Disclaimer! Read before considering this story!

All Characters used in the story are original to the extent of my knowledge, except for the exception of the Blood Mage Barsk who was created by Ryan Hall who graciously gave me permission to use his persona in the story. If there are any other similar characters it is out of pure coincidence, as the inevitability of repetition is almost inescapable. This Story contains very few sexual instances, so this isn’t one of those smut stories, sorry to tell you this. It is although very violent in some instances as the descriptive nature of my writing tends to find internal liquid spillage quite entertaining. There also may be some foul language, so if you don’t want to ruin your virgin eyes… it’s probably best to not be online anyways. Mathious Zer and Nihlevos Xarai are © Mathious Zer, and if you didn’t realize this yet, that’d be me.

Chapter One:

            Some distance away from Mindle Keep, the capital of the continent of Thurvia there is the small agricultural village of Holly Vale. The somewhat flat lowlands are filled with soil fertile enough to practically grow anything, or so it would seem at least. The buildings of the village were very simple, consisting of stone walls, held together with a mixture of mud and stone they call “Smeth”. The roofs of the buildings were made of bundled straw held together with thin ropes weaved from thick axe grass blades. Axe grass received its name for its ability to cut into skin easily if approached improperly because of small serrated edges. These serrated edges made the grass a healthy rope as they would interlock and hold together if weaved in a fashion that only those in Holly Vale know.
            The people of Holly Vale were a mixture of Naz’Tha and Canid farmhands, the population itself of more than two hundred. Canids were a Canine race, built well muscled and capable of taking punishment, either in combat or in simple things like manual labor. Most seem to have features like the wolves that inhabit the forest, dark grey coats of a rough textured fur. They are generally a very proud race, and are very family oriented. A subrace of Canids is the Kyubians who live on the western continent of Sekhma, and their features are more fox-like. Holly Vale’s inhabitants all work together in a sort of extended family unit, each helping the other in times of need, and social events are very important to them.

            Working in the fields is the job of most of those who live in the Vale, even for those who have a legendary background like the granddaughter of the Grand Paladin of the holy deity Karagas: Ko’Das. The last of her bloodline; Min’Das now lived alone in the Vale, working on the farm that her grandfather created long ago when he was too old to fight for Karagas’ message. She was about five foot six, slim but well muscled from work. Her silvery white eyes seem to almost demand respect, but the blue tinges at the edges and her warm inviting smile seems to request friendship instead. As with her grandfather she had a snow white coat, making her look a bit odd compared to the other farmers and fairly notable. Min’Das’s parents died a few years ago when a horrible storm ravaged the land, giving their lives to save the Vale from a torrential flood.
            Now Sciostia burned brightly in the sky above, a cool breeze gently bent the axe grass that surrounded the fields, blowing through Min’Das’ fur lightly. The breeze was offset by the heat of Sciostia, bringing sweat to Min’Das’ brow as she thrust her hoe into the ground, ripping the earth into a more manageable form and dislodging any of the rogue axe grass sprouts that jutted along in her path. Quietly she tilled away, creating rows in her own personal section of the field, her small home happily close to her work. The crude tool in her grip was worn from prolonged use; generations of hardworking hands have touched its surface, grooves of fingerprints adorn it.

With another heave of the hoe, she gave a content sigh, and brushed the sweat from her eyes. Two Canid children played in the distance, bringing a smile to her lips. She took the moment to give herself a bit of much needed relaxation; the continuing breeze met the sweat covered fur and ran a chill down her spine as the wind cooled the liquid down rapidly. Her ears picked up the sounds of a conversation in the distance, and taking interest she turned to view the speakers who were in another section of the fields.
            “Did you see that big fire thing in the sky last night?” A Naz’Tha farmhand stated to a Canid. The two were Min’Das’ immediate neighbors. The Naz’Tha was named Thomian and the Canid was his best friend Daimian.

