Stray

The Ladon Kingdom is a small land in the central area of Hunari, with just a little over 100,000 in population.

Krieg city is the capital of the kingdom, where the royal family sat at the top of. Two other cities resided just South and East of Krieg along with several towns and villages in between.

Krieg was built just below a big mountain on its western side, the same big mountain Nathaniel crashed into on the Northern side of the city.

The mountain, which is called Sky Mountain, is a great advantage for the Ladonians as it keeps them from worrying about enemy invasion from that side and focuses on the North, East and South side.

As there were other kingdoms in the central area just as big or bigger than Ladon, war was a thing that occurred every once in a while.

The Ladonians have always been able to defend themselves from those that wished to invade, but they usually don't wage war themselves unless absolutely necessary.

But due to that, the kingdom has become smaller than some in the area who constantly wage war against smaller kingdoms to absorb into their own territory.

King Marco was wise enough to give the people some peace without war, but he knew that soon enough he would have to make some big moves or else he would be a sitting duck against many hungry tigers.

But the arrival of Nathaniel Sanders have given him some assurance that he have something he can rely on, but his plan isn't to use Nathaniel to wage war or conquer new lands but rather to make him a citizen of Ladon, to make him a Ladonian.

It was his wish as well, to have King Marco give him a place to stay and learn the ways of this new world.

When he does that he hopes that Nathaniel will grow close to the people of Ladon and when the time comes, defend it.

That was his plan, to use Nathaniel Sanders to defend the kingdom rather than pointing his fingers and telling him to cause destruction.

But that's only if it works, this Nathaniel might not stay for long, and even then it would be foolish to use him as a shield for Ladon.

But for now he would help the man as much as he can, he had shown him some lands near the Krum palace where most of the nobles stayed.

It was a place of his own, when he needed it, but King Marco made sure that Nathaniel had his own chambers in the Krum palace which he gladly took.

But for the past few days, Nathaniel Sanders had been frequenting the Sky Mountain for some reason, he had assigned him a guard to guide him whenever possible but from the guard's report, Nathaniel Sanders had just been destroying bits of the mountain.

Which would also explain some of the shakings the Krieg city had felt so far.

It was the same situation today, Nathaniel blew up a part of the mountain before falling on his butt lifelessly.

"This…this is great, but how the hell am I supposed to use this when it's so powerful?!" He muttered depressingly.

For the past few days he had been experimenting on his abilities.

He started with some basic spells, Novice Spells such as [Flames], [Frostbite] and [Sparks].

They were basic spells that shouldn't be so destructive, but the fire spell was enough to destroy more than three hundred feet of the area in front of him. The same goes for the ice and lightning spell.

He didn't wanna see what the Master Spells of destruction can do.

And this was without any enchanted items on him, he had donned some clothing from this world which had many similarities to medieval time on earth but he simply wore a cotton long sleeved shirt with some trousers and leather sandals.

He couldn't keep casting destruction spells as it was so destructive that the area he was in got destroyed, he didn't give his all on the spells but it was enough to damage the environment.

He moved and tried the ice spell and froze the area as far as 300 feet around him.

Instead of trying out destructive spells he tried the less harmful ones, the [Illusion] spells didn't show much since he didn't have a target.

He turned to [Alteration] spells.

Most of the novice and apprentice spells worked as they should, such as the [Candlelight] and [Magelight] but brighter than usual.

The body enhancers such as [Oakflesh] and [Stoneflesh] worked as he could feel while the [Equilibrium] spell seemed to not work, at least he didn't feel anything of it.

[Detect Life] will be a great use for him, but he had that same kind of ability in the dragon's tongue.

The thing that excited him the most, is [Telekinesis] and [Transmute].

[Telekinesis] is self-explanatory as it was a wanted spell for any who dream of the power, but with everything seeming to be overcharged, Nathaniel had pulled out every tree, plants and parts of the ground into the air. He thought about picking up the entire giant mountain but stopped himself as it would do more damage just to satiate his curiosities.

The best thing of it all? He didn't use much effort to cast [Telekinesis] and raise the teeny parts of the mountain, meaning he still had a lot more to go.

[Transmute] as he remembers and can comprehend from his head, is a spell that can transform one iron ore into a silver ore and then to a gold ore.

It works the same here. But what's the bonus?

Some time ago he picked up a stick from the ground before casting the spell, and with a clear thought and will, that stick turned into metal, iron to be specific.

This is at the level of gods, to change things from their very essence, reality changing.

Would he be able to change an entire building to metal? A land into gold?

Of course there is a limite, he tried to cast the spell on a bird nearby, but nothing changed so he can conclude that [Transmute] does not work on living beings.

It works on plants, which is kind of a contradiction but it is what it is.

*SHraaaaa*

*KSHADING*

Switching to conjuration he conjured [Bound Sword] and as it should it appeared in his hands.

Purple energy swirled around into a figure of a sword before it materialized, a real sword appeared overflowing with thick energy around it.

Nathaniel observed it closer with admiration, it was a good design, it didn't look like the usual daedric design.

*SHIIIING*

He swung it half-heartedly without much thought, but…

*SWOOOOOSSSSHHHH*

The energy overflowing from the sword materialized and shot out from his swing, cutting everything in front of him as far as 700 feet.

No, it was more than that.

