🪖 I don't often share this side of myself, but the Army was very near and dear to me once. Though I have mixed feelings about my time in, the patriotism for my country and the desire to protect my loved ones will always remain.

Basic training was truly one of the best times in my life, and I'm excited to bring my military background into this next arc. To my fellow brothers and sisters in arms, wherever you may be, thank you for your selfless service. 🪖

Four months later...

Metal clanged outside the door of Kanden's sad excuse for a room, followed by, "Wake up, wake up, Sleeping Beauties!" After that came pounding on all the adjacent doors in the corridor, every bit as annoying as the metal symphony. "Up, up, up! We've got a big day ahead!"

He cracked his eyes open and sighed. Surely, he couldn't have slept more than two or three hours, but without a skylight or technology to tell time, he had no idea. His duties in the conservatory ended months ago.

"We're assigning roles based on need, and right now, you need to heal and prepare for enforcer training." That's what Father had said with no elaboration other than this was non-negotiable, especially if Kanden wanted to see his cockamamie plan through.

"The discipline will do you good," he'd said. "It'll make you stronger and help you reach your full potential."

Ugh. He could go eat a bag of dicks.

"Be outside in five minutes!" Rhonin, Kanden guessed. The guy didn't say much, except the night before to show everyone their quarters for the next several weeks. Was it nine weeks? He couldn't remember.

Having grown up with Father leading the enforcers, Kanden peed and dressed quickly; tardiness was not a word in the Calvorite vocabulary. His clothes were baggy — among the smallest uniforms in Supply until more could be made — and he stuffed his pant legs into the stiff fabric boots he'd been assigned. Already, he missed his boots from the private safe room, but at least he didn't have to worry about the laces.

On the plus side, at least they'd been provided with socks. That article was considered a luxury, and tended to go strictly to the soldiers or anyone in heavy labor. And maybe an Elite, but wearing them publicly would have been taboo, even among them. The demand for cloth was high, and there was rarely any to spare.

Still off balance from the interruption to his sleep, Kanden stumbled into the hallway, looking left and right at the empty spaces beside him. How had he managed to be the first person ready?

The clanging continued, echoing all the way to the other end of the tunnel, as Father and Rhonin gleefully banged on doors and taunted the rooms' occupants in sing-song voices. Other enforcers walked through the corridor, smirking and shaking their heads at the pair's antics. A few raised an eyebrow at Kanden's presence, but otherwise ignored him on their way to wherever they were going at this ungodly hour.

Father practically skipped down the row, radiating a joyful gleam from his gaze. His smiles were rarer than sunlight, yet here he was, acting like someone half his age instead of a grumpy older man nearing his fifties. "We don't have all day, you lazy bums! Two minutes!"

"Two minutes!" Rhonin called, if possible, louder than Father's booming voice.

Kanden's first reaction was to cover his ears, but Rhonin stopped pounding on the doors to approach him. He stood a good head taller, and the gash threaded through his left eyebrow gave him a feral quality that Kanden found terrifying. "Enforcers don't cower or cover their ears, Calvorite."

Great. Another thing for him to suffer with; unless anyone had sensory issues with sound and texture like him, they wouldn't understand. It was something most people expected everyone else to deal with, usually telling him he'd get used to it. His aching ears disagreed, especially when each word sounded like a gong and rattled his brain.

He nodded, only for Rhonin to clear his throat and demand Kanden's attention once more. His amber-colored eyes darkened in the poor lighting, turning serious in his intimidating features. "I don't know how Sabre ran things in your faction, but here, it is yes sir, no sir, or fuck off, sir, but you will answer when enforcers give instruction, and it will always end with sir or ma'am. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Kanden's voice came out barely higher than a whisper, but speaking was hard with those intense eyes focused on him. Rhonin wasn't a giant, but he wasn't little either. A broad chest stretched his shirt, and sharp angles defined his dark, beard-dusted jawline. No gray yet, and no wrinkle in sight except for fine lines around the eyes.

Rhonin regarded him for several seconds in silence before doors opened and boots slapped the hard ground. Fabric rustled as men spilled into the corridor and took their places. Only three women filled the ranks, with the youngest taking a place next to Kanden and tucking a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear. He guessed her to be about his age and height, but unlike him, she squared her shoulders and stared straight ahead with determination in her clenched jaw.

Kanden tried to mimic her and the others around him, but the posture felt weird, and he struggled not to dip his head down, especially when Rhonin looked his way. The stare was unnerving; it was like the older man wanted to see all the way into his soul and devour it for breakfast.

Then they waited. And waited some more. Rhonin seemed perfectly at ease with himself, pacing to and fro before the formation of half-asleep recruits. Olivine soon appeared, wearing her dark hair in two buns. Like all the other enforcers Kanden had seen, she appeared awake and ready to enjoy herself.

