• Chapter 1

    Shaitan walked into to the darkened training hall and looked around. None of the other students seemed to be present and the hall master looked to have gone to bed.

    Shaitan sighed. “Same as every day, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

    Pressing the switch on the wall to ignite the enchanted torches, he strode across the room and up to the rows of practice dummies. There were many types of dummies but Shaitan quickly picked out three that interested him. They were of average height and came prepared with wooden practice blades. He briefly touched each one and gave the command word that would activate them and have them fight at their best. He turned and walked toward the nearest practice ring with the three dummies following close behind him. Once he was in the center of the ring he summoned his weapon from his armband on his right arm.

    After it had materialized, he stared at it for a second. It was shaped like a quarter staff, measuring roughly six feet long, but on one end was a narrow, three foot long blade which was balanced on the other side by a weighted cap. Many weapons like his existed and they were all wielded by members of the pole arm class warrior Elnifi. His particular weapon type was known as a naginata.

    He motioned for the dummies to step back and began his warm up. He started slowly, careful not to hurt himself, but gradually picked up speed. Soon he was a blur, his blade twirling above his head only to suddenly swing in one direction and then another. After a short period of time, he began to feel that he was ready to begin sparing with the dummies. He slowed his weapon and turned to the dummies.

    “Come,” he commanded.

    The three dummies’ bodies shook as the command washed over them. They dropped into battle stances and slowly spread out until they encircled him. As one, they charged toward him.

    Shaitan did not wait to meet them but instead ran at one of the dummies. The dummy raised its practice blade and attempted to knock aside his thrust. Shaitan, expecting this, moved with the blade and executed a tight spin thrusting his naginata backwards and smashing its butt into the practice dummies chest. The dummy flew off its feet and fell to the ground, its enchantments forcing it to act like a fighter who just got the wind knocked out of him. Shaitan stopped his spin and came to rest facing the other two dummies who where coming at him from different angles.

    Again, he charged one of them, but this time he stopped short, avoiding a slash from the dummy and lunged back toward the other dummy. Twirling his weapon around him, he launched several attacks against the dummy, the first knocking its sword out wide and the second stabbing its chest. The dummy froze for a moment before, with a shudder, it fell to the ground.

    Whipping back, Shaitan easily parried a chop from the second dummy and with a quick twirl, slashed it across the chest. As it dropped, he caught movement out of the corner of is eye and dropped to the floor. The first dummy’s sword whistled through the space he had just vacated and as he leapt up, the blade was snapped back into the guard position.

    “I need a live opponent,” muttered Shaitan, “This is far too easy.”

    He whirled his naginata in a short pattern of movements that was too fast for the enchantments controlling the dummy to follow before bringing the blade down hard, slashing across its chest. The dummy fell and Shaitan spoke the command word that signaled the matches end. Immediately, the dummies’ stood up and as Shaitan watched, their wounds healed. Turning, he led the dummies back to their places and began to pick out the next group.

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    Shaitan was a member of the Elnefi race, a group of demi-humans that were born with animalistic traits, such as wings, tails, and fangs. They were a very proud race with many rules of honor. They respected chivalry and viewed betrayal and harming the innocent as the worst possible sins an Elnefi could commit. If one broke the codes they lived by, they were often hunted down and killed by the rest. Second chances for these sins were seldom and mercy for them was frowned upon.

    Unfortunately the Elnefi as a race were weak and were often attacked by monsters of all types. To survive this, the Elnefi prayed to their gods for help and in return were granted the Elnifi. The Elnifi were a breed of Elnefi who were granted powerful magics and natural abilities in weapons and after forming partnerships with each other, were capable of destroying even the most powerful beasts.

    At the age of seven, Shaitan, like all other Elnefi children, was taken to his local priest for his armband ceremony. His parents watched anxiously, with his five year old sister, some family friends and relatives, as the priest asked the gods to determine if Shaitan could become an Elnifi. When the prayer was complete there was a flash of light and an armband band appeared on Shaitan’s right arm. His parents rushed forward and they both hugged him tightly. Shaitan remembered being overwhelmed by congratulations from several of the onlookers.

    Thankfully the head priest rescued him by saying that he needed to talk with Shaitan. Finally clear of the crowd, the priest began explaining some things to Shaitan about his armband. The most important thing was that he was a warrior Elnifi which was signified by the armband appearing on his right arm. Unfortunately, he would be unable to summon his weapon until an instructor could help him at the school. His school was determined by the rune that was located on the outside of his armband and a letter would be dispatched to the school to notify them of Shaitan’s impending attendance. Shaitan nodded and thanked the priest but as he turned to rejoin is family, the priest grabbed his shoulder.

