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"Sindre, get down here; it's time for training."
Sindre was eating food, his body eager and his eyes excited, a huge smile on his face as he gobbled down his food rather quickly.
Sindre got up from his chair, the maids taking his finished plate as he ran off yelling ecstatically.
"Yes, Father!"
This was Sindre's past; he still lived in that same building he does now. Time had reverted in his memories, and now we were being shown his story as a child.
Sindre arrived at the training arena, his father holding an upset look and tossing Sindre a wooden blade.
Sindre caught it. His father asked a question, walking towards Sindre, a stern tone outlining his words.
"How come you're late, son?"
Sindre explained, bowing apologetically.
"Sorry, Father! I was eating."
His father sighed but didn't punish Sindre; he understood him.
"It's okay."
A smile appeared on his father's face as he flexed, showing off.
"After all, if my son doesn't eat, how will he become strong like me?"
Sindre nodded, looking up at his father in admiration.
Someone laughed at the sidelines of the arena; almost in a mocking but playful manner, they spoke.
"You're not that tough, old man, just delusional."
Sindre quickly turned their head, dropping their blade and running towards the person.
"Loather!"
Loather caught the young Sindre lifting him up and stopping his momentum before letting him back down.
"How's my favourite royal branch member doing?"
Sindre replied happily; he was in a great mood.
"Very swell, Loather!"
Sindre's father sighed, taking no offence to Loather's words but instead fighting back with a smirk.
"And how's my cocky teenage disciple doing?"
Loather looked down at Sindre with a slight smile, ruffling his hair.
"Glad to hear that."
Sindre gave a satisfied look as he walked back over to his father.
Loather looked back up, speaking, almost challenging Sindre's father with a slight smile remark.
"Be lucky you have a student like me, master; you're losing touch."
Sindre's father simply responded with nothing; he knew everything Loather said was just a playful jab.
As Sindre was picking his blade back up, Loather proposed a challenge to Sindre.
"Hey, if you manage to beat your old man in training today, I'll hook you up with candy."
Sindre jumped up in excitement, hitting himself with his own blade; his father was worried, but Sindre just came back with more energy than before.
"Don't hold back, Father! I'm going all out."
Sindre's father sighed, getting into a stance, his blade at the ready as he thought to himself.
"(You really had to get my son riled up, didn't you, Loather?)"
The two began to spar; it was simple swordplay, and despite Sindre's father having the advantage, Sindre showed great skill.
Sindre had great talent, his form elegant and precise; you could tell he was a royal.
But Sindre's father was going harder today, and for good reason: today Sloane was here watching the progress of Sindre.
Although Sloane was rather hard to see, they were there watching at the top floor of the arena.
Anyways, Sindre and his father continued the spar. Sindre was keeping up rather well; it impressed Sloane at the top.
Sindre also showed great perseverance, fighting despite losing energy.
But despite all that experience and size, Sindre's father won in the end, with Sindre falling to the ground groaning in defeat.
"Awh! I won't get any candy!"
Sindre got up pouting; Loather reassured Sindre.
"Don't worry, you'll still get some candy."
Sindre's pout changed to a smile as he ran off happily.
Loather looked at Sindre's father applauding, impressed.
"Your son is beginning to become a strong man, old geezer."
Sindre's father nodded, chuckling somewhat.
"You'd be right about that."
———
There was Sindre, lying in bed excited for tomorrow; he would be getting his candy tomorrow, and it was hard to sleep.
Although Sindre did manage to sleep after a while.
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The next day Sindre woke up getting ready to go out and get candy from Loather, but when he opened his window.
He saw the whole building in flames, destruction filling the whole area, and screams being heard all across.
Sindre stepped back, stumbling down in terror and shock; there was no way this was happening.
That's when Sindre's father bashed through the door, picking up Sindre in a hurry.
"It's going to be okay. Son, it's going to be okay."
Sindre's father ran through the halls of the building; once old halls filled with servants were now halls filled in a flurry of chaos.
Tears came down Sindre's face despite not realizing what happened yet.
Sindre's father was stopped by a silhouette walking towards him; it was a royal knight.
Sindre's father had finally thought they had been saved by putting Sindre down.
"Let me talk to him; you just wait here."
He walked over to the royal knight, and what Sindre saw after was his father falling to the ground, his head cut clean off.
The royal knight walked forward, completely passing by Sindre as if they were nothing.
As the royal knight walked away, Sindre slowly walked towards his father, stumbling with each step.
