Novel Plague Children

Hey guys, so I've been writing this light novel for quite a bit. It's heavily influenced off of life events but adds a lot of fantasy elements to the story to bring fourth an OP main character story. The world in the book revolves heavily around him, but I like to delve deeper into other characters as well, while slowly revealing him little by little through these events.

I'd like you all to read the story so far and tell me what you think. It is still in it's very first draft. I have done zero refinements to it, but have taken plenty of notes on things to change based off of reader reviews or comments. Please feel free to point out or comment anything. I especially love hearing what the readers think in certain aspects/chapters of the story -what feeling is invoking, what they think will happen, etc.

So without further ado, Plague Children!

You can also find this novel on RoyalRoad- Click here to go read it there!
Also available on ScribbleHub as well!
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Synopsis:
Years ago, in the country of Sei'O, a plague spread and turned half of their population to stone. The children of those infected were born with skin abandoned of all color. Completely grey, they were known as Plague Children.

Though they possessed no ability to spread the plague, they were heavily mistreated, discriminated against, ostracized, and often times killed at their younger ages.

The story follows the young Plague Child Ora, as he gains one of the strongest relics the world would ever come to see. With it, everything changes with relative ease. What fate awaits this world that heavily mistreated Ora?

In this world of magic, relics, and ancient arts, no one could be certain.

Genre: Fantasy, Action, Tragedy

Table of Contents
Prologue: Foretold Greatness
Chapter 1: Foretold Greatness
​

 

Spoiler: Prologue: Foretold Greatness

1500 B.N.E- Continent of Gomei

To understand the chaos encompassing all 7 nations, one must first understand the origins of chaos. In this world, magic was a thing of the past.

Nations upon nations constantly stocked up on Magicians and those who had a talent for the arcane arts. They were a formidable military force. For generations, magicians were revered and held in regard over their other military counterpart, Relic Wielders.

Wars happened ever so abruptly, and time after time, Magicians had proven to be a driving factor behind their ensured victories. That was until recent events proved just how little they knew of this world.

Just 80 years prior, the nation known as Yorba shook the entire world. They managed to end a decade-long war, all with the use of a single relic. hundreds of millions perished at the hands of such a devastating weapon, and they became the sole superpower of the world.

Until then, relics were seen as simple objects that held a limited diversity of usage. They were strange tools left behind by a civilization long forgotten. These tools allowed individuals dominion over certain things.

-An orb that can stream flames, a knife that cuts through things without even touching them, or even just a string that can endlessly expand in any manner the user wants. There were countless amounts of Relics in the world, and only a good 40% of the world had the ability to utilize them.

For the most part, their use in battle was of varied effectiveness. That was until Yorba ended the 4th war. With 1 Relic, they wiped out two whole countries. Since then, Relics were remodeled into a ranking system.

It became apparent that most of the relics known to the average man were anywhere from E-rank to C-rank. The Republic of Yorba touted that along with the S-rank Relic "Goodbye Tomorrow", they held at least 2 more S-relics in tandem as well.

Since that time 80 years ago, the world knew no other violence. Yorba, despite being the most powerful nation, kept relatively to themselves and maintained peace amongst the nations.

That peace, however, was one that was very tense. It was a peace in which nations smiled with each other, but scurried in the shadows trying to attain the power that had frightened them all. Since then, 3 out of the 7 nations claimed to have attained a God Relic.

All in all, it is a very tense era of peace. One could describe it almost as a period of rest before true hell begins. The true mark in the change of history begins not within the powerful nations, but subtly, within the farthest and poorest nation on the planet.



1506 B.N.E Essen-Sei'O

Kingdom of Sei'O

In a small village surrounded by darkness and death, a lone woman sat down on the deteriorating stone walls. Her fingers were frail, and hair ashened and scarce. She sat, cradling this small bloody baby, as it cried and cried. From her tattered clothes, bloodstained every ounce of it. She had just given birth.

Just in time before the plague had consumed her. With her body being hardened to that of stone, all she could do was embrace the child as she faded into the second world. "My son...Oh my son."

She released a soft smile as tears dripped down her face. "I'm sorry..I-I cannot...make this journey with you." Tears continued to roll as her lungs began to fill with blood. Nonetheless, she persisted. "But I promise you...y-ou..I promise. You shall inherit the world." With that, her breathing ceased altogether. "Aura.."

The world was a cruel place. Once the tides of change begin, not even the love of a mother and child could prevent the outcome. The baby remained crying throughout the night until it could no longer cry anymore.

Unbeknownst to both the mother and child, its grey skin would give the child the most hardship a being can face. Unbeknownst to her, that single promise she made resounded amongst the heavens, for wheels and cogs moved to will her words to life. This is the story of the child who inherited the world.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 1: Plague Child

1520 B.N.E. Essen-Sei'O

Kingdom of Sei'O

As he lay there weeping under the downpour of rain, the world around him seemed to ignore his existence. That wasn't true... it was more like they avoided his existence. To them, he was a mere roach that had no business before the visage of man.

The child had been molded by countless unwarranted hate, disgust, and isolation. It was all he knew. This was the reality for many of his kind, plague children. These children served as reminders of a gruesome past.

They were the remnants of a horrible plague that swept through the country and horrified the entire world.

At a time when the country was at its peak, flourishing with wealth and growing influence, the plague came down like a storm. Indiscriminately, it wreaked havoc throughout the country. The ill suffered a tremendous loss of health.

Barrel-chested men who once lead the might of the country's entire military regiment were reduced to a helpless and frail state, teetering between the lines of life and death with every move they made.

Many of the women and children could also be found slowly deteriorating. In the end, victims were reduced to a vegetative state. Eventually, they became solid stone statues, Petrified with their dying expressions still on their faces.

Children born of the ill who lived long enough to give birth often came out with gray skin. Though the plague was a deadly and terrible fate, being born a plague child was perhaps an even worse fate- for the plague could never compete against human cruelty.

In truth, those born of the plagued were entirely healthy. They possessed the effects of the plague; ashen skin, light red eyes, and very dense heavy weight- as if their entire bone structure was made of stone. Their skin were thick and hard to pierce. Nonetheless, they bled and died like everyone else.

Unlike the rumors, they possessed no ability to transmit the disease. Even now, 15 years after the plague had been stamped out, the hatred and fear that these children might bring forth the plague yet again still lingered throughout the country. Like few others of his kind, Ora had been lucky to survive this long. Age 14.

Having gone through the harshness of human ignorance, the young boy was toughened beyond that of normal humans. Yet still, he did weep. This was due to the loss of his teacher just 24 hours prior, and the loss of his comrades. He often had lost many friends, plague, and non-plagued alike.

But this was the only one that affected him so. The teacher was much different from your average man. She held a wisdom to her decades beyond her era. She was perhaps the only person in the entire nation that treated him and all the other plague children like normal children.

Having swept into their lives just 5 years ago, she had changed many of them from what would have been vile thugs and murderers, to honest children that knew their disadvantage against the world.

They learned to be smart. To earn what they can, and for the first time, she had given them dreams. She told them of different countries they could one day travel to- one where they had no need to fear others. Many times the children would come and listen, daydreaming of a better life. What was once impossible, was attainable thanks to her. Her kindness was unmatched.

That later became her downfall.

As various memories of their interactions swept through his mind, he couldn't hold back the uncontrollable sobbing. His back quivered with his face hidden behind his knees. None of the other plague children knew, but with her death, marked the end of their hopeful dreams.

He had completely backed out and forgotten the world and for the first time in 30 minutes, he looked up from his crouching position. There, standing before him was a tall man, towering over everyone he had ever seen. 6'6? 6'7? No, he has to be at least 7ft! Believing him to be a threat, he grew defensive for a split second, then realized he had no reason to be.

The man before him was dressed in tattered robes. His ashen black hair was scraggly and his eyes showed signs of fatigue that had not gone away in years. He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but when they made eye contact, there were several seconds of silence. Not a single motion occurred as the world around them continued to move. This meeting..unbeknownst to Ora, was going to change the fate of the entire world.

Then he spoke, a very calming yet deep voice. His speech held the elegance of the upper class despite appearing like a bum. "Young child..why do you weep?" He lowered himself, crouching so that they stood eye level.

Anger welled up inside Ora. He hated these kinds of people the most. The "well-mannered" pampered high class that seemed to think they were the best at everything. The man's tone reminded him too much of that.

"Leave me alon-." He said coldly. The man's very presence was a nuisance to him. But before he could finish the sentence, the man interrupted

"Could it be that you've lost someone close to you? " Ora remained silent.

"You have the eyes of a mourner. Was she killed?" He sat right next to Ora. "I understand. My actions had once lead me to lose everything. I went from inheriting the world, to inheriting dust."

Ora looked at the man before him. He didn't appear to be of this country at all. His facial features were much different. "Do you plan on getting revenge?" He asked.

Ora thought about it. He wanted to remain silent but finally decided to answer. "No...I just want to change this world." He replied.

The guy laughed hard before standing up. It kinda pissed Ora off for just a second until he was reassured. The man was not laughing at him "No..I think that's a fine goal to pursue." He looked down at the ground drawing a small symbol of the world. "But now I gotta question...How do you intend to do that?" Ora blankly stared at the man. He had never once planned or thought about how he was going to change the world.

In truth, he always expected that he could change for the world. Was that not what his teacher taught him? Move to a new country, gain acceptance amongst others, show everyone you aren't a threat. These were all teachings he often listened to...but they were never something he had seen work.

In fact, that's exactly what everyone had been trying to do. They constantly tried to change themselves to alleviate the fears of society. It worked, to an extent. But not enough to change anything.

"I don't...I don't know. I just will." He looked at the vagabond. "I will change everything. With every method possible until it works" He nodded with a stern look on his face and further elaborated. "I've heard many different methods to change the world. I haven't seen a single one work. So I'll keep trying until one works."

The conviction in those words was certainly not false. Naive, but not false.

The vagabond laughed until tears escaped from his eyes. "I see. I tried wrongly." By now, Ora was ready to fight the guy and unleash all his emotions upon him. The anger, the sadness, the hatred. He was indeed going to change the world, and it would start with this dumb fuck.

His fists clenched and before he could turn to the vagabond, the man had already stood up. In his hand, he held a dark black color, darker than the darkest shade of black. He dropped the jewel onto Ora's hand. "I've tried very hard to do one single method."

By now, tears flowed down the sides of his face. "Perhaps you will have better luck than I. You, who have had nothing. You who clings onto nothing. You, who holds very little desire for possessions....perhaps you'll do it." He dropped the gem and it landed perfectly onto Ora's hand.



He observed the jewel hard, the gem gave him the feeling of staring into an abyss. Its jet black color absorbed all the light around it, yet had such an auspicious glow of darkness...it wasn't like anything he had seen before. "Um... Sir. What is th-" he stopped short upon realizing that he was talking to no one.

Like a ghost, the man had already disappeared into thin air.

He looked back at his hand, only to realize the jewel had also disappeared. No..that wasn't right. It had burrowed itself into his palm. Only half of its visage remained visible. Ora's heart raced and he began panicking instantly.

I'm going to die....I'm gonna die... I shouldn't have held it.

Those were the thoughts running through his mind as he screamed, trying desperately to remove the item from his palm. Despite his panic and screams, the crowd of people around him continued to ignore his existence.

He dug at his palm until his nails chipped off and his fingertips were bloodied. The thought that an unknown creature had burrowed a hole into his palm continued to run through his mind. Until a sudden shocking jolt traversed through his body. Searing hot pain shot up from his right arm, starting from the gem placement itself, to his legs, lungs, heart, stomach, and head.

He could feel every moment of it and for a good minute, he had thought that he died. All thought ceased to exist. He was unaware of his own consciousness, the world around him, the winds caressing his skin, and the scenery before him. All he knew in his mind was pain. Pain deeper than the darkest depths of the ocean.

After a minute of just staring upwards into the sky, he began to regain sentience. Tears flowed from his eyes and he screamed loudly, clutching at his head and curling into a ball.

The screams were so loud, even the crowd of people bustling through the streets that were ignoring him all stopped to look. Tears just flowed continuously as he sobbed uncontrollably.

The type of pain he experienced could not be put into words. He remained like that for a couple hours until nightfall. When he finally passed out again.

When he woke up, all that pain he experienced and the horrors he had seen while his mind numbingly scried through generations of history, no longer affected him.

Finally, he was completely calm. Unlike just moments before his heart was at ease, and as he looked at his hands there was only one thing he could sense from them. Power.

He finally understood what it was he had. He was definitely wielding a relic.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 2: Unraveling of Events

A lady sat blindfolded in a dimly lit room. The flickering embers of the candle could do nothing to appease the darkness that was the room. The figures of two others could be made out from the shadows dancing against the walls.

One man was clad in glistening silver armor, and a woman garbed in crown jewelry. In contrast, the lady sitting down was much less interesting in apparel. Her old, frail fingers lay in front of her, hovering over a cloudy orb. "The conditions ...have been met." She stood up and began to prance around the room.

Seemingly lost in her own little word, she was enjoying a scenery that wasn't quite there. Her movements held strange fluidity to them, bowing and apologizing to non-existent beings and ducking under invisible structures. There's no mistaking it, the room she was at currently was entirely empty save for the knight and princess.

The city she saw was decaying from darkness. The aura of depression and fear loomed on the face of every citizen she walked by. Indeed, she was definitely bound to find something unusual in this place. She still wasn't sure where she was, due to not having seen a single flag flying around the country.

Several bodies of armed knights revealed themselves. Actually...as she continued to walk, she'd find that there was a tremendous amount of deceased knights alone within the city. No wounds lay on their body, it appeared they all died of strangulation. "Huh... I wonder what could have done that.

She squatted down and tilted one of the knights over to inspect their insignia. "Knights of Baerim. So this would mean I'm either in Baerim, Sei'O ...or Lakia."

The city she saw was the sheer image of grim and despair. The aura of depression and fear loomed on the face of every citizen she passed. Indeed, she was definitely bound to stumble upon something unusual within this place.

Unfortunately, she still was uncertain of where she was, due to not having seen a single flag flying around the city. Instead, several bodies of armed knights dotted the landscape.

It shocked her to see such a sight. It was like a battleground except so one-sided. Everyone that died was a knight of the same cloth. Whoever their enemies were, they suffered no casualties. Furthermore, the most peculiar part of all this was the lack of blood on any of the corpses.

They held not a single wound, and upon closer inspecting one of the bodies, she found that they had most-likely died of strangulation. "Huh...I truly wonder what in the world could have done something like this." She squatted down and tilted one of the knights over to inspect their insignia. "Knights of Baerim. This would mean I'm either in Baerim, Sei'O, or Lakia."

Baerim was a big nation that was often described as a bully. They threw their weight around with the might of their military regiment and bustling economy. Under the pretext of wanting to share their wealth, they've annexed two different countries. Sei'O and Lakia.

Just as she was running her fingers along the corpse's neck, a man quickly yelled at her and she immediately tensed up and stood. "HEY! Don't touch those- You don't want to get involved."

'Involved in what?' she wanted to ask, but that would make her seem clueless about such a big event, and thus out of place. She quickly scried her brain for a question that wouldn't penalize her. "Um...excuse me, sir. What exactly- I'm confused about how these people died."

"Their armor remained completely untouched, yet each and every one of them managed to be strangled to death."

"Get out of here. Quick. You don't want to get involved, Lady---"

"Is there a problem?" A voice shot out from behind him. Cold and stern.

The man's face immediately went pale and he bowed with so much force it seemed he would go through the ground. "N-no, my lord."

The voice came from behind the lady so she wasn't entirely sure of the who it was that said it.

"Get up, and hurry on disposing of the bodies. We don't want an epedemic~" The second voice was a woman's voice. It seemed completely gentle and soothing. All her answers lay right behind her. If she turned around, she would know exactly what crisis it is that she would need to avert. All of it. Just a turn away.

For whatever reason, she could not bring herself to turn her body. In fact, she couldn't even move at all. She stood, arms out in front of her as if she was speaking to someone, and simply remained like that.

"You're not from around here, lady." The cold voice spoke yet again.

"No...not from around here at all...Huh- kind of strange. I'm not even sure how you got in given the city's lockdown." The voice continued, the source trailing around her in a slow manner to get a glimpse of her face. Unfortunately, he remained right at her peripherals.

He could see the side of her face and all she could glimpse was the shadowy figure of a child...A CHILD?!

"Anniki, I'm sure there's no reason to kill her. Simply apprehend her. She might have some valuable information. Like--- How she got in, and what she wanted to do here. She might look like an average hag, but the clothes she's wearing is made of silk. It appears she's important at least."

'H-help me. Help me. Help me...help me. Help me.' Her heart raced faster and faster as if pressure was being applied to it and she felt herself drifting slowly from consciousness. Soon she would fall. "Help..me"

"Help you?" The kid finally walked into view as her vision and sight were fading. A young boy stood in front of her with dark red hair and skin abandoned by color. Those lifeless red eyes peered back into her fearful blue ones.

Right on the middle of his head, a gem displayed itself flawlessly. The gem's dark color seemed to absorb light itself, but on its reflection, she could see her frightened hopeless appearance.

"A--PLAGUE CHILD!" She screamed. Before falling to the ground. "Red..hair."

With that, her consciousness drifted to sleep.



----------------------------



The knight immediately ran over to her trying to shake her awake. "Lady, Harre- Wake up!" He was a bit distraught by this. It was the first time her ability had ended in such an event. He shook her continuously, wanting her to wake up, but to no avail. He checked her pulse quickly to make sure she was still amongst the living. It is as he thought, she hadn't died.

