XI

Percy bolted upright, breathing heavily, looking around in straight confusion and shock, his head thumping, giving Percy a headache. Whispers erupted from around him, Percy's vision still blurred and groggy. Percy observed his surroundings, looking around in straight confusion, his eyes still adjusting to the light, his vision impaired from the sudden movement. His eyes finally adjusted, the darkness disappearing from his eyes, finally getting a good grip on his surroundings.

"Woah, you're awake." Someone said, instantly startling Percy, making him jump in surprise. Percy strained his eyes, looking at the source of the voice, to his surprise, a boy around his age, give or take was standing there with a raised eyebrow, confused and a little bit shocked too.

"Damn, um, I'm not supposed to interact with potential threatsbut, why are you here?" He asked, Percy shook his head, trying to speak, only to find out that he couldn't, shocker.

"Oh, you can't speak." He said, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration.

"It's not safe here you know, they might mistake you as one of them." He said, Percy raised an eyebrow.

"We're on an operation here of some sort, they might mistake you as one of them, they might kill you." He explained, it didn't give much context as to what he was saying. Percy noticed they were on a rocky landform, the land itself forming cracks, as if deprived of water. Percy turned towards the person talking, only now noticing his clothes. The person was wearing a white cloak that reached to his knees, arm pads on his forearms, black gloves, and combat boots. In addition, he wore a pair of plain trousers with a white tunic underneath. What Percy took an interest on was a bright Red Cross across the front of his cloak along with chain mail armor for extra protection. Percy raised an eyebrow, pointing at his chest, he raised an eyebrow, looking at the cross, realization hitting him.

"Oh it's our symbol." He stated, Percy raised an eyebrow at his choice of wordings. Our, which meant there were more of them.

"We're on a quest to reclaim what was rightfully ours." He said enthusiastically, Percy again raised an eyebrow, giving a lot of shade as to what they were doing.

"We are here to take back what they have taken from us, what they have stolen from us." He said, Percy raised an eyebrow.

"You must be wondering what we are fighting exactly." He said smiling, scratching the back of his head, Percy nodded, he didn't know what and why they were taking something back, or why they're fighting for it.

"We are fighting these monsters, these are the most dangerous of them all, they have the ability to transform into humans like us, they are shape shifters, they invaded our home land, and now we are here to take it back." He said.

"We are on a crusade, to take back the holy land." He said with pride.

"Anyways, I'm going to stop blabbering, you better go, they might mistake you as one of them." He said, Percy sighed, nodding. Right after a shout was heard, giving Percy a slight churn in his stomach, something wasn't right, Percy grew suspicious, looking around the vicinity. There stood one of them, one of e crusaders, standing tall and proud, holding out a sword that glimmered in the sun, wearing their colours of white and red, a Cross visibly seen on his chest. It was another one of those crusaders.

"Step away from him Wymer, back away from it." The man said, the person who Percy was speaking to, which he guessed was named Wymer, looked at the guy with wide eyes

"Don't worry, he isn't one of them, I've been speaking to him for five minutes and he hasn't done anything that a monster would do." Wymer explained, the man who looked to be about nineteen or so turned towards Wymer with an incredulous look.

"You interacted with someone, fully knowing that he could be one of them, oh you're going to receive a big punishment from the King." He said.

"No wait, he really isn't, he hasn't done anything, he doesn't have any of their traits, I'm sure that he's a normal human, he's not a monster." Wymer tried reasoning, he was having none of it.

"Better safe than sorry." He said approaching towards Percy sword in hand, instantly Wymer stood in front of Percy in a protective stance.

"I'm not going to let you hurt another innocent, this isn't why we are crusading." Wymer stated, he was having none of it.

"Get out of my way punk." He said moving forward and pushing Wymer out of the way, Wymer dropping to the ground with a thud, Wymer himself was pretty slim and light. The other guy on the other hand was the opposite of Wymer, it was as if he was a Son of Ares.

"Now, to finish you off you little brat." He said grabbing his sword and making a slash towards Percy. Percy widened his eyes, his instincts kicking in, rolling out of the way just in time for the sword to miss, millimeters close from his face. The man turned towards Percy with a fire in his eyes, burning with hatred and malice.

