[6 days later],
19th of Aprílios (April), Deftéra (Monday), 834 (Year).
In an illusory world of bizarre wonders and mysteries, Apollo found himself abruptly jolted from the clutches of a vivid dream by the consistent sound of knocks nearby.
"Young Master?" a voice asked inquisitively.
"What is it, Alfred?" answered the young boy groggily. He was slightly angered to have been pulled back from an absurd dream. In his dream, he had played the role of a puppet master, masterfully playing with the strings of life itself, he was soaring through the heavens like no other. He had countless crowds of devout servants at his disposal; he was deemed an emperor!
"It is time" called out the butler on the other side of a shut door.
With a snort, Apollo tumbled out of his semi-dream like state as he stretched out his developing yet firm limbs before dropping down on the smooth marbled floor performing a set of push ups and sit ups. The dream's adrenaline still surging through his veins as he struggled to regain his bearings, his heart racing from the phantom excitement of his imagined exploits.
As Apollo glanced around his dimly lit room, he noticed that it was still early in the morning, just before dawn, the sun barely extending its beams of light over the windows. He walked unhurriedly towards his bathroom where he stopped before a mirror admiring his new reflections.
With a mixture of curiosity and trepidation, he stepped closer, staring at his reflection in utter amusement. "Pshh…" he laughed as he reached out to feel his hair which had been long and unruly with a crimson hue but now it was extremely short, bristled and pitch black.
He felt the lustre feeling of his hair strands in an effort to remove the black dye from his hair but no matter what he did, the pigment remained bound to his hair like a tattoo. It was a special dye that was both resilient and durable capable of lasting a very long time unless a specific reagent is used to remove it. This unique dye was supplied by his very own mother who was very familiar with such products.
His hair was not the only thing that he had to change; Apollo blinked fervently as he twisted his face left to right examining the hazel hues of his irises that were originally as blue as the seas of ice. 'How odd' he thought, he wasn't aware that just by changing his hairstyle, its colour and his eye pigmentation that he would look completely different. 'Its really strange' he continued; he was simply unsure if he had become more handsome but nonetheless, he shook his delusional thoughts away.
Surprisingly, the method of changing one's iris colour was simple and easy, all he had to do was place a single drop of another special dye directly unto both irises to mask his original colours. Alfred had told him that this effect was effective for a minimum of 20 years unless of course he used a counter reagent similar to the hair dye.
He had changed his appearance the previous day as per his father's request to disguise himself as a nobody prior to entering the military youth camp.
His father felt it was appropriate to strip Apollo's nobility in order to teach him a lesson but whether or not this was useful was not known to Apollo himself since he immediately saw through his father's hidden agenda and decided to go with the flow. He was very much aware of the life lesson of 'struggle' since he had his fair share of it already. 'Perhaps he thinks of this as a layer of protection from his enemies?' thought Apollo suddenly. Ultimately, even his father had his fair share of political enemies striving for his downfall, therefore, it wouldn't be a surprise for unseen forces to eliminate or even kidnap the close kin of those in power.
'Quite frankly, the overall situation is pretty lax' Apollo thought to himself, he wasn't under any serious restrictions, in fact he was told that he could do whatever he deemed suitable to fit into the cliques of the military youth camp. That included the creation of a whole new persona and Apollo indulged in this idea as he was fond of the mysterious aspect behind it, 'Sounds like fun' he reminisced thinking about his fleeting dream about puppets and strings.
Apollo washed up before dressing himself casually with a plain white shirt and a pair of leather pants, truthfully, he didn't care much about the clothing since he was informed that uniforms were provided in the camp upon arrival. He packed all his essentials within his inner Inventory which included his secret diary that he held dearly. He stood rooted in front of a nightstand debating himself as he eyed a set of weapons.
It was his self-made sword, quiver, finger-tab and bow, all of which have seen better days but nonetheless still usable. He was troubled at this very moment, should he bring them or not? he openly contemplated before trusting his gut and placing them within the confines of his inventory.
'You can never be too sure' he convinced himself. Besides he could just say he hid them somewhere safe if someone were to ask him about it.
Apollo met up with Alfred at the manors entrance who had two luggage bags beside him. Accompanying the butler was his grandfather, Grieswald, his sister Ares and his mother Helaine presumably there to see him off, after all, Apollo was not sure how long he would be away for. The only family members missing were his father, Hermes, Aunt May and his cousin Marco.
Apollo didn't take their absence to heart as he knew both his father and brother were too busy to see him off whilst Aunt May and the 'little shit' he thought were still sound asleep.
"Apollo, my child, come here" Helaine offered a brave smile as she reached out to straighten his already cleaned shirt.
