Roy woke with a jolt when the ship shuddered. Panicking, Roy searched for the emergency exit with enough urgency to earn a few confused looks from the people close to him. Despite the hammer pounding in his chest, Roy stopped and forced himself to breathe easier once he realized no one else was freaking out. His vision was still a bit blurry from sleep and he tried to remember what had happened. A ship, holograms, passengers, a shift and then pain. Shadows. Voices. Bone numbing pain, so vividly did he remember it that he checked his ears to make sure blood wasn’t leaking out. When he felt simply dry skin he sighed with relief.

“Hey buddy, you feelin’ better there? You looked like a dog pullin’ on the leash knowin’ it’s about to be put down. Wild and crazed, shit nearly scared me half to death with your face turnin’ all purple with vomit floatin’ around, thank god they cleaned it all up ‘fore we woke up. Name’s Billy by the way,” the man to Roy’s right said.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks Billy, I think I just had a bad dream. You know, one of those ones where you can’t tell if it was real or fake? It had to be fake though, it had to be…” Roy’s voice became a quiet mumble as he repeated to himself that it was just a dream.

“Well uh, good to hear I guess. Say, you part of that Rehabilitation Program too? You don’t look like nobody I seen in the slammer but it’s always the least suspected ones that go crazy. You know what I mean?” Roy turned to look at Billy, his face full of confusion.

“What Rehabilitation Program? I signed up at a recruiter's office down on the surface.” Billy squinted at his answer and then looked down with a focused look on his face, running his fingers through his messy looking brown beard.

“Darn, well sorry about botherin’ you sir. If you don’t mind me askin’ one last question, what group you with?” Several blank faced droids began walking up to the people around the isles, unuckling people from their harnesses.

“I, uh, don’t have a group. Mine’s blank.” Looking around, he saw an assortment of people now that light was much better. A lot of them were either clean looking or covered in scars or bruises. Through the small window he could see the wall of gunmetal-grey steel with a large number ‘four’ painted black across it. Bright yellow lights flashed against what looked like blast doors for a few moments before turning off. He could see several large ships like Roy’s and hundreds of people and androids were walking around. Every now and then, he saw one of the Others and gulped nervously. Aliens? Real life aliens!

He turned to look back at Billy when he saw a beautiful black, curly haired hispanic woman that stood up after being released by a droid. She pushed the robot away violently and began stomping down the metal walkway to the exit. Shaking his head a little bit, he turned back to Billy who had a look of sympathy across his face.

“Ay boy, not sure you knew what you signed up for. I only did because dyin’ out in the Fringe with a gun in my hand and knowin’ I can earn my freedom sounded better than getting shanked in my bunk when I least expect it with no one to remember me by.”

“What do you mean? You know which group I’m in? Is it bad?”

“Oh I reckon I’ve got an idea. If yer papers don’t got no group on them, then there’s only one option. The Dregs.” He shook his head with pity towards Roy.

“Is that bad?” Roy voiced with caution

“Let’s just say whenever a bad situation pops up, the Dregs are the fodder they send in first and there’s enough fightin’ out there for all of us and some. It’s all that they play on TV when yer locked up.” Sighing, Billy tilted his head back but chuckled after a second with his eyes closed. “Oh but it’s gonna be a hell of a ride kid, you’ll see. Got no choice now anyways so best make do with what yah got.”

“I don’t got much, not really. I was hoping I’d be able to travel the stars, make some credits and retire on a paradise planet. I didn’t think I’d be doing much fighting,” Roy said.

“You’ll earn credits for sure, no matter who you are in the G.U.N., everyone earns somethin’. As far as travel goes, we’ll be knee deep in the shit across the whole galaxy so don’t worry about it. But a paradise planet? Heard of ‘em but I’ll tell you what kid, there ain’t no paradise out there and we fucked up the one we had. Just focus on stayin’ alive to fight another day and we’ll look after yah kid. We’re all in this together now.”

“Thanks Billy, name’s Roy by the way.” After Roy thanked Billy, they kept to themselves while waiting for the droids to release them. He could hear loud voices coming from what he suspected were speakers in the hanger, though he couldn’t make out the words. A faceless droid covered in white plastic around it’s head and chest leaned over and unhooked Billy who grabbed his stuff and waved bye to him, then it was his turn. Roy wasn’t used to being around such human looking droids and they were slightly off putting, so once he was free he waited until it passed by and quickly grabbed his stuff before following the direction Billy went.

