Eric

The Erudite

I am standing on the edge of the building, ready to jump.

Inhale, exhale.

It is a simple thing I have already taught myself to do in stressful, fearful times.

I jump and feel my stomach go into my throat. The feeling overwhelms me and at soon as I hit the bottom I roll over and puke onto the stone floor.

I look up to see a man with deep brown skin contort his face at me.

"The stiff Dosent have a strong stomach because of eating all that plain food? I suggest you practice eating worms."

"What?" I ask furrowing my eyebrows. If stiff is slang, then I am probably unfirmiluar with it. It is inaccurate in Erudite. Ill worry about it later.

Once everybody has jumped, we gather around a leader. The one who told us to jump.

"My name is Amar," he says. "I'm your initiation instructor. I grew up here, and three years ago I passed with flying colours, which means I also get to be in charge if the newcomers as long as I want. Lucky you."

As far a I am concerned, I do not like Amar. Sarcasm is the one thing I hate, the one thing I will not tolerate. I want him out.

"Dauntless-borns and transfers do most physical training separately, so that the Dauntless-borns don't break the transfers in half right away-" Zoelton nudges me and I see Kaiden inch away sheepishly. "But we're trying something different this year. The Dauntless leaders and I want to see if knowing your fears before you train will better prepare you for the rest of initiation. So before we even let you into the dining hall to have dinner, we're going to do some self-discovery. Follow me."

"What if I don't want to discover myself?" A dark skinned boy asked. It reminded me of a less Erudite kind of me.

We walk down the hall ways towards whatever Amar was talking about. I can hear the faint dripping of the water leaks in the tunnel. It could be a calming sound, if I learn to let it.

We stop in a room with a glass room inside of it, with a chair and needle in front of it. Much like the initiation test.

"This is the fear landscape room," Amar announces the initiates. " A fear landscape is a simulation in which you confront your worst fears."

Confront your worst fears? How does that even work? Livia stretches and I almost laugh at how calm she is about this. The Abnegation kid looks scared out of his mind though. He picked the wrong faction.

"How is that possible?" I ask, letting my curiosity get the best of me. "You don't know your worst fears." I state.

"Eric, right?" Amar responds. "You're correct, I don't know you worst fears, but the serum I am going to inject you with will simulate the parts of you brain that processes fear, and you will come up with the simulation obstacles yourself, so to speak. In the simulation, unlike in the aptitude test simulation, you will be aware that what you are seeing is not real. Meanwhile, I will be in this room, controlling the simulation, and I get to tell the program embedded in the simulation serum to the move on to the next obstacle once your heart rate reaches a particular level- once you calm down in other words, or face your fear in a significant way. When you run out of fears, the program will terminate you and you will 'wake up' in that room again with a greater awareness of your own fears."

If I wanted a long explaination, I think to myself, I would have stayed in Erudite.

With a swift flick of his hands he grabs one of the full needles and everyone tries to seem unnoticed.