Chapter Text
The youths’ labored breaths came heavy and rough as they rigorously clashed their blades within the boundaries of the knights’ training ground.
The knights of the great kingdom of Goldmyth were strong and proud unlike these lanky teens and young men. Occasionally a young lassie could be seen in the large mass.
The knight in charge of instructing these inexperienced trainees sighed at their clumsy blade-work. Improvement was slow with self-entitled noble brats. It was the reason the commander had opened the recruitment to include the common folk. He was most intrigued by a few promising young lords, but mostly the well-mannered young master from an unknown house. Young, brunet and blue-eyed, and—
“My, what might you be up to, Sir Baird? Sir Alister? What is going on here?”
The knight, Sir Alister Baird, whipped around at the sound of a voice the knight commander had forced them all to memorize. His eyes caught sight of the youth’s glittering silver horn and his bright aquamarine colored hair. His blue eyes were piercing coming from his young face, at least to the knight. A soft, charismatic smile graced the boy’s charming features.
“Your Highness! What brings you here?” Alister greeted the prince respectfully. He could lose his job if he offended his superior.
“Hm. I was only curious, Sir. And I asked you, what is going on here?”
The prince’s gaze drifted over the overeager potential knights, before resting back on Alister for an answer to his query.
“New recruits, Your Highness! This is a testing phase to separate those with potential from those without! Commander opened it to the commoners this year.”
Goldmyth Royalty was famous for their welcoming and indiscriminate nature, but there was always a chance for the first prince to be of a different sort than his parents. The knight commander was indeed the most skilled among them, but was also heavily disliked by the others for his strict nature and apparent closeness to the current king, which often brought along concerns of nepotism that the commander didn’t care about.
“Oh, I see. Who do you have eyes on?” The prince scanned the young faces too quickly for the veteran knight to follow.
His response was dismissive, and the knight buried a sigh as it was something he had somewhat expected for Goldmyth’s treasured prince.
“Well, those three in this corner, the second row of candidates, Your Highness.”
The prince paused for a moment before turning to face the knight.
“I’ve told the knights before to call me by name.” His eyes were cold as he leveled the knight with a look that wasn’t quite a glare.
“Yes, Your Highness Prince Scott.” The knight bowed to the prince, a motion unnoticed by the competitive children.
The prince smiled cheerfully, turning his attention back to the crowded courtyard. The knight didn’t know when the young prince disappeared, but he wouldn’t complain since the distraction was now gone.
One of the knight candidates swung his sword hard in the direction of his opponent, a noble-blooded idiot who was much better with the sword than he was. Ridiculous, since this commoner was actually very good with the sword, in his factually correct opinion.
His crazy coordinated swinging caused his bangs to fall against his face, and he quickly tucked his brown hair around the weird unnoticeable spike of his very fae-like pointed ears. His green streak was very conspicuous while wearing the grey and brown uniform given to the potential knights.
He was not getting out of breath. No, not him. Not the coolest person in the training grounds. Also, this wasn’t his opinion, but the noble boy was really weak for someone who trained with the sword longer than himself. The thought threatened to cause his disguised tail to twitch in thinly veiled irritation. He had expected a better fight than whatever this was. He barely had to strain himself.
“Hah! Train more, weakling!” The commoner managed to disarm his opponent, which was embarrassingly easy. A sharp smile crossed his face as his opponent fell, the words he shouted were lost to the duels around them.
He looked around when his opponent fled in crocodile tears, quickly getting bored when he figured out no one else would prove a challenge for him. Hesitantly, the teen moved to the benches at the side of the training grounds.
He thought knight training would be cool and new and exciting and stuff, but he never expected it to get boring so fast. He never had anyone to fight with!
The brunet’s brown eyes wandered to the knight that was supposed to be training them. Sir Bard or something equally dull. He was conversing with a blue-haired fae that the commoner didn’t recognize, and when he blinked the boy had vanished from beside the knight. Another knight moved to stand slightly behind Bard.
