January 8th, 1862/8 – Morning
Elias Sikigiti POV –
I slowly opened my eyes, greeted by the plain brown wall right in front of me.
"Arrgh!"
I yawned and shifted into a sitting position on my bed.
The atmosphere in the room was remarkably pleasant. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold, absolutely perfect for sleeping and going through a smooth morning routine.
I rubbed my eyes a few times and looked toward the bedroom window.
The glass was fogged over, so I funneled a small amount of mana into my eyes to enhance my vision. With my sight sharpened, I could clearly see through the blurry pane. Outside, snowflakes were swirling erratically in every direction. It was early morning, well before dawn would break.
"A typical Nivalis morning," I said softly to myself.
I stopped sending mana to my eyes and stood up, slowly stretching my body.
My uniform sat on the chair beside the round table, exactly where I had left it the night before.
I picked up a glass of water from the table, drank it down, and then walked over to open the window.
It was cold, but manageable. Judging by the chill on my skin, I estimated it was around minus five degrees Celsius. Tolerable for the early morning hours of Nivalis.
Looking out at the forest and the falling snow reminded me of a time when Nivalis reached minus twenty one degrees in the morning. I still curse that day, the day I had to stand guard at the northernmost point of the country up in the mountains. My fire abilities were not very advanced back then, making it a brutally tough experience.
"Leave that in the past, Elias," I muttered to myself.
I cupped my hands and used my water element to create a small pool of ice cold water in my palms, then splashed it onto my face.
The cold water I created instantly snapped me awake the second it touched my skin. After three splashes, I was completely awake and ready to take on the day.
I closed the window, walked over to the chair, and put on my uniform. After pulling on the clothes, I bent down to fasten my boots, neatly straightened my bed, and stepped out of the room into the hallway.
As I walked down the corridor toward the exit, Darius was already there. With his massive frame and towering height, he was impossible to miss.
Every single day since I started working with him, whenever I woke up, he was already awake and waiting for me.
„When does this man even sleep?" I thought as I looked at his attire.
He was still wearing a tight black short sleeved shirt that clung to his body, paired with long white trousers underneath. It was the exact same uniform the cadets we were training wore.
"Good morning, Elias!" he called out, his voice echoing through the room.
"..."
"Good morning," I replied.
"Shall we head out?"
"Of course."
We made our way toward the main exit. Before stepping outside, we greeted the soldier on duty who sat inside the iron barred guard booth.
The cold dawn of Nivalis greeted us as we stepped out, and the crunching sound of our boots kept us company while we walked toward the cadets building.
We soon arrived at the facility and made our way to our office to organize the paperwork and prepare for the day's work.
"I will handle waking them up," Darius whispered. "You handle the paperwork and the rest."
"Alright," I replied, stepping inside our office.
Lazar Kiyokazu POV –
DOOM.
"!"
A violent, heavy thud jolted me violently out of my sleep.
I sat up instantly, searching for the source of the sound, which was gradually fading into the room.
Several people gasped in terror, and muttering quickly filled the room as everyone woke up in confusion.
DOOM.
"Ouch!"
Another thud echoed, though much weaker this time, coming from the floor to my left. It was accompanied by a brief, painful groan.
"Tavon?" I called out, my eyes still half asleep.
"What was that? What was that noise?" he asked, his eyes completely dead from the night of cleaning duty we had finished.
"I have no idea," I replied, reaching out a hand toward him.
"GOOD MORNING, SOLDIERS!"
A voice so thunderous suddenly erupted in the room that the entire space seemed to vibrate with its tone.
"EVERYONE ON YOUR FEET, QUICKLY!"
I snapped my head toward the source of that insane loudness.
Standing on the stairs was a giant of a man wearing the same clothes as the rest of us. It was none other than Darius.
Slowly, following his command, most of us who were awake stood up from our beds, slipped on our shoes, and stood beside our beds awaiting further orders.
"Krrrgh..."
I heard a faint rumbling noise to my left as I kept my eyes on Darius. Glancing over, I saw Tavon clutching his stomach with one hand.
"I am so hungry," he grumbled, holding his stomach tightly.
"Krrgh..."
Now my own stomach joined in.
"Me too, Tavon."
