Surprisingly, there were no duels scheduled during our second week. For whatever reason, the class seemed to wordlessly agree to lounge and relax in the common areas of the Bodhi Tree. The gyms were packed, the cafeteria was filled with idle chatter. And at any moment throughout the day, cliques and individuals could be seen wandering to and fro the many points of interest within the roots.
Including me.
Free of the presence of my teammates, I elected to spend the day doing my rounds to see how my friends have been faring. Luckily, I managed to spot a few of them entering for breakfast and corralled them to a vacant table in a hidden corner.
"Someone's been hogging all the attention," Roheisa smirked at me before leaning into her console. "I hear you're forming a guild?" She teased.
"The best guild in all the realms." I laughed.
"So I've heard." She giggled in an uncomfortably serious manner. "You've captured the attention of many of my peers. Ash, Zohnos, and Zarzok in particular. The arrogant types. Well." She turned away with a curious smile. "Most of them."
"Right." I nodded, then turned to face Jaimess and the others. "How are they? Your party members."
"Eh." Toril shrugged, muttering into his ale. "Zarzok's annoying. Phelaia doesn't say much. Then there's Amethyst and Lucia."
"Mine are a bunch of weirdos." Jaimess snorted dryly. "But they're good people. Most of them anyway. They're all the strong, overbearing types so I generally try to keep my distance. But." He leaned across the table, a cunning grin spread across his face. "I was approached by Lance. He wanted me to introduce him to you."
"Really?" Roheisa asked, sending flakes of eggs and burnt ends flying all over the table. "What'd you say?"
"I told him to introduce himself." Jaimess laughed. Then looked at me. "Are you going to meet him?"
"I might." I shrugged. "I'm a lot more interested in Zeke though."
"Silva?" Jaimess raised a brow. "He's the weirdest of them all. He's like a statue. Doesn't talk to anyone. Just stands there and smiles most of the time. But." He leaned in with a devious grin. "He has a silent feud with one of the Epethian Dukes. They not only share the same name but the same initials as well. The kid's name is Zeke Smeal. And both are so proud that they hate the other for no other reason. What's funnier is that they're on the same team. Along with Lance, one of the lizardfolk, and a kobold."
"That's good to know." I scratched my grinning chin. "Thank you."
Over the next few hours, our small talk went on to cover a variety of things. From Classes to studies, to new spells. Eventually, we were joined by Ed and Lucia and continued until we went our separate ways just before 8 am.
Well, they did. I remained at the table and smoked for a bit before wandering aimlessly around campus. My mind was lost in empty thought until a warm hand came to jostle my shoulder. Gently stirring me from my daydreams.
Turning about, I saw the objects of my earlier conversation. A tall, lanky boy with somewhat elvish features- minus the pointed ears. And behind him, the giant himself.
"Good morning, Amun." Zeke boomed in a beast-like- almost purring voice. He was, for lack of a better description, giant. So tall and stacked with muscle that he made Emperor Deapou and Grandpa Lich look closer to my size. And everything, from his dress to his hair, reminded me of a Roman emperor. Lightly tanned skin, black curly hair tied into a single braid that trailed down his back like a tail. And a head that somehow never bent itself towards the ground. Even while he lowered himself a few degrees to punctuate his greeting.
"May we talk?" He rose to his full height and gestured between the three of us.
"Zeke. Lance." I nodded to them both. Then gestured down the hall. "Lead the way."
"It is us who disturbed your peace." Zeke shook his head. "You choose the destination."
"Alright." I turned with a shrug. Then wordlessly led them to the courtyard I and the other Maruleans passed through upon our arrival.
It was a wide, pentagonal alcove walled on three sides by the towering roots that served as the interior. Leaving the doors to the hub and the road trailing to the Bifrost as the only other borders to the miniature nature reserve installed within.
After leading them to an ambiguous spot, I sat in the shade of a tree and pulled out a cigarette. Then, I waited. Watched Lance sit on a sun-soaked bench while Zeke sat cross-legged on the ground between us.
I'd nearly made it through my smoke before someone- until Lance broke the silence. "It's so quiet here." He sighed, looking up to the sun.
My eye twitched in confusion, but I sat and waited for him to continue nonetheless. As did Zeke, a placid smile on his face, just as Jaimess said.
Lance, however, was clearly troubled about something; or at the very least, concentrated on choosing the right words. He kept squinting, flickering his radiant-yellow eyes back in forth while his lips silently twitched and muttered. Only for him to ruffly his white-blonde hair and start the process over again.
And again.
And again, until he eventually looked at me with some sort of resolve or conviction or courage that I couldn't quite place.
