It is not easy, to set up a tent!

[DING DING DING DING]

The sound of a bell interrupted the conversations of the young recruits and everyone looked towards the stables, where Aslan stood with a bell.

"Listen here! I have bad news for you! The sighting of the hero has still not been confirmed and our informants have given us the information, that the Kapapian empire will soon make its move. You will now head to our camp in Bredon in the north of the Charbeilian Empire and report to Commander Bela. Ride back to the academy immediately, from there the transport guild will teleport you to Bredon. March!" General Aslan's voice echoed across the entire square.

The recruits stood back in silence as Aslan turned and walked towards the Barn he came out from.

"We're just in training, aren't we?"

"And what are the priests doing? Shouldn't they summon a Hero?"

"The summoning has been postponed again!"

"No, that must be another exercise! Remember, when he woke us in the middle of the night, only to let us do an exercise battle?"

"Yeah, right! He said earlier, that we're going to do a practice battle with everyone and pretend it's real!" Said a young man not far from Adam.

Everyone was talking wildly. Adam heard words like Practice, Hero, Joke, Summoning, and Test everywhere, but he could tell from Jean's face, that it was serious.

"It's not an exercise, is it?" Adam asked.

"No, not this time! He's serious." Jean replied while she scratched the spot behind her Lion's ear.

"Oh yeah, and how can you be so sure of that?" John asked as he mounted his wolf.

"His Tail, when General Aslan was talking, his Tail didn't even move a little!" Jean said as she motioned for Nala to go.

The recruits slowly started to move toward Tarria.

"Then, let's ride too!" With a movement of his hand, Adam let Mila's suitcase disappear into his bracelet.

Mila's transformation happened quite quickly; suddenly the black-haired woman was surrounded by a bright light, and in her place was a black panther with green glowing eyes, with a shoulder height similar to that of a horse. Adam mounted and directed her to follow the group.

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"I can't believe how fast you are. It only took a fraction of the time to get back to town!" Adam said in astonishment as he stroked the panther's fur.

[That was nothing!] A voice sounded in Adam's head.

[You can speak to me like this? That's handy, we were only taught, that I could only give you orders via our soul connection!] Adam said telepathically.

The group drew everyone's attention in the city, and although they didn't take the path across the market, they proceeded much slower than they thought. There were just too many people carrying goods from the market, or children who really wanted to pet the beasts. At that moment, Adam was glad, they bought some more food and drinks before they left.

When the recruits arrived, they saw the other groups already gathered on the training ground. Beside them were young men and women, armed with swords, in dark blue cloaks edged with red.

"Now it's getting serious!" Said the little fairy, who had made herself comfortable between Mila's ears.

Adam was amazed because Liri had also prepared for battle, she was wearing armor that she apparently made herself. She made the breastplate and shoulder pads from the bark of a tree, half a nutshell as a helmet, and the rest out of green leaves. She even wore a small sword around her waist and had a bow slung over her shoulder.

"You're fighting too?" Adam had to smile a little when he saw Liri.

"Melee combat isn't one of my strengths, but I can still shoot enchanted arrows in their eyes!" She exclaimed proudly, raising her bow high in the air.

"What kind of enchantments can you cast on your arrows?"

"Paralysis, fire, lightning, impotence, great pain, misfortune...!" The fairy listed a large number of enchantments, some of which sounded really nasty.

Before Adam could reply, the group of young Knights next to him disappeared into a blue light. When an older little man approached the beast riders, Adam recognized him immediately. It was the man from the registration, Adam saw on his first day in the academy. Before the man could reach the group, the sky began to darken.

"AH! So the priests have started the summoning!" Said the man, who was probably no taller than 1,20m. (nearly 4 feet)

"YEAAA! Then it's no problem, we'll take the hero with us and fight back the Kapapians and come back!" Yelled a black-haired young woman, who was just dismounting from her wolf.

"Unfortunately, it's not that simple! The hero has yet to be trained, and while the goddess chooses people who are willing, many have yet to be persuaded to fight for a country to which they have no connection. Other heroes are even here involuntarily since their souls happened to be available." The man explained while handing the beast riders their cloaks.

"Huh? So should we fight and risk our lives until the hero is ready?" John shouted, just putting on his cloak.

"That's how it looks! You would normally be given your cloaks at the graduation ceremony, but there is no time for that. Starting today, you no longer count as recruits, so don your cloaks, and get your personal items from your rooms. Then, you will be sent to the camp near Bredon; you have 2 minutes!" When the man had handed out the last cloak, he went back to the building where the registration was.

Adam couldn't believe it; they were training only for about three months and now they were supposed to be fighting on the front lines. When Adam looked around, he saw that John and Jean were already on their way to their building. But he and Aldo were still standing in the square.

"Do you think we're getting a strong hero?" Adam asked.

"I... I don't know! The heroes are so different, one was a magician who could make a mountain disappear with a snap of his fingers. Then there was one, who could annihilate a kingdom with his bare hands, or some who brought knowledge with them, I can't tell." Aldo replied thoughtfully.

"Hmm... I hope he is ready quickly and can support us soon. Don't you want to get your stuff too?"

"I have everything in my magic pouch, Jean had so many things, that I offered her my chest!" Aldo said as he showed Adam a pouch.

