Yes, it was a person. Ril moved his gaze onto the person. They were cloaked in black and were crouched. They took slow steady steps through the knee high grass, hooded eyes fixed directly on the embers of the campfire.

Frozen in place, Ril’s eyes flashed across the grass. Two, three, no, five more shapes could be seen slowly creeping forwards. They all clearly displayed incredible patience and perhaps too much caution in their sedate pace.

Not questioning the actions of the unexpected visitors Ril turned around, and began his own slow march. Ril lifted his foot and ever so slowly moved it forward, trying as hard as he could to move quickly while maintaining his Vanish. Although the ability did upgrade, it still required slow careful movements to maintain its integrity. If the situation wasn’t so dangerous, Ril may have found the slow-motion race that was taking place humorous. As it was, he barely contained his panic as the unsuspecting bandits got ever closer.

Luckily, Ril won the snail race, and hurried slowly over to Julius’s side. There he hastily grabbed the knights shoulder and gave it a little jerk. Julius immediately woke up, his right hand blurring as it grabbed Ril by the wrist. Golden brown eyes that showed no hint of exhaustion focused on Ril. The moment that Julius grabbed him by the wrist, Vanish lost its integrity, revealing a panicked Ril, who gulped at the intense scrutiny.

“People, approaching.” Ril whispered succinctly, keeping low to the ground in the hopes that the bandits would not see. “Wearing all black. Don’t look friendly.”

Julius’s eyes opened just a little wider and his shoulders tensed as he gave Ril a single curt nod. “Wake Eren and Felix.” Julius said, before turning away.

As Ril Vanished back into obscurity, Julius rolled over in one smooth motion, separating himself from his bedroll. The move also brought him close enough to Orden so that he could wake him up as well with a soft tap on the back.

Ril made his way over to Felix’s sleeping form which was closest to Julius, and woke him with a light tap.

“Aww, I just mmphh...” Felix’s voice muffled as Ril slapped his palm over the Outrider’s mouth.

“Shut it, Felix. We are being attacked.” Ril hissed. He felt a pinprick of pain near his stomach as Felix’s eyebrows descended, and he looked down to see that Felix was retracting a knife from a newly created slit in Rils jacket. A spike of fear ran through Ril.

“Sorry,” Felix whispered back, the blade disappearing into his tunic, “Attack? How many, and what direction?”

“South, and at least six.” Ril said, still disconcerted from the unexpected dagger in his gut.

“Right,” Felix whispered, suddenly all serious, before looking around camp. Julius had gotten Orden awake and was helping the other man into his armor. “I got Eren, you wake up the princess and Cato.”

Ril turned away and crawled over to Evelyn, this time foregoing the stealth that Vanish offered in favor of speed. Since the rest of the camp was mostly up and about by now, he figured that one extra figure moving about won’t do too much harm.

“Evelyn,” Ril whispered, shaking her shoulder. “Wake up.”

“Whaa... Is it morning--” She replied blearily, rubbing sleep from her eyes, clearly more interested in going back to sleep for another hour rather than listening to Ril’s answer.

“Wake up, we are going to be under attack soon.” Ril said more forcefully this time.

Evelyn rolled over and opened her eyes for real this time. “Huh, attack? What attack?” she said, not understanding.

“Bandits are coming, you need to wake up or they are going to catch us flat footed.” Ril said, losing his patience with how Evelyn didn’t seem to grasp the urgency of the situation. “Up! Get your staff and put on as much armor as you can, I need to wake Cato.”

Without waiting for a response, Ril moved over to Cato’s form. Luckily the old man was already awake from the sounds of surreptitious movement around the camp. Ril quickly told him what was happening and the old man was awake and clothed before he had finished.

Suddenly a black cloaked figure jumped into the camp, a glistening shortsword in hand. Ril looked up in shock, the moment of relief that he had felt when he had succeeded in waking up the members of the camp before the invaders arrived slipped away. Fighting powder beasts was a scary, unnerving experience full of teeth and claws, but fighting people for real was something that Ril didn’t ever want to do. Unlike powder beasts people used strategy, which to Ril was infinitely more terrifying than any amount of natural weaponry. His short spars with Evelyn was more than enough to convince him of that.

