Prologue - Ch 1: The Begining of a Storm
Gladius rode his motorcycle down the soaken street. He found it ironic that it started raining when he got the news. He felt it was like a movie, you know, where the kid gets bad news and it starts raining to signify his emotions. Yeah, Gladius is feeling that, however it is a sad occasion to him.
His master, who was like a father to him, had passed away. Gladius had known it was coming, he was getting to that age, but it doesn't lessen the pain. With his master's death, Gladius had gained a fortune, or at least in his eyes. While he could never see his master again, he could keep his spirit alive within the belongings he had given him.
Gladius turned into a forest path that was partially hidden by shrubbery. He had come down this path many times before when he came to visit or to train. His master was teaching Gladius an ancient style of martial art. One that is said to use a type of 'magic' in it, of course, one would find it preposterous if it had not been demonstrated.
His master was patient with him, yet Gladius was always stubborn, he never wanted to wait. He pushed himself and tried harder and harder, yet despite his masters worries, he pressed on. The martial art is supposed to be learned slowly, if you rush, it shall take much longer to accomplish. And now with his master's death, Gladius may never be able to master the technique.
Gladius reached his destination in a large wooden house. He remembered building the house with his master ten years ago, since then the house has been expanded considerably. He parked the bike outside in the makeshift driveway and approached the door. He unlocked it and entered, turning on the light in the main hall.
Upon entry a cat scampered up to him, immediately hopping into his arms.
"Hey there, Iris." He said petting her as she pushed her head into his chin. "Someones happy to see me." He smiled slightly as the cat purred. He moved into the room at the end of the hall. It was their dojo, along the walls were all sorts of weapons, both real and fake. At the opposite end was a large chest that was securely locked.
"Guess it's time to find out what's inside..." Gladius said to himself as he approached the chest. He placed the cat down as he pulled out a key.
He quickly opened the chest and was bombarded by dust. Once he stopped coughing, which the cat had run away from, he looked inside to find a letter.
~-~
Gladius, if you're reading this, then that would mean i'm dead. Unless you stole my key, In which case, give it back! Anyways, if I have gone to the void, then I hope you don't mourn me for too long. I know that your probably worried about your training, but there is no need. Soul Art is not a technique that has any guidelines, all you need are the basics. With that you can teach yourself, but even through all your future exploits, just know that I am proud of you.
Roland Pis, your master.
~-~
Gladius looked inside and found a picture, it displayed a young man and an elderly person standing in front of a half built house. The two men were dirty and sweaty, but still held a smile that showed enjoyment out of the labor. The young man was rather tall with dark brown hair, he kept it slicked back, but was a little messy due to the work. The elderly man was shorter but was in surprisingly good shape, his warm eyes showing joy.
Gladius smiled as he saw the picture, it was from ten years ago when the two of them were in the middle of building the house. They had to share a small apartment while that happened and he chuckled as he remembered the shenanigans that happened in that room. Gladius put the picture in his pocket as he stood up. Gladius was at a loss for what to do so he simply sat in the middle of the room, and meditated.
~-~
Gladius opened his eyes to find that the sun had started to set, he grabbed the cat, who had hopped on his lap while he meditated, and stood up. He was making his way towards his bedroom when he heard a noise in the back yard. Putting the cat down he went over to the sliding doors that led to the back to find out what was out there. Seeing nothing he opened the door and headed out, making sure that a wild animal wasn’t destroying property. The cat followed him as he continued outside, looking around he couldn’t see anything. He was about to head back in when he caught sight of a faint light out in the trees. Deciding to investigate, Gladius walked towards it, which grew brighter with each step.
Gladius emerged into a clearing, where the golden light was shining brightly. He jumped when he felt the cat jump on him and lay on his shoulder somehow. Gladius was scared of the strange light, it seemed to be sucking at him, yet felt comforting as well as the heat contrasted against the cool night. He hesitantly stepped around it to see if there was a source, yet here was none, it was just a floating ball of light... which was starting to suck at him more furiously.
Gladius tried to run but was pulled back by the orb, he soon realized that it was a hopeless endeavor. Now he truly felt like he was in a movie, get bad news, become bad news, yup, crappy plot but entertaining… except when it’s actually happening! The cat was first to get sucked in and he could hear the cat’s howls as it did. He soon followed as his legs got knocked from underneath him.
When he collided with the light he felt an overwhelming heat come over him and saw nothing but white. His body felt like it was being broken repeatedly and was being constantly burned. The pain was unbearable, and soon Gladius blacked out.
~-~
Gladius slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the middle of the forest and for a second he thought it was the forest outside his home, then he noticed the colors. Instead of the deepgreen that came with trees, these were dark and foreboding. Looking up, he saw a small hole in the trees which allowed moonlight into the dark forest.
Quickly, Gladius attempted to stand, though he fell back down. He examined his body, trying to find the source of failure. He was surprised to find that he no longer had feet... he had hooves... what the fuck?
