It was a good fifteen minute walk through the heart of the College before we came out through the upper part of the College where I saw buildings labeled Light Weapons Armory, Ordnance Training, and MRX Depot. It made me think that this was were the serious stuff happened, and most the people I saw in this section were wearing either dark brown, or even black uniforms.

I asked Kiev about the black coats––I’d remembered seeing Hame, and Captain Dexter wearing the black. The Master said anyone who served as a Protector wore them, even once they retired to become teachers. He also mentioned that most of the upper staff at the College were retired Protectors. So I guess that meant Captain Dexter had been a Protector at one time. I suppose that wasn’t a huge surprise given his uptightness about my protection.

Once we passed the last building, tall terra-cotta walls lined the narrowing cobblestone path until we came to a great black archway that opened up to a building of matching midnight black. The building was one story, but with a high ceiling, and not a single window that I could see. The short side of the building faced us, which spanned maybe thirty feet. I don’t know how much longer the building was precisely, but it appeared far longer than it was wide.

There were two dark coated men guarding the open front entrance to the black building. The only thing decorating the entire building was a large head of a what looked like a brown dragon with its mouth open in defiance as it sat in a circle of brown scale, like maybe the circle represented the dragon’s tail. The same symbol I’d seen on the shoulders of Master Kiev, Hame, Captain Dexter, and all the trainees at the College.

“So is that the logo of the College or something?” I asked Master Kiev as I stared up at the dragon. The head was so large, it made the beast looked intimidating and it made me think twice about wanting to enter the building.

Kiev stopped from entering and came back to stand next to me as he too looked up at the dragon’s head and smiled. “That is the College’s Crest and it represents the Fire Dragon that can only be found here on Sora X. The Protectorate adopted the creature as its symbol many years ago for various reasons, but the biggest one is its furious tenacity to protect those it considers their tribe.”

“That seems fitting.”

“That is does. Come. There’s even more exciting things to see inside.” Master Kiev then stepped from my side and into the black opening of the building.

I hesitated a moment before stepping in behind him. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I entered, but this was not it. The first thing I noticed was that it was just one long building stretching out for a great distance in front of me. In fact, I could not see the end from where I stood. The other thing was that there were indeed windows, but they were high in the ceiling.

Great shafts of light cascaded into the building from long rectangular skylights in the high ceiling. It created an interesting play of light through the long and open space that mostly highlighted a center walkway through the dark building. Along the walls on either side of me, there were holographic images of life-sized people. Each “person” was spaced a few feet apart and lining the two walls all the way down through the long building.

“Wow, what is this place?” I asked, my voice echoing off the large empty space around me.

I realized that Master Kiev had never explained to me what the Hall of Renowned actually was, but as I looked at the images of those closest to me, I could see that each of them wore the black coat of a Protector and similar cocky expressions that I was starting to get used to seeing, especially since arriving at the College. Even without Kiev telling me, I was starting to get an idea of what this place was all about.

Master Kiev stood there like a proud father as he stretched his arms out wide to include the entirety of the building. “These are the best of the best. Those who have served their charges with honor, distinction, and great service. Any Protector who has served at least twenty-five years, or had any sort of outstanding achievements during their service to a charge will find their way into the Hall of the Renowned.”

I stood there taking in all the faces as I slowly walked down the line. Each of them so proud, so absolutely sure of themselves. These were the faces of the bravest men and women. There weren’t nearly as many of the fairer sex, but the handful I saw certainly matched the confidence of every man I saw.

I shivered the further down the line I walked as it seemed these holograms projected more than just these brave souls’ images, but also the essence of who they were and what they stood for. It was a bigger than life experience that made me feel like I was a small ant marching to my sudden doom before these great and mighty warriors.

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About midway down the building, I found myself stopping as I stood directly in front of one of the holograms. I wasn’t sure why I had halted my progress at first, but then I peered into the face of the man staring at me, and my heart nearly stopped altogether.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

Master Kiev had not spoken, content to let me be, but he stopped beside me and gave a small chuckle. “I was wondering if you’d notice him, or if I would have to point him out to you.”

