The darkness was all he saw. He was floating in the shadows, as though at sea without water. He felt something rush past him, shaking the shadows and staggering his balance. He felt it sweep past again, this time from the side, and he felt a sharp pain in his arm. The entity passed by again and again, ramming him harder with each pass. It struck him dead center in the chest and he flew back in the darkness, his body etched in pain. He looked up and saw the giant bloody maw of the hammerhead shark hovering over him, its massive body threatening to drop down and crush him. The shark’s mouth opened and closed, chewing on something that crunched and spewed blood with each bite. He saw a hand fall out of the mouth and drop down past him. He looked down to see where it went and saw that his arms were no longer on his body; two bloody stumps now remained. He screamed, yet no sound came out. He looked back up at the shark, frozen in terror, sweat running down his body. The shark did not look at him, just continued to hover over him as it chewed his arms. Then from above the shark the darkness opened its eyes to stare down at him. Two massive, burning red eyes that dwarfed the shark floating above him. The darkness opened its flaming mouth, and at last the scream escaped him.
Athurious – no, Draco awoke in a cold sweat, his heart pounding as he stared up at the ceiling. He was home, in his bed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to think back. He remembered the forest. His Spirit. His disowning of his name. That knight… His eyes snapped back open and he sat up, immediately regretting doing so as his body screamed in pain. Looking down, he saw his chest and stomach were covered in bandages, and both of his arms were set in casts. He couldn’t see his lower body through the blanket, but it felt like his right leg was also set.
“Looks like someone’s finally awake.”
Draco looked to the side of his room to see William sitting beside the window, an open book in hand and a gentle smile on his face. He closed the book and stood up, walked over to the bed and placed a hand on Draco’s forehead.
“Well, the fever has broken.” He said, removing his hand and reaching into the pouch on his belt. Draco opened his mouth to speak and choked; his mouth and throat were bone dry. William noticed and reached for the pitcher of water on the side table, quickly pouring a glass for his brother. “Drink, here,” he said, holding the glass up for him. The younger boy downed the water and exhaled hard; having drunk the entire glass in one go. He then looked up at his elder brother.
“What happened?” He asked, his face etched with panic. “Where’s Kled? Where’s Willow? What happened to Willow?”
William held up a hand, silencing his brother.
“Everything is alright,” he said, “Kled has been taken care of. And as for the girl-“
William fell silent as footsteps thundered in the hallway outside the bedroom. The bedroom door smashed open and Willow flew through the air, fly tackling Draco in his bed.
“Athury! You alive!” She wailed, tears flowing down her cheeks as she pressed her face into his chest; her arms wrapped around him, crushing his arms into his sides. Draco’s mouth hung open, silently screaming as his body was ravaged by a new wave of agony. William chuckled and patted Willow on the head, getting the girl to look tearfully up at him.
“I told you he would wake up,” he said, “but you’re going to reinjure him if you keep squeezing him like that.”
Willow blinked at him for a minute as her brain processed his words before looking back at Draco and realizing what she had done.
“Athy! I’m sorry!” She screamed, hugging him tightly once again as Draco howled in agony, his vocal chords working once again. William reached out and grabbed Willow by the back of her dress, pulling her away from his brother and setting her at the edge of his bed.
“Willow!” Draco said in shock. “What are you doing here? Why are you-“ He stopped as he looked at her face, eyes wide with joy, cheeks stained with tears, her hair done up in pigtails and wearing a black and white maid dress. He felt himself blush as Maria walked in with an air of triumph.
“She is living, working and studying here, Athurious,” she said proudly as she walked up behind Willow and gave her head a rub. Willow smiled as her hair was tousled. “She will be staying with us as our live-in maid while she attends the Royal Knight Academy with you. And we will all be assisting her in proper speech, etiquette, and manners.”
“She has been like the little sister Maria never had,” William whispered to Draco as the two watched the pair. Maria was positively beaming as she continued to rub Willow’s head, who appeared to have entered a state of euphoria, mouth hanging open and making a sound that could only be called a human version of purring. “You were out for three days,” William continued, “and that girl never left your side for the entire first one. And every morning we would find her curled up beside you. She was truly worried about you.”
