The illuminated door exploded backward with a hollow sound, as if it had been crushed from the inside. Shards of wood flew everywhere in the room as Kaen and Riven were forced to close their eyes. Their ears were ringing as after a bomb exploded.
When the eyes of the two brothers reopened in fear, amid the dust and the faint light of the few remaining lit candles, three Grey Mantles took shape, bursting into the house. Screaming confused words, they pointed their truncheons at Riven.
The older brother leaped out of bed, followed by Kaen. Although they were sleeping just moments before, their reflexes were always ready thanks to their hard training.
"It's him! He's the thief, get him!"
Kaen immediately recognized the guard with the black mustache. He was the man who had accused and threatened his brother that evening. His baton was pointed towards Riven. Why was the guard so angry at him? Everyone in the mine knew that the two brothers had always worked hard without a word. The raid made no sense.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Riven shouted at the top of his lungs, clenching his fists and facing the guards menacingly. "I found a mana crystal on the ground and immediately put it back in the-" as he spoke, Riven interrupted himself, widening his eyes. Someone else was coming through the door, behind the Grey Mantles.
The air immediately became heavy, as if the force of gravity had suddenly increased. A feeling of fear quickly spread throughout the house. Dense, unwarranted, corporeal fear.
Kaen tried to focus on the figure appearing behind the remains of the door. Walking slowly, he made no sound, as if he was floating just millimeters away from the rough wooden floor.
A tall figure, dressed in a heel-length cape, black as ink, embroidered in silver filaments resembling arcane seals. Under the cape, a dark purple tunic was visible, with three-fingered ceremonial gloves. From the belt hung a large golden key.
To complete the fearsome scene, two piercing purple eyes shone in their own light on the mask worn by that arcane being, whose forehead was covered by a long hood. He wore a mask of opaque, gray glass with black veins that moved like living cracks emitting faint echoes as if each word were a relected voice in an empty cathedral.
Kaen and Riven stood motionless at that vision, feeling their heavy bodies and labored breathing.
"Archmage, this is the boy who was holding the crystal at the end of the shift. We can't estimate how many times he managed to steal without being noticed" the mustached guard said again, turning to the masked figure. "These two have been working in the mine since they were kids. They know every nook and cranny of that place, they certainly know how to steal without being noticed," replied another guard, drawing a gun and pointing it at Riven.
Archmage? How could an Archmage be asked about such an irrelevant question as the theft of a mere mana crystal?
Archmages were among the most important wizards of the Order. They were familiar with the oldest magical domains, as well as being eternal guardians of knowledge. In the hierarchy of the Arkanor Conclave they answered only to the direct orders of the Supreme Archmage.
In addition to being so politically important, they were also significantly more powerful than the High Mages, known as Keepers of the Eye and Mages, or Keepers of the Seal. Archmages manipulated mana to perfection, being able to alter reality and multiple elements at once. Countering an Archmage was impossible as well as an outrage against the Conclave, an insult to the central government of Aetherra.
After the guard's words, the Archmage's masked face turned toward Riven. The purple eyes shining on the glassy surface of the mask entered his soul; every single muscle of the young miner was tense. His limbs could not move.
"What should I do?! Why are they so mad at my brother! Why did a fucking Archmage break into our house with the Grey Mantles! Why?! Why?!" Kaen's mind was cluttered as a stormy ocean. The blood boiled in his veins and the feeling of fear kept rising, beginning to make his legs shake.
The Archmage looked at the mustached guard and nodded.
"Come on, let's take the boy away! The Archmage has spoken!" he exclaimed, ordering his thugs to kidnap Riven. Almost simultaneously, the two guards in the rear approached Riven, pulling out handcuffs.
"Stop, you bastards!" Kaen thundered, no longer able to hold back his anger. If he wanted to save his brother, he should have acted immediately, without overthinking. Riven was under the effect of some strange spell. He was still motionless at the foot of the bed, as if paralyzed.
