Alim silently made his way up and down mountain paths until he finally reached the meeting point.

“It’s quiet.”

“That is the point,” A voice said.

Alim looked around, his hair standing on ends. He could not tell where the voice was. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Alim turned around, ready for a fight, but upon seeing the person, “Lord,” he said, kneeling.

“Stand up, Alim.” The voice said.

A slightly larger man than Alim, with most of his features blurred by the shadows on his face, now stood beside Alim.

“Fifth Lord, I have completed the mission assigned to me,” Alim said, handing the bundle with the infant to the figure.

“I know you have completed that part, but you still need to do the handoff to fully complete the mission.” The figure said

“This may seem rude, but why are you here then, Lord,” Alim asked.

The figure looked at Alim silently, “We were asked to involve ourselves in something that we do not normally do. So, I am only here to ensure there are no mishaps.”

“Oh!” Alim exclaimed.

“I will be close by watching. Just complete the handoff like you were planning.”

“Yes!”

Time passed slowly as Alim waited; his nerves were taut as he could feel the Fifth Lord’s eyes staring at him. After hours had passed, a small group could be seen walking toward him. Alim sighed in relief; it was going to be over soon.

“Hello, friend!” One of the figures said as they took off the hood of their robes from their head, showing a familiar face.

“He looks very similar to the Deep Village Chief. He must also be from the Quake Race,” Alim thought.

“Hello, may I ask if you are lost?” Alim asked.

“No,” The leader of the group said with a smile, “We heard the view of the shadows at dusk here is beautiful.”

Alim gave a slight nod. That was one of the variations of the secret confirmations, although it was the most common. It seemed that the Lords did not hold this group in great regard for them to give this code, but it had nothing to do with Alim.

“Indeed they are. I come quite often to see them.” Alim smiled back, saying

“Then you must know quite a bit about the area,” The leader said

“Oh no, not really. Children tend to play here, so I usually keep my distance, only looking after they have left,” Alim said, glancing at where he had hidden the infant, giving the leader a subtle sign.

The leader laughed, “I understand. Children can be quite the handful,”

“Indeed, well friends, I will be off. I have somewhere I need to be before nightfall.”

Alim turned to leave only to hear the leader clear his throat, “Do you not have any questions for us, friend,”

“No,” Alim said as he walked off, leaving the group with strange looks on their faces.

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After Alim walked a bit away, the figure of the Fifth Lord appeared beside him again, “You have done well, Alim.”

“Thank you, Lord,” Alim said with a slight bow.

The Fifth Lord looked at Alim silently before turning to leave, “Go back and rest for some time. We, Lords, will prepare your next mission.”

“Lord, do you mind if I ask something,” Alim blurted

The Fifth Lord turned back, waving his hand, “Please.”

Alim, with a downcast face and tone, asked, “How many more missions must I complete to be an adult?”

The Fifth Lord was silent for a moment before he asked, “What do you mean?”

“All others in my generation are already recognized as adults and…” Alim spoke, but he did not want to finish what he had said, afraid of what the Lords would do.

The Fifth Lord stared at Alim as he fidgeted, “I see. I thought you already knew, but it seems you did not.”

“Know what?”

“Do you know how new Shadow Lords are chosen?” The Fifth Lord asked with a rising tone.

“No, Lord.”

“Children are selected at a young age to be trained in the path of a Shadow Lord. This has to be agreed upon unanimously between all of the Shadow Lords, however many there are at the time. After this, the child will be under the care of the Lords, and their life will be planned out by the Lords to ensure that the child will be able to take over one of the vacant positions.”

“Oh… I had no clue…”

The Lord gave a shrug, “It only makes sense most of the Lord candidates do not talk about it, but it was never meant to be a secret.”

“I Understand! I will not fail the Seven Lords and their expectations of me.”

“We know, but I have a question for you. I intended to ask later, but now seems like a good time. How much did you know about this mission? As I told you, this was a mission we would typically not accept, but we did in the end.”

“All I know was that the infant was the youngest of the Quake King. Outside of that, I did not bother as it had nothing to do with the mission.”

The Fifth Lord shook his head in disappointment, “In normal cases, you would be right, but in this instance, you could not be more wrong; not only that, but it was quite sloppy on your part.”

“What do you mean, Lord,” Alim asked, confused by what the Lord had said.

Alim thought about every mission he had been on; there was not a long list, so it was easy to recall them. All needed information from target to location and so on had been given to him. The only thing he needed to do was to figure out how to complete the mission. Then why was this mission so different, and why and how was it sloppy?

The Fifth Lord stared at the young Alim silently, letting the man contemplate for himself, but upon seeing the lack of a response, he opened his mouth, “The God of Quake is staying with his children now.” The Fifth Lord said.

He then waited for Alim to react to the information. Seeing the man’s eyes grow round, he continued, “So the God of Quake devised a small game for his entertainment. In this game, all of the Quake King’s children were sent out with hundreds of thousands of supporters; whether they be normal Seedlings or war generals, whoever they were assigned to was their temporary king.”

The Fifth Lord paused, letting the information sink into the young man before him, “As you probably know or do not, the Quake King has hundreds of children ranging from only a few months of age to thousands of years old. And those supporters were mostly the ones who support that child to become the next king.”

“Wait, does that mean we just helped another child become the next king!” Alim screamed and realized the ramifications of their actions, as the Shadow Race was supposed to remain neutral in anything that had to do with the ascension of power in any race outside of their own.

“I know what you are thinking, and this is a peculiar case, although it is highly complex. Just know that we, Lords, thought it through very much before we agreed to help, and this is not the only child we are doing this for and to. And remember, in the end, this is just a game for the entertainment of the God of Quake, and that is the only reason that we and some other races can get involved with something like this.”

“But…” Alim shouted, his head hazy as he tried to think of what might happen because of his involvement in this mess. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him out of his thoughts.

“It is good that you are like this,” The Fifth Lord said, “It shows that we did not make the wrong decision as you put the race before yourself. If only there were more like you, then the world would be much better.”

“Thank you, Lord, but…”

“Enough with worrying about this. Leave it to us, Lords, to handle. Just grow, and when the time comes to become a Lord, then you can worry about these complicated things. Until then, we will protect you and the others, so forget this mission and focus on the next.”

“Yes, Lord, I will not fail your expectations!” Alim screamed as he bowed.