'Thoughts' - thoughts / "" - speech

** - actions / []- flashbacks/dreams

() - Writers info

[Kenny and a young Syrus were outside their house training.

Kenny held a wooden sword and got into a defence stance. "Continue to try and hit me with your sword".

The 8 year old Syrus held another wooden sword with both hands and ran at Kenny. "Hiya!" Syrus swung the sword downwards at Kenny.

Kenny guided Syrus's attack past him while he dodged to the side. "Your footwork is wrong, put more power into your legs and not your arms".

Syrus swung the sword at Kenny again and again but Kenny kept blocking and parrying every hit, eventually Syrus started to pick up the pace and stopped tripping.

"Now you're getting it," Kenny smiled.

Syrus started to get faster and faster, with each hit Kenny's smile got bigger and prouder, until he disarmed Syrus with a slick move just to show off. "Huh?" Syrus looked down to his hands where his sword was held a second ago.

"For a kid who is second to none when it comes to dodging you're easy to counter," Kenny said as he did some flashy sword trick to sheathe his wooden sword.

Eve came out of the front door holding a tray with drinks. "Break time".

Kenny put his sword down and walked over to Eve. "You should rest, you just gave birth" Kenny referred to the sleeping baby held up to Eve's chest by a blanket.

"I gave birth 3 months ago, I'm fine" Eve reassured Kenny.

"Still…" Kenny knew he couldn't win against her.

"Oh that reminds me I need to run down to the market quickly to pick a few things up, look after Mila for me?". Eve passed Kenny the infant girl.

"*Sigh* Alright, hey Syrus, do you want to try looking after a baby?" Kenny looked over to Syrus, who was sitting on the wooden porch next to Boe sipping the drink Eve made him.

"I don't think Syrus is ready to look after an infant yet, he's only started using words normally so it's a big jump". Eve picked up a small basket.

"Alright just don't push yourself" Kenny watched as Eve walked towards the small village.

Syrus also watched as she walked away. "Boe".

Boe gave an oink in return and ran after her to make sure she took it easy.

Kenny turned around as Boe ran past him. "Bye?…" Kenny turned to Syrus and Syrus just looked back at him and took a sip from his drink again.

"So it's just us two" Kenny sat down on a rocking chair outside.

"Three" Syrus took another sip from his drink.

Kenny looked at him in confusion.

"There are three of us, You, Mila and Me" Syrus pointed to the three of them in order.

"Yeah I guess you're right and when did you learn to count?" Kenny asked in a slightly proud tone.

"Uncle Arlo taught me".

"And that guy says he's not ready for kids, did the other two teach you anything?" Kenny lent back in his chair and looked to the clouds.

"Auntie Rebecca taught me to cook".

"What did she teach you to make?".

"Mainly how to not burn meat and how to cut vegetables" Syrus remembered his many mistakes when learning.

"What about Eddie?".

"He keeps saying how he'll teach me to be a "ladies man" when I'm older". Syrus put his hand to his chin thinking about what a ladies man is?.

"Remind me to teach him about being a good role model next time he's around" Kenny's eyebrow twitched.

"Role model?" Syrus used to always ask about words he didn't know.

"A role model is… someone you look up to and learn from" Kenny had to think before answering.

"So someone like you?"

Kenny was caught off guard by Syrus' innocent answer. "Yeah someone like me, or Arlo and Rebecca not Eddie". Kenny started whispering to himself. "Please don't turn out like Eddie, one is enough".

"Hey there's something I'm curious about" Syrus turned to face Kenny.

"Yeah?"

"Auntie Rebecca and Uncle Eddie have similar magic don't they?"

"They are twins after all".

"Twins?"

"They were born on the same day". Kenny started rocking back and forth to keep Mila happy and asleep.

"Hmm?" Syrus faced away and looked up as if he was thinking about something.

"What's up?" Kenny stopped rocking back and forth.

"Now that I think about it…"

"Yeah…?"

"How are babies born?" Syrus looked at Kenny who got all flustered.