Kaen's shout again broke the silence in the room: the Archmage's face turned toward him and so did the three guards.
Kaen sprinted forward at a speed that preceded the Grey Mantles' reflexes. With a violent knee strike he struck the jaw of one of the three guards, causing him to spit blood and teeth. When his feet touched the ground again, he ducked, spun around, grabbing a piece of the destroyed door.
With that cracked wooden stick Kaen ended the round by lifting himself up forcefully and throwing his improvised weapon toward the guard closest to Riven. The large wooden shard first stabbed the Grey Mantle's neck, jolting his body backward and nailing him to the wall like a macabre painting.
The whole scene lasted about five seconds, just long enough for Riven to escape the spell that had frozen him. Watching his brother strike one guard and kill another, Riven screamed with all the air in his lungs, clenching a fist and striking the toothless guard in the stomach.
"You damned animals! How dare you! Die! Die like rats!" shouted the mustached guard, pointing the gun at Kaen and pulling the trigger.
The bullet hit Kaen's leg, piercing his knee and causing him excruciating pain. A second later, Riven was already behind the guard, ready to hit him with another hook, more powerful than the first. The blow struck the base of Grey Mantle's back, causing him to lean forward and fall to his knees, coughing.
Kaen stepped back, ripped a piece of cloth from his threadbare clothing, and quickly tied it around his calf, ready to fight again. He looked at Riven.
For a moment, the two brothers smiled at each other. The sense of vengeance they felt at that moment was unspeakable. A moment later, a flash.
When Kaen's eyes opened, he was lying on the ground. With a constant ringing in his ears, he was unable to get up immediately; he kept losing his balance.
"Ri...riven," he murmured, turning his head while he was bent over on the ground, searching for his brother with his eyes. He would never forget these moments.
Riven lay unconscious on the floor between the bed and the fireplace. Despite the wounds on his face and other parts of his body, he seemed to be alive. In front of him, the Archmage still had his hand outstretched after casting that powerful spell. It had only taken a few moments and a movement of his hand to knock Riven down and make Kaen unable to get up!
The mustachioed guard crawled out of the door, trying to get away from the house, still coughing in pain. "That bastard! He won't get away this time" Kaen thought quickly.
Any nullborn would never have been able to recover so quickly from the effects of such a perfect and precise "Shattergleam" spell. But Kaen's physical and moral strength was extraordinary. His anger was stronger than the stun, so much so that he regained his lucidity: he placed both hands on the ground and used them to leap forward, towards the guard.
He would have grabbed him from behind and snapped his neck. That mustachioed drunkard would never be a problem again. After the guard, it would be the Archmage's turn.
Before he could grab the Grey Mantle's body, Kaen was suspended in midair, his hands and feet dangling from the ground. "What the hell?!" he thought aloud as he looked down and realized he was floating.
The Archmage lifted two fingers of his hand and then moved it firmly to the left.
Kaen's body continued to move in the air like a rag doll, flying quickly to the side opposite the door and slamming hard into the wall above the fireplace.
The impact between his back and the wooden wall made Kaen spit blood, and he opened his eyes again to look fearlessly into the face of his true enemy. As the Archmage stood there with his two fingers raised, the guard managed to escape from the house, stumbling further down the street.
"Let me go, you bastard! Fight like a real man! Fight without magic if you dare!" Kaen said, flailing his arms and legs to free himself from the wizard's grip. The black metallic veins on the Archmage's grayish mask moved like sinister snakes while the spell was active. The mask itself must have been a magical item.
"Do you hear me! Let me go and fight!" Kaen's voice became more and more choked. As he spoke, he could feel his breath getting shorter and shorter, as if a noose was tightening around his throat. The Archmage had bent one of his two fingers.
With Riven's body at his feet, Kaen lay motionless against the wall, trying to fight the spell to keep from passing out.
Those piercing purple eyes were fixed on him.