My Beginning After the End Downfall

Etistin Pt. I

Arthur Leywin

Sylvie and I had just arrived in the outskirts of Etistin, the battle should begin in about three days, so we were pretty early. Veer told us that we showed up the day of the battle in the novel, which means we changed things up.

Aya actually came with us, but she was heading into the city, whereas we were going to see Bairon, the leader of the battle. Him and I don't always see eye to eye, but we are able to work together, at least I think, we haven't really fought together.

If Mica wasn't on a mission in Darv right now, she would be with us, but sadly she was. I know she isn't the strongest Lance, but she was still a Lance, making her quite strong compared to the others.

We landed on the ground, Sylvie was still a little distant with me, she wasn't mad or anything with me, it's just, she feels rejected. It's all about Veer, I know that, and I don't know how to deal with it.

"Transform into your human form." I told her, and she did just that, transforming out of her dragon form, into her human one. We were in front of the castle they were using as a headquarters for Bairon and the mages who were helping.

Sylvie didn't respond to me, but as we walked into the castle being greeted with bows and smiles, a familiar face appeared. "General Leywin, Lady Sylvie." Curtis Glayder said, giving us a warm smile. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise." I told him, returning his smile, Sylvie didn't say a thing, just gave him a head nod, and we started walking inside. "I didn't expect you to be here, I thought you were teaching in an academy."

"I came back last month." The boy around my age spoke to me like I out ranked him, I knew that he wanted to show his respect to me, but I really didn't need us to act like this. "You know, it's really good to see, Arthur, it's been a while, I don't know the last time I was in the castle."

I nodded my head. "I've been training with your sister for the last two months; she's gotten quite strong." We entered into the castle and were greeted by ten soldiers who aligned the wall for protection, they all bowed to us as we walked by.

"I heard." He said, then the atmosphere got a little dark as he shot me a look that told me what he was going to bring up. "Arthur, I am sorry about Tessia, I know just how much the two of you liked each other, when I heard about the battle in Zestier, I instantly thought about you."

"I appreciate that, Curtis." We turned the corner and entered a hallway. I had no idea where we were going, I was just following him. "Tessia's death..." I paused, still thinking about where she could be if she was alive, but I had no idea. "...her death has been hard on everyone."

"I am sure." He responded, sending me a warm smile, showing that he meant well. "Lance Bairon is waiting inside with the elite mages who are casting the image of the field and more onto the artifact for all of us to see."

"Alright." I said as we turned into a room, inside where countless mages hard at work, there was a ball in the middle of the room, an image of the battlefield, and all the mages in the city present, which was a lot on it. On a podium, directing the mages was Lance Bairon, and when he saw me, he stopped doing what he was doing.

"Everyone, Lance Arthur is here." Bairon spoke calmly, and all the mages in the room turned to me and bowed. I greeted them all with a head nod, Sylvie didn't do anything, I was thinking about not bringing her, but she insisted on coming.

Bairon got down off the podium and started walking towards me. "Lance Bairon." I said as he got closer, holding out my hand as the mages went back to work.

He took my hand, not showing any signs of aggression towards me. "Arthur, I'm happy you are here, we are going to need you in this upcoming battle." He told me, then turning to what was going on. "As you can see, at the moment we have twenty five thousand troops in Etistin and around it, all gathering for the battle on the shore, and there are a lot more reinforcements coming later."