The last three days were a tedious bore that seemed to drag on slower than a crippled snail. Chris had been dragged around every political gathering and dinner for every person or group of importance that the Mayor and the Provincial Minister sought to carry favour with and he was nothing more than their bargaining chip.

And that was before they started trying to use him as a weapon against each other without any shame or even an attempt to properly hide it.

He would have found this circus to be tolerable if he didn't have to suffer it alone, but Ursa left every morning to run off to the Runith institute and Hamanymu had made a new friend who he spent whole day sparring with in the training rings.

That pit of anger and frustration that had been deepening within him ended yesterday after he returned close to midnight from yet another pointless and maddening state dinner. He had been met by Imparetor Monze at the door to his room and the Imparetor delivered those fateful words that he had eagerly awaited.

"Tomorrow is your first deployment. Get ready."

Chris had barely slept through the night. He could only lay upon his bed, brimming with excitement for what awaited him and finally after Leza knows how long, the young prince drifted off to sleep.

That sleep did not last long however as the garrison's morning alarm came to life and ended his slight dip into the realm of the dreaming.

While any other time the loud bell would have been irritating, Chris leaped off the bed feeling a burst of energy running through his nerves, ignoring the fact that he had no more than three hours of sleep after an exhaustive previous day.

" Get up, get up," he said as he gently pushed Hamanymu and Ursa who both still remained asleep.

The two in contrast still held on tightly to their blankets and as they woke up, their faces contorted into irritated scowls, with eyes that were half open.

"The sun isn't out yet," Hamanymu muttered as he tried to roll over and continue sleeping.

But Chris would not let him. He grabbed a hold of the blanket and he pulled it off his friend. The friend in question looked at him with pure loathing written upon his face and he let fly a few half asleep curses.

Ursa was more difficult to deal with, though she might not have cursed or moaned like Hamanymu, she did make a piece of floor slightly elevate itself and Chris stubbed his toe into it. He bit back a few curses of his own and the temptation to encase her within a block of ice as revenge.

Hamanymu and Ursa were finally forced to awake, even though they looked about as happy about it as a starving man being denied a meal that was right in front of him.

XXXXXX

The Spinxan mess hall was a giant structure that could seat over half of the bases two million military personal. It was held up by great pillars which were thicker than ten men, a wonder of architecture that Chris felt awe of as he beheld it.

The only problem that Chris had with it was just how bad the food was here, even by military standards. It was a total sensory whiplash from eating Anabian food at all those meetings.

Those foods were explosions of hot and sour spice in the mouth, while what he ate now was a stale and forgettable taste of the Spinxan boiled maize, cabbage and fish for lunch as well as supper and of course the boiled millet for breakfast.

Chris's excitement took a bit of a dive as the server dumped the almost paste like substance on his plate. Behind Hamanymu and Ursa didn't look anymore pleased.

"I can't believe that they keep feeding us this bland stuff," Ursa complained as they found a table to sit down on.

"You and me both," Chris concurred after he forced some of it down his throat.

Before Hamanymu could add his own words, a large shadow was cast across Chris and to his surprise, a massive red headed knight sat down right next to him. A disarming smile upon his face and unlike Hamanymu or Ursa, a cheerful disposition, this early in the morning.

"Um.... hello?" Ursa waved at him, like Chris unsure of what to make of this new stranger.

"Greeting's Aris Tudor, Aris Ddraig," he responded in a gleeful tone before he shoved a spoonful of the tasteless Millet into his mouth.

"Guys, this is Thor Hadrada, he is a friend I made in the sparing rings," Hamanymu said.

"Oh, it is a pleasure," Chris extended his hand and to his surprise, Thor responded with a strong and enthusiastic grip.

"Indeed it is, I am looking forward to what today holds for us," Thor declared.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"You have been assigned to the deep desert mission as well?" Chris asked him and Thor nodded.

"I am sure that a lot of us have. Including stupid Troezen over there and his..." Thor paused and swallowed some saliva "...Sister."

Chris followed Thor's line of sight and he saw the fae in question seated amongst some other Knights and Asikari. He did not look as interested in the meal as the rest of them and Theseus had turned his attention to glare at him.

"You'd think that he would have learned after the beating that I gave him," Hamanymu said.

"Just ignore the idiot, he isn't worth the energy" Ursa said. Her attention almost completely sucked into the scarlet Grimoire that she held open.

"Easy for you to say, you spend most of your time at Runith. I have to spend most of my day around him."

" Maybe if you did come to Runith you could learn something useful. Can't be a good Knight if you are utterly one dimensional in the arcane crafts," Ursa said.

"And you can't be a good Knight if you can't actually fight," Hamanymu snapped back " Besides, for as bad and irritating as Theseus is, I don't have the interesting in returning to any school whatsoever."

"No offense but that is a stupid sentiment. And I don't think that Theseus Troezen is as bad as you going on about, you should just not give him the attention that he is desperate for."

