The golden sun was slowly rising from the boundless horizon. Following it was the revelation of the oceanic blue heavens. The emergence of the blue skies was gorgeous as white fluffy clouds passed through them. Such clouds were carried by the breeze of winds that went through heaven and earth. It was a beautiful day, though such words could only be described towards the sky.
In the earth, what swayed when the breeze of winds passed through was the spindly branches that didn't have any leaves plastered on their woody skin. A wasteland was found where the rotting tree stood, covering the boundless distance in the land. Not only that, as it was early in the morning, fog and mist covered the wasteland.
This region was found in the northern land of the empire, also known as the wilderness.
Beyond the wilderness was a broad mountain range that pierced through the heavens. All of them had snowy peaks, signifying their standing over the world. The mountain range was an unknown land, never to be passed either by the empire or the nations outside of them.
Going back to the wilderness, a secret facility stood over the plain of nothingness. It was a gigantic facility with thick concrete walls and tall light towers. The spoken facility was known as Nether, a recently new division created in the empire. It was led by a crazy noble and general, who was known to be the most loyal man in the country.
Anyhow, the Nether was the facility where the special soldiers of the empire would be built. The special soldiers would come from orphans affected by the great war, a somewhat ironic fate. On the other hand, though, they were perfect. After all, within them, a conceived enemy was already given.
In the Nether, a group of recruits was currently on a line. Most of them were between the age of 7-13. Suitable for the conditioning the empire would give them. Anyway, the recruits were chattering with each other. It was easy for them to get along as most of them had lost their families.
Amongst the group of recruits was a young girl with pitch-black hair. She looked relatively fair and gorgeous though most wouldn't expect her to be a formerly enslaved person. The young girl's age was 7. She was bought by a soldier and was sent to this place to go through the special training of the empire.
She didn't have any name, and her parents died before hearing her name. No identifications were found about her, making her a ghost. Though fortunately, the soldier that bought her gave her a single name. It was a simple one to which she herself took a liking on
It was Alastair.
It was the first time having a name for herself and only for herself. People would call her this name, and she wouldn't be a nameless slave that seemingly doesn't exist in this world. Most wouldn't want that. It was not unusual for Alastair to love the name given to her.
In any case, Alastair started looking around as she was relatively curious about where she was. She lost consciousness during the recruitment process, meaning this place must be a secret. Why they brought her to a secret location wasn't something she understood.
'There are a lot of people like me.'
She silently thought within herself while looking at the orphans around her. She still hadn't seen any slaves like her, but that must be because of their identity as a slave being hidden. Even she herself didn't look like a slave, so that much thought about appearance wasn't a problem.
After looking around, Alastair sighed as she silently waited for whoever emerged. Seconds later, a buff man was walking toward the group of orphans. It seems that at first, the orphans didn't notice him. But as he got nearer, some children saw him and quickly froze themselves.
It didn't take for the actions of the first ones to follow in the surrounding group. A minute had passed, and all of the orphans stopped chattering and were frozen in their place. The buff man had ashen grey hair and a scar on his face. He appeared to be big and thick. He was a monster of a man.
The buff man stood at the center of the children's front. He looked at the kids before him with a cold expression on his serious face. He was a former retired general who got transferred under the highest order. He wore a regular military uniform and would now be attending the future special soldiers of the empire.
His name was none other than Adam Hecate.
Primarily known as General Hecate.
Gazing upon the orphans with the same expression he had before, he inspected the children before him. And the result was simple. It was relatively fast for them to adapt. As some froze, many others followed suit. They would be good soldiers for the empire, but the country needed special soldiers.
Alastair, who was in the middle of the group, looked at the general with curiosity plastered on her face. She had never seen someone as big as the general. She wondered within her mind if his size was the result of whatever was happening in the secret facility in the middle of nowhere.
'Well, maybe his size is due to his hard work.'
Alastair thought to herself as she shook her head. Thinking like that would be extremely foolish. Her view of the world was narrow. It would be better for her to not judge everything based on her biased. Besides, she had heard of monsters on the battlefield. Maybe the general was one of them.
While Alastair was shaking her head, that strange behavior of hers was highly noticeable and was immediately seen by the general. General Hecate looked at her with a stern gaze as he had realized that the young girl was probably talking to herself. People like her tend to be imaginative.
"Now, I'll introduce myself. My name is Adam Hecate."
"I will be your instructor later to those who have passed the four-month test."
Upon his introduction, the orphans were surprised as they looked at each other and began chattering. Seeing the children babble before him made the general shake his head in disappointment. A serious expression then emerged from his face as he uttered with a cold tone.
