Guardian

The faint glow of the Halo grew as morning called. Its light bathed the Grey Keep, whose tall windows and floating garden glowed.

The stone castle absorbed radiance like the Lightless Void behind it. Its carefully crafted spires and high stone bridges couldn't be seen from a distance.

At the high gates of the ancient Keep, Set and the rest of his peers waited. Warren stood a couple meters back, waiting for Ymir to return with news of where Lucen had gone.

Ymir came down from the colossal doors of the Keep, running towards Warren. Her black silky hair bounced around, and her golden eyes glowed with worry.

"He hasn't been back to the Keep since our training yesterday," Ymir explained, slightly panicked. "His mother hasn't seen him since yesterday."

Set raised an eyebrow. He had been hoping that what he said yesterday would chase away the loathsome boy, but he… expected more.

"He was speaking to some Castaway soldiers," Callan added, his eyes bright with amusement. "Maybe he realised he belonged with them and stayed."

"What he realised does not matter," Warren said, silencing the snickering children. "We had training today."

He looked over to the valley. It was a somewhat far walk that Set didn't want to make for the halfblood.

"We'll check the city for him and then go to the plains from there," Warren decided.

Today was already hot. Not only did they have to find Lucen, then they'd have to hunt dogs. Set rubbed the sweat from his brow and scowled.

"The Mudborn might not even be in Castaway."

Callan snickered. "Why is Warren wasting so much energy on him? They're still going to banish the halfblood when he turns eighteen."

As they crossed the rising and falling road, Set felt a little uneasy that Lucen would be gone in just two years. He still needed to prove himself.

He was thirty losses to Lucen and had only beaten him twice when they were younger. Before, he had been worried about falling behind, of always losing to the halfblood, but his mother assured him he would defeat Lucen one day.

She never lied, and he chose to believe in himself. The sign of a champion is perseverance and love for all that victory represents.

Lucen did not love combat. He did not treasure or respect the history of this family. He was like Heimar's brothers. He would be weakened by that apathy, while Set continued to grow.

The gates of Castaway Valley rose into their view. They were white stone walls, circling the entire valley, rising high into the air.

Even Set knew something was wrong once he saw the soldiers. Not only were an absurd number of them by the pedestrian gate, but at the gate for vehicles there was a massive traffic jam.

Warren narrowed his eyes as he approached. All the soldiers jumped, seeing the Snail Knight. But their bows and salutes were stiff and suspicious.

Set bristled. How dare they look at them like that?

"What is happening here?" Warren started, placing his hand on his sword.

The air grew colder, and the sounds of the world faded under Warren's gaze.

"We were attacked yesterday by Crunchers," a soldier explained, "The Commander and many lieutenants are dead, and the culprits are still at large."

Callan laughed lightly. "All this for a bedtime story?"

Warren's pointed stare made the boy swallow his spit. Warren returned his gaze to the soldiers, asking.

"Who then ordered this blockade?"

"The Lightcloak halfblood, sir."

Set blanched, and Warren's frown grew deeper. "One of you go fetch him, the other tell me everything that happened exactly."

By the time the wild story was done, a grim look was on all of Warren's class. They were actually here and stealing the skins of their victims.

"I told you I felt tremors yesterday," one boy said.

"Lucen," Ymir murmured, "he's been out here fighting all night."

"I'm not surprised," Helie said, "He's tough as nails, and it looked like he was friends with the Garrison commander."

"The commander, the one that died," Kon asked, "Lucen probably knew him."

Set couldn't believe it. Something had been happening here this whole time, and they had been sleeping. But why were they praising the halfblood?

And Lucen. How dare he give orders? Who gave him that authority?

"Why weren't the Lightcloaks involved?" Warren asked, "With the departure of House Metia, we are this region's protector."

"We did our best to get in contact. No direct family member would give us an audience. The only way we got audiences was Commander Jon meeting Lord Chester, who he was friends with."

Negligence? Were they blaming House Lightcloak? Set stepped forward to warn the man, but Warren held a hand up.

Lucen had arrived.

His usually tall stature was slumped and tired. His hair, skin and clothes were covered in mud. His eyes, however, were still sharp as a blade. Set knew that gaze well; he wore it before he cut you down.

Set instinctively reached for Earthripper, his soul-bound sword, but remembered his father had taken it after his loss to Lucen.

It was stabbed into its Waiting stone inside the Grey Keep. He couldn't summon it until it was removed from the stone.

He could still feel the blade in his fingers as Lucen approached them. If only his will to cut down his half-brother was great enough, he was sure the sword would come.

Lucen absorbed the gaze of the crowd naturally, looking over them to the Grey Keep on the horizon.

"Who gave you the authority to give commands?" Warren questioned casually.

"No one. I didn't even want to order anyone around, but everyone was being so annoying," he answered even more relaxed.

There was a silent tension to the air like the bowstring of a hidden hunter. Warren measured Lucen, and he did the same.

Set almost forgot Lucen hadn't bowed to Warren yet.

Ymir marched forward suddenly, breaking the tension. She raised her hands to touch Lucen's face, which was riddled with dirty cuts, asking.

"Are you alright? What—"

Lucen brushed her hand away and kept his gaze on Warren. Ymir shrank back, suddenly embarrassed by herself.

Set could take a lot, but no one messed with his sister. He surged forward and grabbed Lucen's dirty collar, squeezing so hard the water leaked into his palm.

"I know you don't give a damn about this family, halfblood. But the next time you disrespect Ymir like that, I'll—"

"Set, stop!" Ymir pleaded.

Set waited for Lucen's eyes to harden. He had let his emotions get the best of him and provoked the boy, but one thing he promised himself after his first loss to Lucen—was that he would never fear him.

But the fight never came. Lucen actually softened, letting out a breath.

"I guess I was a bit too tense, but you guys came later than I thought. I had to be sure the Crunchers hadn't killed someone and taken their place. Set, you never change, do you?"

Set flushed, letting go of his collar and backing up. "Shut up."

Ymir smiled, tension leaving her shoulders. Lucen glanced at her. "Do you know any healing magic?"

Warren also relaxed, but now his eyes watched Castaway warily. "Let me guess. You were waiting for us as backup in a plan to kill the monsters. I'm going to tell you now, we must inform Lord Chester. He is the current Master of the Keep."

Lucen shook his head as Ymir cast a simple spell to help his recovery.

"The Crunchers will kill more people and grow stronger the more time we waste. I've already weakened their leader, with an actual Knight here, we'll eradicate them."

"Absolutely not."

Ymir glanced at the soldiers, who were doing their best not to look disappointed, and said.

"Sir, I believe we have failed to perform our duty enough."

Warren looked shocked to hear Ymir complain.

"Haven't we wasted enough time?" Set added, "Should we waste more time hunting Lurker Hounds?"

Helie nodded. "We're Knights! They need us."

The other voices grew with their dissent, but Warren couldn't be swayed by children.

But even he thought that the Lightcloaks weren't very used to working as the Lords of a region. They were guardians raised to protect the Heart.

"How many of them are in the city?" he finally said, sighing.