Chapter 4

My Life in Haven

(that time I saw what real magic could do…)

I spent the first six years of my life trying my best to remember the past all while taking in all I could of this new world. Some days it was harder than others and I spent months at a time feeling like I was an empty vessel, as if coming in and out of consciousness. At times the memories rushed back like a flood and I screamed out as if I was having night terrors. Other times they came in bits and pieces. The memories that stood out the strongest of my past life were that of my guild, though some childhood memories remained intact. It made getting an education in Haven quick, so much so I didn’t have to go to class like the other kids, instead being home schooled by my moms. On the downside, I had night-terrors nearly every night. I would dream of the dragon, entering inside its stomach, searching frantically for my tenrec Gob as I drowned in blood. All while listening to my friend’s screams and shouts, their words surrounding me like a cocoon.

All along I had been right. I was born into the future. My old-self, my team, had died heroes against the elder dragon and the battle against the dark lord. Eventually, the dark lord was pushed back after hundreds of years of war. Society flourished for a time before plunging itself back into darkness. Some thousands of years later the demons rose again led by Vampires, who had become the most powerful among them. My guild mates never got the happy endings they deserved. Casualties of the conflict between the light and the darkness. No legend read to me by my moms ever revealed their ultimate fate. Somehow this left me with more questions than answers such as why they had never found me in the afterlife.

When I was old enough to talk I spoke obsessively about the past. Sometimes I talked like I was there by accident. My moms encouraged it, calling me creative, and Moma-Kalla taught me how to read and shared books with me. She was my teacher when it came to learning to speak, history, math, and science. I learned more and more about the world coming to the conclusion that we lost. Humanity might have been prosperous for a time but our hubris destroyed us. The Demon Lord, the vampires, the lesser-ones, all united and we rotted from the inside out. They had played a long game and won. Magic became rare as technology advanced until only small pockets of mana users existed. All according to the Dark One’s plan.

I couldn’t help but feel my heart break as I thought of how I once fought for money and fame. Fueled by riches, desires. The same things that destroyed my world. I valued my guild for sure but there was no one else I cared about. In the end, I, like the rest of humanity that fell were no different.

In our region, the vampire creature known as the Kudlak was lord. Hunting down the last pockets of humanity. My mother told me it was our greatest enemy and sought the magic that was inside of us.

At 2 years old my father began training me with a wooden sword, Moma-Sudra began teaching me to swim, and Moma-Cass began teaching me how to defend myself.

“Our world is unkind,” Moma-Cass would say.

“You and the others are kind,” I said.

“Only together are we safe against the darkness that exists beyond our walls. Together we are the light that shines through, the last hopes of humanity.” It was almost ironic, given that she herself wasn’t completely human. However, there was little discrimination if any at all between the humans and demihumans of haven. Together we all stood united against the evils of the world beyond our walls. Even when our walls were attacked our guards, and my father, stood strong against the demons that attempted to break through.

I understood what she was teaching me perfectly. Training with my father however turned out to be a challenge. Despite being a warrior class in my old life this time I was a Shaman, a magic user, with little to no magic.

“Not bad, but you’re going to have to get better if you are going to impress any of the ladies,” my father joked. He was reaching his hand down to pick me up off the ground. I smiled and declined rushing to attack him, blocked again this time I felt him catch me just before I went headfirst into the mud. I was great at losing my balance.

My body was incapable of performing the techniques I used before.

Name: Kai

Race: Krsnik

Level: 1

100 / 100 HP

0 / 100 Armor

10/ 100 Mana

Class: Shaman

Reputation: None

Guild: None

Title: None

Skills:

Mana Regeneration

Strength: 2

Agility: 1

Endurance: 3

Intelligence: 7

It wasn’t long after my sixth birthday that my mother began to train me. Together the two of us retreated to a battle arena in the ruins of our refuge. An abandoned part of the city used to train new recruits and the like. I could see parts of the walls had been smeared black with ash.

“Fire Bolts!” I said excited, pointing.

“Correct, but that is not what we are learning today. You see, I have something special to show you, something unique to us,” she smiled.

“Is it lightning magic! Ice blast!” I was growing more and more excited.

“Not quite but just as destructive,” she smiled.

Holding my hand we walked to the middle of the square battle arena.

“Now, watch me,” she said slowly taking off her clothes. I didn’t quite understand at first but the reason soon became obvious. Not moments after setting down her clothes her body began to twist and bend. Her muscles increased several times over as gray fur grew out from her soft skin that seemed to harden underneath. She bent over, reaching her hands out away from me as they grew in size. Her fingers turned to claws and she scraped at the ground as her jaw gaped open and her entire face stretched outward. I closed my eyes in horror, her transformation was painful to watch. When her screaming stopped I opened them again and saw a bear with gray fur standing on its hind legs in front of me.

This was the power of the Krsnica, the Krsnik that I had been blessed with.