As he passed through the hallways lit with a sterile white light, he found a large metal ramp that was unloading cargo onto the hanger floor where people were either milling about or moving with purpose. He thought he saw Billy and walked in his general direction, but got lost as he took in the massive hanger.

“All new recruits in group E-Gamma-39, please report to Hanger 5. All new recruits in group E-Gamma-39, please report to Hanger 5.” Ignoring the repeating noise from the surrounding intercoms after the initial message was delivered, Roy was one of the last off of the shuttle and stared around the massive hanger.

Hundreds of people were moving about, heading from ship to ship or leaving the hanger out the back, a bubbling sense of excitement and movement. Confused, Roy didn’t follow any of the other groups, hesitating when he heard Gamma’s group but decided to keep trying to look for anyone who seemed to have some authority. Unfortunately, after several long minutes there were only Roy, the large ship Icarus and about fifty rough looking people, including Billy and that hispanic woman. Avoiding the looks from the others headed his way, Roy felt nervous and more vulnerable than he ever had on the streets. Before one of the remaining passengers could harass him, a man walked out from one of the opened doorways near the back wall and up the stairs.

“Get in a line, now.” Confused, everyone turned to the people closest to them and mumbled something in regards to the tall man who just appeared. His uniform was a heavy black coat, with golden trimmings and buttons, though it remained unbuttoned and trailing behind him. His shirt was also black and tucked into his black pants, which in turn were tucked into his polished boots. He wore a Cap like those in the history books of old generals, except it was black with the only distinguishing factor being a wreath of golden skulls wrapped around it. As he approached closer, his face curled into a sneer, showing straight rows of teeth that gleamed white against the overhead light. His eyepatch tied around his left eye, the remaining blue eye glared at them with contempt as his face continued to stretch painfully in ways Roy that hurt his stomach slighlty. The scars that littered his face was pale in some places and red or purple in others.

He stopped a small distance away from the group, standing straight with a look of disgust on his face as he stared down at the ambling passengers with hands folded behind his back. “Did I stutter or are you lot jus a bunch of fucking morons? Get in line!” He roared. Flinching at the volume of his voice, everyone quickly scrambled forward and stood shoulder to shoulder, looking around nervously to see what the person next to them was doing. Standing towards one of the ends, Roy clenched and unclenched his sweaty heads, wiping them on his pants every now and then as the man analyzed them like rotten slabs of meat, looking for anything salvageable.

“You trash are going to be spending a lot of time with a Knight under my command, so introductions are in order. You may refer to me as Elder Knight Benkis or Sir, but if I ever hear you call me Benki I’ll P.T. your asses so hard you’re going to wish I would strangle you with my bare hands and fucking kill you already. When I ask you a question, you answer it. If you parrot my question back to me, I’ll soak you in honey and pour feathers on you. Now, I’d ask for your names from one G.U.N. member to another, but you’re all nothing. Less than nothing, according to society. If you were nothing, you’d be in an official Group. You are all here because you don’t have a group and that’s on purpose. Everyone of you was deemed expendable, either with no families or written off as dead. From here on out, each one of you is me and my soldiers plaything, to do what I wish and no one will stop or question me. You, get over here.” Jumping, Roy blinked as Elder Knight Benkis pointed a black gloved finger straight at him. The people to his left and right stepped away and the finger didn’t budge, so after a moment of hesitation Roy approached the Elder Knight.

“Good, now get on your hands and knees. Don’t look at me with that stupid expression on your face, I said get on the fucking floor right now!” After a confused moment, Roy nervously got on his hands and knees, burning up in the face. He felt stupid and embarrased, never had he felt so humiliated and to make it worse, he could hear the others laughing and pointing at him. He couldn’t dare look at any of them right now. Closing his eyes, Roy felt on the edge of tears but held them back. And then the Elder Knight sat on his back.

“Ah, there we go. Make sure to keep your back straight, you don’t want to break it. If you drop me on the floor, then this will be a memory of paradise compared to what I have in store for you. The rest of you, do you see anyone stopping me?” The men and women who were moments ago terrified started laughing loudly and making crude gestures towards Roy, who’s silent tears began to drip on the floor.

