He saw chains. He saw the people of his village, the young people, marching up to the palace of King Brimstone.

His village surrendered at the sight of Brimstone's army. He remembered the s.h.i.+ny iron they wore. He remembered the l.u.s.ter of their weapons.

He remembered how meaningless his Father's death seemed to him. Young Harumi was puzzled by it all, why a nation could plunder the youth of another, why a child could be taken from his mother's arms.

He remembered that the soldiers said, "We come in the name of the glorious and righteous, his majesty, King Brimstone, to recruit for his army!"

'Who is this King,' he thought, 'And why can he do this to us?'

Anger welled in young Harumi's heart.

He marched for days, and finally, he reached the heart of the Kingdom of the Seven Mountains. The Kingdom was surrounded by large walls that sat at the edge of a large plateau. The ancestors of the Kingdom carved out mountains to build cities, hence the kingdom was often referred to as "The Seven Mountains."

Young Harumi looked up and marveled. He forgot his anger for a moment, as he stared at cities, cities sitting flat on a mountain. He saw that the mountain looked like it was split by an axe, like a knife had cut into the peak and stopped, like the knife had then come from the side and made a horizontal slice into the side of the mountain. It was like a hand had taken a right triangle out of the top of the mountain.

He saw seven flat cities on a mountain, and he saw palaces sticking out from the side of the mountain peak that was still standing; and he saw that the largest palace was on the highest mountain.

Harumi thought, 'Is the big one where Brimstone lives?'

And his intuition was right.

But, what surprised him the most was the large ball of fire that hovered above the tallest mountain. He had never seen something like this before, and neither had the two-hundred other youths that also journeyed up the mountain.

He felt the warmth of the ball of fire. He was pleased to feel it. He felt pleasure from basing in its presence. He realized that he didn't need to light a fire to stay warm in the Seven Mountains. He wondered what it would be like if he had such a ball of fire at his village.

The soldiers marched the youths to a gate at the front of the artificial plateau, and then Harumi saw the soldeirs divide the youths based on gender.

The girls were led away by a different group of soldiers, and the same soliders that led the youths up the mountain took the boys to a tunnel that led to the underground of the kingdom. Harumi saw the soldiers light torches, and he was taken to the bowels of the mountain.

And when they arrived at their destination, Harumi saw a pit. He saw a small skull lying in the corner of the pit, and he heard the other boys murmuring, discussing the small skull they saw in the pit.

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One said, "Do you think they were our age?"

Another said, "Of course not... You don't think....."

Harumi remained silent. He saw the soldiers, each holding onto a strand of the chains, start to unlock them.

The chains fell to the floor, and he saw a soldier with a short red cloak on his back stand at the edge of the pit. Harumi recognized this soldier as the one who ordered the execution of his father, and he grinded his teeth.

He saw the soldier open his mouth and speak, while the flickering torches cast shaking shadows on his face. The other soldiers were standing in the way of the torches at times, and their silhouettes flickered onto the body of their leader.

The lead soldier had well defined muscles. He wasn't the largest man in the room, but his gaze was firm and wavered not.

He said, "From this day onward, you are tentative recruits. Each month, you will fight in this pit, and the first to fall will receive ten lashes on the back. And finally, every winner will have the opportunity to join Ahab's army as a soldier. The losers are cannon fodder."

Harumi said, "But why should we?"

The lead soldier squinted his eyes and said, "Since you don't know the entire set of rules, you will not receive a las.h.i.+ng. Just know this: being a soldier of his majesty is one of the highest honors. Furthermore, the higher you rise in the ranks, the more benefits you will receive. Take me for example, I was just like you lot thirteen years ago, and now I have my own house, and I married a girl from my village."

"What's the use of rising, when there's no freedom?" Harumi asked.

The lead soldier sighed and took off his helmet.

He said, "Kid, do you love your mother?"

Harumi, "Don't you dare talk about my mother, not after you killed my father."

"You'd be wise to listen before exploding in anger..." the soldier said, "I'm one rank away from being able to be supervise my village. Once that happens, what happened in your village, won't happen in my village. Everything I do is for the sake of my village. I say this for your sake, 'King Brimstone values talent.' I'm not very talented, so it took me thirteen years to get to this point, but if you have even half the talent of the great geniuses of this kingdom, then you can protect your village, you can protect your mother."

Harumi grit his teeth. He knew yelling back was wrong in these circ.u.mstances, but he couldn't help feeling conflicted. The only reason he stopped talking was because the lead soldier put hi hand on his sword after he stopped talking. He was smart, and knew that if he said another word, the soldier would kil him oln the spot. The hand on the sword was a threat, and Harumu recognized it.

"Smart kid," the lead soldier said, "My name is Lief, Major Lief Strong. Remember it."

"What if you die," Harumi said, "What happens to the village then?"

"My village will be suppressed, and my people will be treated like cattle again,"Lief said, "Now, take the to their rooms!"

"Yes sir!" the other soldiers said as their booming voices echoed in the halls.

The yound boys were each led to individual rooms. To Harumi's surprise, they were each led to their own small room, with a pillow and a lamp. Some boys complained about sleeping on the floor, but stopped complaining once the soldier guiding them shoved them into the room.

Harumi entered hiis room, and the foot soldier that guided him closed the wooden door on his room and locked it with a wooden blank outside of the door.

Young Harumi thought about Major Lief's words, and promised himself that he would rise in ranks. He said to himself, 'One day, I'll defeat Brimstone and destroy the seven mountains!'

Of course, that would never happen in the future, but Harumi layed down on the ground, with his pillow under his head, and slept, while the clouds could not be seen from the cave, while the clouds rolled on above him.