Great Verdant Forest

It has been a long time since Arsida has seen its esteemed knights flock in a city by the hundreds. With them were knights of the same or higher stature from other regions of Pantera who received an invitation for the upcoming mission. Although they are a tiny fraction of the entire army, their prowess is nothing to laugh at.

The city of Byllenes was the place for the knights to spend their days waiting for the start of the expedition. Byllenes was the closest city to the Great Verdant forest, thus, the number of maddened beasts from the forest finding their way to the city was also increasing as the number of cases increased. With the knight's presence, these cases were resolved even before the beasts reached a good distance from the city's walls.

In the two months of preparation before the day of the expedition, Nireus, who was in charge, decided to cut the number of people. Squires were reduced in half, and only knights he acknowledged could bring one, and some knights were tasked to guard the entrance of the Great Verdant forest.

Sixteenth of the month of Scorpio (November), the dawn of the said expedition. Nireus Chronis, the lord of Arsida, stood on a stone platform in front of thousands of knights he chose to participate. Standing behind Nireus were five knights clad in their armor. The scabbard of their swords is made of silver with the symbol of the Proud Lion also the same material. All of them are Chiliarchs of Silver from the region of Arsida serving under Nireus.

Each of the knights standing behind Nireus deserved an introduction. They were; Cylon Gabras, Nireus's second in command and known as the smartest in Arsida. Brygos Remas, a knight of great capability and strength. Helice Xena, the lady of Sinamos city. She has straight long dark brown hair, hazel eyes, a slim body, bears the Proud Lion's Zeal, and was in her mid-forties. Next to Helice was the shortest among the five of them with his height not even reaching around Brygos's shoulder, has waved back blond hair and golden eyes, and his expression appeared like he was bored and tired. Similar to Cylon and Brygos, he doesn't serve a town or city as its lord since it was a lot of work for him, a young knight in his early thirties, his name was Aktis Aurusmane. The last of the Chiliarchs of Silver was the lord of the city of Byllenes. He had light brown hair with few white strands, his eyes were dark brown, was huge compared to Aktis beside him, had a full-grown beard, a face with huge scars, was a bearer of Leo's Zeal, and was the oldest among all of them with the lord of Arsida included. His name was Irus Thoas.

"I have chosen all of you to join me in this expedition."

Everyone listened to the lord of Arsida's words with ardor. Aeneas was with Arsen's squad, which was composed of Tereus, Haemon, Rhene and some of the other knights under him.

The council of three from Decatris dispatched an elite unit from the Order Against Chaos consisting of ten people. Nireus permitted them to act on their own as long as they wouldn't be a hindrance to their mission. Nevertheless, their initial purpose was to act as extra guards for the researchers from Laochyro which includes Lyra and Anastasia.

"Expeditions in the past always ended without any casualty. I was part of the previous one that happened a decade ago--"

A deafening scream coming from the forest stopped the lord of Arsida's speech. He turned to see a huge beast charging at them, tearing down the trees with its head. It was a triceraptor. They are flightless birds thrice the size of a human with long strong legs. The three curved horns on their heads are precious materials, as well as their vibrant bluish-green feathers. These birds are at the peak of the food chain in some small habitats. But, in the Great Verdant forest, they are but one of the many predators that call the place home.

Its screech alone made the squires and some of the researchers tense. On the other hand, the knights stood still and watched without a hint of worry in their eyes.

From the looks of its reddish eyes, the triceraptor had gone mad. All of the five silver-ranked Chiliarchs faced the beast charging at them. Their Zeals glowed bright, almost blinding. All of them bearing the Proud Lion's Zeal.

When the beast reached a certain distance, the five Chiliarchs rushed towards it. They drew their swords that all had a pommel resembling a lion, and with a single strike from each of them, the beast fell.

With the battle ending in a swift, the five silver-ranked Chiliarchs sheathed their swords and returned to their spots as if nothing happened.

Nireus Chronis cleared his throat and continued his speech,

"As I said expeditions in the past have never resulted in a single casualty. Even so, as you've just witnessed, the threat of maddened beasts has never been at its peak since the brutal Age of Insanity. Our mission might be more arduous than all the previous quests towards the Great Verdant Forest."

Nireus scanned the crowd, he could see their eyes gleaming with a frisson of both excitement and fear. Especially from the young aspiring knights allowed to join with great supervision from the knights.

"But, I give you my word. There's no need for doubt in your minds for I trust in your abilities, that's why you are here."

The lord of Arsida paused, he took a glimpse behind him, looking at the silver-ranked Chiliarchs. Then, he stared forward.

"Knights of Pantera! Aside from the main goal of surveying deeper areas of the forest, we must also protect the researchers of Decatris here to study the phenomena of maddened beasts."

All knights answered with a firm 'Yes Chiliarch!' in unison.

"To the young aspiring knights…"

Aeneas, Tiriara, Khersis, Alistair, Eluard, and the rest of the young ones, felt a surging anticipation within them as they heard the lord of Arsida address them.

"Your role is to aid the researchers. Also, be sure to watch how a knight should act within a mission."

