I do not know how much time passed; my mind is coming into focus again as I feel the craft begin to slow. The thud as we land wakes up Neeba who turns to me. His eyes glow dully in anticipation for what is to come, as I look around, I see everyone else’s does as well. My eyes do not, there is a calmness in me again.

The bay doors open and soldiers file in, unlocking us one by one. They push us outside into a massive courtyard of stone, other crafts like ours have streams of my people leaving them. Moving towards a massive set of double doors. I see a commotion in the distance, a group of men try to overpower the metal soldiers. One of them gets a gun, my heart rises suddenly, hope filling it. He points the gun at the soldier and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens except my heart falling back. We cannot even use their weapons against them. It is like the blue haired woman’s weapon I tried to use to kill the carver Betran, it would not let me use it. He is kicked to the ground, I turn to look away shaking my head. I wait for the pop of the weapon but I hear nothing, I turn and see the man being shoved back into line.

When we reach the doors they put us in lines again. Neeba tries sticking to me like glue, I am glad for it. However when we get through the doors we are sent to different places. Shuffled into large rooms with drains on the floor. They tell us to strip, none of us wish to test them so we do. They pull long hoses from the sides of the walls.

Water erupts suddenly from them spraying us violently. How can they have so much water to waste like this. The floors run red and they do not stop spraying us until they are satisfied we are free of filth. My skin burns, the wounds on my body streaking fresh blood. They take us into small chambers now by ourselves. I stand alone in darkness as the door closes.

After a time a door opens and the lights spring on. Men and women encircle me inspecting my wounds, two soldiers stand at the door with rifles aimed at me. They spray foam on my wounds and inject me with two vials of medigel. One near the stab wound and the other my leg. It begins to feel stiff and it does not hurt as much to put weight on it. They look inside my mouth examining my teeth with a light. A drone scans me, projecting my bones and muscles for them to look over. There are so many new things, my brain is struggling to keep up. They use the medigel so freely, it is surprising to me.

A machine whirs from the ceiling moving down towards me.

“Step onto the pad and relax, do not fight it.” A woman says to me, her face is covered by a mask, I can only see her eyes.

Doing as she asks I step onto it. The machine clasps around my legs and arms, I cannot move. Another arm of the machine from the ceiling comes down wrapping itself around my shoulder. A tug and I groan as my shoulder dislocates. The drone scans me as the machine slowly pushes it into place again. The woman injects my shoulder with medigel and then departs the room with the others.

The soldiers stay by the door.

The pain in my shoulder disperses slowly. It feels perfect again when the machine releases me, like it was before the incident with my chute. A wave of anger flashes through me as I remember it was because of Neeba, but my mind plays another image, us back to back and it fades again. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath I release the anger completely. I will need allies to survive.

They lead me through a corridor towards a door. Before I reach the door a hole in the wall opens and a bundle of clothes appears, they are stark white. A pair of socks and shoes are there as well.

“Put it on.” One of the soldier bids and I do.

It is a little big on me, but it feels soft against my skin, softer than any clothes I have felt before. When I finish putting on the shoes they motion to another hole in the wall. There is a large cup of water and a nutrition bar.

“Consume it.” The other says.

I do as they say, my belly happy to have something in it besides a blade. When I finish a hole opens near the door, this one is smaller.

“Put your arm inside.” The first one says.

I do as he says and feel something clamp down on me. A moment later it releases me. A metallic band on my wrist now with a letter and number engraved onto it - H777.

The door opens into a large room, there are many people here, hundreds of them. I take stock of my surroundings, I can remember the exact route we came in, my mind shaped by being Ulima, causing me to focus on all the details.

“Proceed.” The second says.

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After I walk through, the door closes swiftly, the soldiers do not follow. I search the crowd for familiar faces, walking amongst them.

“Kale.” I hear Neeba say behind me “Thank the gods we weren’t separated for long.”

He extends his arm for me to embrace, I pause for a moment as he holds it out. His eyes meet mine, a look of sincerity in them. I embrace his arm firmly. A look of relief washes over him. On his wrist I see that his device is marked H778. He inspects mine as well.

“Have you seen any of the others?” he asks.

“No, you?”

He shakes his head no.

“We will find them do not worry.” I say placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I pray you are right.” He says, regaining some composure.

Music starts playing, a music we all know too well. The Republic Anthem. It takes me a moment to realize it is coming from my wrist, I raise it eye level and a hologram appears above it. It is Senator Adonious.