“You, you come here too. And you as well.” Elder Knight Benkis pointed to two others seemingly at random, a tall, skinny man and a short, plump woman. “You, stand behind me. Make sure you face the other way, I don’t want you getting too excited.” A few adjustments later and the man was facing the far wall next to Roy as Benkis leaned against him as if he was sitting in a chair. By now, the line of recruits had stopped laughing and something more akin to trepidation crossed their faces. “My feet are killing me, be like the good gentleman here and get on your hands and knees so I can prop my feet on you.” The woman’s face grew a bright crimson and the Elder Knight had a look of sadistic glee as he waited.

“Screw you! I am no one’s slave, especially not your human furniture.” Crossing her arms, she looked down her freckled nose at the Elder Knight in contempt. Steepling his fingers, he slowly looked her up and down.

“Is that so?” He asked threateningly.

Refusing to balk, she kept her arms crossed and stared down defiantly at the Elder Knight, her lips pressed shut.

“Well, it seems the good lady here has a spine! More than these two at least.” Gesturing to Roy and the other man behind him, the line of recruits laughed lightly. “But I’m glad, I really am. Because she provides a problem, one that I can’t have and happy that it happened sooner rather than later.” Reaching into one of the folds of his cloak, he removed a small black pistol with a golden skull embedded on the side of the chamber. “ I want you all to run, from this wall to the other, back and forth. If I think you’re not going fast enough, I’ll shoot you. If you’re caught stopping I’ll shoot you twice. You will run or you will die, until the good lady here gets on her hands and knees.”

Looking back and forth, the recruits stared at each other unsure if he was serious or not. At the sound of a gunshot, everyone flinched, “I said run, now RUN!” and like that they ran. They ran at first with the ease of a sunday jog until the Elder Knight shot at one of their feet and demanded they go faster. Now they were sprinting, fearing that the next shot might not miss. They didn’t know if this was legal or not, but none were in a position to argue. Whether uneducated or from a government system that promised far worse if they quit, none openly questioned the Elder Knight and just crossed their fingers, giving death glares to that vile woman who’s back still faced them.

Meanwhile, Elder Knight Benkis smiled thinly at the woman standing in front of him, watcher her body language. “You see? The longer you stand there in contempt, the more they’ll suffer for your pride. What do you think will happen when they’re muscles give out? When they’re torn and forced to crawl less they take a bullet to a limb? Who will they blame for their misery? Certainly me, but I won’t be the sole target of their growing hatred. I’ll be safe and sound in my own quarters while you’ll be tucked in bed with the rest of the poor chaff. If you’re a thrill seeker than perhaps you’d be willing to bet on if you last the night.”

Gritting her teeth, the lady took a quick glance behind her and saw that everyone was panting and some were beginning to stumble. Closing her hands into fists and gritting her teeth, she slowly got down on her hands and knees in front of the Elder Knight. He smirked at the sound of her tears landing on the rough steel beneath her. Slowly, he lifted one leg and placed it on the middle of her back, followed by the other.

“Alright, the rest of you can stop.” Relieved, the initiates stopped and rested. Those less in shape were collapsed onto the metal floor while others just rested on their knees with arms raised and heavy breathing. Those quicker to recover glared hatefully at the woman but became vindictive as they saw her on floor being used like cheap furniture.

“Know that this is but a sample of what I have planned for all of you. The Dregs you are now are weak, faulty and brittle.” Standing up from his human chair, Roy flopped to the ground and gasped, while the lanky man rubbed his lower back. Elder Knight Benkis pushed over the girl with the flat of his boot and planted into her solar plexus, knocking the air out and energy out of her. “Easily succumbing to your pathetic emotions, crying with shame when told to kneel. The way you all are now will lead humanity to their doom. The G.U.N. demands their pound of flesh from all it’s members and I’ll be damned if the pound I give them is rife with rot. You will be strong as steel with molten hearts in tandem with decisive minds. You will be weapons, sharper than any other, strong enough to force others to submit as I’ve forced you. We will break you so none other may do so, the heels of of other nations shall crumble against your hides. The claws of Swarms shall fail to pierce your resolve. Stand up in a line, all of you.”

Sluggish but determined, the recruits slowly gathered up in a line. Those exhausted stared forward with flushed cheeks and eyes filled with rage while others had fresh tears roll down their ashamed faces. Elder Knight Benkis walked from one end to the other with his black clothes trimmed in Gold and looking each of them in the eyes, measuring their resolve. When he was done, he walked back to the middle and presented himself to them. “This galaxy is massive, filled with violence. But humanity was built for violence, conflict and war. We’ll need those traits in the coming future. Something lurks behind the stars folks, something big and vicious. It’s teeth are the ships of nations, it’s vile breath laced into the voice of bureaucrats and claws sharpened against the grinding stone of the conquered. We must not falter, because if we do then so does the rest of humanity. You don’t understand the weight you’ll be forced to carry, but you will and I’ll make sure you have the mettle to handle it.” The hangar was silent but for the labored breathing coming from the tired recruits.

