《Balance》


 The Hill

    I''m going to tell you a story in a distant place. Ben is 19 years old, and he belongs to the military academy of Lebrassia, A far away country. He is disciplined and intends to do everything the right way, according to his own criteria.


    Lebrassia is a very militarized country, but where its population has been living in peace for a long time. And this tranquility is due to the fact that the only two major countries known at present in these distant lands are, precisely, Lebrassia, and its ally the nation of Oldania. The latter country does not have a powerful army like Lebrassia, since they are still in the era of castles and soldiers in armor, and their technology has reached the steam engines. Lebrassia, on the other hand, has tanks, flying ships, and huge cannons.


    Ben was very excited, but quietly, disciplined, because he would be, for the first time, on an official flight in an airship, a huge flying ship with cannons of all sizes and on all sides of the huge vehicle. It was pine green, very military, metallic tone with some details in other shades of green, just like most of the uniforms and equipment of the Lebrassia army. Red flags with a hammer and sickle adorned the caravan of war machines in the skies. Yes. Lebrassia is a distant communist country, but free, and its people live peacefully. They have banished kings and religions, and now they do not believe in gods, they believe in man.


    It was a rainy and dark morning, Ben was preparing for his first official flight on a combat vessel, however, his superior informed him of the following message:


    "One of the flying craft has disobeyed today''s planned orders, broke formation and headed northbound towards the border, with the objective of opening fire on our allied nation Oldania. The unit was shot down by our forces once it was declared an enemy and military target.


    Ben Zerrouk, has been temporarily disengaged from his duties from the Lebrassia army until further notice, he will be transferred immediately to Hare Hill, to the east, where his personal belongings will arrive at the house assigned to him. "


    An unprecedented riot had occurred in the country, and the military close to that event had been sent back home, for security reasons. Hare Hill was an area adjacent to the village of Vemen, a nearby municipality of the Capital Fressen. This area was characterized by tall pine trees, trees that ranged from deep green to reddish hues to orange and gold. The grass tended to be a somewhat dark, deep green, adorned with small white or yellow flowers that were arranged almost perfectly like wallpaper. Except for the eastern capital, Fressen, which was at a considerable height, with an enviable view of the rest of the place. Fressen had perpetual snow, and its cherry-red decorations stood out. The latter was the place where Ben really wanted to be moved to.


    As he arrived in an official vehicle, Ben noticed how steep that hill was, as he wondered how comfortable it would be to move from his new borrowed house to the other side. It really was a rather uninhabited place, as he reached the top, he found that there were only three houses, two stories each. Two in a row and one a little further away. Houses of stone and clay roof. With vines reaching up to the roof. Surrounded by tall pine trees.


    The most powerful reason Ben preferred living in Fressen to Hare Hill is because as a child he lived there for a while, in that place, but was not too happy. Several of his acquaintances still live in the foothills, and have persisted in life, without moving too much elsewhere.


    Ben makes a quick inspection of the place. He notices that his new house is sparsely furnished, with a large aged pine bed, some oak furniture, and trunks to store his belongings. Despite being good looking, he doesn''t like to socialize too much, he enjoys solitude somewhat, but it also overwhelms him when it sucks him in and he feels he needs to have some social contact. Almost all the rooms had windows, and precisely, the one in the kitchen, which overlooked the backyard, showed Vemen''s villa at the end of the abyss. You couldn''t see much, just some rooftops, looking down a little, beyond the sloping fields covered with small and delicate flowers.


    Just to the right side, there was a similar house, he could see from the living room window that some young women live there. All blonde, pinkish white skin, like porcelain, wearing light and soft cotton dresses, with floral motifs. I noticed that it looked like a family, there was a pregnant young adult woman in her early twenties, a teenage girl, and a little girl under ten years old. They were playing as they hung freshly laundered clothes on the clotheslines in the backyard, laughing through the fades of an unusual breeze.


    Ben looked for something to eat. He didn''t have too much, some oatmeal bread, dried pork sausage and sheep cheese. Also some strawberry jelly. He looked for some blankets to sleep early, as he didn''t want to socialize or say hello to his new neighbors. Nor did he care to know who lived in the third house that was a little farther away. Sleep took him fast, and he awoke to some noise that startled him. In addition to the blue stars in the night sky, and the orange aurora on the horizon, the lights of Vemen could be seen below, and even up there, the noise of the town''s brewery could be heard.


    He felt a little curious, like when you feel like you are missing out on something at the time, but he went back to bed.


    He was practically without any specific obligation to fulfill, just waiting for a new order. He tried to sleep soundly that night, but he was waking up all the time, everything had happened too fast for him.


    A cold breeze woke him from his sleep, but it was no longer morning, it was afternoon. So he decided to go down to Vemen. As he went out, one of his neighbors smiled from the window. The teenager, but she didn''t say anything to him.


    He passed by the third house, but saw no one. Then he encountered the downhill path, boy is it steep. Anyone having a stumble and he could fall tumbling down. The stone path was covered with pine trees, and many warm colored trees, Reddish and yellow leaves were constantly falling.


    Despite not being on duty, Ben''s military bearing was very noticeable, and he wore black leather clothing. He had an erect gait and an imposing bearing, even for such a young man. Passing by several stone and wood buildings, more reddish trees and more vines everywhere. The tavern looms on the other corner. It is shaped like a barrel. Just as he was about to arrive, he changed his mind and thought it was a better idea just to go there to buy some more food. But he felt anxious and his heart was pounding and he headed for the entrance of the place to get it over with. There was live music and people chatting happily, but little by little several eyes started to focus on him. He began to see some familiar faces, among them his cousin he hadn''t seen for years, Jem, and a childhood acquaintance, Glowen.


    His cousin Jem was known to be one of the most beautiful in those parts, she was blonde, with very long hair, and green eyes, very intelligent and calculating, while Glowen was a girl with a beautiful face, short jet hair and black eyes and very white skin and red lips, although a little overweight, but a natural leader, very spontaneous. I was amazed at how much they had grown.


    Despite this, no one came to greet him, not even, which seemed a bit strange even for him. Slowly he walked towards the center of the crowd and noticed a very strange person. Someone he had never seen before.


    He laughed out loud, almost uncomfortably. He felt pity for others, he would shout like a buffoon and the others would laugh in unison. He was a very tall guy, very thin, with a tousled mane of intense red hair, and deep turquoise eyes. He seemed to have a shy, mocking smile.


    Everyone around him seemed delighted with his stories. But what was really offensive to Ben was that this guy was wearing military fatigues, it seemed like a joke in very bad taste planned against him. -Kramer, they called him. He had never seen him before. His cousin Jen finally came over to greet him, after a long time of ignoring him because she was listening to the stories of this Kramer guy. It was a very hurried greeting, and he returned to his seat. Glowen did ignore him completely despite having noticed his presence.


    Kramer gets up from his seat and starts marching in place, imitating a military man, which infuriates Ben. And everyone bursts out laughing. Ben decides to leave for good, and regrets having entered that place, he definitely thinks it was a mistake. So he decides to go home as soon as possible. Just as he starts to climb the steep road home he remembers that he needs to buy some food, he takes a few steps back, but decides that it''s really best to find a way to never meet those people again.


    So he goes up to his house to plan another way to get groceries, somewhere else perhaps, where he won''t have to cross any of those. So he rushes back to his house and locks himself in. He makes himself comfortable, takes a shower and starts reading a book on military strategy. He falls asleep quickly.


    There''s a knock on the door, for the first time. It must definitely be my new neighbors, he thinks, but to his surprise, it was his cousin Jem, accompanied by Kramer''s jester. Confused by such a strange event, he is reluctant to invite them in, but she tells him they only came to bring him that basket of food, as a welcome gift. The three of them sit on a bench up there, under one of the orange trees, as leaves fall from him. Jen in the middle. With the basket, she handed out the food. There was fruit, various kinds of bread and ham. Also honey and wine. Kramer was behaving very differently, but so was his cousin, Ben thought yesterday''s was a product of the euphoria of the brewery. They laughed for a long time and then the two visitors said goodbye, but not before inviting him to come back to the brewery for a good time.


    Shortly after they entered, they knocked on Ben''s door again, thinking they must have forgotten something to tell him, but it wasn''t the two of them.


    It was one of her new neighbors, Vanessa, who was pregnant, and had two daughters in addition. She was bringing him an orange cake. Ben showed her in and they talked for a while. She told him that she had been living there for a few years, and that her husband and father of her daughters was in the military, and she was assigned to that house. That, although she had not been at war, her husband had disappeared, without a trace. So she gets by with the help of the nation.


    After resting for a while, Ben gets ready to go back to the tavern to meet his friends on the way down. He walks down the path of reddish and golden trees, various shades of green as well, with a slight smile. Disconcerting was his surprise as he passed the door. Kramer was surrounded by several, imitating Ben, and making jokes about him, as they all laughed uproariously. There were more people this time, and several of the women were wearing military clothing, a garment called in Lebrassia "light armor," worn by women in the military, which consisted of some sort of tight-fitting leather with defensive properties, complemented by elbow and knee protectors, military boots, and gloves. The colors were interspersed, for example, pine green below, and the harness and protectors olive green or red, or black, also different shades of green, from yellowish to almost bluish. Always the leather with an almost metallic finish, quite polished. On their left arms they had a black armband with a red seal, like a crest with the two lower points curved outward.


    It was a very awkward and unexpected moment for Ben, and he didn''t know what was going on, other than that he had clearly been totally deceived and betrayed of his good deal. Not only did Kramer look at him with derision, so did his cousin Jem.


    An acquaintance from long before, Rafaela, a redhead with hip-length hair, milk-white skin and freckles, and honey-colored eyes, now also wearing light, dark pine green metallic armor that simulated a second skin, with red harnesses and guards on top, as well as her boots, leotard and other accessories, approached Ben, but not to greet him, no, she approached him to taunt him and laugh in front of him. The last memory that Ben had of Rafaela was, as a child, when he had told her that he wanted to read a book that had been recommended to him, and hours later, she herself unexpectedly came to take it to him. It was a gesture that Ben appreciated very much at the time.


    Ben left the place, while he continued to listen to Rafaela''s loud laughter and verbal attacks. As he climbed the hill, very angry and dismayed, and at the same time confused, he tried in his mind to find a way to overcome everything and send his anger to grow more and more. He saw with disdain, the bench where he had shared together with Jem, and Kramer, had leaves on it, and others were still slowly falling. He then proceeded to lock himself in his house for a good while.


    Through the window, she saw her neighbors playing while drying their washed clothes. The intrigue of what was going on down there was such that, without any reservations, he went to ask her, perhaps as an excuse, to talk to someone, if she, Vanessa, knew about what was going on in the brewery. Vanessa greeted him with a friendly smile, they greeted each other and, almost immediately, Ben asked her if she had any idea what was going on down there.


