Knock, knock

  “Get up Damon” knock knock

  Damon hearing the noise, let out a groan of frustration at his beauty sleep being disturbed. He hoped that his friend could take the silence as a hint and leave him alone so he could enjoy his sleep.

  “Get up Damon. We’re here. We’re really here” Damon rubbed his eyes after hearing this and slowly sat up on his bed to make sure he heard right. “ Damon, we’re about to pass through, hurry up. We’re finally-” Rodricks excited voice pierced through the door hoping the news would wake up his friend. And it did.

  Damon opened the door and barreled past his friend to make his way up the stairs at the end of the hallway but not before saying “C’mon slow poke.” Rodrick chased after his friend down the hall causing a ruckus that roused some of their fellow floor mates from their sleep. Angry expressions met their expressions of excitement as they made their way to stairs at the end of the passageway. “We’re here sleepy heads, we’re about to enter the Inner District.”. Excitement quickly took over their bodies hearing the news and hurriedly followed after the duo up the stairs.

  The floor above was for the commoners with status such as children of merchants or government officials. So the boys were not shocked after spotting their fellow Awakener Miles.

  The same could not be said about Miles as he watched in shock at the sight of his two fellow Awakeners rushing up the stairs followed by a stampede of teenage boys.

  “What’s going on?” Miles observed the sight for a few seconds before shouting at the group of excited boys.

  “ I said, what’s going on?” Miles asked again only to be ignored a second time.

  Although he was annoyed at being treated invisible, his curiosity couldn’t be sated because from the way they were moving it seemed they didn’t plan on slowing down even though the floor above was for nobles. His annoyance faded slightly at the thought they would get a scolding for disturbing the nobles. Straightening up his clothes, Miles paused. Taking a glance down at his clothes made him realize he was still dressed in sleepwear as he was on his way to the shared restroom that was down the hallway unlike the nobles who had their own personal restroom. Miles looked up at the stairs, hesitating on whether he should go up dressed like he just woke up or go back and look presentable. A few moments later he sprinted up the stairs no longer able to hold back his curiosity.

  Damon and the rest of the group made their way to the nobles floor and knew that they should move quietly but their eagerness to see the view up top exceeded their fear of offending the nobles.

  Due to the noise Draven could not focus on his daily morning meditation. Clenching his jaws, he opened his eyes and sent a glare at his door imagining that whoever was responsible for the loud noise would feel his glare and shut up. A few seconds passed and the noises only got louder. Losing his desire to continue his meditation, Draven jumped off his bed and donned his robes bearing his family’s sigil, ready to scold the idiot guilty of all the ruckus. Before he could walk outside a voice caused him to pause.

  “Young masters, we’re about to enter the Inner District.” Hearing this, Draven's annoyance dissipated at the news. He felt relieved that this journey was finally coming to an end. By now the word of his Awakening should already be known to his family. Knowing what came with the title of an Elemental, he was eager to return home and find out the situation.

  ***

  The door at the top of deck was bursted through by Damon whose excitement was ignored by the ship’s crew doing their daily chores. Through that same door came Rodrick a second later and not that far behind was the rest of the group. Both boys ran to the side of the ship and set their sights on a scene that they have only heard about and read from books.

  “Wow” Rodrick expressed his awe and Damon could only nod his head in agreement as they flew towards the Inner District gradually getting closer and closer to where an endless expanse of green that covered the horizon awaited them, a sight unfamiliar to those of the outer district where its land was nearly barren of greenery and sparse with trees.

  Damon learned that the Outer District wasn’t always barren though as greenery and bodies of water used to be found almost everywhere in the outer district. The outer district was even considered to be more rich in resources than the Inner District. But that all changed after the Crimson War.

  The Crimson War happened during the time of the seventh generation of Elemental Lords and was considered to be one of the bloodiest and most shocking wars during the time of the Republic. Bloody because of the amount of lives lost and shocking because the majority of the lives lost came from the Republic. Known for its strength and dominance over the lands it came to a shock to the rest of the powers of the world that the strongest power on the mainland was losing. And they were losing to one of the weakest powers of the world, The Southern Kingdoms.

