“Hrm?”

Traveling at high speed, having left the now desolate forest and following down a road, I notice a rather large town at the edge of the dark forest. Compared to my village… No, it’s better not to think about it. I should see if I can find out what happened to the survivors, though.

“Let’s rest at this town first.”

“I will not kill them, unless I need to… I need to ask them what they know of my village.”

Increasing my speed a notch I hurry so fast, people on the road seem to be shocked by the sudden gust of wind and afterimages I cause by running by. Mutters of “An expert…” or even “So young and yet so formidable” can be heard. Most young man would become warriors of the first rank when joining the military when they are fifteen years old. Most are drafted and go on to do their bloody duty, leaving them with coin if they manage to survive.

Thanks to my peculiar methods of training and my demonic other half, I am now comparable to a 4th ranked warrior, or a 3rd ranked magical beast while still having to reach 10 years of age! Thanks to their racial traits, most magical beasts are much more formidable compared to experts of the same rank, unless they have some special trick up their sleeve. For me, that is all just laughable, however. The demonic arts have 6 steps in total.

The first step is the stepping into the path of a demon, learning the basics and stealing the life-force from nature and this gave me tremendous power!

The next would be in manipulating the stolen life-force itself, something I cannot quite grasp yet, but I can only anticipate the power I will gain from it.

I know that once my body and mind have been trained enough, it would come to me naturally, but it still leaves a bad taste to know you are close to reaching something, only to not quite get it.

My advancement in magic is also hindered. The demon told me to break the seals he placed on the spiritual energy myself, if I was able to, it would not dangerous for it to remain unlocked, or so he said…

The spiritual energy is the crucial power needed in advancing for a magician. Without it, how could one use the mageforce to begin with? Originally it is very hard to cultivate spiritual energy and the more one advances to higher ranks the more is needed for the next. Some prominent mages needed hundreds of years to reach 9th rank and were considered geniuses. Most never make it to 7th rank!

For me… I have an ancient soul, one that has already had all the cultivation and insights to become deity level. Not just any deity, either, one of the high ranking demon, a Highgod level deity! As the contrast of our physical level and our spiritual level was just too high, he has locked it. So that means that as long as I manage to unlock the seals, I am able to advance at a much higher rate than any other human possibly could!

*whoosh*

“Hold! You! Wait a moment!”

(Owen)

Slowing to a calm walk I near the gates and the guard walks forward, inspecting me.

“By the All-seeing! Your aura is so vicious I almost had you for a frick’n beast, my boy!” (Guard 1)

“Ha! Look at’m! What? You grew up in the dark forest? Hehehe.” (Guard2)

“What if I did? You find it funny, old man?”

A sudden cold look came over them, almost immediately.

Grow up in the dark forest? What kind of a joke was that? They could clearly see I was an expert, just from the fierce fiery aura one could tell, combined with the efficient way of moving, learned from my warrior training, I was no ordinary boy. To grow up, living with these magical beasts, however… what would that imply?

“Boy… don’t go too far, if you know what’s good for you! Move, before I teach you a lesson!” (Guard2)

“Hmpf, no respect for his betters. Youth, I tell you! They’ll run the world to the ground one day.”(Guard1)

No longer paying attention to these ranting old buggers, I make my way to town, heads turning in shock as I walk by and turning into a look of puzzlement before turning back again. Some kids even start crying.

Hm… At least I should get something to replace these rags I’m wearing. Looking around I make my way to a tavern first. It had a huge bullhead as a sign, the ‘Bullhead tavern’… very intuitive. Making my way to the entrance an immense oppressive aura barred my way.

“What the…”

As I look up, I see a muscular, well-built man, with long silver hair flowing behind him, as he’s standing mid-air over the town. All other of these lesser peasants have stopped what they were doing and even the more powerful of the guards could just stare in awe, not daring to move.

“Come out Duncan! I know you are here! There is no use in hiding!”

His voice echoes throughout the town seemingly not losing any of its deafening volume. Just from using his battle-qi enhanced voice, I can only tremble before him.

Now some faint whispers can be heard. Some guards look shocked:

“Duncan? The fiery War God Duncan, that beat the Silverstar Knight? He is here? Wasn’t he one of the top saint-level experts in our Xurian continent? Could this be Jira? The Silverstar Knight must be back for a challenge!”

“A real fight between saint level experts!?”

This demon… fine! Just as I decided to turn around the largest man I have ever seen suddenly appeared out of the tavern I was going to. A massive, hulking man, 2.40 metres tall, with a huge muscular chest. One of his big hands was holding a massive Warhammer, that seemed too heavy to even lift, but despite his fierce appearance, he emitted a warm, gentle aura, that made me remember a snowy night, where our family cuddled together while sitting before our hearth.

“This… this is Duncan? Oh my… how did we not know that he was currently here? Could this have something to do with the affairs in the south?”

Hearing this, my ears suddenly perk up and my head shoots to my left, as if slapped.

“Affairs to the south? Could you tell me?”

I quickly make my way over to the gossiping couple of women and whisper to them.

“You don’t know? Oh, look at you poor thing! You look as if you were out training in the forest for weeks! Don’t worry, let me tell you. The so called ‘Lord of Decay’ has risen to power in the south. It’s said he is has killed five saint-level combatants that stood against him and wiped out the kings. He quickly subdued the chieftains and now reigns in the south. He even dared invaded our boarders and ransacked our villages to the south! The whole southern kingdom is in riot, but no one can do anything. I heard that anyone that dares to leave or speak against him is flayed and turned into a mindless slave! “

“What!? That cannot be true!”

