The Grounded Citizens

Arthur a 16 year old boy woke up and looked at himself in the mirror.

He had tinted orange hazel eyes.

'How long am I going to keep hiding?' he thought to himself.

After bathing, he wore dark green lenses for his disguise going downstairs. He found a lovely couple with dark green eyes holding each other. He smiled at them as he liked this sight. He always dreamed of a peaceful world.

"Good morning, mom, dad." He greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning, son." They replied.

"Am going to school now, see you later." He said.

"Aren't you gonna first eat?" The mother inquired.

"No, I maybe late for school." he admitted smiling. He went to his sister's room. Knocking and entering. Her room was very different from his as it was pink as any girl would like.

"Hey, sleepy head, wake up." He whispered into her ear shaking her slightly. She sat up giggling removing her eye mask exposing her dark green eyes.

"Good morning." He mocked with a smirk.

"Good morning." She replied with the same smirk. Bells suddenly rang at the back of her mind. She immediately covered her face.

"What's wrong?" He inquired worriedly as he touched her back slightly.

"You've seen me without makeup." She cried out still covering her face.

"You think am ugly." She continued.

"Noo, that will never happen. You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." He assured her.

"Are you serious?" She inquired desperately.

"Of course. Who would be prettier than you?" He reassured. He didn't know the great impact his assurance made on the cute little girl in front of him.

"Ok, I maybe late for school. Bye."

"Bye." She replied in a happy tone.

As soon as he moved out, he saw four black Jeeps going around the village. The men inside looked to be from the military with red eyes carrying weapons. They immediately collected all the villagers making them kneel. They were intimidated by their presence.

"You, know what brought us here." Their leader roared at the village chief.

"Don't waste our time. Pick one of your strong men." He continued.

"Nooo... Please... not any more." He pleaded.

"So, you are gonna be pig headed." He howled at him.

Immediately changing his facial expression into a gloomy one, He stroded his way through them until he stood next to Arthur. He picked up a man next to him who had a great physique and looked to be strong.

"Nooo, please don't take him." His wife cried clinging on to the leader's arm.

"Get off me! How filfthy!!" He bellowed as he pushed the woman causing her to fall on to the ground.

"Ahhhh!..... Mom.... Dad....ahhhhh..." The little girl wailed attracting their attention.

Hearing this made Arthur's heart sink. He felt useless as he could do nothing at the moment yet he had the power to stop all this.

She had crouched down hugging her legs tightly against the wall.

The leader stroded his way to her crouching to her position smiling.

"Don't worry, he will be back soon." He comforted. Her mother came running pulling away her daughter.

"You're lying! You took my son 15 yrs ago and he's not yet back. You morons!" The old man swore at them. The villagers were now trembling in fear as they were known for their loutish behavior.

The leader ordered one of his men. The old man was brought in front.

"This is what I do to those who defy me." He roared hitting the old man with the hilt of his sword right in the stomach.

Arthur felt his blood boiling. He clenched his fist as he couldn't take it anymore but soon realesed it as he felt a gentle touch on his fist. It was his mom counseling him.

They hopped on to their Jeeps and fled.

Arthur went to school but still blaming himself for what had happened. The school itself was big filled with students with dark green eyes of his age.

As he was walking through the hallway, there were six boys following him. One of them had a tab in his hands and a blue tooth talking to someone.

"Yes! Target found!" He claimed.

"Are you sure he won't bring us problems?"

"Yeah, he's Arthur Zane just a nobody." He replied scrolling the tab.

"Ok, perfect."

One of the boys grabbed Arthur by the collar dragging him to a corner finding another student waiting. Judging by his clothes, he looked to be from a well off family.

"Well, well, so you're here." He said landing a punch on to his chest making Arthur take a few steps back.

"Eeeh! His a strong one." He was overwhelmed. He continued punching and kicking him but Arthur didn't fight back knowing fully that he deserved it. Blood was dripping from his face.

As a certain boy was walking, he saw violence taking place. So he decided to take a look. On reaching some good distance, he recognized his friend Arthur and immediately ran to him.

"Arthur, why didn't you tell me about this? You know I can help you." He claimed.

"Why waste your time on such foolish phycos?" He managed to blubber out.

"What! Phycos? Are you insane?" One of them asked and the bell ring causing them to run off. Alfred immediately gave him a pill.

"Take this." He said

"Thanks."

"My pleasure." He said with a smirk helping him up. The bell was directing them to the main hall which was crammed full of students. It had paintings of the previous principles all over the walls.

"Am glad your wounds have healed." Alex said to Arthur.

"Oh! Yeah. They are."

"They have healed completely in such a short time. You're special Arthur." He genuinely praised but Arthur just smiled at him.

Soon, the whole hall was silent as a man with dark green eyes dressed in a suit with glasses holding a tablet stepped on to the stage. He looked to be middle aged with a clean haircut.

