It was the last show of the day and the last act in the circus. Nate emerged from the curtains with two engraved daggers in each hand as several clowns pass either side of him continuously juggling before disappearing backstage. The people in the audience were still giggling after the clowns performance. As the laughter died down the Ringmaster started to introduce the next act: The Knife Juggler, Nate has heard it multiple times before so he used this time to rethink through the routine to save himself from a beating. The introduction ended as soon as it began and the audiences' eyes shifted from the bellowing, chubby Ringmaster to the purple eyes of the dark haired Knife Juggler with a dragon mask that cover half of his face and the act began.

The show went well and by the end everyone was at the edge of their seats. As Nate bowed, the Ringmaster thanked the audience for coming to the show. After the small speech he offers his top hat to the mass of people moving slowly to the exit and gets a few tips from people here and there with spare change in their pockets.

While everyone was leaving the circus, Nate headed up to his trailer to pack up all his precious items (which wasn't many) since they were leaving midday tomorrow. Once he was finished packing he grabbed a pack of cards, wheeled his trailer to the main truck and hooked it on to the latch at the back and headed down to the other guys from the circus to play a few games of cards while they listened to the radio. Turned out that the Great Dragon had attacked again at a space station earlier today, causing millions of coins worth of damage. There were twenty seven confirmed deaths, twelve injured and six still to be found.

Nate got furious at this report and also that they were all just playing cards during these events and weren't doing anything to stop that monster from killing anymore innocent people.' Soon the dragon will reach the main city and the death count will reach hundreds maybe even thousands...no, it wouldn't come to that, the army will stop it before that even becomes a possibility...or can they?' Nate thought deeply to himself and decided to end the card game and go to bed early to think some things through, more than most, a simple idea that just popped into his head unexpectedly and it was questionable, he had to admit. The other guys were quite pissed off at the abrupt end to the game so to keep them quiet he let them keep the deck of cards.

Nate walked slowly into the trailer, still considering the question he asked himself. He sat down on his worn and spring filled bed and looked at himself in the mirror in front of him, he looked at all the scars covering his body. He can't remember how he got most of them but they are all mainly from training, or not training hard enough, since the Ringmaster is not that forgiving. Then he looked at his dragon mask that covers half his face. When he was very young, Nate was attacked by the Great Dragon right before it's 'slumber' and half his face and right arm were burned, the burns were so bad and ugly his parents gave him to the circus (which is believable since Nate has met a lot of vain people in his time) and the former knife thrower of the circus taught him how to juggle knives and do tricks, he also prepared an outfit to cover the burns before Nate's first show. To this day Nate has never saw how bad the burns were and by how the Ringmaster talked about it, he doesn't want to see it. Nate looked down at the dark purple glove that stretches right up to his neck and strapped around his torso with soft leather straps with secure metal slates attached and a metal gauntlet that goes over the glove.

' I'm a joke, a freak...ah, God. How would a person like me ever get into the army? I'm stuck in my own little head thinking I'll take down the Great Dragon by myself, Ridiculous!! How did I even think about joining the army? I mean, it killed all those people, how'd I kill it?... How did it take me that long to realise that it's..it's... worth a shot..? I mean, there'll be an entire army by my side and I can't just juggle knives all my life and at least I'm not a clown, I actually have skill in combat and training. The worst that can happen is they turn me down, right? But how would I leave, the Ringmaster wouldn't just let me go, so would I sneak out? And if I did, how'd I get back? Would I go back?.. What else would I do? Maybe I'll plan it out.. or live in the moment? Or maybe I should just...go to sleep?' Nate realised how long he'd been talking to himself by how dark it was getting outside and decided to get some sleep and make the decision in the morning.

Nate woke up the next morning with someone banging continuously on the door. He slowly got out of bed to let the Ringmaster in and make sure everything in the room was secured and packed before they left to visit the next village. Nate was the first to hook his trailer up to the main truck last night since everyone else waited until the end of all their card games to even start packing up, so he was woken up first, as always, and opened the door while rubbing the sleep out of his eye.

When he opened the door it revealed a furious and obese, old man wearing a three piece suit which contained many colours, such as a vibrant red which matched the Ringmaster's poppy cheeks and the pumping blood vessel on his forehead. A shiver ran down Nate's spine as the outraged Ringmaster stepped into the trailer and leaned forward into Nate's face and bellows in his deep voice 'Do you REALISE how long I've been knocking?!' In response Nate stuttered since he didn't know how long he was sleeping 'Em..I..mmhhh... I don't..eh.. I'm...' The Ringmaster's eyes widen and he interrupts the meaningless stuttering 'Have you not learned, do NOT keep me waiting, on anything, whether it be a door or a simple response!!' After his small rant, the Ringmaster struck Nate across his cheek, leading him to awkwardly fall on the bed. The Ringmaster stood up slightly straighter, as if smacking one of his obedient workers filled him with confidence and ego. He swiftly glanced over the trailer making sure everything was packed and twirled on his heels, trotting out of the trailer carelessly dropping Nate's rations for the next seven days, since it's about a week's travel non-stop to the next village.

Nate glared at the now closed door while picking himself up off his bed. Still scowling, Nate went over to the collection of boxes in the corner and knelt in front of them all, 'Hah, it's like he made the decision for me!' Nate thought before ripping open the first box and rummaging through it to find any necessary item to take to the main city and to join the army.

After he finished stuffing all his things in a grubby, old backpack he realised his slight money meaning he didn't have any. Then he chuckled to himself, poked his head out of the door just to see the ring master stomping into another. Nate waited a few moments and the headed to the main truck which was unlocked due to the ringmaster's laziness, and sneaked inside,immediately searching every nook and cranny. 'He may be lazy, but he puts a lot of effort into hiding his gold pieces!' Nate thought to himself while letting out a sigh. As he raises his head from the exasperated sigh, Nate glimpsed a shimmer from what seemed to be a secret compartment. Nate pried the compartment open and took the leather pouch bursting with coins and shoved it in his pocket with a bit of force.