Derek walked into his stationed room, he opens the door and saw, William, John and Alex chatting casually, William and John were on their beds while Alex was sitting on the only chair and table kept in every room. Facing Alex's back derek spoke softly"I'm sorry for shouting at you that way, Alex", Derek kept his head down and fumbled with his hands waiting for Alex's reply, but what he heard was Alex choking in shock, he grabbed a cup and drank the water "close your eyes for a moment Derek, I have something to show you", Alex said with a deep voice while removing any food crumbs from his mouth. Derek closed his eyes, john and William's face were as red as a shrimp, they struggled to hold their laughter. WHOOSH!, Derek felt someone pass him with speed, BAM!, The door was shut. Hahahahaha!!, John and William broke into laughter, William even choked on his saliva but he could not stop laughing. Derek opened his eyes and saw that Alex was gone, staring at the laughing duo he sensed something amiss so he questioned them.

"What's wrong with Alex, why did he run away?".

John wanted to say the reason quickly so Alex and Derek would bicker but he could not stop his laughter, Alex getting out of character is rare."it.. it's... it's just... hahaha.. Alex.. mmn.. thought you were very angry and angry people lacks appetite, so he ate your food!!, hahahahaha!", John almost fell on the floor as he laughed at Derek's plight, they were at the camp so Derek had no other food for this night and they all knew Derek was a foodie.

Derek's face soured, he shouted at the top of his voice "ALEX!!". BAM!, The door opened as a raging Asher entered the room "I am Alex's aide so how could I not be in the same room with him, what is going on with their arrangement are they blind, how could they...". Asher saw the leftover food and rushed towards it, Derek was confused, why was Asher rushing towards him, but that did not stop him from raising his hands to defend himself, swoosh!, Asher past him and grabbed the remaining bread that Alex Left and stuffed it into his mouth.

This time even Derek was astonished, it was weird that Alex started eating this much but Asher joining made I abnormal, forgetting about his food he questioned"what's wrong with you and Alex, you guys eat very little before, what's going on?".

Asher faced him and replied"we went through a lot, the cheiftian's training was terrifying, I practiced with my spear till i questioned if it was my hands doing the work because I couldn't feel them again". Asher shuddered as the memories resurfaced, he turned to the table and picked up the last piece of bread and stuffed it entirely.

His words made the other three touch their arms with pale faces, they could imagine the torture Asher and Alex went through.

••••

BOOM!, The sound of a loud drum woke alex and his friends from their beautiful slumber, Alex rubbed his eyes and came down from his bed, like zombies the four walked out of the room silently, other kids also came out everyone moved towards the training ground, when Alex and his friends reached the large training grounds, other kids began to appear soon all one thousand-two hundred kids gathered.

"Your first training is to run through the forest path with yellow markings everyday, now move!", A loud voice rang in their ears, all the kids ran into the forest, there was a wide path with few grasses, but because of the morning due it became slippery, kids who were still feeling sleepy fell and finally woke up completely with head bumps.

While running John said "so how long do you think the road is?", He wanted to bring out a topic for them to talk about, running silently was quite boring to him.

"I don't know, but I guess it should be pretty far", William said nonchalantly, while he increased his pace meeting up with Ulrich who was at the front of the kids.

"I wonder why they did not build light towers in the place", Derek grumbled, some kids were falling on the ground, others hitting themselves, which caused commotion.

" I think it's to further train our senses and maybe diligence", Alex responded after thinking for awhile.

"Race you to the end, Alex", a voice passed him, Alex saw Arthur move past him and sped to the front. Alex increased his speed leaving Derek and John who were talking about the whereabouts of Asher.

Moving at top speed, Alex controlled his breathing so he wouldn't tire out fast, racing past other kids at his front he reached Arthur who had reduced his pace, when Arthur saw Alex had caught up with him, he burst into high speed, but this time around him and Alex were at the Same position, sweat poured out of their bodies the more they ran, not willing to lose to each other, they kept running at full speed.

