Caiellis swung the inactive Sword of Glass in a wide arc which would have been impossible for him to execute with a heavier weapon, a feint designed to draw out a block from Guardian Tristram, whom he currently duelled against. After receiving his father's gift, the boy had partaken in a long, relaxing shower, which had helped to ease the pain of his cuts, particularly the most recent ones which had only been inflicted yesterday morning. The king had made him promise to stop doing that, and although simply giving Caiellis a present didn't yet make the man the perfect dad in the prince's eyes, he decided to indulge him on this.

Tristram grinned at the boy's tactics, moving the axe in sideways to block while keeping an eye out for the coming second strike. To this end, he wasn't going to put full power into the block to allow him to react to the second blow faster. The two were duelling to help the youngest Lucerna practise with his physical combat abilities now he had acquired the relic blade – magic was forbidden in this test, and the Guardian wasn't entirely sure he would be able to defeat Caiellis if it wasn't, despite having access to Athela, the Aegis Angel. However, since they weren't using spells, if worst came to worst he could simply brute-force the small boy into defeat, although the whole point of this fight was to allow Cai to train with his new weapon, not for Tristram to best him by overwhelming him with his strength.

Alexander watched intently from the sidelines – he was supposed to be completing the task given to the brothers by Hierarch Tybalt, which was to research the other kingdoms in preparation for their departure to the Scholaria Magnus, but he was far more interested in observing Cai fighting, especially since his brother was for once not in the midst of his Summoning trial or exhausted after it. He was glad that the eldest and youngest living Lucernans had spent time bonding, and that their father had given the boy the Sword of Glass. The weapon matched his little brother perfectly, complementing his dynamic and magic-based fighting style whilst also not requiring much strength to wield. They had already been duelling for fifteen minutes, and Alex could see that his brother was tiring.

Realising that the Guardian would have figured out his plan, Caiellis instead continued to cleave downwards onto the axe with his sword. Tristram grunted at the prince's sudden change of plans, but the boy had over-extended himself. He shoved the sword back with the haft of his axe and continued pushing forwards, overpowering Cai and knocking him backwards onto the ground. He couldn't remove the sword or Tristram's weapon would "slice" into him before he could roll away, and he wouldn't be able to last much longer by attempting to fight against the man's greater strength, even though he knew that the Guardian whom he was closer to than his own father was holding back.

Grimacing, the boy quickly slid out his sword from under the axe and jolted back, barely dodging his opponent's swing. He bit back a yelp of pain as an armoured foot pressed into his right forearm, preventing him from bringing his blade to bear and pushing his arm into the floor. Tristram placed the blade of his axe next to the boy's thin neck, trying to only put enough pressure on his foot to prevent Cai from moving the arm, and not cause him pain since he knew how easily bruised the smallest prince was.

"Surrender?" he smiled, relatively impressed with how Caiellis wielded his new weapon. The boy grunted stubbornly (possessed of that family trait like the rest of his exalted family) and tried to move his arm, succeeding in inching the limb sideways, and Tristram put a bit more weight on his leg to give the prince a harder time moving. Caiellis tried to stifle a cry as the pressure on his arm increased, but only ended up making it sound more pained. He blinked back the tears, determined to not let them see him as weak, and was about to submit when a voice shouted:

"Get off him! You're hurting him!" A strong form barrelled into Tristram, knocking the Guardian off his feet with the unexpected attack. He slammed into the ground, smashing the air from his lungs but still keeping a hold of his axe due to his combat training – dropping his weapon in a fight could lead to the death of his king or the Lucerna heirs.

"Alex! What are you doing?" Caiellis yelled, as he got to his feet, his older brother stood protectively in front of him. Crap, thought Alexander. He hadn't meant to hurt Tristram, he only meant to stop him from causing his brother more pain. He had overreacted then, just like he had overreacted earlier when he discovered Cai's self harming. The middle Lucerna had an extremely high pain tolerance for both physical and emotional distress, but if there was one thing that he couldn't stand it was to see his baby brother in pain. He had seen the hurt clearly in Caiellis, and before he could think he had already intervened. While he had always been protective of his younger sibling, especially during the civil war as they were hunted by the forces of the darkness, it seemed like currently with the revelation of the boy's self-harming his big brotherly instinct had been snapped into overdrive.

"Tristram! Are you alright?" the tall boy asked in concern, ignoring his brother's indignant expression and moving forward, extending his hand to help the Guardian up and back onto his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit winded. Though I didn't expect an attack from the sides", the boys' combat mentor laughed as Alex went bright red and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He then switched his gaze to his youngest student, and changed his jovial tone to one of soft admonition he had developed during the civil war, "Caiellis, you need to surrender if you are in pain. You know I don't mean to hurt you, I never would intentionally, but you are more fragile than your brother and I'm used to fighting him."

"Yes, Uncle Tristram, I know," the boy rolled his eyes at his family (because if he was being honest, Tristram and Tybalt were more like family to him than his father) babying him, "I was going to before idiot here barged in."

"Hey, jerk, I was just trying to protect you," Alex grinned and pulled his brother over, pulling down the sleeve of his right arm and looking at the purple bruise that had started to form. Caiellis sighed dramatically at his brother's ministrations but didn't pull away, and Tristram smiled at the two boys, though he still winced guiltily at the at the sight of the mark on the boy's pale flesh.

Having no children of his own, the Guardian considered the royal brothers as akin to sons after the years of their lives spent moving between safe-houses when the palace had been breached nine years ago. He knew that Marik blamed himself for Emili's death, as the queen had wanted to take their children to her parents in Scientia Mos, but the king had insisted the palace was much safer. He had soon changed his opinion as a group of demon-assassins sent by his brother and masquerading as royal staff murdered his wife and almost killed his children.

