T'Lan's Story - 2. Chapter 2

The orphanage in the sixth district of T’Rentar is a dark and foreboding building. For the thousands of children who have passed through it, it was little more than a prison to keep them from the sight and mind of ‘polite’ society. Over the years the occupants and staff may have changed, but the overall mission never did.

There were many in society who believed the purpose of the orphanage was flawed. Why should they have to contribute taxes to support the population of the scum dwellers ? If they cannot look after themselves, why should the rest ? One who definitely bore this opinion was K’Van the governor of the orphanage.

K’Van was from one of the old families in the empire, who could trace their lineage back over hundreds of generations. As such his appointment to the orphanage by the previous Empress was seen as an insult. But once the Empress had made her mind up, there was no going back. To this day he bore his resentment like a badge and inflicted it on those who should have been under his care and protection.

“Slaves, that’s all they are. The Empress was mistaken in her belief that they could become a valuable part of society. All thy do is drain resources and cause the collapse of the order that has served our empire well for thousands of years.”

In essence K’Van was stating the truth of the matter. The previous Empress had freed all slaves in the empire, and also outlawed slavery. However, she had not planned what to do after all of this. When all of the slaves were freed, they mostly did not have a clue how to conduct themselves. All of their lives, every aspect had been planned for them. There was no need for them to think, that was the domain of their masters. All they had to do was what they were told.

And so it began, the slaves formed primitive communities amongst themselves, and tried as best they could to survive, always living on the fringes of society, praying that no one would notice them. They took the most menial and nastiest of jobs in society, and provided an escape for the rest of Anterian society from the drudgery. The only difference between then and now is that they are paid to do the jobs and in theory have rights.

Being in the tender care of K’Van had for the most part been a nightmare for T’Lan, but what made it worse for him is that he couldn’t speak up about it. He couldn’t cry out when he was beaten, reply when he was belittled. No-one had bothered to try and find out why T’Lan couldn’t or wouldn’t talk, there was no money for things like healers for a scum dweller child.

So T’Lan had to suffer in silence. And in that silence he became K’Van’s favourite target. All the boy could do was moan as he was beaten and abused. Sometimes he managed a scream, but that never bothered K’Van, it just increased the excitement for him. It also isolated T’Lan from those who may have been friendly towards him, they didn’t want to be associated with the governors favourite whipping boy.

All of this drove T’Lan further and further into himself, helped him to build a wall around his feelings, and give him an internal strength that most would not believe. It would be almost too easy to give in and accept defeat and become the snivelling defeated wretch that K’Van wanted, but T’Lan was made of far sterner stuff.

Staggering back to his bed after the latest round of beatings, T’Lan couldn’t help but make small whimpers of pain. Every footstep was agony to him. His behind, back and legs were all on fire. But he had to make it back to his bed, that was the goal he had set for himself. He wouldn’t let K’Van win, not now, not ever.

With his left hand on the wall, trying to move as quietly as possible to not disturb the others who were already sleeping, he moved slowly. Seeing that the stairs were approaching to take him to the level where his room was, T’Lan groaned. Walking the hall to the stairs had been agony, mounting the stairs would be even worse.

Unbeknownst to T’Lan there was very clear evidence of his movements, blood spattered the hallways as he moved through them.

Reaching the stairs he braced his hand on the bannister and started to ascend them as quickly as he could, but it still felt as if it took and age, with every step increasing the burning agony he felt.

Finally making it to the small room that T’Lan occupied, he moved over to the bed and started the process of disrobing. Carefully he removed the shirt that was covering his back, the amount of blood that had soaked into it was formidable and had probably rendered the shirt unsalvageable, yet another thing that K’Van could use to punish him.

He then carefully pushed down his trousers, stopping to bend painfully to remove his shoes and socks. Standing naked in his room, he tried to look over his shoulder to see what damage had been done, but was unable to strain his neck enough. So he moved to the window to use the reflection. What he saw there shocked him, K’Van had really made a mess of his back, there was no way he’d be able to sleep in his bed before cleaning up a little. With this in mind, he slowly made his way from the room to the communal shower area.

