A carriage made its way through the floating city of Xyrus, its destination, Xyrus Academy, its passengers, Arthur, Elijah, Lilia, and Sylvie. Today is the day for all returning Xyrus Academy students to make their return to the prestigious school, as the first years will be arriving in two more days. The last three weeks felt like they had passed by too fast, but they were far from a blur.
Unlike the others, Elijah didn't return home to spend time with his family. His guardian Rahdeas felt that he should stay in Xyrus, that the return back to Darv was too long and that the time there would be too short. Instead Rahdeas stayed in Xyrus for a week to spend time with his adopted son, even having dinner with the Helstea's and Leywin's a few times. Arthur had felt his behavior was odd, but just brushed it off as normal behavior for a dwarf his age.
Arthur had learned that Ellie was an augmenter, and the day after his return evaluated her current abilities and began to develop a training regiment. Much to Tess' delight, Ellie had chosen to become an archer, wielding the very bow she gave her for her eighth birthday. Despite Tess only being there till after lunch the day after their return, and for two days after spending time with her family, Tess did anything she could to help with Ellie's training, as did Lilia and Elijah. The end result of these three weeks, was Ellie breaking into the dark red stage. With the training regiment Arthur left her, and her coming for tutoring three days a week, Arthur was confident she would reach the light red, if not dark orange stage by the time she started at Xyrus academy.
One morning three days after their return, while Vincent and Rey were leaving for the auction house, they were greeted by a royal messenger as he was delivering ten arrangements of red roses. The messenger was under strict instruction to ensure that Lilia was directly given these flowers. So as he brought arrangement after arrangement a servant interrupted her training in the backyard, and brought her to the overwhelming amount of roses, and both of her smiling parents awaiting an explanation. The messenger hand delivered Lilia a letter with a single white rose. The letter essentially compared all the other girls to red roses, and Lilia to the white one, a rare beauty that Curtis never wanted to let go of. Lilia's parents were reading the letter over her shoulder, and immediately understood that not only were she and Curtis dating now, but that he was clearly head over heels in love with her.
The first evening following the council's week long break, Curtis arrived at the Helstea manor in his finest black suit to take Lilia out on their first date. From that day forward, Vincent would have always referred to Lilia as the future queen of Sapin, if not for the threat of Tabitha punching him in the head. Nearly every day after that Curtis and Kathyln would come to the Helstea manor to either spend time with Lilia, or to join the three teen mages in training.
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It had been a week since Tess left to enjoy some time with her family, and as she said before she left, an Elenoir royal carriage was arriving at the Helstea manor, presumably carrying Tess. She had promised Arthur that she would return after the council's week long break ended, to see him again before she once again had to leave and resume her training with Director Goodsky, as well as make preparations for the upcoming school year as the Student Council President.
The carriage came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, and as the coachman made his way to the door, Arthur walked over with a box of Tess' favorite chocolates in his hand. The carriage door was opened to reveal Tess as he smiled at the sight. Upon seeing Arthur her eyes lit up and her lips curved up into a smile.
"Arthur!" Tess exclaimed as she jumped out at him.
Arthur immediately reinforced his body with mana, but that did nothing for his balance, as he caught her and she wrapped her arms around his neck while smashing her lips into his. He began to fall backwards, but Tess had already cast a wind spell to push him back up to his feet.
"I'm happy to see you too," Arthur said with a bright blush after they broke the kiss.
The sound of someone clearing their throat broke their eyes from each other, and back to the carriage.
"Well," Virion started with a mischievous smirk on his face. "This sight alone made this trip all worth it for me."
"Hello Gramps, come to give me threats? Break Tess' heart and you'll cover me in boiling tar and beat me with a cactus?" Arthur greeted with an amused smile.
"Arthur, at this point I shouldn't have to give that threat, you know it's already there. And now that you're at the light silver stage," a dark smile formed onto the old elf's face. "Trust me the consequences would have to be far more severe than that."
The two laughed like old friends, as Virion gave Arthur a fatherly hug. "Good to see you again brat." The hug was broken and the smile on Virions face left, as a more serious expression formed. "But I do have a matter to discuss with you. In private."
