We reached the castle pretty soon and despite trying to sneak in; we were still caught by a matronly-looking woman with a smile that was curved downwards at the moment, with lustrous hair the color of fire.

Seeing me, she cried out, “Faustus, my child, you’re hurt again! Let me take care of that!”

“Ah, mother! Not you too! Alessia already took care of me,” I groaned out, for it was my mother who was right now trying to clean up the crusted blood and sand on my body and hair.

Frowning, my mother turned to Alessia and was about to speak, when I quickly interjected, “It was my fault. I fell while climbing a wall.”

Turning a dubious eye on me, my mother, Alina Drayke ‘The light,’ replied, “I suppose the wall was also the one who left that nasty bruise on your eye?”

Cheekily, I grinned and said, “You wouldn’t think that it could throw punches, but it can! Our enemies will have a hard time with it for sure!”

Laughing out, my mother shooed me away, saying, “Pfft. Go then. Get ready. It’s your brother’s Knight Accolade tonight and you better be presentable!”

Continuing on, she said, “Not you though, Alessia dear. We need to talk.”

Pausing warily, I gazed at my mother before she exasperatedly looked at me and said, “No Faustus, I’m not going to scold her. I just have to tell her something.”

I looked at Alessia, who nodded encouragingly, and then I reluctantly left - before hiding around the corner and eavesdropping.

Raising her eyebrows in mirth, my mother looked at Alessia and asked, “Do you know what I want to talk to you about, Alessia dear?”

“No, Lady Courtesy, I do not,” replied Alessia.

Sighing, my mother, Alina Drayke - The Countess of the County of the Draykes - said, “You cannot protect him forever, dear. Leonidas came today praising your skills with the shield and sword but he was also exasperated at how you seem to disappear right about when Faustus gets into trouble.”

Blushing, Alessia was about to muster her defense when mother waved her hand and in a pitched raised voice said, “I know what you’re going to say. I don’t mind it, dear. But Faustus needs to rely on himself. He cannot always hide behind you.”

Clenching my hands where I stood - hidden - I sucked in a deep breath and fiercely nodded, thinking to myself, “Wait till I reach 10 and awaken my warforce!”

Then, turning my attention back to their conversation, I heard Alessia murmur, “He’s too young.”

Looking proudly at the dimming sky, my mother said, “He is a Drayke. He will always be a Drayke. The thing about us Draykes, dear? When we rage, the world shakes. One day, he will rage and be careful that your world doesn’t shake, yes?”

Then she turned with a swish of her dress, and my mother left Alessia and, by extension, me; to ponder on her words.

Looking at the moon that was just becoming visible, Alessia sighed and whispered, “I hope that day never comes,” and then she set off to find me.

Only to bump into me as soon as she rounded the corner, lost in my thoughts as I was.

Rubbing our noses, we both looked at each other before laughing and heading to my tower.

The Castle was divided into 2 wings, the east, and the west wing. Cradled between them was the central hall where the Accolade would take place. Watching over the skies were the towers jutting forth from the wings and the back of the central hall. Respectively, they were the East tower, the West Tower, and the Tower of Drayke in the center.

The Count and the Countess, my parents, stayed in the Tower of Drayke while my brother - Aaron Drayke - and I stayed in the East Tower.

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The west tower was for the knights of the Draykes, which was where Alessia stayed.

While we were walking in companionable silence, I failed to notice that Alessia was lost in thoughts of my previous words.

Then she mumbled something in a low voice that I couldn’t quite hear but suspiciously sounded like, “A prodigy? That means I’ll become someone else’s knight and not yours, you fool!”

Now it was my turn to ponder as I thought of the path of a knight.

The route to becoming a knight was to awaken one’s warforce at 10, then become a page serving a knight till the age of 15, then a squire of a knight till the age of 21 when contingent on the warforce reaching silver rank, the squire would be granted his Knighthood in a ceremony called the Accolade.

Alessia, as I had said, was a prodigy. She had awakened her warforce at 8 and had attracted the attention of the observer stationed within Draconis city, Knight Leonidas, from the Kingdom of Leon within which both Draconis city and the territory of the Draykes were situated in.

As an observer, Knight Leonidas’s duty was to observe the working of the territories of the Kingdom but he could not interfere directly. As such, it left him with a lot of idle time which he spent roaming the magnificent city of Draconis, shaped like a Dragon crawling on the ground with the four feet forming the different quarters of the city from east to west.

Speaking of the city, I grinned as I thought of it. My city. Our city. The Drayke’s city. Draconis city.

The northeast was the noble’s area where the Castle was on the hill that was called the Elysee.

The southeast was the commercial area where the most elegant shops and restaurants were located to provide easy access to the nobles.

The northwest was the residential area, in the most secure position in the city as behind it was a towering mountain range called affectionately “the watchers” by the citizens of Draconis as it blocked access from the sea because of its insurmountable cliffs that gazed down haughtily.

Directly below it, in the south-west was the military camp which bordered one of the two entrances to the city, the south gate which led to the Viscounty of Viscount Jacob Drayke, brother of Callum Drayke, who protected the access to the middle sea for the Kingdom of Leon near the border.

The other gate, the east gate, was in the East, bordering the nobles area, and faced the only entrance in the east to the kingdom of Leon from the Hagarian Empire.

The entire central part from east to west was a long boulevard with trees and shrubbery dotting the sides and magnificent buildings bedecking the roadside, buildings such as the adventures associations, the mercenaries guild, the blacksmithing guild, etc.

The reason the residential area was in the most secure location, while the nobles area was near the walls, is that Draconis city was a frontier city of the empire of Leon. In the event of war, the nobles and the army would be the first line of defense while the common folk would retreat safely.

Of course, this was also due to Count Callum Draykes’ insistence that he would die before his enemies touched a single hair of his citizens.

This was a policy that Leonidas appreciated, as he, too, was a man of the highest moral principles. A frontline fighter relegated to becoming an observer because of political missteps as a result of his frank and honest personality.

Initially, I had heard from Alessia that he had regarded the assignment as a demotion, but over time; he had begun to love the city and its people.

And then, one day, as he was wandering the streets, he saw me getting beaten up, and more importantly, he saw Alessia in action.

She was protecting me from the beating and, with quick movements, was dispatching all the would-be bullies bawling into the arms of their mothers.

Leonidas was going to intervene when he saw one of the bullies pick up the shard of a broken bottle and attempt to stab Alessia in the back, only to be stunned as she whirled around and smashed apart the shard with her fist for Alessia had awakened her warforce.

Excitedly after the fight, he asked her how old she was and when he heard 8 years old; he was ecstatic and instantly begged her to be his student.

She refused, but eventually the sight of a grown man almost groveling as he begged her profusely moved her heart. That, as well as the nod from me that said she should accept it.

Being a gold-ranked Knight, Leonidas was an incredibly fearsome person on the battlefield. His vast reserves of knowledge and experience he imparted without reservation to Alessia and he was gratified to see her improve at a breakneck speed.

Now she was a squire, and I was but a brat who hadn’t even awoken my warforce.

Letting out a deep sigh and coming out of my thoughts to flash a smile at Alessia, who was staring at me in concern, I stood outside my room and asked her, “One hour?”

“One hour,” she confirmed before she turned and walked away.

Staring after her, I shook myself from my reverie, and turning, went inside my room.

After all, I had an Accolade to attend.