The day passed in a blur of monotony training drills, Sergeant Thomas's usual yelling, and the kind of exhaustion that clings to your bones.
After the session ended, Thomas approached me, his expression as unreadable as ever.
"You're on gate duty," he said flatly, not bothering to elaborate before walking off.
Gate duty.
My stomach sank.
It wasn't exactly the most glamorous assignment, but it was better than being sent outside the walls with the other teams who dealt with potential threats.
At least, that's what I thought until I remembered the details from the novel.
The gate guard duty sometimes included searches outside the walls.
The realization hit me like a truck.
Why was the previous Sky sent outside, when he was still a private not a first class?
The author must have really wanted to kill Sky.
There was no other explanation.
I geared up quickly, trying not to think too much about it.
The other soldiers assigned to the same duty had probably left already, and I didn't want to give Sergeant Thomas another reason to yell at me.
By the time I reached the city gate, a soldier approached, his sharp gaze fixed on me.
"You one of the assigned guards?" he asked.
"Yes" I answered.
"Show me your ID" he asked.
I nodded showing him my ID.
He scanned it quickly, and looked at me.
"Did you carry any weapon with you for the gate duty?"
"No, I didn't"
Then jerked his head toward a nearby building.
"Go there. They'll get you sorted."
"Thanks"
I walked towards the building and entered.
The building's interior was sterile and efficient.
The receptionist, a woman with a no-nonsense expression, barely glanced up as I handed her my ID.
She scanned it, then motioned for me to follow.
"Come with me," she said briskly, leading me down a hallway that seemed to stretch endlessly.
Finally, she stopped at a room and gestured for me to enter.
Inside, my eyes widened.
The room was lined with weapon racks, each holding an array of guns that looked more like something out of a sci-fi movie.
"Choose one that suit your preference," the receptionist said.
I stepped closer, scanning the options.
Rifles, shotguns, even a few heavy-duty weapons that looked like they could take out a small building.
But my eyes landed on something unusual a pair of sleek, futuristic pistols.
They gleamed under the fluorescent lights, their design streamlined and almost elegant.
"These," I said, picking them up.
The receptionist raised an eyebrow.
"Good, is that your choice,?"
"Yes"
"Well I don't know much about it, and it looks like some unknown gun, that is why most people skip it. I was going to throw it away from the collections here."
I flipped one over in my hand, examining the hidden scope that rolled out with a simple flick.
It felt... right.
After grabbing some ammo, I left the building.
The receptionist called after me, "Top of the wall. That's where you'll find the others."
Top of the wall?
I frowned, trying to recall how the characters in the novel that joined gate duty got up there.
The author had mentioned an elevator, but there was no sign of one nearby.
I wandered for a few minutes, scanning the base of the wall, until I noticed a soldier walk up to it.
He placed his hand on the surface, and a hidden door slid open.
Without hesitation, he stepped inside.
"Of course," I muttered, shaking my head.
Why not hide the elevator in the wall?
Makes perfect sense.
Well the wall was thick enough to have an elevator in it.
I followed suit, pressing my hand against the wall.
The door opened, and I stepped into the elevator.
It was surprisingly spacious, though the ride up was eerily silent.
When the doors opened, I stepped out and immediately froze.
The view from the top was breathtaking.
The city stretched out below, its streets and buildings looking almost toy-like from this height.
But beyond the walls, the landscape shifted into wild, untamed terrain.
I found a spot on top the wall and positioned myself, pulling out one of the pistols.
"Doom," I murmured, testing the name on my tongue.
It seemed like a fitting name for my gun.
Through the scope, I scanned the area outside the wall, adjusting the focus to see farther.
The land stretched out, empty and eerily quiet.
No signs of movement, no threats lurking in the shadows.
A part of me was relieved, but another part, a smaller, darker part, felt disappointed.
These pistols were begging to be tested, and I was itching to see what they could do.
For now, though, all I could do was wait.
I turned, looking at the view of the city from above.
The city stretched out below me, bathed in the glow of scattered streetlights.
From this high up, it almost looked peaceful, a deceptive calm that contrasted sharply with the chaos of life beyond the walls.
I sat cross-legged, one of my pistols resting in my lap, my eyes scanning the horizon.
There was nothing out there, at least not right now.
Beside me, three soldiers were deep in conversation.
Their voices, low but animated, cut through the silence.
Out of boredom, I tilted my head, listening in.
"You hear about that orc the other day?" one of them said, his tone both awed and uneasy.
"The armored one?" another replied. "Yeah, I heard. Fully decked out, right? Head to toe in armor, carrying that massive shield."
"That thing wasn't just a shield," the third one chimed in. "It was... I don't know, like a wall. A freaking portable wall. Nothing could get through it."
They all nodded grimly.
My curiosity piqued, and I leaned in slightly, pretending to adjust my pistol.
"What happened?" the first soldier asked.
"Well," the second started, "it came with a pack of goblins, hundreds of them, just swarming toward the wall. The first team that spotted them thought they could handle it, small fry, you know? Goblins are weak, right? But then it appeared."
"The orc," the first soldier muttered.
"Yeah. This thing wasn't just big. It was smart. Commanding the goblins, using tactics. The team tried to hold their ground, but the moment that shield went up... every bullet we fired just bounced off. Ping, ping, ping. Like shooting at a tank."
"Didn't they send reinforcements?" the third soldier asked.
"They did. More soldiers, heavier firepower. Even awakened fighters showed up. But nothing worked. The goblins were dropping like flies, sure, but the orc? Not a scratch. It didn't even flinch. That shield, man, it was terrifying."
"And the awakened?"
The second soldier hesitated.
"A lot of them didn't make it. The ones who tried to go head-to-head with it... let's just say they didn't stand a chance. The lucky ones ran. The others..."
He trailed off, and I could imagine the scene, a battlefield littered with bodies, the orc standing amidst the carnage, untouched.
"So how'd it end?" the first soldier pressed.
"It just... left," the second soldier said, his voice laced with disbelief. "Like it got bored or something. It stood there for a while, watching us, then turned around and walked off. Like it could've wiped out everyone if it wanted to. The damn thing was toying with us."
"Maybe it's testing us," the third suggested, his tone dark. "Seeing how strong we are. Preparing for something bigger."
The group fell silent after that, each of them lost in thought.
I leaned back, letting their words sink in.
An armored orc?
Immune to bullets, able to shrug off even the most powerful awakened fighters?
The thought sent a chill down my spine.
I'd read about creatures like this in the novel, unstoppable forces designed to push characters to their limits.
But now, faced with the possibility of encountering one, I couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"How strong is it, really?" I murmured to myself, my gaze shifting to the horizon.
Strong enough to take out entire squads, to face awakened and walk away without a scratch.
I tapped my pistol thoughtfully.
I don't know if Doom would stand a chance against something like that.
And i don't know if Ori's powers would work...
But there's only one way to find out...