Prologue
“Wha-” is all that made it out of the young man’s mouth before a grotesque creature suddenly appeared behind him. It slashed at his throat but to no avail as the young man ducked below the furious swipe. He felt the air tremble as the monster’s sharp claws ripped through it right above his head. Without thinking the young man dashed backwards away from the monster to what he surmised should be a distance large enough to allow him to react in time should the creature pursue its attack. Now taking the time to properly assess the thing that attacked him he was at a loss for words. The creature was about his height at a little more than six feet and had a similar shape to that of a human, covered in what appeared to be gray fur or hair. It was bipedal with two muscular arms hanging at either side of its body. Three fingers with incredibly sharp claws about 3 inches in length were curling inward as it clenched its hands. You could clearly see its muscles rippling through its body as it prepared for another attack. His thoughts would have to wait.
The monster lunged at him leaving two small craters where his feet had been. Dodging in every direction for a few seconds he managed to dash away from it again. Once he was a safe distance away he dropped the pack he was carrying on the ground and continued to take in the details of this creature he had never seen before. He realized it had a tail proportional to its body protruding from its backside. Luckily it ended in a tuft of some kind of fur or hair, he couldn’t tell exactly, and not in anything visibly dangerous. Still, given the creatures clear muscular strength, he decided to err on the side of caution and made a mental note to beware of its movement. Its feet appeared similar to its hands with the length of claws being more akin to human toe nails. Finally, his eyes were drawn to its head. It was big and apish in appearance with wolf-like ears and two long fangs protruding out of its mouth on either end. However, what struck him the most out of all this was its eyes. In actuality, the appearance of this creature was tame compared to other things that could be found across the continent of Heisynia, however its eyes were nothing like the young man had ever seen before. They were completely black with small red pupils in the center. Apart from the color, the feeling they gave off was disturbing.
Every living thing in the world gave off an aura of some description due to the Life Energy that flowed freely through the world and that existed within all living things. However, every aura he had ever come into contact with thus far had been nothing like what he felt now. It wasn’t quite sinister, but it was…
“Heavy…” he muttered to himself.
The air around him had grown dense during the creature’s presence and had a weight to it that one would feel in a fight involving high level magic. It was not something he wasn’t used to, but hardly something he expected of such a small creature. In general, beings of higher intelligence, such as humans, elves, or faeries, were the only beings he was aware of that could develop their magic abilities to the extent that would produce the feeling in the air he was experiencing now.
In the time that all this was rushing through his head, the creature seemed to change its demeanor. It lunged again.
“Damn…” His thoughts would have to wait yet again as the monster came rushing towards him. It swung its right hand down aiming for his head.
“How-” He was cut short as the creature’s claws started to glow and released red magical energy in three arcs following his claws as it attacked. Instead of jumping back and avoiding the attack this time, he moved in closer to the creature and grabbed its forearm with his left hand just before the elbow stopping the attack in its tracks. By this time the young man had strengthened his body with magic, increasing his physical abilities to multiple times what it had been. After stopping the monster’s arm easily he realized that he used much more magic than necessary to strengthen his body, however he could not assess the creature’s relative strength as he usually would because of the strange presence it had. To be on the safe side, he charged his body with much more magic than he guessed was necessary to make sure nothing went wrong.
The creature flinched at the sudden change in behavior of its enemy but before it had time to react, it was caught.
Without a seconds pause the young man raised his other hand and placed it on the left side of the creature’s muscular chest. Despite his unfamiliarity with its anatomy, as soon as he placed his hand on its chest he found the familiar beat of a heart where it would be found on a human. Without stopping to consider what this meant, he gathered magical energy at the palm of his right hand and released a raging torrent of whitish blue magic in a tornado-like blast. It ripped the creature’s body to shreds and what remained, mostly the lower half and the head, fell to the ground.
The young man breathed out heavily as he recovered from everything that just happened. Despite the spontaneity and potential danger of the situation he was relatively calm after everything was said and done. He looked around to see if whatever this thing was had any friends waiting to strike. He waited a few moments in silence extending his senses in search of any other potential threats. When he felt sure the area was clear he returned his focus on examining the now lifeless body laying before him. However, before he could even begin to produce or organize any thoughts regarding the remains of the other-worldly creature laying before him, black smoke started to bubble up from the creature’s body. In a matter of seconds its entire body had dissolved with nothing remaining.
