Chapter 2 - Rude Awakening

“Cyrus, Are you alright?” asked a young teenage boy as Cyrus awoke on a stretcher.

Cyrus looked around and found himself in a carriage looking at the boy in amazement. There were only two of them in the large carriage and Cyrus was lying down on one of the seats.

“Stanley? What… what happened?” Cyrus asked in a daze. He noticed that his hair was wet and when he touched his head, he noticed that it was blood.

His lip was swollen and he had bruises all over his body.

“You don’t remember?” Stanley asked.

Cyrus thought for a while and tried to remember. Suddenly images flooded his mind as he was reminded of what happened.

“I… was beaten up, wasn’t I?” he asked in surprise.

“Beaten up? That’s the least of your troubles. I only managed to hide you in here!” said his friend.

He looked at his friend and tried to remember who he was and who his friend was as well. Slowly, the memories came back to him.

Cyrus remembered that he was the third son of Baron Van Dume and his friend in the carriage with him was Andrew Hawkins, second son of Marquis Hawkins.

The Van Dumes were a minor noble family and were directly under the territory of Marquis Hawkins. Their sons Cyrus and Andrew were close friends and had been tutored in the same schools before.

They were together in an entourage of many young nobles to try out their aptitude in magic.

Usually, the first son of a noble will inherit the hereditary title. However, if they have more sons, they would be sent off to the army to train in the military or to the many academies of magic to see if they have any aptitude for magic.

Most of the nobles here were around 15 years of age, which was the time they were required to either serve in the military, or get another occupation. Most nobles hoped that their children would be able to become mages.

Mages in the land of Misteria were held in extreme high regard. A high level mage would be able to match an army by his or herself. Only a high level Magical Knights would be able to fight a high level mage.

He suddenly remembered why he was in such a sorry state. They were in an entourage of young nobles heading to the capital city of Gloryheim to be assessed for magical aptitude and talent.

While they were resting during their journey, Cyrus had gone off to take a piss when he accidentally stumbled upon several girls in the entourage taking a bath in the nearby stream.

It really wasn’t his fault. He was pissing into the river off a rock when the naked girls wondered into view and accidentally walked into the path of his pee, directly under the rock he was standing on!

The girls screamed and he was immediately caught by the other boys who had eyes on the pretty girls and beaten up badly.

In fact, one of the boys smashed a rock on his head and had actually killed him. They abandoned him in a nearby ditch not knowing he was dead. Cyrus was lucky his friend Andrew went looking for him and found his bleeding body.

When Andrew brought his body back to their shared carriage, news already spread that Cyrus was a lecher and was spying on the girls bathing. Andrew of course already heard this when he walked around searching for Cyrus, but he decided not to tell Cyrus about it.

After cleaning up a bit, Cyrus went out of the carriage with Andrew. He was famished and decided to go and get some food from the camp and invited Andrew along.

Andrew declined, knowing of Cyrus’ reputation and excused himself to pretend to chat with someone else.

As Cyrus walked through the camp, he noticed that everyone was giving him the stink eye.

Many of the girls glared at him as if he were a criminal, while the boys looked at him like they wanted to beat him up.

Confused, he got a bowl of stew and some bread and walked to a table to sit. However, he was instantly surrounded by a group of boys.

“You don’t get to eat here” said a large boy who then took and smashed Cyrus’ bowl of stew to the floor.

Cyrus realized that he was not going to win against so many people, so he stood up and  calmly backed off.

“Wait” said a gentle voice. A beautiful girl approached from behind to the gasps of the crowd.

“That is Duke Mayfair’s daughter, Jemima!” exclaimed one of the boys.

Among the young nobles, her family is the highest ranked here. In fact, Cyrus’ Barony and Andrew’s Marques was directly under Duke Mayfair’s authority.

She gently took Cyrus’ hand and led him out of the circle of boys. The whole crowd was amazed.

Jemima was indeed a gorgeous specimen. At 5’5” with a slim body, big breasts and a flawlessly pretty face, she was the person every boy there was enamored with. And now she was holding Cyrus’ hand.

Cyrus himself wasn’t bad looking. He was 5’9” tall, lean and was quite handsome if not for the fact that his face was bruised, he had a black eye and his lips were broken.

She turned him to face her and slowly approached him. Everyone could see her face get nearer and nearer and she even lifted her hand to hold his neck in what looked like an embrace.

Suddenly, Jemima kneed Cyrus in the balls, causing him to bend over in agony. Then, with her hands still on his head, she kneed him in the face, leaving him writhing on the ground.

“That’s for seeing me naked. The other was for peeing on me” she said as she walked away and high fived several girls in her group.

“You can have your way with him now boys” she said. The boys who were laughing at him started kicking his prone body.

Several teachers rushed over to break up the fight.

Just as they were about to ask what the fight was about, suddenly a horn sounded signifying that they were under attack!