"Rakeer!"
The woman scread. Her panic, fear, and fury all burst out at the sa ti when she saw her child get hurt.
And in an instant—
Several heads snapped around.
They saw the mother, the crying baby, the red mark on the baby’s face.
Then—
They turned.
They saw the Velmourn lane.
And then—
They saw the boy.
They did not ask questions.
That’s not how the Stonefangs did things, especially when a child was involved—they... moved.
Two Stonefang warriors stepped forward hard, boots crunching into snow, their shoulders rising, their hands going to weapons out of instinct.
And on the other side, the Velmourns saw the movent.
They didn’t understand the words, they didn’t understand what happened, they only saw Stonefang n surge forward, they heard the baby cry, they heard the Stonefang mother’s scream—
And in a heartbeat, the old winter mories flooded back.
"They’re attacking!"
Soone shouted on the Velmourn side.
It was a reflex.
A... panic word.
A... poisonous word.
In an instant—
A Velmourn soldier stepped forward, his hand lifting.
A Stonefang stepped forward, his chest out.
A Velmourn woman scread and clutched her flask.
A container slipped from soone’s grip—maybe Velmourn, maybe Stonefang, it did not matter.
It hit the ground.
Crack
The lid cracked loose.
Water spilled across the snow in a dark, steaming patch.
For a second, everyone stared at it.
Spilled water.
Wasted water.
That alone could start a riot in the Heights.
"No!!!"
A Velmourn man lunged forward on instinct, reaching as if he could catch the spill with his hands.
But his actions were misunderstood.
A Stonefang saw him move and thought he was charging.
The Stonefang bared his teeth and stepped in.
The Velmourn man stumbled back, slipping on the wet ice.
He fell.
His hand knocked soone else.
A second container hit the ground.
More water spilled.
And then—
The line finally broke.
"AAhhhh!! They are attacking!!!"
"Graal’dul kin aan draal’mor!"
{Defend the children and old!}
Shouts erupted.
Guards shoved forward.
Stonefangs growled.
Velmourns scread.
Children cried.
The ropes jerked as bodies pressed.
The carefully built lanes beca a crush.
And the worst part—
The worst part was that no one knew who started it.
Only that it was happening.
Morvain moved instantly.
"Hold the line!"
She shouted, her voice cutting through panic.
"Shields! Form! Stop the press! Don’t draw blades!"
Korvath was already moving too, barking orders to guards.
Kayden’s sword was out before he realized it.
He shoved himself toward the lane with a wild look in his eyes.
"Back!"
He roared at the nearest Stonefang, not caring that the man didn’t understand. The Stonefang heard the tone and answered with the sa tone.
"Shaar’tar!!"
{Attack!!}
The Stonefang growled as he lunged at Kayden, believing in his stronger physique.
But Kayden wasn’t just any Velmourn—he was one of the stronger ones. So in an instant, he shoved the Stonefang aside as he raised his sword.
However, before he could swing, a Stonefang warrior, Shakaa—who had already recognized Kayden as the man he often fought during the raids—moved in an instant, eting Kayden’s sword with his club.
CLANK
A loud sound of weapons clanking against each other was heard.
The Stonefangs reacted instantly, especially the warriors trained for Blood and War—they too took out their weapons.
When the Velmourns saw that, they panicked. As for the few Velmourn soldiers that were present, they instantly ignored Korvath’s "Don’t draw blades!" and did exactly what Korvath had told them not to do.
They took out their blades; so even took out their beasts.
The inevitable happened.
Two sides that had been enemies for twelve hundred years—
carrying hatred passed through generations—
hatred that only grew stronger—
They clashed.
Or at least—
That was what would have happened, but then—
"RRROOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!"
A sound detonated across the Water Point. A roar so loud it didn’t feel like it ca through the air.
It felt like it ca through their very bones.
And it didn’t just co with volu, it ca with pressure. A terrifying, crushing force that hit every chest at once, like the world itself had suddenly beco heavier.
Stonefang bodies locked mid-step.
Velmourn arms froze mid-swing.
A raised weapon stopped in the air as if an invisible hand had grabbed it.
