Justice

Alya felt guilty, but she felt her crime was for good. She had wanted to help Olaf and the reigning people in the country. The slaves had attacked, it was all she heard of. They even attacked her. She had to decide between the people that helped and the people that threatened her. The choice had seemed obvious. Then, the side she thought was good had been about to go and kill a few dozens of people. Olaf had not bat an eye before ordering his soldier to do it. Alya wanted to get him out of her head, but it would take time.

Now she was with the slaves. They were not all, actually. A lot of commoners seemed to support the revolution, as they called it. It was the right term, more so than Alya had initially thought. The revolutionary fighters had taken over the biggest part of the south. They had weapons, leaders, plans and a fighting spirit. It was not about getting rich, they wanted freedom, to feel peaceful. Opposite to that stood the king and the rich. They had no reason to mistreat the people from another continent. It was about money, greed had turned these people into tools in the eyes of the nobles.

Alya was certain, she would do anything to help these people, they deserved it. Maybe she could make a difference, if she could make just one life better, so it would be. But, it would be enough.

"We can't trust you, yet." The violet burning in front of Alya belonged to the copper key that had ambushed her. The keys seemed to symbolise status in the revolutionary army.

"It's true that you are blind and have no legs, but I'm not going to underestimate a magician." He spoke in a calm tone. His relaxed posture seemed to oppose what he said, but a person with a bright cyan soul stood behind Alya. What kind of magic it was as to make the copper key so confident, she was unsure. She would ask later.

For now, she had to stay serious. She brushed a long strand of hair out of her face, "What do you mean?"

"If you support us somehow, we'll see how much you care about helping. How do you think you can be of use. Or rather, tell me. What is the magic you have learned?"

"I used to study archery at an academy."

"But, you're blind."

"I wasn't always, you know? Also, I have recently been learning a spell which might make it possible for me to do it again."

That sounded a lot better to Han. The young woman before him seemed useless, looking at her body. If she ended up needing constant caretaking, they might have needed to waste resources for her. Defying his expectations, she did not only agree to help the revolutionary army with all her heart, she also asked for a wheelchair so she could move on her own. Now, she just confessed she might be able to fight with them as an archery mage. For his troops, that would make everything easier.

"We'll take care of what you need, but you better follow through." Han was optimistic. Despite her inhuman voice, she felt honest to him. Maybe it was because of the fact that she did not hide it, "I believe you'll need this back." He ordered his guard to give the tome she had carried back to her. The mage guard layed it into her hands. "I hope you'll be able do archery soon, Alya."

She had just left when his guard spoke up, "Are you sure about her? She seems off."

"I disagree." Han had known Talon for a decade. The two had been shipped from the island on the same boat, were sold at the same action to the same person and worked together since then. They had shared eachothers pain and if he could, Han would give Talon a bronze key of his own. He was a talented ice magician.

Before they were turned into slaves, both had learned magic at different temples on the islands. These temples were not only religious, they were like the magic academies in Uul. Unlike the academies, their texts to learn from were written using sentences instead of in symbols and spells would be taught by masters with close relationships to their students. The biggest difference layed in spirituality. Magicians were seen as children who give back to the gods, they were the priests of their society.

"It seems we have another guest." Han felt steps coming towards his office door.

It opened slowly, a small, young man walked in.

Joy, the boy had run away from home around the same time the revolution had started. He walked into Han and his men. They convinced him to go with them. It turned out that Joy was capable of using a very specific kind of spell. He must have had alot of people trained in specialised magic, since he was able to somehow tell strong magicians apart from the average person who had only ever known basic spells. Since that time, Joy had tried his best to help Han, but sometimes his young age was still noticeable.

"What is it, Joy?"

The young man seemed uneasy, judging by his facial expression, "That woman that just joined, her magic felt scary." He looked to the ground, "I felt genuinely frightened when it reached me, that's never happened before."

Han's guard looked at him. It appeared that it was she more complicated than he had thought, "Then let's hope that it only felt that way, because if it actually is, I don't think we could do anything about her."

"Yeah, even when I looked at your magic, nothing like that happened." Joy said.