Winter started and I lived in one of the empty boxes in Akkaio, feeding off the rats that there were many of, when a group of guildsmen came and found me. \"Heh, we seem to have a Cannible RAT living on our streets,\" one of them said, \"What do you think we should do to him?\" The one who spoke first was named Vihjir, he thought he was the strongest in the guild and strived to prove it everyday, but he couldn\'t ever win without a cheapshot. \"I say we make him pay! He is after all living on OUR streets!\" The next one who spoke was Makien. He was probably one of the smarter in the guild, and chose to win battles with wits instead of steel, but he could still hold his own in a fight. The others just stood there not saying a word, probably fearing Vihjir and Makien might attack them for speaking out. \"Unless your looking for a quick path to the death realm, I would suggest you leave. I don\'t need anyone right now wasting my time.\" I said to the idiots who didn\'t know what they were getting themselves into. \"Ho ho ho, this RAT has teeth, I think I should knock them out!\" Vihjir said as he swong and missed. I jumped back and avoided his attack. \"Quick little rat, try to dodge this one.\" Makien said as he threw something off the stone wall that bounced and near hit me, I forward to dodge it but Makien kicked out my feet and I landed face first on the ground. They all laughed as I picked myself off the ground and dusted off. I quickly drew a dagger from my side and threw it at Makien, but he too was quick and dodged it, but my attack still silenced one of them... for good. Without another word they all drew their steel, and I drew my swords. Attacking all at once I managed to kill one of them and left a rather nasty across the face of Vihjir and landed my other blade down onto the shoulder of Makien. I am not sure what happened next... Everything got dark and I could feel my stomach turn... I could just see a small shine in the darkness as his struck down the group, then I felt what I thought a 30 pound brick slam and sink into my stomach. It knocked the air from my lungs and dropped me to the ground. I soon passed out and woke up in chains in a dark room infront of what looked like a court.
The dark robed figures behind the giant heavy wood tables spoke, \"Makien and Vihjir, for not protecting you group in battle and making a fool of the guild in a public place. You will be punished by mining platinum, searching for weapons, and skinning Ulbernauts for the guild. Also your ranks will be dropped below the newcomers and you SHALL do everything they ask, if you wish to live...\" Makien and Vihjir nodded without an argument and left the room with this bulky Enkidukai that looked like he could crush a Kran in one hand. Then the figures of the court spoke again, \"And you.. What is your name?\" \"My name is not your buisness...\" I said without fear of them. The room seemed to gasp as I spoke out. Then the figures started to laugh... \"You seem to have alot of pride for yourself... but we are just asking your name. You killed two of our own and injured two of our best. The least you can do is tell us your side of what happened, and some information about yourself.\" I looked around and saw I wasn\'t going anywhere so I might as well just humour them and maybe get a little information myself. \"My name is Ryken. That is my full name and only name. I live in Akkaio. Your... whatever they are.. came up to me, and attacked me. I told them to leave and not waste my time as I was preparing for the winter. But it seems I am STILL having my time wasted...\" Then they spoke, \"I see.. Well, we were watching them, we saw everything. We had to stop you or you might have killed them all. We actually want to ask you if you would like to join us?\" Well, you know.... This was great offer, depending on what I got from it and had to do... so I asked... and they offered me a home, a bed, food, and water, and anything I could possibly want... they even offered me girls, some my age, but I had to turn them down, being only seven summers.. I wasn\'t ready for that. I decided to join them and they put me in a rank to train as a position of Officer. The training would take several years and I would be ready for the position on my 15th summer.
During my training and my time in the guild I learned many things. Like that big guy... His name was Rividen. He wasn\'t even as tough as he looked. He was married to this small Fenki, tiny compaired to him. She knew at heart he was really soft and kind even though his appearance could make a full grown Kran scream like a little girl. I challenged him once to battle which he refused and instead we went out for drinks. The bartender didn\'t argue with me being only twelve summers and just gave us our drinks and ran. I also learned that the guild monthly chose new fenki\'s to add to their collection. They had an extensive collection with a wide age range. They seemed to have little or no respect or felt no moral wrongs to what they done to some of these Fenkis that havn\'t even made it into their fifth summer. I couldn\'t care much though, I just kept thinking about my brother and of ways to kill the priests. At often points Vihjir tried to kill me in my sleep, and everytime I would add a new scar to his face. Makien on the other hand, he enjoyed my display of strength and often challenged me to a game called Mind Lotus. It was a game of stratigy, you have to use tiles and move them across a magic board. You have to concentrate on each tile you own, and if you broke you mind link with the tile it would sink into the board. You gain new powerful tiles by moving them to different glowing spots and you have to protect your master tile with the tiles you have. You must keep concentration on your master tile while trying to capture or break your opponents concentration. You cannot touch or move you master tile. And you see, when Makien and I played, things got loud... very loud. Louder then anyone ever got playing the game. This also caused alot of problems with guild members coming in and attacking us during the game. Try keeping you concentration on every tile while avoiding an axe and a dagger. Its quite difficult... But enough about that let me get on with the story. Makien and I played the game without a winner for several years. Then it came the time for my ceremony into becoming an officer. I felt the guild was wasting my time. They had me running around doing meaningless tasks of destruction when I could be doing something more meaningful. So on the day of my Ceremony, I challenged the entire guild to defend itself. The bloodshed in the guild hall was tremendous until it came to the time where I came to Makien, we had to finish our game. And the way we would finish it is by playing and fighting at the same time. Using our minds to move the tiles as we fight. If the master tile falls or the player dies the game is over. The winner gets to keep his life. It was the only battle ever... that wasn\'t a waste of time. I honor thee, Makien Blackblood. You were a true brother, and a great master. I hunted down the remaining members and killed them. Except for Rividen, who chose to leave the guild and protect his own family.
