Bloodline

Together - part 1

"You're the only thing your mother and I have, so please stay safe out there." The king had said with a teary queen next to their hero, Damian.

"Father, there is no way I will let such a cruel fate come to me, my friends, or my home. I will drive this army of darkness into the dirt and bring the peace back." Damian, ever so confidently said. "Please, I couldn't ever imagine what I would do without you." A shaky queen said, trying ever so hard to hold back her tears. The three exchange a long hug, and eventually, Damian leaves the castle, stopping by an inn nearby where a few friendly faces turn to look at him.

"General of the royal guard huh? Your old man trying to keep you stuck here as much as possible isn't he?" An archer from out of view says, as they give Damian a light punch on the arm. "Hey, I'm the only child in the family, and I will do what I can to make them proud, it's the least I can do besides getting yelled at by my tutor. Besides, it's about time that someone did something about that evil kingdom in the east." "Still, it seems like he wants you to stay in the castle walls next to him like the horses in the stables, they've been trained to be used for all sorts of situations, yet they're barely used for anything big besides moving mail to the villages nearby and farming." Damian is quickly overwhelmed with talk and friends, a few soldiers also coming up and talking of his heroic act not long ago. Only one can be seen still at his seat, thinking ever-so much of the unknown that will eventually come to him and his friends in the upcoming war against the darkness.

Zircon, with a zircon gem tucked into a small bracelet, sits still at his seat. The others talk all around Damian, who notices Zircon after having a swig of his tanker.

"Whatcha thinking about this time?" Damian approaches Zircon as he turns to look at him. "I'm only hoping the people got out of the danger fast, the parts nearest the castle were hit the hardest, so I turned to help the people there while you guys fought the dark amy." Zircon says as he drinks from a smaller cup compared to everyone else's tankers as the archer from before approaches, "Or were you too scared to fight?" "Shut up Malaryne, you know that after our previous adventure near that bandit-infested village that I wanted to help the people in case they came back, and they did." Malaryne smirks, "Like that means we couldn't have done the same thing, you always stay behind the most compared to us when it comes to stuff like that." "Well at least it let's me know what kind of danger we're facing against before the encounter arrives. Speaking of which, at least whenever I use a bow I can hit targets that aren't up in my face, but I use my dagger to give you a chance to hit the danger in front of me before I do, which you obviously can't." Zircon takes a swig from his own cup as Malaryne turns red from the people laughing.

Damian sits next to him, still laughing, and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Well at least we know that the people are safe in your hands. Speaking of which, I heard from a village nearby that you fended off a large band of raiders while Osred was busy moving a convoy of supplies there, what was that all about?" A large broadsword weilder moved closer, smiling at Zircon. "It was quite a show, especially when he captured the leader of that traitorous group, and locked him up in the castle dungeon himself. " Zircon looked away, a bit of red on his cheeks, "It was nothing, raiders are usually disorganized and fall easily when put into combat against a trained assassin." "Is that what you call yourself?" Maralyne laughed. "Better at killing close up than you at range apparently." The whole inn soon begun to laugh and talk and congratulate all that fought when all was lost, and give a big cheer when Damian gave a speech about the campaign ahead. It looked like all were encouraged and motivated by Damians bright attitude and courage, it seemed like the whole inn was ready to fight with them at any moment. If only I could be as brave as him, Zircon quietly thought to himself.