Draco looked at Willow with a blank stare as this information was processed through his mind. She had been that worried about him? Him? The man who had abandoned her to a fate worse than death? Sure, he had come back, but even then he hadn’t done anything. He just got trounced. He felt tears of shame well behind his eyes and looked away. He couldn’t bear the guilt right now. William seemed to take notice and looked to the two girls.
“Would you give us some time alone?” He asked, and the two looked at him with confusion. “I need to discuss some things with Athurious.”
The two girls looked to one another for a moment and silently left the room, closing the door behind them.
“Thank you,” Draco said as a tear slid down his cheek.
William sat down beside his brother. He reached back into his pouch and pulled out a vial with a dark gray liquid inside of it.
“Drink this,” he said, pulling the cork off of it and reaching it towards his brother’s mouth. “It will help your bones mend faster.”
Draco took it with his teeth and upended its contents into his mouth. He quickly regretted this as the liquid tasted of something rancid and bitter. He choked on it as he swallowed, spitting the glass vial out onto his bed as he coughed and gagged. William chuckled as he retrieved the vial and put it back in his pouch.
“From what the young lady has told me, you fought well to try and protect her,” William said, looking to his brother, who looked away from him.
“I didn’t,” he replied bitterly, avoiding his brother’s eye, “I ran away. Like a coward.”
“But you went back.”
“But I still ran!” Draco looked up at his brother, his face wracked with guilt. “I ran away to save myself. I left her! I… I am not worthy of being a Knight.”
“Athurious,” William sighed, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder, “you are still young. You have never faced danger like that in your life. No one would blame you for running away. The fact that you were able to turn around and go back is more than any other in your position would have done.”
“Jethro wouldn’t have run,” Draco said bitterly, glaring at his sheets. “You wouldn’t have. Dad wouldn't have.” He looked to the door, listening to Willow chatting down in the kitchen. “She didn’t.”
William sighed and got off of the bed, reaching his hand out for his cane, which dropped to the floor from the wall and slithered across the floor, rising up into its Master’s hand.
“You and I were raised very differently, Athurious,” he said, walking over to the dresser, “I was raised by our father, and he expected me to follow in his footsteps. You were spared that with his passing, and your sister and I pampered you rather than prepare you for this life. Maria, bless her heart, prayed that your Spirit would not take you into the life of a Knight. But here you are. You will become a Knight. Your first battle may not have been the glorious victory that everyone dreams of, but for you it was a grand first step towards becoming not only a Knight, but becoming a man of House Pendra. I know this may not mean much coming from me, but I am so proud of you, Athurious.”
“William… stop calling me that.” Draco said, still not looking at his older brother. William paused and looked at his younger brother, confused.
“Calling you what?”
“I… cast off my name.” He said, keeping his gaze down. “I have relinquished the name Athurious Pendra and sworn on the name of my Spirit to never go by that name again until my Spirit decides that I am worthy.”
“You…” William said, suddenly uneasy on his feet. “You did WHAT?!?!”
Draco flinched under the force of his brother’s voice, which seemed to wake the little lizard from its rest; Draco hearing it yawn above his head on the bed’s headboard.
“Do you understand what this means? You could be banished from the city!” William said frantically, grabbing onto the dresser for support.
“I am aware.” Draco said as the lizard crawled onto his head from the headboard.
“Who all knows? Who all heard you?” William asked as he stumbled back to the bed.
“Willow… and Kled…. And him.” Draco finished, pointing up at the lizard, who pooted out its tongue at William. The elder Pendra sighed and staggered back to the chair by the window, collapsing into it, pressing his thumb and index fingers against his eyelids.
“Okay… Well, Kled is dead, and the Willow girl seems to not understand our customs, so it shouldn’t be too tough to have her keep quiet. But, Athurious-”
“Draco.” He cut off his brother, locking eyes with him at long last. “Please, call me Draco.”
“Draco…” William echoed, looking from his brother to the lizard and back again. “Okay, if that’s the case, we can explain it easily. Just… a nickname. Something quick and easy to say among your fellow Knights. Less formal.” His expression hardened. “We will not be able to sell this to our sister though, so you will have to tough it out with her calling you Athurious. Is that acceptable to you both?”
