Thang! Thang!  Someone knocked on the iron door. "I… I am awake" said a voice of a young child of 8. He left the bed and opened the wooden windows,  as sunlight entered the room. He looked down at the central courtyard as children like him roamed around. He closed the window and took his chipped wooden sword and a book, leaving the room, the corridor was dimly lit due to the absence of any source of light. He went downstairs towards the courtyard for food. "Hey Wein" another young child's voice called out to him, it was his friend Atelio. 

"Morning Atelio," said Wein.  

"Yeah"

"You had breakfast," Wein asked.

"No" Both and them picked up a clay plate from the table and went towards a man handing out food.  Today they received boiled vegetables, Rice, and a boiled egg.  Sitting down both of them ate their food, it was pretty good compared to the time they lived with their families in poverty.  

Done eating both of them gave their plates to another man who threw the uneaten food in a hole made underground "OK future warriors, it's time to train." A soldier shouted moving towards the center. The children moved toward the ground. 

"Commander Esan" A man called out to a man who looked down at the children lining up, looking back "Counselor Vin welcome," Esan said as they both shook hands. "You are quite early, anything important "he added. 

"No, no at all.  It's just I was bored at my house." 

"Haha. Good for you, shouldn't you spend some more time with your daughter." 

"Haha.  I love her but she is too active. She runs way too fast." 

"Don't fret we are getting old aren't we?"

"Yes, my back is done sitting all day" 

"You are the one whose pen run this kingdom,  please don't push yourself too hard" 

Vin and Esan both looked down the window as the children had almost lined up. " Do you think this will save the kingdom?"

"I do not know,  I am just following what our king told us to do. By the way any news about him"

"No. It's been almost a year since he was last seen, as he isolated himself in his room"

"You think he died" Both of them looked at each and laughed. 

"Nice one. I don't think so Commander, he is the strongest human left after the theater event in this kingdom" 

"You are right. Let's go down.  It's time for your inspection" Esan opened the door as Vine followed him.  Both of them went downstairs towards the ground. Esan stood up on a elevated wooden platform . 

"Listen up future Warriors. It's time for you to train.  Be strong, don't even give your enemies A chance to strike back." There was no reaction., Esan didn't even anticipate any.  He just left the platform, a soldier gave him a few sheets of paper, it had the name of the children and their ranking. Esan handed it to Vin.

"Rank 1 Dofcre." Vin read out. Esan pointed towards a pretty tall boy, "he has the potential as a top swordsman but no magic" 

"Mhm" Vine turned to the last page. "rank 489 Wein" 

"He is strong compared to normal soldiers, but compared to his fellow classmates he is pretty weak. But his magic is improving a lot,  he may be higher rank the next rating" 

"I see" Vin went through all the pages and gave it back to Esan. "Send me the list when the new rating is done" 

"Sure" 

The children were running around the ground, they had to run 30 rounds in total,  for the upper half students in the ranking it was easy, but for the lower rank such as Wein started to get tiered after the fifteenth round.  

Haf!  Haf!  Wein was out of breath along with some other children. The training physical training went on for another two hours, involving mostly generic exercises like push ups, sits and weight training.  

Now the children had to choose what they wanted to train in.  Wein was fond of magic,  but Atelio chose swords training. Some other children along with Wein stood around a man in blue robe while the ones with swords stood near Commander Esan.

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The man in robe took the students back into the building in their class room. "Hey Wein morning" A girl called him. 

"Morning Mira, u ready" 

"Yeah. I am excited to learn today"

"Me too."

Some of the older children looked at them pity and anger, Wein and Mira don't know the actual conditions they are living in. But to Wein this was heaven,  unlike when he was living with his family he had to scrape trash bins for food or steal from local vendors. While his family barely cared for him, when he came here he was given food and a chance to prove himself.  Wein a few months back realized he had somewhat talent for magic, so he solely contributed his time to it.

All of them took their seat as the teacher opened his book and kept it on the table. "Today kids we are going to learn ice magic" all of them opened their notebooks and started to write down as the teacher dictated incantations to summon the ice element. 

"As like other elements the duration of the incantations are going to get  shorter and shorter so don't forget to practice" 

The teacher brought a glass of water on the table and dipped his index finger slightly "Write what I am about to say… Ice magic is a type of contact magic. If you want to use it properly you need physical contact with the target. Now look" The teacher started to chant,  although he could do it in 10 seconds he took his time to show the kids how it was done. The water in the glass froze, the children looking with awe.  

"You all looked carefully, right?"

"Yes sir," everyone said in unison. A man came inside with 10 glasses of water. He gave one to each student in the front row.

The first benchers started to enchant, some froze and some didn't. "If could freeze it well, and if not you can try next time. Now pass on the glass back" 

The front-row students passed back the glasses some frozen and some unfrozen. Wein received a frozen glass. 

"Those who got frozen glass use fire magic to melt it back while the one who didn't try freezing it" 

Wein touched the ice and started chanting fire incantation, it took him 30 seconds, pretty fast compared to the average student, 'ignis' the ice turned back to water. Now he dipped his finger in the water and started to chant the ice incantations. Slowly he could feel the water hardening up. He looked at the frozen glass, he did it, a smile appeared on Wein's face. The day went on as the other students did the same thing, after 4 hours the day ended as the children went back to their quarters. 

The High Castle was in total chaos as the nobles came in their luxurious horse carts. The king after a year of isolation called out for a emergency meeting. The hall was full of richest people in the kingdom; ministers ,  business man,  guild owners etc.  

The royal trumpets filled the air as the room went silent. On top appeared the king , Von de le Krangier. Everyone bowed down "All HAIL THE KING! All HAIL THE KING! ALL HAIL THE KING!" they chanted in unison. 

"Hello my beloved citizens, I apologize for calling for such a late-night meet. But I feel it's necessary.  In the year of my training, I was able to discover myself and the world. But sadly my people I have bad news… The heroes have reduced the barrier time down to five years"

Everyone gasped as they started to murmur amongst themselves. It was scary to them that as two decades of protection they had anticipated were reduced to five years only.  King Von continued "But fear not I have a solution to all your hardships, to be able to achieve true freedom" he paused and looked down at the delighted faces of the nobles. He continues "TODAY I ANNOUNCE THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE HUMAN RACE AND THE DEMONIC RACE" 

The whole room went silent, they looked at each other with concern. The king expected such a reaction, simply smiling he left the podium. The king told a soldier to send them back as he sat alone on the throne.