Chapter 3

Two people sat in a small rectangular room staring at each other, the room was sparse, having only the most basic of furniture, a bed, a table, and a chair. The owner of the room sat on the bed arms folded with a solemn expression on her face, she had a small hand mirror on the bed next to her, this struck Ravendra as peculiar because she didn’t look like a vain woman in any sense of the word.

She had dark brown skin with black hair that she had tied up in a ponytail. She was smaller than him in stature but more muscular, he gave out a sigh as he looked at his scrawny arms, she could snap his neck if she wanted to, he would put up a struggle for sure, but it would just being delaying the inevitable.

“Name’s Natalie, I should be more hospitable but looking at you brings back a lot of bad memories. How are you holding up?” asked Natalie.

“Fine, I am Ven,” answered Ven.

“Uh huh and I am a man,” said Natalie sarcastically, “took me months to stop thinking about Vas, if you loved him like I did, I doubt you’re fine.”

“Him?” asked Ven.

“Of course, he was a ‘she’ in your reality, they change it based on the sex of the person in the simulation. So, Vas was a man in my simulation, but a woman in yours. It’s a lot to take in suddenly, and I don’t expect you to believe it, I certainly didn’t when they told me,” said Natalie as she scratched her head.

“They said that we are living someone else’s life, doesn’t that mean she exists?” asked Ven.

“She did, but according to the records they have, she died a long time ago. Her death being the result of the trickery of King Rayleigh. But you know that already, you’ve just experienced it firsthand. Here look at yourself, a little something to help you accept what you already know,” said Natalie as she passed him the hand mirror that was lying next to her.

Ven tentatively took the hand mirror and raised it up to eye level, the face that looked back at him wasn’t his own, and shockingly someone far younger, his hair had lost all its greys and was back to being completely jet black. He used his left hand to scratch his beard, a last-ditch effort to prove that the reflection wasn’t him. But of course, it was him.

“Why would they put anyone through those things?” asked Ven.

“Because of the original Ravendra. Vas’s death hit him hard, real hard. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the rebellion after that, he had lost too much, but because of the people’s high opinion of him, and the lack of trust in the other leaders of the war effort, he was unanimously chosen as the next King,” said Natalie.

“And then there was peace, for a while. But the hatred amongst people doesn’t end just because the war is over. People like us, The Nari, had been slaves for too long, the memories of everything they had been put through was still fresh. They wanted their former masters, The Gaard, to feel the pain that they had gone through.”

“The popular sentiment was that as victors we should now rule over the Gaards and they should be our slaves. Yes, there were Gaards that fought and died alongside us, but that seemed like a fact everyone wanted to ignore. This included former Nari soldiers that had fought shoulder to shoulder with Gaards against Rayleigh. There were a lot of unjustified mob attacks against civilian Gaards. When it came down to it, we were behaving just like our old masters, we weren’t any better when we got the power to control our lives,” said Natalie with disdain.

“But that changed right?” asked Ven.

“Sort of, King Ravendra used his popularity to appeal to the Nari people, to their honor, He asked them to remember the life of a slave, would they want anyone to go through that kind of life. It worked for the most part, most Nari stopped persecuting the Gaards. But not all of them, a group in the shadows of society started targeting the Gaards. Rape, murder, mutilation and anything you can imagine, they got away with a lot before the people in power found out what was going on,” said Natalie.

“How did something like this stay hidden?” asked Ven.

“Simple, some Nari were helping in keeping things hidden. Of course, on the outside they did and said all the right things, they didn’t want to let their new King down, bunch of hypocrites!” said Natalie.

“What did Ravendra do when he found out?” asked Ven.

“He realized he needed to force the two people to start working together, that was the only way there would be any kind of progress. With that in mind he inaugurated a new branch in the military, The United Talent Force, or UTF, for short. They would accept anybody into their ranks, regardless of race, they just needed a gift, that was the only requirement. Being a member of this branch granted you food, shelter, training, and a monthly stipend, the amount depending on your rank.”

“The UTF would always have two leaders, one a Nari and the other a Gaard, and both answered directly to Ravendra. All squads within the branch would be a combination of both races. The main function of the new branch - to deal with hate crimes. The idea was if both people were investigating the crimes, there wouldn’t be any cover ups. It was a great idea and caused many bridges to be built between the two people. But unfortunately, it was also what led to the start of King Ravendra’s tyranny,” said Natalie.

“How did it lead to that?” asked Ven.