Wait—! He recognized that old man! That was the super strong and moderately cool knight commander of the Royal Palace!
He hesitated to approach the respected knight, not because he was afraid or shy or something dumb like that, because even if he was arrogant and bold, he wasn’t stupid. He knew his place well, a commoner with big dreams, aiming to secure a place among the kingdom’s finest knights. If they were anywhere else, he wouldn’t hesitate to talk to the knight, but they were somewhere where an unruly commoner’s self-entitled approach would stain his pristine honor.
“Well, that was interesting. How did that happen?”
Needless to say, the commoner was justified to have jumped. The new voice had given no warning as to their approach, which had undoubtedly startled the commoner.
He whipped towards the source of the voice, his tail threatening to lash out with the spike from his emotions, and pointed his training sword to the person who stood about three to five feet away. The person was the same boy who had spoken to the knight instructor, so he was definitely someone of high standing, but he had also spoken directly into the commoner’s ear just before. How did this guy just jump like five feet?!
“Don’t blummin’ sneak up on people! You might startle a man—not that I was startled—if you keep that up!” He lowered his sword and quietly shouted at the probably-noble.
The guy laughed softly—must be amused, then—and began to speak with a light voice.
“Just curious, is all. You beat a boy twice your size in a fair duel.”
“What’s there to be curious ‘bout? He was pathetic and weak and—Hey! You’re callin’ me short?!” His temper flared at the insult, since he was completely average height.
The offending teen laughed brightly, too brightly, to the commoner at least.
“My apologies, I had no intention of offending you. This is a fun difference. Please, call me Scott!” He didn’t include a surname, which would help narrow down whatever noble family he was from.
The commoner huffed and hefted the blunt wooden sword over his shoulder before puffing up to introduce himself. He really had to reign in his emotions if he didn’t want more questions.
“Well then, Scott! I’d say it was a pleasure meeting you, but it really wasn’t. I am the humblest and most best-looking man in the entire world, Joel!”
Scott remained silent with a blank smile before he burst out laughing, which again startled—absolutely not!—Joel.
“Wha—what is it?!” Joel was not alarmed by Scott suddenly laughing.
“No, no. You are an interesting one, Joel. Hm… do you know why the castle has been recruiting more knights lately?”
Joel blinked, removing his sword from its perch and lowering it against the floor. He tilted his head as he tried to think of a reason. He hadn’t been observing the movements of the knights, but now that Scott brought it up, there had been an increase of activity.
“Nope. Not the faintest clue.” Joel shrugged, playing off the peculiar lack of alarm as confidence that all was fine. An increase of knights of such a degree was cause for concern, since it meant something was definitely wrong.
“Huh. Would you like to know?” Scott smiled, his ears flicking slightly in anticipation.
Joel wasn’t an idiot. A lack of knowledge as a swordsman could get one killed on a battlefield. “Yeah. I wanna know. What’s up with the knights?”
“Oh, no no no. Your question should be, ‘what is wrong with the royals?’ Joel.” Scott’s smile was beginning to really irritate Joel. It didn’t matter what family he was from, Joel was going to punch him if he didn’t elaborate. “How much do you know of the other kingdoms?”
That was an unexpected question.
“…I live in this kingdom, and outside Goldmyth’s borders are other kingdoms. That’s about it.”
Scott hummed and sat himself on the bench before gesturing for Joel to sit beside him.
“This will take a while. First of all, there is Goldmyth, the wealthiest kingdom by trade. To our north are the kingdoms of Solbean and Dogwarts, putting the kingdom of Crystolis right between them and Goldmyth, while further north is only treacherous mountains. To the east are two other kingdoms, one directly east and one southeast. The eastern kingdom is home to every water faerie, Shadowtide. The southeastern kingdom is a bit further from the sea and shares a desert border with another kingdom, but this one is Windentime. To the west is dense forest too dangerous and wild for anything to live there, often just called Lostwood. And then directly south, sharing the desert with Windentime, is Evolution.”
