Villin was knocked to the ground, hardly being able to breathe for a full minute before he finally managed to get up. His ears were bleeding and he couldn’t hear anything but compared to the pain he had experienced before, this wasn’t a big deal to him right now.
He got up while staggering and some of the soldiers around him did the same. Looking at their locations, they were knocked back several meters and a few soldiers that fell in a bad position died because of it. But, despite this tragedy, none of the soldiers who got up were looking at their fallen comrades.
Instead, they looked forwards, towards the massive crater that was once a section of the city. Two sections of severed tentacles were lying to the side dead while the main body of the Ottoia was completely gone. The battlefield that was filled with corpses and blood just a minute before was now devoid of any life.
Some of the soldiers looked at Villin with disguised fear in their eyes. Even though they didn’t think he gave the command they did know that he was the key piece. He enchanted the objects that were used and his them using his own techniques. From this day onwards, some of the soldiers that now stood just beside him would grow fearful of runemasters, knowing what they may truly be capable of.
Villin didn’t notice the stares from the soldiers though, he looked at the crater with a cold expression. This had been much more powerful than he had expected it to be. Thinking about it, he only worked on this for less than a month, together with a group of enchanters. In just a month he accidentally made a bomb capable of killing nearly anyone or anything if they were caught by surprise.
At this moment, a line came into his head, and seeing the destruction, it was the only thing he could say, “I am become death.”
This famous line that once existed on earth, now became the phrase associated with one of the most shocking days in Atlantian history. It would be engraved in countless sculptures and drawn in numerous paintings. As for Villin, he would generally be depicted as a black shadow whose face you couldn’t quite see. For he was death.
When Villin got out of his trance-like state, he noticed a large number of ‘fresh’ troops had arrived on the eastern front. Benders were getting the dome back under control while the soldiers looked around, stunned by the damage done and having no enemy to fight.
When Villin walked down into the crater, he was soon met by the general. Even this man, one of the four strongest people in the city, looked at Villin with a hint of fear in his eyes.
“Runemaster Villin, we heard your call for aid earlier but weren’t able to assist. The North, West, and South were all attacked by a Kraken making the situation harder to handle. Your spears helped defeat them though so once ours was gone, the leader sent me here with a section of the army.”
Villin nodded upon hearing the explanation and responded with a few simple sentences, “I’m tired and I ran out of magic power, I’ll be going to sleep now.”
He didn’t even wait for the general to respond as he went back into the city and went into one of the nearby houses sleeping in their bed. Nobody was home anyways since every adult was fighting and the kids were in the innermost circle.
When Villin woke up, nine hours had passed, nobody had come to wake him in this duration of time.
When Villin exited the building he found two Atlantian soldiers standing on either side of the door, he recognized him as some of the soldiers that fought on the eastern front. As soon as they saw Villin, beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads and they both kneeled in conjunction.
Seeing this, Villin frowned, he knew this and that about the Atlantian customs at this point in time.
“Aren’t you only supposed to kneel before your leaders?”
Hearing his question, one of the soldiers lowered his head further before responding, “Yes sir, but the Atlantian law also states that as an Atlantian you are allowed to pick your leader yourself.”
Hearing the response, Villin frowned slightly, “So you two intend to follow me then?”
The Atlantian guard quickly shook his head, his nervousness was clear to see, “No sir, it’s not us two. Many of the survivors that fought on the eastern front have decided to pledge their allegiance to you. They are currently resting as we have been taking turns in keeping watch.”
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Villin’s eyebrows rose slightly as he turned to the second guard, “Aren’t you afraid of me? Why would you choose to follow me?”
The second guard was also sweating bullets as he responded, “Sir, we heard from the commander that you were the one giving out commands during the battle. You showed us your wit, and then, you showed us your strength.”
Unconvinced Villin pushed, “You didn’t answer my question, aren’t you afraid of me?”
Realizing that he had to respond the young guard swallowed before responding, “In all honestly, I am sir. I am afraid of your strength. I am afraid of your potential.”
