"You know, it is just as my father used to say. A foolish king seeks war, a wise king avoids it; but it is the wisest of the kings who prepares for it" said the man dressed in red, from head to toe; red hat, red tuxedo, red shoes, even red gloves, "Now, enough talking, let me show you the product."
"Finally." Ansh scoffed.
The man dressed in red turned around and pulled out a rifle from a chest, "Your highness, I take that you are well-informed by the bolt-action rifles."
"Yes."
"Then you must know that no matter how revolutionary the bolt once was, it is now nothing but a slow reloading piece shite; like, you have to first release the bolt, then pull it back, wait for the bullet to enter the chamber, and then insert the bolt back, such a hassle. And not to mention, several times the bolt gets stuck mid-battle, that can surely prove to be fatal. So I have come all the way from Kairo, to show you the might of..."
The man held up the rifle in his hand and finished his sentence, "The Lever-action rifle, straight from the gunsmiths of Kairo. A light-weight, rather slim rifle with the ammo capacity on 9, plus 1 in the chamber; the lever makes cycling through the bullets easy, making several follow up shots possible."
Kurlsun, the man in red, supposedly the son of a wealthy merchant of the Kaido Guild, had come to Agnisthal to sell a new kind of rifle, one that was not well-known there, yet. The Emperor was much satisfied with speed of these new rifles; so, he decided to equip all his soldiers with lever-action rifles, for the war that he sought.
After making the deal and delivering the first 7 crates of rifle to the Empire, Kurlsun returned to his room in the guest lodge, where he found someone unexpected.
"You took your sweet time kissing that Emperor's ass."
"What the ffff… Friend! Oh my old friend, I thought I'd never see you again!" Kurlsun was a bit startled but calmed himself immediately.
"Really? Its just the two of us here Kurlsun, you don't need to act." The man waiting for Kurlsun in the room was none other than Kai Yamada.
"Oh! Trust me, I'd rather not act at all. I mean, selling illegal weapons to a freaking Emperor, that too of Agnisthal! Man, if he even got whiff of the bullshit I was spewing, I would've been burned alive, in the middle of the market!! And I'm pretending as this 'Kurlsun' guy, wouldn't this bother him?" The man pretending to be Kurlsun shouted at Kai.
"Calm down Jacob, you're a phenomenal actor. There's no way in hell the Emperor will find out that this is a façade. And for Kurlsun, his mother was from the Kaido family; trust me, he has way too much wealth to worry about someone borrowing his name."
Jacob, an aspiring actor, was easily swayed by such flattery. "But, Kai. Isn't this too dangerous? Like, fooling a whole empire into buying rifles from us? And by the way, where the hell did you get all those rifles?"
"Well, I stopped some smugglers' ship a few months ago, I got those from there."
"What?! You sold illegal guns to the Emperor? Why? For the money?"
"The money is not the goal, Jacob. The war that is coming is a needless war. Too many lives will be taken, for nothing but vengeance. I cannot let that happen, never!" Kai spoke with great determination.
"Wait! You're planning to stop a war, by providing them with more guns? Are you seriously out of your goddamn mind?!" Jacob asked restlessly.
"Well, the plan is a guaranteed success."
"How?"
"The Khandavans do not have that much wealth to buy guns for war. Agnisthal on the other hand, has much to spare. If we do not interfere, Khandava will be gone before they can even have a chance to defend. So I interfered a little."
"What did you do?"
"Me? No, no, no, I didn't do anything. You did; you sold them rifles that will just stop mid-battle."
"I did what?" Jacob was both shocked and petrified.
"The guns you sent them as samples are fully functioning; but the huge shipment of rifles that are meant for the soldiers, can only fire 33 shots before jamming forever."
"You're plan is to take away their range?"
"Exactly! It may not be much, but once they lose the range, Khandavans will have a bit more chance to protect themselves."
"But that would not stop the war; it'll only prolong it."
"Yes, it will. And maybe, we would find a way to actually stop the war with the time we stole." Kai turned around to leave the room, but Jacob stopped him,
"Kai. What you're doing is much bigger than yourself. You are taking a side, in a war that is not yours. This can never end well, Kai."
"I know, this is much, much bigger than anything I've ever done. But I must do this, if I don't stop the Brethren, they will take over not only Agnisthal, but Khandava as well. And then it won't be long before they are the supreme rulers of this world. I cannot let that happen."
