Asdel II

It feels like Asdel has been travelling for months. Walking with this small group of soldiers, none of which took a great interest into him. He had learnt their names, not that it mattered. Each day was the same as the last, wake up, help pack up the camp and then walk down the road.

Every now and again they would stop in a town for a night where they would finally get some good food. Except none of this seemed important, Asdel felt like a ghost, as though he was just wandering around the continent with no meaning.

“Right, tomorrow we should have caught up with Uriel’s army.” Ryan, the leader of this group called out.

With a giant back pack and holding three swords, Asdel was barely able to raise his head to look at the soldiers. Although this brough a glimmer of hope into his life, finally, he might have a purpose.

A few hours later, they had set up camp on the side of the road and a fire was burning on cooking the three rabbits that another soldier had caught.

“Are you ready to officially enlist?” Ryan said sitting down next to Asdel.

“Yes.” Asdel replied, staring into the fire mindlessly.

“You better be.” Ryan said.

This is it, I’m about to become a soldier. My new life as Asdel is about to make another turn. I just wonder where this will lead me.

Staring into the fire, Asdel pondered his future. Will he be like the soldiers and knights in the stories he has read. Could he become a renowned fighter, will there be stories and songs written about him? He can dream.

“Wake up.”

Asdel was harshly woken by a kick to his leg. Raising his head in a panic, he saw the sun was slowly rising and the sky was filled with a dull grey, clouds filled with rain or snow. As he stretched, his back was sore from the nights of sleeping on the harsh ground.

“Pack up the equipment, Uriel’s army are a few hours walk away.” Ryan said.

Picking himself up, Asdel takes down a few of the camps and packed what he can into his backpack. A few soldiers throw their weapons at the young boy and he holds them in his hands as they continue to walk down the path.

By now, the sun was high in the sky. The breeze was as cold as ice against Asdel’s face and forcing his teeth to chatter. Winter was definitely upon them.

Although Asdel was not well travelled, he did enjoy spending nights looking at maps of the continent. He knows that they are somewhere near the Faire Kingdom. He can see the a hint of the mountains that surround the kingdom. Although he knows that they are a dark brown colour, the dull clouds and the distance are showing them as jet black.

“Keep up kid!” One of the soldiers shout at Asdel to get him to keep moving instead of stopping and looking out at the horizon.

Asdel turns back around and he first sees it. In the distance and down the hill he can see the campsite of a large army. The small, red tents that filled the fields and a few rising smoke clouds coming from what he assumes are fires.

Catching back up the soldiers, Asdel continues his walk towards the camp that grows closer and closer.

“Right, wait here. I’ll get Uriel.” Ryan said grabbing the swords off of Asdel.

“Okay.” He replies, grateful to have the wait taken from him.

For thirty minutes he stands still, watching the many soldiers walking around and talking. He has no idea what they are doing here or even how many are present. It isn’t as large an army as he thought of, from his books about previous wars he thought this would be thousands of men, but it could only be a few hundred at most.

Then, he see’s Ryan and two other soldiers heading towards him. One dressed in different armour. Where as all of the other soldiers are wearing armour that is complete grey, thick steel that covers their entire bodies, the soldier in the middle is in a dark red coloured armour.

He is completely covered in this steel but he also appears to be wearing a blood red cape. The solder on the right of this man is in the usual armour.

“This is him.” Ryan said gesturing towards Asdel.

The man in the red armour looks Asdel up and down. He is tall and thick as an oak tree. He has short brown hair with hints of greys growing through and a short, stubbled beard. His face looks rough, like the man that has been fighting his entire life.

“So, you want to sign up to my army?” He asks Asdel, who now assumes is this Uriel that he has heard about.

“Y-yes sir.” Asdel stutters back, attempting to keep eye contact with this man.

“Have you ever been in a fight before?” He asks.

“No sir.” Asdel replies.

“Hmmm.” He replies, turning back towards Ryan he continues, “He looks weak. I don’t think he can make a soldier.”

