Hello long time no write everyone but I've been earnestly busy with life and trying to get my life on a good path with my future and career and all that nonsense but trying to pick up my creative outlet again. And I wanted to start by improving my old work so I re wrote Chapter 1 of Hunter X Knight please give it a chance and leave any suggestions as I try and reset this journey! Please comment subscribe follow…. I own nothing except my OCs
Deep in the Eudra continent, In the Kingdom of Masa, lies the capital city of Galom. A class is being held in a small schoolhouse down the road from the king's courtyard, right outside the palace. The classroom is full of young promising pages and squires learning about their countries' history. Their uniforms are plain boring white shirts with maroonish pants. Yet a boy stands out in spite of all that. Maybe just because he is sleeping.
"Duran...Duran...WAKE UP DURAN!" A voice yells.
Duran opens his eyes to see his teacher standing over him, at his desk. He quickly views the room to see his class staring and laughing as he is being scolded. Duran embarassingly blushes and put his head down in shame.
"I'm sorry Mr. Mangrel, It won't happen again."
"I'm sure I heard that before, If you can just teach the class for me and bring us up all to speed on our country's history, I'll let it go." Mangrel challenges.
Duran stands up and begins to move to the front of the class. He was a little taller than the rest of the kids in his class standing at 5'6 even though he was only 11. His classmates stay silent as he walks by and turns to face them.
"You can begin." Mangrel chuckles out.
"Well you see Professor, I was reading the history book for the 100th time late last night and I'm actually quite well versed in our kingdom's history. Our Kingdom of Masa was founded a 1000 years ago by King Cleon Masa The First, on this continent we have named Eudra. We have had more than 10 generations of King Cleon's offspring lead our country, personally I believe the greatest was King Crono. King Crono led our armies to bare arms against our rivals, The Kingdom of Mune. Crono led this march naming it "The Last Crusade" which developed the strongest border to date. Through some digging though, I'm starting to question our country's origin." Duran explains and pauses his speech momentarily.
The teacher and students stare wide-eyed as Duran runs back to his desk to grab something from his bag. He begins pulling out old tattered documents. Seeing these documents causes Mangrel to stand abruptly and begin ringing his bell.
"Class dismmissed!" Mangrel announces.
"But..but wait!" Duran pleads.
The kids cheer and rush out of the room in excitement, sadly Duran's plead falls on deaf ears. He shuffles disapointingly back to his seat to collect his things. A hand suddenly snatches the documents away from Duran.
"Hey, those are mine" Duran shouts.
The teacher ignores him and vigourouslgy anylazes the documents. Duran quiets down as he clearly ignored. He was actually up last night sneaking into the royal library and rummaging it for those very documents.
"Maybe he won't notice the royal seal on the back." Duran hopes.
"Wait, this is the royal seal!...So these are from the royal library, Where did you get these?" Mangrel sternly asks.
Duran backs away slowly as a faint bead of sweat starts to drip from his brow. If any of his masters finds out that he had stolen from the royal library he would be punished. He must get the documents back imediately. He begins by bowing apolegitacally.
"I'm sorry proffessor, my thirst for knowledge has put me in this bind. Please, I appeal to your inner child's sense of curiosity. I ask for your mercy and your forgiveness." Duran begs.
Mangrel's eyebrow begins to twitch. The boy's words touches him somewhere deep down but he has to be firm.
"I'm sorry, but your parents are going to hear about-"
Duran's eyes glimmer as soon as he heard the word parent. It was time for his ultimate technique pity.
"My...My parents are dead, sir." Duran chokes up.
"I'm... Sorry.. I-"
"No its fine il just take these back, but I promise I've learned my lesson." Duran says as he snatches the documents out of Mangrel's hands.
Duran quickly grabs his bag and dashes it out of the room. He feels a single tear drop run down his cheek. He never met his parents but it still hurt thinking about them. He quickly wipes it away and keeps rushing out the school gates. He has no time to linger, training had already begun. Though training is not his favorite thing to do in the world, becoming a knight is his dream. Storming the battlefield in service to his country would be the ultimate honor. Duran is busy daydreaming as he reaches the gate, but finnaly notices his master standing at the gate. Master Gerald was a war-hero who's build at the human physical peak. He stood tall over the boy, blocking even the sun from Duran's eyes.
