Monstar Saga: Exiled

by Eden Redd

  The lich closed his wrinkled hand and the little elemental creatures vanished instantly.

  The space between the dragonkin and the lich was clear, the two beings staring into each other’s eyes.

  Brom continued, “Mana is the thread between elements. I can sense three orbs of mana deep within you. It is weak, but not as weak as a child or babe. You can use those little drops of mana to help build your power.”

  “How?” Kavan asked.

  Brom nodded with knowing eyes. “By using them, of course. Mana builds on mana. The more you use it, the greater your power and mastery over the sphere it will become.”

  Kavan’s eyes narrowed a hair. “What about an element I haven’t gained or used before? How can I use mana spheres like water, life, and body? How can I gain degrees if I don’t have access to the sphere it belongs to?”

  “By focus. Meditation and focus will help unlock a mana sphere. Once you have unlocked one, you may grow its power from using it. The primal path of magic will not allow you to create rituals and incantations, but it will allow you to harness the elemental power of a sphere.

  “Use your mana, but not into a reaction. Meditate on it and allow it to flow to a sphere. Some mana spheres are easier to unlock than others. You will learn as you try. It will be frustrating, at first, but dedication will reveal great rewards.”

  “Once I unlock a sphere, how do I grow it in degrees?”

  Brom chuckled. “You have studied the ways of magic before. You see the patterns needed to increase your power.”

  Kavan didn’t know how to tell the lich he played a lot of VR fantasy games. Instead, he simply remained silent.

  Brom nodded. “There are three ways to increase degrees per mana sphere. One way is to dedicate yourself to reading and practicing mana, often with a teacher. This will allow you to harness a sphere, but also takes the longest. It could take years between each degree, with many never achieving the higher degrees in their lifetime.

  “The second way to increase your degrees in a mana sphere is to find and drain mana shards. Shards usually are about the same size, no matter where you search on Voldor. They are roughly the size of your palm and contain pure mana. Mana users all have an innate ability to drain such crystals. But, know this, the higher the degree you wish to achieve, the more mana shards you must drain.

  “If you were to increase your fire sphere from 1st to 2nd degree, you would need four mana shards. To increase it from 2nd degree to 3rd degree, you would need eight mana shards. The cost doubles with each degree, for each sphere. If you were to increase your fire sphere from 11th degree to 12th degree, you would need 4,096 mana shards. To find or have that many mana crystals would require a lot of dedication, time, and gold. Such a drive can break most souls, except the hungriest.”

  “What is the third way?” Kavan asked.

  Brom’s gaze took on a dark edge. “The third way is the riskiest, but the most rewarding. A being must know their limits when it comes to the affairs of the heart, mind, body, and skills. But, a true follower of the way must push past those limitations and achieve a higher understanding. It is the riskiest because one wrong move or ill-thought-out endeavor could end one’s life in a blink.

  “By using a mana sphere and pushing it beyond your limits, lends a chance that the sphere within you will grow to meet the demand. The chance is small, but it is there. You will know it when you feel it.

  “Depending on the degree within each sphere will dictate the power and time the magical effect will be under your influence. A 1st degree sphere will last small moments, while higher degrees will last hours to days, depending on how you wield it. Mana must remain balanced. The more powerful the effect, the shorter it will last.”

  Kavan bowed slightly at the hips. “Thank you, Brom. I appreciate the information.”

  The old lich nodded. “One last thing before you leave. Mana is limitless, but your degrees in each mana sphere are not. You may use your mana to utilize your sphere, but you can never put more mana in than degrees you have in said sphere. It will create a hard, unbreakable limit if you force mana into it. No, to achieve greater power, it will be you going beyond your own limits and not that of your mana spheres. A true cook would not blame their kitchen or ingredients for a bad meal, nor would a mana user.”

  The darkness lifted from the edges of the lich’s eyes and a confusion spread into them. A shaky hand reached out and gripped the edge of the desk as if to stop himself from falling.

