"Next!" shouted the guardian. "Hey, this is my baby. I would like to donate him for the war." said the woman in a quivering voice. "Yes, first I need to inspect the baby, then we can talk about your compensation." The guardian inspected the baby and said, "The baby is quite frail but once he grows up, he will be a decent soldier. You can take 25 bags of wheat, and 3 sacks of seeds, as your payment." The woman nodded her head and went to collect the things she was told to get. "Next!" Shouted the guardian. As the woman left, she wasn't too upset about giving up her only child. She had no real attachment to him. She also knew if she wanted more, she could just have another one. That's just the way it works in this country. Everyone is poor and desperate for food. The guardians had predicted that there would be a war in 16 years, so they were trying to garner as many babies as possible to make sure they would not lose and recover their numbers that they had previously lost from the last great war.
Many years had passed, and Ranka had been going under training from the military commander. It had been tough training early in the morning till late into the night. Today Ranka had been looking forward to learning how to use a real weapon. Up until that point, all they had been doing was learning military tactics and getting their bodies fit so they would be able to handle basic training. "Everybody listen up! I know everyone is excited to start their basic training in weapons and hand-to-hand combat but, I need everyone to pay close attention to what I am about to teach you. Alright, can I have a volunteer, please?" All the recruitments stood there quietly and looked at one another to see if anyone would go up. "I guess I'll just have to choose someone randomly then." Said the commander with an annoyed sigh. He covered his eyes with his left glove and moved his hand around in half circle movement. "3,2,1" counted the commander. He stopped just short of Ranka, he let out a big sigh of relief knowing he wouldn't be the one who was being tossed around.
The commander lowered his left glove to see who had been picked to be the demonstrator. "Alex, can you please come up to the front of the class?" He asked. Alex groaned and reluctantly walked up to the front. "Today we will be learning how to disarm somebody with a weapon of your choice. This one move can easily be transferred from one weapon to the next. Everybody understands that!?" Yelled the commander. "Sir, Yes, Sir! Answered all the recruitments. "Alex, would you please step forward?" asked the commander. As Alex stepped forward without warning, the commander hit him with the blunt side of the sword against his hand, which had caused him to lose his grip. He then swung his sword, which glanced off the blade and flew out of Alex's hand, and then the commander made a sweeping motion with his feet knocking Alex's feet from out underneath him. Alex ended up on the floor before anyone knew what was happening. A few of the classmates snickered in the back. The commander shouted, "Hey, can you shut up, you three! The 3 of them instantly became silent in fear of being the next target. Alright now, let's pick partners to practice with." Everyone starts looking for people to pair up with. Ranka goes up to Alex and asks him if he wants to be a partner with him. Alex agreed, and they ended up practicing together for the next couple of years. As time passes Alex and Ranka become really good friends.
"Everyone, quiet down, quiet down!" Yelled the commander "Today we will be heading out into field training, and that will take place for a couple of months! I'll allow you to pick who you want to be with during this time." He said. Ranka went to Alex and then he and Alex went searching for stragglers. They ended up finding two other people who had been singled out. The first one was named Constantine and the second one was named Paul. "Has everyone found a group? If so, then go get your languages and get ready to leave. Some of the locations that you will be staying at are a bit far but the farthest one is a day's ride in a horse carriage. So I'll be seeing you guys soon, and hopefully, everyone returns. If you guys can, now head to your assigned carriage. Good luck to all and see you soon." Ranka and the 3 boys walked up to meet their carriage driver. "Can I get all of your names?" Asked the carriage driver? "I'm Alex, I'm Constantine, He's Ranka, that's Paul." Said, Constantine. "Alright, that should be easy enough to remember. Go to the back and put all your stuff in and get ready to go. We're heading to Kan'Kan, which is a little village that's about a ten-hour ride in a horse carriage. So you guys better get comfortable because it's going to be a long ride!" Ranka and the 3 other boys hopped into the back, and they started heading out of the capital. This is my first time leaving the capital. I'm not sure what to expect but hopefully, I can get along with the people in the village ok. Thought Ranka.
