The car pulls up outside a large wide-set building, it’s like a transportation terminal with large vehicles bearing the country, army and air force insignia going about their business in the background. There’s a frantic atmosphere around as carloads of people are dropped off all the time.

“Thanks for the lift, shit situation but I’ll see you when I get out.”

“Yeah bro, it’s usually just a few months of study before you can get out. I’ll see you when you get out, maybe my baby will be ready.”

“I look forward to seeing it…”

Sam exits the car, “Bye” closing the door behind him.

The car speeds away while he’s left standing before a flurry of people; they go about their business as if they know what they’re doing while he’s standing there with nothing. He looks for some signs of where to go when he spots a familiar face in the distance.

Sam runs up to the person, “Hey, hey Mitchell, you’re here?”

The young man turns around, his half-sleepy gaze giving Sam a pause before remembering that about this person, “Oh hey Sam, you got called up too? Can you believe our luck, right after the ceremony.”

“Yeah, How did you go with the ceremony? I can’t believe that’s all it was…”

“I thought it was pretty grand. The long speech that the mayor gave out while the old priest gave his blessings was something I felt was missing from our society. I am grateful. What I have been granted is a blessing for me and everyone.”

“I see. Didn’t know you felt like that. Can I see your egg?”

“Government regulations state that we should not take it out of protective coverings unless asked to by an authority figure, only they know the correct procedures for handling. The manual specified that, I am sorry.”

“Really? That’s the procedure? I had to run home holding mine… what the hell… Uh, so do you know where to go here?”

Mitchell holds out a piece of paper, Sam fishes the piece of paper out of his pockets at the same time taking the hint from the person he’s standing with.

The paper feels damp as Sam unravels it, Mitchell speaks out as he’s doing this, “I am to report to Desk 3-A. What about you?”

Sam looks over the paper, “I am to report to… Desk… 8-C on floor 3?”

Mitchell and Sam look at the gigantic building before them, it looks like it only has two stories on it giving them pause for a moment, Mitchell is the first to speak up as the two of them stare at the building.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out more inside,” Mitchell walks towards the enormous building with Sam following behind, “did you have much rest after the ceremony?”

“Not really…” Sam doesn’t elaborate further than that, Mitchell quickly changes the subject to something related to a school subject they both know. They both pass the short distance to the large building within the concrete jungle and car park.

Entirely lost in the crowd of people.

There are thousands of people wearing uniforms and fashion that Sam cannot recognise surprising him at how busy it actually is after all here, it was one thing at the ceremony but at this army depot the fact that thousands of people can stand before it means that many people are involved today.

They come across large doors, large doors with signs above them that label which each desk will lead to, ‘Desk 1-A to 1-B’, ‘1B to 1-D’ and so on. Mitchell and Sam pause before the doors, the surrounding people are noisy as they too find where they need to go.

“Well, I guess we might see each other inside, otherwise I think it’s at the next ceremony? Graduation?”

“Hard to believe that it has arrived at this point already, you take care.”

Mitchell shakes Sam’s hand, “You take care too” he turns around and walks through the door that he needs to.

Sam suddenly feels alone, he’s about to embark on a big journey and… he has no idea if he’ll have a life to even come back to after a single night. The only thing that he can hope is that he’ll be able to sort out everything once he’s inside.

There are many questions that come to his mind, yet there are no answers that can be told.

Sam brushes them off his mind. The simple melody comes to him calming him down allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief, “I can only move forward.”

He walks towards the sign that simply reads ‘Levels 2+’ that seems barren compared to all the other doors. Each footstep is heavier than the last, each one carries a weight of his whole life in it yet… it’s easy for him.

He wants to move forward, he needs to move forward and there’s nothing holding him back yet it’s still heavy, each step giving him an untold pressure…

The doors open as he nears it, he can smell the pleasant air inside, it smells like his future yet he just smells death and desolation. A feeling that he’ll only experience misery once he crosses that threshold.

His footsteps don’t stop as he crosses that invisible line, signalling to him that he has accepted the future, whatever comes. He’ll face it with resolve, resolve of staking his life on this moment… he doesn’t have his egg, he doesn’t have his parents and his own power feelings in a mess, yet at this moment he feels free.

He has made a choice for himself, even if it was forced, this is a choice that he himself could make.

Sam stands after the door, the familiar sight of the window being blocked is behind him yet he doesn’t look back as he walks forward and up the stairs, he walks up to the second level where there’s a large foyer that is lavishly decorated yet he keeps going.

A few people catch a glimpse of him walking up yet they doubt their eyes, very few people will go up to the third level.

Sam makes his way up to the third level but is stopped by a gateway, he pushes it when it flashes red with a screen displaying a warning.

‘Present Identity Card’

Sam isn’t sure which card it is but he holds up the silver card that was included in the mail. The door suddenly switches to a green colour allowing him to walk through it.

