Graves of the black flame

Morgan reached the road without any trouble, as the forest itself guided him. Now with nothing to do as he waited for the caravan to arrive his thoughts were running wild. Not the fact that he is now in a fantasy world with unknowns around every corner, not the fact that he is a level 1, the bottom of the totem pole. Not even the fact that magic was a normal thing around here and he had access to powers earthlings would consider supernatural. No, it was the fact that he asked for a hug and called some green humanoid 'mother', that was running rampant in his mind. He a 60 year old soldier had behaved like a child, that was embarrassing him the more he thought about his actions. All he could do was to calm himself by thinking that it was done and in the past now, like he usually did in his soldiering days.

Lost in his thoughts, initially he failed to notice small birds had gathered nearby, some in the branches others on the ground next to him, peering curiously at him. As well as the verdant life thriving around him, flowers blooming rapidly and grass growing strong and luscious. Then he looked around noticing everything.

"Guess this has something to do with the part of me that is from mother." He extended a hand, intending to make a perch for the birds. To his surprise they immediately landed on his fingers and along his arm. The birds kept looking at him curiously without much movement or song. Perhaps mother watched him through the eyes of the birds, but he could not be sure. Without anything to do he exercised his control over the nearby flora, trying to grasp his powers.

The sun was setting by the time the caravan made it to his part of the road. He heard before he saw a carriage pulled along by feathered raptor like creatures, and the driver was a massive man almost covering the carriage behind him. He waved at Morgan when he noticed he was being watched. When the caravan reached Morgan, they stopped and the massive man hopped off and introduced himself.

"Greetings, I am Graves of the black flame. Supposed to pick up a forest kid, I assume that's you?" He asked jovially, contrasting with his gravelly low voice. He had a rugged grey beard and a head full of grey short hair, cut in an army style buzz cut.

Morgan nodded and responded. "That's me. The name's Morgan."

"Nice to meet you, Morgan. You are gonna need a uniform first though, there are some impressionable young girls in the caravan, can't have you walking around with just leaves covering your bits." He said with a chuckle, Morgan was sure that the rumble alone from the act reached far into the forest. He nodded in response.

"Honey, we need a uniform here." Graves spoke, but there was no one else around them and it was not a shout to call back to someone else from the caravan, no one should have heard, but a young woman with a pixie cut and dark hair appeared out of the shadows of the caravan carrying clothes.

"This is my wife, Esmeralda. She helps the kids around the caravan." The big man introduced with a big proud smile. The woman was taller than Morgan slightly, perhaps tall for a woman, but she still looked tiny next to Graves. She was pale with dark brown eyes, that peered at Morgan.

"Nice to meet you, Morgan. Here are some supplies to clean yourself with as well, do so before you put on the uniform." She said aloof.

"Thanks." Morgan nodded and walked behind a nearby tree to clean up and dress. After some time Morgan was done and headed towards the now lively caravan. People were moving around carrying supplies around and setting tents, getting ready for the night. So he went up to Graves and asked.

"How can I help, sir?" The uniform had reminded him of the old days. It was very stylised in a military fashion. Aside from the colour and a few liberties taken for comforts sake. It was a deep night blue colour mainly, with silver hems contrasting starkly against it. A metal plate was inlaid onto the chest aligning with where the heart would be. On the metal plate school heraldry shone, a simple dagger at a glance but the dark shadow behind it showed multiple blade points peeking out from within it.

The big man turned towards Morgan and quipped.

"Hah. Don't you look dashing now Morgan. Reminds me of the day I met the young master, he called me sir too, even though... never mind that. Go to that guy." He said as he pointed at a young man with short brown hair.

"He will give you something to do. He is the senior student in charge of the newcomers." With that Morgan was off to help set up camp.