So many have gazed upon this world, stared long enough for it to stare

back. They leave changed, different, not one leaves the same. They all

believe in something, no matter how small, no matter how false. I’m

gazing too, wondering as my beliefs change how many have believed the

same things, why, how much of what I believe is true… whether there is

anything true to be found. Is it wrong to kill a man any more than it is

to kill a cow? I kill a cow for meat some say… well I kill a man for

power, which is also integral to survival.

So when the darkness comes and I don’t have the power to protect myself

and it will. I’ll think of the men I did not kill. I’ll wonder if it was

a lack of power that saw me end or a lack of character. I will not hate

the darkness for coming. I’ll be true to myself. That’s more than most

are little bro, so in a world of lies be true to yourself.

Signed,

Your bigger brother

Kael could hear the sound of Carl tapping against his table even before he

entered the room. He couldn't help but feel a sliver of anxiety at that,

dealing with him would be even more difficult now that he was like

this. Lately, Carl had been feeling frustrated, something that did not

bode well for those around him.

"You do not fear him, you do not bow" Kael chanted mentally.

He met the eyes of his father's personal guard Kozen and gave the man a

nod of acknowledgment. Kozen replied with a sly grin, Kael felt anger

stir within him at the sight of it. He fed the anger, better anger than

fear, his father would not win. He was beyond the mouth of the door and

into the midst of his father's office in the time it took to frame a

conscious thought. He kept his head down. He knew what he would see if

he raised it, his father, Carl's, large round frame leaning slightly on

an impressive wooden desk. Lips twisted in a snarl, ready to bite, ready

to assault. Fingers tapping on the table with their unnaturally black

fingernails standing out. Black hair, truly black hair, a mop of it on a

face that matched the body it sat on, piercing black eyes that drew

attention from the rest of the face and, you guessed it, a black plush

moustache that hid a thick upper lip beneath it. Kael could say with

confidence that they looked nothing alike. To start with he could

actually be considered attractive, maybe, he wasn't sure.

"Look at me when I am talking to you boy!" Carl bellowed.

Nothing alike, his eyes traced the grains on the wooden floors.

"Distract yourself, you are not here, you are free"

"I said look at me!"

"He never would have lost his temper so easily before, he is slipping and he knows it."

A smile tugged at his lips, he had to fight to keep a straight face.

"Do I really hate him? No... not yet. Anger yes but not hate"

"You insist on testing me" Carl's voice came across even, controlled, and laced with anger

Kael fought the urge to look up, this could not be good. He felt the

markings on his right ****** lurch as if in agreement, instantly all

pretense at anger evaporated and his stomach did the flips. Something

was about to happen, be it in a day or week something of notice would

happen. Something always happened after the marks moved.

The tapping had stopped, Kael looked up and into his father's livid glare.

For a moment it seemed like Carl would snap and do something they would

both regret, well Kael would regret but then the moment was over and

Carl had buried the anger.

Carl would not strike him, at least not in a way that could not be described

as lightly. After all, Kael was GodMarked, and you did not strike a

GodMarked unless to tempt fate. Terrible things were said to happen to

those who dared and of those things, death was considered the most

favourable. That and the promise that given sufficient contact with

despair and perhaps the fulfilment of one or two conditions, they would

deviate, become deviants, men and women that could manipulate the

eldritch forces that governed the world were a GodMarked's only weapons.

Unfortunately for GodMarked, these two things were hardly protection

enough, not when those that sought to control them where often deviants

who had long come to grips with their deviations

"You insist on trying my patience, on disobeying even the simplest of

directives, so be it. I have had enough, pack your things starting

tomorrow you will join the third squad for garden duty, leave, leave

now"

"Garden duty, me, beyond the wall, me"

Kael's feet somehow managed the miracle of getting him out of the room without

betraying the tumult of emotions, he was feeling. He looked down to

find his hands shaking, he smiled widely seeing that.

"I am in shock, never even left the complex but soon, soon I'll be beyond

even the walls and into the Despair. Maybe I will finally deviate, maybe

I'll... don't do this, don't raise your hopes."

Excitement couldn't begin to cover what he felt, probably no word could. Free, the

word bounced about his mind, obscuring every other thought. The word

seemed to set his nerves on fire, he knew he wasn't being rational, he

wasn't going to be free, not in the basest form. He would still be his

father's possession, there would still be chains, longer chains but

chains.

"I am really not afraid, beyond the borders are creatures I cannot fathom

and all I feel is the crackle of excitement. I have imagined this moment

over and over again, always careful to add a healthy dose of fear but

now that I am living it, I can't bring myself to even feign fear. Am I

brave or stupid" he pondered, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Ugh!"

Kael bent over, clutching his stomach.

"Shushshsh, look at me"

He was yanked harshly by the hair, forcing him to meet the eyes of his

assailant. He knew who it was even before he saw the face, few dared to

strike a GodMarked unless to tempt fate. Clear blue eyes set in a

slightly too wide freckled face. Sandy brown locks danced over the eyes.

