As the newly dubbed knights of squad 7 followed Sir Gale into a different part of the Northwell forests. He led them to a large memorial stone that sat in the middle of the woods, where they saw thousands of names engraved into a rock forming a circle, and inside the circle was a flowing fountain of clear water.

The junior knights looked among themselves, wondering why Sir Gale led them to this location.

Lea turned to Sir Gale with curiosity, "Um, Sir Gale? Why'd you bring us here?"

"Yeah, what is this place? I do not think I've been to the part of the forest before . . . and these names," said Nia as she inspected the stone, gliding her fingertips across the carved names in the rock below the fountain.

"Those are the names of all the knights who lost their lives during the first and second Crimson War. Among those names are the fathers of Sir Caldwell and I, as well as many of my childhood friends and trusted comrades," said Sir Gale with a solemn face, but deep down Zack could see the sadness in his eyes.

Despite he seemed so relaxed and almost bored of everything, Zack felt he must have been through a great deal of trauma in his past.

Zack walked up to him as he stood before the memorial fountain, "My condolences to the fallen, but we just became knights. Why are you showing us this?"

"Because I am trying to prepare your mind for the inevitable. I want you to realize the reality that you or any one of your comrades could end up on this fountain. You must know the risks involved when signing up for this job."

"Yeah, we know the risks involved, and we aren't afraid to give lives for this country," Zack responded.

Sir Gale smiled, "Good. While you are with me I will teach you everything I have seen on the battlefield. Maybe that knowledge will help keep you from ending up on this fountain."

Sir Gale folded his arms, "As I said earlier, there is another side of combat. One that most are unaware of," he said then held out his palm.

"You saw me do something abnormal a little while ago. Can you imagine a battle scenario where someone hurls a bolt of lightning at you? How would you defend against such an attack?" he asked.

"I don't know, maybe jump out the way or run?" said Zack confused.

Sir Gale looked across the squad and their clueless faces, "Anyone else?"

"I don't think there is anything we can do against magic, if that even exists," said Lea.

"First of all this is not magic, I'll explain that later. But as Zack said, the best thing to do is run and evade. A sword won't do much against the elements of nature. That's like shoving a stick into a fire hoping to stop it."

"Then how do we defend against such an attack?" Jirell enquired.

"See, you can't defend against it unless you wield the same power. What you saw me do is called an elemental."

"An elemental?" questioned one of the squad members, William.

Sir Gale nodded, "An elemental is the ability to use the elements of nature to your liking, such as wind, fire, water, earth, and any form of vapor or gas."

"How is this even possible? Where did you find these powers?" Jirell asked eagerly.

"I'm sure you've heard tales of the great white sage of old, and I know this might be hard to believe, but the tales are true. Even though it is impossible for a man to attain these powers it can happen with the help of another entity. These powers are granted through the use of a forbidden scroll."

Zack scratched his head, "What the heck is a forbidden scroll? I'm so confused right now."

"I don't want to overload your brains with too much information, so I'll get into that another time. The King has tried his best to keep the details hushed, because these powers are to be kept secret from the masses. It would be dangerous to have such power exposed to regular people. If it were to fall into the wrong hands there would be mayhem and anarchy. That is why we are on the lookout for other elemental users, for protection reasons of course."

Sir Gale looked at them sternly, "Tell no one of what you saw today, do you understand? As a knight you will be given access to classified material, and your responsibility is to keep it classified. If you mess up you will be severely punished. Is that understood?"

The squad members nodded in compliance with his words. Jirell turned to Sir Gale.

"Can you teach me this power?" He asked.

Zack turned to him with a smug chuckle, "What, you want to learn that sorcery?"

Sir Gale sighed, "For the last time it is neither sorcery nor magic. It cannot be taught as you must attain by opening a forbidden scroll."

"Then where do I find these scrolls?" Jirell asked with impatience and a bit of temper.

"Easy there lad, the forbidden scrolls are scattered across the earth. I was just fortunate enough to stumble upon one as a child while I wandered off into a cave. Also given your motive is revenge I wouldn't teach you even if I could."

Jirell clenched his fist and frowned, "You don't understand, with that power I could storm Ylise and kill King Jaragus this instant. You have the power, why don't you do it?"

Sir Gale looked at him with a tired face, "This power sucks up a great deal of your energy and too much usage can kill you. You would die of exhaustion before you get to the castle. Take heed young lad. I have seen many men lose themselves to revenge, be careful lest you become one of them."

Jirell hissed in anger and walked away from the group, leaning on a tree across from them. Lea saw this and walked over to him with visible concern on her face.

"Jirell, are you okay?" she asked sincerely.

He looked away from her whilst twisting his mouth, "I'm fine," he responded coldly.

