“These definitely weren’t knights.” Peeta said as he inspected one of the bodies beneath him.

“I agree. Let’s go ask the people in Marf.” Raymond said as he hopped onto his horse. He then noticed a pale Crimwal sitting on the carriage driver seat.

“Are you alright?” Raymond asked as Peeta made his way back to his horse.

“Uh- I’m getting used to this,” Crimwal said as more grey hair appeared on his head.

“Alright,” Raymond said as they took off for Marf.

They arrived at the town, but instead of lively farmers and cheerful trade, Raymond saw empty stalls and only a handful of people were out on the streets of Marf.

“Mmm…” Raymond droned. He could hear the sounds of yelling in the distance and a strong earthy smell filled the air.

Raymond looked around, but couldn’t see or feel any dark beings. What he did notice was a man in the distance sitting in front of the largest building in Marf.

He rode up to the man who was dressed in rather clean looking leather armour. His dark brown hair and fair features were barely visible as the sun sank into the horizon.

“You there, Are you a knight of the order of Eirini? Because if you are, you’re a terrible one. My group and I ran into what looked like bandits just up the road and I’m pretty sure that it’s your job to deal with them.” Raymond said as he stopped his horse.

The carriage stopped just behind Raymond and Peeta approached him soon after.

“Where is he?” The man asked as he stood.

Raymond looked closely at the man and saw that his left arm dangled slightly.

“Olif? Is that you?” Crimwal asked from behind.

“That is my name, but I have no business with you, driver. My business is with Raymond the betrayer. Now, I’ll only ask this once more. Where is Crimwal Sorvae?” The man asked.

“That’s me!” Crimwal said as he hopped out of the driver’s seat.

The man’s eyes narrowed before widening.

“Oh! It is you. Sorry, I couldn’t see you clearly from here.” The man said.

“No, it’s ok. Why are you out here?” Crimwal asked.

“Wait a minute! That’s Crimwal?” A voice asked.

Raymond looked at one of the nearby buildings and saw a face in one of the building's windows.

The face disappeared before a man exited the building.

Revealing a young man with sharp features and black hair.

“Old man! You’re Raymond the betrayer?” The man asked.

“Yes, but who are you again?” Raymond asked lazily.

“It’s Alis! We met in Llendor.” Alis whined.

“I jest, but I don’t understand why you or he are here,” Raymond asked as Peeta got off of his horse.

Another person emerged from the building Alis came from. He was slightly bigger but his features were strikingly similar to Alis’s.

“So, you were eminence Raymond the whole time. Mmm…” The young man droned to himself as a rather beautiful woman followed him out of the building.

Raymond couldn’t see any hostility in their eyes, but he kept his guard up regardless.

Raymond inspected the two young knights in front of him and noticed something peculiar as they stood near the building in front of Raymond.

“What happened to your armours?” Raymond asked.

“We’re no longer knights,” Alis said frankly.

“I see.” Raymond acknowledged as cool air breezed by in the moonlit town centre.

Silence befell the empty town of Marf as Raymond looked at the people in front of him.

“So, what now?” He asked as he squeezed his fists.

Estella was far too close for him to go all out, so he’d need to be careful.

“Well, Crimwal looks fine, but I doubt he’ll be safe for much longer considering your status and all,” Alis said. His eyes focused and his words frank.

“Oh? You hear that Crimwal? They do have a point. The order knows I’m alive now. Who knows what kind of weapons they’ll use to get me. Or worse, what they’ll do to you for me to cooperate should things go wrong. So, what will you do?” Raymond asked.

Crimwal looked up in thought before facing Olif.

“How’s my mom?” He asked.

“Worried,” The woman, also known as Reeca said, her soft and low words reached Crimwal’s heart.

Crimwal didn’t want Kalnae to worry about him, but it seems like she cared for him far more than he knew.

“Ok, how about this. You all come with us on our journey to Carimae. Then when all is done, we go back to Ianndor.” Crimwal suggested.

Alis then shook his head.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The more time you spend with Raymond, the higher the chances of you getting hurt.” Alis said as particles of darkness started floating towards him.

Raymond summoned Reu before placing it on his shoulder.

“And what if I don’t want to come?” Crimwal asked.

Alis raised his sword.

“Then we’ll have to make you,” Alis said as his body started convulsing and twisting. His skin turned grey, revealing a myriad of tattoos in the process.

