The Capital City, Kuien, housed the Supreme Commander's Palace an intimidating place that no one can easily enter without a prior invitation. Every entrance and exit in the palace was heavily guarded, even all the servants working inside the palace was carefully selected and trained. They were conditioned to only obey one master.
That master was currently inside his study and reading reports. The study was made of red wood even the table and the chairs placed inside was made from this particular wood which can only be seen in the volcanic areas within Glasfale. A knock on the door didn't faze the man, he continued to read and waited for the other person to enter. A man in red and black clothing entered the room, his face was entirely covered except for his eyes. He kneeled down and greeted the Supreme Commander.
"How were the new recruits?" he asked while taking a relaxed pose.
"They are a bit difficult to control. Even the Commander General Rozen had a difficult time handling them." The red knight answered with all the information he had gathered.
Silence rained inside the room and only the rustling of papers can be heard for a moment. The Supreme Commander placed the papers on the table and looked at the red knight before him. He created the Red Knight during the first year of his rule and appointed them as his personal guards. They were extremely loyal and would never betray him because anyone who would betray him will only face death.
"Okay, I understand. Tell Commander General Rozen to let them have a practical experience," the supreme commander smiled and the red knight immediately understood what his master was implying.
If he cannot control these people, he would use them thoroughly before anyone could get them to their side. He would not allow anyone to challenge his authority. These remnants will die for him and his kingdom whether they are loyal to him or not.
--
It has been three days since they were sent to the battlefield. The stench of burning bodies drifted through the air suffocating many of them. From the hundreds of remnants who were sent to that place, a small number was left. Though the other side was mainly composed of ordinary soldiers, they were stronger and fiercer than them. Most of them had already regretted that they had underestimated the enemy.
Dreigh didn't talk much, he only focused on doing his tasks and staying alive. His comrades did the same but complaints can be occasionally heard from the rest of the remnants which only aroused dislike from the other soldiers. From the very beginning, it can be easily seen that the soldiers in the camp do not like them. The arrogance that was once displayed disappeared after the first time they joined the fight.
"This place is horrible," Endo exclaimed in an exasperated voice. They were only there for three days but he had already seen so many people die and the worst part of it is that most of the people like them were the ones who died early
"What can we do? We were sent here to kill the enemy, that's the only use they had for us. We run to the frontlines and use our ability to protect those who are behind us. Haven't you heard the soldiers say that we are their shield and that we should sacrifice ourselves so that they can kill the enemies easily?" Vira stood behind them and raised an eyebrow at Endo who was sulking. He was in a bad mood the moment he heard those words and his mood didn't recover from then on.
"I know, they don't consider us as human beings and I bet even the people on those pedestals never looked at us as a person." Endo could only agree reluctantly to what Vira had said. No matter how he deny it, other people will always look at them like they were monsters. They may have a sense of awe and reverie for people with abilities like them but that can easily disappear once they saw those powers.
Dreigh listened to all this and agreed silently. It is okay even if people call them monsters or treat them as tools to gain their goals the only important matter for him is that he has a family who will always accept him no matter what happens. "Don't focus on what they are saying, focus on surviving this ordeal. It is better to grit our teeth and endure than to give them the opportunity to mock us.
They all nodded at Dreigh's words, yes it is better to work diligently and ignore other people's nonsense. "We don't need to worry about what they think. We can just show them what we can do." Rond suddenly added to which the others nodded.
Not long after those words were spoken, Endo suddenly burst out laughing which earned him glares. "Sorry, sorry. It's just that when these two talk, they would give us the insight. They usually are quiet but in times like this, there words are truly helpful."
"I agree," Vira nodded in agreement.
A shrug was the only reply of Dreigh to this statement while Rond averted his gaze. The night passed without any mishaps. Once morning came, all the remaining remnants assembled on the grounds and waited to receive their instructions. The commanding officer for their platoon assigned each squad to different positions on the battle field but nonetheless, they were still all on the frontlines, waiting to be killed. They were to be the vanguard to prepare for an ambush by the other platoons and if the situation worsens they will serve as the remaining back up in order to let the other soldiers make their retreat.
