Ever since that night, Wayne had been less cold toward me. He sat next to me and Atezor during training and I had even started giving him sword lessons. It took some time, but he was starting to be on par with Atezor.

As the end of term came closer, the five of us were told that we would be stationed together, but we weren't told where we would be stationed. Our training now consisted of learning how to be leaders. Lots of loyalty bullshit, a good leader must first be a good follower, and other sentimental shit.

I just wanted to be done with academy life. I had forgotten how boring school was. You can only sleep for so long before you aren't able to go back. I decided to build a name for myself, I was a nobody in my last life. People here knew my name of course, I was Alfred Von Earlheight, son of William Von Earlheight. But I didn't want to be known as the son of my father. I wanted to be known as myself, I wanted William Von Earlheight to be known as the father of Alfred.

I could sympathize with the kingdom of Doltia. They gained their independence for a reason, one that was denied them. They wanted to stop their people from enduring the hardships of invasion. What was a more noble cause than that?

I don't value the whole human superiority notion, but I did value my life (it had already been taken from me once.) Which meant that I would do anything to keep it. Even if it meant risking it to repel an invasion of genocidal maniac orcs. Besides, what better way to spend life in a fantasy world was there than fighting orcs? It was every nerd's wet dream.

Before I knew it, it was a week before graduation. We were in training and the lieutenant had us practicing with swords because he said he had nothing else to teach us. Atezor was with Wayne, and the girls were together. Which left me with Lieutenant Orwell, just like first time.

"Let's see if you've improved any since the start of term."

He went in on the first attack, a slash to the right. I blocked with a slash to the left. His guard broke slightly and I went in for the attack. A slash to the right, one to the left. Everything I threw at him was blocked. I moved faster, jabbing and slashing. Nothing worked. I put everything into a single stroke and was knocked back. The lieutenant came back strong, barely letting me keep up.

I waited for an opening, but nothing came. I blocked and parried everything I could but eventually he overwhelmed me and hit the wooden sword out of my hand.

"You got better." He said.

"Maybe. I still couldn't beat you." I responded.

"I'm more experienced. I've had far more years of training. But you lasted longer than countless opponents that I faced." He explained.

He got a look on his face like he forgot something.

"I forgot to tell you. You're giving a speech at the end of term ceremony."

I could feel the color draining from my face. A speech? I was terrible at speaking in front of audiences. I could barely speak to a single person.

He continued. "You are the top student. It's tradition for the top new student to close out the year with a speech. It's doubly important for you because you are graduating."

I didn't say anything I just nodded.

At the end of training, I silently went to dinner. Atezor and Wayne noticed my particularly foul mood and asked what was wrong.

"Not saying that I saw it coming, but I'm surprised that you didn't." Wayne said after I explained everything to them.

"It's not that I didn't see it coming, I was avoiding thinking about and hoping I was wrong." I responded

"That's not a valid excuse. I noble should be prepared for anything," Atezor laughed, "besides, who ever heard of a Duke who couldn't give speeches."

"You're not helping." I grumbled.

"I'm not trying to help," he argued, "I'm trying to get you to face the facts and start writing your speech."

With that, he got up left, taking Wayne with him. I sat there for a minute but then decided to go to bed.

I was laying in bed for what seemed like days, never being able to fall asleep. I couldn't stop thinking, worrying about what I was going to say.

'Fuck it.' I thought at last. I wasn't going to sleep with my mind going a hundred miles a minute. I decided to take a midnight stroll, regardless of curfew.

I wandered around, seeing the shadows move strangely beneath the light of the pale halfmoon. I found a spot in the grass, near the courtyard, and decided to lie down, again peering at the glittering sky. I couldn't get enough of it, I had seen it many times and yet my past life was so devoid of stars that I couldn't help but be mesmerized by them.

My thoughts calmed and I lay there peacefully doing nothing. Nothing but stare at the sky. I didn't even notice that someone was approaching until they spoke.

"The sky is beautiful isn't it," said a feminine voice "I've never seen you here before. I come to this spot all the time."

I sat up lazily and turned to look at the person behind me. It was a girl my age. With jet black hair like that, there was only one person it could be. The name Nightshade suited Leviah. She was always beautiful but the darkness brought that beauty to a whole new light. Her black hair shown with moonlight, and her dark blue eyes seemed almost violet. To me, in that moment, she outshined all the stars in sky.

I realized that I was staring and sat back returning to my view of the sky. It was the only way I could have a normal conversation without tripping over my words and making a fool of myself.

" I couldn't get to sleep," I said in what I hoped be calm and steady voice "my thoughts were out of control."

"So even the prodigal child gets overwhelmed with it all sometimes." She asked.

"I wouldn't say I was overwhelmed," I answered " I had too much to think about."

"I know that feeling. I always come here when I can't stop thinking, which is pretty often as it turns out." She related.

"The stars always fascinated me. I could sit and stare for hours at a time as a kid. They have a way of calming the mind." I said, remembering what she told me in way of greeting.

'They really are beautiful.' I thought.

"I didn't think someone like you could appreciate the stars."

"Someone like me? What do you mean?" I asked, already knowing the answer. I was supposed to be the spoiled rich kid. The kid who gets everything handed to him and never had to work a day in his life. She was right but that didn't mean I saw myself that way.

"You don't seem to care about anything. Everytime I see you, you're either asleep or talking to those other boys. But I suppose if you get all your sleep in class you would be seeing the stars pretty often." She said.

Multiple things stood out to me. One: she didn't seem to be drawing conclusions about the fact that I was a noble. Two: despite never talking to me before this moment, she seemed to already be familiar enough with the fact that I sleep in class to make jokes about it.

