It was currently only a few moments before three in the morning. Everyone was slumbering peacefully with not a worry on any of their faces, though that wouldn't last for very long. The clock struck three and a loud alarm could be heard above them as the lights turned on. They all shot up in their cots, confused and surprised by this. Quinn appeared from a portal in the ground as the alarms stopped sounding.
"Get up, you pathetic sacks of shit," she boomed, looking around at all of the men. "You all don't deserve to get a proper night's rest for a long while. Not so long as you're acting as immature as you had been yesterday in the canteen!" She walked over to Leon who was getting dressed, like all the others. "Leon Kallis!"
Even though he had only managed to get on his pants, he stood tall as his name was called out. "Yes, ma'am."
"You initiated an altercation against your fellow recruits yesterday, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am-" As he spoke, he felt a heavy blow to his stomach. Quinn had punched him without hesitation.
"That was a rhetorical question. I gave you a test and you failed, Kallis." Quickly and effortlessly, Quinn pressed her hand down on Leon's shoulder, dropping him to the ground, and took him by his neck. A portal appeared on the floor which Quinn shoved his face into, though keeping his ears out of it. Currently, the portal had Leon's face in the ocean depths, more specifically, in shark-infested water. "Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't send you out there as chum, Kallis." She pulled his head back out and as he was about to attempt to speak, she shoved his face back down through the portal. The sharks were starting to get closer to him with one opening its jaw wide, preparing to take a bite out of him, but before it could, Quinn pulled his face back out and released her hold on him, the portal soon closing as well.
Leon struggled for breath, coughing up seawater for a few moments before looking up at her. "It won't happen again, ma'am! I swear!"
While he was still trying to pick himself back up and regain his bearings, Quinn took a remote out from her pocket, pressing a button on it that raised the divider separating the men and women.
"Everyone here, no matter their reason for joining, has willingly decided to come here. There is no draft, this isn't a requirement by any of your nation's governments, this was purely your own decision. And with that being said, you're all here as recruits. None of you are better than the other, none of you are worse than the other. You all are at the bottom of the barrel together, and so I expect to see some proper comradery between each other, even if you despise the other person. Look around the room. All of you are family for the next three years, which means that I expect you to be acting like family. Picking each other up when needed, giving proper critiques when I, myself, am not present, giving your fellow recruits morale boosts when they need them. Things of that nature. What I will not tolerate is childish, immature acts towards one another, or acts with ill intent towards one another. I follow a two-strike system. I give you one chance to correct yourselves and if you fail to do so, I will have you kicked out of Eden and ensure that it permanently stains your record so long as you live. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am," were the next two words to come out of everybody's mouth once Quinn asked that question.
"Good. Now, all of you finish getting ready and head for the canteen. You'll have thirty minutes to eat before training begins. File out."
Soma and the others began to walk out of the room with all of the others. This certainly was one way to start the day, that was for sure.
After a quiet breakfast for every one of the recruits, they were currently running outside, doing laps around the island with Quinn leading them. Today was her assessment of where they all stood in terms of both physical status and intelligence. The Takaharan trio always led the pack no matter what the assessment was about, however, their placements varied depending on what it was. For the one's demanding speed and agility, Soma was on top. For the one's demanding strength, Kiba easily took the cake there. Hifumi consistently was ranked second in the three aforementioned assessments, but she was number one regarding tests of endurance and explosiveness. Galen however, was always in the middle of the pack for everything, not being better than the average recruit at any assessment. Though that wasn't to say he wasn't doing well, it was simply that inhuman feats being done by the Soma, Kiba, and Hifumi were impossible to compare to.
Now, Quinn had them all out in the Garden, the forest on the island, but more specifically, in a small arena. She claimed that it would be the last physical thing they'd be doing today, and that was a combat assessment of each of them.
"Listen up," she began. "This last assessment will be nice and simple, so even you dumbasses should be able to understand. Each of you will be taking turns sparring against me in hand-to-hand combat. We will be having it in the circle here with everybody who's participated in the stands on one end, while those waiting to participate will be in the opposing stands. You can choose any order and do whatever you think it takes to get me out of the ring. Anyone who manages to beat me can decide on a full's day worth of training in the future, though it's not like it'd be happening anyway." Quinn grinned as she waited for them to all get themselves prepared, before stepping into the ring for the incoming fights.
"I'm going first," Kiba said to all of the other recruits. "And once I win, I'm making sure all of you losers are put through the wringer tomorrow." He smirked as he palmed his fist and walked into the ring, standing across from Quinn. "Hope you don't mind me taking you down right away, ma'am. Though don't worry. I'll be polite about it."
