Part One: Feud

The boy gazed at the landscape of this unknown land, or rather sea. He'd never seen so much water in his nineteen years. Water, his natural enemy. It made his ability – fire – useless. And feeling useless was what he despised more than anything in the world. His gaze wandered to the ground he was currently standing on. It was a stony, dark grey ground, with only a few plants, that was part of the big mountain he and his men were scaling at the moment. The mountain looked like a gigantic rock, its higher parts sticking out the majestic waves of the sea, while the the lower parts remained hidden.

No matter how often he looked around, he could only make out rocks and water. His instinct was urging him to leave this place as the cold and wet wind, that hit his skin roughly, wasn’t anything like the beautiful warmth of the sun he grew up with. But his determination won, which was why he tagged along with the general, even if his father, the king, had first opposed him to do so.

The short moment he'd been distracted with his thoughts was enough to make him slip on the already slippery surface of the mountain due to the strong humidity in this region. And the mountain was steeper than any sand rock in Somestris, which didn’t make climbing it easier. A curse was just about to leave his lips as he was falling backwards when a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him on his legs again.

“Are you alright, my prince?” One of the general's fifty soldiers, that were part of this mission, asked him. The prince smiled at the attentiveness of the other male, who seemed to be only a bit older than him. “Yeah, thanks … and I prefer to be called Kai.” The soldier's eyes widened at the prince's friendliness, as he was used to the rough treatment he usually received from the general. “Eh, yes, K-Kai,” the soldier mumbled in reply before he bowed to Kai.

“What's your name?” The soldier's eyes widened at this question. Why would the prince want to know his name? But he answered nonetheless, “Dongho–” “Hurry up, men!” General Chaewok's husky voice interrupted Dongho and he gave Kai an apologizing gaze before he quickened his pace. The other men fastened their paces as well, even thought everyone was already trying his best not to fall from the mountain at their current speed. Kai frowned at the Chaewok's aggressive tone towards the soldiers, but shrugging it off, he climbed faster as well.

Like that, it went on for an hour, before they finally reached the highness where the clouds began. They'd been climbing this damn mountain for a whole day already, and slowly Kai was beginning to question if the Aria empire was actually on mountains. Were humans able to live in such a region? But then again, Arians possessed other abilities and were slightly different from Somestrians physically.

To him and any other Somestrian, it was strange and unusual to be up this high, as Somestrians were used to sand under their feet and a dry surrounding in which their ability worked the best, but none of them showed fear. They weren't called the strongest and proudest warriors in Panema for no reason.

However, with the clouds, their sight became blurry, as the clouds were nothing but thick fog, and many of the men lost their balance at some point. Kai, though, had kept his balance as he cautiously walked forward to the general. Was it just him or did something feel wrong here? He was just about to ask the general, when all of a sudden screams could be heard. Screams from their men.

Kai spun around and his eyes widened at the huge wolf that suddenly appeared and jumped at three of their men. He then immediately held out his hand, wanting to throw fireballs at the animals, but realized that within this fog his ability was useless. Grabbing the dagger at his leather belt, he wanted to rush forward, but a hand held him back. “Stay back, little prince,” the general hissed. “Aim at the head!” General Chaewok shouted, and the soldiers immediately grabbed their bows and throwing knives. “Shoot!”

Just as the wolf fell to the ground with a desperate cry, finally its claws letting go of the three men, more wolves appeared. Before anyone could move, they already jumped at the last row of them. The others tried to help but the usage of fire was impossible and as they neared the