Cedric was thoroughly covered in dirt by the time they made it to the city. He had fallen plenty during the almost twelve hours of walking but was finally getting used to the changes of his body. He heard a few laughs when he fell, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. Learning to walk properly was something he needed to. Plus, it was something that he was enjoying.

It had been annoying trying to figure out how to shift his weight. He found it easiest to lift his foot completely, and then gently press it down in front of him. He didn’t really know how high to lift his foot though. Consciously trying to figure out the motion was a lot harder than automatically settling on one. However, that was what he needed to do, any lapses would cause him to revert to how he had walked before, and that usually just meant that he would fall.

The strangest thing about the journey was that he hadn’t needed any breaks. He barely felt tired and was only sweating slightly despite the trek. Gazing upon the city, his eyes drank in the profound divinity of the kingdom. The city of New Larkin was the capital of the kingdom. It was enormous by all standards, and a few tall buildings rose above the walls. Each wall was made of gray stone and towered over the trees of the village. Even still, Cedric could see the castle and church poking out from behind the walls. A bustling village was constructed outside of the walls, dense clusters of wooden houses covered the nearby grassland.

He expected to be led into the city, but the wagons turned, heading along the side of the wall rather than through them. It was strange but he guessed the army didn’t use the normal entrance. Turned out he was right, as they started descending a gradual decline. Most people probably didn’t notice, especially if they were in the wagon, but he could feel it. It was taking him an effort to normalize the motions of walking, and he paid more attention to the ground around him.

Eventually, the setting sun got cut off, and he looked up to see stone walls and ceilings surrounding him. He didn’t think they were beneath the city, though he could be wrong. He didn’t really pay attention to the directions he was going, focusing far more on his immediate surroundings. There were lanterns along the walls, and he could see that this was an enormous stone building. It was underground, and he looked around in awe at the marvel of construction. How had they managed to clear out so much of the ground?

The descent gave way to hallways and rooms, hundreds of them. More and more rooms came into sight as they kept going. There were far more rooms than the amount of people here. There were only three wagons and maybe two hundred people in total. Slowly the wagons were led down different paths, and he made sure to stick with the one that his group was riding. They had taken a sharp right turn and entered another wide hallway.

He glimpsed light at the end of the tunnel and was shocked to see the hallway open up into a clearing. Sunlight poured down from the ceiling and glancing up he saw what looked like a hollowed mountain. From the ground to the very top, there was nothing, and light cascaded down from above. It was as if the mountain had always been hollow, and someone had cut the top off it. It must have been made by the king, for he was the only one who could manage such a feat.

Cedric’s eyes were alighted with interest, and reverence, as he realized that this space had been made for him. Well, the others too, but it still felt like another gift from the gods. It made him eager, and the weapons in the clearing only furthered his excitement. The ground beneath his feet was neither soft nor flat, instead made of rough broken stones. It was truly an amazing place.

He heard some creaking and murmuring as people descended the wagon. They were all gaping at the hollowed-out mountain and the opening at the top.

“Line up!”

The yell broke Cedric’s stunned awe, and he quickly turned to see who had spoken. There was a knight standing next to the weapon racks. Cedric moved to obey; the slightly scary scarred face of the man did give him an air of command. However, Cedric followed because it was right, and not out of fear of retribution. No, he barely even flinched when his eyes met the fierce glare and nasty scowl the man gave them. This time nobody stood out of line to rebuke the knight, and even the arrogant man from earlier lined up promptly. He was second in line, the stronger girl stood at the front.

Cedric couldn’t help but smile at the disgruntled look on the man. Taking a spot in line, he was excited to hear what was happening. Plus, he didn’t want to get in trouble with the knight and made sure to keep his focus on him.

“Too slow, I expect better next time. I am Captain Bertram, and you will address me as such. Today, you will be spending the remainder of the day, and night if needed, to try every weapon here. Nobody will leave until they find the most suitable one for them.”

He stopped to gesture to the other knights in the room and continued after making sure that everyone’s eyes were back on him.

“These knights will be watching you. Once you have found an appropriate weapon, you will check with one of us before leaving. Begin!”

His voice was harsh and commanding, and nobody hesitated in following the instructions. The lines quickly broke down as the group surrounded the racks of weapons. Cedric walked slowly towards the weapons, taking advantage of the pace to look over all the racks. There was plenty he had never seen before, but there was also a lot that was missing. He didn’t see any normal bows, and no daggers either. The smallest weapon he saw was a short sword, and even that was longer than his arm. He thought about asking someone, but a quick glance at the knights told him that it would be a bad idea.

Cedric could pick a weapon for himself, or at least he liked to believe that he could. Most of the crowd was standing by the more common weapons like swords and spears, so he took the opportunity to check out the bows. While there weren’t any normal wooden bows, there were a few that were made of thick cuts of metal, and even the smallest of them was bigger than he was.

