Shortly later, they left the church. As they walked off, Jennifer said “I have a feeling this isn’t the last you’ll be hearing about what just happened, Akai. Not with the commotion the priests were making.”

  “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to it either.” Akai admitted. Kidd slapped his back and said “If you’re gonna do something like that at least take pride in it.” with a dejected voice.

  “Contrary to what you might think, Kidd, I don’t like being the center of attention for everyone.”

  “If you say so” Kidd countered.

  Eventually, about an hour of navigating the city streets later, they made it to the head office of the city guard. Just outside the 2nd set of walls in the city, cordoning off the truly wealthy from the rest of the city. It wasn’t exactly subtle that the office was here and not somewhere closer to the poorer areas. The guards needed to respond faster to issues when it was the rich and powerful asking for help.

  The four walked inside and saw a dark haired man with an impressive mustache sitting at a desk, wearing the surcoat the guards wore but no actual armor. Quill in hand as he was writing things down. He put it down and looked up when he saw the four of them enter the office.

  “G’day, what can I do for you?” He asked in a fairly thick accent. None of them knew where it was from, but it did sound quite eloquent.

  “I was wondering..” Lacy spoke up before having to steel her emotions a bit.

  “I am needing information on what happened to the residents of a specific house that burned down a few years ago.”

  The guard clerk’s eyes widened a bit before grabbing a new sheet of parchment and beginning to write on it. He asked “Any specifics you can give?” and Lacy nodded.

  “It burned down about 6 years ago, should have been a couple with two kids. A boy and a girl.”

  Lacy then began to list off the street name and district the house was in. After saying that, a glint of recognition sparked in the guards eyes.

  “May I ask who is asking, and why?” He said looking up from taking notes.

  “My name is Lacy..” She hesitated for a bit, visibly nervous to give more than her first name. Before Jennifer could step in and try and help, Lacy added.

  “Lacy Lachute.”

  The guard’s eyes stared at her as he thoroughly examined her, eyes lingering on the brandages she still refused to go out without wearing, visible under the cuff of her sleeves. And the burn scar on her face.

  “I remember what happened there.” The guard said as he began to stand up. Lacy took a small step back, very worried what he was going to do. Akai saw Lacy’s nervousness and was confused why she was reacting this way.

  “Don’t share that name with anyone else, Lacy. You know the reputation it holds. You’re lucky I’m not half as superstitious as my boss is.”

  Hearing him give advice, Lacy’s shoulders did relax a little.

  “I will need to write up a report about you being safe. There’s still an open case for what happened to you.”

  “I understand.” She said, relaxed shoulders now slumping a little as she was not looking forward to doing it.

  “Now, about your family.” The guard said, turning to look to double check no one was listening to them in the office. “Lets take a private room so no one could eavesdrop.. You three can stay here, I promise nothing bad will happen.”

  Jennifer looked a bit worried and took a seat, Akai and Kidd joining them in one of the few chairs meant for people waiting. Just as they sat down, a larger man stepped in from the back and saw the desk empty. He grunted in irritation “where in the hells did Vick run off to now?”

  Thankfully unaware about what had just transpired.

  “He and my..” Akai said, thinking about the white lie they told the guard at the city gate for a moment. “My big sister went to a private room to talk about something.”

  “Bah” The heavy man scoffed and sat down. He pulled out a local news pamphlet and leaned back in his chair to read it. “If you lot don’t need further help, keep it down would ya.” he said rather rudely.

  In the back room, the guard, Vick or Victor, took a seat and gestured to a chair for Lacy to sit. She did so and grabbed onto her dress in nervousness.

  “About your family, I need to tell you their current location is unknown. What happened 6 years ago was tragic..”

  Lacy listened intently as he said. “Your father, still bitter about what your grandfather had done that left your family in bad standing, came to us with reports about you running away.”

  Lacy gritted her teeth a little and shook her head. She said “I did not run away.. He sold me off because I was sick and weak and couldn’t help work to support us.”

  Vick’s look darkened at the news and nodded. “He came with those reports, but soon became even worse after you left.. When we weren’t hearing about yelling coming from that house, we were hearing about him causing problems at the pubs. Then even getting into trouble with one of the local illegal potion gangs. One evening, we had a letter delivered to us from him. Spewing nonsense like ‘I know I’m not wanted in this city’ and a threat that he was going to set fire to the district so ‘nobody would deal with him or his ungrateful family again’

  Before Lacy’s face could form more of a frown, the guard lifted his hands and said “We brought in an awakened with fire affinity as soon as we could, and the fire never spread. We spent days combing the ashes and I can guarantee you no one in your family was in that fire. A witness even said they saw them leaving with packed bags just before the fire started.”

  Lacy had a few tears forming in her eyes and dozens of wild emotions were raging within her. She was relieved that they were or should be still alive, but outraged at what her father had become and then done.. She didn’t care about her parents anymore for selling her off, but she just wanted to know if her older siblings were okay.

