Its been another 300 billions years and many have come to Geirlanth to escape the horrors of wars in the west and many have even worse tales of what The Warrior who has now become known as Keireens Hand of Death, no one seems to know his identity except those that work directly under him. Those people are fiercely loyal to the Hand of Death and have become killing machines in their own right across the wars in the west the two main ones being Onikerm, he has mild mind control enough to make someone kill someone they love but his true method of 'fun' is torture he loves torture and his insanity grants him an affinity for making up good torture devices. The other feared one under the hand of death is Ratankira he has the main magical power to control the minds of things around him even if the people have to follow his orders he will force them to do worse acts even forcing them to kill themselves to distracts enemies while he orders others to take out the enemy his level off mind control is leagues better than onikerms but above that he is a master of stealth as are his top soldiers, they are so good with stealth they have managed to sneak into castles filled with soldiers and come out with the place looking like some kind of demon tore the place to shreds, blood splashed across the walls, bodies adorning the battlements and the insides of men and women alike strewn across the roofs beams, only monsters would do such things. These are the tales given by those people who have fled to Geirlanth and managed to get there through the valley or the final words of those who were discovered by patrols. The day starts like many others Reinlas is heading down to the city to aid his people with whatever he can be it building or just talking to them to alleviate fears of the wars in the west he will do so, a guard walks over.
"My king, I bring news from the valley" The guard says
"What news do you bring my friend?" Reinlas says
"Some soldiers bearing the symbol of Keireen have entered the valley!" The guard shouts alarmed
"What!?" Reinlas shouts in shock
He and the soldier teleports to the valley walls and Reinlas can see the soldiers bearing Keireens symbol the two look young for Immortalai probably in their hundreds or thousands and one is male and the other is female, they look up to the wall.
"State your purpose here soldiers!" Reinlas shouts to them
"Of coarse king Reinlas we were ordered to find some runaway soldiers who had reportedly been seen running into the valley after sustaining injuries from animals" One soldier says
"My king we rescued those soldiers earlier, they were near dead and according to them it wasnt because of animals it was from Keireens other soldiers and we scanned them as we healed them it was no claw that cut them it was a blade" One valley guard says
Reinlas looks to the two Keireen soldiers and sees the blood on their blades though they don't know he can see it.
"You are soldiers but given the expressions on your face and the lack of tiredness you do not seem to have seen combat this day, where did you come from?" Reinlas asks
"We were just given the order to find these men after having been woken" The male soldier says
"Is that so? Did you encounter any resistance in the valley on your way here?" Reinlas asks
"No nothing we've heard poison claws but none attacked us" The same soldier says
Reinlas uses his magic to identify the kind of blood on the soldiers blade and it is immortalai.
"If this is true then explain the blood on your blades" Reinlas says
"Well maybe one did attack us and we forgot about it" The female soldier says
"Stop lying I have already identified it as immortalai blood and the soldiers you wished to find have told us how they truly got their injuries" Reinlas says
"King Reinlas forgive us for saying this but we only do this because of the ancient laws of which you helped make" The male soldier says as he throws a fireball at Reinlas and the fireball is absorbed
"If what you say is true then it is a burden I shall carry all my days but you have now tried to attack us, ARCHERS" Reinlas shouts and the archers knock their arrows prepared to fire
The soldiers throw down their blades and surrender, guards head over but the archers keep their arrows trained on the Keireen soldiers.
"We won't fight, we are outnumbered and not suicidal" One of the Keireen soldiers say
"Good, take them to the dungeons till more can be learned and they can be dealt with" Reinlas says as his men chain the Keireen soldiers and teleport to the dungeons with them.
"Take me to the soldiers they were after" Reinlas says to one of the valley guards
"Of coarse my king" The guard says and he teleports them both to a healers house
Reinlas walks in and sees the soldiers with a mage by their side using healing magic on them, though they have been here for hours they are still needing constant healing. The soldiers look at Reinlas.
"King Reinlas? What are you doing here?" One says with a pained voice
"I came to see how you both are doing after hearing about whats happened but I can see from your condition that you are still not doing well" Reinlas says as he begins using healing magic on them as well to aid with the healing process
"There were people chasing us, have they been-"
"They have been taken to the dungeons till I have more information and a proper way to deal with them" Reinlas says cutting the soldier off
"Thank the first" The soldier says
"Tell me why did you come here?" Reinlas asks
"We came here as this is one of the few kingdoms keireen is not at war with so legally we could come here but keireen he hates people trying to leave, even if we're within out legal right he will sooner want those trying to leave dead than to allow them to leave and join another kingdom as he sees it as that kingdom getting another body to fight against him with when war comes" The soldier says
"I see, rest up and get healed dont worry about going back to keireens kingdom even if war comes here by then the first laws are satiated anyway" Reinlas says as he uses sleep magic on them
Reinlas walks out of the house perplexed as to how the boy he once saw in Yaiteras arms became the evil heartless bastard he is today but the only answer he can fathom in his head is the warrior, his hand of death must have secretly made him this way under the nose of Yaitera and Itanrora, he knows it sounds improbable but its the only thing in his head that makes sense at this point in time. He lets out a sigh.
