Still on the road... Nothing happening now. It all stopped when I tried to throw my sword at Jayce for singing Paint me in Blue. I missed, of course. So it landed in front of us. We had to awkwardly stop to get it back in the caravan. Now they are mad at me for being rippled for the day. So now it's just silent. It's bringing back memories of home. But now all of that is gone. All I have left is the need to move on and a goal. Nothing more. But in truth this has been the most exciting time of my life! This is... actually the first time I've been away from home. "Isahia, are you okay?" Emylia says in concern even though I show no digress. I look up to see a snoozing Shaw and Emylia gawking at me. "I am fine." Erk! That hurt a bit... but I will live. "Why do you ask such things, Emylia?" "Well, your lordship, I-" "No, no, no. No formalities, for they are abnormalities." "Oh. I am sorry your ma..." She stops herself and giggles a bit. I follow behind for effect. "It's fine. Try again." "Well, I just wanted to say sorry... Isahia." Good! You got it. "Bravo! Your learning. Your forgiven." I clap as I say those words and I can tell she feels a bit embarrassed. She goes quiet again, so I continue the conversation! "So Emylia... How did you become a Tactician for the Steelwater army?" She smiles again. It's a good thing too, because she seems to have a very serious personality. "Well actually. I am only an official tactician because I was the only one appropriate for this mission. The 8 full grown men I was pit against all failed in retrospect. So I am a full blown tactician due to the very mission we are on right now." Wow... I don't think she has ever talked that much around me. "So... That means you were originally an apprentice, yes?" She looks out the window, orange sky growing dimmer by the second. "Yes. I even surpassed my master in tactical arts. I know the war very well." "No you don't!" Jayce blerts from nowhere. "You haven't even reached the battlefield!" "Only because you discriminate against age!" Wow! Never saw that power in her voice before! "Okay! Jeeze! I'll shut up!" Jayce goes back to whatever he does as Emylia speaks again. "So thats me. Whats your life story Isahia?" "Well honestly my life was for most of the time very bor-" "Shaw!" Jayce interrupts in panic. Shaw wakes as if it were his first breath of life. "What is it Jayce?" "We have an unseen problem." Jayce responds in distress. Shaw looks out the window. "What Jayce?!" "Ahead of us is Mt. Bellenus." "So!?" "There is a fort there. Don't you see it?" I look out the window on Emylia's side. I see a great mountain with a winding road, huge wooden gate in front of it, leaving not a single path up Bellenus. But there are also candles or Elemental light of various colors in the distance through the fort windows. Not good. "Curses! I see them alright!" Shaw belches in rage, then coming back into MY spot to think. "Maybe we can get through if we manage to pace there at the right hour with an able cannon and-" What? "No! That will take too long Shaw!" Emylia counters through logic. "I'f we want to get through the only procedure that will work correctly in this situation would be the P.U.R.G.E. Core executor through the Nien cycle on eclypse th-" What? Again. "How about we just go around?" Jayce... Your a genious. "What about the border? If we go any further left we will be in Copper country!" Emylia just crushed my dreams. "How about we go right?" Jayce... again. Your a genious. "No. On these current terms going right would be even more dangerous. For Coppers are now crawling all over Steelwater and they are still taking smaller parts. I'f we go too deep in we will simply get caught in the crossfire." Crushed again. Dejavue? "Well then. I say our best bet is to lead towards Restless Shrine." Restless Armor? Jayce points to a slightly thicker shadow than the trees of this very large forest. "In fact! Its just on the edge of the horizon. Only slightly farther away than Bellenus." Shaw looks at his hand in disgust. He reminds me of a royal version of Cole. "Jayce! You and I both know that the only reason you wish to stop there is to see the very armor your grandfather wore!" Has Paige even been around that long. "And to feed the Budds..." Not your best arguement Jayce. Jayce looks sad, for Shaw leaves no response. I got this! "Actually..." Shaw looks interested and surprised at me. "If you add the time it would take to climb Mt. Bellenus to our total, compared to our time to get to the Restless Armor. It would not only be more, but it would also take more energy." Jayce throws me a smirk and a thumbs up as I look at him through the window. I pop my head in with arms crossed. I look at Shaw in victory. He pulls out a book from his satchel. "Very well..." We all cheer a bit for beating Shaw in a battle of wits. Then Shaw looks at me in death stare. "BUT!!! Do not be uncautious in our time there. Copperblaze soldiers lie about. It will not be a safe night." He says in warning, shutting victory in our face. Jayce starts the Budds up. "Very well! We move!" Jayce drives off the dirt path into the open plain, going at a steadily fast pace down the slant until we were on equal ground as the white trees I saw from above only moments before. We are going way too fast, and we are still excelling forward! I slide then slam into the back of the caravan. "Ack!" The wood stabs my chest a bit. I realize and turn around to find out I am now in between Emylia and Shaw. "Are you alright?!" She had to yell over the up and down jutting of the chariot. "I'm fiii-!" I bounce too high and thonk my head against the roof. I fall back down only to hurt my ass. "Darn it!" I hold my head and duck to the ground hoping my weight will keep me safe. "Liar!" Emylia yells at me. #Thonk# #Thonk# #Thonk# #Thonk# We are slowing. This is good news. This is good. I continue to repeat these words in my head until we are at a complete stop. "Jayce, don't you think your a bit too excited?" Shaw says in the same pose he was in before we took the detour. Shaw flips a page in his book lieing on his lap. "Did you move at all?" I say as I get back up releasing my head from my own death grip. "No." He spat coldly as Sol continued to fall. Now the sky was a deep red and Sol was on its brink of hitting night. We got out and for most of the night nothing abnormal happened. I helped Jayce feed the Budds. After, Emylia, Shaw, and Jayce all talked in the newly
set-up tent, planning as in the first place we were. I saw a thick tree and chose to climb it. I sat at the top branch, steeple of the tree only a just higher. I just sat there and thought... Its all I could do honestly. I wasn't going to bother them. So instead I looked at Luna, glowing in a purple veil with a black hole in the center. I'f you were untought, you might mistake it for a blackhole. Wait! I climb back down and go toward the chariot to get Hint still sound in his helm. I climb back up the tree as before, only this time sitting with helm in between my legs. "I never knew Shines sleep this long." I say without reason. A bit of the acidity in my darkness lifts from me when I lift the eyegaurd to see the young shine curled up in a ball, eyes shut and a bright, tiny snore developing. I shut it back so the moonlight doesn't touch his unwavering rest. I thought about how I was probably one of the youngest official knights in all of history, and how I shouldn't have such a darkness in me. But... It was destined according to Malek, so I guess I just have to pull through. Then thoughts of Hint filled my mind. I bet he went a long way to deliver this key to me. I pull the key out from my breastplate, it now glistening in it's own essence. With insurity I fall to sleep, then and there. Without another thought...