Panic took over Asdel, this was his last hope to a life. If this army rejects him then he has no other alternative. He already knows that he cannot survive on his own.

“Please!” Asdel shouts, “I can make a good soldier.”

The man in the red armour slowly walks towards Asdel, his body dwarfing the young boys and filling him with fear.

“I don’t have time to be looking after a child.” He barks out.

“Please, give me a chance!” Asdel pleads, knowing he will say anything.

The man turns and walks back to Ryan and the other soldier. As they whisper among themselves, Asdel tries to hear what they are discussing but he cannot work out their words. He is desperate to be taken in, however he does not want to interrupt to damage his chances.

The soldier on the right gives off an annoyed tone until the soldier in red gives him a stern look to silence him.

“Okay boy, I will give you a chance.” The man in red armour said turning back towards Asdel.

“Thank you!” Asdel shouts, having to stop himself from jumping with joy.

“But let me know, if you fall behind, we will leave you behind.” The man in red whispered in a harsh tone.

Asdel does not reply, knowing it is better to just listen.

“Stephen here, will get you’re your armour and start your training.” The man in red said and gestured towards the other soldier.

Just like that, Ryan and the man in red walked off, leaving this Stephen here staring at Asdel.

“Okay then, General Uriel wants me training you. But do not think that it’ll be easy.” He spat out. His teeth are rotten and a few were missing. Although his face looked of someone that is not in good health, his body looked large and muscular beneath the armour.

“Okay.” Asdel stutters out.

“Come with me.” Stephen says, turning around and walking into camp.

Quickly, Asdel follows behind. Walking through, he see’s the tents with make shift beds inside. Some soldiers were sleeping, some were walking around and some are eating.

A few minutes into their walk, Stephen stops in front of a wooden crate and says.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Right, get a full set of armour.”

This is it, my own armour. I am about to get the equipment that I will make my name in.

Looking into the crate and pulling out a chest piece, it’s heaviness shocks the boy and he instantly drops it back down.

“For fuck sake, hurry up!” Stephen shouts.

Not wanting to annoy him any longer, Asdel grabs the armour and lifts it up. Even if his arms were not aching from their travels he would still struggle holding this thick steel.

As he raises it about his head, Asdel slides it onto his body. The sheer weight of the armour almost makes him crumble onto the ground.

“You aren’t going to last five minutes here.” Stephen said, clearly annoyed with Asdel.

Ignoring him, Asdel puts on the rest of the grey armour. It’s not as glamorous as he had hoped. The steel is worn and there are clear old blood stains along it. It is obvious that this is not new armour. Undeterred, Asdel finishes putting on the armour and looks at Stephen.

“Okay, come with me.” Stephen says and turns and once again walks away.

Following was much harder now with this armour on. Asdel’s body is skinny and weak and the armour pushing him into the wet mud makes each step harder than the last.

After walking towards the edge of the camp, Stephen grabs a sword from a table and throws it to his right, landing on the muddy floor. Asdel watches as Stephen pulls his own sword out, turn around and look at him.

“Pick it up!” He shouts.

Slowly walking over, Asdel grabs onto the blades handle and pulls it up. Except the weight surprises him and Asdel nearly falls to the ground.

“Why have the gods cursed me with you!” Stephen shouts.

Tightening his grip on the handle, Asdel thinks to himself, Come on Asdel, you can do this!

Pulling it up, he holds the sword to his side and looks back at Stephen and then down at the blade. It was about the length of his arm, wide and chipped. Not the sort of sword that Asdel has read about, not the sort of sword that would come with a name and history.

“Okay. I’m going to attack you, you just try and stop me.” Stephen warned.

Before Asdel can reply he see’s Stephen charge at him. How does he move so fast in this armour?! Asdel thinks.

Not knowing what to do, Asdel’s reaction was to raise his hand to the sky and quiver in fear. Closing his eyes, he waits for the sword to hit him, but it didn’t.

Opening his eyes, he sees the sword stopped just above him and Stephen glaring at him.

“For fuck sake. Raise your sword!” Stephen shouted.

