I slowly healed, and was able (with Sarge's eagle eye, no doubt) to walk around and perform the Warrior duties I had been assigned. Obviously, they were quite simple; less work than around the farm. Gather Warriors. Check alibis of missing Warriors. Hand out weapons. Clean the weapons. Store the weapons..the everyday life of a Private.
I didn't speak much to the others, although, most of them didn't outrank me. Hell, ninety per cent of the Warriors were Privates! Trust be told, they pissed me off. Everyday I worked beside them, I heard the immature jokes, the idiotic laughs, the egotistical taunts and jabs towards the newest recruit: Me. They pried out my fear and worries, using them against me. They gained my trust and then continued to spill my secrets around the village. I swear, these men were worse than a gaggle of pre-teen girls. I didn't give them a moment of my time, however. I couldn't waste it on them if I wanted to go up in the ranks.
I had been in the Warriors for about three months when the full effect hit, however. I wasn't aware that the taunts and the jabs could escalate to threats and punches. I wasn't aware that my secrets could be held against me with such harshness. I completely wasn't aware how my fears could be thrown upon me, in the very..literal sense. The reason why they were so negative towards me wasn't evident to my mind whatsoever. Perhaps they saw something I didn't. A power of sorts? But that would be ridiculous. The only power I knew of was my fire power, which I rarely used. To them, I was just a guy who could light fires quickly.
Everyday as I arrived to the training grounds, after checking the alibis of the missing Warriors and before I gathered the weapons. I was encountered by one of two things. Mostly, I had the joy of getting about forty buckets of water dumped over my head, soaking me to the bone, without a change of clothes nearby until the end of the day, which was about eight hours away..Usually, that was their daily dose of hell for me, but about once every month, depending on the Warrior's addictive habits, a barrel filled with cigarette butts adorned my hair and my clothes.
Now, normal people, they'd probably fight back a bit if thousands of DNA covered chemically filled cigarettes were thrown onto them. Perhaps, even, they would laugh it off, throw some back, walk away...But as we all know, I'm very far from normal.
Although they saw this every time, they never learned. As soon as the ashes were dumped upon me, I grew furious. Kind of like the Hulk, but less muscles and definitely less of a greenish hue. Anything that came into my path was pushed, punched or destroyed; be that tree, bush, human or animal. I wasn't too proud of these attacks I had, but hey. These douches deserved it. But apparently, they thought they hadn't taken it far enough one day.
It started off a normal day. I did my chores, was taunted and pushed around, and I did my best ignoring the insolent fools. But around mid afternoon when the Warriors took a fifteen minute break, everything-not to mention everyone- seemed to be silent. I peeked out of the artillery to see..Nothing. Everyone had vanished, although they never usually dared to leave. I stepped out, peering around more tentatively. Every sword was where it had been dropped, each water bottle and towel in it's place. The only thing out of place was the silence. I took the silence in thankfully, however. I hadn't had a moment to myself since I had made the ranks, and Gods, it felt good.
Well, it did feel good up to the point where I was picked up by 80 hands and tied by my ankles and wrists. Not that great after that. Truthfully? Everything went to hell.
I heard water. Rushing water. Dripping water. Crashing Water. All kinds of water. Water above me, below me, all around me, by my sides. I heard laughter mixed with the waves, taunts and jabs swirled in the tide. Yet all there was in front of me was a river, A slowly churning, deep, river. My throat tightened, and I'm ashamed to say my eyes grew teary. I was frozen as I felt my wrists and ankles being bound together tighter. I felt a piece of fabric being tied around my face and a large portion of it was forced into my mouth to silence my future pleads and screams and begs for mercy. And believe me, they came.
I felt my soul leave as I was hoisted over the Warriors' shoulders, hand gripping each limb that attempted to flail or escape. I felt my lunch leave as I was tossed into the water. Luckily (yet Unluckily..) the gag had somehow shifted, letting the sickness escape, but letting the water enter. Each breath I let in underwater burned my throat and lungs more than the previous one. I felt my eyes closing and myself moving onto my side, deciding how I would stay in my final resting place.
But apparently, that wouldn't be there.
I was pulled from the water, half conscious, and was harshly thrown onto the hard ground. I heard a woman's voice, mostly pleading me to hang on, and to not give up on her. I couldn't help but to flow between unconscious and conscious. When I finally woke up, and had expelled the water from my lungs and stomach in a quite..displeasing manor, another one of those shadows loomed over me. I heard the woman's voice again, this time clear as a bell. This time it had more of a soothing tone to it.
"Shh..it's over..it's all over..." I felt her rubbing my back as I got sick once again. I was shaking and muttering something incoherent about the water and being surrounded and it never ending. Of course, I wasn't really aware of what was going on. These are just my best guesses. "It's over...You're safe, now..I promise, you're out of the water!" But that didn't help one bit.
So, she slapped me.
Her voice grew angry, and she snarled right in my face as I finally went silent. I opened my eyes for but a moment, the water still stinging with every blink of my eyelashes. She spoke in what seemed more of a normal tone...for her, at least.
"What type of man are you?! You're a god damn mess from one encounter with water?! You're going to let them win this easily, DiEduardo!?" How..did she know my name? "I would hope not!" She snarled once again and stood, facing away. "That's not the Nico I know." She practically whispered as she walked away.
Now, with the chance, I took in her appearance. A tight catsuit...long, deep brown, wavy hair that reached her waist..Although, I couldn't see her face, I could place her right away. The woman of my dreams, the woman I wanted in my reality..I called out as she walked away, in hopes to get her to return.
"ELANJA!"