Sir Gale looked up at the sun, "Oh my look at the sun. We've wasted so much time here," he said then began to walk away. "Come with me, I'm taking you back to the knight's guild for your very first mission. Hopefully there are some requests still in."

The rest of the squad began to follow him along the forest path, their boots sounding in a choir of their own as they stepped upon the dirt mixed with small bits of grass.

Lea began to speak, "Excuse me Sir Gale? What type of mission are we going to get?"

Zack chirped with joy, "Yeah! Do we get to fight off bandits and save a town? Kr maybe go storm a Fort and catch some bad guys?" he asked enthusiastically.

Sir Gale smiled, "Oh goodness no, you get even more thrilling, missions," he said with motivational sarcasm.

Zack became fired up, brimming with uncontrollable excitement, "Splendid! Like what? Like what?"

"Weeeell, you get to rescue cats stuck in trees, find missing pets, escort nobles, merchants and lords, do patrols, bodyguard jobs, guard duty and oh, here is the best part. You get to clean the amry latrines, however, you may have to wear a mask," said Sir Gale with a chuckle.

"What!" Zack exclaimed, loathing the thought of those tasks.

Kelly folded his arms, "That stinks!" he complained.

Sir Gale chuckled subtly, "I know, that's why I said to wear a mask."

Jirell turned to Sir Gale, "He meant- urgh, never mind."

"Guys stop complaining. We are doing this for the people remember?" said Lea trying to boost their morale.

"See, everyone should learn a thing or two from Lea," Sir Gale commended her.

Squad 7 unenthusiastically followed Sir Gale to the Knight's Guild where they stood before the front desk. Sir Gale leaned on the counter and greeted a short-haired woman behind the desk.

"Hey there Sally, could you be a darl and brief these freshmits on their duties to the guild?"

Sally smiled as she turned to the squad, "Sure thing Sir Gale . . . Listen up lads, each day hundreds of Alteans come in to report the cases and problems they're dealing with, and for each of those reports we assign a knight or knights to a case. Every morning, noon, and night, you must check in to see what missions are available to be completed. You will be paid gold upon completion, the amounted pay depends upon the difficulty rank of the mission. Other forms of payment come in land and crops, but you will first have to be prompted to higher rank to attain that."

Sir Gale turned to her, "Are there any lightweight missions to get them started?"

Zack rose an eyebrow, "Lightweight?"

"Well, all the recent missions were already assigned to the other squads but hmmm, let me see."

She pulled out a piece of paper from her desk and began tracing her fingers along it, "A noblewoman recently came in with a request to find her missing rabbit named Munchkins."

Zack gawked as if she said something disgusting, "Is there anything else?"

"I think there is just one more . . . A nobleman is about to meet with a local lord quite a distance from the capital and he wants an escort, plus guarding services," Sally replied.

"At least that's better than the first one, I want it," declared Zack eagerly.

"Me also," Jirell added.

Sir Gale turned to the squad, "Okay, we'll split the squad into two groups. One optimized for search and rescue, the other for potential combat. In group one I want Lea and Nia especially due to the fact that their skills are more suited for search and rescue. Lea as an archer should be able to use her hunting skills to track down the rabbit, and Nia's Intel gathering as a spy will be helpful in finding it."

Sir Gale turned to Claudios, "Claudios, I want you to accompany them since you have an eagle's eye. Your attention to detail will come in handy. Leroy and William are good with animals so without a doubt I believe group one will have great success."

"Always so analytical Sir Gale, it's just a rabbit," Sally joked.

"I take every mission seriously. As for group two, since you lot don't like boring missions, I've decided it's best to put you where your mind will concentrate and not wander off during the mission."

Zack stepped forward with a bold toothy grin, "Alrighty."

"We'll take it," Jirell said in a tone of boredom.

"Time to head out. Lea you're in charge of group one, Jirell you for ground two," said Sir Gale.

Nia turned to him, "Aren't you coming with us Sir?"

"No, I have other business to attend to. Just so you know, most of these missions you will be doing alone."

Sally began to speak, "Okay, so group one your subject was last seen around Walter's Spring. I advise you to begin your search there. Group two, you can meet the client by the Northwell Bridge. You can head out now."

As they walked out of the knights guild Zack was brimming with joy at the thought of his first mission. He could not stop a goofy grin from climbing onto his face, feeling all dignified strolling onto the streets in his brand-new Altean armor. How long had he waited to don such an ensemble. The glaring heat in the armor was a worthy price to pay for wearing the acclaimed metal suit.

Lea turned to Zack and the others from group two as they stood in the streets before the guild. "Well, I guess we'll see you later guys, good luck."

"Yeah, see you guys around," replied Zack.

Nia turned to Zack, "Be safe out there."

"You be safe too."

