A wave of weakness surged through Baldwin's body. Every injury screamed at him once the battle with Claus came to a brutal end. He fell to his knees, breath shallow, blood oozing from his gasping mouth.
Before him lay Claus's massive form — twitching, pulsing unnaturally. The body began to expand in slow, violent surges, swelling with unstable Ki. Baldwin's eyes widened. He knew what came next.
The soldiers approached Baldwin. Baldwin, with a weak voice, warned them. "RUN!!!!"
The soldiers were wise enough to head their general's warning. They picked up Gus's body and Baldwin and started to run as fast as their feet could carry them.
As they reached the end of the Scavenger's Den. BOOM** an explosion went off in the middle, the heat from the explosion reached their backs. They had narrowly escaped the explosion. "This always surprises me, the fact that whenever a Ki user dies, their body explodes from unused Ki," the soldier said as he laid Baldwin on the ground on his back.
The other soldiers agreed. Baldwin said nothing, he kept quiet. A small tear dripped from his eyes as he glanced at the open wasteland, once known as the Scavenger's Den. The entire land was covered in either charcoal or hot burning patches of metal. There were hundreds of skeleton shaped charcoals probably from scavenging outcasts of society burned alive. He glanced at the source of the explosion to see a shadow—a shadow of a massive man etched on the ground, without any sight of an actual body. That was the only hint of existence left behind by his only Rival and his precious friend.
Baldwin took a moment of silence to morn his friend. Then he got up. "Men, call the medic squad. Treat anyone that was hurt by the fight or by the explosion. Carter, take the kid directly to the military base after treating him. He has potential," Baldwin ordered his men as he pushed the grief aside to perform his duty to the Kingdom of 'Vermonteria.'
Two days later,
Gus opened his eyes at an unknown location. He could see a roof above him. He tried to move his limbs around, but he could not move them due to being restrained by a thick Jute rope. "Was he held captive by the convict?" Gus wondered in confusion. "Why? What reason. Does he want to torture me?" Panic crept up Gus's spine. He started to cruse out loud "Let me out of here! I'll burn this place to the ground, you hear me?!"
A glass bottle hit Gus on the head, "quiet down you filthy maggot." Said a man dressed in black gown and wearing a beak like mask. He had thrown the glass bottle at Gus to quiet him down. The man approached the stunned Gus and started to remove Gus's restraints. "Much better," the man said. "You are really a bad, bad sleeper. You tried to stab two of doctors with a scalpel you knabbed while being operated on to fix that leg of yours. We had to restrain you just to stop you from moving so much."
"Who are you? And where am I?" Gus asked puzzled as he lifted his upper body to a sitting position.
"Aren't you a Gentleman." The man said as he removed face mask. "I am Doctor Elric Halden, I am from the duchy of Halden finishing my training as a field medic. What about you, young man?"
"I am Gus. Please tell me, where am I?" Gus introduced himself and asked the doctor.
"You are at Crimson knights training camp of the military." Dr. Elric answered.
"Military….. why am I at the military?" Gus panicked aloud.
"Carter brought you in. I heard it was the General's orders." Dr. Elric said. "Anyways, how is your leg." Dr. Elric asked as he examined Gus's leg. He took notes on the pad that was elevated by a rope connected to Gus's cot.
"Good enough, I guess." Gus replied to Dr. Elric.
"You need to take bed rest for a month from now, son." Dr. Elric informed Gus. Who nodded in turn. Then, Dr. Elric Halden left Gus to attend to a different patient.
Gus looked around to see thousand a bed in a line. A few of the bed's were occupied while other empty and neatly made.
"Never seen you around here." A vice called out behind Gus. He looked behind to see a scrawny young man with round glasses, laying on his back on the bed just beside him. "Believe me, I don't even know I was here, three minutes prior." Gus said, "So, who are you?"
"Name's Theo. I am a new recruit. I was sent here after breaking my ankle in sparring match." Theo answered adjusting his glasses. "So, you what are your hobbies, Gus?"
"How do you know my name." Gus asked a bit on the guard against this boy.
"It's written on the pad." Theo answered. "Sorry if that bothered you."
"What does hobby mean?" Gus asked Theo. The question itself puzzled Theo, but he decides to answer anyways.
"It means what to like to do when you bored. For example, I like to read."
"I like to sleep." Gus answered Theo. He was intrigued by the fact that a child similar to his age was able to read. "Theo, if it not a bother, can you teach me to read and write." Gus asked Theo.
"Sure, I can teach you." Theo answered, "I mean, I am here for a week and so are you. I can teach you." Theo said. Then Theo took out a notebook from his satchel. "They allow people to bring their limited belongings while being treated." Theo explained to confused Gus, Gus was confused about the fact that a person affiliated with the military carried a notebook. Prior to this, he had always seen military people having weapons, hence believing them to be mindless brutes.
Theo started to draw strange characters in the notebook. "These are alphabets. Every language is made of them memorize these alphabets." Theo instructed Gus as he handed Gus the notebook.
Gus spent the rest of the day reading the alphabet. At night, all the patients were served a few pieces of lamb meat cooked with vegetable broth.
The next day, Gus woke up, early. He limped himself to a small water fountain. Then splashed some water on his face and returned to his bed. Then, he practised the alphabets in the notebook given to him by Theo. Several minutes later, a soldier arrived in the hospital. He Looked towards Gus and approached his bed. The soldier then sat in the adjoining bed and introduced himself to Gus. "Hi, my name is Carter. What's your name, kid?" the soldier asked Gus.
"I am Gus." Gus answered the soldier.
"I am the person who carried you to camp on the day you broke your leg." Soldier said as he examined and looked at Gus's leg. "Do you remember what happened that day." The soldier asked Gus.
"Everything." Gus said nodding his head, "including the fact that, the monster of convict had nearly killed me." Then Gus looked right in the soldier's eyes and said, "this is what always happens: everything is fine, then the military approaches and everything goes horribly wrong."
"That's not completely fair. The military exists to protect the weak. We were there that day to capture the convict to stop his rampage, not to fuel it." The soldier retorted.
"The convict, did he...… did he escape?" Gus asked with a squeaky voice.
"No, he is dead. I can assure you." Carter answered. "It was quite a move you pulled back there." He then lifted his hand and stroked Gus's blond hair. "Gus, of all the years I have served in the military, I have never seen someone do something remotely as good as you did back then." "It means you have potential, kid." Then Carter stopped stroking Gus's head and rested his hand on Gus's shoulder.
"So, tell me, Gus, do you want to become stronger?" Carter asked Gus, "Would you consider joining the military?"
"I…. I don't want to feel this weak ever again." Gus said.
"Okay kid, focus on healing yourself. I promise you this: You can become strong, so train yourself to be so." Carter said as he got up from the bed and left the hospital room.
Gus watched as the sunlight crept through the cracks in the infirmary walls, lighting the edge of Theo's notebook. The letters no longer looked like enemies — just puzzles waiting to be solved.
For the first time, the world did not seem so far out of reach.
He would walk again. He would read, fight, and learn.
And one day… he would protect people the way no one had protected him.