《New Legends: A New Chapter in an Old Book》 Chapter 0: Legends 153 PD, Alden Empire ¡®The Battle for Arkthur¡¯ Pieter fell to his knees exhausted. He plunged his sword into the ground and rested his arms on top. He¡¯d had very few difficult days in his nine years in the military, none that left him so physically and mentally drained. A talentless bowman, he was never given too much of a burden. Even though his years of service suggested he would have been promoted at least once, he had only ever worked just hard enough to not get kicked out. He never wanted a higher position in the army. Neither the rewards nor the responsibilities that came with them were enticing. A simple man, with very little ambition, he just wanted enough coin to buy a house and spend his nights in the taverns with his buddies. Being a soldier for the Alden empire was merely the easiest way to do that at the time. The Alden empire hadn¡¯t been challenged on the battlefield in decades. Being a soldier was no more difficult than putting on a suit of armor and walking around. Even the training they did had laxed over the years. In the eyes of both the military and the people, there was no one that was a threat to their sovereignty. There was no one to rival their military strength. They had the ultimate weapon, the ultimate deterrent. So when the Imuru Empire invaded, they were both baffled and unprepared. In only two weeks they took villages and small towns left and right. They quickly swept through the east. It wasn''t long before their march collided with one of the big cities, Arkthur. Pieter¡¯s squad was one of the many tasked with defending its walls. They didn¡¯t need to engage the Imurians, they only had to hold the city until reinforcements arrived. Unfortunately for Pieter, things would never be that simple. The Imurians were battle hungry and even worse, they were well prepared. They didn¡¯t attempt to siege the city, as one would be inclined to do, they instead brought out weapons he had never seen before. Catapults. In the age where sahir was still dominant, creating tools of war separate from it was largely considered a waste of time. Imurians didn¡¯t share that belief. When the catapults rolled up, it bemused Pieter and the rest of the men on the wall. Pieter¡¯s captain, having a bad feeling about them, instructed them to prepare for an assault. His men were far more lax than he was while they found the new structures odd they didn¡¯t fear them. Years of what they believed to be dominance had made them arrogant. They only half-heartedly listened to their captain¡¯s instruction. Pieter however, shared that bad feeling in his gut. He prepared his arrows, checked to make sure his bow was in good condition. It was his routine before training and with his survival instincts telling him the large rocks they carried with them weren¡¯t there for no reason, it comforted him. Halfway into his preparations, Pieter and his captain¡¯s premonitions would prove even worse than true. The arrival of catapults on the battlefield wasn¡¯t bad for them, it was dreadful. The catapults flung rock after rock at Arkthur¡¯s walls. The soldiers manning them weren¡¯t prepared, they couldn¡¯t have been. As the rocks crashed in one after another, large chunks of the wall fell apart. Men all around Pieter were being crushed or flung off the wall to their deaths. After the first volley, none of the archers had the gull to peak their head out to take a shot. It gave the catapults free reign. Under that constant fire, the eastern and southern walls fell in a matter of minutes. Then began the massacre. Imurian warriors poured in unabated. They were all malsirs, the blue glow of their sahir barriers was impossible to miss. From Pieter¡¯s elevated position it looked like the city was being invaded by the sea. It was a flood. He had never seen so many malsirs in one place. While malsirs were the crux of any competent army, there were always a fair few regular soldiers. He was just a regular soldier himself, he couldn''t use sahir in the slightest. His arrows wouldn¡¯t even qualify as a nuisance to a malsir. Understanding that, he ran. Even if reinforcements got there in time, he wouldn¡¯t be one of the survivors. Dying for his country wasn¡¯t an idea he cosigned. Skipping down the stairs as fast as he could, the sounds of war were getting louder and louder. When he reached the bottom floor, he headed north. The Imurians were attacking from the south-east, heading north-west was the safest bet. Plus, the next closest city was in that direction, anyway. Pieter ran frantically. He had dropped his bow at some point; it was impeding his running motion. As he ran across the edge of the city, he could see glimpses of the battle taking place. They were horrifying. The Imurians were winning in both skill and numbers. Every time he got a glance he saw tens to hundreds of his countrymen dying. The streets were not just covered in blood; they were absolutely flooded by it. The Imurians, either unaware or well accustomed to bloodshed, paid it not mind as they marched confidently through. The contrast between the blue of their sahir and the red of the blood burned a vivid image into Pieter''s eyes. It would have been an enchanting image if he couldn¡¯t see the bodies laying in the red. Instead, it only injected his legs with adrenaline. He ran faster than his body knew was possible. He was not alone. The closer he got to the northern wall, the more people he saw running with him. Most of the runners were civilians, but many of them were soldiers like him. He could even see a malsir trying to make an escape. They were all people who believed Arkthur would fall that day. They were all wrong.Stolen story; please report. In the skies above him Pieter noticed something. A single line of lightning was streaking across the clouds. He wasn¡¯t the only one to notice the odd phenomenon, many heads were titled up in the same fashion as his. Soon almost everybody around him was looking up into the sky, none of them had stopped running though. Intent on ignoring it, Pieter looked down and quicken his pace. Lightning would not distract him from what he had just witnessed. A few moments later he caught up to a group of people that were standing still. When he got closer, he noticed some even knelt. At the center of the crowd the malsir he had seen earlier was screaming something at the top of his lungs. ¡°We¡¯re saved! We¡¯re saved!¡± Pieter didn¡¯t know how the man had reached that conclusion, but he wasn¡¯t keen on sticking around to find out. That being said, he was far enough away from the city that a quick break wouldn¡¯t be the worst idea. As he was contemplating stopping or continuing, the crowd beside him started cheering. Turning to see what they were cheering at he saw that the streak of lightning was now falling towards the city. What the f¡ª. Before Pieter could finish the thought, he paid witness to one of the most well-documented events in history. The landing of Emperor Weynken Olivier Augustijn Alden. His landing was a thing of legend. It had supposedly caused an explosion so massive that the radius of it was larger than the city of Arkthur. The height of the explosion was said to have rivalled small mountains. Even those who didn''t turn in time to see it, they heard it, felt it. It was an otherworldly feat. He had decimated the bulk of the Imuru empire¡¯s fighting force in one move. Thousands and thousands of the most well-trained soldiers perished without even being given a fighting chance. Emperor Weynken was the Alden empire¡¯s ultimate weapon. His unrivaled strength was the reason their military had been so lax. He was beyond a master malsir. He was power itself. He was a legend. He was the last legend. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Modern day, White Wolves¡¯ Headquarters A tall, bulky man strolled through the halls while rolling and stretching his shoulders. He had just spent the entire morning training with the two guards that now flanked him. They were two of the brightest prospects in his groups and they were twins. Their teamwork was second to none. Alas, they were still a ways off from being anything more than a workout for Wolf. While their defence was airtight, their offence was far too weak to truly test him. They did make for great bodyguards though. As they headed for the door that lead to Wolf¡¯s office, Wolf noticed a short man in an all white suit waiting by it. The man smiled upon locking eyes with him. Wolf addressed him, ¡°You¡¯re in a good mood Tess. Have Saber and Zar reported back?¡± A slight frown crept onto the man¡¯s face, but he replied immediately all the same, ¡°Yes sir, they have.¡± ¡°Good,¡± He unlocked his door and called the man in, ¡°Come. Update me.¡± Wolf poured himself a glass of water. The twins were outside guarding the door; he didn¡¯t like having more people in his office than was absolutely necessary. Leaning on his desk, he addressed the man, ¡°So tell me, what is this good news?¡± ¡°Zar is progressing well. He has successfully recruited most of their malsirs, but there are a few that are proving to be rather loyal to their captain. They also have a number of in-house blacksmiths and doctors that he has managed to agree to defecting.¡± Wolf smiled, ¡°Good, he can leave the loyal ones alone. As long as their overall fighting strength is crippled. And Saber?¡± The man lost a bit of his enthusiasm, ¡°Saber¡¯s report was mostly the same as last months, he is successfully galvanizing the people. There is a growing sense of ¡®us¡¯ among them.¡± Wolf felt like Tess was leaving something unsaid, ¡°And?¡± They locked eyes for a moment, but the man quickly looked away. ¡°And my spies speculate that there might be some movement from the west. We don¡¯t have any concrete proof, but there have been reports of seeing new faces showing up then disappearing soon after.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Wolf placed the glass of water down and walked behind his desk to take a seat, ¡°Then we move quickly. Vrzli is coming.¡± Chapter 1: Kain [The Eyes] Panting uncontrollably, the man slumped to the ground. His legs were screaming for release. Looking around, he saw a group of men just as exhausted as he was. They had been on the run for a week. Never being allowed to rest, they had not slept for more than two to three hours at a time. He couldn''t blame his men for being so tired. His vice-captain, Olin, looked to be in the best shape. He called out to him. ¡°When everyone has rested up, take a few people and scout the area. We¡¯re going to need shelter and a place to get water. There''s a lake somewhere around here so look for that.¡± Olin nodded and sat down to recuperate a little. A few minutes later he and four other people left their makeshift camp. Seeing how pathetic his group was looking, he cursed his former allies. Their betrayal had cost him most of his men, all his equipment, and all his land. It was like they cut all his limbs off and threw him into the wild. Worse yet, if it was an external attack he knew he could have fought them back. But this! Fyk. How dare they! Hearing running, he immediately reached for his gun. Many of his group reached for their own weapons, weary of their pursuers. It was a very tense few moments if it was their pursuers they knew they didn¡¯t have the energy to run. They¡¯d fight, and most likely die, where they lay. To their collective relief it wasn¡¯t their pursers, but rather the scouts that had left just a few minutes ago. They appeared happy. ¡°Captain! We¡¯re right next to a town. From the farms I believe it''s Bruyn.¡± The captain wasn¡¯t exactly pleased with the news that there was a town so close but there were potential benefits, ¡°What are their defenses?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t even have walls!¡± A wicked smile grew on the man''s face. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Bruyn, Alden Empire Bruyn was a fairly underdeveloped town. For many years it served little more purpose than being a stopping point for passing convoys. The owners avoided paying the heavy tolls of the main road by passing through it. Over time, with the frequency of convoys and the general population in the area increasing, more people came to settle down. The abundance of fertile land, a quality that was lacking in the region, sparked a decently healthy economy. The wealthier families today were those who settled early and owned the most farmland. They were able to corner the local market on certain foodstock and made a killing off of it. Even with the town¡¯s newfound wealth, the awkwardness of its location coupled with the distance from any major cities made it rather difficult for the inhabitants to acquire much by way of technology or luxury. The convoys that passed through could only provide enough to keep the towns from feeling like backwater. The baron that owned the town was a shrewd man. Bruyn was his main source of income, which was both a positive and negative for its inhabitants. He made sure the town didn¡¯t lack in any way that would cause unrest in the common folk, but he also didn¡¯t spend money on anything he didn¡¯t believe was absolutely necessary to their livelihoods. Things like streetlights, a basic necessity in most places, were treated like amenities. He only had them installed a little over a year ago at the behest of a conglomeration of merchants that lived in or frequented Bruyn. As stingy as the man was, he listened when his people complained. In fact, in the eyes of the people ignorant to his true personality, he was exceptionally giving. A kind soul. If one compared Bruyn to most of the towns and villages in the east of the Alden Empire, they¡¯d understand why. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-- Opening his eyes to the familiar smell of his mother¡¯s cooking, Kain sluggishly rolled out of bed. ¡®Bed¡¯ being an awfully kind description for the spring mattress in Kain¡¯s eyes. He could swear one of the springs was actively trying to break his spine. He eyed the bed with a hint of disgust. He would much rather sleep on the couch, but his mother would give him an earful for it. Town watch pay doubled recently, think I can sneak in? If I thought wishfully. They say you miss 100% of the shots you don¡¯t take. A meaningless statistic if you miss 100% of the shots you do take.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Raising an eyebrow at the somewhat somber truth of that, Kain stretched a bit to wake himself up then slipped on his shoes. Heading to the well immediately after waking up had been his routine for the past few years. Passing through the living room, the living room and the kitchen being connected in Kain¡¯s small home, his mother heard him coming and called out to him. Kain. Good you¡¯re awake. Deliver these clothes to Sandra," She gestured towards a basket of clothes on the dining table, "You remember where their house is right?" Kain scratched his head, ¡°Uhhhh. The house next to the blacksmith? Wait. No. The house next to that house.¡± ¡°Yes. On the left.¡± She turned and hugged Kain deeply, ¡°Hurry back, foods almost ready." Kain smiled, his mother never failed to brighten his morning. After picking up the basket of clothes he grabbed his hat from the door, it was the perfect cover from the sun¡¯s deadly gaze and for his hair¡¯s conspicuous nature, and headed out. He walked to the small brick structure they used to take ¡®showers¡¯ behind the house and got the large bucket. He¡¯d get water on the way back home. Walking briskly towards the center of town, Kain soon came up to the library. Privately owned and funded, it was rather unimpressive. There weren¡¯t many in Bruyn who cared to peruse its contents. Peeking through the window as he passed by, thoughts of what book to read later surfaced. He had been reading a few nonfictions as of late and was pleasantly surprised at how interesting they could be. Mentally recounting one such nonfiction, the smoke rising from the blacksmith came into view. As Kain got closer, so too did a woman in what appeared to be pretty expensive armour. She was very casually leaning against the doorframe of the blacksmith. I don¡¯t recognize that armor. After a few more steps in her direction he noticed the woman had no weaponry on her and her eyes were closed. Now that''s some confidence. Is she taking a nap?? Trying to glean some information about her body composition, Kain was openly staring at her body. She didn¡¯t look particularly muscley, neither were her arms long nor her shoulders broad. She was slightly shorter than him too. He swiftly concluded she couldn¡¯t get by with strength. Or size. Technique is it? Or are you.. In focusing on the woman to his right, the path right in front of him was relegated to an afterthought. A mistake he paid for very quickly. While peering at what he concluded was a hidden dagger, he bumped into a man carrying a crate of fruit. Momentarily dazed, Kain quickly regained his focus. He immediately readjusted his hat and helped the man pick up the few fruit he dislodged. Making sure to voice an apology, ¡°Sorry about that, I lost focus for a moment. I hope your fruit is undamaged. Again. Apologies,¡± he left. Not waiting for the man to recoil from the shock of suddenly being bumped and apologizes to, Kain hastily walked away. That could have been bad. You need to pay more attention to your surroundings. That I do. Sandra and Mark''s house was approaching. Kain took a second to look over his shoulder to make sure the man he bumped into hadn''t desired more than the quick apology he gave. Unable to see him, Kain breathed a sigh of relief and knocked on the door. Waiting a few moments, he soon heard the sound of light footsteps running down stairs. Is Riley the only one home? Mark and Sandra were the only two licensed doctors in town. They ran separate shops however. Mark was more of a traditional doctor, running what could be described as a clinic. Sandra, on the other hand, provided potions and ointments and the like. Kain couldn''t fathom why they ran them separately, they paid more taxes and made less money that way. After a brief moment Kain could see a cute little face pop up behind the window to the right of the door. He smiled and waved. The little girl yelled upon seeing him. ¡°Kain!¡± ¡°Hi Riley. Can you open the door?" Kain showed her the basket in his hands, "I''m here to drop these off for your parents.¡± Kain soon heard her scrambling to unlock the door. He chuckled. Foods definitely going to be cold when I get back. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°Bye Kain!¡± Riley was at the door of her parents'' house waving energetically. Kain waved lightly back as he made his way back home. Looking down at the bucket in his other hand, he was a tad bit annoyed that he had another thing to do before he could get to his mother''s cooking. She¡¯s probably started working already. Feeling embarrassed that his mother was no doubt hard at work already and he was enjoying a casual stroll after playing a host of games with Riley, Kain quickened his pace. Reaching the well by his house, the line was much longer than he expected. Looking up at the sun, he had clearly lost the early morning advantage. Kain swiftly shuffled into line before it got any longer. It was going to be a particularly painful wait. Today was one of those strange days at the end of the season where it got really hot before the cold swept in. Kain didn¡¯t particularly dislike heat, but he did hate it when the sun decided to cook his skin. A few places in front of him, two men were talking about how they should soak in the sun. They lamented its upcoming departure and the cold that would replace its warmth. Kain quietly scoffed at them, he loved the cold. He couldn¡¯t wait for first snow. He couldn¡¯t wait for the line to clear either. It felt like an eternity would pass before it was his turn. Even if he ignored his arms roasting, he was eager to get back home to breakfast. As he fidgeted with the bucket in his hand to distract himself, he noticed a few figures approach him through the corner of his eye. Chapter 2: NonHuman [The Eyes] ¡°You have quite the stock Mrs Thorne. Some of these are rare even in the capital.¡± ¡°Thank you very much,¡± Sandra was trying her best to be professional. While the man was extremely well mannered, he still intimidated her. He was clearly a fighter, his robe was not too thick to hide the definition of his muscles, and the authority he spoke with would make an onlooker question who the customer was. He paused for a moment and turned towards her, ¡°While this is a bit insensitive of me, I must ask. Who might your suppliers be?¡± The question shocked Sandra. While she didn''t see herself as a merchant, she was classified as one. Asking a merchant how they procured their products was a rather obvious no-no. ¡°Excuse me?¡± The man lightly put his hands up, ¡°I mean no offence," He then walked towards her, "I''ve been tasked to track the influence of the bandits just east of here. Some of the ingredients required for these potions can only be procured by people willing to take quite extreme levels of risk. Having surveyed this town, a group willing to do such does not exist here.¡± ¡°And?¡± Sandra looked at the man angrily, feeling incredibly insulted. The man returned the look, but there was no anger in his eyes. He was merely judging her, analyzing her. They stayed staring at one another for a moment, but the man ultimately turned away. ¡°And nothing. Apologies.¡± The man placed a dir coin on her counter, ¡°I hope you will forgive my rudeness.¡± Not waiting for a reply, he exited her shop. Sandra stood stunned. Moving to check the coin, she confirmed it was real. She went from stunned to baffled. That was one-eighth of her yearly income. ¡°What the¡ª¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Fuck. Kain¡¯s head fell into his free hand, suddenly remembering the other reason he started coming to the well early. ¡°Look here lads, ¡®the special one¡¯ has graced us with his presence.¡± Kevin, the presumed leader of this little group, spoke first. He and Kain used to be in the same class at the local school. They even used to be something akin to friends.They were both exceeding bright kids. What had brought them together however, wasn¡¯t their brains. Kain was Imurian. His dark skin put him in the minority immediately. Thankfully, he lived on the eastern side of the Alden Empire. Their neighbors being the Imuru Republic, a country formed from and in his mother¡¯s homeland. The good relations between the Alden Empire and the Imuru Republic meant that this area was no stranger to people with darker skin tones. Sadly for Kain, his dark skin seemed perfectly common when compared to his snow white hair. The kids picked on him to no end. By the time he thought to wear a hat to school, it was already too late. He would always be known as the freak with white hair. Kevin had a very similar story. He was a gruelg. Gruelgs were a race of people not too dissimilar from humans. Visually, the only major differences were their huge pupils, their practically nonexistent noses, their clay like skin, and their short stature. They weren¡¯t midgets by any stretch of the imagination, but an average height human in a crowd of gruelgs would see the top of quite a few heads. Despite their similarities to humans, gruelgs stayed far away from them. They were the most technologically advanced race on the Lysken continent and they viewed humans, and most of the other races, as inferior. They were openly hated because of this. Kevin, unfortunately for him, was the adopted son of a human. Even though he was a child who shared few of the values of his people, most of the townsfolk still openly showed there distaste for him. Kain, while not disliked by the townsfolk, was shown a similar level of distaste in the classroom. There, they were both bullied equally. Were. Five years ago Kevin¡¯s adopted father became the right-hand man of the baron¡¯s younger brother. The baron didn¡¯t live in Bruyn, he lived in a city two weeks to the west. His younger brother was in charge of Bruyn in his place. This meant Kevin¡¯s family had suddenly obtained power, substantial power. For Kevin, that meant the prey very quickly became the predator. He became the biggest bully in the class almost overnight. One would assume Kevin wouldn¡¯t forget his former ¡®friend¡¯ during his rise and that assumption would be correct, but not in a positive way. Kevin was the jealous type. Kain was by leaps and bounds the brightest in the class. He didn¡¯t care about Kain¡¯s appearance, but he did care about him out performing him. When he became the big bully in class, he made sure to target Kain especially. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The teachers at the school saw this and feared for the worse. When both Kain and Kevin were bullied it didn¡¯t show in their performances. Since it wasn¡¯t hampering their development, they could largely ignored it. When Kain was the lone victim, his grades slipped. It wasn¡¯t a ridiculous slip he still came third on the particular test, but for a student that routinely got perfect scores to fall to third, it was a cause for concern. The teachers pulled out a drastic measure. They saw a very bright future for Kain and couldn¡¯t have him stumble so soon. They moved him up two levels. Five years had passed since then, Kain had since lost his tag as a freak. The fact that most people outside his original class had never seen his hair helped with that. It also helped that the area for his current classes and the building for his previous ones were separated. Today however, there was no separation. Attempting to get the inevitable ridicule over with, Kain asked, ¡°Hey. I haven¡¯t seen you guys in a while. I hope everything is going well?¡± David, the boy in the middle of Kevin and the face he didn¡¯t recognize, scoffed, ¡°The freak is trying to be a diplomat?¡± That''s an odd sentience, did you just learn what a diplomat was? ¡°Well, I would hope I could get along with the other boys my age, yes.¡± Kain feigned a smile. David and Kevin laughed, the third boy soon followed suit. ¡°You can¡¯t even smile properly.¡± David scoffed again, ¡°A freak like you wanting friends? No one even sees your around.¡± Kain smiled again, this time genuine if a bit mocking, ¡°Apologies, unlike you and Kevin there isn¡¯t much wealth to my family¡¯s name. I have to help my mother with her work whenever I¡¯m not at school or studying.¡± ¡°The life of the poor must be tough. Why don¡¯t we come over here and ¡®help¡¯ her out?¡± Kevin winked at Kain as his two buddies laughed some more. Looking right into Kain¡¯s eyes, David continued, ¡°Yeah. We can ¡®help¡¯ her out. Her tits look like they could use a massage right Budd?¡± Bud? Your name is Bud? Seriously? That¡¯s the part you''re concerned about? After a few more rounds of hysterical jokes, the boys eventually got told to leave by one of the adults in line. Kain waved them goodbye and continued waiting in line until it was his turn to use the well. Looking up at the sun again, he could see it inching closer to its peak. With his bucket filled with water he carefully walked back home. When he arrived, as he expected, he saw his mother in the second bedroom working on some new clothes. She was so absorbed in her work she didn¡¯t hear him come in. Seeing a plate with another plate covering it on the dining table, he was somewhat saddened. Putting the bucket down at the door, he grabbed a pair of utensils and sat down. As he took the cover plate off, he could hear steps coming from behind him. ¡°Did you say your prayers?¡± His mother inquired. ¡°I was just about to.¡± Kain smiled up at her. ¡°Good boy.¡± After kissing Kain¡¯s cheek, she in the other seat across from him and continued, ¡°So what took you so long? You rarely take that much time.¡± ¡°Riley was home alone. She begged me to play with her and I couldn¡¯t say no¡± Kain said a quick prayer and took a mouthful of the Ix and eggs before his mother could ask the next question. She tilted her head slightly, somewhat confused, ¡°That¡¯s odd. Sandra¡¯s shop doesn¡¯t usually open this early. Did Riley tell you what she left for?¡± ¡°She said she left with her dad, I don¡¯t know what for. She did say they¡¯d come by to drop the basket around 12.¡± ¡°Oh. Okay, I see." She sat in silence for a moment watching Kain eagerly munch on his breakfast. She smiled lightly, "I¡¯m going to go freshen up. I¡¯ll be heading to the market right after.¡± Kain looked at his mother surprised, ¡°What? Don¡¯t worry about, I¡¯ll get them.¡± His mother stood up, refusing his gesture, ¡°You need to get ready for school. Here¡¯s 4 dree to buy lunch.¡± Before she could place the black coins on the table Kain stopped her, ¡°We¡¯ve been over this, I can pay for myself.¡± ¡°True. Think of this as payment for delivering the clothes for me.¡± She smiled brightly. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make it feel any better¡± ¡°There¡¯s no better feeling for a mother than being able to provide for her child.¡± Kain frowned. Chuckling, Kain¡¯s mother put the coins on the table, ¡°Take it. If you¡¯re so against using it for lunch you can save it for something else.¡± She then walked into the room they shared. Sigh. Walking back out of the room with a towel and a change of clothes, she kissed Kain¡¯s forehead, to his annoyance, and went to pick up the bucket of water. It was much heavier than she remembered it being. It had been many years since she was the one getting water for the both of them. Turning to ask Kain for help, she stopped herself. His face was wearing the largest of grins. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Walking out of the blacksmith, Neia rolled her shoulders and handed Arleigh her sword. ¡°He did a really good job considering where we are.¡± Neia and Arleigh were part of a scouting party that was heading back to the capital. Being the only two in the group that had used swords as their main weapon during the mission, no one else¡¯s equipment required any maintenance they could not do themselves. Thankfully for them, Bruyn was on their path and its blacksmith was pretty well known. Convincing the rest of their group to camp next to the nearby lake, they came into town to search him out. Neia, rather satisfied with his service, was admiring her greatsword. Arleigh had something completely different on her mind. ¡°Hmm...have you ever seen a human with white hair before?¡± Neia looked at Arleigh in confusion, ¡°Alton has white hair?¡± Arleigh shook her head, ¡°No, not gray hair. White. Pure white. Like snow.¡± ¡°Come on Arleigh, only magical beasts have actual white hair.¡± Arleigh had a bad feeling in her chest, ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Chapter 3: Prodigy [The Eyes] Hopping from side to side, Arleigh made sure she was as explosive as possible. There was no way she could compete with Neia for strength, so she avoided it all together. Staying in perpetual motion was the best counter. Neia had incredible range on her attacks, but she was rather slow to readjust. Arleigh took advantage of that as much as possible, quickly dashing in for light hits after Neia swung hard. Dodging to the left of Neia¡¯s downward slash, Arleigh switched her wooden sword to her left hand and sliced at her neck. Neia had been waiting for it. Leaning her body to the left, she let Arleigh¡¯s sword strike her shoulder. In tandem, she lifted her sword diagonally right. While Neia¡¯s shoulder and jaw stung from the hit, the force of her wooden greatsword hurling into Arleigh¡¯s midriff knocked her over. Neia quickly recovered and placed her sword on Arleigh¡¯s shoulder. On her knees and winded, Arleigh immediately yielded. They¡¯d been practicing for the past two hours. Their clothes were soaked in sweat. Neia even had a few blood stains. Neia dropped her sword and sat down, ¡°You leave yourself open everytime you go for the neck.¡± Arleigh, still recovering, sighed dramatically. ¡°Most people wouldn¡¯t just take a hit to their neck.¡± Taking a few more breaths she got up and continued, ¡°Plus, if we were using sahir you wouldn¡¯t have that arm. You would have never been able to hit me." Neia chuckled lightly, ¡°Relying on sahir again. That''s why you keep losing to Nyle, even when he¡¯s barehanded.¡± Arleigh pouted, ¡°It¡¯s not like you can beat him.¡± Neia struggled to her feet, ¡°I¡¯m no prodigy.¡± Neia started walking towards camp. She wasn¡¯t heavily injured, but a quick check with their healer would do no harm. In the meantime, Arleigh found some shade by a tree and laid in it. She stared up at the swaying leaves, replaying the fight hundreds of times in her head. Going through each dodge, each thrust, each swing. There were faults here and there, but overall it was a great performance. Her eagerness to convert her dominance into victory made her a bit more aggressive than necessary, but she should have been able to win all the same. ¡°A fight is both won and lost in but a moment. Knowing how to manipulate that moment to your favor is the difference between a good fighter and a great one.¡± Arleigh sighed, ¡°You can say that because you have power.¡± ¡°You must move past your misguided belief that your lack of strength makes you weak.¡± Struggling to control her desire to scoff at those words she sat up, ¡°That still makes no sense.¡± ¡°Shall I show you again?¡± Arleigh closed her eyes and rested her head on the tree trunk, ¡°Give me a minute.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Seems like Jon is skipping again. Kain had just taken his seat at the back of class. There were quite a few minutes before class started, but as apprentices they were expected to be at their desks early. Most of Kain¡¯s classmates had already been at their desks when he arrived, crude pencils and notebooks out. He, on the other hand, came with no such items. The only thing in his satchel was a coat. Schools in most of Lysken separated their students into 6 levels; anobem, nohel, apprentice, fensir, edreven, and mesheer. Excluding apprentice, they roughly translated to beginner, novice, professional, expert, and master. The top schools in the Alden Empire expanded that system to 9 levels, adding apprentice+, fensir+, and fensir silver. The school Kain attended, being located in a relatively small town, only taught through to the 4th level. When they moved him he went from being an anobem to being an apprentice. The teachers hoped that the fact the members of his new class were older would mean they would be less likely to bully him. They were completely wrong.