"EVERYONE FORM A LINE HERE!" Darius commanded.
One by one, we moved to the center of the dormitory and lined up shoulder to shoulder.
Tavon stood on my right, while Link, the blue-haired guy I had met yesterday, stood on my left.
But someone was missing.
"Where is the Cherry-guy?" Tavon asked, scanning the line.
„Cherry-guy? Who's that?" I asked.
„Luiz, of course, who else could get such nickname?" He replied.
I followed his gaze and looked down the row, searching for Luiz among all the faces, but he was nowhere to be found. Most of the regulars were there: Tavon, myself, Kieran, Link, Ren, Viktor, and many others, but no sign of Luiz.
"There he is," Link added, looking toward the bunk beds.
On the left side of the room, somewhere near the middle on a bottom bunk, Luiz was sleeping like a rock. Unmoving. Even after all the shouting and clatter, he had not woken up.
Darius was standing beside his bed, staring down at him. Being so tall, he had to stoop down slightly to poke his head between the bunks.
THUD.
A solid smack echoed through the room.
"What the!"
Luiz jolted awake instantly after the hit, leaping out of bed just like I had when Darius smashed open the door earlier. Dazed with sleep, he looked left and right until his eyes landed on Darius, who was standing there with his arms crossed.
I could not even begin to imagine what Luiz felt in that moment. Judging by the expression on his face, being woken up by Darius of all people was certainly not a pleasant experience.
"You are late," Darius said sternly.
"I am sorry," Luiz apologized, slowly getting up and putting on his shoes.
"Hold on."
Luiz froze.
"Everyone in that line stays where they are," Darius said, glaring at us before pointing to the far side of the room. "Everyone who was not in line, assemble over there."
And just like that, everyone who had just woken up or had been personally woken up by Darius lined up far in front of us. Darius went down their row, going from bed to bed, smacking each of them on the forehead once until everyone was awake and in formation. Eventually, they were all lined up, staring nervously at Darius while their foreheads glowed bright red.
"So," Darius began. "This is morning training, and we start immediately. Right side: thirty sit ups, twenty push ups. Left side: forty sit ups, thirty push ups."
He turned around, scanning the dormitory.
"I also see a large number of unmade beds. Therefore, I am adding an extra penalty for both sides: ten sit ups and ten push ups."
"Not again," I overheard someone whisper not far to my left.
"Now, everyone down on the floor and wait for my command."
Just like yesterday, we all dropped to the floor into position. I heard numerous stomach rumbles around me, including my own, as small earth fragments rose from the ground and wrapped around our ankles, locking us into position exactly as it wanted.
"Begin!"
And so the physical training commenced. This time, however, it was far harder and more painful than before because we were all starving. Somehow, I managed to push through my forty sit ups, using Kieran's technique that he taught me yesterday, but I noticed that my stomach did not hurt nearly as much.
Ever since Doctor Amira injected who knows what into my body, my movement had felt easier. The sit ups were nowhere near the nightmare they were yesterday. Furthermore, I did not have any muscle soreness, unlike everyone else who kept complaining while grinding through their reps.
Groans of effort echoed from all sides. Occasionally, someone would toss out a question like, "Are you guys sore too?" followed by brief exchanges before returning to the agonizing rhythm of sit ups.
Tavon, who was right next to me, complained constantly, yet he never once stopped doing his reps. That raised a subtle suspicion in my mind.
"Why complain so much if he can endure all of this without stopping?"
In our line, I finished my sit ups relatively quickly and watched the others wrap up.
Ren was the first to finish, followed by Viktor, then Kaien, and then myself in a modest seventh place, behind a few others whose names I did not know. Tavon finished near the bottom of the list because the more sit ups he did, the more tired he got, landing him in thirteenth place.
It was not something Darius was officially ranking or keeping track of, but I tracked it in my head just to see who was in what physical shape.
From what I could tell, those at the top looked like they could do another hundred sit ups if Darius asked, while the rest looked ready to collapse at any second.
After sit ups came push ups, which were even harder to push through on an empty stomach, but we managed to grind through them anyway. Once finished, we watched the other line in front of us who had to do even more reps than we did.
"Man, this is ridiculously hard," Tavon blurted out, sitting in the same posture as me.
