Shields, swords and Spears.

The next day all the young Spartans lined up in neat rows with their thick black clothes glowing dimly, they were all equipped with three weapons; a large round shield on their left arms, a long spear tightly gripped on their right with a short sword at their waist. It was high noon and the heat from the sun was almost unbearable for the kids who have been standing under it's intensity for hours, sweat soaked their clothes but they stood with determination. Inspectors in similar black clothes moved about watching them with canes on their hands.

"SHIELDS!!".

A loud voice rang out and the kids changed their stance with their bodies leaning forward and placing one foot ahead with their shields brought to their chins, this stance is mainly used by the Spartan infantry to withstand the clash against cavalries and aggressive barbarians, this stance was supposed to be performed with agility and also stability, but many mistakes were made by the kids and were met with the light touch of the cane which was still painful but didn't injure them.

"MOVE FORWARD!!".

The voice echoed again, the kids began to move while trying to mountain their stance, many fell to the ground exhausted, some tried to keep on with trembling legs, the commander smirked and said loudly,

"MOVE FASTER!!".

while trying to obey his commands many kids lost control of their legs and arms and fell to the ground panting, some directly fainted. Out of one thousand two hundred kids only five hundred remained standing, with strong determination they moved slow but united, while moving some of them still fell continuously, the strenuous training was too much, the intensity of the sun alone has sucked most of the energy in addition to the weights, after a few minutes the training ground was littered with exhausted kids.

At a high platform the commander snorted and said with dissatisfaction,"the training has not even begun and they are completely out of energy, what a disgrace".

A captain standing close to him said slowly,"I don't think we were any better at their age sir". The commander sharp gaze met him with great intesity, the captain gulped and stepped back a little. The commander snorted and said loudly," take them to the cave, I went these brats back to their full energy by tomorrow morning!, We did nothing today and they are wasted, hump!". He came down from the platform and walked out of young Spartans camp and went towards the main Spartan camp.

After awhile he entered a dark room and walked towards the right, soon he entered a room and saw the silhouette of a kid inside a long glass box with runes glowing on its surface. A woman with black hair and black gown walked in and said softly,"why are you here?, You should know that this place is a restricted zone and your permission here is limited".

The commander bowed his head and said,"Miss Emma, I just came to see him, the performance of the kids today was horrible and it also made me miss my stellar young warrior".

Emma's eyes flashed but she said nothing and just walked to the glass box and caress it's smooth surface, after awhile she said softly,"I will gouge out your eyes if you continue to stare".

The commander gulped in fear and bowed his head, even as a hardened warrior he could not help but gaze at Emma's beautiful figure, she was admired by many men but no one dared talk or have any thoughts about her for she belongs to the young chieftain, Alex. Some people thought the cheiftian would marry her or at least take her as a concubine but the cold hearted Rhyss stayed indifferent even with such beauty in his palms, secondly Alex was too young for Emma but that's not the main reason, the main reason Is that Alex takes Emma as a mother figure and doesn't seem to have any indecent thoughts in the future so some men like the commander were trying to court her but the result was brutal, her kind smile was only for Alex any other person received harsh words or worse; getting beaten up by her, she was a warrior and a strong one at that and ever since Alex disappeared her smile also followed.

After he regained his bearing the commander asked with genuine concern this time,"when will he wake up, it's been a long time and if this continues he will be far behind the others".

Emma stared at the pale kid with long grey hair inside the glass box that was filled with a deep blue liquid, she bit her lips and said,"what happened then had drained most of his body energy and nutrients, without this he may be stuck at the awakened level all his life, so he still has to stay for awhile but not long".

She thought for a moment and slowly exhaled as she said,"he should not stay for long but I don't really know, his body may have been in a worse condition than I thought".

"But I have never heard of the alderigde rage having this sort of side effect?", The commander questioned with raised brows.

"That's not a question for you to ask me, whatever happened could be your fault because you were not there to help or stop it, you would have been hanged for this if not for the chieftain's mercy and I would feel pleased if you leave this instant". Emma said with a frown, her mood had gone bad ever since Alex was put in that glass box and she was angry at the stupid commander who was supposed to watch the kids.

"I understand", the commander said and walked away.

••••

At the canteen, most of the kids were complaining about how exhausting their training was.

"The Spartan training is the worst, how can they expect us to stand with those weights and stay in a particular position for hours, this training is just impossible to accomplish!", A bulky kid hollered.

Another kid eating his food raised his head and sneered,"but we have the Spartan regiment, you oaf!". Other kids in the canteen burst into laughter.

The bulky kid's face turned red out of embarrassment and anger, he balled his fist under the table and stared at the kid who insulted him with red eyes, his roommate held his shoulders and whispered to him,"he's Ulrich's cousin, forget it and leave".

The bulky kid closed his eyes and inhaled deeply while slowly exhaling, he stood up took his tray and walked towards the place he would drop it, he had lost his appetite, on his way Ulrich's cousin smirked and said mockingly,"too bad for a young Spartan, running with his tail between his legs and he aspires to be a Spartan, what a fool!". Laughter once again burst from the kids mouths as the canteen became rowdy with some kids choking on their food, some provocative ones pointed at the bulky kid while they laughed with spit and chewed food crumbs coming out of their mouths.

The bulky kid's roommate saw things were getting out of hand so he tried to convince the bulky kid to ignore it and leave but the bulky kid's anger had reached a boiling point, he turned abruptly and threw his tray towards Ulrich's cousin's face, it happened in a second before the laughing kids could understand the situation, the bulky kid was running towards Ulrich's cousin aggressively, Ulrich's cousin was on the floor holding his face with his nose bleeding and the bulky kid's roommate screaming for the bulky kid to stop. It was chaos in an instant as the bulky kid and Ulrich's cousin were embroiled in a serious fight, the place got rowdy as Ulrich had arrived at the scene, it seems someone had reached out to him. Ulrich rushed towards the bulky kid and punched his back causing the bulky kid to scream in pain, he held his neck and flipped him over, the bulky kids eyes were still red from anger, with his back on the ground he kicked Ulrich's knees causing him to fall, Ulrich never expected that attack, the bulky kid stood up and grabbed a plate, he flung it at Ulrich's chest which Ulrich avoided and tackled the bulky kid to the floor and gave him a hard punch at his face knocking him out. Ulrich stood up and cracked his neck, he stepped over the kid and walked to his cousin who was groaning on the floor.

Derek was at his seat watching all these happen with a nonchalant face, he said to John,"sometimes i prefer Arthur to be here, he's a control freak so this would not have happened also Ulrich did not cross the line this time, so don't go af...". He turned to John's seat and it was empty, John was already running towards Ulrich, derek sighed, John and Ulrich's enmity has become something else, John never forgived Ulrich since that day and Ulrich was also angry at the fact he had to stay in the dark cell for beating a weak person.

Derek scooped his food with his spoon, puts it in his mouth and smiled, this time there was interest in his eyes as he muttered,"I am going to enjoy this".