The next day, Jakan awoke abruptly from his sleep. Every night, Jakan has trouble sleeping due to the traumatic experiences he has experienced in his lifetime of war and strife. Every night he dreams the same nightmare, constantly being killed and eaten by demons. He grabs the rag off of his small table next to his bed and wipes the cold sweat from his face.
"I will never get used to that accursed nightmare." grumbles Jakan as he gets out of bed. "This war needs to hurry up and end, I'm tired of watching good men die." Jakan then walks to his bathroom to do his morning routine and get ready for his day. As he is shaving his face, he thinks back to the battles so far and how powerless he feels. He forces himself to push those thoughts to the back of his head and finishes getting dressed. As Jakan finishes getting dressed, he leaves his house, which is located in the nobility and ranked military district of the kingdom. He then heads to the barracks to check on his men and see if Jerico is there. As he approaches, he hears the usual loud noises of metal clanging and grunting of men as they practice their swordsmanship and overall battle prowess. He then heads to the back of the barracks where the training grounds are, to see six of his men, sparring with Jerico.
"Come at me then!" exclaims Jerico with very apparent glee. All of the men yell as they rush her swinging their swords to try and hit the angel. She backflips over two of the soldiers and lands behind them, kicking them into the other soldiers. "Ha! You'll have to do better than that!" she pridefully states. As she's saying that, the other two soldiers rush each of her sides and try to find an opening to strike. She gracefully parries the soldier on the left, using the momentum from the parry to knock the sword free. Causing the sword to hit the other soldier behind her. As all the soldiers lay on the ground groaning and regretting their decisions to spare with her, she walks over to Jakan to greet him.
"Glad to see you came, old friend" says Jerico in a very playful tone.
"Aye, I felt it would be unwise to miss anymore training sessions." nodded Jakan as he shook her hand. "I see you are taking care of my men well. Just make sure they aren't too banged up in case of another attack." says Jakan as he chuckles. In the instant that Jakan said that, the bell rang to signify an impending attack. When the bell rung, the barracks went silent. For a moment, it seemed like the whole world was silent. Except for the sound of the bell.
"One attack immediately after another?!" exclaims Jerico with visible confusion finally breaking the silence. "Get everyone ready Jakan!" yells Jerico as she begins to fly. "I am going to scout, and see how many enemies there are! Meet me at the castle gates!" she yells as she flies towards the castle walls.
"Be careful Jerico!" shouts Jakan. "Dammit, why is there another attack so soon?! This has never happened before." Jakan then runs inside the barracks to make sure the rest of his men are getting ready as the bell continues to toll. The sense of dread he felt this morning finally pushed it's way to the front of his mind as he prepares for battle, and prays to the Gods as he makes his way to the castle gates.