The steel birds of war soared through the bright clear skies. Their engines roaring like fierce beasts. The birds themselves however looked stoic and intimidating.
There were three of them, flying in formation and leaving a trail of white puffy cloud behind them. Beneath the planes were buildings and more buildings. One of those buildings in particular, someone was observing them; looking at the silver metallic doves in admiration and curiosity. But they kept flying, oblivious to the world beneath though ever watchful in the world above because the threats in the skies were invaders of their territory.
"Hmmm F16s…." Came a nonchalant voice of a youth of about 17 to 18.
"How'd you know?" Another voice asked dubiously.
"Cos they look like F16s. I saw the shape of their wings and their bodies. Unmistakably the F16s." The first voice answered cool and confidently.
"Ohhh is that right?"
"Another reason is that the F16 is the newest and most capable fighter jets our country has. So of course they'd be flying the F16s." He paused for awhile. " Sheesh, Virgea has all the cool and powerful planes and all we have are old and outdated F16s. AND its our MOST advanced plane. The F16 was built more than 5 years ago!" He added in frustratedly.
Then, they heard the continuous ring of a bell for a few seconds.
"Sigh, time to go back to class." The youth who had identified the F16 sulked as he stood up. He had brown medium-length hair and hazel coloured eyes. He was quite tall too. His face were sharp and handsome.
The other person beside him had neat and short blonde hair and blue eyes. His features were childish and people mistook him as being 2 years younger than he was. The two had apparently laid out on the roof of the school eating buns at recess.
"C'mon Nick, go pick up your rubbish next time ok? Mr. Hennesse already said we could stay up here as long as we keep it clean. Damn lazy piece of Grghhghmhgh…."
The other youth admonished his friend then grumbled to himself while picking up the bun wrappers that lay on the floor but by then the other youth was already out of sight.
"Grrrrr that dummy. Leaving me behind….but man I wish I'd be able to get into one of those planes." He said to himself. Then he disappeared into the school building.
There were 4 main continents in this world. Aurelia in the South East, Duranium in the north east, Romanda in the South West and Synelia in the West.
The big superpowers of the world were the countries of Virgea, Scorpalese, Sagitarica and Ariall. The world was relatively at peace however, bilateral ties between Virgea and Ariall has been strained due to Ariall suddenly ceasing its supply of oil to Virgea. Tensions mounted but numerous talks and negotiations have begun to settle the issue.
Ariall is a country rich in oil located in the continent of Duranium. Its lands mostly consist of Arid dry lands and deserts. However its cities are one of the most glorious in the world. Virgea on the other hand could be considered the biggest superpower of all the other countries. It is the most technologically advanced and the richest country in the world. The country seems to be the pioneer in the many industries and it's the trendsetter of the world. If there is even a slight change in Virgea, the whole world would most certainly be affected.
The story begins in the small country of Capricore situated in the middle of the Eastern countries and the Western countries. It is just a tiny red dot compared to the other countries and could even be considered an island. However despite its size, due to its strategic location between the east and west continents, it became a hub for transportation and shipping. It took advantage of this and prospered. The only way it could survive was to establish good ties with other countries especially the rich and powerful countries; to make as many allies but no enemies at all.
The country also understands the fact that if they were to be invaded or attacked, no ally country would pour their sweat and blood into aiding it without some sort of benefits. Hence, with each country they made sure that there would be a huge benefit that Capricore could provide to them thus in the even that they were to be invaded, to protect their benefits, their allies would surely come to aid.
But then again, Capricore being small country with very little resources, why would anyone want to invade it? This was a notion that constantly remained in the mind of Nick.
This year was his last year in high school. He would graduate and then come the next year, he would have to enter National Service. Capricore, being a small country as it is, needed men to beef up its military defenses so all men after turning 18 would be required to serve the nation for 2 years in the military. Nick always thought of this as a waste of time.
