Chapter 4 Departure

When the garrison arrived, they gave the announcement, every household of Vermis was to present a bodied-abled person for the recruitment process, it would take about two weeks for the process to end, you could go willingly or they could get someone by force, preferably an awakened.

Ben talked to the family and told them he was preparing to leave, he would go to the recruitment center the day before last, so that gave them almost 2 weeks together, but Theo had decided to get ready and leave in a week, as a nonawakened blacksmith apprentice he would probably be on standby back at the camps helping with fixing items, in worst case scenario that a battle begins, he felt it would be way better than if his Dad went.

Ray had told Theo to take the week off so he could be with his Dad before he left, but because Theo was the that was gonna leave, he told him it helped him clear his head working with him, so for the next week he would wake up early, do his work out routine and go work with Ray.

Ray gave him some forging books to study, which Theo started reading every night, things at home were a little tense because his whole family was worried and dreading the day his Dad would leave.

After a couple of days Theo was walking back when he saw a familiar face by the bridge, it was Sarah waiting for him.

"Hi, Theo, how are you?" Sarah looked a little uneasy, "Hi Sarah, I'm ok, what are you doing here?" Said, Theo.

"Well because of the call to arms, I thought I'd come to check on you to see if you were ok" she was holding her arm and looking down, this concern from her cut Theo a little off guard, "w-well yeah, I'm ok, how about you? Is anyone going in your house?", 'She must think my Dad is the one that's going, but why would she come here?'.

"Oh that's good, in my house it's just me and my grandma because my parents and little sister live in the city, so we're both exempt from going, so when is your Dad leaving?" she then sat down by the bridge over looking the lake.

Theo sat beside her and said, "He's going to wait until the day before last, so we have another week with him" he decided to keep up the lie just in case, if anybody found out he was planning on leaving it could ruin his getaway.

"I bet you're going to miss him, but I'm sure everything is going to be fine, it's just a precaution as they're saying," she said as she looked at him with bright eyes "thanks, yeah I'm sure he'll be back soon".

They talked for another half hour before Sarah left, Theo felt bad about lying to her but he couldn't risk it, he was doing this just in case of a worst-case scenario.

On Theo's last day before he planned on leaving after working with Ray, "Hey kid, before you leave I want to talk to you about something" Ray sat down and beckoned for Theo to sit next to him.

"Ok, what's going on Ray?" Theo sat next to him a little curious as to what he wanted to talk about.

"Well I see you still have the chain on you with the pendant I gave you, I did a little research on Verminium because I have never seen it or worked with it, I couldn't give you any real information, but I found out that just like the pendant I gave you Verminium can hold energy in it, and some Verminium items can be engraved with special spells, it looks like the chain already has one, so I recommend that you give it to your father to take on the call to arms just in case if he can figure out the spell and how to work the chain it'll be of great value to him" Ray looked at him expectantly.

Theo just sat there thinking, it was a lot of information to process, to think this chain was such a powerful artifact, 'Since I'm the one that's leaving I should try to learn to use it if it can have the energy it doesn't matter if I'm awakened or not, But what if because of this I'm sent to the frontlines' Theo was pondering everything and decided to ask "can you appraise the chain to see what kind of item it is?".

Ray looked at Theo and said "Sure let's try it" he took out the appraisal gem and held it over the chain, it started glowing and then stopped and didn't display anything.

"What does that mean?" said Theo a little worried, "It means my appraisal gem can't read it so it's probably above A rank," he said not at all surprised, "What?! So it could be an S-ranked item?" Theo said as he hopped off the chair.

"Well almost all Verminium items are above A grade because Verminium is such an incredible material only the best can use it in their items", He gave Theo the chain back and he held it in bewilderment.

"How do you think my dad can learn to use it?" 'I'm the one that wants to learn to use it, let's see if he can help me with it'.

"Well I'm not exactly sure" Ray laughed a little, "In simple terms, you can just pour your energy on it and hope that way it'll start reacting and you can slowly figure it out"

Theo pondered for a second 'I guess I should just try it hopefully I'll figure it out, but it sounds easier said than done "thank you so much for your help Ray"

"No problem kid, glad I could help, see you tomorrow" he stood up and started closing shop, "y-yeah see you tomorrow," Theo said unconvincingly.

The next day Theo decided to take the day off and spend it with his family, they all went down by the river to spend the day together, played around, swam, and had lunch, Theo tried to commit everything to memory, his Mom's soft laugh, his brother's kindness and warmth, Lucy's cute behavior, and his Dad's temperance, he never had a bad face on, he was happy whenever he was with them, it was like he wasn't going anywhere and everything was ok, Theo knew today was the day he had to leave.

When they got back they had dinner, Mom made Dad's favorite, goat stew, which now reminded Theo of Sarah, they all ate happily, enjoying each other's company, talking and laughing together, especially Theo who knew this would be the last time he'd see his family in a little while, he was going to miss them.