"Silence."
His words echoed throughout the field as the babbling children stopped and froze as a result. They looked at the general in silence while the Hecate himself gazed at the orphans with a perceiving gaze. They were fast, even though they babbled in front of him.
Well, as they were children.
There was nothing he could do about it.
"I'll continue..."
"Most of you are probably wondering why you are in the middle of nowhere, right beside a strange concrete facility built by the empire. This curiosity is understandable, so I will explain why all of you stand in this field. I believe that all of you will clearly listen as I will not repeat myself."
The general calmly said while Alastair looked at him with a wry smile. After all, curiosity? That was an understatement. 'Maybe his view towards the world is different than the children's. No children would look at this place with interest. Most would be fearful. Why do you think they are chattering?'
'They are simply avoiding that they are probably standing in a deathtrap. But, of course, that would be if the children here knew what a deathtrap was.' Alastair had numerous thoughts passing through her mind, which subconsciously released some blatant expressions on her face.
"Is there something you want, kid? Do you have anything in mind?" The general said sternly while looking at the young girl who was probably talking to herself. He immediately understood that the young girl must have been mocking him on the inside. People with imaginative thoughts have good ways of mocking people within themselves.
Upon hearing the words of the general, Alastair turned her gaze towards him with an emotionless expression and replied. "No, Sir." General Hecate shook his head as the girl was relatively good at hiding her face. He had seen things on the battlefield, but this girl was too perceptive and good at hiding something.
"All of you are here to be the special soldiers of the empire. You will be the pillars of the future generation, and you will be trained to become the strongest pillars the empire has ever seen. This will be extremely hard, but the future before it will be extremely pleasurable."
"Whether it be glory, wealth, and power."
"Things you had never thought to acquire would be possible."
The explanation of the general was quite long, and it was because the children in front of him didn't know half of the words he had spoken. So it took a while for the orphans to understand his words, and they immediately got excited. Alastair herself, on the other hand, was having a problem.
Everything has a price. That was what she had heard from her former master.
The training in this facility would be challenging, and some might die from it. That was obvious from the start, and Alastair had already expected a rocky road. A dangerous path that would injure her or even kill her, but such was the path for her, a ghost who didn't have anyone or anything.
'My first step to the future.'
She silently thought within herself as it was time for the four-month test to begin.
For those wondering what the four-month test was, it was pretty simple. The four-month test was the brainwashing process carefully created by the empire. Alastair had seen it in action with her former master, brainwashing some kid to do a job for him. It was quite a tedious process for her former master.
Though, she never thought that the Nether facility would apply brainwashing to all of the participants in the training. Their brainwashing technique was something related to education and teaching. The teachers formed biases within the kids while also giving them history lessons about the empire's enemies.
Due to having seen the brainwashing process before, she could slightly avoid it. However, though, she was sure that the brainwashing process affected her. It was the subject of the empire's enemies. The bastards that brought upon the vast centurion battlefield. Now she was sure it affected her.
During the first month, she could see the effect of the brainwashing process. The orphans were now considering the empire their haven and considered its enemies to be heretics. It was relatively not complex, but that was for now. Alastair was sure that later, brutal brainwashing would be given.
And she was unfortunately correct. The next brainwashing was a little bit brutal. The orphans were given pictures of the battlefield and how the nations outside had slaughtered the empire's citizens, including the children's parents. To be honest, this was highly effective towards Alastair.
After all, ever since her birth. She wondered about the future where her parents would be alive with her. Will everything be good or better than now? She was doubtful of it as she didn't know much about her parents. Besides, as her former master had said, those who hadn't seen the grass on the other side would think of it as greener and better.
Four months had passed since the test begun, and the long brainwashing process had finally been completed. But unfortunately, Alastair was currently back in a hard wall. She was faced with a problem as she had underestimated the people in the Nether Facility.
What would be the problem? Well, she was now heading towards the executives of the facility.
In her long walk in the concrete hallway, numerous thoughts passed through her mind as she trod. First, there were two soldiers right beside her holding weapons. Alastair felt that she had messed up big time. She was sure that something terrible would happen to her as the executives might not like how she acted in the facility.
'Damn, I should have pretended to be completely brainwashed.'
She thought to herself as she had finally reached the room where the executives gathered together. It was cold, silent, and dark. Would she be an experiment? Would her body be cut open? Or would she enter a more dangerous brainwashing process? Numerous questions emerged within her mind.
A voice then echoed in the darkness, which sounded throughout the room.
"Alastair, a former slave, bought by a loyal soldier."
"We have been watching you since the beginning."
"Let us talk..."