Chapter 14: Meet The Team

  “You will all stand witness to the induction of a new knight. Come forward, Raiden of House Starshroud,” rumbled Mortimer in his gravelly voice.

  A murmur arose in the crowd, and Raiden heard a few whispers that carried a little too far, perhaps intentionally. He made out words like “kicked out” and “poor.” Raiden ignored the whispers as he stood in front of the chapter commander and then knelt on one knee. Mortimer ignored the muttered insults and unsheathed his long sword, holding it in the air before resting the tip on Raiden’s shoulder.

  “Do you, Raiden Starshroud, swear to uphold the kingdom, serve with your fellow knights, and face all enemies that threaten the light?”

  “I do so swear, Chapter Commander,” said Raiden.

  “I, Chapter Commander Mortimer of the Silver Sun, do knight thee, Raiden Starshroud. Rise, knight Raiden, and may you prosper long in your journey and grow in might and strength.”

  Raiden stood, and the chapter commander held his blade up in the air.

  “Light in the darkness.”

  “Light in the darkness,” the rest of the knights chanted.

  Then Mortimer sheathed his blade and called out to the crowd.

  “I expect you to treat our newest member of the Order well. You are dismissed. All except for Zane and his squad.”

  All the knights held their hands over their hearts, in the warrior’s salute, then went on their way. The whole ordeal had been quick and unexpected. He wasn’t planning on being knighted so soon, but at least no one that he could tell seemed to be angry. That, at least, was a relief. Because of his family, Raiden had always been a loner. The noble houses in the city saw him as dross, and everyone else mostly avoided him, not wanting to get caught up in any potential drama or nasty rumors. At least no one had outright booed or done anything that gave him cause for alarm. So that was positive, at least.

  The knights went back to their training, but a single group remained behind. Mortimer walked down from the stage. Raiden followed behind until they were standing in front of the group. They eyed him up as they tried to gauge him, and he did the same in return. In the front was a man who Raiden supposed was the leader, Zane. He couldn’t have been that much older than Raiden himself, nor the rest of the squad, for that matter. Zane was tall, even taller than Raiden, and his brown curly hair came down a few inches as he pierced Raiden with his gaze. Two blue eyes took his measure.

  Behind him was the rest of the squad. There was a woman with dark brown skin and a fair complexion; her pointed ears told of her elven heritage. Raiden couldn’t help but notice that she was quite beautiful. Next to her was a broad shouldered dwarf. He had a short beard and short cropped hair. The way that he was built reminded Raiden of a barrel. His arms were stocky, and they sat folded across his chest. Next to the dwarf was a human woman with flowing red hair, and she looked at him appraisingly. Like the elf, her features were very fair.

  Raiden stood with his chest out and his head held high. After letting the two groups size each other up for a few moments, Mortimer finally spoke.

  “Raiden, meet Zane, your new squad leader.”

  Zane let his calculating gaze of Raiden vanish, and a huge smile broke across his face. Zane looked at the chapter commander.

  “I can take it from here.”

  “Very well,” said Mortimer.

  Then the man gave Raiden one last look as if wishing him good luck and walked off to go back into the castle. Zane walked over to Raiden.

  “Hello, Raiden.”

  Zane gave Raiden the warrior’s greeting as they shook hands by gripping the other’s forearm instead of the hand. Zane then clasped Raiden on the shoulder and gestured back at the team. He looked Raiden in the eyes and said, “Welcome to the team, brother.”

  None of the coldness that Raiden had been expecting was there, and he felt that he had misjudged the man.

  Zane gestured to the rest of the squad, “I’ll make brief introductions, and then we’ll get to training. That beauty on the far left.”

  Zane said, pointing to the elven woman.

  “Is Vallia. And yes, as you’ve noted, she is half elf. Despite elves being somewhat uncommon in the kingdom, they do exist.”

  Vallia, blushing slightly at the compliment, simply gave an awkward wave and said, “Nice to meet you, Raiden.”

  Next, Zane pointed to the dwarf, “And this is our lovely dwarf, Dorian.”

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  The dwarf just scowled and grunted.

  “He’s not so bad once you get to know him,” said Zane.

  Then Zane gestured to the woman at the end.

  “And last but not least is Amira. She joined our squad yesterday evening.”

  Amira gave Raiden a dismissive wave of her hand and had a look of challenge in her eyes. She was slightly shorter than Dorian and had an athletic build. She had a fair complexion, with pale skin devoid of any freckles. Her hair was bright red and flowed past her shoulders. After introducing everyone, Zane clapped his hands.

  “Well, I’m sure we’ll get to know each other more over time. However, right now we need to see what you’re made of, Raiden. Let’s go hit the training field.”

  Zane patted Raiden on the shoulder one more time and headed out into the castle grounds. The rest of the party followed, with Raiden trailing behind.

  The group all wore similar outfits to Raiden: gray shirts and pants with metal shin and forearm guards offering them protection, as well as metal breastplates covering their torsos. They wore no other armor. They walked quickly through the castle grounds, passing a number of arenas that had been set up for sparring and training.

