“When your brother grows older, since he is a little fighter, I will take him to Thranes. There, warriors train and become strong in order to maintain order in the six kingdoms,” his father told him stories of other kingdoms, places which his young mind could only hope to visit in his dreams.
“And I tell ye, they said a year, and look at us, twelve years later, still ain’t got nothing to show for,” an old man was feasting from a bone covered in sweet meat, a favourite in the city of Amouldes, the supply of food stable after ten long years, and even prospered in the last two years, with fish being exported, while meats were exchanged for it. He spat some bits of the meat on the table, the young man standing opposite, grabbed them and ate them.
“Haven’t they sent word that they will assemble the last ary soon enough?” the young man asked for the wisdom of the older one, as he didn’t know how to read.
“Pwahahaha, and you believe ‘em yer fool?” he spat some more, the young man doing the same and grabbing the chewed meat for himself, the bits and pieces which flew out of the old man’s mouth. “I tell ya what, if they do finally wage war as they said they would eleven years ago, I will buy ye enough meat to-” he tried to bite some more meat from bone, but there was none. There should’ve been more, so he looked at the young man, but he was just as confused, since he kept a careful eye until the last moment on it.
They both then saw him, a young, teenage boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, hair tied in a ponytail and bare footed, running with his hand filled with the meat. “I got him, old man, buy me one of those and I’ll beat that kid half dead for you,” the old man did as the young one wanted, and the young one started to sprint for the boy.
When he was about to grab him by the shirt, he felt his foot pierced by something from below. He cried in pain, as he looked below, a sharp stone, which then started to roll on its own accord after the boy, was the cause of his pain. He watched as from behind him, more of these rolled around, some even had legs and ran on all fours. “D-damn you Amel!” his name notorious in the city that once was on the brink of collapse, that has recovered from its dreaded fate. While most people stopped from doing crimes, or have been killed for them, Amel had only grown more notorious, his name spreading and becoming synonymous with theft amongst even thieves. Few dared to confront him, since his constructs have also become known.
The man thought upon the dangers of following the notorious creator, which even Mou warned against, that if caught, shall be punished for the countless acts of thievery and association with other criminals. The bounty on Amel’s head being the largest in the kingdom of Amouldes, something which he even prided himself to other, smaller and pettier thieves. The young man still decided to follow, smelling the sweet meat from behind. Once he started to give chase, he noticed a bunch of other people. Some were wearing clothes suited for butchering, some for selling goods, and some for selling armours and such. In front of them, making way through the streets, Amel had gathered a bunch of the constructs. They were highly complex in structure and well made. The years which went by, allowed the young genius to develop explosively, as more resources have been funnelled to them thanks to Ermel. The constructs were able of complex movements, turning, twisting and jumping all over the place. It was such a surreal sight, that most people have stopped from running, except for the young man.
‘Damn that kid, what is up with him? I only heard of Mou being capable of constructing those things, let alone use so many,’ he was looking at dozens of smaller and larger constructs assembling around Amel and making way for him, in an avalanche of metal, wood and stone, rumbling the streets towards the exit, which had soldiers gathering around. ‘The soldiers, I guess I should stop cha-’ from behind, what he assumed to be a man, dashed at a blinding speed past him. His long, free flowing, chestnut hair in the winds. His body was taller than that of most men around Amouldes, and his clothes seemed that of a street boy, although his face seemed noble in nature.
As the young man stopped his running, thinking that other man was going to catch the kid, he saw as the constructs made way for him, and the man placed his left hand around the boy’s neck. “Th-that’s his brother?!” he had heard of Femel. The younger brother, thought often to be Amel’s older brother. His beauty rivalled that of women, while his body put to shame any hard working man. Seeing this unstoppable duo from behind, the young man could only feel a sudden admiration, as if some feelings of mutual respect showed out of nowhere, witnessing something that history would remember.
“What do we do about them, brother?” Femel asked Amel, his sharp and dark brown eyes, always watching the lips of his brother when moving, for when he couldn’t understand one of his words, he could read it on his lips, then think on it.
“It should be a good lesson for you, Femi. Think how many soldiers we have to fight, tell me how many constructs must I use?” his brother responds with a lesson, Femel a bit lost, since he didn’t like to do this sort of stuff while exerting himself, although, for him running at speeds which matched that of horses, was a light exercise. He looked ahead, his eyes could see each person apart, counted precisely forty of them, ten with crossbows, twenty with spears and ten on horseback. “Forty soldiers, so ten of your constructs?” he got elbowed in the ribs for the answer.
