“Simulation terminated, all threats have been neutralized, subject is still alive. Status: Passed.” A robotic voice interrupted the moment of silence. Callan stood on dirt ground, surrounded by the corpses of mutants he managed to fight off in an endless field of brown and a rainy sky above. His coat was stained in red by the onslaught, with only a few tears.

But all of it began to vanish as the simulation of the room began to end, and he could see the white sterile walls once more.

He continued looking down, out of breath and tightly holding onto his blade, ready to keep fighting, forgetting that the test was already done.

Suddenly, a door in front of him opens. A woman holding a clipboard while donning a lab coat slowly approached him, with a gun holster and sword attached to her waist. His lead trainer.

“Trainee Callan.” She spoke, pulling up a few pieces of paper stuck to her clipboard.

Unable to realize the test is finished, Callan immediately lunged at the woman. His sword raised up prepared to kill her.

Before it landed, the woman took out her own blade and parried the attack, pushing him back while still holding onto her clipboard.

The woman smiled as she looked at Callan, “Wow, still energetic after all that.” She said, excited at the sight.

After the woman spoke, Callan quickly realized what he had done and snapped out of it, moving further back and dropping his sword.

“Apologies, apologies Ms. I didn’t mean to do that.” Callan profusely apologized to her, who only looked at him with confusion.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t do any damage. That’s a normal response in this situation anyway.” The woman reassured Callan.

Callan stood up straight, looking around while catching his breath from the simulated fight he had earlier, the constant swings and moves he had to do nearly made him falter. But he pushed on until the end.

The woman pulled up a few papers from her clipboard before speaking, “So, Callan. Your results are higher than expected. By that I mean you suffered far less injuries than anticipated with the difficulty level.”

“Did I pass the test?” He asked through breaths, the woman smiled in response.

“Yup, well done. Now only one step in the program remains.” Before continuing, she stepped forward, closer to Callan.

“I do need to remind you, you can’t go back from this. I know you’ve been told this same warning constantly throughout, but I still need to say it. Are you willing to join us?” The woman asked, now with a concerned voice while hugging her clipboard.

“I came this far, don’t know why I'll throw it all away.” Callan replied, confident in his answer.

“Aighto then!” After speaking, the woman took out a gas mask, and the door behind them shut.

“By the way, this is just for safety concerns, don't worry.” Before he could respond, green gas from above began to fill the room.

Callan collapsed to the ground, feeling heavily fatigued as the gas began hitting his body. Soon, he finally succumbed to slumber.

His eyes slowly opened to a bright light in front of him, and felt the cold floor beneath him. He got up, confused and dazed. They left the simulation room and were now in a different place entirely.

In front of him was the same woman from earlier, standing in front of a massive apple tree. The sight brought calm to Callan, it had no fruit and gave a bright ray of light to the entire room they were in.

Above, glass windows peered into the room, but Callan couldn’t see through them.

Behind him were a group of guards, clad in heavy armor that covered their bodies and faces, holding heavy guns or curved swords while standing in front of a door. The sight only brought more confusion.

“Take a moment to compose yourself, this is the final step of the program.” She advised, her hands were behind her back, staring at the tree in front of them with a large smile on her face.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

After a few moments, Callan took a few steps forward.

“All you need to do is simply put your hand on the tree bark and that’s it.” She explained. The two gazed long at the tree, Callan was even more confused. But filled with motivation and a desire to finish the program, he walked closer to the tree.

With each step he took, his body felt more weightless, and the calm he felt turned to pure bliss. His focus slowly went away, replaced by a simple desire and compulsion to touch the tree.

Once his feet were near the base of the tree, he slowly placed his hand on it.

Callan closed his eyes, but once he opened them again, everything went silent.

Behind him, the guards, the woman, everything was stuck in place. As if the room became frozen in time.

“Callan…” A deep voice echoed throughout the room, startling Callan and nearly making him fall.

“Another child of the hopeful light…” The voice continued.

“Hopeful light? Who are you? And what happened?” Callan asked a multitude of questions, but was only met with silence.

“One born close to the dark and the rain, one who witnessed death and the horrors of the outside. One forced to fight his way out with nothing but his own spirit and desperation before an apostle could save you from it all…” It continued.

“What? If you mean the breach, yeah. I was there…Wait how did you know that!?” Callan began wandering around the frozen room, continuing to ask questions and only left with more silence.

“And now you sought to fight and avenge what was lost against the horde of the rain outside…” Suddenly, a golden apple grew on one of the branches. The branch slowly made its way to Callan, nearing the apple to his face, beckoning him to take it.

“To become more than a child and into an apostle, bite into the apple. Gain the knowledge and strength that shall further your path to protecting the final vestige of hope…” With no other choice, Callan plucked the apple from the tree. It felt light, but radiated a small glow.

“A few have the will to become an apostle, and fewer have the strength to become more than this.” With that, the branch retracted and returned to its original position.

‘This thing knows where I'm from and knows what I did. Not only that but it speaks in some kinda riddle tongue, not answering anything I say…’ Callan thought to himself while staring back at the tree.

‘But as long as I can kill the abominations outside, and to prevent anything like that from happening again.’ He looked down at the apple in his hand.

With his mind decided, he took a single bite of the apple. Immediately, across his body he felt intense pain, as if thousands of needles pricked him from all sides. But apart from it all, a searing pain in his right arm.

After what felt like an eternity, the room went back to normal and the pain disappeared. The woman rushed to his aid from behind, catching Callan before he fell back on the ground.

A few guards rushed behind her, preparing their weapons in case something happens.

“Hey, hey operative. Get up, you’re alright.” Callan breathed heavily from what he just went through, he looked around frantically. To his relief, everything was back to normal, and the apple was gone.

Without another word, the woman pulled back the sleeve on his arm, checking for what was on it. A single letter.

A

“What the- A!?” The woman exclaimed in shock, everyone around them was shocked.

“That was painful…” Callan was still reeling away from the pain, seeking comfort from laying down for now.

“Get up operative Callan.” Heeding her order, Callan got up from the ground.

“It seems luck is on your side.” She spoke, hastily scribbling something down on her clipboard.

“How so? That thing was painful y’know, what did that tree even do to me!?” Callan didn’t bother to understand a single thing she said, now focused on trying to make sense of it all.

“Calm down. As you can see on your arm, you have the letter A marked on it. You are part of A Division now. Congratulations Operative.”

“Wait wait wait, THE A Division?” Callan was shocked.

“Yup, that one. The ones nearest to the city center and have all the stuff. Judging from your record and work experience, I agree with the tree. You look fit for the tasks of the Division.” The guards stepped away from Callan.

“So, what do I do now?” Callan questioned her.

“Well, simple. I’ll just bring you to the A Division tower to give you your first task as an operative. And hand you some of the gear needed.” After talking, the woman walked towards the exit.

“Come, I'm supposed to do another thing but since you’re one of us, i don’t need to.” Callan quickly joined behind her. Together they exited the room, and left the tree.

Callan still couldn’t wrap his head around the entire thing, but for now he was more focused on basking in glory with the realization he was part of A Division, of all the military Divisions of the city, he was chosen for the very head of them.