King of Shadows

Drafting Day

My village was a cold place to be if you were different. It was hell on earth for me, but it was better than war, anything was better than The War. I sat up into a sitting position, dusting off my brown pants and white tunic. It didn’t do me any good, the dirt still stuck to my clothes. We were fighting a losing battle. The War was against our long time enemy the Ottoman Empire, honestly I knew we didn’t stand a chance, not with The Earl leading his army into battle. The War has been going on for years, so long that we have days like today, called the Drafting Day, where everyone who didn’t have a job was forced into the army. Unfortunately, that meant me. The villagers never offered me a job, I was different, and they shunned me. The Church was the main cause of it, they took one look at me and deemed me an outcast for the rest of my life.

I got to my feet, and licked my cracked lips, The Drafting would begin soon, and the rest of the village was already lining up, walking over to the stage in the center of town. I’d been on that stage many times in my life, I was their main source of entertainment, ranging from beatings, to burning me. I hated them all for it, no one had even thought of helping me. They found pleasure in my suffering. I found a seat quickly, preferably away from the crowd, but there were so many people that I was soon squished next to two unfortunate men. I gave them cold glares, and watched the stage in front of me. I didn’t want to go to war, even though that meant three meals a day and a place to sleep. I would rather die on the streets, than risk the chance of being caught by the enemy and tortured. The heat bared down on us relentlessly, but I didn’t even break a sweat, I was used to the heat. I waited for the ceremony to begin, ten minutes passed, then twenty before the Soldiers finally blocked off any exits and Kanda Yuu, the most powerful of three Generals walked onto stage.

His raven hair swayed as he turned to the crowd in front of him. His cobalt eyes were almost colder than mine. “Ladies and gentlemen.” he said, his voice deep, reverberating in my chest, “You’ve gathered here today to witness Drafting Day,” He was going to say my name, I was going to die. I stiffened as he clasped his hands behind his back and cleared his throat. A Soldier walked over to center stage, where Kanda stood and handed his a slip of paper. “Johnson Smith, Viper Bose, Bradley Ludwig…” It was difficult to keep my face neutral as he neared the end of his list, I was definitely going to get called. After minutes and minutes of waiting I thought maybe I’d be spared- “Allen Walker,”

My heart dropped like a dead weight in my chest. Oh, dear gods, if any of them were listening, please, please let this be a dream. I prayed to Rhys, the god of Warfare, Arcane, and Chaos, but the crowd cheered loudly, applauding, not out of respect. Out of hatred and gratitude that I was no longer their problem. I rose from my seat, and placed a mask over my emotions and facial expression. Angry and cold. I walked up to the stage while the people yelled curses and gave me vulgar gestures. They even threw food at me, and it took all my self control to not eat anything that fell at my feet. Instead, I kicked a tomato that landed in front of me and it sailed through the crowd, hitting someone in the face. They screeched and I tried not to crack a smirk. “Thank you for your patience, and respect. Drafting Day is concluded.” Kanda said, before turning on his heel and we all followed.

He lead us behind the stage to where at least dozen horses waited. He ordered us to mount one, and I gave the black stallion an apprehensive stare, I’ve never ridden a horse before, but I climbed on anyway. I bit my lower lip, as my horse began moving at a slow trot along with the other horses. I watched the others handling their horses, we came to a turn and they turned their reins in the direction they wanted to go and the horses went in that direction, I followed suit and my horse did the same. We followed the dirt roads through the village until we left. The dry, cracked earth changed as we continued on. It changed into beautiful green pastures, and the temperature dropped, so now it was comfortably cool. “I didn’t know you could ride, homeless boy,” Viper said, with an evil smirk. I ignored him. His bronze hair fell right above his eyes wildly, he looked like he was the homeless one.