Emperors War

After being tossed into The Pit Aker"s sole focus was staying alive, so the thought of having a dad was something he had lost track of. Suddenly hearing that Vance wanted to take him as his son, he felt a smile spread across his face and a warmth he hadn"t truly known in the last three plus years.

Aker could have easily been registered as a Parvus, that is to say Vance didn"t have to claim Aker as his son and give him the last name Hunter. Vance did it because he wanted to.

As Vance and Aker looked at each other they both understood the others intentions without the need to say a word. Vance simply nodded his head at Aker and Aker acknowledged this man who had now become his dad with a return head nod.

Thomas who watched the exchange between the two had his mouth open and his brows furrowed. Of all of the different ways in which Thomas had thought that this moment could go he never envisioned this scenario. There were no emotional hugs, there was no tears of joy and acceptance, there was no rebuking and upset, there was simply two nods of the head and done. If Thomas wasn"t one hundred percent sure, he would have sworn that they were truly father and son based on how they both reacted.

"Anyways, it"s all done. You are now both members of my Parvus family...Here are the ID"s and doc.u.ments that prove your membership in the family and prove your ident.i.ty. All family members are provided accommodations which are based on their contribution to the family....." Thomas was going through the formalities and was talking business so the smile that had adorned his face was now gone and his voice had turned serious as he prattled on.

Aker who was not listening as he was still caught up in essentially being adopted by Vance was interrupted by Thomas as he began speaking louder noticing Aker"s wondering mind, "based on Aker"s contributions you will receive the estate three houses down. It has been vacant for a number of years as we have been waiting for a family member to perform merits that deserves the home. All of the arrangements have already been made and you can move in beginning any time." Of course, Thomas and Vance had already worked out the details long before Aker"s group started on their travels but Thomas as a business man had to go over the details again anyways.

Vance looked to Thomas as if verifying that he was done and then held out his hand which Thomas grabbed whole heartily "We are glad to be part of the family" Vance smiled and said while shaking hands with Thomas.

As Vance, Aker and Thomas were preparing to leave Aker stopped and suddenly called out "Oh...I almost forgot, can you do something with that girl and her mom that came with us?" Aker had just thought about Sarah and her mom and how the mom was begging for more time to get money so Sarah wouldn"t be taken away. Since that was the case couldn"t Aker just ask Thomas to hire them?

"That won"t be a problem at all, we"ll find a place for that mom and we will test that young girl and find out where here apt.i.tude lays and start training her." Thomas answered nonchalantly as if it was the easiest thing in the world to take care of the two of them.

Aker having heard Thomas felt relieved, he had spent some time with Sarah and saw how much Sarah"s mom cared for her so for Aker to be able to help made him feel pleased.

After Aker, Vance and Thomas reunited with the dozens of family members, Sarah and her mom they visited for a few hours before Vance pulled Aker aside.

"We"ll be staying here tonight and first thing tomorrow morning you"re going over and getting signed up to join the military..." As Vance spoke it completely grabbed Aker"s attention, Aker completely focused on Vance as he continued to speak.

"The group of us have talked about it and we have decided not to interfere at all for the next stretch. Success or failure, life or death, these will all be up to you. This is your training and as such you can"t have me, Cap, Mavis, and Sampson protecting while you try and grow. Mavis specifically told me to tell you "Boy metal is sharpened through the grind", he said you would understand what it meant...." Certainly Aker understood what it meant, only by relentlessly grinding the metal could he make his sharp swords. Aker understood precisely what the group was trying to convey.

"It"s important that you understand that we are not abandoning you, if a powerful force that shouldn"t be interfering with your growth try"s to interfere then we will block it. However, in the military, in the battlefield you"re going to be on your own. Choose your opponent"s well, watch out for the greed of men, use the skills you"ve learned and remember humans are strong because they can strategize and plan….. Do you have any questions?" Vance who had mixed feelings as he spoke managed to get through his words. He had planned a long drawn out speech explaining what the group was thinking but Mavis told them to quite being so melodramatic and just tell Aker to go grind it out, he was convinced that Aker would understand.

"I understand and don"t have any questions about what you said, but I would like to know what will everyone else be doing after I"ve joined the military." Even now Aker was wondering why Cap, Mavis and Sampson didn"t travel with them to Thomas"s house.

"There is still a lot left to do if we truly want to get revenge. Our group will be focused on clearing the path so that when we are ready to give back to those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds what they took from us there will be less hurdles." Vance"s voice turned cold and the temperature in the area seemed to drop as he spoke about his revenge. Every time Aker saw Vance speak about his revenge it was as if he turned into a different person.

The following morning Vance walked Aker most of the way to the recruitment center and without saying a word gave Aker a half hug, a couple of pats on the back then turned and walked away.

Aker who had been surrounded by his master, Dr. Life & Death, Mavis, Sampson, Cap and Kara for the last three years suddenly found himself alone for the first time since he was kidnapped and thrown into The Pit.

