Morgan scoffed and left; after all, he knew he couldn't defeat either of the two boys in combat.
"I guess our friend doesn't like being called the third best, huh?" Jake laughed.
"Third? Then who is 1st and who is 2nd?" Timothy asked.
"Why, I'm the first, of course, and you're second," Jake responded with confidence.
"1st my ass, you have never defeated me in combat," Timothy retorted, and they started bickering.
The bickering lasted until they reached the gates of the inner wall. Here, they both got in without the need to pay any entrance fee or show a badge because they were already well-known by the guards, being the best of their class in the trainee regime. They both stood at the gate.
"It's crazy how this part of the city differs from that part; they are only separated by a wall, but you'd think they're in two different realms," Jake said with a sigh. Jake was correct; the difference between the inner city and the outer part was immense. The outer city was full of noise, smoke, and people crowded the whole place, but the inner part was quiet. All the buildings here looked like palaces, and their exterior was made from kací stone, a special type of stone that has a metallic color. The architectural design had a Gothic style to it, but at the same time, it also exuded a sense of holiness.
From a distance, one could see the palace of Saint Iver looking tall and majestic, and in the center of the city was the Cathedral—the destination of the boys. They continued to their destination in silence, but every now and again, Jake would steal a glance at Timothy, shaking his head as he looked away.
Timothy didn't notice Jake as he was thinking about what happened to him yesterday. He subconsciously touched the spot where the 'CHAINED' had bitten him, and this didn't go unnoticed by Jake, who was secretly observing him.
"What is wrong with your neck?" Jake asked with a concerned look.
"Huh?" Timothy looked startled.
"Your neck? You've touched that spot on your neck about six times since we left your house." Timothy looked at Jake with a blank expression.
"You have been counting, huh? Weird, it's nothing; I just feel a slight pain there." Jake scoffed at his response.
"Slight pain my ass. Anyways, it's cool if you don't wanna talk about it.... hey, look ahead," Jake said.
"Huh? What's going on? Why are they at the cathedral?" Timothy asked with a sense of fear escaping from his tone.
Up In front was the convoy that had dragon emblems on them. Many people who were supposed to get inside the cathedral to register for the knight exams were standing outside the cathedral, looking at the convoy In front of them. The knights of the city were helping offload crates from the wagons and taking them inside the cathedral. This lasted for about 30 minutes until all the crates were offloaded from the wagons and taken inside. Shortly after, two people came out from the cathedral—one of them was wearing black and red full armor with a dragon symbol on his chest plate and a majestic black cape with a red interior. He had no visible weapons, and his face was covered by his devil-styled helmet, with only his wheat-colored eyes visible. The other was wearing white robes made from the finest material and leather tie-on sandals with a smooth-shaved beard, black eyes, damp black hair, and olive skin. This man was none other than Saint Iver.
The two men stood in front of the cathedral, and Saint Iver moved forward, his deep voice resounding through the masses.
"Youths of Zebha, I have seen all your hard work and determination, how you are willing to fight for your kingdom. All of you here have been training relentlessly for the knight examination. It saddens me to tell you that the examination has been cancelled -...."
"What?!"
"Why??! After all we have gone through."
"No!"
"Is this a joke?"
All sorts of questions rang out, many even started cursing. Even Timothy and Jake were shocked, but they kept quiet and continued to listen.
"Silence!" They quickly kept quiet.
"As I was saying, the examination has been cancelled, but all of you will get a chance to prove yourselves in the real battlefield." He paused as he smiled at their confused gazes; he continued.
"By the power invested in me by the Sacred preacher, I officially ordain you all, KNIGHTS OF THE ZEBHA KINGDOM!"
The whole crowd went crazy. After all, being a knight was the dream of many because once you are knighted, you are officially a noble—well, a low-class noble but still a noble because the title came with perks like getting a small mansion in the inner city or a mansion in the outer city and getting paid 3 zers a month with other benefits. To many of the youths here, this was a dream come true, but not for Timothy. He knew something was wrong; otherwise, they wouldn't grant the knight title to a thousand youths without the examination.