"She's still in that world?" the princess asked. Her hands were placed over her mouth.

"I'm afraid so. It looks like she was restrained before she could move."

Harre Gills; An old lady with the relic---'Astra' passed down her lineage for generations. It was one completely unremarkable for battle but held utmost importance to the interest of the nation. Astra allowed those who have bonded with it, to glimpse into the future. Specifically, once huge events have occurred. However, there is a drawback. Other's can also see her.

It wasn't so much a viewing of the future, but more so that she can exist in the future. But this would have to be the first time it had backfired so. The ability was not at all danger-proof. If she were to be killed within the future she visits, then she would certainly die. The only condition to return back was that one must clasp their hands together as if in prayer and say "Release."

It would seem she was restrained before then. But from the looks of her body at the time she fell, it wasn't the same type of restraint as say a rope. All of the actions she did in the future world and what happened to her, displayed on her current body. If one wasn't given the context, they would believe her to be the best actor of her generation.

Harre's hands suddenly began moving and turned behind her back. With a loud cracking noise, it would appear her arms were broken. They were then bound together by a rope. The positions of her feet suggested the same as well. "Tch...what in the world actually happened."

"Princess Galifrae..how far forward did she say she was going?"

"A-a week. She scried just a week ahead."

"Hm...then we have 6 days. She said plague child. That could only mean the country Sei'O. Red hair." He put together the pieces in his mind carefully. "We have to kill the plague child with red hair to stop the future she saw from existing."

"Yes. I'll lend you as many knights as you need, Kars."

With that, he bowed and prepared himself for the expedition. If they kill the plague child, that bumped into her and took her hostage, then the future where that happens will cease to exist. She would return back to this world.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 3: Departure

40 riders pierced through the night, their horses thunderously drumming against the earth. A stone cobbled path lead them to their destination. Amongst the group of 40, 10 magicians sat at the rear. The middle was composed of 20 average knights, spearheaded by 9 advanced relic wielders.

At the very forefront of this operation, stood the glistening armored man, Kars -The Silver Knight. Against the moon's rays, his armor decorated itself with an array of ever-so-slight colors which radiated off his body.


The night was young, but with unrelenting speed, they persisted. The kingdom of Baerim was only 2 countries away, but the goal was to avoid being seen within another country's borders. Naturally, to Yorba, no nations posed a threat to their wellbeing.

They were the first country to utilize S-class relics and brought an end to the fourth war. Because of this, most countries revered them. However, as of recent times with several nations scurrying for greater power, that reverence slowly turned into disdain.


The Seirin Republic, the nation bordering Yorba was one such nation. Being the 2nd nation to tout ownership of God relics, they constantly engaged in hostilities with surrounding nations including Yorba.


In one of the most infamous incidents, The Seirin Republic detained several diplomats of the Yorba nation and subsequently closed down several elite Seirin based companies from Yorba. They sited illegal activities of the envoys and shut down the companies in response to the corruption.


The claims were simply acts of aggression to goad Yorba into acts of war, but despite this, Yorba simply held their cool and pushed immense sanctions and trade limitations upon them. Though Yorba held incomprehensible power, it was not only in the form of Relics. The economic influence they held was comparable. In the end, Seirin was forced to re-investigate the matter and offer recompense. Since then, they've remained subtle in their acts of aggression.


In truth, Yorba had little to fear of the country. They simply had no desire to be viewed as the villain in the event that they end up wiping out yet another country. That being said, this mission was one of great importance and highly time-sensitive. If they were to be spotted crossing through the border of Seirin and it resulted in a delay of the mission then it would most certainly result in failure.


"Lawrence! What's the mana status of the mages?"


A man rode up alongside the silver knight

"As planned, they've expended little to no mana. So far the horses have yet to run out of stamina." He explained.


The mages were here for 2 reasons - to replenish the stamina of the horses through mana transfusion, and to utilize the blanket spell.


"Good. We're a couple miles away from the border of Seiren. Have the mages activate the spell now."


"Sir!" Lawrence fell back and shouted clear all to hear. "BLANKET SET!"


Immediately after saying this, the 10 magicians shot their hands upwards.


"Brasdervi"


In unison, a translucent bubble formed around the entire encampment. They proceeded at the same speed.


The blanket spell, Brasdervi, allowed one to form a bubble around themselves and their comrades for extended periods of time. Once inside the bubble, you become invisible to the naked eye. Those inside however can both see the outside world, and the translucent bubble.


When the mages started to run out of mana, they would then drink the mana potions they stocked up on, replenishing themselves slowly back up. Each of the 10 magicians so far were equipped with 10 mana potions. It would certainly be enough to hold them to Baerim and back.



The bubble held throughout the course of the day as the magicians tirelessly maintained the barrier. The goal was a continuous movement without rest, but the magicians would be just out of mental stamina by the time they reach Baerim.


The day continued with quick haste. Whenever the horses tired, the magicians would change their mana into stamina and replenish the horses' drive. Continuing on like this, it wasn't long before they reached the country of Baerim and crossed its borders.


Upon crossing the borders for Baerim, the bubble disintegrated, leaving them completely open to the outside world. Unlike Seirin, they held good relations with the Kingdom of Baerim. Under faith that the high king would grant them an audience and allow their wishes to be realized, Kars had decided to keep a diplomatic approach to such an operation.


He knew that the people of Sei'O did not value plague children, nor did they care if they died. Using this idea to an advantage, he had thought a great proposal to offer.


"Alright!" Kars shouted. "Shiek, Mikhail, Lawrence!"

Each one of them answered one after another and stopped behind him. In order, they dismounted their horses and kneeled.

"We'll be setting up camp here. Tomorrow morning exactly 6 am, the mission will be entirely under effect."

They were his 3 most proud subordinates. They've distinguished themselves several hundred times in training and in battle. Though each one of them was very capable by themselves, Kars had much doubt he could face off against all of them combined. They were a force he had created, and before he realized, they were much stronger than him.

Before him lay the "Head Hunter" Shiek. Her small and thin body structure gave off the impression of someone completely unremarkable. Long blond hair rested in a ponytail just behind her back. Whenever the sunlight shines upon it, her hair glows a beautiful golden shade.

However, her bony facial structure and gloomy sunken eyes gave off the eeriness of night. Unlike the other's she wore no armor and instead donned a tight leather jumpsuit. Several knives seated themselves in tightly composed pockets all around her being. On her waist, lay her two most distinguishable weapons, curved dagger shaped relics known as Bludgeon & Sever. These 2 weapons were very dangerous relics which coined her the name "headhunter."


To her left, a timid young boy by the name of Mikhail knelt. He was the very embodiment of meekness. He looked to be about the age of 16. His dark jet black hair gave his face just a tiny bit of fierceness to it, but nonetheless, he couldn't even intimidate a mouse.

His hands were concealed by a dark brown glove. They were his prized relic "Hopper." This relic alone had made him renown amongst every nation in this country. A shy blush rested on his face as he looked down.

The very last of the 3 to be called, Lawrence, knelt beside Kars. He had short hair and fierce masculine features. His thick eyebrows alone could frighten most people. The look on his face was one brimming with ferocity. His eyes held an intense almost feral look to them, which he often dismissed as a Sanpakugan(See Post Chapter Notes). Though even in comparison to other Sanpaku eyes he was frightening.

The slight wrinkles of age scaped his face. His mouth was framed by wrinkles of happiness. Despite his appearance, out of the 3, he was probably the kindest and most hearty. Age had garnered him experience, and laughter had rewarded him with kindness.

Though his face was terrifying, it only served to deter many battles and trials. In comparison to the rest, though he was the wisest, he held the least amount of combat experience. Nonetheless, if even the other 2 were to team up against him, he would remain on top.




These 3 were indebted to the golden warrior through several different circumstances. Their devotion to Kars was unmatchable. They would even strike the king should Kars command it. This singular truth within all of them united the trio into a force to be reckoned with.

As Kars dismounted his own horse, the rest of his unit also dismounted. The other 20 knights behind them unpacked their bags and began setting up their sleeping quarters. They each had their own separate tents as well as dining rooms and several private meeting quarters.

Aside from the 9 elite relic wielders, the teams were unfamiliar with each other and only served to accompany Kars' group should he run into trouble. Naturally, they all huddled in groups based off of their relation to each other. The mages settled by themselves near the edge of the camp.

The knights had huddled around the camp, voraciously devouring their food, while the elite dined amongst a small group with each other.


Within the meeting hall, Kars sat down in the presence of 4 others. His 3 prodigies, and a new unfamiliar face. The man had a very tired look on his face and seemed relatively disinterested with the conversation altogether. This man was Regalt Dotwiser. He was the embodiment of laziness. He thought everything to be too much of a hassle and rarely paid attention.

He was often found sleeping through most important topics which he gets clowned on for, but nonetheless, he would still somehow retain all the information he received. That, and his quick thinking has often been the turning point for many missions. Regalt's baggy, tired eyes looked up at the ceiling.

One long stretch of his black hair sat right on the bridge of his nose and even though a single strand was on his eye, he was too lazy to remove it. He held the relic known as "1,000 cold nights" Normally a C-rank relic, until it found its way onto his hands. Perhaps due to his skill with it, it had been re-evaluated as an A- Grade relic.

"1,000 cold nights" is just a simple, indistinguished gold ring that the user wears. It saps them of their strength tremendously and continuously each day. This often causes users to experience extreme weakness and fatigue. The energy it absorbs is then used later within combat, released all at once to heighten the user's durability, speed, and several other factors.

Many of its previous users could not stand the constant state of peril and uselessness the relic imposed on them, and often utilized the power right away in order to distinguish themselves. That was of course, not the case for Regalt. Regalt was someone who held absolutely no motivation to do anything what-so-ever.

At one point, he had even lounged around in his house and slept 10 days straight. Only waking up to drink water, and eat a quick meal before going back to sleep. As someone with so much energy and nowhere to send it, when his father had awarded him with "1,000 Cold Nights", it was the perfect pairing. years upon years of his laziness was stored within this tiny jewel.

If one were to estimate the accumulated stamina and energy he had stored within that ring, the number would be somewhere around 51,000 hours of energy. Hours of energy was a unit of measurement only created to understand this relics unique nature. Out of the 10 years he had received this relic, he had stored up a good 6 years of energy within it.

Simply put, he could, within one battle, release power 2,190x greater than what he currently had. This factor alone granted him the title "One Man Army". In truth, he was one of the strongest within the nation of Yorba. Some might argue his power rivaled even that of the Silver Knight, Kars. If he were to expend all the energy he had been saving, he could beat Kars.

Kars' relic was extremely powerful. The only way he could possibly beat him would be if he utilized all of his amassed power and struck at the man. Despite their equal power, Kars' was his superior. But nonetheless, he didn't care about societal positions or even commands. He only cared about resting. This was just his natural state of being, with or without his relic.


Oblivious to Regalt, Kars continued to talk about the mission plan.

"So, starting at exactly 6 am, I shall be leaving to the royal capital of Baerim to negotiate with the king, the terms of this mission. This is exactly why we are at the very edge of the border. Between Sei'O and Baerim. At the same time as I head to my audience with the king, I'd like each of you to depart immediately."

He drew upon the map that lay unfurled between them. One figure headed towards the capital of Baerim, while 4 crossed the border to Sei'O.

"It should take you guys 3 hours to reach Essen Sei'O as opposed to my 8 hour pilgrimage." He sighed. "While I ask the king for permission for our operation to take place, you guys will have already finished it. I know he will accept, but it is just a common courtesy to do so. After-all, he will be doing us a great favor in allowing such an operation to take place."


"E-erm...Forgive me, L-lord Kars...but" Mikhail began. He immediately dismissed his question with a quick nevermind and averted his gaze.


"Jesus christ, Mikhail. You just fuckin' annoy me y'know that?" Shiek said, scowling. "If Yer' fuckin gonna ask a question ask it all the way." She exhaled from her nose. "He means to ask. Whats the point of all this splittin up business. If we're just here to murder the damn plague kid anyways, despite ya talkin to the high king n all that, why don't ya just skip that part altogether."


Lawrence slowly raised his hand. "I was wondering this as well. You're going to the king under the pretext of him accepting your proposal...but you're also sending us out on this assassination even if the answer turns up being a no. Is there really a reason to bring this up to the high king?"


"Y-yes...I was also..wondering the same thing." Mikhail meekly added.


Kars simply yawned. "Jeez. I've heard the same question asked 3 times just now. You're all just facsimiles of each other in different tropes."

He looked down to the map before him. "I believe you all are familiar with how I do things. I'd like to remain honorable. It is only fair that the king of another country is alerted of such actions going on within his borders. Especially if we're his allies. We're fully involving Baerim within this affair. It would be disgusting not to get their approval."


He traced his fingers on the map where his circle would be talking to the king. "The reason I'm sending all of you separately is that there are 3 different scenarios."


"Scenario 1- I go to the king, he grants us approval, and then I come back another 8 hours, and then we go on our way to Essen-Sei'O and search the city for the target before we end up killing them."

This scenario gave off a good impression of failure if they could not find the Plague child within the time-frame. They had already expended 2 days out of the original 7 days. Tomorrow Morning would mark the beginning of the 3rd day, leaving them with only 4 left.


If he were indeed to travel 8 hours to the capital, meet with the king and travel 8 hours back, only to travel yet another 4 hours to the capital, it leaves them with 3 days to find this red-haired child. They all understood this fact by the time Kars had explained.


"Scenario 2, is much the same as one, except that he disapproves of my proposal and then I rendezvous with you guys here, to go search for the target...again unfavorable. It also will leave the Kingdom of Baerim with a sour taste in their mouth to find out that I went against his wishes."

The 3 nodded in unison.

"Scenario 3, is that we all go to the capital, and with them noticing my very distinguishable visage, alert the king of my unannounced presence within their domain. Not only will it weaken relationships to Baerim, but it may also turn into a very nasty dispute between Baerim and Yorba."


"The best decision is to send my 3 hands to Essen-Sei'O. Have you take out the enemy, and gain approval of the operation altogether."


The 3 looked at Kars in admiration. That he was able to instantly see the best course of action and break it down to those who were legally retarded as they were, made them view him as a god. They all instantly nodded their head and in unison

"YES LORD KARS! WE'RE SORRY WE DOUBTED YOU!" They bowed deeply.

Kars simply urged them to get their head back up, thoroughly embarrassed that such a sight had to happen in front of Regalt. Luckily Regalt was asleep, but the feeling of embarrassment was still certainly there.


"Ah-em. Please, no need to shower me in praise like this. I'd like you all to get well rested and spend your time preparing for your mission tomorrow morning. This Plague Child...from the look on Harre's face, possesses an astonishing power. Please keep this in mind when you face him. Though, should he turn out to be too much, Regalt will be accompanying you all as well.


Regalt, oblivious to what was occurring in the room, was entirely asleep. -Complete with a feral snoring sound.


"One more thing," Kars said, his eyes very grave and in his most serious commanding tone. "Absolutely no other deaths aside from the target. I will not permit you to kill needlessly." They all nodded "understood."

With that, the trio got up and left the tent. Lawrence lightly jabbed Regalt, who had fallen asleep while standing up. One could almost see the snot bubble around his nose popping as he immediately surveyed the room in high alert.


Before him, Kars remains the only one left, sighing lightly.

"Tch- Why didn't you tell them the truth, Lord Kars?" Regalt asked lazily.

"Hmm? What do you mean by that, Lord Regalt." They addressed each other equally in respect despite Kars holding the higher position.

"In truth, it was supposed to be you out there fighting alongside your team. Had you not insisted to do the negotiations instead." He yawned for a couple seconds and stretched.

"I mean.. I'm quite alright with it. Negotiations are a bother. Its too much energy spent talking to a dimwit who rules a set of insignificant lands while pretending its an empire." He paused.

"But, my question earlier. Why didn't you tell them that you simply did not enjoy missions of assassination. Especially that of a child." Regalt asked.


Kars looked at him, not surprised in the least that he was able to deduce that information. "Heh. They look up to me too much. If I held my ideals foolishly and told them why, they would aline with me and refuse to do the same. Even though they all have done this for years."


Shiek had been a lady born in the slums, massacaring and assassinating her way through people for a good decade. At some point she got ahold of her relic and became renoun for her disgusting methods. She lived in that darkness since day one and saw Kars as her only salvation. If he were to say that her way of living is wrong, she would simply copy his way.

Kars sighed. "My intentions with those 3, are to concentrate their power, not change and misshape it. I must not make them into replicas of myself, but individuals equal to me."


Regalt laughed. "I see..I'm tired. I'm going to my tent now." The man sluggishly exited the tent and fell asleep halfway out the door.


Kars held in a stifled laugh and began breathing heavily in an attempt to hide his surprise. "Ahem. erm. Sleep well." He called for some of the nights to later carry the man to his tent.


Kars lay back in his tent. The mission tomorrow held such importance that there was no room for failure. He still held the utmost faith in his comrades. He couldn't shake the feeling off that something terrible was bound to happen. He recalled the night after Harre had been knocked unconscious and taken hostage.


She woke up several hours later and began screaming. When asked about what was going on, she described the worst horror she had ever seen yet. She described her inability to move, and instant fading of consciousness from the pressure.

