Second Life: A Second Chance

Ich M'abandonne (I)

PART TWO (Rising Tide)

4 Months Later...

I look ahead of me to the crowd assembling near the square. What a short time it had been from having finished Training with a third place ranking title out of the entire group of about one hundred. I cannot be anymore happier. Training was pure hell for all of us in it. I and everyone else who entered in Training went through so much, the lot of us, yet not as much as the few us (including I) who suffered during the First Rank Test in our last days of Training, the physical exam needed to fully enroll into the second program, the doorway to Paradias. 

I was never told of the test when I first embarked on Training, and neither was anyone else informed from those who know about the entire mission. Surprising how little we know and understand from this aspect of Training, as we know most things that have to do with regime, from social trends to puppet master Sorelyn's unexplained influence over the many. I remember being offered the First Rank Test when I, like ten others, did exceptionally well following the timed sandbag carrying relay, where two groups tied for first place, one of which included I. The relay, in all sense, was a breeze to pull off, compared to what I faced after that. I remember when my team and the other tied team was offered the First Rank Test. 

A mixed but still white male, in all black including his hat, yelled as he would, as he offered the teams tied for first on the relay, one with five and the other with six, "an opportunity to achieve the unthinkable."

"HOW WOULD YOU ALL LIKE TO TAKE PART IN THE FIRST RANK TEST?" Everyone immediately raised their hands after being asked, eager to avoid anymore training outside of Training I bet.

"GOOD ANSWER! THE FIRST RANK TEST, AS IT SAYS ON THE TITLE, IS A CHANCE TO EARN 'FIRST RANK' AS A KURAKAINE. BUT, IT ALSO SERVES AS THE SOLE OPPORTUNITY TO BE ABLE TO LIVE IN PARADIAS, OUR FAMED CAPITAL. HOWEVER, LET ME GIVE YOU ONE WARNING, THIS TEST WILL PUSH YOUR BODY TO ITS LIMITS AND WILL KILL HALF OF THOSE WHO ATTEMPT TO EVEN TAKE IT. TRUST ME I WOULD KNOW ABOUT IT ALL AS I TOOK IT MYSELF AND PASSED IT IN MY YOUTH, ONLY BARELY. HOWEVER, THE REST WHO TOOK IT WITH ME WEREN'T SO LUCKY. IF I BARELY PASSED THE FIRST RANK TEST, THERE'S NO TELLING WHO OF YOU WILL DIE TRYING TO PASS IT. NOW LET ME ASK AGAIN, WHO WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THE FIRST RANK TEST?"

Here is a thought, guess how many have died attempting to pass the First Rank Test to get to the Paradias Program? You are most likely off by a few thousand. Yes, you heard me correctly. In all the years and in every male zone of this vast Nation, about fifteen thousand males have died attempting to pass this test, with about seven thousand surviving to tell the tale. The failure rate is literally at fifty percent, but even then, that is putting it softly. Many more in actuality have died trying to enter into Paradias through this painful and traumatizing path. The statistics are more than off. Surprising to know of this find, given that I am part of the mission to overthrow the government. I should be at least informed about something regarding program to which an  option causes so many deaths. No one has ever uttered a single word to me about it, not even Amadan. Surely they cannot not know about the First Rank Test. Either way, here is a surprising statistic. Could you guess at all what the leading cause of death is when taking the First Rank Test? Pneumonia. 

All eleven of us (except I and two others) who reluctantly agreed to take Test had to take a pre-trial exercise prior to taking the First Rank Test. All but one passed the waterboarding exercise that leads one to take the test. However, only a little over half survived the "exercise" and that was before the actual test. Even the fact of overcoming a waterboarding exercise did not phase me by the time I reached success in the actual test. It was what came after that really shook me.

When it was all said and officially over, all but one surprisingly did well in the test. With the exception of one male who died midway during the test itself, another loss came to us from the most unexpected source. The poor gentleman was six feet, had a great build, had mixed race, and the first to rank in every section of the First Rank Test with flying colors, but was put into the ICU immediately after he had achieved first his First of First Rank Status. He later died from, and you guessed it, Toxic Shock Syndrome. He was nowhere near a hospital by the time he approached death, where I assumed he must have suffered a lot of hell before dying from the internal wounds that were brought on from having him achieve his best during the test. What further surprised me out of all this however, was the fact that the people in charge of our physical examination have tiny machines to detect things like Toxic Shock Syndrome and Pneumonia in seconds, but absolutely have no way of knowing how to treat it as quickly. With that note, I must add, I sure am lucky to have had tech by my side that helped me endure some of the most grueling challenges I had to overcome during the First Rank Test. Unfortunately, the number of those who died in my place does not at all justify all those who perished trying to qualify for the Paradias program.