"Something doesn't feel right; look at Saint Iver's eyes. That's not a look of joy..... it's a look of pity," Jake whispered to his friend.
Timothy saw it too, but there was nothing they could do. After all, they got what they have always wanted, but it didn't feel right being knighted without having proved themselves. As they were both in their thoughts, a group of knights came out of the cathedral, holding crates, and they placed them down in a straight line in front of Saint Iver.
"All of you come forth and pick a weapon. The weapon you pick will be your knight occupation. Tomorrow bring those weapons with you to be assigned to a team and get your full equipment," he instructed.
One by one, the youths went up to pick a weapon, and only Timothy and Jake hesitated. The man in the armor standing behind Saint Iver noticed this, and he started approaching the boys. Iver also noticed the two boys, but he kept quiet as he wanted to see how this was going to end.
"You two..... walk with me." The two boys looked up surprised to see the man in the armor standing before them.
Morgan also noticed the man approaching the two boys, so he was feeling excited, knowing that they might get their titles revoked. But to his surprise, the man didn't do as he initially thought. The two boys followed the man as he took them inside the cathedral, and once they got inside, the doors to the cathedral closed. The man kept walking until he reached the choir. Then he took off his helmet, letting his long blonde hair fall down his shoulders. His face was smooth with a sharp jawline; his wheat-colored eyes complimented his pale skin. The man had a smile on his face as he looked at the two boys who were staring at him with a look of shock.
"I can finally breathe; believe it or not, this helmet is pretty suffocating," he joked.
"Uh-uhm." The two boys were speechless.
"Why do you two look so surprised?" He asked.
"We-well, we thought you'd look like a -" "Different!! We thought you'd look different," Timothy quickly interrupted Jake,knowing he was about to spew nonsense.
"Hahahaha, oh yes, it must be the armor and helmet, isn't it? But never mind that. I believe you want to know why I brought you here?" His smile was gone, replaced by a serious expression.
The two boys nodded in response, as they both knew this matter was very serious. The man turned to look at the sculptures of angels and saints on the walls behind the choir with his hands behind his back.
"When Iver announced that all of you are now knights, I was observing the expressions of everyone, and among the batch, only the two of you had a different reaction from the rest. I want to know why?" He said with an overbearing tone, different from the one he showed when they entered the cathedral. From his words, the two boys clearly understood that the man before them was of a higher standing, even higher than Saint Iver. The man stood with his back facing the boys as he waited for their answer, and surprisingly, Timothy was the first one to talk.
"My Lord, the only reason we hesitated is because we felt like there is something we are not being told. Why would we suddenly be knighted without proper examination? It's as if the kingdom is desperate to increase their numbers, with most of these knights to serve as cannon fodder, but for what, I do not know," he answered truthfully.
By the time Timothy finished talking, the man was already looking at them with a hint of excitement. He asked again, "Just now you called me Lord, why?" This time Jake answered him.
"Well, it's simple, really. You are the first person we've heard that spoke of Saint Iver without using honorifics, plus the dragon symbol on your armor. It is -" The man interrupted Jake as if he didn't want him to reveal too many details about the symbol.
"That makes sense. I've never thought I'd see a Mesa and Tif'er in this part of the world (sigh). The world is changing," he looked at the two boys with a complicated gaze.
The Mesa race was known for their dark skin tone, while the Tif'er had a yellow skin tone with slender bodies. But the thing is, the people of the Tif'er were hard to come by, whereas the Mesa were rare but not that much, as every kingdom had a small number of them.
To Timothy, this was his first time learning about Jake's race because Jake was the only person with yellow skin he had ever seen. Jake didn't look too bothered about this and proceeded to look at the man before them before he looked back at them and said, "War is coming."