A suddenly and overwhelming sense of loneliness and sadness washed over Aker as this thought struck him. He looked back at Vance only to see him walk away without turning back to take a look.

Aker stood in place for a few minutes before taking a deep breath in and exhaling it out. It was time to start his next journey.

Aker walked over to the open-air recruitment area where three people were waiting in line. The first person in line was bald with burn marks on his head. He looked more like a magic beast than he did a person. For some reason he didn"t wear a shirt and his chest and back was covered in hair, it was only his head that seemed to be devoid of hair. If the man"s head was covered in hair Aker would have sworn he was part of the Fire Ape family with the burn mark on his head.

The second person in line was a scholarly looking fellow who wore gla.s.ses and had a very neat and clean haircut. His face was perfectly shaven except for two thin strands of hair above his lip. As Aker looked at those thin strips of hair, he couldn"t help but feel it looked ridiculous, yet it somehow lent to the air of a scholar.

The person directly in front of Aker was a teenage boy who looked to be just slightly older than him. The boy had brown semi long unkempt hair that hung over his eyes. The boy was filthy, his clothes were worn out and tattered and frankly he stunk horribly. It was clear to Aker this was someone who was either living on the streets or the equivalent of it.

As the boy watched Aker walk up it was as if the nervousness left his body and he completely lit up in excitement, as soon as Aker was within one meter of him he couldn"t help but call out "Hey, my name is Leland, I ain"t got a last name on account of I don"t have any parents."

He put out his hand to greet Aker, his eyes betraying his thoughts as he desperately wanted Aker to acknowledge his presence and introduce himself as well.

Aker who came from The Pit wouldn"t even notice the smell of Leland and as far as the greeting went Aker felt it was a little weird but someone who grew up on the streets without parents might be different. As Aker thought about it, he felt he might have actually introduced himself in a similar capacity at least once in the last three years, if not he could certainly see himself doing it.

In fact, the way that Leland acted, the way he wore his thoughts on his face, and the way he spoke all brought a smile to Aker"s face. In the last few years Aker had learned a lot, but of all the things he learned perhaps the thing he learned that was most valuable was that Aker liked genuine people, and this Leland was a genuine person.

Without hesitation Aker reached out his hand and took Leland"s, put on a genial smile and replied back "Hey, my name is Aker Hunter." Aker smiled with the realization that this Leland was the first person he introduced himself to as Aker Hunter. Hearing the last name Hunter Aker felt a sense of joy that he wasn"t expecting.

"Are you here to sign up for the military? You look kind of young, how old are you? I just turned thirteen today and came down here right away. They won"t take you if you"re under the age of thirteen so I have been counting down the days for months now. Finally, I can have new clothes, I won"t have to scavenge for food, and will have somewhere to sleep." Leland was so excited he didn"t notice Aker"s face as it twisted at his words. Aker who was over eleven but under twelve suddenly felt perplexed.

Without hesitation Aker pulled out his ID that was provided by Thomas and sure enough it had him listed as thirteen, his birthday was also today according to his ID.
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"Hahahaha....that"s great, I also turned thirteen today, after we sign up we will have to celebrate together." Aker feigned excitement and played along with Leland.

Leland hearing that it was Aker"s birthday as well was excited, "Let"s do that, after we get a.s.signed as puer nuntius we will have this afternoon off before we get started."

Aker looked at Leland, his confusion was on clear display as he asked "puer nuntius?", his voice was clearly inquisitive so Leland understood it was a question.

"You don"t know what puer nuntius is but you came down to sign up to join the military anyway? Puer nuntius is a really fancy way of saying errand boy. All people who join the military from the ages of thirteen to fifteen start out as puer nuntius and earn merits to work their way out."

"Why would I need to be an errand boy? Why can"t I start out with the regular troops?" Aker was dumbfounded as he heard Leland speak. He came here to train and join battles. Did this mean that he would have to wait two years before he could join the battles?

"Someone has to take care of the cooking, cleaning, and do the task that take care of the soldiers, so almost all military forces inst.i.tuted puer nuntius as a way to allow thirteen-year old"s to join the military while they learn. Being a puer nuntius is not without benefits. You may get lucky and get selected by someone with high rank to be their personal errand boy. If that happens then when you turn fifteen and join the battles you will be on the fast track to ranking up and will get the best deployments." Leland spoke like someone who was in a wonderful dream as he talked about being selected by a high-ranking military person.

"Isn"t there some way to not be an errand boy and just join the fighting directly?" Aker"s voice sounded slightly agitated as he spoke.

"Not as far as I have ever heard." Leland shook his head as he spoke as if saying no and also saying why would you not want to be puer nuntius?

Aker who paused for a moment considered and thought "There"s nothing to get upset over, I enjoy all of the other task anyways. For now, master and the rest must have known about this and yet they still sent me here so I"ll just go with the flow and see what happens."