-Eight years ago-
"Duck!" shouted Myrkr as he went for a low sweep kick, Oliver lifting the targeted leg before slamming it down into a heel strike, only for it to bounce off of the armor as Myrkr lifted himself up and grabbed the leg, soon swinging Oliver into the outer part of a ring of darkness where he slammed his back onto the ground. Myrkr looked down on Oliver as he picked himself up, practically feeling the glare of a teacher on a student as he stood up in front of the figure. "You still don't use your full potential, and only go halfway even though I can easily take the full force of your attacks. You even do this in battle when you worry for your enemy."
"It's one habit that never left me." Oliver spoke as he walked back into the ring, Myrkr raising his hand as a medium sized round table formed from his shadow, two chairs taking up it's space as he motioned them to sit.
"You should know that if you don't hold back with your physical abilities that you could easily bring down any squad that tries to take you."Myrkr spoke as the two walked to the table, Oliver taking one end while Myrkr took the opposite. "You can't blame yourself for what happened during the last mission. Everyone makes mistakes, and that isn't any different from what you've seen before."
"They were under my command, and nearly died because I hadn't thought of every possibility and hadn't prepared properly." Oliver spoke, his gaze at the desk. "Because of that, we lost the one who was the equivalent of our blade."
"Lief knew what needed to be done, and what the price would be to save you, because he knew you were worth more than even him." Myrkr spoke as he held his hand up, a black sphere forming from his armor. "Lief was a warrior and a servant, his world was to do as was ordered and ensure his master's plans would come to fruition. He had never been outside of that viewpoint of life, not until his death when he went to save you and your squad, deciding his own actions at that final moment of his life. He saw more in you than what you saw in yourself."
"And I'm glad for that, but I'll still mourn his loss." Oliver spoke, his gaze looking up to the sphere. "Still, his loss will cause several back steps to the plan, and we'll more than likely have to use Plan B when it comes time."
"Myrkr, Oliver." came a voice before Reginhard appeared at the edge of the ring, causing the two to turn to him. "The war council is waiting for you two."
"Very well then." Myrkr spoke, both standing up as the ring began to vanish, showing the inside of an abandoned and rusting warehouse as specks of light started coming in from the roof and strike around them, causing other parts of the area to appear faster. "Let's get going, General."
-present time-
Oliver sighed as he was walking through the central plaza to the guard barracks, the sun setting and his arms sore from the work he had been put to for the day. His meal helped his energy just fine, and he learned that dragon stew tasted pretty good, but the amount of trays he had to bring and clean up were astounding. 'How do people do this so easily for festivals?' Oliver thought as he arrived at the front of the barracks, seeing a man leave with a short sword that had a rusted pommel. He turned into the barracks to find the same guard that had taken his dagger handing a spear to a man whose attire looked similar to a fisherman.
"Heya, I'm here for my dagger." Oliver spoke as he walked up to her, who only nodded when she saw him and walked over to a weapon rack, soon seeing his cloth wrapped dagger at the far end before he turned and looked around the barracks. 'It's still a wide space, and probably wider if I tried to look in further.' Oliver thought as he saw three hallways and two sets of stairs, one leading up to the next floor, and one leading under the building. 'judging from the size this place looks up front, there's more than likely a higher number of guards than just the five I've seen around the place, or that it has the capacity to have more troops garrisoned around the town, or more guard houses for that matter...'