Soon they met Ulrich, Asher and William with few other kids competing with each other, Alex and Arthur looked at each other and stared forwards again, they maneuvered past the kids and appeared at their front, before the kids could register what just happened Alex and Arthur had already disappeared. Not willing to give up William and the others burst into their top speed and chased after the two.

After running for close to 10 minutes, BAM!, BAM!, Alex and Arthur slipped on the ground and fell hard as their bodies ached in pain, it did not take long before, BAM!!, BAM!!!, William's speeding group also collided with the ground, the sounds of a dozen kids groaning out of pain filled the environment.

Suddenly a man walked out of the forest and said strictly "this is a training for you to expand your stamina pool, do you know how long the distance is?, Running at such speed to show who's best will get you nowhere in this type of training". He walked back to the forest. The other kids approached, when they saw Alex and others they slowed down crossing the slippery ground test successfully.

At the canteen, Derek and John were laughing at the faces of Alex, William and Asher who ate their food like it had offended them."it's Arthur's fault, he dragged me into such pain and embarrassment and what's wrong with competing anyway, I think that commander has a problem", Alex grumbled.

"Yes, what's his problem, I saw some new kids challenging our authority as the top, it seems they are from the nearby villages", Asher said supporting Alex as he continued "had the commander allowed us to do as we wanted, those guys would have been taught a lesson".

"Well the commander was also right, the distance is very long and we were destined to lose the way we ran, infact running till half of the distance will be a great achievement", William said slowly.

Alex and Asher lowered their heads, they knew William was right, everyone was totally out of it as they came to the camp the only person that seemed normal except a little clingy was Ariana. Raising his head Alex asked" where's Ariana", he turned to Asher as the major thing he did as an aide since that fateful day was to gather information, so he hoped that Asher would not disappoint him. William, John and Derek also faced Asher, when they saw Alex staring at him they also followed.

Asher just sighed with helplessness, he couldn't believe the only time Alex remembered his job as his aide was when he wants to find his friend "she and the other girls were kept in a different camp, they are to undergo a different training till their 12, before they join us.

"So Ariana is gone, that will be tough for her, she has no friends over there", Derek said with pity.

"She has friends, it's just that she loves spending time with us", John retorted.

"So what are you going to do tomorrow morning", William questioned facing Alex, now that he couldn't race for the first position the training may become boring for people like Alex, Arthur, Ulrich and the rest which are used to competing for every thing.

"Run, when I reach that position I will slow down, I will show the commander that I can beat him at his game", Asher responded with grudge.

"I don't think it will be that easy, something like this can't be too easy to pass, the commander is not a fool, he knows that most of us are not satisfied and he will continue to create road blocks until our edges are smoothened, so running as we did should be stopped, entering the commander's bad list will not be a good experience", Alex said seriously. The rest nodded, they even thought Alex had gotten smarter recently, only Asher was not willing to accept his defeat, Alex just shook his head.

"So Asher, since you are this good, I have a question to ask you, I mean Alex is smart but he doesn't read much about the outside world, so what do you know about the faries, are they really as beautiful as the rumors?, Sometimes my sister would say she wished she was as beautiful as a fairy", Derek asked with an expectant face, he was eager to know if the faries are that beautiful, if so when he grows up he will marry a fairy.

Asher stared at the dreaming Derek with a scowl"I don't know if faries are that beautiful, but if they are why would they have anything to do with a Fatboy like you".

Alex and the others had red faces and soon burst Into laughter, Alex for one did not believe the fairy race still existed, but Derek words and actions shut them up, they stared at Derek with shock.

Derek had a thoughtful expression and faced Asher, with his eyes once again filled with hope as he said "if it's because of my body, I will reduce the food I eat and get slim, then I will have a chance, right?".

The response he got was four pairs of eyes staring at him with opened mouths, even Alex couldn't understand this one, when did Derek have this obsession about faries, a race that may be non-existent 'it must be his sister's fault', Alex thought.

" Bro, are you planning your marriage at eight!", John said to Derek, how could Derek be thinking about such rubbish at his age.

"Haah!, Let's just go for our training".