  The Southern Kingdoms were formerly a part of the Republic before betraying the Republic to find their own kingdoms leading to the Fourth Calamity the Republic had to face, the Traitors War. Due to the equal strength of the Elemental Lords on each side, so in order to win the war they would have to rely on their soldiers. And the Republic's soldiers did not disappoint as they won the war in less than six months making it the shortest war ever fought. Although the Republic won, the Southern Kingdoms still had an Elemental Lord of similar strength to the Republic even though they had two. So instead of fists, they fought with words. After a few negotiations the split became permanent and the Republic no longer had anything to do with nor did they care for them as they were always seen as the weaker of the duo for they never had more than one Elemental Lord.

  That is until the Crimson War where the Southern Kingdoms had two Elemental Lords and the Republic only had one. A first for both powers and the Southern Kingdoms weren’t going to let the chance of defeating their long time rivals slip away.

  The war began and shockingly on the war front, the Republic was losing. Although they were outnumbered by Elemental Lords their soldiers were still considered the best. And yet in just one year, half of the Outer District was captured. As time went on the winner was becoming more and more clear. The seventh generation Elemental Lord of Fire knew the Republic was extremely close to being defeated and had to come up with a plan that would ensure the Republic’s survival.

  The Lord of Fire was willing to do anything, even if it would cost the Republic an arm and leg. He was willing to make the sacrifices.

  A year and half into the war, the Crimson colored flames broke out in the Outer Districts, not allowing anyone to leave or enter, trapping the army of the Southern Kingdoms. And while doing so trapping his own people. By the end of the war, half of the Outer District's population was gone. Turned into ashes from their own Lord who was supposed to protect them. This plan earned him the moniker the Crimson Lord and had the war named after him.

  From the sparsely populated plants, withered trees, and dried lakes, the aftermath of the war is still seen even after six hundred years have passed since that dark time. Damon and almost everyone on the ship grew up in this environment where greenery was absent. So the excitement at seeing simple things such as the earth being covered in green grass and flowers to add a bit more shine to the earth was understandable.

  “Look at all those trees.” Damon pointed at the upcoming trees with excitement. He saw trees before but he had never seen so many in one place. Wearing an eager expression, Damon waited for the ship to reach the tree line so he could have a closer look.

  The exciting chatter spread amongst the boys, including the nobles who were having a hard time holding back their looks of wonder and anticipation in their eyes as they stared at the trees, gradually getting closer and closer.

  “Wow, look at that over there.” An excited voice came from the opposite side of the ship. Damon turned towards the noise and found a group of girls, the other half of the Awakeners, pointing and observing the view from their side of the ship. Damon scanned the group and found Kira and Amelia standing together enjoying the view from their side. Seeing this Damon shifted his attention back to taking in the sights. A minute later the ship finally passed over the tree line signaling they had reached the Inner District, a place Damon never thought he would ever get the chance to visit.

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  As they flew over the rich green land of the Inner District, Damon took the time to look over the beautiful sights they were currently flying over. Damon watched as the towering trees covered the ground only giving glimpses of what lay beneath their canopy. The mystery enchanted Damon and many others as the only noise came from the sailors as the Awakeners were too enraptured by the sights.

  Damon’s mind was already filled with creatures he learned about during his time at school: A deer, tiger, or maybe a bear. The mystery of what lay below the canopies of the many trees enticed him. The many adventures he could possibly do crossed his mind.

  “I saw it, I saw it. I saw a monkey.” A boy with a much smaller stature than everyone, even Damon, exclaimed while pointing down below the ship with nearly half his body hanging off the ship. Hearing this a chubby boy a bit shorter than Rodrick who was transfixed on the marvelous view turned around to see the potential danger the boy was in and quickly pulled him back, panic written all over face. Damon quickly recognized the excited little boy and chubby teenager as Sunny and Baron. They were part of the last group that was picked up after Damon and like Damon, they were both of commoner descent. Only they were the only commoners in their group.

