Ignatius

The walk up to the citadel of Pyri was hot and long but it gave Ignatius something to do instead of sitting at home alone or stuck in the barracks.

He detested the new children that were brought into the Clan Choosing Ceremony training. All they talked about was how they missed their families or dreaded their training to come and so on. At least their trainers knew when to keep their mouths shut; they had their moments when they reminisced about stupid things that had happened in the kingdom twenty-some or more years ago.

"Well, I'm afraid this is where we must part ways," Prince Surya said. "I wish to see all of you again, farewell good friends of mine."

Ignatius watched as the prince walked away and up the red granite steps and toward the towering wall surrounding the citadel. 

As he stared at the citadel, he could see the wearing of the granite citadel from the centuries of weather and monster attacks. If one looked closely they could see the ancient scars from a horrific battle between Pyrisa and Teirah and Okeanuem two hundred years ago when the islanders of the archipelago sought to take the coast of Pyrisa for their own, obtaining Teriah as their ally in the ancient war. It was said that the war had lasted eight months. The people of Pyri had been barricaded inside of the city while the war raged outside of its walls. In the end, Pyrisa rose dominant like their kingdom animal the Phoenix. With a treaty established and signed by the three kingdoms, a peaceful solution settled between the three, and prosperity ensured since.

Still looking at the scars peppering the sides of the citadel, Ignatius could see people working on the battle wounds. Carrying cauldrons of steaming liquid, the workers poured the semi-melted down granite into the cracks and indentations of the citadel, sealing the wounds of the ancient building. Erasing the testaments the building had withstood throughout time.

Ignatius found it surprising that the workers had managed to find some granite.  The citadel had been fashioned from the nearby dormant volcanic deposits rich in granite and obsidian around four hundred years ago. But now the deposits were empty, stripped clean from the extensive mining. They must have had to purchase some from Teriah or maybe Aeris.

"Ya goin' to join 'em up there?" Flint asked.

"No. Are you?"

"Flint on a roof that high with a slanted edge like that? Please don't make me laugh. It's utterly inconceivable. The moment he would look down he would flip shit and then fall. Taking half the crew with him." Haco retorted.

Enya chuckled, trying to keep her laughter from bursting out. None of them wanted to make Flint mad. It would be devastating.

"Oh ya, you want to see me fall off a roof do ya, Haco? How 'bout I take you up there and throw you off and then land on ya. Will that satisfy ya?" Flint snapped back, his large hands clenching as if he was already imagining them throwing Haco off the roof of the citadel.

Ignatius wouldn't blame him. Haco was an asshole at the best of times and a literal demon at the worst. It was his damned mind that made him so hard to deal with. That mind was always calculating something and it was what made him one of the most dangerous people Ignatius knew.

"I was just joking, Flint," Haco soothed, putting his hands up while taking a few—large was more like it—steps back out of Flint's reach.

Haco snorted and stormed down the painstakingly chiseled granite steps.

Ignatius knew he was going to his family's home. It was where he always went when he was upset or angry.

"Baby," Ignatius heard Haco mutter under his breath.

When he turned to look, the apprentice strategist was already up the stairs and at the iron gates to no doubt go meet the Royal Family. Haco seemed to act like he was allowed to go see the Royal Family whenever he wanted when no one, not even the warlords, was allowed to do so without future notice and acceptance from King Agni.

"What to do." Enya mused to herself.

"Indeed," Ignatius agreed.

"Would you like to spar?" Enya asked after a moment of silence.

"You mean to show off to the new kids." He knew what this game was. He had played it before.

Enya gave him a wicked little grin, the whites of her teeth showing. He wouldn't be surprised if Enya had hidden fangs. Fangs would suit her personality very well. A wicked little thing she was and would probably always be until the day she died.

"Why else would I ask such a brilliant fighter as yourself?" she asked. "Haco is too slippery and cowardly to openly fight me, and Flint is too slow and gets enraged easily. I prefer fighting someone who will keep their emotions in check and fight fairly."

"You say you prefer fighting someone fairly when you don't fight fair yourself."

"I am being resourceful and it's not cheating if you don't get caught. Besides, not all fights are fair anyways. I'm just preparing for when I do have to fight dirty."

"I see. I guess I'll have to fight dirty too then to make it an even match and 'prepare' too."

Enya responded only with a grin over her shoulder as she headed to the training yard.

"May the best warrior win."

Ignatius followed after the sixteen-year-old toward the growing sound of voices.

The voices got louder and louder until they both walked in upon the practice that was going on. Although, what the kids were doing couldn't really be called practicing. It looked more like they had a party and decided to tear up the training yard.

