๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
The moment I left the palace there was no one standing in the front of the palace, the strike was over, I went to Raz's place and whenever someone who participated in the strike saw me they would ask if we won, I would always answer "the Godking didn't give us nothing but allowing us to keep doing strikes" This would anger anyone who heard, even more those who lost someone in the strike, but for those who have a brain or were educated they might see as an enormous concession the Godking gave us.
When I knocked on their door Raz opened it. He said for me to enter, so I did.
"I thought they had killed you when they started shooting" Raz said.
"No, if they killed me or arrested me it would be just a matter of time before another and bigger strike appears".
"Mika!" Said a happy voice behind him who came to hug me.
"Did the strike worked out?" Anya asked
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
"He gave us nothing besides the right to keep the strikes" I answered
"Shit, what are we gonna do then?"
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฏ๐บ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต.
"Let's gonna talk outside" I said to him, and he got it.
We left and walked for a bit until we got to the margins of the Salim river, It was already the beginning of the night, I ensured there was only the two of us then decided it was time to speak with him.
"I won't be coming home or at your house after today, so we won't be seeing each other for a long time!"
"What? why?" He said surprised
"Now it's time to be a bit more aggressive, if the Godking won't abide for our demands at goodwill, then forcing him we must"
"What do you mean by that? why would you not return home?" Raz asked
"We shall fight against the Godking, cause terror to force them to act, and because this I can't live here, where everyone knows me"
"This is too dangerous, you know that!"
"Yes, for this reason I ask you to not follow me, it may be too dangerous for you, the Godking already knows my face, they might come after you... or Anya."
"Are you going to risk your own life alone?!" Raz said upset.
"I never said that I will recruit some of the more devotees followers against the Godking, I just want you to not be a part of it"
"Why did you say that! Aren't we friends?"
"Yes, and it is exactly because of that that I don't want you to be a part of it!"
I was walking looking straightforward when I got a punch in my face and fallen to the ground, I took a bit of time to realize what happened, Raz punched me.
"I really hoped you to be Mikhail, but Mikhail would never dispose of a friend like this he said"
"DON'T BE STUPID, I am not disposing of you, I am protecting you, and besides I said on the first day, that I wasn't Mikhail or Levi, I was both of them!" I said cleaning the blood that spilt from my mouth.
"Let me help you then!"
"I can't let you do that Raz!"
"WHY?" he asked holding me by the collar
"Because of Anya"
"Anya?"
"You would need to leave her alone forever or at least until the government falls, and even so the Godking could try to kill her as a form to reach you, if you help me more you are going to put Anya in danger! Do you get it now?
He released me, but he didn't say anything for a time until...
"Even so, If you ever need some help don't be afraid to ask!" he said before turning his back on me
"farewell" I said to him
He didn't say anything to my parting
I went home and slept my last day in that house.
The first thing I did when I woke up was left early, I was a bit reluctant to leave the home I lived my entire life in this world, but nothing could stop me. I went to a bar near my house where it has basically turned into my follower's headquarters, they would always gather here before leaving with me, but today I just sit in at a table in the back and soon many of them came at me, it was a working day and there they were in a bar, I already knew what happened to them.
"Let me guess you were fired since you were seeing with me, or you were very active during the strike..."
Some looked at me angered, they were thinking that the strike would make their lives better, and for then nothing changed besides losing their own jobs.
"It's not Mikhail's fault, the culprit for this is the Godking!" said one of them, one of the younger ones, it made me happy to hear someone say something like that, it would make my work way easier.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ? ๐๐ข๐ต๐ซ๐ข๐ณ? ๐ฏ๐ฐ, ๐๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต? ๐ฏ๐ฐ, ๐๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ? ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณโฆ
๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
"You are right! Victor. The Godking betrayed his own people, and I won't stand still, but I will change the approach. No more I will be the nice guy, if it is blood he wants is blood he shall have!" Said Mikhail.
๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ.
"Exactly, what we should do now?" I asked him, but he didn't reply to me, he kept looking at the others, they were uncertain of keeping following Mikhail.