    Vanessa, on the other side of the varnished wood fence, told him that she wasn''t sure what he was talking about, but that, she had heard, of a group of young women who were "doing military stuff", they weren''t from the nation''s army, but no one was stopping them from wearing militia-like garb either. She also told him that she had seen a couple or more of those girls in light armor, up here on the hill, several weeks before Ben came to move in.


    Ben decided he had to protect himself, and went for his pyro-sword. This is a weapon widely used by advanced warriors in Lebrassia. It is a sword, large in size, which in its handle carries a container with magical fuel. By pressing a trigger located on the handle, two tubes at the base of the blade expel the vapors of the flammable liquid, which, with a spark shot from these conduits, launch a great flame that spreads throughout the blade. The warrior''s magical power could make this flame much larger and more damaging.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Humans, by nature, have red magic or blood magic, with the fire element at the center. The deities of the east, the magic of the sun, and the dark and ice deities of the west, the magic of the moon. When a balance is achieved between two of these magics, the mythical balance is obtained, a superior power that makes the one who achieves it invincible. However, if two or all three magics are used at the same time, without achieving the balance, negative effects will be obtained, such as illness or weakness, depending on the depth of the use of the magics in question.


    It is said that. A thousand years ago, before the formation of Lebrassia and Oldania, a princess on a lost continent in the West, struck a balance between human magic and ice magic, sending demons and dark dragons into the land of men in the East, destroying the kingdoms and plunging the population into total starvation. A social revolution caused the people to dethrone the royalty and Lebrassia was created, a country without kings or religion, where men rule strictly. Of the sun worshippers, the people of the east, Oldania remained as a reminder of those bygone days. It is still a mystery why Lebrassia does not absorb Oldania, as it did the reigns of the past.


    Ben had a very strong training at the academy. He is no ordinary soldier, he is trained to single-handedly take down an enemy squad. He is a magical warrior of fire. Red or human magic can also manifest, in addition to the fire created, as intelligence or chaos. Part of the reason why he avoids confrontation with disrespectful young girls or almost unknown buffoons.


    Looking out the back window, Ben notices the hares that give the hill where he lives its name. He firmly believes they are coming to look for him. He''s not quite sure what''s going on, but he can feel it. He goes and looks in his mailbox to see if there is a letter left for him as a warning, but there is nothing. He begins to feel despair. He tries to calm down a bit. And he thinks. The only thing he doesn''t know about Hare Hill is who lives in the third house. Maybe he should go pay a visit....


    As usual, the wind was blowing quite hard in the late afternoon. The trees were constantly swaying in the cool breeze. Ben grabbed his black leather trench coat, and headed off to pay a visit to the abode he had yet to see. Halfway there, he wondered why he hadn''t asked Vanessa about this neighbor in one of their chats. With a basket of oatmeal bread, and after turning around for a moment, he decided it was better to go by himself for once. It had been bad enough since he arrived, nothing could be worse.


    The house was somewhat different from the other two, his and Vanessa''s and her daughters''. It was a little further away and located towards the road downhill to Vemen. He knocked on the door and waited. He knocked again and there was no answer. A little confused, he looked up trying to see through the wooden windows, but saw nothing. He walked away with his back turned, to see if he could see any movement anywhere, but to no avail. He exhaled, took another breath, and turned around. He walked a few steps and heard something inside the house. On his way back, the door opened. It was a tender old woman, with long, white hair. She greeted him with a smile and invited him in.


    Ben introduced himself, and the old woman told him that her name was Irma. She told him to come into the kitchen, and he thanked her for the oatmeal breads, which she liked very much, because they were very soft. Mrs. Irma''s kitchen, was quite large, all of gray stone, with a large square open window in the back, where you could see the cloudy sky. The clouds were moving very fast. Strings of garlic hung from the ceiling, as well as strips of various types of sausage. She asked Ben to put the basket down on the table, it was a large oak table, very heavy and rustic. The lady smiled and as she detailed it and turned her eyes back, as she searched the kitchen cabinets for some utensils.


    Ben noticed, and when he tried to ask her, she interrupted and told him that she was going to prepare something he would surely like. She took some garlic, a spicy sausage and started chopping on a board. Ben told her there was no need for her to cook for him. But Mrs. Irma insisted. He was so in need of affection and cordiality that he simply let himself be carried away by the hospitality that was offered to him at that moment. There was a moment of silence afterwards, somewhat awkward, as the breeze came through the window at that moment and ruffled her hair. She told him that he reminded her of someone. Ben asked her if it was a relative, presumably her son or grandson; Mrs. Irma smiled and laughed and said no, that it was a long time ago, and that she had never seen the person in question in person.


    Ben was even more confused. The old woman finished cooking and set about serving the dishes. It was an old recipe, but one that Ben did not know at all, a dough of wheat and sheep''s cheese, which partially covered the spiced pork sausage cooked in garlic oil and spices, accompanied by a red sauce with tomato and red fruits. The dough had the softness of an exquisite bread, and the intense flavor of sheep cheese. The combination was delicate and felt like a hug. Then he picked up a black bottle of wine, without a label, almost round and sturdy at the base, and thin at the top. And poured the two glasses. Ben realized that he had not waited for her to start eating, and he apologized, and complimented Mrs. Irma''s food. The old lady smiled at him, and Ben, not knowing what subject to make conversation about, insisted, which person he reminded her of.


    Then she asks him to wait for a moment, and gets up from the table. Mrs. Irma slowly goes in search of something. Ben watches through the window the clouds move, until after a while the old lady returns with some things under her arm. He gets up to help her, he did not imagine that she was going to bring those things that seemed a little heavy. She brings a small trunk, and something that seems to be an oil painting covered with a canvas, and with Ben''s help, they place everything on the table.


    Mrs. Irma uncovered the painting, very old, it was the portrait of a very beautiful young woman, also with blue eyes and jet black hair like Ben. That smiling girl had very white skin, and very red lips. She could well be his sister. The old woman said, I''m going to tell you a story while we eat, is that okay? Ben declared himself interested and very curious. Mrs. Irma asked him if he didn''t feel that no matter how hard he tried to do things right so that everything would be in harmony, everything seemed to become even more chaotic; that seemed to sum up the short time Ben had been on Hare Hill.


    "A long time ago, there was a girl, full of joy, she was a princess from a land far away. Her name is used as a myth, a myth that everyone knows, as something that perhaps never happened, and that superstitious people only tell to feel important. Because, what is said to have happened in reality, is that there were catastrophes of the nature of the world, which made things change to what we have now.


    Before we lived in this country that only believes in man, everything was more like our frozen-in-time neighbor, Oldania. People worshipped whatever they saw in the firmament, the sun or the moon. It was not such a rare thing, you see the moon and the sun always, no matter what happens, or how your day was, in the end, the moon tucks you in with its coat, and the sun gives you a chance to get better, once again, without missing. Two thousand years ago, a family called the Boron were expelled from these lands for committing what was considered a sacrilege. They had to cross the sea to the icy, dark west, just where the perpetual storm is now, which prevents them from seeing anything on the horizon.


    After almost dying in the icy waters, they miraculously reached a sad and mysterious land. There were no colors, silver and pale tones, contrasted with a black sky. The sand was black, and silver dunes with pale grass. In the background, imposing snow-capped mountains. The bearskins they were wearing did not seem to be enough to withstand the terrible cold of that place. However, the determination of that family seemed to be their only ally until that moment, . Expelled from the lands of the sun, for being the first to worship the moon and black magic, to try to save the life of its youngest member, without success, the Boron were the first settlers of the cold and dark lands of the far west, Gobegor.


    Meanwhile, the lands of the Sun, now known as the lands of man, now comprising Lebrassia and Oldania, continued to worship the Sun exclusively. But, before long, several began to worship the moon, hoping to gain the power of black magic, being likewise banished and sent into exile in Gobegor. These people who had been outcasts, for some reason, were somehow immune to the extreme conditions of these new lands. These people joined the Gobegor and recognized them as the leaders of this new society in the lunar lands.


    A thousand years later, and a thousand years before our era, Gobegor was already a kingdom, with a port city, and a castle at the western end. A black castle, like the Gobegorian rock. A light, shining through the royal corridors, was a 5 year old girl, Cristalia, with her white bear coat, darkest black hair, blue eyes and smooth skin between white and pink. The castle was as far west as any person had ever gone. It was on a mirror of ice, on a mountain, which could be climbed by a long and wide natural path, starting from the dunes. Cristalia was a very happy girl, very boisterous, totally different from the nature of that place.


    The kingdom of Gobegor had been at war for centuries with the lands of the Sun, a maritime war. Little or nothing had been invaded one side or the other. Gobegor was too cold to be invaded by the solar, and the lands of the sun, the number of soldiers was too high compared to the soldiers of the moon. Always the advantage, was greater at home, for each. These conditions had contributed to a perpetual war.


    Cristalia grew up, she was already a young girl, very beautiful, the most beautiful of all the kingdoms, and with her great kindness and eloquence, she convinced her father, the king, to initiate peace in the world.


    In the land of the Sun, there was talk that, Cristalia Boros was a miracle after eons of confrontation, and that, men would be united again."


    Ben had lost track of time as he listened to the old woman''s story. Night had already fallen, and the stars had appeared, in the window. He said goodbye to Mrs. Irma, and thanked her for the delicious meal. So he retired to his house, while it already looked like a heavy rain was about to fall.


    At dawn, with the first rays of sunlight, disturbing news arrived. From the window, Ben could see Vanessa looking very worried with a letter in her hand. She was pacing back and forth by her mailbox. He watched as she walked toward the backyard of her house, then stood with her arms folded. Ben got ready and dressed, to see what was wrong with her, at that hour, so early in the morning. He approached her at the wooden fence that divides the two houses, and went so far as to ask her how she was doing and what was wrong.


    She told him she was very concerned about the letter she had just received, and showed it to him. It was a letter from the authorities, warning that the security force had been reduced to almost nothing. This meant that bandits and thieves, who steal and hide in the forest, would be able to reach the houses. Ben hugged her and told her not to worry, that he would take care of everyone there. Vanessa''s daughters were still asleep. The sunlight was just breaking through some clouds, with a few golden threads visible from the sky.


    Ben returned home, drank some orange juice while looking out the windows of his house at the surroundings of Hare Hill. He went up to the attic, on the third floor, where he keeps his weapons, militia items and magic items. He took out some items from one trunk, from another, and organized everything in an old medium-sized wooden box. He went downstairs with that box, and left his house, locking the door, standing for a moment in silence in front of the door. He turned around and headed for his backyard, where Vanessa''s daughters were watching him from a second-story window next door. Ben greeted them from there with an outstretched hand and a smile. He walked to the end of his yard, where the deepest curve of the hill is and where the forest that covers the entire elevation begins.


