Arc 2: A vigorous first month -
The headlights followed him to his dreams. When he ate with his parents. Until he heard the smash of his skull under the tire.
Gray: "SHIT!"
He lunged awake in a sweat before screaming out in real pain, finding his entire body wrapped in bandages. But when he finally took a second to look around, all he felt was confusion.
Gray: "Huh?"
He sees that he's in a queen-sized bed, wearing a soft robe over a cloth shirt and the pants he was transported in with bandages on his arms and legs. He looks around the room he's in and all that's in it is some paintings, a couple of wardrobes, and a balcony. Gray slowly walks over to the balcony doors opens them and feels the cold wind blowing on his body, he looks around the outside and sees where he is. He is in a large house too small to be a mansion, with a somewhat large yard with a fence going around the estate.
Gray: "Woah this place is nice! The city outside is HUGE! Those houses and shops go on for miles!"
Outside the gate, he sees a road with a big area of people, houses, and shops just outside the gate.
Gray {I guess I got patched up, then got brought here by that… WAIT! Who the hell brought me here, where's Rosemary and the others?}
Gray runs out of the doors of his room, sprinted down the hallway. The home itself wasn't massive, but it was filled with various pieces of natural art from all around the world on the walls. He didn't bother checking any doors or walls though, as he was far too focused on just what was happening to him and his friends. But he finally slid to a halt, turning to see a staircase which he promptly jumped down.
Gray: "ROSEMARY, SOKU!, OPHELIA! ARE YOU HERE, ANYBODY!"
He runs around the house when he hears people speaking behind some big doors. He opens them to see a large table with everybody sitting down, eating breakfast. At the table, there are ten seats with Rosemary, Soku, and Ophelia sitting with each other. At the end of the table, there was a young muscular man, and a tall older man in his mid fifties. He had long straight hair tied into a pony tail with dark blue wrappings. With a simple dark suit, white tie, and a golden "W" looking crest over his dark coats right pocket. However alll Gray could feel was of power coming off of him, ruined by his simple and calm mood.
" You run around screaming and burst into my dining room! Quite the balls you have, to be rude to me of all people, I like that!"
His attitude changed from angry to calm very quickly, shocking Gray once again. However everyone else quickly noticed him with excitement, aside from Soku, who sighed.
Ophelia: "GRAY! You're ok! Come on, sit down and eat!"
Gray quickly rushes over, his body still aching in pain from the fight the previous night. He sits down beside Rosemary, and across from the younger-looking muscled, tall man with short, pushed back spikey black hair. His eyes were long, his eye brows thick, with a stern build but soft facial features; he stood out, far more than Gray did, which Gray wasn't too happy about.
Gray: "So I'm just saying this now um. I know nothing about history, class systems, or customs, so I'm in the dark about all this."
"Yeah your friends told me this when they woke up. I'm Musashi Van Helsing. And this is my nephew, Edward Van Helsing."
Edward: "Hello! I'm glad to eat dinner with you. Its nice to meet such interesting people!"
Everyone was shocked by Edwards kind demeanor, once again throwing Gray off. All he saw was some bukly macho man around the same age as them. More importantly, close to the age Gray and Rosemary were. But his hair was well kempt, his face was thicker, he had massive muscles, and controlled himself far better than Gray. Instantly making him a rival through sheer envy.
Musashi: "Look I'm going to get straight to the point, You all can do three things for me. I healed and saved you from those sect members, so you can repay me until you figure out what you're gonna do. You can either work here around the house, leave and go on your way now or I can help you to join the Walgonian knights and use your strength for somethin' more than fighting random people."
Rosemary: "Wait seriously! Just the normal knights, or the Leviathan army?"
Musashi: "Normally I would have just said the standard knights but all of you except Ophelia, have great potential! Soku, with her absolute wind affinity, Rosemary with her connections with the long-dead Golden Knights faction, then there's your Intense amount of mana Gray."
Soku: "This seems a little too good to be true, what's the catch?"
Musashi: "No catch, though if you want to join the Leviathan army you must put in a lot of work!"
Gray: "Sorry to interrupt but what the hell is the " Leviathan army" Also did you say the Golden Knight dudes are all dead!?"
Edward: "The Leviathan army is just a more powerful league of warriors, the best of the best. Who are usually people that were born into a family who are in the army. We, the Van Helsings, are the main leaders as well as the founders of the Army. I'm really suprised you've never heard of the Van Helsings before! It's just as common as knowing about...i dunnoa air?"
Gray: "If I tried to explain where I was my OD was explode out so I try not to get into the details."
Edward: "Um, oh. Sorry about that."
The room got silent for a moment, before Musashi shook his head and pushed forward.
Musashi: "Yes the Golden Knight faction members were long thought to have been slaughtered by some higher-up members of the Sect of Anarchy for about a year until I saw you guys last night."
Edward: "Yeah uncle you were telling me about how Gray beat one of the lower Sect leaders! Gray, even though they are on the weaker side they still have powers, I'm surprised that you were able to win against him while being a commoner!"
Gray: "Well uh. I guess, but to be honest I just finished the fight, Soku and especially Rosemary did most of the fighting. I just punched him."
Soku: "Ohh so humble"
Ophelia: "Hey don't downplay yourself! I saw you beat that guy good! You bobbed him in the face! And you had so much mana and power coming off of you It was AWESOME!"
Musashi: "She's right I did see your battle, even though you aren't very skilled, with your mana overpowering your body you must have been in a lot of pain and yet you still kept moving and were able to outthink your opponent while being frightened. In my opinion, you have a big chance at being a strong warrior if you join the Leviathan Army."
Musashi: "OK now to get to the point, I'll go in a line and you will pick what you want to do. So pick!"