There was a smile on the freckled face. Gerald always wore a smile like

that, half the time it seemed like he alone was privy to some grand

secret and the rest of the world was just too slow to catch on, the

other half it could be anything. Today that smile said I have had a bad

day but you are going to make it better.

"I'm sorry bud, I tried to signal you but you were lost in your thoughts, didn't think to say your name" Gerald apologised.

Kael grit his teeth and smiled back, oddly enough if he played along and he

won Gerald would be pleased and he would be spared if he lost...

"My bad mate, I was kinda trapped in a daydream there"

"And what where you dreaming about" still smiling, always smiling

"Why would he walk headfirst into that? No time to second guess"

"A world where a boy can call your face simply repulsive in good

conscience, but alas to do so now would be blatant flattery" Kael

answered, wearing his best obviously fake, fake smile.

"Ah! that would be a marvellous world indeed. Despair not for that world is

not so far removed from this one as one might think. All you must do is

rain on my face a healthy pommeling and presto, covered in bruises and

boils, my face repulsive shall be"

"Great, he kept the privileged tosh... and I see where this is going. He is

trying to get me to fight him. If I refuse to pummel him to him on

account of decency, he will propose we spar. As if that could be fair,

he is a flipping deviant and I'm just me. I accept to pummel him and he

will plead on behalf of my decency that it be a spar. Either way, he

beats me black and blue but first, he will sate his urge for stupid

games"

"Alas my dear friend I have been gravely injured in my stomach, I cannot

deliver your well-deserved beating, it seems my dreams shall remain just

so"

"It pains me greatly to hear this. Perhaps I might be of assistance, I know

a thing or two about setting stomach's right" Gerald replied swiftly.

The beating was quick, merciful even when compared to other times when he

had been judged lacking. Three swift strikes to the stomach and it was

over. As always after it was done Gerald stared into his eyes, pale blue

eyes, he would look back expecting to see something in there, anger,

hate, satisfaction, the madness that would drive a person to strike a

GodMarked and he would see nothing. Gerald left him behind, lying in the

fetal position trying to hold back the vomit. He failed at that too,

and so he lay there in a puddle of his own making, planning impractical

murders. Kael found something burning within him, it was an old thing,

one he was well accustomed with. This was hate, not anger.

Kael paced his room, he was all nervous energy and no outlet. Further back than he could remember this was what he had wanted, to see the worlds beyond, to visit an actual garden city. He would wander through ancient ruins, travel beyond the forgotten ranges, a hundred languages would tempt him, a thousand faces would tell him tales. A journey starts with a single step, Iyrie had told him.

"This is more than a step, it's my first leap and no matter what my father plans it won't be my last."

It had always confounded him the way Iryie had taken the time to sow the seeds of wanderlust in him, had taken the limitless curiosity of a broken little boy and given him a direction. How much of this intense desire was orchestrated by Iryie. He could see now how easy it would be to take a dejected child who been spurned by all and give him a purpose. It would grow to be greater than his very sense of self.

"The way I was back then he could have made me a willing slave, so why this, why fill my head with fantastical places and stories. Why teach me to think for myself?"

Kael stopped pacing, Iyrie wasn't the problem here, the problem was Kael had spent all his free time preparing for this and it was time now and he was not ready.

"Not even close to ready, I don't know how to get ready. All that time spent asking questions and I never thought to ask what I would need."

Nervous energy and fear, fear of the unknown.

No man could ever hope to pierce the secrets hidden behind the Despair

The thought had him grinning from ear to ear, he, Kael, was leaving this crappy building, more than that he, Kael, was going beyond the town wall and into the Despair. Nervous energy, fear and excitement.

"I want this, more than I have ever wanted anything. My thoughts are a mess, best to put it down on paper"

He forced himself to sit down again and continued working on his list with great zest. Something for the cold? Definitely, sleeping outside walls was bound to be chilly, what though? a blanket or a woollen jacket? Both then. He'd find out for himself which he preferred when he finally got there. Hurriedly he penned down the words as if his haste could make it happen sooner. Now, what...?

His eyes wandered his room for the umpteenth time, searching for anything he might need. The room was rather large and excessively furnished in Kael's opinion. He didn't need such a large bed, the dining table was big enough to seat five -four too many- and the living room furniture set would see no practical use, not when he was never going to entertain any guests. No, all they did was impress on him how alone he really was. His gaze raked the proud bookshelf, it carried his tomes, texts and several little curiosities Iyrie had brought him from everywhere. The act was a futile attempt to distract himself, he stared at every single one of them half expecting them each to have taken a new shine but they seemed like everything else to be their mundane selves, oblivious to the change that had just rearranged Kael's world. He forced himself to keep looking. He began to search his bed, the obtrusive thing was a mess. He had strewn clothes and knickknacks across it earlier on, in a half-assed attempt to make deciding on what to take easier. He would have arranged the items in an orderly manner but as he was now, he couldn't bring himself to do it right. Too much excitement to concentrate on the task. Finally, he spotted a small pocket knife, partially hidden by this or that, the small thing was no weapon, not against the manner of creatures that he would have to be wary of, still, he could see the practicalities in bringing it along. Again he searched the room, only this time, minutes passed without a single addition to the list. This wasn't working, he needed something to do, something calming or exhausting even but not this. Kael pinned the sheet beneath a random book and rose to his feet.

