Prologue

Soldiers saluted and knights hit their chest with their right fists as he walked by in his full plate armour. His azure cape was what marked him out from the rest of his comrades. He ducked as he stepped into his tent. Waiting for him were his 2 trusted lieutenants, his friends, his brothers in this long drawn out war for freedom. But soon, very soon it would be over. Five long years of planning and sacrifices would finally be over after this last push today. He had lost many of his friends on his way here. He would take care of care of their families, he had to, they had followed him valiantly to their deaths, it was a burden he would carry to the end of his days.

He sighed as he unfastened his helmet and took it off, it felt like an eternity had passed since he had last walked around without wearing his armour and helmet. He missed the days when he could freely walk around his town, wearing just normal clothes and not having to worry about assassins hiding in the shadows. Maybe he could go back to that life when all this was over, but he knew that was nothing but a chasing after the wind, the life from back then would never return, the him from back then would never return. He had killed far too many people to go back to that innocent boy.

He wasn’t especially old, but the stress of war had left its mark on him, he had wrinkles on his brown skin and streaks of grey in his otherwise dark long hair. He was considered tall for his people, but medium height when compared to the other races and his lieutenants.

“Ven, you ready to end this?” said Pratabh as he moved away from the table in the center of the tent, revealing a detailed map of the plains of Lestan.

“Better get used to calling him Ravendra again, he won’t be a commoner after all this is over,” said Frank.

“Yeah, better be careful or I’ll have you thrown in the dungeons,” said Ven with a grin.

Ven was the name that only his closest friends used to call him with, they found calling him Ravendra to be cumbersome, so they had shortened it to simply Ven. Everyone else called him Ravendra or the azure panther because of the colour of his cape and the shape of his helmet.

“Do our scouts have anything to report?” asked Ven as he went over the map for the hundredth time.

“The same as the last time, they are strengthening their defences and building trenches. But the men’s morale is high, they want to end this war. However, we won’t be able to maintain this morale and momentum forever, we need to strike today,” said Pratabh

“Line the men up, we’ll do this the same as always. I’ll lead the battalion in the center, Frankie you’re on the west and Pratabh on the east. Frankie, take command if I fall in battle. Reconfirm the chain of command with your men. I’d like to believe that all of us are coming back alive, but look around you, our gang is down to three members.”

“I would argue that your gang has grown to 3000 members,” said a familiar feminine voice.

Vasillisa, his wife. This struggle for freedom had cost him many things, but he gained something irreplaceable. He would have never met the most wonderful woman in the world, if he had not taken up the sword and found his talent all those years ago. She was his better half in every way, and always managed to bring a foolish smile to his face. Even now a part of him wished to rush forward and embrace her, but he restrained himself, there was a time and place for everything. He was a commander right now, not a husband.

Their backgrounds and cultures were completely opposite and according to tradition it was impossible for the two of them to ever marry, but that was just one of the many changes their struggle for independence had brought. She was of the fair people with long blonde hair and blue eyes. The air of dignity with which she carried herself was not something all her people had, he would know, he had served under several fair folk masters in his childhood, while he was of the working class, his brown skin a mark of his lineage and people.

Unlike Ven, she had known her talent since she was a child. It was inevitable really that she discovered it, she could identify talents just by looking at people. It was an unheard of and unique ability, which caused such an uproar in the entire Kingdom that even Ven had heard about her in the backwaters where he lived. According to how Vasillissa told it, no one would believe her the day she looked in the mirror and suddenly realized what she could do, it was only after she had identified the talents of the local guard that anyone took her seriously and brought her to the local officials.

“Did you sneak out and leave your bodyguards all confounded again?” asked Pratabh.

“That depends on if they know I am missing.”

“Put up with it for a little while longer, we’re at the end of our journey,” said Ven.

“Do you have to lead the men into war?” she asked with a tired and strained face.

“You know I must, I can’t ask the men to fight a battle I wouldn’t join, it would mean I believe it can’t be won.”

“Promise me that you will return to me alive and whole.”

“Have I ever broken that promise between us?”

“Promise it again.”

“I promise to return alive and whole to you,” said Ven with a solemn face as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

“Ven slowly paced up and down, the uncomfortable and oppressive silence in the atmosphere broken only by the clink of Ven’s armour as he paced. Everyone snuck glances at each other, no one wanted to be the first one to break the silence.

“I need my advisors, not statues!” barked Ven clearly frustrated and irritated.

“This has to be a trap; they have never asked for negotiations before!” said Vassillissa immediately.

