Legends: Fall of an Empire

Demons

16 teenagers, all with different gunshot wounds to the face, stare at me as I walk into my classroom, there clothes dark, defective, as if the cloth doesn't even exist but it does. My sister, Tiff is in the corner, praying, along with my birth mother and my grandfather, Korpus the Brave. "M-mom!" I call out, reaching my hand toward her, and she turns around. As she turns around her face disappears, replaced with nothing but a skull, but flat as if it had no eyes, mouth, or nose. Then, out of the 16 teenagers, Peter walks up to me, his face already torn apart from the shotgun blast, and he hisses at me, "Everyone you have cared for is dead, Kaizer the Weak," his mouth speaks out, but the words are coming out of my grandfathers mouth, as if he were orchestrating my entire dream.
"You, the man who I have sent in my place, to replace the mold of a fake nation, you cannot view these ties as your fault. You caused none of these deaths," my grandfather speaks, no longer through Peter, but through himself, "Yet you feel as though this burden is yours, you're at fault for these deaths. If only you had opened your mouth, the food was a trap, if you had told Peter how to answer the questions. The truth is, the questions are of honest value my grandson.
"However, the people in power are not. This is where you come in child, dethrone them, uphold our legacy, but bring honor amongst everyone!" He says, almost in General Lacienta's voice. Still, 16 different gunshots go off simultaneously in my head, and I cannot stop anyone dying.
What a way to wake up, at 4:34 A.M. Not 4:35, not 4:30, but 4:34 on that specific dot. But the 11 who remain have not failed this task yet.
We did have 13, but our one-on-one hand-to-hand combat tournament took us to 12, and then torture training killed one in the process, taking us to 11.
Everyday at 4:34 A.M. we have had to take a 2 mile run up hill, and a 2 mile swim upstream in the wave pool. With what started as any failure to complete these tasks in under 14 minutes claims you as defective, everyday the time would dwindle until it's nearly impossible to do, right now we have been hard stuck at 2 mile runs at 8 minutes par, and 2 mile swims 9 minutes par. Lacienta has an idea of a perfect army, and his soldiers, well they need to be trained to be perfect. Failure to do so would have you end up like the other 2, defective.
However, I ride the ranks as middle level warrior, but I'm pretty sure Lacienta knows I'm holding back. When we were practicing our gun movements when sweeping and clearing he called me to the side and actually asked me why I wasn't putting in full effort, considering I am the one who claims to want to save the world, and I froze. Generally speaking I had no idea what to say, if I answered properly I would've probably defected, and if i answered honestly I would have definitely defected. All I could say was "General, I feel as if this is child's play compared to being in an actual strategical position." And boy did he eat it up.
      However, this would lead me to become secluded from the group, because now I was being taken on private lessons for strategic response. The perfect open to one on one time with the General himself, and I plan on using every bit of it wisely.
      Korin, the woman I met my first night here, is a encore, which is another word for someone given a job change because they're answers no longer fit there given role, and that only happens once in a blue moon. Spencer, the dudes a dead shot with a rifle, can hold his ground with the best, and has incredible survival skills. Me, well like I said I'm slow playing everyth-
       "What are you writing?" Korin says, her voice almost right up on my neck, "Is it a love letter?! Ouuu, who could be so lucky that they have caught Kaizer Korpus' eye himself." I don't think I've ever shut my journal so fast. "Oh, well if you must know it's partially homework that El General has given me, which is to write a list with pros and cons about everyone who I would see fit to be in my squad, and partially a journal entry, to keep one sanity." I say, with a smile. Korin's eyes gleamed bright blue, her caramel skin melding into the backdrop of the sun, I found myself growing fond in her eyes, and I blushed. "Well who would you pick to be on your team, Kai? Surely you wouldn't have Nancy Geosprick and Steve Oriah, neither of them can read a compass. Hmmm, let me think!" She says, jokingly.
         "You and Spence, how else would I choose? You, you can read a map to perfection, pinpoint the location of a target without even being there, and even tell what a crime was without needing to see any sign of anything. Spencer, the man can hit a target from almost 300 meters with a scope, can hunt and clean a deer without any kind of help, and understands how to survive with nothing. The perfect crew."
          "Which is precisely why I asked you to create the perfect squad," Says the General, "and that you did! Korin, Spencer, and yourself will meet me in the main hub at 1609 hours, please do not be late."
           I look at Korin, who seems a bit concerned, and take a deep breath. "Well, encore, wouldn't you like to rank out of another job?" I say with enthusiasm, a smile beaming across my face. "I think that would be wonderful, Kai!"