This is the end of volume 1. Volume 2 will be a patreon only exclusive. For just 2$ a month you will have access to 2 chapters every week, that's only 25 cents a chapter. I hope you guys will support me and this awesome novel, Thank you.

https://www.patreon.com/UnderTheBlue

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Bren's eyes jumped opened in a panic and he swiftly made it to his feet. Looking around in confusion, he saw many people around him happily eating near a campfire while chatting about the future. Suddenly a hand was placed on his shoulder sending a chill of fright up his spine. Turning around, Bren was about to send this attacker away with one punch before he noticed who it was. Collapsing on the ground, tears started to stream down as Bren began to cry.

"Nephew, young nephew you're alive. Thank the heavens, thank the gods."

Clovis gave a weary smile and pointed at Lowen.

"It was Lowen, he saved us all."

After settling down, Bren learned of what happened and was left shuddering. The events that played out and this conclusion, Bren stared at Lowen as though he were a monster. He couldn't help but tremble a bit, glad that Lowen was not his enemy. Clovis as well agreed with that sentiment, if Lowen and he were to become enemies, at that time there would be 1 option for him...run.

After a while, both Clovis and Bren made their way over to Lowen and sat down. Even though Roland had told them exactly what Lowen did, they still felt they should hear it all first hand from him. So after asking, Lowen once more went over everything, well, everything except that purple fragment. Hearing Lowen's words, the two gulped in fear, if it weren't for Lowen then both of them would have suffered a fate far worse then death. Clovis, just remembering the torture he'd been through, even though it was less than a day, that had been more than enough suffering for a lifetime. Clovis collapsed to his knees and bowed his head, knocking it hard on the ground 3 times. Bren seeing this quickly followed and at the same time they both said.

"Thank you."

Looking up, they actually saw that Lowen had a depressed look. Shaking his head he said.

"Don't thank me. I won but I didn't win."

Clovis and Bren looked at Lowen in confusion for a moment before Lowen pulled out a few worn pieces of parchment from his chest pocket and passed them over.

"It seems Rize's grasp and plans were far more advanced then we were led to believe."

Clovis took the parchments and carefully unfolded them. Reading the word after word, Clovis's expression began to pale further and further and after he read the few notes he proceeded to reread them 3 more times. By the time he was finished, he looked as though he had aged a few years. His eyes had dulled and his and he shook his head back and forth. His shoulders slumped down and the notes fell from his hand. Bren looked at Clovis with worry and grabbed his shoulders shaking him.

"Nephew, what's wrong? What did it say?"

With no reply, Bren picked up the notes and read through them before he began shouting.

"What the hell, How? What does this even mean?"

Hearing the commotion, everyone gathered started looking over with both worry and confusion, that's when Lowen quickly grabbed his shoulder and applied a bit of force, not to hurt him but instead to get his attention.

"Old man, look around, you're scaring them."

Bren noticed how agitated he was acting and after looking around, he saw the frightened expressions on all of the women and children. With a deep breath, he soon calmed himself.

"I'm sorry, after reading that, I just suddenly felt overwhelmed, I'm better now."

Lowen relaxed his grip and stood in front of Clovis. Putting his fingers next to Clovis's head, Lowen put a little strength into his finger and gave a loud snap.

*SNAP*

Clovis jumped in alarm at this sudden loud snap before he finally regained some focus.

"Are you with us again?"

Clovis nodded, taking the notes back from his uncle, he then gently put them away.

"Lowen, what do you think about what's written? Do you think its true?"

Clovis and Bren both leaned in, to the outside this would look like two adults faking interest towards a child's story but in actual fact, these two took Lowen's opinion with all seriousness. Lowen cleared his throat and simply spoke truthfully.

"I believe everything written in there is true."

Both uncle and nephew inhaled a cold breath before once more Bren seemed to get agitated.

"Why, if this is true it will rock the foundations of the kingdom. It can't be, it just can't."

Clovis grabbed his uncle and gave him a look and Bren settled down. Clovis nodded at Lowen to continue.

"When Rize used his abilities on me, I felt my soul being torn away from my body and once your soul is gone, your body becomes nothing more than a shell. That is a living death and with a bit more, its just a small step away from true death. Before I finished Rize all the way off, he drained the rest of the power from the crystals in the cave and he used his ability one last time. By the time I got to the cells, many of the people inside were already dead with no visible wounds. After reading his notes, I've come to the conclusion that it was, in fact, his power that did it. After speaking with all of the survivors, I found out that none of them suffered that torture you did Clovis, it seems that only when Rize is going to take complete control over someone will he use that torture device. Going further in-depth, I also found out that the ones that had died were tortured in that diabolical way. After everything is said and done, I believe that only those who Rize had complete control over were killed with his ability, he severed there soul from their bodies and then killed them. The main reason I believe this is because of both me and him."

