Waking up the next day to the screams of the sergeant wasn't even a surprise. The sun however wasn't even up yet. Something that he would have to get used to, Working at the forge, his father had always said, should always be done in the bright light. That way you can better see wat you are doing and create better quality work.

Dorian and his squad quickly leapt out of bed and got dressed. Running outside to get into formation. The halls were filled with recruits dressed and in a hurry. It barely took them any time at all to get outside and in neat formation.

Luckily people seemed to pick things up quickly and already had no trouble forming ranks at the break of dawn. The sergeant gave them a slight approving nod before leading them to the marching grounds. Were once more they would pound their boots on the grass bent by morning dew.

The sergeant started with simply rehearsing things from the night before, turns and stopping in order untill it seemed the century had it down. After finishing the simple drills they started moving on to more complicated manuevers. They had to form different formations in an instant. The sergeant took his time putting them in place and giving them directions who had to go where the first time they did these.

The second time however he expected the formations to be done quickly. Naturally at first it was still a bit messy. People stumbling into each other and nowhere near the harmonious synchronisation seen by the veteran legionaries who were showing them how to do the drills before they themselves were made to do them.

The morning was spent marching, soon enough the lack of sustenance got to the recruits. The thirst was the more obvious but a stomach rumbling its complaints and begging for food didn't help in the slightest.

Then at long last it was time for breakfast. Soon enough they found themselves lining up at the cantina making their way to their tables with their bowls of porridge. The cantina this time was filled with other legionaries. The noise a place could make with so many men and woman who were talking at once was astounding.

The low buzz of voices was something new to Dorian, Sure he had noticed the same thing in the city but most people then were simply walking to get somewhere. Here in the cantina nearly everyone was holding conversations. Here and there you could pick up a sliver of a story, or a rumor about a commanding officer if you looked for it.

Not being interested in the latest gossip however, mostly because the hunger was really kicking in, the squad made their way to a table and sat down. Vor taking place at the head of the table and just sitting himself down on the ground.

As soon as they sat down they began spooning the porridge inside again. The thick white porridge really hit the spot. He could feel energy storing itself throughout his body. Recharging himself with the gruel he sighed deeply, enjoying the food.

The other people around the table also silently enjoyed their food, here and there with a smacking of the lips, or a deep sigh rivaling his own. The recruits felt a lot better now that they had a good foundation to work on.

After the sergeant took them outside again the recruits went at the training exercises with renewed enthusiasm. After more hours of marching and formations, it was lunch, and then after even more of the same it was already time for dinner.

The days passed by like this with remarkable speed. Well at least for Dorian it felt as if the days were passing by swiftly. A few of the recruits had quit after the first 3 weeks. Only a handful to be accurate. Most of them had stayed.

In those weeks however a surprising event had happened. One of the recruits had speculated how they could march all day out in the sun, with only three meals a day. The recruit in question came from on of the desert areas of the empire and knew a lot about the importance of water.

This had raised questions in a lot of the recruits. It was indeed weird that they could go on this long without drinking water every hour or so. The amount of water they were sweating was no where near the amount of water they were drinking. At least that is how it seemed to the recruits.

The answer was then answered, unexpectedly, by the sergeant. As it turned out a mage with a high affinity for the element of water worked in the kitchen. He somehow managed to imbue his energy in the breakfast porridge that they had eaten every day. This magical porridge was wat had been sustaining them throughout the day.

The sergeant even mentioned that it would be quite possible to last a whole day on just the magical breakfast porridge if one had a normal schedule. But since they were training day in day out the porridge was a sturdy foundation keeping the legionaries on their feet and up and at it the entire day.

It seemed that this porridge was served at nearly every camp and there was a chef academy that these special mages had gone to that focused on the integration of magic into food. The result was both delicious and practical. Making it extremely popular with the legion who would be gone out of reach from a city and good food for most of their careers.