“I suppose its body returned to wherever it came from…” he thought to himself.
There were two things he was left thinking on that concerned him above all else. The red magic the creature had used earlier was an external type of magic. All living things were able to utilize Life Energy as magic, however only a small number of living species were known to be able to use external type magic such as that creature’s claw attack. Normal creatures were able to utilize internal type magic to strengthen their bodies and that was mostly it apart from very few exceptions. Usually the creatures that could use external type magic were extremely exotic and powerful, which could not really be said for the thing he just killed. In addition, he hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but he was sure he saw some sort of mark on the creature’s forehead, which would imply it wasn’t simply a wild beast, but rather, it had intentions imposed on it by someone or something.
He pondered on all of this as he turned, retrieved his pack, and continued on his way south.
Chapter 1
The harsh sun beat down on my back as I continued on the final stretch of my long journey, finally nearing my destination. My destination was non-other than the great city of Maelor, situated at the southern tip on the continent of Heisynia. It was some time ago that I had left the soft breeze and shade of the forests before reaching the seemingly never-ending fields of the south. The dirt road I now traveled along provided no cover from the relentless sun and the waist high wheat stalks on either side of the path only added to the prickly heat running along my body. My current attire was a long white robe over a simple pair of pants and shirt with a hood draped over my face so as to keep what sun I could out of my eyes. I didn’t particularly dislike the geography I now found myself in during the last legs of the journey, but I still longed for the much more accommodating forest I had grown quite accustomed to over the past few months.
“Ugh… I knew the south would be warm but…” I muttered to myself, eyes aimed at the ground unable to keep my head up any longer.
“Then again it doesn’t help that I decided to travel here in the height of summer”
I was usually quiet, seldom finding the need to talk or express myself, however I had been traveling for some time and the loneliness started to ware on me, developing a habit of vocalizing my thoughts on occasion. Of course exhaustion also had a hand in my current state but with Maelor finally in sight it was only a matter of time before I was back in a more sociable state.
A pilgrimage for someone of my age, 18 years old, was not particularly rare although it was usually done with others. While I wasn’t completely opposed to the idea of traveling with others, in fact I had for a bit every now and then over the course of this trip, for the most part I would rather travel alone. I found comfort in being alone with just my thoughts and nature as companions. That being said, the loneliness and travel were starting to show their ware. My medium length, straight black hair’s usual matte and messy appearance was starting to look unkempt and ragged given the length of time I had been without any kind of chance to wash myself. My usual bright golden eyes felt dull and dreary along with the rest of my face. My slim, muscled frame hang in exhaustion. My simple leather shoe were worn to the point that my bare feet nearly touched the ground. Sweat dripped down my face and onto the ground leaving a trail in the dirt path as I walked towards the gallant structures now visible in some detail to the naked eye.
The city had a population of roughly five million according to the merchants I had talked to on the way here. The immense traffic passing through Maelor on a daily basis was absent on the modest dirt road I now traveled. Some ways back I made the decision to break off from the main road and into the forest eventually arriving at this much less traveled dirt road that was used by virtually no one except the community of farmers that utilized the surrounding land as their livelihood. Every major city and most towns had check points that verified your identity and business within the city and collected a tax depending on cargo size before they would allow you to enter. It wasn’t particularly thorough or inconveniencing but on a whim I decided it was best to just avoid it altogether. It wasn’t a money or cargo issue, as I had virtually no belongings and a healthy amount of Ani left from various guard jobs I had taken up on my way here. There were still checkpoints at the smaller gates used by locals that surrounded city walls but they were relatively lax and easy to bypass compared to the ones at large main gates. I had no ill intentions in mind as I decided to do this, I simply did not know what it was I wanted to do here. I only decided on this city as my final destination as a feeling in my gut told me it was the right choice. I wasn’t usually that carefree, but decided that after everything, it wouldn’t hurt to do something this random and absurd. I chuckled to myself as I thought about the reality of what it was I was doing. I looked around at the cottages the farmers lived in just outside the city.
