5 The Capital

"Alright, kiddo, listen closely." Chang'e folded her arms and regarded Claude with a serious look. "I don't want to see you get hurt again. If you need to steal, at least make sure that you don't get caught. I don't think any of us, let alone you, would like a repeat of what had happened yesterday. It wasn't fun getting beat up by those horrible people, right?"

Claude shook his head furiously. "No, miss. Thank you for saving me miss and mister! And for healing me and giving me this delicious bread! I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused!" The messy-haired child bowed in gratitude. "I hope you have a good trip! See you next time!" He grinned toothily at them, giving them a small goodbye wave.

Carrots rubbed his head against Claude's cheeks as a farewell before leaping into Chang'e's outstretched arms.

"Thanks, kid. Take good care of yourself too. Don't get into any trouble you can't get yourself out of," Harith warned. Claude nodded his head in understanding. He definitely wouldn't be doing anything carelessly. He couldn't afford to.

Claude flinched, remembering the hot flash of pain when the bad man kicked him in the ribs, and the dark spots that danced across his vision when he was struck across the face, leaving him disoriented and his ears ringing.

Yeah, definitely not. Never again. Claude resolved to be stealthier and faster. His mind raced with the possibilities of what he could do to train himself to be a better thief.

Chang'e reached out a hand and poked his cheeks, startling him out of his thoughts. After a beat, she pulled away and said, "sorry, sorry. You just looked so adorable there that I couldn't resist."

Harith chuckled softly. "Chang'e, we need to go. We've dallied long enough."

With one last wave, they left the village.

…

The towering gates in the near distance was what Chang'e first saw. Familiar-looking gates of brass alerted her that they were reaching the capital. A rush of excitement filled her. Turning her head to glance at Harith, she saw him already facing her, the exact same excited look on his face. She was sure that they both looked like little children receiving their Christmas gifts early.

They wordlessly exchanged looks. With a burst of speed, Harith and Chang'e Sprinted towards the capital's gates.

Within minutes, they found themselves standing in front of the tall and looming brass gates of the capital.

"Halt! State your business here or you may not enter." The two guards at the gate said in unison, their movements synchronised to block their way.

Chang'e cleared her throat. "I am Chang'e, disciple to the Great Dragon and the Moon Palace immortal." She said this confidently and authoritatively. "I am here to… I'm — I'm returning home," she faltered slightly while stating her reason.

The guards turned to Harith, silently asking for his reasons for coming to the Land of Dawn's capital.

"I'm here to join the army. I want to use my magical prowess to aid the Land of Dawn in battles."

A pause.

One of the guards made a hand gesture. A moment later, the gates swung open, blowing sand around.

When the sand finally cleared, it was as if they had landed in a whole new world.

The atmosphere of the capital was completely different from the other small villages they had visited. The most glaring difference was the population. The streets were bustling with beings of all races; there were animals, Leonins, humans, Moon Elves, hybrids, and many more that couldn't be named.

Furthermore, the buildings were a lot taller and made of rarer and more expensive materials. Harith's eyes were darting around, drinking in the sight of so many beings in one city and the tall glass buildings and marble buildings reflecting the light from the setting sun. He could hardly believe he was finally at the capital.

"C'mon Harith, me and Carrots are gonna show you around! Oh, I can't wait for you to try my favourite food stall! They've got the best meat dumplings you'll ever eat!" Chang'e tugged at Harith's sleeves eagerly, pulling him along with her.

The three of them explored the capital, walking past many stalls getting ready for the night market. While walking, Chang'e also helpfully pointed out the different buildings.

"Over there is the biggest library in the Moniyan Empire," Chang'e points at a five-story building covered in glass panes with the large words 'Library of Dawn' written in bold across the glass. "It contains nearly every book to have ever been written in history."