The complex was designed much like a rectangle, with a chain of multi-storied rooms making up the rectangle's edges and a large field of well-cut grass in its midst. The various members of the guild came here to use weights, spar, develop their martial forms or perform just about any other physical activity. This is where Kael came to run, where he ran as if he was running away from all of it.

He took off his shirt and exposed his broad dark-skinned chest, his body was well-muscled from frequent exercises. He was proud of it, which was funny because he was surrounded by men who could leap buildings and yet his own meagre strength filled him with bubbles of pride. It was the product of many long tiring sessions and it wasn't even difficult to pretend it was as much by his effort as his father's and so yes he was quite proud.

Exhale.

A forceful push, almost angry, had him racing down the track, he ****** with all his might behind each step. No warm-ups, nothing to get his body ready for exertion, he needed this. He needed the deep even breaths. He needed the thundering of his heart and feet. He needed the world narrowed down, no distractions, to just let all of it fall past him and focus on the exertion, on the burn.

Minutes passed and what was originally an all-out sprint had slowed to a steadier more relaxed run. Kael's body was slick with sweat, his pants drenched and his muscles protestant, he had achieved his goal. The restless energy was gone, burnt. His muscles groaned and he welcomed the pain. He could end the run now and after a relaxing bath, tackle the preparations again.

"This will ache tomorrow" he smirked.

A girl was waiting for him with a towel and a bottle of water in hand when he was finally done. She was attractive; rather short, with large brown eyes, full lips, a button nose and a round face. The combination resulted in a cute and youthful appearance. Her body, however, seemed determined to contradict the innocence her face presented with soft luring curves that were made all the more pronounced by her short stature. He took in her appearance as he approached, watching for signs of nervousness. He knew why she was here, he would have to be blind, deaf and stupid not to, and even then he would have had his suspicions. He was the boss's only child, young, not a heavy drinker or much of a drinker for that matter, single and to crown it all there was talk that the strange black lines on his right ****** were a GodMark. So what if he was kind of weird and probably didn't like women? All that could change, right?

Even so, this one was staring at him too intently, she no longer met his own gaze with the confidence of a proud seductress. Rather she seemed transfixed by his bare chest, although it was broad and well defined it was hardly so entrancing as to enamour a woman who obviously knew her way around men. Kael felt his stomach sink, the only thing about him that could garner a reaction like this were the abyss black markings on his right ******. For the most part, the mark looked to be the doodling of an erratic toddler rather than the handiwork of a God if one ignored the unnatural deepness of their black. However, every once in awhile the marks would move, be it writhing, convulsing, wiggling or spiralling.

This was what she saw now, Kael stifled the urge to groan when he looked down at his chest and confirmed it. One half of the mess of wiggly lines on his chest were earnestly attempting to unknot itself whilst the other half remained still. Now that he was aware of it's movement he could feel each strand twisting to free itself and he could feel how somehow against all reason each action only managed to get the strands more intertwined than before. Kael searched the woman's face for a reaction and watched as it shifted from revulsion, to fear and then finally to awe. The mark stilled and she met his eyes moments after, she had taken on an expression that bewildered Kael in how it appeared equal parts innocent and alluring.

"The sorcery of an accomplished temptress, no doubt" he quipped but his heart continued its erratic beating.

With her baffling expression still in place, she sauntered over to Kael. Whom absent-mindedly took the bottle from her and downed it's contents. He stared up at the sky, lost in his thoughts. It has moved twice now today alone. Whatever's happening is happening soon.

The mark, in a lot of ways it had all, began from the mark. It was the most noteworthy thing about his birth. Overshadowing his gender, colour, resounding health and even Kael suspected the death of his mother. It was his identity, it coloured every interaction he had ever had, with anyone aware of it more strongly than any action he performed. He could blame his father's loathing for him on it. Hell, the things it's existence had caused led people who did not know for certain what it was to act differently than they otherwise might have. It was the basis of his own hopes and aspirations and therefore pivotal to every action taken to make them realities.

To understand how a marking that usually appeared to be a freshly done tattoo inked by a distracted three-year-old could be such a great influence, you first have to understand what it truly was.

