Prologue: Part 3
Three years have passed since Fire-Star and Ace have appeared. So far, their dark seceret has gone unoticed, but not even Lavitz is sure how long it would last and that's what worried the brother and sister.
Lavitz had started training Fire-Star to become a knight. Surprisingly, Fire-Star was a fast learner when it came to wielding a spear and passed his training. That wasn't the end of it. Fire-Star's quick thinking and responsability as a knight shot him from rookie to second-in- command of the First Knighthood within a month.
Fire-Star's duty in the castle as a knight was also improving. During his first day on the job, he was a bit of a klutz, nearly bumping into most of the maids and other knights without thinking and embarrassing himself by being overconfident (This frustrated Lavitz more than it frustrated the heads of the other Knighthoods). Most of the soldiers in the First Knighthood were a bit offended that a "hot-head" like Fire-Star could possably be deemed second-in-command in less than a month, but they soon learned to deal with it.
Three days after Fire-Star had reached second-in-command, King Albert started being trained to handle a spear. This gave him and Ace a chance to hang out together as a brother and sister when no one was around. Because Ace was in training to be the next heir to the throne, she didn't always have time to spend with Fire-Star (except on Saturdays).
There was one knight among those in training, named Garry, who was completely outraged by what was going on around him. He was the only one who lashed at Lavitz for making Fire-Star second-in-command, thinking that Lavitz was being too soft on his "step-brother" and was even more outraged when he heard that King Albert's skills at handling a spear were close to surpassing Lavitz's. Lavitz threatened to have Garry kicked out of Bale if he uses such actions again. And Garry wasn't about to take "no" for an answer.
The next day, Fire-Star, who now wore a white armor vest with red trimmings and a shoulder pad on his left shoulder, was heading to the stable to feed the horses when Garry tackled him and forced him into a fight.
"What're you doing!?" Fire-Star demanded, "if you strike a second-in- command, you'll be held responsable for your actions and be kicked out!"
"You!? A second-in-command?" Garry snarled, "You don't even deserve to be a knight of this castle! Your actions alone is enough to offend the king!"
Fire-Star squeezed the handle of the sack that had the horse feed in it, trying hard not to lose his temper. If he strikes at Garry with no witnesses around to figure out why, Garry will use this as an excuse to get him into trouble and do more than de-mote him.
"I don't have time for this." Fire-Star said as he turned to leave. Garry's eyes were bloodshot with anger.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, kid!" Garry shouted, pointing at Fire-Star's back. Fire-Star stopped and merely looked at him with calm eyes.
"Why should I? It's not my place to pick a fight with someone who thinks a King can't fend for himself."
Fire-Star turned around and continued to walk towards the stables until a sharp object grazed the right side of his neck. The pain dropped him to his knees, knocking the horse feed over as it spilled all over the ground. Fire-Star propped himself onto his hands, rubbing the right side of his neck, feeling a strange, warm wettness soak into his gloves like water.
"You idiot!" Fire-Star hissed, glaring at Garry with deadly eyes, "for every move you make against me, I'm going to keep reporting this to the head of the First Knighthood until he has King Albert sentence you to exile in the Praries!"
"You don't seem to understand," Garry said with a grin, withdrawing his spear, smeared in the blood that came from Fire-Star's neck, "I'm going to do more than graze your neck. You know the old saying, 'dead men tell no tales'. If you're dead, I can easily plead innocent by saying I attacked you in self-defence. When they hear how ruthless you are, they will soon learn the mistake of making a child Captain of the First Knighthood!"
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Watch me!" Garry walked towards Fire-Star only to come to a sudden halt when he saw a young girl with long pigtails on both sides of her head, wearing a black dress with red eve-gloves step in front of him with a glare even deadlier than Fire-Star's.
"Your Highness!?" Garry almost stuttered.
"Ace..." Fire-Star murmured.
"I don't believe you!" Ace snarled, "Picking a fight with someone who became second-in-command despite minor dishonoring actions. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"But Princess Ace! You don't understand..." Garry said, hesitantly.
"I think I understand perfectly what you are planning to do to Fire- Star. I overheard everything from the balcony in the throne room, and I am not going to allow you to accuse my friend for something he didn't do!"
"Then I will deal with you first before I take care of this 'mistake'!" Garry raised his hand to strike Ace when he felt a punch in the face, sending him flying back. Fire-Star stood in front of Ace, blood dripping from the cut on the right side of his neck and his fists trembling with anger.
