Recruitment

≪Luminous Country Capital Seaport, Blue Lagoons≫

With the golden sun lifting above the horizon, Sean and Venus gathered at the dock for departure. Behind Sean were three bodyguards of the Luminous Cathedral Knights, since Sean is one of the important members of the royal family's elite security it was safe to say that he needed protection even if Venus, the Sage God Candidate was with him. She wore a satisfactory blue dress with a black design of a star on the end of the dress.

"Good morning, Venus." Greeted Sean with a formal bow.

Venus smiled gently, her posture showed she was still tired after her last visit to the Cathedral's Main Square. What was she doing there? She was training, and after three years of being adopted by the Archbishop, she trained to become a Heroine of Peace.

"Morning, Sean.. Ready to leave?"

Sean nodded vaguely. He looked to his left to see the mighty steamship anchored right beside him. The crew members let down the steel stairway that leads to the dock.

"Greetings, my name is Conrad Wells. I'll be your captain of this ship and make sure you make it to the city of Blackband." The middle-aged man bowed with formality. The sailors, Conrad's crew helped carry the luggage onto the boat. Venus gazed into the grey clouds blocking the beautiful clear blue sky.

Sean placed his hand on her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

Venus quickly shook her head, whatever she sensed was unpleasant.

After boarding the ship, Venus and Sean began their plan to recruit Xion but first Sean needed to know everything about Xion.

"Wait what?"

"Yeah. when I was seven years old, Xion appeared at the front of the orphanage covered in blood and had the eyes of someone who lost everything. When the mother of the Orphanage found him in that state she nursed him back to him. She needed to find where he came from but to no avail. It was like he just appeared out of thin air, he wouldn't even speak to the children."

"Sounds like whatever he has been through seemed to have scarred him for life."

"Not true, the day after he began talking with everyone telling them stories of creatures and heroes that existed way in the Trinity's Conquest."

"The Trinity Conquest Era? That was 400,000 years ago way before the God's Apocalypse Era… How could he have so much knowledge of that era?"

Sean leaned over the Ships guardrail, staring at the clear blue sea. He looked at Venus noticing her heavily panting with a flustered face. Sean takes a step back unsure how to question her expression.

"Don't tell me…"

"Ha~ I'm not what you're thinking~"

Sean could see the list in her eyes, something must have triggered this event. He then realized what it was. She was obsessed with Dion.

'Poor kid, I hope he runs from her.'

…

Achoo!

"You okay, Xion?" Lucy asked holding his hand while walking in the city. Xion nodded vaguely. "I feel like something awkward is going to happen to me."

"Maybe it's the fact you're going to school soon. Lucy chuckled as Xion smiled softly.

"Maybe."

They stopped by the clothing store, this particular place is run by one of the most talented fashion designers across the land. When they entered the building, a tall man wearing a golden and white suit with a leopard pattern, this man was Hans Vida.

"Welcome to the the Link Fashion. I'm Hans Vida, you're tailor."

He bowed while examining his new customer, Xion. Lucy spoke up while closing the door behind her. "This is Xion Trinity, he's my son and I wanted to get him a school uniform."

"Understandable… Wait did you say Trinity?"

Xion immediately put his guard up as he could see the fear in his eyes. Silence surrounded the area as Lucy held her arm up signaling Xion not to kill him. The two watch the man squirming, his expression hiding behind his arms.

'Hans Vida, what the hell are you truly?' Xion questioned mentally while noticing the strange shadow behind him.

"This is great! I never designed a uniform for a Trinity before!"

Xion tilted his head, his eyes remained calm. Hans was happy, he pretended to be scared to test how the young Trinity would react. "You never design clothing for the Trinity Family?"

Hans shook his head. "Of course not… As you don't know the Trinity Family is all executed by the gods to uphold peace… I for one witnessed one of Trinity's family's most recent death. Aria Trinity, a woman who was known throughout the world for creating the newest steam engines and vehicles we have today."

Xion frowned "I see," he then looked at the newspaper that showed the Cathedral of Sacred Wisdom heading to Blackband City. Are they trying to bring the war here?

"The War of Liberation is one of the few wars that had happened in this Era. The Southern Kingdom is known for successfully allowing slave trading and enslaving those who are unwilling to pay taxes." Hans explained briefly.

Xion then asked with a sad expression. "How long has this been going on?"