The next morning Theo was ready before the crack of dawn, he didn't sleep, he packed and was already set up, he had his new clothes, a chain with Ray's pendant, his daggers, a blacksmiths hammer, and a few books that Ray had given him about forging.

He sighed as he took his stuff and left his room, walked downstairs quietly, and left, as he was walking over the bridge for the last time he decided to throw a rock, he hadn't done so since his father told him about the call to arms and wanted to do it for the last time before coming back.

He threw the rock and it skipped once, twice… a total of seven times, Theo was a little shocked and he started his trip with a big smile plastered on his face.

As he got into town he could see a tent, so he walked up to it, there was a table with 2 men in uniform and one standing behind them, Theo was probably the first one there with how early it was.

"Hello, I'm here for recruitment," Theo said hesitantly, he was very nervous, and one of the men on the table said "full name, rank, age, and say if you have any special skills!" Theo jumped back a little, and the soldier's voice boomed at him.

"Theodore Dawes, I'm 14 years old, I'm a blacksmiths apprentice and I haven't awakened," he wrote it down as Theo was talking and then with the same booming voice said "Go to the back of the tent, you will be going through a rank assessment just to make sure and then we'll give you your orders, the next carriage leaves in 2 hours so make sure you're ready" Theo nodded and went to the back of the tent.

As he went to the back of the tent where there was a man with a clipboard, he looked at him and said, "Theodore Dawes, correct? This here is a rank meter crystal, just to check your ranking and potential ok?" Theo nodded and the soldier pulled out a purple-looking gem and activated it with his energy, "just place your hand on it please" he said, Theo slowly put his hand on it and as soon as he touched it he felt an energy surging from his Verminium chain, and time slowed down a little, he tried to access this energy as his own, he could feel the energy coursing through him, it was a euphoric feeling,

Then suddenly it disappeared and he felt nothing ''guess I was just imagining things' thought Theo a little dejected, the purple stone shone brightly and stopped, "thank you, let's see, so looks like you're at 2nd rank, which is good given you're a blacksmiths apprentice, you're potential is not showing so I guess you're just gonna stay stuck at 2nd rank probably" he said as he wrote down everything, Theo thought it was a joke, he could feel the energy for a moment and then it was gone, it made no sense.

The soldier gave him a piece of paper and said "Ok, take this and turn it in at the carriage, our second in command has been called back to camp so you can ride with him, best of luck!"

Theo left and went to the carriage, it was good one was leaving right now, It reduced the risk of having someone stop him because he's been going to Ray's, and the chances of them figuring he'd left for the call to arms before night were slim, giving him plenty of time.

When he started boarding the cart there was someone already on it he was probably in his early twenties, wore glasses, and had slick black hair and brown eyes.

he smiled and said, "Hello, I'm Everette Wyamir, I'm the reason you're gonna be riding comfortably so, you're welcome, what's your name?" Theo took a seat across from him and said "I'm Theodore Dawes, good to meet you Sir, and thank you for the ride"

Everette looked at Theo and said, "It's better like this, riding all alone is pretty boring, I'm going to be in charge of training a few recruits, what block are you in?" Everette asked while he cleaned his glasses, Theo looked at the paper they gave him and then said "I'm in block B" Everette put his glasses back on and said, "It means you're an alternate or hybrid, depending on your training you will be placed in the infantry, support, back up at camp or stand by, so I will be training you part-time probably".

Theo learned that Everett is a noble from Luna kingdom, his family is part of the council for the three kings, making him a very big deal, he was the second son of the family and had volunteered to train recruits for the call to arms, he left home 5 days ago, as a noble they start training at a very young age.

Theo told him about his family and that he'd very recently awakened and hadn't trained at all, "Ok that's great, you can be my first student, so let me explain a few things, in the academies and schools they first start by teaching us that the energy we have is called mana, and that drives our world, with mana you can do anything as long as you have the affinity for it, so let's try this, to get stronger the first thing we need is for you to be able to feel it, so try imagining your pouring your energy on your finger and then write something in the air with it" Everette spoke incredibly fast and with great excitement.

Theo without question started trying it out, but he could barely feel something, then Everette showed him, and he wrote his name with his finger and a little white trail followed his finger and it lingered for a second.

"This is standard mama manipulation, it helps you visualize and manipulate your mana, it may be a simple thing but it's a foundation that is incredibly important and oftentimes it's overlooked," he said in a very serious voice.

For the remainder of their trip, Theo would continue practicing with Everette encouraging him and giving him tips.

As they were headed to the Eastern camp, situated on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean, so they can see if the fleet that was spotted ever makes the shore, it took us 2 days to reach camp.

when we got there it was bigger than I was expecting, there were at least 3,000 men already there, and there was a week left of recruitment, when we got down from the carriage, Everette looked at me and said, "Good riding with you Mr. Dawes, see you in a couple of days, keep practicing, it will help you greatly and don't despair it can take years to do it well, present yourself at barracks B and get some rest, you'll be needing it soon" he smiled and left, Theo then turned around and looked at his new surroundings, trying to take it all in.