Stephen takes a few steps back and Asdel holds his sword up, waiting for the next attack.

Then, Stephen lunges forward. His sword comes slicing at Asdel who manages to keep his sword held up high. Although his sword is in the right position to hit Stephen’s, his weak grip meant that his own sword went flying out of his hand and onto the ground. Before being able to react, a first strikes Asdel’s face and he goes tumbling into the mud.

“What is wrong with you?” Stephen says standing over the young boy.

His jaw feels like it’s hanging off. A burning sensations grows around one side of his face, the other side planted firmly into the wed mud.

As he attempts to pick himself up but his arms get stuck in the wet mud.

“I cannot.” Asdel weakly protests, unable to lift himself. “Urgh!” He grunts when a sharp pain digs into his waist. Stephen kicked him in the side forcing his body to flip over and pushed the air from his lungs.

Lying on his back, Asdel looks up at the grey sky, panting of air and one of his hands clutching the side that was just kicked.

“Get up, now!” Stephen shouts at him.

Rage fills Asdel’s insides, mixed with his pain and forcing deeper, heavier breaths that disperse into mist out of his mouth.

“Ahhhhhh!!” Asdel screams, forcing himself off of the ground. His eyes find Stephen and he charges. Only seeing red, he lunges at the man. Not even holding his sword, he jumps at Stephen in a fit of range.

Except, Stephen easily catches the smaller boy and holds him close.

“Seems you have some anger in you, it’s a shame you’re too much of a pussy!” Stephen whispers in his ear.

Before Asdel knew it, Stephen pushed him back a step and with one swift strike the handle of his sword crashes against Asdel’s face like the crashing of waves on the rocks.

Once more, Asdel tumbles onto the ground. Too weak to stop his fall his face lands in the mud with the rest of his body. His entire face feels numb and when he picks himself up he see’s drop of blood pouring from his face onto the brown floor.

Followed with hit tears hitting the ground, the pain is too much for Asdel to bare.

“Get up, we’re not done yet.” Stephen spits out.

For the next two hours Asdel spars with Stephen, although he isn’t able to land even one hit on his foe. After two long hours or being struck, kicked and spat on, Asdel’s body feels like a tortured doll. Weak and beaten, he lies on the ground and begs for it to end.

“Please! No more!” He shouts out with tears pouring down his face.

“That will do for today.” Stephen says.

Looking up at him, Stephen sheaths his sword, turns around and walks away. Leaving Asdel on the ground.

With the sun setting, the burning of the fires light up the fields of which the campsite sits upon. Unable to move, Asdel just remains lying there for some time until he has enough strength to pick himself up.

Walking over to one fire, he see’s a pig being roasted above it. One soldier carving it up and handing it out to other soldiers.

Hot food! Finally! Asdel thought, ecstatic to have some proper food rather than the stew or broth he has been eating for weeks.

Running over, the soldier carving the meat hands out a slice. Grabbing it, it burns Asdel’s fingers, but he welcomes the warmth. Although the beef is pretty much charcoal, definitely not like the food he was used to eating, he was happy to just eat something.

Raising it to his mouth, Asdel digs his teeth into the tough meat. His mouth is sore from the beatings he took from Stephen but he finds the strength to chew nonetheless.

Swallowing down this tough, overcooked pork, Asdel was in heaven. He can feel the warmth hitting his stomach and he closes his eyes to savour the taste.

Suddenly Asdel goes flying forwards. Something hitting his back send his head flying causing a click and a pain as his body crashes onto the ground followed by his face hitting the mud. As he looks up, he see’s his piece of pork lay in the mud a few feet away, it must’ve flown out of his hand when he was hit.

“Pussy.” He he’s a man say over him.

Turning his head, Asdel can see three soldiers laughing and staring at him as they walk past.

All of the beatings, all of the hunger and the pain was eclipsing Asdel. He has suffered too much and gained nothing. As rage overtook all of his emotions, his adrenaline helped him leap from the ground and charge at the soldier who was laughing at him the most.

