A morning ray and the blast of sunshine rose early, over the canopy, beginning a drunken day. Waves of heat burst from the ground and the green of the forest grew lusher. The high summer bore at full strength without a day of rain since the last new moon, the sanctuary of life soon finding it difficult to endure its colors. Edges around leaves began to pale and brown and the petals of flowers were sapped. Hares and foxes who called it home dared not set a foot out, housed in their burrows in the trunks of trees, when no prey called for a hunt. Fair was the air, of no wind nor the slightest breeze that kept the windows, which usually rattled, oddly still. Behind a single pane of glass that separated the bunks of the barracks and the wilderness sat a boy, the only cadet awake among the dozens of his comrades who snored and mumbled in their sleeps under the roof that retained the coolness of the night. The outdoors had gone by unchanged for nearly two long years, with the same bushes and oaks growing at a snail’s pace. But everyday had taxed him harshly, shaped from that of a child into the frame of a soldier. He fitted well into his uniform owing to his growth spurt. His hair had grown out slightly but were parted from the middle that did not hinder his vision, gazing aimlessly outward, wanting for freedom. Half closed, his eyes dozed, whose irises had darkened from years of soaking in gunpowder smoke and gunfire sparks. Meditating, he crossed his legs and leaned his sword beside him with his kepi hung onto its pommel. Resting on a table, his hand pinched onto a stick of cigarette between his steel-cast fingers that he had redesigned. Able to move, the boy would flex them whenever he could, but the pain in his bones were even greater than before. The only place that was closest to heaven was when his ember burned from the breath of smoke that he sailed into his lungs for his blood to soak. Letting a cloud out with a sigh, a haze armored him like a vizor. Ash broke onto the metal tray and was collected into a pile. Another hand, roughened by hours every day on the bodies of rifles and hilts of swords, wrapped around a mug warmed by eifer. Coiling around, his electricity stirred the water which was brought to his lips to sip. There was an unexpected air of tranquility. Undisturbed by anything. Nothing about the cadet was reminiscent of his past yet he had no regrets of becoming just another tool for war.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ELOcruWxf
The bronze bell of the encampment tolled and the towers around the walls of the settlement followed with the blare of drums and horns. On the sixth hour of the new day, the camp had to break their rest and rise to wake as servants drew water from the stream and prepared their stores for the cadets’ breakfast. Breaking up from parade, the volunteered cooks marched to the canteen as lieutenants oversaw fifteen minutes of chores. Beneath the roofs of barracks, the newly promoted soldiers were about waking up upon hearing their wonderfully loud alarm, believing that they were under attack. Squirming, their heads were beaten by the previous night’s liquor in their systems and alcohol burned their veins. Overdrunk, they were the majority, as the more sensible lot woke to a morning that was unlike any other. There was an excitement that ran in some, folding their blankets and dressing into their fatigues. Buttoning up jackets and buckling belts over trousers, they slipped their blank rank plates onto their shoulders and were ready within minutes. Soon exhausted however, if one did not hurry out of bed, they were certainly doomed to lay down again. Rubbing his eyes, a cadet saw his comrade up and prepared long before he ever was, from high on the top bunk. Embarrassed of his weak discipline, for he could not ever compete in a race to rise the quickest, he was forced to withdraw his sluggishness, swinging around to the edge of the bed. His legs dangled off, making sure he had a point of landing when he leapt down without a thump but the creaking of floor boards. Shuffling over the planks, his ambush failed when his friend felt a change in the currents behind him and turned his head.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQW3uMfYcU
Looking over a shoulder, he acknowledged the other. “Morning.” Arminius greeted, whose morning voice had long dissolved.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgg9TnMIid
Holding up a drink that was only simple water, he offered it to Julien to share. Steam rose as it was received by hands that felt not the warmth fueled by eifer. Julien took a careful sip, forgetting that he could not burn his tongue, but the sensation of knowing that it was supposedly warm was pleasingly soothing. It cleared him of any early ailments and washed away his tiredness.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CDh8inuZB
Though, he himself could not understand how his friend was unable to be fatigued. “How long have you been up for?” Julien asked, returning his mug.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KdUIkdkET