“Do you only count with your eyes? I told you to use your mind too, there are reserves coming from around the city, so by the time we arrive, their numbers will easily double,” and sure enough, while the distance closed, their numbers tripled. “There you go, it is why I brought more today, they’re starting to learn our schedule, so we must rotate again,” Femel felt a bit bad about his mistake, but was happy nonetheless. It wasn’t often when both of them could make a run for food and materials, and fighting was Femel’s favourite part when gathering supplies.
“You could’ve brought only half as many, you have me too, you know?” he tried to impress his brother. Amel’s eyes started go low, a spark here and there getting out of his eyes, his power, while it didn’t seem to have grown a whole lot by looking at his eyes, the fact that sparks were starting to show after only twelve years since his first glow, meant he was approaching the level of a Lightborn in terms of light manipulation.
“Don’t be foolish, if they have a captain with them, then you’ll be too busy to take care of the small ones,” Amel said as if he was larger than them, while he was smaller than most soldiers.
“I’m just saying, you can rely more on me now. I’m fourteen years of age this winter, you know?” Femel tried again. Amel had to keep both of them safe until he was the age of six, where he outgrew Amel in height and weight, able to fend for himself. So, Amel grew up to be independent from others when it meant to operate, even from his brother. But he was learning to rely more on Femel, who was growing to be a people’s person, loved by all the thieves they worked with.
“I know I can, I just don’t want us to get harmed. You know how the others are if they see a sign of weakness,” Amel reminded his brother an important rule they had to keep in mind.
“Yeah, but they would never touch you or me, that I’m sure of. For if at least one of us is kicking,” he paused, dodging a bold coming from the crossbows.
“The other will come down biting,” constructs placed between the bolts and the two brothers, their fronts covered in different metal plates and hammered coins. The bolts managed to pierce in places, but the better built constructs were each able to fight three or even four fully armed and armoured soldiers. “Get behind this one,” Amel placed a construct with a small ramp on its back, it came in handy more often that he would’ve liked to admit when it came to Femel.
Femel liked to make a grand spectacle of his battles, in order to gain the attention of the city folk and especially the thieves with which they worked. So, he ran a bit slower behind the construct, and when the soldiers on horses started to dash towards them, around thirty in numbers, he ran onto and kicked off the platform into the air, above the construct serving as a shield and in front where the charging horses came. His sense of balance was impeccable, as he landed on his feet on the back of the horse. The soldier was stunned by the sudden apparition, and before he could do anything, Femel picked him up like a doll and threw him to the side. Femel snatched his shield from his hand, and used it to defend against the swords of the riders.
Amel had to deal with six riders of his own, throwing flying constructs into the air, their wings made of patched clothes. The little things started to dive into the soldiers, and made them stop in their tracks, as they poked at the horses and scratched their faces. Femel went by the riders with little issue, while Femel kicked and punched off the horses the other four riders. He then picked Amel on the horse, the constructs jumping on as well or just charging ahead, where the bulk of the soldiers were. From behind them, a taller, older and dangerous man appeared. His helmet had a red feather coming out the centre, a squadron commander. Ame approximated Femel’s strength to be somewhere in the vicinity of four or five such commanders.
“Can I fight him?” he asked permission from Amel, for he was his teacher as well. Amel looked at the bulk of soldiers, and saw that the commander was looking for a straightforward fight, he liked them most like that. They reminded him of Hran.
“Sure, go ahead, I’ll take care of the rest,” and Amel took charge of the horse, as Femel jumped down from the horse, walking towards the commander. The commander saw what was happening, and had orders that in case something like this would progress, he should at no point confront the taller brother alone. However, his prid and burning fire in him, telling him that the boy before him, is a mere greenhorn in the arts of battle, decided to give order to his troops to stop the escaping force of Amel and his constructs.
Amel liked what he saw, the soldiers were following him, his constructs were a bit behind, but that didn’t matter, the edge of the city was close to the forest.
“Come you old bastard. Show me what Mou’s ‘muscle’ can hope to achieve against us!” Femel was flaunting, no weapons in hands, since he had yet to find something he liked to use. His barren feet, tall muscular body, long flowing hair and brazen attitude, were all things this commander respected. This was a man of high calibre, if trained properly, he would’ve far exceeded him in the chain of army command. But since fate had it worse for this young man, he could only shed an inner tear for what could’ve been.
