Enzo wanted to join the military. It wasn’t a spur of the moment type of decision. Sahel was his drill sergeant and put him to work quick.
“What made you want to join, Private!” he yelled at Enzo.
“I wanted to give my strength to help humanity!” Enzo shouted back. Sahel didn’t hesitate to punch him in the stomach. Enzo collapsed and lost his breath. He choked just trying to breathe and nearly threw up.
“Wrong answer dumbass,” Sahel shouted, “The reason you’re here is because I injected you with some powers and it would be damn shame if you didn’t work for me. Now give me a light.”
Sahel had a torch and brought it towards Enzo who was still on the ground. Enzo tried grabbing the torch and was kicked in the face.
“This is mine asshole,” Sahel declared while Enzo tumbled onto his back, “I said give me a light!” Enzo crawled back with one arm holding his stomach and Sahel shoved his face in the dirt. “Listen closely, Private,” Sahel said in a low serious tone, “If you ever think that crawling is an appropriate way to approach when I give order, you’re a dead man. Now stand up and give me a fucking light!”
Sahel struggled to get that last part out. He didn’t want to be hard on the kid but if he wasn’t then Enzo might actually enjoy being in the military; he couldn’t let that happen.
Enzo was covered in dirt and coughed on his way standing up. His stomach was burning and he had a bloody nose. Sahel paid no attention to Enzo’s injuries and waited with the dull torch in his hand. Enzo was finally standing straight up and snapped his fingers to light a fire on his thumb. It was not any stronger than a candle on a birthday cake.
Sahel punched Enzo in the gut one more time and turned away from him. Enzo fell to floor again and threw up almost immediately. Sahel didn’t wait and said, “Once you’re done fucking around then maybe we can start your training.”
Enzo cried and cried for the rest of the day. Both because of the pain and of how pathetic he felt. He didn’t let his tears break his spirit. He practiced snapping his fingers to create enough light to be a torch himself. It was tiring but he did not want to disappoint Sahel again.
Neema witnessed Sahel’s “training” with Enzo and was filled with joy. That devil boy shouldn’t even be allowed to live, Neema thought, I’m glad my dad has the balls to beat him down. Neema had his own squad that specialized in long range combat. He and his squad were some of the best shooters the humans had which was very useful at this time. Close combat was one-sided in Midara’s favor; however, long range and accurate shots could take out a Midaran soldier easily. Neema only got lucky once in close-combat and he was not willing to try his luck again. He began to form a plan with his squad that would escalate the war and forced Sahel to take action.
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Enzo’s second day in the military started with the same order.
“Give me a light, Private,” Sahel commanded. Enzo snapped with confidence and his flame was bigger than the torch itself. Sahel didn’t say a word and didn’t leak any emotion onto his face and even when the torch was lit, he remained silent. Enzo extinguished the fire and stood back in line and didn’t say anything either. Finally, Sahel simply reached into his coat where he had a canteen of water and dumped it on the torch and then dropped it. Enzo was confused but listened when Sahel said, “Follow me, Private. We’re not close to being done.” They came up to a huge open space and stood behind a wall that hit Enzo’s middle chest. About 20 meters away from the wall there was a bundle of torches and Enzo already knew the next words out of Sahel’s mouth.
"Light those torches Private,” Sahel ordered, “From behind this wall.” Enzo wondered how he would do it. All he had practiced was lighting a fire on his thumb; never anything long range. After a few seconds he came up with an idea, he lit his thumb on fire, took a deep breath and blew as hard as he could. Sure enough, it was like he was an actual flamethrower and the fire traveled to the bundle of torches. Sahel then had some other soldiers move more bundles of torches at different distances and Enzo could practically hear the words before they were said. “Light those torches Private,” Sahel ordered once more.
This went on for the whole day, Sahel’s soldiers would set up torches, Enzo would light them, rinse and repeat. He was only given one break to eat and use the bathroom. Sahel worked him all the way until sundown until he allowed Enzo to return to his room. As soon as Enzo’s head hit the bed, he fell asleep.
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The next day, Enzo woke up, took a shower, and he made sure to eat a big breakfast because he expected a lot more work. After he ate, he stepped outside of the building and saw a huge fire in the middle of the yard he trained in yesterday. Sahel and Neema were standing close to it, saw Enzo, and called him over. Enzo was unsure on what his task was going to be today, but he felt confident.
Once he arrived and heard Sahel’s orders, all of his confidence left and was filled with nervousness. “Enter the fire,” Sahel ordered, “And don’t leave until you put it out.” Enzo was beyond terrified and didn’t know if he would be burned alive. He hesitated and took his time observing the fire. There was a gate surrounding the fire.
“It’s now or never devil boy,” Neema said snarky as he pushed Enzo into the fire. Enzo screamed in agony at first until he realized that the fire was warm. He wasn’t being burned at the moment, but he felt that if he stayed in too long, he would be. His clothes had already burned right off but he didn’t know until he looked down. Now came the problem with the fire, he had no clue what to do. How could fire extinguish fire, Enzo thought. All he could do was make fire but then he noticed something on his hands. It seemed as if the flames were dancing on his fingertips and when he concentrated on it, he saw the flames enter his hands. Once he made this realization, it took less than a minute for him to put out the fire. He turned around to see Sahel smiling for the first time in what felt like decades. Next to him however, Neema had a stoic look and Enzo couldn’t tell what he felt. Enzo didn’t think too much about Neema because with this new skill, he thought of something greater. He couldn’t let anyone figure out his plan.
At night, he would start his stealth mission, but for now, it was time to train. Sahel and Neema made multiple fires that day and Enzo put out every single one. Sahel tried giving Enzo more clothes, but they kept burning off, so Enzo had to train naked. They made him extinguish fires at different ranges and even different parts of his body when they realized what he was doing.
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At the end of the day, when he was given clothes and let back into his room, he didn’t go to bed at first. He took off his shirt and gently put his fingertips on it. There was a soft windy sound that came out. He saw the flames enter into the shirt and it didn’t burn. He did the same with all his clothes, hoping they wouldn’t burn anymore. At midnight, he decided to sneak out to start his grand plan to enter the Midaran city and find his friend, Dante.
He was put on the top floor to ensure that he had a hard escaping if he ever went rogue. However, with his powers, nothing could stop him from leaving. He let out a rope of fire and tied it to a desk he had close to the window and let the other side reach the ground outside. He climbed down to the bottom with ease and absorbed the fire back into his hand. He creeped around the base for about an hour until he finally got through to the border. The whole time, his fire wall towered over him and reminded him of what skills there are left to learn. He finally reached the fire wall after hopping some gates. He began to absorb parts of the wall into his hand until he was able to walk through.
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