"Ah!- Uh… Well…" Kenny struggled to find the right words as he looked at Syrus' innocent face. Kenny took a deep breath to catch himself. "That will have to wait till you're older" Kenny looked away.

Mila woke up and started crying due to Kenny getting all flustered.

Kenny started to rock again but to no luck, he then wondered if she was hungry. "Syrus hold her for a second" Kenny passed the infant to Syrus and ran inside looking for the food Eve prepared just in case she wasn't home.

Syrus watched as Mila squirmed in his arms and started copying Kenny's rocking and even hummed a lullaby. Mila started to calm down a little and started to grab nearby things like her blanket and Syrus' long hair and started pulling it.

Kenny came running out of the house with something in his hand. "Alright I have something she can use". He came to a halt as he saw Mila starting to smile and laugh as she pulled on Syrus' hair. "She stopped" Kenny took a sigh of relief as he sat back down and watched them.

Syrus ket humming the lullaby.

"Where'd you learn that tune? I don't recognize it" Kenny looked up trying to see if he did recognize it.

"I just know it, though it does feel like I've heard it before".

"Well It keeps her happy" Kenny took a glance at the two of them. "She sure does love playing with your hair".

"Yeah, but…" Syrus turned to look at Kenny. "It hurts…"

Kenny couldn't help but crack up at what Syrus said. "Why do you think I keep my goatee short?".

"So you can look younger than you really are?"

Kenny put his head down. "Ah… I see Eddie did teach you something, he taught you how to insult somebody".

They both fell silent and listened as the whistling of the wind and the rattling of the trees played a melody that soothed the soul. A few minutes passed as they just sat there and listened.

Kenny softly spoke up "Syrus", Syrus turned to face him. "I want you to remember something?"

"Remember what?"

"That carrying the Cindred name means to help anybody that's in trouble, no matter what happens"]

The sun broke through the cracks in the leaves and hit Syrus' sleeping eyes, waking him up.

Syrus sat up and looked around. *Yawn* Syrus rubbed his eyes and remembered where he was.

Boe heard Syrus wake up and opened his eyes to see if it's time to get going.

"Morning Boe" Syrus stood up and stretched.

Boe followed his lead.

"Looks like someone's got bed-fur" Syrus motioned to Boe's fur sticking up.

Boe looked at Syrus and walked over to one of the two bags they brought with them and pulled out a mirror and showed Syrus the state of his hair.

Syrus looked into the mirror and saw his hair was pointing straight up. "We should probably go and fix these". Boe gave an oink in agreement.

They both went to a nearby river and dunked their hair and fur in to somewhat fix it. Syrus pulled his hair out of the water and let it fall down to both of his shoulders, before standing up he stared into the water to ready himself for the day.

Boe stepped out of the water next to Syrus and shook the water off him, soaking Syrus with more water.

"Thanks…" After they finished drying and eating their breakfast they packed up and continued on their walk to the capital.

The whole time they were in the woods Syrus kept trying to remember the melody he hummed to Mila in his dream/flashback. It felt important to him for some reason. As they got to the end of the woods it got brighter and the wind became stronger.

As he and Boe walked into the blinding light everything went white for a few seconds and as it cleared a view of hills and fields revealed itself and in the distance the royal capital towered everything. Syrus' hair and Boe's fur blew in the wind as they gazed upon the lands before them.

Syrus looked up and saw people flying on brooms and magic all headed towards the capital. "That's a lot of people".

Boe gave an oink in agreement.

"I guess we should get moving too" Syrus started walking again and Boe did the same.

Their walk to the capital didn't have much going on a simple hike with calming sounds of nature around them. But the atmosphere changed entirely as they got to the gates of the royal capital.

The sounds of 100 conversations happening at once echoed throughout the main street, the mixed taste of bakeries and restaurants carried by the air and the sight of people flooding the main street made it difficult to focus on one thing.

"It's certainly different from the village" Syrus looked around at all the shops. "We should probably head to where the exam is though" Syrus looked for some people that looked like they knew where to go so they could follow them.

