A Sustained Effort

The next day at 5 a.m., Kye had lined up with the other knights ready for the day of drills. Unlike the first day where the knights ignored him, today he was the centre of attention. The knights whispered to one another but ultimately didn't approach Kye. Knight-Captain Boris walked out soon after with Rose slightly behind him. She nodded at Kye but he didn't acknowledge it and just stood at attention.

"""Knights presenting to Knight-Captain and Knight-General!""" They shouted and saluted.

Knight-Captain Boris looked at Kye closely and it was clear that he hadn't fully recovered from yesterday's drills. He had some bandages wrapped around his left arm which covered a large bruise he had gotten from Elan's malicious attacks yesterday during the swing drills. Yet the young man held his back straight and he looked ready to tackle whatever he was going to throw their way.

"ALRIGHT, KNIGHTS. YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, FIFTY AROUND THE TRAINING GROUND BEFORE THE END OF THE HOUR. GO!"

The knights and Kye began their laps and finished on time. Like the day before Kye was struggling to catch his breath but without waiting for instruction, he walked over to the training weapons rack and grabbed his axe, lined up and began his overhead swings. The knights followed suit and lined up with Kye and started their swings. Kye ended up finishing his swings similarly to yesterday and collapsed after his last one. Carried to the infirmary of the barracks by Rose, Kye rested up and had many medicines applied to his body to help him recover from the muscle pain.

The next day the same pattern continued. As well as the next. And the next until a full week of Kye training with the knights and passing out after his three thousand swings. Another three weeks passed with the same happening until Kye had been training with the knights for a full month. It was the first day of the new month and Kye had just finished his three thousand swings. His face was dripping with sweat but he was upright and regulating his breathing properly. His muscles felt heavy but it was a comfortable burn that Kye had become used to. Although he finished an hour later than all the other knights he was ready to continue. The knights began to clap and cheer, one of the veterans walked out and slapped Kye on the shoulder.

"Nice work young man! You've done really well!"

Voices of approval came out from the crowd that had gathered around Kye. Just about every knight in the barracks knew about Kye after the past month and the insane amount of effort he had been putting in. They were all silently rooting for the young kid to finally complete the second part of the drills. Rose who was observing the scene from the balcony of the third-floor offices smiled contentedly at the knights cheering on her son. Over the past month, Kye had pushed himself to his absolute physical limit every day, much to the horror of Alicia and Layla. They truly believed that Kye was better suited for more administration and academic roles and that his time would be better spent learning in the library and taking on more responsibility in governance. Kyla had agreed that Kye should be physically fit but even she was beginning to think that knight training was too harsh on Kye's young body.

Rose and Frey adamantly maintained that Kye had the spirit of a warrior and would not want to quit now that he had started so, in an act of frustration, Alicia told Frey that she would talk to Kye about it and if he said that he wanted to stop, she would make it stop. To her surprise, Kye got rather annoyed that she even suggested quitting and that he had to suffer through the now to make the future better. After this, the complaints she had ceased coming forth in family meetings and she dedicated herself to healing Kye when he returned home after training.

Right now, Rose wasn't looking at a previously crippled boy or a genius inventor. What she saw through her eyes, was a young knight who was eager to step up and defend his home. Knight-Captain Boris stepped forth and the crowd silenced themselves.

"Alright, everyone. I know we're all excited to see young Runewalker here do his swings properly and stay upright but we should move on. Pair up and start weapons practice! Runewalker, you're with me."

Kye followed Knight-Captain Boris to a cleared area with his axe in hand. Knight-Captain Boris picked up his great shield and attached it to his left arm. The shield was massive, standing just as tall as the 194 cm tall Knight-Captain. After attaching it to his arm, Knight-Captain Boris faced Kye and slammed his shield into the ground.

"Now young Kye, you've got a lot of will I'll give you that. But in terms of martial skill, you're only just above kids who swing wooden swords around in pretend games. I'm going to teach you some axe skills and techniques, but for now, just try and hit me with your axe."

Kye nodded and readied himself. Although he had only been practising basic swings, Kye had gotten a good feel for the types of techniques that would suit the axe well. He started swinging his axe and pivoting his body to flow smoothly into new swings without wasting much energy or movement. After ten minutes of relentlessly attacking the Knight-Captain's great shield before he stopped Kye.

"Alright. I see you're something of a genius when it comes to martial techniques as well. You've only been doing basic swings for a month and you already have a pretty balanced fighting style but as ever in a warriors life, there are things you can improve on. First of all, your defence is lacking, I spotted at least ten moments where I could have struck a mortal blow on you. Second-"

For the next thirty minutes, Knight-Captain Boris lectured Kye on things he could improve on and gave him new strikes he could practice with him. One of the main strengths of the war axe is that by keeping momentum, you become nigh on unstoppable when moving forward. With the crushing strength of the axe and well-timed strikes, one could completely barrel through even the most heavily armoured foe. Knight-Captain Boris was going to spend the next few months before Kye's ninth birthday teaching him all he could about using the war axe effectively.

