Year 2, Winter, First Month, Fourth Week.

Omero was caught unprepared by Karl’s ultimatum so he had to control himself to don’t give any indication that the boy was right. He masterfully changed his “I was caught” expression to an offended one. Marlen, on the other hand, already counted on someone confronting them at some point, however, she didn’t expect that someone would be Karl. Although some Councillors thought that he was being disrespectful, they couldn’t speak up since they were related to the accused. The remaining Councillors didn’t disagree with his approach, the strange dynamic between the three elders hadn’t escaped their eyes.

Before Omero could throw the ball back at Karl with his offended act, Marlen looked at him shaking her head disapprovingly. He wanted to stop her but who could do that once she decided on something? Marlen had wanted to come clean ever since Bill died, the lives of the villagers shouldn’t be a tool on their hands. However, even with the support of her daughter, she couldn’t reveal a secret that wasn’t only hers, after all, the consequences could unpredictable.

“I’m sorry… We do have some things to share, but I would like to talk with Omero in private before that. I understand you might disagree and not trust us, but in the name of all that we sacrificed, give me this time, I promise to explain everything after.”

Karl was already satisfied with this result, he wasn’t expecting to get a confession so easily, and the others were still too shocked or too involved to make any objections. The pair got up and moved to a corner to discuss their secrets.

“Why have you done that? Marlen, in all of this time I never saw you making such a stupid decision. We’ll have to give them something now…”

“Yes, the truth... Omero we already lost Bill, do you want to lose the children too?”

“That’s unfair, his death has nothing to do with this. What if they decide we aren’t to be trusted? And the kids? You might be OK with exposing Katlyn, but don’t forget Bill’s family is also involved…”

“They aren’t young anymore Omero, they also made their choice to stay silent… We should just come clean, we aren’t monsters… If don’t want to do it for Bill, do it for Diana. Don’t you see that this secret is pushing her away from her friends? If we keep upholding information and they discover it later, it’ll only make things worse. Please, forget the Kingdom and this vengeance, it isn’t worth it.”

“How could to be so spineless? Have you forgotten how much they took from us? How about the dead, should we forget them too?”

Marlen couldn’t repress her feelings anymore, she hated herself for her choices, but she wouldn’t allow him to belittle her love for her late husband and children. The slap sound echoed more than it should and attracted everybody’s attention. Omero held his swollen face and looked sorrowfully at her. In decades of friendship, they never came to this point, maybe she was right. He would never give up on his revenge, but maybe it was time to change his tactics. Either way, after this episode they wouldn’t be able to move on without giving them something.

Unfortunately, all of Omero’s strategies to reduce Karl’s rising power had failed, probably because the boy’s intentions were genuine. When they created the Council, Omero was careful to push all the pieces so he would have the majority when it matters. From the 15 initial chairs, he could control eight votes if he needed to, the minimum to enforce a decision but not enough to draw suspicion. However, things soon went out of control when Said proposed to give a chair to Mary. He tried to object, but couldn’t find a strong reason to force the other votes. Anyway, he still had half of the votes, but after Bill died, he ended up losing this advantage too.

Now, he has been exposed, so he could only try to turn the situation the other way and use this opportunity to increase his value. He just hoped he would be able to apply all of his training and abilities to take control over the situation, this was the test of his life. Now, whether Marlen would let him, was an entirely different matter.

“I’m sorry… I don’t agree with you, but… Let’s tell them… But please, let me tell the story, maybe they’ll understand and support my motives…”

Marlen knew very well what he was trying to do, after all, he had been trained to do it. However, she chose to let him use his weapons, in the end, every point of view has its merit. They walked back and started what should be the first totally sincere discussion in their whole life, at least from Marlen’s side. Omero dismissed warnings or forgiveness requests, they have much to tell and each person would have their conclusions of the events.

“We should start from the beginning, with our origins and status…”

Marlen shifted uncomfortably with the memory, not even their children knew about this, but since she was forcing him to reveal the truth she was prepared to face it all.

“Six decades ago, our status and lives were worst than Caiset villagers, much worse… We were slaves… Marlen, Bill and I weren’t from the same place, but we all lived in unspeakable conditions…”

The sorrowful expression on Marlen’s eyes and the hint of shame confirmed his story but made it clear she wasn’t willing to share the specifics.

“Fortunately, we were rescued and our Masters killed in the process. However, slavery isn’t just about status, the Kingdom’s owned slaves are all marked, when they are bought, a slave mark is placed on their souls, which kept them obedient to their Masters. Sadly, even when the Masters die the mark doesn’t disappear, so they are… we are never truly free. We are condemned to suffer the loss and long for our deceased Masters during our entire life, we can’t even hate them, so we hate the system and the Kingdom that enforces it.”

“That’s when our saviors come in. There’s a country on the other side of the northern sea called the States of Democracy, or how people usually call it, the Democracy. The Democracy is as old as the Kingdom, in fact, they were created because of the Kingdom. The story they told us recounts that when the Elemental Mages arrived on this continent, they spread like a disease trying to take control and destroy everything. The tribes and nations of this land tried to push back, but once the Serions cast their four everlasting spells they put an immovable foot over the land. Naturally, tribes and nations bend and merge to face them. The Democracy was one of those, but instead of staying and fighting for the land, they chose to move to a land across the northern sea, a bountiful but poor in magic energy land.”

“To simplify their story, since they left, they avoided direct conflict with the Serions and they even developed a commercial relationship over the years. Since the Democracy didn’t have rich magic resources, they focused on developing other skills, from all kinds of crafts to economy and politics. In the new peaceful dynamic achieved by the nations of this region, they become the commerce roots that connect Elemental Mages, Beastmen, Spellcasters and others… However, an ancient wound isn’t easily forgotten, especially when the Serions still wage war to conquer other nations, who can guarantee that they wouldn’t turn against the old enemy later? So the Democracy decided to wage a silent and secret war against the Kingdom.”

“They made use of the Serions’ inability to gather resources and pushed their Merchants deep inside the Kingdom, making the Kingdom each day more dependent on the Democracy. Of course, the Mages know about it, but what could they do? They are in their essence, selfish and proud, they prefer to think they’re using the Democracy and can destroy them at will. So, the Democracy pushes even further, they make small inconsequential operations here and there to free slaves. That’s when our story begins, we were one of those slaves saved by the Democracy…”

“Because of our… condition, we usually hate the Kingdom more than their common citizens. So, most of the freed slaves are trained in their special academies to become agents of the Democracy. The agents are usually sent to infiltrate key villages and report back big changes. Unfortunately, even with this tactic, they can’t save many villagers… It’s incredibly difficult to make any operations inside the Kingdom, but we still chose to sacrifice our lives, giving up a normal life in the Democracy to help the ones suffering under the Kingdom’s oppression.”

Omero turned to Marlen, this part would be better told by her. She looked at her daughter and hesitantly started to explain.

“We also couldn't avoid forming a family and getting involved in the Kingdom’s problems…”