    Ben was from here to there, on the edge of the whole reasonably walkable area of the hill, where you can see the abyss, he, along with his wooden box that he organized in his loft.


    After he finished what he was doing, he went to visit Mrs. Irma. He found her watering her flowers in the front garden, greeted her and just as he was about to tell her about the letter Vanessa had received, he just asked her to make sure she always locked her door. Ben didn''t want to worry her, and thought it was a better idea to just watch out for her and keep any strangers from coming near the place.


    Upon returning home, Vanessa was outside her house, and with a smile, she invited Ben to lunch. Ben asked her to wait for a moment to put the wooden box away, and that he would be right back. So he packed a bottle of orange juice to go. He went to Vanessa''s house with the bottle of orange juice, and noticed that Vanessa, her teenage daughter Valentina, and the best daughter Valeska were eagerly waiting for him.


    They had made for her a great meal! On the rectangular table, with a light cream-colored embroidered tablecloth, like almost all the decoration of Vanessa''s house, they had baked pork loin, with bacon sauce and herbs, several types of sauce, red, yellow and black. The red was sweet, reminiscent of strawberries and cherries, the yellow was sweet and sour, reminiscent of yellow fruits, and the black was salty and spicy. There were also several types of breads, butter, milk, nutty and truffled. A board with various types of cheeses, goat, sheep and beef and adorned with wildflower petals also complemented this unexpected feast to share with Ben.


    Everything tasted very good, Ben was pleased at the friendliness of his neighbors, and was pleasantly surprised by Vanessa''s culinary skills, as well as those of Mrs. Irma. They were all eating at ease, when the distant sound of a bell interrupted Ben. Vanessa and her daughters were only a little puzzled, but Ben got up from his seat and asked them to stay and eat.


    Ben went out calmly and, as he was heading for the door, he could see someone outside, waiting for him. It was Rafaela, she was dressed in her military uniform, metallic pine green, and over it, gloves, leotard and red boots. She had her cherry red hair loose as usual, down to her hips.


    Rafaela smiled with a defiant attitude. Vanessa peeked through the door and asked Ben if he would show her friend in. Vanessa had thought Rafaela was Ben''s military buddy. She invited her in, and Ben had no choice but to let her into Vanessa''s house. With a suspicious attitude, Rafaela walks gracefully over and sits in the chair where Ben was sitting, and to everyone''s surprise and indignation, she swings both legs up onto the table, placing her boots on the cheese board. Ben prepares to confront her, but at that moment several bells start ringing in various directions.


    The bell decoys that Ben had just installed to detect intruders were being activated on all edges of Hare Hill. The place was being overrun. Rafaela sarcastically asked him if he wasn''t going to see what was going on outside. Ben told her to come out for good, Rafaela ignored him as she stared at him, then stood on the table, stomping on the food with her red boots and apologizing by way of offense. She then walked out of the house, where Glowen was waiting for her, also dressed in light armor, but of a slightly bluer green, and wearing black boots, harness and jockstrap. Glowen had brought along a pair of subjects, very tall and intimidating, wearing leather clothing and armed with swords on their backs. One had long blond hair, the other short auburn hair. Ben looked at them and headed for home, while they smiled and told him he was a coward. They kept calling him, even though Ben had already closed the door of his house.


    Just as they determined to go and get him out of there, Ben opens the door to his house, but armed with his pyro sword in one hand. And before one of the two men could say another word to the other, Ben runs towards them and they make a great leap, he presses the trigger on the handle of his sword, releasing the flammable magical gases, brushes the blade against the ground of stone generating sparks and makes a cut across the chest of the short-haired man, a gash from shoulder to ribs, through the entire torso, and lighting it wound on fire, the fellow turns to his companion, revealing the flaming wound and unable to say a word, and the other swings to attack ben with his sword and the moment the two weapons touch, ben''s sword cuts the invader''s in two as if it were butter and the cut edge of each fragment red-hot and burst into flames. Then, losing his main weapon, the enemy pulls a knife from his leg and attacks ben with it, who easily dodges the move, and the guy ends up finishing off his already wounded companion, plunging the knife into his abdomen.


    Ben cast his final technique, the spell called firestorm, in one swift motion raising his flaming sword into the heavens, setting the air around him ablaze from the ground upward, a hellish rising wind that instantly burned even the leaves that were gently falling on the spot. A vertical red line reaching up to the clouds was seen in the distance. A column of fire ascending into the heavens lifted the battered bodies of the two invaders, as they screamed in terror, spinning from above, almost transformed into incandescent charcoal.


    Ben immediately removed the magic fuel cartridge from the handle of his sword, and inserted a new one. With his head down. As he raised his head, there was someone else, Kramer, who was wearing light armor also, metallic pine green, with black accessories, and next to him was a third woman, about 28 years old very athletic, with blonde hair pulled back very long almost to her legs, and wearing shiny black light armor and pine green accessories. Kramer smiled as he looks at him and claps his hands, Ben takes him as a target and moves quickly towards him, but the mysterious woman draws her own sword and deflects Ben''s attack and says, "enough, it''s time to go", Ben remains on guard, defending his position, while Rafaela, Glowen, Kramer, and the mysterious blonde woman go down the steep exit of Hare Hill. Farther down, Kramer tells Ben in a loud voice that his little bells are very cute and they disappear down the road.


    This is war. Thus began the confrontation between Ben, protector of Hare''s Hill, and those misguided, aggressive young men who seemed to be doing everything possible to complicate Ben''s life, even to the point of bringing miscreants into his and his neighbors'' dwellings. The intruders were able to practically evade the decoys set up by Ben around the high ridge, they sounded, but too late. What actually happened?


    Ben requested by mail to his superiors that help in defense equipment be delivered urgently, as they were under continuous attack. While there is no more manpower to be present at the site, some help with tools could improve the situation.


    It has been said that Kramer and those young women were wreaking havoc. The days went on, and Ben continued to care for his neighbors. Vanessa organized the supply of bivouacs from Vemen, where the merchant agreed to send boxes and barrels of food and drink periodically, but on days agreed upon in secret, to avoid any ambushes on the slope.


    After several weeks, the presence of Kramer''s group had vanished. Oddly enough, no strangers were seen hanging around again. So, Ben thought it was time to take a look around Vemen.

 The Black Castle

    Ben wakes up with the first rays of sunlight, not that everything is illuminated yet that morning.  He quickly heads towards the slope road, the only way in or out of the Hill of the Free, towards Vemen, the town that lies just at the foothills.  It was still early in the morning, but there was still an insistent silence all around.  This silence persisted once I had walked down the tree-lined path, with its golden and red leaves on the flagstones of that descent.


    While Ben was inspecting Vemen, Kramer, to the far northwest, slept peacefully in a comfortable bed, large and yet dreary, like a king.


    Side and side, guarded by young women in light armor, standing firm, armed.  An antique clock hanging on the wall seemed to be the most moving thing in that enclosure.  Kramer smiles and opens his eyes, and wakes up.


    Wrapped in silk cloaks, worthy of a divinity, she rises with great calm. His red hair, tousled, he arranges it a little with his hand.  He gets up and as he walks, they follow him, guarding him. Dark, high walls. Oil paintings portraying Kramer as a messiah, in a paradisiacal countryside, wrapped in silk and accompanied by the girls in their light armor, adorned those walls.


    In other vertical paintings, he is alone, looking at the sky, receiving light from the clouds. They all accompany him to a throne of dark polished stone, where he sits while Rafaela takes a basin of water, places it in front of him, and with silent enthusiasm, proceeds to wash his feet, closes her eyes, and kisses them slowly. Glowen pours him wine in a golden cup, bowing.


    Meanwhile, Kramer carefully reads some old books.  In total there are 8 young armored women present: Rafaela, Glowen, Jem, Kat (the young woman who accompanied Kramer on Hare Hill), and then there was Britt, the youngest of them all, very slim with very white skin, abundant blonde hair pulled back and very large eyes, also characterized by having metal retainers in her teeth.


    There was also Britt''s older sister, Brenda, with very similar features, but only a couple of years older. The seventh girl, was, Valentina, yes, the teenage daughter of Vanessa, Ben''s neighbor. Easily recognizable by the colors of her light armor, deep red leather and black harness and guards. The others sported combinations of black on green, green on black, and red on black (red from the protectors not on the suit). The eighth, Renata, was a mysterious young blonde with very abundant wavy blonde hair, and very intense light blue eyes, in a tight-fitting almost blue metallic leather dress, with red protectors.  All her hair was to one side, like a big bun. She is a bit more serious and focused than the others.


    Valentina had not told her mother Vanessa what she was really doing, and Vanessa thought her daughter was in a safe place for academic purposes. Kramer had managed to barricade himself in an abandoned fortress, a castle, practically on the borders of Lebrassia.  Surrounded by thick forests, this location was found after crossing some wooded hills from Vemen in a northwesterly direction.


    Kramer builds something.  He slept a lot, always escorted by at least two of the girls, with a long gun on his shoulder. Then he would lock himself in a large special room, to which he alone had access. For many hours. While at least two of them guarded the door from the outside. Black flags waved in the fortress.


    Kramer was the leader of a mysterious cult, which apparently revolved around him. It had serious messianic overtones.  The girls were being trained by Kat, who apparently had previous military training. Early in the morning, on a normal day, the girls would go on morning marches through the grounds of the black castle, always in their uniforms, each with their own colors.  Occasionally, Kramer would join the march headlong, trotting in an overdressed, joking smile, sporting his impeccable silk robes. He was also seen wearing military fatigues of dark green cloth combined with olive green, and high leather boots. Sometimes with light armor.  Among the military rites, they also carried black banners with the red seal.


    They didn''t lack food, or implements, the organization had managed to have everything within reach. Kat was strong with the girls, during the training, although not too much, they didn''t really look like real military exercises, they were something quite a bit softer than the real thing.


    The girls wore their light armor permanently, which they only changed for comfortable dresses, practically at bedtime. They had to be prepared at all times in case the castle was attacked. No one else was allowed to enter the place on Kramer''s orders.  Training included instruction in the handling of firearms, including cannons, mortars, machine guns and howitzers. The black castle has wooded gardens to the south and west, and is completely enclosed by a dark wall that encloses the perimeter like a square. The gardens are crossed by a main road, like a short cobblestone avenue. The chores of food preparation and gardening were distributed in Kat''s order, unless Kramer wanted something very specific, such as a particular young lady to bring a dish from the kitchen to his quarters.


    Kat had a strong character, and is the one who usually intercedes between Kramer and them. They also had blackberries, raspberries and strawberries growing wild in the gardens, as well as apple, peach and pear trees.


    They also had a goat, which they had nicknamed Ben. Curiously, it was jet black, like Ben''s hair.  This one was in a stone and wood pen, behind several of these plants, and with vines of falling orange flowers.


