Chapter 1: Child

Cries of the hopeless penetrate the boy’s ears. The cacophony of anguish fills the air letting no thoughts enter anyone’s mind. So they each wait for death to come. Death is a simple word that is a part of every living being’s life. It is the one absolute truth because no matter how long you can avoid it, eventually it will come for you.

That is what the boy waits for; the unforgiving, hate less, indiscriminate scythe of Death. Yet, despite waiting and wishing for Death to come, it does not for the young boy. He just lives on as he has in a dark palace of despair.

The small boy’s frail and starved body shivers on the cold rock floor. The occasional drop of water falls from the stalagmite covered ceiling to land on the boy’s bloodstained mane of chestnut hair. In other circumstances his hair would have been beautiful, a silky texture that would be irresistible to the touch.

A tattered, blood and urine stained loincloth is the only piece of clothing present on the boy. He itches all over and is sore from a day of lifting and moving stones twice or thrice his body weight. The heavy shackles chafe his wrists and ankles giving him another source of pain.

As he begins to drift into a dreamless sleep, he begins to hear faint footsteps growing louder. Every ten paces or so, the footsteps stop. There would be a sucking noise turning to a gurgle of sorts, and then the sound of a large glob of phlegm being spat on the ground could be heard.

Soon, a pair of boots can be seen from where the boy lay. A familiar sucking noise begins. The other slaves look on sadly knowing there is nothing they can do. Then a glob of disgusting spit lands on the young boy’s cheek as the guard laughs cruelly.

The only condolences the boy had ever received in his imprisonment were the stories whispered across cells by the older slaves, and the comfort that Death would offer should be just around the corner for him. These comforts keep him from crying but they also keep him from smiling.

For as long as he can remember, the boy has only known work. It isn’t honorable work, or pleasant work. It isn’t a choice for him.

His masters are cruel ones, whenever he falls while working, he forces himself to stand knowing that he would be beaten for every second he is downed. They love to torment the slaves, the young ones especially.

The nourishment provided barely sustains the smallest of the slaves. For every day that passes three mouthfuls of gruel and three handfuls of water are all that sustain him. For every month that passes he loses what little weight he still has. For every second that passes he wishes for death. Yet, it does not come.

The boy’s mind is sharp, so he thinks and learns from the prisoners’ words of despair and of times long gone. He wonders what the outside is like, but then after wishing for death and listening to stories, he comes back to one thought that makes him curious.

Whether one is weak or strong, they die all the same. Whether one is white or black, or tall or short, or fat or skinny, they die all the same. Strength in this world of theirs means nothing when the same fate awaits them all. Yet despite his being the weakest of them all, he lives on as though it is a cruel way of fate saying “fuck you.”

One day however, there is a change. It starts with the influx of new prisoners. These ones are different than the rest, they exude a different aura than everyone else. They radiate confidence, power, and vitality through their posture and gaze. The stench of hopelessness and sorrow is nowhere to be found on them.

The boy is curious at this, so he croaks softly into the darkness, “Who…are…you?” But they do not hear him, after all, he is only a shadow of the boy. Why would anyone listen to a ghost?

These new prisoners breathe life back into many of the prisoners with encouraging words. However, the boy does not care, he is not affected. He simply stays in his corner waiting for the newcomers to relinquish their grip on life and wish for death as he does.

After countless cycles of backbreaking labor, there is another change. A loud explosion shatters into existence from somewhere above. Faint, pained screams can be heard. More ear-splitting explosions rock through the place. Each one seeming louder and louder as though growing closer.

Despite the loud noises, the boy does not cover his ears or cower. If this is death, he is determined to meet it with senses open and arms wide. Soon the explosions die down replaced by shrieking. One yell in particular catches the boy’s attention. It is the sound of the hateful guardsmen moaning in agony. It is a sound that he never thought he’d hear…

From where he lies in the cell, he gazes out the bars watching as a glaring light accompanies the clanging of opening bars. The light grows brighter and the clanging becomes louder. When a new, unfamiliar pair of boots become visible at the entrance to his cage, he is able to hear a jangling sound close by.

