Chapter 15

“Moving onto the next most common tapper, the tapper of the mind. Mind tappers have the same power source as a body tapper does. They pull nimora from their centralized vault and travel it through their channels. After this, however, they begin to differ. Mind tappers only have the ability to dispense their nimora from their bodies instead of releasing it within like their body tapping counterparts. This means that they are capable of shooting beams of fire or create shields of energy. Mind tapping is notorious for being known as a more customizable tapping, but some elite body tappers disagree. One downfall to mind tappers in comparison to body tappers is that they are not nearly as physically resilient as body tappers are. A body tapper of a reasonable strength could take a hammer to the head and feel very little, to where a mind tapper would have to be exceptionally stronger to have the same resistance.”

-Triforge lecture part four - Mind tapping

The nine councilmen and women of Verkarion sat together at a large round table within the capital building at the center of Pecuna. A series of lights calmly illuminated the dark wood table top littered with papers and cups. A young woman in a black dress walked about the room refilling the council members coffees and waters. “This meeting has been made to update one another on the military transactions that have been made thus far by other nations,” an elderly Councilwoman said shuffling through her paperwork. “Councilman Tiana, please inform us on the foreign relations.”

Cyran repositioned himself in his chair and lifted his papers off of the table. Skimming through them for a moment he then began, “Thank you Councilwoman Bernda. This week has been an active week for not only Tokanoba but for the Natoya Clan as well. Seeing the transactions in-depth show that they have been spending heavily on crops, metals, and show light spending in various medicines.”

As Cyran spoke the other council members jotted down on their respective papers. “The crops they have been purchasing have been primarily Tokanoba owned. Also the price to quantity ratio doesn't add up indicating that they have been taking their own people's crops by force. The metals, however, add up perfectly, mainly because they don't have many mines of their own. There is, however, one impediment I've been having over the span of keeping track of these records.”

The council members raised their heads from their writings to look at Cyran. “With the Jasmine Empire having a different isolated currency it's impossible to keep track of. There's no way of telling what they have, which I find concerning seeing what side they are on.”

“Yes that is very concerning, but on the same side of the coin it is near impossible to send agents there to gain information, it's practically suicide,” Keeman said, sitting to the right of Cyran.

“This is true,” Cyran replied.

After conversing amongst each other further in regards to foreign transactions, the meeting was adjourned. The council members rose from their seats and collected their belongings. “Want to get some coffee?” Cyran said turning his head to Keeman.

Keeman smirked at his request as he finished packing up his case. His balding head reflected the room's lights upon his shiny scalp. A ring of dark brown hair wrapped around the center of his head. His narrow brown eyes wrinkled at the corners as the smile overtook his face. He was shorter and wielded a large gut. “I would love to, but I have a wife and child that were both very disappointed that I had to leave them due to a surprise meeting.”

Cyran smiled as he made his way to the door, “Tell Vershada I said hello.”

“I will,” Keeman said as he left Cyran.

Keeman exited the building and began walking towards his home. His belly ached in hunger as he anticipated his meal that should be home waiting for him. He carried his case of papers in one hand and a small umbrella in the other. When the meeting came to be earlier that day it was raining. The walks, roads, and buildings were still wet from the showers.

Minutes later he arrived at his home. As he approached the front door, he dug out a set of keys from his pants pocket and unlocked his door. Entering his home, he immediately noticed the silence. No lights were on, no sound was existent, no one seemed to be home. “Vershada? Belan?” Keeman said, attempting to find his wife and son. He wandered through his house in confusion as he tried to think of where they could be. Did they go shopping? Keeman thought to himself. Perhaps they took a walk through the city.

“Vershada, where are you?”

Keeman came to a corner in the hallway to his house. As he made the corner he entered his living room. He gasped loudly as he saw a man standing in his home looking dead at him, it was Koden. “Not a noise councilmen or I'll turn your wife into a widow,” Koden said in an icy tone.

Keeman put his hands up as if he were being robbed. “What is it you want? Where is my family?”

“They are with me, do you want to see them again?”

“By the law! Yes!” Keeman exclaimed with tears forming in his eyes.

“Then listen closely to me, I will only speak about this once,” Koden said stepping forward. “In three days I will be increasing the unit price of crops in the north, I need you to invest all the novals you can scrounge into Verkarion owned crops in the north.”

“How far north?” Keeman asked.

“Tokanoba.”

“What will you do to increase prices?”

“Invest stocks into Verkarion owned crops in Tokanoba so when I increase the prices you can come out with profit.”

