34 years ago.

Immediately after the Alva children had gained control of the Ring after Samuel's reign was over, making one of the apple eaters a leader was obvious. The Alva's had very different ideas of how to govern, however, and they agreed that the entire planet should not be under the control of one person like Samuel was for so long.

Then and there, they devised five sections within the Ring that each of them would govern. The Alva's created platforms for how they were going to rule, and the people that they expected to follow them.

From the command centre of Nighthawk, on a platform that extended into the masses, the invincible children gave their pitch.

Aimos was first. He called upon people who were compassionate. Who hated war, but would use it if necessary to protect themselves from evil. He wanted people who were open and transparent. He vowed he would be open with them, but he demanded reciprocity. He asked for those who were resolute. Who knew right from wrong, and would never fear standing up for these values. Aimos was wise, and told his potential followers he would lead, but have a cabinet of elected individuals that he would go through before he made any provincial decisions. Their words: compassionate, open, resolute.

Next was Panza. She called for people who were passionate, who were in touch with all of the ranges of emotions humans were so used to that were stripped away during Samuel's regime. She encouraged them to be strong and vulnerable, spontaneous yet stable. She said to the people that the Trees had given her the power she had, and that they should be devoted and spiritual to the Trees that saved them. She would lead, but she promised the people they would try to understand what the Seven Trees commanded, and that they would follow. They had to be believers, believers of something greater than themselves. Their words: passionate, spiritual, attentive.

Aaron wanted the bold, the gregarious, the assertive. Whoever followed him would pursue happiness, and he would help them as best he could. Aaron reverted to democracy that had failed the people on the previous planet, but vowed to always remain as a military general keeping a close eye on the democratically elected leaders. He vowed to be accepting of the people who chose to not follow him for his siblings, respecting their free choices and this natural diversity. Their words: free, assertive, bold.

Nik wanted complete trust in his leadership, the most forgiving, the most thoughtful, and the humblest. The people that would give the shirt from their backs to each other but have absolute faith that their leader would do what is right. He promised complete equality, and that discipline and knowledge would breed prosperity and a paradise. Their words: wise, trusting, disciplined.

Last was Lleyton. His speech was the most impassioned, and angered Panza. He demanded loyalty, bravery, and conscientiousness. But he did not demand these things for himself. He demanded these things for each other. He promised if they were willing to die for him, he would be willing to die for them, and keep them safe forever. He vowed the strongest military and isolation from his siblings. After his speech, he told his siblings that what he thought the people needed most right now was to be among those like themselves. He promised he would stay close with his siblings but would not will this upon his people. Their words: loyal, brave, conscientious.

Before the people had a chance to choose their leaders, the Alva's radio buzzed. It was the lost kidnapped children that Felix had released. They frantically let them into the walls and told them their father had released them.

The kidnapped children, having been missing almost their whole lives, were devastated to learn their parents had been killed in the War Within the Ring. The only family they had were the children they were in a glass cage with. They held onto each other tightly.

Scientists wrongly imprisoned under Samuel's reign and volunteers were immediately dispatched to the Eastern Outpost, and radioed back to the Alvas that the lab the children told them of was Mayla's.

They discovered her secret lab, and that there was no sign of their father. The children would never find him but couldn't accept that he died. They scoured the area surrounding the Eastern Outpost to no avail.

Panza had guessed he made a deal with the Trees, sacrificing his life for his children to have the apples. It was speculation, but even the logical Nik seemed to sadly accept this as truth. Even so, they agreed never to have a memorial for Felix, so desperate that their father would one day return.

Mayla had been behind the kidnappings all along, was the consensus. The Alvas agreed she likely had their cousins, Maeve and Solan, imprisoned and killed. They were so clever that they probably discovered her, and they all keenly remembered how Mayla threatened them at the Gothreek caves. Their fears were confirmed when Panza questioned Samuel's now imprisoned loyalists, who said they killed Solan. Panza told her siblings Maeve had the same fate.