Joel could barely keep up with all the new knowledge, but he could map them out in his head with Scott’s knowledge.
“So what’s wrong with the royals?” Joel voiced the question Scott had introduced earlier, still deeply confused as to how other kingdoms affected Goldmyth’s knights other than a war, which definitely wasn’t it.
Scott actually started frowning, and Joel felt the urge to mock him for it, but he pushed it down to get answers, at least for now.
“Simply put, the royal families of every kingdom except for two have met unfortunate fates.” Scott summarized briefly before he went in depth, beginning with the tale of the first unfortunate kingdom of many.
Five unfortunate kingdoms? That was absolutely insane to Joel.
The kingdom of Solbean had royal fraternal twins. A prince and a princess, and both inheriting the distinctive fiery traits of the Solbean kingdom’s faeries.
“Oh, I forgot to mention, each kingdom’s royal family has a strong elemental affinity for whatever the element of their kingdom. Solbean is home to the fire fae, like Goldmyth’s fae have a light affinity.”
Scott tapped his face softly as a sheepish smile crossed his face, feeling embarrassed with himself for forgetting. He didn’t mean to forget, but no one really ever does.
“Oh. That makes sense, I think.”
Joel’s tail slightly tightened where it was wrapped around his waist. A slight discomfort from realizing he might not be native to the kingdom he lived in his entire life.
The kingdom was famous for their craftsmanship and special goods, since glasswork was a trade unique to their lands, among other special products. It was a prosperous nation, much like Goldmyth.
As the palace prepared for the twins’ second birthday banquet, the young prince vanished from their chambers. He had been kidnapped, and even after a decade still had yet to be found… if he was even still alive.
“Their princess remains hopeful that one day her brother will be found, but everyone is still doubtful.”
“Yeah. I’d be too. Hopeful or doubtful just depends on the situation though. And after?”
A few years after Solbean’s prince vanished, Dogwarts declared war on the mourning kingdom. Many say the old king had gone mad, but the two kingdoms went to war even after the king was assassinated. Whether by a rebellion or a coup or Solbean getting revenge, it remains unknown to the outside.
Dogwarts’ only heir was too young for the throne, so they tried to crown his cousin as king regent (so they claim but they probably only wanted a puppet king), but he went missing the night before his appointment. Which left the underage prince to be crowned without a relative to take place as regent. The young prince was about four years older than the royal Solbean twins.
“That is disgustingly twisted. And stupid.”
“I thought the same, actually. I still do, somewhat, but politics are a very complicated subject.”
“Ew. Will I have to deal with politics as a knight?”
“Eh… probably. It depends where you are assigned, I suppose.”
“Yuck.”
“I get it already. Where was I?”
“…Puppet king or something, I think?”
Dogwarts remained in a stalemate against Solbean, since the underage king was far too inexperienced to cleanly end the war without offending the opponent further. That is the only reason they are still in the midst of war in the present.
“What’re the people of Dogwarts like?”
“Right.”
Dogwarts is a kingdom of dark fae, which is the complete opposite of Goldmyth’s light fae, but just like not all light is pure, not all darkness is evil.
“I know that. I’m not stupid, Scott.”
“I will politely ask that you stop interrupting me.”
“Sure.”
“…Anyways…”
The people of Dogwarts did not have any remarkable trade or goods, but they were skilled in their occupations. Their abilities were top of the line out of all the kingdoms, even if they weren’t very ‘different’ with all their imports. Most of their people were incredible mercenaries, and they were incredibly strong due to their proficiency.
The reason they haven’t outright won the war is due to how quickly the king that started it got incapacitated. The new king isn’t pressing his army to fight, so the war is lasting much longer than it should with less fatalities.
One of the old king’s vassals sent a small army to invade Crystolis while the young king was busy trying to make amends with Solbean.
Crystolis is a kingdom famously known for their precious stones and rich mines, and their jewelry craftsmanship is top-notch among every kingdom.
