Normally, after taking the weapons tests, a new recruit was assigned their own quarters with a bed and a chest for personal belongings.
David’s bed and chest were moved to the testing room where he would stay until deemed ready to join the rest of the recruits. He was also not allowed to go to any of the various classes that recruits were forced to take.
He had to spend every second of every day, in the testing room, with Acktredd.
The day after he was beaten half to death, he stood across from Acktredd in the training room. The huge man said nothing, simply staring at him: up and down, side to side, diagonal to diagonal, and from seemingly all possible angles.
David was not self-conscious about his build. He saw himself as average, skinny, yes, but not in an unhealthy way. On Earth, he accepted that. It was okay to not care about improving his body. If he could get to work and back home, that was enough.
As Acktredd’s eyes peeled away every fiber of his being, he knew that it was not enough anymore. He was weak, and his body would get him killed in this world.
He expected Acktredd to come to the same conclusion.
“Are you hungry, bones?”
“Uh…yea, I am.”
“Let's go then.”
David followed behind as Acktredd swung open the door to the testing room and marched out of the lobby and into the courtyard.
A thin slice of the tangerine sun lazed above the complex’s brick walls. The courtyard was barren sans a few instructors preparing equipment for the day’s weapon classes. There was a Niven woman, a man with gray skin, and the old man that had been teaching the spear class yesterday.
None of the instructors greeted them as they made their way towards a building located in the bottom right corner of the courtyard, in fact; they took micro-movements away from the pair, pretending they had some other task to do that conveniently was as far away as possible. David was sure this was the case because he had mastered similar maneuvers on Earth when he saw someone he knew and wanted to avoid.
His suspicions were confirmed when Actredd was about to open the door to the brick building they stood in front of.
"I hope you're not bringing that recruit into the instructor’s room, Actredd. Even a farmer like you should know that is forbidden."
The rocky voice belonged to the old man.
In a rather awkward second, Actredd opened the door, pushed David inside, and then entered himself before slamming it shut.
They heard the old man yell something incomprehensible through the door.
"Let me tell ya, bones…" Actredd said as he sauntered towards a diner-like counter where a man with an apron stood.
"That man is Jower, the spear instructor. I've known six, no, seven other Jowers in my time on this rotten land. Each and every one—complete asses. Also, all dead, not so coincidentally. I remember, I was stayin’ at a tavern in Toxo, and this Jower I knew, he bumped into a sofos and spilled his flagon—probably didn't see him, an easy mistake to make. The sofos didn't say nothin’, just walked away, and Jower takes that as an offense, challenges him to a duel! Can you believe that?! Anyhow, he lasted maybe five heartbeats before the sofos' sword opened up his stomach."
“So…that guy is going to be my instructor?”
Acktredd looked at him and grinned.
“When I’m finished with you, yea. Don’t worry though, he dislikes me more than any of his students.”
He turned back, facing the man in the apron.
“Get me 3 bowls of red-tail rice.”
“Coming right up, Tredd. Anythin’ else?”
“Yea, I’ll need double my usual delivery from now on.”
The aproned man’s round eyes seemed to glaze over for a second.
“Sorry, I musta’ missed that. What’d you need?”
“My usual delivery. Double it.”
“Tredd, what in this land are you gonna do with all that food?”
Acktredd stuck his thumb backwards, pointing towards David.
The aproned man peered over the counter at David, then slowly nodded his head.
“Yea, alright.”
They sat down at one of the two long dining tables in the room and a few minutes later three steaming bowls arrived.
Acktredd claimed two and immediately began to devour the grilled red fish and white rice inside.
David was hesitant at first, but after eating a bite, he scarfed the whole thing down in less than a minute. The fish had a crispy outer skin but was tender and moist inside. It was by far the best meal he had ever had in this world.
Acktredd finished both his bowls and began using his spork, the only utensil they had been given, to clean his sharpened teeth.
"Pretty good, huh?"
"Really good. Can I get another?"
"After training. Don't want yer stomach too full when yer just startin’ out."
When they returned to the testing room, Acktredd modeled the ten different exercises that made up their first workout of the day. The exercises were simple enough, consisting mostly of dynamic movements like squats and lunges, using the various dumbbells scattered around the room.
That was what David had thought, at least.
As he started the first exercises, Acktredd watched him like a hawk tracking a rodent. If there was even the slightest error in his form on any of the reps he did, he was forced to restart at zero and do them all again. After what felt like thirty minutes, he made it through two of the ten exercises. Muscles long neglected in his arms were already squealing like pigs being led to the slaughterhouse.
