Prologue - The Strongest in the Kingdom.

The Gods did not create the world. It was the world that gave birth to magically powerful creatures to watch over it. Every part of it that wished for protection gave birth to a different spirit, and for their immense power, they would later come to be known to everyone as Gods.

They lived along that which they protected, being yet another part of the planet. The Water Spirit swam with the fishes, the Wind Spirit played with the birds, the Earth Spirit nourished the soil and the Fire Spirit kept control over the wild flames.

Times passed, and more Gods were born into the world. They came to settle on a small continent that bloomed with magic. Although they watched over the whole world, they would soon find themselves calling this place "home". The contintent would be later known as The Land of The Gods, Deus Terra.

Over the centuries, life evolved. Some gods took interest in some of these creatures and blessed them with their power. That's how cratures such as elves and lizardfolk came to be. And when humans saw themselves missing the blessings of the Gods, they, too, wished for something to protect them.

But what their wish created was different.

Eventually, the Gods left the material plane in order to indirectly watch over the world. The planet's creatures are now alone. Kingdoms have risen and fallen, races have gone extint and others have thrived.

And though it all, Humans remain. Because for all their faults and weaknesses, they're the most resilient of all.

Why are there people here?

For the gods, why are there people in this forest in the dead of night!?

Samuel, a 20-year-old knight captain and 3 of his most trusted men rode their horses out of the capital the moment news reached them. A couple of powerful monsters had been sighted close to a nearby village. They urged their horses to run as fast as they could, each knight praying to whatever god they believed in that the guards be able to hold out long enough.

Just one monster sighting was a rare occurrence, but two at the same time even more so. Thankfully, the report said the monsters were fighting each other, so the main dangers were collateral damage and whatever the surviving monster would do after its victory.

The smiles of the guards of Planta Village when they arrived added some pressure to Samuel’s shoulders. He and his men wore the distinct armor of the kingdom’s knights, and Samuel was one of the few knights allowed to wear full-plate armor. Just seeing its engravings and silver-like glimmer gave these people hope. They trust them to keep them safe, and he would always put his life on the line to answer to that trust.

They pointed them southeast, in the direction both monsters had disappeared, deep into the Noble Woods. In the best-case scenario, one of the monsters would be dead and the other deeply wounded, but they had to be prepared for anything.

Samuel and his knights rode into the forest with haste. Their torches, lit with Samuel’s unique fire magic, pierced through the darkness like sunlight. It was only thanks to said torches that they were able to see them in the distance, roughly 70 meters ahead.

Why is there someone here now of all times!?

There is a person there, face to face with one of the reported monsters, with their back against a tree and holding a sword in front of them. The creature is an enormous snake, easily five meters long and with a body as thick as the biggest oak tree in this very forest and dark green skin. The intense light of their torches reflects on the monster’s huge fangs, just as big as a man’s arm.

Samuel urges his horse to run faster, but the poor creature is already giving it his all. The horses of Samuel’s brigade are some of the best in the kingdom. They’re strong, resilient and fast, yet with a person in danger in front of him at this very moment, they feel painfully slow.

In less than five seconds they cross over half the distance, but Samuel still feels powerless. He could kill the monster now with a spell, but there is a chance he will also hurt that person.

The knight captain’s chest tightens painfully when he sees the snake lunge, its fangs looking as sharp as the swords his men have already unsheathed. Then he sees it. A desperate swing of the sword that slices cleanly through one of those fangs and even a part of the snake’s mouth. The monster recoils in pain, its hiss traveling through every corner of the forest.

That strike gives him hope, because desperation was not all that carried it. Samuel could practically see the years of practice and experience that gave birth to a swing like that, coupled with an expert control of the magic inside their body to enhance natural physical abilities.

This person is no amateur. No, now that he’s closer, he can see clearly. The person with the sword is an adult woman with fiery red hair arranged into a long braid. She’s definitely equipped to expect combat in her travels, wearing a long dark gambeson. There’s a thin line of blood running down from her forehead through her face, and a quick scan of the surroundings lets him find a leather helmet some distance away, the protective equipment torn as if damaged by claws. He also notices that the snake monster has several other cuts along its underside.

Everything else happens way too quickly.

The eyes of the woman scour her surroundings with extreme urgency, yet the light coming from their torches and the loud steps of their horses make her turn to them. That’s when the second monster leaps.

