We were getting close to the tower now. Strange, seeing something up close that you've seen from afar your whole life. It had gone from a building the width of my pinky to all-encompassing. Every time I looked out the window, it was all you could see. Many of the people on the bus had been talking on the way there, but they tried to keep it down to a whisper for the most part.

And then, we were approaching a black gate with what looked like a small army walking to and from around it. Everyone on the bus quieted down when it came into view, and when we parked, it was dead silent.

They had metal detectors, like the ones in the movies, going under our bus as one man came on board, checking each of us thoroughly as he walked down the aisle. We seemed to be good, as he simply turned around when he got to the end, hurried back to the front, and got out of the bus, waving his arm above his head in a circle. Then, we were driving through the massive gate, toward a tunnel covered in black. As soon as we were in the tunnel, the conversation started up again, like this was somehow normal.

Lieutenant Zenzele got up from the front-most seat of the bus and walked a few seats back to stand over me. She didn’t ask me anything, didn’t speak a word. She just looked at me. I raised an eyebrow, silently asking what she wanted. She looked at the two-person seating I was sitting in the middle of before her eyes came back to mine.

I scooted up a little, and she sat down next to me, somehow making the entire motion look elegant.

“Well then. I’ve noticed you don’t seem thrilled about being Blessed. But I have come to ask you, nicely, to behave while you are under my command. I understand this isn’t what you wanted, but you’ve been given a unique gift. Don’t waste it. Please do not cause any more incidents like you did in the selection hall. It will not go well.” She said, trying to sound stern but coming off a bit too high and mighty, while looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

Definitely new, I thought to myself. Her naivety felt somewhat charming, at least; however, her threats could use a little work. I did not appreciate her trying to sound like she was actually trying to help. I know finks better than that.

“Generally, when meeting someone, you ask for their name. I’m Boris, by the way. Nice to meet you.” I said sarcastically, giving her another mock salute. Damn, I enjoyed those. Definitely gonna use them more often.

“Well, Boris, I see your insolence will be a Colonel factor going forward. But unless you're planning to win the ascension tournament…” she said, giving me a look of utter skepticism. “You will be under my command for the next two years. Do not make this difficult for me, because I can make it far more difficult for you.”

That one did make me a little nervous. As I glared out the window, I decided I was going to retort with something clever.

But as I looked back, she was walking towards the front of the bus. Then she paused mid-step, turned around, and said something I didn't expect. “Boris, your face is injured. Will you be okay?”

I looked at her like I did at the crack addicts that hung around the church sometimes. What’s wrong with my face? Just a black eye. I’d had hundreds of them before. I just nodded, still wearing a confused expression. She seemed to find this acceptable and sat down again. Why was she pretending to care? She definitely wanted something—and it wasn’t just for me to behave.

I glared at the back of her head, like it would reveal all her secrets, before I noticed it had gone quiet.

I realized the whole bus was leaning in, trying to eavesdrop. They weren’t even subtle about it.

I was going to start shit-talking to all of them before, all of a sudden, light flooded into the car. It looked unnatural, and I realized it was because the light was mixed with blue instead of its usual orange. I looked outside, and my breath was taken away.

I had never seen Alexandria before. I had only ever heard about it—tall towers of lead, powered by the Blessed rather than steam, with gold statues lining every street. Everything within walking distance, and if you looked up, you'd see Finks flying around like oversized birds.

It was everything I had heard and more. But what caught my eye as we entered the city was the massive statue of a man—Alexander. It seemed to stand right in the middle of Alexandria, which made me compare it to Goudstad. I realized that it was smaller, nothing to sneeze at though. That statue looked menacing, taller than all the buildings I could see.

It was him, but younger. He didn’t have the eyepatch. His expression was one of grim determination, like he was preparing for a fight. His right hand gripped a gun, pointed straight at the floor, while his other arm stretched out ahead of him, holding a pocket watch as if offering time to the whole world.

I whistled. I thought it was one of the most impressive things I'd ever seen, and I'd seen the tower all my life. And the tower touched the clouds. Yeah, well, the tower didn’t have gold laced almost entirely into his outfit, running up and down where all the seams and edges should be, giving him a golden hue.

Finally, we were driving past it, out of the admittedly beautiful but somewhat underwhelming city now that I’d seen that statue. We drove past a vast farm. I realized I had no idea how that worked, but it seemed to be doing all right. I was surprised to see Finks toiling away in the field. I didn’t even know Finks knew how to do anything else but be assholes, so I was very surprised to see one of them reach his whole arm into the soil to pull something out.

A fence came into view, with quite a few big buildings behind it. Nothing like the selection hall but still semi-tall. It was large, though, looking like it could house ten thousand people if it wanted to, hiding quite a large field behind it. I realized my eyes could see further now, as I could see the large obstacle course in that field.

But that didn’t matter. I looked back to the city and saw the only building I had seen in Alexandria outside of the tower: the stadium. Large and foreboding, sitting right next to the city, where the ascension tournament would be held. It was broadcast all over the island and probably made more money in a single second than the whole township would ever see.

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We parked and were filed out of the bus into the same formation we held in the mini hall. We were then separated by sex, and both groups were told to get into a single line, facing each other.

Everyone was staring straight ahead, at the person in front of them, their arms locked at their sides. I leaned forward a little, looking down the lines of men standing next to me, then straightened and looked back up to the girl in front of me. She was a bit shorter than me, with brown hair and a disgusted look in her eye, like she couldn’t believe she even had to look at me. I gave her a grin before flipping her the bird.