He was allowed to take a short break. Acktredd handed him a smoothe white cup that looked as if made out of bone.
He took a gulp and a familiar cooling sensation began to soothe his body. He was positive the drink was water, but it tasted as if it had been taken from some mystical spring deep in the mountains.
In a few minutes his body was refreshed; the tension in his muscles released, leaving them light and limber.
After 2 hours, he finished all 10 exercises. Even with intermittent breaks and drinking the rejuvenating water, the physical exhaustion he felt eclipsed any kind he had ever endured before.
He laid on the cold stone floor, hoping it would come alive and swallow him up. Anything would be better than the sensation of frayed tendons in his body.
Acktredd stood above him, looking down. “Not bad. Not good either, though. Alright, let's move onto the endurance workout.”
David’s brain screamed and cursed at him as he tried to stand up.
How are you going to survive this? It asked.
You can't.
You can't.
You can't.
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When he started running ten laps around the massive complex’s walls, the words chiseled away at him, eroding his willpower.
I can’t.
I can’t.
I can’t.
During his 6th lap, the white pinprick clouds in the sky and the dirt he ran on blurred into each other and he collapsed.
This is it. I can’t do anymore.
He hissed in pain as a grip strong enough to bend iron yanked him up by the hair till he was standing on his wobbly rubber legs.
Acktredd shoved him and he stumbled forward into a run. He lost track of how many times during the next four laps that he fell down, was picked up, and then pushed forward again.
He walked back through the courtyard—now busy with weapons classes—like he was underwater. Fragmented voices seemed to call out to him, but they made no sense. All he could focus on was moving his feet, one step at a time.
For the rest of the day, he rested, ate, and watched Acktredd go through a lengthy sword training routine.
During the night, he stared at the barred windows of the testing room. Dread of another day of training suffocated him as he tried to sleep.
The next day he went through a new set of stretches, then only half of the ten exercises and ten laps from yesterday. After the run, the soles of his feet were raw and bleeding.
The day after, he went through the full amount of exercises. By the end of the day, as he lay in bed, his body was so heavy it must have been made of lead. Moving even a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter caused shrieking pain everywhere.
That night, he knew he could not keep going. Acktredd’s insane training was destroying his body. Perhaps the people of this world could endure it, but he was not of this world. On Earth his most debilitating struggles were mental and financial. He did not have to work a farm or fight monsters.
During his run the next day he decided that instead of stumbling forward like he usually did after Acktredd picked him up and pushed him, he’d just fall back to the ground. Eventually, Acktredd would realize the workouts were too much and decrease them. That seemed like a logical conclusion.
Halfway through the run, David realized otherwise.
Acktredd refused to let him stay on the ground. No matter how many times David fell, he would be yanked up and pushed forward a second after. They went through this grueling resurrection dance for hours, trudging along at a snail's pace.
Somehow, they finished the ten laps. David’s skin was coated in dust and dirt, and his body, which was already in an eternal state of pain and aching, felt even worse.
He walked through the courtyard, feeling stupid, embarrassed, and angry.
In the testing room, Acktredd stared at him, unblinking.
“Why are you here, bones?”
How do I answer that question? Because I’ll be killed by your organization if I don’t do what they say?! Because—
“Yer takin’ too long. New question, why am I training you?”
He answered quickly this time. “Because you were ordered to.”
“HAHAHAHAHA!”
The spiraling red scar on Acktredd’s forehead became creased with lines as he laughed, yet, his dagger-cut eyes held no humor.
“Orders mean nothin’ to me. I only follow them ‘cause I want to, or ‘cause I’m bored. I followed them this time ‘cause I see potential in you. Ya know, you remind me of a stray dog that used to creep ‘round my farm when I was a kid. We’d hear it sneakin’ into our coop at night, stealin’ eggs, and we’d chase it away, throw rocks at it. The next day, it’d come back, mangy and bruised, and try to chew its way into our cellar. Didn’t matter how many times we chased it away or what we did to it, it’d always come back. That dog wanted to fuckin’ live. Now, tell me bones, what in this land do you want?”
“I just want…”
He wanted more than to just live.
“I want control.”
“Tell me ‘bout that.”
