[366 PD]: Shoku

  Do you know how interesting it is to work at a mine but not mine anything at all?

  Well, Shoku could easily tell you that and his answer was:

  ?I’m gonna die of boredom! ?

  The young teenager was at the same post he has been in for practically 2 years; a small, abandoned mine entrance covered in highly flammable mold. Holding his trusty broom, he scrubbed the stone walls around him relentlessly. A spore lantern dangling on his belt helped him see in the dark thanks to its blue light.

  Just as he was about to attack another spot covered in vile black fungi, his heart skipped a beat. He stopped all movement to look around the dark cave. Obviously, there was nothing, yet something felt off. It was hard to put into words: it was as if a cold wind had just blown through the area.

  ?I’m just imagining things? he thought.

  He shook off the feeling and kept working for a little longer until muffled screams reached him from the outside. The uneasy feeling inside of him doubled and he rushed outside, letting go of his broom in his hurry.

  What could have happened? Did a mine collapse? Did they hit a pocket of gas?

  The questions flooded his brain as he ran out of the small cave to see that miners were rushing out of the main mine entrance. The men were pushing each other just to get away faster from the hole. The boy could even hear some miners at the back screaming in terror for the others to hurry.

  The chaos quickly spread to the whole area. The boy couldn’t even get close without getting shoved aside or bumped into by a panicking man. He just knew that this was no normal reaction coming from the experienced miners of Bloux. They always handled incidents very well so seeing them so disorganized was unnatural.

  “Get him out of there, hurry!”

  The head of the miners, a man in his late 40’s, was still screaming orders at the entrance. He was the only one who seemed to have any composure left.

  Soon enough two miners carrying another one ran out of the entrance.

  Shoku’s eyes widened once he got a good look at the miner they were carrying. He was foaming at the mouth while his blood-injected eyes were rolling into their orbits. But the part that Shoku was

  , really focused on was the wound on his left arm. There, a large gash was burning with an ominous pink light. The flesh around it was sizzling and blistering in such a repulsive way that the boy had to put a hand over his mouth.

  As soon as these three stepped out of the mine the head miner screamed loud enough for the panicked miners to hear:

  “To the ones who still have their pickaxes, take down the stairs! QUICKLY!”

  There was almost no hesitation; a few miners ran to the entrance with their tools in hand. They started attacking the wood and ropes which were keeping the stairway to the mine in place. Shoku could have sworn that he saw a faint flash of pink down in the hole just as the stairs gave out under the assault of pickaxes.

  The first part of the spiraling staircase collapsed on itself, dragging the other parts down with it in its fall. In just a few seconds the stairs which the miners used to go to work every day had been swallowed in the darkness without leaving a trace.

  “HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA!!!”

  A haunting cry pierced through the commotion. Everyone froze immediately as if too scared to move. Even Shoku felt his legs almost give out under him. The sound was otherworldly and not in an ethereal way. If he had to describe the sound, it would be like a scream of agony muffled by a storm.

  ...

  The area stayed quiet for a bit longer. Shoku felt an arm on his shoulder which made him jump. He turned to see the haunted face of his father. His whole body was shaking badly and his lips moved without producing a sound.

  “...what happened,” tentatively asked the Boy.

  “In the mines...there’s a demon in the mines...” The man’s words were no louder than a breath.

  Shoku felt his heart drop at once.

  He had heard many stories about monsters in his childhood and the ones talking about demons would always give him nightmares.

  It was said that this world remembered all the suffering which had taken place on its surface. This suffering would gather and clog into some areas. These areas were called hellish zones and if someone were to die on top of one, all the gathered suffering would rush into the corpse and force it to move once more. This undead creature, animated by agony alone, obtained the appellation of demon.

  “How!?” asked the boy in disbelief

  His father shook his head “We hit a pocket of gas...we didn’t notice fast enough and a miner suffocated.” His eyes widened in horror “We couldn’t even drag him out before his body started twitching...”

  His father stopped and a shiver ran through his body. “Run to the church and alert Sister Xenevia.”

  Shoku didn’t have to be told a second time. He turned in the opposite direction and rushed toward the church. His heart was beating loudly against his chest. He had never encountered any demons but all the tales about them wiping out entire villages were enough for him to understand the danger of the threat.