"Oh you're so dead now you little brat." He said, charging at Percy full force, sword in hand, the nineteen year old grabbed his sword and raised it in the air, bringing it down for a heavy blow, intending to kill. Percy instinctively went for his hip, grabbing a familiar handle and unsheathing it, raising it in the air in retaliation, the two swords collided with each other, sending sparks to fly everywhere from Percy's block.

"What the-" The man said, looking at the sword at Percy's hand with shock, Percy pulled out the sword so fast, the man barely had any time to register it. Percy instantly recognized the sword, it was the one he used all the time, it was the sword that he himself made a long time ago, when Arthur and Percy weren't even Knights yet. The man reacted, stepping back and making multiple thrusts towards Percy, Percy avoided each one skillfully, dodging each and every one with grace.

"You're testing with my patience you little brat." He said, Percy backflipped away, taking a breather, it felt like he hadn't done this in a hundred years, his limbs were immediately sore? Percy eyed Wymer in the corner of his eye, Wymer was watching everything silently, unable to do anything, Percy forgot he was still there, he immediately spotted a bruise forming in his forehead from the man, Wymer's nose was bloodied from the force the man did. Percy felt anger boil within him, he didn't deserve being treated like trash, everyone was equal, Percy hated people that treat others as absolutely nothing, he was having none of it.

"All right you're dead now pun-" He didn't have time to finish his sentence, Percy instantly surged forward, his knee instantly colliding with the mans face, sending him tumbling back with a bleeding nose. Percy clutched his sword and went towards the wide eyed man, placing the sword on his neck, ready to bring forth the kill.

"Do your worst." He said closing his eyes, expecting the pain. Percy sighed, his anger slowly draining away, even though people like him didn't deserve to live, he just couldn't bring himself to kill another human, not after the invasion. Percy shook his head, grabbing his sword and sheathing it in the scabbard on his hip. Percy left the wide eyed man who was expecting death, looking at Percy's back with wide eyes. Percy turned towards Wymer who was quivering in fear from Percy's display of power. Percy walked towards him, giving him a thumbs up and a smile, his quivering stopped, slowly being replaced with a small sigh of relief.

"What the hell! That was awesome, how did you do that, you were so fast and stuff, you were like a blur of destruction." Wymer said with wide eyes, Percy smiled a little, chuckling softly.

"Man, you need to join us, we could really use a man like you around here." He said looking at Percy with hopeful eyes, Percy rubbed the back of his neck, pondering what would be his answer. Percy slowly shrugged, looking down on the ground in defeat.

"So does that mean a yes?" He asked, Percy shrugged.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said.

"Come on, follow me, we'll get you suited up." He said beckoning Percy forward forward, Percy had no choice but to follow, he did occasionally glance back to see if the guy he had beaten up was still there, to his surprise he was, his eyes were still wide as if exposed to a traumatic event. Whilst Percy was walking, he noticed what he was wearing, he was wearing a worn down tattered yellow tunic, Percy recognized it almost instantly, it was his Royal guard tunic, it used to spark life, now it was in tatters, rubble splattered all over it. His once brand new trousers were now worn down as if it wasn't been used for centuries.

Hell his scabbard seemed to accumulate some webs, which was weird. Percy instantly remembered what happened, Percy stopped dead in his tracks, remembering what happened that night, when Guinevere was making out with Lancelot. Percy couldn't shake the memory out of his mind, as if experiencing a nightmare he couldn't wake from, he witnessed his supposed love of his life, making out with another man.

The saddest part about it, she never really was Percy's woman, Percy only hoped that he could have a chance with her, that he could've had made it work with her. But in the end, she was given a choice, one single choice, Percy, or Lancelot,  it wasn't Percy. Percy recalled everything, Arthur's death, Merlin, Camelot, everything, up to the point where there were a bunch of monsters, the rest after that was just blank. Wymer noticed Percy stopping dead in his tracks, he turned towards Percy, Percy himself was pale and wide eyed, cold sweat forming in his brow.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good." Wymer stated, it snapped Percy out of his nightmare, Percy shook his head, looking at Wymer with wide eyes.

"You don't look so good." He said, Percy cleared his head giving, making deep breaths, giving Wymer a small thumbs up and a fake smile.

