"Did you hear?" Leo said sharpening his axe on a rock.
"About what?" asked Gale who was right next to him, studying his new throwing stars.
"The devil is coming today." Leo replied angrily throwing his axe at a tree, hitting a painted target he made.
Marko got annoyed, they wouldn't even give her a chance. "Guys, just because she's from Stetriol doesn't mean she's a Conqueror. Firnen has already been over this." he finally blurted out, while cutting a small tree in half with a sword. Apocalypse was in dormant state, he didn't really like the blazing heat of the forest.
"Then how about YOU be the one to show her around and meet her at the docks." Leo said as he pulled his axe out of the now splintered tree.
"Oh, stop arguing you two." Angel sat a top a log gracefully with posture. She had a whip strapped to her belt and a halberd sitting on the ground next to her.
Firnen let each of them pick two weapons, he said they were ready to handle th real deal. Marko had chosen a sword, it had a blue blade, silver hilt, a pommel with a sapphire crystal, and its cross-guard curved up in an crocodile tooth shape. The second weapon he chose were 2 daggers, which looked similar to the sword. Gale had chosen a staff that was made out of metal. His second weapon was a bunch of small shurikens. Leo had a dual bladed axe made out of metal, as well as a sort of clawed gauntlet. Angel had chosen a halberd that was a little over half her height and she had tied a purple ribbon at its top so it wouldn't get mixed up with the other ones. Her secondary weapon was a black leather whip.
"Marko is right, we should at least give her a chance. I mean I'm a thieving street rat and you guys are giving me a chance."
"But your a different scenario, you didn't start a war now did you?"
Gale kept banging his head against a giant boulder "You are impossible!"
"Thank you."
Marko waited by the docks and let Apocalypse swim around. He sat there at the edge of it with his feet dangling, he wished he could swim with his spirit animal but the 5th Lost Soul would be here soon. He looked out on the horizon to see the ship he had been waiting for.
In mere minutes the ship was at the docks, Apocalypse was at Marko's side by then. They watched as the gangplank went down and so did the passengers, he waited patiently for someone to look out of the ordinary. Then he saw the girl that was in his repeating dream. She stuck out like a sore thumb wearing a crimson cloak. He could tell she was nervous by how she was gripping the fur on the back of the wolfs neck.
She looked up and hers and Marko's eyes met, he smiled shyly and waved at her. She quickly looked down at Fell when he did this and avoided eye contact after this. Marko looked at Apocalypse and shrugged when she did this and they walked over to her.
Marko held out his hand and smiled shyly, "Hello, I'm Marko and this is Apocalypse. I'm supposed to be showing you around the castle." The girl looked up and their eyes met again, Marko flinched a little since he has never seen amber ones before. But she shook his hand and said nothing, Fell looked at Apocalypse and nudged his human partner.
"Oh, I'm Cinder and this is Fell," she stuttered. Marko could easily tell she was terrified since she said that so quietly. "Nice to meet you. Wanna start the tour?" he said gently. Cinder nodded in response and he lead her from the docks to the castle.
It took around an hour to show her around the castle, they stopped by her room
to let her put her stuff up then went to the training room. Firnen was the first to approach her, "Greetings, my name is Firnen. I will be your guardian on our travels." he then looked down at his Lynx who pawed at his leg and smiled "This is Frost my Lynx, welcome to Greenhaven." He and Cinder then shook hands.
"Cinder Rogue and Fell."
"Nice to meet you. I see you already met Marko and Apocalypse. But, the rest of you will do the same as I just did and with the same respect you give each other. Understand?"
The rest of them nodded. Gale was the first one to approach and speak "Hey I'm Gale Helms, and this is Shuriken," he smiled gesturing towards the hawk sitting on the beams above. "Nice to meet you." they shook hands and Gale went back.
Angel went next, "Greetings, I'm Angel Everest and this is Haven. I'm very pleased to have another girl on the team," she said curtsying then going back to Haven's side.