Keeman squinted his eyes and looked fairly confused, “What is the point of this?”

“You are going to take that profit and give it to me.”

“So if I do this I will get my family back?”

“You would have a better chance then than you do now.”

“Three days?”

“Yes, get your arrangements complete beforehand because if you do this wrong, your family is dead.”

Keeman began to cry hopelessly, “Yes it will be done, just please keep them safe!”

“I'll be seeing you, and if you say a word you know what will happen,” Koden said as he disappeared into Keeman’s home. Keeman now trembling in fear, leaned up against the wall to his living quarters and he slumped to the ground in a fit of tears.

Koden arrived back at the Tiana estate, where they had a place for him to stay within. He entered the home as if it were his and again felt impressed by the luxurious foyer that welcomed him. The marble rails on the staircase, the white polished stone floors, and the beautiful stained wooden accents showed a great deal of authority. He admired the various stones within the room and could tell that they were from Atomo mines just by looking at the grain patterns.

In the distance, he heard faint voices to what seemed to be coming from the rear of the house, perhaps in their living quarters. Koden walked over to the stairs and placed his hand on the start of the rail. He brushed his palm back and forth on the smooth marble in adoration before climbing the stairs. He retired to the room at the end of the hall that was once a spare bedroom prior to Koden’s arrival. He walked inside to find a large bed accessorized with a plethora of pillows and multiple layers of finely threaded blankets. The room was so well dressed that it reminded Koden of a master bedroom of someone's home. He walked over to his belongings next to the bed and rooted through his bag. He retrieved his white boar mask and held it up to his face. He admired its points, and it's evil looking features.

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He sat at the edge of his bed and continued to look at his mask. I hope I’m not doing something stupid, Koden thought to himself. Was that the right move? It's all I have. He sat the mask down on his nightstand and rose from his bed. He took a few steps over to the window and pulled back the curtain to look outside. He saw the bustle of Pecuna and how the citizens seem to never sleep. Koden grinned, as this is the lifestyle that he and his soldiers would frequently pick fun at.

Suddenly a knock on Koden’s door rang off making Koden turn towards the sound. Koden quickly approached the door and opened it, knowing not to be rude due to it not being his own home. Behind the door stood Milly looking up at Koden with a big smile. “Hello Koden, how are you liking your stay?” she said happily.

Koden returned the contagious smile, “It's more than I could ever ask for.”

“I'm glad to hear that,” Milly said briefly looking towards the floor. As she shifted her eyes back towards Koden, she caught a quick glimpse of the mask that lay on his nightstand. She thought of it to be nothing and continued, “I was about to go on a walk through the city, and I would like you to come with me.”

“Absolutely, let me grab my things,” Koden said as he turned away and walked over to his weapons. Instead of placing them on his person he sealed them within his belt buckle artifact.

Milly watched in confusion, “I don't think you'll be needing them on our walk.”

“You can't be too sure, Milly,” Koden remarked as he walked back over to her and closed the bedroom door behind him.

They began walking through the city while admiring the night time lights. Even though it was getting late, the people of Pecuna continued to shop and enjoy themselves. Milly walked abnormally close to Koden’s right side. He noticed this fact but was unfazed by it, he was more pleased to see how comfortable she was with him. Koden took the time to acknowledge her outfit, a large gray long sleeve shirt that cut low showing her white closely knitted fishnet undershirt. She wore a dark blue skirt accented with a wide slanted belt with a silver gold buckle. Covering her legs were form-fitting gray pants matching the color of her top that hugged her skin. She had her hair completely down with the exception of pinning her bangs out of her face with a large silver clip to the side of her head.

“This place doesn't stop moving does it?” Koden asked leaning over to Milly.

“No it really doesn't, it's quite annoying at times,” Milly said with a giggle.

“I'm sure it is.”

“How are you feeling?”

Koden glanced over at Milly knowing that she is asking him that solely because of the annihilation. He deeply respected her maternal instinct, but sincerely he felt fine. The only concern he had at the moment was the slight worry of Keeman alerting authorities about his families kidnapping. “I'm on top of the world, how are you?”

Koden’s comment put a smile on Milly’s face, “That's good to hear.”

“Do you do any sports?”

“No, I just do some basic training, why?”

“No reason,” Koden played off, nonchalantly trying to compliment her athletic physique. “What kind of training do you do?”

“A little weapons training here and there, but mostly tapping.”

“Really? You? A tapper?”

