Chapter 1

This particular morning, Morgan stood hesitant outside the door to the seventh indoor fencing area, where his class in Imperial style fencing was about to begin. Not that his hesitation was anything new, like most days he truly did not want to enter. In truth he did not even want to be anywhere near the eastern part of the Imperial Academy as it was the so called domain of strength. This section of the Academy was the second largest part of the campus with hundreds of practice rooms and outdoors training spaces. Ranging from the small fencing rooms to the massive jousting arena, this was the place where students of all years would come to train in how to fight with all manner of weapons and styles. The room in front of Morgan was among the smaller, with a width of thirty feet and about twice as deep with a somewhat low ceiling. Looking around one could see that this particular building was composed of fifteen such identical rooms, with five on each floor.

Morgan really, really hated this part of the Academy and he had as of yet not had a single class that he did well in here. Only when he came here three months ago did he find himself in a reasonable position in his class. Having been trained by his father since he was a child, he was at least better than the commoners, at first. Morgan sighed, thinking back to the first year evaluation were he had at least managed to place himself among the lower ranks of the nobility in terms of swordplay and thus avoided to shame himself and his family. Regrettably this did not last long. In two months even most of the commoners had overtaken him. Even commoners that would be focusing on magic studies were now at least on par with him.

As Morgan stood there in front of the closed door depressed over his ineptitude, a rough and heavily accented voice almost made him jump out of his skin.

“Are you not going in?” The dark skin boy looked at Morgan with a puzzled expression.

“Yesss... N-no… I mean yes…” Morgan felt his head spinning, when did he last talk to another student?

The dark skinned boy gave him a puzzled look and walked past Morgan as he shuffled out of the doorway. Morgan felt his face grow bright red, and looked at the floor. The momentary glimpse Morgan had gotten of the boy was that he was his exact opposite. The boy was tall where Morgan was short, he was well muscled where Morgan was skinny. The dark skinned boy’s posture was confident, where Morgan’s was a shambling mess. Morgan felt like digging himself into a hole and never coming out when the boy spoke again as he opened the door.

“You're gonna be late if you don’t enter soon.” He spoke with his strange accent and gave Morgan an amused smile as he walked in. Morgan started and hurried in after the dark-skinned boy, much to his own surprise.

Inside the room the students were forming up in a rough half circle in front of instructor Luca Hestra, seventeenth blade of the empire and Master instructor of the Imperial Sword style. He wore a slightly annoyed expression as his eyes swept over the two dozen students. He gave of a rather imposing impression as he looked down on the group of children and shook his head making his blonde ponytail sway back and forth. Normally a Master would not teach a class for first years. However due the presence of one boy, Luca had been forced to teach these beginners and Luca’s eyes narrowed at the boy as he plastered a forced smile onto his face.

“It is good to see you again, Your highness.” He gave a formal bow.

“There is no need for that.” The boy said in a terribly eloquent voice. “Outside ranks are not a concern at the Academy.” Said the fifth prince Aron Viltar Evos Ilia of the Ilian Empire.

Luca simply gave a vague grunt as a response to the prince’s voice that was far more mature than his age would have suggested. Luca was of course aware that the Academy had a rule that secular rank would not affect the Academy, but that was obviously not applicable to the Imperial family. Not that he could say that of course. Instead he looked over the fifteen year old prince with his rather well developed body and exceedingly handsome face. The prince’s normally flowing luscious black hair had been tied back for the class and he could see that the girls in the class were trying their best to get as close to the prince as possible while still staying at a proper distance. This meant that the normally orderly semicircle was a complete mess. Not that he could be arsed to correct this behaviour as he was sure that his words would have little effect. So instead he decided to get on with it.

“Well then.” He turned to the class. “My name is Luca Hestra, seventeenth seat of the Imperial blades. I will be holding your first ‘Proper’ class in the Imperial sword style.” He swept his eyes over the crowd again to shush the whispers that had broken out when he had uttered his rank. “Unlike the previous classes you have had until today you will be sparring in groups of four today. This will allow you to observe one another and help spot any issues.” He gave a pause there looking over the students.