Draco nodded slowly, his brain processing his brother’s plan. The lizard blinked slowly, one eye at a time, its tongue still hanging out of its mouth.
“Alright then,” William said, sighing heavily. “Let’s go downstairs and get you some food.”
Walking felt strange for Draco, with his arms unable to provide balance and his right knee unable to bend, he comedically stumbled his way out of his room, across the upper hall and down the stairs into the kitchen; assisted by William the whole way. As he took a seat at the table, Maria pulled her chair next to his and helped him with his food, feeding him spoonfuls of porridge and eggs along with bites of toast and bacon.
William sat across the table from them, next to Willow, who watched Draco being fed with wide eyed wonder. As William went to eat his own porridge, Willow gave his arm a tug and popped her mouth open. William chuckled and put his spoon into her open mouth, giving the girl a sparkling smile as she accepted the food.
Draco ate slowly, the food feeling like rocks as it hit his stomach. He thought back to how he had been treating his older siblings the past few years; looking down on Maria for failing to Awaken, scorning William for stepping down from the Order of the Cross. Yet no matter how badly he had treated them, they never stopped loving him. Never stopped being here for him.
His jaw ached as he chewed a bite of toast, his eyes burning once again. When had he become like this? What had made him think that he was better than everyone else? He struggled to swallow the bite and choked, his left knee banging into the underside of the table as he did. Maria quickly offered him a drink of water. He drank, his throat burning as the bread and water rushed down to his stomach.
Across the table, William had taken notice of his brother’s expression.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about, brother.” He said as Willow leaned over and put her mouth around the piece of bacon that was on his fork. “Everyone gets lost on their walk of life. And not all find their way back on to their path. You were lost, but you are now finding your way back.”
Draco looked up to his brother, seeing him smiling at him; so calm, so earnest. So proud. He felt the tears slide down his cheeks, felt his sister lean over and embrace him, tears in her own eyes.
“We love you, Athurious,” she said, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “Nothing will ever change that.”
~
The day passed by without event. Maria had helped Draco eat all of his meals, and William aided him in some rehabilitation exercises. It was now evening, with the sun slowly setting, and so the brothers walked around their property, Draco walking a bit better as he had adjusted to the brace. Maria and Willow were inside cleaning up after supper – well, from what Draco had seen, it was more Maria struggling to get Willow to actually clean the dishes rather than play with the soapy water. William chuckled again as the sound of Maria’s shrill scream carried out into the night air. Draco could not remember the last time he had heard his brother laugh so much. He couldn’t help but smile himself.
“You seem quite happy today William.” He said, limping alongside his older brother.
“Sorry, I just can’t remember the last time the house was filled with so much life.” William replied, his steady triplet walking pace setting a unique rhythm to his steps. “Willow is quite the girl, and bringing her in is the least we can do after all she has done for you.”
Draco stopped walking, staring down at the ground as his mind flashed back to Willow in the woods. How she had selflessly told him to run. How she had stood her ground, ready to fight without any hesitation. It seemed almost like the airheaded, goofy girl currently putting soap suds on her chin like a beard was a completely different person from the warrior princess that had stood between him and Kled that day.
“She is truly incredible…” he said. William stopped and turned to him, sighing a little as he saw the look on his brother’s face.
“Tell me, Athu… Draco. Do you remember who founded our House?”
Draco looked up, his eyes slowly closing and opening as his brain processed the question.
“Uh. yeah… Atrius Pendra. The first man to be Awakened by the Ancient Druids, and the first man to achieve the Fifth Spirit Rank, making him known as the Dragon Knight.”
“Correct.” William said, looking out at the setting sun. “But what can you tell me about our ancestor from before he arrived on this continent? Before he was Awoken?”
Draco stood there, thinking. Nothing. Nothing came to mind at all about Atrius from before he was Awoken. William smiled at him.
“Exactly. It is said that back before Atrius set sail to come here to form the country of Drakara, he was a malicious lord of his territory. A self-righteous bastard who was feared and loathed by all around him. It was only after he arrived here and suddenly found that his wealth and status meant nothing that he turned his life around. That is why when he settled, he set our family’s property away from the Goldstone District. Why our land is not extravagant and expansive. He gave us only what we need, because he had come from everything and learned that having everything leaves you with nothing.”