“We have never attacked their capital city before,” said Frank.

“We need to give them an answer soon, we can’t keep delaying,” said Pratabh.

“After everything they have done over the years, we owe them nothing. I say we send their messenger back with a strong message telling them that the time for talk is over and we are coming to conquer them!” said Frank.

“Should we not hear what they have to say? There must be a reason they have asked for negotiations. To reject them without hearing them out would be folly,” interjected Pratabh.

“Vass, you are being unnaturally reserved,” said Ven.

“There simply isn’t any right or wrong answer. As Frank so rightly mentioned, they deserve no mercy from us. But Pratabh makes a valid point as well, should we not listen to them, we have the larger number when it comes to forces, both sides know that. Maybe we could end this war without any bloodshed. The only problem is if this is a trap and they want to ambush us, naturally we can minimize the risk of that by choosing the site of the negotiations and taking a personal guard, but the chances for an ambush or underhanded attack by the enemy will never be zero. Striking you down would be a tough blow to the men’s morale,” said Vassillissa.

“From your assessment it sounds like it would be wiser to avoid this negotiation,” said Ven.

“Yes, it does lean towards that. But a bloodless victory, isn’t that something we should strive for? Don’t we owe it to our men?” asked Vassillissa.

“Not if it means that Ven could be killed in an ambush,” said Frank.

“He doesn’t have to be the one to go, one of us can go in his stead,” said Pratabh.

“I have already sacrificed enough,” said Ven with a sigh.

“We could save dozens of lives on both sides; we have a chance to settle this peacefully. Listen to reason, not your emotions!” exclaimed Vassillissa.

“It’s emotions that made us revolt and take up arms. Reason would have us still in bondage, so don’t you dare tell me that emotions don’t have a place in this,” said Ven angrily.

“That and this are completely different. I know you’re our leader, but I am going to make sure these negotiations happen, with or without your approval!” shouted Vassillissa as she turned around and walked out of the tent.

Ven finally stopped pacing and sat down on the nearest chair. He pressed his fingers on his forehead and closed his eyes as he let out a deep sigh. When he next opened his eyes, the fire and spark from his eyes was gone, he looked old and weary, his grey hair and wrinkles finally matching his demeanour.

“Ven?” said Frank softly as he put a calloused hand on his left shoulder.

“Send our best men with her, if anything goes wrong, I want her safe,” said Ven.

“Well, that means I’ll be going along,” said Pratabh as he picked up his helmet off the table. “I better get going after her. And don’t look at me like that, you two might be decent with swords but neither one of you has managed to beat me and my spear yet. So, I am going to be leading her bodyguards. You two just make sure to be ready to rush in and get us out of there at the first sign of trouble.”

The wind flew in a south east direction causing Ven’s coat of arms to flutter violently as the convoys of both sides slowly entered the tent. The guards waited outside the tent entrance, one hand on their sword pummels as they eyed each other menacingly, daring the other side to strike first.

The location of the negotiation tent was selected on top of a small hill, so that both sides could see what was happening and yet be far enough that neither side could make a pre-emptive attack. A small line of warhorses and knights waited on each side of the hill, all ready to gallop to the top of the hill at a moment’s notice.

It was a cloudy summer afternoon but Ven still felt a trickle of sweat run down his forehead. It had been nearly an hour since everyone had entered the tent.

“It’s too quiet,” said Ven.

“Which means that no one has tried to kill the other yet,” said Frank. “One of our men should be coming out soon to signal that everything is ok, we planned to do that every hour, since we had no idea how long they would be in there.”

“Whose idea was that?” asked Ven.

“Who else, your wife. We’re good at fighting and killing people, but when it comes down to these kinds of things, she has the most experience,” said Frank.

“It’s been over an hour,” said Ven with a tinge of nervousness in his voice.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, the last thing we want is to be the ones that break this small momentary truce we have. Ven, trust Vassillissa, she has never let us down yet,” said Frank reassuringly.

“5 minutes, I won’t wait any more than that,” said Ven.

“I won’t stop you after 5 minutes,” agreed Frank.

Ven constantly shifted his position on the saddle as he looked at the clouds in the sky, it was the only reference for time he had. It felt like time was moving slower than usual, and when the five minutes finally passed, it felt like an eternity had come and gone in front of Ven’s eyes.