“Of course I did Thomian, it burned almost as bright as Sciostia! I’d be surprised if anyone had not seen it!” The Canid male returned quickly. The two males laughed, but Min’Das had indeed not seen it. Thinking to herself, she wondered why she hadn’t been awakened by something of such solar output. All she could remember was a dream about a male and female Canid who traveled with a man in earth colored robes on some strange world. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she left the hoe, it slamming onto the ground as she left it. She walked towards the two males, pondering their conversation in her head. Noticing her approach they both waved and smiled to her in greeting.
            “What’s this I hear about something bright in the sky last night?” Min’Das asked softly. The two males looked astonished, and then they smiled and laughed.
            “Good one Min, you almost had us thinking that you didn’t notice it.” Daimian stated giving a sigh once his laughter had passed.
            “I’m not joking… what are you two talking about?” Min’Das asked again, a straight look on her face added to the fact that she was indeed dead serious. The two males scratched there head for a moment, and an awkward silence passed between the three. Then at last Thomian spoke.
            “Well it’s like how we said. It was like a large fireball in the sky that looked like a smaller Sciostia. It disappeared over the horizon going south. It has to be a good omen; the crops had grown a lot overnight!” Thinking about it Min’Das realized that he was right. The crops had indeed grown a lot overnight in some areas, although hers didn’t grow at all.
            “Perhaps you’re right Thomian, maybe it is a blessing. It’s just strange that it didn’t awake me like it did everyone else it seems. Well I’m going to head back to my crops, thanks for the information you two.” She started to turn when Thomian quickly spoke again.
            “You may want to return home instead. It looks like its going to rain soon.” Thomian pointed to the sky, which was starting to grow darker with cloud cover.  It was a little strange that the clouds could cover the sky so quickly, but it wasn’t like this was the first time strange things happened. Min’Das gave out a disheartened sigh and shook her head.
            “No… I have to keep working. My crops didn’t grow as fast as yours did, and they need all the attention they can get. That axe grass doesn’t weed itself you know.”  With that Min’Das turned and began to walk towards her crops. The two males sighed and swiftly retreated to their shelters. Min’Das picked up the hoe and began to churn the soil once more when the rain first started to drop. The drops were freezing, and sent a chill down her spine, but she still kept working. The rain began to fall at a more vigorous pace, pelting Min’Das with their icy sting. So… cold… but why? She thought to herself quietly. Sciostia should make the rain at least a little bit warm… this is just too strange.

For what seemed to be like an hour she continued to work in the rain, the soil becoming a thick like mud about where she worked. She sighed sadly, and tried to make the best of the muck and to try to remove the rogue axe grass. Her ears perked up, something catching her attention in the distance. A familiar voice called out, almost like a whine. Her memory instantly placed a face to the sounds, one of the children who were playing earlier. Instinctively she dropped the hoe and took off into the distance, coming to the edge of the wilderness that surrounded the vale. She bound what seemed almost effortlessly into the woods, the terrain doing nothing to slow her, not even the cold stinging rain.

She came upon one of the children, who was crying and running towards the village. Min’Das checked the child quickly, he had several cuts across his face probably from running into some axe grass that he didn’t notice when running back. She caught the young canid in her paws, looking into his eyes and asking worriedly, “What’s wrong? What happened?” The canid only blubbered a bit, attempting to say what happened but it was almost too much for the child to handle.
            “Thi…thi…Thiel fell into the river when… a strong… wind blew… us. He’s traped… please Min’Das… help my brother!” the canid male stated, hugging furiously into Min’Das’ leg. She cooed him softly, patting him on the back to reassure him that everything was ok.
            “I’m going to go find your brother Kathan, now you go home to your mom and dad. This weather isn’t for little ones.” With that she pointed him to the right direction, and pushed him softly. With that he took off as fast as his little legs would allow him. When he was a good distance on the horizon and she was sure he’d be safe the rest of the way back Min’Das turned and ran towards the river. She knew the woods well, having played here too when she was little. She bounded through the trees and other large flora as she came to the clearing where the river broke through the woods.

