1 The Beginning

This war has waged for centuries, almost a thousand years. I plan to be the last fighter, the last soldier, to ever go into fighting.

My name is Adraxian Jones. I'm some simple farm boy, but I've always been interested in fighting. Especially since I was born during a war. But this fighting... it isn't normal. There are these... things. The enemy. I've heard they're called Gragzul. Everyone calls them Devils or Twisted Gods. But I... am fascinated by them. They don't look like humans, like a hybrid of a lion, a dragon, and a human maybe, but they have their own language, Gragius. It's like a brutish human mixed with guttural noises. I'm the only one that has tried to study them, or at least thought about it. But now, my worst nightmare is coming true. I'm going to kill the species I want to study.

I would be about 18 on Earth, but this isn't exactly the average universe. It's a parallel of a parallel of Earth. And an intense one at that. Thousands of people on both sides, maybe even millions, have died. But no one has tried to stop it.

The day I was forced into the CCFF, Cordraxia Central Fighting Force, I wasn't too excited. My parents were so excited, being their only son getting the 'honor' of being forced to go fight. I'm also their only child, so they were also somewhat sad, but still happy for me. Everyone says it's an honor to go fight the Gragzul. I think otherwise. But resisting may get me killed.

I've always known I was different. 'Not-the-average-Cordraxian' different. I look very different when I stand by my mom and dad. They have brown hair, the average Cordraxian sort of style. My hair is fiery red, and my eyes are ice blue. The average Cordraxian has brown eyes. I got bullied a lot as a shy quiet boy. I want to fight to protect myself, but fighting with transmitted sound waves mixed with a high enough hertz per second that it could set almost anything on fire against beings that can tear you limb from limb and you'd still be alive when they're done doesn't exactly sound like something I want to do. They're pretty dangerous. But something about them intrigues me to my very core, every fiber of my being says that I need to study them... or something along those lines. But, going into the CCFF... it almost seems like a painful experience.

My red hair was cut really short on the sides and around the back and cut not as short on the top. I got a tattoo of some sort on my right shoulder. The number 218-973. Must be the number soldier I am, but I was thrown too quickly into the rank house to figure it out.

The rank house is pretty large, and the men inside are very loud. It almost hurts my ears. I look around, and there has to be at least 1,000 men in here. They all vary somewhat, even though we are all Cordraxians. Some are taller, some short, fat and thin, the normal stuff. But they all have brown hair and eyes. Unlike me. Once they announced my number over the speakers and where I was standing, they all looked at me. Dead in the eyes. I held my ground as if in a mental battle with all the men in the room. They all slowly walked over to me, and they kept staring. I looked at all of them, slowly shifting my eyes over all of the men that were gathered three or so feet away from me. "You're new. Gotta name kid?" One says.

"Adraxian. Adraxian Jones." I say, my voice more steady than the rest of me.

"Adraxian, eh? That doesn't sound like a Cordraxian name. Are you a spy for those... things?" Suddenly everyone glowers at me, threateningly.

"Attention!!" A man at the far side of the room shouts, and some of the men around me turn towards him curtly and snap into attention. The others don't seem to notice and keep staring at me. "ATTENTION!!" The man shouts again, much louder. The men all turn and snap to attention instantly. I stand there, unsure of what I should do. "Soldier 218-973 step forward!" He shouts and I walk in front of the group of 1,000 plus men. The man is tall, maybe 6 foot 3, with chiseled features and broad shoulders. 'He is probably all muscle...' I think, a funny feeling gathering in the pit of my stomach. Like butterflies when you get nervous, but a thousand times worse. He's intimidating as hell, and he has eyes like mine, but his hair is somewhere in between red and brown. "You must be him. Welcome to the CCFF. I am General Xanthos, and I must say, it's a pleasure to see a fresh face among all these brutes." He says, whispering the last part so only I can hear him. I try not to smile, the corners of my mouth twitching. He smiles slightly then clears his throat. "Men," he shouts, "go off to train! The clock is ticking until their next attack! Get a move on!" The men all scramble to file out of the rank house, leaving me alone with the General.