"Make us proud, my dear boy" she half muttered almost stammering within her own emotions. It was only for a few seconds however before she steeled herself "…and don't forget to make friends" she added half heartedly before giving him a suffocating bear hug and a kiss on the forehead.
Next in line was Ares who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts before seeing the boy in front of her who was exactly two heads shorter than herself. Now, in this moment, Ares was confronted with the reality of change that had always been looming on the horizon. She looked at him with moistened eyes for a little while.
"Take care of yourself out there, little rat" she managed to say with a slight chuckle towards the end.
Apollo simply nodded in response, his expression a mix of calm with a tinge of sadness. He didn't want to say much as he wasn't good at farewells, perhaps as a cause of his abrupt death in his previous life. Quite frankly he wasn't sure how to react properly to their sudden goodbyes. He found solace in simply staying quiet.
"Hahaha, what's with the gloomy mood?" laughed an old man as he slapped the back of Apollo with the tiniest of effort, however it did little to prevent the boy from stumbling forwards due to the force.
Grieswald put both of his rough hands on Apollo's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes, "House Heimarch expects great things" he rumbled meaningfully with a deep booming voice, grinning from ear to ear before slapping him on the back once again with a greater force towards the direction of the mighty manor doors.
"Give em' hell little Tyr!" he shouted approvingly. He glanced towards Alfred and gave him a strict order.
"Now Alfred, take the boy with you".
"Your will is my command, sire" he bowed thereafter retrieving the nearby luggage and walking out of the manor with Apollo.
The duo exited the Heimarch estate on foot before following the minor trail that meandered into a major path. Both of them continued for some distance before boarding an unassuming carriage headed straight for the town of Trim.
Apollo meditated for around half an hour inside the carriage in order to remove the lingering emotions pervading his mind. He opened his eyes successfully with slight rejuvenation sighing in acceptance.
Sat in front of him was Alfred who stared out the window in silence. Apollo looked at him with a criticising look as he too had a recent appearance change to suit his role as his 'extracurricular tutor'. He now had a greying dark brown hair that was combed over to his left as well as a grown beard different from his usual suave moustache that plastered itself on his face like a hairy caterpillar. His odd grey irises were also replaced with a greenish-brown pigmentation. Overall, the man looked much older and less assuming than his previous look.
"Alfredo" he said, catching the attention of the tranquil man. "How long until we reach Trim?" he asked.
Trim was the small settlement governed by a local baron under the rule of his father. This was the location of where the military camp was supposedly built in. Apollo personally hasn't set foot in that place. He recalled that it was relatively in its initial development phase, having only been constructed 5 years prior.
"Not long now, perhaps another hour by the looks of things" he replied before looking concerned, "How are you feeling Apollyon?".
"I can manage besides its not like ill never see them again" the boy said carelessly, "Besides, I'm oddly excited of what's to come, isn't that right uncle?" he smirked.
"Thats the spirit lad, it shouldn't be that bad" Alfredo said with a hidden meaning.
Pertaining the background that Apollo and Alfred would use in the military camp, they discussed previously that they would utilise their past 'undercover' aliases with a couple of changes. Alfredo would act as Apollyon's supposed uncle instead of a father. Apollyon proposed that his parents died as a cause of a monster attack leaving him in the care of his uncle as an only child. This would essentially provide an excuse for his special extracurricular lessons, 'an uncles filial responsibility for his only nephew' . Of course, this was just an excuse to teach him the Heimarch technique.
It was also a given that Alfredo required an active role in the institution thus he was assigned the role of teaching the participants about activation energy to solidify his disguise. As for the finer details, Apollyon was sure to make them as he deemed fit. In fact, he perceived that this degree of freedom was actually a test laid out by his father in order to test out his practicality.
After a while, the duo hopped off the carriage after arriving at their destination. Apollyon examined the town in front of him and he couldn't help but compare it to the grand city of Hollevin, the first thing he noticed was the absence of a grand wall perhaps as a cause of the lack in earth mages around or insufficient time or even funds. Instead, he gazed at a simple wooden encirclement that surrounded the towns enclosure. 'Too different' he noted.
Up ahead he saw a sizeable line of people that waited in front of the town gates for processing. Many of them appeared to be of a similar age to himself, 'Maybe they're my fellow advocates' he muttered inwardly before joining the queue with Alfredo.
Both of them waited patiently simply killing time by chatting with each other with mindless chatter that involved some of their plans whilst also discussing about the specialties and cuisines available in the town. It wasn't long before it was their turn to be processed and allowed entry into Trim itself. Apollyon and Alfedo played their part perfectly and soon they entered the town smoothly.