"My name is Lancelot Morningstar, of the Lux families." He stared his star-like eyes into the pockets of darkness that were mine. "Heir to the Polaris Empire."
"I am Amun." I nodded politely, half-preparing to explain my lack of a surname. Yet he only nodded in acknowledgment of my words. "Heir to the Odissian Empire."
"Zeke Silva." The beastly man growled next. "A member of the Silva Clan. But we have no heirs. Only candidates."
'Interesting.' I nodded. Then turned back to see Lance squinting and muttering to himself again. So I went first. "It seems we have more in common than mere Classes or opposing affinities," I said, shifting my gaze between them. "What was it like, growing up as a royal child and an heir; or candidate, of an empire?"
"It was… hard." Lance squinted while saying the last word as if it were more a question than an answer. "It was only books. Lessons. Drills. Expectations to live up to and demands of what I should be. The military leader that will take Polaris past the Steam Line."
"Must've been hard." I tried to sympathize.
But he wrenched his face at me as if I'd just spoken to him in goblin or something. "What was it like for you?" He shook his head.
"I was given lessons too." I shrugged. "Mostly in history and how to use my sorcery. But I've always been free to learn and do what I want. Even as a child, I was encouraged to find my own path in life."
"Your guild?" Zeke guessed. "I've heard about your wish to explore the realms."
"That is what I've decided." I nodded, not removing my eyes from Lance. "Yes."
"I envy you, Amun." Lance deflatedly sighed. "Yet, I can't understand why you want your guild to operate in Maru. Why?" She shook his head again. "Most, if not all guilds explore and eventually settle in Nonus, if not Betrarth. If their affinities allow them to, some go past the Steam Line or find a way up the White Wall. But, why Maru?"
"Because Maru is under tension," I replied simply. "The Nonus-Maru portal may be sealed off on this side, but I can't believe the same is true for the other realms. If so, hordes of hostile entities from each of the worlds have been occupying an entire continent for centuries. Legions of them." I chuckled dryly. "Held back by a single barrier."
"So… you'll go past the barrier and just… kill them all?" Lance slowly asked.
"I'll kill whoever attempts to kill me or those I care about." I nodded. "But basically, yeah." I shrugged.
"You truly are lucky!" Lance cackled in a sudden show of emotion. "You've been blessed with the right to forge your own destiny. You are unbounded in the sky. But I, like all stars, remain trapped in our waltz across the sky."
"But you don't want to dance?" I guessed. "You want to walk away from the military and form your own path, don't you?"
"I don't know what I want to do." He shook his head with a deep sigh.
"Well." I shrugged. "I feel as if I'm in no position to tell you what you should or should not do. I can only tell you what I'd do if I were in your position."
"And what is that?" He looked up with brimming eyes.
"I'd focus on living in the moment. I'd concentrate on learning about myself and the world- the people around me. I'd try everything available to me at this wonderful place." I gestured around us. "In time, I'm sure I'll find inspiration. We have at three years left, after all."
"Yeah." He slowly nodded as my words clearly took hold. "I suppose you're right."
"Yeah." I nodded in turn while shifting my gaze to Zeke. "And what about you? What are you, exactly?"
"What am I?" He furrowed his brows, yet beamed wide.
I, however, stayed silent and tuned my eyes to his spiritual body once again. Only to see the same flickering visage of his real body obscuring the contents of his spirit.
Almost as if he were hiding something.
"Yeah." I nodded. "What are your goals. And, you know, they say I'm from a family of devils. Lance is from a family of angels. And you, presumably, are from a clan of beast-men?"
"Bahaha! We have beastly qualities, sure!" He boisterously laughed. "But we Silvanians are no more beastly than the Nox Family or the Lux Houses."
"Nox?" I asked. Causing them both to turn to me with wrenched faces and wrinkled brows.
"That is you." Zeke shook his head this time. "Do you not know your family history?"
"A part of it." I nodded. "It's not as simple as reading books or hearing stories though."
"In that case, it is not my place to tell you." Zeke bared his palms in good faith. Then raised a single, massive finger. "However! I'm certain that I can tell you that we." He gestured between the three of us. "Come from the original Sorcerers. Though yours are far older than mine. And yours is the eldest." He gestured to me.
"Your other question is why I am here." He continued. "My Clan seeks to help and protect others. That responsibility is passed from leader to leader. And rather than deciding by votes or conclaves, the position is given to whoever obtains the Prestige Class of our ancestor."
"And I don't suppose you'll tell us what that Class is?" I inquisitively grinned.
"If and when I obtain it, yes." He grinned. "And whether I do or do not, I will undoubtedly assist you in reclaiming Ulai. For so long has it been the dream of our Amazonian citizens to return to their homeland."