"Ever since the start of this Era. We humans are engraved with War, jealousy, greed, fear, love, hate, regret, and most of all, pride, no matter how many times we try to make a difference we only make the same mistakes over and over…"

'That's what being human means… but this setting in the Southern Kingdom holds the same history of the slaves back home… they were taken from their homelands and were forced to be enslaved towards those Americans, discriminated by the color of their skin they couldn't even protect themselves against those vile creatures we call humans. One of those slaves was my ancestor…'

Xion shook his head before smiling once again. "Anyway, when can I get my uniform?"

Hans grabbed his tape measure and signaled the man to follow him to the further part of the building. "This way, young man."

Xion complied and followed the tall man, in the back he saw different clothing some that would refer to the medieval period others from modern-day society. To his right was a table that held many fabrics, needles, and even a sewing machine. In front of him stood a three-way mirror, one facing in front of him, the other two facing his sides. For a split second, Xion could see the old him, before his transmigration, yet this version was covered in blood. The one to the right just showed the current him but the one to the left showed nothing but a large shadowy figure that could not fit onto the entire mirror.

"Maybe it's the sleepiness getting to me," Xion muttered.

"Did you say something?" Asked Hans, measuring Xion's length.

"W-what? Nothing…"

A few minutes later, the measurements were finished and Xion left the measurement section and saw Lucy outside talking to someone, it was Venus and Sean. He quickly headed outside to greet the two, yet this time it backfired when Venus immediately tackled the poor lad down to the hard ground.

"XION!" Venus stared down at the young man and smiled joyfully. "It's good to see you, again!"

Xion groaned in pain before opening one of his eyes "Yeah! It's good to see you too, Sis." The two laughed as those around looked at them confused.

Sean approaches them, ruining the family reunion. "Hello, Xion. My name is Sean Lados, I'm part of the Cathedral of Sacred Wisdom young priest and the Holy Owl Guardian of the Sage God." Xion seemed to return to his expressionless self, this is a trigger to show that he doesn't trust them.

"Nice to meet you, Sean." Xion quickly stood up letting Venus fall off him and onto her rear. "So, why are you here?"

"We need your help," Sean answered almost immediately yet with composure.

…

"You want to do what?!" Marcus seemed to not like this request from the young priest.

Venus nervously waves her arms in defense, "We know it's hard to believe it but Xion is a candidate of the 12 Gods. There are currently two candidates besides Venus and Xion, they are already being recruited as we speak.

"Why Xion then? He's only 10 years old." Xion then placed his hand on Marcus' shirt. Marcus looked down at the child who held an expression of his determination.

Sean then spoke once again. "Don't worry, we'll make sure he's well treated and educated properly before the real war begins."

Dolan asked depressingly "Xion, what's your decision?"

Xion stayed quiet for a few moments, if it's one thing he knew was that he had to win to end the slavery act happening in the Southern Kingdom.

'I mean it's war what's the worst thing that could happen.' Xion joked before standing up from the couch. "I'll go but you already knew that, didn't you?"

Sean smirked looking at Xion, the others shocked by his answer. "Xion, are you sure about this? War is not a game."

"I know, father! I can't let innocents die because that kingdom wants to keep their slaves." Xion said with a small smile yet his eyes showed he was terrified. 'Of course, war is a game, it's a strategy game that requires patience and understanding of the battlefield.'

"Great! Then we best get moving."

"Wait, now?" Asked Venus.

"Of course, Xion needs time to prepare and we can't wait since one of our outposts was seized."

Xion understood the goal as he looked at Dolan. "Guess it means I won't go to the Academy…" Truth be told, Xion was someone who was excited to go but now it's different.

"Are you going to be okay?" Dolan asked looking down.

"Of course, I will be, I did have a strong teacher and the best big brother to teach me, and who knows maybe we will meet again."

Marcus grips Xion up hugging him tightly, "I'm going to miss you, kid!"

Xion smiled softly, "I will be back, so don't worry…"

As the three hugged him, Lucy didn't know how to say goodbye to him, she was still helping him adjust to his new life. Marcus and Dolan giggled as Lucy watched, she quickly hurried upstairs not showing anyone the tears that flooded her eyes. Xion watched Lucy hurry upstairs, even his heart knew he didn't want to leave.

Outside the bakery, Xion and the others entered a car. Everyone was saying their goodbyes to him, even the mother from the orphanage. Dolan and Xion looked at each other one last time and nodded.

"Remember to stick to your daily training, little brother."

"I would say the same to you, big brother."

The two chuckled once more, they had really gotten close since that incident but now these two were brothers forever.

'No matter what, I won't die… that's a promise.'