Struggling on my way back home. Waddling side to side as the weights of the buckets force my balance to be instable.
I entered the house, went to the kitchen placed down one of the buckets in the kitchen and walked my way towards the bathroom, and placed a bucket there.
Finally finishing my chores I started walking towards the training fields used by the young adults of the village.
The training hall was just a simple open field surrounded by trees and some wooden swords with a handful of crudely made straw dummies for us to hit on.
"Hey, Uncle Ben!"
I yelled with pride, feeling accomplished after finishing some chores and lifting the buckets with these stick like arms.
"Hey Damien, you're late for your training boy" Ben uttered with a low growl.
Feeling a little embarrassed I uttered quietly but loud enough so that he can hear me.
"I'm sorry, I slept in last night cause the training yesterday was just too much."
"Hahaha, don't worry about it too much, Winter is going to start soon let's get these leaves out of the way so we have some nice and dry Kindle we can use throughout the winter boy"
Ben laughed as he spoke from his diaphragm loudly projecting his voice, echoing through the fields reaching the forests down the horizon.
'What?! He told me since it was getting close to my birthday I was going to start training with a sword Ughhh so annoying.'
"You told me yesterday that we were going to start training with a sword!"
Right after saying that I regretted all my actions leading up to this moment. He stared down at me with such pressure I felt like a rabbit in front of a lion.
"Who said we weren't? But these leaves are not going to sweep themselves. It's also training your stamina and balance. Quit yer whining and get to work or I will personally beat it into you boy"
"Yes Sir"
Grumbling under my breath I slowly walked my way around the field with a broom sweeping all the leaves into a shack made to store dry kindle. At least the leaves are beautiful, with so many shades of warm colors. At least this much is nice.
Couple of hours later~
"Ben, I'm finally done! let's get started with the lessons!"
After finishing the task I quickly ran my way over to where Ben was. Sitting under some trees staring towards the plateau with his mind elsewhere.
"Alright you rascal, but first come here and grab that stick so I can draw and explain things easier"
"Okay"
I grabbed the stick and quickly handed it over to Ben feeling excited.
"As you know, Damien. We are currently fighting in a war against the Horde. The Horde is made out of mostly monsters that take advantage of their superior strength and ferocity to decimate our lines. They heal very quickly unless you destroy either their core or cause enough damage their core cannot keep up with the amount of damage received."
"so how do we kill these beasts?" I uttered full of curiosity
"Well, unlike them we use weapons of war, whether that is in simple swords, spears, and bows or field siege engines. With these, we can make efficient moves and quickly kill their cores which is more energy-saving than just trying to kill them through brute strength."
Simple they have the numbers and regeneration they can afford to have a war of attrition I nodded to myself. While we hold the advantage in utility and variety.
"So I'm guessing the reason you made me train my stamina, balance, and control so much more than strength is because of this reason right?"
"That is correct Damien, Unlike us, they keep coming and it seems like there's no end in sight. So if you can live and have enough energy to fight again you are a soldier that is not dependant on your comrades and don't become dead weight cause you are too tired or injured to continue fighting."
Feeling glad that I stuck to the training and trusted my uncle I found a new kind of respect for him. While he may not be related by blood he has always been here with my family. The reason why even though my Dad is out of town so much. Neither me nor my mother ever got harassed by the village folk.
We looked different, both my mother and I had light silver hair with red eyes. while everyone else had black, brown, or blonde hair. I always felt out of place looking so different.
"Damien"
Snapping back to reality
"Oh, yes sorry Uncle I was thinking about how I always looked so different than the neighbors"
Ben looked at me with seriousness. Taking a deep breath and held onto my shoulders with his hands and spoke to me seriously.
"Boy, I cannot tell you much since that is something your mother has to tell you herself but I guarantee you that you are human, you don't have to feel different. you bleed the same blood and live the same life eating and sleeping. Do not worry Damien, but focus I need to teach you about the Horde."
"Yes Sir, I'll focus more"
"Good, From now on you will call me Commander. I will treat you no longer like a boy who had too much energy and focus. I will treat you as a soldier who is desperate to gain strength. Do you trust me?"
"Of course "Commander" I trust you I always have" I jokingly said
Getting a punch straight into the stomach. All the air escaped out of my breath I bent over. At that moment he kicked the side of my ribs. making my back slam into the ground behind me knocking the little air I had recovered"
"Why did you do that for!" I gasped, holding onto the side of my ribs with pain.
'If I had trained a bit in strength I would be the one kicking you.' feeling irritated at my weakness, annoyed that I couldn't even do anything. I swallowed my anger and quietly nodded.
"Get up solder! You will refer to me with respect. I am not your uncle at this moment. I will give you gell the next three months so that you are ready to fight the monsters!"
Gritting my teeth I inhaled weakly and mustered as much strength as I could put into my lungs I ushered back.
"Yes Commander, This solder will obey!"
"Good, Now Soldier your first weapon will be the spear."
"what! I wanted to use the sword! it's cool it's what the Heros use!"
Oh shit, I shouldn't have said that. Ben quickly swept my leg making me fall and hit me will the pole meant for training with spears"
"Argh"
"Soldier Damien, Did you know that every single soldier from the simple militia to the top being heroes started using a spear first? With spears, you can quickly thrust and pierce the cores and quickly retreat. You also maintain distance to be safer from any counterattacks."
Hmm okay, that does make sense now that he said that. So I need to train with the spear first and become good enough to fight back. That will be my goal at the end of this.
If anyone else were to see the brutal training that the commander was giving to the child it would look like it was just abuse.
The one-sided matches, The number of times the kid fell and got back up. The number of times he was beaten and struggled to get his arms back up.
"Hey, Soldier change of plans starting tomorrow we will have a closed training in the plateau which I will show you. I will bring a close friend she is a healer. You will go through worse pain than this so tonight go home and spend it with your mother I will let her know myself."
I was beaten and bruised on the ground gasping for air. I barely understood him from the ringing noise in my head and the amount of pain my whole body is under
"Worse than this? I don't believe you but I will trust you. I will follow your teachings commander"
with a nod, he tossed me a red bottle. Immediately recognizing it as a health potion I quickly drank out of it so I can get out of this pain.
"Thank you, commander"
"mm, if I didn't your mother would kill me"
Slowly the pain subsided but it was still there. I struggled to get up and started to limp back home.
Sometime later~
"hey Mom I'm home"
"Hey, Damie-WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!"
She dropped everything she was doing and quickly rushed over to look at my battered body
"Oh honey who did this, Mommy will go beat them up. I will show them what happens when they mess with my baby"
"Mom! Don't it's nothing I was training with Uncle and I agreed on the training. Talking about that tomorrow I will have to go train in isolation with my uncle and his friend I'm not sure what is going on but I will leave. Right now I'm exhausted I want to rest okay?"
"Alright baby go rest and feel better tomorrow"
"Thanks, Mom"
Limping my way up the stairs I went to the door of my room and flopped into the bed. feeling the softness I felt my eyelids getting heavier and lost consciousness.