Stepping into the shower area, T’Lan started the shower and set the temperature quite high. One of the benefits of living in the capital was the abundance of cheap clean power, so showers were never a problem. Moving under the shower, T’Lan winced as the water started to hit his back, the water running down to the drain had turned pink with his blood, but this wasn’t exactly unknown to T’Lan, many times in the past he’d had to go through this ritual. T’Lan just stood there letting the water wash down his back. While there he took the chance to look at himself in the mirror opposite the showers.

T’Lan did not like what he saw in the mirror. In more than one respects he was a freak. Most Anterians are tall with blond hair and fair skin. T’Lan was short, with black hair. His skin was fair, but that was only due to him not spending much time outside. However it was the mark on his shoulder that bothered him the most. It almost looked like a brand, circular and regular a dark red in colour. T’Lan hated that mark more than anything else about him. Then he caught sight of his eyes, violet blue and very bright.

He was thin, but that was due to living at the orphanage and never really getting enough to eat, but still there was still some definition to T’Lan’s body, a very spare look.

He turned his back to the mirrors and looked at his back, from the top of his back to his knees, red stripes covered, some of them bleeding freely. His butt was especially marked. T’Lan knew he was going to have to stay in the shower for quite some time for the bleeding to stop.

It was at this point that T’Lan finally allowed the tears to come, weeping silently as the hot water from the shower pounded on his shoulders and streamed down his back.

***

“The child will never survive this treatment, we must intercede and help him!”

“Survive he must, we swore when he came into being that we would not interfere with his development.” Silver said to the others.

“We have already interfered in his development, we saved him from being killed by the guards when he was first born. I cannot see how interfering now will pose more risk.” Blue said.

“We made this mistake once, and it lead to the great divide, I’m sure that you will agree that must never allow it to happen again ? Aiding him when he was first born and unable to fend for himself was necessity, if he had died in that moment, all would be lost. This is his trial, and he must survive on his own so that he will be forged in fire, then and only then will he be able to take the mantle that has been prepared for him.”

“Very well Lord, I withdraw my request to aid T’Lan.” Blue said.

“Whilst we cannot directly interfere Lord, can we at least provide some indirect assistance ?” Red asked.

“What do you have in mind old friend ?” Silver responded.

“He is close to the age where power can safely show. Based on what he has experienced I would say his mind is more than ready for it. Could we activate his power ? I do not mean all of it, just get the process started. Once his power starts to manifest, he will at least receive the benefits of rapid healing and the ability to withstand more.”

“What you propose is dangerous, if his mind state is such that he is angry when the power begins to manifest, he could lash out and become unstable. His mind must be calm and able to accept the power.” Silver stated.

“We must investigate the boys mind, this decision cannot be reversed. If we activate his power before he is ready, then all is for naught.” White interjected to the discussion.

Silently, all of the beings turned to the image of T’Lan and started to focus. Tendrils of power started to emanate from the beings towards the image. The silence of the cave would have been deafening to any who could have been present. All sound ceased.

It remained that way for about five minutes, but it could have been an eternity.

“Is it agreed that the boys power should be woken ?” White asked the rest.

“It is, it will enable him to deal with what he will have to face in the future, if he can be guided in his power now. At the very least it will remove him from the situation in which he currently resides.” Silver stated.

***

Finishing his shower, T’Lan was exhausted. Partly from blood loss, but also from it being so late. He moved across to where the towels were kept and proceeded to dry himself. While drying his back carefully, there were still smudges of blood on the towel, but it could not be avoided. He wrapped himself in the towel and made his way back to his room.

On reaching the room, he removed the towel and laid it down on the bed. It wouldn’t do for him to bleed all over his bed again.

All of a sudden a dizziness overtook T’Lan and he collapsed on his bed unconscious. If anyone had been in the room when T’Lan had collapsed they would have seen colours start to surround the boy, and the marks and scars on his body start to heal. They would have also seen that T’Lan, already thin, started to diminish even further as his body used its own reserves to heal all of the damage to his body.

