Before I can continue my inquiry about the sudden call to arms that had befell us, Xuiyan had come to an abrupt stop, in front of a gargantuan building, with azure gates that were easily 10 feet tall left wide open, and a steady stream of Cloud-Knights entering unarmed, and exiting seemingly ready to fight a war. Putting 2 and 2 together, this is probably the Cloud-Knights armoury, but why did she bring me along?
Stepping inside alongside her 'Why am i even following her?', I am greeted by a menagerie of weapons so broad that I find myself questioning that if 25% of the Xian-Zhou are Cloud-Knights, then what percentage are blacksmiths? From wickedly sharp glaives and swords that shimmered an emerald green, to massive tower shields and bows that looks as if they were fletched from ivory. It's as if almost every weapon in existence was present within this place. I even saw an axe connected to a spiked flail by a chain hooked on the wall, before it was taken by a towering cloud knight with a frankly freakishly large physique.
Even now, a steady flow of cloud knights quickly enter, arm themselves in a rush, and leave with a swift urgency. Some of them with fear on their faces, others anger, and a few with a serene calm; as if they were unbothered by the chaotic environment around them and the upcoming inevitability of battle. The sound of armored greaves striking the ground forms a sort of chaotic symphony that drones on in the background, as if it's the rumbling drumbeat of strife.
"That's good to hear," she replies, her tone now more commanding. "I hereby draft you into the cloud knights, temporarily, until this situation is resolved." She then loses her commanding tone as quickly as it came. "What weapon kind of would you prefer? We have pretty much everything in here."
"Give me something easy for a beginner," I say, awestruck that I was just drafted not even a full 3 days on the Luofu. They better pay me well when this is over.
After a quick glance at the weapons stored within the armoury, Xuiyan picks up a spear from the wall and tosses it towards me. I fumble slightly but manage to catch it. The weapon was lighter than expected, even through the shaft was made of some type of metal.
She gives me a quick crash course on how to use a spear. "Pointy end towards the enemy, use the spear's range to your advantage. Avoid wide swings, you're inexperienced. Focus on stabs and pierces."
She loads her quiver with arrows, the movements practiced and efficient, and after a moment of hesitation, she grabs a sword, strapping it to her side with a fluid motion. She then dons various pieces of armour and puts on a helmet.
She straightens, and for the first time, I truly take in her appearance. Her helmet obscures her face, but her sharp green eyes shine through the slit of the helmet with determination.
Xuiyan extends a hand covered with a metal glove towards me, palm open. "Ready for your first lesson on the field?" she asks, her tone a mix of casual ease and underlying tension.
I grasp her hand firmly, drawing strength from her confidence. "Yeah, I am."
-/-
Being a long life species was boring. You spend your first 30 years in school, and then are expected to go to work until you fall to mara, or die before that. I was never one to conform to standards, though.
I hated school, everything just dragged on and on and on over and over again. Math this, history that, alchemy this. I felt that every day I was in school drew me closer to getting mara struck, seriously!
My parents always heckled me about school too, even though my grades were decent, in my opinion. A 73 is much better than a 0, right?
Anyways, that's why I wanted to join the cloud knights. I thought that it would be exciting, and leave me satisfied. I right, for a time. I did well in combat, got a squad, went on missions that had me doing backflips on the tightrope between life and death, but eventually it got boring too.
I mean, the missions were still interesting. It felt good to help people, but the paperwork became my bane as I achieved higher ranks through the years. Imaging a literal stack of paper the height of you, needing to be sorted through! Logistics, mission recaps, and a whole bunch of other things.
Isn't being a cloud knight about keeping the Luofu safe? The only danger I saw in paperwork was the ability it had to corrode the joy out of people. Look at the workers of the realm keeping division! Need I say more?
I requested a demotion on the clause of 'Wanting to get closer to the battlefield instead of the battle between pen and paper,' and was approved. Even though I got a bunch of weird looks, I didn't care. Why would I let others influence what I take joy in?
It was like old days again. Meeting with new squadmates, more missions and less paperwork, and I even began fletching with all the free time that I had between missions. Even though my salary was frankly ludicrous, I somehow ended up broke within a week every time I got paid. Which is why I started offering my fetching as a service for some extra income.
Cosgolonia was meant to be a rank and file mission. Cleanse the abundance, secure an area blah blah blah. But we found a survivor on a planet that fell over 3 months ago! In my 300 years of service, it's only happened around 2 times, so it was pretty rare.
He burst through the treeline with a maelific ape on his heels, almost put an arrow in his skull on reflex before I caught myself and waved down my squadmate
One thing that stood out to me were his eyes. He was scared, yeah. But when you spend enough time on the battlefield, you learn how to read people. And what I saw in his eyes was a emptiness only saw in people that were about to turn mara struck.
He looked like he had lost his soul.