Chapter 3 Diah

Diah sat and waited her turn on a chair in a large hall, well decorated with beautiful curtains and wallpaper, huge portraits of past heroes hung on most part of the walls in the hall. She was number seventy four on the line, she's been there since twilight.

After she got the news, she's hardly slept, few days earlier she'd turn in her resignation to Lisa. Lisa scoffed at her and the idea of her attempting to train to become a soldier and tried to discourage her by saying demeaning words to her. But Diah, being high in spirit and filled with hopes bounced the words off her. She was determined to change her rank by every challenge possible.

"Number seventy!" A voice called out through the speakers and bolted Diah out of her thoughts. She readjusted on her seat and cleared her off any thoughts that might distract her and make her not hear her number when It's called.

After a while her number got called. She took a deep breath, brought out her files from her satchel and walked to the receptionist.

"Greetings" she said gleefully.

The receptionist nodded without looking at her and stretched out his hand to collect something from her.

"Uhhhh?!....?" Confused, Diah stuttered.

"Your number slot" replied the man slowly and dryly.

"Oh! Here" she gave it to him and after few minutes he gave her an envelope that has an office address on it.

"SEVENTY FIVE!" he called out on the mic.

Diah found the office the letter was addressed to. She knocked and walked in.

"Daylight blessings to you sir" she greeted.

"Daylight blessings to you miss" responded a man in his late seventies. "I'm Richard and i will be inspecting your files. Sit"

"Thank you" she sat on a chair opposite him.

"You are Diah Hsu" he said while going through her files. "Interesting... I'll take these to the processing board. Don't stray now, i won't be too long" he took the files and went through an inner invisible door that served as a portal and quick route to wherever part of kauoha he needed to be.

"Whoa" Diah said in a whispery dry tone, awe struck by what she just saw. She gazed round the office, taking in every detail. The office is large with a huge desk that's the size of four tables put side by side, it was filled with books, writing quills, maps and other stationery. On the wall, behind the chair was a huge portrait of Richard, he looked glamorous and younger in the portrait, dressed in his complete fire soldier uniform. Another portrait hung adjacent it, it was the same size as Richard's and had a man's image in it, she moved closely and read the inscription on it.

"Fire soldier Ra' Ednum. Coool!"

"That's my father." Richard called from behind, startling Diah. He seem to have appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry dear, didn't mean to startle you"

"It's okay" Diah replied nervously.

"That portrait was made in the third century, the century after the mixed bloodline and great war. My ancestors were among the first new order. He was a fire soldier, a great one"

"Wow!"

"And i am an ice knight" he made a cameo of her with ice in the air.

Diah was speechless and bewildered.

"How did you do that?" She asked almost breathless.

"You'll learn everything you need to at the academy if you qualify" he giggled.

"I see" she smirked.

"Your screening is in three days time, these are your uniform and passes" he gave her a kit.

Diah grabbed the kit, thanked him and left the office skipping out of excitement.

She ran all the way home, she couldn't believe her reality. She was so excited and overjoyed she threw lily in the air twice when he came to greet her, the frightened cat scurried away to a corner shaking.

"Papa!" She called out.

"Sunshine!" Hsu answered from a room inside.

She jump-hugged him tightly.

Hsu giggled. "I'm getting too old for this, my back is not as sturdy as it used to be."

"Papa, i qualified. Look! A training kit" she showed him the bag.

"You deserve this child. I'm super proud of you. Hungry?"

"Uhhhhh"

"I made your favourite"

"Well, scoop it on please"

Diah prepared before dawn and rode fast on her horse to the temple where the screening process would take place. She was the fourth person to arrive, before daylight the place was filled with aspiring soldiers. The screening started after a prep talk by a fire soldier, the candidates were told what to expect, what to do and to be in order. The screening was conducted in a room inside one of the most sacred rooms in the temple. The room had an ethereal and magical aura about it, it lit up and glowed without connected to a power source and a voice without a body spoke. Diah entered the room and a voice asked her to sit, she looked around to see who was speaking but found no one. She sat on the chair and immediately the room became blinding bright, then the chair levitated, scared diah held the edges tightly and readjusted to avoid falling off.

"Welcome to the examination room" the voice spoke. "You'll be answering few questions and you're expected to give the truth. If you lie, the words will bounce off the wall and burn you, literally. Is it clear?"

Diah nodded.

"State your full name"

"Diahlingbert Swerver Hsu"

"Vine status"

"Pure"

"Number of years?"

"Nineteen bornday anniversaries"

"Strength level"

"Solid"

"You have a three beats per second heart rate, state the cause"

"It's a condition"

"Lungs"

"Healthy"

"Land speed"

"Twenty two kilometres half an hour"

"Teeth"

"Complete"

"Any weaknesses?"

"Not in record"

"Allergies?"

"None"

"Favourite anything?"

"Nope"

"Tribe"

"Third order"

"Rank"

"Slave"

"Ancestral tribe and order"

"Origin unknown, adopted grass"

"Bloodline"

"Hsuean, adopted"

"Biography"

"Zero memory, Hsu is my father and that's all that matters"

"Preferred identity"

"Diah"

"Thank you, please proceed to the next room".

The chair took her through a portal.