Author's Note: I shall be writing this story in first person but be aware the main character's name is Asdeath. Also, 'inside thoughts' shall be used to represent internal monologue.

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It had been 10 years since humanity first discovered that magic existed. Magic actually wasn't supernatural voodoo that Hollywood liked to portray though. Magic was more of a new field of science that had been discovered. It was affected by all the basic rules of reality just like any other form of energy or matter. But then how can it be magic? Magic is supposed to summon fire at will. How can it do that if you can't change matter into something else? Well simply, magic is certain molecules made up of different atoms that aren't from earth. These molecules are able to be interacted with a substance inside your body to activate and then release their potential. As for more advanced information, studying at the military or a military, by extension the government, research lab is required or doing extensive research on the internet with highly dubious information as the internet is rife with conspiracy theories. Besides, the military is constantly performing research to further the application of magic so it's more worthwhile to get up to date information.

Throughout school I was constantly bored and found no joy in any of the subjects that I did. Every subject was way too easy, none of it was enjoyable. I took the hardest classes but still was the top student at my high school. Nothing was enjoyable. But then magic was discovered, for the first time in my life I felt this weird, uncontrollable urge to shiver in, excitement? Since then I decided to join the military and learn about magic because of one simple reason; I was interested in something.

As I reflected back to what lead me to stand before the recruitment center. 'I wonder why no one applied themselves at school? I'm certainly not a genius so I wonder? Whatever.'

I started to walk across the parking lot towards the recruitment center that has taken residence in Indiana. Recently, more ads about the military have been showing up with more and more frequency. With them came the recruitment center that is now in front of me. I look into the window and see a reflection staring back. I see an 18 year old fresh out of high school with brown hair cut in a fairly medium-short messy hairstyle and stormy blue eyes. 'Here we go.' I walk inside the center, it's a sparsely decorated building with a couple desks with recruiters behind them.

I walk over to the recruiter desk with the least amount of people, 2 in line. There is not a lot of people but it takes quite a bit of time in order to properly register and confirm that they wish to join the military. After about 30 minutes of waiting and reading a book on my phone, it's finally my turn.

"Hello, I am recruiter Smith and I shall be interviewing you today," which came from a fit man with brown eyes and brown hair cut in a military style.

"Hello, I'm Asdeath Whisner."

"Hello Mr.Whisner, I'm going to pull up your public records real quick," several seconds passed as he pressed keys rapidly. "Alright, here you are. It looks like you have excellent grades, correct?"

"Correct."

"Hmmm, from everything in your public records it appears that you are incredibly intelligent and have a bright future ahead of you. Why are you choosing to serve in the military?"

"I wouldn't say that I'm that intelligent but the reason that I want to join the military is pretty simple, the one time in my life I was excited was when magic was discovered and this is the only place available to learn magic." This was true but there was also another reason, 'I want to go to war and fight by comrades and I want to slaughter enemies, I've always wondered what it's like to kill people.'

"That is true, the only place you can study magic is the military. I see no reason to reject such a talent from the military and your public records are stellar. No run ins with the law and a model citizen. Very well, I agree to let you pass this and go to medical examination to see if you are fit to be in the military." He hands me a card with the same address as the recruitment center but with a date two days in advance, a Monday. Recruiter Smith explains what the card is for, "Come back on April 14, 2026 at 9:00am for your medical examinations."

"Thank you, have a good night." I stood up from the seat at the recruiter's desk and walked towards the exit. Once I exited the building, I started walking towards the bus stop. I didn't have a car because I didn't see the need when I would be joining the military. 'I wonder why he was being so kind? I'm not that talented or smart, oh well.'

