Oak was walking through Sidus.

She hadn't come the day before, and she imagined the rebels would try to contact her at some point. However, she didn't have a clue as to how they would contact her, so she was simply wandering, hoping they would find her. They seemed to have eyes everywhere, after all.

As she was walking, she encountered someone, and her eyes widened.

It was the mayor, looking frantic, his hair looking as if he had been pulling out chunks of it, and his eyes red as if he had been crying.

"OAK!" he screamed, dashing towards her, and she flinched.

"Good evening, mayor," she said, trying her best to be composed, seeing as he wasn't.

"Why... why... did you say that?!" he cried, coming closer, grabbing her cloak.

She winced; she knew that he wasn't a violent person, and she could defend herself, but she still didn't like the situation she was in. He was far too close!

"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific. What did I say exactly?"

"You know what you said!" He released her, grabbing his hair.

She sighed. "If you're talking about the rebels... well, I only said the truth."

"You've ruined everything! Everyone was confused as to whether you really meant it at first, but slowly they decided that they'd follow whatever you said!"

She stared at him for a second. She wasn't sure what the citizens of Sidus would say towards her support of the rebels, but they'd support them if she did? Did they trust her that much?

"Well, I'm sorry to say this, dear mayor, but I don't see what the problem is. I'm sure now that the rebels won't hurt anyone, and if everyone decides to support them then we can only go along with their decision."

In his current condition, it didn't seem as if he would be able to govern Sidus anyway...

He gripped his hair even harder, blood staining his hands.

"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" he yelled, and Oak couldn't hide her discomfort. "The... citizens, they want the rebels to rule this village now... which means I won't be mayor anymore." He broke down crying, and Oak stared down at him as she thought.

It wouldn't be so bad for the rebels to rule Sidus, as long as they don't turn tyrannous. Polemus is far away, so the royal family most likely won't notice if they're careful.

"Don't worry. I'll manage to work something out for you," she told him, beginning to walk away.

He could serve as a puppet ruler, while the rebels rule Sidus behind the scenes...

She nodded to herself. Yes, that could work.

Now she needed to tell the rebels about this plan, if she could find them.

As if on cue, Rhea and Ronan jumped at her from behind a wall, blindfolding her and carrying her away, perfectly in sync, as if it was rehearsed.

Oak sighed to herself; these people quite clearly had no manners. They didn't even say anything to her before beginning to haul her away.

As she was carried through who knows where, she wondered what would be waiting for her when she got to the rebel base.

✦✦✦

It was warm in the base, the candles were dimly lit, and it felt comfortable, almost as if it was a trap to take people off their guard.

"Good afternoon, Oak." Colton smiled slyly at her from across the desk, his chin rested on his hands, Rhea and Ronan by his sides.

"Good afternoon to you, Colton."

"You have good manners, Oak. Where do you get them from?" he asked, his smile turning into more of a smirk.

She knew that this was quite obviously a trick to learn more about her, so she decided to be vague.

"I'm not sure; I just simply try my best to be polite."

Colton leaned back into the chair, and Oak was slightly relieved. She was sure that he understood now that he wouldn't be able to find out more about her from questions like that.

"Well, Oak, there's something I'd like for you to do."

She raised an eyebrow. A task? But, to be completely honest, she had been expecting it. It was an easy way to show the rebels that they would be able to trust her.

"What's the task?" she asked, and Colton handed her a piece of paper.

"I need you to go find this boy, talk to him, and convince him to join us."

She looked more closely at the paper. At the top, there was a name.

"Lennox Eliades..." she read, looking back up at Colton.

"Why him specifically?"

"Keep reading."

She did as she was told.

"Lennox Eliades, age seventeen, the oldest son of the Eliades, adopted as a baby, and..."

Her eyes widened.

"A magic-user... water type."

"Now you understand. Magic-users that aren't nobles are rare. If he joins us, he could be a great asset."

He was right; magic-users who were commoners were rare. He had most likely sent her to convince him since she also had magic—a smart plan.

"Okay, I'll go convince him." She stood up, and Rhea and Ronan approached her.

