The Secret Order

Cas was sleeping and began to open his eyes slowly. Once they were open, he immediately sat up, looking around trying to figure out where he was. He peeped through a small gap in the wall, it appeared to still be nighttime. He was in a bed in a room he did not recognize. Stone walls surrounded him and the room was sort of small, even smaller than the bedroom in his house.

"Where am I?" His memory was a bit foggy, he couldn't remember what happened or why he was there. His mind wandered for a bit, he then immediately thought of Clement and the townspeople of Narrowind. That was when it all came back to him. The painful memories of witnessing that town in flames and ruin. He quickly got out of his bed and tried to exit the room to go to check if they really hadn't survived. Before he could get to the exit, a tall man stood in front of him, blocking the way. His presence was imposing, his hair went down to his wrists. He was wearing leather attire with steel pads and armor, he also carried a longbow on his back as well as a quiver.

"Slow down there." He said, putting his hand in front of Cas' shoulder.

"B-But the people, the village, my friends, my home! Are they-"

"Relax. What you saw was in fact, a real attack from another kingdom. However, all the residents of the town are all completely safe, we alerted them of the incoming attack and they are all being sheltered in another area. And the mages are working on fixing the damages as we speak."

Cas couldn't think of a response, he simply fell on his knees. He started crying out of sheer relief and joy that everyone he could ever care about were all perfectly fine.

"Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried I was so-"

"Sorry kid, but we don't have the time to dwell on the past. You need to come with me." Said the man as he turned around, heading down the spiral staircase.

Cas quickly got up and wiped his tears as he followed the man, "Wait, who even are you? Where am I? Why am I here? Is my brother alright too? Where are the townspeople staying?"

"You talk WAY too much. Slow down with the questions already, you'll know in due time." This finally made Cas seal his lips as they progressed further downstairs.

As they made it to the first floor. Cas was able to figure out where he was as he saw a steep downward slope to his right, leading to the untamed wilderness. And a large field of grass to the left, the entrance to the kingdom. The moon made the lighting outside brighter than it was inside, there were no torches lit.

"This is… the southern gate of Prismont right?"

"I see your eyes are working right at least." The man turned around to face Cas. "Alright, enough waiting. Now, the reason you're here is because-"

A somewhat loud crash could be heard above them.

"Oww…" said a small voice on a higher floor, the voice was too distant to be recognized.

"...What was that?" Cas asked with a small amount of concern.

"You needn't worry about that now. Anyway, the reason I brought you here was because of tonight's attack. I'm sure you know that this attack is nothing to be taken lightly. Thankfully, we won't be immediately resorting to battle. Instead, we'll be using a team that's run by me!…" He paused, as if he were waiting for applause following that statement.

"I was uh, expecting a more enthusiastic response but all I'm hearing are crickets. Well, I guess you did ask who I am…" He sounded disappointed while saying that.

"Sorry but, I still don't know who you are." Cas said, trying to be polite about it.

"Erm, you can just call me Greyhart, that's what everyone's calling me now. Anyways, unlike other warrior squadrons in Prismont, my team mainly specializes in collecting information to use to our advantage." Cas looked at him with a puzzled look. However, before he could interrupt Greyhart, he interrupted Cas.

"Allow me to introduce you to the Narrowind Division." Suddenly, three figures appeared in the room behind Greyhart. The room wasn't well lit so Cas could hardly make out who they were in the darkness. Cas heard a whistle and a snap and light could be seen, it was a torch that Greyhart was holding. He walked over to the silhouette to the left and the light from the small fire revealed their face. It looked to be a person with short but messy hair, their clothing looked very frugal.

"You're hiring peasants to do your work?" Cas asked expressing genuine concern

"Hey! I-"

Greyhart stood in between them to prevent things from getting hostile. "This is Arianne, she wasn't meant to become a warrior initially, but I took her in and trained her as though she was in the hunter class. Make sure you don't mess with her as she has strength can rival many true warriors."

"Tch- whatever…" she said while turning their head away. Cas could tell she was an extremely irritable person.

Greyhart took a couple steps to get to the next person. They appeared to be wearing a scarf or something of the sort, as well as leather clothing similar to what the man was wearing. Additionally they also carried a bow as well as a bundle of arrows. Cas still couldn't see very clearly but he noticed that they had long hair that was tied up and fell over their right shoulder.

