Rai, suddenly feeling an awkward tension, attempted to respond. It was difficult at first since he hadn't really used his voice at all, but after he got used to the feeling, he said, "W-well… I felt myself being pulled into this direction, like a connection of sorts, and I traveled here to find the source."
The man then spoke again, "Huh, I've been having similar feelings. I actually feel something different about you. Is there anything that you've noticed that feels off?"
Rai then pulled out his sword and said, "Yea, like this, for example. It was with me when I first awoke and I can't really get rid of it, it just moves to my hand whenever I go too far away from it."
The man said, "Oh! You've got one too?" He then pulled out his own blade and stated, "Yea- actually, now that I think about it, your sword kind of looks identical to mine…"
Rai took a moment to look at their swords and found that, surprisingly, they were the same. He filed that information away for later, noting that he might be getting closer to discovering some sort of past.
From there, Rai and the man exchanged names. The man told Rai that his name was Lykle and that he also felt a connection to Rai. Lykle began to teach Rai more about mining, crafting, smelting, building, and everything in between.
For a couple of months, Rai would stay with Lykle, the two forming a brotherly relationship as well as a mutual scaffolding of knowledge and power; they would build off of each others' knowledge and grow to new heights. Once Lykle began to teach Rai the ways of enchantments and how to build strange portals to the hellish realm that was The Nether, he gifted his younger brother with a very strong, enchanted, crossbow. Rai thanked his brother and told him that he would return after checking on his slime-infested home.
Not long after Rai got back to his swamp though, he was met by a strange man. "Who are you?", Rai said. The wary feeling was evident in his voice and the stranger noticed. Wagon held up his hands in mock surrender and said, "Hey, no need to be so hostile. I saw your little settlement here, but nobody was around, so I decided to wait a bit."
Rai didn't know how to describe it, but the aura this man was giving off made him start to believe the stranger's words even less. Wanting to get some sort of information, Rai asked, "So, what's your name then?" He chuckled, "Wagon", he said simply, "and you?"
Rai took a moment to look at his surroundings, in case he needed to somehow fight the man. He noticed the armor that Wagon was wearing and realized he might be too powerful for him to face head-on, especially since he didn't really have too much armor at all.
Rai then began to internally panic as he realized that he didn't even know how to fight. He noticed he was taking a while to answer, so he said, "Rai".
Wagon eyed the crossbow that Rai had gripped hard in his left hand and, with a face that can only be described as malicious, began walking up to Rai and proceeded to say, "Well, Rai, I've never seen you 'round here so you must be new, so I'll give you one warning", before punching Rai in the face and grabbing his crossbow, "These lands belong to me, so if you want to stay here you'll need to pay up." He finished talking before chuckling and looking at the crossbow.
Rai heard a loud whistle come from Wagon as he tried to think of a way to fight Wagon. He was snapped out of his thoughts as Wagon said, examining the crossbow, "Quick Charge 3 and Multishot, not bad... I think I'll take it."
Rai panicked before shouting, "Hey you can't take that! That's mine!" He tried to get up quickly and punch Wagon in the face as the man turned to look at him. Wagon was quickly able to stop Rai from hitting him and threw him towards the array of chests, his head hitting the edge of the chest. He heard Wagon laugh and say, "Who said I was asking for permission?", before blacking out. Rai wouldn't forget the face of the man who wronged him.
Rai, finally conscious again, opened his eyes a bit, noticing that it was now dusk. He felt something slippery over his face and opened his eyes, despite the strain. He grabbed at the slimy creature that hugged his face and pulled it off, setting it on the ground.
Rai tried to remember what happened before blacking out until a wave of anxiety hit him. "Wagon!", He shouted before standing up as fast as he could, before completely regretting it just as quickly. He leaned on one of the chests before taking a look around. He noticed some of his other chests opened and assumed that some stuff was missing, not willing to check at the moment.
He sat back down and took out his notebook, figuring this was as good a time as any to take some notes. Rai documented the interaction with Wagon inside his journal, making emphasis on Wagon's name, his actions, and getting revenge.
A few days had passed with Rai trying to recover. He was pretty much back to the way he was before, if a little sore, so he decided it probably wasn't a smart idea to stay here, just in case Wagon does come back. He packed up as much of his valuable items as possible and began to head back towards Lykle's home once again.
When he found his brother, Rai told him of the interaction with the man named "Wagon". Lykle's looked as if he was deep in thought before telling Rai, "Wagon is.. well he's infamous for one. He's a known warlord around here who likes to take whatever he wants, whenever." he looked at Rai before asking, "Are you sure you want to fight him?"
Rai thought it over again, 'Would it really be a good idea to try to fight him? Not really... but it's the principle of the matter! He took something from me, so I'll take something from him.' He looked back at Lykle with a face of pure determination before saying, "Yes, we need to take him down."
Lykle took one last long look at Rai, with that same unreadable expression, before saying, "Alright, if we're going to fight the most well-known warlord around, then we'll need a lot of things, along with some help. Luckily for us, we just might get it"
Lykle proceeded to tell Rai of an ally he had made before he met his younger brother. Lykle told Rai of Juno, who had a previous fight with Wagon ending mostly in his loss, and how Juno was the one to tell him that Wagon was a ruthless warlord. And thus their journey to defeat Wagon had begun.
The two brothers had recruited Juno to their cause, as he only stood to gain from the upcoming war, and the three set out to become powerful enough to stop the tyrant, the two more experienced fighters having to train Rai to fight if they wanted to stand a chance at defeating Wagon. Along the way, they made a new ally whose name was "Stardrain".
Stardrain informed Lykle of a secret base, built by one of Wagon's allies. Lykle searched for the outpost until he found what he was looking for. As Lykle looked around the base, on edge in case anyone was here, he noticed a human head that didn't seem at all decayed.
He figured it might be enchanted to never decay and came to the conclusion that if someone was willing to go to such lengths, then the head might be valuable. He decided to make sure no one was here before coming back to the head and taking it. Lykle took it back with him, as he thought it might be important to Wagon or his allies and knew he could use it as leverage.
Once Wagon had gotten the news that the enchanted severed head of the father of his ally Shane was stolen by Lykle, the war had begun. The first battle would take place in a base constructed by one of Wagon's allies, Boosty.
The battle would be fought by Lykle, Rai, and Stardrain on one side and Wagon, Shane, and Boosty on the other. Right before the battle began, however, Stardrain felt like they weren't prepared for the fight and said, "Hey I'm going to go and grab some more potions to help us." Lykle looked over to him and said, "Alright but come back quickly, we don't know when they'll get here." Stardrain nodded before he walked out of the room.
This would be a fatal mistake as Wagon saw the decrease in enemies as an opportunity to win, so Wagon's team, who had already been at the base in an empty space on the roof. Wagon and his team dropped through the hole in the roof, surprising Rai and Lykle. "Wagon!", Rai shouted before lifting his sword to dodge an attack from Shane. While Rai was fighting Shane, Lykle was fighting Boosty and Wagon at the same time, being slightly overwhelmed.
Eventually, Shane got the upper hand on Rai and plunged his sword into Rai's chest. Lykle saw this and his eyes widened. "No!", Lykle shouted before attempting to lunge at Shane, but that was all the distraction that Wagon needed to stab Lykle.
Rai and Lykle were thought to be killed during the battle, however, this could not be further from the truth.