The nefarious gentleman looked around the campsite, disappointed that his careful approach had not succeeded in catching his quarry off guard. But he was a professional, and so with barely a moment's hesitation, he charged at Orden who was closest to him.

Steel clashed against steel, as the rest of the bandits rushed into the space around the smoldering campfire. A wave of dark purple ghostly fire pulsed out of one of the bandits near the back. Other than the color it looked identical to Eren’s abilities as an Empyrean. It passed over the grass harmlessly and approached Ril hungrily.

“Oh, shit...” Ril said, hunching his shoulders, hoping against hope that it would somehow mitigate the effect of the curse. The vain act wasn’t effective and Ril quickly found himself drained of all strength. Similar to when he had asked Eren to test her ability on him, but stronger this time. His muscles seemed to deflate and his skin sagged over his bones.

Ril let out a groan, as he tried to adjust to the uncomfortable feeling of his body dragging itself to the ground. Despite the horrible weakness, the feeling was distinctly less intense than when Eren had used her power on him. Evelyn let out a cry, and an orb of brilliant white light flew into the sky, illuminating the battlefield in harsh contrast.

Under the glare, Ril saw one of the bandits charge him. The twin daggers he held loosely in his hands gleamed wickedly in the artificial daylight. Before the man got too close, a pulse of white fire blasted out from Eren. This time, the bandits were the ones to sag as the curse took hold of them.

“Bah! I hate battles without Enforcers!” Felix groaned before dropping his bow which was now too heavy for him to wield properly. He drew his sword in his gaunt hand and jumped into the fray.

Ril’s opponent only slowed briefly in his charge, and barely a moment later arrived right in front of Ril, delivering two brutal swipes with his daggers. Surprisingly, the daggers moved slowly. Slow enough for Ril to judge their trajectory and dodge out of the way. However his weakened body didn’t respond how he thought it would, and he didn’t move fast enough. Blue sparks flew through the air as the blades skittered over the Guardian Armor.

Cursing, Ril backpedaled. He summoned his clone midstep as a blast of cold air came in from whatever Evelyn was doing. His opponent froze as two shortswords barreled towards him. As the real blade was about to hack into his shoulder the bandit disappeared in a puff of smoke, appearing barely a foot behind where he was just standing.

The bandit crossed his blades and looked back and forth between the two Rils. Then he made a decision and took two quick steps forwards and lunged at the right Ril. Luckily he chose the clone, which the real Ril took advantage of and stepped forward aggressively. The clone disintegrated as two glistening daggers ripped it’s heart out, but the bandit tumbled away sporting a nasty gash on his forearm from Ril’s lunge.

Cursing prolifically the bandit charged back in. Before Ril could engage, the bandit disappeared with a puff of smoke. Ril heard a crunch of boots on the dry grass behind him, but with only a fraction of a second to respond he didn’t manage to get out of the way before a shower of bright blue sparks cascaded off of his back and he stumbled forward. Ril heard Cato let out a cry of pain not far from him.

Before Ril could stabilize the bandit activated another ability and two ghostly daggers appeared next to his existing ones. Then with a flurry of blows he began carving Ril up. Ril hastily backpedaled, clumsily redirecting the attacks as well as he could, but blue sparks were flying near constantly.

To buy some time, Ril summoned a ball of snow and shoved it at the bandit. The bandit impaled the snow with two of the four daggers and tore it to pieces, but not before Ril could put some distance between him and the dancing dervish.

Ril took a deep breath, steadying his racing heart as he considered the situation for a moment. He was massively outmatched. Other than that lucky stab that he had managed to land when the bandit overcommitted towards his clone, he hadn’t managed to hurt the bandit yet. If not for Cato, Ril would be dead five times over. Ril vowed to thank the man somehow if he survived this. It helped that both Ril and the bandit were heavily weakened by the Empyreans in either party. Ril wasn’t sure how many full powered stabs Cato could absorb.

The bandit lunged lightning fast one more time. This time Ril was ready, and he cast Telekinesis on the bandits ankle, twisting it just as he was putting his weight on it. There was a sickening pop, as the bandit’s eyes widened, and he fell to the ground. Smoothly, Ril stepped forward and drew his blade across the neck of the bandit as he fell. The heavy canvas hood got in the way partially, but Ril’s technique succeeded in drawing blood.