    They also had a shooting range among the gardens. It was a sort of wooden building with a golden thatched roof, a newly built hut, where there were targets for the girls to practice their marksmanship with the firearms. Britt, the youngest, with a metal brace for dental correction, was assigned the task of carrying the heaviest gun. It consisted of four huge guns, two on each side, supported by a frame with an automatic ammunition magazine on its back. It was quite a heavy weapon, and Kat often ordered him to carry it and train with it equipped. "They match you very well with those metals in your mouth, you are the chosen one to receive the honor this mighty weapon bestows."


    When Britt practiced target practice with her quadruple barrel, the power that emerged from those four tubes was so great that there was nothing left to observe after the shot. She would place her delicate hands on the anatomically shaped black push buttons that the system incorporated on each side, remove the safety and press both red buttons on the push buttons at the same time, and with a great roar, four incandescent projectiles would rage and leave a trail of light gray smoke behind, toward the target, of which there was virtually nothing left.


    Britt watched as her older sister, Brenda, used a more conventional, and comfortable to carry, automatic rifle. She often felt confused, sometimes she felt special, sometimes guilty.  She saw how Brenda, in position on the ground, her gun seemed an extension of her body, how the curved wooden handle followed the curves of her anatomy.  But she wasn''t the only one who felt insecurities, Glowen, often, in private, was uncomfortable with her figure, which, though curvaceous, was overweight. She had a beautiful face, and beautiful skin very fair, like snow, and her face stood out with her short, jet-black hair. She watched herself in a mirror, that day, as she detailed her own look and cherry red lips, she was the only one who had that silhouette in that place.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    When suddenly, the wooden door opens and to her surprise, it was Kramer. She blushes with great sorrow. Kramer stands behind her, hands always behind her, both looking at the mirror, and says "you have a truly beautiful face, you know that, you shouldn''t doubt what you are, or feel uncomfortable, if you are with me, in this place, you need not fear anymore."


    Then he proceeds and says, "I have something for you," Glowen blushes even more, and watches as Kramer slowly shows him what he had hidden.  It is a gas mask, black, satiny, completely covering the face, fastened at the back by straps, and, in front, it is breathed through a large filter, a tube that looks like a large strange nose. Two circles with glass allow you to see.


    Glowen is incredibly confused, she doesn''t understand why Kramer is asking her to hide the only thing that makes her feel safe, her face.  Kramer stares at her behind the mirror, his hands on her shoulders, his shoulders covered with the blue-green metallic synthetic leather. She silently accepts, while he continues to smile. He puts it on and fastens the buckles.  And you can see, as her figure is completely accentuated, her curves are highlighted by the reflections on her suit, and her joints covered by black protectors, and half of her body by a jockstrap and a tactical belt of the same color, as well as her military boots.


    She looks carefully at herself, and Kramer asks her, "Don''t you look beautiful? From that day on, Glowen wore that gas mask most of the time. When she took it off, she kept looking at herself in the mirror, trying to find some answer, but not finding it. Britt, before going to bed, also saw in the mirror, how her shoulders and waist were hurt by the weight of the excessive weapon that was assigned to her, being the smallest and most delicate of all. She also saw her metallic dental appliance, she was the only one who had something like that in her mouth.


    Kramer slept a lot, many hours during the day and night. And some days when he didn''t sleep, he spent the whole time in that room. The girls slept together, in the barracks, inside the castle. However, there were private rooms, which could be used depending on Kramer''s or Kat''s orders.  Kat slept in one such room at all times, next to an internal spiral staircase with a stone window onto the gardens, from which hung golden and orange vines, which were everywhere in the castle. Rafaela often made use of one of these private rooms. Jem was very close to Kat, and they were often seen secreting from a distance.


    Kat and Renata were the only ones who used swords.  And finally, Valentina, who had good physical skills, was instructed like most of them in the use of rifles. She was devoted to the cause, and spent her days in a private room, reading old books that Kramer personally provided her with, taken from the castle''s private library.


    Dinner was held at a large rectangular wooden table, where everyone could sit comfortably. Kramer always sat in the center, and after a few words, and raising his glass, they proceeded to eat.


    Kramer in his words, acclaimed: "Let us drink to me, the son of man, the first, and I am the first of the new, and you, the mothers of the new, the new gods who will populate the unreachable east, body and soul, for I will lead you to victory, when the barn doors open, the march will be unstoppable. You my dear future mothers, who will give birth to the new humanity, and who will receive the seed of the red star for me, will leave this intermediate world to go to the east, the elven land of light, and the new men will prevail thanks to you. For this world shall cease to exist when the barn doors open, in a storm of darkness and fear, and the failure of the first men, shall bury them in their misery."


    Meanwhile, Ben was still worried about the safety of the hill, even though the signs of intruders had diminished noticeably.  Somewhat uneasy, he decided to go and have a look around to see how things were going outside. There was a little more breeze than usual, the trees swayed and rustled in unison. A dance of multicolored leaves and gold and coppery glitter was falling on Ben. He looked at Vanessa''s home, but apparently they weren''t playing or hanging out at her house, so he decided to go visit Mrs. Irma.


    I look at the bench where Jem, Kramer and he sat for the first time. Made of varnished wood and covered by reddish leaves that have fallen on it, Ben moves some of those leaves and after a sigh, he sits down. He contemplates the Vemen sky, orange, gold, red and blue-gray, reminiscent of a theater curtain, with light rays of light breaking through the majestic gray clouds.


    Kramer, in the castle with the young women, they enjoy together a dinner of baked pork, bathed in raspberry sauce and flowers from the adjoining garden, breads, cheeses and local vegetables. The wine came from the castle''s own wine cellar, which Kramer managed. For dessert, they enjoyed an almond and raisin tart with sheep''s milk.


    The castle is surrounded by trees and bushes, as is the whole area itself.


    As usual, the young women dispersed afterwards, they sat talking in the gardens of the dark stone fortress. Kramer watched them, he could distinguish them from a distance, as each wore a combination of 2 different colors, between different shades of green ranging from bluish-green almost blue, to olive green, to emerald green, brown, red and black. Light armor was worn practically all the time, even to eat together.  Glowen, now, had to wear the gas mask that covered her entire beautiful face, a satin black mask, as well as harnesses, gloves, knee pads, elbow pads, jockstrap and gloves, over the tight-fitting metallic teal suit. Her companions were still talking to her, even though her voice was no longer audible as it came through one of the air filter openings.


    Glowen saw how all the others had great figures, slender bodies and beautiful faces and manes. The others knew that Kramer had given the order directly to her, so none of them dared to make comments, tease her or feel sorry for her. Sometimes she felt so overwhelmed, that she would walk away, go behind a tree or wall, take off her gas mask, making sure there was no one on either side, and suck in air very hard.  At such times, anxiety tended to overcome her, and often, she would cry. Her character was being squandered, but she could not show it. It was a test, which would lead her to something more transcendent, a very strong test, so why not take a sigh, a pause or rest from this cruel deprivation of her own being?


    She turned with her head held high, back to where all the others were, gathered in one of the tree-lined squares of the black castle, socializing and sharing. No one really knew what Glowen was going through, for her, showing herself strong to the others was totally paramount. As she made contact with her companions again, she would boldly join in the conversation, with a forceful tone, for the sake of showing herself strong and in the hierarchy. All the while seeing the tiny waists of all the others, and even the newest, Valentina, who, dressed in scarlet red, with black accessories, flaunted her slender silhouette, bobbing and waving her long golden hair.  Or Jem, who also had very long blonde hair, and was dressed in metallic pine green and black


    Kramer went to the bedroom next to the barn, inside the castle, where he spent most of his time. He needed a lot of sleep, since, when he woke up, he knew how to continue working on what he was building, a portal.


    This doorway was divided into two parts. The first was the barn, a large room, with distributed seating, and at the back, a gigantic antique showcase, all in pale or pastel shades, which is always closed. The latter was the average height of 3 adults. The wall facing the gardens and part of the roof, have windows or mechanized vents, which would open, once the artificial portal is activated, with the aim that the difference in air pressure between the two environments, side and side of the portal, this, and the other world, did not wreak havoc in that room. The second part of the portal was a partially separate rear chamber, where the machinery that would make it possible to operate the magic door was located.  It was mainly three gigantic bugles stacked, two below and one above, together, gold-colored, in the manner of a runner, which led to the back of the large antique painted wooden cabinet.  On the other side, each of these huge bugles would have a circular area where a "drop of blood" would be attached, translucent, flattened, circular red gems, the diameter of an adult''s arm, which would individually empower each of these golden tubes.


    Each of these bugles would emit a "magical roar", concentrating on a particular spatial dimension, height, width or depth, respectively. Mimicking a mythical instrument of an ancestral deity, from a higher dimension, said to be able to open doors between different worlds.


    Kramer usually worked alone in there, while the girls did whatever outside, usually wasting time or being trained by Kat in the outer spaces of the castle.  Kramer had only gotten one of the three red gems he needed to run his system. Blood drops were very hard to come by, as their use, was purely military. They were used, among other things, to lift flying boats, like the one Ben was originally going to board, something he was unable to do because of the unexpected mutiny.


    Valentina had settled in quite well to the rhythm of life inside the black castle, while her mother and Ben''s neighbor, Vanessa, was completely unaware of all the activities there and the new lifestyle she had adopted.  Kramer was particularly close to her.

 Intuition

    Meanwhile, an unnerving calm was prevailing on Hare Hill.  Life seemed to have found its balance once again.  Ben spent his days looking through his old books, watching the grass move in the breeze, or watching the leaves of the trees sway in the wind. He would detail how the light was interspersed, among the tops of the pines, maples and oaks, and formed luminous figures in the flowering grass.


    Like a breathtaking agony, she went out to see from her house how the homes of her neighbors, Vanessa and Mrs. Irma were, but absolutely nothing was happening. The clouds reflected on the outside walls, and the spring vines emanated a multicolored glow.  Like an unseen enemy stalking him, Ben immediately set out to go down the hill, for he felt that something was not right, but he did not know the nature of the feeling that was suffocating him.


    "Overwhelmed by the calm, Ben comes down the hill.


    In haste and desperation he moved


    Because nothingness choked and suffocated him.


    Not knowing what was going on disturbed him greatly.


    He ran into the unknown, not knowing what he would find.


    Halfway through, a written message would see


    I had never read it, nor knew it existed.


    A lot of confusion was caused by this mishap.


    Something you never thought you would one day read


    That terror in old oak and maple wood.


    Written on a yellow door in a garden


    With letters as red as blood it showed


    A message of terror and anguish overflowed


    A phrase that should convey calm and peace


    With boards on top, Ben of all hid it."


    Ben stood thinking for a few moments trying to assimilate the information, there, halfway down the hill of the hare. And immediately he hurried up the hill. He turned back, but not to his house, he knocked hard and desperately on the door of Vanessa''s house.  The door was answered by little Valeska, who called insistently to her mother.  Vanessa exalted and terrified asked Ben what was going on, he only said, "Valentina''s documents for military retirement, the documents!"  Vanessa looked confused for a moment, but then went for the letter for the registration of where Valentina was supposed to be right now.


