37th of Baratus, 3000
3727 days to The Cataclysm

"Before you cut me off, I was going to say I've been told this fairy tale millions of times before," said Gerard

"It's no fairy tale kid, it's the truth" replied Sebastian

"Yeah sure, halfway through the story changes from scientific facts to some supernatural bullshit."

"Just because science can't explain something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Yeah sure, whatever man," said Gerard as he leaned back onto the wall.

Following that remark, nobody spoke a single word for what seemed like hours until Elric broke the silence.

"What did you mean when you said I was ready?" asked Elric.

"You said you jumped into war without thinking. That was your reflex. Reflexes like these only happen if you're born with it, or if you were trained for it."

"Makes sense, I guess" sighed Elric.

"By the way kid, what war are you talking about," asked Sebastian

"Zark dissolved the millennium peace treaty, and everyone is losing their shit and attacking each other," said Gerard.

"ZARK!?" snapped Sebastian.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH. IM GOING TO KILL HIM"

Sebastian started to struggle in his chains, terrifying Elric and Gerard. Immediately the doorway formed and Tadashi pulled both of them out.

Elric jumped to his feet and charged towards Tadashi.

Tadashi swiftly delivered a blow to his neck, rendering him unconscious.

Tadashi looked at Gerard and said;

"Take Elric and leave, the inauguration is tomorrow."

"Why did that guy lose his shit when he heard Zark's name," asked Gerard.

"I have no clue; I'm about to find out myself," replied Tadashi.

Gerard nodded. He picked up Elric and headed for the exit.

"Hey, Gerard," said Tadashi

"Yeah?" said Gerard as he turned around.

"Be safe alright? Keep Elric safe as well."

Gerard smiled and said;

"Don't you worry, I'll keep him safe, and for the record, I know why you did what you did. You care for Elric more than you let on."

Tadashi flashed a quick smile and turned around, without saying a word.

Gerard left the palace and flew to his house, carrying Elric in his hands.

"Message from Vice Admiral Shirozou Tadashi." said the voice in his visor.

"Oh, it's you again. I should give you a name, how about, Sia. You like it?"

"I am not a living being, Gerard. I don't have the concept of preference."

After a brief pause Gerard said;

"That's all? Damn, I expected you to say some prostitute level shit."

"If that's what you truly desire my Gerard, I can repro-"

"FUCK NO," snapped Gerard.

"Message from Vice Admiral Shirozou Tadashi"

"Man, what's his problem," said Gerard.

"Play the message."

"Vice-admiral Shirozou Tadashi writes 'Get your ass out of the skies and walk or something'" said Sia.

Gerard immediately descended and proceeded on foot.

A day of sleeping, screaming and scrambling for a time later, Elric and Gerard finally made it to Eirini palace just in time for the inauguration. The venue was a rather small area right outside the giant floating cube that was Eirini palace. Somehow, into this small area, the officials managed to squeeze in thousands of aspiring soldiers with identical clothing that could make even the bravest feel somewhat claustrophobic.

Every attendee patiently sat in their designated seats, chattering in anticipation for the Commander's speech who hasn't arrived yet.

The deafening roar of a beast in the distance broke through the chattering, and pin-drop silence followed. The roaring continued, and the sky started to rumble. What they witnessed next is something they would remember until their last breath. They witnessed what it felt like to gaze upon an emperor. The true power of an emperor doesn't lie in their battle prowess; rather, it lies in the loyalty they demand. To an emperor, there is no such thing as crossing the line because 'the line' is wherever they please. To them, peace is just another word that holds different meanings across the lands. This difference in interpretation is the very spark that ignites the wildfire known as war. Randel Spider, the Commander in chief of the military and the emperor of Eirini, is often stated to be the strongest of them all and is the first person that comes to mind when reminded of power.

He ripped through the clouds, mounted on his companion Mazaviroc, a dragon. The blue scales of this majestic creature embodied the darkness of the midnight sky and it's purple underbelly that of a poisoned animal. Its wings furled and unfurled as it gracefully made it's way to Eirini Palace. The purple membrane of its wings glistened a purple hue akin to royalty and each spread over a distance of 330 feet. As it perched atop the Eirini palace and spread its wings, the silhouette of this 700-foot long beast crawled its way into everyone's nightmares for days to come. Its claws outmatched any weapon known to mankind, and it's horns, that protruded around 27 feet out of its skull, could pierce a thick slab of metal as if cutting through a streamlet of water.

"Attention, please." said a voice through the microphone.

The audience looked towards the podium and saw Randel himself. He was dressed in a long black robe with gold trim and a large sheathed weapon strapped to his back.

