“I see. So you’re only a normal kid carrying a cherub sword. You know nothing about what a human can do, eh?” Dennis says from above as he looks down, tilting his head to the side.
“We will train you, and we’ll become stronger, friend,” Lester says with enthusiasm. So it is late afternoon as the sun is already sinking. Half of it have already been eaten by the hedge-like wall, and any time soon, darkness will fall in the kingdom.
They made stairs for me so that I could climb up. I am amazed at their building skills. They make a winding stairs going up. It is spectacular. When I get up there the wind is cold. It is fresh, unlike the air I used to breathe at the orphanage, and there it is a house above the tree. There was a bed in the chamber. An old fashion like it was described in the omnibus during the archaic age designs of houses.
“Will you be alright here, Zinvul? I mean, to live overnight by yourself?” Dennis asks.
Wait, they call my name this time. For the first time, I feel that I am accepted. Because back in the orphanage they call us by names tagged to an abandoned object. And I was called a ‘lost coin’. And I feel my eyes getting welled with tears. I couldn’t help it. It runs down my face. It is like a rainfall that drops one time. My eyes are crying itself.
“Wait, I didn’t mean to make you cry. So you don’t like to be called by your name?” The muscle kid is worried as he gestures his arm as if he is surrendering from a mistake he made.
These three are the ones who make me feel important in my life. I should call them by their names as well.
“No, it’s not like that. I’m so happy that I got out from that orphanage. Thank you, Dennis, Lester, and Christian!” I tell them while my face is soaked in tears.
And I want to stop crying, but I can’t. It is embarrassing.
“I know how you feel,” Lester says. “There are some other kids that attempted to get out from that orphanage that came here before. Unfortunately, they were retrieved back by the orphanage. Well, with the power of the scouting legionnaires of course. And it’s too bad about it because we are powerless to stop them.”
My eyeballs narrow, and the atmosphere between us four begins to sober.
“That is why we are training hard so that it will never happen again. But you are different, Zinvul. You got a cherub sword. The previous kids that went to the woods and had escaped the orphanage didn’t have one,” Dennis says.
“What does that mean?” I ask him.
“It means you don’t belong to the orphanage. You will become a legionnaire, and that is our goal as well,” Christian says from behind them.
“How about we train together since that is our goal. Yes, that’s right! Let’s become legionnaires all together. And let’s build a secret hideout for kids who will run from the orphanage and take care of them!” Lester says with his lips lifted.
It is almost night, and there is a man down below the tree, calling the name of Christian.
“Alright, friends, time for me to go. My father is here,” Christian says.
And he jumps off the tree from the door of the tree house all the way down to the deep ground, like it is a norm. And it seems that his father isn’t shock at all. I get it, what they are doing is indeed normal for them, but not for me. There he goes with his father.
A few minutes later, it is Dennis’ mother that came and called out his name, then comes after her was Lester’s Ma. Here I’m left alone, but they got foods stored in this tree house.
Their parents are normal people who don’t have a cherub sword and do not serve as legionnaires. There are people being allowed in the kingdom to live and not being sacrificed in the kingdom and given an important task by the king himself in planting crops and taking care of livestocks to sustain the entire kingdom’s food.
The next day, we find ourselves at the feet of the giant tree. Where it is an open field, they were training me to master my cherub sword and control my grace.
Day after day, we train.
And months have passed that I’m still struggling to master anything that they are teaching me!
“Alright, uncloak your grace in that sword of yours, Zinvul,” Christian commands me as we start another day for training.
With my eyes closed and focusing my grace into my blade, I begin drawing my sword while I hold it forward with a little tilt. As soon as the blade could receive the sunlight, I utter, “Uncloak.”
But this time with a scorching wild fire gathering around in my sword. That even my body could feel the tremendous heat! Here it is, my full controlled scorching sword!
They stand on their feet, all the three of them, and clap their hands!
“That’s more like it,” Lester says with enthusiasm.
And Christian step forward towards me and said, “Power is measured by the amount of grace a person possesses. Like our king who had a tremendous amount of grace that no one in this kingdom can rival. That is why he is hailed as a king and the strongest of all in this kingdom. That is why we need to train in all aspects of our body. Physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual to increase our grace. Our king went through a lot of hellish quests in great battles and deadly wars. That is why he achieved that great power. So we too must do so.”
“What does that mean? How do we do that?” I ask him.
Dennis bumps in and said, “We join the legionnaires to gain strength.”
“Exactly,” Christian concludes.
I could see the seriousness in their faces. So I agree, “Alright, let’s join then.”
Then, Dennis draws his sword. Uncloaking his grace that it turned his sword into shining black steel. Spreading the darkness up to his arms. What is he up to now? He begins walking towards me and gets closer and closer.
“Before that, I want to test your resolve if you are indeed for this kingdom. We may have accepted you as a friend. But all these efforts we do is for the kingdom,” he says it, with his eyebrows reaching each other.
“Of course, I was born in this kingdom, so I will live for the kingdom. There’s no need ask that,” I answer him.
His face shows a little bit annoyed with what I said. And I could feel a wave of anger swelling inside of him, and it is towards me. I don’t understand. What did I do to make him feel that way?
And he says, “I’ve met other kids who betrayed the kingdom. And there are those who are cowards and who decided to be a sacrifice for this kingdom instead of fighting for it. Who knows you are one of them.”
I feel insulted by what he said. My blood boils because of it, and my grip tightens up with my sword, and anytime fire could ablaze in my blade.
“What do you mean? What’s all this about now?” I say with a sharp tone. I try to look at the other two, begging them to stop Dennis from what he’s trying to do. But they all look away every time my eyes would meet theirs. Are they setting this up? This is not a good joke!
“Fight me, Zinvul. Let me find out if you are indeed for the kingdom or not,” Dennis bolts.
And I can see that he is already in a fighting spirit and in an attack mode.
Without anybody’s consent, he swings his sword to me from the right side. I could tell that he is giving me time to block it as he doesn’t intend to kill me.
As I am a left-handed it’s easy for me to block it on my left side. Before our swords clash, I remember something, a dangerous thing that I recall in a fraction of a second. That he has a brutal strength, but it was too late . . . as soon as his dark metallic sword clashes mine, I got blown away. It is a heavy thing that hit my sword. I feel like I got hit by a mountain rock. I fly ten meters back from where I stand.
I am on the ground while I still have the grip of my sword and still have my defense stance. But my flesh shakes with fear merged with anger. I could imagine if it will hit my arms or any part of my body, I’ll be like a slice of meat butchered!
I get up, but my sword catches my attention. I lean down to my sword. There’s no fire. Where did it go? This is no time for this to be happening, I’m in the middle of a fight!
“You see? You don’t even don’t know how to fully control your grace. It turns itself off. In a real battle, enemies could take advantage of that. Someone who lowers his guard is easy to kill any time,” he mocks pointing his sword to me.
I swallow my saliva, and I begin riveting my inner self. I uttered, “Uncloak,” and the fire comes back to life, and this time it made me feel adamant to fight him for real.
I move my arm to the left side as I am about to dash unto him to attack. Yet my eyes deceive me. He disappear in front of my sight, and I feel stiff in my grip. Yes, I can’t move my sword. Is it heavy? Yes, it becomes heavy, or it seems stuck between a rock. But when I turn to check my sword. My eyes widened of what I see . . . an unbelievable act of a kid who is only like me.