He sent the (not at the time for both - and in reality they took it upon themselves to act at first, the official orders following that) Hierarch and Guardian with his boys and evacuated them out of the city, where they lived in different cities and in forlorn villages until they came under attack. Although at first Tybalt and Tristram had despised each other, they had formed a bond out of caring for the king's children, the youngest of which had only been a tender four years of age at the time. Now the ancient Hierarch and comparatively youthful (although he wasn't really any more) Guardian were close friends, an unlikely pair.

Tristram was reminded of those dark days in the civil war where the boys' physical training had come down to him, while the Hierarch focussed on the mental improvements. Alexander had been extremely eager in his training sessions, throwing himself into every gruelling exercise with youthful enthusiasm so that he could get his body to develop more muscle. However, the younger brother had hated the Guardian, much preferring to learn about the world with "Uncle" Tybalt rather than practise swordplay or run laps in the cold and the rain. The youngest boy increased his resentment of Tristram after the man accidentally gave an over-eager Alexander a black eye after a wrestling session, but when he had saved Caiellis's life and single-handedly bested a squad of Johnias's agents who had been sent to murder the children and attacked Cai when he had ran off in a huff, the boy had nothing but respect for the Guardian and also graced him with the grand title of "Uncle".

He grinned fondly as they began squabbling as Alex poked Cai's bruise a bit too hard, reminded of the "good old days" when they had both been thin children. Now Alex was a tall, well-built and muscular lad, and although the younger brother would never match his elder in that respect, Caiellis was becoming taller as well (not that one would see it unless they had known him for a long time). He was glad that the younger boy had began to break out of his depression, and was surprised when Caiellis had challenged him to a duel, since it was something that the thirteen year old despised.

It was easy to forget that they were still children – the oldest still couldn't legally consume alcohol and the youngest had barely breached his teenage years (Tristram suppressed a snort when he remembered that – the boy had a temper that could match any of his family). They certainly weren't spoilt, despite being the sons of the king, and their childhoods had been harder than most. They had only recently begun to live in luxury when the war finished, but the down-to-earth attitude instilled in them by their time as basically refugees meant that they didn't indulge much and would aid greatly when one of them became king.

They had a fantastic brotherly bond, and although they were extremely close Tristram had often been forced to break up heated disputes of name calling or wrestling (which always ended badly for the younger brother) or tend to wounds the boys had caused each other in fights.

His reverie was interrupted when King Marik himself strode confidently into the room, sternly eyeing his boys who immediately stopped their play-fighting and bowed their heads, stood slightly shamefully next to each other. Marik forced himself to grin warmly at the two, dispelling the atmosphere of seriousness which had sprung into life with his entrance.

"Sorry to spoil your fun, but Tristram and I need to discuss force dispositions and training of new soldiers," the king said, and on the spur of the moment swept up both his children in a hug. Alex gratefully reciprocated the gesture, happy that his dad (who had been his idol for as long as he could remember) was paying attention to them, which left the unwilling Caiellis crushed in the middle between the two broad Lucernas.

"I trust you are prepared for your departure tonight?" Marik inquired, and was met with a pair of surprised glances.

"Tonight? What?" Caiellis exclaimed incredulously, "You said the term started in a few days," and then realisation clicked in his mind, "Of course! The monorail has to stop at each city, and then since the Scholaria Magnus is located on a neutral island, the travel time will be increased as it will have to be done on boat."

"Well shit!" Alexander cried, and then at a stern glance from Tristram (who knew that it was probably his fault the boy had begun to swear all those years ago), not that the Guardian really minded but he wanted to give the impression that he had taught the boys at least some manners, "Sorry, darn. We'd best get going then. Race you to our rooms!"

Alexander shot off, leaving Caiellis who sighed in a way that would better fit a person forty years older. He knew that he would never win in a race against his much taller brother, and didn't feel that it would be appear very mature in front of his father. Besides, I mean, how childish is that? We aren't little kids anymore; what sort of seventeen year old challenges his brother to a race? At any rate, no matter how annoying Cai occasionally found Alex, he knew that he was lucky to have an older brother who still wanted to talk to him and still looked after him - plenty of seventeen year olds (especially in nations without family bonds as strong as those in Lucael) wouldn't even tolerate being in the presence of their dorky younger brothers for a few minutes, let alone actively want to be with them.

"You're going to lose if you just stand there," Tristram sniggered, and the youngest Lucerna gave him a very pointed glare. The guardian winked back, and Caiellis set off at a deliberately measured pace. He had no intention of going to the rooms, he had already packed his clothing after he left the shower. In fact he was heading back to the library – he needed to get some books on what the Lucaelians knew about the other factions so that he could better interact with them. He also knew that despite the fact that Uncle Tybalt had specifically told Alex to do as he was now doing, his older brother would forget or simply not bother.

Marik watched his sons go with a mixture of remembered fondness and regret, then turned towards Tristram. There was something he needed to say before they talked about army things, something he should have said a long time ago.

"Thank you-" he began to say, infusing his normally stony voice with deep gratitude, when the Guardian waved a placating hand.

"Save it, my lord," Tristram grinned, "I was just doing my duty to the royal family. Besides, it's not as if it was a bad thing or a hardship to take care of your boys."

"You and old Tybalt raised them better than I could ever have done alone," Marik uttered softly, regretting every second of the civil war in that one moment.

"That doesn't change the fact that they need you, their father now. Especially Caiellis. He needs your support with his Summoning, instead of your censure," Tristram replied evenly, and Marik was glad that his battle-brother was always so open with him – most people were understandably reserved around the king, but his closest advisers never pulled punches because of his rank.

.*.*.*.

"Ma! Ma!" Kaled screamed, as the woman talking to him was ripped open in an explosion of gore, her loving face replaced with a cackling devil with a smile that stretched too far across its face. He shouted in rage as the devil imitated his ma's kind words in a mocking force, and tried to swing at it, but felt firm hands holding him down. "Kid! Kid! Wake up!" a man's voice shouted, and Kaled sighed with relief. It was just a dream. It was all just a dream – except it wasn't. His ma was still dead or worse.

