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The Sun rose from the dunes steadily and with it the dull sands regained its vitality, turning into gold that had a crimson aura.
Following the sun, a group of people riding a humped monster rose from one of the dunes, hauling along a carriage enveloped in khaki sheets. The humped monster shared a close appearance to camels, but the difference in their sizes alone was a distinguishing factor. The people that rode them were lightly armoured with a vest like armour, greaves and half length gauntlets. Besides the plain clothes they wore, a dull coloured shawl covered their nose and mouth and was tied around their neck.
There was close to hundred people with half of them guarding the rear. And about half of them were treading the sands on their foot, without a shred of irritation.
The covered carriage could have been mistaken for trading goods, if the desert winds striking the sheet had not made them sank into the carriage resulting in the protrusion of a row of bars, and the monstrous growls, that seemed a bit undeveloped.
One of the travellers riding the monster asked the one in the lead, a bit sceptically, pointing to the covered carriage:
"Are you sure this will help us in taking over the empire?"
The one moving in the front, stopped on hearing the question. As a result, the entire procession was halted. If not for the howls of the winds, the atmosphere could have induced nervousness in an observer. Nonetheless, the one who asked the question was sweating.
The leader of the team, slowly walked to that person, his ruthless eyes seemed to have fixed on the soul of that person. The eyes of that person now trembled in fear, as he remembered the warnings of his team mates and elders: "Never disrespect the Lord!"
Fearing his life, he frantically shouted: "You can't kill me! I am from..."
Like magic, that person seemed to have disappeared. But the person walking by the now disappeared person's side, had a look of awe instead of fear. He saw the loudmouth buried by the sands, without the leader doing anything, as his ride was left behind with a circle of red sand around it that reeked of blood.
"None shall disrespect the Lord!" The leader whispered.
He shifted his piercing gaze to the unafraid person standing by the now unoccupied monster.
"State your name and rank!"
With a blood boiling cry , that contained the passion of a teenager he said:
"Dexter! Rank 4! Order of Gaia!"
"Good! Take the ride!" The leader said, as his eyes seemed happy and reverent, when Dexter shouted with passion 'Order of Gaia'.
He turned back facing the west as he pointed forward and shouted: "As the Lord commanded and Gaia willed, time has come for us to rise from the sands of our ruin. With the sacrifice of the heretics of the false Empire, Equas shall enter a new era, an era of prosperity! To the West!"
None noticed the shrewd look of Dexter as he fixed his gaze on the West, in between the ravings of a fanatic.
...
Going far to the West, the sands slowly turned green and started embracing life. Further into West, a majestic empire thrived.
In a classroom in the capital of the empire, contrary to normal people's expectation, the class was paying complete attention to the lecture of the teacher.
"After you accumulate the vital energy to the limit of your body and you form a vital seed in your heart, you will be respected as a ...."
And the one person that would never be caught lazing, due to his more than a decade of practice in 'paying attention', was diving in his own world. A handsome face with black dreamy eyes and black hair with a shade of green.
...
To this day, Charles, could not forget the day he died playing a game and was later reborn in a medieval magical world to Baron Novark.
The people called the world, Gaia and the continent he was in was called Equas. Equas had five Empires, with rich history. But after the first calamity, the First Beast War, the empires reduced to four. Accompanied by two more such calamities, Equas ushered into a new stable era. The men who thought themselves superior and born for battle, died on a large scale without any surprise. As a result, of the four empires at present three are matriarchies while the last is what remained of the patriarchal era of empires. It was said that the source of power of the matriarchies was the power of magic while the last patriarchy strictly adhered to the power of knights and warriors, the power of vitality.
Charles lived in the Fire Maiden Empire, the matriarchal empire with the least age, of about 100 years. The empire was located at the north-western region of Equas. The capital, Ruby, was located near the Flame valley, north-eastern part of the empire.
Ruby, among many other important institutions, contained the Fire Forge Academy and the Holy Flame Academy, the number one academy for budding knights and mages respectively.