    The priest’s face looked uncertain for a moment but he began to speak, “My boy, when I conduct a ceremony, I usually am granted a small understanding of the subject’s inner potential. You have great potential that I've only seen a few times in my life. I don’t want you to put too much into this feeling of mine, but I think you may be able to earn a patterned wristband and become a Lor'Elnifi.”

    Shaitan looked at the priest startled. Those who wore a patterned armband were often destined to become legends or achieve something amazing for their generation. There were only a few born every few years but those that wore a patterned armband were Lor’Elnifi and possessed slightly stronger power than the average Elnifi. They were the peak of things children wanted to become and Shaitan had often dreamed of a life as one.

    The priest continued once Shaitan had gotten over his initial shock. “Once again I am not positive that this may happen and so I think you should keep it a secret from your family so as not to lift their hopes up.”

    Shaitan nodded but a question demanded and answer. “Is there any thing I can do to increase the chance of it happening, sir?”

    The priest smiled kindly at him, “I can't say for sure but I expect training would be the best possible choice.”

    Shaitan nodded solemnly and thanked the man and rejoined his family. He had never told anyone what the priest said and he began to train his body and eventually his weapon skills, even to go so far as to practice outside of lessons when everyone else was having fun, so to create the maximum chance for himself. He had plenty of time to do this because he had few friends and preferred his own company to most others. Like most males, Shaitan had a temper and could often lose control of it which led to many fights. Thankfully for him though, he seemed to be able to contain it when he interacted with females and he was quite proud that while he had never had a girlfriend, he didn’t think any of them disliked him. The males though almost all disliked them because he would only respect them if he felt like they deserved it. This led to many fights which Shaitan enjoyed because they allowed him to train. Now after several years of this lifestyle, Shaitan was one of the strongest fighters in his weapon’s division and the only friends he possessed were those who had been able to earn his respect.

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    Shaitan sighed as he put the last of the practice dummies away and went to get a change of clothes from the rest area. He always thought of his armband ceremony when he trained. It gave him energy and motivation but lately it had also seemed to bore him.

    As he striped off his shirt and as he reached to get a new one he glanced a mirror that trainees used to examine their movements for flaws. He was a little over six feet tall with dark blond hair that wasn’t quite long enough to hide his wolf ears from view. His eyes were golden and as his lips curled back in a smirk at his reflection; his fangs peeked out from below his upper lip. Despite these things his face still appeared rather plain. His body was amazingly fit due to his training and when he turned to grab his shirt from where he had placed it, his tail peeked out from behind him.

    He slipped the shirt and sighed, “I need to find some new stimulus for my training or I'll go mad.” He glanced around the room for any possible solution but was unable to find any. “Heh, figures,” he muttered. Turning, he left the training hall and began walking toward his room.

    It was late, around midnight, and Shaitan was the only one out. The stars shown above him and the moon illuminated the night. Shaitan had often used this time to calm his mind and reflect on his day but like his training lately, this had begun to become boring and unfortunately for him, the training hall was across all the practice fields from his room so he had a long time to be bored. Sighing, he trudged toward the dorms.

    Suddenly a bright flash lit up the night. It came from a field a little ways away that was hidden by a large mass of trees. Curious, Shaitan turned and walked toward it. As he got closer, he began to hear a dull “wump wump.” He exited the trees and stopped surprised.

    In the middle of the field, a girl was surrounded by almost a hundred lumbering creatures that repeatedly surged toward her. While Shaitan watched, she flung her arms out and fireballs exploded among them. As soon as the flames disappeared, the creatures surged again toward her, shrinking the circle. In a few moments, unless Shaitan helped her, the girl would be overrun.

    “Damn, how did monsters make it into the school,” he said as he summoned his naginata. He turned toward the mass of creatures and charged with a yell. The first creature turned toward him and as it did he got his first look at it, recognizing it from one of his books. The creatures were called Sinra and were about five feet tall and reptilian in nature. They all seemed to be unarmed except for their long clawed hands and their large, sharp teeth.

