A young man stood in a dark cellar, holding a small candle for light. This was Belissar, a man well past his second decade, dressed in the well-worn tunic and pants of any other frontier peasant. He was surrounded by barrels. He opened the top of one barrel and scooped out some of the liquid contents into a jar. Then he closed the barrel and walked towards the rickety stairs leading out of the cellar. He extinguished the candle and then climbed back up.
He made his way across his apiary, where wooden boxes stood in rows. Bees buzzed all around, climbing in and out of holes in the boxes. Belissar smiled and watched them work for a second, before making his way to his house.
Once inside, Belissar poured a bit of the golden liquid from the jar and took a drink. He held it in his mouth, tilting his head before he swallowed and smacked his lips.
“Hm, a bit too many juniper berries, I think. I’ll have to tone it down for the next batch.”
He heaved a sigh as he put away the jar. That was the last jar of the batch, so it would take some time before the next attempt. Apparently, the local Tower Lord’s son was coming to visit their little village, and every household was required to donate tribute for the welcome banquet. Losing entire barrels of mead for free would not help him survive the winter, so he’d have to stick to tried and true recipes he knew he could sell for the foreseeable future.
And, of course, the date for the visit had come and gone a week ago, and the Tower Lord’s son was nowhere to be seen. And, of course, the village chief hadn’t returned any of the tribute, just in case the noble scion decided to show up at his own convenience. Some of the villagers had raised eyebrows at that, but Belissar just kept his head down. It wouldn’t help for him to complain; it never did. So, he just sighed and shook his head.
He stretched and walked over to the window, where he had a few flowers growing in pots. A bee was hovering around the pots and flew to him when he walked over. He held out a finger, the bee obliged and landed on it. Belissar smiled as he noted the bee’s lost antenna.
“Working hard, huh? Great job today.”
The bee buzzed and spun around. Belissar had saved a bee with a lost antenna once, freeing her from a spider’s web. He knew it was silly, but he liked to imagine it was the same bee that visited him, and that they were friends, even. Well, he knew the bees landed on him because he had coaxed them by dipping his finger in honey, but it didn’t hurt anyone to pretend.
It was then that Belissar heard shouting and screams.
Belissar frowned and grabbed his spear by the door. Their village was at the very edge of the local Tower’s influence. Attacks by the Hunger were rare, but not unheard of. Belissar peaked his head out the window in the direction of the scream…
And he gasped.
The village was on fire.
Armored soldiers marched through the town, right over the bodies of the village chief and those who had gathered with him. Hooded mages were setting fire to the buildings one by one, while the soldiers cut down the villagers trying to flee. The soldiers each bore the crest of the local Tower Lord on their armor, and a young man in plate armor and a cape rode atop a horse at the center of the formation.
Belissar turned and ran out the back door. He had no idea why the local Tower Lord would do such a thing, and he was of no mind to ponder it. He ran past his beehives, towards the tree line at the edge of his home.
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Running off into the Hunger was not exactly a great idea, but Belissar was barely thinking at all at this point. All he wanted was to get as far away as possible.
And he felt a sharp pain in his back and stumbled to the ground. An arrow lodged itself in his back. He fell into some overgrown fields leading to the forest.
Tears ran down his face as he fell into the dirt and grit his teeth, trying not to scream from the pain. Maybe, if he was lucky, they’d think he was dead. That is…if the wound wasn’t bad enough to kill him as is.
But…as he lay there…slowly he began to relax. As he thought…he wondered why he was trying so hard. Bad break after bad break and for what? There was no one at home waiting for him, no one would even realize he was gone. The entire village was gone too, and no one beyond even knew he existed. Nothing would change if he lived, and nothing would change if he died. So how was one better than the other? What was the point of fighting his fate?
He felt his heart calm even as he began to feel cold. He went ahead and closed his eyes.
Perhaps this was for the best.
Only a slight murmur in his heart caused him to hesitate, to wonder if this was truly the end. But that, too, passed as all around him grew dim.
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It was at that moment that a little bee landed on his back. A bee with an antenna missing…and a slight glow around its body, too faint to be noticed in the afternoon sun. It buzzed and danced around Belissar’s back, but the young man stirred no longer. The bee buzzed again, and again the man lay still.
The bee’s began dancing faster and faster, buzzing its wings more and more frantically. As it did, the glow around it began to pulse, growing brighter each time. Eventually, a small bit of the glow moved from it into Belissar’s back…
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Ruckanos’s face scrunched up as the smell of smoke and blood filled his nose. He was not fond of such things. Normally, he resented his lord father for forcing them upon him. But well…today was different.
The augurs had spoken. It was time for a new Tower to rise, and it was time for a new Tower Lord to rise with it. The gaze of the gods turned towards his father’s lands, and so the day Ruckanos had long awaited had arrived. He would become the master of the new Tower, the chosen of the gods. Riches, power, and long life would be his, as well as grand armies loyal only to him, and he would finally be free from the authority of his father. He was not doomed to languish as generations of his siblings had before him. He was the one who would ascend to greatness.
So great was his joy that he threw a grand banquet that lasted for a week straight before his lord father intervened. His father…had not been pleased with the delay. So displeased, in fact, that he had ordered Ruckanos to come straight to the site himself. Normally, the Tower Guard would have cleared the way, ensuring the area was free from all riff-raff and obstructions. It would not do for an unworthy lesser to interfere with the ritual, after all. The gods themselves would be…displeased at such a turn of events. But Ruckanos now lacked the time to wait, and so he was here during the cleanup, waiting for his men to finish their dirty work so that the ritual could commence.
Just then, an old man to his side began to frown. This was one of the augurs, dressed in fine robes and carrying all sorts of tomes and crystals on his person.
“My Lord, the mana stirs, and the gods are on the move. We must hurry if we are to prepare the bindings.”
Ruckanos scowled.
“Captain, what is taking so long? Do not tell me that my own guard cannot handle some dirty peasants?”
His captain bowed his head.
“My apologies, My Lord. We should be finished up shortly. My men will be sweeping the perimeter, but I believe you should be able to proceed shortly.”
Ruckanos sighed.
“You had better. This is the moment of my ascension, Captain. Nothing shall be permitted to go wrong…”
It was then that the augur gasped. Before Ruckanos could react to the interruption, a bright column of light shot into the sky from behind one of the houses.
“We are too late, it has already begun!”
Ruckanos dug his heels into his horse.
“Move, you fools! Whatever’s happening there, stop it!”
Ruckanos and his guard rushed towards the house in question. His horse galloped around back. Ruckanos arrived just in time to see a dirty peasant lying on the ground with an arrow in his back…and surrounded by the column of light.
Then there was a crack of thunder, and a bright flash of light that blinded the Tower Lord to be.
When it faded and his eyes could see again, the peasant was gone, and the column of light with him. The augur turned pale.
“We…were too late, My Lord. The Tower has been born…and the bindings were not prepared.”
Ruckanos narrowed his eyes.
“What are you saying?”
The augur gulped.
“If the bindings are not in place for the Tower’s birth…then we cannot adjust its course. We…have failed, for the first time in my career. For the first time since my grandfather’s grandfather…”
Ruckanos’s eyes widened as he processed those statements.
“I-It was only moments ago, surely there is something you can do!”
The augur slowly shook his head.
“The Tower has been born and moved beyond my sight. I know not where it has gone…and I can no longer bind it to you.”
Ruckanos turned pale. The Tower…was gone? It…was not bound to him, and they didn’t know where it went?
But that meant…that he would not ascend today. And his lord father…would be most displeased…