Ryan woke to the sound of rain hamring against the window like gunfire.
His head felt heavy, his body protested every movent. Yesterday, after the tavern, they had returned to the arena watching the lees till they stopped in the early evening. Ryan, Eleanor and the brothers had stayed out much longer than they should have, and now they were paying for it. Well not Eleanor, she didn’t have knight training.
"Ryan." Jared’s voice, tired and flat. "Get up."
Ryan groaned and pulled the blanket over his head.
"Co on," Jared added, sounding equally exhausted. "Knight training doesn’t care if you’re tired."
Ryan forced himself upright, blinking against the grey light filtering through the rain-streaked glass. Outside, the world was dark and wet, the sky a uniform sheet of clouds.
Today is going to be miserable.
—————
Body conditioning was brutal.
The rain just wouldn’t stop. If anything, it only got heavier. Ryan ran laps around the training grounds with the others, boots squelching in mud, water streaming down his face.
His muscles burnt.
This session was way worse than the day before.
Each ti Ryan’s foot went into the waves of mud, there was a coinflip chance of leaving his boot in the ground with his next step.
But he kept going.
If he couldn’t make it through an hour of training, how could he call himself a hero? How could he be the one that would shield the human race from it’s near-inevitable destruction.
Combat forms ca next. Inside, at least, but no less demanding. Ryan’s notebook was soaked, he was lucky that the inside pages remained mostly untouched by the rain.
Instructor Cassia seed to be having a bad morning, so this session was no more fun than the last. Though it was, thankfully, quite simple. Cassia went over fighting forms and stances and why/when you should use one over another. One stance was a particular favourite of Cassia’s, aptly nad the ’Long Fang,’ which was when the user held their sword high in a position where they could control the distance between them and their opponent, while also being ready to thrust: the best option of attack versus fellow plate armoured knights.
Mana internalisation followed. Ryan and a hundred others sat cross-legged in the rain-soaked training grounds, eyes closed, trying to draw mana inward and keep it moving before it dispersed or settled.
The mage instructor from yesterday was here, but he had a raincoat on and ditated atop a nice clean chair.
Ryan managed the circulation for longer this ti, only occasionally failing after a few minutes, instead of a few seconds.
He had no idea that being able to do such a thing, on a beginners second lesson, was very impressive.
Then the lesson ended and into the next one they went. Sparring.
Ryan faced Jas again, Jared decided to watch their first spar.
This ti, Ryan didn’t get obliterated imdiately.
He blocked Jas’ first strike. Dodged the second. His counter was clumsy, so Jas blocked it quite easily. Jas grinned and pressed harder. Ryan kept up for nearly thirty seconds before Jas kicked at his legs, and put a blade to his throat.
"Better," Jas said, pulling him up. "Now you fight as well as I did when I was... ten years of age, I’d estimate."
"High praise," Ryan muttered, but he was smiling.
From across the arena, Jeremy appeared, practically bouncing with energy. He grabbed Jared’s arm.
"Jared! Fight ! I’ve improved. I was training for hours last night. Today, I’m going to show you how a true knight fights."
Jared raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
Jeremy’s face was wild and manic with excitent. "Absolutely. Let’s go."
Ryan watched as they squared off. Ryan wasn’t sure whether Jeremy improved as he hadn’t watched their bout yesterday. But even if he had improved, Jared was still in a different league entirely.
The fight lasted longer than Jas’ and Ryan’s. But the outco was never in doubt. Jared seed more interested in showing off his technique and skill than actually winning quickly.
Jeremy swung hard at Jared’s leg. Jared’s blade intercepted the strike smoothly, redirecting the montum with a sharp twist before tapping his sword lightly against Jeremy’s exposed hip.
But Jeremy wouldn’t yield. He pressed forward imdiately, launching a thrust aid at Jared’s chest.
Jared sidestepped casually, letting the blade pass harmlessly by. He then feinted a swing toward Jeremy’s hip—Jeremy’s eyes tracked the movent. He tried to block, but then Jared dropped his sword entirely.
Before Jeremy could react, Jared’s hand snapped forward, grabbing Jeremy’s blade and wrenching it from his grip in one fluid motion.
Jeremy stumbled forward, off-balance.
Jared pushed him lightly, and Jeremy fell to the ground.
Jeremy laughed, breathless.
Jared began juggling Jeremy’s wooden training sword. "You forgot to keep a strong grip of your sword."
"I won’t forget that in the next spar, I promise you that."
Sparring finished soon after Jared and Jeremy’s fight.