Notice him? Now that I was staring into his brown eyes, I couldn’t see anyone else in the Hall. The hologram before me looked just like my dad, but not, all at the same time. This man certainly had the same features as the man I had grown up calling dad. The dark almost black hair that was shortly cropped. The sharp nose and wide chin. All the same, but this a much younger version.

Though, it was the look in his eyes that made him different. It was like this holograph was another person entirely, or at least a side I had never seen of my dad. That look of absolute danger and bold cockiness that he’d never shown me, or at least in the memories I had of him.

I found myself blinking away tears and I had to look away from the intense stare the holograph was giving me. He seemed so real. Like he might step right out and talk to me any minute, but I knew he wouldn’t. That’s was what was causing the tears. In this moment, all I could think about was how much I deeply missed him, and everyone else on Earth.

There was a low counter in front of the holographic image of the young Aragon Remeer. I had noticed them in front of all the other life-sized images, but had yet to get in close to see what it was. I noticed the a small square box on the counter. I hit the blue pulsing circle on the top and a baritone voice started to speak.

“Aragon Remeer is considered one of the few true Legendaries in the Hall of the Renowned. As of this recording he has served a total of sixty-six years as a Protector. The first sixty-one, Protector to King Rainus Nador, and the other five as Prince Adar Zahn’s.

“He has been given many distinguished honors from the Protectorate during his service time, including the highest award possible, which is the Accolade of Duty for going above and beyond his duty in the Protection of his charge. Other distinguished honors include the Award of Valor and two Stars of Extraordinary Service.

“Remeer has a moderate ability of his Mind Bender Dome-ni, and exceptional skills at strategic planning and hand to hand combat. When asked about how he has been able to stay in service as a Protector for so long, his response was that he made sure to keep up to date with his training even long after graduation, and to plan for even the most remote possibility in every situation.”

The voice broke off as it finished its little lecture and I couldn’t help but press the button again just to hear it all again. But something of the presentation bothered me. So after the second time was finished, I asked the question that had been scratching me like an itch.

“Is this an old recording? Why would it only talk about my first five years? Shouldn’t this say he was a Protector for eighty-six years?”

I turned to Master Kiev to see his lips pursed. “Technically, that would be correct, but as I told you before that the College had to renounce Aragon because of his actions in taking you from the White Palace. So he lost his Protector status and membership to the College. There was much argument for quite some time to whether he should be removed from the Hall of the Renowned as well.

“Ultimately, it was decided to let this stay, because he had shown exemplary service for sixty-six years before that one ill-advised decision. There was also concern that removing him from the Hall of the Renowned would cause too much upset at the College. At the time, Aragon had many supporters at the Protectorate, and they wouldn’t hear of his good deeds being completely stricken from record. So it was decided that this memorial to him would remain, but it would not be updated past the time that he was removed as a member of the College.

“And for the record, I was one of many who advocated to let this memorial to Aragon stay. Just because a man makes one bad decision doesn’t mean all his hard work should be forgotten or ignored. Granted, some still argue that memorializing him in any way sets a bad precedent to others. Where do you draw the line as a Protector? Should you go so far as to break the laws? It’s probably one of the most debated topics at the College, especially the past twenty years. But until someone with enough clout says otherwise, the memorial stays.”

“I’m surprise my father hasn’t demanded it.”

Kiev nodded gravely. “Yes, he does have some influence over the College, but this is something the Directors have determined as an in-house decision. They already took Aragon’s Protector status and membership, and deemed that enough for his actions against the Emperor, which taking such drastic measures toward a Legendary is a first in the history of the College, I might add. Simply put, the matter of the Hall of Renowned is strictly Protectorate business.”

I nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. It just all seemed so crazy to see the repercussions of what happened. The thing is, he had to have known what would happen when he did what he did, yet he did it anyways. And I guess I’m starting to really see how much it cost him.”

I couldn’t say anything for a long moment as I looked at the holographic image of the man before me. I had a lot of feelings coursing through me at that moment and I wasn’t exactly sure which was the strongest. One thing I did know was that there was a lot more to the man who I thought I had known all my life, and I really wish I could talk to him or someone else about it, but I guess that wasn’t going to happen. Perhaps it was best just to leave it all in the past where it belonged. I turned away from the holograph and continued the walk down the Hall, making a point not to look back.