The commander took his stance, his armour shining in the midst of day, his longsword seemingly reaching for the sky, and his eyes ready for the first movement, as Femel stopped only two metres away from him. The commander was only slightly taller than him, which could be assumed to be due to his shoes. ‘What a scary thing this child is. If rumours are to be believed, he’s only fourteen of age at most. And there he stands, reaching higher than my body did in its fifty years of life’. There was a moment of silence, then, the space around the man became black. When light managed to reach the dark place in which he was thrown, he realised he had long lost, the young man dashing towards the soldiers chasing after Amel.
Amel saw in a glimpse Femel’s performance, it exceeded his expectations. ‘Around ten, no, more,’ he was trying to gauge the growth his brother underwent during his time as a teenager. Frightening growth indeed, but while he didn’t notice it for himself, his was just as scary. ‘Let’s deal with those ones, they’re starting to get close with those spears,’ he sent information to Omega. The earth started to tremble below him, and the soldiers following him, almost cutting at the horse’s legs, suddenly were enveloped by a shell of sorts. It was the hand of Amel’s constructs. All fifty soldiers, trapped in the hand of his largest construct to date, built a year ago when he found laying below the earth, giant rocks, which he slowly dug with his other constructs, Og and Olm. He then tied the constructs together with ropes made of strings of metal and steel, stolen from smelteries from across the city. The construct was around one hundred metres in height, and fifteen in width. He placed Omega around where he felt it would benefit him the most.
“I didn’t know you were going to use Omega today,” Femel said surprised, always amazed by his brother’s work. His strength could only accomplish so much, and could never see or conjure light, so this was pure magic to him. “Maybe you should give Alpha a walk, I haven’t seen it in two years,” he was talking of Amel’s prior largest construct, around fifty metres tall and five metres in width.
“Alpha is unstable, I will have to leave it another year before I could attempt to reuse it. Come, let’s go, we got what we wanted and a horse,” Femel looked a bit longer at Omega, who kept the soldiers inside the palm of its hand, then started to run alongside the horse, matching its pace.
Once they were inside the forest, and at some distance from the edge, thieves and bandits started to show up. They each had bags of their own, but were only one or two at most. Meanwhile, Amel brough to bags for each constructs, Femel twelve of his own and more to come once all the constructs have returned. While the performance was a bit displeasing to Amel, who was leading this group, he didn’t care a whole lot. He was simply using these people to further his goal, since Hran had never returned for them, but has left messages through anonymous sources. He told them that ‘While Mou hasn’t budged in his way of doing things, I will try to convince my father, Hran the Mighty, that you and your brother are worth an army,’ the high words of praise, never meant anything, from the looks of it, to one of the First Six.
While Amel was disappointed that he couldn’t reunite with his friend and have his plans properly fueled by materials and resources, he didn’t mind this lifestyle a whole lot. While it was dangerous and were making both of the infamous throughout the kingdom, it also kept him sharp and ready. His plans to kill Umshaow, were still developing. With each new discovery and advancement of his powers, he would devise methods in which he could deal with Umshaow. He originally planned for a far down the line kid of his or Femel’s to take care of it. But since both of them were growing at exponential rate, he was starting to see the possibility of them dealing with the one monster which destroyed all that was good.
He was also thinking of the Foolish King and the war to come. Femel was especially fired up for that one, as he hated what the Foolish King had done and wished to make him not only pay for his crimes, but also advance in the ranks of military. There was the rumour that whoever achieved great results in the upcoming war, could be absolved of their crimes. Amel was also keeping that in mind, even though his and his brother’s crimes were long and many, this would prove a golden opportunity to finally deal with Mou’s decision to kill any criminal. And while it may look contradictory for Amel and Femel to do more crime while trying to rid themselves of all of them in the upcoming war, Amel had to think for the future and in case the war may fail. If the war was to end in failure, and he or his brother were to die, he would have the force necessary to assist either and kill the Foolish King’s remaining forces. Thus the constructs Omega and Alpha.
While his plan had its flaws, since the power of the Foolish King was large enough to warrant the First Six to postpone the war for eleven years more than originally intended, it was the best his light could come up with. And his light was at that point able to filter, think and solve situations at a rate of a hundred each hour of the day, without taxing Amel’s mind. If need came to be, he could call upon greater power from the light, and have the light get through a thousand situations in just a minute. This power of simulation inside his mind was so great, that in theory, he could envision and complete all possible situations given enough input of the circumstances and factors around them.