She looked frantically up and down the river and almost didn’t spot Thiel if he wasn’t whining softly. She called out to him, “Thiel hold on! I’m here to help, but you must be a strong little one and hold on!” She heard what seemed to be an ‘uh-huh’ from the smaller canid. She looked about for a moment, analyzing the situation. Thiel was holding onto a large protruding rock in the river for dear life, and the rain kept coming down. This was complicating things, as it was slowly raising the river’s water level, and if she didn’t act fast enough he would be too far into the river to fetch. In a desperate move she bounded up river and then dived in as far as she could from her position. She then swam down river towards the child, adjusting her positioning to counter the resistance the river gave. It was a strong current, but she had swum against it before, if not many times, but this time things were not under perfect conditions.

She reached the rock with the small male Thiel and commanded him loudly, “Hold onto my back and do not ever let go!” The male gave a nod, shivering from the cold rain. His small arms wrapped about her tightly, almost like a vice grip. Fear had an amazing ability to make one’s grip incredibly tight, able to lock all muscle fibers in one place. When she was absolutely sure that he was secured to her back, she began to swim towards the edge that was closest to the vale. The added weight put a strain on her muscles, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins gave her that extra boost to keep going. A thunderbolt flickered across the sky, followed by a bellowing thunder that was deafening.

            Reaching the river’s edge she put Thiel down, and told him to run home fast. Something had caught her eye suddenly, but when she turned to see what it was it had vanished.

            Thiel ran off into the distance, leaving Min’Das behind a bit. While she was indeed faster, she was taking caution to the woods, and made sure that Thiel made it out of the woods. Leaving him behind could have been fatal; as she was sure there was something out there with them. When the two reached the exit of the woods they were met with a horrifying sight. The village was ablaze, flames that consumed and whose thirst for destruction was not quenched by the rainfall. Min’Das’ heart skipped a beat, and began to pound furiously in her chest. She could hear screams from even this far, and her eyes began to pick out strange shapes in the village. She turned to Thiel and told him, “Thiel… hide; do not be found by anything that walks up to you.”

            “What about you lady Min?” the small male looked worriedly up to her.
            “I’m going to check this out… but I have to make a stop at my house first… I think its time I see what I can do with it…”

            “Do with what lady Min?”

            “With something that has been passed down, something that has not been used in ages…” And with that Min’Das burst towards her small house. Anger and sadness now burned through her, fury filled her heart. Whoever these invaders were, they were going to regret coming to this little village, even if it cost her life, she would make them pay dearly.

            She reached her house; it hadn’t been touched yet by the invaders, being that hers was a ways away from the village’s main section. She ran in quickly, the door slammed into the adjacent wall. She moved quickly throughout the house, glancing about the room for it, the object that she wanted… no, needed. Then it caught her attention, a long thin blade with a round shield toting the symbol of Karagas. She grabbed them, and hastily equipped them onto herself.

            Unbeknownst to the rest of the village, Min’Das had been secretly training herself with the sword and shield that her grandfather left. She didn’t actually think that she would need to use it for actual combat, but rather when she felt that she was good enough with it, she would share her talents with the village. But this wasn’t a time to be showing off; she needed to defend her village from these invaders, invaders she didn’t know a thing of.

Her ears swiveled lightly, picking up the sounds of movement from outside her home. Calming her mind, she concentrated on the sound, hunter instincts kicking into effect. It was alone, whatever it was. She heard the sound of a well burning torch flicker in the rain, and then the sound of flame being thrown through the air. Her roof quickly burst into flame. She glanced through the room; the closest exit was a shuttered window, although she was too poor to afford glass, so it was just a shuttered hole. She burst through the wood easily, tumbling into the leap and settling on her feet. Then she saw what it was, what the invaders were.

