1 Innocent Wish

A remote village, southeast of the capital.

Little children prance in a field; they run around, singing songs of prosperity. "A ritual?" A strangely dressed foreigner asked. "It's a tradition they've been doing for a century."

There was another man beside him who was wearing the same outfit. "What should we do with them?" He asked, and grunted when a hand slapped his back. He turned behind, and there was another, dressed in the same strange attire.

It looked like armor. A large steel plate covering all around the torso, a golden cloth rested on one of the men's right shoulder; was he some kind of leader? A young boy dropped from a small balcony and ran up to the men.

His mother's face was filled with fear as the young boy approached the foreign group. "H-hello, my name's Kuoka and what brings you to our village?" The boy kneeled and bowed. "Hey, this kid's pretty small. Would he be good bait? They might not even notice him at all."

One of the men bent down to examine Kuoka; who had stars in his eyes. They grabbed his chin and swung his head back and forth.

"The land infront of the fortress is wide and flat. There isn't a single tree or hill in sight. They'd even be able to notice a rat from 5 miles away." The man with a golden cloth wrapped around his right shoulder kneeled before Kuoka, who was speechless.

"Hey kid, do you want to go on an adven-" He was cut off when Kuoka suddenly leapt up and gently landed on the ground. "YES!"

The yell had caught the attention of villagers from across the village and they flocked to the scene. "Who are you people! Why are you in our village?! Leave now or we'll call the army!" A woman yelled.

The men drew their swords and pointed at the crowd, "listen here, all of you. If you have any objections then say it." All the villagers kept silent; but one young girl propped out from behind them, "don't take Kuoka away!" She tightly shut her eyes and yelled.

It started with one girl; but soon the whole village was yelling at the foreigners to leave. The man with the golden cloth sighed, "we'll need to use one of our own children then..." but before they left, they asked. "We'll leave, but could we have a small child-sized dress?"

A villager soon came running to them with a dress in hand, "t-t-take this!" They quickly pushed the dress into the soldier and he had to take a step back. "You don't have to be so aggressive, all we want is this dress." He grabbed the villager's shoulders and stood them upright. "We'll be taking this now, see you later!"

"You're coming back?!" Another soldier yelled as they walked into the distance.

Kuoka had nearly became a tool for war, but even so. He still admired the soldiers. "So... cool, so... good looking, their armor, their golden cloth... so... cool!" He was clearly entranced by them. "The way they walk so firm and straight. Their swords beside their belts made of leather... the golden cloth!" He had trouble holding in his excitement.

He wanted to join them; but knew that he was too young, he wanted to fight alongside them; but knew he was too weak. Too poor, too uneducated. He wished for power, for the skill and prowess to fight alongside them. He wanted to be their leader and bring them to victory.

He started reading every book in the village, and soon started adventuring further from the border. But one worried parent stopped him. "Hey, you're going out of the village late at night aren't you!" She yelled at him and he whimpered, but her expression lightened.

"I know you want to study to become smart. But we don't have that many books in this village, so how about I teach you instead so you don't have to learn by yourself?" Kuoka's mother was an intelligent woman, and she was married to the chief of the village. "Yes!" Kuoka replied.

He studied for long hours that night. Learning several new things that he would've never known, had his mother decided not to teach him.

After that day. A villager ran back to the village, waving a golden cloth in their hand. He told the others that the soldiers who'd arrived earlier that day, were all killed in an assault on a local lord. He had heard the commotion, and ran to where the battle took place; but the lord's soldiers pushed them away, and all they could grab was a golden cloth.

Kuoka's eyes nearly reddened. "Those men were nice! Why would they attack our lord if our lord didn't attack them!" Try as he might, war was an alien to Kuoka.

The villagers didn't have much knowledge of what was going on in the outside world; they struggled to comprehend that a war had started.

Kuoka went to bed that night. He slept early, but didn't wake up till the afternoon. In his dream, there was a bright light. It shined brighter than the sun, and his eyes were drawn to it. They felt as if they were burning, and he could feel every moment.

The pain soon turned to wonder and joy, when he heard a mysterious voice echoing around him. "Your wish shall be granted. Let your desire run free and ravage the land. Do not lose your way, if you falter; your wish will be taken away..."

When he awoke, he felt different. Like he could do everything he wished to. One question circled in his mind, he knew he could do it. Even though he didn't know why. Become a warlord like those of legend that his mother showed him through foreign texts and drawings? He could.