For generations, boys had been trained into men and girls into women by the body of ‘The Harvesters’ that governed the nation of Mushi. I started taking junior harvester lessons at the age of ten—the youngest anyone had ever joined the academy. Most people joined the junior harvester academy at the age of fourteen, after completing preliminary training which started when one was five years old under the watch of the ‘Supreme Harvester’.

The Supreme Harvesters headed Harvester’s camps and kept an eye on upcoming harvesters. A Supreme Harvester had the power to stop a child from joining the academy according to the qualities they had shown while growing up. Although one’s personality was determined at the age of twelve, two more years had to be given to see how those qualities would be sustained. As for me, I had grown up learning the way of the harvesters from a young age, and most of the qualities—the three major ones being peace, patience and sacrifice—had fully developed by the age of ten.

As a ten-year-old boy who was shorter than other kids my age, I chose to spend most of my time alone in the camp’s library because I didn’t like being looked down on—literally. In the first two months after turning ten, I was not immediately enrolled into the academy. At that time, nun Esther—the only ‘Elder nun’ at that time, and the woman who had truly brought me up—was checking, with my parents in Vav, if I could go and do my junior training over there. She sent a letter stating that I had completed my preliminaries, and that I was ready for the junior academy to a Sao correspondent in Vav. However, the request was denied—which was returned as a ‘letter of null notice’. A letter of null notice was just a blank page having only the address of the recipient and the signature of the correspondent. She told me everything before and after it happened. I couldn’t tell what I felt, since I spent most of the time I could remember as a kid separated from my parents.

I therefore enrolled right there in Sao. Supreme Harvester Zakai had given us the first lesson, which he started with the history of the country itself—I had always skipped this section in any book I read.

‎“Mushi is a great nation. It has everything scattered across its seven great provinces Vav, Teth, Elka, Yod, Sigma, Tau and Sao. It is…”

‎Being compelled by a thought that had lingered in my mind since the start of the lesson, I raised up my right hand to ask him a question, “Sir. Isn’t this just history?” It was tradition to approach elders with the right hand—even when handing something to an adult or a senior harvester—to show respect. This respect was also extended to those harvesters who had reached adulthood in the junior academy. It was incredibly difficult to graduate to the senior harvester academy that I wondered each day if I will make it.

‎In my question, I had emphasized the last word so much that the entire class looked at me in disbelief. It wasn't surprising though—a junior harvester wasn't expected to question elders, especially a Harvester camp leader.

‎Realizing my mistake, my heart started pounding as if it would burst. I felt sweat running down my face uncontrollably, but still felt hot.

Elder Zakai, though, remained unfazed with his usual calm look and small eyes that appeared as though he never blinked—almost intimidating.

‎In my defense, I decided to withdraw my query, “S-Sir...”

‎“It's okay, child,” he interrupted.

‎Wow! He really considered the question?

‎“You know, you are expected to be active participants in the learning process. Asking questions not only shows that you are actively listening, but also reinforces what you learn.”

‎—Wow!

‎—He is not going to punish him?

‎—Oh my!

‎—So that's how it is?

‎I was shocked. I never knew the Supreme Harvester could talk the way he did that day and, for a moment, drowned in my thoughts.

This is amazing. Am I really being answered by The Supreme Harvester? Maybe he is just being lenient since it’s our first lesson.

‎“Haji!”

I stuttered, realizing only then that he had already called out my name twice, “Yes, s-sir.”‎

‎“It is important to understand the history of this great nation. When you are deployed, you will barely get any time to settle down.”

‎—What?! What’s he talking about?

It made perfect sense to me though. My father Erasmus Kaira, and my mother Tamar Beryl had been deployed to Vav headquarters when I was only a child aged three. I was left in the custody of the nuns—special harvester nurses—who looked after me until the age of five, when I started taking preliminary harvester lessons with Elder Zakai and the other kids in camp. My parents were called to Vav headquarters because of their craftsmanship in architecture—the specialty of the Sao harvesters camp.

I knew right from the start of the lesson how the Harvesters were given roles depending on the region they occupied in the country as I had been doing some research on the Harvesters’ governing system and the country’s geography.

I read through many books in the Sao Camp Central Database—which was basically just a big library containing a vast amount of books; ranging from the entire history of the island to the foundation of the Harvesters. Due to my bad taste for history, I generally avoided reading the history of the country’s founding and focused only on the power structure of the Harvesters—which was more interesting.

The most recent of the books I had read was ‘Wastelandia: Where is Earth?’ dated 2655. It largely encompassed the greatly deformed part of the earth—the old continents where life had become unsustainable due to pollution of all sorts.

Another book I frequently used to read was ‘The Harvester’s Guide’, from which I learned how the power system of The Harvesters was—which Elder Zakai reiterated in the very first lesson.

“Some of you don’t even know that we do not have a president in this country. We have a high-ranked harvester instead…”

In Mushi, we had a harvester in place of a president—the Archharvester. At that time, the Archharvester was Sir. Gale Zircon—a weak leader who followed in the footsteps of the Coastovans in embracing the same advancements in science and technology that led to humanity being on the brink of extinction. Such weakness. It was like everyone feared him, even the Supreme Harvesters, but I couldn’t stand what he was doing to our country. My biggest limitation was how long it would take me to become a senior harvester—which is when I could even think of challenging the authorities.

After being groomed into a junior harvester, the senior harvester drills would follow. It usually took fifteen years to become a senior harvester—at which time damage would have already been done to our country under the administration of Sir. Zircon.

Elder Zakai made everything easy to understand.

‎“We equip you with the knowledge of the nation because you will be working in various roles and will be deployed nationwide. It is therefore important that you understand every part of our daily living as a nation.”

‎What he said was true and I had to acknowledge his response. “Thank you, sir.”

‎The boy has an ear for clarity. Hhm. He is a rare gem.

‎“You are welcome, Haji.”

‎“Now, where was I?”

‎One of my classmates, Anna, desperately waved her hand wanting to answer the question.

‎“Yes, Anna.”

Anna was one of the few girls who had progressed to the junior harvester academy as many girls were more interested in becoming nuns or bakers. In my eyes, her confidence reflected that of my mother.

‎“You were just about to start telling us about each Harvester's camp.”

‎“Right. So before we get to that, let us learn how the Harvesters came into being.”

‎I kept biting my nails, anxious for the class to end.

‎More history? This will be boring.

‎“Mushi is a nation that was discovered only recently as part of the World Earth Tour program in 2115. This nation is part of the continent Oasisia. Oasisia has two nations—Costalva and Mushi. These two nations have remained largely unexploited by the rest of the earth, which is why technological advancements seem largely lacking in our country....”

‎—I'm tired.

‎—When does it end?

‎Elder Zakai kept talking even after seeing that we had grown weary of listening to the same old story. He kept talking as if he was reading a story book. However, dozing would make things even worse, as you would be secluded and be ordered to retake the class.

I couldn’t understand anything but I kept my eyes wide open, with a periodic drop of tears and frequent yawning being the only signs of my stress.

At first I could hear real words, “The scientists who founded this nation had no way back…they crawled onto the island…”

After that my hearing was muffled and all I could hear was, “Bla-bla-bla-bla…bla-bla-bla…”

‎RING...RING!

‎‎—Yeah! Thank goodness. Its finally over!

‎“Alright children! We'll meet again tomorrow.”

Just as I got up and started stretching, about to depart, I noticed a red mark on an old map that hung on the wall of the classroom. I recognized it from a map I’d taken a glance at in one of the books I had read, “Is that…?”