It was reptilian, roughly a foot taller than her. It had a sickly green skin, scales that resembled a well made mail. Two horns protruded from the rear of its skull, and a long slender tail with spines that protruded every few inches giving it a look of a demonic quality. It turned to look at her, with soulless black eyes that just stared at her, but the worst aspect of it was the smell. It smelled like a sulfurous brew of eggs and rotten meat. It gives out a low hiss and raised its weapon, a spear tipped with an oddly shaped blade that dripped with blood. Fresh blood. The blood of her friends.
            Min’Das reacted quickly, rising from her crouched position and burst forwards to the reptilian creature. Her grip on the sword tightened, knuckles turning a bright white from pressure. The creature tried to lower its spear to poke her with the blade, but her shield easily deflected the pole arm’s blade. A scraping sound of metal dragging against metal could be heard as she pushed the shield against the pole arm, forcing the creatures offhand to be pushed to the side also, breaking its grip on its weapon. With a quick motion with her left hand, holding the shield, she bashed the creature, knocking it back with a tremendous force that, on its own amazed even Min’Das. The creature stood there dazed for a second, the concussive blow to the chest knocked the wind out of it. Providing the best opportunity for Min’Das to arc the blade in her right hand from behind, giving a strong downward slash from above.

As the blade fell it glowed softly a calm milky white, showing that it was more than it appeared to be. It contacted flesh within half-seconds, easily separating the tissue of the reptilian creature. Crimson splendor frothed upwards furiously, the force of the blow coming more from the blade, than the blade’s wielder. The blade continued to pass through flesh, ignoring all forms of armor and cleaved the creature in two. Blood splattered against her cheek, her breath heavy. A sputtering gurgle came from the dispatched creature, its top half still trying to move. This caught Min’Das’ eye and she quickly impaled the creature’s visage on the tip of her grandfather’s blade.

A new feeling washed over her, the exhilaration of combat, of her first kill was overwhelming. She hungered for more, her senses being lost and in realizing this, she dropped the sword in shock. What had just happened? She thought to herself frantically. She knew she trained a bit, but nothing like this was to be expected from her at her level of skill. Screams in the distance prompted her to pick the sword back up. She raced off to find the source of the screams.

In the central plaza of the village she found the bodies of her fellow villagers, all of them were of those of the elderly. The invaders seemed very picky about their victims, but it was still enough to boil her blood more. She was even more in shock to find children… children had been killed. The sound of a blade retracting from flesh caused her to turn sharply. One of the assailers was still there, and its attention turned towards her. In one hand was a short blade, and in the other was the body of a small Canid child. Noting that she was looking to it, the creature gave a toothy grin and tossed the limp body to the ground. Min’Das’ vision turned red, her face growing hot with fury.

Without thinking she charged the creature, but this one was smarter than the last and parried her attack with its small blade, letting her charge go by it. It flicked its wrist a bit, twirling the bland in its hand. It tilted its head to one side and quickly jerked it to the other, a loud popping sound emanating from it. Its toothy grin expanded as it approached her. Min’Das spun around quickly stumbling a bit as it walked towards her. She held fast to her blade, readying her shield as it came towards her. It seemed to laugh as it got nearer, mocking her stance. It suddenly ran towards her right and instinctively she followed the movements, only to painfully find out it was a feint.

The pain in her side was sharp and stung painfully. She let out a gasp as the blade gouged into her side. The creature took a moment to enjoy her pain as though it was the most pleasurable activity it had ever partaken in. The creature drew its blade close to its mouth extending its lengthy tongue to lap up the crimson at the end of the weapon. A guttural chuckle escaped its maw and it pounced towards her. Min’Das raised her shield and in a quick motion, guided by something more than her own will, she bashed the creature back. A crunching sound could be heard as the creature’s skull was met with the ward. The being flew backwards and landed on its back, and before it could rise from the ground, Min’Das thrust her sword into its chest. It sputtered out a cough, and gave a look of confusion towards Min’Das. In some sort of attempt to inflict more pain onto her, it made a pathetic jab upward towards her, but its strength was sapped from the grievous wound in its chest.

In midst of all the chaos, it was quiet for Min’Das. Her vision became blurry, as she tried to carry on. She saw more of those creatures coming towards her. She raised her sword, but felt that it was now much heavier than it was before. She grimaced a bit, her ears flattening, and gave a growl. Then everything went black for her, the loss of blood took its toll on her body. The last thing she thought before going out was, “Must… save… them…”