"We have classes together?" I asked.

"We have every class together," She sighed "you never noticed because you always walked in half asleep, then sat through the lessons fully asleep."

"You never said anything until now?"

"It never came up. You never spoke to me until now." She said uncaringly.

"I didn't know how to start a conversation with someone who mostly kept to themselves."

"I don't like talking to people. It's annoying to deal with them."

"Tell me about it." I grumbled.

"You don't like people either?" She asked.

"I don't like curtain kinds of people. Mostly those brats that my father's vassals brought over when they came to kiss his ass."

"That would be annoying." At some point she moved from behind me and she was now sitting next to me. I tour my eyes from the heavens and looked at her. She was sitting with her hands behind her, supporting her as she leaned back to view the sky. Her hair flowed freely, almost obscuring her arms. The look on her enthralling face was that of peacefulness. She looked at home, sitting there contemplating the sky.

"You don't seemed annoyed by talking to me." I noticed.

She took her eyes off stars, looking at me. Her eyes met mine and maintained eye contact. "You're less annoying than I thought you would be. I almost didn't even come over."

"Why did you?" I asked

"I don't know," She sighed "I guess I just thought it would be nice to enjoy the stars with someone else for a change."

"Were you right?"

She broke eye contact and returned her gaze to the heavens. I did the same.

"Mostly. At least I was. Until you started questioning me like a prisoner of war."

I chuckled. "Sorry about that. I never really talked to anyone aside from my parents until I met Atezor and Wayne. My people skills are not the greatest."

"Same, except I never made any friends like you did."

"That must suck."

"Not really, I enjoy being by myself."

"Then why the hell did you think it would be nice to stargaze with someone else for a change? That's what you said."

"Because that person was a cute boy."

I looked at her. Expecting to see the smirk of someone who was messing with me. She looked back at me, face completely devoid of humor. She was serious.

"Makes sense," I tried to keep my face emotionless as I returned it skyward "I don't mind stargazing with a cute girl myself."

"Really?"

"There are worse ways to spend my time."

I played it of but if it wasn't the middle of the night she could've seen that my face was as red as a Georgian neck.

"Right," she said, feigning scepticism "it's time for bed. You look like you're about start class."

Once she mentioned it, I did feel incredibly tired. I didn't appreciate that she chose to say 'start class' instead of 'pass out'. She was right but that didn't mean that I had to like it.

The next day I noticed Leviah in class. I couldn't help but think about how she looked the night before. I sat in my seat and immediately went to sleep, almost out of spite.

I saw her in all of my classes but neither of us acknowledged that anything happened last night. Soon enough it was time for training.

I got there first just like always. Then Atezor and Wayne walked in together and sat close to me. We had a throwaway conversation while waiting for everyone to show up.

Leviah walked in, but instead of ignoring our existence like usual, she looked at me and smiled. She walked over and leaned on the front of my desk, resting on her forearms.

"I wanted to thank you for last night," she said softly "I had a great time."

Without waiting for a response, she went to her usual spot, smiling slightly.

Atezor looked at me. "I thought I told you to work on your speech," he scolded, also smiling slightly "but instead I find out that you went on a date with Miss Nightshade there?"

Wayne chuckled at that then joined in. "For shame," he chastised "homework comes before your love life Mister Von Earlheight."

the cleverest comeback I could think of was 'shut up'. I never thought she would say something like that in front of other people. I realized that she was antisocial, not completely awkward.

Atezor finally stopped laughing for long enough to start gossiping. "So what did you last night? Leviah sure seemed to enjoy it."

"Seemed? She just told me that she enjoyed it. And don't worry about what we did," I told him "it isn't any of your business."

"I'll ask Leviah later," He said "don't expect me to help you with your speech. Not after this stunt."

He laughed but kept his word. By the end of the week, he hadn't even mentioned my speech. And I never even bothered writing it. Before I knew it, I was in my seat at the closing ceremony.

I was in the front row sitting between Atezor and Leviah (Wayne was sitting on the other side of Atezor, opting to let me sit next to my 'girlfriend'). There was a sea of noise behind me.

It was quickly quieted as my father took the stage. The same phenomenon as the opening ceremony, my father had a presence of authority that could could cause a room full of people to quiet as soon as he appeared to be about to speak.

He cleared his throat and began.

"It is the end of another great term. We have one hundred sixty seven graduates, five of which are graduating after only a single term. We typically end the year with a speech from the most promising student going to his or her second term, but this time, our most promising student is graduating. Before his speech, I would like to reiterate my words from the opening ceremony. We live in turbulent times, our kingdom is likely to be invaded sometime in the near future. Our top five first years have been trained to be officers, which will be vital in the times to come.

" I won't ramble on any further. Come up here Alfred Von Earlheight."

Atezor grabbed me by the back collar of my shirt and pulled me to my feet. I was grateful because I would probably have just sat there, not believing that it was me who had to follow such a man as my father.

I stumbled to the stage and cast a voice amplifying spell.

"Um... I don't really know what to say. I've never really given a speech before," I was surprised at how calm I felt, my nervous energy had seemed to disappear. I only felt a cold calm, and the words seemed to be speaking me instead of the other way around "I would tell you to do your best, but if your best hasn't already been done you wouldn't be here. I would say to work hard, but I would be a hypocrite. I didn't get here by working hard; I'm here because I have natural skill and noble training. I would encourage those of graduating to be brave and strong in the face of danger, but I've never been in enough danger to know what that even means. I can't encourage anyone to be better, because I have to think myself better to tell others to become that. But I can tell you that have no intention of backing down. I will do my best to be the best. These invaders will have no idea what hit them. There is a war to be had, let's get waging."