"Whatever you say, Blondie." She simply just stood there, not even attempting to put up any sort of guard.
Kiba sprinted in, feinting an overhand with his right hand, using the momentum that brought him low in order to shoot up an uppercut with his left. Quinn caught the punch, but it was very audible in how intense that hit just was. The sound on impact was almost like thunder in the night. Quinn, pulled him down, colliding his chest with her knee, sending him back across the ring. Kiba was barely able to stop himself before his feet slid past the white-painted circle. The force of that simple hit was more than anyone had hit with him in the past.
"Well shit," Kiba said with an impressed tone. "Wasn't expecting that. Yo Soma, catch." He took off his sunglasses and tossed them over to his friend. Now, Kiba's eyes could be properly seen for the first time by everybody. It was the same kind of eyes a blind person would have. Kiba hopped up and down before dashing back in, his movements much quicker and controlled. However, his punches still weren't landing. Quinn deflected each one of them and once her heels were touching the edge of the white ring, she took hold of the teen's wrist and flung him out of the circle, spelling his defeat.
Everyone was left in absolute awe at how easily Quinn managed to take Kiba down. Every hit he threw could easily knock a bull unconscious, and yet, she stopped him at every turn.
"Dibs," Soma spoke up, a grin on his face. He walked over and gave Kiba back his sunglasses, before stepping into the ring himself. He readied himself for combat as Quinn once again just stood there.
"Bring it, shortstack." Once Quinn said that, Soma sprinted in at speeds that were barely even registered by the human eye, yet the boy's attempted drop kick was effortlessly ducked by the woman who took hold of his leg and threw him across the ring. He recovered by slamming his hand into the ground and then launched himself back at her. The moment he grew close, Soma dropped down to try and sweep Quinn's legs from beneath her, but she jumped above it and went to kick him away. Thankfully though, Soma was able to dodge out of the way but kept the distance close and took hold of her wrist, where he feinted a knee to her abdomen and then landed an elbow on her cheek, managing to cut her. Immediately, Quinn grew visibly annoyed and put more effort into her actions. She broke out of Soma's hold and spun him around, where she then picked him up by his shirt, slammed him to the ground, and tossed him out of the ring.
Soma stayed down for a moment, surprised by how quickly he just lost, before standing up and pointing at Kiba.
"I beat you!" He said in a triumphant voice. "I actually landed a hit on her."
"You still got your ass handed to you faster," Kiba retorted, but Soma just shrugged.
"Quality over quantity, my friend."
"Enough chatter!" Quinn said, interrupting their conversation. The annoyance in her voice was clear to hear. "Next brat step in." And so time passed, with nobody managing to get even the slightest chance of hitting Quinn. The closest anyone else had gotten was Hifumi who just barely missed a heel kick to the side of the woman's head.
Once everybody was defeated, Quinn led them all inside the Tower and down to what appeared to be a lecture hall. This would be where the intelligence portion of her assessments would take place, though this wouldn't take nearly as long as the physical part. She explained that the first test would take around an hour and a half and would cover all basic studies, while the second test would be an IQ test.
In both sections, Galen was ranked as number one. He was the only person to earn a perfect score on the regular test and then had a 187 for his IQ. That had been the highest recorded IQ since Eden's creation. Now this also meant that each of the four friends had been the top-ranked in at least one section of these assessments. Soma for speed and agility, Kiba for strength, Hifumi for endurance and explosiveness, then Galen for intelligence.
With that being said, Quinn then explained how the average day will be structured. After waking up and eating breakfast, they would do calisthenic training. Next would be a trial of some variety, before ending off the day with general studies. Since they were still young and teenagers, it was required to have a proper education. When that's all said and done, they get free time for around three hours before lights out to do whatever they so choose, so long as they don't go into unrestricted areas of course.
With everything having been properly explained, Quinn walked out of the lecture hall, dismissing the recruits for today.
Soma and the other three, made their way to the canteen to eat a long-awaited meal. They all had the same dishes they had the day prior. While they ate, Galen snuck a look over at Kiba, who had his sunglasses back on his face. He had put them back on almost immediately after his sparring session with Quinn. Kiba took notice of the glance and looked at Galen.
"Something up?" he asked the boy in a curious tone.
"It's nothing," Galen said dismissively. "Don't worry about it."
"Well if you go saying that, then that's only gonna make me wanna know more. So go ahead and tell me." As he waited for a response, Kiba stuffed his face with multiple fries at once.
"It's just- your eyes. They looked kind of like how blind people's eyes look."
"Oh, that. Well yeah. I got blind eyes 'cause I'm blind. Ever since birth."
