[Imperial palace of Almand]
"Did you really confirm this information ?"
Asked a middle aged man sitting in a spacious office chair.
"Yes! Your majesty one of the cardinal personally delivered that letter."
The guard answered with conviction and a bit of fear, after all, the person in front of him is the current emperor of the almand empire, george almand the steel emperor.
"Summon all of the ministers for we must converse about this matter"
"Yes your majesty " the guard bowed and left the place.
"Cursed ones ... the world will be set ablaze once more i fear" mumbled the emperor.
[Unknow location]
A young boy was stirring awake on a moving floor, he was around ten years old and had dark brown hair with brown eyes, his face was quite ordinary and as he looked around his gaze fell on another child.
"Hello, you are up. Name is Chris, what's yours?" *asked the other child who sported piercing blue eyes and dark collored hair, his skin was tanned and he wore simple clothing befiting a commoner.
"Max thats my name, do you know where we are ?" asked the youngster as he sat next to the other one.
"We are on our way to the citadel in the west, as volunteers, you should remember soon enough."
With a groan Chris massaged his throbbing head "Why were we drugged for a trip by train anyways ?"
"How should I know, but its probably to avoid some problems" chris waved his arm lazily toward no direction in particular.
As he did, max finally looked around and realised that there were others children sleeping on the ground. "This is for animal transport not humans." He complained while rubbing his back.
Just as he finished complaining the train jostled and slowed down, after a bit the door was open with a creak and light flashed inside the room. "If you are awake get out before i'll do it for you" Asked a deep voice.
As their eyes adjusted to the light they took in the man that talked to them and the station behind him. The man was sporting a nasty scar on his exposed forearm and was wearing a loose guard unifrom composed of a leather pauldron and boots, with a dark blue pants. He also had a mace looped to his belt. His hair was cut short and his beard was rough and long, his eyes were small and sunken but deep and piercing. "You two are you deaf ?" the man asked once more.
The two children quickly got up and got out the train as they took in the station, people were bustling around in a chaotic but organised mess, crates were being hauled off the train, nearby a merchant fussed for his missing shipment to a tired looking guard.
"You two follow me" Said the guard as he quickly took the opportunity to escape.
the children hurried after him as the guard quickly left the merchant.
"Welcome to the citadel, if you have any questions ask them before we reach the training area" Said the guard in a tired voice, he wore the same uniform as the other one but he was a bit younger and had some bit of purple in his hair.
"Why are we being escorted out of our group ?" Asked Chris
"When young people volunteers to come here we test them, you guys passed the first test by waking up." Answered the guard
"That was a test ?" remarked max, suprised at the answer
"Yes, i dont know how it really works but the drugs you guys were given contained aura and mana, if you woke up it means your talent in either is above average."
Max blinked at this answer, before he could comment on this Chris let out a gasp as they exited the station. Outside was a massive city with all kinds of different houses and buildings, the streets were filled with people going about their day. But all of this was unnoticed by the children as they gazed to the far end of the city, there a massive black wall towered over the city and around it, on it stood a fort made of the same material.
"That is our destination, the black wall of the west, the citadel, welcome." said the guard as he led them further in the city and away from everything they knew.
The guard led them to a carriage where other children were waiting once on it, the carriage left and headed toward the fort. "Did you guys wake up too ? asked a children with hair the color of wheat