"Recruits… Attention!"
The young man stood at attention with the other recruits looking at the scarred Firewarrior in front of them.
"It seems your first mission has arrived…" The young man's face darkened, and he frowned.
"There have been reports of bandits attacking travelers through the pass. Your mission is to secure the pass so that the people who use it will not be harmed!"
He sighed to himself. "You'll not be alone. Senior units will observe and assist if you fail and take over if things get out of hand. This is your chance to show that you're potential Firewarriors. Make the FireStrike unit proud! You leave at first light… Dismissed!"
He slouched his shoulders as he watched the scarred Firewarrior walk up to a skinny recruit.
"Recruit… You've been selected as the squad leader for this mission. Do well."
He turned around and started to walk away from the other recruits. He looked at Salina. "If it was me… We'd all be dead…" He lowered his head.
"You need to stop these feel sorry for yourself games. It's becoming rather boring. If I could slap you hard in the face I would."
"Hey… Wait up." He stopped walking and turned to face the new squad leader staring at him with an ugly grin.
"Fire eater… I'm the squad leader now so in this mission use your strength, listen and obey the orders I give you…"
He nodded at the squad leader sadly and watched him join the other recruits. He sighed staring at them. "That guy deserves to be slapped more then you."
He turned and looked at Salina's angry face and smiled. "Yes. He deserves to feel your wrath Salina. Come let's go back to the yard and blow things up…"
He looked up the hill and stared at the ruined building. He gulped when the old man stepped out of it and turned in his direction. "Should I go see him?"
"Why should you? You're still walking around like there is a giant boulder on your shoulders… He'll just ignore you since you failed in his eyes… That is unless you wake up…"
"You're right…" He sighed. "Back to the yard then…"
He looked at his hands. "Why do I feel so weak and useless? What can I do as a leader? I've got no skills at all…" He started walking. "All I'm good at is destroying things and blowing things up. Making plans I'm useless."
He took a deep breath and looked up. "Finally, back in the yard… I'm so angry at myself, and need to release it." He turned and stared at the new training dummies that had been set up and smiled. "You'll do…"
He stood in the yard, formed his sword of fire and attacked the training dummies. "Must get it down to one hit kill…" He panted as he took steps back from the dummy he had just destroyed with an exhausted smile on his face.
He looked at the sky and cursed. He then looked around him and cursed again. "Salina, why didn't you tell me the monster was here?" He wiped his face and looked up at the evening sky.
"I did tell you, but you were focused on your task that you didn't even hear me…" He looked at the pouting Salina. "Sorry… Just having a hard time"
He walked up to the old man and stood in front of him in angry silence. "Sit. We need to talk…" He nodded and sat on a stone opposite the old man. He watched as the black ring of fire with the black dragon slowly circling them formed as he tapped his black cane on the ground.
"You have permission to talk. So speak your mind."
The young man nodded. "Thank you…"
"Why don't you want to lead? You want to be a guard of the Supreme, and now because of your unstable emotions people are going to die tomorrow! Do you understand that? Tomorrow afternoon there'll be blood on your hands."
He lowered his head and glanced up as the old man stood up and walked in front of him.
"Sllllllllappp!"
"Why! Don't you dare look down… Look at me!" He looked up and stared in the old man's eyes.
"You have a target. You have a goal. Then why?"
He watched in silence as the old man pointed to the mess hall. "That squad leader is going to get a lot of people killed. For what? It's for pride… You saw his arrogance, tomorrow in the mission he will get the entire unit killed and come crawling back as a failure."
"Recruit… You need to man up and take responsibility, or you'll be ashes tomorrow. Is that what you want or of the unit?"
"Hurry up and open your mouth and say why? Stop being a child and start being a man. Speak up!"
"… It's because…'
"An excuse…" The old man pointed to his heart. "She chose you. She saw potential in you and so do I. WAKE UP and stop being stupid!"
"Blood on my hands… I don't want to lead, because I can't think of plans or strategies or even how to protect myself let alone others. I can't read or write. I don't want blood on my hands!"
He punched the nearby stone in frustration.
"Crrrackk"
He looked at the crack in the stone left behind by his punch in silence.
"You doubt you have the ability to carry the burden of blood on your hands… That there is a good start."
He looked up at the old man and stared at him in silence as the old man sat down opposite him.
"A leader is not about a person who has the best ideas or the greatest strategy. Those things can help, but they also can be taught…"
The young man's eyes opened wide.
"A great leader earns the respect of their unit regardless of good or bad decisions. I have a simple question for you… If there is a unit in being pushed back while another unit is pushing ahead. Where should you be?"
He looked down at his hands for a moment. "I should be with the unit that has the most trouble…"
"Good… You do have a head on you. In a battle, tactics will set the battle or set the location of the battle, but the moment trouble or confusion happens. That is where the leader needs to be. Not in the back, and not with the strongest unit, or the unit with the better armor. It's with the unit that is being pressed… Understand?"
The young man nodded in silence. "That's how you earn your unit's respect."
"That's right… The leader is not in the back directing or with the unit having the easiest time. The leader is where there is a unit having a hard time and relieving the pressure."
He watched the old man lift a finger and tap the stone that he had punched and watched it crumble into dust. He looked at the old man.
"Respect is not earned from shows of power or strength… Even though strength rules all. Respect is earned from being where it is hard and challenging and never taking a step back. Continuing to push forward no matter the enemy."
"Recruit… People always ask me why my fire is black… Do you want to know why it is?"