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Kain was only eleven at the time, incredibly young for an apprentice. The other students in the class were not too happy at the sight of a child reaching a level they took many years to reach. Luckily for Kain, the more mature form of bullying was isolation. While the teachers worried about the new problem they caused themselves, Kain seemed perfectly content with his new circumstances. Over time, with Kain proving he belonged in the class, the forced isolation relented. After a few minutes rolled by, his first professor for the day walked in. He did a quick headcount and began the first lecture of the day, math. Within but a few short words, Kain was out cold. When his professor noticed he briefly eyed his drooling face, traces of anger lingering. While sleeping during a professor''s lecture was seen as a serious insult, Kain had somewhat of a relationship with the lecturer. A relationship that meant the sight of Kain¡¯s face flat on his desk was ultimately ignored. Fortunately for Kain, he was more than just the math lecturer. He also taught science and economics. Unfortunately, he taught nothing else and the following professors would not react so kindly to anything less than full engagement. His reputation as a genius forced him to be much more involved than the rest of his classmates. In his earlier days, it was a dynamic that sparked much jealousy and tension amongst his class. Five years in, it was simply the status quo. As the bell rang to signal the end of his school day, Kain¡¯s thanked the gods above. Not wanting to waste a second longer than he had to, he quickly rushed out of class. Apples or oranges? Apples. Apples it is. The school¡¯s grounds weren¡¯t large enough for a cafeteria, those wishing to buy food had to go to the food stalls outside the campus. Kain used to see it as quite the inconvenience, but he was quite thankful for it these days. ¡°Good afternoon Mr. Flint, can I get three red apples?¡± ¡°Good afternoon.¡± He reached for the apples, ¡°That¡¯ll be 12 bits¡± Kain handed him two dree and grabbed the apples. ¡°You don¡¯t have two bits on you?¡± Mr. Flint asked. Searching his coin pouch, ¡°I don¡¯t believe I do. Just give me two more apples.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it kid.¡± Mr. Flint tossed him one of the dree coins. Catching the coin, Kain bowed slightly, ¡°Thank you very much Mr. Flint¡± The rest of Kain¡¯s day went as usual, he went to the central administrative building to work under his mentor. The office had an actual name, but Kain couldn¡¯t be bothered to remember it. One upside of being an apprentice was you started practical work. About one third of the regular school day was spent working under fensirs, learning their various crafts. Sometimes, as in Kain¡¯s case, an apprentice could be hired by their mentor to work beyond the required few hours. His job at the office was largely just keeping track of the flow of money and making sure everyone paid the appropriate amount of taxes. In other words, analyzing and sorting numbers. The job was tedious to no end, but it paid the best of any work he could get as an apprentice. Or rather, any work his mother would allow. His mentor worked him like a horse too. Realizing his brilliance fairly early on, he put far more work on him than any apprentice should have to do. Kain responded in kind by fudging the numbers at times to pocket a few more coin. His mentor used to check his work routinely, but for the past year he left Kain completely unchecked. After work he headed to the library. Contrary to what most people thought, he didn¡¯t exist on an island. He had friends, a female one even. She just happened to be seven years older than him. They met during his first year as an apprentice. Before Kain joined, she was the youngest member in the class. Having joined the class at 17, she was three years younger than everyone else at the time and felt isolated. As such, she could empathize with Kain. Sparking a conversation with him, she quickly learned that he was far more mature than most eleven-year-olds. Both being bookworms, their friendship grew and grew over time. Eventually, someone spoke to her about the optics of a 19-year-old hanging out with an 12-year-old. Understanding the impression it could give, they kept their friendship far more discreet. "Yes, with enough guns you can overpower a group of trained malsirs, but can that many guns be sustained? I''m not saying one off battles can''t be won, I''m talking about the war." "No, you''re not listening. You can not win wars with small, specialized armies anymore. The strain of fighting for weeks on end would ruin the malsirs before anything else. With a large army of mostly equals that burden is shared." "Simple counter, give each malsirs a squad of gunners. I''m not saying there isn''t value in numbers, I''m saying there''s no good reason you give up your metal rod to fight with a couple of wooden sticks." "That sounds great, but it''s never worked in practice. Just look at the Alden Empire and the Imuru Empire, which of the two remain?" "That''s not the same and you know it." Chapter 4: Whats the Cost? [The Eyes] ¡°Welcome home dear.¡± Kain had just gotten home, his mother already had dinner prepared on the table; one of Kain¡¯s favorites, baked potato with ix meat. Kain smiled, placing his satchel down he moved to get the utensils. His mother stopped him, ¡°Oh! Don¡¯t worry about that, go put your bag in the room first.¡± Kain looked at her confused, ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Sandra and Mark are coming over tonight, I want to keep the living room neat.¡± ¡°Ah, alrighty.¡± Kain turned around and picked his satchel back up. While it was somewhat odd that his mom wanted him to move it immediately, he didn¡¯t worry about it too much. Intent on just tossing it on to his bed, he walked over to their room. Opening the door¡­ ¡°BOO!¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°You should have seen it mommy! He was really REALLY scared.¡± Sandra giggled, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen Kain afraid before.Tell me all about it.¡± Riley enthusiastically detailed her brilliant plan, making sure to omit all the parts Kain¡¯s mom helped her with. When she got to describing Kain reactions, she was especially energetic. It was also the part of the story she exaggerated the most. She would have you believe Kain jumped back in horror, his face losing any sense of courage, his arm clutching his chest for dear life, his yell a shriek of terror. In reality, Kain merely stepped back with his arms raised. Kain lightly yelled, ¡°That''s not true Riley! I didn¡¯t scream at all. I...breathed loudly.¡± Even that was a stretch of the truth, but Kain wasn¡¯t going to ruin the fun Riley was having telling the great tale of how she scared the unscareable. He enjoyed seeing her happy smile. So too did his mother, the real orchestrator. The statement about Sandra and Mark coming over was very much the truth, but the need for him to go put his bag away was a ploy. Sandra and Riley had come over earlier, during their visit Riley said she wanted to wait for Kain to come home. It didn¡¯t take much to convince Sandra to agree, but she would need to leave before he got back. Mark would get home within the hour and she needed to prepare dinner for him. With little need for deliberation, it was decided Riley would stay to play with Kain when he got home and Sandra and Mark would come pick her when they were done with dinner. Somewhere in between all of that, a wicked scheme to scare Kain popped up. Kain couldn¡¯t figure out whose head it popped into first though. Mark, not finding Kain¡¯s supposed moment of weakness amusing, sought to change topics, ¡°Did Sandra tell you about the odd man that visited her shop today?¡± ¡°Odd man? No, I don¡¯t believe so.¡± Mark looked particularly agitated, ¡°Some rich gentlemen decided it was a good use of his time to harass her about bandits.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Sandra tapped his thigh, ¡°Oh stop it, it wasn¡¯t harassment. Plus, it was his job.¡± ¡°Wait. What happened?¡± Sandra cut Mark off from replying, ¡°Nothing serious, some guy contacted Mark and said he would like to see what my store had to offer. He paid ten turlis just for me to open my shop a bit early.¡± Kain sat down next to his mother, on the couch next to Sandra and Mark, quite interested in this ¡®odd man¡¯, ¡°Wow, what did he buy?¡± Mark jumped in before Sandra could stop him, ¡°Nothing! He walked around, had the audacity to insinuate Sandra employed bandits, then further insulted her by dropping a dir coin and leaving.¡± Kain and his mother were visibly shocked. Kain especially so, his head twitched to the side like a cog that was malfunctioning. ¡°A dir coin? And he didn¡¯t buy anything?¡± ¡°No! He thinks he can insult my wife and just pay it off.¡± Sandra roller her eyes, ¡°Honey, it''s fine. It wasn¡¯t anything serious. A dir is worth far more than the little misunderstanding.¡± Currency in most of Ethel was still coin based. The concept of paper money had come into being, but the few places that implemented it had resounding failures. Bigger nations, with more to lose, forewent even attempting it. The tiered coin system worked just fine for them. The Alden Empire¡¯s ¡®krwn¡¯ was a perfect example. Lysken and many parts of the surrounding continents exclusively used the coins produced in the Alden Empire instead minting their own. Their economic supremacy made their currency far more stable and commonplace than others. The level of standardization also gave them an edge over their would be competitors. Each of their coins was roughly the same size, roughly the same thickness, and had the royal family¡¯s seal on one side and a large print of the first letter of the coins name on the other. The term ¡®krwn¡¯ came to be because the insignia for the Royal family featured a large crown. Over time, with their coins seeing widespread use, their currency began being referred to as crowns. It didn¡¯t take too many years for the emperor to make the name official. Terming their currency ¡®crowns¡¯ however, posed several issues. As such, it was stylized as krwns. One krwn was deemed to be worth one turlis. Turlis coins were the most commonly used of the bunch. They were also directly in the middle in terms of value. At the bottom of the pyramid there were bits, brown coins worth basically nothing. 10 bits was worth 1 dree. Dree coins were black in color. 100 dree was worth one krwn, or one turlis. 100 turlis was worth 1 dir, a gold coin. At the top of the pyramid there were lyte coins, worth 100 dir. Lyte coins were almost pure white. They were practically mythical existences to the common folk. 90% of the population would never see one, talk less of being wealthy enough to own one. Only the most lavish of expenses would call one to make use of it. For countries however that kind of money was constantly being thrown around. The ease in which business at that level could function with the existence of lyte coins made them a must have. For noble families, it even became something of a culture. Owning a vast amount of lyte coins showed one¡¯s power and influence. The wealthiest men in the world were even rumored to be in talks with the Alden Empire about making another coin worth 100 lyte coins. A coin made purely from the metal that plated lyte coins, lyte. It would be something only the Alden empire could accomplish. They, as luck or maybe fate would have it, owned 40% of the lyte mines in the world. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- ¡°Bye Riley!¡± Kain and his mother were waving the Thornes goodnight. They had a fun evening; the adults drank wine and talked about life in town while Kain kept Riley entertained with a host of weird games. It was the second time today Kain had played with Riley and he was disliking how much he enjoyed it. ¡°Alright, time for bed. Put the wine away for me, please. I''ll get the glasses.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Without a pump to get water into their kitchen, Kain¡¯s mother washed the dishes outside in a small tub. She used to do it out in the open using the streetlights to see, but Kain had demanded a shed with a lantern in it be built around it for her. Heading there, she suddenly dropped all the dishes in her hand and quickly ran back inside. ¡°Kain!¡± Chapter 5: GoldenHeart [The Eyes] The bandits had begun their raid. Waiting for the sun to descend, they attacked under the cover of night. The guard towers on the southern side never saw it coming. They were immediately infiltrated and swarmed. They put up a decent fight, the increasingly dire news they received from the east had forced the head of the garrison to sure up the town''s defences. He had not done so expecting an attack anytime soon, but his safety first mentality had nonetheless saved the town from a far grimer fate. That being said, they were still not faring great. The bandits were far better equipped, most even being more skilled. What they lacked however, was airtight organization. The soldiers never operated in squads of less than five. Each of the seven towers around the town had three squads stationed inside. Factoring in the soldiers garrisoned and on patrol, the town had 331 soldiers for its defence. That was almost four times the amount of manpower that the bandits had. Unfortunately, most of those men were blissfully unaware of the fact that bandits had suddenly emerged. That left only 45 soldiers to combat them at first. They fought as hard as they could, making use of narrow paths to try and limit the amount of bandits they faced at any given time. The guards at the top of the towers struggled to proved much cover fire under the assault from the bandit¡¯s gunners. Worse yet, the towers were the first places to be hit. The soldiers defending them, struggled to bar the bandits path. ¡°Gather all the women and children, quickly!¡± The captain of the bandits was in a hurry. His men were tired. He had given them a few hours to rest, but the fatigue they¡¯d built up from constantly being on the move over the past week surely wasn¡¯t gone. He would have preferred to attack the town the following night, but his scouts had spotted a camp by the lake a few hours ago. ---------- They couldn¡¯t make out who the owners of the camp were, but they were definitely armed. He wanted to attack them first and make use of their camp, but he feared he would unnecessarily alert the town of their presence. On the flip side, if they noticed his men¡¯s movements and alerted the town it would be disastrous for him and his men. In the midst of discussing how to handle them, one of the men he sent into town to get a better sense of their strength came running in. ¡°Captain! Captain!¡± Everyone in the room, including the captain, feared the worst, ¡°What? Has Zar caught up with us?¡± The man, out of breath, shook his head, ¡°No, no no. Worse. The camp. The one by the lake. They¡¯re from GoldenHeart!¡± The captain was stunned, ¡°GoldenHeart? Out here? Why?!¡± GoldenHeart was the most well known mercenary guild in the Alden Empire. The had close ties with the royal family and operated out of the capital. They fielded the most elite malsirs not working in the military. As such, they only did the big jobs. If they weren¡¯t fighting something as large as a titan or as powerful as a sturm wolf, they would most likely decline the offer. For one of their teams to be out here, where there were neither magical beast nor beings to fight, it could only mean something terrible for him. ¡°Wolf must have done something. The only thing they could fight here is bandits. There¡¯s no other explanation.¡± One of his men fearfully asked, ¡°Should we prepare to run captain?¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The captain replied solemnly, ¡°Where would we run to? The further west we go, the more we dance with death. No, we take the town tonight.¡± Another one of his men couldn''t accept that conclusion, ¡°What?! But captain, the men are exhausted. Even if we could overpower the garrison, fighting GoldenHeart after that would be impossible.¡± Olin threw his two cents in, ¡°It would be impossible to fight GoldenHeart even if we didn¡¯t have to worry about the garrison.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to fight the garrison or GoldenHeart. We¡¯re going to get hostages. Olin, gather the men!¡± ---------- Their plan was simple, they could not fight nor run so they would do neither. They would bargain. If GoldenHeart was truly here to fight Wolf, they would need information. They had information, key information. Getting GoldenHeart to listen was the problem. Be it a guild or a garrison, no one would care to sit down and hear the words of a bandit. They had to engineer that situation. They needed leverage. Their captain thought of only one way to accomplish that, using the town¡¯s women and children as bargaining chips. ¡°Move! We have to do this quickly!¡± That had to work fast, while most of his men were keeping the soldiers busy the rest were pulling women and children out of their homes. The captain feared GoldenHeart would notice them before they could organize the hostages. If they showed up before he had the situation under control, everything would be over. Thankfully for him things were moving according to plan. He just needed to raid a few more homes. The larger the hostage count, the more seriously they would consider his proposition. He was starting to feel assured. As long as they don¡¯t set any fires, everything should be¡ª His thoughts were cut off by a sound. His heart sank. He looked towards the center of town in horror. The bells were ringing. ---------- ¡°Arleigh. Arleigh! Wake up!¡± Neia kicked her, she didn¡¯t want to but she had no choice. Arleigh burst to life. Clutching her back, she yelled angrily at Neia, ¡°What the fyk was that for?¡± ¡°Bandits! In the town. Suit up quickly, Nyle already headed out.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Settling down, Arleigh could hear bells ringing. Dong! Dong! Dong! Then a pause. Dong! Dong! Dong! ¡°Shit.¡± Arleigh quickly put on her gear and ran into town with Neia. As they approached they saw fires being set all over the place. Some of the other members of their party were already helping the townsfolk evacuate. Arleigh could only spot men. Running up to one of her allies, she asked, ¡°Where are the women and children?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know. We haven¡¯t seen any.¡± ¡°Nyle said you two should search for them. He¡¯s looking for whoever''s running the show for these guys.¡± Neia wasn¡¯t paying the conversation any mind, she had spotted some bandits in the distance and ran straight for them. Seeing her partner run off, Arleigh swiftly replied, ¡°Will do. If you could do something about these fires it would help,¡± and ran after her. Catching up to Neia as she was splitting a man''s skull in two, she informed her of their task. ¡°They¡¯ve taken all the women and children? Hmmm. Slavers?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re slavers. They don¡¯t operate this far south of Otger, they¡¯d lose too much money on transport.¡± Neia had cut another man clean in half in the time it took Arleigh to respond, ¡°How much do human slaves go for?¡± Arleigh, trying to locate where the largest concentration of bandits was, replied a bit slow, ¡°Way too cheap to be this far from Karvos. Um, Neia. What is that?¡± Turning towards the direction Arleigh was looking in, Neia saw a bright red light beaming down from the sky. It would have looked angelic if the red wasn¡¯t so deep. Instead, it felt incredibly unsettling. Arleigh sighed. ¡°Even the easy jobs.¡± Chapter 6: Hostage [The Eyes] Kain and his mother were huddled with the rest of the women and children. His mother''s scream to alert him of the danger had unfortunately alerted the bandits to their presence. It wasn¡¯t long before they were ¡®escorted¡¯ away from their house and into one of the barns closer to the edge of town. They didn¡¯t put up much of a resistance, the guns in the men''s hands were powerful deterrents to commonfolk. Comforted by the knowledge the bandits didn¡¯t plan on killing them, Kain assumed they were merely going to be used as hostages. A hostage had to be kept safe to be properly capitalized in whatever negotiations the bandits planned on having. He obeyed their every instruction, making sure to not cause them trouble or give them any reason to look at him or his mother twice. It worked well enough. Kain was able to secure a spot by the wall for his mother to rest her back on. Albeit after a few minutes he learned why the spot was left untaken. Threw the thin walls, the sounds of battle were clear. The yelling, the swinging, the shooting, the killing, the dying. They could all be heard crystal clear. While Kain could handle it, his mother could not. She was shivering in fear, clutching him desperately. What¡¯s happening to her? Not everyone can hear death on their doorstep and remain calm. We¡¯re in very little danger here. If they wanted us dead, they would have killed us already. She shouldn¡¯t be so afraid. Once again, not every can hear death at their doorstep and remain calm. Kain didn¡¯t respond, he merely turned to look for a spot further away from the edges of the barn. In doing so, he saw familiar faces. Hoping that interacting with people she knew and trusted would melt her fear somewhat, Kain moved with his mother over to them. ¡°Mrs. Fidel, I hope you¡¯re doing well?¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Chopping another bandit¡¯s neck, Nyle rolled his shoulders a little. His colleagues were helping snuff out the flames so he was left to spreadhead the offensive against the bandits. They seemed to know what they were doing. In an attempt to weaken and ultimately break through his barrier, they tried to consolidate the damage they did to certain spots. Unfortunately for them, his sahir reserves were quite deep. Noticing that the bandits were beginning to realize all their attacks were in vain, Nyle chuckled. He wasn¡¯t the run of the mill malsir. Seeing as the bandits switched from rushing him to running away, he jumped on top of the roof next to him to get an idea of where they were running to. Still no signs of the women and children. They can¡¯t be slavers can they? Nyle switched gears, he had left the task of finding them to his team. He had to focus on his own task. He jumped from building to building looking for the one calling the shots. Each roof he leapt on to, he stopped to assess the movement of the bandits running around beneath him. Finally spotting the point there were all meeting at, he leapt off the roof and began his massacre anew. Before he could kill the sixth bandit within his arms reach, a sword blocked his chop. A glowing sword. So they did have a malsir. The bandits around Nyle dispersed. Annoyed by the interruption, Nyle moved to chop the swordsman''s neck. To his surprise the man¡¯s reflexes were razor sharp. He dodged the attack and managed step back far enough to be out of Nyle¡¯s reach. Nyle quickly pulled out his two broad swords, he wasn''t going to underestimate this opponent. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a man approach them with two other men trailing behind him. You must be the leader. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Nyle immediately lunged forward, slicing inward with both swords. His speed was incredible. The swordsman couldn''t dodge in either direction. So he stepped back again. Nyle used this time to dash at the man he perceived to be the orchestrator. The man was a mere three steps away, but before he could even reach the second step he stopped. The man had pulled out a child and stood him in front of himself. The child acted as a human shield, protecting the man from Nyle¡¯s attempted assault. ¡°If you believe a child will stop me from killing you all, you are mistaken.¡± ¡°We wish to talk, not fight.¡± The malsir spoke first. Walking towards Nyle, he sheathed his sword. Nyle scoffed, ¡°Talk you say. I noticed quite a few dead soldiers before I arrived here. They weren¡¯t worthy of being spoken to I presume?¡± ¡°Unfortunate casualties.¡± This time it was the leader who spoke, ¡°We have something you want and you have something we want. That is why we want to talk. ¡°Really now? It would be a shame if it was something I could simply take off your corpses,¡± There was a noticeable smirk on his face. The bandits were clearly feeling intimidated. The thickness of Nyle¡¯s sahir barrier already gave them an idea of his strength, but his attitude solidified their belief that he was on another plane to them. ¡°I think you¡¯d find getting information off of a dead man rather difficult. And. There are a few women and children that would be really disappointed.¡± Not slavers? Nyle figured he might as well figure out their motive, ¡°What do you want?¡± The captain replied immediately, ¡°To be free men. Liberated from the life of banditry.¡± Nyle was flabbergasted, ¡°You attacked a town to become free men? Are you insulting me?¡± The man paused. Having only just realized the optics of his statement, he stuttered. He needed to word his point better. ¡°Our circumstance are not that simple. We need protection as well. The bandits I''m sure you were sent here to kill are trying to kill us.¡± Nyle relaxed his stance, ¡°So you believe that by holding hostages you¡¯ll be able to bargain for protection. Hmph. I don¡¯t make deals with people of your ilk.¡± Contrary to his words, Nyle sheathed his blades. His barrier never receded, but it appeared that he had ceased immediate hostilities. The captain smiled, the second part of his plan was succeeding. He just needed whoever was the head of the garrison to sho- BSH! Something light blue had crashed into the ground a few strides away from them. Olin quickly moved to his captain¡¯s side. The new intruder stood tall. He was dark skinned, wielded a spear, and also had an abnormally thick sahir barrier. It wasn¡¯t as strong as Nyles, but it communicated his strength relative to the bandits all the same. Judging by his armour, he was related to the garrison in some way. The captain whispered to his men, ¡°Go grab one of the Imurian women.¡± While one of the men behind him ran off to find the woman, the malsir stepped back to take his place. In that time, the Imurian man had reached them. He glanced at the child in front of the captain and readied his spear. Seeing as Nyle, a mercenary from Goldenheart, had not killed them yet, he could gather that some form of discourse was due. He asked, ¡°Who are you and why did you attack Bruyn?¡± ¡°We need protection. There are bandits that are trying to kill us.¡± He didn''t view those that turned to crime fondly, ¡°No one can protect you from yourself. You forfeited your right to safety when you became a bandit.¡± That response seemed to anger the captain slightly, ¡°You act like there are other options. Unlike the blissful lives you live here, where we¡¯re from it''s kill or be killed. We had no choice. It''s the same now. If we didn¡¯t attack you first and take hostages, you would have sent a force out and killed us were we laid or we would have died in the snow. We only wish to leave banditry behind and lead good lives.¡± The Imurian was momentarily enraged, he was unaware of the fact they had taken hostages. The anger subside rather quickly though. It could be much worse, they could have simply killed the townsfolk. He just had to get the bandit to agree to releasing them. But before he got to that, there were parts of his story that didn¡¯t add up. He glanced at Nyle to see if he had anything to say. He didn¡¯t. He appeared to be completely uninterested in the conversation going on. It was odd to him, but he continued on anyway. ¡°If you wanted to leave banditry behind, why attack?¡± The captain cleared his throat, ¡°Like I said, we need protection. If we stayed out in the open we would have been hunted down by other bandits.¡± He didn''t understand, ¡°Why are you being hunted?¡± ¡°We know too much about them; their numbers, their hideouts, their plans. The fact that all of the ¡®bandit groups¡¯ now operate as one.¡± Chapter 7: Protect Your Own [The Eyes] Nyle turned and stared into the captain¡¯s eyes, his indifferent demeanor crumbled instantly. The captain didn¡¯t budge. Instead, he smiled. He was right to assume the mercenary was highly invested in Wolf¡¯s movements. Assuming the man that just landed was the leader of the garrison, phase three of his plan was working well. Continuing to stare at the captain, Nyle threw a question at the Imurian, ¡°Mr. Fortem. How would you like to proceed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m willing to talk if you are,provided he can guarantee the safety of people he¡¯s holding captive of course.¡± He stared, spear raised, at the captain. The captain took his hands off the shoulders of the kid in front of him. He then raised them in a sign cooperation. ¡°Talk. Not...not kill.¡± Mid-sentence, the captain saw the two men in front of him look up in confusion. Fearing it was a ploy to strike him when his guard was down, he refused to turn around. His men were of the same belief, they had seen many similar underhanded tricks over the years. That being said, the moment they turned towards each other as if looking for affirmation the captain began to wonder if they were being genuine. The Imurian¡¯s face look particularly shocked. Speaking of Imurians. What¡¯s taking that idiot so long? --------- Kain was grateful for the Mrs. Fidel. She was Imurian like his mother and her presence seemed to greatly calm her. They comforted one another. During a conversation about Imuria, the former capital of the Imuru Empire, a man rushed into the barn. The man was frantic. The two malsirs he had just seen were vastly more powerful than anyone he could call on to protect him. The vice-captain might have been able to fight the Imurian, but he definitely couldn¡¯t fight the other guy. A man like him sees a lot of cocky attitudes in his line of work. He had never seen someone so deserving of it. Spotting a group of Imurians, the man shuffled through the other townsfolk to get to them. He hit a lot of the women resting on the ground, but the urgency of his task clouded his eyes to anything other than the woman he needed to get. ---------- Imurian culture was very militaristic. Combat strength was one of the most important qualities for a man. Be it a gun or a sword, if you were valuable on the battlefield you were valued by society. It didn¡¯t stop with those who directly affected the battlefield on the ground either. Leading researchers and inventors in military technology, talented tacticians and military minds, skilled instructors; they were all lauded. The love for excellence on the battlefield was deeply ingrained into their culture. Imurian almost exclusively meant ¡®warrior¡¯. That is unless you were a woman. While they could be inventors, tacticians, and instructors; they were not allowed on the battlefield. They were to be kept safe, unharmed. Much of a married man¡¯s worth came from how comfortable his wife was. In such a culture and to such people, a female hostage was a rather big deal. If a citizen of the empire was caught taking a woman hostage or even just committing a crime that directly harmed women, the death penalty was a rather likely outcome. To the outside world, that level of extremeness was confounding. To the Imurian people it made all the sense in the world. The highest seat in the kingdom, the throne, was only ever occupied by women. Empresses. While there was still an emperor and he still help quite a bit of power, it was the empress who ran the country. The concept of ¡®man of the house¡¯ still formed and men often still served as the head of households-their worth to their country as soldiers often outweighting their wives contributions-but women were treated with a much higher level of respect than most civilizations at the time.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Even though that part of their culture had softened somewhat since the fall of the Imuru Empire, there was still an above average need to protect their women. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°You. Get up.¡± The bandit reached an Imurian woman and grabbed her by the hand. She struggled, but she was never going to over power him. Her son and daughter were screaming to let her go. They held onto their mother, desperately trying to stop the bandit from taking her. Their efforts wouldn¡¯t stop him, but it was slowing him down a little.The boy, realizing he couldn¡¯t save his mother by pulling her, attacked the bandit. He kicked the man as hard as he could. It proved little more than an inconvenience. Not having the time to play with children, he kicked back at him. The young boy flew backwards and crashed into a woman holding a baby. The hit knocked him out cold. His sister, probably fearing the worst, ran up to him. Replacing her was another Imurian woman. She had considerably more strength behind her resistance than the children; she managed to help the woman in his grasp wrestle her arm free. They then quickly moving away from him. A boy about his height stood in front of them. He had, had enough. He pulled out his gun and pointed at the children that had just attacked him. ¡°Give me the woman, or I¡¯ll put a bullet in them.¡± The boy didn¡¯t flinch, ¡°You would kill your hostages? I don¡¯t think your boss would be too happy about that.¡± He sucked his teeth. The kid had a brain. At least enough of one to understand the situation he was in. He chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re a smart kid. But you don¡¯t seem to get what kind of situation you¡¯re in.¡± He then walked over to the two kids. The women around them promptly dispersed. They weren¡¯t going to die to protect a child that wasn¡¯t their own. The girl screamed at him to leave her brother alone, but he was never his target. Grabbing the girl by her neck, he put his gun back on his waist and pulled out his dagger. She fought him vehemently, scratching and clawing his arm, but a quick squeeze by his hand squashed her resilience. ¡°Now. Give me the woman or she might have to lose a few body parts.