"Huh?!" That answer left Galen completely bewildered. Just how in the world could he be doing all that he's doing while blind? "But, you act as if you've got perfect vision."
"Oh, 'cause I do. I can see way better than the regular dude even with these glasses on.
The more Kiba spoke, the more confused Galen grew. He was blind but also had better vision than normal people? Just how does that make any sense? Hifumi quickly noticed Galen's mind going a mile a minute and interjected in order to clear up the air.
"What he means," she began. "Is that he's actually blind, but he was granted his vision. So on paper and by looking at his eyes, he is blind, but in reality, he can see way better than just about every person on Earth." Going off of Galen's face, it was clear that he still hadn't grasped it fully.
"Let me explain it myself," Kiba said before clearing his throat. "Like I said, ever since I was born, I hadn't been able to see. For whatever reason, I was born blind. It was so rough that even my parents didn't want me, so I was tossed into an orphanage and abandoned. I stayed there for the first couple years of my life before an old couple came in, and despite their age, they were somehow able to adopt me. That's when I went to Kukoshi Village and met Soma and Hifumi not too long after. Soma had forced my parents to let me play with him after repeated attempts. Even though I was blind, he didn't care and made sure I didn't feel down about it a single time." Kiba stopped the story for a moment as he smiled to himself.
"And then soon after, he introduced me to Hifumi who was a year older than the both of us. From there, the three of us got close and haven't been more than a few days apart since. But anyway, getting back on track, it was my seventh birthday when things changed with my sight. Soma had been wanting to sneak off and go into the creek nearby and kept begging me to join him, so I did. When we had gotten there, they had apparently changed up the way the rocks along the creek were placed, and I hadn't realized until I tripped over one, scraping my leg up pretty damn bad. When Soma realized, he started freaking out and tried to figure out a way to stop the bleeding, but nothing was working. That's when I heard a new voice. One I'd never heard before. This man asked what was wrong and after Soma explained it, the man handed him a green stone, claiming it could heal up the wound. Once Soma pressed it against my leg, it healed immediately and felt like it had never been injured in the first place.
"I stood up to thank the man for helping us out and when I faced his direction, he took note of my eyes, realizing that I was blind. He hovered his hand over my face and poured some weird energy into me. With that, while my eyes felt no different, my brain was registering everything around me as if I could see. And when I say everything, I mean everything. I could see all around me without having to even turn my head, almost like I was some all-seeing deity. Honestly, it was a bit much at first, but my brain quickly adapted to the overflow of information. Focusing in, I was able to properly register the man in front of me. He was gray-haired and had an eyepatch over his left eye, though that didn't stay on for long. He took off his eyepatch and somehow turned them into a pair of sunglasses, giving them to me. When I put them on, my vision dimmed down and my sight was more like how a regular person's should be, making things easier and more bearable for me. I tried to then get some answers from him, but he just started walking off, down the path away from Kukoshi Village. The only thing he told me was that he was a simple traveling magician from Valhalla, and then apologized to me, though I've got zero clue why he needed to do so, considering he was the one to change my life for the better." Kiba stopped for another moment before finishing off his story.
"Honestly, outside of just wanting to stick with Soma, that dude is the other reason why I wanted to join Eden. There was nothing I could achieve in Kukoshi, or Takemagahara as a whole, that could generate enough money to seek out that guy in Valhalla. Especially on the off chance that he could've possibly ended up dead in the past nine years. It may seem a bit childish, but I just want to find some way to thank him for what he did for me. I never ended up saying it to him back then."
It was odd seeing Kiba so serious. He typically never got so stern, and it was why he had given such a simple answer at first without providing the context of it, because he knew he'd have to talk about it seriously.
Galen looked over at the golden-haired man, trying to figure out what to say. "That was… very surprising. It all sounded so surreal, yet I can tell that it's nothing short of the truth as well. But how exactly did he magically cure your blindness and grant you with essentially 360-degree vision? And what happened to the healing stone?"
"We ain't got a clue about how that dude did it," Soma said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "He didn't bother explaining it at all. And the stone's stayed with me this whole time." He reached underneath his shirt, revealing the pendulum on the necklace he wore. There hung the green gem that had been turned into a proper piece of jewelry. "Hasn't even healed even the smallest cut since, but I decided to just hold onto it. It helps me to remember when Kiba's life changed, plus it's pretty cool too."
Galen nodded, understanding more about his new friends. He then spoke up about something that came to his mind. "Kiba also reminded me from his talk about how yesterday, I told you about my reasons for joining, and he's now explained his reasons, but what about you two?" Galen asked, his question direction towards Hifumi and Soma.
