War on Heiwa Book 1: The Wrath of the Demons

The Wrath of the Demons Chapter 2: The Very Unwanted Beginning of My End

I woke up early on my birth date. I had to since starting today I will have to be in the army and fight this stupid and pointless war. The entire time I did my morning ritual of getting dressed and eating breakfast, I was trying to think of a delusion or something so it could get me out of the army, maybe if I acted sick or something they wouldn't allow me to fight, and I can go back home to my peace and quiet apartment, but nothing came to mind. What in the hell was I thinking? I'm not smart enough to fool the general of a large and well-trained army. I don't want to fight with my life on the line, but I'm forced to. So, I trudged my way to the castle where the preparations for the newbies were made.

I was sitting in the long hallway with five hundred other guys who looked more nervous than I did, probably because they had families and friends and I didn't. I had nothing to live for, I didn't talk much with my foster parents anymore and I had no friends, so there's no point in living, right? I sighed as I tilted back my head and stared at the high concrete ceiling, with my army application papers in my hand. I was wearing just a regular button-up white t-shirt and light-brown khakis. I didn't even button up my shirt all the way and my pants were worn as well as some light stains on my shirt, and I still looked better than some of the guys here. Most of the guys here looked my age, but they looked really worn down and worried, like this army enlistment has worried them all their lives since the moment they were born.

I tilted my head downwards and started filling out my application papers. Name, gender, date of birth, blah blah blah. Medical conditions? No. Allergic to any medications? No. Name of biological mother and father? I don't know. Wow, I don't know my own parent's names. I felt kind of stupid filling the application out with all of this personal stuff, like I was meeting myself for the first time since I never really think about these things at all. After I answered all of the personal questions, one "Yes" or "No" question that was left at the bottom shook me. "Do you want to fight in the war?"

I tightly clutched the papers in my hands and grimaced. Was this a joke? Are they messing with me? It doesn't matter if you want to enlist, if you're male and over the age of eighteen you're forced to enlist, it's listed in the law, so why do they ask this question with a simple "Yes" or "No" answer? I looked around at the other enlistees and none of them seemed moved, since most of them have finished already. Was I thinking too much about it? I was always taught to question my surroundings, but this is ridiculous. This must be a test. They have to be testing us, psychologically, emotionally maybe. So, I left the last answer blank, and as I stood up and went to the front of the hallway and handed my application forms to the soldier in charge sitting behind a desk. He scanned it over for a while from top to bottom. I was about to part when his eyes shifted to the bottom of the paper.

"Hey." He said in almost a whisper. I looked at him with a sincere look on my face, like I meant to leave it blank, which I did. I wasn't interested in their stupid mind games. He stared at the bottom of the page emotionless for a moment, and then a smirk spread across the corner of his lips as he lifted his eyes at me for a brief moment and slightly chuckled. "You're good." He said as he placed my application form in the box letting out another small laugh. "I think I'm going to like you, newbie." He ruffled his mucky dark-brown hair with his right hand as he looked up and smiled at me. I looked back at him, and mimicked his smirk, and turned and walked back to my seat to await further instructions.

After all the applications were recorded, the soldier in charge told us to follow him to the barracks and to our rooms, which were behind the castle. The tour was short and precise, basically "The barracks are here." "The bathrooms are over there." "Your rooms are here." Some tour, right? He didn't even tell us his name and he didn't care for ours. He had the applications sorted by who our roommates are. I was staying in a room with two other guys who've I've never seen before. One was quite short, slightly shy, never opened his mouth or even looked at another direction other than where the man in charge told him to look. He had a mixture of silver, blue, and purple tones in his hair, and I actually found it quite a pretty color, maybe for jewelry. The other guy was a person bigger than me, had jet black hair, and some serious muscle. This was someone I knew not to be on his bad side. When we were directed to our rooms, my two roommates entered the room, while the solider in charge looked at me and chuckled and said in a sinister, low voice, "I hope you enjoy your stay," as he walked away to perform his own duties with a big smile on his face like he just won the lottery. What a weird guy. Does he get a joy out of making other people feel uncomfortable?

