I crested the top of the hill and the view hit me. I sighed with content, in the distance the city of Byrum’s massive walls and pristine towers glinted in the sunlight. After six weeks of travel I finally made it. The capital was in reach, and along with it, Leviathan Battle School.

“You know, I thought the walls would be taller.” I looked back to where the rest of the caravan was.

“We’re still like thirty miles away from them.” I replied, Charon looked down from his wagon with a frown.

“I don’t pay you to talk back at me”

“You barely pay me in the first place!” Well, that wasn’t true. As a hired guard I got paid pretty well. Food, water, shelter, and on top of all that, 2 silver a day. But as the son of a surgeon, it was pocket lint.

“I pay you better than I should.” he snapped back at me.

“Bah! If it weren't for me, you’d already be Nymph food.” This hadn’t been our first exchange and it certainly wasn’t going to be our last.

“I could hire three of the lord's spearmen for the same price I pay you.” For a moment I was lost for words.

“What do you mean?! You’re the one who insisted on paying me!”

“The others of the guild would have ridiculed me!” Of course they would have, the Traders guild was an odd group. With strange traditions and weird superstitions.

“Lord Kaedin told you not to give me any special treatment. You could have paid me just the same as a regular spearman and no one would have bat in eye.” He was about to respond to me when I noticed something moving in the trees behind us. I raised my hand and snapped, Charon cut off immediately.

“Something is behind us, possibly more syrens but since we’re so close to the city I think it's bandits.” Charon motioned for the rest of the caravan to stop the wagons.

“Damn it, I had hoped that we wouldn’t face danger this close to the city.” I pulled my sword from its sheath and the blade’s blood red metal gleamed in the light. I walked behind the caravan and called out into the woods.

“Come out with your hands raised.”

In response, a dozen arrows flew out of the shrubs under the trees. I caught one with my left hand and cut the heads off of six more. Four missed outright and one glanced off my shoulder cauldrons. ‘Huh, I actually caught the arrow. Wasn’t expecting to but I’m not complaining.’

Then out of the woods ran ten screaming naked green men waving knives and clubs. Gotta love goblins. I raised my sword to ready and calmly walked towards them. The first one straight up impaled itself on my sword and the second one turned around to run away only to trip and get run over by the third and forth. They lunged at my legs and I chopped off one of their arms and beheaded the other. The six remaining goblins gathered in front of me, waving their weapons.

Another wave of arrows launched from the trees, I tried to catch one of them like I had done earlier but missed. The arrow slips from my hand and hits me square in the chest. I stumble back a step and glance down. The arrow stuck straight out from the mithril scale armor. Fortunately the gambason I wore underneath had stopped the arrow from skewering me. The rest of the arrows landed around me and two had even hit the goblins in front of me. I shrugged and with a shout I rushed the remaining five.

I swung my blade like a baseball bat, ‘yes I know it’s bad form, sue me’ and cut clean through three of them. The other two ran off as fast as they could, then an arrow flew out and one of the goblins fell then the other did as another arrow zipped through the air. I shrugged and then heard a roar. The loud, booming bass of an orc.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I groaned and ready my sword again. From the trees twelve orcs thunder out into the clearing. The ground around me shook from their movement. Each was more than seven feet tall, with horns of varying lengths. eleven of them had green skin and carried huge clubs or axes. But one of them had red skin the color of rust. That one carried a recurve bow and had a ginormous claymore strapped to its back.

‘Fucking fantastic, a given man.’

It said something in the guttural language of the orcs and the eleven warboys whooped and ran at me. One swung its tree trunk of a club at me and I ducked under it and cut it in half. Then I changed the direction of my blade and cut the orc in two. My sword glided through the orc like I was cutting grass. It screamed as the top half toppled onto the ground, guts and blood squirted up in a fountain. The other ten got similar treatment, all swinging at me to no avail.

The given man looks at me with something that could be considered amusement. I knew that I couldn’t take it on by myself. It knew that as well and pulled out the giant claymore. I gulped in fear and put both hands on my sword. Then the thing laughed, a sound like rocks tumbling in a wash basin and said, “So eager to die young one?”

I blinked, it could speak common. I had heard stories of orcs in the far east being able to speak with men, but never in the west. It seemed to notice my surprise.

“Yes I speak your language boy, I learned it many decades ago.” ‘decades ago?’ Just how long could an orc live? “I will not kill you today for you have fought well.” and turned around and walked back into the trees.

“What in the god damn?” I said out loud to no one in particular. Then heaved a sigh of relief and turned back towards the wagons. I walked back towards Charon and looked up at him, “And that’s why you pay me.” I looked down at my armor and groaned, it was completely covered in green orc blood.

“Yeah well, I still pay you too much.”

“Oh for the love of God!”

Several hours later we arrived at the outskirts of the city. A line close to a mile long stretched from the main gate. The outer wall was more than 80 feet tall, with towers every hundred yards. The wall was covered in steel, that if the stories were true, was six inches thick. Guards in gleaming half-plate armor patrolled the top and stood watch at the gates.

In front of us, a collection of short stubby men with long beards and short tempers wrestled and gambled while they waited. I stared in amazement, ‘were those dwarves?’ I had heard stories from Father about such beings, but had never thought that I would ever have the opportunity to meet one.

“Stop staring at them.” Charon snapped at me “It’s impolite, you’ll piss them off and ya might end up getting your dick chopped off.”

“What!”

He rolls his eyes at me, “By God, it’s as if you’ve never left Lord Kaedin’s fief.”

“I’ve left Uncle Kaedin’s lands many times. Hell I’ve been to the Wastelands down south. I’ve just never met a dwarf before.” I said and he looked at me in bewilderment. I rolled my eyes at him, here we go again.

“But how, isn’t Carbronth home to several thousand dwarves?” he asked.

“I’ve never been to Carbronth, my father only takes my siblings.” I said stiffly. He scratched his head in confusion, “why would the Surgeon’s son not go to the center of medicine?”

“Just because I am the surgeon’s son does not make me a surgeon, if you haven’t forgotten I’m the third son.”

“So you’re Trait is not like your father’s?” he asked curiously. I looked at him incredulously.

“The chance of a third son having the same Trait as his father is the same as a first son not having the same Trait as their father.”

He nodded and looked back up at the line in front of us. The line was a lot shorter, or it should have been, except the dwarves hadn’t moved yet. So there was a large gap in between the dwarves and the people in front of them.

“Hey! Are you going to get moving? Some of us have places to be.” Charon shouts at them.

“Get lost human.” one of the dwarves shouted back and went back to his card game.

“HEY! Get a move on it already.” the dwarf ignores him. Charon turned back to his caravan and signaled for them to pass the dwarves. The dwarves immediately stand up and block our way.

“You think you can just cut in front of us?”

“If you ain’t going to move then get out the way half-man.” Charon said and steered his wagon around the group of dwarves.

‘So much for being polite I guess.’

The dwarf’s face turned an unhealthy shade of red and yelled.

“What did you call me?” Charon turned around and said.