"Good morning, students."

"Good morning, sir."

"I guess most of you know what has brought you here. It's about the military school." He said as the hall was filled with charters once again.

"Silence!!" He shouted.

" You are all expected at the capital city stadium in two days. Check the students' forum for more information." He said.

It was time for the military school.

Two days later, Arthur was prepared for the military school and it was time for the goodbyes.

"I don't want you to go." Alice his sister said with teary eyes.

"Don't cry, l will be back soon." He comforted wiping her tears.

"Promise you will be back soon and don't skip meals." She said raising her pinky finger as he also raised his entangling them making a promise. Alice went in for a hug as Arthur embraced her tightly.

"You've grown up. Take care of yourself while am away." He said stroking her back gently.

"Ok, that's enough. He might miss the bus." The father chimed in. Arthur hugged his mom and dad respectively.

"Ok, I will go ahead. Bye." He said boarding. Alice was left sobbing while her parents consoled her. They all didn't want him to go but what could they do. It was the policy. They were all attached to each other.

Honestly, he didn't have many things as any kid would have. All he had was a bag pack and two swords on his back. They had black hilts and the rest was silver with red stripes indicating that they were made from the strongest beasts.

All throughout the journey, Arthur was silent thinking about his family unlike Alex who was excited about the whole thing.

"What if the rulers hurt my family?"

"What if they take them while am not there to protect them?"

"Then I will have to hunt them down." He thought. Alex noticing his silence couldn't stand it.

"Are you thinking about them? Don't worry nothing will happen to them." He comforted.

"Yeah, I hope so." He replied worriedly.

They finally reached the city stadium. They found many other students arranged in their factions.

The rulers( reddish eyes), the bwarts (golden eyes), cultivators (dark greenish eyes), archers (blueish eyes), purposive (light greenish eyes).

Buses arrived the stadium with numbers displayed in white.

"Please board the buses according to the number you were given." They heard the voice from the speaker.

They arrived at the military base and were in a large parking with alot of buses. They were all taken to the plain grass arena with seats all round arranged like a city stadium.

They soon saw three men approaching carrying tablets. They were dressed as seargents with black hats. They all carried serious faces like a lion hunting it's prey.

They all made lines and saluted them as they neared. They also saluted them back. One who was in the middle stepped forward checking his watch.

"Good afternoon, am sgt. Wilson. I will be your instructor today." He said in a deep tone as he stretched his left hand signalling the one one his left.

"Am sgt. Patrick. I will be your instructor. I hope you cooperate with me." He said with a smile. Different from the others, he was a fat short man.

"Am sgt. Kareb. I will be your instructor today." He said a bit hurriedly.

Without wasting time, they got straight to the point.

"Walker Tilons (red), Myla Reins (blue), Conrade Collins (gold), Peter Rays (light green) and Wallen Yens(dark green). Please follow me." Sgt. Kareb read out these names motioning them to follow him. Other sgts. also read out names taking students with them for their tests.

Students came back with smiles and others gloomy faces.

They also came back with headbands and digital bracelets. The color of the headbands depended on your faction and strength.

Let's say the headband was red, it would have a crystal in the middle. If the crystal was dark, it would indicate that the person was very strong, if it was medium, it would also indicated medium strength and if it was light, it would indicate low strength.

And then finally, it was Arthur's turn. He was called out with other four students. He was taken to a room ancient like with a hollow like structure in the middle.

It was a black structure called a 'camic'. He was asked to perform the sacred swordsmanship that was taught to all the people in the country.

He had one thing in mind that was to keep his secret and that included not exposing his strength. He performed it slowly with swift movements. The camic displayed number 5 indicating the number of slashes he could make in a second.

He was then taken to his other test. It was also ancient like with sculpted like heads of a dragon in each corner with it's mouth open , he was blind folded and he stood in the middle of the room. The center of the dragon heads.

Immediately, small orb like balls come out aiming at him randomly. He stood still listening to their movements. Avoiding the one on his left aiming for his head by ducking skillfully. Avoiding another moving his body swiftly to his right. He continued avoiding other three more and thought.

"No, what am doing is wrong. My plan will fall apart if I continue doing this."

He stood still with out the aim of dogding the next one hitting him right in the stomach. The giantic doors then opened.

"Good job. Come out for your next test." He heard the voice from the speaker.

He was then taken to the plain grass arena. It had a hollow giantic structure with chains strapped on it. He was asked to pull it to the other side in the shortest time possible.

Hence he started pulling. Though it wasn't heavy, he had to make sure that he doesn't attract unnecessary attention as that was his top priority.

The moment he was done, the timer indicated 2 mins and 35 secs. He was then given his dark green headband with a light crystal and a black digital bracelet.

He displayed a chicky smirk as he stared at the headband. This of course surprised sgt. Kareb as no student was happy with such results. He then started to wonder who this child was.