“You’ve all been recruited into the greatest army in the world.” The small balding man said sternly.
“Recruited my ass.”
Tobias looked to his left, where a skinny dark skin kid glowered at the man speaking. Tobias elbowed him sharply. The kid glowered at Tobias instead of the man.
The man scanned the crowd, there was about 50 people in total. Most had arrived with Tobias, nearly 30 in all, his village might not recover.
“If you aren’t aware, I’m General Markel. This is Commander Lee.” Markel gestured towards a skinny man, with narrow eyes, and a skin hue Tobias had never seen on a person before. Lee’s eyes were as dark as the remaining hair on his head. His eyes were darting about the room, Tobias gasped when they fell upon him. The boy next to him gasped moments later.
“Lee is looking for one or two of you to be the next generation of The Godly Sent. I doubt any of you have what it takes to join that group.”
“The Good God Damn.” The boy whispered.
Lee smiled, as if he had heard the boy.
Eventually General Markel finished talking. Lee, though, never said a word. His eyes continually roving the crowd, though, there were a few spots his eyes fell most often. Tobias was annoyed to find he was one of those spots.
A barrel-chested man stepped forward, “I am Staff Sergeant Slim. I have a list of seats here. If your seat is called, it’s on the back of the seat in front of you, you’re with Commander Lee and you will gather over there.” Sergeant Slim pointed to a doorway across the open air auditorium. It was, appropriately, in shadows.
Tobias gripped his seat tight, eyes glued to the seat in front of him. He was struggling to read the letters; he’d never really learned them.
“C-23. C-24…” Slim called.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Tobias felt a hand clamp onto his arm. The boy next to him pulled him towards him. “FUCK! The fucking Good God Damn. We’re gonna die.”
Tobias pulled the smaller boy’s hand from his arm. He stood and made his way to the door. Everyone in his row gave him ample space. The other boy quickly followed in his wake. More than one made the Star, as he passed.
Slim hadn’t called may seat positions. Tobias looked back over the crowd. There were only a few empty seats. He had thought he’d heard, maybe five, three others than his and the skinny boy.
Eventually Tobias and the other boy made it to the door. They were the last ones there; despite being called in the middle. A stocky redhair girl reached out her hand. Tobias stared at it. He shook his head, “No. We’d need to reintroduce ourselves. Thanks though, Red.”
A nervous man giggled, “You’re a smart one. Don’t want to have to forget two names. Hehe Ha!”
“What do ya mean?” asked an imposing plain faced young man. “Forget two names?”
“He’s saying, I’m going to die. That tall and dark over there would need to learn my name and the name Commander Lee gives me, but then since i’m going to die, forget both.” Red said.
“Your name isn’t Red?” The plain faced boy said.
“Alqe, I introduced myself a minute ago as Teew.” Red/Teew replied.
The man giggled, “Now we’re going to have to forget three names.”
Commander Lee was suddenly, there. Tobias’s hair flew back as Lee forced the air out of where he was now standing. The man was imposing while being slight. There was a presence emmenating from him.
“Silence. You haven’t earned your names yet.” He glanced at all of them. “For now, you’re Squad Epsilon. That is the only name you have. Epsilon. Five of you are the fingers, the 6th is the palm. I don’t know which is which yet. For you to strike firm, you must work together. Otherwise, fingers break.”
The nervous man giggled.
“Can I be the pinkie?” The plain faced man asked.
Lee punched the man in the face. Tobias saw stars, he staggered back. Some how, through, the daze, he saw the rest of Epsilon stagger too.
“What the fuck my nose is bleeding. What happened?” The skinny kid asked.
“Shut up.” Tobias responded. “He attacked Epsilon. He bloodied Epsilon’s nose.” Tobias looked at the group, “He’s made us all Epsilon.”
Lee gave him a look, then nodded. “He’s correct. The Godly Sent must work as one. We work in dangrous unforgiving locations, with only a small team. If one team member speaks when they shouldn’t, the whole team could die.”
He turned and started to walk through the door. “Come, I’ll show you to your quarters.” He quickly accelerated from a walk into a sprint.
“Stay together, Epsilon.” Tobias called.
The nervous man giggled and sprinted after commander Lee.
