FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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"The unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates

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Prologue

How did this happen? I found myself lying in a pool of my own blood, life fading from my eyes. Those bastards broke in to my home, in trying to save my family and protect my property. I was in my early 20s and to die like this is abhorrent. I was a jack of all trades in this life, working for low pay and long hours but it was very rewarding. Just to be able to rest at the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment was all I wanted anyway. I had gone through school while I was highly intelligent I just couldn't be bothered with half the stuff. Marks didn't matter to me because they gave nothing to me in the end; all I cared about is how I saw myself not how others saw me. When I did bother I had really good marks when I tried but most of the time. It was beyond me I studied my interests out of school in the end not bothering to find any reason to submit any papers or journals but finding answers for myself.

As I lay there I suddenly found my consciousness returning to me, I found I couldn't move or see at this point but it seemed like I was alive and I was thankful for this turn of events.

As time passed time passed my strength returned I found I could move to some degree but my body did not respond in the way I expected it to. Then I heard an unfamiliar voice call out.

"Look honey he's finally starting to look around and move, go call your father" a soft woman's voice said.

Not realizing that she was talking about me I tried rather to my frustration unsuccessfully to locate and see who was talking about me. As I did I found two enormous hands grasp me to my utter terror, I tried to scream but all that was heard was a soft whine like a new born baby. Her seemingly familiar face that I could not place, but I knew deep down somehow that I should recognize her. She turned me to face a mirror to my horror I was staring at and complete horror I realized that this body I was inhabiting was not mine but that of a very young child. Its soft newborn features were completely foreign to me, they seemed to mix human and animal features, the face was for the most part human in nature but the strange cat like ears stood above my head, I felt a strange sensation at my back only to realize I had a tail as well. I thought to myself "at least I'm still a man, but what the hell is going on."

I stared in utter fear unable to speak trying to come to terms as to what has happened to me. I heard to new figures approach, both terrified me both possessed long whip like tails and cat ears and fangs growing from their mouth in both in gigantic grins. The woman's voice chimed in "father, hunny meet your son, Fang junior."

Realizing that my body was not my original height I was able to approximate their heights they were no larger than your regular human, the younger of the two men was probably around 6 feet tall, his hair was a dark brown as were his ears and tail, he looked to be in his early to middle 30s. The older man was a bit shorter probably about 5 foot 10, his hair had probably been a shade of brown as it could been seen among the graying hair, he also had a long beard that reached halfway down his chest, if I had to say he was probably at least 60 probably older. The woman stood around 5 foot 4, her hair was all a reddish gold, she looked fairly young in her late 20s to early 30s, she was really quite beautiful now that I had begun to come to terms with what seemed to have happened. They all seemed to be wearing crude linen clothing, the woman carried a pair of metal barbed whips, the younger man had a large sword strapped to his back, he was quite muscular and it looked like a claymore being about a foot shorter around 5 feet long and about 6-8 inches wide, both edges flashed with a sharpness that could easily cut the air flowing around it, it had strange intricate symbols carved into it that glimmered with a strange light. The old man leaned heavily against a curved long staff topped with a crystal that glowed with a mysterious light. We all seemed to have a strange glow around us, the old man had a brownish tint to it, the man who was apparently my father the glow seemed to change constantly between blue, red, and green, the woman who was undoubtedly my new mother seemed to be a deep blue color with a mild greenish tint to it, the glow around me was pure white both lacking in color at times yet at other times seemed to be made of all colors.

Chapter 1: The Early Years

Having the memories of my past life intact I quickly learned this worlds language both written and oral, they did not have a formal education system it seemed so while I had little interaction outside my family I had to assume there was a low literacy rate, just like on earth unless someone had invented a printing press or a method to quickly copy vast amounts of texts learning was a hands on or oral in nature. My new family seemed quite well off they had a few servants all had varying animal qualities about them some seemed related to cats and dogs for the most part there were a few that exhibited reptilian qualities, a few which had avian qualities that made them look like angels. I learned that my new mother's name was Snow, both my father and grandfather were named fang, my grandfather had merely added the senior title to his name to separate them.

I suddenly heard a voice behind me "what are you doing you little scamp." It was my personal maid she appeared young definitely no older than 20 more than likely in her teens, her long ears, and prominent large front teeth indicated lapin heritage, she had brilliant platinum blond hair, her name was Blanche.

