Trillian Gilsend

"He comes back today," Edith whispered.

The two of them were peeking out from one of the top floor windows, waiting to see the carriage as it rattled down the path to the Gilsends' front door. It was early morning, four days after he had first awakened an Ena core. He had been practicing for pretty much the whole time he was awake, and even deeper into the night – sometimes with a sword to regain the familiar feeling of wielding it in his hand, and other times training his physical body to become better suited to battle and holding the Ena core, but most of his time was spent on training his Ena core by meditating. Now that his Ena core was formed, he was focusing on forming stars – gathering Ena from the living things around him and condensing it into his own body.

I wonder if the stage I reached would be enough to take on Trillian Gilsend. After all, I do have the advantage of 3 millennia worth of combat experience.

"Master, 3,000 years more combat experience can hardly be considered a mere handicap."

Hahaha, that's true.

"Edith, what is Trillian really like?"

"Well, big brother really hates people who coward out on fights, he always talks about upholding the honour of the Gilsend family, and he gets really annoyed whenever we have to stand down against the Ruxlyn family," Edith said, scratching her head. "And he really likes swords."

"What about the whole deal with commoners?" Jax asked. "I heard that he doesn't like them."

Edith nodded vigorously, as the carriage pulled to a halt outside the Gilsend Estate.

"Are you talking about Trillian?" Hemia said from behind them, as she walked up to the window and looked out. "My son... he had an interaction with a gang in the city, made up of commoners who wanted to take advantage of House Gilsend's piteous state, and when he went to take them down they used underhanded methods to escape punishment."

"Yeah," Edith nodded, agreeing with her mother. "Ever since elder brother had that incident, he's always looked down on commoners and resented our family's situation. His dream is to revive the Gilsend's reputation, but that makes him really crabby all the time."

I see. So he isn't one of those arrogant nobles who need to be silenced and trampled upon to learn their lesson. He's someone like me who talks mainly through my sword.

"Tch! Those annoying pests from Rothsling never dared to stick up their noses so high before," Trillian spat, marching into his house to greet his parents and his siblings. "Is elder brother still not back yet??"

"Welcome home, young master Trillian," said Edrick, the butler.

"Yes, yes," Trillian said dismissively. "Now, where is my father? Take me to his office, I have something to report."
"Yes, young master," Edrick said, bowing, whilst smiling secretly to himself.

Now that young master Trillian is here, I'm sure that fucking brat, Jaxin Zhang, won't be able to stay here any longer! Please crush him, young master!

"Trillian, you've returned," Cedric said.

He was sitting behind his desk in his office, with Hemia and Alicia standing on either side of him, and Edith, Lloyd and Jax were seated to the side. Edrick entered after Trillian and closed the door behind him.

"Yes, father," Trillian replied, giving his father a rather curt bow.

Jax looked at Trillian out of the corner of his eye. He was wearing more simple clothes for a noble, a light blue tailcoat embroidered with the insignia of Gilsend, and crisp black leggings led down to a pair of brown leather shoes. He had sharp, handsome features, striking blue eyes and a carefully combed light blue hair, matching that of his family.

"How was it?" Cedric asked, but he looked like he already knew the answer.

"Those Rothsling bastards are asking for us to give up our farmland because, quote on quote, 'they need it'," Trillian ranted, pacing back and forth impatiently. "We should just go and screw them over like what we could do back in the day!"

"Trillian, we've been over this several times over," Cedric sighed, taking off his glasses and massaging his tired sinuses. "The Gilsends currently do not have the combat power nor the resources to fight a war with Rothsling, and its allied Ruxlyn."

"Agggggh!!" Trillian threw his hands in the air. "This is so irritating. What did we ever do to them!?"

Then, by chance, his eye fell on Jax for the first time.

"And who is he?" He demanded furiously, jabbing a finger straight at Jax.

Jax looked back at him, straight in the eye.

"Trillian, this is Jaxin. Jaxin, Trillian."

"Where did he come from!?" Trillian asked. "Is he a new recruit?"

"...yes, you could say that," Cedric said slowly. "Jaxin is a unique talent who defeated thirteen Ena core users consecutively."

"I see," Trillian nodded, striding up to where Jax was seated and staring down at him. "Hey, you. What family you from?"

...I knew he was going to ask this.

"None," Jax replied, indifferently. "I'm a commoner."

The room was silent for a second. Then it became clouded with something that resembled bloodthirst.

"What... did you just say?" Trillian demanded, glaring knives at Jax as he bent down and looked him right in the eye. "I should slash your head off right now. A commoner steps foot in my family's house?"

"Oh, I don't know," Jax sighed, a little mockingly. "If it weren't for me, your family would be two children short."

"What!? Are you-"

Trillian's hand flashed to the hilt of his sword, and he unsheathed he a little, revealing a shiny metal surface.

"Wait, elder brother!" Edith exclaimed, leaping up and getting in between Jax and Trillian. "It's true! Me and Lloyd were about to get captured and sold off by Bandits from the Bandit Union, and then Jax saved us!"

"...is that true?" Trillian grumbled, scoffing a little. "Father?"

Cedric gave a single nod.

"Yes."
"Hmph, it looks like you aren't a total coward if you stepped in against bandits. But I still don't like you, mark my words," he said coldly, but he let go of his sword. "Damn these bandit bastards! Even they're looking down on us..."

As Trillian continued to argue with his mother and father, Edrick stood at the door to the room, breathing furiously to himself.

