"We're far more powerful than they will ever be. So you and me? We're brothers now. That means that we have got to stick together," Five's words echoed through my head.
"Get up." Five told me after he had knocked my down for the hundredth time. We had been sparring all day and he's too fast for me to even get near for a strike. He held out his hand and I grabbed it. He laughed at me as he launched me to my feet.
"You need to go easy on me," I breathed, holding my side in pain. "I don't have the training that you do." I have been here for over five months, and every day Five pulled me into this room and beat me up.
"I can't." Five shook his head. "You need to get stronger. If you are too weak then the Mogs will see you as useless."
"It hurts though." I complained. Five frowned, eyeing me up and down. I didn't like when he did that, he was very judgemental and I didn't normally like what usually followed.
"It shouldn't." He shook his head. "You aren't supposed to feel pain from anyone trying to harm you."
"I haven't developed that legacy." I scoffed, rubbing the back of my head with my hand. Sweat soaked my neck and upper back.
"It's not a legacy." Five insisted. "It's supposed to happen because of what the Elder on Lorien did to us on the last day, before we were shipped to Earth. We can't be killed or harmed out of order of our numbers. If you are feeling pain, then it can only mean one thing." he trailed off, his eyes clouded with worry.
"What's that?" I raised an eyebrow curiously.
"You have to be Number Two" He said quietly. "The one the mogs are trying to hunt down."
"What?" My heart pounded. If I am the next number in the order, then they will kill me to get to the number after mine. "Are you sure?"
"You have to be." He nodded. "Why would you be feeling pain if you weren't?"
"Should I tell them?" I asked.
"Definitely not." He shook his head quickly. "If they find out, they will kill you. Let's hope they didn't hear us. For now, we'll just keep training." I nodded and lifted my fists again, preparing for a strike. Five rolled his eyes, scowling at me.
"What?" I retorted, putting my hands on my hips. He had a habit of making faces at me without telling me the reasoning behind them.
"You need to develop your legacies." He insisted. "You aren't going to do much damage with your fists."
"Boxers do lots of damage with their fists." I muttered under my breath. It seemed that no matter what I did, or how hard I tried, Five was never satisfied with my training. He had been in charge of helping me get up to speed, which at this point, I was moving at the same pace as a turtle.
"Against humans." Five snorted. "You won't be going up against those weaklings,"
"Who will we be going up against?" I frowned.
"Our brothers and sisters." He replied. "The rest of the Loric Garde."
"Aren't all the garde from Lorien?" I raised an eyebrow at him. We ate and trained with the others most of the time, except for when Five and I had our separate training sessions. I hated the others.
"Yeah," He nodded. "But the Nine are special. The Elders chose us because we were stronger than them. Beloved Leader would like all of us on his side, but the cepan who are with training the others have fed them lies their entire lives, like mine tried to do with me." Beloved Leader. A name that I had heard countless times but have not yet had the opportunity to meet. The great ruler of the Mogadorians and soon Earth. Author of the Great Book that speaks of the great progress that he had taught the mogs, and that Lorien failed to learn for themselves. He sounded like a great guy.
"If the Beloved Leader wants them on our side, why would we fight them?" I asked,
"Not all of them will see reason." Five shrugs. "The stronger ones will; they will be our allies. The others will have to die." He says this as if it means nothing.
"What was your cepan like?" I asked for probably the hundredth time. Five rolled his eyes, like he always did when I asked him this, but his voice would soften as he spoke about his old guardian.
"He was very old," he started. "But very kind. He told me tales of Lorien and how things would be like had we lived there. He spoke a lot about his son, Sukan. He was always very patient with me, and trusting. When he fell ill, he left my training up to me." He shrugged. "He died because he was too weak to survive on this planet." I'd learned not to press too much with Five. He told me whatever he wanted to tell me and nothing more but I was fine with that.
"Do you think they had any luck finding my sister and Dad?" I asked, changing the subject.
