After 'Instructor Pain' finished his introductory speech, he had everyone form rows of fifty. Where we stood was going to be our permanent spot for the duration of our training.
At first, we were all instructed to begin with some stretches to limber up, which made a lot of sense. Afterwards we were to complete three sets of one hundred push ups in unison while taking a five minute break between sets. It was the same for crunches, squats, and jumping jacks.
I was utterly exhausted after that intense workout. Everyone else was feeling the same way as we all laid in our spots, soaked in sweat.
"You all look so pathetic lying down after a small warm up like that, hahaha!" Pain said as he laughed loudly.
"Did he just say warm up?" Brady who was next to me asked.
In an instant pain was standing over Brady, he reached down and pulled Brady to his feet by his hair.
"Oh yeah, I said warm up. Ya see this course behind me? Each of you will run through it before the day is over, and first up is lucky number you." Pain said with his face inching closer to Brady's until he was kissing distance away.
Pain then dropped Brady back onto the ground and walked to the front of the first row.
"Listen up weaklings, this obstacle course here is designed to enhance speed, reaction time, and range of motion. Everyone will run through it today but nobody will pass it. Now lets all line up!" Pain shouted.
After hours and hours of watching my peers fail the course, eventually my turn came around. I too ended up failing just as Pain predicted. I wanted so badly to prove that smug bastard wrong.
It dawned on me that it was nearing dusk, which meant that we had been here for the entire day. If that was the case, wouldn't normal classes already be finished? After the last person inevitably failed the course, Pain spoke again.
"That was your first taste of struggle, but worry not, this will become daily life for you as you get better and stronger. Now you have my permission to drag your sorry bones back to your dorms."
After bidding us farewell, Pain left. I looked over to Finn and Brady who looked to be in as sorry a state as I was. I wondered if we could just sleep on the cool dirt of the arena floor. I closed my eyes and tried not to focus on my aching limbs.
Suddenly I felt someone grab my shoulder, I opened my eyes to find Brady with an outstretched hand towards me.
"Come on brother, we all have nice comfy beds to get to," Brady said, looking down at me with a grin.
I took his hand as he hoisted me up, feeling the fatigue of my body starting to take affect. We made our way to Finn, who looked even worse than we did.
"Just leave me here to die boys, I wont last another six months of this." Finn said in a dramatic tone.
"To Hell you won't, the three of us are brothers now, we have to look out for each other. When one wants to quit, the others need to beat the sense back into him!" Brady yelled as he gave Finn a hard smack to the chest.
That was enough to make Finn get up as we then searched for the three girls from that morning. We weren't surprised to find them all laying down in a similar state as Finn. Instead of smacking Valerie though, Brady bent down and lifted her up.
"Both of you take one and we can drop them off outside of their portals, they are our sisters now after all." Brady said with a stoic look on his face.
We did as he instructed, with Finn taking Linda and Dana coming with me.
"Thank you, Jake," Dana said in a slurred voice, I could tell that she really was too exhausted to move.
The walk back was long, and we were given many weird looks from our peers, but that did not stop us.
Once we got to the dorm, we found a couch and sat all three of the girls onto it. We told one of the upper class-men girls what we did and she said she would take them to their rooms. While boys were allowed in the girls rooms, we felt weird about it this time.
Not long after that, we started seeing a few more of the guys carrying some of the girls inside. It seemed our actions had inspired the others to help out as well. There were even some girls carrying guys who were too exhausted.
As much as we wanted to stay and make sure everyone got in safely, we were far too tired and just wanted to get some sleep. As we trudged to our rooms, all I could think about was how noble Brady was in all of his actions. I was lucky to call someone like him as a brother.
We all took turns in the cold shower and promptly fell into our beds, dreading what would come the following morning.
.....
He watched as a boy struggled to carry an unconscious girl towards the H rank dorm. He smiled, it would be so easy. This was the first day after all, and there needed to be an 'initiation' of sorts.
The boy continued his efforts one step at a time while not even noticing that he was being followed. The stalker's smile grew wider as he waited, just a little while longer until they were in front of the dorm.
It took almost ten for the small boy to carry the girl the rest of the way. Finally he was within spitting distance of the dorm. He had made it, this girl would be in her own bed tonight and it was thanks to him. He wasn't as weak as everybody told him he was.
Just as the boy was about to reach the front steps, a strange sensation fell over him. His vision started to spiral as everything around him got twisted and the air became extremely thin. He must have lost his balance on his way up the stairs and became short of breath.
No, that wasn't it. He looked in horror as his vision settled on the ground beside him, it was his own body, severed at the neck. He had been decapitated, but by whom, and for what purpose?
Suddenly a figure obscured his vision as he saw the helpless girl being sliced apart in quite the cruel matter.
Before he faded out of consciousness for the final time, he made a wish to the universe that he would meet the girl again in his next life.
'Killing those weaklings was fun' he thought as he walked away from his handy work. It brought joy to his face as he thought of how fun it would be tomorrow night.