The name stayed with him.
Kael.
He repeated it silently whenever he woke.
Whenever he ate.
Whenever someone called him.
For the first time in his life, he knew who he was.
But having a name did not make life easy.
Kael still had much to learn.
And Aldric made sure of that.
Every morning, before the sun had fully risen, Kael was already in the training yard.
At first, he could barely lift the wooden sword.
His arms were too weak.
His feet were too slow.
And his balance was terrible.
The other young trainees sometimes laughed when they saw him.
"He's going to become a knight?"
Kael heard them.
He said nothing.
He simply picked up his wooden sword again.
Aldric watched from a distance.
"Again."
Kael attacked.
Aldric blocked him effortlessly.
Kael fell.
"Again."
Kael stood.
He attacked once more.
Aldric knocked the wooden sword from his hands.
"Again."
Kael picked it up.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The same routine continued for days.
Then weeks.
Then months.
Slowly, Kael began to change.
His body became stronger.
His movements became faster.
His balance improved.
But something else changed too.
He learned patience.
He learned to watch his opponent.
He learned that strength was not always the answer.
Most importantly, he learned how to keep moving when everything inside him told him to stop.
One evening, after training, Kael sat beside the training yard, exhausted.
His hands were sore.
His arms felt too heavy to lift.
Aldric approached and stopped beside him.
"Why do you keep getting back up?"
Kael looked at him.
"I don't want to lose."
Aldric smiled.
"Everyone loses."
Kael shook his head.
"I don't want to stay down."
Aldric studied him for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"Good."
He sat beside Kael.
"Remember that."
Kael looked at him.
Aldric turned toward the setting sun.
"A knight isn't someone who never falls."
He paused.
"A knight is someone who gets back up."
Kael listened carefully.
Those words stayed with him.
He would remember them for the rest of his life.
Years passed.
The small boy who had once struggled to hold a wooden sword became a skilled young warrior.
By the time Kael was twelve, he could defeat most of the younger trainees.
By fifteen, he was training alongside experienced soldiers.
By seventeen, he had begun accompanying knights on smaller missions.
Every year, Aldric watched him grow.
But their relationship had changed too.
Kael no longer saw Aldric simply as the knight who had rescued him from the streets.
He saw him as his father.
And Aldric no longer saw Kael as the child he had taken in.
He saw him as his son.
Neither of them said it aloud.
They didn't need to.
Their actions said enough.
On the morning of Kael's twentieth birthday, the fortress was unusually busy.
The courtyard was filled with knights.
Soldiers stood in formation.
Royal banners moved in the wind above the walls.
Kael stood at the center of the training yard, wearing his armor.
He looked nothing like the frightened six-year-old who had once entered the fortress wrapped in an old cloak.
He was tall now.
Strong.
Confident.
And known throughout the kingdom.
Aldric approached him.
Kael bowed.
"Commander."
Aldric shook his head.
"Not today."
Kael looked confused.
Aldric smiled.
"Today, you stand beside me."
Kael looked toward the gathered knights.
For years, he had trained for this moment.
Now it had finally arrived.
Aldric placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I found a boy in the streets."
Kael smiled.
"And now?"
Aldric looked proudly at him.
"Now I see a knight."
Kael looked toward the royal banners flying above the fortress.
He didn't know what the future held.
He didn't know about the wars.
The kingdoms.
The secrets.
The woman he would one day love.
Or the tragedy that would change his life forever.
For now, he only knew one thing.
His name was Kael.
And his journey had only begun.