They say that The Shadow was driven and upheld by revenge, liberty, and duty, that although they were among the scum of the world, they became the hero for the downtrodden.

Xiren fell to his knees before the pikes unable to control his grief. At the base of each pike, a flower had sprouted from the ground. A black flower, one of Amalia’s black flowers. A sign of respect. These flowers were different than her usual conjurings, however, instead of diamond seeds, these flowers had glistening blood-red rubies. As Amalia had completed her own burial, Xiren decided to make his. He put his hands deep in the snow and tapped on his water magic source. A large wall of water rose from the snow and encased the five pikes, then as he imagined it, the water crystallized and froze on the spot. The five heads were now encased in an icy coffin, a coffin that could be easily seen through, that he knew would never melt. It never got hot enough in Lilan to melt the snow and ice.

“Did you see that?” A voice called from the darkness to his left. “Something’s going on over there!”

Xiren looked up in terror as twenty soldiers burst into the clearing around him. He called on his water daggers and they re-materialized in his hand. He dashed at the first soldier and slid through the snow behind him, slashing at his ankle ligaments. The man fell with a cry, unable to stand. “It’s a kid!” One of the other soldiers yelled. “An ice mage! Get him!” 

Xiren turned towards the second soldier, but the soldiers were ready this time. He hadn’t gone three steps before two rock pillars rose from the snow below him and wrapped around his arms. His arms jerked as he was caught in the trap. He glared at the soldiers around him, calling up water from the snow. A whirlpool of water circled him, then rushed toward the oncoming soldiers. Men, snow, and tents were washed away by the huge wave of water that crashed into them. He called upon the water again to slice through his rock bonds, but as the water rose his eyes landed on the red-haired commander he had seen earlier.

“You might want to stop what you’re doing, while you still can, boy. Mage or not, you’re not fast enough to stop my blade.” The commander called. He carried a wickedly sharp knife, and he was pressing it delicately against the neck of the girl he held before him.

Xiren stopped the water magic, mid-call and dropped his ice daggers. The girl that this man was holding hostage was none other than Katri. She was awake now, eyes stricken with absolute terror, mouth open as if in a silent scream. “I stopped my magic, now let her go!” The red-headed commander smirked at him, sheathed his knife, and shoved Katri toward the nearest soldier. She was immediately clamped in irons and brought closer to Xiren.

The commander walked straight up to Xiren, stopping mere inches away, and studied his face. “You would make a fine soldier boy, many would love to tutor such a skilled young mage as yourself. What attributes can you use?”

Xiren stopped himself from spitting in the man’s face. It wouldn’t be good to disrespect this man any further, or he would be killed. He could feel it. “So far, just water. I was trained by Granny Alice.” He nodded towards her head among the five pikes.

“That’s… unfortunate.” The man looked almost apologetic for a moment. “I prefer not to kill the elderly, but when one is an abomination… there’s not much I can do at that point. They need to be sent back to hell, where they came from.”

“Lievers aren’t from hell! They’re people, just like everyone else!” Xiren growled at him. 

The commander ignored this comment. “What’s your name, boy?”

“Xiren.” He replied, indignant.

“Well, Xiren, my name is Varick. I’m the Commander General of the Barthainian Army and Navy. Call on me, if you ever want to become a soldier, or meet a mage mentor. I enjoy growing young talents, as long as they don’t carry the blood of abominations.” Varick paused, his bushy eyebrows tensing. He leaned in closer to Xiren, glaring into his eyes. “You’re not a Liever, are you son?”

Xiren put on his best poker face. “I’m not a born Liever, and this village doesn’t turn us into Lievers until we’re older. We’re given the choice to become a Liever or not, at eighteen, so there aren’t that many Lievers in Lilan. I’m not sure about other towns in Alveria, but unless they’re a pure-born Liever, none of the children you’ve kidnapped from here should be Lievers.”

Varick pulled back and smirked. “Very well, however, we didn’t kidnap them. We’re just following orders. What do you think about my offer?”

Xiren’s gaze hardened as he felt as though his insides froze. “I will never become a soldier for Barthain! This may just have been your orders that you have to follow, but you murdered my whole village! Granny Alice was the only adult who ever looked after me, and you killed her!”

Varick nodded, not offended in the slightest. “I understand. I won’t force you, but let me know if you change your mind.” He clamped Xiren’s hands in irons then nodded to a soldier nearby. The rock pillars disappeared back into the ground, and Xiren was led towards the ship, following closely behind Katri.

Up the gangplank they went, hundreds of soldiers swarming around them, preparing the ships to leave. They were taken into the depths of the ship into the brig. The room’s walls were dark, and the stench was nearly unbearable. In the middle of the room stood two large cages. Katri was forced into one while Xiren was thrown into the other. It appeared that the Barthainian soldiers had confined all of the village children into these cages. The girls were in one cage with Katri, while the boys shared Xiren’s cage.

The journey from Lilan to Barthain by ship was four months. The children were never let out of the cage, no matter what malady they suffered. They had a small chamber pot in the corner of each cage that the soldiers would empty once daily. When they retrieved the chamber pot, they would grab one of the smallest children and hold them hostage so the teenagers wouldn’t try to stage a rebellion. This act was unnecessary, as the teenagers had become as hopeless as the small children. They could escape their cage, but they would never be able to escape the ship without being caught and killed.

