The New Guardian

Chapter 1

I picked myself up from the dirt, looking up at the shattered window on the third floor of the building I had just been thrown from. It wasn't the most gracious landing, but at least the garbage had softened my fall enough so I didn't break anything. Weird thing, the sensation of falling. Sure, three stories isn't that far of a drop, but it is more than enough to disorientate yourself on the way down. I started to sift my way out of the filth, as the man who threw me out of the window blew through the back door of the building. He stood an easy 6'7", and looked like he weighed about 350. I was no match for him in a physical match up. "Oh man... I'm screwed..." were the only words to escape my mouth, as he pounded over towards me.

I backed away from him, trying to figure out what to use against him. My magic was out of the question. If I had to bring a spell to bear against an opponent that large, there was no way for me to predict how much to use. Too much, it could be lethal and I would be in a world of trouble. Not enough and he might still just dust it off like nothing. Looked like I would have to use conventional tactics. Retreat is the most conventional, and probably the safest in this fight... well, beating. Spinning on my heel, I took off at full speed. As I ran, my mind flashed back to one of the lessons my former teacher taught me. 'Never turn your back on your opponent.' So as I spun my head back to look at him, I ran full-out into a garbage can on it's side and tumbled to a heap on the ground.

As I lay there, the brute kept a steady pace towards me. Like a serial killer in those old movies, never running. No need to in his opinion probably. The distance closed to under ten feet, and I tried to crawl backwards yet, pleading for him to not beat me into a pulp and how I wouldn't return to bother him. About the same time I got that far, he reached one of those large hands out. One the ground directly beneath it, a white circle formed, the characters moving. From it rose a handle, intricately carved designs on it, but on the top of the handle was a very large axe head. He had just summoned a great axe from the ground.

As the brute pulled the axe from the ground, the gears in my head spun rapidly. The immediate thought that flew into my head was that my magic was no longer off-limits. Against mortals, yes. This guy was definitely not a mortal, he was apart of the one of the fairy courts. 'Troll' was the label my mind issued quickly, as the axe started to swing in my direction quickly.

In the span of a heartbeat, my right arm shot up holding one of my aluminum drumsticks. "Ar Ais!" I cried out, relying on my native language. A blast of air caught my assailant in the chest, and shoved him back before that Great Axe could smash my face in half. As he staggered backwards, I stumbled to my feet, actually aiming to get onto a level playing field with the troll. As stupid as that sounds.

The troll's eyes leveled on me, and it let out a battle roar. All my confidence that I had just built up shattered in that face of that. It swung the axe back over it's shoulder, and started to charge at me. As it continued to move, the spell that hid it's true form started to slip. From the form of the very large man that threw me out of the third story window only minutes ago began to emerge this even larger beast. Blue in color, small horns protruding from the top of it's head, and very large teeth dripping with saliva. My mind finally decided that running would be the best option, but also figured out there would be no time for me to escape with this charge. I would have to do something, and fast.

Necessity is the mother of all innovation, or something like that at least. Without thinking my body started to move, grabbing a bag of garbage, and rolling it into the troll's path. As it stepped on the bag, it exploded into a flurry of filth and slime, which caused the troll to loose his balance and crash against a dumpster. I didn't think a dumpster could be moved *that* easily. It almost hit me a good fifteen or so feet away. But that was the break I needed. Turning on my heels, I sprinted as quickly as I could from the alleyway, leaving the troll behind me.

I emerged out onto the street, breathing heavily and pushing through the swarm of people. After the first dozen, they just started to automatically part, looking at the crazy kid running down the street. A block later I chanced a glance over my shoulder, seeing that the troll had given up the chase. I would have to investigate that further, but as for now, my body just went through as many emotions as possible in the shortest amount of time. The one that lasted the longest was exhaustion. That level of quick spell slinging was hard on someone not all that trained in magic. I preferred a more methodical approach, or at least not being required to push that amount of mass with just energy alone. I turned down the next street, and headed home for some well needed sleep. I had just been thrown out a window, then fought with a troll. Call me lazy if you really want.