Baggage

A few days after Nicholas expounded on the plains of existence, Thirteen could be found standing with a straight back, side by side with others of his generation, in one long line. They were behind the primary manor of the Clarke Estate and a great number of Guest Instructors were grouped before them.

Nicholas looked at each of them over for a moment before speaking. "For the past eight years you have each learned atleast the basics of every field we require of you, and have shown your capabilities clearly. While those still standing here today are all capable of adapting to any circumstance, it would be ludicrous to claim that every one of you was equally suitable to every task.

"But we have watched you all closely, and we know in what fields you each excel, perhaps even better than you know yourselves. And so, the choices have already been made as to your first assignments in two years time.

"The men and women you see gathered here now are specialist instructors that will act as personal mentors for each of you. I will call out your names one by one and assign you to one of these mentors. You will respect them as you would any of the Instructors here, is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" the entire line of children responded.

"Good. Eight-Ten, you are with Mentor Zoe. Twelve, you are with…" Nicholas moved down the line as he spoke to each of the students. After a mentor's name was called out they would approach and stand by their student.

"Eight-Thirteen, you are with Mentor Fane." A lean man wearing black moved to silently stand by Thirteen after his name was called. He was entering his elderly years now, judging by his grey hair, yet his face had few wrinkles and his body stood strong with an upright posture. He had a thick mustache and his clothes, despite being colourless and modest, were evidently not the fabrics of a common man.

When Nicholas finished assigning the mentors he gave the entire generation of students a long look before speaking again.

"The specifics of your first assignment will be described by your mentor at a time of his choosing. He will train you for that purpose over the next two years, while your other classes will become less frequent. That is all for now."

Without waiting a second longer, Nicholas turned and strode away.

The man, Fane as he had been introduced, looked at Thirteen who, despite his age of just 13, was already approaching his own height.

"Follow" He said after a short moment, before swiftly turning and moving away from the crowd.

Thirteen was used to all sorts of instructors and their unique attitudes. To find any of them that was not commanding would be a difficult challenge. After all they had been royal instructor's before coming here, responsible for training the Crown's Guard, young royals, and on occasion, close relatives to the royal family.

Thirteen followed the man in silence. They did not stop when free of the earlier crowd, but continued walking. They walked so far that they reached the end of the massive clearing the Clarke Estate had at its rear, and soon began walking through the grand forest to its east.

Just as Thirteen was monitoring multiple lifeforms in the forest and estimating their threats and behavious, he found something that shocked him considerably. There was a human in the woods! And his body was contorted as if he were tied up.

Still, Thirteen didn't voice his confusion, assuming the man leading him would explain soon. It was not the first time Thirteen had 'worked with' captives or prisoners during a lesson.

As he expected, Fane stopped next to shrubbery the man had been hidden in and shot a hand through the bushes to grab him by his collar, pulling him out in to the open.

To call him a man was somewhat of a stretch. The captive, his hands and legs bound like a hog, and mouth gagged with a cloth, was smooth skinned with short blonde hair and a single thin braid hanging down the side of his face. He looked very handsome, but Thirteen immediately concluded that was all there was to the man. He had no cultivation and his eyes were wet with fear, lacking any resolve or will to fight.

Thirteen disregarded the young man immediately and returned his gaze to his new mentor, simply awaiting orders.

The man nodded before he spoke.

"The boy's name is Ron, not that he ever uses his real name. He is your charge."

Thirteen nodded and almost instinctively conjured a dagger to kill the young man when Fane continued to speak.

"You will protect him with your life for the next 48 hours while I try to have him killed. You may suggest action to him but must do anything he says."

Fane kneeled down and cut the rope binding Ron's legs but left the restraint on his wrists and the gag. Standing up once more, the old man dug a heel into the younger mans gut to prevent him from standing.

"If he dies, I will not teach you. If you disobey an order, I will not teach you. If I do not teach you, you will not be sent on the assignment planned for you. Understand?"

To say he was surprised would be an understatement. He had to protect this? But the man was useless, he didn't even have the will to fight his restraints let alone survive for 48 hours of attempted assassinations.

"Sir. Am I confined to the forest?"

"You catch on quickly. Yes. You may also not remove his wrist bindings."

Thirteen clenched his jaw. He enjoyed the freedom of fighting, the independence of it. But that just went out the window thanks to this young man.