Lowen extended a finger and pointed it at a sour looking Benjamin, who was glaring hatefully at Lowen while gnawing on a large leg of meat. Bren looked between the two and asked.

"Why?"

Lowen looked into the fire for a moment before looking back up at Bren and Clovis.

"Hate.....pure unadulterated hate. Of course, he hated me, I was the one who was killing him but from what I'm told and then seeing the scars on Benjamin's body, the hate he felt for Benjamin was absolute, yet, in his final moments, he decided to kill women, soldiers, merchants, and nobles. Benjamin had been imprisoned for more than a year and yet after being tortured again and again and again, his mind never collapsed nor broke. Rize was never able to take control of Benjamin, his most hated enemy. Because of this, his ability to kill with his mind didn't work on Benjamin nor on me. To me, this is the only thing that makes any sense. So when you read through his notes, out of the hundreds of those names, I could see a few that had last names attached to them. Only nobles or those with a certain level of wealth and power are allowed to have last names. If he already had gotten to them, that would mean some of the nobles of your kingdom may have been influenced, I doubt it though."

This time it was Clovis who grew agitated.

"Why do you doubt it? He almost got to me and I can at least defend my self I'm sure he's gotten to some nobles."

Lowen shook his head.

"If he did get to any of them, then they should be low ranked nobles with no authority, otherwise he wouldn't have aimed for you. The whole point of taking you was so he could by more time for his army to grow. If he had control over any nobles with actual power then he wouldn't need you. I think the best way to confirm this would be to for someone to go to Jizhen, in the notes, there are several hundred names from that small town alone."

Bren and Clovis looked at one another before quickly coming to a decision. Bren gave a small nod to his nephew and then disappeared, headed for Jizhen.

If what was written in Rize's notes were true, that would mean a few nobles may have already died. The turmoil that would be brewing once brought to light, could be catastrophic.

Several hours later, Bren had returned and confirmed the disaster. More than 300 people had suddenly died in Jizhen all at the exact same time. Not only that, Bren had also gotten reports from a few towns over indicating that Rize's reach was even further, in total, 4 towns had been affected as well as several villages amounting to nearly 1200 dead. This number shocked everyone. Rize had somehow gotten to that many people and took control of them all within a year and then replanted them back into society. Essentially, he had 1200 people who were unknowingly his spies. If Lowen hadn't stepped in when he did, this truly could have felled Rhylo Kingdom and beyond. Clovis quickly got to work, taking a few pieces of parchment from Rize's room, he made himself a copy of every name in Rize's notes then jotted down a report and important information. Giving the report to Bren as well as Rize's own notes, he sent Bren straight to the capital. Normally it would take someone 2 and a half to 3 months but with Bren's speed, he should be able to arrive within 2 weeks. With Bren racing away, Clovis shook Lowen's hand.

"Lowen, I'm sorry but I have to leave immediately. I don't think I can ever repay you for saving my life....but if you ever need anything, anything at all, I'll be in the capitol waiting. Thank you."

Clovis then turned and raced off. He was going to go to every village and town along the way back to the capital to access all of the damage and verify every name he could. Of the list of names, he recognized one important one to him and whispered in his heart.

(Please, please be alive.)

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The next morning, everyone was starting to become excited. After going through all of the horrible experiences and finally coming out on the other side once more free, the group of women and children couldn't help but feel worked up and nervous.

Packing all the food and other essentials from the cave, in total there were around 3,000 pounds in food alone. Lowen and Benjamin had to extract chains from within the cave just to tie everything up. After everything was said and done, Lowen, along with Roland in the middle of the group and Benjamin at the back for protection, made their way back home, back to Sento village.

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3 days later.

Many villagers were going about there day as usual when they suddenly heard something in the distance.

*Crack*

At first, they were surprised by the sudden noise but nothing more than that. However, only a few seconds later they heard it again, this time with more clarity.

*CRack*

And again.

CRAck*

The sound was actually getting closer and closer to the village causing people to grow panicked.

*CRACk*

Soon, whatever was coming towards the village appeared only a few hundred feet away.

*CRACK*

Everyone was running around like a chicken without ahead until someone gave a loud shout.

"BIG BRO!"

Little Ben could be seen jumping up and down on someone's roof before a punch suddenly landed on his head.

"Ben, how many times do I have to tell you not to climb on someone's roof."

Ben rubbed his head painfully before pointing accusingly at Nia.

"But big sis, you're on the roof with me."

Nia looked at the roof under her feet and her cheeks went red from embarrassment. She quickly hit Ben on the head again before grabbing him up under her arm and jumping down 10 feet to the ground. Landing perfectly, she dropped Ben on the ground like a sack of potatoes before running off in the direction of the village entrance. Ben seeing this jumped to his feet and yelled.

