Avalon Code 2

Prologue: Before the beginning

The day started with a knock on my front door.

"Hey! Tia! Wake up! Gustav and his son have been looking for you in town square and the alleys!"

I woke with a dizzy feeling. I stood and held onto my bed post for support. As I did this the annoying knocking continued.

"Tia!!"

"Rex!" I yelled back. I quickly put on my skirt and tights as he opened the door. Rex went to sit at my desk on the end of my little bed.

"Writing hero stories again?" he asked while looking at the many papers spread across the wood surface. "Stop dreaming, Tia. Things like that will never come true for kids like us. We are only orphans. No one cares about us. We will never be more than what we are now."

I stopped buttoning my green vest. "I do not believe that is all we will ever be," I whispered.

"What? Ya' say something, Tia?"

"No. Nothing," I waved the thoughts away and finished putting on my clothes.

When I was finished I looked down at my clothes and felt satisfied. "Perfect," I said and grinned.

Rex sat in the desk chair backwards. He looked up and laughed. "Tia, you still have a bed head." He got up and came over trying to sort out my orange hair. My face felt warm. "I can fix my own hair!" I said as I shoved his hands out of my messy short hair. I started to brush my hair with my fingers when I felt something hard and square in with the tangles.

I took a small mirror off the table in the middle of the house and held it up to my face. "What is this?" I looked at the pink and red hair decoration.

"Think of it as an early birthday present," I turned to see Rex gently smiling.

"Rex-," I started, but he held up his hand to stop me. I thought it best not to fight.

"Thank you," I said. I turned toward the mirror again. "It is so pretty! Rex, where did you get it?"

He hesitated. "Romaioni."

I dropped the mirror and turned toward him quickly. "Rex!" I ran over to him. "No! Romaioni always has to high of prices!" I continued to babble about Romaioni.

"Tia! Tia! It's okay. That brat owes me some favors. It was practically nothing at all."

I stared at him. "Okay."

"Okay." He walked over to the front door and opened it. "Gustav is waiting for you."

I nodded and followed him out the door, grabbing my pink coat as I left. I heard Rex laughing behind me and muttering, "Her and her mixed up clothes." I giggled, too, as I ran to the training hall to receive my punishment for being late. Again.

I stopped in front of the large marble building. To be honest, Master Gustav has always scared me a little. He is very aggressive. I took one last, deep breath and reached out to the door when I heard someone calling my name.

"Miss Tia!"

I turned to see a young man with dark, red hair coming out of the home next to the training hall. "Oh! Duran. Hello."

He ran over to me. "Hello. Um, I just wanted to wish you luck. Dad can be harsh."

I looked the boy up and down. He was a few years older than me. He also seemed nothing like his father. Kind. Shy. Innocent.

"Thank you," I said with a warm smile. When I did this his face turned pink. Despite his father being master of the twin blades, Duran was not what one would call "Hero Material". He was taller than me, but of course he was older, too. Also, he was really skinny. He is just not the first person you would think would want to run into battle. But he did dream big, like me, and I admired that.

I turned back to the door. I noticed I was trembling. C'mon Tia! I opened the doors and walked inside.

"That isn't good enough! Faster! Harder! Stronger! Again!"

I fell to the ground for the hundredth time. I gasped for the sweet air to return to my chest. I lay on the floor with the wind knocked out of me. My two rusty swords lay beside me, yet just out of reach. As my struggle continued Gustav squatted until he could lean over me.

"You don't stand correctly. You are not strong. You are not fast. You are not brave. And most of all you do not care." I turned away feeling frustrated tears. "Plus you are always late. Get out of my sight. I can't look at you now."

This made me so angry that I grabbed my sword and charged at my teacher as he was walking away from me with his back turned.

Right before my blade made contact he used both his swords to block me then push me off balance. "Get out!!"

I had to get away. I ran. Out of the practice hall. Out of Rhoan. I ran until I reached Sunny Hill. I went to the edge of the cliff and gazed out at Kalelia.

I was crying still. Furious I screamed, "Who needs you!" over the town I grew up in.

I fell back on the grass, frustrated. The warm sun felt good on my face. The sweet smell of the grass dulled my senses. The cool breeze chilled my tears and sweat. I watched the beautiful rain clouds move toward the Wasien Empire.

I began to doze off.