The building of Nokoroy, the founding of the Triut Dreyn, the lifting of Dadendam, the airships of Nova Brey… The legacy of the Seven outside the conquering and war faring is still very much visible to this day. The progression they are responsible for, the knowledge they provided for us… It’s a fine balance between the deaths they were responsible for and the lives they’ve saved. A balance they kept until they turned on one another.

Excerpt from Rise and Fall of the Seven by Maïz the Wise.

“Well…” Morley muttered to himself, caressing his sword’s hilt with his fingertips. “Can’t say I expected this.”

“Is he greeting us…,” Asmund hesitated, “or challenging us?”

The street had grown silent, none of the many men gathered behind them uttering a single word. There was a strange tension in the air making Samos’ hairs on his arm stand up straight. The man in front of them, Mettias, stood still as a statue, his face expressionless.

“Sevens be damned,” Morley cursed and he strutted forward, motioning his men to stay put. Too curious to see what would happen, Samos stayed as well as did Asmund and Yara.

After what seemed like an eternity, Morley reached Mettias and Samos enhanced his ears.

“So you’re the one who chased Ethel’s men out?” the captain asked in an everyday tone as if just wanting to strike conversation.

Mettias scoffed. “Call them men if you want, they acted like frightened children before they ran with their tail between their legs. Assuming from the men you’ve gathered here I’m taking it you used to live here before?”

Morley gave a short nod. “I am Morley, one of the ten pirate lords. That humble abode there,” he pointed to the northernmost fortress that lay just visible, “is mine. I’m here to reclaim it.”

“Former pirate lords,” Mettias corrected him with a soft smile. “There’s only one lord here now.” His voice suddenly sounded threatening.

“One lord?” Morley inquired, a hint of mockery in his voice. “One lord to keep this hellhole of a city in line? Brave, but foolish.”

Mettias nodded, but the threatening look in his eyes did not disappear. “I will require men of your… reputation and stature of course, to work under my command and control this place.”

Morley laughed heartedly. “Under your command? I don’t think so, lad. I don’t know who you think you are, but it is not my custom to owe someone my services. I’ll be taking back my residence and my title of pirate lord, I suggest you lower your ambitions before you yourself get chased out.”

Mettias’ eyes darkened and without answering to the provocation, he stretched out his arm towards Morley and blasted out a seal towards the captain. Samos yelled out in warning, but before he could react properly the seal simply vanished as it touched Morley.

The captain laughed at Mettias’ shocked expression. “It just isn’t your day, lad,” he smirked while drawing his sword, letting the metal flow into a swing in one clean motion. As Samos would have expected from a Sealer, Mettias moved his arm towards the incoming metal and stopped it mid-air before jumping backwards with enhanced legs.

“Enhancer,” he hissed through his teeth and dug something from his pocket, a small bracelet that had several little chains attached to it with a small stone-like jewel in its middle.

“He has taen!” Yara yelled before Samos fully realized what it was. “He can affect you, Morley!”

The seal enveloping Morley’s sword disappeared and he began to retreat when Mettias held up his arm and a small orb of light appeared above him. With the rustling of a hundred swords and a hundred bows, battle-ready men suddenly appeared at the sides of the street and on the rooftops around them, arrows knocked and swords unsheathed.

Mettias enhanced voice suddenly resounded as loud as Ralph’s voice had once done during the Testing in Ters. “Nobody moves a muscle,” he yelled and looked Morley dead in the eyes. “Take one more step backwards and everyone dies. You choose to fight me, now finish it. Once you’re dead, there will be no more pirate lords to dispute my claim.”

He thrust out his arm once again and a seal exploded from his now taen-infused palm, rushing towards where Morley stood. The captain braced himself and Samos prepared to catch the man should he be blown backwards by the impact. To his surprise though the seal once again disappeared the moment it touched Morley.

“What…?” Mettias mouthed, his eyes wide in disbelief. He let out another seal, but again it dissipated when it touched Morley who now stood facing Mettias, a confident look on his face.

“It should have blown him away…” Yara muttered, her eyes nervously altering between the two sides of the street. “He used taen, the seal should have worked.”

“I don’t understand either,” Samos replied while Morley started walking towards Mettias who now drew his own sword. “I just hope the captain doesn’t kill him before we can get our answers.”

“How did you do that?” Mettias asked as Morley closed the distance between them.

“Sevens be damned if I know,” the captain answered, somehow sounding even more deadly than he looked. “But I won’t let this opportunity go to waste.”

