Chapter 1: The Scar of Victory

As he wove in and out, careful to not step on any of the disembodied corpses that lay on the battle ridden field, he pulled his saber out of its scabbard. A man stepped out in front of Loki and with one quick downward slash of his sharply honed saber, and the man fell to the ground without even taking another breath. It hurt Loki’s heart to kill so fast with out knowing the one he killed. All of this pained Loki as hekept moving, racing towards his target: the dark mage who lead these raiders against his guild of thieves. Most of the thieves fighting had no fighting experience and protected themselves with nothing more than a small,decorative, curved dagger, a symbol of acceptance to the guild. As he moved he looked at the ground and saw below him some of his fellow journeyman. This was the only thing that let him cut men down without a thought; they had killed his friends and masters for nothing more than a few gold pieces.

He looked up again and saw the mage fighting fiercely with some of the guild’s own spellcasters, none were as good as the dark mage they battled, but they could protect themselves and the fighters around them. The darkmage cast a fiery bolt of energy at one of the guild caster, who caused it to ricochet towards another one of the raiders, who screamed as it collided with him. As Loki got even closer, he ran though the few magic spells he had learned. Although he was no mage, he had learned simple spells to help protect himself if he was to find himself without a sword or dagger—or even battling a mage, which to him was just a death wish. His thoughts landed on a spell that caused any one who looked at him to perceive him several feet to the side of him.

The thief wavedhis hands in a complicated pattern and said “Fÿeĸ ŏtem”. Loki felt the magic energy drain from him as a mirror imageof himself was created three feet to his right. He held his saber in his left hand and pulled out a weighted dagger, meant for throwing, with his right and aimed at the mage. With all his strength and accuracy, Loki through the knife at the mage, and his accuracy proved to be true as the dagger protruded from the man’s shoulder. Thishowever proved to be nothing more than a flesh wound to the battle proven mage. The mage turned towards Lokiwith a deathly glare, and cast another fiery bolt, which landed three feet from Loki verifying, the magic had succeeded in hiding his real location.

The mage wiped out a strait long sword, but he showed signs of little proficiency with the advanced weapon. Loki had attacked the mage at the perfect time: the mage was tired and out of magic to cast at him. Two of the mages and four guards were slain—one guard was in the middle of a fierce battle with another of Loki’s friends. The one guard who was aware of Loki charged at him, he was wielding a large mace and a shield. The man swung the mace down on Loki, who dodged it easily. He slashed his sword with a speed few could match, but the man caught it on his shield. But, when Loki brought it back, the man had no chance—the sword cut easily through his metal armor and in to his chest. The man collapsed, gasping for air, but he had no chance of life unless a healer got to him quickly.

The mage was already backpedaling away from Loki after seeing him take out his guard with nothing more than two swings of his sword. Loki had noticed that when the guard had swung at him, he knew where he was and that the magic had worn off. This struck fear in him—the enchantment should have lasted longer! Only magic could undo its abilities that quickly. After a pause of consideration, Loki shouted “Kquk Duv Dintre”, summoning a bolt of ice that jumped from his hand and bulleted towards its’ target: the fear stricken mage. The bolt collided with the mage and sent him to the floor. But the bolt did little more than the weighted dagger, which still lanced from the mage’s shoulder. The man got up with inhuman speed and rushed at Loki angrily. The sword’s intended target was Loki’s head, but again Loki sidestepped the attack and retaliated with a quick slash that went from the man’s shoulder to his opposite leg, a wound that would easily kill any man. But like the preceding attacks, it did nothing to stop the crazed mage. Though the man showed a complete lose of energy and life, he attacked again, but this time Loki was unprepared and when he tried to dodge the sword, he was not fast enough. He caught the sword in his arm. He cried out as he felt the bone break and the flesh tear. The wound proved to be slowing but not mortal in any fashion. Loki quickly whipped his saber around and the man’s head disconnected from the rest of him. Loki fell to one knee.

A guild caster he knew arrived at his side, attempting to help the tired fighter up.

“Are you okay Loki?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” he found himself insisting, before he something collided with him, he collapsed to the floor.