"No," Five shook his head. "Your cepan probably went into hiding, like all the others. He can only hide for so long though. The Mogadorians will find him and your sister eventually."
"I hope so," I sighed. "Melody would love it here."
"She isn't like you and I, Andy." Five scoffed. "She's probably human; a cover that your cepan picked up to make you appear more normal."
"She's still my sister," I mumbled. "I miss her."
"Hey cheer up," Five punched my shoulder, as if pain would make me feel better. "You don't need a sister anymore; you have a brother now." He grinned. The door opened and Ethan walked in.
"Hey Ethan," Five lifted himself off the ground, hovering over to him. Five can fly and I still can't do anything.
"Time for you two to join the others." He tells us. We know our way around by now so he doesn't have to escort us anymore. Once we leave the room, he goes his separate way. All the Mogs shoot us glares as we go past them towards the main training room. When we get there, all the others are paired off, combating each with their various legacies.
Trueborn Mogs, which I learned were different from the grunts that they sometimes used to train me and Five, line the outer edges, glaring intensely at the dozen training garde. When the others notice Five and me, they stop what they are doing and stare at us.
"Develop any legacies, Andy?" Derek, one of the garde, sneers. He's hated me ever since I was brought here, which caused a lot of the other garde to hate me too.
They're jealous of you. Five had told me when they first started picking on me. They can't even imagine the kind of power that's dormant inside you. Just wait till it's unleashed. They'll be sorry for ever messing with you.
"It takes time." Five interjects before I can reply. "Andy will be kicking your ass in no time."
"Wanna bet?" Derek snarls, his hands lighting up with fire. As far as I know, that's the only legacy he's got. He shoots a fireball in my direction but before I can do anything, Five grabs it with his bare hand. Immediately after coming in contact with the fireball, Five's skin becomes a blob of fire. The heat radiating from him becomes too much so I have to step away. Five hovers next, and shoots towards Derek, a flying fireball way larger than what Derek had conjured. He whelps and leaps out of the way as Five darts towards him. Right before touching him, Five's skin returns to normal and he body checks Derek, sending him flying. Derek hits the wall, groaning as he slides to the floor. I swear I see some of the Mogs stifle a laugh.
"Wimp." Evan, Derek's friend, retorts. "You can't even fight your own battles; Five always has to defend you."
"Not true." I hiss, but I know that he's right. I'm the only garde here who doesn't have a single legacy, and everyone knows it.
"Prove it." Even taunts, taking a step forward. "Fight me." I gulp, shaking as I step towards him. Five sees this and flies over, hovering just beside me.
"Back off, Evan." Five warns.
"Come off it, Five." He retorts. "Let the "all powerful Elder chosen" stand up for himself for once." I nod at Five, telling him it's okay and take a deep breath. Evan pushes his hands towards me, a wave of telekinetic force pushes forward and sends me flying backwards and falling on my ass.
"That's enough." Five says before Evan can send anything else my way.
"That was barely anything." Evan sneers. "The Elders must not have been very wise if they chose this loser over me."
"Maybe they didn't." Holly, one of the girls, scoffs. "They found this kid outside, right? Maybe he isn't even garde."
"Yeah." Sabrina mutters. "Maybe they messed up."
"Are you saying the Mogadorians made a mistake?" Five snarls. "Cause that's what it sounds like to me."
"Maybe they did." Holly shrugs. "I mean look at him." She nods towards me.
"He's like a frightened rat," Harley laughs.
"If you ask me, the only mistake they made was sparing the lot of you. You all should have been left to die off on the planet." Five sneers. "Does anyone else have anything bad to say about Andy?" When no one says anything, Five turns to me. "Let's get out of here. No use wasting our time training with these weaklings." I had no choice but to follow him out of the training room, but I could feel the hateful glares coming from the other garde until we walked out the door.
"You shouldn't have to stand up for me," I scoffed. "They're right; I'm the weakest one here."
"You're my brother," he punched me in the arm, "Besides, they'll be regretting these days when you develop a wicked legacy that kicks their asses." he grinned wildly.