  “Be careful Sunny.” The chubby boy scolded his friend.

  Ignoring his friend, the boy bounced up and down with so much excitement that he didn’t see that someone was behind him until he heard the yelp of pain. Whirling around, Sunny saw a lanky boy with his long dark hair in a bun that was being held by an expensive looking purple comb that looked more expensive than everything the little boy owned. Sunny looked at the teenage boy in vibrant purple and black garments glaring at him and knew he was in trouble.

  “I-I’m so-sorry. I didn’t m-mean to” Sunny quickly bowed his head with his eyes quickly filling up with tears that led those around him to feel pity for the boy. But that’s all that would be felt as no one watching wanted to get on the bad side of the nobility. Especially the fuming lanky noble boy in front of them.

  “ Didn’t mean to what?” The noble teenager shoved the little boy causing him to fall on his butt. Standing over him he continued “ You think what? An apology is going to cut it huh? These shoes cost over thirty silver.” The noble gestured to his shoes in anger. Baron opened his mouth in an attempt to help his friend “Am I talking to you fatty?”Cutting off Baron he quickly turned back to Sunny on the floor. “Well?” With arms folded and his foot tapping the deck he asked

  Damon witnessing this could no longer hold back “You're a noble ain’t you? Why not just buy another pair or is your family going through troubled times.”

  The offended noble boy sneered at Damon, insulted that someone actually had the guts to challenge him. “And who the hell are you? A friend of his? If so you can help pay the fee. Judging off your clothes that probably cost around a few silver, I’m guessing you don’t have enough to pay me. So how about combining your little bag of silver huh?” The noble boy changing his focus to Sunny bent over to get into Sunny’s face that had tears rolling down and snot making its way down his top lip to ask.

  Damon was ready to hurl another insult at the arrogant noble but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Looking over his shoulder, Rodricks face of disapproval met him.

  Disgust took over the noble boy as he backed away before his face went back to being angry. “Is that all you’re going to do, cry? Be a man will you.”

  “A man? And what do you know about being a man, Kesh?” A sarcastic voice came from behind Damon countered. Damon turned around to see a boy that can easily be described as a “golden boy” with his tall and lean physique that was easily shown through his unbuttoned shirt, showing a part of his chest that was partly covered by his long golden locks he let down. Completing his look was a sword strapped to his waist, a rarity amongst the group of awakeners.

  Walking past Damon the golden haired boy made his way to Sunny and picked him up off the floor. Sunny looked up at the Golden haired boy with tears in his eyes and muttered a thank you followed by a deep bow causing a smile to appear on the golden haired noble’s face.

  Although the sight angered Kesh, he held himself back as he reminded himself who stood in front him. He can bully commoners no matter the background with his background as a noble. But his fellow nobles were a different story as classism also existed within the noble ranks and the boy in front of him came from a more distinguished family.

  “You preach about being a man and yet you bully a boy nearly half your size. Doesn’t sound very manly to me.” The Golden haired teenager locked eyes with Kesh who could only bow his head. The Golden haired boy smirked after observing his fellow noble clenching his fists at his sides. “What’s wrong? Where’s all that talk about being a man?”

  “Throwing your weight around again Tristan. Don’t you have anything better to do than stand around playing hero.” The golden haired teenager named Tristan glanced around to locate the voice laced with mockery. Tristan clenched his jaw after spotting the culprit split the crowd with merely his presence alone.

  Standing in front of Kesh whose humble look from before now carried a victorious smile, was a red haired individual with his chin held high and red robes bearing a black dragon with ruby colored eyes fluttering from the wind making it look like the dragon was moving.

  Draven Lyle

  Damon and everyone on the ship knew who he was. Everyone treaded lightly near him in fear of offending him or to be exact his House. Every noble that boarded the ship paid their respects to him once they got over the shock that a member of House Lyle was on the same ship as them. Everyone except Tristan Grier.