“I heard it personally from my husband! He is a scout in the army and took leave last week to warn me not to grieve should he not return. Oh… my poor hubby! *sniffle* “

This… what is happening? How can anyone do that? So he caused the destruction of my village?

Stunned, my vision becomes a shrouded veil of grey. I hold onto my head and feel a sudden tremble in my heart, before the earth suddenly shook, the winds howling around me… no, not just me, all around the town. Looking up I can see the two saint-level combatants facing off against each other, seemingly talking and emitting a fierce bloodlust. The previous gentle aura around Duncan now a swirling inferno of anger and heat. Fiery war god, indeed…

Revenge… always with the revenge. I don’t care! As long as I can protect my sister, everything is fine. Should he endanger her further… hmpf! He’ll get what’s coming to him.

Looking up in the sky I saw the now distant blurs of the saint combatants making their way west… so, it had nothing to do with the south after all? No fight? Or maybe they are amassing power to combat it? In any case, I will have to train before I can do anything useful in that regard.

“Uhm… you alright there, kiddo?”

“Oh… yeah sorry. I just had a sudden headache. Do you… do you know of any survivors from the ransacked villages? I originally heard they were destroyed by powerful combatants in their spar.”

“That’s what we people thought originally, yes. King Leyron came out with an official notice that we are at war with this self-proclaimed Lord of Decay and that our top saint-level combatants were asked to help deal with theirs. He said we shouldn’t worry, our experts are far more powerful!”

“So… that’s what it was. While they fought he meanwhile dispatched his hellhounds… so, any news of survivors?”

“Why, yes. Some poor dears have been found and taken to a shelter in the capital. The Queen herself even gave his condolences. We are so blessed to have them as our leaders in these dark times! *sniffle*”

“Thank you…”

Ignoring these sentimental hags, I make way to the dark forest. My inner self was right, I cannot dawdle. There is no time to visit the tavern… it does make me wonder what the Tural empire in the east is doing, though. How could they let the south be in this state?

With a heavy mood and thoughts, I ignore this town and continue onward. So my sister was in Orland, far from the fighting. She must be safe… she has to be.

My eyes narrowed and highly alert I enter my new lovely home, full of tenants that would love a bite of me.

The trees are becoming more and more dense. It truly deserves the name ‘The Dark Forest’, I can barely see normally. Would I not be able to sense the life force around me I wouldn’t be able to see a thing!

Clearing the foliage ahead of me I suddenly hear something: silence! How could such a dense forest with so many little critters be so silent? Something isn’t right.

Ducking low I turn my head and try to spot anything when all of a sudden I notice a warm, wet feeling hitting my left ear.

*groooowl*

……………………………………………………………………………

Thank you for reading! Please leave me feedback and tell me any mistakes you have spotted, thank you.

Next up is action! You want more trivia? You get more trivia, no problem! :D

Now on to the boring politics of this mortal realm, if you want to know more. (This is not the same realm as the one in Panlong with its Yulan continent!)

Spoiler :

The Realm: Spoiler : in this mortal realm there are two continents. The Xurian continent is a vast continent where close to 60% is not yet discovered /documented. The reason for that is that most of that undiscovered land is that the centre of the dark forest or the “Hell’s Maw” mountain range is far too dangerous for even saint level combatants. This is the primary continent in this world. It has three big nations: The Tural Empire in the east, the former Byzantian kingdom in the south and the northern kingdom of Haringar. The other continent is shrouded in mystery and most people think of it as ‘the continent of the gods’ as no one has ever managed to return from there alive.

Tural Empire: Spoiler : The Tural Empire is protected by the eternal emperor Tural a deity level combatant that remains on this mortal realm. He has two princes under him. The title “prince of the dawn” and “prince of the dusk” is given to the current head of the two royal bloodlines. They do all of the political duties needed to run the empire and are basically the ones who make most of the decisions. The emperor himself rarely steps in. This has earned him the title of “The Silent Emperor” by the common folk. The Tural Empire itself is a pretty peaceful nation that encourages balance. It is also the largest of the three by far.

Byzantian kingdom: Spoiler : this is the kingdom currently occupied by the ‘Lord of Decay’. Thanks to this Lords peculiar magic and aggressive stance, most call ‘Land of Decay’ now. While the northern kingdoms are at war with this kingdom, the east has mainly just cut off trade, remaining neutral. It was once a lush, rowdy kingdom ruled by a moot of kings and favoured valour and prowess over decadence. They held honour in very high regards, but ultimately it’s now a dark, oppressed land full of slaves and undead. Those still alive are desperate and live in fear of their new ruler.

Haringar kingdom: Spoiler : This kingdom is ruled by the royal family line of Haringar. Currently King Leyron and Queen Lynthia rule in the capital city of Orland. They very much favour glamour and art, having the highest disparity between the peasants and nobles in the entire continent. A lot of young people train in the vain hope to become noticed for their valour and prowess to gain the attention of a master that would train them, as experts are often given a title as well as the favour of nobles. Mages are treated even more favourably, as long as they pledge allegiance to the Kingdom.

The kingdom itself is backed by the holy order of ‘The All-seeing’. The leader of the church has a heavy influence on the kingdom itself, close to, if not even a little higher than the king and queen.