Jace juggled the three choices for a while and in the end decided to go with the flute. He had always wanted to learn how to play an instrument. The classes for the flute were also relatively short, three months of daily classes and then he could pick up a second artsy class. Jace took one of the rooms, to his surprise all the rooms were singular. He had expected to be sharing a room with one of his squad mates. He pulled the covers up and crawled in bed and missed his wife. Sleeping alone felt off, after spending so much time with her. He missed energetic little Aziva as well.

The next morning when they woke up they were taken to mandatory combat class. The platoons had varying schedules, Vivianna’s platoon started with combat training, while Zayanna’s group started with a chosen class. His squad lined up next to Arian’s the combat instructor walked up to them. The instructor was a grizzled veteran and seemed at ease with teaching new recruits. He eyed the lot of them for a few moments before he spoke up, “Combat is our job as knights, whenever there’s a fight to be had knights will be in the thick of it! All of you already know how to fight, else you would not be here. Fighting as a group of knights is different, everyone has their own speciality and you need to make sure it works! Knights fight more like adventurers than soldiers do, the only difference is that we rarely fight monsters!”

He once more eyed the group, “This class is about teamwork, and being able to smoothly fill a role even when fighting with knight’s you’ve never met before. Some of you are defensive specialists, his gaze wandered and he eyed Jace for a moment longer than the rest. Others are offensive melee specialists, some are archers, others mages! We even have the rare priest in this platoon!”

Jace blinked, he hadn’t known about a priest. “Making the priest the platoon leader was a good decision!” The instructor continued, Jace’s gaze flickered to Vivianna. She’s a priest? It surprised him, she didn’t really seem like the devout type. He focused his attention back on the instructor. “I wanna see four groups of five, you have five minutes.”

Arian’s squad had ten units while he had nine. Arian was already dividing his group while Vivianna walked over to the rest of them. Jace waited for her to speak, she eyed the group before running a hand through her hair. Her violet eyes paused on them for a moment. “Grumgar and Jace are our defensive specialists so we will be separating them.” Jace stepped over to one side while Grumgar stepped to the other. “I’ll join Grumgar’s group, Lily will join Jace, you know some healing magic right Lily?” The girl blushed but nodded, “Only a few simple ones I learned from a passing priest though!”

Vivianna smiled, “That’s fine, I don’t think you’ll have to use it that much with Jace in the front.” Lily raised an eyebrow and glanced at Jace, obviously confused.

Grumgar laughed and tugged at his beard, “He’s on another level than the rest of us girly, Most of us can smell the blood on him. He’s a few steps stronger than most people here.”

Jace shrugged, “I’m decent.”

Lily cocked her head, “Did you kill a lot of people?” Jace smirked, “That’s a soldier’s job after all. But we still need to pick teams, so if you wanna know more ask me after.” Vivianna nodded in approval. James, Xivr and Cili were added to Jace’s group, while Mimla, Karl and a last minute addition called Tali joined the other group.

Once the teams were made the rest of the lesson turned into practice session focused on positioning, nothing difficult in Jace’s opinion, being the tank was easy. Just place yourself between anything harmful and your team and you do your job. That’s how he thought about it but the instructor noticed, how Jace subtly positioned himself to give his team optimal angles of attack. The man nodded in approval, this year’s students were good. They didn’t need a lot of instruction on the basics.

The next class was something Jace was looking forward to, mounted combat. One of his chosen classes. There were two others who had chosen mounted combat from his own squad, both Karl and Lily had chosen to take the course. Karl because he knew the strength of a good calvary and Lily because she loved animals, she was in his monster taming class as well. A female knight with braided ginger hair stood before them in half-plate armour similar to Jace’s own. She smiled at her students, six of them in total. “So you are this years calvary hopefuls. I like the look of the bunch of you!” She grinned happily and motioned for them to follow her.

“First off I should tell you about some of the specifics, the mounts that we ride are called Svadilfari.” She pointed at the stall with a grin, “One of these will be your future partner!”

Jace stared slack-jawed at the horse like creature before him. It was incredibly muscular, a good few sizes larger than the horses back home. It had six legs, four connected to the hindquarters and two in front. Rocky plates protected it’s chest, belly, back and neck. It had dark grey plates protecting it’s forehead and its shoulders as well. It had two eyes, paired together and connected on both sides. It’s teeth were sharp and jagged, it was an obvious carnivore. It’s mane and tail looked like thin strings of granite.

The instructor smiled, “These lovelies will bite your arm off if they don’t accept you as rider, the Svadilfari have an earth affinity and can use some magic themselves. They are highly intelligent, some of the most clever animals you will ever encounter! They build a life time bond with a single rider, once bonded they will take orders from no other. Their vitality will be tied to yours. Should you live a long life, so will they. Should you die, so will they! It is a bond of trust and nothing is more sacred to a mounted knight!”