She also described the red-headed plague child, grey as stone, with a black gem on the middle of his forehead. The power he described from the kid sounded like a very formidable one...but if no such instance of that power ever being used occurred until now, it meant that it was most-likely a relic. So in truth, all they had to do was take out the child and later locate the relic.


Or they could wait until the child has the relic...It would then allow them to take the relic from the child's hands right away. Either way, he trusted in his companions to be able to keep the destruction at bay. Should they require help, Regalt is 100 times more than enough.


"That's right...we'll bring down that demon..." He yawned, still thinking about the events transpiring. He wanted nothing more than to bring Harre back. Thus, he fell asleep, certain of victory.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 4: Essen'Seo'O

The sky hadn't even begun to lighten up yet. Kars eyes shot open right on the dot. 6:00 am.



He had no clock or any way of letting him know the right timing, but nonetheless, he had trained his body to wake up at certain times. After countless military drills and waking up earlier than your superiors, his body had memorized this, and he often awoke without any outside interference. Kars flipped open his tent, untied his horse, and began riding without any further notice.



A good 2 hours later, the trio and Regalt also set off towards their destination. They left their camp under the watch of their mages and knights. For them, it was more like an expedition in which they get to relax afterward.

The weather in Baerim was very accommodating. Not too cold, not too hot. It was perfect for just relaxing and laying back within this windy terrain. They laughed and talked and acted stupidly now that their superiors were nowhere to be seen.



The group cloaked themselves in long raincoats and began their preparations. Their armor, clothing, and identity were all effectively hidden. According to their information, though Baerim was very accommodating, Sei'O experienced frequent bouts of rain. Unlike Baerim which held a lot of flat plateau's, it was encompassed by huge mountain ranges and several hills.





The horses galloped as fast as their legs could take them. Their reserves had been replenished through magic. With the quickness of their feet pummeling against the earth, it was almost hard to hear anything but the sound of their hooves. Despite that....



despite that, Regalt was still very much asleep. His head slumped against the neck of his horse as it bobbed up and down. He was at the very back of the group, trailing behind just 20 feet away. The other three continued on ahead in an arrow-like formation.



Shiek rested to the left, with Lawrence in the middle, and Mikhail to the right. Their horses traveled almost as if in unison.

"Tch... I was so not looking forward to this fuckin' horse shit again" she said while looking in Lawrence's direction

"Calm yourself. You're always whining about the slightest inconvenience." Lawrence scowled

"I do not! I just been ridin on this damn ass for a whole 2 days straight. I ain't wannin' te hop on again!"

Mikhail blushed a little bit and shook his head "Um…S-shiek. Only donkeys are called ass...sorry"

"I meant 'xactly what I said fuckin geek." Shiek retorted.

"I-its common knowle-..n-nevermind"

He looked away from the duo. There was a short silence that was suddenly broken by the loud mouthed Shiek.

"Hey, what' ye think this plague kid looks like anyway?"

"Well, according to the briefing. He's a child with red hair, red eyes, and a dark gem of some sorts resting on the middle of his forehead."



"heh, no I didn't mean that dumbass. I'm talkin'bout these plague kids. I've heard they look pretty monstrous. With skins made of rock and hollow pits for eyes. And apparently they weigh a ton too."

Mikhail nodded. "C-couldn't they spread sickness...if you stare at one long enough. And they're practically vile people. I-I've heard of some of the things they d...do to other children.."

Lawrence looked at the both of them. Then he laughed greatly. "I don't know exactly what they look like. But I'm only inclined to believe half of that. There's no way one could spread sickness just by being looked at. Humans tend to create frightening excuses to be scared." He nodded.

"Though...from what I heard, they are rather vicious people. The general populace seems to avoid all interaction with Plague Children...and they generally don't mess with them. But with a rep like that, they can't possibly good news. We'd be doing them a favor to eliminate them."



His entire speech was based on self-rationalization. As much as he hated to admit it, not even he wanted to slay a child. Lawrence was far too kind of a man. Dehumanization of the target was all he could do to steel his resolve. If this was perhaps a pure healthy human child he had to kill, he'd hang up his armor and relic and put an end to his career. For that reason, he refused to see plague children as anything other than cancerous.





The rest of their travel continued in leisure talk, with Regalt waking up every now and then to ask if they've arrived. Soon enough, however, they did arrive at Sei'O's main capital- Essen'Seo. The city was huge. It gave off a very rustic atmosphere. A huge wall surrounded the circumference of the entire city. Covering everything off from view.



Getting in was fairly easy. They only had to pay a minor toll and tell them they were mercenaries en-route to another country. They were in great need of rest and needed a place to stay. The guards simply nodded and warned them of causing any problems. One thing Lawrence noticed immediately was that the guards wore the sigil of Baerim. Sei'O had no combat force or military force of their own. It was completely snubbed out by the great empire country.





After entering through the city walls, the scenery differed greatly. The walls had been very heavily maintained so as to look very exquisite. But much much different.



Several of the buildings were metallic and filled with heavily decaying metals. Many of them had rusted over to the point that holes had formed within their frames. Other parts of the city was swallowed by vines that stretched up to the tallest building.

It was a disgusting look to those who lived lives of luxury, but to those who often traveled to different countries, this was an exquisite and unique appearance. Many who visited often came again to enjoy such a tranquil experience with nature.



Of course, the state of Essen'Seo didn't happen naturally. This was the cause of the plague 15 years ago. The massive amount of deaths, desertion and economical halt that followed shortly after had caused maintenance on buildings to be a thing of the past. The ensuing struggle of survival made little time for anything else.

Shiek looked around "Heh, disgusting. I was hoping that these plague kids would be in the slums...but this whole thing is a slum."

"Hey now...remember the calamity that befell this place 15 years ago. For such an event to happen, it is a surprise that the country is still this well composed. I suppose it’s due to their building structures. Even the roads are lined with iron." Lawrence looked around in awe.

The country was known for its iron exports. The eastern mountains were rich in valuable metals, and the people had earned their living from mining and smelting the ores.

"I-..I too think it looks nice." Mikhail spoke. It was so quiet that he was entirely ignored; Or rather, that no one else heard it. The city seemed to be bustling with life and activity. Constant crowds of people scattered through the streets, participating in their daily life. It was a lot different than Yorba, who had long since dropped the idea of markets.

Cryers shouted out, selling food, and several intricately designed clothing stores dotted themselves across city. It felt like they had completely walked into a different world. Yorba was much quieter and not quite as bustling in activity as Essen'Seo.

"Alright. Let's start tryin'a find that damn plague kid." Shiek said walking in through the city. She had been born in the slums herself, so when she made the comment about the city's appearance, in truth, she felt very much at home.

"Alright. We have 3 days tops to find this kid. Common sense would dictate that we'd have to kill him as soon as possible...but- " he hesitated with this last part. "Perhaps it would be better to wait for the 3 days. It would be better to see how he obtained his power before killing him." Lawrence nodded. "That way we can both take out the Plague Child, and find out where he obtains the relic."

Suddenly during their walk, Lawrence noticed something. Laying on the ground, bludgeoned and beaten by brute force was a Plague Child. A little girl no older than 7. It was the first time that he had laid eyes on one of them. Instead of the horrifying vicious stories, it was much different. Her face was distorted to the point that it was indiscernible. Blood trailed down her face. Her arms were broken and bent inwards. In her hands, she held a piece of bread. It was probably what she was killed for. More sickening was that the citizens all walked passed without even sparing a single glance. It made his stomach twist. Who exactly were the monsters here?

He could try and twist it in his mind that she was killed by another plague child, but that would be foolishness. He quickly guided the other three away from the scene, captivating their attention before they could see what he had just witnessed. Mikhail's eye went wide for just a second before he reluctantly nodded. He had also seen it.

"Never mind about the wait...We'll be killing the kid right away." He couldn't bear the thought of following the child around for several days before finally deciding to kill him.

Mikhail raised his hand. "...Um..w-where's Regalt-San?"

The immediately looked around to notice that he had not been with them. How far back did they leave him...at the gate? on the path here?

Shiek began laughing out loud at the tense situation. This was very typical of Regalt. But he can hold his own despite the situation, so it was no matter to be worried about. Now if they had left Mikhail behind or anything like that, she might be more inclined to be worried about his safety.

"He's probably off sleepin' somewhere." She responded, waving a dismissive hand." Now, let's continue on the damned' way" Sounding pissed as all hell. In truth, she had also seen the kid all beaten and ravaged. It was nothing new to her.

She had grown up in the slums of Yorba and slowly over time gained renown fame for her atrocious actions and murders. That was all in the past however, long before Kars had met her. She figured she'd have to be the one to put a stop to the kid. From the looks of their faces, the other 2 were losing conviction.



The next couple of hours they took to gathering information and finding out where the majority of plague children reside. With that, they set off towards the slums. On the far -eastern corner of Essen-Sei'O, there was a small community of outcasts and amongst their ranks were the plague children.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 5: Ephemeral Pt 1

Lynx Beta woke up from his deep slumber. Tears immediately began rolling down his face. He got up and silently cried, wiping off the unending ravine that escaped from his eyes. He tried to keep silent since most of the other children slept beside him.

They slept under one of the many abandoned buildings. The children usually kept together in groups of up to 8 and all slept in different houses. Essen'Seo was kind of like a sanctuary to Plague Children. Amongst the different minor villages and cities within Seo, Essen had the kindest outlook towards Plague Children.

Generally, they are not bothered or attacked so long as they keep to themselves. That being said...there were many cases that occurred throughout the years. -Cases of extreme brutality brought about from nothing other than the boredom of passersby’s. Other cases occurred from theft and other interaction with commoners. For that reason alone, they held a very strict rule. Do not interact with commoners.

They held their very own economic system. Their own safety system...and it just so happens that, while very minor relics in and of themselves, they could protect themselves against the common man that sought to harm them. They also could defend against maybe 1 or 2 guards. Currently, the 3 relic wielders were Rel, Lin, and Alel. They also happened to be the oldest.

In Essen'Seio, there was about 46 Plague Children. Their numbers decreased yearly as deaths occurred. But many times, other children from minor villages would travel to seek the refuge known as Essen'Seio.

As of yet, the Plague Children occupied about 4 of the houses: Usually living in a group of 7 or 8. They got up in the morning, maintained their household and went out to do activities and gather food. This usually consisted of scourging garbage within the more populated areas, and sometimes getting food from travelers. Though, the latter event was very rare. All in all, they all looked after each other. Abandoned from society, where could they turn but to themselves?



There was only one exception to this rule... their teacher. Amai was a very kindhearted soul. Truly, she was one in a billion. The fact that she had appeared within the city of Essen'Seo, was perhaps the only blessing that the gods bestowed upon the Plague Children. For years, they lived scattered and hated. It was only until her appearance in this city that she had begun to make life special for the Plague Children. Beforehand, there used to be upwards of 70 to 90 of them. They lived of their own accord and took care of themselves. Many of them just barely survived and were raised by relatives of their deceased parents. Once they were of age, they were discarded and left to fend for themselves.



Lynx' eyes darted around the room, hoping that no one else would see him cry. To him, tears were a mark of weakness. If the other children see him, they would surely mock him for his emotional failures. Yet still did he weep...he curled himself into a ball and the tears kept flowing. The dream he had just witnessed was much too shocking...much too real. He had never encountered such a dream before.

In the tale his mind had weaved him, a man passing by had given him immense power. With that, came the deaths of many of his comrades. His eyes looked around to make sure they were still living. Indeed, they were.

He exhaled quietly, making sure not to alert the other children around him. He didn't want any one of them missing sleep over him. "...maybe Miss Amai can tell me…what this all means."

He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth tightly, remembering the most worrying part of it all. It was when he lost all grip of himself. Succumbing to hatred, he destroyed entire armies without feeling even a shred of remorse. Though it was just a dream, he felt like that emptiness was lingering within him even now. He got up and left the house to go for a walk.

One of the rules technically forbade them from venturing out alone- even if they're still within the slums. But he figured this was more of a superstition than anything. The stroll around the block did wonders to clear his mind. The sky's very subtle light blue tint invaded the faint stars.

He had left to the graveyard where they bury the bodies of fallen children. They were the only ones that cared about such things. If left to the commoners, the bodies would be left to rot.

As he arrived at the graveyard, he noticed a patch of white hair behind a tombstone..."Ora?" He walked over to him and knelt beside him. "What are you doing up this early?"

Ora was surprised and almost jumped from his prayer. He didn't know who he was even praying to. He just did it because it’s the respect that everyone else deserved. He didn't believe in god. But if he did, he had thought himself to be the worst abomination in history.

The citizens of Sei'O often held a belief that those who were born in unfortunate conditions were those who committed atrocious actions in their past life.

As such, Ora must've believed himself to be the greatest evil to have existed within all 5 nations. He heard several stories from their teacher Amai. He likened himself to the great General Dao or Lawrence of Arabi.

Through this type of thinking he had convinced himself that the life he is living now is the product of his misdeeds in the past.

Lynx knelt right beside him and closed his eyes as if in prayer. Both he and Ora lived in an era where each of the 70 were very much alive. Most of them took great care of the newer generation.

The walk had cleared his mind, and he hoped the darkness of the night would sequester the redness in his eyes. Ora noticed this but pretended he didn't. "Remember that one day when Sela tried fetching water and ended up being carried by the rope?" He said with a big grin on his face.

A stifled noise came from Lynx and he soon found himself laughing uncontrollably. They both laughed. It was a fond memory for them.

A couple of years back, one of the other children, Sela went to fetch water from the well, but because of how light she was, she was left dangling by the rope instead.

They came to find the poor girl flailing around carried by a bucket of water and found themselves laughing hard.

Sela was a very sweet little girl, though she was incredibly airheaded and stubborn sometimes. They often teased her though unlike the other children her age, it would never phase her. Though the amount of times she had gotten in troublesome or hilarious situations due to her rebellious nature is too numerous to count.

Lynx stopped laughing and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Hey, Ora..." his tone grew serious. "Do you think we can...do you think we can take Sela with us when we leave?"

Ora was taken by surprise and could only muster a "huuuuhhh???" noise. "I mean when we leave for that place Lady Amai was telling us about...where everything is better. And we won't be judged for looking like this."

Ah..they've had this conversation before. Ever since Amai's lectures. She taught everyone how to be kind and slowly change the image of plague children to society. After she told them of all the other countries out there that wouldn't hate them or hold the same superstition, Lynx could only talk of going to another place.

"I don't think we're quite ready to leave. Where would we even go?" The world was much too vast. The chances of running into bandits or wanted criminals were very high as well.

Lynx shrugged. “Anywhere's better than this dump." He suddenly looked ecstatic "we can make a new sanctuary. Just for plague children. Maybe Qarat'il."

"Haha, Qarat'il is gone. Completely uninhabitable. We'd have to choose a different place to settle"

Qarat'il was a country bordering Foss. During the third era war, Yorba utilized the S-ranked relic "Goodbye Tomorrow" and leveled the entire country. There was no survivor from the single attack. Decades later when people tried to visit the land, they found that it rested below heaps of ashes. Shortly after, all 12 visitors died from a strange sickness.

"Heh, the last time they checked was 40 years ago. I heard there are animals there now. Let's check it soon." He laid back, staring at the star-filled night sky

"Why do you seem to want to go so urgently now. I thought we'd agree to go there once we got stronger and gain enough money."

"We can all move out of here along with Amai sensei." With his hands spread to the clouds, he observed the stars between each finger.

"You seem super fixated on leaving so quickly. What's wrong?"

There was a long moment of silence and it seemed almost as if he wasn't going to talk. His mouth opened several times as if to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.

"Hmm...it's okay if you don't wanna tell me. I think everything will turn out alright."

"--I...I had this bad dream." Tears rolled down his eyes and his hands began to shake profusely. "My hands haven't stopped shaking since..."

Ora had noticed it earlier but thought maybe it was the cold.

"It felt too real...like someone is messing with my future. I don't think I’m going to live long if I stay."

He tried to say more, but he couldn't. If he said it, he'd have to relive the hell of a dream he experienced so he kept his mouth shut.

"I want to tell you..but.."

"I.."

"Can't."

He made no effort to hide his tears as he curled up into a ball and started shaking.

"What I saw..."

Images flashed through his head of the death and destruction happening before his very eyes.

At the center of all this chaos, was none other than himself. The worst were the events leading up to this development. He wanted to experience nothing like that again.

And so, he kept it all to himself, internalized in his fleeting mind. In his head, the whole world went black and the only thing that remained was the utter horrifying cold.

The darkness jeered and poked at him. Raging winds of fear threatened to uproot him from the very ground he sat upon. To conclude it all, the images of everything that happened began to display themselves.

It felt like he was going to freeze and simply die until suddenly a warm sensation appeared on his shoulder. Everything stopped and he felt nothing but warmth. Back to the real world. His eyes opened to the embrace of his brother. They weren't related by blood, but for the plague children, all of them considered each other family.

"It’s alright to cry...but we never give up. If we give up every time we cried, then as plague children..we wouldn't be alive today."

Lynx could only wipe his tears and nod. "Hey Ora..let's go. It's already morning. We gotta wake up our holds." He stood up and slowly calmed his breath. He blocked out all thoughts about the dream and regained his composure.

They each then departed to their separate holds. The holds were the separate groups they divided themselves into living -wise. Each hold had a leader and were all mainly responsible for different things essential to their survival.

Lynx was the head of clean up and maintenance. While the slums were entirely run down and tattered, it was very clean. In fact, in comparison to the better parts of the city, it was cleaner. Once people started to notice this, the government sometimes hires plague children to clean up certain parts of the city as well as the sewage ducts. The money is then collectively shared and rationed for food.

