In a place far from the clashing powers and emotions, a lone hunter stood outside waiting on a cold night.
The head hunter of the village of Laron had been waiting at the entrance of the village throughout the night for the patrol unit that was to arrive there soon.
After the matter had been resolved and Rastel and the little girl had gone. Marilyn the innkeeper hadn't hesitated to hand over the mage who Rastel had told her of earlier to the hunters.
They had kept the raving mage in bonds and thrown him down the cellars of the village hall just like he had kept the village chief and the guards for all those months and now, the patrol had finally sent word that they were coming to apprehend him.
The cold wind blew harshly at the hunter and he shivered as he rubbed his palms together but still stood firm. His fire had died a few minutes ago and he didn't feel the need to rekindle it as it was almost dawn.
Although the year was running late and the cold and storms would soon come, he was used to experiencing such extremes of weather when he went hunting.
The worst problem of this time of the year was actually... he paused and looked up at the white moon shining in all its glory.
The clatter of hooves in the distance alerted him and took his mind away from the cold. He used his trained eyesight to peer deeper into the darkness and was soon able to see the form of three soldiers riding down.
Their mounts were not the typical horses used by commoners. These horses were of a different superior specie and were known as Warknots. They were specially bred by the kingdom and used in all aspects of the military because of their ridiculous speed and stamina even when bearing heavy weights.
The horses were twice as thick as a normal horse and their bodies was a bright shade of blue. Their manes were long and overflowing with a darker shade of the same color and they had large black eyes with blue silts in the middle like those of a feline. They looked really majestic even under the dim moonlight.
As the soldiers pulled up near him, he was able to see their glistening metal armor made from some strong alloy and their longswords by their sides.
The insignia of the kingdom of Gorm, a solid tower with a moat running under it and two halberds crossing each other could be seen on the left breast of the armor. On the right side was another insignia that represented the lord of Kurn who ruled over the entire northern area, it was simply a massive bear standing outside a cave entrance.
The hunter greeted them respectfully before leading them in. They didn't even respond properly to his greeting with only the one in the lead nodding back. Soldiers were significantly far stronger than normal people or even most adventurers.
As they were trained from a young age by numerous masters, it was impossible for them to be weak. This obviously brought along with it a high status which afforded them the ability to look down on other people.
Not far from the entrance was a small house and two hunters were sitting on chairs outside playing cards under the dim light of a lantern.
They stood up immediately they sighted their leader and the horses of the soldiers and one of them promptly went inside to bring out their prisoner.
The mage looked haggard and angry as they pulled him out. They had gagged his mouth to stop him from spewing out curses and tied him up like livestock before dumping him in the cellar. They later brought him out here for some reason and he had been there, miserable and cold for hours.
He was initially struggling with the hunter that was handling him and was mumbling things that were very likely not compliments through his gagged mouth when he saw the soldiers and he instantly calmed down.
The leader wordlessly stared at the mage before motioning to one of the men behind him. The man took out an amulet and seemed to activate it before flinging it into the air where it suddenly transformed into a cage.
It looked nice and sturdy and was large enough to carry at least 5 men. But the most peculiar thing about the cage however was that it was completely floating in midair!
The head hunter nodded as he saw it. He had heard about things like things, a metal mined from the deserts in the western continent that could float in the air naturally. He even heard that the residents of the deserts used the metal to build giant floating cities!
The hunter took off the gag and bounds off the wizard before putting him in the cage. If the wizard was stupid or suicidal enough, he could try to escape in front of the three soldiers. It wasn't any concern of his, he wasn't the one that would be killed.
The soldier who brought out the cage brought out a chain that seemed to glow slightly, he used it to lock the cage and tie it up before holding one end in his hand. The wizard just sat silently inside while glaring at the hunters of the village.
After the soldier was done, the three of them started trotting off without another word. Unable to hold back his anger, the wizard yelled at the bewildered hunters as he was carted off in the floating cage just behind the soldiers.
"You bastards think you have gotten rid of me? Kahahahaha! I would make sure I find my way back to this village someday, and burn everything to the ground after I lock all of you people in and nailed the doors tight! You hear me! You people just signed your death warrants!"
The hunters just stared at him as he raved like a mad man before the figures of the soldiers pulling the cage faded into the night.
"He is mad, that one. Don't concern yourself with him, nobody caught by the men of the lord of Kurn would escape even if they had wings!" The head hunter just shook his head before going back inside to shelter and a warm bed.
Not long after the soldiers had left the view of the village. The mage who had initially looked raving mad suddenly turned calm. He used his hands to comb his hair backwards before suddenly turning to the soldier holding the chain to the cage.
"We are already far from the village, you can let me free now." He said with absolute confidence.
The soldier glanced sideways at him before looking to their leader.
"Halt!" the leader suddenly called out. They stopped at what looked like the scene of a battle as the forest around the area was burnt and the entire place looked disorganized.
It was the scene of the battle between the summoned and the mage's forces then.
The leader jumped down from his horse and walked over to a rather large stone he noticed at the edge of the burnt area. He sat down on it as he watched the soldier in charge of the prisoner come down to open up the lock while the other gathered the horses and placated them.
As he came down from the floating cage, the mage took in a deep breath before turning to look at the leader. "It is good you came quickly enough. I wouldn't have been able to tolerate those villagers for one more day. Are you sure you can't go back and kill them all for me?'
The leader shook his head as he replied. "No, it would cause too much of a scene. It won't be beneficial to the lord."
The mage gritted his teeth but he eventually let it go. He had no power here and he was the one been saved. He would make sure he found the time later to come back and slaughter all those fools!
"Why did we stop here? It is still about an hour till dawn. With your horses, we would reach the nearby town in about 2 hours." He raised the question that was bothering him.
He was feeling cold and uncomfortable and was not up for camping in the cold right now. The sooner he could get to a town with a warm inn, the better for him.
"I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience but the lord said that we should get the information about those who disrupted the operations here as soon as possible. He wants the matter handled with the utmost urgency" the leader said apologetically.
At the sound of that, the mage suddenly remembered the muan that locked him in a cupboard for days and his face scrunched up in rage! He didn't hesitate to pour out all the details he knew and descriptions of each of them from Rastel, Gai, Marco and Ann. He wanted them hunted down like dogs and tortured to death!
"I would be deeply grateful if you people let me handle the muan myself, I have a personal score to settle with him" he said as he glared hatefully. He couldn't wait to sink his claws into the damned muan and his irritating smirks.
"Of course, sir. It can be arranged. We can even handle that right now!" the leader seemed to empathize with him.
"Oh is that so? Good! That's very nice! So you're sending a letter?" he inquired happily.
"Oh no sir, we will just send you to where we will eventually take him. When he arrives, you can deal with him there anyhow you like." The leader smiled at him.
"And where would that be?" the wizard was warming up to the plan now.
"The darkest depths of Aralid of course, like all damned souls would eventually go" the leader's smile suddenly turned sinister.
"Wha-"
SLIHCK!
The sound of a blade cutting through flesh echoed in the wind as the soldier that was in charge of the cage used a small dagger to cut through the mage's throat.
The mage didn't even get the chance to express his confusion before his vision turned dark and he tumbled to the ash covered floor, dead as a doornail.
"What a fool. Did he think the higher ups would need him alive after that massive blunder?" the leader stood up and kicked at the mage's dead body.
"Leave him here, the animals of the forest would take care of his body. We should hurry to Kurn and deliver this information to the lord personally. All of these summoned would have to be hunted down and killed as silently and as quickly as possible!"