They were quaint buildings built mostly out of wood. Some were square and two stories tall with a small outcropping for a porch, others were more widespread single floor constructions, all with small chimneys on their roofs. No smoke was rising out of them now as it was only mid-day and most people were in the middle of work, especially during the harvest season when there was plenty to do. Most farmers land had the usual mill, stable, and the like accompanying their houses. Only those of reasonable wealth could afford to buy that kind of land and infrastructure although most were probably long established families who had settled here relatively early in the cities existence. The families who owned the farms would work their fields and animals, however if it was anything like the other eight major cities located around Heisynia, three of which I had personally been to, the majority of the field workers were most likely poor workers from the slums in the city that worked hard all day in this sun for meager wages.
I didn’t particularly care for the poor as I whole heartedly believe if they wanted to leave the lives they led they simply needed to work for it and it could happen rather than relegate themselves to the mundane work they are forced to take. Deep down I knew it was a more complex issue than that and my view was largely biased because of what I’d been through but it didn’t stop me from acting coldly to the plights of others. However, as I looked at the houses, the workers, and thought of the relatively simple, straightforward lives they lead, I felt small bubbles of envy rise within my gut. It only lasted a second as reality washed back over and I refocused my mind on what it was I was looking for within this city.
With a sigh I shook these thoughts from my head as I was nearing the end of the road. A little ways ahead the dirt road opened up into an open clearing that ran all along the city walls. I nonchalantly dashed to my right into the wheat field where I crouched out of view of the guards at the small gate. As I contemplated the best way to get past unnoticed, a small old man stopped and looked at me smiling. He was leaning on a thick cane made of wood to support himself as he walked. It was extremely worn indicating he must have been using it for years, how many I couldn’t guess. He had dark tanned skin that sagged off the clearly outlined bones in his face and forearms. He certainly had seen better days. I couldn’t even guess how old he was. He wore a similar white robe with the hood draped down behind his back. Flabbergasted, I got up and walked out of the wheat field to stand beside him.
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“H-Hi…” I stammered out. I didn’t understand why, but anxiety rushed over me upon talking face to face with the man. I finally attributed it to my relative lack of human interaction over the past while as that was really all I could think of as the cause.
“Why hello! I wasn’t aware there was such a young lad amongst us!” the man said as he chuckled.
“Well… Haha… Yea of course!” I managed to say with what I hoped was enthusiasm.
“C’mon don’t be shy! You’re lookin’ to visit Maelor I assume? I’ll always help another of His followers.” He said, never dropping that big smile.
“Of course… Ha…” By this point I was at a complete loss as to what was going on but decided to follow along in hopes that whatever it was, it would pay off. To my surprise it did.
“Well don’t just stand there with that dumb look on your face! Let’s go! You must be new and not know your way around here yet. Don’t worry about that. It’s a big city and can be quite intimidating but once you get used to it you won’t have any issues. All the recent charity work has been sending us all over the city to parts even I didn’t know were there! Haha.” The man says as he grabs my arm and leads me toward the gate. Despite how he looks he has a firm and steady grip which left me wondering what it was this man did in the past. He continues to ramble on and on not letting me get a word in, which I don’t particularly mind. This works best in terms of keeping my identity secret and gathering information so I don’t complain.
From what he said, it sounds like he’s a part of the Church here in Maelor and assumed I was too by my attire which just happened to be very similar to that of the workers. Each major city holds a god as its symbol of worship and power. Collectively they are known as the Great Nine. The gods who are the ancient ancestors of humanity, or so the legend goes. The royal families who rule each city are said to be the direct descendants of the god of that city whereas the rest of us are more like spiritual descendants. Whatever the truth is, the gods tend to not interfere with humanity as it is now. There are tales of them doing so in the past and to quite extensive lengths at that, however every tale of the Nine personally interfering with the world is just that, a tale, as far as any currently living person is concerned. In addition to the Nine, there are the elves and faeries who have their own respective beliefs. There are also beings known as minor gods who exist throughout the world, however they also rarely interact with others, at least as far as anyone knows. I imagine it’s entirely possible that they could hide their true nature and live amongst humans as they pleased. At least, that’s what I would do if I were one. These minor gods can technically be anything from nature spirits to pure magic beings of which several are known to exist. Although in that sense, both elves and faeries could be considered minor gods as well.