"Hey, I meant to ask this before we left but, since it's going to be a long ride, how about we get to know one another? Asked paul. "I guess I'll start then. My name is Alex Prisa, and my family comes from a long line of soldiers. My dad fought in the war of Aggastine. So he wanted me to continue the family tradition and, that's why I am now, in the back of this carriage cart right now." He said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "I'll go next then, My name is Constantine Lawrence, and I've always been one of the best fighters in my family. My father taught me how to fight. Me and my brothers, all fought one another to see who was the best and, it's pretty obvious who won." Said Constantine with a smirk on his face. Well, I guess he is way too prideful about himself. Better watch out for what I say to him. "I guess now it's my turn. My name is Ranka and I was donated at birth, the guardian inspected me and assigned me to be a soldier for the Kingdom of Klisai. Unlike the rest of you, I never knew my parents. I guess that was the time that the war of Aggastine had just happened and my parents were in desperate need of food, so I ended up here and never had a somewhat normal life." Said Ranka with a slight look of disappointment. "So you were a donation to the army? I thought they made that against the rules a long time ago, like before you were born." Asked the carriage driver. "Well, I think they made an exception for all the outer villages because they had been so badly damaged that they needed to have some way of being able to rebuild the structure and support their families with food," explained Ranka. "Ohhh ok, that makes much more sense now." exclaimed the carriage driver. "Is it my turn yet?" Asked Paul with some annoyance in his voice. "Yeah, you can go." Alex said "Well, my name is Paul, I'm not the violent type, the whole reason I joined is that I ran away from home. I had nowhere else to go. I also heard that you get benefits after serving a long time, that's all." Said, Paul.
Alright, so the way I'm going to remember all of them is that Constantine has ginger hair and freckles all over his face. Paul is tall for his age and he has a birthmark on the left side of his face. I've been friends with Alex for years so I won't forget him. The four boys chatted for hours until the driver said "Hey, guys we'll be arriving in about half an hour. So just be ready to start unloading your things from the back." "Hey! Look there's the town up ahead." Shouted one of the boys with excitement in his voice. Kan'Kan was starting to come into view in the distance. There were multiple houses and a well in the center. There was also a huge forest behind the village. I've never seen something like this before. I'm so glad that I ended up going to this town. The carriage had finally pulled into the town center and the sun was starting to set behind the trees. "Hello, Welcome to the village of Kan'Kan." announced the village chief. He seemed happy to have some new trainees and people who can help around the village. The head of the soldiers association also came up to greet them. "Welcome, we're glad to have new trainees in Kan'Kan we need the extra help around town. I'll show you where you'll be staying the night." Said the soldier. He took the 4 boys down a long windy path near the public bathhouse. "This is the Inn if you have a hard time trying to find it just remember, that there is a bathhouse right out front." The guard explained as though it were obvious where everything was located even though the boys had just arrived that day. The four boys follow in behind the guard and while walking in, Ranka notices a girl in the far right corner of the room. She appeared like she worked at the Inn and had long brown and blonde hair that was up in a messy bun. Ranka asks the soldier in a whispery tone. "Who's that girl over in the corner there?" The soldier responds with "That's the Innkeeper's daughter, she just turned 18 this month, she also single." He winks towards the 4 boys. They all stare back at him with blank expressions. "Hey, Lilya, can you see if there are four bedrooms available for these boys?" Asked the soldier "Yes! I can go check now." Lilya quickly leaves to check upstairs.
"Sorry about that, she's shy around new people." Said the soldier with a sigh of disappointment. "Oh, here she comes back." Loud thuds on the stairs could be heard as she came running down the stairs. "There are only 2 rooms available, so you guys will have to double up until 2 more rooms become available." Said Lilya "Ah shit after a long day of traveling, I have to share a room with these dipshits?" complained Constantine. "Hey! I'm not a dipshit, I don't know why you're complaining." Paul said in an annoyed tone. "Hey, hey everyone calm down," Lilya said nervously. "Well if I gotta sleep with someone, I call sleeping with Ranka." Exclaimed Constantine. "Well, I guess that settles it," Lily said with a sigh of annoyance. "Alright, follow me to your rooms." The four boys follow Lilya up the stairs. "Guys, I'll be seeing you four early in the mourning." Said the soldier. "Ok!" Shouted all four of the boys, they continued up the stairs to their rooms for the night.
Laying in bed next to Constantine Ranka asks "So what do you think of this village so far?" Constantine responds with "I don't know man. The town seems fine, alright? Can you just go to sleep? We gotta wake up early in the morning so, why don't we just go to sleep now?" "Well, this is the first town I ever visited so I'm just curious about your perspective," Asked Ranka. "It's just like any other town I've ever visited. Are you done asking all these dumbass questions?" Constantine said in a half-asleep state. "Yeah, I guess I'll go to sleep now. That night Ranka dreamt of burning flames in the village and saw tons of dead bodies with red and white boils covering them and, the unforgettable smell of burning bodies, as the smoke gets into his eyes, starts to make them water. He wakes up from the dream with a jump waking up Constantine in the process. "Damn Ranka, are you good?" asked Constantine. "I just had this hellish nightmare, everything was in flames and dead bodies everywhere. There was no sight of it ending anywhere."