The soldiers entered a large opening with a large, wooden stage at the center of it. Standing atop the stage was a man with platinum hair, azure eyes and a muscular but lean physique. He looked relaxed, closing his eyes and enjoying the ambience around him. As the small army arrived, he opened his eyes to look at all the young, aspiring soldiers. Wordlessly, they all got into an organized formation, splitting off into ranks and files.
"We salute the Chief General of Invictus, Adam Dreshet!"
All the trainees shouted in unison out of respect for the great man. Adam chuckled at the sight.
"At ease, soldiers. It brings me great joy to see you all so excited for the announcement today" he began. "Don't worry, today's announcement will be short. In response to the growing threat of the Arxians, especially after they had successfully breached Elinora's Stand last year, we will be launching a specialized program for the older ones and a new one for the younger ones. All your Sergeants are to be relieved of their duty and replaced with new ones for the new training." Adam said as from behind the flat, wooden stage appeared the new Drill Sergeants that would be in charge of the younger trainees.
They all looked hardened from harsh experiences of war, but what set them apart were bestial markings that carved deep in their flesh. "Sergeants Dean, Maverick, Castel, Joaqim and Havier, you are relieved of your duties and may retire to your families or continue to serve"
The Sergeants saluted, their eyes burning with no such desire to rest.
"Your new Drill Sergeants: Terril, Vecrom, Julius, Smith and Quincey will now take you back to Invictus" all the new Sergeants went to their new batch of trainees and walked off into the jungle's thickets. All that was left were the oldest, numbering less than a hundred of the small army that was initially here.
Shane's heart was ignited with curiosity and intrigue. What was this new program? Patiently, he waited for Adam to finish now that all the others had left.
"For you, our eldest, we have a special announcement for you. As you are to graduate next year from Military school, you lot will be our newest batch in the war against the terrible, vile Arxians. You have been chosen for a specialist program where guerilla warfare is the primary focus. You will be taught by the most hardened veteran soldiers, all professionals at guerilla warfare and of significant renown" Adam paused to let the trainees absorb the new information.
"You all will be split off into groups of four to be trained by the new Instructors. The small number ensures that the Instructor can focus solely on the four and make them as deadly as possible. The small unit also allows for a more agile and stealthy approach to the war. The reason behind this sudden change is simple: the Arxians are getting closer, bolder in their actions and we have reason to believe they are setting up mines, collecting resources to build a super weapon capable of wiping out humanity".
The air grew grim, a new resolve formed inside the hearts of all the trainees.
'A new super weapon?' Shane could only imagine what sort of weapon could be capable of such slaughter.
It was impossible…but he had heard of cataclysmic weapons of the past. Legend told of a bomb that could level mountains, poison the soil and the souls of all who were near. Shane shivered at the thought.
"And the last thing" Shane refocused on Adam's announcement, he had accidentally zoned out and missed a portion of it. 'Crap'. "As you may or may not have heard, Duncan Callahan has been recently released from prison" a couple of murmurs broke out from the crowd. "He has done his time and served Humanity well, I hope that you all can find it within yourselves to see this. In an act of selflessness and to atone, Duncan has volunteered to be one of the new Sergeants in charge of a lucky squadron" Adam smiled. "For those lucky four, you will be taught by the legendary Storm General himself! He has an eccentric personality, so I wish you the best. Now, you may talk amongst yourselves while the Sergeants and I discuss the squadron selection" Adam jumped off to the back of the stage, out of ear shot and out of sight.
The trainees erupted into chatter.
"Guerilla warfare? What's that?"
"Duncan…that bastard!"
"The Arxians are creating a weapon?"
"How dare they!"
Some erupted into angry shouting, others just muttered to one another. An incoherent storm of questions and theories blew throughout the area.
"Settle down" a cool, authoritative voice cut through the storm. "Everything will be solved in time. We're soldiers, not children" A tall, lithe, boy with black curly hair and piercing indigo eyes stood above the crowds. "And besides" he looked over the rest of the other trainees like a bird of prey. "We wouldn't want to disclose any information to the enemy…" his eyes stopped dead at Shane.