Leo was the last one to go, he scowled and strode over with his arms crossed. "Leo Yang," he then used his thumb and pointed back at Renegade. "That's Renegade." Leo tried to not let his anger show but he couldn't help it, his hands balled into fists, his eyes narrowed, then he let go.
He used all his strength and punched her square in the stomach which sent her skidding across the floor on her back. Fell growled and tackled him to the ground while Cinder processed what just happened.
Fell got off Leo when Firnen came over and got him up and held him back from doing anymore damage. Marko went over and helped Cinder up "Are you..." he was abruptly by Leo yelling
"You darn Stetriolian monsters! Destroying everything in your path not caring what happens! You probably don't care about anything else except for yourselves!"
Firnen slapped him across the face "I'm sorry I had to do that but that's enough out of you. I expect you to treat her the same way you do everyone else, now apologize," he said firmly giving Leo a sort of stern glare.
Leo looked at Cinder who was looking at the floor with a guilty eyes. He remembered his little sister doing the same thing when his parents ask her if she ate the last of the cookies. His eyes softened and he opened his mouth to apologize. Before he could say anything Cinder spoke "Its fine, you don't have to apologize. I understand your hate for me and my country. But at least let me say this," she looked up and met his eyes "Why would I join the people who took my parents permanently away from me?"
There was a brief silence then Firnen cleared his throat. "Cinder I would like to see what your skill level is at right now. I'm gonna have you run around the room, next I will have you punch that straw dummy, then you will spin around until your dizzy and then you will try to run to that x, finally I will have you blind folded and you have to find your spirit animal. I would also like to know of your progress powers. Understand?"
Cinder nodded and everyone took a step back while she took her starting position. Fell took a starting position next to her, "Ready, set,go!" Cinder took off with Fell matching her speed and pace. She continued running for a while until Firnen said stop, she had less speed than Marko but more stamina than Angel.
Next she punched the dummy and it barely hit the wall, so she had more strength than Marko but less than Leo. Then she went to the middle of the room and began to spin around until she got dizzy. She walked a few steps towards the red x on the wall before she tripped over her feet. Marko flinched and went to help her but Gale grabbed his arm and shook his head, he looked back over to see her get up and touch the red x.
Last, was the bond test. Marko helped tie her blindfold then backed away while Firnen moved Fell to a far corner of the room. "Point on 3 1,2,3." Cinder thought for a moment then pointed right at Fell. Firnen looked at Frost with a questioning look until Frost nodded at him.
"You hesitate, why?"
Cinder put her hand down and shrugged.
"I think you know. He trusts you oh so very much, yet your scared to do the same back. Don't be scared he will be the only other person that will ever always understand you. Now, walk slowly to him and break that fear."
Cinder gulped and slowly walked towards him and sighed in relief feeling his fur in her hand. She took off the blindfold and put it back once she was done. "How are your powers coming along?" Firnen asked. "I can create explosions and smoke along with my fire. I can keep it up for at least 2 hours," Cinder responded. "Have you been learning alone or with a teacher?" he asked again. "Fell has been teaching me," she said petting the wolf's fur.
"Very well then, onto today's training lesson."
They spent two hours just on how to use both of their weapons, then another hour and a half on their powers. Everybody was exhausted and went to their rooms for the rest of the day until dinner. Marko and Apocalypse stopped by Cinder's room and knocked on the door. Cinder was laying on her bed using Fell as a pillow, and reading her book to him when she heard the knocking. She got up and set her book on the desk in the corner of the room then opened the door.
"Hey, um... how are you settling in?"
"Fine."
There was a bit of awkward silence until Cinder spoke up "Wanna come inside?" she asked silently. Marko sighed and nodded then put Apocalypse into passive state, since he was way too big to fit in any of the bedrooms. Cinder closed the door behind him and sat on her bed while Marko sat on the chair for her desk. Fell got up and stretched before he trotted over to Marko and began to sniff him.
"So what's Stetriol like?"
