EARTH YEAR: 2000
“Look alive, everybody! General’s here!”
My legs locked up just hearing those words! The Head General of the Kalcion Armada was a living legend, a prodigy among prodigies. They said he could slice a mountain in half with a single swipe of his blade, that he could kill you with your own two hands, that even the land around him was another one of his weapons! I did not believe it then, but meeting the man, I believe there was definite truth to some of those rumors. Seeing him for the first time that day was like basking in the terrifying light of a star gone supernova, prepared to end everything in sight!
“At ease,” he said. My platoon ceased its salute, and we put our hands behind our backs. I could feel the sweat bead down my brow as he looked us each in the eyes!
“My name,” he continued, “is Django Lox. I am the Head General of the Kalcion Armada, and starting today, I am your trainer, and your boss. Understood?”
“YES, SIR!” We shouted it in unison.
“Good, that makes things easier. I prefer easy.”
I glanced towards him, trying to size him up. He wasn’t initially very impressive, honestly. He had slicked back dark blue hair with prominent sideburns, a general’s black suit with a crimson lining and a scarf to match. He looked tough, but also tired, as if he did not want to be with us. He wasn’t much more muscular than I was, even; he was tall and surprisingly youthful, but I expected someone so legendary to be twice my size in muscle alone!
General Lox went down the line of recruits, asking them their name, age, and why they had joined the military. I did not quite understand the point at the time; it hardly seemed to matter to me when all he was doing was training us. He reached a rather suspicious-looking person standing to my right.
“Name, age, and purpose for enlistment?”
The young man seemed to snicker at the question before answering. “Heh, name’s Gilgamesh. Ralder Gilgamesh. Age 20, and I’m here to squash some insects before they cause an infestation.”
General Lox seemed interested in the man’s rather blunt answer. “Oh? Insects, you say? And what kinds of insects do you plan on squashing?”
“Isn’t that obvious?!” Gilgamesh’s voice was strong and gravely for his age. It gave me a headache. “I’m talking about those maggots on Earth that stole our king!”
The platoon mumbled at the response. I did my best to remain silent.
“Little early to be thinking about fighting the humans, isn’t it?” General Lox queried. “There’s some public unrest, but Her Majesty has been pretty vocal about not planning to invade until absolutely necessary.”
“C’mon, let’s not pretend that line of thinking is worth a damn!” The platoon was silenced by Gilgamesh’s words. I glanced over as indiscreetly as I could to get a good look at him. He was a bit shorter than me, but not much less fit, and his face was as rough as his voice. Bitter eyes that glared out from under hairless brows, dark green hair that lined itself high on his forehead, and a grin akin to those Earth creatures called sharks. He kept speaking.
“We all know it’s inevitable! Those goddamn sacks of meat and trash have been an enemy the whole time! The king’s been gone five years now, right? And we haven’t heard a single friggin’ word about him since! That’s why you’re starting to recruit more volunteers or draft some newbies, riiiight? They probably killed him or got him tied up somewhere in their weak-ass buildings thinking they’re the hotshots of the galaxy. Well you know what?”
He pounded his fist into an open palm.
“I’m not satisfied just sitting around while those maggots waste space in our galaxy! I’m going to be there when we finally take that planet by storm, believe me, and I’ll be the one personally crushing their puny little skulls into the ground for even THINKING that they could ever stand a chance next to the might of the Kalcion! They’re just stains beneath our boots, and I’m oozing with excitement just thinking about scraping them off into the trash!”
The whole platoon couldn’t think of anything to say to that. There was something frightening about the man’s enthusiasm towards the subject that unnerved us, even though I am certain others thought the same. Some probably even thought worse! But General Lox seemed to shrug it off.
“Well, so long as you’re invested,” he said. Then he moved on to me. “Alright, soldier. Name, age, and purpose of enlistment?”
I gulped nervously. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the man. I had to be honest with him, but after the previous speech, it did not seem like the greatest idea. However, I decided to persevere and go forth regardless!
“M-My name is…Kanorath. Gohra Kanorth. Age 20. And my reason for being here is…”
It took me a moment to compose myself.
“...Frankly, sir, I don’t have a personal reason. I was drafted in with the last emergency round-up. I...I don’t want to be here, sir!”
All eyes were on me in that moment, and I could feel their glares piercing me. I was still young and naive, but I was bold enough to say something like that. It astounded even me.
“Oh...that so?” General Lox seemed to...smirk at me? I felt offended! He seemed to be taking me lightly!