"Krrrgh..." his stomach rumbled again.
"I am so hungry," he whined. "I would eat these shoes right now if they were edible."
"Haha," I chuckled softly at that. But honestly, I felt the exact same way.
"Since when are you so tough, Lazar?" Link asked from the side. Tavon gave him a strange look.
"Oh right, you two have not met," I said, glancing between Tavon and Link. "Tavon, this is Link. Link, this is Tavon."
"Pleasure to meet you," Link said, looking at Tavon as he extended a hand.
"Likewise, Link," Tavon replied, that familiar goofy grin forming on his face once more.
Tavon then leaned in close to Link's ear and whispered something. Link instantly straightened up, an odd expression covering his face.
"?"
Link nodded several times while staring at him, while Tavon's grin grew even wider.
"I always knew you were a man of culture!" Tavon said enthusiastically. "I expected nothing less from Lazar's friend!"
"Why does that sentence sound so familiar?" I thought to myself, watching as Tavon stared at me with that ridiculous grin.
"Hm? What are you two talking about?" I asked after watching them for a few seconds.
"Hey, Lazar," Link started, "Does Tavon usually ask weird questions like that to you too, or..."
"That was not a weird question at all!" Tavon protested.
"What kind of weird question?" I asked.
"What kind of weird question could Tavon possibly ask to make Link react like that?" I wondered as I awaited what Link had to say.
"Do you like women?" Link whispered, quiet enough so the others would not hear.
"Oh, that," I let out a soft sigh, relieved it was nothing worse. "More or less, but yeah. He drops a question like that every now and then."
I answered in a way that made Tavon sound less like a total creep who goes around asking bizarre questions to random people.
From what I knew of him since yesterday, Tavon might seem a bit odd at first glance, I had to admit. His behavior certainly reinforced that impression. But judging by what I heard from him while we were cleaning Darius's office yesterday, he was not a bad guy at all. He just gave off that kind of impression.
"Hey!" Tavon chimed in from the side, clearly unsatisfied with my answer. "Just so you know, I am not-"
"Alright, soldiers. Moving on to the next part."
Darius's voice bellowed through the room once again, immediately cutting Tavon off mid sentence.
Darius strode from the center of the room toward the wide open doors, and we all followed right behind him.
We quickly caught up to Luiz and talked to him as we entered the hallway.
"Are you alright, Luiz?" I asked as we walked. He simply nodded and kept moving.
"Does anything hurt?" Tavon added.
"Nothing hurts, guys, I am completely fine," Luiz said, scratching the back of his neck. "My muscles are just a little sore, everything else is fine."
"If you say so..."
We passed the instructors' office, and just like yesterday, the exit gates of the building stood before us. Nobody was particularly thrilled to see them, because we all knew what came next. Running. The only unknown was how far and how long it would last this time.
Darius opened the gates and turned back to face us.
"Just like yesterday, I expect to see all of you at the final spot."
With a quick whistle, he vanished in an instant, leaving us standing there.
Only a few people ran out right away: Viktor, Ren, Kaien, and a couple of others whose names I did not know. The rest of us just stood there, staring.
"What are you waiting for?" a voice asked from behind us.
We all turned around to see Elias walking in our direction, notebook in his left hand.
"Are you all giving up already? How disappointing," he said coldly. "I expected you to last at least a few days, but you give up immediately."
"We are not giving up, sir!" a deep voice boomed from within the crowd.
It belonged to the largest guy in the dormitory, a giant who was even bigger than Sass, whose presence alone was imposing. He was a guy our age whose name I still did not know. He had a sharp gaze with grey eyes, and his long hair was tied back in a ponytail that fell over his back. He was impossible to ignore, whether because of his height or his massive build. He was nearly a full head taller than Elias, yet Elias looked back at him without a shred of fear in his eyes.
"We are just hungry," the giant added.
"And?" Elias countered. "Soldiers on the battlefield go without food for days. Does anyone stop to ask them if they are hungry?"
"But we are not soldiers!" someone shouted from near the exit doors.
"Then you are traitors. And I believe Darius told you what happens to traitors."
"We are not that either, we are..."
"Silence!" Elias barked, cutting him off sharply. A cold gust of wind swept through the hallway, blowing from his direction.