Tess was a little disappointed that Arthur had to have a private meeting with her grandfather, but accepted it and went to the back to spend some time with the others. She did consider the possibility that since she and Arthur were dating now that her grandfather was arranging their marriage. Seeing as he was the eldest member of the family, his approval was absolutely necessary. She however ruled that out, as that would be a discussion that would require his parents. She then considered it again as her grandfather might have been wanting to make sure Arthur was willing before talking to his parents. She giggled to herself as she went back and forth about this theory, and wondering what kind of marriage customs humans had.
Arthur and Elder Virion were sitting at the dining room table across from one another, each with a cup of tea in front of them, and with the doors closed. Another room like Vincent's office probably would have been more appropriate, but Arthur didn't feel comfortable using it, and this was the only room with seating where there were doors.
Arthur picked up his cup and took a sip of his tea. "So Elder Virion, what matter is it that you wished to discuss?" He asked as he put his cup back on the table.
"What, no Gramps?" Virion asked as he picked up his own cup.
"Whatever it is that you want to speak about seemed serious, so I'm merely responding in kind," Arthur replied, giving off the aura of a king.
"Haha," Virion chuckled as he picked up on this. "You'll definitely be able to handle things when my son steps down."
Arthur knew exactly what he meant, but chose not to indulge the old man and kept a serious expression as he sipped his tea again, but the slight blush on his cheeks betrayed him.
Satisfied, Virion pulled out a small wooden box and slid it to Arthur. "Open it, and tell me what you think."
Arthur took the box and opened it, revealing a black coin with complex engraving that was about the size of his palm.
"I'm guessing it's an artifact, but it doesn't look like something Gideon made," Arthur said as he looked over the artifact without touching it.
"That is one of the artifacts used to bring the Lances to their white core stage," Virion explained, before a smile came to his face. "And it will bring you there too, if you accept it."
Arthur immediately remembered Lance Aya's words about Virion waiting on him to become strong enough.
"You want me, to become one of Elenoir's lances?" Arthur questioned.
"Is that such an absurd idea? You are nearly fourteen years old and already at the light silver stage. Why wouldn't I want you as a lance?" Virion replied, proud of how far his first and only disciple has come.
"For starters, I'm human? Wouldn't the people of Elenoir complain that they're being represented by a human?" Arthur argued.
"Hahaha," Virion chuckled. "I seem to remember having a similar argument with you when I asked you to become my disciple. Will people complain? Once it's known that you were my disciple most will be silenced. As for those that know about the Artifact, to hell with them. None of them have a candidate that could defeat you in a duel anyways."
"And what about the Glayders? I doubt they'll be thrilled to see a human choosing to serve Elenoir."
"Ha, I have no doubt they'll have a problem with it, but it's not like there's anything they can do about it." Virion then leaned forward with a confident grin. "Besides, I have a feeling you would have turned them down if they asked you to be their lance anyways."
Arthur smiled as he shook his head. "That old man's way too smart."
"Ok, I'll be a Lance of Elenoir." Virion had a triumphant look on his face. "However, I do have some conditions," Arthur added.
Virion's expression changed to that of curiosity. "I don't think any of the Lances ever had conditions to take the position."
"I doubt any of them were fourteen years old, or had my level of potential," Arthur replied with an innocent smile.
"Hahaha, cocky brat. Ok, what are your terms?"
"First off, for the time being I would like the fact that I've become a Lance not to be released. I doubt it would gain much confidence from anyone if one of the lances was still a student." Virion nodded, understanding Arthur's point, and gestured for him to continue. "I won't be using the artifact just yet." Virion was now confused, and his expression showed it. "I want to see if I can reach a white core on my own. With that said I'm putting stipulations on myself, I have until I graduate, or if you need me to have white core sooner. And as soon as I gain a white core, feel free to announce me as lance to the entire continent."
"Ok, deal," Virion replied with a proud smile. "Now why don't you go out there and spend some time with my granddaughter. She's only here until the day after tomorrow, then Cynthia wants her back for further training."
Arthur smiled and walked Virion back to his carriage, before heading to the backyard. As Virion rode away, he looked back at his former disciple, and a pained expression formed on his face as he remembered this last little bit of time he bought him to be with his loved ones, was all Arthur was going to get for a long time.
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The night Tess arrived was also the night Arthur took her out on their second date. He decided on dinner and dancing, since he figured Tess would enjoy them being so close.
As they arrived at the school Curtis was waiting out front, and saw Arthur through the window, telling him Lilia was also arriving. As the coachman moved to open the door, Curtis walked up and waited with a bouquet of colorful summer flowers, not wanting to over do it with roses. As the door opened, much to Curtis' disappointment, Arthur came out first.