Ora, on the other hand, lead and handled the food rationing as well as distributing money amongst the group. Usually, this amounted to 2 dollars and a piece of bread, but that was as best as they could muster. They all look after each other and made sure they were well off. It was the only way they've survived for so long.

A monumental 10 years ago, Lady Amai had made her way to the Capitol city and since then changed everything for them. Every plague child would gladly lay down their lives to ensure she survives. She taught them everything from strategizing, safety systems, teamwork, to history and math. Through her, they were able to get the education that they otherwise would have never got.

From her lectures and teachings, she discovered 5 geniuses amongst the group. Lynx, and Ora being among the most distinguished. The others were on a whole other level, but this may be in part, to their age.



"I wanted to tell you..." Lynx thought.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 6: Ephemeral Pt 2

The clouds rolled over the skies, thick, tenebrific and turbulent as if to ward all good omens. The winds blew unrelentlessly, harassing the thick trees and dust that layered themselves around the area. It looked like it was going to rain soon.

"Hurry up, we gotta double our time, everyone!" Lynx shouted! They hurried up clearing the rubble and debris from the streets and organized all the rocks before them. Every now and then, one of the ancient, unmaintained buildings and towers would crumble. The rusted iron bands of each tower slowly deteriorated one by one and eventually gave away. Lynx had a keen eye for watching these things, so he was able to scout out possible dangers as well as just naturally cognize the directions buildings will fall and at what speed.



The clean up took only an hour, after which the sun began to set. In the middle of all the rubble they cleaned, a stone cobbled tower stood. This tower was initially utilized as a policing and prison building prior to the nationwide catastrophe. The first floor was where officers stayed and kept files maintained. The other 5 floors were all cells used for holding inmates. Once the plague hit, the jails were entirely neglected and not eventually the keys were lost in the chaos that ensued. As a result, all 119 of the prisoners died of hunger. Though some of them did contract the plague, most of them all died before they could feel experience the effects. Their howls carried through the night for several years after; or so the legends say.

Lynx stood at the entrance of the door to the office. This was the last place on the southern end of the buildings that they had to clear out. This would create more room for everyone if it was cleared out. His hands shook at the thought of having to enter in there. Aside from that, he was the only one brave enough to enter. Because of his keen eyesight and intellect, he could easily spot areas of danger and worn out spots on the buildings. With a deep breath, he opened the door. The room was chilly and though in complete organization, it gave off an eery vibe to it.

The metallic floors seemed to have remained untouched by the caress of time and weather. Several desks dotted themselves around the room with papers and files everywhere. They appeared to be prisoner reports and criminal investigations. Lynx was shocked. To think, there was a time when Sei’O operated like a functioning government.

“First floor…safe.” He walked forward to the only door remaining and opened it. A long winding stairway revealed itself, looping around the building several times before leading to the 2nd door. Lynx closed his eyes and gulped. “Here goes…” He opened the door, almost expecting something to jump out at him, but when the room remained silent, he slowly opened his eyes. An unnerving sensation crawled up and down his back, and his hairs stood on end. “H-how horrid.”

Skeletons dotted themselves throughout the room. The decayed corpses were in several different arrays of positions. Some curled up in a fetal position, some died holding hands with each other through their cells. Other’s remained clutching to the door ways as if they would give. Those were the ones that refused to give up until the very last moment.

“…I promise. I will bury you all. So that you may all rest peacefully.” In Sei’en culture, it is an unbreakable rule that one must bury the dead. No matter who it was. Be it enemy, friend, foe, or even stranger. If one were to discover a corpse and refuse to bury them, it is believed that the two shall quarrel in the afterlife for eternity.

“Hmm..so before we clear out this building. We’ll need to find a way to open these doors. Then we’ll dig graves for each prisoner.” He walked throughout the building counting the amount of bodies in each cell. Like that, he went to the next set of stairs and the next levels. Each level was much the same scenario. He studied the bars and realized that many of the bands could be broken due to the age of them. If not, they could probably use Alil’s relic in order to take apart the bars. He made a mental note 65…78…90… He stopped suddenly. His sense of danger rose up tremendously, and he immedaitely pulled out a small kitchen knife from his belt. A Noise. Just now he had heard a noise. The sound seemed to be resonating from all over and his. “whoever you are…whatever you are. Don’t think for one second I won’t cut you down.” Steeling his resolve, he faced the door to the next floor. All the sudden he was struck behind.



Someone had collided with him, sending them both tumbling. He had dropped the knife, scurrying to get it before he realized who it was. “Aren!” He exhaled. Aren tumbled around on the floor before getting up. “OW JEEZ THAT FUCKEN HURT.” His head had collided with Lynx’s shoulder. He was panting hard. He must’ve ran all the way here through all 4 floors. His arms were trembling. “What the hell are you doing here?” Aren was a short kid from the children’s recon unit lead by Alil. They usually left the capital city and traveled to nearby villages to try and find more plague children to bring to the sanctuary known as Essen Sei’O. “We got back yesterday...No one was alive in Eris’Seo.” By no one he meant plague children. Smaller villages like that tended to be a lot harsher towards Plague Children. Because of that, the recon units were all clad from head to toe in clothing and revealed very little skin. “More importantly, Aries is with you right? Tell me she’s with you.”

Lynx blinked. “Huh?”

His eyes widened once he realized what this meant. “No. She isn’t with me. I haven’t seen her in the past 2 days. I thought she was with Ora.” Aren cursed and banged his fists onto the ground. “WHAT THE FUCK!!” He got up and immediately started running down the stairs. Lynx got up with him and ran right after him. Aries was one of the newest plague children to be brought to Essen-Sei. Aren had brought her here and since she arrived, she immediately bonded with Lynx. They were both red haired, so she took to calling him Aniki. Because of this, many of the others took to nicknaming him Anniki.

If she’s missing that could only mean one thing… she’s in danger…or…or... He clenched at his chest tightly. He couldn’t shake off the horrid feeling he had. The feeling that this was Déjà vu…it eerily reminded him of the terror he had witnessed just the night before.

“No…this was…exactly how it started.” He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

“I wanted to tell you…The truth about that dream.”

“Truth is…”

“I’m scared.”

“I’m so scared it hurts.”

 

Spoiler: Chapter 7: On that day...

He dashed right after Aren. “OI! Aren!” Aren’s speed didn’t slow at all. “She’s been missing for atleast two days from what I’ve heard. How come none of you ever noticed!?” He bolted out of the door with Lynx following closely behind. All the children uneasily looked over to them.

“Works over! Everyone, go back home for tonight!”

One of the kids ran up to Lynx and quickly asked where he was going in such a hurry. He simply nodded. “I’m going to look for Aries.” Without stopping, he headed off towards the more illuminated parts of the city; down the stone cobbled path of the eastern district.



The streets were crowded in the north, with all the markets and people still prancing about. Whenever someone saw him or made eye contact, they held a disgusted and immediately defensive look about their faces. They made a clearing around him as he walked, many of them opting to avoid touching a plague child. They all still held their beliefs that they could contract the disease from him.



Lynx clenched his fists and continued forward. Him and Aren had split ways. This way they could cover ground much easier. He never stopped for rest the entire time. Always panting, always moving, checking between each alley way. This was particularly dangerous, because even among the common folk there were muggers and thugs. If he were to run into one within these alley-ways, they would without a doubt kill him just for the fun of it.

Finally, he had to stop and give his body time to breath. Sweat dripped down his entire body and stained his clothing. It had been a good 2 hours of him searching. The guards from Baerim didn’t seem to mind his presence there. Unlike the people of Sei’O, the guards had never had to witness the plague themselves. Thus, they were a lot more tolerant to Plague Children. However, they are entirely indifferent to whether they die or not.



He took one of the bottles form his side and quickly chugged it down. The sun had already descended and darkness was beginning to form everywhere. The streets became less crowded, which was a good thing. Aren was to search the South and Western districts, while Lynx would search the Central and Northern District. So far, the northern district which held the highest population of upper class and nobles was empty. He could find no signs of Aries being here.



A couple walked past him, just arriving out of the high-end restaurant. They laughed and talked, throwing away most of their food before realizing Lynx headed their direction. “Disgusting. What’s one of those doing here?” They quickly stepped back. “Oh honey, don’t look at him too long, I don’t want you to get sick too.” She pulled him away and they reluctantly left the place.

All Lynx could do was look down, he had seen this scene play out too many times. He didn’t need a visual of it. “I fucken hate you…I hate all of you! ALL OF YOU! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!” under his stress, he shouted so loud that the whole block could hear him. But as he dug through the garbage to eat their left overs, he could only cry at how unfair this world was. It was people like them that were the reason for Aries disappearance. He ravenously ate the crab and rice and packed the other half with him. “This one will be for when I find you, Aries.”



------------------------------



“Oi, Lawrence. It’s been 2 days, nun’ of the plague children have red hair.” She said. They stood on the rooftops. “Much more, we ain’t even found th’bastard Regalt.”

“Calm down, it’ll be alright. But…What’s going on over there.”

A group of Plague children were all crowded around a lady who was clearly not one of them. “Y-you think they’re planning on doing something…r-reckless to her?” Mikhail asked.

“Who knows, but let’s find out. I still don’t see red hair amongst the crowd there.” They all jumped down from the rooftops and headed towards the crowd of plague children. With the trio so suspiciously clad, everyone was immediately worried. They all stepped back behind the lady Amai, aside from one other kid. The white-haired kid stood right beside her. He held an intense glare, as if he would immediately kill them all should they do anything reckless.



“Ah…I see. I’ve misunderstood the situation. Please don’t be alarmed, everyone.” He put his hands up to show that he was not thinking of unsheathing his sword. “You all seem to be distressed about something. We’re traveling adventurers from a nearby country. We’re just en-route to Foss and decided to stop here for the time being.” The trio let Lawrence do the talking. He had a completely kind demeanor when he was speaking to others. This made him the most diplomatic out of the three. Well, Shiek talks much too vicious. And Mikhail was much too timid.

The lady walked over to meet the 3 of them. The white-haired plague child followed with her. “I’m Amai. This is Ora.” Lawrence offered the lady his hand. None of the trio even acknowledged Ora being there.

“I’m sorry, this might be a question out of the blue…but have you guys seen a plague child with red hair recently?” Amai asked.

Lawrence almost jumped back. Were they looking for the child too?! “Um…No. Can you describe him?”

“Her. She’s a young girl about this tall. She’s 8” Amai motioned the height with her hands.

So, it’s not the same one.

According to the briefings he received, the kid they’re looking for is male.

Lawrence’s eyes widened upon recalling. “Oh…she’s. I saw her. She’s.” Lawrence gulped not wanting to explain to them what he had seen. It didn’t really dawn on him, but now that he saw how concerned and how much of a well-knit community the plague children were, he realized that the girl must have died of other causes. His initial speculation of them dying from each other had been wrong.

“Tch. Ya bloody girls’ dead. We seen th’body of a young plague kid lyin around the central district. Red hair, red dress? And some cute stickers placed all over her arms?”

Amai held her fingers to her mouth and began to cry. She had dropped down to the floor in sudden shock. “She’s….dead?”

“Yep. It looked like someone’ done her in pretty bad. If ye seen the body’ y’d figure it was some anim-“ Lawrence interrupted Shiek’s insensitivity with a quick backhand to her face. “Hey. Don’t you know how to talk to normal people.”

“Tch.” She spat. “Hit me again and ye’ll know how to talk to spirits.”

Mikhail quickly tried to calm the two down “G-guys…we shoudn’t f-fight.”

Ora hugged his teacher. Clenching his teeth at the absurd nature of the trio. At a time like this, they lacked even the sympathy to see the suffering going on before them. He could understand their indifference towards him, but Amai was normal just like the rest of them. Her long jet-black hair seemed to get heavier with her mood.

She looked up at the trio. “Please…T-take me to her. Take me to the body.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up to Lawrence with those big tearful green irises. Lawrence, being as gentle as he was, had not a single bone in his body that would object to doing so. Even with the mission at hand. It also didn’t help that Amai looked beautiful. It made his heart falter for a second.

“Very well. We’ll take you to her.” He knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. At this moment it looked like a noble knight helping a damsel in distress. If that image was not completely ruined by the glaring, white-haired Ora.

“Hold’on Lawrence. What ya goin on about takin her there, what about the damn’ mission.”

“We’re taking her. That’s final.”

“I-I..agree with Shiek. T-the mission comes first.”

Regardless of what they were saying, Lawrence was already walking with the lady. The young plague child followed shortly behind them.

“Tch. Always doin his own shit. Let’s go Mikhail.” They followed behind with them.

The walk was an awkward silence throughout. Shiek tried several times to converse with the plague child, Ora but was unsuccessful. Ora was being too bland with them to hold a conversation. And Mikhail’s voice annoyed him greatly to the point where he simply glared at Mikhail whenever Mikhail tried to speak.

The only one he would talk to was Amai, and Lawrence given Lawrence’s kind demeanor. Other than that, he was utterly cold to the rest of them.

After a good 30 minutes they finally arrived at central city, and there they saw the body up close for the first time. The moon shown the light on her just faintly, but one could see her jarred corpse. Her eye was close to falling out and a good portion of her skull had caved in from what looked to be a powerful kick. She was out here for two days…lying like this.

Ora gasped and crouched besides Amai. This was nothing short of the cruelest thing he had seen…but he couldn’t stand to see Aries like this. She was always so cheerful. The way she was perched up, sitting against the wall meant that she was alive for a time after all this and simply waited to die alone while everyone ignored her. Though he tried not to, his vision blurred from the tears that began to form in his eyes. Yet again. Yet again…I lose another comrade.



The trio behind them simply turned away from the scene. They had done what they felt obligated to do. From here on, they need only focus on the mission. “Let’s go.” They walked away from the darkened alleyway only to stop immediately, shocked from what they saw appear before them.



------------------------------



“Central city it is.” He walked onwards to the central part of the city. “I wonder what she’s doing right now?” Lynx began to run again and look up and down each alleyway. The city was for the most part empty aside from a couple homeless here and there. Unlike most of the other cities, central city was where a majority of all the other classes and people conglomerate. It is not uncommon to find homeless people there begging for cash, or the rich interacting with the poorer classes.

“There…” Lynx noticed both Amai and Ora huddled around something. He immediately ran over to them, his heart pounding. “Ora! Amai!!”. His run slowly came to a halt however as he saw what was going on. “H-hey…” he could see a small hand sticking out from them and Amai huddled over the body sobbing. “She’s…she’s alright isn’t she..” his voice was wavering. With him staggering over to the duo he could only start to tear up. The heaviness in his heart intensified when he realized they weren’t answering him. “ANSWER ME ORA!!”



“Don’t…you don’t want to see the body.” Ora said, wiping tears from his eyes.



“Tch..too fucken loud there’ bud.” That’s when he noticed the trio standing a bit further back from Ora. He could immediately feel the tension they exuded. The smaller girl ricocheted off the side of the buildings before pouncing down ontop of him, blade drawn. And just like that, he was sent soaring through the air. “Bludgeon.” The lady’s voice said calmly. It had missed its mark and collided with the ground, but the impact was enough to send the young Lynx flying several feet up. He tumbled back and skidded across the ground.



“Ugh..-wha..whats going..o..n” His eyesight went double and he couldn’t grasp what he was looking at.



“Heh, Come on, Shiek. No toying around with this one. You always have a bad habit of doing that.”



In truth, Shiek wasn’t toying around. She was hesitating. She hadn’t expected the child to be so young. Unlike the white-haired Ora, this one was much softer in appearance and looked almost peaceful. She had also come to realize the similarities between herself and the rest of these plague children. It was just like the slums anywhere else.

She looked at her hand. “Tch to think I could miss.” The hand shook, having redirected itself off its mark. She stood upright, picking up the blade from the large crater it made. Lynx got up immediately, and though sloppily, began to flee.

Lawrence leapt from in-between the three of them after the child. As swiftly as his legs could propel him, the next course of action he did was fluid. Flying straight forward like a canon ball, his body turned like a spinning tornado and his blade pierced through flesh. An arm was sent flying through the air, showering him with fresh blood.

“Huh…even I miss. I’m sorry. I’m wanting to make this swift and painless. So please…stop resisting.” Even he too, was hesitating.

Lynx fell onto the ground, crying and spitting out blood. The impact earlier had shattered his ribs and now his arm was gone. The adrenaline pumped through him and he rose up. “Why…” He turned to face them, holding the shoulder of his torn arms. “WHY IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS!?”



“WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO ANY OF YOU?!” he fell to the ground sobbing. “Please…just tell me why”



“Anniki!!” Ora shouted out, exiting the alleyway to meet up with the rest of them. Amai followed behind as well panting. The actions earlier happened much to fast to even process what was going on. They could see Lynx kneeling with his arm bloodied and torn off. Blood trailed down the side of his face.



“What have I done to you guys…really. If anything, I’m sorry.” He got down on his knees and put his head to the floor, apologizing sincerely from his heart. He couldn’t feel the pain yet. He got up to look at their faces. How could people be this cruel to them? He hadn’t even time to mourn the loss of his comrade.

This act shook the trio to the core. They could find no explanation for their actions. Nor could they tell him the purpose of their mission.

“Annoying kid’ ye shoulda just died without sayin nuthin’” Shiek withdrew her blade sever and launched it at Lynx, aiming straight for the head this time without any hesitation. But it failed.