¡± He didn¡¯t need to continue threatening them, there were other Imurian women in the barn. Being on a time crunch, he could have simply gone to take one of them. There was nothing special about either of the women behind the kid that would call for him to focus on them, it was merely a show of dominance. The kid had challenged him. Moreover, he challenged him is such a way that if he backed down the other hostages may have started to get unnecessary ideas. He was right when he insinuated that killing one of the hostages outright could ruin his boss¡¯ plan, but letting those very hostages rebel would be even worse. He had to stand his ground. Putting the unconscious girl next to her brother, he got on his knees and looked at her. ¡°Should I start with her fingers?¡± He made a show of spreading out her fingers and lining the blade up just right. He was just about to mark her skin to denote that line when the boy yelled. ¡°Wait!¡± He walked closer, ¡°Just take me.¡± The bandit smiled, ¡°No can do. I asked for the woman.¡± He turned back to the child and realigned is blade, ¡°Maybe after I remove a finger yo-¡± Before he could finish his sentence, the Imurian boy tackled him. Completely stunned by the action he had let the dagger slip from his hand. The boy grabbed it immediately, slitting the man''s throat with expert precision. Before he could grab his gun, however, a shot went off. Krck! ¡°Kain!¡± Chapter 8: Awakening [The Eyes] Kain didn¡¯t see the shot, or who fired it. He didn¡¯t need to. The only people with guns in the barn were bandits. There couldn''t have been too many people they¡¯d be inclined to shoot at. He heard his mother''s voice for a moment. He smiled. If his mother hadn¡¯t gotten up to help Mrs. Fidel, he wouldn¡¯t have gotten involved himself. It was a bittersweet smile, but Kain didn¡¯t fear death. Killing him would probably cause a big enough stir that they¡¯d avoid trying to kill anyone else. He hoped it would go down that way at least. For all he knew, the negotiations would break down and¡ª Wait a minute. It felt like a year had gone by since he heard the shot fired. His eardrums no longer rang. In fact, unless he had gone deaf from the shot, the barn was almost silent. The room had quieted down when the bandit pulled out his gun, but it wasn¡¯t this quiet. Kain looked around for the person who fired the gun. From the sound it had to have been rather close to him, too close to have missed. Was it not a bandit? For a moment Kain wondered if a rescue team had come to their aid. They didn¡¯t. The man who fired at him was unmistakably a bandit. Something was off about him though. He was looking at Kain like he was a titan. His gun was practically falling out of his hands as he stared, wide-eyed at Kain. He wasn¡¯t the only one, the reason the room was silent was because everyone was captivated by what their eyes were saying was in front of them. Kain look around again, this time he could see nothing but eyes focused on him. There was a mix of shock, fear, and reverence in them. What the fuck is happening?! Look at your hands. Kain was confused, but he raised his hands to his face all the same. His eyes shot open, but only for a moment. He closed them quickly and shook his head. His brain struggled to comprehend what he had just seen. Reopening his eyes, reality was still the same. He was glowing red. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Red sahir was impossible. At least that was the case for malsirs, when they used sahir it would invariably manifest blue. Whether it was a nohel using it as a shield or a mesheer using it to bend the laws for the world, it¡¯s color was the same. Red sahir did exist however, but only in rublee and granfirs. Granfirs were types of metals that ¡®conducted¡¯ sahir and rublee was a type of crystal that actively absorbed it. Sahir, when traveling through either, appeared red. Many academics over the years had their own varying hypotheses concerning the phenomenon. The prevailing one today was that sahir¡¯s pure, unblemished form was red. Its blue form was the result of malsirs being unable to filter out the impurities. That narrative painted blue sahir as a counterfeit, causing many malsirs to seek out ways to manifest its red form. It caused quite the stir around the Lysken. Many nobles and organizations offered ludicrous rewards for malsirs that could use sahir¡¯s ¡®true form¡¯. Many scammers and the like attempted to fool those offering the rewards, some even did, but none of them could really use red sahir. No one could. Even though multiple decades had passed since its concept reached the populous¡¯ consciousness, not a single malsir that could wield it ever appeared. It was soon renamed to ¡®sahirlah¡¯, god¡¯s sahir. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Kain knew all that. He had spent many years reading up on sahir, learning its uses, effects, its history. So he knew the red glow around his arms could not be real. Malsirs didn¡¯t randomly awaken to the ability to use sahir, they trained for it, intensely. Even nobles weren¡¯t known to casually awaken to the ability to use sahir. But here he was, not only having discovered his powers as a malsir but it wasn¡¯t just sahir, it was sahirlah. Kain almost sat down to marvel at what was going on, but the bandits rudely interrupted him. There were originally twenty of them in the barn, standing with their guns in their arms to intimidate the women and children. The sound of the gunshot caused a couple more to rush in. They were greeted with an intense red light. When their eyes adjusted, the sight of Kain, with his red glow, standing on top of one of their brethren came into view. Fearing what it meant, they fired at him immediately. Kain instinctively ducked. He wasn¡¯t harmed, but a few stray bullets found their way into a couple of the women that were somewhat close to him. One of the bandits that ran in then yelled at the rest of them, ¡°What are you guys doing?! Shoot him!¡± It was too late. Seeing the women get shot caused mass panic. The bandits had kept the group calm by telling them they wouldn¡¯t be harmed if they cooperated without a fight. The women''s deaths proved that statement false. They all got up and ran. It was an enclosed space and there was only one exit, but 600 people versus 25 at close range was not particularly in the bandits favor. Before the bandits that were on the perimeter of the hostages could react, multiple women were rushing them. They were promptly stripped of their guns, swords, and daggers. Some were even killed in what amounted to a stampede. The men at the door would have fared the best, they were already on alert and there was a slight gap between the hostages and them. Unfortunately, Kain was on them immediately. When he ducked earlier, he hadn¡¯t dodged all the bullets shot at him. In fact, he had voluntarily put his forehead in one of the bullet¡¯s paths. He watched in horror as it flew towards him, his body unable to move fast enough to dodge it. It was a terrible experience. Accepting that death was inevitable was one thing, watching it¡¯s approach was another. It gave him way too much time to think. So much time, he realized he had way too much time to think. It was like he was watching the bullet in slow motion. It confused him, enhancing his theory that this was all a dream he was having. The dream didn¡¯t end there however. In thinking about that fact he had too much time to think, he had forgotten that the bullet would kill him when it hit. Or it would have, if sahir barriers weren¡¯t rather good at shielding against that sort of thing. The bullet smashed into Kain¡¯s head and fell to the ground a compressed piece of metal. Kain saw this, blinked a few times, slapped himself, and ran at the men that shot at him. Two of them had already reloaded and fired again, both of their shots hit. Unfortunately for them, the result was the same. Kain smiled, dagger still in hand, and went to work. The bandits pulled out their weapons and swung at him, his dagger wasn¡¯t glowing like he was so they assumed he was only a novice. A novice wouldn¡¯t have the reserves to hold their barrier very long. It was five on one, with some coordination they should be able to take him down. Kain had other ideas. He flat out tackled the closest man to him and slit his throat when he was pinned to the ground. It was a simple tactic. He too understood whatever was happening wouldn¡¯t last forever, so he had to take them down as quickly as possible, no time for fighting. The remaining four bandits had surrounded him while he killed their comrade. They all wielded thick bastard swords and swung them heavily at his back, trying to apply as much force to his barrier as possible. If they could pin him down, all the better. Sadly, their swords didn¡¯t merely bounced off of Kain¡¯s barrier, they broke. The bandits were stunned. That didn¡¯t usually happen. Kain, unperturbed, was quickly tackling his next victim. It didn¡¯t take long for all five of them to fall. Kain chucked to himself when he was finished. She would be so mad if she saw this. All that training and I¡¯m just tackling them. Kain looked towards the riot that was going on behind him. He didn¡¯t see his mother and he wished to find her, but he stopped himself. She was strong, she wouldn¡¯t be easily run over. He turned back towards the door and walked out. While he still had the sahirlah around him, he was going to kill as many bandits as he could. Chapter 9: Sahirlah [The Eyes] The barn where the bandits kept the women and children wasn¡¯t far from where Nyle was. It was within eyeshot. As such, when an Imurian boy glowing red popped out and started killing the bandits around it, it was in full view of him. He was shocked when the boy tackled one of them and stuck his dagger into his neck, but he was intrigued when he redirected a sword thrusted towards him from one bandit into another. He quietly asked, ¡°Mr. Fortem. That boy¡ª¡± Mr. Fortem replied before he even got out his question, ¡°He is not one of ours.¡± He was also deeply interested in who the boy was and how he got there. Not too invested to miss the flock of people that ran out of the barn he just exited. ¡°Can I tru-¡± Before Nyle could get his question out, Mr. Fortem had already dashed away. The captain and his guards thought it was an assault and were left bemused when he ran right by them. The captain, turning around to see what was happening behind him to cause that, was stunned. He didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but he knew very well what the result would be. He yelled, ¡°Run!¡± The captain made a run for it. Whoever the glowing kid was, he had somehow managed to kill all the men he had guarding the hostages. He could see them running for safety. Without those hostages, there''s nothing to stop Nyle from capturing them immediately. The tidbit of information he provided definitely piqued his interest, so he was unlikely to kill him outright, but that was no consolidation. Capture meant little more than a future of torture and enslavement. Nyle cared not for the captain¡¯s thought, he had a task to complete. He ran at him, but was blocked again by the malsir. ¡°You should''ve run.¡± Nyle drew one of his blades, using the hilt to jab at his chest. The malsir stepped back. Before he could draw his own sword, Nyle had stepped forward and slashed at his neck. Forced to take another step back, he attempted to draw his weapon again. As he was pulling it out, Nyle was thrusting his second blade at his right shoulder. He wasn''t going to pull it out in time. Realizing that, gave up on it and dashed to his left. Nyle didn¡¯t stop the barrage. Lining up his right arm with his outstretched left, he slashed diagonally towards him. The malsir leaped back this time, he put some ground in between him and Nyle. If he stayed close to him he would have never been given the opportunity to unsheathe his sword. Nyle paused his assault and gave the malsir a strong look. ¡°An incredibly mobile swordsman wielding a katana with a dark blue scabbard. Am I correct in calling you Olin Cassel?¡± Olin steadied his stance, ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t talk with people of my ilk?¡± Nyle shrugged, ¡°Not the attentive one are you Olin?¡± Nyle threw a knife at him and darted towards away. In his efforts to get his weapon out to better combat Nyle, he had forgotten the reason he was fighting him in the first place. ¡°Shit!¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Deflecting the knife, Olin chased after him. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Maleek Fortem had seen many things in his seventy years of life. He had largely spent that time on battlefields, paying witness to all kinds of killing machines. Be it organic or mechanical, he was sure it would be a few decades until something showed up that truly surprised him. Yet when he ran over to help the women and children escape, he was a whole lot more than surprised. He, like most mages, was well informed about sahirlah. But ¡®well informed¡¯ only meant that he knew it existed and it was supposedly the pure form of sahir. Interest in it was just reaching its peak when he entered the military. The Imuru empire was one of the few places that didn¡¯t partake in the hype. As mythical as it appeared, there was no proof it gave any kind of combat advantage. There was no proof it could be used for combat all. Because of that most Imurians, Maleek included, didn¡¯t put much value in sahirlah. What he was seeing changed all that though. The boy was indestructible, his barrier impenetrable. He watched as the bandits first broke their weapons then broke their bodies trying to fight him. He killed them all. The amount of bodies that laid in his path was alarming. Maleek had seen much worse battles between those who could use sahir and those that could not, especially in terms of deaths, but never had he seen one side so casual in their dominance. There were times where the boy would slap a bandit and twist his head all the way around or kick a bandits hip and cripple them. They were not monumental feats on their own, but the nonchalence in which he did them was alarming. There was one time the boy even sat down to rest and blissfully ignored the group of bandits attacking him from all sides. The sight of grown men breaking their arms punching a child would have been comical if it wasn¡¯t the exact opposite of comical. It was too shocking to watch so Maleek stopped. Paying the boy attention was neither healthy nor useful so he instead moved to organize the townsfolk and make sure they were okay. Some time later, the boy finished up the bandits in the area and came to help. Or that¡¯s what Maleek thought he was going to do. When he got closer, Maleek realized he was stumbling. Maleek caught him as he was about to fall. ¡°Hey. Kid. You alright?¡± The boy was stuttering, ¡°I don¡¯t...feel..so. Good.¡± The kid passed out in his arms. As he did, the red glow slowly disappeared. Maleek was at a loss. He afraid that the kid that saved all these people, the kid that could use sahairlah, had just died in his arms. He hastily placed him down and placed his head against his chest. He could hear his heart beating. Maleek breathed a sigh of relief. He lives. He hadn¡¯t noticed before, but the kids hair was white. Another thing he¡¯d never seen before. Are you even human? Maleek quickly carried the boy into the barn and laid him down. Almost immediately after he walked back out of the barn to ask about the kid, two women showed up. They were malsirs, but they didn''t seem to be looking for a fight. At least not with him, the big one even seemed annoyed that the bandits were already taken care of. They claimed to be part of Nyle¡¯s party. Judging by their armor, and the fact they were malsirs in the first place, they were probably telling the truth. Maleek decided to trust them. ¡°Are you guys responsible for limiting the fires?.¡± The small one spoke for them, ¡°My colleges are handling that, don¡¯t worry. We were instructed to get the women and children to safety.¡± ¡°It''s safe now. My men are taking care of the bandits that attacked the tower and the bandits here..well. You can see that for yourself. All that¡¯s left is the captain and his two guards.¡± The smaller one asked, ¡°Nyle is handling that?¡± ¡°Yes. If you¡¯re willing to stand guard here. I can go as well.¡± The tall one cut in, ¡°There''s no need. We¡¯ll go, we¡¯re just outsiders here after all.¡± Maleek didn¡¯t quite understand what that meant, but he was getting the vibe they¡¯d rather be fighting than standing around. As malsirs associated with Goldenheart he was pretty sure they¡¯d be able get the job done. Realistically, Nyle could handle it by himself. So there wasn¡¯t much to worry about. He pointed the mercenaries in the direction they should head and they left promptly. Hopefully they don¡¯t do any more damage. As Maleek was contemplating how much damage the bandits had caused, he saw a woman limp into the barn. Chapter 10: Olin Cassel [The Eyes] Maleek looked the woman over. She was indeed Imurian, but he couldn¡¯t be sure her claim that the boy was her child was true. If he was just a normal kid he wouldn¡¯t have worried that the woman was lying, but what he had just seen him do casted doubts in his mind. Since there was no way of knowing if it was the truth, he wasn¡¯t going to start interrogating the woman after what she just experienced, he opted to wait for the kid to wake up. ¡°He¡¯s your son is he? Good. He seems to have passed out.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is he okay?¡± The woman looked visibly shaken. Maleek tried to console her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Mrs. He is alive, just unconscious. When everything is a bit more settled, I can get him to a healer.¡± The woman looked at him deeply concerned, ¡°A healer?¡± Healers were malsirs that could use sahir to regenerate parts, sometimes large sometimes small, of the body. There were not many of them, their practice took decades to learn talkless of master. They were a wholly different type of malsir. So much so, that most people didn¡¯t consider them malsirs at all. They had little to no understanding of how to project sahir outward. That meant that they struggled creating barriers, the bare minimum expected of a malsir. Instead, their powers laid in controlling internal sahir. Everything in the world was made up of sahir. Humans, beasts, animals, rocks; they all contained sahir. It was theorized that the world itself was formed from sahir. That sahir was what governed the world¡¯s laws and through controlling sahir one could control the world itself. It was a theory that matched up very well with the stories of how powerful malsirs were once able to dominate whole continents by themselves. Healers, and malsirs like them, only served to validate that theory further. A healer didn¡¯t heal with their own sahir, they healed with their patient¡¯s. Taking control of their patient¡¯s internal sahir, they could rebuild any part of the body as long as they had the knowhow and the patient had the reserves. For as easy as it sounded, it was a profession that took years and years and years to learn properly. As such, it cost a fortune. A good healer would charge no less than a dir for their services. Meaning that unless you were exceptionally wealthy, you would only see a healer when it was dire. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Nyle leapt onto a roof. The higher vantage point would give him a better view of where the bandit¡¯s captain might have run off to. He was hopping from roof to roof when a blue glow creeped into his peripheral. Caught up already? He stopped jumping and stood. He hadn¡¯t found any clues about the captain, so he decided to handle Olin first. Considering his speed, even if Nyle found the captain he would have to fight the malsir all the same. It wasn¡¯t long before the Olin got the idea and lept on top of the roof to face Nyle. Nyle looked him in the eye and pulled his blades out. ¡°As a matter of principle, I¡¯ll give you the opportunity to surrender now.¡± Olin didn¡¯t respond. He just stared back into Nyle¡¯s eyes, katana already drawn. ¡°Suit yourself.¡± Nyle lunged at him, slashing inward with his two blades. It was a similar move to the one he used to distract Olin during their first encounter, but much faster. This time, Olin didn¡¯t retreat. Instead he jumped in the air. Pulling his katana back, he quickly thrusted it downward at Nyle¡¯s head. Nyle jerked his head sharply to the side. Dodging the blade, he kicked off the ground immediately after. His feet slammed into Olin¡¯s arm then chest as he did a backflip. Olin managed to keep his blade tightly held, but before he could fully orientate himself after he landed Nyle slashing at him again. This time from above. Olin hastily blocked the attack, but the force behind it was far more than he expected. He felt like his katana suddenly weighed as much as a machtig. The roof creaked underneath his feet. He was beginning to feel pinned down, his arms were begging for release. Thankfully, Nyle was considerate. He kicked Olin in the gut, sending him flying into another roof.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Nyle was rather impressed with Olin, he hadn¡¯t expected him to be able to withstand his attack. It wasn¡¯t his full strength, but he still put a considerable amount of force behind it. He hadn''t fought many people outside of the guilds that could withstand the strength of his attacks. Wondering how Olin took the kick, he looked over at the hole in the roof across from him. His barrier didn''t look thick enough to take too many hits of that strength. Nyle was right, but that wouldn¡¯t stop Olin. Jumping from the other building to Nyle in one leap, he brought his blade down forcefully. Nyle crossed his swords above him to block the assault. The roof quickly crumbled underneath him. The force of the attack proved too much for it. Both falling, Nyle slashed at the Olin''s chest with his right sword. Olin blocked it with his, quite easily. Unfortunately, he was in midair. With no stable foundation, the power behind the slash altered his trajectory. Nyle landed on his feet while Olin smashed into one of the inner walls. He noticed the Olin''s barrier was getting fainter. Not giving him time to recover, Nyle kicked him through the wall. Having put quite a bit of force into the kick, he flew threw two walls and rolled onto the street. To his credit, he quickly, if a bit wobbly, got onto his feet. Neia and Arleigh, having been looking for the action, saw him and immediately attacked. Arleigh reached him first. She began her assault with a flurry of slashes. The man blocked each one and kicked her in the gut. Neia caught her as she flew backwards. Not wasting any time, she tossed her back at him. Arleigh didn¡¯t seem to mind, beginning her flurry anew. She then thrusted. The man parried the attack upwards. Before he could counterattack, Arleigh used her left hand to pull out a short sword in a backhand grip. Slicing the man''s chest, he could see his barrier and leather armor being cut through. He stepped back, blood slowly dripping from his chest. Not having the time to take a breather, a greatsword hurled towards his head. Frantically jumping back, he stumbled to the floor. Nyle, who was standing on the roof he had previously kicked the man on to, yelled in their direction, ¡°Finish him off quickly! We need to find his captain.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Hoping his captain had gotten away, Olin stood up and steeled himself to take one of the warriors with him. The smaller one attacked again, while the big one was removing her sword from the ground. I can¡¯t get hit by that. He was running low on sahir, very low. If he stopped coating his sword with it he might have been able to strengthen his barrier and take a few hits, but then he¡¯d had no way of attacking. Parrying another one of the smaller ones attacks, he kicked her knee to prevent her from repeating her little trick. It proved to be a mistake, even though she buckled because of the hit she managed to stab his outstretched leg. The pain stung but he had experienced worse, very recently too. Having no time to reminisce, she thrusted her main sword towards his chest. Dodging the blade outright, he lunged into her. Even though his surprise attack knocked her down, her friend came in swinging before he could do anything else. Tsk. He jumped back a reasonable distance, the pain making it hard to move as he wished, and waited for their assault. ¡°You¡¯ve got quite the legs on you bandit.¡± The bigger one seemed to be trying to distract him. He ignored her, making sure he was prepared for whatever trick they were going to throw at him. After a moment, something felt off to him, the smaller one had gotten up but neither of them moved to charge him. Their lack of aggression unsettled him until¡­ Krck! He jumped back and a bullet flew by where his head used to be. Not just any bullet, a bullet radiating sahir. The ability to attach sahir directly to an object was something he had only witnessed twice. It was something only highly skilled malsirs could do. As Olin¡¯s mind was preoccupied with the spectacle in front of him. A broad sword causally found its way into his shoulder. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Screaming aloud, he inadvertently let go of his sword. They both fell to the floor, the glow of sahir vanishing. Damnit. Couldn¡¯t even take one with me. Nyle slapped Olin¡¯s face a couple times, ¡°You¡¯re not going to die yet Mr. Swordsman. I have a feeling you know where your captain¡¯s hiding.¡± Chapter 11: The Garrison [The Eyes] Kain opened his eyes. Before his vision could clear, he was struck by sharp pain. It was a migraine, a particularly painful one at that. Snapping his eyes closed, he rubbed his temples furiously. It never really did anything, but he had no alternate ways of alleviating headaches. After a few minutes of mental screaming and temple rubbing, he was starting to conquer the pain. Aware that the bed he was sleeping on was not his own, with the pain subsiding, his concern grew. He needed information, but forewent making any noise or sneaking any peaks until he had wrestled control over his brain. Trying to make decisions while your mind was working against you was a terrible plan. He was safe and apparently in good hands considering the coziness of the bed, so he didn¡¯t need to be impatient. Since when were you such a wuss? I¡¯d ask since when did you become so useless, but you¡¯ve never actually been useful. I''d call saving your life pretty useful. First of all, if I die, you die. That¡¯s called self-preservation. Second, what? Your powers, who do you think activated those? It sure as hell wasn¡¯t you. Oh and I¡¯m supposed to believe it was you? Sir Almighty God who has come down to grace my mind with his presence? Ignoring you weak attempt at sarcasm- Shoot yourself. -and the fact its ¡®God Almighty¡¯- Twice. -Yes, it was indeed me. R I G H T. When I start believing that the voice in my head is magical, I¡¯ll have truly gone insane. Well. I mean. You still talk to the voice in your head. How sane can yo¡ª Cutting off the riveting discussion going on in Kain¡¯s mind, someone was opening what sounded like a door. Kain immediately stopping rubbing the sides of his head and moved into a natural sleeping position. He made sure to make as little noticeable noise or movement as possible. It seemed to have worked, the person who walked in made no indication of knowing Kain was awake. They silently walked to a spot to the right of him and picked something up. From the footsteps that sounds like a woman. What did she just pick up though? The woman gave him no more information. Having accomplished her reason for being in the room, she quietly left. From the slight gap between the moment she left the room and the moment she closed the door, Kain could at least gather that whatever she was holding required both her hands. She must have picked up a tray. Was it food? Wait, was she a maid? The woman¡¯s sudden appearance had done nothing but intensify his concern. He had no clue where he could possible be. Worse yet, the woman reminded him that he had no clue where his mother could possibly be. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. She¡¯s fine. She sprained her ankle, but Mark and Sandra are taking care of her. And yes, that woman was a maid. She just picked up your dinner. Kain furrowed his brow. Dinner? ---------- The head of the garrison, Emont Timo, put down the reports he was reading, ¡°Why hasn¡¯t he been on our watchlist before this?¡± His assistant, Carter, provided the answer, ¡°From the information we have, even outside of school and his apprenticeship he largely stays to himself. I would assume his strange appearance has something to do with that.¡± Maleek cut in, ¡°Even so, no one knew has a malsir. We should be discussing how to recruit him.¡± ¡°We are not employing a child." Emont was growing tired of Maleek''s attempts to recruit the child, "I will not repeat myself again.¡± Maleek still wasn''t willing to back down however, ¡°With all due respect sir, even if we were to ignore the fact that every report we have says his maturity level far exceeds his age, he can manifest sahirlah. You were not there to witness his power, but trust me when I say we can not afford to not employ him.¡± The various leaders of the garrison were discussing what to do with Kain. It had been a couple of days since the bandit attack and they were looking for ways to increase the security of the town. A blueprint for walls had already been approved by the Baron¡¯s younger brother. Now, with an expanded budget, the garrison was tasked with recruiting more soldiers and improving their training. In their search for eligible youths, the second-in-command brought up a white haired malsir that could seemingly do the impossible. He had actually brought the boy up the very night the bandits attacked, but no one believed him at the time. They had all lived through the ¡®sahirlah craze¡¯ and knew better than to believe in malsirs that could use red sahir. It wasn¡¯t until the head of the Goldenheart scouting party came in requesting to see the boy, that they started to take his words a bit more seriously. Not seriously enough to believe them, but enough to look into it. Funny enough, as the garrison started looking for witnesses to corroborate Maleek¡¯s story, a rumor about a young Imurian malsir saving the women and children that were kidnapped by the bandits was spreading like wildfire. No less than half the town was talking about it. The interesting point of the rumor wasn¡¯t even that he was a hero, it was that he was God¡¯s disciple. He was a malsir that could use sahirlah. Unlike the townsfolk, the garrison knew exactly who that young malsir was. He was resting in Maleeks guest room. His name was Kain Basileus. Doing a bit of digging, they discovered he was seen as a genius. The higher ups at the local school watched his development closely. Having promoted him to the apprentice level at an incredibly young age, they marvelled at how quickly he adjusted to its difficulty. In the five years since he had done nothing but perform excellently. Even the professionals and experts he worked under in that time gave stellar reviews. From the blacksmith to the herbalist, they all spoke highly of him. The only negative remarks any of them gave was his inclination towards isolation. He was eager to learn, but he stayed clear of group work and never stayed under one mentor for too long. The only exception being his most recent job at the tax office. Outside of school and work, he only frequented the library. It appeared he didn¡¯t have any hobbies outside of reading. In summary, he was a prodigy. Emont rubbed his forehead, ¡°Maleek. I appreciate your efforts, but this conversation ends here. In light of your Imurian origins and the oddity of the situation in question, I¡¯ll let this event slide.¡± ¡°But sir¡ª¡± Emont had, had enough, ¡°Stand down! That is an order! This is a matter of tradition.¡± Maleek finally ceded and Emont continued. ¡°Now, his identity as a malsir does allow for a bit of leeway. Carter. Does the school run any combat courses for malsirs?" Carter rubbed his trimmed beard, ¡°I don¡¯t believe so. There are only two malsirs left in town not linked to any house. Of the two, one is the herbalist and the other is asking you to recruit the boy.¡± ¡°The school has no malsirs?¡± Carter got up and walked to the large wooden file cabinet against the wall. Looking through, he picked out a folder and passed it to the head, ¡°The baron hired the four they used to have last month.¡± Reading through the document in front of him, he was shocked. ¡°Why am I just hearing about this?¡± ¡°It happened during your trip to Gelis. When you returned you said to focus on getting more information on the ban¡ª¡± ¡°Yes, yes. I remember now.¡± The head sighed. As much as he wasn¡¯t willing to enlist a 16 year old, from everything he¡¯d heard he couldn¡¯t afford to ignore him either. Maleek coughed. ¡°Well. If we can¡¯t recruit him. I¡¯ll just train him myself.¡± Chapter 12: Settled [The Eyes] A Few Days Ago. ¡°Ugh" Olin was kicked again. The mercenaries had killed all of his brethren. Still unable to find his captain, they resorted to beating the information out of him. With the moon sailing across the sky, his defiance was proving a nuisance. Two of the mercenaries were particularly agitated. ¡°Let''s just kill him and look for the rest of the group ourselves. The more time we take here the further away they get.¡± ¡°If this guy really is Olin Cassel, then these guys are what''s left of the Hartgeer Bandits. Where would they go?¡± ¡°Okay. Let''s assume they are still in the city. While we¡¯re here, they could be taking more hostages.¡± ¡°With what¡¯s left of their numbers, I doubt they¡¯d want to come into contact with us at all. It''s far more likely they''ll attempt to hide and wait until we leave.¡± A third mercenary cut in, ¡°Which, by the way, is something we have to do pretty soon. So killing him and moving on may be our best bet. The garrison can deal with whoever they have left.¡± They all looked towards Nyle, the head of their party. He made all the big decisions. Noticing the attention of the group gravitating towards him, Nyle stood. He walked over to Olin and stared him in the eyes. He still hadn¡¯t told his party what his captain told him. It was important information, groundbreaking information. It was information he needed to get back to his guild immediately. If it was true, that is. An honest outlaw was somewhat of an oxymoron. He needed more information, but he didn¡¯t have the time. ¡°No. Sara, heal him. Just enough so he won''t die. We''re going to bring him along.¡± Mildly shocked, Sara got to healing him. The rest of group looked at each other and shrugged. ¡°With that settled, we need to pay the head of the garrison here a visit.