“I called you a half-man you dim witted brute.” I cringed inwardly and put a hand on my sword. The dwarf pulled the massive battle axe he was carrying off his back and with one swing, chopped the head off the oxen that was pulling Charon's wagon. He turned toward Charon and hopped up the wagon with surprising grace and speed and prepared to cleave Charon clean in half. I sighed and closed my eyes. I activated my Trait and immediately everything slowed down. The world gets a little bit dimmer and the air gets so thin that I can’t breathe. I stepped onto the wagon and grabbed the axe by its handle and yanked it out of the dwarf’s hands. I closed my eyes again and the world sped back up again. Then I kicked him in the chest.

The dwarf flew off the side of the wagon and crashed into the ground. I threw the axe down at the dwarf, right between his legs and he let out a yelp of fear. Soon the rest of the dwarves were up and readied weapons at me.

“God damn it Charon!” I yelled “You really have to piss off everyone we meet?” Behind me Charon stared at me in shock and didn't say anything. One of the dwarves laughed and I looked at him. He was tall for a dwarf, close to the height of a man. With a barrel chest and an incredible red beard that touched his knees. In his hands was a strange contraption that he held like a crossbow with a flared opening at the front pointing towards me.

“Look at what we have here.” He said with a cigar in his mouth, “A guardian has decided to bless us with his presence.” He took a final pull from it and flicked it at me.

“What do you want?” I asked him as calmly as I could manage. The dwarf looked at me incredulously.

“What I want is an apology from the Beardless coward behind you.”

‘Well, that’s reasonable enough.’ I turn to Charon, “Apologize to…” the dwarf catched on.

“Lokar Higheyes.” Charon looked at me angrily,

“What?! He killed one of my oxen, he’s gotta pay for it.”

“We can arrange for that afterwards, but for now, you have to apologize to him.”

Lokar chimes up, “I would listen to the Guardian, Beardless.” he looked down at the thing in his hands, “though I would enjoy getting to field test this.”

Charon sputtered getting ready to object, I glared at him and said, “If Lord Kaedin finds out I never made it to Byrum because you pissed off a group of dwarves, he will have your kneecaps.”

Charon looked up at me defiantly for a moment then turned to Lokar.

“I apologize for my actions earlier. It was out of line.”

“I accept your apology human.” and he lowers the thing in his hands, the dwarves around us relax and lower their weapons. I hopped down from the wagon and walked over to the dwarf that I had knocked down. He was sitting on the ground, still dazed from the fall. I reached down and tried to help him to his feet. The dwarf stares daggers at me and got himself off the ground after a few tries. He spat on the ground in front of me and muttered something in dwarvish.

“What was that?” I asked, the dwarf ignored me and turned around to walk off.

“He asked why you embarrassed him so, Guardian.” Lokar pipes up behind me. Now that I got a closer look at him. I noticed with slack jawed amazement that he was taller than me.

Yes, I do in fact see the irony of a ‘dwarf’ being taller than me. He saw me staring at him.

“Well, they do call me Higheyes for a reason, Guardian.” I shook my head,

“I apologize for my associates behavior,” I say, “oh and I’m not a Guardian.” He looked me up and down, noting the intricate overlapping scale karuta I wore and the long single edged sword at my hip.

“Then it is safe to assume you are here to train at the Battle School.”

I nod, I look at the thing in his hands, “What’s that?”

He looked down at the thing in his hands, “Oh this? It’s an invention that I have been working on for some time. I call it a Boomstick.” he says proudly.

I look at him confused, “Ok…” I pause for a moment. “What does it do?”

“What does it do?” he repeated looking proud,

‘Fuckin I don’t know that’s why I’m asking you.’

“It uses fire dust to launch iron balls at incredible speeds.”

“Fire dust? Like the stuff they use to mine in the mountains?” I ask him, surprised.

He nodded, “Yes of course, after spending many years of my youth blast mining with the Ironrails clan and several unfortunate accidents, I realized the potential that fire dust had in the military.”

I was still skeptical, “Yeah, the potential to blow your arm off your body.”

“Bah, O’ye, of little faith. This little baby will get me an arms contract with the Brightking. Lord Varus in the south already adopted them.”

“Is that why you’re here, to sell weapons to the Brightking?” I ask. He nodded, and put a hand on my shoulder.

“I am willing to sell you one at a discount if you get beardless over there to drop the charges against my cousin.” he gestures over his shoulder at Charon.

“Why do you call him beardless? He clearly has a beard.” I ask, Lokar laughs with amusement.

“Hah, you call that peach fuzz on his face a beard? I could grow a beard like that when I was ten. Now what do you say about the boom stick?”

I looked at the boom stick in his hands, it was about four feet long and looked like it weighed twenty pounds.

“You have anything smaller?”

Lokar smiles broadly at me, “Of course my friend, of course I do, come with me.”

We walked to one of the large iron wagons that the dwarves used, and he kicked the side of it. One of the walls flip to show several different kinds of boomstick. One was long and thin, another was even shorter. The one that caught my eye was the smallest one. It was about as long as a dagger and had a trigger mechanism and a smooth curving handle.

“How much for the small one?” I asked him, he looked at it and took it off the wall.

“Normally, I would ask for two gold, but for you my friend. I'll do it for one.” I looked at him with incredulity. One gold was fifty silver, more than more farmers make in a year. Hell, that was equal to what most men-at-arms made in a month.

“You can’t be serious if you’re asking that much.” I tell him. Lokar looked at me seriously.

“Let me show you it in action, then you can be the judge of it.” he said and took me away from the line. He grabbed a helmet that had several holes in it and placed it about fifty feet away. He shows the weapon,

“The small ones, I call a pistol. It has a shorter effective range. That is, how far away you can accurately hit a target.” he then shows me how to load it. He raises the pistol and pours fire dust into the muzzle as I learned it was called. Then he pushes a steel ball down the barrel and finally uses a lever attached to the bottom of the barrel to pack it all down. He pulled the hammer back and looked at me.

“You aim by aligning this front notch with this back V.” he raises the pistol, “Oh, also this is going to be loud.”

I plug my ears and he pulls the trigger. A fireball erupted from the muzzle like a dragon’s breath and the pistol emits a sound like thunder. The helmet exploded in an incredible fashion, with sparks and pieces of helmet flying everywhere. Lokar lowered the smoking weapon and looked at me with a wide smile.

“So, what do you think?”

“Holy shit.” I said and rummaged through my pack. I tossed him the gold mark and he handed me the pistol.

“I’ll toss in a thousand rounds of ammo and enough fire dust to last you a lifetime if you’re willing to put a good word in with the battle school.”

“I’m going to need a holster for this.” I said to Lokar as he put the gold mark away.

“I’m sorry, can’t help you there. Go to one of the leather workers, they’ll get you one made before the day’s done.”

We walked back to our respective groups, “Hey Lokar,” he looked back, “it was good to meet you.”

He nodded as his caravan reached the gate.

Soon, it was our turn to talk to the wall guard. Six men wearing plain polished half-plate stopped the wagons and got everyone out.

“Passports and identifications please.” the Sergeant calls out. I looked up at the murder holes in the celling, knowing full well that there was at least one man with a crossbow or hot oil looking down at me. I pulled out my passport as the guards interrogated each man, woman, and child entering the city.

“Name and why you’re here?” asked one of the guards walking up to me with his hand out. I handed him the passport though I doubted he could read.

“Ryze Varus, I am here to train at one of the battle schools.” he flipped through the passport, not realizing that he had it upside down. I sigh inwardly and he snorts.

