The patriots gathered at the promised place. More than four thousand members had made it, some of which were even high rankers.
Of the little time Ciaran had, he was able to think of a way to get them across. Some of them would die, but he was ready to make that sacrifice.
"Paul, I need you to make me a tower. The higher you make it, the better." He didn't tell him the details.
Diana wanted to point out his plan was insane, but the girl still couldn't look him in the eyes. She grew up with a family that wasn't so keen on sharing any emotion, let alone all of it, gravity.
'Can you make sure I and Diana serve this?' He asked, and the wind blew with a positive answer.
'Do you think half of these fools will live through this?' This time his helper stayed silent.
"Everyone gathers in a circle. We are about to begin the transfer." He yelled out, once he was informed that this was the maximum the new tower could grow.
Then the kid began to work. He asked all the Water mages to provide him with all the water they could. Then he started creating his masterpiece. He pushed and twisted. He pulled and stretched, and finally, it was done. He had done it. He created a bubble.
The thing encompassed all of them and transferred them to the peak of the tower. They all thought that the silly little bubble would just get them to the top and burst. But they were wrong. As soon as they got on top the tower collapsed and the bubble went forward.
"Wind users, push with all you got, because if I see this bubble going down I am popping it, and we all die. Well, the ones who can fly won't, and they can save some of you, but most will die. Now if you want to live, you will push." He blackmailed them.
He threatened them with death, while being hundreds of meters above ground level, stuck in a bubble together with his victims. Most of them could kill him easily. None of them dared to try, less the bubble actually broke. So they greeted their teeth and pushed.
The wind users pushed, but the rest were helplessly sitting there and just enjoying the scenery. Bellow was one of the most dangerous places on the continent, and they were traveling at high speeds above it.
Due to this part of
the Tundra having more snow and forests, and fewer mountains, birds were rare. The creatures that could kill them on the ground, either couldn't reach them or didn't care enough to try.
They were slower than if they ran, but after seven whole nerve-wracking hours, they made it through. The landing was a little rocky, but other than that, everyone was fine.
"I am sorry to have done this without telling you first, but you would have never believed me that it was safe. I would never expose you to an untested method of transportation." Ciaran lied through his teeth.
Paul and Diana knew it, but everyone else was in shock and awe at the simple brilliance of the masked man.
'As expected of Ciaran Clades, the Chef is always cooking up new revolutionary inventions.' The two Grand Mages thought.
"Now that we are here, let's show those unholy fucks there are some rules that can't be broken. Who is ready to spill some blood?" He asked.
"Yeah," They cheered.
"I asked, WHO IS READY TO KILL THE PIGS?" He was pumping them up.
"WE ARE."
"KILL THEM ALL."
"DEATH TO THE EMPIRE"
"DEATH TO THE POACHERS"
They all screamed, letting their bloodlust take control of them.
Ciaran led them into battle. They were loud, and they were furious.
He led them to the poacher's camp.
"Go wild, and show me what the people of Auroria are worth." He challenged them.
The patriots charged, and the slather began.
Ciaran of course only stood in the backline with Paul and he watched. Diana was nowhere to be seen.
"What are you planning now kid? I know you, there is a deeper thought in your actions." The environmentalist asked.
He was more than a little unhappy with the kid. At first, his crazy ideas seemed to be the ravings of a madman, only working because of a stroke of luck. Then the old man thought the kid was actually a genius. But now he knew, that he was right both times to a degree.
Ciaran was truly brilliant, but his brilliance came with the cost of his common sense and his morality. The boy didn't care, about himself, about these people, about anyone, but himself, and the silver knight. And now the knight was gone, out of harm's way.
He knew the boy was planning something big, and he wanted nothing more to do with his plans. So, he isolated them and began his interrogation.
"You know when we first wanted to start hunting, we needed someone for protection. There were four people available. But to me, there was only one option, the others were either too annoying or just straight-up unreliable." The boy said.
Paul thought the boy was trying to butter him up, but then he felt a chill. He had felt it when he saw the duo casually slather thirty people before, but now the boy was alone, and looking only at him.
"Diana suggested you. You were old, and unbothered with politics. You only cared about your research, and deep down, I think you are a very kind person"
"Listen, kid, if you think flattery will –
"I disagreed with her."
He cut the old man off, with an invisible frown on his masked face. This was his stage, and the old man had no lines on it.
"Not openly, of course, she would never have agreed to my plan. At least I thought she wouldn't, but when I told her what I was planning, she wasn't happy with it, but she supported me."
He sat down on a block of ice and sighted.
"She is too kind to me Paul, how is a boy like me not to catch feelings huh? She cares for me, she supports me, and she sees the real me, inside and out, and still looks at me with kind eyes. My cold dead heart never stood a chance, did it?" He laughed. It was a sad dry laugh.
He couldn't complain to Diana about this, not without being the biggest loser on Dyrta, so he chose to do so using Paul as a confessional.
"What does any of that have-
"God, you just don't get when to shut the fuck up do you, old man? I was getting to that." Ciaran said in an angry frustrated voice made fearsome by the mask.
"As I was saying, before being interrupted by the prop that has become too full of itself, I chose someone else, and I went to enlist him in my little plan. Take a wild fucking guess who it is." He said, fully pissed off as he saw the old man wanted to speak again.
Before he could, a fist went through his chest, and then another one crushed his head.
"You are very fond of drama, I need to remember not to interrupt you when you set up your little plays." The pugilist said.
Seeing the old man dead killed off all of Ciaran's negativity. The old man had been kind to him, but only because the boy offered him benefits. He had been keeping quiet so far, but he was reaching his breaking point. Good people always did, it was monsters that could be relied upon.
The pugilist only asked the boy to provide him with a suitable training ground, and Ciaran agreed. There was not a drop of morality or remorse in either of them combined.
Soon Diana came back with the Empire's hunters, and a fight between two large groups broke out. With the help of the pugilist, a small number of the patriots managed to escape.
"The rotten old man betrayed me… I am sorry, I have failed you." He said, with his mask off.
The small group of survivors contained the two Grand Mages who knew him.
"No Ciaran, it's these disloyal imperial pigs that are at fault not you. We came here to clean up their incompetence and yet they ambush us. Blood for blood, I say." One of them said, fire in his eyes.
He sent them off into the passage to the Kingdom, where the General was waiting for them at the halfway point. He had promised her a just cause for war, and he was going to deliver.
As everything was descending into chaos, and everyone was panicking, a masked man, and his moon knight were sitting silently in their little cave.
"Are you disgusted with me, with what I have done?" He asked her.
In response, she have him a gentle hug and shared her heart with him.
He got his answer, which was a hard no, among other things.