Returning to the Rotten Tankard Alexander went up to the bar so that he could talk to Jack. It was around three in the afternoon so it wasn't too busy yet, with people still at work. So Alexander could speak with Jack without interrupting anything. "Jack, I really appreciate that I have been allowed to stay here for the last seven years and more. But I think it is time for me to make my own way in life like the others did as well. And so I have decided that I want to enlist in the army with the looming war." Alexander told Jack. Jack didn't really do much but continue with the work he was doing as he said "well, I imagined that you would also get out of here at some point. But joining the army sounds like a stupid idea. It just sounds like signing up to die, and for what? To make sure that the nobles get to keep their wealth? So that they can get more wealth? Though it is not my choice so go do what you feel like."
Feeling somewhat saddened by the words from Jack, Alexander decided that he might as well go to the recruitment camp sooner rather than later. And so Alexander made his way through the city to the east gate. Once there he asked the gate guards where the recruitment camp was. One of the gate guards looked him up and down before saying "aren't you a bit too young to join the army eh boy? But who am I to care, just head down that road a bit and you will see all the soldiers" whilst pointing down the road. Alexander followed the directions given by the gate guard, not really paying any attention to the comment about his apparent age. It didn't take him long to find the camp as it was quite large.
Alexander made his way from the road up to the soldiers guarding what he assumed was the entrance to the camp. As he reached them he said to one of the soldiers "I am here to enlist, where do I need to go?" The soldier Alexander had looked at give him a small grin before answering "just head in, the Lieutenant in charge of enlistment is in the first large tent you see." Not sure what to make of the grin from the soldier, Alexander walked in and looked for the large tent. It didn't take him long to find it, seeing as there was a bit of a line going from a large tent, with everyone in the line being dressed in commoners clothes. Alexander walked up and got behind the last person in the line, asking the person in front "is this the line for enlistees?" The person turned around as he answered "yeah, but it looks like we won't get inside before it gets dark. I heard that the people that were first in line this morning had slept in the line."
Hearing that he might have to sleep outside to keep his place in the line didn't really make Alexander too happy. But he decided he should at least see if he would be lucky enough to get to enlist before they stopped for the day. By the time the sun started to set the line had moved far enough that he was next in line. He stepped into the tent where he was greeted by the sight of two tables, one large and one smaller, with a man sitting behind each. Looking at the two seated men he guessed that the man sitting behind the larger table would be the Lieutenant. Stepping forwards towards the larger table he stopped a short way away. The Lieutenant looked at Alexander before saying "name, age, place of birth, profession if any, and any skills you think might be important we know of." "Alexander, sixteen, I don't know where I was born, but I was raised at the orphanage at the Saint Miranda of Tiramdal Monastery, I don't have any profession nor any important skills" Alexander answered, lying about his age since he doubted they wanted a fourteen year old.
The Lieutenant studied Alexander after hearing his answer. "Sixteen you say. You don't look sixteen, though if you are a orphan I guess some stunted growth does happen" the Lieutenant said. The man sitting besides the Lieutenant was writing during this entire conversation. This made Alexander wonder why he had never seen the nuns writing, as what he could remember having read back before he died most of the clergy, especially those in monasteries, learned to read and write. "Well, your wage will be fifteen coppers a week, though your first payment will be in six months and a week since you will be paying for the gear you receive tomorrow. Now I just need you to sign or, if you can't write, stamp with your fingerprint this document" the lieutenant said before pointing to one of the parchments the other man had written whilst they talked. Since Alexander hadn't learnt how to write the language of this world he could only stamp the document.
"Okay, now I just need you to head outside, turn right, and walk to the next tent over. There you will find Sergeant Porrex, he is the head of 3rd platoon of my company. He will assign you to one of the squads in the platoon" said the lieutenant. Alexander followed the instructions of the lieutenant and walked to the tent described. Inside he found quite a few men, most of whom where still out of uniform like him. As he entered one of the men in uniform shouted at him "who are you! Report!". In shock Alexander managed to stammer "A-A-Alexander sir". "I could not hear you, you piece of shit. I said report!" the man shouted again. "Alexander. Sir!" Alexander managed to answer this time.
The man nodded his head slightly before saying "better, I assume Lieutenant Edward assigned you to my platoon. You should be able to guess by now that I am Sergeant Porrex, you should always from now on address me as either Sergeant or Sergeant Porrex, only lieutenants and above are to be addressed as sirs. Now, find a spot in the tent to sleep." The sergeant turned towards the rest of the tent before shouting "tomorrow at first light everyone is to be outside. If I find anyone still asleep one of the corporals here"-he pointed towards the five other men in uniform-"will make sure you never oversleep again. Now get your asses on the ground and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a fantastic day, at least for me."
The sergeant and the corporals left the tent after the sergeant had finished speaking, leaving all the recruits on their own. Alexander started walking down the length of the tent to see if he could find a spot to sleep, which he found towards the very back of the tent. Most of the men in the tent had at this point started talking to each other, some already complaining about the sergeant. Alexander sat down on the ground where he had found a spot and tried to start a conversation with the man besides him, but it didn't seem like he wanted to talk to him right now. So Alexander decided that he might as well try to get some sleep already.
With all the talk between the other recruits it was quite hard for Alexander to fall asleep. It probably took an hour before he finally managed to sleep. During the night he dreamt for the first time in a very long time about books. It had probably been triggered by seeing someone writing for the first time in so many years. The dream started to turn quite weird at the point he realised that he missed books. He dreamt that all the nuns in the monastery had been sneaking of into a secret cellar where they had hidden all the books. That the reason none of the children, or so he assumed, had seen the nuns read or write was that all the books contained secrets about the gods. At one point he even dreamt that there were books that talked about magic. Something that he so far didn't think existed in this world.
As dreams often do, it started to take weirder and weirder turns. First all the nuns started speaking weird words and lights appeared around them. Then the children in the monastery spoke the same words and conjured the same lights. At one point during the dream, even the city guards he had asked for directions had conjured the lights, one even conjured a ball of flame. The city guard then threw the ball of fire towards Alexander.