The Nine each represent or embody a certain trait or principle. Here in Maelor, they worship the god of power and strength. Officially the gods are known by the trait of which they represent and have no name or are simply referred to as Him or Her. It is theorized by many that the name of the city indicates that that is the name of the god as well. However there is no way to prove such so it’s left shrouded in mystery. Even the modern royal families are not of pure blood after millennia of descendants and only don the city name as part of their own as a formality. For example, King Maelor’s name is actually Agnyn Valencia, but every new King in Maelor takes the name on as part of ritual tradition and he is thus known as Agnyn Valencia Maelor. Despite never having been here I know this well as it is exactly the same in all nine of the major cities in Heisynia.
The relationship between a citiy’s people and its god varies from city to city, but I’ve been told it is taken quite seriously here compared to the other major cities. Power and strength have always been needed by humanity in its long history of conflict and bloodshed. As this implies, I’ve been led to believe that Maelor prizes magic ability above all else and is heavily invested in the development and training of powerful mages. This supposedly continues today despite the 20 or so years that the entirety of Heisynia has been at peace. In addition to their own respective gods, each city’s god is held with respect and worshiped in every other major city just to a lesser extent. As for my own relationship with the gods, I’ve never really had one and don’t bother with it too much. It is often the same case with those born outside the major cities as worship and the gods in general have much less impact on daily life.
As we step through the modest gate leading into the city the old man speaks up again.
“So I don’t suppose you’d have a name would ya? I’m Zilch. Zilch Ene.” the man asks as he leads me through the open city block to a narrow back street. I assume he is leading me to the Church so I start forming a plan to get ‘lost’ before we arrive. However, in the meantime…
“Ven. The name’s Ven” I say frankly.
“Ahh… Hmmm, Ven…?” He trails off.
“Oh, just Ven” I reply.
“What?! No last name huh? Well, not that it particularly matters I suppose… Especially to one of His followers. Well, it’s a good name. Short, sweet, and to the point eh? Hahaha” he laughs heartily.
While it’s not particularly odd not to tell someone you’re last name if it’s not necessary, it probably isn’t common for anyone, even a man of his age, to meet someone who doesn’t have one at all. But that’s how it is. I’ve always just been known as Ven and I’ve never had the need nor the desire to change that.
With this short interaction at an end I see we are approaching another open square lined with shops of various wares on all ends. It’s quite crowded and I decide to make my escape as soon as we enter. I slip to the right as soon as we clear the last building leading into the square which happens to be a bakery. The sweet smell of freshly baked bread hits my nose and dulls my thoughts temporarily. I enjoy the smells of nature and clean air above most things but when it came down to it, food still won. As I come back to my senses I feel a small pang of guilt in my side that I had just abandoned an innocent old man who simply thought he was helping a fellow man of faith but it soon subsides as the matter falls from my thought with more pressing matters needing my attention.
Ignoring the allure of the fresh bread to my right, I hurry past the stall and into the next alleyway. Once I make sure there are no eyes on me I take off my robe and leave it wrapped in a ball on the ground. It’s not of bad quality so I don’t want to leave it but right now it was only going to complicate matters so I ignore the urge to rescue it and continue on along the alley. I make a left at the next gap and head straight until I find myself at a main road leading to the square I had just left. I honestly have no idea where to go at this point so without any particular goal in mind I simply wander about admiring the architecture and life of the city as it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to indulge in such simple pastimes. The air within the castle walls was still dry and humid but it was masked by a healthy cover of shade provided by the buildings.
The architecture in Maelor was quite standard. Given the rumors regarding the focus on magic and military within Maelor I expected the buildings and design to be relatively simple and straight forward. As I turned my gaze from building to building, I found that, while they were by no means simple, they made sense. What I mean by that is it appears both the buildings and layout of the city were designed with efficiency in mind. I’ve only been here a little while so I can’t say for sure, but it seems like they accomplished that at least. Despite all the traffic going in and out of the city, the many carts pulled by horse and simple foot travelers, there didn’t seem to be any air of confusion. Everyone seemed to know where to go and didn’t haphazardly stroll around getting in others way. I liked that part of this city so far at least.