Again, my mind felt like jelly, my hand dropping to my side, my legs giving out under me as I fell to my knees. I saw Lieutenant Zenzele holding up her hand to me from down the line, the tattoo fading as she drew her arm behind her back again. She gave me a hard look as I stood back up and got into line.

Afterwards, I looked her straight in the eyes and gave her a shrug. She just shook her head from side to side, disappointed, before saying, “Ladies, follow me please. I shall show you to your wonderful new home for the next few months.”

All the girls turned on their heels and started walking towards the entrance to what I guess was a dormitory. As Lieutenant Zenzele passed me, she gave me a look that I guess she thought was threatening but just made her look confused.

“None of you shall move a muscle. Especially you, Boris. Or you shall be running for the next month instead of training.”

Again, have I ever told you the wonders of the mock salute? You get so many points across with one small little action, it's truly incredible. I can say yes in the most insulting way possible, it's fantastic.

Well, after I gave her one, she just looked up at the sky, like she'd find a way to get rid of me there, before shaking her head and marching into the dormitory after the girls.

I took a single step to my left, then started turning around, looking for something interesting. The guy immediately to my right decided now was the time to start talking.

“Look, please just stay in line. If you don't, she's going to punish us too. Come on man, it hasn't even been like two hours yet, can't you just be normal?”

He was a short, scrawny teenager, probably my age, although I wasn't too sure what my age was. He had brown hair, but that look in his eye was focused. Sharp. Had to be wary of him, looked a bit shifty to me.

“You know, I feel like telling me how I can get more finks punished isn't really a good way to convince me not to do something,” I responded absently, still looking around. I started walking a bit forward when another one piped up.

“If you don't, you will be made to. Fuck us and we’ll do the same to you.”

I turned around with a raised eyebrow at that, looking for the guy pushing his chest out. He was quite tall, with brown hair and a small nose, leaning more toward the stranger side than handsome. I started walking toward him, and he seemed to deflate a little but still held my gaze.

Finally, I stepped up in front of him, as many of the other boys started glancing around, some of the others even fanning out behind me now. We stood with our eyes locked together. Then his eyes drifted down to his feet, and he started to stammer something before I interrupted him.

“Hi, I'm Boris,” I said, holding my hand out for a handshake.

He looked back up at me, bewildered, even the others looked around, like maybe this was a setup.

We stood like that for a few seconds, before I whispered, “This is the part where you introduce yourself.”

He looked very skeptical, but reached over and grasped my hand.

“Richard,” he said.

We shook, and then I continued standing there, staring at him. He started glancing around at the others, like maybe they would help. Then I started speaking casually, addressing all of them.

“Look, boys. I hate them,” I pointed in the direction of the Lieutenant, “far more than I hate you. So I won’t cause any trouble for you and yours.”

My voice hardened now. “But Richard, if you threaten me again, I'll show you why I had six of them escorting me. Am I clear?” I said as I looked him in the eye.

I saw Richard’s eyes flicker a fraction to the right of my head, then quickly snap back to me. Before I could even register it, a blow landed to the back of my head. It wasn’t light, but when I caught Richard’s glance—wide-eyed, seemingly surprised it hadn't phased me—I knew they had no idea what they were dealing with. Come on, I'd had my ass kicked by adult finks earlier, what could they do to me?

I simply turned around and looked at the one who had decided that was a good idea. He took a step back, his face white. I raised my eyebrow at him.

“That the best you got?”

Then I felt another blow to the back of my head, as another one grabbed my arm, pulling at me frantically, making me stumble over my feet a little, as another tried to do the same for my right arm.

When the one grabbed my arm though, my dice rolled, and I felt strength fly through me. Everyone looked almost slow now. I grabbed the one trying to restrain my right arm by the shirt, and pushed with all I had. He flew backward, tripping over his own feet as he landed in the dirt.

They instantly all took a step back. One of them said, “Come on man! No powers! That's going way too far!”

“You all attack me and now I'm going too far? Just shut up and fight,” I growled, putting my leg back to run forward.

And then my brain turned to jelly, and I fell flat on my face. The Lieutenant was walking out the door, carrying what looked like a gun. I saw her load it with what looked like a needle tipped with feathers, as she walked toward me.

“All of you are going to learn to never do anything like this again,” she said angrily, as she stomped toward us.

“But Lieutenant, he started it! He wou—” Richard complained.

I saw his face turn slack, as he dropped to his knees, some drool coming out of his mouth, before his eyes came back into focus as his face hit the dirt. Guess her power didn’t last too long. He was sitting back, stunned, like he did not understand how he could be insulted in such a way.

“Yes, he did not obey orders, but you,” she said to the one who first hit me, “struck the first blow. And the rest of you joined in, like this is high school. So I see you are not motivated to earn your sleeves, to be one of us. Do not worry. Tomorrow, we shall find your motivation, together,” she said with utter disappointment and vitriol, like she took no pleasure in what she had to do but knew it needed to be done.

“And you. What did I say?” She said as she leaned over me while I was on the floor. I sat up and looked at her, before saying, “I believe it had something to do with insolence and it being a Colonel factor going forward.”

She smiled down at me. “Funny. Do you see this?” she asked, pointing at the gun in her hand. “I received it from Colonel Walker himself. He decided you might be difficult, so he gave me a gift. Said it might assist in dealing with your… particular difficulties. Shall we test it?”

And then she pointed the thing at my chest and pulled the trigger. I looked down to see the needle going straight into my chest, and all of the feeling in my body left me, as I fell onto my face and took a nap. Again.