Seeing that the boy had finished with his response Villin felt slightly confused for a couple of moments, but then he understood.
These Atlantians saw the source of the fear, great power. And who wouldn’t want to be on the side of great power? This together with Villin’s status, the realization he created each of the plans, his unexplainable ability to morph earth, his young age, and the fact he properly managed a group of enchanters to create hundreds of amazing weapons, was enough to gain the loyalty of these troops.
It was as perplexing as it was normal.
Villin chose not to think of it as he turned to the first, slightly more confident guard again, “How’s the situation currently?”
The guard understood the question and responded, “The battles on each of the fronts rounded up a few hours ago. It seems that the beast king spent a lot of time to get the Ottoia and the Kraken, because of this the small armies are much rares, and regular large-sized creatures were almost non-existent.”
Hearing the battle finished, Villin nodded before starting to head towards the palace. The two guards who were unsure whether Villin accepted their allegiance or not, remained at the building Villin had been staying at.
As he moved towards the palace, Villin was still thinking about the words of the two soldiers and the reasoning behind it. He decided to see what the Atlantian leaders had to say about it before doing anything.
He didn’t bother to go get the commander as he entered the palace by himself, the palace guards didn’t hesitate to let him pass.
Soon, he was in the waiting room, he didn’t go to the throneroom immediately, after all, he was in the leaders’ city, and going to the palace on his own could already be seen as disrespectful.
He only had to wait for a few minutes before he got guided to the throne room, and he soon stood before the three Atlantian leaders.
Unlike the Atlantians, the leaders seemed composed and unfearful. Villin waited for them to speak.
“Villin Grey, student of The Academy and distinguished runemaster. You have done this city a great service, for that, I will be the first to give you my thanks.” the leftmost leader said as he looked at Villin with a neutral expression.
After a few moments of silence, the rightmost leader spoke next, “Villin Grey, student of The Academy and distinguished runemaster. You increased the overall defenses of the city greatly, taught some of our enchanters new runes and enchantments, defended the eastern front, and killed the legendary Ottoia. For this, I give you my thanks.”
Before Villin could react, the centermost leader spoke, “Villin Grey, student of The Academy and distinguished runemaster. You have shown us your intellect when you created a way for our own enchanters to create enchanted spearguns. You showed us your fortitude when you managed to get out of a coma long before the doctors expected it, and you have shown us your strength when you defeated the Ottoia. For that, I give you my sincerest thanks.”
It quickly became obvious to Villin that these leaders only feigned their expressions, their words made it clear that they most likely were fearful of him, in the spur of the moment he decided to ask a question. “I did also destroy a section of the city, isn’t that a problem?”
Villin barely finished his sentence when the leftmost leader responded, “It needed remodeling anyway.”
Villin was surprised by the quick response but didn’t continue asking anything as he waited for the leaders to speak.
After noticing Villin didn’t intend to say anything else, the centermost leader spoke. “For your great achievements, you will obviously be rewarded. Firstly, I give you the Medal of the Savior. It is a one-of-a-kind medal that is created of a meteorite so hard we couldn’t dent it no matter how hard we tried. When you wear this, you will be treated as our equal while you are here.”
When the leader spoke of this, a soldier came up and opened a box. Inside was a flat round-ish piece of meteorite. It was bound to a cloth section he could use to wear it. Once he did, the leaders each stepped off of their thrones and approached him at equal height. It seemed they were serious that the wearer would have equal standing with the leaders.
The rightmost leader was the last to speak, “Since, with the medallion, you have an identity similar to an Atlantian leader, you will be allowed to take those that wish to follow you if and when you wish to take them.”
Villin nodded as he understood the situation. These leaders knew how close the fight had been to the east despite Villin’s help. They wanted to tie Villin together with them so that, when the beast king would attack again in five years, he would come to help him with whatever knowledge and weapons he would have at that point in time.
“Very well, I shall do so then. Thank you for your generosity.” Villin responded looking at the leaders in general before focusing on the leftmost one, “So then, would you be free to teach me how to bend?”