“Oh, you’re here to train at the battle schools. Ha! I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that one before.” he turned around and called to one of the other guards, “Hey Louie, looks like we got another Battle school candidate.”

Louie laughed and shook his head, ‘this guy is starting to get on my nerves. But he does have a point, I’m not sure if I can do this. NO, you can’t let that get to your head.’

“Whatever, am I good to go?” I ask him.

“Yeah sure whatever.” he says and waves me away. ‘What a prick, stupid bastard didn’t even know how to read.’

A few minutes later, the guards let us through the gate. The city was immense, inside the walls were buildings easily seven stories tall. People walked the wide clean streets and in the distance, another wall could be seen. Charon turned to me, “Well kid, this is the end of the line for us.” he got off from his wagon and extended his hand.

I shake it, “Tell my uncle that I have safely made it to the Capital, and be safe on your way back.”

With that, we went our separate ways.

I walked about two streets into the city before I realised that I had no idea where I was going. I walked around aimlessly for a little bit longer, looking for a map with one of those “you are here” signs that they had in Forrest Deep. I walked and walked for close to an hour, then finally gave in to the voice in my head that was telling me that I was lost. I sucked in my pride and walked into the nearest shop to ask for directions to the nearest leatherworker.

I entered the shop and was greeted by a feeble looking old man in a tall hat. By old I meant old, old. Like the kind of old where you start to wonder if they’re a ghoul.

“Hello there, what can I get for you.” he says in a voice like sandpaper. He tapped along using his cane as a support and walked over to a shelf. “Could I interest you in some potions? How about a nice charm for a lucky girl?”

I cut him off, “I’m sorry, I just need help finding directions to the nearest leatherworker.” I felt kind of bad but I really did not want to buy any of his “potions” as he called them.

“Oh, well then,” he says with a bit of disappointment in his voice. He gave me directions and I started to walk out the door. He called back to me,

“Wait!”

I stopped and turned around a little bit irritated.

“What?”

The old man smiles at me, “It’s good to see you again, Ryze.”

I blink and look at the old man, “Uhhhh, who are you?”

The old man looked at me confused, “Did you say something young man?” I shake my head and walk out the door. ‘That guy was weird.’

I walked down the street window shopping, there was a lot of weird stuff being sold. From spears and shields, to fashion and books. In one of the shops I saw a man wrestling a large feathery lizard. I looked up at the name of the shop, Noodle Shack. With an inscription underneath that said. “You kill it, we cook it.”

There was a commotion up ahead and people were gathered around a building. Smoke billowed out from the windows and chimney, heat blasted my face as I neared. But oddly there was no fire. I tapped one of the bystanders on the shoulder.

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

The woman looked up at me, “From what I can tell, someone torched old Cardin’s leather shop with magic.”

I sighed, shooked my head and thanked her. Just my luck, that the one shop I needed to go to was on fire.

I walked around the crowd and asked my way to a different leatherworker. I walked towards it and thankfully this one wasn’t on fire. I entered and was once again greeted by some old guy. Not the same old guy, but he looked very similar to the other one, maybe they were brothers or something.

“Welcome, how may I help you?”

“Hi, I need a holster for this.” I say and pull the pistol from my bag. He took it into his hands and looked at it skeptically.

“This is one strange looking club young man, you’re going to need a custom for that.”

“That’s fine, I just need a way to carry this without it falling from my waist every ten seconds. Oh, also I need to be able to access this handle easily.” the old man pulls out some paper and a dwarven ink pen.

“This will take me some time to make, however it will be done before third afternoon bell.”

I scratch my head embarrassed, “yeah ummmm, when might that be?”

“New to the city I presume,” I nod, “Third afternoon bell would be about 7 in the afternoon.”

I thank him and start to walk out, “Oh, and the order is for Ryze Varus.”

Looking into my money pouch I realised that I had quite a bit of money. I had left my fathers manor with ten gold marks and a single ruby broam gifted to me by Lord Kaedin, but in the six weeks of travel, I had made more than a hundred silver from Charon and another three gold marks from demon bounties. I had more money on me right now then most peasants would ever see in their entire life.

My next order of business would be to find a bank and exchange the silver for gold and deposit most of my money. Especially the ruby broam, that was supposed to last me until the end of the school year. That is if I made it of course. I assumed that there wasn’t going to be any banks in the outer levels of the city so I started towards the inner walls.

I reached the inner wall without any problems . It would have been impressive if I could have gotten lost looking for a massive wall that surrounded the inner city. I started toward the guards outpost that was in front of the gate. There were noticeably more guards here, and they were wearing full suits of metal plate and had longswords at their hips and shields that folded up on their forearms.

One of the guards noticed me and punched his shield, the shield then popped open to cover most of his body. He walked, well more like he stormed over to me and got right up into my face.

“What are you looking at, peasant?”

‘Peasant! Who the fuck are you calling peasant?” I thought angrily. I shoved him away from me and he landed on his ass a few feet away. Immediately a dozen guards drew their swords and shields appeared on their arms.

“Ahh shit, look I think we got off on the wrong foot.” I said as I started to back up. “I just need passage into the inner city. That’s not a crime right?” I asked, the guards in front of me remain silent.

“Right?” I asked again, panicking a little bit.

the guard that I knocked over got up.

“No, but assaulting a member of the wall guard is.” and with that he drew his sword and ran at me.

“What the fuck.” I punched the man in his open face plate and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

“Look guys, I just need passage through that gate. I won’t make any trouble. I promise.”

The guards look at each other then at me. They reach some sort of silent agreement. One of them extends his hand.

“twelve silver coins and we forget this ever happened.”

I smile at him and hand him the coins. Then I started to walk towards the gate, the thing remains closed. I frowned and looked at the guards, they stared back at me.

“Well, are you going to open the gate for me?” I asked impatiently. One of the guards smiled at me.

“You still gotta pay the entrance fee.”

“What the shit did I just give you?”

“That was just so we wouldn’t kill you.”

“Fine, what’s the entrance fee?” I ask and grab my wallet.

“Three silver.” I toss him four and the gate opens. As the gate starts to close, I turn around and flip them the bird with both hands and run off.

As I walked through the inner city I noticed that the buildings were nicer. The streets were even cleaner and there were far less people. Groups of children ran around in parks and beside fountains. As I walked, I started to get weird stares from people. They would look at me and then start to murmur to each other. I looked down at my armor, it was still completely covered in dried green orc blood.

I started to walk over to a group of men in silk tunics, as they noticed me they sniffed and turned the other direction. I scoffed, ‘for the love of gods.’ I walked right up to them and tossed a silver to one of their feet. He looked down at it then back up at me.

“How can I help you?” he says with a disdained sniff. He spoke with a snobby accent that was common in the upper class.

“If you couldn’t tell, I need a place to shower and wash my clothes. Where can I find one?”

“What do you take me for? A wash woman of the lower classes?” he asks with a glare.

“Just answer the question.” I snap back at him. ‘God how hard was it to get something out of the rich. The worst part was that these pathetic losers were neither very rich or powerful. They just acted like they were important and everyone sort of just went with it.

“The insolent way you speak to your superior, I should have you strung up by your ankles for that sort of behavior.”

