Chapter 6

“The human body has a non physical structure in alignment with its neurological structure, called the nimoral channel structure. This structure is a series of channels that one could say resemble veins, that flow nimora to a certain body part designated by the user. All the channels that pertain to the nimoral structure trace back to the tapper’s vault near the center of their chest. The vault is the primary storage place for nimora to where the user ‘taps’ into it to redirect a portion of the energy to a predetermined part on the body to conduct an attack or any other tapping use.”

-Triforge lecture part two - Nimora channels

The carriage approached the city gates to the Atomo Clan’s capital. The gates were colossal and were made of a monumentally thick white stone. Painted across the stone was the Atomo symbol in red, drawn with what seemed to be a large brush. The gates were hinged to an equally tall wall bordering the entirety of the city. The wall was made of solid gray stone as if it was all one unit. Lining the top of the walls was a brick walking path connecting the evenly spaced towers that were built into the wall. Draped down the side of the outer wall was a series of black banners with the Atomo symbol in red. Next to the gate were two guards that were minuscule in comparison. They were wearing black pants and boots to match. Protecting their torso was a steel breastplate reflecting the sun's rays. The guards bore no weapons which is a typical indicator that they were tappers.

The guards noticed the carriage approaching the gates. Upon further analyzation they spotted the bundle of heads dangling from the rear of the carriage, instantly putting both of them on edge. Before the carriage could fully approach the gates one of the guards stepped forward and put his hand out motioning the cart to stop. “Halt!” the guard sternly ordered.

The carriage slowly came to a stop. The other guard cautiously walked towards the carriage. Ready for anything to happen he stepped up to the window on the left side of the cart. Peering in he saw Koden and Nivra impatiently looking at him. The guard’s body relaxed and sighed in relief as he recognized the brothers. “Are you going to let us in or not?” Koden said in annoyance.

“Right away sir,” The guard said as he motioned his hand to the other guard indicating it was safe to open the gate. The other guard walked over to a small booth attached to the wall next to the left door of the gate and pulled a lever actuating the gates. As the doors fully opened Nivra sped the carriage up. After passing through the gates, they shut silently behind them. They steered the carriage off to the side of the path and stepped out. A group of citizens surrounded them and congratulated them for their passing of the trial. To the right and left of the road stood giant stone buildings, most with balconies equipped with Atomo banners.

The crowd separated as a man and woman approached the brothers. The man was far taller than anyone else in the crowd. His body rippled with massive amounts of muscle, thus giving off a dominating aura. His arms were as big as an average man's thigh and had Atomo symbols tattooed on both of his upper arms. He had short blonde hair with a matching thick beard. Intertwined in the middle of his beard was a golden ring symbolizing him as being married. Underneath his beard was a gruesome hanging scar, showing his unforgiving past. His piercing blue eyes that matched the brothers showed deep disdain.

Next to the man was a petite woman with light blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Her hair flowed to the middle of her back. One thin braid held a golden ring to the side of her face also indicating that she is married. She showed a face of excitement as she walked up to the boys. “My boys are back in one piece!” she proclaimed hugging both of them.

“Etsuko don’t hug them, you might catch something,” the bearded man said to his wife.

“I can’t help it, I’m so glad you passed your trial. You’re both men now,” Etsuko said.

“What are the heads for?” The bearded man asked.

Koden looked at the bundle of heads and then back at his father. “They belong to a bandit group we killed, and we want their bounties.”

“Wow Kagu, they made out better than you did when you did your trial,” Etsuko said to her husband.

Kagu chuckled at his wife's fanciful comment, he stepped towards his sons and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Well even though it took much longer than I anticipated, I’m proud of you guys. You’re officially men of the Atomo Clan, and I know you will live up to the clan’s name,” Kagu said.

“Thank you father,” Koden said while his brother remained silent.

“And Koden, go get your mutt. He’s been whining for the past month looking for you,” Kagu said.

“Yeah, I bet he was,” Koden said.

“Let’s go out and celebrate the success, it’ll be fun,” Etsuko suggested to her sons.

