CHAPTER FOUR

Children of the Military

The next day, eighteen of us kids were lined up in the middle of the institute’s central courtyard like tiny soldiers standing at attention underneath the rays of the morning sun.

“I don’t want to be here,” Number Three whispered into my ear.

She was fidgeting in place next to me, earning herself a scornful glare from the major who had been inspecting our line.

“Stop moving, Number Three, or you’ll be hidden like the others,” Number Four whispered from Number Three’s other side.

The others, that’s what the major and his cronies called my seven crib mates who’d failed to awaken the spark like the rest of us. This made their sudden marginalization my fault since I set the stupid standard the adults judged us on now.

Honestly, just remembering that they were stuck in their shared room sent a big lump of guilt sticking up my windpipe.

“I don’t mind...” Number Three brushed the sweat on her forehead with her shirtsleeve. “Better than the heat...”

“I told you to play outside more and get used to summer,” Number Four sighed.

“Don’t wanna,” Number Three frowned. “I like the cool of the playroom.”

Number Four poked Number Three in the ribs in annoyance. In response, Number Three pulled on a strand of Number Four’s pale blonde locks.

“Settle down now, girls!” Major Heinrich snapped at the pair of them. “Remember... today you must all be perfect.”

Number Five, the wavy-haired blonde boy standing on the other side of me, whispered, “Girls, idiots,” so only I could hear him.

“Stop smiling, Number One,” Number Three grumbled.

“I’m not,” I replied, although I was.

It was these little things — the sister-like rivalry of Number Three and Number Four, the funny remarks Number Five doled out at the right time — they endeared me to my fellow crib mates and made this whole ordeal of growing up as a lab rat bearable. We may not have been blood-related, but I thought of each one — even tiny Number Six who liked to eat his boogers — as my brothers and sisters. I hoped we would always be the way we were now, which was a family of sorts.

“Attention!” the lieutenant yelled behind us.

The soldiers, researchers, and nursemaids lined to either side of us straightened their backs in time with the wrought-iron gates opening at the other end of the courtyard. They raised their hands to their chests and saluted the sleek black carriage that drove into view.

What the hell kind of design is that?

The ‘carriage’ looked nothing like the horse-drawn boxes of my old world. Its bottom half was styled like a fancy-looking longboat with golden filigree plastered on the sides and two pairs of wheels on the underside of each end. Its sleek black roof gave the thing a bullet-like shape reminiscent of an airplane.

The Armestys flag — an unfilled gold-lined circle surrounded by lines that curve in an anti-clockwise direction emblazoned on a field of red — fluttered proudly at the top of the carriage.

“Symbol for gold,” Number Five whispered.

I also knew that the sun was the arcane symbol for gold, which Captain Wolf had once explained stood for the perfection of the mental, physical, and spiritual. So I guess that meant I was a nerd like Number Five was. Although I doubt he knew it also stood for order, which Captain Wolf also explained was the fatherland’s raison d’être.

“To bring order to the chaos of Eura... that’s what we fight for, Number One,” he’d said to me the previous night.

“Do you... believe in that?” I’d asked him.

“Sometimes,” he’d admitted. “But then I see them do shit like raising babies to be their perfect soldiers and I just...”

He’d sighed deeply just before ruffling my hair.

“Forget what I said, kiddo... some stuff you don’t lay on a child no matter how smart he is.”

But I couldn’t forget the defiant look I’d seen on his face like he wasn’t at all on board with what the institute was doing to us. And seeing that first man step out of the carriage, the memory of yesterday’s conversation came back to the forefront of my mind.

He was tall and bulky to where his muscles were bursting out of the seams of his all-black military uniform. Medals of all kinds were pinned to his chest and the stars of a general shone on his shoulders.

Oh, yeah, he definitely gives off the primarch vibes...

Funnily enough, I was wrong. The muscle man with the short, brushed-back hair wasn’t the primarch. He was just one of his aides. No, the actual primarch got off the carriage next, and from everything I’d heard of the guy — how he’d single-handedly saved Western Armestys from defeat during the Drachen Rebellion or how he’d beaten off Ashyan pirates who’d appeared on Armestys’ eastern shores via the Gem Ocean — I’ve got to say, I was a little underwhelmed.

He was short and thin, looking nothing like the well-toned soldiers standing guard around him. Short-cropped salt and pepper hair, a pale, pointed face with a high aquiline nose above a villain’s mustache, and lips that seemed set in a permanent smile — he didn’t seem impressive at all, and yet I couldn’t help but feel a slight chill rise up my spine as his sea-gray eyes passed over me.

“Hello, everyone. It warms my heart to see you all assembled so readily,” he said in an almost genial grandfatherly tone.

As one, the soldiers around us saluted him. “Hail, Primarch!”

The primarch chuckled, and then his gaze drifted from the soldiers to us. “And these must be the special children I’ve heard so much about.”