Their role was basically to become the bait and shield for the "human" soldiers who were apparently very fragile and needs protection. Dreigh and the others did not speak and marched towards the battleground, it was very clear to them what their role were.
The battlefield was a wide plain on the Northern Border of Glasfale and its neighboring kingdom. It is where most of the battles happen between Glasfale and Telum. The remnants stood there and waited in tense silence at the other party to launch an attack and that was when everything turned into confusion.
Screams suddenly echoed through the place and soldiers from either side of the remnant platoon run out from their hiding place towards them but before they could reach the location of Dreigh and the others, they were killed by an invisible force. Wide eyed, every remnant readied their abilities and waited for the attack to come to them. A wisp of wind passed through them followed by a shriek. One of the remnants in their squad died on the spot.
"Be careful of the wind!" Dreigh shouted but it was too late, a person again died on the spot with gashes on his body. "Those who can control rock or any solid materials create a barrier," he calmly ordered.
Dreigh used his ability to control several rocks and trees, he made a makeshift wall around them. Other remnant saw what Dreigh had done and followed suit to protect themselves from the attacks.
"How can we attack the enemy if he controls the wind?" Endo asked in frustration. He could only use water to attack but he can only do it when he can see the enemy.
"There's no use, how can we beat a wind attack with our puny abilities." Vira kindly informed them which only made the others more frustrated.
A strong gust of wind collided with their makeshift barricade which caused it to explode and scatter. They were also pushed back by the force and another barrage of attacks whistled towards them. The girl who can create a tornado immediately stepped forward and enclosed them inside a whirling wind but the wind blades still penetrated the wall of the tornado. Dreigh saw what was happening, he ran and stood in front of the girl and put all of his concentration on stopping the wind blades. To stop a fast moving attack was extremely dangerous and energy consuming but Dreigh still did his best to ward off most of the wind blades.
The tornado disappeared while Dreigh kneeled on the ground panting and with a gash on his face and on his arms which he held out to protect himself from any wind blades that he couldn't stop. A mysterious man saw all of this and stopped his attacks.
A man in black floated towards their direction and slowly landed on the ground. Endo, Vira and Rond all stood in front of Dreigh with every intention to defend him against this unknown enemy. The man didn't attack instead he looked at them in silence which only made the remnants more tense. The stalemate was broken by whispering coming from their back but they didn't dare to turn around. One by one, small fairy shaped air floated towards the mysterious man and circled around him. There were more whispering and the man nodded.
He turned around and left the tense and scared remnants. No one dared to relax not until they were sure that the man really left. Deep sighs can be heard from each of them now that they were able to avoid confrontation with the man. Endo and the other two approached Dreigh and assessed his injuries.
"You're lucky to receive only shallow cuts from those wind blades and you were very impressive by stopping those attacks," Endo exclaimed in awe.
"Tsk, yeah I was able to stop some of the attacks but it consumed too much of my internal energy. Those attacks don't even contain full energy yet each blade was deadly," Dreigh explained.
"What do you mean?" Vira asked in a puzzled voice.
Dreigh looked at them like they were asking a silly question but the moment he saw their questioning gazes he could only explain. "Well you know that we remnants, have this internal energy which we use to generate the ability we have. The amount of internal energy we channel to every attack or move we make using our ability is dependent on the internal energy we have inside us. The stronger the internal energy a person have, the stronger their abilities are. Those who can limit the internal energy they channel through an attack have excellent control over their abilities." He explained after taking a deep breath.
All the remnants who heard this explanation suddenly had a moment of enlightenment and their gazes towards Dreigh suddenly changed. There was a subtle admiration on their gazes.
"Don't look at me like that, I just happened to read a few books about a remnant but there are still so many things I don't know about our abilities," Dreigh once again explained. It was a mystery on how remnants came to be and even the information about their abilities had very little information about them.