"I want you to remember the pain the Godking, the Saints, and even the factory owner inflicted to you, if you want revenge...no, not revenge, justice follow me, but I warn you if you decide to follow me you will have to leave your family behind, you will gather your stuff and maybe never return, I will be leaving now think carefully but fast, you have ten minutes"
Mikhail got up from the table and left the bar I quickly followed him with three other men who also made a quick decision, outside we waited for just a few seconds when one more man came at us, then after a minute came two other men and one kid, after a few more minutes a man and two women.
๐๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฎ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต
"Follow me!" Said Mikhail after the ten minutes passed
We followed him to the Salim river edge and kept walking until we were beneath a bridge.
"I think here is hidden enough. Make a circle!" Mikhail ordered and we made one, or at least tried our best, It ended more like a square than a circle. Mikhail probably realised that since he sighed but said nothing.
"The people who came here decided that they will leave their families, this is one chance to back down, leave the circle if you want, those who keep here will have to follow all my orders"
No one left.
"If Anyone here knows someone in the circle raise your arm!" He ordered
Two men who were side by side raised their arms, they both were strong and had black short hair.
"Who do you know" asked Mikhail to one of then
"We are brothers, Preacher" Said the other one who wasn't asked.
"Leave the circle both"
"Why?"
"Is too dangerous, if one of you is captured they will get a lot of intel about the other and even can use as a hostage or the other one as a spy. Please leave" explained Mikhail, but the men refused to leave
"Get out of the circle!" Said Mikhail, but they still kept among us.
"LEAVE NOW" Mikhail shouted looking almost like another person.
"If you won't leave I will have no choice other than killing you" Mikhail said pushing a revolver from his back and aiming at one of men.
"Wait we just want to be part of this!" said one of the man
"I already told you that I can't have you here, LEAVE NOW!"
They both got scared and left the circle and the bridge.
" I am sorry for this, but if you are afraid of me you should also leave"
But no one left.
"You kid, leave the circle, you are too young" said Mikhail to a boy who looked like had ten years old.
"Preacher, I don't have any family, I don't have nothing to lose. I won't leave if you don't give me a good reason! I don't even care if you shot me" said the boy!"
"You have your entire life ahead, don't risk it now"
"I don't care, please, I want to make part of this, I want to avenge my family"
Mikhail sighed again then said.
"Okay, but you won't do anything dangerous, and you won't do revenge with your own hand if this is what you want I ask you to leave the circle"
The boy didn't leave.
"Now I will institute some rules"
"First rule: You can't use your own names, I will distribute new names for you later, but I accept suggestions, but it can't be a Nickname you had in the past or anything it could be related to you"
"Second rule: You are forbidden to interact with your family and friends after retrieving your belongings today, this is for our and their safety."
"Third rule: Romance between our members is forbidden, the same applies to sexual assault."
"Fourth rule People who have uncommon hair colour, me included, will have to dye its hair to a more normal colour, I will buy the dyes." He said this looking at a woman with red hair who looked to be in her twenties.
"Fifty rule: Never call me Mikhail, or Preacher, call me Levi."
"Last rule: If you won't step down the circle now, you can't ever leave this group!" he said this and looked to everyone, no one left.
Any questions?"
"Why Levi?" I asked
"There is no reason, because of this it is a good name!" Levi answered.
"What happens if we broke a rule?" asked one bald man, he looked like the older one among us.
"it may vary, but if it's serious enough we might have to kill the person" he said with a threatening tone.
There was a small silence that could even hear some people gulping.
"If anyone has any suggestion for a name say it now!" said Levi changing the subject
"I want to use the name of my dead daughter" said the red-haired woman.
"what was her name?"
"Kathleen, she lived just for a few days, and I don't have any family so no one knows her."
"Okay, Katheleen" He answered calling her by the name of the Daughter.
"I would like to be called Werewolf" said one man he was very big, the taller and probably the stronger between us, he had a big brown beard that mixed with his hair.
"Why?"
"It was a joke of my wife a long time ago, we couldn't have children and I was so hairy and furry she started to think I was a werewolf hahaha." he said laughing in the end, it was more like a forced laugh than a genuine, like he was trying to force himself to be happy.
