“I need to go say goodbye to my sister.” Frey said.

“That’s fine,” Doevm said. “I also need to do some things. We’ll meet up at night at the northern edge of Petal Town, I know what we should do next.” They parted. Doevm went to his room, retrieved only his clothes and the Lava Boar’s horn, then went to The Pit.

The entire place had never looked so dirty. The plain grass had trash from the party strewn all over it. The weight equipment was thrown in a pile and all the tables were flipped over. Doevm waded through the mess to find his leather wrapped presents still untouched. He unwrapped the first and most promising one: the elixir.

Over the two years since he joined the guards, Doevm had changed his life essence to an extremely dark green, but no matter how many missions he did, he never advanced. He shook around the liquid and popped the cap open. As he drank it, he felt his life essence change. He stopped half-way through and put the lid back on. When he brought his life essence out, it wasn’t as thick or dark anymore. It was a thin light red mist, but it felt more powerful than his green by a lot. ‘I’ll need to test my new strength later,’ he thought as he shook the bottle again. ‘I can advance further with this, or I can share it with Frey, who’s also stuck at green.

‘Screw him, drink it.’ A voice called out.

“Who’s there?” Doevm got into a stance, ready to stab anyone with the horn. Upon finding no one, he put the elixir in his pocket. As he tore open the rest of his presents, he glanced around the room. There were only a few more. He got a belt with sheaths for throwing knives, a throwing knife set, fine leather armor, and lastly, a spear. As Doevm unwrapped it, he saw spots of gold and black. The design of a dragon was etched on the golden blade. The pole was black with blue runes. It was heavy, too heavy. He could carry it, but it was too much for him to swing it.

Nonetheless, he was grateful. He couldn’t take any of his guard equipment. With both the armor and the spear, no one would make trouble for him. If he ever had to fight, he would throw the spear away and use his new throwing knives or his fists. ‘Father, how much did you spend on me? How many years did it take to afford all this?’ He thought out loud. Taking one last look at the place he trained for so long, he exited and made his way to the northern edge of Petal Town.

…

“Men!” Reginald yelled. He, Jameson, and Thomas stood atop the second story balcony and looked down at the nearly hundred guards anxiously waiting for an explanation. Frey saw it all as he snuck past the mansion towards the rose fields. “This earthquake is not a natural phenomenon. It is a momentous omen. The hero has been chosen by the goddess as her champion!”

The ignorant guards cheered, thinking it was the end. Jameson stepped forward from behind Reginald, “Quiet!” The cheers died down.

“But this is not a good omen for all.” Reginald continued. “It was so long ago that only your grandparents remember it, but whenever a hero is chosen, there is a year-long war that follows. Our kingdom and the neighboring one fight to control the hero. You will all join this war.” In a simple paragraph, all the cheering turned into stunned silence. The guards shifted back and forth. “You will have but two objectives in this war: To live, and to protect Doevm and Frey. I’m sure you’ve noticed they are absent from your ranks.” He turned to Jameson: “You can take it from here.”

Jameson stepped forward: “I know about the rumors of Doevm. You all think he is my son. You all think he can read. Some of you even think he has magic. I’m here to tell you he is my son, and that he can read. I’ve kept this from all of you in hopes that he would fit in better. I have offered him nothing special. I was even harder on him than every other guard, as I’m sure you’re all aware of. As of today, Doevm was never a guard here. The same goes for Frey. They never existed. You never knew them. This is a gag order. In the war, it is your top priority to protect them, as the lord has plans for those two. In the next week, I’m going to prepare all of you for the…”

Jameson’s voice faded away as Frey made it to his little hut. When he walked inside, Gwen was hiding under her bed. “Come on out,” Frey said. “Nothing’s happening to you.”

“Can’t,” Gwen said. “I need you to pull me out.” She stretched out her dirty hand. Frey pulled her out and sat her on the bed. “Thanks, do you know what that was? I thought the world was going to explode. I was so scared.”

“I’m sure you were.” Frey sat beside her and held her hand. “Listen…” he explained everything to her. The hero, the war, him getting fired, and then how he needed to leave. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” Frey hugged Gwen.

“No you don’t, stay with me. If you go, I’m afraid you won’t come back.” Gwen hugged as tight as she could with her one working arm.

“I thought you didn’t want me doing everything for you. In this year, you can prove you can do everything on your own.” Frey tried to wiggle out, but she held onto his shirt.

“I can do things on my own, but not everything. I don’t want you going out there.”

“It’s fine.” Frey forced out a laugh. “We’re both strong. No one has managed to survive the rose thorns except for you. I’m the strongest guard here. We both inherited strength from our grandfather.”

“But I’ll get lonely.” Gwen wiped her face on Frey’s shirt.

“I convinced the lord to get someone to look after you while I’m away. You’ll be fine. I’ll come back in a year.” Frey gently pushed her away and gathered his things.

“Frey, I don’t want you to abandon me like mom and dad. You can’t do it.” She limped after him.

“I’m sorry.” Frey could barely make out Gwen’s face through his own tears. “Goodbye.” He ran off, not daring to look back. He heard her fall down and get back up.

“Frey! Frey! Wait for me.” She kept limping, her voice getting farther away. Frey kept running.

“I’ll come back for you; I swear.” Frey didn’t have much, just the clothes on his back and a spare in a beaten-up old bag. All his things were the lord’s. He couldn’t take any of it. When he met up with Doevm at the northern edge of Petal Town, he had resolved himself.

“Where are we heading?” Frey asked. “The war doesn’t start for some time, is that right?”

“Correct,” Doevm said. he pulled the Lava Boar’s horn out of his pocket: “Our first stop is a blacksmith.”

Frey’s eyes went wide. “You stole that from a monster. If the lord finds out, he’ll kill you.”

“But he’s not going to find out.” Doevm put it back in his pocket, “Because we don’t work for him anymore. Also, that Lava Boar wasn’t a part of the mission, so it was free game.”

“Not a part of the mission?” Frey scratched his chin. “But that means you took it from the tier one! How did you do it?”

“You’ll notice a lot of things strange about me.” Doevm walked down the path. “I can pull off miracles. Stick with me kid, and you’ll be the second strongest knight alive.”

“Kid? You make it sound like you’re older than me.” Frey laughed. “But alright, you do some amazing things, and seem to know whatever’s coming next. I’ll follow you, but someday I’m going to get you to tell me how you know so much.”

“I just might tell you one day.” Doevm smiled. ‘He kind of reminds me of Arthur.’

Author’s Note: For the next eight or so chapters, (until Monday or Tuesday) my writing style is going to change. This is not because I am running out of time, or I am losing time. While they are private reasons, I can say that it will be back to normal for certain on either Monday or Tuesday. This change in writings style might be for the better or for the worse, but you will notice some minor changes. This change will not happen very often, as I am usually on top of this “issue”. Keep in mind, these are MINOR changes. If it is received negatively, I’ll go change it. If it is received positively, I’ll make it a permanent addition. Changes aren’t always bad, I hope.