The families trip in the car isn’t long, not because they reached their destination, there’s just a pile of cars from everywhere. The highways for this rural town are designed to handle a certain amount of load and anything over just causes a carpark.

Sam and his parents got out of the car and decided to walk the remaining distance, many others joined them as they all wear the same gear as Sam. None of them talk to him, but Sam is able to notice that many of them don’t look very good.

He wonders if that’s because they didn’t do any exercises but there’s far too many of them for that to be the case, otherwise only about 10% of people did it.

Sam looks at his father who has no reaction to his surroundings, his eyes point forward as they’re closing in on the large ceremonial hall that sits in the middle of town. The buildings are getting larger and heavily defended as they approach it.

It creates an oppressive atmosphere as all the buildings seem armed but that all changes when they come across the open-aired grounds of the ceremonial hall, a large spire that sits in the middle of the city.

A thin spire that almost blends into the sky as it sits there.

Sam gazes up at the spire for a moment before looking down at the building below it, it’s usually a large beautiful cathedral with a sky light but now it’s like a large group of people that don’t know what to do.

The beautiful building has been changed with several large boxes, buildings that just look like boxes have been attached to it.

The pathways are getting filled with people, Sam looks at his parents one last time as he knows that it’s getting time to part.

“Any last minute advice?” Sam says after a moment of awkward tension.

“Try your best even if you don’t get something, it’ll be fine.” his father says before looking away.

His mother steps forward and hugs him, they nearly stumble but manage to keep pace, “It doesn’t matter just come home safely, we have another surprise waiting at home no matter what you get.”

A few ears perk up in the surroundings, his father coughs as they come across the opening to the gate. This is the last point of contact, only people that are attending the ceremony can go further.

His mother gives him a final hug, many other people are doing the same in the surroundings while his father gives him a solid handshake.

“Take care, see you later.”

Sam lets go of his father’s hand and his mother, she has tears in her eyes as he passes through the gate that has an electrical field separating the two spaces.

He looks back but cannot see through it anymore, the only way he can go is forward as everyone else is heading towards the building or talking out the front.

The whole area seems chaotic but no one dares make a ruckus here, most people afraid to even raise their voice lest they attract the ire of some of the overseers.

They have the power to demerit you which will impact anything you do in the future, they might even block you from undertaking this years ceremony. That punishment is especially severe since they’re not run as often these days.

Sam looks around for anyone he can recognise, there’s some people he knows somewhat but not well enough to stand near. The crowd that he’s walking with is leading him into the large building, he doesn’t have much option but to be dragged along with the crowd.

He nears the door when he spots a small crowd of people making a commotion, Sam is essentially trapped where he is so he’s forced to watch on as a group of people surround a single person.

“Are you ready to hand it over?” a young man with an arrogant expression on says, his blonde hair waves in the air as he smiles surrounded by people.

“I can’t hand it over, it’s my family heirloom.”

“They’re not here to help you this time…”

The people part of the arrogant blonde person’s group move on the single person, Sam tries to work his way out of the crowd to help but he is being dragged along by the crowd still.

“Can you let me go?” Sam asks around him, people let him through but the next layer of people stop him causing him to groan in frustration.

The blonde haired man spots Sam making a commotion, he smiles at him before picking up the young man, “Are you ready to hand it over?”

“No.”

“Ha, good answer.”

The blonde man takes the young man away somewhere with his people, no one stops him as Sam tries to work his way out to do something. There’s thousands of people here but they won’t do something.

Sam tries to force his way through but it’s too late as he passes through another gate up some stairs, the crowd of people has defeated him.

They enter a small narrow hallway, Sam looks back and notices the same effect where he cannot see behind him. The crowd slows down as they squish together, above them displays are showing information that is also blaring at them through speakers.

“You will be assigned initially by registration city and family name. Please tell the prompt”

“Please follow all instructions given.”

“Please refrain from any sudden movements, any violence will be met with swift punishment.”

…

Many announcements come over, Sam cannot help but laugh at some of the ones that annoucne there will be no violence given what he has seen on the outside. The queue continues as they seemingly go down an endless hallway that has nothing in it.

A floating little screen appears before Sam, ‘Name?’ it reads.

