The roosters were crowing already.  Destroyyoutoo was so tired...  Surely it couldn't be sunrise already.  Slowly, grumbling, he got out of bed.  "Someday, I swear, I'll move to the city and be a merchant...  Or see the world.  Then I will be done with waking up at sunrise," he thought to himself.  By the time he was outside, the second sun had already risen.  He shielded his eyes from the bright light.  Another day of working in the rice fields was another day of his life wasted.  A week from now would be his 12th birthday.  His age did not reflect what he looked like, however.  Destroyyoutoo had been working in the rice fields for as long as could remember, and it showed.  He was muscular for his size, and the dual suns had conditioned his skin to a deep tan.  Destroyyoutoo sighed as he picked up a basket to collect rice in.  If only he could see the world...

Destroyyoutoo wiped the sweat off his forehead.  The first sun had set already, but it was still searing hot.  He couldn't wait for harvest season to be over, so he could go to the more peaceful jobs the farm offered.  On his way back, Destroyyoutoo noticed something peculiar...  Soldiers?  What were they doing here?  He marveled at the long, curved swords sheathed at each soldiers side.  Each member had some thin armor on, allowing for faster movements.  It appeared to be Wood with metal bracings.  Their leader had a fascinating weapon, Destroyyoutoo couldn't quite tell what it was exactly..  But why was the leader talking to his mother?  And why was she crying?

"I'm terribly sorry miss, but it is a situation that could not be avoided," the commander was saying to Destroyyoutoo's mother as he approached close enough to hear.  Destroyyoutoo's mother was crying uncontrollably and sprinted into his arms.  Knowing he would not be able to understand her anyways, Destroyyoutoo simply hugged his mother for comfort.  The general had a intimidating glare, with an impatient look that showed Destroyyoutoo and his mother, KT, were wasting his time.

"What is it you want?" Destroyyoutoo asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Son, you have been chosen to serve with the most noble and skilled division in our army.  It is a great honor, and you should be very proud."

"Murderers!" KT choked out between sobs.  "You killed my husband, and now you are coming to kill my son!"

Destroyyoutoo was suddenly filled with hatred, and started to move towards the general.  The two soldiers closest to him unsheathed their swords, and Destroyyoutoo stopped in his tracks.  He had never known what happened to his father; his mother only described it as a tragedy when he probed her about it.

The general remained calm as ever.  "We did not kill him, he just simply...  Failed our selection process.  A travesty, no doubt, but a necessity when serving for a unit as prestigious as ours.  We have higher hopes for Destroyyoutoo."

Destroyyoutoo stiffened at the sound of his name.  "I will not leave.  I must stay here and help mother with the farm.  She will starve without me to assist her."

"We have already arranged that."  The general gestured towards a wagon, where five people shackled together proceeded to exit.  Only one looked like Destroyyoutoo, the others looked nothing like he had ever seen.  He wondered where they came from.  The general continued, "We have procured slaves to help your mother.  Any disobedience, and authorization is given to kill them in whatever way necessary to provide an example to the others."

The prisoners kept their heads down and said nothing, as they were lead towards the house.

Destroyyoutoo shifted uneasily; KT's sobbed echoed in the silence.  "And...  If I refuse to come, what becomes of me?"

The general pointed directly at the prisoner of the same race of Destroyyoutoo.

"Then your fate will be the same as his; condemned to a life of servitude.  You will help us in one way or another Destroyyoutoo.  The choice is yours."

There was no way out.  There were at least 20 soldiers, four of them archers.  Even if he could outrun the soldiers he would certainly die from a barbed arrow.  It is rumored that the archers are the best in all of Jataan.

Destroyyoutoo looked at KT, who had by now passed out and was being carried inside by two soldiers.  He did not want to leave her, but knew he had no choice in the matter.  No matter which decision he made, he would have to leave his beloved mother.

Tears started filling his eyes.  But he could not cry in front of the general; he must show his strength.  But how could he?  What was he trying to prove?  He was a 12 year old child being torn away from his mother, possibly never to see again, and was probably going to die.

If was tears they wanted, he would refuse to give them to them.  "I will join and serve The Righteous," Destroyyoutoo said with a slight crack in his voice.  He cursed himself for it.

"Excellent," the general said with a smile.  "You will need no time to pack things, we will provide everything for you.  My name is General Torqez, and I will be in charge of your training.  You have little time to say goodbye to your family.  Go now."

Sprinting, Destroyyoutoo went into the house.  He wanted to spend as much time as possible with KT before he had to leave.

She laid in her bed, just waking up.  Destroyyoutoo sat next to her.  "My son....  What have you decided?" she gently whispered, quiet enough that Destroyyoutoo had to get closer to hear.  "I will join The Righteous, but only because I must.  I leave very soon."

