I was laying on a shadow wolf, too exhausted to move but I saw everything. the blurred-faced man who led the group.

“The magic is back.”

He smirked when he said that and grabbed his strange necklace. It started to glow slightly but then they found us,

“The intruders! let's get them!”

It was only two of those soldiers, but the armor they wore brought back every memory of my sister laying over the table with her blouse still torn and blood running down her legs.

My rage swelled but before my dry lips could whisper a word, the leader, that blurred faced man, charged. His speed was exceptional.

He flashed and apparead behind both of them, they were only foot soldiers so I doubt they saw but the sword in his hand had already slashed their necks clean.

I smiled as I watched their heads bounce and roll as they touched the floor of the tunnel.

In an instance we were engulfed in a ball of light. When we opened our eyes we were in a wooden cabin.

There were about twenty five persons gathered in the cabin, most of them thinned and malnutritioned.

The eyes of the ex-prisoners beamed as they looked at the blurred-faced boy who had so brazenly released them from their prison.

The boy stood in front of us, his presence wasn’t something to call home about but he commanded attention nonetheless.

The boy stood upright and held up three fingers before he spoke.

“Three years, give me three years of your service and then you are free to go anywhere you want.”

The crowd of dried up people looked at the blurred faced boy with a sense of confusion and doubt. It took a few seconds of silence before someone from the crowd finally decided to speak. Most of them didn’t wish to hurt their new benefactor’s feelings but the truth had to be said regardless.

“Like hell we would believe that. You see these marks, anywhere we go within the Dragnier kingdom or allied nations we will be hunted like animals!”

One of the criminals pointed at the branding mark below his left eye, they all had the same mark.

It was three crooked lines, everyone in the kingdom knew what it meant. It was the last line of defense. Only when a criminal had completed their sentence could the branding mark be removed by the grand healer of the kingdom.

The mark represented the wrath of the dragon, and all citizens had the duty to be the kingdom's claw.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

This meant that anyone who saw a person with the mark of the dragon’s claw could kill them without reproach. To the kingdom they were as good as dead weight anyways.

The other prisoners looked despairingly as their comrade spoke.

I wanted to add that as long as the marks were on us we couldn’t live a normal life but my outburst was cut short when he spoke again.

“And who says that there will be a Dragnier Kingdom in three years?”

He laughed maniacally, his shadow magic covered the cabin and all its occupants shuttered at his words.

“That's right, that is my wish. My dream is the destruction of this kingdom and all its noble bloodlines.

All the corrupted bastards who threw you into prison will be killed one by one until this kingdom has been purged, and you have replaced them as nobles.”

We stood dumbfounded hearing the words coming from his mouth. This man was just another agent of chaos. I gulped thinking he was truly too ambitious for his own good.

But then I saw the looks on the others' faces. It wasn’t the normal expression of hopelessness. It was the look of hungry wild beasts. Only the hunger was for the blood of the kingdom that locked them away.

I looked to my left and right and I could see it as clear as day. All of these men were starving for vengeance.

I even had to look inside myself. Afterall, didn’t I want the same thing, revenge for my sister.

And looking at this man I felt it now. That sense of hope in the abyss of darkness and fear. Then it clicked inside my brain.

The prison we had thought to be inescapable had now been escaped, the prison in which no magic could be used had now been teleported out of, he may seem a little crazy but the talent of this child was undeniable to them.

“I will fight until this kingdom has been turned over!”

The first agreement came from a man that was more like a skeleton. But his eyes beamed with a steadfastness that was infectious and shortly after the rest of the cabin raised their fists in agreement.

The two men that came with him originally looked just as shocked at the development as I was. What would a group of men who were barely strong enough to walk be able to do, I scoffed at their ignorance.

I saw the boy smile at the sight of the feeble men and women who raised their fists in resoluteness.

“Good! Now let’s get down to the details.”

What we heard him say next was something not even I could of predicted.

“ I am the last son of the Dimachaerus bloodline, Alric Dimachaerus.

My family has been wiped out by this kingdom.

And in return I shall banish this kingdom and all those responsible to eternal darkness. All those who stand by my side will replace them and stand as the new nobles of this kingdom.”

He spoke some of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard.

When Alric spoke, at first we murmured, the legend of one the strongest upstart families being wiped out was common knowledge and had been used as parables for the young whose reach exceeds their grasp for quite some time now.

But when he spoke about the destruction of the kingdom he spoke with a sureness as though he was a prophet speaking of unchangeable events in history. The coldness he spoke of killing entire families even brought a shiver down my spine.

When Alric gave his speech we felt an eerie feeling cover the halls of the cabin, but there was a sureness in his voice that stole our hearts and minds.

The man who had granted us a second chance of life had asked for our help in achieving a goal that would benefit us in the long run.

How could we deny such a heartfelt request?

Instantly we all raised our feeble arms once more and shouted “For Alric!”.

The leader smirked before walking to the center of the training space.

Alric placed a strange crystal at the center of the space and chanted a spell. The light glowed and covered the space briefly then disappeared.

We looked in awe at the small light display.