Just as she had launched it outwards, Ora had stepped in, pulling her hand and throwing a punch straight to her face. With the knife’s trajectory displaced, it flew several feet away from Lynx's face, yet still managed to cut his cheek. Lynx could only feel the hot burning sensation slowly kick in. “Oh…I see.” He got up and continued to flee.

Ora had pinned himself against the girl, holding onto her legs to prevent her from moving. In response she took one hand and slammed it down upon his neck, knocking him unconscious. “Pest.” Holding up her hand, a strange force brought the blade back to her.

“You guys…are weak.” Mikhail said, holding his hand out in a fist. His left arm was extended outwards, and his right hand stabalized it. In that instant, like a cannon being blasted, the fist disappeared. The next series of events happened rather chaotically. Mikhail’s relic, Hopper was a unique and powerful one.

Normally resting on the user’s hand like a glove, it held the ability to hop from one area to another through spatial transmigration. Essentially, anything within 100 meters, he could reach and grab. However, it does hold a separate ability with it as well. The hand can only teleport in a direct trajectory from the arm. Thus, there is always a linear path back to the wrist.

If one were to find themselves in the middle of this linear trajectory, the invisible force that truly propels the arm through space will cut those within the trajectory apart. As soon as he blasted the arm towards Lynx, he had regretted not observing his surroundings. Blood splattered everywhere, and a body dropped to the ground. It wasn’t the target. “FUCK!” Mikhail shouted. He returned the hopper back to his original hand.

Lying in the middle of the ground was the black-haired lady, Amai. Her body split cleanly in 2. She had tried to hop in front of the way of the relic and only ended up killing herself. She died instantly. “Mikhail...we’re not spose’d to be killin bystanders here. What in the world do ya think you’re doin.” Shiek explained. “Augh..I-‘m sorry. I got carried away. I didn’t even see her there.”

Lawrence who was standing in the path of the fleeing plague child could not muster up the conviction to stop him. They had utterly failed. Lynx ran right past him unperturbed.

He was unaware of Amai’s demise. He didn’t look back. He refused to look back. He didn’t even know where he was fleeing to. His head was spinning. The loss of blood was going to eventually be his downfall. As he ran, he could see someone in front of him. He couldn’t make out the blurry figure but he decided it couldn’t have been those three.

“…is this what she witnessed before dying?” He sobbed. “I truly hate this place. Amai…you once told me of a place that others would treat us like normal…where I wouldn’t feel like I’ve done something wrong all the time. Ever since then I’d always ask you about it…and you would never tell me where it was.”

“Help…P-please.” He shouted to the man before him. He looked like a guard and was rather confused about the whole situation.

“I think I finally understand where that place is…the place we could forever be understood…”

The shadowy figure then bolted towards him, a single golden ring gleaming in the darkness. His hands clutched around Lynx’s neck and with an effortless grip, crushed his throat and snapped his cervical spine. Lynx’s world faded.

“Aries is already there…heh…I guess…I will see you soon, Aries.”

On that day…Lynx Beta died.

“You guys were much too sloppy. Do you know how hard it was to see a kid suffering like that?” Regalt spoke. “Never let your emotions get in the way of your mission. I’ve been watching you guys fairly closely.” By watching, he really meant sleeping in places nearby.

“Mikhail…you killed a bystander. Unacceptable. Now we can’t even stick around to investigate.”

“Inefficient, unprofessional, and you…” he turned to Lawrence. “unbecoming.”

The trio nodded and picked up their items and weapons. “Come on. We’re leaving this place for now.”

The mission concluded in a success for the country of Yorba. But ended in failure for Mikhail, Shiek and Lawrence. Unbeknownst to them, they had just caused the greatest calamity to occur.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 8: Cogs and Wheels

The night was still young. How long had he been out? Was it a dream? Why is there such a heavy feeling in his heart? The world around him began to twist and distort, slowly coming into view to paint a vivid image. “I…” Ora’s eyes shot open.

All the memories in his mind rushed back at blazing speeds. His mind struggled to rearrange the scenery before him. The crater on the ground, the blood splatter everywhere, dull pain in his neck.

Ora slowly got up, swaying as he stood. The light of the moon had shined brightly upon him and he could see the glistening of hot crimson. As if he was inhaling malicious fumes, his breath caught in his throat.

On one side, lay Lady Amai’s black dress with her legs still in them. On the other side, rather jarred, and bloody was her upper torso. Her face held a look of surprise. The only relief one could possibly think of was that she died without feeling pain.

He felt his cheek. Blood remained on his face from the abhorrent display before him. From the warmness of it, it had only been a good 5 minutes since his loss of consciousness.

A howl rang out through the night. The blood-curdling scream could only come from the realization that Lady Amai was dead. “Anniki..Anniki, where’s Anniki.” He began to run, in the direction that Lynx had disappeared off to.

In his frantic speed, the floor beneath him slid and sent him tumbling in a hue of red. For just a couple of seconds what had been a cold night, turned slightly warmer. The amount of blood he was covered in was disgusting.

It filled the streets and threatened to trip up anyone nearby as well. He began crawling away from the body, trying to find Lynx. As he got only 10 meters away, he saw it.

A body lay on the ground, eerily motionless. A tingling sensation crawled up and down his spine. “An..ni..” He ran over to him, tripping and crawling from the blood. Regardless, he kept moving forward, refusing to slow down. The feeling that swelled within him was overwhelming.

It felt like he was literally going to rip in two. There was not a thing the world could do to quench that feeling of despair. And with every second he inched closer to Lynx, that feeling threatens to descend lower and lower.



“Please…I can’t lose you too.” The tears stained his strained face. As he got closer, he could see that Lynx was not moving. Regardless of this, his mind held doubt that he was dead. In his own head, he believed his eyes to be deceiving him.

He believed that regardless of what he saw, Lynx was still alive.

When he got to the body, the very image of a future he had built in his head, shattered. Like a mirror that had just fallen.

He went to check Lynx’s pulse, only to feel the man’s neck crushed. Blood had trailed out of his mouth and down the sides of his face. He had died from suffocating in his own blood and vomit. Ora couldn’t bear the feeling.

His shaking body, his ragged breath, his clenched teeth, they were all signs of a man falling apart. How could such a scene happen? This was a normal night entirely, and within one instant, it disappeared.



Those 3 adventurers…. He burned their faces into his mind, remembering every glimpse of them he had seen. “You all…. I will make all of you understand what you’ve done here.” Empty words. He had no means of getting back at those adventurers, nor any means of fighting them.

He was but a plague child, lost in his own delusions. The best he could do was daydream every day about how he kills them all. The best he could do for the world was daydream about how he would change everything.



He roared loudly upon realizing that the best he could amount to was to only dream of revenge. His fists slammed into the concrete with a loud roar as he shouted through the night

“aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”



He was fairly certain he had shattered at least a bone or two in his hand. Even then, it only further proved how weak he was, for the concrete hadn’t even a crack in it. How could he stop a girl who had put a crater in the ground with a mere knife?

“AY! Who goes there!?” 2 guards suddenly emerged from the corner. Their lanterns showed the scenery before them and one of them shrieked like a girl. “What in god’s name…T-this…is too much.”

Ora looked back and immediately fled to the shadows before he could be realized. They would surely blame him regardless of how mangled the scene looks. No one child could cause such a scene. He fled, dismayed that he had to abandon the corpses of his own comrades.

During that night, though only 3 comrades died, 4 things were lost that day.

The guards looked over at the sudden movement within the darkness and yelled at Ora to stop immediately. They immediately gave chase, only to fall victim to the slick blood layering itself around the cobbled stone paths.

He dipped into an alley-way and took various turns until he finally found himself resting in the darkest space he could find. There, Ora curled into a ball and slept, visited by the scenes that had occurred earlier.



The sun beat relentlessly on those below. Graced by her presence, life was bustling and blooming with activity. Children ran through the streets, various adults scurried to and from work. The world seemed almost entirely oblivious to the carnage of last night.

They had blocked off the entire road that held such a gruesome scene. This investigation was purely because the lady that had died, Amai, was not a plague child. Though, everyone in Essen-Seo knew her as the Plague Lady.



She was often warned that hanging out with plague children would cause her demise. They isolated her, left her to her own device. Family members excommunicated her for the kindness she showed to these children.

Eventually, she had no choice but to live just outside the outskirts of the eastern district. All the plague children knew her. All the townspeople knew her. Her public image had decreased critically, yet she was always somehow able to make money.



The sun eventually invaded the alley-way that was Ora’s sanctuary. And he had to awaken from his morbid sleep. Dark bags had formed under his eyes. It appeared as if he hadn’t even slept in years.

“I’m sorry Amai…. I’m sorry Anniki… I couldn’t save you both. I was too late. Too weak…too worthless.” He had spoken those words over and over in and out of his sleep. Hearing it once he was awake had only served the purpose of darkening his world.

That was until… he found himself staring face to face with an odd vagrant. At this time, he couldn’t understand what he was given, but the real story of the legend known as Ora began.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 9: Return

Once the pain had stopped, it felt like every inch of his body was invigorated. It was an odd sensation. Each and every cell in his body was vibrant and coursing with energy.

As he stood, the muscles in his body surged upwards and sent him jumping several meters in the air. This threw him off guard. When he had looked down, the buildings were well below his feet. “Huh-..what the hell?!” He found himself panicking, grabbing at the skies while falling down. His screams were drowned out only by the sound of the wind scurrying beneath him. Just as he held his breath, thinking he was gonna die, BOOM!

The impact occurred, and he collided with the earth, leaving behind a crater on the ground. His eyes darted around, and he realized that everyone was looking at him. The motion of the crowd had stopped to turn towards the loud noise. Meeting the gazes of so many, Ora frantically scurried off. “What…in the world was that?” He clutched onto his head.

“Perhaps I’m going insane…I don’t know..ugh..” he held onto his head and kept running. He needed to get out of here first and foremost. Go back to the eastern slums. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Before long, he found himself back at his familiar homes.

“OY! ORA!”

Who was that? The voice sounded familiar but he couldn’t put a finger on it. Ah…Alel.

Alel ran up to him, panting. “Hey..have you seen…have you seen Amai. They’re saying you and her left with 3 adventurers to look for Aries.”

She stroked her jet-black hair. “So since you’re back, they’re following closely by behind you, right?”

A pained expression took over Ora’s already fatigued face and he shook his head. “N-no….Amai, Lynx-“ The next words failed to come out of his mouth despite his lips speaking.

“Hey…a-are you okay?” She rested a hand on lynx shoulder. The warm sensation on Lynx shoulder was only turning hotter and hotter to the point that steam was starting to come from it. Alel, Lin, and Rel were the three oldest plague children.

They were also the only 3 to hold substantial relics. Subconsciously, Alel was activating her relic which caused her arms to turn into smoldering hot tongs. It takes a while to charge up prior to a fight, but after it does, she is capable of melting through metal with just her fists.

“Where is Amai, Lynx…Aries?”

Ora immediately jumped back from the surging hot pain that had now started to sear through his clothes “Ah! Shit. Stop, that hurts!”

Alel pulled her hands back, just now realizing it was starting to heat up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice.” Alel’s soothing voice was very contrasting to her emotion. Even at this moment, though she was a wreck and speculating the worst, her eyes and voice remained calm.

“They’re dead. All of them!”

“Amai! Lynx! Aries! All of them are dead!”

All activity stopped.

The plague children nearby had all heard this and people began crowding the two. Many in confusion, some in shock. Amongst the crowd near-by, Lin, and Rel also joined in.

“What do you mean they’re dead? How?!?” A voice from the crowd shouted

“HEY ORA THIS ISN’T A GAME”

“Stop playing around like that.”

“Ora, I think you haven’t gotten enough sleep.”

“What the hell do you mean they’re DEAD?!”

Ora got to the ground and sat down, holding his head. “The 3 adventurers…t-they killed both Lynx and Amai.”



Alel picked him up by the collar and yet again, her sharp piercing yellow gaze glared back into his red eyes. “You fled?” she asked calmly. Though she might have appeared calm, the shirt she held onto was burning slowly.

Lin pulled up behind her. A smile had shown on his face and he grabbed Alel’s shoulder. “Calm yourself Alel, he had probably just witnessed both of their deaths.”

He squatted beside Ora. “How did they die?”

“The trio seemed to be after Lynx for some reason…when we went to search for Aries, she was already dead. Lynx ran into us in our search and they immediately went on the offensive. I was knocked out trying to protect Lynx.” He breathed heavily, trying to say the words as natural as possible without having to remember it all.

“When I came to, Amai was…sp..Amai was split in half. Lynx was dead just several meters away from her.”

There was a sudden fuss around the crowd. “Hey. Ora.”

He looked up, and Rel’s fist collided with his face, rocking his very vision and sending him tumbling to the very edge of the circle. Some of the people from his own unit rushed to aid him and help him upright.



“I don’t know why you thought it alright to leave on your own. But you were even too weak to defend any of your comrades.” Rel declared. He cracked his knuckles and began advancing towards Ora.

Out of the 3, Rel was the most violent. No one liked to fuck with him, so they all just stood and watched. He advanced towards Ora, and his leg retracted behind him. It flew forward to have struck him right in the stomach, sending him launched upwards. Rel wasted no movement, grabbing the man mid-air and punching him through the circle that had formed.

Ora made no effort to resist at this point. He had felt this was what he deserved. “Hey, Ora. Stand up.” He commanded.

Ora tried to stand, blood dripping violently from his nose. Once he was up on 2 feet, he was met yet again with another powerful punch to the face. Rel actually held a relic, but believe it or not, it was not a relic that increased his strength. In fact, it was more or less useful for infiltration. His strength was the factor of natural born gifts.

“Stand up.”

Ora slowly rose again only to be knocked around by Rel. Everyone was watching uneasily. Members of his own crew held in the worst of their emotions. They were just to sit there and watch their own team leader be pummeled? Ridiculous.

Yet again Ora stood up. This time he could barely see anything. Darkness encompassed most of his vision. He was being struck at from the shadows, unable to glimpse anything that was going on. He only knew he had to keep standing.

To him, his punishment wasn’t over yet.

He stood up yet again. This was probably his last time standing up. He felt the strength fade away from every iota of consciousness he had. His breath was incredibly unusual, his sight was gone, his left arm was fractured.



He waited for the final impact, but it didn’t come. Instead, he heard several voices from his own team. “Fuck off all of you! You’d stand up for this coward!?” Most of his team had come rushing for his aid. They couldn’t bear to watch such a sight anymore.

He could feel a very resonating warmth hugging him. The young girl’s voice was full of tears and refused to let go even though he was practically using her to hold himself up. “Please…Ora. Don’t stand up anymore. I don’t want you to die too..” It was Sela. “Please…I’ve already lost Anniki. Don’t die.”

Ora could only help but to laugh at the poor girl’s plight. Even now, she seemed so calm and unaware of her situations. “You all can take the punishment with him!” Several of his own team members were launched back. He could hear Rel advancing towards him. “Out of my way girl.”

Sela shook her head and clutched onto Ora tighter. Suddenly, he could feel Sela ripped away from him. At that point, the whole world froze. Sela, nor Rel made a noise.

“Rel, that’s enough,” Lin spoke approaching the 2 of them.

Rel, nor Sela made a motion. They could move their eyes and they’re lip. That was it. “W-what the-“

“Punishment… this is nothing.” Ora said. “Punishment…?” He cocked his fists back. With all the strength he could muster left in his body, the flying fist went forward. He could not see where Rel was, but all his strength collided against something hard. “This is nothing compared witnessing your comrades die!”

The entire crowd gasped as they saw Rel flying several feet through the air. Ora grabbed Sela and slumped to the ground, using her as support. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t strong enough.” Sela hugged his head. “But you aren’t either. I fought them…it only took 1 hit to land me unconscious.”

Whatever words he was saying, Rel couldn’t hear much of it. He got up and wiped his chin. His body was shaking. “Tch, strong punch there kid.” But he still couldn’t explain the strange sensation he had just felt. As if he was frozen in place.

“It ain’t like we weren’t prepared for that kind of outcome. For years we knew that Amai would one day leave us.” Rel said getting up. His glare at Ora was one of high suspicion. “You really know how to take a punch huh. I guess it wasn’t cowardice if you refused to run the whole time.” He stood up from the ground and began cracking his neck.

Lin helped the man up.

Alel went over to him once again. “Hey, Ora. You said Amai, Lynx and Aries perished in combat, aye?”

She bent over to level with him. Sela still rested in between the two. “So… where does Aren fit into all this?”

Ora’s eyes widened “Huh? Aren’s back in town?” A dumb question. If Alel was here, that would mean Aren was also back. She was the leader of the recon unit after all. “Earlier, when Lynx had departed to find Aries, Aren also left with him. He’s one of the 4 that has not returned.”



Ora shook his head. “I know nothing about that… he wasn’t there.”

 

Spoiler: Chapter 10: Onward!

The rest of the night had proceeded in silence. He slept in his bed and refused to talk with anyone. Everyone else in his group was nervous about him, but regardless, they gave him time to rest. The next day, no work was done. People were too busy mourning the deaths of Amai.



Ora remained in bed for the duration of the entire day, until he heard a commotion. He slowly dragged himself up and peered through. His body moved sluggishly, still sore and disoriented from the beating yesterday.

He had bandages wrapped around his arm, presumably by his squad. He looked at the bandages, uncertain of when they did it.



