Origins

Chapter 4: The Story of Michael

In the past my name was Michaela, I was born with one blind eye, I lived with my father, my mother passed away due to breast cancer when I was 4, ever since then my dad took care of me, when I was little I always wanted to serve the castle and become a guard, so everyday when I was young I would always be outside and practice my sword skills and be homeschooled like every kid, those were the two main things I did everyday, I did that over and over again, till my 18th birthday, so the next day from my 18th birthday I went to the castle and went for tryouts but then I realized that girls can't serve the castle...only males, so...I knew what I had to do...I worked everyday at the market to get money for my surgery to become male so I can serve the army, it took almost a year to get all the money, and then I finally got the amount and got the surgery, now my name is Michael and I am about to head to the castle to do tryouts

October 4th, 1998

"Phew! Made it!" Said Michael, entering the castle

"And what are you here for?" A guard asked

"I'm here for Guard tryouts" Michael said

"Alright, step this way" The guard requested as Michael entered the border beyond the castle, he had never seen such wonders, suddenly whilst he was looking around, he bumps into somebody

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" They both said at the same time, but then they lock eyes and feel a spark, they stare at each other for about half a minute when Michael cuts off the moment saying

"It's okay"

The guy smiles

"Thank you, you also hear for the Guard tryouts?" The guy asked Michael

"Mhm, and I'm supposing you are too" Michael asked

"Indeed I am, I'm Charles by the way" Charles said holding his hand out

"Michael" Michael said, grabbing Charles' hand

"Alright everybody!" A guard said

Everyone turns to him as Charles and Michael are unawaringly still holding hands

"The king is on his way to tell you guys the basics of becoming a guard, so pay attention" The guard says, King Augustus comes out as fanfare trumpets by other guards start playing to honor the king and then they stop when he comes all the way over

"Citizens who are here in these walls! Today you will show your determination to see if you are worthy of becoming a royal guard to serve for the Kingdom of the Crosswoods, there are three tests you will undergo, the strength test, the agility test, and the speed test, for the strength test you will undergo a trial of different swords that weigh different weights, the swords will have weight of 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100, if you can't lift the 30, 50, or 100 pound sword, you're out and do not qualify, next up for the agility test you will need to undergo an obstacle course which contains traps such as swinging morning stars, flamethrowers, and other weapons that will be present in the test, your objective for the agility test is to rescue the damsel in distress dummy, next up for the speed test you need to run one mile, whoever has a speed below nine minutes and thirty-four seconds will be disqualified from becoming a guard, whoever becomes disqualified will have to wait till next year to do the training, and if you fail three sessions for the training, you will never be able to come back and volunteer as a guard ever again, is that clear with everybody?" King Augustus explained, everyone nodded

"Alright, everybody in the crowd divide into thirds" He ordered, everyone did, Michael and Charles notice they held hands, they blush of embarrassment and move their hands away as they move to the left section together, King Augustus goes to the left section