Ven turned and gave Frank a nod before he slammed his visor down and urged his horse forward. Men started shouting orders and reacting to the two horses charging up the hill. Ven jumped off his horse and pulled out his sword in a practiced motion, as he looked around for the nearest threat. Spotting no one nearby he made his way into the tent, he heard Frank unsheathe his sword behind him as he entered the tent. He squinted his eyes as he tried to force his eyes to quickly get used to the change in light.

“There is no one here!” shouted Ven as he turned around to face Frank.

“Tell the men to capture as many as they can, we’ll need to beat some answers out of them, one of them has to know what happened here,” said Ven.

“What are you going to do?” asked Frank.

“I am going to lead the men and assault their fort! After you’re done subduing the rabble outside, bring some men and turn this tent upside down, there has to be something here that can lead us to them. We need to end this before they can use Vassillissa as a hostage.”

Frank nodded as he went out to join the clashing knights.

Horses neighed nervously as two battle lines stood facing each other, on one side were the freedom fighters with banners in different shades of blue and on the other side stood Rayleigh’s army with their yellow banners.

Ven glanced to his left where Frank was and then to his right where one of his trusted veterans was. A pain shot through his heart as he looked to the right, Pratabh should have been there, he was always on Ven’s right side. He had claimed it was because Ven wasn’t as good as blocking on his right as he was on his left, and Frank wasn’t skilled enough with a sword to both fight and keep Ven safe at the same time.

“We’ll get them back,” said Frank as he leaned to his right in order to get closer to Ven.

“Sound the horns!” shouted Ven as he ignored Frank and gritted his teeth.

As horns started blazing around the battle line Ven leaned forward and charged his war horse into the enemy battle lines. Using his talent, Ven pushed the soldiers immediately in front of his charging horse, unlike others with the same talent as him, he had never been able to use his telekinesis to push people so hard they went flying. But he could manage enough to get them off balance and that instant of imbalance was all he needed to successfully get close enough to trample them with his horse.

The air was thick with the screaming of men and neighing of horses as they clashed against each other. Ven’s horse came to a stop as it ran out of momentum, giving the enemy soldiers the opportunity to swarm him with superior numbers. As they rushed forward to overwhelm him, Ven jumped out of his saddle and swung his sword at the nearest enemy soldier. As Ven’s sword hit the soldier’s shield there was a loud boom, and the impact caused the shied to slip and fly into the air. Having experienced this occurrence many times in his life, Ven took a step forward and slammed the soldier in this helmet with the side of his sword, causing his neck to snap as it was violently pushed to the side. As the soldier’s body fell onto the soldier right next to him Ven stepped back and parried a swing from a soldier on his right.

Taking a second to get better footing, Ven lunged forward with his sword in an overhead swing onto the soldier’s shoulder, there was a loud crack as the soldier’s collar bone broke and he fell to the crown screaming in pain.

This was the fighting style that Ven had created, he realized he was never going to master telekinesis, so instead of using his time on something that was impossible for him, he decided to find ways to get the best out of what he could do.

His solution was to use his limited telekinesis to increase the speed and power of his swings. It was something which didn’t require him to concentrate, but the challenge was the timing. If he did it too early, it would result in a wild swing which would leave him completely open to a counter and doing it too late resulted in a swing which didn’t have any extra power or speed in it. It had taken him months of training and practice to perfect the timing of his swings.

“Calm down and take a breather,” shouted Frank as he pushed Ven behind him. “Save your strength for the knights, anyone from our army can get the better of these soldiers, they barely know how to hold a sword!”

“Cut open a path to the knights!” shouted Ven through deep breaths.

“I thought I just told you to take a breather!” shouted Frank as he used his shield to push a soldier out of his way.

“I’ll rest while you cut open a path!” shouted Ven.

“We won’t let you rest! You Naari scum die here! For the King!” shouted a soldier as he rushed at Frank while using his shield like a ram.

“I am a Gaard just like the rest of you idiots!” shouted Frank as he sidestepped and tripped the soldier that was running at him.

“LIAR! A Gaard would never side with this scum!” shouted the soldier on the ground.

“Look at my face, boy!” shouted Frank as he pulled his visor up to show his face.

Soldiers all around stood dumbstruck as they saw that Frank was indeed a Gaard just like them.

“Why would you betray your own people? We who are chosen by God to lead!” shouted a soldier.

“Time to open your eyes, The Naari are our equals and we’ve abused them for long enough,” shouted Frank.

“Blasphemy! Strike this madman down!” shouted the soldier who was still on the ground.

“Come at me then, I’ll strike every single one of you down!” shouted Frank as he pushed his visor back into position.

