"Go fish."
"I hate this game!"
Lucas laughed as Adam slammed his cards on the bunk. He, Adam, Sarnia, Luigi, and Mera were all gathered in the men's tent and playing with Sarnia's deck of cards. That day was uncharacteristically uneventful for Wanumon's 43rd Cardinal Brigade, so the five young soldiers figured it wouldn't be too bad to slack off their duties.
From behind them, the sound of leather boots meeting dirt could be heard. Luigi hastily grabbed everyone's cards and hid them under Lucas' pillow. The five of them all stood up from their seats, straightened their backs, and turned to face the colonel.
Colonel Nathalia Reid, though only being five years older than the subordinates in front of her, was ranks ahead of them, and it wasn't difficult to see why. She carried an aura of power wherever she went as well as a sneer or a glare that could send a fully-grown man to the hospital. Back when Lucas was still a cadet, he had the honour to see Reid, still a captain at the time, lead only fifty men into battle against violent insurgents trying to break into the Haoraine Palace. Though there were very few casualties among the soldiers, it was rumoured that it had taken about a week for the cosoldierslonel to properly wash out the blood from her ash brown bangs.
"Cox, Cruz, Rossi, Martin, Owens. Follow me," she ordered.
The group all exchanged worried looks with each other. Was being lazy going to turn out to be mistake? Still, whatever was waiting for them at their destination was probably better than what was waiting for them if they didn't comply.
On their way passed all the other tents and soldiers at the outpost, they kept getting curious stares. Reid led the five soldiers to the largest tent in the area. It was one that only those such as her, similarly-ranked, or higher-ranked officials ever entered. At the very end of the tent was a large desk with multiple documents set on top. Behind it was a map of Wanumon and the cities and towns towns that it was made up of. In the middle of the map was the Capital, the largest and most powerful of the city states. Reid pointed towards a river snaking in and around it.
"Does anyone know what this is called?" she asked coolly.
"Um, a river?" Luigi replied with a nervous chuckle. He immediately shut up after seeing Reid's expression.
Lucas shot his hand up in the air.
"Yes, Cox?"
"That's the Jin River," he answered.
"Correct." Reid took a seat at the desk. "Good to see that someone in here has a brain."
Adam opened his mouth to make a remark, but Lucas nudged him to signal him to remain silent.
"Recently, there have been reports of thieves breaking into jewelry stores, banks, and the houses of nobles to steal precious Jorvikian scales," she informed. "Reports also say that these thieves ran away on a massive ship on the Jin River."
"These attacks are by pirates?!" Luigi exclaimed.
"Indeed."
"Wait, wait, wait. I've heard of problems with piracy arising lately, but I thought they were all concentrated in the towns and cities along the Stygian Waters? What are they doing here in the Capital?"
"It seems as though they've broadened their horizons," the colonel replied. "All the scales have since been recovered, but we need you to pick them up from the Kandai district and deliver them here. Royal officials will be here in a few days to return them."
Lucas heard the other four breath sighs of relief. Turns out they weren't going to be punished for their incompetence.
"You leave for the Kandai district now."
The group turned to the tent's door to leave, but Reid had one last command.
"Cox. Stay here. I need to have a word with you."
"Ooh," Lucas' friends jeered.
"Leave!"
They obeyed at once and dashed out the tent, leaving Lucas behind with the harsh colonel. "What would you like to say to me, ma'am?"
Reid opened a drawer in her desk and took out a file. "I was going through the report of your assignment last week. The job was a simple inspection of the area, but when a maniac entered the street claiming they had a bomb, you handled the situation perfectly. I'm impressed."
"It was nothing," Lucas said bashfully. "I just gave out a few instructions to the other soldiers in the area to keep the civilians calm. It wasn't even a real bomb."
"No need to be modest, Cox. That took leadership skills and an impeccable ability to remain level-headed under pressure," Reid remarked. "I've also seen you a few times as a cadet while you were training. Your talent truly shone among the rest. You have a bright future ahead of you."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"What do you say to being assigned more difficult assignments after this one is over?" the colonel suggested.
"If doing so means that I can help protect and serve our great nation, so be it," Lucas replied.
"Good," Reid mused. "You may leave."
Lucas bowed his head before heading outside.
✦✧✧✧✧✦
The pirates stole a lot of Jorvikian scales. As in three whole carriages' worth of scales. No wonder the mission called for five people.
When Lucas, Sarnia, Adam, Luigi, and Mera arrived at the Kandai district on horseback, they were taken to a dock on the Jin River where the three coaches were already waiting for them. The carriages weren't the simple carts that farmers used to wheel their hay around. These carriages were actually quite large and made of black metal, concealing the cargo from the public eye. Lucas noticed that there were some holes on the doors and deduced that the transporters were probably typically used for moving around horses for events.
Lucas and Mera attached their horses to one carriage, Sarnia and Adam to another, then Luigi to the smallest one. All of them climbed onto their seats and begun making their way to the Achox district.