His eyes opened and a hard-faced woman wearing black armour with a red glove around her right hand held him down, regarding him coldly. Kaled looked around, he was in the back of a moving vehicle, sat on cushioned seats with the woman on top of him. A voice came from the driver's compartment, tinted with concern: "Is he alright now?"

"I don't know. Are you?" the woman questioned as tears began to fall out of his eyes. She repeated the question and Kaled nodded, wiping them away.

"Don't be so harsh, Messa," the man scolded softly, and the woman scowled and moved off the boy. "Don't worry, kid. My name is Degan, and you're currently on the way to the Scholaria Magnus."

"I expected Enforcers to be taking me," Kaled mumbled, trying not to cry even more at his ma's sacrifice – she wouldn't want him to be sad about it, and the man laughed, "We are Enforcers, kid. But not part of the Orders. The original Enforcers."

"What Degan is trying to say is that we are part of the Ja'an Guard, the last remnants of the system introduced by Jarred after the Revolution's victory," Messa explained, and Kaled noticed that she looked a lot prettier when she wasn't scowling. She narrowed her eyes at his staring and the teenager blushed profusely, turning away in embarrassment and looking out of the window. He noticed that the car he was in was one of a large group, and if he craned his neck he could see city gates in the distance behind them. It was almost night-time, the sun finally diverting its gaze away from Welkas.

"The other cars are also holding new students of the Scholaria," Messa hissed, and Kaled could clearly perceive the resentment in her tone.

"Though we have to take them, wouldn't want the other nations know how corrupt Welkas as become," Degan added sarcastically, and noticing Kaled's confused look from his rear-view mirror, he said: "As Ja'an is the city controlled the least by the Orders, they have decided that Enforcers from there would transport the spoilt brats to the school so that other factions don't become suspicious of the New Empire, although only the Yentarians would really care."

"Though you aren't a spoiled brat, are you?" Messa asked, and Kaled slumped.

"No," he responded simply, wishing he could have done more to protect his ma.

Degan coughed loudly and Messa nodded – the two had earlier agreed not to bring up the topic of Kaled Denith's adoptive mother, and the way the conversation was going could easily go in that direction.

"It's going to be a long journey," Degan mused idly, "When we get to the coast in the west we will get onto a boat. The school is located on an isolated island to prevent any faction from doing claiming the territory or threatening the students."

.*.*.*.

Caiellis paced slowly through the darkness of Capitalia Lux – he had managed to (somehow) convince Alex to let him walk alone, but his brother still insisted that he take Caiellis's luggage and books on board the monorail with him. Cai knew better than to object to more than one thing at once, so meandered through the city unobstructed by possessions, apart from the relic blade that was sheathed at his waist.

It was late evening, although there was no difference in the perpetual darkness apart from an intensification of the shadows, and the lights lit by the citizens of the metropolis were like pinpricks in a sea of night. He didn't exactly know why he had wanted to walk alone, but just felt like he needed to absorb the city one last time before he left again.

It was a beautiful city – maybe not as majestic as the reported Court of Oaks in Eria, or as stunning as the Sapphire Citadel of the League of Uveria, but the baroque and gothic architecture standing defiantly in the face of the abyss was a wonder in its own right. And then there was its sheer size as well that added to how impressive it was.

Caiellis reasoned that he was more than a little biased, having never actually been to any of these other locations and knowing that he had been born in the palace of Capitalia Lux, but this city had always had a special place in his heart. It was little known fact that despite people living in relatively close quarters to one another (although the metropolises were large enough to prevent overcrowding), the Lucaelians had the smallest crime rate out of all the factions. This was because it was bred into them that to survive in the darkness, they needed to work together and respect the structures of order that had let them survive through the ages.

The boy was in a large plaza full of bustling civilians indulging in the winter markets of the early days in the first month of 1251. He shivered and pulled his scarf further up his face – to both block out the cold and to prevent people from recognising him. When Cai turned around, he could clearly see the two largest structures in the capital city: the imposing and awe-inspiring palace was all hard stone on the outside and wider than its counterpart, the Cathedral of Salvation, one of the many churches in the Lucaelian realm. The tall building had a huge array of stained glass windows that reflected the light from inside, and was topped by a statue of Matalis Ortus Lucerna, the first king and Caiellis's distant ancestor. The sculpture extended further upwards into an abstract rendition of Matalis's Summoning, the unnamed First Angel.

Thousands of Lucaelians went into the cathedral every day to pray, and Hierarch Tybalt was in charge of the church – the role had been his for many years in the past, when he let his protégé step in when he became too old for the position, and instead became a teacher for the king's first child, and then also his second. However, when the new Hierarch (that Cai could only faintly remember) had been murdered in the civil war by the Arch-Heretic Johnias himself, Tybalt stepped back into the role, which the ancient man would hold until he died.

Caiellis found it strange that even though he had been taught about the angel-worshipping religion, he didn't actually believe in it himself – he thought it must have been the by-product of actually being able to call upon an angel, especially one of the First Sisterhood. These angels were far more powerful than those of subsequent Sisterhoods, and would only appear to those of the Lucerna line. The angel Summonings of other prominent Lucaelian figures were said to be far less powerful, according to Tybalt, who could himself call upon the aid of a Second Sisterhood angel, the wise Bruna, Light of Alabaster.

He knew, obviously, of the tremendous power and benevolence of the First Angel and often referred to her as the Goddess, as did many other Lucaelians, but he wasn't certain if she was a truly divine being. Such thoughts would be considered tantamount to heresy if harboured by any other than a Lucerna, but it was precisely his "divine claret" (as he had seen it mentioned as in ancient tomes and religious texts) that made him sceptical. The fact that he didn't worship angels must also have been because the royal family were treated with almost the same reverence. That wasn't to say that he didn't venerate the angels and the First to appear to the survivors of the darkness, as he did, because he knew how much the angels had helped the Kingdom of Light, he just didn't feel the need to pray to them when he could speak to one.