"I should get back" Reinlas says to himself as he teleports back to Reinholm castle
Reinlas walks to the garden as it is calming and a good place to reflect on the days events especially as its grown over the years even having its own forest but as he goes into the garden he sees Linra petting a wolf.
"This is a strange sight" Reinlas says jokingly
"Hello my love, I will agree with you there not but ten minutes ago I thought this wolf would try to kill me but seems he just wants somewhere to stay as does his pack and the garden seemed like a good place to them" Linra says when she looks at him
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"Let me guess you used shifting to understand him" Reinlas says
"Indeed, turning into a wolf among other animals has made things much easier than anticipated" Linra says
"Well it has certainly helped others and also makes children with magic hard to control at times from all I've seen" Reinlas says jokingly making linra laugh a little
"Indeed but there is something interesting about this wolf, hes the packs leader but more than that he has magic which accordingly to him is exceedingly rare for wolves" Linra says
Reinlas uses small bits of shifting magic to speak to and understand the pack leader.
"You can use magic?" Reinlas asks the pack leader
"Yes I can king reinlas it is something that wolves rarely get but it is more often than not found in the pups of those with magic" The pack leader barks to him
"Interesting, what can you do with your magic?" Reinlas asks him
"Not as much as your people but enough that those with it are to be pack leaders" The pack leader barks back
"Can you show me what you can do?" Reinlas asks
"Yes" The pack leader barks
The pack leader gets up his eyes get a fiery pattern as his claws ignite into flames and then his eye pattern changes to a icy pattern which changes his fur and claws to ice but the one of which is most powerful is the calming yet controlling pattern which he uses to have some birds fly down onto the ground as well as bring other wolves from his pack to them.
"Mind control?" Reinlas asks
"Not truly but to you it would seem that way" The pack leader says
"Interesting none the less, how long have wolves been getting magic?" Reinlas asks
"I have no idea" The pack leader says
"You wanted your pack to stay in the garden right?" Reinlas asks
"Yes, it is the safest place for us especially as our fallen packs of poison roam to attack anything" The pack leader says
"I will allow it but should any of your pack attack anyone they must leave understood?" Reinlas asks
"Understood" The pack leader runs into the forest to speak with his pack as the two he brought to them runs with him
Linra gets up and looks at Reinlas.
"That will definitely be an odd sight whenever we come out here" Linra says
"Agreed my love" Reinlas says
"I can sense this isnt the only thing to happen today, want to tell me?" Linra asks as she walks over to him
Reinlas tells her of what happened with the keireen soldiers.
"The more we hear of those wars the worse a feeling I get of the future, couple that with your visions, I just have a terrible feeling" Linra says with sadness and fear in her voice
"You arent the only one my love" Reinlas says to her as he hugs her
"But we will come out on top of whatever happens" Reinlas says
"I know" Linra says with a bit more hope in her voice
Reinlas stops hugging her and they head off to their chambers to sleep.
Hours later....
Reinlas stirs awake hearing what the male keireen soldier said echo in his head
"King Reinlas forgive us for saying this but we only do this because of the ancient laws of which you helped make" Echoes more
"What did he mean by that?" Reinlas asks himself mentally
He gets up and teleports his clothes then armour on and goes out the room quietly as to not wake his sleeping wife. He walks down to the dungeon doors and walks in heading to the cell with the soldiers, their magic is shut down by the guards standing next to the cell doors but the two soldiers seem oddly relaxed and happy sitting in their cell.
"Are they planning something?" Reinlas asks himself mentally
The guards look at Reinlas as he approaches.
"Hello my king" They say
"Hello how have those two been?" Reinlas asks
"They have been... happy, relieved to be here for some reason is my assumption" One guard says
"Thats very weird" Reinlas says as he looks into the cell and knocks on the bars
The keireen soldiers look at him the second he does.
"King Reinlas?" They both ask confused
"Indeed, I have a question for you" Reinlas says to the male soldier
"Ask away I'll answer any question you have" The male soldier responds
Reinlas looks at the guards next to him and they nod, he then looks back at him.
