Midnight, Stratus Town
~William’s POV~
I walk out the makeshift shelter. Around the town, the lights from the torches of the patrolling AG soldiers light the darkness.
I look out to the night sky, admiring the stars. I’m supposed to be asleep, but I can’t. I recall the words Arianna said to me as we flew to Stratus Town.
“I’m sorry for lying to you, but you agreed to this,” she had apologised.
The feeling of betrayal still stung. Even though it was entirely our fault, I can’t help but feel resentful.
“You should be asleep,” a voice says behind me.
I turn around. Castor leans on a wall, his brown curls hanging over his face. A small smirk is on his face. His light blue eyes seem to pierce right through me.
“So should you,” I respond. There’s a bit of venom in my voice.
Castor holds up his hands in surrender.
“You got me there,” he sighs. “C’mon, let’s walk.”
I stare at him. He shows that he’s unarmed.
“I was thinking about training for a bit, wanna join?” he asks. “There are practice swords at the field.”
I nod. We walk over there. He grabs 2 wooden swords and tosses one to me. I catch it and ready my stance. He does the same.
I run at him and swing. He blocks and uses his feet to move back quickly. I run at him again and continue. For a minute or so, the fight goes like this, with the occasional attempt from Castor. I begin to feel confused. What is he doing?
And then he begins trying.
In moments, I’m lying on the floor, looking up dumbfoundedly at the wooden sword now pointed at me.
“Aggressive, quick, and fast,” Castor lists. “You’re offense is good, but your defense is barely passable. And you’re running in blind as a bat. You should be able to study your opponents while fighting if you want to last in this place, because assassins will study how you fight and exploit your weaknesses. And don’t even get me started on your reaction time. You should be able to adapt quickly when the situation changes. Who taught you?”
I look at him in shock. He learned all of that from one bout?
“I mostly taught myself,” I respond. “My dad wouldn’t hire a teacher because he wanted me to stay on the farm. I would sneak to the library whenever I could and read a book on swordplay. I was taught how to sense in secret by one of my friend’s grandparents.”
Pity and sympathy flash across Castor’s face.
“Does Pax know?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I respond.
“Good, ‘cause I would have had so many questions otherwise. By the way, Avery mentioned one of you guys were from here.”
“That would be me.”
Castor goes silent.
“Everyone here has the same last names,” he finally says. “What are the names of your family.”
“My dad’s name was Franklin,” I begin. “My mom’s was Anne, my sister’s was Ellie, and my brother’s was Samuel.”
Castor pales visibly.
“Did she have blond hair and green eyes?” he asks.
“Y-yeah,” I respond. “She was also a water mage. A-are they ok?”
He looks at me, sadness and pity written all over his face.
“Veridies and his crew attacked the outermost farms first, north of here,” Castor says. I feel my heart sink. “When me and Alex got there, the infirmary was full of wounded. Your sister was among them. Based on what we gathered after that, she was the only one who made it out of the initial attack alive. She died of her wounds an hour later.”
A hole is punched into me. My whole family is dead. I begin to shake as tears fill my vision. Castor walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder. He doesn’t say a word as the tears fall down. He comforts me silently as the tears fall harder. It’s as if he had lost someone important before.
~Castor’s POV~
I’m no stranger to loss. My childhood friend was killed when I was 21. My lover lost their best friend a year later. Uncle Johnathan and Aunt Julia died 3 weeks before Julian, their son and my friend, died.
William wipes the tears from his face. There’s a look of determination on his face.
“Teach me,” he says. “Teach me how to fight.”
I say nothing. I grab the wooden sword he had dropped and hand it to him. We take our stances.
When someone is grieving, you don’t try to comfort them with empty words. You become a shoulder they can lean on, without the empty words. And sometimes, you help them let it all out.
Sometimes, that’s all you have to do.
I think about my parents living in Valeria. I haven’t seen them in years. Haven’t even sent them a letter. But that was the life me and my friends chose. And no matter what, we can’t go back.
Life’s not fair. All we can do is work with what we got.
End of Chapter XX