Morwin used the power of opal to hide himself and wandered into an alley. From beside him, he could hear the sound of footsteps thumping louder than his own heart. The soldiers chased an illusion of him that he’d manifested while he ducked into a shadowy place.

  He released the rest of the opal essence and Absorbed in some sapphire, catching a breath. Serenity. Immediately, everything in his body began to calm down, but his adrenaline still rushed.

  He glanced up and saw a figure darting straight for him, dagger out.

  Morwin Absorbed in emerald and blew a powerful gust of wind behind him to launch him forwards. He rolled against the dirty ground and unsheathed his weapon when he came to a stop.

  More people darted down with daggers. Dragikiri. They didn’t wear the typical clothing of an Agnian soldier. They instead wore completely black clothing, covering them from head to do. Morwin couldn’t even see their faces as it was covered in fabric.

  “Who are you?” Morwin demanded, holding out a sword. In a three on one, Morwin stood a chance.

  The earth split underneath Morwin. He launched another gust of wind that knocked him further back.

  A three on one fight where he fought against Dragikiri? He stood no chance.

  “We’re the Hundred,” one of them spoke. “You have committed crimes against the king of this nation, and you will pay for it.”

  The way he spoke… so melodically, so calm.

  But when he attacked, a flurry of quick strikes came out. Yet, his body still maintained its relaxed posture. As if fighting Morwin was more of a chore than a fight for survival.

  Morwin sprang into action, blocking the strikes which came his way. Surprisingly, only one of the Hundred attacked Morwin. The other watched with hands clasped behind their backs, nodding as his comrade struck out.

  Morwin was quickly pushed against a wall. He didn’t like to admit it, but he didn’t stand a chance against these opponents. They were on another caliber from himself. Retreat would be the only option.

  Morwin turned to run, but an earthen wall formed that blocked his escape path. The other path is to barrel straight through those guys and push his way out of the alleyway, but he would be in plain sight of who knows how many archers, waiting to strike him.

  He looked upwards. The buildings were clear, but he’d be rained with arrows the moment he showed himself.

  To fight or to run…

  Morwin gripped his sword tightly and charge at the Hundred who’d been attacking him, swinging wildly. In times like these, Morwin wished Galvin had taught him more, to have more practice with the weapon.

  The man deflected his strikes with ease. It angered Morwin even more that he couldn’t see the man’s facial expressions, but the body language conveyed boredom.

  Morwin Absorbed in rubies and slammed his blade against the stone, a powerful burst of fire emanating from the ground he just struck, enveloping his opponent.

  Within the same moment, all of the flames disappeared. The man held onto an aquamarine.

  Morwin’s eyes widened in surprised. How did he just do that? The air certainly did feel colder.

  And it grew colder yet as he attacked the man. Cold enough that it hurt him.

  Morwin backed off. He Absorbed in some sapphire and focused on Mind. Stand down, he thought with all his might, similar to with Lord De’Shai back in the dungeon, the words directed at the man covered in black.

  He winced, but nothing more. Morwin struck again, stabbing his blade at the man, but his opponent didn’t even seem to be phased by the command.

  With one swing of his dagger, Morwin’s sword flung away from his grip, clattering against the ground several feet away.

  “Your mind tricks will not work on us,” one of the other Hundred spoke.

  “We have trained to hone our mind, spirit, and bodies. Your best bet is to surrender,” the third of the Hundred said.

  The Hundred… Morwin had heard that name before. But he didn’t know from where. The other two moved from their positions. Morwin could do nothing but watch as they surrounded him.

  “Lord De’Shai will require for you to be captured alive, unfortunately,” one of them spoke.

  He pulled out chains, seemingly from nowhere.

  “If you go quietly, then no further harm will be brought to you.”

  “Go to hell,” Morwin spoke.

  He Absorbed in as much emerald as he could hold and focused it all on Wind. He spun around, using the wind to propel him faster and faster. The world turned into a blur around him, and he could feel his breakfast rising up, but he stomached it.