The Achox district, like many other districts in the Capital, had homes made of brick or stone, and grand buildings, such as places of worship, were massive on the outside and intricately detailed on the inside. Lucas found himself in such a building one time and was blown away by the detailed paintings depicting the heavens. Some of the grander houses were held up by pillars and had domes. The lands surrounding them were surrounded by lavish greenery, and some had man-made pools of water cut into perfect rectangles and squares.
However, districts such as Kandai had homes with thinner walls of wooden planks. The homes were sometimes suspended from the floor with wood poles. On the inside, the floors were lined with straw mats and doors were of the sliding kind. Sakura trees and natural ponds of water surrounded some of the nicest homes. The more luxurious buildings had flowing gabled roofs and were often a very vibrant crimson.
City states such as Canp near the B'rei mountains mostly had architecture similar to the first category, while cities like Qu, also on the Jin River, tended to have buildings similar to the second category. The Capital, however, served to unite every single city state and minuscule town, so its many districts varied between the two styles. Some even combined the two types, which could not be any more true for the Rigein district and the towering Haoraine Palace within it.
The Haoraine Palace was the largest building in all of Wanumon, housing the Emperor and his family. Much of it was made of stones dyed ruby red and had seven towers overseeing the entire nation. The roofs were gabled and golden, giving it a godly sheen during the daytime. Lucas was lucky enough to have passed by the majestic sight twice in one day.
On their way through the Capital, many people stopped what they were doing to look on at Lucas and his companions in awe. Some people waved at them or bowed their heads in respect, and a child even handed Lucas rhodeodendron when their horses slowed down a bit. Though the group wasn't particularly renowned for some sort of noble deed, their status as Wanumonian soldiers was all that was needed for complete strangers to have their respect. Who else was protecting them from the fearsome Jorviks and uncontrollable Gifteds?
"You know, we're having really nice weather today," Sarnia noted. "It's a shame we won't be able to enjoy 'cause of work."
"I disagree. It's way too hot," Lucas added on. "I think I might just pass out from the heat."
"Oh, but you won't pass out because of pressure," said Adam. " 'Oh, Lucas! You have such a bright future ahead of you!' "
The others laughed at Adam's very inaccurate impression of Colonel Reid.
"Oh, that's nothing compared to what she said to me the other day." Luigi cleared his throat and lowered his voice. " 'You should be ashamed of yourself, Rossi! You are an absolute failure to this brigade! Go do five hundred laps around the outpost! I never want to see your face again!' "
"She can be scary sometimes," Mera said. "It'd be less terrifying to be locked in a room with a Gifted than it would be to be locked in with her."
The others nodded in agreement.
Finally, they arrived at the outpost and dismounted from the carriages. While Lucas was stretching his limbs and fixing his posture, Mera went ahead to unlock the back of the compartment.
"Uh, Lucas?" she called out.
"Yeah?"
"Are the scales supposed to glow like that?"
"Huh?"
Lucas walked over to the back and went to see what Mera was talking about. The Jorvikian scales that were usually supposed to be colourless and translucent were glowing a vibrant crimson.
"O- Only when near cobalt... and someone Gifted."
Mera gave Lucas a panicked look.
"What's going on over here?"
The two turned back to face Colonel Reid's glare. Unfortunately for them, her eyes darted towards the inside of the compartment.
"Cox, Cruz, Rossi, Martin, Owens. Follow me," she ordered. Somehow, it was even stricter this time.
✦✧✧✧✧✦
The situation was truly humiliating. Just a day ago, Lucas was a noble soldier with such a bright future ahead of him. Now, he sat lamely on the straw-covered ground of his cell that he was chained to.
Lucas leaned his head his head on the cold, steel bars and gazed at the dungeon's only source of luminescence: a torch's amber flame with its light dancing on the stone wall. The light was barely enough for Lucas to make out the shape of four other figures in the dungeon. Just a day ago, they were squabbling over a frivolous card game. Now, they couldn't even bring themselves to talk to each other.
One of his dear friends was Gifted. They were a freak of nature, a mutant. They were a being that should have never been. Their very existence put countless lives at risk. That was what society had been telling Lucas for years, yet he felt no fear as he sat trapped with someone like that. Whether the Gifted was Mera, Sarnia, Adam, or Luigi, Lucas couldn't imagine having his opinion of them be swayed by that fact. After knowing each and every one of them for so long, he wouldn't be able to be afraid of them. And if he knew of a Gifted that wasn't as terrible as people made them out to be, perhaps the same could be said for the rest of them. Maybe the monsters were simply human the entire time.
"Achoo!" Mera let out a sneeze, finally breaking the silence.
"Bless you," Luigi said.
"Shut up."
"What did I ever do to you?"
"Don't play dumb, Luigi. We all know it's you," Adam snarled.
"What? No, it's not!"