"No fair, I want to see big bro first."

Little Ben executed his shadow steps and raced after Nia's back.

Looking at the approaching Lowen, people from the village could no longer be shocked at the things he would do, instead, he looked incredibly silly. As Lowen made his way over, on his back he carried a huge bundle of something. It was more than 16 ft wide and nearly 12 ft tall, bound in thick chains. Seeing someone so small carrying something so huge, looked absolutely ridiculous. The villagers thought they could no longer be shocked by Lowen but in the very next moment, many of their jaws dropped. Looking at the ground, every step Lowen took, the hard ground would crack and sink a few inches in. Whatever Lowen carried was heavy enough to break the ground with each step. Normally something that was only a few pounds wouldn't necessarily break the ground, Lowen, however, was tiny, so all of the weight was concentrated on one of his feet at a time.

Reaching the entrance of the village, Nia and Ben were already there waiting for him. Lowen lifted the chains from his shoulders and dropped the bundle to the ground.

*THUD*

The large bundle of food became unbound and spilled out onto the ground. The eyes of the villagers instantly widened with surprise and delight. Many couldn't help but lick their lips. It was then that another villager yelled out.

"AMY! AMY is that you, your alive."

The large bundle had completely blocked everyone else's vision of the many people behind Lowen but once it fell and spilled over, it was only now that the villagers noticed all of the people. Suddenly more and more shouts echoed out.

"My baby boy, John is that you, it's me mommy do you remember me?"

A small boy ran by Lowen shouting.

"Mommy mommy!"

The elders had come over to see what all the commotion was but when one of the elders spotted two children, his voice trembled as he roared.

"Katie, Sam!"

The two kids in return ran at the elder while shouting.

"Grandpa grandpa!"

The elder of the village and the two grandchildren embraced one another while crying out joyfully.

This happened many more times as Lowen had rescued around 50 people from Sento village.

After a while, Benjamin had made his way over. Standing next to Lowen, he smiled at the two young children in front of him. Nia and Ben seeing their father instantly jumped at him and almost knocked him off of his feet surprising him. The two began to wail out emotionally as they buried their faces in his chest. Benjamin held them tenderly and rubbed their backs softly. The demeanor in which he showed Lowen and his kids were like night and day. As the two continued to cry, Benjamin whispered to them gently.

"My little monsters, I'm sorry it took daddy so long to come back but...I'm home."

Hearing their fathers voice for the first time in over a year and a half, the two couldn't believe it was real and squeezed their father tighter and tighter, once more surprising him. Eventually little Ben picked his dad up and then Nia proceeded to pick both of them up, hugging them both tight.

(This strength, my little monsters really are monsters now. Damn brat, what did you do to my babies?)

Finally, after a while, Nia put the two down and little Ben put his father down and the three separated. Benjamin picked little Ben up and gently stroked Nia's cheek, once more tears fell.

"Nia, Ben lets go."

Walking into the village Benjamin headed to his house but was saddened when he found that it had become nothing more than rubble long ago. Nia then brought him to the shack they had been staying in and Benjamin immediately grew furious, Nia though quickly quelled his anger.

"Dad it doesn't matter anymore, none of it matters. Your alive, we're alive and so is Lowen. As long as we're together we'll be fine."

Benjamin's thoughts were elsewhere. At first, he was truly mad about his house and things like that but what he cared most about were his kids. Seeing them, he was amazed at how well they were doing and surprised at their strength but at the same time, he was a little annoyed at the mention of Lowen. His daughter said they would be fine as long as Lowen was together with them. It was then that Lowen walked over.

(Damn this boy, did he brainwash my kids? Don't tell me he has some power like Rize and he took control of them. He's even still walking around with my hammer. Taking my kids and even my wolf hammer, damn this brat.)

"Benjamin, I want to talk with you. Do you have a moment?"

Lowen wanted to talk someplace a little more private but Benjamin was for some reason acting stubborn, so Lowen just said what he wanted to say.

"I'm leaving for the capitol."

Hearing these words, Nia and Ben suddenly started to panic while Benjamin became gleeful on the inside, he quickly said.

"Oh, is that so, well good luck to ya then."

Nia and Ben's hearts dropped to the pit of their stomachs, little ben started shouting.

"NO, NO, BIG BRO CAN'T LEAVE YOU CAN'T!"

Nia's body trembled and she quickly grabbed Lowen's arm and refused to let go. Lowen looked at the two siblings and smiled at them warmly.

"Nia, Ben, I have to go."

Ben once more shouted.

"Why! Why does big bro have to leave? Why can't you stay."

Lowen didn't hesitate.

