Once Upon a Dream : Dream Journal

Priming : Recruits

Everything about mother ship's appearance and other detached vessels, such as the droids and transports, screamed corrosion and decay due to its rust colored casing and almost soundless movements.

If it were not for the bright lights it occasionally gives out, when deploying droids, it can be assumed to be dead and is laid to waste. However, previous recruits who managed to complete their training and successfully return to their homes describes how the inside of the ship not only has advance technology no one will be able to replicate, but it also has its own atmosphere, where they can get a chance run under the rain and feel the prickly grass.

Everyone in the transport tended to his or her own belongings, conversations are hushed and cries started to subside, as they got closer to the mother ship. Several transports are also arriving carrying recruits from other cities.

As soon as they stepped inside the ship, disorientation occurred. In an open area right at the entrance of the ship, light mimicking the sun shone from the immeasurable ceiling, a gust of wind blew over carrying scent of freshly cut grass. Countless rooms filled with current trainees with their ongoing studies, supervised by a humanoid machine stopped midway to welcome the new recruits with loud cheering.

A line of the floor shone blinking several times towards a path. They followed the line and reached an average-sized building indicating their batch number, the same number the wristwatch they were given upon entering the ship.

"Let's get some sleep, we need all the rest we can get," John said as they reached their assigned beds and quickly laid on one of the beds in the area.

Justine sat on the next bed still trying to reel the situation in. "It'll be okay, I may hated it, but the plenty of training I got will come in handy," she mumbled to herself. "Let's do this," took a deep breath and rested for the next day, determination filling her as she closed her eyes to sleep.

Everyone was woken up early, just as how their mentors did. With their bodies already trained, they easily accomplished the drills inside the ship and they advance in the training, an occurrence their upperclassmen frowned upon.

Unknown to the siblings along with Christine, upon completion of their training, their mentors achieved a high rank and was gifted inhuman capabilities that helped them push their selves to the limit, thus surpassing even those who trained earlier than they did.

The four levels that the trainees must pass, with each level ranked into 4 tiers are applied to advance on a different training regime. It takes a trainee several months to achieve, where others even take years. After the completion of the 4 levels of the training, despite their rankings, are sent home and wait for the invasion the aliens had predicted.

"Well done new blood!" One of their upperclassmen patted Justine's back not so friendly causing her to spill the drink she was holding. "It must be nice to have an influential person back home!" He planned to pat her back once more, but she quickly grabbed his hand despite her sitting with her back in front of him.

It has been ten months since they went inside the ship. They are currently taking their rest from the rigorous physical training. After the news of how she, along with her brother was recruited at the same time, they were met with pity mixed with saltiness. However, after passing the initial level only on their first month, most of the upperclassmen treated them with disdain.

She only replied with a stare and flicked his arm away and continued drinking, ignoring the "ohhhh!~" of the crown. With his brother on a different training building due to the difference in their rankings, hers being a tier higher, she is left to defend for herself.