It was quiet, when Zeke woke up, not a soul around him. Slowly blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he forced himself to sit upright, grimacing at the throbbing... actually there was no thrombin in his veins.
Taking a look at himself, he found a small bandage attached to his abdomen, but otherwise he had no wounds. Zeke could still trace where the roots had been crawling through him, having left behind a sprawling scar on his stomach.
Standing, he looked around for a mirror, and found one near the wall. Looking at himself for the first time in...a very long time, he was surprised at what he found.
A young man stood before him, completely bare except for the new pair of trousers that had been out on him, as well as the bandage. This young man had long, knotted brown hair that could have been mistaken for a bird's nest.
He had weirdly gray eyes, that had a twinge of hazel in them. He was tall, but not exceedingly so, probably from malnutrition. Despite that, he had his fair share of muscle dotted around his frame, even if not filled out.
A click from behind him caught his attention, drawing his gaze to an older woman with different color eyes, Gene. She eyes him harshly, not used to outsiders. "You have two options: Become a Griever or a laborer, choose."
A flicker of despair came across his eyes, as the term 'laborer' was little distance from 'slave.' "I made the decision before Yule picked me up from the mud."
A glint appeared in Gene's eyes, a flicker of approval. "Good then. You've arrived just on time for the next batch of Grievers to start the process."
The woman held out a bag to him, pointing to a door behind him. "Wash yourself in that room and when you're done, someone will be here to lead you to your new dorms along with the rest of your batch."
She didn't say anything else, simply turning to a nearby patient. Sighing, Zeke entered the room to find a bathroom. It was decent, had a toilet and a tub, which was sort of rare back in his town.
Undressing, he filled the bath with hot water, which he managed to do through a red crystal embedded in the side of the tub. It was a magic crystal, one that had been programmed to produce hot water. This was rare because a crystal such as this had to be pried from the dead body of an elemental, which was an incredibly hard battle, if the rumors were to be true.
The bath didn't take long, as he just scrubbed the grime from his body and climbed out. The clothes weren't much of anything, just trousers, a cloth shirt, and a set of hardy boots. A belt as well, but who didn't wear a belt?
Looking himself in the mirror, his hair appeared much longer now. Not used to it being such a length, he simply decided to cut it. Taking a nearby knife, he crudly chopped it down to shoulder length.
Looking it over again, he shrugged. "Good enough."
Walking out of the room, Gene scoffed, her version of a laugh apparently. "Here, it's a hair tie. Follow Gent(G pronunciation), he'll lead you to the dorms."
"Oh, and think of a new name for yourself. Every new Griever needs a proper name." She said, her back facing him, hiding the face she was making.
Zeke nodded. "Thank you."
He followed Gent to where he was eating him, to his new home for the foreseeable future, leaving Gene to mutter to herself. "Don't thank me kid, I've just sent you to your death."
---
The dorm house was big, but everything was big here. It was big enough to house a small army, though by the complicated look on Gent's face, it had a deeper story.
"Take you pack and find a bunk. The trials will begin tomorrow." He said simply, turning to leave. "...Don't give up, kid."
Zeke didn't say anything, just walking inside. In the entrance, he found nearly a hundred young men and women all around, doing all kinds of things. From reading books to wrestling, nearly none of them were sleep just yet.
Squeezing through the crowd, he luckily found an empty bunk, throwing the pack he was given under it. Just when he sat down, a kid in the next bunk over caught his attention. "Hey, I'm Namor, what's your name?"
He didn't respond for a hot second, seriously thinking over what he would want to be called for the rest of his life. "...Asher, it's nice to meet you."
Namor smiled brightly. "That's a good name! I sort of panicked when I chose Namor, it's literally just name with or on the end."
Zeke, now Asher, laughed with Namor. "Really?"
"Yeah, I was so tired after the climb that I just said what came to mind." He said, rubbing the back of his head.
Hearing about the climb, Asher tilted his head. "Climb? What are you talking about?"
Namor looked at him strangly. "You know, tell cliff we climbed to get here? Did you not have to?"
Asher shook his head, a little embarrassed. "No, I was sick, so the Griever that found me had to carry me himself. I don't know why he did that, but I owe him a life debt for it."
Namor nodded, though he was surprised about his story. "What was wrong with you?"
"I got poisoned by Druid's Bane, so Yule brought me all the way up here and managed to save me. Though, I was unconscious for a lot of the journey."
Namor smiled painfully. "I've heard stories about druids, about how painful it is to become one. Though, I can't help but feel bad. You've got a leg up on the rest of us: You've already gone through unbelievable pain."
It was a mostly unspoken truth amoung the residents of the dorm, that they were about to go through something horrible, so a lot of them just tried to forget. Namor, though, seemed to have the most courage of all of them, speaking freely about the topic.
Asher nodded. "For what it's worth, man, I hope you survive."
Namor paled a little, but recovered quickly. "You too, Asher, you too."