They looked like Valkyries from Norse Mythology. On each of their left breast plate was the insignia of the silver hawks. The insignia looked like a small bird swooping down, the logo was engraved into the Armor with their company name written underneath in cursive writing.
"At ease!" Sara shouted. She was standing at the front of the pack facing us. There were about thirty girls in front of us and all of them looked very young. I think the oldest was Sara who is twenty two. Sara exchanged some words with Garret before she addressed us.
"I'm Sara Norcta, Captain of the Silver Hawks." She rested her left hand on the butt of her sword's handle whilst her other hand rested on her hip. Her eyes scanned us before she continued.
"My company, Garret and I would like to thank you for doing this. Our king had summoned you here to help conquer the tower and I know that is a heavy burden to bear. We will try to train you all to the best of our abilities to prepare you all for the dangers that laid ahead. We will guide you and help you complete this task so you all could return home safety and triumphant."
Sara raised her hand that was on her hip to her chest and thumped it. Her eyes were serious but her mouth showed a warm smile. I could tell that whilst she had a smile on her face, she wasn't happy with this. She must've done this speech so many times before us.
Her company also did the same and thumped their chest and let out a loud war cry. Sara and her company watched our training with Garret for the rest of the day and was impressed by our progress. This may have been our first day... well my second life, first day of training, I was confident of my class's ability to learn and adapt.
Though I was their homeroom teacher, I haven't actually taught most of them. Only about half of this class had chosen FTV as their elective. It would've been nice to have taught all of them but not everyone would've want to develop a full script and storyboard and then film it as their final assessment or to analyze a full feature iconic film and write an analytical exposition about it. Most would just want to accumulate the most op points from subjects that offers the most points and get a high enough score to get into their wanted subjects in Uni.
I remembered asking Lucy to show me her subject schedule once and nearly shuddered at the sight of it. She was the smartest in our school and I as a FTV teacher, I have felt privileged to have her in my class, even if its only being her home room teacher. We both were in different worlds yet with a neutral class like home room, our worlds joined. I felt like that to not only Lucy but most of my other students as well.
I felt special that I was able to have a class like this, to be able to see them grow for the past two years and excel in their chosen subjects. Like then, they have shown that here today as well, they took this training with determination and zeal. I was extremely proud and I could see Garret and Sara felt the same way.
Once our first day of training was over, to celebrate, Garret and Sara offered us a night of entertainment. As soon as they offered, I could already tell that my students were breaming with excitement. I accepted their offer and they led us to a group of tents. Garret asked us to sit down on logs that surrounded a fire pit. The pit wasn't lit yet but when it does, I bet it would be a sight.
I haven't been in a situation like this in a long time. The last time I went camping was when I was in year seven, we went to Canberra and most of that was some kind of road trip spent in a bus. It felt surreal sitting around a camp fire with my students under the night sky. My students chatted amongst themselves as knights piled some wood onto the fire. I offered to help but they declined my offer in an heartbeat. Seeing how efficient they were without my help... I let it be.
Within five minutes, the fire was lit and the flames rose to an enormous size. The warmth that radiated from the fire regulated the coldness from the sun setting sky. There were three other fire sites next to ours where the silvers hawks sat around. I looked around a bit more and took in the sun setting scenery, before it was replaced with darkness and the only light was the fire.
"How you guys faring so far?" asked Garret as he sat on a stump with a pot in his hands. He placed the pot on a slightly cooler spot near the fire. I could smell a nice aroma coming from the pot and my stomach started to grumble.
"I'm more of an indoorsy type person but this is cool... I guess," replied Sam gloomily as he picked some rubble off the ground and tossed it into the fire. I could tell he was out of his element here and I felt somewhat similar. The difference between me and Sam was that I had a couple years over him to develop a level of maturity to find things a bit more tolerable. I've learnt that the older you get, the things you once hated when you're younger doesn't really bother you anymore and you may even like it.
"This is awesome," exclaimed Kevin, he was smiling from ear to ear. I've never seen him more excited. He wrapped an around Sam to his annoyance.
Everyone was all smiles except for Sam and Garret noticed this so his inner grandpa came out and he tried to cheer Sam up with the enticement of the pot that was happily bubbling away in the fire. He took out a bowl and scooped up the concoction within the pot and offered the first bowl to Sam. Sam eyes instantly lit up and a bright smile formed on his face. Garret handed him the bowl and Sam thanked him. Sam picked up the spoon in the bowl and lifted it up to his lips.
"How is it? Good?" asked Garret with a smile. Sam nodded as he spooned more of the delicious concoction into his mouth. "Have some everyone, Its my special deer stew."
Garret dished up bowls of his stew to everyone as Sara came over to sit with us. I could see there were similar pots at the other camp fires as well.
"It took me a whole day to make, so enjoy."
A whole day? Ah... so that's why he went over to the cooking tents yesterday. I took the bowl Garret gave me and lifted the spoon to my mouth and as soon as the liquid touched my tongue, an explosion of flavor overtook me and sent me back home for a moment. It's one of those hearty stew your parents would make that tasted absolutely delicious but you would never find at a restaurant. We ate our bowls clean and everyone asked for seconds that made Garret chuckle. Sara complimented Garret on another perfect stew and he patted her head.
The rest of the night, my students would exchange stories with Garret and Sara and at one point everyone at the camp started to sing. I love moments like these which made my heart ache with worry and fear. All the laughter and smiles... I needed to keep it going, I never wanted it to stop... I would never let what happened in my previous life seep into this one.
As the night was coming to its peak and everyone was feeling sleepy and with another grueling training tomorrow, everyone decided to go to bed. Sara offered the tents but everyone wanted to sleep outside under the stars. I knew back at home with the busyness of suburban life or back at the palace, these moments right here were rare. Sara gave us a knowing nod and went into the tents and brought out some pillows and blankets.
The night slowly became silent as everyone started to drift into sleep. It was still early into the night and I wasn't sleepy yet so I decided to watch my students sleep. I could see at one of the other camp fire, sat a female knight who must've been the designated night watch. I waved to the girl and she waved back. It was still surreal to me that I've got to see the silver hawks again. Got to see Garret and Sara again...
I remembered the day we lost these two and watched as all Garret's grandchildren became orphaned and was taken away. The kingdom did nothing to protect them even though Garret did so much for them. He gave his whole life to them and received not a single thanks. Sara death was a bigger blow to me as she was the one who helped and trained me... to be the best I could be.
A pool of tear formed at the corners as my eyes slowly became glassy. I wanted to hug them both, to say thank you for all the things you've done for me and my students... they are right there but I couldn't. They died in my past life but are alive in this one and everything must remain as they are. I am the only that knew everything and I alone should shoulder it.
I looked up at the night sky as the memories flooded my mind for a few moments before sleep slowly turned my memories into a dream.
{Warning: Rexlius Harus (Student) has been taken.}
[System update: 1/2 students saved. Timer: 42:24:32 remaining.]
My eyes instantly snapped open.