He was awoken by the noisy transport coming to a complete stop. He watched as the door opened and felt a blast of snow, ice and cold entering the transport cabin.
"It looks like we're finally here...Grandfather I'll be a Firewarrior just like you were and bring honor to our name."
He tightened his hands around the transport seat and looked around him noticing the group of young men and women with faces full of excitement and anticipation for what was outside waiting for them. He stared at the door as the conversations from the others around him.
"We're here finally."
"Yes, if we can pass the trials, we'll be able to be part of the Supremes' guard."
"That's exactly what I am here for," he said under his breath smiling with confidence. "For my family, I'll succeed." His train of thought was cut off by a loud voice coming from outside.
"Move off the transport, and form outside now!"
He followed the rest of the group and quickly got off the transport,
"Ahh the wind and ice is scratching my skin," he looked down at his arms and chest watching as small scratches were starting to cover his exposed skin.
"Wow, the snow is deep here," he said to himself as he landed in the knee-deep snow and moved slowly to form up outside the transport with the others.
He watched as the transport's doors closed and started to move away, he looked at the others who had looks of longing to be on the transport in its warmth. "Not for me, I'll make it through this cold, I'll pass and succeed."
He clenched his jaw. "This cold, and this pain is nothing to me."
He looked around searching for where the shout came from, not seeing anyone due to the winds.
"The winds are dying down, and it's becoming warm…What's going on?" He tried to look around him.
"I can't see anyone out there, this has to be fire energy. I'll master fire energy, just like my grandfather." A look of determination and pride covered his face.
"The gates to the FireStrike unit…I'm almost there." His heart started to beat faster in excitement.
"There they are, I can see them now," as he watched a small group of muscular shadows walking towards them, and almost jumped in surprise as they came into view.
"They are fire energy users, that's the only way they can survive wearing that out here." He smiled and listened to the others talking.
"They are not wearing anything to protect themselves from the cold or ice, just bare skin."
"Do you see their tattoos? I can't wait until I get my own."
He watched in wonder as the tallest of the group stepped towards the group of young men casually.
"He is melting the snow and ice without even trying… It just turns to steam. That is one of the abilities of fire energy users... I can't wait until I can do the same thing as he is doing right now." He smiled as he watched the snowflake turn to water and then fade from view as steam.
"Welcome recruits to the FireStrike unit, here is the toughest training you'll ever experience, and if you pass and become a Firewarrior, not only will you be a tough unbeatable warrior you'll be serving the capital itself and protect its inner most part."
"Look at the scars, he has to have been in many wars, which means he has split a lot of blood."
"Listen up, to become part of the FireStrike unit you need to make it through that gate over there!"The Firewarrior pointed towards the wooden gate in the distance.
"Move it!"
A snowflake landed on his shoulder as he looked at it melt on his skin, he looked around him.
"The warmth had gone I need to make it through the gate, or I'll fail the test and die out here. Where was the gate, I need to find it again?"
He looked at where the FireStrike unit gate was and watched it fade in the snowstorm. "Entering the FireStrike unit was never going to be easy…"
He gritted his teeth and started walking in the direction of where he saw the gate last. He turned and noticed the others around him all moving in similar directions.
"It's getting cold," as he wrapped his arms around his body, he looked around him again, and saw the others around him had started to turn directions and move away from the gate.
"I'm already tired, and I have only walked a few meters in this storm, I need to make it, I won't stop… I can't stop."
He kept going, "nothing is going to stop me from becoming a guard, not even this cursed weather." He kept repeating it over and over to himself.
After a few more steps he stopped, "am I going in the right way? Everything is white, and I can feel the ice cutting my body up... I feel tired."
"…unit…" Went through his mind and faded away.
"I…can't feel my arms… and…hands anymore…need to…rest." His breathing was very deep, and he could feel his body starting to fail on him.
"…unit..."
He clenched his jaw tight and took another step forward. "Not alone, together, FireStrike…Unit!"