" He is that bad. I have to spend time here listening to this jokester insulting Chris and his mother to any person unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity when I am around".

As soon as those words left Hamanymu's mouth, Chris felt a nerve pinched within his mind and the bowl of paste that lay in his hands became a frozen block of ice.

" What the hell did he just say about my mother?" the young prince asked.

Though he might have had the affinity for water and ice based magics, an inferno of anger and hate was lit up deep within him.

"Just..." Hamanymu paused his replay, as if he was thinking about his next words rather carefully "...I mean, just some nonsense about him not thinking that you can fight and that your mother is evil."

Chris almost leaped to his feet with the full intention of charging the fae and using his elbow to cave Theseus's head in. But as he did he was forced to remain in place from strange invisible bindings that held him place.

" Stop," Ursa said with a strained wince.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Just a little gravity bending spell I just learned. Earth magics have their perks," she replied proudly "Now I know that you want to rip his head off and you have every right, but just think about what the Imparetor will do if you did that in full view of the public."

Chris took a few deep threats, his eyes focused directly on Theseus who met him with a glare of his own. Chris sat back down and he felt the chains of gravity that Ursa had bound him with vanish.

"Just ignore him," Chris thought before returning to the millet before him and he winced as he forced the now cold substance down his gallate.

XXXXXX

The mission was not as grand or dangerous as Chris had secretly hoped for. They were basically on a glorified protection or escort mission for a bunch of archeologists.

The archeologists in question were a small crew of about ten. They wore light clothing for the Anabia sun and they carried so much equipment in their hands that some were constantly dropping them in such humorous ways that it almost looked like a highly practiced comedy.

Though his thoughts of the archeologists improved when he was introduced to them and while some excitement was there upon meeting him, it was not the over the top sycophantic behavior of the supposed upper class.

The teams had been gathered outside the aircraft strip and they all had to wait as both the archeologists and their equipment was loaded into a massive Bee aircraft.

The meeting of the teams that they would be going with was far more memorable though. The first ones where Theseus Troezens team which he found out was called team Siege.

The members of the team had politely waved at them. Including Theseus's stepsister Meghanada Troezen, though Theseus himself simply stood away from the rest of them, muttering and grumbling to himself.

The next were a team called team calvary, and being led by a surprisingly familiar face, Munale Livingstone from his first official meeting since he arrived. The fae walked with his smooth confidence before clasping Chris's hand in a strong and firm handshake.

"Munale Livingstone, it is good to see you," Chris said as he shook his hand.

"You remember me?" the Fae asked in surprise.

"I can never forget such a personality like your self," Chris responded with a slight chuckle before speaking.

"Then it is good you see you again Chris."

" What?" He asked in surprise. It was always your majesty or prince Christian from others, never just Chris.

"That is your name isn't it, or do you prefer Christian?"

" No, Chris is fine. It is usually just my friends who call me that."

Munale smiled as he enthusiastically said "Then it is good to be your friend."

" Why don't you get on your knees and kiss his feet already Livingstone," Theseus sneered and Chris instantly felt his temper slowly rise as he turned to face the fae.

"And why don't you mind your own business!" Chris coldly snapped back.

"Oh forgive me, will you have your manservant fight your battles for you again?" Theseus spat as he draw his axe.

"I have had enough of you," Chris drew Lucius-Aurora from it's scabbard.

"Stop this childishness!" A sharp voice cut through the air, grabbing everyone's attention to the Imparetor who came walking forward "Behave yourselves."

And though both young knights sheathed their weapons, their hate still blazed brightly within.

" You are all to be in full discipline when you escort doctor Macaleb to the dig site. No pointless squabbling and should anyone even try to kill the other, i will personally drag you all to the sparring pits and take the opportunity to discipline you all myself, " the Imparetor spoke with a almost dispassionate coldness as he observed them.

"Who shall be leading this expedition sir?" as Theseus asked that question he cast a small side glance at Chris and the Avalonian prince was tempted to to give him an insulting gesture in response.

"Well it is your lucky day Aris Troezen, it won't be Aris Ddraig..." The Imparetor said and small smile grew across the axe wielding Fae's lips ....but it won't be you or Aris Livingstone either. In fact it won't be anyone on your teams."

That smile quickly vanished and was replaced with the same confusion that hang over Chris's head.

" I have chosen a Aris second class, completely suited for the job," Imparetor Monze said.

As if on qui, a large elvish female came into her view. Her skin was a chocolate brown and her hair a vibrant red like all other members of her race. Two black horns protruded from the said hair and her eyes were obsidian orbs with burning embers within.

Her great red and gold armour gleamed under the early morning sun and her great spear glowed at the spear tip as if it had been taken directly from the blacksmiths furnace.

As he took in her face, Christian Ddraig felt his legs loose all strength as a buried away feeling of dread and loathing was reawakened within him after so long.

"This is Pyrrha Ulster, and she shall be your leader."