“Uh, do we really need to fight?” Olif asked before Raymond’s entire body was covered in glorious gunmetal grey armour.

Raymond then launched himself towards Alis, thrust his knee towards the young man’s chest and hit him with an incredible amount of force. This sent Alis flying into the air as he wheezed.

Raymond jumped towards Alis and raised his sword.

“You’re trying to kill me?” Alis gasped as he fell to the ground.

“I thought you saw me as a threat. Don’t threats usually pose some sort of danger. If I pull any of my punches, then your perception of me would have been wrong.” Raymond said as he swung downwards.

Alis hit the ground and rolled away as quickly as he could.

“So you’re not even gonna try and prove me wrong?” Alis asked as he created two balls of darkness in each of his hands.

His sword would be no use in a fight against Raymond, so he let it go as he fell.

“No,” Raymond said as he looked around.

Marf looked like a ghost town, which didn’t make sense as it was the food production hub of Crafia. Many of the buildings were in a less than stable state and no one could be seen walking its dusty roads.

Raymond dashed towards the still recovering Alis and tried punching him in the face. Alis ducked, but was greeted by Raymond’s foot which hit him in the chest, shattering several ribs and sending Alis flying backwards.

“Hey, do you know where everyone is?” Raymond asked as he swung Reu at Alis, who desperately crawled backwards as he continuously shot black fireballs at Raymond.

Unfortunately for Alis, they were ineffective. Yes, they were hitting their target, but Raymond didn’t even flinch as they burnt themselves out.

“Why are you asking me? We arrived here a few hours ago.” Alis said as blood trickled down his nose.

“Oh? Do you think this area has a bandit problem?” Raymond asked as he swung Reu diagonally, narrowly missing Alis’s neck.

“Mmm… if Kalos finds out bandits are terrorizing the people of Marf, he’ll undoubtedly want to help.” Raymond said with a sigh before hearing an explosion behind him.

Raymond snuck a glance and saw a plume of smoke coming from where the carriage was.

Alis took this opportunity and lashed out at Raymond, unleashing a flurry of punches in the process, but Raymond’s body had returned to its peak form.

His muscles ached for combat and his bones begged for any form of stress.

Raymond dodged all of Alis’s incoming punches and punched him square in the face, breaking Alis’s nose.

“Mmm...” Raymond droned as he felt his heart rate increase slightly.

“Not good,” Raymond said before grabbing Alis. He then returned to where others were.

There he saw an unconscious Olif along with Reeca and Trevenor, who looked relatively unharmed.

“What happened here?” Raymond asked as he threw Alis on the ground.

“I should be asking you that? What happened to that one?” Peeta asked as Trevenor ran to his brother's side.

“Alis! What did you do to my brother?” Trevenor asked as he glared at Raymond.

“I- umm… it was an accident?” Raymond said while scratching his head.

“I thought we were all just going to play around. I didn’t expect you to knock him out.” Peeta said as Reeca’s face grew pale.

“So, this is Raymond the betrayer…” She gasped.

Raymond waved his hands frantically.

“Hey, if you weren’t serious about fighting me, then why bother to fight me in the first place. I’m the bloody eminence for Pete’s sake.” He grumbled as Kalos popped his head out of the carriage.

“What happened?” Kalos asked.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Your dad beat the shit out of that one,” Peeta said as he pointed at the unconscious Alis who Raymond had dropped.

“Oh? Mmm… dad, I think you should apologize.” Kalos suggested.

Raymond looked at the slowly waking Alis and narrowed his brilliant blue eyes.

“Sorry for punching you,” Raymond said with a monotone voice.

“It’s fine,” Alis said with a grunt as Trevenor patched him up.

Raymond noticed that the woman standing with the Aventor brothers had a peculiar essence.

He was about to ask her about it but Kalos saw this and placed his hand on Raymond’s shoulder.

“Hey, dad. Maybe we should give them some space.” Kalos suggested before he, Raymond, Peeta and Crimwal huddled together near the carriage.

“So Crimwal, your mother is clearly worried about you. You could go back home and who knows, we may meet again in the future.” Raymond suggested. His heart rate was still uncomfortably high.

Raymond squeezed his fists.

He could feel it.

The call to a war that had long ended.

“Dad?” Kalos called out, snapping Raymond out of his trance.

“Yes?” Raymond asked.

“Crimwal said that he wants to go all the way to Carimae,” Kalos said.

“Yes. No point stopping now.” Crimwal said.