Surprisingly, the bus stop didn't have anyone else waiting so it was a pretty uneventful 10 minute wait for the bus, once again reading a book. The bus finally arrived, it's air brakes squealed and finally the bus halted. I walked up the stairs and walked to a middle seat where no one was around. The bus started rolling again, I would get off in a couple of stops. So I decided to start reading my book on my phone again. 'This is probably going to be the worst part about the military, when we are doing boring, monotonous tasks I won't be able to read a book, I'll have to wait until my personal time. Please please don't be too boring boot camp.'

As I passed the time reading a book, my stop arrived. A quick thank you to the bus driver and I was off the bus. I lived with my parents as I have just gotten out of high school. The reason I am registering in April is because I graduated early. I planned to go through the entirety of high school because I like learning about new things but sadly the classes were way too easy and I ran out of classes to take. Truthfully, the hardest part of school for me was the lacking motivation to do anything, somehow I managed. Anyways, I'm going to be honest, I don't like my parents. Then again, I do owe them some gratitude. They taught me many things; for example, they taught me how to suffer through, they taught me to let things be unable to faze me, and most impactful of all they taught me how to never feel emotions. I truly have never felt any type of emotion and I guess that's one of the driving reasons why I'm joining the military, will killing, being shot at, or learning something unprecedented make me feel something, anything. There are two other things I am grateful for though, getting braces to fix my teeth and for getting me a surgery to fix my ear drum which had a hole in it. In the surgery they had to cut behind my ear to remove some muscle to cover the hole so I have a fairly sensitive scar behind my right ear. I'm going to be honest though, I'm biased against my parents simply because I'm their kid.

I walk on the sidewalk on the way to the front door and put the key in. 'Here we go again.' I twist the key and walk inside the house. I quickly walk through the hall way to try and get to my room before my step father, who I am required to call dad, can say anything. My "dad" is so so dumb and unintelligent but no matter what I'm always wrong. Even if I have never been wrong once in what he says I'm wrong in.

No luck. "And where do you think you're going! Our toilet needs cleaning and you've been doing nothing since you got out of school. Get to work!" Comes from the overweight form on the couch in the reclined position.

In a dead expression with absolutely no facial movement and out of sight movement of my fingers and toes, "Okay," and I start to walk towards the closet that's next to my room. I look out of the corner of my eye to see his face to see if I would be receiving anything else, 'Uh oh, he's not happy. What did I do?'

"Get back here!!! How dare you roll your eyes at me. Also," he points towards his bathroom which is in their room which is opposite of the house of my room, "The bathroom is that way, go that way!"

"I didn't roll my eyes, I'm sorry but I haven't rolled them in years. I'm going that way," I gesture towards my room, "Because the cleaning closet is next to my room. I promise I'm not disregarding and not listening to you."

'Oh no, he's getting mad.'

"You did roll your eyes, would I lie to you?! Get the cleaning supplies and start cleaning!"

"Okay." 'I can't exactly say you're lying now can I, that's a death sentence.'

"Dam*it! Stop saying okay! You're basically saying to fu*k off! Is that what you're trying to say!"

"It's my way of acknowledging you." 'We've had this conversation before, and whatever suggestions I bring up to substitute "okay" with another phrase or word you see it as insincere and mocking.'

"I don't care, fu*k you! Get to work!" And with those original words he storms out the back door to smoke a cigarette.

With a sigh I get the cleaning supplies and head to their bathroom. Their bathroom is so disgusting, it's like whatever they use is instantly disgusting and horrendous. I'm so grateful for music though, it makes the entire thing bearable. It takes me about 45 minutes to finish cleaning their disgusting toilet.

I walk across the house to the side where my room and the cleaning supply closet is and hope he doesn't say anything else. He doesn't. 'That's lucky, looks like I can hide in my room the rest of the day hopefully. I put away the cleaning supplies and go to my room where my cat, Lucy, was sleeping. Lucy is the greatest part of this house hands down. I go into my room and lay down on my bed to watch YouTube and read a book. Promptly Lucy wakes up and walks over to fall back asleep on me.