His eyes shot open, he looked down at his body seeing the scratches and shivered as the cold was seeping into his bones. "Need to get…inside, need to…get out of this storm, or… will freeze… need fire"
He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing looking inside himself with the word "fire" floating around his mind and body. As he was looking over his body, his mind's eye felt a tiny warmth coming from his body.
He focused on it and saw a tiny flame flickering in the dark, he also saw the cold trying to snuff it out.
"Nooooooooo!"
He stood in front of the flame keeping it safe from the cold as it flickered behind him, he heard another voice faintly in the back of his mind.
"Finally,… someone has found…me…"
The flame flickered its voice quiet and full of allure caused the young man to turn and look at the tiny flame.
"You can speak?"
The faint voice replied, "yes, but weak, need…strength to survive, outside…your body…dying… need each other to survive."
He watched as the flame was becoming smaller,and he could see ice forming around the space of where the flame was.
"What do we do? How to survive? We must survive." The tiny flame moved towards the young man." We become one…we help each other…we fight…together."
He took a deep breath and watched as it emitted steam, "my heart is slowing down…my body is dying." He looked at the fading flame nodding. "Yes, we need to survive. What do I have to do?"
The flame wobbled."We're weak…when we join you…able to use little of our power, but…need to recover…we…strong."
"Yes, we must survive, we must survive!"
The small flame pushed itself into his body, and he felt it rush through his bones resting below his lungs, and then he opened his eyes.
He saw the snowstorm was still around him and could feel the wind beating against his body, but this time he did not feel the cold, instead a blast of warmth washed over him as he looked down,
"I can see…I can see the gate… We're close to it… Almost made it…"
He turned and looked around."I'm the only one here… Where are the others?"
"Call out to them, be a unit."The voice of the tiny flame floated in his body.
"Brothers and sisters, hear my voice come to me, I can see the gate let's go together, we can make it together!"
He was surprised over the loudness of his voice. "Brothers and sisters, we're close, follow my voice, let's enter together!"
He watched with exhausted eyes and a tired smile as the recruits started to walk towards him. "Huddle close together, stay as one!"
He pointed at the gate."There's the gate not far away, we can make it if we stick together!"
He made sure all the recruits while they were clutching their bodies from the cold huddled around each other closely through the knee-deep snow.
"I don't remember him being on the transport���Who is he?" He stared at another recruit. "He seems to be enjoying the weather." He shuddered as the stranger stared back at him.
"What does he want from me?"
The voice from the flame spoke again."Leave him, as we're flame. He's ice. We're bound for survival. He's bound on a different path."
He nodded ignoring the recruit staring at him, he then turned and kept walking towards the gate. He kept looking back watching the other recruits around him and behind to make sure they didn't walk in the wrong direction.
"A few more steps, we can see the gate now!"
He looked at the recruits smiling as hope filled their eyes.He watched as the hope moved to smiles and let out a large breath.
"They are moving faster now that they see the gate…" He panted tiredly. "Go through the gate, I'll meet you all on the other side!"
They picked up their pace and went through the gate as he waited until all of them went through the gate first. He stood in front of gate staring back at the one who was not affected by the weather.
"Wh…"
"Not bad... For a weakling. We shall see each other in the future." Then he watched as the stranger faded into the snowstorm instead of walking through the gate. He took a deep breath and looked around, then he went through the gate.
As he walked through the gate the snowstorm vanished, and a pleasant warmth washed over him.
"Finally,… out of the cold…Feel very tired."
The voice of the flame called out to him."We need to recover our strength."
"Hurry up and line up!"
His thoughts were broken as the voice called out for them to line up. He quickly formed up with the rest of the unit in front of the old scarred Firewarrior.
"Welcome to the FireStrike unit, you are not Firewarriors yet, just potentials and there is a long tough road ahead of you if you are going to wear the tattoo!"
The scarred warrior pointed to the buildings around, "here in these buildings are where you sleep, train, eat and live!"
"Home…" He mouthed happily as he looked upon the Firewarrior with respect.
"Other there is the hot rocks, and hot bed for training in fire energy, we'll be going there for a scrub soon!"