“Alright, but what do we do with those people. Your mother sent them to get you and you don’t want to go. It’d be pretty easy to kill them.” Peeta said.

“We’re not killing anyone,” Kalos said.

Peeta shrugged in response.

“Ok, so what will we do? We can’t exactly storm off.” He said before Kalos broke away from the group.

He approached Alis’s group and crossed his arms.

“Listen. Crimwal really wants to come with us so…” Kalos said.

“Fine. He can do whatever he wants, but we’ll be tailing you and if anything happens, we grab Crimwal and we return to Ianndor.” Alis said as he bit his teeth.

Kalos nodded before returning to Raymond and the others.

“They said they won’t try to force Crimwal to return with them, but they will follow us to Carimae and if anything bad happens, they’ll snatch him and run away.” Kalos loosely reported.

“Oh? Good. Now, onto why we came here in the first place. Everyone split up. Look for anyone willing to trade.” Raymond said as he walked to the south.

“And where are you going?” Peeta asked.

“Just going to do some sightseeing. Yes.” Raymond said before everyone went their separate ways.

Eevana stayed with Estella and Crimwal investigated the large building that was in front of the carriage.

Raymond made his way toward the southern exit of Marf and completely absorbed all of his power.

He could see some people working in the fields ahead of him so he casually approached him.

The group of people noticed him but continued working.

“Hey there. My name is Ueel and I’d like to ask a few questions.” Raymond greeted.

One of the farmers looked at Raymond with tired eyes.

“What do you want?” The farmer asked. The farmer could tell from Raymond general appearance that he didn’t mean trouble, but he kept his guard up regardless.

“I was wondering if Marf is experiencing trouble with bandits?” Raymond asked.

This caught the attention of the other farmers as they looked up to meet Raymond’s eyes.

“Well… you could say we have a bandit problem, but the knights around here haven’t done anything about it. Which is strange because they’ve been demanding payments.” The farmer said.

“Mmm…” Raymond droned.

“Pray tell, are you an mercenary of sorts?” The farmer asked.

“No, I’m just a simple farmer, like you. I am curious though. Do you know where the bandits might be situated?” Raymond asked as he walked away.

“A few kilometres north from here. There’s a makeshift settlement there.” The farmer said.

“What are you going to do?” The farmer asked as particles of darkness started gathering around Raymond.

“Not sure. But I get the feeling that Marf’s bandit problem is about to disappear.” Raymond said as his body was covered in glorious grey armour.

He then shot up into the air at an astonishing speed.

He flew across the night sky with a fluid grace. He could feel the cool air blow past his skin which helped him cool off, but it wasn’t enough.

He needed to calm down as he could feel something rising deep within him.

Something that had been buried for so long.

Raymond then spotted the settlement the farmers had mentioned. It was pretty big, but Raymond didn’t care.

He wasn’t sure if it was the bandit camp, so he’d have to make sure before he did anything irreversible.

Raymond landed right in the centre of the camp. His nose was instantly assaulted by the smell of piss and sweat.

He looked around and saw filthy tents. He saw horses that looked so sickly, they’d rather be dead and-

“Oi! Who are you and what are you doing ‘ere?” A dirty looking man asked. His yellow eyes and gruesome teeth repulsed Raymond in every way, so Raymond stepped back.

“This land is under the ownership of the Order of Eirini. Since you’ve chosen to trespass, I take it you’re ready to pay with your life.” The man said before another approached Raymond.

“Try not to rough him up too much. That armour looks far too beautiful to waste.” The other said before numerous other men and women emerged from the various tents that surrounded Raymond.

“Armour? What are you talking about? I wouldn’t mind getting a taste of what’s underneath. He looks… delicious, so don’t kill him.” A dishevelled looking woman said as drool ran down her mouth.

“Are you the ones who’ve been terrorizing Marf?” Raymond asked as he absorbed even more of his power.

“Kill him!” One of the men said before time slowed to a crawl.

Raymond looked around. He could see about twenty bandits and could sense about four others seemingly sleeping in some of the nearby tents.

Raymond then summoned Reu and absorbed all of its energy, turning it into a giant scalpel that had zero magic in it. This was thanks to the nature of Kalosýni’s magic.

Raymond then took a deep breath before swinging his sword towards the legs of the nearest bandit, separating the bandit from his feet in an instant.

Raymond checked and saw that Reu's edge was clean. His heart rate was even faster than before.

