United Regnum

Eva 5

I climb into bed.

Allec would talk to Ruth, but would he find out why they killed my mother? I'm sure he will. Allec never half does anything. Just having Allec on my side gave me peace of mind. Allec was like the greatest gift ever given. His smile, his eyes... I drift off to sleep while thinking of him.  

However, I dream of Ruth. I'm on Main Street, in front of the pub. The television is broadcasting one image and one message.

Ruth. "War. Outside forces. Down with the Regnum."

Things around me are chaos. People screaming, children crying, glass shattering. Theres a bite to the wind that's blowing. She repeats the message to the masses until I wake up.

I'm in a cold sweat again. It must be morning by now. I'll just take a shower. I walk into the hallway and nearly miss being run over by Pete and some other boys. They don't stop or look back. I keep on with what I'm doing. By the time I emerge, I'm met with a swarm of officials headed down the hallway. They all head the same way Pete had gone. He mu3st have caused some sort of trouble. When I get back to the doorm, It's 7 am. The trainers are waking everyone up by splashing them with water. Teagan is up and dressed. She looks oddly excited.  

"Eva, did you hear what happened while we were asleep?"  She grabs my arm and looks at me with wild, wide eyes. 

I shake my head, of course not. 

"The farmers on the outskirts had nerve enough to rebel. They marched into the capital building and demanding something. The Fortitudo had to go and put them in their place." She smiles. Someone behind her laughs.  

Once we're all dressed we march up the stairs to the training grounds. We line up in rows and columns. I happen to get into the first row. The trainers- George, Allec, Tara, Kale, and Gage. Line up in front of us. Gage steps out of line and addresses the crowd.  

"Welcome to your first official day of training. Before we begin you should get to know your trainers. I'm Gage, 18, soon to be top of security, second in my class." He steps back and Allec steps forward.  

"I'm Cross, 18, high in government, first in my class." He steps back and A short, pale-blonde haired woman steps forward.  

"Tara, 18, government, 3rd in my class." She smiles and steps back. An attractive, muscular man with sleek brown hair steps forward.  

"Hey, I'm Kale, 18, security, 4th in the class." Hey smiles and winks. Finally a huge, rather bulky man steps forward.  

"Jack. 18. Security. 5th." He leaves a cold chill in the air. Gage reassumed position.  

"Now that we're all warmed up, here's how this is gonna go. Training, as you know, is split into 4 parts. Courage, loyalty+confidence, pure strength, and improvising." He smiles devilishly 

And a small whisper comes from the crowd.  

"You all mastered courage yesterday. You have three months to master the rest. Each month will be consumed by each area, some months tougher than others. Each month will have 3 or 4 tasks to go along with it. This month is of course confidence. We have three tasks lined up, in between those tasks you will be training you for your real final exam. This year you will face your greatest barrier as your final. Between now and then train and study hard. I'm sure all of you will do well on the exam." He laughs a hearty laugh, as if he's just told the best joke in the world. 

"Now, today's task is simple: Each trainer will will take one of you for some one on one time based on when you jumped yesterday." Each trainer pulls out their tablet and holds up a name. The first five are matched. Allec gets Pete, Jack gets the girl from the couple, Tara gets the boy, Kale gets Teagen, and Gage gets... Me? What about Steele? Shit. As I walk towards him his smile grows, splitting his face. He's not ugly, in fact he's alluringly handsome. Yet, there's a darkness about him that keeps me at bay.  

He leads me back to a room. There's only a chair in it. A plain, metal chair.  

"Sit." He commands.