Millennia ago man's continuous acts of heresy managed to incur the wrath of the greatest of the pantheon, the silent screamer, she who was before there was, the Void. A being so feared that no known race dared name her, only referring to her by her titles or element. It is said that she was so incensed by mankind's atrocities that she did what she had only done once before at the birth of time and existence, she spewed forth from her endless womb a new force. You see prehistoric man apparently prided itself in some system of obtaining infallible knowledge through stringent observation and experimentation of recurrent natural phenomena, whatever that meant, and so she broke it. The new force later dubbed Despair was found to be not only largely undetectable by conventional methods but unpredictable and whimsical. The only thing one could reasonably expect was that given enough time and exposure to the pseudo force any object in contact with it would change, and not even that could be taken for granted. As if that was not enough the effect of Despair on non-human flora and fauna was generally positive whilst its effects on man, however, were physically beneficial, mentally degrading and aesthetically unappealing on the whole. Luckily for mankind, The Void in her cruelty left safe zones free of said force so that mankind could survive, extending its suffering. So the rest of existence continued to flourish in this new era, some beings going so far as to develop man's touted sentience whilst mankind regressed, continuously beset with brief never seen before plagues. Eventually man was broken, an all but extinct species and The Void finally relented in her anger, the Despair would no longer seek to destroy man, rather they would be immune to it for the most part. Still, the harm was done man would never return to its former glory should it survive at all. Surrounded by rapidly evolving lifeforms man could only wait for its quiet demise. Historians and theologians disagree on various parts of the account but nowhere so strongly as here. For some reason whether nebulous or benign a God, who might have been the deity of War, Chaos, Time and Order, Nature and Coexistence or Fire gifted a man with a mark. He or she would be the first deviant, the first to not only positively benefit from Despair but bear children who too might, only they would face the risk of negative shifts. For equally contested reasons the act caught on until man was the only known being to have the potential to deviate under any of the panthea. Still compared to the other species man's odds were slim with only a small percentage of deviants and so the once proud rulers of worlds set out to survive in an ever-changing world.

"Is there another way in which could I help you?" Not so subtle there.

Kael set aside his musings, right now he needed to get rid of his new groupie.

"I'll need a bath prepared" he answered dismissively. The sooner she got around to resenting the better.

For a moment it seemed like she was going to reply, maybe even refuse but then she gave him a quick nod and hurriedly set off.

Kael had to speak to his father now. Gods know he didn't want to but he had to. His mark had finally deigned to move again and that had complications. His dark thoughts reminded him of years back when his mark had stopped its constant dance for the first time. A young Kael had taken this to be a sign, which it was, just not of the things he had first supposed. Kael had thought it meant he would finally deviate, the reality was almost the opposite. Nothing happened, after a half-hour or so of complete stillness it resumed its usual activities as if nothing had happened. It stopped four more times before it finally went dead. This caused quite a bit of furore, so much so that his father paid for the services of a priest of AelleA, goddess of Time and Order, transportation costs and all for the sole purpose of inspecting Kael or rather his Mark. For at the time unknown reasons the Mark 'happened' to be quite active on that day. It was as a matter of fact only for this reason that the priest managed to spot the Mark for what it was, the Mark of the deity of Chaos, a deity who had no human name because it had no human following. Which was as far as being a GodMark was concerned shit luck. Why? Whilst every other Marked deviant was all but assured a positive deviation with negligible downsides, not so for Chaos deviants. First, there was the big problem of when Chaos Marked people would deviate, for most GodMarked it was simply the matter of significant exposure to Despair... well not so simple. A few Gods were known to have conditions required but nothing quite as elusive as the trick to deviating Chaos GodMarked if there even was one. In fact, there were stories of Chaos deviants who had deviated on their death beds only to die regardless days later. This aside there was the problem of the unpredictable nature of Chaos deviations, normally deviations tended to repeat themselves with multiple people possessing the same abilities, Chaos, however, did not follow this pattern in even the barest sense with it's deviants realising random and occasionally utterly useless abilities. Those who graced with stints of sheer luck managed to get past all these barriers run into the final problem, chaos deviants tended to either go insane or develop warped bodies over time. For anyone who knew what it entailed, Chaos was the one element to avoid.

For obvious reasons, Kael's father was not happy to hear this. He had spent a small fortune preparing Kael to be his ace and now he found out it was all up to chance. It broke Kael's heart, the disappointment, the rage and finally the rejection. All his life he had been told he was special but in a moment it was all gone. A couple of years after his father would try to prepare him for what had once been his destiny but it would never be as it was.

The weight of a hand on his shoulder broke Kael from his thoughts, Kozen. He gave the man an absent-minded pat on the hand and continued unabated. The large man laughed, amused, few dared to show him such disregard.

"We have a problem, don't we?" His father asked irritation writ on his face.

"Maybe" Kael shrugged "It's my mark, it has been moving"

His father scowled for a moment before asking.

