W-what? A whole month? This can't be real! I passed out in the Training room and woke up there! I-I see! This is all just a ploy to mock me! Just a prank they're all playing on me for passing out!
"There's no use hiding it, General! Stop this prank! There's no way I've been gone for a month!" I tell him with a shaky voice, "I've just been unconscious for a few hours and all of you are just acting!"
"Silvia, it seems you don't understand what happened," he grabbed my arm with an iron grip, "allow me to show you the truth."
He's dragging me around like some kid around the labyrinth of a station we had. A while passes and he stops in front of the door to the surveillance records. That's odd, why is he scanning a card on it?
"Uhm excuse me General, what's that card for?"
"Since you disappeared, everyone wanted to check the surveillance records to see what happened. We had to install a security system that only opens the door to Knights with a rank on the level of and higher than a Captain. Meaning, here's your identification card and you're allowed to enter, Captain Silvia."
"Can you stop teasing me with this 'Captain' buffoonery? Just because you won the General rank over me doesn't mean you have to rub it in my face. Let's drop the formalities, Ironhyde."
"Fine. Silvia," he reluctantly agreed while handing me my verification card.
We enter the room and I begin scanning around. There seem to be records of dates after my 'disappearance'.
"Haha Ironhyde," I say sarcastically, "you think adding extra dates will fool me?"
"Silvia, what day do you think it is?"
"Bragos XV, MMLXXXVII."
"In English, Silvia. You know that's how we sort these records."
"February 15, 2087."
He pulls out an Information Rod that is labeled "TR#03: February 15, 2087, and places it within one of the Visual Record Players in the room. A hologram of the entire Training Room appears on top of it.
"That thing still works? It's been eons since those were invented!" I shout out in surprise.
"It's only been half a century. Besides, the main operators are old and prefer this model."
"Playing footage TR#03: February 15, 2087." the machine responded to the Information Rod.
It showed footage of me in the Training Room I was in; Training Room #03, a room made for the sole purpose of testing the strength of the attacks of the Knights. All aspects of it are made to be invulnerable, otherwise, it wouldn't have survived me nor Ironhyde, let alone those stronger than us. The machine played through the record, showing many things such as the records of some of the lower Knights. 100.32, 99.46, 132.70, etc.
Ironhyde decided to skip most of the day's footage to get to my part of the day. I saw myself enter the room, scan around, unsheathe my sword. There are no recordings of the noises in the room so I couldn't hear what I said at that moment. It must've just been my new battle cry, I made it recently, It goes, "I SHALL CHARGE!" So proud of myself, I wonder what Ironhyde would think if I told him. He'd probably think it's amazing.
In the record, I charged towards the Mann, but then immediately collapsed. The film then started to glitch out, what's surprising about it is, audio played. This model of Information Rods doesn't record audio. Despite that, the machine played the audio from that moment.
"! הכוח שלך חייב להתעורר" A woman's voice spoke. When the glitches stopped, the room was completely empty. Nothing left from when I was in there.
"What?" I exclaimed in incredible confusion, "what happened?"
"That's what we've been trying to figure out. So far, no one has a clue of what had occurred, and only you and I know that you've returned." Ironhyde spoke in his usual serious manner as he scanned through the library Information Rods.
"What about Einar?"
"About who?" he asked as he turned and faced me with a face full of anger.
"Einar. You know, the guy who found me lying on the floor." I explained to him.
He continued scanning through until he found the Information Rod of labeled with today's date. He quickly inserted it into the machine and it played the footage. We watched as Einar entered the room in the morning. Ironhyde pressed some buttons and a separate screen popped out of the side of the VRP, the new screen showed the heat signatures of the room. None was picked up, even when Einar was training.
"How can this be?" Ironhyde asked in confusion, "Isn't he an Earthling?"
"He looks like one, but he may be of another species."
"Even still, no race can completely conceal their heat signatures, especially when they're in motion. Only with a certain level of technology can he fully conceal his heat signature, and we confiscate everything that isn't from the Station."
"Ironhyde, what are you thinking about?"
"That Einar, I'll look into him." He said as he led me out the room, "Go check in with the Leaders, I'll do some research."
***
My sudden appearance shocked everyone that saw me. On my way to see the Leaders, I was hit with a barrage of "Where were you Captain"'s and "We thought you died"'s. Even when I was in the Leader's Quarters, all of them asked where I was. I could only tell them that I, myself, don't know yet. They then proceeded to interrogate me further.
***
In my constant interrogation, the Leaders and I concluded that we know nothing. Go figure!
"Enough of that, I still need to train." My body feels so stiff, I really need to train, "I might have gotten weaker since it's been a month since I last moved."
I push the iron door to Training Room #03 open. I'm surprised to see that someone else is already using it. The person's hands are clutching on a gigantic sword. As my eyes adjust to the dark, I can see who it was.
It's the person who escaped the heat sensors, the person who found me when no one else did, it's Einar. He must've not noticed me come in, I better keep quiet to see what he'll do.
He swings his sword at the Mann and after a few moments, it showed a 5 digit number.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!?" he shouts as he throws his sword away.