These specially educated chefs were the delight of any legionary. The positions it seemed payed extremely well and there was quite a bit of prestige to said chefs. The position was well sought after and many water mages took this direction as it offered a steady and well payed employment option.

The magical porridge however was the only thing that had really differed from the same boring routine the recruits went through every day. The squad had gotten to know each other quite well over the last 3 weeks.

Although they hadn't pried to deep into each others lives as off now they had gained a lot of common knowledge about each other. Getting used to each other and forming bonds of comradery was something that as deemed necessary for a squadron. Or even a century as a whole.

Friendship's had started to sprout all around the century. Recruits getting to know other recruits from other squadrons. Some squadrons didn't get on to well with each other but all in all nothing worth noted had happened.

Yet today was finally the day all of them had been waiting for.

Combat training!

The sergeant took them to the armory once more where the quartermaster handed out swords and propriety sized shields for all the recruits.Once more the effective quarter master showed his expertise and efficiency when he eyed a soldier and got the right sizes for them on the first try.

Having the actually quite heavy tower shield on his left arm actually made a bit of a difference when marching. The shield could entangle in the feet of the one marching next to you and could cause a collision that sent the whole row tumbling to the ground.

The sergeant showed them a way of holding the shield that kept the shield slighty slanted to their side. This required a bit of arm strength but kept other people from stumbling on your shield. People who lacked in arm strength however were still having trouble keeping the shield upright. Ístril being one of these. Although the girl had proven during marching that she had impressive stamina her arm strength was severely lacking.

It did not take long for her and others to be unable to hold their shields properly. Some of them weren't even capable of keeping their arms upright till they had marched to the practice grounds.

Once they had reached said grounds. Most people leaned their shields on the ground breathing heavily. The sergeant however allowed them no such respite and soon had them in a looser formation than usual each facing the front.

The sergeant then had them go through a series of slashing and stabbing motions with the sword they had been issued. Called a Gladius by the legionaries. The gladius itself was a rather unremarkable short sword that wasnt very heavy on the arms. At least in Dorians experience, of course having worked at a forge for half his life his arms were a good deal stronger than those of the average person.

The sergeant kept them moving through the formations again and again. Unlike the marching which they had gotten used to quickly, Recruits were starting to have real trouble keeping up with the sergeants pace now. Swinging again and again in full armour having a heavy tower shield on the other hand was extremely exhausting.

The short little respites they had gotten between each marching formation was dearly missed here. After a few minutes of these exercises people were starting to be unable to move their arms. Especially those with the weaker arm strength were having alot of trouble moving their heavy tower shields with each strike.

He could see Ístril trying her hardest to move the arm that was dangling at her side now completely refusing the orders she was so fervently trying to give it. Face red with effort her long golden hair matted and plastered to her forehead. Gladiel aswell was having trouble moving his shield arm by now. Arin,Blaits,Vor and Dorian hadn't had the slightest trouble with the heavy equipment so far.

The difference in body strength had been long apparent to the group however. Especially Vor who however not fast, was easily the strongest recruit in the Century. His shield was even bigger than the ones the rest of them had been issued but Vor swung the thing around as if it was a piece of paper latched onto a stick.

No matter how tired the recruits were getting the sergeant would not let them pause. Swing,swing and stab. Swing,Swing and stab. Again and again the recruits repeated the motions. The first recruit collapsed unable to lift her arms anymore she sank to her knees sweat rolling down her face finding its way to the ground.

Her squadmates moved to help her to her feet but the sergeant screamed at them to return to their positions and so they kept on swinging. One after another the recruits were dropping now. Ístril did her utmost to remain standing and you could see the effort she was making to move her arms again. But any energy she had left had been depleted and other than slight tremors the shield did not move.

Gladiel was on his hands and feet on the ground gasping for breath, he aswell was no longer able to keep his shield raised and his blade swinging. The recruits were dropping like flies now, soon even the more able-bodied recruits were starting to hit the grass.

