King of the beast

Setrius Soulred

"You useless fool, Sandrus. I trusted you with the reanimation and you did nothing but disappoint me." The king was turning hostile, his eyes filled with rage, but his arm still placed around his wife's back. 

My brother opened his mouth to reply but the king put a hand up to stop him, "I don't care about your excuses. Now, fix this mess or I'll relieve you of your duty, and you know what that means for you and your clan, don't you." A threat. This bastard was threatening my brother. The same person who tutored his ancestors for hundreds of years.

The reason behind the kings overwhelming strength throughout the years, was all thanks to Sandrus, and this sleaze had the nerve to threaten him in such a way?

He was an unprepossessing man. No unique qualities other than his golden brown hair. However his armor made his status as king clear for all eyes to see.

He had the royal relic, Casila, strapped to his waist, in a place where he could easily reach it across his plump body. The silver armor he was sporting was lined with gold, giving it a royal look, however the joints were largely covered with more armor, limiting his movement. Sandrus theorized that the king had these extra plates of armor added onto these areas to limit the amount of damage he would take when he went into the dungeons, however he never did. 

The first king, at least since I had been born long ago, that acted like a complete imbecile. The crown he wore on his head, lined with red and green jewels, most likely ruby and emerald, along with his armor, were the only things that signaled his royalty. His disgusting face and terrible teeth, along with his large body, showed signs of laziness and uselessness. 

He'd even married a prostitute from some slum, for the sole reason that she was an attractive woman around 15 years younger than him. She was worse than him, but she was born into that life, this worthless excuse of a king was not.

"I'm sorry my lord, I didn't go through the spells on the body before I gave it to the boy. I apologize. However, he does not remember these events clearly, seemingly only when he sleeps. He's woken up in fits every morning, but after about an hour, he forgets what the dreams were about." Sandrus replied, much more royally than the king himself.

"A step that should've already been taken! Get out of my sight and fix the mess you caused." The king shouted back. Sandrus bowed, spun on his heel and walked towards where I was waiting by the door.

"Lets go, shall we." Sandrus said with an impossible amount of calmness for the disrespect that he had just been shown.

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Once we had walked down the royal halls and down into the teleportation room I looked back at Sandrus and asked the question that had been lingering on my mind, "Did you do it on purpose?" Unsure if my theory was correct. "Removing the mind altering spell? Yes. I in fact did." "Why?" The question shot back before I realized I had already answered it in my head. I knew why, I just didn't want to think my brother would do something like that.

"He is the one who can grow to match the power of Casila. I want him to strike down the king and accept rule over the lands within this beast." I knew it was out of selfishness but I didn't expect my brother to admit it so openly. This was treason, if someone heard what he was saying he could get executed. My brother could put up a tough fight against the capital of Runedawn's army but the man who truly wields Casila, he's way out of our league.

Our only threat is that man. Not the king but the one who stood beside the king. An ancient fighter who had fought along side the kings for almost as long as I had been alive. Had he been born into the line of the kings, he would have surely been the best king these lands had ever seen. But that's the issue with hereditary monarchs, the greatest never truly get to lead.

As I stepped through the portal to the city of trials I felt the usual uneasy feeling that came with taking a portal, but also another uneasy feeling. The uneasy feeling that my brother was straying for the first time in his life, and lastly, that everything within this beast was soon to change.

I knew the reason. I knew very well. That boy, Mercury, he had the power to change this world.

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Mercury Bauer

A scream had been let free from my throat as I jolted up into bed, the same feeling that I was missing something, hanging over me once again.

Every morning since I'd came to this city it had been the same. Each morning the fits seemingly got shorter and shorter. Now on my 2nd week in the underground metropolis, the time had shortened to a few seconds after I wake up. 

However, I didn't feel whole. The dreams I kept forgetting, what could they truly be. It was as if I had lost a piece of the puzzle that makes me, me. A big piece, one that covered a part of my life that I would need to remember one day.

It didn't help that I had forgotten how I had even got into this monster in the first place, my last memory before being a simple shop with my sister and my first memory after waking up was being in front of the two goblins that had been helping me train the last few weeks.

But I needed to put that behind me. I need to get strong, that's whats important to me right now.

Honestly I'm not sure where the motivation to improve my strength has come from but I know that this is something I need to do.

Once I had gotten into the outfit I'd been wearing the last few days, I quickly walked down the stairs and out into the street. It was much busier than the first night I had gotten here. There were hundreds of people walking around, some selling products, and some patrolling the streets. 

It felt much more like the cities I was used to, just with a ceiling made out of flesh.

I turned to my right and followed the path down to the crossroads, like everyday, and turned to my left, following the path that took me to the training grounds.

There was so much more that I noticed now that I hadn't noticed before. A barber's to my left, a tavern to my right. People coming out of the tavern, still sporting their armor, wobbling side to side as they leaned on there friends. 

There was a lady hanging her washing out, which I could see through the alleyways between stalls. 

