I,Loyalty

Luca sat upright as instructed by a rather rotund blob of a man. His uniform clung to his portly frame like the packaging of an overfilled letter, seams nearly bursting and all as he screamed. His face was a tomato as his beady, black eyes scanned the rows of new recruits that sat before him in the mud. The cold clung to them like their sweat laden clothes as they listened to the man shout out his lungs.

"B Company, port section forward, starboard section stand fast!"

The man would shout and gasp, and then all at once turn and ramble on about his recited naval terminology. The man was quick to describe his time in the Royal Navy before this, and as a matter of fact, he would not stop his vivid recounting of the high seas even while Luca and his division were nearly chest deep in dirt, mud, and blackened earth. After the first four weeks, Luca had finally gotten used to the feeling of nails in his boots as his aching body sat down on his bunk that night. Below him, a voice would whisper, cutting through the nighttime solace as the room attempted what little chance they all had at sleep.

"You awake?" 

Luca offered a quiet mumble in response. 

The voice spoke again, a certain warmness to it that seemed out of place.

"Name's Irving. Aslan Irving. What about you?" Asked the hushed voice. Luca open his eyes, though it made no difference as the blinding darkness ought to have been a blindfold.

"Luca." He paused, listening to the rustling beneath his bunk as his eyes desperately tried to make out the silhouette of the voice. "We should wait until morning...people are trying to sleep."

The voice offered a small, barely audible chuckle, and said no more. 

Days then turned into weeks as Luca trained with his peers. He spoke very little, except during the only real downtime offered to him, sleep. It was there, under the blanket of night while staring up at the smooth, carved stone of the ceiling of earth above him, did he sometimes speak with the young man named Irving. He was a lively fellow, with streaks of blonde hair that hugged his shaved head tightly. Green eyes radiated his merriment throughout the day, even while enduring the most strenuous of training drills. The day before their final test, the division was allowed some much needed rest, the work day ending early to allow these recruits the chance to prepare. Luca sat just in front of his bunk, vigorously polishing his rifle when Irving plopped beside him.
"Let me get some of that." he chimed, pointing to a tub of polish beside Luca. He handed it to him without looking, his focus driven by a particularly persistent smudge when Irving spoke again.
"You good?" he flashed his signature smile. Luca nodded, sweat forming on his forehead.
Irving paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts. He did not get to finish.
"After this, we'll be going to the front for real huh?" Said Luca. A small smile crept across his lips.

"Yea, that's right. The real thing..." Irving replied.
His eyes were distant behind his smile.
Luca stopped, and turned to look him over as he continued.
"Hopefully we'll be in the same trench, yea? I'd hate to be staring at mud all day all by myself." He chuckled, nudging Luca as his smile grew just a bit larger.
"Yea. Hopefully."

When the first rays of the lanterns being lit flickered throughout the compartment, the whole room was already abuzz with activity. Lined up in long rows just in front of their racks, each recruit stood rigidly at attention as the bulbous man entered, his face already red. They were marched into a large, intricately decorated assembly hall, whose stone pillars seemed to stretch forever into the rocky ceiling overhead. The silence within the chamber was suffocating as Luca stood shoulder to shoulder with his peers. Finally the round man spoke, his voice thunder.

"When first you entered here, you were nothing. Mere numbers upon a sheet of conscription documentation. Yet over the course of these many weeks, you have become soldiers."
The man took a long, intentional breath. 

"These last few days shall determine if my observations so far are correct. It is now, when you will finally prove if it is truly in your hearts to be the spears of our great nation!"

The man clapped his hands, and the room snapped to attention. Seemingly on command, great stone doors growled as they were pushed open, revealing an impossibly long tunnel filled with deep trenches and various fortifications. 
Luca swallowed hard. 