  Of course, Tristan Grier is a special case. He is the only noble to not fear Draven nor his house because he shockingly came from a Great House as well. Damon had heard that a great house stayed in the Outer District but only considered them to be rumors as any sane person would choose to reside in the inner district. Damon and many others only found out about this from Sunny a few days ago who gave them the history of the House Grier.

  House Grier was created during the last generation of Elemental Lords, the Civil War Era. The Civil War is considered the third bloodiest war after the third war and the Great war as the war was purely fought amongst the families of the Republic. It was the first time since the second generation that all Elemental Lords were citizens of the Republic. A time that was supposed to be of celebration quickly descended into chaos. The Grier family whose ancestor was the Elemental Lord of Earth and was the only commoner amongst the Elemental Lords was said to have felt a responsibility to the people of the Republic who suffered during the time of the Crimson war and chose not to take part in the war. Instead choosing to protect those of the Outer District from the Great Houses from the Inner District. House Grier took it a step further by deciding to move to the Outer District a couple decades ago to honor their ancestor who chose to protect the people instead of chasing after power like their fellow Great Houses.

  An idea shared within his descendants. One of those descendants being Tristan Grier, second eldest to the patriarch of House Grier and a future powerhouse for the family. A boy who appeared to hold similar values to his ancestors.

  “Draven” Tristan spat out the name of his fellow noble as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

  Damon rarely ever communicated with Tristan but when he did, the golden haired boy always wore an easy going smile or was filling the air with his boisterous laughs that seemed to always put those around him at ease. So, the frown he saw and tone he heard came as a shock to him and those around him. Damon sifted through his memories and realized that he had never seen Tristan and Draven in the same room. Although Tristan only boarded a few days ago, Damon could still not remember such a scene.

  “It’s an honor to meet a descendant of the Great House of Lyle. I cannot wait to brag to my family and friends back home.” Tristan slightly bowed his head in greeting to Draven.

  "It is indeed an honor” Draven looked up at the sails, as if he never saw Tristan’s actions.

  Kesh seeing this could not hold back a smirk after seeing the man who made him lose face also lose face. His humiliation, no longer present but instead transferred back to the man who dished it out to him.

  “They will be filled with envy once they hear the news.” Tristan, raising his head, turned to stare at the sails that Draven found more interesting than him before continuing “ To meet a Descendant of Lyle is one thing,” Tristan scoffed “ But to meet one of the heirs to the Great House of Lyle. It must be fate” Tristan smiled as he continued to stare at the sails that Draven no longer found interesting. Instead choosing to glare with his ruby colored eyes at the Grier descendant.

  Damon and everyone else was confused on why Draven who was usually calm and collected would show such emotion.

  “All right kids, breakfast is ready. We should be reaching the Soaring City by noon, grab a bite to eat and rejuvenate.” Captain Hendrix announced as he made his way out of the Captain’s Quarters allowing the rising sun to beam off his bald head as he stretched. The sight allowed the tension in the atmosphere to dissipate as the awakeners held back a laugh at the sight.

  “What are you brats waiting for? MOVE IT” Swallowing back the laughter threatening to escape them, the group quickly made their way to the Mess Hall.

  Captain Hendrix inwardly smiled as he watched the awakeners rush down the stairs. Raising his brow, he watched Grayson and Tristan’s glaring match before letting out a cough. Hearing this both boys ended their glaring match, choosing to not get on the bad side of the owner of the ship they were on.

  Shaking his head, Captain Hendrix turned his attention to the sun slowly rising over the horizon signaling a new day. Another day added to the journey of escorting the “heroes of tomorrow”, a saying made famous from the academy to make their students feel more special than they already are with their powers and the status that came with it.

  Letting out a sigh, he looked over his shoulders at the area where the awakeners once stood and wondered if any of them would be the ones to live up to their designated title.

  “Hopefully whatever comes they can handle it”