Time flies.

Days drifted over the horizon in a matter of winks.

Weeks passed, yet Takeo’s decision had only become more solidified the closer they grew toward winter. Their training became united as a whole, with fewer children falling out of stroke and receiving punishment. Consistent with their ability to remember and perform the moves taught to them firsthand. The seedling warriors had just begun to sprout.

Day after day they trained against each other as they broke down their bodies and built them up again. With each passing sunrise, they became more refined and capable than the day before. Minds wiped clean and geared toward the sole goal ahead of them, their pasts just a reason to push forward. To stay alive.

Yet they couldn’t prepare for everything.

The children were completely unaware of what judgment was already being held over them this early into training. Their lives always under watch from those above, scouted by the higher-up orbitals of the clan. Nari and the other fellow trainer housemasters had already written down their results for the fall. Minds made up over a vital part of becoming a Sun Warrior.

Growth.

“Today we’re going to be doing something different.” Takeo declared with a hint of delight curled on his lips.

Midday had risen over them as they finished their afternoon spars on the stone. Bodies baked and muscles sore, their controlled faceoffs set their arms aside.

All the children gathered around Takeo, minds at a crossroads for his intrusion into their normal morning procedures. Already caught up in their groups practicing on each other to perfect their hand-to-hand combat, forced to disperse as they await the announcement.

Daisuke and Kiyo stood beside their friends within the small crowd, all their eyes lit aflame as interest grasped ahold of them. Waiting in silence for the next thing to come out of Takeo’s mouth. Hanging onto every second that passed.

“Listen. Miki, Shin, Monterio, Rini, and Kiyo. All of you, here.” Takeo said sternly as he pointed at the graveled earth beside him.

One by one the five children stepped through the crowd, yet no one was sure to be excited or worried for them. Their minds were unable to clutch onto the severity of the situation. Too young to peer past the face value.

Daisuke patted Kiyo on the back, a little oomph in his gesture as he sent Kiyo off through a couple of unaware bodies. Lined with a rosy gaping smile, he was more eager for Kiyo than Kiyo was himself. Trudging forward to the front to join the other four children, Kiyo kept his focus low on the ground as the crowd parted. Path cleared, Kiyo took his place alongside Monterio and Miki, the very girl who scorned Daisuke on day one. Off to the side,  two other children boys jogged to the front.

Shin and Rini.

Shin was a blonde-headed boy with slight streaks of white throughout his thin-cut hair. On the outside, he appeared dull and plain in comparison to the rest of his house, not one to stick out amongst the crowd. Yet, that was one of the reasons he was there, able to blend in without a sinch. Hidden in plain sight.

Despite this, he fell on the dumber side of things, smart with his movements but slow in terms of calculative thinking. Marked with a blessed rarity of pure orange eyes, the same Amaterasu had herself in the stories of Paladinian history. These glorious spheres remained enclosed behind his slanted eyelids, barely ever showing his true personality.

Rini had nothing in common. A petite short girl topped with pure white hair like Shizu, one said to be untouched by the fingertips of the Sun. Her face was dotted with white freckles, a sign of the warriors of the sky within her. Shining out through her dark forest eyes, a sweet and hyper personality encaptured within.

Both were highly skilled and marked with potential in Takeo’s eyes.

Miki stood beside them all, Daisuke’s gaze latched onto her with unknown feelings riled up in his weary chest. Too young to understand or convey them, all he could do was stare. A sharp sting against the back of his neck snapped Daisuke out of his forlorn emotions. Reeling back from the pain, Daisuke found the culprit laughing to himself behind cupped hands: Eiko.

Thump.

Fast to clap back at Eiko, Daisuke flicked him on the side of the head, Daisuke’s face marked with the aftershock of the tinge of pain. Yet he was thrown off by Shoma and Kono, both looking at him with awkward mocking faces.

“What?” Daisuke whispered with a narrow squint.

“Oh, you know.” Eiko shot back as he rubbed at the spot of impact, truth displayed through his smile.

Daisuke rolled his eyes and set his focus back on Takeo. Falling in line with the other wave of whispers that engulfed the gathered remaining children, Daisuke tried to listen along. Only able to watch and wait for what this was for. Why were they singled out?

