Oh God, please be all right. I thought over and over again. My little legs were burning, yet I refused to stop. There were monsters in the village where Renna lived, and I wasn’t there to help her. There was smoke in the distance, near Renna’s house.

  As I got closer, I saw a few dead monsters on the ground. As I kept running, I noticed they were goblins. If that was what was attacking this area, then Renna should be fine. Then I turned the corner and saw a dead troll. My stomach dropped, yet I kept running.

  A roar nearly made my heart pound out of my chest, and I saw a cyclops. A couple of houses were destroyed. There were a couple of swordsmen standing in front of it. The cyclops hadn’t noticed me as its back was to me. The two men in front of him looked wounded. I formed a stone bullet and fired. The Cyclops didn’t get a chance to react as the stone bullet tore through the back of its skull.

  “You both all right?” I asked, recognizing them as Zeppelin and Hemlock.

  “How did you do that?” Zeppelin asked.

  Right, almost no one in this village has seen me do magic. They’d heard rumors but likely didn’t believe them.

  “That isn’t important right now!” I said. I healed their wounds. I barely finished when I heard a familiar voice.

  “Thorian!” Renna shouted out from a nearby house.

  I whipped my head so fast my vision blurred for a moment. Renna was leaning against a house, with her left arm holding her right. It didn’t take a genius to realize her right arm was broken, and her face was a bloody mess. Her nose was crooked, and her left eye was swollen shut. She slid down the wall into a sitting position as I ran over.

  “That cyclops really did you in,” I placed my hands over her and started healing her wounds.

  “Yeah… the monsters have been coming nonstop,” Renna said, her voice getting stronger with each word as her wounds healed. Her left eye opened as the swelling faded, and her right arm began to twitch.

  Once I finished the healing, Renna stood up and moved her right arm in various motions to test its durability. “Thanks Thorian, you’re a real-life saver,” Renna said and grabbed her sword.

  “Incoming! A troll and ten goblins!” Hemlock yelled.

  There was a loud crunching sound, and two bodies came flying in our direction. I stretched out my hand to blast wind but stopped when I realized these were human bodies. They landed not far from me. Two men, no two kids. They couldn’t have been older than eighteen years old. Their bloodied bodies were staring at nothing.

  I froze. This scene was eerily familiar. It reminded me of Vietnam, when I arrived with my squad to assist another in combat. My unit arrived too late and good men died. Two of them had been good friends of mine and they had looked similar, with their eyes staring at nothing. They’d barely turned eighteen. Their lives were snuffed out far too early.

  A hand gripped my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Thorian, are you okay?” Renna asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I shook my head and looked over at the troll and goblins coming our way. This wasn’t the time to dwell on the past, I should know that better than anyone. “Let’s take care of those monsters!”

  That made me wonder where Damon was. He couldn’t have been that far behind me. Whatever the case, it looked like Renna, Hemlock, Zeppelin and I would have to deal with them. I wasn’t worried about the goblins. The troll was another concern. This one was bigger than the troll we fought in the forest.

  I knew Renna’s capabilities. Hemlock and Zeppelin were unknown to me. They were fighting the cyclops, but I didn’t see how they were doing. From my perspective, it looked like they were about to get killed.

  “You kids should stay back, a troll isn’t something to mess with,” Zeppelin said.

  “You’ll need our help,” Renna insisted.

  “You two run, we can hold them off!” Zeppelin shouted.

  Instead of arguing, I focused my mana. A stone bullet formed in front of me, and I fired at the troll. This time I wasn’t surprised when the troll reacted by moving at the exact moment I loosed the stone bullet. That also gave it the signal to charge. There was enough time to launch a few spells before the troll and goblin got on top of us.

  “Kids, run! You can’t fight this!” Hemlock shouted.

  Renna shifted her stance into the iron guard and stood in front of me. The goblins weren’t the threat, so my primary focus was on the cyclops. Still, it would be good to take out the goblins before they got too close.

  I focused more mana than usual and slammed my right hand onto the ground. Earth spikes shot out of the ground and impaled all ten goblins. Their mouths opened, likely to scream, but they were drowned out from the loud boom with each step the troll took when running.

  “Renna, attack and I’ll support you from here,” I said.

  I saw Renna smile, as if she was hoping this was the plan and bolted forward. The troll saw her coming and raised its club. But instead of striking her, it slammed into the ground a good ten feet in front of her. The ground shook, causing Renna to stumble and then the troll raised its club again and was forced to duck as a stone bullet zoomed past where its head had been.

  That opening was all Renna needed. She ran forward and went to slice the back of the ankle, also known as the Achilles heel, at least in my world. The troll saw what she was doing and moved its foot. She sliced through the side of its ankle instead.

