The Cainite Order

CHAPTER 4

知恵のない知識は、お尻の背面にある本の負荷である

CHAPTER 4

"Knowledge without wisdom is a load of books on the back of an ass."

The following few weeks were a blur of pain, sweat and more than a little humiliation for everyone. The red-haired bunk mate would finally be identified as Asherah Sibilau, a Pixie who joined the Order as a Vanguard. The Instructors, true to their word, gave few moments of respite. From the first day to the last, both Instructors took great joy in ensuring the maximum amount of pain at any given time. Never giving a single break or a moment of compassion, they reveled in pushing the group to the breaking point in the morning workout only to start the day's events in pain.

When Beathen started training he could have been any person on the street, but in the last week of training he realized just how much he had changed. Physically Beathen thought he looked more ripped than Stephen Amell, though it wasn't just the physical that had changed in him. The psychological differences weren't completely apparent until he spoke with Aunt C about passing training and moving to the next phase. Even she was taken aback at how disciplined he had become in a short time. Though she did enjoy pointing out that even through everything he was still a smartass. As always he replied to her "better a smartass than a dumbass". After that conversation he understood how much he had changed because of a single phrase the instructors kept repeating "Pay attention to detail Motard's". That one phrase had put many things in his life into perspective.

The most surprising moment of training happened on their last day when the instructors sat them down for one last lecture. "It's the person next to you that matters most. Commanders come and go but the soldier next to you rarely changes." educated Instructor White. "Most of you will go to posts all over the world on both sides of the Veil, but the friendships you make in this and other training can save your life when you least expect it. Never underestimate friendship."

The trainees sat there in shock as the words came out of his mouth. This was the first and only time he had said anything other than commands or yelling since the first day of training. They had all become closer during their ordeal but friendship was something that none of them had thought about since before their arrival to training. Many of them were going to the next training facility together, but it wasn't until that moment that they all seemed to respect one another for their mutual accomplishment. They had walked through the first layer of Hell and come out the other side. Now Beathen hoped they didn't have to go through the other eight.

As quickly as they had been ushered into the training facility they were shoved right back out on completion. Beathen, Asherah, Leonard (Leo) Dubois, Ezra the Golem and several others took a Learjet to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Ezra had been given a necklace with a charm on it that made him look like a human so they could pass through the commercial airport. Leo had asked why they had to take a commercial flight when there were so many other forms of transportation available to the Order. They were told that one reason was to make sure they could still blend in with normal people.

Asherah joked that, "They probably just got a group rate on the tickets."

The flight to Germany was a long ordeal for the group. Five of them had been assigned to the Trier facility for further instruction. Unlike the boot camp they had just come from, this facility was in the middle of one of the oldest cities in Europe. They were supposed to be getting their own dorm room as well as downtime and back pay for training. Being fresh out of basic training made dealing with the public even more taxing than Beathen had expected. They were all used to doing what they needed to fast. Though it felt like that was the opposite for regular people. Even with the annoyance of dealing with the public they were all ready to move on to the next phase of training. This was Beathen's first time out of the country, so to say that he was excited was a bit of an understatement. The fact that he and the other trainees had spent the better part of a month underground being tormented by two of the worst people any of them had ever dreamed of made everyone's excitement reach a fever pitch.