The intense lights cast shadows just as strong from the surrounding trees, a perfect hiding place for a monster with deep black fur. It looks like a big, ferocious cat. Its body, however, is almost bulging with muscle, not to mention it stands on six legs. Its fangs, while big and sharp-looking, pale in comparison to the claws on its forelegs, as big and as dangerous as daggers.

In its leap, the feline monster manages to scratch the woman’s stomach. No, it tore through the gambeson, but the woman is unscathed. For its troubles, the black cat receives a powerful kick on its own stomach as a trade, sending it flying against a tree.

Samuel is almost there. He stands on the stirrups and draws his longsword in a swift motion, intending to slice the head of the snake. He allows the magic within his soul to flow through his veins, feeding power to every single corner of his body.

But he’s still too slow.

In its rage, the snake monster disregards all thought for self-preservation and lunges again, catching the woman in the middle of returning to her fighting stance after the kick. She puts up her right arm to guard, but the remaining sharp fang pierces through her upper arm.

“AAAAAH!!”

The woman screams in agony, letting go of her sword just as Samuel finally slices the head of the snake in one, clean swing. Blood spurts into the grass and trees. Separated, the body falls to the ground with a loud thud, and the monster manages a final hiss.

With even his senses enhanced by the magic, it only takes him one look around to notice the feline monster is gone.

“Look for the other one! Be wary of the shadows and cover each other’s back!” Samuel shouts his orders to his men, who unmount their horses for better mobility in the forest.

Samuel unmounts as well, immediately getting closer to the injured woman. The head of the snake is still stuck to her arm by the fang. To make matters worse, he notices drops of a clear liquid falling to the ground from the tip of said fang.

“Cut my arm!” The woman shouts even before he can say anything. “The poison’s gonna spread if you don’t! This arm is useless now anyway…” Despite all, the woman smirks. She’s exhausted and in incredible pain, but she still smirks.

“Are you sure?” Samuel asks, but still raises his sword above his head.

“Just fucking do it!” The woman yells and bites her left sleeve with all her remaining strength as she stops the flow of magic within her body.

One swift slash slices through skin, muscle and bone. It would be presumptuous to say, but he’s confident no other warrior in the kingdom could’ve performed a cleaner cut. Hopefully he made it as painless as possible.

The woman groans loudly, her face twisted and sweaty. Samuel throws the head of the snake aside to get a better look at the woman’s arm. The poison might not be a problem anymore, but she’ll still die of blood loss if nothing is done.

“I can cauterize the wound, but it’ll hurt.” He tells her, earning himself a glare from the woman.

“As if I’m having the time of my life here. Stop fucking talking and do it!” She growls.

Samuel quickly gets a potion from the pouch attached to his horse’s saddle. It won’t solve everything, but it should help prevent and remove infections as well as serve as a painkiller. He pours it unceremoniously all over the wound before putting his own hand over it.

“I’m doing it.” He announces, watching the woman grit her teeth.

The knight focuses on his magic again. This time, instead of focusing on making it flow through his body, he lets it seep outside of it. He controls it, molds it to the exact form he needs and then combusts it.

The flame he creates in his hand is not like normal fire. It shines brighter than any other flame, almost golden. It burns hotter as well, sealing the wound in mere seconds.

The woman groans again, but releases a heavy breath she’d been holding. She pants heavily, but still looks at him with urgency. “My son's behind this tree…” She says. “He’s sick…! Take him to the capital!”

Her son? No wonder she stood her ground so valiantly.

Samuel nods and looks behind the tree. There is indeed a boy there, resting against the tree and wrapped in thick clothing. His young face is covered slightly by his semi-short black hair, he can’t be older than 15. He’s sweating and his face is twisted in pain. He thrashes around and groans as if his whole body was in pain. Touching his forehead reveals a very high fever.

“We’ll get you two to the capital. My men should take care of the remaining monster soon enough and we’ll head there as fast as our horses can take us. I promise.”

“Thank you…” The woman smiles, allowing herself some relief.

Yet Samuel can do nothing but blame himself for what just happened to her. If he’d been a second faster; if he had better long-range spells at his disposal; if they had ridden out the capital a minute earlier. Countless situations where he could’ve, and should’ve, performed better and this woman would still have her health and her arm.

A sudden pain in his chest and a dark feeling interrupts his thoughts.

That’s the best way to describe it. He feels it deep within his soul and it shakes him to his very core. Something like a dark aura passing through him. Not inherently evil, but definitely unnatural and… wrong. The pain it left as it passed fades quickly, leaving only confusion.

He’s… sweating, he realizes. And shaking. What was that? Where did it come from?