If I pass my Summoning trial, Cai thought dejectedly, slumping his shoulders slightly as he slowly dodged his way through the crowds as he felt the weight of the pressure to succeed crushing down on him again, although most of the Lucaelians tried to avoid walking into one another and definitely not crash into a boy as small as he was. At least the fact that no kind stranger (or "subject") had asked him where he was going or offered to take him to his parents meant that he didn't look too young any more, though Caiellis was very aware that he still had quite a baby-face and his large, wide green eyes certainly didn't help that.

He made to leave the plaza – the train would be departing soon, and although the driver would not leave without the prince Cai didn't want to be the cause of a delay – when a young voice called out: "Mummy, look! It's the pwince!"

Caiellis froze, hoping the parents of the child would simply dismiss the girl as having a vivid imagination, and soon realised that he would be appear more inconspicuous if he just kept moving, instead of suddenly stopping. He knew that he had corrected the mistake too late when a woman cried: "My lord!"

The boy wondered what had given him away – he wasn't wearing anything emblazoned with the Lucernan Crest, and his scarf hid the Black Sun on his cheek from onlookers. Maybe it was the sheathed sword at his waist, but Caiellis was small enough that it would have been hard to pick out in the crowded plaza.

He gulped and turned around to see a woman holding a small child's hand begin to fall to her knees. At the sight of the woman doing so, a few other citizens copied the act, noticing the boy in their midst, which was a catalyst for everyone in the plaza to begin doing it. Soon he was the only one stood up, and a sea of kneeling figures surrounded him throughout the plaza.

Cai's heart started beating faster. What was he supposed to say? Everywhere he looked, expectant faces smiled back, though his mind twisted their prideful (pride in him, the youngest member of the Lucerna family) and welcoming smiles into judgemental and disappointed glares that speared into him. There were no shadows he could slink into in the plaza – he had already been recognised tonight, but had blended into the gloom before the person could verify that it was truly him. If there was one thing that years spent on the run from Johnias's hunter-demons had taught him, it was how to hide. Now that skill was useless.

The boy started to breath faster, inhaling and exhaling at a steadily increasing rate as he realised that he had no idea what to do. What had he done to deserve this admiration, this respect? What could he say to these people that would live up to their absurd picture of him? What was he supposed to do?

Caiellis stood rigid, panic making it harder to breathe as he fully took in the amount of people in the square – it must have been hundreds. He wanted to scream, or lash out and blast these people away from him, but he managed to control himself in that respect. Cai had been taught how to deal with these situations before, many of his lessons with Uncle Tybalt revolving around this, but he wasn't ready, and any words he tried to grasp slid out of his mind. He barely realised that he had started to hyperventilate, but not to the extent that the people around him would notice.

His frantic breathing made everything start to blur and distorted his vision as his eyes desperately flicked side to side. For as long as Cai could remember, he had always been a shy boy, uncomfortable speaking to those who he didn't know and wont to hide behind his parents in social situations until the civil war began and they were whisked away from him. He could recall burying his head in his mother's chest in their first visit to Scientia Mos, (the first occasion he had left the capital as far as he could remember), hiding from the people who lined the streets to greet the royal family, and clutching onto his older brother in their second until Alex pushed him away.

Now he was stuck; there was nowhere to hide and there was no one more confident to take control and speak for him to this crowd. Caiellis's shyness and reluctance to interact with people that he wasn't familiar with, instead of falling now that he had gone into his teenage years, had risen to the point where he found it terrifying. Not only was he scared of the public speaking, but now as well he was horrified of failing, frightened of making himself look like an idiot and unsuitable for the throne because he knew that would bring more of his father's censure - no matter that the man had started to act kinder with him.

If he made a mistake now, these people would hate him for it, and Cai would be shaming his family and his father which was something he had done enough of already. The boy could feel his heart thudding in his chest and the blood pounding in his head, and stood stock still as the people looked at him. He knew that no matter his social anxiety, he had to say something, but couldn't find the words, and couldn't force those words out with the sudden lack of oxygen from his hyperventilation that he hadn't noticed.

After what felt like years to the youth's panicked mind, but was actually seconds, a confident voice called out to him. The familiar sound broke through the barriers of mental paralysis, and Cai looked to see Alexander walking quickly towards him, the older boy coming to his rescue as the crowd parted to allow the other prince through. Relief flooded through Caeillis's body as the people turned towards the arrival of the eldest prince, and the thirteen year old saw concern mixed with affection and an easy confidence in speaking to people within his brother's blue irises.

"Citizens of Capitalia Lux, please stand," Alexander bellowed as he made his way to the stricken Caiellis's side, putting on a stony face and imitating his father's voice in an exaggerated manner – the display of humour was not lost on the crowd of Lucaelians, some of whom laughed or stifled sniggers as the people rose to their feet.

"It seems the cold has stolen my brother's tongue," he said, amplifying his voice so that it carried to everyone in the plaza wrapping a protective arm around his brother's painfully thin shoulders. Caiellis wasn't listening to what he was saying, he was just immensely relieved that once again Alex had been there to bail him out. Despite the fact that he tried to not rely on the older boy as much, Cai wanted to just bury his head in his big brother's side like he used to when he was scared and let Alex protect him and take him away from the fear, but thought that would look pathetic, so instead stood still, trembling but reassured.

"So I'll have to fill in for him. I hope none of you are disappointed if you wanted Cai, but now at least you can have his handsome and attractive big brother," Alex flashed a charming smile which had often got him the attention of girls from noble families, and even though King Marik had forbidden him from having a partner until he was eighteen, he often liked to push those boundaries - and sometimes outright broke them, but he was allowed at least one rebellion, right? More laughter erupted from the crowd, and the middle Lucerna finished off his short speech.

"Please, carry on with your celebrations. Don't let us interrupt you," Alex closed, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Caiellis was staring at him in a combination of admiration that the seventeen year old had become used to seeing from his sibling (although now Cai only favoured him with it when he thought that he wasn't looking, no longer the little boy that worshipped the ground on which his big brother had stood) and sheer relief at having him arrive, as well as heavy embarrassment and shame over freezing up.

