Vex was the last one to step out of the carriage as some teens looked around with their jaws slacked.

  They were at the capital of the territory and the sight had left some eyes wide open as they looked at the towering buildings around them, some seemed to be made of glass and the stone street was so clean that one could eat off it .

  But the sight that froze even the adults was the white marble palace that stood at the center of they city as they stood outside it's silver gates that had golden trim.

  Vex sighed looking at everything, he was intentionally avoiding the capital for the past year to lower the possibility of being found by the church.

  'For now I should stay silent and observe' he took a few steps back into the crowd of sweaty man as the teenagers stood at the front of the gate looking the carriages move away.

  His gaze turned to the knights around them on horses 'they making sure no one leaves'

  The mercenaries were moved to the border to defend the territory excluding the mercenaries that were below the age of twenty, but what was stranger was the fact that these man from the villages and towns were not sent to the border, while the teenage boys from the towns and villages were rounded up with the young mercenaries in the carriages.

  'Its too early to assume it's the church' he kept his head facing forward not to arouse any suspicion.

  "Clip-clop.." the sound of horse hooves faint in the air as the gates opened and the knights lead the way into palace ground.

  It was a straight road to the palace stairs yet the scenery had Vex staring as they walked, lush tree's lined up on each side, standing on top of freshly cut grass and in a short distance you could see a variety of flowers dancing around in harmony.

  Vex smirked looking at the site 'people outside the capital are live in wooden houses yet he lives like this, no wonder his own people slander his name at every chance they get'

  'But who am I to judge' he kept moving enjoying the fresh scent of blue roses that lay next to the palace stairs 'I came here because I knew the church would never look in his territory'

  Despite how beautiful capital is, the poverty rate in duke Ramsey territory was the highest in the kingdom and judging by his palace it wasn't because of a failing system but because of deliberate choices.

  Ever since he took over and killed his siblings, taxes kept increasing every year to the point that the only place that had electricity was the capital.

  He removed any form of education the commoners were receiving despite the fact that through out the kingdom the only form of education the commoners were receiving was how to read and write.

  Now why didn't the kingdom step in and stop him? thats easy, the duke was a nine star swordsmen. An asset that couldn't be allowed to leave the kingdom.

  Then why were there no rebellions despite the blatant abuse of power? Well the duke was strong enough to wipe out his own territory off the map if forced to but more important he wasn't a fool but a little psychotic.

  As such he would oftern do gestures to appease the people in his territory such as giving them free food, making sure the territory had enough alcohol and drugs to numb the minds of the masses and sometimes give tax breaks if he felt generous.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Now with crippled mind and tired bodies after a hard day of work, the average person in his territory was too tired to even think about rebellion to such a degree that even the duke enemies had given up on trying to incite a rebellion. Duke Remsey had perfected his strategy to the point that it was being studied and his territory was renamed 'the tyrants domain' unofficially.

  "Stop" every one's feet stopped at they stood at the clearing at the palaces stairs, their eyes at the knight climbing down the horse.

  "All the boys move up the stair toward the palace" the knight pointed to Leto "young master Leto will guide you through everything"

  The boys climbed up the short stair as Vex moved through the crowd of ragged man.

  The knight that stood at the front glared at him as he ran past, but Vex threw him a weak smile not bothering to say anythings.

  His steps slowed down after climbing up the stairs as he walked to the back of the group.

  At the front Leto stopped and smiled as he looked at the man in a midnight blue valvet suit with a scruffy beard standing next to the two armoured figures behind him.

  "father" he bowed his head while the duke gave the boy a gantle smile petting his shoulder plate.

  "You've done well my boy" Leto looked up to the duke "I know it must have been difficult meeting with the peasants but it is essential for the territories future"

  "Understood" he spoke with a faint smile, while Dex raised an eye brow looking at the them.

  The dukes gaze turned to the ragged boys that stood behind Leto "Boys" although he didn't yell his voice could clearly be heard by everyone.

  "As you know the demons have become aggressive lately" he stepped forward "and this is because one of the demon kings general's is at our border"

  Murmurs filled the air as the boys talked about the general then.

  "Silence!" A voice achoud from behind the duke silencing everyone even the rustling of the leaves seemed to go silent.

  The duke spoke "do not worry, all is not lost" his gaze moved through the boys "I have gathered you all here today to protect the future and you my children are the future"

  A few faces amoung the boys smiled hearing the duke speak "even if everything is lost today you must survive.."

  'The future?' Vex eyes narrowed while Dex smirked slightly shaking his head at the Leo 'then where are the women and children?'

  He questioned the dukes statement yet he was alone, looking at the smiles of relief around him.

  The duke continued "...survive to rebuild our great home, survive to cherish the memories of the lives that will be lost as your parents and me fight against this great evil"

  His tone softerned "promise me you will survive and remember our secrifices"

  "We will"

  "Of course we will"

  "Yes..

  "H..

  'The idiots will cheer' and the boys cheered all except Vex, Dex and Leo while Leto stood next to his father smiling.

  'It's definitely the churchs' Vex gaze turned cold as he looked at the Duke 'the fact that he was able to use the kings authority forcing all mercenaries to fight, shows that the church pulled some strings'

  The doors of palace opened as the boys cheered showing more children inside it's halls 'and now gathering everyone around my age group, the church knows I'm here but doesn't have accurate information about me'

  He moved with the cheering crowd into the palace 'the tattoos won't be enough to shake them off this time but I have an escape goat this time' he smiled passing by Leto.

  *************

  At the base of the rocky mountains at the edge of the tyrants domain lay hords of orcs, ogres and goblins, some were on top of two giant wolves called fanrirs that lay resting next to a red tent.

  An armoured orc stepped into the tent and dropped to a knee.

  Inside the tent sat a women with fair skin and a horn on her head as her dark hair cascaded down the chair with a book in her dainty hand.

  It didn't dare to look up, it waited for her to speak even if it had to wait for centuries it would wait.

  "Speak" she didn't bother to spare it her gaze as her crimson eyes moved through the pages of her book.

  "The boy has entered the dukes castle" it spoke without raising it's head.

  "You see" she put the book on the oak table "it was wise to wait for the humans to find him for us instead of letting him run away"

  "Now tell everyone to move before the human church arrives" she turned back to her book.

  The orc stood there on a knee waiting.....

  ...

  ..

  .

  She flipped a page "oh I forgot about you"

  "You can leave" it stood up with a lowered head and walked out of the tent without ever turning its back on her.

  Once outside its knee's trembled threatening to break and as the wind whispered down the steep slopes it took a deep breaths.

  ...

  ..

  "Kill anything that isn't the human boy named Vex" as it spoke a fanrir eyes opened, it growled raising its head the size big enough to swallow a house and the ground trembled as the horde moved.

  And with the sun haven't reached it's peak, the mage of dark flame's permitted this make shift army to move as such everything was destined to burn at her feet.