I really hated to play this card but if I wanted to get anywhere meaningful anytime soon, I was going to need to get this guy to talk.

“Do you know who I am?” I ask him. The man sniffs again, “No, but from your grimy clothes and distasteful fashion, I can assuredly say that I am of a far higher status than you.”

“I am Ryze Varus, third son of the Healer Arminius Varus and nephew of Lord Kaedin Varus. Does that name ring a bell?” I ask him with a glare.

The man gulps, realising his mistake. Behind him, the other men stared at me with shock. As one they all kneel in front of me and start to beg for forgiveness.

‘Huh, looks like my uncle is still remembered by the nobility.’

“Please forgive us for our rudeness, we did not know who you were. If there is anything we can do for you, it would be an honor.”

I shook my head, how does one go from being so stuck up that you would have thought they had a stick up their butt to groveling on the ground so fast.

“Well, I could really use a bath.” I say, “and I need to find a bank.”

The men all turned to the one that I had spoken to first, he looked back at them with fear. The man started to vibrate, he looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.

“Calm yourself man, I am not my uncle. You have nothing to fear from me, all I need is a shower and a place to rest after a long journey.”

“Of course my lord. Please come with me, I shall see to all your needs.” and he turned around and started to walk away on shaky legs. I followed him and behind me I could hear the men murmuring about the return of the Red Dragon.

I walked with the man in silence for a short time. He was apparently still terrified that I was going to do something to him.

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“What is your name?” I asked. He turned to me and stuttered, “My name is Marko Dos, my lord.”

I waved my hand, “there is no need for the formalites Marko, just call me Ryze like everyone else does.”

“Of course my lor- Ryze.”

I sighed, “Marko, why are you so afraid of my Uncle?”

“Who doesn’t fear the wrath of the Red Dragon?” he scoffed and looked me in the eyes. “You are young Ryze, you can’t be older than 18,” I nodded, I was sixteen. “You were yet to be born when the Brightking took the throne.” The end of the wars of reclamation was coming up on its 23th anniversary in three days.

“I was a young man in those days, barely a year older than you are now.” he gets a distant far off look in his eyes. “I remember standing on top of that wall, looking out towards the land below, watching the city burn around me. Hundreds of thousands died that day. Including my mother and brother.” He turned to me with a tear in his eye. “My father was crippled for life, and the man responsible is the same one you call uncle.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I say and put an arm around his shoulders. Marko sniffed and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

We reach his estate and several guards walk out to meet us. Then the door opens and a little girl runs out and jumps onto Marko’s leg.

“Daddy!” she then climbs onto his arms, “Hi! It’s so good to see you, did you miss me? Did you miss me?” she yells at him.

Marko smiles down at her, “Millie, I left for all of about an hour.”

From the doorway, a pregnant woman walked out, “oh, thank God, she’s been going crazy the moment you left the door.” then she noticed me. “Who is the young man you brought with you?”

Before Marko could answer, I said “my name is Ryze Hood, it is good to meet you ma’am.”

The woman looked at Marko and he nodded, she beckons for us to come in and we follower into the house. We entered into a large room with a massive fireplace at the end. Guards were posted by the windows and maids walked around doing tasks. Around the fireplace, men and women talked, and as we got closer I noticed how many of them looked similar.

“Ryze, this is the majority of House Dos.” he says and waves his hand across the room. “Everyone, this is Ryze Hood.”

Several of them looked at me with disdain, some looked at me with some outright hostility, but most of them just kind of ignored me and continued talking.

“Can someone fetch him a shower, he stinks.” a fat older woman says. “And a change of clothes.”

‘What the Hell? I just got here and this is the welcome I get?’ Marko sighed and said to me, “Ryze, you really do need a shower and you definitely need to get that armor cleaned.”

I nod in agreement, “Yeah, I’ve been wallowing in orc blood for the past day, a shower sounds nice. Where can I get one?”

Marko motions for one of the guards to come over, “Get this man a shower and have a wash woman clean his clothes and armor.”

I cut him off, “I’ll clean the armor myself, thanks.”

He looked at me confused, “Ryze, you know we have servants to do that sort of thing for us.”

I nod and looked intently at the red dragon sigil on my shoulder, “Trust me.”

The guard saluted him, “At one sir.” and motioned for me to follow him. We walked out of the main room and into a hallway with white marble walls. The guard looked at me, noting the armor and sword.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re obviously some sort of warrior, and you look like you’re covered in orc blood but you don’t seem to be injured. So that means you’re not a bad one at that. You have a sigil, marking you as some sort of noble. But you also said your last name was Hood. I don’t know of any House Hood. Marko seems to treat you with respect, which he would never do to a man of lower status than him. Not to mention the fact that you look like you aren't a day over eighteen. Then there is the curious case of your eye color, I only know of three Houses with red eyes. So, who are you really and why are you here?”

I raised my eyebrows at him, “an astute one aren’t you?”

He sniffed, “I wouldn’t still have this job if I wasn’t.”

“Not many people are fans of your boss, I take it?”

He shrugged, “Not my place to judge my employer. Now answer the question.” and put a hand onto the sword strapped to his side.

I sighed, “I’ll tell you who I am, but know this. I mean no harm to anyone in this house, and that if you tell anyone else, I will not hesitate to cut out your tongue.”

For a moment, the man stiffened, “I will not tell anyone else, other than Lord Marko.”

“That is acceptable,” I shrugged, “my name is Ryze Varus, and I am here to join the Leviathan. Marko already knows who I am, and knowing their family history, I would think it wise not to let them know my relation to Kaedin Varus.”

The guard stopped and stared at me. I could see in his eyes, that the gears in his mind were turning. Trying to figure out if I was lying and if he could fight me off. Then he continues walking.

“Very well,” we walked the rest of the way in silence. He stopped by one of the doors and said, “This is the showers, leave your clothes in the bin by the side and a maid will pick it up shortly.” Then he left without another word.

I entered the showers and looked around, taking in my surroundings. There were little cubicles of cut stone with a curtain made from some sort of metallic cloth. Inside was a metal faucet mounted on the wall with a knob at the bottom. A massive mirror lined the other wall and in one of the corners was a huge pool of steaming water.

I undressed, placed my gear in a corner and put all my clothes in the bin that the guard had talked about. Then I walked into one of the cubicles, I looked at the two knobs, one of them had a red sign and one had a blue one. I turned the blue one all the way and looked up at the faucet. Nothing happened, and I started to wonder if it was broken. Then without a second of warning, freezing cold water blasted me straight in the face. I shouted in surprise and got a mouthful of freezing cold water. I felt it go down my windpipe. I started to cough violently as the water beat down on me.

This would be a sad, sad way to die. I could imagine what my grave stone would say. ‘Here lies Ryze Varus, the stupid bastard that managed to drown himself in a shower.’ I sputtered and reached out my hand to grasp the knob and turned it off. I looked down and saw that the water was tinted green with orc blood. I turned around and looked into the mirror. I was completely clean.

“Well I might have almost drowned but I can’t argue that wasn’t effective.” I said to myself. Then I reached over and slowly started to fiddle with the two knobs. After a few tries I got the perfect ratio of hot and cold. I groaned with satisfaction, it had been a long time since I had last taken a hot shower. I stayed in the blissfully comfortable shower for nearly thirty minutes.

