It was noon time the sun was bright and right above the head, it's rays were pleasing to the skin giving a warm and comfortable sensation. Such a warm days were rarely seen during winter times in the border city of ignosia. The city was located in Zion country near the borders of iguana.
*Is it really worth caring for?*
Thought a boy of fairly average facial feature his pupils were dark brown, almost indistinguishable from black unless seen under the sunlight, his hair was auburn in colour and the boy looked around 13-14 years old and was of slightly skinny built.
This was the question laurel used to ask himself about the place he called his country, everyday.
"Are you slacking off again brat, come over there's still quite a lot of work left here!!"
Shouted a bald middle aged man wearing an apron . He went inside right after shouting with a slightly grumpy face.
Laurel got up ,he was lying on the roof of the tavern he worked at "Will be there in a min", he struggles to climb down from the roof with the pipe but falls at the end , while he was trying to get up a hand comes forward to help him get up.
"Thanks jack" said laurel
"Why do you even have to go up there when you know you can't climb down"
Jack was a boy who looked to be about 19 y/o, he was slightly muscular and a head taller than Laurel, jack had blonde hair and blue eyes. If a 14 y/o lady imagined a knight, jack's figure might be what'll come to her mind.
" I was just basking under the sun, you can't get such good sunlight during winters here can you?"
"True that. The weather today really is quite pleasant, ain't it best to start with a glass of beer" jack said as he entered the tavern Laurel followed right behind.
"Boy you're still not getting back at work" said the old man who was behind the counter serving beer to the customers. His name was gillard, he was the owner of the tavern in which Laurel worked.
"At it"
Laurel goes and brings a glass of beer to jack "here have it, now are you gonna tell me about the situation in the military base?"
This question peeked the interest of many of the other customers and everyone seemed to lean in as if to hear what was to come out from jacks mouth, the country they lived in was named Zion, which was neighboured by the country of Iguana, the relation between the countries weren't really pleasant to say the least, there were constant tension between the countries with many small term fights and some large scale wars breaking out between them and currently as the rumours were spreading, there was a possibility of war breaking out soon enough.
Even gillard leaned in, they were only so keen on listening to the words of jack was because he was a swordsman trainee in the military base, jack only used to visit the tavern because of his roots, as a child he was raised in these areas and even though his talent for swordsmanship was recognised and he lived in a totally different world now, he still used to visit here often. Jack was also a really friendly person.
"Why the rush kid, but I'll tell you, things do not look good , recently the trainee program that was supposed to last till we were 21 has been cut short by 2 years , and the no. Of swordsmen and soldiers have also increased at the base"
"Are we really going to war with those bunch of lizards agai!? I hope we kill them al-" said a man who was clearly drunk , his companion hastily shuts his mouth and looks around the tavern and gives a sigh of relief
"Have you gone out of your mind you, if those lizardfolks heard you yk what could've happened to you?" Said his companion looking slightly troubled.
"I don't care , if i could i would just kill them myself" Said the drunkard.
"Man you still have to think things through before spouting them, but i guess it's okay there are no lizardfolks here " said one of the man drinking beer on the table by the counter, he too was eavesdropping on laurel's Convo with Jack.
Jack continued as if he did not hear any of it
"There are even a few sword master level squires lead by a knight "
Hearing the word knight, everyone started paying attention to jacks words because everyone knew what a knight signifies, knights are powerhouses who are the ones leading an era, a true knight level warrior can change the results of many battles, but then again if a knight was at move, that means the situation was actually dire.
Some people showed admiration from the mention of knight while some were worried, laurel ofcourse was a part of the prior one.
Every child dreams about becoming a knight, so did laurel, it was probably the last chance for an orphan like him to leave this life and make a name for himself, he was allowed to dream but 2 years ago, his dreams shattered as he was found to have no aptitude for swordsmanship. Still the boy's eyes shone for a different reason.
"Are there any mages?" Asked the boy, with shining eyes.
"Look at you , you still think a mage is gonna accept you as their apperentice, forget about it kid, even I who is one of the top trainee in the facility do not have the potential to become a mage" said jack.
His words may seem like a bit harsh, but those were the truth, just like not everyone had the potential to become a swordsman, similarly it was true for mage as well, well it was even worse to be precise. If the odds of a person becoming knight was 1:100 for a mage it was 1:1000 or 1:10000 , such was told and heard by the common folks.
"There were a few people in grey robes and even one in a black robe leading them, even sir knight was respectful towards him" said jack
"Do you think you can arrange me to meet with him?" asked laurel with hopes and expectations
Jack smiled and Said "ofcourse not, what do you take me for, I'm still a mere trainee"
"Oh comon who among us don't don't know that you're already at the level of a sword warrior" Said Laurel
"You can do that for me can't you? I'll give you beer for free for a week"
"What did you just say brat?" Asked Gillard.
Laurel continued while ignoring Gillard ,
"If anyone can do it, it's you Jack"
"Alright alright, got it, I'll try it but do not forget the free beer, anyways I'll probably not come here for a while now as I'm being posted at the border. "
"We're departing at sunrise tomorrow" said jack as he got up and walked away without paying.
Gillard didn't seem to care and just asked "on the tabs again?"
"You know me quite well now old man" jack said.
The rest of the day was uneventful for Laurel, he did the usual helping out at the tavern where he used to work under Gillard. He was finally free at 11 in the night, he didn't want anything more than to sleep after an exhausting day.
Laurel used to live in a slum outside of the town, he really couldn't afford anything more than that, as an orphan being able to live by himself already was a privilege. While on his way to the slum he some light towards the slums direction.
This was somewhat peculiar, he hastened his pace getting closer and closer to the slum, untill the slum was in full view in front of him, what he saw was that the slum was burning, everything was on fire, he ran towards the slums hastily thinking about everything going into ruins again, he tried running towards the burning slum , but he stopped mid way. It was more like, he froze.
*Shit shit shit shit shit , not again!!*
*Why does it have to be this bloody fire again*
His face twisted in agony as he was lamenting his fate.
Just then he saw a person running towards him with an arrows on his shoulder and back , the man was panting heavily, almost at his last breaths. His body definitely did not look to be in the condition to even walk much less run but he ran.
Laurel saw this scene and tried to run but he could not move himself. "Who are you!, what happened to the slum!?" Shouted laurel asking the man.
The man didn't react and kept on running towards Laurel, he reached him, that's when laurel had a clear look of that man, the man was tall and wore an armour and carried a letter in his hand, there was blood all over the man's body but almost none on that letter, as if he safeguarded it with his life.
He reached the frozen Laurel, and as if relieved he spat blood from his mouth and collapsed.
*That scared me* thought laurel who finally looked at the dead man.
"Is he dead" he muttered to himself. And finally looked at the letter.
He picked up the letter as to affirm what's going on, what he saw written on the letter was the worst he could possibly hope for.
The content was as follows.
"The lizardfolks have attacked us at the frontlines and it's a full fledged attack , they've violated the no knight treaty. There are atleast 6 knights in the enemy camp and worse of all, a grand knight, the frontline will fall soon and they will be invading Zion with the intention of completely wiping it off the maps, we do not have the means of fighting them but let the city of ignosia be prepared for resisting the enemies , fortify the city and prepare yourself the stall for as long as possible untill we recieve reinforcement from the capital or if in case we don't.
Let this be our last stand."