Chapter 1: Kyra

The winter was the hardest time for the soldiers in training. Their entire mornings would be occupied by clearing the snow-covered training grounds, and their afternoons would be full of hard training in freezing winds. Many soldiers died during the winter training, but in a kingdom on the brink of war there was no time to rest.

Most soldiers who had trained for a few seasons could stand the cold pretty well, as their cores had grown to be strong. Soldiers that had trained for only one season had some trouble, but they tended to fair alright in the freezing conditions. The real victims of the winter training were the soldiers which arrived during winter. Those poor souls had no idea of what training was like, but they were thrown into the deep end regardless. The survival rate was drastically low, and the injury rate was incredibly high. However, the soldiers who arrived during the winter months and managed to survive with no injuries tended to become the strongest of them all.

- 10th Commander of Reachan, Hawk Terka

A kingdom on the brink of war can often be described as fiery and ready to explode, but in the very north of the Kingdom of Kregloa there was nothing fiery or explosive about. Instead, it was cold and frozen. The pine trees were encapsulated by thin sheets of ice, and any animal that lived in these parts definitely did not dare touch the surface. However, there was one animal, often described as the most dangerous and powerful of all animals, that did walk on the ice and snow. These animals are humans. The humans that reside here are soldiers, or rather soldiers in training. In the freezing conditions, survival rates were low, especially amongst new recruits, but the soldiers that managed to finish their training and leave the frigid environment were always strong. These soldiers had both the physique of a bear, and the terrifying nature of one. Women described them as beasts, other soldiers described them as monsters, and the king described them as useful.

The training ground that breeds these useful, monstrous beasts is called Reachan Training Ground, and is located in the northernmost province of Kregloa, called Hael, which is derived from the ancient Kregloan word for cold: Haela. In Hael, it was the beginning of winter. It wasn’t at the peak of the cold temperatures yet, but it would only take half an hour for a man that hasn’t developed his core yet to die in the temperature. The beginning of winter also marked the time for the last batch of recruits for the year. These men had been drafted and had randomly been selected to go to the Reachan Training Ground, which the Kregloans described as “shit luck”.

At the top of the mountain on which the training ground stood, the commander sat in his office looking out at the currently empty training ground. Today, the commander would be responsible for one hundred more men. He was to give them the training to become a soldier, a job he had done for thirty years, and yet, even when his nose could no longer smell due to the stench of blood and sweat that the training ground possessed, his heart had still not grown accustomed to the death he had to see every day. Of the hundred recruits that would arrive today, he would see ninety die over the course of the winter. It was cruel, and the toll of death had done a number on him, but it was a job that must be done.

At the bottom of the mountain, in the small military village Gadka, the hundred soon-to-be soldiers in training prepared food and personal items for their trip to the summit, where the training ground stands. Some of the men had already formed a bond. They knew they had been unfairly placed in a situation where they could lose their lives, and because of this they understood each other. In a sense, they had already taken the first step to becoming soldiers.

One particularly brutish young man was bragging about how he killed the bear which he now wore as a coat.

“So I used my spear,” He said, demanding the attention of all the men there, “and I stabbed it right through the heart. Look, you can see it on the coat. Y’know, I almost died, but damn, I killed a bear! Hahaha!”

The men laughed at the story of the young man. Nobody truly questioned the validity of it, and, to tell the truth, nobody really cared. They laughed because laughter was the drink which brought them back from the dead. Nobody cares how the drink tastes, but they cared about being alive, and that is what is important.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

However, even laughter cannot always save you from the despair of reality. When the carriage riders shouted out that there were only ten minutes left, the entire mood dampened and reality set in.

“Please gods, give me the strength to survive this!” said a middle aged man, who felt that divine intervention could save him.

Another man cursed the gods, which nearly got him in a fight with the man who was asking the gods for help.

One man, or boy rather, who found the entire situation rather amusing was a young lad called Kyra. He was a slightly naive youngster, who had been sitting on a carriage for half an hour already, silently watching all the other men. Kyra was only thirteen, but was considered eligible for the army as he was the only male left in his town. Most boys in the same position as Kyra would probably curse the gods, but Kyra did not view the events which had occurred with disdain, instead he saw them positively, and was filled with excitement and immense determination. Even in the cold, just the thought of becoming a soldier would heat him up and fill him with energy.

Just as Kyra began thinking about becoming a soldier, a large, ugly, and overweight middle aged man sat down next to him, rocking the carriage slightly as he walked, and nearly toppling it when he sat down. The ugly man breathed heavily, and didn’t even notice Kyra until he noticed the boy’s squirming hand, which he had sat directly on top of. After being released from the buttocks of the beast, Kyra moved away a bit, in the fear that the scary monster may try to eat him once again.

However, while the overweight man certainly had developed an interest in Kyra, he had no intentions of eating him. Instead, he fancied a bit of discourse with the young lad.

“You... seem rather young.” The ugly man managed to get out, he was still heaving from his steps up onto the carriage, “What’s your name?”

Kyra looked at the ugly man, specifically at his eyes. He noticed that while the ugly man looked like a beast, his beige eyes were like that of a puppy. They expressed true innocent interest and curiosity, as well as a bit of playfulness.

Kyra deemed it safe to reply, but did so cautiously, as not to bring out the playfulness.

“My name is Kyra.” he said bluntly, “What’s yours?”

“Cain.” The ugly man, or Cain, said it quick response, “You know, you seem a bit young to be a soldier. What are you doing here?”

Kyra reacted in offense.

“Too young to be a soldier!?” He ranted, “I’ll have you know that my father and his father before him were soldiers. I am the next generation, ready to fulfil my part in the family legacy. What time to be a soldier other than now? We’re on the brink of war! Why would age matter!?”

Cain sighed at the hotheaded young man.

“It matters because you are lesser physically.” He said, using a serious tone, “A child cannot survive the conditions up there. You’ll die!”

“Ha, coming from the fat man.” Kyra reacted angrily again, “You’ll probably have a heart attack before we even get to the peak!”

“Haha! Quite the contrary!” Cain exclaimed in quick response, “I have the fat to survive the cold! Unlike you, a naive little skinny virgin who’ll become an icicle the second you feel the cold!”

Just before Kyra could retaliate to Cain’s verbal abuse another man intervened.

“Shut up!” said the man, “We are all brothers in this unfortunate reality. Let us not argue amongst ourselves, but rather be glad that we are not alone.”

The flowery words of the man left both Cain and Kyra silent, but unimpressed. Kyra looked deeply at the man, trying to decipher his intent. He was a tall man with a thin frame. His hair was curly and long, and it was obvious that he would have been handsome many years ago, especially due to his broad cheekbones and sensitive look. However, it appeared as if age had done him no good as his face was riddled with wrinkles. Kyra could not sense any evil intent from the man, but his slanted, dark brown eyes were mischievous. Kyra would keep an eye on him.

However, before Kyra had even decided to keep an eye on the flowery man, the opposite had already occurred. The flowery man said no more words, but his eyes investigated Kyra intensely. He looked deeply into the boy’s icy blue eyes, and visually examined his pristine pale skin. What interested the flowery man the most, though, was the stone arrowhead necklace that hung around Kyra’s neck. He found it familiar, but he could not remember exactly why.

The flowery man’s thoughts were cut short by the coachman, who loudly announced the departure of the first carriage up the mountain, making Kyra jump up in excitement and forget the conversations that had just occurred.