descended into the crypt and went down the staircase and when he reached the crypt, he immediately picked up several coins and hid it in his clothing, he then ran back up the stairs and opened the hatchet to exit the crypt and as he had done multiple times he pushed a cart over it and covered it with some sheets. He ran back out and into the hallway before heading to the steps that were at the entrance. There he sat down with his brother on the steps waiting for the arrival of their escorts.
Just before evening, their escorts arrived and brought them back to the city, they entered the palace and as soon as Elis walked into the building, he ran up the stairs and into his room, changed out of his royal robes into something more urban, he threw his royal seal into his cabinet and dropped his bag and turned to leave. He saw Allan coming up the stairs and his brother asked him, “Elis, where are you going? You’ve been at this for a week, at random days you leave the palace and go off somewhere, father doesn’t even know of this. May I at least know where you always go off to?”. “I just go exploring the city, it beats staying in the palace all evening and night” said Elis. “Well can I come along with you Elis? You are right about being stuck in the palace” asked Allan. “No Allan, sorry you can’t, I prefer going out there by myself, I get that sense of adventure, you know what I mean” said Elis. “I understand; I’ll be seeing you” said Allan. “Bye” said Elis as he ran down the stairs. Henriet did not know about this as he was at the point directly in the middle of the northern region and the southern region, overseeing the building of the wall with the king of Diamonheim, Charles.
The wall will take some time to construct, the king will be absent for some time but he will return in a matter of weeks to govern his kingdom from Ohith and not from a faraway land. This gave Elis more opportunities for now, he wouldn’t have to be questioned by his father, who could easily find out and all that stood in his way was his casual brother, the guards, and the people. He avoided being recognised by the people when he went to meet Lumbre, he would wear common folk’s clothing, cover his face, and not wear his royal medallion. Elis ran down the stairs and left the hall to exit the palace from behind, whenever he left to meet Lumbre, he wouldn’t exit from the gate, the guards would obviously question him, they would ask him about his missing medallion and where he wold be off to without it. Behind the palace, there was no gate, just a wall, which Elis easily scaled and climbs over. After climbing over the wall Elis must dart his way through the crowded city streets of the northern part of Ohith. The northern sector of the city was infamous for its crime, if Elis ventured through the streets with his medallion, he would be recognised immediately, putting his safety at risk. Lumbre’s meeting place was intentionally the lowest place in the kingdom, his strategy to change Elis, exposing him to the darker side of the city, marginally destroying the lavish and royal lifestyle he has lead with his brother all this while.
People lived harsher in the northern part of the city, Elis even watched a man robbing an old woman. It was vile, many thieves, murderers, the homeless and the desperate were about, Elis had to be armed and he had to be careful in such a dark part of Humanity. He walked fast, trying his best not to attract any attention and leave the crowds quickly. He reached his destination, a small shack far from the bustling streets of the main lane. He knocked on the door four times and the door opened, a chain lock, preventing it from opening all the way, so that person on the inside could see who it was. Lumbre’s head slowly appeared from behind the door, an eerie and ambitious smile upon his face. “Come in, Master Reeve” said Lumbre. He unlocked the chain and let Elis into the shack, training or teaching wasn’t done in the shack, it was a small, empty structure instead the activity was done beneath it.
A suspicious manhole cover on the ground was the only thing inside the structure, Lumbre bent down and opened it, he climbed down a ladder and descended into the abyss and Elis followed swiftly behind him and closed the cover above him as he went. A short climb down, and the two one by one, dropped into the chamber. It was a large open room complete with weapons racks, good lighting by numerous torches and a few practice dummies were present. The facilities were not as good as those in the temple, but if used well, it is still an effective place for training. Elis wasn’t the only one who trained under Lumbre, boys who were raised just like Lumbre, he recruited, training them as outlaws, giving them vicious skills, knowledge, and a sheer hatred for Humanity. Five other boys, all of whom were aged fifteen, just like Elis, brought up and trained by Lumbre from young boys at eight years old. However, the centre of attention goes to Elis, Lumbre has made it so that the others would respect Elis as their leader, the most important of this group. This empowered the fifteen-year-old neglected prince, for once in his life people looked up to him, Lumbre appreciated his presence more than Wilmot did. For the time being his dark mentor was teaching the boys on how to fight the beasts, effective techniques to kill a beast. He had fought against the beasts and with them, he knew everything there is to know about warfare, something that Elis had peeked his interests in.