A man was bargaining with a street vendor, trying to negotiate the price of the wool he was attempting to buy. I'd seen the man before, he owned a shop I had visited, one selling casual clothes made of wool and silk. His work was pretty impressive. The shirts were comfy and the leather trousers were freeing to move in.

Actually I was wearing one of his pairs of trousers when I had walked past him. 

But that all stopped when I reached inside the training grounds. The bustle went quiet and I could only hear the men talking in front of me. They were talking about some event going on soon, but I couldn't overhear exactly what.

I turned to the area where I had been sparring with Erin the past few days and opened the gate.

They were all standing on the platform, a concrete platform sitting about two feet above the ground in an octagonal shape.

There was a weapons rack on the right side of the arena and I walked over to pick up a mid-length sword, the same one I had been using the past few days.

"Ah Mercury, don't bother with that sword. I've brought you a new sword, one made out of essence-stone. It'll be much stronger and lighter, I think it will suit you well." Godwin had jogged over to me with a sword around the same length as the one I had been swinging around before he announced himself.

The sword had a turquoise blade, the same color as the essence crystals I'd seen before, "Are you sure about this Godwin? I'm sure something like this is expensive." I was hesitant to accept the weapon, although the shine on the fresh blade was almost whispering in my ear for me to take it.

"Erin picked the design out especially for your fighting style. You'd have a rough time selling this sort of thing, it's way too light for most swordsmen, I actually almost sent it flying earlier when giving it a few swings." He scratched the stubble on his chin as he passed the sword to me, his distinct eyebrows raised with his smile and his large eyes gave me a look I just couldn't say no to.

I took the sword and ran my index finger up and down the blade. It was soft, almost as if it were made out of a plastic rather than a metal. 

I took a stance and swung forward, the blade whizzed through the air and I almost lost my footing. The blade was incredibly light. So light that I overestimated how much strength I'd need to put into a swing so much that it almost flew into the ground.

"Would you like to try out the sword against me? I've been wondering how a blade with essence-stone would feel to hit. It's not common someone has the ability to use a sword like that." The long dark hair fell straight over her shoulders as she looked at me with a soft smile, her cheeks slightly red from the cold.

Looking at her properly, she was a beautiful girl. Her eyes were the complete opposite of Godwin's. They were bright blue and complimented her well set straight nose. Her head sat on top of her shoulders as if being held up by strings and her whole body looked fluid when she moved, as if she was half snake.

I sighed, "I guess I need someone to try the sword out against, although I would like to spar with Godwin one of these days." I turned slightly to Godwin and gave him a smile before jumping up onto the platform.

Godwin got into his position at the side of the platform and waited for me to take my stance.

Erin took her usual stance, with her feet set equally apart, her right foot slightly forward, holding a blade in each stance. She bent her knees slightly in order to push off as soon as the round started, to get the first strike on the opponent. 

"Fight!" Along with Godwin's shout, I saw the feet of the girl I was staring at disappear and her form reappear to my right. I could track the movement though, her legs moving in slow motion compared to when I'd first seen her move like that.

A blade swung at me and I moved my turquoise blade over to my right, holding it in both arms, bringing it right where the knife was about to hit me. 

The force produced made my legs shake and I brought my left foot back behind my right and repositioned myself into a different stance. I lifted my blade up by my head and twisted my arms so the blade was pointing forward. 

It was my turn to strike.

Whilst the young girl was regaining her composure, getting ready to strike again, I lunged forward and slashed my blade to her left.

She managed to move both knifes over to her side before my blade connected, but it was too late. The feint was successful and I pulled my blade back before twisting on my foot and swiping her legs out from under her. As she was off balance from blocking my attack my foot managed to sweep her off with barely any effort and I brought my blade down to her throat. 

Standing over her with my blade next to her throat she threw her hands to her side, "Don't get too cocky now that you've beat me once right. I mean I was the one who organized that blade for you anyways. Don't go forgetting that." She was right. It wasn't like I was a better fighter than her. I knew she was just fighting like she had been before and she hadn't adjusted to the change in my speed that came with this new blade.

I felt like a dancer, as if I could pirouette whilst cutting down my enemies. 

I was still a long way away, I thought to myself before responding to Erin, "Yeah I know I know, but it makes for a good achievement." I got back up off of the knee that had been leaning on the ground and walked over the girl.

"How about we all go out for drinks tonight, seeings as you finally managed to beat her." Sandrus offered up a suggestion. 

I could see Godwin's face light up in glee at the mention of alcohol. The guard took any opportunity to drink to his hearts content, but I guess that's how it is with adventurers. A culture thing. 

"I'm okay with that." Erin said from behind me, "Me too." I answered "And we all know how Godwin feels about that." I added, getting a chuckle out of Erin.

I hopped off the platform to get a drink of water, "But before then, how about you fight me with your full strength." I looked back at Erin, she grinned in return, "I don't know if you'd survive that, but I can loosen up a bit." 

It was nice, being around everyone. Although the soul-finders were relatively quiet most of the time, the two Desrath's were great company. But I knew I had a greater purpose. That it wasn't just because we were friends that they were training me.

I just needed to figure out why I had been brought to this place so suddenly.

I had to get back to my family.