When the invasion began, six years ago, the royal family sent their only princess to the safest kingdom for her protection, making sure that the rulers of Goldmyth would take her in as a ward. The crown prince of Goldmyth grew up with Crystolis’ princess as a sister, since the kingdom was still unsafe for her return…
“Do not interrupt me. I am getting to the people.”
Crystolis is home to faeries that are exceptionally attuned to the earth, and are extremely territorial and protective of their homeland. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so capable with jewelry.
The faeries tend to resemble all sorts of creatures, but are set apart and uniquely defined by their crystalline appearance. They look completely normal and fleshy, but the parts of them that are visually different are much more distinctive due to the earthen aspect.
“Hm… most are still sparring. I believe we have more time.”
“Well, duh.”
“Oh, Joel, spare me your oh-so-witty remarks.”
Shadowtide is a very interesting kingdom. No unfortunate fate has befallen them, other than the rulers confining their youngest princess to her chambers for the foreseeable future, which began almost five years ago. Unless one counts the strange atmosphere of their nation as a whole.
The kingdom is completely tied to the ocean, as a whole. Their people are merfolk and all different manner of water fae. Their best trades are their priceless pearls and sea charts and fish markets.
Windentime is a… more unique case. Mostly elves and faeries closer to plants and nature as a whole. Their trade was mostly unique wood for construction and furnishings for interiors, along with plants for spices and teas and seasonings or gardens. Their kingdom is being perpetually attacked by monsters from further to the south, where the Lostwood wraps around from the east all the way to kingdoms’ southernmost borders. Fighting is constant, for a nation that prided itself on peace within the historical narratives.
Their prince couldn’t stand the pressure or something, because just a few years ago, about three or some such, he disappeared from Windentime’s royal palace. There was no kidnapping; he had run away.
“Is that it?”
“Huh? Oh. No. It is really quite the opposite. The most unfortunate may be Evolution.”
“Okay… why?”
“Because, Evolution had four royal heirs. Three of them were kidnapped.”
“Oh…”
Evolution, perhaps the most unfortunate of the bunch. One prince and three princesses.
No one knows exactly when the First Princess disappeared, but it was nearly two years after Dogwarts started its war. None of the missing royals have yet to be found.
The second disappearance occurred simultaneously with the third, nearly two years after the first. The youngest, the only prince, and the second oldest princess had vanished.
Evolution was popular for its free cities and mostly open roofs, since most of the people were capable of flight. A number of the people had wings, while others had some type of wind abilities or gliding prowess. Gliders and wind chimes are popular within the kingdom, but their best trades and exports are travel-related and specifically architecture.
“Did anyone ever find out how they all got kidnapped?”
Joel tapped his foot against the ground, trying to mute his internal thoughts. They were sometimes just much too loud for the present.
“Not in the slightest.” Scott shook his head, and Joel hummed as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall behind the bench.
“Oh… well, that sucks I guess.”
Scott sputtered, then burst out laughing as they waited for the duels to settle down around them.
“Oh you are funny. I have never laughed more than with you, my goodness.”
Scott struggled to stop laughing as he glanced around at the crowd, which Joel did not copy because it was his idea to look around first.
The candidates had finally stopped fighting, and were now all facing the instructor and the knight commander. Joel looked over at Scott in mild curiosity, just now beginning to wonder how Scott had entered the training grounds in the royal palace.
The noble’s eyes widened when he spotted someone in the crowd, and he murmured a name before turning back to Joel.
He could’ve been wrong, but he had definitely heard Scott say ‘Gem’ just now.
“Sorry, Joel. I have to go. It was quite entertaining to talk with you. A pleasure, really.”
Scott left before Joel could speak or ask anything, which was definitely ridiculously annoying. He huffed and stood, brushing off his trousers to at least attempt clearing the creases.
He moved through the crowd to get to the front, since he was indeed on the shorter side of the average spectrum, no matter how much he denied it. Joel managed to make his way to the front for a better view of the experienced knights with a couple new bruises from a very unhelpful bunch.