“That sounds great and all, but I only have a few hours until these heads start stinking,” Koden said untying the bundle of heads from the carriage.

“Maybe later,” Etsuko said.

“Yeah that sounds good, but for now I’m heading out,” Koden said walking away.

“Hey, did you get all the boar pelt you need?” Nivra asked before Koden left.

Koden turned around to his brother, “Yeah, I got all I wanted. Do what you want with the rest.”

Nivra also walked away, and the crowd dispersed. Koden’s mind raced as he thought of all the things he wanted to do. He wanted to collect the bounties for the heads, but he couldn't go on for much longer without his companion by his side. So he began walking towards the Atomo family estates where he, his parents, and his brother all have properties in a gated compound near the center of the capital.

Along the way, citizens of the Atomo Clan stopped and congratulated Koden on the passing of his trial. He felt the overwhelming enthusiasm the people were showing towards his trial was a bit over the top. He has done plenty of missions and assignments that have been far more meaningful and successful than this, and he was sure that the people congratulating him knew about them. Perhaps it was a tradition to talk up the trial of manhood to make it seem more important than it is Koden thought to himself. It was probably because most young adults Koden’s age haven't done nearly as much as he has.

The people continued to congratulate him, every time he responded with a quick and unfeeling “Thanks,” without taking his eyes off of the path in front of him.

He had finally arrived at the gates to the Atomo Estates. A guard in similar garb to the ones outside of the city walls stood at the gates. He saw Koden approach and activated the lever to open the doors. “Welcome back Captain,” the guard humbly said bowing his head.

Koden walked by and nodded his head at the guard as he entered the estate grounds. The path he was on lead to a multitude of different large properties with their own respective piece of land. He walked by a few houses before he turned towards a house and started walking up the long driveway. Koden analyzed the area to see if anything has changed at his home. Everything looked the same as it was when he left it which left Koden feeling reassured. The tall three-story home was made of thick gray brick and had a massive balcony overlooking the front yard that was supported by massive dark stained wooden beams that looked to be whole shaven trees. He stepped onto the porch underneath the balcony and sat the bundle of heads on the grass. He approached the tall wooden front doors to his home and placed his hand on one of the shiny golden door knobs. A second later he heard the lock mechanisms in the doors click as it sensed Koden’s touch. He turned the knob to the door and opened it. Koden walked in and saw his beautiful home, untouched. The floors were made of smooth gray and tan stone varying in sizes. The ceilings were much taller than an average building. To the right was a massive fireplace and comfortable leather furniture facing each other. To the left was a large stone brick staircase along the wall with a thick railing going alongside the stairs. Looking ahead to the rear of the building Koden saw his fully equipped kitchen and dining room, accessorized with black marble countertops and a smooth stone dining table fitted with eight comfortable looking leather chairs that matched the furniture by the fireplace.

He walked in further and looked around as if he was searching for something. “Rem, come here!” Koden hollered.

Quickly after he heard a scuffle from below him in his basement, he heard a large ruckus coming up the stairs to the floor he was on. After the noise made it to his floor a giant white fox came around the corner of the kitchen and darted at Koden in excitement. Koden opened his arms in preparation for the embrace, but it didn't help much on the account that the fox was a dozen times his size. The massive beast pushed Koden to the ground and began excitingly licking and rubbing his face on him with his tail wagging back and forth so rapidly that his entire back half was swaying side to side. To further express Rem’s happiness he let out short, clipped yips and moans. “I missed you, buddy, you're a good boy,” Koden said with a smile on his face as he returned the affection by scratching Rem’s chest.

Rem’s leg started to shake in euphoria as the scratching continued. “Oh yeah, that's the good stuff,” Koden said with a friendly voice. “Alright, get off me.”

Rem quickly stepped up off of Koden, allowing him to stand back up. “Want to go into the Merchant District with me?” Koden asked his pet.

Rem quickly barked in joy. “Alright give me a second and then we will leave,” Koden said walking up the wide staircase.