  “Thank you.” She quietly muttered.

  Before Lacy moved to get up, the guard Vick asked “Now, if you don’t mind, please share your story of what happened to you over these past years.”

  “Oh, well..” Lacy hesitated before she started to re-tell an abridged version of her story.

  “It was 8 years ago I was sold to someone because my parents couldn’t afford to care for me. I was a sickly kid and couldn’t work to help support us.. There, I was kept around for a few months before a bandit leader named Kell took me. I, definitely don’t want to talk about that time..” She said, shuddering.

  “But it was around 3 and a half years ago I was taken in by a family. Where they helped me for two years before Kell found me again, raiding the village.”

  The guard asked “We know about kell and his band, we haven’t heard any reports about them for a while.”

  Lacy nodded and looked at the door. “That boy with the white hair out there, he and his father were coming back from hunting when Kell was rounding up me, his mother, and a few friends of their family. Setting the village on fire.. Kell was going to kill his mother, the woman standing out there. But Akai had awakened with a powerful blessing at that moment.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “He’s a blessed awakened?” Guard Vick asked. Lacy nodded and said “Both of those kids are, but Akai was the first.” She said, then recounting how Akai had dealt with Kell. Answering questions that Guard Vick had before he could ask them.

  “Well then.. How old are they now? They don’t look 14 yet.”

  “They’re only 11 right now.” Lacy admitted. She sighed and asked “Is there anything else you need me to tell you?” as she looked down.

  “No, that covers about everything we need.” The guard said, organizing his notes before slowly standing up. He opened the door and said “If we hear anything about your family, I will make sure to send word to Rowan Village.”

  “Thank you.” She said, getting out of her chair and heading out. Meeting back up with the rest of their little group. Looking out of the window, the sun was starting to set and said “I’m ready to head back to the inn, now.”

  Together, Lacy and the rest left and walked through the city as foot traffic was steadily dying down. They made it back to the inn they stayed at before nightfall. The owner’s daughter reading out loud from a children’s book as her father guided her. He looked up and acknowledged them but didn’t interrupt his little girl’s reading.

  The four of them went upstairs and decided to call it a night.

  Akai would have a mundane dream this night, instead it was Kidd who was having an unusual time.

  Kidd found himself on the ground coughing, weighed down with heavier armor than would be practical on the battlefield. Sword under his hand and a shield strapped to his arm. He was coughing as sweat rolled down his brow, reeling in pain from a hit. He slowly managed to recover and look up. He was somewhere indoors as he could see by the pillars of black marble around him. The ground beneath him was made of tiles of its counterpart, white marble with black streaks through it.

  “What the hell? Where am I?” He wondered aloud. He could not see the ceiling or further than a hundred yards due to an odd mist or fog. Before his thoughts could wander further, he heard a stern shout from a voice that shook him to his core. “On your feet!”

  Kidd raised to his feet with only moderate difficulty from the bulky armor. It was dull steel plates but more than twice as thick as any battle ready armor. He turned to see the voice and froze. In front of him in lustrous blackened metal trimmed with pure gold, decorated with silver wire inlay, and radiating a light pale blue aura stood a knight also wielding the same style of sword and shield. The only difference between them was this knight was more than two full heads taller than Kidd and a crimson cloak draped behind him. The sword Kidd held was the exact same one he almost touched at the shrine to Ankhou.

  Before Kidd was going to speak up, the knight said. “You are correct in your assumption of who I am. I have been instructed to train you properly, so I will. Now defend yourself.” in an intimidatingly authoritative voice. Kidd could barely react in time before he saw this knight moving in with incredible and deceptive speed. Kidd barely raised his shield in time to defend and sparks flew as metal on metal made contact. Kidd focused to try and grasp his power before he suddenly found himself doubled over on his hands and knees again, coughing and close to throwing up from the pain.

  “The power you wield belongs to me, I will not let you lean on it as a crutch to avoid properly developing yourself!” Ankhou shouted. “Every time you try, I will strike you just the same. Be thankful you are dreaming and not suffering any real injury.”

  “D-dreaming?” Kidd asked, looking up and realizing the last thing he did remember was falling asleep. His eyes widened as he began to rise to his feet.

  “Defend” he said and moved in. Kidd focused but did his best to refrain from touching the power of his blessing. He managed to block two attacks before electricity crackled around his feet. Kidd needed space but just as he began exerting the electricity through himself to kick away, he saw it. Ankhou stepped in with inhuman levels of precision, not a single ounce of energy wasted as he moved in and drove the pommel of his sword in Kidd’s stomach again. It wasn’t just speed that made the attack unavoidable, Kidd on an instinctual level knew there was no movement he could take that wouldn’t be immediately countered. His body froze, accepting it would be the least painful move to make.

