I confidently walk towards Alex’s office. Today is the day that I will be leaving this hellhole of a place. Of course, I realize what that means, it means that I am most likely being sent to kill somebody.

I don’t know how I feel about that. But I sure as hell won’t tell The Hooded Man, now Alex, how I feel about the subject of killing.

If they thought I wouldn’t be of use to them, I hesitate to imagine what they might do.

I happen to glance at the mirror outside of Alex’s new office.

I have changed since my first days in this “academy”. My messy black hair, blue eyes and sharp features give me an experienced look. Of course the thing that has changed the most is my height, I am now an inch taller than Alex, at five foot eleven inches.

I make myself as presentable as possible in my new black apprentice clothes, which are vastly different from my old and grey trainee clothes. I knock three times at Alex’s door and wait for him to respond.

“Come in.”

I walk in to find Alex and a man I don’t recognize waiting for me.

“Welcome Beta. My name is Troy and I will be giving you your assignments for the next few months.” The man introduces himself. I look at his shoulder and see a black crow, the little known symbol of a master of our order.

“Thank you Master Troy. I look forward to my mission.” I respond as I bow deeply to him.

Master Troy hands a folder over to me. “You shall assume your old name of Damien for the duration of this mission. In that folder you will find your supposed history. After you have memorized it, please destroy it.” I take the folder out and glance over it. “We will be traveling to Cerelion the capital city of the Chuman Empire. You have been recommended as a royal guard there, you understand what that will entail?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Good,” Master Troy finally takes a moment to study me, before continuing. “This mission is different from what you might be expecting. You may go for months without getting any orders from us. During that time, we want you to simply impress your superiors, get promoted if possible. In the meantime, I will give you the name of an inn where you can go if you need anything or wish to send a message to us.”

“I understand, sir. When will we be leaving?” I ask him.

“We will be leaving right now. Everything you might need has been prepared for you in the carriage.” Master Troy glances at Alex, “Go to the carriage, I will join you in a moment.”

I bow to him, then bow to Alex before I leave the room.

It doesn’t take long for me to arrive at the exit of this training center. All I do is show one of the guards at the exit my pass and he lets me through.

I walk up the stairs and slowly, reverently walk into the sunlight. The enchantments for lighting the ceiling of the training center could never compare to real, glorious, sunlight.

I must have stood there for a minute before I noticed the carriage waiting with a door open.

I step into the carriage and finally take a moment to truly examine the file Master Troy had given me.

Name: Damien.

I pause at that part, unable to move past the name that meant so much to me. It had always reminded me who I really was.

I shake myself out of my reverie and move on.

You were orphaned at a young age and taken in by a guardsman by the name of Pat. He raised you well and when you got to be of age you chose to follow in his footsteps as a guardsman. You started your training in a small town called Taimin, Pat saw how well you were doing in your training and recommended you to a friend at the palace. The friend agreed to interview you and offer you the job if you passed.

After that, there was more detailed information, but I decide to save it for the long trip to the capital.

A little while later, Master Troy enters the carriage and we set off.

We sit in silence for a little while before I say, “Do I have to worry about a ‘Pat’ coming by to visit?”

“Pat is an agent of our organization. There is very little chance that he will come to the capital and jeopardize your mission.” He says before he makes it clear that he doesn’t wish to speak to me with a heated glare.

I return to my reading after that, letting it distract me from all of the annoyances involved in travel.

It takes us a week to arrive at Cerelion, which surprised me, I didn’t think that the training center would be so close to the capitol of the empire.

My eyes widen when I see the walls surrounding Cerelion, they extend so far into the distance that I couldn’t see where they curved. That, combined with the height of the walls makes it likely that this wall was created by an Earth Elementalists.

As we get closer, I decide to change into my guardsman uniform. The guardsmen uniform is a combination of leather and chainmail, with a large dragon as an emblem on the chest piece.

We arrive at the gate and wait in a long line of carriages. When we are next in line Master Troy tells me that we must leave the carriage.

I step out of the carriage and a guardsman walks up to me. “Welcome to the capitol, brother.” He slams his chest in a salute.

“Thank you brother.” I say, saluting him in response.

“Do you have any active magic artifacts on you, or any magical effects on you?” The guardsman asks.

“No sir.” I say, glad that I didn’t have any time to bring any of my experiments with me.

He grabs a crystal ball and shows it to me. “Please place your hand on this crystal.” At my confused look, he explains “You must not have had these in your hometown, they were created by mages to detect changelings.”

I nod and say, “Thank you, brother” as I place my hand on the crystal ball.

The crystal ball doesn’t change and the guard nods at me, “You may go. Good luck on your journeys brother.”

“May your paths be easy to find, brother.” I respond with the ceremonial goodbye.

Master Troy has me get back into the carriage and takes me to the palace. At the gate to the palace, Master Troy stops the carriage “From here on out, you are on your own.”

I step out of the carriage and watch it drive away, before I talk to the guards at the entrance to the palace.

