I n f i n i t u m

Chapter Five

I barely locked the front door when a familiar voice greeted me from the couch. Startled, I twirled around and there Wren was, lounging in a pink robe that looked pretty comical on his character.

"How was class?" he questioned with friendly interest.

I shrugged off my shoes and replaced them with house slippers after storing them on the shoe racket. Ambling to the kitchen, I retrieved the leftovers from last night's dinner and answered, "Good, I guess."

"Anything interesting?"

"No."

"You sure?"

He didn't seem to get the hint, and a little suspicious I answered, "Yeah."

I cradled the to-go box in my grasp and made to hide in my room when a thought crossed my mind. Wren was a Hero— going outside the walls was something that he should be used to. Deciding to take his presence to my advantage, I stopped at my doorway and turned the questions on him, "Hey, how is it like outside the walls?"

His eyebrows raised up, surprised that I was initiating the conversation this time, "It can be scary, but once you get the hang of things, it's nothing."

Wren probably read the look on my face, considering the smirk he gave. He smiled, "I suppose you're apart of the group of cadets going on their first mission tomorrow?"

I was surprised that he knew and answered, "Yeah. I'm not exactly looking forward to it."

His smile was blinding, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I think my team will be tagging along."

"You're going to be there? That's...comforting," I cleared my throat, "well, I'm gonna get ready now."

I turned on my heel before he could say anything else and entered the safety of my room.

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Everyone did a double-take upon seeing me step into the room shoulder-to-shoulder with Wren. He'd just finished reassuring me of my safety for the hundredth time and issued a hand that remained alarmingly low on my back when we entered. My fellow cadets were shocked that the handsome Hero was touchy-touchy with the newbie and I was beyond uncomfortable to say the least. Five minutes later, Major Volkov entered the room, to which everyone immediately grew silent.

"Alright everyone, let's get started," she gave a nod to the blacked-out window at the back of the room, and an image, clear as day, appeared on the wall up front. It was a landscape with symbols I didn't understand scattered about.

"You will all be placed in teams of six for your first mission. The area assigned to you are not high-level posts, meaning that there should not be Horrors that are too dangerous to handle. To ensure your safety and comfort, however, two of our best teams will monitor the outer perimeter of your posts," she gestured toward the two far sides of the walls, "we have one of our best, Wren's team, covering the west side, and Sniver's team covering the east."

"Now, remember that you will have eyes on you. Each combat craft has a speaking system built in and you are to take orders through there as expected. Communication is vital. In the next few minutes you'll go down to the hangar, where you will be assigned to a combat craft before take off."

It seemed like everyone released the breath they were holding and quiet chatter filled the room almost immediately. The image up front displayed of a list of names divided into groups of six.

Major Volkov's voice rang out, "Find your group and once you've gathered yourselves, you are free to leave. Yui Hua, with me."

The room came alive at once and I made my way through the bodies to the front, where Major Volkov waited with the group of Heroes she had previously introduced as Sniver's group.