"Some time ago, there was a clan similar to ours," Rasin began. "They were the biggest of clans with thousands of able-bodied members, and almost as many children, elders, and others who weren't able."

The beast pulling their wagon slowed, turning its great head to the side where a clump of grasses grew. It reached out with an agile tongue, wrapping it around the grassy stalks and tugging the bunch out of the dirt. Rasin slapped the reins against the beast's shoulder, prompting it to turn its head back towards the road. It chewed as it walked, ears flicking back.

Severance watched it plod along, following the wagon ahead dutifully. He thought its life must be very dull, being a simple-minded beast of burden. Dull, but peaceful.

"Because this clan was so big," Rasin went on, "they also divided themselves into seven branch families."

Also? That caught Severance's attention, and he gave Rasin a questioning look. But the man gave no indication of noticing, for he continued on his story in a low tone that wouldn't reach the other wagons.

"They spread out across the land, building their own cities. It took a lot to supply so many people, as you can imagine, but they had a system figured out. Even though most clans like to keep their bloodlines separate from the rest, this clan had the ideology that they were stronger as a whole.

"They lived together in great Houses. Each House would have its own purpose, and when a child grew old enough to decide on a profession, such as a hunter, they would leave their family House join a House of hunters. In this way, the clan nurtured talent and grew more powerful each day."

Rasin fell silent, gaze fixated straight ahead. His grip tightened on the reins, and a muscle along his lightly bearded jawline tensed.

Severance cocked his head. He wasn't sure where Rasin was going with this, nor had he any idea why. And to be honest, he wasn't exactly in the mood to learn about how some random clan functioned.

When Rasin didn't seem inclined to continue speaking, Severance sighed inwardly. This silence was worse than a tedious story. "So?"

That seemed to wake the Veiled man up, for Rasin blinked, then rubbed at the side of his neck absently. Most of the blood from his earlier injury had dried by now, but it undoubtedly felt irritating.

Severance could relate to that; his own face was stiff, like he wore a disgusting mask. An attempt to wipe it off had been made, but that had failed spectacularly. Only a proper bath or logging off would get him clean now.

Rasin exhaled softly. "Anyway, this clan was at the very top. They were the most powerful, but they had to be, for they had the single most important responsibility resting on their shoulders. They were the Keepers of the Towers."

"Towers?" Severance asked, his curiosity piqued. He pictured a field full of Eiffel Towers, an army of metal reaching for the sky. That was probably not quite what Rasin meant, but it was the first thing to pop into his mind.

"That's what they were called." For a moment, a ghost of a smile lightened Rasin's features. Then it was gone. "But it was a poor name for them. These Towers were constructs, yes, but they were so much more than that. It was said they held unimaginable treasures, locked behind powerful guardians. It was also said that a Tower could change the very landscape around it, that it could regenerate the scars left behind by man. Or it could do the opposite and strip the land of all life.

"No one really knew or understood their full capabilities. But that didn't matter. Everyone tried to gain access to them, to try to use them for their own gain. And if one person could gain control of a Tower, then the possibilities would be endless for them."

"So, this Clan kept the Towers safe from other people." Severance leaned forward in his seat, digesting all this. These Towers sounded fantastical, like an all-powerful magical tool found only in fantasy worlds. And to have a huge clan dedicated to protecting them? That was kind of cool.

"Yes."

"What kept them from taking control of the Towers and ruling the world themselves?"

That earned him a rather sharp look from Rasin. Severance had the impression that Rasin disapproved of that question, but he didn't understand why. It was a good one, because what group was truly free of bad seeds? What was to stop them from seizing that very tempting power that lay within arm's reach?

"Each member of that clan was held to the highest degree of accountability," Rasin answered gruffly. "Everyone had their pride, their honor, and those that did not were very rare. But to be honest, there was always a few. You have to understand that this clan, these Keepers, were a true neutral force, Severance. They took no sides, and never got involved in any of the world affairs. That was undoubtedly difficult for some of the members to accept, whether they were drawn in by the plights of others or caught up in the delusion of grandeur."

"What happened to those people?"

"They were dealt with," Rasin's voice was soft.

Severance's mind immediately jumped to the worst, and he stared at the Veiled man in mild horror. "They were killed?"

Rasin sighed. "Not quite."

"Then what did—"

"It doesn't matter," Rasin cut him off in a tone that brooked no argument.

Severance scowled faintly. He thought it did matter. Did this clan really kill off any of their dissenters, or were they merely slapped on the wrist and told to behave? There was a huge difference between the two. Just what was this not quite supposed to mean? Maybe they were beaten within an inch of their lives and tossed into the gutter, cursed to live the rest of their lives as a cripple.

Ugh, now I really want to know!

Purposefully blind to Severance's irritation, Rasin continued. "For several hundred years, this clan fulfilled their roles as Keepers. All the others in the world accepted this, willingly paying a very small tax in order to gain limited access to the Towers. They—"

"Wait a minute," Severance interrupted, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "You keep saying Towers. Just how many of these things were there?"

"Seven," Rasin patiently answered. "One for every family branch, you could say."