As the bars opened, he strains his eyes to look up to find a gruff looking man in combat fatigues looking at him. The stranger kneels down with a brightly glowing hand and a key ring. He scoops the boy up with his empty hand and cradles the young boy.

The boy feels something wet dripping on the side of his head, when he looks at the man who had picked him up, there are tears streaming down the gruff man’s face. The man looks forward and walked with the boy in his arms.

The rocking motion and the comfort of the man’s arms lulled the boy to sleep. He did not notice the silent tears of prisoners and soldiers alike being shed at the sight of his frail and scarred body and at the prospect of freedom soon to come.

After minutes of being carried, the boy’s sleeping face feels sunlight for the first time in his life. He is finally able to leave behind the hell he has known.

As he begins to regain consciousness, the boy notices that the ever present pain that he had grown used to is no longer there. Instead, he feels cocooned in a comforting shell of softness. With confusion at these new feelings, the boy slowly opens his eyes to a white room of sorts. The only light filling the place is an unfamiliar ray of sunlight passing through a window on a wall.

He looks down at himself to find soft sheets snugly hugging him. His confusion sets in as he is able to name the things that are in this room. He notices a button next to him and without hesitating, the young boy presses the button.

Moments later, a young brown haired woman in a crisp nurse’s uniform hurries through the door to the room.

In a kind tone she asks, “How are you feeling? Do you need something?”

“I’m fine…No…Thank you. Where…am…I?” The boy asks with a nearly unused voice.

“You’re in Regal Military Hospital, kiddo. You were brought here by a troupe of military wizards,” the brunette woman replied.

When the word ‘wizard’ left the woman’s soft looking lips, the boy’s vision changed and he saw a young woman in flowing robes facing off against a small army. Around her swirled a raging storm of fire and lightning. Then there was a flash and everything was consumed in a blazing heat. The only thing left standing was the young woman.

Just as soon as he saw this, the image disappeared and the white room reappeared. The nurse seemed to be saying something in a concerned tone.

“Are you okay? You seemed to zone out there for a moment. I see you’re back now though.”

The boy replies, “Yes…I…am fine.”

“That is good. I will get the doctor then,” she says and hurries back out of the room. The woman comes back a minute later with a lanky brown haired doctor in tow.

The man looks to be about forty or so with grey streaks in his hair and the beginning of wrinkles on his face. He had a white robe on and carried a black tablet like thing cradled in his right arm.

He strolls right up to the boy with a slight smile on his face. “How’re you feeling, bud?”

“Alright,” the young boy responds.

“Excellent! I’m glad to hear it. Do you remember anything that happened?” He asks.

“A…man…carrying me…out of that place. That…is the last…thing I…remember,” the boy responds.

“Ah, I see. That man is a part of the Regal Military, Wizard Division I. He is quite the wizard. I believe he is also in my guild, Lioness,” he informs the boy.

“Oh,” the boy replies. “Where will I go now?”

“Well, I believe your two options are to enroll in the military or join an orphanage. If you would like to know why the military accepts recruits at a young age, it is entirely due to kids like you,” the doctor says sadly.

“Kids…like me?”

“Former war prisoners, or slaves, or some other type of previous imprisonment, or from different horrible circumstances,” he answers.

The boy replies with another, “Oh. I guess I will join the military then.”

“Huh?! Are you sure? You don’t have to make a decision right away,” he says frantically.

“I’m sure,” the young boy responds.

“Very well…” the man says with uncertainty in his voice. “I suppose that I will call the junior military division now. I will be back soon.”

He left the room with a seemingly defeated stride. About fifteen minutes later, the doctor returns carrying a tray of hospital food. To the boy, it seems like a gourmet meal. His mouth waters in anticipation as the doctor sets it down on his lap.

“I called the junior division, they will be here first thing in the morning. So eat up,” the doctor says before he leaves once more.

The young boy digs in to the food with his bare hands, ignoring the utensils. He devours the food in a matter of minutes. The boy lets loose a satisfied sigh as he licks off the remains from his fingers.