"Oh well my reasons not nearly as impactful as Kiba's," Soma started. "Ever since I was young, I've always looked up to Eden's greatest soldier, Roy Bellamy. During the war ten years ago between the combined forces of Himil and Iriy against the United World Order, composed of Shamayim, Valhalla, Elysium, and Aaru, he had stood out amongst everybody else on either side. The feats that he achieved put him above any man in history. He was said to have taken on the full force of an atom bomb and came out unscathed before absolutely demolishing an entire massive fleet of warships. And the cherry on top of all of that, is he doesn't have a Natural Brand and can't even use basic Soul Augmentation, which means that's just his pure, raw strength. It's because of that fact he's earned the title, 'The Soulless Angel.' That's the kind of power and recognition I want to strive for. To be on the same level as him is my goal."
Soma smiled brightly as he envisioned that thought. That he would be among the best out there. Meanwhile, Galen was in absolute shock at what he just heard. He never really paid much attention to things regarding the war, but to think that someone like Roy was out in the world frightened him, even if they were on the same side. Surely there was no way that an actual human being could withstand a nuclear bomb, right? The radiation it releases would be enough to kill and vast quantity of people.
"Okay," Galen began. "But how exactly do you plan on ever getting that strong? It'd take a miracle to perform that."
"Well apparently, there's been a rumor bustling around in the papers and stuff that our current generation has the strongest souls yet. And that's kinda already shown with a new girl in Eden, Justine Falkner. I heard her ability gives her the power to destroy and absolutely wipe a mountaintop out of existence. Though because of how new she is, and because there hasn't been much need for that kind of power in the last year, nobody's entirely sure how true that actually is."
That only made Galen even more nervous about everything. There was a chance they'd have powers capable of things to that magnitude? That seemed wildly outrageous and unnecessary.
"But what makes you so sure you'd get an ability as insane as that?"
"Nothing," Soma replied matter-of-factly. "But, I just get the feeling that I'm gonna be insanely strong one day, and the only way of getting there is if I get an absolutely broken Natural Brand."
That was now the second time Galen heard that term, 'Natural Brand.' Just what exactly was that? As soon as he was going to speak on it and question it, Soma continued speaking.
"Though getting back on track, Hifumi. You're the only one who hasn't explained to Galen why you decided to come. So go right ahead and explain your 'oh-so-interesting reasoning."
She shot Soma an annoyed look before turning away and scratching her head. "Well I mean, it's nothing even close to Kiba's or Soma's reasons," Hifumi said, trying to find the right words to say without embarrassing herself. "I, uh, kinda joined just so I could make sure those two morons stayed out of trouble… and the money I could make was cool too, I guess."
Soma smiled winningly. "Oh come on, don't go downplaying it! You wanted to tag along because you'd be lonely without the two of us there with you."
Hifumi angrily returned her focus back to him, staring the short boy down. "Okay, so what, huh? Even if that were to be true, you've got no right pointing it out, Soma!" She quickly realized the words leaving her mouth and turned back around in her seat, covering her head. "Oh gods, just what am I saying?" She questioned herself in a voice barely above a mumble while her ears were burning red.
Soma let out an amused laugh, having finally gotten Hifumi to admit her real motivation behind enlisting.
"Y'see that? I finally got her to admit to it, Kiba." Soma turned to the blond boy's chair only to see him walking out of the canteen. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
"Fitness center," Kiba responded nonchalantly as he continued walking.
"Wait for me, man!" Soma ran after him, not wanting to be left behind.
"How do they even have the energy to do more working out after what we went through today?" Galen wondered aloud.
Turning back to look at the dark-skinned boy, Hifumi chuckled softly, her face had returned to its normal dark-tanned complexion. "They don't stop working themselves until they're on the ground, moments from passing out."
"Should we go after them and make sure they don't overwork themselves?"
Hifumi shook her head. "Kiba looks like he needs this. I kinda had a feeling once he quieted down after explaining himself. Let's just head back to the barracks for now." The young boy nodded and so the two of them threw out the remaining crumbs on their plates before walking out of the canteen, going the opposite way of Soma and Kiba.
At this time of night, with only an hour before lights out, the only people in the fitness center were the two friends. Currently, Kiba was doing multiple reps of five plate bench press, while Soma was watching him and doing muscle-ups at the same time.
"You really want to be doing that much weight for your warmup, Kiba?" He asked him with a slightly worried tone as he dropped from the bar. "You normally ease into five plates after a bit."
Kiba did two more reps and reracked the weight, before sitting up and answering his friend. "It's fine. It's been getting way easier lately."