Nathaniel stood there frozen, not expecting that not only the trees and stones in front of him but parts of the mountain itself is cut from his swing.

"I…guess my strength is just as ridiculous." He muttered.

His thoughts about swinging the sword a few more times went down the drain.

•••••••••

"Father, where are we going?"

King Marco walked up front followed by his now healthy sixteen years old son, the crowned prince.

Not too long ago he caught an unknown disease where it left him in bed for two and a half years.

They had traveled to the city's closest temple of the faith for a healer, but they couldn't find anyone who was capable of helping him.

King Marco then put on disguises before taking his weak son down to the Southern lands for a chance to receive the Holy Saint's help, the Pope in other words.

But even then, the Holy Saint was only capable of improving his son's illness.

But Nathaniel Sanders recent healing spell not only healed the entire city from it's illness' and wounds but his son's disease.

King Marco is greatly indebted, and so is the crowned prince.

"Leo, you being able to walk and talk right now without much effort is due to one man, or god…and we will kneel to show our gratitude if that is what we have to do." King Marco stated.

"A god?! There's a god up the mountain?!" Leo suddenly blurted out in alert as his head jerked towards the top of the mountain.

King Marco had told Leo the previous day of the man that has been spending his time on the mountain and that he was the one who healed him.

"He just might be, but we can't assume such without knowing. Just know he is called Lord Nathaniel Sanders and treat him respectfully."

"Is he a Saint?" Prince Leo wondered aloud.

A Saint is different from a Holy Saint, as a Holy Saint —the Pope in other words— is the one who sits atop the faith's hierarchy while the Saints are those who are under the Holy Saint as disciples to inherit the throne.

The Saints all have their own specialties but still capable of wielding the Holy powers gifted to only a few.

"I don't believe he is, even the Holy Saint is not capable of doing what he did."

They went through a few paths in the mountains before they started seeing the destroyed environments.

"Wha…what happened?!" Leo was on alert, observing the strange land in front of him.

They could see areas burned to ashes, the ground and trees that looked like a lightning storm just struck and the frozen areas.

"This…" King Marco didn't know what to say, of course there is no question who did this but the question is why? "Come on."

They moved along, avoiding the freezing area and fragile ashen area.

But they stumbled onto another jumbled up area.

But this time the land looked like it was raised up into the air before dropping back down. While in the far area they could see the skies clearly due to everything being cut down.

The top half of the trees and small stone mountains seemed to have been cut clean by a kitchen knife, one swing at that.

"Father…"

"Yes…?"

"Could this be the Sorcerer Supreme or the Paragon?"

"No…I don't know." King Marco thought but couldn't put Nathaniel as two of the strongest beings in humanity. "The Sorcerer Supreme is Lady Norin so there's no way…while the Paragon Warrior —Adamus the Absolute— looks nothing like Lord Nathaniel."

"But…" Leo looked around. "Is Lord Nathaniel a mage or a warrior?" There is also the case where he was healed by the man.

"Let's go…maybe in due time we will know." King Marco put his thoughts aside before making his way froward again.

"Is he by any chance an old ma—" Leo's current thoughts paused as a heavy pressure suddenly pushed them onto their knees.

"AGGHHH!!"

"LEO!!"

*Throooooomm*

The mountain shook once more, it rumbled as if fearing something.

"FATHER! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"

"Gahhhh…"

They both shivered, as fear and dread suddenly filled them, something they have no control over.

Fear they have never felt before.

Despair was all they could feel.

"I smell weakness."

King Marco and Prince Leo raised their head in front of them, and what they saw made their hearts weaken and their fear doubled.

A giant demon like being stood over them with a greatsword and dark red armor that seems to be made of darkness and blood.

"Are you prepared for your death?!" The demon in front of them suddenly grumbled our as he raised his greatsword.

"Wait! No, please…" King Marco pleaded as he looked towards his fear stricken son.

"There can be no other wa—"

"TIID!!"

*SHOOOOooooo*

The greatsword fell towards them, but the closer it got the slower it moved.

The demon slowed down until it can only proceed with it's actions by inches.

King Marco and Prince Leo are in the same situation, all clueless to the situation.

As the world and the people slowed down, footsteps could be heard in the mountains just near the situation.

"Damn, I didn't think it would suddenly run off scared and find more victims." Nathaniel muttered right in front of his mistake.

"Though it's weird, the conjured weapons I can use are different, but this dremora I summoned doesn't seem all that different…"

He raised the [Bound Dagger] he had before swinging it softly and gently towards the dremora's neck.

And it wasn't long before the [Slow Time] shout was lifted.

*KTHROOOSH*

*Shiiing*

The sense of death and despair King Marco and Prince Leo felt suddenly disappeared, and right in front of their eyes they witnessed the demon being blown away out far from their sight along with a few more trees and the area sliced up.

*Thud*

The fearful head of the demon that was close to killing them fell just a few feet in front of them.

"AGGHHHHHH!!" Prince Leo suddenly screamed out everything he was holding back.

"Leo!!" Just as scared but worried, King Marco comforted his son as they both looked at the demonic head.

"I'm sorry about that, King Marco. It was an [Unbound Dremora]." They both jerked their heads behind them to see a human just like them.

No, King Marco knew better, this man was definitely not like them.

"Lord Nathaniel!!" King Marco shouted in relief before turning back towards the head.