Rudis is the creator of life and our world. Long ago, he gave birth to magic. Shortly after, he created three types of creatures—beasts, humans, and magical beasts.

The beasts are the weakest of all with no magic. They have very little intelligence, although some of them like dogs can be docile.

Humans have both magic and intelligence, but not a robust body. We also can use only seven elements of magic. We are vulnerable and physically weak.

Magical beasts are the strongest amongst all creations of Rudis, for he did truly love them. They have similar intelligence to humans, and even greater magic with 9 elements and physically strong, long lasting bodies.

—The Church of Rudis

September, 20, Friday, Year of 1842. Billie Hart.

The county of Goldgate is built at the base of an inactive volcano, and is one of the more popular tourism spots in Gala. It is known for three things—the only volcano in Gala, a golden gate where Calleche is rumoured to have married and finally, mines of calcium. Now, it will also be known as the first Galan county to fall to Cyra’s hands.

Goldgate cannot possibly put up a fight with the small forces that they have. They surrender as soon as they look at the size of Cyran army and hence the fight is over before it starts.

In one of the newer looking two story buildings, Billie sneaks open the window and watches the soldiers in blue uniforms tread the unkempt streets of Goldgate. “I wonder if Lily is amongst them,” he says slowly.

His father looks at him. “Do you remember her unit?”

Billie shakes his head in response. The last time he met Lily was when she had just joined the Cyran military. He was 14 back then, so it’s been a year or so.

There is a silence for a few minutes, and then Billie asks, “Are we going back to Cyra?”

“This is Cyra now as well, Billie.”

“I mean—”

“I’ve already talked to our soldiers. We can leave this town after three days or so.”

“Why the three day delay?”

“They are finding more Cyrans, and then they will send all of us off. They don’t want to waste too many wagons in war time.”

“I want to go back right now,” Billie says, looking around. “I know the people do not like us anymore. Will we be alright?”

His father doesn’t say anything, but his worried blue eyes speak enough.

Even though Billie stays inside the house, he can sense the tension rising in the town. People are evidently confused, and every hour or so, there is a distressing sharp cracking pop sound of a gunshot. Cyrans do not seem to want to take lives, so thankfully most of the shots land on limbs, which are easily healable wounds.

In the evening, he is escorted to the central park with his father. The Galan viscount wears a magic suppressing collar, and looks absolutely pale as he announces the new laws in Goldgate. There are no guns pointed at him, but they very well may be. He tells the citizens of his county that Goldgate is now a Cyran territory, and that means that they now follow laws of Cyra. He then lists out a bunch of new laws for the Galans, which induce a great amount of rage amongst the crowd. A few of them cannot keep their rage within themselves, and end up being taken away and locked up in a prison. The rest of the viscount’s speech is relatively peaceful because nobody else wants to go to the prison in vain.

According to the new law, Galans are not allowed to lock their doors. There is also a curfew. Any Galan who is outside their house after 8 in the night is at risk of getting shot. The central park is offlimits. Any public gathering that is not approved by the viscount is forbidden, but at this point, everyone knows that the viscount is just a puppet. He has no authority left, and he certainly would not approve of any public gatherings that are not led by Cyrans.

Cyrans are generally thought to merciless machines, but according to his father, they have been quite lenient this time. They have barely killed anyone, and they have promised to use the Galan taxes majorly for building services for Galans themselves.

September, 21, Saturday, Year of 1842. Billie Hart.

A new day, but the start is the same. A gunshot wakes him up, and he lays on his bed until the sun is up, when his father makes a Cyran stationed outside their house fetch a newspaper for them. The newspaper lists places which are now off-limit to Galans. Interestingly enough, the school is one of them. The article then goes on to talk about a new school that will be soon opened. It will exclusively have Galan students, but the education system will be Cyran. They also talk about how a few years later, both the schools will start accepting students of both nationalities.