He wanted to succeed in life and that takes education which he hated a lot but understood well that without education, it would be very hard to be successful much less get a job. In this country, everything required education, certificates, diplomas, degrees. Heck, everywhere in the world required it but not as much as in Capricore.
"Ahh what a pain in the ass. National Service is just a waste of time. I cant believe it! God gave us life and I know life is short but the government just takes away 2 precious years of our life just like that! We're just gonna waste time in the military. This bites." Nick complained to his friend Kevin as they both walked out of the school gate after the last school bell had rung. Graduation day was just 1 month away which meant that the enlistment date was fast approaching too.
"National Service isn't that much of a waste of time. We get paid every month, we'll toughen up and become a man AND we could pilot those fighter jets!" Kevin, who was the one that helped pick Nick's bun wrapper and who was also his best friend said optimistically.
"Yea, paid 250 bucks a month. That's peanuts…." He replied sulkily.
"$250 is a lot of money! We'd be spending most of our time doing our vocation in the military and the cafeteria food is free over there. I think 250 is more than enough!"
"Don't tell me you wanna eat the crappy cafeteria food the whole time? You'd surely wanna go out to eat at Mcdonalds or Pizza hut. Then what about the money to watch movies, buy manga, go clubbing and for transportation? Even the job I worked last time at Pizza hut paid way more than this. "
"Well, I don't go clubbing and movie tickets are only 8 dollars AND we wont be watching that many movies in a month. I don't buy that many manga but I do play a lot of video games though so that may be a problem. BUT I don't have the time to play video games anymore so I wont be spending any money on them. I don't understand how 250 is such a small amount to you….." He pouted.
"Ahhh how many times have I told you to stop doing that? It makes you look like a kid…." Nick told him exasperatedly when he spotted the pout on Kevin;s face which just made him pout even more. "Sigh…anyways, for a kid like you who lived a sheltered life, I think 250 is more than enough for you. Me on the other hand need more to survive. Also, about the part where you said we could pilot the fighter jets. Theres no way I could do that."
"Why not?! I thought you loved to fly? I thought you loved planes?!" Kevin looked at him sternly. They both made a promise to enter the Air force when they were serving their national service and he believed they really would. Every day during recess, they laid out on the roof gazing at the skies watching all kinds of planes fly by. Commercial planes, helicopters, private jets but their favourite one of all was the fighter jets. They talked about what kind of fighter jet they'd like to fly in and what model was their favourite. Then suddenly Nick just gives up on their dream and their promise.
"The reality of this world is that if you're not part of the majority, it'd be hard for you to make it anywhere. I'm part Asian and part Caucasian. I doubt theres any Asian in the Air Force. At least, there aren't any Asian pilots. I don't think they'd let me in." Nick gave his reason as he gazed into the distance. He believed this to be the truth of the world after the many bad experiences he had in the past.
Kevin saw the expression on Nick's face and saw the look in his eyes. He somewhat believed in what Nick was saying. While they were in school, he witnessed many incidents where other students picked on Nick and called him names. Nick was strong and handled the incidents well but Kevin knew that he was suffering on the inside. Nick never told Kevin about those incidents or about what he felt but he knew that because of those reasons, Nick believed the world was full of people like them. And truthfully, there weren't any Asian pilots in the Air force as well.
He didn't know what to say but he put his hand on Nick's shoulders and gave a few pats.
Nick turned to look at him and gazed into his eyes. Kevin's eyes widened as he returned the gaze suprised by Nick's cations. He moved closer to Kevin with their eyes still locked. Kevin could only stand motionless staring at Nick as he moved closer. Then Nick whispered to Kevin in his ears. "I know you like Melissa and you kissed her on the cheeks this morning."
Kevin's face turned as red as a cherry and his eyes widened even more becoming owl-like. "WAAaaAAHh how did you know that?!! RaWrRRr!!" Kevin screamed as Nick ran away from him howling in laughter. Their school days are coming to an end and little do the both of them know what the future holds for them; Or that something would happen far away, in another country which would later spark a chain of events that would be irreparable.