When I finally got out, I noticed that the maid had already taken my clothes. Then to my irritation, I noticed she had taken all my stuff, not just the clothes in the bin, but everything else as well. Including the backpack that had all my spare clothes. I dried off with one of the towels and looked around for a robe or just something to cover me up. There was nothing, only another towel. I sighed and wrapped it around my waist. I looked in the mirror again. I really need to get a haircut. My black hair was starting to cover my eyes and the streak of red above my left eye was sticking straight out like a unicorns horn.

I turned around and walked out, looking for a maid to get me my backpack. The moment I exited the room, I was confronted by what appeared to be the entire house guard. They blocked both the right and the left hallways, standing with shields overlapping and spears bristling outwords.

“Uhhhhhhh” I looked to both sides and then down at my towel skirt. “This is going to be the saddest assasination ever, of all time.”

The man that I was talking to stepped out from behind the shield wall and motioned for them to relax. The guards lowered their weapons and went back to their post.

“Hey, what was that about?” I asked the guard.

“Just a precaution, I had to make sure you weren’t going to try anything.”

I frowned at him, “you know that if I wanted to, I still could have killed every single one of you guys right?”

The guard smiles, “I doubt it kid, you may be the blood of a dragon but you’re not the only one with a trait.” Then he started to float. Yep, he started to fucking levitate.

I looked up at him in awe, “that is so cool.” then I frown, “then, you also went to Battleschool?”

He nodded, “That’s right, six years ago. Toughest three years of my life, but it was definitely worth it.”

“So if you’re a Guardian, then why are you working for someone like the Dos’?” I ask.

“We are in a time of unprecedented peace, not seen since the days of the Sun King. The need for Guardians in the field is quite low and to be honest, the Dos’s pay me very well. By the time I retire, I’ll have enough money to start my own House.”

“I see, well you got any tips for someone like me on how to pass the entrance exam?” I asked.

The man laughs, “They change it every year, sometimes you have to kill a demon, sometimes you gotta fight each other in a tournament to get in. My year, they had us do a maze.”

I gulped and he put a hand on my shoulder reassuringly, “Don’t sweat it kid, if you’re really related to the Red Dragon then this should be light work for you.”

“As much as I would like to keep talking, I think it would be wise for you to find some more clothes.”

“Yeah, I would agree with you on that.” then I remembered something, or you could say that I forgot something, “and I never caught your name sir.”

“Oh, the name’s Fredrick Lee, but everyone just calls me Freddy. And cut the sir crap, makes me sound old.” he turned around and walked off.

Now where the hell are my clothes?

After searching far and wide for my gear, I found it drying in front of a fire. Next to it, a wash woman was scrubbing clothes with boiling water, humming quietly to herself. I cleared my throat. She turned around and noticed me standing in the doorway wearing the towel around my waist.

“Are you the one who took my gear?” I asked her. She shook her head and continued to scrub. I shrugged and walked over to my gear, the armor had not been cleaned as requested but everything else had been taken out and was currently drying by the fire. I grabbed some blue jeans and quickly changed, it was still damp but it was better than walking around in a skirt.

Then I noticed the washwoman staring at me. I had completely forgotten she was in the room, I glanced down at where she was staring and sighed. Of course she was, who wouldn't be right? She was looking intently at the three ragged scars across my chest. The ones that ran from the top of my left pec to just above my top right ab. I idily wondered why Freddy hadn’t mentioned it.

“Do you mind?” I asked her. She shook herself and returned to her task.

“Sorry.” she muttered, I turned back around and put on a black t shirt that was also damp. I packed my gear back into the bag and grabbed my armor and walked out of the wash room and found my way back into the main hall. The Dos’ were still sitting around the fireplace talking about who knows what. I wandered over to Marko and pulled out a chair to sit in.

“Ah, Mr. Hood, it is good to have you back. I take it everything was satisfactory?” I thought back remembering the incident in the shower, then having all my clothes taken away and the confrontation with Freddy.

“Yeah, everything was fine.”

He smiled nervously, “very good, now will you be joining us for dinner?”

I looked at the clock that hung over the fireplace, it was just before third bell. “I will not, there are still things that I need to set in order before the day is done.”

He seemed relieved.

“Though, I could use a place to stay the night and as I already have all my stuff here… ” I trailed off, Marko’s relieved look quickly died, “it won’t be a problem for you will it?”

he shook his head vigorously, “O-of course not.”

I stood up and slung my backpack over my shoulder, “I’ll be back before nine.”

I walked to the wall and they let me pass without issue, it seemed like they really didn’t care if you left the inner city levels. Only that the lower classes couldn’t get into the higher levels.

I entered one of the markets and bought a stick of candied fruits and some drumsticks. As I got closer to the leatherworker’s shop, I started to get the feeling I was being followed. Tossing the remaining chicken leg to one of the street dogs, I dusted my hands and picked up the pace.

By the time I entered the shop, I had started to sweat a little bit. I had no doubt that I could beat up a couple of would be muggers, but there was no point in causing a scene.

A little bell rang as the old man walked out from a backroom, “ahh, Ryze was it?” I nod. “One moment.”

A comes out a few minutes later with a holster for the pistol, “I have never seen a weapon like that one before, but I assumed it was some sort of ranged weapon like a crossbow, so I designed this like it was.”

It was made of smooth leather of a rich brown color. There was a brass button holding a leather strap that went over the top. I took the pistol out of my bag and put it into the holster. It was a good fit and I strapped the holster to the right side of my hip.

“How much for the holster?” I asked.

“Seven bronze chips will just about do it.” he replied happily. I winced, a single silver coin was worth twenty bronze chips, and for that reason. I didn’t carry any on me. I took out a single silver coin and placed it into his hand.

“I can’t take that much.” he protested and tried to give it back. I closed the man’s palm and shook my head.

“Think of it as a tip for such a well made holster.” I say, “oh, also to keep quiet about there being a Varus in the Capital again.”

He relented and I left the shop.

Well, time to go back to the inner city and find a bank. I walked back to the inner wall and this time the guards recognized me. They let me in without too much of a hassle other than some names called and insults exchanged. I walked up to a group of women sitting on some benches in the park. This time there was no sneering or unpleasantness.

“Excuse me ladies,”

They turned to face me, one of them pipes up, “Hi cutie,” and started giggling. Some of them joined in with her.

I blinked in confusion, the rest of them stared back at me, “Oook, do any of you know where a bank is?”

“Not from around here are you?” one of the older ones asks. I shook my head, “just got into the city today.”

“Well hot stuff, you’re going to need to go up another layer to find any banks of note.”

I sighed, great more stupid wall guards. The first group insults me, the second group decided to extort me, what was the third group going to do?

“Thanks.” and I start to walk further into the city. From behind me I heard a girl, “well, he was hot.” and another one slap her. I shook my head and kept walking. The capital is a strange place.

The third wall was guarded much more leniently. Five men sat in wooden chairs playing cards on a wooden table. As they noticed me, one waved his hand and called out.

“Hagrid! Did you bring the booze this time?” then noticed that I wasn’t wearing wall guard colors. He stood up and cleared his throat, “Excuse me, what business do you have at this time of night?”

