Sunrise came too freaking soon.
Zayn groans, grabbing her pillow and pushing the soft pillow over her helmet. Gods, why does the sun have to rise so freaking soon? Can't a girl get another hour of (not really, but I guess) beauty sleep? Gods-.
"Zayn," there's a really small, soft hand that shakes her shoulder, "Zayn, girl, we have to get up. It's time to get ready for training."
Zayn groans, turning over to see Amur, sitting up at the end of their bed and already brushing her brown hair.
"Let's not be late on our first day," Amur continues, standing up to put on her training armor. "And we both know you take forever."
Zayn grumbles, but doesn't argue, rolling out of bed and onto the floor, feeling the ground shake and definitely hearing a few wooden boards crack.
"Zayn!" Amur yells, which makes Zayn roll her eyes and stand up, rubbing the back of her helmet.
"I heard you, okay-okay, sorry yeah-." Zayn reaches for her training armor and begins to strip her night wear, "I'm hurrying up."
...
Not too long after, there's a soft knock on Zayn and Amur's door. Amur and Zayn share a look before Amur opens the door to see Clarke and Chase on the other side, both of them wearing practice gear and way too big smiles on their face for this early.
"Chase, what happened to you," Amur said, her expression filled with disgust, "why are you smiling like that?"
"Oh," Chase said, his expression changing to a sheepish grin, "had a great meal and a great sleep. Can't a man ever find happiness? Women."
Zayn ignores Amur and Chase's bickering before greeting Clarke, walking besides her as she guides them to-.
"Captain realized that you probably don't know where the training grounds are," Clarke said, swinging her hands behind her back, her hands continuously knocking the sheathed twin blades attached to her leather belt, "so I told him I'd take you there this morning."
"Yeah, I'm not the best with directions," Zayn said, grimacing, "so I'd so make us late.Thank you for the guidance."
"Oh, no problem at all!" Clarke smiles, patting Zayn's back again, this time with a lot more strength then before, "this place is pretty big, so let me do you the honors!"
...
Black Fawne's grounds are big, and if it is left to Zayn, she would never find the training grounds. In fact, she probably would never see Clarke and Captain again because--holy crap!
Zayn can't tell you the amount of steps she's jogged down, rooms she's passed with knights hanging around, studying, filling out paper work--Zayn has never been to school before, but if she could imagine what school would be like, it'd be this.
Clarke takes the trio across a grassy land, and finally--finally, Zayn hears the sound of clashing metal, and she knows there near.
"So we'll have you train with the recruits today," Clark said, smiling at the trio, "we're cutting down the group to about 30 recruits, but it'd be a great opportunity for you all to get a feel with how we train, and it's also a chance for us to see some of your skills."
Zayn nods her head, suddenly becoming nervous. Training? With recruits? Zayn may be strong, but she's not really a fan of violence, but I guess that'll be hard to avoid while being some accidental hero that's finally been found? Which is still soooo confusing and-wait, does that mean she has to train with all these people--what if she does bad--what if she trips--what if-?
"Hey!" Excalibur--its loud voice in her head cuts her thoughts short, "would you kill the anxiety down a bit? That's really not going to help you control that strength of yours."
Zayn opens her mouth to speak, and shuts it quickly after--how is she suppose to respond and not look like a crazy person-?
"Hello, I'm in your thoughts," Excalibur said, huffing in frustration, "so like, respond with your thoughts, genius-."
"Oh right," Zayn responds to Excalibur in her thoughts, sheepishly smiling, "Forgot about that--because it's totally normal to respond to people through your thoughts--right."
Excliabur mutters a few choice words before they continue, "the more anxious you feel, the less likely you'll be able to control that monstrous strength. So like, chill."
Zayn rolls her eyes, rubbing the back of her head. Clarke motions them to an open field, where groups of soldiers stand, facing the large podium and stage ahead of them. There's at least a hundred of soldiers on the field. There all young--at least Zayn's age, maybe a few years older or younger, but they all are diverse--they have different weapons, different shades of hair and eyes--they all probably came from different small towns and smaller villages, excited for the chance to become a Black Fawne knight. It makes Zayn wander is she really deserves to be standing in her place. She 's a little strong--sure--and she may have picked up some freakishly weird holy sword (spear, but okay), but she's never really liked the whole going to war and fighting thing. She'd rather honestly watch paint dry, and that says a lot, because she kind of does that every day.
"The three of you," Clarke said, smiling at the trio, "don't worry, we just have you here to keep everything on the low for now! You'll be training first here, and then we may have a few duals. I think it'll be a great way to see who you may be fighting with and--well--it'll definitely help us see some your strengths and weaknesses."
"So we're being tested," Chase mutters, pursing his lips, "This'll be fun."
Clarke motions them to join the rest of the recruits. Zayn, Amur, and Chase stay at the back, eyeing the recruits as they interact with each other, practice off by themselves, and some of them even give the group a few very interesting looks, ones Amur notice right away.
"If they keep looking at us like that," Amur said, nudging Zayn's arm, "I'll so kick their asses."
Zayn smiles, nudging Amur back.
Clarke walks forward, nodding her head and smiling as many of the recruits bow and excitedly greet her. She walks through the crowd until finally, she lands near the poduim, where soon after that man from before—Jeremiah--meets her at the poduim and waves at the crowd.
"Okay so that's the captain guy," Chase said, pointing towards Jeremiah; the man matches Clarke in his training gear, but wears a really nice and fancy cape, "and were we suppose to know the red-head chick?"
"That's Clarke," a voice said from next to Amur. Zayn turns her head, meeting eyes with a tall girl with pale skin, bright green eyes, and long jet black hair. She has almost too evenly cut bangs that reach her brow crease, and there's a big birthmark on her neck, but it doesn't take away from her beauty--not at all--. "Her nickname is literally Scarlet on the battlefield. Did you do any research before showing up here to join--I don't know--one of the most pretisgious guilds in the world. Jeez--these recruits suck."
Amur glares at the taller girl, baring her nonexistent fangs, which forces the other girl to back away in surprise.
"Buzz off," Amur said, "no one asked you."
The taller girl glares at Amur back, pursing her lips.
"Shrimp," the girl huffs out. Amur quickly turned her head, her hands clutched into fist.
"What did you just say-?!" Amur begins to say, but she gets cut off by a loud clearing of the throat. Zayn looks up, meeting eyes with Jeremiah, who quickly looks away, a soft pink to his cheeks.
"Recruits," Jeremiah said, alerting everyone to face forward with his voice, "thank you for choosing Black Fawne. We're honored to have you."
Amur nudges Zayn, making a funny face at her. Zayn snorts, but keeps her attention on Jeremiah.
"There have been many of you that have shown a desire to join Black Fawne, and although we'd want to open our doors to all you, we must choose the best," Jeremiah said, meeting eyes with Clarke before he continues, "on that note, we'll be warming you up, and then me and Clarke will be watching you dual. We will pick the top 30 fighters from today as official considered candidates."
The hundred recruits stand straight, their hands on ther hearts, their hopes on their shoulders, and their minds ready to shed some blood.
"You better be ready, Ms. holy hero," Excalibur said, "they'll be watching you—extra."
Zayn swallow and looks up, meeting eyes with Jeremiah.
"Let's begin," Jeremiah said. The crowd cheers.