‘Oh look! Here comes the general and his bodyguards,’ Matilda said jokingly. Leo looked up at the hall’s wide-open doors. General Harvey had just entered the hall with Erick and Light, on both sides. They were followed by grave-looking men and women in uniforms who were followed by a procession of guards in feathered hats. Immediately, the hall fell silent, but gradually, it regained the humming sound of the students’ chatter as the colourful parade scattered around the hall and found their seats.

    ‘Who are those walking behind the general?’ asked Leo. ‘I remember seeing them last night.’

    ‘They are major ranked army warriors, they are the best,’ said Matilda, ‘and they serve here as teachers.’

    The general sat at a table near the window with the oldest-looking major in the group as everyone else took their seats at nearby tables. Among the teachers was an old, long-white-bearded man, who wasn’t wearing a uniform. The old teacher wore a wide, brown robe with wide sleeves long enough to sweep the floor and a sun-shaped medallion on his chest.

    ‘Who is that man over there?’ asked Leo. ‘That one with the robe. Is he one of the teachers?’

    ‘Yes,’ answered Matilda. ‘He is the teacher of the A and A course, we call him Master Andromeed.’

    ‘What’s the A and A course?’ asked Virginia.  

    ‘Astronomy and Astrology, it has been taught here for centuries.’

    ‘Why do we need to study that?’ asked Leo. ‘Aren’t we supposed to learn fighting arts?’

    ‘The cosmic world is all about knowing the stars. Some believe they’re the source of our gifts. They use the stars for everything. Even in the army, they can use the stars in their tactics,’ said Matilda. ‘You will know all about that with major Eurasia and her Strategies of War course.’

    More than ten guards in brown came in with trolleys filled with food trays, which they distributed to the warriors and the warrior guards. As for the general and the teachers, they were served elegantly garnished dishes. Everyone started eating their meal; bean thyme bread, red pees, a mush of an odd lime-green vegetable and Tagolen juice. There were also salted crackers, cheese-filled rolls and honey tarts. After only a few bites, the eleven new warriors started to enjoy their breakfast. Everyone in the hall was engrossed in quiet side chats between bites as the serving guards passed among the tables with Marny teapots for anyone who asked for some.

    After breakfast, the general asked the eleven warriors to stay behind as everyone else left the hall. They were informed of their scholarship and their learning program, after that, the general left them with Erick and Light, who were there to tell them about the rules of the academy, their schedules and their uniforms.

    ‘The first thing you must understand about this place,’ started Erick after the general had left the hall, speaking in a loud, stiff tone, ‘is that it is not a school. Zodia is the place that teaches you discipline and the ability to endure rough circumstances, so don’t expect to be babied like you used to be at your previous schools, no matter how young you are. The three years that you will be spending here are not going to be easy, and those of you who might be thinking you’re here to spend some fun time, they’d better think again. You are here to become warriors and that means nothing but hard work. That doesn’t mean that learning here cannot be enjoyable. You will see and experience new things every day. But learning here will only be so exciting if you follow the rules carefully. If you think you can just disregard the rules you won’t feel very amused.

    ‘These three years should prepare you to join the army if you are good enough. So I want you, from this day forward, to think of yourselves as army recruits, and I’m sure most of you already have a concept of what army life means. You must not complain too much, and you must never feel that you’re too young for this. I said this before and I will say it again. The strength of a warrior is not measured by their age but by their talent and their ability to endure. You should understand that you eleven have the power of half an ordinary human army, it’s only a question of refining those talents so that you can become useful to your new community.’ Erick stopped for a while, to let his words sink in, and as they did, the warriors started to feel a bit intimidated.

    ‘As you all know by now,’ Erick started again, ‘you have been classified in a hierarchal order from the least talented up to the leader according to the known marking ritual. And as Donner here is the leader over you all, warrior Virginia is superior to the nine warriors that are less talented than her, and warrior Neil is superior to the eight warriors lesser than him, and so on. Consequently, each of you must consider the more gifted warrior as their leader, and while you may only take your orders officially from Leo, you must show respect to all your superiors. You will only know the full importance of this mentality on a battlefield, and everything you experience here is to prepare you for such circumstances.