"A wasteland, bonding sickness everywhere, and suffering."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Another awkward silence happened and the only noise that was being made was Fell's panting. Marko coughed and glanced around the room, it was a standard room for its time. There was a bed in the middle of the room, a desk in the upper left corner, a trunk for clothes in one of the right corners, a small bedside table right next to the bed that had a candle, and a door that lead to a small room with a wooden tub, there was also a smaller tub to wash clothes, and a bucket to get water. Of course in the washroom there was also two small wooden racks to put your towels and clothes to dry.
"So how's the place you come from?"
"Oh, it's a beautiful place. I come from Kalia Island in Oceanus. The water is nice and clear and at night time if you touch the water it lights up from these special plankton that live in it."
"Must be nice. What's the tattoo for?"
"Oh, this thing? Um... it means bravery and strength. I got it after I survived a crocodile attack. My brother and his orca spirit animal managed to get me back before I bled out," he then rolled up his pant leg to show her the bite mark scars.
"Good thing you survived."
Marko chuckled, "Yea. Hey do you have any brothers or sisters?" Cinder shook her head "Parents were too busy and died, they were Generals so I guess it would have happened eventually. Father had a Komodo Dragon and mother had nothing until she drank something then poof, a dingo. But my best friend is sort of like a brother to me," she explained.
Marko then looked at the ground awkwardly. "Oh I'm sorry." Cinder looked up at him "No it's fine. Please tell me about yours I really would like to know." Marko blinked then smiled at her "I have a father, mother, and brother. My father has a Mako shark and as I said earlier my brother Tilikum has a orca."
"Are they nice?" she asked. Marko nodded in response "My dad is a fisherman and my mom butchers the fish to sell them." Cinder nodded in understanding and another silence fell between them for a while, but this one didn't last as long.
"You miss them don't you?" she said quietly.
"Hm? Oh yea I miss them" he answered
"Hey um, why are you being so nice to me?" she asked as she pet Fell on the head. Marko looked up at her "Because you seem nice and just because your from Stetriol doesn't mean your evil. Besides this is just who I am and I think I wanna make you my friend." he said with a smile. Cinder and Fell both tilted their heads at him and she opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of knocking at the door.
Cinder got up and opened the door to see Firnen standing there with a folded up green cloth looking thing, some small scrolls, and a book. "Sorry to intrude Cinder but," he then handed her one of the scrolls. "We have to leave in the morning to head to Amaya to find the talismans. That scroll gives all the details."
Marko got up and stood stood behind her "We have a mission already?" Firnen looked at Marko "So this is where you have been. But yes we do," he handed another scroll to the black haired boy. "We leave at dawn so get some rest. Also," he unfolded the green cloth to its full size and revealed it to be a green cloak with a G sewed on the back in yellow. "Considering the fact that you already took your vows, welcome to the Greencloaks." he said handing her the cloak and the book.
She looked at them then at Firnen "Thank you for the cloak and gift," she said bowing a little. "Your welcome, now remember get enough rest for the morning and don't stay up too late." the two nodded and Firnen left to go find the rest of the Lost Souls. Cinder closed the door and the torches and candles in her room went out from the wind that came from it.
"Oh geez, it's dark." Marko said looking around. There was a sudden warmth as he felt Blaze brush past him. Then there was a sudden burst of a small flame infront of him and he realized that she was closer than he thought. He got startled and jumped back only to trip over Fell and land on his butt. He rubbed the back of his head and looked up to see her split the flame up and they floated to the candles and the room was lit again.
"Are you ok?" she asked helping him up.
"Yea it's just I didn't know you were right there and it startled me."
"Sorry," she said scratching the back of her neck.
Another awkward silence happened and he picked up her cloak off the bed and looked at it "It looks like mine," he said handing it to her. "Why don't you wear yours?" she asked taking off her crimson cloak and putting on the green one. "Eh, I don't like wearing it unless I really need to." Cinder looked at the cloak and shrugged.
"If your cloak gets ripped they can give you a new one. If yours clothes get ripped or you need some pajamas then you can go to the tailor and get it fixed. But I better get packing see you tomorrow." Marko then left to go to his room.
"I guess I better do the same. Right Fell?" Fell wagged his tail and howled as Cinder smiled and quickly glanced out the window at the moon then got to work.