Winning the tournament should have felt something different than it actually did. Maybe because of the anti-climactic finish of Justin surrendering or maybe because we already knew we were going to win. Maybe it was just the fact that winning the first year sixes meant we were now the targets for the next 9 years.
Don't get me wrong I believe we all were in good spirits after winning but to be honest it wasn't as incredible of a feeling as I had originally hoped. We were all conversing in our room when a knock at the door stopped us all. No one had knocked on our door before, so it felt a little odd. Maddy, who was closest to the door, opened it and then shouted "Uncle! Daddy!"
Prince Austin and Prince Tanner walked in the room giving their children hugs. Abby ran over and jumped into her dads arms the way all eleven year olds who miss their fathers hugs. The four boys in the room including myself all bowed to the princes, completely forgetting what Abby just told us before the fight.
"I literally just told you guys, what, 20 minutes ago, they hate being bowed to!" Abby announced in an overly exaggerated manner which was quite comical. The two grown men had sheepish looks on their faces as their children knew them well. The entire moment was quite wholesome to be honest.
"Jordan, I have been informed that you are in need of a place to stay for this summer break as your parents are currently both out of the country. They send their best and they assured me that you would be performing in the championship without a doubt. We already arranged with the Locks that Adam will be staying with us. Mr Jackson is going to be there as well as we found a beast master who has a light wisp who can help you increase your light capabilities."
Maddy's father, Prince Tanner, then looked at Travis and Joey with a warm smile "I appreciate your efforts with this team. I look forward to next year's tournament to see how much you two have improved. There is a package waiting for you two in your rooms to take home with some special items to help in each of your growths. We need more warriors like you two!" Joey and Travis were beaming hearing the praise from the prince.
"That being said, tomorrow Adam and Jordan will escort our daughters back to our estate on Frenhill. Don't worry, all of your things will be transferred to our estate. I give you this warning as you two might have never flown before but our royal gryphons will keep you safe."
With that they gave their daughters kisses and hugs as they departed. We ourselves went to the cafeteria to get some food after the exertion of energy. We obviously wanted to head back to watch if our academy would win it but we had time till then and we were famished. Entering the cafeteria we were shocked to see people react to us. Cheers broke out from the Ghostrun Academy students who all had watched us fight.
One comment was that the second year finals had half the attendance that our fight had. Many comments on how the princes left after our fight and haven't returned. The overall ambiance of the room was cheerful as it was basically only Ghostrun Academy students. The workers even congratulated us as if they had been there, there was that much celebration going on. We hadn't won the cup yet but it felt like we were going to based on how everyone's mood was in that cafeteria.
The girls were used to the spotlight but us guys were not. The level of discomfort was apparent on the guys faces and I would imagine mine. Suddenly the armor covering our identities seemed to be the best thing for us as none of us guys were ready for the spotlight. When we sat down it was a stream of people coming up to us to tell us great job, we never doubted you, and other similar niceties.
"Wish we could eat in our armor so no one could recognize us!" I groaned in a brief moment that no one was currently bothering us.
"Cause that will do the trick!" Adam poked me in the ribs with his elbow.
"When will you boys get it that you will always be in the spotlight with us, just get used to it." Abby pointed out with her usual snappy attitude towards our behavior.
"The spotlight will only get hotter as we get older and more people know who we are behind the armor." Joey pointed out.
"We all have unique pets besides myself, I feel like I have the least spotlight on me but it's still bright." Travis commented.
"Next year is our first quest right so that will be fun as a team, we will win that by a landslide, we should find out what the record is and see if we can double it!" I blurted out thinking about the upcoming year as they were talking about our future. The group laughed at my plans for the future for us as we enjoyed our meal.
The next day we woke up to a festive departure for summer break. The seventh and eighth year teams won which gave us the legendary dragon's egg trophy. Muhlhauser Academy had held it for the last five years so even the teachers were in high spirits to see the egg back where it belongs.
'We will hatch that one day, you can't handle it at your current age but when we are both full grown we will hatch that egg' Wispy informed me the first time he saw the trophy. I took this as a bold proclamation from my beast but so far only a few known beast masters could handle a second beast or figure out how to meld with a second. I also brushed it aside because the trophy was going by when we were being shown the royal gryphons that would take us to the royal estate.
These royal gryphons were a special breed of gryphons that had been raised and trained in the royal bloodline of Kilthred for centuries. These gryphons were massive, just lying down the tops of their bodies were ten feet tall. The head could swallow me whole if he wanted to eat me in one bite. There were four of them, one for each of us which these gryphons all had their own beast masters riding them. These four were royal guards that had melded with these gryphons and each had a second beast that they had melded with as ten year olds.
It was the first time I met a dual beast master unaware if the adults around me had more than one or not. I know for sure though my beast master was a snake beast master originally as the snake was curled around his neck almost like a natural necklace. I inquired about if the snake was his original beast and if he was melded with the royal gryphon and he explained what he could about it.
You don't realize how loud it is to fly high up in the sky till you're high up in the sky. I tried to yell at Adam but he never responded. I know I was terrified to look down and I just hope the
beast master wasn't upset with how hard I held tight. If only I knew the harness was a magical hardness I wouldn't have held on so tight but I would imagine the beast master was used to someone, especially a kid, being freaked out on his gryphon.