Unfortunately, before Ril’s blade dug deep enough to decapitate, the bandit vanished in a puff of smoke, kneeling on the ground five paces distant. As the bandit materialized he brought both hands to his throat as a spray of arterial blood slipped in between his fingers. A moment later he collapsed, twitching.

Ril jumped as a gout of flame lit up the night even more than Evelyn’s flare did. Suddenly the Empyrean curse that had limited Ril’s movements up until now faded. Ril looked up in surprise, only to see the charred remains of one of the bandits crumpling to the ground. In front of the dead bandit, a gaunt Julius literally glowed. His armor was white hot and radiated heat that could be felt even from across the clearing. His sword looked like a pillar of fire. The metal itself, not visible under the roiling flames.

Everyone paused for a moment at the display of power. The bandits stepped away from the ruined corpse, while the members of Ril’s party raised their weapons slightly as power rushed back into their limbs.

“Who the hell are you?” Felix broke the silence. “And what right do you have to ruin my beauty sleep?”

The lead bandit sneered. At some point his hood had fallen off of his head, revealing a bald man with too many scars. “Not your business who we are. All you need to know is that we are here to liberate everything from you. So why don’t you just hand all your stuff over and we can all be on our way.”

“I am Julius Von Aureus, and I will not stand for these vile acts and protect any in need from you.” Julius stepped forward protectively, his sword and armor mirroring the anger in his eyes. “I was tasked to protect the people you see before you and I shall do so with my dying breath. Scum like you will not get in the way of my convictions.”

Ril blinked, a small grin spread slowly over his face.

That was so cool

“Doesn’t matter who you are, rich brat.” The leader of the bandits flashed a glance at his lieutenant. “How about you give us your gold, and we can avoid further bloodshed.”

The bandits began spreading out, sidling sideways to subtly surround the campsite.

“You already lost a man. You are in no position to threaten us.” Felix retorted from behind Julius, “How about you give us your gold, and we can avoid further bloodshed?”

It was unclear whether Felix was referring to the Empyrean that Julius had slain, or the bandit that Ril had just killed.

“Nah, I don’t think so. Do we look like people who have plenty of gold on hand? I think it would be much better if you gave us your gold.” The bandit leader said. Eyeing Evelyn, then Cato with a calculating look in his eye.

“Are you daft? We ain’t giving you our gold. You lost your Empyrean there is no way that you can defeat us. Now back off before we give you a sword in the gut!” Felix shouted.

There was a dangerous glint in the bandit’s eye. Ril had a bad feeling, and began stepping sideways so that he would be in front of Evelyn, Cato, and Eren should the bandits try something. Before he could get there, the bandit eyed Evelyn for a moment before he spoke. “Oh, perhaps, perhaps. But we can most definitely take some of you with us before that happens.”

As he said this the remaining bandits all threw down their cloaks and whipped out tiny crossbows and aimed them at Evelyn. The crossbows weren’t special, other than their small size, rather it was the bolts that were alarming. Each bolt was tipped in some metal that was spewing out black smoke that made Ril ill just by looking at it.

“Nightasp Steel!” Orden cried in alarm, as the crossbows all fired in succession. The bolts were clearly bad news based on Cato’s panicked look, and Orden’s alarm. Ril instinctively dashed forward to try to intercept the bolts before they could reach their targets, knowing deep inside that he would be too slow.

The bolts flew through the air. The black smoke spouting from the tip causing the bolt to spiral through the air. A gong resonated through the air, as Orden went flying through the air, armor on fire. Julius had walloped him with the flat of his blade, the impact launching him so that he was interposed between the bolts and their fragile back line. Orden, still on fire, raised his shield which thickened by over an inch.

In the same second, Julius ignited, his entire form shrouded by turbulent flames, Then his form blasted across the clearing, fully tearing apart two of the bandits before they could even react.

The four Nightasp tipped arrows collided with Orden’s shield a fraction of a second later. An explosion rocked the grasslands, and Orden was pushed back several feet, somehow retaining his balance under the onslaught. The black steel exploded on contact with the shield, almost entirely enveloping Orden in black shadows. The shadows writhed and pulsed over Orden’s shield, almost as if they had a life of their own, and seeked to move around the metal shield and consume Orden’s flesh.