Their swords clashed and the deadly dance began. From the first three swings, Samos could tell that the fight was going in Morley’s favour. The years of experience and real battle the old captain had lived through clearly showed in his swordplay. His strikes were calm and calculated, never overreaching or wasting energy. Mettias on the other, while fighting well and on a level comparable to that of Samos, fought rash and aggressive, his eyes constantly flickering from Morley to the side of the street to the ground and back to Morley.

Suddenly, Mettias jumped backwards and released one hand from his hilt, pointing it at the ground instead. The black street beneath Morley’s feet suddenly cracked and burst open upwards, spraying the captain with dozens of pieces of obsidian. Some slashed his legs open, others cut into his arm and a few buried themselves in his face. With a yell he jumped backwards, stumbled over a broken piece of obsidian and fell to the ground, his hands losing their grip on his sword as it tumbled away. The men behind Samos cursed and he could hear the sound of swords leaving their sheath.

“Nobody! Moves!” Mettias yelled and the men on the sides of the streets tensioned. “One person sets a single step and everyone dies.”

He moved closer to Morley who was clutching his face with his hands. One of the pieces had found its way into his left eye and blood streamed down his cheeks onto the black street.

“You fought well,” Mettias whispered, putting the tip of his sword at Morley’s throat. “You would have made a valuable subordinate.”

In response, Morley gurgled and spat a mixture of blood and spit in his face. Mettias growled and moved to push his sword in the man’s throat only to find it unable to move, white lines of a restriction seal enveloping the metal.

Samos looked to his right and saw Yara’s outstretched arm, her eyes squinted in focus. “Do something,” she yelped, “before he enhances the sword and breaks through the seal.”

Simultaneously, both Samos and Asmund formed seals, breaking out pieces from the street and sending them towards Mettias. A seal might not work on him, but a piece of rock once launched was just that, a piece of rock. Mettias, his attention focused entirely on his sword, failed to see the incoming projectiles in time and was knocked to the ground from the impact. Not even a second after he was flung away, Yara moved the sword away from Morley’s throat and let it drop the ground.

“I can’t pull him!” she cried out as she send another seal towards the wounded captain. She tightened her grip on the piece of taen in her hand. “For some reason seals don’t work on him, not even when using taen!”

“Save your strength,” Asmund instructed. “If you can’t pull him, so be it. We’ll have to protect him some other way.”

Just as he finished talking, Morley stood back up, blood dripping from his many wounds. He turned to face his men, his left eye completely gone and red from the blood that was leaking out of it. Samos was shocked to see the man grinning. Behind him, Mettias was beginning to wake up, shallow wounds where the rocks had hit.

“He must have been fully enhanced to escape that unscathed,” Asmund cursed.

“Crew of Morley!” the captain suddenly cried out and the men behind Samos cheered as one. “I thank you all for your service and I hope you all remember the battle of Terren!”

Samos saw the same confusion in Asmund’s and Yara’s eyes, but when he looked back to Morley’s crew, he saw determination and readiness in their eyes. They all shared their captain’s grin.

“When the captain gives the signal,” one of the crewmen whispered to Samos and the others as he saw their confusion, “all hell breaks loose. Be ready to protect yourselves, don’t bother about us. You three just focus on getting that bastard Mettias.”

Samos saw the soft glow suddenly surrounding Asmund and Yara as he himself enhanced his entire body as well.

“No matter what happens,” Asmund whispered, “our focus is Mettias. Save the captain if we can, but capture Mettias at all cost. We need those answers as much as we need to stop him.”

Both Samos and Yara nodded without hesitation. “Stay close,” he told her softly as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

She returned the squeeze with a comforting smile. “Don’t worry about me, I had a wonderful teacher.”

Despite the situation, Samos found himself smiling as well. The tension and fear had left the moment he had enhanced himself and a calmness had come over him, organizing his thoughts and taking in the possibilities of what was to come next.

“Damn it all!” Morley roared and he charged towards Mettias who had just now regained his footing. As one, the entire group behind Samos split in two and ran to either side of the street towards Mettias’ waiting men. Arrows were loosened and men died by the dozen, yet more kept on running and soon made contact with the swordsmen.

Not allowing himself to waste time, Samos focused on the task ahead and launched forward towards Morley and Mettias who were once again engaged in combat. About a hundred feet separated them from the fighting pair, but even from this distance and while running, it was clear Mettias now had the upper hand. Morley stumbled away every time the ground beneath him started to shake or pieces of debris came flying his direction. With each passing second, two more wounds covered his body. Samos could feel nothing but admiration for the man’s determination and willpower.

Morley fell no more than two seconds before Samos could reach him, Mettias’ sword suddenly piercing out from his back. As he fell, Samos cried out and swung at Mettias who was just in time to block the strike. Absently, he noticed from the corners of his eyes Asmund and Yara shielding them from the incoming arrows shot from the rooftops on the sides.

