Rude Awakening

Roku's POV:

To say that we were lacking would be an understatement. After we woke up today we had breakfast before going to Julius in order to meet or new trainers. As soon as we walked into the office we were forced to accept that our strength is not up to stuff. To make it worse the ones flexing their magic weren't the Wizard King himself. Like the scenes where the captains use their magic to suppress others, we walked in on a lioness made of fire, trying to suppress a hawk of wind. Neither construct had the upper hand showing their owners relative strength.

Looking at the owners I am not surprised that the woman is a red head with long hair and a ferocious smile. I easily recognized her as Mereoleona Vermillion, who was probably the second strongest character in the show. To my surprise the other person is someone I don't recognize from the show. He's a tall, skinny blonde man. He has a crown on his brow, and soft blue eyes that contradicts the amount of pressure he is putting out.

When we entered it was like the cue for them to drop their magic to allow us to breathe. My eyes are stuck on the man, I kind of recognize him, but he is not wearing a squads cape. My thoughts are interrupted by Julius standing from his chair.

"I have a meeting soon so let's make this quick, Sue, your trainer will be Mereoleona Vermillion. Roku, your teacher will be Alfred Reinford. Please take your trainees somewhere else, I have work to do." Saying this he motioned for us to leave, waving us to go.

Our teachers left the office with us behind them. Their pace quickened after passing the threshold of the office. When we reached the receptionists a hand of fire emerged from behind Mereoleona and grabbed Sue by the head. Oddly it did no damage, but judging by Sue's struggling the hold is firm. I wave bye to Sue trying to hide my smirk, knowing those two are extremely similar.

Alfred stops at the receptionists desk and asks, "can I have the location?" His voice was soft but even though he asked a question it warranted no argument. The receptionist nods before handing him a map. Judging by what little I could glance it looks like directions to my new headquarters.

Looking at me and then back at the map before stating, "let's go it's a long way to where we have to go." He leads me to outside the capital before asking "cam you fly us?" To my nod he states "well go ahead we want to go that way." Following the instructions of my new teacher I use my grimoire to make to wind lemurs, one for each of us. As they pick us up, I can't help but look forward to this training. As we leave I can't help but ignore a shiver that goes down my spine.

Sue's POV:

Miles Away:

I don't know who this crazy strong, crazy lady is, but I know I cam blame Roku for the hell I'm about to go through. Oh he will definitely pay for this.

Alfred Reinford POV:

When I was fifteen, just like all the youth in this kingdom, I wanted to be a magic knight. My wind magic ended up being flashy and strong enough to get me selected on my first exam. I joined the Coral Peacocks, and it didn't take me long to wake up from my dreams. Although I am a noble I didn't realize how curropt the knights currently are. Every squad has those dealing in the black market, or simply abusing their authority.

Maybe it was my fault for expecting better, but the shaking of my reality still destroyed my child like hope. I didn't let it effect my work. It took me three years to become a senior knight second class. I even started taking up the tasks to work towards becoming a captain.

That all changed in one week. One day out on a mission, I was tracking some bandits, when I was blindsided by an enemy ambush. It was not the first ambush I had fallen under but this one was different. Not only was the enemy powerful, she dominated any attempt I made to fight back. Not only did she stomp my attempts to fight back down, she cursed me.

I didn't realize at first that I was cursed, but after I healed, I learned that every time I used magic, I didn't recover mana and it hurt to cast spells. Not only that I learned that when I left on the mission my house was raided, where they found circumstantial evidence about me being connected to the black market.

The fact that my captain looked jovial when he told me this made it all the easier to quit on the spot. With my inability to recover mana I was going to have to leave anyways. After throwing my cape away, I dived into researching curses only to find nothing. The only thing I could think was that when my mana was used up I would die, most likely painfully.

To make matters worse every morning my mana lessened, and as it leaked I was experiencing pain. My days filled with melancholy were interrupted by a summons by the Wizard King. I heard a new one took the seat and he was ambitious. The letter says I am to help train a new squad captain. I can't help but smile at knowing that all my hard work before the sabotage wasn't for nothing. Not only that the captain of another squad realized that at the very least I could help train a captain.

I arrived early just to see someone else there as well. I could tell from one look she was strong, and going off looks she is definitely a Vermillion. Ignoring the lioness in the room I listen to the new Wizard King, as he explains indepth what we need to do. My head hurts at thinking about how much I will need to teach this outlier, in order to get him ready. I grimace at the time limit, knowing that it almost matches up with how much time I have left.

I should be able to get him up to snuff in time, especially if he was chosen by a spirit. My musings are interrupted but the predator in the room flaring her magic. I flare my own in response suppressing my grimace at the pain. Luckily seeing my pain my counterpart relents a little. I was about to ask the reason for this show when our queries walk in.

