…

"Have you heard about the rumour of the Gerbrailin princess getting caught?" The man by my side asked.

"No," I said.

We were sitting on the either side of the prison metal bar gate as the two guards; the prison was located on the outskirts of the Eastbron forest near the kingdom. This was done to keep the prisoners away from settlement and making it harder for them to escape, as they would have to walk through the whole forest before seeing the light of any house or walk in the direction of the kingdom.

If they were foolish enough to try the first then the wild animals will most likely eat them after they cross the fence around the prison. If they think it would be smarter to walk towards the kingdom then the guards at the border would have somthing other to say.

However, this all meant there was nothing for the guards to do either. Except talking with each other and looking at the green trees spreading out till the horizon and their branches as they swayed with the wind every now and then.

Even though I have been a guard for a very short period of time, I can for sure say that this job sucks. We two were the only guards stationed her at present, as an emergency called the others and they headed over to the kingdom and I had come as a single replacement for the mult.i.tude just the day before yesterday.

"I heard that Gerbrail is a small, peaceful nation neighbouring Edhoria in the east." I noticed that guard"s brown uniform shirt had the tag "Melish" sewed over his chest.

It was dark, but I could clearly see Melish"s eyes that reflected the light from the lamp in his hand.

"So why is their princess captured?" I asked.

"I have heard, though with someone else"s ears," he leaned forward and I followed the suit, both of us were still sitting on our chairs but we had craned our neck and upper body. He continued.

"The Gerbrailins had been supplying silicon, the cursed metal, to those wicked Oldoanians. When our great king Maximus got the gist of this, he ordered to besiege Gerbrail and ambush it when the moment comes. I personally say, that d.a.m.ned nation must be punished for helping the Oldoanians to build their evil technology."

"Hmm…" I straightened myself and scratched my chin with my right hand. I was well aware of the enmity between the Nation of Oldoan and the Edhorian Empire.

It all began a year after the Cataclysm, the government of nations all over the world were failing to gain control over the new changes that occurred and soon they fell on by one. In midst of this crisis a new belief rose, people began to think that Cataclysm was the salvation presented to humanity to begin anew.

The Cataclysm had brought things unexplained by science and broken and confused millions of people agreed with these new believes. These believes gave rise to new cults and these cults followed various new deities.

One of these new cults was the Edhonia Sect, who believed in the forces of nature and thought the Cataclysm occurred to save humanity from the evils of technology. The followers of the Edhonia Sect were the founders of the Edhorian Kingdom.

On the other hand, some did not believe in these myths and rather wanted to find scientific explanations to these changes and they formed their own nation, which is the nation of Oldoan. While there were knights in Edhorian Kingdom, the nation of Oldoan had scientists.

These are two of the strongest countries in the new world and by their basic nature; these two countries possessed hostility against each other.

"It seems reasonable that the Edhorian Kingdom would attack on an ally of the nation of Oldoan, but I feel there is something missing…" I thought and then turning to my left, I asked Melish, "What do you think will happen to the princess?"

He shrugged and said, "Either she will be confined or she will be executed and the land of Gerbrail would be taken over by over kingdom. I think it would be safer to chose the second option, for the betterment of the Edhorian Empire."

"Hmm…" I found it strange that the Edhorian Kingdom attacked another nation so fast, according to me; usually they would try to form an alliance with the allies of the Oldoan and try turning them against the Oldoanians. However, even if they attacked another country would it not be better to capture the king instead of his daughter?

"Why do you ask?"

"It always helps to have another mind"s opinion," I shrugged and then looked around, the tree branches swayed making a serene sound. I smiled and continued, "I also like to get to know people before I kill them."

I pulled a gun out of my pocket and shot him in the head before he could react.

"It was nice meeting you," I said as I put the gun back in my pocket and walked towards him. I put him straight up and looked at the mark formed on the head.

I pulled a small black cube out of my pocket and after pressing it; I threw it up and then ran away. Hardly had I reached the fence did I hear an explosion and the force blew me away. Hitting a tree hard, I had a blend of grimace and irritation on my face, "I will get the ones with timer next time."

Then I looked over to where the prison "was", it was now cleared and there was nothing visible through the smoke, but I could see the outlines of some bodies, "They were either d.a.m.n criminals or kingdom"s brainwashed lunatics anyway."

Suddenly from the smoke a figure rose and walked towards me, as he came closer I could see his face and he had an angry expression. This was how I first met Tempris and it was a very unpleasant meeting.

Before I could say anything Tempris pounced on my with a glowing fist, I moved aside just just in time and Tempris" punch landed on the ground making a small crater on the ground.

"Why are you attacking me?" I asked him as I jumped on a tree branch.

