THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 124: 124. CAPTAINS

The group finished the laps in intervals, Kaka’s team finishing first, an hour before daybreak, and sagiri and N’varu two hours after daybreak. They were allowed only two hours of sleep in the guest wing, somewhere between the first wing and the second wing, after breakfast.

sagiri had not said a word to anyone, even N’varu. The team could tell there was tension between the two, but since they were the closest to each other, they did not ask and let them solve their problems on their own. A warrior with the same rank as Lotaga was tasked with giving them a tour of the central part of the octagon, which was a smaller octagon in itself, where all other wings spilled into. This was where the weaponry wing and training arenas, dining wing, healers wing, sleeping houses, and other wings were situated. There was even a library bigger than the one in the central pentagon back at the academy.

sagiri did not care much about the tours, and apart from the silence inside of him, he could not hear anything else. had purposefully worn the oru-seals and shut out whatever the warrior was saying. The archive could just capture everything and rewrite it in his memory afterwards. He did not need to concentrate too much.

The place was a maze in itself, and it could take some getting used to not to get lost. The central place was also where all the warriors shared houses and launching places. One thing sagiri noticed was that all doors to all the wings were locked except the eighth wing where they had just come from, well, they had only stepped into one room there, apart from the entry gate.

The tour came to an end just before lunch, and the warrior released them. sagiri peeled himself from the group and sat by himself. He did not feel hungry or tired even after the run and the little sleep time, where he had not slept an ounce. His seals were still in, and he did not care to listen to whatever his squad was talking about. he could not shut out their strongest feelings at the moment, and he could tell that they were curious and wondering what had happened between him and N’varu.

The coldness inside of him did not have anything to do with nvaru. He was not mad or sad; he was just cold, and it did not scare him. In this state, he was not scared of eventually being left behind or never belonging. In this state, he was at peace. Or perhaps a calm before the storm. Whatever it was, it was not as exhausting as wondering or thinking of the future.

All he needed now was nokai. He had not seen Lotaga again since they got separated before the laps around the fortress.

Soon after, they were back in Felunko’s office, and this time, there were ten other men there. They ranged from mean-looking to bored to serious.

”You are late again,” Felunko started with an irritable sigh. It seemed that there was no way to please the man at all. They were minutes early, yet they had managed to get on his bad time. ”On time is still late in war,” he said, shaking his head before he stood up from his chair behind the desk.

”Now, my squad captains and I have a lot to do, so I won’t waste time. Here are ten squad captains. I have chosen them myself and grouped them according to what areas you lack most in, and they will polish you from stones in the dirt into at least clean stones when you get out of here and go back to your cage. They will assign you what you should do.” The man was impossible; to him, they needed decades of training and polishing to become gems or perhaps never even qualify to become gems in their life.

”Captains, take your rock in the dirt and don’t fail me by the end of the month,” Felunko said. ”I have places to be and wars to win if you will excuse me,” he said, preparing to leave, but he did not walk out the door before looking at every member of squad 25 as if they were failures who were beyond salvaging.

When he was finally out the door, and his footsteps seized, members of team 25 let out a sigh of relief they did not know they had been holding well, except for Kaka and kiuga. The relaxation lasted a moment because the other ten in the room looked mean too, and they must have had a stick up their rear if Felunko acknowledged them as his captains.

”Kaka asakana,” the meanest-looking captain called out, and Kaka stepped out of the group. ”Follow me,” is all he said before standing on his feet to leave. The sequence went on with every captain calling out the name of the cadet they had been assigned, kiuga was next, then maita then nvaru then Banga, until the sixth, who was sagiri’s assigned captain.

”Sagiri with one name,” he said. He looked like he’d rather have me somewhere else but there. sagiri stepped forward and saluted.

”Follow me,” is all he said. sagiri had spared N’varu a glance before he followed his captain. His eyes were saying their plan to escape had been soiled since they had been separated.

sagiri could not help but think that their separation was also part of his benefactor’s plan to have them separated. General Felunko did not look like a man who could be controlled or even treated as more than just scum than all the other members of squad 25. His benefactor, however, was a manipulative man, and his ability to pull strings was unrivaled. He was the kind to whisper in one’s ear slowly, and before they knew it, they were doing his bidding.

Whether it was just a coincidence or planned, one thing was sure, he needed to be careful till him and N’varu decided on the new course of action on how to escape the fortress.