Chapter 17 : Goal

The Watchman that had asked if they were alright had come running back, with Mason running even faster. Mason was out of breath when he reached the two boys, but still showed immediate care.

“Are you two alright? I heard you got into a fight with Andrew again, Ren,” he said disappointed.

“...yeah,” Ren replied shyly, a little ashamed.

Andrew and Ren seemed to have lots of fights and scuffles. Though Andrew had his gang and was older, Ren still stood for what he believed was right. 

Sigh…

“Alright, you two are staying with me till the end of my shift,” Mason sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Daddd, that’s not fair! I was just protecting Kieran! He was being bullied by Andrew!” he protested

The dad thought for a while. Ren was right. It wasn’t fair at all that all they did was defend themselves, and yet they were being punished. Mason didn’t know what to do, because he also wanted to bring them with him to protect them there. As he was thinking, Kieran interrupted his train of thought.

“How about you let us practice here? The Watchmen can protect us, right?” Kieran suggested, obviously seeing through Mason’s idea and reasoning. When Ren heard this, he started beaming with passion and light. He couldn’t stop fidgeting and started begging

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

Mason thought about it for a while, and agreed. The other watchmen would be doing their own training, but because they would be closer, if anything happened they could react immediately. He looked at the other watchman that brought him here, and the watchman nodded.

“Alright, fine. But you need to listen to Gary, alright? If Gary tells you something, you listen to him, alright?”

“Okay! We promise!” Ren said hurriedly, grabbing Kieran's arm and running off to the training grounds.

Mason just watched them as they ran off, chuckled, then walked back to his post, while Gary slowly walked behind the two boys. 

“I’m glad. Ren finally has a friend..”

As the boys ran to the training grounds, Ren suddenly changed directions. He dragged Kieran all the way to the side, where there was the weapons rack. It had only a few weapons. Shields, swords, spears, bow and arrows were laid out on the rack. Of course, they were wooden since it was for training, but it was the first time Ren had gotten to see one up close.

“Wow! Look at it Kieran! It’s so cool!” Ren exclaimed, jumping from joy and eyeing the spear.

Kieran walked up to the rack and looked at everything for himself. The weapons were old, and had many signs of wear. Some were deformed and broken as well. If he wanted to be a Knight, this is where they would have to train. He tried to pick up a sword, but immediately dropped it to the ground due to how heavy it was. The child’s body couldn’t lift it up properly. It required him using both hands and all his strength just to lift it. Ren, being bigger, lifted the spear with ease. He started playing around with it and swinging it around randomly, while making woosh noises and clanging sound effects. Kieran needed to train his body in order to even start holding the sword. The body of Kieran Morrison was undeniably weak. 

Seeing Ren, Kieran made up his mind.

“Alright. I’m going to do this. I’m going to train, and together with Ren, we’ll go to Aldercrest academy. I’ll become a Knight, I’ll figure out what happened to my mom, and I’ll find my missing brother."

With this, his goal was set.