This effect was amplified by the fact that at the speed Raymond was moving, no sound could be heard.

Time returned to normal and the other bandits saw their comrade fall to the ground before a massive shockwave tore the skies apart.

“Aaahhhh!” The footless bandit screamed as his comrades frantically rushed in towards Raymond.

Raymond looked at the bandit to his left and kicked him in the crotch. A loud crunchy noise came from his lower half as his pelvis was shattered.

Raymond looked behind him and saw that two bandits were violently swinging their weapons at him with no precision or skill whatsoever, so he grabbed the arm of the one to his right and forcefully shoved that hand into the mouth of the one on the left.

Unfortunately for the bandit to Raymond’s left, his jaw was ripped off as Raymond dragged his comrades’ arm down his throat and into his chest cavity.

Raymond then kicked the two of them away before seeing another bandit to his right.

This bandit held an axe and was fairly large, but Raymond didn’t care.

The bandit swung his axe downwards.

Raymond stood completely still as the axe hit his shoulder and armour in the process. The bandit's axe bounced off Raymond’s armour leaving the bandit confused as several other bandits attacked Raymond to no avail.

The bandit tried again and this time, he aimed for Raymond’s neck, which he stuck but the metal axe did absolutely no damage.

Terror and panic struck the bandit as he looked into Raymond’s blue eyes.

Raymond sighed before dashing towards the large bandit, grabbing him in the process.

The two then flew into the air as Raymond continued to stare into the bandit’s eyes.

The bandit frantically kicked and punched Raymond as they got higher and higher.

They then lost all of their momenta and began their descent.

The bandit continued to claw and punch Raymond before noticing him high above the ground they were.

“Oh my- hey! Let me go!” The bandit screamed and Raymond granted his request as the bandit's comrades yelled unintelligible things from the ground.

The bandit then realised that he would soon be hitting the ground hard so he turned to Raymond with fear in his eyes.

“You! Help me! Save me!” The bandit screamed as Raymond playfully swung Reu.

“Please! Catch me!” The bandit screamed before Raymond straightened himself.

The bandit’s eyes sparkled as Raymond approached, but then Raymond swung Reu downward, separating the man’s legs from his torso and before the bandit could even scream his torso and legs hit the ground.

Well… some of his body hit the ground while the rest splattered onto some of his comrades.

“Dammit, what is this guy?” One of the bandits asked as they slowly backed away from Raymond who was still relatively clean.

“I think we should run!” Another bandit suggested.

“Good idea.” The bandit from before said as he and his comrades broke off into wild sprints.

They all went in different directions, under the assumption that Raymond wouldn’t be able to catch and kill all of them.

Raymond sighed again as his heart rate remained high. He then slowly rose above the ground and violently threw Reu at two bandits who had chosen to idiotically run together.

Reu then hit them with its side, which instead of cleanly cutting their necks off, crushed their skulls in.

Raymond then looked around.

Not counting the four sleeping bandits, there were about seven runaways.

Raymond rushed in towards runaway number seven and landed right in front of her.

She bravely raised her sword as mud and dirt showered her.

Raymond looked into her eyes and saw the slightest traces of bravery and so he decided to create a fosblade.

The bandit charged in towards Raymond as she swung her sword downward, but much to her horror, her hands flew past Raymond as they clung to her sword.

She collapsed and screamed as pain overcame her.

Raymond looked around as he walked towards her.

She frantically crawled away as her consciousness faded.

Raymond then stuck his fosblade down her forehead and watched as tears rolled down her face.

Raymond then dashed towards runaway number six, who looked rather young.

Raymond sent his knee forward as he flew and hit her in the back of the head, sending his knee crushing through her skull.

Raymond then noticed that runaways five, four and three were together and so he dashed towards Reu, picked it up and dashed towards the runways who were hiding in a small barn.

Raymond landed gently near the barn's door and opened it only to meet the sharp end of many swords.

“What do you want?” Runaway number five asked.

“You- you don’t look like an ordinary knight.” Number three asked.

“You must be one of those rogue knights who work for money.” Number five said.

Raymond noticed that number four was slowly inching himself towards the door, but Raymond raised Reu and placed it on his neck, stopping the bandit in his tracks.

“Rogue knights?” Raymond asked in a moment of curiosity.

“Yes, I heard that the order mistreats your kind and that you eventually leave to look for more lucrative work.” Bandit number five said.