    The creature screeched as Shaitan’s naginata slashed its body. It fell but as it hit the ground, it began to dissolve and was reduced to ash. Shaitan was startled but didn’t have much time to think. It’s death cry had alerted the others to his presence. Two leapt at him and with few twists of his wrist, he killed them. They were weak but unfortunately, there were many. Lucky for Shaitan, his weapon excelled at making space on the battlefield and soon, he had a small pocket of space around him.

    He was forced to move quickly and avoid making killing blows now. His naginata whirled back and forth, first moving one way and then immediately snapping back the other way. The Sinra around him doped back screeching as they lost fingers, arms, and were given deep gashes. Shaitan didn’t remain un-harmed, every so often, a creature would be lucky enough to inflict a wound on his body. None were serious, but Shaitan was annoyed by them regardless. They were proof that he needed more training. Still he fought on, slashing, whirling, and killing.

    A roar exploded behind him and Shaitan spun around in a defensive crouch. The creatures parted behind him and a monster appeared from amongst them. It was large, about Shaitan’s size with scaly skin and its head was squatter than the lizard men, its jaws, larger. The largest differences form the other creatures though were its arms. They hung at its sides and were massive. They dangled below its waist and one carried a large, wicked-looking broad sword. It roared again and the lizard men around Shaitan scattered.

    Shaitan grinned humorlessly. The creature in front of him was a Sawrak, a larger cousin of the Sinra. They often acted as leaders to the Sinra. They often carried weapons that they had scavenged from battles and were formidable opponents in battle. “At least it will be better than dummies,” muttered Shaitan.

    The monster roared a third time and ran at him. Shaitan dodged to the side and whipped his naginata across its side. The creature bellowed and charged him again. Shaitan dodged to the side again but this time the monster threw its arm out and tried smash Shaitan in the chest. He caught the blow with his weapon but it knocked him off his feet. He fell to the ground and the creature let out a screech.

    The Sawrak brought its sword up and whipped it down over its head. Shaitan caught it on his naginata’s shaft and thought his arms would break. The creature brought its sword up to attempt a second chop but Shaitan rolled to the side and barely avoided it. He jumped up and turned toward the monster. This time he was a little too slow and received a large gash on his left side from the creature’s sword. Swearing passionately, he jumped away from the sword and waited for the creature’s next move.

    This time it charged him while thrusting forward with its broadsword. Shaitan knocked the blade out wide and spun. His naginata whirling in his arms, he brought the bladed end in hard and slashed the creature across its back. It let out and anguished howl and swept its blade out blindly with one arm, trying to destroy the one who caused it pain. Not letting up, Shaitan dropped low, ducking under the blade and leaping forward. He brought his naginata in low and thrust upward with all his strength. The weapon pierced the creature’s side and smashed onward into its skull. The creature’s sword fell from its suddenly nerveless fingers and the beast toppled, pulling Shaitan down with it. Once it hit the ground it began to dissolve and Shaitan was able to lift his weapon free from the rapidly disappearing body.

    He stood up and glanced quickly around. The surrounding Sinra seemed stunned due to the fact that he had managed to kill what he suspected was their leader. Taking advantage of their momentary disorganization, he turned and charged toward where the girl was still fighting. The first few lizard men in front of him died quickly, but the next few recovered from their shock and fought like before. It was too late, though. Shaitan cut down the remaining Sinra and emerged into an expanse of charred ground. And in the center stood the girl, staring at him in surprise.

    She was of medium height, with brown hair that was long in the front and short in the back. She had golden eyes and she obviously had an animal base of a cat, due to her brown cat ears and tail. Her clothes indicated that she was a mage and even though they were partially charred and her hair was a mess, she was incredible beautiful.

    She shot her hand out toward him. “Get down!”

    Shaitan dropped to the ground and fireball burst on a lizard man that had been behind him. He looked to thank her but she was glaring at him.

    “Pay attention, damn it! We can survive this as long as you do that!” she shouted. “If you can protect me for a few moments, I can kill the rest of these things. Can you do it?”

    Shaitan nodded with a grimace and spun around to a slash Sinra that had gotten too close. The girl crouched low on the ground and placed her hands palms down. Shaitan stood above her and began to whip his naginata back and forth.

    He spun one way and then the other as he tried to keep the creatures back. As if they sensed a coming threat from the mage, the lizard men pressed him hard, trying to get to the girl. His naginata was a blur, but he was hindered by his wound in his arm and the girl he was trying to protect. Several times, a set of claws or teeth would slip past his weakening guard and rake across his body.