Everything that Orden was wearing began to bubble - including his shield and steel armor - as the Nightasp Venom attacked the armor. Cato gasped, and collapsed, as Orden was surrounded in a glowing nimbus of blue light. Orden grunted, falling to his knees, as the Guardian Armor failed when Cato retracted his protection to save himself.

Ril raced forward, arriving just as the black smoke faded away. Orden did not look good. His skin was grey with boils wherever his armor had not covered him. Amazingly, he was very much alive.

Orden let out a groan, as Ril moved forward and prepared to catch the man before he fell. The man retained his feet all on his own, if with a little bit of a wobble.

“No one was hurt?” Orden groaned out, his eyes reddening and swelling shut.

“No one was hurt.” Julius said. “Good job, Orden”.

Ril snapped his gaze up. He hadn’t noticed Julius come closer. When Ril looked over to where the bandits had been standing all he saw was the remnants of a bonfire in the predawn light.

“And those bandits?” Orden said, struggling to stay on his feet. His shield shrunk and fell from his nerveless fingers.

“Dealt with. Rest my friend, you did your duty.”

At those words, Orden seemed to deflate. Before he could collapse onto the hard ground, Ril and Julius both caught him and laid him down gently. Felix came over and pulled out a vial of red liquid from somewhere. Then he unceremoniously dumped half the contents over Orden’s face, before forcing the bigger man to drink the rest.

“Bloody hell, why is it so damn difficult to escort one measily person less than twenty miles?” Felix grumbled. He glanced at Ril. “Two measly people.” He corrected under his breath, pulling out bandages to care for Orden’s wounds.

Ril stood helplessly, unsure of what he can do, and knowing full well that he would only get in the way if he tried to help. So Ril decided to see if he can figure anything out from the dead bandits. He moved over to the bandit that he had killed. It was the only body that wasn’t completely destroyed by Julius’s ... aggressive techniques. He knelt down, a lump of nausea appeared in his throat as he remembered the feeling of his blade cutting through the man’s throat. Mercilessly he quashed the feeling. Not the time.

“What in the world are bandits doing assaulting people on the edge of the Dread Thicket? We are as far as we can possibly be from any of the major roads.” Eren said, moving over to help Evelyn care for the unconscious Cato.

While lifting the dead man’s hand Ril had noticed that the skin on the back of the bandits hand felt different. Upon closer inspection, he saw that there was actually a layer of paint covering the back of the bandits hand. Ril pulled out a knife and started scraping the paint away. Underneath the paint, a tattoo of a black dagger dripping a single drop of blood from it’s tip was revealed.

“Hey guys? I don’t think that these people were bandits.” Ril said, looking up from his corpse investigation. “This one has this tattoo on the back of his hand. Doesn’t look like the kind of thing that a regular bandit would have?”

Julius made his way to Ril and took a look at the tattoo.

“I recognize that symbol.” He said. “These weren’t bandits, or highwaymen, or anything of that sort. That’s the symbol of the assassins guild in Anduin. These were professional assassins. I would hazard a guess that they were sent here to assassinate the princess.”

At this, Evelyn - who had been gently trying to make Cato comfortable - looked up. Her eyes hardened as she considered what this meant. Then she let out a sigh.

“Let’s rest for some time, and then head out. If we leave by midday we should be able to get to Anduin before dark.” She said, turning back towards her advisor as he lay unconscious on his bedroll.

* * *

Miles away, and over the field of yellowing grass, the city of Anduin sprawled. It was a large city, if a bit overpopulated at the moment. The people had long since extended beyond the stone parapets that protected the inner district. Wooden palisades could be seen in concentric rings around the inner city where expansion due to refugees had occurred. Interestingly, much of the expansion was new. The outermost palisade was even slightly green.

This was because Anduin, for all of its glory, had not always been the capital of the Kingdom. That honor was reserved for the burnt husk of Menteridge. Menteridge had fallen during the early days of the calamity. Before divine spheres were properly understood, and humanity had struggled to push back the slavering hordes. Prior to its desolation, Menteridge was a thriving metropolis bursting at the seams from the riches that trade with its surrounding towns had brought it.

