It was early morning and the sun was just beginning to rise above the plains as Shourya had finally reached the northern bastion. He looked up at the long queue of people who had all arrived as well. Today was the last day that people could join here. Unlike what someone would expect, thousands of people had flocked to join the journey. This was for potential wealth and fame, or some just wanted a fresh start and to be a part of something new.
Joining the rapidly moving queue, he soon found himself in front of the bastion itself. The gateway had been converted into a checkpoint as well as a registry point. In front of it were ten desks, each with an official as well as a soldier.
The person at the seventh table had just finished and walked inside, then someone yelled, "Next!"
Not pausing for a second, Shourya walked over to the table, The official looked up at him for a second. Then seemingly out of courtesy more than anything else asked, "Can you write?" He didn't for a reply assuming it to be a no and had already grabbed a fresh piece of paper and a pen.
Shourya however to the surprise of the official as well as the guard next to him replied. "Yes, I can write. So if you would please pass me the paper I would be most grateful." The official did not seem to be responding, so after waiting for a few minutes Shourya grabbed the paper and the pen from him, then recoded down all of the information that was required. It was simple really. It needed your name, age, profession, and if you have had any military experience.
He filled it with what he had done with at the village, so his profession was one of a farmer, when he reached military experience he hovered over it for a second, then ticked it. Indicated that he had, though he didn't write down what he did. Once he had finished the form, he passed it up to the soldier who had a quick look through it, though he stopped for a second at the part for military experience. He looked at Shourya questioningly but did not ask anything. Then he passed the form back to him and said, "Go through the gateway and follow the directions. You will need to pass a medical test before you can be allowed to join the expedition."
Shourya nodded at the orders, and while grasping onto the paper, he walked through the gateway into the bastion itself. In the courtyard, where Pavitra had done her speech previously, he saw someone indicated for where he had to go. Following this, he soon found himself in another queue. This one moved a lot slower though. No one said a word, apart from the few people who seemed to already know each other.
Feeling bored, Shourya looked around. He quickly was able to notice that there were a lot of soldiers watching them all carefully. Most of whom were archers, and their bows were already out in the hands. It seemed like no form of conflict would be tolerated. Soon enough he reached the front of the queue. He waited outside of a closed door for a good five minutes before someone yelled for him to enter the room.
Opening the door, and then closing it after himself. He found that there were three other people in the room apart from him and that there were two doors through which he could leave through.
He first walked over to the desk where a doctor was indicating for him, to hand over his piece of paper giving out the details. Seeing that he had military experience, the doctor looked up and asked, "You should know how this goes right? But just to be sure that you do. The mage over though will check your body for any internal injuries, which if any are found you will be disqualified, then he will check for external injuries, which as you can guess if any are found, you will be disqualified. Then with the nurse, you will go for a basic cognitive test to make sure that your brain is working perfectly fine as well as undergoing an eye test for obvious reasons. As long as you pass everything, you will go out of the last door where you will be assigned to one of the various groups. Understand?"
Shourya just nodded then walked over to the mage first. Sitting in the seat like he was indicated to do, the mage then put his hands on to the back of Shourya's head and on top of his chest. Then he slowly chanted and cast a spell of observation. Soon enough the mage nodded his head and then, started to mutter again and soon enough cast another spell. Once he had finished checking over Shourya he looked up at the doctor and just nodded his head. The doctor seeing this ticked a few more boxes on another piece of paper. Then looked back as Shourya began to undergo the cognitive test.
It was fairly simple, just having him stand up with his eyes closed and turn his palms upwards. Then he had to walk forward straight, which he did perfectly fine. Then he had to sit down on a chair and read the writing off of the fair side of the wall, which he was able to do perfectly fine as well. Then after being asked a few more questions such as had he been ill with any kind of serious disease which he replied that he hadn't. Shourya was handed his original piece of paper as well as another form. Then he was let off the door to the left.
Stepping through this door which was soon closed behind himself, Shourya found himself in a long hallway. In which he quickly walked down and through and after passing through another set of doors, found himself in front of multiple desks. He walked up to the first one which was empty and had just the official sitting behind it. He quickly passed over his documents in which the official had a quick look over and read through.
Then he looked up, "So Shourya, I can put you into the agricultural group, or I can assign you to the militia which once we have settled will have the chance to progress and be made into actual soldiers. As you haven't filled out your job in the military though, I ask you to tell me now as it is needed for the full process."
Shourya stood there for a second, thinking. His frown was obvious and showed his discomfort at the job that he did. The official just thought he was some kind of cleaner or another more basic job like that. Then Shourya having made up his mind put back on his slightly smiling face and replied. "I was an officer cadet and graduated as a lieutenant in a front-line combat regiment."
The official just looked up in surprise for a second, before noting down what he had been told. Then as he looked back up, "You will probably be assigned a leadership role in the militia then."
Then as he told Shourya to move on, he called a scribe and told them to give the form to one of the higher-ups, to look at.
Shourya himself though did not know any of this and walked into a large dining hall, where people had been placed to wait for someone to take them to a different section. He quickly found himself a place to sit down away from the majority of people and just waited.
Meanwhile, his form and quickly made its way through the senior officials and had reached the hands of the military intelligence who were trying to investigate just who exactly he was. As they were furiously working through old records of the academy, searching for his name and to find out where he had come from.
It was at this point when Pavitra walked into the room and saw them all working away, Feeling curious as to what had gotten them all so worked up, she looked over at the officer who was in charge of the team and asked, "What are you all doing?"
The officer didn't look up or even reply as he read through another document. He just pointed to the table where two pieces of paper had been laid. Looking over she first found the medical form which showed that the person was male and in seemingly perfect health. Not finding anything wrong with it she looked to the form underneath and saw the current job title, the age, and the military experience. Seeing what it was finally allowed her to understand what had gotten them all worked up.
Even more curious she moved the stand which was covering the name, as she read it, she froze.
She muttered, "It can't be…"
Then she sprinted out of the door, to the surprise of all of the intelligence officials in the room.
One said to no one in particular, "Does she know something that we don't?"