One

The Narrator woke from his slumber with annoyance written across his gnarled face. Beside his bed was Rowan, one of the many children in the Tribe that listened to his stories. The Narrator broke into a fit of coughs, and in between his hacks, managed to tell Rowan not to worry.

"Are you okay? I'll go get the doctor if you'd like."

"Quiet down, rat, or you'll miss out on my greatest tale yet." The Narrator rasped, carefully getting out of bed. "Hand me my cane, and help me get to the storyroom."

A while later, the Narrator sat in his rocking chair. On the floor in front of the chair, Rowan and his friend, Myra sat on a soft rug, waiting for the Narrator to tell his story. The Narrator let them wait and bicker while he ate his breakfast, which consisted of a few strips of meat and clean water.

By the time the Narrator was finished, both Gerald and Myra were getting more than a bit impatient. With a sigh, the Narrator began his story.

***

"Get up, or we'll be late!" Reya shouted, right in his ears. Page sat up in bed and prepared to bite her head off, before remembering what today was; the first test to join the Kamue. Reya left the room, and Page jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed.

He threw on a pair of wool trousers, a linen shirt and a wooly tunic, and it was quite cold outside, for winter was only a few days away, so he added a dark-green cloak to his outfit. Next, he took an expensive-looking longsword off the wall and slid it into his scabbard. Finally, he hung a buckler from the sword's hilt.

He quickly brushed his teeth using a piece of rough linen, and tied his shoulder-length hair into a bun to keep it out of his face. Long hair was a symbol of power, but it was quite annoying when it got in his face.

Page ran downstairs and into the dining room. He grabbed a piece of bread in one hand and a piece of cured meat in the other, and ate on his way to the courtyard. The Capitol's palace was massive, so despite living there for fourteen years, he still got lost a few times, and had time to finish his on-the-go-meal.

He arrived at the courtyard just as he finished eating. He met up with Reya and waited. Reya looked like the polar opposite of himself. Page looked like a civilized citizen, whereas Reya looked like a savage Viking. She wore a leather tunic that was reminiscent of a long-sleeved shirt that fell down to her knees. Over her shoulders, she wore a cloak which was fastened by a brooch. On her hips rested a belt carrying a one-handed bearded axe and a short-sword sized knife called a Saxe, and on her back she carried a round shield.

Page was willing to admit that Reya was likely stronger than him. It likely had to do with the fact she had activated her Aether organ, whilst he had not.

***

"What's an Aether Organ?" Myra asked.

"They're organs, obviously." The Narrator answered.

"Very funny, old man, but I think she was asking what they do." Rowan said, exasperated.

"That makes much more sense. The Aether organ makes Aether." The Narrator said. Rowan prepared to chew him out, but the Narrator interrupted and answered, "Aether is magic. Now, can I continue?"

"Are you not going to explain why he hasn't activated his magic?" Myra asked.

"I suppose I could."

Myra scowled. "Will you?"

"Of course I will, now that you've asked." The Narrator said, "To activate an Organ, you must look deep inside yourself, and enter the View. The View will show you certain things, like your heart, the Aether organ, and the Naehal organ."

"What's the Naehal organ do, old man? Ever heard that less is more? Why are there so many magical organs?" Rowan said, thoroughly annoyed by now.

"Because there are two types of magic, brat, and both of them have an organ." The Narrator responded, fighting to keep a grin off his face.

"If there are two types of magic, which does what?" Myra asked.

"The Aether organ creates Aether and circulates it through your body, like a heart circulates blood. The Aether that in makes and circulates makes your body stronger. The Naehal organ creates Naehal and circulates it through your body. After that, you can exhale the Naehal through your hands." The Narrator explained.

"Is there a reason to exhale the Naehal through their skin? Also, is it painful?" Rowan asked.

"I was getting there. If you don't stop interrupting me, I'll wither away before I finish." The Narrator continued with a scowl, "After exhaling the Naehal, you can 'shape' it into something. For example, I could shape the Naehal into a stone spear, and after exhaling again, launch the stone spear from my hand, far faster and more accurate than I could throw it."

"You didn't answer my question." Rowan said, a bit amused this time.

The Narrator was silent for a moment, trying to remember what the boy had asked. "Ah, no, it isn't painful. Forgive my forgetfulness, I'm old and infirm, you see."

Myra rolled her eyes, but Rowan looked a bit concerned. "You're not too old, surely?"

"I'm older than the dirt outside." The Narrator said, "Now, can I continue the story?"

"You still haven't answered why he hasn't activated the Aether organ yet, though." Myra pointed out, but her sensible statement was overshadowed by Rowan's quick agreement, and although the Narrator heard her, he was going to explain why in the story.

