At first there were a few hundred children around my age who went through the trials and when the last trial was over only seventy remained. I groaned as I woke up, careful not to touch the large bruise on my ribs from the last session of tests. From above me on the bed racking I heard another groan.
“Ugh it’s still not a dream” this was Marcus, a boy about my age who has been through hell these past few months with me.
“Good morning to you too Marcus” I fish around under my small mat of a bed for the Krono I stole off a menial. “Well at least we woke up only a few minutes before they usually wake us”
Rubbing my neck I find the null shackle that they fitted on me not too long after I arrived. And along with remembering that it’s there comes the constant headache. I rub the bridge of my nose as I hoped out of bed to get dressed. They had given us two pairs of drab coveralls.
Once I was done and the handful of other kids around me woke up I began to hear something outside the bunk room. Curiosity getting the better of me I went to the door to the main corridor that aspirants were held in and peeked out.
It was empty. No sounds or abnormalities disturbed the corridor. I frown at this because our training had been punctual to a point where even a few seconds of lag was punished but today was different. I looked down at my Krono to find that our taskmaster was ever increasingly late.
I go over to Marcus and whisper to him “I think the trial already started it doesn’t look good outside” there was a loud
“Huh what do you mean” one of the other kids says as they walk towards the door to open it a crash came from down the hall followed by the screams of children.
After what was probably only a handful of minutes the screaming stopped. We all looked at each other, Randel a young boy with auburn hair and a farmers tan said “I don’t think this is a test I think they’re killing us”
Another crash sounded off closer to our bunk room ‘they’re going room by room’ I turned around to see if we might have another way out but there was nothing there. Everything past ten feet was all gone, replaced by a void so complete it felt infinite. All of the other children that were in the room had vanished and as I turned back around all of the walls around me had vanished bar the door which remained vivid. Floating above me was a small patch of light that kept the void away but the door was outside of it. There was no noise, absolute silence that took hold of me. *BOOM* a thunderous slam resounded from the door and it visibly dented. *BOOM BOOM* two more slams and the door began to crack and a blood curdling howl that no living creature could make split the air.
Hell has descended upon me to finally end me. A hand red as blood pierces the door. I backed up looking wildly around for something, anything that could help me then something caught my foot and I fell backwards. A rusty longsword sits at my feet, its pommel is a sun in a circle. I grab its rough rusted grip and rise to my feet.
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Breathing in a deep breath and slowly breathing out “I reject you fiend”. The banging and roaring intensified at my words. Louder and with more conviction “I REJECT YOU NOW AND FOR ALWAYS!!!”
The blade in my hand begins to glow with pure golden light rust flaking away to reveal a masterpiece of a blade etched in runes of a forgotten language. The door explodes inwards and the red devil charges forwards. I raise my blade as the void begins to glow golden around me. I grow to dwarf the devil and I swing the sword now made of golden fire before everything returns.
I open my eyes and see that the room is glowing a dull orange around a group of space marines. ‘That’s strange there was only one before’ I look in front of me and see the librarian in front of me breathing heavily. “What happened, what’s going on?” I said, confused.
He charged at me shouting “what did you do”. He lifted me off the ground like I didn’t exist. “How did you kill that demon?.
“Demon what demon, you mean that vision you made me go though I thought it was just my mind creating it” I say exasperated. I feel him enter my mind and I do not resist allowing him to read my memories of the trial.
He drops me to the ground and chuffs “you are an oddity but you have passed the trial, your last trial as an aspirant begins now but first you need a new name.” I thought about it for a minute. “What’s wrong with my name, why do I have to get a new name?”. He patiently and cryptically answers “you will understand in time.”
all of the enhancements that would be done to me over the next few decades including rapid and enhanced growth, new and enhanced organs as well as that gray nutritional paste filled with all the things I needed to grow. It couldn’t be done all at once since I still had the body of an 8 year old albeit a strangely large one which the medicae had commented on. I swear I had died a few times, I have never known pain like what I am feeling now. It is soul deep as I grow noticeably every day.
Returning every few months to get more implantation I reached the point where I just had to grow more before my last one. After that my training became more rigorous and not without a few broken bones.
While I grew and became more accustomed to my new capabilities and enhanced senses I along with my fellow aspirants were trained hard. We endured our minds being filled directly with information from hypno caches. The process was unpleasant and the more information I was given the more of my youth was forgotten. But with that my memories of the later part of my previous life became sharper. What I was taught during my time learning sword combat and my experience in competitions served me greatly in learning that competitions and real fights are completely different.
I quickly went to block an overhead strike but my opponent had another idea and before I could react the pommel of his sword slammed into my nose breaking it. “That’s first blood, your reaction times are getting better but you still need to get better at reading your opponents”. My opponent's name was Arraxis, he is a Sergeant in the first company that found training others to be entertaining. He was big and brash but extremely skillful in swordsmanship as well as a natural teacher albeit a little harsh.
I pinched at my nose to try and assess the damage “I lasted longer this time, ten minutes longer I’d say”. My nose was flattened and I’d have to go to the medicae to get it set. “Ten minutes or ten seconds it doesn’t matter unless you win but I do agree that you are getting better for a novice”.
He clapped me on the shoulder and looked me up and down “if you didn’t look so young I wouldn’t even know you were still in training, by the emperor you’re as tall as me now boy”. He was a first born space marine and stood at about seven foot four inches but even then I was very tall for my stage of growth. I stood at my full height and saw that he was right.
“A few more years and you should be ready for your last implementation” he releases my shoulder and begins to exit the practice cage but then stops. “I’m one of the best swordsmen in the whole chapter so my words carry a lot of weight when I say this” he turns around to look at me. “Most of the others only last a fight with me for about ten minutes, don’t let this get to your head greenhorn you still suck at marksmanship”. With that last sentence he left me standing there.