At the top of the stairs, there was a deep hallway with several doors on each side going into different rooms. He walked to the end of the hall and opened the door on his right. Through the door was his bedroom, furnished with a massive bed with a frame made of solid wood beams. Atop the large mattress was a thick blood-red blanket neatly made to perfection. At the foot of the bed was a large mattress sized pillow with “Rem,” embroidered into the side of it facing the door. To the left, there was a row of windows and a set of doors going out to a second balcony attached to the rear of the house. To the right was a small collection of books on a tall shelf and a large collection of armor and weaponry. A large bathroom was connected to the rear of the room equipped with a large hot spring bath tub. Koden walked into his room with a smile. It's been weeks if not months since he has been in an actual bed or even taken a proper bath. He was very excited to get back home after he left the bounty office to cook a good meal and relax. He walked over to his armory collection and opened a glass case on a table. Within the case was a pair of arm length axes. The axes were completely made of steel with the exception of the leather wrapping for the handles. The axe heads were very sharp and were hooked outward on both sides of the blade, to the rear of the head of the axe was a four-inch thorn-like pike, capable of easily puncturing steel armor. These were the weapons that Koden had used for most of his fights and military actions. He has seen many things and has killed many people with the axes. Koden grabbed a sheath for the axes off the table next to the case that held both of them simultaneously. It had two trays to hold the axe heads and had a spring retention mechanized clip at the top to secure the handles. The sheath held the axes at an angle crossing each other for easier drawing. On the back part of the sheath were two shoulder straps and a waist strap to secure the sheath to the wielders back. He slipped off the custom sheath and fastened it to his body. Koden picked the axes up from the case and snapped each one of them into place on the sheath.

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He walked over to his nightstand next to the bed and opened the top drawer. Sitting on top of the pile of things that were in that drawer was a thin chain connected at the ends to make a head width circle. The chain went through dozens of various coins all with holes punched through the center of them. Koden picked the chain up and unfastened the chain. Once unfastened he fed one end through his tattered belt and then refastened it again, allowing the coins to hang by his side.

He left his room and shut the door behind him. As the door shut the locking mechanism within actuated, indicating that it was now locked. Koden walked back down the stairs to the main floor to find Rem eagerly waiting to go on their trip. Koden couldn't help but smile at his companions mannerisms. “Come on buddy, let's go,” Koden said in an upbeat tone as he swung both of the front doors open to give Rem enough room to exit the building.

They both walked outside followed by Koden resecuring the doors. Only moments later Koden turned around to find his fox sniffing at the bundle of heads. “Hey leave those alone, some of those are worth some novals,” he sternly said to Rem.

Rem stepped away from the heads with his ears tilted back as he knows that he has done wrong. Koden smiled yet again as he picked the bundle up off of the grass and walked over to Rem’s side. Rem kindly laid down next to him so Koden could climb on his back. Koden gracefully mounted himself on Rem. At that time Rem stood up carefully not to disrupt Koden’s position. “Alright Rem, let's go to the Market District,” Koden told Rem.

Rem began speedily running through the town headed for the bounty office. Citizens of the town were surprisingly unalarmed by the sight of the giant fox running through their streets due to them being so used to the occurrence. Koden and Rem are known to be inseparable, they do almost everything together. Koden being the antisocial person he is, chooses to spend time with Rem more than anyone. He does not have many people in his life that he is particularly fond of, his father is part of the reason why he feels this way.

Koden and Rem arrive at the market district in quick timing due to Rem being so incredibly fast. The streets were filled with roadside shops and street carts, all buying and selling products and services. The walkways were packed with customers and delivery men hauling goods back and forth. A smooth scent of various cooked foods filled the air acting as an indirect advertisement for the multiple restaurants that do business in the area.