As he is about to go to the next article, there is a knock. Billie’s father looks outside through the peek hole, then opens the door. There are five Cyran soldiers standing outside. They inform them that there are finally 10 Cyran civilians found in Goldgate, and that they will be escorted to the nearest carriage.

And they do indeed escort both of them in all haste. The carriage is not spacious enough for 10 Cyrans with 3 escorts, but no one complains. They just want to be out of Gala and back in Cyra again.

It is only a two days journey to his hometown by a carriage normally, and one day journey by a train, but Cyrans have halted the trains for now. Even on the road, they get pulled over and questioned multiple times a day so it will be a four day journey at this pace, his father tells him.

September, 23, Monday, Year of 1842. Billie Hart.

They have come across hundreds of carriages, all going in towards Gala. All of them were packed with Cyran soldiers, and all of them moved at a frightening speed, only stopping for their interrogation.

On their third day of journey, they are made to stop once again. They all get out of the carriage and a man with dark black curly hair gathers all of them up. There are equally dark bags under his eyes, most likely from lack of sleep. He goes from person to person. “What is your name?” He asks, then observes Billie. “Billie Hart.”

“Hart…? It’s a relatively common surname, but…you wouldn’t happen to know Lily Hart, would you?”

Billie and his father both nod. “Is she in this unit?” His father asks, and the man nods, the man’s hazel eyes now relaxed. He calls for Lily. Before she arrives, he introduces himself as Major Veradis.

She arrives in less than two minutes, wearing the same uniform that Billie is now sick of. “O—Oh, Billie and Uncle Alfred!” she exclaims in surprise as soon as she spots them.

“They were stuck in Goldgate for four days,” Veradis explains.

“Thankfully we’re out of there now,” Billie’s father smiles.

“Oh?” Lily smiles back and pats Billie’s head, even though now he is almost as tall as her. “He didn’t cry, did he?”

His father shakes his head the same time as Billie starts sulking. He does not want to be reminded about his crybaby childhood.

“Where are you heading?” Lily asks, “Sophia?”

“Yes. Where is your mother currently?”

“Bellhall. She’s undergoing some treatment there.”

Billie’s father shakes his head gravely. “…I hope she recovers soon.”

“…Yes, same here. Pay her a visit if you can—she’d be delighted,” Lily gives a small smile.

Billie’s father nods.

There are a few seconds of silence, after which Lily glances at Veradis. “Major Veradis… we’re already in a hurry. I don’t want to delay us any further.”

Veradis says, clearly hesitant. “We…we better get going, then. Have a good journey.”

His father looks at Veradis and Lily one last time, then says, “Good luck to you all out there.”

Then both the carriages resume their journey, one running away from pain and suffering, and the other towards it.

September, 24, Tuesday, Year of 1842. Veradis Candor.

Veradis’ carriage is very close to Gala now. A few more hours and they will reach Goldgate, where, according to Lily, ‘We can finally tyrannize some already poor people! How…very exciting…’ She is very clearly unhappy with this war.

“We need to take a shortcut,” Veradis says at noon. “We should have been there by now, but it will take us four hours more at this pace.”

“That’s entirely Colonel Reina’s fault,” Lily says, then stands straight with chest out with no expression, as if mimicking Reina. Everyone around laughs at her mockery.

“Doesn’t matter,” Veradis says, suppressing his laugh. “We’ll go through the Mighty Ash Woods. It is a small forest that would take barely an hour to traverse.”

“But what about the bandits, sir?” their scout Chase asks. “That is the reason we were ill-advised against taking that route, were we not?”

Veradis waves his hand in front of him, as if it is not important. “Lily will take care of that.”

Lily frowns. “This is a bad idea. Bandits are always a bad idea. And an hour? I will have to recover vigour for an entire week if—”

“That’s fine,” Veradis says. “I just want to get there as fast as possible.”

“You want spoils of victory, Sir?” Chase asks, grinning.

Both Lily and Veradis glare at him, and he frowns before turning to the other direction.

