“’E...’Etki?” Kadmien stuttered, looking up at a young man - his closest friend, Sebetki - wearing a Sacer soldier uniform, kneeling beside him. He looked panicked. Kadmien was entirely confused. The two of them had been talking pleasantly about their future plans and the peace talks with the Sacers that Kadmien was here for. Kadmien saw a solemn expression - something like sadness and anger mixed with regret - flash across his friend’s features. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain and an unpleasant liquid warmth spreading underneath his ribs. Then the warmth subsided and he felt as though he was bathing in ice water instead, shivering as he began to fade in and out of consciousness. He tried to call out to Sebetki again, but his lungs wheezed and his voice was raspy. Exhausted, Kadmien watched passively as two of his guards dragged his “friend” away from him; a knife roughly knocked from the young man’s hand. Shakily Kadmien lifted one of his rapidly numbing arms and reached out his hand. He saw dark streaks running like rivers, downwards over his flesh.


    “’Etki, w...why?” he managed to splutter to his old friend, before falling into unconsciousness completely.


    20 Years Earlier...


    The warm spring sun and frigid breeze calmed each other, as they wound together between the artificial struts of the city gates.


    Initially, the huge metal enclosure around Erset La Tari was designed to keep its inhabitants inside, rather than keep intruders out, but over four centuries had passed since then and its original purpose was now lost to time.


    The unusually tall frame of a young man - Sebetki - and that of his slightly younger companion - Kadmien - cast distorted shadows against the imposing metal entrance gates, as they sat cross-legged on the ground. They had snuck out through one of the holes that were left by the fence reinforcement operations three years before.


    The workers from Sacervenia who were assigned with the upkeep of the gate had left in a hurry, without fully sealing their exit point, as they rushed to return to their homeland before nightfall. Unrelated riots over the treatment of the La Tari by the Sacers had erupted the next day, which quickly escalated into full-scale conflicts between them within the span of a few months. With their superior numbers and wealth, The Sacers had since crushed the La Tari efforts at an uprising, in a swift and bloody display of their dominance. As such, the perimeter fence remained unrepaired.


    In the following years, the children and teenagers of Erset transformed the unfinished fence into a gateway to the desolate playground beyond. They’d been told many times not to stray past the country borders and knew what the consequences would be if they were caught outside by the patrolling guards, or something worse. Even so, the pull of adventures in the external world was simply too enticing to resist.


    Although his involuntary participation in the Sacer Defence Force now granted Sebetki the authorisation to venture beyond the boundaries, that permission was not extended to anyone with him. Certainly not to Kadmien.


    “I just don’t understand what the big deal is,” Sebetki announced suddenly, ignoring his companion’s lack of response, “there’re no wild animals or monsters. No... anything at all! And it’s not like we can walk to their ‘sacred palace’ from here.”


    The younger boy said nothing and remained expressionless; merely shifting his gaze slightly towards Sebetki. The boy was physically seventeen, but his eyes betrayed the very adult life that he had been living mentally, for the past 10 years. Sebetki had been through similar experiences, but it seemed as though he had succeeded in coping with them far better.


    It was for this reason that the Sacer authorities had assigned him to Kadmien three years ago. They had hoped that Sebetki’s extra two years of life experience could help to “stabilise the young man’s mental state” and to “prevent him from becoming a danger in the future” - presumably to the Sacers. He had since developed a deeply protective, brotherly bond with the other boy. He had done an excellent job of reigning in any dangerous thoughts that Kadmien may have had. Not once had he or his charge caused the Sacers any problems.


    “The only danger here is from those fucking soldiers! Why can’t they just leave us alone?” the older boy concluded, with another rhetorical question.


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    “Hey! What are you little bastards doing?” A screechy, male voice shouted, startling the elder La Tari, “you know you’re not allowed over here!”


    Sebetki’s blood ran cold as he turned around sharply to see the face of a reprimanding Sacer soldier glaring back at him, along with two other silent figures - Sacer guards. The soldier glanced briefly with disgust at Sebetki’s SDF uniform.


    “Heh,” he grunted, “so you’re one of those are you? Fine,” he turned his attention to Kadmien, “but you! What are you doing out here?”