  He flew through the streets faster than ever before. Many people gave him weird looks but now wasn’t the time to be socially anxious about it. He rushed to the town center and climbed up the stairs.

  The doors of the church were wide open as it was preaching time. Inside the benches were all perfectly aligned and facing toward the elevated altar where the lightbringer was standing.

  She was wearing her usual white robe while her slim star bird rested on her shoulder.

  Everyone in the church had their eyes closed during prayer. The Sister had her palms wide open in front of her with her fingers spread out; giving.

  The church attendants had their palms open with their fingers tucked tightly against each other; receiving.

  The boy interrupted the holy prayer as he barged into the middle of the church screaming:

  “Xenevia!”

  The holy Sister’s eyes flew open in rage while the citizens looked at him with appaled expressions.

  “How dare you interrupt the prayer! And it’s Sister Xenevia during preaching time, you brat!”

  “There’s a demon in the mines!”

  Immediately, the woman's face hardened while the people in the church gasped in horror. Xenevia hurried down the altar and entered the backroom of the church.

  Not even 30 seconds later, she came out of it, holding a paper scroll and some sort of silver tube. She attached the tube to the back of her star owl and slipped the scroll inside.

  The priestess stood outside the church and lifted her arm with her bird on it.

  "Deliver it to Sister Sylrel of Stalot."

  The bird took off, revealing her shining, cyan underside. She flew high into the sky and started going in circles. She quickly picked up speed before launching herself north-west.

  A cyan trail lingered behind her, drawing a fine line against the dark sky like a shooting star.

  The boy turned to Xenevia whose eyes had started glowing vividly.

  "It really is that bad, isn’t it?" whispered the boy.

  "It is, let's hope the holy knights hurry before this thing goes off."

  .

  .

  .

  The following days were some of the most stressful in the town. The mines had stopped all activity while people feared going outside, making the town eerily quiet.

  The few houses close to the mines had to go about their day while sometimes hearing a tormented scream coming from the depth of the earth.

  The last place where people still went to was the church of light, praying to Mother Sallith for protection.

  Shoku, however, turned to the skies. Seeing the black curtain devoid of its main celestial body didn't make him feel any better.

  Eventually, one fateful morning, the queen goddess seemed to have answered her worshippers’ calls. The people of Bloux were all huddled together at the town center; they were looking in awe at the figures approaching in the distance.

  Shoku slipped through the people to try to get a better view of the newcomers. It was a group of five knights riding on horseback. Three of them were in full steel plate armor, each with basics swords strapped at their waists.

  Another one had an armor similar to the one who once escorted Xenevia back to Bloux. It was mostly made out of steel but some parts like the helmet, forearms and kneepads were made of silvery-violet metal. The symbol of the New Hope was drawn in white on their chest plate.

  But the one knight at the very front had the whole crowd whispering from their presence alone. Their armor was entirely made from the pale violet metal. Their armor was also much more detailed with fancy decorations such as pearls directly encrusted into the plating. Weirdly enough, despite the armor being the best crafted one, it was the most battered among the others. Small dents and scratches covered it. There was even a large gash into the visor, allowing one deep black eye to peek through.

  The knight in violet armor stopped his horse and hopped off its back. Immediately, the crowd of people knelt down in front of the man. Shoku looked around in confusion as people kept dropping to their knees with their hands in prayer.

  He decided to follow the movement and put a knee down on the ground. He didn’t really care that much about the New Hope religion, but it would have been a bit awkward to be the only one standing in the crowd.

  Sister Xenevia made her way through the kneeling figures, her eyes locked on the group of knights. She rubbed her nose and smirked:

  “Well, I definitely didn’t expect a paladin to answer my call for help. Don’t you have better things to do, Zolia?”

  The knight in violet armor chuckled before speaking in a hoarse voice: “I was already in the general area, and I simply couldn’t ignore a demon appearing in the town of my favorite lightbr-”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  The knight in mixed steel armor cut him off by elbowing his side before speaking in a feminine voice:

  “Sir, please stay professional.”

  “Sorry, Sorry.” He clearly wasn’t sorry. “Holy Sister, may you guide me to the demon?”

  “Follow me, Sir.” As she turned in the direction of the mines she motioned for the crowd to get up “You guys are gonna get dirty down there.”

  The lightbringer walked toward the mines as the group of knights followed right behind her. The people all let out a collective breath they didn’t know they were holding. They slowly got up and looked at each other with wide eyes as if they had just seen some kind of supernatural being.

  A paladin. Shoku had never heard of those before. The only warriors of the New Hope he knew were knights and holy knights, nothing more. He looked around for some form of explanation and quickly spotted them. They were in the shape of a certain massive noble kid with horns: King.

  The tall teenager had his eyes on the group of knights, looking more serious than ever. He even started following them from away. Shoku quickly ran up to him, something he wouldn’t have dared to do if he was younger.

  “What’s a paladin?” He asked casually.

  The giant turned to look at him with a scowl “Are you serious?”

  “...yeah.”

  “It’s the highest military grade achievable.”

  “Really? I thought holy knights were at the top.”

  “They are. Holy knights are the revered elite of the church. They have as much influence as nobles.”

  “And paladins are even better than them?”

  “The female knight in their group is a holy knight. It’s easy to see because her steel armor is mixed with lunargent. This holy alloy is extremely durable but also extremely expensive to make. That’s why it is only used to protect the most vulnerable parts.”

  “And the paladin has a full armor of lunargent...”

  “Yep, that’s how important they are. These individuals were so strong that keeping them as holy knights would have been an insult. They are so few that I'm pretty sure that I can count on one hand.”

  Shoku’s eyes almost bulged out “And one of them is in our town in the middle of nowhere?”

  “That’s what I'm trying to figure out.”

  By the end of their conversation, the three teenagers had reached the mining site. The paladin and the holy Sister were talking to each other near the hole while the rest of the knights had formed a perimeter around the area.

  ...

  Three teenagers? Shoku looked at his left to see Daria smiling back at him. Where did she come from? Why was she there? How did she manage to get that close without being noticed?

  Some questions were better left unanswered.

  The holy knight stepped in front of them before they could get closer. She barked at them with a stern voice.

  “Stand back! The area could become dangerous if the demon is already in its critical stage.”

  Shoku and Daria looked at King with confused eyes. The horned teen simply shrugged back at them. The holy knight noticed that they did not understand her and followed with:

  “Demons keep accumulating bad energy into their bodies after they are formed. If the amount of energy is too much for their bodies to handle, it will force its way out of them and be released all at once.”

  King squinted his eyes “Are you saying that these things are not just hyper violent monsters but also walking bombs? Surely not...”

  “...” The holy knight stayed unmoving.

  The three teens all felt a chill in their bodies. Knowing better, Shoku backed away from the mines. Just before he turned in the other direction, he got to see the paladin simply drop himself down the massive hole of the mine entrance.

  At this point he was a bit too mentally tired to ask himself questions about a man in full armor leaping into a drop that would kill any normal person.

  King had stayed in front of the woman; he seemed to want to talk more with her. Now it was Just him and Daria. There were no work nor lessons today, giving them an entire free day.

  The girl excitedly smiled and grabbed his sleeves.

  “Let’s go play!”

  “Actually, I want to train into the forest, you can come too.”

  All traces of happiness were wiped off the girl's face. “The only thing you do is swing at a rock. Boring.” She stuck her tongue out. “I’m gonna go bother Solane”

  Shoku chuckled as he watched the wild girl leave. He quickly went back home to grab his sword and headed out into the east forest. There, he walked a little bit until he reached a nice clearing which had rocks of all sizes in it. This place had become Shoku’s own little training zone since he had discovered his ziel in his fight with Hector.

  He still didn’t really understand what it was or how it worked. Some days he could do it at will and some other days he couldn’t. The little information he had gotten from books borrowed from King, was that ziel was a core part of this world. Any living being was able to use it in theory. It didn’t matter if they were a sapient race, an animal or even a plant.

  The boy stopped in front of a big rock and readied his sword. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his chest. Today the feeling was faint, almost fleeting. He had to concentrate hard just to keep track of it.

  He tried to push it out of himself, but nothing happened; his sword looked just as normal as always. With a sigh he instead contented himself with some quick thrusts against the rock.

  There was no swordsman in this town, meaning that what he was doing could either be super good or absolutely atrocious.

  Well, even if it was bad, his improvised technique had helped defeat truly ferocious beasts and evil mages. At least that’s what he was telling himself to feel good.

  He warmed up for a good half an hour. By then the feeling in his chest had swollen. He could feel it a bit better, but it still wasn’t enough for him to bring it out.

  The boy intensely stared at the rock, imagining it to be the figure of Hector. His brain worked as much as possible to perfectly remember what emotions he felt during his downward swing which unlocked his ziel.

  There was a lot of fear for sure. Said fear was paired with a mix of anger and resentment aimed at the man who messed up with his town. And finally, there was an ember of something faint and almost too embarrassing to admit: exhilaration.

  The boy stepped forward and let the feeling build up until it went out of control and rushed out of him through his arms. His sword was immediately coated in a dark greyish haze which allowed a good half of the blade to sink into the rock with relative ease. He had seen it many time but the sight of wood so easily winning against stone was simply absurd.

  “Yes!”

  The boy knew he was getting better at handling his ziel even if it took a while for him to push it out. Maybe in a few years he would be strong enough to actually take down a white bear tiger like he had promised in the past.

  The boy jolted in surprise as he heard a whistle as well as someone clapping. He turned to see the glint of a metallic armor under the moonlight. The boy almost dropped his sword when the paladin from this morning walked into the clearing.

  “Well, if it isn’t impressive.”

  The man removed his battered helmet, revealing his face. Shoku couldn’t exactly pinpoint his age; he looked to be in his mid 40s, but his hair was simply too white for him to be that young.

  A short beard of darker hair was growing on his chin which only confused the boy even more.

  The man’s sharp, black eyes locked on him with curiosity.

  “You seem to be pretty young to already be using ziel like that.”

  “Am I?” Managed to blurt out the boy.

  “Yeah, weapon coating is quite an advanced technique. You must have been training for a long time.”

  “Actually, I only discovered I could do that last year.”

  The paladin chuckled. “Right.”

  “...”

  “...you’re not joking, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not, is it really that hard to do?”

  “I mean yeah, it took me around 6 years before I was able to work my way from body coating to weapon coating.”

  The boy looked at the paladin with excitement. “I can also coat my body!?”

  The man gave him a weird look “Obviously, that’s the first step to take before using any other advanced techniques.”

  “I didn’t know about it.”

  The paladin now looked at the boy with a lot of interest. “Why don’t you give it a go then. Since you’re already at step two it should be easy for you.”

  “Focus on your core and spread its energy in your body.”

  “My core’s energy?”

  “You probably feel a weird tingling feeling in your chest, don’t you? That's your core and the energy which leaks out of it is what we call ziel. Now let it out in your body.”

  Shoku nodded and closed his eyes to focus on the feeling in his chest, his core. The sensation was still intense as he just managed to push it out a few minutes ago. He let it grow inside of him, allowing it to get bigger and more intense until he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

  He exhaled and let it all out at once!

  ...

  He opened his eyes and looked down at his body; nothing. He felt the exact same and he wasn't seeing any haze around himself. The paladin was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

  “Wait, try to coat your sword again”

  The boy obeyed and this time focused on his sword. After a little while the blade was suddenly coated in the dark grey haze again.

  To the biggest surprise of the boy, the paladin started laughing loudly. The man was laughing so much he had to put his hands on his knees to stay up.

  He wiped a tear from his eye and said:

  “I thought that I had stumbled upon a genius but you’re just a weirdo!”

  Shoku felt his whole face flush red in embarrassment. The paladin simply continued to talk in between chuckles:

  “Body coating is the very base of ziel techniques, as a matter of fact it is better and more reliable than weapon coating. Weapon coating is an extra warriors train once they master body coating. “

  “In simpler terms you’re the butter without the bread. That’s one of the funniest things I've seen in a while!”

  At this point shoku had stopped listening, he just wanted to go home and never train ever again in his life. I mean, what could he do when even one of the most powerful warriors of this realm called him a weirdo?

  “Although...” The paladin stood upright and looked at the mortified boy. “...Such talent cannot be ignored. Most people do not unlock their ziel naturally; they train it knowingly. The dark color of your ziel tells me it’s still raw and natural. You have amazing potential, boy.”

  “Don’t you want to join the military? you could become a great holy knight.”

  Shoku’s heart swelled in his chest. “The military? Now?”

  “Well, you must be 18 years old first. How old are you?”

  “I'm 15, sir.”

  “Three years left, huh? Too bad then.” The man’s eyes suddenly widened and he smiled.

