The next day, after a hearty breakfast, Jak went with all the other stage one recruits to meet Gavin at a training field.

"Welcome, little ones," he said with a smile that wasn't quite friendly. "This is called 'The Glove'. This obstacle course will be your sole focus until you reach stage two. Every day you must complete this course at least once. You may complete it more than once, or you can join other classes at the academy. The goal is to complete it quickly, but for now we will go very slowly, so you can learn each challenge."

Gavin led them to a thin wooden tower, about two storeys high. On the walls were various bits of rocks and wood sticking out, giving the wall plenty of things to grab onto while climbing. The task was simple enough—climb the tower. Jak joined in with all the others, curious and eager to begin training as an Elite Guard. It seemed a bit strange to Jak though. This looked more like a child's plaything, not serious training for infamous soldiers. He scaled the tower easily, started climbing down the other side, and when he was about halfway down he just let go and dropped the rest of the way.

The next challenge was a balance beam, a long narrow plank of wood propped up at Jak's shoulder height. They had to climb onto it, then balance as they walked along to the end.

There was a series of rocks after that, they had to jump from rock to rock. Some of the rocks were firmly planted in the ground, some rolled quite easily, so it was a little tricky.

Then came a wooden stand holding simple bows and a pile of arrows. A little distance away were three straw dummies, each held up by a rope as if they were hanged. They gently swayed in the wind. Jak lined up and when it was his turn, managed to hit each of the three targets after eight shots.

The next station held halberds, giant spears with an axe head on the end. They had to chop a piece of firewood with the axe head, not easy considering the halberd was longer than Jak was tall.

Then there was a short run between giant logs that were swinging like a pendulum. Jak wasn't sure what kept the logs swinging, but suspected it was some kind of enchantment.

The obstacle course kept going in a similar manner. Sometimes the stations tested balance or reaction speed, other times it was strength, and many times there would be a weapon for them to use. Gavin explained that this course was to build up strength, agility, endurance, and familiarity with various weapons.

It was fun, especially the first few stations, but toward the end all the new recruits were quite tired. The last station was to climb a long rope onto a wooden platform, then pick up a spear from a pile at the top and throw it at a wooden dragon. After all the stations, and especially the rope he had just climbed, Jak barely had any strength to throw the spear. The first one fell short, the second missed the target, but the third—finally—stuck into the dragon's leg.

Relieved, Jak flopped onto the ground next to the others that had finished. He stayed there for a long time. Eventually he lifted his head, and realized that Gavin had already left, and nobody was going to tell him what to do. Most of the other kids were still lying on the grass nearby. With a sigh Jak got up and went to see Ash.

He'd left the pup by Vipers Nest. There were a few other pets around, Jak had noticed, of all sorts and shapes. When he arrived, he saw Ash playing with a mountain cat and a snake. The pets all seemed friendly with one another, quite different to seeing those animals in the wild. Ash and the cat were trying to sneak up on the snake, hiding behind boxes and barrels. If the snake saw them coming it would hiss and strike at them. Another guard had assured Jak that the snake wasn't poisonous, so with a little hesitation he let them be. Eventually the snake managed to bite the cat, and they reset the game, this time with the snake and Ash sneaking up on the cat.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Jak left them to it, and headed inside to eat and sleep. There was a large dining hall in the center of the academy, but the Vipers Nest also had a small eating area stocked with food. Jak had a few sausages wrapped in bread, then went to bed. It wasn't night yet, but he was so tired he fell asleep immediately. His dreams were filled with the obstacle course. Running, dodging, balancing, picking up different weapons. Overshadowing everything was the feeling of a giant thread still being woven, each part of the course becoming a strand woven into the thread.

He woke up and it was morning. He'd slept through the afternoon, and then through the night. Jak was worried he'd feel incredibly stiff and sore from yesterday, and that the obstacle course would be much harder this time. Instead, he felt stronger, the same as when he'd fought that boar. A slow smile spread across his face as he stared at his hands, feeling a pulse of strength going through them. He quickly got ready and went back to The Glove, the obstacle course had been reset. Training dummies that were full of arrows from yesterday were now clean, the arrows neatly put into piles by the bows.

Jak didn't wait for Gavin or anybody to officially start the course. He ran to the climbing tower, and discovered his assumptions were correct. He was stronger. He could grab the protruding rocks and bits of wood much easier, and lift himself up much better than before. It was a bit strange. Jak knew that a month or two of training would show improvement, but the very next day? He wasn't about to complain. He jumped up onto the balance beam and ran along it. He picked up a bow and found himself much more comfortable with it than before, only taking five shots to hit all three dummies. Jak kept going, station after station. The course still wore him down, but each activity he performed better than before. By the time he got to the end, Jak was out of breath, and his muscles did ache, enough for Jak to sit down on the grass for a while. But he didn't collapse or lie down like yesterday.

The next two weeks went similarly. Jak and the others slowly getting used to the routine. There were about 40 other guards in Jak's stage, and all of them were improving at the course, getting more adept with the weapons and faster on the agility and strength courses. Jak loved it. He started to do the course twice a day. He still needed a good rest between, but in the afternoons he would do the course a second time instead of going straight to bed. Soon he could do all the balance stations without falling off, he could shoot all the targets without missing, the strength challenges still left him sore, but they were achievable. Each night he dreamed about the activities, and each morning he woke up a little stronger. The improvements weren't as explosive as the first time, in fact they seemed to get less and less. When Jak started running The Glove twice a day there was a jump again, Jak waking up feeling a good difference in his abilities, before it started to wane once more. Jak wondered if he needed a stronger challenge.