Nia kissed Zack on his cheek before leaving with Lea and the rest of group one. Zack, Jirell, Kelly and the other two left on their way to the Northwell bridge. While on their way they ran into Sir Caldwell who was walking by the town with another knight.

Zack waved at him from down the street, "Hey Sir Caly! Check out the new armor," he said posing for Sir Caldwell to see.

Sir Caldwell chuckled, "Well, well, look who just became a knight. I am proud of you lads. I apologize I could not attend your dubbing. I've had a lot of work on my plate lately."

"Don't sweat it Sir, we understand you got new duties and all," said Kelly.

"I assume you've been assigned to a squad already?" asked Sir Caldwell.

Zack's forehead creased with a frown, "Yeah, but they gave us the worst superior ever."

Sir Caldwell chuckled, "Let me guess, was it Sir Gale?"

Zack nodded in displeasure. Jirell turned to Sir Caldwell, "I don't see a problem with him."

Zack turned to Jirell, "That's because he kept praising you. Why couldn't you be our superior instead Sir Caly?"

"Well lads, I'm a general now, so I am no longer put in charge of squads but rather I must oversee larger troops. Sir Gale is the best superior you could have ever received. Being among the best knights in Altea, his skill and wisdom are unmatched. I feel you are safe in his hands."

Zack rolled his eyes, "If you say so."

"We've wasted enough time here, the client is waiting," said Jirell.

Sir Caldwell gasped, "Oh my, never keep a client waiting scurry on lads."

Zack waved to Sir Caly as he and the others continued on their path to the Northwell bridge. They arrived at the bridge where they met a man in a long white robe with a rather unhappy disposition, standing behind him were his servants.

The five knights escorted the nobleman across the Northwell Bridge to get to Whitefield Manor, where they stood outside as guards whilst the nobleman had a business meeting with the local lord of the town. The manor sat in the very middle of the fairly small town, right across from the fruit market.

While guarding, the children running around the town were fascinated by the sight of the knights, and gathered around Zack and his comrades in awe. The shy ones stood backpage whilst the braver children stood before them asking a barrage of curious questions.

One beady-eyed boy looked up into Zack's face with an inquisitive jolt of interest and astonishment in his smile.

"One day, I'm going to become a knight just like you," the boy's eyes lit up with aspiration, eyeing his sword and the shiny glow of his armor in the sunlight.

Zack's heart was touched. This was a surreal experience hearing someone say the exact words to him he once said many years ago to his father. Never before had anyone looked at him with such admiration. The armor really carried a great deal of respect.

He smiled, "If that's your dream, then give it all you've got. And one day you'll be just like me, or even better."

The boy was greatly motivated by Zack's words, but a little girl beside him who bore a strong resemblance to him pouted in displeasure.

"But brother, knights are scary," she said to the boy.

The boy giggled and pointed to Zack, "He's not scary."

Zack was not sure if it was a compliment or not, but smiled nonetheless. All matters aside though, a menacing-looking knight was a knight not to mess with, as intimidation had its perks when it came to criminals.

The little girl looked up at him with innocent eyes of curiosity, "Have you ever killed anyone mister?"

Zack made a nervous laughter, looking at his other comrades for backup.

"So what would you like to become when you grow up little lass?" Zack asked, dodging the question.

"I do not know. Mother said I will help her on the farm until I am old enough to get married."

The other children wanting attention as well, chipped in with questions of their own.

Zack and Kelly humored them, but Jirell soon found it daunting and became annoyed. He told them to go away as they were on a mission and needed no distractions. By the tone of his cold voice the children scurried away and ran. This caused Zack to frown at him to which Jirell shrugged it off.

After the long meeting they escorted the nobleman back across the bridge and straight to his manor without encountering any bandits. Zack was happy the mission went well, but also disappointed he didn't get any of the action he always imagined his first mission would have.

Elsewhere, Lea and the others from group one were able to successfully find the noblewoman's rabbit in the woods, who was being chased by a fox just as they saw it. Lea shot the fox with her bow and arrow to save the rabbit from its jaws. They then returned the pet to its owner who grabbed it from their hands and kissed it repeatedly, and without thanks the noblewoman shut her door. Lea frowned but quickly ignored it, as most nobles were like that.

By dusk they returned to the guild to regroup with the others to log their report and receive their first payment. In celebration of completing their first missions, the ten knights of squad 7 went out to a tavern to relax and unwind, Lea's idea of course. Through jokes, stories, and thrilling conversations they all got to know each other.

Later that night everyone went home a tad bit sober. Jirell, Zack, and Kelly could no longer stay at the academy after graduation, and since they weren't from Northwell they had nowhere to stay. They went to Sir Caldwell's house and asked to spend the night, to which Sir Caldwell happily agreed to give them stay. He gave them three blankets each, and that night they slept on a large bear rug in his living room. However, Jirell stayed up and watched most of the night.