"Duran." Gerald says softly.
"Yeah, Master?" Duran replies looking his master deeply in the eye.
"YOU'RE LATE, GET YOUR ASS IN THERE!" Gerald angrily demands as he grips Duran up.
Gerald throws Duran over the fence, landing him flat in front of three servant girls that serve the palace. Duran looks up to the see them giggling at him as he lays awkwardly at them. He blushes and puts his head down as they walk off and continue their duties.
"Oh, you are quite popular, huh Duran." Cyrus jokes.
Cyrus is the nicer of his is always saving Duran from limit pushing training regimen that Gerald enforces. Though he was ruthless when it came to sparring exercises. They both gained the title of "Master" after "The Last Crusade" and now both serve as instructers, in times of peace. Cyrus is leaner than Gerald but he kept himself in excellent shape. He had a pretty boy type flair to him and practices his sword technique more than his physical body.
"Duran, go start your daily training regimen and we are doing cardiovascular today. Cyrus and I are going to suit up we have a score to settle." Gerald commands.
"Aww, can i watch please?" Duran begs
"Why don't you finish up your warm-up first than we'll see what happens bud." Cyrus says "You know we are going to last awhile anyway."
Duran rushes to put down his stuff to begin training. He only had to run ten laps around town with weights and 10 laps without weights. After that Cyrus would probably force him to spar countless opponents straight after even though he would be in poor condition. Nothing Duran wasn't used to.
Hours pass as Duran countlessly roams around the kingdom. Townspeople cheer him on as he passes and some offer him water, to encourage him. Kids chase him down the street, before getting to tired and go back to playing. Everyone loved supporting the future protectors of the country, which made Duran proud to be a citizen of Masa.
After finishing his warm up, Duran makes it back to the courtyard where Cyrus was waiting for him with his opponent for the day. He falls to the ground to collect his breath. Cyrus pours water over the boy's head.
"Are you ready? No weapons like always." Cyrus smirks.
"Yes Master!" Duran shouts as he springs up.
Duran's opponent approaches ready armed with a long wooden sword. His name is Rohan. Rohan is a cocky squire who boast of having the best master's, yet his stance is full of holes. Duran had seen it many times before. Amateurs let advantages go to their head clouding their judgement, leaving all types of situations for their opponents to take advantage of. The two face each other and bow, other squires and pages gather to watch the duel. Rohan shoots a dirty smile, Duran yawns in return.
"Tchh, go to hell." Rohan spits as he rushes forward.
"And...here we go."
The boy smiles as his opponent charges. Rohan slashes downward at Duran using all of his might. It is fast but not fast enough, Duran dodges at the last moment. His hand mimics a blade, chopping Rohan in the neck.
"Dead." Duran says with a smirk.
Rohan gets fusrtated and starts wildly swing every which way at Duran to no avail. Duran freely dodges the blade reading all of his opponent's movements. Tired of wasting time Duran rushes forward this time. The opponent quickly goes to slash at his midsection, but is stopped when Duran's right hand is already at his wrist.
"Too...Slow"
Duran pulls Rohan forward while punching him with a left hook. The opponent drops the blade and falls to his knees. Cyrus holds his hand up signifying that the the match is over.
"Good job, Duran. Can't wait for you to try that on me." Cyrus says jokingly putting an arm around his shoulder.
"Oh, you are years out of my leauge Master." Duran replies.
"Are you trying to call me old Duran? How cruel."
"No! of course not, but Master Cyrus I was really wondering if-" Duran begins.
"DURAANN, GET OVER HERE!" Master Gerald commands from across the yard.
Duran on instinct runs first and ask questions later, sprinting towards his master. He watches as a royal messenger finishes up a conversation, before bowing and taking his leave.
"Master Gerald, I was just trying to talk to Master Cyrus about maybe getting off of all this training with wooden swords-"
"Duran, not right now. There is a time for everything, and do you even remember what today is." Cyrus cuts off.