“For the rest of today, you all can use to your own will. The guardians will take you back to the house. Thereafter, do what you feel obligated to.” Takeo said sharply.

That was it.

“Your choice.”

A flurry of disorder erupted in the rest of the children’s minds, muddled with questions and uncertainty about what was planned to happen to the chosen five. Left in the dark as they watched the guardians moved inward and corralled the group back to the house.

But a few could tell. Knew what this was. Isao was one of them, his anger released with frivolous kicks at pebbles that scattered across the ground. His lime eyes squinted with disdain as he glared at his feet, disappointed in himself. What did he know?

“You five, follow me,” Takeo demanded with a subtle nudge of his head.

The five children nodded and filed into line behind Takeo as he led them between the sparing stones. Various spars of other classes commenced around them as they walked toward the temple, glimpses of the future that lay in wait for these promised souls.

Every other child could only turn away from it. Ignoring the grand gesture as they followed behind the guardians back to their house. Yet they couldn’t erase it from their minds, circling back around to what this means for themselves. Are they getting punished, rewarded, ranked up?

“I think—it’s a ceremony,” Eiko wondered as he grasped at his chin.

“Well yeah, we know that. But for what?” Kono prodded with a jab at Eiko’s side.

“Uhmm. . . I don’t know, you tell me.”

Kono pressed his chin into his right fist, mind sent spinning through all the answers he could conjure within his mind. Eyes clenched tightly closed, popping open at the first thought of something reasonable. Believable.

“Could be they’re switching houses?” Kono muttered with a waver of uncertainty in his words.

“Or going up a rank.” Daisuke chimed in.

“Or punished,” Shoma uttered with a solemn grunt.

The other three fell silent under his pessimism, thoughts quelled by his sullen deadpan stare hiding more than they knew. Conversation over the topic brought to an end, they shuffled forward and kept their questions sequestered to their heads. Thoughts racing over the possibility of punishment loomed over them, something more severe than what had already become commonplace.  Takeo’s spars were punishment enough.

“Ehh, I don’t think so.” Eiko pipped up in an effort to get past the bleak notion.

“How can you tell?” Kono asked through a pensive squint.

“Trust me, my father told me all about this. You only go to the temple for the good stuff.”

“Right, and what’s his rank?”

“He’s. . .shut the hell up.”

Kono and Eiko continued to bicker, words grappling at each other’s pride as the group arrived back at the household. A brief distraction of amusement to sideline from the day’s change of pace, yet Daisuke couldn’t ignore the bitter truth. Shoma’s unbroken question lurked in the back of his mind, unable to silence its call. Rubber banding back and forth against his other concerns, morphing his view of the situation.

Daisuke was glad for Kiyo, for his friend, but couldn’t shake another tense sensation in his chest. An unbridled loose anxious sting rippled through his body. His glee shrunk into discomfort as his gaze lingered on the five of them ascending the steps of the temple. Kiyo remained at the back, his head hung forward. Emotionless.

This should be good for you. . .then what is this feeling?

This grudge.

…

The temple.

A foundation for the Paladinian people, constructed back when the land was cleansed of fire by Amaterasu. Such a time was claimed to be the golden age of the Paladinian people, back when the world was fresh and rebirthed to them. These very souls were the Sun’s chosen people.

This temple was a marker of one of the few breeding grounds for Sun Warriors. Humble in its composure, the outside walls were a mix of deadwood boards tic-tac-towing over one another and slanted boards vertically stretching upward. Each was coated in a thick tar paint, built to resist the elements and to last. All of it was held to the ground by a sturdy chiseled stone base nestled above the gravel.

Takeo led the children in through the east side. The doors were pulled apart open by two maidens on the inside, both draped in ceremonial garbs, full black hand-spun cloaks that clashed with the inner tan wrapping that consisted of skin-tight stitched teratoma that had dried in the sun.

Their faces were marked with seamless bloodlines at their mouths and eyes beneath their thin black veil. A mix of spirals and the star signs of the clan patterned in a formation like the stars above were ingrained in their skin. These maidens were situated on their route to becoming future trainers, assigned to Harion to understudy Nari.

