Chapter 40: Friendly Spar With Squad Six

The sparring field wasn't really a field. Like the Pit, the ground was dirt artificially laid there to prevent serious injuries. The steel walls reminded Doevm of a cage meant to hold a monster. Training dummies were put in the corner along with the training equipment. This was the place where soldiers could train a little before battle or test out new techniques they picked up on the battlefield. While this area isn't popular when a war is in full throttle, it is necessary. War is the best time to get stronger and improve one's life essence. If one doesn't know how to adjust for that increase in strength, one could die.

On paper, squad six was using the sparring field to find the strongest one among them. In reality, Wade had planned this out to the very last detail. Most of the people here were arrogant commoners who had never held a weapon in their life except for a stick as a toddler. They sized each other up and bragged about the equipment they inherited from their ancestors. Their equipment, however, were in lockers back at the barracks. This would be a bare-handed sparring session. Wade smiled at Doevm, who shuddered.

The actual purpose of this exercise was team building and dominance. Wade needed to pull everyone together by beating respect and fear into each one of the squad members. Their dreams would need to be shattered with fists and kicks and their individuality, snuffed out. The guards of the Virility mansion encouraged unity just like the army. If people got injured during the fight, a healer would take care of them in the medical wing. Squad six stood along the perimeter, leaning against the metal walls.

"Who's first?" Wade asked. One man was pushed out of the crowd, Hopi. Unlike with the guards, he looked at the floor. His ears were puffy, and his eyes red. The squad members all jeered at him. He stood in the middle of the grass field, waiting for his opponent.

'Filthy humans,' Doevm thought. 'Racism is and has always been the bane of your kind. You underestimate people just because of difference in how you were born. He's not even a full elf and yet he's ostracized by the masses. While this nation doesn't practice slavery towards other races anymore, it takes time for prejudice to fade.'

One of the cockier members of the squad stepped forward. He was just as tall as Hopi, but his arms were massive. It was like Doevm was looking at his fight with Frey all over again. Wade stood to the side as the squad members took bets on who would win. Wade raised his arm, but Hopi said, "Wait a second." He took off his shirt.

"Oh my goddess," A squad member said. Under Hopi's loose shirt, his body was covered in muscle. Not a hint of fat was in sight. Years in the guards had trained his body to be perfect. That wasn't what the guards were looking at though. They looked at this back, which was covered in scars from whip marks. Hopi crossed his arms and all the mass converged into biceps as big as coconuts.

"I've been ostracized for my entire life," Hopi said. "I've been in more fights than I've had nights of sleep, all because of my ears." He took a step towards his opponent, who seemed to shrink. "I've been biding my time until I get to pay you all back, and now I get the chance." He smiled for the first time since Doevm had met him.

"Ready?" Wade asked, uncaring about Hopi's words. The man nodded and got into a stance. Doevm nearly laughed. "Fight!" The man ran forward and let out a war cry. Hopi dodged the man's obvious punch and countered with a throw. The entire platform shook as the man's face was buried into the ground. Wade had to pull him out before he suffocated.

"Next?" Hopi jeered at the crowd. "That's what I thought. Stay the fuck away from me." He stormed off, muttering something about racism. The soldiers took a few minutes to absorb what Hopi said. A white robed boy came along and picked the man up with a single hand.

"I'm the new healer. He'll be back on his feet in a couple hours. I have a lot of patients in worse condition." As he dragged the man off, the squad members swallowed their saliva.

"He's pretty sensitive about that kind of thing." Wade apologized to the crowd. "I swear he doesn't usually act like that. He'll warm up once you get to know him. Just give him a few a power stones. Now who's next?"

The most arrogant people of the squad were the first to volunteer. Their match lasted a long time since they both had no idea how to fight properly. The crowd cheered like it was an awe-inspiring sight, only seen once a millennium. Wade quickly got bored and set multiple fights to take place at once. Frey and Doevm waited for a few more fights before they joined in. The cheering stopped. Each match was one move and a thud. The squad members started complaining about the unfair matches until Wade took Doevm and Frey out. Near the end, everyone was breathing hard and their confidence was crushed.

"Line up!" Wade commanded. The men were slow, and only half of them got in line. While the exercise had formed unspoken ranks between them, it also formed a bitterness. Wade took note of everyone who was slow and took them aside. They complained the loudest, so Wade said, "Anyone who doesn't like me, take a stance." The words earned him a lot of boos from the crowd.

"Sir, you didn't take place in the fighting. We're all so weak and tired now." One of the noisiest whined.

"I said all of you take a stance." Wade said as a bit of red life essence took shape around him. "I'm the leader here. You will do as I say when I say it. Doevm, Frey, and Hopi are all excused from this because they already know how to be respectful." Like that, the entire squad banded together.

'I guess all the guards think alike,' Doevm thought. 'It's just like when Jameson made us all fight him in order to both establish his power and make the squad come together.' It took ten minutes until the sparring field was quiet once again. The soldiers were lying on the floor, exasperated. Oliver walked between them along with two other healers and took them to the medical wing. As Frey, Doevm, and Wade all went to the river to wash off, they found Hopi leaving.

"Are you cooled down?" Wade asked. "I understand your rage, but I can't have you hotheaded all the time. Remember that we are one, but it will take time for these people to change."

"I understand." Hopi said. "That's why I left. If I stayed, I probably would have done something stupid and killed someone." He hurried off, taking deep breaths.

"What happened to him?" Frey asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Wade asked. "If you really want to know, I'm not going to gossip. His past is his past. Leave it alone." They all washed and went back to the barracks. Some of men had already been healed. They were sound asleep in their hammocks. Doevm climbed in his hammock like the rest. It had been a long day. It was hard to tell what time of day it was. The amount of light wasn't indicative of the time, but the color was. In the morning, morning dew sat on the leaves. At noon, sunlight shone straight down. At sunset, the base was a slight orange tint. At night, the tint was bluish.

Doevm closed his eyes and thought, 'One year; that's such a little amount of time. I need to battle as much as I can, and I need to advance to a captain like Marcus. I can do it, but I'm not sure about Frey. I can assume if I see any of the Virility guards, they'll help me out in battle, but I feel something is amiss. It's like I've had something staring at me all day. Now that mages are mixed into the soldiers, I can't activate my mana sense to check.' He rolled over. 'I wish I could just ignore it, but something deep down is telling me I need to be careful. I wonder if this is what humans call, a gut feeling? There are too many unknowns. I've made so many mistakes and now they're coming back to haunt me.'

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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