"Thanks a ton."

✦✦✦

Oak knocked on the door of a cottage. It was small, even for a home in Sidus. The roof seemed as if it might fall off, and its one window was cracked.

Strangely, she was glad that Lennox lived in such a poor house; it would be easier to persuade him with money or a nicer place to stay. Though she wasn't sure if the rebels could afford that, she was sure they had something to offer.

Eventually, a small girl with wild light blue hair came to the door, looking up in wonder, but then abruptly scowling.

"Hello, do you know someone named Lennox?" she asked, her tone soft.

Her eyes darted around for a minute frantically, but she eventually responded, "No, I don't."

Oak frowned; she was quite obviously lying. How would she make her tell her where Lennox was?

However, a voice came from inside the cottage.

"Gia, who's that?" A boy with fluffy blond hair came to the door, his face dirty as if he had been digging.

"Are you Lennox?" Oak asked straight away, not wasting any time.

Instead of answering her question, though, the boy's eyes widened.

"The helper lady..."

She immediately assumed that he was a fan of hers and smiled at the thought of how easy it would be to convince him.

If only she knew that this would be the start of one of her many troubles.

✦✦✦

Rayne was stood in line with all the other contestants in front of a grass wall. He assumed there were about a third of the original number of participants.

How many would be left by the end of the day?

It was the final exam, and to Rayne, the most important. This exam would decide if he would be a guard or not. If he would fail his mother, or not.

He felt like bending over and vomiting, but his stoic demeanour had never broken before in this exam, and it would not break now.

"Good morning, contestants," a voice called, walking in front of them. However, it was not the commander, but rather a young man.

He seemed a few years older than Rayne and looked similar to the commander, so it was most likely his son. It made sense that the commander's son would lead, as Rayne imagined that the commander would be attending the ball.

The ball... he hoped that Lux would pay attention. He trusted her, but... it was hard for her to stay in one place.

"As you may have already guessed, the commander shall not lead the final exam today. He has entrusted it to me, his eldest son, Kael Raptis." He put a hand on his heart.

"However, I hope you will still give me the same amount of effort that you have given my father."

Suddenly Lady Naya and her family walked behind Kael, all looking as tired as they had throughout the exam.

"Now, for the final exam, you'll be in teams of three."

A guard walked up to Kael, handing him a scroll.

"I'll read out the teams, and you can come together as soon as I have said your name. The guards will help you find your teammates if necessary."

Rayne wondered what they were doing for them to need to be in groups of three, and wondered even more who he would be with. Depending on who his partners were, they could potentially cause him to fail. He prayed that his partners would be competent.

Kael read out names, and people began to form their teams.

"Lelouch Lamperouge, Shax Lied, and Trish Una. Now, for the twenty-third team, Darrion..."

He stepped out of line, waiting for the next names to be called.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Thea Lasko, and Cedar... Chloros. Heh."

Rayne's eyes widened. If anything, those were the last people he wanted to be with, but as they got closer to him, he slowly started to see reason.

Cedar had magic, and Thea was a good fighter; ultimately, they would be good partners.

"Hey, Darrion!" Thea waved, approaching him quickly.

"Hm, it's you," Cedar remarked, also approaching him.

Kael quickly finished reading names and turned his attention back to the groups that had formed.

"Now, for your final exam, you'll be defending a fortress. Dummies will attack your fortress, controlled by Lady Naya and her family. Inside your fortresses are rods; if your rod is captured or destroyed, your whole team is eliminated. You are not allowed to touch your own rod, or your whole team is eliminated."

This could be an easy task if the other two cooperated; if not, he would be left to defend alone, and he wasn't sure that he'd be able to.

Kael continued, his face serious. "The grass wall behind me is a circle, and inside it are two more circles. There are forty-four fortresses, with twenty-four on the outer circle, fifteen on the middle circle, and five on the inner circle. You'll be able to choose which fortress you'll be defending. However, if someone has gotten to the fortress before you, you are not allowed to take it from them, so it is first come, first served. You'll have fifteen minutes to find a fortress and prepare, and you'll have to defend your fortress for an hour and a half."

