Kyren stood, slack jawed. It was his father. He hadn't seen him since the beginning of Kyren's enrollment of a Squad Commander. Since then, the Grand Commander hadn't been seen, and left Kyren with a few cryptic words. "My stories just beginning to end... and it's continuing in yours." He said, and left.
"Kyren, you remember what I did say, before I left Bolstar, on a mission?" The Grand Commander said, and Kyren nodded. The Grand Commander walked in, with the royal figure at his side. "My story, is just ending... it's begun to end. Soon, your story will begin. I just came to take one last look at you." He said, looking the unarmored Kyren up and down. "What, a Great Knight without armor? Without an axe? Has your group all been looted of armor?" The Grand Commander scorned, looking at the unarmored units.
"Well, the armor all had the emblems of ... a undesirable past on them..." Kyren said, in a weaker voice than usual, not his forceful superior voice. Everyone felt this way, because they felt as if they were in the presence of a god. The Grand Commande nodded. "Yes, I forgot about that... I assume the smithy is working double time-" And Kyren grinned with a smile. "And half price." He said, and the Grand Commander laughed. "On a budget, son? You should be able to pay double instead of half. Keep that in mind." He said, and Kyren nodded.
"But... you have armor being made, as well as weapons... so, I guess I'll be giving you this." He said, pulling out a hefty broadsword, a golden handle wrapped in crimson, the blade silver, with intricate black engravements enscribed up and down the blade. "It'll come in handy, some day soon." he said, and The Grand Commander walked outside, and pointed to the horse. "Your mount looks good in my old mount's armor, I don't need it anymore. Your welcome, son." He said with a laugh, leaving the Guild, and the royal figure behind.
"Good meeting you, Son of Bolstar." The man said, closing the door that the Grand Commande had neglected to close. Kyren held the new blade at the royal's throat. "You breathe a word of this to the Erans, and I will make sure this country is ash beneath my feet." He said, and the royal smiled. "Your father is a close friend of mine, Kyren, I would never betray him, because he'd degrade this town to a status lower than ash." He said, and Kyren put the heavy blade away.
"The name is Deltre XIV, King of Alsterea." He said, and Kyren blinked. "I'm sorry, but me, nor my mercenaries bow down in allegiance to no one but ourselves, and our companions." And the King smiled. "Tis mercenary code, so I will treat you as nothing except an equal." He said, and Kyren nodded. "So, what have you to say to me?" Kyren asked, and the King scratched his beard. "Well, I came here, in person, to sign your company to a single mission, and then, from your sucess, I expect nothing more of you, and from then, I would like to know if you wouldn't mind sparse missions from the Military." He said, and Kyren looked weary of this.
"I will take the contract for now... but I have to take up counsel with the rest of my crew." Kyren said, and Sin walked in. "They're already here." He said, and the rest of the mercenary group filed into the guild. The King began circling Sin. "Ah, an assassin. Is he specilized in killing arts, or spying?" The King asked, circling him some more. Sin grabbed him by the collar. "Make one more round around me, and I'll be using your robe as a napkin at dinner time." he said, and Kyren hit hm with the sheath.
"Be nice, it's the King of the land we reside in.", and Sin sighed. "Sorry. Don't expect any your majesties being flung around here, we're no big believers in goverments ruled by Kings..." He said, and the King nodded. "Yes, I understand, you all being of Bolstar... but do me a favor, and hold your tongues as far as threats going, I don't need you perfectly usefull people being killed for open treason." He said, and Sin nodded. "Alright then."
"But, men, and women... we have need to come to a decision... the King desires our abilities in a mission... shall we accept?" And Hannah took the paper from Kyren's hands. "We should look over the briefings of the mission, and check the mission difficulty." She said, and Kyren nodded. "I already looked at that... and it's two out of five, our job is easy. They've already got another mercenary group that they paid for that's apparantly easing two of the stars off of us." He said, and the King nodded. "Yes. They are technically being paid... they're an odd bunch... but the group asked me to keep their numbers, group members and motives secret. They like their mercenary companions learning these out for themselves, they said." The King said, and Kyren nodded.