The Market District was located on the shore of the Crystal Ocean, allowing goods to be traded back and for with the island of the Elano Clan to the north of the Atomo Clan territory. Bordering the excessively clear ocean was an enormous dock, harboring hundreds of boats large or small. Some personal fishing boats, large cargo ships, and even warships. Koden noticed his father's boat that he stored at the dock. It was a fairly large boat made of red stained wood trimmed with thick pieces of spiraled steel. The boat was accessorized with gold trim and embedded with a collection of gems. The bow of the boat met into a sharp point that spiraled into a rounded sphere at the tip. The sail of the warship was tan with the Atomo symbol written in a copious amount of dried blood that was now brown from aging. That was the warship Koden’s father stole after he escaped from being a prisoner of war when he was younger.

Koden and Rem arrived at the bounty office. He stepped off of Rem and patted him on the side. “I'll be back, stay out of trouble.”

Koden walked into the plain office and approached a man sitting behind a counter. “Hey Koden welcome back,” the man said.

“Yeah. Yeah, what are you going to congratulate me too?” Koden replied.

“Nah, doesn't seem like you much care,” the man said.

Koden plopped the heads on his counter and looked at him. “How much are these cuck’s worth?”

“By the law son, where did you get time during your trial to kill this many people?” the man exclaimed.

“I didn't kill them, they killed themselves when they tried to rob me,” Koden bluntly said, keeping a cold expression.

“Oh well, ok. Let me see here,” the man said observing the heads.

After minutes of the man looking at the heads and observing the different bounty papers in his file, he wrote down a few numbers on a piece of paper. “Alright, looks like you come to twelve thousand forty-eight novals,” the man said to Koden after he calculated the bounties.

“Sounds good, just transfer the money to my account,” Koden said.

“Will do, I still have you on file so it will be on your account by the end of the day,” the man informed.

“Perfect, so you have a disposal thing for these heads right?” Koden asked.

“No… Why do you ask that every time you come in here?” the man said.

“It's just weird that you deal with bounties but don't deal with disposing of the bounties once we bring them in for you,” Koden said firing back. “Seems like bad business to me.”

“Don't get mad at me because you have to do extra work,” the man said condescendingly.

“Shit old man, my piss works harder than you,” Koden remarked.

“Well you can take your piss and your heads and get out of my store because I'm not getting rid of them for you,” the man said smiling.

“They just let anyone work here nowadays,” Koden grumbled as he grabbed the bundle of heads and walked towards the door.

“Til next time Koden,” the man said waving Koden goodbye.

Koden exited the office and looked over at Rem patiently waiting for him. Koden smiled at his companion and tossed the heads to him. “Eat up buddy,” Koden said.

Rem quickly devoured the heads and cleaned up the blood with precision. Koden enthusiastically watched as Rem did the deed. Seconds later Rem was finished eating the heads, and he walked over to Koden with a satisfied expression. Koden placed his hand on Rem's side, his white fur was thin yet layered for inclimate weather. Rem laid down to let Koden up on his back. “Alright Rem, let's stop at the butcher so we can make dinner,” Koden said patting Rem’s head.

Rem began walking through the town, navigating around the groups of people. Rem was quite familiar with the area due to him and Koden regularly going to town to get supplies and food. Traditionally Koden cooks a large meal at least once a week for himself and Rem.

After a few turns down a handful of roads, Koden and Rem stopped in front of the local butcher shop to purchase some steaks for him to cook and a large slab of ribs to give to Rem as a treat. After buying the freshly cut meats, Koden remounted Rem, and they took off for home.

Several hours later the night came, and Koden laid in his bed after eating a large meal and taking a long refreshing hot bath. Rem laid asleep next to him in his respective bed at the foot of Koden’s. Koden had been awaiting this moment for over a month now, cold baths and unseasoned food can only be tolerated for so long.

Thoughts raced through his head about how happy he was to get the trial out of the way and about his plans for what he has planned next for his life. He looked around his bedroom and recollected what all he has been missing while he was gone. He looked over to his sac that he brought along with him on the trial and saw the rolled up sheet of white boar hide attached to the top of the bag via a fine rope. When he claimed a portion of the pelt he had no ideas of what exactly he was going to do with it, all he knew is that he wanted some of it. He debated all of the things he could use the pelt for but none of them were good enough for him. After a few more minutes of weighing his options, he decided what he wanted to do with the skin. He leaned over to his nightstand to the side of his bed and pulled out a notepad and an ink pen. He pressed the pen to the paper and began sketching what looked to be a mask. After a handful of various sketches and designs he retrieved thread, scissors, and a needle from another drawer from his nightstand and began snipping away at the pelt, piecing together what he has drawn.