He put his hand in the air, staring down all the contestants.

His arm came down, cutting the air.

"Go!"

Rayne, Cedar, and Thea all rushed towards the circle, along with all the other participants.

"So, which circle should we take?" Thea asked, her braids fluttering behind her.

Cedar smirked. "Isn't it obvious? We should aim for the inner circle."

Rayne objected. "I don't think we should. It would be best to go for the outer circle; the inner circle will be the smallest, which will mean less room to fight, and the dummies will be divided against more people in the biggest area. The dummies could also close in on the smaller circles from the bigger ones."

Cedar stared at him for a minute, and Rayne thought he was going to argue with him, but surprisingly, he nodded.

"Sure, good idea."

They entered the circle, and while everyone was dashing to the middle, they made their way to the first fortress they saw.

It was made of logs, with a simple cube structure, and in the middle was a grey rod.

Thea pulled out her sword, sitting down and taking a rag out of her pocket to clean it while she smiled.

Cedar wrinkled his nose. "This looks poor."

Thea looked up for a second. "Probably because it's only for practice."

"This is Chaconas. I expected more."

"It's still just for practice." She continued to smile.

"This is still poor."

"It's for practice."

As Thea and Cedar continued to argue, Rayne scouted their surroundings.

People were beginning to return to the outer circle now, so he assumed that the middle and inner circles' fortresses were taken.

He went back to their fortress, where Thea and Cedar were still arguing.

Hopefully, this wouldn't be too hard.

✦✦✦

Eventually, Thea and Cedar had calmed down, and they had come up with a basic plan. Thea and Rayne were to attack, while Cedar would defend the rod. It was simple, but they didn't need a complicated plan.

Suddenly, a voice rang through the air.

"Ten!"

A countdown. It was time.

"Nine! Eight!"

Rayne inhaled and gripped his sword, readying himself.

"Seven! Six! Five!"

This was the last test. He had to push through.

"Four! Three!"

For his mother, Lux, and the rest of his siblings.

"Two! One!"

He would pass this exam.

"Go!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake slightly, and dummies made out of earth came hurling towards them.

Thea and Rayne began to attack. The dummies didn't have advanced moves, so it was easy to cut them down. However, their strength lay in their numbers. They didn't stop coming, continuously launching attacks, not giving either of them the chance to breathe.

For a split second, Rayne turned his attention back to Cedar, who was watching the area dutifully from the top of the fortress. He seemed to be doing his job.

The dummies kept coming, but Thea and Rayne easily cut them down, and as soon as Rayne thought that it was beginning to become easy, he saw something in the mass of dummies that shocked him.

A person.

The dummies didn't attack him, as their aim was the fortresses, and the man managed to move through, slipping past Rayne and Thea, who were both dealing with the dummies.

"CEDAR!" Rayne screamed, and Cedar jumped down, blocking the attacker with his sword, stepping forward and slashing his arm.

The man fell backwards but managed to stay on his feet. "Damn you! You stupid Chloros! Both you and the Callis rubbish deserve to burn in hell!"

Suddenly, the grass walls shifted, closing in on the man.

"What did you say... about the Callis?" Cedar seethed, and the man visibly seemed as if he regretted his decision to attack him.

"Cedar! Let him go! Focus on defending!"

Cedar scowled and for a moment, did nothing, but eventually, he released his hold on the walls, as they reverted to their original position.

The man began to scuttle away, but a plan formed in Rayne's head.

"Thea, can you manage without me here?" he asked.

Thea continued to slash the dummies but managed to look at him. "Sure. But only for a while."

"Okay. I'll be back," he told her, making his way through the dummies, trailing the man who had intruded on their fortress.

It hadn't occurred to him that they could attack other teams, and now he was even more thankful for their decision to stay in the outer circle. In the inner circle, it would definitely be easier for people to close in on them and steal others' rods.

However, he wondered if it was actually worth it to follow this man to take his rod. Taking his rod would put his team out of the game, but how did it benefit them?

Rayne shook his head.

He knew there was no benefit.

He was just angry that this man always insulted his family.

