Page 19 of Forging Bonds: Part One

"Well fuck," Raiden curses.

Sully nods, "Until the portal opens, we won't be able to sort out the mess that the reapers have created for themselves."

"It figures, I am glad that I know though."

Sully nods, "Don't forget that it is information that you shouldn't have, and that they don't want it to get out. You need to be careful with how you handle your knowledge of it."

Raiden nods, "I am always careful how I handle my knowledge."

"Sounded dirty," I snicker, and then immediately clamp my lips shut when I realize I said it out loud.

Sully and Raiden stare at me for a moment before they both shake their heads and chuckle. I may not have meant to make the comment, but it has successfully broken the tension that the serious conversation was causing.

Sully becomes serious again, "The new council didn't help their species at all by keeping themselves so separate and secretive; it freaks the humans out and the younger generation of supernaturals as well. Everyone has been taught about the reapers that lose their shit, but whereas that was just knowledge in Trieneliea and didn't paint all reapers with the same brush, here it's bred fear."

"In the older generation as well, although I don't understand why, if they know how it used to be in Trieneliea," Raiden replies.

"It's all the doing of the new council," Sully replies, a dark and unimpressed look on his face.

"I hope that I'm still around when the door reopens to Trieneliea. I would love to see the council answer for their stupidity," Raiden practically growls.

"We all would," Sully agrees. "The new council has taken the fear that those few reapers that have gone rogue have caused and have fanned the flames instead of proving that there is nothing to fear like the original council spent centuries doing. They have used Teivel as an example. He tried to take over all of Trieneliea for the reapers because he thought that they should rule. A lot of lives were lost in that war, and the new council has made sure that it's taught in the magical academy. They also ensured that the reapers were taught lessons separately to the other students, which also bred fear. Originally, they wanted them to be completely separate, but thankfully, enough reapers kicked up a fuss that they backed down and only had some lessons separately."

I know that he is explaining this for my benefit since Raiden obviously went there and experienced it first-hand.

"I always thought that their ways were because they were stuck in the past and following unnecessary traditions, but it turns out that actually the old ways were better, and they're just being assholes. Their treatment of those they feel are less powerful than they are, is cruel and unnecessary. That's just the tip of the iceberg as well."

Sully smiles, looking impressed, "I agree, and so do many other people. Unfortunately, it's not something that anyone can fix, only a reaper can, and it would have to be an uprising or civil war or something because of the tight control that the new council of reapers keeps over everyone."

We all fall silent as we think about what Sully has said.

River must have started to feel better because he chimes in, "You know, I always wondered why the reapers had separate lessons from everyone else. It seemed counterproductive to me then."

Raiden grins, "Well, you were in enough of them to see for yourself what they were about."

"He was?" I ask.

River grins, "Not officially."

"None of us wanted to leave Raiden with no backup. Even though he was more than capable of taking care of himself, it got to the point where they were threatening to kick Raiden out because of the number of fights that he got in," Doc explains.

"Ransom developed a spell that allowed us to become undetectable, and we would all take turns sitting in on his special reaper lessons, just in case," Evander explains with a grin.

"As soon as anyone attempted to start something, we would mess with them and freak them out because we were invisible," Griff chuckles.

"The students that come to the Training Academy still talk about how haunted the place is, even though we haven't been there for years," Ransom chuckles.

"Coen was the funniest," River smiles, his legs bouncing in excitement, "he wouldn't wait for them to mess with Raiden before he fucked with them. He was always fiercely loyal," River frowns, "which is why it never made sense that he chose their team."

"It didn't, but there wasn't anything that we could do about it," Reed says, still lying on the floor.

"I hate it," River says, all of the previous laughter and happiness gone.

I don't like that he's sad, although I understand why. I want the happiness back though, so I say, "Tell me a story about one of the things that Coen did, I bet it was entertaining."

River smiles and nods, "Oh, for sure. Coen used to be able to keep up with me and my crazy plans, hell he came up with half of them."

"They were an absolute nightmare together," Evander smiles fondly.

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