The young squires shouted the same answer as the knights. Their yet-to-be fully developed voices didn't make their response as intense, but Nireus could feel their energy.

With a smile on his face, Nireus began the last part of his speech.

"As the commander of this expedition, I command everyone not to die! There will be no casualty at the end of this mission. Now, we march!"

The division of the entire army was as follows; each silver-ranked Chiliarch led more than a thousand people, including the few squires and researchers and two people from the special unit from the order against chaos. Meanwhile, the commander, Nireus Chronis, led a hundred and forty people which also included a few squires and researchers.

Nireus picked the knights accompanying him. It included her daughter, Theresa, young prominent knights like Arsen and his squad, and some veterans like Donos and Konon. The researchers with them were only Lyra and Anastasia. And the number of squires which included Aeneas, Tiriara, and Neoma, was only eighteen.

This small unit aims to go towards the hidden village of Mene. All of the members of this unit swore towards their deity with the secrecy of their mission as Nireus required it. Thus, securing the information about the village of Mene from being spread outside.

Aside from them, only the five silver-ranked Chiliarchs and a few esteemed knights with them knew about the task that the small unit would do. Everyone else didn't question the number of members of Nireus's unit for the sole reason of him being there. As well as the popular knights like Arsen and Donos.

Meanwhile, the goal of the other five with thousand-strong units was to reclaim the camps made in the previous expeditions of the Great Verdant forest. After doing so, they were asked to send tracking birds to Nireus to report their status.

Weeks before the expedition, Linus, the Great warrior of Mene, visited the manor of the lord of Arsida. He brought a map with him, solely made to help Nireus find their hidden village without encountering too much trouble and being lost in the forest. Using this map, Nireus avoided most of the biological landmines that they would have surely encountered after going past the parts of the forest that have yet to be documented. It was also a wide path making it possible for them to travel mounted on their steeds and around each other.

The paths marked on the map were also wide enough for their wagons to pass through. Most of the beasts that they would come upon would scurry off when some of the knights used their Zeal and glared at them. 

Riding with the two researchers and some of the supplies in a single wagon, Aeneas and the other squires were overwhelmed with awe as they viewed the luscious life in the forest. Most plants were emitting a magnificent glow, some more alive and feasting on beasts. The tall trees had a misty haze above them with luminesce particles either from small bugs or other unknown magical sources, and creatures they'd only heard or read about were everywhere. A few aggressive beasts would sometimes try to attack them, but most of them would run away with a single attack. Some of the knights, like Tereus and Rhene, were also amazed about what they saw, but they were more cautious and inspecting. On the other hand, Haemon was as excited as the children.

"Why did you bring this?" Tiriara said when she saw the black egg inside Aeneas's bag which she took from him to investigate what was inside.

Aeneas sighed as he snatched the bag back and closed it, "I just felt like taking it, so what?" He responded.

As if nothing happened, Tiriara sprouted from her seat, clasped Eluard on his shoulder, and with a smile on her face "Hey, did you hear that?" She asked Aeneas, he was seated beside her and clamped his hands on her shirt to make sure she didn't fall off of their moving wagon. Eluard held her arm and politely told the girl to be careful. Meanwhile, Aeneas didn't hesitate to say,

"Hey, don't stand all of a sudden. Are you stupid?"

Curious, Neoma stared at Tiriara and looked in the same direction as her, "Tiri, what is it?" she asked.

"There! Didn't you hear it?"

Still holding Tiriara's shirt, Aeneas focused his hearing. His mother and Anastasia smiled as they realized what it was.

"It's a beardoose," said another squire from the other side of the wagon.

Aeneas nodded, "You're right," he muttered with a grin as it was the first time he heard an actual sound made by a beardoose, which sounded like an old man quacking. Then, he looked at the other squire who seemed familiar. 

"Doesn't it sound hilarious?" Tiriara said with a chuckle.

Neoma disagreed, "I—it's creepy," she replied. The girl argued that without seeing where the sound was coming from it felt like it was a ghost of someone playing tricks with them.

While the two were having a healthy argument about the beardoose being creepy or funny, Aeneas glanced at the other squire who responded to him. He knew that he looked familiar.

"Ah, I'm Algar Waller. We fought in the same tournament in Pergis months ago." Algar said that he was there as his older brother's squire. His brother was riding beside their wagon. He was of the age twenty-five and was a commander of a hundred men within the order of knights. Similar to Algar, Argos Waller has short dark brown hair and bluish eyes, and bears Taurus's Zeal. Though, Argos had more defined muscles as he was older.

Aeneas nods, "I see, I remember you fought with Alistair and almost won."

Algar chuckled, "It wasn't close. You won on the other hand, even though you're a boman."

The smile on Aeneas's face slowly withers.

"I watched your fight and thought to myself 'What a man among men!' Beating someone without a Zeal. That's something only true warriors can do!"

His words of praise retained the smile on Aeneas's face. Hearing a peer recognize his efforts assured him. More so, it was from someone who was aiming for the same goal of becoming a knight.

"Halt!" A knight a little behind Nireus shouted.