Jackle

"You may begin."

Kane signed "You ready?"

Not waiting for a response he rushed in.

. . . .

"He's just a boy." My mother cried. Her tears were always so soft, but her eyes never lost her hollow gleam.

Dad slapped her beside the head.

"Are you paying for that bastard of a child?"

I was never able to speak much back then either, even if I could, what would it matter? He was right, I am a bastard. Not even that fools own son, I don't blame him for not wanting to take care of me. The next day they shipped me off to the monk in his temple. 

"You will prove to be my greatest disciple yet," he said, well digging a knife into my throat and cutting out my vocal cords. I deserved that two, I did break my vow of silence after all.

He didn't give up on me teaching me the monks style, however when I was done and he knew I reached my limits he tossed me into the streets. Left with nothing but a shaved head, and the ripped clothes I managed to take despite the monks tugging. If dad and the monk were unwelcoming the streets were another planet. I got my freedom, I got away from the beatings, but you want to know what else I got. I got a ditch to starve in, where pacers spare me nothing but a glance. The days were hot and unbearable and the nights I spent praying to the monk's god to keep the monsters away, to just make it one more night. 

"I will be the strongest Hǔ héshàng to ever live, the bravest, wisest, I'll create my own school." I conspired whatever story I could to keep me up at night, because I knew if I fell asleep the cold wouldn't be the only thing eating my bones in the morning, even if it's my executioner. They say a proper monk could survive off bark, but trash was far safer to receive. 

Work is out of the picture no one wants to hire a teen who can't communicate. Luck came my way when I found someone who was willing to buy monster corpses. "Lao June," was his name. Chimera corpses sold for only $30 a pop, but that was enough, I wish I could have said I turned my life around but. China started the drafts for the north China war. All of Xinjiang, inner Mongolia, Tebet, and Qinghal broke off from China, with the aid of Mongolia, India, and small supporters in Russia. The whole table was set against China, Forcing them to conscript all able-bodied men, women and children. Japan joined the war a week into the fighting on China's side. I was yet to even leave boot camp before I was promoted to a captain, they told me that they lost so many, they were desperate for talented recruits. By the time I was designated a squad, South, and what was left of North Korea joined the fight on China's side. Brutality is not a strong enough word to describe that war, where both magic and the human bodies were pushed to the limit. Tanks gunned down soldiers, and mages blew them up just as fast. Blood spattered the land, guts filled the air and on that very ground I met my enemy, a mercenary recruited by Mongolia. He wears a demolished white suit, stained in every color of blood. his China military hat sat crooked on his head, no doubt stolen from one of the dead. In his mouth lies a rich freshly lit cigar. 

"When did they start sending kids to fight their wars?"

I could only answer with silence.

"Well then you ready, let's do this."

I nodded.