In the room, we each took our beds and dressers, and introduced ourselves. The black-haired guy's name was Karasu. We couldn't get a peep out of the small one, and even when Karasu kindly suggested beating his name out of him, he still didn't answer, and I ended up spending five minutes trying to hold Karasu down, because judging by size comparison, Karasu could knock the poor guy half-way across the world with just the flick of his finger. When we finally could get something out of him, and we, well, I did that because I offered him protection from any scary guys like Karasu in the army, and strangely I meant it. Maybe it was comfort for me because I wanted protection from the scary guys like Karasu. The small guy's name was Yohei. Yohei was the same age as me, just a couple of months older, but Karasu was twenty-two, and I don't know how he isn't eighteen on the application day, but I'd rather leave that question unanswered.

"So, Takuma," (Yes, that is my name) "how do you feel about joining the army?" Karasu asked.

I didn't care much for it, after realizing I had nothing to live for like most of these guys did, with family and friends. I've been alone for most of my life. I never even spent much time with my foster parents, or remember much from my real parents, and I wasn't the friendly type with my classmates in school.

"I don't care." I said apathetically. "I have nothing to live for, so it wouldn't matter if I died."

Karasu stared at me for a while with a strange look on his face. I'm not sure if he was angry with my answer, or if he pitied me. Then he said, "It's quite a coincidence that your birthday was the same day the army orientation was held. It's sad you get to spend your birthday fighting with your life on the line!" He didn't sound sad about it since he stifled a quick laugh. I looked at him gloomily, not understanding why it was a joke. He turned to Yohei.

"How do you feel about joining the army, or am I going to have to beat the answer out of you again?" He said while holding up his fist and had an evil smile on his face. Yohei whimpered and turned to me with a pleading look on his face. He looked like a lost puppy. I slammed my hand to my face, wondering if I'm going to spend the rest of my days with these idiots.

"I-I-I-" Yohei stammered as his eyes quickly veered from Karasu, to me, back to Karasu, back to me. "I-I-I-" He repeated. He sat there silent for a moment, as tears welled up in his eyes and he began crying like a baby.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I said as I got up, trying to find a way to comfort him.

"What the hell is this kid a crybaby or something? We don't need crybabies like him in the army! Wimps like him get killed on first site in the battlefield!" Karasu said, crossing his arms and looking down on the crying Yohei.

"Maybe he's crying because you're senselessly beating him, you idiot!" I yelled as I sat Yohei up and took my place beside him, putting my arm around him. "Hey, do you remember my promise? That I'd protect you? That I'd protect you from evil men like Karasu?" I asked politely. Yohei slowly nodded his head as he wiped the tears from his eyes and he seemed to calm down. I stood up and walked to Karasu.

"Look, you're only making this worse for us!" I definitely wasn't going to put up with crap from this guy. Risking your life daily is enough, I don't need any more troubles pressured upon me. "This is hard for all of us, but you don't need to go around making it worse, making the poor kid cry!"

"Yeah, whatever." He said as he laid down on his bed. He was clearly not listening.

"Fine, but if you don't clean your damn act up, I'm going to show you who is boss around here, got it?" I don't know if I was bluffing or telling the truth, but honestly I don't know how to "show who's boss." I just wanted him to stop picking on the poor guy. Karasu didn't say anything since he was either asleep or ignoring me. It was pretty late. Time did fly by fast. We had to be up at five in the morning for roll call and we are being introduced to our daily drills tomorrow. We needed as much rest as we could get, and almost as Yohei read my mind, he rested his head on his pillow and went to sleep. I followed his movements and curled up in my bed. I wanted to enjoy as much as the comfort as I could before the solider in charge tomorrow makes my life a living hell. His words rang inside my head, "I think I'm going to like you, newbie." I shuddered. I did not want tomorrow to come. I wished with all my might that this night would last forever. And guess what? It didn't.