As Chang'e continued to chatter on enthusiastically, Harith pondered about his next step. Now that he was in the capital, he first needed to enlist into the human army. He was quite sure that there is a physical and magical test to be completed in order to be accepted into the army. Now that he thought about it…

"Chang'e." Harith interrupts Chang'e explaining about the architecture of the Church of Dawn mid-sentence.

She stops. "Uh — yes?" she turns to him questioningly.

"Where is the military base located? Like — could you point me to the direction?"

Chang'e's mouth formed into an 'O', realisation dawning upon her. "Right! I forgot all about that! It's to the west from where we are now. If you just follow the path of the lamp posts, you'll see it. You can't miss it."

Harith nods in understanding. "I see. Thanks."

They walked in silence for a while. Just as Harith opened his mouth to speak, a figure stumbled into him.

The startled young woman dropped her basket of fruits onto the ground, apples and oranges rolling out. She hurriedly stuffed the fruit back into the basket and stood up, brushing dirt off her white robes.

"I'm terribly sorry for bumping into you," she apologised frantically. "I did not injure you, did I? I should have been more careful. I'm very sorry — My Lady?" The young woman covered her mouth in surprise, staring at Chang'e as if she had grown another head. "Is it really you?"

Chang'e brightened upon recognising the woman. "Meilin! I didn't expect to see you!"

The two leaned in to hug each other. "I missed you, Meilin." Chang'e says into Meilin's dress, her voice muffled.

"I missed you too, My Lady." Then, as if remembering herself again, Meilin gasped out. "Oh dear, My Lady! What are you doing here? Not that it isn't lovely to see you so well, of course, but the Great Dragon is going to blow a fuse if he sees you! Especially since young master Zilong is not accompanying you but this young Leonin is."

Chang'e rolled her eyes. "The old man can shove a carrot up his — mmpf!" Chang'e glared at Carrots, peeling away the paw that had slapped her mouth.

Meilin narrowed her eyes disapprovingly at her. "My Lady! That is no way to speak of your master," she admonished.

Chang'e sighed. "Alright, you win. Also, this 'young Leonin' here is Harith, my friend," she placed heavy emphasis on the 'friend'. "He also saved me from certain death," she continued.

Hearing this new piece of information, Meilin saw Harith in a new light. "Thank you so much for saving the little mistress! How could we ever repay you? We must speak to the Great Dragon at once!"

Harith held out a hand to silence the young woman. "You don't have to repay me. I was just doing what I was supposed to."

Meilin clucked her tongue at him, saying, "Tsk, you are too modest. Alright then, but if you need anything, remember that the Moon Palace is in your debt."

Harith nodded. Turning to Chang'e, he told her, "I should be going now. I'm going to enlist in the army so you can go meet your master or whatever. I'll catch you later, okay?"

Shooting one last grin and a wave at Chang'e and Carrots, Harith left in the direction of the military base.

Only after Harith had disappeared from view did Chang'e spin around to walk in the opposite direction, towards the east where the Moon Palace is located. "Let's go, Meilin."

"Pardon me, My Lady, but where exactly are we going?"

Chang'e smiled mischievously at her handmaiden. "Why, we're going to the Moon Palace, of course!"

"But — My Lady, you musn't!" Meilin protested. "The master will be greatly displeased, even if he misses you," she fretted.

Chang'e waved away her worries, saying cheerfully, "Don't worry, Meilin! He may look very fierce and intimidating, but he's actually just a big, old softie. We'll be fine!"

Ignoring Meilin's protests, she continued to fly towards the palace.

…

Harith sped through the strategy-based exam. There were a total of twenty questions in total, testing an individual's critical analysis skills. Harith guessed that the three tests were also to sort the soldiers into their specialty within the army. To him, the questions were relatively simple.

The library in the Enchanted Forest had many books on tactical strategies which he devoured voraciously. It was easy to compare the advantages and disadvantages of a Vic formation and a close order formation.

So, in just ten minutes, Harith completed the strategy exam. Next came the physical exam.