As the night continued, T’Lan’s wounds and scars all healed leaving him looking as if he had never been touched.

While the healing was continuing, T’Lan dreamed. In his dreams he saw fantastical things that could not be happening, or have ever happened. T’Lan saw the land of Anteria laid out before him, in the streets of a city he identified as being T’Rentar he could see people moving about the streets, but none of the transports that he had become accustomed to seeing. Instead people were popping in and out of thin air.

Buildings seemed to have simply grown out of the earth without being constructed. But more disturbing to T’Lan was that the people he could see glowed with some sort of inner light. He could clearly see the colours that people were shaded in.

As the dream progressed, T’Lan saw more and more fantastical things, some of them his mind simply could not accept, but others seemed to be natural for want of a better word.

Unknown to T’Lan as he experienced the strange dream, his own body began to glow with colour, however unlike the people in the dream, he wasn’t just glowing with one colour. Instead he was glowing with five colours, and occasionally a sixth colour would appear, briefly.

Waking in the early morning, T’Lan stretched his body. Unlike normal when he woke his body did not hurt as it usually did. Even though he had fell asleep on top of the bed without covering himself he was not stiff and aching.

Forgetting about the experience of waking up, T’Lan started to get dressed, as he put his shirt on he remembered about the beating he had received the night before and tried to hold the back of the shirt away from his body. However as it settled onto his shoulders, there was no pain. This bothered T’Lan, usually after receiving such a beating he would be in agony even with the lightest touch of his clothes.

Frowning T’Lan tried to look at his back in the small mirror in his room. Catching a glimpse of it in the small mirror, he could see that it was smooth and unmarked. This was getting very strange and causing T’Lan if he remembered the beating or had just imagined it.

Getting dressed the rest of the way, T’Lan hoped to sneak out of the orphanage and try and get himself something to eat on the streets before any of the others woke.

Making his way through the deserted hallways of the orphanage, T’Lan didn’t see another soul. Very few people woke as early as he did, and the only reason he awoke so early was that it helped him avoid people.

Making his way through the gates that guarded entry to the orphanage, T’Lan turned to make his way down to the merchant district of the city. If he was luck he should be able to find some of the fruit that was discarded before the rest of the city’s poor made their way there.

****

In the heart of the Grael mountains the Colliegatarch looked at the reports coming from T’Rentar, for some reason during the night the sensors placed around the city had started to pick up on energy emanations. But however it tried the Colliegatarch could not narrow down the source of the energies any further than the sixth district.

Being a computer rather than a person, the Colliegatarch did not get frustrated, rather it just shunted the problem to a lower priority process so it could be worked on in the background.

While the problem was being analysed in the background the Colliegatarch turned to analysing the type of energy that was released. It understood immediately what it was, but the records had never shown that the energy could be this strong. This worried the Colliegatarch, because if the ancient records were correct it pointed to a being with more power than had ever been recorded.

While the Colliegatarch was mulling this over, the sensors were reporting that the energy was now moving around the city of T’Rentar, heading towards the merchant district.

The Colliegatarch took the decision to not inform the city authorities of the potential problem, instead choosing to manage the problem as effectively as it could. Until it had a better idea of what was going on, there was no need to cause a panic in the city.

****

Moving through the garbage strewn alleyways of the city towards one of the bigger markets, T’Lan wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on. Normally this would have concerned him, but at the moment thinking about the dream he had experienced, and the shock of waking in the morning without a new set of injuries was keeping him pre-occupied. As such he didn’t notice the gang that was following him from a distance.

As he turned into a new alley and made his way along it, he came up against a wall of garbage that he would need to climb over to continue. Sighing, he started to look for a way to climb the garbage.

At the same time, the gang that had been following T’Lan started to close the distance between them.

“Well boys, it looks like we’ve got some fresh meat.” One of the bigger youths said with a sneer to the rest of his companions.