“T-That is so, sir! I’m just here because my father is injured from work and couldn’t come in himself! I don’t...I don’t want to rush into battle, sir! I don’t want to die out there!”
He kept smirking at me. It was starting to boil my blood!
“Listen!” I had shouted at him, “I’m no warrior, and I’m no soldier! I never wanted to be wrapped up in war like this! Just because things are tense with Earth shouldn’t mean that people like me should have to go die for what they don’t-”
“Now you listen, Gohra Kanorath.”
I was taken off guard by that. For the first time since he had entered the room, General Lox burned with genuine intensity, as he glared at me with the eyes of a seasoned veteran. I felt small in his gaze in that moment, like they tore through my soul and ripped it to shreds! But after a split moment of that terror, he smiled again.
“...What were you doing before the draft?”
I stood there like a fool in the spotlight, blinking and stuttering, unsure of how to respond before working up the nerve to answer. “I-I work at my father’s factory, sir. He runs a private steel production site and I help with heavy lifting and delivery.”
“Family business, eh?” he asked. “Any other siblings or such?”
“Y-Yes, my brothers and sister help at the factory as well.”
“And you said you do a lot of the lifting? Explains why you’re so fit for someone who seems less than keen on fighting. Any other hobbies?”
“I...like to cook, sir. I prepare meals for my family after work.”
General Lox simply nodded. “Simple guy. I like you.” He put his hands in his pockets and grinned at me, less sarcastically this time. “Let me cut you a deal. You don’t want to die for a cause you have no interest or belief in, right?”
“...That’s right.”
“Well, I can’t excuse you without you contributing to the effort at least a bit,” he said with a shrug. “But how about you at least put in the effort for a while? Put in the effort to do the training exercises for a while, and then we’ll see how you feel when we actually need to be put in a combat scenario.”
I was unsure of what else to say other than, “O-Okay.”
I was not a confident young man in my past. I was by no means weak, as years of labor in the name of my family had strengthened my body to a decent degree! Yet my resolve was weak. I had no sense of direction in my life, and I was not yet prepared to risk it at an age so tender. I would not declare myself a pacifist, but the idea of striking against others felt unclean to me. I did not want to have any involvement in anything like it! But it was my duty to join the military and contribute in some way. And unfortunately, my physical fitness likely meant I could not simply skate by serving rations or the like. And I doubted then that General Lox would intend on letting me leave regardless of my feelings towards the matter.
Regardless, I decided to take him up on his offer in that moment. That same day, we ran several spars against fellow members of the trainee platoon to gauge our capabilities. Simple hand-to-hand combat. I managed to barely hold my own in two matches; they were clearly draftees and not volunteers, as they seemed untrained, yet fairly skilled. But it was soon after that a familiar face approached me.
“What a weakling you are!”
My next opponent was the sadistic man from before, that Ralder Gilgamesh. He tilted his head back to look down his nose at me. He seemed upset at me for some reason. Frankly, his expression irritated me!
“You’re that maggot that blathered about your goddamn daddy and how you don’t want to die and wah wah wah, right?” He grinned that devilish grin at me and kept speaking in that rough voice of his. “Vermin like you sicken me! Weaklings like you are just going to make us look bad. Why not wander off into the desert and starve yourself to death if you don’t want to fight so bad? Save us the trouble of scraping you off the floor!”
My pride was wounded. I suddenly felt overwhelmed by the desire to smash my fist into this man’s face until he ceased his incessant rambling! I took a fighting stance, to which he chuckled and slid his hands into his pockets.
“Oh, so you’re a fighter after all, eh?” He laughed at me, and I felt my anger swell! “I’ve been keeping an eye on you, worm, and you don’t impress me! Any old schmuck could win a normal spar! But do you think you could even compare to someone like me?” He pointed to his chest with his thumb. “I’m invincible, you hear me?! Untouchable! A worthless bottom-feeder like you couldn’t even lay a finger on me!”
My patience for this blow-hard had worn thin! I rushed towards the man, fist reeled back to strike him in the jaw and clamp it shut for good! I was impatient with his yapping, and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to silence him for his boasting! Yet perhaps I underestimated the man. I had merely ran right into his trap. His hand that was still buried in his pocket rose up to greet me, a dagger blade now in his hand. He effortlessly stepped away from my fist and slashed across my chest, leaving a wicked crescent scar across my right pectoral! I fell to the ground and let out a scream of agony as black blood flowed from my chest onto the ground! And Gilgamesh, the bastard, he merely laughed!