“Congratulations to those of you who have survived the first task.” He pauses for a moment as though someone is talking to him somewhere we cannot see “Long live the Republic. Happy hunting.”

The hologram disappears for a moment then another figure appears on it. A woman, her hair pulled tight into a bun, she wears flashy makeup on her face, lines creating sharp edges around her eyes.

“Hunters, I am Akaria the Warden of these challenges, subordinate of the honorable Senator.”

It is strange, her name sounds Kuwathi. I brush the thought away and focus.

“You will notice that your devices have other functions. The ability to message other hunters within your grouping. Detailed logistical information, rankings and many more things.”

Our devices begin displaying other images to the sides of her projection.

“Over the next few months you may be contacted by outside individuals or organizations, these are what we call sponsors. There are many benefits to having them, I suggest you show them the utmost respect - as they may just save your life.”

Sponsors for what? Neeba looks to me and then back to the hologram, he seems as confused as I am.

“Hunters, Ador Jahal.” She says ending the broadcast.

My ears prickle at the words she said to us in the old tongue. Ador Jahal - May luck find you.

“Sekat.” I say.

“Why is a Kuwathi working for the masters, does she not see our suffering.” Neeba says not as a question but more of a statement. He spits to the ground in protest.

It appears not all share his views however, I overhear others speaking, praising their gods that one of us is among them. Words for my gods to not fall from my lips, I wait to see before I pass my judgment.

Light flashes on the device on my wrist, a robotic voice begins speaking.

“Attention - Hunter H777 you have been assigned to Keeper Dargo, follow the map on your holopad to find them.” It says, a holo of a map appears from the device.

So they call these things on our wrists holopads. The carvers had something similar.

“What is a Keeper?” Neeba asks aloud, to his surprise and my own his holopad responds.

“Hunter, a Keeper is a representative of the Warden. They are charged with managing hunters and being liaisons for sponsors.” It replies.

Neeba taps it tentatively turning his head sideways at it.

“You also have Keeper Dargo?” he asks me.

“I do. Come, we move.” I say seeing the doors begin to open.

Following the map that hovers above my wrist I see it leads us to a glass tube. We step inside and the doors slide closed. We are in a thick glass pod within the tube. It begins to rise rapidly, moving us through tunnels and then my eyes open fully as I see the light of day. We are in a grand city, metal shining in every direction. Just as soon as it begins it ends as we move back into the darkness.

“We must be in one of the masters cities.” Neeba says.

Before I can reply we begin to slow, a junction of some kind. There are hundreds of tubes around us. I see people moving in every direction, in pods like our own. I can no longer keep track of the different turns we are making, it is too many, too quickly. Sekat.

“Father! Sister!” Neeba shouts pounding his hand against the glass.

I turn and see moving near us Nekam and Nevari, they bang on their glass pod, they yell but we cannot hear what they say. Their tube slides them further from ours now. We exit the junction, losing sight of them.

“No!” he yells slumping down to the ground.

“They are alive. Be happy for this.”

I search the pods in the tubes looking for Arrum, through the hundreds of faces I see pass by, none are his. My heart cannot help but turn sour. I must not lose faith that I will see my bonded brother once more.

We sit in silence for a time, until our pod comes to a halt. We emerge in a large dome shaped room, the walls are painted black, the floors a white marble tile, and the center dome of the room is a solid silver color with flowing designs. It reminds me of the holos that the Sage Artemius used to show me and Arrum as children. I cannot help but admire the beauty. There are hundreds of people already in the room. All standing around a large man wearing all black, silver accents the only deviation. He is a stark contrast to the white uniforms we wear.

Neeba and I search for faces we know among the crowd, when we hear him over the noise of the room.

“Neeba - my son!” Nekam yells rushing towards us.

“Brother!” Nevari says wrapping him in a hug when she arrives.

“Father, sister - thank the gods.”

They embrace for a time, looking among the crowd I do not see Arrum, but I see others embracing their loved ones. There is a beauty in this as well. The man in the center of the room does not move, he seems to be meditating on a large stone circle raised above us by a few feet. On his back he wields two blades, longer than I am used to seeing. On his hips four knives, two each side.

There is an uneasiness when I look upon him, it is not malice, I cannot place it but it makes me wary of him.

“Little demon.” Nekam says coming to me now.

“My chief.” I say but he raises a hand.

“There are no chiefs here, not anymore.” A pause of tension in his jaw, he wants to say more but he stares at the man in the center of the room who has finally begun to stand.