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Draco stood, listening, in shock. He had never heard of this. The great Atrius Pendra, an unloved bastard? That had never been in any of his classes or history books. Nothing bad had ever been said about the Dragon Knight, the founder of House Pendra. He looked up to his brother.
“Why are you telling me this?” He asked.
“To show you that your story has not been completed. It is only beginning.” He said with a gentle smile. “It is not too late to become the man you wish to be.”
Draco let the words of his brother sink in. He felt an elation, as though a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He had thought himself so far gone down the path of arrogance that there was no hope of him ever coming back. Yet now he felt a warmth inside as he was able to once again picture himself as a true knight of Drakara.
“Thank you William.” He said, and his brother walked up to him and embraced him. “I promise I will do everything I can to become a better man.”
“I know you will.” William replied, patting his brother’s back. “And your sister and I are here to help you whenever you need.”
The embrace ended and the two continued their walk around the house.
“So, where exactly has Willow been sleeping?” Draco asked.
“Our sister set her up in the empty space on the third floor. We haven’t gotten her a bed yet, but she seems quite happy just sleeping on a pile of blankets and pillows.”
“She is a strange one.” Draco said, smiling. As they approached the next corner of the house, Draco could hear someone singing. The words were unfamiliar to him, yet the melody was beautiful. The two rounded the corner and Draco was met with a sight that would be forever etched into his mind.
Willow was in the fruit garden, between several of their apple trees, the sun setting directly behind her. Her arms were up above her head, her ring blade twirling around her waist, her eyes closed, and she was singing as she danced, her silhouette like that of a goddess against the sun's golden light. Her movements were slow and graceful, her arms weaving back and forth above her head as her hips swayed, keeping the ring rotating, climbing up and down her torso as she elegantly danced, the unfamiliar song hauntingly beautiful to Draco’s ears.
“Madarthe pari, madarthe pari, pari papati dhara.
Madarthe pari, madarthe pari, pari papati dhara.
Astrana svaka satiputa viyaccara.
Astrana svaka satiputa viyaccara.
Madarthe pari, madarthe pari, pari papati dhara.
Madarthe pari, madarthe pari, pari papati dhara.”
She continued, the words slightly changing as she went on, but the dance never stopped. Draco felt a tear slide from his eye as he was overcome by emotion at the sight before him.
“It’s… beautiful,” he said, lost for words. William smiled, looking from his brother to Willow.
“It’s the Ancient Language; the words of those who were here before our ancestors arrived and formed the three countries of this land,” he explained. “From what I have been able to translate, the song talks of a solitary journey around the world, flying, swimming, running. Forever circling the world. It is quite a beautiful song.”
“It’s so sad,” Draco replied, drawing a surprised look from William. “To travel around the world alone. I can’t think of a fate more terrifying than being alone all that time.”
William’s eyebrows popped up in surprise at his brother’s words.
“I had never thought of it like that,” he said, turning his eyes back to Willow as she danced, noticing the solemn smile on her face. “You may be right.” He muttered to himself as the two continued to watch, the setting sun drawing the curtains on the young girl’s performance.
~
Thirteen days and dozens of bone potions later, Draco was outside with his brother, wooden sword in hand and countless bruises all over his body. He was panting heavily as he held the training weapon, pointing it at his brother. William stood across from him, sword in one hand, leaning on his cane with the other, looking amused, not a drop of sweat to be seen. Draco charged, sword raised over his head. William stepped to the side and swept his feet out from under him, sending Draco face first into the dirt. Up on the stone wall of the property, Willow sat with Terra and Draco’s lizard, watching. Draco got back to his feet slowly, panting as sweat dripped off his brow.
“Your footwork is terrible!” William said. “Don’t just run in like a maniac! Approach with caution. Watch your opponent’s movements. Use the skills you learned as a child.”
“As a child?” Draco repeated, raising the sword again. It felt so foreign to him. How long had it been since he had actually trained? Four, maybe five years? And now he couldn’t even stand his ground against his brother going easy on him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, thinking back to when he had first started training. He had been five. He had started his rivalry with Jethro on the first day of training. He was praised constantly for being a natural with the sword. Hollow words to him now that he hadn’t followed up on the promise he’d shown.