"Welcome to the inauguration of the 412th annual soldier draft. I am Randel Spider. You may be used to calling me 'Your Highness,' but from now on, you can refer to me as Commander."

Randel picked up a stack of papers off the podium and read from it;

"The Eirinian military has a 'skip the bullshit policy' so let me get straight to the point. You will be divided into squads of 9. 6 local recruits, two foreign recruits, and one local scientist. By the end of your two year training period, you get to choose between the three military divisions. The Navy, led by Admiral Zinedine Martinez Westbrook and Vice Admiral Shirozou Tadashi. The Air Force, led by Wing Commander Xayah Pykar and Assistant Wing commander Seamus Glaive, and finally, The Army, led by Marshal Cornelia Zimeri and Deputy Marshal Ramsay Adalynn. Okay now that we have that out of the way let's get real."

Randel quickly skimmed through the thick pile and placed them down on the podium and took a deep breath.

"You know what; this is Saxton's job, I'm here for something much more important. We cannot act like this year's draft is the same as others. In the past, we drafted soldiers to protect Eirini against a potential threat, but not anymore. The threat is real now; the threat is the man who rules over the world, Johann Kenton Zark. Before I became commander, and even after that, I did.....things. Things that would give you nightmares, but do you know how I live with myself? It's because I understand how this world works. Some may say that fighting is unnecessary, and some may say the exact opposite, but I say there is no solid answer. See, we aren't the angels that ascended from the heavens, but neither are we the devils that crawled out of the depths of hell. We're soldiers at war. All we are is on different sides. In war, nobody is wrong, everybody fights for something dear to them, and our desires cannot coexist. It's sad, but that's just how the world is. You either rise or get trampled; there is no middle ground. So if you think you can stomach this, by all means, stay, but if you can't, I assure you nobody will say a word if you leave."

Randel's speech was followed by the silence of a conflicted audience. Minutes later, hundreds of aspiring soldiers got up and started to leave. Elric buried his face in his hands, unable to make a decision. He looked at Gerard, who seemed determined to stay. Once again, his thoughts began to spiral, but they were interrupted by Randel's words;

"LONG LIVE EIRINI," he screamed.

The remaining recruits left their seats and began to chant along with Randel.

"LONG LIVE EIRINI! LONG LIVE EIRINI! LONG LIVE EIRINI!"

The energetic chants of the recruits around him changed something in him. Inside him, he felt a surge of confidence clear his thoughts, and before he knew it, he joined in on the chanting. He felt relieved that for once in his life, he is sure about something. He finally knows what he wants to do. Gerard flashed a quick smile and chimed in too.

"Okay okay, now enough," said Randel

The audience stopped and took their seats once again. Randel let out a sigh and reached into the pocket of his robe. He took out a small pipe, placed it between his lips, and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and blew out a large cloud of smoke.

"Oh hell yeah!" he said

"Do you know how hard it is to stay sober for two whole fucking hours?" he exclaimed.

Seeing this new side of Randel, the audience was surprised. Half of them felt betrayed to be inspired by a man like this while the other half was amused.

"What the fuck" mouthed Gerard, under his breath.

"What?" said Randel as he took another puff.

"I'm the commander; I do what I want. By the way, the fuck is Saxton at? Hey all of you, cheer along with me. SAX! SAX! SAX! SAX! SAX! SAX!"

"He does know what that sounds like, right?" said Gerard as he shook his head in disappointment.

"He probably does, but he doesn't care," said a voice behind him.

Elric and Gerard turned around and saw the voice belonged to a girl. She was a medium height fair girl with dark brown eyes, long black hair that was left to hang loose, and a mischevious smile was added to the mix. The freckles on her cheeks reminded Elric of someone, but he just couldn't place it.

"The fuck are you," snapped Gerard.

"I see you're not the social type, eh? I'm Vanessa Zorgenkind. Nice to meet you," she replied as she extended her arms towards the two.

Elric shook her hand and said;

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Shirozou Elric, and this is Kurokami Gerard."

"I know who you are," she replied

"Really? How?"

"You're the second youngest recruits in Eirini history, the first being your brother," she said, indicating Elric.

"So what do you want?" said Gerard, visibly annoyed at this prolonged conversation.

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. We're in the same squad."

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret too, I don't give a fuck," replied Gerard

"Wow wow wow, a little respect there," said a voice from behind them.

"Why the hell does everyone talk from behind," thought Elric to himself.

He turned around to face the mysterious person but froze in his place when he saw the person was Randel himself.

"Si-Sir," stammered Elric.

"Calm down Shirozou. I have no qualms with you," said Randel, as he looks at Gerard with bloodshot eyes.

