You know we are capable of achieving anything we want to, don't you? 

We can run far away from here, settle somewhere in the wilderness and create our own Kingdom under new laws. 

We will rule with justice. And then, piece by piece, we will form the society where everyone has their freedom of speech and a choice.”

“Careful!” I shouted and yanked his shoulder so that he almost fell over.

The arrow whistled past and pierced into the the ground. 

The archers in the Fortress of the Hive had great accuracy and their critical hits could reduce our lifespans.

We went to besiege this fortress just the two of us.

Today our few comrades were scattered somewhere else while Snay and I decided to get the valuable epaulets that the guards of Fortress were keeping inside. 

The epaulets could be exchanged from a mysterious merchant near any of the fortresses for

books that make your skills more times powerful.

“I saw it, everything is under control!” he blurted out and hurried forward.

It was hard for me to carry a two-handed sword on my shoulder, but every time the fight began I forgot about all the tiredness while skillfully swinging my weapon and chopping my enemies to pieces.

“We will sew the outfits that you are dreaming of.

Using the best fabrics from all over the world. We will breed a new species of animals. The usual tame creatures like kookaburras, bulls and tiger cubs are all too ordinary. 

Our creature will have the soul and loyalty to its master, it will be of medium size, somewhat like a wolf, but not so wild. 

Not so wild enough so you could run your hands in its soft fur and rub its ear. 

Not so wild enough so it would lie at your feet curled up on a cold winter's evening and to press its wet nose into your palms when you're sad. And it would always be there for you on hunting to help extracting special resources from monsters.”

“The tower is right there, let’s go,” Snay commanded, and we were on our way up to the first captain up the wooden steps.

“There will be a small tax in our community” I kept up. 

“It will be enough for us to exist and to develop, to explore unploughed land and to invite newcomers to our community” Snay agreed.

“You know why we can do it?”

“Why?”

“That world will be created for people like us. We will give them what we need at the moment. And that will buy them over.”

The first captain's life was draining away in front of my eyes. 

I was furiously swinging my two-handed sword, aiming for the places on his body that were not covered by the armor. The point of the weapon rang off the armor, but it left little scars when it reached its target. Snay fired arrows at the captain. Some of them flew past and fell down from the tower right to the ground. But most of them had reached him.

One more sword swing and the leader fell. From his purse that hung from his belt, epaulets fell on the wooden planks. I picked up the reward, and together we were rushed to the magic captain.

The magician tried to resist us but his pathetic attacks smashed against my armor, chunks of ice bounced off the metal and rained down on the ground. He was the weakest of the captains. He fell within a minute.

The third one was a knight. The gate had to be broken down to get into the hall where he was. And the gates quickly fell into disrepair under the onslaught of a two-handed sword. A small breach grew and then the gate broke down into tiny splinters.

We burst into a hall with high ceilings that was filled with warriors led by the captain. It was here that I needed the pike that had been resting peacefully on my back. I swung it around and mass struck the guards over and over. With each blow, imbued with "Vampire Fury," my life span was back to normal. I lived only by destroying them. Snay was the backup from behind. He'd take out the tenacious warriors while I kept clobbering everyone that got in our way. Soon the third captain was defeated.

“We will create a world by our own rules. Here is the white

canvas in front of us - where each one of us is an artist.”

A wooden staircase led to the second floor where we could see three flags that were on the small balcony there. I grabbed one of them and slowly crawled toward the target.

‘It's so heavy, I should have yielded it to Snay!’ I thought but kept stubbornly dragging the banner behind me.

It felt as if those steps that led up to the highest point of the fortress would never end.

“There's not much left,” my comrade in arms encouraged me.

“Why don't you try it yourself?” I wheezed.

“It's all your merit, so drag it,” he said and ran forward to see if my path was clear of the guards.

Snay shot the warriors that had appeared again at point-blank range while I made it to the top.

“Show them who's the boss!”

“This is my first time,” I said excitedly and put the flag on the pedestal. My palms formed a stream of energy that swirled around the stem.

‘Stand for a few more minutes before the guards reach us! We can do it! We are a team!’

Snay “the Shooter” looked over the area with his sharp eye.

He had his bow ready, the bowstring drawn and a supply of arrows at hand.

“They're coming,” he said and pointed his weapon at the opening

up where a detachment of guards was ascending.

“One minute,” I whispered, “hold on, please!”

And he did. The arrows whistled and rained down on the enemy. Some warriors fell in convulsions, but some survived and came towards us. A few guards, hiding behind the corpses of their comrades, managed to squeeze through and reach to the top. I saw the glow of swords and heard the muffled sound of leather armor being striked. My eyes closed. At that moment I began to pray to Einhazad, praying that my partner would survive that blow and the ones that followed it.

I whispered prayers for a while until my hands went down.

The energy that had been hovering around the flag was suddenly gone. I turned around and saw the Bow of Threats lying on the floor. Snay was down on his knees, and one of the guards swung his sword above Snay's head. They froze in those poses. Then the guard twitched, slowly put the sword into its scabbard and said:

“Rules are rules! From now on and for the next seven days, or until the new outsiders come to try to prove that they are stronger than you, you are the masters of the Fortress of the Hive!”

The guard turned around and started walking down the tower. He was followed by the survived guards of the fortress. They slowly dispersed, taking their positions preparing to defend us, their new masters, at the cost of their lives. The corpses of those killed by the Shooter were gradually disappearing into thin air.

Snay got up from his knees, took out a pouch of gold coins and began throwing them on the wooden boards. Together they formed a unified word, the name of our clan, "Nirvana".