Chapter 76—Changing sky

Chapter 76: 76—Changing sky That night, a celebration was held for the great victory and Kedral’s arrival , and the celebration brought Castaway to them. The courtyard of the Grey was flooded by people. Lucen forgot about sleeping this night with all the noise. He gulped down jugs of alcohol, and hoped [Blood Rebirth] was ready to do some work. He danced, arms locked, in a circle with Kon and Hither. He almost peer-pressured Elle into drinking, but felt bad bullying her. "I can do it," she complained. "Kids shouldn’t drink. Wait till you’re older and sadder," he said. "You’re also a kid!" Elle tried dragging the drink from his hand, but Helie held her back. "How strong are you?" Helie grinned. "She couldn’t even move your hand." Lucen silently worried about how his enhanced strength would work when inebriated. He put down the drink with great regret. Maybe power isn’t worth it. He found Liam and his mom by the shop. Liam’s mother was pretty, brown-haired, and had a smile that was scary. She smiled at customers while even knocking Liam across the head. Lucen met eyes with Liam, and the sad look on the boy’s face made him consider going over to help. But a hand stopped him. Selene. She smiled. "I’ll help Liam. You boys deserve some fun tonight." She subbed in for Liam after a short argument with his mom. Liam’s mom seemed to think three of them working was better. Liam ran from the stall, grinning. He pratically bounced around Lucen. "I fucking love Selene! She’s so beautiful and—" Lucen grabbed his collar. "Cool down, creep. What are we doing tonight?" "Kibara, of course," Liam grinned. "You can totally get her. Knight coming off historic achievements in a battle, and about to go on a long and perilous quest? Wait... that’s literally the plot of A Stone Lake." "Women do like that yearning and distance stuff, right?" Lucen grinned. He had no idea what women liked. "But we have to be careful Aya doesn’t see," Liam added. "Why?" "You don’t know why?" Liam said, smirking. Lucen punched his shoulder. Aya was older than him, but still too young for his tastes. "It’s not like that." "I guess Aya doesn’t compare well to Kibara in terms of..." Liam made an obscene gesture around his chest, but stopped. "You know what? I don’t feel good talking about someone I know like this." "A fourteen-year-old boy discovering decency?" Lucen laughed. "Even us elders are yet to reach this level of enlightenment." Liam sneered at him. "Oh, shut up. You’re fifteen, not thirty." They went looking for Kibara in the sprawling crowd. Multiple bands were playing in different places, puppet shows entertained kids while their parents had fun, jugglers and smaller games were set up farther from the castle. They found the dancers on the high training yard. Once Lucen heard the dancers were up there, he and Liam had no qualms climbing the ridiculous number of steps. The training yard served as a VIP spot for the Lightcloaks and the bigger Knight families. Beautiful fireworks shot from people’s hands, lighting up the night sky, and the alluring aroma of roasted meat grew as they climbed the stairs. At the top, two giant knights stood guard. Their red armor and the runes decorating them gleamed in the night. Lucen passed easily, but the knights held out a hand to block Liam. The small, scrawny boy shrank in front of the inhumanly tall knights. Lucen stepped out, glaring at them. "He’s with me, you idiots." He grabbed Liam to pull him up, but once again hands stopped him. The knights’ red eyes glowed under their horned helmets. Heat bubbled to his head, and his golden eyes flared. "Move your hands. Now." He unknowingly let his Dominance ride those words. The giants quickly removed their hands and looked back ahead. Lucen stared at them for a moment, confused, then dragged Liam in before they could object. "That was strange," Liam murmured. "I thought they only listened to Lightcloak elders?" Lucen shrugged. "Don’t care. Let’s find Kibara." The dancers wore red, shimmering gowns tonight, and they moved with an almost hypnotic cadence. It was like watching colors dance instead of people. Lucen recognized her between the swaying colors. Brown hair running down to her back danced with her. Her eyes met his again. They were an unnatural magenta that sent a shiver down his spine. She wasn’t wearing a veil tonight, so her smile reached him too. "She just fucking smiled at you," Liam hissed. "It could be for someone else, or just something she does when dancing. Or she could be laughing at the fact that I came to—" Liam punched his shoulder, flinched, and then said, "Don’t overthink it, stupid Lucen. Besides, she barely ever smiles at even the rich monkeys that jump around her, or with her friends. She’s a ’nod of acknowledgement’ type." Lucen hated how much he trusted Liam’s social instinct. He was a kid. Lucen should be the one teaching here. But he could count the number of times he spoke to girls in his previous life on one hand. The dance ended with a bow and salute. Liam pushed him forward, and he started walking towards her. She glanced up and smiled before walking toward him. His heart pounded in his chest. She was way too tall. He started regretting how little thought he put into what he was wearing. Without Selene, he would have worn worse. A long-sleeved black shirt with embroidered golden designs, and a loose pair of black trousers. He should have worn the trousers Selene told him to wear. Kibara was smiling. Should he smile? Whatever crawled on his face wasn’t a smile, so he quickly put it away. Suddenly the short walk felt like a journey of many years. Only a few feet away, Lucen was preparing what he would say, when someone grabbed his shoulder. It was a smiling Warren. That was scarier than he imagined. He glanced at Kibara, and someone stopped her too. It was Duran. The younger one, son of Heimar. Lucen hadn’t seen him in a while—or rather, he didn’t care enough to notice Duran. He turned back to Warren, forcing a smile. "Sir, is something wrong?" "I just have to congratulate you," Warren yelled a bit too loud, "You’re so much like him. The way you used the spear the first time gave me chills. He would have loved your imagination." Warren was drunk. Lucen glanced at the man’s rough, scarred finger, hoping he didn’t mistakenly shatter Lucen’s shoulders. "I’m glad to live up to your expectations, sir," Lucen said. "But who is ’him’?" Warren paled, his smile fell, and he looked at his feet. "You wouldn’t know him. His name was Barth. He really was the best guy, my older brother. Took me everywhere, made his friends mine, always encouraged me despite how pitiful I was. He would have liked you. You remind me of him when he was serious. Maybe that’s why I was—" Warren took a deep breath and looked up, eyes dark and tired. "Thank you. For being my student. It’s been an honour." Lucen was too taken aback to respond. He remembered his first meeting with Warren. The man always struck him as too strict to go after a student like that. Lucen never really held a grudge; or at least he liked to believe he didn’t care enough to hold grudges. But something softened in his heart hearing those words. Lucen nodded, smiling genuinely. "It’s been a greater honour for me." Warren patted him on the shoulder hard and turned around to return to his friends. Lucen turned to find Kibara, feeling slightly lost after that encounter. The moment he turned, he was face to face with her. Her magenta eyes were hypnotic up close. "That was really nice," Kibara said. "My heart felt fluffy just hearing you two."