Deciding to use this new knowledge, Gladius stood up on his hooves and attempted walking. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it was considerably easy to walk like that. Finding a small puddle close by he attempted to see what he looked like.
It was hard to make out in the moonlight but he could see the body structure of a small horse. His coat seemed to be decently fluffy and he briefly wondered why, but didn't dwell on it. His coat was an ash grey color, and what he presumed to be a mane was pitch black color and could hardly be seen in the weak light. His mane also seemed to be longer than his other hair, as well as messier. It was hard to see but he had wings and he briefly pondered if they worked. His eyes were what really freaked him out though... they were blue, but they seemed to pierce his very soul.
Gladius decided to figure out where exactly he was and what happened to him, or at least the first one. He moved toward the forest when he heard a loud crash behind him. He quickly turned around to find three wolf like creatures made entirely out of wood.
"... what the fuck is going on!?" He silently growled to himself. Knowing better than to fight an unknown enemy, Gladius readied himself to run. He heard another noise to his left and made the mistake of looking. When he looked back the 'wolves' were on him.
Gladius barely had time to react, and caught the brunt of the force as the first wolf jumped on him. Using the momentum, he fell backwards and launched the wolf into a tree with his hind legs.
Without a second thought, Gladius got up and ran as fast as he could. He sprinted for a long time, but the wolves were catching up, and he had to think fast. Taking a quick peek behind him he saw that they were close enough to bite his tail, which was rather long and fluffy... why?
Gladius quickly decided to try something a little risky. He ran toward one of the thick trees and prayed to god it worked. He tensed his muscles as he impacted with the tree.
Time seemed to slow down as he passed through the tree, and he could hear what sounded like water passing by. When he immerged out the other side he left the tree intact and kept running. He heard a crash behind him as the wolves hit the tree with enough force to knock it down onto them.
Gladius didn't stop running, the sound would probably attract more predators. He knew he had to stop soon, though, he was running out of stamina.
~-~
Gladius finally stopped his mad dash in front of a large castle. Before he continued on he took a minute to catch his breath. He was rather confused about the whole situation, and yet again he got the feeling of a cliche movie. He was sucked into a new world by a magic portal or something, changed bodies, and was thrust right into the action without any time to think. Letting out a sigh, Gladius pushed onwards.
When he entered, Gladius got an ominous feel from the entire place.The castle was half destroyed, showing a large age. In most areas, he could see signs of life, whether it was from spiders, rats, or bats.
The first room he went into was a grand room that showed a weird statue. It was a pedestal which held a large stone orb, it had arms protruding from it, where he presumed more orbs once sat.
Though he could not ponder upon the thought, for the second time that night, Gladius heard a large amount of rustling, and crashing heading in his direction.
~-~
Gladius started running again when he saw the first wooden head appear. He had to think fast, he did not want to be eaten by one of those things.
In doubt of his abilities to fight effectively in his new body, Gladius didn’t take a chance at outright retaliating, so instead he decided to attempt to trick the wood wolves into hurting themselves.
As he started to sprint up a set of stairs that led higher into the nightmarish castle, he got an idea, Gladius centered strength into his hooves as he planted them on the ground at the top of the stairs. He immediately took off in a shower of sparks as he was propelled forward at subsonic speeds, he soon left the 'wolves' behind as he speed away. To make sure that there would be noone following him, Gladius launched himself at one of the weakened stone walls and kicked it with enough force to knock over an elephant. As the wall crumbled around him he heard the pained yelps of the wood wolves as they got crushed underneath.
Gladius ducked and weaved around the crumbling walls around him, nearly getting caught by debris on multiple occasions. Despite the close calls, Gladius made it out in one piece. Deciding it would be best to find a place to wait out the night, he propells himself through the halls of the castle.
~-~
The castle was huge, and was in suprisingly good shape, though there was still piles of rubble and holes in the roof. The place looked more like the location of a battle zone, scorch marks, broken furnature, impacted walls, it was suppressed underneath the effects of nature taking hold of the castle, but the evidence could still be seen.
Gladius had returned to walking in order to search for items that he could use. The hall soon came to an end at a pair aof large purple double doors. After manyminutes of struggle, Gladius had pushed open one of the massive doors.
Inside was what he presumed to be the royal chambers. It was massive, like the doors, and was displayed in a nightly theme, even the roof was painted to depict the nightsky.
Closing the door behind him he moved through the room and looked around. In the corner was what appeared to be a pair of saddle bags that was made in a night coloration.Opening one of the bags he stuck a hoof in, not realizing something was wrong until he was shoulder deep, and still didn't feel the bottom. Pulling his hoof out, he peeked in to find a normal size. He figured that the bags could be useful, so he placed them across his flanks and secured the belt after some trial and failure.
With a yawn, he moved over to the bed, and despite it's dust, it was the softest thing he had ever laid down on. Soon, the dark tendrils of sleep took him.