“Hahaha! See what I mean?! I’m superior to you!” He rose his knife, stained in my blood, and grinned down upon me. “You’ve no sense of strategy or cunning! Is that all you can do in the face of a puny dagger?! HA! You have no right to stand in the same platoon as true Kalcion warriors, you pathetic speck of dirt! Why don’t you just curl up and die here, huh, you little-HRGK!”
The man’s yapping was at last interrupted by none other than General Lox. He had smacked the man in the back of the head with a blade locked in a white and orange sheath. It was by no means a fatal blow, but even it seemed to cause sufficient pain. “That’s quite enough, Gilgamesh.”
“Ngrah!” Gilgamesh scowled at him, holding his injury. “Why are you scolding me here?! This weakling lost, and I barely had to lift a finger! He has no place fighting anything like a real fight!”
I could not stay silent for long! “Y-You played dirty, you rotten bastard! You cheated!”
“Cheated?!” He glared down at me with disdain, and slammed his boot into my side! “What a load! Deception and weaponry is part of the game! There’s no such thing as a fair fight or cheating in war, you gelatin-brained tub of waste! If you can’t handle something like a dagger wound, what the hell do you plan to do when you face a sword or a gun?! You planning on crying to the enemy or something, you mud stain?!”
His words infuriated me to my core! I felt a burning anger muster within my chest, and I was unable to refrain from making one more leap at that man, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him in the air! But he played me the fool again, brandishing a second blade hidden within his sleeve and pointing it to my throat.
“Hrk-hahahaha!” he choked out. “Cry and flail all you want, maggot, you’ll never reach my level! It’s easy to be a step ahead of someone like you! A big lumbering nincompoop whose only real fighting experience is running at something and decking it in the face! Just die and do us a favor, will you?!”
General Lox delivered another THWACK with his sheathed sword, this time to my arms, forcing me into dropping the infuriating scoundrel before me. I writhed in pain, but that Gilgamesh merely shook it off with that rasping chuckle I grew so quickly to hate. Yet General Lox did not seem pleased with either of us.
“Quit acting like children already,” he told us. “Everyone has their own ways of fighting on the field, but trying to kill each other is just about the least helpful thing to do. Now either kiss and make up or just spar with different partners, you’re making a scene over here.”
I glared at Gilgamesh as intimidatingly as I could, but he was undaunted, grinning back at me before turning his back and moving away. Part of me still wanted to rush up and strike the man in the back of the head, but I decided it was not the time for such tomfoolery. Besides, General Lox seemed to be beckoning me for something, so I followed him to the wall of the training room with great reluctance.
“He’s a charmer, ain’t he?” the General asked me with a joking smirk. I was not in the mood for such humor.
“He’s a downright bastard!” I replied. “He cheated in that battle, he tried to kill me! I refuse to forgive that patronising son of a-”
“How you feeling about being a trooper right now?” he interrupted. I scowled.
“Even worse than before if I have to face the likes of scum like him, frankly. I have grown up learning that cheaters and liars like him are the true filth of society, not military heroes!”
“Pops ain’t a fan of contractors, is he?”
“Will you please let me finish?!” I sighed, dropping my gaze to the floor and crossing my arms. “I just don’t know what I’m doing here. It scares me and upsets me and stresses me out.” I looked back to him, a firmness in my gaze that even he seemed to be taken aback by. “I just don’t want to be roped into all this! Fighting for the good of men like that, men who don’t deserve to win! How am I supposed to fight for the sake of a rotten world where men like that prosper?! My life...My life isn’t long enough to just throw away for something like that!”
As pitiful as it may sound, I began to feel tears stream down my cheeks at this point. My knees began to buckle and it became increasingly difficult to appear composed.
“I-I...I’m so scared...I don’t know how to deal with any of this! The idea of running into battle, likely to die every day of my life...I’m just not ready for that! I haven’t felt the thrill of living yet! I-I’m just starting out in life, I’m finally at an age where I can leave the factory and make something out of myself, but here I am, throwing myself into a war to go die and be forgotten! It’s just...It’s not fair!” I clutched my hand over my face as I trembled before the general, swallowed by my own war with despair. “It’s all so...unfair…”
General Lox looked down his nose at me and took a deep breath. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to him.
“Kanorath,” he said, “there’s a little trick I believe in that makes this all easier.”
“A...trick…?”
He rose a single finger in front of my face.
“All you need is one word, Kanorath. A single word.”
I simply stared back at him in confusion.
“A single word,” he continued, “that you can throw your entire weight into. It can be any word. It can be a name, too. But all you need is a single word to keep you going. See, I have this theory. No matter how much they fight, people just don’t understand war. It’s irrational and dangerous from their perspective. Like you said, they’re usually just young men and women running out there to get themselves shot before they can live a full life. Yet they go on in anyway. Why do you think that?”
