The grand welcome to the citadel ended abruptly, the men who had brought Weston here escorted him inside, along with the other candidates. Passing through the magnificent building's threshold felt as if intense weight had been applied to Weston and his fellow candidates, as if their bodies had been stacked upon by endless weights the further they walked through the gates. Weston was taken away from the group of candidates with two others. They were brought to a room that resembled an armory without weapons, the racks and armor stands were there but there was nothing laid out upon them. The men locked the room where Weston and the four other candidates stayed, they were alone. The boy to Weston's left was the first to speak, "What is all this, do any of you know?" he said with a slight tremble in his voice. No one answered immediately, whether they were too struck with fear or simply because they did not know. Weston started to say something until the girl behind him cut him off with "I don't know, but we should be wary." she said almost in a whisper.
Weston took this opportunity to speak to the group, "Well seeing as we were separated in this group of three, maybe there are other groups like ours. My name is Weston, what are your names?" Weston asked, wanting to not feel isolated any longer. The girl who had been behind Weston spoke first "I'm Naomi" she said, Naomi was about average height, she had long black hair and piercing green eyes, she was slender yet looked like she could throw each and everyone of them across the room without breaking a sweat. The boy from earlier, who spoke first began to speak again "my name is Daniel" He said with an intense look, he was almost as tall as Weston, his hair was a dirty blonde and he had tired looking eyes normally, blueish gray in color.
After the group's short introductions, the sound of metal footsteps on stone could be heard outside the room they were in. The lock clicked on the old wooden door and it swung open revealing the armor clad person they had seen atop the walls when the carts had first arrived. The person removed their helmet to reveal a woman in her early 30s with scars across her face. She then spoke up to Weston and his group, "Candidates, Weston, Naomi and Daniel. Your group is Red Dragon, the first team to be formed. You will be working, living and training together during your time here" She said, putting back on her helmet and leaving the room. The men who led them to this room unbound their hands and led them to a second area, a living space with three rooms. The door to this living space was locked behind the group, looking ahead they could see a common room with chairs and a table and what looked to be three doors along the wall. Each of these doors had one of their names on it, Weston's was in the middle. He entered his room as the others entered their own rooms, on the bed in his room laid two different outfits. One was probably the everyday uniform, a tunic and pants with a leather chest piece and a cloak with a red dragon on the back, the last piece of this outfit was an armband with the word "Squad Leader" written on it. The other clothing set looked to be for training, a short sleeved tunic and long pants, each piece containing the red dragon emblem. Weston changed into the uniform on his bed and looked around his new room. There was one window on the back wall, it looked out into the courtyard where they had been separated into groups of three, the height told Weston they were probably on the second floor. In the corner of the room near the window was a desk and chair, on top of the desk were a few books: Silmerian History, Warfare Tactics, basics in summoning and High Lord History. The one that stood out to him the most was summoning, Weston knew that magic existed in this world, but it was extremely rare to find anyone who could do more than a basic fire spell in his village.
After inspecting a few minor things in the room, Weston left the room and sat in the common lounge, a few minutes later Naomi and Daniel had also joined him. They too were wearing their uniforms, everything was identical besides the armband. Naomi's had the words "Vanguard Leader" and Daniels said "Ranged Leader", noticing this they all came to a similar conclusion, they were more confused than before. They sat in complete silence for the next two hours until the lock on their door could be heard opening, a new man they had not seen before entered and what he said left the three in shock and terror. "Red Dragon, it seems you've already equipped the uniform, good! That saves us some time. Follow me, it's time for you to meet the rest of your squad." the man said motioning to the three to follow him. With looks of worry towards each other, the group followed the man, not knowing the magnitude of change this would cause.