  “That… is all we have time for… today. Find me another khess piece and we will continue with your lessons. You remember where the door is.”

  Kavan watched as the lich’s hands trembled. A befuddlement filled his gray eyes and he weaved back and forth. Kavan fought his own urges to steady the old man. Dark thoughts caressed the edges of his mind, knowing that what appeared as an old man before him was instead an undead creature of considerable power. There was no way to gauge his strength and cunning. What was happening now could be an act, or something more sinister.

  Kavan bowed again to the old man. “Thank you, Brom. I will return for more lessons.”

  Brom didn’t seem to notice the dragonkin, his wrinkled hands moving across the desk and touching the open book on it like it was a living thing.

  Kavan quickly made his exit. He followed the stairs down to the first floor, opened the front door and left the tower.

  Sunlight greeted the dragonkin as he stepped out onto the street. The fresh air filled his nostrils and cleansed his lungs of the tower’s stale air.

  Viz, did you catch all of that?

  “I did, every word. It appears the functions and capabilities of this realm are close to what I can remember of the Monstar Saga MMO. It also explains the percentages next to your skills and abilities. I don’t know how they correlate with this reality, but they do. It will help us focus on areas that require training and growth.”

  Kavan nodded as he started walking.

  We have spent so much time learning about Moonvale and the world of Voldor, I feel underprepared for anything we may face. I have to change that. I have to dedicate time to training and becoming stronger if we are to protect the town and our lives.

  “I will work on a scheduled regimen for increasing your skills, knowledge, body, and magical power. It may be exhaustive, but it is the only way I see you becoming stronger in a short amount of time.”

  Thank you, Viz. I look forward to it. And don’t go easy on me. I’m used to pushing myself beyond my boundaries.

  “That is not conducive to proper training. Rest is important between training sessions.”

  Viz, let’s try our best to work together through this.

  Viz gave a mental nod. “I will try.”

  Kavan reached the center of town and turned onto South Street. He walked along with Brom’s words spiraling along his mind. It was a lot to take in, but all of it was valuable. Kavan finally had a blueprint to work with that could help him become stronger and help the people of Moonvale.

  Kavan’s mind drifted as he walked. The more he learned, the more his heart spoke to him of staying in this realm. With a new body and new things to learn and explore, it made sense, not wanting to leave it all behind to return back to a world with a broken body.

  Home is where the heart is.

  Kavan grinned to himself as he approached the southern town gate and walked through it. The cobblestone street turned into a dirt road. The dragonkin looked down at the dirt as he walked, his thoughts wandering among mana spheres and choosing a few he would like to explore and grow.

  A tension touched his senses as the dragonkin walked. It stabbed deeper with every step, causing his slitted eyes to look up. He saw his farm in the small distance. Two figures stood in the middle of the road that led to his farm. One was short with emerald green skin nearly glowing in the sunlight. The other figure was much taller, black pigtails spilling from her head and blue overalls nearly matching her blue skin. Their backs were to Kavan as he slow
ly approached.

  I think that is Onka and Lorta. Why are they just standing in the middle of the road?

  Kavan looked at his farm once again. At that moment, he noticed mounds along his yard and partially on the road. A hint of rotting skin touched his gaze and the faint scent of decay flowed on the sea breeze coming toward town.

  Kavan slowly approached, the scene unfolding before him with every step. A hardness touched his brow as he saw headless corpses littering his yard and partially on the road. Undead bodies were sliced up in large chunks. White bone glowed in the daylight as flies buzzed and filled the air. Decapitated heads with white eyes or empty eye sockets stared at nothing. The stench grew as Kavan stepped closer. When he reached Onka and Lorta’s side, he stood with them, eyeing the many dozens of hacked and decapitated dead bodies littering the area south of his farm.

  Onka spoke plainly without taking her gaze off the carnage, “Lorta and I were coming to visit you. We stopped when we saw this.”