And with that, the people turned to one another and began chattering excitedly – not many of them had seen either one of the king's sons in the past month, but their story of survival in the civil war was a well known one. Alex winked or waved at the few citizens still watching him and then turned to his little brother, whose gaunt face was becoming streaked with tears.

"Hey, short stuff, what's wrong?" he soothed, looping his other arm behind Cai's knees, lifting the light boy off his feet and squeezing tightly with his hand on the boy's shoulders. In the past he had almost always known what to do to comfort a sad or scared Caiellis (whether he chose to do that or not was another matter entirely dependent on if they had argued recently or not), and hoped that he still possessed that skill. Alexander had always been able to lift his baby brother in his arms because of their age difference, but instead of it becoming harder as they both got older and grew (not that his brother exhibited much of the latter), therefore becoming heavier, Alex found it even easier now because of the fact that he could actually eat a diet that allowed him to develop the muscle that he had - and his brother was almost weightless, which was something the seventeen year old was very concerned about.

"You...You are always here for me. You always know what to say," his younger brother sobbed, barely able to get the words out, before pushing his head into Alexander's chest, who gave him a patented smile. Caiellis then extricated himself from his older brother, his eyes still slightly puffy, and pushed the larger boy away, suddenly self-conscious. He knew that that would have looked pathetic to anyone watching - he was thirteen now, not three, and shouldn't have to rely on his older brother to solve his problems or soothe his woes.

Alex gave his brother some space – he had been looking for Cai, not content to just simply sit in the carriage and wait with his two friends with every second of his brother not being there a second he could have been hurt. He did realise that he would have to get used to that sort of feeling, as his brother would be in a completely different year to him at the Scholaria, and if his father hadn't said anything about the brothers sharing a room to the patrons, it would be very unlikely that they would do so.

It was just after the revelation over the younger boy's self-harming this morning, the seventeen year old felt more protective over him than he had for the past month of peace time and believed that he owed his brother for not trying to help him sooner. To that end he slung a reassuring arm over Cai's painfully thin shoulders, wishing that his brother would eat more but also knowing that because he was going through puberty there was no way, no matter how much that he ate, that Caiellis would be anything more than thin.

He had seen his little brother surrounded by the kneeling people, sensing instantly that Caiellis had no idea of how to properly react – he was not as confident at interacting with people as Alexander, preferring to either just talk to those he knew very well or keep his thoughts to himself. While he wasn't worried about the fact that his younger brother would be in a year full of fifteen or sixteen year old proteges from the four nations, as he knew first hand how intelligent and analytical the little geek was, he was concerned about the thought of Cai interacting with others - well, more concerned about him not doing it at all.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked when Cai had stood still for a few seconds, his brother clearly lost in thought and drifting off.

"I just want to do one thing," Caiellis replied enigmatically, and began walking towards a woman holding a child's hand, shrugging off his senior. Vaguely baffled, Alex followed closely behind as his brother slid through the crowds, the Lucaelians who noticed bowing respectfully as the Lucernas past.

"I told you, mummy," a young girl's chiding words could be heard, "I said that the pwince was coming to see us,"

"I'm sorry about Cassandra," the woman apologised profusely when she noticed the youngest Lucerna stood next to her, and her child shook her head vigorously. The daughter was the spitting image of her mother apart from having light blue eyes when the woman had brown, and she bowed respectfully, apologising, "You clearly needed to be somewhere, and we stopped you. Please don't blame the girl, she is only four. I will take full responsibility for any delay caused."

"No, it's fine. Please stand up," Caiellis shook off the woman's concerns, embarrassed. Four. The age he had been when his mother had died. He gave Cassandra a smile and knelt down to the girl's height. "Cassandra, how did you know that I was the prince?"

"I saw the angel," the girl replied simply, suddenly looking quite shy and tugging on her mother's arm, and her mother added: "Cassandra has the Sight – she can see Sancturia creatures, but is not a mage herself."

"Wow, that is a cool ability," Alex exclaimed, coming to his brother's side and winking at the girl. It was uncharacteristic of the squirt to initiate a conversation with people that he didn't know or do something like this, although whether Caiellis was doing this so that he could avoid a repeat of the experience that he must have found terrifying judging by his reaction to Alex arriving or was just curious and wanted to know was unknown. At any rate, the second he arrived Cassandra instantly became more comfortable and confident.

Cassandra looked him straight in the eyes and stated: "Your angel is pretty and nice. She is watching you" She then looked at Caiellis and added: "Your angel is asleep. You need to wake her up!"

Noticing the prince's expression hardening and his eyes becoming tinted with a mixture of stony determination not to let his sadness show and a haunting sorrow which quite frankly made the woman feel sorry for her young liege, the mother quickly scooped her young daughter into her arms and apologised once again.

"The girl doesn't know what she is saying, please excuse her my lords."

Caiellis was going to leave when he turned around and tapped Cassandra on the forehead, which made the girl giggle and gave the mother a story to tell to her friends. Alex smiled at the actions, seeing some of his own interactions with his little brother within them.

"Take good care of your mum," Cai ordered, trying to smile warmly as he did so, and the girl nodded with a child's seriousness as understanding clicked in the mother's head. He turned back around from the two and let his brother lead him towards the station as Cassandra waved at him and her mother smiled with pride for the newest members of the Lucerna family.

.*.*.*.

When they had arrived in the front-most transport carriage (as was their royal right), Leodred and Elizabex Montlea, twin children of General Carlis Montlea and childhood friends of Alexander before the civil war had started got up from their booth and waved the Lucernans over. Alex sat down in the seat opposite theirs and patted the space next to him for Caiellis. The boy raised his eyebrows and instead chose to sit in the booth across from theirs, which was empty, reaching over and taking down one of the quite heavy tomes from the overhead storage.