For the next few hours this is all I do until my mom gets home around 8:00 pm and it's time to eat. My mom is not nearly as bad as my step-father but she still has her moments. She's not as dumb as he is so she resorts more to manipulation and guilt tripping than any screaming or threatening. She is still much better than him though in my books.

Once she came home she didn't really do anything bad so I'm pleasantly surprised at that. Thankfully, when my mom gets home my step-father usually tones it down and I don't really have to bother with him. After dinner I escape back to my room and watch more YouTube and read more of my book. I pass the rest of the night in this fashion and luckily they didn't call me out for anything.

The next two days passed by pretty quick and they never made me do anything or yell at me so they were pretty good days. However, it's now Monday and April 14. It's time for me to go to get my medical examination. 'If I pass this test then I'll have to tell them I joined the military, that's going to be fun.'

I get out of my bed and go to the bathroom to take a shower, brush my teeth, and of course go to the bathroom. As I'm drying myself off I see my reflection in the mirror; I see a slim boy with more feminine body proportions than masculine but oh well and a height of 6'1. I'm done drying off so I go to my bedroom to get dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt. I then put on my socks and my horribly fitting shoes, a result of my step-father being the dumbest person in the world and saying that they did fit but they most certainly do not. It's time to leave so I walk out of my room and the hallway my room is in to the living room. As it is 8:00 my parents are thankfully at work and I told them yesterday I had something to do today so I'm free to go.

I leave the house and go to the bus stop where I then catch the 8:03 bus. Once again I read in my phone as I wait for my stop to arrive. When the bus stops at my stop I get off and start walking towards the recruitment center. I get inside the recruitment center and a nurse at the desk where the recruiters were before tells me to sit down and wait. I walk over to a seat and wait while reading my phone.

Finally it's my turn, a nurse calls for Asdeath. I get up and walk over to where she is, where she then tells me to follow her. She takes me to a male doctor inside one of rooms along the hallway and then leaves, they have to match gender for doctors and patients.

"How are you doing, I'm doctor Flegrand and I'll be doing your medical examination today. Please strip down into your underwear and step onto the scale."

I strip and step onto the scale, it reads 130.0 pounds and while I'm standing on the scale he measures my height as well.

"130 pounds and 6'1. Can you come sit on the bed while I ask you some questions."

"Sure."

"Have you had any surgeries?"

"Yes, I had one on my right ear to fix my eardrum. I healed completely and suffered no mishaps."

"Are you allergic to anything?"

"Nope."

This continues on for about 30 minutes just like any standard physical examination. After he finished he simply said, "Thank you, you are healthy besides being slightly underweight, you pass. Take this," he hands me a big green card with his signature at the bottom, "And take it to the nurse at the desk up front. Have a good day."

"Thank you, you too." I walk out of the office and retrace my steps to get back to the waiting room. I walk up to the nurse at the desk and hand her the card.

"Name?"

"Asdeath Whisner."

A couple minutes pass as she checks to see if I'm lying or not. Once she verified that it was legitimate she simply said, "Come back at 5:00 pm and you will be taken straight to boot camp. You don't need to bring anything, not even your phone or toothbrush. Everything will be provided when you get there. Welcome to the military, soldier."

"Thank you." And with those words I was officially in the military. 'It's going to be an interesting experience telling my parents this. I might just tell them right before I'm leaving so they can't bit*h at me about something.'

I go home and put everything away, including my phone. 'I'm going to miss reading books on my phone. Better not get too bored.' I watch YouTube on the tv until it's time for me to leave. Before I leave though I text my parents a message that simply says, "I have joined the military and it's time for me to leave." That simple.

When I go to the bus stop this time there are people, 5 people counting me. When the bus arrives we all get on and sit down. 15 minutes later, surprisingly the other 4 also joined the military, and we got off and walked to the recruitment center. When we got there a soldier with an MP(military police) arm band told us to wait inside until it's time to leave. 'I've finally joined the military, I'm excited to see how much fun this will be.'