Captain Jacob stood over the edge looking down upon all his newbies. He knew that the majority would die in their first raid, but everyone who did survive would have a new sense of loyalty to the IDPA.
“Welcome to hell,” said the captain. “This is your chance to learn what the cost of your freedom is.”
~
Tom was the last person selected. As such they began the sorting. In the IDPA there are five branches. From least dangerous to most dangerous they are; the security branch, a group that specializes in protecting Earth, the remote assault, they send bombardments of spells and bioweapons through the gate and at Xiani, the troops, they fight the wars at ground level avoiding spells and Xianians, the sky troops, similar to the troops they fight on Xiani but they have to worry about the sky traps and getting targeted by the Xianians, finally and most dangerously is the advance, they also go to Xiani but they fight in groups no larger than 36, they raid temples, dungeons, towers, and even homes for all the magic gear they can find.
Alex and Tom did not stand a chance. The enlistees are permitted to choose which branch they intend to join so long as each one at least had two. When it was Alex’s turn he could pick the troops, sky troops, or advance. He looked at Thomas and realized that no matter what happened Tom would be forced to join the advance. Alex worried for his friend but Alex also had so much to live for. He knew what choice to make.
When it was Tom’s turn every branch had at least 2 members. Except for the advance. Tom’s fate was sealed. He would probably die alone on a different planet, in a different dimension. But there was one thing that made Tom happy to know. At least he would join the advance with Alex. That thought reassured Tom. He knew that he at least would go with his best friend.
“Now that the selection has been complete it is time for each enlistee to join their group’s sky cradle and leave” said the mayor, solemnly.
In the past there was a tradition where every enlistee would go home to eat dinner one last time with all their family. Unfortunately there has been too many suicides and escapes during this time, and due to this the tradition was made illegal and now immediatly after enlistment they had to leave. Without even a chance to tell their family and friends goodbye. As Thomas entered his sky cradle with Alex he waved one last goodbye to his father.
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“Dad! I love you!” shouted Tom.
“I love you too!” shouted his father, through some tears.
With that the magic circle in the cradle activated and they began traveling to the nearest major transport city, Big Rock.“So, this is it.” said Alex, with a sigh “I suppose in 30 minutes we will arrive. I heard that basic training was a breeze and that so long as you survive your first raid, your likelihood to survive all others triples!”
“I know what you are trying to do.” replied Tom “You are trying to justify your decision for joining the advance, while also trying to make me feel better, you aren’t slick”
“That obvious huh? Just so you know I don’t regret picking the advance”
“You don’t regret being suicidal? That's surprising”
“I am being serious! I just did not want to die alone without my friend”
“I am glad we agree on one thing”
Tom and Alex spoke about life. Friends, family, lovers, pets, food, chores, everything. Until they arrived at Big Rock and got teleported into Capital Westcott. There they ran into a man in full uniform. Saying they had to follow him. The two followed him into a locker room where there were about 30 others.
“Get changed into full uniform then line up outside the room from youngest to oldest.” said the nameless uniformed man. The men all filed out as they finished changing into their red coats, black shirts, and red pants. A few men recognized this as the advance’s formal suit. They all walked out into a line and began asking where to go. In the end Thomas ended up at the front of the line since he only turned 18 six days ago. Alex was only two people behind Thomas as he was also an 18 year old.
The nameless officer went down the line asking for name, and birthday. Until he wound up next to a 22 year old that was in front of a 21 year old.
“Why the hell did you not listen to orders?” asked the officer pointedly.
“Sorry I thought he was older then me”
“Sorry Sir”
“Sorry sir, I thought he was older then me”
“Why did you think that?”
“He said his birthday was before mine, I failed to realize that we were talking about two different years”
“Is this true?” the officer looked at the 21 year old.“Yes, sir”
“All of you will do jumping jacks until the ceremony begins”
The hall filled with groans and complaints “But sir we haven’t done anything wrong!”
“You are wrong, you failed to correct your comrade and now that I know you are all a bunch of whining morons. You will instead do burpees”
This time the men did not groan. Out of fear of what would happen if they did.