All was done in hopes of one-day leading houses of their own set aside for the teachings of others by the High Priest’s council, those who spoke to and interpreted the Sun’s teachings.

Shortly after their entrance, another two maidens escorted another trainer and five children past Takeo toward the exit. They passed in upheld silence, no sign of acknowledgment given. This place was a sacred one, not of conversation or interruption. One of tranquility. All under the file of the Sun.

The maidens rolled the doors closed behind them and shuffled down to the hall to lead Takeo with his group to Nari. Halls of deadwood decorated with teratoma skin scrolls, vast painting recreations of warriors of the past, and known prophecies from the past. Only able to catch quick glimpses as the maiden's feet glided across the slick glossed stone floors.

Glancing up at the ceiling the children’s minds became filled with wonder at the magnificent sight.

The roof was a dramatic alignment of carved and tarred teratoma bones intersecting one another, allowing bits of light to leak through onto the temple grounds. Each carving created a projection of a star lodged within the heavens, patterns made to recreate the adorned night. This display was only possible through the rays of the Sun above, such glorious light.

In the center of it all sat an open hole, a gateway for the Sun to flood the temple. The massive beam of light reflected off dangling shards of ignited sand from thunderstorms hung from the ceiling. Every single stray flicker of light was redirected to a single object uplifted in the center of the threshold. A holy prospect of Paladinian culture.

A Sunstone.

It was a pinkish-orange glasslike rock harder than any other found in the Paladinian domain. Forbidden to be used for crafting and weapons as it was believed to be remnants of the ground Amaterasu walked upon, shards of the Sun herself.

Rare to come by, this fragment was only as big as a baby’s palm. Yet so beautiful.

Kiyo kept his attention on the floor, only drawn away from it for a second as they passed a familiar scroll from back in Nippon. One he recognized from his meeting with the High Priest.

A single boy stood in the middle of what could only be defined as chaos, plagues of destruction prevalent on all sides. The sky was bleak and dreary as fire rained onto the land. Everyone ran from the boy, fleeing with obscure fear scribbled across their faces. No peace resided in this descriptive image, only misery and loss. An unknown prophecy the council hid from Kiyo. Yet the portrait hung next to the telling of a chosen child of light, the descendent of Amaterasu.

Her angelic son. One who would bring the Sunretsu clan into a new era of prosperity.

It was a child, joy encapsulated in the young face looking to the sky, no fear or agony present within his smile. Other Paladinians fell to their knees around him, worshiping him as a new savior, someone to bring retribution. Above them, the Sun and Stars filled the empty blue sea, day and night intertwined as one. Together, they gleamed down on the chosen child, a savior of his people.

Who would it be?

Bump.

Distracted by the murals, Kiyo stepped one foot too far into Shin’s back, unaware they had come to a stop. Glancing forward, Shin did a half-turn and stared at Kiyo, his silence the loudest thing within the open space. It was as if he was waiting for something.

“S-sorry,” Kiyo muttered under his breath.

Shin leaned back and half-palmed his mouth toward Kiyo, his gaze sent elsewhere.

“You were looking at it too, right?” Shin whispered, words weaseling out between a giddy smile.

“At what?”

“That.”

Kiyo followed Shin’s extended finger down a long line of warrior depictions, teratoma scrolls of heroic and impactful warriors who had put their lives on the line for the clan. Yet one out of the many stood out amongst the rest.

Ronin.

“He’s the greatest of them all, don’t you think?” Shin said honestly with a slight smile spread across his lips.

Kiyo remained silent, his bashful nature whisked away by the very sight of his father displayed up on the wall in pure teratoma blood. His heroics and tales had gone around the Sunretsu clan. All uplifting badges on his name claimed to be destined to join the heavens above, perhaps the greatest Star amongst the rest.

Lies. Kiyo thought belligerently, eyes burning holes into the scroll as his hatred lingered on it.

“I heard he came from some small village near a deadwood valley, a real down-to-earth place. That suits someone like him.” Shin added on with a considerate smile that crinkled his flushed skin. His orange eyes peeked through the slits of his eyelids, a perception altered by deception.

Kiyo didn’t respond, all he could do was clench his fists and wait for the end. For this boy to catch a hint and close his mouth.

