The boat stunk with dirty soldiers and fish. Goren lay in his hammock, seasick, and the smell didn’t help. The boat was headed to Odisen. This was his first real chance to prove he could be strong enough and all he could do was get seasick. All the other men on board, besides the sick ones, were helping row, including Lanarin, so Goren supposed he had something to be thankful for, besides the fact that he had no one to talk to. Goren heard footsteps coming down the stairs to the hammocks. There were voices too. Goren listened,
“I bet that Goren fellow isn’t what he seems,” one voice said, “I heard an officer say he was one of the most concentrated and loyal warlings he’d ever seen, did you see him duel the other day? There is no way any of that is true.”
Goren was shocked. He agreed with the soldier. He had always lost the challenges he had worked so hard to learn. He stayed up hour after hour trying to catch up to the rest of the soldiers, but it never worked, Goren was no doubt the worst level nine out there. Goren decided to take a nap and see if he felt better. Goren drifted off to sleep.
When Goren woke up he noticed a small portion of food on the table next to him. The army couldn’t afford much as food went, and what they did provide wasn’t very filling. There were three small pieces of dried pork. The army had to feed the soldiers well, and any less than those jerkies would be much too little. Goren ate the food hungrily.
He decided to read a little before bed. Not many men knew how to read, but Goren’s mom had taught him all she knew. He pulled a book out of his suitcase. It was called “The History of the Prophecies of Parshine”. He had been given this book by a very kind man when he was on the way to warling island. Goren flipped to the first page.
“A Warrior, by Markay Loter” It read, “ A man will rise up to conquer Odisen. That man will be Odisenian, a traitor.” Goren had heard that prophecy before. It had painstakingly recovered from a jar buried deep in the ground. Hard to read, but they were able to make out the old words.

Goren dream’t he had become a high ranking officer. His family safe and close by. When he woke up he remembered his true life and his sick feeling returned.
“Ug,” Goren said it was always the worst when your dreams were better than your life. They were almost to Odisen. Many of the soldiers were getting their armor on for the fight.
Goren got out of his hammock and finally felt a bit better. He walked across the wooden floor of the boat to a trunk that held his armor. He took it out, always surprised that it fit in the trunk whenever he took it out. He rarely did so.
“We are approaching Odisen, get ready to fight.” A man in armor said to everyone. Goren was shocked at how fast the trip went. His first fight.

The air was damp with sweat and blood. Goren rushed behind a rock to inspect an arm wound that he had just been dealt, it was giving him writhing pain. It was a deep gash in his left arm. Not fatal but it would leave him at a disadvantage in the war. Goren sighed.
“Hello,” a deep voice whispered,
“Ah! Who is that?!”
“Shh, be quiet. I am an ally, no need to panic. I need to speak with you privately.”The man had dark brown hair and glasses,
“Who are you?”
“No time for introductions now, we must get to a safe place to talk,”
“Fine, but just don’t kill me, please.” The man led Goren across the field to a small building away from all the fighting. It was tumbledown and old. They walked inside the building.
“Why did you bring me here?” Goren asked feeling annoyed,
“Like I said before, I want to talk to you about something.” The man roared quietly,
“What did you want to talk about.”
“First of all, My name is Grondo an-”
“Your name is Grondo!”
“Yeah” he said with a sigh,
“So, Grondo,”
“Yes, so as I was say-”
“That’s a weird name, if I were you I would go by a nickname.”
“Just let me speak. I am here to recruit you into an organization. We would need you to spy for us.”
“What organization?”
“The Blue Spruce.”
“That’s also a weird name. What I men’t was what does this organization do?”
“It shows the bad people in this world how they need to act.”
“How do you do that?” Goren asked,
“We do to them as they do to others.”

Goren had always wanted to help shape the world into a better one, and this seemed the way to do it, “It sounds good, what would I have to do?”
“Good question, you would be a needle-“
“Wh-“
“A needle is a person who acts out what the rest decide is necessary to teach the sed “bad person” a lesson, understand?”
“I think so, what do I have to do to join?”
“Shake my hand.” Grondo answered,
“Wow, that’s all? Sure I’ll join.”
“Goren Janarie, will you shake my hand in joining the organization called the Blue spruce?” Grondo said, holding out his right hand,
“I will.” Goren said, shaking Grondo’s hand, Goren finally felt he could make a difference in the world. “What do I do now?”