Thirteen looked at his charge and suppressed a sigh as he got over it.

"Understood sir. When do we begin?"

Fane bent down and placed his knife against Ron's cheek, cutting him slightly as he severed the cloth gag and stood once more.

"Now. Good luck."

With that, he turned his back on the two and walked back to the manor.

"W-what the hell is this? Why are you doing this to me?"

'A quivering voice' Thirteen noted with another inward sigh.

He turned to the man and spoke coldly.

"I dont know what you did or why you're here, but you heard everything I did. Get up."

The man faltered for a moment before scrambling to his feet in a flurry of unbalanced movement.

He looked in the direction that Fane went, and then immediately ran the opposite way, deeper into the woods.

"Damnit." Thirteen caught up to the man with a rush of movement and wanted to stop him from running, but remembered Fane's words.

'You must do anything he says.'

The elderly man had not gone into great detail about the conditions of the job, leaving most of the grey area for Thirteen to figure out for himself. He suspected the man had done that intentionally to see how he would handle it.

"R-ron right? Listen, you need to stop running!"

"Shut up kid! He just said he'll have me killed! If I stand still I'm a sitting duck!"

"It's even easier if you're running!"

The man's response was to change directions and run away from Thirteen as well for some reason.

Thirteen grit his teeth.

'Okay… calm down, he's getting under your skin. He called you kid, he's not old enough for that to be natural, so he must be looking down on you. That makes sense, he doesn't think I can protect him. So I'll have to show him.'

Thirteen moved past the rather slow Ron immediately, and then turned, stopping his fleeing with a slight push backwards that killed the mans momentum.

"Listen to me." He said commandingly.

Thirteen tapped into the power of his Lifeblood and produced that pulse of life, causing a sudden wave of air to pulse out from him, blowing Ron's hair and clothes backwards and causing the surroundings to flourish and grow at rapid speed.

He'd have rathered to simply punch a tree down, but their hunters were probably already looking for them so he had to be subtle where he could, and this domain had some marvelous effects.

Ron's eyes went wide as his body warmed in an instant.

Thirteen concentrated on making Ron relax as his words carried that intent throughout the domain of life energy.

"Relax Ron. There is nothing to worry about. I'm a cultivator, do you know what that means?"

The young man's eyes went wide again "Like, an immortal?"

"Uh… Sort of. Yes. I am an immortal." Thirteen almost felt his face flushing in response to the lie, but whatever worked would do for now.

"Then, is this some sort of punishment? Oh god, is it because of Talia? I didn't–"

"Ron. People are trying to kill you"

Thirteen allowed the domain to slowly dissipate as Ron had calmed down.

"You need to listen to me if you want to survive this, understood?"

With the enchanting intent of the domain gone, some of Ron's concerns and fear creeped back into his mind, but nonetheless he eventually gave a stiff nod in response. It helped that Thirteen did not look his age. If Ron knew he was only 13 years old then it would be pandemonium all over again.

"Okay. I need to take you somewhere I can defend you, but to do that we need to move slowly and silently, alright? If we run we will make noise, and they will come for us."

"You think they're already in the woods?!" He asked as his eyes went wide again and he began to flick his head in every direction.

"I don't know, but Ron, we have to move. Come on." Thirteen had to raise his voice slightly and adopt a more commanding tone with the man to make him follow.

Thirteen moved among the woods with practiced ease, making not a sound at all. He kept his senses on full alert as he registered every lifeform and sound nearby and maintained a line of thought for each of them, judging the possibility of threats and estimating the best response to each. He didn't rely solely on his lifesense as he knew that the best assassins would be undetectable. For that reason he also didn't listen for human footsteps, but rather listened to the reactions of critters and small animals.

He didn't particularly focus on beasts as no mundane animal would be a threat even with his current baggage, but he didnt ignore them entirely either.

Unfortunately, it was extremely stressful listening to the blonde man stepping on absolutely, every, single, stick on the way. Cracking noises painting a perfect picture of their path.

Thirteen breathed deeply in an attempt to suppress the mild anxiety and thought back to his lessons. He had learnt how to protect others before and knew the steps. He was currently looking for any suitable location to defend, as staying on the move for 48 hours was unfeasible.

'This is going to be a long two days' he thought to himself.