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ---------- The five members of the Hartgeer Bandits that survived the massacre of their group had found refuge in a bar. The civilians that hid in that bar were long dead. The males had been killed swiftly, the females less so. Most of the bandits believed today would be their last, they made sure they would leave drowned in pleasure. Three of the five survivors were passed out in various locations, the alcohol in their systems denying their bodies consciousness. One of the original five had died in his sleep. The captain however, laid awake. He had declined to participate in the raping or the bingeing. He merely stared at the ceiling. His anger had washed away, the quick decimation of his group replaced it with an agonizing emptiness. Everything he had done, had built, it was all gone. He grew up the poorest of the poor. His father died in the mines when he was just three. Losing their source of income, his family were kicked out of their house. Settling in the slums, his mother was raped their second day there. His older brother, trying to stop her assailants, was killed. He didn¡¯t understand what was happening at the time, he just knew his house of four had become a house of two. Eight years later it would become a house of one. His mother started coughing one day and it persisted for what felt like forever. Then, almost miraculously, it stopped. Replacing it was a cold stillness. From that point on, he did whatever he had to do; rob, rape, kill, to make sure nothing could be taken from him ever again. Yet here he lay, years of that hard work toppled in little over a week. Everything but the clothes on his back, taken. While his pride would not allow him to give up on life just yet, he didn¡¯t sit too far from the edge. When the bandits awoke in the morning, they were greeted with the death of one of their brethren. They did not mourn. He was merely one of dozens they had lost that night. One of hundreds if the past two weeks were counted. The men sat in the bar, still drinking, sullenly. All of them looked like dead men walking, all of them except the Captain. He awoke that morning with vigor, with purpose. To a bandit, murder was the solution to every problem. Somehow, through years of comfort, he had lost sight of this. Now, he only had one problem. An Imurian malsir. --------- Nyle stood up, ¡°That should be all. We have to get going, but thank you for your time. I hope everything goes smoothly.¡± Emont stood as well, ¡°No, thank you." He reached out his hand, "You¡¯ve been a huge help. I can¡¯t imagine what would have happened if your team wasn¡¯t here.¡± The two men shook hands and Nyle walked out of the head of the garrison¡¯s office. He had just finished detailing who the bandits were, what their numbers should be, and how they would most likely act going forward. He also offered a few means of dealing with them. Judging by the size of the garrison, it should be fine to leave them to handle the clean up. There was also a personal matter he had to settle. The sky was quickly growing more purple. Their time was running out. Nyle called in the group, ¡°We leave at sunrise. Get whatever you need to get done, done before then.¡± Chapter 13: The Eyes Part 1 Kain opened his eyes. Giving it a second for his eyes to adjust to the light, he soon realized it wasn¡¯t natural. The curtains were fully covering the windows. If Kain¡¯s memory served him right, it was far from morning when he passed out. So there was a downside. He slipped out of bed, laying around wouldn¡¯t get him anywhere. If he wanted information, he had to find whoever it was that brought him there. Placing his feet on the ground, the first thing he noticed was that there was a fur rug placed to the side of the bed. In front of the rug, there were two pairs of slippers. Looking around the room, it was becoming more unlikely that the person who brought him there had bad intentions. It was too nice, too posh. There was a chandelier in the middle of the room. It, like the bed he was just laying on, was immaculately designed. On the other side of the chandelier there was what looked like a private living room, the furniture looking beautiful. On the walls, there was a range of paintings. From what he could see from afar, they looked exquisite. Kain moved closer to get a better look. As he went from frame to frame, he was enchanted. The paintings told the stories of war; the euphoria of victory, the sorrow of defeat, the brighter future that was promised, the lives lost along the way. There were nine paintings in total and when Kain reached the final one, he was taken aback. The first and last paintings were very similar, largely identical even. They were the simplest of the nine. They both featured a king, magnificently dressed, sitting on a golden throne. The king was the focal point, sitting high above everyone else. Behind him were paintings of his conquests, below him were his people. In the first painting his people are his soldiers. He addresses them, points them towards the evil scourge that is their enemy. He rallies them. In the final painting, his people appeared to be nobles. They, like the king, wore the most extravagant of clothing. At first glance, one would think they were insulting the king. They questioned his legacy, openly wondering how great of a king he was if he could not completely dominate his neighbors. One even asked if he had the qualifications to lead a country at all. It was odd. There weren''t too many kings who were known for letting their courts be so loose. Any that did wouldn¡¯t be king for long, assuming they ever truly were. It wasn¡¯t until you looked at the painting closer could you see. The people in the second painting weren''t nobles at all, they were past rulers. The paintings behind the king weren¡¯t of his own conquests, but of theirs. Kain stood at the last painting for a while, processing it. The story up until that point, while full of the trials and tribulations involved with war, was a great tale about the few beautiful moments one could find in it. If it had somehow ended in tragedy, it would have been an acceptable twist that Kain would have simply shrugged off. To instead render the whole journey meaningless, it struck him. What kind of person has such art? A few minutes later, Kain slapped his face. He needed to refocus, he hadn¡¯t gotten out of bed to admire art. Intent on figuring out who the woman who came in was and gaining some information from her, he head towards the door. Kain could already make a few assumptions about his situation. Judging by the content of the paintings, this can¡¯t be the baron¡¯s mansion. They definitely weren¡¯t the type to have such things. The content aside, they paintings themselves were still rather lavish. Their frames alone looked like they cost a dir. I can''t imagine how much the painter charged for his art. There¡¯s just way too much affluence in the air. This couldn¡¯t be just any merchant¡¯s home. It has to be one of the bigger ones and if it¡¯s one of them it can only mean one thing. They want my powers. Kain stopped right before he opened the door. Meeting the owner was no longer desirable, it may even be a little risky. Those with wealth and power rarely took no as an answer. He could be holding mom hostage. What? No. I just¡ª. Shut up. I need to think. Whoever put him here must have some form of interest in war. They wouldn¡¯t have such paintings otherwise. Best case scenario, they shared the artists beliefs. Worse case scenario, they were the type that didn¡¯t care and just enjoyed the bloodshed. Kain didn¡¯t want to find out which side of the coin he¡¯d have to face. He needed to find his mom and get out immediately.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Wow. You really escalated that huh? Did you not hear the shut up? If you have nothing useful to add, be quiet. Is that all it takes for you to lose your cool, paintings? Not usef¡ª. The maid is coming back. What? Kain listened for the sound of footsteps. He couldn¡¯t hear anything at first, but as he steadied his breathing a faint sound reached his ears. He raced back into the bed. His mind may have been playing tricks on him, but he couldn¡¯t disregard it. If the woman was actually a maid and she was heading towards him, he couldn¡¯t let the opportunity to get some information slip by. Sitting on top of the bed, he waited. To his delight, the wait wasn¡¯t long. In a few short moments, he could hear the doorknob twisting. He put on the most tired and confused look he could muster and slowly looked towards the door. The woman that walked in definitely wasn¡¯t a maid. She was wearing a full set of leather armour. There were no weapons attached to her waist, but that didn¡¯t mean much if she was a malsir. Kain didn¡¯t want to think too deeply about it. The fact alone that a soldier was sent to his room concerned him enough. The woman noticed Kain was awake and started to speak, but hesitated. From Kain¡¯s perspective, it was almost looked like she flinched. He didn¡¯t react to it. Instead he chose to initiate the conversation. ¡°Hello? Who are you?¡± The woman shook her head slightly. Clearing her throat, she bowed, ¡°My name is Glacia Tevin. I¡¯m currently serving as an arberdir for the Fortem family. I¡¯ve been tasked with taking care of you.¡± That''s right! There was a malsir that night. There was only one person it could have been. Kain laid back down, slowly. Making sure to evoke the right level of exhaustion into his voice, he spoke, ¡°I see. Where am I? Is my mom safe?¡± The woman replied immediately, ¡°Your mother is fine. She¡¯s being treated for an ankle injury, but she''s had no problem visiting you daily. This is the Fortem¡¯s guest bedroom. Master Fortem is currently in his library, I will go inform him that you''re awake.¡± The woman made a quick exit, leaving Kain baffled. She was geared like a soldier would be, yet she seemed afraid of him. Kain would have pursued the matter further, but he had gain valuable information. She¡¯s safe, but not here. You do know she didn¡¯t say anything different from what I said right? Kain, who always had a snide remark lined up, was given pause. He was right. That was the exact same thing he told him. Kain blinked furiously, his brain trying to understand what that meant. Somehow the voice in his head had access to information he didn¡¯t. That had never happened before. It wasn¡¯t even supposed to be possible. It made no sense. The voice wasn''t supposed to be anything but that, a voice. Wait a minute. What are you? Oh so now you want to talk? That¡¯s exactly what I would say, exactly what I¡¯d expect you to s¡ª. Yeah I get it. While its killing me to reply sarcastically, the truth is I don¡¯t know what I am. I know I think like you and have the same memory as you, but I''m different. I also know a whole lot more than you. Kain''s brain was struggling to process what was happening. While the reality in front of him was telling him that the voice in his head couldn''t simply be a voice, that fact contradicted everything. Okay...yeah. Sure. What does ¡®more¡¯ mean? How to use sahir. What it is. That¡¯s it? I...You know what? Yes. That¡¯s it. I¡¯ll come back to that. More importantly, have you always been in my head? No no no. I¡¯ve only been here for half of the journey. In other words, yes you did used to actually talk to the voices in your head. I don¡¯t know whether I should be happy or disappointed. Kain got out of bed again, this time he slid into the slippers. He was struggling to believe anything anymore, but there were more important things he needed to tackle. There were snacks on the table in his little private living room and he was starving. I must be the chosen one or something. I was weird enough before, but now I learn I can use sahirlah and I have some sort of sentient voice in my head. All within a day too. Well...they¡¯re actually like a week apart so it¡¯s not that bad. ... ¡°What?¡± Chapter 14: The Eyes Part 2 Maleek was in his study going over a few training regimens for the new recruits. The garrison wasn¡¯t only expanding in size, the baron wanted the soldiers to be better trained as well. Maleek contested that the men standing guard had reacted very well considering the circumstances, but he did cede that there was always room for improvement. How he was going to bring about that improvement, he was unsure. Lost in thought, a knock came at the door. The arberdir stationed by it looked at him, he returned that look with a nod. She proceeded to open the door slightly to identify the visitor. Maleek found the whole process unnecessary, it only served to waste time. While he could approve of some of the formalities his wife loved to indulge in, there were many that only made their lives more difficult. ¡°Sir, Ms. Glacia Tevin seeks your attention. The guest has awoken.¡± Maleek¡¯s eyes threatened to pop out of his head, ¡°What?!¡± His mood quickly changed. Practically jumping out of his seat, he headed for the guest bedroom. The two arberdirs followed closely behind. A million thoughts were rushing through his head. On one hand he was overjoyed, if he could get the kid the townsfolk were poetically calling ¡®God¡¯s Disciple¡¯ on his side it would have an immensely positive impact. On the other hand he was deeply concerned, the boy had been asleep for six days straight. He was well versed in the effects of sahir exhaustion, but he had never seen it leave someone unconscious for so long. After discussing with a few scholars, they chalked it up to sahirlah being a complete unknown. There was too much he didn''t know or understand about the boy and his powers. He reached the door to the guest bedroom still feeling conflicted. Before he opened it, he addressed his arberdirs. ¡°Glacia, go get something from the kitchen. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be hungry. Alba, watch the door. Don¡¯t let anyone besides Glacia enter.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± They both saluted and Glacia ran off towards the kitchen. Alright. He twisted the doorknob and pushed. Expecting Kain to be laying in bed, he was surprised to see him sitting on a couch. As soon as he saw the cookie in his hand however, he quickly understood why. The red glow¡¯s gone, but those eyes... Before Maleek could introduce himself, Kain had stood up and bowed. ¡°Mr. Fortem, thank you very much for taking caring of me. I¡ª¡± Maleek stopped him, ¡°Think nothing of it. It¡¯s the least I could do for the new local hero.¡± He could see Kain furrow his brows, ¡°Hero?¡± Smiling, Maleek walked over to the couch across from him. ¡°Sit. We have much to talk about.¡± Kain very slowly sat down. He had a wary look on his face. Chuckling, Maleek sat as well. ¡°Please relax Mr. Basileus, I¡¯m aware you only recently woke up so I¡¯ll keep this conversation light.¡± We can start the serious discussion later.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°First of all, do you know how long you¡¯ve been unconscious?¡± ¡°A week?¡± Kain was clearly unsure, he voiced his response as a question rather than an answer. Still..it''s odd that he¡¯s that close. Has this happened before? ¡°Six days actually. Is this a usual occurrence?¡± Kain shook his head, ¡°Definitely not. I¡¯ve never slept for longer than the usual six hours or so.¡± Odd. ¡°Even when you use your powers?¡± Kain didn¡¯t reply immediately. He instead gazed at Maleek, seemingly sizing him up. A stern gaze usually meant nothing to Maleek, but seeing pure white when he looked into Kain¡¯s eyes was undoubtedly unsettling. He wasn¡¯t sure whether he was being threatened or if Kain was just trying to gauge his character. He much prefered the second reality, he wasn¡¯t too sure he had any counter for the sheer strength he had seen a week ago. Believing that he was only unnerved because of the nature of Kain¡¯s eyes, he opted to patiently wait until he was ready to speak. Talking about his powers may well have been a very personal matter to him. In the midst of waiting for Kain to respond, his food arrived. Maleek quickly had it brought in and placed in front of Kain. He dismissed Glacia as soon as she set the tray down. She had brought seasoned groteit, a large goat like animal that the Fortems bred, with a side of baked potatoes. The baked potatoes were heavily seasoned as well and had cheese drizzled on top. In consideration of Kain¡¯s lack of food consumption over the week, the portions were exceptionally generous. Even so, the meal was a little shabby for what he should be offering. The chef wasn¡¯t given time to prepare, the food on the table was most likely leftovers from dinner. By the way Kain was gobbling it up though, he didn¡¯t seem to mind. Thankfully, Glacia had brought a pitcher of water as well as two glasses with the food. Maleek poured himself some water and took a few sips. Noticing Kain was taking regular gances at him, he adjusted his position to appear more relaxed. He had a rather large build, it would definitely be intimidating to a boy of Kain¡¯s age. This should calm his nerves a little. ¡°So we were talking about your unnaturally long ¡®sleep¡¯. Does that often happen after you use sahir?¡± Kain slowly swallowed the food in his mouth, ¡°I¡¯ve never used it previously. I don¡¯t know if it''s natural or unnatural.¡± Maleek tilted his head slightly, ¡°You¡¯ve never used your powers before?¡± ¡°If I remember correctly you were there that night.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°So you know the nature of my powers. They¡¯re not exactly typical.¡± Kain quickly took a mouthful of groteit. ¡°That is true. Hmm.¡± Maleek paused to think. Judging by the pillar of light that preceded Kain bursting out of the barn, that was either the awakening of his powers or he¡¯d never used them in town before. It would have been impossible to miss it. It legitimately looked like the light was beaming down from the heavens. So he¡¯s a complete beginner. Perfect! ¡°Would you like to learn how to use those powers Mr. Basileus?¡± Kain¡¯s mouth stopped moving. The fork in his hand seemingly froze as well. He looked at Maleek for awhile before quickly chewing and swallowing. That definitely got his attention. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, I¡¯m too young to join the garrison?¡± Maleek smiled, ¡°You are indeed correct, but I don¡¯t speak of you becoming a soldier. I speak of you becoming my pupil.¡± Kain put the fork down and straightened his back, ¡°You wish to be my mentor?¡± ¡°If you would like to become a malsir, I can definitely aid you along that path.¡± ¡°You can, can you¡­¡± Kain closed his eyes. He seemed to be contemplating the proposition. It was an offer with very clear merits and seemingly no demerits, Maleek felt Kain would definitely accept. He didn¡¯t, but he didn¡¯t decline either. He instead asked an array of questions from how he would pay to how long he would have to remain Maleek¡¯s student. Questions about what he would be taught were not forgotten either. Ultimately, after a few back and forths, he did accept the offer. There was only one condition, Maleek would have to help him convince his mother. He had met her a number of times and, them both being Imurian, they got along very well. He was rather confident that could be accomplished. ¡°Just to be sure, have your eyes always been like that?¡± Kain looked at Maleek confused, ¡°Been like what?¡± Chapter 15: Martha ¡°Good morning Martha, how is it today?¡± Martha looked up from the book she was quietly reading to return the greeting, ¡°Morning Sandra. I¡¯m honestly fine. It barely hurts.¡± Sandra giggled, ¡°Better safe than sorry, Kain wouldn¡¯t be too happy if he woke up to you limping around.¡± She sat in the wooden chair next to Marta¡¯s bed. The chair was placed by Martha¡¯s feet, allowing Sandra to quickly examine it with ease. She unraveled the cloth around her ankle and felt around, taking note of Martha¡¯s reaction to certain probing. It seemed she was being honest. The swelling was down and there wasn¡¯t much noticeable discomfort. That being said, Martha was a tough one. She could very easily be feigning. Sandra applied some ointment and rewrapped it. ¡°See?¡± ¡°Well. Everything seems to have healed, but I¡¯ll tell Mark to look at it again before we go visit Kain.¡± Sandra moved the chair back. ¡°You guys worry about me too much, Kain¡¯s been asleep for a whole week now.¡± Martha, while appreciating the care, did not enjoy being pampered so much. She had not been allowed to do work of any kind for the past seven days. Sandra and Mark wouldn¡¯t allow it, even if it didn¡¯t require movement. She hated it. She spent every day laying in bed, left with nothing to do but think. None of those thoughts were good. She feared for her son, in more ways than one. Even though Mark and the healer Maleek brought over both confirmed he was alive, she was still incredibly worried. Comas were so uncommon for humans they didn¡¯t even have a word for them. Martha couldn¡¯t understand why her baby wouldn¡¯t open his eyes. On the upside, their house had not been one of the casualties of the bandit¡¯s attempted raid. While the house was small and didn¡¯t contain anything particularly valuable, the money they had collected was hidden in the several holes dug into the ground, she had worked hard to buy that house. She was incredibly grateful that it survived the fires. Beyond the fact that finding a new house would be incredibly difficult, that house had so much history for their little family. When she moved to Bruyn, she didn¡¯t have a coin to her name. She slept in a tent for three years, occasionally sleeping in taverns when she could afford to, before she was able to buy that house. It was much smaller back then. There were no bedrooms, there was only a small kitchen and a decent size living room. Decent sized meaning that it could fit a single mattress and a couch snugly. Martha cried herself to sleep the day she was officially handed the deed. She had worked many jobs over those three years, some barely provided enough for her to eat well. Before the town started getting a real grip on the food market in the area, there was a serious lack of farmers. It was far more profitable to work in the mines or as a soldier for one of the barons. The baron of Bruyn himself owned another town to the south west with a rather profitable mine. He actively took able bodied men away from Bruyn to further his profits there. As such, apart from the families that owned the farms, most of the workers on them were women. Martha toiled there for two years. In her free time she worked several odd jobs. Bartending, washing clothes, babysitting, anything she could do that would make a few more coins. In doing those side jobs she stumbled upon a talent she never knew she had, tailoring. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. There was only two tailors in town at the time. The ratio of work to workers was way too much for them. Martha, seeing that they paid quite a bit more than her main farming job, used a few chunks of her spare time to learn how to be a tailor. After learning the basics and earning the trust of the owner of the shop, they hired her full time. Being no stranger to heavy work loads, she dove right into the work. As the only tailors in town, they did everything from the thin overalls the farmers used to the silk gowns the burgeoning upper class used. It offered Martha a wealth of experience. Experience she absorbed. After a few years of success, the shop had expanded. With more staff, the owner of the shop started delegating the work more. With a rival tailor opening up, quality control grew in importance. Martha had been given the green light to work solely on the products they sold to the wealthy. She had proven her skill and dedication to the craft. Over time, with her occupation settled and money less tight, she commissioned for her little home to be expanded. Now, many years down the line, she no longer worked at the shop. She was a private tailor, working by commission. While it paid decently, Kain¡¯s school fees largely counteracted it. There was still a bit of profit and if she wanted to she could live a slightly more luxurious lifestyle, but that money was being saved for when Kain moved up to the fensir level. The fees for that level were astronomical. That being said, it shouldn¡¯t be hard for a professional to find a decent job that paid well. Schools took full advantage of that. All things considered, Kain should have qualified for a full scholarship. In fact, he overqualified for one. Sadly his meteoric rise worked against him again. As soon as his mother gave the impression that she could pay, the school made sure to not spend a bit on Kain¡¯s education. Anything that could be used as ammunition against their institution had to be avoided. Martha ultimately didn¡¯t mind. She wasn¡¯t going to use the money for much anyway. The more money one had to spend, the more problems. She was far more comfortable saving it all for Kain¡¯s future. Sandra stood up and put her hands on her hips, ¡°You¡¯re the one that worries too much. He¡¯ll be fine, even the healer said so.¡± Martha looked down at the book in her hands, ¡°Still¡­¡± ¡°Still nothing. You know they¡¯re still looking for him? They¡¯re almost fanatical.¡± A large contingent of the townsfolk had started seeing Kain as more than just a very powerful malsir. They were starting to take his nickname, ¡®God¡¯s Disciple¡¯, quite literally. They scoured the streets in search of him, looking for any clues they could find. They managed to uncover the fact that Martha was his mother. Fortunately, with Martha resting with Sandra and Mark, they didn¡¯t manage to track her down. Mrs. Fidel, the woman that Kain protected alongside his mother, was instead tracked down and bombarded with questions. She didn¡¯t know anything and was still reeling from the shock of almost losing her children so she didn¡¯t handle it too well. Her husband was forced to call some guards to help shoo the fanatics away. They even questioned Sandra at a point, but she was so far removed from the situation in their eyes that they quickly bought her story of ignorance. ¡°It might even be better for his to sleep for a little while longer¡± Martha lightly slapped Sandra¡¯s thigh, ¡°Stop it!¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying, you don¡¯t want to get involved with a crowd like that. I can¡¯t imagine what they¡¯d do if the actually saw Kain.¡± She took a step towards the door, ¡°I need to run to the market quickly. Riley¡¯s still upstairs, if you need anything give her a shout. I¡¯ll be back in a bit with breakfast.¡± ¡°Okay. Thank you Sandra.¡± Martha looked up at Sandra, a genuine, if a bit sad, smile on her face. ¡°Now you stop that.¡± Sandra smiled back, ¡°Just focus on resting. Think of this as a little vacation after all these years.¡± They both giggled. Chapter 16: Pieces Unknown "Commander Ericson! Commander Ericson!" The commander closed the reports he was reading and looked at the woman frantically running into his office. She had a knack for making loud rackets. He could already guess what she wanted to speak to him about, but it wasn''t a conversation he wished to have. He sighed. "What is it now Lieutenant?" "Femi''s been captured!" "I''ve been made aware." The woman was stunned for a moment, but she rebounded quickly. "I''ve seen no reports of a rescue squad being sent out. Femi would die before he spilled our secrets. If he''s left there too long, they''ll dispose of him." The commander stood up. Taking in a deep breath, he walked towards her. It was a slow walk, a heavy walk. The kind of walk nothing good accompanied. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Commander..?" He shook his head, "We''re signing an armistice soon. They''ll be making an announcement in the coming days. We''ve been instructed to refrain from any actions that may negatively affect that." The woman, who was previously looking at the commander face to face, slowly lowered her head. She could read between the lines. She knew what he was implying. Her brain didn''t want to believe it true, but her experience didn''t allow her to foolishly give herself false impressions. She stood, commander''s hand still on her shoulder, and silently stared at the floor. "So. You''re...we''re abandoning him. We''re abandoning him," she looked back up at her commander. There were no tears, but the sorrow he saw forced him to step back. She had a special relationship with him. He knew how important he was to her. How closely she stuck to him. He was the catalyst that made her what she was today. He didn''t have to guess what she thought of a life without him, her face showed all. "So...after all this. After all these years. We''re just going to throw him out?" "We are no¡ª-¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. She exploded, "That''s exactly what you''re doing!" Commander Ericson had never seen her yell so angrily before. He had never seen her so visibly shaken. He knew her reaction would be anything but happy, that it was always going to be this way, but seeing it live was almost painful. A moment of silence passed. It inched by, agonizingly. The commander maintained eye contact with her throughout. She broke it. Moving to leave she stopped by the door, "Don''t you dare sugarcoat it." Exiting, the commander was left standing in the middle of his office. He sighed and returned to his desk. I told him not to take the mission. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Twinhead Draakon Headquarters, Unknown Jeffrey stormed through the hall. His heavy steps reverberated throughout it. The many guards and guild members he passed moved away from him, all intimidated by the aura he was giving off. Reaching the end of the hallway, the guards at the door saluted him. Nodding he asked, ¡°Is Arthur in?¡± The guard on the left replied, ¡°He¡¯s with Mr. Clive. The Johnson Group have made a request.¡± Jeffery¡¯s eyes betrayed his excitement at the news, ¡°Oh? When did it come in?¡± Looking to his left, he saw his fellow guard shrug. ¡°We don¡¯t know the details, just that they made a request¡± ¡°Alright nevermind, I¡¯m heading in.¡± The guards saluted Jeffery again as they opened the door for him. Beyond the first set of doors there was another. This one had no handle or doorknob. To the right of barren door there was a glowing blue orb with a sign that read ¡®Grip Firmly¡¯. Lazily grasping the orb, Jeffery could feel the shair begin the cover his person. It searched up and down his body, gathering at any and all places a form of metal was present. After a few seconds he no longer felt the rush of sahir, he instead was left with the sight of his trusted twin blades, as well as various other bits of metal scattered across is uniform, glowing in rhythm with the door knob. Staring absentmindedly at the phenomenon, still bewildered at how it all worked, another guard came from the inside doors. ¡°Oh, Jeff¡± She greeted. ¡°Still only carrying those two blades of yours I see¡± ¡°Yet I still haven¡¯t lost a battle,¡± a smile crept onto his face for the first time today. The guard rolled her eyes ¡°How long will that last I wonder?¡± ¡°Whenever I do lose, however many years that may take, a hidden blade or two probably wouldn''t make a difference.¡± Jeffery shrugged, exaggerating his shoulders a bit. ¡°Right, right¡± The guard gestured for him to walk through. Walking past the long conference table, Jeffery could see his leader, Arthur, and the third seat, William, discussing something. Assuming it was regarding the request they just received, he quickened his pace. Arthur, seeing him coming, coughed loudly in an attempt to alert William of Jeffery¡¯s arrival. ¡°Boss! I heard The Johnson Group has made a request. Why haven¡¯t I been sent out yet?¡± Jeffery questioned. Cutting in before Arthur could respond ¡°You know very well why. The banditry going on in the east right now is far too widespread to send out just one team. You, Ice, and I are the only seats at homebase, do you intend to leave our headquarters undefended? Unless of course you wish to send your team to their deaths.¡± William turned to look Jeffery in the eyes. Taken aback, Jeffery struggled for a retort. Seeing this, Arthur quickly jumped in ¡°Look, theres no need for hostilities. Will and I were just discussing what to do about the problems cropping up in the east. I know that''s where you call home. For that reason, despite what Wills outburst would have you believe, we are trying to figure out a way to handle it in the safest and most effective manner possible. Come, grab a chair¡± Hearing his leaders words, Jeffery calmed down somewhat and pulled a chair over to take a seat. ¡°Now. Jeff. I understand you want to run over there right now and kick those bandits out. Personally, so do I. The problem is, it''s not just one or two or three or even four bandit groups. There are seven.¡± Seeing Jeffery readying to speak up, Arthur quickly added ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure you believe that wouldn''t be too much of a problem for you. It may very well not be, but overconfidence is deadly. Plus, you have a whole team to look after. They wouldn¡¯t fare as well. As much as I would like to rush there right now we need to gather the appropriate forces first. Will.¡± William, taking the que, explained further ¡°the Johnson Group didn¡¯t only contact us.¡± After passing Jeffery the request notice they received he continued, ¡°they¡¯ve made us aware of the fact that they would like us to cooperate with the Drexon Mercenaries of the south and Goldenheart from the capital. All three groups will be meeting in the capital in a weeks time to discuss how to proceed.¡± Giving the document a quick scan, Jeffery muttered ¡°You could have just said that from the start¡± Somewhat angered, William replied ¡°and you could have waited until hearing the details before demanding to send your team to their deaths.¡± ¡°Drop it you guys¡± Arthur sighed. ¡°Oh ho ho. You guys having fun without me?¡± Arthur lifted his head towards the door, smiling upon seeing the face of the new arrival. ¡°Welcome back! How was the trip?¡± ¡°More interesting than I expected. The actual mission took little more than a day. The ¡®monsters¡¯ they were so afraid of were just overgrown pigs. That part was a bit boring¡± William rolled his eyes, ¡°Only you would call a trip through Dread Valley to fight Dreadnons boring¡±. Shrugging, he continued ¡°Eh. Whatever. Anyway, after I finished that I decided to head east. While I was at the taverns I heard a lot of noise about bandits running amok.