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A massive explosion fizzled away in a cloud of thick white haze. In the distance Koden stood with his hand out, facing the location of the explosion. Wrapped fully around his head was a mask made of the white boar’s pelt. The white mask consisted of two narrow eye holes, two holes where the nose is, and three vertical slits cut over the mouth. Running down the center of the top of the mask was a thicket of medium length boar hair still connected to the skin. To the sides of the mask was jagged insertions underneath the pelt, giving it an aggressive look. “That was better,” he said to himself.

He was only wearing a pair of gray pants and his black boots. A thin film of sweat covered his body due to the strenuous training he has been enduring all day. His physique was quite built and toned, spotted here and there with scars and scuffs. In the center of his chest was a small narrow pentagon with intricate writing within the borders of the shape. The rest of his clothes along with his axes were laying off to the side next to Rem curled up into a ball sleeping.

It has been almost two weeks since Koden, and his brother have returned from their trial. It took quite some time to recalibrate Koden’s life back to the way it was months ago. But now he is back on track and doing what he does to take up most of his free time, train.

The sun began setting in the horizon, and the shade began taking over the environment. Koden has been deep in the woods training since sun rise, he was growing tired. He walked over to Rem and nudged him with the back of his hand. As Rem jumped up, Koden grabbed his shirt and put it back on. After reattaching his axes to his back he climbed onto Rem. Before he could give his fox a command to take him home, he saw in the distance a flock of birds. They weren't normal birds, they were much different than any bird Koden has ever seen. The birds looked to be merely silhouettes, but instead of them being pitch black they were made of what seemed to be the night sky. They had what looked to be stars and faint pink swirls coursing through their bodies. Suddenly the entire flock jumped into the air and began flying away. Koden now astounded by what he's seeing kept an eye on the odd looking birds. He watched them gracefully fly into the darkening sky. As they reached further out the birds began changing their color to match the color of the sunset sky. They kept changing their color until they completely vanished into the sky. With no trace of the birds, Koden blinked to assure himself that what he saw was in fact real. After sitting for a moment recollecting what he just saw he looked down at Rem concerningly looking back at Koden, curious about why he hasn't told him to get moving yet. Koden smiled and rubbed his companions back, “Let's get home buddy.”

They arrived at Koden’s estate and walked into the home. Rem went straight to his bed and went back to sleep due to being exhausted from training with Koden all day. Koden drowsily walked upstairs as well and cleaned himself off. He sat his mask on his nightstand and changed into sleeping clothes. It was later than normal for him to be up this late but he hasn't been able to train much until recently, almost like he missed it. He laid down on his bed and quickly dozed off into a slumber.

Hours later Koden and Rem were awoken by an extremely loud explosion that echoed through the city. Koden instantly awoke and jumped from his bed to see what had happened. He knew this was a serious issue because these sounds never occur in the city, let alone at night. Shortly after the explosion, a fate ringing of horrified screams filled the streets in the distance. Koden ran over to his window and looked outside. In the far distance over by the west, there was a large plume of smoke rising into the air. Bouncing of the smoke was flickers of fire. Koden quickly ran over to his axes and threw them on his back. “Come on Rem we have to see what's going on,” Koden said.

Rem swiftly ran out of the bedroom and darted downstairs. Koden followed Rem, but before he left the bedroom, he looked back at his nightstand to see his newly made mask. For some reason, he felt the urge to go back and get it, and so he did. He ran over and grabbed the mask and ran downstairs to ride Rem to the area. Koden knew that this was serious, there are only a few things that this could be. Koden couldn't help but think of the worst, the Atomo Clan being under attack.