The Clan's End

It was the day after Lilia's group had escaped. Nalos was admonishing Bartos for moving ahead and sending away his family and others, but he also understood that trying to evacuate the clan en-masse was a hopeless idea. If it was anyone else, they would be labelled as a coward and punished, but he knew Bartos was different. Furthermore, later on the same day, they realized that there was something that required their attention even more.

While Nalos was still admonishing Bartos, Corin was fuming in his office. Due to the disappearance of the scout that had been sent to give him a message, Corin received a notice.

'You will regret this.'

Corin didn't know that the scout had been killed, but he guessed that something had happened to him and that was why he was being branded as uncooperative.

"Damn it! They won't even let me explain. If I don't do something, then I'll be screwed!"

Corin anxiously paced up and down his office with his arms behind his back. He was certain that they would soon release evidence that would reveal that he was a traitor. Additionally, it was likely that the attack would happen while there was still uproar from this reveal, so there wasn't much time left. He had to make a decision.

'Tch, I'll have to use him.'

Eventually, Corin decided his next step. It wasn't an option he liked, but it would help meet his objective.

While Corin made his move, a young elder burst into the office where Nalos and Bartos were.

"Patriarch! Patriarch!"

"Calm down! What is it?"

The elder took a moment to reorganize himself before presenting a dark blue stone to Nalos.

"This has been discovered in various locations around the clan."

Nalos took the stone from him and scanned it with his spiritual sense, after doing so, a myriad of emotions flashed through his eyes. The elder knew why Nalos was undergoing these changes so he merely stayed silent with a bitter expression.

"What is it?"

Bartos' voice dragged Nalos back from his emotional turmoil.

"You should see it for yourself."

Nalos gave the stone to Bartos and waited as he too experienced a variety of emotions. This stone was a memory vault, it allowed cultivators of Soul Realm and above to engrave a specific memory in the object and for it be viewed by anyone with spiritual sense. The stone was a rare ore that didn't cost much but was hard to find in this area.

The scene within this stone was of Corin talking to the holder of the memory and promising that he would switch out the escape charms. That was where the memory ended, but it was enough. With these stones littered everywhere in the clan, it was obvious that there would be much chaos. If he alone had known about this, then Nalos could at least tried to lessen the impact, but not in this situation. He could easily tell that it was the enemy who planted these stones in order to raise an uproar, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Corin!!!!!"

Unlike Nalos, when the Bartos finished the memory he was able to focus on one emotion. His burning rage was so overwhelming that the wind around him literally increased in temperature. Bartos stomped over to Corin's room and Nalos, along with the young elder, only followed behind. Both of them couldn't believe that Corin was the one behind the switching of the escape charms that year, but the evidence was too solid. They had to at least hear his excuses.

When the three of them reached Corin's office, they were all shocked by his lack of presence. They all thought the same thing but of them, only Bartos said it.

"That bastard! He escaped!"

They all believed that Corin had found out about the memory vaults and hastily left before they could catch him. Regardless of whether or not he had an excuse, Corin could be called nothing but a traitor now. At this time, Nalos seemed to grow much older as grey hairs became more prominent on his head. He was also fuming in anger, but more than that, the betrayal he felt put a heavy weight on his heart.

'Corin, why?'

He couldn't understand why his dear friend betrayed them, and he didn't have time to do so either. Within a short time after they stormed into Corin's office, there was a large gathering in front of Sky-wind Pavilion. They were all calling out Corin, with a couple elders among them as well. Nalos swept the clan with his spiritual sense but it was no good. He couldn't even be sure if Corin had escaped from the clan since he was more than capable of hiding from him. He considered having Bartos locate him with the detection array, but it would be difficult to search for a specific person without some knowledge of arrays.

"Bring him out! Bring him out! Bring him out!"

"Patriarch, what should we do?"

The young elder looked to Nalos. Bartos was still boiling with rage, but unlike the young elder, he could see how affected Nalos was by this betrayal, so he stayed silent while looking at him. Faced by their two gazes, Nalos knew this was not the time for hesitation.

"We need to, settle the crowd."

Nalos looked so tired that it wouldn't be strange if he collapsed right now, but he had to keep going. The three of them went out of Sky-wind Pavilion and looked at their fuming clansmen. Only those at Soul Realm and above could use the memory vault, but there was no restriction on spreading the information that was in it.

"Everyone, please settle down. I will address your concerns."

Although their anger could not be suppressed, they still listened to Nalos and stopped shouting, but it was clear that the moment he said something they didn't agree with, they would continue once more. A few years might have passed, but the death of their children was still a fresh and painful memory for them.

"In regards to what is in the memory vaults, I cannot confirm its validity, and Elder Corin is missing."

Immediately another uproar began. Now, it didn't matter if what was in the memory vault was manipulated, in their minds it had become real. Nalos looked at the crowd and sighed.

'I might as well lay everything bare now.'

"Additionally, we have reason to believe that the clan will be attacked soon. Possibly before the end of this month."

It would be harder to believe if the memory vaults weren't present, but in their current mindset, they were more able to believe this bad news. However, instead of anger, they felt fear. All of them were smart enough to know what it would mean to have both internal and external enemies. Due to this newly birthed fear, they quickly settled down but the atmosphere was rife with worry.

"What'll we do?"

"Can we win?"

"Should we run?"

Maybe if it was under different circumstances, there would be a sense of unity in the clan, but that was a silly dream. Nalos didn't even bother telling them that they could win since he knew that would quickly be put under doubt when he announced evacuation plans. The very next day, they could already confirm that several people had escaped. This wasn't something that Nalos tried to stop since he knew the situation couldn't be improved by all of them fighting and dying together. However, later on the same day, the dead bodies of the ones that escaped were flung onto the path leading from the clan to the village at its base. All of the bodies had the same cause of death; a deep wound to the neck. Among the corpses was even a man at late Soul Realm and one of the top three blacksmiths besides Bartos and Lus.

Since someone of that level could be killed easily, no one else had the courage to escape and everyone who remained was beside themselves with fear. Bartos was a rare exception. When he saw the bodies, though he felt sorry for them, he was also relieved. Since the dead bodies were sent back, then it was likely that his wife and the others had managed to get away.