    ‘There are rules that regulate this place and make it work like a clock. You will hear five horns here, I’m going to tell you their timings now, so try to remember them because no one will repeat them to you again. The first horn is at 5 it’s the wake-up horn, the second horn is the breakfast horn at 6 am, the third is the lunch horn at 12 pm, the fourth is the dinner horn at 6 pm, and finally, the fifth is the sleep horn at 9. Any other horn that you may hear that does not match those five hours of the day will be the fall-in horn, and this one means that you’re being called to assemble at the Orpheus yard for either an emergency or an announcement. You are always expected to be on time. You are not allowed to leave your dormitories after the sleep horn. Simple, right? You can only go out of this fortress by written permission from the general himself. If you break any of these rules you will be detained, if you did not follow a leader’s order you will be detained, and you should not be detained too much this is essential, you don’t want any black marks in your files. Any questions?’ Erick was waiting for an answer, but the warriors were still trying to understand how much life in the academy was going to be different from their lives before they came to that place. Some of them were still counting the number of horns. But then, finally, a faint voice came out saying, ‘no, sir.’

    ‘Very well then,’ said Erick, ‘but you must work on your voice. This feeble answer won't do here. I’ll go now and leave you to Leader Reed, he’ll tell you about your uniforms. Expect to be measured for them later today. Have a good day.’

    What the warriors had been expecting from what they had seen the night before at the celebration, was that studying at Zodia was going to be nothing but fun, but apparently, they were wrong; what Erick said made them realise that studying there was nothing but serious, and they were not very excited about that. Leo and Ursula also felt the same way, even though they understood from their uncle that life at Zodia would be hard, they didn’t anticipate so many rules. When they were told that Zodia students might be expected to join the army, they didn’t take that very seriously, but after Erick’s speech, they realised that their uncle might not have been exaggerating. All the excitement the warriors felt earlier that day was replaced by nerves; apparently, Hozafia was not the exhilarating adventure they were told it would be. As Erick was about to leave the hall, someone came running through the doorway; it was Andy.

    ‘Good morning,’ said Erick sounding rather upset.

    ‘I’m sorry! I slept in,’ said Andy. Ursula watched with amusement as Andy apologised for being late. 

    ‘This is unacceptable. You didn’t make sure that all your warriors are downstairs?’ Erick asked Leo. ‘Both of you should be detained for this, but we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen, just because it’s your first day here.’ Then, pointing a finger at Leo he added. ‘Don’t let this happen again.’ With that, Erick left the hall.

    ‘Attention please,’ said Light forcefully but with an unseasoned voice nonetheless. ‘I’m Leader Vigour Reed, but you can address me as Leader Light. I’m here to tell you about your uniforms, but I will have to do this quickly because I have more important things to do.’ A warrior came in with a board that had an illustration of all the uniform pieces. ‘First thing you need to know is that this is the uniform of a warrior; it is not just for the academy. It’s your identity, and it is the thing that makes us stand out as warriors from the rest of the Hozafians. The uniform consists of a shirt, boots and breeches for the boys and/or skirts for the girls. There are four kinds of coats, the regular coat, the training coat, the camping coat, and the holidays and events coat. You must keep them clean and pressed at all times.

    ‘Now, listen to this carefully. You will receive two golden braids to use on all four of those coats. These braids determine a warrior’s ability to abide by the rules. They may look pretty, but these braids are not for decoration, you must not be proud of them being on your chests, as they represent a warrior’s wrongdoings. Every seven detentions you will have a new braid on your coat, every five rewards you will have one removed, but I must tell you that even though you need only five rewards to remove a braid, gaining a new one is much easier, so be careful. If your braids reach seven, you will be expelled from Zodia. You’ll start with two braids on your uniforms and it’s up to you to increase them or remove them all.’

    ‘Why two? Why not just one braid?’ Leo dared ask.

    ‘Why not three?’ said Light. ‘These are simply the rules and the rules are not meant to be questioned.’

    ‘What about those feathered hats, are we going to have those?’ asked Mellissa smiling interestedly, Light breathed out a smirk.

    ‘Of course not, those hats are, distinctly, worn by Zodia’s warrior guards. You’re simply not there yet,’ said Light. ‘One more thing before I go—you’ll need to have these.’ Light’s assistant handed him a pile of rolled parchments. ‘In these parchments, you will find detailed explanations about your courses. Your schedule will be hung outside no sooner than next month, so you are free until then. Any more questions? No questions? Very well.’ Light was explaining everything quickly, and after he had finished what he had to say he put the parchments on a table and left before anyone could enquire about anything. Bewildered, the warriors, who were alone again in the hall, stood up and looked at each other without speaking for some time before Leo broke the silence.

    ‘Well, not quite what we expected, eh?’ Leo asked, no one answered, but by hearing Leo’s voice, they seemed to be brought back from their pensiveness. Some of them stood up and left, some stayed in their seats, as others, reluctantly went for the parchments.