¡± Arthur jumped in, ¡°Wait. You went east?¡± ¡°Yeah. You won¡¯t believe what I saw.¡± Chapter 17: Burdens [The Blood] Kain had returned to bed and was laying with his face sunk deep into a pillow. His conversation with Maleek, while quite informational, brought progressly worse news. First came confirmation that he had actually been unconscious for a week. He had originally thought he was only knocked out for a day, losing consciousness in the middle of the night and waking up the following evening. That fact that his powers left him incapacitated for so long made him quite a bit more than worried. Fortunately, Maleek¡¯s offer to train him softened that blow. While Kaige, the name they settled on for the voice in his head, supposedly knew how to use sahir already, all he could do in regards to Kain was expel and absorb sahir. He couldn¡¯t make Kain make use of it in any way. The fact that absorbing sahir into the body was possible peeked Kain¡¯s interest, as far as the world knew no flesh organism absorbed sahir. He couldn¡¯t delve deeper into the topic though, he had more pressing concerns. While he had been unconscious for a week, a cult dedicated to him had popped up. Maleek thought the word ¡®cult¡¯ was a bit of an exaggeration, but to Kain it was a very fitting description. A group of people who mindlessly revered a person to the point that they harassed others in hopes of merely meeting him was nothing short of a cult. Kain was not religious by any sense and even deeper than that he didn¡¯t believe in idolizing, be it a person, thing, or concept. He was instead a devout believer in taking things into your own hands, not hoping that someone or something else would handle it for you. To him reverence was, in whatever form, both unpracticed and unwanted. Alas, the world didn¡¯t think like him and he had neither the means. the desire, nor the time to change that. The only reason he couldn''t simply shrug off the ¡®cult¡¯s¡¯ existence was the fact that, based on his appearance, they had some grounds. His pupils were missing. At least they appeared to be, replaced by a faint red glow seemingly coming from behind his eyeball. The glow outlined his completely white eyes, with red. It was an unsettling sight, even more so when you considered what was on Kain¡¯s head. He had been somewhat bemused when Maleek questioned whether his eyes had always been ¡®that¡¯ way, but he was truly lost when Maleek started describing what he meant. Practically running to the mirror, he was stunned by what he saw. White hair and white eyes, it was a combination that didn¡¯t exist. Either of the two were anomalies in their own right, having both almost assuredly proved what the ¡®cult¡¯ believed about him to be true. He definitely couldn¡¯t be a regular person. Even someone deemed as ¡®special¡¯ would be hard pressed to have anything as remotely unique about them. That was not even taking into account the other abnormalities that Kain kept extremely well hidden. I was content you know...life wasn¡¯t great, but it was good. I had a warm home, a bright future... Mmhm. ...I¡¯d have been a fensir any week now. Mom could stop working, maybe find a new husband¡­ True. ...We could¡¯ve moved to a better house, maybe even start a proper business of our own. It was good. Everything was good. But no, god must have thought I was having it too good and this is his way of fucking with me¡­ Yeah.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ...There¡¯s no way I can live a normal life after this. I can use Sahirlah for fuck¡¯s sake. No one can do that¡­ Mmhm. ...Hell. Even if I could successfully hide that, white hair and white eyes? How the fuck am I supposed to hide those? The hair sure, but unless I go blind there¡¯s no way I can hide the fact I have no pupils. True. Kain lifted himself off the pillow and turned around. Staring at the ceiling, he sighed. I should have known. It was obvious¡­ Yeah. ...I¡¯ve never been normal. Ever since I¡ª. A knock came at the door. It was probably Glacia coming to tell him the bathroom was ready. Kain and Maleek¡¯s conversation had only recently ended. After Kain saw himself in the mirror, he was at a loss for words. Maleek correctly surmised that his eyes looking the way they did was a recent development. Seeing that Kain appeared more shocked than he was, he proposed Kain take a bath to freshen up and clear his mind. They could brainstorm causes and solutions after. Kain easily agreed. Imurian baths were more or less hot tubs, it was the perfect place to relax. Unfortunately, to enjoy that experience the tub had to be filled with water then heated. The few minutes it took to do that gave Kain thinking time. He spent it well. ¡°Come in.¡± The door opened, but to Kain¡¯s surprise the woman that entered was not Glacia. The armor she wore was the same style as Glacia¡¯s, but her¡¯s was darker. There were also two medals on her chest. The woman bowed, ¡°Good evening Mr. Basileus. My name is Christel Livius, an arberdir serving under Sir and Madam Fortem. I was sent to inform you that the bath has been prepared. I ask that you make haste, Madam Fortem would like to speak with you after you have refreshed yourself.¡± If it weren¡¯t for the armor, Kain would have thought the woman was a pure maid. Kain had assumed the arberdirs in the Fortem household were more bodyguards than they were housemaids, but apparently Glacia was the exception and not the rule. Or not. This woman could be¡ªwait. Madam? Kain sat up, ¡°Excuse me, did you say madam?¡± The woman nodded, ¡°Yes.¡± Why do I have a bad feeling about that. Because you always have a bad feeling. Ouh. More than one syllable? First of all, ¡®Mmhm¡¯ is two syllables. Second, did you actually expect me to listen to you complain about being special? It''s not about being special, it¡¯s...You know what? Forget it. Realizing he had left the arberdir hanging, he quickly voiced his thanks and affirmed he¡¯d head to the bathroom immediately. The woman bowed again and left, closing the door behind her. Kain slowly slid off of the bed and into his slippers, he was growing fond of the smooth silky feel inside of them. He head for the door. A change of clothes had already been brought over. They hung on a short, metal bar drilled into the wall by the door. Kain picked them up and stretched his free hand to twist the doorknob. Opening the door, he paused. Glacia was standing guard outside. While the fact she was doing so wasn¡¯t particularly strange, it was her job after all, it made him think. She had no doubt been standing there well before he opened the door, yet he never knew. Something wasn¡¯t adding up and it had the cogs in his brain turning. Kaige. How did you know she was coming to the room before? Chapter 18: Relief [The Blood] What? When I was at the door before, you knew she was coming. How? Ah! Oh. I can sense her. ¡­ With sahir. I can sense her with sahir. ...how? Ugh. Okay. So you understand that everything contains sahir. Yeah. Well that sahir isn¡¯t the same. There are minute differences between the sahir in the door and the sahir in the doorknob for example. Okay. I can sense those differences so I can tell that the doorknob is different from the door. And because of that when Glacia was walking through the hall you could tell the difference between her sahir and the sahir in the...air? More or less. Have you always been able to do that? To a degree, yeah. The range was rather limited though. I¡¯m assuming the range increased when you ¡®activated¡¯ my powers? For someone who used to rant to others about needing to accept reality, you really struggle to do it yourself. Yes, yes it did. Right. Anyway am I right in assuming you¡¯re the reason my eyes glow red?The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. You would think so, but no its not me. I ran some tests while you were asleep and I definitely have no control over that. You ran tests? How? Like what? Wait no. Asleep? You knew my eyes looked like this? Obviously, that''s sahir coming out of your eye sockets. But that''s only as far as the red glow, I have no idea where your pupils have gone. Okay...fair I guess. The testing? Nothing serious. I just tried to expel sahir in specific locations on your body. I couldn¡¯t. It¡¯s an all or nothing deal. Are you saying the all knowing sahir sage doesn¡¯t know something about sahir? No. If your sahir is being expelled, its either because of me or it''s because of you. I was simply testing if it could have been me. It couldn¡¯t. So you¡¯re saying¡­ ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Glacia was at a loss for what to do. Kain had opened the door clearly with the intent to head to the bathroom, but he stopped before even passing the door frame. She assumed he was merely startled by the fact she was standing guard outside his door, most civilians weren¡¯t used to having guards at their door. She quickly realized that wasn¡¯t the case. He wasn¡¯t startled, he was frozen. He didn¡¯t move a muscle. Being that the last thing he looked at before practically freezing in time was her, his eyes were staring right through her. It rattled her a little. Fortunately it only lasted a few moments, he quickly apologized and kindly asked her for directions. She had actually been tasked with guiding him to the bathroom so instead of telling him where to go, she lead him there. The walk wasn¡¯t particularly long, but it was long enough for Kain¡¯s silence to be noticable. Glacia took a couple peeks behind her to see if he was okay. He was following her just fine, but his face looked distinctly expressionless. It seemed almost mechanical. It was nothing like when he was with Mr. Fortem. They soon arrived at the bathroom. Kain thanked her with a slight bow and entered. Glacia, like all the arberdirs under the Fortems, was quite interested in Kain. They didn¡¯t really know anything about him other than the fact he was asleep for a ridiculously long time. He was a child that could get Mr. Fortem worked up however, he had to be really special to accomplish that. There were rumors going around that he was the so called ¡®God¡¯s Disciple¡¯ that everyone in town was looking for. Up until she saw his eyes, she didn¡¯t believe it. Even after seeing them, she had her doubts. They weren¡¯t doubts that he was the young, Imurian malsir in the rumors though. They were doubts he was as powerful as those rumors claimed. Having gone through that weird situation with him however, she was starting to feel like he definitely had something off about him. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª That''s basically how it works. Okay...but how does that help me get rid of the glow? It doesn¡¯t. I was just explaining why it''s there in the first place. To get rid of it... Chapter 19: New Horizons [The Blood] Kain walked out of the changing room feeling refreshed. While the bath played a part in relaxing him, it was the return of his pupils that truly soothed him. While he was lounging in the warm water, Kaige gave him a lesson on how sahir flowed and changed form constantly. While he could understand some of the basic principles, the bulk of what Kaige said went right over his head. Nevertheless, he still figured out how to stop leaking sahir out of his eyes. So he did. At least Kaige said he did, he couldn¡¯t sense sahir and there were no mirrors in the bathroom. There was a separate changing room next to it for that. Kain was tempted to quickly run too it to check, but he controlled himself. He was in too nice a home to be moving around wet and half naked. He instead settled on filling a large bucket with water and trying to see his reflection that way. It was muddled, but he¡¯d seen all he needed to see. He had his pupils back. They were lighter than he remembered his dark brown eyes being, but he didn¡¯t care. They looked normal. He jumped back into the bath ecstatic. Glacia clearly noticed the change, but she didn¡¯t bring it. She just asked if he was ready to see the madam and lead the way when he said yes. The journey was significantly longer than Kain expected. It wasn¡¯t unbelievably long, but walking for two minutes without reaching your destination was a bit much to him. Especially considering he had to walk up two different flights of stairs. Arriving at a pair of double doors with arberdirs on both sides, Glacia turned and addressed him, ¡°This is the Madam¡¯s private study. Please be respectful, do not touch anything unless prompted to, do not speak unless spoken to. Do you understand?¡± Kain¡¯s right eyebrow creeped upward. He didn¡¯t recall the Fortems being nobility. He was thankful that they were taking care of him, but asking him to treat them like nobles was excessive. He had just spoken to her husband with no problem, he wasn¡¯t given a ¡®be respectful¡¯ speech then. He didn¡¯t like it. ¡°I understand.¡± Glacia lightly nodded, ¡°Good.¡± Turning back around she informed one of the arberdirs that Kain was ready. They turned to him and looked him over. He didn¡¯t appreciate it, but there was no point being worked up over nothing. The arberdir then knocked on the door four times. Within a few moments the door was quickly opened and closed. Another arberdir had emerged, this one was a very dark Imurian. Goddamn. How many do these guys have? At least 21. What? How do...you sensed them? Yeah. Which leads me to say, be careful. That room is actively repeling sahir. I can¡¯t see inside it. Fun. While Kain was processing the information Kaige just provided him, the arberdirs were wrapping up their conversations with one another. The ¡®extra chocolate¡¯ arberdir, as Kain thought of her, instructed him to follow her inside. He thanked Glacia for guiding him and followed her into the study. The door was immediately closed behind him, but Kain was too stunned by what was in front of him to notice. There were many potential scenarios that Kain could see occuring when he entered the room, none of them were even close to reality. The reality in front of him was so far from what he imagined it almost felt like his imagination. He wanted to say something, to ask if they were messing with him, but there were five arberdirs in the room and they didn¡¯t look like they¡¯d react kindly to it.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Madam Fortem spoke instead, ¡°Kain. I¡¯m glad to see you are well.¡± Kain¡¯s eyebrow threatened to resume its climb up his forehead. She wasn¡¯t facing him. In fact, he was looking directly at her back. She continued, ¡°I hope they¡¯ve served you dinner?¡± Kain took that as his que to respond, ¡°They have. Thank you very much for the hospitality.¡± He could see out of the corners of his eyes that some of the arberdirs were staring daggers at him. Hmph. There was no need for that. Kain had ¡®forgotten¡¯ to address her as madam. If done in the presence of a true noble, it could very well be grounds for an execution. It would be a reach, but its been done countless times before. Customs and traditions were very important to nobles. To not appropriately address them was a grave insult. If they were nobles. Madam Fortem paid it no mind as she continued on, ¡°Think nothing of it. What kind of people would we be if we didn¡¯t help a fellow Imurian in need?¡± She stopped what she was doing and stood. Turning to face Kain, she smiled. Kain stopped himself from showing a reaction, she was far better looking than he thought she would be. It would be unnecessarily rude to appear shocked by that though. Kaige¡¯s whistling in his head didn¡¯t help. She gestured to one of the arberdirs, ¡°Teresa, show them out for me. Oh and call the children. I¡¯ll be in my living room.¡± Children? The arberdir bowed, ¡°Yes, madam.¡± Madam Fortem then turned her attention back to Kain. She didn¡¯t approach him though. She instead walking away, towards a door. ¡°Come Kain, we have much to discuss.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Outskirts of Arkthur, Alden Empire Saber looked at Arkthur¡¯s walls in contempt. They were pathetic. The men who guarded them were lazy and untrained. Their swords were dull and their guns were dusty. Peace had made them weak. Compared to him and his men, who trained in the fiercest of environments, against both men and beasts that would like nothing more than their deaths, they were merely children holding toys. Still, he couldn¡¯t act rashly. The men who guarded Arkthur may have been weak, but their reinforcements wouldn¡¯t be. The largest military academy in the Alden empire resided in Otger and Arkthur was in constant communication with them. If anything happened here, they would come running over immediately. Taking Arkthur would be a short lived victory. It was Saber¡¯s biggest frustration. Arkthur, and all the resources it provided, had been so close yet so far for years. He could only ever gaze at it from this very spot and wonder what could be. Knowing full well, he didn¡¯t have the power to truly take it. That was, until now. He smiled the widest of smiles. The fall of Arkthur was at hand. ¡°Aye, Sabe. Wolf¡¯s calling. There¡¯s a meeting going on.¡± Someone had come to ruin his fun. He sighed. It couldn¡¯t be helped, he wasn¡¯t taking the city with his own strength. He hopped down from the rock he was standing on and followed the man back to where he left his horse. His horse was a type of magical beast called a leqot. They were short, light brown horses found in the eastern section of the Imuru Republic. They were useless for long distance journeys, but nothing was better for sprints. At least if you valued you safety. Arriving at camp he could see there were a lot more people than before. When he left there were around 50 thousand people, now it looked like there was 100 thousand. Things were progressing smoothly. He left his horse at the stable for high ranking officers and headed for Wolf¡¯s residence. They had based their camp around a village, so many of the buildings were being repurposed for their use. He casually walked through the security checks and arrived at the conference room. Everyone else was present, they didn¡¯t look too pleased. Wolf especially, ¡°Wasting my time again Saber?¡± Saber sat down, ¡°How many months have I saved of it?¡± Wolf didn¡¯t like that response, but he also had no reply for it. He instead began the meeting. Chapter 20: The Fortems [The Blood] Kain followed Mrs. Fortem into what he assumed was her private living room. It was huge, much larger than the one in his bedroom. It may have been bigger than the room itself. There were two seperate seating areas. One faced a fire pit and the other surrounded a white piano. Each seating area had its own style, art, color palette, and chandelier. Mrs. Fortem strolled to one of the couches by the piano and sat down. Kain didn¡¯t follow suit, he opted to remain standing to the side of her. She called him over, ¡°Kain my dear, have a seat.¡± Kain wasn¡¯t keen, ¡°There¡¯s no need Mrs. I¡¯ve been laying down for¡ª¡± ¡°Nonsense, to leave my guest standing would bring shame to my house.¡± She clearly wasn''t having it. Kain didn¡¯t back down however, she was giving him an odd vibe. She clearly wanted something from him. He could make assumptions as to what it was, but it didn¡¯t matter. He wanted nothing to do with her, dealing with her husband was the far safer bet. ¡°I must insist. After being asleep for so long, I would like to take this chance to stretch my legs.¡± She was about to retort, but Kain quickly continued, ¡°Plus. I¡¯m merely a child you were generous enough to lend a helping hand. Considering that, It would be rude of me assume the role of a guest.¡± Mrs. Fortem smiled, ¡°Is that so?¡± She got up from the couch and stood in front of him. Kain was torn between appearing stoic or elusive. Being stoic would put a clear wall between them, something he would very much like, but it ran the risk of making her sour. He may want nothing to do with her, but he still needed her husband. His powers had no upside if they couldn¡¯t be used. He could very well find another malsir to teach him, but he wasn¡¯t willing to roll the dice on what the cost would be. They already had what appeared to be the beginnings of an amicable relationship, there was no need to overly jeopardize that. As such, he chose to be elusive. He¡¯d play her game, but only just. He¡¯d still keep his distance. Mentally that is. While Kain was configuring his approach, Mrs. Fortem was feeling his shoulder blades. He was standing with his hands crossed behind his back and the his posture was accentuating the broadness of his shoulders. He wasn¡¯t particularly large, for an Imurian he was only slightly taller than average, but to Mrs. Fortems surprise he had quite a bit of muscle. Whether it was from birth or his willingness to do manual labor, Kain was rather athletic. The muscle Mrs. Fortem was feeling in his chest wasn¡¯t bulky, but lean. She lifted her hands off his chest, lightly smirking in the processes, ¡°Is calling yourself a child not a bit mischievous?¡± Kain smiled awkwardly, ¡°I am only 16 Mrs, by la¡ª¡± ¡°By our culture you¡¯re already a man.¡± She let out a big smile, ¡°You would have trained your whole life for the day you would stand on your own and at the end of this year you would have been kicked out to do just that.¡± Kain coughed, ¡°I apologize, I do not know much about our culture. The schools here do not teach it sadly.¡± That was a lie. He had a friend named Jon and his parents had quite a few books about the Imuru Empire. There were a number of Imurian books in the library as well. Beyond just reading about it, he¡¯d heard many, many stores about life there too. His mother was the main narrator, but she had a host of friends that would share their own anecdotes. He was far from lacking in knowledge about Imurian culture. ¡°Sad indeed.¡± The smile on her face faded for a moment, but only a moment, ¡°But fortunately your mother was versed in our culture. She¡¯s raised a remarkable son.¡± Kain chuckled softly, ¡°You flatter me.¡± ¡°I do no such thing. You¡¯re strong, well mannered, and exceedingly bright. Your mother¡¯s clearly been prepping you to stand on your own two feet.¡± ¡°Your words are too kind, thank you.¡± Kain slightly bowed his head, ¡°But neither of us are ready for that. I¡¯m still my mother¡¯s son.¡± Mrs, Fortem quickly replied, ¡°And you always will be. Eve¡ª¡± What¡¯s she getting at? ¡­ Kaige? ¡­ KAIGE! Huh? What? What do you want? The hell are you doing? Analyzing some things ¡­ What does that mean? If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Ugh. The walls are¡ª Actually nevermind, how much of our conversation have you paid attention to? With who, her? No. The piano. Cute. None of it. Seriously? I apologize I¡¯ve been preoccupied with something a bit more interesting than a woman trying to wed her daughter. What? The Fortems don¡¯t have a daughter. They most definitely do. No they¡­ how do you know? They came to visit you. A lot. How do you know she was her daughter? Surely their sahir can¡¯t tell you that? No, your ears were all I needed. Unless she has random girls running around call her mother, they¡ª Cutting off the conversations he was having with both Kaige and Mrs. Fortem, the door opened. Kain was rather thankful, he wasn¡¯t enjoying the direction either conversation was heading. He quickly realized however, that whoever the intruder was didn¡¯t knock. The list of people who could get away with such a thing couldn¡¯t be long. Having been facing away from the door, he couldn¡¯t see who it was. He hoped it was Mr.Fortem, but before he could turn to have his hopes crushed he heard their voice. ¡°You called mother?¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Maleek was furious.When his wife had asked to meet Kain before he talked with him further, he should have known she was up to something. At the time he thought she merely wanted to meet the boy he had such high hopes for, but he was wrong. Very wrong. They¡¯re daughters hadn¡¯t been seen by anyone outside their estate in almost two decades. 16 years ago, a year after his oldest daughter was born, a group of men had attempted to kidnap her. Her nanny had taken her outside to give her a bit of fresh air, she did so every morning. It had been apart of their morning routine for a few months when the attack happened. Maleek had been an influential figure in Bruyn for many, many years. The men had hoped to ransom the girl for a part of the wealth he had grown in those years. They failed, but how close they came to succeeding haunted him. Keeping them hidden had worked out quite well over the years. He had the resources to hire private tutors so they never lacked for education and most of the town only knew he had sons. Until they were legally an adults, he wished for things to stay that way. Yet, his wife had risked it all just to introduce them to Kain. It was infuriating, but he calmed himself. Kain was walking a few strides behind him. Maleek turned his head to check on him, they had walked in silence since he took him from his wife¡¯s living room. Peeking over his shoulder, his eyes were greeted with the sight of Kain staring stoically ahead. The sight didn¡¯t last too long though, Kain¡¯s eyes quickly moved to meet his. Hmm. So this is what his eyes look like naturally. ¡°Yes?¡± Kain was wondering why Maleek was staring right at him. Maleek turned back to facing forward, ¡°Oh nothing. Um.¡± He paused. ¡°So your eyes, they¡¯re back to normal I see.¡± Kain didn¡¯t respond immediately. Maleek felt the urge to turn again, but he quelled it. After a few more steps of silence, he replied. ¡°Not exactly.¡± The reply came out stuttered, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how common grey eyes are, but mine were brown.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, it makes the white hair seem less out of place.¡± Kain sighed, ¡°That¡¯s not exactly a good thing.¡± Maleek smiled, ¡°You could just cut it off. The hair I mean.¡± ¡°And go bald like you? Never.¡± Maleek chuckled this time, ¡°Youth.¡± They were close to his office now. They didn¡¯t really have much to do when they got their though, his biggest concern was out of the way and discussions about meeting his daughters would have to wait for another time. He wasn¡¯t presently prepared to start that conversation. Reaching the door of his office, he saw two arberdirs standing beside it. One of them was Glacia, he had instructed her to wait there for him. She was the one that broke the news that Kain and his daughters were both in his wife¡¯s office. ¡°Glacia, take the rest of the night off. I¡¯ll have Joanna check in early.¡± Glacia was stunned, ¡°But..bu¡ª¡± Maleek silenced her, ¡°No buts, thats an order.¡± Glacia struggled to agree, but under the stern gaze of Maleek she soon folded, ¡°Yes sir.¡± She saluted him and walked off. Maleek turned to face the other arberdir, ¡°Go call Joanna for me.¡± She saluted him and walked off as well. With no one but Kain left in the hallway, he turned to face him. He didn¡¯t have anything he particularly wanted to say at the moment, but he had to fill the time until Joanna arrived. ¡°Well. With the issue of your eyes already solved, I don¡¯t have any pressing issues to discuss. Do you?¡± Kain replied instantly, ¡°There are somethings I want to talk to you about, but nothing I¡¯d call pressing.¡± ¡°Well. We have a few minutes to kill, ¡± Kain shrugged, ¡°Okay. You seem to have a lot of arberdirs around, why is that?¡± Fyk. Maleek lightly bit his tongue. The question Kain asked was innocent enough, but the honest answer to it would directly relate to his daughters. He had to tell a bit of a white lie, ¡°That''s a long tale, but I suppose I can share a part of it¡± Maleek told Kain a story of how Imurian women that crossed the border to the Alden Empire during and in the aftermath of the fall of the Imuru Empire were heavily abused. He told of how they struggled to find jobs and find homes, of how they lived under constant fear of physical and sexual assault. He told a very grim tale. In trying to aid these women, he gave them a job to work and a safe place to stay. It was his duty, his obligation. It was fairly true too. While many points were exaggerated to capture Kain¡¯s attention as well as push the conclusion of his tale further back, they were grounded in truths. Fortunately, Joanna showed up before Maleek reached the conclusion of his story. He breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Ah Joanna! It appears we¡¯ll have to continue this another time. Joanna you will be starting you shift early today, show Kain to his bedroom.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± She saluted, Kain said good night, and they both headed off. Maleek sighed as he watched them walk away. As soon as they were gone he turned towards his arberdir. "Call my wife for me." Chapter 21: Martha 2 The next morning Maleek had an arberdir go inform Martha that Kain had woken up and was in good health. She, as anything mother would, rushed over immediately. Frantically running through the halls of the Fortem¡¯s home, she reached their guest room. Throwing the door open, she saw her son, awake. She saw him sitting on the bed, but she didn¡¯t enter. She just stared at him. He stood up from the bed and smiled at her. ¡°Hi mom.¡± She practically jumped on him. Clutching him in a bear hug, she ignored everything else around her. There were voices all around her, but she couldn¡¯t hear any of them. She wept. When she saw him turn red, she was too confused to understand what was going on. It felt like her mind was playing tricks on her. The mayhem that followed made her lose track of him, when she got out of the barn, there were tens of bodies around. It horrified her. After looking around for awhile, she finally found her son. He was laying by a malsir, unconscious. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. In the days that followed she would learn that the malsir was the Maleek Fortem, her son was more than just unconscious, and all the dead bodies she saw were caused by him. It was a lot to take in, too much to take in. Sandra and Mark made her stay with them under the guise of treating her ankle, but it was really to watch her mental health. Martha wasn¡¯t just concerned with her son¡¯s health, she was concerned he was not the person she knew. The kind, gentle boy she had raised. Only a monster would have been able to kill so many people. Her son was no monster. He wasn¡¯t. She told herself that constantly, but it never soothed the fears. The fact he wasn¡¯t waking up only worsened them. She tried her best not to show it, but she was afraid. Her son was her everything, she couldn¡¯t imagine losing him. She couldn¡¯t afford to. She had lost everything once, she couldn¡¯t do it a second time. She could not. When she finally saw him awake she was anxious, fearful. She didn¡¯t know what would happen, she didn¡¯t know what she should say, she didn¡¯t know what he would say. In the end, she did nothing. His warm smile was all it took to lift her fear. A simple ¡®hi mom¡¯ was all it took to stop her anxiety. In the end he was still her kind, gentle son. He was still Kain. Chapter 22: Hollow Walls [The Blood] ¡°No.¡± Maleek blinked in disbelief. He had just spent the past twenty minutes explaining why Kain needed to learn to control his powers and how he could help accomplish that. Martha had seemed to understand what he was saying, but she evidently didn¡¯t agree. Composing himself, Maleek asked her why she said no. Martha replied matter-of-factly, ¡°Kain isn¡¯t a soldier so he doesn¡¯t need training from one.¡± Maleek was bemused further. He turned to look at Kain, but all he received was a shrug in response. This is going to be tough. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª There were thirteen months in an Ethelian year. The year being 324 days long. The first properly compiled calendar to represent this was devised by a nation long dead on a continent to the north east of Lysken. They didn¡¯t create names for the months, they instead used the seasons. As the winds of trade and conquest blew over Ethel, the calendar tagged along. Even as it passed through millions of hands, it remained largely unchanged. Somewhere along the line it was given a name however, the ¡®ventio calendar¡¯. It was a short version of ¡®regelto di ventio¡¯, which meant ¡®gift of the wind¡¯. Before its arrival most civilizations used the cycles of the two moons to tell what time of year it was. There were some notable outliers like the yorctics and the fryse. The yorctics were an amphibian race, there were many species within, but the most advanced used the tides to measure the weeks and months. The fryse were a group of enlightened magical beasts. They didn¡¯t measure time in any capacity. They¡¯re biological immortality made it a fruitless venture. Twelve of the thirteen months had 24 days exactly, a week being a six day time period. Those twelve months contained what were considered the three seasons. Vatra was the first season. It lasted the first three months of the year and was hot, in some places unbearably so. The clouds rarely came out, fortunately the rain of the previous season left the ground fertile enough for agriculture. The days were long and the air was at times dry. Coastal and tropical cities were the only places people properly enjoyed Vatra. The following season was Voda, the calm season. Sitting in between the heat of Vatra and the cold of Vrzli, Voda lasted five months. In some respects it was the perfect season. Days ranged from warm to cool, the land was graced with rain ever so often, and the sun never stayed beyond its welcome. Vrzli, for most of Lysken, was terrible. Sunlight was a myth, hail-like snowfall was not uncommon, and without very thick clothing going outside was akin to attending a date with death. The seasons weren¡¯t universal across Ethel, some were colder across the board or warmer across the board, but most places didn¡¯t diverge drastically from the norm. The Lysken continent specifically was located north of the equator, the hottest area on Ethel, and had terrible Vrzlis. That meant that wars weren¡¯t often waged during or around it. It was incredibly hard to do so, but even if one accomplished it, it would come at the cost of many men and resources. It was very rarely worth it and Wolf knew that. It was the 22nd day of the 5th month of Voda. Vrzli wasn¡¯t just around the corner, it was here. Wolf stood on the south-western side of Arkthur with a telescope. He gazed at it smiling. It was nighttime, but the light coming from both within and around its walls illuminated the city. He could make out all the details. He could see the men standing guard on the walls, the canons that lined them, the camps full of wouldbe refuges pitched outside them. Taking in all the information, his smile only grew wider. He could see his men slowly approaching those very walls. As soon as the men he sent to infiltrate the walls gave the signal the assault would begin. In reality, they didn¡¯t need to be this covert. With the resources and manpower Wolf had, he could have simply stormed the city in broad daylight. Beyond the needless waste of life, the real reason that option wasn¡¯t taken was the fact Wolf didn¡¯t want to attack the city. He wanted to take it, make it his own. Controlling Arkthur was key, if the rest of his goals were to be achieved he needed to hold the city. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that a group of guards who were making rounds had disappeared. A moment later another group of guards disappeared. Suddenly guards began disappearing all over the wall. One after the other, the wall was losing those who would protect it. Soon, the wall that appeared so lively just a few moments ago was rendered lifeless. Wolf shifted his sights to the northern section and waited. After ten minutes or so, a blue flume shot up. Another shot followed immediately after it.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Flumes were very similar to fireworks, the difference being they were brighter and burned much longer. One blue flumes was a signal that there were enemies approaching, two was a signal that the enemy was approaching from where the flume were shot. The system was popularized by a fleet admiral a hundred years ago. His name was Heinrich Flume. The system was quickly implemented into city defences where it served well for about a decade. Soon after that the Imurians, the military opportunists that they were, found an exploit. They had a spy infiltrate the city and fire the flumes in the opposite direction of where they planned to attack. It was fairly simple, but incredibly effective. They continued to use the exploit for many years until the rest of the continent caught wind of it. The system was thrown out of cities almost as quickly as it was adopted. Using flumes as a misdirect was no longer a viable strategy. Unless of course¡ª BOOM! ¡ªyou gave them a reason to believe there were enemies in that direction. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Saber was growing anxious. The day he had dreamt of for years was finally here. His crown jewel was sitting right in front of him waiting to be taken. He couldn¡¯t wait. Saber was the leader of an elite unit of 50 malsirs. They were charged with getting to the cities garrison as fast as possible and decimating it. At least that was how Saber interpreted their mission. In truth, they were only supposed to keep them busy until they moved all of their forces into the city. That wasn¡¯t how Saber worked though. When he saw the flumes go up, his hunger for carnage only grew. When the cannons were fired, they released a demon. Saber immediately leapt onto the wall and began climbing it. He could have simply walked through the gate they cleared, but he wanted to see the city from on top of its ¡®impenetrable walls¡¯. When he reached the top, he did. It was beautiful. It was everything he hoped it would be, but he didn¡¯t have time to admire it. He had work to do. Quickly locating the garrison, he jumped towards it. Clad in a thick sahir barrier he crashed into a small building on the outer ring of the city. It was a very questionable choice, but he was on too much of a high to worry about it. Luckily for him he got up from the crash landing perfectly fine and there was a group of soldiers within a few steps of him. Before the poor soldiers could even process what had occurred, he was on them. He snapped the neck of the one in front in a heartbeat. His two buddies tried to pull out their weapons, but Saber punched holes through their chests before they could even get them off their waists. Weak. Not wasting any more time, he removed his arms from their corpses and headed towards the garrison. Running at top speed he had hoped to beat his unit to the punch, but he was in fact late. Arkthur¡¯s main garrison was located in the third ring, Arkthur being split into four. The garrison itself looked very much like a fortress. In its four corners there were four towers, the center was where the actual garrison was. Everything was made of thick stone and was heavily guarded. When Saber finally arrived there was already a rather impressive body count. Mildly annoyed, he hurriedly joined the fray. There weren¡¯t really any matches for him or his men so it was more of a one sided massacre than a battle. Most of his men wielded some form of weapon, but Saber choose to fight bare handed. He was incredibly skilled at using sahir to strengthen his body so swords often felt like a downgrade in offensive firepower. After ten or so minutes of killing the panicked soldiers guarding the garrison one of the towers was finally conquered. It was at that moment a real challenge appeared. A ray of pure heat beamed from outside of the garrison into the tower Saber and his men occupied. It burned right through two of his men, barriers and all. Raezel Saber yelled to his men, ¡°Get to the next tower! I¡¯ll handle the caster.¡± Some of the men were disgruntled, but they knew how to follow orders. They headed off to the next tower and Saber headed to the source of the beam. It didn¡¯t take him long to find the origin, or rather the caster. Malsirs that had the ability to create were called casters. The ability to use sahir to form other creations, like fire, required a very high level of skill, no less than expert. The ability to modify that creation into more imaginative forms, like rays, was only possible for those who were masters. Saber moved in front of the caster and smiled, ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d still be here. Couldn¡¯t let go of home huh, Rae?¡± The caster was furious, ¡°Don''t you dare call me that!¡± Both her hands and her eyes were ablaze; her eyes figuratively, her hands literally. She took a moment to compose herself, taking a deep breath. She looked back at Saber with resolve. ¡°You¡¯re going to pay for what you did.¡± Saber chuckled lightly then abruptly stopped, ¡°No.¡± His face was now as cold as ice, ¡°They will.¡± Chapter 23: Raezel Meyner [The Blood] ¡°Master Meyner! Master Meyner!¡± Master Raezel Meyner, one of the only two master malsirs in Arkthur, was resting peacefully in her bed chambers. Being a master malsir in the royal army she had her own county outside of Arkthur, but unlike most of her compatriots she neither governed it nor lived there. She had a particular attachment to Arkthur and its people. Plus, she felt too young to be given the rank of Count. Of all the master malsirs in the Alden Empire she was the youngest. She wasn¡¯t even just the youngest, she was almost 40 years younger than the average. She didn''t let it get to her head though. She didn¡¯t join the military for the glory or the money, she joined to get stronger and to help the less fortunate people of Arkthur. She was well on her way to accomplishing both. Meyner¡¯s School for the Gifted and Talented. Despite what the name would imply, the school Raezel opened up didn¡¯t favor the gifted or the talented. In a purposely ironic twist, only underprivileged students were allowed admission. On top of that, students who were admitted weren¡¯t charged any fees until they obtained steady jobs. It was an amazing school for the improvised and it brought Raezel much joy. So much joy, she sold her house in the nobles district and lived on campus. ¡°Rae!¡± A man in a red and yellow, the official colors of Meyner''s School, robe frantically burst into Raezel¡¯s bed chamber. ¡°What is it Marcus?¡± Raezel spoke softly, her drowsiness apparent. Marcus was a childhood friend of Raezel¡¯s. They, and another friend named Lily, were inseparable. They had stuck with each other for decades. Marcus rushed to Raezel¡¯s wardrobe and quickly pulled out some armor, ¡°Bandits! On the northern wall.¡± Raezel snapped awake, ¡°What?! North?¡± She grabbed the armor Marcus picked out and put it on immediately, ¡°Have they gotten into the city?¡± Marcus turned to face the door, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. The canons were firing when I rushed over.¡± In truth, Arkthur had long been prepared for the day one of the bandit groups set their eyes on them. They had at least 600 soldiers stationed on the southern wall at all times. They weren¡¯t the most elite soldiers, those were busy guarding the two central rings, but they should have been enough to handle any attempted assault. In having that many people stationed on one side of the wall the other sections were neglected. The northern side was especially. ¡°Where is Lily?¡± Marcus responded immediately, ¡°With the students. We¡¯re moving them to our property in the district 5.¡± Raezel frowned, ¡°Then why are you here with me?¡± ¡°One of us needed to wake you.¡± Raezel finished suiting up and headed for the door, ¡°I mean why you. You¡¯d be able to protect them much better than anyone there can.¡± Marcus quickly followed after her, ¡°Because I have a feeling you don¡¯t plan on meeting up with them.¡± Outside the door there were two malsirs, guards brought along by Marcus. From their barriers, Raezel reasoned they were at least professionals. ¡°I didn¡¯t get stronger to hide behind taller walls.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Marcus smiled, ¡°I know. That''s why we¡¯re coming with.¡± Raezel didn¡¯t try to argue, she knew there was no way around it, ¡°Fine. Let''s head to the garrison first. They¡¯ll probably have a better understanding of what''s going on.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- What the hell is happening here? Marcus couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. He had accompanied Raezel to protect her, but it was only really to protect her from herself. He didn¡¯t think there were opponents that could be serious threats to her. She was a master, they didn¡¯t have threats. Yet here she was, not only fighting a threat but losing to them. She stretched out her hand and a huge ball of fire shot out immediately. It was about as tall as the average house and as wide as the average wingspan. She had started the fight refraining from using the most of her destructive power, but she could no longer afford that luxury. The bandit she was fighting was fast, incredibly fast. He had dodged almost everything she threw at him. He dodged the fireball too and swiftly closed in on her again. Rae brought her hands towards her then sharply pushed them out, pushing a wave of fire outward. The bandit was pushed back, but not for long. The fires slowly dispersed as they got further away from Rae. Before the fires had even completely dispersed, the bandit jumped back at her. Rae let off a beam of heat energy when he was in between steps. He still somehow had the reflexes to move out the way, but he couldn¡¯t dodge it completely. The beam didn¡¯t burn through his barrier completely, but it was noticeably weaker in that area. The bandit stepped back, seemingly weighing his options. A few seconds later he abrupting punched the ground. Huh? The move confused Marcus, he clearly wasn¡¯t a caster or an artisir. He couldn¡¯t do anything with the earth below. After punching the ground with one hand, the bandit reached down with his second hand. He lifted a two huge chunks of the road they were on and threw them at Rae. She in turn aimed both her arms at the incoming masses and shot out two fireballs. Marcus wanted desperately to intervene, but he held himself. He had to trust Rae. The fireballs Rae shot out were smaller that the one she shot out before, but they did their jobs. In the aftermath of the two mini-explosions a mass of sand and dust clouded her line of sight. The bandit used it as a smokescreen and got in close. Rae had anticipated that however. She put her hands together and lit a blue flame. It looked miniscule, but when she faced her palms outward it caused a massive explosion. The force of it instantly cleared the dust and sand as well as most of the street immediately in front of her. The road, the sidewalk, the streetlights, even some of the houses by the road, they were all affected. Unfortunately, the bandit wasn¡¯t. She had missed him, by the time the explosion went off he was already behind her. Fortunately, she was able to turn in time to dodge his first punch. She didn¡¯t waste any time, she spread a wave of fire around herself. The bandit retreated again. After moving back a safe distance he stood still. Marcus could see his lip moving, but he couldn¡¯t hear what he was saying. He turned to look at Rae and winced a little. She was exhausted. The bandit hadn¡¯t managed to do any damage to her, but he had succeeded in making her deplete her sahir reserves. The bandit suddenly dashed at her. Rae¡¯s arms burst into flames in response. She¡¯s running out of sahir. Rae only ever fought hand to hand when she was trying to save sahir. She wasn¡¯t great at hand to hand combat, but that fact that her fires slowly melted away her opponent¡¯s barriers helped. When the bandit got in range, Rae swung. She missed, but she was a combo fight not a heavy hitter. After the first punch, a flurry of others followed. They all missed their mark. The bandit¡¯s punch however, didn¡¯t. Rae! Marcus watched in shock and horror as the bandit punched right into Rae¡¯s gut. She flew. Marcus couldn¡¯t see how many buildings she went through, but it couldn¡¯t have been less than ten. She was in a whole other district. Marcus wanted to rush over to her immediately, but he¡¯d have to cross the street. That wasn¡¯t a smart move. The bandit didn¡¯t seem keen on continuing the fight with Rae and after what Marcus just saw the bandit do, he knew he wouldn¡¯t survive being seen by him. He¡¯d just have to wait for the ban¡ª ¡°Oy! You guys over there.¡± Marcus was stunned. He and the two guards he brought along were hiding on one of the houses on the side of the road. They watched the fight through windows. He can¡¯t be talking to us right? Right?! ¡°I know you¡¯re there. If you don¡¯t want to come out suit yourself, but you¡¯re going to need to get to her. She¡¯ll die if you leave her there.¡± The bandit didn¡¯t wait for a response. He left immediately after. Chapter 24: Fall [The Blood] Marcus didn¡¯t waste any time. As soon as the bandit left he rushed in the direction Rae flew in. Following the trail of destruction, he quickly found her in the top floor of a clothing shop. She didn¡¯t look too good. She was unconscious and bleeding heavily from multiple cuts. It wasn¡¯t life threatening in the immediate, but she needed aid sooner rather than later. Fortunately, both the guards Marcus had with him had training as field medics. They carried miniature first-aid kits with them at all times. They arrived shortly after Marcus did and immediately went to work. Fearing they would be ambushed but not wanting to move Rae, Marcus laid his palms on the ground and used his sahir to restructure and reinforce the shop they were in. Marcus was an artisir. They were a similar type of malsirs to casters in that they affected the world, but they differed in the fact that they didn¡¯t create anything. They instead moved or altered what was already there. Marcus, in particular, was especially skilled at manipulating stone, concrete, and things of that nature. After finishing suring up the buildings defences, he rearranged the room the guards were patching Rae up in. He made an operating table for Rae to lay on and two small tables for the guards to put their tools. It was unnecessary, but Marcus just wanted to do something. He was furious with his own ineptitude. If he wasn¡¯t so weak, Rae could have had back up. Even now, after only reinforcing one building he had used up more than half of his sahir reserves. It was pathetic. He sat on the floor both frustrated and dejected. The happiness of knowing Rae would be alright was being washed over by the anger that he couldn¡¯t help her before or now. Given the time to think about it the anger only grew. He could have helped her. It would have been incredibly dangerous for him, but he could have still helped. He couldn¡¯t count the amount of times she had willingly risked her life to help others, him included. Yet when she needed the help, he stood by as a spectator. There were so many times he could have stepped in; he could have trapped the bandits hand when he punched the ground, he could have placed a wall behind the bandit when he tried retreating, he could have placed a wall in front of him when he realized Rae was running out of sahir. He could have done many things, but he choose to hide instead. Worse yet, the bandit knew he was there so hiding ultimately meant nothing. His being there at all ultimately mea¡ª ¡°No.¡± Marcus cut off that line of thinking. His thoughts were in a very negative place and that needed to change. He took a few deep breaths, placed his hands on the floor, and began meditating. Some time later one of the guards approached him and tapped his shoulder, ¡°Marcus?¡± Marcus exhaled sharply twice, then slowly once, and ended his meditation. It was good for him. It allowed him to clear his head. Getting up he looked at Rae, ¡°How is she?¡± ¡°Well. We¡¯ve cleaned and treated all of her cuts and bruises. We¡¯re just about finished wrapping them up.¡± Looking at Rae, Marcus noticed that some parts were wrapped in bandages and some parts were wrapped in clothes. They guards had too few supplies for the job they were handling. Rae did look okay though. With all the blood gone and the cuts covered, she looked just like she did an hour or so ago when he woke her up. If the bandages and clothes were ignored of course. The guard continued, ¡°The problem is...we don¡¯t know what going on internally. We know for sure she has at least one broken rib, but it could be far worse. We were thinking about waking her up in case something is wrong and we just can¡¯t see it.¡± One of the skills all malsirs learn is the ability to strengthen their body. Some specialize in it and acquire ridiculous strength and speed, but everyone at least knew and could do the basics. The main advantage of learning that ability wasn¡¯t to be stronger or faster either, it was to be able to lightly heal oneself. While reforming body parts or healing mortal injuries were things even most masters couldn¡¯t do, things like closing small wounds and stopping internal bleeding could be done by mere apprentices. It required a fair bit of sahir however. Rae didn¡¯t appear to have any serious internal injuries, but a minor one that was left unchecked could lead to her dying in her sleep. The best way to solve that problem would be to wake her and have her handle it herself.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Marcus was against waking her up though, ¡°If we wake her and she has enough sahir to heal whatever injury she may have, she¡¯ll use it to go fight the bandits.¡± The two guards were good friends of Marcus¡¯, but they weren¡¯t to Rae. They only knew her as Master Meyner. If there was an opportunity to help someone she would take it without hesitation, even if it harmed herself or ultimately more people down the line. If they woke her now, that¡¯s exactly what would occur. The guard looked at him in confusion for a moment but he trusted his judgment, ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Marcus didn¡¯t reply. Not because he didn¡¯t have a response, but because he wasn¡¯t sure if his response was the answer. He had spent a while pondering what they were supposed to do now that their effective leader was taken out in a one-on-one. The other guard, who just finished wrapping up Rae¡¯s wounds, filled Marcus¡¯ silence with a suggestion, ¡°We should head to Central. We still have Master Gluvdaad and his men.¡± Marcus vetoed the idea, ¡°With how strong that bandit was, they¡¯ve definitely taken the garrison by now. If the guys he has attacking from the north are competent at all, they¡¯ll have taken the wall by now too. If Central isn¡¯t already surrounded, it''s going to be soon.¡± The guard rebutted, ¡°But with you powers we could sneak in. There has to be a part of the wall that isn¡¯t well lit.¡± The guard next to Marcus chimed in as well, ¡°We don¡¯t know which bandit group is attacking yet, but they probably just want money and goods. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a better plan than waiting behind Central¡¯s walls while this blows over.¡± It was sound logic, but something didn¡¯t sit right with Marcus. Raiding Arkthur for resources didn¡¯t make sense, while it had them in abundance it was owned by the crown. Pissing off local barons and viscounts was one thing, pissing off the royal family was a death wish. Why go to that trouble for some coin? The guard continued ¡°The bandits won¡¯t want to stay for long either, Otger will hear about this in a few days.¡± Yeah¡­ ¡°Vrzli is here too. Snowfall can¡¯t be more than three days away¡± Wait. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Saber returned to a conquered garrison. It wasn¡¯t just his men however, he noticed some riflemen station on top of the towers. So the next stage began without me. As he walked through the garrison¡¯s front gates, his right hand man came to meet him, ¡°Cap. We¡¯re missing the fight.¡± ¡°I know. Tell the men to get ready, we leave in a minute.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Wolf strolled through the streets of Arkthur casually. It was all but his. They had left the central rings untouched, but the outer two were completely controlled by his men. It was only a matter of time until the whole city was controlled by him ¡°Enjoying your stroll sir?¡± Wolf looked over his shoulder to see Tess approaching with his attendants. ¡°I am. What news do you bring?¡± One of Tess¡¯ attendants handed him a folder, he opened it and began reciting the information, ¡°We¡¯ve taken complete control of both the two outer walls and the garrison. We have our men already stationed in all three, they know their orders. In total, we¡¯ve lost less than a hundred men so far. Also, Zar reports that the citizen evacuation went as we expected. The third ring is about 40% empty. The common folk weren¡¯t allowed passage into the second ring, but the wealthier ones were. Somehow we still managed to sneak 22 of our spies through. We¡¯ve even found a way to safely and covertly communicate with them. We¡¯re fully prepared for either outcome.¡± Wolf smiled, ¡°Good, good. Has Mikel reported back yet? ¡°Not yet. I believe he¡¯s running behind schedule with construction at the camp.¡± Wolf frowned slightly, ¡°He is, is he¡­ No matter. Tell the council members we¡¯ll be having a meeting first thing in the morning.¡± Chapter 25: Wolf in Sheeps Clothing [The Blood] ¡°...with that we can now begin phase three. They¡¯ve been given until the end of the week to respond.¡± Tess just finished briefing the members of the council. The council was made up of the various leaders of Wolf¡¯s group, five of them being the former leaders of the now assimilated bandit groups. Wolf himself hadn¡¯t arrived yet, but he instructed Tess to get everyone present up to speed until he did. ¡°Questions?¡± Tess was greeted with silence. It was expected, they all had their own attendants who probably already briefed them. ¡°Alright then.¡± Tess gathered his reports and went to sit at his desk in the corner of the room. He wasn¡¯t officially a member of the council, but he held too much power to not be part of the meetings in some capacity. As soon as Tess went to his desk the council members began boasting to each other by their accomplishments and their achievements. They were all fairly prideful people. Even though each of them accepted Wolf as their leader, they all saw themselves as the inevitable second-in-command. Saber, usually one of the loudest boasters, was unusually quiet. His silence was noticed by one of the other council members and he decided to throw a jab at him. ¡°Saber. I didn¡¯t see you around this time. I thought you were the biggest contributor here?¡± Saber didn¡¯t humor the man with a response, he merely scoffed at him. Another one of the council members heard the ¡®conversation¡¯ and hopped in. ¡°Was this small garrison too much for you and your men to handle ?¡± The comment irked Saber, ¡°Step outside and we¡¯ll see if I can handle you.¡± No one at the table was weak, they were all powerful in their own right. Nevertheless, only a select few would have the balls to challenge Saber to a fight. Only one would do so confident of winning. The one who made the comment wasn¡¯t confident, but she couldn¡¯t back down. She could tell the rest of the table was listening. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Enough.¡± Just as things were getting heated Wolf walked into the room, ¡°You both know the rules.¡± He sat down at the head of the table and immediately go to business, ¡°Phase 3 has now begun. As you all know, I¡¯ll be too preoccupied to keep tabs on you. I still expect you all to continue to fulfill your roles exceptionally. No slip ups. If something unforeseen does happen, speak to Zar or Tess. They will be in control in my absence. If it is absolutely necessary then you are allowed to approach me, but otherwise just follow through with your orders. I shouldn¡¯t need to remind what is at stake here.¡± Looking around the room, Wolf gauged the council members response. They looked like they understood. ¡°Alright, that is all¡± The council members stood up and left. Wolf stayed behind to talk to Tess. He had a few things he needed to wrap up. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Three Days Later ¡°People of Arkthur, do not accept this treatment. Look at them, those who swore to protect you have left you to die. They continue to hide behind their walls in comfort unconcerned. They¡¯ve never cared about you, they only care about your gold¡­¡± Wolf walked towards the house he had taken for his own, mentally exhausted. He had given seven speeches today. After each speech he walked into the crowd and talked with the common folk. On the first day, they didn¡¯t receive his speeches too warmly. They were angry at the nobles and merchants that hid behind Central¡¯s wall, but their fear of the bandits was stronger. Overtime however, he had managed to convince them that the bandits weren¡¯t there as raiders, but as liberators. It helped that after the bandits took the outer rings, they started offering aid. They healed the sick and injured, they fixed and refurbished damaged houses, they even began repopulating certains shops so that the people could return to somewhat normal lives. Of course they didn¡¯t let word of this reach the central rings. At least, not in full. To the people in Central the rumor was that the bandits were galvanizing and arming the degenerates in the slums to take over Central. Their spies made sure every person heard the story just like that. Wolf in the meantime kept spreading positive propaganda, all while donning the robes of the Otger military academy. His expert medallion clear for all to see. He stepped into his house ready to lounge on his couch, but he was stopped by the sight of two people he didn¡¯t expect to see. He sighed, ¡°For both of you to be here something must have happened.¡± Tess spoke first, ¡°Yes sir, Master Gluvdaad successfully broke through the encirclement last night and escaped towards the east. He took the nobles with him.¡± Wolf was unmoved, ¡°And?¡± Zar spoke this time, ¡°Central briefly had no leadership, but one of our spies has taken command.¡± That information mildly peaked his interest, ¡°Taken command of the people or the military?¡± ¡°Both.¡± Chapter 26: Training 1 [The Blood] Kain stepped back, he wasn¡¯t too fond of the distance between his neck and Maleek¡¯s staff. After the step, he jumped backwards to widen the gap and give himself a breather. Maleek didn¡¯t let the gap last long, he charged him. Throughout their ¡®spar¡¯, he never gave Kain a moment to rest. The aggression of his fighting style contrasted drastically with the precision of his movements. A spectator may have confused the pace of his attacks as a sign he favored speed over accuracy, but Kain had realized very early on that, that was anything but the case. Each swing, each jab went exactly where Maleek wanted it to. Each felt deadly. Kain dreaded to think what Maleek would have done if he allowed him use a spear. It would have been wooden of course, but Kain wondered if that would have even meant anything. He was being thoroughly and completely outclassed. Maleek caught up to the backtracking Kain and thrusted his staff at his forehead. Kain didn¡¯t have time to dodge, but he could move his neck. He jerked his head to the side and narrowly avoided the tip of Maleek¡¯s staff. Unfortunately, before he could get his feet set to try to distance himself from Maleek, Maleek swung his staff downward into his shoulder. The swing had an incredible amount of force behind it, dropping Kain to his knees immediately. The staff ultimately split apart in the process, but it had accomplished its goal. Kain fell to the ground exhausted. He had taken a royal beating. Even with his armor and the fact that his teacher was using a wooden weapon, he still had bruise and injured bones all over his upper body. They hadn¡¯t accumulated over the few hours they¡¯d been ¡®sparring¡¯ either. Each one was new, fresh. Maleek turned and headed to the weapons rack. The healer on standby moved to aid Kain. While he was being healed he stared daggers into Maleek. ¡°So this is all you training amounts to? Trying to kill me?¡± It had only been a day since Kain¡¯s mother had rushed over to see him awake for the first time in a week. Maleek had spent much of yesterday trying every trick and every angle to get her to agree to letting him train Kain. It was completely ineffective. Each approach was met with a stern ¡®no¡¯. It wasn¡¯t until after dinner, when his wife took her off to have a private chat, that she relented. Both Maleek and Kain were flabbergasted when she walked into his study fully onboard with Kain taking Maleek as his master. Maleek had questioned his wife incessantly about it afterwards, but she only responded with a kiss and a ¡®This is my apology¡¯. Maleek chuckled, ¡°Where we¡¯re from, those are one and the same. But,¡± Kain breathed a sigh of frustration, Maleek could see he was unhappy with that statement, ¡°That will be all for our sparring session. I needed to gain a good grasp of where you are as a warrior.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°And I¡¯m guessing you believe almost killing me is the only way to do that?¡± Maleek walked back, bare handed, and chuckled again. ¡°I was under the impression you wanted to learn how to use your powers quickly. Am I mistaken?¡± While Maleek¡¯s tone was somewhat mocking, his face was stiff and stern. The relatively warm aura he had given on previously was nowhere to be found. Kain sighed again and said nothing. Maleek read that sign of concession and continued. ¡°Now. I do agree that our sparring has been quite excessive. Truthfully, I had never really intended to spar this long. But while we were sparring I noticed a few things I had to confirm.¡± Kain furrowed his brows. ¡°For one thing, while your mouth is eager to complain there rest of you is not. I don¡¯t know the exact details of your upbringing but I¡¯ve been told you were born and raised here in Bruyn, to Martha Basileus¡± Kain was fully healed now so he got off the ground and stood up, ¡°I was.¡± Maleek stepped right up to Kain, ¡°And yet In the face of an opponent that is easily capable of breaking you, you¡¯re not afraid.¡± Maleek quickly caught himself and stepped back, ¡°Your footwork is superb, your reflexes are sharp, and your instincts are honed. You¡¯re already a warrior.¡± There was a brief pause, ¡°At least that was what I thought, until I saw you actually swing a sword.¡± Maleek started slowly walking around Kain, ¡°You aren¡¯t a warrior, maybe. Maybe you¡¯re just incredibly gifted. You are blessed with the power of sahirlah after all. Maybe you¡¯re just special. Maybe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of maybes.¡± Maleek stopped walking. He was standing directly in front of Kain again, ¡°There are. There are indeed.¡± Maleek looked straight into Kain¡¯s eyes, ¡°Even now, I¡¯m still unsure.¡± Kain was growing tired of game of charades, ¡°Unsure of what?¡± ¡°Who you are. Looking at you now I see nothing but a disgruntled youth, but there are flashes, moments, where you look anything but. Where your eyes are cold, dark, unfeeling. The kind of eyes that kill. The kind of eyes that light doesn¡¯t reach. The kind of eyes that don¡¯t belong on a 15 year old born and raised in Bruyn.¡± Silence followed. It was a lengthy silence. ¡°I did what I had to do. Being attacked by bandits and watching them attempt to torture a little girl may change how a person views the world. Maleek nodded, "Yes. Bandits. You know, the sight of you massacring a few dozen of them is still fresh in my mind?" Kain did not like the direction the conversation had headed in, "That happened after." Maleek nodded again, this time the nodding continued for several seconds. ¡°Right...okay,¡± Maleek went silent, seemingly mulling over some things. ¡°Okay. I said I would train you and train you I shall. I must still ask however, out of mere principle, who are you really Mr. Kain Basileus?¡± Chapter 27: Training 2 [The Blood] Vrzli had begun. The first batch of snow had fallen two weeks prior. With the temperature falling so too did movement out on the streets of Bruyn. People were slowly receding into vrzli life, a life mostly lived at home. While adequate clothing to combat the cold and the snow were available, they were sold at a high premium. Bruyn didn¡¯t breed the animals with the requisite pelts and their supplier of old was taken over by bandits. The only way to get comfortable vrzli clothing at a reasonable price was to buy one off one of the convoys that came from Otger. Unless you had a connection with the merchants in charge of the convoy however, you¡¯d never be given that opportunity. The local merchants snapped them all up before the common folk were even given a chance to see their wares. The Fortems were one of, if not the, richest family in town. They were not only relatively early settlers, Maleek¡¯s status as the only malsir at the time gave them an incredibly strong standing in the town. That all being said, even he didn¡¯t have vrzli clothing. At least not for men. ¡°That swing was weak. Don¡¯t just use your arms for strength, swing like I taught you.