After a few minutes there was but a handful of recruits still swinging. Some of the others who had fallen before had tried to join the ones still swinging but after a few swings their muscles once again refused to move. After one or two of these attempts most of them gave up and sat down on the ground to catch their breath.

Ístril however showed more determination, refusing to drop to her knees she continued to try to swing her blade. The effort was noted by the sergeant but unfortunately she was still unable to get the blade and shield to move.

At long last the next of Dorians squadmates dropped. Blaitz, his fur plastered to his skin, dripping with sweat could no longer swing his blade. Another 2 recruits dropped before Arin aswell was no longer able to continue.

Finally there were only 3 of them left, One recruit that Dorian did not know, he seemed to be a human male but his size left doubt in his head. The man was huge, bald and sweaty his bulging muscles still swung the sword and shield in the motions the sergeant showed them. The sergeant aswell had been swinging his weapons with the rest of the recruits the entire time.

Although the sergeant had a sheen of sweat upon his forehead his muscles did not seem to have any trouble swinging the shield and blade. Vor, Dorian and the bald man continued swinging together with the sergeant, they must have been at it for over an hour now. Dorian who's body was used to wielding his fathers heavy hammers and other equipment at the forge, was although drenched in sweat still able to swing the blade and shield.

At long last the sergeant gave them the signal to stop, breathing heavily Dorian let the sword and shield hang at his sides. The bald man aswell was breathing heavily and stretching the muscles in his arms to get the knots out of them. Vor was the most disturbing, no sweat, not even breathing heavily the exercise seemed to have had no tiring effect on the Entman at all.

This exhausting exercise had been nothing but a morning warm-up the sergeant told them as he led them to the cantina for breakfast. The recruits poured the porridge down their throats as fast as they could. Hoping the magic in it would restore some sense of feeling back into their limbs. No such luck however.

After breakfast the exercise continued once again untill only 3 remained. Once they were done swinging, it was time for a light jog as the sergeant called it. 20 kilometers in full armour was nowhere near a light jog, even Dorian who had run a bunch with his father found it extremely tiring when done in full armour.

Next was more muscle-building exercise, which moved onto team-building exercises, which moved onto swimming exercises. One after another they were made to do things that pressed their bodies to the limit.

At the end of the day even the bald man and Dorian could no longer swing their swords and shields. Vor however still had no trouble with anything, except swimming it seemed. For some reason however the sergeant didn't make him swim. Later they found out that Entmen as a race could not swim. It was just not physically possible for them.

Finally it was time to head to their beds, tired as they were Dorian and his squad went to sleep without any further conversation. They simply did not have the energy for it. Stripping of their armour and falling into bed was the only thing they had energy left for. Blaitz, Arin and Gladiel couldn't even climb into their beds anymore that was how exhausted their muscles were.

With a friendly smile Vor offered to lift them up to their beds. The 3 had no choice but to accept his offer and although a bit humiliating they were too tired to complain about it and as soon as they had tucked themselves in they fell into deep slumber.

The next day the sergeant woke them but there was a slight difference in how they usually would be woken up. This time they had half an hour to get ready. The muscle aches the recruits were going through made it apparent why the sergeant had done so. Barely anyone could still move properly.

Gladiel tried to climb out of bed and when his muscles refused to do as he expected of them he fell with his smugly handsome face straight onto the cold stone floor. The rest all took seats on the bottom bunks to rest for a minute.

"How does the sergeant expect us to move with muscle aches like these" Ístril questioned looking at the rest of the squad.

'Hells if i know" Said Blaitz sprawled over the bed wishing he could sleep some more.

"I might actually be able to help with that" Dorian said looking his squadmates in the eye in turn. "I could use some of my fire magic to aid in a massage that would ease the strain on your muscles."

The rest of squad looked at him in surprise. "Wait you can use magic?" Gladiel asked stunned by the words. "And you didn't go to a mage academy?"

"Well i only have small potential in fire, the only reason i can do anything with it at all is because my mother spent a lot of time teaching me how to use it." Dorian stated.

