Callum stood at the palace gates along with many other vibrant young men. He looked around taking in the competition and trying to gauge their strength.
Everyone around him was robust and their eyes were filled with a strange brightness and hope for the future. There was anticipation common among vibrant youths except him.
As he observed the crowd, his gaze fell on a small group of people, six men and three women. They avoided the crowd and stood together. There was an authoritative air around them and discipline in their movements that he recognized instantly. They were soldiers of the Empire.
"With these soldiers here, there's even less of a chance," he thought to himself, his heart growing panicked.
He had a sick sister back at home. She was the only one of his family left. His father was a soldier, but he died a few months ago in battle; his mother collapsed instantly as soon as the news reached home, and his sister fell depressed and sick soon after.
He had sold everything in the house to get her a doctor but despite the Doctor trying very hard every day, she was only getting worse.
Lately, she stopped talking to him because he wouldn't let her die. And now there was nothing left for him to sell, and as a young 14-year-old, there were not many jobs he could do. He wasn't even old enough to sell himself to slavery.
Callum never thought there would come a day when he would curse Emperor Gaius II for establishing and creating a system to enforce the law.
This was his last option. By signing up to be trained as a Retainer, he would get the sign-up reward of two gold coins. This would be enough to care for his sister for a long time.
There were only two problems: he could not quit after signing up and had to serve for at least 5 years. And secondly, he had to pass the entry test. He could only hope his sister could endure for the test duration of 1 day.
"Attention!" A loud voice attracted everyone and drew Callum out of his thoughts. He looked towards the front, but all he could see were shoulders and heads, so he hurriedly rushed forward, squeezing through the crowd of sweaty men until he was at the front.
A blonde man with a stick in his mouth stood before them wearing a lazy expression. He held his helmet in hand and was completely covered in leather-metal armor.
"An Imperial Guard" Callum muttered to himself, his eyes wide open as he stared ahead in admiration.
Although he was only doing this for his sister, the life of battle always called out to him thanks to the influence of his father. Many times he found himself playing fight scenes in his head repeatedly.
But his mother forbade him from joining the army and made him promise to care for his sister. Becoming a Retainer at the Castle was the only loophole he could think about.
"I am the 1st Captain of the Imperial Guards. And I want to first praise you all for being here," he continued in his lazy voice, sounding as if he was reciting from a script.
Suddenly, his tone turned sharp, and his eyes brightened.
"Every one of you here today is a real man!" He roared, his tone now loud enough for the silent crowd to hear. He glared at a few women in the front row as if daring them to protest.
"Your bravery in answering the recruitment call is worthy of praise and admiration. You are all men of bravery and courage and deserving of honor."
"Or you are fools. There's a thin line between both"
Callum zoned out the rest of his speech, he knew what was happening. His father had done it to him many times.
Stroke their ego, let them feel good about themselves then when the rest starts, they'll try to prove that everything the First Captain said was true.
At that point, if they failed, then they wouldn't need anyone to mock them; they would mock themselves forever.
It was a ruthless move that could crush one's self-esteem if they failed, but it was also the best way to force everyone to give their absolute best.
"We will begin with a jog around the Palace; you cannot fall back more than twenty feet. If you fail to keep up you're out"
Without waiting for the crowd to respond, the main gate opened, and the First Captain climbed on a horse offered to him by another soldier. The horse started forward in a slow hug and the crowd started to follow, Callum along with them.
Time passed quickly. When the job started, everyone was excited and followed without any pressure; some could even keep up by walking fast. But things soon changed as the sun started to rise and grow hot, the heat was disturbing even though it was still fairly early in the morning. However, this wasn't enough to dissuade anyone. Some even ran faster to keep up with the horse and the First Captain on it.
But the horse soon picked up speed, by just a little. Enough so that everyone started jogging and could no longer follow by simply walking faster.
Hours passed and now the afternoon sun was bearing down heavily on everyone. Even the First Captain on the horse was exhausted. The horse seemed to be the only one who didn't care about the sun.
Callum was not having it easy either. Thankfully he was small in form and had a better muscle-fat ratio than most other men here. Instead of taking occasion stops to rest, he slowed down and sped up at different times, taking special note to never go so fast as to exhaust himself.
Thankfully, having always had in mind that this was his backup, he kept himself healthy. He wasn't bulky, but his lungs and heart were healthy, so running wasn't too much of an issue for him.
If the rest was similar to last month's though, it would have been a very different story.
As evening came and the hottest part of the day ended, there were only around twenty people left, even two of the nine soldiers had dropped out. Leaving one female in the group with six males.
It was almost 12 hours of slow jogging; anyone would give up, but Callum could not. If he did, his sister would die. Although this was what she wanted, he could not agree to it. She wasn't being rational, she was depressed.
The sun was starting to set, and Callum felt his legs were warm and heavy. His upper body was fine, his breathing was fine, his thoughts were fine but his legs just would not move. He dragged them along, he could barely feel them but there was no stopping.
Tears fell from his eyes, and he was screaming really loudly, but he could not stop. Fortunately, he wasn't alone, and they were in the Outer Palace, so they weren't disturbing anyone.
Suddenly, he fell. Lying on the ground, Callum watched as the horse got further away; his legs would not move, and finally, he felt his heart start to beat.
"Alina will die! Alina will die" he repeated in his head over and over again as a crippling horror washed over him. But it wasn't enough to keep him from struggling.
Unfortunately, he could struggle no more. His legs just would not respond, it was too late.
Feeling hopeless, he looked back, and suddenly his eyes widened. The soldiers at the twelve-foot mark were still far away!
As if by magic, he rose instantly and sprinted off, catching up with the horse in an instant.
Behind him, the soldiers glanced at each other speechlessly.
"What just happened?" The soldier who had reached out his hand asked and awkwardly took his hand back.
"Probably scared him into running again. He must be here for something" another one replied.
Meanwhile, Callum heard a loud sound in his ears like someone struck a bell, but he was paying no attention to it and instead focused on the endurance run.