Then the Firewarrior pointed to an old wooden building that looked like it was falling apart. "That there you'll only enter if you become worthy of the tattoo, if you go over there and aren't ready, you'll die!"
The recruits responded as one."Yes sir!"
He noticed as other Firewarriors started to appear and stare at the new recruits smiling, while pointing and passing small items amongst themselves, sometimes the young man was able to hear laughter coming from them.
"First eat, then scrub, you're to form up here on the sound of the bell, dismissed!"
They followed the direction in which the Firewarrior pointed and entered through a stone doorway where loud sounds of voices were coming from, and the smell of food. He looked around at the training camp and smiled.
"There is a lot of energy here, we both nearly died out in the snowstorm."The voice of the fire sounded tired as its voice floated through his mind quietly.
"Yes... Very tired, my legs feel like they are about to give out." He replied as he slowly staggered towards the smell of food and noise.
As he walked into the mess hall he looked around and his mouth fell open in surprise. "Silence…" He looked at the staring eyes of the Firewarriors staring at him and the new recruits. He slowly made his way through the quiet stares as he joined the queue for food.
"Their tattoos are impressive... I wonder what tattoo I'll get?" He smiled at the thought through half closed eyes.
He sat down with his plate of hot food with the new recruits as the noise around them started to pick up.He overheard the conversations of the other recruits.
"It's like they are about to feast on us, with how they are staring,"said one of the recruits.
"I think they���re betting on us. I saw some bags of batterys and them pointing towards us." He replied to them with a lowered voice staring at his food.
The recruits who heard him speak sighed."If they're betting, what are they betting about?"
"No idea, but I'm hungry."
As he took his first bite, it felt like fire was growing and building in his stomach, the voice of the fire floated through his mind.
"Fire energy, this is the food I need."
After a moment the burning sensation in his stomach faded."Keep eating, we need more."
"That I can do…" He said happily as he took another bite
He kept eating as his stomach felt like it was about to burn, it went back down to normal.
He glanced up at the other recruits and noticed their faces were all red and some of them were clutching their stomachs in pain. He looked around and noticed the hall was once again quiet with all eyes on them staring, smiling and some laughing at the new recruits.
"Is this what they were betting about?" He wondered as he took another bite from his plate.
The mess hall erupted into loud cheering as he watched one of the new recruits fall onto the ground in pain.
"Better to ignore, need to eat more, I feel hungry."
He took another bite of his food as he watched recruits fall around him one after another.
"My plate is empty already I need to eat more. I still feel hungry."
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr."
His stomach called out for more food. He stood up to get another serving of food.
"Ding! Ding! Ding!"
The mess hall once again erupted into cheers of happiness and cries of suffering as he watched bags being swapped between them. He looked at the food, and then the door.
"He called us to form up at the bell, we'll come back later to eat more."
Walking out of the hall he quickly formed up and watched as those who had fallen to the ground slowly make their way towards where he was and formed up under the disapproving look from the Firewarrior standing their waiting for them.
"Recruits, the moment you got onto that transport, you lost your names, your parents, your very identity is gone, as is your voice!"
He felt a blast of heat energy pushing him back pushing against his own body. He looked down at his feet.
"He pushed us back with that small blast of Fire energy, he could probably kill us without even trying." He muttered under his breath
"From this moment on, here is where you are born, and if you make it through, you'll be given a name when you get your tattoo. Until then you're all nothing!"
"Follow me and keep up. FireStrike unit waits for nobody!"
They followed the Firewarrior as he quickly walked towards another stone building. The Firewarrior turned and faced the recruit unit.
"Now it is time for the scrub, try and stay in as long as you can! Move!"
The young man followed the recruits into the building where he felt a burst of heat was coming from its doors. He looked behind him and sighed quietly.
"They're even betting on us in here?"
The other Firewarriors that were in the mess were now entering the scrub area this time he watched as they openly swapped bags pointing at different recruits."What are they betting on this time? It's best if I just ignore their betting and concentrate on what I have to do for this scrub." He muttered shaking his head.