At night, when the guards were gone, Xiren would create teddy bears for the small children to hold onto as they slept. He had the ability to create a copy of any object he had ever seen that didn’t have a brain. In other words, he could create a copy of any physical object and any plant, depending on how much dark mana he had in his power source. He had seen the keys to the cages many times, but although it would be easy enough to create a key and escape they were on a ship in the middle of the ocean, with nowhere to go, and he would be killed if the Barthainians discovered his abilities. As soon as morning came, one of the older boys, Katri’s friend Wrethen would make the teddies disintegrate into darkness so that the soldiers wouldn’t discover them.

The children received two meals a day. Breakfast was always a single piece of jerky that was so hard they had to suck on it for hours to receive any nourishment. The second meal was always an uncooked potato and a bright fruit that Xiren had never seen before. It was round, orange, and had a course hide that they had to pull off before they could reach the sweet-tart fruit inside. One day as the guards were handing out the food, Xiren got up the courage to speak. He asked the nearest guard what the fruit was called, but the man completely ignored him. The guard beside him smirked then turned to glare at Xiren. “What kind of idiot child doesn’t know what a Kitrin is?” Then, both guards turned and exited the brig, slamming the door behind them.

Although it was a long journey to be sure, it wasn’t too uneventful. Xiren and Amalia would spend their days talking, discussing what might happen when they reached Barthain, and how Amalia could call upon her parents and save them all. During the night, Xiren would hold Amalia’s hand through the bars of their cages as they slept.

One day, Varick paid them a visit. He repeated his promptings from a few weeks prior, to release Xiren and bring him into their soldiers’ ranks. Xiren completely ignored his words and asked him his own question. “How long have we been at sea?”

Varick considered him carefully, wondering if Xiren had somehow planned an escape. He looked around the room for any sense of lack of security. Finally, when he had deemed there was no way for the children to escape, he answered. “It’s been about three and a half months. Just two more weeks and we will reach Barthain.”

Xiren nodded, and mumbled, “I’m thirteen now.”

Varick’s eyes widened in surprise, as if, he had never even thought to think that these were children. His orders were at the forefront of his mind, while these children, their birthdays, health, and existence were not his priority. “Happy Birthday Xiren.” He paused and approached the boy’s cage. Several of the younger boys scrambled away from him in fear. “I could get you out of this cage, boy. Think of it, three meals a day, getting paid, and you won’t have to be sold off, like the rest of these children.”

Magra piped up at his words. “What do you mean, sold off?”

Varick smirked at him. “Well, some of the younger ones will be sent to orphanages around Barthain, but the older ones, most likely sold as slaves. If you’re an elemental mage you may receive training and become an apprentice somewhere, but only if you’re lucky. I know that Xiren is a brilliant water mage. What about the rest of you?”

Magro’s friend Edran glared up at Varick but answered the question. All of the children had already been warned by Xiren that if they found out that some of the children were Lievers, they would all be killed. “Most of us are mages, Sir. In our village, you can’t become a Liever unless you already possess elemental abilities. We all have one element, or another, except for Amalia.” He pointed at Amalia. “She’s as normal as can be, for a Harken reject.”

It was Varick’s turn to look surprised and ask a question. “What do you mean by Harken reject?”

All the children quit speaking at once, none of them wanting to answer. Not only had Amalia been rejected by her parents, but she had also been rejected by her peers for the majority of her life. While Xiren and Amalia had always been discarded as mere orphans in the village. Now, to their chagrin, the rest of the children were orphans as well.

After a long, awkward silence, Amalia spoke. “My parents are Harken priests from the Eliath religion. They sent me to the village of Lilan when I was four years old. I never knew why.” The lie slipped off her tongue as easily as morning dew slips off a leaf.

Varick stared at her, incredulous, as though he had never heard anything so preposterous. “But, religion is the reason you are still alive. All Harkens are supposed to put their children above all. Children are blameless and sacred.”

Amalia’s eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at Varick. Xiren had never seen such a look upon her face, a look of absolute hatred. “I may have left Barthain when I was four, but I’ve seen firsthand how corrupt the sects of the Eliath are. It’s a belief so driven by hatred that they would even go as far as wiping out a whole island of people. If any of us children were Lievers, you would have killed us without a second thought.”

Varick’s mouth stood agape, but before he could come up with a retort, Xiren spoke. “Lia, what do you mean by wiping out a whole island?”

Amalia grimaced. “Think about it. There are tons of ships in this navy. Why were we all crammed in the same brig? They could have spread us out and given us more space, but they didn’t. Don’t you understand why?”

Most of the children shook their heads, uncomprehending, but as Xiren looked among their faces, he noticed that all of the blood had fled from Katri’s face. “We weren’t the only village they attacked. We were just the last. They must have started at the Northernmost village on the island, killing all of the Lievers and kidnapping all of the children. All of the children from Alveria are being kept in the brigs of the other ships, just like us, except they’ve been there much longer.”

Xiren turned to look Varick dead in the eyes. Surely, this man, this adult couldn’t have done something so terrible. When he saw the gleam in the man’s eyes, he found the truth. It was all just as Amalia and Katri had said. Finally, he found his voice. “Get out! I never want to see you again!”

Varick fumbled for his words. “Xiren, you can’t be serious, I could get you out of this hell hole.”

Xiren’s control snapped. “Get out!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. He threw his hands in front of him, nearly unconscious of what he was doing. A small shaft of ice flew from his left hand and struck Varick directly in the right eye.

Varick screamed in anger and pain. A pair of guards rushed down the stairs at his cry. One grabbed his arm to steady him, while the other rushed to the cage, gripped Xiren’s shirt through the bars, and pressed his knife against his neck. Right as he was about to make a deep cut, Varick yelled "Stop!" The guard shrugged and released Xiren. "Leave the boy alone. Just take me to the infirmary. Now!" The two guards helped him up the stairs and disappeared.