DEATHWISH

Every morning, Major Pairo Nelson opened the door to his cabin, and watched the sunrise appearing from the sea. The sun seemed playful, peeking its way up from behind Husky Fortress. It never failed to make him smile.

Then, with his remaining left leg, he hopped back inside, and refreshed the magic insignia on his metal leg. Thanks to those nerds at Striborg, his prosthetics can function like his natural leg.

The magic spell circle does fade over time though. So, it'll need a little bit of a refresher every now and then. No biggie.

Just then, he heard a knock on his door. "Yes?"

The door opened. In walks Captain Amber William. "Good morning, Major."

Pairo smiled. "It's quite early for a report, ain't it Captain?"

"Pardon me sir. But Mister Quidel is waiting at the Husky Gate along with the Young Lord."

Pairo went wide eyed. "Oh shit. I forgot about that. Would you please keep them company until I arrived?"

Amber saluted her commander. "Yes sir."

As Amber left, Pairo rushed to finish enchanting his prosthetic leg.

***

Utu looked around Major Pairo's office. Again. His eyes had been going round and round all over the area, he felt he could draw every minute detail of this office.

He glanced at his right. Quidel was sitting beside him. Enjoying his cup of tea. He looked most at ease. Well, it is to be expected. This is the military ground. And as a legendary soldier of Ottilia, he was respected. Even King Zander treats him as equal.

Unable to bear the silent awkwardness, he turned to the Captain sitting across the coffee table.

"Excuse me Captain. May I ask you a question?"

Captain Amber lift her head from the clipboard. "Certainly. Although I can only answer unclassified subjects. I hope you understand that."

Amber was smiling. Yet there's a trace of threat in there that cause Utu to flinch a bit. "Errr, of course." He calmed himself. Amber was just doing her job, he thought to himself.

"When I was at the gate, I saw a caravan filled with Fire Crystal coming out. Is there a crystal mine under the fortress?"

"Oh no Young Lord. This place is one of the place where the crystal is transformed into Fire Crystal."

Utu was shocked. "What?! The crystal transformed? What do you mean?"

Amber frowned. She instead turned to Quidel.

Quidel noticed the look. "I'm sorry for the trouble, Captain. Our Young Lord spent way too much time on the training ground. That he didn't even know about how these crystals came to be."

Utu noticed the hint of sarcasm, and his mouth pouted a bit. Causing Quidel and Amber to chuckle.

"Then, it shall be my honor to educate the Young Lord." She turned to Utu. "It's quite a long story, Young Lord Utu. Would you want to hear it?"

Utu changed his expression. Like a child not wanting to admit defeat. "Well, since mister Quidel failed to supply me with adequate knowledge, I'm going to have to trouble you Captain."

Both of them chuckled again. "Very well." She put down her tea cup. "So, first thing's first. What do you know about the elemental energy crystals?"

Utu scratched his head. He tried his best go search for any information about the crystals hiding in the deepest fold of his brain. Finally, he just shrugged. "I only recently found out we use them for farming."

"Oh? Then I better start from the beginning."

Amber wet her lips with a sip of her tea. "To give you a clearer picture, I think I should take you back during the days Ottilia was still in its infancy. Back when Ottilia first discovered these crystals, we only used them as weapons."

Utu leaned forward a bit. "Weapons? What kind of weapons?"

"Oh, they are mainly used as energy boosters. As you know, in a fight, the stronger you are the better your chance of winning is. So having these crystals to power up your elemental spells or skills is a winning strategy."

Utu nodded. A sign for Amber to continue. "So the war ended. Unfortunately, Furvur corpses are very toxic. The rotting flesh and blood deeply poisoned Ottilia's land. It's quite unfair you know. We won the war, yet we're the one at the risk of getting annihilated."

Utu seemed to remember something. "I have heard from my peers, that the first king of Ottilia saved this land. Is this referring to that?"

"Ah, so you have heard of this. Yes, it is. The first king, King Zander's ancestor, or the Crown Savior as history book called him, did found a way to detoxify the land."

"Using...the crystal?" Utu interjected.

"Precisely, my Young Lord. At first, he used Earth Crystals to purify the land. Unfortunately, since Ottilia was just out of war, there's not many crystals around. And that's when he made a discovery. The elemental energy can be replenished."

"One night, that king was trying out spells to turn the Earth crystals into some sort of detoxifying potion for the soil. He hit a dead end though."

Utu nodded. "Because when the crystals are used up, the elements inside it also disappeared. Right?"

"Correct. Hence, there's no way to use a dead crystal. Fortunately though, he made a bigger discovery. The spell he used channels his elemental energy into the nearby crystals. Turning them back into Earth Crystals."

Amber lifted her cup. "The rest was history. The four families were responsible for the four elemental crystals. They all have their own ways of replenishing these crystals."

Utu again nodded. Then, he suddenly frowned again. "Hang on, how did we used soldiers to refill the energy? And why don't we used the stronger soldiers instead of these trainees?"

Amber smiled. "That was thanks to your great grandfather's idea. As you know, a Fire elemental give its wielder immense energy. But without the physique to match, you would get burn instead. So, as a method of training, he lined up the walls of Husky Fortress with spells that automatically absorbed the fire energy."

Utu was enlightened. He turned to Quidel. Quidel nodded at him as he smiled. "So that's why you wanted me to train here, mister Quidel. They can't used their powers!"

Quidel smiled even wider. "You are indeed a smart boy, my Young Lord. Indeed, that is one of my objectives."

"One of...? What other motives do you have? Geez, you are even more cunning than Aunt Nerine."

Quidel burst out laughing. Even Amber can't resist chuckling. "Hahahaha, that is high praise. Don't worry my Young Lord. You shall soon see. As for now, you only had to focus on sparring to your heart's content. Alright."

Utu's head fell as he sighed. "Fine. At least I get to train."