(A.N: This Chapter is filled with some filler but important information that exposes the general way the Academy is run.)
Deep into the wild, unrecovered and undiscovered parts of the earth. There was a cave of unknown geographical coordinates. It was partially occupied by a swamp that was dark and murky. Although the dark swampy area occupied a minor percentage of the very deep cave, there were no living things in the entire cave. And even though there was no wind at all, the swamp swayed from side to side, rippling and tiding over itself over and over again with a deep sloshing sound that was capable of giving anyone nightmares.
As previously mentioned, no living things dared to dwell there, man or beast. In fact, no one, man or beast, wanted to have anything to dwell with the cave. It was too far away from civilization and rediscovered land and as for the beasts that dwelled in the area, there was something – an aura of sorts - that warned them to never set foot in the cave. They were very scared of the cave, even though they had no idea what it was and absolutely no guesses whatsoever of what could be causing the fear they felt and they were more than unwilling to find out the root behind it.
But today was different.
It was just approaching midnight. The half-moon was being frequently covered by the small clouds that raced through the sky as if they were late for an event.
A large group of ants entered into the cave in a very ordered manner. They literally marched in, stomping their six feet in a cohesive order while moving in a long and straight line.
One, Two, One, Two….
For each ant, Feet numbers one, three and five would rise off the ground, move forward at the same time and land together to create a powerful thud.
Then, the even numbered feet would follow after in the same pattern.
These ants were about the size of a fat, overfed, adult chicken, with sharply-ridged mandibles that looked like heavy-duty, pointed brass knuckles.
They walked calmly and patiently for hours till it was nearing dawn. Just then, they arrived at the deepest part of the cave, where the sloshing, disgusting swamp swayed rhythmically to the non-existent wind.
As the ants conveniently passed through the smaller, tighter passage that led to the swamp, the largest one that had led them all the way, came to a stop at the edge of the swamp. Those behind stood at its sides and behind it.
It looked at the swamp, its head slightly tilted to a side. A close imitation of some people's unconscious head positioning when they were deep in thought.
The ants stood around and quietly waited for almost ten whole minutes before their leader came to a decision.
It speedily turned around and furiously clattered its mandibles together. The other ants all got the message. They quickly split themselves into small groups of five and without a second of hesitation, followed their leader into the swamp.
There were soon ripples in the swamp which lasted for some time. After which there was no sound, save for the swamp waters and ripples, excluding the normal rhythmic procession of the swamp.
After a long while, the first glimpse of an ant became visible. It was quickly followed by many others. They came out of the swamp by walking backwards. They walked backwards, slowly and steadily. At first, it was their backsides, if it could be called that, and their last pair of legs that could be viewed. It took quite some time, but the reason for their weird backward movement finally became obvious.
They were pulling something out.
Something very heavy.
Just then, some other ants suddenly rushed out of the swamp and join them in lifting the thing. They used their mandibles to hold it tight, and moved out of the swamp. They moved away from the swamp with the coffin on their 'shoulders', until the last of the ants was totally out of the swamp.
Upon noticing thst they were all away from the swamp, they collectively lowered the coffin. Slowly and with much care. As if it were the most precious thing in the world.
Bam!
Even with all their care, the coffin still shook the ground when it touched it.
The coffin was a nearly eight feet long piece of finely-crafted wood of unknown origins. It had laid there, in the swamp, motionless, and dead as wood for nearly three centuries now.
It was covered in mud that had some very ugly, very disgusting color. And if one was willing to brave the horrors and obscenity of viciously scraping away such covering, such a person would be able to see the intricate patterns and Egyptian-like hieroglyphics decorating the coffin all over. Not an inch of space was plain.
The leader of these ants clattered its mandibles again before walking around the coffin once.
After that, it took one last look at it, and abruptly ran away, squeezing through the small passage and into the wider area of the cave. It did not stop there, rather, it maintained its insanely high speed and ran for its life, closely followed by its followers. Its subordinates.
The previous orderly movement was long gone from their minds. Each ran at its fastest, out of the cave and far into the barely lit woods where they had built and protected their nest from long ago.
All of a sudden, less than a minute after the ants had exited the cave, a loud laugh suddenly echoed out from within the cave.
"Mwahahahaha….. hahahaha... ha ha! I can finally move. I…. can… finally… leave… this… accursed… cage!"
There was a slight pause.
Boom!
A loud sound echoed out from the cave. A sound so loud, it sent the animals scurrying for shelter and the birds flying away into the distant sky.
"Yeeeeeeeeesss! I… am… free! I am finally free! How long has it been? I have long lost count.
"Whichever way, I am free now. I hope those bastards are still alive to save their people once again. If not, this world and every human that inhabits it, will feel my wrath."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It had been nearly a month since resumption at the academy and the students had long gotten used to the routine of late nights, early mornings, morning to evening drills and having the chance to only take one meal a day.
The one meal was nutritious enough to sustain them and ensure their growth was not in any way hindered.
But this was only when one was referring to the fifty-two students that had earned the rights to be referred to as children. What about the others? Well, let's just say they were already serving their country.
Since they were not qualified enough to be called proper first years, they were put under a different kind of training.
Sure, they also did drills.
Sure, they were put under intense scrutiny like the fifty-two proper students.
Sure, they ate good, nutritious food like their counterparts.
But, they were not given the same privileges as them. No specialized, private lessons by very experienced, handpicked 'Soldier-teachers', no private rooms, no informative, enlightening and enriching classes and most especially, no assured safety.
They had no assured safety because they were no more at the Academy. Instead, they had been partially randomly distributed to different cities. The distribution was partial because some of them who showed an affinity for flying and wind were sent to the cities with Air force units.
Some of them were sent to the borders. Some were put in police duty.
(A.N: In this world, the Police are merely Soldiers with less risky duties. And that only depends on a number of factors.)
Some who had been observed and tagged as smart, crafty, unorthodox and outside-the-box were sent to Country E's hidden Intelligence Headquarters that had a facility that was used to train potential strategists.
Those with high brain power were straight-up dumped in the logistics and Science Branch of the military.
There were yet others that landed odd jobs like cooking, even though soldiers were not needed for that role.
As for roles like medicals, this group of people would never apply to the military academy in the first place. They had a school specially created for them by the government and run by old, skilled, powerful and highly experienced professionals.
On one side, there were less skilled people with early, more hands-on experience in what might end up becoming their whole career, and on the other side, was the class of fifty-two being drilled to become part of the country's more powerful arsenal but were still without any hands-on experience. At the end of the first year, all of them will be brought together for an entire second-year of cohesive drills and training.
Then, at the beginning of the third year, another reassessment. For as many as could pass the new reassessment, they will be able to go to proper Academy 'classes' and go on 'excursions' as part of the Academy's 'syllabus'. And the others, back to partially-official duty and if they were unlucky enough that there was a war, more than half of them would be sent to the war front. This was when most of the deceased students died. In their third year.
After all, the countries' teeth were constantly on one another's necks. A slight oversight or carelessness and they were done for.
In a way, the first year partition was the military's way of balancing both the advantaged and the disadvantaged sides out, and as an important long-term objective, split the students in their fourth years to the most appropriate divisions for them.
For the fourth and fifth years, whatever division they chose or were given would determine where they would be sent to, for more specialized training. Some would end up back at the logistics, some would be tagged as War-material, Some would be put in police duty, Some would join the Intelligence agency and begin their training as spies and sometimes fake criminals to create unrest without losing themselves in the process, some of them would be taken to the Shield Schools that would train them in the delicate art of Bodyguarding, and some would end up in the militaristic kitchen, hoping against hope to not be enlisted as Warzone kitchen helps.