    Upon seeing the document, Ben immediately corroborated that something was wrong, since he knew how these activities worked for enthusiasts not enrolled in the Lebrassia army. "Valentina is in danger, she''s with Kramer, I''m going to rescue her, I''m going to fix it."  Kramer passed back through the gate between the grass that was beside the path down from Hare Hill, checking that it was covered so that no one else would see it.


    Meanwhile at Castle Black, the girls were doing various activities, when they began to notice movements at the main gate of the fortress. The army of Lebrassia had deployed men to guard the entrance.


    From a window high above, smiling, Kramer watched. "What is it my lord?" asks Valentina to Kramer. "He''s coming for you," he replies.


    Ben arrives next, and finds all those armed men in front of the castle gates, while a smiling Kramer, with Valentina at his side, and the other armed priestesses, all watching Ben from behind the old gate leaves.


    One of the soldiers approaches and tells him that this fortification is protected, due to its strategic importance, since it is at the northeast end of the nation, and borders to the north with the forest of the bears.  That the army will protect the south gate of the black castle. Ben looks up to the opposite wall, facing the bear forest, where the army would not intervene, then looks at Kramer and he says "I wish you a good trip".


    The bear forest is bordered to the northwest by Lebrassia and to the east by Oldania. To get there, the way is not easy, since he would have to look for the entrance to those lands, far away from where he is, cross all that territory, and thus, reach the black castle through its northern wall, which, unlike the southern one, would not be protected by the army of Lebrassia.


    Upon returning to Hare''s Hill to prepare for the trip, Irma asked him for a few moments to talk to him.


    "A thousand years ago, a princess reigned,


    In a kingdom to the west that existed at that time.


    Beautiful white skin and blue eyes she had,


    A long dark hair as dark as the night flaunted


    Of glaciers and extreme cold, his kingdom rebounded


    Great kindness in his heart showed


    Until one day his anger would awaken.


    The dead lands died that day,


    When the air was transformed into ice,


    Every life, no matter how small, came to an end,


    It came from another continent,


    The rage of a grieving princess. "


    After saying goodbye to Mrs. Irma, Vanessa and her daughter Valeska, Ben would go north to Fressen, a town near the gateway to the dead lands.  Fresen, a cheerful and wintry place, white snow, strawberries, cherries and red banners. Lights like stars adorned the whole place, high on a snowy hill, overlooking the distant stormy sea, beyond the dead lands.


    Ben then made his way to the railroad station to urgently board the ironclad train to Fresen. He passed through the brewery, and went to the left, into the middle of a wooded park, filled with tall orange and yellow pines and maples.  The breeze was hurrying, Ben was hurrying to save his neighbor''s daughter, held by Kramer.


    In a grove of trees that the sky covered,


    Of the colors of dawn shone


    The trees in the park Ben would arrive at


    A surprise he did not expect


    It is that an enemy would be found there.


    Ben was confused, it was Renata, one of the young women who were in the black castle with Kramer. She was tall, with a very tiny waist, and a very athletic and slender figure. She wore, as he had noticed before, a very special colored uniform, a metallic turquoise light armor, very sleek and tight fitting, with red harnesses, boots, jockstrap, and red pads, which contrasted with her abundant wavy blonde hair, and matched her turquoise eyes. Renata stared at Ben, as if making him understand that she was not going to let him continue on his way.


    "I don''t mean to hurt you, please step aside," Ben told him by way of ultimatum.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    - "This is the end of everything for you, you will not pass, you have already gone too far and I will not allow you to continue getting in the way," Renata replied.


    She unsheathes a sword, and to Ben''s surprise, it is identical to his, but with one difference, the activation button on this one is not red, it is turquoise.


    Renata senses Ben''s confusion as he reveals his weapon, and tells him, "It''s not a pyro-sword like yours, it''s a cryo-sword." She activates the button on the handle, and activates the magic system.  This time no flames come out, but a heavy white mist that reaches down to the ground, like the chasm of a glacier. Renata points her sword at Ben using only one hand, and presses the button again, effortlessly directing all the thick, white cold towards him, with great force, like a blizzard.


    With great difficulty Ben manages to partially dodge Renata''s attack, but part of his armor is damaged and frozen. Ben counter attacks with a great storm of fire at the hands of his pyro-sword without any contemplation for his rival, a whirlwind of ascending fire was heading towards her, but Renata takes her icy sword with both hands and counteracts it frontally, freezing Ben''s flames and hitting him directly.  He shoots backwards violently and collides with a tree, partially breaking it and then lies devastated on the ground.


    Ben is unconscious for a few moments and tries to get up with great difficulty, he tries to locate Renata, who is untouched and completely calm.


    The sight with all its surroundings has turned to ice and frost, the yellow and red leaves have been encapsulated in frozen crystals, icy spears are sticking out of the ground, and a thick mist is sprinkled all over the flowered grass.  The faint rays of sunlight reflect off Renata''s turquoise light armor, and illuminate her hair, like a goddess, as she walks slowly, approaching Ben.


    He looks at her from the ground to his sword that is to the side, trying to reach it with one hand, uselessly, unable to move, while Renata steps on his hand with her red boot, causing him enormous pain.


    "Soon your blood will freeze, you have been touched by the most intense cold, one that does not come from this world, you will die and you will no longer be a hindrance, but I recognize your constancy."


    Ben watches as Renata turns around and leaves, while everything goes dark, and darker....


    Until he suddenly wakes up... And he is in a room, still in pain, covered with blankets, with a large wooden window in front of him. From one second he saw red and white banners, snow and houses in lustrous maple wood. A great arc of bluish light was visible over the rooftops. He was in Fresen. Somehow he had gotten there. -Is this real, or did I die?


    Behind the door of the room, Ben heard murmurs. There were people talking on the other side, but he could not make out what they were saying. Ben remembered some moments of the fight with Renata, how he was easily defeated by her. He had never seen in practice the use of black magic and cold, he had only read about it in the military academy. It was said that handling non-human magic was very dangerous, and those who tried it suffered great deformations and even died in the attempt.


    Ben fell asleep again, he was exhausted, and could not move easily.


    A few maple leaves reached up to the window, some still covered with snow.


    Then the door of the room opened, there were three people, but one of them stole all his attention. Of the three young men, one was the most beautiful she had ever seen in her life, she had big green eyes, like a cat, with long eyelashes, and straight hair as red as cherries that reached her neck. They kept talking to each other. That girl came in and approached Ben, kept looking at him and smiling, walked up to his face, and asked him if he was okay. He had drawings on his arms and neck, on his white skin. There was also a black necklace right in the middle of his neck. She checked Ben''s bandages. "-We know about the message written on the door, and we went to look for you, rest." She touched ven''s hair with her hand, and smiled warmly. "You''re going to get better, you''ll see."


    Ben tried to get up on his own, all his joints were hurt, and he couldn''t seem to move without help, and he fell asleep again. When he woke up again, he heard the same murmurs behind the door, it sounded like they were getting ready to leave. He asked to be taken outside with them. Limping, Ben, accompanied, walked through the streets of Fressen. Elegant stores, restaurants and refined commerce. A magnificent red and gold city on a plateau of blue ice. They stopped at an open-air event, where they heard sweet and cheerful music from some young people.


    Ben kept looking at her, and she looked at him and asked him how he felt. He asked her name, to that red-haired girl, "Luzea, that''s my name, come...". Ben was led by her to a higher part of the city, from where he could see the land without owner, just in front of Fressen. From the distance a dark and gloomy landscape was dazzling, and then, a completely black sea, impossible to know where the water ends and the sky begins. That was where Ben had to go, to reach the back of the castle where Kramer was waiting for him.


    In the distance, the land that no one owned could be seen,


    Eternal darkness and settled fog,


    In chaos and conflict they all lived


    Without a proclaimed king to rule,


    Since it was forbidden, Because a war would be avoided.


    Luzea took him to visit the great statue of the scarlet knight, a monument carved in blue ice (on which the city of Fressen was built), representing one of the four statues (so called these high class warriors guarding each of the four cardinal points of Lebrassia). It was at the highest point of the city, as the city was built from west to east, and rose to the east, on a steep rise. Many tulips were everywhere, and the air had a pleasant, slightly sweet, floral, perfumed scent.


    After a couple of days, Ben began to feel better, and headed for the Fressen gate in the west, to follow that course into the no man''s land and through it, keeping himself alive. Luzea accompanied him, in the dark, there. After a couple of hours, they arrived at the archway that indicated the entrance. She was dressed completely in black, only a little of her red hair was visible, in front of the hood.


    And there was Ben, in front of the entrance, a huge destroyed stone archway with warnings, embedded in a modest delimitation of dark stones. As it passed, each person would be responsible for himself. You could feel the ocean breeze, a smell of salt and mud. Luzea bids him farewell, but not before handing him a packet with food and vivieres for the road.


    It was a slight slope, with wet earth from the cold, stones, and some mud. There were no oaks or maples, not even a small bush or grass, just a sad panorama of desolation.


    After advancing for a few moments, Ben was startled by a great roar in the sky. A huge lebrassian flying fighter craft was above him! Targeting him with its multiple cannons, and dazzling him with red targeting lights. The great turbulence generated by the unit was as strong as a blizzard. The craft approached the ground, and unfurled a platform silhouetted with the silhouette of several men.


    They were middle-class soldiers, just like Ben, who, when they hit the ground, march towards him, several steps away. Ben takes up a defensive position. The men in front of him break ranks, revealing a man in red armor. Tremendously tall and slender, he revealed long golden hair down to his back. His helmet did not hide his face, very young and with deep blue eyes, like sapphires.


    With a very serious attitude, and determined, he tells Ben "This has gone far enough, it''s time to put an end to it". At that moment Ben identifies him as the statue of the west, the high class military man. He unsheathes an impressive pyro sword, which has a red light sight, which is pointed directly at Ben, and before the latter reacts, a thin blast of red fire goes through the side of his torso, ignoring his armor.


    Ben falls to the ground writhing in pain, while his opponent looks down on him with disdain. Everything happened so fast that he could not even react to the attack of the western statue, the scarlet knight. Ben is knocked unconscious and begins to die. But just before he returns to the ship, his enemy, with his back turned, looks over and sees Ben resisting death on the ground. Angered, he kicks him so hard that he throws him forcefully through the air against a large rock, breaking the latter, and causing Ben to vomit a large amount of blood.


    "You have come quite far, it is to be admired, now you will have the honor of dying at my hands, Rubicom of the western statue", Lo stares at Ben, and that moment, Rubicom notices the similarity between the latter and the ice princess of the myth, remembering a painting similar to the one Ben''s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Irma, had.