"Are you sure? I mean, you look like you just saw a ghost." He said looking at Percy concerned, Percy nodded, giving another thumbs up.

"Yeah okay, no point in questioning it." He said, Percy nodded following suit, he tried not to think about it, he remembered everything, then he remembered a sword through his chest. Percy kept questioning if this was real or not, if this was the real life, or if it was just fantasy. Percy couldn't comprehend what happened, everything seemed to come back to him suddenly, as if he was caught in a landslide, with no escape from reality. Percy did the best thing to remedy this for now, and that was to not think about it at all, it made his brain hurt and his heart ache, he couldn't handle it right now.

"So, I haven't properly introduced myself to you yet, but I guess you already know my name." He said turning towards Percy with a small smile.

"Hello, I'm Wymer, nice to meet you." He said extending a hand, Percy gladly, took it, shaking it lightly.

"And you are?" Wymer said, he instantly face palmed.

"Oh yeah right, you can't talk." Wymer said face palming, following it up with a string of apologies.

"Wait." Wymer said, straining his eyes into Percy's faded yellow tunic, cursive embroidering could be seen on Percy's tunic, the name Percival across Percy's tunic, it was faded, but still readable.

"Is your name Percival?" Wymer asked, Percy raised an eyebrow, wondering how he found out, Wymer seemingly noticed this and pointed at his tunic, at the hem of Percy's tunic was indeed written Percival in cursive.

"Wait, so your name is Percival?" He asked again, Percy nodded giving a small sigh.

"That's a pretty cool name, never heard one just like it, it's pretty unique." He said, complimenting Percy.

"Reminds me of an old folk tale my mother used to say to me." He said with a small smile.

"It was called King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table." He said with a nostalgic smile, Percy froze right in his tracks, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, my mother had a book about it, your name reminds me of them, there was Arthur, Lancelot, Bors, Galahad, all these cool Knights and stuff." He said, Percy was still wide eyed, shocked as to what he was hearing.

"I'm blabbering again, let's just get back to the our encampment so I can get you signed up and an official member of the crusaders." He said with a small smile, even though Percy was following Wymer, he still had his mind concentrated on what he said, a book, about Arthur, and the rest of the Knights, a book about his best friend, and it was all but folk lore, they didn't believe it to be real, they thought it was an old wives tale, Percy couldn't prove it right either, he had no voice, he couldn't. Percy had infinite questions circling through his mind whilst following Wymer, his head was in the clouds, a migraine slowly forming from all the confusion and memories that flooded to him.

"Ah, finally we're here." Wymer said, stopping. Percy stopped too, trying to pry his mind away from all the confusion, it made his brain hurt, a lot, like it was being stabbed over and over. Percy saw an encampment of tents and random tables scattered around with multiple Knights walking around in the same garb as Wymer, the same Red Cross, the same white trench coat, the same armor, everything was identical, their sizes were altered from the size and height of the crusaders, their ages varied between eighteen and above.

Percy could mainly see people around his age, there were a few adults there, but most were teenagers or in their late teens, most were around Percy's age bracket.

"So now, let's get you signed up." Wymer said, Percy shook his head from the daze and following Wymer.

"Most people outside the area we protect don't really know this." Wymer said, Percy raised an eyebrow, confused as to what he was saying.

"Oh, yeah, right, you seem to don't know much about these changing times." Wymer said, Percy didn't know if he should be offended or what.

"Anyways, most people think we try and reclaim the holy land from the Muslims." He explained.

"Well, that's where they are wrong." Wymer explained.

"Actually, the Muslims are one of our closest allies, the actual things we are opposing are the monsters as I said, the shape shifting monsters, the Muslims actually provide some of the funds we need to actually do this, they provide a percentage of the armor we wear, our food, etcetera." Wymer explained, Percy nodded, Percy didn't want to harm any humans, as much as possible he tried to avoid it. His mind flashed back to the raid of the Saxons, remembering the bloody battlefield, the cries of agony, it was bone rattling, it gave Percy chills just by thinking about it.