To be more precise, the entire carriage was empty apart from the bodyguards located at each entrance – King Marik had graciously allowed one friend for each of his children, but as Caiellis didn't have any he donated the extra place to Alex, who could let the twins onto the front carriage, as they were also enrolled at the Scholaria Magnus. Leo could Summon a fast attacking spirit creature known as Valour, whilst Elizabex called upon an elemental of holy light named Purity.

Alexander rolled his eyes at Cai's deliberate impertinence, watching as the boy opened the first page of the first tome and began to take notes on a sheet of plain paper in front of him. He was about to get up and sit across from his brother, wanting to make sure that he was alright after the events of today, when Leo slammed his hand on the table, just as the train started moving.

"Well then, shall we get this game started?" he asked excitedly, and Alex belatedly remembered promising to play in a game of cards before setting off to find his brother. The three had played the game every time the brothers returned to Capitalia Lux, and each of them had won an equal number of times – Leo wanted to be the "grand champion" he called it, by beating Alex and his sister, and the Lucerna supposed that the honour of his family was on the line in their game. Anyway, Cai seemed fine, although that didn't really mean much since apparently he had lost the ability to detect whether something was wrong or not with the youngest member of their family in the few times that he had seen him over the past month.

No, that wasn't right. Much as it hurt Alex to admit it, he knew that if he had actually tried then he would have figured out that the short fry's problems were more than just not passing the Summoning trial yet, but he had been too caught up in his own life to notice fully. To be fair, he had spent the past nine years looking out for his baby brother, so he had wanted time to himself - though that didn't excuse it. Alexander was an older brother, and older brothers were meant to take care of their little siblings.

"Hey squirt, are you playing?" Leo inquired, fully aware of how much it annoyed his friend when anyone else used his nicknames for Caiellis. At first, many years ago, Alexander had been against allowing his baby brother to play with them, especially since the runt had only been three at the time, but at their mother's insistence he had been allowed to, and he sometimes joined in when they played it. Alex snapped out of his brief reverie, looking away from his brother and glad that the younger boy hadn't noticed him staring - since that was something that he often teased Caiellis about when he was lost in thought and accidentally rested his gaze on the blonde.

"I think I'll pass," Cai responded, not even looking up from his work as he continued to write.

"He's such a nerd, isn't he?" Alexander said loudly, and if Caiellis heard it, which there was no way he couldn't, he didn't react. He grinned conspiratorially over at Leodred, who smiled back, but for now they wouldn't do anything. Pulling pranks on his little brother was something that he had often done, but at the moment it was off limits.

"Leo was so excited about this game," Elizabex sighed, almost resignedly, pulling out her deck and shuffling it thoroughly, "He wouldn't shut up about how he would put that "arrogant prince" in his place."

"Is that what you call me?" Alexander laughed, genuinely amused, and Leo raised his hands.

"It's just a nickname. Don't want you going all high and mighty about it," the slightly older but smaller boy replied, slamming his deck on the table once he ad finished shuffling, accompanied by a characteristic eye roll from his less enthusiastic twin sister.

The game soon started – it was based upon building a city and winning the game in one of three ways: Alex and Leo's decks were both military, while Elizabex's won through diplomacy and economy. Cai's rarely used deck won through converting the other players' cities to his religion. Alex played a very fast deck that won through sending relentless attacks of raiders and pillagers before the other players built up their cities, while Leo relied more upon the crushing power of his late-game arsenal of military assets.

Elizabex wielded more of a mid-game strategy that worked through disrupting the offence of the two boys and also subtly weakening the resources that Cai would gain when he played - as the youngest one of them had the most meticulous and slowest plan of action, requiring large amounts of patience before he could build up the required devotion to access his game deciding acts of faith.

The boy grinned triumphantly when he recruited a phalanx of elite warriors, equipped them with enchanted metal and sent a group of Alex's bandits packing, and then loudly gasped with indignation when his sister then bribed them onto her side.

"You can't do that!" he cried, and then noticed just how much gold Elizabex had managed to stack up while the boys had been constantly at war with each other.

"They look better on my side anyway," she snickered as Leo growled in annoyance.

"Children, please quieten down. Some of us are trying to do work," Caiellis's reprimanding voice rang out, which made all three of them laugh and Leo stuck his middle finger out at the boy, met by a glare from Alexander despite the fact that Leodred had never laid a hand on his brother and never would.

Apart from Cai's occasional and very fitting nickname of "bitch", Alex didn't like swearing when it came to his brother, especially at him. It was the fact that the younger boy was still so innocent and young in his brother's mind, and he didn't want that to be erased. He was aware that when he was angry he often swore a lot, and tried not to direct it at his sibling - made much harder if it was his sibling that was angering him in the first place.

"Overprotective much?" Leo joked, and his friend punched him hard on the shoulder. The older boy scowled in order to replace his momentary look of pain and rubbed his shoulder, muttering profanities under his breath as not to annoy his friend further.

"I was planning to use this against Elizabex, but since she doesn't make unnecessary comments about me and my brother, I'll use it against you instead," Alex smiled charmingly and used his sappers to destroy the walls of Leo's city, allowing his raiders to wreak havoc before they were sent back, severely weakening both of the military players.

"Thanks Alex," Elizabex grinned as she bought out both of their cities in one fell swoop, claiming the victory for herself, her brother glaring at his best friend. She knew the boy's real reason for doing that was so that he could go see his little brother faster – had he used it against her, she would have been weakened, putting all of them on roughly the same strength level, making the game take twice as long. Alexander was very much a macho "suck it up" kind of person, but she knew that he had a soft spot for the little brother that had been through so much with him.

"What'cha up to?" Alexander asked Cai, sauntering over to his brother's booth, as if trying to make the actions seem more nonchalant, like he was visiting the thirteen year old because the game had ended, instead of ending the game so that he could do precisely that. It was a good job that Cai hadn't paid attention to the game at all, otherwise he would have realised what his older brother had done and might have been annoyed.