Tobias found himself at the rear of Epsilon. There were two women in front of him, Red and a woman with Raven black hair. Plain face was just ahead of them, the dark skin kid was keeping pace with him, while moving out of sight was the man with his giggles. Lee was far gone at that point.
Red was breathing easily, while she was trying to comfort and encourage the other woman. Raven, as Tobias was thinking of her, struggled. She was holding her side, as if a stitch had already formed. They’d hardly ran.
The two young men were starting to pull ahead, Tobias grimaced and opened his mouth to call to them. Instead, he yelped. He staggered and rolled. His left leg was dead. Completely numb and useless.
He wheezed as he tried to understand what happened. He glanced at Red and Raven, both were down holding their left leg. Ahead of them, Plain and Dark kid were trying to sort themselves out too.
Tobias groand as pins and needles wracked his leg. Every inch of his leg felt as if a nail was peircing his skin. He shuddered and gasped. Someone retched in front of him. Sweat pooled and dripped from his nose.
He pulled himself up and staggered to the two young women. Red was wiping vomit from her mouth. Raven’s head was lulling.
“Will you help me carry her?” Tobias gasped.
She gave him a look, “How we gonna do that? She’s not a small girl.”
Tobias shrugged. Glanced down at Raven and nodded. “Yea, she’s not small, but we all need to get there together. I’ll carry her like a sack on my right side. I’ll need to lean on you for support.”
A wave of sensation ran up his leg. He found himself on his knees, barely holding himself up. Red pulled herself out of her vomit.
“We don’t have a choice.” Tobias said.
Since he was already down, he gently pulled her up on his shoulder. He felt Red’s strong arms help him up.
“Put your arm around my shoulder,” she said.
“Thanks.”
“I’ll tell you when to step. When I say ‘right’ step with your right leg. When I say ‘left’ try to step with your left leg.”
“Got it.”
“Left.” Tobias dragged his leg.
“Right.” and so they continued.
They fairly quickly caught up with Plain and Dar’Kid, as Tobias was calling him now. Dar’Kid was out, too. Plain was stairing down at him, uncertain.
He glanced up at them when Red said, “Right.”
“What do you mean, right?” Plain asked.
“We’ve got a plan for walking.” Red said bluntly. “You gonna carry him?”
Plain’s face lit up, “Yea, I can do that.”
He swiftly bent down and tossed him over his shoulder. He easily walked over to the other two. “What’s wrong with you all?”
“You don’t feel it?” Tobias asked.
“No, what are you talking about?”
“Pins and needles shooting up our left legs.”
“Oh. Is this like when you all felt that punch?”
“Wait, you didn’t feel that either?” Red asked.
“Nope.”
“Ugh. Let’s go Tark. That’s what I call you by the way.”
“Me?” Tobias asked. He smiled, “Well, I guess we need to come up with names for each other. Let’s go Epsilon.”
The five of them staggered towards where they had last seen the giggling man. As they walked, their legs gradually stopped hurting as their bodies either adjusted to the pain or the pain went away.
Tobias was sweating under the exertion. Raven wasn’t the largest woman he’d held by any imagination, but she certainly wasn’t small. He wouldn’t have been able to get this far without Red.
He looked ahead at Plain. He was walking as if he was unburdened. He was a giant of a man, easily 6 inches taller than Tobias, who was already a large man.
Plain suddenly stopped as they rounded a bend. He looked down at his feet. “Laughing man’s laying here. Huh, looks like he’s missing a leg.”
Tobias and Red looked at each other. He found his horror mirrored on her face. “Good God damn.” He muttered.
She grunted in reply.
“Can you carry Giggles?” Tobias asked.
Red gave him a look. He quickly shook his head.
“Yea, he was small before. Now he looks tiny.” Plain’s deep voice rumbled a sad reply.
“Ok, Epsilon, let’s keep going then.” Tobias said.
Eventually, the group found a small building with the Winged Star, the symbol of the Godly Sent.
“That symbol is so confusing.” Red muttered.
Tobias chuckled.
Once inside, they found a table with six chairs in the center of the room. Along one wall were three bunk beds. The wall next to it was a kitchen area, the other wall, held equipment of war and whatever else it was the Godly Sent did.
Comander Lee was sitting in a chair by the fire. It clearly did not belong in the dormitory; the quality was of an entirely different class.
He stood, “Good. I’m glad Epsilon was able to arrive together. It’s a shame about his leg though. He was rather quick.