Duran pauses to think. It has been quite awhile since he had joined the knight academy but he was a while off from graduating from it. Was he nominated for something? Was cheese on sale?
"Umm...Cheese day?" Duran asks.
"Idiot."
Gerald and Cyrus smacks him in the back of the head at the same time. He rubs the back of his head looking painfully his masters. They smile as Gerald hands him a blindfold.
"Put it on, and hold out you hands." Cyrus says.
Duran closes his eyes and ties the blindfold around them. He shyly and slowly puts his hands out. He grins with excitement as he waits paitently for his gift to be placed in his hands. Master Gerald smiles as the servant girls from earlier approaches with a large cake. They place the cake in his hands and quickly steps to get ready to surprise him.
"Okay, ready!" Cyrus shouts cheerfully as he rips the blindfold off his eyes.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They shout in unison.
Duran's eyes light up as he beholds the cake. How could he forget it was his 12th birthday. It was very large and it smells freshly made. The design looks as if it took hours to craft. He licks some off, tasting the sweet suculent flavor of buttercream, his favorite icing. He looks at the servant girls.
"Did you guys make it?" Duran asks.
They shake their heads giggling and point to Master Gerald, who suddenly blushes.
"What?... I like to bake." Gerald says shyly at first. "GOT A PROBLEM WITH IT!" He shouts catching himself.
They all sit in the courtyard and start eating the cake. Entertaing each other with songs, laughing, and dancing. Time passes and the servant girls leave wishing Duran happy birthday once more. The boys clean up and pack up training for the day.
"Oh yeah Duran, the King sent a messenger to tell me to come to the palace tonight. He has something for you, must be important. Make sure you wear best clothes, don't bring shame on your Masters." Gerald says.
"Yeah, we can finish the rest. Hurry up go get ready." Cyrus joins in.
"Yes, Master!"
Duran was now excited he runs to his small house at the far edge of town on a hill. It's been awhile since Duran last saw the King who was rumored to be saved on the battlefield by Duran's father. He rushes inside his house passing Gretchen, the old maid that kept his place clean and took care of him since a young age.
"Hello Gretchen! Sorry I'm in a rush."
The maid smiles and nods. She has always been a woman of few words, said to have served his family before he was born. She goes back to cleaning the porch.
He rushes up the stairs breaking into his room. He throws off his uniform and looks into the mirror. His hair was combed straight for school but he hated that look he ruffles his giving his black hair a more spiky look on the ends. He peers at his build through his deep blue eyes. He was leaner like Cyrus but he went to lift as much Gerald though he definitely didn't lift as much. His skin had a tan from always running and training in the sun. He went to his closet and grabbed his black and blue jacket, cleanest shirt, pants and boots. He takes one last look at his small place and heads to the palace's library.
Duran rushes to the palace and goes where he always meets the king the royal library. He takes the time to return the stolen documents before actually looking for the king. When he walked inside solders were everywhere for the kings protection but not close enough to talk to him. He walks up slowly and bows.
"I greet you my liege, King Crono of Masa."
The king was old his hair was white but he moved like any man without a cane or assistance. His robe was thick covering his body one can only imagine the battles it's been through.
Crono laughs. "No need for formalities Duran we aren't in the throne room."
Duran rose and looks in the corner where a mysterious man covered in robes stood. He had never seen him before. The king notices his stare and grins.
"Oh, this is my secret advisor. He has helped me for years now."
Duran nods.
"Well I heard you had something for me?" He says looking at the king.
The king smiles and replies "It is not me who has..."
Suddenly a loud crash interrupts them and the king's smile turns sour as he runs to the window. Boulders on fire were being flung into Galom which was based at the bottom of the castle.
A messenger runs in panicking and shouting "MUNE SOLDIERS ARE ATTACKING , MUNE SOLDIERS ARE ATTACKING!"
The king looks to the Duran and commands him "Leave with Judas and he will tell you all you need to know."
Judas!?"
The cloaked man grabs him and quickly pulls him to the back of the library.
"Who the hell is Judas!?" Continues Duran.
The man smacks him before opening a secret passage in the back of the library "First I'm Judas and second I'm getting you out of this country."