"You ask that after you try to blow me!" His voice was coa.r.s.e. He was shorter and younger than I was, with a round fair face, dark purple hair that fell on his shoulders and his eyes were of a lighter purple shade.

"I was just making my work easier. Do you expect me to go through each G.o.d d.a.m.n cell and look for you in that darkness?" I had not lost my composure.

Tempris" face showed that he did not except my reasoning but then he sighed and said, "I do not want to kill my chance to escape."

"You can"t kill me," I did not word my thoughts because the last thing I would want now would be wasting time fighting this bulldozer.

"We have to get moving, the guards at the border must have heard the explosion." I said.

"So what? I can kill all of them within minutes." He retorted.

"Then we must not waste even those minutes, I have the mission to bring you not kill the border guards of the Edhorian Kingdom and I am already behind schedule." I jumped down.

"Who are you? Are you from the Oldoan Nation?" He asked.

"Let"s talk while moving," I sprinted through the totalled prison ground, "Try to keep up."

This must have hurt his big ego because almost instantly I could hear him running towards me. When I got out of the smoke, I could see him by my side.

"Let"s keep on moving," I said.

...

Tempris and I were about half a mile away from the bombed prison by now. We were swiftly running through the forest.

"So who are you?" He asked me breaking the silence.

"I am Victor." I replied.

"You work for the Oldoan Nation?" He asked jumping aside from a tree in way as we continued run fast.

"No, they hired me to infiltrate the Edthorian Kingdom and find your whereabouts and bring you." Just when I finished the sentence, I stopped.

"What happened?" Tempris stood beside me.

"Don"t you here it?" I said as I looked around. There was a very hushed sound of someone stepping on leaves. I looked at Tempris; he seemed to have picked up the sound too.

"Someone is following us." I said.

"Who could it be? The reinforcement can"t be so fast." He said.

The prison ground was about four miles away from the Kingdom"s border and we were half a mile away from the prison in under a minute. With this speed, it would be almost impossible for someone to catch us. "Unless..." I muttered.

"Those following us are knights," Tempris finished my sentence. Knights had mutant horses that ran faster than an average Gifted, who was easily way faster than the fastest normal creatures.

"Hide." I said.

He nodded and we boh jumped on trees in opposite directions. Slowly the sound became more and more audible. There were two people riding on their horses. They were clad with shinning, silver, full body metal armour and each had a sword attached to near to their armour"s waist by their hilts, it was hard to see their face from above because of their helmet.

They stopped their horses where Tempris and I were standing just a moment ago, then started to look around. One of them stepped down and touched the ground with their bare hand. Then looking at the second knight said, "I cannot feel his presence anymore." The voice was masculine.

The second knight stepped down from their horse too and then walking towards the first knight, the second knight whispered something. The next moment the both of them disappeared out of my sight. "

s.h.i.t!" I turned around and saw one of the knights behind me on the tree branch. The knight swung their sword at me, but I jumped down and the knight followed the suit.

"Who are you?" This voice was masculine too, but it was different from the previous one.

"None of your business," I was still wearing my guard uniform and the white mask. The knight must have not liked the answer because he charged at me with his sword. I ducked and pulled two daggers from the pouches on my ankles then with my dagger I did an uppercut; however, the blade did not even put a scratch on his armour.

Seeing this I jumped back and said, "It seems like the Edhorians know how to make good armours."

"Metallurgy is one of our specialities," as he said it, the knight"s sword started to glow.

"So you are a Gifted…" I smiled, "too."

My daggers began to glow purple and I lurched and attack first this time. I went straight for the head with my left dagger, but the knight moved his sword towards my torso, I stopped the sword with my right dagger and continued. However, before my dagger could hit his helmet he kicked on my chest pushing me back.

I stood on my foot again and threw my daggers at the knight. He deflected them with his sword, but he did not see me coming at me and with my speed I got some momentum and then using my Gift I punched the knight directly on his head and maybe I might have overdone it because the knight"s head knocked off and rolled over the ground, but his body continued the previous momentum before collapsing too.

"s.h.i.t, I did not plan to do that," I sighed and then went over Tempris" direction. I could hear the sound of an ongoing battle.

It was pretty boring, Tempris and the knight were have a "fierce" fight, "And this guy said he could kill me…"

The knight was swinging his word at Tempris who was ducking and dodging it by jumping while trying to beat the knight with bare fist. Then finally, I got tired of it and then using my Gift I pushed the ground with my legs and in top speed and cut the knight"s head through the helmet with my dagger.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Tempris" mouth was left agape.

"Let"s just walk to the Oldoan Nation and let me complete my mission and get my paycheque!" I was p.i.s.sed with all these interruptions. I walked over Tempris and said, "Now walk before I kill you and loose my money."