A snigger went around the group as they watched T’Lan try and climb over the wall.

T’Lan still had not noticed that he had been cornered by the street gang, intent as he was in getting over the wall.

“Reeve, go and collect our new play thing.” The apparent leader of the gang said to one of the smaller ones.

The one named Reeve began to move to the fore of the group, and started to approach T’Lan. As he closed the gap between the gang and T’Lan he started to notice a strange prickling sensation across his skin. Frowning and turning round to look at the rest of the gang to try and get some clue of what was going on.

“Get on with it, unless you want to take his place.” The bigger youth snarled at Reeve.

Resigned to his fate, Reeve once again began moving towards T’Lan.

The closer he got towards his target, the more the feeling of electricity running over his skin increased. Within two steps of T’Lan the feeling got so intense it was hard for Reeve to carry on, but with the threat from the leader of the gang hanging over him he forced himself to continue.

It was just as Reeve was about to lay his hand on T’Lan’s shoulder that he turned round and spotted the gang. Immediately falling backwards into the garbage, T’Lan was confronted with a spark arcing out of his body towards to outstretched hand.

As if in slow motion, T’Lan watched as the spark from his body made contact with the boys hand. Slowly his skin started to turn a dead white, as if the life was being leeched out of him. As T’Lan fell, so did the one called Reeve. The only difference was that when T’Lan landed in the garbage with a wet sounding thud, as Reeve his the ground his body shattered and turned to dust before his very eyes.

The gang on seeing what happened to Reeve, tried to back away from T’Lan.

“Demon, run before he gets us !” One of the boys shouted to the rest of the gang.

The gang turned and fled the scene, leaving an equally confused and horrified T’Lan. T’Lan had never acted in anger towards anyone in his life, even with all of the provocation provided by K’Van, and now here he was guilty of the death of someone.

****

There it was again, a huge spike in the energy levels in T’Rentar. The Colliegatarch was now getting concerned over the appearance of the energy.

Deciding that now was the time for some active investigation, the Colliegatarch started to look through all the spy cameras located in the capital to see if it could find anything or anyone who could explain the phenomenon that was occurring.

Concentrating on the sixth district of the city, the Colliegatarch steadily made it’s way through the maze of cameras located in that part of the city. Finally it found something that might explaining what the sensors were detecting.

Looking back through the footage that had been recorded by one of the alley way cameras, it saw the encounter between T’Lan and the gang. It watched in what can only be described as fascination as it saw the whole encounter. What had started out as a simple gang conflict had turned into something much more important.

The Colliegatarch dispatched a spy drone with orders to tag this particular individual so the Colliegatarch could keep up with his movements.

“Who are you ?” The Colliegatarch wondered aloud in its mountain home.

****

“The Colliegatarch has noticed T’Lan, is this going to cause us any issues ?” Blue asked the rest of the group.

“It should not present any problem to us, but I think keeping a closer eye on what happens with that machine would be wise.” Black replied.

“There is a bigger issue here, the Colliegatarch can be dealt with if necessary. T’Lan should not have reacted as he did. We only activated the most basic part of his gifts. Apart from the healing nothing should have happened. From what we have just seen he disassembled his attacker down to his component atoms and harvested the energy, that should not have been able to happen.” White said.

There was a murmur of agreement between four of the five. The Silver one kept its own council on the matter, the possibility that T’Lan was subconsciously tapping into his gifts once they had been activated worried it. It should not be possible without all of the gifts being activated, except in one incredibly rare case. If the boy was….no it was impossible. Without the greatest of them, it could not happen. The boy could not possibly be, a balance.

And not just any type of balance, a zero point balance. If it was true, T’Lan was the most dangerous individual on the planet. Untrained, but able to wield such a power could easily destroy the planet with just an idle thought. The only thing that gave the Silver one any comfort was that it was all subconsciously, he was not actively directing his gift.