The two terns walked in one in front of the other. The boy in the front could be described as small. He was at most 5'3" and that's if you were being generous. He has shoulder length black hair and red eyes. He's physically fit but we will have to see how fit later. The girl behind him is taller maybe 5'6". Even though I just met them I can tell she is almost a clone of her teacher. The main difference being the younger one's hair is darker, and doesn't look like she wants to bite everyone.

Judging by the slight influx of magic before she dropped her pressure she picked up on that feeling. Dropping my own pressure, I can't help but follow Julius' orders and lead my student out. Seeing is base location I look at him and sigh. I can't help but think he my be overly hopeful. I have him start flying off the way towards his future base and my final resting place.

Roku's POV:

Four Months Later:

I hat to admit it but I am a fool.

That maybe a little harsh, naive might describe me better. I had forgotten that this world is extremely cruel at times. I remembered that as soon as my wind lemur made contact with Alfred. As soon as contact was established I knew he was cursed by a devil. My partnership with Rock made it so I could recognize devil magic.

On the trip over I could only think about the devil attacks I missed. Noel's mom should already be dead. That means Nozel has been cursed so he can't talk about it. A lot of people hate how he treated Noel, and although I'm not fond of it myself, I can understand why he does it. He doesn't know how to mourn for the sudden death of his mother. Then he has to take care of his family while his youngest sister is a spitting image of said mother. I'm not accusing or defending him, but he needed help.

I think I am still before the attack on the Heart Kingdom. I should be about two years older than Lolopechka. I hope I can reach a point to help then. Especially because now I have more reason to.

Once we made it to the location of the future headquarters I'm meet with the sight of shacks. There are three ran down buildings that are near each other, and are the only proof of the failed village that came before. Inspecting the buildings we chose the best one, the one in the middle, to use as a temporary room. We have two more days before builders show up, so we start are training tomorrow.

Having Alfred as a teacher was extremely beneficial, and something I will cherish for the rest of my life. His teaching method was gentle when needed, and allowed to be personal due to the one-on-one nature. His lectures included his own experiences, and allowed me to learn more about him.

When the builders showed up I gave them the instructions, luckily due to the minimalist nature of the headquarters, they were only here for a month. I decided that in order for everyone to personalize their own section they will have to help make their own quarters. Because of that the only real construction that was needed was to convert these three ran down shacks into a hotel like building with a dozen rooms.

I decided I would make my office in my own section while the middle of all the sections will be a meeting room. Or it would have been initially.

Due to my close interaction with Alfred we developed a close relationship. I would have considered him an older brother. During our lessons he ended up telling me about his past, and I was extremely frustrated. Not only because of what happened to Alfred, but that I forgot one thing I really hated about the Clover system.

The Clover Kingdom society is dominated by a strict caste sysytem. Until recently there was almost no blurring or interaction between the lines. Nobles interacted with nobles, commoners with commoners, and so on. I was reminded that Julius is trying to change that but, that won't fix the damage that is done.

Looking around I see the remains of what would have been the meeting rooms. The destruction of said building being a by product of what happened last night and the reason for my self-deprecating attitude.

As I was going to sleep last night I was awoken by a worked up Rock. Seeing him troubled I used my senses and easily identified the problem. Alfred's curse had run its curse. We knew it would happen soon, but we thought he would pass and that would be the end of it. It was not.

He was in the office building, as that is were he has been spending his nights as we got closer to his passing. I think he wanted it to be private, his face would show how frustrated he truly was at dying this way. I rushed towards him only to be horrified by what I saw.

Inside he was standing there with mana leaking, but it wasn't his usual wisp wind like mana. No, it was dark and heavy. To make it worse he was already dead, and was being manipulated by this dark mana. So not only did he get cursed to die slowly, his body would be defiled and turned into a zombie.

I did what any sibling would do at a time like this, I broke. I was angry, too angry to think clearly until now, six hours later. I don't remember fighting per se. I remember yelling, stomping while pushing my hands towards him. Earth mana encasing my arms. I will forever be haunted by what I say next.

The earth answering my call impaled the building from all directions, surrounding Alfred in walls. If that was all it wouldn't be to bad, by instinct I can feel my mana that is connected to spirits click. A spear from behind the animated corpse of my brother impaled his back pooking through the front wall. At first I was surprised maybe even glad because I saw no blood, but then I saw why. From the ground up his body started turning into stone, only for it to reach the top of his head. As if to continue my pain he slowly turned into dust from the top down.

Hearing a noise behind me I look to see Sue standing there. I make no effort to hide my tears, nor the hug she gives me. I'm glad. I can still feel. Though that means it still hurts.