"You are in no position to set terms here, is that clear? Nobody asked for your input, nor will anyone ever ask you anything. Whether you want to or not, or rather whether you can or cannot endure this..." He pointed a finger toward the building's outer gates. "There are the gates. Feel free to leave and never come back."
"We have no use for weaklings. Neither Darius nor I care about people like that, and we never will. This place despises two things above everything else, and that's weakness and disobedience. It values the exact opposite: strength and obedience."
"Hey, Lazar," Luiz whispered in my ear, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Let's get out of here, looks like trouble is brewing."
I nodded, then turned to Tavon, who was staring intently at Elias as he spoke.
"Hm?" Tavon blinked, turning his gaze toward me.
"Tavon, let's go," I repeated.
"I think I want to stay here, Dangles."
"What are you talking about?" Kieran chimed in, visibly confused. "You can see something bad is about to happen, you had better come with us before you regret it."
"Leave him, Kieran," Luiz said before starting to push his way through the crowd toward the exit gates.
"But..."
"Let's go. If he wants to stay, let him," I said, following right behind Luiz to push through the crowd.
Once we broke through and reached the outside gates, Luiz was waiting for us, looking back. Moments later, Kieran emerged as well, and the three of us broke into a run along the same path as yesterday.
The early morning dawn greeted us in quiet stillness. Snowflakes fell in greater numbers than yesterday, creating a beautiful scene at first glance, though that pleasant feeling quickly faded as the cold set in.
Since we started running, several people had passed us. One was a young man our age who sped past us so fast that I only managed to catch a glimpse of his silver white hair and two short tresses falling over his back. Nothing more.
Without a single word, he surged past, leaving a trail of white snow behind him before vanishing from sight within seconds.
The three of us used the exact same strategy as yesterday. We ran in formation so the person in front blocked the wind while the ones behind conserved energy, rotating positions continuously until we reached the end. As we ran, more people passed us, and soon we heard a familiar voice calling out from behind.
"Hey, guys!"
I was second in formation, so I glanced back and saw a dark haired figure catching up to us.
"Is that...?" Kieran asked, looking back.
"Yeah," I replied concisely. "Who else could it be but Tavon."
"Wait for me!"
"No way!" Luiz shouted from the front position. "Catch up on your own! We cannot stop or we will freeze!"
In the end, he managed to catch up with us.
"What are you guys even doing?" He asked, looking at Luiz in the front. "Playing ducklings or?"
"Shut up and keep running with us if you want." Luiz snapped at him.
Together we pushed onward until we reached the end of the trail.
With Tavon around, the run became much more talkative than usual, making the grueling trek far less boring since someone was always speaking. Eventually, we rounded the final bend, opening up to the massive clearing surrounded by snow-covered conifers.
Just like yesterday, Darius stood in the middle of the clearing with his arms crossed, surrounded by everyone who had arrived before us. Everyone except Kaien, who stood off by himself not far from Darius, hands buried in his pockets.
His gaze locked onto mine, his neutral expression instantly shifting into a serious stare.
I broke the stare contest with him, and the four of us walked toward Darius, as we did, we glanced around to see if anything had changed, but everything looked the same as before.
"Lazar, what does Kaien have against you?" Tavon whispered on my right, sneaking a quick glance at him.
"I have no idea," I whispered back.
"He is just an arrogant brat, nothing more," Kieran added, making Luiz chuckle softly under his breath.
"Luiz, Lazar, Tavon, and Kieran. You made it," Darius called out as the others turned to look at us. "Well done, soldiers."
"Thank you, sir," we responded.
"Oh right, that reminds me! We completely forgot about Ren and his favor, Tavon!" I said, glancing at Tavon.
"What favor are you talking about, Lazar?" Luiz asked. Tavon gave me a startled, sideways look, as if he was hearing about it for the very first time.
"Oh man... I totally forgot about that too..." Tavon admitted after a brief pause. "Let's go and tell him now."
"Now? But he asked for that last night!"
"Better than standing here freezing for no reason," Tavon said, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward slightly. "Come on."
As we approached Darius, he seemed to grow taller and larger with every step. I felt a subtle chill run down my spine looking up at him standing there with his eyes closed.
"Go ahead, ask him."