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He feels his eyelids begin to close as his belly is filled. The boy sleeps peacefully and without worries for the first time in his entire life.

“Hello? Sir? This is Shawn. I’ve got a recruit for you,” the doctor says.

“Ah, Shawn! Good to hear from you! A new recruit eh? Well, don’t keep me waiting, give me the details,” a powerful voice from the other side of the communication crystal replies.

“According to the tests I ran over the past month he was asleep, the boy is around seven years of age, about thirty pounds, and three foot four. As for the other thing…Yes. He has an affinity for magic. The readings from the M-Calculation Crystal show that he has Absolute affinity with Spatial magic and Water magic, and a Natural affinity with Wind magic. Not only that, but despite his treatment these past years, his Qi is still incredibly strong. However, his Mage Force is only half of what normal kids his age should have, In spite of that, he will definitely be a valuable asset once trained,” the doctor concludes.

“Excellent! I will come by to pick him up in the morning. See you tomorrow!”

“Very good, sir. See you then.”

Click.

The next morning arrives much as the previous one for the boy. The sun shines through the window, caressing his face and urging him to wake up.

He opens his eyes, half expecting his freedom to be just a dream. However, he finds that it was not just a dream, it was real. He is freer than he has ever been before.

The boy sits up in bed, and gazes longingly at the rays of sunshine passing through the window.

‘I wonder what’ll happen now…’

A little while later, the doctor walks in followed by a giant man rippling with muscles.

“Hey kid, how’re you feeling?” Shawn asks.

“Fine. Are we leaving now?”

“Hehe, yeah, we’re leaving now.” The giant said in a deep baritone voice.

With that, the boy hops out of his bed as fast as he could with his weak body and stood.

“By the way, I’m Major Calahan. What is your name?”

“… Call me Bayan.”

For some reason, that is the name that pops into the boy’s head first.

“Very well, Bayan. Let’s get going.”

The doctor accompanied both Calahan and Sen to the hospital’s exit. Sen and Calahan parted with the doctor after they stepped into a plain silver car.

As the car began moving and Calahan glanced over at Bayan to see that he was already fast asleep. He chuckles quietly and enters a meditative state.

Many hours later, the car stops in front of a massive stone wall. Major Calahan opened his eyes and woke Bayan with his baritone voice.

“We are here.”

They exit the car and walk past the gate guarded by two soldiers. If the boy could read, he would have noticed that the plaque above the gate read ‘WIT Academy.’ The two soldiers each carried a sword, a shield, and an assault rifle. When Calahan and Bayan walk by, the soldiers on duty gave the Major a crisp salute before returning to their guard duties.

The pair walks through the open gates to be faced with a large grassy field filled with children, teens, and young adults sparring with dulled blades and unarmed combat. As we walk past, students and instructors alike salute with pride and awe to Calahan when we walks by. Some of the kids look at me with envy and jealousy, but I pay them no mind.

‘Who is this Major Calahan? How did he garner so much respect from these people?’

After a good ten minutes of walking, we approach a wide building with few windows. A group of guards can be seen strolling on the top of the building. Calahan beckons me inside after opening the door.

The first room he enters is a plain, yet impeccably clean, whitewashed environment that is very similar to the hospital room. There are multiple doors on either side, each one with a plaque next to it. At the far end of the room there is a large desk with multiple empty sections, only two of which hold a person each.

Calahan walks up to the centermost booth with a person sitting in it and coughs to attract the young woman’s attention.

“Oh—Oh my! I’m sorry, sir! What do you need?” The young brunette woman became flustered as soon as she saw who had coughed.

“Cassidy, please begin a registration form. Name: Bayan, Age: 7, Height: 37in, Weight 15lbs, Magic Proficiency: Spatial-Absolute, Water-Absolute, Wind-Natural, Mage Force: 0.5xNormal Age, Qi: 1xNormal Age, Previous Circumstance: Classified. Got it all?”

After a little more rapid typing, Cassidy nodded.