“I want to control my life. I don’t want to feel like I’m some damn plaything for the world to rip apart when it feels like it. I don’t know how I want to spend my time, or what I want to do, I just want to be strong enough to do anything I want. Shit, I dunno if that makes sense…”
“Control, huh. Yea, alright. I like it. Ya know, I was thinkin’ about making these workouts a little easier…”
David felt the pressure in his body dissipate, finally he was getting a bre—
“But now I know I can’t do that. You want control, and trust me when I say that does not come easy in this land. Get some rest. You’ll be needin’ it.”
His heart sank in his chest like a bowling ball dropping to the bottom of the ocean.
On each of the next three days, he did the full workout. Pain and soreness festered inside his limbs like viral agents, attacking him at all hours of the day.
After David’s 7th day of training, Acktredd began to change things.
“Everything you’ve done so far has been wrong. It’s hard to explain why. The best way I can say it is that yer body and yer mind ain’t workin’ together, and if they ain’t workin' together, these workouts ain’t gonna do what they should for you. We’re gonna fix that.”
On the floor next to Acktredd there was a wicker basket with a lid, and a large stone pot filled with a thick pink liquid.
“You need to learn how to focus, how to do these workouts in the most complete way you can. If yer lifting a dumbbell, it ain’t just yer arm that’s doin’ the work; yer mind’s gotta be right there with you. Same for when yer runnin’ or fightin’. We’re gonna start yer workout now, but first…”
Acktredd grabbed the large stone pot by the bottom and drenched David in the liquid from his feet to his chest.
The air became rank and the liquid stuck to him like rancid honey. He gagged, bile building up in his throat. He swallowed it back down, along with the resentment that had burrowed into his bones over the past seven days.
“Start the exercises.”
He picked up two of the dumbbells and began the first exercise of alternating lunges.
“Do you know what a sap-jumper is, bones?”
David shook his head. Speaking required too much energy.
“It’s a little critter that sucks the sap from trees ‘round here. They got very keen senses, know exactly which tree will get them the best meal. They’re gonna be helpin’ you learn how to focus.”
His stomach twisted into knots as Acktredd opened the lid to the wicker basket.
Black insects began to jump out onto the floor. The tarantula sized bugs had six legs and one bulbous white eye that circled the room before locking onto David. Tens and then hundreds hopped over the ground towards him faster then he could register.
He dropped the dumbbells and ran backwards but was too slow. They attached onto his arms and legs like suction cups. He tried to swat and even pry them off, but it was no use.
“Ain’t nothin’ you can do to get them off. They only leave once they get every last bit of that sap. Start the exercises.”
Waves of pain pierced his skin as the slick black bugs began to suck the sap off of him. On the edge of fainting, he felt the same iron grip that had tormented him over the past seven days dig into his shoulders, forcing him to stand.
“Bones. This is the only way. I won’t blame you for giving up. But, before you do, you have to know that you will never survive in this land if you don’t get through this. I’ve been ‘round long ‘nough to know who’ll live and who won’t. Right now, you ain’t even got a chance. So…what’s it gonna be?"
Acktredd pressed the the cold metal bars of the dumbbells into his hands. The prickling incisions in his arms and legs continued unabated.
He gripped the dumbbells hard enough that his knuckles turned white, and slowly, he started his exercises.
DAY 30 OF TRAINING
It was hot enough outside to melt glass. Sweat caked his body as he sprinted through the 10th lap. Nearing the end, he slowed his pace, wishing to enjoy the only part of his day when Acktredd was not watching him.
He felt a small cut under his big toe reopen. Three beads of sweat dropped from his chin into his tunic. His boot struck a slightly damper piece of the ground, and he instinctively leaped over a deep trough in the path without looking down.
He passed through the courtyard, ignoring the usual barbed comments from bored recruits.
Ignoring may have been the wrong word, truthfully, he hardly even heard them. He was inside of an iceberg, a frozen core so far from the surface that very few things could find their way to him now.
“David!”
Faya flipped his spear around, then stuck it into the ground, before jogging away from the rest of his class. Instructor Jower’s beady old eyes followed him with the usual ire, but he said nothing.
“How was the run? Sorry I could not join you. Cyst said if I keep missing spear class, she’ll kick me out.”
He grinned the way only he could, like he saw the world in sharp bright lines that all painted one hilarious picture.
A tiny hole opened in the iceberg and David laughed. When Faya could not leave class to run with him, he would always ask how the run was, and David enjoyed the challenge of trying not to describe it as the incredibly boring everyday thing that it was.
