Book 3 Chapter 11

“I was brought to a large facility….” Torvus continued, “Didn’t know where I was, but there were dozens of other children all around my age. All of us just standing nervously in this large underground chamber as these adults just stared at us.”

“Dozens?” Tirr asked, his eyes narrowing in anger.

Torvus nodded, “From all over… It was something I only found out later but there were children from around the continent. Poor, rich, orphans like me or stolen from their houses. They didn’t care, they just wanted the best recruits they could have for what they called the Academy.”

“They didn’t lie to us… They told us exactly what our lives would be like from then on. I don’t think many of us believed them. Or at least understood them… But I know I did. I’d seen the look in their eyes far too often. It was easy to see that they didn’t even see us as people. We were just pieces of stone they were hoping to shape into tools.”

“On that first day, they paired us up, told us from then on the only one we could trust was our partner. The kid I was paired up with was an orphan like me but from down in the Southlands. We were assigned a small room with nothing but two straw sacks as beds. And from then on for 5 years that was our home…”

Torvus stopped, his last words hanging in the air as the smile slipped from his lips. Tirr felt himself shiver as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The expression that was left behind was similar to the one he had noticed on Sera. Hollow, unfeeling eyes cast over a blank expression…

“After that day our lives were filled with nothing but physical, mental, and emotional torture…” Torvus continued his voice barely higher than a whisper. “Designed specifically to break us down, to make us forget we were anything before we became tools.”

“The day would start, or that’s what we assumed as there was no sunlight, no rooster or bell to bring in the morning. You woke up when they said so, and if you hesitated even a little bit you’d get a beating.”

“After that was training… Always your pair against the others. Whether it was just running or knife practice it was all a competition. Those that did well were rewarded with the ability to eat, those that did poorly, got to spend a week in bed recovering…”

Maria’s face dropped, her eyes filled with horror as she listened to Torvus speak. Tirr sat silently one fist cracking as he clenched it tightly.

“After that were classes of all sorts, from proper etiquette among royalty to how to fillet a fish. Anything and everything was seared into our brains to prepare us for our future. And as always, your results were always judged by your pair. You did well together and were rewarded, or you failed together and were punished.”

“By the time classes were over you’d barely be able to drag yourself back to your bed, and before you knew it it would be time to do it all over again. The days just went on and until you felt like there would never be an end to it. Some tried to escape, others tried to fight back. All of them were made into examples for the rest of us…”

The smile crept back into Torvus’s face, his body relaxing, “Through it all, your partner ended up being the only good constant in your life. I was useless in classes but my partner carried us through thankfully. And I did the same for us in training as I was more than able there.”

“Five years we spent in that hellhole with only each other… And after five years came our final test… To kill your partner with your own hands…” Torvus laughed, “Some kids weren’t able to do it, and the guild crushed them quickly… Others ripped into each other without hesitation, tearing each other apart limb from limb with whatever they could get their hands on... The Guild had made it clear the only thing between you and freedom was one death. For some, it was too tempting.”

“And you,?”Tirr asked, his eyes locked on Torvus.

“I hesitated, but I did it… and it broke me… Exactly what they wanted…” Torvus chuckled.

“Once out of the academy, life changed drastically. There was no longer a schedule, or people constantly checking my work to see if I needed to be punished. I was free, in a way at least. Instead, I would be given an assignment once or twice a month. If I completed it I was rewarded with money and praise, if I failed I was warned I’d be put on the top of someone else’s list. I never failed though… I succeeded, over and over again. Until I was one of the best…”

“It was then that they put me back with the old man, I don’t think there was even enough of me left at the time to even feel mad at him. I was a tool made to be used… Raife knew about the process, though I don’t think he’d seen the before and after so directly.”

“He said I was useless like that, that any real human being could tell from a mile away that I was a monster… he said I needed to learn how to be a person again…And so I did, The old man taught me how to be alive again... Or at least how to fake all the emotions I could no longer show naturally.”

Torvus walked over toward the window, pulling the curtain to one side to stare down at the children playing below, “That time was… alright. It was better than the hell I’d come out of. But the more I remembered about being a human the more I remembered how he was responsible for everything that happened to me. And I know he felt it too. Not sure if it was guilt, or remorse, or what, but everything changed when the shard was discovered...”