  “This must be from the monster last night, but why are there so many undead here? Did they all come from the Misty Forest? Were they trying to get into the town, or your farm?” Lorta speculated as her gaze moved from one ripped apart body to another.

  Kavan remained silent, his gaze moving across the massacre and questions filling his mind.

  Ten

  Mayor Sunaxe approached Woodhaven farm, a canister in his hand and his son, Durzol, at his side. The two orcs looked on with solemn gazes as Kavan, Onka, and Lorta lifted up mangled dead bodies and piled them by the side of the road.

  Kavan lifted up two large chunks of corpses and tossed them onto the pile. The stench caused his nose to wrinkle before turning and stepping to a severed arm on the grass. Onka and Lorta carried over limbs and torsos, the goblin throwing a leg onto the pile and the troll throwing two torsos she was carrying, one in each hand.

  The mayor and Durzol walked up to the small pile of body parts. Durzol moved to Kavan’s side and began gathering up what he could grab. The dragonkin and orc greeted each other with a smile before continuing the work.

  With the help of Durzol, the last piece of decayed flesh was thrown on the pile and the small group moved to the mayor’s side.

  The mayor nodded as Kavan approached. “Not a sight anyone wishes to see on their farm.”

  Kavan shook his head. “No, it’s not.”

  “I saw the pile of bodies from the gate and thought this might be needed,” the mayor said.

  The mayor lifted up the canister by his boot and stepped over to the mound of severed corpses. He unscrewed the top and began pouring liquid on the pile. The smell of lantern oil rose into the air and formed an invisible cloud. When he finished, he closed the canister and stepped back.

  “The air will smell for a little while, but these poor damned souls will now be able to move on,” Mayor Sunaxe said as he reached into his robe for something to light it with.

  “Allow me,” Kavan said and spent a point of mana.

  Flames engulfed his hand as he stepped to the pile. With one pointed flaming finger, he touched some decayed clothing with oil soaked into it. The flames took instantly, Kavan pulling his hand back and taking several steps back. The flames spread with the oil. It danced and grew higher as it began to consume everything it touched.

  Mayor Sunaxe spoke up, “Maybe we can make an arrangement with Rujin for you to stay at the Blue Lantern for a few nights?”

  Kavan shook his head. “Mayor, it will take more than this to scare me.”

  Mayor Sunaxe smiled as did Durzol.

  Onka and Lorta looked at the flames as they burned the stack of decayed body parts.

  “The monster can still be here, maybe in the forest,” Lorta said plainly.

  The mayor nodded. “It could be. There is no way to be sure unless someone actively goes hunting for it. Considering how badly damaged the bodies were, I think the beast may have been defending itself or angry it couldn’t feed on them. Limbs were severed, but not eaten.”

  Kavan turned his attention to the farm. Slitted eyes surveyed his land until he noticed something, just peeking over the grass. The dragonkin turned and walked toward the thing in the grass. When he was over it, he knelt down and took hold of the item.

  It was smooth, long and pointed. It had hook-like spikes along the edges and had a sickening yellow color with black veins. The smell coming off it was oily, causing the dragonkin to shake his head in mild disgust.

  Kavan turned around and walked back to the group with the thing in his hand.

  Onka, Lorta, and Durzol simply looked at the approaching dragonkin. Mayor Sunaxe’s eyes widened a hair and stepped to meet Kavan. Large, green hands rose up and touched the item in Kavan’s hands.

  “This is not good news,” the mayor said with a dark edge.

  “You know what this is?” Kavan asked.

  The mayor nodded. “It is an armored plate to a Xykk. They are large, humanoid insects that dwell in the Shadowsand desert. This plate could belong to a drone. That may have been the monster we saw last night.”

  “How dangerous is one of these creatures?”

  The mayor took the plate from Kavan and turned it around in his hands. “They can be very dangerous. They are parasitic monsters. It’s rare to get one this far east, but there have been rumors of such creatures crossing vast distances for food. They like to capture their prey alive so they can bring them back to the xykk colony. They use living creatures to feed their grubs and as slave labor.”