Charles was listening to the last lecture of his class in the Fire Forge Academy, as he went over his past memories in melancholy. He was wearing an elegant white full sleeved shirt draped over by a navy-blue vest and black pants and brown shiny boots. A wooden sword leaned on the bench on his side. His class teacher, a middle aged man with strong vitality and muscular physique, was ending his lecture as he spoke:
"Now, students, after today and when you reach 15, your trial by fire will begin. And all those who participate in this trial will be ranked as Squire or Knights, depending on your qualification. The trial by fire will happen at the BloodFire Colosseum in the capital, you will be facing a battle with a Rank 0 magic beast and will be rewarded cultivation techniques according to your performance. I wish you all the best! Now, disperse..."
After the class was dispersed, Charles equipped his wooden sword, to his iron buckled black belt, and walked out slowly. When he reached the door, his teacher called:
"Hey! Charles! Do your best for the trial, you are the face of our academy!"
"Yes, Sir Greem."
He replied as he shed his lazy posture and smiled to his teacher.
As he walked out, he was followed by the whole class. The institution had more girls than boys and same could be said of his class. Both the girls and boys of his class, and even other classes, had a look of reverence on seeing him, as he walked by them. Charles walked to the entrance calmly, as he nodded and smiled at everyone. Even the teachers, also looked at him feeling proud. He was the number 1 genius of the academy. Even though he was not a far-cry from the rest in battle prowess, his attitude and easygoing friendly personality made him a well-liked figure.
Suddenly a boy similar to his age, clad in elegant clothes with a sword sheathed behind him, his whole aura exuding nobility, blocked his path.
"Where do you think you are escaping to?"
Charles happily smiled as he walked towards the boy and as they made a fist-bump.
"How are you, Roland?'
"Us brothers and sisters are having a hard time holding off the princess! Nick has passed out and Asa has been holding her off for five minutes. The boot-lickers are engaged with Daisy and the rest of the gang. Come fast and deal with the mess you created, you blockhead."
Roland hit his chest lightly in fake anger as he ran off to one of the bigger training grounds. Charles followed him along with crowd around him. As they reached the training ground, they saw two feminine figures fighting, one was well endowed and a top beauty, but very aggressive, while the other was flatter than the capital roads, but looked gentle, pure and beautiful. On a closer look, the latter was, a boy. A trap, whom almost everyone fell for.
Around the duo, they were many people having duels, but one side was overwhelmed with numbers. Charles saw that his gang was outnumbered and while Asa and the princess seemed to be in an intense dual, the princess was just playing with him.
He told Roland to get the unconscious battle maniac, Nick, out and help the rest of the gang out and then called out loudly:
" Asa! Retreat! "
Hearing his voice, the training ground went into silence. All the duels stopped. Asa retreated to his side, or it was better to say, his opponent allowed him to. Asa came to Charles, with his head stooped down in disappointment as he almost said in tears: " I am sorry, Honorab... I mean Charlie. I am too weak."
Looking at the cute boy, a foot shorter than him, clad in clean white full sleeved shirt and black shorts of knee length, Charles felt himself tearing up as he said with a smile: "Don't worry, Asa. You are younger than her and you will get there eventually."
He looked at the fiery-red haired princess, dressed in a beautiful white full sleeved covered by a magnificent fiery-red waist band with a belt buckle for two swords and a light armoured red skirt with a gap in the front, that showed the full length white skirt underneath. Her orange yellow iris that enclosed the coal black eyes, drew the soul of those who looked into her eyes, like a moth to a flame. But the image of a beauty that should have been a far-cry from the models of his world was ruined by the fiendish , provoking, smile on her face.
Charles felt like he needed to make Asa happy... no, to regain his honour! He walked leisurely to the battle stadium in the training grounds. Facing her, he greeted:
" Fire demoness! I didn't hope you would prepare a send-off for me."