It must have been when he was asleep. “huh…that’s.” His eyes zoomed in, on Aren. The Plague child with greying hair. Aren’s face was distraught. Ora slowly crawled out of the room to hear what they were speaking of.

“O, Ora.” Aren turned to him. His face was much the same as Ora’s own. “I’m sorry.”

“I couldn’t save Aries. I brought her here from Luri’Seo. And yet, I couldn’t save her.” He chuckled. “I do terribly at being a hero.”

“Ay, Aren. Answer the question. Where were you?” Alel asked. “I had gone to check up on Lynx after I finished searching for Aries. I came on the scene and was knocked out by some strange man. I don’t remember much about him except that he had a gold ring on his finger.”


Ora couldn’t recall any of them having a golden ring. “But he moved freakishly fast…when I came to, I only found corpses. I was too late.” He looked over to Ora.

“ I saw you there too, but I had assumed you were also dead. I came back the next night to recover the bodies and yet again, bumped into one of the trio.”

Rel, Lin, and Alel all paid close attention to this part. “And?”

“Well, he took all the bodies with him, and buried them outside of the city.” Aren recalled the scenery that night.



He had come back to hopefully collect at least Aries’ body. But upon returning, he had found that Aries and Lynx’s bodies were gone and the man with the ring on his finger went around picking up each individual piece of Amai.

He followed him, only to find the man on the outskirts of the city itself, burying the bodies.



The two guards standing post were actually in deep sleep or knocked out and made to look like they were standing.

He couldn’t fathom what he was seeing. The man had dug out 3 graves for each of his comrades, and buried their bodies in the graves, even saying a prayer for each one before departing on his horse. He then fled west.



Rel, Lin and Alel all nodded. “Very well. We’ll head to the west. Those four will answer for their crimes.”

Ora’s eyes widened. They couldn’t stand a chance. But of course, they had to do something. Ora crawled out of his room “Please. Take me with you.”

Rel’s eyes scanned Ora’s body. “You’re in zero condition to fight. You’ll only slow us down.”

“No... please. I have to make them understand what they’ve done.”

Rel grabbed onto Ora’s bandaged arm and held it up. “Look at this, your arms brok-“ he stopped mid-sentence and took a closer look at his arm. “What in the world…I could’ve sworn it was broken yesterday.” Rel observed Ora’s arm intently, finally looking at the palm of his hand.



The dark gem glared back at him, seemingly sucking away all the light from around him. For a couple of seconds, his vision darkened and he dropped Ora’s hand and looked away. “What in the world is that?”



“I can fight.” Ora nodded. “I know I can.”

Lin looked over to him with that closed-eyed smile he always held. “Ora…do you have a relic? Where’d you find that.” He picked up Ora’s hand observing the gem as well.

“Woah, trippy. He put his hands down and tried to clear the darkness that had fogged his eyes. “Haha, what kind of relic is that. It has to be at least C-ranked. Seriously, where’d ya find that?”

“you’re a relic wielder!? What does it do?” Alel asked, exasperated.

“I don’t know yet, some old man gave it to me.” He unwrapped the bandages and began flexing his hands. “It doesn’t feel broken..”

“Hm…I see. I don’t think it would be wise of you to come with us. You’re not yet familiar with your relic. You might end up being a liability.”

“I can fight.” Ora assured.

Rel patted him on the shoulder. “I think so too. Actually… I have no doubt you can fight.” He turned to the other two. “We should bring him with. Besides, he’s the only one that may have seen their abilities in combat.”



In a battle between relic wielders and mages, information was everything. At the moment, Alel held the C-rank relic ‘Ignifir’- a bracelet resting on both of her arms. It allowed her to supercharge the temperature in her own arms up to her shoulders. They could reach smoldering hot temperatures to where she could ignite things simply through touch alone.

Lin held the relic known as “Iridis” it was one entirely unsuitable for combat. It only served to see energies. He could see the full extent of someone’s power as well as see hidden forms of energies around him.

It was very useful in scouting out traps, seeing magical fields, or even deciding the power capacity of those around him. It was a useful means of gathering information.

It also allowed him to peer through the view of various different people at once. Even now, it was no doubt that he was looking through the eyes of several other beings in near proximity.



Rel on the other hand, held an infiltration relic. It was one that allowed him to be undetected. Even through all 5 senses. It wasn’t invisibility, it was more of something that erased his presence. If he were to get into a fight with someone, he would most-likely overcome them with ease.



And then there was Ora, who was still yet uncertain of his own abilities. He nodded.

“very well. We depart tonight. Get prepared.”


That rest of the day passed by very slowly. They all gathered preparations which Rel carried the brunt of the weight.

Someone knocked on the door to his room. Ora nodded and allowed the man to enter. “Hey, Ora.” The brutish voice spoke.

“Look. I came to apologize about yesterday. I was rash and lost my temper. Despite what had just occurred, I don’t view you as an enemy.”

“It’s fine Rel.”

“But that was a very powerful punch. I didn’t know you had that kind of power in you” He said, touching his chin to make sure it didn’t break.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll kill the entire lot of them. And if we should fail... I’d like you to return at the very least.”

Ora looked over to him surprised. “Huh?- what are you saying?”

“The three of us, we talked it over. Should anything go wrong, you should be the new leader of all this.” He motioned with his hands, speaking of the sanctuary.

“Your people really trust you. I think that’s the marks of a good leader. Truthfully, if it wasn’t going to be you, it would have been Lynx.” He chuckled. “You two were very much alike.” Both Ora and Lynx were anomalies even amongst the plague children.

Lynx was one of 2 plague children to inherit red hair. Ora was the only one to have white hair. Since they both appeared in the capital at the same time, they were treated as brothers. Both quickly became geniuses amongst their kin and regarded in great light.

“But I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Rel said, patting Ora heavily on the back.

This slightly annoyed Ora because Rel was extremely heavy-handed, but he put up with the temporary assault.

“Um, Rel. How are we gonna get there?”

“Hah, are you serious? The same way we always go on parting missions.”

Ora looked confused. He had never gone on an expedition with the rest of the group.



He had come to find that it was rather anticlimactic. They basically just walked straight ahead to the stables where the guards had kept the horses. Lin’s Iridis ensured that they would not bump into a single other entity. Furthermore, it looked like there were 2 uses to Rel’s relic.

Not only did it allow him to cloak himself, but nearby allies for a certain amount of time can fall under the effects. As they withdrew to the stables, the guards on duty had no reaction to their presence.

It was similar to the blanket spell. However, unlike the blanket spell, the people within could not be heard or even smelled. It was also superior in that, it posed no drainage to their user’s abilities. In theory, he could spend days under the effects of Ethiri.



To the guards, the horses merely looked like they disappeared and as they began to panic, Rel knocked both of their lights out swiftly. They got atop 2 horses each. Ora rode with Rel, and Lin shared a horse with Alel.

“Alright. Let’s see…according to Aren, they headed east. Let’s see if you can pinpoint their location. They headed eastward in quick succession. After they got out of eyesight of the capital city, Rel stopped hiding their presence. He could only cover multiple people for so long.

Ora stared jealously at Alel and Lin. They rode their horses so gracefully. He, on the other hand, had trouble keeping his head up. Rel was bobbing back and forth so fast and pumped that holding on became a struggle for Ora. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he had lost consciousness a couple times.

“I’m so ready to mess up some damn faces.” Veins appeared on his hands. Rel was a rarity amongst rarities. In this world, there are those very few who are born with special talents. They’re known as Variants.


Variants for centuries were a truly revered force. People believe them to be blessed by certain deities upon birth.

While the natural innate abilities of Variants aren't always useful, Rel's held significant addition to his abilities. It was entirely possible for him to kill someone in one blow.


Other notable Variants, were Zion, Sevesmir, and the Band of Claw. Zion was a magician that held significant stamina and enormous amounts of mana.

Much more so than any other mage to have existed. He was also noted to have extremely high vitality. 300 years had passed by and the man appeared to be only middle age.


His death occurred under strange circumstances without a body being present, but others suggest he perished on the fields of Qara'til when they utilized "Goodbye Tommorow".

Originally, people held Variants in light of awe and admiration, but specifically due to Zion, people’s opinions changed to one of wariness.

In recent times, a group of Variants calling themselves Band of Claw had surfaced up. It was a criminal organization that was composed entirely of powerful Variants who wreaked havoc to much of the western countries. Several countries dispatched relic wielders and magicians in order to deal with them.

None had ever come back victorious. Or at all. In the end, the countries realized their resources were going to waste and with constant failures to subdue the Claw, their efforts decreased slowly.

Of course, if Kars were to find himself facing against Claw, the chances of his victory presented too much of an uncertainty. So in order to avoid any problems, Yorba had opted to remain silent until the problem inconveniences them.

A hawk suddenly flew overhead and shrieked loudly. Somewhere above, its eyes viewed the world through complex, accurate lenses.

Somewhere below, Lin’s eyes fed off the image. From his own mind, he witnessed the thousands of trees, rocks, and tiny critters. Thus, he was easily able to spot the encampment.

It was about 2 more miles away from where they were at. Though, he realized they were slightly off trajectory.

“Readjust, 23 degrees east.” They shifted their horses, following his lead. “We have exactly 2 miles left. At the speed we’re going we could reach there within about 45 minutes to an hour.”

Alel nodded. “However…” he continued. “They seem to be well fortified. I count at the very least 35 of them. It must be a whole military unit.”

“eh?? Are you saying they sent a whole military group past our borders just to kill Lynx and Amai?” Alel shook her head. “That makes zero type of sense, why? For a mere child?”

“Furthermore, the country looks to be carrying Yorba sigils.” Lin said, as he observed their sigil. Yorba held the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Ouroboros, they called it.

Rel scowled. “We’re dealing with fucken Yorbians? Tch. I say fuck em. I can take care of all of them myself.”

Truly, Rel’s Godsend was a powerful one to be trifled with, but when combined with his relic, he could easily clear through the group of knights before they knew what hit them…however, the magicians and relic wielders were an unknown factor.

Many of them might have detection magic of a weird sort, or can utilize AOE magic and thus deal damage to him without knowing his precise location.

And who knows what the relic wielders abilities might be. It would be best to take care of the real threats first and then destroy the knights last. That was a task that would be much easier said than done.

“I think we still have a chance. They can’t utilize AOE because they’ll be close to comrades as well right? Then all we really have to worry about, are those who might have superb detection abilities. They won’t have it on for no reason, otherwise it’s a waste of mana.” Ora spoke for the first time during this trek

“So…we kill all the magicians first and then work our way to the relic wielders. It will be better to wait until midnight once we arrive.”

Lin nodded in approval. “Of course, I was going to suggest the same, Ora.”

Alel looked to the both of them and boldly claimed that she was thinking that as well.

Rel had no choice but to admit he too was thinking the same way, but everyone wouldn’t buy that. Rel was much too brawn to think tactically.

The ride went smoothly with them discussing tactical opportunities until finally, they found themselves just 100 meters away from the encampment. They rested behind a giant rock and sat silently. Lin utilized his iridis.

From behind the rock, he was still capable of seeing and hearing conversations through everyone else’s eyes. The mages that talked amongst themselves, the knights that drank and laughed.

He had no trouble keeping up with all the scenarios at once.

He had also noted a detection barrier set up around the encampment, but it was of no consequence. They had Rel’s cloak around them after all. It was actually able to circumvent most detection techniques.

“Eh? Lin?” Lin hadn’t moved for several minutes and his hands were shaking. He was breathing pretty heavily, unable to stop himself. Alel slapped him hard and severed his mental link with all the others at the encampment. “Get a grip Lin.”

“W-we gotta go.” He clutched his head. They had tied the horses a good 200 meters back to avoid any disturbances. He looked too nauseous to even make it to the horses.

“What did you see, Lin?” Alel calmly asked, tugging on his sleeve.

“K-..kars. The Silver Knight”

All 3 of them froze.

The name Kars bears a heavy weight in the hearts of everyone who hears it. He was from the Kelshung family. They were the first instance of an entire family lineage to be considered Variants.

It’s an uncertainty how the whole of the Kelshung family were variants, but they all possessed the same Variant ability.

To date, every Kelshung family lived beyond the age of 300. Though he only appeared to be in his 30’s, Kars was 120, and his brothers were all around the same age.

Due to their actions during the war, they were all famously known. After-all, who could hold up against 100 years of skills and knowledge.

“It’s alright. They couldn’t possibly do anything to us if they don’t know we’re here. My relic should keep us all safe.” Rel said nonchalantly.

Though, even he couldn’t keep his hands from shaking as he said this. Truly, just the name Kars alone is a weapon.

Ora nodded, agreeing with Rel.

“Don’t forget what we came here for. It’s to take down a couple of murderers. They killed our very own Comrades. Tch” He added. “Let's take out the lot of them.”

Alel hesitantly agreed with Rel as well and Lin calmed himself down to the point where he could focus. “Alright…Let’s do this.”

He continued to watch the group through their very own eyes. Little by little, each viewpoint he had closed off. They were going to sleep. He very hesitantly watched as Kars was the last one to fall asleep.

The only set of eyes left was the mage that utilized the detection barrier. He and one other mage were entirely awake and prepared for any foreign invasion.

“Let’s move.”

 

Spoiler: Chapter 11: The Awakening pt 1

The trio slid from behind the rock and very quickly, making no attempt to hide, rushed towards the encampment. They followed Lin’s lead.

With Rel’s relic encompassing them all, no one could hear them, even if they spoke loudly. Nor could they be seen, even if they were right in front of the target.

Soon, they closed in on the magicians. Alels hands were heated to molten proportions and she grabbed at the Mage’s throat. A loud shriek escaped from the magician's lips and he flailed wildly.

It was too late however. Within seconds, his throat was seared through and severed. The other Magician turned in high alert to see the source of the sound, only for Rel’s fist to very powerfully collide into the side of his head.

His vision shook and he dropped straight from the floor, suffering from internal bleeding. Aside from the two magicians there, no one else had heard them. The reason being is simple.

“Heh, looks like it works.” Rel scoffed.

“WHAT?! YOU DIDN’T KNOW IT WOULD?!” Alel resisted punching him with her molten hands.

“Oi oi. I figured it would. If I could shroud my own comrades, I could clearly shroud my enemies.”

The shrouding effect had engulfed both magicians shortly before their deaths. By this point, they could see everyone within the shroud, but no one outside could hear them. So it was a very effective method in muffling opponent alertness.

With this method, they could truthfully bring down the entire camp.

Or so they thought….

The next course of actions occurred in a blur, as if time itself was a nothing of essence. The loudest roar could be heard in the tent behind them. What pursued was an explosion of wind, picking the tents off the ground and sending them flying into the clouds.

“WHO IN THE WORLDS DISTURBING MY DAMN SLEEP!”

“Heh…I see so that’s how it works.” Rel shook his head and cursed loudly.

His relic could only shroud living beings and their possessions. Inanimate objects are not considered in the shrouding ability. In this case, the bodies are no longer beings but objects. As soon as they died, the shroud no longer worked on them.

As the tent flew past them, dust kicked up and revealed their form to the masses. The culprit for such a large noise caused everyone to wake up in a panic.

A man with a golden ring and deep sunken eyes stood at the center of everyone’s attention. As everyone came out of their tents, immediately incantations were being made.

Lin observed through various eyes. All of them were fixated on the crew in the center of it all. The dust cloud he had kicked up, was sticking onto their bodies and giving a corporeal sight to everyone.

“SHIT! THEY CAN SEE US!” Lin shouted.

“HOW?!”

At that instant, the man that shouted leaped forward. Fast. Much too fast. Lin couldn’t even keep up with the movements through the man’s own eyes.

A single golden ring gleamed in the darkness and picked up Rel by the throat, lifting him into the air. “Eenie, meanie…miney. MO.”

“The rest of you better come out of hiding, or your friends dead.” Regalt's grip remained firm against the man’s face. Everyone else immediately stopped their magic casting.

To them, Regalt had just dashed, then suddenly disappeared. “Heh, now we’re talking.” Regalt said as he saw everyone before him. Much to his shock, they were all plague children. “Well well well… isn’t this a surprise. Well actually, no. It isn’t.”



Everyone was shocked that Regalt could see them. For just a split second, they had believed that Rel had taken down the shroud. But upon noting that the mages and everyone else stopped their attacks, they realized that he didn’t deactivate the shroud. He simply included Regalt in it.

To the outside world, it appeared as if Regalt had merely vanished upon dashing towards the duo. They were uncertain what was going on. They could see one of the assailants were being lifted into the air.

While flailing in Regalt’s grip, Rel smirked and kicked at him. Regalt had not prepared any defense towards the kick. Such actions could not harm him. Or so he thought.

Upon impact, he was sent flying 5 meters back, before catching himself. A dent presented itself in his breastplate. “Oh?... this might be fun after all.”

Just as he had regained his own balance, Alel rushed him, her fist headed straight for the man’s face. Not willing to take any more chances again, Regalt stomped onto the ground, throwing her off balance.

He deflected her arms and punched her in the gut. She buckled up and held onto her stomach. “That’s 1.” Kars jumped back, avoiding Rel’s onslaught of punches with relative ease.

“Huh, that girl must be the one with the fire magic.” He said as he observed the crease in his armor. The heat had melted the metal.

Rel’s barrages of punches and kicks continued but to no avail. Finally, Regalt had collected enough data about the man to realize what his movement pattern was. Then all of the sudden…boom. The kid disappeared.

