Ignite the Sun

Alfred was surprised to find out that he quite enjoyed the training - or more accurately he enjoyed failing on purpose to annoy the instructors, only to perform the exercise perfectly when the commander came to check the individual progress of the recruits.

At the same time he came to understand the state of affairs in the Order by listening in on the conversations between instructors.

It was quite clear that they weren't technically supposed to talk about, but they just couldn't help themselves and discussed the state of affairs with hushed voices.

Most of the instructors seemed to not believe whatever evidence was presented by Arthur, but there were some who argued the round table wouldn't have deposed him if he wasn't guilty.

However the strangest part of all of this was that apparently no one outside of the round table seen the evidence at all - it's like the leadership just expected everyone to believe their judgement, no questions asked.

Surprisingly he even met someone who was also very interested in the recent events among the other recruits.

Morgan was a unique case among the people join the order: most were recruited when they were teenagers, but she joined when she was twenty two, not to mention that there weren't many women among their ranks.

"Don't you think that's strange?" She asked him, leaning against her sword. "From what I've read about previous cases of treason, the accused was always publicly tried and common members had a say in the sentence."

"I wouldn't know, I just joined after all." Alfred shrugged. "Maybe something's different about this case."

Alfred thought that It was kind of entertaining to play the clueless bright-eyed recruit, especially since Morgan took a shining to him - she even tried to play the role of an older sister to him for some unknown reason.

He wondered what her reaction would be when she learns that he's in fact older than her by four years.

"I bet that Arthur guy did something to the members of the round table - in fact I'm certain that it has something to do with this creepy sword of his."

"Don't say that out loud." Alfred hissed. "You'll be thrown into the dungeon if the Crownguards hear you."

"Aww, worried about big sis?" She smirked. "Don't worry, no one will hear me - and Crownguards never come to the academy anyway."

Aside from the danger of saying such things, Alfred simply didn't know if they were true; the round table wanted to change the leadership for quite some time, but then again it was a bit suspicious they didn't even hesitate once they had 'evidence' from a freshly knighted Arthur.

Additionally the sword was slightly suspicious in his opinion - although it's not like he seen the weapon himself, he was in Mountainfall at the time.

"Have you seen it?" He questioned. "The creepy sword, I mean."

"Once." Morgan nodded. "Arthur returned from his battle trial on the day I joined the Order, we arrived at the castle almost at the same time. His weapon looked... strange, it was bigger than any sword I've ever seen, large enough that I'm certain most people would struggle to pick it up."

She started drawing in the sandy floor with the tip of her sword.

"The blade was completely black, like it absorbed all the light - a shadow given form. Its shape was also peculiar, it was slightly curved at the end, and had a few spikes near the base."

Morgan proved to be surprisingly adept at sketching with her sword, and Alfred could clearly picture the weapon based on her drawing and description.

"That doesn't sound like a divine artifact, more like a cursed object." Alfred clicked his tongue. "How could they just let him keep such a weapon without even checking it?"

"I know, right?" Morgan nodded eagerly. "They just allowed him to waltz in with a big ominous sword and take over - who does that?"

Alfred sighed

"Our order apparently." Seeing that one of the instructors moved to stand a bit closer to them, he changed the topic. "What made you join the Order anyway? I don't mean it in a bad way, but you're not exactly like the other recruits."

"Um yeah, I'm better, obviously." She chuckled, but then became more serious. "To be honest it's a bit of a sad story, are you sure you want to know?"

"If you don't mind then yes, otherwise I wouldn't have asked." He nodded. "Besides, no recruit has a happy story."

"Fair point I suppose - very few choose to join the Order just because they want to." She agreed. "My story begins in a small settlement that no longer exists, located two days to the west from here. My parents were a part of the village guards and my family was fairly well-off, at least by today's standards - but everything changed when the Blightborn found out village."

She looked wistfully at the castle walls.

"My parents were among the only people capable of fighting in the entire village, and we had no protective walls or magic barriers - just and old artifact left behind by a wandering mage, which by some miracle managed to hold back the Blight from consuming us for centuries. When the Serakhiin attack we didn't last long."

Morgan didn't sound particularly sad, but more detached, like she was telling the story without processing the words herself.

"My parents were the first to die, and there wasn't much left of them afterwards - but maybe that's for the best, I'd rather they die than be turned into a Withered. After they destroyed the village and turned some people into their puppets they simply... left."

Alfred nodded in understanding - his own parents died fighting for the Order before he was old enough to talk. It wasn't quite the same since he couldn't even remember them, but it didn't mean it stung any less.

"After that me and couple other survivors banded together and left for the closest safe settlement - which was the Order. Only I decided to join, but the people who came with me are still in the castle, since there was no opportunity to safely transfer them to Mountainfall." Morgan shrugged. "And that's about it."

Alfred had a feeling some details were skipped in that last part, but he wasn't going to press her.

Maybe some day she'll tell him on her own.