- The Kingdom's Assassin: Part 3 -
Pain strangled his arms as he heaved, pushing himself upwards the eighth time. His arms trembled and sweat coated his whole body… "I can't take this anymore! It hurts! Hurts!" Lance cried, tears dripping down his cheeks and sniffed, unsure if he could withstand the weight any further. The first day of training was full of… pain, that's all he can describe it. His teacher, Jack Fostorim, order him to do twenty pushups… and he can barely make it past ten.
"Does it appear that I care? No. Continue!" Jack barked, uncaring if the child flinched by the harshness of his tone. The boy inhaled before dipping his torso downwards again, the fiery sensation in his arms and legs increased, making his body shiver in agony. He tried to lift himself, but the pain… the fatigue, it's… it's too much. Lance dropped to the floor in a miserable mess, unable to hold his body mass any further. When his face touched cold concrete for the floor Lance can't help but to sigh in pleasure, wishing he could snuggle in the coolness forever, soothing his heated body…- fingers laced around his neck and instead of harden cement he rested upon, empty air engulfed his body. Suddenly it became difficult to breathe for thick fingers clenched his windpipe, causing his lungs to burn for oxygen. Lance's own fingers scratched at the man's hand, begging to inhale cold air…
"I have no tolerance for pathetic weaklings such as yourself. If it wasn't for my brother then I would already place you as a slave…" Lance weakly opened his eyes and found cold cobalt piercing his own, "look at you, so frail, so pathetic! It disgusts me." Jack spat, his hand tightening around the child's neck, unmoved by the boy's struggle for air.
"P-pl…please…" The child choked out, gasping soon after.
"Please?" The man repeated, voice raising higher octaves, "are you serious? You're such a useless sack of flesh." Lance vision turned hazy while everything move much slower, spots of black filled his eyesight, he tried to retain what little air he had left, but there was none. Lance ceased to struggle as his body lost its energy to move.
Everything slowly became dark.
I don't want to die…
In the moment where Lance black consumed his vision, Jack dropped him. The child hacked, gasped and moaned with the abrupt ability to breathe, filling his aching lungs with air. Within that moment, the child vomited.
Jack crinkled his nose in disgust before turning away. "I want you to clean yourself up and prepare for tomorrow. I don't expect such failure to occur, or punishments will be harsh. Sarah!" Over at the far corner stood a young maid fidgeting silently, and when her name was yelled the woman flinched.
"Y-yes, master?"
"Clean this vile mess, and take this child to YATW headquarters."
Lance tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt heavy to lift. His body felt so exhausted that he could barely lift a finger, "…" Mumbling something incoherently, his head met solid coolness of the ground. It felt rather relaxing, giving him comfort from the cruelties of this world… evaporating the cruel man that's suppose to train him.
He doesn't want to train, he wants to be free.
Darkness covered him like a warm blanket, soothing his fears and worries without a care in this world.
…
"Hey, I think he's waking up…" The voices were fading in and out, jumbled with silent screeches that pulled Lance from his slumber. Eyes cracked open, Lance found a huge blob in the center of his view, "hey-"
"Wh-whah!" He tried to sit up, but his forehead smacked into something hard. "Ow!" Lance heard someone yell, and thick pain knocked his brain into a haze… He clutched his head, suddenly feeling nausea. "Watch where you're going, asshole!" His weak green eyes cleared the fuzziness and found himself looking at a young boy, whose blue eyes stared at him accusingly. Lance cringed, "s-sorry…" He tried to say but it came off as 'sowee'.
"Whatever, don't mind my brother. I'm Genesis, and this is my little brother Jared."
"…" Lanced tilted his head, blinking at the sight of the individuals in front of him. What are they wearing? Kind of… look like… his brain could not find the words to define their clothing, but it wasn't the dressy outfits that girl had worn when she saved him. "I know what you're thinking, they are called unitards."
"…Uni…tards?" It felt strange on his tongue when Lance spoken the word, and he watched Genesis nod, her brown curls bouncing as she did so. "It's basically a garment that adjusts to flexibility. You'll get one soon." Her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity, "what's your name?" Lance heard her say, and immediately hid behind his covers, feeling exposed and vulnerable in the face of these… children? "…" He didn't want to say, and besides… why should they care? No one cares about his existence.
Except… her.
"Hey! She asked you a question!" Lance snapped out of his daze, and he squeaked when angry sapphire eyes penetrated his emeralds. "I-I…-"
"You don't want have to answer. Jared, back off! You're scaring him." Jared pulled away from Lance's face with a loud huff, folding his arms against his chest. "Whatever…" Lance heard the boy mumble, and he couldn't help but to sigh in relief.
"You are being trained by our father, who recruits people to become elites for the king. If you already noticed, we're in our training attire, it give us flexibility to fight."
"F-fight…?"
"Oh! You haven't heard? The king's capturing orphans to raise a new clan. Seems like you're the second recruit."
"…" New c-clan? What are they talking about? "What… do you mean?" Genesis's happy demeanor slowly became grim, perky lips turned into a dead frown. Jared didn't look any better, face completely away from Lance's view as the two were dead silent. Lance looked at them both, utterly confused and somewhat scared, "um…-"
"It's nothing important to discuss with." Genesis said, walking towards the boy with a small smile. "We're going to be your trainees! Isn't that fun?" No, not fun… he needs to get out of this hell hole! Yet Lance just sat there, clueless.
"Well, today wasn't the best day for you, so we'll show you the basics of fighting." Hand outreached towards his, Genesis grinned the biggest smile she could muster. Lance felt a bit comfortable around Genesis compared to… him, just glancing at Jared gives him the creeps. "Anderson's also the new recruit, too. He's kind of shy, so I bet you both will get along together!" She exclaimed and snatched Lance's wrist, pulling the poor boy out of the bed. Lance yelped in return as he felt himself stumble over his feet, but Genesis held him in her arms.
"Don't worry, everything going to be just fine."
