Kane Tarmal’s POV

My head throbbed, my throat dry. Sweat clung to my skin, droplets trickling down my body from the sweltering heat pressing in around me. A soft jolt rocked my body, dragging me from the haze clouding my mind. Blinking, I forced my heavy eyes open.

I was in a large, enclosed wooden carriage. Shafts of bright light pierced through the gaps in the planks, illuminating the dim interior just enough to reveal over a dozen children slumped against the walls or sprawled unconscious on the floor. Their hands and feet were bound with rope. 

The only one not tied up was a woman, fast asleep on the carriage’s lone seat. A sheathed sword rested at her waist.

The air inside was thick and stifling, with the scent of sweat. The carriage wobbled with every bump, muffled voices drifting in from outside.

I squeezed my aching eyes shut, forcing my thoughts into focus. When I tried to move, rough fibres dug into my skin, and I realised my wrists and ankles were tightly bound. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes again, clearing away some of the fog in my head. I’d been kidnapped.

Shifting my position, I summoned a small flame in my palm, carefully burning through the rope around my wrists. The heat licked at my skin, but all fire mages had a resistance to their own flames, so it was little more than a dull warmth. Once my hands were free, I did the same for my ankles, then slowly got to my feet. Keeping low, I glanced at the sleeping woman—the guard, most likely—and crept towards the back of the carriage, carefully avoiding the sleeping children.

Peering through the gap between the carriage’s flaps, I squinted against the harsh light as my eyes adjusted. A vast, sandy desert stretched behind the carriage, jagged rocks jutting out from the ground in twisted shapes. Patches of grey, withered trees and dry brush broke up the dunes. The wind howled, kicking up clouds of sand in an orange-brown haze that blurred the horizon.

Where am I?

A group of people rode alongside the carriage on horseback, their faces wrapped in cloth to shield them from the elements. They carried weapons, moving in formation. Their horses, covered in long, shaggy hair, were a sandy orange that blended seamlessly with the desert. Unlike all the other horses I’d seen before, they moved through the deep sand with ease.

I pulled back, heart pounding. My gaze flicked to the unconscious children. Have they been drugged? If I was, it made sense I’d wake up first—I had a mage’s resistance to poisons, toxins and disease.

My fingers brushed over my brooch as I turned my attention back to the guard. If I’m going to escape, I need to deal with her before she wakes up.

I crept forward and stopped in front of the woman as I detached Severance. In one swift motion, I clamped a hand over her mouth and nose and drove my blade into her neck. Her eyes flew open in surprise, a strangled grunt escaping her as she jerked violently, hands clawing at me in a desperate attempt to shove me away. I pressed forward, her grip weakening as a trembling wheeze slipped from her lips.

With a pulse of mana, Severance reverted to its brooch form, and blood gushed freely from the wound. Keeping one hand firmly over her mouth, I pressed the other against the gash and summoned flames from my palm, trying to stem the outpour of blood that soaked her clothes. Just seconds after waking, her hands fell limp, her eyes dulling as life left her. Her body slumped forward, and I caught her, struggling with her dead weight as I lowered her onto the carriage floor.

I forced more heat into the wound, channelling mana into the flame until her neck had blackened and charred. The acrid scent of burnt flesh filled the carriage, but a thin trickle of blood still seeped through the cracks in the wooden floor, dripping onto the sand outside. Gritting my teeth, I let the flame dissipate. Will anyone notice? I don’t know if her struggle was loud enough to draw attention.

This familiar way of thinking, which I hadn’t had to do for years, made me pause and sigh. It seems I’m back. A little rusty, granted, but I’m back.

A quiet gasp behind me snapped my head around.

A little girl sat frozen, her wide, terrified eyes locked onto the corpse, her small chest rising and falling with rapid, shallow breaths. She was striking—seemingly a bit younger than me, with vivid purple eyes and long, wavy black hair braided over one shoulder. Streaks of violet wove through the strands, deepening into a range of purples as it reached the tips of her hair. Her clothes were far finer than those of the other children in the carriage.

She looked at me in sheer panic, her body trembling as though about to scream.

I pressed a finger to my lips and raised an open hand, shushing her as quietly as I could. She flinched at my sudden movement but didn’t make a sound. Slowly, carefully, I stepped towards her, forcing a reassuring smile—though I doubted I looked anything close to friendly while drenched in blood.