That's it!? No... I'm sure in the future, if I just give him reason to... young master Trillian will kill that commoner bastard for sure.

Edrick looked up at Jax, and every bone in his body was suddenly jarred. Jax was staring right at him, with a wild and deadly look in his eyes, and was sending a massive amount of bloodthirst his way. Edrick shrunk back in fear, sweat rolling down his forehead and onto his grey moustache, making it droopy. He felt like he was facing a primordial demon from hell, and not some commoner boy.

W...what is this...

And in the next instant, it was gone.

...Trillian is... not bad. If I could turn him into an ally, I'm sure he'll be useful... the question is just how I approach him. Do I befriend him or do I just use force... I doubt force would work to much on Trillian though,,, after all, I think I'm only a little bit above him.

Jax was meditating on a slightly elevated wooden platform in the Gilsend Estate training grounds, where he could see Trillian hacking away at wooden dummies in the next courtyard.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to try and befriend him somehow.

"Jax!" Edith said from behind him, as she came running up, followed by Alicia. "Where's Trillian? Get him over here!"

"What are you here for!?" Trillian demanded irritably, lowering his wooden sword and wiping the sweat off his brow. He eyed Jax, who was standing with his sisters, and ignored him. "I'm in the middle of training."

"Elder brother," Edith panted, out of breath from running all the way from the house. "Elder brother, it's really bad!"

"Spit it out!" Trillian said impatiently.

"The Ruxlyns are visiting," Alicia said, a slight edge to her voice.

Instantly, Trillian's full attention was on her, and his demeanour changed from irritated to concentrated.

"Tell me in detail. Who is it?" he demanded, grabbing her shoulders.

"It's the Ruxlyn Lords' younger brother, Jonas Ruxlyn," Alicia said, a little sourly. "With their eldest son, Marco Ruxlyn, and third eldest, Rodrick Ruxlyn."

"...the Head Butler...!?!?!?!?" Trillian demanded furiously. "The House Lord didn’t even come. Just how far are they going to look down on us...!?"

"This is a matter that me, mother and father are going to try and handle," Alicia said, gripping her fingers on one hand in the other tightly. "You, Jax and Edith need to stay out of their sight. Father told me to tell you this."

Jax could clearly hear the nervousness in her voice. After all, Marco Ruxlyn was the one that House Ruxlyn was forcing her to marry, so that the Gilsends would forever be pinned under them.

"....alright," Trillian sighed, looking down and sighing. "That's to be expected."

He turned to Jax and Edith.

"You got that?" He asked them.

"Yes, big brother!" Edith replied.

Jax gave a nod, and Trillian turned away from them and strode back to the training area he had been at.

He was able to swallow his pride and rage and make the rational decision that would be better for his family. Not bad. Now all that’s left to see is how House Ruxlyn will act.

The edges of the carriage were encrusted with silver a jewels, with an elegant and pompous design with four large white horses pulling it. Even the coachman's attire was comparable to what Cedric wore. From behind the walls of the training ground, Jax watched them as two servants climbed out of the carriage first, before helping out a tall, slim man out from the carriage. He had greasy, dark green hair, and a tailored coat made from fabric that gleamed in the sunlight, and he was adorned with a variety of other expensive items. He looked around, sniffed disapprovingly, and then smirked, before striding off straight towards the Gilsend's Manor. It made Jax want to punch him to death right there and then. After him, there came a young man that looked slightly older than Alicia, who had an arrogant gait and cruel-looking features, which Jax knew instinctively was Marco. He looked around, as though searching for someone, and caught sight of Alicia, who was standing close to a side door of the Manor. He smiled disgustingly and sauntered off towards her. Lastly, a smaller boy of about 11 years of age came bumbling out of the carriage, and he looked around and ran off in a completely opposite direction, straight towards where Trillian was practicing.

 Oh. Well, he's fucked.

Trillian smacked the scarecrow with his sword one more time, and wiped the sweat off his arms and face with a towel.

Ugh, those damn Ruxlyns... if I see them again, I swear to god I'm gonna beat the-

His thoughts were interrupted by a stone thrown at his head. It bounced off him, but a small trickle of blood ran down the side of his face.

"Who-"

He whirled around and saw Rodrick Ruxlyn standing at the edge of his training area.

"...what do you want?"

He ignored Trillian and threw another stone at him, this time hitting him on the shoulder and breaking apart.

…I'm gonna kill this little shit.

"No, don't move!" Rodrick squeaked. "Stay still and let me hit you! Why didn’t you scream? You're ruining everything!!"

He lobbed another rock at Trillian, and he dodged it.

"NO, stay put! I order you!"

"You, order me?" Trillian demanded furiously, starting forwards.

Then, he stopped. If he crushed the little asshole before him, then his House would undoubtedly pay the price. The Ruxlyns would declare war on them and everything would fall.

Rodrick climbed clumsily over the fence surrounding the practice arna and walked over to where Trillian's prized sword was.

"Hey don’t touch that!!" He yelled, but was ignored.

Trillian could feel his veins pulsing against his hands, but he just barely kept his cool as he watched the brat clumsily hold his sword and start playing around with it. Then, he walked right up to Trillian, and smacked him in the stomach with it.

"Come on," he jeered. "Hit me! Hit me, I dare you! If you hit me, father will come burn down your whole-"

"You fucking little shit."

Rodrick turned around, and Jax towered over him, his fist raised.

"You should come play with me instead."