Fifty men were lined up side by side as they listened closely to the words spoken by a BLAU major. Terias was one of the men who listened as the major ushered them into their new lives as BLAU warriors. Reni enlisted as well, and he stood right next to Terias. After the major finished speaking about topics such as goals and determination, the men were split into five different flock teams.
Terias and Reni were assigned to the Flycatcher Flock. They were sent to the dorms, where they rested for a bit, and then they reported to their flock stations for training. The captain got things started as soon as all of the flock members were present. He conducted a roll call and then carried on with his introduction.
“Welcome to the Bird Land Air Unit, Flycatchers. I am your captain, Dion. I look forward to helping all of you reach your full potential as warriors. With that being said, I want to make it clear that this is war time, and we must execute now. The training will be hard. There will be times when you will want to quit. You just might cry like a bitch at some point. Wipe your tears and keep it moving. To put it bluntly, this is life or death. The arthropods will not hesitate to kill you. Keanos will fall if they win. So if you’re here for a warm and fuzzy feeling, you will have a very hard time. Put your egos off to the side and fight for something that’s bigger than you. Is that understood?”
“YES, SIR,” they all said.
“Excellent. Training will begin now.”
Over the next two hours, the flock members underwent rigorous strength and conditioning exercises. They started with a five-kilometer run at a moderate pace. Then they flew for ten kilometers. They transitioned to bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, and much more. By the time they were finished, Terias and the others were out of breath and drenched in sweat. Half of them were hunched over with their hands on their knees. Terias, who fought to stay upright, badly wanted to plop down on the ground, but he dare not show weakness in front of the captain.
“Nice job, fellas. You’ve just completed phase one.”
Those words sucked the remaining energy out of the exhausted group. Misery leaked from the faces of the men.
“Don’t give me no sour looks. Y’all signed up for this. Besides, phase two won’t kill ya. In fact, I think you’ll enjoy it. Follow me, Flycatchers.”
They walked to an area that was unlike anything that Terias had ever seen before. About a couple of dozen wooden poles of many different heights were scattered throughout the space. Each pole had a circular hoop placed at the top of it. The highest looked as though it was as high up as a sequoia tree and the lowest was about a few meters above the ground. Most of the hoops seemed like ordinary rings, but a few of them were wrapped in barbed wire or had a wooden wall standing close behind it. There was also a big net, made of vines, that hovered above ground and spanned the entire area of the poles.
“This here is what we call the Eagle’s Nest. The task is simple. You gotta fly through thirty hoops in two minutes or less. There is a number placed under each hoop which lets you know the order for you to pass through them. If you run out of time, you lose. If you go out of order, you lose. If you quit or no longer can continue, game over. I need to see who’s got the juice! Which one of you is man enough to go first?”
One guy raised his hand.
“Thatta boy. What’s your name?”
“Gus, sir.”
“Step up to the line over there, Gus, and show us what ya got.”
The captain reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out an hourglass that was about the size of a chicken egg. It contained two minutes’ worth of sand. Once Gus set his foot on the start line, he transformed into his greenbul bird manek. Dion informed him that it would be a two command start.
“On your mark . . . Fly!”
Gus took off towards the first hoop. It was an ordinary three-meter high hoop, which he flew through with ease. The next few hoops were similar with some steady shifts in height and slight changes of direction. It wasn’t until he passed through the ninth hoop when he began to feel challenged. Reaching hoop ten required him to make a sharp right turn. He dipped down towards hoop eleven which had a wall just a few meters behind it. He passed through, but his left foot hit the top of the wall, causing him to topple and fall into the safety net.
The captain watched with an emotionless face as Gus bobbed up and down in the tangle of vines. Terias let out a quick little laugh before saying something to Reni.
“He couldn’t even make it halfway? What a loser.”
“You got something to say?” the captain snapped.
“No, sir,” Terias replied.
The captain walked over to Terias and got all up in his face.
“Let me make one thing clear, Mr. feudal lord in the making. You might think your some sort of hotshot — some golden prince among the birds. But here in the air unit, you ain’t shit. You’re no higher than any of these men who stand beside you. I don’t give a damn who your daddy is. We’re all comrades and you will treat everyone as such. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now get your silver spoon ass to the line. You’re up next.”
Terias sauntered over to the start line. He transformed and got himself ready.
“On your mark . . . Fly!”
Terias passed through the first few hoops with no issue. He hit the sharp turn before hoop ten and easily cleared the wall that took Gus out. Terias noticed that the sizes of the hoops were decreasing as he went on. Hoops twelve and thirteen were spread far apart, but ordinary and leveled with one another. For the next one, he needed to make a drastic climb upward. He embraced the task and fought against gravity with the use of his wings. His shoulders burned and he could feel his heart pounding, but he pushed on and launched himself through the hoop.
