Author’s note: I’ve been told that the first chapter(s) are a bit slow and information heavy, but I hope it won’t discourage you from reading it! :)
It was just a few hours after sunrise but the enormous school yard in Crows’ Road has already been crowded with people, mostly children between the age of six and twelve. These thousands of kids -- who were grouped according to their age and class -- were doing different kinds of exercises.
One of the groups, which included the youngest looking children, were running in circle around the yard. They were running laps for at least half an hour now, and the bigger part of the group looked like they were enjoying it, and did not voice any complaints. This was due to the general mindset of Crows' Road, where soldiers were among the most prestigious people, as well as the role models of the majority of the children.
However, the minority was also present in the crowd: kids whose faces looked anything but happy, and who were often complaining. Being afraid of punishment though, they naturally only dared to do it in a low voice, while far away from the instructors and out of earshot. One of these children was called Quin, and was currently intensively cursing the school and its teachers in his thoughts.
It’s too tiring! We have been running around the yard for hours... it’s madness! Dad and the other adults are always saying how important training is and how it’s essential that more and more soldiers are trained to be able to defend the city, but that’s so foolish! Anywhere I look around in the city there are so many of them, so why I’d I need to be one then? They’ve got enough already!
I hate this class! It’s so stupid! I wish it’d be like in the other cities’ schools, and only have normal classes!
What’s more, it’s even my first day of school, and these teachers are intentionally making us suffer and run for hours and hours! We should just take things lightly, especially when it’s only the first day!
Even though the constant complaining in his head went on, his fear of punishment -- which could mean even more exercises -- was still stronger than his desire to rest, so he obediently continued running.
After what seemed like an eternity to him, one of the teachers shouted loudly, signaling the stop to running.
“Alright... The warm-up is finished, now let’s move on to the main part!” shouted the teacher with a small smile on his face.
Wha-What!? There’s still more? Quin thought, who was completely exhausted by this point, and the disbelief was clearly reflected on his face. In contrast to his mood however, a great amount of the other children enthusiastically nodded and started following the instructor right away.
In the next part of the class they were doing numerous exercises ranging from simple ones like pushups or squats to even ones that were improving their sense of balance like handstands.
The training session ended before noon and only after around an hour break did the normal classes begin. Two of the four classes were History classes, as it was considered the most important subject in the whole Kingdom, due to the fact that it included modern politics, as well as being the base of Immortal Research. Seekers, as they were called, were the people who majored in History and were constantly searching for powerful relics and artifacts. Their job was not safe in the slightest -- often visiting dungeons with dangerous traps and inhabitants -- so the majority of them were also strong cultivators, -- people focusing on improving their martial prowess and mental strength, always chasing perfection, enlightenment and eventually true immortality -- while Seekers lacking the necessary power to survive these challenges often died.
At one time Quin’s dream was to be one of them, however he quickly realized that it was a very dangerous job. He abandoned this plan as he did not want to do anything with training, exercises and fighting.
“Welcome, every one of you, to the class. My name is Nyra,” the instructor introduced herself.
She was quite tall and had long, straight silverish-blue hair and wore an expensive looking blue robe on her slim body. She did not look older than a woman in her thirties, but being one of the most famous teachers in the school, after introducing herself, nearly all of the students recognized her.
She was called Nyra Sil’Dine, one of the founders of the city as well as one of the highest ranking cultivators in there. She was even rumored to have passed the the second level of Spirit Forming stage decades ago, and a lot of stories circulated around about her deadly skills from when she was still active in the army.
After the excitement toned down among the children, she continued, “So, we start the first class as we always have: with the basics. And that means getting to know the current state of our world.
“The continent we are living on is called Ranfel. Unfortunately, we are not sure how much of it we have discovered as of now, but the five countries only take up at most a tenth of it, and the other is what we call the Wilderness, which is extremely dangerous and is filled with innumerable wild beasts. The northern part of our civilization is surrounded by the Wilderness, while on the south, the Endless Ocean closes our way of possible travel.
“The five countries which I have mentioned before are made of two empires: the Sheoran Empire and the Heavenly Crane Empire; and two Kingdoms: the Kingdom of Ravenkeep and the Oulan Kingdom. Last but not least, one duchy, which is our homeland: the Duchy of Ade Lai.”
She made circular motions with her hands and then pointed on the wall behind her and after some flashes, a map appeared on it, amazing several children.
“This is the Sheoran Empire which, as you can see, lies to the South-East, and next to it on the South-West side is the Heavenly Crane Empire. Between them you can find Ravenkeep and North to them are the remaining two countries: Oulan Kingdom on the right and our Duchy of Ade Lai on the left side. The two Empires are in constant warfare against each other, however after centuries of bloody fighting, the war is currently limited to the territories inside Ravenkeep, which is currently under a civil war,” she explained while pointing on the different parts of the map.
“Our first day’s main topic would be the history of Crows’ Road, our capital. The next lesson will be Geography, which will be about Crows’ Road as well, so I will leave out most of the geographical details. The city itself was not always our capital, as it was only founded a couple of centuries ago.”
Many of the children were flabbergasted on Nyra’s statement. They knew that people can live past even two-hundred years, but saying ‘only a couple of centuries ago’ so casually made them wonder how much she has already lived.