He widened his stance, turned his body side-face, and brought the sword up in both hands, horizontally pointing towards William. He exhaled slowly, opening his eyes, focused on his brother. He rushed forward, sword now held behind him at a slight downward angle, body bent forward slightly. He kept his eyes on William, watching him closely as the distance between them closed. William swung the sword in his right hand; an upward diagonal strike. Draco put his left foot forward at an angle and turned, bending his knees as the strike went over his head. He came around, taking a lunging step forward with his right foot and swinging his sword at his brother’s side. William’s sword swung around and intercepted Draco’s with a loud clack of wood on wood.
Draco froze. He had done it! He had dodged and forced his brother to block! Now he…. now…. what did he do now?
William rotated his wrist and brought both swords up and around, putting Draco’s point down on the ground. William placed his foot on the blade and brought his own sword up in another upward diagonal strike, catching Draco across the face. The younger brother went down, both hands on his fresh injury.
“That was much better!” William said, smiling proudly. “But you can’t stop just because you were blocked. Think ahead. Plan for what you will do should you be blocked. Will you step back? Press forward? Go to grapple? Kick? Parry? Never stop thinking. Until swordplay is a second nature to you, you must never stop thinking about your next move in combat!”
Up on the wall, Willow nodded in agreement, feet against the wall, elbows on her knees, chin on her hands.
“Got it…” Draco said as he slowly got back to his feet, gingerly touching the spot where his brother had struck him.
“Can you continue?” William asked, lowering his sword.
“Yes!” Draco shouted in reply as he retrieved his sword and took his stance once more. “Please train me like you would train any other Knight!”
William’s lips parted into a sadistic smile.
“Oh? You wish to go through my training regimen?” He asked, a foreboding aura radiating from his body.
On the wall, Willow felt a chill run up her spine and she flipped backwards over the wall, peeking over the top as both Spirits also hid from sight.
Draco gulped in horror, but he knew that he could not back down. The Royal Knight entrance ceremony was coming up in just over a month, and he needed to get better as quickly as possible.
He nodded, and William’s smile widened.
“Very well, my dear brother. I shall see to it that your training is nothing short of a personal hell! And you will thank me for it every step of the way! Am I understood?”
“... Yes…?” Draco knew he had made a huge error.
~
The following forty days were pure hell as William subjected Draco to the Devil’s personal boot camp. Up every morning before dawn. Fifteen-kilometer run. 150 sit-ups, push ups and squat thrusts before breakfast. After that, a thirty-minute stationary squat, followed by a thirty-minute plank. After a fifteen-minute break, 250 overhead swings with a weighted training sword. Then sword training until lunch. After lunch was a second fifteen-kilometre run, then an hour of grappling training against Willow, who had turned out to be a master of grappling and submissions. After that was back to the weighted sword, going through attack and defence patterns until sundown, which meant supper, bath, and bed. After a week of training Draco had his sister cut his lavish locks down to a military crew cut. Two weeks in, his old flabby body was gone, slowly being replaced by a more trim, muscular physique. By the end of it all, he almost looked like a new man. Broad shoulders, toned body, and a strong square jaw. His hair had grown back a little bit as well.
On the morning of the 41st day of training, Draco returned from his run to find William waiting for him in the yard, an old leather-bound book in his hands.
“Athu… Draco,” his brother called, still adjusting to the new name. “Take a rest. I have something to discuss with you.”
Draco stopped and leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees as he panted for breath, sweat dripping from his brow. Behind him, Willow jogged past him, having completed the same run without breaking a sweat.
“What is it?” Draco asked as he walked over to his brother, his breath still coming in heavy.
“I believe that I may have found the answer as to what exactly your Spirit is,” William said with a grin, opening the book to a page marked by a thin strip of leather. He handed the book to Draco, who took it and looked at the page bearing an illustration of a large lizard with flames rising from the skin around its upper back and along the length of its tail.
“A Salamander?” Draco asked in bewilderment, looking up from the book to his brother. “As in the mythical fire lizards?”
“Precisely.” William said, taking the book back from his brother and looking at the pages himself. “It would certainly explain why you are able to use an Element despite only being a Rank One, as well as being able to withstand a technique from a Rank Three Knight.”
