The four of them, now at the edge of the city, jumped down from the rooftops and on to the only road that lead into the city, which also meant it was the primary way to get out of the city also, they were walking at a rather leisurely pace, the road was lonely with nothing but grassy fields on both sides, that started off as a slope but then ran off into flat wide fields,

but since it was night they seemed like nothing but empty spaces of darkness as if the Gods or whoever up above forgot to put something there.

“so what you guys been up to ?”, Levant asked,

The others remained quiet, no one answering his question,

“REALLY ?, none of you are gonna answer me”, levant said,

“fine, don’t answer then”, levant said,

“you don’t have to act so pissed off Lev, you weren’t the only one who lost today, Rak kicked Asters ass earlier, you should’ve seen it”, Polaris said, chuckling slightly,

“welcome to the losers club then Aster”, Levant said running up to aster and throwing his hand over aster’s shoulder,

“kick my ass, is overexaggerating what happened don’t yah think, Pol”, Aster said,

“besides Rak won’t admit that he was trying earlier in our fight”, Aster said,

“please aster, I totally had you had you handled”, Barak said,

For the next hour, they continued to follow the road, until they came to a cluster of houses that from far seemed like one giant house, the four of them slid down the slope till they reached the flat where the houses were situated, they weaved through what seemed like a maze of houses until they came to the giant structure that was their clan's main hall,

“by the way why is the village so quiet, normally there’s at least one party going on”, Levant questioned,

“i don’t know, I’ve been busy with clan work so I haven’t been paying attention to what’s happening”, aster answered,

"Oi you old bats inside" shouted aster, after a brief moment, the large wooden door reeled back and out walked four women, two old women and two who seemed to be in their early forties,

One of the younger women walked down the short flight of stairs and up to polaris she was shorter than him, "Pol I hope you weren't off giving trouble now and I hoped you got what I asked you for and you also left your room looking terrible" she said calmly,

"Yeah yeah, I got what you asked for " he said, he reached inside his pockets and handed her a small package,

“and could you stop nagging me about cleaning my room, I think you have better things to given your new position”, he continued,

she let out a slight sigh, "Okay if you say so" she retorted,

"This woman is crazy" he said under his breath, Polaris gestured bye to the rest and left with his mum for his household, Levant looked at his mother who was the other woman who was relatively young,

"See y'all later I'm tired" Levant said and just left for his home, while his mother followed shortly after,

Off to the side Barak was speaking with his grandmother, who was one of the elders, she had a reputation for being a bit crazy,

"Barak why don't you come back home ?, come and get something to eat and fill your stomach, I know you can’t be eating well living so far away and by yourself" she pleaded,

Barak looked at her and simply gave her a cold stern "No",

“now leave me alone”, Barak said, as he walked off,

Aster looked at the last elder, this was his grandmother,

"Okay gran, well I did what the four of you asked so i am going home now" aster said grinning, he and Barak walked off together,

“it’s been a while since I last came back here hasn’t it”, barak said, walking alongside aster,

“yeah it has, but with you it makes sense, given everything that went on with your part of the family”, Aster said, slowing down his pace a bit,

“so did she finally tell why she wanted the four of us together ?”, Barak asked,

“nope, still not telling me anything, as usual”, Aster said with a dejected look on his face,

“i don’t get why you’re still an enforcer for the clan, me, pol and Lev stopped so why are you still doing it”, Barak questioned as he looked directly at aster,

“it keeps me occupied plus someone’s got to do it and not to mention it keeps my skills sharp”, Aster said listing off the benefits he had,

“clearly not sharp enough”, barak said, chuckling,

“yeah yeah, one day you’ll see”, Aster said, to barak,

“but seriously, it’s time you find something different to do, being an enforcer for the clan is holding you back”, barak said,

“like what Rak, you become a small time merchant and poach off of canaan’s clients list, pol just wonders around and Lev has a normal job, I don’t see how I’m anymore limited than how all of you are”, Aster said,

“anyways lets go I’m tired and starving”, Aster said as he and barak walked towards his house,

The next Morning

the real purpose of the four of them being gathered was revealed to them, as the four of them gathered in the main hall with the elders standing in front of them,

"The clan right now as we speak is divided among itself" aster's grandmother, Quedel, said

"Now it makes sense why the village was so quiet last night" Levant thought to himself, as he had not been back to the village in about a month,

"And as it stands they are divided to crown the next leader of the clan, any one of who is seen as an elder cannot be crowned as leader" explained polaris' mother, Adalynn,

"The candidates for the position of leader are, Zarar, my husband, the head priest of our clan and polaris' step father and Canaan, the head merchant of our clan, and a warrior of our clan" she explained further,

" Since you four are our clans strongest fighters and are also the prophetic children, you four are the deciding factor since it is our, the elders, belief that if you four choose from between the two of them that it should cause us to avoid war between the two factions" Quedel explained,

"So we ask you to now make your dec-"Quedel was cut short,

BOOM.......BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, were the loud sounds that could be heard in the distance, the four boys dashed from the main hall through the courtyard that held the four statues through the village until they got to the open field where two small armies, around the same size, stood opposing each other,

One side wearing white armour with the crest of Zarar, decked out with their white swords, and the other side wearing red and black armour with the crest of Canaan, clad with their spears and shields,

"OOOUUUU RAAAHHH" Canaan men cried out and charged forward.