"Don't interrupt again. I'll answer your questions at the end of every chapter."

"Hold on, one last thing!" Rowan said quickly, "Who're the Kamue from the start?"

"You'll figure it out if you read the story, I'm sure."

***

"You're here! It took you long enough." Reya grinned, giving him a friendly punch in the shoulder. Page knew it would probably bruise later, but he was used to it by now.

The two sat around and chatted for about ten minutes before Gabriel appeared. Out of the Thirteen Godblessed, he was the worst. Not in terms of power, but likeability. He was blessed by Ares, the god of War, and it was hard to tell whether he had inherited his skill with weapons or his self-centered, entitled personality.

"Follow me," Gabriel said, starting off down a path to the left "You weren't told anything about the test, were you?" He asked.

"No." Page and Reya answered unanimously.

"Good." Gabriel replied. Page frowned, more than a bit worried. What did he mean 'good'?

They continued on in silence after that. Page glanced at his sister, but all he found was that she looked impossibly confident.

The twins followed Gabriel behind the palace to a training yard. It was one hundred and twenty yards long from start to finish, and there were only a few other people roughly their age on the training yard. Page had never seen the training yard so empty before, and it was frankly unsettling. Far scarier, though, were the cages in the center of the training yard. Rather, not the cages, but what was inside them.

Page had excellent eyesight, better even than the eight Godblessed Page had met. What he saw in the cage sent shivers down his spine. Gabriel led them over to the other Kamue recruits, and then stepped onto a platform where another Godblessed stood. Apparently, they were the last ones that Gabriel brought.

It was Aria. Aria was the Godblessed of Asclepius, the God of Medicine, and she had the power to heal all but the worst injuries. For example, she couldn't bring back a missing arm, but she could regenerate a missing finger or broken bones. As Gabriel stepped onto the platform, all of the Kamue recruits quieted down and stared at the two Godblessed.

"Everyone knows why they're here. You were all trained for this from the day you were born. This is the first test to join the Kamue." Gabriel said, only a second after he got onto the platform. "You'll fight the thing in those cages. I'm sure you've all figured it out by now, right? You'll fight them one at a time so that we can watch your fights, and you'll need a partner."

"Don't worry too much. Aria is here, so as long as you don't die instantly, you'll be fine." This statement scared many people in the crowd, although only a few people showed it.

Aria frowned but said nothing. Page guessed that she didn't like Gabriel's scare tactics, but that the statement was true for the most part.

The crowd of young recruits quickly broke out into several conversations. Page and Reya had no need to take part in finding a partner, so Page told her what he saw in the cages. Reya was only a bit surprised, but she showed no sign of fear. She was as confident as ever. It didn't surprise him. Reya was just as afraid as him, but after activating the Aether organ, she refused to show it.

Page scowled at the thought of the Aether organ, but he pushed the thought out of his mind. Now was not the time to be seething about the evil that was the Aether organ.

Soon enough, the other Kamue recruits were done finding partners. There were twelve pairs, and they were all given a number. Gabriel led the pair labeled number one to the center of the training yard, where the cages were. As the pair of young recruits neared, Page could tell that they weren't surprised, and were also quite confident. Page knew the pair, so it wasn't surprising. The pair ranked first and fourth, so they were some of the best recruits. For reference, Page was ranked eighth, and Reya was ranked fifth.

Gabriel opened one of the cages, and a Hogman stepped out. Still, the pair of recruits looked fearless. At least, they weren't visibly trembling from thirty yards away. Page thought that was more than pretty impressive, considering he couldn't stop his hands from shaking, even though he was thirty yards away. In his defense, they were probably just as scared as he was, if not more.

Page didn't look at the Hogman. It would've been better to examine it now, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The Hogman… something about it made him scared beyond anything he had seen before.

The Hogman roared, and Page couldn't help but look at it.

Next to Gabriel, it stood at least an entire foot taller than him, which was really saying something, because Gabriel was seven feet tall. It had a powerful frame, with bulging muscles everywhere. It wielded no weapon, but the tusks jutting from its ugly face looked like it could pierce a shield, and its fists were big enough to crush a head like a watermelon.

Despite the fact that Gabriel looked quite small in comparison, Page knew that Gabriel had killed thousands of Hogmen, and it looked like the Hogman knew that too. Gabriel shouted something at the Hogman, and although he couldn't hear the words spoken, he could guess Gabriel's demands based off of what the Hogman did.

The Hogman took a few steps back before glaring at the two Kamue recruits. Compared to Gabriel, they looked small, but compared to the Hogman, they were like a weed compared to a tree; small, weak and completely unremarkable.