“Blood! There’s blood coming from the carriage!” a man shouted outside.

Voices surged in response—some confused, others alarmed.

I cursed under my breath, dropping the smile and lunging towards the girl. She yelped, shrinking back as my hands grabbed onto her shoulders.

“How are you awake?” I whispered sharply. “Are you a mage? Do you have a talisman or something?” 

If she was a mage, she might be another reincarnate—someone who could be a serious threat to me.

“I—I don’t know! I’ve been awake the whole time, pretending to sleep like the others,” she stammered, her voice low but frantic. “I think it’s this.”

She twisted, straining to show me despite her bound hands. A silver and purple necklace hung around her neck, gleaming even in the dim light.

“My mum gave it to me,” she whispered. “She said it would protect me from the bad things people put in my food.”

The carriage jolted to a stop. My mind spun, cobbling together a plan. Summoning Severance, I slashed through the ropes binding the girl, then grabbed the nearest child and sliced their shirt clean off.

“Do me a favour, kid,” I said, cutting the fabric into a long strip and trying it around my head as a makeshift face cover. After a rushed explanation of what I needed her to do, she stopped shaking and gave a firm nod.

Outside, voices gathered at the back of the carriage. The moment someone pulled open the flap, I lunged forward, driving Severance through their chest. Shoving past them, I leapt out. I hit the ground, rolled to the side, and pushed to my feet as my eyes readjusted to the light. 

Surrounding me were several wooden carriages and over a dozen armed men and women. Most had their faces covered, but their wide eyes betrayed their shock—half looking at me, half at the body slumping next to the carriage.

I can’t run. They'll catch up on horseback or shoot me down.

Pulling the fabric tighter over my face, I rushed the nearest man not on a horse, swinging my sword. He stumbled back, and my blade grazed his chest—too shallow to do any real damage.

“He’s got a sword!”

“Someone grab him!”

A fighter rushed in, locking blades with me before reaching for my arm. I stepped diagonally, letting his momentum carry him past me, and slashed across his side. My sword cut through his padded leather armour but didn’t go deep enough to finish him off as it quickly lost power. I was dragged backward with his movement, my arm twisting painfully.

He let out a pained yell and dropped to his knees, clutching the wound. His face twisted in fury and disbelief.

“What’s with this damned kid?” he spat, blood leaking between his fingers.

Before I could recover, another fighter slammed a boot into my chest. Pain exploded through my ribs as I tumbled back. Using the momentum, I rolled to my feet, wincing. My body wasn’t strong enough, making it difficult to deal a lethal blow unless I hit a vital spot—yet one of their kicks can nearly break my ribs. I once again cursed my weak body.

“Don’t let him get away!”

“Just kill him!”

An archer nocked an arrow and fired. I barely dropped in time to avoid it, scrambling back up and enforcing my body with mana. My limbs felt lighter, stronger.The dull ache in my ribs faded slightly, drowned out by the surge of energy.

This time, when someone swung for my head, I didn’t try to dodge. Instead, I caught the strike with my blade and drove my foot into their knee. A satisfying crack rang out as it broke. They crumpled with a scream, but I had no time to finish them as another man lunged at me with a spear. I darted in close, grabbed the shaft, then ducked as another arrow whizzed past. Slashing downwards, I cut through the spearman’s ankles, sending him crashing to the sand before I slit his throat.

Two more closed in. I cut one down, but the exertion was catching up to me. My breaths came quick and sharp as I pushed back, panting, and stopped channelling the enforcement. The brief exchange had drained my core at a ridiculous rate—I had less than half of my mana left.

“Everyone stop!” A large woman on horseback bellowed as she rode in from the front of the procession. She was tall and muscular, with strands of blonde hair sticking out from beneath her head covering, and she wore heavy leather armour despite the heat. Swinging off her horse, she drew the greatsword strapped to her back.

“You’re all struggling against some random kid?”

“Latisha, something’s wrong,” one of the kidnappers said. “He’s not normal.”

Latisha scoffed. “He’s still just a kid wet behind the ears.” She strode towards me, greatsword in hand. “Oi, brat, how about you show me just how unreal you are?”