Jasper learned a decent bit from Weston and retired for the night. His head ran with thoughts on how to strengthen his spell. Eventually, his mind floated into sleep.
A younger version of Jasper stalked around the property that he had grown up on. His hair was short and styled professionally. His family had just returned from seeing his oldest brother fight in a Spirit Knight bout. Spirit Knights occasionally host battles between their troops to bolster the public's belief in them and remind the country of their strength.
They're hosted in the capital of the country where the king resides. As a Lord, his father was able to bring the whole family and had box seats. His oldest brother, Leonel, had lost his fight. He had gone against a high-ranking tamer in a different Spirit Knight troop and lost after an extended battle. The battles aren't significant for the Spirit Knights, but Jasper's father found the results to be quite the opposite.
Most higher members of society know these bouts mean nothing in the big picture. They're meant to display the strength of Spirit Knights, not establish hierarchy. All the meaningful fights happen away from the eyes of the public. "I'm disappointed." Jasper's father said.
Jasper's back was pressed against the storage building. His father and oldest brother had disappeared, and Jasper wanted to know what was happening. His brother was silent.
"Your performance today was less than stellar. You lost your first bout. You know I won my first one, right?" His father said sourly.
"Only commoners care what happens in those bouts. I haven't lost anything that matters." His brother said quietly.
"So you're okay with losing? And that doesn't matter. Most people are commoners. How else are you supposed to build a powerful legacy?" His father hissed. Jasper inched closer to the corner he was hiding behind.
"I'm still an up-and-coming tamer. The king himself comme-" His brother said before a loud slap rang out.
"And you've failed. I don't want you to win behind closed doors. You might as well have not won. Now leave. Don't return until you've done something impressive." His father said. Jasper's eyes were wide as he heard one of them walking toward him. He froze. They would see him regardless. Bright blue hair rounded the corner and glanced at Jasper. His cheek was red and his eyes were hard.
Jasper watched his brother pass by him in a slow stride. His eyes were wide with surprise and fear. Normally, when he got caught sneaking around, he was hurt by his siblings. But it seemed Leonel was in no mood for that. Jasper watched his brother leave through the front gates of the property with a shocked expression.
His father didn't raise his hand often to his older children. Jasper felt his stomach drop a little as he realized things weren't going to get better for him either. There was no growing out of this house.
Jasper awoke with a start and sat up quickly. He rubbed his eyes and closed his fist. 'Maybe I was better off getting disowned. My brother's still stuck there at the grown age of 28.' He thought to himself.
He crawled out of his tent and made eye contact with Micah across the camp. The older man sneered and turned away to pack up his tent. Jasper had woken up early enough to pack up with the group.
He tore down his things and stuffed them into his bag. Soon, they were on the road once more. Things of little interest happened along the way. They'd pass by tamers often and would help when Arya thought it worth.
Jasper and Weston ended up sharing a conversation before they set up camp for the night. "Now that its been a couple of days, how are you feeling about that stuff with your family?" Weston asked.
It had come from nowhere, but Jasper was distracted by it. "Uh. I don't know. I'm not great at knowing how I feel. I think it's just complicated right now. Only one thing is clear to me. I must create a legacy greater than my former family's. Easier said than done" He said. He needed more time to understand himself.
There was a pause as Weston nodded. "I understand. Living up to familial standards is a tough road. You may know my family. My father works under yours as a close advisor. I come from an elite family where success is required." Weston said.
"Who's your father?" Jasper asked. He was quite good at remembering faces.
"Flint Goldwin. His hair's a lot darker than mine." Weston said.
Jasper nodded immediately. "Yes, I know him. His accent was always weird." He said.
Weston laughed. "Yeah, he's from a different province and came here with my mother. Anyway, he was pretty hard on me and my two siblings. We had strict schedules and little time to ourselves. But whenever one of us screwed up, he'd talk about the Lord's family.
How he has 11 children running schedules that were much more intense than ours. I must admit, I'd slowly built up animosity toward your family. But that melted away when I started my journey. I'm coming up on the end of my second year. With the things I've been doing, my fathers never been less combative. I've surpassed what he thought was possible for me. And I'm just getting started." Weston described. He stared down at the floor as they walked.
Jasper glanced at him. He felt a little better now. "Thank you." Jasper said.
The next day, the group began traveling off the road. They were only a six-hour walk away from the main Rio Clan compound. As they got closer, they began to talk to Jasper about what things would look like going in.
"If the vice captain accepts you, you'll be separated from us and go through the standard orientation system that all first years go through. I think we had a large class of first years this year. Our clan's growing faster than ever." Arya explained.
"Any tips on how to get accepted?" Jasper asked.
Arya waved her hand, "Don't worry about it. Just be yourself, and if she asks to see some skills, show her. You're already an impressive first year with your background." She said. Jasper looked at his hand. He sure didn't feel impressive for a first year.
Weston put a hand on Jasper's shoulder. "Also, you're going to want to make friends. Even though you're all in the same clan, it doesn't mean the first years will like someone with a necrotic affinity. The same way it's safer to be in a clan, it's safer inside the clan to have friends. Those first years can get power crazy." Weston advised.
"The first 6 months of the year, first years are in a clan academy system that pits all of them against each other. There is a point system where the clan values first-years by their performance. The people at the top of the leaderboard are focused on by the clan and get more advantages. It's a competitive environment. Don't go into it thinking you're good to chill. With your talent, I'd say you have a decent shot for the top." Arya said.
Jasper didn't know about that. They technically hadn't seen him in battle. "I'll be shooting for the top." He said. In the distance, a looming wall came into view. It was made of stone and rose about 20 feet into the air. A large wooden gate was open where people shuffled in and out occasionally. "How many people are in this clan?" Jasper asked.
"More than 400,000 last year, I think." Arya said. Jasper was surprised slightly. The largest clans had more than a million members. So this clan was more impressive than the average clan. The average person would join a clan with anywhere from 500 to 50,000 members. There were many more small clans than large clans.
"I see." Jasper said. His mouth started sticking shut as they walked up to the gates. The group all had a badge on their clothes somewhere to symbolize they were part of the clan. As they reached the gate, some guards looked at Jasper, noticing the lack of badge. They moved to question the group but noticed Arya and stopped in their tracks.
They began looking around as if they'd seen something really interesting to the side. "Potential clan first year." She said to them as they walked past. The guards nodded quickly and straightened their backs. Jasper's eyes narrowed at the sight. Arya carried more weight than he thought.
He took in the clan compound with wide eyes. It was quite large and had hundreds of buildings. There was bustle everywhere as groups geared up to go into the wild. There were forges where sweaty spirit tamers worked on special alloys and spirit parts.
He saw an alchemy building where an older man stirred a large cauldron. Finally, they walked before a large red building that seemed important. It had big white pillars out front that had two statues of a bird-like spirit perched on top of them.
Its large wooden doors swung open as a few people in combat attire walked out of it. Arya turned to the group and said, "You guys can stay out here. We'll be right back." As they walked away, Weston waved to Jasper encouragingly. Jasper loosened his body and told himself to act natural.