My heart is pounding so fast and hard I can hear it in my ears and feel it behind my eyes, and I try to calm myself down by breathing a little bit deeper but before I can tell if it works the General suddenly sighs out of relief and relaxes. "God those brutes almost expect me to be the same as them. I can't... anyway. I hear your name is Adraxian. I'm Xanthos Black. I... feel like me and you might have ended up here in the same decision. Right? You've shown interest in the Gragzul. I used to be like that too, but now... well, enough about me. I have to show you around the grounds." He locked eyes with me for a moment and my heart skipped a beat, and then he turned and started walking. I took a deep breath and relaxed slightly and then followed him.

He showed me the houses that we are going to sleep in and the place we all will train in and when we walked into the training house the men all looked over at us and someone shouted "Get outta here you GAYS!!" Xanthos didn't take kindly to that and made the guy step forward and apologize to me and him and made the guy do 100 push-ups while someone sat on his back. We even waited until he finished all of them to make sure he did them all. When he was finished he was red like the sunset and sweating so much it was like he just got out of the Raxian Lake half a mile away. It made me smile slightly then Xanthos and I moved on and ended up back at the rank house.

"Well, that's the end of the tour of the CCFF base. And sorry about 100-724. He can be an asshole. But, I... anyway. Any... questions?" I pause.

"How come they called us gays?" Xanthos hesitates for a moment.

"They all know I'm gay, so they always tease me when I'm spotted with a new recruit because they spread rumors a long time ago that I sleep with all the new ones, which I don't do by the way, I'd get in some deep shit if I ever did. But, maybe, it was because you and I are somewhat similar...? Maybe it's just the hair and the eyes, but what if it's something... deeper?" He takes a sudden breath after a long silence that came over us. "Anyway, you don't have to answer that, I have to debrief the boys. I... anyway. See you around, Adraxian." He says suddenly, and then he walks away, somewhat hurriedly. I watched him for a moment, wondering what he meant. I look around, unsure of where to go... again. I sigh. 'Damn, I need to do something about this. I wonder if Xanthos' actually going to debrief them...'

I start following Xanthos, who is rather far ahead but something compels me forward, as if it was an unknown force willing my legs to move. I end up following him back to the rank house, but behind it. He leans against the wall, and pulls a cigarette out of a small pack, and a lighter. He puts the cigarette in his mouth and flicks the lighter, a small orange flame growing from the top, illuminating his features, and his mysterious expression, one almost of sadness or guilt, maybe both. My heart skipped a beat again, and I felt my legs almost give out. I catch myself against the wall and then hide behind it as Xanthos looks over. My breathing suddenly decides to get faster as Xanthos says, "Who's there?" I start shaking and I see part of his shadow loom into view, and I freeze as if a Gragzul is around the corner. The tip of his cigarette burns a burnt orange and then he exhales a small puff of smoke. It drifts in front of my face, blown over by the wind, and I try not to inhale some, but I do anyway, and I hold back a coughing fit, but I notice the edges of my vision starts darkening, so I walk away as quickly and quietly as possible and I get back to where I was before, which is near the edge of a small ledge, and start take a deep breath but it must've been too late because I passed out.

I woke up sometime later, in something like a cot or hammock. I look around as my eyes adjust to the dim tent. I lock eyes with Xanthos almost instantly and get nervous. He smiles softly at me, "Hey. Take it easy, I'm not going to get mad at you. I just want to know what happened." Judging by his reaction, I must've turned bright red. "It's okay, just tell me the truth." I avert my eyes to the post holding up the ceiling of the tent and wonder what type of wood it could be, if it was real or not. He just keeps looking at me.

"I stood around for a while, confused as to where to go. Then I wondered if you were actually going to debrief them and I followed you. I breathed in some of the smoke and ran off as fast as I could and when I was back to where I was I took a deep breath but it seemed to have been too late and I passed out. I must've fallen off the ledge..." I say eventually. He nods solemnly. "...Am I in trouble?" I say quietly. He shakes his head.