I am in the process of carving this world's characters into stones to try to begin making copies of several easy to read scrolls. I told her I was gonna start making copies of the scrolls for her and the rest of the household staff in order to help them learn to read and eventually write, she looked at me strangely at first then waved her hand, a copy of the first scroll appeared on a nearby blank scroll, I stared in amazement than quickly asked her how she was able to do that. "It seems like young master should learn some basic spells it would make copying so much easier". She said after she saw how I was looking at this newly copied scroll examining it for any variations. "let me go get your parents and they can arrange a tutor to begin to teach you, though it is rather weird that you are so capable." she said that last part since I had only been on this world for 3 or so years, it was hard to really know how long since this world didn't have calendars, clocks or any other time keeping devices, but 3 winters had passed, the days seemed significantly longer, than what I was used to on earth that could only indicate that this planet's rotation was either slower or that it was significantly larger than earth, it was also a fair bit cooler than earth was, apparently they had never had an ice age so this led to the conclusion that this planet was also further from its star.

My parents came quickly, " my son if I had only known how talented you are I would have had someone begin tutoring you already. We can already tell you were gifted with all the primal elements based on your aura." My mother said as soon as she saw me, she hugged me tightly my father stood next to her nodding his head in agreement I could he had the admiration in his eyes towards me. I turned to my father and said "Father please teach me the art of combat, the way to use the sword as well." He replied " first we can start training your body, than how to wield the sword, it will be a little while before we can procure a tutor to teach one as bright as you once they know how gifted you are we will have to beat them off with a stick."

The next morning at sunrise my father came and collected me. "First we start with a run, we will start with laps around our home, and then we will move on to the local district and lastly the city." My father said when he came to wake me.

The estate was vast it took nearly an hour for me to run the complete first lap. By then I was already drenched with sweat, ready to collapse. My father with a light sneer "tired already, oh well we just started this already, I have to admit I didn't think that you would be able to complete the first lap." laughing lightly, he added "we will do this every morning, when your tutor arrives, you will spend a few hours afterwards resting and completing your studies with them, after lunch we will start strengthening your body, it is important in training with any martial discipline that you focus on both agility and strength, I am also hiring an archery instructor once you get used to this to teach you as well to help you strengthen your other senses including the ability to control your strength. With archery you will learn to be able to sense the world around you the strength of the wind, the distance between you and your target, as well as the strength you need to apply to your shot. This will also help in controlling your swordplay, there will be many times where you will not need to actually kill your target with your sword merely disable or disarm them. It is best to avoid taking the life of another if you can avoid it. We will also adapt your diet, increasing the amount of meat and proteins you consume to best suit you this will take some time since as your training increases so will your appetite. Now let's go have breakfast and see your mother."

It was a few weeks later that the chosen tutor arrived, she looked very young no older than 17 or 18, but I could tell this was probably the case. Her facial attributes were very gentle and pure, at the side of her head were the reason I suspected she was far older than what she appeared, pointed ears indicating Elvin heritage. She wore bright purple robes, they were still made from crude linen but the look alone suggested her rank. She did not outwardly wear any other equipment that could be used offensively but I could feel at a moment's thought she could easily take control of most situations without much difficulty. She had a strange air about her; the normal aura that was present on everyone else that I have ever met in this world was not present on her. Little did I know that she was consciously hiding her own aura as most adventurers do. This was all based upon a glance upon her as she entered the grounds and went to meet my parents I had no idea who this young woman was at the time. So I continued on with my morning run.

She began "good day Sir, Madam I have heard you seek a tutor for your child. Might I ask the child's age before we begin negotiations? As the child will be my first student I want to be sure he is really qualified to learn the ways of magic."

My mother laughed to herself thinking of how surprised this wench will be when she meets the child. My mother replied "I think it would be best for you to meet my child and decide for yourself whether he is qualified to learn from you. Age should not be an issue; he is already well versed in reading and absorbs information at an alarming rate for one at his age but for you to teach him as your first student will definitely be of great importance to the both of us. Let me have the maid fetch him." My mother than turned to a nearby maid and whispered her orders.

