Courage (Divergent)

Introductions

Our society functions using a unique system named the 'Faction System'. The city had been divided into five of these factions and are desiccated to a singular virtue that is unique only to them. The first is called Abnegation. The people in this faction are selfless and value the needs of others before their own. The second is Amity whose values are based upon peace and harmony. They are happy people who believe that a person should let go of any anger and hatred they may hold. The third is Erudite whom value themselves on their intelligence. They believe that knowledge is the only way to absolve conflict. Candor is the fourth Faction. The people there are honest and open. They speak the truth even when it does not want to be heard. Finally, there's Dauntless. The people of this faction are brave and strive to become courageous and indestructible. They are the soldiers and protect the city.

There is a sixth group who are separate from the other factions. The people there are called the Factionless. It is mostly made up of people who failed to complete their initiation or had been exiled for a number of reasons. They live a life of poverty and do all the jobs that no-one else wants to do. Only Abnegation seem to care about them, the other factions view them as next to nothing.

At the age of sixteen, everyone who is in a faction is presented the opportunity to choose which of the five factions they will spend the rest of their lives in. The take something called the Aptitude Test the day before which tells them where they belong. Although, this is merely a suggestion and they can listen to the result or ignore it. They do have a choice. However, once they have chosen, they cannot change. If they transfer to a different faction it means saying goodbye to any family and friends. After all, its faction before blood.

Once they have chosen their faction they must get through initiation. This changes with each faction with the most difficult easily awarded to Dauntless. Before their initiates even get to the compound they must successfully jump on and off a moving train. If they miss it, they become Factionless before they have even begun. Once they get there the only way in is by jumping off a building. There's a net at the bottom to catch them, but from the rooftop there's no way of knowing. They are then split into two groups: Dauntless-born and transfers. They are trained separately but are ranked together. They higher the rank, the better job they will get when they complete initiation. If they are below the red line, then they will be kicked out and become Factionless. Initiation is taken very seriously in Dauntless.

There are three stages to Dauntless initiation. The first is physical, the second mental and the final is emotional. Initiates have no idea of what each stage entails, and it is forbidden for members to tell them. They will only find out when they reach them. This year's Initiates were in the first stage where the Dauntless-born and transfers were separated. The transfers were taught essential combat skills in this first stage, specifically hand-to-hand combat as well as how to fire a gun and throw knives with precision. In addition to this, they had to put their skills to the test by fighting each other. The results of which would help determine their rankings. It was simple. If they won fights, they would get points; lose and their points would decrease. As each day passed the transfers were getting stronger. The rankings had started to become more concrete with all the Initiates having done at least one fight. They also had a lesson on what would and would not be accepted in Dauntless. One girl had been hung over the chasm the previous day.

There was a tense atmosphere in the training room, but no-one dared mentioned what had happened just in case it would happen to them. The Initiates had been split into pairs and were practicing defence techniques before the round of fights. Four and Eric stood off to the side next to each other (with plenty of space between them) and watched them carefully. Well, that was until the training room doors slammed shut. Most of the Initiates paid little attention as a young woman entered the room. Either they had not noticed, or they didn't want to face the wrath of their instructors for slacking. However, the two men watched her as she approached them.