Cederic had stripped down to only his underwear. He was given a wood branch and two handles to help coping with what was about to happen. As a standard procedure for anyone serving under lord Maekrix, he will be branded with the clan crest.
Cie'th, the dragon tasked with branding the barely past adulthood fox could saw it clearly. The fox was different than every other furkin he branded before. The fox showed fear, as his shaking legs could prove. But the fear was masked by something else, masked by the fox strong conviction.
"What's your story kid?" Cie'th tried to make small talk as he awaits for the brander to heat, "Your kind usually had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the force. Yet here you are, barely past your puberty. Are you suicidal or something."
"No, sir." It was a rule for people of the conquered lands like Cederic to adress the conqueror race as 'sir' or 'master', "I am here to protect my hometown."
"It's true that one from a village might be tasked to protect his own village from invasion. But why you? Why now? It's should be your father who i am supposed to brand today."
Cederic closed his eyes. Images of his father, mother and little brother flashed in front of his eyes, he remembered how his mother and little brother cried when he had to leave, "My father was sickly, sir. If he entered the force, he couldn't survive the training, much less the war."
"How noble. Going in place of your father." Cie'th pulled the brander out of the forge. Seeing it's hot enough, the Dragon prepares the fox for the inevitable. "Get ready. Bite the wood clean off if you must. It's there so you don't accidentally bite your tongue."
Cederic closed his eyes. He gritted his teeth and gripped the handle bars. Many had told him about how unimaginable painful the branding process was.
And Cie'th soon confirmed all Cederic's imagination of the branding process. As the hot metal being pressed onto the fox's back, burning the furs and flesh under. Only Cie'th that could smell the fox's burned flesh, as Cederic was too deep in pain to think about anything else.
"Done," Cie'th pulled the brander off, leaving a mark of Lord Maekrix, the hoof of the soaring Dragon. "With this mark, you are now considered a member of the force. You will be placed higher than your fellow conquered brethen. But the fact that you should live and die for lord Maekrix sake does not change."
Cederic could only heard partially before he passed out from the intense pain. Cie'th worked fast to heal the bleeding wounds from the branding.
"Just be aware that we expect the best from every single member of the force, Cederic. This would be your only respite. We didn't care if you are too young or old. We will work you hard."
"For lord Maekrix."
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Collaboration with \r\n\t\t\t\t\t
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We both worked on the world and characters