The physical exam consisted of three parts testing different skills: stamina, strength and agility. For stamina, recruits had to run three kilometers within 17 minutes or better.

For strength, a punching bag is set up and recruits were to punch and kick the bag to attain their strength score. Each recruit had a maximum of three tries and the passing score was 500 while the maximum was 1200.

A mini obstacle course is set up for the agility test. A flag is placed at the end of the course and multiple paintball machines lining the sides of the course are coded to shoot paintballs across. The goal was to retrieve the flag back to the starting line within twenty seconds and a maximum of ten paintball hits. Any more would be a fail.

Harith ran a distance of three kilometers in 14.15 minutes, which is a B for his stamina test. Then, for the strength test, he scored a dismal 529 out of 1000. Disappointing, but Harith couldn't say it was wrong.

The agility test was the easiest for him. With his small stature and quick reflexes, he retrieved the flag and sped back to the start line in ten seconds exactly, with only one paintball managing to hit him.

In total, he attained B for stamina, C for strength, A for agility, making his physical exam score a B.

Then the easy part came. The magic exam.

The only thing he really needed to do was convert his mana into magic and channel it into this magic orb that shows the amount of magic power he has. The examiner's eyes bugged out of his head when he saw Harith's score of 4873, the highest he had ever seen. The average score was around 2400.

Harith was given an A for the magic exam immediately.

After calculating all the scores for the three exams, Harith scored an overall A. He had passed the exam.

At long last… he was finally a soldier. He could finally put his magical prowess to good use on the battlefield, destroying all evil that stood in his way. Harith let the feeling of satisfaction wash over him, savouring it.

A moment later, he exhaled. "Right. Let's get down to business."

Arriving at the large double doors labelled 'Training Room', Harith pushed open the doors and walked in. He soon discovered that 'hall' would probably be a better word for it judging by its size.

The training room-hall had many other individual rooms designed to cater to different aspects of training. There were rooms for target practice with different weapons, rooms for agility practice, rooms for magic.

Harith stepped into one of the facilities that centred on training a soldier's magical abilities. Harith found it quite amusing. A training room in a training room-hall.

Since this was the human army, the facilities for magic were very limited, and there were no trainers for magic currently available. Not very surprising, considering that it was rare for a soldier in the human army to able to use magic. Hence, he was his own teacher in magic.

Which was fine, since he had been teaching himself magic since he was young. The magic academy back home was practically useless, only teaching the basics of using magic such as learning how to channel their mana and turn it into actual and tangible magic forms.

Immediately after he closed the glass door, dummy targets popped up. They were still and unmoving. 'Level one,' Harith thought, aiming at the crosses littered on various parts of the dummies. Then, he let his magic fly, piercing the crosses. This exercise was to test his control over his magic; to fine-tune it to do his bidding.

Then, the dummies began to move. This was level two. This time, Harith decided to use his skill 'Synchro Fission'. Two magical phantoms of himself appeared and charged towards each other, creating an explosion of magic which disintegrated the dummy that had been caught in the centre of the explosion.

This continued on, the dummies evolving as time passes by and Harith demolishes all the dummies for that level. Eventually, the level increased to a point where the dummies themselves were magical.

They shot out simple spells at Harith designed to 'poke' him but not injure him. This level served to train his dodging skills, his ability to keep a clear-headed mind while being attacked and his ability to attack the 'enemy' while avoiding being hit himself.

Harith was so focused on his training that he did not realise someone had been observing him through the glass door.

Breathing harshly, Harith sucked in gulps of air, trying to catch his breath after the gruelling training session of non-stop dodging and rapidly firing magic at the dummies with laser-sharp focus. With sweat dripping down his forehead, Harith stepped out of the training room.

Only to be taken aback by a hulking figure blocking his way.

A man with dark brown tresses and deep-set stress lines on his face stared down at Harith. With his tall and muscular figure and his heavy-looking armor, the man made out to be quite the imposing figure.