"Awww, Curtis they're beautiful," Arthur teased as he stepped out. "You really shouldn't have," Arthur continued as he reached out for them, fighting with all his might not to bust out laughing at his own behavior.
"Good thing I didn't," Curtis replied as he walked right past him, and held them up to Lilia as she stepped out. "For you, my beautiful flower."
Lilia accepted the flowers and smelled them. "Thank you Curtis, they're beautiful," Lilia replied with a loving smile. She then got up on her tiptoes as Curtis leaned down and the two shared a sweet kiss, leaving every other girl watching, seeing red.
"Hey, I thought those were mine?" Arthur said with an over exaggerated sad tone as he kept failing to keep from smiling.
"Sorry Arthur, you're just not pretty enough for me," Curtis replied, causing the four of them to finally release their laughter.
After recomposing themselves, Arthur looked around. "Curtis, have you seen Tess? She said she was going to meet me here."
"Oh," Curtis replied, sounding a bit sad for his friend, and pointed towards the entrance. "Looks like she'll be stuck there for a while, sorry."
Arthur followed Curtis' gesture, and saw Tess shaking hands with returning students, most of which were guys. Arthur could see that she was wearing her fake smile, and figured Director Goodsky asked her to greet the returning students. Arthur wasn't exactly thrilled to see Tess stuck like that, especially when it appeared multiple guys were hitting on her.
"Papa I don't like them, let's get rid of those people bothering mama," Sylvie said through their bond, as Arthur had asked her to refrain from speaking in public.
"Do you want to rescue her?" Elijah asked.
"Yes, but I won't," Arthur stated, sounding disappointed. "I'm not entirely sure how she wants me to treat her at school, but we agreed we weren't going to let our relationship affect our duties."
Tess happened to look their way and her eyes lit up as a real smile showed on her face. Thinking she couldn't leave, Arthur waved before he and the others proceeded to the main building. They weren't walking for long when Tess came out of nowhere, tackling Arthur into a hug, before smashing her lips into his.
"Were you actually going to leave me with all those guys?!" Tess accused Arthur, sounding annoyed.
"I didn't want to, but we agreed not to let our relationship interfere with our duties," Arthur said in his defense.
"That wasn't a duty!" Tess' annoyance growing.
"It wasn't? I just thought Director Goodsky sent you there to greet the returning students," Arthur admitted.
"I thought so too," Lilia added.
"Fine, I'll forgive you," Tess conceded and wrapped an arm around Arthur, as he put one around her shoulder. "I was just there waiting for you, and those guys just started lining up to talk to me, some even asking me out on dates."
Curtis, Elijah, and Lilia in that moment became scared for the entire male student body, as they remembered how ruthless Arthur could be, while one question ran through their heads, "Is Arthur a jealous or overprotective boyfriend?"
"I see. Well I guess I'll forgive them this time, since they probably don't know we're dating yet," Arthur replied. "But after today I won't, I won't tolerate that level of disrespect."
"In that case we need to make it clear that we're dating first," Tess replied with a smile.
Arthur picked up on what Tess had in mind, and leaned in as he brought them into a kiss. Arthur could feel all the eyes glaring at him, a feeling he knew all too well from his first day of school last year, telling him no one had an excuse now.
"I seriously need a girlfriend," Elijah sighed, as Arthur and Tess broke their kiss.
"You'd think that black Disciplinary Committee uniform would work as a magnet for all the single girls," Curtis commented as they all started walking to the main building.
"Is that why you joined," Lilia asked as she gave him a suspicious look.
"No, I didn't need the uniform's help with that," Curtis replied, and noticed Lilia's expression didn't change. He then cleared his throat. "Anyway Elijah, I'm sure this will be your year. With Arthur and I taken, the girls will all definitely start lining up for you to ask them out."
"That just makes you sound arrogant, and that they're just settling," Elijah replied as his eyes narrowed at Curtis.
The five of them arrived into the school's primary building that contained all the staff offices, and the auditorium. On days like this, it was also used for all students to check in, and for the first time ever, all students were getting their cores evaluated to track their progress from year to year. Once inside they looked around and saw several lines of students waiting to be checked in and evaluated, and waiting patiently off to the side were Claire, Theo, Kathyln, and Feyrith.
"Finally," Theo groaned as the rest of the group approached. "What took you all so long?" Theo was looking at Lilia.