“Now who needs to calm down?” shouted Ven as he took position on Frank’s right.

“This is different, these self-righteous pigs deserve what’s coming to them!” shouted Frank.

Men screamed and crumbled to the ground as a blast of fire went ripping through them, those not killed rolled on the ground trying to put out the fire on their leather armour, while others panicked and tried to turn around and run, only to be pushed forward by the wall of soldiers behind. Veterans of a ten war, Ven’s men grabbed the opportunity presented and slayed the panicking soldiers in front of them.

“Keep pushing! We end this war today!” shouted Ven to roars around him, a cheer taken up by all along the battlefield by his men.

As the sun started to set on the battlefield, the battle drew close to an end, there had been casualties on both sides, but once again the Azure Army had won. Ven roared loudly as he slew the last man standing in front of him, banner-men stood around hosting the azure banner, signalling their victory. But things weren’t over, he hadn’t found Vassillissa yet. They didn’t find any clues in the tent and were at a loss for where so many people had disappeared to.

“Where’s Rayleigh?” asked Ven as he sheathed his sword and wiped the blood on his face using his cape

“Him and his honour guard are making a last stand in the throne room. I’ve got a squad trying to break their barricade as we speak, we should be able to get through before the day is over,” said Frank.

“Assign more men, we’re breaking in now. Every moment we waste is a chance for them to harm Vassillissa.”

“Ven, you need to calm down. You’re acting on emotion,” said Frank.

“Would you be calm if it were your wife instead of mine?! If they have hurt her, I’ll make them wish that they were dead!” said Ven as he made his way to the throne room.

Soldiers saluted and fell in to ranks behind them as they walked towards the throne room. Quickly they made their way towards the Throne room where they were greeted by Ven’s men who were using a makeshift battering-ram against the towering doors of the Throne room.

“Bring axes and help these men hack this door down!” shouted Frank.

Ven stood motionless in front of the doors as he watched the soldiers at work, waiting patiently for them to break open the doors. Frank unsuccessfully tried to get him to sit down or do something else while the men worked on the doors, but after the fourth attempt he gave up and stood silently next to him. Eventually, the soldiers managed to open up a crack wide enough for a man to go through. Ven signalled for the soldiers to stop and move away.

Without waiting for others to check for traps or defending soldiers Ven rushed into the throne room, Frank and his bodyguards fell in behind as quickly as they could, trying to form a perimeter around him. In the end it wasn’t necessary as Rayleigh was sitting on the throne with a sinister smile on his face. All around him were the bodies of his advisors and honour guard, but Ven could not see any injuries or signs of a struggle.

Rayleigh looked down on them from his throne as they slowly approached. He was an elderly and frail man in his late sixties. They said he was a mighty warrior in his younger days, and it was easy to see as he had singlehandedly united the known world with an iron fist, but those days were long past. In the last few decades of his life, he had become an old and cruel man, doing as he wished and not caring about the consequences. He was especially cruel to slaves, killing them as he pleased and making them live in the most inhumane conditions possible.

“What did you do here?” asked Ven as he gestured towards the bodies.

“Clearly my reign has ended, I wasn’t going to give you the pleasure of using my advisors and knights in your service. It was simple enough to have the slaves slip some poison into their wine. I am most certain they enjoyed poisoning their former masters,” said Rayleigh with a cruel smile.

“That attitude and behaviour of yours is one of the main reasons this revolution happened. People were more than willing to take up arms against you,” said Ven.

“Having lived and reigned for as long as I have, you learn some things. I knew I would be overthrown one day, alas no kingdom lasts forever, it is simply the way of things. Enjoy your glory and grandeur while you can, one day there will come a younger, stronger, and more charismatic man who will overthrow your kingdom. The old must give way to the new. You do not have to believe me, it is something you will find out in your own time, as did I. But I will say, you are a far more competent successor than any of my heirs, albeit a very naive one. As my successor, I am going to leave you with one final gift and advice before I step down. Never trust an enemy with their back to the wall, they will say and do anything to catch you off guard, as did I with that farce of a negotiation. In the next room you will find stairs that lead you to your Queen,” said Rayleigh.

“And what do you want in exchange for her safety?” asked Ven cautiously.

“Why absolutely nothing at all, if you were under the illusion that this was a kidnapping, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I am not using her as a bargaining chip, I do not wish for you to spare my life or the lives of my underlings. You are free to deal with them as you please. As I said earlier, this is but my final gift to my successor,” said Rayleigh.