"For the remainder of your time here, you will live, sleep, and train within these trenches. They shall become your second home, as you prepare for what you will no doubt face after graduation. Prepare yourselves accordingly." The man called before motioning for a forward march into the tunnel.
Luca and his group moved as one, a seamless tide of bodies methodically stepping to a precise cadence. Once they entered the trenches, they finally had a moment to settle down as the doors behind them closed. The massive metal doors shuddered in pain as the dragged shut, casting the impossibly massive earthen chamber in an eerie glow from the torchlight. There along a line of sandbags, Luca stood his first watch, beside him a familiar voice.
"Lucky, we got first watch together." Irving said, flashing his polished smile. His eyes crinkled up a little in a wholesome way as he beamed meticulously cleaned teeth. Luca provided a similar smile before turning his attention back onto the empty field of barren rock that stretched beyond the trench. Irving spoke again, leaning against a sandbag. 
"You from the mining district? My Pops used to work there before getting drafted."
Luca offered a polite nod, still staring at that empty expanse.
Irving shouldered his rifle, and yawned, his eyes trailing along the stubborn rock that seemed crunched together to form the sky above them.

"You seem a bit rigid. There's nothing going on out there mate, it's the first day." he chimed.
Luca at first dismissed this, but after a while, he turned to face Irving.
"How would you know anyhow?" He asked, leaning against the sandbags as well. Irving smiled again, as he was prone to do, and look out into the expanse. 
"My dad. He wrote to me." he started, staring longingly. "Said the first few days of trench duty are always dull on purpose to get your guard down." Luca blinked, clearly intrigued. 

"Your dad wrote to you about boot camp? Isn't that against regulation?" he asked. Irving merely shrugged.
"Well, he made it through just fine, so it's no harm. I think of it as guidance from a higher power or something." Luca stared at him, tilting his helmet back slightly. The sound of squelching mud behind him drew their attention.

Luca watched as three figures bled through the blackness and into the lantern light, stopping just in front of the pair. The lead figure, a tall and brawny man with greenish skin spoke first. 

"Are you two in Bingo Squad?" he asked, his voice deep, yet gentle. His face was squarish, dotted with fields of fuzz from a poorly attempted shave, and his eyes seemed like small beads. Luca nodded, glancing past him to the other two behind him as they spread out amongst the trench. A girl with a rat-like tail leaned over one of the sandbags, peering off into the darkness of no man's land carelessly. The large man spoke again.
"My name is Gobi. That's Boa up there." he explained, gesturing to the girl as she peeked down from atop the trench. Her tail flicked a gesture of hello. 
The last figure remained some distance from the group, pulling down his parka to reveal large, black horns sprouting from his forehead. His eyes seemed glazed over as he introduced himself as Richert.
Gobi extended a massive hand, which Luca took hesitantly and shook. "We have been reassigned to this squad as of today. I am pleased to make you acquaintance." 
Looking from behind him, Irving spoke up again, setting his elbows against the edge of the trench wall. "Good to meet you all. I'm Irving."
"I've heard." Gobi replied, shaking his hand as well. His hand was a vice.
"You've quite a friendly reputation among the ranks. I suspect we will work together well."
Irving shrugged and laughed it off, rubbing his hand once the pleasantries were done.
"Do I? Well, I'm flattered! Just trying to keep the mood light, you know?" he chuckled, and turned towards Boa, who seemed to be distracted by something far off in the distance. Her piercing eyes seemed fixated on something beyond their sight. Noticing this, Gobi and the others clambered up to the sandbags and peeked over them. A single, orange light hummed dimly from the suffocating dark, bobbing around eccentrically. 
"Pass me my gun, Imma shoot it." Boa chimed, smiling excitedly. Irving made for it before Gobi held his arm.
"Hang on, we haven't been given the order to do anything yet. Wait and see." he said bluntly, leering at Boa whose outstretched hand motioned for the gun while her gaze remained fixated on the light. 
"It's comin' this way dude." she responded, leaning over to swipe the gun and leveling it towards the bobbing light. Gobi had barely managed to protest before a shot rang, echoing off the massive walls of the chamber and reverberating throughout the trench.
The light exploded into a small shower of sparks, and small flame spilled out onto the ground. As if on command, dozens of lights dazzled on further back in the dark. They swung and danced across the void, flashing blues and reds and greens as the swung about. All at once, the trench was alive with commotion, as people lined the edge with their rifles trained onto the lights.
Then came the fire order, a hoarse shriek from a whistle, and the trench lit up with fire. 
Luca fumbled with the bolt of his rifle and shouldered it snugly. The cold metal and wood felt strangely comforting as he set his sights on one of the lights. His breath steadied, focusing on the shimmering glow before him as his mind slowed down, and gently he squeezed.

Then he woke up.