"You are certain it has nothing to do with the garden watch"

"I think so if what I am interpreting is correct whatever it is, is going to happen today"

His father cursed under his breath. The very Gods were conspiring against him. He was tired and bruised. Twenty-three days, twenty-three cursed filled days he had trailed the nightreaver, waiting for a chance before he killed the blighted thing. He lost four men, one to the nightreaver itself and the other three to the horrors of the woods but it had to be done the shadow beast had developed a taste for the blood of men and now was not the time for those kinds of losses. Now two days after the utter waste of a doomsayer was here telling him something was about to happen. He couldn't even be sure that the event would have anything to do with his men, it could concern Kael alone but lady luck had never taken a liking to him and so it would not. So close, that he could taste it but of course something had come up.

He tapped his fingers against the desk in a particular rhythm and the ever-vigilant Kozen walked in.

"Tell the men to double the watch, get the useless louts out of the bar and get me Elvyah, no wait hold off on getting Elvyah just yet"

A nod and the man was out of the room, he would see that it was done. The efficiency, strengthened Carl the way hash would have strengthened another man.

They didn't have to wait long, the patrols had found something. Kozen had returned, with Elvyah in tow and the last man Carl expected to see here. Covered in blood and innards was Dreil, known by some as Last Silver, a deviant, a capable, deadly one at that, responsible for team 5. One of the two teams currently on garden watch, that he was here meant something had happened during the watch. The man looked like he had run from the garden to the complex, probably the case from the way he was panting.

"We haven't got all day" Carl prompted, anxiety plain on his face.

"The Staves assaulted us, they came at us with what must have been the full force of their might and crushed us. We had no chance"

Impossible, if they made a move like that they would effectively have left their base unguarded. It would be child's play to destroy the thing and leave them without reasonable fortification then pick them off one by one in the coming days, hells the Tenlight family wouldn't hesitate to join in at that point. It was too stupid a move, there had to be more to this. Unless they agreed to take the initiative and attack us in exchange for the family's support.

"Where there any new deviants you were not previously aware of amongst them or from the Tenlight family"

"No" the man shook his head "nothing like that"

This made no sense. Why had his plants amongst the Blood Staves all failed to inform his forces about such a move?

"Kozen get some men over to both the Blood Staves base and the family's, we need eyes"

The large man nodded once and rushed out. A story had begun to take shape in Carl's mind, the Tenlight family definitely had the power to out the majority if not all the spies he had amongst the Staves if given enough time to prepare. They truly were the greatest power in the shitty town of Tenlight. It would mean whatever this was had been in the working for at least six months just to figure out who his plants were. The caught spies had been killed swiftly and the remainder had either been intelligent enough to do nothing or stupid enough to get caught trying something, either way, he was beat. If so then all this time the Tenlight family had been playing him for a fool. Striking up talks with him with the lure of an alliance to keep him from sniffing out the greater scheme. For so long the three forces, his own Demolishers guild, the Blood Staves gang and the Tenlight family had found themselves in an unstable power balance. One threatening to slip at any moment but today it would slip however this went. If the Tenlight family and the Staves were really working together he had no hopes of winning. Somehow the family convinced the Staves to trust them. The attack on the garden was only a start, they would strike together whilst the iron was hot. The minutes trickled by in uneasy silence, he yearned to see for himself what in the hells was happening but he couldn't leave the room to gather information himself. The moment he left the room he would be surrounded by men looking for answers, answers he didn't have.

The door burst open, and a subordinate of his came rushing in.

"We have spotted the Staves boss, they are moving in to try assaulting us!"

"Their forces, are the Tenlight family's men with them?"

"No boss-man, just the shit Staves and some conscripts. They seem a fair bit larger than their usual numbers but its too little to be help from the Tenlight's"

Kozen chose this moment to return and wasting no time he explained.

"The Tenlight's have set the base of Stave's on fire after looting the place"

A ruse? Why bother? Old fashioned betrayal? Why now? He just couldn't piece it together, there were too many missing pieces.

Carl let out a breath, he had come to a decision. It was a gamble, literally

rolling the dice and hoping for a favourable outcome, hells knew he hated that but sometimes there

was just no other way. Too little information, too little time.

"Dreil, who else made it back with you?"

"Turtle and Ratcham, the others, they... they were all killed"

Kael, watched wordlessly as Carl wrote something down on a slip of paper and

handed it to Elvyah. None this made much sense, of all the three groups the

Staves were the weakest, a gathering of crooks that had come to Tenlight years

ago to escape their enemies. If the stories he had heard were true they only

still existed as a force because of an ambitious mistake on his father's part.

