Their joyous and laughter was short-lived, now replaced with heavy breathing, a painful expression, and cold sweat dripping down their backs.
In gear that weighed about seventy pounds, they went ruck marching through the forest. For Ellia and Mike, they wore about 300 pounds of gear. Of course, they weren't carrying ordinary weights to achieve such a heavy amount.
It was the help of gravitation of magic assembled into a fabric chess plate.
The gravitational chest plate simply changed its gravitational pull to add more weight to the wearer. And, of course, this type of device was only used in training.
Ellia was feeling the slight dizziness because of it, but such things were all swept away when the queasiness of the actual training kicked in.
The march lasted to nightfall, with a total of five long hours.
The moment they stopped, James gave them a little break, about 30 minutes. Using the time given to them, the squad almost immediately closed their eyes and knocked themselves out.
The twelve hours they were training nonstop had taken a tremendous toll on their bodies. Even in their sleep, their limbs never stop shaking and constantly jerking randomly.
When 30 minutes was up, James woke everyone up, not even giving them a second more to rest. But waking up, everyone was met with the sight of their holy grail. It was their second meal.
Grabbing all the meat, they all started to chow down on their food.
While eating, they started to realize the reason why James was providing them with such a gross amount of food that they somehow always finish.
It was because of the calories they lost during the intense physical training. It was clear to say the food was the only thing keeping them alive.
James has been depriving them of sleep and rest, and with the other training, they were simply on the verge of death.
It wasn't an exaggeration if James had really also taken away their meals; everyone would start dropping like flies.
After the second meal and James had them perform a series of muscle workouts with the gravitational chest plates on.
It was pure hell for six hours straight in the darkness and in the cold. After that, they were sent back to the seashore for another round of training.
An hour of cardio was only it. Everyone's heads were scrambled; they all lost sensation of time.
Even if it was a long and hard hour, it was the most straightforward task they had all day.
Now they were given the task of swimming along the ocean shore for a total of 8 miles in just an hour. And all that had to be done beyond the blue line that separated the safe and the dangerous part of the shoreline.
Furthermore, beyond the blue line was anywhere from 80 feet deep or more.
"I-I can't swim…." Aerie spoke up weakly, her eyes half open and her legs trembling. "I-I'm scared…"
Her words were genuine; she indeed had an uncontrollable fear of the deep ocean. Not to mention she would have to be swimming above 80 feet of water.
"It's going to fine…." Ellia mumbled as she placed her hand on Aerie's shoulder and yanked her closer to herself.
"You are not okay right now," Ruth said with concern. "What kind of person would put someone through this?"
'I'm okay…' Ellia replied, her eyes on the verge of shutting from drowsiness. 'Didn't you say my granddaughter went through an experience that almost tore her armor off?'
"That's different…."
'Well, I can't let my own granddaughter outdo me like this….' Ellia said, unable to hear Ruth's words.
"…"
'It was her right arm, right? Because I still feel it inside my bones… The pain she has gone through. This is nothing.'
"Don't worry, Aerie… I'll be right beside you," Ellia said; taking Aerie's hand, she slowly walked into the seawater. Everyone else watched the two.
But as she was not in her right mind, Aerie shrieked and tried her very hardest to run away. But Ellia didn't let her go anywhere.
"I know you're scared and tired, but I'm also tired. You aren't the only one here, Aerie." Ellia spoke, clutching onto Aerie's small hands, looking at her seriously.
"Look around you. Everyone else is tired, scared, and afraid but there forcing themselves. You can also do it."
With an unrelenting look, Aerie nodded while gripping harder onto Ellia's hand.
Both Ellia and Aerie were the last ones to make their way to the blue line. Everyone else was swimming towards the blue line.
"C-cold…." Aerie's teeth chattered as she stepped foot into the cold seawater. But soon, they submerged underwater.
"Deep breaths, Aerie," Ellia calmly spoke as they back stroked towards the blue line.
Aerie was rather doing quite well. Having a calm mind and listening to Ellia's every word
Twenty minutes later, everything was at a standstill.
The moonlight reflected across the still ocean. The vast sea was quiet as a ghost. The only sound where the soft howling of the wind mixed the two's muffled breaths.
Everything seemed to be fine, both moving at a fine pace through the water. It was then a sudden burst of coughing broke the silence.
Stopping their paddling, Ellia and Aerie looked around with dazed expressions.
"Sounds like one of our squad members," Ellia said, looking back at Aerie. "Wait here."
Then letting go of the grip she had on Aerie, she started to float away.
Aerie quickly noticed and started frailing her body, splashing water everywhere as she began to sink underwater.
"Aerie!" Ellia shouted as she pulled Aerie back up to the surface.
"Don't leave me… I'm scared…." Aerie murmured as she clung to Ellia.
"Aerie…" Ellia patted Aerie's wet head. "Someone is going to drown if I don't do anything. By holding onto me, you're also killing them."
"I-I'm killing them?" Aerie backed her head in horror. Without her sanity, Aerie thought she was literally killing them.
"F-fine… go," Aerie spoke with a little reluctance.
"I'll be back as fast as possible," Ellia said, seeing Aerie finally release her grip.
Then turning around, Ellia began swimming toward the general location of the coughing she had heard not too long ago.
Watching Ellia leave, Aerie's heart trembled.
'Alone… I'm alone again.' Dark and wretched thoughts started to haunt her mind.
"Come back…" Aerie softly cried.