Under his lips, Arminius unbound his eifer and reheated the water once more. A glow of electric was absorbed by the minerals in the contents of the vessel that revived the steam that perished from Julien’s cold.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFriQWJvok
Arminius answered him softly, “Since dawn.” Taking a second sip to water down the smoke, he had soon cleared half his cigarette.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo95hG8TuN7
It was unlike usual tobacco that his instructors and comrades indulged in and the smell was not stingingly foul. Rather, in fact, it was pleasant enough for most to be near and enjoy second-handedly. The scent of dried herbal tea leaves and a hint of coffee was easy on his health as a snack that was never harmful as the energy stores of the smoke reworked its way around the body, eventually culminating as eifer. Yet, his friend refused to see any positives of it as the current of ash kickstarted his tiresome care.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJvWjO4HMs
Julien dragged his equipment out of a trunk and laid it on Arminius’s bottom bunk as he urged, “You should quit it.”81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwCM3G6XZm
“Why?” Staring out of the window, Arminius defended its good as a whitish gray film wrapped around him like a tail, concealing his eyes like a delicate veil that with a single breath it could be broken apart. “It’s the only thing that keeps me company in the mornings.” Without a need to continue his companionship with his herbs, Arminius took a last swig of water and a lungful of smoke.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6YsYDy0fm
He pressed the cigarette against the table and gave it a firm push to put out its embers. The orange tint was smothered as in the background of the two, blurred by their continued conversations, the squad of their corner was just waking. Their heads throbbed with a brute delirious and unsure of where he had awoken. The Rus stared into the ceiling with drool rolling down his chin. By a cadet typically quiet, a sleeping dragon was called to wake but he stayed couched in his slumber. Besides their noise, a giant laid awake who often needed no sleep.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTE759dogt
“Where do you think we’ll be posted?” Julien pulled on his boots and tied a knot on each as he asked.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3lfAs1WFO
The penchant that he always wore hid beneath his collar but almost everyone had questioned him for what it was or signified. Almost no one knew its answer. Fixing his equipment with straps over his chest and pouches hooked onto his belt, he fitted a knife on his hip and most importantly, a sword whose hilt and sheath had been polished daily to give it a shine like silver. But despite preparations he had to make of his own, he had space to worry over what postings they were to be given. His comrade, luckily, was in no mood to chat, sitting upright and uncrossing his legs.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡParbAthuQa
It would be wrong to say that he was unexcited, when he like all the same, accidentally showed a brief grin as he took his saber, despite his saying, “Somewhere no fun I can imagine.” Arminius stood and tightened the kepi on his head.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡys4KhCCCrx
Ahead of any other, in departure for their final parade, he tread across the hall with his back against the window and light. His footsteps had become lighter than however light they already were, trained by the extra caution taken on exercise oft on a forest floor. Always reminded to imagine that wherever he was, expect an enemy around the corner and to posture himself that was resilient against the foe. And so he was upright and tall, dominant in whatever realm he fought.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjeY4NAcxkD
Chaining his blade onto his belt, he came by Julien who he gestured for, telling him to hurry and follow on, “C’mon.” It was clear that he had not lost his sense of heart and that Arminius only carried the false demeanor of a soulless soldier.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMh91vUhPQ
After all, no matter how much they had trained, the base of their soul was that of the same. Wanting for someone to be beside. As Julien fixed his finishing touches, he sprung up from his bed with half a smile, of fervor and angst, and swung around the frame of their bunk. Chasing his friend, he came beside him as both their expressions brightened. Together, towards the doorway leading into the field, they marched, knowing that their instructors had already gathered themselves in preparement for their graduation parade. However, uncertainty awaited them, even if they were without a single pause in their steps, they had their reservations. Crisp, their heels knocked on the floorboards of the barrack as they came about the end of the corridor. Placing a hand on its handle, Arminius swung awide their quarters’ single door and let battling in a summer wind. The blistering heat on their faces rushed by and lapped against the walls, pushing them onward as the air retreated like the seas’ tides.81Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wrALYpZuu