Before Adam could answer, a warm feeling filled his chest, and Aldo seemed to feel it too because he looked up at the sky above the temple. A bright golden light appeared in the black clouds, casting its light on the temple.

"The hero is here! The goddess has sent us the hero!" A woman cried out not far from Adam, her face covered by a hood. On her cloak was a horse, the symbol of the Transport Guild. She slammed her fist against her chest and looked up into the sky.

Aldo also saluted and looked up at the sky, followed by everyone else present. Cheers could also be heard from the city. As Adam looked up at the sky, he had to think back to the day when he suddenly found himself in this body and his mother suddenly stood before him in the golden light. He remembered that feeling of pure happiness, as he watched Sareva dissolve, her face twisted in pain.

"Thank you, Mom!" Adam whispered unconsciously.

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"By the goddess... What the...?" It can't be!" Said a priest in a white robe edged with gold, before falling to his knees.

Following him, all the priests and priestesses fell to their knees.

"PRAISE THE GODDESS!" A priestess in a pure white robe yelled out.

"T... t... Two... THE GODDESS HAS SENT US TWO HEROES!" Barely able to believe his happiness, the First Priest cried out as a tear of joy rolled down his cheek.

"Praise the goddess! PRAISED BE THE GODDESS!" Repeated the priests and priestesses over and over, as they knelt before a golden glowing magic circle.

In the golden light stood a blue-haired young man and a black-haired young woman, shielding their eyes from the glaring golden light with their arms.

"Where... Where are we?" The female voice asked.

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Adam found himself at a huge camp near a forest. Many soldiers ran around between the mostly blue tents, Adam also saw people and demihumans with carts and buckets running around.

"You are the beast riders?" asked a rough voice right next to Adam.

"Yes, sir! We come from the Academy in Tarria!" Saluted Adam.

"Follow me, I'll take you to your campsite! Hurry up, this is the teleport area, we can't afford accidents." Said the little bearded man with a huge hammer.

This man had to be a dwarf. Adam had learned from Amael's classes, that many of them had lived in the north of the Charbeilian Empire and worked in the numerous mines, before the war. The beast riders followed the dwarf to a place on the outskirts of the camp near the forest.

"These are your tents, set them up and move in pairs of two into them, there should be enough space here. General Aslan has probably already informed you, but I'll tell you again, this is a camp right on the front lines! Carry your weapons with you at all times and be prepared for a sudden attack. In the big tents in the middle of the camp, you will find the canteen tent, healer, training ground, and storage for supplies, food, and so on." The dwarf explained as he stood on the square next to some boxes.

The beast riders stepped forward in groups of two and took a box with a tent. Adam looked around for familiar faces, but could only see Aldo and John already carrying away a box. There was no sign of Jean, so Adam hurried and grabbed one of the boxes and started unpacking it at the edge when he noticed, that Jean was pitching her tent with a black-haired cat woman right next to him. She threw the Poles to Jean, who put them together and rammed them into the ground with impressive speed. Adam was already failing to find the Poles that would fit together, while the two young women were already talking about who slept on which side.

"No no no! This Pole goes with this one." Liri, who was standing on top of the box, pointed to a Pole, that Adam was holding in his hand, and to one that he had put aside.

When Adam noticed, that the two Sticks didn't belong together, he rolled his eyes and he looked at the box. Liri had already disappeared. Liri usually laughed out loud in front of Adam. But, when she disappeared, it was always a sign that someone was approaching.

"So you are the beast riders!" A male voice sounded from behind Adam.

There stood a young elf, with short blond hair and a cloak with a green and red border.

"And you're one of the attack magicians!" Adam said.

"Nym Theberos! But Nym is enough!"

"Adam Young! But, only Adam is okay."

"Wow, is that your panther?" He asked, as he gestured towards Mila, who was happily lounging in the sun.

"Yes, that's Mila." Mila, then only briefly growled listlessly.

"Why aren't you staying with the other beast riders?" The elf asked, as he sat down with Adam and easily assembled some poles.

"You don't have to help me. I'll just wait until the second man is here and hope he can do it better than me. Other beast riders? I have no idea, we were just guided here. You're not from the academy, are you? Anyway, I've never seen you there before!" Adam was a bit surprised that they hadn't housed all the beast riders together.

"Oh, that's just a little thing. I'm happy to help. I graduated from the academy last year. Hey, look, that one over there looks pretty lost, maybe he's still looking for a tent." He said and started waving the young man over.

"Hey, oh crap, you're already two!" The black-haired young man seemed slightly disappointed when he saw Adam and the elf setting up the tent.

"Oh no, he's just helping me, he's an attack magician and doesn't belong to the Beast Riders! Just take a look at the cloak!" Adam said, waving the boy over.

"Oh well, okay! I hadn't noticed the cloak." The boy scratched the back of his head and helped sort through the Poles.

"No problem, I'll help you a little. It's important to know, whose side you're fighting on, you should have a look around the camp later and make some acquaintances." The elf said.

"My name is Cody!" Said the black-haired young Boy.

When everyone had introduced themselves, the three of them concentrated on setting up the tent, which went surprisingly quickly with the three of them.