{Alex}

  The next morning, I woke up with the ball of pain and misery, most people call the sun, in my eyes and got dressed. After a poor breakfast that mostly consisted of runny eggs and burnt bread, I made my way through the town to what could almost be an airlock. There had to be a better term, but that is what came to mind. On either side of an open area were two massive doors. It looked like two of the Knights were needed to open and close them. Given the size I had to wonder what they were trying to keep out. Maybe it would be best if I never knew and just assumed it was other people in Knights. I found Captain standing next to one group of covered wagons and a beautiful red Knight. I started drooling as I looked it over, my mind completely missing the seven wagons or ants moving about them making sure everything was loaded and ready for our trip. I only had eyes for that amazing work of art. A thousand questions started flying through my mind. The squared cubed law, what did it use for fuel? What was the cockpit like? What were the controls like? I would keep going, but my mind went a little blank as I drew closer. It was a thing of pure beauty. Fuck the gods that made it to where I was born on that lame earth. I should have been born here with these wonders. I was already going over changes I could make to the frame, joints and so much more. I needed to get a notepad and pen soon as my mind filled and buzzed with ideas. Maybe I had died on my way to crank one out and found myself in heaven. Captain clapped me on the back and made me look away from that masterpiece. I wanted to hit him for that but needed to behave. One should not make enemies before a long trip. Best to pretend to be the nice new kid.

  “Good lad you made it.” He crowed at me. “Let’s Introduce you to everyone else.” He said as he escorted me away from that Knight. He showed me around to a bunch of faceless background fodder. Only two aside from that red beauty stood out. Gotrat the mage, a young kid barely the same age as me. He wore a blue robe that seemed far too large for his skinny frame with oversized glasses and seemed to be stuck in a book failing to look at the world around him. Short ill-kept silver hair sat on his head like a mop. He merely waved at us as Captain introduced him. Step two found, magic would be mine. The other one who caught my eye was a huge tiger woman. She had to be over six and a half feet tall and had dark stripes over her well-toned body. Rounded tiger ears poked out of the top of her head and a long-striped tail waved behind her. A mane of long black wild-looking hair gave her an almost queen of the jungle look. I wondered what it would smell and feel like. She looked at me with dark hazel eyes, sniffed, blushed, and looked away quickly. Her chest was modest but should be more than a handful for me. She had an iron collar with two links dangling from the front. I think I just met my first slave and damn she was hot as hell in that tight leather armor. She turned to me, sniffed again and looked away just as quickly. If anything could take my eyes off that red Mech would be this muscle goddess before me. Maybe it had been too long? “Strange, she normally doesn’t act that way around humans. This is Yen. She is our muscle.” He said, frowning at her. I smiled and held out my hand.

  “And what amazing muscles they are.” I growled, failing to hide my hunger. She looked at me, sniffed again, and looked at the ground. I didn’t fail to see a blush light her sexy cheeks. Most human women tend to look like men when they focus on bodybuilding, but somehow, she stayed feminine. Would she let me give her a rub down with my lotion? I would have to ask when I was sure it wouldn’t result in my death by embarrassed slap.

  “Nice to meet you, young master.” She said in a small voice. How was a woman who looked like that so shy? Somehow that made her not just sexy, but cute at the same time. I was happy the shirt would hide my growing boner. I had to look down to double check just to be safe. Some guys have more to be embarrassed about than others. I caught her looking down too and smiled.

  “Yen, I hope to see more of you on our trip.” I said with my best friendly smile. She blushed and bowed not saying anything at all. Captain was eyeing me strangely as we walked to one of the covered wagons. What was his issue? Tell me one man who wouldn’t drool over a muscle mommy like her?

  “I assume you don’t have provisions for our trip?” He asked with a smile. I knew where this was going. Time for the upsell.

  “How much to rent a tent for the trip and remember you did say food was included in the price?” That’s right you fat idiot. I know your game. He frowned and swore lightly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  “I had hoped you had forgotten that. A tent rental is two silver for the trip. We also have a store where you can look through for a change of clothes and so on for a price.” I nodded. That should help. Might need to check that tonight for my notebook. I wonder if I can do something to earn some coins on this trip to offset the cost.

  “The tent for now if you please.” He nodded and left me in the back with Gotrat who was still reading. The sound of grinding metal broke the peace and the wagon started moving out through the gate. The wizard looked around and nodded before returning to his book. “Say, have you ever trained someone in magic?” I asked, hoping to get step two started. The best time to strike is when the iron is hot. He looked up at me, a weird look on his face, like he was only just now realizing he wasn’t alone.

