The sky brightened gradually, a white glow permeating through the hemisphere of clouds surrounding amer. Close to the stormwall, trees gently swayed in the wind that was quickly loosing its turbulence. Droplets of water on the foliage were the only remnants of the previous night's rain. They glittered in the soft light of day. Towards the stormwall, green gradually faded out. Not many plants could survive close to the edge and it's punishing winds. Situated in a space where the color had begun to fade from the plants, but not yet disappeared, a village could be seen. All bar one villager was asleep. This villager was lamenting the monotony of life as she stole today's eggs from her chickens. A sound broke the sacred silence of dawn.
"Eliza, today's the day, right? You finally getting rid of that leech?"
"Yup. Wish he'd just disappear like his father did, but letting the military take him works too." She frowned. She had never expected that the good-for-nothing moneybag she had bewitched to run off after only a year! Now, in hindsight, it made sense. Their village really should have been abandoned already. The stormwall had been gradually growing nearer. When the village elder was a child, it was nearly a kilometer away; that distance had halved. Already, walls were requiring seasonal patching and the rooves near weekly reinforcement. "Never understood the millitary'd have an outpost in such a desolate place"
"You know the lead mines are much to profitable for them to abandon. The nobles still pay exorbitant prices for glass."
"Yea, if there's money to be made, people will do the job."
"Why did you never give your brat to the lead miners?"
"Miners say he'd be of no use. They only have use for strong men to break the rock, and all the transport is taken care of by the military."
"Well he won't be a burden anymore." The man gave a final chuckle and walked off towards the cistern in the center of the village. Eliza, done with her theft, kicked open her door. The hens squawked indignantly at the loud noise. The cacophony of sounds woke up the aforementioned brat, leach or boy. Still in a dreamlike state, he could only see a large blurry figure in his vision. He realized where he was, and his sleepiness was scared away. His lunge to the left barely dodged the kick that was aimed his way.
"Now. You know what to do." Eliza's polite tone was gone, in its place, a voice filled with enough contempt to address a deserter. He sighed and stood. Jeffery was glad this farce of guardianship was coming to an end. Eliza had always avoided abandoning him to save face. She finally had a valid way of getting rid of him now, though. He did his morning chores for perhaps the last time. He scrubbed the splatters of mud from Eliza's entry that he was sure Eliza flicked farther then necessary. He clambered onto the roof and made sure everything was still intact. It was. He thought it was a bit too intact, so he loosened the bindings on the thatch. He reentered silently, trying not to interact with his mother for a second more than he had to. He packed his bag, even after adding all his possessions, he could easily carry it.
Eliza's hatred for him came from her seeing him as a burden. His came from realizing she was treating him more like a servant than a human. When he was very young, he did feel some affection for her. She was the only person in his life, after all. After he was old enough to read, though, his feelings for her began to wane. He realized that she was blatantly exploiting him, while still treating him as worthless. Today, though, he would be free. She gave him to the military to become a foot soldier, but he wouldn't! He would use the teachings they gave him to become a hero like the ones in his stories. He would bow to no one, do as he wanted, and be recognized for his great deeds! He would vanquish evil with his sword and save everyone!
He needed no goodbye. She was no one to him, and he was no one to her. His one regret was not being able to pay her back all the pain she had given to him, but getting away was enough for now. Vengeance would come later. He stepped out the door into the next stage of his life! He ran over to Rob's house. Rob had been his best friend since they were eight. Five years ago, he had been climbing the closest tree to the edge. Some of it's branches nearly reached over the abyss. The tree was dying then, and now, five years later, it was certainly gone. Back then it had deep gashes in it from the wind and ice, and its bark was as hardened as stone.
He had used these cracks to pull his way higher and see further past the edge. He saw that the storm extended downwards. Lightning occasionally struck the cliff below the edge. Just from his position, he saw the pebbles spray off from the wall after every strike. If he had gone a few more meters, he would have been able to see straight down. He had wondered what the stone over the edge would look like, and if the storm actually continued down into the abyss. He had gotten closer, the wind had gotten stronger. He had felt it lashing at him, he even got a few light bruises that stuck for a few days.
"Get down! What do you think you're doing?" A voice on the verge of hysteria had interrupted him. It was Rob, and this was their first time talking to each other.
"I want to see over the edge!"
"Are you really that dumb? Tell me, how many people have survived getting that close to the edge?" Jeffery didn't remember reading about any survivors five years ago, even now he could only name one hero, Galileo, the Wielder of the Dual Blades, who had managed to come back from within a meter of the edge. This had startled him out of his almost mesmerized state. He had quickly scurried back, but his hastier movements cracked the branch he was on! (yea, I know it's clique) He had screamed, Rob had screamed and the wind screamed, just like it does every second of every day. When he had fallen, a gust of wind had pushed him closer to the edge.
An indescribable fear built up in him. He felt the power of the storm. Nothing could survive that wrath, and in that moment, he had discovered that he wanted to survive very much. It was a desire that he still had to this day. His hand had landed barely two meters from the edge, was under enough suction from the wind to pull his entire body forwards. He had felt that he would be dragged into the vortex until Rob had grabbed his ankles. He was strong for his age and managed to haul Jeffery back to an area where the wind was no longer as… aggressive.