“We must keep a very close watch on T’Lan of Osilion. The boy must be guided very carefully at this point in his development. It is time to enact the other pieces of the puzzle.” Silver stated to the group.

As one, the others turned towards Silver and bowed.

****

The land of Anteria is made up of conquered lands, and subjugated peoples. The original country of Anteria was originally a duchy that extended about fifty miles from where T’Rentar is currently located, but over time the rulers of the T’Rentar duchy extended outwards conquering their neighbours as they went. Over time the duchies expanded until it was a country ruled by the lords of the original T’Rentar duchy.

Once the country was formed, they started to look outwards to their neighbours. To the east of the country, protected by the great Barrier range was the land of Nasgor, it was mainly an empty place with rolling prairies that went on for thousands of miles. There were no formal roads, the nomads of the country just drove their horses and cattle through the prairies, there was never any point in buildings roads as when they decide they want to go somewhere, preventing a 15,000 or so herd of cattle is a pointless exercise.

Same applied with the horses that were raised in the country. Long had the best horses on the planet been raised by the nomads of Nasgor. There were only three cities in the entirety of the empty land.

Brangor was nominally the capital city, but that was only due to the nomads all driving their herds there for the annual sales. It gave them a chance to renew acquaintances and also let their hair down after a hard years work. As the gathering progressed and more and more of the nomads had come to the same area, a city had grown up to support them.

South of Brangor, lay Sligor the only coastal city in the country. It, like Brangor could not exist without the nomads driving their herds there. All of the shipping of the country originated from this point, and in the summer months there would often be queues of ships trying to make it in and out of the harbour.

The third city of Nasgor, Rangor was never mentioned to outsiders. It was the home of the religious orders of Nasgor where they taught the ways of the ancients.

When the Anterian armies had marched into Nasgor to conquer the country, they found nothing and no-one until they made it to Brangor. While they were there, whilst encountering some token resistance, it was not much of a campaign. So the Anterians installed a territorial governor and then had packed up and left. The citizens of Nasgor mainly just ignored the new governor as long as he didn’t get in the way, or try and collect any taxes.

Kwan knew all of this, but it made no difference to him. Ever since the death of his parents five years ago, he had existed on his own with little to no help. That suited Kwan down to the ground. He preferred the solitude that the Barrier mountains afforded him.

Since his parents had been killed in a rock side, Kwan had needed to learn how to survive on his own. With a little help from some of the nomads who also made their homes in the Barrier range, he became a very proficient warrior and hunter.

Kwan was somewhat taller than most, being just over six foot. He had an unruly mop of blond hair, pulled into a single braid at the back. The braid reached halfway down his back. Piercing blue eyes along with an elfin face.

Because of the hard living in the barrier mountains, there was little fat on his frame. It was all muscle, but without being too much.

Since he had been able to, he had trained with a sword. First it was a toy one that his father fashioned for him, moving up to a slightly bigger one. Gradually increasing the weight until on his seventh birthday he got his first metal short sword. Ever since receiving it he had practiced with either his father or mother.

Now with his parents dead, he used his father’s sword. He kept up with the exercises’, but there was only so much practicing that could be done without an opponent to fight against.

Today found him stalking one of the mountain goats, hopefully he would be able to capture it without killing it. If he could it would provide him with milk, if not then at least he would eat for a week.

Moving carefully around the rocks, making sure to stay downwind of the ornery creature so he wouldn’t spook it he risked a quick glance over the rocks to make sure the goat hadn’t moved. It hadn’t, so Kwan readied his rope. He hoped to be able to secure the animal quickly, and then it could be led back to his cabin.

Judging the distance between him and the goat, he threw his rope. The loop of the lasso landing squarely around the neck of the goat. With practiced ease, Kwan tightened the rope and started to pull himself towards the struggling goat. But then everything changed.

Instead of pulling against the rope, the goat turned and ran at Kwan, lowering it’s head at the very last moment so it slammed into Kwan with an exceptional amount of force. Kwan went flying through the air, landing slumped up against a rock and unconscious.