  “What?” He asked, looking at me like I had just popped into life in this wagon. I smiled at him. I hoped I looked friendly, but I have an evil smile. Not my fault, it's the way I was born.

  “I just got here, got magic, and was wondering if you could help me learn to use it?” He placed a slip of paper in his book and moved his glasses up as he looked at me. It made me feel like I was a bug on display.

  “What class and what is your magic score?” He asked as he moved closer to me. I saw that we were on a dirt path heading away from the city, groups of people were moving around us. Some towards the city and some away. Our group was the only one with a Knight though.

  “Metal Magic and my magic number is four. If that means anything to you.” I said hoping that I wasn’t too screwed. He frowned at me and then shrugged as he looked back at his book.

  “Sorry. That means your mana is a joke. I’ve seen Metal Mages do some crazy shit, but if your mana is only sixteen, you may be able to sharpen a sword, but that is about it. You’ll be useless in any fight.”

  “Good, good. I don’t plan to fight.” I said with a wave of my hand. He gave me a puzzled look at my words. Oh, great was this one of those brave idiots who would throw their lives away hoping to be some type of magic hero. Fuck that noise.

  “Five silver to open your channels and another two to teach you magic. Fair warning this will hurt… a lot.” He said as he took a breath. I nodded and handed the coins to him. Once they were safely in his pocket, he moved to my side. “Remove your shirt.” He said almost bored. I did so and he placed one hand on my chest and grabbed my left hand. I hoped he knew I didn’t swing that way. Sorry dude this guy is all about the single ladies. Suddenly white-hot pain flooded through his palm and into my chest. The wave of lightning flowed through my body, and I just passed out. My last thought was, well this sucks.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  I came to lying on the floor of the moving wagon. The sun had moved, and I had been out for most of the morning. Gotrat was back to reading. I sat up and wished I hadn’t. EVERYTHING HURT and I mean everything. I groaned and crawled back to my place. It was a herculean task just to put my shirt back on, but I managed somehow. What the hell had he done to me? With a wince I made sure my coins were still in place and much to my delight, he had not robbed me while I was out. I felt something strange move through my body and focused on it. Seemed something to do while I waited on my body to heal from whatever that was. It was like there was now a small pool of something deep inside around my heart. I could actually feel this pool of something sending waves out through my veins. This something was moving through my hands, feet, and even into my brain. He looked over at me puzzled. “How do you feel?” He asked like a moron. How the fuck do you think I feel?

  “Like dog shit, but that doesn’t matter. What is this something I feel now?” I said as I touched my chest. It helped take my mind off the pain. He closed his book and looked at me, his eyes wide with shock.

  “You can already feel your mana?” He asked, a large goofy grin on his face as his glasses slid down his nose. I nodded wishing I could slap him for putting me through it and even worse making me pay to put myself in pain.

  “It feels like fluid energy in my body. Like my blood, but not like that at all.” I said thinking aloud. He beamed at me as he nearly danced in his seat.

  “By the great drakes brass balls, what are you?” He exclaimed as he looked at me closely.

  “Hungry and thirsty.” I growled wishing I could slap him or ask for a refund. He nodded.

  “Are you sure your magic was a four?” He asked. I nodded at him “You took like thirty points of mana to open your channels, so I have to ask. What was your intelligence score?” He looked was excited about something, but for the life of me I had no clue what that was. I groaned, rubbing my arms and neck.

  “Twenty-seven. Is that good?” God I hoped it was good. Most of these stories, the hero gets some type of cheat skill. He just looked at me blankly for a moment.

  “What kind of nightmare balance is that? That shouldn’t make any sense at all.” He said as he looked at me, outrage clear on his face.

  “I’m not from around here,” I said, waving my hand in the air. That was a mistake still hurts like a bitch. I wonder if that cute tiger woman would give me a rub down if I asked nicely or payed the right price? Mind back on the prize, Alex. Still on step two. Save getting friendly with women for later. He leaned in closer and looked me over, his eyes full of shock and excitement. “Back off a little. I’m not into guys. Not saying that there is anything wrong with that, just not my thing.” I said starting to let some of my anger seep through. My resting bitch face was in full effect, and he backed off holding his hands up.

  “No, no, no. Are you saying you are a Wanderer?” I guessed that means, ripped from my home world or whatever to be someone’s bitch. Yep, sounds about right.

  “Yes.” I nodded. He started jumping up and down and nearly fell on his face. “Magic now if you please.” I was getting tired of this fool and wanted to try out this new feeling in my chest.