Once he got to his father, he fell to his knees looking at the corpse before him; Sindre spoke with a desperate smile.
"Father, it's time to wake up… there's no need to be sleeping so early…"
Sindre then took his father's hand, noticing its cold pulse, and that's when Sindre realized.
His father was dead; this was the beginning of Sindre's tragic story.
8.1
After that whole incident, Loather saved Sindre, taking him in. Loather's family let Sindre in and treated him as their own.
And with time, both Loather and Sindre fought each other, training and becoming stronger, although Sindre naturally had more talent than Loather.
They both became young, respectable adults joining in with the knights, the tragedy only driving Sindre forward as Sloane had planned.
They began pursuing missions as knights, coming back with great success each time. People loved them; their reputation was amazing.
Then, while on a mission working alongside a female knight, Sindre grew interested in her, and they began dating.
It went off without a hitch, and they became a thing really fast, their compatibility off the charts.
Then the war between the Fire and Knight kingdoms came along.
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The crashing of sounds, the clanging and clashing of swords, and the horrid smell of corpses.
Both Sindre and Loather were fighting together, unstoppable. Sindre then spoke, clashing with one of the knights and quickly cutting them down.
"You better not die, Loather, or else I'll get mad."
Loather chuckled, handling himself quite well without Sindre's help.
"You're talking to the man on the same level as you and close to Valerius in terms of skill; I would never lose."
Sindre gave a slight smile as they both pushed forward on the front line.
"Then let's keep going forward!"
Loather nodded, following Sindre's lead.
As they fought through the crowd of the Fire Kingdom's knights, they noticed Valerius far away.
Valerius was fighting tons of Fire Kingdom's Knights, about 20 of them at once. Valerius's natural talent and weapon trait ability made him the most dangerous threat on the battlefield when Sloane wasn't around.
Of course, despite that, the Fire Kingdom was putting up a great fight; that's how they have lasted so long in this war.
Both Loather and Sindre were quite jealous of Valerius being able to get the chance to fight so many people; it felt unfair to them.
That's when a woman sprang out, rushing towards both Loather and Sindre; it was Sindre's wife.
They had gotten married before the war happened.
Loather backed away, going to a different section of the battlefield to give Sindre and his wife time alone fighting together.
Sindre's wife spoke of Valerius commenting on his skill.
"I bet you wish you were as strong as him."
Sindre nodded taking down a Fire kingdom knight as he replied
"I do, cause then I could fight lots of people at once."
Sindre's wife sighed as she blocked a Fire kingdom's knight's attack with her blade.
"Well it's pretty hard to become a royal knight, I mean I wish I could fight like that too."
Sindre's wife then became quiet for a moment as Sindre asked her something.
"is something wrong?"
She took down the Fire Kingdom knight she had been clashing with and then looked at Sindre speaking honestly.
"I think that we can resolve this war peacefully if we just talk with the Fire kingdom."
"Would you be on board with joining me in my pursuit, Sindre?"
Sindre stood there for a second, the chattering of war ringing throughout the whole battlefield; he then nodded, looking at his wife straight in the eyes.
"I would; I would do anything for you."
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So both Sindre and his wife worked together for that goal; it was working, and everything was going well.
Until one day at the battlefield while fighting, Sindre was working together with his wife, a knight from the Knight Kingdom, coming from behind.
He took Sindre's hand and, in a swift movement, made Sindre kill his own wife on Sloane's orders.
This led to Sindre's complete breakdown, his family dying, and now his wife. He couldn't handle it anymore; he developed a phobia of fighting and became the way he is now in the current time.
Loather found him on the ground huddled crying with his wife in his hands, Loather taking Sindre before he could die and leaving the battlefield.
Loather let Sindre into his home, letting Sindre rest and recover as Sindre went off to go back to the battlefield.
That's when Sloane came and told Loather everything that happened about Sindre, that Sindre killed his own family and wife, providing enough proof for Loather to believe Sloane, such as Sindre being near the corpse for both his father's and wife's deaths. But really what made Loather believe Sloane was that Sloane was the Knight King, and who wouldn't believe their own king?
This led to a fight between Loather and Sindre; Sindre didn't dare explain themself as Loather beat him up and left Sindre, kicking him out of his house.
Sindre went back to his old house, being welcomed right in; it was rebuilt and everything.
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A year or two passed, and the tournament came. Loather was chosen to be a representative, and the only person he knew who had the capabilities to participate was Sindre.
Loather would do whatever it takes for Sindre to participate, even if it meant controlling him.
And now here we are in the present time.