Michael cursed himself for the seventh time in the last hour. The army had requisitioned school buses for transport and it had been a long time since he had ridden in one. Long enough, that he had forgotten a crucial fact about choosing a seat when in a school bus. Don't choose the seat over the wheel.

Michael looked over at Alice, expression pleading.

She smirked at him and rolled her eyes. The last two attempts to acquire some of her space had led to her lightly punching him and making a snide remark. This time though, she relented and adjusted herself so that Michael's scrunched up legs could find some relief.

"Merciful goddess, your kind-"

"Oh shut up you."

Michael went back to staring out the window at the landscape passing by. He'd spot the occasional deer that were a staple for this drive. However, for every two deer he'd spot, he'd see a monster. Michael had driven this road many times over his life and with a pang he realized that the barn which overlooked this section of highway had burned down.

Feeling that emotion triggered Michael to think more about how he was feeling. His hands felt jittery, his stomach was queasy. He felt nervous. Acknowledging that, he pondered the why of his feelings. It didn't take him long. He had never thought of himself as soldier material and yet here he was on a bus with dozens of macho people being escorted by a pair of heavily armed humvees.

Curious about how Alice was doing, he looked at her. She lounged in her seat, half smirk on her face. She noticed his gaze and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Whacha looking at?"

Michael flushed. "Just wondering how you're feeling?"

"Bit of the jitters, a little excited, bored." She exhaled. "Usual for heading to a military camp I bet."

Michael nodded.

"Don't think too much." She patted his leg. "We won't know until we get there."

Three hours into their trip, the convoy pulled off the interstate. Michael watched as they followed signage to a protected gas station. When they pulled into sight of the station, he understood what was meant by that.

A handful of military vehicles were parked along the perimeter and there was a line of civilian vehicles waiting in line to access the pumps. Armed soldiers patrolled the perimeter keeping a watchful eye on the large open field that spread around the gas station. Their convoy pulled into the line designated for military use, stopping to let them out.

One of the two soldiers in their bus stood up. "Alright, fifteen minutes to stretch your legs."

The bus bustled with activity as people filed out. After taking care of business and trading a cracked slime core for a candy bar, Michael walked the perimeter of the gas station. At one point, he passed a pair of soldiers on break.

"…hear that a dragon ate a silo crew and made it's lair in it?" One soldier said.

Michael missed a step and slowed down to eaves- stretch.

"Wait, near Minot?"

"Yeah. Another reason not to go to Minot."

The second soldier grimaced. "That's going to be an ugly op. You need heavy ordnance for those."

Having heard enough and not wanting to draw their ire, Michael strode away, finishing his walk. He found Alice and the two chatted while they waited to get back on the bus. When they got back on, Michael let Alice choose the seat.

The convoy pulled out of the refueling point twenty minutes after it had arrived. The rumbling of the wheels, the chattering of voices, and the countryside they slowly passed by- hardly did anything to alleviate their boredom. Hills, trees, hills, cows, farm, barn, Michael's head bobbed at the monotony. That was, until he spotted something new on the horizon.

A structure in the distance.

Michael stared at it, trying to make out the details when a hill blocked his sight. He glanced up ahead, frowning when he realized that the structure would be gone by the time he could see it again.

Or so he thought. Thirty minutes later, and he could still see the building and it had hardly grown larger or moved at all since the moment he first spotted it.

When he realized this, he pointed it out to Alice and they made a game of it over the next stretch. Every time it came back into view, they'd try to pick it out first.

It wasn't long until the rest of the bus had begun to notice the structure. There were quiet murmurings about it until finally the soldier driving the bus spoke over the PA. "Many of you began to notice the structure on the horizon over the past hour. As many of you have guessed, that's the Chicago tower."

Michael did a bit of math and looked at Alice with a surprised expression. "We're still two hundred miles away."

"Wow. How tall does that make it?"

Michael grimaced. "Ugh. I don't know what the curvature is. Tall?"

Alice had a wry smile and shook her head. A moment later she shouted, "How tall is it?"

The bus went silent almost immediately. It didn't take long for the soldier to come back on the PA. "A little over ten miles."

Michael blinked several times. He looked over at Alice- who shook her head and shrugged.

The rest of their journey elapsed in hushed tones and subdued voices. The tower continued to grow ever larger in the distance, its presence an overbearing reminder of the stakes the tower's keeper had laid out.

Finally, the convoy pulled into NAVSTA Great Lakes. Michael took in the sight, eyes wide. Despite his expectations of tents and active drills, he didn't see any of that. Instead what greeted him were red bricked buildings, open malls, fields, and other modern conveniences.

Their escort vehicles peeled away from the buses. Most of the soldiers on base were wearing navy fatigues but a few had army uniforms. Mentally, he noted that the navy "soldiers" would probably be better referred to as sailors but he really had no idea. Crucially, he also realized that not a single uniformed individual lacked their sidearm.

Finally, the buses pulled into the parking lot of several large brick buildings. A moment later a sailor stepped on board. He gave a short speech welcoming them to Naval Station - Great Lakes. Michael listened in but lost interest quickly. The sailor was clearly wary of them and the speech followed the "Welcome to x" template.