"Oh, there's the signup, come one, let's go." Wymer said, beckoning Percy forward. Percy nodded with a slight sigh, following Wymer towards a specific tent, it wasn't really a tent. It was only a table with a few papers attached to the table, two crusaders sitting on chairs with bored expressions. It was just a small stand with a small roof attached to four logs that maintained its elevation, protecting the two crusaders from the sun.

"Let's go, you might've joined just in time, if my information is correct, there are only a few slots are available." Wymer said with a small smile. Percy nodded, turning towards the stand and standing in front albeit a little awkwardly. The two crusaders straightened themselves, looking at Percy with a raised eyebrow.

"You here to sign up?" One of the crusaders asked, Percy nodded. The crusader grabbed a makeshift pencil, a small stick the attached to a piece of coal.

"Just write your name there, after that, you're all clear." He said, Percy grabbed the pencil and went to the papers attached to the table, there were multiple names written on it. Percy grabbed the pencil and wrote on the price of paper, Percy silently cursed, seeing what he has written. He accidentally wrote his name Percival in ancient Celtic symbols, it was the writing Percy used when he was in Camelot. Percy shook his head, crossing his name out and writing Percival on the paper.

Merlin gave him the courtesy of a lesson in writing in every single way possible, Ancient Greek was easy, Celtic was basically born with him, Latin was a little hard, English was just as easy, it basically originated from the celts, English originated from Britain so it was natural, Percy wrote his name, Percival in cursive English like normal, the rest of the names seemed to be rushed and sloppy, Percy's name was the only neat one, probably his time with the English rubbing off of him.

"Welcome to the Crusade." The crusader said with a small smile, Percy nodded smiling a little, returning back to Wymer with a raised eyebrow.

"So, did you do it?" Wymer asked, Percy nodded.

"Cool, now, I need to explain the hierarchy here, the one I sighed you up for, is the Teutonic Order, it's basically the lowest rank, don't mind it, the Teutonic Order still has a lot of good fighters, now, you can sign up as a Teutonic Knight, or a Hospitaller. The Hospitaller is basically the medic, but you can move up the ranks. The highest rank are the Templar's, they are the elite of the elite, they are the best fighters, only few right now are able to become a Knight Templar, or just Templar, whichever you prefer, there are five ranks all in all, the Teutonic Knights and Hospitallers are the same, whilst the Templar's are the highest." Wymer explained.

"Actually, the Templar Knights were the first order to be established, but, as time went on, more and more orders were made, the Templar's became fewer and fewer up until there were only twenty Templar's left. Also, this is just an outpost, our actual base, or city is still a long walk away, in a few days, we'll head back to the city, your training starts at the city." Wymer explained.

"Anyways, there is still a lot more to discuss, you'll learn more in your training, and orientation, don't worry, the training only lasts for a few weeks, the orientation though starts tomorrow, don't worry I'll come with you." Wymer said with a small smile.

"Now, let's go find you some of our colours, there is an armory right over there, we can fit you up in just the right size." Wymer said with a small thumbs up.

"Also, congratulations." Wymer said extending his hand, Percy shook it.

"You're officially a crusader now, a Teutonic Knight."

Word Count
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Words

A/N

So, another chapter is out, I know this might seem a little off topic, this chapter I mean, but believe me, this will all make sense, just wait and see, you guys will find out. So, the Arthurian Arc is over now, this is the official start of the Crusaders Arc, I'm pretty excited to write this, I have a lot of plans to go into this arc, it won't be as long as the Arthurian Arc, or Celtic Arc whichever you prefer but still this is going to be exciting.

I dunno if this arc will span up to eight chapters or ten chapters, it really depends right now, it depends on whether I have enough ideas to last for eight chapters, or ten chapters, I don't really want to rush this because it's going to be a pretty cool arc, overall I think there will be four arcs, I think this book will last around about twenty six to thirty chapters, which I dunno I can do honestly, lol.

Anyways, I'm going to go now, weekly uploads is confirmed, but double uploads is still under a management, I'm trying to do it, but I cannot seem to do it, which sucks, I really want to make two chapters or more a week, but I'm so lazy, lol, I'm sorry. Anyways, I'm going to leave now, enjoy the rest of your day, cause I'm sure as hell going to enjoy mine lol, anyways,Clyde bye,case you guys on the next chapter.

Also here's a picture of the crusaders and what they wear.