--- # Chapter One The people of Oran called him Iratus, but that wasn’t his real name. Letum Bloodfist watched as the body of his half brother fell from a tower across from the capital building. *Serves you right you bastard.* Ironic. “Well then, that leaves you.” A light feminine voice sounded, several minutes later. Letum didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. *Oh Atra.* “The police found the body.” Letum nodded. “Final heir.” He summoned the wind, and took Atra’s gloved hand. Together they flew through the night sky, and landed a short distance away, atop another building. Letum smiled, not that Atra could see it, and walked down from the rooftop. Atra and he made up the extent of the bloodletters. Letum didn’t seek to destroy or his father’s empire, rather take over. *Fix it.* Caligo was Letum’s father, the godmaker, and the emperor of Oran, for all that was worth. *The killer of my mother, and the one who made me into what I am.* now Letum was the only heir left in the empire. All the others were dead. Letum’s hatred for his father was warranted, he’d killed his mother, leaving him an orphan and a bastard. Caligo killed 18 people for the spikes now in Letum’s body, spikes that granted him power without consequence. Caligo tried to conform Letum into a guard or super soldier, a man made god. But Letum did not give him the chance. It wasn’t all bad, having been modified and then faking his death, the godmaker’s bastard went south, where he met Atra among the rebels there. Atra and he left the capitol square with haste, not of fear, but retired to the abandoned bar he owned. Atra put her white booted feet on a table, and he reclined across from her. They both wore uniforms, of Atra’s design, not unlike those of the southern rebels, but similar also to the gaurds of the capital city. Both wore masks obscuring their faces, with holes for the eyes and nose, and a grate to speak through. They were made of hardened leather, Letum’s black, Atra’s white. The rest of the uniform was thickly woven trousers, and a leather jacket. Atra’s blonde hair was a sight, a display of her southern blood. Letum’s was red, a mark of his southern mother. And though he had never seen Atra’s face, he was infatuated with the girl. “Well what is next? We can’t just assasinate Caligo.” Atra asked, watching Letum’s purple eyes with her own. “No, we can’t. We need support.” “We can’t use southerners, we need some from the empire.” “I hate this city, this dominance, but you are accurate. We need more bloodletters.” The idea of bloodletting in this context was to let the empire bleed, then come in to heal it. Anything was better than how it functioned now, with breeders, fear, murder, and chaos at every turn. *Breeders.* Letum shuddered at the thought. *Atra would have been one, if not a rebel in the south.* Her powers over the shadows were among the rarest powers on the planet. That and the power to give life. Just another reason to hate Caligo. He’d started the program in his youth. The violent young ruler rounded up women of power, killed their offspring, and used them for the spikes currently in Letum. “Any ideas on where we can recruit?” Letum asked the blonde masked girl. “In the west I do.” Atra nodded, “There are rebels there who have some brains, hence they haven't acted as fhe southerners.” “We go west then.” Letum said, relaxing slightly. *Progress.* “Tomorrow?” “Tomorrow.” ---