The barn where the bandits kept the women and children wasn’t far from where Nyle was. It was within eyeshot. As such, when an Imurian boy glowing red popped out and started killing the bandits around it, it was in full view of him. He was shocked when the boy tackled one of them and stuck his dagger into his neck, but he was intrigued when he redirected a sword thrusted towards him from one bandit into another.

He quietly asked, “Mr. Fortem. That boy—”

Mr. Fortem replied before he even got out his question, “He is not one of ours.”

He was also deeply interested in who the boy was and how he got there. Not too invested to miss the flock of people that ran out of the barn he just exited.

“Can I tru-”

Before Nyle could get his question out, Mr. Fortem had already dashed away. The captain and his guards thought it was an assault and were left bemused when he ran right by them. The captain, turning around to see what was happening behind him to cause that, was stunned. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he knew very well what the result would be.

He yelled, “Run!”

The captain made a run for it. Whoever the glowing kid was, he had somehow managed to kill all the men he had guarding the hostages. He could see them running for safety. Without those hostages, there's nothing to stop Nyle from capturing them immediately. The tidbit of information he provided definitely piqued his interest, so he was unlikely to kill him outright, but that was no consolidation. Capture meant little more than a future of torture and enslavement.

Nyle cared not for the captain’s thought, he had a task to complete. He ran at him, but was blocked again by the malsir.

“You should've run.”

Nyle drew one of his blades, using the hilt to jab at his chest. The malsir stepped back. Before he could draw his own sword, Nyle had stepped forward and slashed at his neck. Forced to take another step back, he attempted to draw his weapon again. As he was pulling it out, Nyle was thrusting his second blade at his right shoulder. He wasn't going to pull it out in time. Realizing that, gave up on it and dashed to his left. Nyle didn’t stop the barrage. Lining up his right arm with his outstretched left, he slashed diagonally towards him. The malsir leaped back this time, he put some ground in between him and Nyle. If he stayed close to him he would have never been given the opportunity to unsheathe his sword.

Nyle paused his assault and gave the malsir a strong look.

“An incredibly mobile swordsman wielding a katana with a dark blue scabbard. Am I correct in calling you Olin Cassel?”

Olin steadied his stance, “I thought you didn’t talk with people of my ilk?”

Nyle shrugged, “Not the attentive one are you Olin?”

Nyle threw a knife at him and darted towards away. In his efforts to get his weapon out to better combat Nyle, he had forgotten the reason he was fighting him in the first place.

“Shit!”

Deflecting the knife, Olin chased after him.

—————

Maleek Fortem had seen many things in his seventy years of life. He had largely spent that time on battlefields, paying witness to all kinds of killing machines. Be it organic or mechanical, he was sure it would be a few decades until something showed up that truly surprised him. Yet when he ran over to help the women and children escape, he was a whole lot more than surprised.

He, like most mages, was well informed about sahirlah. But ‘well informed’ only meant that he knew it existed and it was supposedly the pure form of sahir. Interest in it was just reaching its peak when he entered the military. The Imuru empire was one of the few places that didn’t partake in the hype. As mythical as it appeared, there was no proof it gave any kind of combat advantage. There was no proof it could be used for combat all. Because of that most Imurians, Maleek included, didn’t put much value in sahirlah. What he was seeing changed all that though.

The boy was indestructible, his barrier impenetrable. He watched as the bandits first broke their weapons then broke their bodies trying to fight him. He killed them all. The amount of bodies that laid in his path was alarming. Maleek had seen much worse battles between those who could use sahir and those that could not, especially in terms of deaths, but never had he seen one side so casual in their dominance. There were times where the boy would slap a bandit and twist his head all the way around or kick a bandits hip and cripple them. They were not monumental feats on their own, but the nonchalence in which he did them was alarming. There was one time the boy even sat down to rest and blissfully ignored the group of bandits attacking him from all sides. The sight of grown men breaking their arms punching a child would have been comical if it wasn’t the exact opposite of comical. It was too shocking to watch so Maleek stopped. Paying the boy attention was neither healthy nor useful so he instead moved to organize the townsfolk and make sure they were okay. Some time later, the boy finished up the bandits in the area and came to help. Or that’s what Maleek thought he was going to do. When he got closer, Maleek realized he was stumbling. Maleek caught him as he was about to fall.

“Hey. Kid. You alright?”

The boy was stuttering, “I don’t...feel..so. Good.”

The kid passed out in his arms. As he did, the red glow slowly disappeared. Maleek was at a loss. He afraid that the kid that saved all these people, the kid that could use sahairlah, had just died in his arms. He hastily placed him down and placed his head against his chest. He could hear his heart beating. Maleek breathed a sigh of relief.

He lives.

He hadn’t noticed before, but the kids hair was white. Another thing he’d never seen before.

Are you even human?

Maleek quickly carried the boy into the barn and laid him down. Almost immediately after he walked back out of the barn to ask about the kid, two women showed up. They were malsirs, but they didn't seem to be looking for a fight. At least not with him, the big one even seemed annoyed that the bandits were already taken care of. They claimed to be part of Nyle’s party. Judging by their armor, and the fact they were malsirs in the first place, they were probably telling the truth. Maleek decided to trust them.

“Are you guys responsible for limiting the fires?.”

The small one spoke for them, “My colleges are handling that, don’t worry. We were instructed to get the women and children to safety.”

“It's safe now. My men are taking care of the bandits that attacked the tower and the bandits here..well. You can see that for yourself. All that’s left is the captain and his two guards.”

The smaller one asked, “Nyle is handling that?”

“Yes. If you’re willing to stand guard here. I can go as well.”

The tall one cut in, “There's no need. We’ll go, we’re just outsiders here after all.”

Maleek didn’t quite understand what that meant, but he was getting the vibe they’d rather be fighting than standing around. As malsirs associated with Goldenheart he was pretty sure they’d be able get the job done. Realistically, Nyle could handle it by himself. So there wasn’t much to worry about.

He pointed the mercenaries in the direction they should head and they left promptly.

Hopefully they don’t do any more damage.

As Maleek was contemplating how much damage the bandits had caused, he saw a woman limp into the barn.