“These are only temporary quarters for you,” he continued. “You will need to build your own barracks. Delta has been kind enough to offer the use of their barracks while they are out on exercises.
“Eat, sleep. In the morning you will start designing and building.” Commander Lee clapped once, and the table was suddenly full of steaming food.
“Good night.” He was gone before anyone could respond.
Tobias shuffled overed to one of the beds, the one closest to the fire and rolled Raven from his back onto a bunk.
“Where should I put him?” Plain asked.
“Is he bleeding?” Tobias asked.
“You answer with questions so much. No blood.”
“Top bunk above her, here. Put the skinny kid on the top bunk next to him.”
“I get the last top bunk.” Red suddenly interjected.
Tobias shrugged, “I wouldn’t want me or him above me either.”
Tobias dragged himself over to the table. He plopped hard onto a chair and started digging into the food.
Shortly after they started eating, Raven and Dar’kid woke. They both staggered out of bed, shuffling gingerly to join the 3 at the table.
“What the hell happened?” Dar’kid asked.
“The laughing idiot sprinted ahead, and Commander Lee relieved him of a leg.” Red responded.
“No shit!” Dar’kid laughed.
Raven glared daggers at him. “I hope this feeling goes away tomorrow.”
Red snorted. “Hopefully you’ll be able to stay awake tomorrow.”
Tobias yawned. He grabbed his plate and scrapped the scraps into the fire. After putting his plate back at his seat, he went to check on Giggles. The man didn’t have a fever and seemed to be breathing normally. His eyes suddenly flittered open. He screamed.
Tobias took a step back.
“What the fuck did you do to him?” Red yelled.
Tobias shook his head, “He just woke up.”
“Hey, laughing man,” called Plain, “I call you screaming man now.”
The scream gradually became whimpers then panting.
“Fuck Commander Lee.” Giggles said between breaths.
“Can you eat?” Tobias asked.
“I don’t know.” The man suddenly pulled down his pants.
“Come on, give us some warning.” Raven cried as she turned her back on him.
“By the Stars. It’s like I never had the leg. It’s, it’s not even severed. It’s gone at the hip.” Giggles licked his lips. “He said something about earning it back.”
He glanced at Plain, “You, simple man. Take me to the table. I need sustenance.”
Plain pointed at himself, “Me? I’m not simple man.”
“Fine, you’re a big man. Can you carry me to get some food?”
“Put your pants on first, maybe.”
“Not a problem.” Giggles quickly pulled his pants up.
Tobias shuffled over to his bed. He laid down and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Tobias woke early the next tomorrow. Most of the table was in disarray. He shook his head as he left the building to relieve himself. Upon returning, he began to tidy.
“Don’t bother.”
Tobias jumped. He glanced to the chair. Commander Lee’s chair.
“Uh, yes sir.”
A group of halfings glided into the building. Silently, they removed the mess and laid out an excellent breakfast. They left the place immaculate. They also leaned a set of crutches on one of the chairs. The chair with Giggles’ jacket.
While the halfings were cleaning and leaving the food, Tobias inspected the weapon cache. There were weapons of both local and exoctic origin. Some weaons, a ball on a long rope, he didn’t understand how they could be lethal. Other were painfully obvious.
“I wouldn’t touch those. These weapons aren’t to be yours. Your weapons will find you.”
Tobias turned to find Commander Lee at his shoulder.
“I don’t understand sir. But…” Tobias glanced around and shrugged.
“You picked up on the rules of the game quickly.”
Tobias nodded, “The lord of my village had a game similar to this. The village that put forth the most cohesive team of people, would have lower taxes at harvest. The loser, well, they often died.” Tobias glanced at Lee, then hastily added, “Sir.”
“How many of those were you a member of?”
“I won 4. Sir. I was and am a large kid. I started at 12. I was to enter my 5th this harvest, when I was, uh, recruited. Sir.”
“The legless one is the only ‘adult’ in your group. I was hoping he’d be your thumb, but it seems like he’s your pinky.
“Here are your orders for the day. I suggest waking the rest of the fist to get started.”
“Sir, yes sir.”
Commander Lee returned the salute, smiled, and walked out the door.
Tobias read the orders:
- Run 5 miles
- Eat
- At Noon Run 5 miles
- Begin designing Epsilon Barracks
- Requirements: 6 sided. Privy. central kitchen, weapons area.