"You think of me as a disappointment to the duchy of Basil when you're the one who attempted to strike at the King's cousin!" Fire-Star growled, "when the whole country of Bale finds out what you did, even the field mice will hate you!"
"Maybe so, but not while you and the princess are around to witness what I will do to you!" Garry said, raising his spear. His whole body began to glow a dark, morbid, smoke-like color that sent chills down both their spines.
"Make him stop, Fire-Star!" Ace cried, clinging to Fire-Star's side. Fire-Star braced her, not sure what to make of the strange feeling coming from Garry.
Suddenly, a white glow emitted from Fire-Star's trench coat pocket. He reached in and pulled out the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit as the glow grew brighter. Suddenly, the sun flashed so bright, all of Bale was nearly blinded by it.
Trying to shield their eyes from the blinding light, Fire-Star and Ace heard the sound of screaming. They looked under their arms to see a sillouete covered in the same dark and morbid glow holding his head and rearing his head up as smoke came out of his body and joined the smoke-like glow.
"STOP IT!!! STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" Garry cried. The sun's bright glow faded back to normal and after recovering their vision, Ace almost fainted from the sudden change in Garry's body. The ray of the sun had de-formed his body into an wrinkly, skeleton-like, sunburned body. Parts of his armor was nearly welded into his body and his eye sockets were so wide, his eyeballs look like they were floating in the middle of them. Panic stricken, Garry fled Bale, scaring the townspeople into whatever door they could get to.
Fire-Star almost freaked and dropped the Dragoon Spirit that caused the whole accident.
"Oh, god! What've I done!?" He cried. Ace saw the frightened look on his face and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It was an accident, Fire-Star!" Ace said, "And I am the one who wittnessed it, so you aren't going to be held responsable for what you did to Garry." She then helped Fire-Star to his feet, "Come on, let's go get that wound bandaged."
As the two headed upstairs, a figure from behind the steps saw the whole thing. He walked towards the Dragoon Spirit that laid on the floor and looked up at Fire-Star and Ace as they disappeared behind the double doors of the castle.
"I never thought I'd see someone who would handle a spear with stamina and agility greater than mine," Lavitz said, "You're moves were so fast, I could barely see them." Albert chuckled and sat on a bench, resting his spear, blade up, on his shoulder.
"It must be luck." Albert said.
"Excuse me," Minister Noish said from the doorway of the training room, "I don't mean to interupt on your training, Your Majesty, but I must speak with you privatly."
Fire-Star leaned against the wall under the throne, rubbing the right side of his bandaged neck where the wound was. Blood was seeping through the bandage the more he ran his finger across it. He didn't know how his day went from dull to unexpected nightmare and he wasn't sure how he was going to get out of it.
"It isn't healthy to touch your wound like that." said a voice. Fire- Star snapped to his feet and looked up to see Albert leaning on the banister near the throne, looking down at him.
"K-King Albert!" Fire-Star stuttered, scrambling to kneel before Albert, "w-when did you come in?" Albert blinked before he laughed.
"Get up, Fire-Star," Albert said, walking down towards the startled knight. He looked at the blood-stained side of Fire-Star's neck, "that's quite a wound."
"Y-yeah.... I guess I wasn't being careful." Albert chuckled some more and walked towards the doorway to the balcony.
"That is true," he said, "you should be on guard when you're being attacked." He then turned to Fire-Star with a grin on his face, "think of this as a tip for when you become ruler in the future."
Fire-Star facefaults, "Wha...what're you talking about? I'm just a Captain of the First Knighthood."
Albert sighed and leaned against the side of the archway, crossing his arms.
"It's over, Fire-Star," he said, "You don't have to hide it anymore." Fire-Star gulped and wiped the sweat from his face with his hand.
"Over? This doesn't have anything to do with Garry's condition, is it?"
"That's beside the point." Albert took out Fire-Star's Blazing White Dragoon Spirit and tossed it towards him, "Minister Noish found this after you and Ace ran off. He said you were the only one who activated this marble and because it only works if Ace is holding her Dragoon Spirit, it tells me that you suriving a barn fire was actually made up to hide your real origin."
After hearing this speech, Fire-Star's legs gave way and dropped him to the floor.
"Now tell me the real reason why you want to protect Serdio." Albert said.