The next five were nothing too crazy, and it gave him a little time to recuperate. He approached hoop twenty cautiously. It was the first one that was wrapped in barbed wire. He positioned himself just right and avoided the thorny steel wiring. The next one was a straight shot with no obstacles, which led him to a steep dive for number twenty-two. He plunged towards it, slicing through the wind with hardcore acceleration.
Any nervousness that he felt before had completely faded away. He decided to add some flair and create a grand finale. As he passed through more hoops, he twirled, he spun, and he danced between them. He showed off by turning at unnecessary sharp angles. His arrogance would soon be his downfall. When he saw that number twenty-seven was barbed wired, he daringly flipped over so that he was looking up at the sky and floated into the hoop as if he were drifting in the ocean. It was a boneheaded move.
One of the barbed spikes dug into his right shoulder and ripped open his flesh. The pain came instantly and was unlike anything that he had ever felt before. He grunted and grimaced, but he held himself together and finished the hoop challenge. Captain Dion rushed towards Terias as he was landing. He carried a bunch of rags with him.
“Quick. Press these against your shoulder.”
Terias grabbed the rags with his left hand and held them against the gapping, blood leaking gash that ran along his shoulder tip and upper arm.
“What were you thinking?” the captain asked. “This isn’t a game.” Dion waved in the direction of the men. “Gus. Help him get to the recovery tower.”
Gus ran over to them. He offered to allow Terias to lean on him as they walked, but Terias refused. Side by side, they made their way to the recovery tower. As soon as they entered the tower, a man noticed Terias was injured and hopped out of his chair.
“Please, come with me. We’ll get you taken care of.”
Gus knew that his task was complete and headed back to the Eagle’s Nest. Terias followed the man down a hall until they reached a room on the left side. The guy spoke to a girl who was stocking some medical tools in a cupboard.
“Sona, we need wound care for this patient.”
“I’m on it,” she said as she turned and looked at them. The look on her face made it clear that she didn’t expect to see Terias there, holding blood-soaked rags to his shoulder.
She told Terias to sit in a chair by the treatment table, and she began to grab some supplies. She moved quickly as she set some things on the table in front of him. Once all of the materials were laid out, she slipped on some rubber gloves and carefully removed the rags from his shoulder. The horrifyingly deep gash looked like a fault line in the soil, but the bleeding had ceased.
With a cotton cloth, soaked in water, she wiped away the dry blood that surrounded the wound. Then she poured some wine into a large bowl and then poured sesame seeds into a smaller mortar bowl. She firmly pressed and rotated a granite pestle onto the seeds, smashing them into a fine powder. Terias calmly watched as she dumped the sesame powder into the bowl of wine and stirred it with a wooden spoon. She dipped a cloth in the bowl and pulled it out. The cloth was still fully soaked as she began to clean the wound with it. Terias jerked his arm a little and winced from the intense burn. Sona giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“This is my fourth time doing this, and everyone has had the same reaction.” Terias just gave her a blank stare. “How’d you end up like this anyway?” she asked.
“It was a simple training accident. What’s it matter to you?”
Sona rolled her eyes. “I see you haven’t changed much since graduation.”
After cleaning the gash, she rinsed off the sesame wine by pouring water on it. She patted his shoulder down with a fresh cloth to dry it off. Then she took a strand of green thread, made from a hemp plant and used it to stitch his skin together. She delicately wove the hemp thread throughout the lacerated wound until it was sewed up completely. She looked away for a second as if trying to remember what was next. Then, she turned and the two made eye contact.
“Are you able to take your vest off?” Sona asked. Terias nodded and started to unbutton. “Do you need a hand?”
“I got it,” he said even though he struggled to slide his injured shoulder through the armhole of the vest.
He stood before her, shirtless. Only a necklace, containing a few bird talons, remained around his neck and across his chest. For a moment, Sona had her eyes fixed on him, before quickly looking off to the side. She picked up a small clay jar, which was labeled “Honey”. As she turned around, she took another glance at Terias toned body, and the jar slipped through her fingers and fell unto the floor. It made a little “ding” sound and rolled away, but it was still intact.
“Oops,” she said softly as she went and picked it up.
She pulled out the cork cap and poured a small amount of honey over the wound. Then with a small stick, which had gauze wrapped around its tip, she smoothed the honey over into an even layer.
“Put your right hand on your hip and your left hand on top of your head,” she said.
Terias looked a little puzzled but he did as she said. The position allowed Sona to wrap gauze around the wound by starting at his upper arm, bringing the wrap across his chest and around his upper back, and then securing it over the tip of his shoulder.
“All done. Avoid upper body exercises for at least seven days. Come back in ten days so I can take out the sutures. Change the bandages daily and try to sleep on your back or your left side.”
“Sounds good,” he said. He picked up his vest and began to walk off, but he stopped just before entering the hallway. He turned around and said “You’re pretty good at this, Sona. Thanks.”
She seemed surprised by the compliment, yet she still smiled and nodded. Terias turned and headed back to Captain Dion and his fellow Flycatchers.
Fantasy
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