They had to know that if they attacked the Demolishers, the Tenlight family

would take advantage of both sides. Yet they did it, all without revealing themselves

to his father’s spies. It baffled the mind, they had a plan, and something had

changed but what? Kael's train of thought was broken when a young girl suddenly

appeared beside Elvyah as if she had been there all along. He stared at her

with some amount of wonder, he had always known that his father preferred for

his deviants to be quiet about their gifts but he had never thought that he had

one, no one was aware of. She had a ponytail of lush brown hair but he couldn't

make out her face seeing as she was slightly shorter than him and had bent her

head to read the note Elvyah had handed her hand her. When she was done she

looked up at him and he was struck by the beauty of her pupils, they were

silver disks that shone, her face would have been plain but for her eyes, they

were striking. No he did not know her, he would have remembered eyes like

those, a heartbeat passed and then without warning she was gone, the only the

missing slip of paper gave away that she had ever been there at all. He looked

around the only person who seemed to be as surprised as he was, was Dreil. She

was obviously a well-guarded secret, that she had been revealed to a waste of

space like him was not a good sign.

"Sitting here will do us little good now, let’s teach those idiots the difference

between us" with that his father rose from his seat and began to head for

the door. The people in the room -all but a dazed Kael- fell into positions

around him. The wordless understanding with which they moved was something Carl

drilled tirelessly into every member of the Demolishers, be they deviant or

paper boy, he required utter efficiency from them. What had Kael been thinking,

so what if the Blood Staves had managed to take down a fraction of the

Demolisher's forces with their full might, even with superior numbers they

would be hard pressed take on the trained and armed Demolishers on their home

ground. Just then Carl lashed out, moving faster than Kael could follow, and

the blow flung Dreil across the room and into the wall with a crash. His ribcage

had caved in and fresh blood wet Carl's fist. What in The Void cursed cosmos

just happened? Eleven deviants that was how many served Carl, if you counted

the largely unknown maiden and presumed the second team leader from the garden

to be dead. Each one of them was a symbol of might, the strength of the three

factions was not measured by common men but with deviants and the power of the

deviations they wielded. To strike one as Carl had just done right before a

battle was lunacy. Sunken chest heaving, Dreil tried to get up, his arms

flailed liturgically and he struggled desperately to lift his head but he could

only seem to raise it a couple inches of the ground before dropping it in

defeat. He did this repeatedly as if he was trying to escape some manner of

phantom bonds but despite his efforts he remained bound. As calm as he'd ever

been Carl walked over to Driel's writhing body. His eyes burned red and his

right foot flashed with inhuman speed, there was an audible crack. Dreil was

dead. His father was downright frightening, one minute he seemed a rage fueled

idiot the next he appeared unflappable.

"We" Carl said, completely at ease in his madness "have been

betrayed."

By whom, how did the old man even figure it out. After making a show of

examining his pants for blood stains Carl took a seat on his desk. An action

Kael had never once seen him do. Behind the unruffled exterior, Carl had to be

disturbed by the mess they were in and it showed in this seemingly innocuous

action. Kael was at a loss whether to be glad or scared. On one hand that Carl

was not lost in is his head and was well aware that things were bad was good

news, wonderful even on the other hand that he was visibly shaken by it meant

things were worse than Kael had first thought.

"How? How did you figure it out?" Kael asked still not sure if Carl

was entirely sane.

"All the signs are there really. The Staves were certain they could take

us but did not have the Family's support. Our plants reported nothing because

they were either in on it or revealed by someone in a position to find out who

they were. Dreil and his 'friends' got here in time to give us practically no

warning, even though it should have been easier for a smaller group to slip

through the forest than the entirety of the Stave's forces, who would have had

to detain captives if any. He really should have taken the time to at least

injure himself properly. Once you figure it out the tells are rather

obvious." Carl answered with all the sense of urgency of a person listing

groceries.

The contrast between the stoic, unflappable man before Kael now and the irate

little man from before was glaring. Right he might be but perhaps Carl was not

so sane after all.

"Elvyah, I trust that your protégé can handle the task at hand?" Carl

asked, passing a hand through his oily mess of hair. Another break in

character, another slip.

"She can"

"Good then unless anyone has questions I would like you to follow

me..." a pause to give others the chance to speak "Kozen you know

what to do. Set to it"

The man nodded, flashing his signature grin and promptly exiting the room. At

this point Carl finally rose again, eliciting a series of groans and protests

from his desk and made for the door.

"Father, how will you know when you have caught all the spies"

A moment of silence passed.

"I most likely won't" Carl answered and then he left.

Elvyah turned to face Kael, she looked into his eyes clearly amused by him.

"Well... unless you plan on hiding in a cellar, there's a fight to be

fought."

Almost thirty minutes had passed since their look outs had first spotted the

Staves. Approaching the aptly named 'Demolition Site' in the day unnoticed was

impossible for mere men. It was divorced from the other buildings in Tenlight

by large stretches of flat land in all directions. Any hostiles that approached

would bleed for every meter well at least that was the idea. Reality on the

other hand was a bitch, a volley of arrows peppered the encroaching men only to

be deflected by an invisible pane of force. Kael watched with abject

fascination as a single deviant made mockery of the guild's defenses, he knew

fully well that the purpose of the opening volleys was to task the offending

deviant's reserves and yet he couldn't help but find the sight beautiful in a terrifying

way.