Waking, Kwan looked at the sky. It was inky black. This was not normal. Even on the darkest of nights, the moons illuminated the land. But there was nothing to be seen at all. Looking around, from what he could see, he was no longer on the mountain where he had been tracking that dammed goat. Turning full circle to make sure that he was not mistaken Kwan started to feel fear. It could only mean that he was dead.

“You’re not dead you know.” A voice stated with something similar to amusement.

“Who said that ?”

“Rather than ask who, young Kwan. I think the better question would be what said that.” The voice stated again.

“Alright then, what said that ?”

All of a sudden a figure appeared before Kwan, well the image of a figure, but there was so much light coming from behind the figure it was impossible to make out any more than just an outline. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, but there was something about the figure that made Kwan very uneasy.

“Now that I have your attention young Kwan, I need to ask a question of you. And unfortunately I must demand an answer. Once the question has been asked it must be answered, and cannot be unasked. Do you accept ?” The figure said.

“Tell me that was not the question I need to answer ?” Even though he was scared, Kwan was able to hang on to his sense of humour.

The figure chuckled, “No that wasn’t the question to be answered, merely making sure you understand the conditions of the question.”

“Yes, I understand the conditions, now ask your question.”

“Very well, young one. It is your destiny to take your place at the side of the one who will restore what has been riven, are you ready to accept your destiny, and all of the sacrifices that it will entail ?”

“If it is my destiny for this to happen, then there is not much I can do about it really is there ?”

Once again the figure chuckled. “You are correct in your assessment Kwan. However there is a difference in willingly accepting your destiny or fighting against it. There will be loss whatever you decide, however there will be far less than if you fight it. Think carefully about this Kwan, once you answer it cannot be undone.”

Taking the time to weigh the words of the figure in front of him Kwan was torn between wanting to run and hide, and wanting to know more about what he could possibly be facing. In the end, the need to know won out.

“Is there anything else you can tell me ?”

“It’s a very smart question to ask, only the foolish would accept something of this magnitude without wanting to know as much about it as possible. No matter what you choose you will be leaving the mountains. Whether for good it’s impossible to tell. You will face many trials on your journey and there will be great pain. But there is also a chance for great happiness. You just need to make the conscious decision that you are going to follow your destiny.”

There was not much that could be said to that, it was simply a choice to either embrace it or fight. Remembering something his father had once told him, ‘Pick your battles son’, this was not a battle that could be won.

“Then I accept my destiny.”

****

While Kwan was being talked into accepting his destiny, on the island of Jemtar, Tallis was returning to his home from school.

Jemtar was one of the few exceptions in the world of Anteria. It had never been conquered by the Anterian forces. The Anterians had tried to conquer it once and the losses that had been inflicted in that attempt had dissuaded them from ever trying again.

Lying to the south west of the continent Jemtar was a tropical paradise and the island itself seemed to have been built to withstand attack. The whole island was surrounded by imposing cliffs, with access to the inner island only available in a few places, and as luck would have it there was only one harbour deep enough for large ships to dock.

The Jemtarans had been civilised longer than just about all of the peoples on Anteria, and it showed in the architecture of their island. They had also developed a co-operative attitude, where the good of all the people was placed before the needs of the one.

The people of Jemtar were deeply ingrained in the warrior tradition, a tradition that stretched back many many centuries. From the age of seven all children of Jemtar, be they male of female were enrolled in schools which taught them the art of the warrior as well as more traditional subjects. From the first day they enrolled in school the children of Jemtar were required to be armed without exception.

Tallis was a very happy go lucky boy. He had a good life. His father was one of the clan elders which placed him in a position of great authority on the island. But at the same time, it increased the pressure on Tallis to be as good as he possibly could be so he did not reflect badly on his father.

He was an only child, he would have liked to have a brother or sister, but something had went wrong when he was being born, and now his mother was unable to bear any more children. Tallis’ mother never held it against him, just putting it down to one of those things that happen. Despite being an only child, he was never spoiled by his parents that and the great number of cousins that he had helped to keep him grounded.