    Finally the girls spell reached its peak and exploded over the battlefield. The lizard men screeched as the ground broke beneath them and stony hands emerged to pull them down. In a few moments, the Shaitan and the mage were the only things alive in the field. Finally no longer forced to fight, Shaitan fell to the ground, his body collapsing from exhaustion and blood loss.

    After a moment lying there, Shaitan let out a groan and a weak laugh. “That was intense!” His mood soured though as he did a quick mental check of his body. His left side hurt like hell and all of his other wounds felt inflamed. “Even with all my training, I still am weak,” he muttered angrily.

    “Are you going to lay there or are you going to go with me to report this to the senior teachers?” a voice said from above him.

    He glanced up and into the girl’s eyes, grinning wryly. “Sorry, I'm just a tad winded, let me catch my breath.”

    The girl began to snap at him but caught a sight of his wounded side. “Oh gods… I didn’t realize you were hurt. She knelt beside him and began to tear strips of cloth from his ruined shirt to bandage his wounds. “Lie still, this will hurt,” she said. Shaitan gasped as the cloth tightened over his side. “There, that should do it until we get you to a priest,” the girl said.

    “Thank you,” Shaitan responded once he had gotten over the pain. Suddenly, he realized that he still didn’t know anything about the girl. He glanced at the girl as he tried to lever himself up with his naginata. “I'm sorry, but I still don’t know your name.”

    The girl looked startled for a moment but as she reached over to help him lever himself up, she answered. “My name is Terra. I'm seventeen, my animal base is a cat, and I use summoning and elemental magics. You?”

    Shaitan grimaced from the pain as he stood. “Shaitan, seventeen, wolf based naginata user.” He tried to move forward and discovered he could take small steps if he used his naginata as a walking stick. The girl watched as he began hobbling toward the priest’s quarters before she said anything.

    “Well Shaitan, thanks for the help, I couldn’t have survived that on my own,” she said.

    Shaitan grinned at her despite the pain. Suddenly, though, his legs gave out and he fell into a crouch, only staying up from his grip on his weapon.

    She rushed to him and leaned down. “What happened? Did I miss a wound?” He looked at her and managed a shrug. “Let me help you,” she said as lifted one of his arms over her shoulder.

    Shaitan nodded his thanks, his body suddenly too weak for much more. Terra helped him up again and they began to walk slowly forward with him leaning on both her and his naginata. They made slow progress and the journey toward the priest quarters was immensely draining for him. After a while, Terra began to talk.

    “I'm taking you to my uncle’s house, its closer and he is pretty adept at healing prayers. We should reach it in a few minutes.” They exited the field and came into site of the teachers’ rooms. “I meant to ask you though, what were you doing out there at this time of night?”

    “Evening training,” Shaitan said weakly. His body was feeling heavier by the minute, far faster than he had expected, despite his wounds.

    “Wow,” Terra said quietly, “It is impressive that you are so dedicated to your craft.” She looked ahead. “We’re here.”

    Shaitan looked forward and saw a large temple covered with statues and surrounded by many small houses that he assumed belonged to the priests who maintained the temple. She led him to one of the nearest ones and up the steps to the door. Grabbing the knocker, she banged it hard until a muffled shout came from inside. The door flew open and a huge Elnefi stepped out.

    He was seven feet tall and extremely muscular. He had a massive beard and all his hair was black. His base animal seemed to be that of a bear, but it was hard to tell in the moonlight. The man had been about to bellow angrily at them but saw Terra first.

    “Good god, Cat! What happened to you? You are covered in blood!” he said.

    “It’s not mine uncle. It's his,” Terra said. “I was attacked in the practice field and he intervened. He saved my life and I was hoping you could save his.”

    “Of course, of course,” he said. “Bring him in.”

    Terra helped Shaitan hobble through the doorway and into the room. As the priest hurriedly stepped aside for them, the house’s lights lit up and Shaitan saw that they were inside a well furbished room. The priest motioned for them to follow him and he led them down a hallway and into a plain room that contained a table and holy equipment used for healings and contacting the gods.

    The priest turned to them and took Shaitan from Terra. He grabbed Shaitan, lifted him up, and laid him out across the table. Shaitan could feel his body failing fast and was starting to lose consciousness by this time. He tried to listen to what the priest was saying but was unable to comprehend what was being said. The last thing he saw before his vision went dark was the priest’s hands glowing and reaching for him.