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Not paying attention to the children’s shocked expressions, she continued, “It was during a period when our whole nation was suffering from decades of famine and wars. The Grand Duke of that time, not seeing any other options available, decided to try his luck and find a way out of Ade Lai’s misery. With his personal army he fearlessly roamed the surrounding Wilderness for years, incurring significant losses, until he encountered the Sundering Flames: a strange kind of everlasting fire, that isolates a chunk of the Wilderness.
“After investigating the phenomenon and the surrounding lands as well, without either any alternative at hand or much time to spare, he decided to take the risk. In a nearby strategic place where the city currently lies, he founded a settlement with the goal of establishing several mines in the Wilderness, and harnessing its resources.
“Although it was indeed a great risk to take, naturally our Grand Duke was no fool and it is not by chance that he is still acknowledged -- even by other countries -- as one of the greatest rulers of history! While the Sundering Flames played a great role in the success of our city, obviously without the great management and military skills of our incredible Grand Duke, the story of Crows’ Road would not be one of success and flourish.
She looked around noting the reactions of the kids, and said, “Make sure to learn this at home, as you will be writing a test about it next week.”
During the rest of the class, she continued with other basic knowledge, but still focusing on Crows' Road.
Although she spoke about matters that were regarded as common knowledge for most people, Quin was listening happily to Nyra through the whole lecture. Not only did he prefer normal classes, but this subject was among his favorite ones, so the two hours passed in a flash for him.
After a short break, the next class, Geography began. The teacher was an old lady, her face covered with wrinkles and her hair painted entirely white by age. She wore an elegant brown robe decorated with golden, non-figurative embroidery.
“Welcome. Geography is an absolutely essential class in our world,” she said in a low and monotone voice, almost like a machine. “Without proper knowledge, you can easily get lost in the outside world and die. Or worse. In contrast to its name, this class doesn’t just contain learning ‘what is where’. It also teaches you the different natural phenomenons and the wildlife you can encounter.
“I’ve been told to teach you about Crows’ Road’s location and the Sundering Flames themselves. The city is one of the three main trade centers in the continent with a population of more than three-hundred-thousand, lying at the outskirts of our Duchy. The Wilderness is only a mere fifty kilometers away from us, however the settlement is protected by its strategic location and the Sundering Flames.
“The city is surrounded by mountains on three sides, while on the other side the flow of the Feryan River makes it easy to defend. Besides, fortunately there is virtually no risk of us of being starved out in a long siege: the surrounding mountains hide several secret tunnels stretching out into the middle of the kingdom, -- only known by the city officials -- and our massive city walls encompasses the river. This provides another route to the outside world.
“Nextly, the Sundering Flames. This everlasting line of fire has been around since we first stepped into the area centuries ago. Its origin or purpose -- if there’s one -- is unknown. It’s shaped like the letter ‘U’, the larger part of it being located in the Wilderness, while the lesser is inside the border of our nation. Its closed end is within the Wilderness, and its open end is facing towards our lands, preventing most of the wild beast to enter or repopulate it, but giving easy access to us. The Wilderness itself is filled with valuable resources and minerals, and due to this phenomenon we can exploit them without immense danger.”
She talked on in this manner for the rest of the lesson and Quin was glad it finally ended.
Phew, it’s finally over. It was so strange, just listening to her felt odd and uncomfortable, how can someone speak like that? Talking through the whole class in the exact same tone, and leaving a moment of pause after each word? Is she like some kind of a golem? And for two years, each school day we’ll have a Geography lesson! Even though I am interested in the subject, listening to her is just annoying! I think instead of paying attention I’ll just go the library and read about it! Quin sighed while walking outside. Well, it’s still better than the training class... just remembering it makes me exhausted.
After the last of the four classes ended, Quin left the school and noticed that several of his classmates were talking in front of the building, so he joined them. They talked for a while and it turned out that four out of them also lived in the Eastern district, so they decided to walk home together.
Aline was the only girl in that group and she was the twin sister of one of the boys called Alinor. Both of them had red eyes and blonde hair, only her’s was fairly long and curly. The other two boys were called Dreon and Pharren. Dreon’s hair was short and brown, but he had a considerably muscular and tall body, -- which was a bit shocking for a mere six years old -- while Pharren’s appearance, with a somewhat chubby and short figure and shoulder length gray hair contrasted him, especially when walking next to each other. After around twenty minutes of walking, they reached their district, said their goodbyes, and split up.
Those four seemed really nice, it’s good that I made so many new friends on the first day! Quin exclaimed happily. Only a few minutes passed and finally he was back home where his parents have been waiting for him.
“The training class was really hard! And just when I thought it was over the teacher said it was only the warm up! It was really horrible!” Quin complained but he was quickly interrupted by his father.
“There is no meaning in the training if it’s not hard! How will you be able to keep up with the others and become a fine soldier if you keep complaining about everything like that, huh?” his father asked a bit disappointed and angry, who was an officer in the army and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.
His mother did her best to calm his father down, but Quin knew that there was no way to argue back, so he apologized and after eating dinner, went to bed early. He still complained about it in his head though.
Despite what father says, there’s no meaning to training mad like that. It’s bonkers! Anyway, it’s best to get as much sleep as I can, because tomorrow we will have the same hellish exercise again. Quin sighed one last time and went to sleep.