Walking the outskirts of Dannis, the capital of Jemtar, Tallis took notice that all the plants seemed to be in bloom adding to the already cheerful aspect of the city. Tallis’ spirits were already high. He’d completed the final assessments in the use of his Dalchai, and he was now ready to be inducted as a warrior of the people. At the age of fifteen this was a big thing. The only other person who had been inducted into the order at such a young age was his father.

Tallis was typical of his people, being quite short in stature with an olive complexion. His hair was jet black and very fine. His deep brown eyes were very expressive with a slight upturn at the edges. Because of all the training he had endured since he was seven his body was very firm.

Turning into the house that he had lived in since he had been born he called out to his parents, just to let them know he had returned from school.

“Mama, Papa I’m home.”

His father came out of his study to meet his only son. Koshi was in his early fifties but still had the look of a hardened warrior, even though most of his time was now spent in study. He still made it to the practice fields at least three times a week. And always when his son wanted to spar against him.

“So Tallis, what has you in such a good mood ?”

“I passed the final assessment for the Dalchai papa, as long as the elders agree I will now be eligible to join the order.” Tallis was bubbling with happiness.

“That is excellent my son, you bring much honour to our house and clan. And to me also.” Koshi smiled at his son, making him beam in pride. He opened his arms and Tallis nearly jumped into the them so he could be hugged by his father.

It was just as Tallis was making his jump that his mother walked in to find the men in her life hugging each other. “It looks like something is going on here, do I get let in on the secret ?” She said with a grin on her face.

“Well it looks as if we have another warrior in the house !” Koshi exclaimed proudly to his wife.

“Tallis, that is excellent. As long as the elders pass you before the next moon you will have joined the order before a certain someone we both know.” The sidelong looked she directed at her husband was not missed and caused him to wince just a little bit.

“Tallis, go and wash up and then we can go out for dinner. We need to celebrate your passing into the order.” Koshi told his son.

“Yes, papa. But it’s not certain yet, we have to wait for the elders.”

“That as it may be, but I feel you will soon be a brother warrior as well as son to me.”

Tallis positively lit up at the compliment his father had just paid him and ran off to his room to change out of his school robes and into something more casual, making sure to re-attach his Dalchai once he had finished dressing.

Dinner that evening was very pleasant for the family, they talked of small things and there was much laughter at the table. Tallis basked in the happiness of being loved and just being with his small family. Occasionally another family member would stop by their table to greet them and his father took every opportunity to praise his son.

They returned home late, having taken a walk around the city when the left the restaurant. As soon as they arrived, Tallis went to his room and stripped to settle into bed.

As was normal for Tallis, as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

However his dreams this evening were quite disturbed. He saw a boy of possibly the same age as him beaten and bleeding all over. He watched as the boy struggled to cope with the injuries he was carrying. Tallis had never seen someone be so brave before. There are many types of bravery, but this was possibly one of the most profound he had ever witnessed.

As the dream progressed, Tallis felt the ever more desperate need to protect the boy in question.

The boy was painfully thin with a mop of unruly black hair. A red mark on his shoulder and eyes that flashed through different colours as if his emotions were being broadcast through his eyes. Tallis had no problem seeing the pain the boy was in, and all he wanted to do was take that pain away. Then suddenly with a flash of red the dream ended and Tallis woke. Covered in sweat and slightly pale he rose from his bed and dressed so he could go and eat with his parents.

Arriving in the kitchen where his father was sipping his tea and his mother was preparing the breakfast for the men in her life. He sat down in his customary place and started to drink his juice. His father glanced over and saw that Tallis was not his normal sunny self.

“Is there anything bothering you Tallis, you do not look so good.”

Tallis thought about it, and toyed with the idea of not telling his parents about the dream he had had the night before, but he had always been honest with his parents, and he saw no reason to start keeping things from them now.