“Yes I'm a tapper, does this shock you?”

“A little.”

“Why? Because I'm a little girl?” Milly said looking up at Koden with a narrow smirk.

“Not so much that you're a little girl, but more like you're a Verkarion princess.”

Milly burst into laughter at Koden’s remark, “I haven't heard that one before, but yes it's true I am in fact a tapper.”

“Is your mother or father a tapper?”

“Yes actually, my mother is a renowned tapping performer, and just recently retired. My father isn’t, however, although he thought it was a wise idea for me if I ever want to take a high position in politics to take an interest in tapping.”

“Is politics your dream?”

“I wouldn't say it would be my dream, but I think I would be good at it.”

“I believe so too, you're a very caring person.”

“I'm just not as stern as I should be.”

“I believe that too.”

“Shut up!” Milly scolded as she elbowed Koden’s arm.

Koden laughed and replied, “Nothing is permanent, with a little work you could easily be a fearless leader.”

“Perhaps, maybe with your guidance, Captain,” Milly said gazing at Koden. “Koden…”

Koden looked at Milly after wiping the smirk off of his face, “Yes?”

“What did you and my father speak of when you went into his office?”

“Oh, that. I had an idea that he could help me with.”

“What was it?”

“Oh, I was seeing if it were possible to stop selling product to Tokanoba.”

“Did he agree?”

“No, apparently the council members made a decision to remain neutral during the war.”

“That's disgusting.”

“Yes, well novals are all.”

“True,” Milly replied, after a brief moment she continued. “What is your goal in all of this? Your land is destroyed, your family is…”

“Dead?” Koden said looking over to Milly.

Milly felt as if she had overreached her boundaries in the conversation, but Koden didn't seem to mind. Milly nodded and looked to Koden with innocent eyes.

“Firstly, those lands are mine, destroyed or not. Secondly, my family can and will be rebuilt. Tokanoba thought they had the strength to overcome me and they are sadly mistaken.”

Milly gulped as Koden began to talk more like a warrior, “But how are you going to overcome them?”

“As of now I can't. However I will once I get more resources.”

“What are your plans?”

“I'd like to relieve the north so I can claim my land back, so I will have to find out a way to force Tokanoba to retreat out of my territory.”

“That seems hard.”

“It surely will be, but it must be done.”

“Why can't you just move somewhere and start anew?”

“Milly, you'll come to find that in life people will take advantage of you if you let them.”

“But…”

“Take a loss for no one, including yourself.”

Milly looked to Koden as she finally understood what he meant. She admired his face as she began to blush. “I wish you could show your real eye color.”

“Why is that?”

“Because they are mesmerizing.”

Koden grinned from the compliment, “You'll see them soon enough.”

As their walk progressed, they came across what seemed to be a small restaurant. Milly looked over at the building and then turned towards Koden. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” she said enthusiastically.

Koden looked at Milly with a face of disgust, “I'm not much of a fan of mud water, do they have tea?”

Milly showed a face of ridiculousness, “Tea? What are you a mountain dweller? No, they don't have tea.”

“Then no I'm fine.”

After Koden purchased Milly a fresh cup of coffee, they continued their walk. The seemingly nonstop city bustle faded away into the night. In that time Milly and Koden talked diligently about their lives and other personal things. Koden was beginning to feel a bond with Milly, something he had never felt towards someone he wasn't related to.

They arrived back to Milly’s home, and they entered the hall that their bedrooms were attached to. They stopped in front of Milly’s bedroom and looked at each other. “Well Captain, it was a nice talk,” Milly said.

“Yes it was past due,” Koden said in agreement. “Well it's late, we need rest.”

“Goodnight Koden,” Milly said with a heartwarming smile.

Koden nodded his head with a smile as well, “Goodnight.” Koden then began to turn away to retire to his room.

“Koden,” Milly said suddenly.

Koden turned around to see what Milly wanted. As he rotated Milly’s face was next to Koden’s. His eyes widened as Milly pressed her lips against his. Koden didn't flinch, he welcomed it. In fact, he thought of doing the exact same thing earlier on their walk. The kiss continued for a few moments until Milly broke it off. Koden looked at Milly in a haze of what seemed to be disbelief. Milly smiling from ear to ear backed away to her bedroom door. “There are those mesmerizing eyes I've been waiting for,” She said as Koden’s eyes finally reverted back to their original color. Milly quickly entered her room and shut the door behind her. Koden stood in the hallway alone, still bearing a face of shock. He was convinced, this girl was for him.