This statement made Morgan’s heart sink as he imagined the horror of not only having his opponent see his mistakes but two additional students as well. He had thus far only gotten puzzled or exasperated looks after sparring before, but now with spectators he could not imagine that it would end there. In his downward spiralling mood he was unable to catch the last part of Luca’s instruction and it was with his spirit at rock bottom and looking at his feet he arrived at the corner. There he unexpectedly found the dark-skinned boy from before talking with a boy who was almost as tall as Luca. The tall boy was strangely thin and pale which combined with his pale blond gave him an almost ghostly appearance. The two paid Morgan little attention as he walked over, unfortunately for Morgan the last person did.

The short girl with a fiery red hair gave him a fierce glare as he walked over, her reddish brown eyes seemed like they would burn straight through him and Morgan had to force himself to keep walking. A carefree part of Morgan’s brain could not help but note that this girl would be almost as cute as his little sister had she not been wearing that glare. This idle thought only made him more depressed as he remembered his home. Before he had the opportunity to feign a stomach ache and leave for his tiny room the dark skin boy walked up to him.

“Hi again!” His bright voice drew a scowl from the girl and made Morgan look up in surprise. “I did not introduce maself before, name’s Marith Sian.” He then held out his large hand and Morgan started as his own hand had naturally moved out to accept the greeting.

“Morgan Kiath.” Morgan said in a daze.

This might have been the first student that greeted him in such a normal way and Morgan’s mind almost shut down when the tall boy also came up and also reached out his hand.

“I’m Louie Brea’am I’m from the south, you're a highlander right?” His voice was a bit raspy but his blue eyes seemed kind and Morgan shook his hand as well and was glad that his handshake was less crushing than that of Marith.

“Um yeah… I’m from Bluevale.” Morgan wondered for a moment how he knew.

Looking around he soon noted that dark hair that was so common back home was quite unusual here. So maybe one could guess due to that, although… He glanced over at the prince who was surrounded by students playing rock paper scissor to decide who would be in his group. “Compared to the prince's black hair, mine could only be described as mud coloured.” Looking at the Prince he felt quite inferior in just about any way imaginable.

“Elionora.” Red haired girl stated her name in what could only be described as a bark.

Morgan almost jumped out of this skin at her unexpected and sharp voice. Luckily Marith took charge of the situation before Morgan could make more of a fool of himself and he spoke with confidence as he hefted his practice blade.

“Shall we?” He said this and walked to one of the many squares on the floor with purpose. To Morgan’s surprise Louie did not follow him into the ring, instead the red headed girl walked into square while cracking her neck. “What?” Morgan could not understand why this would be the pairing. He had clearly imagined that Marith would spar with Louie and that he would be left with the girl.

“Surprised?” Louie laughed at the obvious expression on Morgan’s face. “Those two have already completed the basic exam on the Imperial style.” At this Morgan’s eyes went round and his eyes shot over to the two as they began. In a mere moment the two had locked swords and the clack of woods on wood joined the surrounding noise. Sticking to the Imperial style the both tried to stay on the offence and struck with rapid strikes at the inner thigh and wrists. Their movements were clearly not those of beginners which leant a lot of credence to Louie’s words.

There were only three levels of exams in the Academy: basic, adept and advanced and even if basic was the lowest level of exam it was by no means easy to achieve. In fact most people were happy to score a passing grade in the basic exam in anything that was not the specialty. Morgan would be happy if he could pass all basic exams as he wasn't very good at any particular subject. At least this had been his reasoning once he realized his many shortcomings until now. “They are amazing…” Morgan thought as he watched the somewhat rough but still well practised strikes and footwork of the two. His own goals now felt both distant and a bit pathetic as the two students before him fought. They had like him, started at Academy three months ago but were clearly making far greater progress towards their much loftier goals than he was. Louie laughed as during a moment of hesitation from Marith, Elionora struck Marith’s wrist hard, sending Marith’s wooden sword clattering to the ground.

“I told you that the Imperial style doesn't suit you Marith!”

“Oh shut up! You can say that again after you beat me.” Marith glared at Louie and rubbed his sore wrist.

“He is right though.” Elionora said with a snort and walked out of the square.

At this Marith flinched and picked up his sword with a slight blush. Morgan was rooted in place, the level of the sparring match he had just seen was simply so far beyond what he was capable of that he was unsure if he would EVER be able to hold his ground against any of the two.

“I told you that you should stick to one of the River Styles! You are simply not any good at keeping to a single form.” Louie gave Marith a friendly punch to the arm as he walked into the square. Marith grumbled an inaudible response and walked to the side. Morgan gulped but somehow managed to step into the square and take his stance. Morgan stood with his right lead foot slightly ahead of the left and with his practice sword in front of him in a one handed grip. To Morgan’s surprise Louie looked nothing like when he had confidently laughed at Marith. Now he looked a bit nervous and to Morgan’s surprise his form was all over the place. His lead foot was too far forward and his other foot was too far to the side and his sword was held too low.