“The beasts are lower in order than the Human but they are nothing but stupid brutes, we may be low in this society but we are no lower than the beasts of the south and of Doomenheim. Do not be intimidated by them, they aren’t good fighters compared to the discipline of the trained Human troops, they do not train as we do and they just charge straight into battle, their sizes are nothing. Their sheer sizes work against them, they don’t carry shields, in my entire life, I have not seen any of them using shields, they just attack, attack and attack, they do nothing but swing their hammers and clubs, they expose their bodies to our swords and we would have stabbed them by the time they had risen their club or Warhammer. But do not underestimate them, they will just keep fighting you, they are incredibly strong, they can knock you of your feet easily, at times they shatter your weapons. I predict that if they put armour on and arm themselves with shields, they will be harder to defeat and easier to lose against…” said Lumbre.
The boys were relentlessly shouted on by after that in their beast-fighting training, “Stab lower! Maintain your footing!” shouted Lumbre as he mercilessly trained the boys. For just two hours these boys would be harshly pushed on by their mentor, with the short time Elis had, Lumbre strictly enforced training by shouting and beating, he was trying to well these boys into who he was internally and externally, a battered but hardened convict. At the end of the session, Lumbre told Elis to stay. The others climbed up into the shack where they normally slept, a cramped space, these youngsters would grow up, seeing, and doing things that society didn’t except. “Elis, I see a fire in your eyes, there is a future for you and it is as a leader, I am almost sure that you will not be king, during the coronation, later in your life, a coronation that decides who shall be crowned as king of Hetheil. Elis I am telling you, do whatever it takes to be king, it is what you were born to do, kill, use force, whatever it takes. The others have pledged to you; they have declared you as the next king under my instruction. Use the knowledge from my teachings to put yourself on the thrown, that is all, leave and see that you come again within the next two days” said Lumbre, his eyes wide open, his face expressionless and his voice was as serious as it had ever been in front of Elis.
Without saying a word Elis nodded his head in agreement, he had found a goal in his life, he shall be king of Hetheil. With Lumbre as his mentor, he will grow to want and crave more, more power and a lust for a reign that would never be forgotten, his ambition will go above this, like Aldor, he will want to unite all the known lands and possibly beyond and put it under his command and his authority. Elis left, his eyes still locked with his new mentor’s, before ascending the ladder and opening the manhole cover and leaving the chamber. He sees the five boys, simultaneously nodding with confident expressions on their faces, in acknowledgement of Elis’s presence. He responded with the same expression and walked out the door, leaving the shack. Through the city, he went, back to the palace with his life and his mind were h
eavily impacted by Lumbre’s words.
The futures of Allan and Elis are not certain but what Is for sure though, their lives will be incredibly different. They express themselves differently, Allan is calmer, more collective, hardly gets angered, though he is somewhat assertive at times and receives better treatment and love from the people and his father. But his brother and his brother’s life could not be more of a paradox as he is insecure, brash, often throwing tantrums but this is mostly due to his experience as a somewhat outcast in the kingdom and in his family. He has always been the neglected and the troubled younger brother of Allan. Elis still enjoys the life of a royal but he wanted more, he wanted people to love him as much as they did his brother. And training with Lumbre’s students and being taught under Lumbre finally gave him that feeling of respect that he has long desired on a small scale. The princes also shared very different interests that also somewhat reflected on their behaviour. Allan and Elis alike read books, but on completely different