At this time I was finishing off my morning exercises with being able to complete 3 laps around the estate already I was feeling quite good about myself on how adaptable this new body was and how quickly it reaped the benefits of exercise. It had only been a few weeks and the difference from when I had first started was exponential in growth. My body was already leaner and showing the toning on the muscles, every afternoon I was focused on learning how to build up my muscles through basic things like sit-ups, push-ups and other basics. I was also learning basic martial arts, which would eventually lead into learning how to use weapons, while I wanted most how to learn to use the sword the most, there were lots of different forms of weapons and all of them have their own forms that were used to attack and defend with weapons are differs, spears were better at attacking and were great for speed and had the advantage of range over other weapons, the only way to really be confident in blocking with a spear or pole arms was to make sure the shaft was made from metal but this typically reduced the amount of speed of the weapon, axes and hammer type weapons were typically slower but had the power behind them to crush any enemy, but with that power came their weight, the heads were quite heavy and awkward, this is why swords are the best choice depending on the type of sword a good fencer could easily deflect most blows and easily attack, there were many types of swords this world they were similar to European blades, like the massive two handed sword wielded by my father, I planned on going the two handed route the left hand would wield a shorter blade to block attacks and the right hand would wield a longer blade similar to a long sword giving me about a 3-4 foot attacking range including the length of my arm, this is why I planned to study swords over and other melee weapons. As I was contemplating all this during my run I was approached by a maid who told me that my mother had summoned me. Little did I know that this would lead to the start of my real training.

In the estate the central house was built in typical Elizabethan grandeur complete with columns adorning the front of the house it was complete with large spacious training grounds at the rear that was complete with a roof covering the entire area. There was a garden encompassing the entire estate, complete with various common herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. This allowed for access to the elements, as well as allowed anyone to train year round.

I arrived in the main study there the young Elvin woman stood along with my mother. "So this is the child I am to teach he looks far too young but looks can be deceiving, take this crystal lad and focus on it." The woman said. I took the crystal and did just as she said, a brilliant dazzling light engulfed the entire room, from within that light faint traces of every color radiated outward. The Elvin woman seemed to bite her tongue for a minute, "for it to be this strong of light... you will be a very capable student, might I ask how old you are child." I responded that I am roughly 3 years old. "I will take on this child my fee will be 5 gold per month, room and board plus expenses." She said to my mother, whom replied "that's a bit light, we will add 3 gold per week instead on top of everything instead of only 5 gold per month." With that my training really started.

Chapter 2: Training

The next morning I was about to start my morning run when my father stopped me. "Put this on" he told me passing me a new set of clothes. "We will periodically increase the stones it in increasing the weight as time goes on to further train your body, when you take it off and put on regular clothes you will see a real difference in your speed and strength comparatively. We will start at 5kg and work up from there." It was not so much that I couldn't handle it luckily we started with the abdominal region so the weight was close to my core. With that I started my run I found I was down 1 lap from normal which showed the weight had some extra effect on me. After the run I met my new teacher in a nearby court yard.

For the first time in two lives I found myself actually interested in learning from someone else. "Now where to begin, first off you can call me Sophia, I'm classified as a first rank grand-master arch-mage. Now before I can start teaching I must ask you what you know of magic, and the elemental attributes." I admitted I knew nothing of the elements but I couldn't help but wonder if they had anything to do with the 5 elements or 4 elements[1]that classic civilizations thought composed the world. She began "there are 4 primary elements earth, water, wind and fire, and 2 sub elements of light and void. Light is produced from the combination of the 4 primary elements while void is the removal off all the elements. Each person has their own elements that they have a natural affinity for you can see each person's affinity just by looking at their aura. Yours is rather rare since you seem to have an affinity, seasoned adventures naturally retract their aura in order to protect themselves by keeping their own affinities hidden." She seemed to relax for a minute than her aura became noticeable the colors red brown and blue were all seen shining but she only kept it seen for but a moment. She continued "in a person's aura the color blue represents water, red for fire, brown for earth, and green for air, if no aura can be seen its one of two things that the person is completely unable to use magic this can be seen in as much as 70% of the population of the world the second that they are with holding their aura. In a city it is fine to assume this however if you encounter any person in the outside world assume that they are with holding their aura if nothing can be seen. All elements can act on their own." She held out both her hands within the left a flame was produced, her right hand was covered in a thin veil of earth before forming into a round ball in the palm of her hand, her feet seemed to levitate through the power of the wind. "Or they can be combined" she pointed her left hand at a nearby tree before the ball shot out at extreme speed before it bore a hole right through the tree. She then pointed her left hand the flames first condensed into a ball before it shot at the tree turning it into ash. "For your training I will teach you to harness the elements as well as teach you how to create and use magical items. The later the creation of magical items can only be done after you have at least mastered different types of magic."

