Perception

Lovell and Derek were surrounded by an armed escort as they exited a grand building.

It wasn't grand, but compared to the other buildings in the area, it was a palace.

The knights were organized as they stood shoulder to shoulder with the two, as if they were important guests.

Lovell scoured his surroundings and inferred that they were making more of a fuss than they needed to when transporting prisoners.

He looked at Anthony, who followed behind them.

They came to a stop before the road outside their building.

They were to wait for a carriage to arrive and carry them through the town.

He noticed that Anthony's head would shift from one end of the road to the other.

The entire situation was peculiar, and he wasn't sure why they were going through so much trouble just to transport a couple of prisoners.

A theory began to take form in his mind.

Anthony noticed how unusually composed his prisoners were and inferred that they might be plotting to escape, should the opportunity present itself.

He spoke to them in his usual manner,

"We are to wait for the carriage and make our way through town to the southern gate. The crowds tend to be rough, so we will have a few men posted outside to make sure everything happens according to plan. I will escort you two inside the carriage and proceed with you to the academy. Any questions?"

Lovell turned to him with a smile on his face, then wrapped his arm around Derek.

He spoke for both of them when he responded,

"No problems here. Let's do just that."

He then used the opportunity to whisper into Derek's ear, "Do as I do."

He moved back from Derek when he noticed the looks he was receiving from the knights.

They waited for a short while, then a carriage—driven by a man who wore an eye patch over his right eye, a long black trench coat, and an old top hat—came from the back of the building.

It stopped in front of them, and they boarded it.

It wasn't the kind of carriage that Lovell would occasionally see.

It was well-furnished, and its quality and design were very good.

After making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, Anthony signaled the driver, and they set off.

The roads were riddled with potholes, and the buildings looked like they were barely holding themselves together.

The familiar scene flowed past them, and Lovell looked out as he left the home he had always known.

The outskirts, more commonly known as the Edge, were heavily populated with all manner of people—from the poor who simply had nowhere else to go, to those who sought to build a life for themselves outside of the law.

It was almost as if the resentment throughout the kingdom had gathered there and lay in wait.

As the carriage moved along the road, contempt was clearly shown toward them.

Jealousy toward the rich?

Resentment toward the officers?

Any number of reasons drove the crowds to gather around them.

They were not violent—not yet.

Occasionally, a pebble or some small piece of rotting food would be thrown at them, but the knights stationed outside did not respond.

They would, however, brandish their weapons if someone got too close.

"You guys are quite popular, aren't you?"

Lovell's sarcastic tone sought to probe Sir Anthony—and it did.

"Well, what can you do? There will always be those who take issue with authority and seek to blame those in power for their misery, which is why my men are not taking action. It's nothing new."

Derek glanced at Lovell and leaned forward to respond to Anthony's claim.

"I think you've been spending too much time in your office, Mr. Knight. Are you saying that because you really don't know—or because you simply don't care?"

Anthony, intrigued by Derek's words, offered a question of his own.

"And what do you mean by that? I know everything that happens in this town. What could you possibly be referring to?"

"…"

Derek turned his head and caught sight of a rather angry man wearing an old leather coat.

He was winding his arm.

"That man over there—he was once the owner of a bar down on Bottle Street. One day, a rather beautiful young lady had the misfortune of attracting the attention of one of your knights. You'd usually expect a knight to have some level of honor, but this particular thug decided to grab the young lady's hand and forced her to share a drink with him. Being a girl from the outskirts, she didn't let him do anything more without slapping the smug look off his face. Naturally, the knight was not too pleased by this development and was about to strike her back when that gentleman out there intervened. The situation de-escalated, and everyone went their own way."

Derek paid attention to Anthony's face and saw no change in his expression.

He continued his story.

"A few days later, the knight came back with signed documents ordering that the man's business be closed down. Something about it not meeting some bullshit standard, and the place was shut down. He didn't want any trouble, so he complied and decided to spend more time with his family. But the knight's anger hadn't let up, so he changed his approach. I've been told that you folk tend to be quite creative, after all. A few days later, the owner began to notice his daughter was coming home from playing with her friends a lot dirtier and more upset than usual. After pressing her for an explanation, he heard one of the most ridiculous stories he'd ever heard. In his pettiness, the knight told the little girl that she and her friends had violated curfew and he would arrest them. He offered to release them if she endured a slap from him every day for a week. The little girl sacrificed herself for her friends, and the knight kept his promise. As you can see out there, he wasn't all that happy with you guys after that."

Anthony listened to Derek talk and remained expressionless.

He then looked at his men and then at Derek.

"So what?"

Derek looked at Anthony while maintaining his aloof expression.

"You are right. So what? This is how you people have always been. I don't know why I was expecting something different—but it is what it is, I suppose."

…

After navigating their way through town, the carriage arrived at a battered metallic gate.

It was about 20 meters high and wide enough for four carriages to go through at once.

The knights stationed outside left the carriage.

Lovell and Derek looked at the gate and felt uneasy.

They had never left the walls since they were born, and the idea of journeying to unfamiliar lands under another's order felt wrong.

They stayed by the gate until three in the afternoon and were alerted by the sound of chains rattling.

From behind them came a group.

Although they were beaten and starved, there was a fire in their eyes that only those unresigned to their fate possessed.

Puzzled by the group they had been waiting for, Derek asked Anthony,

"Are these the people we've been waiting for? Who are they? Why are they in chains?"

Anthony looked at Derek and spoke sarcastically,

"They are to be your classmates at the academy. You'll be keeping each other company for the next year or so. That is, if you manage to live that long, of course."

Lovell looked at them, and his heartbeat quickened.

His future was right before him.

Exactly what kind of place are you taking us, you wicked bastard? Are we to be attending this place together with them? Why treat us so differently, then? Why go through all this trouble?

Lovell's mind grasped for answers, but could only come up with theories without evidence.

His thinking was interrupted by the sound of the gate opening.

The prisoners were the first to go through the gate, followed by the carriage.

"Where exactly is this academy anyway? I've never heard that such a place exists in Gravia—or anywhere near here."

Anthony responded to Lovell's question while keeping his attention focused on the dozen or so prisoners in front of him.

"Of course it isn't here. Rather than explain where it is, you can explore it for yourself when we drop you off. If I may offer one word of advice, though, you should have made sure to carry a coat with you. I hear the winds there are particularly brutal this time of year."

Lovell was a little disappointed he didn't get any valuable information out of him, but he at least knew he was about to go to some cruel place, especially if prisoners were being enrolled as well.

His future was practically the same as theirs, it didn't look as such because the other was in chains while the other was in a carriage but it was.

The only difference was how one perceived it.