"No, but why did you think I wasn't going to debrief them?" I shrug slightly. "Well, at least you know a lie when you hear one, Adraxian. That can come in handy, especially when talking to the Gragzul." I perk up slightly.

"We are talking to them?" He nods slightly.

"But don't get your hopes up, they're prisoners. Captured after being found alive after a battle." I nod, still excited I am going to be able to talk to the beings I've always wanted to talk to.

After a while I was able to sit up, but was sore from the hard landing on the ground. My back was covered in bruises, having hit several sharp rocks after I fell, and some small lacerations which stung every time I moved. Xanthos sat by my side the whole while I was sitting there. We talked and told jokes and laughed. But the most important part of our whole conversation, is that me and him have both felt like outcasts and feel as though there is some deeper connection than the red hair and blue eyes.

"I always had to dye my hair in school," he said, "or else I'd be bullied all the time, all day long. It got to the point where I wanted to just... I wanted to die. Kill myself. Then my mom caught me holding a bottle of pills in my hand and she smacked it out of my hand and said to me 'Xanthos, if you ever do this ever again, I will help you, no matter what. I just need you to talk to me sweetie. Please. For me.' And I never did say anything to her, it seemed like she understood how I felt, but then... she died. Or so they say. And I never believed it, even after going to her funeral. Did someone you know ever do that to you?" He looks up at me, and my heart nearly melts. His eyes were soft and sad like a puppy's eyes, and full of wonder and determination with a hint of pain.

"No. But I also had pretty limited resources. I was just a simple farm boy. I've been told I am with my biological parents, but I always felt differently. I don't connect with my family at all, and the red hair and blue eyes hadn't helped. And-" My face suddenly gets hot, and I feel the blood rush to my cheeks.

"And what?"

"A-and... i-it just made me a big target. Everyone told me I should throw myself over to the Gragzul, but they wouldn't do anything with me. And there would be these horrible horrible things written on paper and taped to my locker. Physical and verbal beatings daily, almost hourly. I came home from school one day and my mom looked at me and gasped and said 'A, my poor poor baby! What happened? Was it those mean boys again?' She knelt down and held me by the shoulders and tears ran down her cheeks and I only nodded, my throat too tight for me to speak. She hugged me so hard that I almost flinched because of the pain." Xanthos looks at me again.

"Damn. I thought I had it rough." I notice he looks a little pale.

"Hey, you alright?" He nods, the ends of his hair that stick out slightly all shake. I don't believe him but I don't say anything.

I realized I was probably in that tent with Xanthos for almost five days, and all just because of a rough landing and an inhaled puff of smoke. But eventually they cut holes in a side of the tent that said 'Just in case if you get rowdy' and Xanthos rolled his eyes and covered it with his blanket. I smiled at his kindness for me, basically a stranger, helping me walk around, getting me food and water if I get hungry or thirsty, waking me up out of nightmares, which happens often and leaves me too exhausted to even recover and it sets me back a little, and he just sits there and comforts me. I felt that funny butterfly-like feeling in my stomach and a little heat rush to my face. He might not be feeling the same, but it's hard to tell in the dim light of the tent, only lit by a lantern. It illuminated his features so they were smooth like butter and soft like the light. I felt even more heat rush to my face and I averted my eyes, my heart fluttering a little. He looked at me as if something didn't feel right, and said, "You okay? Adraxian?" He said, and I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Y-yeah. I'm good." He looks at the ground and then stands up.

"I... I have to check the status of the Gragzul. They could've advanced while I was in here." His tone is one of a beaten person, as if my answer made him feel like he wasn't good enough. As he starts to walk to the door flaps and I reach out.

"Wait!" I suddenly fall out of the bed, gritting my teeth, and my vision blurs horribly. He turns and looks at me and rushes to me.

"Adraxian?!" I look at him, dazed and confused. A somewhat drunk feeling smile appears on my face.

"Oh hey... you... you're cute..." I suddenly pass out, leaving Xanthos confused.