Capítulo 2: Chapter Two: Fair Games

Jackia's point of view

I knew that he wasn't going to play fair, my father never really did. I was barely allowed to go to the camp with the clothes on my back, not like I even owned much in the first place to even be worried about.

As I was packing up to go to the camp my mother stood at my door, tears bubbling in her eyes, even without saying a word I could tell that she was pleading with me not to go then as I'm ready to the door with my sack she stood in my way.

"Please don't go my child even if you are just a girl it is far better than being childless,"

I looked at my mother, I wasn't even upset with her I was just sad, sad that she was raised to be like this and feel like it was right and to also think that I was supposed to move down the same path as her, I hugged her and I promised her that she wouldn't be childless.

Those three days practically dragged by because the recruit training for warriors was no joke; in the camp we had about seventy five men that enlisted and just five women, I heard from many corners that we were even the largest number that the recruit camp had seen in a long time.

We were all tested on our strength, endurance,stamina and intelligence.

Well the women were also tested on their patience, the training camp was a considerable cluster of cabins in the outer woods and from the very moment that I enlisted I could feel the bulging eyes of the men that followed me and the other women, this was followed by the barely hidden whispers whenever I would walked past them.

But I soon discovered that what made them furious was when they realised they could no longer see me as a joke anymore, from the moment we enlisted our name the training began we were told to run around the parameters of the cabin for how long? It wasn't specified but by the time we were going around for the third circle many of the men had already collapsed. I could only go around two more times before my own body gave in.

"Impressive..."our trainer, a mid ranked wolf official named Axel said when he saw me, I was about to smile when he said something that caused that smile to immediately shrink away.

"...for a woman."

Then he went to announce that anybody that had fallen behind me would have to run three more laps the next day and even without turning around I could feel the heated looks of hatred that were already running down my back, and the target that had undoubtedly been planted there.

So the training that we got was not the hardest part about being a warrior recruit, it was how every single man there was either viciously apathetic to our situation or the sight of us made them sick, and they were viciously out to get us.

The actions grew from what appeared to be *harmless pranks* according to Axel and then developed into something far much worse, one morning before the sun could even come up I was rushing to go downstream to have my bath since we had it to get washed before the men would arrive but the time I arrived downstream the three female recruits were pleading for me to get them something to wear claiming that they had left their clothes on some rocks and then they disappeared.

Another female recruit that was also running late came down and it didn't take long to put two and two together to know that it was the male recruits that were responsible, but when we reported this to Axel he shot a half interested look at us and demanded proof.

"Proof?! Well it couldn't have been the woodland animals that run off with their clothes!" I half screamed and then he gave me a hard look.

"If you ever speak to your superior like that again I'm going to teach you how to use your tongue properly..."

I thought I was going to vomit when I heard that, we stepped out of his cabin and three women were heading over to get their things and leave. I pleaded with them to stay but they said that they could not deal with it anymore.

It had only been a week.

After that it was just me and one other female recruit, Lucia.

"It is going to get much worse than this if you are going to run, this is probably your chance,"

She said to me as we were returning back to our own cabin, she barely ever spoke to me before in fact to anybody she hired this aggressive aura around her that wasn't exactly inviting most of the time.

"I'm done running, unless it's towards my goals,"

She looked at me and her facial features softened up just a slightest bit to what was the closest approximation of a smile for her.

So I worked hard even after my parents disowned me I continue to grind every day until finally after some years had passed and some dangerous missions I came to the peak of my goal; becoming an elite warrior.

I thought that this was finally it, after being underestimated my entire life as nothing more than a baby-maker, I would finally be recognized for my skills and capability and not just what I had between my legs... Or at least that was what I had hoped for.

Every single elite warrior had to be recognized by the Alpha first. This would happen in a long but necessary ceremony that I looked forward to for weeks. I even invited my parents but I doubted that they would come. Then finally the day came and I saw myself standing in front of the Palace of the Alpha.

I thought this was where my life truly began, but I had no idea what was in store for me inside.