“Just need to find a bank to deposit some money.” I say, “No need to get up from your game.” I closed my eyes and activated my Trait, quickly sneaking looks at everyones cards and went back to where I was standing.

The guard looked bewildered at me for a moment then sat back down. I walked up to him and whispered, “The guy with the long blonde hair is bluffing and the one with the broken nose is underselling his cards.”

The guard looked up at me and narrowed his eyes, I was already up and walking to the gate. The gate opened itself with a metallic grinding sound and I entered the other side. The third tier of Byrum, one away from the inner keep and the royal court.

The buildings here were incredible, each had its own set of walls and its own pseudo royal guard. One of the banks was immediately obvious, it was a giant bunker-like building set into the wall right next to the gate. Probably to limit the contact between the upper and middle classes.

I walked up to the building and was stopped by several guards. They looked at me up and down, “Come with me.” one of them said and led me to a stone wall that had heights written on it.

Then a man walked out, “ahh, a new visitor to the Capital I see. My name is Gavin Freeman, I am the resident magician around here.”

“Ok and?” I asked him, confused.

He frowned at me, “Why my friend, I am here to take an imprint of you before you enter the bank.” Huh, that was actually pretty smart, I had never thought of that.

“Very well.” I said and stood next to the wall, he pulled out a sword and pointed it at me.

“I am going to need for you to stand normally and look into the sword.” I compley and a flash of light blinds me for a few moments.

“Hey, not bad ey?” Gavin said, apparently quite pleased with his work, “Name and birthplace please?”

“Ryze Varus, born in Forrest Deep.”

“Ryze Varus, born in Forrest Deep, Height, 6’1.” he looked at the weight scale, “190 pounds.” he muttered to himself as he scribbled on a piece of paper.

I turned around and looked at the image on the wall behind me. It was me frozen in place staring blankly at nothing at all.

“That looks awful.” I groaned, he looked at me and laughed.

“The red eyes do give it quite the eerie feel don’t they?”

“Hey, I’ll have you know, the ladies love the eyes.” I sniffed, “anyways am I good to go?”

“Yep, we’re good. Follow me.”

Gavin flicked his hand and the thick steel doors of the bank glide open with ease. The inside of the bank was covered in gold and on the wall just behind the counter was a massive painting. It depicted an army of dwarves fighting a mountain dragon in an underground cave. At the counter stood a couple of dwarves weighing gold on a scale.

“Gentlemen, this is Ryze Varus, yes he is related to that one. No he will not confiscate your gold.” he turned to me. “Right?”

“Right, in fact I need to deposit some money.” one of the dwarves motioned me forwards. She pulled out a ledger book and turns to the Varus page.

“Are you going to deposit into your House account?”

I shake my head, the one of the main reasons for me leaving Forrest Deep was so that I could gain some independence, away from my father’s influence. There was no way in Hell that I was going to be taking money from him anymore. That would only prove what he had said before I left.

“No, I am going to start a personal account.” I say with some measure of determination. The woman raises an eyebrow.

“ Very well, you must deposit a minimum of fifty gold marks to open an account.” Well that was quite a bit.

“Will a ruby broam satisfy that?” I ask, then I think about it a little bit longer. “What is the conversion rate from Rubies to Gold at this bank?” The rates for gold, silver and bronze were all the same after the reforms of the reclamation wars. But for gemstones, those had different values at different fiefs.

“Yes, a ruby broam worth,” she checks a different book, “as of two days ago, A single ruby broam is valued at 164 gold marks. I believe that is well above the minimum rate.”

Holy shit, well I got lucky. Back in the Varus fief, a ruby broam was only worth eighty something gold marks. Well, Varus was also the largest producer of rubies in the empire.

I made an account and did read all the fancy paper work and signed all the dotted lines. Soon enough, I had an account with 175 gold marks in it. That left my pouch feeling much lighter, but also less exposed. I thanked the lady and walked out with a copy of the paper work safely tucked away in my backpack.

I stood in front of the gate and as it pulled open, one of the guards looked over at me and stood up and stumbled over to me. It was the same one that I had given a few hints to.

“Ah my friend!” he shouted as he wobbled clearly drunk.

“I see Hagird bought the alcohol with him.” I said dryly, looking around I noticed one of the guards lying face down in a puddle of vomit, one peeing on the side of the wall and two more cuddled up against each other.

“Are you a magician?” he asked in a drunken slur. I thought about saying yes just to fuck with him but decided it would have been a bad idea.

“No, sadly I am not one of the blessed.” I sighed. “I believe it would be a good idea to get your fellow guardsmen cleaned up before your commanding officer gets here.”

The man frowned, “I am their commanding officer.”

At that I shook my head and walked off.

I entered the Dos manor and pulled out a rag and some oil to clean my armor. The red and black scales were covered in a crust of weird green goo. And in the very center of the chest piece was a neat hole between two of the scales. I sighed and after a bit of effort and fooling around with a hammer that I got off one of the guards I managed to bend the pieces back into place.

The armor may not be the most protective thing, but what's the point of protection if you don’t get hit in the first place right? It could stop most attacks but since it wasn’t rigid armor, blunt force trauma would be a bitch afterwards. So as long as I didn’t take a direct blow from an orc or an elf, or get curb stomped by a giant or a troll then I was fine.

I passed out on the couch next to the fireplace soon after putting away my blade.

In the morning I was awoken by the sound of screaming, a middle aged woman was screeching in fear and calling for the guards. She was pointing at someone, I looked at her hand and then at where she was pointing. Right at me apparently.

“Ma’am, is everything alright?” I asked her, very confused. She ignored me and continued to scream, she had excellent lung capacity. Several guards ran into the room and stopped by her side, also confused.

“My lady, is everything alright?” Freddy asked. She turned to him with a look of terror.

“There is a robber by the fireplace!”

“Who?” he asked confused, then turned to me, “Ryze, what’s going on here man?”

“I don’t know!” I shouted, “I was sleeping on the couch and then woke up to her screaming.”

“He’s a thief, he’s here to steal my necklace!” the woman cried, pointing at me. Freddy rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Lady Seliene, Ryze is not going to steal your necklace, he was here yesterday. You met him before dinner.”

“Nonsense! I would remember such a thing!”

“Well do you?” I asked her.

She blinked, “why of course! What kind of a fool do you take me for, young man?”

“I'm not even going to ask,” Freddy said and shook his head. I was incredibly confused at this point and decided that it wasn’t worth losing brain cells over. There was a knock at the door and Freddy went to open it. I sat back down on the couch and tried to get some more sleep.

“Excuse me, but I have been informed that Ryze Varus is staying in this manor. Is that correct?” Oh for the love of God! I sat up, and looked over at the door. A man wearing intricate blue plate armor stood in the doorway. On his shoulder was the emblem of the royal guard.

The man looked at me, “ah, excellent! Mr. Varus. The Brightking has requested your presence at the palace.”

“Wat?” I asked, dumbfounded. I know, not my brightest moment. The man repeated himself. “Oh also, bring your gear. I do not believe you will be returning here afterwards.”

That put me on edge, “Like, returning to this house kind of return or returning to life kind of return.”

“That is up to the Brightking to decide.” he deadpanned.

“Well, I can’t really say no to the King.” I said.