After fifteen minutes, they reach the Mighty Ash Woods. Veradis looks outside the carriage, shoving the curtain to a side, then says, “Start your magic, Lily.”

Lily crawls next to Veradis, then sighs. “I’m telling you this is a bad idea,” she says, but nonetheless closes her eyes, ready to read the air. She excels in wind and water magic, and is absolutely terrible in other sorts of magic. Veradis, on the other hand, is very versatile but cannot use the elements to their full extent.

Only twenty minutes later, Lily starts bleeding from her nose. Constantly reading the air is tough and consumes vigour rapidly, especially in a moving cart. Veradis has a very high vigour, but he can only read air in a radius of 200 meters.

“Honey, I believe…we have guests,” Lily whispers, her eyes still closed.

Veradis immediately raises his hand and everyone in the carriage goes silent. “How many and where?”

“Up the trees…around three hundred meters ahead, 1 o clock for me. Count is 15. They’ve blocked the path with a tree.”

Veradis looks around the carriage, then shouts, “Prepare for combat! Keep your barriers up! Have the carriage parked here! I don’t want it broken. We’ll be stranded if it does break. Raymond and Silchar will stay here near the carriage to protect it.”

Everyone grabs their muskets and swords. Veradis steps out first, an air barrier already raised. Everyone except the two on defence duty quickly walk towards the presumed bandits, following Lily’s instructions.

“We are very close now,” Lily says, her eyes finally open. She looks extremely sleepy after having used so much vigour, but keeps up with the rest. Everyone looks up. Chase is the first one to point a finger. Good eyes, that brat. No wonder he was selected to be their scout.

Veradis immediately pushes air in that direction, but it only hits their own barrier. Of course. How could he forget? Lily gives him a glance, supressing her laugh. Good old Lily, mocking him even in a middle of a battle.

“On the count of three, lower the barrier. I’ll jump outside and push the air there,” Veradis orders, glaring at Lily, who can barely control her laughter, no hint of her earlier drowsiness on her face.

Everyone except Lily nods, and Veradis starts counting to three. When it is time, he jumps outside and pushes the air in the direction that Chase points out yet again. Two men fall off the tree, or at least two things do. Veradis cannot tell for sure. It’s too dark.

Veradis is about to say something when hears grunts from the two fallen bandits. At least he can hear well in the forest. He lowers his barrier momentarily and pushes them against the trees. Chase points his musket in their direction, his hands shaking. Poor boy. Lily gently pushes Chase’s gun to a different direction. “Let’s not kill if we can help it,” Veradis orders, then pushes the bandits against the tree again, hoping it finally knocks them out.

The damned forest cover is so thick that he can barely make out the bandits on top of him, and the bandits wear green clothes that camouflage themselves. Very little sunlight makes in, of course, which makes it even more difficult. Chase points somewhere, and all of them push the air in that direction. No one falls. “They have raised their air barriers now,” Lily whispers. “Or stone barriers. I can’t tell.”

“Let us pass!” Veradis screams. “We’ll both avoid trouble!” At this point, all the bandits must know his location anyway. No point in hiding it. But if they do respond, he will know their location, which must be why they never respond. There is only the annoying sound of cicadas, and of birds chirping. “Please?” Veradis offers.

He hears a supressed laugh, and immediately glances at Chase, who is very quick at pointing in the direction of the laugh. “I can tell positions of 6 now,” Chase whispers. “I cannot figure out where the remaining are just yet.”

Lily shrugs. “I could figure it out but then I’d have to go outside the air barrier and…well, I don’t want to get stabbed by an arrow.”

“Can you break—” Veradis is whispering when he is cut off by a loud masculine shout, “Stop bickering among yourselves, Cyran curs,” The voice pauses for a moment. “Hand over all your money nicely, and we’ll kill you painlessly.”

“Or else?” Veradis asks.

“Or we will gut all of you alive, ending with you, so you can watch all of them die first because of your stupid decision.” the voice replies. Another laughter, feminine this time. Veradis briefly glances at Chase, who discreetly raises 9 of his fingers. So still 4 more bandits up there somewhere.

