Descent

Descent - Chapter One: The Crimson Blades

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A white-haired male, young, looking in his teens - probably sixteen or seventeen - stood, slightly crouched, in front of another teenager, who was slightly taller, looking older. He wore metal boots and a dark greenand was carrying a wooden sword, like the older teenager in front of him. The other had dark, almost black, hair, pale skin, and bright silver eyes.

The raven-haired male lunged toward him, readying the wooden sword above his head. He aimed to have it come crashing down on the silver-headed one's shoulder. However, the latter was quick, and his ruby eyes followed the sword as he dashed out of the way, bringing his own up to block the strike. The weapons collided with a smack, the silver-haired one stiffening at the impact and the raven-haired one taking a staggering step backwards.

A man, taller than them both and obviously an adult in his older twenties or early thirties, grinned slightly at this; he had been watching, apparently. "Good job, Alexei -" at this point his gaze slid over to the silver-haired teenager, "- Vincent..." The other looks up as his name was said as well, just like the first.

"Thank you, Captain," Alexei responded to the praise, nodding faintly. He glances toward his friend, who was now shouldering the wooden sword. The latter nodded as well. "We are trying to get better. So we can help the knights better!"

Vincent almost seemed childish with the small grin that graced his features, but Captain Leon Watcher only seemed to grin at this. He was one of the best captains so far - well, since Commandant Petra came into power, at least. He had many ideals, but, better yet, he had all knights as equals, unlike Captains of other brigades - the Storm Brigade, for example, was composed mostly of nobles, from royal families or from places like Pharihyde(1); others, like the Clashguard Brigade, was mainly Knights from lower families, such as families from the Lower Quarter or low towns like Halure.

This was because the Captain was from the small town of Dahngrest on the continent of Tolbyeccia. It was mainly a guild city, but it was so small at the moment it could not be considered one. When Leon was growing up there, it was but a small village that a few merchant and smithing guilds began. From there, it grew, but only very slightly every passing year.

Alexei had, previously, lived in the cavern city of Aspio. It, as well, was a small town. No one was attracted to the dark, moist depths of the cave and the fact that rats and other things were common, and there were only but a few scholars in Ilyiccia that came to move to the city who's heart was a giant library. He'd gotten used to the constant cold, and wasn't exactly the richest person around - he'd left his family, they'd recently lived in the village Halure that was to grow into a town - but he got along. However, he found himself not really liking the constant...well, the scholars themselves.

Vincent, unlike Alexei, had just been living in the Lower Quarter. He'd always had lived there, with his father as his mother had died when he was a young age. Alexei and Vincent had known each other as kids, however, they never met until Alexei was fifteen and Vincent was sixteen - went they joined the knighthood, coincidentally in the same year. They'd recognized each other the moment they laid eyes on each other. And, also coincidentally, they happened to be enrolled in the same brigade, the Magnolia Brigade.

That was two years ago, when they first started; now, they had worked through the ranks, rather quickly for their age. They were almost lieutenants now, and Captain Leon considered them as their best, non-Lieutenant Knights. Alexei Dinoia, the quiet and watchful one who Leon saw as a powerful military leader, and Vincent Lowell, the louder, less cautious one that still seemed to be a better strategist than the latter, who Leon saw as an advisor, and a clever one at that, were pretty much complete with their partnership in the knighthood.