  Kidd was doubled over on the ground again, contents of his dream self’s stomach emptying onto the floor.. Kidd watched as it vanished barely a second later. No doubt left that this really was just a dream.

  “Your elemental magic only exists because of my blessing. You will not depend on power that is not truly yours. On your feet.”

  This continued through the night, it was awful at first. But before Kidd would wake up, he had improved some with defense. This apparition of Ankhou continued assaulting Kidd fiercely with sword strikes, and Kidd was able to parry or block for a good 10 seconds before being hit in the stomach again.

  “Rest, you will wake in a few minutes.” Ankhou said, returning his own sword to a scabbard on his hip. “I can not do this every night, but I will train you.”

  Kidd panted and instead of getting back on his feet, sat down on the floor with a loud clanking of his heavy training armor.. Kidd asked “Why.. Heavy armor.. If it’s not for my body?” Kidd asked.

  Ankhou crossed his arms and stared, his helmet’s visor blocking any features of his face except for deep violet eyes staring into him. The gaze felt like it went deeper than mere looking, like Kidd’s whole soul was laid bare for Ankhou to inspect.

  “Your Will.” He said. “You have three things you must train to properly inherit my skill in battle. Your body, which will come in due time. Your mind, which will be our next lesson. And your Will. If you are lacking in one, you are no different than a grand castle built on top of a dune of loose sand. You will crumble and fall with the slightest shift.”

  For the next few minutes, Kidd sat on the floor and rested. Catching his breath, he had more questions. Before Kidd could speak, though, he felt his consciousness being dragged away from this room. The misty fog enclosed on him and he couldn’t see anything. Until he found himself laying in bed, opening his eyes to the wooden ceiling above him.

  Kidd sat up and rubbed his eyes. His body wasn’t hurting, he felt rested and rejuvenated, but at the same time his mind felt tired like he hasn’t slept at all.

  “That was actually kinda fun..” He silently admitted to himself, smiling with a toothy smile at the thought of sparring with a literal god in his dreams.

  After everyone else woke up, Kidd decided to keep what he dreamt to himself. He felt like he finally had something over Akai but quietly worried Akai had something more than him in this field too. So he resolved himself to accept that not knowing for sure was better than feeling staged up by his friend again.

  The group of them was scheduled to leave back to Rowan village today but they didn’t need to leave right away. After getting dressed and ready, Jennifer rounded them all up and began leading everyone to the shopping district. Giving Akai and Kidd a silver coin each to walk around and buy something they wanted.

  Jennifer proceeded to lead Lacy around and said “No point in coming here without buying something for ourselves. I’ll get you something.” and proceeded to refuse to let Lacy turn down the offer for a gift.

  Lacy eventually decided to buy a nice but cheap necklace. It was made of brass and cheap because while it had a slot for a stone in it, there was currently no stone. Jennifer and Lacy enjoyed some street food as they walked, small pieces of fire roasted meat and thinly sliced vegetables on skewers. They were looking for Kidd and Akai, unfortunately, it wasn’t difficult to find them after a few minutes.

  “Let me go you Kebbit Kisser!” shouted someone in the center of a gathering of people. Jennifer saw guards coming from down the road and let out a long, audible sigh. Making way to the commotion, she saw Akai holding town a lanky teenager to the ground with wrists held together behind his back. In front of him Kidd was holding a small satchel and pulled out a circular trinket.

  “Didn’t steal anything, did ya? Then where did you get this thing me and my friend literally just bought?” Kidd said, keeping only the circular trinket and tossing the satchel back to the ground.

  The teen on the ground struggled but Akai wasn’t budging. He planted his feet and tightened the grip on his arms just a little bit more to dissuade the thief from trying to force him off. “Sit until the guards get here.” Akai said gently. And soon just that happened. Two guards made it through the crowd, saying “Alright, alright, what on earth is going on here?” said one of the two guards. The teen started shouting nonsense like “they’re robbing me”, “I didn’t steal that thing!”, and “nobody saw me steal anything!”

  But he was silenced by one of the guards tilting his head before shouting “Quinn, is that you?”

  The teen immediately shut up and tried to turn to look, Akai let up and didn’t stop him. And even let go when the teen, named Quinn, said “U-uncle..?”

  The situation resolved itself pretty quickly after that, the guard just took a quick statement from Kidd and Akai. And the other guard, apparently this teen’s uncle and familiar with their shenanigans, put the thief in shackles and said “Will you ever learn your lesson? Stop fucking reaching into other people’s pockets.”

  And Jennifer was just glad Akai and Kidd didn’t get arrested on their first trip into the city.

  As they finally got ready to leave, Kidd showed off what they bought. A circle with a triangle inside of it, and it split into 3 unique pieces. Saying “I was thinking we could get Lamorie’s mom to turn these into necklaces or something so Me, Akai, and Lamorie can have something like a friendship necklace..”

  Thankfully, no further issues arose as they packed up their things and started heading back home.