As they walked down the stairs, the brazzer they came across was already lit. They walked for a while until they finally reached the training room. It was a great big area, the whole room was gray in color, there were cracks, and dents in the walls. The torches that were hanging from the walls were already lit.

“How did Vincent do this?” Ray asked.

“It took some time, but with our strength made it easier, especially Rita, she knew what she was doing when she made this place.” Viola said.

“How are the torches already lit?”

“Oh I did that when the both of you left the mansion yesterday. I figured Vincent was going to train you here after all.”

“Thanks, so what are we going to do first?” Ray asked.

“Well first I want you to stand in the middle of the room, and release as much energy as you can, I’ll watch where your mark is, and see if you can manifest it.”

Ray nodded his head, he told Viola where he was turn, and walked towards the middle of the room, with Viola behind him.

“So how exactly should I do this?” Ray asked.

“Just release your aura, keep pouring everything out, let see if your aura can reach the ceiling, I’ll tell you when to stop alright.”

Ray took a stance, slowly he let his aura engulf him, he had his eyes closed, imagining everything pouring out of him, he suddenly tried to release as much energy as he could, Ray could feel his left arm burning, he went even further pushing himself as much as he could.

“Ok that’s enough.” Viola told him.

Ray let go of his energy, he forced himself to keep standing, he tried controlling his breath before he spoke to Viola.

“How did I do?” Ray asked through hard breathes.

“Not bad, but you need to do better,” Viola said.

“Oh ok.”

“You managed to have your mark appear though it was for a short time, so that is a good thing, we will keep on practicing releasing your energy until you can command your mark to appear at will.”

“How far can you spread your mark Viola?” Ray asked.

“Me, I can spread it pretty far across my body, I was turned in the middle of my arm. I still have some ways to go before I get stronger. Now then do it once again.”

Viola instructed Ray for hours, after they were done training they headed back to the house, Ray went to go take a bath, while Viola sat in the study room. As she began to read she heard the front door opening, she went to go check and it was Vincent.

“Hey! Where is Ray?” Vincent said.

“He’s taking a shower is everything alright?”

“They release the news of Ray’s massacre, the village is in panic.” Vincent said, as he showed the piece of paper he got from the knights to Viola.

Viola grabbed the paper and read over it.

“Dammit his real name too?” Viola said, with a surprised look on her face.

“Fortunately that’s the only thing they have on him, the description they gave of him, can suit anyone his age. It’s a good thing I introduced him in another name to the village.”

“What do we do now?” Viola asked.

“I need him to spend more time at the village. The last thing I need is people to grow suspicious of him appearing soon after this happens, the knights in the village are now even doing more patrols around. We can’t get careless.”

“When did you find out?” Viola asked.

“Oh soon after I left, when I reached the church, a messenger came running towards the captain that came to greet me. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear everything going on. The captain told me what he was going to do.”

“This news is going to reach the elders soon enough, I’m sure Ray won’t get reprimanded for killing those knights, but they will question his methods.” Viola said.

“The church won’t be silent about this, they are probably going to use this as an excuse to send even more knights, even blessed ones to the outskirt villagers, damn, it's hard enough with those regular knights, now I have to worry about this.” Vincent said, frustrated.

They heard a door opening from upstairs, and Ray came out walking from the shower he just took. Vincent, and Viola stared at him in silence.

“Hey Vincent, how was the trip?”

They stood around in an awkward silence.

“So,” Ray said slowly.

Vincent sighed, and ruffled his hair. “Well the news of your actions finally came to light fresh-blood. Why would you ever give your real name to a knight?” Vincent said.

“Oh, sorry, I… I wasn’t thinking, everything happened so fast that day.”

“We should be fine, let’s go you need to meet everyone in the village, we might stop by the church,”

“I don’t think you should do that.” Viola said.

“What do you mean?” Vinecnt asked.

“Well wouldn’t it be sudden how you introduced Ray soon after learning this news, some of the knights might raise some suspicions.” Viola said.

“You do have a point, alright, we will just visit the same stores from yesterday, the rumor already spread that I brought my nephew with me to the villagers, though I don't know how much those knights already know.” Vincent said.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Should I do anything in particular?” Ray asked.

“Yes, act more friendly, ask the shopkeeper a question, don’t be silent all the time, don’t need my shopkeepers doubting me.” Vincent said.

“Ok are we leaving now?” Ray asked.

“Yes of course, that reminds me how did his training go?” Vincent asked Viola.

“It went well, it took him a while for his mark to fully manifest but he should be able to call it at will soon.”

“Well at least we have that, …god these next few days are going to be a pain.” Vincent said, frustrated.

***

March 10, 1410

In the holy city of Adruil, an emergency meeting took place, the members were the two cardinals, Father Saul, and Father Christopher. As well as two commanders of the knights.

The knight Nicholas was one of the six captains of the knights, he was in his mid-thirties, his hair blonde in color. His left arm was gone, cut off in a battle against one one of the hybrids. He is well built, he easily stood over most people, his eyes were sharp from countless battles.

The other next to Nicholas is Melissa, she has short brown hair that reaches to her shoulders, she is in her late twenties, she is medium build. Her brown hair covered the right side of her face, scar from a battle long before she became a knight.

“I’m sure the both of you know the reason we have called you.” Christopher said.

