NIMBUS AND THE KNIGHTS OF CENFERUM

Chapter 22 part 2

She looked to the horizon and saw dozens of warriors mounted on sea horses, equipped with leather armor and frightening masks. These horses were immense and surfed through the ether with the help of powerful turbines and technological devices mounted along their bodies, allowing them to move at great speed. They were approaching rapidly, indicating that they were traveling at a speed faster than the Brand.

— They are outcasts riding Lins. As they don't have much autonomy to roam around on their own, it all indicates that there is an Outcast Lord with a Lon nearby — Sir Adon explained to Elisis.

—outcasts! — spoke the captain. — Accursed pests, always attacking small ships traveling alone. — He approached the two boys and continued speaking. — They say they live on an island right in the center of the storm, in the eye of the hurricane, where the storm winds are calmer. They are the only ones who can navigate inside it. They are also cannibals and eat all the crew members of the ships they capture, leaving none alive.

The boys widened their eyes after the captain stopped speaking, and Elisis found it amusing that the captain was trying to scare them. If it weren't such a serious situation, she would be laughing. When Lonios noticed, he approached the two.

— Calm down, I was captured by the outcasts when I was about your age. It was my first mission as a knight, and I was very nervous. Imagine then when our ship was captured by the outcasts; there were many of them, much more numerous than us and those attacking us now. Also, our ship was much more fragile than the Brand, so after a few hours of combat, we were defeated. We were very scared; everyone had heard stories like the captain just told you, and we were in panic, but it wasn't like that. They did eat the dead, to our despair, but only those who had died in battle because, according to their philosophy, nothing in the ether should be wasted. It was an honor for someone to be devoured after death, and an even greater honor to die in battle.

Everyone was listening attentively to the story Lonios was telling, including the captain who had already moved away from the boys and sat in his chair. The outcasts were approaching, but it would still take a few minutes for them to get close enough to attack.

— The survivors of the battle were not even injured, and our wounds were healed by their healers, who were much more competent than the doctors on our ship. Then we were taken to the center of the storm. There, we discovered that they have a complex culture and are much more advanced than ours. They don't believe in anything that cannot be proven, seen, or felt, so they don't believe in gods. But they believe that everything has a spirit — the sun, the wind, the water, the stone, the sword at your waist, really everything has a spirit, including us. They have a peculiar belief that there are layers of existence in the world, and we are in one of them. In the end, they are much more than savage cannibals; perhaps they are wiser than us, the so-called civilized people.

— And how did you get out of there, sir? — Nimbus asked.

— I made friends with one of the young leaders, the Mighty as they are called among his people. So, after some time, he let me go secretly. It seems that today, the boy who helped me is the Most Powerful Leader, the Proscribed Emperor as we know him, but he probably doesn't remember me. It's been more than twenty-five years now — Lonios smiled at the boys.

— Don't forget the words of the prophet of the Great Leader on his deathbed. Everyone tells this legend: "Beware, he who is born of the ether will overthrow the government of Cenferum." — Sir Adon said, recalling an old and very popular prophecy. — And in a logical translation, as theoretically, the outcasts never set foot on land, and their babies are born in the ether, then the one who will overthrow the current Great Leader of the government is an outcast.

— Nonsense, this bunch of savages taking Cenferum is impossible. Besides, who believes in prophets? — Captain Jones expressed his disbelief.

— The old prophet served many emperors and never got a prophecy wrong — Lonios added.