Chapter 01

Caldum's headless body plummeted from the tower, landing with a satisfying visceral crunch. Letum smiled to himself, and sat down on the ledge. Soldiers and Enforcers surged the bloodied courtyard below, but they wouldn’t be an issue.

Well now. That leaves just 2. Letum took his knife, and wiped the gore onto his black leather cloak. Footsteps sounded behind him, rhythmic and deliberate. He didn't turn to see the origin of the sounds, rather patted the ground next to him.

She put a hand on his shoulder, steading herself to sit on the ledge. She looked over at him, but didn't speak a word. Oh Atra, Letum thought, now looking over at her masked face. "Just Mactum and Furor left."

Atra nodded, now looking down at the men below, feebly shooting arrows up toward the pair of bloodletters. Atra then glanced over, past Letum, to Caldum's disembodied head. "Dammit, Letum. Again with the head?" Atra groaned.

Letum smiled, pulling off his black leather mask, and placing it on the head of his half-brother. He stuck the knife into the eye hole, and thus the eye itself. When the soldiers below stopped wasting ammunition on him, he let the head drop. The heavy side fell first, the back of the skull bursting open. Letum had done the same thing with his half-sister, Nuba, just the week prior.

Letum scooted himself back, then stood. He helped Atra up as well. She stood behind him, hooking her arms up through his, and onto his shoulders. With that, Letum used his powers over wind, and shot in the air, then toward the west.

The two bloodletters landed in the far corner of Vis, capitol of Oran, outside a bar. It was run down, but served as Letum's base of operations. He took a chunk of the coal from the floor, and crossed out Caldum's name. 8 other names were listed on the wall, 6 now marked, 2 remaining. The hardest two. The others had been easy by comparison, Letum hadn't known his half-siblings all that well. But the other 6 were not like Letum. Letum was a god among men, so were his remaining half-brothers. Thinking about the subject made half of Letum's body ache. 20 spikes, 20 dead men and women, 20 wounds on Letums body.

Atra gave him a pat on the shoulder, taking him away from that dreadful night, now so long ago. "Still going to Victoria in the morning?"

"That's still the plan." Letum nodded, leaving the foyer for the kitchen. Once the bar had served the best food in the city, now? He fired up the oven, and tossed a cast iron pan onto the top. While that heated, Letum cracked 8 eggs into a bowl. He grabbed a clean fork from the drying rack, and whisked them into a homogenous golden mixture. "Any mail?" Letum asked, now attacking the raw eggs with seasonings.

"Nothing of note. Moros gave congress the power to create laws. He still has veto power, but still thats another leap for... The next one is a magazine, titled "Democracy wins against former dictator once again."

Letum paused pouring the eggs into the skillet. "The hell does that even mean."

"I've got no clue. They get worse every week."

"Well they're gonna have a field day with this last, event, I suppose." The eggs gave a satisfying sizzle as he poured the rest into the pan. Within a few minutes, and more salt, Letum handed Atra a plate of eggs, and took a seat. "Got anything on the last one?"

"Masked murderers strike again, Nuba, daughter of the King Moros slaughtered."

"Good." Letum enjoyed his eggs, they gave him protien, and weren't outragously expensive. He didn't look at Atra as she ate, out of respect. They sat next to eachother, so it wasn't hard to avoid. She only removed her mask to eat, otherwise she never showed her face. Letum knew some details, even with the mask. Purple eyes, platinum blonde hair. Her voice was feminine and soft, though she sometimes spoke with an edge to it. Daughter of the south. He sighed alloud, finally letting the event of the night to settle on him.

"The plan will work." Atra said, voice clear, as always, even through the mask.

"It better." Letum said, pushing the doubts from his mind.

The next day he awoke to Atra watching him. *Last to sleep, first to wake. *The same old routine. They were both already dressed in their soldier uniforms Atra had made in her homeland, so Letum grabbed his bag, and the pair were off to the west. His powers were strong, and fast, but obvious. The night before he'd done a loop around the city to avoid someone finding his true travel direction. Today they would walk.

"Glad it isn't cold," Letum laughed, pulling his cloak tight around himself.

Atra turned, then turned back, Letum could see the sparkle in her eye. She Wore a military style vest, from the north, but no long sleeves or anything. The girl seemed to withstand any temperature with ease. "Little too warm for me."

The pair were walking the 50 mile or so journey to Victoria. It was a city to the west of Vis, closer to the mountains. Across the range was Apex, and the other cities in Occasus. It would only take the bloodletters 2 says to reach Victoria, but the mountains would be a tossup.

Atra wore a different mask, not the black one of the bloodletters, but the mask of the Notus bounty hunters. The color was a red orange type. It still covered her entire face. The upside to the bright coloring is certain catagories of people would stay away. It was the next best thing to the mask of the Assassin's guild. Atra wore arm gaurds, covering her scars. Between her hair, scars, and habit of wearing masks, she was easier to spot than Letum. The blonde hair was a trait only found in the children of the south, the people who'd arrived just 150 years earlier.

As usual, Letum wore no mask. He was the bastard child of the former emperor, but wasn't widely recognized. The uniform he wore still showed the spikes in the back of his hand, as well as the outer side of his forearm. Just 4 of 20 being visible were enough to set him apart. There were perhaps a hundred men on Oran who had even one, 2 maybe. 4 was an outlier. They were his father's doing, if Letum had any control he'd have rejected the horrible things.

