Chapter 2: Into the Ranks
The spider guided me out of the caves, and as soon as I did, my eyes were met with such a blinding light. I thought the outside world was hell, but it didn't take long for my eyes to adjust. And as soon as they did, the world became very familiar to me as if I already had previous knowledge of it. The gentle dirt and grass on my feet. The blue sky with a couple of clouds. The bright sun. A pleasant breeze. In the distance, I saw a city made of iron and gold. There were others of my kind. As I followed the scent, I saw others that looked like me patrolling the area carrying sheathed blades and crossbows. There were also others who plowed the field and working in mines, but they looked very different from me - and also very malnourished.
It was strange knowing all of these things without previous knowledge, but I would be reassured that that was normal. I came upon the city center and came upon where the scent was coming from. I looked up at a red, iron tower that scraped the clouds.
And as soon as I came upon that tower, I was greeted by a large roach. He was rough and scarred, and acted as if he was in a positon of command, although I was unsure whether he was a commander or not.
"Ahh. You must be new blood, if you came here," the roach said.
"Where...?" I asked.
"You are in the presence of the Queen's tower. The scent that you followed is the first instinct of new blood. She is at the top, but you will not be allowed to see her," he replied, "Now, I'll be taking you to where all the new recruits come in. You'll be trained extensively and then sent off to fight."
I nodded my head.
"Salute me, roach!" the man commanded.
And I immediately did without even knowing what a salute was until then. It was something that we were born to know like many other things.
So, after that, he took me to what could be called as a training academy. It was a structure built entirely with metal. The floor was made of stone. The beds were simple, but comfortable. And we were disciplined, which wasn't too difficult to do to roaches.
There were many other roaches there. All new blood like me. We all got reasonably along with each other. We all knew who each of us were, but none of us had names. One of the members decided on giving names. He named every one of the squad members, but I chose to remain as just a roach. I didn't really see the need for names at that time. That roach's name was Brother. I couldn't remember the others, but I did remember him. Brother was the one who taught me that each one of our kind were like brothers and sisters to each other. It was the first lesson even before learning about the glorious empire. Unfortunately, I turned down many of Brother's nicknames that he gave to me. I just preferred being called a roach.
Before any of us went through basic combat training, we were taught what we were fighting for. Peace. Freedom. Security. All for the Queen's empire. And I believed all of it. Every single bit of information they fed. The Queen was noble and kind to her subjects. It was a blessing for them to become a part of the empire. And we were her soldiers to make sure that happened for a better world. I believed in that dream. I still do. A better world for all creatures to live under one nation. And fighting for the Queen was the greatest honor any of us could do. It was what we were born to do. Bred to be soldiers under her command.
As soon as we learned what we were fighting for, each of us were given a purpose. I never felt like I was born to do nothing. I was always born to fight for our beautiful and strong Queen. Each roach believed that. It was what we were taught. And even as I was born, I felt like that was what I was meant to do.
And then we were taught to fight with swords and crossbows. I practiced fighting with other roaches. I wasn't very good or bad at either. There were a few who were exceptional. Others weren't as lucky. To the trainers watching, the exceptional ones were able to fight earlier than the rest of us. The weak roaches who couldn't keep up would get killed in practice or die of illness. However, I did see some of them manage to improve themselves and become quite strong.
The one thing that was strange to me was that these trainers weren't roaches like myself or the other cadets. They were fully armored in steel. There were only a few, but each one were very capable fighters.
Each time I fell down, I quickly got back up for another round.
However, each time I lost, I was scolded by the trainers. They each said the same thing.
"Losing means death. And dead roaches are no use to the Queen. You must fight each battle like it's your last," they said.
So, that's what I did. And it made me improve vastly in battle. I learned not to honor your opponents. One time, I had beaten one of the other roaches, but when I let my guard down, he kicked me down and held me by the neck.
"Many of you may have heard of the term known as 'honor'," one of the trainers said, "Never expect your enemy to have honor. All the enemy wants is to win. So, you must focus on winning as well. If they do have some sense of honor, do not respect it. That is a weakness that is to be exploited. Many of my brethren have died resisting the Queen due to a false sense of honor. Now, they're in the graves with their useless honor. In essence, always aim to win."
I have learned much in just a short time at this academy. It was rough. Every single roach wanted to one up the other.
However, there was one thing that united us. Our loyalty to the Queen. Not one of us would question another's loyalty.
But I wanted to learn more about what I was loyal to. In between practices, I read up on the history of the Queen's Empire as well as other kingdoms' at the local library. Most of the information was restricted, but I just had to tell them it was for military research and I was allowed whatever I needed. I didn't feel like I was lying or going against the Queen. To me, it was true that I was interested in learning more about this world. I learned about previous conquests and strategies used in ancient times. I even looked at a little bit of magic, however I had no affinity for it. What I did learn was that the Queen was beautiful. There was an artist's depiction of her and it was radiant. She carried so much weight on her shoulders, yet created an empire with the noble goal of uniting all under her gentle hands.
The training was quick. As the empire needed to grow quickly, so did the soldiers. I had to pass a final test to prove that I was ready to fight. I had to face against one of the trainers. His name was Galek Mermo. He was fully armored and held a double-sided glaive.
I used the standard armaments for a regular soldier. A crossbow and a sword. However, our arrows and sword were wooden. His weapon was made of steel. It was quick fight.
I shot a couple of arrows with my crossbow, but Galek easily deflected those arrows with his weapon and armor. He charged in and I had to choice but to defend myself. I dodged his strikes. I could tell he was holding back. When I saw an opening, I took it and pierced him through one of the openings in his armor. I passed that test like many others. To me, it felt more like he intentionally gave an opening, but I was sure he didn't actually expect any of us to pass if he tried.
But all that mattered to me was that I passed. And so did Brother. The two of us were very excited to go into battle.
As we were being sent off, the trainers gave us a salute and we did the same.
"Glory to the Queen!" the trainers yelled.
"Glory to the Queen!" we all shouted together. Every roach in there that went through this academy felt like family to each other by the end of it. And each of us held in our excitement for going to war.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone