Red sat down and placed his hand on the drum. Before he could even place his entire palm on it, the drum exploded into a cacophony of colors, each layer of runes lighting up into a different gradient and slowly rotating around the drum.
Red closed his eyes and measured how much mana the drum slowly drained from him in his head.
Red thought to himself, "Not as bad as I thought. I can probably drive this for at least ten hours straight, and it should only take about six hours to get back to Oldum."
With only a faint sound, the airship lifted up into the air slowly and drifted into the direction of Oldum.
With his free hand, Red took the scrolls from his pocket and placed them down in front of Moody.
Moody sat down cross legged and stared unflinchingly at Red.
"I know you know how to write," Red growled through gritted teeth, "So while we take this long trip over to my - to our team, we're going to get to know each other a little bit."
Moody grabbed the sharp tipped quill, and scribbled out a messy message, "What do you want to know?"
Red scratched his chin, "Well I don't know. You can start by telling me where you came from and why you got captured so easily, especially with your level of strength."
Struggling against the slight sway of the ship, Moody wrote out, "I don't remember much before four months ago. Bits and pieces here and there, but nothing concrete. I don't even remember the name of the country I grew up in."
Red shook his head and only stared at him, "I thought that may be the case. I see a pretty extreme curse lingering over you so I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it was affecting you. Now the way you use mana is masterful, you have one of the highest levels of mana control I've ever seen. Is that something you picked up over the last few months or…"
Moody looked at his hands for a moment then jotted down, "I had my abilities when I woke up. In the past few months, I've only trained my body physically and improved my strength that way."
Red sighed and placed a hand on his head, "I've seen a technique like that once before…" His voice trailed off for a moment, then continued, "In the kingdom of Britannius, it's a major country not far from here, but in that kingdom, there are three royal families: the Pendragons, the Galands and lastly, the Moodys."
Moody's eyes became wide at this revelation and Red continued, "The Pendragons and the Galands have their own long and treacherous history, but in the grand history of it, the Moodys are a relatively new branch family that sprung up because of a few members. Through the generations, the Moodys all possess incredible hand to hand combat abilities, and a style of fighting known as the Sword Breaker Stance."
Moody stood up and backed away from Red. Red stood up as well, keeping one hand on the drum, and he continued on, "Relax, I only told you all of that hoping it would jog your memory. Truth be told, I can't decide if you're just pretending to be amnesiac because your memories are too painful, or if you actually lost your memories. I'm also not sure if you are one of the sons of the Moody family and it's all a coincidence."
Moody shook his head, then pulled a fresh scroll and wrote down, "I thought we were getting to know each other."
Red laughed aloud, "Tired of the grilling, huh. I came to these conclusions after hearing your name and seeing you fight. But even though it might sound accusatory and suspicious, I meant everything I said about you joining us in our battle. I'll let you piece together the truth when you're ready."
Moody held the same message up and pointed at it emphatically.
Red looked at him puzzled, "Did you want to hear about me?"
Moody nodded his head and smiled.
Red scratched his head, "All right, if that's what you want then we'll treat this like your induction gift for joining the order. I'm not just telling you this for the fun of it either, more likely than not we'll be running into a situation like this so pay close attention. I'll tell you a story about me and your cousin."
Moody placed down the quill and the ink and placed his head in his hands, staring at Red intently.
____________________________________________________________
Two young men in light leather armor approached and passed under a large white archway. The shorter man, wearing a much newer and higher quality armor set looked at the other, who walked silently with his head held down. They stepped into an enclosed courtyard, filled with wooden benches even spaced in the large area and flanked on all four sides by towering white walls. The walked to the opposite end of the courtyard, the taller man taking a seat on the end of bench. The shorter man leaned against the wall and looked up into the sky, running a hand through a mane of wavy brown hair.
The short boy spoke quietly, his voice nearly a whisper, "Can you cheer up a little bit man? You're starting to make me worry too."
The taller young man, shook his head before looking up and speaking, "Sorry Arthur. It's just, after seeing everyone else fight, I just don't know…"
Arthur smiled brightly, "Oh please, Redhead. I know you couldn't tell but everyone freaked out when you showed off that ability, they loved it! It's perfect for offense and perfect defense, and it seems like it has a lot more applications than you're using it for."
Red got up from the bench and leaned against the wall next to Arthur. The pristine pale white of the wall was interrupted by long green vines growing across it. Red ran his fingers through the vines and looked at his feet, "Well I definitely agree with one thing, they absolutely freaked out. The way they were looking at me you would have thought that Oldum's army invaded or something. Forget getting into the National Army, they might just arrest me instead."
Arthur laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Man, are you always this pessimistic? Mark my words Red, not only are you getting in, you might even be the first Knight First Class to have his own squad!"
Red began to laugh as well, "And when that happens you'll be the first person I recruit."
As they continued to laugh, a young man with spiky blond hair came around the corner with arms crossed. The young man wore a similar suit of leather armor to Arthur and Red, but the breastplate was missing, leaving his bare chest exposed to the elements.
"Santa come here!" Arthur called out, waving over to him.
Santa ambled over to the duo slowly, stopping right of Red, staring at him nearly without blinking but not saying anything.
Arthur looked at the two, confused, "Um…Santa? What did you think about Red's performance in the practical combat exam?"
Santa turned away from Red, flatly stating, "I always knew he was holding back when we sparred as kids. I just want to fight him myself now, there's a few things I've been holding back as well."
Before Red could offer a response, a figure cut between the three of them in the blink of an eye. The man was older than the other three, although still only in his late teens. He wore a decorative suit of silvery armor clad in hanging jewelry, and a small rapier at his side.
"Come Prince Arthur, the king has been calling for you, he requests an audience with you immediately."
Arthur groaned, "Can't you see I'm having a conversation with my fellow burgeoning knights?"
Lanzel frowned, "You would delay your father over a trivial matter such as that? Especially with two unsavory -"
"That's enough, Officer Galand. Let's go meet him now." Arthur's face became deadly serious and he began to walk over to Lanzel.
As Arthur walked toward the exit with Lanzel, he suddenly stopped and turned to face him. His expression seemed to return to a jovial smile.
"Lanzel, I know you were watching us from afar during the practical combat exam. What did you think about Red's performance."
Lanzel shook his head, "I thought it was absolutely abhorrent and disgusting, a perfect fit for degenerate trash who came from the slums.
Arthur sighed deeply and continued walking with Lanzel. He turned back and waved at Red and Santa, shouting out, "I hope we all make it! Let me know when you receive your results, I'll be outside the castle tomorrow.
Red waved back to him while Santa kept his arms crossed and faced the ground.
"Listen to how they talk about us Red," Santa watched the two royals as they walked off, "They speak about us like we're less than the dirt beneath their feet, and the ones that don't say it just allow it to happen. The silent ones probably espouse the same nonsense behind closed doors, all those royals and elites are all the same."
Red crossed his arms as well, his voice shifted slightly becoming deeper and more hushed, "I don't exactly disagree. Thinking about the conditions we grew up in while the rich kids enjoyed being pampered with silver spoons in their mouths makes me sick," Red looked off into the sky, watching a comet pass by far in the distance, "Arthur is different though. He's not like the rest of them, I feel something different from him. He doesn't feel sorry for us, and he's not trying to bring himself to our level. There's just a natural…I don't know. Companionship?"
Santa began to walk out of the courtyard. Without turning back, he said, "Just don't let him trick you Redhead. And don't let him forget there's a line between us and them, just because you feel comfortable around him doesn't mean you're on the same level, and it doesn't mean you are friends."
Red leaned back against the wall, Santa's words weighing heavy on his mind.
Red thought to himself, "Can anything ever make us equal?"
He ambled slowly out of the courtyard, and walked down the winding path leading into the main city. Surrounded on both sides by various plants of myriad colors, he ran his fingers through them slowly as he neared the end of the path.
Waiting for him at the archway that separated the long path from Aeon, was a large lumbering wall of man wearing a chipped and broken set of armor. His thick beard did nothing to hide the permanent scowl on his face.
Red saluted the man, "Captain Parzifal!"
The man's soft whisper of a voice did not seem to match his body at all, "I told you at the exam to call me Captain Zach." Zach coughed and hacked for a moments before continuing, "Excuse me for that. Now like I was saying, we came to a decision the moment the exam ended but you ran off quite quickly."
Red prepared himself for the worst response, and did not say anything.
Captain Zach took a deep breath in, "Well, Roalais Estremores, you have officially been accepted into the Order of Britannius' and we are granting upon you the title 'Accensus Second Class'."
Red tried his best to maintain a straight face and hide his elation.
Captain Zach continued, "Excellent showing today at the practical exam. It did look to me as though you played with your opponent a bit too much. If you want my opinion, it's a bit ostentatious to form weapons out of your opponents blood and stab them slowly with it. Though I suppose it was all for the purpose of showing us what you can do and in that you were successful."
Captain Zach coughed once again, this time drops of blood splattered on his hand. He continued on, "In any case report to Officer Galand for further orders before sunrise tomorrow. The dubbing ceremony will be held in a little less than a week, we still have more exams to administer."
Red saluted Captain Zach as he walked away. Captain Zach simply put his hand up while walking into the thick of the afternoon crowd.
A small voice, barely louder than a whisper, spoke, "Is this really all worth it Red?"
The voice was so quiet Red didn't even register it as he walked into town.