Authors Note: Chapter 7
Woah guys, sorry for the lack of updates.
Lohan
Dart had allowed the group to sleep for a long while, finally waking them up around noon. Darian stretched and yawned, being the last to be woken up but still miraculously tired. Darian looked around the room, all the beds were neatly made and everyone's equipment was gone.
"Everyone is at the main gate." A maid suddenly spoke.
Darian was shocked to hear the sudden voice but quickly calmed after hearing the words of the maid.
"Thanks." Darian said as he jumped out of the bed.
He grabbed his sword as he ran out of the room. He sprinted down the halls, dodging out of the way of many butlers and maids that he had almost ran over. Everyone looked up as Darian came sprinting down the stairs, huffing and puffing when he reached them.
"You are a hard one to wake up." Dart said.
"Yeah sorry, not a morning person." Darian wheezed.
Dart sighed.
"As I was saying, today we're going to Lohan. I figured after all this travel that you all could use a break and enjoy some fun. Darian since you have no idea what you will be doing there I have already explained that you, Tristan, Shane and I will be entering the Heroes Competition." Dart said.
"Heroes Competition?" Darian asked.
"It's some sort of tournament." Shane began.
"Life or death situations. Dart says it will be good training so we're kinda forced into it. Only thing is we're not allowed to use our dragoons." Tristan finished.
"No Dragoons? Why not?" Darian asked.
"It will cause too much of a ruckus and is amazingly unfair. Anyways as I've said before you need to be able to fight without your spirit as well." Dart explained.
Darian sighed in complaint, the others laughing at his grief.
"Are we ready to go?" Albert asked, walking down the steps.
He looked the same as he did the last time everyone saw him. The only differences were that he didn't have his crown and he held a long lance at his side.
"Yes Albert, we were just waiting on you." Dart said.
"Good then we shall be off then? A new route to Lohan was established so that we don't have to go through the volcano or the forest. Once we are past Hoax it will only take a few more hours to reach Lohan." Albert explained.
"That quickly!?" Dart said surprised.
"Yes. Now follow me to the carriage." Albert said as he escorted the group towards the stables.
"Glad we don't have to go through a volcano." Darian muttered to himself before following.
They didn't stop for supplies when they passed Hoax; Albert had stocked the carriage quite well. If you were to compare Albert's carriage to a modern day car it's about the size of a stretch limo. Everybody sat in a circle, everyone lying back in the cushioned seats.
"How much longer Al?" Tristan asked.
Albert was kind of shocked by the nickname, the only other person he could remember that called him that was Meru.
"Fifteen minutes maybe. Lohan isn't too far away." Albert confirmed, "We will get there just in time for the sign ups and the preliminary rounds of the contest."
"We have to fight right away?" Darian interrupted.
"Yeah. We won't have time to rest when we get there, so sleep now. You will need the extra rest." Albert said.
"So who is participating anyways?" Shane asked.
"You, Darian, Tristan and I will all be participating. Albert and Tara will be in the stands watching." Dart explained.
"Put on a good show guys!" Tara giggled.
Everyone quickly nodded off to savour what was left of their fifteen minutes of sleep. Soon enough a knock was heard on the carriage door and they were escorted out of the carriage by one of Albert's many butlers. They entered Lohan, almost running to get too the signup for the competition.
The receptionist was just putting up the closed sign when Dart slammed his hand on the counter.
"Entry for four." Dart quickly wheezed.
Dart had been faster than the others. They all caught up to him a few moments after he had.
"You're lucky, I was just closing." She said before allowing them access to the waiting room.
Tara and Albert both left while Dart, Tristan, Darian, and Shane all moved into the lower level. Down in the waiting room there were many different faces. For example there was a large tan skinned man smashing his large mace against the ground impatiently. Another person in the room had shoulder length silver hair and red eyes, another Wingly. He held a long katana in his hands, waiting for the start of the competition. Darian had examined the room carefully, examining all his potential enemies. He then noticed that the others had all found a place to wait, Dart was conversing with another, older man.
"You come to the competition every year don't you?" Dart asked the other man.
"Why it's tradition. I would have won if that Lloyd fellow didn't come in with his abnormal strength. Looks like we have a few more Winglies in the tournament this year. My Rogue Martial Arts will take them out this time." The older man said, standing up and punching the air a few times before sitting down again.
"It's been a year and you're still the same old Haschel. Do you ever act aged?" Dart asked.
"You can't expect me to act my age can you?" Haschel asked.
"Well no." Dart sighed, "Anyways, where's your dragoon spirit?" Dart asked, noticing that the small pouch that Haschel usually kept the violet stone was missing.
"Erm, well some kid has it." Haschel explained.
In less than a second everybody had their eyes on Haschel. Knowing that they wanted an explanation, he quickly spoke up.
"His name was Connor I think. He said he had no idea how he got to Rogue and was lost. The thing is, the Violet Spirit recognized him and seemed to prefer his touch over mine. So I took him in for a few days, gave him some training. He preferred to use a bow and some swords over his fists though. Said he had training with them back where he came from. Anyways, I brought him here to participate in the competition. He's here somewhere." Haschel said.
"Connor? Hey I know him; he was probably my best friend in that whole school." Darian announced, looking around the waiting room.
Darian finally noticed his friend's trademark short curly hair. He sprinted across the small room, skidding in front of Connor.
"Hey buddy, heard ya got lost?" Darian asked, a happier tone filling his voice.
Connor looked up, hearing his friends' familiar voice. He looked behind Darian, noticing the others that he also recognized. A cheerful expression appeared on his face.
"Wow you guys are all stuck here too? I thought I was stuck here alone with just that old man to keep me company. But I guess you guys are all here too. Guess what, the old guy gave me a stone and it's apparently a spirit of a dragon and I'm a Dragoon Knight and am on some sort of mission now. But he said I need to find the other Dragoons. So I guess I'm not going home any time soon until I find it." Connor explained.
"Well it seems he already knows about the Dragoons." Dart said, coming up behind the group followed by Albert and Haschel.
"Yeah I explained it pretty well to him." Haschel said.
"Show him." Dart said.
Darian, Shane and Tristan all reached into their pockets, pulling out the tiny coloured orbs.
"You've found the other Dragoons." Shane said quietly.
Connor laughed a little.
"It's like a class reunion." Connor said.
"Tara is here too." Darian added.
"So there are five of us?" Connor asked.
"Well Tara doesn't have a dragoon spirit." Darian finished.
"I see I see." Connor said.
After all the greetings the receptionist came downstairs, holding a large piece of paper.
"The tournament will begin in five minutes. Please check the standings to see the order of the fights." She said before hanging the paper on the wall and returning upstairs.
Everyone in the waiting room all stood, going to check the order of their fights before returning to their seats. Darian carefully scanned the listings.
Darian – Tamal
Kairin – Haschel
Dart – Bren
Tristan – Chaos
Shane – Llarken
Connor – Marco
Arthur - Charile
Bron - Jair
"Looks like none of us are going up against each other in the first round." Darian said, turning around to look at his friends.
Tristan laughed.
"Good, leads for more excitement." He finished.
So this is a shorter chapter…but the whole Heroes Competition will be next chapter.
Fox