He strode forward — with his guards in lockstep — and shook the major’s hand.

“The madam tells me your hard work has yielded excellent results, Major Heinrich.”

“Thank you, Primarch... But this achievement would not have been possible without the madam’s assistance.”

Speaking of that beautiful woman I’d met those many months ago, she was nowhere in sight. I hadn’t seen her since that day I awakened my spark.

“I expect a good showing,” the primarch said, chuckling once more.

Major Heinrich bowed his head. “Certainly, Primarch.”

Yep, it’s going to be a good show... I smiled my usual toddler smile. Just you wait and see...

After the primarch inspected each one of us, happily noting how our blonde hair and blue eyes showed off his ideal ‘Eurian Perfection’, we were brought into a wing of the institute I had never been to.

It was a giant hall with a vaulted ceiling and raised seats surrounding a wooden-paneled, basketball-sized arena. It was a gymnasium where we were paraded around first to the “Oo~ohs,” and “Aa~~ahs,” of the crowd before being told to perform our tricks for the major’s higher-ups.

Number Two — a short, frail-looking kid with wavy, sandy hair and dark blue eyes — was first to be called.

The major sent him to the white circle drawn on the floor at the center of the arena and told him to, “Show the primarch your ability, Number Two,” and he did just that.

Number Two sat lotus style on the floor just like I’d taught him many months ago and began to demonstrate our way of harnessing natural energy with our spark.

Nothing happened at first, leaving some of the primarch’s underlings to whisper into each other’s ears. I couldn’t hear them, but I could guess at what they were talking about based on the nasty looks they gave Number Two.

Prepare to be wowed, you old fogies... He’s Number Two for a reason.

It started pretty subtly, but eventually, everyone noticed the aura of natural energy coalescing around Number Two. He’d drawn in so much of it that we could all see the familiar blue sparks of magic dancing around him.

He-he-he, he can conjure up almost as much natural energy as I can.

Yes, I was feeling weirdly proud of my fellow crib mate’s accomplishment. And, predictably, the old fogies who’d looked at Number Two with ridicule were now staring at him with their jaws hanging from their faces.

“It’s all he can do, though,” Number Four whispered.

Number Five nodded in agreement. “He’d be cooler if he could do something with it.”

At his words, Number Three gave me an uneasy glance.

Yes, I had been just like Number Two until yesterday. And man, I couldn’t wait until my turn came up so I could show everyone just how awesome I’d become.

Number Three was called up next, and if the primarch’s people were impressed with Number Two, then they were all certainly smitten by Number Three’s talent.

At barely five years old, Number Three could already conjure more than one ‘Water Ball’ from the moisture in the surrounding air. Even more impressive was how her three basketball-sized water balls danced in the air in tune with her body’s rhythm as she danced across the arena’s wooden floor like a water fairy enchanting all who watched her.

“Her nursemaid’s a dancer... she taught Number Three,” Number Four explained, sounding quite proud of her.

It was no surprise that Number Three would get a great deal of applause from the stands. And she returned to our line with sweat dripping down her grinning face like the performer she was.

“Did you see, Number One?” she asked breathlessly.

I gave her the thumbs up. “Not bad, dancing girl.”

Her grin widened at my compliment.

“I’m up,” Number Four said as she picked up the bucket of rocks and dirt at her side. “Watch me, Number Three.”

“Kay!” Number Three replied.

Like me, Number Four had discovered her affinity for the earth element, but she was more of a purist compared to my metal bending talents.

She unloaded the contents of her bucket onto the floor before waving her hands over the pile of dirt in front of her. Blue sparks flew between Number Four’s fingers, forcing the bits of dirt and rock to gravitate toward the space between her hands to coalesce into a shape I recognized as a rather large arrowhead.

Sheesh, it’s really challenging to stay at the top of a nursery full of overachievers...

Once its shape had solidified enough, Number Four launched her ‘Dirt Arrow’ across the arena like a cannon erupting out of her hands to explode onto the target dummy that had been set up fifteen yards away.

Note to self... do not piss Number Four off either... the girls in this group are crazy strong...

The straw dummy’s top half had been obliterated by her conjured spell, earning Number Four a big round of applause from our audience.

It looks almost like a transfiguration spell, though... Maybe I should try teaching her my new technique, too.

When she returned to us, strands of pale blonde hair clung to the sweat that matted her cheeks, but like Number Three, Number Four’s azure eyes were shining with unveiled delight.

Number Five came up next, and although his performance wasn’t as flashy as the two before him, the way he manipulated the wind and caused a tiny tornado to erupt underneath the seats of the primarch’s guards was pretty cool, too.

It was also funny watching them trying to swat away air like that. Unfortunately, the comical reaction to his spell earned Number Five one of the major’s patented scornful looks.