“The UTF’s success lead to more and more joining their ranks. With time King Ravendra opened it up to people of other kingdoms, you could get our citizenship if you joined the UTF,” said Natalie.

“Now wait a minute, what you’re saying makes no sense. There is no way he could manage to feed, train, and pay such an army. Sure, he had access to Rayleigh’s and the Nobles money now, but it would run out. It just wouldn’t be feasible to recruit anyone and everyone just because they had a gift, we have both managed a small army in that illusion, you know I am right,” said Ven.

“What you’re saying is true, but you’re overlooking a huge difference between recruiting for an army and recruiting for a task force. When we were managing an army, we only took in fighters or people that could help the army in some way or the other. King Ravendra had the luxury of taking in people with other gifts, for example talking to animals, blacksmithing, painting and many more. Never had there been so many gifted under one banner, and these gifted worked together to create!”

“This pushed us technologically ahead of all our neighboring kingdoms by years! We created trade commodities which people could not get anywhere else. The sheer amount of money that poured in through trade filled our coffers faster than we could empty them. The extra money was invested into everything from farming to better roads. Slowly people forgot their previous prejudices, they weren’t completely erased but the worst of it was gone from society. Everyone started calling King Ravendra’s rule a golden age.”

“To further show that our people were now united, and this was a new start for us, King Ravendra changed the name of our kingdom to `Nagari´, he said it was a combination of what both people were called. Everyone hailed us as the next great merchant nation. But while everyone was eagerly awaiting our next technological innovation, they forgot about our military. Our army was already full of veterans after the campaign against Rayleigh, but now it was full of more gifted than ever before. In the beginning they were mainly used to escort the caravans travelling out of Nagari from bandits. But they were far more effective than anyone expected, soon no one dared to attack the caravans travelling out of Nagari.”

“The safer trade routes meant easier trade and further increased the influx of gifted ones. Naturally, the surrounding kingdoms copied our idea and started amassing their gifted ones into an organization. But to their dismay, they realized many gifted ones had already moved to Nagari and the only ones left behind were slaves that didn’t have the opportunity to leave. Infuriated with the situation, the Kingdoms united together and demanded we handed over all the gifted ones within our borders or they would declare war,” said Natalie.

“I am guessing their plan failed, as otherwise we wouldn’t be here,” said Ven.

“It was a bloodbath, our army was outnumbered, but we still won. During the very first skirmish, Ravendra revealed his hidden weapon. While most gifted in Nagari invented items that could be sold or improve the life of our people. He had a select few working on creating tools which would give us an edge in case of war. After many failed attempts they managed to create Steel,” said Natalie.

“What’s Steel?” asked Ven.

“A new type of metal. It’s lighter and stronger than iron. Now imagine a whole army armed with those,” said Natalie.

“Wouldn’t matter, with them being outnumbered, the advantage of better equipment would only delay their defeat,” said Ven.

“True, but you’re underestimating the effect of the UTF on this battle. Imagine an entire force comprised of gifted individuals, how do you defend against people that can shoot lightning from their fingers or throw you across the battlefield with but a thought?” said Natalie.

“Still wouldn’t be enough, each gift comes with its own set of limitations,” said Ven.

“As someone with a gift, you know average people don’t know about these limitations or how they vary from person to person. If the battle had dragged on, I am sure some of the enemy captains would have caught on and taken counter measures. But the battle wasn’t dragged out, after the UTF’s first charge, panic ensued in the enemy ranks and a retreat was ordered.”

“In the following days, a parley was conducted with Nagari leading the negotiations. King Ravendra demanded an expansion of our borders and access to certain mines as war damages. The UTF were hailed as war heroes. Within a few decades UTF took over and became the core of the army. Non-gifted soldiers were reassigned to guard duty and maintaining the peace. During this slow expansion by the UTF, the King’s Honor Guard were replaced with elite gifted soldiers as well. There were soldiers with unique gifts Ravendra had handpicked or soldiers that had done some extraordinary service for either Ravendra or Nagari.”

“Years passed by peacefully with the Nagari becoming a stronger and wealthier nation with each passing year. Eventually Ravendra came to the last years of his life, he was an old man now, on his death bed, a shadow of the might warrior he once was. Everyone he once fought alongside with were already in the grave, he was the last of an old generation. His Honor Guard still loyally protected him, while his advisors played games of intrigue as they made a move for the throne,” said Natalie.

“They tried to assassinate Ravendra’s heirs?” asked Ven.