“Oh, were you not there? I felt a gust of wind, and I could have sworn that was you passing me.”
By the time he finished 10 laps, Faya would have finished 20.
“Haha, perhaps it was Jower. He may not look it, but he's still quick on his feet.”
“Ah, I take it then that you still haven’t beaten him?”
Faya puffed out a sigh.
“He hardly ever lets me duel him, says he is too busy. If we fought everyday, I know I would win soon enough. I envy you, getting to train so closely with your instructor everyday.”
Envy me? Would you enjoy sap-jumpers feeding off of your skin? The same grueling exercises everyday? The complete and total isolation? Duels that leave your bones broken and your body the color of crushed grapes?
David took a deep breath, feeling his lungs expand and contract.
Who knows what Faya’s been through? Maybe my training would be a cake-walk to him.
“Have you ever asked Acktredd to duel? I’m sure he’d be happy to.” …Being the sadistic prick that he is.
“Oh, I’d like to, but Cyst won’t allow him to duel anyone. He can’t even participate in the tournament.”
“Tournament? What tournament?”
Faya’s mouth froze while open, like he had just been struck by a lightning bolt. “How could you not know about the tournament? It's all anyone talks about.”
David shrugged, a tournament meant nothing to him anyway; there was training and room for nothing else. “I only talk to Acktredd and you. Neither of you mentioned it until now.”
“David.” Faya stepped in front of his path, blocking him a few steps away from the lobby to the testing room. Earnest concern shone on his golden skin.
“Do you not hear the other recruits when you walk through here? They talk about how they’re going to beat Acktredd’s pet in the tournament, going to make you whimper for mercy. They are nearly shouting at you when they say it!”
Pet? He repeated the word in his mind over and over until it started to lose meaning, replaced with a white hot anger that made him feel sick.
He took another deep breath, but the feeling would not go away.
“Do you truly not hear them?”
David brushed past him. “I need to get back to training. See you tomorrow.”
He opened and shut the lobby door before Faya had a chance to respond.
Ursul greeted him with her tight smile as he made his way into the testing room.
Acktredd was lying down on the stone floor, lifting a dumbbell with one hand and reading a book with the other. On top of his usual white and gold tunic, he wore a golden cloak and David could see a sword scabbard on his back. Next to him was a large leather bag with two thick straps.
“That was quick.” He dropped the dumbbell and stood up.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes. I’ve been called to the Castle for a mission. Shadebringers to kill, that sorta thing, I’m guessing.” Acktredd placed the book in his pack, then slipped it over his shoulders.
“Training is…done then?”
Acktredd smiled, though not as wide, and without the usual deep, dark energy.
“Training is done. Ursul will get you set up with your new room and your classes.”
David should have been thrilled. No more exercises. No more laps. No more pain. His arms shook.
Why do I feel so scared? So lost? I’m nothing without the training. I’m still the same person I was before: a weakling who doesn’t belong in this world…
Acktredd clapped him on the shoulder, bringing him back to reality.
“Bones, remember what all of this was for. It’s time for you to start living. Oh and I asked that they put a mirror in your room. Take a look at it. I think you’ll be surprised at what you see.”
Acktredd moved past him to the door.
“Ah, sorry, and one last thing. There’s a tournament coming up in six wiqs. If I make it back before then, I’m gonna enter it. I expect to see you in the finals.”
The finals?!
David’s face broke into a wild grin and he burst out laughing. Acktredd looked surprised, then came his own tree-hacking laughter. After a few heartbeats of joy, he said goodbye and left.
His new room was much smaller than the testing room. The walls were a light brown wood, and the floor the same gray stone. There were two medium-sized circular windows that looked out on the path that he ran laps on.
Inside the room, there was just enough space for his futon, and his no longer empty chest. Acktredd had filled it with jugs of the refreshing water he drank during training, various snacking foods like nuts, and a small wicker basket. David did not open the basket.
In the left corner of his room, so that it could not be seen through the windows or from the door, was a glimmering full body mirror.
Acktredd was right. When he looked in the mirror, he saw himself, David Duran: the same thick eyebrows, the same disheveled black hair, the same droopy eyelids that made him always look tired. The differences lie in finer details: in toned arms that exhibited muscles he was sure he had never seen before, in bundled calves that could run for hours without tiring. He was still lean and slender, but he knew things had changed. He was stronger. And his body felt…good?
He slept deeply that night, and did not stir until the soft morning light filtered through his windows.