"Who else would it be? I mean, you've always been little weird," Sarnia pointed out. "The only reason we ever hung out with you was because we felt bad for you. Clearly, that was a huge mistake."
Luigi wanted to say something, but Lucas beat him to it. "Come on, guys. We shouldn't turn against each other over something as small as this."
"Lucas, there is someone Gifted here. That's pretty huge," Adam said.
"Well... maybe Gifteds aren't actually that bad."
" 'Aren't actually that bad'? Are you insane?" Mera jeered. "Those pirates that came here from the Stygian Waters are Gifted, and they aren't pirates just because they stole a few scales. They're pirates because of the the homes they've destroyed, the people they've killed, and... just the general chaos they've caused! And you want to say that they 'aren't actually that bad'?"
"Just because a few are bad, that doesn't mean all of them are!"
"You know, you're being really sympathetic towards Gifteds right now, Lucas. You got something you wanna share with the class?" Adam asked.
Before Lucas could make a retort, the wooden doors of the dungeon swung open. Ten guards entered, and one by one, each cell was opened and a pair of cuffs was detached from the floor. Two sentries were assigned to each prisoner and escorted them outside the building to a carriage. The carriage was reminiscent of the ones Lucas and the others used to deliver the Jorvikian scales to the outpost. This time, it served to deliver the five of them to the city gates. Not a single one of them uttered a word during the journey.
After about an hour of sitting in suffocating silence and darkness, the group was finally released into the noon sun. The sudden change in brightness took Lucas a few seconds to get used to, and when he finally did, he got a chance to take a look at his surroundings. Judging by the buildings, Lucas guessed they were at the southeastern border in the Ailli district. The mountainous city walls surrounded him from behind, and armoured soldiers surrounded him from the front. They all seemed to be from the 43rd Cardinal Brigade, and they were all glaring at the group as if they were savage beasts.
However, the person standing in front of all of them wasn't a member of the brigade. He had a bald head, sharp eyes, and an aura that was even more austere than Colonel Reid's. That man was General Chamberland, known for using precise calculations to determine how to slaughter a feral Jorvik or a sadistic Gifted.
Suddenly, a blow was sent to Lucas' back, causing him to buckle forward and kneel down in the sandy dirt. Beside him, he could hear the sound of four other thuds meeting the ground. A man, Jonathan is what Lucas believed his to be, came around with a small key and released everyone from their handcuffs. Usually, Jonathan was obnoxiously laughing from some tasteless and insensitive joke he had made, but there was no hint of that carefree nature on his face as he got into close proximity with the group. For the first time ever, Jonathan finished his job without a single snide comment.
Once their hands were freed, a sword was placed next to everyone's throats. Lucas knew that if he moved his neck in the slightest, the blade would dig into his skin and blood would trickle down. He did his very best to hold his breath.
General Chamberland began to approach the five convicts. By the time he was just a few feet away, he unsheathed an elegant sword. "Do you know what this is?"
"N- No...," Sarnia croaked out.
"It's a sword with a handle covered in Jorvikian scales. The blade is made from steel and a tiny amount of cobalt. It has Gifted-detecting abilities, but..."
Chamberland swung the sword towards Sarnia's head, stopping it at the very last second.
"...you need to get really close for it to work."
No changes were seen on the hilt.
"Hmph. One down, four to go."
Chamberland made his way down the line, bringing the sword dangerously close to each suspect's next. Every time, red never appeared on the weapon's handle or its blade, and a sigh of relief could be heard as the general made his way to the next person. Finally, it was Lucas' turn and the hilt turned red.
"Found it."
The soldiers went into an uproar. Some gasped, some exclaimed, "I knew it!", and others screamed, "Lucas!"
No, that was a lie. It was a singular, distinct voice that had hollered the name. It thundered over all the other sounds and echoed throughout the area, but Lucas seemed to be the only one who had heard.
"Lucas!"
Where was that voice coming from?
"Lucas!"
Lucas sprung up from the cold, hard floor of Vaessen's shack.
So it was a dream. Was that the right word?
Dreams were fantasies the sleeping brain accidentally made when firing memories from short-term storage to long-term. What Lucas saw was indeed a recent memory, but unfortunately for him, it was a far cry from a fantasy.
Lucas turned his head and met Jalen's snake-like eyes. He sighed, disappointed that the nerd's clueless expression was the first thing he saw after getting up. "What's going on? Why did you wake me up?"
"There's something outside."
---
A/N
Can you tell I know nothing about the military? I also added on some of the other people, but since I'm too scared to ever approach them, I couldn't ask if it was alright to use their real names, so I (along with two others) just made up fake ones. Can you tell who's who?
Also, I really hate architecture now because I spent an ungodly amount of time trying to describe European and Asian buildings without calling them European or Asian because, well, Europe and Asia don't exist here!
I went back and edited the previous chapters a bit, but this one's clocking in at almost 3000 words and... I don't have the energy for that. Sorry.
Anyways, I'm bad at outros...
Bye.