Chapter 1: Blood, mud and broken swords
Somewhere in the outskirts of the Republic of Marathia, a bloody man half covered in silver armor and half in cuts and blood, kneels and stares silently at a mountain of corpses. The only living things on the battlefield were the vultures eating the flesh of the fallen, and the man kneeling.
Silence rang across what was not too long ago a village small but full of life. Now desolated and gloomy. The silence was broken by the kneeling man’s roar of despair and anger. That was all that was left for the man...
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In a remote village walked a tall and lean man standing at over 190cm tall, the man’s name was Lars and he was barely 15 years old, His face had a look that made it hard for anyone to know what he was thinking and he carried himself with a certain air of strength that someone that age wouldn’t normally have. The people walking in front of Lars would slow down and allow him to walk by them while staring at him with shock, it might have been the determined look on the stoic face of the 15 year old or it might have been his size. But from their point of view it was probably the fact he was covered in mud and blood. Lots of blood.
About a week ago Lars and 10 other villagers had went out to hunt a beast that had appeared in the surrounding area about a month ago and has killed countless farm animals and people. The beast was a humanoid monster covered in black fur, about 5 meters in height with fangs the size of a man’s head, body as thick as a tree and arms so large they would almost touch the ground.
Lars was the only one that managed to escape. And now he was walking back to his home.
“What happened to my husband!”
“Where is my son?”
“What happened to the other men?”
And many other similar questions were thrown at Lars as soon as the villagers realised who he was, but all Lars managed to say was a simple. “They died.”
Lars was barely alive himself, with a wound along his right arm so big even his bone was visible, his left leg was crushed from knee down and the coat he wore before the fight was in shreds.
The crowd that formed around Lars had mixed reactions. Most were angry, others had a hopeless look in their eyes while some started to cry.
“It’s the fault of the damn army! We told them about the monster a whole month ago and they couldn’t even send a single soldier!” Shouted a man behind Lars
“All they had to do was send a single damn mage and this wouldn’t have happened!” Said another
They weren’t exaggerating, all the army had to do was send a single mage and the beast could have been killed in a single day. That’s just how strong a single mage was, even a weak one.
Lars didn’t stay to listen to the crowd of angry people and mad his way home. The walk was long and painful, his house was on the other side of the village and it would take a healthy Lars about 10 minutes to walk there. But thanks to the state of his body it took him one whole hour.
‘Fuck, I really need to learn to use Aspect of healing’ he thought while getting ready to open the door.
The healing Aspects that Lars mentioned was one of the [Aspects of Vis] and it had the ability to heal most wounds no matter how lethal. Vis is a strange power believed to be as old as the universe and it’s the foundation of all Mages.
Every living thing is made partially from Vis and most humans are born with Vis coursing through their veins, and from the moment they are old enough to visualise their thoughts they can start utilising Aspects of Vis. The only known flaw of Vis is that it can’t be taught, the only way you can use it is by creating your own unique spells. That’s why Lars can’t use a healing Aspect.
Before the door opened fully Lars could hear strange noises coming from the house. He prepared for the worst and pulled his now broken sword from his sheath and ran into his own room, the source of the sounds.
“Aaah” “AHHH!” Lars stopped dumbfounded in the doorway with his sword still in front of him.
“Don’t you know how to knock brother!” said an angry man laying naked next to a woman hiding beneath the covers.
“What the fuck are you doing in my bed Erik? That’s disgusting.” Erik was Lars’s brother and he was a handsome man with a well trimmed beard and slightly muscular but skinny figure, standing just a little shorter than Lars at 180cm(5 feet and 11 inches).
“Your bed is bigger than mine and you were gone for a whole week, I don’t see the problem.” Said Erik with a smug grin.”Anyway what happened to you? You look like shredded beef.”
Lars sheathed his sword and exhaled a deep sigh. “I went on that beast hunt with the villagers thinking it would be a good way to make some coin…” Lars pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat down in front of the bed and asked “Do we have any more of that black powder I bought? I could use some of it.”
The black powder Lars refers to is a mineral containing high amount of vis that when grounded into fine dust could be used to heal flesh wounds
“Yeah its in my room. Could you leave now?” Said Erik staring to get uncomfortable by the fact Lars placed his chair really close to the bed and was looking into his eyes with that calm face of his.
