They follow Gwendolyn on board the airship.

“I’m rather busy right now, so I’ll have Clyde brief you all on the situation,” she tells them promptly disappearing down one of the large airship’s many metallic halls.

“Why don’t you guys follow me?” Clyde suggests. He leads them into a room with a lot of chairs around a table.

“So what’s up Clyde?” Kayde asks in an overly familiar manner.

Clyde seems off-put by this, but continues, “I will get straight to the point. We have learned of a tower in the mountains. It is believed to be the headquarters of the Cult of Chaos. In two days we intend to go in and wipe them all out once and for all”.

“So what do you want from us?” Alcaeus inquires, not particularly interested in this endeavor.

“I don’t know exactly why Miss Gwendolyn brought you all aboard, but if she wishes for you all to be informed of this matter then she intends for you to fight with us,” Clyde reasons. Alcaeus rolls his eyes; he has had his fill of fighting recently.

“Sounds interesting,” Drakthar beams, looking to test himself once again now that he defeated Orrin.

“I’m sure you will all learn more about it later, for now, I will show you to your rooms. Once you are settled in you can visit the cafeteria down a couple of halls for dinner,” Clyde leads them to a set of rooms.

They put their things down in each of their rooms before heading to eat. Jorge walks up to the cooks, “I need some of your hardest stuff”.

“I’m sorry, do you mean alcohol?” One younger-looking chef asks him.

“Of course I do lad,” Jorge doesn’t know why this is a question.

“We don’t have alcohol here, out of policy. I guess the higher-ups keep some for themselves, but you can’t get any here. I can fix you up something to eat,” the cook offers.

“No lad it’s fine, I won’t be needing anything,” Jorge saunters back to his room in defeat.

The other four grab their food and sit down at one of the many tables. It must be around when most people on the airship eat dinner because most of the tables are filled with soldiers.

As they eat they start to notice some of the people looking at them and whispering to each other.

Eventually, they can hear the soldiers who are not whispering as quietly as they think they are, “I heard she is with one of them”.

“Damn, I wish I was that guy,” A different one reacts.

“Which one is it though?” Another asks looking over the four of them.

“It’s not the cyborg, I don’t think she would be into that. And probably not the bearded guy either,” the first one starts to speculate.

“I bet it’s the tough-looking guy with all the scars,” another guesses.

Drakthar ends their debate by looking them dead in the eyes, “it’s him”. He points over at Xander who was just trying to ignore everything going on around him and eat.

One of the gossiping soldiers stands up shocked, “Him? Really? He doesn’t seem that tough at all”.

“I know right? He definitely doesn’t deserve a woman like that,” Alcaeus agrees nonchalantly with the soldier.

This causes a bunch of louder side conversations to break out, discussing Xander and Gwendolyn. Xander who everyone is focusing on, but not looking at, decides to leave the cafeteria and continue eating in his room so he doesn’t have to hear it all.

“You know, you probably shouldn’t have said anything back there,” Kayde takes a bite of a piece of chicken that he probably should have cut up a little more.

“If I did nothing they would have thought that I was the one with her. I can’t let people think the mighty Drakthar Borro’vaga would be distracted by some woman,” Drakthar explains himself like it was evident.

“Yeah, I guess I could see that,” Kayde gives kind of a side nod in agreement.

Xander hears a knock at his door right when he puts a fork full of rice into his mouth. He opens the door and sees a middle-aged man with a stern face looking back at him.

“Can I help you?” He asks, his mouth still partially full. The man grabs Xander by the collar and yanks him out of the room.

As Xander is getting dragged down the halls of the airship he asks, “so what is going on here?” The man remains silent until they enter a room; the floor is padded for some reason, it seems out of place with the bronze-colored walls.

“My name is Grayson, I am here to test you,” the man introduces himself.

“Test me how?” Xander asks, still disoriented about what is going on as well as a little pissed off he didn’t get to finish his dinner.

Grayson goes into a closet along the right wall of the room. He tosses Xander a wooden sword and gets one for himself.

“I’m going to test your combat ability,” he doesn’t give Xander a moment to question him. Grayson rushes at Xander intending to knock him off his feet.

Xander dodges it and creates some room between the two.

“Hold on, can’t we just talk about this? I have no clue what is even going on here?” He tries to get an explanation.

Grayson ignores Xander’s questions and continues to attack him. He doesn’t land a hit on Xander, who has solid technique due to his time training in the military of the Sacrosanct Empire.

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“It would seem you are adept with a blade, but you are not assertive enough to go on the attack,” Grayson starts to evaluate him while they fight.

Xander responds while blocking another hit, “I don’t have a reason to attack, I don’t even know who you are”.

“If you wish to know then land a single hit on me,” Grayson ups the stakes in order to get Xander to fight back.

Upon hearing this Xander backs up. Grayson is puzzled as he watches the young man pull something out of his pocket. His confusion grows, as he no longer feels his sword in his hand, but a bell instead. Xander has his sword and uses it to hit him.

“Okay so who are you?” Xander asks having landed the hit he needed on Grayson.

“No, it is not that easy. You can’t take shortcuts and expect results,” Grayson rips his sword out of Xander’s hand.

“What the hell does that mean?” Xander exclaims not sure why it didn’t count.

“If you continue to take shortcuts then you will never know,” Grayson raises his sword again.

“Let’s start over. Try and hit me with your prowess with a blade alone,” Grayson clarifies so Xander doesn’t try something like that twice. Xander attempts to hit him with everything he has. They fight for two hours, but Xander is never able to land a single hit on Grayson.

Grayson sees that Xander is getting exhausted; the young man is standing there with sweat dripping off him, but with determination still in his eyes. He isn’t going to give in anytime soon.