Lleyton was the first to step forward towards the kidnapped children. He asked the smallest girl her name.

"I'm Chrea. Chrea Oddisy," She said to him quietly, clinging to her best friend, a male named Veenta Trosh.

Lleyton smiled at her, and said, "I knew your father, Cana. I fought with him. Will you fight with me?"

He extended his hand to the small girl and in front of the massive crowds that were looking onwards, she took his. Lleyton pressed a golden coin that Cana had given to him before he died during the War Within the Ring, and it was now pressed into his daughter's hands. Lleyton then took the boy's hand, too.

The other Alva siblings followed, picking up the kidnapped children in their arms, each taking a pair.

Soon after, the people chose their leaders. Aaron had the most followers around thirty-five thousand strong, followed by Aimos, then Nik, then Panza, and then Lleyton. They separated into five slices of the Ring while they devised their next course of action.

In a matter of days, the Alva siblings discovered the extraordinary abilities of the kidnapped children. Even more shockingly, they noticed the powers begin to propagate through the Ring like a virus. They called the kidnapped children the 'Hosts'. Scientists quickly recognized the powers selected for certain people.

All of Lleyton's followers became like Chrea and Veenta. Over three quarters of Aaron's followers became like the children he had taken, incredibly strong. A vast majority of Nik's, Panza's, and Aimos's followers became like the children they took, with unique and amazing powers.

The Alva's realized those with the powers, which they began calling the Gifted, matched the powers of the five Apex animals of the planet as their father and Mayla had discovered.

And so, the Alva siblings took the animals that resembled the kidnapped children as their sigil.

Some with mismatched powers, like those who were Ravens who initially followed Aaron, changed allegiances, believing it was not a coincidence the virus created almost perfect borders around the people. A very small minority remained with their first chosen leader.

Curiously, a small minority among the people who were infected remained asymptomatic. People adopted a derogatory term for them: 'Sub-people' or 'Subs' for short.

The people became even more wary of the non-Gifted, when the suspected virus began to spread in the prisons among Samuel's loyalists. None of them developed the Gifts, but some developed something far worse - their skin began to turn purple, their limbs growing long, their minds descending into madness. A rumor began spreading that those without powers were evil. Some innocents were beaten and shamed. Most of the Alva siblings condemned the violence. Lleyton appeared apathetic, and Panza was the first to notice his indifference.

Among the approximately half of the non-Gifted that turned purple, the madness accelerated. They began feasting on anything that was moving, were violent, their strength matched only by Aaron's followers. They were immensely powerful, and erupted from the prisons, spreading into Nighthawk and the streets, Samuel's former followers that were asymptomatic also escaping and forming a bulk of what became the Outlanders.

The Alva siblings knew it was time to leave the Ring behind and the monsters within, worried more non-Gifted would transform into the monsters. They carved the continent into slices, and evacuated their people to the Outposts that Mayla and Felix had created which were scattered across the land. Before they left, they agreed that each would comply with two rules: to not proliferate weapons for any reason other than for basic needs, and allow annual inspections to take place to keep each sibling in check.

A consortium of scientists reconvened and inspected the Gothreek mountains, agreeing as long as no one got into the caves among the immobile statues that the people would be safe. They sealed all the entrances with Sea Steel that Aimos's people mined and provided.

While the siblings admired Aaron's openness to the large number of non-Bears in his province, they all agreed that the capital cities that they created should only be available to natives. Aaron's capital would only be home to the Bears, Nik's to the Ravens, Panza's to the Tigers, Aimos's to the Orcas, and Lleyton's to the Wolves. There had to be a place where the tribal violence even the best-intentioned humans exhibited would not occur.

But humans appeared to always find a way to be violent with one another.

***

18 years ago.

"We know you are up to something, Lleyton. You will have to answer for the killing of our Inspectors. Give us access within your walls, give up the murderers, and turn over whatever you're creating," Panza said, her finger in her youngest brother's face.

