With a bit of shock at what he had heard Aydens mind began to spin. The speed at which the days have moved and flowed leaving him on the edge of insanity.
"... you know of my family? How?" The question the only thing his mind could think to ask.
~ "That is a good question for another time! But for right now we need to get you trained and ready to go out on your own. There is no rest for the blessed!"
While the other around didn't hear anything do to having their own conversations with each other, they saw the way Tah'ler became cold and enraged for the tiniest part of a second. The fear of impending doom causing them to place a hand in the weapons at their side.
With the calm between the two now back the people around also calmed down, but there was no rest for the blessed.
- "Recruits fall in!" The deep voice of the now normal sized beast of a man yelled out in the courtyard, as the gate began to close.
Gene had mad it back and seemed unharmed by his deep front line escapades. While he wasn't young by any means anymore, he was still one of the greatest divers in Judgment Day.
In his hand Gene held a tablet looking over the results of the battle, as each persons kills and over all contributions(as ranked by the AI system) were posted for Gene to look over.
- "So their are some surprises here that give us our reason for why we do this little blooding ceremony for you all. First here are your over all rankings!" With the push of a button loud ringing sounds could be heard from each of their badges as a number rank appeared on them.
Out of the 28 new recruits Aydens badge ranked him 28th,... dead last. While Gene found this as a surprise, Ayden gave it no thought.
The AI system they called Judge gave everything it needed to prove its point to Gene, who couldn't see why this talented fighter was ranked last. But Gene started at rank 1 to get things going.
- "So combat training will be in an hour. You can move around and grab a snack but don't leave the building while i talk with each of you individually, first up rank 1 Wayne."
After about 40 minutes Gene finally called Ayden over, a serious look on his face. Watching the video recorded highlighting why Judge ranked him last. The overall theme being 'no concept of tactics.'
'He showed some talent in the examination, but why has that all but disappeared. Could it be because he has never been in a real fight before, or is it that there was more than one opponent?' Gene was on the right track, because in fact Ayden had never been in a fight once in his life.
- "Ayden, why do you know how to fight,... until you actual fight? Have you never been in a scuffle when you were a kid, or something? "
"Nope, just practiced my families martial dance!" The fact that he had never fought in a real battle till today never bothering him.
~ "Yeah you suck in the actual combat part!" Tah'ler's voice sounding from behind Gene.
"I figured I'd gain experience someday, and I'm a fast dedicated learner. Plus I'm confident in my ability to get the heck out of a bad situation, but i can't be that much worse then some of the others.... right?"
After hearing Aydens words Gene and Tah'ler made eye contact, the same thought passing between them. 'The only training that could work right now is survive training'
With everyone's plans for training set, after the hour was up they gathered everyone and began.
Those with decent ability to attack and kill the Haze Beast, they were given the training of their maneuverability moving around and escaping bad situation as most of them usually took damage. The reason they took damage was because they gave up on defense to cause a fatal wound.
Then you had those that were great at defense, who were to train to attack because they never caused enough damage to kill a Haze Beast in short periods of time. This caused the beast more time to attack others which was never good, so they needed better understanding of fatal attacks.
Then there was Ayden, while he had great ability to cause damage and kill the Haze Beast it was only in 1-on-1 situations. He also had great ability to defend himself but when there were multiple enemy's he caused more damage to himself and others than he did to the his beasts. On average most killed more than 10 beast in the blooding ceremony, while Ayden himself had only killed five, while also getting in the way of others. It was as if he didn't see those around him, and Gene had picked this up.
With the plan set Gene had Tah'ler spar with Ayden while he observed everyone.
With everyone making strides in the right direction, the day moved forward at a accelerated rate. With the sound of a bell as the sun began to set, everyone was released to rest and head home.
~ "Ayden, can i talk with you for a second before you leave?" Before Ayden could get to far Tah'ler called out for him.
"Hey yeah! Also thanks for today, i feel as though I'm starting to see my mistakes when it comes to actual combat! But what did you need to talk about?"
"Their is a reason why my family keeps our god a secret, and it's also related to your family. I think you should hear this story" Tah'ler acting weird set Ayden to stay quiet and just nod his head, letting the story begin.
"At each Guild house we place an agent, for times like this because of who we are. My God is Fenrir,... but most know him from myths that involve the Silver's. While we used to be many, we are now few, which i feel you know how that feels. Considering how you are one of the last Blackwaters in this world!
Fenrir the wolf, or as the myths call him and his children were-wolf. Long ago before Haze beast, before cars, before guns, before sliced bread before the world began to record its history on paper Fenrir existed. While he always had a love of the forest, people feared to venture into it because of the wolves.
Fenrir had no fear of wolves, at least that is what we are told today. I think he just understood them, as they could often be seen running along the edges but never really approaching the settlements. But one day he choose to walk into the forest and seek them out.
The wolves were cautious of him at first, but sensing no malice from him they began to accept him into their family. He would visit daily and run, and as he began to improve and change he say the world in a new light. He didn't see the world as separated places for different races, but rather the world was one being and all were connected in someway.
As time went on Fenrir began to sense a connection with the wolves he ran along side. When they had fully accepted him into their family he began to learn their way of life, and he began to since the connection between them and the world around us. They hunted but never more than what was needed, they fought but rarely was it more than training. The more he felt the connect binding him to them, the more his body changed to better live beside them in harmony, till his body suddenly adjusted to it and gave him a newfound power.
This power was the power of change, but the change was a connection to both the human world and the world of wolves. That's the ability you saw, it gave him a body that could match a wolves strength/agility/power. It gave him the teeth to match their bite, the claws to match their scratches, and a roar to match their battle cry.
This is we're he became what they call a were-wolf, but this is not when he became a god. As he was not the only one effected by this connection between them. The wolves also experienced a change, but in a slightly different way. They began to grow in size some of them, while other began to transform into more human like beings. Which lead to what happen next, he found his mate.
Her name was Filtrian, and she embraced the connection like no other and her power showed it. Not only did her wolf form increase, but she was also able to change into a human form. Her human form was different though because not only did she have beautiful flawless skin, she also had an enhanced form that gave her near the same strength as her wolf form.
They lived together for many years, many centuries, many lifetimes. They got married and had children and grand children. They loved all of their family and enjoyed life. But the world around them didn't accept them, but feared them!
One family in particular feared them the most, they were the Silver family. Many today think that the were-wolves only weakness or way to kill them was to use silver, but in fact the only ones who learned a way to kill us WERE the Silvers. For how do you kill something faster, stronger, and more vicious then a human could ever become without some sort of power.
The Silvers learned to become stronger, they learned to become faster, and they learned to become more vicious. This is where our problems began, as this caused a rift between Fenrir and Filtrian.
As more people began to join the Silver family, Fenrir felt that if they cannot live in harmony with humans because of the Silvers then the Silvers had to go, and the humans should be ruled by them. But Filtrian thought differently because she believed humans were apart of them and sought to protect them instead of rule them, and this cost her everything she loved. This cost her the love of her family, and most of all it cost the love of her husband.
With each member of her family pulling away from her, her bond to them broke leaving her alone and separated. With the last bond being Fenrir, but as that bond broke as did she. Her tears running red as blood, pain broke everything she was as time stretched and the distance to her family increased. And this is where she took a new name, because she wasn't alone it seemed.
After a week of tears and blood, she felt the connection of the wolves once more coming from inside her. She discovered that she was pregnant once again, and again tears were brought to her eyes only different this time because her blood had turned black. This was because she had made one change since the wolves had abandoned her, she choose the bond of the world instead.
The name she choose became your family Motto i believe. That name she choose,... was Blackwater."