"This isn't good, Maruq. The enemy is strong."
"We can handle this. We cannot run."
They charged together at a figure floating in the air. The worst part was that none of their attacks affected it, yet when it struck, the impact was painful and wide in range.
"We stand no chance, Maruq! This isn't an ordinary enemy!"
Even Maruq did not know what to do. He was one of the strongest in the group, but if his attacks had no effect on the enemy, what use was his strength?
Suddenly, a sharp pain struck their heads. Only five of them remained standing at that moment.
All of them groaned in agony as their heads throbbed. Then came the coughing of blood, and one by one, they collapsed.
He woke up, slowly opening his eyes. "It's dark," he whispered. "Where are we?" He scanned the surroundings but saw nothing. He tried to move his hands, only to realize they were bound.
"Lishk. Are you there?" he shouted.
"I'm here," came the reply from a distance.
"Are the others awake?"
"I'm awake."
"Me too."
"I'm awake as well."
"I'm sorry. Despite my leadership, I was unable to defeat the enemy."
"Don't carry all the burden, Maruq. You're not alone."
"The question is how we escape. I can't hear anything except our voices."
Silence filled the space. Each of them was thinking. Giving up easily was never in their nature. They had been trained for situations like this long before they were sent on missions.
At that moment, Maruq thought of Jauna. It had been a month since they last saw each other. He wondered if she was already worried about him.
He missed her. He longed to kiss her.
Then they heard someone sobbing.
"Who is that?" Maruq asked.
"I want to go home. I don't want this anymore. If we make it back, I'm never returning to this kind of profession."
Maruq understood. He had not expected things to end up like this either.
"We'll make it home. Just have faith in our Creator."
Kreeeeeeeek...
They heard the creaking of old metal. The cell they were in opened. Five figures dressed in black entered. They could not make out their features. It seemed the figures were accustomed to the dark, as each one moved directly towards them.
The one who approached Maruq placed a hand on his forehead. Gradually, he lost consciousness. The same happened to his companions. The black-clad figures carried them away to another place.
In a section of the building marked with a six-pointed star, the unconscious bodies of Maruq and the others were laid down.
The figures began chanting. A piece of heated metal, glowing with embers, was prepared. It was small, just enough to fit the back of their hands. The symbol was then branded onto the napes of their necks.
The young men, lying unconscious, seemed to feel nothing as this was done to them.
Only their companions bore witness to what was happening at that moment.
Two hours later, they began to open their eyes one by one. None of them remembered anything. Not even their own names. They were approached individually and given new names, along with missions to carry out. They had become members of a cult hidden from the world, bringers of disaster, instillers of fear, the nightmares of the people. The "Ordo Vireth."
From that moment on, they lived believing they had always belonged to that cult. They spread chaos, killed living beings, and moved through life as if without direction. Their numbers grew, and they followed only the orders of those above them.
Maruq rose in rank within Ordo Vireth due to his evident potential. For a long time, they operated in the shadows, unseen by the public.
Meanwhile, when Jauna received the news that Maruq had not returned, she mourned for two years, waiting for the day he might come back. Yet even in grief, she continued working and studying advanced medicine.
By the third year of his absence, Jauna said her farewells to her mother and to Maruq's parents. She decided to leave their planet, as she no longer had a reason to stay. Another reason was the competition in her chosen field.
She eventually found her way to the human world after learning from an acquaintance that someone there had a relative living among humans. A mage was selling a portal intended to send someone like her into the human world, a place without powers. Its destination was random. No one knew where the buyer would end up.
The day after she purchased it, she used it immediately. Before stepping through, she looked back one last time, hoping that somehow Maruq would appear and stop her from leaving.
But until the very end, it never happened.