The sky was gray as stone, and the land beneath it was filled with bodies. The dead and the dying, all sprawled out in their armor. Some lay in piles, where a single blast of energy had ended them, while others scattered like dolls, struck by lightning, wind or flame. The only living things on the battlefield that dark evening, were the black craven birds that circled the battlefield, and two figures dressed in rags. A boy and a girl, they each carried a tattered bag, while searching among the bodies for good metal or coins or even affinity stones. Anything that could buy them another week of food.“Hey, look at this one,” said the girl.She held up a helmet, twice as large as her head, and waved it at the boy. She was standing a few paces ahead of him, smaller in size, her blonde hair as dirty as her clothes.“It’s damaged,” he said, almost immediately.There was a slight dent in the side, where a sword or even a lightning blast had caved in the metal. It was a gift of his, seeing w

A voice echoed in the darkness, deep and resonant, like stone grinding against stone.“Sovereign.”Kaiden’s eyes snapped open, to a clear blue sky.He blinked for a few seconds, before the odd feeling of movement came upon him. But he wasn't moving, not exactly. He was being carried on something that was moving. The realization came when he heard rolling wheels beneath him.“Where am I?”His voice hurt when he spoke. With a groan, he tried to sit up and was rewarded with sharp pain, running up the length of his chest and trunk.“Take it easy, man,” someone said. “You've been hurt pretty bad. It's a miracle you're even alive.”Miracle? Alive?Then he remembered the shock of getting zapped with lightning, and the last feeling he had was of life leaving his body.The pain was still there, but it had grown dull, far too dull. He stared down at himself. Dried blood still stained his rags and there were holes in his shirt, but…no scars on his body. No marks to show where the lightning had h

Light flooded the pit all at once, torches catching with fire along the walls where unseen hands had lit them from above, and Kaiden flinched hard against the sudden brightness of it.When his eyes adjusted, he wished the place just remained dark. The Ridgeback boar lay where he'd left it, bigger than he had imagined. Its back was rigged with plates, and its hide was dark with its own blood. A few feet from it, a human body lay still, with the dampeners still around his wrists. Kaiden remembered the scream he had heard earlier, followed by the silence.‘oh gods. He's-’ Kaiden made himself look away before his mind could finish the thought.The gates swung open and two men walked in. They were not masked like the Reavers and they did not have any eye color, but they wore dirty leather aprons and looked bored with their work. Then their eyes fell on the dead boar and they looked surprised. “They actually killed it…” said the taller one. “Incredible…” “Well, Orrin, you owe me a si

“What?” Felipe blurted. “Do not kill the beasts,” Varax repeated, shifting his gaze to Kaiden. “I doubt that you would be able to do so, anyway. But just in case any one of you gets the idea, do not.” “He’s trying to manipulate the bets in his favor,” Kaiden said to Garrick. “People would be betting that the beasts would be killed, but if we don’t kill any…”“He makes a win,” Garrick completed.“So…we just stand there…and get killed?” Tylar asked in disbelief. “Run, hide, dodge, but you will not kill the beasts.” Varax straightened, his bushy brows lifting slightly. “If you do, you will meet a terrible fate at my hands.”Roden whimpered something, and Garrick shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why not just kill us and get it over with?” Varax turned towards him, a sinister smile on his lips. “Without getting a bit of money out of it? where’s the fun in that?” He clapped his hands. Orrin and Dask returned, ordering the boys to follow them. They spent most of the afternoon doin