She whistled and one of the Svadilfari walked over towards her, the instructor patted the horse’s flank lovingly and smiled at them. “There are few things as terrifying as the charge of a group of Svadilfari knights. When it happens their magic combines and becomes something far more powerful than the sum of its parts. The earth will start to roll before them, the earth will seem to turn to water and a wave will gather, the more Svadilfari the larger the wave. A cavalry charge will decimate enemy ranks, of course these beauties aren’t a slouch should it come to close quarter combat.”

She tapped the plates, “The plates are magically enhanced stone, stronger than nearly any armour that you could put on them. There is a special armour made specifically for our Svadilfari knights and it covers the horses weak-points. Their skin is touch, their muscles dense and they have strong regeneration. They are very hard to kill! They will kick, bite, and crush anyone that offends them or their partner and will fight and die for you!”

The instructor grinned, a sense of bloodthirst oozed of her. The Svadilfari neighed and flexed its muscles. “Of course you will have to make one of them your partner, i won’t help you. Do it yourself, you can use food, kindness, force. I don’t care. Some of you might get hurt, and turn out to be unsuitable to the task! This cannot be taught, you either have the aptitude or you do not. The Svadilfari choose just as much as you do. Pick one from the herd, good luck!”

Once she ended her speech the group just looked at each other, they looked over the fence at the herd of Svadilfari. Jace shrugged and hopped over, he swept his gaze over the herd until something caught his eye. Nearly all the Svadilfari had green hide, a dark green mossy colour, the rest was a dark brown or sandy. Yet one of them caught his eye, it’s hide was crimson, Jace grinned. The horse was larger than the others of its kind and instead of a single row of teeth it had two. But it called to Jace, something about the beast spoke to him.

Jace walked towards it without hesitation, the instructor jumped up and wanted to stop him before a hand descended on her shoulder. Sir Yuri smiled at her and shook his head, watching with interest. The Svadilfari pawed the ground, it roared at him. Jace grinned and picked up speed, the Svadilfari did the same. It charged at him, earth exploded into the air as its hooves tore through the ground. Jace sprinted, just before contact the Svadilfari bit at his neck, Jace slipped beneath it, grabbed hold on the edge of a plate on its chest and let it’s momentum sweep him off his feet, he swung on its back. The beast turned around and snapped, rows of jagged teeth trying to tear him apart. Jace dodged and held on, the Svadilfari bucked trying to throw him off. Jace wouldn’t let it and rolled with the movement.

It snapped at him again, Jace narrowly avoided it and wrapped his arms around its neck, holding its mouth closed. His legs desperately clenched around the creature as he tried to hold the position. The bucking only got worse, the Svadilfari jumped and tried to land on its side and crush Jace’s leg. Jace hopped of and dashed back towards it before it got back up, he grabbed hold of its neck and swung back on as it got up. The battle continued for a few more tense minutes. Eventually both of their chests were heaving, both had an ample amount of stamina but the intensity of the struggle tired them both out. Jace hopped of and stood before it. The Svadilfari looked at him with suspicion, why would its adversarie suddenly jump off!

Jace grinned, “You’re strong, I’m strong. Together?” Jace laughed and his grin became bloodthirsty. “Who could stop us.” The crimson of his armour seeped off him and started to gather around him excitedly. The Svadilfari neighed and watched the blood before it looked back at him. It walked towards him, lowered its head and Jace put his hand on its nose.

[You have successfully bonded with Svadilfari {mutated}]

A rush of connection filled Jace as he bonded the Svadilfari. Jace smiled and patted its flank. “You and I are gonna be a danger on the battlefield, I can already tell. You’re gonna need a name, what do you think of Tyrant.” He felt a sense of approval and grinned. “Tyrant it is.”

Jace turned back and saw that the others were long since done. Lily had somehow managed to find an ivory white partner. It was a size or two smaller than others of its kin. Karl had found a normal mossy looking one. The other’s who Jace wasn’t very familiar with had also each bonded with a mossy coloured one. The instructor shook her head, her braid waving around. “Going for the most dangerous of the herd on the first go, you truly are as insane as we were informed of. Well at least you two have the same taste in colour. I can already tell this is gonna be a headache of a class. One picks the stallion, his squadmate picks the mare that leads the herd. At least they gave me the fun students this year.”

The instructor grinned and got them started on the basics. Taking care of the horse came with many steps. You had to rub them down, clean their hooves, take care of their food. They were omnivores and ate both meat and grass. Those teeth weren’t just for show.