Repeat for the week.
On 7th day Commander Lee will review design and test fitness levels.
Tobias walked to each bed and gave them a firm shake. “Wake up Epsilon! Commander Lee left us orders!”
“Fuck you!”
“What time is it?”
“Why are you so loud?”
Eventually, they all got up. They were glaring at him. Plain was heading for the food.
“Here are our orders.” Tobias read them and then put them on the table.
“Run five miles before breakfast? Then another 5 miles after noon? Fuck that.” Dar’kid said.
Giggles giggled, “How am I supposed to run? I hope you kids enjoy your run.”
“You got cruches old man.” Red replied.
“First, no eating, big man. Second, we obviously all have to run together and finish the run together. If we need to, we’ll all take turns helping Giggles,” Tobias gestured to the man, “finish his run.”
“Who the fuck put you in charge?” Dar’kid asked.
Tobias shrugged, “No one. I’ve just been on a team like this before. Someone needs to coordinate. You want to come up with a plan, be my guest. Let’s do mine for this run, then after we eat, we can plan a better one.”
Dar’kid opened his mouth, but Raven spoke first. “I can’t run 5 miles. Yesterday was the farthest I’d run.”
Tobias shrugged. “Orders are orders. We’re in the Godly Sent. The Good God Damn. We have to follow orders, as a team or.” Tobias gestured towards Giggles’ missing leg.
Raven shuddered.
Tobias contined, “The sooner we start the sooner we’re finished.”
Giggles struggled with the crutches. After a few minutes, he sorted out how to swing his leg while maintaining momentem. The crutches were well designed, with excellent hand holds and a solid base.
Once he was as comfortable as he was going to be Tobias gestured towards the outside. They all paused. They weren’t in the same location they were in last night.
“I went outside earlier. We were still at Fort Cruven.” Tobais said.
“Guess we were magiced away while I was using my crutches.” Giggles waggled his fingers and giggled.
Epsilon stepped out and found a path immediately to their left. There was a mile marker with 0 miles.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Red breathed.
Tobias gestured for the others to go first and fell into a slow jog behind them. Giggles was making a valiant effort, but everyone knew that Tobias and Plain would be carrying him soon enough.
After a count of 500 breaths, Tobias called for Epsilon to walk. They all, except for Giggles relaxed and caught their breath. Giggles was still gasping, despite the slower pace.
“Screaming man. Come here. I will carry you until next walk.” Plain said suddenly. “Give crutches to Ordering Around Boy.”
Giggles stopped and switched both crutches to one hand as Plain crouched in front of him. Giggles leveraged up to wrap his arms around Plain, forcing Tobias to lurch to catch the falling crutches.
After 100 breaths, Tobias called for a return to jogging.
They fell into a routine. 500 breaths of running 100 breaths of walking. Over and over. It wasn’t easy, but the path was easy going. It was a well marked path with markers every 100 feet. The path ringed a small island. The vistas were beautiful.
Over the course of the run, the group gradually began to slow down as the least fit amongst them was unable to keep up with the pace. Once the pace had slowed to a walk, Tobias called for a break for water and to catch their breath.
He happened to be carrying Giggles. He had noticed muffled whimpers as the run had been progressing. Tobias gently swung the man around, by his hands, and lowered him to the ground. Giggles cried out in pain.
“What did you do to him?” Red asked.
“Nothing, I tried to be gentle.”
Raven, still breathing heavily approached. “It’s from the crutches, isn’t it?”
Giggles nodded shamefully.
“Do you mind? I, I think I can help.”
“Be careful.” Giggles flipped his palms up. They were weeping blood and puss. Skin was torn and swollen.
Raven gingerly took his right hand in her left hand and held her right hand above his. Tobias could hear her muttering. She seemed to sweat more, but with how moist her face already had been, it was difficult to tell.
Giggles suddenly gasped. Then giggled in relief.
Raven repeated the process on the other hand. Giggles slumped after she finished. He was breathing easily. Raven was even more winded than before.
Tobias handed her some water. She drank greedily from the skin. She slumped against a tree. Her eyes fluttered. She was snoring moments later.
Tobias gently retreived the skin before she could drop it. He offered it to Giggles. He drank deeply.