Jeffery smiled and shook away the memories. Having such an unbalanced meeting caused their friendship to be slightly awkward for the first few years. Jeffery always felt indebted to Rob, and treated him correspondingly. He had helped Rob with his schoolwork and always was there to back Rob up whenever he got into one of his 'disagreements'. Rob was the son of a retired lieutenant. His father was wealthy enough to send him into the school that the village elder arranged daily, and was respected enough for Rob to gain a bit of an arrogant attitude. As they grew closer, their awkwardness slowly faded, Rob managed to reign in his superiority complex and Jeffery had learned to be more confident.
They were going to the military training program together. Jeffery was going because of his family's mutual desire for distance, and Rob was going to follow in his father's footsteps. He knocked on the door, and instantly heard the sounds of running inside. He stepped back, and a few seconds later, the door swung outwards. It hit the outer wall of their house and bounced back, slightly enlarging the already sizable dent in the wood where the handle impacted. Rob stood almost eight inches taller than Jeffery, even though they were the same age. He had gotten unlucky and his growth had decelerated, whereas Rob's had been more normal, if not on the quick side.
"It's time, Jeffery! Today we take our first step in our journey to greatness! Thousands will talk about this day as the beginning of a legend!" Rob had had a grandiose image of the heroes ever since Jeffery introduced him to the books he had found in the library. Just like Jeffery, his ambition had been kindled that day and grown ever since.
"Don't be so melodramatic. If I ever became a hero, I wouldn't make my past so obvious. Don't you know that mysterious heroes are more interesting?"
"That's hogwash. Are you saying you don't want every second of your life to be chronicled? Everything I do is worthy to be studied by scholars for years to come!"
Jeffery turned. "Sure. Are you coming?"
"ehhhh… let me get my stuff!" Rob ran back into the house, not bothering to close the door. A few minutes later, Rob emerged from his house carrying a pack much bigger than Jeffery's, along with a handheld bag stuffed to the seams. A small piece of gray cloth poked out and fluttered in the breeze. Jeffery took advantage of this situation immediately.
"Let's race!" Rob stifled a groan at the clear favoritism towards Jeffery the situation provided.
"No. You're faster than me even when I'm not carrying anything. This is pointless." Jeffery knew the situation was futile. An unrecognized victory is hardly a victory, after all. They set out at a moderate pace. The winds quieted as they walked away from the stormwall. The military had built it's base as far away from it as they could to save efforts on repairs. They quickly passed the mines. The workers had already descended for the day, now only a few guards stood around the entrances and glared at them as they passed. After they passed over the hill, Jeffery turned back and stuck out his tongue. No one saw, but it made him feel a bit better.
Despite the daily rain, the ground was dry. Water easily flowed down the slope of the land into the abyss. This left the path quite dry at this time of day, so their progress was not hindered by mud. In fact, the dust they kicked up lead to occasional bouts of coughing. The daily soaking was enough for some plants to grow, though. Sturdy and gnarled trees lined the path, and some bushes with a hint of green could be seen in the shelter they provided. The bushes had berries, and the boys happily picked the ones they knew were safe as an improvised breakfast.
A palisade made of the trunks of pine trees became visible after they crested one of the steeper hills. Suddenly, Jeffery fell to the ground and Rob stumbled a bit. They stared at each other in embarrassment, and trembled slightly. The trembles, however, had come from the ground. For nearly three seconds, the ground felt as though there was something under the surface trying to get out.
"What… was that?" Jeffery had read about earthquakes before, but experiencing them firsthand was certainly different than he had imagined.
"Obviously the gods recognizing our journey. Look! We can see their base! Their timing is so obvious!" They quickened their pace and reached the structure in a matter of minutes. At the gate, a pair of siblings had lined up in front of them already. Just as they arrived the boy was brought inside.
"Papers" said the guard. The girl handed over a thick stack of documents to the second guard. He took them after 'accidentally' touching her hand. He continued staring creepily at the girl. "Ogilvy, come with me for a second." The first guard walked away. Ogilvy followed reluctantly, not before stealing one more glance at the girl, though. They stopped just before the corner and the captain lectured his subordinate. The disgust in the first guard's voice was audible even though they only heard incomprehensible whispers. His gesticulations were not as restrained and Ogilvy had been slapped twice already.
"What do I do, Rob? I don't have any papers"
"What, your mother didn't give any to you?"
"..."
"I mean if she really wanted to get rid of you she'd make sure nothing could go wrong"
"ahh she knows I really want training, do you think she hates me enough to do this?"
"No offense… but your family is a mess that I'm not qualified to comment on." Rob spotted the guard coming back, the second closely following with a fearful expression. "Ah… just think of something, you're good at lying." Jeffery sighed. Yet another situation he had to talk himself out of. The guards stood in front of the gate again.
"Sorry about that, ma'm. You can go in now" She did, leaving an ample amount of space between her and Ogilvy. "Now you two..."
"Ah… yes we are also here for military training"
"OK you know the drill, papers, give em'" Rob was pushed forwards by Jeffery. He took the hint and went first, giving the guard his Papers. The second guard was alternating between staring at the two of them with a face full of derision. Rob knew how they looked. They lived in a dusty area and rarely bathed. The only nearby stream was used as a dumping site of chemicals, and was only clean a few miles upstream. He refused to become one of those senile fools that bathed in chemical runoff, no matter how dilute. Rob stepped through the gate and looked back one last time before a soldier stationed inside lead him away. "Looks like everything's in order, your turn now lad." Jeffery sighed and stepped up.