After three or four swings, Samos knew he and Mettias were as good as equal in their skill with the sword. He counted himself fortunate that his opponent was wounded and tired already, the many seals he had used against Morley having drained him from his strength. It did not take long for Samos to take the advantage when suddenly he was sent flying backwards, a seal that had erupted from Mettias’ hand exploding at his chest.

The air was pushed out of his lungs as he landed on his back and a flash of pain raced through his body. The momentum of the push however made him roll over his shoulders and allowed him to stand up straight again just in time to see Mettias’ grin as he send another seal towards Samos. Ignoring the pain he jumped sideways to avoid the impact. The jump wasn’t far enough though as he felt the seal explode on the left side of his body.

The strange angle of the impact sent him tumbling on his heels before falling down onto the street, a sharp edge of obsidian cutting his cheek only an inch below his eye.

Only now Asmund and Yara noticed what had happened and Yara gave a cry as she made to run towards Samos. Asmund however held her back, commanding her to stay focused on blocking the arrows while he engaged with Mettias. The man seemed annoyed as Asmund blocked his path but quickly changed to a more determined expression as Asmund put up an impressive defence, the seals he used on him once again not working as they had with Morley. Samos took the time to recover, forming a restriction seal above him in case one of the archers decided to pick him out. All around him, the battle between Morley’s and Mettias’ men raged on. Corpses filled the streets with casualties from both sides, the blood that left their wounds slowly streaming down the declining street.

He heaved himself up and picked his sword from where it had fallen. Another seal exploded from Mettias’ hands before disappearing as it touched Asmund.

What was going on, Samos wondered. Why did the seals only work on him? The taen Mettias used should allow him to affect them all, why didn’t it work on Morley or Asmund?

Taen…

With a start, Samos realized. The men both had taen on them. Morley the piece he had been given at Arrowpoint and Asmund the second piece. Could that be why?

Only one way to find out.

“Yara!” he cried out as he began running towards Mettias, Asmund slowly gathering wounds along his arms and legs. “Yara! Throw me the taen!”

He gave her a thankful look as she threw him her most important piece of defence against Mettias without a moment of hesitation. Samos caught it without breaking stride and felt his enhancement go over in the little purple rock.

“Asmund, duck!” he yelled as he approached the two. Asmund went low and rolled away, revealing Mettias’ face to Samos. As Mettias noticed Samos approaching he grinned and let out another seal. Hoping for his theory to proof true, Samos braced for the impact. The seal disappeared however and with a roar, he leapt forward while turning his sword in his hand to face the blunt side forward. Mettias’ defence came up too late and with a thud, Samos rammed his enhanced sword against the man’s forehead. Time seemed to slow down as Mettias’ eyes bulged before he was slammed to the ground.

Samos thought he heard bones crush, the enhancement Mettias had held constantly fading as he lost consciousness. Asmund stood up from his roll and squatted next to the man who they hoped had their answers. He took the taen bracelet from his hands and put his fingers on the wrist.

“Still alive,” he confirmed. “So it was the taen, huh?”

Samos gave a nod. “Count yourself lucky you didn’t give Morley the full payment the moment we arrived.” At the mention of his name, Samos gave a jolt and turned to where Morley’s body lay. For knowing the man only three days, he felt like he had just lost an old friend. The man had been an outlaw, one of the ten pirate lords whose names invoked fear in anyone hearing them. Yet he had not seen anything of that in this man. This man had been kind to them, had given them passage aboard his ship and had given his life for his men. Men who had loved them.

With a start, he noticed these men gathering around him, the fighting over. At Mettias’ fall, most of them had surrendered while others had run. Yara purposefully kept her eyes down as she walked towards Samos, avoiding having to look at the bodies that lay scattered over the street.

Jeven, who had jeered at them in Arrowpoint, now regarded them admiringly. “We owe you a debt,” he began, “for capturing the man who killed our captain. As first-mate, it is now my duty to fulfil the captain’s duties until a new captain is chosen. Let it be known that the first of these duties will be to come to your aid should you need it.” He put two fingers to his forehead and looked all three of them in the eyes. The other crewmen mimicked the gesture before gently picking up Morley’s body and carrying it towards the fortress that had once belonged to him.

“If you need a place to lock up the bastard,” Jeven continued throwing a nasty look at Mettias’ body. “We have dungeons in the keep, we’d be happy to guard him.” The mischievous grin that accompanied the statement made it clear he would do more than just guard the man.

After a quick discussion between the three of them, Asmund picked up Mettias’ body and made to follow Jeven and the others. As they left, the last thing Samos noticed was the stench of blood and death slowly filling the area.