“Does she have the spark?” Red asked quietly.
“Yes.” Plain answered. “We all do.”
Tobias started. Giggles sighed. Red glared at him.
Plain shrugged. “We each have a different color and shape of our sparks. Her’s is a very gentle flame. It makes me think of a healing fire, one that brings life in its wake.
“Yours,” he gestured at Red, “is small and flickers between many different hues, as if it’s undecided what it will become. Laughing man’s is a larger flame, but it worries me. It’s a greasy fire, with a lot of smoke. If you’ve seen a pig burn, it is that sort of flame. The young one there, his is a darting flame. Like a candle in the wind.” He frowned, “Lots of trouble there. I hope he’s not blown out.”
Plain gestured towards Tobias, “Of course, his spark, we’ve all felt. He can influence people. If he wants something done, it just seems to happen. Good thing for us, his flame is a bright blue, honest through and through.”
He stood then and walked to Raven. He knelt and gently touched her cheek. Her skin went from an exhausted white with deep dark bags under her eyes to looking robust, as if she’d just woken.
Plain, in his methodical way, did the same to Giggles. Though, Giggles flinched at his touch. Giggles seemed to recover quickly. He slapped the hand away.
“Ask before using that on me.” Giggles shouted.
Plain shrugged.
“How long have I been out?” Raven asked.
“Maybe 5 minutes.” Tobias said.
“Really, normally it’s hours.”
“The big guy used his spark on you.”
“You have a spark, too?”
Plain nodded, “I will tell you what I told them over breakfast.”
“Yes, let’s go. I’m hungry.” Tobias said.
The group all got up. Tobias squated so Giggles could climb on. The man felt lighter. It wasn’t just the renewed energy. Something else had changed.
Tobias quickly caught up to the group and fell in next to Plain. “You knew I was going to tell everyone to get going, didn’t you?”
“Yes. As soon as the dark-haired woman opened her eyes, I could feel your spark pulling us towards your will.”
Tobias looked troubled. They continued jogging. The pace was the fastest they had run that day.
Giggles suddenly spoke, “What the big guy isn’t saying, is that he is choosing to let you bind him to your will. He could fight it. He’s able to see your intent when you marshall your spark.”
The big guy laughed, “What the laughing man is leaving out, is that he slipped out of your influence, and lost his leg.”
The rest of the group was listening to the conversation at this point. Even Raven was working her hardest to keep up.
“Do you think these sparks are why we were selected?” Tobias asked the pair.
“Almost certainly.” Giggles replied. “There were only a few others that had any spark, ours were the boldest.”
“Hmm. I am still thinking on this. The fist. Our group as a hand or fist is important to why us.” Plain said.
“I bet the tall dark guy is supposed to balance out the greasy fire of the laughing guy.” Dar’kid suddenly interjected.
“Fuck you, candle boy!”
“I had thought this might be the case, too. Maybe he can stop your candle from blowing out.” Plain grinned down at the small boy.
The conversation suddenly stopped as they rounded a curve and found themselves at their barracks.
“Good work, everyone!” Tobias cried. “Let’s get some food.”
Tobias was sitting on a rock looking across the bay. He could just make out a village or town across the water. He wondered what it was. He heard a scuff of a foot. He glanced up to see Raven. He gestured for her to take a seat.
“Any idea where we are?” she asked.
“Nope. Maybe we’ll be able to figure it out when we see the stars tonight. There’s something across the bay though.” He pointed at the blurry dot.
“Oh, I see it. Huh, you’d think there’d be fishing boats out. It’s a perfect day for trolling.”
“Strange.”
“Hey, I wanted to thank you for… you know.”
“The run?” Tobias asked. “I’ve had to get people into shape before. It’s painful for everyone involved.”
“I’ve never had to.” Raven looked down. “I never expected to be here. I thought I was safe.”
“No one with the spark is safe. With your spark, you should be running a hospital somewhere.”
Raven sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Yea. You’d think I would be. I won’t even be helping wounded during a battle. Instead, I’m part of the Good God Damn.” She spat the name like a curse.
Tobias sighed and looked back at the ocean. The sunlight glittered in the waves. He heard Raven stand; she used his shoulder to leverage herself up.
“Make sure you pack something for the next run. Food and water. You’ll need it.” Tobias called over his shoulder.