"Hey don't look at me. How those two took so much longer than me is a real mystery," Lilia said in her defense.
"Who cares, come on let's get in line. I'd like to see if any of us have progressed since before summer break," Claire said with a sense of urgency as she gestured for them to get into a line.
Everyone got in line together and talked about the last three weeks. Much to Claire, Feyrith, and Theo's surprise, everyone else's time included Arthur at some point. Claire was actually a little jealous of Curtis, as she learned that he and Arthur had several duels during this time, and felt she could have improved her skills quite a bit if she had dueled him as well. After a while the line shortened, and it was Lilia who was up first.
"Please put your hand on the crystal ball and we can begin," the woman manning the artifact instructed her. "Lilia Helstea, conjuror, wind affinity, dark orange stage."
Lilia smiled with pride as she had just achieved dark orange this morning, showing her hard work was paying off.
"Congratulations Lilia, I'm sure your parents were so proud," Director Goodsky said as she walked up to the counter.
"Master? What are you doing here?" Tess asked.
"Well I decided I wanted to see how all of you progressed over the summer," Director Goodsky replied with a curious smile.
Next up was Kathyln. She walked up to the artifact with her small ice falcon on her shoulder, however it no longer looked like a little blue puff ball. Over the three week break Llyr lost its light blue puffy feathers, as smooth ocean blue ones replaced them. It was also not quite as small as it once was, and now was only a bit smaller than Sylvie.
"Kathyln Glayder, deviant ice affinity, solid Orange stage."
"Oh my, and to think that your private tutor thought you would only make it to the dark orange stage by the beginning of the school year," Director Goodsky commented.
Kathyln nodded in acknowledgement before stepping aside to allow Curtis up. Like Lilia, Curtis reached a new stage this morning, light Orange, as he refused to allow his little sister to catch up with him. Next came Elijah who hit a bottleneck at the light orange stage, and had been stuck there all summer, but he believed he was close to breaking through to dark yellow. Theo was also at the light orange stage. Feyrith had made it to the solid Orange, although the woman manning the artifact had him do it a second time, as it had glitched and said he was at the white stage. Finally came Claire, who broke through into the dark yellow.
"Very good Ms. Bladeheart, although not too surprising," Goodsky comment with a kind smile. "With all the hard work you've been putting in I expected nothing less."
"Thank you Director," Claire replied with a proud smile, before stepping aside for Tess.
"Tessia Earlith, wind and plant deviant, dark..." the woman froze speechless.
"Is there a problem?" Director Goodsky asked, a knowing smirk on her face.
"Dark silver core."
"Don't forget, she is my disciple," Director Goodsky added as she looked to Tess with pride.
Lastly came Arthur.
"Arthur Leywin, quadra-elemental, lightning, ice, ...and sound deviant?" The woman looked upon Arthur with another shocked expression.
"Arthur, why didn't you tell me you unlocked sound magic?" Director Goodsky asked, acting hurt.
"Because you didn't ask," Arthur replied frankly.
Director Goodsky laughed lightly. "And what is his core stage?" Director Goodsky learned Arthur was at the light yellow stage after the attack, so she expected he'd be at the dark silver stage at most.
The woman recomposed herself from her initial shock, and looked back down at the artifact, to freeze in shock yet again. Goodsky quickly noticed this and looked at the reading.
"Arthur," Director Goodskys voice trembled as her eyes were wide. She then looked to face him. "Please stop hiding your core stage."
Arthur just smiled and nodded. Immediately after, Goodsky rushed around the counter to Arthur as she took a knee and placed her hand on his abdomen to ensure a clear check.
"Light silver," she breathed out. Her eyes locked on Arthur in disbelief. "You've achieved a light silver core, at the age of fourteen, something that took me my entire life to achieve."
"Seems like you're having the same reaction I did when I learned."
Everyone looked to see Elder Virion standing behind the group.
"One thing we both need to learn is to not be so surprised at the things Arthur achieves, especially when they're things that took us so long to do," Virion told Goodsky as he remembered how quickly Arthur was able to unlock the second stage of his beast will, when it took him decades.
"Grandfather? What are you doing here?" Tess asked.
Virion looked over at Arthur with a complex expression. In it Arthur could see pride and joy, but also pain, sadness ,and regret.
"Arthur, I need you to come with me. Cynthia, please have Arthur's belongings sent back to his family."