The road was well trod in times past, recently there was less travel going on. After the destruction of the cities of Anfang, and Nachfolge, the people were wary. Can't blame them. Because of that, grass began to grow where the ground was once just dirt. Not high, you could still follow the route, but noticible.

Atra put a hand on his shoulder, tugging slightly, causing Letum to stop. Atra drew her bow, and nocked an arrow, pulled back, and let loose. Letum watched the arrow as it flew, right into a small bird. "Aha!" She exclaimed, running toward it. "Letum, it's a Flussgeist!"

Letum translated the southern words into Latin, Umbravis, River Ghost. He was fluent in the southern tongue, what they called Allzunge, which meant the common tongue. Being fluent didn't change his brain, he still had to convert the words into Latin in his head. "Big one, too."

"I never see them this far north. Lucky find." The girl said, Letum could hear the smile in her tone, and see it just barely through the slit in her mask. "Start a fire, I will clean der Geist."

Letum did as requested, gathering good branches and clearing a small area for the fire. After a good half hour, the fire was going well. He pulled a small wire rack from his pack, and put it over the fire. On either side it was set on some rocks, to elevate the rack. Atra put the filets of the bird on the makeshift grill, and set up a small shelter a good ways off the road. They would spend the night there, and finish the trek the following morning.

"Gods that's delicious," Letum praised, wiping off his lips, "I'd never had one."

"Much more common to the south," Atra said, "Once a month we ate these. Other times we tried to let them prosper."

The small bird was not unlike duck to Letum. The animal swam through the rivers, but also sat in the trees when hunting. It wasn't an apex predator, but also wasn't a duck or chicken. The thing was gamey, but not unpleasant to eat. The Evergreens that grew near the rivers added a good smokey flavor.

The single bird had enough meat to satisfy both Atra, and Letum. After dinner they settled down under the shelter Atra made. It was a simple structure, a lean to with a thick brush cover over the top. A waxed tarp would have done better, but the setup would do for a night.

Early the next morning, Letum woke, Atra gone as usual. They'd slept close, in separate bags, but close enough to preserve heat. He sat up, pulling himself from his sleeping bag. He found Atra snuffing out what remained of the fire. They left the shelter be, and continued on their way. Just a half hour later they came across the trading market that marked the half way point between the Capitol and Victoria.

Traders lined the streets, some from the far off city of Solus, indicated by their tan skin, or from Imperium or Immemor, indicated from their far eastern style of loose fitting cclothing. The furthest trader they came across was all the way from Einzig, most of the way across the world. It was the furthest city to the south east from Victoria.

The pair mutually split up for a time, looking through the shops separately. Letum picked up a damascus knife, hooked like the claw of a wild cat. Interesting at the least. He'd heard of them used in the far northwest, but nowhere else. "Letum," Atra said, approaching him, "There is something you'll want to see." Letum raised an eyebrow, and got a slight head tilt from Atra. He followed, arms interlocked behind him. "I hate when you do that." Atra commented, looking down at his arms.

"Habit." Letum relaxed, putting his hands on the collar of his leather vest instead. Moros had instilled that training into him. He'd created a god among men, and lost him. Atra was born of the south, and since two of their cities had been crushed, Letum couldn't fault her for being wary of his soldier behaviors.

She led him through a small side street in the main road. It wasn't a street persay, but a path. They came upon a small clearing, and Letum froze. The men before him wore 3 inch disks of metal on their chests, hung from their necks. Translation medallions? "Atra, are these offworlders?"

"Ask for yourself." By her tone he knew she was smiling.

"Where are you from?"

"Would you believe me if I told you?" The man on the left asked. He stood a couple inches taller than Letum, but Letum was only 5'8.

"Probably not, but those disks," Letum trailed off, but picked back up after a moment of silence. "I've seen a total of 4 of those until just now."

"Your planet lacks the diamantium necessary. Makes them incredibly profitable for us." One of the traders smirked, he was taller than the first man, and had a set of wings neatly folded to his back. Born on Aethere.

"I am not interested in those, rather any of the radiant types."

"You are an interesting man," The first trader chuckled, "I have one your planet has never seen, and one that pairs well with it."

"Such as?" Letum raised an eyebrow.

"Gravity direction. Pairs well with Kenetic."

"Name your price." Letum asked, eyes wide, which gave away his surprise. Fucking stupid.

"First, I like to know my buyers. Where did you get those spikes? it's rather odd to see a man here with four."

"8," Letum lied, "I was a member of the royal gaurd."

"Was?"

"Was." Letum said with as little expression as possible.

"I was a member of the Ravena army a good 30 years ago. I have never met a member of the Oran one."

"Probably for the best," Letum chuckled. "Most of us don't get along well with people." That part at the least was true.

"Listen, on Terradine, the gravity redirection rune goes for eighty ravens. It costs 60 for us to make one. On Oran they go for hundreds. What would you say for a hundred, for the pair."

"I have no ravens, but I do have a full bar."

"That's like 90 ravens, but it goes further here than on Terradine. You have yourself a deal, son of Oran."

Letum nodded to the man, and shook his hand. He stowed the green-blue glowing metal disk into his pack, and thought of another question as he slung it onto his shoulder. "How many uses do I have?"

"An hour of continuous gravity, an hour of speed." The man replied. Letum turned and walked with Atra to the west, toward Victoria, where the sky began to darken.