Someone sighed. Another person shifted from one foot to the other. Kanden locked his knees as his legs trembled until he too began to sway. It wasn't until a final set of footsteps came from behind them that Kanden realized why Rhonin waited, and he groaned.

Smirking, Rhonin took his place at the front of the group. Kanden didn't like the look in his eye — the gleam that promised something awful for everyone else. "Nice of you to join us," he said to the recruit in the back.

People, Kanden included, had a natural impulse to be nosy. Of course, everyone turned to stare at the idiot in the back row, at the very end, who'd just sealed everyone's fates. His brown hair was mussed, and a sleep line creased his right cheek as if he'd gone back to bed while everyone waited. And while everyone glared, all Kanden could think about was being glad he wasn't the first person to screw up.

"Sorry," the young man mumbled, shrinking under everyone's scrutiny.

Rhonin lifted his battle-scarred brow and scoffed. "Don't apologize to me. Save that for every peer you let down."

Several pairs of shoulders slumped while the inevitable groans inundated the air. Rhonin grinned like a maniacal demon who'd cornered his prey and addressed everyone else, but not without his gaze flicking first to Kanden. "There are two lessons— no, three— that you will all learn today. First and foremost, you will address me as sir. I don't care if you tell me to go die; you will still add a sir in there. Secondly, if you are not ten minutes early from now on, you are late." Glancing at the nameless recruit, he added, "You are very late by the way." Then back to the group wearing a smug grin, he finished. "And for the rest of you, if one fails, you all fail. You are only as strong as the weakest link on your team, and it doesn't matter if you make it to the end on your own. As an enforcer, you must train and work together as a team. Together, you celebrate your victories but also, you endure your punishments as a group."

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Why, just why was Kanden here? He didn't sign up for this. They could all go eat dicks.

Rhonin stood at attention. "Let's get started."

Leading the group through the wide tunnel, Rhonin stopped inside a large cavern with water rushing nearby. Another maw opened on the far side of the central cave, and through it, water echoed and splashed. The temperature dropped several degrees, and water gathered in small beads of cold liquid soon coated Kanden's forehead. On another wall was a pile of rocks in various shapes and sizes.

Olivine and Father had both accompanied Rhonin, joining him at the front of the formation. When Rhonin nodded and stepped away, Father took his place. "Each of you will take a rock and return to your positions. Go."

Kanden moved first, knowing Father's orders were never a request. A few moved only after he barked at them to get their asses in gear, and Kanden reached the pile before everyone else had thought to take the old man seriously. He paused long enough to study the different rocks, bearing in mind Rhonin's promise for punishment and Father's sadistic ideas for the aforementioned consequences.

Once, when Kanden had been about ten or eleven, he'd disrespected his maternal grandmother (when she'd still been alive), and Father had spanked him before placing him on waste disposal duty with the Maintenance faction. The punishment had been effective though, and after an apology and many shed tears, Kanden had been careful to behave.

Choosing a lightweight, but wide rock, Kanden returned to his spot while he waited for everyone else. The females all claimed smaller stones while the males grabbed whatever they could find, returning with increasingly larger boulders once the smaller stones had been claimed.

When they were in place, Father wasted no time. "You're all going to lift your rocks above your head and hold it there until we tell you to stop. If you quit, you are out. Your time starts now."

~*~

Several hours later, Kanden lay flat on his stomach, groaning every time he moved. His arms ached more than everything that but his legs and butt muscles came in a very close second. He was quite certain he'd discovered a few muscles during the physical torture of the day.

Surprisingly, Kanden hadn't failed the first task. He'd come close once to dropping his rock as his shaking arms gradually gave way, but he'd locked his elbows and endured, thankful he'd been smart enough to claim a smaller stone. The young girl around his age had also made it, as had another woman in her mid twenties, but two men failed, including the guy who'd shown up later and got them all in trouble to begin with. A female in her early twenties had dropped her stone first and quietly walked away, deciding the training wasn't worth it. Of forty hopefuls looking to join the enforcer ranks, only thirty-seven remained.

It was a shame Kanden couldn't quit.

All the recruits had been assigned a row of barracks, if this tiny, hollowed-out room could be called that, on the bottom-most level. Kanden had never had a reason to be down this far, had wondered about it on occasion, but never enough to make the stupid decision to join his father's ranks. The temperature was colder, a nice perk after sweating all day, but that was probably the only positive.

Someone knocked once before barging in, making Kanden scramble to his feet when he realized his intruder was Rhonin. And of course it was, because who else would it be? Father had ignored him since bringing him the night before, and everyone else avoided him. He'd realized halfway through the day, while they broke for a lunch of unseasoned rations, that the recruits had all chosen seats together, including the females in their small pair, but not one person had invited him to join their groups. Which was fine; he preferred solitude, but then the whispers started. Someone would say his name, usually with Father's, and Kanden would turn just in time to witness heads whipping back to their food. The conversation would stop or shift to something else, but the message to keep their distance was clear.