"But...but I already told you why!" Fire-Star squeeked, acting as if he didn't hear a word Albert said. The young King sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
"Look, when I told Lavitz about the Dragoon Spirits you and Ace were holding, he nearly blurted the whole truth about you and Ace's true relationship, and Minister Noish is already talking to her about it. So if you have a very good reason why I shouldn't tell this whole country about you and your sister, it's best to say it now and save yourself the trouble of losing your rank as captain of the First Knighthood."
Fire-Star sighed and leaned against the wall under the throne. He really didn't have much of a choice.
"Dad's future retirement plan was to have me start a war between Serdio and Sandora when he puts me on the throne. He made me believe that Serdio was the worst place to live in, but when the Dragoon Spirit told me otherwise, I refused to take part in his retirement plan. He was so furious, he'd threaten to kill me if I don't change my mind. During that time, I didn't have the strength to fight back, so I took Ace and ran. We aren't sure if his soldiers are still looking for us, nor do we know how long it will take before they find out we're hiding here and burn the whole country down, looking for us."
"That still doesn't tell me why you'd rather become a knight," Albert said, "If you came here to be taught how to rule a country the right way, I can help."
"I'm perfectly happy being a knight," Fire-Star said, trying not to turn down Albert's offer rudely, "After escaping Sandora, I swore I'd never become ruler of any country even though I could change how people should live. Ace knew this and made a promise not to reveal she had a brother until she was good and ready. Besides, she'd make a better ruler than I do since our dad hasn't taught her a thing about ruling a country."
Albert looked like he understood how Fire-Star felt about how he wanted to live his life, but when he turned and left the throne room, Fire- Star knew his only cousin completely mis-understood him. And the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit seemed to agree with him. If and when his father, Emperor Doel was dethroned completely, Fire-Star would have to take over and he didn't feel too confortable about it.
OOC: Thus, this ends the prologue of Spirit of Dragoon. I hope the conclusion didn't confuse you too much (Let me know if it does, I don't mind the criticism because it mostly helps me try and fix some of these chapters up). Anyway, in part one of the Serdain War, Sandora summons the Green Tusked Dragon, Feyrbrand, thus breaking the truce. During the war, Lavitz is captured and Fire-Star ends up in Seles were he later witnesses the Mayor's daughter, Shana, being taken hostage for something only his Dragoon Spirit knows about.
Three years have passed since Fire-Star and Ace have appeared. So far, their dark seceret has gone unoticed, but not even Lavitz is sure how long it would last and that's what worried the brother and sister.
Lavitz had started training Fire-Star to become a knight. Surprisingly, Fire-Star was a fast learner when it came to wielding a spear and passed his training. That wasn't the end of it. Fire-Star's quick thinking and responsability as a knight shot him from rookie to second-in- command of the First Knighthood within a month.
Fire-Star's duty in the castle as a knight was also improving. During his first day on the job, he was a bit of a klutz, nearly bumping into most of the maids and other knights without thinking and embarrassing himself by being overconfident (This frustrated Lavitz more than it frustrated the heads of the other Knighthoods). Most of the soldiers in the First Knighthood were a bit offended that a "hot-head" like Fire-Star could possably be deemed second-in-command in less than a month, but they soon learned to deal with it.
Three days after Fire-Star had reached second-in-command, King Albert started being trained to handle a spear. This gave him and Ace a chance to hang out together as a brother and sister when no one was around. Because Ace was in training to be the next heir to the throne, she didn't always have time to spend with Fire-Star (except on Saturdays).
There was one knight among those in training, named Garry, who was completely outraged by what was going on around him. He was the only one who lashed at Lavitz for making Fire-Star second-in-command, thinking that Lavitz was being too soft on his "step-brother" and was even more outraged when he heard that King Albert's skills at handling a spear were close to surpassing Lavitz's. Lavitz threatened to have Garry kicked out of Bale if he uses such actions again. And Garry wasn't about to take "no" for an answer.
The next day, Fire-Star, who now wore a white armor vest with red trimmings and a shoulder pad on his left shoulder, was heading to the stable to feed the horses when Garry tackled him and forced him into a fight.
"What're you doing!?" Fire-Star demanded, "if you strike a second-in- command, you'll be held responsable for your actions and be kicked out!"
"You!? A second-in-command?" Garry snarled, "You don't even deserve to be a knight of this castle! Your actions alone is enough to offend the king!"
Fire-Star squeezed the handle of the sack that had the horse feed in it, trying hard not to lose his temper. If he strikes at Garry with no witnesses around to figure out why, Garry will use this as an excuse to get him into trouble and do more than de-mote him.