“Excellent!” I quickly donned my armor and hefted my pack. Freddy looked at me with concern, “it was nice knowing you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean Freddy?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Oh God, this is how I die isn’t it?

We made our way to the wall, as the guards noticed us, they gave us crisp salutes and stood a little bit straighter. Very different from how they had been the night before. Maybe these were different guards. Passing through the gate and into the Third tier of the city, we were joined by three more royal guards. Each one had a slightly different armor pattern but all of them wore the same emblem on their shoulder. A crown with a halo above it, the sigil of House Bright.

The four guards walked in perfect unison with each foot hitting the ground at the exact same moment. The ground shook with every step they took as well, making walking a tad bit more difficult than it would have been otherwise. Several small children pointed at the guards as we went past one of the manors.

After a few more minutes we reached the final wall, on top of the hundred foot wall sat dozens of guards wearing similar blue armor. They saluted us as we passed and raised the several feet thick metal gate, after we passed through the first one, we were met with another gate, then another and then another. We passed through eight gates before we finally got to the other side and reached an enormous palace.

The top of it seemed to touch the sky and the towers were covered in gold and embedded with huge gemstones. On the left was a massive bunker-like building, guards constantly walked in and out of it. I assumed it was a barracks, and on the right was a large courtyard.

We walked past all of this and up several hundred steps to the front of the palace.

“Do you guys do that every day?” I huffed with hands on my knees. One of the guards shook his head.

“No, usually we take the lift.” and pointed at a contraption on one side that was taking supplies up to the palace.

“Then why the Hell did we not do that too?” I got no response. As my breathing returned to normal one of the guards pushed the doors open. I walked into the room and took in my surroundings. It appeared that I had walked right into the Throne room.

The room was not massive, but it wasn’t small either. On the roof hung chandeliers made of crystal and silver. On the walls were paintings of all sorts, and on the far end of the room was the throne of legends, the object of power that millions throughout the centuries had died for, the Saphire Seat.

It was incredibly boring in almost every way, straight backed at ninety degrees, with solid armrests and no accommodations for comfort. Cut from a brilliant, rich blue sapphire. Upon the seat sat one of the most powerful beings in the world, high lord of the twenty one human fiefs, ruler of hundreds of millions, commander of numerous armies, the shield and sword that holds the darkness at bay, the Brightking.

“This is the part where you kneel.” hissed one of the guards. I quickly knelt in front of the throne. The king frowned and one of his advisors whispered something in his ear. Then the king nodded and waved her away, he studied me with blue eyes that glowed like spotlights.

“Rise, son of Arminius.” he said, his voice was incredibly deep and it resonated through the room.

He studied me for a moment, “Do you know who I am?” he asked. Phffft of course I did, who didn’t.

“Yes my lord, you are King Jackson Bright, the first man to unite the Empire in over five hundred years.”

“And do you know my relation to your uncle and father?” he pressed.

“My uncle and father fought at your side to unite the Empire my lord.” I said, confused on where this was going.

“So, you could say that I was quite good friends with the Patriarchs of House Varus?”

“Yes my lord.”

“Then why in God’s name did you not visit me sooner my boy?” he exclaimed and jumped out of the throne. “I had to practically drag you here.”

He walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me with him. “Come walk with me.”

We left the throne room and entered a large hallway. It was lavishly decorated with paintings and flowers. Several guards stood beside the doorways and as we passed they saluted.

“So, how is your father?” the king asked, I was still in complete shock at what was happening. Never had I expected for the Brightking of all people to welcome me to the palace with open arms.

“My father is quite well my lord.” the king gave me an annoyed look.

“Bah, drop the ‘My lord’ shit with me boy, do you know how often I hear that these days? It's always, my lord this and my lord that. I never thought I could get sick of hearing it but I did. Just call me Jack when we’re in the palace.”

“Very well my lo- I mean Jack.” I fumbled.

Jack rolled his eyes, “How is old Kaedin, he’s still kicking right?”

I frowned at him, “With respect my lor- Jack, my uncle is the same age as you are, but yes my uncle is still in good health .”

“With your father there with him, I am not surprised. God knows that I could use some of his healing.” he said and rubs his back.

“Jack, I don’t mean to be rude, but why have you brought me here?”

He gave me a disappointed look, “All business I see, just like your uncle you are, I can even see the resemblance.”

I stared at him, “We’re related.”

He sniffed, “As I do owe Arminius my life, I thought that I would pay it back in my own way. I am offering you a place to stay before the start of initiation at the Leviathan.”

“Really?” I was surprised.

“Yes, though I have one thing to ask of you in return.”

“Anything you want,” I said dryly, “your wish is my command.”

He chuckles, “You spend too much time with your uncle, I would like for you to attend the anniversary feast as a representative of House Varus.”

I groaned on the inside, fucking feast with the nobility were the worst. With their constant passive aggressive bullshit and political nonsense. But he was the king and you can’t really say no to a king.

“I would be honored to.” I said through gritted teeth. He slapped me on the back and gave me a smile.

“Excellent, a servant will show you your room shortly.” he nodded and started walking, then stopped, “Oh, you may want to have a chat with your Uncle beforehand.” then left with a nod. My stomach rumbled and I looked at a clock hanging on one of the walls. It was noon and I hadn’t eaten breakfast. Or dinner for that matter, I mean I did eat some chicken but like did that even count.

“Pardon me Lord Varus.” said a man with a clipped posh accent. Oh for the love of God, was I going to have to get used to people calling me Lord again.

“Yes?”

“I am here to show you to your new rooms, if you would follow me please.” he said and started to walk towards one of the doors.

“Um, can I get something to eat first please?” I asked, without breaking stride the servant turned in a different direction, “of course my lord.”

We walked through hallway after hallway, up stairs and down stairs. By the time we arrived, I had no idea where we were. Well I did know that we were in the great hall but that was pretty obvious by the giant tables.

“What would you like to eat Lord Varus.” he said and held out a glass device.

“I want a glass of orange juice and like thirty strips of bacon.” less than a minute later, a man walked in with exactly that. I looked up at the servant in confusion, “wait no, how did my order get here, you never moved?”

“It is a new innovation in technology my lord, they call it a Pad.” he said and held the device out.

“What does it do?” I asked, the thing was about the size of my hand, one side of it glowed softly. On it was text, on one side was my order and on the other was a confirmation.

“It allows for instant communications between people within the boundaries of a city. You can also take the imprint of someone and store it on your Pad.” I reveled at the new tech as I ate my food, then after I was finished the servant took me up to my chambers.

“Could I get one of those?” I asked hopefully.

“You will be issued one at the battle school, should you pass initiation.” he said, “if you need anything, just ring that bell a servant will arrive.” he held out a paper to me, “On this is all the information you will need. Such as when meals will be served and where things are.” he walked out the room, “enjoy your stay Lord Varus.”

“Well, know what am I supposed to do?” I asked nobody, I had planned on trying to get Freddy to train with me before initiation, but now I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to leave the palace. I could always just go and find one of the guards to train with me though.

I made up my mind and grabbed the paper. Breakfast was from 6-9 am, lunch

was at 12:30 and dinner was at 6. Wait, lunch is in twenty minutes? Why didn’t that servant tell me? Welp, I guess it’s too late for me now.