The blade generates sparks as it slides on the coarse ground. The blade stops next to me and he notices me looking at him. He then turns away and lowers his head.
"Don't look at me, Captain...I'm not strong enough to be a Knight..."
You can see it. Even with his face turned away, you can see the disappointment and despair. I feel sorry for him but what can I do? I could try to encourage him but I've been in so many situations like this, words just won't cut it. I need to talk to him in a way that'll make him listen. But how?
I slowly make my way towards him.
"Captain stop! Don't come any closer...I'll just go," he says as he starts walking sideways, trying to avoid facing me.
"No! Einar, look at me."
He shakes his head and continues walking.
"Einar, look. At. Me."
He shakes his head and continues to move away.
A thought just came to my mind, you can check all previous attempts!
"Fine then," I say as I place my hand on the machine. Einar stops moving but keeps his back to me.
"Play the first three audio logs of Knight Silvia," I ordered the machine.
"Playing the first three audio logs of Knight Silvia. First log." The machine spoke out as it's face opened to reveal speakers.
"YEAH!!! I'm so proud of myself! I managed to do a hundred kilograms of force!"
"Second log."
"I just doubled my previous record? It's unbelievable! This training regimen is amazing!"
"Third log."
"Making progress, making progress."
"Play audio logs twenty-seven."
"Playing audio log twenty-seven."
"I can't believe it! I can't believe it! My first kiloton!" The machine closed its face and returned to its default position.
"See Einar? We all start somewhere. It took me twenty-seven attempts to cause my first kiloton of damage. You can already do more than I did and how many attempts have you done?"
"Twelve..."
"See? You're making faster progress than I was!"
"You don't understand, captain...Play the first audio log of Knight Einar..."
The machine opened its face again. "Audio log one for Knight Einar."
"Alright, alright, eighty-nine kilotons, not bad." The machine closed its face and returned to its default position again. I look up at the number above the machine, Einar's previous attempt, twenty-seven kilotons.
"Captain...I've gotten weaker...weaker than I was..." He looks completely defeated. I walk to his front and grab his shoulders.
"Then let's get stronger together!" A suggestion that doesn't seem to work. He pushes me away then starts walking towards the exit. I know what to do. I'll just have to wait for him to get near his sword.
"There's no point...I'm just a weakling...I'll just resign..." he says as he continues to walk towards the door.
He is about a metre away from his sword. This is my chance! I lunge towards him quickly with my sword pointed straight at him. He looks behind and sees me, acting on instinct, he grabs his sword and blocks my attack. I step back and he looks like he's about to attack. His sword comes down and a blade of wind generates from his swing. I dodge to the left and his attack went straight to the Mann.
After a few moments, it shows a seven-digit number. We both look at the result in amazement.
"I did THAT?" Einar breaks the silence with a question that I was going to ask.
"You did... You could've killed me with that!" I'm still in shock. I didn't know he was that strong.
Einar hides behind his sword, the blade itself was large enough to hide most of his body. "I'm sorry captain! I didn't know my own strength!"
"F*ck yeah you didn't!" I steady myself and get into a battle position. "Now, let's spar!"
"Why?" he asks as he pokes his head out from behind his blade.
"It's the quickest way for both of us to improve!" What I said might have dumbfounded him. He's just standing there, confused. I guess I have no choice. I take up my sword again and lunge at him.
***
I fall to my knees in extreme exhaustion. I knew he was strong, but I never would've guessed that he was this strong! He fights differently from everyone I've fought before; it's either a reserved-style of fighting, focusing on dodges and counters; or an aggressive fighting style. Einar fights in an aggressive, yet so reserved, fighting style. I mean, he rushes in just to counter my counter, who does that? Einar doesn't move quickly as I do, but he's got incredible strength, defence, and stamina.
Now that I think about it, I have encountered someone like that; Valdus. He usually just stands in place, countering, until he's going for the final blow. He used a greatsword too, so I can see some similarities between Einar and Valdus, at least the Valdus I used to know. Now, he's a completely different person. His fighting style revolves around snapping his fingers or delivering a cataclysmic punch.
"Done already, captain?" Einar breaks my train of thought with a question that I abhorred hearing. Every time someone says that, it feels like they're looking down on me, underestimating what I can do; especially when it comes from the people I fight.
I slowly rise and get my feet under me. I keep trying to catch my breath but it's no use. I'm beat. I feel my body getting heavier and fall to the floor. Me falling seems to have worried Einar. He drops his sword and runs to me.
"Captain are you okay?" He asked me while trying to rotate me so I face the roof, not the floor.
"I'm just- extremely exhausted- you look like nothing happened," I explain while short of breath.
"That's not true captain," he takes off his chest plate to reveal several black bruises, and even some cuts where my sword penetrated his armour, "You did quite a lot of damage, I couldn't even get a solid hit on you."
"I'm sorry- I didn't mean- to hit so hard" it's really difficult apologising when I can't even breathe properly.
"We should probably head for the infirmary, captain. You're exhausted and I need someone to tend to these woun-." Einar's voice gets cut off by something metallic rapidly flying across the room, just missing Einar's face, then hit the floor.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a mysterious voice echoes throughout the room and a shadow is cast on the floor in front of us.