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“Good job everyone, let’s return to the Cove. I need to speak with Ermel. Femel, see if there’s anything useful which they have gathered,” they all listened to him and started to walk back, a group of roughly twenty thieves and looters. Amel wasn’t proud of the leadership he had over them, but was better than nothing. Femel started to look through their belongings. He spotted one trying to hide away a gem, which he snatched away then hit the one with it over his head. He looked at it, deemed it useless, and gave it back. Amel was looking to build his yet most sophisticated construct. One which could take away more of his information, and maybe even that of others, filter what’s useless, then produce written outcomes for what’s best given the provided information. This would still work off of his light, but the major difference was that it should be able to read other people’s lights, even if they didn’t know how to use it or manifest it. So he needed a gem of high purity, one which he could leave a shell of light on the outside, that of his imbued with his own information, then when someone touched the gem, their light would be sucked into the gem, bounced around the walls of his light shell of information, and produce a response by slight burning into paper.
The others, except for Ermel who was growing more understanding of the inner working of the light, didn’t know what Amel was actually trying to accomplish. Even when he explained it in more basic details, they couldn’t see purpose of such a creation. The purpose of it was pretty simple, help not only him, but the others too, in solving issues and processing information. This would save him a lot of time, as they would all mostly come to him to ask for help and such.
Walking through the forest, it took them half a day, and they finally arrived. Next to the lake close to Tainas, there was a cave which was hidden from most curious eyes. Some wild animal would come by and see what’s inside, just to be cast away by one of the guarding bandits. It was hidden at the entrance of the forest from the side of the lake. Amel found it some five years back, when he was chased by some soldiers, and his constructs were too far away. Hidden in there, the soldiers couldn’t find him even when they’ve spread on a large portion of the forest. He then moved in with Femel and Ermel once he set up the place to be suitable for living. The cave was also deep and had multiple branching sides. They had to break some of the stalagmites and stalactites in order to make decent enough to live into it and make it operable, and after a couple months of work, it was ready as a base of operations.
Once Amel had arrived, he let the horse in the care of some other bandits, who were used to hunting and preparing meat. They would use everything from the horse. The skin to make rugs, the flesh to eat, certain organs would be eaten, some other used in some other little things they needed, and the bones as small traps around the place, in which they would kill small critters. He went inside the cave, the entrance covered by pelts and furs, the others following behind, Femel by his side. Once inside the cave, it would open largely at the entrance, where the rest of the bandits spent the off time at tables and little gathering places. Discussions of places to steal from and things to add to the location, took place. Ermel was discussing with a couple of them to make some animal pen nearby, where they could grow cattle. With Amel’s constructs everywhere inside forest, no predators would be an issue, and if someone found cattle and tried to steal it, the same would stand.
Amel had a small nervous tick when his name was thrown around when it came to constructs and how they could be used for this and that. But he couldn’t deny it himself, his constructs were a powerful asset, especially when there was no human force to be able to accomplish the larger tasks. One Elmer saw Amel and Femel, he would present before them as he usually did, kneeling and bowing. Amel told him to stop, because they knew each other well by then, even if they still weren’t friends.
“Take what we brought, share it with the others and don’t bother me for a bit, I have to think about some stuff,” Amel would often go into a small indent of the cave, at the end of the main stretching entrance. The cave went for dozens of kilometres deep and around. But they were only making use of the more forefront places, some deeper chambers designed for storing goods and such. Amel’s personal corner, had its walls dug inside, portions acting as shelves for books which they happened to find or steal, while a good portion of the room was occupied by a giant table at the left, his bed at the end of the room with a small wooden desk by the side. On the table he had his next construct to build. Each new construct had something different, more sophisticated. More sophisticated didn’t mean more complex for him in most cases, but simpler ways through which the complex could occur. For instance, his first generation of constructs that were able to turn around without moving their whole body, needed three layers of different built axes. His newer generations have only one layer containing all the axes, and the newer one on which he works, should have only one axis on which to move in all three directions.