I walked further into the city letting my mind wander when I started to notice a sharp increase in others that appeared to be my age. I definitely wasn’t mistaken. There were now a plethora of young men and women walking this way and that with books in their hands looking rushed. They wore uniforms adorning different colors along with various symbols embroidered on them over the heart. This wasn’t a foreign sight. I’d seen similar things in the other cities I’d been to in my travels. They were undoubtedly students, most likely heading back to classes from what I guessed was some sort of lunch break given the time of day. However, one thing that was decidedly different among the group I now observed was the seriousness with which they moved. Usually students tended to have a more carefree attitude. Biding the little time they had left before they would have to make it on their own. At least, that was the atmosphere I felt emanating from them in most cases. But here in Maelor, the students I now saw rushing every which way were decidedly serious and lacking any sense of ease. I suppose it makes sense given what I had heard earlier about how serious magic was taken here.
As I took a closer look at the uniforms, I noticed they were actually rather modest in detail. In fact, most were virtually the same as far as he could tell. The male uniform consisted of simple white pants with a white button down overcoat cut just below the waist that led up to a large, flattened collar wrapping around the neck and a white undershirt barely visible below the collar. Each had a wide stripe down the right side of the right pant leg and a similar stripe down the left side of the overcoat. The female uniform consisted of a skirt ending just above the knees with a stripe down the right side and a smaller overcoat type jacket similar the men’s. The only difference was the color. Some of the stripes were blue, some red, some green, and each stripe on the overcoat led up to a symbol embroidered over the heart. None of these symbols matched the one on the flag for Maelor so I had could only guess at what they meant. Probably different schools, but it could be anything really.
As I look on at the students going about their business, I start to feel a wave of envy wash over me. I’ve never had the chance to go to school. To be fair I’ve never really wanted to either. The idea of spending my days at an institution being beholden to someone else’s rules puts me off. I’ve always been pretty observant and enjoy reading and so what knowledge I have is accumulated from my travels and books. The experiences I’ve gained from those two alone have given me just as much, if not, more knowledge than I believe I could ever gain from some school. But as I continued to watch envy slowly started to become desire and soon I felt myself longing for the chance to join them. I can’t figure out what it is exactly that’s pushing me toward this direction. I’ve always been a loner and, while I enjoy interacting with people, it’s always on a superficial basis without any real connection. Perhaps I’m finally tired of the loneliness. Perhaps I feel like I want to belong somewhere. Perhaps it’s simply the exhaustion from my travels that’s pushing me to settle down. All of these ideas float by in my head in an effort to find an answer to what this feeling was inside of me. The seconds turned to minutes, and as I was still left without any inclination of the cause, I resigned myself.
You know what?
I don’t care.
It could be some superficial reason. Or it could be some deep rooted issue I’ve failed to realize was there.
Whatever it was, it was pushing me to stay here.
“Hahh…” I sigh in resignation.
I turn back towards the way I came and head for the square I left the old man Zilch in. I saw a decent looking Inn there that should suffice as a place to stay for the night until I figure out what to do about a more permanent place tomorrow. As I make my way back the sun is just starting to dip below the city walls, casting an orange pinkish glow over the city sky. With it is a cold breeze that is much welcomed after the sweltering heat of the fields earlier in the day. I open my mouth in a large yawn finally realizing just how tired I really was. It was still early evening and I was by and large a night person so I shouldn’t be this tired but nevertheless yawn after yawn arrived with no indication of stopping. I decided it would be best if I just quickly got a room and slept until I could properly focus on what I needed to tomorrow.
I arrived at the Inn with my eyes already half closed. Upon entering I noticed it was fairly crowded with people eating dinner at the various tables scattered around the room. For the first time I realized I had totally forgotten about food since the small rations of stale bread I had for breakfast before arriving in Maelor. My stomach growled but I couldn’t be bothered to care as the weight drawing my eyes closed far outweighed the hunger in my gut. After paying the Inn Keeper for a small room for the night I made my way up the stairs to the third floor and into the room I had been given. Without so much as another though I dropped my pack on the floor next to the bed and laid down on the coarse sheets. They weren’t particularly comfortable and the bed was made out of hay which didn’t help, but nor my body nor my mind cared as I quickly fell into a deep slumber.