At last I was gonna be able to become truly strong, little did I know that this was not the true way towards strength but in the opposite the way to become weak.

The next morning I found my father in the middle of the training grounds, beside him was small figure, as I walked closer I saw this was in the shape of a small man. "This dummy is an enchanted training tool, it can be configured with any martial technique from any school of weapons. To start it is imbued with hand to hand fighting. You will start with only fighting with your hands later you will move to the sword, there are many techniques which I can teach you but to start you will only use the most basic and learn the best ways to fight without techniques, as time goes on I will show you some techniques I use but it is best to come up with your own techniques that suit yourself the best."

I got myself in position to begin attacking the dummy, as prepared myself to fight I felt a breeze past my face, I looked towards it only to realize that it was the arm of the dummy.

"You think enemies will give you a chance to prepare, the only defense and attacking position you need is to be aware of your surroundings. By taking the time to prepare a stance also allows the enemy to begin to assess your style and begin to counter it. The style of attack you need is none, to be able to attack and defend at any time is the only way you need to concern yourself with. This is the toughest lesson for any warrior. I do not wish to see you fall to fast so you will learn to be prepared at all times. Even in sleep you must be ready for anything. It is best to learn this from the start, I have seen far too many comrades fall for this very reason."

I thought to myself after this day's practice, 'I have to wonder what my father has been through in his life to be so strict with me. I realize that the path of a warrior is tough but to feel the pressure that he gives off shows just how much he has been through. In my past life for the most part life and death struggles never existed there was no real reason to really challenge oneself, it was easy to become stagnate and accept one's life as it was but that was not the true path of realizing oneself, it is only through constant improvement can the self really become who we are.' Little did I know that this would become the greatest lesson of my life that I would later come realize the transcendental nature of life. A great philosopher once wrote that we are not the role we play in life, we must constantly realize our current roles and recognize the needs of the role and meet those needs but never accept ourselves as that role only play that role.[2]This is also a primary teaching of Taoism as the concept of Wu Wei, known as the action of inaction. This means that the only action we need to take is no action at all by recognizing what must be done and following through with that and not acting beyond what is necessary is what is best in life[3]. By combining these two actions is the truth of life, thus leading to the meaning of our individual lives.

Chapter 3-A Chance Encounter

It's been several years since I began my training. So far my training sword has reached 250 pounds, needless to say it takes some effort to do my daily sword swinging reps, if I were to remove the weight and swing a sword I have no idea how fast I would be able to swing my sword, needless to say that a regular person would probably be unable to dodge it. My weighted clothing has a combined weight of a couple hundred pounds, I only take it off to bathe or sleep. I sleep with my weighted sword beside me since my father has a habit of ambushing me in my sleep to help to train me to be vigilant at all times. By now my daily runs have encompassed several blocks of the town, Each day I get up at the crack of dawn and run, than have a good breakfast, followed by my magic lessons, followed by lunch, than its martial training with my father for several hours, than is dinner, lastly self study and cultivation until dark when I fall asleep. I'm not even 10 yet and my days are not spent in leisure like some children but on improvement of myself. Perhaps this might seem to some as a waste of my childhood but in order to reach my future goals of transcending myself this is truly and enjoyable time since I have nothing to prevent me from practice. This was about to change.

