As Doevm and Frey walked out of the dark wooden room, light blinded them. After letting their eyes adjust, there was an entire military base before them. Giant plain plank wooden homes were built into the tops of massive trees. Connecting them were long wooden bridges tied together with dried and braided vines. If one were to trip and fall, they would land on the many layers of leaves and branches below. Despite the brightness, it wasn’t from the sun. Even with how high they were, very little sunlight made it through the top canopy. Hundreds of light crystals were hung like ornaments, giving light to the thousands of soldiers walking about.

From a viewpoint, it was all a web of ropes and walkways. It didn’t help that it wasn’t one level of houses. Since the trees varied in height, the bridges went up and down four stories. On the sturdiest trees were the bigger and more elaborate structures such as the mess hall and the training grounds. Frey sat down next to his stuff, trying to grasp a picture of what he was looking at. He tried to trace pathways with his eyes but kept circling and eventually just held his head in his hands.

“How are we supposed to navigate this place?” Frey sighed. “I feel like we’re trapped up here. I want to go back on the ground where it’s safe.”

Doevm laughed at his friend’s culture shock. He had the same reaction when he saw the High Elves’ base as well. He had come to steal their magic practices but got lost in the complicated housing structures. After a year of sending in Undead scouts, he burned half of the forest to the ground and tortured survivors until they coughed out the methods to use spirit magic. The forest regrew over time, but the scar always remained. In that year of battle, he had developed a system to explore these nests. This High Elf base, occupied by humans, was no different. While they had taken the design and added their own spin on it, by expanding the buildings, the basic layout was unchanged.

“Come on Frey, let’s look around.” Doevm retrieved his stuff and walked on the bridge leading to the mess hall. “We only have a few days to get used to this place before the battles start.”

“But I thought the war already started.” Frey said as he tiptoed across one of the wooden bridges and had both hands on the railing.

“The war did start,” Doevm pushed Frey along, “But the generals are organizing the troops right now. With drafts…Goddess you’re heavy.” He had to practically drag Frey off the railing to continue. “Drafts get soldiers, but they’re usually lousy and have never fought before. They need to be conditioned to the military. It’s the same for the other side.”

“I understand.” Frey nodded like his legs hadn’t turned into jelly. He was getting whiter by the second.

“Just don’t look down.” Doevm said, and on que, Frey snapped his head downward.

“SHREK, I’M LOOKING DOWN!” All the soldiers in the vicinity laughed at the giant newbie stumbling his way across. Doevm sighed and kept pushing Frey across until they were at the mess hall, where a thousand soldiers were rolling on the floor.

“What the heck was that?” A voice rang out. “He looks like if a giant was afraid of a mouse!” The laughing continued. The color returned to Frey’s face in a shade of bright red.

“This is the mess hall.” Doevm growled. “You see what happens when you don’t do as I say? You’re going to be the laughingstock of the army now.”

“I just want to go back home.” Frey put his head in his hands again. They kept exploring. The occasional soldier would point at them and whisper something to his buddy, who would snicker. Frey managed to overcome his fear little by little with each bridge they crossed. Near the end of their tour, Frey could cross a bridge all by himself. The laughing, however, did not die down. Rumors spread of a giant wuss who couldn’t even cross bridge without holding someone’s hand like wildfire.

In total, there were ten Mess hall, a hundred squadrons with barracks for each, a captain’s hall, four medical wings, ten sparring/training grounds, and a thousand bathrooms. The baths were absent, as water was hard to get to the level. Instead, there were elevators that lead to a river on the east side of the camp. By elevators, it was a weight and pully system. Guards would stand on the bottom and top of the elevators at all times. When someone needed to go up or down, they went inside a simple room made of branches. The guards would either lift or throw the counterweight down and the elevator would slowly rise or fall. Because of this, the only exits and entrances of the camp were always secure (unless someone wanted to make the excruciating climb).

Each squadron barracks was atop their own tree on a platform of wooden planks with a thousand or so square footage. The hammacks were hung in the vegitation hanging over the platform. Storage compartments were holes cut into the trunk of the tree with massive lockers built in to prevent theft. Roofs were unnecessary most of the time, as the leaf canopy above them served that purpose already. Doevm and Frey headed for their squad barracks identified by nothing. They had to ask around and found out that the squad barracks are lined up by order from east to west. To bath, they had to go all the way across the five-mile base.

When they entered their squadron area, a familiar man approached them. “Hello, you two must be the two new recruits whom my men and the rest of the base have laughed about.”

“Nice to meet you Wade.” Doevm sighed. “So the lord’s men have already arrived?”

“We got here a day or two ago.” Wade said. “And, despite what I’ve said, here you call me sir. Rules are rules.” He shrugged.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to know each other.” Frey whispered and glanced at the other members of squad six, who were lying comfortably in their hammocks just outside of listening range.

“I know what we told the captain.” Doevm argued. “But stick to the backstory we told Ashtehar: we were once guards but couldn’t handle it. We got fired years ago. Our backstory is already a complete mess with a lot of holes, but even so, let’s stick with this one.”

“Well then,” Wade said. “With that established, I am the squad leader of squad six. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now that you two are here, our squad is officially full. Go pick the two empty cots, and we’ll all get started on introductions. He glanced at their equipment. “Good choice on leaving the spear behind. That would only attract attention here. Where did you get your new equipment though?”

“I’ve been saving up for over a decade.” Doevm shrugged. “It was time to use my money. It wasn’t much, but it bought us the basic equipment.”

“Understood,” Wade handed them each a key and a lock. After Doevm and Frey put their equipment in their own hole and locked it, Wade turned to face the entire room. “Squad six, these are the two newest members, Doevm and Frey! Now that everyone is here, line up.” The men lazily got up and into line. Doevm and Frey were the fastest out of habit.

‘It seems like this squad doesn’t have much respect yet,’ Doevm thought. ‘From the looks of them, they were all commoners forced into this war. They still have fantasies about war being a glorious battle filled with heroism. They’re arrogant. I can’t trust any of them until after a few battles. Humans bonds form the fastest under shared tragedy. It’ll take a month before they look like people from squad three. With Wade acting as leader, he’ll shape them up in half that time.’ Doevm and Frey saluted.

“Now,” Wade said as he walked down the line. “Time to decide who’s the strongest.” The recruits all laughed and headed for their lockers.

Doevm shook his head: ‘They don’t have any discipline. If this was squad three, we would have waited for orders to move. When I was new, he didn’t give me any excuses. He threw me into the deep end and punished the squad for my mistakes. The reason he can’t do that now, is because these people have no morale. If he tried to enforce discipline straight away, they would rebel.’ As the squad members shifted around, another member stayed in line as well, Hopi. His uniform was covered in dirt and grime. He didn’t look happy.