To say I was dumbfounded was an understatement. One second before asking me to join he had threatened me, but I guess being on guard comes with fighting in a war.
"I'm sorry, I don't even know where I am." I sounded lost and true to that statement I was. Claire was being more frantic now. From below, hands waved in the air as a red-faced Claire continued to yell at me.
"AIDAN! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" She screamed even louder. I dopped to the ground quickly afraid to cause anymore ruckus. Before my feet could fully land, Claire's hand contacted my face causing me to topple over, nearly landing on the little kid still hugging my neck.
"Jesus Claire!" I mumbled. I get that she was mad that I had run off to save this girl, but she had no right to hit me.
"Don't ever run off on your own!" She was upset. I had run off and left her all alone.
"What would I do if something happened to you? What if you had died? What would I do then?" I didn't respond to her questions. I think it was the tears in her eyes or maybe my own, but I couldn't speak. My throat was dry and hands sweaty.
"ANSWER ME AIDAN!" She yelled, stomping her right foot, face pleading.
"I'm sorry…" I couldn't bring myself to look at her. I couldn't bear the look she was giving me. I couldn't bear the fear that was radiating off of her.
"Why are you yelling at the boy?" Turning around Claire and I saw that a crowd had gathered. It was the citizens and army that were still alive.
"He saved my life!" A child proclaimed, stepping forward into the middle of the street were Claire and I stood. Another person came out of the crowd and stood by the child.
"Thank you for saving my daughter, young Sir." She bowed her head ever so slightly. I looked at her in confusion. How had I saved the kid? I only saved the one that was hugging me. I looked back at the child to see that she had fallen asleep. I put the child down against a wall of one of the buildings.
"You're welcome." I smiled back at the pair, thanking God that they were safe.
"In fact, you saved all of us." The parent stated, her gaze looking around at the nodding heads of others. "If it weren't for you stepping up our army would have been defeated."
"Oh no, I didn't do anything special, I was just trying to get to my friend." I rambled while motioning to Claire.
"My offer stills stands." The commander walked up beside me. I didn't know what to say so I just blurted out again, "Where am I?"
All of the townsfolk froze. After awhile the commander laughed and asked, "You really don't know where you are?" I just shook my head; I really didn't know. "You're in Sistema, Kid. This town is called Amperlik. It's not too far from the capital."
"Not that far from the capital?" I asked, trying to confirm whither he was pulling my leg or not.
"The capital is only about 5 miles from here. If you're on foot you could get there in a couple of hours maybe." He stated. This was a stroke of luck that the portal had sent us here. Now we only have to walk for a little bit. "Are you heading to the capital, Kid?" He asked me.
"Yeah…" I didn't know if we were really heading that way, but I guess we were now.
"Are you going to join the knight's squad or the mages squad?" He asked. Like I would know what any of that means.
"Can you not join both?" The commander laughed at my question.
"Not that I've ever heard of, but you could be the first to pass both I guess."
"Aidan! We're not joining the knight's squad or the mage's squad! We're going to the capital for something else remember." Claire walked up to me, angry that I had even thought of this. I looked at Claire and realized that she didn't look like her normal happy self but then I remembered way and my blood boiled with rage. Rage that I could not contain.
"I'll try out for both of them!" I stated to the commander and Claire. I wasn't just going to stand still while more innocent people die. I was going to fight back and become strong. Strong enough to kill Bernard Shaw.
"That's great to know! I can get some of my men to teach you swordsmanship if you want."
"I thought that your squad was a mage squad. Was it not?" I asked, confused on why they could use magic but had knights.
"Well, we have a mix of both. They have been doing this lately because of the war." He sighed. "The bright side to all of this is that the mages and knights that were once separated are now integrated and work alongside each other." Claire then yanked on my arm turning my head to face her.
"Think about this carefully, What happened if you get caught? What happened if Danqulin find you mixed amongst these innocents?" She spat out the word innocents like it was venom, poison that rotted her mouth.
"I'm doing this for the innocent people. I can't sit around when I could be out there saving these people." I spat back at her hoping she would change her mind.
"Fine, do this for these people. These people that you don't even know! But what about me? I don't want to do this. Did you ever think of what I feel! What if something happened to you? What would I do without you?" she yelled desperately. I stepped back in shock, the sudden fear struck me, freezing me to the bone. Suddenly, the air around me became thick and I couldn't breathe but everyone else looked fine. Was it just me? I grabbed my chest, holding my top with a great deal of force.
"Aidan?" Claire asked me, a look of concern began to form on her still blistering red face. I couldn't answer her because I couldn't breathe. I was in a foreign place with strangers that think I'm some hero but in reality I'm the guy that let my best friend and family die.
"Y-yeah?" I managed to stutter after a while of silence. I began to calm down. I knew that I needed to calm down to think and thinking was the best thing I could do in the current situation.
"What are you going to do then?" She asked calmy to me. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to follow the commander to the capital and enter the knight's squad as well as the mages squad. I was going to go on missions and protect everyone. I was going to become stronger to protect Claire. I was going to do all of this, and no one was going to stop me.
"I'm going to the capital to become a knight or mage." I declared to everyone present. I knew Claire had already known what I was going to do, and I also knew that see couldn't stop me.
"That's great kid! Our squad has to take a detour to the capital so we won't be there for about another month or so, but feel free to come with us and we can teach you the basics of swordsmanship." He smiled with his eyes closed, I could tell that he was a kind man.
"I will take you up on that offer." I smiled back to him, happy that I had found a new goal.