"Compiling notes about the other nations, as you should have done already," was Caiellis's curt reply. He didn't glance up from his work, his older brother rolling his eyes again. Alex made a face, and jeered:

"Why should I do that, when I can just take yours?" he joked and picked up the sheets of paper that his brother was working on, holding them just out of reach. Caiellis sighed wearily like he was much older than his thirteen years would suggest and bookmarked the page he was on, turning back to the front of the book and beginning again.

"You're no fun to tease anymore," Alexander pouted, returning the notes to his brother and sitting down next to him. "Mind if I work next to you? I'll just make shorter versions of your novels."

"No need," Caiellis replied, handing his brother half of the sheets, "I wrote everything twice, so you can have a copy of the notes too."

Alexander groaned, which made his little brother chuckle, although he was surprised and grateful that Cai had done that for him. Actually, thinking about it, his younger brother always used to try and help him with his written work (well, with everything, as there had been a phase within Caiellis's life where he had relentlessly hero worshipped his older brother and had tried to do everything for him. Alexander had taken advantage of it at first, but eventually it had become extremely annoying, especially when Cai had refused to leave the now teenage Alex alone), so it shouldn't have been such a shock that Caiellis had done so tonight.

The door on the far side of the carriage suddenly opened, and a young waitress wearing the black and white chequered uniform of the monorail service holding a large menu walked towards them. Of course their meal order would be taken first. Alex had barely got used to the amount of privilege the brothers received when they had moved back to Capitalia Lux after the war had finished.

They had been treated well whenever they visited cities that knew of their identity, but most of the time they had been forced to keep it secret and live on the outskirts of the metropolises for fear of Johnias's many agents, spread like a cancer throughout the loyalist forces of the kingdom, ascertaining their whereabouts. The girl was clearly nervous about taking the princes' orders, and very pretty, so the middle Lucerna gave her a dazzling smile that made her blush and prompted a sarcastic eye roll from his little brother.

She handed him the menu, filled with an extensive array of dishes – Marik had spared no expenses in making the enrolled pupils of the Scholaria have a luxurious journey. Alex smiled at the range of mouth watering delights transcribed onto the paper. He loved food, particularly anything meaty, and couldn't understand this phase that his brother had started going through when he had become twelve where Cai tried to avoid eating it or anything large.

"I'll have the Civitas Sol steak and a glass of fizzy yellow-berry, thank you," Alexander ordered, and the woman nodded, writing his order at the top of the list. He then elbowed his brother in the side (forcing Cai to repress a pained reaction since he didn't want to look pathetic in front of the waitress) and passed the menu over to him.

"I'll just have a drink of water. I'm not hungry," Caiellis murmured distractedly, glancing at the menu for a total of zero seconds, so Alex butted in with: "We'll have two steaks then please."

"I just said that I don't want anything to eat," the smaller boy stated in a manner of fact way, and his big brother shook his head at the confused waitress as if sharing a private joke. Alex wasn't going to let that happen; he knew that his younger brother wouldn't have been eating properly when he had been relentlessly attempting the Summoning trial and Cai needed to start it again since for one he was thin enough already and while Alex didn't mind his sibling being small (it made it easier to torment him as well as made him look more adorable) he didn't like how bony the younger boy felt, and secondly the thirteen year old would need energy for getting through the journey and arriving at the Scholaria Magnus on a full stomach.

"What is your order, my lord?" she asked, unsure of what to do or which prince to listen to. Caiellis was about to respond when his brother placed a large hand around his mouth, smothering his words, and declared: "He will have a steak like me."

"At least let me choose what I want if you're going to force me to eat!" the boy's muffled and indignant voice could be heard, his much smaller hands pulling futilely at his big brother's larger one, and Alex removed his hand with a patronising snicker of: "Good boy."

He wasn't surprised in the slightest when his younger brother ordered the smallest dish, a light salad grown from the photo-refectories (as nutritious plant life couldn't be sustained above ground and the only plants that did survive were those tended to in the metropolises or twisted, leafless varieties outside of the safety of the cities) with some rice, but it was a significant improvement from eating nothing. After the waitress had taken the twins' requests and left the carriage, Leo moved to the seat opposite the boys and placed a hand on Caiellis's shoulder.

"I hate to admit it, but your brother is right. You do have to eat, shortie, you're already skeletal," he admitted, and pulled his arm away at the kid's glower. He had known the youngest prince ever since the thirteen year old's birth, but had never really interacted with him on a one to one basis without Alexander being at his little brother's side.

"You wouldn't think that either of them were royalty," Elizabex quipped, moving over to sit next to her brother. Great. More people to fuss over me, thought Cai, turning his gaze to the darkness outside the train. At his request, the monorail driver hadn't closed the shutters on that window, just in case it was sunny. When their respective meals arrived, the youngest of the four ate in silence, only looking away from his introspective staring out of the window that allowed him to watch the eternal night rushing by to occasionally glare at his older brother when Alexander said something directed at him.

After they had finished their meal, Elizabex and Leo moved back to their booth, the girl realising that Alexander wanted some time alone with his baby brother and dragging her own fraternal twin away with promises of another game between the two of them.

Caiellis turned to him with his puppy eyes, and Alex suddenly realised how handsome his brother was becoming – the childhood cuteness he had always possessed was still there, but when he got a bit older Cai would be devilishly attractive, maybe even matching his older brother although the seventeen year old was quite sure that his younger sibling would retain his adorableness in his own view for many years to come.

"Thanks. For everything today," the boy muttered awkwardly, though his eyes showed that he genuinely meant it, and Alex chuckled quietly, reaching out to wrap his brother in a headlock and give him a rough noogie.

"Don't sweat it. That's what I'm here for," he laughed, stopping his rubbing when Cai threw a small fit about his hair being messed up. He didn't fail to notice how Caiellis snuggled into the crook of his arm, giving up instead of resisting, and supposed that after a month or so of pushing his older brother away and developing individually, Caiellis just wanted to be close to Alexander for a bit before they were separated again. Besides, it wasn't like he was restraining his brother with any real strength, only stopping him from getting away as an expression of their relationship as brothers.