They look over my paperwork and let me in.

I go through a few more checkpoints before I arrive at the Royal Guard barracks.

I stare at the barracks, unsure where to go from here.

I grab the attention of a passing guard and ask him “Good afternoon, brother. Can you tell me where to find Sir Johnathon? I have an interview with him.”

“Good afternoon brother, are you hoping for a position with the Royal Guard?” The passing guard asks .

I take a moment to look at his insignia, marking him as a captain of the Royal Guards. “Yes, sir, I am.”

He smiles at me. “You can find him through that door over there. Be careful, he has quite a temper.”

“Thank you brother.” I respond before I walk to the door he pointed at.

I take a moment to prepare myself mentally and walk through the door.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO KEEP THE ROYAL GUARDS FED, CLOTHED, TRAINED, PAID AND ARMED? EIGHT HUNDRED GOLD PIECES A MONTH? DO THEY WANT ME TO STOP ARMING THE ROYAL GUARDS?” A man in knight’s armor, whom I assume to be Sir Johnathon, tirades against another man in servant's attire.

“Excuse me sir.” I interrupt.

“What is it?!” He turns his indignation to me.

“I was asked to be here for an interview with a Sir Johnathon. Are you him?” I say, trying to keep my expression as neutral as possible.

The knight’s eyes narrow at me “So you are the kid Pat spoke so highly of. Yes, I am the mover of mountains, Sir Johnathon. You must be Damien.”

“That is my name, sir.” I respond, keeping as formal of a posture as I can.

“Very good.” Sir Johnathon turns to the servant and says, “You may go.”

The servant bows to both of us and leaves the room.

Sir Johnathon moves behind his desk and sits in a chair. He motions at a set of wooden chairs I had been to nervous to notice.

I sit down in one of those chairs.

“So, tell me, why do you wish to be a Royal Guard.” He asks.

I am a little surprised by the question, I shouldn’t have been, but I am. I think fast and give the first answer I can. “Because changes don’t happen in some small town in the northern province. The empire is run by the people living here, they will decide the futures of everyone I care about. And I want to protect the people who will be deciding those futures.” The lie comes easily from my mouth. I imagine that in another life, those words would have been absolutely true.

Sir Johnathon studies me for a moment and I do the same to him. Sir Johnathon is a large man, with short red hair and a trimmed beard. His brown eyes hold an intelligence in them that anyone could see. He is wearing chain armor with the emblem of the empire on its chest.

“That was a very good answer Damien. One of the best I’ve ever gotten in fact.” He stands up and walks towards the door. “Come, even with Pat’s recommendation, I must test your abilities.”

I follow him as he walks to a large courtyard. Royal Guards stop in the middle of their training as we walk towards the center of the courtyard where a large pile of wooden weapons await us.

“Pick whatever weapon you are most comfortable with. I will be your opponent.” Sir Johnathon says as he picks up a large wooden sword.

I look over the wooden weapons and pick up a small shield for my left hand and a short sword for my right.

Whispers go through the crowd “Sir Johnathon is going to fight a newbie.” “Poor kid, he doesn’t know what he is getting himself into.”

I glance at the circle of onlookers before I get in a ready position “It looks like we are going to have a crowd.” I say.

“So it does.” He responds as he gets ready.

Before I can say anything else, he strikes at my head with his sword.

I am a little surprised by his speed, but still manage to redirect his strike away from me. I move forward with my short sword, trying to take advantage of the small opening I created with my shield.

But Sir Johnathon is a pro, he redirects his sword mid air towards me.

I lean all the way backwards, dodging the swing. Then I go back at him.

Sir Johnathon’s style is very different from what I am used to facing with Alex or Scarface. Sir Johnathon barely moves his feet, mostly uses his leverage, strength and speed to overpower his opponent and keep a distance.

Meanwhile, I am completely relying on my movement and ability to redirect attacks in order to get close to my opponent.

It is a long contest, but it is obvious to everyone present that I will exhaust myself before he does.

Left with very few options, I change my style. Sir Johnathon isn’t wearing any gauntlets and I take advantage of that. I aim all my attacks at his fingers or arms. Eventually I land a hit on his arm and everyone hears a crack. Unfortunately, in the next moment I feel a his sword hit my shoulder.

Sir Johnathon has a grin on his face as we both huff and puff. “Very impressive, it has been a long time since I faced a style like yours. You will have to introduce me to your teacher someday.”

I bow to him. “I will remember to do that, someday.”

“It seems like you are very proficient with a shield and sword. What other weapons are you familiar with?”

I look over the pile of weapons. “All of them.”

He looks at me for a moment. “All of them?”

I look it over again. “Except for the pole-axe, for some reason, I never could get used to those.”

“That is quite impressive.” Sir Johnathon says

“Thank you.”

“Well, that concludes our interview. Welcome to the Royal Guards, Recruit Damien.” He says with a big grin on his face.

The other Royal Guards who had been silent up to this point surround me and welcome me.