Unbreakable Willpower

It was the day after Kye had shown his parents his plans for the blacksite and he was now reporting in at 5 a.m. to the training ground where other knights had gathered. Rose had insisted that Kye join in with the knights physical training and then join her for military tactic lessons for a few hours before being left to Alicia who would teach him more spells. The knights were surprised to see such a young man lining up with them, ready to present before the Knight-Captain who would come out and lead them through the drills. One of the younger knights stood next to Kye and nudged him slightly.

"Hey kid, you shouldn't be here. I think you'd be more at home attached to your mum's breast." There were some snickers among the younger knights but the veterans frowned yet didn't say anything. Some of them knew who the young kid was but they knew that this form of hazing was necessary to let new blood know their place. These younger knights had all been through it and they now saw it as their duty to pass on the tradition. Kye, however, wasn't one to take these sorts of provocations lying down.

"And I think you'd be more comfortable using a hoe than a sword. Are you sure the family farm is fine without you?" The young knight faltered slightly before continuing some verbal jabs to try and get Kye to fight back physically.

"Oh, this kid's got bite. Too bad for you my family is of nobility so your jab is a bit off kid." Kye looked the knight up and down before giving a slight scoff.

"You might be nobility but I don't recognise you so it must be of minor nobility. Maybe you should worry about your families name instead of where I am and what I'm doing? Seems to me you have your own problems."

The young knight was now glowing red in embarrassment and some of the veterans gave a short bark of laughter in response to Kye's jab back. Now seething with rage, the young knight muttered quietly to Kye.

"You better watch your back rookie, I'm gonna make your life a living nightmare while you're with us." Kye paid it no mind and straightened his back as the Knight-Captain sauntered out of the barracks. Alongside him was Rose or the Knight-General as was her formal title. All the knights straightened up and saluted by bringing their left fist into their right breast with their fist closed. Kye didn't miss a beat and followed in time with the other knights.

"""Knights presenting to Knight-Captain and Knight-General!"""

They all barked out loudly as they took up positions in front of the line of knights in their under-armour fatigues. They all wore rough leather boots that felt extremely heavy on Kye's feet. The Knight Captain looked all the knights up and down to ensure they were all in order. Then his gaze fell to Kye who only stood as high as the elbow of the knight next to him. He turned to Rose with a sceptical gaze.

"You sure about this Knight-General?"

"Yes Knight-Captain Boris, I am sure about this. He has been doing more than the recruit knight training regime for the past two and a half months, a full month more than all the other recruits. He is physically able but all he needs is weapon training." Rose looked at Kye with a discerning gaze and nodded to herself after a bit.

"Waraxe and fist techniques. His father will want to teach him spearmanship personally."

In Rose's mind, these three weapons would give Kye versatility at all ranges of melee combat. He had already proven an adept marksman with a rifle but he could focus on that when he served tenure with the foot soldiers later down the line. Right now, Rose wanted to work Kye hard to harden and chisel his body so that it was suited to living a soldiers life. Frey, Kyla and herself had already concluded that he would serve two years in the territory's foot soldiers when he turned thirteen. Despite the adamant refusal from Alicia and Layla, Kye's service dates were already set in stone so that he had one week before his fifteenth birthday party where he would receive his crest and move onto a place befitting of his talents.

Knight-Captain Boris just sighed and began shouting orders to the knights.

"ALRIGHT YOU LOT, TIME TO GET MOVING. I WANT FIFTY LAPS AROUND THE TRAINING YARD BEFORE THE END OF THE HOUR. MOVE IT INGRATES!"

The knights all took off running as fast as they could maintain for the fifty laps of the training area. This roughly equated to around 25 kilometres in distance which, for a battle crest wielding knight would be a warm-up, for Kye who lacked a crest, it was a hellish gauntlet of constant running. Kye had to work doubly harder than the other knights to cover the same distance as the length of his gait was about half of a grown man. Yet, despite this, Kye maintained speed with the rest of the knights for the entirety of the fifty laps. The young knight that had gotten into a verbal spar with Kye before was sure that Kye would fail to keep up but now that he had, he had humbled himself slightly. Such a young man being able to do what they did was very impressive, yet he was not willing to give up his own personal quest to pay Kye back for the humiliation he had suffered from earlier.

Kye was sucking in oxygen as he tried to stabilise his breathing. Knight-Captain Boris was impressed at the youth's endurance so he decided to let him catch his breath for a few moments before giving the next order.

"ALRIGHT INGRATES. I'VE GIVEN YOU ENOUGH REST SO IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON. GRAB A TRAINING WEAPON AND GIVE ME ONE THOUSAND OVERHEAD SWINGS, ONE THOUSAND LEFT SWINGS AND ONE THOUSAND RIGHT SWINGS. MOVE IT!"

Kye and all the other knights hastily grabbed their preferred weapon type from the dummy weapon rack and fell into rows of ten people each with enough room to do all the movements without getting in each others way. Kye didn't know what weapon to pick so he reached for a normal longsword but Rose stopped him and handed him a heavy two-handed axe dummy instead. Kye didn't say anything and just took the dummy weapon and stood in line and began his swings.