"Strength, unyielding power, wealth and knowledge, these are what I need to attain and in the capital, there's an opportunity to gain them all.

Nia finally couldn't hold it in any longer and spoke with tears streaming down her face.

"Why do you need those things? Can't you stay with us instead?

"I fought tooth and nail with Rize, I seemingly held more advantages than him and yet I was still almost defeated. I can't allow that to happen again, I won't allow that to happen again. So I have to get stronger and I have to get smarter and in order to do that I'll need both wealth and knowledge."

Listening to Lowen, his words truly made sense and yet Nia and Ben both had this indescribable pain within there chest. Benjamin looked over at his kids and could feel their pain. He couldn't help but gulp dryly wondering if he should just go with the boy. Everything he once had was now gone, the only thing left was his kids so what was stopping him from just taking them with him and tagging along. For some reason though, Benjamin just couldn't make the first move. This is when Lowen finished his words.

"As for staying with you, well we'll be together as long as you guys come with me right?"

Nia and Ben's mind suddenly reeled with confusion, it was only after a minute or so that the gears began to turn again and they both shouted.

"EHHHH!"

"You, you, you mean we can go with you? We can be together?"

Lowen gave a small nod.

"That is if your father agrees."

Nia and Ben's necks sharply turned to there father and they stared up at him in anticipation. Nia's eyes watered while little Ben's pulled out his famous puppy eyes. Benjamin wanted to agree he truly did but for him to just say yes, what kind of example would that be if he simply agrees. Nia and Ben saw their father hesitating and tears began to flow down their faces as they both said.

"Dad, Please."

Benjamin desperately wanted to make his children happy but still couldn't initiate it that's when he looked over at Lowen and saw his hammer in Lowen's grasp.

"My, my hammer, give me my hammer and I'll know that you're trustworthy and that you have an honest heart. If you can return a treasured hammer to a man that lost it over a year ago it will show that your truly a good person who doesn't covet things that aren't his, only then would I be able to trust you."

Benjamin couldn't help but smile inwardly.

(Hehe, I just came up with that bullshit on the spot but if he refuses then I won't be the bad guy but if he accepts I get my hammer and I'll go to the capital anyway, hehe its a win-win.)

Nia and Ben stared at Lowen and wondered if he would give up a treasure for them but before their thoughts could run wild, Lowen took the hammer and tossed it to Benjamin with no hesitation whatsoever. Benjamin caught his hammer with surprise and stared at Lowen for a brief moment.

(He really does care for my children.)

Little Ben pulled at his dad's sleeve repeatedly and looked up at him with those puppy dog eyes.

"Dad, does this mean we can go?"

Benjamin seeing this face had no resistance and quickly nodded.

"Yes."

Nia and Ben hugged each other and jumped up and down in joy. Because of their great strength, the two began jumping 3 to 4 feet up into the air, once more surprising Benjamin.

After that, they gave the small shack to lucy and headed for the village exit. Packing some of the food with them, they were ready to leave when someone came running up behind them. Luna ran over with a steady speed and collapsed in front of the four of them and in panted breaths she said.

"Wait, please wait."

After a moment Luna finally caught her breath.

"Can I go with you?"

The three gave a collective look before Lowen spoke.

"Go with us, how did you even know we were leaving?"

Luna then explained how she had come by to drop off more food for them when Lucy had told her that they had suddenly decided to leave and gave her the shack. After that, she shoved the food into Lucy's hands and ran here as fast as she could.

"So please, will you take me with you?"

Lowen looked at the other three and they all had the same look of confusion.

"Why do you want to go to the capital?"

Luna shook her head.

"I don't care about the capital I just can't live here anymore there's nothing left for me here. I feel like if I don't leave here and now, I'll simply go crazy."

Everyone looked at each other once more. Adding another person didn't really matter but the fact that she can't really defend herself would become a bother but then Lowen remembered.

"It's not like we can't let you come but you'll have to do something for me."

Lowen then stared greedily at Luna causing her to reflexively step back in fright. She covered her chest with both of her hands and with a shaky voice she asked.

"Wh...what do you want?"

Lowen smiled innocently at her and said.

"Teach me how to cook."

Both Nia and Ben broke out into wild laughter, while Benjamin thought.

(This kid is too weird.)

Luna's shoulders relaxed and she released a sigh of relief. With a simple nod, she agreed.

Just like that, with no goodbyes and no more thoughts for this small village of Sento, the 5 slowly walked away and left, headed off for the capital of Rhylo Kingdom.

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End of volume 1

Volume 2 will be a patreon only exclusive. For just 2$ a month you will have access to 2 chapters every week, that's only 25 cents a chapter. I hope you guys will support me and this awesome novel, Thank you.

https://www.patreon.com/UnderTheBlue