A fierce warrior dashed through the underbrush, weighed down by the heavy plates protecting him from the terrors that monsters claws present. He carried in his hands a fierce stone club with metal studs, a brutally efficient weapon that was no doubt responsible for many victories in battle. The warrior swung his body abruptly to the side where a beam of glowing energy passing through where he just was. Recovering from this he maintains his pace faltering only slightly after dodging the spell.


    He pushes himself even more and starts to breathe heavily, his body weary from battle and weighed down by the claws of exhaustion. No doubt one mistake and he''d find himself on the wrong side of his enemy''s attack.


    A dart of pure fire passes narrowly by his face not prompting a reaction as it misses. The warrior nearly stumbles over a root and lets out an audible sigh at his near miss with death. He then comes to an abrupt halt as his footing gives way, and the ground starts to collapse beneath his feet around him. He wonders if the fall is a more merciful death than the harsh interrogation that would ensue with his capture. And gravity takes him into the dark chasm revealed below as ground gives way.


    Krai Taalkyr woke with a start. His bruised and broken body, protests his movements against the earth surrounding him. Abruptly he remembers the situation, and he tries to push the earth off of him. He wonders if the imperials assumed he died and hopes the chase was called off.


    When he pushes his magic sense around him and it stays quiet he knows his armor was broken beyond repair the familiar feeling of the runes was gone from his mind. Luckily he can feel the magic of his tetsubo barely hanging on a meter away from him and he suddenly misses the familiar feel of his weapons handle in his grasp.


    Krai realizes he needs to get out from under the stone surrounding him and he condenses all his strength and pushes against his earthen prison and feels the mound of stone shift slightly, before there’s a muffled thud that he feels more than hears and he can tell a heavier stone shifted into place leaning on him. His muscles burn against the stones around him as he tries pushing again, knowing that if he lets up the weight of the new stone will hurt him more. After keeping up the effort and straining himself he feels his muscles failing, and his strength leaving him. With the fear of impending doom approaching he throws his everything, even his very being at the earth crushing down on him, almost poetic in the way the world has been out to brush off his efforts since he came into it. His effort though is not enough as he feels the stones tumbling back onto him, losing what minimal progress he made, his mana sense screams suddenly and something happens. For the first time he can sense the earth around him. It feels as familiar as he feels with his body. The single desire of freedom from his stone confinement moves something and it all flies away from his body. Silently exhaustion and effort overtake his grasp on reality once again.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    6 months prior


    Krai Taalkyr was an ordinary boy, then an ordinary teenager, then an ordinary man. Until the day he died. When he died, crushed by a freak accident of falling stone, his entire world changed, or more accurately, shifted. Moments after he felt the pain of his body being crushed mercilessly under the heavy stone block, the pain disappear abruptly. He reasoned to himself that this must be what death feels like. Then he opened his eyes to a stone block in front of him. Much like the one he saw in his last moments bearing down on him from above. Only to realize this must be the same stone block. And that he imagined it all. Letting out the breath he didn''t even realize he was holding. He heard a yell of sorry from who he assumed was the builder making this house. And he looked around for what crane dropped the massive stone block in his path only to find none. The man rushed down from his perch atop the building, he was wearing brown robes with a metal trim, some rust color that frankly wouldn''t be Krai’s first choice. The man speaks to him


    “Lost control there for a second, damn bird narrowly missed me” after this explanation he lifts the now noticed staff in his hand. An obviously gaudy walking stick with the way the metal covers it and the rust colored glowing gem.


    Before Krai can ask about the staff the man waves it and the stone block begins to rise, the gems glow intensifies briefly as the stone block rises higher and higher before the man gives a subtle nod and walks back up the steps. The small crowd that wasn''t too busy to stop and watch, dispersed as most realized they were in fact too busy to be there. Krai just widened his eyes as he tried to figure out what the hell has just happened. Magic he almost said out loud, that was fucking magic.


    Time seemed to freeze for Krai upon reaching this realization and he dealt with a startling rush of input into his brain as new memories started to form. His life in this world was tragically similar, with one big blaring difference. Magic, and all the fun it brought with it. Krai''s family was too poor to get him tested for magic and he never developed or displayed intelligence or skill in anything to warrant someone supporting him or helping him along in life. So he joined the family business of normal boring blacksmithing. Such was the life of the lower class, too poor to ever grow rich. Krai had a newfound determination in this life. He would be great, and what better way then to learn magic?