"I, uh. I just hope you know what you're doing. Stay safe Kai, and be careful."
"You too, old friend. Take care." Kai said as he departed.
_____________________________________________________
"Oye Daichi!" Kai called for Daichi who was waiting near the main gate to the capital, "Is he not here yet?"
"NO. But, you're not so covert for someone that is wanted in the whole Empire."
"Oh come on! Like they can even catch me if they saw me. But, why isn't he here yet?" Kai asked, "You didn't just miss him, did you?"
"NO. I've been here for…." Daichi couldn't finish his sentence, as somebody did it before him.
"For 2 hours, its not like I wouldn't notice his awful black ponytail." It was the person they were waiting for.
"Lui!" Kai yelled in excitement, "I was starting to get worried that you won't show up."
"Why won't I? You called for me, of course I will come. And since this involves the Brethren, I'm upset that you didn't call me sooner."
Lui Norn, one of Kai's first students, had arrived at Agnisthal, at the request of his Sensei. Lui possessed an ability that was not just rare and mind-boggling, it defied logic and beliefs.
The three of them got back to their hideout and drew a ritual circle, in which Lui sat in the middle.
Lui asked Kai, "Sensei, I know must've thought about this a thousand times. But are you sure, that this is the way?"
"Yes, Lui. I have already done what I could, but now I must know what comes next. I need you to look into the future for me." Kai answered with surety.
"I will sensei. But you do realize that the moment we find out the most probable future, the chances of us going down the path to cause that exact future increases ten folds, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"Alright then. Daichi, take care of me after I faint."
"No need to say it, I would've done it anyways." Daichi replied
"Lets start" Lui interlocked his fingers except the thumbs and index fingers, closed his eyes and started chanting a spell,
"ᛏᚺᛖ ᛈᚨᛋᛏ ᛁᛋ ᛋᛖᛏ ᛁᚾ ᛋᛏᛟᚾᛖ, ᛒᚢᛏ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚠᚢᛏᚢᚱᛖ ᛁᛋ ᚾᛟᛏ.
ᛏᚺᛖ ᛈᚱᛖᛋᛖᚾᛏ ᛗᚨᚤ ᛒᛖ ᚢᚾᛒᛖᚨᚱᚨᛒᛚᛖ, ᛚᛁᚴᛖ ᚹᛁᚾᛏᛖᚱ'ᛋ ᚲᛟᛚᛞ ᛟᚱ ᛋᚢᛗᛗᛖᚱ'ᛋ ᚺᛟᛏ
ᛚᛖᛏ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚠᚢᛏᚢᚱᛖ ᛁ ᛋᛖᛖ, ᛒᛖ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚠᚢᛏᚢᚱᛖ ᛁ ᛋᛖᛖᚴ.
ᛗᚨᚤ ᛗᚤ ᛚᛟᚡᛖᛞ ᛟᚾᛖᛋ ᛒᛖ ᛋᚨᚠᛖ, ᚨᚾᛞ ᛗᚨᚤ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚺᚨᚡᛟᚲ ᚾᛖᚡᛖᚱ ᚹᚱᛖᚨᚴ."
Suddenly Lui opened his eyes, but his eyes were normal no more. Lui's eyes turned blood-red, the pupils were gone; all that remained were 3 circular black rings in his red eyes. And in each of those rings emerged 3 more eyes, human eyes.
Those eyes were small, but they showed real emotions, the emotions that were yet to be felt.
"Lui, can you hear me? What do you see?"
Lui remained silent, as if he couldn't hear Kai at all. But then suddenly he spoke, "Pain"
"What? Whose pain?"
"The ones who didn't deserve it. All I see is death and destruction. The war, the armies, and him."
"Who?" Kai asked.
"I don't know. But he's not a part of either armies; he is in the middle?" Lui seemed confused, and so were Daichi and Kai, "They stopped!"
"The armies? Why"
"Because of him. He's standing in the middle; he stopped the war?"
"What the….? Do you see anything else?"
"No, but I do hear something."
"What? What do you hear?"
"They are all chanting. They are chanting his name."
"What name? What is his name?"
"I can't quite make it out. Its fuzzy. Let me focus a bit."
"Yes, yes, focus."
"Aa…. Agni?" Lui said hesitantly.
"What did you say? What is his name?" Kai asked, his voice cracked.
"Agni! The name they all are chanting. His name is Agni!"