I did not have an answer.
“It’s all about one word,” he went on. “You don’t have enough time to wane philosophical about your existence in the midst of a battle. Whether you like it or not, you’re there. And you may be forced to do things you wouldn’t usually. But then you just look at that one word, and that’s enough to push you forward. It shouldn’t be anything lengthy, or you’ll spend too much time thinking about it. It should be quick and efficient, you say that word and regain your senses entirely.”
“I...don’t get it,” I had admitted.
“Glory,” he said. “Fortune. Power. Fame. Vengeance. Justice. All meaningless buzzwords on their own. Random lines that one spouts about to justify their actions to others and to themselves. Good as trash, really. But they have a magical effect on people, don’t they? Like just the mere mention of them brings a soldier back to full attention, because they know exactly what they’re fighting for and that their lives are worth the risk to obtain it. Sure, in the end it’s just some pointless label that we use to pump ourselves up to do crap we wouldn’t dare do otherwise. But words are powerful, eh? Even meaningless ones.”
With that, he patted me on the back. “Anyway, can’t release you at a time like this, so just play along and think about it for a while, ‘kay?”
“That...That doesn’t seem right, though,” I told him. “That just sounds so...shallow, and sad.”
“Incredibly!” he agreed. “That’s what makes it so efficient, though. Dedicating yourself to shallow emotions is so much easier than spending time questioning every little decision you make. Not saying you have to agree with me if you don’t want, but hey, it’s worth trying out, right?”
As he began to leave me, I stopped the General one more time.
“W-Wait...do...do you have a word you use, then?”
“Me?” He shrugged. “Nah, not anymore. Used to, can’t remember what. I’ve been fighting too long to need training wheels like that.” With that, he left me to focus on the other troops.
I was unsure what I felt at that time. On the one hand, I rejected everything the man said with every fiber of my being. What a laughable concept! My heart was swelling with doubt and fear, and he thought some random buzzword was all it would take to settle it?! What a farce! The General was said to be a genius, but he seemed more like a living farce to me! Yet his words also echoed in my head. There surely could be no truth to them? An existence where the decision to live or die was based on dedication to a single, shallow word...that existence was simply to sad to think about to be true.
Or…?
----
EARTH YEAR: 2001
I spent 4 months not quite knowing what I was to do. I kept up my training with my platoon, sparring and participating in drills. Although there were pleasant people within my group, I cannot say I ever truly enjoyed that time. I still had my convictions about war and I still did not want to die there. Though General Lox’s words still hung about and buzzed in my ears, I could never convince myself to truly accept them, and even if I had, I do not believe I would have found anything at that time to devote myself to.
Gilgamesh never truly changed his ways, though most of the platoon slowly grew more tolerable of his presence, or at least found it easier to ignore him altogether. To say I grew to care much for the man would be a bald-faced lie, but I was at least able to stop paying mind to his boasts. He was merely a young man with aspirations far too great for his own good and a superiority complex so thickly layered it could be physically felt oozing from the air around him. Once one grew accustomed to such an attitude, he was easy enough to forget about, though I refused to spar with him any more, as I did not believe I would be able to tolerate him as easily in combat.
After that time training, we finally found ourselves in combat for the first time.
It was no grand battle, truly. We were not yet at war with anybody, and we were not facing yet another invasion. However, a rebellious sect within our kingdom had begun to take shape recently. A band of radicals that labelled themselves, roughly translated, as the “No King’s Men” had been protesting for a long while after the disappearance of King Oleander. They had insisted that the King and his advisors had survived their supposedly failed journey to Earth, but had cut off communication with Kalcion and were plotting with the Earthlings to turn against us. Most thought it to be a ridiculous theory, but it was gaining a concerning amount of momentum.
At first the protests were of little harm, but it had finally turned to violence on that day, when particularly radical members of the sect attacked an escort carrying Queen Oleander and the young prince. Their weapons were crude and they were not difficult for the bodyguards there to fend off, but General Lox was asked to provide backup to make sure the rest of the ride progressed smoothly. And...well, our base was the closest.
And so there we were, a platoon only recently trained, in formation around a sleek black vehicle that carried the highest powers in the entire kingdom within, tasked with keeping them alive as we moved slowly through a quiet city street. I kept a laser rifle in my hands, cradling it nervously as I sweat bullets. The mere idea of failure in that moment was more petrifying than the greatest of beasts! It was not merely my own life on the line, it was the life of myself, Her Majesty, her son, and who knows who else. The crushing despair of that moment fell on my shoulders, and I was amazed at my own ability to keep myself moving without falling to the floor under the weight!