"Oh." Severance nodded slowly. "Right." Of course there were. How could he have thought any different? Seven Towers, seven branch families, all tied up in one neat little clan. Typical fantasy storyline.

"Okay, go on." Leaning back, Severance propped up his boots on the top of the wagon's footrest.

The corners of Rasin's mouth tugged upwards. "Thank you, I will. As I was saying, the Keepers allowed anyone access to the Towers for a small fee, but regulated how they were used. Sure, fights broke out, people tried to sneak inside, some were greedy and tried to steal the gains of others, but the clan had unparalleled military might and easily suppressed all conflict. This was how they kept the peace, and everyone was content with the system."

Rasin stopped for a moment, clicking his teeth to get the ox-like beast to pick up the pace. It flicked its ears once and obliged.

"And then," a somber note entered Rasin's voice, "the worst came to pass."

"What?" Severance asked. It had to be something terrible with that kind of ominous declaration, but he was invested in this story now and hoped that the good guys at least made it through.

It took a few moments before Rasin spoke again. "One night, the forces of evil orchestrated a multi-pronged assault. They had gathered multiple armies of like-minded clans and they hit each of the Keeper cities at the same time. The Keepers defended themselves, and perhaps they would have been able to repel the attackers, but..."

"But?" Severance practically held his breath. He tried to picture the battle in his mind, but it was hard to imagine the sheer scope of the cities and the Towers and all the thousands of clan members defending them. To be able to defeat such a powerful clan, the evil forces must have been enormous.

"They were betrayed. Somehow, the commanders behind the assault had gotten inside information. They knew every weakness of the Keeper's defenses and every detail that would give an edge. For example, they knew where the children would lay their heads to sleep. They knew when guard shifts would change, where the weapons were stored, and they even knew what strategies the Keepers tended to use. And worse, they gained access to the clan's communications system, so they were able to fabricate an emergency elsewhere and have most of the Keeper warriors leave the cities unprotected. By the time anyone realized what was going on, it was too late. They were overrun."

Rasin bowed his head, a heavy feeling hanging over him. It added weight to the grimness of the tale, and Severance could almost believe that Rasin himself had been there in the story, witnessing that awful event.

Severance almost didn't want to ask, but he had to know. "What happened next?"

"It was a slaughter," Rasin spoke so softly, that Severance almost missed it. "Women with babes and innocent children were not spared either. They were gutted where they slept, their Houses set on fire afterward to ensure that any survivors did not remain. The clan warriors that remained fought to the last man, killing two of the enemy for every one of theirs that fell, but in the end, they were annihilated. Even those that had been sent out for the false emergency were overtaken by other armies."

"That's terrible," Severance swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "Did these people get the Towers in the end?"

"No." A strange glimmer lit Rasin's eyes. "When the Keepers realized it was the end, they entered the Towers themselves. They sacrificed themselves, and directed the Towers to self-destruct, because they wanted to make sure that no evil got their hands on such power."

"Wow." There wasn't much else Severance could say to that. It was an epic tragedy. "So none of them survived in the end?"

"No one knows," Rasin said. "Some say the entire Clan was wiped out. But there's rumors that some still live on to this day in hiding."

"Huh." Severance hoped that was true, because it made the whole thing slightly less depressing. Then he had to wonder... why did Rasin tell him this random story in the first place?

He frowned, thinking about this. Then he suddenly straightened, his gaze snapping over to Rasin, who was calmly driving the wagon.

"Hey, wait a second. You're not saying that this famous clan is the Veiled, are you?!"

Rasin looked over, brows lifting. "I said no such thing."

"But you said at the start they were very similar," Severance insisted. "You have seven family branches, but there's only like 25 of you now. And Olen even said you used to have way more stuff but it was lost a while ago. It all fits!"

"Now you're just jumping to conclusions," Rasin said mildly. He tugged the reins to the left, prompting the beast to take the left fork in the path. Not that he needed to; the beast would have kept following the wagon ahead of it.

Severance scoffed. Jumping to conclusions now, was he? Anyone would have had the same thought! "Then why would you tell me that story?"

With a shrug, Rasin just said, "I just thought it was something you should hear."

"What do you mean by that?" Severance folded his arms. There was no way this was just some random fairy tale story. There had to be more to it than that.

Rasin smiled, creases forming at the corners of his eyes. "It's just a story, Severance. I told it to help pass the time."

That wasn't the answer Severance wanted. He opened his mouth to tell Rasin exactly that, but the man spoke before he could.

"Now, if someone decides to tell you this story sometime in the future, do me a huge favor and pretend you never heard it before. Alright?"

Severance stared at him, baffled. Was this for real?

As if sensing his confusion, Rasin met his gaze and gave a very deliberate wink. Then he turned his attention to the road ahead, whistling a jaunty little tune that put an end to any further questions.

That left Severance to mull over his thoughts in silence. Despite Rasin's dismissal of his suspicions, Severance couldn't help but hang onto them. There were too many coincidences. And the claim that it was just a story to pass the time? He didn't believe that for one second.

But if it were true, then that meant the Towers had actually existed. And if the Veiled were the survivors of that once mighty clan, was there a chance that one or some of the Towers still existed?

Severance heaved out a sigh. This hurts my head.