Valley of Death

A shadowy figure could be seen moving through the land at a fast pace. So fast in fact that no normal person could keep up with it.

The shadowy figure was Kain and you could see a little boy on his back. The boy had his arms wrapped around his neck while his head was resting on the man's left shoulder.

Kai had not spoken a word since the man picked him up and started moving at speeds what he could only describe as a blink of an eye. All he did was lean his head on his shoulder and think about what had happened. The events of before would just keep playing in his head.

His father dying in his arms and his mother getting killed while he could only look helplessly. The faces of all the townspeople and their curses at him. All of this was so overwhelming that he didn't know what to do.

All he could feel right now was pain, so much pain that he wanted to punch something. His mother told him to live a happy life and be good but he just couldn't let this all go. Right now what kai wanted the most was power. Power to kill and protect.

He was brought out of his thoughts as the man carrying him finally slowed down. Raising his head he looked ahead to see two massive mountains on ahead of him. However, there was a path leading into a forest between the two mountains which went up.

Kai didn't know where the path led to but the forest gave him a dangerous feeling. It felt like he would be devoured if he stepped into the forest. "That forest is dangerous" he uttered to the man.

"So you noticed? It seems I underestimated your instincts. Only those who have been through countless life and death situations can feel places that are a danger to them, it's either that or you have to be born with good instincts to know this. Seems like you're the latter" Kain continued to move forward.

Kain took the path that led towards deep in the forest. As he stepped in all the hostility and killing intent was focused at him. Even Kai felt this immense killing intent and hostility. His whole body slowly started to get covered in sweat.

'He's surprisingly strong for a child. Most of the kids entering here would faint. It's hard for anyone below a body refiner to withstand this however this boy has been doing fairly well.' The older man continued moving deep in towards the forest.

As the two were passing through the forest, not once did any of the creatures that were eyeing them attacked. Kai could feel their eyes on him but that was it. It seemed they were afraid of the man who was carrying him. 'He must be really strong' thought kai.

Soon the duo finally approached the end of the forest and light shone on them. Kai slowly looked up again to see what could be described as a town. It was much smaller than the town he came from but looking towards it, felt like you were looking at death itself.

Kai didn't know what it was but he knew death loomed in this place. It was silent, almost deathly silent. As they got closer there was a massive metal door that was closed and as Kai laid his eyes on the board next to it which said 'WELCOME TO HELL!'

The words weren't that frightening to him rather it was the blood that it was written out of. His train of thought was broken again as the massive metal door opened gradually making a loud noise. Soon a man came out holding a cigar in his mouth.

He had black hair which was neatly combed towards the back. He also had a short stubble and his eyes were brown. He looked to be in his 40s seen by a few wrinkles on his face.

The man in question wore a black jacket which was left open and a vest underneath it. He was also wearing a necklace followed with black cargo pants and boots. On his waist hung a sword which looked to be a katana sheathed.

"Captain Kain, what brings you here?" The man in question asked which a surprised look on his face. His eyes then landed on the child next to Kain, who at this point had gotten of his back and was staring at the man himself.

"It's been a while, Jack. I've come to deliver this kid to you" Kain said patting the boys head. "Him? Is he entering the training camp?" The man raised his eyebrow. "Are you planning to make him enter the Academy in hope city?"

Kain simply nodded and then crouched down towards the child. "Kai listen to me carefully. This place I'm about to send you is going to be hell. You can even die here but if you come out of here alive, you can easily enter the Academy in hope city. Not many people will join the Death Valley training camp but those who do and survive become something special. The choice is yours to make"

The boy listened obediently and engraved every single sentence this man said to him. He looked back into those grey eyes and asked the only thing he needed to "Will this make me stronger? Will this give me power?"

Kain stared back in his eyes and simply said "Yes" which was all that Kai needed to hear. With that, the child nodded his head and turned towards the other man. "I guess you're coming with me then," Jack muttered under his breath. He wasn't given much a choice in this anyway.

"I'll be on my way then captain" jack bowed and turned around to which Kain simply nodded. As the child and the man walked back inside the gate slowly closed. "Make sure to listen to every single thing they say, Kai" Kain's voice echoed inside Kai's head.

Soon the massive gate shut completely. "Come kid, let me take you to the great hall. Everyone is already waiting" he beckoned the kid to move as they made their way towards a massive round building.

As they both entered the hall, it was already filled with other kids that were chatting away. Jack beckoned Kai to go join them and himself went to stand on the platform in the front. He walked up there as all the kids ignored him and went about chatting. The man took out another cigar from his back pocket and lit it up, taking a massive puff and blowing out the smoke. "SILENCE!" a voice rumbled across all the corners of the hall.