  Before long, he’d created a whirlwind with him at the epicenter, a powerful enough gust that his opponents wouldn’t be able to get to him.

  Yet they still stood there confidently.

  Morwin didn’t stand a chance against these guys, but there had to be a reason they chose to attack in the dark alley. If they’d struck against Galvin and him while they were out in the open, then they’d be captured much more quickly. These people certainly had the skill to detain Morwin.

  To fight against these three or against the rest of the army? The answer was clear as day.

  Morwin stopped spinning, but his head ran circles around him. He just needed to stall them while he made a decision.

  If Galvin was here instead, he would have been able to make a decision much quicker in the heat of the moment. Morwin wasn’t like his brother, and that might be his downfall in the future.

  A powerful gust of wind, and he propelled himself forward, past the member of the Hundred, into broad daylight once again.

  “He’s over here!” a soldier shouted.

  He looked behind him into the alleyway and saw that the men he’d just fought are no longer there. Had he imagined the whole thing?

  A gut feeling told him if he retreated back into the alley, then they’d be waiting for him. He looked both ways and before long, he was surrounded by troops. All of them just for one man…

  The soldiers parted, in from them, Lord De’Shai emerged, his arms folded, eyes narrow, and veins practically popping out of his forehead.

  “You’ve recovered quickly,” Morwin spoke. “Surprised you showed yourself and risk danger. You coward.”

  Several of the soldiers responded to Morwin’s remark by readying their swords, but a wave of the hand from Lord De’Shai silenced them.

  “It was my mistake not to kill Galvin. I wanted information from him about the rest of Justicar. But I suppose that information can wait. Perhaps from someone like you.”

  Morwin looked off to the side on one of the rooftops and saw Galvin struggling desperately against another Dragikiri. Morwin had seen him fight like that only once before, and it was when Lord Demarian fought against him. Galvin was on the edge, being pushed back to the edge of the rooftop.

  A blow came across Morwin’s face which cracked and echoed throughout the street. The one who’d delivered the painful blow was Lord De’Shai.

  “I am speaking to you,” the man spoke. “It is rude to have your attention on something else when you are being spoken to.” Lord De’Shai drew in a calming breath. “Now I will tell you exactly what’s going to happen. You are going to surrender yourself. You will watch helplessly as that bastard is murdered by one of our Dragikiri. You will plead for mercy and be imprisoned in the same dungeon in the same manner, and you will reveal information about Justicar.”

  Morwin spat.

  “I will do none of those things,” he said, anger seething into every syllable.

  Soldiers rushed up immediately and were quick to restrain Morwin. One by one, gemstones were removed and displaced. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, topazes, taken from his pockets and emptied onto the ground.

  One of the soldiers reached for the sapphire necklace Morwin always carried. That was when Morwin lost his temper. He screamed and kicked, akin to a young girl, but the soldiers worked to unclip the necklace from him and throw it behind his back. It landed on the cobblestone quite a bit away.

  Then he was kicked and shoved to the cobblestone. He could feel chains clasped around his wrists within moments. How many soldiers did it take to detain one single man? Through the process, he was kicked multiple times.

  The wind changed.

  Morwin glanced up to see a muscular figure before him, wearing the familiar looking cloak.

  Did Galvin realize he was in danger and come to rescue him?

  Morwin turned to the side and saw his brother still on the rooftop, fighting against the Dragikiri.

  Then who was this?

  In the same moment this mysterious figure appeared, he unsheathed his sword and swung it upwards.

  One of the soldiers reacted in time and threw himself in front of the blade, taking the strike intended for Lord De’Shai.

  The soldier died on the spot. Morwin could feel a rough hand around his neck, and the next moment he realized, he was on the rooftop of a building. A quick slice removed the cuffs.

  “Looks like I made it just on time,” Darius spoke. He pulled something out. A small brown sack. Morwin could feel many tiny essences within the sack, a familiar one. Diamonds, lots of them. The old decommissioned currency of igians, to be exact.