  I launched an explosive fireball, which connected with the troll’s club and exploded. This gave Renna time to get out of the way as the troll let out a roar and slammed its club into the ground. A piece of rock hit Renna’s stomach, causing her to fall back.

  In a panic, I fired another stone bullet. The troll was ahead of me. It dodged the stone bullet and rushed toward me. Hemlock and Zeppelin both moved at the same time. They ran past me, right at the troll. From their speed, I could tell they weren’t the most skilled warriors, they were risking their lives because they viewed us as helpless kids.

  I launched another fireball and three icicles at the troll. The troll simply slammed its club into the ground again, which saved Hemlock and Zeppelin’s lives. They were knocked aside by the rocks that launched from the ground. That’s when I realized something. This troll was controlling the rocks. This monster was using magic with its club!

  That knowledge didn’t help my situation as the troll was nearly on top of me. I was getting ready to get out of the way as there was no chance, I could take a club head on and survive.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Hey, Troll, your backs open!” Renna yelled right as her blade sank deep into the back of the troll’s neck. This wasn’t enough to kill the troll as it screamed with pain and tried to grab Renna with its free hand.

  Renna was already moving on from her attack. She yanked the blade out and cut off three of the trolls’ fingers, then grabbed the troll’s arm and hefted herself up on the monster’s head. She thrust her blade through the top of its skull, skewering its brain.

  The troll went silent and wobbled before falling backward, right into a house.

  “How the hell…” Zeppelin began, then stopped, his mouth agape at what he had just witnessed.

  “They’re just kids…” Hemlock said, his mouth also open.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. They were both uninjured, for the most part. They had some small cuts on their faces, but nothing that required immediate healing. Renna had jumped off the troll’s head and landed next to its dead body. She was grinning from ear to ear. “I did it! I killed the troll!”

  While Renna was celebrating her victory, I kept an eye out for more monsters. There was this eerie feeling, the same feeling I got when entering the forest. These monsters weren’t done yet. Our victory over the troll didn’t last long.

  The sound of something large could be heard as the monster walked. No, wait, this wasn’t a single one. My jaw dropped when I saw what was coming. There were six trolls and five cyclops coming our way. How the hell were we supposed to kill them?

  “Kids, it’s time for you to go,” Zeppelin said. His hands were shaking as he raised his sword. “Get out of here, we’ll make sure you can get away.”

  I couldn’t in good conscience leave these two to die. But there was no chance we could win this fight either. I understood why Elias said mana storms were dangerous. How did other villages deal with this? Were we supposed to abandon Alcion and come back later?

  “Who killed the troll?” Damon said.

  I turned to see not only Damon, but Elias as well. So that was where Damon went, to get help. Still, was he able to turn the tides of this battle? “The two kids did,” Hemlock said.

  “Good work, Thorian, Renna,” Damon said as he unsheathed his sword. He and the two other warriors turned toward the incoming trolls and cyclops. “Leave the rest to us.”

  “Are you sure, father?” I asked.

  “The rest of you will focus on the weaker monsters. You won’t have to worry about the big ones,” Damon said. Without another word, he ran toward the group of incoming monsters.

  Elias turned to me. “We’ll handle this, trust us,” and he too ran to join with Damon.

  Damon and I may have had our differences these past few years, but I couldn’t let him die. I was prepared to assist him the moment things looked dire.

  The trolls were the first to descend upon Damon. They charged, swinging their clubs. I’d expected them to fight like wild beasts, but they were coordinating. I could see it by how they were using their clubs, striking parts of the ground and launching large rocks at Damon and the two warriors.

  None of the rocks touched Damon. He picked up speed, dodging not only the rocks, but the clubs of the trolls. He moved so fast, I could barely see what was happening. I saw Damon dodging the rocks. The next thing I knew there were six dead trolls, all killed in the blink of an eye. Four of them were killed by Damon.

  As the trolls focused on Damon, Elias used his Drill Attack, which tore into a troll. Unlike my attack, which was faster and stronger, these ones hit. Somehow, Elias was able to divert the small drill rocks to intercept where the troll was trying to dodge.

  “Whoa,” Renna said, her eyes widening as she stared at Damon making quick work of the trolls. I was having a similar awe moment as I watched Elias kill two Cyclops with the same attack. His attacks were precise, always hitting where the monsters moved.

  The cyclops stood no chance. They tried to fight. Damon dodged each strike, then lopped off an arm and cut the head off a cyclops with a single strike. He dodged another attack before splitting open a cyclop’s chest and finishing it off with a stab through the heart.