“Tonak.”

‘T - 33 / Door #84’ flashes a few times before the screen disappears elsewhere.

Sam looks around for a door yet spots nothing, he must look confused as someone speaks up behind him, “Looking for your door?”

Sam looks behind him, it’s a young man by himself, he looks normal enough so Sam delays his steps and walks beside him, “Yeah. This place is pretty weird.”

“This is just a normal government building, they’re no longer made for people. We’re just there to be ferried around its functions.”

“Ah, even in the ancient times too?”

“Especially then, it was worse as they didn’t have multinational digital restrictions. This building is one example of an endless corridor where an infinite amount of people can be served if needed.”

“How does that work?”

“Who knows? It’s their secret, we might learn if we get a high enough rank.”

“Sure, I’m Sam, who are you?”

“I’m Hugh. I’m from a few towns over, we were shipped here as there’s no where else in the close region.”

“I see, I’m from here but I haven’t seen any of my friends. Do you know much about what’s going to happen?”

“Nope. It’s mostly just up to chance I heard.”

“I see…”

“Cheer up, we’re about to get our own monsters and embark on our true lives. We might end up being heroes one day.”

“Yeah. I wonder what we’ll end up getting…”

“Well my family… oh it’s my door, I’ll see you in the future Sam. Keep that righteous heart” Hugh suddenly leaves the hallway through a door that appeared on the side and disappeared after he used it.

‘It has something to do with family?’ Sam mutters inwardly as he continues to walk.

An unknown amount of time passes as the crowd thins out, more people pile in behind him but they stretch far in the distance.

Sam yawns when out the corner of his eye he spots a light, a door appears near him.

‘#84’

Sam walks up to it and presses it, the door opens and he’s allowed to walk through before it shatters behind him leaving him in a dark new space.

His eyes take a moment to adjust to the new room, it’s quiet as he looks around.

“Hello?”

A voice come over the room, it echoes in Sam’s ears as he stands in this dark room of nothingness.

“Can I leave or wait somewhere else?”

“Am I able to do something interesting then?”

There is no response from the voice to this question, Sam doesn’t know what to do as he waits here. It feels fine but the feelings of an upcoming surgery that he cannot identify doesn’t fill him with confidence.

Sam paces about for a few minutes, “What number in queue am I?”

“I see.”

Sam paces about for some time before stopping and opting to cycle through the exercises, this space seems perfect for it as the atmosphere doesn’t let his body build up sweat so much. It’s able to keep it a perfect temperature as he goes through them all.

He has slowly adapted his own unique rudimentary exercises that include principles from all the manuals, it’s only at a basic level. Essentially just copying them all in an order but it has a strange effect on his body as his mind is able to concentrate in a strange way.

A strange melody comes over his mind as he does the exercises, an amount of time passes.

Sam snaps out of it, “Prepare how?”

“Huh?”

The voice doesn’t come back but a door appears before him, he steps through it given little other voice. A tube appears before him, it’s dancing about like an electronic snake before him.

Sam feels intimated by it, it all of a sudden shoots forward and reaches his pants…

After some time, the tubes retract and another door appears, Sam quickly steps through it before the tubes come back where he spots a large white room with a table on it.

“”

“Will I be restrained on the table?” Sam walks over to it touching it, it feels soft and looks like a normal hospital bed.

“”

Sam smiles at this non-answer, he has no choice but to lay down on the bed where things quickly change as several tentacle like protrusions come out, they’re holding various instruments causing Sam’s heart to race.

An oxygen mask is suddenly placed over his mouth, it instantly settles his heart as the tools are placed away.

His consciousness is slowly fading, a voice explains something briefly to him, ”

He isn’t able to listen to the computerised voice speak, he doesn’t even have time to wonder about why the computer voice is speaking to him in the first place as he falls asleep from the introduced analgesia.

Sam would often have an interesting dream, especially under the effects of these gases, but this time it was different as his dreams were filled with movies and information about what’s coming up, some brief guidance about how to control the monster and how to look after them.

They felt like they would go on for a long time, it’s all information that was drilled into them from birth yet it will confuse some people such as, don’t put your shark monster into a fresh water lake or don’t touch the wings of insects types.

