Lord Greenfeather and I arrived at the dining room after a long and awkward walk, Lindon and Lillian were sat at the dining table waiting for us, Lillian was pouting whilst Lindon had a more serious look on his face, i think he was trying to hide his curiosity but it wasn’t very successful.

Their father ignored the looks they pointed towards him and instead turned towards the woman sat at one end of the rather large table.

“Rebel, this is my wife Davina”

The woman was the definition of beauty, her dark skin and shoulder length delicate icey blue locs, polar opposites to her fiery red eyes that matched the glowing red gems adorned on her black-as-night gown, It all worked together to steal your breath away and make her take over every thought, leaving you in an awestruck daze.

After i snapped out of my beauty induced stupor i noticed that Lord Greenfeather had already sat down next to his wife and they were all waiting for me to sit.

I sat across the table from Lindon, Lillian had moved away from her brother and sat next to her father instead.

The food was brought out by a Tall woman with red hair and brown eyes.

Once the woman had left the room, Lord Greenfeather announced that we could begin eating and everyone did as he said, their table manners were excellent and nobody spoke at all, I found myself feeling awkward and distant.

Whilst i was lost in thought time passed by and i only snapped out of it when Lord Greenfeather said my name

“Rebel, is the food to your liking”

“Very much so, i have never tasted anything like it”

“Good”

A few seconds passed before he said something.

“How would you like to work for house Greenfeather, you get food of the highest calibre and i will have my guards train you in the way of combat alongside my children, all you need to do is a few things now and then.”

“Why would you want an eight year old from the middle of nowhere as a servant, surely there are better candidates.”

“There certainly are people who would be a bigger help than you, there is no doubt about that.”

He paused for a second

“However, i find myself looking at people’s potential for the future more than their current level, and you Rebel have more potential than anyone I’ve seen in a very long time, therefore i would like to personally enlist you to help you reach that potential and also to keep you out of the hands of the other noble houses.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Ill do it under one condition”

“And thats is?”

“I go to a good school when i turn 12”

“Oh is that all?”

He laughed heartily

“Of course you can”

I woke up in the servants quarters, with the morning sunlight streaming in the window.

I had been in the capital city for a few days now,

I still felt unaccustomed to working as a servant, it was a difficult decision to make but i decided to do it since my objective is to join a top nightmare academy this seems like a good way to achieve that goal, and the fighting lessons were also a benefit.

I went to have breakfast in the main dining hall downstairs, I saw Lindon and Lillian again.

Every morning the three of us would eat breakfast in the dining hall at around the same time and we got to know each other a little better.

I started to feel more comfortable talking with them and it helped me settle in to the manor better.

After breakfast we went outside and began our morning training, there were three guards each wielding a wooden arming sword, Lindon, Lillian and I each took a wooden sword of our own and lined up in front of the three guards, a fourth guard stepped into the middle of us and on his signal the training would begin.

My opponent was a rather lanky man, with his superior strength and reach i had to be smart with the way i approached, i had some of my fathers combat experience engraved into my mind, I couldn’t fully understand why i had them but it was certainly helpful in combat, and it certainly made it easier to fight with the overconfident guard, him underestimating me would be a boon during the fight.

“Begin”

The man dashed towards me as soon as the signal was given, his speed was abnormal so he must’ve had a nightmare of some sorts.

He appeared behind me and i was unable to react in time.

He hit me with a hard blow to the back,

despite the speed the pain was minimal.

I launched a counter attack, i pivoted on my left foot and elbowed him in the stomach which made him lurch, next i swung my sword at his knee and made him drop to the ground and then i pointed my sword to his neck, the referee guard came over and announced me the victor.

I tried to help the slender man up off the ground but he slapped my hand away and jumped up on his own.

“I can still fight Veckti, don’t announce a victor yet”

“Delechor you know he’s just a kid right, this is supposed to be training not a real fight.

If he’s able to beat you this quickly then I see no reason for the training to continue”

“Beat me? Please. He merely knocked me off balance.”

I was getting tired of the conversation and i knew neither of them would submit to the other so i aded my own insight.

“I think it would be fine to continue our fight .. Veckti was it?”

“Yes child that is my name.”

“Okay then, I believe continuing this fight could be beneficial for me Sir Veckti, and combat experience is greatly appreciated.”

“Fine, but Delechor don’t overdo it okay.”

I looked to the the lanky man, Delechor was his name based on what Veckti had said.

He had a manic grin on his face.

Veckti gave the signal and the fight began again.

Delechor stood completely still, clearly trying to bait me into attempting an attack against him i decided to oblige, i lunged at him with a wide arching swipe.

His superior speed was even more evident than before, its like he somehow increased his speed tenfold in the span of seconds.

He jumped over my swipe with no effort, the motion seemed to be in super speed yet simultaneously slow motion; I could clearly see every small movement that lead to the motion and yet i couldn’t react in time.

On landing from the jump he immediately leapt to my right and when i swung at him my sword passed right through, then i felt a throbbing pain from my ribs.

I immediately jumped backwards trying to space myself apart from the man but he immediately reacted to my movements.

I payed closer attention to him, his sudden twitchy movements were unsettling and hinted to a lightning type nightmare, possibly one that allowed him to manipulate the electric signals of his nerves to bypass the need for the brain and instantly make fast paced movements.

Although it seems rather simple it’s a deadly ability that increases both reaction time and speed to an extraordinary level.

I had to think of something to overcome it, my power wouldn’t be enough if things stayed the way they were.

I searched my mind for any untapped fighting knowledge, thats when i found the information trapped in my brain in the form of other people’s memories.

This was a weird feeling to say the least.

I prodded at the memories searching for one that might help me win this fight, i found one eventually but i was reluctant to put it to use.

The person who this memory belonged to was the bandit who had killed my mother with the ginormous ice sphere.