Chapter 14 – "Roots in the Mud"
Dawn was cold when the doors of Eternal Skies opened.
Adam stepped out first, the blood and smoke still staining his clothes—not completely wiped clean. He wanted them to see the truth: change is never clean, and never free.
Behind him came the people, one by one:
Barefoot children, women with exhausted eyes, men whose shoulders were bent under the weight of hunger and humiliation.
They gathered before him in the muddy courtyard, which still smelled of ash and scorched iron.
The great fire was gone, but the soot-stained walls stood like silent witnesses.
Adam looked at them with steady black eyes.
His voice came out rough, but sharp as if it had been honed on stone:
> "Listen to me. Last night, you ate and slept. Today, you pay the price. But not with gold. Not with slavery. The price is your will—placed in my hands—so I can lead you where you've never had the courage to go alone."
A heavy silence filled the square.
> "You are not a gang. You are not slaves. You are a seed. A seed of a nation born from mud and blood. If you want slavery, find another master. Here, there's no master, no slave. Only a pact—one written in blood."
He walked to a thin, poor boy—not Gyro—and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
> "I was like you. Afraid. Hungry. But I taught myself to fear less. I want you all to learn that. I don't need cowards hiding behind me—I need people who walk the path beside me."
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Then he turned to all of them and said:
> "Today, we build our network. Not one that strangles us, but shields us. We will take food and medicine from those who steal from us—the port gangs. Tomorrow, they'll wake to find their rice, oil, and salt gone—and here instead, feeding our children."
He pointed to the women:
> "You know the market. Who sells overpriced goods, who hoards supplies, who robs us. Write down their names. Tomorrow, we negotiate—or we break them."
To the men:
> "Anyone who's worked at the docks—tell me every path, every rope, every abandoned pier. I want the smuggling routes the pirates use. We will steal like them—but with purpose."
To the children:
> "You are my messengers. My eyes. If you don't fight, you carry news. If not a weapon, then a message. If you can't strike, you can watch."
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He spent the whole day with them.
He didn't sit.
He trained the men—not to show off, but to kill with precision.
He taught the women to hide knives under their clothes and learn the poisons of herbs.
He made the children crawl through mud, sneak through alleys, carry small sacks unnoticed.
He listened to the old and the sick name corrupt guards and ancient smuggling routes.
He remembered everything. Left nothing out.
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By nightfall, they returned to the tavern, now officially named Eternal Skies.
They sat around a faint fire—bodies exhausted, eyes lit with a hunger they had never felt before.
Adam stood before them.
His face half-lit by fire.
His voice was hoarse from shouting all day:
> "Today we planted our roots. Tomorrow we grow branches. The market, the port, the governor, the gangs—they will know our name. Not because we're mad or good—but because we knew hunger and refused it. We knew blood—and chose to control it, not fear it."
Silence.
> "I am no prophet. No saint. Just a man who broke his chains. And I want you to do the same. Don't be slaves to chains you didn't choose. If you must wear one—let it be this pact between us. I will be your voice. You will be my hand. I will protect you—and you will obey that protection."
He raised his hand, stained with dried mud and blood.
> "This is my blood. This is the price. There is no freedom without a price. If you won't pay it—leave tonight. I won't stop you. If you will—then swear: Your will is our will."
At first, the voices were hesitant. Then stronger:
> "Your will is our will!"
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Adam sat among them afterward.
The fire flickered in his tired eyes.
His voice was low, nearly a whisper:
> "Good. Tomorrow, we show them this island no longer belongs to cowards. It
belongs to those who choose to be born from mud, blood, and iron. Here begins Eternal Skies."
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End of Chapter 14