The shift in attitude of the goblin was quite startling after the Halas left, it began to elongate slowly rising from its hunched position into an upright position. Walking towards us apprehension started to rise. What the hell was he going to do. We had been luckily with the Halas for whatever reason that monster had to leave, leaving us with an unknown entity. The stench of the destruction seemed to disappear, a lazy wave of magic began emanating from the small figure. The force wasn't equal to what the Halas had shown, but the almost soothing presence of the magic was disconcerting. I began to feel myself empathise with this goblin. It wasn't his fault that he had been complicit in the battle that had occured, we should do all we can to help him bring about the glory of our town once again. That thinking seemed to echo in my mind again and again, until I caught sight of Ben's parents beyond the shaman. He should be a focus of my hatred began to rise up in me as the cloud of fake justice lifted from me. With a cry I was painfully forced to my feet by a feat of magic, looking around I saw several unawakened kids forced to their feet, Ben being among them, but many more of my friends were still kneeling down, a happy and content look front and centre on their faces. All the surviving adults shared that look.

"These be the young'uns that will awaken combat Talents, be sure to educate them properly."

With that command he strode over to one of the walls of rubble which began to form around him, with that he as well disappeared, leaving us with several keenly sadistic looking men coming over to us. Taking us each by the arm, they began to drag our unmoving form over to another sector of the circle. With a twist of his hands, one of the men brought an earthen wall into being to block us from being seen by our townspeople, who had still yet to recover from being charmed.

"Now you twats, we will be going over what will happen tomorrow and why you will take it and be good little kids"

The same man who brought up the wall walked up and down looking each and every one of us in the eye. Some were defiant like me and Ben, some caved almost immediately. Looking down at the ground, or away from the manic eyes in anyway possible. Satisfied with at least most of the cohort being subdued.

"Now you mudstains, tomorrow while you awaken, you will be taking an oath to serve Warlord Briru for the next ten years of your life, that's all ten years, then you will be free, with a great amount of experience, your full life ahead of you, what's not to like."

That was a terrible choice, I could feel that in my bones, no matter how powerful this warlord might be, there is no way he would be able to stand against the concentrated forces of the empire. It was the biggest powerhouse and had the longest legacy of any power on the continent for a reason. The training practices put in place by the ancients had consistently churned out the most threatening and intelligent force in the world. It is said someone who has gone through that training can fight someone up to two tiers above them. That was also my dream, awaken my true power with that training after being bloodied in the army. Anyone who has ever worked for a foreign army is immediately disavowed for that training no matter what he gives back to the empire. everything else but that training can be had in the empire, no matter where you are from as long as you work hard and are intelligent, but that is a no go zone. So there was no way I would be able to take that oath and fight on the behalf of this Warlord.

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"What if we refuse?"

While I was busy thinking Ben had already taken action, working for the people who murdered your parents wouldn't be in anyone's best interests, especially if they are a rogue element you hadn't even heard of before today, antagonizing the most powerful entity on the planet. The leader of the group didn't take too that question too well. Moving faster than any of us could follow he Immediately backhanded Ben onto the ground, he spit on him for good measure before turning to the rest of us, quicker than any of us could blink.

"Let that be a lesson, You do not have a choice, you will perform your service for Warlord Briru, then you will either have freedom or death, there is no other choice"

I had to escape somehow, there was no way I could work for these people, I could be awakened somewhere else, it would be difficult to do in somewhere that wasn't where you lived, but I was confident I could, I had proof on my body that I was a son of the Empire. It could still be done. Most likely as I escape relief troops from the Empire will already be arriving to rescue us. When they see I managed to escape and was making my way to inform the Ruling body, they would maybe reward me with an attuned awakening instead of just a regular Vald Stone not even awakening a skill, just the potential for one.

I was broken out of my musings by a rotten smell in my nose and a grimacing appearance in front of my eyes.

"were you listening to me maggot?"

I was startled, it had always been an issue that I would ignore the outside world while thinking, It had never been a life or death Issue before however.

"Disobedience is never permitted in the Warlords Hordes, remember this"

With a blur of movement everything went black.