As he scanned the area he came across two people one short with light grey hair and a headband and one tall with black hair and a fancy necklace.

"They seem like they know where they're headed" Syrus started to follow them and Boe did the same.

After walking around they came to a stadium with crowds of people lining up outside an entrance cheering on the people that go inside the entrance.

"That seems like the right place…" Syrus took a look around before heading inside.

Inside was a receptionist area and examinees were lined up to get their grimoire authenticated and given a number.

Syrus got in a line and waited… and waited… until it was finally his turn.

"Name?" The receptionist asked.

"Syrus Cindred".

"Cindred…" the receptionist seemed nervous to hear his last name.

Syrus and Boe looked at each other wondering why his last name made the receptionist nervous.

The receptionist regained their posture, *Cough Cough* "May I see your grimoire for a moment?".

"Sure" Syrus passed the receptionist his grimoire.

The receptionist looked over the grimoire. "Sir… I don't mean to be rude, but I think this is a regular book".

Syrus took a look at his grimoire. "No, that's my grimoire".

"But it has no leaves on it" the receptionist started to shake with nervousness and called on an older receptionist to verify what was going on.

"What's the matter?" The older receptionist asked.

"Well for starters… we have a Cindred and I'm sure you've heard the rumours for yourself".

Merely hearing the name shook the older receptionist. "Heard? I've seen them first hand… what else?"

"His grimoire… has no leaves either".

"No leaves?... that can't be right, it's outright impossible for a grimoire to have no leaves"

"It's true sir."

"Oh dear…" the older receptionist quickly assigned Syrus his number. "You're number 174".

"Thank you…?" Syrus and Boe walked away confused by that interaction but continued on anyway.

The examinee area was packed with people and birds? The birds seem attracted more to some people and not others. A couple flew around Syrus but Boe kept chasing them around.

"Wonder what these birds are?" Syrus let one land on his finger and showed Boe.

The other contestants weren't quiet with their conversations. "Did that commoner really make friends with a disgusting beast like that?"

"I heard that kid's a Cindred"

"Have you heard the rumours around the Cindred name?"

"I wouldn't want to be his opponent with rumours like that going around".

The one about Boe didn't bother him, he's used to hearing things like that but what bothered him is the mysterious rumour surrounding his last name. "Hey Boe, you hear them don't you?"

Boe nodded.

"First the two at the desk and now the other examinees… Why is my last name so bad to have?".

Boe looked around at the other contestants and noticed a familiar silver haired girl hiding behind a stone pillar and tried to get Syrus to notice by pushing on his leg and gesturing in her direction.

"What's wrong?" Syrus turned to look in the direction Boe gestured to but before he saw the girl he caught a glimpse of a very scruffy looking muscular man with a cigarette in his mouth holding the boy with grey hair they followed to get here by the head.

"Looks like I was right about that death wish" the scruffy man said, tightening his grip on the boy's head.

"That looks painful", Syrus looked down to Boe who had a concerned look on his face, Kenny's words that he heard in his dream/flashback echoed in his head. ["Carrying the Cindred name means you'll help anybody that's in trouble, no matter what".] "Yeah I get it… I wouldn't be a Cindred if I didn't help".

Syrus walked up to the two strangers. "I'd rather you didn't crush his head".

They both looked at Syrus. "You got a death wish as well kid?" The scruffy guy said with a scary look in his eye.

"No, I just want you to let him go".

The muscular man used his other hand to try and grab Syrus by his head too, but every time the man's hand would get close Syrus moved out of the way.

"Quick moving, unless you want an even worse punishment!".

A man with make-up similar to a mime and a guy with light brown hair walked up to the muscular man.

"Finally there you are, what are you doing out here anyway?" the guy with the light brown hair asked.

"Right now trying to ring these kids' necks" the muscular man kept trying to grab Syrus' head.

The examinees around noticed the two that walked in.

"Hold on, is that who I think it is?" a man asked.

"Yeah it is, that's Finral Roulacase, wielder of the rare spatial magic" A woman referred to the man with the light brown hair.

