Chapter 0

‘Are the preparations complete?’ His majesty asked Dugal, the loyal court mage.

   They were in an ancient labyrinth full of unknown symbols and poorly understood magic circuits. The structure had just recently been cleared by a party at the cost of several lives. In return they had unlocked something very interesting.

   ‘Yes, sire. If everything is as I understand it then we could achieve a power never seen before.’ The loyal mage replied.

   A few dozen mages were busy in a circle chanting spells and fixing the existing magic circuit in the room. They had spent the last year deciphering the meaning of the texts and depictions etched into the walls of this cavern. Once the true potential of this room was understood, the loyal guard quickly took over and forced them to start readying this room for today despite their incomplete research.

   ‘Your majesty, please reconsider. We still do not fully understand this ruin. Our work is still just conjecture!’ said Wormius, the head of the research group.

   ‘Silence! You are only to speak when spoken to.’ yelled Dugal. ‘Do not sully the king’s ears with your nonsense. His highness has travelled all the way from Tallen for this.’

   The old king was sitting on a golden throne brought there just for him. Six of his strongest soldiers guarded him while a small army oversaw this whole process. With an annoyed glance he asked, ‘Will this ritual create an unstoppable weapon as I was promised?’ 

   ‘Yes sire, but you don't understand. The inscriptions speak of a mon-’Wormius muttered 

   ‘I do not care! Now start this ritual before I lose my temper.’

   With an apprehensive glance the head mage clapped his hands. With the signal given an olive skinned boy no older than eight was brought into the room.

   He was gagged and tied to a rectangular slab of stone in the middle of the room. He was placed directly underneath the skull of a monster that no one recognized. The boy was scared.

   Wormius walked up to the stone and with an apologetic tone said,’I am sorry but this has to be done.’ 

   With that he plunged a long dagger into the boy's bare chest. Tears and muffled screams erupted from his face and blood rolled down the sides of the slab.

   As soon as the blood touched the bottom all the magic circuits in the room started to grow brightly. The chanting of the mages became more intense.

   ‘So will that boy truly become a weapon for the empire once this is done?’ The King asked as he watched the boy's death tremors.

   ‘Umm, you see, your majesty. We can't know for sure how he might turn out. There are-’Wormius stuttered.

   ‘Just answer the king's question, you dolt!’ the loyal mage yelled.

   ‘Ye- Yes! Yes, your majesty. There are still some unknowns but this is what we have read from the writings in this room,”Slay a soul underneath the remains of the great beast and once the sacrificial soul is vanquished, his remains shall be overtaken by a beastly but calm soul from another world who shall have the powers of Kinon granted to him.”’

   ‘Beastly but calm, what could it mean, Dugal?’ king Sebastian asked 

   ‘Well, obviously it means that he will be very strong but reasonable.’

   ‘And this Kinon figure,’ the king further inquired.’How strong was he?’

  ‘Well, we still don’t completely understand his powers.’ Wormius said under the glare of Dugal. ‘But if the bit that we have learned here is accurate then the answer is “very”.’

   While this conversation was going the boy had breathed his last breath. All the lights in the walls went out.

   ‘Is it done?’ a soldier whispered

   Immediately the giant skull on the ceiling turned to dust and rained down upon the boy's body. Suddenly his lifeless body shot up from the slab breaking the chains in the process. His eyes had a feral red glow to them.

   The king in a rehearsed motion got up from his seat and said, ‘Welcome heroic soul from another world. You must be the one named Kinon.’

   Kinon, as he was now called, started licking his arm. 

   ‘I know you must be confused but don't worry I am King Sebastian Alastra of Velo -Oh my God! What are you doing?’

   Kinon had started licking his legs now in a manner that was very uncomfortable for everyone to watch.

   All the soldiers nearby pointed their spears at Kinon. ‘How dare you disrespect his majesty like this! What do you have to say for yourself?!’ they shouted.

   Kinon looked at them and with an unblinking stare and said, ‘Meow.’ 

   Everyone looked around dumbfounded.

 ‘What is the meaning of this?’

   ‘Meooww.’

   ‘Why is that boy acting so weirdly?’ said a fuming Loyal mage.

   ‘I do-don't know, si-sire.’ The high mage stuttered. ‘But it seems that we somehow picked the soul of an animal instead of a person. I am so sorry!’

   ‘What!!, how is that even possible?’

   ‘Well, umm, it did say that a beastly soul would come to inhabit the body of the sacrifice.’

   ‘Why didn’t you say that before?!’

   ‘I-I did but you insisted o-’

   ‘SILENCE!! Actually, this is good.’ The king said as he watched Kinon try to scratch his ears with his foot. ‘It saves me the hassle of convincing him to work for us. We can train him like one of our war animals. Go catch him!’ With that command the soldiers closed in.

   ‘That is very good, your highness. But, umm, you do realize that-’ 

    A soldier’s body came flying in his direction before being stopped by one of the king’s guards. Dugal flinched and Wormius fell on his back.

   ‘That boy has the strength of a minor deity!’ The scared high mage completed his statement.

   Kinon was standing on all fours right now hissing at the soldiers that surrounded him. The guards had Kinon surrounded on all sides but anyone stupid enough to actually approach him quickly learned how aerodynamic their body was.

   ‘Makes sense. If ordinary foot soldiers were able to capture him then he wouldn’t be worth much.’ Said the king’s guard who had stopped the flying soldier from colliding with the king.

   ‘I suppose, it can’t be helped.’ The king said with a sigh.‘You! Go down there and capture him.’

   The guard simply nodded and went down after dropping the soldier on the ground.

    Kinon had by now sensed the exit by feeling the airflow in the room. With one small hop he jumped over all the soldiers and ran across the ground on all fours in inhumane speed. His movement was awkward as he was still confused and unfamiliar with this human child’s body. Still, the raw power in this new form allowed him to be faster than all his pursuers except one.

   ‘Already figured out the exit have you? Must be your animal instincts.’ Said the king’s guard who was now standing between Kinon and the exit hallway.‘I am different from the other soldiers so be warned. This might get a little rough.’

   The Guard was a tall intimidating figure with a muscular build. He was wearing barbarian armor that left most of his upper body exposed. After giving his warning the already 6 feet tall warrior grew to over 8 feet tall. His muscles bulged and grew. He had turned into an absolute monster.

   ‘I am one of the King’s guards. The most powerful warriors in the realm directly in service of his majesty.’ The monstrous guard bellowed. ‘With this cursed ability of mine I shall stop you or my name is not-’

   The scared Kinon simply wanted to escape. So, with the soldiers closing in behind him and seeing no other route, he tried jumping over the monologuing warrior. His paws, or as others perceived it, His hands touched the guards face. And as he tried to jump using his face, said face got pushed down with frightening ease. In a second, the nearly 9 feet tall giant was on his back, his face crushed into the cavern floor, unconscious.

   The soldiers could not believe what they saw. None of them had the courage to follow him.

   ‘What are you doing?!’ The king yelled.‘Catch him!!’

    Kinon had not stopped to see his work as emergency signals were sent throughout the structure. Kinon simply wanted to escape this place as he ran through the labyrinthine halls. A lot of bodies were thrown around like ragdolls that night. Many were injured but in the end the king's command could not be fulfilled as a scared Kinon escaped into the forest on that dark night.