“I can only wish to become that great. Maybe one day.” Shin nudged Kiyo with his elbow and chuckled at the thought. “Don’t you think? Hm?”

With a hefty sigh, Kiyo bobbed his head and glanced back at the forsaken child. A lone boy stood amid a hell storm, smiling. Someone he wished to know of, a story lost in the ruins of time. But why?

Brrrrrrb.

All the children turned their attention back toward the doors to Nari’s chamber as they rolled open by the blood-stained hands of the maidens. The teratoma hides were matted together and tarred into one solid covering sown into the doors' deadwood frames.

“She will see you now.” The maidens said in unison with a sincere bow.

The maidens pulled the doors back to reveal Nari sitting in the middle of the room on a slab of polished amethyst. A clear sign of dignity and respect, wishing the user good health. Found deep within the caves that tunneled under Harion.

Purple flecks of light reflected off the stone and back around the room. A small spectacle that soothed the children's minds and incited them to the importance of this meeting held.

Altogether the children filed behind Takeo into the room. It was a barre box surrounded by four tarred hide walls and the same notched ceiling marked with scattered rays of light. Deadwood boards lined the floor, coated in dried cave stalker blood, a darkened vile faded maroon.

Takeo motioned them each to kneel on the flat mats present at the foot of Nari. Each did so without question, backs bent over as they laid their heads and hands on the ground. Bodies shaky as the atmosphere crept over them. A timid and cold sensation built off the pressure.

“I have my five.” Takeo proclaimed with a gesture at the children offered up for judgment.

“Thank you, Takeo,” Nari replied in a tender tone.

With a gentle wave of her right hand, she directed Takeo to take a seat behind the line of children. His attention in this meeting was just as important as theirs, time an indicator of how it would go between them.

A few seconds of silence passed, each child waiting for something to happen, anticipation boiling over as sweat brimmed their foreheads. Every ounce of silence was near unbearable.

“You may lift your heads now. Let me see your luminous faces.” Nari requested with a slight giggle.

Each child slowly rose and shifted back onto their hind feet. A mix of hopeful anticipation and perplexed faces masked their emotions, unsure of what came next. Kiyo remained locked onto the ground beneath his bangs, unable to tear it away. This whole place and system only further constricted the tense pain within his stomach. Disgusted by the sight of his father still looming in the back of his mind, the temple was nothing more than a reminder of his existence.

“You there,” Nari said as she turned to Kiyo.

“You’re Ronin’s boy. Aren’t you?”

Kiyo hesitated, caught off guard by the mention of his name. Lifting his citrine gaze, he gulped down the unsettled nerves within his throat and nodded.

“I thought so. . .” In a spout of interest, Nari lept off the stone and paced around the room. With quick glances passed between each of the children, her green and yellow eyes inspecting the blessed pupils Takeo had brought in. Their lives were at her fingertips, clay she could mold.

Nari the one to refine such creations to their full potential.

“I see promise in each of you, some more than others,” Nari proclaimed, words wound in mystery as she circled back to her stone.

Plopped back on the stone, she stared into each of their eyes to try and read their emotions, grasping what she could from that little interaction. Enough to satisfy her, to understand the capabilities of the children presented before her, why Takeo brought them to her.

“You five are the current chosen of your household. . .I can see why.” Nari said with a coy smile.

A faint wave of joy encapsulated each of the children’s faces, Kiyo even unable to phase it all out as his scowl melted away. Confused at the earliness of this delivery, only almost halfway into their first half of a revolution. It was unexpected, but within his bafflement, a sense of excitement spiraled within his chest. This notion was a step closer to Kiyo’s end goal. To surpass his father.

“Let it be known to you five, you can lose your position, you can be removed and exiled, you are not safe because of this. It is up to you if you remain in this seat.” Nari stated with a parochial smirk.

All the children nodded in understanding, Takeo behind watching their every movement. Pleased with his decision, yet no sign of emotion parted from his lips.

This meeting is just a forewarning, a celebration, an introduction to the expectancy of true warriors. Those who wished to be placed into a squad after graduation could only do so by being enlisted by their trainer into one of five seats. A group he would watch after until they were deemed prepared to work for the clan on their own terms.

Only five seats were available that could change each revolution, five true warriors.

“That is all.”