"That girl there is Princess Vanessa, she's my daughter, you better show her some respect, Prince Kurokami."

"I'm not a Prince, sir," replied Gerard.

"The children of the military heads are royalty."

"My father isn't the wing commander anymore now, is he?"

"Well, technically your father never retired, he was killed in action, so you're still a Prince."

"Yeah, I don't care."

"You have prive- oh wait, I digressed. This stuff weirds out my thinking process. My man Marty gets the good shit, he looks so strict and all with that stern- oh wait, I digressed again, what I really wanna say is, don't fuck with my baby girl is all I wanna say. You don't wanna ma-"

"DAD! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF," interjected Vanessa, sternly.

"Oh well, do everything for your children, and they treat you like outsiders the moment they start to flower."

"WHAT THE FUCK!" said the three unison.

"Oh, shit looks like I said too much. Uhhhh, bye."

Randel burst into sparks and disappeared.

"Sometimes he is too much," said Vanessa, shaking her head. "You know there was this one time where he-"

"Wait, wait wait, I must cut you off there," interrupted Gerard.

"Since when did we become homies? Don't start telling us about your boring ass life."

"Man, you really aren't even trying to make friends are you, eh?"

"So we are all gonna breeze pass the fact that she's the daughter of the Emperor?" chimed in Elric.

"Yeah, so what?" said Gerard and Vanessa unison. Elric stared blankly at their unimpressed expressions.

"Hey, we read each other's minds, I think we're becoming homies already," chuckled Vanessa as she playfully punched Gerard's shoulder.

Gerard gave her a stern look and scoffed.

"Yeah, right."

"I know you're trying to look mad and all, but you look just like a statue with that visor on," laughed Vanessa.

Gerard didn't say a word, and the three stood in silence until they heard someone on the microphone.

"Attention, please, " said a brown man with curly hair dressed in a black suit.

"Following our 'skip the bullshit policy' let me introduce the first squad of the 412th Eirinian military draft, squad A412."

He rifled through the pile of papers Randel left behind and took one out.

"Squad A412 will consist of; Shirozou Elric, Alexa Costanzo, Vanessa Zorgenkind, Kurokami Gerard, Ezekiel Lionclaw, Carleton Richards and Nicolas Isaac."

"YES!" said Elric under his breath, pleased that his buddy Isaac made it on his squad.

"Said recruits make your way backstage and familiarize yourself with your squad," continued Saxton.

Minutes later, the 6 new recruits found themselves standing in a room. The awkwardness was the tone that dominated the room. Mainly due to Gerard being hostile to everyone's social advances.

"Uhh okay, let me start," said a girl, finally breaking the silence.

She was a tall, fair girl with brown eyes that looked like illuminated pools of honey. Her long brown hair was tied in a ponytail with a blue streak that ran across its length on the right.

"I'm Alexa Costanzo. I feel like if I say more someone will get pissed," she said, shooting a quick glance and Gerard who stood in the corner with his arms folded.

"Okay let me do you a solid," said Vanesaa. "I'll just introduce everyone here. The goatee guy, long black hair, blue right eye, and green left eye, that's Ezekiel Lionclaw, we call him Zeke though. The blonde dude, curly hair, green eyes that's Carleton Richards. So that's about it?" Alexa continued.

"Brief. Good. Just the way I like it," said Gerard as he made his way out of the room.

"Wait up, Kurokami," said Zeke

Gerard stopped and turned around to face him.

"Prince Gerard, eh? Don't act all high and mighty acting like we're not worth your time."

"Yeah I don't really care," replied Gerard

"Hey, wait. Gerard is just very introverted, leave him alone," interjected Elric.

"Shut up redhead. You're no prince. Your daddy retired," snapped back Zeke.

"Another word Lionclaw, you're so fucking dead," said Gerard, angrily.

"Oh wait, is this the beast I've heard rumors about?" mocked Zeke.

Gerard walked towards Zeke in a rather intimidating gait.

"You have no idea," he said

"Oh, I understand. Traumatic childhood equals fucked up brain, right?"

"You say you understand but do you really know what it feels like to find pleasure in the company of your own mind yet seek refuge from it all the same? Inside my head is a monster that's to end it all but also a child that wants to hold on. So, for your own sake, it's best you don't piss me the fuck off" said Gerard

"So, if I piss you off, you're gonna kill yourself?"

Gerard leaned closer and whispered into Zeke's ears;

"I wasn't talking about myself."

Before he could react, Gerard let out a massive burst of lightning that knocked back everyone else.

A/N - I didn't explain Randels appearence because I want the reader to picture him as anyone who commands such respect