Brutus followed after Rowan, a blonde-haired man with average height, barely taller than Brutus himself, whose predatory amber eyes almost demanded anyone's attention.
They walked through the city, between narrow half-timbered row houses pressed tightly into either side of the street, with narrow alleys cutting between them that led to even more homes.
As they slipped deeper into the city, the buildings became increasingly grander. Workshops housing Blacksmiths hammering at glowing lumps of metal, which shaved off sparks from their surface.
An incredible cathedral, housing countless prayers and beliefs.
Then all at once, the cramped streets gave way to the open sky.
The city square.
Brutus stopped for a heartbeat, taking it in.
Brutus's eyes danced between merchants bellowing prices from every corner—selling fresh bread, foreign spices, and gleaming trinkets that held no real value. Beside them stood the exotic traders, from faraway regions, with their counters littered with colourful clothes patterned with symbols Brutus had never seen before.
Crowds gathered in small circles around street performers.
One acrobat twisted his body through a ring so narrow that Brutus wasn't sure even a cat could squeeze through, a juggler tossed knives, apples, and even a brick high into the sky, drawing small splashes of applause and awe.
The cramped row houses lined the edge of the square, following it all the way to the opposite side. Brutus saw it part straight down the middle, and rooted directly in the centre of the gap in the buildings, he saw a magnificent castle towering over the entire city from atop a big green hill.
Numerous onyx black round towers lined the curtain wall, which wrapped all the way around the tall hill.
The main keep dwarfed even that of the mountainous round towers, stretching to almost touch the clouds. Its dark walls swallowed all light; it almost dominated the entire city.
And at the highest peak of the keep, stood a flag, jet black, like the rest of the castle, with two white arms crossing each other from each corner, one clutching a spear, and the other.
A head.
And at the very bottom of the flag, it read...
"Valerond..." Brutus felt all the blood from his face drain.
Rowan said over his shoulder. "Thornepoint is the territory of Valerond, yes."
Brutus clenched his fist. "Bastards..." He whispered.
"What was that?" Rowan looked over his shoulder again, "Either way, let's hurry it up, we're almost there."
"Yes..." Brutus replied hollowly.
They walked through the square and into the parting of the buildings that was in front of them. And to his left, Brutus saw the contstricting buildings fall back and be replaced by a clear plot of land that housed a large building.
The sign above its door read 'slayer association.'
Brutus swallowed while looking up at the sign and headed inside.
Once within, he saw four unending lines of people waiting to get to the registration counters.
Brutus blinked, "I'll be waiting here for a while, huh?"
Rowan turned to look at him, "Nonsense. If you want to register, you go to that desk over there." He pointed to a small table in a far corner, housing a single teller.
Brutus alternated between looking at the queues of people and the empty table. "Wait, so what are all these people here waiting for?"
Rowan shrugged. "Hell if I know."
Brutus headed toward the table. "Well, alright then."
He reached the table and looked down on the... sleeping teller.
Behind the desk, a girl around Brutus's age was peacefully dozing off with her head resting on her hands.
"Ahem," Brutus awkwardly cleared his throat. But she still slept.
But suddenly, a kick to the table leg brought her back from sleep. "Get up, Maria," Rowan growled.
Drowsily wiping drool off her mouth, Maria slowly came to.
"Master Rowan!" She perked up. "I was just... resting my eyes!"
Rowan simply sighed. "Just get this kid registered."
Maria turned to Brutus. "Ah! Yes, please sit, sir!" She gestured to the chair on the opposing side of the desk.
"I have some other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave." Rowan piped up.
He turned to Brutus. "I wish you luck."
And then he walked out of the association.
"Now then!" Maria spoke up. "May I have your name?"
"Yeah, it's Brutus."
"Uh huh. Brutus, what?"
"What do you mean?"
She looked up from the form she was filling out. "As in your second name?"
'My second name?' Brutus pondered, then a word suddenly came to his mind. 'Valerond.'
He paused. "I... don't have one."
She turned back to the form, "Ah, I see!" She scribbled something down. "And your age?"
"I'm eighteen."
"Got it..." She mumbled, "And finally, we'll need to conduct a test to gauge your strength!"
Brutus blinked. "A... test?"
"Correct!" She stood from her seat. "Now, if you'll follow me, we can undergo the test."
Brutus followed her away from the desk and through a door to the side that led to the outside.
And beyond the doors lay a metal cage and a sparring circle.
Maria turned to Brutus. "Here is the test site," She gestured to the circle and cage. "The first part consists of entering a confined space with a beast and monitoring the beast's reaction."
Brutus furrowed his brow. "And the second...?" He barely wanted to know.
"And the second consists of a spar between you and one of our available slayers."
He sighed. "Alright..."
The gate to the metal cage slowly opened, and Brutus tightly clutched his sword.
The doors finally opened fully, only to show darkness on the inside. Without much hesitation, Brutus stepped inside and listened to the silence. Breathless moments passed, and nothing happened.
Then Maria called out from the outside. "Okay, that's enough now! You can come out!"
Brutus stepped out of the dark cage, very confused. "Uhh, did I fail the test or something?"
Maria gave him a puzzled look, "Oh, no, on the contrary!" She walked toward the sparring circle, "Now let's move to the next test."
Brutus blinked, "huh? Hey!" Then he let out a defeated sigh.
He stepped into the dirt sparring circle, a training sword in hand.
Opposite him stood a mountain of a man, at least two metres in height.
Brutus narrowed his eyes. "Hey, wait... You look familiar..."
But the massive man didn't reply; he shot forward like an arrow, muscles tensed, ready to swing an enormous mace at his head, aiming to tear it clean off.
Brutus barely twisted to the side, feeling the air rip past his cheek. The ground shook as the weapon crashed down.
"Fast little bastard." The mountain growled, ripping the mace out of the ground.
Brutus darted backwards, but the massive man was quicker than he looked, a sweeping kick knicking his ankle, sending him out of balance.
"Got you now!" The mountain roared as the air tore behind the downward-swinging mace.
Brutus inhaled.
His mody moved on its own, light and fluid.
The ghost step slipped him just out of range, the dirt splashing as the mace slammed into it.
"STOP. RUNNING." The mountain roared, recklessly whipping the mace diagonally toward Brutus's head again.
Brutus snorted. "I'm not dodging like a rat, you're just swinging like a snail." He ducked under the strike and kicked out the mountain's leg from under him.
The mountain fell hard to the ground, letting out a guttural roar. He dove straight to take Brutus down.
But a metal shoe pumelled his chin from a kick.
Being kicked onto his back, the dazed mountain got up to retaliate, but a boot planted on his chest prevented him.
The tip of Brutus's sword hovered inches from his neck. "Yield," Brutus commanded.
The mountain slowly raised his hands in surrender, shame burning behind his eyes.
Brutus turned to look at Maria. "So?" he stabbed the training sword into the ground, "did I pass?"
Maria stared at him blankly. "Uh... yes."
"Great, so now what?" He asked.
"Uh... now you just come back inside and get graded for the results." She muttured.
Brutus was already heading inside, "Ok, let's go then."
Back on the inside, Brutus and Maria sat opposite each other on the small desk.
He watched as she scribbled on the form, trying to make sense of it, until she finally looked up. "Your grade for the test is..."
She double checked the page.
"S-grade..."