Lucas woke up to the sound of bells. The sun was just breaking dawn, and the castle and the city below it was just waking up.

It was too early for this. Lucas didn’t like waking up early. He never did.

He got out of his bed and changed his clothes, to the ones that Darius gave him the other day.

He then stepped out of his room and walked down to the courtyard.

Darius was sitting on a bench in the courtyard, next to two horses which were tethered to the bench.

He wore a cloak and was wearing what seemed like cotton clothes.

The morning chill hit Lucas’s face as he walked towards Darius. He shivered. He did not have a cloak to wear, and wore boots only.

As he approached Darius glanced up at him.

“Ah, awake? Good. I will expect you to wake up early from now on. Get on.” He commanded, pointing to one of the horses.

“Where are we going?” Asked Lucas, walking toward the horse.

“The Knights Revenant quarters and barracks.” Said Darius, hopping on the horse. Lucas carefully mounted the horse, trying to keep the lessons he learned yesterday in his head.

He steadied himself after mounting, and they left the courtyard. The courtyard itself was one of three in the castle. The first two were in the front of the castle. The one that lucas was currently in was the back courtyard. It was mostly kept empty.

The duo rode out of the castle, and within the hour, Darius tapped lucas on the shoulder and pointed ahead of them.

“In a few mintues, we will be in sight of the Barracks. Its quite big and a little intimidating, but don’t worry too much.” He said.

Lucas frowned. “What do you mean by that?” He said.

“You’ll see.” Was the reply.

Lucas was irked inside, but he didn’t say anything.

He didn’t want to risk angering Darius.

A few minutes later, Lucas’s mouth hung open as he stared ahead of him.

The Knights Revenant barracks was a fortress.

It sat, towering over their heads as they approached it. It gave off an intimidating air, as if they were approaching a prison or the layer of a demon.

Darius smiled, and glanced at the intimidated Lucas and felt satisfied inside. The Knights revenant fortress managed to intimidate someone who lived in a world where the buildings rose above the clouds.

He had spoken to Mrs. Hill, the teacher of the children who had come with them. She spoke of such buildings, and of the other amazing technology which was found in their planet.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

For someone who lived there and who had seen such monstrously big buildings to be surprised by something they created gave him satisfaction.

“Welcome to the Knights Revenants main branch. This is where you will be taught from now on.” Said Darius.

Lucas couldn’t shake off the intimidation, the fortress gave off an aura of strength and danger. A warning for those who opposed it.

“Lets go.” Said Darius, as he urged the horse forward.

Lucas followed silently.

They entered the fortress, and immediately, every solider who saw them saluted, putting their fist to their shoulders and putting their heads down.

Darius nodded to them in response, and continued on his way.

Lucas followed him, stunned by the display of respect they all gave Darius.

They dismounted from their horses when they reached a large courtyard at the center of the fortress.

Lucas got off the horse, clenching his teeth and quietly bearing the muscle ache from riding.

Darius handed the reigns of his horse to a nearby solider, and turned toward Lucas.

“This is where you will be training for the foreseeable future.” He said.

“I am someone who is often sent away on diplomatic missions to other countries. I won’t be able to attend to you every day.” Said Darius.

Lucas began to panic.

“What do you mean??” Lucas nearly yelled.

Darius put his hands up.

“Calm down. Just because I’m away doesn’t mean I still can’t teach you. I will teach you everything you will need to know before I leave, and I will make sure that if you need something, you will get it. If you need help, just ask one of the soldiers here. They will help you with everything.” He said.

Lucas tried to calm down, slowing his breathing.

Darius patted him on the shoulder and led him inside the fortress.

He pulled him into an office like room, with a sofa, a large desk, and serveral dbookcases.

Darius made Lucas sit down on the sofa and sat down across from him.

“Here is what you will be doing for the next few days.” He said, pulling out a folded piece of paper from his coat. He handed the paper to Lucas.

Lucas took it and opened it up.

He scanned through the paper quickly.

His hopes that he would get a powerful sword style or move quickly disappeared.

The only thing on the paper was a list of exercises and books which he was supposed to read.

Darius could see the disappointment on his face. “You misunderstand the Knights.” He said.

Lucas looked up at him.

“Did you think that you would immeditaly get some sort of heaven defying sword style or skill? You fool! Nothing in this world comes without a price. And the only way you will get anything is if you work hard and put effort into it!” He said angrily.

Lucas lowered his head in shame.

Darius sighed seeing him lower his head. Silence hung in the air.

“Forget it. For now, you need a good base to learn how to fight. If you tried to learn any sort of technique without the proper body strength you would only hurt yourself later. For today, go to back to the castle and get the books listed from the royal library. Read them tonight. Tomorrow, I will begin to teach you the basic stances and kata’s.” Said Darius.

Lucas nodded and left the office dejectedly.

As he left, he felt the judging glares from different people around him. They looked at him in disdain. The one hero who had no power, who had the honor of being Lord Darius’s disciple.

Lucas quickened his pace, and found his horse waiting outside the fortress. He mounted it and returned to the castle.

The afternoon bell had just rung, but Lucas wasn’t feeling hungry yet.

He arrived at the courtyard, and handed his reigns to a servant who was waiting nearby.

He quickly found the library and the books he was to read, and took them back to his room.

Books about magic, monsters, and different countries made up the list. There were one or two about fighting techniques, but they didn’t go into detail about the techniques.

Lucas went and got something to eat from the kitchens when the 3 o’clock bell rung. After eating a quick lunch, he returned to his room.

He wanted to go see if Reyna was there, but he was very interested in the books. Thus, he spent the rest of the evening reading and absorbing the information in the books.

He ate a small dinner when the bell rung for 6 o’clock and then went to sleep early. It had been a disappointing day.