“Keep it moving, fellas!”
At the front of the formation was General Lox himself, wielding his mysterious blade, still locked in its sheath. A line of soldiers marched at either side of the transport behind him. I marched in the back of the formation, to the transport’s left. I could see Gilgamesh grinning in the side of my vision in the back of the right line. The No King’s Men had yet to strike at that point since we joined the escort, but it was only a matter of time before they struck and we would have to face our first true battle scenario.
A sudden blast from the rear was what alerted us.
“Look alive!” General Lox called to us. “Got us surrounded!”
Just as he said, rebels popped out from the shadows from every direction. I was not quite able to count, but it could not be more than twenty, and their weaponry seemed to range from laser pistols and knives to dead tree branches and glass shards. They were no military force, but I admit their strategy was sound; they hid in the shadows of surrounding buildings until they could attack us from every direction.
“The kingdom is against us!” one shouted. “Down with the monarchy! Nothing but traitorous scum!”
My sensations were suddenly assaulted by flashing lights and blaring screeches of rifle fire from every side. The force of my platoon’s attack took me off guard more than the enemy attack itself. A single laser blast against ten firing at once were completely different sensations. I stiffened as I found myself unable to aim my weapon in the moment. The world slowed to a halt as I merely stared forth unable to process my situation.
“The hell you think you’re doing?!”
The world returned to proper speed as a voice of gravel brought me back from my stupor. I turned to see Gilgamesh facing off against one of the rebels wielding a knife. He blasted at the rebel, hitting him in the shoulder and in the chest, knocking him down to ground and disarming him. Before the man could stand back on his feet, Gilgamesh brought one of his accursed blades out from his pocket and, with a single flick of the wrist, threw it into the man. The rebel ceased moving, black blood flowing to the ground from his neck.
“You really standing there daydreaming now?!” Gilgamesh screamed at me, bringing all his attention towards me. “You pathetic bastard! These maniacs are trying to kill Her Majesty, and now’s the time you decide to get all sad-sack?! This is why I told you to just go and die, dammit! These weaklings with their half-assed tactics think they’re going to take us down...the strongest army in the galaxy…!” He looked to me with the eyes of a predator, genuine fury in his scowl.
“...These are the kinds of maggots that need to be crushed! They threaten our power! And I won’t let some weak-willed lower life-form like you RUIN IT FOR US!”
He rushed forth to combat another rebel, who was swiftly overpowered and taken down. I was mortified, but I was forced to admit that Gilgamesh had a point. Regardless of desire, I was a soldier of the Kalcion Armada tasked with keeping royalty safe! It was no time to space out! It was just as Gilgamesh had said. We fought for power. That was a word I could follow, was it not? A worthless ideal, but one that I could put my mind to to ignore the creeping thoughts infecting my mind.
And so I brought my laser rifle up. I pointed it towards a rebel, armed with a crudely constructed machete, and fired. The man fell back to the floor. I fired at him again as he attempted to recover, and he fell back down once more. I was unsure of whether or not he had been killed; the rifles were intended for stunning more than killing, but fatalities were not out of the question with powerful models like these. I decided I did not want to confirm, that I would be better off not knowing. So I kept firing alongside the others, repeating nothing in my mind except for that one word. Power. Power. Power. It left an empty feeling in me, a pit in my stomach, but it was the best I could think to do.
The battle raged on for only about five minutes. Aside from a few minor scratches and bruises, the platoon was uninjured. Most of the rebels were killed, though a select few had escaped somewhere and one was captured and interrogated by General Lox. We kept moving alongside the transport as he did so, but I could not help myself from looking back to watch him. I could not hear them over the murmuring of the adrenaline-filled platoon, but I could see the rebel get heated and brandish a hidden knife in an attempt to strike at the General. I almost rose my rifle to attack, but it seemed it was unneeded. General Lox swiftly swung about his sword, and the rebel fell to the ground with a bloody slash through his chest. The blade never even seemed to leave the sheathe.
I turned back forward as we marched, and I thought back to the battle. It all felt like a blur, truly. It was as Gilgamesh said, it was a mere show of power. The rebels hardly posed a threat, but we struck them down without mercy. I began to feel sick. I was thinking about it again, despite my better judgment. But it did not sit right within me, striking them down like that. Yet I could not fault the reasoning, as it was an attack that we had to put down. But was such merciless methodology the best way?! But, it made sense, logically, to do so! That one-word philosophy was supposed to make these decisions easier, but it merely tore my mind apart even further. What was I to…?