“Welcome to the Galactic United Nations training facility Sol Invictus, recruits. Knight Halloway will lead you to your quarters. Her word is as much law as mine, failure to adhere to her commands, no matter how ludicrous, will be followed with swift enforcement of obedience protocols. You don’t want to be subjected to them, I’ll assure you. I’ll see you all again at the end of your first week.. “ Stone Faced, he turned and walked back towards one of the open rear hatches where a tall woman was waiting with a cold stare. As the Elder Knight’s cloak trailed by her on his exit, she made her way forward and walked down the opposite set of stairs. Dressed in similar black clothes, her outfit hugged her frame tightly but without the sexual allure some were hoping for. When Knight Halloway stopped in front of them, her pale blue eyes gave a quick glance at them, eerily similar to how they were appraised by the Elder Knight. Roy paled, fearing he wouldn’t be able to be a human chair again. Though from the look of some of the men he doubted they would mind if she sat on them either way.

“I see you sacks of meat have gotten the usual tenderizing. Follow me, I’ll show you where your quarters are.” With hands folded behind her back, Knight Halloway marched back the way she came. Roy and the other recruits weren’t far behind, quickly grabbing what little belongings they brought with them. Some of the softer recruits that had collapsed once they were told to stop running were trailing behind all the others, grimacing as they tried to walk on shaky legs. In hindsight, other than Roy’s sore back and the immediate shame he felt he didn’t have it too bad compared to the rest.

They passed by closed doors on both sides of the hallways, most had some loud mechanical or electrical noise behind them and Roy was glad the sound was muffled as it left his ears slightly ringing from how high pitched some of the noises were. They were marked with faded black alphanumeric characters starting with two letters and ending with two numbers. One door, specifically ‘AA-24’ suddenly opened next to Roy and black smoke poured out into the hallway with a man coughing his way out of the smoke. His once white coat was stained with scorch marks and inside the room was a whirlwind of metal parts and people sprawled on the floor away from a smouldering piece of equipment. It was covered in a white looking foam and had stopped smoking but the room was still full of the stuff.

“Engineer, what the hell are you doing breaking emergency protocol and allowing dangerous fumes in public space?” Knight Halloway marched back towards the middle of the line where Roy was and barked orders at the engineer. He had taken his goggles off once he opened the door and was slouching against the door frame but stood up straight and gave a proper salute when the Knight addressed him.

“Knight, ma’am! We were working on getting a malfunctioned loading system from a deployed Excalibur combat suit repaired and operational when something happened to one of the lines. One of us must’ve messed up because before we knew it, liquid started spraying out of some of the lines and ignited!” He paused in his explanation to cough heavily before leaning back in the room to press a button on the wall nearby. The bright fluorescent light inside switched to a dark red light and several yellow caution lights spun their light around the room for several moments before fans somewhere in the ceiling roared. In just a few minutes the smoke was clear from the room and the engineer pressed the button again, cutting the fans and returning the lights to normal.

“See? We stopped the ignition process and uh, patched the leak from the system for now.” The loading system was buried deep within the rapidly expanding foam and only the sharp metal at one end still stuck out. Taking a quick look around the room, the Knight walked into the room and crouched down to one of the unconscious staff with her back to the door.

“They’re alive, but call the medical staff and make sure there’s no damage to their lungs, I’m sure they’ll be croaking for the next few days regardless of what the doctors can do but I want all of them checked out and approved before doing anymore work. Engineer, what’s your name?”

“It’s Dr. Neelson, ma’am. I’ll get right on that ma’am, so terribly-” a quick hand raise from the rising Knight silenced him and she quickly walked over to him.

