My father and I had never truly seen eye to eye. He was never much of a father to his family. However, now I stood in his office. He looked at me with no hate. No love. Just a sense of pride. But the moment was not meant to last as he spoke.
"However, my son, you still disobeyed orders and risked your life when you are not much of a solider. So instead, for the next month, you will train with the guards." My father, Lazinus Justinian Margrave, said as he eyed me.
I wanted to challenge his decision. To yell at him. And yet it all died within my brain, in the imagination of what I could have done. But I must be proper. Must be that of higher then animals. Better then humans we are, and as such, not fail like they had.
"And how do you wish for me to do so, my Praetor?" I held my tongue as each word was a struggle.
"As it seems, your sword instructor will be leaving soon," he said, turning the large brass computer with glowing blue crystals on his desk towards me. On the screen was a letter of notice. Her knight had recalled Venula back to her post for the war against the Free Unions. "You shall duel the house guards every day. The commander will decide how he wishes for it to be. You wanted to fight like a solider. Then you should train to be one, so you don't get yourself killed."
Somehow, even though I hated him for this, I knew he was right. At the end of the day, he saw another solider to be under his belt now. But I had plans now, and I was already letting my mind drift to that library.
"Then I shall go ahead and do as commanded of me." I gave a slight bow before walking out.
Walking down the hall for the library, my black boots sounding off the quartz flooring. Passing two guards as they passed. They did not stop and step aside. Not even a nod of the damn head to me. But I would not cause a scene. Not over that. Not yet. Just have to hold my tongue.
The doors of the library were wooden and yet had threads of an alloy through them. Walking through and inside, I came to a pause. Seems I found as to where my sister had been heading to, as she sat by the far off windows reading. The windows reached from floor to ceiling. Crystallized patterns outside the glass shimmered slightly, giving away the minor barrier used on the manor. It helped to stop the rain and storms from shattering the glass on our rainy world. But useless against if you threw a rock hard enough. Or a book. Learned that the hard way as a child.
The floors were real wood. Grey wood. Not sure what kind. However, it was not metal made to look as wood like much wood is now. Looking at my sister there, I could not deny how much of a part she played in this family. Even if often silent to it all.
My sister, Juliana Justinian Margrave, was wearing the black and red dress that reached down just before her feet, still from last time I saw her only an hour ago. Her long straight blonde hair reached down to just the mid of her back. And her eyes were diamond blue. Open as she read the book in hand, not even darting to see who had entered still. The dress itself was black, with small swirls of red lines making flower like designs that grew up from the bottom to the top like a ruby flame.
I took a breath, knowing better than to say anything of the sorts to the young lady, and opted instead to start going down the rows of bookshelves that reached high up into the ceiling above. Where one needed one of the ladders to reach many above. Lucky the ladders had wheels and were connected to the shelves.
"Where is it?" I muttered as I found the one I had looked for and grabbed it, dusting it off. The title of it called Forgotten Star Coordinates.
"Okay. One down, Eris. Twelve more left to find. You best be right about them all being within here." I groaned, knowing this would take quite some time.
The mid day sun drifted from the window to a sunset as I searched row by row. Book by book. Until I was sipping a coffee I had requested from the kitchens, sitting at a table late into the night. The lights within having been dimmed except those nearest to me. And outside the large window was the moon.
Sliding another book before me, taking notes. Papers sat across the table. And the pen in hand was a nice weight. I noticed how Juliana had fallen asleep in the large ornate chair. She looked weirdly at peace. I kind of enjoyed this truly. The quiet. The peace of it all. And someone I often argued with keeping your stupid mouth shut. I smirked at my own thoughts as I went back to work, opening another book to compare the one I already had written from.
The Lost Technologies of Ancients. The Burned Worlds. Coding of Ancients. Void Coordinates. On and on, I flipped through each page. Until that was when the sun had begun to rise and I felt a hand touch my shoulder, awaking me. Only with blurry eyes to see no one around except Juliana walking out through the library doors with my brother Rayland beside her, talking.
"Suppose it is time for those stupid guards." I yawned as I began standing, shifting the papers together into a stack. Placed into a folder and then left quickly. Adjusting my black and red overcoat. The metal strings of the outside of the overcoat were a nice kind of weight. Not too much or too little. And helped me to wake up a little.
I had changed into a black long-sleeved shirt and fresh pants before heading to the courtyard, which was to the side of the mansion, fenced in with a massive 9 foot tall metal fence. It was built to absorb rogue bullets rather than deflect them and risk them bouncing off and into someone.
"Well look who arrived, gentlemen. Line up everyone!" The commander of my family's personal guards shouted. His name was Marcellus. He wore a red flat cap made of wool within and the outside the same metal strings as our overcoats.
"Yes, I am here, you old fool." I walked up to him and came to a stop. He had bright green eyes of a Solrein. And he had grown a dark black beard. Like that of some silly pirate of the ancients and their ancestors. We stood about the same height, so that helped to calm me at least.
"Old fool, you say? Well, you should know this old fool will be having you in the ranks no time at the front." The man gave a hearty laugh as he looked at the near 300 house guards here in the courtyard that stood in rows.
"So who want's to be the first to hit the son of our Praetor down?" he said like it was a gift of the old gods. And clearly most felt the same as I saw four of them moving forwards near immediately. Each raising their hands in a gesture to make clear they wanted a piece.