Kareth watched as, on that day, the Supreme Leader summoned his ability and released a poison cloud into the Eastern Forest. Right before his eyes, the defender of their Realms initiated a genocide.
"What was that attack?" Kareth asked.
"A simple manipulation of this world's chemicals to create a result," the Leader replied.
"That ability of yours… it's forbidden, isn't it? I've read the Codexes, and by our laws, you can't use something like that."
"No one will know so long as they live in the cities and the villages."
"Yeah, and what about me then?"
"You, of course, will be dealt with."
During his training, the Supreme Leader had been given secluded locations where he could refine his abilities in controlled tests. The tests proved effective, while the surrounding witnesses were removed. He was yet another project from the shadow reserve of the Lords, an experiment devoted to powers too dangerous to ever be released among the people of the Realms.
And now that the chemical plague had been unleashed, the Supreme Leader had already prepared his safeguard, because long before the attack, through the square markings on his palms, he had synthesized an antidote and transferred it to his Soldiers. This meant that when they entered the Eastern Forest, they would tear apart any wanderers unopposed.
He could have killed them all with this cloud that he released, but instead the Supreme Leader chose to make the poison's effect more gradual. This was intentional. When the time came, he would release a second wave of poison that would finish them.
Hunters staggered through the forest, with falling limbs.
"I feel sick," one muttered.
"I don't know what's happening," another said. "Maybe if we can reach the—"
A flash of darkness.
Both were decapitated in a single instant.
"Are these the ones?" asked a Faceless Soldier.
"No," replied the other. "Further ahead."
Scenes like this unfolded across the forest. Bandits, hunters, beasts, none could withstand what had entered their domain. No combination of Axiom abilities could ever hope to stop them. None would ever dare to fight the Faceless Soldiers.
Who would confront those who had lived their entire lives upon the Abrahamic Path and transcended into the Higher Self? This was the passage into the Second Tier, into Axiom beyond humanity. The Path of Abraham was guarded by the Lords for a reason.
It was said that the training of the Faceless Soldiers began in childhood. After spending years in silence and purity, they were made to build cohesion by slipping into towns and villages together, killing together. By the time they became Soldiers, their bond was absolute; each would sever his own limbs without hesitation to protect another.
"Perfect creatures of violence," Maereth once called them. "Who love the game of human."
But it was more than brutality.
When a First Tier user activated Axiom, mind, body, and spirit worked in union. But when one reached the Higher Self, the body became nothing more than a vessel of pure spiritual energy, directed by a silent, precise mind.
This meant that they fought without fatigue, without hesitation, without emotion.
A Higher Self could break the sound barrier in motion, shatter diamonds with a strike, exchange blows at speeds rivalling light itself.
A Soldier lived permanently in that state, and if such a being ever escaped its conditioning, it would awaken to a void of two selves within it that were no longer entirely its own.
It would already be dead.
"How about it?" Maereth asked Issen as they fled, Ashar and Bethryl slung across their backs.
"What do you mean?"
"Stay behind. Fight them."
"No chance."
"I've always wanted to fight a Higher Self user. We're a tricky combination. I'm sure we could find a way."
"They're not ordinary Higher Selves," Issen said through clenched teeth. "You've seen what they do when they're unleashed. They enjoy it."
They ran.
"So what do we do?" Issen asked. "Is this where it ends?"
"Looks like it," Maereth said, breathing heavily. "I can feel them getting closer. Oh well. There's always a time for dying, isn't there—"
She suddenly vomited onto the ground.
"Damn it!" Issen cursed. "The poison. We can't handle this and them at the same time. What do we do? What do we do?"
Maereth threw an invisibility blanket over them.
Three shadows brushed past.
They remained still.
"They brought an army," Maereth whispered. "We can't beat them. And with the poison… I think I'm finally starting to understand."
"Wait," Issen said suddenly. "Where are we?"
"We came down from the mountains. Near the river trail."
"But which mountain did we just cross?"
Ashar's eyes opened.
"No…" he murmured.
"What?" Maereth demanded.
"This is the forgotten path from ancient times. And beneath it…"
"The Abandoned Kingdom," Maereth breathed.
"I've heard the legends," Issen said. "They had everything down there. They might still have healing spells. An antidote."
"No…" Ashar groaned weakly. "You can't."
But Maereth had already thrown off the blanket.
They turned back toward the mountain.
From above, the Supreme Leader observed the forest.
Behind him, Kareth knelt with his head lowered.
"You will soon have a role to play," the Leader said calmly. "You have been kept alive for that purpose."
"I refuse to do anything for you."
"I have already placed the gene within your blood. Its effects will begin soon. You have no choice."
Kareth tried to remember what had happened as he lay dying in the forest.
It wasn't the Soldiers who saved him. No… someone else had intervened, and the Soldiers only found him afterward.
By now, at least half the groups within the Eastern Forest were dead.
"All this effort," Kareth said bitterly. "All this killing, and for what? The Hawk of the Shadows isn't down there. You could have captured them, learned something, but instead, you chose slaughter. Tell me, does Ashar's existence truly intimidate you that much?"
The Supreme Leader studied him briefly, then returned his gaze to the forest.
"He is not the only one," Kareth continued. "Even if you kill Ashar, there will be others. Shenric ensured that there were multiple users of the Eye of Sophia."
He paused.
"I did not like the man Shenric was. But I now see how effective his thinking was when he brought that power to the Shadow Clans."
"It was not Shenric," the Supreme Leader said, "who first brought the Eye of Sophia into this Realm."
Far below, in the shadow of trees and rushing water, Maereth and Issen reached a widening stream that emptied into a deep ravine.
"This is it," Issen said. "The path to the Abandoned Kingdom."
"Are you sure?"
"We'll have to find out."
The poison had less than two hours left to finish its work.