“BEGIN!” Elionoar’s shout startled Morgan but his training took over and he lunged forward. Morgan was surprised by the speed of Louie. His long thin limbs made him deceptively quick. Yet that was about it. The two swords meet and a satisfying clack rung out. It as a far cry from the fierce sound to the previous spar but it was nonetheless at least somewhat impressive.

“I blocked it!” Morgan was ecstatic. Louie was faster than him and slightly stronger but it was still Louie that got pushed back, which was actually a rather obvious outcome. Because despite Louie's advantage in speed he had been staring at Morgan’s right thigh since even before he lunged. Morgan had been afraid that it was a faint at first but Louie’s blue eyes had been so focused that Morgan had discarded the thought.

Thus after reading the attack he had been able to parry it and since his posture had been far better he had been able to force Louie off balance as an added benefit.

“I got him!” Morgan was feeling pleased as he slashed up at Louie’s exposed arm with a quick upward slash. But Louie was quick and he regained his balance and somehow managing to withdraw in time. The two locked eyes and then lunged once again with almost identical results. Off to the side Marith wore a surprised expression and Elionora looked at the two boys in exasperation.

“Is this a joke? It’s like watching a beginner fighting an elder with one foot in the grave…” Elionora felt like pulling her hair out.

These were two nobles from the empire and they must have been trained in the Imperial style since they were children. Yet only one of them showed any signs of having practised and he looked as if he had perfected the style in his mind and never bothered moving his body.

“Will this ever end?” She growled.

“I… I honestly can’t tell…” Marith had never seen two people so inept sparring against one another and despite changing up their patterns as best they could they were unable to make any headway.

“I can understand why Louie is putting up such a bad performance as he is truly a beginner. But this Morgan guy is just weak…” Marith though a bit troubled.

Louie’s father had not bothered training him in the sword simply electing to focus his attention on teaching Louie how to properly manage the domain, so that he could help his older brother in running it smoothly. But Morgan however… “He has obviously been trained by at least an adept…” Marith’s thoughts were interrupted by Elionora.

“I don’t think I have ever seen a practitioner so unsuited for the Imperial style.” Elionora spat disgusted.

“What? What do you mean?” Marith did not quite follow.

“That Morgan kid, he is constantly thinking and planning his next move, not ‘Acting’.” She snorted and shook her head. “The Imperial style is all about offence! Attack, faint, adapt and keep pushing! If you fall on the defence you’ve already lost.” She gave an offended click of her tongue. Marith thought about this for a few moments as he looked at the rather pitiful spar that was taking place before him.

“Then what style would fit him?” Marith thought aloud, not really expecting a response.

“Humm…” shockingly Elionora rested her chin in her hand tilting her head and got a faraway look. “I suppose… the Floating river style or the Southern mountain style. Not that there is anyone at the Academy teaching any of those styles.” She said, shaking her head. Marith was a bit taken aback by her response as he had not been meaning to speak aloud in the first place. Since he was generally unable to keep any conversation going with the mostly reticent redhead he scrambled to find a good way to keep her interest as she was clearly growing frustrated with what she was seeing.

“What about, Rising moon then?” He asked hopefully and much to his surprise, Elionora who mostly spoke in biting remarks or thinly veiled insults carefully thought about the question as she gave the two blissfully ignorant boys a sour look.

“Uhmm, it is not as good as Southern mountain style…” She sighed annoyed. “But literally ANYTHING is better than the Imperial style…” She groaned unable to take it any longer. “Urghh… ENOUGH!” Having lost her patience she barked and got startled looks from the two boys. Elionora strode up to Morgan with a furious glower and her reddish brown eyes almost bore into him. He only vaguely registered that she only reached up to his nose as she stabbed a finger into his chest.

“You should stop coming to this class.” her voice was cold and she turned around to walk away to the centre of the room.

“Hey that is too m…” Louie’s words died in his mouth as Elionora spun around and glared at him. Morgan wanted to collapse to the ground. He was tired from the sparring and Elionora’s words cut deep as he himself had thought this many times before. He felt like crying and was involuntarily moving towards the door before he even knew it but was stopped by a strong hand before he got very far.