"Earlier when we talked at the valley you said the "ancient laws" in which I aided in making are what forced you to attack, what did you mean by that?" Reinlas asks
"Not just the attack, the ancient laws or the official name "first laws" make us have to stay loyal to our ruling monarch and do everything they say or be exiled hence why we hunted those men down" The male soldier says
"We were naïve fools" Reinlas says to himself mentally
"Please tell me more about how it in in keireens kingdom about the wars, I must know" Reinlas says
"You really want to know about that hell?" The female soldier asks
"I dont want to but I must for the future safety of my people and so I know what is happening from a ground view from you two soldiers, likely some of the most affected" Reinlas says
"Very well" They both say
"It will be best if I go first as I get the feeling I know what she'll say and what I want to say will lean into it" The male soldier says
"Go ahead then" Reinlas says
"I will say of one of the most recent big victories for Keireen, the battle for Renamerima castle, we were ordered by General Ratankira to attack and take the castle by any means necessary and then ordered me and the people I was with to attack and destroy nearby villages to make those in the castle see there fate, I hadnt known what he meant but people I was with knew and when we attacked I expected to be attackign soldiers but we attacked innocent men, women and children people who didnt know how to fight and then the others started to butcher them tearing the skin off people as they were still alive. After that it was hours of gruelling torture on these innocents and then we carted the bodies back to put them on display for those at the castle some tried to surrender but there leader didnt want them to give up, to avenge those slain but then we threw the bodies over the wall and began our assault, as the catapults fired we began scaling the walls and burning people alive stopping their blood flow with magic employing the more brutal ways of killing people in hopes of having more surrender to abide by the ancient laws. They surrendered soon after and I was injured but one of the things General Ratankira loves is getting those injured a chance to win against those who injured them and I was ordered to fight the soldier who injured me. I managed to win and then I was told to gouge out his eyes and take his leg off with a blade and kill him with poison claw venom, I've had nightmares of that man writhing in pain ever since." The male soldier says
The female soldier hugs him to aid in calming him down.
"My king he speaks the truth" The guard next to Reinlas says after scanning his mind
"I'm sorry to hear that" Reinlas says as his eyes turn red from anger towards Keireen
"I suppose its my turn to speak of how it is in keireens kingdom" The female soldier says
"Indeed" Reinlas says
"It was after the battle for Renamerima castle I was ordered to go back to the capital and tell Keireen that we won and the prisoners that live will be brought back for onikerm to deal with. I went back as fast as I could but I was low on magic so it took me a while I knew id be punished for that alone, as I went into the castle the guards looked at me apologetically knowing what would happen. I went to the throne room and saw Keireen on his throne with the hand of death next to him, I was terrified and kneeled down tellign him what I was ordered to but then"
"How do you feel about this? the hand of Death asked me"
"I said I was glad the king had another victory but he saw through my lies but I hadnt known that at the time and then asked me more specifically"
"How did you feel about the torture? he asked again"
"I lied again saying that they got what they deserved but then Keireen lifted his hand and I heard that laugh thats made so many turn crazy, the insane laugh of Onikerm he came towards me looking me over"
"I can work with this. onikerm said as he began laughing again and guards came over taking my arms and dragged me to a torture room"
"Every one of my bones were broken then healed and broken again as he took a knife and sliced from me thigh up to my heart but didnt hit my heart clearly he then put poison claw venom into my wounds making the pain so much more excruciating as he then healed all my wounds and put me in some device that began twisting my legs around till they snapped and the bones came out my skin."
She takes her helmet off showing her eyes and the right eye is gone.
"He then took a blade sharpest thing there and serrated and covered in more poison and he lit it on fire as he jammed it into my eye as I screamed for someone, anyone to help he took my eye out completely leaving what you see now as the scar but that wasnt the end of my torture. He then got my husband to the castle and used mind control on his makign him grab a knife and start stabbing me and say how he never loved me while zapping me with lightning and then"
"Onikerms going to have fun with you. my husband said before being stabbed in the throat by onikerm"
She starts crying as she continues.
"I wont go into specifics but months later I had children they werent my husbands and they came from that night" She says with a pained and sad voice
"Shes telling the truth my king" One guard says with a disgusted voice after scanning her mind
Reinlas opens the cell door and goes in using calming magic on both of the soldiers.
"I am sorry for all thats happened to you both, you have my word that neither of you will ever have to go back to keireen" Reinlas says
"But how? By the ancient laws we have to go back or be exiled because we only came here as ordered and the orders make us have to go back" They say
"They are right" Reinlas says to himself but he begins thinking of a solution
"You attacked me earlier during our first meeting, if a 'prison' is made but its not actually a prison legally you'd stay here for the crime of attempted assassination but in reality you have a place to stay here in my kingdom and the 'prison' is really just like a giant nice inn" Reinlas says
"As long as we dont have to go back even being in an actual prison would be better" They say
"I will do all I can" Reinlas says as he gets up and leaves ordering the construction of the 'prison' soon after and its big enough for more people like those too now that hes found out the true extent of the wickedness in the kingdoms under keireen.