“What the fuck…?” He hears the woman mutter and sees her holding a hand to her chest. Did she feel that as well?

A loud growl resounds through the forest, and the voices of Samuel’s men follow. They shout information at each other and commands to remain alert and close together.

That distracted him from the attack that came his way. No, there was no way he ever would’ve expected an attack to come from the sick boy.

He swipes his arm in front of him, and Samuel manages to put his arms in front of himself right on time. The strike is far stronger than it should be, however. It pushes him back slightly, and even makes a small dent in his gauntlet.

“A-Arthur…!?” The boy’s mother speaks, noticing movement behind her. No, not just movement. There’s magical energy coursing through the boy’s body, the intensity of which is rarely ever present in a human.

Having pushed him aside, the boy called Arthur shoots into a dash. With a body powered by powerful energy, he covers almost five meters with his startup alone.

The lingering light of a torch reflects on an object in Arthur’s hand. Just when did he pick his mother’s sword? And where is he even going?

Samuel runs magic through his own body and follows after the boy immediately. He won’t allow anything to happen to him while he’s here.

Out of the shadows and right in front of the boy leaps the feline monster. Its eyes have become the color of its fur and an aura just as dark envelops it. It crashes with Arthur, and the two roll around for several meters, the sword dropping from the boy’s hand.

They stop, and the monster finds itself with a small human on top of it. That doesn’t make it defenseless in any way. Samuel manages to reach them in time. He grabs the daring kid from the back of his thick coat and pulls him away before two of the monster’s claws can even put a scratch on him. Without a moment’s delay, the knight captain pierces through the feline’s throat with his sword. He sends a current of magic that travels through his hand and sword and reaches the creature, lighting it up on the same golden fire as before.

The monster thrashes on the ground and lets out loud cries of pain, but Samuel has it pinned. In only a few seconds, the black cat is dead. The body is charred and the strong, terrible smell of burnt flesh permeates the air. Both threats are taken care of, but in his relief, he almost forgets he is still holding the woman’s son. He is quick to remind him.

The kid swats away the arm holding him from the back of his collar, freeing himself. Samuel blinks a couple of times, trying to make sense of what’s going on.

Not only is the boy about as strong as an adult male, perhaps more, but the magic coursing through him is powerful. He has to do a double take when his eyes focus on him again. He could’ve sworn Arthur’s hair was black a minute ago, but now it’s deep red, as if stained by the blood spilled here. And his eyes. They’re yellow and almost… reptilian, in a way. His glare studies him carefully, and his body language, with a hunched back and arms spread in an almost animalistic way, tell of obvious hostility.

The boy’s charge against him stops his thoughts. He jumps at him with unnatural leg strength and makes a wide swing to punch him. It poses no threat, however. Samuel can easily sidestep that and all of his next attempts at violence.

“Arthur…! Stop that, you idiot! What’s gotten into you!?” His mother cries, her voice barely coming out.

The sound of heavy steps and armor rattling tells Samuel that his men are close.

“Grab the kid!” One of the knights yells.

“Stay where you are.” Samuel orders, evading another incoming blow. “Let him tire himself out.”

The captain lets the boy try and try to punch him, and just as he expected, he soon tires out. His movements become more and more sluggish until he collapses on the grass. Interestingly, his red hair and yellow eyes go back to normal just as that happens.

Slowly and sluggishly, his mother crawls next to him. She touches his forehead and looks at Samuel. “His fever has gone down, but…”

“Has this happened before?”

“No! He was never able to use Prana before! I don’t understand!”

“…” Samuel already has a few theories, but they can wait. “Get her and the boy on the horses. We’re taking them back to the capital immediately!”

“Sir. What about the monsters?”

“Joseph, Manuel. Ride to the village and help the guards with the corpses. There shouldn’t be any more danger but protect them if necessary. Make sure they’re sent to Clock Tower. The mages will want to have a look at them.”

“Yes sir!” The knights answer, unhesitant.

People call Samuel the strongest man in the kingdom, a title he takes as a heavy responsibility. But his men are the best the knights have to offer. Even if he wasn’t here, they would’ve been able to take care of the monsters. Joseph and Manuel will be fine on their own.

“Roland. We’ll return to the capital. Help the lady to your horse. I’ll take the boy in case he goes wild again.”

“Yes sir.” The third man answers quickly.

Both the woman and her son have completely passed out. Their conditions seem stable at a first glance, but Samuel is no doctor. He needs to take them back to Radiant City and have them healed.