"This is Diane, she has what others may call perfect aim. She has a long way to go to reach my level, but for an apprentice archer, she is quite the prodigy."

"Sorry about the wild one…" She said looking towards Arianne,

"What did you just say?..." Said Arianne with a menacing tone.

"And then," Greyhart said, completely ignoring and talking over the bickering between the previous two. He walked a few steps to reveal the third person standing to the right. "We have a Cleric to heal us in case things get dangerous. He's the one who helped you recover your energy so quickly. This is Evandrus Chromalis, a member of the branch royal family."

Cas was shocked to hear that surname, he scowled at him. Evandrus said nothing, he only smiled and laughed nervously as the two next to him kept arguing.

"And that's not all, I believe there's one last team member that hasn't arrived yet."

Immediately after Greyhart finished that sentence, Cas heard footsteps. The presumed final member walked down from the spiral staircase behind Cas. As Greyhart walked over and brought the torch to the last ally on the team, it looked to be a small cloaked individual.

"And last but not least, meet our combat mage," He pulled off the hood of their cloak, bringing the light closer to their face revealing it to be, "Clement North."

Cas' eyes widened, he was even more surprised to see his brother was already a part of a warrior squadron.

"Clement! Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same question, brother."

"But I, I thought you couldn't-"

"Clement here may struggle with casting spells, but the spells that he can cast and utilize in battle are exceptional, I'd say he has quite the potential." Greyhart interrupted. "I put together this team about a month ago and he was my first recruit. And every single time the team reassembles, he always asks me if he really belongs here."

"So… why am I here?" Cas asked Greyhart once more.

"Shouldn't that be obvious?" He turned away. "Well, not only did you risk your life for the sake of others like a fool, I've heard from the king that you're quite the remarkable knight apprentice. You really want to waste your potential by staying in a small town-"

"That's enough…" Cas interrupted him. The man and everyone else looked at him as the room fell completely silent.

"If you're trying to recruit me, then I reject your offer. I never wanted to fight outside the kingdom, I only wanted to help others who I care about. I don't want to be selected and used as a pawn by that king, I've lost enough important people in my life and I would prefer to keep it that way and stay where I'm truly happy and do what I've made my life's goal: to protect".

The man remained silent for a good few seconds, until he burst out laughing and started applauding. "You're really funny, kid." As he slowly calmed down and stopped laughing hysterically. "Now let me ask you this, what exactly do you think warriors do?"

Cas didn't want to answer. He turned around and grabbed Clement's arm.

"We're leaving."

"Wait! Brother, please listen!"

Cas stopped walking and turned around, Clement could see a very stern and serious expression on his face. Clement felt nervous talking but he had to give it a shot.

"I-I know how this whole situation makes you feel… but if you could just listen to me. For the longest time, I've felt cold, both inside and out. I thought everyone looked down on me and ignored me, it made me lose any affinity I had for myself."

This made Cas look down, feeling sympathetic for his brother.

"Until… you gave me that approval and encouragement that I couldn't give myself. And it was then I remembered that the people who I know care about me, are the ones who give me the strength to keep trying and who push me to do my best despite everything. Mother said she has faith in us and that we can become brave and heroic warriors."

Cas was left stunned by this realization, he brought his head up again and looked at his brother.

"With you by my side… with everyone else on the team by my side, we will protect several lives if we put ours on the line. I know there are things you can't just turn a blind eye to, you're not that kind of person, brother."

Cas remained standing there in silence for a bit. After Clement just poured his heart out to him, Cas started chuckling, finding it humorous that he had been acting like a fool turning his head from all this. Greyhart began laughing again as well.

"You two are something else, I can't believe you both managed to become warrior apprentices!" He continued to laugh some more as he put both his hands on each of the brothers' shoulders, and looked at Cas.

"So, are you willing to join now, hero boy?"

Cas looked directly at him with determination. "Yes, and I will find whoever decided to burn my home to the ground."

Greyhart smiled and faced the rest of the group "It's settled then, the six of us are going to investigate and learn who attacked the town of Narrowing. It'll be our first big mission as a team. I hope you're all ready for a journey..."