The trio of Ryan and the brothers headed off together for an early lunch in the dining hall, a succulent al of juicy grilled at in a creamy sauce. After their al, they went back to their dorm to find Eleanor, who was still sleeping. Thankfully, it didn’t take much for Ryan to wake her. After a few minutes waiting for Eleanor to get ready, they headed off, leaving Jas and Jared as they went to their lesson.
By the ti they reached Malick’s classroom, Ryan was soaked, exhausted and just hoping that the day would end now so he could get changed and rest. He hadn’t even bothered to change into his robes, deciding he didn’t want to get them ruined as well as his training gear.
Malick’s room was warm, at least. Now the rain had reached its peak level of downpour, it drumd against the tall windows. A few students were already seated, talking quietly. Navius sat near the back, arms crossed, expression bored.
Malick stood at the front, arranging notes on his desk. He glanced up as Ryan and Eleanor entered, nodded once, and returned to his work.
They found seats near the window. Ryan loved to zone out looking at the rain.
Malick began the lesson explaining a tricky bit of theory: Runes. How certain symbols can store elental mana when carved and treated correctly, he began to rant about how Rune scribes, a common na for them, were as if not more important than mages fighting personally. Ryan tried to follow along, scribbling notes, but his exhausted brain struggled to keep up. No more late nights when there is knight training in the morning.
Suddenly, the door slamd open.
A boy stumbled in, brown-haired, no older than twenty, his eyes wide and frantic.
"It happened again, teacher!" he shouted. "Last night! The blood moon! One of the strongest ons, it must be the Elves!"
The room went silent.
A blood moon last night... As in an eclipse? It seems to be an eclipse that only he can see... Ryan smiled slyly, recalling the half moon last night.
Malick sighed and then shook his head slowly from side to side. "Marcus... please, you are interrupting."
"You don’t understand!" Marcus stepped forward, hands shaking. "This is the end! We’re all going to die before the year turns! The Gods, on Ceres’ na—"
"Marcus." Malick’s mousey voice turned sharp and serious. "Please go. Now."
Marcus hesitated, looked around at the staring students, then turned and fled.
The door slamd shut behind him.
A couple seconds later, Ryan heard a door fling open in the next room, followed by frantic shouting.
Malick sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Apologies. Marcus... he’s a troubled boy. He sees ’ill ons’ every damned month, and of course, he has to tell every single person he can. Last month it was a flock of thirteen crows. The month before, a strange cloud formation." He returned to the chalk board. "Ignore him. Now, where were we..."
Malick moved on from the interruption swiftly, and delved deeper into ’Rune scribes’. In particular he ntioned how there are fewer proficient rune scribes than there are Kings east of the Rupes mountains.
Toward the end of the lesson, Ryan looked down at his bracelet. From Malick’s description, these bright engravings that pulse with life have to be runic writing... So why do Jas and Jared seem so uninterested in it, why has no one even... ntioned the engravings. Maybe I should ask... No, I don’t want to ask Malick and seem like I’m... similar to Marcus, or even worse, an idiot.
If they are runes though... Malick ntioned that runes can be activated by infusing the correct elental mana... I’ll try my light when I’m alone.
When the lesson finally ended, to Ryan’s joy. The students filed out into the corridor.
Maybe it would be best to go ho, check the bracelet and then rest...
"There you both are!" An obnoxious voice loudly proclaid from down the corridor, alerting many of the other students.
It was Jas and Jared, they were patiently waiting in the corridor for the lesson to conclude. Their hair was covered with rain and their casual clothes, soaked.
"We were worried that we’d rembered the room or floor number wrong." Jas walked up to them. "You’re coming out to the city and festival today, right?"
Ryan sighed. "I’m tired, boss."
"You’re a strong man Ryan, you can make it," Jas said dramatically. "You have to co today. The festivities start at one, but the best part begins at eight in the evening."
Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "What kind of ’festivities’?"
"Ceremonies," Jas said. "The Search for Persephone is my favourite. Won in white robes carrying torches, reenacting Ceres searching for her daughter who was taken by evil incarnate, the death God, Pluto. It’s quite beautiful, actually."
Ryan blinked. I haven’t listened to one thing Jas has said, maybe I should just ignore him and walk back to the dorm.
"Eight PM?" Eleanor said. "Don’t you have training at dawn tomorrow."
Jas grinned. "Do we? Tomorrow’s Saturday. There are no academy lessons on weekends. We can stay out as late as we want."
At least he brings so good news.
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