The unknown man studied Harith silently, neither his facial features nor his eyes giving away any inkling of what he was thinking.

Then, he broke out into a smile. The tension between them dissolved. "Evening, soldier. You must be the new recruit the high ranking officers were gossiping about, right? That Leonin boy that set the best records in the army in the magic and strategy exam, though only scored slightly above average in the physical exam."

Harith gave a slow nod, unsure of the man's intentions in approaching him. He didn't know what to make of the man boldly admitting that his superiors 'gossip' either.

"You must be wondering who I am! Well, my name is Tigreal, Captain of the Imperial Capital's Mosennia Captain of Knights. And, well, I couldn't help but notice you when I came into the training hall. For someone so small, you sure pack a punch!" Tigreal boomed.

Harith winced at Tigreal's loud voice, his cat-like ears twitching in irritation. Not only was his armor and size loud and conspicuous, his voice was too, apparently.

"Indoor voice please," Harith pleaded. Tigreal scratched his head sheepishly.

"My bad!" He says this a tad softer. It was not much of an improvement, but it was an improvement nonetheless. Harith would take that.

"Hey little guy—" Tigreal began.

"Harith," the Leonin corrected.

"Right, Harith," Tigreal amended. "I can see you've exhausted your energy for the day. How about we break for dinner and then return to the bunks?"

Harith agreed without hesitation. He was too tired to continue training. His arms and legs felt like lead and his mana pools were nearly empty. There was nothing else he could do.

As much as he wanted to continue to train, he knew his limits and he was sure he would drop unconscious if he did. Something he absolutely did not want to happen.

Heading to the cafeteria, the two made small talk, telling each other their goals for the future or anything under the weather.

Noting Harith's lidded eyes and slow movements, Tigreal prodded him with questions about his personal life and his reasons for joining the Imperial Troops to keep him from falling asleep.

After dinner, Tigreal ushered Harith to his bunk. The door to his room clicked shut, and Tigreal walked towards his own personal room. Both Harith and him had their own rooms, but for different reasons.

Tigreal because of his position, and Harith because of control. Or lack of control, to put it more aptly. The higher rank officers were wary of Harith's strength and magical abilities and they knew they had little control over him.

Yet, they could not turn him away as the army needed all the help they could get, especially since there was talk of orc tribes planning an invasion on the Land of Dawn.

Tigreal would say that he had purely innocent intentions in approaching the new recruit but that would be a half-lie. Yes, he was indeed curious about the Leonin.

The old generals had been discussing about him the whole day and it was grating on him. So, when he had caught sight of him in the training room, he approached him out of curiosity.

But Tigreal had another reason too. He wanted to see for himself and gauge whether the boy was trustworthy or not. So far he did not not seem to have any ill-intentions, nor does he suffer from any delusions of grandeur.

Tigreal should add that to the list of 'Harith's pros and cons'. On the pros side: not a megalomaniac. Cons: still a tiny kid. Still fifteen, he was told, but his build seemed to be too small for his age.

Then again, Leonins are supposed to be small and lithe so that should be a normal size for him.

Humming a jaunty tune, Tigreal decides to turn in for the night. He resolves to wake up at the crack of dawn the next day to continue his own training. Tomorrow, Tigreal thinks decisively, will be strength and stamina training.

...

Chang'e breathed in. Then she breathed out. She placed a hand over her chest, trying to calm down her rapidly beating heart. As she stood outside the gates of the Moon Palace with Meilin in tow, she felt equally excited and anxious.

What if her master was so displeased and angry with her, that he throws her out with his own hands this time? Even worse, what if he forbids her from coming back ever again, and refuses to be her master anymore?

Chang'e was having second thoughts. Whatever confidence she had before had disappeared along with her cool, collected thoughts.