Sam’s mind is overall foggy as he’s watching all of this, it’s like he is strapped down yet he doesn’t know as his consciousness is mostly gone with the video the only source of information coming to him.

It all abruptly comes to an end as bright lights hit his eyes, he feels like he’s suddenly standing up as he’s in a daze uneasy on his feet.

“Am I awake?”

“Step forward, the ceremony will start in a moment.”

Sam suddenly wakes up, he still can’t see anything as several lights from above shine down on him. A few shadows of a crowd can be seen as he can not see anything except a dark pillar before him.

Sam steps towards the pillar, there’s a cup on it filled with a golden glowing liquid.

“”

Sam stands there waiting for it to continue, a quiet voice comes from the distance telling him to drink it. He takes the cup that feels strangely heavy and instantly downs that strangely sweet tasting liquid.

It goes down his throat instantly, it has no effect as he licks his lips enjoying the taste.

He is completely unaware of the large multiple-tentacle machine approaching from behind, it grabs his body and restrains it as he struggles for a moment before finding his body lacking any strength.

“If you guys were going to restrain me again, why did you wake me up to make me drink that thing.”

“Quiet, this is the most important part.”

“Someone’s here?”

Sam’s body suddenly feels hot, it feels almost uncontrollable as his limbs start shivering with the muscles almost exploding from sudden expansive heat. Each tentacle handles the muscles properly as Sam feels changes happen inside his body.

He strange inside as he can feel something new that didn’t exist before, it’s like an energy is inside his body. An explosive force that he can call upon at any time, a large cloud like space appears inside him.

That’s not all as that space appears unsteady like it wants to gobble up anything it can get, most people can only trigger this sort of effect when they’re about to reach next stage.

A buzzing effect comes around him as thousands of little tiny threads feel like they’re pricked into that energy cloud inside him, this happens in several instants before it slows stops on a single large feeling that brings only one thing to mind.

“OW”

A huge stabbing sensation comes across Sam, it’s like someone is drilling into his skull and his teeth at the same time as that thread gets larger, the pain increases but he’s restrained and cannot do anything except yell.

Sam yells, he yells out as loud as his lungs can handle retrained in the air.

A flash appears on the ground, the pain subsides as that flash appears.

Sam focuses on that feeling change, he focuses his mind on that feeling causing that flash to happen again and again.

The flash changes shape into something solid, Sam leans fuilly in to the feeling as the pain finally subsides. It feels like a hole has been forcefully drilled through his mind but it is over, he looks at what is on the ground.

It’s an egg.

An egg is on the ground almost floating above it as he is released from the restraints, a metal tentacle handles the egg before passing it to him.

“Congratulations on summoning your own monster, the country and town hopes you will use it in their aid. In the future and always.”

Sam takes a few uneasy steps before walking towards a doorway that appeared nearby, his legs takes some time to adjust to the new found power flowing through them. It’s as if each muscle has a small burst of energy under each movement.

His steps are getting better as he enters a lavish hallway, there’s no one there allowing him the chance to walk as he pleases. He carefully handles the egg in hand walking down the hallway, each waft of air feels uplifting as his muscles feel better.

His steps get better as he spots the exit, screens are blaring information which distract him for a moment.

*BAM*

Sam hits someone standing in the hallway, he curses himself for being distracted for even a moment and looks before him and spots the last person he wanted to see.

It’s a young man with blonde hair.

“Are you blind?” he says wiping his robe.

“No, I was distracted and tired. That whole process is weird. Was that really the ceremony? The thing that our whole life was building up to?”

“Pft, peasant. You have been bestowed with a great glory, being able to take part in the same ceremony as this young lord shall be the closest we will ever be…”

“What did you say?!” Sam yells at the person who seems to be looking at the egg in his hands, Sam hides it and adopts a serious expression, “I feel like you’re not taking me seriously.”

“You only got that now? I’ll give you a hint, you do not deserve to be breathing the same air as me” the blonde haired man swipes his hair back taking one last look at Sam’s egg before leaving.

Sam stands there waiting for the young man to leave the room, he wonders what his name is but has a feeling that the incidents aren’t over yet. It doesn’t take long for him to leave, allowing Sam to continue his journey.