Boram had no memories of the time before he became a slave. His tenure as Avel’s slave was only a few months but those months became the most colorful time of his life.

Because Harry, Marc, and Milly were nice people. As he understood it, the trio, Harry in particular, were pretty high-born, people with a neat position in society. But they still befriended Boram who had the status of a slave, something he was grateful for.

One day, after his daily training session, the trio took Boram to a nice garden where all the wealthy and great people in the city went for something called a ‘promenade’, something that Master Avel never taught him. The guards knew Harry’s face and let them in.

From the well-maintained grass and abundant flowers to the pets that were groomed better than many of the people he’d met in the past, Boram felt that it was a really nice place. Not to mention the people, with their gaudy and definitely expensive clothes.

That was Boram’s first contact with nobility.

Boram always thought that people who belonged in this category were greater and better than the common populace which in turn were greater than slaves.

There was a particular scene that he saw that day, a group of children shouting at each other for some toy. Fists were thrown, cries followed, and their parents broke them up. A mother of one of the children saw her boy was bleeding a tiny bit from his mouth and also started shouting, exploding with intense anger.

Boram remembered what he thought back then: What’s the big deal?

Now, Boram saw a similar scene to that one.

“The barbaric beastfolk shall cease the raising of bases in my territory at once!” A crowned human in her forties demanded with a fiery voice.

“You cannot command me, human whelp! You have no claim on the land that we moved to. If your people attack one of our expeditions once more, it will be war!” The tiger beastfolk tribe leader replied.

Boram was in a big tent, in the middle of a grassy plain. Seventeen leaders took a seat before a round table in the middle. Behind each of those seventeen rulers, a Champion stood.

Boram was one of the Champions, as were the other trial takers.

Although these thirty-four people were the only ones permitted in the tent, their escorting armies crowded the wide plains.

They have been arguing things about borders, treaties, trades… Weird, I thought we came here to discuss matters about the Aberrants.

The human queen’s argument with the beastfolk leader was not the only argument ongoing. Boram’s own leader, a woman three meters tall like Mister Takju, was arguing with another human queen.

If the Champion was male, the faction leader would be female and vice versa. They were the assistant NPCs of the Champions in the previous stages of the trial.

But expanding the base has proven to be tough, Boram thought.

Five days had passed since the day Stage 5 began. Boram didn't know why his assistant became the leader of the tribe, or why he became the champion of the people, or why his faction was the Gigantes.

Boram thought he could do the same thing he did in Stage 3 but now, he must get permission from his former assistant first before he could build structures or move the army. And then Boram often found other people also contesting the resources he wanted to gather or that the area he’d wanted had already been claimed by others by the time he got there.

I don't like it, Boram thought. It has become much more complicated to do things now.

Boram knew he was the weakest or the second weakest among the remaining participants, so he didn't choose to fight.

On the first day, Boram just focused on expanding because the resources were still quite numerous but he lost time moving from place to place. In the days after, he saw quite a lot of skirmishes happening. He only hoped they didn’t attack him too.

Things became quite bad on the second day, people were fighting with bigger groups. It might grow into a full-blown war before the war against the Aberrants began. Then Anne, the first ranker, visited him, suggesting they all come together to discuss things about their kingdom and the Aberrants.

Boram agreed, and then she went to seek other trial takers. She was a nice girl, Boram thought.

Boram didn't know why but when he talked about the meeting with the tribe matriarch, she wanted to come. Weird, she wasn't so easily moved before.

The meeting was supposed to happen on the third day but because the leaders were involved, it got pushed to the fifth.

At the meeting, they then fought like children over a toy. Perhaps that was why they wanted to come? To fight? Boram wondered if the fists and Artes would come out.

The meeting went on for some time and with much debate involved. The Champions had the right to speak and the leaders mostly followed the Champion’s wishes but it didn't always go well.

Boram was bored and felt it was a waste of time. Master Avel taught him to never waste time but the dilemma was he couldn't leave either. The leaders were interesting, at least. Boram was intrigued by the variety of races. One of them was a woman-shaped fire, a fire elemental.

Boram was ill-educated in the matters of statesmanship but even he could see that the leaders were split into four camps.

The first was Anne and her group of four. Most notably Troy the Blade of Justice and Max the Ivory Flame. They wanted to make a United Alliance for the war to come.

The second was Khalmar the Noble Tiger and his group of five. Boram knew Khlamar’s right and left-hand men, a beastfolk with bull horns and a dwarf. The second camp had no human Champions in their ranks. They wanted to expand to the south because most of them were in the northern territory, where the Aberrants would be coming from. When the war began they would get attacked first. Boram supposed they didn't like that.

The third was Aravin the Daystar and his group. They only consisted of three people including Daystar himself. Aravin was greedy -or desperate- for shards. He wanted to get many, many shards and for that he needed a great army, which meant a great number of resources. Thus, he often caused territory disputes.

