The journey this time was different from the last.
The horses were sprinting through the path.
It was barely a path since it was less defined, and overgrown grasses riddled it.
"To think a place like this exists within the third sector.
I had never read of it, but that might be because it's abandoned.
From the gate, to the grass covered paths…" Leo's eyes were still filled with aether.
He could see most things that were close to them, but the farther ones were out of question.
"My eyes are starting to hurt…" Leo had to recede it.
The ambience from the moonlight was now enough to see, as it was now over the mountains.
–
The commanders halted the horses.
Where they stood there were five shelters, two of which were larger than the others.
"Get down from the wagons" Ricia said.
She didn't need to talk loudly as her voice was amplified by the silence of the night.
They all got down, one after the other.
"Come on get up" A girl was trying to wake a boy, she was pushing and pulling him.
It was from the other wagon.
"Hey someone fell asleep." The brash blonde haired boy said.
"You're kidding right?
During such a journey, must have probably being having the time of his life." The other blonde haired kid replied.
They chuckled once again.
"If he's not waking up let him be.
The rest of you, gather up" Ricia said to them with a lamp in hand.
"But…" The girl that had been pushing the boy mumbled.
She didn't want to leave him there.
"Or would you rather sleep outside with him?
You have a choice" Ricia was clearly not in the mood for whatever the girl was pulling.
She hesitantly left the boy and came down from the wagon.
"Alright, the girls should follow me.
Boys can go with Him." She was referring to Ren.
"Alright boys, come with me.
Don't ask any questions, just know everything is alright." Ren said with his usual energetic tone.
"You guys are how many in number again.
Was it nine?
Well excluding that unlucky fellow it'd be eight wouldn't it." Ren endorsed them in a conversation.
"Yes, we're eight" The royal boy answered, his tone exuded confidence.
"Then that'd be four per room for this night." Ren split the boys apart.
Leo, the royal boy, and the blonde brothers were grouped together.
"This place, it looks tidy." Leo said as he walked into the moonlight illuminated room.
There were two bunks, each bed on the bottom were doubles, while the ones on top were singles.
"Well, we'll take the bottom one to the left" The brash blonde kid said.
He and his brother went straight to bed.
"How can they sleep so easily in this unknown situation…
And who sleeps facing down?!" Leo waited for the other boy to choose.
"Which one are you choosing?" Asked the royal boy.
"No it's fine, you can choose.
I'll pick whatever is left" Leo replied.
"Suit yourself…" The royal boy replied.
He climbed the top of the free bed and laid there, turning to sleep.
"He's a royal but he chose the bed on top?
Such a weird guy…" Leo got on the bottom bed.
"I doubt I'll be able to sleep this night…" Leo muttered.
— Two minutes later —
[Zzzz] Leo had slept off.
"Such a hypocrite" The royal boy on the top of the bunk was still wide awake.
He chuckled a little.
-
[Arghhh] A scream in the early morning, it came from outside the shelters.
It had alerted the shelter closest to it; Leo's.
The first to rush out was the royal boy and Leo.
It was the boy outside who slept through the journey.
He had dark orange hair and a matured face, his eyes were wide and his pupils and ires were orange as well.
He had just woken up, what he saw in front of his wagon had shocked him.
"That's…" The royal boy uttered.
Leo took hurried steps past him.
"Hey it's dangerous, that's a snake!" The royal boy said.
"It's alright" Leo stretched his hands towards it.
It slithered away.
"It's a grass snake, they aren't venomous." Leo said to the royal boy.
Leo offered to get help him out of the wagon.
"Thank…" The smile on the boys face turned into a frown.
He had noticed the lack of mark on Leo's face.
"Get your hands off me you poor blood!" He hit Leo's hand away.
Leo's face stiffened, his entire existence condemned by the blood that flowed through his veins.
"What?" Leo frowned at him.
The royal boy walked closer to the wagon.
"Oh?
Now that I look at you…
You aren't of noble blood" He said to Leo.
"The hell?" Leo thought as he raised one brow.
The royal boy stretched his hand to the boy in the wagon.
The boy in the wagon looked at his face and his demeanor immediately changed.
"I know of him.
He's the last prince of the main bloodline… I better not mess this up" The boy thought.
"Thanks for your kind gesture, his highness prince Ceasar." He stretched his hands and shook the prince.
Caeser smiled.
[Crack] "Well you're welcome" He twisted the wrist of the boy who was inside the wagon, it snapped.
The boy whose screams now filled the entire place.
Leo turned to Caesar, he was confused at his actions.
If the other scream wasn't enough to alert everyone this one was.
"I had heard there were nobles like you.
Ones that have a superiority complex over something as useless as blood.
If so, then what made you think I'd be friendly towards you who is lower than myself" Caeser twisted a bit more.
The boy in the wagon tried to struggle but Caeser was that much stronger than him.
The others came out of their cottages to his screams.
Mumurs ensued, they didn't understand the situation.
"What's going on here?" Ricia's voice echoed from the distance.
Caesar let go of his hand.
-
Ricia got there.
"Ma!" Leo and Caesar saluted her.
"And what is this?" She asked.
"He called the other recruit a 'poor blood'.
Such is unacceptable in the army." Caesar replied.
"And what made you think you're in the army" She asked once again, almost immediately.
"Aren't we?
Or is this a kidnapping?" Caesar said with full confidence.
The ones that came out of their shelters began to murmur.
"This kid, what am I going to do with you…
Both of you stand here" Ricia palmed her face.
She turned over to the wagon.
"You in the wagon, what's your name?
[He opened his mouth to speak]
Actually, I don't care of it.
Don't bother coming down, you'll be heading back home very soon.
And your family will have some explanations to give." Ricia said to the boy who was now in tears.
The cause could've been either the pain from his hands, or the impending scrutiny that his family would go through.
–
Whiles later, Ricia brought the horse and linked it to the wagon.
She rode it towards the gate with the boy in it.
"Hey, I'm Caesar" He stretched his hands towards Leo for a shake.
"...
I'm Leo" Leo held his hands up for a fist bump.
Caesar smiled.
They bumped fists and went on with their assigned punishment.