"I didn't need to know that, but okay Werewolf" Levi said putting his hand on his head like this talk was giving him a headache.
"I want to be named Altar it's a common name in the east of the country" Said one man he was probably a migrant who came from the east looking for jobs, he had straight short black hair.
"Any reason for the name?"
"Is just a name I've always liked, I heard it when was a child and always thought it was a cool name"
"Understood Altar"
"anyone more?"
"those without a name make a line then, do not complain about your new names"
We made a line I was the fourth one to be named.
The first one was a child, who was named child
๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ.
The second one was named iron, and the third was Steel.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต, ๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ... ๐๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณโฆ
"Rotciv!" I Said when it was my time for being chosen a name.
"What?" Levi asked not understanding what I just said.
"May I have the name Rotciv? it's Victor backwards"
"If is just you who makes it backwards, it won't be a problem, Rotciv"
After me it was the time of another woman, she had a long straight black hair, and looked to be in her forties.
"Mockingbird"
"Reason?"
"I've always dreamed of flying, reach the skies, so I choose a bird"
"Okay Mockingbird"
The name Levi chose for the group was Freedom Fighters, and it was composed by Me Rotciv, Levi, Katheleen, Werewolf, Altar, Kid, Iron, Steel and Mockingbird
"Each one shall return to his home, say goodbye for your families and gather his belongings, but travel light, and we shall meet here in 2 hours.
Everyone did as he ordered, I went home I said goodbyes to my brother, sisters, and to my mother, took my clothes and put them in a bag.
When everyone returned to the bridge Levi asked everyone.
"Whom here lives alone?"
Werewolf, Kathleen and Steel answered
"For a moment we will be using your houses as bases, but when we got more money we will only use safehouse, I will pay for our food, Kid your first mission is to find places where we could make safehouses, hiding places."
"I think I already know one"
"Good check it now, return in one hour."
"While his mission is to search for a safehouse, we are going to rob a Bank!"
๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
It's being some days since the strike is over, today was my free day, an order from the Godking himself from a long time ago, he thought I worked too much so he ordered me to have a free day once a week, but I convinced him to make just once a month, but for all angels. I liked to work, it gave me purpose, and in my free time, I would just roam the city with my son. it was more like working outside, we would often seek trouble, arrest some thieves, smugglers in the upper city, very rarely we would hunt outside city, not animals but monsters and demons, but they aren't as common as in the past, and my son was a way better hunter than me which would discourage me to hunt.
"With" is not exactly a good word for it, he doesn't like to appear in public, so he always uses his blessing of invisibility, and from time to time I would lose his presence and needed to ask him if he was still with me. We were returning to the palace after delivering some drug dealers to the authorities.
"Hey, boy are you there?" I whispered to the other people around don't think I was a crazy man walking in the upper district.
"Stop calling me Boy Sir, you gave me a name for a reason" whispered a voice from nowhere in return
๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
"We are not on a mission, so I will keep calling you Boy, and you call me father here" I answered grinning.
๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด.
We were in silence for a time, Ruslam wasn't a very talkative person, but then...
"There!" said the boy, but since he was invisible, there wasn't any way to know where he pointed it out.
"There where?" I asked looking around and saw it too...
We walked into the shop window to see a Saintnoble dagger, one from someone which we recently almost killed
"Should we question the shop owner now?" Asked the boy
"No, not now, at night, I will keep watching the shopowner from afar, you go to the palace and take our outfits, if there are any angels there already bring them.
"Yes, sir" The boy said and his presence vanished.
I went to an alley and became invisible before flying to the building opposing the store, I kept guard there and after one hour my son returned, he found me even though I was also using invisibility.
"you should save up some mana, you already are using invisibility for almost the entire day"
"I still have plenty left"
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆโฆ
We watched the store for hours until it was night and the shop owner closed it. we quickly knocked him off, kidnapped him and took the dagger from the shop window, we brought him to the angel's headquarters at the underground of the royal palace where we would investigate him.
When the man woke up he was terrified, he had a hood on his head in order for him not to see anything in case he woke up while we brought him here.
"Please you can take anything from my store, just spare my life" said the man who thought this was just a normal kidnapping.