The weeks of lessons and drills passed Kye by in the blink of an eye. He had no time to mull over his thoughts as all of his time was taken up by training. The result was that it was now three days away from his ninth birthday and Kye was given the net few days respite. Kye had grown considerably in the intermediary time. Kye was 136 cm tall, a considerable size for a nearly nine-year-old boy. His arm muscles were toned and well developed yet his overall build was still lean. His pale blonde hair was cut in a fade style with the top being slicked back giving him a rather mature look. His boyish face from before had given way to a more chiselled face, with his cheekbones and chin becoming more prominent. His eyes felt sharper but he was also more emotive than ever before. he had become rather good friends with many of the knights over the past three months of his training and was often invited to play with their children. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door.

"Come in," Kye said as he put some finishing touches on a blueprint he was working on. The door opened and Layla opened the door.

"Hello, Kye." Kye gave a smile.

"Hello, mother Layla. What brings you here?" Layla gave an awkward smile.

"Umm... there is someone here to see you... she says her name is Vanessa..." Kye jolted up from his seat.

"Looks like she's in her early twenties, long blonde hair and pale blue eyes? Looks somewhat unsuspecting but gives off this aura of divinity?" Layla was taken aback at how Kye accurately described not only the look but also the aura of a person he had never met before.

"Yes... How do you know her Kye?" Kye looked away briefly before beginning to speak.

"When I was... dreaming, she was there with me. Before I woke up she said that she would follow me but I thought she was just a figment of my mind... I guess not." Kye had to lie. If he had told them that she was actually a Greater Angel of the main deity worshipped in the Alioth Kingdom, there would be pandemonium. Layla looked Kye in the eyes and knew he was lying, it was a skill she had developed as a diplomat but knew from his disposition that it was a secret he kept for a greater purpose than just not telling her. Deciding to trust Kye, she nodded and held out her hand for Kye to take.

"Well, it would be rude to keep the lady waiting. Let's go, Kye."

Kye took her hand and they walked down into the reception area where Vanessa without her white wings sat with a gentle smile. Once she saw Kye she lit up and immediately stood up.

"It is very nice to meet you in this world, master Kye." She bowed as she said this. Frey and all the mothers were taken aback by her manners when she had acted somewhat indignant towards them when she had shown up.

"Vanessa... I was worried you hadn't followed me back." She gave a very slight smile.

"My apologies for any worry I caused you, master Kye."

"Oookay, you've made it apparent you know each other. So Kye, care to explain why you know this beautiful older lady that we've never seen before?" Frey interjected. Kye repeated what he had told Layla and it was met with mixed reactions. Frey was inclined to believe Kye but had to wonder what type of existence this Vanessa was. Alicia was thankful to Vanessa for keeping her son company during what must have been a lonely time in his life. Rose and Layla remained wary while Kyla held no strong opinion and would judge her on her actions henceforth.

Vanessa gave Kye a small smile and then showed her wings. Their sudden appearance shocked everyone, even Kye as he thought it would have been best to keep her identity a secret.

"I am a Greater Angel of the Goddess of Life, Alayah. I was sent to your son's side after my goddess reawakened your son's soul. Your son was born with a soul deficiency that led to his crippled status but thankfully, my goddess had taken a great interest in Kye's soul and decided to restore this Kye's life with energy from one of his other lives." The family looked at Kye and he nodded while lowering his gaze. He truthfully didn't know how much of his soul was his or the Kye that had this body before him but he had integrated with it fully and now felt different than he ever had.

"As a side effect of this, Kye gained the memories of one of his past lives that he would have experienced as a dream. When he awoke the merging was complete and you gained your son back."

"So all these inventions... are things you made in your past life?" Frey asked. He was surprisingly calm despite the bombshell of information that was being dropped on them.

"I... I had only come up with the concept of the condenser in those memories... everything else was me now." Alicia spoke after Kye had answered with a question for Vanessa.

"If the Goddess hadn't done this process... would my son had never recovered?" Vanessa nodded.

"Yes, even with the Goddesses powers, this was the only way to save your son's life." Alicia lowered her head for a moment before walking over to Kye and pulling him into a great big hug.

"If that's the case then I owe your Goddess a great deal. Without her, I wouldn't have my son back." Seeing his wife come to the same conclusion he had, Frey walked over and embraced the both of them. Soon, everyone from the family had joined in the hug as they accepted that even though he had memories from another life, this Kye was theirs and they would continue to love him as they have done since he woke up.

Having the realisation hit him that this family, no, his family had accepted him despite these circumstances made Kye burst into tears. The weight of the guilt he had felt keeping it all from his family had been absolved in one simple conversation. This was Kye's life, the past one might as well have been a dream for all he cared at this moment. This was his family.