    "It can''t be, it''s too much of a coincidence...", "I get it..." stammered Rubicom. "You have terrible enemies Ben, did you know that?". The scarlet knight turns around, turning his back on Ben, approaches the flying craft, and gives the order to return, without him. The great craft takes course for Fressen, as Rubicom approaches Ben, places his hand on his wound, and with warm heat heals his wound incredibly. "Fire can hurt as well as heal."


    "Why did you save me what do you wish?" asked Ben. "I disobeyed a direct order to kill you, now we will both be killed, no matter my rank, the command comes from far above, now we must hurry."


    Ben did not have many options left, if he wanted to kill him Rubicom would have already done it, so he had to trust him. Ben and Rubicom were hurrying towards the west, when a red light illuminated them from behind, "it''s already here," exclaimed Rubicom, with concern on his face.


    As Ben turns his gaze, he notices a huge metallic humanoid, a motorized armor, gleaming dark green, with a red eye in the center, and legs with the geometry similar to those of a rooster. With a lightning voice, he orders both fugitives to surrender. As they both take defensive positions, the metal mass launches a flurry of self-propelled projectiles towards them, causing successive explosions of great intensity. Ben and Rubicom each rush to one side of the enemy and cut him with their flaming pyro-swords, but do not manage to do any more damage. The envoy continues with his massive attack, exhausting them, and in the next attack he knocks Ben down terribly. In the silence, while Ben is knocked down, he suddenly hears Vanessa''s voice, asking for help.


    Ben stands up determined, picks up his pyro-sword and leaves the trigger depressed, as he watches his enemy prepare to strike his final blow.


    At that moment Rubicom hits him with his incandescent sword, cutting him with flaming flames at high speed, until the mechanical monstrosity takes him hand in hand, testing their strength against each other. At that moment Ben activates the spark of his pyro sword generating a great column of flames, he throws himself against the enemy and cuts him in half, Rubicom releases him and the two parts of the mechanical envoy explode one after the other.


    In this way, Ben would have found, by now, a powerful ally, it seemed. As the two of them went into the dark lands without an owner.


    Meanwhile, in the black castle, Kramer was preparing for "the final rite", with which he would open a dimensional door to the elven lands of the east.  From this moment on, he would be in charge of impregnating all the women residing in the black castle, with the aim of replicating himself, and promoting the birth of a new race, the "numans".


    Dressed in redeemer''s cloaks, his round glasses and with his red hair down to his neck, he promulgated the beginning of a new era.  "-They will give birth to gods!" exclaimed Kramer full of joy. Gathered all together, in the chapel of the black castle, dressed in their military costumes of light armor, they performed strange praises and rituals, all directed toward Kramer. Surrounded by oil paintings, where Kramer descends from the heavens as a savior, flowers, and candles.


    Rose petals and other flowers were thrown at Kramer in a circle, with him in the center. The final procession had begun.

 Way Up

    Ben and Rubicom quickly headed west, crossing the land without owner, while Kramer began the rite by which he would give way to his direct descendants, an army of "numans", without guilt, remorse or pity. Exact copies, boys and girls who would act like a plague of locusts, multiplying rapidly throughout the world, until they became the dominant race. Hours of lust passed, all of them together, with him, and they all became pregnant by Kramer.  Finally, the end of the world had begun. Shooting stars fell that night, as if foretelling an inevitable Armageddon.


    Glowen went out to watch the stars at dawn, in the multicolored sky, wrapped in a thick, soft blanket, and drinking sweet tea in goat''s milk. She began to remember how she got there. Thinking about her family, her mother, father and brother, an exemplary and organized family. Her parents are in the discreet trade, groceries and groceries, having a very nice store nearby, with wooden shelves lined to the ceiling with fruits and vegetables, flowers and preserved meats. They have been a very stable couple through the years.


    Centinela is his younger brother, fifteen years old. A very special young man. His new name was acquired of his own free will. His appearance is disturbing, impressive and sometimes terrifying. He is two and a half meters tall, with an impossible, tremendously developed musculature and a colossal strength, but with an angelic face of a child, very white skin, pink cheeks, short jet black hair, spiky, and black eyes, with long eyelashes. A child''s face on a monstrously huge body.


    Centinela''s temperament was very strong, stubborn and he had no patience to listen and much less to solve problems that did not matter to him. He respected his parents and his sister, and little else. Despite his imposing appearance, he respected Glowen as his older sister, and they had a very close relationship. Considered a giant in the community, he was accepted in a special way in the Lebrassian military forces, because of his physical ability and determination.


    In war exercises, on several occasions he had to be pacified due to the cruelty of his temperament in battle, in combats he even left other warriors unconscious with a single blow, and he had to be moved away to avoid killing his adversary. His condition was from birth, and not necessarily from training.


    Glowen was a natural leader, always being the voice in the youth groups, and being pregnant by Kramer, among a small group of chosen ones, made her feel special.  However, the order to wear the gas mask most of the time, as long as the majority of the group was together, was still in effect. Her hatred of Ben seemed to be totally irrational and perhaps had been largely inherited from her leader.  At that instant, Kramer approaches her, and shares that he has a special mission for her.


    At the beginning of dawn, with the first ray of sunlight, even in the cold twilight, Kramer gathers the newly fertilized young women, uniformed with impeccable light armor, telling them that he will make the last adjustment of the dimensional portal, something technically impossible for an ordinary human, given its great complexity, and that, therefore, he must use magic to exponentially increase his intelligence to divine levels, temporarily.  This will cause him to fall into a deep sleep for several days after finishing his task, from which he will not be able to wake up.


    Now, they will have to take care of him with all their strength, and at the same time protect the portal which will be activated by Kramer when he wakes up.


    In a final rite, the mothers of gods would pass one by one through the portal, carrying a copy of Kramer in their wombs, who upon becoming conscious of themselves would become the first of the Numan army, to face the elves of the east and conquer the lands of light. The amount of magic within a Numan is comparable to that of an Eastern Elf or a Western Dark One, however, having the power of chaos within them, they have the advantage for an invasion.


    The elven lands of the east, in a higher dimension, are unknown landscapes, said to resemble the dawn, but with soft and warm rays of light from everywhere at the same time. Angelic and ethereal landscapes, beautiful beyond the understanding of man.


    The far western lands, on the other hand, beyond the sea and the eternal sea storm, is a cold, dark, moon-dominated place, home to ice trolls, black dragons and other abominable species.  It is a barren ligar dimly lit only by the stars and the freezing moon. Men have nestled comfortably for eons on this peninsula to the west of the lands of light, a small layout in comparison to the rest of the alien territories. Being so, everything else, very strange landscapes for the common people, and where survival in the environment is not guaranteed, especially in the extreme cold of the far western lands.


    Thus, Lebrassia and Oldania, and their surrounding territories would currently be the only lands accessible to men. The elven lands are the origin of light magic, coming from the Sun god, while the mysterious black magic, or ice magic, comes from the far west, the frozen lands, ruled by the Moon goddess, and only very few magic practitioners dare to use it.


    The main reason for not invoking black magic or ice magic is the bodily destruction it produces in the human body, with a few exceptions. In exchange for this sacrifice, black magic is powerful in terms of damage to opponents, being the most propitious of the three (black magic (ice magic), light magic (elven) and red or fire magic (human)) for this purpose.


    The ownerless lands, where Ben and Rubicom would have entered, were inhabited by various practitioners of non-human magics (ice or light), banished from Oldania or Lebrassia, some of them physically deformed by extreme magical abuse and imbalance. They are also home to defectors from the Lebrassian regime and the Oldan kingdom.


    While running west, both Ben and Rubicom noticed a small town on the outskirts, in the middle of the darkness. With torches and lamps, it was lit up like the firmament with stars. Entirely built of wood, it was pleasantly decorated with multiple light fixtures in series, like cascades of light.  There were many chairs, and furniture upholstered in vinotint-colored leather, and a strong smell of stale wine and damp wood. It was cold. They both went inside to ask for more information.


    They sat at the bar, the feeling of the place was unsettling.  One of the young women serving the place was staring at them, as if she was about to tell a truth that she could not contain. Then they looked at a painting hanging behind the counter, it was the same painting that their neighbor Irma had shown them! The young woman gives him a look as well and turns to look at Ben again, approaching him. "-It''s a nice painting of Princess Cristalia isn''t it?" "-Who?" asks Ben. "-Well, it''s time to go, Rubicom exclaims." "-Wait, I want to hear this, exclaimed Ben".  Rubicom got up from the spot in annoyance.


    The tavern keeper settled down to tell the following story: ...


    Long ago, two thousand years ago, in the first age of men, all people worshipped the sun. Their worship was inherited from the angelic divinities, the elves, from the east, the land of light, who led the first men to these lands. They showed them the power of light magic, elven magic, apparently more powerful than our natural human magic, red magic, also called fire or blood magic. The elves taught us to worship the Sun god, and to live in harmony in the central land (the land of men), the inherited land.


    The society adopted the solar religion and priests and clergymen were delegated. It is said, that a family had a calamity in those days, the youngest member, a boy or girl less than a year old. An accident or an illness, there is not much clarity on that. His parents went in distress to the local clergyman, seeking help. Only elven magic could save the little creature''s life. However, for some frivolous reason, the clergyman refused, expelling them from the sacred precinct.


    The family went to the vicinity of the sad sea, where they cried for hours. His father, desperate on that cloudy and somewhat rainy day, began to hear a voice that seemed to come from the horizon. That voice indicated him some tasks to help his son, which turned out to be the first black magic ritual performed by the human race.They were discovered practicing forbidden magic, worshipping the moon, the icy wind and darkness. And in the end, that family, surnamed Boros, were all expelled precisely to the west, on a small barge, condemned to die. The newly excommunicated, now with a dead infant, were angry with life, with the gods and with everything. They wandered the seas waiting to finally die. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    But the mysterious voice did not leave them... Days later, in the middle of the fog, the barge touched land, a gray and pale sand, with a damp cold. They looked up through the fur blankets, and saw a hitherto unknown land.


    Large hills of dark stone, grass between gray and gold, and fields with ears of corn.  And in the background, the most impressive, a black sky, with white mountains, as if discolored, with a blue and red aurora in the background of the firmament. The Boros were blessed with this new magic, adapting quickly to the extreme cold of the west. They survived by hunting some cold bears, fishing, and harvesting strange mushrooms that grew abundantly on the land.


    The Boros were not the only ones. Word spread throughout the lands of the sun, and some inhabitants ventured to experiment with black magic. Almost all of them were discovered and expelled to the west, beyond the sea. All of them were welcomed by the Boros, who would have become the monarchs of these lands, founding the kingdom of Gobegor and erecting a castle near the mountains.


