Another brilliant flash of lightning tore across the sky, turning the forest a ghostly white. The snapping roll of thunder reached Kaia a fraction of a second later, almost deafening her. They had been navigating this ravine ever since the convoy trial. Kaia hadn't exactly been thrilled at returning to the ground, but at least the first few legs had been almost relaxing. That didn't last though. Each day had gotten progressively longer with more complicated orienteering stretches. Kaia attempted in vain to locate easy-to-traverse routes, yet it appeared as though the legs were crafted by a conniving bastard. The location of each rendezvous had been chosen in such a way that it forced her to pass through the most difficult terrain. Each orienteering stretch always ended the same way: a cadre member gave her a new location. Today, she was on her sixth leg and all of them had been the longest yet.
She had just come around a clump of bushes when a figure stumbled out of the rain. He was limping, covered in mud, and missing both his rifle and rucksack.
“Marinoch! By the Emperor’s grace, help me!” Syriaca hobbled over, face caked in mud and what Kaia suspected was blood. Ripped strips of his fatigues flapped as he moved and she could see his pale skin through the holes. He stopped in front of her, hunched over in defeat.
“Syriaca! Are you okay? You look like shit.”
“I lost my footing.” Syriaca winced as he repositioned. “Slid down the whole fucking ravine. I’m done with this shit. I just want to go home, but my map is gone. Can you point me to the nearest RV?”
Kaia looked around, checking to see that they were alone. Then she gave up in frustration. Fuck the rules. I am done with this garbage too. If the Division was serious about maintaining troop morale, then they wouldn’t be against her helping a teammate.
She pulled out her map and angled it to pick up light from the near constant flashes overhead. “We are here. My last RV was here. That’s probably your best bet.”
“Thanks, Marinoch. I owe you one.”
Broken and beaten, Syriaca started up the ravine wall Kaia had just descended. Her eyes followed him until he disappeared into the darkness. She stood there for a minute longer, letting the rain fall on her face as yet another friend walked away from her. Of the few candidates who hadn’t turned their backs on her, only Rilleta and Rapher remained, and that depressed her more than the thought of continuing the never-ending Qualification. With sadness in her heart, she took out her plastic-wrapped map and compass.
She looked up at the sky, trying to judge the time, then laughed at her stupidity. The sun never moved in the sky of this infernihole world. Not that she could even see the damned sun through the thunderclouds. How long had she been walking? Was she still on track? She didn't know, so she just forced herself to go as fast as possible while still maintaining her endurance. But today’s storm, coupled with the marathon stretches, had bled her dry.
Shoving the map back in her pocket, she pressed on and climbed up to the ridge above. She used the ridge to skirt a thicket of spine bushes with their razor-sharp thorns, then hopped back down. An hour more of hacking her way through dense foliage, and she finally stumbled onto the rendezvous point.
“Blue Eight,” she said to the cadre stationed there.
Rain beat down in a thundering roar onto the tarp they had put up over the rendezvous point, forcing Kaia to lean in to hear the cadre. “Your next RV will be at 49.8954 degrees north and 97.1385 degrees west.”
Kaia closed her eyes in resentment. How many more legs would there be today? She set her rifle down next to a small table and took out her map, marking the location she was supposed to get to. When she was done, she picked up her rifle and returned to the cadre member for the ritual sendoff.
“Show me where you are,” he said.
She pointed at the map.
“Show me where you are going.”
She pointed at the map again.
“Have a good one,” the cadre said in the same dispassionate voice they all used.
Kaia struggled not to snap at him. She could feel her frustration coiling like a serpent ready to strike. Instead, she took her anger out on the map as she shoved it into her pocket. She adjusted her rucksack and headed back into the pouring rain.
This leg took her down deep into the ravine. On any other day, she would have been ecstatic, but today the descent felt like a death sentence. The rain continued to create fresh mudslides that swept away sticks, rocks, and overachieving naval officers. Half a dozen times during the descent, she slipped but managed to catch herself on nearby shrubs.