I took his hood and he looked at my mask.
"hgghhhsk" he got even more scared after seeing me.
"So you know, who we are?" I asked him calmly.
"I just heard the storiesโฆ" he said sweating
"which stories?" I kept asking him
"Just stories, more like legends really, about the angels, those who walk at night with black robes and masks the hands of the Godking, his enforcers"
"And why are you scared of us?"
"Because of the second part of those stories"
"keep going" I said to him gesturing for him to keep telling about those stories.
"in those stories, the angels always kill the people after torturing them, or destroy, houses, villages or entire cities, in the end there is none to ever tell the tale about them.
"If there is no one to tell the tale, how do those stories keep showing up? But you are right"
"Why did you kidnap me? I've never done anything wrong, please release me I have a wife and children"
"We brought you here just to answer some questions, Ruslam"
Ruslam then put in the table the dagger with the inscription of the divine duchy of Ruriko, they were Saintnobles who were purged a long time ago, and recently we tracked one of their remnants, but he escaped.
"I want you to talk everything you know about this dagger, and the one who sold it to you, if you tell us everything, and only the truth, you may be going home again if you promise to never talk about this to anyone."
" I knew this dagger was stolen!" said the man
"Stolen you said?"
"Yes, stolen, some time ago a man named Levi, with white hair, he was using poor clothes but he knew how to speak properly, sold this dagger to me, he said he was a former merchant and I believed him, I bought the dagger"
"Hmm, I want you to tell me everything, every small detail about the story he told you, every small detail about his appearance, every small detail about how he spokes, TELL ME EVERYTHING!" I said threatening him in the end.
The man told me everything he could remember.
"May I leave now" he asked hopefully
"sure, Ruslam"
And I could hear the sound of his muffled scream for a second before he died, Ruslam used the Saintnoble's dagger to cut the man throat.
"What do you think Sir?"
"Hmm" I began to walk around the room, walking would help me to think.
"I have two theories, one is that Aleksej survived and sold the dagger to gather more funds for his plans..." I said the first one and kept in silence thinking in the second theory, and the more I thought more it made sense.
"And the other one?" Ruslam asked.
"Do you know what blessing Aleksej had?" I asked him in turn.
"A trash one"
"Yes, but which one?"
"Sorry Sir, I don't know"
"White hair"
"And why is this important?"
"I don't think that Aleksej is alive anymore! I know him, he was too proud of his family to sell this dagger, or to fake his own name, Leviโฆ it seems like a Valesi name for me, but not sure.
"Valesi?"
"Hole Republic of Valesi, it was a very small country in the past but nowadays is a medium-size country"
"Why do you think this is relevant?"
"I don't know yet, but there should be a reason for picking this name"
"Why didn't we found the body of Aleksej?"
"You never saw the body of someone with blessings dead yet, right?"
"right"
"And never will you, if someone with a blessing dies their body vanishes in light, you didn't get his blessing because someone killed him before he died from the bleeding"
"So you think that someone in the lower city might have a blessing"
"yes"
"Aleksej had a lot of intel about the Godking that could be dangerous, isn't good that he is dead?"
"Hmm yes, but having a lowborn with a blessing could be a problem, and I think I have a suspicion of whom got a blessing"
"Whom?"
"That man, Mikhail"
"His hair was indeed whitish, but it was more like a blond getting grey than white" Said Ruslam.
"Sometimes It takes time to hair blessings getting effect, if he got it his hair gonna become whiter and whiter. This is just a theory, there is no proof he got the blessing, but it would explain some things about him, our investigations on him in the past appointed he would pay a beer for everyone every time he went to a bar, at that time we thought he saved enough money or he had a backer behind him, but what if he was the one who sold this dagger?"
"Should we stop looking for Aleksej?"
"No, this is just a theory, maybe Aleksej just had a change in mind and is alive and well, maybe it's just another commoner who got the blessing, we have to consider all possibilities.
"Mikhail... are we going to bring him here?"
"Hmm, No... we can't, not yet at least, people already know and trust him, if he dies or goes missing they will think it was your holiness fault, but we will put him on surveillance."
But it was too late, Mikhail was missing he left his home, and no one could find him.