Somewhere in the second sector of the empire in the evening, the boy stood up from his bed, as he took a step two halos dawned on them.
One was a crown and the other beneath it had two thorns, his hair became white and translucent.
He took one step away from the bed and opened his eyes; they glowed white.
Rings were on each of his irises with six protrusions on each.
He snapped his fingers and a pen appeared, he looked around scanning with his eyes looking for something.
"Where is my book…
Doesn't really matter." He thought.
He snapped his fingers once again and a book appeared in his palm.
He walked towards the table, pulled out the chair and sat on it, he placed his book on the desk and the pages opened by themselves.
He then wrote on the empty page;
Beware for these hideous beings….>
***
Over at the fourth sector the troops had stopped to rest halfway through the sector, they settled beside the main path in a rocky area.
"Argh, my ass hurts, no one told me it would hurt this much…" Herra whined,
"You sat in the back of a fairly comfortable wagon, what would you know about pain." A female voice unfamiliar to her said from behind.
"Who-
O…Oh commander" She said to the person.
"This seems awfully familiar" Lana thought.
"Yeah, want to give horse riding in armour a little try and see if that's any better." Ricia joined up with Lana.
"Actually, I think I'm good, hehe…
The pain was all in my head." Herra said coyly.
She slipped away from them and went back to the group hugging Clarence from behind.
"The atmosphere...they aren't as tense as I had expect." Lana said to Ricia.
"The sector was deemed unsafe but there aren't any known dangers.
Honestly the way it is I don't t think it would be a problem to label it as safe." Ricia said.
Lana took a look at the unlit cigar in her hand.
"How am I going to light this up, scrambling through the resources for a flint would be a hassle." Lana pondered, she was in a pinch.
She looked at Lana and asked;
"Hey...do you have any flint on you?"
"No I don't." Ricia replied.
Lana's look turned sour in disappointment, then she sighed.
"...With the recent occurrences I think anything could happen.
Until thoroughly checking I don't think this sector could be labelled as safe.
All in all, having more assurance is never a bad thing." Lana resurfaced the previous conversation.
"Tru-" Ricia's agreement was interrupted by someone else.
"I'm glad someone else thinks the same, if it is so dangerous, why not use experienced soldiers battle harden-" Heimlich the one who interrupted was walking towards them.
Lana interrupted him as well, she walked to him and looked him in the eye, he was taller than her yet he was the one being intimidated.
"I'm going to ignore the fact that you were let back into the army like nothing happened.
I'm tired of this stunt you've been pulling, no one here would normally be in acceptance of this yet here we are.
By now you should have started having conflicting thoughts if you were as smart as I had previously anticipated." Lana sounded pissed.
"And yet I have nothing to work off of.
I just can't draw any reasonable conclusions from letting not just inexperienced, but young soldie-" Heimlich wasn't given the grace to complete his statement.
"Inexperienced?
Now please let me know which soldier is truly experienced in actual warfare, if they were any they died on that battlefield; only few remain.
Even I am part of the inexperienced, the same could be said for everyone else except you, Heimer, Ricia, Gustev, Milsted and a few other commanders.
Trained would be the word you're looking for, and even then those kids are more trained than most lieutenants.
You act as if you didn't witness it first hand, where is your sentiment coming from." Lana pressed on.
"..." Heimlich froze a bit.
"...But even then, why were they chosen out of multiple possible adult troops for this 'Special unit'.
What is even the point, what makes them different?" Heimlich raised more questions.
Lana eased up a bit, her look softened.
"I can now see where you're coming from...at least this means nothing has leaked yet." Lana looked down at her cigar and held it between her thumb and index.
–
In one of the wagons was Leo and Rud lied down, resting their backs.
"Back hurts a lot…" Leo groaned.
"I feel you, can hardly feel my legs." Rud groaned as well.
"Where did you learn how to ride?" He asked Leo.
"My dad was a merchant, he occasionally came back with his horse pulled wagon, one thing led to another and he taught me how to.
How about you." Leo replied.
"It might sound funny but I love horses, even dreamt of becoming a jouster." Rud chuckled.
"A jouster?
I thought that was more for common folk than nobility." said Leo, his groans gradually subsided.
"It actually is.
I was just more jaded about reality back when I was younger.
My family is a lesser subsidiary family so unlike most other nobles, I actually grew up in the second sector.
Back then my father took me to watch a jousting match.
I had to admit I was carried away by the first clash.
Then and there, I felt like watching was not enough I had to BE there and actually participate, you know that feeling?
My father actually indulged me and got me a horse and hired a trainer as well…and voilà" Rud spoke fondly of it.
"That sounds pretty nice.
I should try getting that information from the twins as well." Leo turned over uncomfortably.
["Leo!!"] Lana screamed from the distance.
Leo got up and left the wagon, immediately scanned around to find her.
–
Not too far from the wagon.
"Who are you calling out for." Heimlich asked.
"Nothing serious, just about to enlighten you on why they are special." Lana smiled.