“All I want to hear is a ‘Yes ma’am!’ and no excuses. You got that? Good, now get to it!” Standing with his mouth gaped open, the Doctor stood still for a second before his face grew red and he raised a finger in the air as if he was about to say something, but the Knight beat him to it. So fast her hand was a blur, she slapped the man across the face with her gloved hand and jabbed him the chest with each word she said, “You. Are. Wasting. My. Time! Get to it Doctor or I’ll have you shipped to one of the fringe cities on Korizan.” The angry reaction from the Doctor was sapped away, leaving a sweating, pale man who nodded furiously before running down the hall before turning left at a crossroads. “Doctors, doesn’t matter if you’re a million miles away, they’re always the same. Alright, show’s over! Follow me and be quiet, I’m already starting to get a headache and if one of you makes a sound other than that of shoes on steel, I’m gonna bash your head into the wall until mine feels better. “

Some of the initiates who looked like they were about to tell a joke snapped their mouths shut, knowing if she was like the Elder Knight then she wasn’t bluffing. In silence they passed more marked doors and branching hallways, seeing more activity as people in white coats and overalls bustling from here to there. Eventually they came across an archway with bright gold letters above it that said ‘ENGINEERING’ in all caps. Holding her hand up, the Knight pointed up at the sign above and addressed them all, “This sector of the facility is almost entirely dedicated to training recruits, technicians, engineers and a whole shitload else required to man a multi-system government. Most likely, we won’t be back here in the engineering section until the end of the training but it never hurts to point out encase one of you is running errands. Okay, let’s head on through.”

They passed through the archway single-filed, raising their legs high above the threshold. If the engineering section was clean and relatively reserved behind their many doors, this section was filled with noise and activity. The smell of perspiration filled the air as crowds of people in tight black outfits marched in columns of two down the expanded hallway. “Make way! Knight Halloway’s back and she’s got fresh meat with her!” The busy hallway moved with more excitement as the other Knight’s hooted and hollered in their direction, pushing their own groups to move faster. This earned a snort and a small smile from the stoic Knight, but she made sure the recruits behind her failed to notice.

Without speaking, she continued walking in the gap left behind for her and her flock. They passed by rooms filled with soldiers breaking down and reassembling weapons, sets of weighted training equipment and artificial gravity machines to aid the trainees. Some rooms had figure blurring from one movement to another as large groups cheered or booed around them. It was fascinating and terrifying all at once, because not a recruit they passed by were without some kind of injury, from small cuts healing to large bruises and limbs in casts. They seemed content and determined enough though, jeering the newbies as they walked by in their ragged clothes even when they had black eyes or cotton stuffed up their noses.

After a series of turns and long hallways, Knight Halloway stopped in front of an open doorway to a room filled with empty bunk beds and footlockers at the front of each. Installed in the ceiling were bright blue-white lights. The walls were devoid of decoration and the floor was marred with pale lines that criss crossed mostly along the sides of the room. A shiver ran down Roy’s spine as he imagined having to spend the next part of his life here for lord knows how long, his naivety washing away with every moment he spent there.

“This is your barracks everyone, stow your belongings in the bags located in the locker with your name on it. When your done, remain standing next to your cots and be prepared for inspection.” Slowly at first, the line of recruits made their way inside. But as more passed by the Knight and didn’t receive a snake bite, they hurried on inside. Roy wasn’t the last one in nor the first, but it didn’t matter since his bunk was the closest to the door centered against the wall, as well as the woman with the shame filled look on her face. Roy was too busy at the time focusing on not giving in to the weight on his back.

She had already put her belongings away and was facing the corner with her arms crossed, her red hair the only part of her head he could see. Roy opened his mouth to say, but no words came out and he couldn’t think of anything to say. He slowly closed his mouth and then his eyes, taking a breath as he inspected the two lockers. Laying on the ground, the grey metal lockers had small white stickers with names on them. One had his name, ‘Roy Stormbreaker’ while the other was ‘Valorie McCoy’. At least he knew who he’d be bunking with, but it would be awkward if she continued to just stare at the corner while everyone else seemed to be having a decent conversation. The people bunking next to them were on the opposite side and wanted nothing to do with either of them, likely blaming her for all misery Elder Knight Benkis put them through.

Mustering his courage, Roy cleared his throat lightly before speaking, “Uh, it’s Valorie, right? My name’s Roy.” Still silent, she refused to turn around and face him. Instead, she turned her head slightly and said, “I have nothing to say to a coward like you. You folded like a house of cards when the Elder Knight gestured hither-to.” She demonstrated with her finger for a moment before snorting and facing the corner again. Closing his eyes in defeat, Roy gave up trying to talk to her and placed his meager belongings into his locker and stood idly by until Knight Halloway walked inside with four individuals behind her, two on each side. They appeared to be all female but for the one male, with a big pink scar slashed sideways across his pale face. All four of them bore scars of some kind, though his stood out the most. He noticed something was in their hands but it slipped his mind when Knight Halloway stole his and everyone else’s attention.