The knight commander introduced himself with a brief speech.
“I am Sir Fionnlagh MacInnes. It has been interesting to see what the next Goldmyth knights would begin from, and the best of you will be accepted as trainees!”
Sir Fionnlagh—or was Joel supposed to refer to him as Sir MacInnes?—unsheathed his sword and lowered the tip of the metallic blade against the floor. He continued with a brief review of the tests rules and stuff.
“Only a third of you would be taken in as trainees, and maybe even less will become knights. That all depends on if you give up. Several individuals have gone around to find a candidate to recommend, which will make up a small portion of the ones chosen. Are you all prepared for the reveal, including the ones recommended?”
Lots of shouts went up around Joel, who quickly covered his ears as the roars turned thunderous.
“Well that wasn’t loud and obnoxious and uncomfortable at all.” Joel muttered as he kept his hands over his ears, worried about another loud outburst. He strained to hear the knight commander, but everyone quieted to listen. Everyone wanted to be a knight.
“Recommended by Sir Forbes is Andrew Hadley. Recommended by Sir Gilleasbuig is Marshall Turren. Recommended by Sir Hamish is Arien Smith…”
The knight commander continued with more names and recommendations that Joel didn’t recognize until he got to the fifteenth name and final recommendation.
“…Recommended by His Highness the Crown Prince, is Joel.”
Joel had only spoken to a single person outside of his duel, a noble who did not introduce his surname. A noble with an astounding amount of knowledge about the kingdoms’ misfortune.
“Oh my goodness. You’ve got to be blummin’ kidding me.” Joel murmured to himself in a quiet hiss as he approached the makeshift stage like the other recommended candidates.
‘I am so going to confront Scott about that. Prince or not.’
The knight commander continued with many more names, up to fifty-five in total for the candidates chosen to become future knights, before he actually sent away the rejected ones to train as normal soldiers and began to actually explain the accepted trainees new schedule and positions.
Soon enough, they were all dismissed with a guide showing them to their special place in the knight barracks. Once Joel was confident that the way was stored in his memory, he broke off from the rest of the group the moment their intense gazes left him.
They were most probably scrutinizing him because the prince recommended him of all people. Yes, Joel was the best and undoubtedly deserved royal recognition for his epic skills, but not just to get recruited. That was a waste of effort and time.
Joel wandered the halls, his standard-issue training sword secured at his side by his trusty tail. Hiding in plain sight worked way more often than not, which was hilarious to witness sometimes.
“What are you doing out here, Joel?” Scott’s voice echoed from behind the newly appointed trainee.
Joel turned swiftly, startling Scott with his stern face instead of being surprised by the prince’s unexpected appearance.
“You never told me you were a blummin’ prince, Scott!” Joel blinked before reconsidering the address. “Or should I call you Your Highness Prince Scott?”
Scott was still for a moment before he burst out in a fit of laughter that shook them both.
“I suppose I should properly introduce myself, then. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Crown Prince Scott McGold.” The prince burst out in more laughter due to Joel’s dismissive expression.
“I’m still just Joel. Only ever been Joel. I’ve got no fancy family like you do.” He crossed his arms as he rolled his eyes at royalty. If Scott had cared about things like that, Joel would’ve been exiled a long time ago.
“Oh? That’s odd. Commoners need a family member or someone of high status to vouch for them to enter.” Scott folded his arms in a not-so-elegant manner, confused alongside Joel. “For orphans, a knight would visit each orphanage to examine which children would have the most potential. Do you remember which knight invited you?”
“I was told about the knight stuff by my friend. I’m too old to stay at an orphanage… and I don’t know why I’m even telling you that.” Joel frowned in thought. He wouldn’t say he was too dumb to not be able to figure it out, but he was struggling to piece together that his friend might be a noble. Impossible.
“Too old to stay at an orphanage? Are you not my age?”
“I’m around twelve. Definitely the age of a cool young adult.” Joel proclaimed proudly, while Scott only stared at him with a dauntingly dumbfounded horror.