    Several generations of Boros Kings passed, the kingdom of Gobegor grew, constantly fed by exiles who came to practice the new black magic. Some time later, Gobegor already had its own army, and its own fleet of warships, built by magic trees that grew and regenerated rapidly.


    For almost a thousand years (second era), there was a naval war between the west and the east, without any resolution. The army of the lunar lands was much smaller than the solar army, so they did not have the capacity to invade the solar lands. And, on the other hand, the solar army was weakened by the extreme cold as it approached the shores of Gobegor.  Many ships were sunk on each side, with no clear outcome. Hundreds of years passed, and the inhabitants of each kingdom had already forgotten the origin of the conflict.


    Several clerics and seers had predicted, at that time, that soon, princes would be born on either side of the sea, who would bring a new era of peace and reconciliation.


    In Boros castle, a little girl is born, with beautiful big blue eyes, and the most beautiful face ever seen. Her parents, the king and queen, have named her, Cristalia, Princess Cristalia, - to whom the painting hanging there belongs.


    Cristalia was a long-awaited and much-loved baby, who would happily run and play in the cold corridors and ice gardens of Boros Castle. As a very young girl, she played with her cousin, Orius Boros, Nephew of King Boros, three years older. They were the joy of the place, and the royal family was very proud of their infants. On the other side of the sea, in the solar kingdoms, something similar was happening.


    The children of the solar king had also been blessed with a new generation of hope. Approaches and truces were made, between the sun and moon kingdoms, to end centuries of war.


    When Cristalia was alone, it is said that she talked to herself in the ice gardens of the castle. When Cristalia was 20 years old, and Cristalia was 17, the kings of both kingdoms agreed to the beginning of perpetual peace, uniting in marriage a prince and a princess from each kingdom. Cristalia had fallen in love with her own first cousin, something that was suspected from the castle. Orius did not really wish to marry the solar princess, as he also loved Cristalia. He let himself be beaten by the waves of the sea on that gray west coast, contemplating the horizon, while Cristalia saw him behind. Sitting on a dark rock.


    The wedding day was held on the shores of the solar kingdoms, in a special ritual, which took place at sea. Many banners and flags witnessed the day. The people rejoiced with joy, after centuries of war, the longed-for peace had finally arrived.


    At the climax of the ceremony, while both were in the water, next to the priest, a mysterious current of water took the solar princess by the feet.  In an instant, everything turned into chaos, and the solar prince, her brother, mortally wounded Orius with his sword.  The lunar guards escorted the princess quickly into the harbor, and executed her escape.  The lunar kings, parents of Cristalia, were embarked on another ship, which was destroyed by enemy fire from dragons mounted by solar horsemen, after receiving countless gigantic fiery arrows from the enemy scorpions. Cristalia sees how the royal ship that transported her parents is destroyed and shipwrecked among burning boards.


    The lunar fleet manages to get the ship in which Cristalia escapes to Gobegor. A terrible naval war was unleashed at sea. Cristalia, sad and furious, with a desire for revenge, immediately heads for the ice gardens, after crossing the entire Boros castle.


    She speaks again in the voice with which she spoke as a child, and this one identifies herself. It is a gigantic black dragon, which had been decapitated in a war eons ago between the dark and cold west, and the elves of the lands of the light of the east. Crying, Cristalia demands that he help her to seek revenge in some way. The dragon tells her that they must merge into one, body and soul, to achieve a balance between red magic (Cristalia''s) and black magic (the dragon''s), which would unleash a power so great that the world had never seen before.


    Cristalia accepts, and the dragon, under the ice begins to emit a great flow of black magic. This magical and dark flow is detected by solar wizards from the other continent, and they warn the king, convincing him to send a small group, with the best warriors and wizards, to enter the Boros castle and kill the princess Cristalia before she merges with the "source" of black magic that threatens the world.


    This special team, consisting of two wizards and five warriors, was uniformed with black bear skins, and among their weapons, the best forged of all the kingdoms of the sun, was a very special one, a powerful and indestructible magic sword called "sunbeam" given by the elves to men, in its beginnings. The "black bears", as this group would later be called in its beginnings, decided to embark on a small merchant barge of wine, hidden under some cloaks.


    They managed to circumvent all the security of the castle, with a lot of cunning, and avoiding the checkpoints. They were able to reach the royal hall where Cristalia was sitting, on the throne that had recently belonged to her father, the Moon King.  The black bears declared their intention to finish her off, on behalf of all the men and women of the world, while a transformed Cristalia, with a faraway look, scantily clad in black leather harnesses, a silver-gold crown, and metal bracelets and guards, showed her superhuman tolerance to the extreme cold of Gobegor.


    The huge room had giant wide open gates at the back of the throne, overlooking the ice gardens, right where the giant decapitated black dragon was buried under the ice. A pair of huge automated mechanical crossbows defended the princess on either side. The mages summoned the power of fire against Cristalia, but the flames froze instantly. The warriors could barely move because of the cold, while Cristalia did not even get up from her throne. She only raised the index finger of her right hand pointing at the black bears, and the mechanical crossbows launched huge two-meter long frozen arrows, which, upon hitting the ground, exploded into frost and froze the entire assaulting group.


    The black bears were immobilized, barely able to move their eyes, completely covered in ice, and about to die. As she sat watching her enemies with disdain, the black dragon calls her to begin the fusion. Cristalia''s body resists the balancing fusion, and she sidelong glances at her turning her head back, whispering "I''m coming..."


    Practically defeated, the black bears cry out to Cristalia not to merge with the dragon as it would destroy the whole world. One of them loses control and angers the princess with his derogatory remarks, so she finally decides to get up from the throne, and go through the back gates to the huge ice garden, where she stands on the ice just above the dragon''s location.


    The sky was black, and the ground was white, with a thick fog that did not let you see your feet. The fog formed a gigantic whirlpool around Cristalia, and then swallowed her up.


    All corners of the world trembled, and from the ice emerged fury incarnate. An indescribable figure, an unnamable and abominable monster, merging with the mist and the ice, exhaling hatred. As tall as a tower erected and as bulky as twenty warships. It rose up like a wolf as it howled, and uttered the most horrible roar ever heard.  And so began the great ice storm with the winds from the west to the east, the lands of the sun. The great sea froze, and dark creatures, such as ice trolls and other black dragons began to make their way across to the solar realms.


    However, one of the black bears manages to untie himself from the ice with the help of the sunbeam sword, and approaches the giant creature and with an accurate attack, manages to break the fusion, causing the dragon''s body to be destroyed, and Cristalia returns to her human form, but in a deep sleep, inside a crystal of eternal ice.


    The black bears manage to escape, losing the elven sword in their haste, before the entire realm of Gobegor succumbs to a terrible dimensional electrical storm. After escaping on the ship, they see the moonlands disappear in a stunning burst of electrical flashes.


    With great difficulty, circling the icy road, they managed to sail to safety, where they were greeted as heroes, but saw the great catastrophe. The land had frozen, the sky had darkened, and the land was now barren and muddy. Ben is perplexed, and realizes that there was still some of that barren land left, and that is, where he was at that moment, in the land without an owner, a shadowy place that witnessed the uncontrolled fury of a figure from the past.


    Rubicom stood outside, looking off into the distance, as if waiting for Ben to hear, what he had to hear, one way or another.

 The Fire Witch

    Ben then asks the barmaid which is the quickest way to the southwest exit:


    - "Well, it''s really not too difficult, if you don''t get distracted" ... replies the barmaid.


    - "What do you mean, don''t distract me?" asks Ben.


    The barmaid smiles and looks up, and answers him:


    - "Not many people go this deep to the west, almost reaching the sea, it''s very dark, even darker than here." He said smiling.


    Ben pays the bill and leaves the place where a pensive Rubicom was waiting for him standing leaning against one of the cantina''s old wooden walls. Adjusting the sheaths of their swords together they quickly head southwest, looking for the exit to the back of Kramer''s castle, where they could safely enter to rescue Valentina, Vanessa''s teenage daughter who has been recruited by Kramer.


    Both of them accelerated their pace through the gloomy place. The dead lands, also called no man''s land, was a very desolate place, where you could see in the distance, some rudimentary constructions of aimless people, either trying to find magical cures, or looking for forbidden spells, almost always trying dangerous combinations between the three types of magic of the world (demonic magic (black or ice, or lunar), human magic (blood or fire), or elven magic (solar or light). Out of nowhere, dark beasts began to approach in the same direction, following the passage of both, to the left and right of the road. They were dark, only discernible by the glow of the moon reflected in their fur. With horrible growls they threaten Ben and Rubicom, and leap at them, trying to bite them with their huge jaws. Their red eyes are pointed at them, while the two warriors draw their mechanical swords.


    As they run, Rubicom activates the laser sight on his sword and eliminates three of the abominable bears as they leap towards him, with microbursts of piercing fire, piercing the hearts of the three beasts in an instant. As Ben swung his flame-covered sword and sliced several bears in half, falling to either side of the road, the incandescent halves of the animals, furiously ablaze.  They didn''t even slow down as Ben and Rubicom ran, but what would come next would not be so easy...


    The path has been divided in two, without much information about which of these two paths would be the correct one.  They quickly choose: Ben goes to the right, and Rubicom follows to the left.


    As he runs, he can sense a great power nearby, but he doesn''t know exactly what it is.  At the end of the road, he catches a glimpse of a huge stone house, with a large gate, like a small castle. Ben knocks on the door, but there is no answer.


    Ben walks away with his back turned, trying to find a way around the house, as you can''t see what''s on the sides, because there are piles of sharp dark stones.And then, he hears the creak of the old gate opening.  It doesn''t open enough to get through, and the more he pushes, the less the gate seems to move.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    He pushes it with all his might, but the gate does not move. Desperate because he is in a hurry, he runs out of patience, and unsheathes his pyro-sword to attack the gate with all his strength... but in a moment, something occurred to him. He calmly approached the gate, and asked for permission to enter, then the gate opened wide.


    As he passed by, he saw that the house was really a facade, hiding a luminous path, covered with roses and warm sunset light. It was really beautiful.  Ben was confused and surprised, he had never seen anything like it in his life. Fields of roses were everywhere, nothing seemed to make sense. Also the sky seemed to be in normal lighting, like a sunset, something that seemed impossible in that place.


    And things could get even stranger, for, in the distance, he saw a figure.It was approaching rapidly, and it looked like a human figure, the silhouette of a woman. "You''re Luzea!", Ben identified her as the red-haired girl who tended to him and helped him with his wounds in Fressen.


    Smiling, Luzea raises his right hand adorned with many rings with skulls, and invokes a spell of fire against Ben, a column of flames goes straight at him, and with great difficulty, manages to dodge it. Crouching down after falling from the jump, Ben is confused, and asks her why she is attacking him.


    Luzea laughs, she is lightly dressed, only in black leather harnesses and metal needles. -I''m just playing," she responds....


    - "What are you doing here, are you supposed to be in Fressen, how did you get here so fast"?