“Attention! When I say ‘attention’, that means stand in front of your lockers with your hands and arms flat against your sides, like this.” Knight Halloway snapped and her body stood ramrod straight, perfectly precise with her head held high. She held the pose for a handful of seconds before returning her icy blue eyes onto them in a hateful glare with her gloved hands folded behind her back. Her black uniform buttoned with gold and several medals and awards strapped to the left of her chest. Her black military cap was lacking any outlandish lettering save for a golden sword & shield that crossed each other, with a black skull on the shield. Taking a better look, Roy saw that the four individuals behind her only had a few medals shared between them and each of their caps bore two crossed swords instead. “I hope you paid attention, because that’s the first and last time I’ll demonstrate for you lot. Now, attention!”

Everybody tried to emulate the Knight, including Roy but they all failed to match her expectations. “Get down and give me ten push-ups, recruit!” She yelled at Roy’s face. Flustered, he quickly got on his hands and feet, pumping out ten painful push-ups that brought tears to his eyes from his early soreness. As he tried to get up, her foot slammed him back to the ground.

“Did I say get up? No! Get in the ready position and remain there until I say so.” Grimacing, Roy got back into the ready position and he focused all his will in maintaining his posture as his shaky arms threatened to give in. He could vaguely hear her bark more commands but they seemed to be aimed at the others. It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time she made her way back to the front of the room, but Roy was torn between pain, embarrassment and any hint that told him he could stand again.

Instead, more activity surrounded him as he heard multiple pairs of boots stamping around until they too returned to the front. Only then did Knight Halloway give them further instructions. “Congratulations, not a single one of you passed inspection! Give me ten more push-ups everyone!” Despite the dread in his heart, Roy couldn’t muster the energy to groan and could only try his hardest to comply. One, two, three push-ups later and he felt at the end of his rope. He breathed heavily before pushing on; four, five six. On his seventh push-up, he felt his arms were about to give and so he quickly returned to the ready position and breathed until he felt like her could try again. Seven, eight, nine. He was close but his body ached too much and his arms were rattling enough to hear the bones shake. He lowered himself for the final push-up but felt himself giving. He paused and tried again but he kept feeling his arms giving out. Taking one last break, he lowered himself again and though he felt his arms threatening to surrender, he lowered himself as much as he could before returning back to the ready position. At this point, he had a large pool of sweat gathered below his face and it was growing larger every second. Soon, it would spread to his hands he knew that would be the last straw before his hands would inevitably slip out from underneath him.

A pair of boots stepped forward and stopped in front of his head, but he didn’t dare look up to see who’s boots they belonged to. “Recruit, stand up.” Almost crying in relief, Roy stood up in but refused to show it on his face in fear of the Knight making him get back down and give another ten. But the needling fingers of fear still tickled down his spine as he stared face to face with the Knight as she tried to stab him with her eyes. After a moment, she nodded to him and returned to the front where the four people behind her each had a black plastic bag filled with stuff. The knight made a gesture with her right hand and they walked out with the bags in hand, leaving her alone with the recruits who were for the most part still struggling to hold themselves up.

“The rest of you, give me ten.” There were small groans within the room and Roy felt the air around the knight chill when her glare intensified while she scanned the room, as if she could freeze whoever dared complain about her orders. She made sure that everyone did their ten, going so far as to kick those who collapsed before she said they could rest or those who caved in. They all received a verbal beatdown or a literal one, depending on her mood. Even Valorie wasn’t spared from the knight’s wrath as she finished her tenth pushup. The knight even went so far as to crouch down and smack her across the face midway, causing her to fall on her face and start back up again.

Roy felt uncomfortable to say the least as he stood there with his hands to his side and his body soaked in sweat. He would be lying if he said he’d rather be on the floor with the others as the Knight begrudgingly ordered them to stand up. He could feel the heat from everyone’s anger directed towards him, even if he had done just as much as they, if not more. But that didn’t affect their perception, so now it looked as if he and Valorie were well on to being on everyone’s shitlist.

