Entry #43 1925

From what I have heard, it seems the failure rate of the test I undertook was incredibly high. I thought it was a simple illusion/-/ but it seems many of my comrades could not figure it out. I am… uncertain about how to feel about this. Do we have a lack of training in the Imp/-/erial Mages? Is there something we missed in our education or was the Captain taking it easy on my group?

I have many questions but I cannot answer any single one of them. I have heard there was a commotion a few days ag/-/o where someone protested his failure. I could not acquire more information other than him storming into the office and walked out a few minutes lat/-/er with his shoulders close to the ground.

The orders were simple though after passing the test. We are to standby in the capital until further notice. I can /-/only assume it is until they finish testing all candidates but I must say this barrack is not filling with mages very fast. I can/-/ only wait.


Entry #44 1925

We are finally underway for training and adaptation together in order to make an actual battalion. I count roughly a hundred men and wome/-/n I suppose, was never very good at counting people especially in crowds. Let us just say there are a lot of people. It took a fair bit to pick every/-/ mage here, roughly two weeks after I made it in give or take a few days. Let us hope the training is just as simple as the test. I was already a full-/-/fledged soldier in the Eastern Army so another round of training as a recruit would not be very efficient for someone such as myself; I am certain it a/-/pplies to almost everyone give or take a few recruits.


Entry #45 1925

First day of training… a full day of high altitude flying… we spent almost fourteen hours in the air at the maximum height of six thousand /-/feet. This was a grueling task, I do not care how experienced or strong one is, this exercise would deplete them completely. We have surprisingly n/-/ice barracks up in these mountains, the Alpen I believe there were called. You can even hear second lieutenant Serebryakov enjoying t/-/


Entry # 46 1925

THIS CAPTAIN IS INSANE!
SHE BLOODY BLEW UP OUR BARRACKS, SENT US FLYING AND THEN TELLS US MAKE A HIKE TO THE NEXT LOCATION ACROSS THE BLOODY MOUNTAINS IN FORTY EIGHT HOURS!
This small hike as she so described it, includes climbing cliffs, passing through caves, tiptoe on the high mountains so as not to fall, a short drift down a river which for the record is absolute madness but very exciting. The best paddle we had was the shovel Second Lieutenant Serebryakov managed to save from the explosion. The camping part was the easiest thing although the howls at night did not make us comfortable

I lost a solid 2 pages of my journal because of my pen ripping through the page and the ink spill, that's not accounting the physical damage from the explosion, I should count myself lucky I managed to keep it on me during the explosion. Still it makes me angry to know some of my previous entries got ripped in the process, might have to remove the pages and write it all in new ones.


Entry # 47 1925

Her smile… is what nightmares are made of…


Entry #48 1925

I apologize for my previous entry… it was all I could write… I simply did not have the heart to write anything else… We finished the hike without issues and made it to the checkpoint within the forty eight hour limit… but… all that awaited us was a small child smiling at us…

It broke my heart… no I was not sad at a love break… I was simply filled with despair…

She decided since we succeeded her hike without magic, the artillery division did not get to shoot at us… thus she decided to let us practice position defense against them… the worst part? It was in late afternoon and the artillery had enough shells for thirty six hours… count the hours without proper rest… maybe a total of seven? I am not sure, first the barracks blew up after fourteen hours of flight, then a full sixteen hours of hike, seven hours of rest and then another eight of hike… Yeah I am tired alright…

WHO IN GODS NAME CALLS THIS TRAINING?!
THIS IS ABUSE OF HUMANS!

We have somehow survived the bombardment of live shells on our position, had to trust each and every single person to not fail else my buttocks would be on fire. I am… exhausted… both physically and mentally but at the very least I know I can trust the people around me now. We have survived some pretty fucked up shit…


Entry # 49 1925

We have received orders for a second hike… we actually had people drop out; I honestly do not blame them… I have considered doing it myself it's just I missed the call for it. I was too tired and couldn't hear them asking properly and thus I was dragged into the second hike. I want to go back home.

This second hike was less natural and more military… there were planes scouting the area, special scouts with dogs trying to smell us coming and actual patrols of troops… In a way it was easier but any less attention would cost us dear I can only assume.


Entry #50 1925

Orders are simple… SURVIVE… plain and simple… that is all I can do now… I don't even have enough energy to spare to write in this journal anymore…

All I can say… is that the Captain is truly terrifying for a girl her age and size… I am very happy my wife was not this way else I do not think I would have survived my marriage so long.


Author's Note

Hello everyone, Gen here, it's been a long while and I am very sorry about that, tl:dr of it is I changed employment, changed town, been without internet for roughly 3 weeks (no internet November challenge is now complete) and then got very insecure I was writing up to everyone's expectations. Anyways am back, will keep it going and a Merry Christmas to you all.

Hope I managed to please people here, let me know in a DM or review

Also yes it was COMPLETELY intentional to break works to fit /-/ inside the text, take it as the pen ripping through but lucky you guys i did not remove letters, I am sure you guys can still read it properly lol.

BIG SHOUTOUT TO FT-MAGE (Forlorn Story Teller on ffnet, or loli-mage on discord) for the cover image. A great person who helped me get this story assembled and released.