"I really am an odd one"

*Crank* *swoosh* the trebuchets sent their twin pay loads flying in unison.

The two large boulders were further accompanied by a volley of arrows. The

first boulder was knocked off course by a lance of light, the second though

managed to break through a force pane but was stopped by a second invisible

barrier. The arrows clattered harmlessly against the invisible wall moments

later. Damn, Kael wasn't sure what he had been expecting but that was just disappointing,

the trebuchets were the best the Demolisher's had to offer in terms of long

range offense.

On the other side of the battlefield another mind mirrored Kael's sentiments

though for entirely antagonistic reasons. How could the damned wench be so subpar?

Was it so hard to form the shields at an incline so that they deflected

projectiles rather than trying to stop them outright? The obscured malcontent

was certain that if set at the right angle the shield could have parried both

boulders without breaking, saving precious despair in the process. He clicked

his tongue in distaste, her ineptitude was threatening to sour his earlier good

spirits. Still the opposition had yet to capitalize on her mistakes so he

supposed it was forgivable. Furthermore he supposed he had been warned of her

lack of skill when she herself had said her ability had no direct offensive

uses, he had nearly choked. Her ability truly was a defensive one, designed by

the gods with no intent of causing harm but all it took was some creative

thinking a bit of persistence and presto it was a lethal weapon. One could say

that he had known then, that she wasn't an expert at her deviation's use or a

particularly bright person but that such basic maneuvers eluded her was a bit

of a suprise. Sigh, she was a friend now and that meant he wouldn't give up on

her... even if she was an airhead. No even then he would treat her like the

good friend he was. The female energy deviant's inadequacies aside he was

deeply satisfied with his winnings. Soon the building before him as well as

everyone in it would be his as well.

Kael checked the straps of his leather armour. Despite the unfortunate procession of things he was

excited more than anything else. What fears he had were that he would commit

some rookie mistake, or that his helmet would slide of in the heat of battle,

silly thoughts he couldn't really shake off but that failed to dent his desire

to split skulls. He was studiously attempting to school his expression into a

sterner one, befitting the situation at hand but he suspected that he wasn't

being entirely successful, if only he had a mirror then he could be sure he was

not smiling. His father was currently staring off into the distance, at... at

well nothing, more flat land covered with overgrown grass as far Kael could

tell. After a few moments of looking at nothing Carl nodded, appearing

satisfied with his observations.

"Probably thinking the grass needs cutting."

Carl beckoned to a man Kael knew to be one of his deviants. The two exchanged a

flurry of hand signals -to confuse anyone watching through eldritch means- then

the man walked off and Carl directed his stare at the enemy lines. Kael thought

he could see the faint outlines of a smile on his father's face but he couldn't

be sure. Smiling, he turned to watch the deviant, his father had spoken to,

curious about the man’s ability, and he knew it had something to do with

lightning but little else. His father did not publicize such things, preferring

the element of suprise to the attention it brought. With a thunderous bang the

man erupted into thick

brilliant forks of lightning, and bolted towards the enemy, literally. He split

through the sky, closing in on the enemy in seconds, ripping through the

multiple hastily erected force panes with contemptuous ease and striking the

center of the enemy forces. With a single blow near two hundred men were flung

apart, and charcoal black crater marked the enemy’s former position. In a

ridiculously loud peal of thunder, the deviant flashed through the air a second

time and made a rough landing in the training field, burning the grass where he

landed but little else. He crouched there, stock still for a few moments, his

clothes were gone and steam rose of him, exhausted? Not surprising, he just

decimated a two hundred man strong team with a single attack! Eventually the

man rose with unsteady feet, and started to make his way back to Carl. What

Kael had failed to notice was that moments before the eye-catching lightning

strike hit another less noticeable deviant struck by sending violent tremors

through the earth, the attack had in fact originated from the point in the

distance his father had staring at. It had obviously been unaffected by the

panes of force and had rattled bones, shattering a few but largely serving to

knock opponents of balance for the subsequent attack.

"We've won!” He thought, elation and disappointment flooding him

all at once.

Surprisingly, majority of the Staves started to rise to their feet with jerky movements. Kael turned

to look at his father to ask if is this was to be expected but the man's face,

devoid of all colour told him all he needed to know. The enemy had countered the lightning strike

somehow. Growling, Carl let out a large bark that drew the attention of his

followers to him and in turn his outstretched fire at will hand sign.