“Oh my goodness. Orphanages are supposed to keep children up to eighteen years old. Which orphanage kicked you out?!” Scott momentarily lost his decorum, an aura of panic around him before he recollected himself and Joel answered in a blank confusion.
“Really? That was two years ago. I only remember it was in a few streets past the city square.” Joel’s confused grin was irritating to the prince, who sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I will speak to my father. Who was this friend that guided you here?” Scott put a hand on his hip as he waited for Joel’s response, wanting to figure out what noble family might have sponsored this interesting new knight.
“Oh, that? That was Gem! She’s like family.”
Joel’s easy smile made the situation feel so much worse as Scott’s brain short-circuited at his answer.
“My sister?!” Scott grabbed Joel’s shoulders, forgetting every bit of etiquette he had learned as a prince. “Is that where she has been going?!”
“Eh? Gem’s your sister?!” Joel’s face finally shifted to something that wasn’t blank confusion or incomprehension. Just shock and bewilderment.
Scott released Joel and breathed slowly to recollect himself.
“No. Gem is not my sister. We only grew up together like siblings. She is the princess of Crystolis that I mentioned earlier.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Yeah.”
Scott thought that Joel might say something about feeling betrayed by Gem’s secrets or something else, but he really should’ve thought more about it since it was Joel and Joel was unpredictable.
“We’re best friends with each other’s sister! I mean—the same person!”
Scott actually facepalmed, since he should’ve expected Joel to respond like that.
“You know what? Just do your knight training and help protect Gem and I later on.”
“Will do, Your Highness!” Joel jokingly saluted and scampered off as Scott yelled after him.
“You do not have to call me that, Joel!” Scott sighed as he lost sight of the brunet.
“Well, I guess now I can talk to Gem about her secret commoner sworn-brother?”
“Excuse me?”
Scott didn’t jump, since he had had a feeling that Gem was around.
“Oh, Gem! I recently befriended Joel! You never told me you were going to introduce someone to knighthood?” Scott smiled at the ginger-haired princess, who stilled before she sighed and leveled Scott with piercing glare.
“Joel is none of your business, new friend or not.” Her small crystalline antlers glittered prettily in the dimmer lighting.
“Oh well, we became friends before we realized we both knew you, so too bad.” Scott shrugged, his tongue far looser with someone of a similar status to his own. Joel was fun to be around, in all honesty.
Gem sighed and rubbed her face, thinking for a moment before just turning and walking back, stopping just for a moment to study Scott with her green eyes.
“Joel’s a good guy. Don’t hurt him with your teasing.” She didn’t move more, waiting for Scott’s response.
“Joel seems like he’s strong enough to handle a few jokes. I’m sure he’ll be just fine.” Scott waved his hand, not seeing why she was so concerned. Come to think of it, he didn’t know how long Gem had known Joel.
A sad smile rested on Gem’s face as she glanced away, looking out over the courtyard.
“Yeah. Joel always looks strong… he just doesn’t know when to ask for help.”
Scott sighed. There was only one way to make Gem stop feeling guilty about leaving her people behind, and projecting her guilt onto Joel would not help.
“You worry too much Gem. You didn’t see him. He beat a noble twice his size!”
Gem twitched before she turned to look at Scott fully. “WAIT! Really?!”
From Scott’s nod, Gem gaped before recollecting herself. It was genuinely unbelievable, since light fae were good at boosting their own abilities, and Joel was decidedly not a light fae.
“…Incredible…” Gem breathed. “Imagine him as a full-fledged knight!”
Scott nodded in agreement. If Joel was capable of beating a ‘buffed’ light fae, how strong could he become after training?
“You know you still have to explain how you met Joel?” Scott got back to a topic Gem had tried to bury.
“Ugh. Do I have to?” She groaned in annoyance, not wanting to reveal that particular secret quite yet.
“I am very curious, Gem.”
“Of course you are, Scott.”