The bow was nestling into a weapon rack, a case of arrows on the ground beside it. The knights had said to try the weapons, and he could already hear some other people doing the same. He was able to notice his heartbeat quicken as he reached for the bow. It was a strange feeling. A rightness that he never experienced before, as if this had always been what he was made for.

His fingers reached around the wood, his shorter left arm being the one to hold the bow. He thought it would be better to use his longer arm to hold the string because that would mean that he could pull it back further. His lack of experience showed as it took him several seconds to even hold the bow properly. Finally, finding a comfortable position with his hand, he reached for the arrow.

It was surprisingly heavy, even considering that the arrow was longer than his leg. It was easily several times heavier than one of the rocks from earlier. The cool metal felt good in the heat. Only after raising it, did he realize that he had no idea how to actually use a bow.

He had seen the occasional person use it, but never really paid any attention to how they got the arrow to stick. He tried a few things, but the arrow kept thumping to the ground as soon as he let go of it. After another attempt, he decided he would just hold the arrow in place while he pulled the string back. Then it hit him, why didn’t he just pull the arrow back. Of course, people let go of the arrow, not the string.

Feeling proud of his realization he drew back the arrow. He pulled it back a bit too far, and the arrow slid past the bow. In his excitement, he forgot that he couldn’t actually use bows with his misaligned arms. Not letting his body stop him, he pulled the arrow back as far as it could go without slipping. He turned the bow to face upwards, confident that his strength would let him fire it out of the mountain. Lining up his shot above him, he aimed for the opening at the top.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

A female voice yelled from nearby Cedric. He flinched letting go of the arrow, as he tensed his muscles. With a little bit of panic, he looked towards the speaker, bracing himself for a blow that never came. Instead, the knight was staring upwards, a small metal shield held above her head. A helmet hid most of her hair, but he saw a few black locks dangling from the side. He couldn’t see her face and waited for a response.

His gaze only shifted away from her when her eyes turned towards him. Dark brown eyes met him, and the coldness he saw in them made him wince.

Thump!

Cedric flinched a little when he heard something hit the ground next to him. His eyes glanced to his side quickly. The arrow had not made it out of the mountain and instead began falling back towards the ground. His face went a little pale at the realization that he had almost impaled himself with his own weapon.

Honestly, he expected himself to panic and tremble out of fear, but he didn’t. Instead, he remembered the tests that the doctor had done, and he wondered if the arrow could even have damaged him. He didn’t think so, maybe the worst thing he would get was a bruise, but that was something he wasn’t afraid of. He had learned the hard way, there was a point where a person could simply ignore some injuries. They still hurt, but it just didn’t matter anymore.

“You are banned from using the bows. Go look at something else.”

The knight sounded extremely annoyed, and Cedric didn’t need any further prompting. In fact, he agreed with her wholeheartedly. Bows were not a good fit for him. A simpler tool would probably be better. He nodded vehemently to the Knight, before running to the other weapons.

With all the walking practice, he managed to avoid falling as he made his way to the other weapon racks. Most people were done looking at the swords by this point, and so he was immediately able to scan the remaining swords. When he got close, he realized that almost half the swords were missing. He could have gone to the other weapons, but as already proven, the simplest choice was probably the right one.

He grabbed the first sword that he saw, not really knowing anything about it. The blade was a bluish metal that ran the length of his arm. He expected it to be heavier and almost threw the blade into the air as he lifted it. He managed to maintain his grip though and merely lifted his arm upwards. Quickly, his eyes darted towards where the female knight had been. She had been looking at him, and he swallowed loudly. Cedric quickly looked away, hoping that she wouldn’t ban him from swords too.

Okay, this sword was not the right one. He didn’t need to test anything else to know that. It was simply too light, and he felt like it would be better if he just swung his arm. He also realized something else when lifting the blade. He should probably use a one-handed sword, and possibly carry a shield in the other arm. First, he wanted to find a sword that actually felt like a tool rather than a blade of grass.

It took him several minutes, but he settled on the biggest sword in the pile. It wasn’t the heaviest weapon there as he had seen several hammers and axes that looked bigger than it. Still, it was large, and the blade alone ran from his shoulders all the way to his feet. Not to mention that it was as wide as his hand and as thick as his fist. It was made of beautiful black metal, that was covered in small impurities. It reminded him of the night sky. At least it felt like it had weight to it and holding it in his longer arm made it reach as far as some spears. Even with its size and weight, he had no problems swinging it with one hand. It was truly a perfect fit.

With the blade in hand, he started walking towards the shields. Only then did he hear another shout clearly directed at him. The now familiar voice of the female knight made him wince.

“And what do you think you’re doing?”