The anger and helplessness he felt the night the armies of that world slaughtered billions of humans came rushing back to him. They thought earthlings were a joke? That they could treat them like animals because they were smaller? Weaker? Vin had never had great pride in his country on Earth; it was just a home. Now, he felt for all of humanity because he could easily imagine someone he loved in the same situation as that man. A world where all humans were subjugated.

Pure, electric shock blasted the faces of Vespa and her gang, who were from a neighboring community. They whipped their enraged horned heads toward the man of the hour, Kaelix.

Vespa raged first. Her toxic green eyes brighter than ever, she peered at Kaelix, questioning, "What is this!?"

They were all anxious and worried that Kaelix had betrayed them. Another man flared his wings and fangs, shouting, "You set us up!"

Vin felt in control while encircled by allied savage, armed Ravenours, including the crooked-nosed man who ridiculed Gideon. He relished watching Kaelix's scheme backfire. That villian had invited brutes to help him take over the town under the guise of "wanting to learn skateboarding together," but he'd only be making enemies.

Before any clarification could be drawn, Vin turned to Hughton with a high head and commanded, "Silence them."

The Warden raised his sword and boomed, "QUIET, the Eternal wishes to speak!"

A miserable stillness was evoked. The dispute ceased momentarily, and Kaelix and all the outsiders adhered to Vin, anxiously waiting to learn his intent. Many devotees of the Order of the Violet Flames clasped their hands and whispered prayers while awaiting his exalted word. He felt their eyes on him, his uneasy heart throwing haymakers at his chest. Vin hid his sweaty palms behind his back, telling himself, 'Calm down.'

His sight swayed between Vespa and Kaelix. He knew his actual target was the General. Still, occasionally, his sight would land on the battered human whose hazel hair covered part of his exhausted eyes.

In the end, Vin's heart triumphed over reason. Before any of those attuned to his mind could stop him, he pointed to the ground, scowled at the female Warden, and coldly commanded, "Down, girl."

Vespa had already been close to him, so the rebel Ravenours, who'd pretended to be regular citizens, quickly forced her to her knees. Vin looked down at her, then sneered, "Good girl."

Next, he told the other human to come to his side, but Vespa snapped, her voice sharp as she yelled, "Don't you move!"

Vin hunched lightly, grasped her jaw, and peered at her, "I know right now you're confused. Scared."

"It's all because of your lack of faith," he said. He played up the role of the Eternal myth, but in truth, he abhorred it. He wasn't a leader, not even a fighter, just a guy who, three years ago, aspired to be a pro skateboarder. The real tale of the Ravenour immortal was the opposite of the life he wanted. Look at what happened to them; that legend was said to have been swallowed by a dragon and flown into space.

He would be his own person, a human.

Gideon telepathically screamed at Vin to focus on the General instead of that nobody, but he was too far in. A dark cloak had fallen over his mind, and his heart found temporary solace. Vin released his grasp on the woman and felt around his own lips.

'I found something else to fight for,' he thought. Feeling his mouth, he discovered he was smiling. For the first time since he'd awoken from his three-year-long coma, he was smiling.

Perhaps it stemmed from being a competitive skater on Earth, but he wanted to prove that humans were only underdogs in the skirmish, which was called survival. Nothing would be more thrilling than to win the Olympic gold medal of superiority over the billions of aliens on Auroraan.

Because he, a human, was so great, he didn't have to settle for getting revenge on just one of those heathens. Vin straightened out with flaming pride flowing through his veins. He looked at the militant man with the shaved head and scolded, "You brought this faithless woman into my town."

"Come here."

Kaelix, still grossly composed, frowned at the King of that town and asked, "Is this a joke?"

The King, the strongest and largest Ravenour among them, always had few words. From how Maeve spoke of him, it was because the man lacked diplomacy and ruled with might as their land dictated. Maeve assumed he'd simply force the General into submission; however, his lack of action meant he also had doubts.

No one else was strong enough to control Kaelix; The royal leader's hesitation wasn't a part of the plan.

The warlord sensed the King's cluelessness about what was happening and laughed. He rubbed the scarlet scales on his own face, saying, "You're no scholar, but I've never expected you to be so easily tricked. I've killed hundreds of humans in days; you've gone mad if you think I'll bow to one now."