KT started to whimper.  "They have murdered my husband..  Now they will kill my son..  You must promise me one thing.  Promise me you will come back.  You must not die; if you die, the family bloodline dies with you.  I will live every day anticipating your arrival.  Please don't disappoint me.."

Without General Torqez around, Destroyyoutoo was unabashed when he shed a tear.  "I promise KT.  I will be back.  You have my word."

KT was crying uncontrollably when he came in.  "Destroyyoutoo, it is time," General Torqez stated simply.

The door to the Charot was opened, and the light was blinding.  As Destroyyoutoo exited the Charot, he surveyed his new surroundings.  His bare feet burned on the sandy desert floor, and he hoped to go indoors soon.  Or at least be issued a pair of proper shoes.  He looked up from his feet and only saw three buildings, which was not what he expected.  The smaller buildings looked run down, the bricks on the sides were crumbling and there were holes in the straw roof.  The large building looked intimidating, with dark, polished granite walls.  The desert sun reflected off of the walls, shining light on the smaller, derelict buildings.

Destroyyoutoo looked at the Charot again.  There blood on the side of it, apparently from where one of the slaves was run over.  Perhaps he tripped and fell?  Then Destroyyoutoo felt sick.  Another slave was holding the head of the one that had been run over.  It was apparent that his death was not an accident.  This was a job that you do not mess up in.

General Torqez surveyed all of his new recruits.  His eyes narrowed, "All of you follow me, we are going to the Main."  He gestured towards the granite building as he began walking towards it.  The new recruits followed obediently.  Not that there was a place for them to run away to, the empty desert expanded for as far as could be seen.

When they entered the buildings, there were three doors:  one straight ahead, one on the left, and one on the right.

"You, you, you, you, and..." General Torqez debated for a second.  "You," he said, pointing at Destroyyoutoo.  "Follow me, this will be your new home for awhile."  Es was in his group as well, making Destroyyoutoo a little more at ease again.

"Good," Destroyyoutoo thought.  "I don't know what I would do if I had to stay in the other, trashy buildings."

They entered the door, and Destroyyoutoo was surprised at what he saw.  There were five heavy steel doors with no windows.  As he recalled, there were no windows on the outside of the Main as well.  Torches lined the hallway.

General Torqez told evilsheep to get in the first door.  Looking a bit worried, which is an expression Destroyyoutoo had not seen Es show yet, he entered the door.  General Torqez slammed it shut and threw a lock.

"What ar.." a kamba started, but was promptly interrupted by General Torqez.  "You will not question my authority, ever!  Since this is the first offense, you will be given a warning.  The next time you will not be so lucky."  He touched his sword and gave a slight smirk, daring anyone to question his authority.

The group of Kamba's stiffened up.  No one said a word, or moved a muscle, for that matter.

He continued to assign them to different cells, until Destroyyoutoo was the last one left.  He stepped into the cell and turned around.  "I hope you last longer than your father," General Torqez laughed as the door was slammed shut.  The last sound that would be heard that night was Destroyyoutoo slamming his shoulder into the door, trying to attack General Torqez for his comment.  For the rest of the night:

Silence.

Darkness.  Darkness filled Destroyyoutoo's days, and his nights.  He had no concept of time; one moon passing, two, maybe an entire season.  It could have been a year for all he knew.

The hunger gnawed at him.  He was fed very little; he was not sure if it was once a day or once a week, but his stomach was so small he was rarely hungry now anyways.  He had to compete for the little scraps he had with the rats that infested his cell.

He often thought of killing himself, but remembered the promise he made KT.  He had promised KT, given him his word.  No matter how hellish his new home was, he had to continue on through the pain to see his mother again.  He refused to fail like his father did, no, failure would not be an option.

The worst part were the beatings.  He was beat more often than he was fed, with what he assumed were long wooden rods.  He would be blindfolded and half dragged to another place, where he would be beat until he could not stand.  Occasionally he would hear General Torqez mumble "Good," or "Hit him harder or I'll have your head.."

He would then be dragged back to his cell and have his blindfold removed.  And then..

Darkness.

"Your time is up, you can come out now," he heard General Torqez say.  Destroyyoutoo would have left, except he could not even stand.  That, and the last time they said he was free they beat him some more.  But he could see Torqez alone, and that never happened; it must be true this time.

Destroyyoutoo put every ounce of strength into standing.  As he got up, the first time he fell back down, hard.  Rubbing his tailbone, he tried again.  This time he was able to get to a pathetic slouch, and he used this to walk to General Torqez.  He slowly worked out the kinks and was able to stand somewhat straight in front of his leader.  He exited his cell, hopefully for the last time, and looked down the hallway.  Two others were there; Destroyyoutoo breathed a sigh of relief as he saw evilsheep at the end of the hallway.