Eventually, the man made his way to the fortress, and Rayne found that he was right: it was considerably more congested than their circle. The other two people in the team were injured and were barely holding off the dummies.

Rayne realised that they all were people who had been talking about Cedar and his family, and he came to the conclusion that they knew they weren't going to be able to protect their rod, so they had decided to take Cedar down with them.

Their plan was going to fail.

Rayne managed to make his way through the dummies, dashing towards the fortress and grabbing their rod.

The man guarding it didn't notice until it was too late, and his eyes widened. He tried to hit Rayne, but he was too fast.

As he dashed back through the dummies, a voice rang through the air.

"DAMN YOU!"

✦✦✦

After that, the rest of the exam was relatively easy, with the only obstacle being fatigue. Despite that, Thea and Rayne never stopped, continuing until a bell rang throughout the circle, and the dummies returned to earth.

"Well done to all of you! Please exit the circle now."

"Woah! That was tiring!" Thea exclaimed, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"No it wasn't. You're just weak," Cedar remarked, walking past them and to the area where everyone was gathering.

"You could stand to be a little nicer," she complained, a smile still on her face.

They all made their way to their original lines, where Kael stood in front of them.

"Congratulations to all of you! Everyone who did not pass has been escorted off the premises, so it's only our newest recruits here."

He took a slight moment to process what Kael has just said.

Newest recruits... He... had passed?

"We'll give you all the details tomorrow, after the ceremony; it will only be a small one, seeing as the castle will be exhausted from the ball today... So for now, return to your barracks," Kael said, beginning to walk off as Lady Naya and her family followed him.

Suddenly Thea approached him, her hands thrown up in the air.

"Darrion! We did it!" She smiled, and surprisingly, he did too, though only slightly.

"I did it..."

✦✦✦

Rayne was stood in a strange fancy room in a uniform.

It had coloured stained-glass windows and was made of marble. Banners were hung all over the room, adorning an insignia. Finally, at the front were big steps leading to a platform.

For the ceremony, he was required to stand next to Thea and Cedar, who were arguing about something on their way in. Thankfully, they were quiet now.

Suddenly, bells sounded, and the ceremony began.

At some point in the evening, guards had visited the barracks and told them what they were supposed to do in the ceremony.

They'd be called up in their groups for the final exam, and they'd raise their right hands to take the pledge of allegiance. After that, they'd receive a badge, and finally, they'd stand back in line.

Rayne decided that it would be easy enough. Nothing would be able to go wrong, right?

The commander walked down the aisles, in between the lines of new recruits, his many badges jingling. Others followed him in similar attire, just with not as many badges. The only one Rayne recognised other than the commander was Kael. He deduced that they were other important ranks in the guard, such as the vice-commander.

When they all had lined up in front of them, the commander stepped forward, beginning to speak.

"Congratulations to all of you. Out of around four hundred contestants, only a hundred of you have passed the exam. We celebrate your achievements, so today let us reward you. When your group is called, please come up to take the pledge of allegiance, and receive your badges."

The commander began to call names, and the groups came forward, taking the pledge and receiving their badges.

Eventually, they were called.

"The last team today, Darrion, Thea Lasko, and Cedar Chloros."

They climbed the stairs, standing in front of the commander, raising their right hands.

They all began to speak in perfect unison, like true soldiers.

"I pledge to serve my country, both with my body and spirit. I will protect the innocent, honour our lands, and obey The Athas."

Out of the corner of his eye, Rayne caught Cedar mouthing silently, "and Callis."

The commander attached badges to all of their uniforms, and just when they were about to return to their lines, the commander spoke again.

"These three recruits have shown exceptional talent during the exam, and were the best out of anyone. For this, I bestow upon them the honour of Arche. I declare these three our Arche recruits!" he declared, staring all three of them down.

Before Rayne could comprehend what was happening, another badge was being pinned to his uniform. It had the shape of a star, with a sword in the middle.

He started to panic internally. What was Arche? He didn't remember studying it, and now he was an Arche recruit?

After being given the strange badge, they descended down the stairs again, and conversations broke out. Even the high-ranking guards were talking.