They’ll probably take away his playroom privileges again. Not that he cares, though.

As for the primarch, he just sat in his seat looking all stoic and unbothered just like he had during the earlier performances. He was like that for everyone who followed after Number Five, too, smiling genially at my fellow crib mates like a doting grandfather tolerating his grandkids' roughhousing.

This attitude kind of annoyed me, and as my turn came, I stepped over to the circle at the center of the arena and made a promise to myself that I would make that man’s eyes bulge in shock and awe.

Now, why was I, THE Number One, last to show off my talents? Well, that’s because Captain Wolf had promised the major a show worthy of a grand finale. And although I was planning to deliver, I kind of wish he wouldn’t randomly set a higher standard on me like that.

First, let’s give them a bit of showmanship.

None of us kids were expected to salute the primarch as we were only five and probably didn’t know who the hell the primarch was. But I did, and so I saluted him Armestys-style. This got me approving nods from the military officers sitting around him.

Next, I put on the black fingerless gloves Captain Wolf had given me. No, I wasn’t trying to look cool. The gloves served a purpose.

See, I didn’t want to waste time drawing an arcane array on the floor with chalk. That just didn’t look cool — okay, so maybe I was trying to look cool, but also, I wanted to show off how creative I could get. And so I’d drawn my array on my gloves beforehand with ink made from my blood.

I know, I know, that sounds pretty dark, but according to Captain Wolf, blood was an excellent catalyst for sorcery. So I’d let him cut my arm and draw a bit of my blood for the ink — and yes, I did nearly faint at the sight of my blood. It was a shout-out to my past life and how sickly I had been.

“Here you go, Number One.” Captain Wolf had walked over to give me the piece of iron pipe he procured for my performance. “Give them a good show.”

I took the iron pipe from him and then twirled it in one hand like a baton before placing my other hand on it too so I could activate both halves of the arcane array inked on my gloves with the spark of magic living within me.

Inside the circle drawn on the glove of my left hand was the symbol for ‘iron’ which was also the symbol for man, a circle with an arrow pointing northeast. Inside the circle drawn on my right hand was the symbol for ‘blade’, which, ironically enough, was also a symbol for a man’s phallus.

“Here I go,” I whispered uneasily.

Yes, I will admit to being just a little nervous here because all eyes were glued on me. There were way more gawkers than I was used to, and just knowing that they were top government brass didn’t help my nerves.

Don’t worry about them, Number One... Just focus on the magic.

I shut my eyes and called on the spark inside of me, urging it to spread across my body like an electrical shock that caused the tips of my fingers to tingle with power.

Pretty quickly, blue sparks exploded out of my hands, causing the arcane arrays on my gloves to glow in bright blue hues. These same sparks traveled the length and breadth of the iron pipe, disassembling it into tiny shards that were then reshaped into the foot-long iron dagger I then brandished for all to see.

There was no applause, only stunned silence. It was exactly what Captain Wolf and I expected.

“Transfiguration’s a school of sorcery that requires years and years of study to achieve... It’s not something a five-year-old should be able to do,” he’d said last night.

And yet here I was, proving everyone wrong yet again. Hell, if they knew I’d only learned it all yesterday, then the shock and awe displayed on their faces might have been even more pronounced.

Still, it was kind of disconcerting standing there while everyone looked on in dumb silence. Even my crib mates had their mouths agape. All except for Number Three who was looking smugly at Number Four while excitedly pointing at me.

Nothing ever fazes that girl...

Then I heard the beginnings of a clap, and my eyes zoned in on its source — and I discovered that the primarch had left his seat to stand before me.

“May I?” he asked.

He plucked the dagger from my hands, moving so quickly that I didn’t even have time to react.

“Impressive... There are barely any transfiguration marks on this.” He trailed a finger along the dagger’s edge, drawing blood. “Oh, it’s quite sharp.”

He glanced down at me and spent a long moment inspecting my face.

“You must have a good teacher, Number One.”

I spared Captain Wolf, who was standing beside the major, a glance. “The best, sir...”

Without warning, the primarch flung my dagger across the arena, embedding it deep into the chest of the straw dummy next to the one that Number Four had obliterated.

My eyes widened in surprise at the fact that this flimsy-looking man was a fantastic shot.

“Yes, well done indeed,” he said, chuckling afterward. “I’m looking forward to seeing your growth... All of your growths.”

Honestly, I felt pretty proud of myself at that moment. I mean, I never met the president in my past life, but now the Primarch of Armestys was complimenting me. It was a pretty big step up from sickly old mediocre me, and the goosebumps rising over my flesh were proof enough of how thrilled I was.

It was also the last time I would ever feel pride swell my chest while at the institute because everything changed after that day. From that moment on, we were no longer just test subjects. We were children of the military. That meant our hellish training would truly begin — and not all of us would survive it.