    - "I''m a witch, it''s normal for us," she replies.


    - "You''re going to let me through or I''m going to have to pull you aside, I don''t have time for games, there''s a girl I have to save," Ben warns him.


    Keeping her eyes fixed on you, with her huge green eyes framed in black shadow, Luzea begins to levitate, slowly separating herself from the ground. Three flames appear behind her, two behind her shoulders and one above her head, she stretches out her right hand, and without stopping smiling shouts "to sleep!"


    From the sky the three flames move like columns of fire in Ben''s direction, moving like a spiral, Ben cannot determine the direction of the attack coming towards him, and is hit by all three fireballs at once, causing a huge explosion.


    Ben wakes up lying in the paradisiacal rose fields, embraced by Luzea''s beautiful body, both covered only by rose petals. Ben can hardly move. Luzea whispers in his ear: "They think you are dead, they ordered me to stop you, but I don''t want to kill you, you can stay with me here, and you will have nothing more to worry about".


    Ben was totally seduced by this beautiful young woman, even for a few moments he thought about staying. However, he was able to get up, and Luzea went to his arms and laid him down again, staring at him and then kissed him.


    - "What do you want from me?" asked Ben.


    - "I don''t want you to die, you''ve pissed off a lot of people, and this is beyond your control," Luzea replied. Luzea''s gaze changed, and she looked at Ben with compassion at that moment, got up and entered a small wooden hut covered with roses, next door and returned with something in her hands.


    It was a load of magic fuel for Ben''s pyro-sword, the most powerful formula he had ever used.  "Here, it''s for when you need it, go save your friend''s daughter and come back here, I''ll be waiting for you" ...Luzea kisses him one more time and gives him back his belongings so he can get ready to continue the adventure.


    Ben continues along the path with roses on both sides and the light of the sunset, quickly, until at the end he sees another large stone house exactly the same as the one he entered and goes through its gate, when he leaves, the gate closes by itself. Outside, he returns to the dark and gloomy place of the dead lands, climbs some stones to see the horizon, and sees a huge wall with a castle on top.


    Behind that wall is the sea, the sea that separated the lands of the sun from the lands of the moon, where the cold kingdom of Gobegor was located. From the distance, bursts of lightning can be seen. To reach the back of Kramer''s black castle, Ben would first need to reach that mysterious castle in the wall that prevents the passage to the sea, since the path is on the left side of that wall.


    There is no sign of Rubicom, so Ben goes in alone on his way to the castle on the west wall.

 The king of nothing

    Just in front of the great western wall separating the land from the sea, there was an imposing fortress almost embedded in the same structure. Right in the middle. It slightly surpassed the imposing wall in height. At the base, rocks stained with something bluish and shiny similar to copper rust.


    Just below, a large gate was guarded by a pair of giant, sturdy, armored guards with rounded eggshell-like helmets that reached to their shoulders. Ben was in a hurry, and had no patience to present himself to these defenders on either side of the entrance to the place.  So he approached them running very fast, drew his pyro-sword, and knocked out one of them with a kick in the air, while the other reacted, taking his huge hammer mass, Ben was faster and pierced his armor in the chest, then activating his weapon and burning all the internal organs of the huge guard. He quickly pulled out his pyro-sword from the corpse and cut off the head of the other enemy who was knocked out.


    In an instant Ben had already eliminated the two defenders of the lower entrance of that mysterious fortress.  Then, inside, what looked like the beginning of a great internal stone staircase, which would lead to the upper halls, which are almost on a par with the top level of the wall, was dazzling.  On the way up, Ben was annihilating some other guards who were caught without a chance to warn of the intruder.


    After a great effort to climb all those steps, Ben finally reached the entrance to the main chamber, but not before taking a look from a large window facing east, all that he had traveled.  There was no sign of Rubicom.


    Upon opening the door to the main chamber, the scene was strange to say the least. A large place covered in solid wood, stone, and fine furs, but, above all, gold pieces and trunks full of jewels and treasures. In the middle, on an upper level, a bewildering polished oak throne, and a mysterious, bearded, nervous man seated on it. Next to him was Glowen, who seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with him. Glowen stared at Ben, trying to remain composed, but was clearly uncomfortable.


    Ben said, ¡°Glowen? What the hell are you doing here? Kramer sent you to stop me?


    Glowen stared at him, impressed, in her tight, turquoise and black light and shiny armor tight to her body, like an animal''s hide, with her short black spiky hair, and with her beautiful face. He had become speechless, as if not knowing what to say, he lightly moved his voluptuous, curvaceous, overweight body, while his tall black leather boots made the wooden plank floor creak.


    The mysterious crowned man, with a face of resignation and denoting great concern, politely asked Glowen to wait in the next room, while he spoke to Ben, and the latter said:


    - ¡°I have been ordered to arrest you, but nobody can give me orders, because I am a king, the king of nobody''s lands, they are not my lands, but I keep order, the order of nothing, nobody has to obey me, but my duty is to take care of this place, in order to keep order.¡±


    Ben replied, - ¡°I don''t know who you are, if you are in charge or what your purpose is, but I must go through the wall road, southbound, to return to lebrassia by this road, if you get in my way I will annihilate you.¡±


    The mysterious man replies:


    - ¡°I manage the trade in these forgotten lands, and prevent an army from forming in the gloom to threaten the two kingdoms. The few guards I have, I guess you already killed them, the truth is no one is interested in coming here, apparently alone, except for you.  These riches I have, is a glimmer of authority in a world of chaos, I know your motives go beyond this gold I keep, and oblivion, so I will not stand in your way¡±.


    Ben remains silent, and prepares to move to the other door, the one that means the exit of that room.  The mysterious man stares at the diamond-crossed timbered windows, which look eastward, toward the lands that are and are not his, where very few lights glare on the floor, darkness above and below.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Passing through the door, Ben enters a much larger and taller room, made entirely of wood, like a cellar, with crates and wooden barrels everywhere.  Ben intuits that it is the place where ¡°the king of nothing¡± kept the merchandise and supplies with which he generated influence to prevent riots and carry out his mission to prevent the creation of armies that could attack Lebrassia or Oldania.


    A great echo is felt. Upstairs, large windows arranged in such a way that the rain could not enter directly and ruin the merchandise. The shadows feel eerily deeper. Ben walks slowly and on guard trying to locate a ladder or a door that will finally lead him to the top of the wall so that he can get back to Lebrassia and enter the back of the black castle where Kramer is, so that he can rescue Valentina.


    Ben finally sees in the distance a wide and colossal wooden staircase that goes up to the wall, but he hears a loud and strange noise...


    The noise approaches and suddenly a huge threat appears before him!


    A gigantic war machine, five meters in height, looms intimidatingly in front of him. Two gigantic mechanical wheels as legs, joined together at the top in a mechanical mechanism that housed a pilot, and in front of the sight, a tear of blood that provided energy to the monstrous war machine.


    There was Glowen, operating this military device.  With the gas mask Kramer ordered him to wear half on, he pulls it down and adjusts it, with a defiant attitude. Glowen''s feminine oversized curves, in that tight metallic suit of blue-green military color, contrasted and at the same time combined with the robust and rigid forms of that colossal infernal machine, of dark green color, with gigantic and wide red tires that looked like huge cherries.


    The blood tear is activated, emitting a disconcerting red light, such a ruby jewel.  Ben, taken by surprise, sees how Glowen comes against him in that war vehicle and manages to dodge the hit and run, with great difficulty. Glowen destroys a large wooden shelf with barrels of wine and crates of preserved provisions.


    Ben attacks it with his pyro sword, launching a blast of fire at it, but the machine activates a magic shield that deflects the attack. Glowen again lunges at Ben at high speed, and this time runs him over and seriously wounds him, throwing him against a stone wall.


    Glowen activates the blood tear from the machine he operates and launches a red beam at Ben, who lies motionless on the wooden floor. Unable to get up, Ben only closes his eyes to receive the deadly attack.


    At that moment, he only remembered Luzea, while he was with her in the rose field, returning to that moment of peace, without the need to prove anything or save anyone, without people instigating him, without Kramer plotting others against him.  I remember Luzea''s kisses, her big green eyes framed in black shadow, her porcelain white skin and her silky smooth red hair.


    A great explosion rumbled, and as the smoke dispersed, there he was, it was Rubicom!


    With his back turned, with his big golden hair and scarlet armor, Rubicom smiled at Ben, who was still slumped over. Rubicom had deflected Glowen''s attack and saved Ben''s life.


    Glowen attacks again and goes at Rubicom, ramming, but Rubicom manages to dodge the colossal two-wheeled machine, and attacks Glowen with his advanced pyro-sword, aiming it with a laser sight, and then fires a thin, but accurate burst of fire, which is deflected in the same manner as the previous attack made by Ben. Rubicom, terrified by the enemy''s power, is only left to watch as Glowen drives his war machine at him, crushing him with one of its tires.


    After killing Rubicom, and leaving Ben seriously wounded, Glowen surprisingly uninstalls the blood tear from that mechanical device, keeps it in a large leather bag, and with that big red gem on his back, flees unexpectedly.


    Ben, as he lies on the ground, ties up the loose ends, looking back, and realizes that he had been tricked. He begins to suspect that the theft of that powerful blood tear was Kramer''s true objective, and that he had been a piece of the plan, that he had been manipulated, in order to get that blood tear out of there, having eliminated all the guards that protected the king of nothing, who really acted as a great merchant, imposing a little order in the great chaos, and supporting the interests of the millenary pact between Lebrassia and Oldania.


    Ben climbs up the large wooden stairs, and reaches the top of the great wall. The breeze is impressive. He can see the sea, dark and imposing, the sky with colossal clouds reflecting the stars, and beyond, a great storm with red lightning, where the kingdom of Gobegor was supposedly lost, beyond the sea.  Below to the west, he saw some strange constructions, but he could not see exactly what they were, they seemed to have a warm golden light.


    To the east, on the other hand, were the dark no-man''s lands, and beyond, in the distance, the great Fressen. Ben set out to run, still somewhat beaten, to the south, over the wall, to reach the longed-for passage that separates Lebrassia from the no man''s land, just near the back of the black castle, where Kramer has kidnapped Valentina.


    Ben after many hours, manages to cross the entire wall and, as he begins to approach Lebrassia, soft rays of light begin to illuminate his face, and his soul. Ben stops for a moment, puts his hands on his knees, exhausted, and begins to cry with happiness. He was finally out of that sad place.  Up ahead, fruit trees, fresh grass, colorful flowers, butterflies and birds adorn the landscape.  Ben mourns the death of his friend and companion Rubicom, and blames Kramer for this.


    Ben passes through a small, beautiful forest on the border, and can quickly see the back of the black castle, up there on a gentle hill. Can Ben finally rescue Valentina and stop Kramer once and for all? What challenges await Ben?