Broken Providence

(12) The Assessment of Power of the Chosen One

Aleodei stepped into the cold room escorted by Belm and two other disciples. The room was called The Room of Horrors for a reason. The assessment room was huge, and grey. She stood and reached for her long swords. Lady Monarch had decided to do her complete assessment of her power with machines rather than with her General.

Belm, Claire, and the other two disciples named Hae-Won of Pyro, and Amoztli of Hydro, stood in a separate room with the control panel ready to take notes.

Aleodei took in a breath.

"Start," she said firmly readying her swords. Holograms appeared and progressively they began multiplying and sending shocks toward Aleodei. She dodged and hit their targets over and over again. She held up against the holograms that contained core energy that shot at her all the different elements. 

Claire and Belm watched as Aleodei moved without stopping. They marveled at her agility and her endurance. she was obviously not human with that kind of persistence. the other disciples watched in silence trying to figure out how to explain to their bosses

Suddenly it all stopped, it had been 30 minutes, Aleodei huffed but still held her position. A red sign appeared, warning her that the next mode was a General level assessment. The disciples looked at each other and stopped the simulation, concluding the assessment. Aleodei wanted to continue, she wanted to know how powerful these generals were, but they turned off the machine.

Aleodei's posture sunk but she remained standing and sweat dripped from her mask. it was impossibly difficult to do all that training in a mask and there she was, refusing to take it off to even catch a break.

"That was amazing!" Claire said entering the room. Aleodei glared her way but didn't respond, sitting down and leaning on the wall.

"You know I can almost make it to general right?" Belm said narrowing her eyes. Aleodei's long ears sank at the defamation of pride, but she looked away from their direction, comfortable on the floor.

"Maybe, but Aleodei was ready to continue to general and general is another level! Aleodei looked like she was ready to challenge it," Claire said smiling.

Aleodei said nothing.

"Wanna go eat?" Claire asked said excitingly.

"That was adequate Paladin," Belm commented as she stood in next to Claire standing over Aleodei.

"If we're gonna be responsible for you, we might as well get you something to eat after that work out" Claire said warmly. Aleodei's stomach churned.

How could they speak to her like that? Like if they were so much as friends that they should care about her! Anger filled every crevice of Aleodei. She didn't want them to try to be her friend or to care about her. She was just here to end the war and nothing else. She never wanted these people to grow accustom to her.

She shrugged and stood up brushing past Claire and Belm.

"I'm not really hungry," she said as she left the room.