While everyone else were catching their breaths, the four previous individuals walked in and stood at attention behind the knight once more. She walked towards the end with the only male and held a hand out towards them. “The four people you see here are some of my Squires, they will be assisting me in your training and education starting ten minutes ago. Here to my right is Squire Higgins, Balrosh, Evone and Talia. Their word is my word unless told otherwise, which means if you disobey them, you disobey me and therefore disobeying Elder Knight Benkis. You don’t want that because then I’ll have to have an Adjuster come and make some modifications to your personality and I’d rather not have to do that if I didn’t need to. Squire Higgins, please lead these smelly sacks of shit towards the showers so they can stop polluting my personal space.”

Turning sharply towards Knight Halloway, Squire Higgins snapped a salute so sharp that Roy could almost hear the air whistle as he brought his gloved right hand across his chest. He then turned to the rest of them and snapped several times with his ungloved left hand and marched out of the room without looking back. Knowing better than to be idle, Roy was one of the first to start following him and he winced as all his muscles tried to revolt against him.

***

Roy was staring up at the frame above him, barely noticeable in the dark where only a few of the small lights above were outlining it. He was wearing a black t-shirt and underwear, provided by the Squires when they were all done taking a hot shower. Roy wasn’t excited about taking a shower with a bunch of other people sharing the space, but he was too tired and filthy to care at that point. From the pain induced hallucination, the travel to Sol Invictus, Elder Knight Benkis humiliating him in front of everyone and having one of his Knights embarrass him further, Roy had had enough for today. Yet, sleep eluded him as he listened enviously to the loud snoring of the others in the room. He could see one of Valorie’s pale legs hanging slightly off the bed above, the biggest contributor to the noise in here.

It’s not as if Roy didn’t want to sleep. In fact, if he closed his eyes for long enough it would probably only take a few seconds. What was keeping him up was the fear, the fear of grasping shadows and unholy light. Whatever that figure was or what it’s attentions were, it didn’t matter. One long stare into it’s empty, endless white eyes and an eternity later it whispered in his mind.

‘Soon’, the creature had whispered.

The memory made him shiver, despite being hours later. He could still remember it’s touch, the shadow that stretched beyond worlds, writhing and grasping towards him. When it’s fingers brushed against his nose, it disappeared and that was about the time he passed out. Now that he tried to remember, something was off. Fear still ran rampant through him, but something was off. An alien feeling unlike anything he’d ever felt. If he had to guess, the closest thing he could think of was a sense of...familiarity. That more than anything confused him and brought difficult question to his forethoughts. The process went on forever it seemed until he’d fallen asleep at some point. That was when the nightmares began.

His shirt flapped against an invisible wind as he felt himself falling towards a yawning abyss. Pale light streaked upwards all around him, cutting through the black but always struggling against it. What did minutes and hours mean when every second that passed were another thousand miles in an instant. Yet still there were no bottom in sight of this devouring throat. He awoke in his dream mid-fall, no time for that twisted pit of anxiety to grow when overlooking into an endless drop over a flimsy edge. No, he was flung straight into his descent without asking for an opinion. Fear had wormed its way through his body as he cried out to no one in particular, begging for a reason to why he ended up in this hellscape. But even after years of little change within his constant fall, fear could only last for so long.

At some point he gave up feeling sorry for himself and observed his environment with a little more attention. He watched the twirling ribbons of light, some whipped around erratically as if in pursuit while the larger ones swayed back and forth. He felt like there was something there and continued to watch, his fear long subsided into genuine curiosity. He looked out into the abyss to see if there were any shadows or movement beyond the pitch black between the lights. But then he realized, the two forces weren’t struggling against each other, they were dancing.

They were flowing against each other constantly and where light faded another ribbon would take its place and move about with energetic movements. The largest of the ribbons dominated the space around it and pushed away the smaller ribbons that grew too close, blocked by their shadow defenders. Amused, Roy couldn’t help but smile at the antics surrounding him. How could he have been afraid of such a place? It was a destination of extremes, made to terrorize the human mind which feared the unknown. But this place and that creature, something strange was going on, but he didn’t feel threatened. Still strange though, he hoped that whatever was going on would resolve itself so these lucid visions would stop chattering in the back of his mind.

But then he noticed something beyond the dancing lights and the creatures that lay hidden in the abyss, a thin color that he almost missed. A grey light that surrounded a fading light, which he now saw on all the lights. It was a barrier between the light and the dark, the point of contact between ethereal forces. As he focused more and more on the grey linings, millions of pairs of white eyes opened against the abyssal space in between the lights, staring at him. In unison, they whispered a singular word with the force of a lion’s roar from every direction.

“Soon.”