"Well, the basic gist of the entire mission, is border control. Their's a large upswelling of barbarians, and their tamed beasts roaming the countryside that we need to help quell. The date for this mission is half a week from now, so we'll keep having lounging time, and we can take up petty missions from townspeople, if the rest of you all don't mind. Like, simple chores, and eliminations of pests, like wolves in their yard, or maybe helping enforce a dangerous bar." Kyren said, and most of them didn't mind, as long as they were put to use, and not degraded in their work. "Well, now we just wait, and see who shows up on our doorsteps as for recruits. By the way, Hannah, do me a favor, and check the smithies, see how they're doing on our armor." He said, and she nodded, and set out, and Kyren went outside, to look at his new mount. The chest plate of the old armor had been replaced, but the plate itself was a deep emerald color, and the chest plate, instead of having the blazing sun, was a topaz blazing sun, half setting under the horizon. Which, strangely enough, was the description he had put under all of the armor for mounts and armored units.
"How are we going to get the requests from townspeople for the employment of hired help?" Sin asked, and Kyren reached into his backpack, and pulled out a stack of papers. "Put these one the desk of the local police station, and tell the clerk at the desk to give this to the local head of enforcement." Kyren said, and the King handed Kyren a paper as well. "This is a handwritten letter authorizing these actions, and requests that they allow them." He said, and Kyren looked at him strange, as Sin left to deliver those papers.
"How did you and my father know about all of this anyways? Between knowing where we were, knowing the new emblem of our company, and to give me this paper?" And the King smiled. "Your father's a wise man." He said, and turned around and left. "He bothers me... ooo, I'm so special, King Deltre, the onehundred-forty-two and a halfth king." Michael said, mockingly, and Terra laughed. "Well, I bet hes a grand symbol to these people, like the Grand Commander awed us all when he was here." And Michael scoffed. "Yeah, but the Grand Commander is the Grand Commander because he earned it, and wasnt born into it..."
Elsewhere...
A wyvern rider sat upon a mountainous shelf, one that bordered the south of Alsterea. He took a deep breath of air, and sighed. "I love the open air! Yay! Now it's about time I got to play!" The twenty-five year old exclaimed, as he mounted his wyvern, and flew towards the town, lance in hand. "Come, Freedom, we ride!" He exclaimed to his mount, dark brown hair flying in the wind, as his light blue eyes lit up with anticipation as a childish smile grew on his face.
Back at the Guild...
Sartis left during the conversation, and brought his family to the guild, having a small daughter, and the woman was very pretty, and Sartis, a hardened man in his thirties, who wore a goatee and a look of wisdom in his eyes, but his arms showed his willingness to turn from his natural ability of intelligence to backbreaking work to feed his family.
"What's the cute little girls name?" Lysalia said, with a smile, as the child hid behind her mother's legs. "Her name's Kiara." The mother said, as she led her daughter out from behind her legs. The girl was about seven years old, and she seemed very shy, and Lysalia became partial to her already, seeing the small girl with long brown-red hair as her when she was young. "Say hi, Kiara... it's ok, these are nice people! We're going to be living with them! We'll actually have a big room! And you'll have a big yard to play in... and maybe we'll get you a doggie to play with!" The woman said with a smile, and Kiara began smiling, but stood hidden form behind her mother. "Hi..." She said, with a small wave.
"This is my wife, Cheri." Sartis said, putting an arm around her. "Thanks, again for allowing us to stay here, for free. We were living in a tiny room with my family, who already had a family living there... and my family was never fond of me... so they crammed us into a single room with one bed, and we barely ever had priveledges." She said, and Kyren grinned. "Don't bother thanking me. Your husband deserves it." And Sartis shook Kyren's hand feverishly. "Thank you, thank you, sir." He said, and Kyren laughed. "Don't call me sir, just Kyren." he said, and Sartis nodded, and smiled. "Cheri, Kiara, make friends with these kind people, I'm going to get our belongings and issue a big 'fuck you' to our horrible family who did that to us, when we fell into povery." Sartis said, hugging his wife. "And not only that, with my cut of the pay for this building is enough to furnish the new room enough to get nice furniture and toys for our daughter." He said, as he left.