Raymond sighed as he realized that both the kingdom and order were in a pretty rough shape.

Raymond’s curiosity then evaporated as he glared at number four.

“We’ll give you whatever you want, just don’t kill us.” Number five asked as Raymond gently applied pressure on number fours neck. Blood began to trickle down Reu's edge as number fours face twisted.

Bandit number four quickly stepped away from the death sword and tried swinging his sword in a moment of terror.

Raymond caught number fours swinging arm and bent it the wrong way before head-butting him.

This broke number fours nose and disfigured his already unattractive face, but it wasn’t enough to kill him, so Raymond placed Reu above the bandit’s eye before shoving it into his head.

“Oh, my goodness!” Number three exclaimed as the top half of number fours head slid down Reu.

Raymond then noticed that number five had long since run out of the small barn.

Raymond looked at number three as he frantically waved his hands. Tears rolled down his face and his body trembled.

Raymond grabbed number three by the hair and dragged him outside where they both saw number five running in the distance.

Raymond dashed upwards at an extremely high speed, this, unfortunately, resulted in Raymond peeling off some of number three’s skin and hair.

Raymond quickly grabbed number three by the leg as he screamed in pain.

They eventually caught up to number five and Raymond swung number three straight into number five, causing him to fall over and hit the ground.

Raymond gently floated above number five and began beating him with number three until they both stopped moving.

Raymond’s armour was now covered in blood and several organs, but they would disappear along with his armour if he willed it. No, what concerned Raymond was the smell of death which he now carried.

Raymond sighed again before realizing that numbers one and two had gotten rather far. So, he leaned back and threw Reu towards the life force he recognized as number two.

He then created a spear of light before throwing it towards the life force he assumed was number one.

One of the life forces quickly vanished and Raymond made his way towards Reu.

He found it lodged with the back of a man lying on the ground.

“Please… help me.” The man begged. Grass and dirt had gotten into his mouth and although his voice was weak, Raymond could clearly hear his pleas.

Raymond knelt over the man, revealing his face to him.

In that moment, just before death took him, the man was overcome by terror as he looked into Raymond’s bright blue eyes.

Raymond yanked Reu out of the man’s body before slowly ascending.

He looked at Eslaf Retnec in the distance. He could feel many reasonably powerful life forces within its walls, but he also trembled at the thought of upsetting Kalos. If Kalos found out that he had purposefully attacked a city of innocents…

Raymond shook the thought away before he detected another life force. This one was much larger and far more powerful than those of the humans within the city with a golden heart.

Raymond flew towards it and found nothing but grassland and a few animals.

Raymond’s eyes narrowed, for he could see something buried deep beneath the soil.

[Wake up, you damned beast!]

Raymond yelled in a forgotten tongue. His voice echoed throughout the vast open landscape.

The ground began to tremble and split as something rose from the deep.

A gigantic creature then emerged from the earth’s surface.

Well… calling it large would be an understatement as it towered over Raymond. It had dark green scaly skin, enormous tusks, large brown eyes and hooves the size of large houses. Its eyes looked incredibly wise and its gaze was unjudging.

Raymond’s heart then kicked into overdrive as he dropped to the ground.

[Why do you attack me, bright one?]

The creature asked before Raymond dashed towards one of its legs. He swung Reu as hard as he could and struck the creatures scaly skin.

Reu barely managed to cut even a tiny bit of its skin. This brought a smile to Raymond’s face.

If Kalosýni’s sword was having a hard time cutting through the giant’s skin, then what could? Raymond wondered.

[I attack you not out of hatred. I just need to release a some pent up energy.]

Raymond said as he continuously sealed away his power.

[Oh? Need I ask why?]

The creature asked. Its voice somehow made its way into Raymond’s mind, which made sense because the creature’s mouth wasn’t moving.

[You look like you can take a hit or two. I hope.]

Raymond said with a pained smile.

[Oh? I understand, but would it not be better to resolve your issue internally?]

The creature asked, but Raymond’s eyes were glowing their brightest.

[Hehe, I’m trying.]

Raymond said before swinging Reu diagonally, hitting the creature’s leg again, but this time, blood was spilt.

Raymond saw the tiny cut he had made and saw that the creature was trying to stomp him with its other leg and so he got out of the way.

[Your kind is still as slow as ever.]

Raymond said as the moon hid behind the clouds.

Almost as though it was far too scared to shed light on what Raymond was about to do.