Rayn: A Short Story

In a small village far from any major cities lived a man, this man was taught in the ways of the sword ever since he was a young lad. He not only knew how to use a sword but he could also manipulate mana but knew very little in the magical arts. All he knew was mana is in all living creatures but very few could manipulate it to their will.

The man in this story is me, my name is Rayn and I write this story to chronicle my rise to power. My journey started when I was in my mid twenties and our country was at war with a neighboring kingdom. I was a guard for a small village which was ruled by the empire of Luton grod.

One day while out on patrol a strange old man was making his way to our village. This is where our story begins.

The
He was the acting guard captain until the town's people voted for a new one. This man is the one who taught me to wield a sword. I considered him something of a father figure.

“How's the whole magic thing going?” Garrett asked walked beside me.

“All I know is how to move mana inside me, nothing else. There is only so much I can learn from a beat up book with half the pages missing.”

We walked and talked for about an hour or so before making our way back to town. On our way back we ran into a small group of goblins. Vile green things, they only stood about three feet tall and had skinny bodies. There were only about ten of them but where there are ten there are a hundred more.

We both drew our swords from their sheaths. The goblins backed up a few inches and growled at one another.

“How's your sword arm old man.” I asked with a smirk on my face.

“I’ll be fine mage boy.” He replied

The goblins wore cloth to cover their privates, wielded rickety wooden shields and many sharp pointed sticks. Goblins are very primitive and stupid, the only thing that kept them alive is the fact they can breed abnormally
The pain slowly faded. I lay there in a pool of blood, many of the guards were staring at Garrett and I. None of them bothering to come to my aid. All of them are a bunch of cowards, do friends not lay their lives down for one another. I always felt I would die for these people, but as I lay bleeding out instead of happiness all I felt was sorrow and vengeful.

My sight faded to Black. But I wasn't dead but neither was I alive. I felt cold and I could feel something moving around me. This feeling was mana it was flowing through the corpse next to me and through the people around my body. I remember reading how mana is what keeps life together, perhaps I could use some of the mana around me to keep me alive. I had never manipulated mana before so this will be risky. I concentrated and felt the mana flow to and from my body, I tried to force the mana to stay in my body.

My sight slowly started to return to me around me were the bodies of men and women, the holy knights and priests were dead as well. Garrett was not to be found among the dead. I felt different, I could not feel my blood pumping anymore. My heart stood