“Who is she?” Asked Lars
Erik swallowed a lump of saliva and with a shaky voice said. “I don’t know just some prostitute.” The “prostitute” responded by giving him a punch in the ribs.
Lars looked at Erik for a few seconds before saying. “Just leave my fucking room already. And bring the black powder.”
The duo ran out of the bed fast and after Erik brought the powder Lars began to apply it carefully on all his wound. The powder wasn’t enough to heal the crushed bones in his foot but it was better than nothing and he could visit a healer the next day so he quickly threw the bed covers on the floor and threw himself on the bed.
Lars slept from dusk to dawn and woke up in terrible pain and with a bad headache.
He left the bed and went outside to throw some cold water from the well onto his head. His body was already healed with only some small scars remaining Lars got down on the cold morning ground and stood still. The headache he had was caused by the Vis Lars had used during the fight with the monster. The lack of Vis in ones body can lead to weakness and in some cases even death. The only way to get your Vis back is through using potions or consuming materials containing high amounts of Vis, or using aura.
Lars stood still for a few minutes, seemingly in a meditative state. “At least my Aura got a little stronger.” He said after getting up with none of the previous signs of a near death experience on his body.
Aura is a power that humans and a few other races are born with. The initial strength of Aura is decided by the Aura of the parents but even if your parents are weak and untrained you can still improve it by rigorous training. Aura can be trained by experiencing harsh training or repeated trauma to the body and mind.
But the effects of Aura are great, Aura is able to nullify pain temporarily, improve strength, give heightened senses and faster Vis recovery. It can also improve organs, some of the strongest humans are able to live days without air, weeks without water and months with no food.
‘I should eat something before visiting the city.’ Lars had strong aura for his age but the most he could go without signs of hunger was 2-3 days.
Lars went inside the house and realised there was nothing to eat and Erik was no where in sight. He got dressed and walked to the village inn.
Inside the inn the men working there stared at Lars intenlty but he wasn’t bothered, he sat down at an empty table and ordered some soup, half a bread and some dried pork for the journey. After eating, Lars packed his dried pork inside a pouch, paid 4 copper coins for the food and left for the Solwatch healing clinic.
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The village Lars lives in is located in the middle of nowhere so the closes healer was in one of the majors cities of the Kingdom of Marathia, Solwatch. It would take Lars 5 silver to go there by carriage or he could walk there, which would take him about 4 days. So he chose the easier option and paid a coachman and got ready for the next few days of siting on his ass in a dirty carriage.
The journey was uneventful and besides the few jokes and stories that the coachman told him there was nothing he hadn’t seen before since he made this trip many times before.
Lars had arrived in front of a massive gate that looked to be made for giants and waited for the gatekeeper to open it. When inside Lars was once again met with the same old city of Solwatch. Full of inns, bars and whorehouses. The city of Solwatch had an estimated population of 50 thousand and it was in stark contrast of the village Lars lived in. With big and well designed buildings and even a big castle in the middle that was visible all the way from the gate.
“Hey Lars, long time no see”
It took Lars a few moment to recognise the voice.”Is that you Thyrn?” Thyrn was a old friend of Lars’s they had been born in the same village and were similar in age.
“I knew that hideous face couldn’t belong to anyone else” Said Thyrn jokingly and with a sly smile. He was a rather childlike looking with a face that looked like it hasn’t seen battle and innocent eyes, his hair was black and what was considered to be long hair for a man about 15cm long. The only thing that wasn’t the same since Lars saw him was the armor he wore.
It was silver in colour and had leather pieces in the places that needed fexibility, it also had the insignia of the Solwatch army on it. But the thing that Lars noticed first was the lack of damage on it.
“Nice armor you have there, who did you steal it from?” Said Lars with a neutral tone
“I joined the army.” Said Thyrn with a serious voice. “I’m still in the training period, so I only wear the armor for appearances.”
“Anyway what brings you here?” asked Thyrn
“I came to get my leg looked at.” Said Lars while gesturing towards his still deformed looking leg.
“Oh, than I won’t keep you any longer, I’m glad you’re still alive. Also I heard the army will mobilise a force of 2000 soldiers and 100 mages to hunt a manticore” Said Thyrn while whispering the last part.”i heard the king’s army commander will personally lead the extermination and he will pay 5 gold for any man that volunteers to join.”
