The Bright Morning

Lights flashed and the sounds of clashing swords rang over the horizon. The screams of beasts and men endlessly sounding out as they battled. The ground trembled as catapults and ballista battered the abyssal beasts lines crushing the beasts into paste. The sound of the trumpet rang out. The signal to press forward had arrived. I felt a hand on my right shoulder and looked to see who grabbed me but light shrouded the man's face. The light got increasingly blinding until it was too bright forcing me to close my eyes.

With a start I opened my eyes to see that it was morning and Katriana was slowly probing me "Time to get up milord. It is at the time you wished to wake." Nodding slowly, I stood up and felt the weight of my armor bearing down on me. At my full height I was at least five inches taller than Katriana.

She looked up at me with eyes wide and nodded slightly to me before scurrying backwards then walking over to Conran. I noticed the rest of them were up and all watching me expectantly.

"Saddle the horses and collect any of your belongings. Once you are all settled we will move once again." With a collective nod they all set to work preparing themselves to leave the camping spot.

"Sir Demrian?" I turned my head at the sound of my name to see Amara standing behind me.

"Yes?" I asked

"I was curious if you could tell me about yourself while we traveled today, I am intensely curious about Knights." She asked, eyes raised up in anticipation.

Sighing lightly and shrugging my shoulders I nodded to her "If I tell you it, the story will take far more than just a day's ride."

"That's fine we have a month together!" She beamed at him like an excited child and dashed off to her horse and went to work on getting it ready.

"How bothersome." I said under my breath. I had no qualms telling her my story but there was likely going to be a problem when I brought up the issue of my banishment. I've noticed it tends to put people off when they learn you were banished from the most revered and worshiped order in the human world.

I saddled my horse and saw that everyone finished around the same time as I did. I hopped onto my horse and gestured for the rest to follow and do the same. With that we set off down the road.

"Sir Demrian." Amara caught up and set the pace of her horse to match mine "Can I please hear it now?" she said excitedly.

"Why do you want to hear my story, girl?" I asked as I shifted in my saddle. God my arse hurt, I hadn't ridden a horse in several years. Not to mention the oncoming headache of the woman talking my ear off.

"Well, its because you are a Knight of course!" She blinked at me as if she had said the most obvious thing in the world.

"And? That bandit before was probably a knight. Why didn't you go with him and hear his story?" I smirked.

She frowned at me with a slight pout that scrunched up her facial features in a cute way "Well that one tried to rape me and sell me off to the highest bidder when he was done, also he is currently dead by your hand. You, however, are the shining example of a knight and a man."

I snorted. Shining example of a knight and a man? I'll tell her a bit of my story and maybe she will shut up and give me peace and quiet in this god forsaken forest. I smiled a bit to myself 'If I tell her the gruesome parts in detail…..perhaps she will leave me alone….' Anyways I looked down at the worn saddle. 'What a piece of shit.' I mumbled to myself.

I scratched the back of my head and looked at her seeing that she was watching me expectantly. With a sigh "Fine. But the only reason I am telling you is because my arse hurts and your voice is giving me a headache."

She gave me a dirty look and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "No matter how rude you are, I still want to hear your story."

"Very well woman." I said with some reluctance. "Before I tell you the story. I must ask, do you know about magic?"

"I do sir!" She said,

"Do you know the cost of magic?" I said with solemnity.

"The cost sir?" She asked, confused.

"Indeed, the cost of magic." I affirmed.

"Ah! Lord Demrian I think I know!" I turned around to see Conran waving his hand in the air like an eager student.

"Oh? Then please explain the cost to your friends."

"Yes, Lord Demrian!" Conran turned to Katriana and started to explain excitedly "Well first you have to have an affinity with magic to use it! Every human has an affinity with a certain type of magic but most of the time people don't have enough affinity with the magic and—"

"I asked to explain the cost, not the entirety of magic, boy." I said cutting him off.

"Oh! Of course, of course!" Conran said, bobbing his head. "So! The cost of magic is rather simple. When someone uses magic the particles in their body are stimulated and move at the rate of the material they are conjuring/channeling. For example, if you were to use a small and basic earth spell a small part of your body will move to the frequency of earth. This will naturally go back to normal after a couple days but in battle a simple spell isn't enough to kill anyone. So, the caster uses more and more spells and their body changes more and more until the caster's entire body is made of elements and their body collapses. The stronger the spell the caster uses the more of their body is changed into the frequency of that element and the closer they are to death."

Hearing the explanation I gave a nod "Hmmm, that's a good explanation." Hearing my acknowledgement, Conran showed a proud expression. "But it's incomplete." I said looking at him.

I looked at Amara and the rest of the group. "When you finish using any kind of magic, the toll of warping nature in an abnormal way will cause a backlash. Sometimes that backlash is tolerable and sometimes it will directly kill the caster." I looked deeply at everyone "This is important to remember. Because no power comes without consequence." Then I frowned and pulled out the flask that I had acquired last night and took a swig. It went down hard but it was good. I placed the flask back into my pack.

"Listen close because I will only tell you this story once...."