Rayne winced internally. This wasn't good. He wanted to pass, yes, but to learn what was trapping his family in the palace he needed to be not noticed.

The commander stood at the top of the stairs, his arms behind his back, his expression stern.

"Now that you are all official recruits, you will go under training. I trust that you will put your all into it, as you have for the exam. And not only for your training, but for the rest of your time as a guard, I hope you will remember the challenges you have overcome, and find the strength to fight each and every day."

He looked around before continuing.

"Now, each new team of recruits will be introduced to their mentor, who will oversee their training."

Guards approached the groups, and Rayne's eyes widened when he saw who their mentor was.

Kael stood in front of them, a big smile on his face.

"Hello, new recruits, I hope we'll be able to get along." He stuck out his hand, but only Thea shook it.

During the whole exam, Rayne had completely forgotten to not stand out, and now he was paying the price for it.

"Now that you've all been acquainted, it is time for the first salute," the commander stated, and they all turned to the front, raising their hands to their heads. As their arms collectively lowered, Rayne made a silent promise to himself.

He would attract no more attention.

✦✦✦

After the main part of the ceremony, it had turned into more of a social event, with people chatting amongst themselves and being introduced to the high-ranking guards. Rayne deduced that it must have been lunch by now, so it was time for him to go meet Lux.

He managed to slip out of the room easily, but he was unfamiliar with the area he was in, and he ended up wandering until he came to a garden.

"Where am I now?" he mumbled to himself, making his way to a door that he saw in the distance.

However, just as he arrived at the door, he heard a voice behind him.

"It's you... YOU BRAT!" Before Rayne could react, a man lunged at him with a sword.

And went right through his chest.

Sharp pain spread through his body, and he staggered, swinging a punch at his attacker, who he realised was the man he had chased from the final exam.

However, he managed to get away, and Rayne fell to the floor, clutching his chest frantically as he coughed up blood.

He wheezed, staring up at the top of the door.

Am I... going to die?

✦✦✦

Lux hummed a tune and made her way to the garden entrance. Yesterday, when she had returned from the plant room, the ball was already over. She had panicked at first, but calmed herself down by telling herself that she'd have more opportunities. Rayne would undoubtedly be mad, but she would survive.

She was meeting with Bark now, so she'd have to miss lunch, but she trusted that he had taken care of that.

As she happily strolled down the corridor, she remembered that now was the time that she was meant to meet with Rayne. However, she was in a good mood, so she told herself that she'd just apologise tomorrow. It was her first break day as well.

When she turned the corner, however, she saw something that shattered her good mood and left it in pieces on the floor.

Her older brother, on the ground, clutching his bloody chest.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, as if the world was ending, and dashed towards her brother, immediately resting his head on her lap.

She looked closely at his chest, her eyes welling up. It looked like a... stab wound. She watched him and panicked as his face became paler and paler.

He can't die... he can't die...

Suddenly, she realised that there was only one thing she could do.

However, her mother's voice rang through her head.

"Lux, unless it is absolutely necessary, under no circumstances must you use your magic."

She shook her head. Surely now was a time when it was absolutely necessary. Her mother wouldn't want her son to die, and she couldn't expect Lux to stand by and do nothing.

She held her hand above his chest, summoning water to heal his wounds.

For a moment, she doubted herself. What if it doesn't work...?

Tears began to fall down her face, but a miracle happened.

The wound slowly began to close.

However, there was another problem.

The wound fully closed, and relieved, she held her brother tighter, but she noticed something.

Or someone.

Bark was standing there, staring at her.

Her eyes widened, and she began to shake visibly.

"B-b..."

He had seen her. He knew she had magic.

They stared at each other for what felt like forever, neither of them moving, as if time had come to a halt.

"Don't worry, Kira. I'll fix this," he said, glancing at her for a second before dashing off.

She didn't know what he meant, but he knew she had magic, so it couldn't be anything that was good.

Not being able to cope with all that was happening, she began to bawl, tears racing down her face as she screamed, holding her unconscious brother tightly in her arms.

Had she ruined it all?