¡± ¡°I did! It''s not my fault it''s fucking freezing out here.¡± ¡°If you put as much energy into swinging as you did into complaining, we¡¯d be done here.¡± ¡°Fuck sake! Fuck you, fuck your bald head, fuck this sword, fuck this training, fuck the snow, fuck that mountain over there, fuck everything.¡± In the process of screaming insults at Maleek, Kain actually managed to swing just as he wanted. Maleek smiled, ¡°Much better.¡± Maleek had decided to stage their training sessions outside the town walls, in the snow. Kain had originally been excited for the training, but he didn¡¯t know then that his teacher was insane. The leather armor he was told to wear provided no protection from the cold. Heat was sapped out of his body at an alarming rate. He could feel the numbness slowly stripping him of his freedom of movement. Asking him to swing a sword with force consistently under such conditions was basically asking him to jump in the lake naked. Unfortunately, he understood the necessity of it. He could complain as much as he liked but he still had to do it all the same. Before Vrzli started, Maleek had wanted to begin malsir training.Teaching Kain to be a warrior was important, but the main objective was teaching him how to use his sahir. It was a more powerful and versatile tool than any weapon he could give him. Especially in Kain¡¯s case since his sahir was incredibly abnormal. When they began the training and Kain formed his ¡®barrier¡¯ Maleek only then realized it wasn¡¯t a barrier at all. At least not in a traditional sense, the sahir just seemed to flow off of his body rather than coating it. While it was normal for complete beginners to not be able to form proper barriers, what they did from was nothing like what Kain was doing. It spawned dozen of questions in Maleek¡¯s mind, but he put them aside at the time to figure out how he was going to effectively train Kain. He wanted to test the limits of what Kain could already do, but after five or so minutes Kain got tired.He didn¡¯t take it too seriously at first so he ignored Kain¡¯s complaints, but a few more minutes later Kain passed out. It caught Maleek completely off guard. Fortunately, he was suitably prepared for such a thing. Having a healer on standby at all times, she immediately went to check him. It didn¡¯t take long for her to realize what the problem was, Kain was running incredibly low on sahir. Sahir exhaustion was a fairly common and well researched occurrence. It was a slow process in which the body slowly shut down its functions as its sahir reserves were depleted. They keyword was slow. While it varied depending on what the malsir was doing at the time, there was generally a 45 minute window between when they first started feeling the affects and when they lost consciousness. Maleek very quickly realized that Kain was abnormal in almost every way. Thankfully, he woke up two days later rather than a week. Maleek didn¡¯t think he could keep the fact that he was unconscious gain a secret from his mother for long. They needed a different approach. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°Okay. That''s enough. Lets head back.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Kain breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°Finally.¡± He sheathed the sword in its scabbard and rubbed his hands together feverishly. It didn¡¯t do much, but Kain didn¡¯t care. He just need warmth of any kind. ¡°You truly have no talent for swordplay.¡± Kain shivered, ¡°If only I could find someone with a talent for teaching it.¡± Maleek laughed. Kain¡¯s wit had grown on him over the three or so weeks he¡¯d been training him. He was tough. While he complained about everything, he would always get what he needed to get done, done. On the flip side, anything he didn¡¯t feel he had to do, he ran away from with haste. It was an odd quirk, but it amused Maleek They walked back into town together. One of the bonuses of the lack of movement during Vrzli was that the fanatics that were running around looking for Kain had disappeared into their homes like everyone else. Kain was finally free to leave the Fortem¡¯s mansion. He never did so without an arberdir, but freedom was freedom. As soon as they got back, Kain dashed for the fireplace. Finding his fur blanket folded next to it, he quickly wrapped himself with it. ¡°Ahhh.¡± Maleek chuckled as followed Kain into the room, ¡°Man up already. You won¡¯t be a child for much longer.¡± ¡°With you as my teacher, I won¡¯t be alive for much longer either.¡± Maleek sat on the couch and called an arberdir to bring them some food. ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky its Vrzli. We would have had to do something far more drastic if it wasn¡¯t.¡± Kain shivered. Maleek was trying awaken Kain as a malsir, again. This time with regular sahir. Using trial and error, they discovered that when Kain used sahirlah he devoured his sahir reserves. While it gave him ridiculous powers, he couldn¡¯t use it for long. They never tested how long he could use it for, they didn¡¯t want him to pass out again, but after rest and recuperation it took about ten minutes before he started feeling tired. Even a complete beginner could hold their barrier comfortably for at least an hour. To be tired after a mere ten minutes was a serious concern. They decided the best course of action would be to teach Kain how to use regular sahir first, build his reserves, and then try to figure out how to effectively use sahirlah. To do that, Kain was forced to embrace the elements. In theory, anyone could be a malsir. While reaching the highest levels generally required a certain degree of talent or affinity, learning to simply form a barrier wasn¡¯t a ridiculous goal. That being said, it was often dangerous. Becoming aware of your own sahir was not an easy task. There were many ways to do it, but they mostly involved putting your body in weakened or heightened states. Either path put one very close to death. ¡°You¡¯ve made great progress though, we¡¯re about one-third of they way there.¡± Kain groaned, ¡°That means we have a month left.,¡± he fell back on to the floor, ¡°I don¡¯t think I can do this anymore. Ten minutes is a long time you know?¡± ¡°Your destiny is too great for you to give up.¡± Kain scoffed, ¡°You sound like the cult. I¡¯m just a kid, not some herald from God.¡± Maleek lightly shrugged, ¡°You used to say that with more conviction.¡± Two arberdirs walked in with trays of food. Even though Maleek was the much bigger of the two, Kain had the larger serving. Part of his training was building more muscle. There was no evidence to prove more physical mass translated to deeper sahir reserves, but its was Imurian culture to bulk up anyway. Kain sighed, ¡°Another month of this.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Three Weeks Later ¡°There we go, never forget to feint on occasion. A good fighter always will try to read your fighting style.¡± Maleek and Kain were sparring again. Kain was improving steadily with his swordplay. It was still far from being a serious threat to any properly trained soldier, but it was good enough to defend against an attack by one. Having had good footwork, coordination, and overall body control already down, Maleek could speed through many aspects of the training. ¡°Be careful, when you thrust like that you can¡¯t be so flat footed. In the event you miss, you¡¯re leaving yourself vulnerable.¡± Kain had to stop training for a couple of days prior to this session because the school sent some people to find Martha and ask why he wasn¡¯t attending classes. The campus had survived the bandit¡¯s fire and classes were still in session. During Vrzli they were limited to only twice a week, but they were still going on. His mother wanted him to at least go to the two class they had a week and he could have. Thankfully, tales of the malsir they called ¡®God¡¯s Disciple¡¯ were becoming more and more ridiculous as people sat in their homes most of the day with nothing better to do. The stories were so far removed from reality, Kain looked nothing like the ¡®man garbed in an all white robe who radiated an aura of might and righteousness¡¯. Kain however, didn¡¯t want to risk the chance of being seen by someone who was actually there. It took three full days to convince his mother he wasn¡¯t ruining his future and another day to complete the paperwork. Martha kept him home for all four days so he missed out on training for a bit. Kain thrusted his wooden sword at Maleeks shoulder again. Maleek sidestepped it. Twisting his grip, Kain immediately followed up by slashing at his arm. The hit landed. ¡°Good. Now if they¡ª¡± Cutting off Maleek¡¯s lecture there was a knock at the door. Unlike usual procedure, it was immediately opened after. There were no arberdirs in the room to keep Kain¡¯s abilities a secret, but there should have been one outside. Maleek quickly formed a sahir barrier as the door was opening. To his surprise, the person that opened the door without his okay was the arberdir that was supposed to be guarding it. ¡°Sir, I apologize for the intrusion. The Baron is in your private living room and he wishes to speak to you immediately.¡± Chapter 28: The Baron [The Blood] The baron? The baron rarely ever made an appearance in Bruyn. He rarely needed to. He was routinely updated with information by winglows, large eagle-like magical beasts that operated as message birds, and his younger brother was present to deal with anything that needed more immediate attention. As for the other town in his domain, he sold the rights to the mine to a merchant. The town had no other use to him so he paid it little mind. Why would he come here? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Having his land being micromanaged by others, the baron opted to live outside of his barony in a city called Gelis. Gelis was the largest city in the Alden Empire that wasn¡¯t its capital. A coastal city, it also featured it¡¯s largest port. It was supposedly the second busiest port in the world. Beyond the tens to hundreds of thousands of krwns that were exchanged each day, the port boasted some of the most diverse and unique people and items on Ethel. From reclusive races like the island loving Ittlarik, a race of tall, lanky people whose bones grew beyond their outer skin to form odd weapons and shields, to scarce magical beasts like the enlightened Diesfell, a group of highly intelligent and monstrously powerful malsirs that once walked the earth as mere tigers, the city had it all. Living there brought the residences face to face with experiences that couldn¡¯t be found anywhere else on the planet. The baron, like many nobles, had a taste for the exotic. Nowhere in the Alden Empire provided a scratch for that itch like Gelis. It didn¡¯t come cheap though. A one story, one bedroom house in Gelis would be the same price as a five bedroom mansion in most cities. That price hike was prevalent throughout the town, everything from food to entertainment was expensive. The city was lavish in both the quality and bill it provided. Even though the Baron was indeed a noble, he couldn¡¯t really afford to live like one in Gelis. Beyond his stinginess, he wasn¡¯t particularly business savvy and the coin he made from his barony was not enough to sustain his extravagant life. He could still live in city, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to experience all it had to offer. He would have to lead a much simpler life, not a dull as a commoners, but ultimately lacking in excitement. Fortunately for him, he was blessed with charisma. Spending time at various parties, festivals and balls, he built a strong network of wealthy associates. While he didn¡¯t directly borrow money, he used his connections to get a host of privileges. The chief of those privileges was his residence in the second most expensive apartment building in the city free of charge. He was nowhere close to the penthouse, but his condo on the fourth floor was still in the upper echelon. It wasn¡¯t all sunshine though. Due to the nature of his situation, he spent much of his time sucking up to others.To the noble that got him his residence, a marquess with ties to royal family, he was akin to an errand boy. He often performed the role of a messenger between the marquess and his various contacts. It was somewhat demeaning, but the real drawback was that he wasn¡¯t a necessity. Being a small time baron with little to offer, he wouldn¡¯t be too difficult to replace. There were many people in the city who knew their way around a conversation. As such, the baron had to routinely make his presence felt lest he lose the privileges he¡¯d been enjoying. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Maleek turned to Kain, ¡°Wait here. If I¡¯m not back within 30 minutes or so we¡¯ll continue training tomorrow.¡± Kain nodded and immediately laid on the ground to take a nap. Maleek paused for a moment, faint traces of astonishment could be seen on his face as he looked at Kain curled up on the floor while fully geared. He shook his head as he walked away. Reaching the door he addressed the arberdir, ¡°Head to kitchen. If they haven¡¯t started already, tell the chefs to prepare a meal worthy of the baron. In the meantime, grab some fruit and wine. He enjoys mauju berries so mak¡ªactually just find Joanna. Tell her to prepare what you need.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Sending the arberdir off, Maleek walked briskly to his bedroom. He had been training Kain most of the day and while it wasn¡¯t much physical exertion on his part, a quick douse of water would do no harm. After freshening up Maleek donned one of his more expensive suits. He wasn¡¯t a fan of spending money on garments, but he understood that to play the part one must look the part. Walking out of his bedroom he was greeted with the odd sight of two arberdirs standing by his door, only one was tasked with standing guard. The other should have been taking care of the baron. ¡°Why are you here?¡± She bowed, ¡°My apologies sir. The madam was in the kitchen. She said she would handle the baron¡¯s reception.¡± What is she up to now? ¡°Nevermind then. Head back to Kain.¡± Not waiting to hear her response, Maleek hastily walked towards his private living room. Unlike his wife, who had her living room attached to her study, Maleek¡¯s was isolated from the rest of the house. He only used it to receive guests of a certain stature. The discussions that would go on would generally require a degree discretion. Reaching the living room, he wasn¡¯t surprised to see that one of his wife¡¯s most trusted arberdirs was ¡®standing guard¡¯. She saluted him as he approached. He smirked in response. Not paying her any mind, he quickly opened the door and walked through. ¡°Adan! How are you? It''s been so long.¡± The baron, Adan Karel, stood up from his seat and shook Maleeks hand, ¡°It has. Sit.¡± Maleek¡¯s concern was slowly growing. The baron coming to see him instead of simply summoning him was already a bad sign. Seeing the somber aura around him only worsened the bad feeling Maleek was having. He sat on the couch adjacent to the baron, a glass of wine was already placed in front of him. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Adan grabbed a few berries from the tray in front of him and tossed them into his mouth. Chewing away, he nodded towards the drink in front of Maleek, ¡°Take a sip.¡± Maleek looked the baron over. The air around him seemed off to him. He never knew the baron to be a man of few words. Maleek, on more than a few occasions, has had to sit through a long, poetic tirade by Adan. The contrast between that and the man sitting next to him was too great. His concern levels shot up. After taking a hesitant sip from the glass, he repeated his question, ¡°What¡¯s going on Adan?¡± ¡°Arkthur fell.¡± What? Adan continued, ¡°It was taken by a group of bandits,¡± he paused to chuckle, ¡°They¡¯re trying to found their own nation.¡± Huh? Adan didn¡¯t give Maleek time to process the information he was throwing at him, ¡°When we first heard the news we laughed it off. ¡®What can a small group of bandits do?¡¯ I said. I was wrong. So very wrong.¡± Adan¡¯s head fell into his palms. ¡°What¡¯s the army doing? Otger is only a few days away on horseback.¡± Adan spoke through his hands, ¡°We didn¡¯t get the details about the first expedition, but it definitely failed. The emperor officially declared war on them just before I left.¡± Maleek was beyond flabbergasted at this point, ¡°Okay...so what¡¯s the concern? There¡¯s no way some bandits can defeat the royal army.¡± Adan punched the desk in front of him in fury, ¡°You fool! Its vrzli. Losing Arkthur for a couple months doesn¡¯t mean anything to the emperor. He¡¯s just making a show of strength. He¡¯s not going to waste manpower trying to fight them in the snow.¡± His head quickly fell back into his hands, ¡°They¡¯re not just some ragtag group of outlaws either, they¡¯re skilled enough to not only take Arkthur, but defend it as well.¡± Adan¡¯s outburst stunned Maleek for a moment, but he quickly shook it off. He sat silently for a bit and tried to process everything Adam just told him. Aligning it with the tidbits of information he already knew about the bandits and a picture was forming. ¡®We know too much about them; their numbers, their hideouts, their plans. The fact that all of the ¡®bandit groups¡¯ now operate as one.¡¯ They¡¯ve been planning this? What''s holding Arkthur for a few months going to accomplish? You can¡¯t found a country with one city. Maleek turned his attention back to Adan, ¡°What does this have to do with us? We¡¯re nowhere close to Arkthur.¡± ¡°Everything. They¡¯re not just in Arkthur. And¡­¡± His voice petered off towards the end of his statement. Silence followed. Maleek wasn¡¯t feeling patient enough to wait for Adan to finish his sentence, ¡°And what?¡± ¡°They¡¯re...they¡¯re coming here.¡± Chapter 29: Bluffs 1 [The Blood] ¡°You¡¯ve been trading with them?!¡± It was Maleek¡¯s turn to look at Adan furiously. Trading with bandits was reproachable in and of itself but now that the emperor himself had declared war on them, it was treasonous. If his dealings were discovered, Adan¡¯s whole barony would be labelled traitors along with him. The punishment for treason was death and perceived traitors weren¡¯t often given trials before judgement was passed. Maleek began to panic, ¡°Is there any evidence? How many people know?¡± Adan shook his head, ¡°No. You don¡¯t understand. It doesn¡¯t matter what evidence there is. They¡¯re coming here.¡± After a short pause he continued, ¡°I stopped trading with them weeks ago. They weren¡¯t too happy, but I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d have the gull to do anything about it then.¡± ¡°They¡¯re coming for payback?¡± Adan shook his head again, ¡°They¡¯re coming to restart trade.¡± What? ¡°They¡¯re going to attack us for that? Adan picked up the glass he knocked over in his fit of rage. He poured some wine into it a gulped it down immediately. Before he could pour himself a second glass, Maleek grabbed his wrist and held it firmly. Their eyes met. Maleek¡¯s eyes were stern yet concerned, Adan¡¯s looked listless. Adan put down the bottle of wine in his other hand, ¡°No. They want me to sign the trade agreement in front of the town center. They¡¯ll spare us if I do,¡± He looked down at his wrist and Maleek quickly released it, ¡°They¡¯ll burn the town down if I don¡¯t.¡± With every passing minute of this conversation, Maleek was shocked anew. He violently shook his head and tried to focus. Adan gulped away while he did so. Start at the beginning. There''s only one bandit group now. If the tales are to be believed, each group used to control two to three villages or towns. If they all came together...they control the entire south east. Maleek put his thumb and middle finger on his temples. No. That doesn¡¯t change anything. There are bandits in that area in the first place because the moneys dried up. They¡¯d have t¡ªwait. ¡°What were the trade details?¡± Adan flinched when Maleek suddenly addressed him, ¡°What?¡± ¡°Trade Adan! What were you trading with them. What were the details.¡± Adan swayed, struggling to compose himself for a moment, ¡°Uh...uhm..¡± Maleek grabbed the pitcher of water that remained untouched on the table and practically shoved it down Adan¡¯s throat, ¡°Think Adan think.¡± Adan quickly pushed him off and coughed out the droplets of water that went down the wrong pipe, ¡°Food you madman! We tr¡ª¡± Maleek cut him off, ¡°What did they give you?¡± Adan stumbled again, but only for a moment, ¡°Uh...pelts, metals, crystals...¡± He rubbed his forehead trying to recalls the details of the agreement, ¡° And some other things, but those are the main three.¡± No krwns¡­ that means¡ª ¡°We need to get you out of here now.¡± Adan looked at Maleek bewildered, ¡°What? No! Did you not hear me?¡± ¡°I did. They¡¯re bluffing.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Lengths and distances were measured in telks in Lysken. Its system, devised by the Dranklen Kingdom to the north east of what became the Alden Empire, worked very much like the tiered coin system. The difference being that each unit was uniformly ten times more than the unit below it and ten times less than the unit above.The base unit, the telk, was about the size of a gruelgan palm, gruelgan palms being marginally larger than human palms. At the systemes inception, a telk was the only unit given a proper name. The unit above it was called telks10, the unit above that was telks100. During this time as well, the Dranklen Kingdom was under the rule of the Imuru Empire. The three Gruelgan nations had not formed the union they had today nor had they devised the impenetrable fortifications that allowed their egos to swell over the centuries. The Dranklen Kingdom was merely a country of resources and scientists to the Imurians. As such, when the system came to be it was quickly adopted and adapted by them. They almost immediately changed the naming scheme. Telks10 were renamed to decatelks, telks100 to hectotelks. After a few decades it was expanded as well, instead of having telks be the smallest unit they went two degrees lower. Just below telks there were decitelks and just below decitelks there were centitelks. A centitelk was miniscule, it was about the thickness of couple of sheets of paper. It was of no practical use to the common folk, but it saw plenty of use in laboratories and factories. At the other end of the spectrum there was a new unit as well. The kilotelk. It saw the most use of the units with prefixes. Being the first standardized measurement to cover a substantial distance, it saw immediate widespread use. From expert charting done by cartographers to shotty guesstimation done by drunkards playing darts¡ª ¡®Damn it! I almost had you there Jim.¡¯ ¡®You weren¡¯t even close. That was a kilotelk wide.¡¯ ¡ªit had its uses for everyone. Fast-forwarding to modern day and there were far more than a handful of units for measurements. The list had expanded. That expansion however, was only really in one direction. Smaller. As far as longer and larger and went, there was only one unit above kilotelks. Godsfeet. Godsfoot was a large foot-like crater, about 23 kilotelks long, that rested in the far north of Lysken. While it spawned many myths and legends over the years and was at the focal point of certain religions, neither the Gruelgs nor the Imurians were known to be spiritual or religious. Gruelgs in particular believed themselves an intelligent race, far too intelligent to believe in things like Gods. Some people believed Godsfoot¡¯s use as a mere measurement in their kingdom was their way of mocking those that did believe in Gods. That resulted in a few countries putting off using the gruelgs¡¯ system at all, instead opting to create their own. For the most part, they merely created derivative copies. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°They set up camp about 2 godsfeet northwest of here, about here. It doesn¡¯t seem to be well fortified, but they¡¯re on a hill.¡± Marcus surveyed the map laid out in front of him and plotted the new information, ¡°Good work, there¡¯s still some soup on the fire.¡± The guard turned scout walked out of the tent and Marcus was left alone with Raezel. She analyzed the map alongside him, ¡°We still can¡¯t rule out the possibility they¡¯re trying to launch an ambush on the troops leaving Otger.¡± Marcus replied to her while keeping his eyes glued to the map, ¡°We can and I have. These guys are too smart to ambush this stupidly.¡± Marcus and Raezel had been following a party of well armed bandits for slightly less than a month. The party had split off from the main group in Arkthur and headed south east. One of the guards with Marcus had caught the party¡¯s convoy when they made their own escape from Arkthur. Marcus had realized the bandits weren¡¯t planning on simply pulling off a raid, but he didn¡¯t understand the extent of their strength until he went out into the streets disguised. The walls were lined with a ridiculous amount of soldiers. Before their attack, there weren¡¯t too many bodies than manned the wall separating the third ring from the outer ring. When Marcus was walking around, he could hardly find a part of the wall that didn¡¯t have a soldier on it. He could only assume how well manned Arkthur¡¯s outer walls would be. The decision to leave the city came very quickly after that outing. There was some pushback, but they ultimately made their way out of the city. They also woke Raezel up. They waited until they were outside Arkthur¡¯s walls, but the decision proved detrimental to Marcus¡¯ aim of getting to Otger all the same. After awakening, she was both furious and motivated. She was prepared to head back to the city immediately and wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. It took every trick in Marcus¡¯ bag to stop her. Fortunately for him, Master Gluvdaad had also retreated from the city. That information greatly helped his argument. Unfortunately for him, they learned about the convoy heading south east and Raezel was not going to let them waltz by. Unfortunately for both of them, they couldn¡¯t figure out the party¡¯s motive. Originally, Marcus believed they were an ambush party as well. The plan was to slowly catch up with them and kill them. The further they travelled in stalking the party however, the less than plan appealed to Marcus. ¡°They release at least two winglows a day. They stop to set up camp way before sundown. They¡¯ve sent a few carriages to every village and town we¡¯ve passed by. If they were an ambush party, they¡¯d be the worst ambush party ever. They clearly have a different objective in mind.¡± Raezel was growing increasingly frustrated with being forced to just watch the convoy from a distance, ¡°So what? We¡¯re going to follow them forever? It''s been weeks.¡± Marcus sighed, ¡°You wanted to follow them. I said we should head to Otger. This is on you.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t me¡ª¡± ¡°I know. Just bear with it. They can¡¯t go east for that much longer, Dreadnon Valley is right there.¡± Chapter 30: Training 3 [The Blood] Kain laid sprawled on the floor. Years of sleeping on the devil¡¯s mattress had made him practically immune to physical discomfort. There were times he purposely rolled off the mattress and slept on the cold, hard floor of his bedroom. In contrast, the soft, wooden floors in Maleek¡¯s gym were basically a bed of pillows to him. He could comfortably sleep there all day. Usually. Mom, no¡­ Please! I¡¯ve been a good boy. I don¡¯t even complain anymore, I promise! Sweety, I know you¡¯re a good boy. Its not your fault, its...its... Mom? Mom. Mom! ¡°Mom!¡± Kain burst to life, sitting up as he panted heavily. His heart raced as his head frantically jerked from side to side searching his surroundings. Anxiety washed over him, but after a few seconds he recalled where he was and why he was there. His head stilled and slumped downward as the adrenaline wore off. Closing his eyes he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, his heart slowing down with his breathing. Successfully relaxing himself, he immediately laid back on the ground. Here we go again. Since Kain¡¯s training began he¡¯d been having infrequent nightmares. They disappeared as abruptly as they appeared. While they often caused him to wake in a state of panic, they were far from being debilitating or even mildly impeding. Going about his days normally while keeping them a secret wasn¡¯t difficult. In fact, it was easy. The nightmares motivated him. It wasn¡¯t their first appearance in his life. Kain had gone through them, and the dark scenes they portrayed, before. Twice. They popped up roughly two-and-a-half years ago and slightly more than five. Those time however, they brought with them a lot more than dreams. Kain got up and stretched his neck and shoulders. He worked his way down his body until he finished stretching his ankles and cracking his toes. Thankfully for him, the healer was not in the room to see his outburst earlier. That would have been an awkward situation for both of them. Her disappearance also meant that Maleek hadn¡¯t come back in time. With that, training was done for the day. Kain was free to his own devices. He could have left the gym to go relax, but with how much time he spent in the snow daily he wasn¡¯t keen on being outside if he didn¡¯t need to. What he was going to do instead was practice using sahirlah. He took a quick breath then let the sahir pour out of him. It flowed out into the air unabated, painting the room red with its glow. He took another breath, deeper this time, and started slowly restricting it. The blinding aura gradually retreated. Kain restricted it to the point it was no longer blinding, but rather a faint outline. The sahir no longer poured out, but dribbled like a tap that wasn¡¯t properly closed. That was his attempt at making the sahirlah usable. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. While the work around did alleviate the issue of Kain¡¯s reserves being drained, he could last around thirty minutes before he felt tired, it was ultimately impractical. It took intense focus to restrict the sahir¡¯s flow like he was doing. He had only just learned how to do it with his eyes open. Even then, he wasn¡¯t really ¡®seeing¡¯. While his eyes could be open while he did it, he could only stare blankly at whatever was in front of him. If he wasn¡¯t completely focused his sahir would break free from behind the dam he placed around it. As such, It would be quite a while before he mastered it enough for it to qualify as an actual work around. The fact he had to practice in hiding didn¡¯t help either. As far as Maleek knew, or anyone for that matter, Kain¡¯s only knowledge about sahir came from books and what Maleek taught him. It was a likely and believable story, but also a blatant lie. Kain didn¡¯t just have access to books and a teacher, he had access to the ultimate book and the ultimate teacher. Kaige knew everything there was to know about sahir, at least that was his claim. In theory, with access to such knowledge Kain could learn to be a mesheer malsir with Kaige alone. In reality, much like that statement, Kaige¡¯s knowledge was theoretical. The list of things he could personally do with sahir was very limited. For those things, controlling the input and out of sahir and sensing its flow, he could teach Kain. For the rest, he could explain what had to be done but explaining how was a different matter. That¡¯s better, but you¡¯re still letting it spill out too much. Can¡¯t. Go. Thin. Er Fine. Release it and go again. Kain let out a tired breath and his sahir gushed out unrestrained. Taking a second to take a few deep breaths he began the process again, constraining his rampant sahir. He¡¯d repeat this 18 more times. Alongside the potential benefit of being able to use sahirlah, Kaige believed the practice would help Kain awaken to his sahir. That statement seemed contradictory to Kain when he heard it¡ªhe was very conspicuously glowing red at the time¡ªbut Kaige explained it as, ¡®You still can¡¯t sense sahir. What you¡¯re doing now is akin to muscle memory. I pushed sahir out of you before and you¡¯re just repeating that sensation. You haven¡¯t actually awoken to it.¡¯ In short, even with all the power and all the potential, Kain would have to learn to be a malsir like anyone else. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Twenty or so minutes later Kain finished his practice and began disrobing. Unlike Maleek, he didn¡¯t enjoy walking around in armor. Even though the armor was leather and made to be nonrestrictive, he still found it bothersome. Having removed the parts that covered his upper body, he took off his shirt as well. He didn¡¯t have a problem with the shirt, he was merely checking out his progress in a mirror. He frowned. This is too much. You¡¯ve barely changed. Barely? Do you see these arms? Kain flexed. Any bigger and it¡¯ll look like I eat boulders for breakfast. You¡¯ll live. If it was up to me, I¡¯d be ecstatic. Kain rolled his eyes. If it was up to you, I¡¯d try to fu¡ª Someone''s coming. Someone? ¡­ Kaige? Kaige stopped responding. Kain instantly knew that was a bad sign. He quickly slipped his shirt back on while staring intently at the door. Soon he could hear faint traces of a conversation. ¡°....miss¡­.strict instructions¡­.not even¡­.¡± Miss? Is it mother? Kain¡¯s mood brighten up. His mother usually only came around dinner time. If it was her, he could see why Kaige was playing coy. He quickly jogged to the door and opened it. Ready to tell the arberdir standing guard to stand down, he suddenly froze. Beyond the door stood not his mother, but someone completely different. ¡°Good afternoon Kain, mind if I join you?¡± Chapter 31: Training 4 [The Blood] Kain looked at the speaker shocked. On further recollection it was obvious it would not be his mother, she wouldn¡¯t even know where to find him and no one would tell her. They would have sent someone to call him instead. He was an idiot for thinking it could have been her. Letting out a light cough to compose himself, he replied, ¡°My apologies, Ma¡ªyour dad isn¡¯t here. We finished training over an hour ago.¡± ¡°I know.¡± She smiled, ¡°I came to see you.