Now, she was a nervous wreck, taking a step forward then back, unsure of whether she should walk through the gates or just leave altogether. Then, a warm and comforting hand wrapped reassuringly around her hand that was clenching her dress.

Chang'e glanced up.

Meilin quirked an encouraging smile at her and said, "Where did all that bravado go, huh? You've known the master for nine years, you know how he'll react."

Meilin paused, then said, "Well, the master can be quite unpredictable but you're already outside the gate so you might as well go in." She shrugged her shoulders in a 'what can I do?' way.

Carrots pawed at Chang'e and gave her a look. Chang'e huffed. "Fine. I'll just wing it."

She bit her lip and stared resolutely at the gates. Then, with determined movements, she pushed open the gates.

The gates creaked open, revealing the front garden of the palace. Several guards were stationed around the palace and they gave a shout seeing Chang'e. One of them rushed off, probably to alert the Great Dragon of Chang'e's arrival.

"My Lady, you have come home! The Great Dragon and his son Zilong awaits you," one of the guards gave a salute.

Hearing this, Chang'e gaped in disbelief. Did he just say… big brother was waiting for her? After months of travelling around the Land of Dawn, almost becoming a werewolf's dinner, dealing with a village full of child-abusers and a poor malnourished child, her big brother was home all along?!

As if feeling her young mistress' rising temper, Meilin took a step back and excused herself, stating that she had matters to attend to.

Anger and annoyance boiled in her. Chang'e bit out, "Take me to Zilong."

Seeing the blue sparks of magic jumping around her, the guard gulped and hurriedly led the vexed immortal and her rabbit to the main hall where the Great Dragon and his son were waiting.

The doors to the main hall slammed open and Chang'e floated in. Though she couldn't march in as she wanted to, she still left a trail of scorch marks created by her magic.

"Little sister! You're finally here!" Zilong crowed, leaping up from his seat and rushing forward to greet Chang'e. The Great Dragon, on the other hand, rose from his seat gracefully and walked with composed steps towards his disciple.

Chang'e narrowed her eyes at Zilong. "You—" she began. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind for making her go on a wild goose chase looking for him. She wanted to. But she couldn't find it in herself to do that.

Seeing her brother's glowing face, she felt her previous fury toning down to a simmer. But she wasn't going to let him off so easily.

When Zilong came flying towards her, hoping to tackle her into a hug, Chang'e ducked off her Crescent Moon, causing her brother to meet the ground instead of her. It was only his fast reflexes that prevented his face from kissing the floor; he fell gently into a roll before standing up.

"Hey! Why did you do that!" Zilong complained.

Chang'e turned her nose up and said, "You deserved that. You made me go all over the place looking for you, and instead you were here the entire time enjoying yourself." Chang'e shot him the nastiest look she could.

"S-sorry lil' sister." Zilong apologised. "But I'm here now, and that's all that matters, right?" He shot her a winning smile.

Chang'e gave him a blank look. "Where were you anyway?"

"Um… I was actually on military leave for the past month, so you didn't miss me much."

The Great Dragon cleared his throat.

"I am glad you are well, Chang'e." The Great Dragon says this gruffly.

He hesitated for a second before wrapping his arms around Chang'e in a tight hug. Then, he pulled away with an awkward cough.

A squawk echoed through the hall. A messenger hawk flew into through the balcony to land on Zilong's outstretched arm. Zilong unclipped a scroll from the bird's legs. A puzzled expression crossed his face as he unfurled the scroll. Reading the scroll, his face gradually morphed into a grim expression.

"The orc tribes are invading the Land of Dawn."

…

"Captain!" Tigreal looks up to the face of two soldiers, one sporting a rather greenish hue.

"Our scouts have been attacked. Hundred of orcs are marching towards the borders of the Land of Dawn as of now. ETA is half an hour at best. Sir, what's your command?"

A grave look on his face, Tigreal ordered, "Gather the troops. We must prepare for war."