Chapter  1 : Black was the sheep

An overwhelming feeling of nausea came over him, with his remaining strength he was able to stop the urge to vomit, it's not like he has much to spill though, all he had for dinner was the bread that he was not able to finish, thinking back he recalled that he was boiling water for his ramen, but it's not like it would matter now, able to let out a snort like laughter, "what a pitiful meal to enjoy for his last day of freedom" Alaric said to himself.

 But along the corner of his mind he sense something was not right, it did not add up, the last thing he could remember was looking towards this towering persona, clad in white armor, pulling him out the door by his collar, and then the next thing he knew he was surrounded by a blinding white light, and as the light slowly dissipated, allowing Alaric to open his eyes, like a newborn infant, squinting and waiting for his vision to adjust to sudden influx of white light earlier.

"I must be losing it, what the hell is this, surely I must be dreaming, yeah.. that must be it, the shock from what I have done must be the cause to this vivid hallucination" he thought, the scene where his father laying flat on the floor dead because of him, it is all fresh in Alaric's mind, how could he easily forget that, "I'm a murder" he said to himself.

His vision returned to normal, the first thing Alaric observed was the platform he was on, it was a square platform, from his observation it was made of marble seeing how polished it was, the platform was covered with bizarre symbols unknown to him, captivated by the strange designs he did not realize the figures around him until.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh.. wha-whats happening!!?!" a scream can be heard behind him.

Because he was facing front he really did not notice that behind him was a couple of characters,

upon looking back Alaric saw that he was not alone, he saw a couple of people with the same dazed expressions as him, 3 people to be exact, one was a black haired tall muscular guy with brown complexion , must be around 20-22 y/o he guessed, the other was a Caucasian male with blond hair and  blue eyes who's built was almost the same as the big guy but he was a bit shorter and I guess his age might also be similar to the muscular one, and the last one, the one whose scream earlier was heard, a girl with fair complexion, upon closely examining the girl's face she was about his age, with captivating facial features, a small cute nose, round eyes, pink glossy lips, flowing long black hair", and she got a fairly nice figure to boot", he muttered to himself.

"Where am I!?, man, do  you know what's going on? where are we??" Muscleguy said pulling Blondboy's right shoulder towards him.

"I'm asking myself the same thing bro!, so stop pulling my shirt!" blondboy barked, his eyes earnestly surveying his surroundings and eventually his eyes met Alaric's gaze.

"You!" blondboy shouted

"What?.." Alaric timidly responded.

"Do you know anything about this? if you do spill it!" blondboy commanded.

As if he heard nothing Alaric turned his back, he had experienced a lot of people with the same boisterous behaviour before and he knows the best way to deal with this type of character was to ignore them and avoid crossing paths with them, it would only bring him inconvenience being with such crowd as he said to himself a couple of times in the past.

"Hey! ... Oi!! you!!.. you there!.. Hey!!..Bastard do you know what's happening right now!?" he can hear blondboy voicing his frustration at his back due to the fact that he did not answer his calling. But Alaric remained steadfast and did not pay him an ounce of his attention.

A couple of minutes seemed to pass by.

I guess blondboy has grown tired of trying to get his attention because he can now hear the three , muscleguy , blondboy, and screamingbeauty conversing with each other recalling what they were doing or where they were before being brought here.

Alaric would have joined them and exchanged information despite the fact that he was annoyed by blondboys attitude he would have still joined them in order to grasp an obtain every bit of info he could get out of his current companions, but he was lost within his own thoughts at the moment , " what's happening, if I'm not dreaming then am I dead? no.. it can't be, then why are they here, are they also dead?, I can't remember any serious injuries during the squabble with my father, the cops could not have shot me since they have just arrived below the apartment complex, he once again recalled the last thing he could remember before arriving to this place, I was about to step out and surrender myself to the authorities for killing my father, then suddenly that white light appeared and I was dragged here by that huge being clad in white armor, he was muttering about a queen, and something about swearing my allegiance.

Suddenly the wall north where Alaric was currently standing divided itself in half and out came numerous individuals wearing the same iron clad white armor as the being that he saw outside his apartment, as he recalled people who wore full body armor such as their attire were supposed to be called knights, he learned this from his previous lesson about history and culture of people in the past.

As the knights assembled themselves in a straight row, an elderly male emerged from the division on the wall, from his appearance this person would be about 60-70 y/o Alaric observed,  wearing a white outfit similar to priests, while also displaying his impossible to miss headpiece with silver and gold outlines, he stood in front all out the knights and courteously bowed towards Alaric and the other three.

"My lords And My Lady" humble was his voice, but Alaric can sense something about this old man but he can't figure it out just yet.

"My deepest apologies for the sudden summons" he paused, while looking at the young faces in front of him.

"I know each of you have a lot questions in mind, why are you here, what's happening and where are you right now, such questions will all be answered in time" he paused again..

"But now is not the right time and place to discuss such issues, but at least let me provide you a brief introduction and explanation of your current situation, you all deserve that provided that all of you were inconvenienced by the sudden summoning that has occurred "

"My Name Is Ferdinand Guas Majora, current Cardinal of the Grimwall Empire, in which you are in right at this moment" once again he paused.

"And All of you my lords, and lady(while looking at the only girl among the group), Are called forth in this hour of need, you may have not noticed this but at the nape of each of your necks are symbols inscribed the moment that you have selected and brought forth to our world of Avarith" his eye's serious, surveyed each of their expressions.

"Each pattern will symbolize the power bestowed upon you, and this power can only be wielded by you and you alone, now I humbly ask that all of you, one by one step forward so we can verify your gifts and the roles given to you" he ended..