¡± The smile was beautiful. She was beautiful. Unfortunately, it meant nothing. Kain was already well aware of what she and her mother were trying to pull. He had hoped they gave up on their little scheme. He only saw Madam Fortem during dinnertime and he hadn¡¯t seen either of her daughters in weeks. Alas, one look at her gorgeous, radiant smile and he instantly knew the games were back on. Invite her in. Are you crazy? I want nothing to do with her. And I want to be human. Ugh. Not in this context. Oh, shut up. She walked all the way here to see you. Indulge her. Kain returned the smile, ¡°Uh. It''s an honor, but I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t have much to off¡ª¡± She cut him off, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Your company is all I ask. Can I come in?¡± Kain. Shut up! I get it. Kain move to the side of the doorway and gestured inside with this hand, ¡°Of course.¡± The arberdir looked unsettled, but now that Kain had invited her in she couldn¡¯t do much. Unable to refuse her entry anymore, she let her enter the gym and merely closed the door behind her. When she thought about it, it was the best outcome. This way she wouldn¡¯t get in trouble for disobeying Sir Fortem¡¯s order or ignoring Julia¡¯s request. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Kain followed Julia as she walked into the gym. Even though he listened to Kaige¡¯s wishes, he didn¡¯t really have a plan. There was nothing in the gym besides equipment. The only way for them to entertain themselves would be to chat. While Kain was confident in his conversational skills, he was woefully inexperienced as far as flirting goes. Last time they met he hid that fact by playing the piano. It worked brilliantly then. Apparently neither her nor her younger sister had ever seen someone play the piano before. They snuggled up close to him trying to figure out how he was doing. In hindsight, it was all probably an act at first. It didn¡¯t matter though, it still accomplished it¡¯s task. Now, walking to the center of a gym full of nothing but weapons, armor, dumbbells, and other equipment, he couldn¡¯t think of anything he could use to impress her. Hmmm? I tho ¡ª Shut it. Julia stopped walking and turned around to face him. Having recoiled from the shock of seeing her again, he finally got a proper look at her outfit. She wore a red and grey dress. It was made with silk and velvet. The light grey of the silk contrasted beautifully with the deep red of the velvet. The velvet only featured sporadically however, serving as accents for the predominantly light grey dress. Unlike the elaborate gowns Kain often sees her mother wearing, Julia''s had an incredibly simple design. That¡¯s not to say Kain wasn¡¯t allured by it. The silk texture added a beautiful shine and the ruffles going down the dress made for a very elegant feel. Flowing down from her collar to her waist were two thin strips of red velvet. The top half of the lacking in any design whatsoever, save for small frills at the shoulder, the velvet strips added welcomed dynamism to the dress. The bottom half followed the same formula. The overall design being rather simplistic, with a few streaks of red flowing down the dress¡¯ ruffles stylishly. Thankfully for Kain, it was non-bustled too. It was nowhere close to form fitting¡ªfrom the waist down that is¡ªbut Kain still preferred the look. ¡°..ou listening? Kain?¡± Kain snapped out of his daze, ¡°Oh. Um..my apologies. I was..uh..its..it''s not often I¡¯m privileged with the presence of someone so beautiful.¡± He bowed slightly after.. Julia giggled in response, ¡°Stop it. You flatter me.¡± Kain quickly rose, ¡°I do not. You are the most be¡ª-¡± Julia took a step towards Kain and covered his lips with her finger, ¡°Enough about me. I want to talk about you.¡± Kain silently nodded. ¡°Good.¡± She walked towards some chairs resting by a wall and sat down. Patting the seat next to her, she called Kain over. Kain swiftly took the seat.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Resting her head in her palm she looked up at Kain and asked, ¡°How¡¯s training with my f¡ªdad?¡± Kain avoided eye contact, ¡°Training? Um. Yeah...it''s been great. Your dad¡¯s a fantastic teacher.¡± ¡°What do you guys do?¡± Kain was a bit shocked by the question, ¡°Exercises and stuff. You uh..you wouldn¡¯t want to know.¡± Julia chuckled, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t ask if I didn''t want to know.¡± Kain chuckled along with her, ¡°Right, right. Let¡¯s see..it''s largely endurance training. We¡¯re out in the snow most of the time. Even when I¡¯m not running, like lifting weights, for example, we still have to be outside. Plus, If I¡¯m unlucky enough for it to not be snowing on that day then I have to train practically naked too. It¡¯s torturous, literally. The only ¡®breaks¡¯ from that are when we move inside to spar, but honestly that''s not much better. He just constantly whoops my ass and calls it ¡®practice¡¯. Its li-¡± Kain noticed Julia¡¯s face growing uninterested and cut his response short- ¡°My bad. I didn¡¯t mean to have a whole monologue like that.¡± Julia immediately pulled out the most beautiful of smiles, ¡°No don¡¯t apologise. Keep going. I want to know more.¡± She¡¯s faking¡­ Kain and Julia kept talking for several more minutes. Julia, to Kain¡¯s bemusement and discomfort, kept the conversation about his training and stories about what it was like practicing with her dad. Even though Kain would have much rathered talk about topics a girl would find interesting, he went with her flow. He tried his best to put a comedic twist on some of the stories and even got a few laughs out of her. As the conversation went on, he grew more comfortable and Julia¡¯s facade seemed to break. ¡°...when that happens the first person I¡¯m fighting is your dad.¡± Julia smirked, ¡°Oh come on!¡± ¡°Come on nothing. He¡¯d deserve it. After the torture he¡¯s put me through, it¡¯d be a taste of his own medicine.¡± Julia laughed, ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better. I¡¯d think you hated my dad.¡± ¡°I don''t hate him at all. I just think his shoulder could do with some dislocating. It¡¯s called poetic justice.¡± Julia lightly elbowed him, ¡°More like revenge.¡± Kain acted flabbergasted, ¡°What? Revenge? Me? Noo. Of course not. Nothing of the sort. It''s more of a...a graduation ceremony.¡± Julia stifled her laughter for a moment to ask, ¡°What¡¯s a graduation ceremony?¡± ¡°Right uhh. It''s a ceremony you hold when you¡¯ve completed something. Like if you wanted to celebrate moving up from an apprentice to a fensir you¡¯d throw a graduation ceremony.¡± ¡°Oh..¡± Julia¡¯s mood visibly plummeted. A solemn expression momentarily replaced her joyful laughter. It had happened more than a couple of times during their chat, but it never lasted too long. Before Kain could try to question her about it, she always moved the discussion onward. This time though, Kain was determined to get and actual response out of her. He held her hand, ¡°Julia. Wh¡ª¡± She immediately tried to cut him off, ¡°Nothing. Le¡ª¡± Kain didn¡¯t let her, ¡°No. Something¡¯s wrong. What is it?¡± Kain held her hands firmly, seeking some eye contact but Julia avoided it and the question. ¡°Was it something I said?¡± ¡°No!¡± She turned to him for a moment, but turned away immediately after. ¡°No. I was just thinking about something. You didn¡¯t do anything.¡± Kain sighed, ¡°Why doesn¡¯t that sound true?¡± Julia gasped dramatically in response, ¡°You dare accuse me, daughter of Sir Maleek Fortem, great malsir of Bruyn, of lying?¡± The dramatic response forced a chuckle out of Kain, but he quickly restrained it. He wouldn¡¯t let her distract him again. ¡°No. I¡¯m asking Julia Fortem, the most beautiful girl in the whole world, why she won¡¯t tell me the truth.¡± You¡¯ve called her beautiful 11 times. Find a new word. Find a new head to complain in. ¡­ ¡°Duel me.¡± Kain shook his head lightly. Talking to Kaige seemed to have distracted him. ¡°I misheard. What did you say?¡± ¡°I said. Duel me.¡± She used her head to point towards the direction of the weapons rack. Kain looked over at the weapons rack, then back at Julia, then back at the weapons rack, then back at Julia, then back at the weapons rack. Settling on Julia again, he shook his head again, ¡°What?¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Three Days Later. Maleek stood a few kilotelks outside Bruyn as he watched the convoy approach. They were no more than 15 minutes away at this point. Beside him stood twenty soldiers, the rest waiting inside the town. The wall hadn¡¯t been completed yet, but the bulk of the construction that did occur, occurred on the eastern side. Fortunately, there was enough stone placed there for the soldiers to hide behind. Maleek and the soldiers waiting beyond the town¡¯s wall sat on horseback. If negotiations went poorly, mobility would be key. After ten of so minutes, the convoy slowed to a halt a few strides in front of Maleek. The carriages had varying colors, but they each flew flags with white wolves on them. They fly the flag of a practically extinct animal. After a few more minutes, seven people on horseback approached him and his men. Unlike his men however, none of them wore armor. They all wore suits, tuxedos. As they got closer Maleek could tell they were expensive too. They all had odd, intricate designs or textures. Almost all of them at least, the man in the center¡¯s suit was plain. Noticeably plain. He was Imurian as well. Hmm. As soon as they were within a few strides of one another, the man called out to Maleek. ¡°Maleek Fortem. Former Imurian soldier, current vice-captain of the Bruyn¡¯s garrison. Malsir. It¡¯s an honor to make your acquaintance.¡± Maleek was shocked the man knew so much about him, but he didn¡¯t let it show. These were negotiations. He couldn¡¯t let his emotions be swayed or shown. He needed to gain information though. ¡°I believe it¡¯s customary to introduce oneself upon making an acquaintance.¡± The man smiled, ¡°My deepest apologies. You may refer to me as Zar.¡± Im Not Dead! The past 3 weeks have been pretty tough for me, but thats not what you want to hear. You want to know if I''m back to writing. I am! I even have a chapter coming out for you soon. Unfortunately it''s only one. Its beentough. Anyway, until I have my life sorted out better I can''t promise a schedule. I''ll try my best though. On a completely separate note, an idea for a different novel hit me over my 20ish days of no writing. I really want to write it, but I unfortunately don''t have the time. Tis a shame,can I get somefs in the chat?Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Congratulations! I''m a failure!
Chapter 32: Bluffs 2 [The Blood] A codename. He looks Imurian, but that name... ¡°Okay, Zar. To what does the town of Bruyn owe this visit?¡± Zar¡¯s smile didn¡¯t let up, ¡°Seeing as you were gracious enough to prepare us a welcoming party, I assume you¡¯ve already been made aware, no?¡± Maleek¡¯s eyes narrowed as he sized Zar up, ¡°We received word that a large convoy was approaching us flying a flag never seen before. We¡¯re merely wondering what for?¡± Zar¡¯s smile morphed into a grin as a faint chuckle escaped from within it, ¡°That so?¡± He spurred his horse forward. The soldiers besides Maleek reached for their weapons in response, but Maleek calmed them. No one besides Zar moved. While it was a long shot, there was still a chance they could resolve this without violence. Zar noted the fearful response, but ignored it. Nonchalantly riding up to the side of Maleek, he stopped his horse when they were within arm''s distance. ¡°While I would love to continue this exchange, time is on neither of our sides. I know the baron came to town, I know he visited your residence, and I know he miraculously disappeared thereafter,¡± The smile on his face receded, ¡°Whether you¡¯re hiding him here or somewhere else, it matters not. What does matter is that you know who we are and why we¡¯re here. You can either cooperate. Or not.¡± Maleek looked Zar dead in the eyes. He didn¡¯t know how to respond. He could have already guessed they had a spy in Bruyn, but that didn¡¯t explain how they knew so much. The baron didn¡¯t announce his arrival as he usually did. He practically snuck into town. Fool! They knew he¡¯d be coming. They probably waited for him to show up and trailed his carriage when he did. Fyk! ¡°Shall I take your silence for cooperation?¡± Maleek continued to stare Zar down, but the intensity was no longer there. They both knew Zar had him where he wanted him. Maleek frowned, ¡°The baron is not in town.¡± Zar¡¯s smile returned, ¡°Perfect. It would admittedly have been an awkward hurdle for him.¡± ¡°What?¡± Maleek blinked in surprise, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Plans have changed Maleek. We¡¯ll be taking this town. Have your men m¡ª¡± Maleek interrupted him, ¡°Taking the town? Are you mad?¡± ¡°When necessary.¡± Maleek opened his mouth as if to reply, but Zar cut him off, ¡°Let me be blunt, you do not possess the manpower to stop us. I¡¯m no admirer of bloodshed, but I have a task to fulfill.¡± You¡¯re not the leader! We can still negotiate. Maleek yelled, ¡°Code 5C!¡± Behind him, the twenty soldiers that accompanied him casually rode their horses back towards town. Maleek didn¡¯t turn to see, he trained them well. They responded to his instruction immediately. Zar had responded immediately as well, forming his barrier instantly. His posse did the same behind him. Like I thought... He gazed at the retreating men, ¡°I had thought you wiser than this.¡± ¡°The only unwise one here is the one who believes a town still reeling from a bandit attack would openly accept them as their new lords.¡± Zar sighed, ¡°We sh¡ª¡± Maleek raised his hand to stop him, ¡°Wait. I¡¯m not done. I know why you¡¯re really here.¡± Zar eyed him, seemingly intrigued. He remained silent however, waiting for Maleek to continue. ¡°You need this town. Its produce is vital to sustaining your population, but you don¡¯t have the coin or resources to afford it. Your current..situation also makes it difficult to find trade partners. I believe we can come to an arrangement that doesn¡¯t involve hostilities.¡± Zar clapped, ¡°Bravo, bravo. Unfortunately,¡± The clapping stopped, ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡± What? ¡°And we¡¯ve run out of time.¡± Krck! Maleek leapt off his horse just as a glowing bullet whizzed by where chest used to be. He landed, his barrier formed, and leapt backwards towards town. The force of his first jump had instantly killed the horse he was sitting on. The force of his second jump sent him back almost half a kilotelk. Shit, I fo¡ª Cutting off his thoughts, the ground behind him warped. Two golem-like hands emerged seemingly seeking to pull him down. Noticing the shift in the earth below him before the hands even appeared, Maleek reacted swiftly, dashing to his left before the hands could get too close. Before he could gather his thoughts however, the ground warped again. Instead of retreating this time, he put as much strength into his arm as he could and punched straight down. The impact immediately formed a large crater below his feet. Krck! Fyk! Maleek didn¡¯t react in time to completely dodge the bullet. He managed to avoid being hit in any vitals, but the bullet still grazed his midriff. The physical damage wasn¡¯t too bad, but the knowledge that whoever was shooting at him could bypass his barrier so easily worried him immensely. Landing slightly outside the crater, he poured as much sahir into his barrier as he could reasonably manage. He knew he was stuck between a sword and a blade. The artisir below him must have been a mesheer considering the way he moved through the earth. If that was the case, there¡¯s no way his punch would have killed him. That¡¯s assuming he had even hit him. Somewhere in the distance there was a rifleman that was waiting for him to lose focus for even a moment. He would have jumped high into the air to avoid the malsir below and retreat to town, but he knew he would simply be shot down. There was no escape.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Back in the safety of the Bruyn, Emont looked on both worried and perplexed. The advanced unit that was sent out with Maleek came back reporting he had called Code 5C. Code 5C effectively ordered the men to ¡®retreat then wait and see¡¯, They were only allowed to move if he died or retreated himself. As the head of the garrison, he could override this order, but he didn¡¯t have a good enough reason to believe he should. He didn¡¯t have any reason. The situation in front of him was filled will nothing but unknowns. He couldn¡¯t predict how it would proceed. Before he could even reorganize the unit, Maleek leapt off his horse. They had thought he would retreat, but he suddenly stopped. Faint sounds of gunshots could be heard in the distance, but no one believed that one rifleman could restrict his movement. The real issue was the six malsirs still sitting on their steeds. For some reason however, they hadn¡¯t moved a muscle. They merely watched as Maleek hopped around and oddly punched the ground. Carter walked up to Emont, ¡°What is he doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Maybe our assumptions were incorrect?¡± Three days ago one of their scouting squads rushed into the garrison with urgent news. They had spotted an unusually large convoy heading their way. The information didn¡¯t immediately strike as dangerous, they had just received their first merchant convoy of the season. It wasn¡¯t until they realized the direction they were coming from that they panicked. They immediately set up for a raid; gathering any and every able-bodied man and putting guns in their hands, augmenting the partially built stone wall with wooden fortifications, sending out calls for aid to nearby baronies. By this time, knowledge of Arkthur¡¯s fall was public. If the king¡¯s declaration didn¡¯t reach the townsfolk¡¯s ears, the merchants from Otger would enlighten them. The whole town had grown somewhat suspicious of the lack of merchant convoys coming their way. They were one of the few things that got everyone out of their homes. Most assumed news of the bandit attack had reach the merchants and they had decided to not risk the journey. It made logical sense. While the scope of the attack was limited, the graveyard was noticeably populated even on snowy days. It was the first time the stench of blood reached Bruyn in a long time and it filled the town with unease. They quelled this unease with stories of their protector, but when a merchant convoy finally showed up their imaginings of ¡®God¡¯s Disciple¡¯ could no longer assuage their fears. Carter rubbed his chin, ¡°I would like that to be true..I would love that to be true, but I think their inaction proves our assumptions are correct.¡± Emont looked at his assistant mildly confused, ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Who but bandits would have such hubris? It¡¯s almost like they¡¯re testing him.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Maleek lamented leaving his weapons attached to his horse. He had done so in a sign of nonaggression, but he placed them in such a way that he could easily reach them if the situation went south. The threat of the people in front of him was expected. The threat of a sniper however, was not. In his rush to avoid the sahir hurling at him the thought to reach for his spear slipped from his mind. If he hadn¡¯t let it slip, he was confident he could nullify the snipers threat. The ground behind him warped. He repeated his previous tactic of punching the ground, this time waiting a bit longer in hopes of catching the malsir in his punch¡¯s radius. He immediately dashed out of the resulting crater, not even giving the sniper the time to shot. After landing outside the crater he glanced in the direction the bullets were coming from. He couldn¡¯t spot anything irregular, but he reasoned a talented sniper wouldn¡¯t let themselves be noticed with a mere glance. He quickly gave the endeavor up and glanced to his right to see if they had anymore surprises lined up for him. Given all the time he had to scan his surroundings, he could have tried to make a run for it. Something about the situations felt off to him however, and he didn¡¯t think running back to town would solve it. Zar clearly wasn¡¯t making any attempts to chase him. He instead chose to wait for the malsir below him to return. They obliged. Behind again? Maleek casually stomped the ground. There wasn¡¯t anywhere near as much force behind it as either of his earlier punches, but it accomplished its goal. The warping halted and quickly disappeared. He¡¯s green. Maleek immediately concluded that despite the power of whoever the mystery malsir was, he lacked experience. His attack pattern was textbook. He always attacked from the same relative position, at the same angle, even the speed of his attacks were similar. He would applaud the consistency if it wasn¡¯t so amateurish. It was now clear to Maleek that this was all just a play. An elaborate dance. They were trying to guide his actions, but he could only speculate to what end. Are they trying to capture me? For what purpose? Krck! Maleek easily dodged the whizzing bullet. They¡¯re wasting way too much time. Why are they still on standby? Was he lying about running out of time? He peeked at the man that called himself Zar and his posse. To Maleek¡¯s surprise, Zar had gotten off his horse and was stealing for his dead horse. Maleek frowned. To lack class and honor, can he even ca¡ª ¡°Haa haa haa haa haa,¡± Zar started laughing loudly, ¡°This! This I...¡± Maleek couldn¡¯t catch the rest, but he would probably have missed it even if it was audible. Zar¡¯s laugh was deep and hearty, quite unlike the image he had formed of him. Quickly memories of his days as a mere sentinel spending nights with his squadmates rushed into his mind. No. That wasn¡¯t why his laugh was nostalgic. Why do I¡ª ¡°Enough!¡± Just as Maleek was preparing to stomp the pesky malsir away again, Zar had spoken. The earth behind him returned to its stillness. Maleek looked at him skeptically. He was still somewhat bemused why decade old memories were resurfacing. While he mulled that and whether the sniper got the ¡®back off¡¯ memo over, he noticed the distinct figure of a woman pop up out of the ground next to Zar. A woman? A short conversation passed, but neither of them spoke loud enough for him to hear. Soon the woman returned to the hole she appeared from and Zar began walking towards him. Maleek briefly considered making a run for it. He didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but he didn¡¯t like it. It gave him a bad feeling. That being said, he was the strongest malsir in town and his backupwould struggle to handle the strength of either of the malsirs he just dealt with. He knew nothing of the ones on standby either. Ha. ¡®Dealt¡¯. If they both truly sought to kill him, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure how he¡¯d combat them without his spear. While he was still powerful without it, with it he was on a different level. He¡ª Wait. Zar was steadily getting closer as Maleek was considering his options. He had gotten to the halfway point between them before Maleek realized the spear in his hand was in fact his own. Maleek senses were now flaring. The scene playing out in front of him was all wrong, again. He suppressed it and waited though. At the very least, he knew for sure that killing him wasn¡¯t on the agenda. If he could trust Zar¡¯s words at all, he didn¡¯t enjoy killing. It didn¡¯t take long for Zar to reach him. When he got within a couple dozen telks of Maleek he stopped, with a large grin plastered on his face. ¡°I can¡¯t fathom how he does it, but he always manages to spot the baby diesfell hiding amongst the tigers.¡± Maleek understood the idiom, but didn¡¯t understand how it related to the current situation. Zar knew he was a malsir from the start and it wasn¡¯t like he was hiding. Thinking about it, he was probably the most recognizable person in Bruyn. Zar, either not knowing or not caring about Maleek¡¯s confusion, casually tossed him his spear. Maleek caught it and immediately checked it for any foul play. Sahir runes were a secret art, but with his limited exposure to the more advanced parts of the world he couldn¡¯t be sure that was still the case. Confirming it hadn¡¯t been tampered with, he looked back at Zar even more confused than before. Nothing was making sense. ¡°Why?¡± Zar¡¯s grin grew even larger, ¡°Why you ask¡­¡± In the next few moments Maleek¡¯s eyes grew wide in complete astonishment. Within Zar¡¯s hand a spear very similar to his own suddenly phased into being. A spear made entirely of sahir. ¡°You...you¡¯re...you¡¯re a..¡± Overwhelmed by shock, Maleek stuttered. ¡°Certain obligations prevent me from giving you my name, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll know soon enough.¡± The grin turned into a smile as Zar quickly took a stance. It was a stance Maleek knew well. It was the stance he had spent most of his life trying to mimic. ¡°Come junior, show me what you¡¯ve learned.¡± Chapter 33: Bandits [The Blood] Maleek didn¡¯t move a muscle. He stood still, gawking at the man standing in front of him. His eyes must have been playing tricks on him that had to be it. Running in to a fellow disciple of his former martial arts school was unthinkable on its own, to run into one of the only three masters? Impossible. Even now, as he gawked at the man, he couldn¡¯t connect the dots. He didn¡¯t resemble any of his former masters. Yet¡­ ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll come to you.¡± Zar burst forward instantly, his form seemingly disappearing for a moment. The speed amazed Maleek, but he was a soldier. His reflexes were sharp. The blue light of Zar¡¯s spear left a trail as it whizzed passed his shoulder. Maleek quickly regained focus. That strike would have killed him if he was even a fraction of a second late. Whether the man in front of him was one of the men he thought he was or not didn¡¯t matter. If he didn¡¯t concentrate, he¡¯d be too dead to ever find out. ¡°Good instincts, but can your arms move that fast?¡± Maleek immediately understood what that question would entail. He poured sahir into his spear, simultaneously filling its hollow center and activating the runes attached to it. It brimmed with power and Maleek gripped it tightly. It probably wouldn¡¯t help him at all in the coming onslaught, but Zar didn¡¯t give him any room to breathe. Stabs and thrusts came thick and fast, in every direction Maleek looked the treat of being skewered loomed. It wasn¡¯t a false impression either. Zar wasn¡¯t just quick with his spear, he was quick on his feet. He darted around and picked apart Maleek¡¯s form at his leisure. Maleek didn¡¯t even consider the notion that he could guard against Zar¡¯s advances and immediately sought to evade. Unfortunately for him, Zar was faster than he realized. The greatest advantage of a spear was its range and Maleek couldn¡¯t get out Zar¡¯s. Zar chuckled, ¡°Have some backbone Maleek, this is a test not a duel.¡± Maleek didn¡¯t believe those words for a second, he continued to frantically dodge and evade. Zar was getting hits in, but they weren¡¯t anything life threatening and he intended to keep it that way. Many of Zar¡¯s attacks appeared as nothing more than blue blurs. There was no need to risk trying to deflect or parry such things. It had been a decade since he fought anyone he would label dangerous. Even with his instincts and reflexes, he was woefully under-prepared for such a fight. He never imagined a group of bandits could enlist someone of such strength. The game of cat and mouse continued on for quite a while until Maleek was finally forced to start using his spear to protect himself. He could no longer ignore the wounds Zar was inflicting for sake of fear. If things continued as they were, Maleek would simply die a slow death. Unfortunately for him, he realized this much too late. He had many cuts across both of his arms and chest. Even if the pain could be easily ignored, his body would just naturally react slowly to his commands. Trying to repel Zar¡¯s advances would be no more fruitful than continuing to run. As such, he did the only other thing he could do. Attack. More precisely, he¡¯d counterattack. Zar had all the momentum. He¡¯d have to find a way to counter him and, if but for a moment, make him consider his own defence. Not having time to think of an elaborate plan, Maleek let his battle instincts carry him. They told him Zar outclassed him in speed, power, technique, and accuracy. That left only one plan of action, pure unbridled assault. If he couldn¡¯t best Zar in anything, then he¡¯d ignore everything and be the aggressor. At first, the counter attack proved fruitful. Zar was stunned by his very sudden switch of tactics. The ¡®fight¡¯ had been little more than him cutting Maleek up while Maleek did his best to evade the tips of his spear. He had anticipated that Maleek would have to change his approach sooner rather than later, but he expected that transition to be from evasion to defence first. Maleek instead went straight from evasion to offence in the blink of an eye. The shift caught him off guard, so much so that he momentarily stopped his own assault to step back. That moment of reprieve for Maleek didn¡¯t last long though. The word finally escaped his lips as met Maleek¡¯s advances with his own. Unlike Maleek who was moving on pure instinct, Zar was calculated in every move he made. Each feint, each parry, each strike was planned many moves in advance. While the ¡®fight¡¯ was technically no longer a game of cat and mouse, it was still clear that only one of the two participants could be considered a predator. None of Maleeks strikes landed. Zar never sought to evade them either, he met each of Maleek¡¯s moves with a move of his own. Whether it be parrying or deflecting or merely showing he had a longer reach, he never shied away from the contest. The contest would be prove to be a rather short-lived event, however.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Suddenly, while Maleek and Zar were crossing spears, a bright red flame burst into existence. Even though it was more than a kilotelk away, at the other end of Zar¡¯s convoy, they could both see it. Maleek was surprised by the size and brightness of the flame, but what was truly stunning was the huge wall of rock that formed to meet it. Zar merely sighed in annoyance. ¡°Raezel Meyner. Troublesome.¡± He spoke those words as if discussing an annoying mosquito. Maleek didn¡¯t notice his tone however, he was busy noting the laxing of his guard. As soon as he confirmed he had effectively ended hostilities, he made a run for it. Unfortunately... ¡°Ahhh..uhh," He tumbled to the ground and rolled a few dozen telks. When he stopped rolling, he felt nothing but excruciating pain. Looking down towards his stomach he found a blue spear lodged in his gut. After a few seconds, the spear dissolved into nothingness, but the hole in his abdomen remained. He had already been bleeding previously, but now he was drenched in blood. His body no longer heeded his commands. It was shutting down. He tried to roll himself to see back towards Bruyn, but he couldn¡¯t. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Zar picking up his spear. ¡°You...mu¡­...earn," ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡°This is a bad idea. A really really bad idea.¡± ¡°Stop whining, we¡¯re almost there.¡± Kain gingerly snuck behind Julia as she lead them to an abandoned two storey building close to the edge of Bruyn. They were supposed to be on a caravan heading to Otger right now, but Julia had the genius idea to sneak back into town to snag a glimpse of the battle. Kain had immediately protested the ludicrous idea, but as had become common between the two, he was quickly strong armed into it. To make matters worse, unbeknownst to Julia, they hadn¡¯t even managed to slip away from the caravan unnoticed. Kaige was keeping him updated on two of her mother¡¯s arberdirs that were tailing them. While their presence comforted him somewhat, the fact they made no effort to stop them bothered him deeply. Reaching the front of building, Julia peek through the window to make sure it was empty before slowly opening the door. Kain already confirmed the building was abandoned, but he knew Julia was enjoying herself. They both carefully tiptoed across what they assumed was a tavern. As Kain looked around, he started to wonder why the place was abandoned. Unlike a lot of the building in this direction it wasn¡¯t burned anywhere. It may have been slightly separated, but that didn¡¯t seem like a good enough reason to completely abandon it. There wasn¡¯t even any furniture. The sound of their footsteps echoed slightly as the headed towards the stairs. Once they reach them Kain tapped Julia¡¯s shoulder and offered to sweep the rest of the bottom floor while she did the top. She agreed, and they both separated. Kain walked a couple telks away and sat down. He¡¯d let her have her fun. While Kain waited for her to finish, he looked around the place. It looked like any average tavern, excluding the emptiness of course. He wasn¡¯t the type to frequent taverns, but had visited the two main ones in Bruyn. They had very similar layouts. No backrooms though. You don¡¯t know that. Check. Kain didn¡¯t really want to, but sitting and waiting was boring so he obliged. He only got four steps before Kaige yelled stop in his mind. Kain cringed, the feeling was very similar to a brain freeze. What THE FUCK was that for? There are people under the floor. What? You said it was empty. I thought it was...there are a lot of dead bodies down there. Wait, what? Is anyone down there alive? Yeah. There are four, four people alive. Okay...how many dead bodies is ¡®a lot¡¯ exactly? Sixty. Sixty?! Oh hell no. We¡¯re getting out of here now. Wher¡ª ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Quick Formatting Question. That past two chapters I released both don''t have the usually wide gaps I put between lines. Do you guys like this or should I go back to the way I did things before? I only ask because I''ve been reading a lot of novels on here trying to give myself inspiration to write more and I''ve gotten used to this style. I don''t mind either way, but I''ve been told the wider gaps are easier on the eyes (Interestingly I''ve also been told their hard on the eyes).The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Sidenote, do you guys know any kingdom building novels I can read? I''ve read the pop stuff like Overlord and slimeboy and capture the witch. If you guys have any recommendations please feel free to share.