Apollyon scoured the relatively populous vicinity of the town and was inwardly surprised to see it in that way despite the apparent early morning as he squinted at the slowly rising sun in the distance. He turned to Alfredo who looked to be relaxed as if he was finally free from his butler activities, "Uncle, do you know the way to the camp?" he insinuated feeling lost in this brand-new environment.
Alfredo took deep breaths soaking in the new intricacies of his surroundings before replying happily, "Of course I do! Come on" he goaded.
The duo continued their journey taking multiple twists and turns through the town. Despite its inferior scale and advancement when compared to Hollevin, Trim was still a massive settlement spanning into the distance as it housed roughly 50,000 inhabitants which was close to half the population of Hollevin.
After about an hour of touring through the town to the northeastern part of the town, which was relatively empty, the duo stood before an enormous walled structure of similar aesthetics to the barracks found within the Heimarch estate but this one was much larger in Apollyon's opinion. There was a total of five guard towers dotted around the wooden walls of the compound with several buildings that jutted out occupying the majority of the total space whilst two spacious separate fields took the remaining space.
Oddly enough, some of the buildings looked relatively cleaner than the others. It looked like two mega structures that had conjoined together and this was indeed the case. The cleaner looking buildings were in fact an expansion to the already existing structures in which Apollyon related to the handiwork of his father as part of the so called 'Jugend' project.
The two quickly joined the queue towards the second enclosure, fortunately, the line was significantly shorter than the one outside the town and it wasn't that long before they were interrogated by two guards who wore simple iron armours donned with a small red half-cloak that had a peculiar insignia depicting a dragon with five identical circles orbiting the creature. They were accompanied by 50 or so identical guards who were stationed nearby.
'Huh, five orbs and five guard towers, a coincidence?' Apollyon contemplated before being interrupted by the nearby guards in front.
"Purpose?" one guard said domineeringly, in his hand was a ledger and a quill.
"I'm one of the new tutors employed recently" replied Alfredo meekly taking the initiative before taking out a document from one of the luggage he carried and presenting it to the guard who gave him a questioning gaze.
"This one here is my nephew" he pointed out Apollyon, "He's one of the promising volunteers responding to the decree of his lordship Count Tyranir" he explained.
The guard simply cast a sidelong glance at Apollyon before flipping the document given to him in quick succession verifying the appropriate measures outlined within. Eventually the guard nodded and asked the final question.
"Present your stamps and sign here" he signalled at the ledger he was previously holding.
Both of them fashioned out an iron stamp signifying their commoner backgrounds, both of which were inspected by a device held by a nearby guard, its purpose to authenticate the legitimacy of said stamps.
Apollyon observed as the guard exposed a spherical object which levitated a couple of centimetres from the guard's palm, this object then released a visible ray of blue light which illuminated both the stamps causing a chain reaction which transmitted a similar ray of light of the same shade towards the bodies of both Apollyon and Alfredo from their respective iron stamps.
Alfred had told Apollo about this procedure beforehand and also how it worked. Alfred also informed him of what happens if the stamps were illegitimate; basically, there would be an absence of a transmitted ray of light showing that the stamp did not belong to the possessor. He had also reminded him that only certain places would require the use of such devices as they were rather difficult to manufacture, there were other ways to check the stamps legitimacy, but the object taken out by the guard was the most common way.
It was called a 'Kremlin', named after its creator Sir Arthur Kremlin, a renowned scholar of the past from the Gaullic empire. The Kremlin was one of his most important inventions as it paved the way for personal identification which kickstarted future inventions that upgraded and expanded on this idea. From reading other sources, Apollyon was aware of the existences of more advanced Kremlins that could trace a corpse back to a stamp by means of blood magic. Unfortunately, he hasn't seen such technology as of yet.
"Legitimate" nodded the guard holding the strange object signalling for the other guard to continue ahead.
"Welcome aboard Decurion Alfredo Nogra! the induction will start shortly after the rest of the decurions have arrived" the guard said respectfully despite his common background stepping aside to allow him entry directing him towards a building in the distance.
Decurion was a title granted to military instructors, Apollo remembered reading a book about the typical military ranks present in Redanian empires and this was one of the listed ranks usually gained after extensive military contributions. Although, he also recalled that the title virtually held zero power in the overall Legion since Decurions were essentially just instructors rather than official officers.
The guard then faced Apollyon with the same attitude out of respect for the man albeit a little faked as the boy could instantly discern, "Volunteers must gather in the Eastern courtyard and await for orders" he directed.
Apollyon and Alfredo split apart and went to their separate destinations as outlined by the guard out the front.