I had just completed my first lap of the local area around my house when I heard a young girl cry out. I was wearing my weighted training clothes and a simple long sword hung on my right side and a dagger on my left side. The long sword was about 28 inches long was extremely sharp on only one side and had a slight curve on the cutting edge. It looked similar to a Japanese katana in its design; the only real difference was width of it was about 6 inches which is about the same as western swords. It was fairly light only weighing a little over 20 pounds. The dagger was around 9 inches long and 4 inches wide, like the long sword it too was sharp on one side and curve along its length, and it was extremely light I couldn't easily gauge its weight. I carried them to defend myself, although I came from a wealthy family I never brought guards to run with me since I was able to easily defend myself at my age most untrained adults would find it hard to contend with me. I carried a sharp whistle that could be used to alert my father if I encountered anything that I could not contend with. Of course I never realized that my father always secretly followed me on my runs.

"Stop, we will go with you as long as you stop attacking and trying to kill us"

I quickly ran towards the voice, to find a young boy and girl surrounded by several people. They were in a dark alley; no one else seemed to be willing to help. The children seemed to be related to canines, both where dressed in rags and didn't seem to have any way to defend themselves. There were 6 people surrounding them preventing them from escaping. They all wearing dark leather armor, and were armed with basic weapons ranging from swords, spears, maces, and shields, their faces were covered so you could only see their eyes. They all appeared based only their tail shapes to be related to cats or apes. None of them seemed to be magically inclined based upon their actions after I watched them for a short while to gain some knowledge on what was happening. These people were obviously slavers looking to take these children as slaves to be sold on the black market, to which most people would agree, is an evil action. Though slavery was a problem in this world for more advance societies would abhor such things, but slavery was also a great way to make use of convicts and prisoners of war. To force children into such a life by any standard should be seen as a crime. I decided to take action; I rushed into the group to defend the children.

I stood there my dagger was in my left hand the back of the blade was held in a defensive position covering the length of my left arm. My long sword was in my right hand in an offensive position, only I held it backwards I didn't see the point in killing these people only subduing them until the town guards arrived to deal with them.

My training had already advanced to the point that I could handle 7 armed dummies using a variety of weapons; my sword skill could be considered to be at the advanced level using only basic techniques I hadn't bothered to learn any techniques yet. I had also reached a decent level with the basic spells of most elements. I have never used any of the spells in combat yet but the theory was already well engraved through practice with my teacher so it shouldn't be any problem to deal with these fools. At this points based upon my fathers and teacher's assessment was as followed.

Level E[4]Warrior / Magician

Speed class[5]C when wearing weighted equipment, when unencumbered class B-

Strength class[6]B

Endurance class[7]D

Energy class[8]E

My magic skills were

Magic bullets - By gathering any element into a ball and launching it at an opponent.

Shield - By gathering an element can surround myself or by focusing on a point I could create a wall for protection.

Minor Healing - Use of light element to heal small injuries.

Lesser Cure - By using water or light elements I could remove a variety of lesser afflictions from myself or others

Gravity- As the name implied I could change the gravity around myself right now I could only change it to around 2 times normal gravity in an area of only a meter or two around myself, this skill was my greatest trump card that I was made to swear to never use unless my life depended on it.

Magic Absorption - this allowed me to drain any enemy magic user of their magical essence, this was a darkness element spell. My current ability of this spell was fairly low and against anyone it was negligible.

My understanding of rankings of people in this world was that commons typically were at max level E warriors, the ranking system went all the way up to SSS class people based upon the strength and capabilities. The highest levels were considered gods the ruler of this world was apparently class A existence. He apparently had a life span that would allow him to live for millennia. This was another interesting fact of this world, warriors could live a maximum of a couple of thousand years and magicians could live indefinitely it was unknown since on this world no-one had reached a level beyond class A. There were legends of people becoming godly existences that had an unlimited life span.

"Surrender yourselves the guards will be hear shortly, I do not wish to hurt you." I quickly snarled at the surrounding slavers. They looked at me and starting laughing heavily at me, one of them stopped laughing gasping for air trying to catch his breath. "You little bastard, why should we surrender to you, you still stink of milk. Go back to your mother and suck on her tits. There's 6 of us her and we are all considered class E warriors, all of us together can easily kill you."

I rolled my eyes 'I warned them, oh well guess I get a little real combat practice now. Hmm I think I will go easy on them and only use my weapons there's no point in using magic to subdue these idiots.' I thought to myself. "You two stay close so I can protect you." I quickly told the two kids.

