An Early Piece of the Puzzle

Chapter 1 - P1: Childhood Pains

As children they could be found running amok in the town square. Hushed giggles arising from their throats as they played harmless pranks on the other children, or whatever gullible adults that happened to crossed their path. They's spend hours making up games, or hiking into the wilderness to find hiding spots. They'd sneak off to their little sanctuaries and play pretend that they were champions and protectors of their little town; and occasionally they'd save the world.

As adolescents they grew to be so much closer than just foolhardy friends. They became charming and perfectly polite young boys, trading in their pranks and taunts for good deeds and a proper education. They started attending weekend schools together to learn about science, mathematics, politics and magick. On school-less days they would help fix fences and find odd jobs to pay for sweets for each other; or, occasionally, save up their coins to buy a feast for their families.

Every year at the spring festival they would meet up in the hills to watch the town glimmer with lanterns in the evening twilight. And only rarely, when they found themselves with an entire day to do nothing at all, they stole themselves. Running out to the deserted farms at their towns edge and hiding in the barn lofts. Letting themselves drop their responsibilities and letting themselves be as happy as they dared be.

They believed they'd be able to live together for ever, have a house together and live a life filled with quiet peace. Only noticing the way the adults began to talk or worry when they got older. But even that problem was quickly erased by another: an oncoming war between nations. 

Unfortunately, by the time news of the war made it to their little town, it was far too late for them to come up with a plan to escape it. Soldiers from the Main City were sent to 'cleanse' the area of anyone unwilling to 'go back' to where they were from.

On Zachs twelfth birthday, the tension between borders became so great, his family was driven from their homes and forced 'back' to his ancestors home of Yorksing, under threat of death. The government officials that patrolled the streets made it abundantly clear that the longer he and his family stayed, the more likely it would be that their house ended up in an ash pile, just like the others who had stood their ground. But Zach didn't want to leave, why would he? He was born in Entell, to him it was his home country, and he did everything from paying off the guards to giving them food to stay on the guards good side. But then they caught word that a particularly nasty General was on his way to check on the cleanse, and he couldn't stay without putting his family in danger. He was given no other choice but to leave. 

Alo, as much as he wanted Zach to stay, to run off with him and hide somewhere, was just as worried for his family and couldn't go without abandoning them. They said their final goodbyes in a small clearing, one that they'd played in as youngsters, before Zach and his family ran off into a dark night. 

Eight years passed, and neither boy, not for longer than a week, forgot about the other. Alo would sometimes stop as he passed an old hiding spot or Zachs empty home. Staring into the abandoned place as if Zach would come running back out like he had so long ago; He'd tell him he found something exciting, then he'd drag Alo into the woods with a grin full of laughter. Every time Zach was able to catch the sunset, he'd be filled with reminders of Alo and his kind and sweet nature, bringing him flowers from the creek or silently listening as Zach spoke about magick. He'd have lollipop and, for a few moments, lose all focus of what he'd been doing that day, suddenly sucked back to his hometown and the smiling boy waiting for him there.

But there were bigger problems at work than just pinning from a distance. 

Alo noted that poverty and illness in his town were growing at alarming rates, and did all he could to build new shelters and supply people with food. He even managed to learn some healing magick from the women who ran the church hospital. Then one day, his mother and sister took ill with something they had no cure for. He spent days by their bedside, doing everything to keep them alive and healing, or out in the forest gathering herbs for medicine. But soon his mother had slipped away from him, and not long after his sister joined her.

The funeral was small, not many townsfolk were willing to put themselves next to a body with an unknown disease. And regardless of how much he still worked to bring better medicine and more food, no one would take the devastated 14 year old in. He found himself living in the very shelters he built and eating the same food he had supplied.

Zach and his family had a much better time after they 'returned' to their homeland. They discovered that they were not alone. A huge wave of immigrants coming back from all along the north and further west reaches of the country. The unrest was everywhere, and every day he heard a new story about the rising tensions and abuse from other countries and their thoughtless citizens. They found that getting a home was nearly impossible, and for a year or two they had to live in a shelter with ten other families, only given the promise that new buildings and homes were being constructed and everyone would, eventually, have a home. 

So they waited, and for the most part it was severely dull, but the shelters they were in weren't bad. They may have been cramped and there was no privacy at all, but there were functioning bathrooms with shower stalls, a modern marvel that Zach had never seen until then, and plenty of beds for everyone to be comfortable. There was even a small library down the block owned by an old man with a fake arm. The food rations weren't so bad either and they, more than once, had left overs. After their long wait, watching other families being called away to new homes, it was their turn and they were shifted into an apartment building with plenty of room for him, his parents, and his little sisters. Zach and his sisters were soon after enrolled to a local school, and he began to learn more about politics; attempting to understand what was going on with the war.

after a long ten years of threats and social unrest, the slow simmer between the lands came to a full roaring boil. Before anyone knew what was happening, there was a drafting for war on both sides. And both boys are called for duty.

Alo, as a skilled magician and fighter, was given the task of training new recruits. Zach, as a skilled thinker, was sent to learn more about will bending magick and strategy. For the first few months, this is all they do: train, teach, eat and sleep. The war has people filtering in almost non stop and it's rare that either boy sees a familiar face for longer than two weeks. Yet their thoughts of the 'other side' grew stronger. They would try their best not to think about how the war had already taken their best friend away, they didn't dare think that it would be able to make it permanent.

It's not terribly long before the war escalates to the point of no return, and the day comes where they are called to the front; It's time for them to fight for their countries freedom by surrendering more of their own.

~'~'~

(This is the last time I go omnipresent in this story, I swear. There's way more information I wanted to fit in here, but I decided to use it in other works. If and when I post more about 'The Puzzle', this work is going to be pretty much useless (YAY). But I still feel it's a good start, or at least good practice, for now.)