Taking a deep breath, Tallis related the dream of the previous night to his parents. His mother had left the breakfast she was preparing and sat down near to Tallis so she could hold his hand while he related the tale. Once he had finished, there was a deep silence in the room. His mother looked towards his father with a silent question in her eyes.

“Tallis, come with me son. We have something we need to talk about.” With that his father left the table and made his way towards his study.

Tallis followed his father to the study. Arriving he sat down and waited whilst his father closed the door.

“Tallis in the legends of our people it is said that one will come who will be the protector to the one who will bring harmony to that which is chaos. Do you remember learning about it ?” His father asked.

“Yes father I remember it one of the first lessons that I learned in school. What does this have to do with my dream ?” Tallis asked, becoming a little fearful at the way his father was talking.

“I have just one question that you must answer before we go any further. Tallis, was there a mark on the boys shoulder that you saw ?”

Koshi gazed intently at his son, looking carefully as his son thought about his dream. Half of him hoped that Tallis would say no and they could just dismiss this as a nightmare. But the other half of him wanted his son to take up the mantle of the protector.

“Yes father, there was a red mark on his shoulder.” Tallis finally answered

****

Just what was going on ? This was the question that was currently bothering the Colliegatarch. So far energy spikes had been noticed in T’Rentar, the Barrier mountains and now one had appeared on Jemtar.

All of the energy spikes were of the same type of energy, and that was the thing that was concerning the Colliegatarch the most. The wavelength of the energy was slightly different, but that could be attributed to the calibration of the sensors being used.

It was time to talk to someone now. Sending a message to the palace that the Colliegatarch needed to discuss the policing of T’Rentar, the Colliegatarch waited for a response.

The response did not take long, and as agreed so long ago the Empress appeared In the heart of the Grael mount.

Having been brought here many times, she automatically followed the tunnel to the door and waited for it to open.

Once the door opened, she made her way along the path that would lead into the great cavern. As soon as she reached the end of the walkway and the door had closed, the face of the Colliegatarch appeared in front of her.

“Why have you asked me here, Colliegatarch ?” The Empress asked.

“I have been detecting a strong omega signal for the last day. It has occurred in three places so far. The capital, the barrier mountains, and Dannis on the island of Jemtar. I have not been able to identify who or what is causing the signals anywhere except in the capital.” The Colliegatarch stated in its calm voice. Internally however the Colliegatarch was anything but calm.

“How sure are you of this ? And what is causing the signals in T’Rentar ?” Lissa asked. It wasn’t that she did not believe the Colliegatarch, however she needed to be sure before she could act on the information.

“I am 98.5% sure of this Lissa, there is always room for error, even for I. But I do not believe that this is such an error. And it’s not a what that is causing the omega emission in T’Rentar, it is a person. Someone whom I have no record of is causing the emissions.”

“What do you mean, someone you have no knowledge of ? Every single person must be registered with the Colliegatarch authority otherwise they have no way of accessing any of the services that are offered.”

“I realise this Lissa, however the fact remains that I have no knowledge of this person.”

“Can you show me ?” She asked, quite perturbed at what the Colliegatarch was saying.

“Certainly, please observe.”

After showing Lissa the recording, there was silence in the chamber as they both entertained their own thoughts.

“Have you taken steps to identify this boy ?”

“Yes I have, but it will be some time before I’m able to retrieve a DNA sample from the boy. Even then, if he has never been registered I will not be able to make an identification. I would also suggest that they guards in T’Rentar not be made aware of this. From his dress I would say he is an orphan.”

“I agree with you for the most part, but I’d rather we know who he is before we decide whether to leave him alone for now. I will be guided by you in this matter, but this now takes top priority over everything Colliegatarch.”

“As you wish your Majesty, I will transport you back to the palace.”

With the audience over, the Colliegatarch was once again left to its own thoughts.

Who could the unknown boy be, and more importantly why was he emitting so much omega energy, the Colliegatarch did not believe in coincidences, everything was connected. It was just a case of seeing the connections. So it did not dismiss the sudden flares of omega energy that had all occurred within hours of each other.