“We only heard the rumors, we don’t know exactly the details, but it’s because of the massacre of the twenty knights in the outskirts village.” Melissa said.

“Yes, we received a letter from father Michael, because of this, he wants us to send more blessed knights to the outskirts villages, help those in need.”

“It will be more effective if you were to send the us, the commanders, to the outskirt villagers, we will make sure to kill off every filthy hybrid we find.” Nicholas declared.

“Now, now, you know the commanders, as well as the lieutenants can’t leave the holy city, since the fall of the first, we can’t allow our strongest knight to be far in case of another attack.” Saul said.

“Speaking of that, where is third lieutenant Alice, isn’t she supposed to always be station here in Adruil.” Melissa said.

“Third Lieutenant Alice is busy at the moment, beside her usual duties, she is awaiting the arrival of the blessed knight that was stationed where the massacre took place, since she was the one who trained that knight, she was to interview him first.” Christopher said.

“What will his punishment be, I expect a harsh one since he let that hybrid go, and he lost all those knights.” Nicholas said

“Until we have all the details about what happened that day, we will wait on what his punishment will be.” Christopher said.

“So what will we do, why did you ask for us?” Melissa said.

“In the letter we receive from his holiness, he wants the both of you to train the newly blessed knights, father Michael will see to it your usual schedule will be open to train them. He still believes the best course of action is to swiftly send as many knights as we can, he wishes to have the outskirt villagers be a part of the church.” Saul said.

“We also have received more reports of other newly turned hybrids running around causing chaos, right now we don’t have any intel about the hybrids' leads or the elders. The only thing we know is the hybrids are using those outskirt villagers to train their newly turned hybrids.” Christopher said.

“I also heard rumors that we are getting more people migrating from those villages here to the holy cities. Is that true?” Nicholas said.

“Yes, the massacre of those knights seem to drive those villagers into a panic, we promised them our protection, but they would rather come to the city, where we have knights everywhere.” Saul said.

“Father Michael is ok with that, in fact he highly suggests it, the more people we have in the cities the more we can spread, he always wanted to turn those outskirt villages into territories that we can use.” Christopher said.

“It seems you have a problem with that cardinal?” Melissa said.

“I would rather not take advantage of people's weakness for my own gain, while the people in those villages are suffering, father Michael is sending more knights under the banner of protecting them, even if the villagers don’t want to.”

“Father Christopher, I hope you understand the words you are saying.” Saul said.

“I am well aware, Father Saul, I am also aware of the trouble we the church have caused towards those villagers.”

“That’s enough, let’s not fight in front of the commanders, as we were saying, so will both of you accept this job?” Saul said.

The both commanders nodded their heads.

“I will be sure to train them diligently,” Nicholas said.

“Will the lieutenant be joining us, helping train the newcomers?” Melissa said.

“Yes, but not all the time, she is still running the city, we will ask for father Michaell what we should do after this.” Saul said.

“May Sez guide us.” Christopher said.

***

In the entrance of the city of Adruil stood the third Lieutenant of the knights Alice, she was waiting on top of the stone gate waiting for the carriage that carried her student.

Third Lieutenant Alice is well built, with long brown hair, she wore her usual garments, long silver clothes over her normal cloth bearing the mark of Sez, She has the most kills of any knight besides her master.

Each lieutenant was in charge of running the force that protects the civilians that live in each of the holy cities. After the fall of the first pillar, there must always be a lieutenant station at one of three remaining pillars.

Alice finally saw the carriage that was carrying her student, she told the knights around her to open the gate, she jumped down and awaited the carriage. When it finally approached her, she opened the carriage door, and found her student with another knight she didn’t recognize. She got into the carriage and told the driver where to go, before closing the door.

“So James, you are finally back,” Alice said, in an angry voice.

James looked at the ground, he didn’t dare to look at his master who he disappointed greatly.

“Master, I am so sorry, nothing I do could ever pay for the mistake I have made.”

“First thing first, who are you?” Alice said to the other knight.

“I’m Henry ma’am, it’s an honor to meet one of the lieutenants,” Henry said.

“No need for that, were you there when the massacre happened?”

“I was in the area ma’am, I was out looking for James, but this is my fault, I ordered the knights towards that cottage in the woods, the blame lies with me.”

“James, is this true?”

“Of course not! It’s my fault!”

“Then I hope you understand the grave mistake this is, not only did you let that hybrid get away, losing your knights you were in charge of, you failed your most important tasks. Being a leader, tell me exactly what happened that day.” Alice said.

After going through everything that happened that day, with Henry filling in the blanks when James was knocked out, Alice remained quiet for most of the ride.

“I explicitly told you to never engage a hybrid without your knights, unless you had full control of your blessings, because of your actions, all those knights have died. Why did you ignore everything I told you?” Alice said.

“I thought I could take him, he was a hybrid who didn’t have his mark yet.”

“He beheaded twenty knights! Are you really going to tell me that a hybrid who hasn’t awakened exists?”

“We think he awakened his mark, when the others attacked his home, if he had his mark, he woulda easily beaten James in his fight.” Henry said.

“Great because of your orders you awakened another damn hybrid, what else do you remember besides his name.”

“Just his name,” James said.

There was a knocking from outside the carriage door.

“Ma’am we have arrived.”

“Where are we?” Henry said.

“Let’s go, the both of you, the cardinal is waiting.” Alice told them.