Soma looked him down for a moment, wondering how to phrase what he wanted to say.
"Listen, you've been kinda acting a bit off ever since you lost in that spar against Quinn. She do something to you?"
Kiba shook his head.
"Nah, nothing like that. I just.. couldn't shake the feeling that I knew her from somewhere. I had been kind of feeling that ever since we got here, to be honest."
"And do you?"
"I… think so? I'm not sure. It's kinda tough to explain it, but I started to really feel reminded of someone once I took off the glasses, but I wasn't able to place it right away. Then when we were in the canteen and I brought up how I got my sight, it hit me. She gives off the same kind of feeling as the old man from that day."
Soma's eyes widened as he moved over to Kiba. "You thinking they're family?"
"Probably, or she at least is just Valhallan."
The silver-haired boy squinted his eyes. "You trying to say all Valhallans look the same? Those two look nothing like-"
"You know what I meant, dumbass. They both give off the same energy and their souls are similar."
Soma shrugged his shoulders before walking over and hopping back onto the bar and began doing leg raises. "You should have a talk with her about it tomorrow when there's a chance. Maybe you could finally get some answers on what the geezer's been up to."
Kiba stood up and added two more plates to each side of the bar. "Is it even that simple though? Plus, how the hell would I go about asking that? Just walk up to her and be like, 'Hey, random question, but are you related to a man with the power to heal blindness?'"
"Yeah, see? There you go."
The blond teen sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he laid back down on the bench, readying himself for his next set. "Y'know," Kiba began, as he lifted up the bar off the rack, beginning to do his reps. "If you actually tried, you could be somewhat helpful when I'm trying to figure things out rather than being sarcastic."
Soma transitioned from his leg raises back into muscle ups. "Yeah, but I'd rather not be taking life too seriously. Makes it boring and tedious. I like living in the present-" His head began to pulse in pain and he fell down to the floor unexpectedly.
"Soma?!" Kiba exclaimed. He hurriedly returned the barbell to the rack it was on and got off the bench, bending down to Soma. "What's going on, dude?"
Thoughts were passing by in his head faster than he could properly register them. The view things he could see were an obelisk, a pomegranate tree, a frozen lake, and two bright orbs of light. It reminded him of the dream he had been having on the boatride here. The images and words bouncing around in his mind were growing more and more rapid until finally it all fell silent.
Standing up, he found himself entirely shrouded in darkness, Kiba and the fitness center he was just in, were nowhere in sight.
"Kiba?" Soma shouted out as he walked along the black floor, trying to get any sort of response in return, but he was only met with the silent abyss. He searched around for a few more moments, still unable to spot anything. Suddenly, behind him, a golden glow illuminated part of the dark expanse. Looking at it, Soma could see an odd broadsword of the same golden color, hovering in place.
Slowly, he walked over to the blade, his hand yearning to take hold of it, wanting to wield the immense power it was exerting. As his arm raised and grew closer to the hilt, his hand began shaking. It was as if something was telling him this was the wrong choice. That he should run away from the sword, but he didn't care. Right now, his intention were solely focused on what was in front of him. Using his other hand, he held onto his forearm, steadying it as his fingers finally made their way to the blade's shaft. They enclosed around the warm leather and the second he did, loud sounds began roaring in his ears. All of the golden light released from inside and around the broadsword, covering the area around him.
The light revealed what was hidden in the darkness. All around him were now spiral galaxies and millions upon millions of bright, twinkling stars. His mouth widened at the sight, unable to believe what was happening.
Looking back down, he realized the ground he was standing on was some kind of semi-translucent golden road. At the end of the path, he spotted a dark-colored door that heavily stood out of place here. Was that his way out of here?
There was only one way to find out. He tried running towards it, but was held in place, quickly realizing that the broadsword wasn't budging from its current location. His subconscious wanted to bring the sword with him, no matter the cost. But why? Just what was this blade? What even was this place?
"Bring it with you, Soma," an unfamiliar voice said, sounding as if it were whispering in his ear. "Remove the blade from the hold this world has on it, let it all fall in ruin."
In the distance, far from Soma, a black hole had appeared, and it was absorbing everything into it. The stars, the galaxies, the various asteroids, all of it was being eaten up by the black hole. Soma just stood there frozen in place, unsure of what to do.
"It's alright to still be hesitant. It's still far from the destined time, Soma. Though do not be afraid of what's to come. Everything must fall before it can rise once again."
The black hole was now right upon him, he was sucked inside and his body began pulling itself apart, spaghettifiying. He tried screaming out one last time, however, no sounds can be heard in the emptiness of space.