About a quarter were gone.

Our mysterious boss arrived. Trim, middle height, blond, angular features, age hard to tell, grey dress uniform. He took the stand behind the lectern marked with a small version of the symbol of the armed forces.

Good evening. There is no need to salute me. You are still civilians. I am Captain Carstens, commanding officer of this temporary site. First I want to remind you, that while your group contains no veterans, hence you are not just mobilized, you are still under enhanced discpline and have to follow orders. We are absolutely ready to use any level of force necessary to maintain security at this site. The regulations you are under have been posted in the lobby for you to read them if you so choose. That out of the way, our country and indeed the whole world are under attack. You have – inadvertedly - gained unique skills needed to guard our country and people. The people of this country need you to warn them to locate threats so that the defenders facing them can find them in time.

We do not have much time to train you and I would send you out right now if I could, but your duties require the use of critical resources and you will undergo ten days of training to not waste them. One thing more. Our American allies have agreed to catalogue your new abilities. They may make some of you an offer to contribute to our common defense in other positions based on that assessment. You are free to accept or reject any such offer as you wish. Your training groups are being posted in the lobby. Questions are to be directed to your group’s trainer.

Mr. Crawford, the stage is yours. - The last words were delivered in English

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, indeed to share the burden our people will take over some of the training effort from our allies. In these dark days our firm alliance will defend mankind against even the most unexpected threats. I can see in your faces that you are eager to learn details of your abilities. So let me explain the process briefly. You will form groups based on your essence. For that purpose I will call out the group, the essence and then the number you drew for the tests. Then my assistant Mrs. Jones – he pointed out an elderly lady – will use her ability to read out your ability.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

After that we’ll do a practical test which will require us to take a resource that will quickly decay out of storage. That part will be done outdoors and you will be cycled through a testing tent in numerical order. Your results will be recorded and posted in the lobby tomorrow.

„Maybe I don’t want my abilities“ – the heckler didn’t get to finish. The room darkened only that it did not darken.

That will be all. Group A , number …

Remarkable. It took a monster apocalypse to end unnecessarily long meetings, but it was possible.

--

Captain Carstens took his cup of coffee and joined a man with a white shirt and generic pants.

C: Did they take the bait?

UM: Who?

C: Both.

UM: I think the Americans really want to know whether we have coopted our branches, not our methodologies. It does not matter. We waved enough decoys at them.

C: They filtered them all out.

UM: Yes. Letting them organize the testing worked.

C: The civilians?

UM: No worries. Some of them went for their abilities in a big way.

C: Some?

UM: This is a business of averages. People as individuals are unpredictable. Groups are another matter.

--

Apparently I have the ability to use magical weapons and tools. Splendid.

And I saw my first monster, if only a dead one. It looked like a miniature stegosaurus with spines like needles on its back. I was told to loot it without a ritual. Nothing happened.

It had been a long day. I genuinely was looking forward to sleep.