The man with the light brown hair walked up to the woman. "And who is this lovely lady?".

"And that's Gordon Agrippa, he's a hex magic expert" an examinee referred to the man with the mime make-up.

"Word is he has some trouble communicating… plus he's scary".

The muscular man tightened his grip on the boy's head as he continued to try and catch Syrus, Finral turned back to the muscular man. "Hey now stop, that won't do at all. A squad captain can't kill examinees, why did you even come down here in the first place?"

"Went to take a dump and got lost," the muscular man boldly exclaimed.

"Wait he said squad captain? Which means that guy must be… Yami Sukehiro god of destruction" an examinee nervously said.

At the same time Yami caught Syrus by his head and started to squeeze.

"Finally 10… 9…" Yami started counting down.

"What are you counting down to?" the boy with grey hair nervously asked.

"The end of your lives" Yami started to squeeze even harder with each number he counted down to.

"Yami! Captain of the black bulls!? Heavens squad of scoundrels who do more harm than good? Those black bulls!?" another examinee asked.

"There's not a single person on that squad that doesn't have a screw loose… one's a shameful flirt (Finral) and the other's mute (Gordon) what are the rest of them like? Man I hope I don't end up on that squad".

The boy sounded as if he was in agony as he squirmed in Yami's hand.

"Well it looks like this is it," Syrus said calmly.

"How are you so calm!?" the boy asked.

"I've been in worse situations".

"Well I'm not dying yet!" The boy grasped onto Yami's arm and slammed his feet onto the ground. "Ahhh!" the boy screamed as he tried with all his strength to get the man's hand off of his head.

"6… 5…" Yami kept counting down.

The boy kept screaming as his muscles pushed themselves to their limits.

"3… 2…1-" Before Yami could finish counting down fireworks set off signifying the start of the exam. Yami dropped both of them and walked away. "You two got lucky today".

"Ow ow ow" The boy held his head as he fell to the floor.

Syrus rubbed his head and Boe walked up concerned. "I'm alright".

The boy stood up and walked over to Syrus. "Thanks for that".

Syrus looked at the boy. "For what?"

"Trying to save me. Oh my name's Asta" Asta held his hand out for a handshake.

"Syrus" Syrus reciprocated the handshake.

Asta noticed Syrus had some muscle on him. "Do you work out?"

"A little" Syrus also noticed Asta had quite a lot of muscle just from the grip of his hand. "But not as much as you apparently".

"Well I don't have any magic, so I trained my body" Asta kept smiling.

"Never heard of someone not having any magic before".

"Yeah I hear that a lot" Asta rubbed the back of his head. "Any way nice to meet you" Asta started to walk away. "And thanks again".

Meanwhile the silver haired girl watched the whole interaction from afar.

"Is that him?" the silver haired girl said to herself. "Shirtless, the unique necklace, the muscles and the boar… That's Syrus no doubt about it". The silver haired girl was about to walk out to greet him but stopped herself and hid again.

Boe was once again trying to get Syrus to look in the silver haired girl's direction. But suddenly trumpets blasted as 9 important looking people walked out onto a balcony overlooking the examinees. They took Syrus' attention and Boe made a face that said "I give up".

Syrus overheard an examinee talking to themselves. "The magic knight captains".

"So they're the magic knight captains… Hold on" Syrus recognized one with silver hair in a braid going down the front of his face. "Is that uncle Nozel?"

The 9 people sat down in their chairs and took glances around the examinees.

Boe gave Syrus a surprised look.

"I didn't know he was a magic knight captain either".

As Nozel scanned the examinees he saw Syrus who was looking back at him, pretended not to notice and looked and quietly sighed.

Another knight captain with orange hair and a mark on his forehead saw Nozel sigh. "What's wrong?"

"It appears we have a Cindred in the exam this year," once again the name alone caught the surprise of the orange haired man.

"I didn't know Kenny had a child… I believe this will be an interesting exam then" the man said as he once again looked over at the pool of examinees.