Mouths stayed open, but no sound ca out.
Silence.
After the roar, absolute silence fell over the place.
Eyes went wide, breathing turned shallow, people tried to move and couldn’t.
For one heartbeat, it was like everyone’s body rembered sothing older than... anger.
Fear.
Fear so strong that it chained their bodies.
Only people like Korvath, Morvain, Kayden and the stronger Stonefang warriors could manage to move, but as they saw everyone else around them freeze—
They too stopped, overwheld by whatever was happening.
The forced silence spread.
And finally, people turned towards the source of that silence.
Kael.
He stood near the front of the Water Point—where he had been watching the line the whole ti. His cloak barely moving.
His face was distorted and his eyes were a... frightening gold.
He looked across both sides—Stonefang and Velmourn—and—
"Enough."
He spoke, his face and eyes returning to normal, but the coldness in them could be sensed from afar.
And with that one word,
The two sides stopped.
That was when Lavinia moved. She stepped up beside Kael, her violet eyes sharp, and the air around her shifted.
Seven circles appeared around her and the wind roared.
Whooosh
A steady, controlled gust that forced bodies apart without throwing them was summoned, and whatever contact was left was broken; the necessary space was created.
Enough for people to... breathe again.
The crush loosened, the ropes stopped jerking.
Kael walked forward through the gap he made, slow enough that everyone saw him. By now, the effect of [Roar of Dominion] was over; the people could move again.
But no one did.
They all glanced at Kael, as if they were waiting for him to address them.
Yes, in the ti of crisis, people no longer looked for their respective leaders—they looked for... Kael.
And the shift was so natural that even Morvain herself was... looking at him.
Kael stopped beside the Stonefang mother; the baby that was crying a few seconds ago was now staring at Kael in awe and pure curiosity. It was so strange that... even when he was in pain...
In front of this man, he montarily forgot it.
His face, however, was still red, his small hands clutching fur. The Stonefang mother’s eyes were wide and wet with rage and fear. Two Stonefang warriors stood close to her like walls.
Kael stared at them while Imperia gave him clear details of the situation. His eyes looked down,
And there it was—
The stone lying in the snow.
Then Kael’s eyes moved again and he found the boy.
The Velmourn child stood stiff, face pale, mouth open like he couldn’t breathe.
His mother had turned now, realizing what happened; her hand flew to his shoulder and—
"What did you do?"
She whispered, her voice breaking.
The boy’s eyes were wet.
He shook his head once in a small, frantic manner.
"I—I... I didn’t—"
He choked out.
Kael stared at him in silence, then his expression softened a little.
"You’ve made a mistake today."
He spoke.
"I—"
The child didn’t know what to say, but his mother did—
"Lord Kael! Please! Please forgive him! He is just a chi—"
She begged with a desperate look on her face; she even tried to fall on her knees but then—
"Stop."
Kael spoke again, stopping her before she did sothing that he might never be able to forgive himself for.
"I will not hurt him.
I am not that cruel."
He spoke, and his words sent an instant wave of relief through the mother’s heart, easing her entire body.
Then, Kael turned towards the rest of the crowd.
"It was all an accident."
He raised his voice.
Then, he repeated the sa sentence in the Stonefang tongue.
Kael then pointed at the Velmourn boy.
"The child was playing catch with the stone."
He began the story, then pointed at the guard beside the child.
"He saw the boy lifting the stone and was afraid that he might do sothing childish and attack the Stonefangs, so to protect the Stonefangs, he moved.
But as he moved, he pushed the boy’s mother, the mother pushed the boy, who was only playing with the stone, and the stone in his hand flew and hit the baby."
Again, the sa words were repeated in Stonefang tongue, and when the two sides realized what happened—
They did not know how to react.
"As the baby cried, panic spread, and the tension that we had all been feeling since the beginning broke out.
It was all a mistake, an accident.
Nothing more.
It doesn’t an anything,
And it should most definitely not break the Unity we have just established.
Is that clear?"
Kael spoke, and the two sides...
They lowered their heads, nodding silently.
Kael nodded back, satisfied. He glanced at the child one last ti before turning to the crowd again and—
"Now leave."
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