Life continued and so did mother's beatings. After Esh's release from his cell, the other young males had left him alone entirely. However, the struggle wasn't over yet. Laying in bed for such a long period of time, often in his own excrement and urine, left his body covered in leaking sores.
The first thing Esh did was run to the nearest mirror to take off his filthy bandages. What he saw made him drop to his knees.
A large scar started at his left shoulder and crossed his entire body to his right hip. It was thick, shiny, and very soft to the touch. Esh did have to congratulate Mehch on his handy work, he had created a Masterpiece.
And yet it wasn't the scar on his chest that made him drop, but the two circular scars on each of his shoulders, exactly where the hooks had punctured him in the land of sin. It took a few seconds for his breath to return to him.
This couldn't be possible. Maybe Mehch came back and added these accessories while he had been passed out. He hoped this was true.
His time at the orphanage did not change and everyone around him acted as if nothing had happened. Nothing at all. Esh didn't have any scars and he for sure had not be opened up by a bone-blade for all the humanoids of Reah to see his insides. Didn't happen.
Esh no longer chased after the others, or tried to win their acceptance. He stuck to himself. The only thing he had to look forward to was the Choosing in which all fourteen-year-old males and Females were given the position in life that would fit them physically and mentally.
He would become a soldier, yes! A soldier. He would show them all how tough he was, how worthy to be of the land of Reah. But how? He was 8 years old, shorter than most of the other males and was by far the weakest. Yet the eight-year-old pictured himself in the gigantic armor of the army of Reah, the Red sun gleaming off the metallic pauldrons. And no set of armor is complete without the large heavy sword all soldiers had strapped to their backs, ready to be unsheathed and swung into action. He pictured all the humanoids clapping and cheering for him as he walked the streets, his purple hair completely forgotten.
He would have to train, and train hard. He would start this sun-cycle.
And Esh did train hard. During the unsupervised recesses, while the other males and females played, Esh was doing push ups. He couldn't even do one, so he figured he could do them on his knees... barely. One knee push-up turned to 50, and one regular push-up transitioned to 50.
On his ninth natal sun-cycle, Esh treated himself to trying to do a pull-up using one of the bars that clothes were hung over. Training would be his natal sun-cycle gift to himself. However, just like the push-up, he just hung there, his face scrunched with effort.
So he swung, and swung until he was able to swing his chin over the bar. After two weeks he was able to do a single pull-up. After a month he could do ten!
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By age 11, Esh made himself pick up every single heavy object he found. He would walk around the playground picking up all the heaviest stones he could, even picking up a few of the other smaller orphans as well. He kept up with his push-ups and his pull-ups.
Push-ups, pull-ups, and lifting heaving objects wasn't all but he would run and he would run fast! Orphans would watch him start at one end of the street where he would sprint back back as fast as he could until his legs failed him. It came to a point that he was running so much that his lungs soon forgot all about needing protection from the ash in the air. Esh, himself, did not notice the change. It just so happened that one sun-cycle he had forgotten to dawn his mask and since his lungs gave him no issues he never thought to use it again.
Every moon-cycle Esh would crash onto his sweat stained bed and fall asleep immediately. That was, until, one moon-cycle upon falling onto his bed his head hit something hard underneath the sheet. He tore the sheet off expecting to find a stone placed there by one of the orphans, but that wasn't what he found. There, on his bed, was a brand new copy of Reahlic grammar. He instantly felt guilty. He had been slacking tremendously in his studies, sometimes not even showing up to class.
But wait, how did this book get here? He couldn't think of anybody who had the money to buy such a shiny book, or even anyone that would do such a kind thing. That moon-cycle, when all the other orphans were asleep, Esh opened the book.
To his amazement, he did not find Reahlic grammar on the pages inside. No, but instruction on the grammar of the language of the Green humanoids. Vivreonish.
He couldn't believe his eyes for fake mother had told him all of these books had been put to fire. All knowledge of the other territories were forbidden and those who hid such pieces of information could face time in the prisons. What was even more interesting about this book was that the cover seemed to not have been altered, as if this book was made to deceive the eyes of others.
His bottom lip quivered and tears fell from his eyes. This was the best moon-cycle of his life. He opened the book and read, forgetting completely about the generous stranger and his fatigue.
Esh was now age fourteen, ready to be chosen, ready to become a soldier. He never quit his training and never gave himself rest unless he was ill. He began to steal too.
When unsuspecting orphans were turned away Esh would take their food and scarf it down. During moon-cycles, he would sneak into the pantry and eat until his heart was content. He was pretty sure his mother suspected him, but said nothing. He had become stronger and had even went through a growth spurt. The only orphan that matched him in height was Mehch, who had become even fatter and lazier. Esh nearly laughed out loud when Mehch declared he was going to join the army and become general. "Not with that belly," Esh had thought to himself.
Esh would also pick fights, using them as practice. Bruises were the norm and he was soon feared just as much as hated.
He would have tried to pick a fight with Mehch, but he had always been under the protection of Korp. The orphanage headMaster left Esh alone, he had found his new toy. Mehch liked it.
Esh's stolen food helped a lot with his growth, but he was still always fatigued due to the extra studying he was doing. He became top of his class once again and not just in Reahlic, but mathematics and history as well.
Mother became noticeably less attached to Esh, and this hurt him so bad. Yet... he knew why. She brought him trouble and he brought her trouble. He knew Korp beat her and beat her hard. He would come back one sun-cycle and stop him, no matter the cost.