Enya's nostrils flared as her burnt-orange eyes took in the chaotic scene. That was a sign that all hell was about to break loose. May the Burning Sun have mercy upon those children because Enya Guafi sure as hell would not. 

Taking a blunt sword and shield, Enya banged the two against each other, causing a horrible echoing to fill the air.

All the kids turned to look at Enya with curious eyes that soon turned too wide with fear at the menacing presence that came off the young woman in waves.

"What in the name of the Burning Sun is going on here?" She demanded.

None of the children answered.

Ignatius laughed to himself. It was honestly adorable how a couple of dozen ten years olds could be so intimidated by Enya.

"I'm waiting for someone to speak up or do I have to start taking tongues to give you all a real reason to not speak."

"S-sorry miss," one of the boys stuttered, trying to hide behind a taller boy. "W-were just m-es-sing around. W-we didn't mean a-any harm."

Enya stared daggers into the boy.

Ignatius didn't blame her. The whole training yard was a mess. A few of the sparring dummies were messed up. Who the hell was supposed to be watching these little morons?

"Start cleaning up," Enya ordered. When none of them moved she roared, "NOW!" Then they all jumped as if shocked.

"Little beasts." Enya snarled as she watched the boys and a few girls go about cleaning up the wrecked training yard.

"Could have been worse."

"Worse how?"

"Well," Ignatius said, "they could have set the yard and equipment on fire or impaled each other on the blunt swords as well as broken out into an all-out fight like how our group used to do."

Ignatius could still remember the group he had been stuck with. They had all been constantly fighting each other, beating the shit out of each other until they all laid beaten bloody pulps on the ground in the training yard. Those who had supervised them during those times either encouraged it or went off somewhere and left them all alone.

"True. At least there doesn't seem to be any Haco's or Flint's in this group, yet."

Ignatius nodded with what she said.

"What is going on here?" A voice sounded from behind them.

Ignatius and Enya turned to see one of the captains of the City Guard come walking up.

The City Guard was one of the few groups of guards existing in Pyri. The Phoenix Guard,  Wilderners, and Magicks were the main groups with smaller groups branching off from them, similar in duties and existence.

Ignatius didn't know who this captain was but it was best not to piss him off. After all, he might be one of the captains recruiting this year for new members to his unit.

"These trainees made a mess of the training yard so I ordered them to clean up the mess they made," Enya spoke up.

"And who gave you authority to do so? Based on your age, you're still in the Clan Choosing Ceremony training. Trained but haven't gone through the Ceremony yet. That prevents you from giving such orders to them even if you are considered their senior." The captain said to her. "The next time this happens, report to an actual guard. Understood, girl?"

"Yes, sir," Enya said with as much respect Ignatius knew she was willing to give. 

The captain didn't say anything else and took over the supervision of the new Clan Choosing Ceremony children in training. 

"Asshole," Enya muttered when they were out of earshot of the captain.

"I hope you realize that asshole back there could possibly be your captain one of these days. May I remind you that our year's Choosing Ceremony is in nearly two months."

The Choosing Ceremony was when all the commanders and captains of the guard groups and Warlords of the Clans of Pyri came together to choose any sixteen-year-olds of that year to be a part of their units and clans. Those who didn't get chosen were commissioned to the military or the Holds and Rookery capture units; neither was a good position because both ended up with people dead in the end, one had a better chance of surviving with one of the other groups.

"I don't need to join the City Guard. I can easily get in with the Phoenix Guard or Magicks."

"I thought only mages were allowed in the Magicks?" Ignatius asked. If he remembered correctly, the Magicks only took mages.

"I heard they are going to take in some non-mages to see how well they work together. And if it works they are going to start integrating mages in with the other groups to increase the capabilities of the units."

"Where did you learn this tidbit of information?" He asked, shocked at the information she learned.

"A credible source." That was her only reply.

Their walk back to the citadel was quiet.

At the steps was where they parted ways. Enya was going to stay in the barracks, though they could go home as well if they lived close enough. But Enya didn't have that choice. She was an orphaned survivor of a monster attack that had wrecked her village and as such had nowhere to go except to the place that took her in at the young age of eight.

Ignatius bid her farewell and continued his uneventful walk home.

The sun was just past noon but he didn't feel like staying out in the heat any longer. He longed to enter the cool relief of the home he and his father shared.

Ignatius passed the many vendors he saw walking up this way earlier, most of their wares gone or still full.

He kept on, taking the familiar path to his home.

Taking a right at a plaza and going down a street to the simple stone house, he unlocked the door with the key in his pocket and entered the home.

Retiring to his bed in his simple room, he stayed there for the rest of the long, quiet day.