The fourth was the remaining five which didn't quite fit in. There was Boram, Squire Eugene, Fithel the elf, and two others.

The third and the fourth camp weren't averse to the alliance Anne proposed but it made the second camp twitchy. They feared the human majority of the alliance would push them to a disadvantage. Khalmar himself was leaning on joining the United Alliance if some terms about the Beastfolk’s safety could be added but his own leader disagreed with him. There was too much bad blood between them, and the treacherous humans couldn’t be trusted, the tigress tribe leader said.

Concessions were asked for, rejected, renegotiated, rejected again, rinse and repeat. The Champions had their wants and their kingdoms also had their wants. They had bottom lines where they would not budge, such as the elf queen who warned they would shoot dead those that trespassed into the elven territories and Squire that had a village in his kingdom relocated by Aravin.

It was a headache for Boram. Seeing the faces of the other trial takers, he realized he was not the only one feeling it.

Resources became the center of the discussion. Then a ruler thought about their neighbors.

“There are seventeen of us and nine of them. A lot of untapped potential there.”

“Greedy as always, Queen Mathilde. And short-sighted, such as your decision to send a scouting force to establish an invasion to the lands of the east,” the tigress matriarch said.

“...Not your business,” the queen sharply said.

“I’ve never heard of this,” Troy scowled, addressing his former assistant-now-queen. “You’ve invaded the territory of the black spark holders?”

“It was necessary.”

“It is dangerous!” Troy stressed.

“Oh she knows now, Champion,” the tigress said with the joy of another’s misfortune. “Because not a single one of that expedition of a hundred men returned.”

It was supposed to be a secret but the Beastfolk spies caught wind of it and sent the news back home.

“...We’ve sent scouts to the eastern land as well, though not so committed.” Another leader said. “There have been sightings of beasts with six legs and shoulder pincers near the border. More of them are roaming on the other side.”

“How many?”

“Unknown. They hide when sought, burrowing into the earth.”

“Are they not the Aberrants?” Max asked.

“If they are, it’s a type never-before seen,” the fire-elemental queen said.

“They seem to be called the Tyra Xerg.”

Eyes darted to Anne, the one that spoke.

“How do you know, Champion?” A crown-wearing king in his forties wearing a phoenix red cloak, Anne’s assistant-now-king that had aged many times, asked.

“I flew over the area for scouting yesterday. A bit deep to the eastern land, there was a board raised in plain view. It says: Welcome to the Blacklands. Tyra Xerg roams this land. Please become our food.”

Only one of the nine black spark holders had a penchant for joking about death and cruelty. Most of the white spark holders frowned imagining the suspect.

After Anne, Fithel also spoke.

“This morning, I received concerning news from the nature spirits I sent to the east. They said a human wreathed in ghosts of the dead lead these… teeth-demons.”

Boram held his breath. The air turned still.

“...Soul Tyrant Tanael.”

No one knew who put the title to the name at first but it became more and more prominent as Aletro’s trial went on. Boram had the fortune to not meet the annihilator in a straight confrontation. He hoped it continued.

“Noble Tiger, you and your colleague seem to know this Tanael. What kind of person is he?” The tigress matriarch said.

“A dangerous soul-drinking, vicious son of a bitch,” Khalmar said.

“Hahahaha! Now you’ll know how it feels to be neighbors with a vicious son of a bitch. Ah, karma. Man your borders, queen. If he gets to you, best pray for a quick death and your soul won't be flayed for sport afterwards.”

While the tigress matriarch’s response was a mockery, the dwarf queen suggested a different approach.

“The eastern land, the… Blacklands definitely hold more resources, things that we badly needed. I propose we unite and invade them with full force immediately.”

“Heh, this is the Eighth Aberrant War all over again. I will not march with the cowardly queen once again.”

“Your husband was rash and lost his life trying to defend a lost cause,” another human ruler defended her fellow race, even though the Champion behind her looked as if he had just swallowed a bitter lemon.

“Coming from a man who pissed himself in the middle of battle.”

“False tongue!”

“The descendants of fire motion to invade the east, my people are burning for battle. ”

“The elves don't meddle with matters beyond their borders. The elves will not march.”

“The elves cannot be depended on, as usual. They prefer isolation and let the world pass them by. What arrogance.”

“They have not invaded, have they? Rein in your barbarous nature, Vashala.”

“War is on the horizon and you want to hole up in your treehouses?”

“Look around you. See for yourself the fruit of centuries of conflict.”

“Until the debts of the Thirteen Killings are paid in full, no sons of the Gigantes will shed blood for the Beastfolk or the Humans.”

And the children's fight began anew. Boram stifled his urge to sigh.

If Master Avel was here, what would he do? Speaking of which, is he even here?