    Sebetki had encountered many Sacer soldiers in his life and knew that this soldier was one of those who had become drunk with power, desperate to punish someone for something. Anything. Nothing. Sebetki didn’t want that someone to be Kadmien, “sir, I’m sorry, it’s my fault. He didn’t want to come out here; I made him!”


    Sebetki bit the inside of his cheeks, preventing himself from saying more. He knew that the best way to deal with this kind of soldier was to admit your “crimes”, take your punishment, and then thank them for it afterwards. It was not at all dignified, but it usually resulted in some kind of leniency, or at least less physical violence. However, before he could speak again, the talkative soldier was already turning his attention to the younger boy.


    “I’m not talking to you! Now just stand there like a good little traitor, until I call you,” he gave a hand signal to the guards.


    “You!” one of the two guards yelled to Kadmien, “come here!”


    The young man walked forward with a purposeful lethargy, which seemed to further anger the Sacer soldier intensely.


    “Hurry up!” he barked just before the young man reached his destination and came to a stop, “are you too stupid to understand me, or are you deliberately ignoring my questions?” the guard paused for a moment, “What. Are. You. Do-ing. Here?” he continued, forcefully prodding the younger man on the forehead with each word; exaggerating each syllable.


    “Sir,” Sebetki interjected, seeing that the soldier’s non-existent patience had already worn through, “he isn’t ignoring you, Sir. He never speaks…not to anyone. He’s always…” Sebetki opened his mouth to finish but felt the sting of the back of a gloved hand hit his face before the next words could leave him. It was swiftly followed by the disorienting pain of several sharp blows to his head and torso. The accompanying two guards seemed increasingly uncomfortable with this display of aggression, but did not intervene.


    “Don’t you dare talk back to me!” his assailant screamed, knocking Sebetki to his knees by hitting the back of his legs with the butt of his gun, “I don’t care who it talks to in that cess pit over there. I asked it a question and it will answer!”


    A hit to the back and another to the jaw ensured that Sebetki could not reply again. The soldier’s attention returned to the younger boy once more.


    “LaLa, you will answer me, or your mouthy friend here will face the consequences!” he ended, with a severe kick to Sebetki’s stomach, causing the young La Tari man to lose his breath.


    Kadmien began to walk forward again, his expression unchanged, but something about him unnerved the guards and they quickly went to stop him. His eyes widened as they approached, and he slowly looked skywards. A strangely sinister smile leaked from his mouth and seeped across his face. A high-pitched metallic screech from an unknown source began and he tilted his head slightly to one side.


    “What are you doing!” the violent soldier demanded an answer, “you’d better stop that you little shit!”


    The deafening screech became higher and louder, causing Sebetki and the guards to clasp their palms over their ears in agony.


    Kadmien, however, seemed to be invigorated by the shrill, metallic drone. He chanted some words, in a language unknown to Sebetki, and put his hands over the older boy’s temples. The sound stopped almost immediately for Sebetki and, on removing his palms from his ears, he realised that he could no longer hear anything at all.


    From inside his skull, Sebetki perceived a faint voice urging him to remain calm and not to be afraid. Suddenly, a searing pain consumed his abdomen and rapidly moved through his entire body, ending in crimson streams that trickled from his eyes and nose. He wanted to cry out in anguish, but he found himself unable to speak. Once again the voice, which he now believed to be that of his young rescuer, came from inside his mind.


    “Thank you for trying to protect me, ‘Etki, but you no longer need to. I am sorry that this is painful for you. You may rest now, if you wish…” The warmth of the voice was unexpectedly soothing and Sebetki felt an overwhelming desire to sleep.


    He wanted to stand up and aid his friend against the other guards and whatever this terrifying noise was. He wanted to resist the urge to sleep, but his eyes began to close unwillingly. As his vision faded intermittently, Sebetki thought that he could see the other boy standing over the guards, silently laughing. Looks of terror washed across their faces as – helped by some ominous shadows – Kadmien ferociously slaughtered them one by one. Surely, that must have been a figment of Sebetki’s semi-conscious mind though. Kadmien would never be capable of something like that, would he?