“Good. Quickly set up a new schedule for him now, focus on Mage Force cultivation, fitness, and reading and writing until he is proficient. Also, program the schedule into one of the basic WIT watches.”

With another nod, Cassidy started to fiercely type on a computer, after ten minutes of keyboard sounds, she then looks up and places a black digital watch on the desk counter. Calahan scoops it up and tosses it to Bayan, after some fumbling, the boy manages to attach the watch to his left arm.

“Kid, to look at your schedule, press that button here, to switch it back to watch mode, click this. There will be no need to charge it. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Bayan replies.

“Thanks Cassidy. Now, Bayan, I’m going to let Cassidy show you around, I’ve got some work to do.” With that, he briskly goes into one of the many doors.

The young woman behind the desk stands and walks over to me. She bends down and sticks out a hand for me to shake.

“Hi, I’m Cassidy, nice to meet you, Bayan,” she says with a smile. In return I nod and shake her hand.

“Alright, follow me, I’ll show you around.”

Standing straight once more, she beckons Bayan to follow her through one of the doors after telling him to hold my watch up as a sort of key in order to open the door. Apparently Bayan won’t be able to enter many doors by himself at the moment because he doesn’t have sufficient clearance. Once his status is elevated through training and eventually through missions, then he will be able to unlock more doors.

First, Cassidy led Bayan to the Cafeteria. She stole two apples and handed one to him. As we walked, the frail boy quickly gobbled up the apple. After finding a trash can, Cassidy then led him past some rooms explaining that they were mainly used for the younger recruits. Basically this military sector is an army school until one has a high enough ranking to begin doing missions. Mainly the missions are to kill spirit beasts that trouble areas, but the higher ups’ missions usually entail human vs human combat or espionage.

After passing by the classrooms, she shows Bayan the fitness rooms that hold all sorts of weights, treadmills, and a few dull melee weapons. Then they exit the building and arrived on the training fields where many recruits were still training either alone or in classes.

“You’ll have most of your sessions out here, also there is a small mountain range nearby and once you reach the Century Rank One you will be able to train there. Oh, you probably don’t know how our ranking system works. Well, actually, it isn’t even our exclusive ranking system. This system is based off of the Immortal Staircase. Basically it works like this: Before becoming an immortal existence where your aging stops and your body changes into that of a deity-like being, there are nine trials from the heavens that you must undergo each time your enter into a new rank. Right now, you are at Rank Zero. Ranks are determined either by the stage of your Qi technique or your Mage Force concentration. Within each rank there are six sub-stages: Year, Decade, Century, Epoch, Era, and Eon. Each of these sub-stages have four levels: Early, Middle, Late, Peak. Once one reaches the Peak Eon stage of Rank Zero, then after some insight into their element or Qi Stage they will most likely transcend into Rank One where your body will be slightly transformed. After this transformation, your life will be extended by roughly a couple centuries. At the moment, the highest Rank in our military branch is at the Late Epoch stage of Rank Nine. Anyway, that’s how that works. Oh, and at the Epoch Stage of Rank Two you will be able to apply for missions. After Rank Six Epoch Stage you will be randomly assigned missions based on expertise, otherwise your only requirement will be to train. That’s still far in the future for you though. Anyway…Oh—I almost forgot…On the basement level of the main building is the simulation enclosure where you can fight simulations of spirit beasts. Now, the only thing that’s left is to show you where the barracks are. Truth be told, they’re really nice after being renovated two years ago.”

After walking to another building with one hallway and a few doors every hundred paces or so, they walk down until the very end and make a right into a doorway.

“This will be where you sleep, pick a bed, right now you are the first one to be assigned to this room. By each bed there are two sets of training clothes, a towel, and a toothbrush, bathrooms are on the far side. Don’t forget to go to Reading and Writing at 4:00AM. Okay, I’ve got to get going. See you later, recruit.” Cassidy then leaves.

Bayan quickly chooses a bed at random and spots the clothing and toothbrush. He checks the time to find that it’s already almost 3:00PM, without much to do, he just lays down on the bottom bunk and falls fast asleep after setting an alarm for 3:30AM.