The bandits attack Veradis’ barrier in an attempt to break it. They don’t even come close to breaking it but Veradis’ squad take him in their own air barrier anyway, which then begins to be bombarded by the wind and arrows.

“We’ll have to fight soon,” Lily whispers, glancing around. “We’ve kept the air barrier up for too long. Rudis help us if we have to stay like this for ten minutes more.”

Veradis gives one final look at Chase, who says, “Ten. I can see ten.”

Veradis slowly nods, an arrow hitting the barrier right in front of him. “We need to fight. Run away if your life is in danger. And remember, bullets won’t pierce their air barriers—they are better magicians than us and outnumber us. We get only one more chance to catch them off-guard and only because they have spread too far off.”

“There, there, …there, there and…there are the closest,” Chase says, hiding in the centre of his squad so that the bandits cannot see him pointing at them.

The air barrier falls, and they push air in the planned directions. Three more bandits fall, their air barriers obviously weak. Veradis pushes them against a tree again and again, making them unconscious. The Cyrans immediately raise their barrier up once again.

“We should be killing them,” Chase whispers. “They’re bandits. We’ll be doing a favour to everyone.”

Veradis does not respond. He looks up, then shouts, “We have five of your comrades! How about we trade them for a peaceful passage?”

No one speaks for a few moments. There is a roar of a lion in the far distance, and birds, as always, chirping and chirping.

“Fine,” a feminine voice finally echoes. “We’ll make a compromise. Ten thousand takas, and we will let you pass.”

Veradis scowls. “I thought it was going to be free in exchange for their lives.”

Another round of laughter, all over from the bandits. A particularly thick-accented Galan voice shouts, “Don’t misunderstand. We are not sparing you that much money. We are sparing your lives because you spared their lives.”

Veradis glances at his squad, all of them who seem to be willing to accept the offer…well, all except Lily, but she will have to deal with it. Veradis takes out ten golden coins from his pocket, and holds them in his hand. “We accept,” he says, and tosses one of the coins up. It does not fall down. “We will give you half now, and leave half behind when we are leaving. I swear to Rudis.”

The bandits abruptly jump down the trees, and Veradis raises his air barrier. They seem to be wary as well, but do not look inclined to fight. Two big men dressed in tattered clothes walks up to the tree blocking their path. They shove it aside as another roar resounds in the far distance.

“Go bring the carriage, Rida,” Veradis whispers. “Keep a barrier around it. Inform Silchar and Raymond about our situation too.”

Rida gives a brief salute and runs away. Veradis can finally look at the bandits properly now, despite the darkness of the forest. His eyes have adjusted. They all wear tattered gowns or tunics, and only three of them have simple bows— No crossbows. They genuinely seem to not want to fight despite their numbers advantage.

He tosses four more gold coins at them, maintaining his distance. The carriage quickly arrives in a moment, the horses extremely panic stricken. Is it because of the lions? They seem to be roaring for no reason. Veradis lets his squadmates enter the carriage then momentarily lets his air barrier dissolve so he can use the air to jump on top of the carriage. He combines his barrier with the rest of his squad mates, now on top of the carriage, then as they move forward, throws five more coins backward.

As soon as the bandits are out of sight, he slips inside the carriage, and is met with sighs of relief, and one glare. “The ten thousand takas are on me,” Veradis says.

The glare remains.

“I admit I was wrong. We should have taken the safer route.”

Lily finally breaks off the glare. Veradis hunches and walks next to her, then sits down. “We are lucky that they did not want to kill us,” she hisses.

“Now that’s not true. They could not possibly break our barriers without expending all of their vigour. It wasn’t that bad. It all worked out, didn’t it? They—” Veradis says, then has to stop because Lily roars loudly into his ear, “We are NOT going through a path filled with bandits again.”

Veradis grabs his hurting ear and sighs as Lily goes back to reading the air. Good Rudis, there really is too much roaring in Gala.