Time seemed to pass in slow motion as Cael swung his sword. Suddenly, his sword hit something hard, something he wasn't supposed to hit.
Instead of coming to a full stop, he directed his sword upwards, hoping to hit something at least, and he did.
Jackal cried out in pain as the tip of Cael's sword carved a long line across Jackal's neck.
Had he hit a vein? Cael thought while being carried by the inertia. There was too much blood for a shallow cut.
Coming to a stop, he grunted. He was in pain; the wound he had received earlier had only gotten worse because of the fight. Who knew that claws would hurt this much?
Well then again, it'd only be natural considering Jackal's strength. Rising to his feet, Cael looked pale; he was losing blood.
He knew that he would be fine, though. Cael had minor healing properties; what would take a month to heal would only take a week for him.
Grunting, Cael stood up slowly. The fight wasn't over, not yet at least; he needed to end it while he could.
A few meters in front of Cael, Jackal was crouched, grasping his neck. As Cael approached, Jackal could only groan loudly as blood gushed out of the wound.
Cael raised his sword, ready to bring it down, or for Jackal to admit defeat, but just before this happened, the examiner rushed into the fight and stopped him.
It wasn't like this usually; most of the time, the examiners don't mind if you lose a limb or two… maybe even a head, as long as the stronger one could survive, they could attach it back later anyway, well, except for the head, of course.
After a moment, the examiner called a group of healers, people who have the same two types of elements but also differ; these people could use nature's earth element and water.
The two of which were by rights the same thing, but they were still different in many ways.
This took Cael's mind off things as the healers started to treat him. But for some reason, he oddly wanted to think about the elements; how they mixed and which forms they could take.
"Eh, whatever," Cael said with a hint of annoyance in his tone. He was tired and wanted some rest, and that rest he would take.
Drifting off into darkness, he vaguely heard some names being called, probably the next pair for the test.
—
Waking up, he was in a strange place. The bed was uncomfortable, and the pillows. God, the pillows were awful.
Getting out of bed, he noticed he had a headache; the brick-like pillow was probably to blame for that.
Standing up, he saw light. After registering that it was a curtain covered by a window, he sighed and went to take a look.
Outside, he saw tall buildings, lined up in a narrow but also wide line. The buildings were tall and slightly ugly in his opinion. Looking down, Cael was then suddenly surprised.
The streets below him were packed with people, and the fresh smell of bread and bakeries made the area smell like a delight. Just then, Cael realised he was in the market, the richest and most expensive area of the city centre.
But he couldn't think of why he was there. After all, there were no hospitals nearby. Deciding he would take a small walk and have a look around, he looked around his room.
Nothing in this room could be considered cheap, not even hospitals could be this expensive. He was suddenly getting very anxious and a tad bit worried. Where on earth could he be?
As he exited his room, he saw two maids. After thinking about it for a second, he decided to ask them what this place was, and after some hesitation, he finally said something.
"Hey, uhm, excuse me. Can I just ask you where I am exactly?"
Startled, the maids turned around and almost recoiled at the sight of him. He didn't know why, but still he repeated himself, "Excuse me, where am I? I'm not a kidnapped hostage, am I?"
One of the maids said in a nervous voice, "I'm sorry, young master. We're not exactly supposed to tell you just yet, but perhaps go and clean up first, and we'll send someone to greet you. How does an hour sound?"
Cael, being slightly annoyed, decided to drop it and turned around to the room he had come from.
Upon entering the room, he looked around and saw a mirror. Walking up to it, he was horrified. He was bandaged up and his cuts were almost half healed, but he hadn't been cleaned.
He was covered in blood, dust, and dirt. "Just how long have I been out?" Cael asked to no one in particular.
While washing up, he noticed a strange marking on the back of his hand. Upon inspecting it, it took him a few minutes to realise what it was.
He was overjoyed; he had made it. He was now a trainee knight, a junior knight if you will.
While he was a long way off becoming a knight, he was still happy, even being a trainee knight could get you some clout in the streets, and you could buy a small and very humble house on the outer side of the city.
Cael didn't care about any of that; for some reason, he felt a sense of duty to his country, and he wanted to become strong to protect the people he cared about.
He knew it sounded cheesy and a bit cringeworthy, but that's what he desired in this world
Finally, after cleaning up, he put on some clothes and was ready to make his way down.