Prologue (1)

"One, two, three..."

A rough voice echoed aloud in a large forest as green leaves moved with the wind. A boy who couldn't have been more than six could be seen doing CrossFit burpees, otherwise referred to as pushup burpees. A cold looking man with the physique of a buff giant stood above him, counting him off.

"Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two..."

Though the boy had done more than thirty burpees, his form remained perfect, regardless of the fact that his limbs were shaking.

"Faster!"

The boy picked up his speed after a brief moment of closing his eyes.

"Eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two..."

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. You're done. Tomorrow you do one hundred and ten of each."

The boy clenched his fists behind the man's back as he followed him out of the forest.

Anyone watching would have been amazed. Not only did the boy do one hundred burpees, but he also did one hundred sit-ups, one hundred leg lifts, one hundred jumping jacks, one hundred squats, and ran for one hundred minutes. All with a weight attached to his arms, legs, and chest.

They'd also be amazed to notice if they were capable enough to notice that every time the boy was about to collapse the area around him would get a bit less green.

The boy followed the man to a large clan household located close to the woods and went to his room, being careful not to wake any of his nineteen roommates.

As the boy got into bed he unclenched his fists to reveal five semi-deep cuts. His bare feet were filled with blisters and his shirtless body marred with scars, both new and old.

Age Eight

The boy no longer clenched his fists. It only took one beating over it for him to understand that without power his anger meant nothing. He threw himself into training, exceeding the outrageous standards that were set.

The scars were spread across nearly the entirety of his torso now. His arms were also filled with the deep lashes that were a sure sign of a whip being used. He was missing several teeth and bruises could be seen all across his body. On his forehead, the word 'Slave' could be seen. On his arm, a tattoo of a silver dragon could be seen with the number 1674. On his seventh birthday, he was finally given the grace of having a name given to him, 1674.

At the moment he was beating up another boy, a fellow slave that was the same age as him. 1674 was the leader of his squad, made up of his roommates, and the boy beneath him was the leader of a different squad. Around them, the squadmates watched coldly, letting the battle be decided between them. They would only intervene if another squad or an older group arrived.

At the age of eight, squads are given the opportunity to expand. 1674's group was considered to be a pretty big group with fifteen members remaining, most of the other groups had more deaths than them.

It was a simple fight for 1674, he was easily the strongest and best fighter among not only his age group but the next few age groups as well. He wouldn't have even bothered to fight 1683 if it weren't for him attacking one of his own.

1674 followed one of the few girls in his group towards the scene and saw 1683 looking lifeless while leaning against a wall. Based on what the girl told him, he only attacked one of his squadmates after the squadmate antagonized him and instantly realized how big of a mistake he made after.

The first thing 1683 did when he saw him was get on his knees and start begging him.

"P-please, I-I know I messed up, but I can make it up to you. I didn't mean it-"

"Silence." Though he didn't sound very scary, his voice had a cold tone and everyone, even the people watching went silent.

"I don't care what you meant." As he said this he walked up to 1683 and stood just a few feet in front of him.

As soon as 1683 went to speak he was kneed in the face and went down screaming. One of the spectators quickly threw a ball of cloth towards him and he shoved it in 1683's mouth to muffle his screams.

"I'm going to kill you." 1674 loved seeing the look of fear and desperation that people show when they know they're about to die.

What followed was a relentless beating of the boy. 1674 began by punching the boy's face, though he went light as he didn't want to knock him out. After a while, he switched to kicking him all over his body and when he got bored of that he started biting him (while it grossed most of the others out, he loved the feeling of ecstasy he got when he ate parts of them in front of them) before ending it by pulling out his gag and choking him.

"T-thank you..." A raspy voice sounded out, 1683 knew 1674 was going easy on him.

After a few minutes of choking him (you can never be too sure), 1674 let go and took a look at his work. 1683's corpse was covered in bruises and had chunks missing out of it in seemingly random spots. Giving a nod, 1674 spent around a minute throwing kicks at the kid's head before walking away, letting his squad take care of the rest. The addition of the twelve members from 1683's squad would definitely come in handy.