“Manticore? What’s that?” asked Lars slightly intrigued by the 5 gold
“hmm” Thyrn thought for a while before saying “I’m pretty sure its a lionlike monster with a human’s face” he finally said
“That doesn’t sound that strong. Why do they need that many soldiers?” Asked Lars even more intrigued now.
Thyrn answered. “This one is special, its said to be the size of a house and it also has the ability to use Vis”
Lars laughed while walking away from the soldier and said. “It sounds good for a suicidal man” And he wasn’t wrong, a normal manticore would be able to kill many of the monsters Lars and the 10 villagers had fought, and that was one that couldn’t use Vis. But since this one could it meant it was either very old or possessed intelligence.
After a few more minutes of walking Lars had finally reached his destination, The healing clinic.
The clinic was empty besides a single mage wearing a long white coat with her back turned to the entrance.
“Hello there I came to get my bones healed” Said Lars with a neutral tone
The mage finally turned towards the entrance and with a smile and hand gesture said. “That sounds painful, please take a seat on the table.”
The mage was a beautiful woman in her thirties, she looked quite experienced
Lars did as instructed and sat on the cold wooden table in the middle of the room and waited for the mage to heal his leg.
The mage asked. “How did this happen to a boy like you?” while Lars was quite a lot taller than her and his face looked mature the woman knew he was a boy. It could only mean one thing.
‘She must be really strong.’ Thought Lars.
The only way for a mage to know the age of someone is through looking at their Aura, but one need to be really powerful to accomplish such a feat.
“I participated in a beast hunt.” Said Lars
“Hmm, what kind of beats could do this to someone as strong as you?” Asked the woman slightly curious.
Lars waited a second before answering. “It was a monster about the size of a tree with really thick arms and black fur that smelled like rotten shit.”
The woman started to heal his leg and said. “It must have been a dreadmaw, why didn’t you hire a mage to kill it? It’s a miracle you’re still alive.”
“The villagers tried but no one came for a whole month so a few men decided to do it themselves. I was stupid enough to join.” Lars said while trying to focus on the aspect of healing the woman used.
She noticed and smiled at him before saying. “There are better ways to make money, why don’t you join The Explorers?”
“The Explorers?” Asked Lars as if it was the first time he heard the term.
The woman looked at him for a few moments before she began to laugh.”You’re telling me you fought a dreadmaw without even knowing what The Explorers are?”
Lars stayed silent
“Good grief… its really a miracle you’re alive” Said the woman before she pulled a book from her desk using some form of Vis
Lars was surprised. ‘She can use both healing and space Aspects? Who the hell is this woman’
She handed the book to Lars. The title was “The Origin of Primarchs” and for the next few minutes she explained to him just how uncultured he was.
The Primarchs are the pillars of humanity. They are believed to be the origin of the human language, and the first group of people to write down their knowledge about the mysteries of Earth, various plants, mythical beasts and animals. Explorers are modern day Primarchs, their attention is focused on documenting beasts that could pose a threat to humans, such as the Dreadmaw I fought.
In just over an hour, Lars had learned from this mage more than in entire years of reading cheap books with missing pages. He learned that the monster he fought was a Dreadmaw a demonic monster that is believed to have come from distant lands, and is strong enough to fight against two intermediate mages and win without problems. Their blood also contain untold amounts of Vis.
With his new knowledge Lars finally realised how much of a miracle it was for him to still be alive.
After the woman stopped talking Lars realised he still didn’t know her name, and as if she had read his mind she said. “Oh I forgot to introduce myself, My name is Lysa and I’m a retired Mercenary.” she said with a smile.
‘Did she say she was a mercenary?’ Lars gulped while looking at the woman with new eyes.
Mercenaries are fierce warriors that are respected and feared through the world, mostly the latter since they are believed to be heartless monsters that would betray their own morals and humanity for powers.
Lysa laughed while looking at the frozen Lars.
“I like you kid, next time you come here I’ll give you a discount” Said Lysa as she took the book from Lars and walked to her desk. ”The healing will cost 50 silver, and that’s not considering the things I taught you.” She continued with a sly smile.
The price was more than fair considering what he learned so Lars handed her most of the money he had, leaving him with only 5 silver but he didn’t say anything, he just thanked her and left the clinic.
‘The Explorers huh? They sound like boring and weak old men. But the books they write are pretty useful, if I had know more about that monster before I fought it I might won.’
He looked at the now dark sky that reminded him he needed a place to spend the night so he started walking toward what looked to be a busy inn.