Maeve was standing near her father. She was flawlessly composed when she held her hand toward Vin and enunciated, "That's no mere human, but the Eternal Flame and you will pay for your insolence."

The robust General stopped laughing and immediately deadpanned at the half-elf with a murderous mug, "Not funny."

Maeve added with a regal head tilt, "Then you need to be convinced."

On her signal, a Ravenour man branded with the Scarlet Order's signature red Phoenix badge was brought out in cuffs. As he was led, Maeve unrolled a paper and began reading, "For the crime of assassinating three war ministers, the criminal Yestro is to be executed. His death to be carried out by the Eternal Flame himself."

'This isn't what we talked about,' Vin thought, scowling at Maeve. Soon, the criminal named Yestro was knocked to their knees in front of him. There were shifts of bodies in the crowd, and then a pair of heavily robbed priestesses arose carrying a large, fire-filled black bowl as if it'd been a sacred treasure.

The priestess kneeled at Vin's side, hailing him. Then, Hughton pulled his sword, reversed the grip toward him, and pinched his mind, "This is it."

It didn't take long for Vin to realize the situation he was put in. Maeve had played him. He looked at her and frowned, 'I'm sure you knew I would be against this plan. I'm not a mindless murderer like you people.'

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'...which is why you didn't tell me the truth.'

Vin grabbed the saber, immediately feeling the weight of steel. It was heavy; he knew this not just from holding it but from having his arm lobbed off and being impaled. Those memories, coupled with his contempt for that race, infuriated him. Gave him the strength to do what needed to be done.

Something outside himself possessed him to hover that blade over the fire. Then, with a simple nonverbal dominance over the flame, it was subjugated and contorted. Something inside, either mana or his essence, bled into the fire, transforming it into a beautiful violet blaze. He didn't need to be able to control it; that purple flame had a unique quality that allowed it to stick to surfaces and burn forever like a curse.

Vin resolutely took that flaming blade and thrust it into the criminal, who, luckily, was sitting next to Vaspa. As the man screamed in pain, burning inside out, Vin could watch her squirm. Sense that she feared that she was next.

Rare tense gasps fled the mouths of the many Ravenours who witnessed the execution. Those of the opposing faith kept quiet, not daring to revolt after the death of one of their own.

It didn't take long before the criminal's entire body was engulfed. He burned for only seconds before he was utterly reduced to dust. His ashes blown away with the next gust of wind.

Vin felt that criminal's soul's agony and heard its woeful scream. Dazed by his own ruthlessness, he watched the fire-covered blade melt down to a liquid, thinking, 'There's something wrong with me, isn't it.'

"The same fate awaits those who stand against the Order of the Violet Flame." Yelled Maeve.

"Now, Kaelix, approach the Eternal and repent for your disrepect."

Vin's eyes squinted at the fire, his mind hazy as he pondered through the murky blackness, 'I'm going to kill him too, aren't I.'

‘I want to.’

Kaelix buffed up, his eyes red and intense, and his wings spread wide, "I will not!"

He turned to his fellow believers to rally them; however, no one joined him. He spat on the ground, roaring, "Cowards! You fear a false icon!"

The looming King dropped his robe, and his dark aura steeped from him. He weightlessly walked to Kaelix and stared him in the eyes. "You've been summoned."

"You too?! You'll fall for this trickery!?" The General uttered a guttural barbaric war cry, then went for his sword so fast Vin could hardly follow it with his eyes. Still, the King was far swifter; he grabbed Kaelix's face and effortlessly slammed him headfirst into the ground. That royal was overwhelming; it was nearly unfair how enormous the power gap between the King and everyone else was. It was no wonder Kaelix stopped fighting for the throne fairly but resorted to nasty tactics.

The King was worried he would lose his strongest General, so he threw Kaelix onto the ground before Vin and told him, "Ask for forgiveness if you want to live."

Trickles of blood fell down the militant man's face. He kneeled willingly, wiped the crimson beads from his face, and gently spoke, "Kane, old friend."

He paused, letting the familiarity of his words sink in before continuing. "You know as well as I do that there are battles only we can fight. No God, nor their child will battle for us."

His voice, though mild, carried an undercurrent of intensity. "Unhand me, and let me prove to you that this human is not the warrior of legends you all believe."

"It's easy to kill a man in chains, If he truly is what you say, then surely he can face me alone."