The unknown assailant grit his teeth, the blast had almost done him in and how

embarrassing that would have been, to die in the middle of nowhere, tsk tsk. He

honestly hadn't expected a blow of that power, heavy artillery types were rare

and the Despair costs for their attacks were... well heavy. He wouldn't be surprised

if that single strike had emptied the deviant's reserves, still had it not been

for Cleaves who absorbed majority of the energy, he along with two thirds of

his troops would have died. There was a palpable din as the inept deviant

protected against a barrage of projectiles. Her personal failings aside her

deviation was really top notch. Cleaves turned to him, asking for permission

with a glance. He gave the greying middle aged man a nod. Enough playing

around, it was time to show these bumpkins that he was the real deal. After

that he would give them all a shot to befriend him. With the go ahead given,

Cleaves fired a burst of yellow energy into the sky, the burst itself would go

largely unnoticed in the bright day sky but the peal that sounded after would

be heard clearly even at defending side. More importantly it would be heard by

the second subordinate he had brought along, Genneris, who had long infiltrated

the opposition with a couple of newly acquired deviants, if Cleaves was his

hammer then she was a scalpel, he reduced the opposition to rubble and she

devastated foes with perfect surgical strikes. Both of them were fairer hands

at killing than capturing. His new followers were directed by their faux

commander and sent a volley of arrows of their own at the general location of

whoever sent the vibration attack. Cleaves the taken the brunt of that attack

too and pointed out the source, what would he ever do without his shiny Warhammer.

The man in question rose into the air, his body shimmering with borrowed

energy.

Kael shook his head as the varying projectiles bounced harmlessly against

invisible barriers. Only a handful of people seemed to have been affected by

the lightning strike. A loud boom resounded and everyone with half a wit knew

the enemy was about to show their hand. When arrows finally took to the sky

from enemy archers, Kael was shocked to see that they flew off into the

distance and not at the Demolition site. Wait wasn't that roughly where his

father had been looking! Suddenly the arrows jerked, flying in opposite

directions as if they were knocked off course by an impossibly strong errant

gust. A few of them even shattered like fine china. It was then that Kael realized

how little he understood of the game being played, rather than the messy tangle

he had been sure battle was, this was an exchange. A give and take resembling

more a heated debate between two parties than a messy brawl. That was when

chaos ensued. The men began shouting and pointing at a weird cloud that was

spreading from a corner of the building with the obvious intent of blanketing

the ground floor and the training field with it. Another man was yelling

something about a dead Fire deviant. Even Kael who knew comparatively little

about the state of both sides understood what was happening. The leader of the

Staves had a son who could emit and manipulate a whitish fog that sent people

to lala land. He was normally combated by the combustive nature of his fog and

the fixed speed at which he could release it. However the Fire deviant that

countered him was found dead and the rate at which the fog was spreading was

too fast, suggesting he had had time to amass it unnoticed before finally

attacking. The earlier assault was just a distraction or perhaps this was the

distraction, it would split the Staves attention allowing the Staves to close

in on them.

A savage howl drowned out all other sounds. When it ended everyone was looking

at Carl. For a moment he just stood there, calm, stern eyes berating every one

of them for their stupidity. The men felt their confidence return along with

slivers of shame. Heavens be damned they were the Demolishers, they fucking

wrecked; they were not wrecked. Carl gave the fire at will sign, and so they

turned their backs on the noxious sentience guided gas that threatened to

reduce them to a senseless stupour and they resumed fire on the enemy.

"Kozen, deal with it."

The large bald man nodded, and ran off followed by a couple of men.

He grabbed an unlit torch as he ran to the lower floor. When he got down he passed the torch to his men and

took stock of the spread. It was salvageable. With a smile he took the now lit

torch from his men and tossed it into the centre of the gas, watching intently

as it bloomed scarlet. He only relaxed when he was sure the building had not

caught fire. Perhaps they were lucky and the little rat that did this had been

caught in the explosion. Not likely, rats had a way of scampering free. As if

to lend credence to his thoughts three more clouds of fog rolled out,

blanketing the ground even faster than the first. The fuckers were toying with

them.

"Wait here" he growled and with a burst of inhuman power he launched

himself to the upper floors. Still moving freakishly fast with the power of his

strength based War deviation he ripped torches from a scones and leapt back

down. His subordinate hurriedly lit one of the torches but he was too late the

fogs had fused, a blast this large might collapse the building and yet if he

didn't the fog would collapse them all. Kozen gripped the torch and flung it

but it was not to be, a blade slit his arm and caused him to drop the torch.

Arms gripped him from behind, he tried to break free but his body had suddenly

gone weak and the violent power of his deviation was suddenly out of reach.

"Aah" he screamed but it came out weak and wrong, around him he could

hear the scuffles of his comrades. No doubt locked in futile struggles like

himself. He lost all feeling in his limbs and dropped to the ground, limp. A

woman he had never seen before stood above him.

"Sshh" she mocked "It will be over soon"

No no no no.

This could not happen, he would not let it. Drawing strength from his anger he

tried to draw in the strength of his deviation but it was scattered as quickly

as he could gather it. Whatever he had been drugged with was too strong, soon

his vision lost its focus too and the world went black.