I asked one of the servants to take me down to the barracks and thirty minutes later and an incredibly terrifying ride down one of the lifts. I was walking towards the Royal Barracks, the building was squat and low with a flat roof and no decoration anywhere to be found.

Yelling and cursing could be heard from several hundred feet away. It sounded like there was a fight going on inside the barracks and I started to get hyped up. Then a hole exploded out of one of the walls and a man went flying. Inside the building I heard people cheering and laughing mixed with groans and more curses.

I walked up to the hole in the building and looked inside, it was an interesting sight. Hundreds of men in varying states of dress stood around a ring where a man was parading around, swinging a practice sword above his head. Money and insults were being exchanged as another man walked into the ring. Well, he didn’t really walk into the ring, it was more like he got shoved in.

“Oh, the new kid wants some huh.” the man shouted, the other man shrunk back in fear. He tried to back out the ring but was forced closer to the first man.

“At least give me a moment to prepare assholes.” he shouted at the people behind him. They gave him some space and threw him a practice sword.

Someone quipped, “twelve bronze chips the rookie doesn’t last a minute against Sarge!”

The men looked at the rookie and no one took him up on the bet, the rookie shook his head and flicked the crowd off. “Really appreciate the support guys.”

Someone else yelled back, “it’s nothing personal rookie!” the rest of the men nodded and muttered their agreement.

The rookie readied his sword and the crowd chanted, “Three, two, one, kick his ass!”

Immediately the sergeant charged the rookie, he brought the sword up above his head and swung it straight down. The rookie tried to block the strike with his sword but was easily overpowered. His sword dropped from his grip and he barely dodged the strike. Sarge grinned and swung the blade at him with incredible speed. The rookie ducked and weaved as the sword whistled above him. He lunged forwards, planting both feet into the ground and driving the sword at Sarge. The sergeant cracked his sword down on the rookie’s exposed arms and his sword dropped out of his hands. Now unarmed, the rookie decided to make a last ditch effort. He dove towards Sarge’s legs to try and knock him over, but Sarge saw this immediately and kicked him in the face. The rookie landed with a thump and didn’t get back up.

Around them, the men clapped respectfully. People called out, “not bad kid!” and “better than I expected.” as the Sarge flexed and shouted out taunts.

I walked into the building. I had wanted to train and this was as good an opportunity as any. I tapped one of the men on the shoulder. He looked over at me. I wasn’t wearing my armor so at a glance he had no idea who I was.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“What are the rules to these fights?” I asked him.

The man gave me a huge grin and yelled out, “Looks like we got some fresh meat here.” people around us quieted down and I felt hands start to shove me into the ring.

“What the hell man?” I asked, “I was just asking you a question.”

“And here’s your answer.” he said and roared with laughter. The man in the ring, I noted in passing that he wore Master Sergeant stripes, noticed me and frowned, “I ain’t never seen you around here before.”

“Yeah, well I have only been in the city for about a day, so go figure.” I said with a shrug.

He was about to say something more when behind us someone shouted, “less talking, more fighting!”

“Yeah!” someone else added

“Hurry up and beat the tar out of him.” added another, I turned around to face them. “What the fuck am I supposed to do? What are the rules here?”

“One rule, no Traits.” calls out a voice from the crowd, someone throws a practice sword to me and I catch it. They start to shove me towards the Sarge and I take a few practice swings with the sword. It was about three pounds in weight, far lighter than the one I used, and around three feet long made from steel. The edge was dull so we wouldn't cut each other to ribbons but other than that, it was a very average longsword.

Sarge frowned at me, “you seem a bit young to be a guardsmen.” then shrugged, “ahh well, we can sort this out after you take your lumps.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked and raised my sword. For a moment time stopped and I took a deep breath, then I charged him. My thinking was that if I let him take the initiative then I was going to be fighting on the defensive until my arms gave out. So I decided to charge the 6’5, two hundred something pound, royal guard. For a moment he was caught by surprise as I swung my sword at him, he slapped the blade away with his own and tried to get in close. I backed up and swung low at him, then mid swing I changed directions and caught him in the arm. He grunted in pain and took a few steps back. He looked at his arms as a large welt started to form, “well, looks like you aren't just some random street rat after all.”

He ran at me and took a massive swing at my head, instead of blocking the blade like the rookie had, I ducked under it. Immediately one of his feet came up and caught me in the chest. I sprawled on the floor gasping for breath, above me Sarge was coming in for more. I rolled out of the way in the nick of time as his blade slammed into the ground. Sparks shot up as his blade grinded against the stone floor. He raised it again and I dodged for a second time. I kicked him in the wrist of his sword arm, he gasped in pain. I kip up’d and readied my sword.

We exchanged blows for several more minutes. My hand had gone numb from the impact and I was covered in sweat. The sword wasn’t very heavy but I just wasn’t used to such prolonged bouts. Sarge on the other hand, looked like he wasn’t even sweating.

“I could do this all day bud.”

“Yeah, well this isn’t going to take all day.” I yelled and swung my sword at his head. He blocked the swing easily and I grabbed onto his blade with my left hand. I shoved my right arm up, twisting his blade with the cross guard and yanked down with my left. He yelped in pain and let go of the sword. I grinned and brought my blade down on his head. Except it never got there, he had clasped it in both hands. Then tore it out of my grip. I held the other sword by the blade in my left hand and swung it up at the sword in his hands. Both of them went flying in the air and clattered to the ground several feet away.

Sarge shrugged and started to throw punches. He had the reach advantage and the strength advantage so I tried to get in close. I bobbed under two of his punches and came up to hit him with a right hook. Only to take a fist to the face, as I fell I tried to sweep his legs. His other hand shot out and grabbed me by the leg. I pulled my arms up to cover my head as I landed. Sarge jumped on top of me and immediately pinned me to the ground.

“Gotcha bitch!” he shouted in triumph, I groaned under his weight and wheezed out, “Get the hell off me!”

He stood up and offered me a hand, “That’s got to be some of the best swordplay I have seen in a while. What’s your name young man?”

“Ryze Varus.” I wheezed and took his hand. I stood up and started coughing, around us men cheered, money began to change hands as some stared at me with stunned expressions, some shot me glares and several gave me thumbs up with bags of coins in their hands. It appeared that I had made a select few individuals quite a bit wealthier.

“Varus? Well I’ll be damned, I served under your father for a time.” he said, I frowned at him.

“My father didn’t fight in battles, he directed the field hospitals and treated high borns.”

“What? You got the same black hair and red eyes as Lord Kaedin, hell you’re almost a carbon copy of him.”

“Oh, Lord Kaedin’s my uncle. My father is Arminius.” I said, you know a lot of people in the Capital were saying that I looked like my uncle.

“The mad doc?” Sarge asked in confusion. “I mean the Surgeon” he corrected himself quickly.

“That is correct.”

“Huh, that’s odd, your father has blue eyes.” Sarge shrugged and I walked out of the ring. I watched several more fights, of which, Sarge beat the ever living hell out of each and every one of them. Then I decided that I had fooled around for long enough and went off to one of the sparing machines. By the time I was done with the machine, the sun had started to set and I had missed dinner.

I went up to my room and stowed away my gear, then hit the showers and passed out before my head had even hit the pillow.