Now, all that remained were broken walls and burned buildings. Nothing sentient lived in Menteridge. Or at least that is what the people of Anduin believed. Regardless, Anduin had become the new capital of the kingdom. The seven silver spires that rose gracefully from the center of the inner city, and are the symbol of the Artorius family, became a symbol of hope for the people who rallied under the new king; King Magnus Artorius, Lord of the Silver Spires.

Those same spires loomed menacingly over Godric Glotz as he passed through the gatehouse protecting the inner city.

Godric took a deep breath through his nose, pleased that the smell of the outer city was fainter in these more exalted streets. He smiled. Finally he had arrived at the capital after nearly two whole weeks traveling. Most of the journey was necessitated by the presence of the Dread Thicket that separated Elkshire from the capital. What once was the source of Elkshire’s prosperity, was now the root of its misfortune.

Before the forest had provided the city its main source of income; Meat and furs. The segregation that it caused from civilization was more than offset by the rich bounty that could be harvested from its depths. Now with the forest impassable, and full to the brim with dangerous monsters, Elkshire was both separated from the rest of the world, and missing a good chunk of its bounty. Needless to say, Lord Glotsk was less than happy about this development.

Godric sighed as he made his way over to the academy grounds. Everything that his father did was focused so heavily on improving their families standing. It was why he was here with Gom and Sonith. To participate in the academy and become powerful warriors that are respected. Once they succeeded at the academy they would be able to secure profitable trade contracts with wealthy merchants. Or something along those lines.

Godric sighed again. The misfortune that had fallen on his family seemed inescapable. They were lords of a dying city, that no amount of political maneuvering would solve. It was unfair! Through sheer chance, he would lose his standing as a noble. It was ridiculous.

For that reason, Godric hated the Chromagnum, and the monsters that it brought. The church often spoke of the blessing of the Chromagnum and how it was a trial that humanity is destined to overcome together. How the meteor brought unity under King Magnus. Where before there were just warring city states, now a united kingdom worked together to achieve greatness.

Godric, for his part, thought that the teachings of the church were a load of drivel.

Godric walked across the streets of the inner city and entered a small, but well maintained building. Inside he concisely explained to the receptionist who he was and that he and his companions were registered for the Academy. The receptionist quickly wrote down the details before handing him a schedule and explaining some basic rules of the Academy. He nodded and thanked the receptionist. Then, he and his entourage left the office to find their lodging.

Godric frowned as he recalled what his father had told him nearly two weeks ago.

‘You are to go to Anduin, where you will enroll in the military Academy. Be sure to excel. After your first couple of months, you will enroll in the Silver Spires Tournament that happens at the end of the spring semester. You will face other combatants your age in the tournament. They will test your mettle. Do not disappoint me. Once you win, you will receive a reward from the king himself.’

‘Why is the reward so important? Will the sum of money really be enough to subsidize Elkshire?’ Godric had asked.

‘Of course not, silly boy. No amount of weapons or gold can solve our economic plight. Even a scholarship for the remainder of your stay at the academy won’t even dent the costs it takes to run a city.’

‘Then... is the audience with the King and his daughter the reason why the reward is important?’ Godric asked

Theodore Glotsk scratched his beard. ‘Hmm, perhaps...But that won’t solve our troubles directly, now will it. You need to think bigger, my boy.’ Lord Glotsk’s eyes flashed when he said the word ‘bigger’

When Godric asked what he meant by bigger, Lord Glotsk only laughed and told him to succeed at the Tournament.

Godric’s frown deepened as he recalled the conversation. It had been stewing in the back of his mind ever since he left Elkshire. As far as he could tell, his father wanted him to win in the Tournament so that he could gain an audience with Princess Evelyn. If you could get her hand in marriage that ... No, that would mean leaving the Glotsk family and joining the Aurelius family. It wouldn’t solve anything for Elkshire.

Godric let out a huff of frustration, ever since that stupid urchin had stolen his divine sphere things hadn’t seemed to go his way. The idiotic begger hadn’t even had the descency of even keeping the orb. He had gone and killed himself in the Dread Thicket not a day after he had stolen the orb.

Whatever. Godric thought to himself, as he entered his family's home in Anduin. I’m here and my father is back in Elkshire. This is a new start, I will follow my father’s instructions and succeed. At least for now, I don’t have to worry about figuring out a way of propping up Elkshire.