“Frank, throw him in a dungeon. I’ll deal with him when I get back.”

“You won’t have the satisfaction of putting shackles on me, I’ve taken the same poison, but don’t worry I’ll be waiting for the Azure Knight in the next life. Waiting to hear your story, of how you lived and died,” said Rayleigh as he stood up and roared in laughter.

Ven gave him a disdainful look as he dashed into the next room and followed the stairs down to a narrow passage. It felt like he had been running for a good half an hour before he reached a door. It opened easily and without resistance when he pushed it. He hesitated for a second as he saw the blue colours on the bodies of the men lining the room, they were his soldiers. He frantically scanned the room for any sign of Vassillissa or Pratabh and found their lifeless cold bodies next to a wall at the far end of the room. He reached down and closed Pratabh’s eyes with his left hand.

“I am going to miss our arguments, brother.”

Slowly, Ven raised his head and looked past where Pratabh lay. Vassillissa sat hunched forward in a pool of blood. Looking around him, he slowly started recreating how the events probably unfolded. The enemy soldiers had them cornered and unarmed, Pratabh must have given the command to form up around Vassillissa. Not that it would have done much, against armed elites it was just a matter of time before they cut through everyone and reached her.

He stood there motionless looking down at her hunched figure, not daring to kneel down and look at her face directly, that would be the finality of the moment, it would mean she was gone. He hesitated as he slowly got down on one knee and gently took her right hand into his, with his free hand he raised her head up gently and that was it, he could never undo it now, no amount of lying to himself could change what he had seen. Vass was gone.

His chest felt tight and seemed to be constricting. Fruitlessly, Ven punched the floor again and again, trying to make himself feel the pain in his fist rather than the pain in his heart. Until finally he gave up and accepted the emotions raging inside, his vision blurred, and the tears started pouring out.

What was the point of everything they had done and gone through? Were not all those sacrifices made so that their children could have the life they never could. Wiping away the tears from his eyes, Ven looked at the knife tied to his sash, Frank could handle the rest, he was a good and honest man. He pulled out the knife in a swift motion and held it one hand as he contemplated the swiftest way to end it all.

“You sure that’s what Vassillissa would have wanted you to do?” rang a voice in the silence of the room.

“Walk away, Frank. Just pretend you came here too late.”

“Too much has been sacrificed for the rebellion to fail here, we still need you, Ven,” pleaded Frank.

“Rayleigh is dead, the war is over. We have freedom, you don’t need me anymore.”

“Before Vassillissa died, she left instructions with me and Pratabh in case something happened to her, she did this because she knew you might do something rash. Guess she was right,” said Frank.

“What instructions?”

“She wanted us to remind you the rebellion needs a uniting factor, a leader everyone is willing to follow and die for. And if something happened to you, the rebellion would be a failure,” said Frank.

“But we won, they don’t have to die for me anymore!” shouted Ven.

“No, they don’t. But there will be infighting for who will be King, rivers of innocent blood will be spilled in the future if you don’t take the throne today. You are the one man no one will dare dispute as the next rightful King. Please don’t let everything we have done up till today be squandered, I beg you!” shouted Frank.

“You don’t know what you’re asking of me, how can I continue living without her by my side.”

“Do it for Vassillissa, do not make her death be meaningless, bring peace and stability to the land! It’s what she would have wanted! You know it to be true!” exclaimed Frank with a pleading look on his face.

Time stood still as Ven looked away from the knife in his hand and slowly raised his head and looked at Vass once again. There he stood silently for what felt like an eternity, taking deep breaths as he made his decision.

“For Vass,” whispered Ven as he let go of his knife.

The knife hit the ground with a thundering gong, sending echoes all across the room. Instinctively Ven looked at Frank to see his reaction but was further bewildered as his friend stood motionless, the pleading look still on his face.

A loud thundering gong reverberated through the room again, while golden words started forming in the air in front of Ven. Vassillissa had forced him to learn how to read and write as she claimed it was an essential skill for a leader. Slowly he spelled the words out in his head before reading them out syllable by syllable.

SIMULATION COMPLETE!

Hello Everyone!!

The first chapter is finally out! Okay, technically it isnt the first chapter but rather a prologue, but the adventure has started! I hope all of you enjoy the story and if you have any comments, please dont be shy to write them down. I'll try to answer back as soon as I can :)

Thank you for taking the time to give my story a try, and I hope you will be back next week to see what happens to our main character.

Take care and remember to stay safe,

Anderoth