"People from across the nation, welcome to this year's recruitment!" Lieutenant Gray spoke in a voice that was amplified by the stone courtyard and struck their ears with the force of a physical blow.
He walked slowly before the rigid lines of recruits, his dark-blue eyes scanning them like a predator assessing a herd.
"The city of Bion, as the second central hub of the country of Westeros, is isolated. Practically independent. That means ninety percent of its occupants are armed—soldiers, mercenaries, and bandits who respect only strength."
He stopped, letting the weight of his words sink into the morning air.
"Before we begin, understand this: it is up to us—to you and me—to serve as the wall between bandits and citizens. The wall that protects this city, its surrounding villages, and the very spine of Westeros from the beasts and human pests that gnaw at our borders."
"You are not here merely to train. You are here to be remade. To become faster, harder, and strong enough to stand between the innocent, whether rich merchants or starving beggars."
His gaze swept over them. "If you have an ounce of self-preservation and know you are weak, leave now. Because you will die before you complete the first stage. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
A thunderous roar erupted from a hundred throats. "UNDERSTOOD, SIR!"
Amidst the vocal storm, one figure remained silent.
Kai watched the roaring faces with detached curiosity; the social cue to shout had passed him by. His mind snagged on a single piece of new information: the country of Westeros.
"You will face four tests," Gray continued, his voice dropping to a deadly calm.
"Speed. Strength. Endurance. And finally, combat, for the few of you that will still be breathing by then. Fail any test, and you die. Pass…"
He let the sentence hang. 'Well, let the games begin,' he thought to himself.
"Leave your belongings. Follow me. We start now."
The six elite soldiers moved with machine-like precision, herding the recruits into lines. They followed Gray through a stark, black archway into a new chamber.
Harsh, artificial lights glared down upon an impossibly vast indoor track, the air thick with the humid scent of cultivated greenery and stale sweat.
"First test," Gray announced, his voice echoing in the cavernous space. He pointed to a red mark carved into a massive central pillar bristling with retracted spear tips.
"Sustain a speed of one hundred kilometers per hour for one hour. No stopping. No slowing. Fall behind, and you will be eliminated by mechanisms you will not see coming."
A ripple of tension passed through the crowded participants. Some recruits paled, their confidence leaching away. Others muttered curses, feeling the trap of patriotic promises snap shut around them.
For thirty minutes, a crushing silence ruled, broken only by the hum of the lights and the sound of nervous breathing.
Gray watched them, then gestured dismissively toward the exit. "If you know your death is waiting on that track, leave now. It is your last mercy."
Eight men and two women broke the line, their resolve crumbling. They tore the recruitment papers from their pockets, letting them flutter to the floor like dead leaves as they fled into the morning sun.
Kai, at the front of the first line, remained a statue. He did not move a muscle.
A gunshot cracked the air. Pow!
The recruits surged forward, a river of straining bodies hurtling down the track as the sound of the gunshot snaked through their bones.
Those who had trained for years gritted their teeth, finding a brutal rhythm to follow. Others faltered quickly, their breath turning to ragged fire in their lungs.
Seventy of the remaining ninety reached the finish marker within the time, collapsing in heaps of exhaustion.
Behind them, separated by a closing security door, the final twenty who had stumbled were dismantled.
Muffled, hydraulic thwaps echoed, followed by brief, wet screams and the ridiculous arc of flesh flying through the air like torn paper.
The survivors stared at the sealed door, horrified. "Were they… were they really killed?" a young man gasped.
"Look at the floor," another whispered, pointing to a thin, dark trickle seeping from under the metal seam.
The overseeing soldiers chuckled darkly at their terror, but their laughter died as their eyes found Kai.
He stood apart, not a single bead of sweat on his brow; his breathing was even and calm. He hadn't run like the others did; he simply moved.
Lieutenant Gray unfolded his arms, a keen interest sharpening his gaze. "Well done," he said, his voice cutting through the panting and whimpers.
"Do not mourn the weak. Their families will be compensated." The heartless statement echoed around them like fire. "Follow me. The second test begins now."
As they were marched into a new hall that was a sterile, white-walled chamber, Kai overheard a muttered complaint from a young woman with a shimmering aura near him.
"I'm drained. Why no rest? If the next test is impossible, I'm leaving. This is madness."
He glanced at her. Her glow was a unique, pearlescent white, and the shape of her determined face stirred a faint, unfamiliar warmth in his chest. It was a sprout of affection he couldn't yet name.
Gray halted them at the entrance to a gymnasium of brutal simplicity.
"Strength. Lift your assigned block and carry it forty meters. Drop it, and you are eliminated. For this stage, elimination is not death." He paused, a sinister edge in his smile. "You will simply wish it were."
Before them lay a row of massive stone blocks, each one a grotesque puzzle of weight and awkward angles.
The bulky recruits grinned with savage confidence. The slender ones and the women shared looks of naked dread.
Kai stood before the stones, his small frame a plain joke against their bulk. He walked down the line, his head tilting comically as he compared their sizes.
The ones that had looked small from a distance were monstrous when he neared.
One by one, the recruits strained. Muscles corded, veins bulged. The strong ones succeeded after grunting, heaving efforts, their faces purple with strain as they staggered toward the distant red line.
Thirty men and ten women made it to the end line, dropping their burdens with cries of relief and pain.
Others failed. The stones slipped from sweat-slicked fingers, crashing to the floor with earth-shaking thuds.
They were immediately seized by two soldiers and dragged away, their fate a silent warning.
Soon, only Kai remained at the starting line, unmoved. All eyes, including Lieutenant Gray's intense stare from the observation balcony, were fixed on him.
'Can I even lift the smallest one?' Kai wondered, approaching the blocks. He stopped before one of the mid-sized stones—the same one a hulking recruit had barely managed after two attempts.
Snickers and derisive whispers spread through the exhausted survivors. They imagined the stone crushing the boy, a final punchline to this brutal day.
Kai crouched. He wrapped his small arms around the cold, rough granite, then closed his eyes.
With a sound that was more a sigh of displaced air than a grunt, he stood. The stone rose with him as if it were made of balsa wood.
A wave of stunned silence hit the hall, so complete that the only sound that roamed about was the scuff of Kai's boots on the floor.
As he walked, the weight seemed to… diminish. 'This isn't normal. What did those shadows do when they entered me? What am I becoming?'
Lost in thought, he walked calmly, steadily, past the red finish line without realizing it. He only stopped when he noticed the staring faces behind him.
He bent his knees and set the stone down. THUD.
The hall remained frozen. Every smirk vanished, every mouth hung agape. The recruits stared at the small boy with the dual-colored eyes as if he were a ghost, or a demon.
From the balcony, Lieutenant Gray said nothing. He merely brought a hand to his hairless jaw, his fingers tracing the line of his mouth where a small, grim, and deeply satisfied smile had begun to form.