Ruith groaned, rolling out of bed. He put on another set of clothes that Teran had given him, before making his way downstairs. Vaeri and her father were waiting there.

Sadly there was no food awaiting him, but luckily mana provided some form of sustenance.

Teran had dark bags under his eyes and seemed to talk a bit slower than usual.

“Alright, we can depart now. The king should be giving his announcement in about ten minutes.”

The three walked outside, the Voidling corpses nowhere to be seen, but large paw prints left imprints in the grass.

Teran stretched before grabbing the two. The wind picked up and Ruith’s hair blew around in his face.

WHOOM!

In a matter of seconds, they were several hundred feet above the trees, the wind whipping at their skin. The ground blurred and it was only a few minutes before they were over the Bastion.

Ruith looked down at where they were heading. A huge open field near the middle of the city. Teran descended, what looked like ants turning into tens of thousands of people, facing a small platform on one end of the field.

The man floated down near the front, people looking up with surprised expressions on their faces before making a bit of space. They landed, Teran placing them down and turning to them.

“Alright, I have to be up there with His Majesty. I will find you two after.”

Vaeri’s father quickly walked away, the crowd parting for him.

Just a few minutes later, the crowd suddenly quieted down. Thousands of eyes landed on the man that had appeared on the stage. He had long silver hair, was extremely tall, at least seven feet. His piercing gaze scanned over the crowd, seeming to peer into the eyes of every single person. He exuded an aura of superiority, not one person dared to move.

Teran and Vordan stood to the man’s side, their backs straight as their sight also passed over each of the people of the Bastion.

And then his voice boomed, shaking the eardrums of every single person, no matter how far they stood from him.

“Citizens and warriors of the Bastion, I will not waste time on meaningless words. This past month, over a hundred Sanctum Knights have fallen to the Voidborne. They are our finest warriors, and yet each day more and more are slaughtered.”

Impossibly, the crowd became even more silent.

“Unless we wish to fall to the same fate as the other three Bastions, we can no longer sit idly, only defending. Six months from now, is when we will journey into the Northern Wilderness, and end this nightmare.”

Voices rose in the crowd. An assault on the Voidborne? It sounded insane. But everyone knew that there was no other choice.

“Mankind will undoubtedly fall within the next decade if we do not proceed with this. There is a reason I am telling you this all,” The massive man gestured to Vordan and Teran. “The three of us and a few others are not nearly enough to complete our mission.”

The King paused, once again his gaze sweeping over his subjects.

“I see some of you are powerful, and others have the potential. In six months time, I will choose the most powerful fifty that wish to come on this Expedition. Those that wish to join us will come back to this place at that time. Do not even bother trying if you are unable to match the current power of these two by my side.”

The chatter of the crowd grew louder. He needed fifty people with that kind of power? Most immediately gave up, either not having the willpower or simply knowing they couldn’t reach that level in the time given. However, some had a fire in their eyes. At that moment these people had made a vow, they would join the Expedition, no matter what it took to gain the power required, driven by their hate for the Voidborne.

Included in those people were Ruith and Vaeri. 

The King spoke again, the talk of the citizens drowned out.

“The majority of you have lost at least one of the people closest to you to the terrible Voidborne. As they have instilled fear into us for generations, we will do the same to them!”

The man spoke no more. The three of them vanished from the stage, leaving the tens of thousands of people to contemplate his words.

Ruith turned to Vaeri.

“Let’s get out of this crowd. I assume you will also be trying to get into the Expedition?”

Vaeri nodded. 

The two weaved through the crowd, eventually making it away from the field. Ruith’s memory of this area was hazy, so he wanted to see the actual city that wasn’t the slums.

To his disappointment, it looked the same as the slums except cleaner and the buildings hadn’t collapsed. Everything was made of the same gray stone, and a permanent air of fear lingered. 

Ruith and Vaeri wandered the streets, waiting for Teran.

A few minutes later, the sound of something traveling through the air reached them. The man now stood in front of them.

“So, now that you’ve heard it, what is your decision?”

“We both aim to join the Expedition.” Ruith’s voice was unwavering, he would not change his mind about this.

There was no sign of Teran’s usual carefree expression and attitude.

“So be it then. Just know that there is an extremely high chance you two will die or be gravely injured simply in your training, let alone the actual Expedition. But I will not stop you.” 

Teran then let a grim smile rise onto his face. 

“So you two need to be as powerful as me in six months? Good luck with that. I’ll help you out a bit.”

Before Ruith and Vaeri knew it, they were placed in the middle of a small village, two miles into the Eastern Wilderness.