Destroyyoutoo surveyed his surroundings as he walked into his new home.  The roof was pitted with holes; the walls half crumbled down.Es looked around, "Man, this place will be much better than the cell!"  Destroyyoutoo laughed.  Always looking for the good in things..  Maybe he should be more like evilsheep.  Guilty shyly walked to a corner of the room, laying down on the ground and using a small rock as a pillow.

Slowly and painfully, Destroyyoutoo sat down cross-legged on the floor.  Evilsheep sat across from him.  "So, what was life like where you come from, Es?"

Evilsheep looked down for a long time.  A drop of water fell from his face and hit the sand, which immediately evaporated.  A short time later, he began.  "I come from a large family.  Our mother and father made armor, and I was convinced from the day I was born I was meant to make armor.  All of us helped equally, and received no pay but the clothes on our back and food for our mouths.  We made the best armor in the city, and we sold it to the army regularly.  We were always complimented on its high quality.  Of the children, I was the oldest, which made it all the more difficult when I was forc...  chose to leave."  Evilsheep looked down again.  "I'll never forget all my younger siblings begging and crying for me not to leave.  But I did what I had to do.  My family will be well enough off with the rest of the children."  Evilsheep smiled, as was his norm.  "But, dear sir, I do not remember your story.  How did you come apart of The Righteous?"

Destroyyoutoo told his story to evilsheep, managing to not breakdown through the entire course of it.

Evilsheep nodded.  "That is terrible.  Terrible indeed.  I am so sorry.."  Another reassuring smile.  "But everything will be fine now, we have completed the first test.  And we will become a part of The Righteous.  Together."

Destroyyoutoo smiled.  He hoped so, but this place was so strange and foreign, anything could happen.

For a couple of weeks Arocalex went over the stuff his dad had left for him, things from here and there. Some had little golden engravings on them others were made out of copper, some necklaces. Every time he looked at them he couldn't figure out why he would leave these things. Until one night he had a dream of days long gone, memories he long thought he had lost.

His father, they were sitting near a pond and Arocalex could feel he was very little every time he looked up to his dad asking for bread to throw at the fish. As he heard himself laugh in the foreground he heard his dad speak with a deep and calming voice that seemed to echo through his mind: "I want you to have more son, I want you to see what I have seen, to feel what I have felt as I looked upon things only a select people have. I wish you more then this town."
"I liek it here daddy." Arocalex responded as he grabbed hold of his fathers clothes. His dad picked him up and sat him on his shoulders as they walked back to their home.

"I have to leave." The thought rocketed through his mind as nothing before. It stayed and didn't leave, repeated itself "I have to leave." The rest of the week he spent trying to sell off everything he could and bought a horse and whatever it could carry. Only a couple necklaces and a wooden cup he kept from his fathers things but he memorized everyone so he could buy the same ones if he encountered them.
He left the city heading east; three weeks ago.

Evilsheep, Guilty, and the other recruit slowly limped towards the enemy team.  They had seen Destroyyoutoo sitting by himself for some time, for what reason, they did not know.  Perhaps he had decided to give up; perhaps he had no desire to kill.  Evilsheep shook his head in dismay.  This was nonsense, killing fellow Kamba.  He could not imagine being the one to have to kill Destroyyoutoo.  That is why he was going to have the others do it.  He could not kill a friend, no matter what the circumstances, even if it cost him his life.

Evilsheep looked at his skin.  It was bright red, blistered and peeling.  He had felt sick to his stomach for a full day, which is as long as it took to get this far.  Already he had vomited three times, which is even less than the other two.  He glanced over at them.

Guilty was lagging behind again.

His destiny almost reachable
Surpassing the ideals so preachable
Destroyyoutoo is fighting for the caaaauuuuuse!

He dashes are like lightning
his moves so revered
the only way to flatten him
would be to chop off his beard

But his beard long gone from
this world he did not belong

i had this theme music voice in my head, and it sounds really cool. No idea how i ended up in roleplay tho...sry.

He was now four weeks in his journey and had spent the last week in a city named Aquilagra, dubbed the blue city. It was named as such because a grand blue archway several kilometres long with shops riddling each side of the pathway led up to the councils chamber.

Arocalex was absolutely delighted there as he booked himself into one of the taverns the city was plentiful with. The atmosphere was completely different from his city through the towns and into this new breath of air. And with that new vigour Arocalex had met a girl named Lizzy whom he gave one of the necklaces he had brought with him. Of course he told him that was the only thing he kept of his fathers and went on a quest to find all other parts. She hesitant at first, but hearing exciting story after another must of aroused he fair lady as she gave herself to Arocalex for the duration of the time he spent there.

"If only her husband hadn't shown up.' Arocalex thought as his horse crept across the land scape.