It gave him an inkling of what to expect. It seemed that their sailor hosts weren't too thrilled about this "Monster Orientation" program. However, when he glanced at Alice next to him, he found her focusing intently on everything the sailor said.

She noticed his attention- obviously, she caught everything- and tapped him. "Pay attention. They're less committed to us than a normal recruit."

Michael froze. Of course that was the case. They were a ragtag group of people, many of whom were simply opportunists, trying to get ahead. Which didn't fly in the military.

Behind them Michael heard a man whisper to the person next to him. "Where's the yelling?"

Michael turned to see the second of the pair shrug.

The speech ended a moment later and the bus steadily emptied. They followed the directions of the sailor standing outside and went inside the building in front of them. Several turns later they found themselves seated in a classroom. Yet there still wasn't any yelling.

Alice seated herself next to him, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. People were given a couple minutes to take care of themselves but when the time was up, a sailor closed the door to the classroom and a lecture began.

"Don't be late, it seems." Alice whispered.

Nodding, Michael looked around the classroom and was surprised. He realized that more soldiers and sailors sat in on the lecture than civilians. The instructor briefly welcomed the newcomers but otherwise dove right into talking about mana, monsters, and the tower.

Michael tried his best to absorb the material, taking notes as fast as he could in his notebook. A sense of unease grew steadily in the pit of his stomach while the class progressed. The more he learned, the more he understood that the bulk of his plans were too naive.

What surprised him most, was that the military had some intel on the insides of the tower. A few of their teams had managed to find special obelisks within the tower that allowed for communication to the outside world. These communications confirmed Michael's theory that once inside, there would be a ban on leaving the tower. Unfortunately, it wasn't known when that rule would change.

After class finished, soldiers and civilians alike were directed back outside to a nearby athletic field. Uniformed men and women were scattered about the field. Michael watched as a lethal looking sailor slunk up to Alice and separated them.

He stood there uncertain of what to do, but then a tired voice spoke to him. "Follow me, I'll be your sparring partner today."

When Michael turned he found a muscled soldier with a bored expression on his face. Michael nodded and moved to comply.

They were a couple feet from their spot when Michael heard a sickening crack next to him and a person cry out. Michael glanced over, seeing a person clutching a broken wrist. The soldier standing over them had an annoyed expression on their face. A moment later, a medic was at their side. They set the bone and Michael felt mana spiral towards the injury.

"I hope you know how to punch better than that guy." Michael's sparring partner said.

Michael glanced at his partner's name and rank, Seaman Hunt, and nodded. "I hope so too."

Turns out, Michael could punch better, but barely. He didn't break anything but finished the hand-to-hand sparring session badly bruised. In the first bout, Hunt had fought passively, letting Michael go on the offensive. Only when Michael left himself way off balance did Hunt toss him.

Michael hit the ground hard while Hunt pursed his lips. "Have you really been that reckless when fighting monsters this whole time?"

Michael picked himself off the turf and nodded.

Hunt shook his head in wonder. "Do you end up on the ground in every fight then?"

Michael thought over each of his different fights, "Most of them?"

Hunt regarded him with his arms crossed. "We'll work on fixing that then. When I say freeze, freeze."

The first dozen times Hunt told him to freeze, Michael lost his balance. Seaman Hunt continued to give him pointers each time, and by the end of their session, Michael felt that he understood his body much better. Especially how much it ached, but also how to stay balanced.

They shook hands, Hunt's expression no longer bored, replaced with a warm smile. "Keep at it. With some-"

He paused, looking over Michael's shoulder. Michael turned and found Alice walking over with her sparring partner beside her. Michael looked at Alice and thought she seemed- smug?

"How was your partner, Seaman?" Alice's partner asked.

Michael noted her name but didn't recognize her rank. However, he was saved when Seaman Hunt responded. "Absolute beginner, but with good potential, Petty Officer Hill. And yours?"

She stepped closer and stage-whispered. "I hit the dirt more times than you did in our last bout."

Hunt gave Alice an appreciative nod but then changed the subject. "Next on your class' schedule is dinner in the galley." He turned to leave then stopped to consider something. "Make sure you two review the topics covered in class earlier, you'll be cut loose if you don't test well."

The Petty Officer gave him an odd look but shrugged and waved them off, pointing towards the galley.

Alice looked Michael up and down shaking her head. "So how'd it go?"

Confused, Michael followed her gaze and sighed internally when he realized his body was covered in grass stains and dirt. Those stains would be a pain to wash out.

"Seaman Hunt was a good instructor. I learned a ton. How about you?"

She put on a nonchalant air. "Oh, not too bad. I won a few bouts, nothing major."

"Wow, you actually won?"

"What can I say, I have good reaction times." She shrugged.

Michael gave her an incredulous look but it seemed Alice had said all she would on the matter. He let it drop and together they reviewed the lecture while on the way to the galley. During this down time, Michael couldn't help himself and kept stealing glances off into the distance towards the structure that towered above the horizon. It was his siren's call- the tower- and he longed to answer it.