I stopped moving with the transport as I spotted something. Trickles of black blood on the ground that led to the shadows of an alley. Breaking formation, I decided to investigate, and armed myself with my rifle. I creeped towards the alley slowly, charging my rifle so as to have a light, and approached the shadows. I swiftly turned the rifle towards the shadows, and-!
“Ah…! P-Please, I-I beg of you, don’t-!”
One of the rebels was lying down in a puddle of their own blood on the floor of the alley. A young woman, grasping desperately to a shard of metal shrapnel and glaring up at me with one fearful eye. The other was burnt and bleeding, clearly struck with a rather powerful blast. She rose a hand up to me in a desperate attempt to shield herself.
“O-Oh god, please don’t!” she cried. “I don’t want to die...I don’t want to die…!”
I was taken aback by her desperation. But I was a soldier, so I pressed her. “Then what the hell did you come here for?”
She was sobbing, tears flowing from one eye and blood from the other. “I-I don’t know...I don’t…! I just...I was scared, and...they convinced me…I d-didn’t know..I didn’t know what they’d want me to...to do, I...p-please, I never…! I don’t…!”
She could barely sit up, let alone stand, and her desperation was cutting to my core. I wanted to turn around, act like I hadn’t seen her. She reminded me of myself, after all. She seemed nothing more than a victim of circumstance, brought in by sweet ideals and betrayed by the harsh reality of her world. And she was critically injured, and weak. But that word echoed through my mind once more.
Power. Power. Power.
If I were to leave her here, I would be weak, would I not? And...if I followed the idea of power, it would simply be easier to kill her here, as she was a rebel and she threatened us, regardless of motivation or of strength. Killing her was the best idea, in that scenario. Ergo, I lifted my rifle towards her, ignoring her desperate pleas. The charged shot to the head would likely finish this quickly. I just kept whispering that word to myself.
“Power….power….power…”
And so, my finger moved to the trigger, and….
“Power…!”
A hand on my shoulder brought me to my senses.
I looked back and saw General Lox standing behind me. He looked at me with cold eyes; I was unsure what he was thinking.
“I won’t tell you what to do, Kanorath,” he said, “but deeply consider your actions now. I don’t care what you do with her, that’s your decision now. If you feel strongly about whatever ideal you’re chasing and think finishing her is the right thing to do, that’s fine. But just know…there’s no honor in killing someone like this.”
He patted me on the back and moved back to the platoon. I stared at where he was, rifle charged in my hand, woman scared silent beneath me. That word I had repeated was now lost in my mind, I could recall it no longer. I stared down at the frightened woman, and a new word echoed.
Honor.
I lowered my weapon and released the charge. With a sigh, I turned around. “I won’t report you, or kill you. Go find your way to somewhere safer and get your eye fixed up. Goodbye.”
I began to move back towards the transport, but I halted as the woman said one last thing to me.
“T-Thank you…!”
I sighed once again. “It’s nothing. Just the honorable thing to do is all.” And so I returned to the platoon. Gilgamesh stared at me as I caught up, clearly unhappy with me, but I paid little mind; my mind was beginning to clear a bit, and it was bliss.
----
We did not encounter any more trouble on the escort. The No King’s Men were concerning, but they seemed to be too minor to work out any elaborate coup at the time. We had only a single skirmish, yet our newbie platoon seemed incredibly worked up over it. Whether frightened or excited or hungering for more, the first thing everyone did upon reaching the front gates of the castle was chatter and release all the adrenaline that they had built up. I remained silent, but I was more at ease than before.
Suddenly, much to our shock, the transport opened before entering the gates! We all rushed into a line and saluted. We knew we were transporting royalty, but the windows were dark and one-way, so we did not expect to actually see the Queen inside. Unsure of what else to do, we all held our breath and hoped that she had no bad words to say to us. This was with exception to General Lox, who merely stood by with hands in pockets and yawned.
To our shock, though, it was not Her Majesty who exited the transport; it was a young lad. He was no older than 5 years, and he was finely dressed in a crimson turtleneck and a small dress coat, offset by a childish pair of shorts. His hair was a muted green, the same as the Queen’s, and was slicked back more like a businessman than a child. It took us all off guard, I could tell, but we dared not break salute as we realized who the young lad was.
