The rain hammered down like an anvil striking paper, turning the ground into a battlefield of mud. Heavy military boots struggled with every step, sinking into the sludge. "Alright!!! Cadets!!!" The General's booming voice cut through the storm. "You ladies and boy-ladies have survived today's training. Well done! You've earned yourselves a good rest."
The cadets began marching in formation, a line of soaked uniforms and weary bodies. "Thaurex! You stay!" the General barked.
"Yes, sir!" Thaurex shouted, snapping to attention as the rain continued to pour, washing away the mud caked to his skin.
The General took a step closer, squinting at him beneath the brim of his soaked hat. His voice lowered, weighted with suspicion. "What's your relationship with my daughter, son?"
"She is my comrade in arms, sir! And I would die for her, sir!" Thaurex answered without hesitation, his eyes locked forward.
The General grinned, though it was a hard smile that carried both pride and warning. "That's what I like to hear. And it better stay that way."
Thaurex held his salute until the General waved him off. As Thaurex jogged away through the mud, the General's eyes lingered on him, his expression shifting to something darker. "One day, I'll catch that sum'fe bih," the General muttered to himself, half a grin curling at the edge of his lips.
Thaurex entered the bunker, rainwater dripping from his hair and clothes. The inside was chaotic, filled with the shouts and laughter of cadets, voices rising like a storm of their own.
He paused at the sight of a female cadet in the middle of drying her long, golden hair. Her eyes were as piercing and bright as a summer sky, and her lips, painted a bold red, carried an icy undertone. Her uniform clung to her skin from the rain, accentuating her hourglass figure. She glanced up and locked eyes with Thaurex, her expression unreadable but sharp, as if sizing him up in that brief moment.