“Wait!” Marith yelled after Morgan desperately. He tried to sound both firm and kind but failed and Morgan just gave him a bleak look. “Elionora is just a bit blunt but what she means is that you are not suited for the Imperial sword style and I concur! So just wait here.” Marith gave Morgan who was just standing there as if rooted in place a sincere look trying to convey that he wanted him to trust him on this and after waving over Louie, Marith jogged off after Elionora to the centre of the room.

Morgan looked at Marith’s back and then over to the door, he honestly felt like hell and just wanted to go back to his room and forget about everything. Morgan thought he had been doing well in a spar for once only to get a verbal bucket of ice water dumped on his head. He only managed to stop his depressing thought from overtaking him when Louie spoke to him while scratching his head.

“Umm… don’t leave.” Louie groaned. “At least until Marith is back okay?” He gave Morgan a troubled look. “Elionora is very brutal to everyone with her criticism but she is rarely wrong and if she was Marith would have said something.” He clicked his tongue and patted Morgan on the shoulder. “Marith is a really nice guy so how about you trust him okay, just this once?” Louie gave Morgan a placating smile and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

“Trust him?” Morgan felt a bit odd thinking of trust. The only person he trusted was his father. “And even if I would trust Marith who I just met, why would he want to help me? Why would he help someone he just met?” Morgan though while being unable to see himself doing the same. At this point the words of his father resonated in his mind. ‘Trust cannot spring from nothingness. It takes both courage and the strength of will to trust someone despite the risk of betrayal. However, without offering your trust you will find yourself alone.’ As his father’s words played in his mind Morgan reluctantly chose to stay. He had never been asked to trust another like this before. Nor had he had the opportunity to lend his trust to another so with the thought “Maybe” he forced himself to stay.

When Marith returned Morgan wanted to run away, for with him came Luca. Not only did the three other students have to watch his measly performance but now even Master Luca?

“Morgan'' Marith yelled and ran up to the distressed looking Morgan. “Please spar with Louie again.” The appalled look on Morgan’s face was rather funny but he forced himself to keep a straight face and spoke. “I promise that I'm doing this for a good reason!”

Morgan flinched as Marith grabbed his shoulders with a painful amount of force. Morgan winced and was surprised by the sincerity in Marith’s dark eyes. Trapped as he was he reluctantly nodded and when back and walked back to the starting spot on the circle. As the sparring started Luca frowned, he was not sure what he was watching. One was obviously a hopeless beginner and if he had not known better the other looked like an adept trying his best to do poorly while still sticking to form.

“What am I watching?” He spoke almost unconsciously in a befuddled voice.

“Right? Elionora said that she had never seen someone so unsuited for the Imperial style…” Marith trailed off.

“Elionora said that?” Luca thought with a grunt. “Sharp as ever that one.” He glanced over at the redhead before truing his attention back to the two floundering students. Luca watched for a minute or so before clapping bringing the spar to an end.

“So why did you have me watch this?” Luka said with a raised eyebrow as he looked over at Marith.

“Well umm, Master as you know, you need approval from a teacher to swap from a starting class…” As Luca just kept watching him Marith cleared his throat and continued. “I was thinking that he and I could swap to Adept Alina’s class…”

“Ah.” Luca nodded. “Yes I understand, the Rising moon you say. Humm...” Luca gave the boy a thoughtful look before shrugging his shoulders. “That would probably work out better than this.” In a voice low enough that only Marith could hear it he added “Not that it could get any worse”. Marith gave Morgan an embarrassed look as the other boy was clearly tittering on the edge of crying before clearing his throat.

“So um… Master can we leave and go over to Alina’s class?” He gave Luca a hopeful look.

“Yes you may go.” Luca gave a dismissive wave of the hand. “Alina should be in room 3105.” Luca turned and walked back to the centre of the room. “Oh, and don’t forget to go and do the transfer papers at the management office. I expect them to be there by breakfast tomorrow.” Luca gave a slight wave and returned to look over the class.

“Thanks Master!” Marith shouted as he gave Luca a deep bow. After he straightened from the bow he smiled and ran up to Morgan grabbing his arm and dragging the small boy along.

“Let’s go!” Morgan shouted happily as he half dragged the sputtering Morgan along with him as he yelled back at Louie. “Cya later Louie!”

“Laters!” Louie gave Marith a tired wave and Morgan a sympathetic smile. Shaking his head Louie then headed off to find another group.