A sudden mudslide crashed through the bushes, sweeping Kaia’s legs out from under her. She fumbled for a handhold, only to come to a stop as her knee smashed into the jagged edge of a boulder. She cried out in pain as a supernova exploded within her leg. The pain flared through her body, then cascaded back down in never-ending throbs of agony. Eventually, the pain eased, leaving her whimpering and too afraid to move. All the while, mud continued to flow over the top of her. It built up, covering her lower body and threatening to drown her. Gritting her teeth against the anguish, she pushed herself up using a broken tree branch and hobbled out of the rapidly forming mud pool. After a few minutes of walking, she collapsed in exhaustion onto a fallen tree. Then the infernal rucksack pulled her backwards, dragging her back into the muck. Fresh waves of pain flared from her damaged knee as it protested her efforts to remain upright. She hit the ground, but ironically it was her rucksack that prevented her head from going under the mud.
“Fuck you, you piece of shit storm!” she yelled at the sky. “And damn you Morven and your stupid Qualification!”
It might have been a childish act, she acknowledged, but it provided a comforting solace. Trial after trial… Kaia was at her wit’s end with this crap. She was so exhausted that she even had trouble getting up in the morning, much less trudging around in a ravine doing Emperor knows what. How was this supposed to help her be a better commander? Maybe Khaazsa was right. She didn’t belong in the Armed Forces. Maybe it just took her this long to come to terms with it.
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“Fuck…” she said, as her motivation disappeared into thin air.
She should have just left the Navy, like she had planned. It would have been nice to have a command, but it isn’t worth dying for. Or dealing with the likes of Khaazsa. With that thought in mind, Kaia pulled herself back up, careful of her footing, and started back towards her original rendezvous point.
It wasn’t like she was disappointing anyone, only herself. Everyone else already expected her to fail. There was comfort in being the middle of the pack, a support role. Maybe she could even go home. She was sure her parents would take her in. They always needed help running their stores. It might even be beneficial. The Zahex pilgrims would see that she flunked out of the excessively violent military and they would end their boycott. Failing was not all bad.
In the midst of pushing through a dense line of shrubs, the ground suddenly disappeared beneath her. She let out a startled cry as she slid down the ravine and into the swollen river at its centre. As the current swept her away, she desperately reached out, searching for something to hold on to. As her head emerged above the frothing waves, she managed to gasp a few precious gulps of air before being pulled back underwater. The river spun her about like a yolk in a blender until she didn’t know which way was up. Then she saw a rock and her world went dark.
When her vision returned, she found herself surrounded by thick mist that swirled around her, cutting her off from her surroundings. She looked about, her motions sluggish, as if the air itself clung to her skin. Hadn’t there been a river? Was she dead? A sudden jolt of fear compressed her stomach, and she fell to her knees, pressing her hands against the chilled marble floor. The sensation caught her by surprise and her eyes focused on the violet flower pattern that seemed so familiar.
“Rise, my child,” a deep baritone voice echoed through the void.
Kaia looked up to see the mist part and found herself kneeling in a cavernous hall. Rows of obsidian pillars stood at ten-metre intervals, reaching toward a vast arched ceiling adorned with frescoes of grand fleets locked in battle. Stained-glass windows depicting the Saints of Imperialis scattered light-beams through the space between the columns, illuminating the room with a mystical glow. Kaia took it all in. Tendrils of dread wrapped around her, immobilizing her. She knew where she was. There was only one place like this in all the Imperium: the Imperial Throne Room. This was the passage to the Sacred Light of Humanity.
She was truly dead then. A sense of calm washed over her at that realization that her soul was going home. Breaking her psychometric contract had left her with a lingering dread - the fear of ending up in the Infernium, where her very essence would dissipate into nothing.
“Rise,” the voice commanded, and she found herself unable to defy it.
Kaia took cautious steps forward, the footfalls echoing through the room. Up ahead, on a raised platform, sat the Sapphire Throne. Its light blue glow radiated outwards and cast a shadow upon the man seated there. She averted her eyes and dropped back down to one knee, unable to speak in the Immortal Emperor’s presence.
When the Emperor spoke, His voice came from all around her, enveloping her in its magnificence. “Enter, my beloved disciple, for I beckon thee with purpose. Behold, as the shadows of misery encroach upon the hallowed sanctuary of humanity’s faith.”