“Where was I at,” he used his light to fuel a gem above his head, held in place by a simple construct, which had the instructions ingrained to follow his movements and shift the gem accordingly, which he learned to infuse with his light to spread it around, and allow him to see better in the dark. This was better than candles, and lasted longer. “Right, the torso,” working on constructs was natural to him. Due to how he structured the inner light which enhances his mind, the different constructs which he builds, are added to a long list of experiences and memories, which the system combines with the old and new, in order to produce variations, from which it takes the best aspects and combines them into one. Many failures are needed for a new design to be built. But once the new design is accomplished, it opens the doors for more variations, thus even if there are more failures, so there are more successes, which Amelor is aiming for.
While building his construct, he would think of the following day, the one after and so on. He had to constantly think of the future, so this group of thieves and criminals, could be held active in an orderly manner. Was he to let them idle, dangerous thoughts may occur, and cause him trouble. ‘The intricacies I have to keep account of, are much less than I originally anticipated,’ thanks to Ermel again, he was able to focus on his constructs and other essential things, while Ermel took care of the bandits and such. A devoted man, willing to do whatever it took in order to escape his past of theft. This wasn’t that much better, but the sense of power he had due to Amel leaving that side of things to him, made him feel worth something. Amel didn’t want to rely on him too much, but the years which have passed by, showed that Ermel was of the essence. He didn’t know if there was another man like Ermel, and was sorry that Ermel was only there because of both of them being criminals. If the war with the Foolish King was to be won, he had to achieve enough in battle, so that both him and his brother would be absolved of their crimes, and Ermel could also through their achievements. So Amel was thinking for all three of them while trying to improve to the best of his capacity these already brilliant constructs.
Night would fall after some hours, and the bandits started to leave the cove. Some were heading for the night activities, some to a home they had either in the forest or back at the city, and some were going to see the lake. They wanted to gaze upon the sky, see the stars and think of what’s beyond this world they live into. It wasn’t something one would expect from mere petty criminals, and Amel really appreciated it. It showed him that, despite the crimes they did, there was still that innocent human nature inside of them. Femel would also like these gatherings, bonding with some of the bandits over a fire and roasted meat. The bandits found Femel to be a joy to have around, despite his young age. Wherever Femel would be, good times would follow. While with Amel, the good times would be made. They different people in essence, but both really similar at the same time.
Once Amel considered his work done, he left his room. Looking inside the Cove, most people were gone. He always left a construct inside, besides the one which held his light. In order to ensure that no one was trying anything funny. There were a few other dozen constructs, some of which scared even those allied bandits. So no one really dared to even think about entering that room. Some bandits would even whisper some odd rumour, like one where Amel would take someone who betrayed him and put him on the table, then encase them in stone and metal, to then force them to work until they died. The rumour started from Femel, in order to scare the others, and Amel didn’t really appreciated it. While there wasn’t much he could do about that, it’s not as if he cared too much. Fear is a good motivator in the case of criminals, especially when you don’t want them to do something.
Amel took a breath of fresh, cold air outside. He saw a couple bandits heading for the lake. He had a couple constructs follow Femel everywhere, so he would know what’s going on. He was having a good time as per usual. Amel smiled getting the information, then looked for Ermel. A construct reported him going for a run in the city, some materials they would need for Amel to build them a certain construct. He told him not to go and do such things, because he didn’t know what he might need in order to fully accomplish, but he would never listen. Ermel reminded him a way a bit of Om, and the association stopped there, as he didn’t want to remember the gruesome scene of that night.
“Oi, boss, you comin’” one of the bandits, by the name of Tormael, asked Amel. He thought a bit upon it, and it didn’t seem an issue to him. He had some free time, since a bunch of the business was taken care of by Ermel, so he went with it. They began to walk at a steady pace, Tormael tried to make some small talk with Amel, but Amel wasn’t interested in it. And he showed to restraint in telling him so. For him, besides Ermael, they were all nothing more than pets and tools he used to further his goals. If it ever came down to it, he wouldn’t hesitate to give them all up in favour of his constructs. With his constructs, he could at least hope to achieve something when everything else fails. While it was a dangerous line of thought, it’s what kept him alive for so long, especially surrounded by all these dangerous people.