He looked at the old man and nodded. "Yes sir. I would like to know why."
"Every person I kill or is killed in my unit. I put their name in my fire. I've killed many people, and many people I know and have cared about have been killed. My fire is black because of their names. So many names, and I know that there'll be more names to be added to it…"
The young man looked at him. "Is that how you deal with blood on your hands?"
"Hahahaha. No recruit. There is so much blood on my hands that I've come to accept it. It is who I am. The bloody black dragon with black fire. Because of this people run from me in a battle. I use the enemies fear to make myself stronger."
He nodded at the old man. "Recruit… In tomorrow's mission, I'm giving you a special task. This mission's success is up to you and your actions. Don't go the easiest way. Volunteer for all the hard tasks. If the unit is stuck and in trouble. Be there for them. Don't be proud or arrogant."
The young man nodded. "I can do that sir…"
"Also… here's some advice. Don't seek approval of others. Don't dwell in their mocking. Feel the pride of your own work, and don't stop."
The young man nodded and watched as the old man tapped the cane causing the black fire ring to fade away. "I'll leave you to your thoughts. Be ready and do well…"
He watched the old man walk out of the yard. He looked at Salina. "It seems you hide when he's around."
"You saw what he did to that stone… With a snap of his fingers we could be wiped out and turned into ash… He is a scary monster… Scary, but wise."
He looked at her. "I could never tarnish your beautiful flames with names of people that have died next to me or by my hands. But I need to find a way to accept that my hands will be covered in blood…"
"We can deal with that when we cross that bridge. They are sending us on our first mission. So, it won't be something to hard. Probably just scare the bandits and then finished…"
He smiled at Salina. "You're probably right…"
"Grrrrrrrrr."
"Food sounds good about now. Let's eat and then rest up for tomorrow."
He stood and turned to leave the yard. He looked at his hand and smiled at the small fireball dancing on his fingers. "Not too big…"
"Not too big, but it's a good fireball without using your gloves… Throw it at the training dummies and see what it can do…"
He stopped walking and flicked the small fireball at a training dummy.
"Bang!"
He felt a wave of heat push against him as he stared at the pile of ash with an open mouth."Small but strong… I wonder how much damage it'd do when I'm able to make a larger fireball?"
"Walk before you can run… Let's eat…"
He nodded at Salina and walked out of the yard ignoring the stares of the guards and the curses of the attendants. He walked into the noisy mess hall, grabbed a plate and sat on his own eating.
"They're still celebrating… He better not try and get people killed so he can live."
"Ignore them… Focus on yourself and what you have to do tomorrow."
He nodded finishing his meal and heading to his cot to rest for the night. "Volunteer for the hard tasks… That I can do…"
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Wake up! Let's go recruits. Onto the transport now!"
The young man opened his eyes and dressed, making his way out to the transport with the other recruits. He sat in silence looking focused and ready to begin his mission. "I'm not going to fail this mission…"
"Unit…"
He looked up and saw the squad leader looking proud standing at the front of the transport with the senior Firewarriors behind him.
"We're about to get our hands dirty. We've been told that the bandits are hiding in the cliffs of the pass. We've been ordered to get rid of the camps. Numbers are unknown but intelligence reports say that they are few, so we should be able to hunt them down."
He folded his arms. "Follow my orders, aim well and we'll finish well… After this mission I'll be named as official squad leader. If you come between me and my goal, then…"
The young shook his head and sighed.
"When we arrive, I want a scouting party to search them out and bring them to us waiting here in the transport to shoot them down."
"This scouting party will be targeted and also hit hard by the bandits in the cliffs…"
He looked at the squad leader as the squad leader looked at him.
"We need small numbers. Fire eater, you'll be the scouting party. The rest will remain in the transport to hit them with our weapons since you don't have one…"
He saw the gleam of happiness in the squad leaders' eyes. He nodded and heard Salina's angry voice in his ears.
"He just wants you to die out here on your own."
He nodded. "But it's also the most dangerous mission… The monster told us to do the difficult tasks."
"You better not die… Or I'll be kicking your ass since we'll both be ghosts…"
"…"
"Look around at the others, they're not ready for this."
The young man turned his head and saw the rest of the unit looking scared and worried. Holding their weapons tightly with no light in their eyes. He nodded. "You're right Salina… He's more focused on himself, and not his team… The monster is right. He's going to kill people…"
"Fire eater. You'll be my scout. You provide the bandits location, and we'll keep cover from the transport… If you can't even do that… Then there is only death for failing me…"
He could feel the fire in his great growing in anger at the squad leader's words. He held it in and nodded in silence at the squad leader.
"Good… Good to see you follow orders. Just because you're having special training, doesn't mean anything to us… Since I was the one chosen to be squad leader, that means I'm the best in the unit. Don't forget that…"
The young man sighed and looked out the transport in silence ignoring the squad leader.
He felt the transport starting to slow down and saw the squad leader move to the front. "Everyone get ready. Fire eater you know what you must do. Don't come back empty handed…"
The young man nodded and stepped off the transport looking at the cliffs of the pass and cursing. He ran towards the pass and started climbing the cliffs. He stopped and looked at the transport sitting there in the snow and wind.
"Looks like we're on our own now Salina…" He shook his head. "They're not even going outside, how will they know when I get back?"
"It's the squad leader… He isn't ready. He's focused on his safety and own willing to sacrifice you. Selfish and greedy. If you succeed, he'll say it was his idea. If you fail, he'll say you were weak."
He nodded. "That sounds like him. Now let's go find this camp."