That was an extremely intense day for both Marcus and Leon. In the evening they retired to the rooms early. The mood in the family was quite awkward these days. Both his mother and father were either arguing or his father was in deep discussion with Derma.
He didn't know why but he remembered the recent dealings with Loki
On that day when he first received his weapons.
He was instantly pulled into the void. Loki was in front of him looking quite different from the norm but quite dashing. This time instead of all the welcoming ceremony he directly cut to chase. He simply said, "child there seems to be something wrong with your process of transmigration brace for the impact that might bring in your life and I will take control of your body occasionally it will be alright don't worry".
From that day on at least once a month, he was getting those seizures and was transported into the void. And in few months he was prone to more than one if he was unlucky.
Unlike his initial expectation, Loki was a man of few words. At least in the void as he often says time is of utmost importance in the void lest they both fall into jaws of some void beast.
He said that the reason the void is black is due to a protective barrier he placed that will help them to disguise themselves in the true outer space from the void beasts.
This month his luck took a turn for worse. Loki visited him almost every week. And this was the last week of the month. Since coming to this world time was always passing in a haze. All the time he spent there he was now truly Marcus Regitalio Wargrave inside out. He loved his mother, he respected his father, he valued his awkward friendship with Leon and his little sister Monalisa.
He loved to be in the squad they taught him the most importantly common sense of this world and they also treated him like a kid in the family. And Nidar once even shared his food with the kids this showed how much he liked and valued them. Peter and Marcus were the big brothers he and Leon never had. This was a family, This was what he truly yearned for on earth and this was what made him turn to books and fiction. To, learn and experience love. He was living his dream right at that moment.
But, every visit from Loki tenses him up he looks more and more tired with each visit he truly looked like an office guy who pulled an all-nighter all year. Although that could be him trying to trick Marcus. Yet he can't deny that time is of the essence as there will be a demonic invasion somewhere in future so he must change gears and train more and more.
This night when he was transported to the void Loki only said one thing "advanced happy birthday champ I am gonna gift something to you on your coming birthday bye-bye!". And he disappeared.
Due to the stress, he goes through every time he goes to the void he was unable to stand around for much longer he fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning Marcus felt his head still ringing like he had a bad hangover. The weather was as pleasant as ever. He quickly attended to nature's call and freshened up and had a healthy meal of breakfast with all the family together. It was still early as usual. He was wondering about the present that Loki mentioned. Since his birthday was already over just a month ago he mentally prepared himself to wait for one more year. He and Marco rushed to the training grounds on foot. The number of soldiers that use training grounds is getting lesser as days went on. The rains are about to hit Corinth. All signs in the weather are pointing in that direction.
Clouds were hiding the stars and moon. It was much darker than usual in the morning.
All the soldiers followed the large scale drill. And went back to their respective squads.
When Marcus and Leon went back to group up with their squads. Marco was deeply thinking about something.
All the squad noticed his unusual behaviour. He normally would have just greeted them in high spirits and worked them to death.
One of the squad members named jeff shot the question himself.
"what happened Boss you look kinda gloomy".
Marco came back to the present. He felt annoyed about being disturbed by Jeff "nothing asshole today your quota for exercise is doubled enjoy it".
Jeff felt regret for poking his boss. He forgot that his boss is as dangerous as a hornet's nest.
Everyone rejoiced at the misfortune of jeff.
Even the kids couldn't help but laugh they knew it all too well to not disturb the boss when he is thinking something. This fool deserved it.
"Alright line up everyone there is a minor announcement ".
all of the soldiers in the squad aligned themselves as usual. Marco stood in front of them.
"We are going into the forest in a few days. So prepare your gear and I will also buy all our supplies".
Everyone was slightly disappointed as rainy days are the worst days to be in the forest. It would be good if it was just normal rain but few times there would be fast winds blowing across the forest coming from the mountains if their luck is bad tall trees might be toppled or broken in half. And few of the water or air attributed magical beasts gets excited.
But Marco gave them a piece of soothing news "don't worry guys this is just a practice mission so we are just going to the bluestone valley that is in the east part".
A collective sighs came out from the soldiers. Bluestone valley is the calmest part of the Desolate forest so there won't be any unwelcome occurrences.
Marcus's brain was ringing a bell. 'why is it a practice mission this time it is not like there are any rookies in the squad wait...'. his expression changed suddenly from contemplation to surprise. His mouth opened instinctively.
Marco noticed this a faint smile crept upon his lips "correct kid this is the practice session for you kids and there seems to be something wrong in the bluestone valley so we will go and check. Now continue with the routine ". Marcus shooed all of them off.
Marcus and Leon were excited. The way they trained showed it all. Their energy was off the charts after their training session Marcus and Leon sparred with each other.
In the first bout, it ended with Leon winning. He lured Marcus by leaving an opening. Marcus did not fall for it but both of them knew if they keep on fighting they might just go on for hours and hours so Marcus decisively took the chance irrespective of the danger ahead. But, this time Leon acted even more cunningly and attacked Marcus with a hidden practice dagger. Marcus noticed his unusual hand movements towards his belt. So, he prepared himself and he attacked. the moment he noticed that it was a dagger he slashed at Leon with both of the kukris. but Leon blocked one with his sword and the other one managed to hit Leon's sword hand before Leon Brought the dagger to his stomach. The soldier acting as a referee called off the match and declare Leon as the winner.
Leon gave a smile "it is even now isn't it?".
Both of them created a calculation for their fights. Whenever one wins they add one to their score and whenever one loses they subtract one from their scores. So now after going through almost a year of sparring with each other they knew each other's tricks quite well. Marcus is usually the shameless one who uses hidden weapons and side weapons. Leon was using a dagger in a spar for the first time.
Marcus mocked his use of dagger"seems like you are also using some out of the box methods taught by the boss, who would have thought the great knight wannabe Leon will use a dagger in a fight isn't it bad for your reputation? Sir Knight".
The referee laughed after listening to it.
Marco intruded them in the middle "well the little squirt managed to make the big squirt use a dagger after all the Bravado he showed. So he deserves half a win but a loss is still a loss so your scores are equal I assume".
"yes, boss!".
"Okay now stop dilly-dallying come at me both of you the one who manages to hit my vitals will get 5 points and you remember it right the first one to reach 10 points will get a personal gift from me".
Enthusiasm filled their already worn-out bodies. They both backed away a bit and took the stance and charged at Marco "hmm! You guys won't learn at all".Marco smirked at them and stood there like a statue. But the moment the squirts reached him. His sword left its sheath in a flash. He swung it pointing it slant to the ground. A wave of dust flew forward both Marcus and Leon felt Apprehensive towards that and stopped in their tracks. The boss they knew was not this strong. There was a dark aura around the sword. They understood what it was they have seen it before but it was from Baron's sword or Kight Derma's sword. It was the aura and their boss Just materialized Aura which meant.
Single thought went through all the squad that was around sparring with their partners. \
'boss broke through'!!!
all of a sudden the whole squad cheered and shouted out loud. But there was no other squad around to share this happiness as all of them have already left long ago.
In the gloomy and cloud covered Corinth all the squads will have a feast tonight and a big one at that.
As breaking through to stage two is already quite an achievement. And one who breaks through to stage two will be promoted at least 4 squads will be given to him for command. And their rank would be elevated to vice-captain. Making him the youngest vice-captain in the history of the beast guard.