May 8th, 1849
I'd lived in a small village for the whole of my life.
This morning, a gov'nt agent arrived to tell us that Stolitsa, our Capital, had been bombed by our neighboring nation. He said the govn't needs all the men of 17 and older in the nation to join the military in case of war.
Mat cried, knowing I'd be sent to join. My little sister, Ansha, and my little brother, Nikolai, cried with her.
To my own surprise, I didn't feel anything.
Ansha and Nikolai probably didn't understand what was happening. They were reacting to Mat's emotions, believing their reaction was the proper one for that situation.
"Come home safely, Ivan!" Ansha called.
If the war truly did start, it had the potential to be the Second Great War. I decided I couldn't die. If I were to die, my family likely wouldn't be able to sustain itself.
A friend of mine, Alek, had just turned 17 the day before. Poor soul.
The govn't agent took me away with several other men from the village. He made us introduce ourselves, saying that we'd need to know each other if we were to potentially fight a war together.
"○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○. I live with my mother and twin younger siblings. The people of the village know what happened to my father," I had said. My father disappeared without warning one day, when my younger siblings were infants. Since then, I have been the one to sustain my family.
"Hm."
The icebreaking continued until sunset. When it came time to sleep, we were taken to a camp where there were other govn't agents and more men.
I fell asleep.