Missing, 2years.
Two years had passed since Alex got missing from the cave. The whole camp erupted in chaos when Derek, Asher and William reported the news, the entire camp was turned upside down, fear was in the hearts of the commanders and instructors, this has never happened before and for it to be the chieftain's son was more disastrous.
After two months of searching everywhere they could think of the chief commander had no choice but to tell the chieftain the truth, if the chieftain finds out himself he will die in a cruel way. When he reported to the chieftain, all he received was the cheiftian's indifferent gaze which lasted for almost five minutes, then the chieftain sent him away, he was confused, he kept thinking that he was not understanding something.
At the training ground many kids were training, some sparing against each other and they all wore thick black clothes, these black clothes were rune weights which they started using this year as their Spartan training had begun. Even with Alex missing for two years he's battle with Arthur and Ulrich's friends and the stone he threw was never forgotten, all the kids respected and feared him. Most of the kids after two years of intense training has reached the 1st stage in their weapon mastery with few talented ones reaching the 2nd stage, these few could be counted with one hand.
The scar left by Alex's disappearance deeply affected his friends, their jovial attitude reduced, they focused on their training and talked less, Alex was like the heart of the group and with him gone nothing was the same. The four of them were at the training ground sparing, Derek and William teamed up against Asher and john. As they got closer to becoming a low level warrior their rate of summoning their phantoms became higher, phantoms were not like normal natural runes, when a warrior wants to battle seriously his runes activates, all the natural runes on his body activates at once, but racial natural runes like phantoms can only be activated if the individual wants, unlike other warriors whose runes all activates when he wants to battle. So a silver blood can fight with his normal warrior level runes activated but if he wants more power he summons his phantom.
A slim Derek stood at William's back with his eyes flashing with silver light, at the other side both Asher and john were fighting against four daggers which moved at an incredible speed. Asher and john defended while trying to keep a clear mind for once a strong thought appears Derek will notice so their thoughts has to be mild and fast, sometimes they move without thinking, training till it became a muscle memory was the best method they had formulated to defeat Derek.
The major problem was William, his shield mastery has reached the second stage, he was like a wall that never broke making the notion of getting to Derek almost impossible.
Three of them had glowing blue eyes, which was a sign that they had used their phantoms, dull sounds of a wooden sword and spear hitting a wooden shield rang continuously as William backed away while exhaling cold air, the ice Force from Asher's attacks were giving him frostbites, he almost dropped his shield for it was getting unbearable, Derek noticed the problem and controlled three blades to attack Asher aggressively forcing him to retreat BAM!, William staggered, a spinning shield hit him unexpectedly causing him to lose his footing, swoosh!, A spear pierced the ground right next to Derek, Derek smiled bitterly and announced"we have lost".
"Yes!!", Asher and john shouted with joy, they have always lost against Derek and William, it was not that they are weak, it was Derek!, He had grown into a powerful telekinesis adept and with his second awakening defeating him was no easy matter.
William put down his shield and said,"i hate that shameless ability of yours Asher and I don't understand how you are able to keep up with us when we activated our phantoms, I thought that it was your elemental ability that was supposed to get stronger?".
Asher turned and walked towards the weapon rack, the others followed him, on their way he said,"extra training, i am still a silver blood and we have natural body talent so I trained as hard as I can and covered up the rest with my ice Force".
After hearing what Asher said, William nodded in understanding while Derek stared at John and scowled,"you!... I have nothing to say to you, but congratulations on reaching standard stage 1". William and Asher stared at John with wide eyes, no wonder it was John who won the battle even William sensed something wrong with John's attack, they were weaker than normal, he couldn't be bothered at that time because he was pressured by Asher Force ability. So it turned out that John was faking. John wanted to be a silver Spartan so he trained in the combination of the three Spartan weapons, when everyone had reached stage one, he had not achieved anything but now he had reached standard stage one he could fight on par with a stage two adept like William.
After keeping their weapons, they went towards the cave, the rejuvenating bath was now a regular thing every kid does after training, the restorative energy heals their bodies of any injuries and brings them back to their healthy state, so despite the weight and extreme training given by their commander there was no side effect. Once they entered the pool their mood became different, especially Derek, he just laid in the liquid and closed his eyes, even with the potion mixed into the bath to make the kids sleep, Derek could not sleep, Alex disappearance hurt him deeply, he knew that Alex may still be alive but then why would they separate them. Since their birth, they have been best friends, he was born the same day with Alex, it would not be an impossibility to say they were brothers. Derek's mind was in turmoil as some memories resurfaced,
---
"Alex I've eaten enough, take the turkey back to the kitchen", said a seven year old Derek with oily mouth.
"Why, can't you see you've lost a little fat, you need to eat more to fill it up", Alex persisted while cutting the turkey and placing it on Derek's plate, he glanced at Derek and said with 'alarm'.
"Your cheeks have reduced a lot, I can even see your bones, this is an emergency we need to call the council".
Derek's eyes bulged as he bellowed,"call the council!, Are you mad also I've reduced because we have started our training, the ceremony is coming soon and I will get back to my normal shape soon don't worry".
Alex scrutinized him with a slight frown and said slowly while putting emphasis on each word,"you will eat or the council will gather".
A vein popped on Derek's head, he gritted his teeth and murmured while stuffing his mouth,"I wonder why you become so foolish when talking about my weight loss, look at yourself your slim".
Alex heard him and said,"I was born slim and you fat, so as your elder brother I am supposed to protect your identity". He pats Derek's shoulder with his eyes saying 'believe in me'.
"My shape is not my identity and you are not older than me, you oaf!", Derek face was red from anger as he puffed.
"Hahahahahah!, I am older than you by 2 minutes, I asked your dad". Alex laughed at Derek's funny face and justified their age difference. Another memory began;
"Derek move, don't forget I'm always behind you", Alex assured the scared Derek.
"...you.. you sure..!", Derek said trembling.
"Always, just look back and I'm here", Alex answered with a bright smile.
---
Derek's eyes flew open and he looked behind him but no one was there, he faced the liquid as tears fell disappearing in the Blue liquid. Asher watched Derek's trembling body and sighed, his consciousness blurred and he heard someone talking to him,
---
So you are now my aide", Alex said confused by what the snot nosed Asher in front of him was saying.
"Yes..I ..am", answered the trembling Asher, his last experience at home was not something a kid his age would wish for, his family almost fell apart and it gave Asher a dark shadow.
Alex smiled brightly at the snot nosed Asher and said jovially" lets go to Aunt Emma, she is the best in consoling me when I'm sad, so I'm sure you'll be fine in a day". Another one sets in;
"Sheesh!, You are taking this aide thing too seriously"Alex grumbled.
"You can't grumble about this, I am your aide and will forever be so get used to this nagging", Asher replied with a scowl.
---
"Asher!", William yelled towards Asher whose eyes were blank, Asher snapped back to reality and looked at William.
"Are you okay", William said with squinted eyes.
Asher squeezed out a smile and said,"I am fine, just thinking for a moment".
John stood up from the pool and said loudly,"what we should do is train and get stronger so when we meet him again he will be shocked and proud that he had such great friends' and if he acts like he doesn't remember us we shall make him remember forcefully!".
William and Asher chuckled even Derek smiled and the three of them said at the same time,"can we beat him". Whether that was a question or their answer, no one knows.