  “Yeah, but I have to know everything about you and your world.” He said, his book fully forgotten.

  “I can tell you when we are a little further away from that place,” I said, pointing a thumb over my shoulder. He moved back to his seat and beamed at me. It was like I was a new animal in the zoo.

  “Yeah, in the meantime I could hold up my end. You have to start by learning to feel your mana...” he trailed off and looked over at me shaking his head. “Right, next you have to learn to push your mana around your body.” I closed my eyes and pictured the flow. “Took me two months to even feel my mana. Fucking lucky bastard.” He said with a snort. I smiled and started feeling the flow of it. That’s right I’m amazing. It moved in waves and with just a nudge of my mind I could add to each wave going to a part of my body. It made the waves going elsewhere a bit less, but nothing too noticeable. “What the fuck?” He exclaimed. I opened my eyes to see a small blue spark on my fingertips. They were small and cute, but they were my magic. This was mine and no one could take it from me. “It took me a year to learn to do that. What the hell are you?” He asked in stunned admiration.

  “Yes, yes, I’m some great evil your people have told stories about for ages or some shit like that. How do I use it?” I said smiling at the little dancing sparks. He reached out, handing me his glasses.

  “Hold the area you want to affect in your hand and picture what you want to happen. These broke a while back and I had to use glue to fix them, but it’s just not the same. Try to fix them using magic.” I saw the break on the bridge over the nose and could actually feel the glue. It felt wrong. The metal wanted to be whole, and I could help it. I pinched them between my sparking fingers and felt the metal singing to me. It wanted to be whole again, needed to be whole again. It missed being strong. Somehow, I knew it was a cheap brass and would break if I didn’t do something. It had a somber almost base note. It needed something more to make it sound better.

  “I need more metal or another type of metal.” I said my mind solely focused on the metal in my hands. He looked in amazement as he placed something in my other hand. It was a cute strongly singing tin. Tin had a high-pitched note that would sing nicely if I did things right. I pulled the zinc out and pushed the tin in at the same time. The way the metals alloyed, it shouldn’t be possible, but somehow, I not only knew how to do it, but I was able to do so. It turned the weak brass into bronze. A deep baritone base sound that I would last for a long while. This felt amazing. This felt almost as good as sex. Once I was done, I handed the glasses back and promptly fell on my face. The pool of what I now knew was mana was empty. A Picture formed in my mind as I lay passed out on the floor of the wagon.

  NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: METAL SENSE. YOU ARE NOW ABLE TO FEEL THE METAL AROUND YOU AND KNOW WHAT IT IS MADE OF BY TOUCH.

  When I came to, it was nearly nightfall. The wagon had stopped and once I made sure all my stuff was still in place, I stood and got out of the wagon. It looked like everyone was setting up camp and happy to leave me passed out in the back of the now empty wagon. I checked on my pool and found it to be almost half full. This magic stuff was great but drained me quickly. I saw my new mage friend talking with Captain. He seemed to be happy as he waved his arms at me. My body still hurt, but something about getting rid of what had to be extra mana had made me feel better. His glasses seemed to be staying in place and looked a bit shinier. I had done a good job on them. Should have charged him for turning them to bronze. Then it hit me, I had done magic. I was a fucking metal mage. I walked up to the men with pride filling my soul. Gotrat turned to me beaming. “How the hell are you up? You emptied everything you had.” He said in a rush. I shrugged at him. I felt like Gandalf on day one of learning to be a mage. Fuck Gandalf the white. I was Alex the Black a Metal Mage

  “Is that a bad thing?” I asked as I crossed my arms, failing to look more manly. He just looked at me dumbfounded.

  “Yeah. Normally if you bottom out, you get sick for like a few hours.” He said looking me over. Sorry, still not into men.

  “I guess just another thing I have to hold over the magic-less folks.” I said hoping to make a joke. God, I sucked at jokes. I laughed and somehow it still sounded evil. Need to work on that or people may think I’m some dark lord or something. Captain just beamed as he looked me over.

  “Good thing you are up. Dinner is almost ready.” He said as he escorted us to a ring of people around a fire. I happily followed the two to the campfire roaring in the middle of the setup.

  “Never bothered to ask, but how long will this trip take?” I asked the fat man.

  “About a month.” He said as though a month-long trip was breaking world speed records. Good, plenty of time for me to get to know that sexy tiger I saw sitting on a log near the fire. Much to my dismay the food was horrible. Mostly beans and stale bread. God, I missed fast food.