The ruins still smoked. Villages and towns across the Naryan Kingdom had been torn apart by the explosion, their stones scattered like bones. The air was heavy with dust and ash.
One junior commander of the Iron Army, Arthur Blackwell, walked through the wreckage, boots crunching over broken ground. As he pushed aside charred beams, his eyes caught a figure a boy, half-buried in dirt, staring blankly at nothing.
Blackwell bent down, brushing away debris.
"Hey, kid. What's your name?"
The boy blinked. His lips trembled.
"I… I don't know my name. I don't even know where I am."
Arthur pressed his palm to his forehead, shaking his head with a dry laugh.
"Oh well. You look about thirteen, maybe fourteen. We're looking for children to fight anyway."
He lifted the boy to his feet and dragged him back to camp. By nightfall, the boy stood before the top commanders. His lack of memory unsettled them, but they signed his papers, assigning him to the recruits. For now, he was given only one name Zero.
Training
Zero's training began at dawn the next day. For one month he was drilled in the basics: marching, handling a rifle, learning commands, running until his lungs burned.
When the vice-commander asked the new recruits why they were here, the children shouted their answers one by one.
"To defend my people!"
"To avenge my father!"
"To take back my kingdom!"
When the question came to Zero, he looked up, face blank, voice steady.
"Because they gave me a gun."
The words silenced the yard. Even the instructors exchanged uneasy glances.
The Woods Trial
After a month of training, the children were split into groups. They were given a short rest six weeks of food, shelter, and drilling before the commanders set them their first true test.
The order was brutal: survive the woods.
Each recruit was handed a rifle, but no bullets. They were told to march deep into the forest and find their way back.
Only seven returned.
Zero the nameless boy.
Ema sharp-eyed and calculating.
Daria fierce and outspoken.
Aria the quiet, shy one.
Thomas strong, steady, dependable.
Edwin talkative, rude, determined
Rowan cold, distant, ruthless.
Their clothes were torn, their faces gaunt, but their eyes had hardened.
Commander Arthur Blackwell stood waiting for them, alongside the stern woman officer known as Lady Gaga. The commanders watched the survivors with approval.
These would be the next generation of soldiers.
Children, remade by fire.