The Path of Ruin

"Haaah..."

He couldn\'t help getting angry with himself as he headed towards the palace garden.

\'How could I have forgotten?\'

There was no training today. On the contrary, there was a mission. A scouting mission with a group that Hakon had probably picked out especially for him.

When he finally stepped out into the garden, Kael breathed in deeply. Hakon had told him what to do beforehand. He was to go to the north gate of the palace and meet a group of four people there.

Yes, there were only five people on the mission including himself. They would travel in a single carriage and the journey would take six days.

But apart from that, Kael had no other information about the mission or the other four people. Hakon had kept everything else secret from him.

\'Let\'s see, let\'s see...\'

As he approached the north gate, he found himself surrounded by carriages and groups of people. His eyes traveled quickly over everyone, searching for his own group.

Soon, a carriage caught his eye. It didn\'t look like it was carrying any goods, it was completely prepared for the journey... empty, in short. In front of it stood three people.

The first was a thin-looking man in his twenties. He looked more like a scholar than a soldier, wore glasses and a robe instead of armor.

The second was a blond man with a slight smile on his face, a bow on his back and a short sword at his waist. Like the scholar, he looked to be in his twenties, but his goatee gave him a slightly... strange air.

The last one was a beautiful woman in her thirties. The sword at her waist and the light armor she wore belonged to the Imperial army. She had her auburn hair in a ponytail and was looking around as if she was looking for someone.

Kael approached the group with slow steps, and shortly afterwards, the auburn-haired woman\'s eyes fixed on him.

When he came up to them, he said only two words in a low tone.

"Barony of Halve?"

The woman looked at him with a surprised expression, then nodded slightly.

"Are you... the scout who is coming with us?"

Kael nodded at the question.

He hadn\'t missed her surprise and the way she was studying him. And, well, it was probably because he was sixteen.

Before, thanks to his small body, he never really showed his age. But months of constant fighting, training, and building up his body had finally gotten him in better shape.

He was still short for his age, though. Such was his body structure... but at least people around him could guess his age more accurately.

Still, he was still young in people\'s eyes. Even though he had more control over most things now that he was considered an adult, he was still four years shy of twenty. This made people think of him as quite young and find it hard to trust him in serious matters.

The guards at the creature farm, for example... They took bets on how soon he would die on the first day.

It was up to him, as always, to change the minds of such people.

"Yes, it\'s me."

The woman\'s eyebrows furrowed at Kael\'s words. Her brown eyes slowly turned towards the blond man, who still had a smile on his face. He looked back at her with his green eyes. The man must have quickly realized what the gaze meant, because he quickly spoke.

"Kael has been trained directly by Commander Hakon, you need not doubt his abilities. Although he is here to gain experience, he is also a bearer."

The woman seemed to relax a little at these words.

"I see."

Kael glanced briefly at the blond man after the conversation which had taken place as if he were not here. But that was not important. Because... he hadn\'t expected to be recognized. Or maybe this blond man had been briefed by Hakon?

\'Could they all be like that?\'

The possibility suddenly occurred to him. What if the woman\'s behavior was a deception and the whole thing was a test of how she would react in such situations, a real test of how trustworthy he was?

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With this thought in mind, he began to examine the group again. Meanwhile, he realized again what had caught his attention when he had approached the group at the very beginning. So he asked in a calm voice.

"Where is the fifth member?"

With these words, the woman\'s eyes began to roam over the dozens of people around her again.

"We don\'t know..."

\'They were never informed about the other members of the mission... or pretend they haven\'t. They seem to be really handpicked by Hakon... Even if they\'re not, it\'s best to assume that they are.\'

And so his eyes began to wander through the crowd. He would be careful, just in case. As he always was. If this was a test, and he was pretty sure it was, he would get a perfect score. No... he was going to get a lot more than that.

"Oh?"

He noticed a figure approaching them from the crowd. He was studying the members of the group in particular, just as Kael had been a few seconds before.

He moved closer and closer to the group, finally catching the attention of the other members. The auburn-haired woman\'s expression fell with each step he took, and when he reached the front of the group, he paused.

"To the Barony of Halve, right?"

And just as Kael had thought, this was the fifth member of the group.

The only problem was...

"Yes..."

This person was quite young, just like Kael. Not as young as him, maybe, but... he must have been seventeen or eighteen. So he was not yet twenty.

Despite his young looks, he was a tall guy. He was definitely over a hundred and eighty centimeters tall. He had long hair that was a very dark shade of navy blue. And his eyes... they were almost azure blue. He was quite attractive with a handsome face. He didn\'t have any weapons on him, but his armor was some of the best quality light armor Kael had ever seen.

The fifth member, after receiving the woman\'s approval, began to run his eyes over the entire group again. Finally, he came to Kael and paused. The two looked at each other for a brief moment... and many thoughts ran through both of their minds at the same time.

\'He\'s a bearer too.\'

That\'s what was going through Kael\'s mind, that the person in front of him was also a bearer. But... that was not the only problem.

\'No, a follower?\'

The most obvious distinction between bearers and followers was the difference in the amount of eon in their bodies. And Kael was extremely gifted at sensing eon in a way that most people are not.

And the amount of eon he could sense from this \'fifth member\' was quite a lot. Even more than he had himself. Who, at least according to Hakon, was quite an anomaly in this regard.

\'Then this person must be even more of an anomaly than me.\'

Still, he kept his thoughts to himself. Because the auburn-haired woman did not intend to remain silent for long.

"Are you a bearer too?"

The fifth member finally tore his sky-blue eyes away from Kael, and turned them slowly towards the woman as he gave her a gentle smile.

"That\'s right, Ms. Pecera."

"Are you here to gain \'experience\' too?"

"You got it right again."

"Haaaah..."

She couldn\'t help sighing deeply. It was quite clear what she was thinking. Bearer or not, she didn\'t want to deal with young people.

Kael could understand why she thought that, so he kept quiet. But... another issue was bothering him this time.

\'The Empire is a very disciplined, organized country. Why did they create such a... random group? It can\'t simply be to test me...\'

The fact that the fifth member was not at all normal had changed his mind. Either this was not a test, but a really sloppy group... or it was indeed a test, but not for him.

Something told him that it was this newcomer who was actually being tested, and he was just a secondary.

"Anyway, since we\'re all gathered..."

Despite Kael and this fifth member, the auburn-haired woman remained professional and calm. Her expression turned slightly serious as she glanced around at all the members of the group and continued to speak in the serious tone expected of her.

"I\'m Pecera. I have been appointed as the leader of this group. The members of the group were quickly assembled without my knowledge, as the situation was said to be urgent. That is why I do not know anything about you. Please introduce yourself."

Her eyes quickly turned to the only person in the group not wearing any armor, the man who looked like a scholar.

"My name is Scher, and I am a normal person. I was told that my help would be needed on the mission, but I don\'t know anything more."

The blond man spoke after him.

"Baroch, I will serve as the main scout of the group, I am also a normal human."

"Kael, I am a bearer. I will serve as a scout."

And the eyes slowly shifted to the last member. The target of all those stares, however, kept a smile on his face and gently introduced himself.

"Matthew Treanor, I am a bearer like Kael. But I have no specific duties... I can do anything that is asked of me. My first choice, however, would be to fight when necessary, if possible."

*(A/N: There will be two chapters after this one or more probably tomorrow, and then another.)*