The light rain soon turned into a heavy storm and lightning. It struck near the mansion, a loud bang reverberated throughout the hallways and into every nook and cranny. The young boy’s room was no exception. It startled him. He woke up shaken and embarrassed since he had wet the bed. His facial expression resembled both fear and shame.

Him jumping out of bed was silenced by the rain hitting the large window. Walking towards the dresser, he left wet spots behind. Quickly, he changed into another nightshirt. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a shadowy figure. Startled, he took a step back and slipped on a wet spot and fell. Quickly getting back on to his feet, he saw that the shadowy figure turned out to be the shadow of a branch illuminated in the moonlight tormented by the wind. Relieved, he let out a sigh. After wiping the wet spots, the best that he could, he hid the clothes out of embarrassment and fear of being scolded. Having done that, he tried to clean the mess on his bed best he could. But no matter how hard he tried; the spot was still visible. Giving up, he tried to go to bed, avoiding the wet spot the best he could. But the stain still soaked into his night dress.

Kinn awoke in a chair next to Ramit. Looking at his watch, he figured he must have dozed off. With only fourteen seconds remaining, he quickly jumped to his feet. The sun had completely vanquished the night sky and afterwards, morning ensued. Quietly making his way to the door, he put his ear to it. Nothing. So, he waited. Three, two, one, zero... The time had elapsed. A faint noise could be heard from outside coming closer and closer until a loud noise disturbed the desolate morning peace. What followed was several weird looking carriages approaching the manor. They were not drawn by horses, but by something unseen. A trail of black smoke followed them. They stopped at the main entrance of the manor, opposite of where Kinn was. Out appeared several men holding muskets. They started to shoot at the building and the soldiers guarding it. The soldiers quickly mobilized to the front of the house to protect the people inside. Kinn took advantage of the situation. He found himself in front of Breas’s room. He knocked loudly at the door. Breas opened it hastily, only to find himself penetrated by a knife. Imbedded through his eye, the blade's tip protruded to the other side of his head. Breas quickly toppled over and died, his blood staining the finely made and embroidered carpet. Kinn had felt no remorse, no sympathy, for he had lost all his humanity and became devoid of all that he deemed unnecessary.

As quickly as Breas fell, Kinn saw himself back in Ramit’s room, who, now, was awake. He gazed upon Kinn who just closed the door behind himself. Undecipherable noises came from Ramit’s muffled mouth. “Good morning. We are gonna go on a little fun trip. I hope you’ll enjoy it.”. As soon as Kinn stopped talking, a knot was already tied to a heavy looking desk, and the other end was tied around Ramit, who looked just like a newborn wrapped in sheets. “Well, it’s time to go.”, Kinn said as he proceeded to defenestrate and yeet Ramit out the window.

Moments before Ramit hit the ground, the rope had stretched completely, causing him to bounce for a bit before stabilizing, but not before losing consciousness. Kinn followed suit, rappelling down the rope, jumping off of it and landing at the ground. He stood before the fence. On the other side of it, several people were already trying to ram it down. Shortly they succeeded in breaking down the fence. However, the noise they had caused alarmed the guards, so there was no time to rest. Quickly, four people grabbed Ramit and rushed towards the weird looking carriages then sped off. The guards quickly mounted their horses and persuaded them. Their horses, however, were not as fast, so many of them were left behind. Only a handful of guards could keep up. The guards opened fire upon Kinn’s men, who retaliated themselves. They shot down a few soldiers off their horses, but suffered loses of their own.

They had entered the city when Ramit came to. Staring face to face, Ramit was completely bewildered. Kinn, with a superficial smile, “Good morning, again.”, followed by a slight chuckle. “Almost out of the city, and then a nice meadow. Quite a lovely view, I'm sure you'll also like it.”

“I’m feeling generous, so I shall let you speak.”, Kinn said. As promised, he removed the cloth and Ramit spoke.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE?!”

“Perhaps, yeah.”, Kinn said.

“What do you want? Gold? Status? I can give you anything. Just let me go.”

“Unfortunately, that will be a bit hard since what we desire is information. And I doubt you’ll provide all what we need. So, we’ll be spending a bit of time together.”

Ramit was visibly shaking, most of which was not caused by the rugged dirt path.

But Kinn stayed unfazed, yawning as he stretched.

Kinn followed, “Well by the sound of it, it seems your well-trained guards have been dealt with.”.

Ramit, looking furious, shouted, “Ugh! So what?! It’s not like you’re getting through the gates of the city.”.

“Yeah, I guess we lost, and totally didn’t prepare for how to get out. What a shame.”

Ramit’s grin started to lessen, and true fear had overtaken him. Without thinking, he tried to jump Kinn, unsuccessfully landing headfirst onto the hard ground.

“Ohh, that probably hurt, didn’t it?”

Ramit was seething with anger, all whilst Kinn looked with an elevated look, as if looking at a lesser being.

“Looks like we’re almost there.”

The gates were chock-full of all sorts of travelers and merchants wanting to sell their goods, as was usually the case every morning. The guards only let people in one by one, so it was easier to maintain, as it was easier to close the gate if ever the need arose. The next in line were a couple of farmers with baskets full of apples and other such fruits. When they approached the gate, one of them slipped and, in an almost domino effect, a lot of others fell, along with all their fruits. They started apologizing profusely and started picking up all that they had dropped. The guards sighed as the delay in time would mean more work for them. The loud commotion of the travelers and merchants started to get drowned out by the engine of the carriage. The guards started to yell for the farmers to hurry up or to at least to get out of the way or they will be crushed by the gates. But they didn’t move. The carriage was coming closer and closer, and the guards yelling had quickened, until they finally had enough of the farmers and started to remove them by force. Unfortunately for them, these where no ordinary farmers, but where trained soldiers. The guards were pinned down. Allowing the carriage to effortlessly cross through the gates. Soon, after that, the farmers were apprehended, and yet another batch of soldiers where dispatched to pursue them.

“Oh, what great luck we had. Wouldn’t you agree with me?”, Kinn said surreptitiously. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it was all planned, but surely not.”

Ramit’s face had now completely turned white, as he knew that his life was in the hands of his captors.

“Now, what shall we do with the rest of the pesky guards? I do hope we’ll have some more good fortune against them as well.”

Before they could enter the aforementioned meadow, a slightly forested area had to be crossed. Out of the carriage window, Kinn’s head popped out and he yelled something incoherently.

Shortly after, a rope was lifted behind the carriage and tied to both sides of the tree line. Consequently, the horses of the pursuers tripped over it and the riders were flung forward, making them easy targets and were soon dealt with.

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing and they made it to the city of Kalp.

They made their way to an abandoned warehouse where Ramit was quickly moved inside and tied down to a chair.

“Do what you want boy, I won’t talk no matter what you do.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not the one who’s going to torture you. She will.”, Kinn said, pointing to someone.

A tall and attractive woman entered the room.

“Well, hello there.”, the woman said.