The Bronx, New York.
"Fuuuuuuucckkk"
Time is something that not everybody gets the hang of, especially for this Idiot whom is the embodiment of "doesn't give a fuck about time". It's a miracle he graduated from the junior Gregor class.
The Gregor class is a class of warriors who are under training. The training class ranges from the Sherman class, which is the first stage, also called Initial selection. This stage is when kids are picked ranging from age 5 – 7. It's where they are train on basic offensive and defensive techniques in hand to hand combat. They graduate to Junior Gregor when they reach thirteen, while the ones who couldn't keep up gets dropped.
The Junior Gregor class is where they learn the basics of weapons training. Here they pick the weapons of their choice and train Judiciously on it. Most people pick guns, daggers, and stuff like that. Only a few goes for older generation weapons like swords, rapiers and arrows. They graduate at the age of seventeen. After which they graduate to the Senior Gregor class.
After freshening up Theo got dressed in a grey sweater and jogger bottoms that match. Getting out of his apartment, he hailed a cab, tossed the driver a twenty.
"Manhattan, fast"
"…"
"please!"
"That's more like it chump"
After a journey that seemed like forever, the cab stopped in a building that seemed to be ten thousand years old. Heading to the large double doors at the end of the short flight of steps, he paused for some reason. This was it, his first step to becoming something more than just another human. After today he's gonna be so much more.
"Hate to break it to ya chump, but If u don't go inside right now, you're prob'ly not getting inaugurated".
Flipping his head, he sees a legacy tattoo of a bird with four heads on the taxi driver's neck.
Winking at him the driver zooms off, leaving Theo to his thoughts again. Pushing the door open, he walks inside, steps through the foyer, and that's where the grandeur hits his face.
In front was the foyer was a large living area with a chandelier the size of a small Toyota, behind that was a set of stairs, one on the left, other on the right, leading to another floor. Upstairs, in between the left and right stairs was another large door.
Heading upstairs was a struggle with his nerves, as a matter of fact an all-out war. Getting to the front of the door, he pushed with all the confidence he could muster… This was it.
In the room were people his age and a bit older, the walls were golden yellow with what looked like black doves on it flying around. The people, or students apparently, were sitting in rows.
Scanning the room, he hoped HE got the letter too_ and there he was, the He in question. Another idiot with black messy hair, sleepy eyes too uninterested in whatever shit was going down, but that was probably his normal face. Sensing the overexcited stare behind him, Bo turned around, waved Theo over, then turned back like he wasn't interested at all. Theo walked over to the seat left for him by Bo.
"You're late asshole", Bo scoffed. "Did you oversleep again?". On Bo's lap was a large object-mm wrapped in bandages. Speaking of which Theo was with a Japanese style katana in a black bag across his back. "No…yes…maybe, I dunno bro" he mumbled
"Attention degenerates of this modern generation"
A giant of a man stood at the makeshift stage in front of the room. He had blond hair tied in a ponytail, and had what you'd call a beautiful face. He had deep blue eyes and tattoo of thorns running up the right side of his neck and ending right under his ear. He wore a white long sleeve shirt, bright blue pants and a pair of black loafers with golden flower designs.
"Starting today you all will be official members of the army, so you'd do well to wake up from your fantasies of honor and grandeur, because that ain't gonna happen. Eighty percent of you are probably gonna die before you actually reach the Arthur class, fifteen percent on their first mission in the Arthur class, and only five percent would thrive there." Hearing that, the students started murmuring. The blondie on the stage smiled, seeming to have accomplished his intention of scaring them. "Damn, these people are just pussies, aren't they, Theo" Bo said nudging the petrified Theo by his side.
The truth was that most if not all of them new they were possibly going to die during missions.
The blondie stepped back from the stage and went to the set of chairs next to the steps at the end of the stage, just as he sat down, a clearly older looking man got up, and headed to the podium.
Unlike the other guy, this one was fiercer looking. He had a scar running across the bridge of his nose, and two vicious scars running from the top of his hairline down to just below his left eye. He had long, wavy mahogany hair and reddish-brown eyes, and a dark brown bushy beard with white streaks along the side and edges. He wore a dark brown leather jacket, with a shirt inside that was a lighter shade of brown. He had black pants on, which was tucked at the ends into two heavy brown boots.
"ladies and gentlemen" his voice was deep, but gentle like that of a father's.
"I humbly congratulate you all on reaching this part of your journey. It wasn't easy and I hope you continue to grow as soldiers and warriors. You see, my colleague's words are true. Some of you won't make it past the next stage, and I know you here this every time you graduate, but I assure you, this is where shit gets real. The pain we suffered and endured to get to where we are now wasn't something just anybody could do. You will have to go through shit that could potentially traumatize you. We know this because we've seen it firsthand and it wasn't pretty. We just hope you all will do well to make us proud.", with that he left the podium a went back to his seat.
Another person who was plainer looking, with a black suit and black loafer walked up to the podium with papers, and I mean a lot of them.
"Now, I would be calling your names. If your name is called, kindly follow Ceri here through that door to get your weapons engraved." Just then Ceri, a figure hunched over with a raggedy robe, stepped forward.
"Mathew Dane" as the name was called a tall lanky guy with green short hair, pale skin and dark eye shadows walked towards the front and stood in front of Ceri. He had in his hands a sheath with two daggers in them.
As other names were called Theo and Bo got excited with each passing second. Until. "Bernardo Santo" Bo got up with his bandaged rod. He had an evil grin for some reason. Or maybe that's just how he smiles. "Theodore Blaine" Theo got up from his seat with shaky legs. His ascent to the stage felt like it took forever, when he got by his best friends side, he gave him a confident grin and Bo replied likewise. After all the names were called, Ceri carried them through another set of thick double doors. A glance back at the two men that spoke prior to the announcer and Theo could see a grim expression on the face of the older looking one.
'I wonder what's that about'
Through the double doors and down a narrow hall way they walked. Everybody was awfully quiet. Maybe it was because of the creepy hallway or Ceri's aura.
Reaching the end of the hallway was a door, old and it looked like it was on its last legs. Walking through the door, the candidates saw multiple curtains, behind those were probably hospital beds. In total there was about ten of them. This put all the candidates on guard. 'Does this have anything to do with that guy's look' Theo thought, remembering the scarred speaker.
"This is your final test". Ceri's voice jerked them back to reality. His, her, its… the voice didn't sound human at all. It was shrill and high pitched. "You all are not even half strong enough to keep up, or even kill a vampire not talk of a hex, and your magic resistance is really shitty. Therefore before you all get your engraving; you will have to pass a test. It may very well kill you. Only the strongest of you will make it.".Just then out of each curtain, a person with a robe came out."Ten at a time, you will all take your shots. After which those of you who survived will follow me to get your engraving". With that said, all the candidates were lined in front of each curtain.
The first candidate to go in was a boy, who looked like he just stepped on a mine. Two minutes later, screams erupted from behind the curtain. It lasted for ten minutes before everywhere went dead silent.
A hand stuck out of the curtain, signaling for the two guards by the side of the door to come over. They hauled out the dead body of the boy out into a small door at the end of the room.
The body was mingled and dried up.