“Anyway boss, nice talk with ya, Imma head over there,” and Tormael left him, joined some other bandits. Femel gathered most of the attention to him. They were drinking, and Femel had a high tolerance to alcohol, which he was fully aware of. So, whenver everyone else got drunk before him, he would make them participate in silly games which he made on the spot with unfair rules. This time it was ‘body lifting’. The one who could lift the most bodies, would get a gold coin from the others. It was simple, yet clear on whose favour this was. Amel simply stood at the edge of the forest, chin on his palm as he watched what his mind already predicted. One by one, the men started to lift one another. Femel would be the hardest to lift, but a couple managed. In his mind, Amel was still sure Femel would win. There was a curious variant in his mind, which for some reason, showed one of the other win. He would keep it until proven wrong, then discard it. They lifted each other again for a few times, until another dropped. It was between the almost drunk Femel and the fully drunk other. They kept at it for some time, the other seemingly having strength to spare until no end. While Femel had no issue keeping up, they were also drinking as they were doing this. And by the time the other man started to lose his grip, Femel was drunk. Given the rare times and occasions on which he would get drunk, Femel would fall into a really heavy state. With stumble and a hiccup, Femel lost.
Amel was surprised, but his system accounted for it, so he kept it and reminded himself, that ‘in face of the true random nature of the world, my mind can only think and suspect so much. Thank the Creator that the light is more capable than my mind,’ he then switched places and got close to the lake. He looked at its dark depths, then up where countless stars shed their light upon Erta. ‘Those are beautiful things, made of light, much like me,’ he thought melancholically.
As his thoughts deepened, information started to pour through at a rapid pace. Multiple constructs, giving signals of danger. He quickly filtered it, it was Ermel. He got caught by soldiers, he was being carried to a prison they’ve built recently. It was guarded by dozens of soldiers and had a few commanders posted. ‘Not good Ermel, not good,’ his worry wasn’t for the leak of information, Ermel still had his vow which he placed upon his heart, but losing him, would mean to lose an essential part of his whole operation here.
In their camp, ran the policy that once caught, you’re left behind. This couldn’t happen to Ermel though, Amel needed him. And since Fermel was drunk, he had no choice but to go alone. If he needed to, he wouldn’t hesitate to use Omega or even Alpha. It would attract eyes which he didn’t wish, like those of Mou, who was already vigilant of him to some degree, and after he would hear of Omega in just about a day or two, he would definitely grow cautious. But that didn’t matter, if he had his brother and Ermel, they could travel some other place, build it all up again.
And so he left. In the darkness of the night, his constructs gather. The older generations, by the dozens, the newer ones, by the hundreds. If he had to fight the King himself, he would do so.
It didn’t take him long, he rode on a special kind of construct, inspired by horses. It travelled without tiring at a constant fast pace. Leaping, jumping and running through the forest, the construct was unmatched in the speed. Other constructs had issues of following him, but were making it nonetheless. The plan was to sneak inside the city and get Ermel back. If that would result in a fight with the soldiers, the hundreds of constructs following close behind would launch an assault upon the city, pretending to attack houses and such, in order to distract most of their soldiers elsewhere.
He entered the city, watched by patrols of guards, and the houses somewhat filled, a lot still empty. He snuck from house to house, letting his aerial constructs analyse the environment for him.When a guard would get away from him, he would sneak around and move to the next street. By doing this, he finally arrived at the prison. There were lots of soldiers, as thought. He used a construct to lift himself up, and see through the high windows what was going inside. The soldiers, officer and commander were all happy apparently. Showing to each other a drawn poster of Ermel’s face and bounty. Being associated with Amel, he was one of the next highest wanted criminals. The construct which was with Ermel, gave away his position somewhere underground, by going down a set of stairs. Amel could see the stairs from the window where he stood.
He had to deal somehow with the guards, so he willed a few of his constructs to cause a ruckus at some distance from where he was. Guards would intercept them, but they would be beaten senseless until the soldiers inside the prison were notified. He saw around ten leaving, not enough. There were easily around twenty more. So, he did the same in two other places. The commander ordered his men, and were leave the prison. Finally, only the commander, an officer and three soldiers remained. Another one or two probably underground.
He went through the main door, not caring for the commander, officer and soldiers. He let two of his constructs take care of them, then headed down at a casual pace. The guards tried to stop him, but he blinded them with an expulsion of light, something which he learned around six years prior, then he touched their heads while blinded, flowed information through their lights, overloading their minds, and forcing them into a coma of sorts. Ermel saw him coming, sighed in relief, then Amel broke open the door with his old lockpicking trick, only more sophisticated this time.
