Peresvet had been ten years old for a few months now. He hadn’t had a birthday celebration for his tenth, he didn’t even know that birthdays were a thing to be celebrated. All he knew about the day was that he was one year older now. Lately his days had been filled either by more intense fight training or by trading money for guns or drugs. He was getting better at this process of trading, but there was no pride or appreciation for him from either Stas or Ekaterina.

His parents had always taught him to call them by their names rather than by ‘mother’ and ‘father’. He thought he could remember a time that his mother Ekaterina had loved him, but the more he grew up the more he started to think that these memories were just hopeful thoughts or dreams. He was always taught that irrational bonds would weaken him. Parental bonds. Friend bonds. Relationship bonds. He was told that in seven or eight years he would be required to marry, just as his parents had done.

Bonds were considered weakness. Emotion was considered weakness. Physical weakness was unacceptable, as was mental weakness. This is how he grew up.

Peresvet did not have a single warm memory about his father. He was a harsh man who barely spoke and who never smiled. His face was always rock hard, his lips always downturned in a frown and his eyes radiating disapproval, even when being told something great. Peresvet had grown up as an almost carbon copy of him, something he was neither proud nor ashamed of.

However, Peresvet had developed a personality trait that neither Stas nor Ekaterina had developed or taught him. Curiosity. He had the habit of stopping and looking at something, whether it be books or equipment or hazardous bottles of chemicals. He had a drive to learn, so he would ask questions. Most of these questions were directed to lab scientists rather than his parents, who he had learned would never bother to answer his questions.

Whenever he could get away from the bedroom that he was usually contained in, he would hang around the labs where they experimented with chemical compounds and mixtures. That was where he was now, watching the lab technicians drip a liquid chemical into another liquid chemical. They had to focus, so Peresvet was watching silently.

He never got bored with this. He would often look at their notes which were usually just hexagons and lines with random letters, but whenever they took the time to explain what each meant, he understood it… somewhat.

When the clock arm he was watching pointed straight up, signifying midday, he decided he had learned enough for today. He stood up, straightened his suit, and left the room. He always tended to walk with his hands holding each other behind his back; the way that his mother walked. He decided he would explore the compound a bit, which was something he was only just getting over the fear of. He knew by the clock that he had an hour left to explore before he had to be in his room to eat.

For a ten-year-old, Peresvet was insanely independent. He knew how to cook and clean, he knew how to defend himself for the most part, but he wasn’t so great at sneaking and hiding inside the compound even though he knew the place inside out. It was a four story brick building in what appeared to be a small city just out of Saint Petersburg. He only knew this from maps, since when he went outside he would always go in a car with overly tinted windows in the front and curtains in the back.

The first floor and the basement were both used for storage, the first floor also being used as a garage for expensive looking cars and a shipment van or two and the basement also being used as a shooting range. The second floor contained cafeterias, staff living quarters, and Peresvet’s bedroom. The third floor contained labs and workshops, and the top floor belonged solely to Ekaterina and Stas, who had separate bedrooms, bathrooms, and offices.

Peresvet was on the third floor, but decided to descend the stairs to the first floor. He enjoyed reading what was on the storage boxes and looking at the cars from afar, so that is what he did. He admired the shimmer that the pristine cars had and the way that shimmer moved as he circled the car. He only stopped when he heard a door creaking open. He looked towards it and saw one of the maintenance staff come through it and close it again, watching as the door camouflaged perfectly into the bricks because of a brick pattern.

This piqued his interest. What was more interesting to a ten year old than a door that magically disappeared and seemed to open into the outside world; something that seemed as fantasy as a dragon in a book about medieval knights and the princesses they try to save. To him, the outdoors didn’t exist. Therefore, he was madly interested in the concept of it.

To make sure that no one was watching him, he looked around the room quickly, then made his way to the hidden door. Now that he knew what he was looking for, the door was easy to find. His hand traced along the bricks and found a handle disguised as a brick, pushed a button underneath the door and felt it unlock, then opened the door. His excitement was building fast.

When the door fully opened, he peeked his head around the door and looked right, then left. In both directions was blinding light, but to his left he saw a group of people. They seemed to be the same size as him. Perhaps they were the same age…

He stepped fully out of the door, closing it behind him, then looked once again to the group of children. They seemed to be throwing something at the wall. A ball, the size of their hands. They hadn’t seemed to realise he was there yet, so he once again simply watched. After a few minutes, the ball hit a brick the wrong way and came bouncing and rolling towards his feet.

Now, they knew he was here.