"I don't have time for this." Fire-Star said as he turned to leave. Garry's eyes were bloodshot with anger.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, kid!" Garry shouted, pointing at Fire-Star's back. Fire-Star stopped and merely looked at him with calm eyes.
"Why should I? It's not my place to pick a fight with someone who thinks a King can't fend for himself."
Fire-Star turned around and continued to walk towards the stables until a sharp object grazed the right side of his neck. The pain dropped him to his knees, knocking the horse feed over as it spilled all over the ground. Fire-Star propped himself onto his hands, rubbing the right side of his neck, feeling a strange, warm wettness soak into his gloves like water.
"You idiot!" Fire-Star hissed, glaring at Garry with deadly eyes, "for every move you make against me, I'm going to keep reporting this to the head of the First Knighthood until he has King Albert sentence you to exile in the Praries!"
"You don't seem to understand," Garry said with a grin, withdrawing his spear, smeared in the blood that came from Fire-Star's neck, "I'm going to do more than graze your neck. You know the old saying, 'dead men tell no tales'. If you're dead, I can easily plead innocent by saying I attacked you in self-defence. When they hear how ruthless you are, they will soon learn the mistake of making a child Captain of the First Knighthood!"
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Watch me!" Garry walked towards Fire-Star only to come to a sudden halt when he saw a young girl with long pigtails on both sides of her head, wearing a black dress with red eve-gloves step in front of him with a glare even deadlier than Fire-Star's.
"Your Highness!?" Garry almost stuttered.
"Ace..." Fire-Star murmured.
"I don't believe you!" Ace snarled, "Picking a fight with someone who became second-in-command despite minor dishonoring actions. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"But Princess Ace! You don't understand..." Garry said, hesitantly.
"I think I understand perfectly what you are planning to do to Fire- Star. I overheard everything from the balcony in the throne room, and I am not going to allow you to accuse my friend for something he didn't do!"
"Then I will deal with you first before I take care of this 'mistake'!" Garry raised his hand to strike Ace when he felt a punch in the face, sending him flying back. Fire-Star stood in front of Ace, blood dripping from the cut on the right side of his neck and his fists trembling with anger.
"You think of me as a disappointment to the duchy of Basil when you're the one who attempted to strike at the King's cousin!" Fire-Star growled, "when the whole country of Bale finds out what you did, even the field mice will hate you!"
"Maybe so, but not while you and the princess are around to witness what I will do to you!" Garry said, raising his spear. His whole body began to glow a dark, morbid, smoke-like color that sent chills down both their spines.
"Make him stop, Fire-Star!" Ace cried, clinging to Fire-Star's side. Fire-Star braced her, not sure what to make of the strange feeling coming from Garry.
Suddenly, a white glow emitted from Fire-Star's trench coat pocket. He reached in and pulled out the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit as the glow grew brighter. Suddenly, the sun flashed so bright, all of Bale was nearly blinded by it.
Trying to shield their eyes from the blinding light, Fire-Star and Ace heard the sound of screaming. They looked under their arms to see a sillouete covered in the same dark and morbid glow holding his head and rearing his head up as smoke came out of his body and joined the smoke-like glow.
"STOP IT!!! STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" Garry cried. The sun's bright glow faded back to normal and after recovering their vision, Ace almost fainted from the sudden change in Garry's body. The ray of the sun had de-formed his body into an wrinkly, skeleton-like, sunburned body. Parts of his armor was nearly welded into his body and his eye sockets were so wide, his eyeballs look like they were floating in the middle of them. Panic stricken, Garry fled Bale, scaring the townspeople into whatever door they could get to.
Fire-Star almost freaked and dropped the Dragoon Spirit that caused the whole accident.
"Oh, god! What've I done!?" He cried. Ace saw the frightened look on his face and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It was an accident, Fire-Star!" Ace said, "And I am the one who wittnessed it, so you aren't going to be held responsable for what you did to Garry." She then helped Fire-Star to his feet, "Come on, let's go get that wound bandaged."
As the two headed upstairs, a figure from behind the steps saw the whole thing. He walked towards the Dragoon Spirit that laid on the floor and looked up at Fire-Star and Ace as they disappeared behind the double doors of the castle.
"I never thought I'd see someone who would handle a spear with stamina and agility greater than mine," Lavitz said, "You're moves were so fast, I could barely see them." Albert chuckled and sat on a bench, resting his spear, blade up, on his shoulder.