“Should’ve been more careful, Ermel,” he lectured him there. Ermel didn’t know how to respond. He acknowledged this act from Amel as one of kindness, knowing the rules of their camp. His high devotion to him, didn’t let him see that Amel was just looking for his useful tool. He needed Ermel, otherwise it would hurt his plans, and he couldn’t allow that.
Once he was don with the lecture, he headed out. Ermel saw the unconscious bodies of the guards, commander, officer and soldiers, the constructs waiting for them. Amel then called upon his horse-like construct, placed himself and Ermel on top, and sped off. The other constructs also retreated into the forests. By the time those implicated realised what happened, it was too late, Amel was gone. He was glad he didn’t have to use Omega, and headed back to the Cove.
Once back, he saw that Femel’s door was open, the constructs informed him that he just crashed into bed, sleeping tight. Ermel had a room of his own inside the Cove, where he returned to reflect upon what happened. Amel went inside Femel’s room, touched his forehead, prompting a smile from his brother. “I brought him back, brother. I know you had no idea, but he was taken from us, and I didn’t le them. No, nothing will be taken from us, not again, not until both of those are dead,” his words cold and filled with raging anger, while his eyes were filled with determination.
The following morning, things would go as usual, the bandits on their way to steal some more, with Amel and Femel at the front. Leading them and making good hauls as usual. Amel, as he liked to do, went by some of the announcement boards, take some of the papers there and read them. He was mainly interested about the one with his bounty. See if it got any higher or lower. It stayed the same for the time being, maybe he had to get a bit naughtier. Then, going one by one, he reached the one with a request from Thranes for soldiers to be drafted. Amel looked at it, saw that it was around one month old, and placed it back.’They have been drafting people since the beginning of this year, are they actually going to wage war this year, or not?’ he had to wonder.
And as if by will, he saw two soldiers, of a different armor, entering the city. There was a sword on their chest, made out of gold. ‘From Thranes,’ those were the elites of the elites. The soldiers from Thranes, were thought to be worth their weight in gold and some. For those two to be there, meant that either Amouldes was getting desperate to deal with him, or something which needed the presence of the soldiers arrived. And as he guessed, they unveiled the banner of Thranes, wearing the same symbol on their chest.
“All people of Tainas! Listen well! Our King and Lord of Lords, Hran the Mighty, has sent us in order to call you, fair and strong people, to the war that is to come!” ‘direct propaganda,’ Amel thought. ‘They are getting a bit desperate if they have to send soldiers from all the way over there.’. “Those who enrol right now, and are deemed worthy, will be allowed to train for the following two months in the capital! I repeat-”. That part made Amel think. ‘Training in the capital, for two months?’ while that wasn’t going to do him any good, the possibility for Femel to grow stronger, was at his hands. While he thought his brother strong, he wanted him to be stronger if they were to participate in the war. Being strong for himself was good, but in order to achieve anything, he would have to rise beyond himself, and gather the attention of the whole field of battle.
The soldiers would also announce that whoever joins, won’t have to be innocent, as long as they’re willing to participate. Amel knew about that side from Hran’s letters. It was a simple tactic where, once the war was over, those who have committed crimes and haven’t achieved anything in battle, would be killed afterwards. Since, once they served their purpose, it would be counteractive to let them back into society, where the would go back to killing and stealing.
Amel saw a line of old and young men forming. He didn’t know how long the drafting would take, but he had to take this opportunity for him and his brother. Training inside the capital for two months, meant the war was at most three months away. He still didn’t feel ready enough for it, as he would’ve liked to work on Alpha some more, fix some other issues regarding the emotional side of the light which he imbued, but he knew he could make it work once he had access to the capital’s resources, and could see with Hran if around.
“Next! Put your name here, if you don’t know how, try spelling it out, if you don’t know how, tell us and we’ll try to write it down,” the soldier wasn’t aware of the man before him, while most men in line were well aware and started to get angry.
“Yes, I don’t know how to write it, but I can spell it for you. It’s A-m-e-l. Amel,” the soldier wrote his name down, not providing his family name. “Oh, and also my brother. He’s not here, but I hope I can add him instead,” the soldier gave a glance, saw that the people were angry, didn’t know why, and assumed it must’ve been the time it took to fill the papers, so he nodded in agreement. “Great, his name is F-e-m-e-l. Femel.”.
“Very well, Amel and Femel, is that right?” the soldier looked at the young boy, his face in a bright smile.
“That is correct sir, yes,” cheating through the system and making the utmost use of it, the boy of legend enters the war which would be forgotten in time.