Rhonin's shrewd gaze took in the tiny room before landing on Kanden. His expression gave nothing away as he assessed him with those soul-piercing eyes. "Having fun, yet, Calvorite?"

Kanden's initial response was to keep quiet, but Rhonin's warning from this morning rang in his ears. This was a man who expected a response. "Everything is fine, sir."

"Is it? You're here, in this room on your own," he observed, sweeping one hand to indicate the space. "You ate lunch on your own. This is the time most recruits develop lifelong friendships."

Kanden shrugged. "That's what happens when your father is the executioner; no one wants to be your friend. Sir!" he tacked on, remembering at the last second.

Rhonin sighed. "This won't do. Being in this faction requires teamwork. Gather your things; I'm reassigning you."

"But I'm not actually joining this faction," Kanden argued, outraged he was being forced to go through this to begin with, let alone being expected to interact with people he'd never work with after this.

"Don't argue," Rhonin snapped, getting into Kanden's face and forcing him back two steps. His words took a dangerous edge and left no room for dispute. "Bastion thinks this training will do you good, and I agree. If you want to help us get to the Overland, you need to toughen up and stop your damn whining. A little discipline won't hurt you. Now shut up, grab your things, and follow me."

As Kanden shouldered the only pack he'd been permitted to carry, Rhonin added, "By the way, you forgot to add sir. Do it again, and I'll make you run until you puke, you got it?"

"Yes, sir." He wasn't brave enough for 'fuck off, sir,' but he wondered if Zephyr had ever done it. It seemed like a Zeph thing to do, and Kanden made a mental note to ask later if he survived the training.

The trip only lasted ten steps, ending at a room across the hall. Rhonin knocked once and yelled, "Male on the floor!" He waited a few seconds before opening the door and motioning for Kanden to step through.

Three sets of female eyes stared back, all dancing with curiosity, amusement, and a bit of surprise. Kanden bit his bottom lip, wondering if this was a joke but too anxious to ask questions. Thankfully, Rhonin didn't make them wait for answers.

"With four people to a room and all the males grouping together after the two eliminations, you're the odd one out," he explained, and his expression softened. "Everyone is required to have a buddy group, and you are no exception. And to put it bluntly, you're the only gay man who's out, so I feel better keeping you with these females than some of the other bozos we have."

Kanden couldn't decide if he was being insulted by that unnecessary statement. He understood the logic behind it— if they were isolated for weeks on end, someone was bound to become horny at some point. It made sense not to risk an avoidable situation. But on the other hand, it felt like an attack on Kanden as a man. His status singled him out as not masculine enough to be part of the male groupings, but not a woman either. Being gay allowed him entrance into the girls only club, but he was sure if these two women had their way, they probably wouldn't have chosen him either.

He shuffled past Rhonin and claimed the top bunk above the younger woman, not making eye-contact with anyone. It's only nine weeks, he told himself. Nine weeks of playing the game and going through the motions.

Once Rhonin left, Kanden hastily made his bunk and climbed to the top. Then he rolled on his side and faced the wall. For the first time in four months, he wished his rib hadn't healed. He could tell himself this was temporary all he wanted, but he still had to push through each day and somehow not fail. He didn't want to face the consequences if he did, and the only thing driving him forward was his desire to see the stars.

🪖Oh my goshhhhhhh I'm really excited for this part! I'll try to keep these notes brief, but I do want to point out that while a lot of my background is going into this, there are going to be some changes that I'll note as we go.

🪖 Males and Females still don't share rooms. If a male is paired with a female for the Buddy system, there must be two males or two females to accompany the single opposite gender.

🪖 My first day of basic training saw us exercising until we reached muscle failure. I broke my drill sergeant on the first day when I refused to quit, and if that's something you want me to work into the story, let me know. I have SO much experience to work with!

🪖 I almost never share this, but I want to be transparent about who I am. I did go into the Army when I was 17. My parents kind of pushed me into it, and I only lasted a month. It was embarrassing, so I went back when was 22 and completed the full eight years. I never deployed for one reason or another, but I do believe Divine Inspiration played a role since I went in the first time shortly after 9/11. A lot of people didn't make it home alive.

🪖🪖 With Kanden being so young, I want to highlight his immaturity and show the readers his journey as he learns to grow up very quickly.

🪖 As for his rib, he'll be fine. I snapped my rib in 2020, and it took about 3 months to reasonably heal. The timeline is fine for anyone who wants to decide I'm full of shit.

🪖 Any thoughts, questions, or concerns? What do y'all think of Rhonin?

If you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote on that cool little star. Thank you all so much for reading!