Lucas stared at the sky above him, his chest heaving and sweat pouring off his face.

“Oh come on! Is that it?” Darius taunted once again at him.

“Gimme a break…” Lucas groaned.

“Shut it. Get up you fucking wimp!” Darius yelled.

Lucas got up unsteadily and immediately fell down, his legs giving out under him.

“For the love of Gods!” Darius yelled, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“I expected you to be weak, but not this weak!”

“You tried… to make me run… one hundred laps… around the fortress!... It’s as big as the castle!... Are you stupid?” Lucas countered.

“Watch it boy.” Darius growled, a little anger leaking into his voice.

Lucas flinched, the intimidating air coming of the knight scaring him.

“Get up. Let’s end the training today. Obviously, it will take longer than I thought for you to be able to fight properly. Did you get all the books you need?”

Lucas nodded, still recovering his breath.

“Good. Continue reading them. I want you to focus on the monster books first. Then the ones on magic, and then the other books. You don’t need to know them this week. Just finish them and tell me when you have.”

Lucas nodded again. The shaking in his fingers had stilled.

He stood up, despite his trembling legs, and put his hands on his knees.

Darius looked at him thoughtfully as he rested.

“Tomorrow, I will be showing you the various stances you have to know, as well as the different weapons you will have to learn how to use.” He said. Seeing Lucas snap his face up, Darius added, “Don’t get too excited now. You won’t be touching a weapon for a while.”  

Lucas was disappointed inside, but tried not to let it show.

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Darius snorted.

“Today, I will teach you how to meditate. It helps a lot later on.” He said.

“What do you mean by later on?” Said Lucas, frowning.

“You’ll learn about it in time.” He said. “Now sit down, your right leg on top of your left, and your left on top of your right.”

Lucas stared at him for a minute, not understanding what he meant by that.

Darius sat down, showing him how, and Lucas understood.

He knew it as the lotus position, something used in yoga.

He sat down, trying to put his legs on top of each other, but his legs were stiff and his muscles were too tight for him to fully get it.

Darius scowled.

“You can’t even do that? Forget it. Go back to the castle. Come back when you can comfortably sit in that position.” He said, frustrated.

Lucas grew a bit angry with him. Who made him run a marathon just before? And now was getting frustrated with him?

Lucas swore in his mind and stood up. He untied his horse which was standing in a corner, and got on it, sore.

He rode out of the fortress, and began his journey home.

Darius watched him go back, the scowl immediately disappearing.

Someone walked up next to him, and spoke.

“Why’d ya him as your disciple? He’s got a shit physique, and he’s too green.”

“Watch it. We owe him. Least we can do is make sure he can survive in this world, right?”

Malta, the sub commander of the Knights Revenant, and Darius’s right hand man, snorted.

“We don’t owe him shit. If the gods want him to suffer, then there’s a reason for it. If he wants to live, he’s gotta work for it. But I won’t more.”

Darius turned to him.

“We’ll see. Right now, he’s weak. A slum rat could kill him barehanded. I know that all the heroes would be like that, if they weren’t blessed. But all of them, even him, can grow. That I’m sure of.” Said Darius.

“Then if fortune pours over me, I’ll push him until he breaks. Don’t blame me for it later.” Said Malta, turning away.

Darius chuckled. “When I’m done with him, there won’t be much for you to break.”

Malta left, feeling bad for the boy. He was going to endure hell.

Lucas returned to the castle, and made his way to the castle stables, where he tied up the horse and returned to his room.

He returned to his room, his entire body sore, and sat at his table groaning.

“Damn idiot Darius. Why’d he have to make me run so much?” He grumbled.

Lucas sighed and opened his books and began to read a bit.

He read a few pages, but his mind kept wandering to his sore body, so he stopped and sat on his bed.

He wanted to rest for a while.

Lucas laid back and closed his eyes for a few minutes. The sun shone through open window, and fell on his face.

Lucas relaxed, and let his mind wander.

He wondered what his classmates were doing. And how they were doing. And the fact that, at least, they had each other to rely on.

With a sudden sense of loneliness, he stood up, and decided to walk in the gardens, with the hope that he would meet Reyna.

As he walked out of the door, he realized that he smelled pretty bad. He hadn’t gotten the clothes washed, if he could do that, and he had sweat a lot in the morning.

He walked to the wardrobe that he had ignored, and opened it.

To his relief, it was filled with clothes and two pairs of shoes.

Lucas quickly changed and headed toward the garden.