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  “We have to help him,” Morwin said, pointing to Galvin.

  He turned his attention to where he’d just teleported from and saw soldiers on high alert, and Lord De’Shai practically about to explode. He swore he could feel the heat of that man’s anger from where he stood.

  Darius clutched the bag, raising it high above him. “Galvin!” he shouted, before tossing the bag over. Morwin turned to the side and noticed several archers stationed on the rooftop taking notice of them being there.

  All but one of the archers released arrows in their direction.

  Darius’s attention quickly returned to the archers, while Morwin paid attention to the brown sack flying through the air. Did Galvin hear? Would he be able to react in time?

  No matter what Galvin did, no matter what formation he took, nothing seemed to work against this Dragikiri. He was on a whole other level. If these kinds of people were the ones in the king’s army now, then perhaps an all out war with them would not be the best approach.

  Galvin’s attention turned to Darius, who stood several rooftops away, calling his name. Within the same second, a brown sack came flying through the air. He knew exactly what that was. He held out his hand and reached for it.

  But before his hands could wrap itself around it, his opponent kicked him in the gut, a powerful strike which sent him tumbling against the brick rooftop. His opponent caught the sack, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.

  All but one archer loosed an arrow towards Morwin and Darius. Arrows flew, but before they could reach its mark, flames erupted from the brute of a man standing on the left, sizzling away and burning all the arrows. The archers looked up in alarm and began backing away. They collectively knew that they’d have to attack from every direction at once, or else their arrows would just keep burning and sizzling from existence.

  The archers didn’t continue their onslaught. Except for one man. He stood with confidence now, raising his bow and arrow, pulling on the string of his bow. Another archers turned to him, watching.

  Even Darius and Morwin watched him curiously.

  The archer released an arrow, sending it flying. The thing about this archer is he’s a very good shot. Most of the times, with no outside interference, his arrows always made its mark.

  The arrow flew past Darius and Morwin, finding its mark in a completely different target.

  It was all over. Galvin didn’t stand a chance now that the Dragikiri held onto the sack. All hope was lost. Morwin and Darius were both preoccupied with archers. The plan had been doomed to fail from the start. There’d been an oversight with how skilled the king’s Dragikiri are. Galvin didn’t expect men of this caliber, this unnamed man who proved to be a big problem for him.

  But he wouldn’t just give up and lie on the ground to die.

  The man let out a grunt, blood flowing from his mouth, before he collapsed forward, letting go of the sack. An arrow was stuck in the back of his throat.

  Galvin didn’t waste this opportunity. He scooped up the bag of gemstones and looked up to the source of the arrow.

  A familiar man stood there, surrounded by angry archers who lurched for him. But the man eluded their grasp and jumped off the building, making direct eye contact with Galvin as he leapt. A signal.

  Galvin Absorbed in the diamonds and the world of rooftops vanished around him as he reappeared in the air, underneath the falling archer.

  Galvin grabbed onto the collar of the man’s shirt and focused on Spatial once again. The height disappeared and the two men found themselves on the ground in a different alleyway.

  The archer unfurled his hood to reveal Jules, sitting on the ground and panting. “You know, having experience in the army comes in handy when you know about the people in charge,” he said.

  “Jules,” Galvin said. “You came back.”

  “Of course I did,” Jules’s response was. “Now you can leave me here. Go get the others. I can manage on my own.”

  “I’ve let you go once before,” Galvin said. “It won’t happen again.”

  The man looked Galvin’s in the eyes and pursed his lips, nodding. “The other three need you, Galvin. I will meet you guys at Stormwins Peak. I can get out of here, but everyone’s seen you lot. Now go.”

  Galvin blinked in surprise. He had never heard such conviction from the man before. He’d always straggled along, doing as he was told… sometimes. This time, some spark had come from him, a fire reignited.

  Galvin nodded. He grabbed the sack tightly and Absorbed in more diamonds before disappearing and reappearing on the rooftop where the archers stood.