"It must be luck." Albert said.
"Excuse me," Minister Noish said from the doorway of the training room, "I don't mean to interupt on your training, Your Majesty, but I must speak with you privatly."
Fire-Star leaned against the wall under the throne, rubbing the right side of his bandaged neck where the wound was. Blood was seeping through the bandage the more he ran his finger across it. He didn't know how his day went from dull to unexpected nightmare and he wasn't sure how he was going to get out of it.
"It isn't healthy to touch your wound like that." said a voice. Fire- Star snapped to his feet and looked up to see Albert leaning on the banister near the throne, looking down at him.
"K-King Albert!" Fire-Star stuttered, scrambling to kneel before Albert, "w-when did you come in?" Albert blinked before he laughed.
"Get up, Fire-Star," Albert said, walking down towards the startled knight. He looked at the blood-stained side of Fire-Star's neck, "that's quite a wound."
"Y-yeah.... I guess I wasn't being careful." Albert chuckled some more and walked towards the doorway to the balcony.
"That is true," he said, "you should be on guard when you're being attacked." He then turned to Fire-Star with a grin on his face, "think of this as a tip for when you become ruler in the future."
Fire-Star facefaults, "Wha...what're you talking about? I'm just a Captain of the First Knighthood."
Albert sighed and leaned against the side of the archway, crossing his arms.
"It's over, Fire-Star," he said, "You don't have to hide it anymore." Fire-Star gulped and wiped the sweat from his face with his hand.
"Over? This doesn't have anything to do with Garry's condition, is it?"
"That's beside the point." Albert took out Fire-Star's Blazing White Dragoon Spirit and tossed it towards him, "Minister Noish found this after you and Ace ran off. He said you were the only one who activated this marble and because it only works if Ace is holding her Dragoon Spirit, it tells me that you suriving a barn fire was actually made up to hide your real origin."
After hearing this speech, Fire-Star's legs gave way and dropped him to the floor.
"Now tell me the real reason why you want to protect Serdio." Albert said.
"But...but I already told you why!" Fire-Star squeeked, acting as if he didn't hear a word Albert said. The young King sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
"Look, when I told Lavitz about the Dragoon Spirits you and Ace were holding, he nearly blurted the whole truth about you and Ace's true relationship, and Minister Noish is already talking to her about it. So if you have a very good reason why I shouldn't tell this whole country about you and your sister, it's best to say it now and save yourself the trouble of losing your rank as captain of the First Knighthood."
Fire-Star sighed and leaned against the wall under the throne. He really didn't have much of a choice.
"Dad's future retirement plan was to have me start a war between Serdio and Sandora when he puts me on the throne. He made me believe that Serdio was the worst place to live in, but when the Dragoon Spirit told me otherwise, I refused to take part in his retirement plan. He was so furious, he'd threaten to kill me if I don't change my mind. During that time, I didn't have the strength to fight back, so I took Ace and ran. We aren't sure if his soldiers are still looking for us, nor do we know how long it will take before they find out we're hiding here and burn the whole country down, looking for us."
"That still doesn't tell me why you'd rather become a knight," Albert said, "If you came here to be taught how to rule a country the right way, I can help."
"I'm perfectly happy being a knight," Fire-Star said, trying not to turn down Albert's offer rudely, "After escaping Sandora, I swore I'd never become ruler of any country even though I could change how people should live. Ace knew this and made a promise not to reveal she had a brother until she was good and ready. Besides, she'd make a better ruler than I do since our dad hasn't taught her a thing about ruling a country."
Albert looked like he understood how Fire-Star felt about how he wanted to live his life, but when he turned and left the throne room, Fire- Star knew his only cousin completely mis-understood him. And the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit seemed to agree with him. If and when his father, Emperor Doel was dethroned completely, Fire-Star would have to take over and he didn't feel too confortable about it.
OOC: Thus, this ends the prologue of Spirit of Dragoon. I hope the conclusion didn't confuse you too much (Let me know if it does, I don't mind the criticism because it mostly helps me try and fix some of these chapters up). Anyway, in part one of the Serdain War, Sandora summons the Green Tusked Dragon, Feyrbrand, thus breaking the truce. During the war, Lavitz is captured and Fire-Star ends up in Seles were he later witnesses the Mayor's daughter, Shana, being taken hostage for something only his Dragoon Spirit knows about.