"Alex is just like you, except he is older, so it's his job to help protect you. That's what big brothers are for," the smaller boy quoted and Alexander sat up with a jolt, inadvertently bringing his brother with him as he did so.

"You remember that?" he questioned, shocked that his little sibling could recall something that happened when he was three years of age. He was aware that his sibling had quite an exceptional memory, but he would have thought that perhaps events from over ten years ago would have been past what he could remember.

Little Caiellis sat in his mother's arms, thinking about what she had just said when he asked her where he had come from. Emili smiled as she saw the gears twirling in her youngest's intelligent mind, and he turned to her again, a question in his wide green eyes.

"If you and daddy made me, then what is Alesh for?" he asked, once again stumbling on the pronunciation of his brother's name. Although Caiellis's speech was more advanced than a normal three year old's, he understandably still had difficult pronouncing a lot of words - especially the x at the end of his big brother's, which irked the older boy to no end. The aforementioned seven year old was playing with building blocks in the corner of the room, and petulantly stuck out his tongue at his little brother, somewhat jealous of the attention he was receiving from their mummy. Though he didn't truly mind, as he knew that his baby brother was younger than he was, and only did it to tease the younger boy.

Emili laughed and carried Caiellis over to Alexander, who sighed when his small brother was deposited in his arms. Caiellis looked lovingly up at his big brother, who stared down at him, the corners of his mouth twisting between an affectionate smile and an irritated frown.

"Alex is just like you, except he is older, so it's his job to help protect you. That's what big brothers are for," she explained, ruffling her eldest's blonde hair, who snorted. She then added, "Isn't that right, Alexander?"

The seven year old nodded, placing his younger brother on the soft carpet of the nursery floor in front of him as the three year old gave him a beaming smile, full of innocence and unrestrained love for his big brother, too young to show anything but his true feelings. Emili winked at them both, stepping back and watching how her baby watched Alexander for guidance, telling her eldest: "Play with him for a bit. I'm just going to get you both a drink."

"But he is so lame!" Alexander exclaimed. Emili quizzically raised and eyebrow at her firstborn son, who half-pouted back, knowing full well how much Alex loved his smaller sibling, although recently as he began to get slightly older the seven year old had been going through an understandable phase where he didn't want to spend all of his time with a three year old. When she was in the kitchen, she heard a loud thud and a wail of pain erupt from the nursery, and quickly ran inside, the drinks forgotten and motherly concern etched on her face. She sighed in relief when she saw Alex holding his crying brother in a soothing embrace, a red lump appearing on her youngest son's forehead.

"Mummy! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Alexander cried, tears of guilt, self-recrimination and sorrow beginning to run down his face as well at the fact that he had caused his fragile younger sibling harm, "I just pushed him. I didn't mean to hurt him!"

He held out Caiellis to Emili, clearly no longer trusting himself around his little brother and not believing in his ability to calm the three year old down and comfort him, who shook her head and gently pushed the now silent boy back to her eldest.

"Look, he's happy with you. See?" she explained, and Alex looked down into his brother's puffy eyes. He didn't see accusation there, all he saw was forgiveness. Emili smiled fondly at the two, aware that although her youngest son was frail he was still a toddler and that minor scrapes and bruises weren't really much to worry about - but what Alex needed was to know that Caiellis didn't hate him for simply shoving him over.

"Don't worry, big brother. I forgive you," Caiellis said in his high-pitched voice, and Alexander hugged him close, chubby arms that were becoming leaner firmly wrapped around his only smaller family member. Emili had to pry the two apart when the older brother started suffocating the younger he was hugging him that tight.

"Yeah. I can recall some events, but not very many," Cai grinned, shifting slightly in his older brother's hold. The vast majority of his memories before the civil war, apart from one which he could recollect in excruciating clarity, were blurred and indistinct, though it was obvious to work out that back then he had felt happy and safe, "I don't remember much of mum, but enough to know that she was an extremely kind woman."

"She had the same eyes as you," Alex said quietly, thinking of the nurturing and loving woman that had been ripped away from them. He had been knocked out before when she had died, and woken up after Tristram had carried the boys away from the palace, placed his unconscious baby brother in his arms and told Alexander to run as far as he could out of the besieged city. "What else do you remember?"

Caiellis gulped, and then stammered, "I..I can remember that night,"

Alex instantly became rigid, locking his arm around his brother's neck, causing him to cough loudly. He let go, though still kept his brother next to him, and Cai continued, saying: "Though my memories are scattered, I can only remember certain bits. The fire, and the demons. I didn't see her die," he lied, recalling how his brother had been unconscious during it. The seventeen year old nodded, aware that his younger brother probably wouldn't have been able to erase such a horrible occurrence from his young memory and that Cai had suffered from numerous nightmares concerning it. He had just hoped that maybe, as he had only been a tender four years old at the time, Caiellis would have been able to forget the vast majority of it.

After a few minutes of silence in which Alexander pulled his brother in for a firm and reassuring hug, Caiellis asked: "When we are at the Scholaria, can you not be so protective? I need to be able to take care of myself."

"I can't promise anything," Alexander admitted, his instinct to guard his little brother after all of the danger and peril they had endured together as strong as it had ever been due to the day's revelations, "But I won't butt into everything you do, alright?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime, baby bro, anytime," Alex smirked at Caiellis's most hated nickname, and he suggested as he pushed the smaller youth away: "Get some rest. We have a long journey in front of us, and if you don't get any sleep I'm probably going to end up strangling you."

Liber Sancturia:

Aegis Angel: Summoning of Guardian Tristram

Bruna, Light of Alabaster: Summoning of Hierarch Tybalt

Valour: Summoning of Leodred Montlea

Purity: Summoning of Elizabeth Montlea