Saturn was overseeing the mindrache training regime when he was alerted to the arrival of the mindrache scouting party. The mindrache had located a potential home site; a place where they could build up a base. A place that they could without worry potentially manage themselves if they were careful. Saturn was hesitant. The training had been going well and the training wasn’t something you could just drop at a moments notice. But they were getting antsy, the seven mindrache guards had received some of the best instructions in fiore from the rune knights here. Sure a few of them were sporting wounds that were nasty but a trip to the healing wing made short work of that.

The caraveeners were quick to pack up their belongings thinking that they overstayed their welcome. Echo and the Vestige both sat nearby as saturn overlooked the mindrache as they packed. He felt a strange air to this place now, stranger still that he couldn’t… Do anything regarding it. That the decisions were now out of his hands; that this was too easy. It felt like a trap; saturn turned his head to echo and the little deific mindrache nodded their head. They agreed with him. So saturn would huff and send out some scouts to look over the area; check the paths.

None of them came back.

This was definitely a trap or orchestrated on a level he hadn’t seen before. Saturn felt his armor clasp around him and his spear called to his hand without second thought. He’d go with the mindrache this time. They wouldn’t be alone in their travels; they were surprised at seeing him again. The colonel had appeared and many knights were startled. Where had he been hiding? In his office? He didn’t tell anyone and told people to not look for the trainer; he was sent where he was needed. Saturn briskly left with the mindrache caravan. His companions at his heels and walking confidently in the midst of the mindrache.

His presence exuded power; his spears steady rhythm of thumps against the grounds brought attention from many around him. No whispers, no wide eyes, no one knew what he was about. Those that saw him in his early days made it difficult to really understand the transition. They couldn’t believe his rise to power happened so quickly. Once on the fields saturn noted they were being followed, flutters and jumps out of the corner of his eyes. They didn’t know him but they were about to.

The first volley of arrows was knocked aside by the vestige’s bright burst of magical energy, slamming them aside and scattering them into a fine mist. Not even a few miles outside of the central city and the bandits were already making themselves known? Foolish. Echo hurried along the weak and elderly while the guards stepped forward. Saturn himself yanked a full grown man off their feet and threw him at another.

It was managed chaos, the mindrache mage blasted another off their feet. The warrior bowled over bandit after bandit and the others? Well they managed in twos or threes. It was practically over before it even begun. But saturn knew that these people weren’t the real problem; it’d be the next and the next if they weren’t careful. He had been reading on tactics used to pursue people you wanted to capture. Sleepless nights used to help others. The new few days were in and out of fights; the scaling of the bandits made it strange to him. Many of these people seemed familiar to him too. Like they were the scouts, like they were people that he had seen in the streets. Odd to him in any sense of the word. It was the ninth day of travel when they finally crossed out of the borders of central fiore and into the next region. They were heading towards the ocean, a beachfront that was wide and had much space. Plenty of farmland too.

Saturn’s ears flicked and he was sure that the mindrache were being followed still; eyes watching for threats even when the lights fell from the sky. When the bandits attacked again under the cover of night, the stars themselves seemed to fall from the sky and the light that came from it spanned the entire field they were in. A blinding passion of a thousand distant suns.

Their eyes were taken from them through magic; they couldn’t see as the mindrache set upon them. Roused from slumber, well rested. Easy to work with and together. Saturn had spent time reinforcing their mentalities. He was without a doubt working hard to make sure these people were well taken care of. No instance or requirement going untreated. Saturn didn’t even have to step in; the mindrache made short work of this bandit group like they were nothing. Something the bandits didn’t realize that the more they attacked the more experience his guards got from it.

The next few days were quiet, like the bandits were rethinking their strategies and trying to come up with a good approach. Saturn still hadn’t slept at this point; the days didn’t feel like they were full and some of them blended together. He didn’t need sleep like most did; the darkness and light sustained him. Pulling from natural sources and feeling the inner workings of his body rearing its head.

The last day before they made it to the site of the beach was a wild one; more bandits than any of the prior day attacked just as the caravan was settling down. Thinking this was the best time to do so; saturn didn’t even give them a chance to get momentum. Rearing up the tendrils from the dark and blasting people away with impossibly bright mana he made short work of everything. The mindrache guards didn’t even get to interject with their own skills; just watching the behemoth of a knight obliterating swaths of hopeful nothings without a second thought. His smile on his face rang hollow and the burden of his brows came together.

They made it to the site in the next day…

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