I woke up with a splitting headache, the fight drained me more mentally than physically to be honest. I stood up slowly feeling faint, after regaining my balance I looked around, it seemed not much time had passed, it was still night, and some parts of the ground were still smoldering, luckily, I didn't start a forest fire, "It looks like nothing more than an hour or two passed when I was knocked out." I thought audibly. I started the journey back home relying heavily on my above average sense of direction.
I arrived at the city walls in about half an hour which I followed to the main gate. I arrived at the main gate where I was stopped. "Cassius, what happened?" A guard said grimacing. It was Aaron one of the guards I got to know at the main gate, we bonded over long lines, our aspirations to be knights in the military and surprisingly gossip. I've never been particularly nosy to be honest but Aaron always has the hottest gossip in the whole city, not to mention it's good to stay informed on current events. "Tried camping didn't like it" I said tiredly, picking a burnt blade of grass out of my hair. "We got info on a group of highway bandits attacking a minister's daughter. Know anything about that?" He asked expectantly "Yeah, I saw a bunch of them carrying a bunch of loot into a camp north-east of here." I said tiredly. "Why didn't you lead with that, I'll dispatch a team-" he said rattled. "No need someone came over and burned the place to the ground it was inspiring to be honest, I swear I'll reach and go beyond that level when I unlock my magic" I lied through my pearly white teeth.
"Really?" He asked bewildered "Mumm" I nodded as I blatantly lied with no remorse. We chatted for an hour with him telling me that the person robbed was the minister of finance's daughter Isabella White, I nodded pretending to have no clue and pitching in a few lies to sell my story. I left a little later than expected and arrived home in a few minutes, where I received a good and proper scolding about staying out long past midnight, I went to bed and slept my headache off. I avoided going to the forest for a few days before continuing my daily training sessions, I trained harder and harder every single day, that battle with Matt was a wakeup call honestly.
"I was overwhelmed by the flood which forced me to use my flames to the absolute max and passed out" I thought audibly "On the battlefield, passing out is akin to a death sentence, it leaves you vulnerable and easy to attack" I added, "I need to train both my mind and body to be able to defeat enemies without my flames" I followed up repeating basic sword strikes and stances. I trained for hours until I successfully mastered the basics. It was the first time in months I trained without using fire. This kind of training kept up for days with me only using my flames only when I had attacks I wanted to test and master.
A few weeks later, I was arguing with my sister Victoria about the best Grand-knight of Draconea I said it was I argued that it was James, the harbinger of death while she argued it was Leo, the brute. We argued in circles and coming to no conclusion listing achievement after achievement and arriving at no solid conclusion until, "Victoria, Cassius stop arguing" my mother said tiredly and we both reluctantly agreed. "Cassius, I have important news, the knighting exams have been fixed for this month" she said cheerfully, 'sheesh, for a woman who lost her husband in the military she's awfully happy to send her son' I thought gloomily "but then again, having a son in the military is a huge honor some stores even offer huge discounts for family members of military personnel surprisingly enough" I added to my train of thought.
"Really, that's great news" I said to which she nodded, "You'll need to prepare well for the exams, so I got you a trainer" she said happily, my neck snapped in her direction "Aren't trainers really expensive, mom you don't need to spend so much on me just some of dad's old weapons would do honestly." I said frantically. "No need for worries, he's a friend of your father, he's been begging to train you for years actually" she said cheerfully. "Really?" I asked to which she nodded with a smile. "He lives four houses away to the left of the town hall; you should visit him now" she suggested excitedly.
"Sure, I was planning on heading out anyways" I replied excited though to a lesser degree than my mom, which was still unnerving to be honest, I went to my room and put on a pair of black pants and a red shirt under a dark gray jacket, I took a sword that seemed in good conditions I walked towards the door and said goodbye to my mom and sister. All things considered, the journey would last forty minutes at best, I knew a lot of my mom's friends but none of my dad's, to be honest, we really tried to avoid the topic as a whole, I turned around the corner still lost in my thoughts 'The exams are mainly a formality for me to be honest, but training is still important, there is still a possibility of not being the strongest there and if my goal is to become the Grand knight I can't let anyone overshadow me, not during the exams or even after at the academy.' I pondered.
I arrived at my destination it was a house with a large wall with a big sturdy gate that blocked very thing behind from view, the gate was black with a red dragon being crossed by a sword and staff on both sides, the official crest of Draconea. I knocked on the gate which honestly hurt my hands, after a few moments the gate swung open and a short crimson haired girl with her hair done in a bob peeked her head out, "Who are you?" she asked annoyed "My name is Cassius frost" I said hesitantly. Ironically enough, the person whose last name is frost, burns down trees and bandit camps in the forest. "I was sent to train here" I followed up, she glared fiercely at me "My master doesn't accept freeloaders" she said spitefully. "Excuse me?" I said in shock "You look nothing like a student, so most definitely you're a freeloader coming here for free food under the excuse of training so get lost" she said slamming the gate shut.
I stood there bewildered until my shock turned into pure unbridled fury, my hands balled up into fists and I felt my body heat spike responding to my rage, 'The absolute nerve of that failed excuse for a living thing, how absolutely dare she? just chasing me away like some bad omen.' I turned around calming myself down and decided to sit close on a bench clearly visible from the gate, 'She said master so I'm sure this is the address, exactly four houses from the town hall so either this is a test of endurance and passion or, she messed up bad.' I reasoned. 'She probably went to her master bragging about chasing off an intruder, she tells him what happened and he gets furious, sending her out to find me… riiighht abouuut nowww' I thought drawing out the last few words. The gate slammed opened with the cherry haired girl running out with a desperate expression on her face.
Her eyes darted over the place before landing on me, she walked towards me in slow painful steps, before stopping in front of me with an expression that showed she regretted every step, "My sincerest apologies, it seems I was mistaken about your identity, my apologies" she said as if every word burned at every fiber of her existence. "So please, would you follow me to my master" she said calmly, "I would love to but what you said hurt me deeply, I'm emotionally scarred" I said waving my hands exaggeratedly letting her know that I was faking it. Her left eye twitched in irritation as she ground her teeth. She took a breath and looked me in the eye "Maybe if you get down on your knees and apologized, I might forgive you" I said deviously.
She looked at me in shock and then anger, 'Perfect, feel my pain' I thoughtdevilishly. "Absolutely not" she said outraged. "Oh really, well I might just have a word with this your master" I said walking towards the gate, she paled slightly before grabbing the sleeve of my jacket her grip tightened slightly, she let go of my sleeve and got on her knees slowly. She looked towards the ground and said with a bloodthirsty expression. "I'm sorry" she said through gritted teeth. "You're forgiven" I said humbly.
She nearly jumped to her feet dusting herself off and grumbling inaudibly, we walked through the gate in silence and I took a look at the spacious courtyard with various training mats of different sizes all around weapon racks with various weapons ranging from great swords to crossbow to mage staffs I stood in awe at the collection of high-quality weapons, we stopped in front of the large stone house resembling a castle, she opened the door and led me through a stone hallway to a door on our left she opened the door and jerked her head to the side gesturing for me to enter and I did so with out a word the room was rather plain it had a fireplace and a few sofas around with someone on the sofa facing the fireplace, they had their back facing me and also apparently had a thing for suspense it seemed.
I walked to the front and looked at the person who was training me in shock it was, Sir. Andrew, the nightmare, a face I or rather everyone in this kingdom knew, he terrorized all opposing kingdoms during the Seventh war feared by all for his inescapable attacks and agility that allowed him to dodge attacks in ways that were described as non-human, he was one of the knights who wasin contention for the position of grand knight but willingly pulled out, my eyes widened at the sight of the legendary figure and the thought that someone like this knew my father, which also brought up the question… who was my father really?
CHAPTER END.