“Ravendra never married, there was no heir to the throne. Nagari was divided into two factions once again, people arguing about who would be worthy to lead once the King was gone. It would have to be one of the leaders of the UTF, but who would it be? The Nari leader or The Gaard leader? Naturally, Ravendra could choose a successor, but so far, he had remained silent on the matter and murmurs started spreading that he had gone senile in his old age. A ploy spread by the UTF to undermine any candidate they did not support.”

“Forgotten hatreds between the Nari and the Gaards started to rise once again. The Gaards argued that King Ravendra, a Nari, had been on the throne since the inception of Nagari, it was the Gaards turn to lead Nagari. The Nari on the other hand argued that the Gaards couldn’t be trusted with such power, as history showed. Fights breaking out between the two people over insignificant things became common place. The most advanced kingdom in all the lands, but we still hadn’t learned the lesson that cooperation between our people was the only way to a bright future,” said Natalie.

“From what you’ve told me so far Ravendra dies an old man, and Nagari goes into civil war until someone claims power as the next King. I don’t see why you called Ravendra a tyrant,” said Ven.

“Nagari would have gone into a civil war if Ravendra had died, but he didn’t. Unbeknownst to Ravendra, his Honor Guard had sent half their number to search throughout the land to find a way to save the King. Following rumors and whispers of a gifted healer they reached a Gaard family who told them of their daughter. Their daughter had left for Nagari many months ago to join the UTF as her family worried someone would abduct her from their home because of her gift. That girl’s gift was the ability to make people young again. But they had never heard back from her, so they assumed the worst had happened. They implored the knights to find any information about what had happened to their daughter and save her from her captors if it was possible,” said Natalie.

“That’s just not possible, no one can have a gift like that!” shouted Ven.

“Why not? You make it sound like conjuring weapons out of thin air or moving things just by thinking it are less preposterous,” said Natalie with an exasperated look.

“But it’s just so impossible,” said Ven.

“Look, everything I am telling you is history, so just accept it as fact instead of questioning it. I am almost done with the story, so let me finish. The Knights eventually managed to track down the girl. As it turned out, she had successfully made it to Nagari, but had been locked away in a dungeon by the leaders of UTF as they didn’t want the King to find out about this girl. They got her out of her captivity and brought her to Ravendra, she did her part, and he was in his prime once again. You can imagine how mad he was when he found what the UTF had done, he had both leaders publicly executed for treason and made the UTF directly under his control.

“The Kingdom was in an uproar, how did the King become young again? So, King Ravendra held a full court and introduced them to his mysterious healer, Lilliana, the girl that could make a man young again! Over the next few weeks everyone clamored for the King’s favor, telling him secrets and offering precious treasures in exchange for being young again. King Ravendra accepted all the gifts they offered without any hesitation and then finally made a proclamation, only those that had made a considerable contribution for the betterment of Nagari would be given the gift of being young again, it would be the Honor Guards duty to find such individuals and bring them to him.”

“In the following decades, the Kingdom developed into a nation where men and women were constantly looking for a way to gain the King’s favor, that was their only objective in life. Those born with exceptional gifts stood out the most, followed by geniuses that created new inventions, art, or music. This cutthroat competition lead to unprecedented progress, more and more people left their homelands and moved to Nagari, hoping for a better life. This led to Nagari becoming a land that was a mixture of many different cultures and traditions. The ones to suffer most during this change were the people born with common gifts and people born without gifts. There was no longer a distinction based on what your skin looked like, but rather how useful you were considered to the Kingdom,” said Natalie.

“What was the limitation to Lilliana’s gift?” asked Ven suddenly.

“No one knows, it’s a closely guarded secret,” said Natalie.

“I still don’t see why you called him a tyrant,” asked Ven.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door with Dr. Ivan walking in momentarily later into the room.

“Now I am sorry to interrupt, I know you two probably still have a lot to talk about, but I feel that my patient has had enough excitement for today and should be getting some rest. You’re more than welcome to visit him in the medical ward tomorrow, Natalie,” said Dr. Ivan with a warm smile.

“Stick around long enough and you’ll see why,” said Natalie as she looked directly into Ven’s eyes.

Sorry for the delay everyone, I forgot to post the chapter yesterday. Hope you like it, we finally got a look into what happened in the world after the opening chapter of the story. Definitely a hard chapter for me to write as it isn't easy to make exposition fun, I hope I did okay and it wasn't too boring for you :)

Take care and continue to keep safe.

Anderoth