  The mayor looked at the pile of burning bodies. “If this was a drone, I can understand why it ripped the undead apart. If a creature is no use to them, they slaughter it. They’re aggressive creatures.”

  Kogan turned to Kavan with a small smile, “What’s in our favor is that the xykk do not like milder environments. I’ve hunted a few in the desert. They like the dry heat, and sand is best for making their colonies. Since we didn’t lose anyone and the drone only seemed to happen to come across some undead, it stands to reason that it had a failed hunt and moved on. The next few nights should be very telling, if it comes back or not.”

  The older orc took in a deep inhale and let out a small sigh. “I’ll inform the town and place a curfew. No one is to be out after dark.”

  Kavan nodded. “I can patrol the town during the evening, just to be sure.”

  The mayor smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Lord Cynder. I will alert the town and leave you to the rest of your day.”

  “Kavan, I’ll help you patrol,” Durzol said.

  “The more the merrier,” Kavan nodded.

  Kogan and Durzol said their goodbyes before turning and walking back to town.

  Kavan stood, watching the pile of bodies slowly turn to ash. Onka and Lorta moved to his side, the goblin touching Kavan’s hand.

  “Lorta and I were talking and decided you needed a tour of a farm with livestock, so you could understand what you need for your farm. That’s why we were coming to visit you until we saw the bodies,” Onka said as she looked up to the dragonkin.

  “We can still take a tour of my farm,” Lorta added.

  Kavan looked at them and smiled. “Even though we all smell like undead corpses?”

  The seven-foot-tall troll shrugged. “It’s not that bad and I’ve smelled worse.”

  Onka took Kavan’s hand into hers. “Let’s check out Lorta’s farm and if you decide to have livestock, we can help you with the process.”

  “The fire needs to burn down some more and the air stinks, so, why not,” Kavan said with a nod.

  Onka smiled brightly, “Let’s go!”

  Kavan was pulled forward by the surprisingly strong goblin. Lorta looked at him with amused eyes before all three made their way west, along the city walls.

  It didn’t take long for the three of them to reach the western gate and road, outside of town. They walked on until they saw a farm on the northern part of the road.

  “That was the farm I passed when I first arrived at Moonvale
,” Kavan said out loud.

  Lorta nodded. “Yes. The night of the kobold raid, a few of them tried to break into my barn to steal some of my bolids. They met a swift end from my pitchfork.”

  The trio reached the farm’s main gate. Lorta opened it and they all stepped inside.

  Kavan drank in the lush green grass surrounding the farm. The land stretched out and a wooden fence marked the edges of the vast property. Two large barns stood, side by side. A well-built two-story farm house stood across a great distance from the barns.

  The breeze shifted and Kavan caught a scent of fur on it. He turned his attention to one of the barns and he saw that one of the doors was ajar. Several horned heads peeked out, their gazes firmly on the dragonkin.

  Lorta smiled. “It’s okay to come out. We have guests.”

  The barn door opened a little further and a half a dozen humanoids stepped out.

  Kavan watched for a moment as the group began walking toward them. Curly fur covered many parts of their bodies. Curved horns graced the sides of their heads. Long, gray and black hair spilled from their heads and well past their shoulders. Four of them were female, fur covering their chests, around their hips and down their thighs. The two males had similar long hair and fur covering them from the waist down. Their faces were a mixture of sheep and human. Their eyes had rectangular irises as they approached. Fur covered the backs of their hands as they reached up and began touching the dragonkin.

  Kavan was quickly surrounded, the sheep people pawing and sniffing at him.

  “Easy everyone,” Lorta said with kind authority.

  Onka watched with an amused smile as Kavan was clearly uncomfortable with sheep people touching and sniffing at him.

  Lorta stepped closer to Kavan and the sheep people backed off with heads bowed.

  “These are my bolids. They supply fur to the town. They can be a handful at times, but they provide much to Moonvale,” Lorta explained.