Sam is greeted with a large open plan space, there’s two people standing in the middle of the room.

Two beautiful women, they’re wearing decorated and old-fashioned clothing, they look at Sam with a smile. The room itself is an old fashioned wooden room compared to the industrial feeling of all the other rooms.

A water feature makes a sound, Sam clears his throat.

“Welcome Sam.”

“Welcome Sam.”

The women greet him, they both sound identical yet it sounds melodical to his ears.

“I was told to report here, I’ve got the letter” he fishes it out of his pocket, the almost destroyed piece of paper almost falls to the ground yet the women both giggle softly.

“It is ok Sam, we just need to confirm your egg’s status. If it has progressed faster than expected we will need to change our process.”

“Please place the egg on the stand next to you.”

Sam immediately has a cold sweat down his back as a pedestal appears near him, it has a spot for a large egg marked on it, “Do I have to?”

“Yes, we need to ensure the growth of the egg.”

“Please place the egg on the marked area.”

Sam gulps and pulls out his egg bag, his hand reaches in slowly and shakily, tempted to find the nearest exit and run for it. His hand grabs the small egg, it pulls it out slowly as the women look on without emotion.

He quickly places it on the pedestal hoping it will be hidden from view but his hopes are dashed instantly as it sits there lit up.

“Sam, is this your egg?”

“Please confirm this if your egg, given to you at the ceremony of ages.”

Sam scratches his neck, “It was stolen I think… my house was broken into and I woke up, it was gone. I wanted to report it to the police but decided to come here first.”

One woman blinks several times as the other one speaks, “Please confirm, you do not have possession of the ceremonial egg. Have you made a link with this egg?”

“Yes” Sam smiles proud that he’s made a link with this egg.

“Please wait here a moment.”

The women both disappear as Sam is left in the room alone, his egg is still sitting on the pedestal glowing yet he cannot feel excited about this egg, whatever it is. It seems like it will be a poor substitute for what he has now.

It only takes a few moments for the women to reappear, they have the same neutral expression on.

“Your orders have been shifted. You will receive new orders on the transportation that will be leaving shortly. Please collect the class-F egg and leave through that door.”

“Thank you for your service.”

The women smile at Sam but it feels unnatural. He collects the egg and walks out of the room without saying a word. The women no longer seemed friendly after showing the egg, they didn’t even say anything about the police incident.

Sam walks through the hallway, it’s the usual government empty hallway that only has a single opening when he reaches his destination, he walks through it and is assaulted by a loud hissing sound.

He looks around but can only see it as a simple-looking lobby, thousands of people are standing around with a sad expression. There’s no order here it just seems like a group of people standing around.

Sam walks up to someone and tugs their sleeve, “What are you waiting for?”

“Transportation, we’re going to regional command boot camp. We’ll be receiving orders by tomorrow afternoon, weren’t you listening?”

“I was just led here, shit…”

“Come to the club…” the person turns around, all the young men around him look the same.

Sam stands there shocked, unsure what to make of everything, it’s all changing too fast when,

*ZZZZZZ*

Several large doors roll up exposing the outside, a loud noise like several jet engines are roaring causing everyone to cover their ears and mouth.

“410 SECONDS FOR ENTRY PERMITTED, START!”

A mechanical voice announces, Sam is at the back of the crowd yet he’s still pushed forward by the crowd luckily his experiences allow him to manoeuvre himself through the crowd and break free. Allowing him a chance to look at the surrounding crowd.

It’s almost a panic as people crowd to get in to the transports, each one of the transportation crafts are able to carry over 1200 people yet there’s probably 9,000 people remaining causing it to be a slow operation.

Sam notices a few people he recognises get into the crafts, a few friends and a few enemies. They do not notice him as they’re all worried about their situation yet. This brief glance allows Sam to feel better about his situation going forward.

“Well there’s always that thing about stage 2…” Sam mutters as he enters one of the final queues, the later transports are less crowded giving him a simple walk into the transport that looks like a cargo container with no windows.

Sam looks around, there’s no one he recognises yet there isn’t anyone that looks like a threat so he checks his phone one last time before choosing to take a nap on the transportation craft.

His dream is about nothing as his sleep is rough, the transportation craft doesn’t seem to care about comfort as it slowly goes above the landscape. It takes several hours to cross mountain passes and arrive at the first regional defence location.

Sam is still asleep as the craft lands down on the ground, a loud thud as it lands on the ground stirs him from his sleep, his red eyes look around the craft as other people gather by the rear of the craft.

“Welcome to the first regional defence location, many famous battles were once fought on the lands around here. You will first report to some station for your assignment, please proceed off the craft” an old man’s voice comes out over an announcement.