The four of us uneasily exchanged glances who would go first, I'm not really convinced of what the old geezer had just said, so I'm guessing those three are thinking the same thing as well, I mean, getting summoned , special powers, aren't those stuff only in fairy tales and movies, he must be joking right, but it's not like we have any other choice than to comply at the moment, he thought.

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It's not surprising that the first one to move forward was blondboy.

"ahhh.." while the Cardinal was inspecting the back of his neck, he proclaimed "The Knight".. "Ever brave and Loyal", and may I know your name my Lord?"

"I am Arthur Jhon Benedict" blondboy proudly announced, I guess anyone who would be given the title knight would have a sense of pride around them, well whatever like a care(Alaric thought to himself), It's not like he was jealous of the guy, he just hated the guy's character from the very beginning, now added his newly acquired status as the knight, Alaric knows it would only further increase blondboy's air headedness.

The next one to come forward was the tall muscular guy. "hmmm the rook, very good, very good.." the old man muttered.. " formidable and truly unwavering", and may I ask your name my Lord

"Ummm.. Dimitri  Astorga" the muscleguy said while scratching his head, obviously shy upon being called Lord up close by the old man.

Alaric decided to be next but was immediately overtaken by the screamingbeauty, I guess she would not like to be the last one huh, Alaric thought.

Upon inspection the old man announced " the bishop, keeper of light " looking at the girl with a grin, our church would definitely benefit from your strength my Lady, and without waiting for her name to be asked screamingbeauty announced, " Cyra Nakano.. My name is Cyra Nakano".

Pleased to meet you my Lady, the old man answered.

I guess I'm next Alaric muttered to himself..

As he came face to face with the cardinal he turned around and presented his nape to be inspected,

....

......

...........

What's with this silence, the other's did not wait this long to have their symbols announced, Alaric thought.

Then a voice finally came out of Cardinal, it was spoken in a cold tone " The pawn.. a black pawn ".

Alaric turned around and observed the Cardinal's grim expression.

"Sentinels..." the Cardinal spoke.

Immediately a couple of the bodies clad in armor that Alaric thought to be knights earlier moved in unison and surrounded Alaric in an instance.

"What's the meaning of this! what's going on!" Alaric shouted as the Cardinal stepped back,

Arthur, Dimitri and Cyra all seemed confused about the current situation, Dimitri tried to step forward to help Alaric but the Cardinal blocked Dimitri with his right arm suggesting him to stop.

The Cardinal felt the tension in the air between the newly arrived summoned beings thus he had no other way to relieve this tension but to explain why Alaric, the black pawn is currently being surrounded by the sentinels.

"My Lords, and Lady, do not fret no harm will befall you, for what you are witnessing right now is just punishment for this fellow" the Cardinal spoke with an cold tone.

Upon hearing that Alaric quickly replied..

"Why must I be punished!? for what reason?? tell me! aren't they summoned the same way as I did!??" Alaric blurted out pointing to the three standing behind the old man, Alaric is losing his temper, unjustly being summoned and now being treated as such, he admits to himself that he had committed a crime by killing his father, and would gladly pay the consequence, but this was different, he does not understand  why the Cardinal and these so called sentinels are suddenly hostile towards him.

Another door opened up at the southern part of the chamber and it seems that the sentinels will be dragging Alaric towards that opening.

"I agree, all of you are summoned the same way, and even I can't really explain or comprehend the current situation because this was not suppose to happen" the Cardinal spoke, as Alaric was slowly being dragged away.

Then he continued, "It may seem to be very unreasonable for us to be acting this way towards you right now but we do have a very good reason to do so", he paused, and looking at Alaric straight in the eye the Cardinal muttered, "I deeply apologize my boy, if only it had been a white pawn, we could have been celebrating".

Dumbfounded by the last few words the Cardinal had said all Alaric could do as he was being dragged away was scream insults towards the Cardinal and cry pleas for help towards his three companions, but they all looked away, he even begged Cyra the screamingbeauty for help but all he got was a look of pity before turning her eyes away, surely such a beauty would definitely have a soft spot or so he thought, well he is damned wrong,

When Alaric's screams can nowhere be heard the Cardinal turned around.

"I do apologize for witnessing such an event my Lords and Lady, hopefully you would not judge us for what has transpired, I just acted accordingly and trust me it is all for the best".

The three summoned beings looked at each others eyes but did not comment on the Cardinal's statement, still in shock I suppose or opting not to press the issue with regards to the black pawn afraid of incurring the same hostile treatment.

so the Cardinal continued.

"Now I know all of you must be eager raise your questions, we shall answer them accordingly in due time, but due to the unexpected turn of events I must take my leave" he paused.

The cardinal ushered the three sentinels towards him and instructed.

"Guide our guest towards the their respective chambers, and make sure they are provided properly"

The sentinels bowed.

looking back at them the Cardinal spoke, "These are the Majesty's personal guards and they will be guiding  my Lords and my Lady to their bed chambers, if you are hungry just say the word and they shall call upon the royal chef's and provide you with nourishment's, I shall introduce you to her Majesty the Queen once the urgent matter that requires her attention has been dealt with and after that we would further explain the meaning of each of your symbols, the power they hold and why you have been summoned, now if you would excuse me I really must take my leave"

The sentinels began ushering the guests out of the chamber towards a flight of stairs.

Once they were out of sight the cardinal called for the remaining sentinels and instructed them to fetch the Queen and told them to deliver this message.

"It's urgent, he's in the Dungeon, Amelia's son"