"But more to the point" Ístril said ending the conversation. "You can do something so our muscles will work properly again?"

"At the very least it will relieve the pain a bit" Dorian said nodding.

"Then please do so." Istril said motioning Dorian to do his thing.

Dorian then asked Ístril to lie down on the bedface first. He sat still next to her for a while, taking his time to gather the magical energies surging through his body and focusing them on his finger tips. Causing the skin to glow red and heat to emanate from them in waves.

The rest of the squad just looked at his fingers in amazement seeing the slight fluctuations in the air the heat was causing. He then pressed his fingers to her arm running them across the muscles with a bit of pressure. First Ístril flinched a bit in pain at the pressure on her muscles before letting out a small moan of relief as the heat seeped into her muscles mending the tears a bit and dulling the pain.

Expertly moving his fingers along the muscles and nerves he pressed at some points and traced line on others. From arms to legs and then finally to the muscles in her back he used his magic to heal as much of the muscle ache as he could. After a minute or 2 Dorian was done and Ístril let out one more sigh of relief as she stood up testing her muscles.

"Incredible" She murmured looking at Dorian while tenderly squatting to the floor and standing back up without her muscles collapsing back on her. "You have got to teach me that."

"If we have the time i will make sure to do so" Dorian said smiling at her. "It would help me aswell since i can only do this on others and not on myself, Well then who next?"

The other 3 all raised their hands excitedly, Arin dove on the bed not giving the others a chance to be first.

"Put those fingers of yours to good use, Hot thing that you are" She jested, shaking her but a little teasing him.

Laughing, Dorian once again gather his energies and went to work. Although the difference in build between a dwarf and a human was alot different from an elf and a human, Dorian was still able to successfully get rid of most of the muscle aches.

After Arin it was Blaitz turn, Although having the same build as any human getting to the muscles on a beastman was harder than Dorian had expected. You had no idea how much fur got in the way of finding pressure points. Thus it took longer than with the girls to get the massage done and over with.

Last but not least it was Gladiels turn. He was the most tricky of all because of his Aethling body. Aethlings do not have muscles and nerves and organs in the same way humans,dwarfs or elves have. They have a heart-like organ that is in the center of their chest. This 'heart' pulsates in a beat like any normal human heart. The difference was however instead of sending blood through the veins it sent some kind of magical energies through them.

The muscles of an Aethlings body were made of these same strange magical energies. He could not heal Gladiel's body in the same way as he had healed those of the others. He let his magic seep into the tears in these magical muscles and then used his own magical supply to mend the tears in these magical muscles.

Surprisingly this was easier than wat he had done with the other 3 he could just press his fingers in the middle of Gladiel's chest and then send his magical energy throughout the body to do its work. All in all the way he healed Gladiels body was even better than those of the others. As good as new he could even say.

Gladiel stood up and moved his body around in surprise. "I don't even feel a thing!" He exclaimed excited about the discovery. "It's as if i never went through yesterday at all, this is amazing!" Bouncing around and jumping to test his muscles, Gladiel seemed extatic about the way his body had healed.

The rest just looked on in surprise as to how the difference could be this big between the change they felt and to Gladiels apparent change. Dorian quickly explained to them the difference between an Aethlings body and their bodies, and how he had used his magical energies mend the tears in the magical muscles of the Aethling.

The group was surprised with the discovery of the difference in anatomy between themselves and the Aethlings. A discussion erupted between them as they wanted to figure out the differences between Gladiel, Vor and themselves.

Before they could get deeper into the topic however an other recruit knocked on their door signaling them that it was time to get in formation again.

Sorry for the delay guys! I was sick the last few days, More accurately my medicine had run out and was giving me trouble. Anyways excuses excuses! I will make it up to you guys by making the next few chapters a good bit bigger [th_096_K.gif] , as i did with this one. Hope u guys are still reading!

And if you are, Thanx once again for reading! hope you enjoy the story so far!

Sayl OUT! [th_084_.gif]