"There is no way I am doing this alone, Tavon." I argued.
"I was the one who dragged you over here, now go on," he whispered. "Besides, this was your idea. I am just here as moral support."
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Darius spoke up suddenly. Tavon flinched instantly and took a step back behind my shoulders. "Do you have something to ask me?"
"How big is this guy..." the thought crossed my mind at least five times as I stared up at Darius, his massive frame towering over us like an oak tree.
Ren was standing beside him, looking at us with a blank expression. His green eyes were identical to Darius's: sharp, steady, and unyielding. His posture was perfectly straight and alert.
"I am waiting."
Gulp. I swallowed hard, every muscle in my body tightening. Suddenly, I felt a few blows to my back, weak lacking any real force.
"S-Sir Darius..."
"Yes?"
"The thing is..." I began.
"Ren was looking for you last night," Tavon blurted out beside me faster than me. "But we forgot to tell you."
"Hm?" Darius glanced down at Ren.
"We were completely exhausted, so it slipped our minds. We thought we should tell you now, even though we were supposed to last night."
"It was nothing important," Ren said, looking at Darius before shifting his eyes back to us. "I just wanted to ask when we would be eating, nothing more."
"..."
"Ah, so that was it," Darius said, scratching his beard. "I thought it was something much more serious. You will eat once we finish this training."
"Really!?" Tavon practically jumped, his eyes glowing with sudden energy. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's move on so we can finish as fast as possible!" Tavon insisted, staring at Darius as if he were a deity.
"No," Darius shut him down immediately, crossing his arms.
"But why!?"
"Because that is not how soldiers operate. You are putting yourself and your personal desires ahead of the group. That is one of the main reasons why soldiers die on the battlefield. You are a collective, and a collective is not made up of one person, but many."
"So what does that mean?" Tavon asked, bewildered.
"It means until everyone arrives, we do not move forward."
"That is so ridiculous... Who even came up with that rule? (╥﹏╥)" Tavon whimpered under his breath, all the burst of energy he had seconds ago draining away completely.
"Ahem!" Darius cleared his throat loudly, and Tavon quickly began sneaking back toward the rest of the group.
"Ehhh..." I let out a quiet breath and followed after Tavon, who was walking back to Luiz, looking thoroughly frustrated.
"Well? How did it go?"
"Just as you would imagine," I replied, watching Tavon kick his foot against the snow.
"Krrgh..."
"Hungry?" Luiz asked, hearing my stomach rumble.
"Yeah," I replied concisely, looking around for Kieran. "Where is Kieran?"
"Over there," Luiz gestured toward a spot away from the main group, where Kieran was standing apart like Kaien. Beside a small boulder, Kieran and Viktor were standing together, engaged in conversation.
"He walked over with Viktor."
I could not hear what they were saying from where I stood, but I could clearly see their expressions. Kieran had his usual serious look when talking to him, while Viktor wore his trademark proud smirk, subtly looking down on him.
Kieran said something, gave a single firm nod, turned his back on Viktor, and started walking back toward us.
Immediately after, Viktor turned in the opposite direction and walked back toward Darius.
Kieran soon rejoined us, but he did not offer any details about what they had discussed.
While we were talking with him, Elias arrived from the trail behind, notebook in hand, and we prepared to head to the next location we all knew what it was. The obstacle course. Morale across the group was low, but Darius's mention of food waiting at home provided a second wind. Most of the recruits, Tavon included, just wanted to get it over with so they could head back and eat.
I was not thrilled about taking on the obstacle course, but knowing breakfast was waiting afterward made it far more bearable, so a part of me wanted to reach the course and finish as quickly as possible too.
When we arrived, the same dirt field packed with earthen obstacles awaited us, though the layout was different from yesterday. There were also brand new obstacles that had not been there before.
One of the new additions was an A-frame ramp, positioned near the middle of the right lane and near the end of the left lane.
"Before I start picking, do we have any volunteers?" Darius asked.
Three hands went up immediately: Ren, Viktor, and Kaien. The white haired guy who had zoomed past us on the trail raised his hand as well. But one particular hand caught our attention.
It was Kieran's hand, steady and unmoving. Standing right beside Luiz, his arm was raised high, his palm facing toward Darius.