Even if it was just for an instant, he had disappeared from Regalt’s line of sight, and a powerful force sent him flying yet again. This time, much much further than before. He found himself at the very edge of the camp 40 feet back.

Everyone gasped as Regalt had finally come back into view, only to get rag dolled across the field. The scenery was an odd one to everyone involved. To the outside audience, they could only see sudden impact points across the camp. Then suddenly Regalt had reappeared out of nowhere only to be sent flying.

Regalt laying still on the ground, laughed hard. “I see…that was very clever. You kids have the making of a powerful group. Unfortunately, your lives will be cut short here.” As he said this he seemed truly saddened by the news.

Rel was surprised by his own actions. He had only just thought to do that in the spur of the moment. By excommunicating Regalt from his shroud, Regalt became blind yet again to the squad. The slight moment of disorientation was all he needed to land such a powerful strike on him.

He smirked and kicked off the ground. His leap sent him 30 feet up. With the trajectory, he was bound to land right on top of Regalt with a powerful pummel of his hands.

“Regalt! No. Let's leave. NOW!” Lin shouted. Ora ran over to Alel, who was just barely struggling to get up.

Just as Rel was going to land onto Regalt, Regalt activated his relic even further than his prior 5%. “1,000 cold nights, 10%” Rel landed his hit with a strong powerful shock sent straight to the man’s gut. The dent in his armor was apparent.

Regalt shrugged off the hit like it was nothing, and with one swat of his hand, Rel’s world went black.

He got up, cracking his knuckles and his neck. When Rel lost consciousness, the entire shroud ability deactivated, and everyone was visible to the naked eye.

Now the magicians all had their spells ready and active. Elemental waves were entirely prepared and ready to turn the group into a puddle.

Alel, Lin, and Ora all huddled around each other. Her arms heated to the point that they were entirely red. This was a situation that, regardless of their relics, they could do nothing to prevent from happening.

“So this was the child with the invisibility. A girl with hands that heat up, a guy with immense strength AND a blanket relic? … Hold on. I had assumed that strength was his relic. So he must be a variant.” Regalt picked up the slumped Rel and held him to his side like a piece of luggage.

“This was not worth waking up from sleep for.”

“I figured you were having some nightmare in your sleep, Regalt. But you really know how to cause a scene.” A man sprouted forth from his tent. He nonchalantly walked to the circle and everyone made way for him.

Even with the darkness of the night, it was no mistaking who the man was. His armor radiated brilliantly under the moon's rays. It almost seemed as if it was emitting its own glistening light in which several hues escaped from.

The pristine armor and glistening sword were further testimony to who the man was.

His short trimmed blond hair seemed to glisten much the same as his armor. Everyone there was met with the piercing gaze of the legend.

“Who are you people? And why is it you’re here-“ He stopped upon realizing they were all children, and upon realizing they were all plague children.

“Ah…I see. You don’t need to answer that second question.” He could already tell why they must have been here.

At that moment, Rel had awoken again and began to pummel at Regalt’s side. He tried with every ounce of strength to break free from Regalt’s grip, but it proved not even a tad bit effective.

Of course, this was going to be the outcome.

Why wouldn’t it be? They were going against the legendary Silver knight, and upon hearing the name Regalt, they too knew who he was. The silver knight, and the one man army. There was not a single way they could have achieved victory.

Lin cursed and spat in Kars direction. “We’re here because of you murderous fucks. You killed a comrade of ours in cold blood, and then slaughtered our teach-”

“Why did you guys do it?” Ora asked. His glare as intense as his voice.

Kars gaze met with Ora’s and he could clearly understand the emotions that must be flooding through the young child. Kars nodded and sighed.

“It isn’t that we hate you, plague children. The death of your teacher…. was by mistake.”

“By mistake? BY MISTAKE?! YOU CUT HER IN HALF!! WHAT KIND OF MISTAKE IS THAT!? YOU GUYS TORMENTED MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER! AM I TO BELIEVE THAT IS A MISTAKE AS WELL?!”

His rage could not be contained within him. Even to the great Kars, he was going to make the world tremble.

Kars snapped his fingers, and his three subordinates came forward. Mikhail, Lawrence, Shiek.

The trio looked rugged and entirely unhappy. He couldn’t tell what their deal was. They first come and kill his comrade, and then act remorseful about it. He couldn’t understand it at all. Not one bit.

Regalt walked in front of Kars and blocked his view. “Lord Kars, I’d like to take care of this.”

 

Spoiler: Chapter 11: The Awakening pt 2

Kars nodded and walked away from the trio. He wasn’t aware of their precise combat power, but in total, he already knew they were much too weak to face off against Regalt. In fact, it would only take 5 of these mages to blow them to bits. Especially since Regalt had probably already deduced their relic capabilities.

He turned away and walked off. “Very well, you take care of this.” He waved his hand dismissively and walked off. “Whatever you determine is a necessary punishment for their failures is in your hands.”

Regalt nodded and tossed Rel over to Ora and the others. “You guys stand very little of a chance in this matter. However, your problems are with myself and these three. I killed the young red head. But I do have a question myself.”

The group looked at Regalt blankly.

“How was it that you guys were able to find our encampment?”

“It was because one of you them went back to Essen Sei’O huh.”

At this point, he was conversing with himself.

“It must have been you, Lawrence. You all still hold yourselves accountable for the mission don’t you?”

“It can’t be helped. How do you three feel now? Even in the face of the opposition, wishing your death is the same as wishing the death of the kingdom itself. Do you still hold onto that remorse?”

Rel slowly regained consciousness, standing himself up drowsily.

Regalt could tell by the look on their faces that he was correct. They had returned to the city in order to atone or apologize. And it lead to this.

“Your actions clearly have compromised our positions and caused the deaths of two mages. If they were a stronger enemy, we’d have been endangered. So I ask you this, what do you care more for? Your country, or your atonement?”

The way he spoke was nonchalant as if he was speaking about any other subject. And as he turned to face them, the trio seemed to feel an overwhelming aura around his being. “I told you all we mustn't return to the city. Yet here we are.”

“So…deal with your problems. If you want repentance over allegiance to your own country, then die at their hands. If you truly desire to serve your country through any situation, then you will do what must be done and handle it.”

Sheik nodded and closed her eyes. Her blades slowly withdrew from her sheath. “I ain’t got no remorse for killen yer red friend. The rest of ye’ll have ta die here.”

Mikhail also nodded. He felt a deep-seated regret for having killed an innocent lady, but aside from that, he was apathetic to plague children.

Then there was Lawrence, whose will had already given up and failed to take the opportunity before him. He had previously let Lynx run right past him. Surely with his hands hesitantly reaching the blade, he could avoid what he had done last time.

Alel understood what Regalt had meant by this. They were to fight off against the three who killed their master. In anticipation of battle, her arms heated to the point that red smoke could be seen leaving them.

Lin connected to various different eye sights and visions, while Rel rested to regain his strength. For a good portion of this battle, he was going to use his relic as a support type.

Then there stood Ora. Vibrating with energy and the immense need to kill. Yet, he held no means of exacting that revenge. He didn’t know what power capability he head, nor what he would do in this situation.

The people he hated the most were right before him, yet, he had no answer to what he can do.

The trio slowly paced towards them and before them all, Lawrence motioned everyone to stop. He walked himself halfway between the two groups and knelt right in front of Ora. The two had talked and traded pleasantries before when they walked with Lady Amai.

The scene here was now completely different.

Lawrence knelt before him and closed his eyes. “I can’t begin to apologize enough for what we’ve done. I know you can’t understand it. I can’t even understand it myself. At that moment, when we fought. If there was anything that could have been done differently, I would have done it. We hesitated too much and were inefficient in our skills. We caused him to suffer greatly before killing him.”

Shiek scowled and kicked at the ground. What cowardice was she witnessing? To see Lawrence bring himself down to his knees before everyone. It was unprofessional.

“He suffered entirely because… we didn’t want to kill him!”

“I know we’ve done some terrible things to you guys. But please…leave here. Do not force us to do any more harm. This is my only attempt for atonement. Leave here and live your lives. The possibility of winning here is-“

“NOT A CHANCE!!!” Ora’s rage welled up within him. His glare was now burning with immense hatred. “YOU KILLED HIM WITHOUT EVEN UNDERSTANDING WHY?! AND YOU EXPECT US TO JUST SIT AND LET THAT STAND? YOU GUYS…YOU GUYS ARE LITERALLY THE WORST. EVEN IF I KILL YOU ALL HERE, I WON’T FORGIVE ANY OF YOU!!!”

“Please, Ora. I don’t want to have to do this. I know we were wrong for what we did. What right did we have to come from a completely different country to interfere with the affairs of this world? We had to uphold the duty of our country. You understand that…you understand that right? You can at least see where we’re-“

“Not a chance.” The sharpest, most swift kick pummeled the kneeling Lawrence and sent him launching into the sky 30 feet up before he crashed down and rolled beside Shiek and Mikhail.

Rel dusted himself off, walking from the debris. He had just now utilized his ability to move transparently to the pleading Lawrence.



Lawrence lay, stunned, his eyes blankly staring at the clouds that rolled by. Such power. He sighed, and sat upwards, seemingly unperturbed by the hit. “I see…then I’m sorry. But it must come to this. My only consolation is that I tried.” He picked up his sword and commanded.

“Kill them. All of them.”

“Heh, about time.” Shiek said. With that, a blaring windy aura picked up around his blade ‘sever’. With a quick toss, he launched the shredding blade at the trio.

Ora recalled when Shiek firs through the blade and it cut Lynx’s cheek despite the fact that it was 10 feet off mark. His eyes widened as he realized it would cut through the entire group.

It had a radius that was much more potent than its size. The knife was maybe only 1foot long, but the propensity for it to cut was 10 feet.

“Everyone out, run!” Ora shouted.

Rel jumped into the sky, 40 feet up. While Lin had grabbed Alel and Ora and pulled them down. He was able to see through Shiek’s eyes, so he could perceive the invisible cutting radius. Rel landed from the skies, pummeling down on the trio with a powerful punch.

They immediately dodged the punch and Lawrence swiftly kicked Rel in the stomach, stopping him just short of the ground. This was followed up by a spinning elbow. As Rel was sent flying back, steam seemed to emit from Lawrence’s body and he sped forward even faster than before. He was able to catch the body mid-air and slam Rel into the ground.

Lawrence's armor was a body augmentation relic. It increased his overall speed tremendously. This was the relic known as Velocirni. He could either increase the speed of certain parts of his body or the speed of his body as a whole. This was similar to how Kars utilized his armor as a relic.

The sequence of actions was disturbing. It unsettled the whole group to see Rel rag dolled like that. But perhaps it was better to be Rel than anyone else.

Out of the group Rel held a tremendous constitution. While he remained limp in Lawrence’s hold, he woke up rather quickly and grabbed Lawrence’s arm.

With his superior force, he flipped back and sent Lawrence tumbling into the ground. “Heh. Weak.” Blood dripped from his lips and his voice was ragged as he said this.

With Lawrence handling Rel, Mikhail launched his fist forward at the Alel and Lin. The fist flew out and both Alel and Lin managed to dodge the strike.

“DUCK!” Lin shouted. And both him and Alel complied instantly. Only Lin could see the dangers it possessed. The hidden field behind it that destroyed everything it touched was completely visible to Lin.

To avoid being taken out all at once, they split different ways. Ora, Lin and Alel all spread 20 feet from each other, and Alel made a bee-line towards Mikhail.

Lin remained in the back, watching any hidden advances. With his support, nothing secretive should come out of their offense.

Shiek cursed “this is boring me.” She withdrew her only blade and came towards the only opponent of hers not participating. “Remember me boy?”

She dashed straight for the white-haired Ora. Closing in the distance before anyone can realize, her blade bludgeon came toppling down on him. Ora attempted to dodge the strike, but was much to slow and the blade grazed his right side, just above the hip.

The impact was immense. He had prepared himself to be cut, but he was not expecting such a tremendous blow. He felt most of the bones on his right side shatter upon impact. Insane! What the hell kind of relic is that…. His consciousness faded and the world around him went black.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 11: The Awakening pt 3

Bludgeon held force of up to 2000 pounds. Yet at the same time, it was as light as a dagger. Those struck with the weapon at full speed, don’t retain a tad bit of their appearance.

The world seemed to be shifting left and right. In his mind, he could hear the sound of clashing blades and violence. Yet he couldn’t understand what he was envisioning. Within him was a world composed entirely of darkness. He found himself helplessly limping within this dark world, unable to see, or feel.

His entire right side slouched over as he progressed, going in circles. “Am I dead?”

Where is this place…

Within the darkness, a voice rang out louder than any outside interference. “YO.”

He looked around, only to find a creature behind him. The creature held the body of a man, but it was merely a silhouette. To be honest, it appeared as if he was staring at himself.

“Who…are you?”

“You know who I am. Deep down, you can tell exactly who I am.”

Ora observed closer. The shadow that was speaking was completely visible even though it was dark out. It had a certain aura of light around it, yet absorbed all the light around it…oddity at its finest.

“you-“

“I am Alucarde. Or as you humans have so gracefully called me, my relic name is ‘The World’”

The shadow being observed Ora thoroughly. Picking up his arm and running a finger through the pained and broken bones.

“Ribs, hip…knee and elbow…my my my my my my. How did you end up in such a situation”

“Ugh. I think it was that gir-“

“-I know. It was a rhetorical question.”

“Well, I can’t quite see what’s going on in the outside world…but from the looks of it…I’d say your friends have….”

He counted on his fingers carefully. “Nine. Nine seconds before they’re completely dead.”

Alucard began laughing hard at that. “That means, you guys managed to put up a fight for maybe 3 minutes total.”

Ora’s eyes trembled. “Let me back into that world.”

“Pitiful..”

“Please! Take me back at once!”

“You have no business commanding me. Nor would you be any help to them. You lack the ability to completely control me.”

“Still. I have to try. I’ll do anything to make sure they feel the same pain. To make sure they understand exactly what it is they’ve done to us.”

Alucard grew interested. His pointed ears perked up. “Oh? Do you mean, you don’t plan on just saving your friends? In fact, from what you’re saying, it sounds like saving your friends come secondary to your goal."

“I-….” Ora remained silent. In truth, at this moment, so overcome with hatred. Saving his friends did come secondary to his revenge. It was the first time he had felt something like this. He immediately dismissed it.

“very well. I’ll grant you guys some help” It said very cheerfully. “After all. You only have one second left before they all die.”

At that moment, the shadow melded with Ora and an intense bright light filled his eyes. It was the light of the real world. He was finally out of the darkened place.

The world around him was much different than when he was knocked out. Craters formed in several places across the ground. Lin’s leg was missing and he was bleeding profusely. Rel found himself completely covered in cuts, held within the clutches of Lawrence.

Alel seemed to be out of commission and Shiek towered over her with her blade sever, ready to pierce through her.

“What in the..world..” Ora became overwhelmed with emotion and shouted at the top of his lungs “STOOOP!!!!!” The blood-curdling shriek filled the entire camp and everyone’s attention was brought to Ora.

“Yer still breathing? I’m impressed you survived that. Though I guess I’d only grazed’ya. Hold tight right there. I’ll come for you after I finish this one off.” She said calmly.

Unbeknownst to her, she was no longer in control of the situation. The world around her froze entirely. She found herself standing in the same position she was just a second ago. Despite trying to stab Alel and finish the job, she could not move.

The only thing notable and moving was her eyes. And they frantically searched the area to see any explanation. With all the force in her body, she managed to move her head very slightly.

That’s when she realized that everyone else was also paralyzed. Not just her, but the whims of every being in the camp. “What in the world…the hells going on. Why can’t I m-move.”

The entire scenery remained stationary. Lawrence held Rel with his sword out. Mikhail aimed his hand at Lin while it blasted outwards.

Several magicians remained watching the fight, yet couldn’t move.

At the center of this all, was the culprit behind such a move. Ora walked as if he owned the world, unaffected by the paralysis effect. From each step he took, a Smokey layer of shadows emitted from his body.

“What?! You held this ability all this time?!” Shiek shouted. The group had assumed Ora useless. He hadn’t made a single move the entire battle and remained mainly hidden behind the rest of them

A smile spread on Ora’s face, twisted and disgusting in appearance. ”HAHAHAHAHA…this is Marverlous!” The laugh even caused his own comrades to shudder. With each step he took, the world seemed to tremble, and the fear of him grew from uneasiness to horror.

He first made his way to Alel and picked her up from her position, placing her next to Lin. He then walked over to Rel, discarded Lawrence’s sword, and carried him over to the same place. “What ya think yer doing Ora.”

The way he carried Lawrence was similar to how a night might carry an injured damsel in distress.

“HEY! ORA! THIS IS EMBARRASSING. YOU GOTTA CARRY ME LIKE THAT?!”

Ora didn’t respond and rested him next to Alel and the others.

Very well. “I suppose its time for me to wrap things up hm?” He closed his eyes

 

Spoiler: Chapter 11: The Awakening pt 4

“I suppose it’s time for me to wrap things up hm?” He closed his eyes

“Level 1 Technique; Betrayal of Shadows.” Several different blackened spikes rose up from the ground. The black stalagmites impaled arms, legs, and various parts of their body. Screams filled throughout as the entire camp cried out.

Various different people were struck by the betrayal. Some magicians managed to flee by ascending to the skies. Other’s perished on the spot. A majority of their knight forces also perished without resistance.