  “Wait a minute, I do know an amazing ziel master who could teach you.” The man chuckled at himself “Yes, you could train there until you get older. This way your potential wouldn't get wasted in the meantime.”

  Shoku couldn’t believe his ears. A ziel master to help him train as well as a direct pass into the army. Did he suddenly become the hero of a tale ? because it felt unreal to him. His heart was almost ready to burst out of his chest and take off running.

  “I don’t know...I mean i would need to ask my father first and-”

  “Let’s go ask him then.”

  “Now?”

  “Of course, now. My squad is leaving tomorrow morning so if I'm taking you with me, it’ll be then. Let's go see him!”

  Shoku gulped drily but didn’t say anything else. Deep inside of him, he was super excited about the recent turn of events. He nodded and walked back toward Bloux.

  In town, the people scurried out of their way, looking at the holy warrior with wonder in their eyes. Shoku had yet to understand how much influence this single man held in the realm.

  Eventually, they reached Shoku’s house and the paladin stepped in front to knock loudly on the door.

  Silence, then a bit of rummaging before his dad opened the door. Immediately, all the color left on his already pale face faded away. He looked with wide eyes at the paladin then at Shoku. He looked at his son with a gaze that was clearly saying: ‘what have you done?’.

  ?I didn’t do anything! ? Thought Shoku as he looked back at his father.

  “Salutation, I am Sir Zolia, paladin of Mother Sallith. I am here to see you because I wanted to talk to you about your son.”

  "I-I'm sorry Sir, he’s usually such a quiet and nice boy. I don’t know what he could have done to displease you.”

  Sir Zolia put a hand up. “It’s nothing like that, don’t worry. Actually, I want to take him with me.”

  Shoku’s father blinked in surprise. “Take him...?”

  “Yes, your son is showing signs of a promising warrior. I would like him to refine this potential by training under a master. After that I would make sure that he has a guaranteed spot into the military.”

  The father had to lean on the door to process the news. Shoku was almost expecting him to suddenly faint and fall onto the ground. Finally, the man managed to push out some shy word:

  “Where does this master live?”

  “Redshore, sir. Your son would spend three years there before being allowed into the army.”

  The father rubbed his temples “The army...that means that he would be working in the Middle, isn’t it?”

  The paladin shrugged “For the first few years, probably. After he reaches knighthood he should be able to roam the realm more freely.”

  “I don’t know, I mean the Middle...” The father looked at his son with fidgety eyes. There was something dark and sad in his gaze which the boy couldn’t decipher. “...it’s a dangerous place.”

  “With all due respect, your son has the opportunity to become a pretty important figure in this realm. Do you really want him to stay here in this secluded mining town?”

  “...”

  Shoku stepped forward, determination burning in his eyes. “I want to get stronger.”

  His father shivered and exhaled loudly. He stared in the direction of the mines then at his son.

  "Ok, I'll allow it."

  "Thank you, dad."

  Sir Zolia patted Shoku's back. "Remember young man, tomorrow morning. Or I'm leaving without you."

  "Yes, Sir!"

  "The paladin walked away, leaving the two alone. Shoku looked at his father, his lips were trembling as if he wanted to say something.

  He shook his head. "You should go say your goodbyes to your friends."

  Shoku nodded and ran in the direction of the church of light. He couldn’t believe it, his whole life was about to completely change for the better. Goodbye mold scrubbing, hello knighthood and glory. He never thought he would ever be working under the New Hope, but he was willing to do so if it meant being able to roam the realm.

  As he stepped into the church, he saw that Xenevia, Solane and Daria were conveniently all there. Daria was sitting on a bench as the holy sister bandaged her right hand. This wasn’t something out of the ordinary; when she was playing, the wild girl had but little concern for self-preservation.

  The baker girl was just shaking her head in disappointment.

  “I told you the oven was still hot...”

  “Daria shrugged “I felt like touching it.” her dark eyes landed on shoku and she smiled widely “Sho! We can finally play together!”

  Shoku stopped in front of them out of breath and pretty much just vomited confused words at them. He was making all kind of hand gestures and weird motions with his body which confused the women even more. Finally, he concluded:

  “...and that's what happened.”

  Daria gasped “Who will play with me if you leave for that long!?”

  Xenevia and Solane looked at each other, still not understanding anything about the situation. The holy Sister frowned and said:

  “Can we get a recap in the current language and not a made-up tongue only you two can understand?”

  The boy organized his thoughts and calmed down before repeating:

  “The paladin from this morning, Sir Zolia, said that he saw great talent in me and because of that he wants to present me to a master who could help me get a better understanding of my abilities.”

  Solane put a hand over her mouth “No way! That's amazing for you.”

  The lightbringer snorted “So you’re finally leaving this dump of a town. Good job.”

  “Sister!” Solane called her out

  “This town is under my responsibility, I can critique it as much as I want.”

  Shoku simply chuckled and turned to see the massive figure of King standing at the entrance of the church. Shoku was used to seeing him angry, aloof or, very rarely, smug, nothing else. So, it was surprising to see him look so openly baffled. The moment their eyes met, King’s face darkened and he walked in the other direction.

  Shoku looked back at Solane and Xenevia who were still arguing and hadn’t noticed anything. Contrary to them, Daria now looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

  Shoku shrugged and decided to follow behind the giant. He exited the church and saw King walking away quickly. He ran right after him.

  “King, wait!”

  King flipped in a snap, flinging his arm with enough force to push Shoku down on the ground. The smaller boy looked in shock at the mountain who was on the verge of erupting.

  "How is that possible!? Out of all the people in this town, it's you who's chosen by a paladin?"

  "I'm also surprised. But he said that with my potential i was pretty much certified to become a knight if I were to train it."

  For a second, Shoku thought that his head was about to be bashed into the ground. Thankfully for him, the titan seemed to still have some semblance of self-control. Instead, he gritted his teeth and gripped his chest.

  "You don't even realize how easy you just got it, don't you? With the support of a paladin, the military exam becomes pretty much trivial." He let out a humorless breath as a sour smile formed on his lips. "Now I feel almost dumb spending all of that time studying and practicing for it. It seemed that I had forgotten how unfair this world is."

  Shoku stood back up at once, a fire burning in his eyes.

  "You can't be the one talking about how things aren't fair. You're a noble who lives in a big house and you're even from a super strong race. I'm just a nobody in comparison!"

  "And I look happy to you? If that’s what you desire so much, you can have it all! My big house, my title, damn you can even take the mixed blood running through my veins!"

  Both boys looked at each other in silence. A gaze of smoldering flame met one as blue as the coldest ice formations.

  ...

  Without another word, King turned his back and walked away, leaving Shoku alone to think about their exchange.

  .

  .

  .

  The following day came faster than expected. Shoku had barely slept during the night; he was simply too excited and stressed at the same time. It felt unreal. In one day, he went from probably becoming a miner to potentially becoming a knight.

  He didn't have much to pack up, just a few clothes and his trusty sword. As he went down the stairs, he saw his father waiting in front of the door. He was holding a white, folded piece of clothing in his hands. Once his son was close enough, he handed it to him.

  “I want you to have this, it’s an old coat of mine.”

  Shoku took it and gently unfolded it. The coat was very well conserved; it could look brand new if it wasn’t for the subtle beige undertones of the white due to its age. The boy couldn’t help but be reminded of the fine grey coat of Hector. Both looked similar just this one was made from thicker and sturdier material. This wasn’t the type of clothing that could be bought in this village.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “Well, Let’s say that it’s a gift I got in the past. Why don’t you try it on?”

  Shoku gazed at his father but didn’t question him further. He slipped his bag of clothes and his sword off his back and put on the coat. Just as expected from any handed-out clothes, it was too big on him. His hands were completely swallowed by the sleeves, and the hems stopped far past his knees. The hood was even big enough to shadow his whole face. The material felt heavy on his body, perfect to keep warmth in.

  “...you’ll eventually grow into it, I think.”

  Shoku picked up his things and smiled meekly. “Thank you. I’m going now.”

  His father opened the door and put a hand on the shoulder of his son. Once again, his eyes had the same dark glint as before.

  “If you get to the Middle one day. Just-” The man exhaled and forced a smile on his face. “Have a safe trip.”

  Shoku nodded and stepped out of the house; it was time for everything to change. He ran out into the streets toward the church of light. A wide smile was lighting up his face as he got to the town center and saw the group of knights paying their respect to Sister Xenevia before leaving.

  Sir Zolia turned to see Shoku and lifted his hand up.

  “I thought you had a change of heart at the last second. Are you ready, kid?”

  “Yes sir!”