine. I will help you.” The Berserker said as Ray fell into a drunken void.

Collin

“William, where the hell are the reinforcements you sent?” Collin said frantically clicking and moving the system map to where Ray was.

The festival was still in full swing outside, but the 7th floor council room was completely on Red Alert. Adam and some of the elders were there assisting where they could and the major guild leaders were issuing orders to different sections. The Gates to the village were closed and locked. The guards were tripled and four teams were sent to Ray's position. Collin activated the system the moment he stepped foot in the building. He saw Ray fire the warning shot into the air. His subtle way of saying “help me” while also launching an airborne attack on the enemy. The Yellow dot that was Mace, sat in a tree away from the battle.

“Squad one needs to secure Mace before they do anything else." Collin yelled

“System, show status update for Ray” Adam stated

Ray's Health 63/100% Mana 52/100%

“He is getting low Collin.” Adam stated. Concern was showing on his face.

“I know, just a few more seconds. He drank the vial. The berserker should come out soon.” Collin stated. Why hadn’t he come out. This was how this worked. They had tested it. Ray takes the dwarven whiskey and Berserker starts to thrash.

The red dot with four arms appeared around Ray and grasps hold of him.

“Oh Shit!” Collin yells

Ray's Health 25/100% (Critical, Broken Ribs X 3 )

Mana 15/100%

The screen goes black and the room goes silent. Ray's heartbeat becomes slower and slower until it stops all together. 1 second. 5 seconds, 20 seconds go by. Suddenly the heart rate increases and power comes back on. The map is glowing and the screen changes.

Berserker King (Ray) Level III

Health 75% (increasing 5%/sec)

Mana 100%

The Burgundy dot that represented Ray turned into a swirling orb of Black and Red and doubled in size. Collin and the rest of the room watched Ray teleport from the grasp of the four armed beast and reappear in the center of the field. Ray was wearing crimson armor from neck to foot, His hair had turned white and grown out and braided all the way down his backside. A crimson battle helmet covered his face. He was now three feet taller and much more muscular. Pressure radiated from his body causing the grass to flatten around him

The winged beast opened his mouth to spit fire in Ray’s direction and was met with a beam of pure energy as Ray formed multiple level five elemental orbs that swirled around him shooting at both beasts. The four armed beast jumped into the air and came down hard with a smash. Ray met him before he could land and launched him further up into the air. The two exchanged blow after blow not bothering to block or dodge. They reached the climax of the arch and began descending downward. Ray kicked the beast, forcing him to the ground at a much higher velocity. Ray threw orb after orb at the beast. The 4 armed beast hit the ground and looked up to see himself being pelted by lava, ice, earth, and fire. Ray pulled lightning from the sky and struck the beast one, two, three, four, ten times the lightning struck the beast until there was nothing but dust in the air. The winged beast flew up to meet Ray, fireballs spitting from its month. Ray grabbed the beast by its wings and shredded them from its body. He manifested a two-handed sword and plunged it deep into the winged beast's chest. Ray ripped the sword upward and let the remains fall to the ground as he stood there levitating in the air. He came down and landed softly on the ground. Moments went by and Ray turned to normal. His body collapsed to the ground.

Ray's Health 25/100% (Critical, Broken Ribs X 3 )

Mana 5/100% (Critical, burnout imminent)

“Get him to a healer immediately!” Collin yelled, getting up and heading out the door. The yellow dot representing Mace was shown teleporting to Ray's side and curling up next to him.