The spikes had poked through all of the three prodigies, and suspended them mid-air, making sure to avoid vitals.

“This is what pain feels like. I want you all to understand how it feels to be treated like a plaything by the entire word. To constantly feel in pain, and at the whims of others.” While it was Ora speaking. The actions were largely due to Alucarde.

The trio held their breath. With every attempt to move or flail, pain struck through their entire body. “As you guys are standing right now, the shadows are spreading through your body, like a system of vines. Each of those muscles sever with every second that passes.”

Ora’s deep and devoid voice seemed to cause the pain to increase more and more. For the three, who still couldn’t move, it felt like hell suspended in time. Several ripples of darkness emanated from Ora. Ora himself couldn't hold the amazement at his own power.

Rel, Lin and Alel also looked in absolute shock. "This is Ora's....relic?" In less than a split second, he had managed to subdue the three most prized students of Lawrence.

"How!? How have you b-been hiding..this kinda..p-power!?!" Shiek shrieked. "YOU COULD HAVE..."

"You Could Have..."

"Stopp...ed us.."

Ora was taken aback by the tears that rolled down her face. What did she mean stop them? Why did she care...they were there to kill Lynx weren't they? They unprovokedly came to their home and murdered his comrades in cold blood.

"why.."

"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE YOU GIVE A SHIT! YOU'RE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. ALL OF YOU. I SAW THE WAY YOU GUYS LOOKED AT US. It's THE SAME LOOK THE WHOLE WORLD GIVES!!"

A mage casted a fire spell which launched at Ora at an untraceable rate. Just before it hit, a wall of darkness rose up from his left side and intercepted it.

"Its always the same...you all hate us. Just for existing." The same shadow that sprouted from the ground traveled towards the magician who avoided a collision with it. Every time the mage dodged, it looped around and continued its assault towards him.

he was quite proficient in maneuvering his way around the shadow's grasp. Finally, Ora grew tired of the little. "Betrayal of Shadows; level one."

The magician's own shadow began to distort and a spike impaled him from behind. Alucarde had to yet again take over his body in order to have him properly display the move.

He'd need a bit of practice before he could freely wield such power. "78...do you know what that number means?" Ora said calmly. "Its the amount of times plague children were killed. In the capital city alone. Killed by those like you..In a fair world...it would only be necessary that I kill 78 of your comrades as well. Maybe then we can both understand the pain we're experiencing. The pain of loss."

Lawrence was the first to speak up. "Don't be ridiculous! you should've run when you stood the chance kid. You think you can match up to Kars?! Don't go preaching about understanding each other!" he coughed blood and grimaced. "..Y-You're only in this for revenge!"

Ora looked confused. To him, revenge was never an option. He had never once considered it. He believed heavily that if both sides could experience the same pain as one another, they'd come to a better understanding.

"Well...I wouldn't expect you to understand..."

"All of yo-" Before he could even finish his sentence, all the air got knocked out of his body. The impact noise sounded like a cannon going off. Ora was sent flying through the camp, tumbling 100 meters away and still rolling before he managed to bring himself to a skidding halt.

That movement was way too fast. He had barely enough time to react. Naturally like with the fire blast earlier, the shadow wall would have activated and halted any advancements towards him. But it was much too fast for the wall to rise up. Alucarde had to instead re-route the shadows to defend him.

It managed to dampen the force slightly, but even then, to Ora it felt like a hammer colliding into him. Furthermore, he barely managed to stop his continued fall.

The power output behind that strike was impossible. Shaking himself off from the daze, he looked up to see the Silver knight Kars, standing where he previously was.

With one swift swing of his blade, the sheer wind turbulence cut down the shadows that held his subordinates restrained.

“Iren! Take them.” A tall magician in dark red and gold robes immediately descended down upon the field. He had taken to the skies just moments before the surge of spikes had erupted from the ground and managed to narrowly evade them.

In total, only three of the entire unit came out unscathed. Iren, Kars, and Regalt. Iren walked over to the trio and placed his hand outwards. “Restendrem Ivare” a spatial field appeared around them and soon their distorted figures were crammed into a small tiny gate of magic.

Iren stood up. “would you like my assistance?”

Lawrence shook his head. “I’d like you to stay back and avoid all combat. Collect the living while you can within your spatial storage. I’ll handle this from here.”

“Very well.” Iren nodded and fell back. He started traversing the area, looking for everyone who was still alive. He consumed everyone within his spatial pocket.

“Hmmh…It seems you’ve inherited the relic that costed Harre so much trouble. I can see how such a relic can be catastrophic. So…come.” Kars changed his stance into that of a defensive position, inviting Ora to go onto the offensive.

Ora cracked his neck and he could feel Alucarde adding more power into his body. The shadows began to spill out around him, forming a coating of defense. Since Kars was too fast, it would be better for the walls to be around him constantly.

At that moment, Ora dashed forward. A wave of black smoke scurried off him as he pushed off. An energy wave kicked off behind him and his body became like a bullet. Piercing even that of sound itself. The sound from the kick-off only came moments after he had already launched himself.

BOOM! Ora erupted forwards with shadows intertwining around his arm. This drill of shadows threatened to pierce through anything in its path. Yet, yet when it collided with Kars, it came to an instant halt.

To the might of Kars’ shield, it was nothing. The shockwaves sent fourth blasted the entire camp to bits and Ora had to enshroud his comrades in shadows to protect them. In response to Ora’s immense strength, Kars’ sword glowed brightly, shaking with energy.

“Perish.” With that, he slashed the silver blade across Ora’s chest, attempting to cut him right down the middle. Yet again, the power behind the strike was entirely too powerful and Ora was pushed back several feet. He managed to stop himself this time from flying.

The blade’s slice failed to pierce the thick armor of shadows he had donned. This time he was ready and prepared.

Kars paused and questioned Ora. “So, tell me…how did you obtain that power? Was it not the power of your red headed friend?”

Ora didn’t respond; only angrily glared at Kars. In the back of his mind, confusion slowly set in at what he was trying to ask, but he didn’t allow himself to be distracted.

What proceeded after was the most intense bout. A flurry of speed that one could not follow. Ora attacked with various different shadows at once, clawing at him. Kars responded by avoiding each and every hit with fluid ease and motion. Each time it seemed like a shadow was going to connect, it collided with his shield and bounced right off.

The short yet highspeed battle lasted for 5 minutes with various thunderous clangs ringing out loud. In the end, it was Ora who received the first blow, being sent back 10 feet before his shadows anchored him to the ground.

That breakaway in the assault was all that was needed for Kars to rush him. The moment before he could fully stabilize, Kar’s was already upon him and before he could react, severed the shadows attaching him to the ground.

This caused a brief moment of imbalance. Ora fell before meeting Kar’s feet head-on.

The strength of the blow knocked the wind out him and sent him tumbling across the ground. Even with the armor around him, it was a direct blow. Ora coughed and spat out blood. He was thoroughly tired by this point, and his strength was fading.

In desperation, his power spouted tendrils from all around the entire battlefield. The various monstrosities struck out at Kars and anyone in close proximity. Kar’s yet again effortlessly dodged them all.

The movements were too wild. It was as if he wasn’t targeting Kars at all, just angrily sprouting up the offensive.

It wasn’t long before Iren found himself struck by one of the shadows. It had sapped all the strength out of him within the first hit, and he fell to the ground completely devastated by the blow.

He had felt a couple bones shatter upon impact. Regalt immediately jumped forward picking Iren up. “Iren! Iren! Not good. He’s unresponsive.”

Kars was immediately shaken up by the information. “He’s still alive, yes?”

Regalt checked his pulse and nodded. “He’s still very much alive. Would you like some assistance dealing with the boy?

Kar’s shook his head “No. Actually…” He sheathed his sword. “We’re pulling back. The mission is deemed a failure. For now, we just need damage control.”

Regalt was entirely shaken aback by the news. “What??? What do you mean we’re pulling back. The enemy is right before our midst. Lord Kars, you’re making an errored judgment.”

Within the scene of craziness and shadows, these two appeared to be the only calm beings. The skies shook ravenously and the sands blared about.

Several tornadoes of shadows and tendrils formed everywhere around them. Yet they remained entirely oblivious to the danger of it all.

“Regalt. Look how much men we’ve lost. If Iren dies, all the people stored in his void will remain there forever. No one has the same link to them.”

He turned his back to Ora and began to walk away. “Our original mission was to receive Harre Gibbs. We’ve succeeded in that. This country can deal with their relic wielder. He’s no more powerful than I. It’s not a god relic at the very least.”

As Kars left the battlefield, he evaded tendrils upon tendrils with ease. Ora’s howling disturbed most of the night. And soon, there was no one around but Ora and his tendrils striking everything in distance. Birds and small animals took care not to get too close to the mess.

He eventually passed out later that night, and his own world became converged by shadows. That day, two major things happened.

Ora had first realized he had power...

and the silver knight Kar's had failed his first mission. The importance of these two meeting was undoubtedly a tale spun by the gods.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 12: Goodnight Ora

Ora’s world slowly faded in and he realized he was on Rel’s back.

To his right, Alel carried Lin. His leg was still missing and had been burned shut with her relic. “umu…wh..what happened. Where’d they all go.” Rel looked back at him and laughed hard. “You did Ora..” He scratched his head nervously. “You’re really something…”

Alel nodded. “You managed to fight off The Silver Knight, and destroy an entire unit… You’re truly one worthy of leading us after all.”

“Are they dead…?” Ora asked.

There was a sense of hesitation behind Alel’s answer “we-“

“The majority of their camp has died out. The trio, Regalt, and Kars all got away.” Rel answered.

“I see…” He clenched his fists tighter and held the need to scream. He had failed. Yet again, he had failed to make them see what they’ve done wrong. “Surely, Lynx…you’d be alright with this much. I failed to show them…Surely you can forgive me for that.”

Rel bumped him with his shoulder “Oi. No need for that. I’d say this was a success. The friends you couldn’t save back then. This time, you saved all of your comrades. Look at us. We’re all alive.”

That was unexpectedly well spoken for Rel of all people. Ora nodded rested his hand on Rel’s shoulder. “I see..”

“We’re all thankful, Ora. You’re strong.” She grinned for the first time in a while, a rarity for her. “Really strong. I don’t think Yorba will be bothering us again anymore. In fact, I don’t believe anyone will.”

“mmh..” Ora nodded. And attempted to get off of Rel’s back. “It's okay...I can walk.” Rel shook his head. “You don’t wanna do all that right now. You definitely cannot walk.”

“Eh? I feel fine. Really. Let me off.”

“Oi oi, fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” He let Ora jump off of his back and immediately crumple to the ground

“AAAUGH!” Several of his broken bones ached and he found zero strength to lift himself up. The shadows earlier must’ve been holding him together. To think he had suffered this much damage. He felt stunned by the pain.

Rel shrugged at Alel’s glare. “Oi. I warned him.” He walked over to Ora and picked him up, placing him back on his back. “You know, if you wanted to Carry Ora you can. Lin’s a lot heavier than he is. Even if he is missing a leg.”

Ora looked over at Lin. A burn mark had covered his severed leg and he was shocked. “W-what happened with Lin?” He got attacked by the skinny girl. The sword traveled back to her hand and took out his leg on the way there.” Alel said calmly, covering her mouth.

“He passed out when I seared it shut earlier. I didn’t want him to bleed out.”

They had been walking for a steady 30 minutes since Ora had awoken, and he had no idea how long they had been walking prior. “umu..where are our horses?”

Rel laughed hard. “Right here! It's us two apparently.”

Unappreciative of the joke, Ora bonked the bonehead on his neck. “Oi. I was being serious.”

Still dying hard of laughter despite almost choking just now, he answered “You killed them all during your tirade of shadows. Not to say it's your fault, but they both died. Maybe from distress or fear. I’m not sure.”

“Your power is truly frightening Ora. I’m glad we’re comrades. You’ll have to explain it all to us later.”

Ora nodded.

“Rel….Alel..Thankyou.”

The other two looked taken aback. “For what?” they both asked at the same time.

“For not dying.” With that, he fell asleep on Rel’s back and the rest of their night continued with Alel and Lynx talking.



------------------------------



They were well out of Baerim’s borders. They were now in Seirin. The urgency of time was no longer a thing, nor did they have the manpower to utilize a blanket spell. Iren was still out cold. He hadn’t responded since fading out of consciousness.

It was just Kars and Regalt. They walked through the endless amount of rainforest that enshrouded various parts of Seirin. Regalt wanted to curse Kars out for making him walk despite his laziness. He kept a short distance away and walked sluggishly the entire way through

“How much energy do you think I’ll spend to get out of this country in 1 day.”

Kars shrugged. “You’d end up back in Yorba without me.”

“Eh? Surely you could keep up.” Regalt said. Then he realized that the fight he witnessed earlier was nothing to judge Kars’ abilities by. “Oh…that’s right. You almost fool me every time. I’ve thought long and hard about that relic. Now I finally understand the nature of it.”

Kars nodded. “I figured you would. To fighters, a relic’s biggest defense is its’ secret. There’s no way you wouldn’t have known after all that.”

For years that Regalt had watched him, he started to catch onto something. The power Kars displays to his opponents was never greater than the power his opponents had.

He was always evenly matched. He could face the strongest man in the world and win by a hair. Then he could face the weakest man alive and still win only by a hair.

Regalt had hunches for a while, but now was the first time he could confirm it. “So your relic…allows you to match the power of your opponent. How you moved back then…was the plague child’s capabilities.”

Kars didn’t deny it. “Ora. His name was Ora. The first person I lost to.” He stopped and looked at the skies. “In 100 years.” He felt his body trembling and for a second, Kars had assumed he was shaken at the memory.

No. It was excitement. “Do you know how long I have lived, not knowing any interest in combat?”

Regalt’s eyes widened and he stopped, dropping Iren. His blade pointed out towards Kars. “Are you saying you let that kid live to satisfy your own amusement. You could have killed him entirely back then.”

“No. I couldn’t. I was as powerful as I was back in the wars. That’s how much my relic had to match up to.” He paused a second. “Then he kept getting stronger…and stronger.” His relic may be an A-ranked relic, but it had much more secrets than I could ever guess.”

Kars sighed. “My power allows me to match my opponents. If I was to face off against an army, my relic adapts to the sum of all their power combined. I’ve fought relentlessly only utilizing my upper hand in experience and tactics to beat my opponents.”

“However, various times during that fight, there was experience rising from him that I had not seen before in any other competition. If we would have continued he’d get even stronger and I would not be able to protect my comrades.”

He said looking at the unconscious Iren. “They’re worth more to me than any mission.” Regalt looked shocked. He always viewed Kars as an honorable man who would do anything for his country. If so, he should’ve put the country first. Why didn’t he end the plague child there?

“Besides… there’s no way he’d be a threat to Yorba. If anything, Baerim will gain a powerful asset. They’ll finally need it.”

With that, Kars turned away from Regalt and continued walking. Regalt just stood there with his sword aimed at the silver knight. In the end, he sheathed his blade, picked up Ivare and continued forth.

“Why did you not defend yourself? You know its dishonorable to remain unguarded before the blade of a warrior.”

“Tch. You had no willingness to use it. My relic would have heightened to your power had you been a real enemy.”

“I hate you.”

“You’re too lazy to hate.”

The two continued off through the forests Their trek was at least 2 weeks long. Thus, their journey back had already begun. How long would Iren stay asleep? Who knows? Right now, the forests trembled before the sight of the Silver Knight and the One Man Army.



------------------------------



Ora woke up to a sudden halt in Rel and Alel’s movements. 2 guards had been waiting outside the gates and observing the group. Rel was much too fatigued mentally and physically to even use his shroud.

“Halt! You lot…what are y-“

The guard stopped once realizing they were all plague children. The fact that a majority of them were all wounded and cut up also caused many questions to be asked.

“2 horse disappeared earlier. You lot wouldn’t know where they are would you?” He withdrew his blade and approached them. Not good. Alel needed time for her hands to heat up. Rel weakly stood up a fighting pose. His wrists were heavily injured by Lawrence

“I’m sorry Ora.” He said, dropping the kid to the ground.

Ora clenched his teeth and held in the need to curse him out. The pain was yet again coursing through his body.

“Tch. You plan on fighting me? Plague Children like you should just remain respectful, and appreciate the mercy we show you.” He slashed down at Rel. Rel dodged the blade and grabbed the man, tossing him several feet back through the gates.

His hands ached and he waved them about in an attempt to dull the pain. Several other guards immediately came through the gates and all had their blades out.

“Touching a knight of Baerim. Punishable by death.” One of them said and immediately they all converged on Rel.

“L-level one. Betrayal of shadows” Ora held his hand outwards, and all the guards froze instantly. One by one they all began to die. The spikes came from their shadows and stabbed them through the back of their necks, their heads, their hearts.

All hits were extremely lethal. “Oi…Ora!” Rel shrieked nervously at the sight before him.

This was overdoing it. “If they’re knocked out, they’ll come back for us later. No witnesses.”

Rel shuddered at how quickly and effortlessly he was willing to kill them. But at the same time, he was easily willing to kill anyone who he didn’t consider a comrade.

Rel nodded and picked Ora up. Together, they walked passed the 6 dead guards. They all stood while impaled as if they were still alive.

On Rel’s shoulders, Ora muttered. “Knight of Baerim huh…they shouldn’t be in Sei’O then.” Rel looked back at Ora who was lost in thought.

“What exactly is it you plan on doing, Ora? You’re entirely different…”

"Then you were before.."