Reminiscence of the Past

VIII. Training of Hell

I stared at my bowl of porridge. It was already night and everyone was chatting away while I sat by myself at the end of the table. I swirled the spoon in the porridge then took a bite of it. It wasn't the best, but it was at least something that would keep me from dying. Caius had to drag me to the dining hall. I never expected to be this upset about a name or that my 'mom' called me that. She wasn't even my real mother for god sakes, but my heart is aching and I just have the urge to cry. Am I experiencing the real Alaric's or Aulus emotion or... is this my true emotions?

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"Good morning, boys!"

"Good morning, Centurion Servius!" Everyone yelled, I chimed in later

Today was my first day of training. After what happened yesterday, I needed something to take my mind off this whole dilemma. I just wonder what they had in store for us, well me.

"Today, Campidoctor (drill instructor) Appius will be training you today. The soldiers who recruited you will also be teaching you so be prepared. Appius, it's all you," Centurion Servius walked off

Campidoctor Appius looked at us, "I can see we have a lot of training to do. Drop and give me 20 pushups!"

'At least it wasn't 30.' I got to the floor and got into position. I could feel my arms shaking, but I gave it my all. I couldn't get my chest close to the floor which then led me to fall onto my chest. I got back into position and did it again. I fail back onto my chest. I continued to do it which just led me to fall and fall again.

"Boy, what the hell are you doing?" I looked up to see a soldier by me

"Trying to do a push up," I strained as I went down and fell down

"That's a push up," He laughed

I didn't pay him any attention and went back to doing 'fa̶i̶l̶i̶n̶g̶' push ups. After my too many to count fails, I laid there to see the others, failing also. 'At least I'm not the only one.' I went back to practicing.

"This one over here is good!" A yell was heard

I sat on my knees to see soldiers around a boy. I looked around and others were looking while others were trying to finish. I got back into position and tried to at least do one.

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"Okay, that's enough!" Campidoctor Appius clapped his hands

I dropped myself to the ground, huffing and puffing. I could feel my arms aching.

"I can see we need to practice on your strength, so be prepared!" I sat up, watching as the Campidoctor walked around, "Now, I want each and every one of you to get a bag over there and run 5 laps around this building from the outside,"

"Can't we just rest?" Someone whined

"Do you think there's any time to rest, boy!" The campidoctor walked over to the boy, grabbing him by his hair, "There is no such thing as rest for us, milites. Do you understand? I said, "Do you understand!"
"Yes, yes," The boy cried

Campidoctor Appius let go of the boy's hair and looked at the rest of us, "Who else wants to whine?" Everyone stayed quiet, "No one? Okay then why are all of you, just sitting there? Get up and get a bag!" He yelled, his veins showing on his neck

Everyone scurried over to the bags including me. I do not want to get on their bad sides. I stumbled forward when the weight of the bag pulled me forward. I carried it on my shoulder, just feeling it sink into my skin. I jogged, trying to conserve my energy. I switched the bag from one side to the other before placing each strap on both my shoulders like a backpack. It kinda eases the pain, but not all.