Chapter 20- Samuel

Samuel walked back over to the opposing area of the training grounds, with an annoyed look on his face.

"Who does that guy think he is? He's nothing more than a failed experiment. I'll show that half surfacer who is on top here.", Samuel thought.

Samuel remembered back to 4 years prior, before he had joined the resistance.

A blonde woman laid in bed, her skin pale as snow. Hey eyes sagged lifelessly, as she laid in the bed. Her body was as motionless as a statue.

A couple of knocks were heard before the wooden door slid open. A young man, with thick black hair and metal armor waltzed in.

Placing his helmet on the nightstand, the man pulled up a stool and sat next to the woman. Grabbing her hand, a tear flowed from his eyes.

The man held her hand to his face and he then placed it back on the bed next to the woman.

"Mother, there is something I need to tell you." The man stated.

The woman's eyes drifted towards the boy. "What is it, my son?"

The man looked down, ashamed. "Mother, I can no longer stay in this horrid place. After years of working as a knight for the empire, I have seen tragedy occur one after another. I have seen towns overtaken to produce slaves and test subjects. Racism against nonhumans is very common among the nobility."

The man stroked the woman's hair. "I have even seen humans who are deemed to be low class be abused for these reasons. I can no longer stay among the knights of the empire, for fear that I may give in to their practices."

The mother looked lovingly at her son. "Do what you believe to be right. That is all I ask.", she gently whispered.

The boy held back emotions as his face furled with them. Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed out a brown sack.

"I have spent years amassing this money so that I may one day leave this place. Samuel can use this money to assist and take care of you, until he is old enough to provide for you himself. I am not abandoning you, mother." the boy stated, flustered.

The woman gave him a smile before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

The boy left in silence.

Night fell, and a 12 year old Samuel entered his mothers room. "Mother! I have returned from school. Has Edward come home yet? If not, I will go to the market to get us some dinner.", Samuel asked.

Looking over to her son with a sad face, the mother beckoned for Samuel to come closer. Walking over to his mother, Samuel sat down and listened.

"My son, your brother has left on a quest for righteousness." Samuel's mother pushed the sack of money towards him. "He has left this for us to survive on. Use it wisely so that we may live until you begin to work."

Samuel's eyes went wide with shock, and he stood up in anger. "First my father, and now my brother? Do they have no sense of responsibility! How can they abandon you in your sickly condition like this, mother?", Samuel demanded.

Samuel's anger was only met with a kind stare from his mother. "Your father and your brother both left to do what they believed was right. We have enough for ourselves, and should be thankful for what we have.", she replied.

A year passed, and Samuel quit his schooling to begin work in the fields. The money his brother provided was enough to last a few years, but Samuel was disgusted by his brother, and stubbornly tried to avoid using the money his brother had left for them.

"Regardless of how righteous his reason is, I will not forgive my brother or my father for abandoning my sickly mother. If they still live, I will find and confront them one day so that they may repent and beg my mothers forgiveness.", Samuel resolved.

Returning home one day from work, Samuel saw the doors of his home flung open. Two guards were posted outside his doors, and Samuel ran up to them.

"What is going on here? Why have you come to this home?!", Samuel cried.

The masked guard looked down at Samuel and let out a "hmph"

"This isn't the business of any child. Edward Charleston, the head of this household, has been deemed a cooperator with the surface guild and his family has been sentenced to become slaves as punishment for this offence."

Samuel began to run into the household, but he was stopped at the spears of the guards. One guard gave Samuel a chop with the back of their spear, and Samuel blacked out before he could react.

"I'm trying to save you from the life of a slave, kid. Don't mess things up for yourself.", the guard retorted.

Samuel woke up in a green field. "Where am I?! Where is my mother!?", he screamed. Looking behind him, Samuel saw the guard.

"Go, kid. The surface is a dangerous place, but you will no longer be welcome underground. Your mother will most likely become some nobles concubine. If you wish to stay alive, leave here. I won't bother to be this kind again." The guard trodded off back into the castle gates, and Samuel remained kneeling on the ground, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"How could this be? How can my mother have been arrested? This is the fault of my brother! I must survive in order to take my revenge on him.", Samuel resolved.

"I will never forgive the empire, and I will never forgive the surfacers for corrupting my family!", Samuel shouted in desperation.

Pounding the ground, Samuel then stood up and began to walk into the nearby forest.

"I must first learn to survive out here."

Samuel tripped over a number of branches and bushes before coming across a bush that was covered in brown crystals.

The leaves of the bush were green, but outlined with a red streak along the veins. All other life immediately surrounding the bush had died off, and a patch of vegetation-less dirt surrounded it.

The brown crystals gleamed like Topazes, and Samuel began to feel woozy as he came closer to them.

"What on earth could this be? I've never seen anything like this before..."

Samuel collapsed next to the bush, and awoke once more in a dark laboratory.

Samuel sat up on the concrete lab table, and looked around him. Surrounded by a number of arrays and magical devices, Samuel was overloaded by his current situation. A white robed figure with a covered face approached him.

"You were found in the woods with severe radiation burns from the earth crystal plant.", Lady Isabelle stated.

Samuel continued to look around confused, and noticed that his body was covered with brown blisters and boils.

"I have treated you to the extent that I can. The rest is up to you. Get some rest, child.", Lady Isabelle remarked, as she exited the room.

From this moment on, Samuel spent his time healing his radiation wounds for multiple years. Unbeknownst to him, over the course of these few years his mind and body became enabled to use magic, and be became especially adept with earth magic, as this was the radiation he was exposed to.

After resting for a few years and recovering, Samuel was then sent to Lardis to begin his training as a mage. All the while, his desire for revenge against his brother furthered, and his hatred for both the surfacers and the empire was continuously stoked.

Unknowing of what became of his mother, he assumed her dead. She was a sickly woman, who couldn't even get out of bed. After being forcefully taken away and used as a concubine, her chance of survival approached zero.

Samuel became a delinquent, filled with rage.

A few days prior, Samuel overheard a conversation between Ivan and Peter regarding the past of Dubs. After discovering that Dubs' father was a surfacer, Samuel cringed with hatred.

"I will not allow a surfacer to live such a carefree life here in the resistance. This is the new home I have taken up, and I will show him that his kind is not welcome here.", Samuel decided.

"I have become a prodigy in earth magic. I need only to prove that I exceed his abilities, and he will bend his knee to the pecking order."

After the aptitude test, Samuel realized just how unskilled Dubs was in magical control. Even among non radiated humans, most of them could gather at least a tiny percentage of their magical energy. Dubs however, could not, which made him below even the level of a regular person.

Samuel walked away from his encounter with Dubs, reminiscing. "Just you wait. In due time it will become obvious what the difference between us is."

Samuel went off on his own to train, as Dubs approached the others to check up on how their training was going.