“I see…” Draco said, looking over to Willow as she sat at the foot of the apple tree by the stone wall, munching on one of the ripe red fruits while the two Spirits rested in the shade beside her. “So that would make it a Mythic Spirit?”
“If I am correct, then yes.” William said, drawing a smile from his little brother. “Though, speaking of, have you started working on any Arts?”
“Arts?” Draco echoed, confused. WIlliam shook his head.
“Special attacks. You don’t just magically wake up and know how to do an attack like Kled’s water shark. You have to learn it yourself. More accurately, you have to create it.”
“I have to what now?” Draco asked, perplexed. “How am I supposed to create a technique?”
“Well, start with your Element.” William suggested with a coy smile. “ What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of fire?”
“Dragons.” Draco replied immediately. William chuckled.
“Because of the stories Maria read to you when you were younger?” He asked, and Draco nodded slowly, slightly embarrassed by his answer. “All right, then. What do you think of when you picture a dragon?”
Draco closed his eyes and thought.
“Powerful claws… steel-like scales… breathe fire… able to fly…”
“Okay, then,” Willam stopped him, “start with those points. Picture how you would use those things as if they were a part of you and your flames. That is the first step.”
“It’s that easy?” Draco asked excitedly.
“Oh, gods, no. That is just the beginning. After that you need to go from thought to physical motion. Both muscle and elemental control. And a lot of trial and error.”
Draco looked back to his Spirit, now rolling on its back playfully as Willow lightly scratched its belly.
“Okay,” he said, a small smile on his face. “I think I have an idea for one.”
~
The final four days of training were no easier than the first 41, made all the more difficult as Draco spent any free time he had to start working on his first Art, with little success. Just because he knew how to picture himself doing the move did not mean that his body was ready to handle the burst of power that his Element granted him. But that was not the coach of his thoughts this morning. It was the end of his training and the first day of the new term at the Royal Knights’ Academy, and so he stood in his room, putting on the Academy’s uniform, staring at his reflection with an extreme sense of pride.
“Much better,” he said as he buttoned up the black dress shirt. “Now I truly am the best looking bachelor in the Kingdom.”
On his dresser, the lizard groaned and rolled its eyes.
“Oh, come on!” Draco said as he put his tie around his neck. “I look like a carved marble statue now! Who could say no to this body?”
The lizard poked its tongue out.
“Don’t go getting a big head again, Draco,” William said from the doorway, causing his brother to turn and face him. “You made it through the training, sure, but you are still about five years behind everyone else in terms of experience. Most of them never stopped training, and you shouldn’t stop here either. Remember; this is your new beginning. Don’t go messing it up again.”
“I know, I know,” Draco sighed as he tied his tie. “I just can’t believe how much better I look now. I mean, I can’t believe that I used to think I looked good!”
William sighed, shaking his head. “Yes yes, you have the look of a Knight now. But don’t go getting ahead of yourself. Looking the part is not even a requirement. You need to act the part.”
“I got it!” Draco said, exasperated, and William hung his head in defeat.
“Very well, then,” he said, turning to leave. “Let me know when you get smacked back down to the realm of us mortals again.”
Draco rolled his eyes at his brother’s words. He wasn’t acting up again. He knew that he had a ways to go. He was just admiring his progress. What was wrong with that? He finished with his tie, pulled his pants up, also black, and buckled the white leather belt around his waist. He then grabbed the black, white, and gold blazer and, grabbing the lizard and setting it on his head, walked out the door. He put the blazer on as he bounded down the stairs, feeling the lizard bounce with each step. He sat at the table and piled eggs, bacon, and toast onto a plate as Maria sat across from him, staring at him with a smug look on her face.
“What’re you grinning about?” Draco asked as William walked by behind their sister, sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Oh, nothing,” she replied in a sing-song voice, looking away from him as she took a bit of bacon and ate it. Draco shrugged and dug into his breakfast. After a few minutes he heard WIllow coming down the stairs and turned to look, his mouth falling open with a piece of bacon hanging out of it.