Every single one of the kids there suddenly felt shivers down their spine and stood straight, looking at the man in front of them. Jacks terrifying gaze swept over them and none were brave enough to look him straight in the eyes. His gaze considered killing intent which caused all of them to not dare to look, that is except for one child.

As Jacks gaze landed on Kai, he didn't evade his gaze but rather just stared back at him. Kai who had faced the killing intent of a level 9 vampire elder and even survived the killing intent coming from the forest would not go down this easily by the slight amount of killing intent the man was showing right now.

A surprised look came over jack for a second which was replaced by a stoic expression as he continued to scan other kids. "None of you here, are brought to have fun. In here, you only need to remember three things. One is absolute obedience. Two is absolute obedience, and three is still absolute obedience! Here, orders will only be given once, and so will your chances to obey! Now, everyone line up with your backs against the wall, and you are not to move nor speak before new orders have been given!

The kids hastily made their way back towards the wall and lined up as best as they could. Seeing this Jack took a puff again and then strode out of the hall, closing the metal door behind him.

As minutes passed by no one uttered a single word or moved but after 15 minutes some of them started to stretch while others started to whisper to the person next to them.

A young kid about nearly the same age as Kai looked at him and whispered " Hi there! My names Steven and I'm from the middle district in hope city. My dads a merchant there and he said this place is a death trap if you are alone. How about we both be friends and help each other?"

Kai however didn't reply to him at all. All he thought were the words Kain had said to him and now jack ordered them all to not speak so he kept his mouth shut.

Seeing no reply coming from Kai, the boy didn't seem to give up "Yo are you deaf? No one's watching us anymore. It's alright to speak as long as they don't know right?"

What answered him back was complete silence from Kai. The boy after trying a few more times eventually moved away to talk to someone else.

Soon an hour passed away, and most of the kids were either talking to others or stretching their legs and arms.

One corner of the great hall suddenly became noisy. Some of the children had begun to argue for some reason, which then rapidly devolved into fighting one another, noisily arguing without rest.

The disturbance had become quite loud yet no instructor came which made the kids even more daring. Soon the fighting ended and the kids returned to their original position and the whole hall became noisy.

An hour passed by soon and suddenly the metal door opened up again. Jack came inside again, followed by other men that were all built and wore a vest plus cargo pants and boots. They held a whip in their hands. One look at them would let all the kids know they were bad news.

Jack scanned around the room and took his cigar out of his mouth "I originally thought I left a deep impression on you but it seems I was very wrong. Very Good! Some of you were talking and some even had the audacity to fight.

His face suddenly darkened as he pointed at the 10 kids who were fighting "Grab these bastards. Let me show you what happens to people who disobey orders around here."

The men dragged the 10 kids and threw them in the middle of the hall like they were some chicks. Jack looked at the 10 who were shivering at this point and smiled. "Around here, if you disobey a single order there is only one thing waiting for you... Death"

With that, one of the men behind took out his sword and simply cut off one of the kids head clean. Blood spurted in all directions as this headless body fell.

He then moved to the next one, whose face was now full of panic as he cried out, "No, please don't. My fathers one of the gold knights of the Hope empire. Please..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his head was rolling on the ground as well. "Gold knight? Even if he was a diamond knights son, the consequences of not obeying orders would still be the same" the man simply smiled vicariously as blood splattered on his face.

Soon all 10 headless bodies were on the floor as blood piled up.

Jack finally looked back at the rest of the remaining kids "Now all of you bastards that were talking step forward and take of your shirt. I'm feeling good today so 3 lashes would do. Those who lie will face death like these 10."

All the kids trembled and soon walked out, taking off their shirt. The ones left near the wall were about 15. Jack however suddenly turned his face towards the wall "You five dare to lie to me? I told you what it would mean. Kill them!"

Soon 5 kids were dragged out and killed just like the 10 before.

Cries echoed all over the hall as most of the kids were whipped.

It was important to know that most of the kids here were body refiners level 6 and mostly 12 while the only level 5 body refiner was Kai and he had just turned 11. Even as level 6 body refiners they were crying as the whip hit them.

Soon the kids were brought to another building where they were allowed to pick their beds to lay down and rest. Kai soon found a bed for himself and simply laid down. He could hear other kids sobbing from the pain they felt.

Thankfully Kai was one of the few who didn't get whipped this time. Soon the boy closed his eyes and waited for a new day to begin.

This was only the start of the year's long hell they would witness.