“Let’s stop. You are not going to land a hit on me today,” Grayson decides it is over.

“No, I can keep going,” Xander insists, desperate to prove himself.

“I know, but you shouldn’t push yourself further,” Grayson puts the swords back in the closet and pulls out a small table. He exits the room and comes back seconds later with a teapot and two cups.

“Sit down son do you want some tea?” Grayson offers, taking a seat himself. Xander sits down hesitantly off-put by what is going on.

“So what is this sensei-student sort of thing you are trying to start here?”

“It’s funny she described you as a shy quiet boy, but all you have done since I met you is complain and ask questions,” Grayson sips his tea.

Xander who was feeling exhausted is shocked back into the moment, “Wait Gwendolyn talked to you about me?”

“I don’t think it is odd for a daughter to talk to her father about the boy she has her eye on,” Grayson drops a bomb on him.

Everything that has happened since Xander met Grayson replays in his mind.

He realizes how disrespectful he has been and bows his head and apologizes, “I am so sorry sir. It is an honor to meet you”.

Grayson grins seeing the young man across from him start to sweat both literally and figuratively, “it may seem obvious to you now, but I was trying to test if you were good enough for my daughter”.

Xander lowers his head, even more, assuming he has failed miserably.

“Chin up son, you reacted how anyone would given the situation I put you in, not to mention you are much better with a sword than I thought you would be,” Grayson tries to encourage him.

“I hope to live up to your expectations sir,” Xander tries to start over with him.

Grayson laughs at how rigid Xander got after he learned Grayson was Gwendolyn’s father. Grayson doesn’t want that so he pulls out some whiskey and two glasses.

“Have a drink son, tell me more about yourself, what do you have going on?” he orders Xander as he pours him a drink.

Xander picks up the glass and takes a small sip of whiskey.

“I guess right now I’m just wandering around. I stayed in Melusarej for the last six months before it fell. I met the guys I am traveling with there. Before that I was training for three years in the mountains before I was kicked out of the Sacrosanct,” Xander starts to explain his past.

“You are from the Sacrosanct?” Grayson seems surprised.

“Yes, but I do not agree with their views,” Xander tries to make sure he doesn’t think the worst of him.

“And you were kicked out?” Grayson wants him to explain.

“Yes, well not exactly kicked out as much as I left to avoid assassination,” Xander clarifies.

“The Sacrosanct Empire wanted to assassinate you?” Grayson gets more enthralled by Xander’s story.

“I know this seems weird, but I was a priest. I was trying to dismantle them from the inside, but that is a long story,” Xander starts to explain.

“So they found out and tried to kill you?” Grayson interjects, assuming that is why they wanted him dead.

“No, I was hunted because the Scientist that is working with the Cult of Chaos framed me. He was working for the Sacrosanct at the time and he claimed I stole technology from him. Turns out that was just a distraction so that he could escape the Empire,” Xander elucidates.

“You are getting more and more interesting. Seems like you have gone through a lot for being so young,” Grayson observes, impressed with Xander.

“It is funny I have not told Gwendolyn this much about myself yet,” Xander points out, finding it odd her father knows more about him than she does.

Grayson’s face turns serious, “well she knows now”.

Xander’s eyes follow Grayson’s finger as he points up into the corner of the room. A camera is looking down at them. Xander is taken off guard; cameras were highly advanced only the Sacrosanct Empire’s military had started to use them to his knowledge. He didn’t expect to see one in the desert at all.

“Why don’t you go talk to her? She is watching in the room two doors down from us on the right,” Grayson urges. Xander doesn’t have to hear it twice; he gets up and heads out of the room to the right. He takes a deep gulp before opening the door.

Meanwhile, the others finish eating and head back to their rooms.

Kayde knocks on Xander’s door, “yo you okay in there?” He doesn’t hear a reply, probably because Xander isn’t inside. He opens the unlocked door and finds only a half-eaten plate of food.

“I guess the kid has more spine than I thought,” Alcaeus comments as he notices Xander is not in his room. He starts to head down a random hall.

“Where are you going?” Kayde finds it odd Alcaeus would just walk off in a foreign environment.

Alcaeus turns around to reply, “to pick up some chicks”.

“You know they call it a Brotherhood right?” Kayde quips insinuating he isn’t going to find a girl to sleep with here. Alcaeus ignores Kayde’s joke and continues on his horny quest.

Alcaeus finds a common room where soldiers can sit around and relax. He looks around and sees one female among them. He does not find her all too attractive, but he isn’t feeling picky.

He straightens his shirt a little and approaches, “I guess they have beauties even on a military ship”.

The woman looks up at the scruffy-looking man coming onto her evaluating how she wants to respond to this, “Yeah, I’m not interested in you. Why don’t you go away?”

Just as the girl lets Alcaeus down not so softly, a very sober Jorge stumbles into the room.

“Does anyone have any alcohol in here? I am desperate I can give you whatever you want for it,” Jorge begs everyone. They all look at him, but no one responds. They don’t have any alcohol to give him anyway.

Jorge spots Alcaeus, “ah lad, what are ya doing here?”

“I was talking to this fine woman right here, but she doesn’t seem interested in talking to me Jorge,” Alcaeus explains, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.

“Wait really? Does she not know?” Jorge acts surprised.

The female soldier is curious about what Jorge might mean, “What don’t I know?” Jorge leans over and whispers something into her ear.

“Really?” She gets wide-eyed. Jorge nods.

“Actually why don’t you follow me back to my room?” She changes her mind about Alcaeus. He gets up and follows her, winking at Jorge on his way out.