Marks of the New Era

Chapter 3.5

Although Tai and his siblings had gotten quite comfortable with the royals from Yami, the soldiers weren't so sure, the royals hadn't been able to convince them and peace seemed to be far away.

But the event that occurred on that day would change those doubts.

They had already entered the enemy territory, however most of the battles had been very easy, not only were they still far from the castle but with the help of the royals they had a smaller number of battles than expected.

This time things must be different.

After the last meeting, they determined that they needed a more aggressive plan, since the semi-pacifist route they were taking wouldn't work.

Before creating a strategy, Tai and Haki decided to check the terrain, it was a very old and barren land, not the best battlefield, so they wanted to make sure the soldiers were able to fight in a solid environment.

When they arrived, they saw what you could expect, dirt, dust and not one plant or animal.

"This was once such a beautiful village" Haki said "But an earthquake came and ended it all"

"Did anyone try to populate it again?" Tai asked

"They did, but the King wouldn't allow it, sometimes I wish I had spoken up"

"Well, now is a great chance Prince" Before they knew it, they had been surrounded by soldiers from Yami.

"Who would have thought? Our own prince betrayed us and allied with the enemy, that was such a low blow" One of the guards said mockingly.

"In the end, it doesn't matter, you're now here and you brought the future king with you, perfect, now it's time to kill" They started getting closer to them.

"Haki, cover your eyes" The young royal obliged and as soon as he closed them Tai took out his katana and slashed towards the ground, causing dust to rise and create a distraction.

"Run, now!!" They started running back towards the camp, they were so focused that they didn't realized they had separated.

Tai stopped for a moment to regain his breath and when he started looking around him to find the way back, one soldier attacked him.

While he was able to protect himself, he was in a clear disadvantage as the other soldiers were arriving.

He tried to fight but it was a lost battle, eventually, one of the soldiers hit him so hard he ended up crashing against the debris of one of the destroyed houses.

It seemed like the soldiers would kill him, he at least hoped that Haki could escape, when one of the soldiers was about to deliver the final blow, Haki took Tai's katana and strikes the soldier down.

He swings the weapon again, damaging a hole row of guards, seeing the prince taking them down, they decided to escape and go back to the palace.

Tai was badly hurt, he had a lot of injuries and lost a considerable amount of blood, but despite the unstable terrain and his own wound, Haki carried his friend all the way back to the camp, he couldn't let him die, he wouldn't.

Although the experience was a little traumatic, it was also the beginning of the trust between Genzo and Yami.

After Tai recovered he explained how Haki had saved his life despite the harsh conditions, this was the final proof that showed that the people from Yami could be trusted and things started looking bright for both kingdoms' futures.

Fate seemed to finally be on his side, not only were they taking the steps to create peace, but Tai would reencounter someone from his past who was close to his heart.