I sprinted to the closest slaver, he was wielding a spear, he noticed me and swung his spear. I couldn't help but think to myself 'are these guys really considered e class warriors when they're this clumsy.' I quickly ducked under his spear and got in close. I swung my sword towards the upper left catching him across the chest; he was knocked back a few feet landing unconscious. I felt some air pressure behind myself. The two mace users had run up behind me and were swinging at the back of my head and my right side, I quickly jumped forward and to the right easily dodging their attacks. 'It's a good thing I spread some air elements around myself to be more aware of my surroundings' I couldn't help but think to myself. I had learned this early on when fighting the training dummies with my current ability I could only surround myself for about a meter and a half or so in all directions and could only do it for about 2 minutes. This also meant that I had to take out as many of them in that period of time as possible.

As I had jumped to dodge them I nimbly spun in the air swinging my sword towards the head of one of the mace users and used the dagger to parry the blow of the other mace user. Luckily for me they weren't very strong, I felt the blow of the mace which sent a surge of pain through my arm but in reality there was no damage to me. Unlike the first mace user who received the blow to his head with a sickening crunch he was easily knocked unconscious I could only hope I did not kill him, I quickly glanced at him he was foaming at the mouth with some blood coming out of his ears and nose, I didn't have the time to check and see if he was still alive. I followed through with a swing to the torso of the second mace user, I heard a loud crunch as it collided with his hips, he would be lucky if he could stand again anytime soon.

The remaining slavers glanced to each other in disbelief. In less than a minute I had easily dealt with three of their comrades. The remaining spear user dropped his weapon and began to flee. The two remaining slavers the first was holding a two handed sword that looked like a German Zweihander[9], the other was holding a short sword and a reinforced wooden shield.[10]I decided to take care of the sword and shield user first. I used my dagger to hook onto his shield I wrenched it from his grasp with a sickening pop as his shoulder was dislocated and the shield flew a few meters to the side. I dodged his sword swipe and went in for the kill, I thrust my sword into is gut avoiding any vital points. He dropped his sword and dropped to the ground with a thud, rolling on the ground I could hear him groaning. I turned to face the other swordsman narrowly dodging a downward cleaving swing he made with his Zweihander sword. He followed through with a horizontal slash towards my torso. I made a cleaving swing on his sword, with a loud metallic snap the sword was cleaved in two, showing the inferior quality of the metal used. He retreated backwards looking at his sword with widened eyes showing his dismay. He dropped the weapon and surrendered. I punched him in the gut. With some blood spewing from his mouth he dropped to the ground unconscious.

I heard a voice from some nearby shadows "You little bastard, what makes you think you can interrupt the actions of Dark Shadow". A man wearing studded leather armor stepped out from the shadows he had several daggers around his waist, and was wearing a bandolier filled with sharp metal darts from each shoulder holding up his belt. I could smell a strange smell coming from him, realizing that he was probably using some kind of poison on some of his weapons my brow furled in annoyance.

He launched a few darts at me; I quickly created an earthen wall to block them, while throwing off my weighted shirt to allow myself to move faster. After I heard the clang of his darts hitting my earthen wall I removed the wall and launched two ice bullets aimed at his shoulders, trying to disable him long enough to get a good swing with my sword. He dodged them easily. I realized he would be quite difficult to fight even one on one at my current level, especially without trying to kill him; I kept a cool head and decided that I would have to go for the kill rather than to try and subdue him. I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my left arm followed by a spreading numbness in my left arm, just above the elbow a gash appeared on my skin. I quickly used some water elemental energy to clean and detoxify the wound with an unsightly squirt of watery blood the feeling returned to my left arm. I let out a groan in pain. I made a quick swing with my sword; it bit into his right arm severing it with a spray of blood. At the same time I quickly leaned to the right dodging one of his dagger he had equipped into his left hand. His eyes were filled with rage. I used the momentum when I dodge to spin around him and made the fastest slash I have ever made which cleaved through his neck, his head spun in the air, while is neck spewed blood into the air drenching me and the area surrounding his body. I dropped to my knees filled with the grief of killing someone for the first time. I dropped my hands; my whole body was quivering with fear.

My father who I had no idea was watching the whole thing appeared at my side and embraced me. I started crying in his embrace, this was the first time I had ever killed anything. While I destroyed numerous training dummies over the years I had been training for they were not living creatures.