“H-Hello,” he greeted us politely. “I am...Prince Malchior, of the royal Oleander family.” He said his words slowly, clearly too young to fully pronounce them, but he was certainly intelligent and serious for his age. “We would like to...personally thank you for full...fulfilling your duty and escorting us safely. On be...behalf of the royal family, I thank you gr...aciously.” He bowed politely to us. None of us were quite sure how to respond, until General Lox dropped to his knees and smiled at the boy.
“It’s an honor, kid,” he said. “And aren’t you the brave little ruler, eh? You prepare that little speech for us all by yourself?”
The young Prince Malchior lit up with joy at those words. “Y-Yes!” He was so proud of himself, we struggled to keep straight faces.
“Ha ha! Well you’re certainly a professional. Though…” General Lox pointed to his own hair. “...You got a gnarly cowlick going on there.”
Malchior blushed wildly, turning away from us and pulling his short hair back, desperately trying to maintain the professional image. Seeing the child so adorably flustered like that brought much snickering and held in laughter from our line. Eventually, he turned back to us, face gray with embarrassment, until a second person from the transport called him back in.
“Malchior,” he said. Stepping one foot outside the vehicle was a man in a labcoat, some ten years older than I was. He had muted pink hair cut in a bowl with the hind buzzed down, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of rounded spectacles. He gave off an intense aura that silenced the entire platoon, and even General Lox seemed dismayed by him.
“Return to the transport, Malchior,” the man said. “We have business to attend to and little time to waste.” The young prince returned to the vehicle, and the bespectacled man turned to General Lox. “You’d do well to not mock the royal family, general.”
General Lox merely saluted the man sarcastically. “Aye aye, Cap’n.”
Unfazed, the bespectacled man closed the transport door, and they rode off into the castle gates.
“Who was that guy?” one of the trainees asked. “Seemed pretty rude if you ask me.”
General Lox shrugged. “Meh. Couldn’t care less. Let’s just head back to the base, right? You guys deserve some R&R about now.”
----
“KANORAAAAAATH!”
Not ten minutes passed after our return to the base that that gravel-filled voice I grew to despise rang in my ears, shouting my name. I looked up from my seat against the wall to see him there: Ralder Gilgamesh, seemingly furious with me.
“The hell did you do, you worm?!” he shouted at me. “I didn’t wanna say anything because we had a mission to focus on, but don’t think I’m letting you slide now! I saw you go back and investigate something, and I saw you turn back! What the hell happened, huh?!”
With a sigh, I explained. “I found an injured rebel in the alleyway. She was barely armed and didn’t want to be there, so I let her go.” I saw no reason to bother lying about it.
“YOU WHAT?!” Gilgamesh grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up to his face from the floor, scowling at me so furiously I expected a blood vessel to burst. The other soldiers gasped in shock, but none dared to approach. “YOU LET THE ENEMY LIVE, YOU LITTLE SWINE! I OUGHTA HANG YOU FROM YOUR BELT FOR THIS!”
“Gilgamesh!” General Lox shouted out from across the room. “Let him go! Don’t get so angry now, I was-”
“No.”
They both stared back at me, silently. I grabbed Gilgamesh’s wrist tightly, and glared back at him. For the first time, he seemed intimidated.
“No, I do not need your help, General,” I said. “If Gilgamesh has a problem with my actions, fine. I do not regret them and I refuse to apologize for them.”
That only made the man angrier. “You willing to bleed for that, maggot?!”
“Only if you can manage!” I shouted back. I tossed his arm aside and took a few steps back. I rose my arms into a fighting stance. “I refuse to back down to the likes of you, Gilgamesh, and I’m sick of your attitude! Now we both have grievances on the table! So are you willing to fight to resolve them?!”
Gilgamesh was thrown off by this. But his grin soon returned, and he stuck his hands into his pockets. “Fine, whatever you say! I’ve missed the sensation of seeing you scream in pain!” He shrugged his shoulders and glared back at me. “So, come at me if you-!”
“Drop them.”
“Eh?”
I pointed to his pockets. “Drop the knives in there. And furthermore, empty your jacket of them.”
He began to sweat. “The hell do you mean?”
“I’m talking about a fair fight,” I said. “No weapons, just our bare hands.” I could see General Lox smirk in the corner of my eyes.
“Don’t be an idiot!” he shouted to me. “Don’t you remember what I said?! In real combat-”
“Sounds as though the invincible Ralder Gilgamesh is afraid!”
That irked him.
“Afraid,” I continued, “that he is not so invincible as he proclaims to be. Hiding behind trickery and blades to make up for the fact he is too weak to stand tall in a fair fight!”