"Gramps?" Arthur asked, as a feeling to be on his guard rose within him.
"I'll explain everything in the carriage, but I need you to come with me now. I've done everything I could to buy you these last few weeks, and we can't wait anymore."
"Grandfather, what's going on? Where are you taking h..." Tess questioned frantically as she stepped forward, as she remembered hearing rumors that some members of the council wanted him dead.
She was only silenced by Arthur placing a hand on her shoulder. When she looked to him for an explanation she saw him looking past her grandfather with a concerned look upon his face. She followed his eyes to see a tall man with platinum blonde hair, while wearing a crisp fitted military like uniform. As he walked everyone, both student and staff alike got out of his way, as his mere presence felt as if he were of the highest level of nobility.
Director Goodsky saw him as well and immediately recognized his presence that he gave off.
Using her sound magic everything became silent. "Everyone on your knees now!" She yelled out, and feeling the importance every single person within the large room was on their knees, except Virion and Arthur.
"Lord Windsom, I was just retrieving Arthur," Virion said as he approached. The former king's tone caught everyone's attention, as it sounded like a servant speaking to their master.
"I am aware, but I had already given you the three weeks you requested, and my patience has reached its limits," Windsom replied as his eyes were locked on Arthur.
Those around could see Windsom walking right towards Arthur. His friends worried that he would be somehow punished for not giving the same level of respect the Goodsky ordered. However when Windsom was only a few steps away, Arthur finally bowed, but not nearly as much as anyone else, and kept standing.
"Hello Windsom, I see that you don't care about everyone else seeing you this time," Arthur greeted from his bow.
"I don't have time for that level of unnecessary discretion anymore," Windsom replied as he stopped. "And hello to you lady Sylvie, I can see that you and Arthur used the elixir I provided."
"We did," Sylvie replied as Arthur straightened back up, and caught so many off guard by her talking.
"You knew about those mutated beasts didn't you?" Arthur accused.
"Of course. You needed to see that Alacrya is already here," Windsom replied. "Now say your goodbyes, we're leaving."
Mustering all her courage, Tess spoke. "W-where are you taking him?"
Windsom directed his eyes towards her, as she remained with her head down.
"Epheotus, the land of the Asura. Alacrya, the other continent you all heard of a year ago. They have decided to declare war upon Dicathen," Windsom said using sound magic, ensuring everyone heard him.
"Please, they are only children. They shouldn't be burdened with this knowledge," Virion pleaded.
"Children? They are all mages, and these before me have proven they are fully capable of killing both man and beast. Their strength will be needed in due time, so shouldn't they know so they can prepare?" Windsom replied, causing Virion to concede to his logic.
"We the Asura, or as your ancestors have called us Deities, have chosen to advise and help you prepare for this war, and take Arthur Leywin to be trained by our greatest of warriors so you all will have someone capable of fighting their most powerful of soldiers. Now Arthur, say your goodbyes."
Arthur's friends rose and wished him well, hoping they would see him again. When Arthur came to Tess she was trembling as she fought to keep back her tears. She didn't want him to leave, but she also knew that she couldn't nor would she want to stop him. It was more than a great opportunity and honor to be trained by the Asura, but by the way Windsom spoke, not even the Lances would be enough to be able to protect them.
"I'll miss you," Arthur said as she took her into a warm embrace, as a few tears escaped his eyes.
Tess returned the hug as the floodgates broke and tears poured from her eyes.
"I won't say goodbye, because goodbyes are for when you won't see someone again. So I'll just say bye, because I will be back," Arthur said, trying to make her feel better, as well as himself.
Virion came over and put a hand on Tess shoulder as the hug was broken, and she looked up at him, he gave a sympathetic expression.
"Windsom, how long will I be away?" Arthur asked, his eyes not leaving Tess.
"As long as it takes, or until we can not afford to keep you any longer."
Both Arthur and Tess hated that response, but knew they wouldn't be able to get a better answer. Arthur closed his eyes as he turned away and walked over to Windsom before disappearing in a flash of light.
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"Tess wake up," a young woman said as she shook her squad leader by the foot.
"Huh? What is it?" Tess asked groggily as she sat up in her tent.
"The attack on the dungeon boss starts in twenty minutes."
"Ok thanks," Tess replied and her team member left. She then brought her knees up, wrapped her arms around her legs, and rested her chin on her knees. "Why am I having that dream again?"