  The shot from Jules had angered them and they were pelting Morwin and Darius with arrows. Darius burned the projectiles with flames as they grew close.

  It didn’t take a genius to know that that group of archers would be in trouble afterwards. They were firing arrows in the hopes of incapacitating any one of them to make up for the death of a Dragikiri. But they would be punished either way, and their arrows proved to be a desperate attempt to maintain their lives.

  Galvin scoffed. How could they fight for such a man who would bring about the death punishment for failing?

  Galvin wrapped his arms around both Darius and Morwin and Absorbed more diamonds. Teleporting three people took more essence than just one, but Darius had a lot more igians where that came from. He could afford it. They reappeared on the rooftop Galvin was just fighting on, where Guenevir stood by the Dragikiri’s body.

  “Sorry for leaving you,” Galvin said before adding Guenevir to the list of people he teleported.

  His body couldn’t hold enough essence to teleport them all to the outskirts of the city, so he opted to teleport as far away as he could, stop, Absorb in more essence, and teleport some more. Before he knew it, he was outside the city, past the warcamps.

  He let all three of them go. “You have one more sack,” Galvin said. “Give it to me.”

  “But we need these to make it to Stormwins peak,” Darius protested, but Galvin didn’t budge.

  “I’m going to need it. I’ll return. You guys just hide somewhere.”

  “Wait,” Morwin said, interrupting him. “You’re going back?”

  Galvin nodded. “I need to do something. I’ll be safe, I promise. As long as I have these diamonds.”

  Darius eventually agreed and relinquished control of his own sack. Darius you’re in charge in the meantime. He’ll lead you guys back to Stormwins Peak, and I’ll catch up.”

  “Good luck,” Guenevir spoke. “And thank you for saving me.”

  Galvin gave her a wink before taking the sack and vanishing.

  Jules stood in the dark alleyway, panting. Why was he so out of breath? All he did was shoot an arrow and leap off a building. Perhaps it was the adrenaline dying down. Or perhaps he’s way past his prime.

  From outside the alley, he could hear people, probably those in command, barking orders.

  “I want every corner of this city covered! Do not let anyone with that mask escape!”

  Jules gripped his bow. The group of archers whom he infiltrated would be looking for him, as they’d need to turn in the traitor or they’d all be punished, probably with the death penalty.

  He felt a slight pang of guilt at that. But it was either them or him, and now he had a reason to keep fighting.

  More commotion rang out. Calls of alarm and soldiers clomping on cobblestone. Jules peaked out to see Galvin there, sprinting across the streets. Soldiers tried to surround him, but what good could an ordinary man do against one of Galvin’s caliber? He became a tempest of steel as he swung his blade around, deflecting strikes.

  He had plenty of gemstones on him, and he used the power of them well. A spike of rock jutting from the ground here, and a blast of icicles there.

  But why had he come back? Jules had told Galvin to forget about him and go and save the others. It wasn’t like they saw Jules’s face with the hood, so there was no way the archers would find him.

  Galvin rushed towards where Lord De’Shai stood previously and he held his ground there, swinging and slicing through legions of soldiers.

  Then he vanished, just like that, into thin air.

  “I’m here,” a voice whispered which made Jules jump.

  “I thought I told you to get out of here,” Jules replied.

  “I did, and I came back to get you out as well.”

  Jules shook his head. “No,” he said. “I have business here. You go on without me. I’ll be fine.”

  Galvin pursed his lips. “I’ve left you before to the elements of this nation. I can’t bear to do the same thing. Now come on.”

  “I will fight for Justicar from this city,” Jules replied. “I can take care of myself. I may be old and withering, but I still pack a punch.”

  Galvin seemed to consider it for a moment. “Two weeks,” Galvin said. “If you still fight for Justicar, then you will return to Stormwins Peak. Since you came back, I reworked you into my plans for the future of our fight. Don’t disappoint,” Galvin said.

  Jules let out a laugh. “I’ll be there in two weeks,” Jules replied. A second later, Galvin vanished into nothingness.