The air grew cold, and she felt clamminess on her skin as threads of mist laced through the air. Like a fading spectre, the dark form of the Emperor appeared and disappeared, as if He was not truly here. The booming echo of His voice continued.
“Verily, I forewarn thee of great tribulations looming on the horizon. I bid thee to forge ahead with unwavering courage, for the shield of humanity must stand resolute in the face of the impending struggle.”
Kaia heard a clicking of metal on stone from behind her, but her eyes remained locked on the Immortal Emperor.
“Go now, child.”
The mist swirled all around again, but before Kaia could do or say anything, pain shot through her chest. She looked down to see a pair of spikes protruding from her chest. Shock cascaded through her body, replaced with terror as something lifted her up and twisted her around. A monstrous insectoid creature opened its maw and bit down around her head.
Kaia woke with a start, her shriek swallowed up by the never-ending thunder. Lightning flashed, illuminating a raging river at her feet. Her mind raced to catch up with events as she found herself nestled in the crooked arm of a fallen tree. Somehow, the tree had caught her unconscious form and directed her safely ashore.
“Blessed be the Emperor,” she breathed out.
It was plainly clear to her. The Immortal Emperor Himself had intervened and saved her life. Her mind went back to the vision and her heart glowed with pride. Then the pride turned to embarrassment. She had been about to quit, to throw in the towel and walk back to the cadre in defeat. Not only would she have been failing herself, but also the Emperor. Now she knew what had been pushing her towards the Division. And why she had gone against the very fabric of their society and entered the military. The Emperor’s spirit had been guiding her.
Kaia pulled herself out of the eddy, feeling the throbbing pain from her trip downriver. Every muscle in her body hurt, and she had already found a pair of lacerations that would need to be treated. Casting about, she spied her rucksack and rifle, miraculously caught in the same tree that had rescued her. She slung the rifle across her shoulder, then waded further into the river to retrieve her bag. When she was back ashore, she collapsed into the mud, panting and shivering from the cold.
She spent the next few minutes patching her wounds with the meager supplies she had in her bag and studying her map and compass. Suddenly, she was thankful for having to use the archaic navigational methods. A carpi would not have survived the river. When she was confident with her position, she hoisted on her rucksack and set out upriver.
Within half an hour, she found the ford she was after and crossed to the other side, before beginning the long and dangerous climb to the RV point. She was scaling up a rocky crevice when a bolt of lightning hit a tree a few metres away. The light and shockwave hit her in tandem, knocking her down. She lay there for a second, stunned. When the ringing had faded, she rolled over and pushed herself up… and saw the arm.
Despite being caked in mud, the green combat fatigue was still visible, sticking out from behind a boulder. Kaia undid the straps of her bag and hurried over. Wedged between the boulder and the cliff face was the body of a fellow candidate. She reached out and gently turned his head. Khaazsa’s unconscious face looked up at her, his relaxed innocence masking the monster underneath.
For the briefest moment, Kaia considered leaving him. After all, the rules said she wasn’t supposed to help, and the bastard deserved it. But her mother’s voice spoke in her head, reading from the Saint Helen Scrolls.
The mark of a true servant of sentience is that of one who aids the predator. For there is no truer contrivance against the laws of nature than casting aside one’s own instincts.
Kaia let out a hiss of frustration. She had helped Syriaca out of the principle of comradery. So she should also help Khaazsa, even if she knew he wouldn’t have returned the favour. That’s what Saint Helen would have done. She examined Khaazsa’s position and saw the unnatural angle his leg was in. There was no way she could risk helping him. There might be spine damage. She shouldn’t have even moved his head. Instead, she felt around his body for his emergency beacon, but found nothing. So she unclipped her own beacon and fastened it to his arm, but then hesitated. If she flipped the switch, she would lose access to the beacon. If something happened to her, she wouldn’t have it. Furthermore, the cadre would know she had helped Khaazsa. They might even kick her out for breaking the rules.
Kaia laughed. It was funny how upside down everything was now. Here she was, about to help someone she hated, which would get her booted from the Division. All this, moments after having a revelation that convinced her to stay.
“Fuck it…”
She activated the beacon. The little device began flashing a bright yellow light and radiating a distress signal. Having done all she could, she put her pack back on and continued her climb up the ravine.