The young knight from earlier found a place next to Kye and began his swings but he was too close and ended up hitting Kye in the arm with a fair bit of force. Kye felt the pain run through his arm but paid it no mind as he continued his overhead swings. Annoyed that his harassment was shrugged off, throughout Kye's overhead swings, the knight clipped Kye's arms and legs several times, causing large bruises. Kye, however, simply ignored it and completed his overhead swings. Kye then moved onto his right swings but before he could Knight-Captain Boris yelled out.

"KNIGHT ELAN! MOVE AN APPROPRIATE DISTANCE AWAY FROM OTHER TRAINEES WHEN DOING PRACTICE SWINGS!" Knight Elan gave a salute and responded.

"Sir! Yes sir! I apologise, sir!"

Elan then moved away and shot Kye a dirty look. Kye continued to ignore Elan and did his swings. Right now, Kye's arm muscles were screaming in pain, every time Kye swung the heavy training weapon his arms burned from pushing his muscles far past what they were adapted for. Knight-Captain Boris had turned a blind eye to Elan's harassment but once he saw the strain Kye was under just doing his swings, he thought it best to put a stop to it. He knew that Kye was already exerting himself far past his limit just to try and complete the exercise. If Kye had been a fresh knight recruit who passed basic training, he would not have been so lenient but Kye was just eight-years-old! This level of harassment was unwarranted for such a young kid so Boris had to shut it down before it got out of control.

Three hours past and Kye's arms were trembling from the weight of the dummy axe. All of the other knights had finished their swings but they watched the young kid do his swings with rapt attention. There were massive amounts of sweat pouring out of Kye's brow, he could barely hold himself upright and yet, he raised his axe slowly and then tightened his muscles and brought the axe down in a proper right swing. By the knight's count, he had just five more to go before he completed the drill, yet it was questionable if Kye was going to make it. Rose was watching the whole thing from the balcony on the third story of the barracks which was reserved for high-ranking officials. She had a mix between a look of pride and worry. There was a Knight Commander next to her who was watching the same scene.

"That's the crippled one?" He asked thoughtlessly. Rose shot him a nasty glance.

"His name is Kye, and it would be young master Kye to you." Gulping down the lump in his throat, the Knight Commander continued.

"Right, my apologies. Do you think that young master Kye can complete the drill? He seems rather worn out."

"He'll complete it. Even if it meant taking the rest of the day, he'll complete these last five swings. He's just that kind of kid."

The Knight Commander just nodded and went back inside to continue his paperwork. Rose watched Kye's struggle as he brought down his axe again.

4 swings to go.

Kye slowly brought the axe over his right shoulder with great effort, his arms continuing to tremble. He then focused and did another proper swing.

3 swings to go.

The head of the axe wobbled in Kye's unsteady grip, yet once again it was brought over his right shoulder. Focus, bring down.

2 swings to go.

It looked like Kye was going to drop the axe at any time. He felt like his gums were going to burst from how hard he was gritting his teeth. Over the right shoulder, focus, bring down.

1 swing to go.

There was nothing left to Kye's movements except his sheer willpower. Some of the knights swore they could hear Kye's joints creaking. Tears were mixing into the sweat pouring down Kye's face, his fatigues were drenched in sweat and grime. Once more over the right shoulder, one final bout of focus and then.

Down.

Kye had completed all three thousand swings as an eight-year-old. Kye's small, fatigued and wrecked body could no longer support itself and he fell backwards. Before he could hit the ground Knight-Captian Boris caught him in his arms.

"Well done young man. Take a rest for now."

"Sir... Yes sir."

Kye's eyes then closed and he went limp as he fell asleep. Rose had run out of the barracks as quick as her legs would carry her and ran up to Kye's unconscious body. She took Kye from Knight-Captain Boris and held him in her arms.

"I'll take him back to the mansion. Continue your regular training."

"Yes, Knight-General Rose. Take good care of your son there. He's really outdone himself today."

When the knights who were out of the loop heard how Knight-Captain referred to the young man who had just earned their respect, they were shocked. That was the third son of the Runewalkers?! What kind of demonic hell pit had he crawled out of to gain that level of conviction and willpower?! Though many of the knights were just dumbfounded, there was one who was shaking in his boots. Knight Elan had just purposefully harassed and caused harm to the Archduke's son. He worried about what level of retribution would be brought onto him for his actions. He only had himself to blame for it and he knew it. Sullen and worried, Knight Elan joined up with the other knights and continued their daily training.

Rose walked slowly with Kye in her arms back to the mansion. She felt a fight with Alicia coming on and was preparing for it mentally. She knew they had gone too far this time but Kye just refused to yield. She thought he would keep up the bravado until things got too bad but despite her predictions, Kye continued to push himself to the point of collapse.

"Oh Kye you little idiot. You really are just like your father, aren't you?"

She knew he couldn't hear her, yet she continued to espouse her discontent with Kye's behaviour. Though her words were harsh, her face was gentle and warm. Seeing him give it his all in every aspect filled her with the same thoughts over and over again, 'I have to protect him, I have to nurture him.' She was prepared to be the disciplinarian if that is what he needed but she also knew that she had to shower him in just as much love as the other three would.

This young boy in her arms would become the pride of the Runewalker family and Rose was prepared to do whatever it took to make sure that his natural talent was fostered properly.