  Most of the training areas were open and just set up in the grass that blanketed the grounds. Some of the areas also had large circles made of stone or dirt. There were also a few buildings scattered throughout the grounds that looked like miniature coliseums. It was one of these small coliseums that Zane led the party to.

  As if reading Raiden’s thoughts, Zane called back over his shoulder, “Sparring ring,” as if that explained it, and just kept walking.

  Soon, the group approached the so called sparring ring. The building was made of smooth white stone. They passed through an entryway and walked inside. The building was circular and had no roof, being open to the sky above. Raiden realized this was a miniature arena. There were rows of seating that ringed around the central area where the fighting must take place. The arena floor was made of stone slabs that were thick and durable.

  Before the group went any further, Zane stopped and explained for Raiden’s benefit.

  “This is the sparring arena. Here we can fight to our hearts’ content. This place is special.”

  Zane pointed to one side of the arena.

  “In the center is the circular fighting area. Outside the fighting area are two platforms on opposite ends that each have a large white crystal. Those crystals are respawn stones. When they’re activated with mana, the arena is safe to fight in. If you die in the arena, you’ll just rematerialize at one of the respawn stones without losing a life. This arena is also equipped with a desensitization field that will numb most of the pain you might experience. Alright, Raiden, I’m gonna go activate one of the stones. That will set the arena for us. When we enter, a mana shield will be generated around the ring, meaning that we won’t be able to leave it until it deactivates. It will also prevent our attacks from escaping the barrier, which means we won’t have to worry about hurting anyone. And Raiden, remember we will respawn if we die, so don’t hold back.”

  Zane just looked at Raiden and laughed.

  “Come on.”

  Raiden walked inside the arena and stood at one end while Zane went to activate one of the crystals. After he went over to touch one of the stones, a soft humming sound rose around them. The white crystal glowed for a second and then went dull. Zane stepped inside the arena with Raiden.

  The stone circle where the actual fighting took place was dozens of paces across, so they both had quite a bit of room to move around. A soft golden light covered the arena in a half dome. Across his shoulders, Zane had two blades. He drew them. At his waist was some sort of mana gun. It was definitely bigger than Raiden’s pistol but smaller than his rifle, so he would have to wait and see if Zane decided to use it.

  Raiden drew his short sword and his pistol and got ready for the fight.

  “Raiden, are you ready?”

  He nodded.

  “Begin,” Zane said.

  Zane shot forward as he ran straight at Raiden. Raiden hesitated. He had never fought an actual person before. Sure, he had gotten into the occasional fistfight as a kid growing up, but this was different. Raiden brought his sword into a guarding position and began charging up the pistol. Before he was able to charge up a round, though, Zane was already in melee range and swung one of his swords at Raiden.

  Raiden blocked. As sparks skidded off the weapons, Zane’s other blade came around to hack into Raiden, and he dove to the side to try to get away. The blade was too fast for Raiden, and Zane scored a hit along his arm, nearly causing him to drop his pistol. He felt the blade bite into his flesh deeply. But to his surprise, the pain was severely numbed. Blood raced down his arm, but he still managed to bring his pistol up after dodging away, aiming a shaky hand at the squad captain.

  Raiden fired. The mana round came tearing out of the pistol. Zane was too fast and had already stepped out to the side, completely dodging as the round flew past. Zane then turned back towards Raiden and stabbed his sword forward. Raiden blocked the first blade, but the second blade came at his shoulder. Raiden, knowing that he couldn’t dodge the blade in time, actually stepped into the blow. The blade hit Raiden’s breastplate and stayed there for a moment.

  Raiden tried to bring his pistol arm up to push Zane’s sword away. But his arm was weak from being sliced. Zane turned the blade towards Raiden’s neck. And before Raiden could react, Zane sliced sideways. The metal bit into his neck. The next moment, he felt himself dematerializing as his consciousness faded.

  The next moment, Raiden found himself standing on the pedestal with the white crystal. He felt at his neck, but there was no damage. Zane was standing at the center of the arena and waved one of his swords at Raiden as he shouted over.

  “Good first attempt, Raiden. You’ll get the hang of it soon.”

  Raiden felt sheepish for having been beaten so easily. He looked over at the squad members to see them laughing. It didn’t seem to be in mockery, though. He saw Dorian, the dwarf, look over at Amira, the red headed woman.

  “Told ya he’d last more than a single move.”

  Amira’s face turned beet red as she tried to act nonchalant.

  Zane headed over to where the squad was seated, and Raiden followed him. When they were gathered together, Zane spoke,

  “Alright. We’ll be fighting against Raiden from the most experienced to the least. We’ll start with Vallia, then Dorian, then Amira.”

  Amira huffed, “I wanted to fight him first.”

  “I know you’re eager to redeem yourself after you lost to me in one move this morning, but don’t worry, you’ll get your chance before you know it.”

  “Fine, Zane,” Amira said in defeat.

  Zane gestured back towards the arena, and Vallia got up. She and Raiden walked out together.

  Vallia glanced over at him.

  “Don’t expect me to take it easy on you.”

  Raiden just looked at her.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”