The rear of the craft opens up, it reveals a large expanse of flat area surrounded by 2 large cliff faces and a mountain in the other direction. It’s a natural impasse that even flight capable people struggle to pass.

Sam yawns and stretches, it takes him a few moments to gather the energy to stand up yet he’s not the last one to stand up. He makes his way out slowly; the sun glaring down on him from up high, the temperature instantly tens of degrees hotter.

Sam walks off the ramp and looks around. The other transportation crafts are offloading their people at other spots that are marked in the grass. The large crafts are hundreds of metres long and have large quiet engines on top of them, yet they still emit a strange buzzing hum sound.

In the distance there’s a large fortress looking building built onto a mountain sticking out from the land, it’s reaching almost high in the sky as ancient cannons litter the sides of it.

Sam stands in awe at the sheer scale of it, it seems so close yet that’s because the cannons are so large. He isn’t alone as other people stand there unsure about what to do. A loud voice comes from their side.

“No standing around, hurry up!”

Sam looks at the voice, it’s an official looking person wearing a uniform. Their expression is stern as he holds something.

It takes Sam a moment to notice what it is, he immediately adjusts his attitude, “Ok sir”

A few moments later, *CRACK* *WHACK*

“OW” two voices say in unison.

“MOVE!” the loud voice announces.

Sam smiles to himself as he walks towards one of the tents that have been set up, a small queue is before him as he looks at the people standing there, they all seem to be various ages including much older people.

The people his age are quite a bit smaller than the older people.

They’re all standing in silence as they wait their turn, Sam pulls out his phone one final time and notices he has no signal before placing it away.

“You have your phone still?” someone whispers beside him.

“Yeah, why?”

“They usually take that away, you should hide it. They don’t allow free communications out here.”

“Thanks,” Sam moves the phone to somewhere less noticeable than his pocket before turning to the person that talked, he’s a few years older with a rough-looking beard, “what’s your name? I’m Sam.”

“I’m Harry, how’d you manage to keep your phone? A few people were trying but got caught even on the x-ray.”

“X-ray? I didn’t have anything like that, I was just shoved on the transport… basically.”

“Weird… well make sure you hide it. Do you know what you’re assigned to?”

“Assigned? Nope, as I said just shoved here. I hope it’s nothing that involves my pet…”

“You got one? What level is it?”

“You didn’t?”

“No… the people here are mostly either no monsters, possible monsters or super low level or dead monsters.”

“Oh…” Sam feels defeated upon hearing those words.

“Cheer up… you didn’t come here through the normal method so maybe that means you’ll be fine” Harry pats Sam’s shoulder.

They get closer to the front of the queue, the sounds from inside come out muffled yet horrific as drills and screams come out from time to time.

“Next.”

The two of them have finally arrived at the head of the queue, Harry steps forward.

“Well, remember what I said Sam, I’ll see you some other time.”

“Thanks for the help, Harry.”

Sam waves to Harry who heads through the curtains first. He has given him some basic guidance on life in this sort of boot camp. It’s just like school camp rules, keep your head down and hope you aren’t noticed.

“Next.”

Sam gulps and steps forward, the tent is empty as a sterile medical environment is there.

A man stands there beside a female nurse and some sort of robot, “Sit down.”

Sam immediately sits down on the chair, it adjusts itself as the man quickly stands beside him.

“Name?”

“Sam Tonak.”

“Age?”

“Nearly 18.”

“Hours since egg incubation?”

“Umm, 12?”

“Place the egg on the tray before you.”

The nurse steps forward with a metal tray with a soft holder on it, Sam places his tiny egg on it.

The nurse steps away while the male continues to speak, “Are you allergic to anything?”

“No.”

“Have you recently had sexual intercourse?”

“What? No…”

“Have you recently had other types of sexual contact with others.”

“No.”

The man lists through hundreds of questions, Sam is sitting there wondering what the point of all these questions are when the nurse steps forward again with his egg on the tray.

“Please take your item.”

Sam retrieves it while the man picks up a report and speaks it out, “Class-F minus. Tier… E at best, it looks to be sea creature based. Where did you acquire it?”

“Uhh just someone I know, I was told that I didn’t have any other option.”

“Well… true. We wouldn’t be prepared to replace what you were provided. You are cleared for Camp 2-A, an information packet will be waiting for you there.”

The man passes Sam a piece of paper, Sam reads it.

It simply restates what he said, including a bunk number so it’s real.

Sam lightly sighs, “Is this it until I leave the camp?”

“Yes as far as I know, you can apply to leave but you will retain your spot until that is enacted or denied.”

Sam sighs again, “That all?”

“Yes, please exit through through there.”

The man and nurse both point towards a shining doorway that appeared on the other side of the room.

Sam steps up and walks through the door unsure about what’s going fully, he just knows that everything in his life has suddenly changed.

Suddenly and massively.