"My son do not fret, he was scum. All that live must die eventually this is the will of the universe. It matters not if you are forced to take the life another just make sure that you do so in the name of justice and not in the name of violence, greed, or any other evil reasons." My father said to me. "Look over there those two owe you their lives, I'm sure they will never forget the kindness you have shown them today. This is the cruelest lesson you will have to learn I had hoped that you would not have to learn this at such a tender age; I have sheltered you for fear of how you would handle taking another's life. I am proud that you show grief when taking the life of another and not succumbing to bloodlust."

My father left me to my sorrow and went to check on the children, both had passed out from fear, their faces were covered with dirt, with long smudges from their eyes from crying, they lay in pools of urine that they had excreted in fear. They were pitiful creatures. My father collected them in his arms before returning to me; while he was looking after them I had retrieved my weighted shirt putting it back on. "Let's go home and leave the guards to deal with this mess, I will send a letter to the garrison to tell them what happened."

Meanwhile, at a hidden location, that spearman that had fled back to the hideout of the Dark Shadow guild; a loud smack ran out as the spearman fell to his knees, begging for mercy from his leader. The man was shrouded with a hood cape his face hidden from view. "You worthless maggots while this hindrance is negligible, I hate failures." He grabbed a dagger slitting the throat of the poor spearman. "let him serve a lesson for the rest of you maggots, any more failures and the ones responsible will all pay with their lives. Send some assassins to take care of any of that team that survived so they cannot talk."

Back at home, my mother slapped me hard across the face. "Do you know how worried I am that you went up against slavers, what if you had been captured." She than hugged me softly crying, she stood up showering me and the two children with water magic to clean us up.

We gathered for dinner and to learn of my new siblings. They were in relation to foxes, both had the long ears of the fox and the bushy tails included, the girl named moon had platinum blond hair and fur, the boy named sun had blazing red hair and fur. They had been orphaned at a young age by bandits attacking their farm. They were sent to the city to survive but their parents weren't so lucky both had perished at that time. We adopted them into our home. Sun enjoyed the physical training with me but moon would have nothing to do with it, she did join me for magic lessons she was gifted in water and air elements.

Chapter 4-Joining The Guild and First Mission

I was now 15 years old and it was time that I could finally go out and adventure and see the world, the first step was going to the local guild office to find jobs, it was not for the money since my family was well off but for the experience and prestige.

Moon, Sun and I arrived at the guild office early in the morning, the building was pretty run in the mill, it was about 3 stories tall, wood and stone construction, the roof was made from thatch, it had few windows other than enough to allow some light into the building it was made solidly. The interior was all hardwood, there was a desk with a couple of young girls that we quite cute, they were avian in origin, they might have been harpies. There were large boards covered in scraps of paper on all the walls, each scrap of paper had various jobs listed on them. We approached the counter.

"Good morning welcome to the guild. How may we assist you today." One of the two young women said to us as we walked up to the counter

"We are here to sign up and find a suitable mission." I responded.

"Follow me" the first of the two young harpy women said to us. She led us to a back room; there were several machines that we crammed into the room. They were far to advanced for this civilization. There were various readouts on the screens detailing the scans from the device in the center of the room. It was a large cylindrical glass cabinet with a circular object that surrounded it. She told us to get into it one at a time

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[1]In Chinese philosophy there are 5 elements air, water, fire, wood and metal and in western civilization there were the 4 elements of water, air, fire and earth.

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[3] See Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the concept of inaction is not doing nothing at all but acting as necessary for any event in life that is the path of the sage

[4] A person's level is the experience as well as knowledge

[5] Speed is the ability to movement rate, it is the basis on a person's ability to defend themselves

[6] Strength determines the type of equipment person can wear as well as how hard physical attacks hit

[7] Endurance is the overall physique and health a person has a maximum

[8] Energy is the amount of elemental energy over all that a person has

[9] A German Zweihander is similar to a claymore being about 5 feet long and about 3 inches wide sharpened on both sides the handles are quite intricate, from the blade stop about a foot from the handle there are usually protrusions from the blade looking like spikes.

[10] The short sword isn't very long usually no more than 18 inches in length, the wooden shield looks like one that the Vikings would have used with a metal cap in the middle with metal bracings that extend to the edge of the shield.