Mostly everyone was inside, inspecting their new home, and the only people outside was Kyren, Lysalia, Cheri and Kiara. Suddenly, they heard a roar overhead, as a wyvern swooped down, and landed in front of them. "Hi! My name's Sion, and I'm awefully sorry, but Kyren, you're going to have to die!" He said, holding his lance at Kyren's face. Kyren was defenseless, unmounted, and his sword was in his sheath as the lance was at his face, and Lysalia couldn't cast a spell powerful enough to kill the wyvern rider without killing Kyren in the process. Cheri and Kiara hid in a corner, and Kiara stepped towards the wyvern rider.
"Please, don't hurt him..." She said weakly, terrified of the fearsome wyvern he rode. He looked confused. "B-b-but... Xakaryus told me... that if I did exactly like he said, I'd never be alone ever again... and I'd always have friends!" he said, and Kiara saw something in his light blue eyes that no one else did. "But... you don't have to kill people for that!" She said, and His lance faltered. "But..." And he looked distraught. "We can be your friends! And you wouldn't have to be ordered around, or anything! I could be your friend, if you want me to!" And the wyvern rider lowered his lance, and bowed his head. "I-i'm sorry... mister, if you let me expain, will you forgive me, and be my friend?" He asked, and Kyren looked at this older man strangely. "Sure.." He said, and the man dismounted, and pat the wyvern, who flew off to the mountains.
Kyren took him inside, into a spare room, to talk to him. "You work for Xakaryus?" He asked, and the man nodded a smile on his face. "He saved me! Took me out of the valley I had been in since I was a child!" he said, and Kyren nodded. "I see... why don't you fill me in on your past before you tell me of the present.." Kyren said, and the man nodded.
"Well, my name's Sion... when I was a small kid, about ten, I loved adventuring in the forests near my village... but one day, I fell into a valley, surrounded by unclimable ridges on all sides... and I learned how to defend myself using a makeshift spear. Year after year, I spent my life there, survining each day so I could finally see the day's sky once more, above that cursed forest sky." He said, and then he smiled. "Thats when I met Xakaryus! He told me there was an attack on my town, the same day that I had fallen into that accursed valley and the only people who survived thought I was dead, so no one went to look for me. He took me out of there, and promised he would be my friend, as long as I did exactly what he said, and he promised me I'd never be alone. He told me to find you, track you, and kill you, and I'd never be alone again. He trained me as a wyvern rider, and I came to love flight." He said, and Kyren nodded.
"We can be your friends too, you know.. and we won't give you pushy orders, but we may ask you of a little, here and there." he said, and Sion seemed to like it better than Xakaryus' proposal. "Everyone here will be my friend? And if I get lost...?" He asked, and Kyren smiled. "We never leave a valued unit behind. And even if they are dead, we make sure to recover their bones and at least give them a proper burial." he said, and Sion jumped up. "I'm with you guys!" He said, and smiled. "Where's the little girl, though? I want to play with her..." He said, as he got up. "Wait, Sion, I have one more question for you... why don't you act your age?" He asked, out of curiousity, and Sion shrugged. "Because I never had a chance to grow up." He said, and ran outdoors.
"KIARA! Never put yourself in danger like that ever again!" Cheri exclaimed, and she looked sad. "But... he wasn't going to hurt me!" She argued. Cheri didn't seem to believe it. "How do you know?" And Kiara shrugged. "I dunno..." She said in a small voice, and Sion poked her. "Hi! He said, and Cheri looked at him reproachfully, taking her childs hand and leading her away from him.
"I'm sorry for scaring you earlier... I'd never attack an innocent, or children!" He said, looking digsuted at the thought and Kiara poked him. "Tag!" She said, and Sion started laughing and chased her around the main hall, playing with her, but not far from Cheri's watchful eye. "Tag!" He said, tagging her back, but not running too fast so she couldn't catch him.
Sin approached Kyren. "Was that a wyvern I saw come by?" He asked, and Kyren nodded. "Who was it?" Sin asked, and Kyren shrugged. "A new recruit..." And Sin nodded slowly. "Uh huh..." He said, and he left. "I'm going to go train Terra, see ya." He said, and Sin left.
"Already, this place is just built, and it's already teeming with life..." Kyren said, looking out the window, talking to himself, with a smile on his face. Everything was going perfectly, nothing could go more according to plan.