'W-what!' Shane froze from the sudden onlook of gazes. But they weren't looking at him. Shane looked over his shoulder, at the target of their ire.
Veronica glared at the tall boy in defiance. "Keep talking William, we'll see how this ends" her threat was clear.
"Oh…we would, wouldn't we?" William tilted his head, looking down at her smugly.
Veronica grit her teeth and clenched her fists, It looked like she was about ready to go ballistic.
William, the golden child of Invictus. Hard working, good looking, good at everything he does. It was no surprise that everyone liked him, afterall, he was the hope of Invictus! The one who would become the next hero! All his peers looked up to him and all the younger ones aspired to become like him, heck, even Shane somewhat admired him…but there was just one thing about him that made Shane dislike him. It was his callous cruelty.
In his childhood, Shane and William had been good friends, but after that day, William changed. He and Shane never hung out anymore and instead, William would tirelessly train day in and day out. In his free time, however, he would torment the local Arxian of Invictus. Whenever Veronica got into a fight, he would always be near, a vengeful light in his eyes.
"Come on William, don't be like this" Shane spoke out against him.
William's gaze snapped on to Shane, his eyes burrowing into his soul. "Are you sympathizing with the enemy, Fletcher?"
Shane slightly shrunk.
"Because if you are, then you will be treated like one" William made his warning crystal clear.
The remaining trainees gathered around William, backing him up.
"Yeah Shane, what's the big deal?"
"You're one of us, don't go sympathizing with the enemy!"
"I thought you were better than this".
"Why are you sticking up for that monster?"
Shane's previous decisiveness and confidence started to wither with the onslaught of judgment from his peers. "W-what? No! Of course not-" he stumbled over his words. "It's just-" Shane was cut off, saved by a singular hot and fresh potato wedge that whistled through the air, landing perfectly on William's cheek.
William snarled as he craned his neck towards the direction of where the wedge was thrown.
Sitting atop the tree branches, legs swinging nonchalantly off the branches and eating a bag full of hot, fresh potato wedges, was a boy with platinum hair and azure eyes.
"Oops, must have dropped it" the boy sarcastically smiled as he was thirty feet away.
William clenched his jaw and forced a synthetic smile. "Ah…good morning, Michael".
Michael smacked his lips, eating two or three more wedges. "So, what's the big deal, Will? Didja get bored or something? I mean, you've been harassing her for years and yeah, she's an Arxian, I get it, but what about the good Lady Varcossia?".
"Boredom has nothing to do with it" William replied, furrowing his brow and turning to look directly at Veronica. "It is just typically unwise to vocalize private military plans with the enemy around".
Veronica grit her teeth.
"And please, do not speak of Lady Varcossia's sacred name so lightly -Elinora embrace her spirit- her legacy has already been stained after birthing this…abomination".
A burst of movement exploded from beside Shane. In an instant, Veronica had closed the distance between her and William. Veronica's fist jetted forward at breakneck speeds towards William's flawless, peach cheek. A resounding boom of flesh hitting flesh echoed around the crowd of trainees. When everybody finally realized what happened, they saw Veronica's white knuckled fist, tightly wrapped by William's hand.
An invisible struggle happened between the two as Veronica pushed forward in murderous hopes of inflicting a wound on the bastard, but was unpleasantly annoyed when she found out she could not move an inch. William on the other hand, was trying to push the fist away but found himself unable. Keeping a cool look on his face, William hid the fact that he was struggling.
"Are you done?" He gave Veronica an unamused stare. "How much longer will I have to deal with another one of your temper tantrums?"
A murderous light glinted in Veronica's eye as she reversed her force, pulling William to her. She reared her head back and gave William a bone crunching headbutt.
William's face contorted in pain as he delivered a blow of his own. Almost as quickly as he was hit, William grabbed Veronica by the throat and slammed her to the ground. "You putrid whore!"
The sudden explosion of violence took Shane by surprise. How did things devolve so quickly? He ran to intercept the two but before he could, Michael had suddenly appeared before William, who currently had Veronica's throat in his hand and pressing her to the floor. Wordlessly, he kicked William's arm away, freeing Veronica. As soon as she was freed, she pounced on William, or at least she would have if she could breathe. Veronica had now found herself unable to take a single gasp of air.