Kaelix slowly rose, the blood on his face drying but his eyes burning with conviction. He locked gaze with the King, a man he'd shared many battlefields with despite their differences. "If I fall here, then you'll have your Eternal to take my place."

Maeve tried to talk Kaelix down; she attempted to convince him that Vin had already proven himself, but the battle-hardened commander was not satisfied. He spat on the stone ground and insulted, "Enough with the diplomatic endeavors halfbreed wretch. We're Ravenours; we let our battles speak for us."

Kaelix had felt Vin's punch once before; the human's hand had fractured against his hard skull, so there was no doubt in his mind he could win. And after, he'd continue to wear down the Violet Order until he could take the throne for himself.

True to his values, the King was disinclined to deny a proper fight. A wide space was created for their battle, and Vin was given another sword. Kaelix squared up against him with his own, much larger blade. There was no official start or referee; the scarlet brute just sized up his much smaller opponent. His upper lip cringed in repugnance, showing his fangs, "You look just like him."

"Let me guess, an Elf that hurt you or someone you loved forever ago," Vin scoffed, shaking the sword to familiarize himself with the weight.

Kaelix rubbed a scar that stretched from the top of his shaved head to the bottom. The brute didn't confirm Vin's assumptions, but it was spot on, "I was hoping to meet them again in Earthia. Unfortunately you'll have to do."

The fight started when the militant man lunged forward and swung his blade with a wide arch at tremendous speeds that repelled the air. Vin yanked his own weapon to his front to guard himself, but the pressure behind the attack ripped the hilt from his hands, and the sword flew out of sight.

'I knew i’d never win in a fair fight,' Vin thought. He took a reactive stance, and upon another powerful swing, he darted to the left, ducked the following devastating attack, then bolted inward toward Kaelix. With such a long saber, the man couldn't swing it effectively while the human was within arm's length. Vin clasped his hands on the General's weapon's hilt and strained to hold on as tightly as he could.

The formidable brute growled, then put his power behind his next swing. He quickly overpowered Vin as he swung upward toward the sky. Vin promptly released his hands, dodged to the left of the blade, which dared to split him in half, then dashed back in and touched the sword's hilt.

After another second, the steel blade began to twist and wrap like clay, soon becoming a deformed metal blob that Kaelix dropped. Vin celebrated his success by inhaling sharply, summoning all his strength in his arm, then slamming his elbow into the General's throat. The man winced in ache, a momentary opening Vin used to stomp their knee joint and send them into a kneel. With The commander down, Vin seized the useless metal blob, then focused his mind on the image of a blade, using the Shape spell to recreate something he could use to kill.

He'd never properly wielded a sword before, but he was armed and his enemy wasn't. No matter how powerful that savage was, he could kill them.

An audacious growl escaped Kaelix as he fixed his ravenous gaze on the human. He clenched his fist, then roared, "Your sacred champion would use magic in a fight between men!?"

"Magic you've taught him!? Our great ancestors would be disgusted to see how we've devolved!"

The brute sprang forward with a straight right punch that Vin preemptively evaded based on trajectory; however, the attack stopped short, and the man's cruel, left brick of a fist slammed into his face. It blanketed his consciousness for just a moment. Vin regained his sight, but it was to find he was en route with the merciless stone ground. He fell without cushion, and his already stricken head smashed onto the land, and a splatter of his blood stroked the floor.

His eyes flickered wildly as he tried to stay awake. He'd see a glimpse of the cheering moon, then blackness, light, darkness, light, then darkness. This cycled a few times before the pale sphere in the night sky was covered with a blurry figure. Amongst the pain emanating throughout his head, he felt his shirt collar gripped, and then he was lifted slightly off the ground.

Vin mustered what he could to strike the barbarian, but their thick scales absorbed all the impact. Following his attempt, another brick pulverized into his lower lip, busting it open with a blazing pain and beginning an immediate swelling. Then, another slam sent him unconscious before he awoke to more public beating. He was too dazed to know how long it'd lasted, but he felt various bones in his body being broken with each heavy attack. His mind sprang in and out, and a blockage of blood and saliva made a home in his throat.

Everything was spinning, and nothing quite fit in the right place. Vin's airways were clogged with fluid, so he couldn't breathe. Everything hurt, and he could only think about how he didn't want to die again. He began gagging uncontrollably, and within a minute, he'd choked on his own blood, and his heart stopped.