Ophelia: "Well I don't like fighting and I can't use a demi- transformation so I wanna work here until they leave!"
Soku: "Well I hate the justice system and all the knight shit, but it pays good money so Ima try the Knight stuff until I quit it."
Rosemary: "I left the Golden Knight faction and .. and now they're gone … and I want to join something that I agree with, something I can get behind! I wanna join the Leviathan Army!
Gray: "Well I don't like doin' chores and I have always loved the idea of being a cool-ass knight, so yeah of course imma join the Leviathan army!"
Musashi: "Ok then that settles it, Al! Come in here and help Ophelia, He will help you learn the area, so I hope you're a good maid. Soku you, Rosemary, Gray, and Edward come with and I'll show you to the Training area."
An elderly man comes into the dining room and leaves with Ophelia while Soku, Rosemary, and Gray go with Musashi with Edward following close behind. They leave the room and start walking through the house toward where they keep the swords and Armor. Edward starts talking to Rosemary to Gray's Annoyance which leaves Gray and Soku to talk to each other while they walk.
Soku: "You want to join the Leviathan Army because Rosemary wants to."
Soku looks at Gray with a smug face while saying this trying to egg him on for some reason.
Gray: "Possibly, But I do want to join the cooler group of Knights. I don't have anything better to do anyway."
Soku: "Well we did get dealt a, really, REALLY good hand with this bunch of luck. If any other knights caught us we would probably be dead, me and Ophelia are thieves Rosemary is a deserter, and you have a similar mana to A sect member."
Gray: "Yeah you make a good point, hopefully, knock on wood, but I hope we keep this good luck train coming."
While Gray and Soku talk, Rosemary and Edward talk to each other.
Rosemary: "So who are you? Musashi said you were his nephew?"
Edward: "Yeah that's right, he's my uncle, I used to live with my mother but she passed away a couple of years ago so I started living with Musashi."
Rosemary: "Oh I'm sorry for your loss."
Edward: "Oh thank you, no you're fine I have been able to come to an understanding with her passing, I started learning the way of the sword and joining the Van Helsing way of doing things, I hope joining the Army will give you the same ability to cope with what happened to the Golden Knights faction as it did with my mother."
Rosemary: "Why thank you! I hope it does as well, I'm glad you're nice and not one of those jerky knights I'm used to."
Edward: "I'm glad to hear that."
Gray and Soku are both listening to their conversation, Gray is not having it, looking very jealous with them conversing so nicely.
Soku: "Jealous?"
Gray: "Possibly."
Musashi: "Ok everyone we are at the training area!"
They all enter the room and see punching bags, weights, and a variety of weapons and armor, with the Walgonian flag hanging up on the walls, the symbol looking like a very sharp W.
Musashi: "Okay pick out some weapons and armor that fit walk through that door and come outside and I'll be waiting there for you.
Gray looks at some light armor that he can wear, with some boots and arm guards, dawning a slightly long-looking cloak, Grabs one of the various medium-sized swords lying on stands, and walks outside. Soku struggles to find armor that fits her but finds a blocky short sword which is all she seems to want and goes outside, Rosemary takes some slightly heavy armor, and arm and leg guards then leaves to go outside. Leaving Edward to walk and get his things, he grabs his custom-made armor and weapon. With everybody outside except Edward, Musashi starts to talk.
Musashi: "Okay! I saw Rosemary and Soku fight, and I can see that they have some skill, but you Gray, you are the outlier. I want you to try and get a good hit on me and I won't let you stop until you give up or I feel as if you are ready to be taught by me. Now I ask you if you want to be taught the Water Sword style.
Gray: "The water sword style?"
Musashi: "Don't think about it too hard. Easiest to hardest is Fire, Earth, Wind, Water. The best is Water, then Wind, then Earth, then fire."
Gray: "Well since you said you have mastered the water sword style, that one!"
Musashi: "Really? The hardest and strongest one? The one that may take who knows how long to master? The one that'll put you through hell? You're willing to endure it for power?"
Gray: "Yep!"
Musashi: "Either you're insane, stupid, really stupid, or really naïve. But I'll let you onto the road."
Before anything major happens Edward walks outside and is wearing some heavy armor but the most notable thing is the sword on his back, It's what only can be described as a great sword, bigger than a normal person and thicker than ten swords; it looked like a large rectangle of iron with a hilt on it.
Gray: "You use a great sword? You don't have any issues swinging it around?"
Edward: "Well my father used a sword like this and he was a normal person so I figured I would learn to use something similar in length. It was hard to use at first but it has strengthened my body to a level I could not have achieved without it, so it all worked out in the end."
Gray: "Okay then."
Gray tried his best to keep a level face, smiling and rapidly changing his expression and stance to draw attention, while underneath he was quivering with anxiety that Edward may just be that much better than him in every way possible. For a boy without a world, he had nothing in this world. No name, no history. Then came all of that and more. Something Gray couldn't look at for more than a second without smashing his own heart in.
Gray {With his muscles the black hair and the great word he has the build of a rival character or the main character, weird. He belongs in a way too dark fantasy, I wonder if he'd get copyright claimed if he stepped foot in real life.}
Musashi: "Okay enough with the talking you guys sit down over there and Gray when I say go you come at me and I'll see if you're worth it. I'll be using this wooden practice sword."
Gray instantly began to shake with horrid anxinous. So much so tears almost welt up in his eyes. But he wiped his face and stepped forward, trying to scream out all the fear.
Gray: "Okay, I'm ready!"
Musashi: "Good. On one."
Gray plants his feet on the ground confident and ready, with his short dark cloak flowing in the wind, his sword out and he starts to think of a plan of attack.
Musashi: "Three, two, GO!"