As she lost consciousness, Shane caught her.
Michael ignored Shane, walking towards William. "You know infighting is prohibited, right?" he tilted his head and stared at William, totally taciturn. "Imagine if father got word that you, our golden boy, was seen inciting violence".
William's face turned dour. "That rule is only in place for humans, Michael" his face looked fearsome with blood dripping down his chin. "That animal is lucky we even gave her shelter here, let alone pretend she's one of us".
"Yeah I don't really care" Michael threw another potato wedge at William, who took it with hidden rage. "Just get your ugly face cleaned and let's pretend this never happened, I can hear father almost getting done".
Silently, William walked away, languid in his steps.
The small crowd of trainees surrounding the three disbursed as William left, mumbling to themselves about what had just happened.
"Thanks, Michael, things could have turned really bad if not for you" Shane smiled, getting a confused look from Michael.
"Um…sorry but, who are you? Have we met?".
Internally, Shane slapped his forehead.
Michael Dreshet, son of Adam Dreshet, was only like his father in his power and natural talent, otherwise, he was the complete opposite. Airheaded like the element he controlled, Michael was listless, lazy and always goofing off.
"It-its nothing" Shane laughed it off. "My name's Shane Fletcher, thank you for helping me and Veronica out" Shane reintroduced himself, even though they had already met multiple times in the past.
Michael gave Shane a dry smile. "Yeah, no problem. Oh, and you might want to put her down" he advised Shane.
Veronica's body sluggishly moved, slowly coming back to its senses. Quickly, Shane put her down gently and took a step back. Veronica opened her eyes and groaned as she put a hand to her head.
"What the-" she jumped up, eyes fierce and sporadically looking everywhere. "Where is he!"
"Relax, he's gone" Shane tried to calm her down. "Michael dealt with it".
Veronica's expression grew furious as she glared at Michael, but surprisingly, she closed her eyes and breathed in and out rhythmically, her expression softening. "Thanks" she forced out, walking back to where she was originally.
Michael and Shane looked at each other, stupefied. "Well, that was unexpected" Michael raised an eyebrow, then turned to look at the stage. "Ah well, seems like fun time's over".
As if on cue, a light tap could be heard from the stage as Adam jumped up from behind it, landing in the center. "Sorry for the wait, everyone, the squadrons have been formed and will now be revealed." Adam announced as a line of hardened army veterans appeared from behind the stage. The air around the area became thick and hard to breathe, the trainees looked up in awe as they slowly recognized who each and every one of these legendary soldiers were.
'Jozlyne Marias! Omar Ozturk! Benedine Riley!' Shane's eyes widened, recognizing few among many of the old, seasoned warriors.
"I'm sure you all know of their names, reputation and feats, that saves me from having to introduce them. I would like to apologize as one of them is missing, you should be able to guess who exactly" Adam smiled. "But it's fine, his presence isn't mandatory". Adam turned to face the new instructors, giving them a hidden message. In unison, all the new Instructors saluted Adam and leapt off the stage, running into the jungle and vanishing.
The trainees were all confused.
"I will now be handing out letters with instructions on them. These instructions will help you to find your Instructor" Adam said, his voice confident and sure as he threw all of the letters into the air. As the white pieces of paper fell gracelessly, they began to flutter as a gentle wind blew through the air, stirring the letters into a cyclone of white.
The cyclone spread out, encompassing all the trainee soldiers. Shane stared wide eyed, the sight of it was mesmerizing. He outstretched his hand and like a beautiful white butterfly landing on his fingertips, the white letter slipped perfectly in between his fingers. The spectacle only lasted a couple of seconds as gradually, the white spiral died down, growing less and less in numbers until only a gentle breeze remained.
"Your training begins now, you are expected to finish by the end of today and if you don't make it, you fail. Good luck!" The trees rustled as a strong gust blew through the area, causing all the trainees to wince. When they looked back up at the stage, Adam was gone and they were all left alone in the depths of the lush, life abundant jungle.