With all his force Asdel gripped the soldier and pulled him to the ground. Landing on top of him he screams.

“Why did you do that?! What have I done!! I do not deserve this!!”

His face inches from the soldiers he could see the spit coming from his shouting landing on the soldiers face.

“Ahhh!” Asdel screamed when he felt a harsh kick to his side. The air being pushed from his lungs as he fell to his side.

Still being able to see, he watched one of the soldiers picking up the soldier that he had tackled.

“Fucking psycho!” The soldier said and spat onto Asdel’s chest and then they walked away

Why did they do this? What is wrong with me? Asdel said to himself as his eyes filled up. He didn’t even have the strength to wipe away the tears.

“Here.”

Asdel opens his eyes and see one soldier standing over him with his hand extended. He had long brown hair and a nice smile. His teeth, to Asdel’s surprise, were a shining white. His face clean shaven and his body slim.

“What do you want?” Asdel called out, waiting for more abuse.

“I’m helping you up.” He said keeping his hand extended.

Pulling his hand up, he grabbed onto this soldiers. Although he didn’t use his weight as he waited for this man to release him back into the mud. Except, this man did hell pull him to his feet. Asdel is surprised by this man’s strength and ease to lift Asdel from the ground.

“Thanks.” Asdel said, finally wiping a tear from his face.

“Don’t let them get to you.” He said with a grin and patted Asdel’s shoulder.

“Easier said than done.” Asdel told him whilst patting mud from his armour and hands.

“They see you as weak, people always pick on the weak.” He said and then extended his hand again, “I’m Jeon.”

“Asdel.” He replied shaking hands with the man.

“Come on, you can sit with me and I’ll make sure no one hurts you.” Jeon said wrapping his arm around Asdel’s shoulder and guiding him to another fire.

They both sit down and Joen hands Asdel another piece of meat.

“Thank you.” Asdel replied, staring at the ground.

A few silent moments pass as the two eat, eventually breaking the silence Asdel asks.

“Where are you from?”

“Heys.” Jeon replied.

Asdel thought back to the maps he once studied, Heys was to the west of the capital and borders with the Riverfalls kingdom.

“Why did you sign up to the army?” Asdel asked.

“Heys has always been a military city, ever since King Carl Bowan’s failed expansion war. I was raised fighting, when I realised it didn’t suit me to just stay in the city I decided to enlist. Although I haven’t seen that many fights.” Jeon explained.

“What fighting do you see? There has not been a war on the continent for nearly 30 years.” Asdel asked, wondering what the army actually do.

“We mainly fight rebels or bandits. King Leo Thine likes to have a standing army ready should a war ever break out in the empire again. He’s too paranoid I think but it pays.” Jeon told him.

Asdel had a mix of emotions from this, one part of him had still hoped to become a renown warrior, however it would seem that he will mostly be fighting criminals and won’t ever make a proper name for himself.

“So, what’s this army doing?” Asdel asked.

“We patrol Lake Skoltron. There are many bandits in the woods that make good hiding places, we act a deterrent.” Joen said. “Until we get orders to do otherwise.”

“Great.” Asdel replied, not sure if he has made the right decision, but it was too late now.

“Come on, you can stay in my camp. You’ll at least get a safe night’s sleep there.” Jeon said.

Asdel stood up and followed Jeon through the camp, his armour was well worn but he obviously kept it clean and in good nick.

They eventually make it to one tent that Jeon says is his. It holds two beds, one for Jeon and apparently one for Asdel.

Lying down, Asdel’s head is filled with doubt.

After everything I have been through, I thought this was my second chance, my chance to make a difference.

I miss my home, I miss my bed. And as much as I don’t want to admit it I miss my family. No body cares about me here. Thinking about the life I now have, is it even a life worth living? I’m not strong enough to keep this up for much longer. What is the point anyway? Everything is so dam difficult and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Am I just supposed to carry on living a life of misery for the sake of it, just to say I am alive. Then to live an unhappy life and leave no mark on the world. I am pathetic. I cannot blame these men for hating me. If I could leave myself, I would.