Willow bounced down the stairs in the girls’ uniform, identical to the boys’ in colour, but with a black skirt coming halfway down to her knees and knee-high black socks. WIllow hopped the last three steps, the air catching her skirt and pulling it up as she went down, revealing a pair of black leather shorts under the skirt. Even so, Draco felt his cheeks turn red as Willow landed and skipped over to him.
“Good morning, Draco,” she said, her grammar having vastly improved over the past two months. She noticed the bacon hanging from his mouth and, with a cat-like grin, snatched it out and gobbled it down as she skipped past him to her seat.
Draco came back to his senses and turned back to the table, embarrassed, as Maria smiled at him with a mocking grin.
“So, you are both ready for today?” William asked from a chair across the room, coffee in one hand and a book in the other, “You will have a proof of admittance first, basically showing that your Spirit is a weapon, and then a skill test. I’m not sure what they will do this year. It used to be one-on-one duels, but things may have changed since I left.”
Willow did not seem to hear as she gobbled her breakfast, a few bits of scrambled egg on her cheeks as she took a moment to chew before swallowing. Draco suddenly felt his appetite leave him. The skill test. He had forgotten about it. What would he do if he failed? Would they kick him out? Would he be exiled from the Capital? The Kingdom?
William seemed to notice and spoke up.
“The skill test is to separate the new students into squads. The squad leaders are all Rank Three Knights who have been appointed by the Headmaster, who will choose their squad members based on skill, power, chemistry, and a little personal preference. There is no ‘failing’ the test.”
Draco took a deep breath and relaxed a bit, feeling able to at least finish his toast.
“Though who knows?” William continued with a grin. “You could be the first to fail so spectacularly that no one wants you on their squad and they expel you.”
Draco choked on his toast as Maria rounded on their brother, screaming at him as he laughed, spilling some of his coffee in his fits of hysteria.
~
Draco and Willow walked up the road leading to the Goldbrick District, passing through the gateway and working their way up to the castle grounds, the Royal Highlands. As they made their way through the District, both noticed several others coming heading up the road with them, a fair few of them noticeably older than them.
“Are they all our… academy… buddies?” Willow asked, Terra draped around her shoulders, as she worked her brain for the proper words that Maria had taught her.
“Kind of,” Draco replied. “Some of them will be in the same year as us, but most of them are in the years ahead of us. That’s why we have the Crests on our shirts,” he explained, pointing to the gold embroidered crest over his heart. “The single line, like ours, means First-Years. Two lines that make a ‘V’ mean Second Years, and three lines means a Third-Year.”
“Oooooooooooooh.” Willow said, nodding her head. “So anyone who Awakened can go to the Academy?”
“Only those whose Spirits have a ‘combat type’ of form, such as a weapon or armour,” Draco explained, “though even if someone does have such a Spirit, it doesn’t mean they have to join. If they’re scared or weak, they won’t join the Academy. Though it's only rich nobles who do that. Commoners will always jump at the chance to get a better life for themselves and their families.”
Willow nodded in understanding, grunting with each nod. They made their way through the Goldbrick District and up to the gates of the Royal Highlands, where several guards were on duty, each one with a Spirit nearby. Students slowly made their way through the gate as they gathered and formed a single-file line to pass through the single-entry doorway on the right-hand side of the gate, as the main gate remained shut for most of the time.
Draco let Willow go ahead of him in the line, explaining to her to just walk through the single door after the person in front of her did. Willow approached the gate and leaned back, gazing up at the height of the gate in awe as she had at the Church. She stopped walking right before the gateway and Draco sighed, head in hand, before putting his hands on her shoulders and gently pushing her through.
The side gate led through the wall of the gate itself, so for about 25 feet they walked in semi-darkness, relying on the wall torches for light as they made their way to the literal light at the end of the tunnel. Stepping through to the other side, Willow let out a sound of mixed awe and excitement as the two now stood on the Royal Highlands. Off in the distance stood the castle, the largest structure in Drakara. And off to their right stood the Royal Knights’ Academy, an old yet beautiful building that had once been the army barracks, but over the years had had dozens of additions added to it, including a couple of towers and ramparts for training against invaders. Willow hopped up and down, squee-ing in glee as Draco smiled, staring at the Academy like it was openly challenging him.
“Alright little guy,” he said, reaching up and giving the lizard a couple taps on the head, “it is time to fulfill our destiny!”