Gilgamesh began to grind his sharp teeth in anger. “And how do I know you’re not just trying to cheat me, eh?! Get the upper hand on me?!”
He was correct. It was unfair of me to proclaim he disarm himself when I had not proven that I was not armed myself. And so, it seemed only fair to prove that I was trustworth. And so, I unbuttoned by jacket, to the shock of the others, and removed it, as well as the undershirt beneath! I kicked off my boots and turned my pockets inside-out. I returned to my stance, my chest now bare, save for a gray scar across my chest! I pointed to it, and I shouted out to my opponent!
“I am Kalcion Armada Trainee 730! Gohra Kanorath! Four months ago, you gave me this scar! And so today, I swear, I shall return the favor by defeating you in battle! And I shall do so with no trickery, no lies, not even a weapon! I shall defeat you fairly! For that is true HONOR!”
Gilgamesh, sweating nervously and with eyes peering at him judgingly around the room, finally gave in. With a furious shout, he threw the knives he had pocketed to the ground, and threw his jacket down after it. He charged at me, screaming a fierce battle cry with his fist curled behind him. As I expected...he left himself wide open.
I swerved down, and struck him in the gut with a punch of my own. Before he could recover, I delivered a second blow to his shoulder! Then, his chest! He fell to his knee and breathed to recover. I waited for him to stand back up to fight, but I saw his hand reach into his boot. As he began to pull out a hidden blade to strike me with, I decided that if he would not take my honor seriously...I would show him its might!
Before he could strike, I grabbed Gilgamesh by the arm, and then by the shirt. And I lifted as hard as I could!
“HRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”
I lifted Gilgamesh above my shoulder, pulling him through the air and slamming him down to the metal floor!
Gilgamesh groaned on the floor in front of me, clearly defeated. I breathed heavily, sweating shirtless, only just realizing how embarrassing the situation was once the adrenaline faded. Yet oh, how that adrenaline felt! For the first time, I felt excitement in battle! The tension of taking him down, the rush of going in without a weapon! And the lack of guilt. It was a challenge that was accepted, and there was no overpowering tools of death involved. I won fairly, and I won honorably.
It took me time to realize that the platoon was applauding, including General Lox. He came up behind and patted me on the back as he looked down upon Gilgamesh. “Well, I’d have suggested counseling, but that wasn’t a bad way to learn some humility, I suppose.”
Gilgamesh struggled to push himself up, glaring at me angrily from the ground. “Just you...just you wait! Y-You’ll see, you worms! You can take your honor crap and shove it! I’ll be invincible some day...untouchable! And when I see you struggling beneath me, begging for help, I’ll spit in your faces and watch you burn! You’ll regret ever crossing me, you pathetic, low-life, insignificant little-GAH, MY GODDAMN SHOULDER! BRING ME TO THE MEDICAL WARD ALREADY, DAMN YOU!”
As two of the other troops reluctantly brought Gilgamesh to the medical ward, General Lox handed me my jacket with a smile. “Honor, eh? Not my first choice of words, but whatever gets the job done, I s’pose.”
“Listen,” I told him, “I still do not advocate your philosophy. I find it shallow and far too cruel to put my faith in. As effective as it may be in battle, I simply cannot put my trust in it.” Yet with a sigh, I continued. “However...I can tell there’s more to you than mere faux philosophy. I will not lie to myself about who I am, and I will not absorb myself in your games, General. But...you’ve got me curious now. I may not like it, but the idea of fighting for some vague ideal that is greater than me, one that I can put my mind towards...it was exciting, invigorating even. So for now, I will play along with your dishonest ideology. I want to know more, and I want to be able to pass the crutches along and fight for myself with my vision going forth clear. Perhaps even bring some sense of meaning to the nonsense I’m blabbing.”
“You sure like to talk, huh?” He chuckled. “But I like you, Kanorath. A soldier fights for a mere ‘ideal’, but a leader wants to truly understand that ideal. You’ve got the making of a great leader and an even greater man if you keep thinking the way you do.” I blushed at his remarks, leading to a surprisingly painful smack on the back. “Hahahaha! You’re too much, kid! This’ll be good, I can feel it in my bones. Now c’mon, put your shirt back on, you’re embarrassing me.”
As he walked away, I could not help myself but smile. I was still afraid for my life. And I still did not quite know what I planned going forward from here. But I felt as though I had at least a facsimile of purpose to take the next step. Who could say where that path would lead? From then, I only hoped that whatever gate I brought myself to going down it would lead me to a bright and glorious ending, one that I could proudly call my own. One that I could even call honorable.