Aimos was amazed at how calm his brother remained. He was convinced that Lleyton was innocent. Naive to what his people were doing behind his back, possibly. But what Panza was asking was impossible without more evidence.

The five siblings sat in a circle just outside of the Ring upon a bronze table, where all of their borders converged in international lands, provincial soldiers and officials at each of their backs. It was an Emergency Meeting.

The Inspectors, except for the Inspectors from Dazheen, were missing and presumed murdered on their convoys back home after the inspections at the Wolf's Den. The Creatures of the Night had no doubt consumed the bodies and the evidence. The obvious suspicion laid upon the Wolves. The killing of Inspectors also implied the Inspectors were returning with damaging information – the Wolves were constructing something illegal.

"You have no evidence. My walls stay closed. Anything else?" Lleyton said looking at Panza, fiercely yet calmly. He was standing to leave.

"If there's no evidence, then you'd let us come in, no? You must admit, Lleyton, it looks rather suspicious right after the Inspectors die that you refuse anyone within your walls," Nik said to his brother.

While Nik and Lleyton were moderately friendly with each other, the Wolves and Ravens despised each other. Resources along the southern border of Dazheen and the northern border of Blackland were rich and disputed and fought over constantly.

Lleyton looked at Nik, and said, "I owe you four nothing. We agreed the only policies that would apply to all of the provinces were: one, take part in the Inspections; and two, to not proliferate weapons capable of mass destruction. My people and I are abiding by both."

The four other siblings looked at each other uncomfortably.

Lleyton continued, "We all know what this really is. You three are jealous of what I've built. Not you, Aimos. But you three, you'll send in your soldiers and Inspectors now, and they'll deem our knives a little too sharp, or our motors a little too fast. And then you'll impose your petty trade rules and force us to trade. What can you people not understand about leaving us alone? I suggest you find the real murderers that did this, because I can promise you they're out there. Not within my walls. I intend to keep my people sovereign, safe, and prosper as I always have. Maybe you should do the same."

Aimos knew this to be true, that his siblings were envious. He and Lleyton had stumbled into the provinces with the richest resources. The mountain soil of Dazheen was amenable to all sorts of agricultural foods, it had the most fresh water from the mountainous glaciers, and a plethora of minerals. Aimos' siblings were desperate for some. Whether they would use the death of their Inspectors as a pretext was improbable for Nik and Aaron, but Aimos didn't put it past Panza. She had a mistrust for Lleyton ever since they left the Ring. Panza was worried her brother was someone else now, capable of becoming another Samuel, Aimos always sensed.

"That is nonsensical, Lleyton. Trading more with us won't just help us. It will help you. The wood from Baylon makes the finest structures on the planet. You must admit, you were lucky with your region of the continent that you took. The families of our Inspectors deserve justice. Let us inside," Aaron said, Panza and Nik nodding in agreement.

Lleyton looked at his siblings with contempt and amazement, and said, "You're unbelievable, you know that? Must I remind you which one of us got last pick for the slice of the continent? How my province is smaller than any of yours?"

The siblings looked away sheepishly. This fact was indisputable.

"The reality is my people work hard. Love each other. Prosper. Along with my hard work, too. And it drives you crazy I was able to build something better than yours, as the youngest of us. Especially you, Panza."

Panza lunged at her brother but Aimos stood and held her back. She spat and said, "Why you little ingrate, I should stomp you like when we were children. What happened to the Lleyton I once knew? Who would give his shirt off his back for us?"

Lleyton calmly stood and smoothed his black and silver uniform, the gold sigil of his Wolf shining on his chest in the sunlight. He said, "I still am, sister. I am loyal to you, and my people. But they are my family too, now, and they love me, unlike you it seems. Why can't you recognize that? Instead of blaming me for your province's problems, why don't you solve yours yourself."

Panza called back to her soldiers before Lleyton could finish his sentence, her patience drained. One soldier snapped to attention and brought forth a knife. It was black and silver, stained with dried blood. She angrily pierced it into the polished wood of their meeting table, making her siblings flinch.

"I thought we could do this amicably, but I suppose not. Look familiar, Lleyton?" She said fiercely.

Lleyton looked at the knife, surprise spreading across his face like an avalanche. It was from his province. The siblings looked at the knife surprised, as well.

"No problem, I can tell you. It's steel from the North West mountains, my scientists say. Last time I checked, no one here has traded with you for steel."

Sweat glistened Lleyton's dark hair, his eyes shifting uneasily between his siblings.

Panza continued, "We found that where our Inspectors were last known. And wouldn't you know it, the blood on this blade matched an Inspector of our province. We also found DNA on the blade of an unknown person, obviously a Wolf. Let's cut to the chase. A Wolf killed my Inspectors, whether you ordered it, or not. Put your ego aside, let us in your walls, and let us prosecute whoever did this. You are accountable for this, and you will be punished for this too, don't get it twisted."

Lleyton thought for a moment, picking up the knife, spinning the blade in his hand. To his siblings' shock, Lleyton said, "Circumstantial."

Panza and her siblings scoffed. Aimos continued to watch silently, watching all of his siblings carefully.

Lleyton started walking back towards his wife, Yulia, and his military leaders atop their Shantles to return to Dazheen.

Panza conferred with the religious clerics of the Tigers, whispering into her ears. They came to some sort of agreement, and before Lleyton reached his convoy, she said, "as Leader of New Felix, and in accordance with the religious laws of the sacred Trees that gave us our powers to protect this continent, we declare war on you, and the people of Dazheen, under the charges of murder and breaching both national articles. This is your last chance, Lleyton. Let us come in peacefully and charge you with what you're guilty of."

"Allowing you into our home, uninvited, charging us of something we are innocent of, is an infringement on our sovereignty, our freedom as a people. I, and we, would rather fight than live under the whims of your talons and claws," Lleyton said.

Chrea Oddisy, his Host and General, gave her leader a reassuring nod.

There were gasps and murmurs from the soldiers and officials behind the meeting circle. Officials swept in to discuss and counsel with their Sixes.

Nik's and Aaron's counsellors advised them to declare war, too. The combined forces of the siblings would defeat Lleyton quickly with little bloodshed, and finally they could strong arm Lleyton into new policies that benefitted the planet rather than just the Wolves, and stop whatever war machine Lleyton was building in secret.

Aaron and Nik both declared war after shortly briefing with their Generals. "We're sorry, Lleyton. If this is the only thing that will bring justice for our people, then we are committed to doing it. Put yourself in our shoes. What would you do if your people were killed by ours, and we refused your investigation?" Aaron said to him.

Everyone looked to Aimos who was still deliberating to himself and with his leaders.

Lleyton said, "Sometimes, sister, I wish we could die, and wish we could hurt each other. Then you and I could settle this right here, right now, without you hiding behind your people."

Panza smiled confidently in her youngest brother's direction. With both Aaron and Nik on her side, the war had already been won. In one-on-one combat, the Tiger's were the most skilled when metal was involved, which it rarely wasn't. They would soon find out if that translated to war.

To everyone's surprise, Aimos said, "The Orcas will not be going to war. We will remain neutral in this conflict. We believe there is not enough evidence of Lleyton's involvement in the death of our Inspectors to warrant war, nor enough evidence they broke both articles. The last radio communication we had with our Inspector's convoy did not elicit any suspicions that they had found something suspicious within Lleyton's walls. We encourage all parties to introduce more evidence if they have any."

Of course, there was another reason Aimos had no appetite for conflict. The love of his life, Thaia, had died almost a year ago giving birth to his daughter. While he was overjoyed his newborn was safe and healthy and happy, he was still reeling and grieving the loss of his love. He could not, would not, do something that would make him lose another family member, make Lleyton hate him.

Panza scowled angrily at Aimos. "You fool. What else do you need? A video of them doing it?"

Before Lleyton returned to his convoy, he looked at Aaron, Nik, and Panza one by one. He said coldly, "Once you realize our ferocity on the