After being dismissed from the hospital, Draken didn’t return to his barracks but went straight to the instructor’s office as ordered. The implications of the summons weren’t lost on him. Had he failed the test? Would he get his much craved promotion and become an officer? I deserve it. Everyone expected it, but most of all he did. However, he had lost his self-control during the exam, screaming like a weak, alien child. Fire had beaten him.

He breathed in and out, focused on the stabbing pains in the left knee and chest that came with moving and respiration. But he forced himself to walk straight down the corridor’s monotony, broken by doors left and right, and a swarm of low-ranking military personnel.

His heart sank deeper when, just outside the instructor’s office, Draken met Derrin. His hazel eyes found his. A smile broke across his face.

‘Victory can be made.’ Derrin lifted his right arm and clenched his fist as he recited the text of the famous play. ‘And I made it. It’s mine now,’ he continued pounding his chest with his fist in a theatrical way.

‘Congratulations.’ Draken forced himself to smile. He wished he could share his joy, but dread coiled and squeezed his heart.

‘I’ll see you at the barracks,’ Derrin said, smacking his back with a hand.

Alone again, Draken entered the ante-chamber and waited for the instructor’s secretary to allow him in.

The sparsely furnished room contained a desk and two chairs, one on either side of the desk. The instructor sat behind it.

Draken stood at attention and saluted, his eyes staring straight ahead. He clenched his jaw to thwart a grimace of pain. His knee was in agony.

‘As you were,’ the instructor said and waved his hand at the other chair.

Draken stood at ease and slowly lowered himself into the chair, his jaw clenched to hide a grimace of pain.

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‘The glory of the Halden is our hands. We instructors have a heavy task. To shape the cadets into leaders,’ the man said.

They stared at each other across the desk. ‘But leaders must be fearless, unbreakable, and you’re none of that, cadet Kosset.’

A suffocating tightness wrapped around his chest. It caused a pain more intense than the one he experienced every time he breathed.

‘As you may imagine, you didn’t pass the final exam, cadet. You shouldn’t console yourself with the fact that you’re not alone.’ The instructor curled his lip in disgust.

It didn’t. Years and years of learning how to lead, wasted because he had never faced his fear before.

Being afraid doesn’t show cowardice. It’s what we do about it that makes the difference. His father’s words almost echoed the instructor’s.

‘Here’s your discharge letter,’ he said, handing him a tablet.

Draken grabbed it and gazed down at the text without seeing it. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘You’ll be reassigned to another military facility to conclude the training and be sent wherever they send people like you.’

The man stood and turned his back to him, watching what happened outside through a large oval window. ‘I must admit I’m disappointed in you, cadet Draken Kosset.’ His words cut through him like the sharpest of knives. ‘Get out of my office!’

Draken stood at attention, saluted, and left, oblivious of the pains that had plagued him since then.

On the way to the barracks, he stopped by the communal fountain, and read Rotima’s last message. Everyone had expected him to succeed. His failure was a shame, but at least he hadn’t been dismissed from active duty. That would have been a major disgrace. And if he worked hard as a petty officer, he may one day earn the glory he deserved. He’ll show them what Draken Kosset was capable of.