  In what I could only describe as unbelievable. Renna and I struggled to kill a single troll, yet Damon and Elias killed six trolls and five cyclops in less than a minute. This opened my eyes to my stone bullets’ weakness. The stone bullet was too quick for me to have a chance at redirecting its trajectory to where the monster tried to dodge.

  This also showed me that there was more to being a powerful mage or sword fighter than a ranking. I may be intermediate, but Elias had far more finesse. Of course, Elias had decades of experience fighting monsters, whereas I had very little. To best describe how I felt about the rankings, I felt I was low intermediate, whereas Elias must be on the higher end. I would imagine the same was for Damon considering how Renna was also an intermediate sword user, yet she paled in comparison to Damon.

  “More monsters coming from the forest!” Renna shouted.

  I looked at the forest and saw a ton of goblins. It was like its own army! Behind the goblins were more trolls and cyclops. Then an idea hit me, there was something I could do about this wave. They weren’t close to the town, not yet. Hopefully I had enough mana.

  Without saying anything, I began casting the Portal of Fire. Sweat began dripping down my face and for a moment, I was worried I didn’t have enough mana. Then the portal appeared. Perfect, this was my chance to show Damon my power as an intermediate mage. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Renna looking at the portal wide-eyed. This was her first time seeing this spell.

  A large fireball came streaming out of the portal, right at the large gathering of goblins, trolls and cyclops. A line of smoke trailed over the town and then the fireball connected directly into the center and all hell broke loose.

  The explosion was deafening. The shockwave from the blast rolled over the town, collapsing damaged structures and tearing pieces off buildings. A cloud of smoke erupted from where the fireball hit, along with the screams of the monsters. Once the smoke rose, I could see fire spreading across the hill and some of the trees caught fire. The goblins on the outer range of the initial blast were on fire, running in circles and even the trolls and cyclops were burning alive.

  Then my legs gave out from under me, and I was on all fours, breathing heavily. That must have been all my mana. I thought, and wanted to laugh. At least I was able to cast the portal of fire and get rid of a large chunk of monsters. That was the power of an intermediate spell.

  “Wow, that was incredible,” Renna said, a sentiment echoed by Hemlock and Zeppelin.

  Damon and Elias returned. Damon gave me a nod of approval, whereas Elias never looked at me, as he raised his hand and began casting water magic to take care of the fires before they spread too far.

  “The rest of you stay here, Elias and I will go inside the forest and make sure this threat’s over,” Damon said and raced toward the forest. Elias followed along, though he was slower than Damon, who didn’t wait for him to catch up.

  Renna helped me up and walked me over to the side of a house, where I gladly sat down. I was too tired to speak, and I think Renna was as well. We both stared at the forest, praying no more monsters came out of there.

  I had learned a valuable lesson. Damon was far stronger than I expected him to be. When we’d sparred and he knocked me out, I’d thought he was giving it his all. The fact he was able to hold back and beat me so soundly was incredible. If nothing else, I respected Damon’s skills more than ever. It made me wonder how strong a Sentinel was.

  All of us kept staring at the forest. I couldn’t tell you how much time passed. Eventually, Damon and Elias came out. They were both covered in blood. Despite that, neither of them looked overly tired. I stood up, albeit shakily, and waited for them to get closer to hear the news.

  “The threat is over,” Damon said once we were within earshot. “There was a portal in the forest, which we destroyed.”

  “Oh, thank the goddess,” Hemlock said and sank to his knees.

  “That is good news,” Zeppelin said. He looked over at Renna and me. “Good work you two. We’d be dead if not for you.”

  “We all worked together,” I said, as Renna nodded beside me.

  “Renna, where are your parents?” Damon asked.

  “Um, they went to a shelter. My father wanted to fight but mother forbade it. He’s too old she said.”

  “That wasn’t why I asked. I’m sure they aren’t happy you fought today but tell them you fought well and give them my regards,” Damon said.

  “I will,” Renna said. She hugged me. “You fought well. Get some rest.”

  “You too,” I said.

  “Thorian, it’s time to go home,” Damon said.

  Elias walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “You fought well, like an intermediate mage should.”

  “I wish I could have helped you guys more,” I said.

  “Nonsense, you’re a child and you did far more than anyone your age could have, be proud of yourself,” Elias said and pushed me toward Damon. “Until next time.”

  With that we all went our separate ways. What happened today was an eye opener. I’m not sure how common mana storms are; however, I would be ready for the next one. On that I swore. That meant I needed to train harder.

  My stomach growled. That would have to come later. I needed to eat and rest before I could train. At least I knew what to focus on. Watching Elias fight was enough to give me some ideas. I would become stronger than Elias and Damon. Not because I wanted to show them up. Today showed me how dangerous this world could be and how easily it was to be unprepared. There would be no hiding from this, regardless of where I lived.