The Assignment (TOH ROYAL AU- huntlow)

Chapter 1

The monarchy of the Boiling Isles has been silent. Sorrow and dread looms over the people, the knights in particular as forces recover in the training yard. The last collector attack has been the most devastating and brutal yet, over one third of the army has perished. King Caleb Clawthorne has ordered the guard captains to recruit new scouts for the past year, and what used to be a position of nobility and prestige has now become one of which any willing commoner could be accepted. Two of those commoners are Willow Park and Augustus, or "Gus" Porter as Willow called him.

Willow had dreamt of becoming a knight for the Clawthorne Monarchy since she was just a little witchling. Both of her fathers encouraged this fantasy of hers, despite wanting to protect their daughter from the peril outside the isles. They truthfully want her best interest at heart. Willow has known that with her low societal status, it would be more than a struggle to achieve this, but she proved herself honourable to the kingdom and earned herself a scout position alongside Gus once the king allowed more than just noblemen to be knights. Since then, both have worked tirelessly and have swiftly moved up the ladder of ranks. And to say the least, the satisfaction of doing so has helped them blossom to be rather formidable.

The shrill sound of Willow's demonic alarm pierces her ears as she hits the "off" button with her fist slightly harder than intended. It is still dark outside. The glimmer of the stars shines through onto her face as she begins to prepare for her usual training routines, dressing herself in silver armour. Once she finishes, she walks before the mirror, and optimistically states to herself "you got this! You've become a knight really quickly! Your plant magic is getting stronger, just a few more training sessions and campaigns to prove yourself to the guard captain and you'll be leading your own order of scouts!"

Just then, her moment had been interrupted by a knock at the door. "Are you finished talking to yourself or do I have to train alone?" Gus asks amusingly.

"I'm coming!" Willow responds, leaving the room to meet her friend.

"What were you talking about in there?" Gus questions.

"It was nothing important," Willow says nonchalantly.

"You were talking to yourself again in there about getting promoted, weren't you?" Gus pushes, "trust me dude, you're gonna get that rank any day now! You have been working harder than like any other scouts!"

"Pshh nah, if anything you're going to get it before me. You're one of the best fighters in the order, and not to mention the fact you have some of the strongest magic out of witches in our age division!" Willow plays off enthusiastically.

"Thanks... but either way man, you've been doing great, sooner or later you'll be bossing me and Matty around! Oh titan, we're going to be late! I cannot take another extra 10 laps this morning from the captain! My legs have been killing me since last time we were late!" Gus panics and rushes to the training yard, as Willow follows suit, giggling at her friends' shenanigans.

Eventually, the two made it to the training grounds. Gus ended up getting side tracked with Matholomule, so both boys were late and had to do extra laps. Willow could not help but feel slightly entertained by this, as much as she felt bad for them.

As they did their exercises and battle grounding, Willow notices the guard captain eyeing her down and taking notes, with the grand knight Kikimora at her side, muttering to each other quietly. Gus seems to recognize this and gently nudges Willow with his elbow and whispers "look! When is Kikimora ever here?! They've been staring you down for like at least an hour! There's no way you won't get promoted today!"

"You really think it will be today? I would have figured I need at least a few more weeks of perfecting my training before I could lead new recruits... I don't want to get my hopes up..."