Tobias loved the smell on the breeze. Slighly salty and cool. The air was generally, warm, almost uncomfortable, but the breeze kept everything manageable. He took a deep breath and relaxed into the sunlight.
When he opened his eyes, Dar’kid was standing next to him. “Where are we, do you think?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. We might be able to figure it out from the stars tonight.”
“What? You mean it’ll be that dark that we can see that many stars?”
“Yep. We might get a better idea how big that town is across the bay, too.”
“No way. I didn’t even see that.” Dar’kid turned to him then. “What do you think my spark is?”
Tobias glanced up at him. He considered him a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know how sparks work. Maybe ask the big guy. He seems to know a lot about them.”
“He’s, uh, kind of a freak. I don’t like behing around him.”
“The six of us are going to be training for the next few years. You’ll have to get to know him at some point.”
“Ugh, no. No, thank. you.”
Tobias chuckled, “Well, maybe your spark is that you’re sneaky and you’ll be able to sneak in and out of places. If the big guy is the muscle, maybe you’ll be the shadow to sneak in and do the dirty work while he’s bashing skulls in. Distracting people.”
“OOO! I hope so!” Dar’kid suddenly darted off.
Tobias shook his head. He took a sip from his canteen. He heard the light footsteps of someone, probably Red. Wasn’t the crutches of Giggles and certainly Plain had never stepped so quietly.
“So, you bind us to your will, huh?” Her voice was quiet.
“I didn’t even know I was doing it. I don’t know how to stop it. Sounds like it’s possible to reject it, though. Giggles did.”
“Yea, he paid for that.”
Tobias shook his head, “Only because what I wanted was what Command Lee wanted. If I told you to swim to that town over there, and you refused, you wouldn’t lose your leg. Cold Stars, I think if you followed my order, I’d be the one losing a leg.”
“I don’t want to be bound to anyone’s will.” Red said coldly.
“I’d suggest talking with Giggles and the big guy about how to fight it. I can’t control it yet. I guess I need to work on that.”
“I will not be anyone’s toy.”
Tobias looked up at her sharply. Red’s face was tear streaked; her eyes were hard. Tobias softened. “You won’t be my toy.”
“Get your spark under control.” She stormed off.
Tobias started off into the sea. Clouds were forming off the coast. They might ben running in the rain this afternoon. At least it’d be a warm rain.
He sighed when he heard the shuffle-thud of the crutches.
“So, it’s started already, has it?” Giggles asked.
“What’s started?”
“Everyone coming to you with their questions and problems.” Giggles giggled.
“That obvious?”
“Ha, you should see the barracks, it’s been a line of people coming and going. Everyone coming here. He ha.”
“Everyone’s been asking where we are.”
“Yea, they care about that, but they don’t really. Heh. Ice breaker. Like mine. Asides, that’s White’s Ferry.”
“How do you know that?”
Giggles shrugged.
Tobias sighed, “Well you’ve broke the ice.”
“I can help train you.”
“Try to work with Red first.”
“To build her spark?”
“No. To ignore mine.”
“Ahh, hahee. Doesn’t like being ordered about.”
“She was upset.”
Giggles nodded. “Look, we can do both. You need to learn to control yours while we’re on mission, first and foremost. You’re going to be carting my sorry ass around. I’ll train you while you’re doing that. I’ll train her to ignore you after missions.” Giggles laughed, “Besides, I’ll need you trying to order her about to learn how to ignore it.” He swung about as he laughed.
Giggles laughing got louder, “Your turn big man!”
Even when he was out of earshot, his laugh rang in Tobias’ ears. At least until Plain sat next to him.
“You have big weight on your shoulders. You will be thumb. I will be palm. We are the pillars of the team.”
Tobias nodded. He relaxed. He had told Dar’kid as much. Tobias opened his mouth to respond, but Plain continued talking.
“Red is scared of your power. Laughing man, wants to exploit it. Be careful around them. I will protect Red from you. Raven will help cure Laughing man. He is mad.”
Tobias blinked.”I was worried he was a little crazy.”
“Come, we should run before the rain hits.”
Tobias nodded and walked back with the big man. He might look plain, but those placid waters hid shocking depths.
The fist ran again. Tobias counted breaths. 500 running. 100 walking. The rain caught them halfway through the run. It was violence. Pure violence.
Giggles used his spark to protect the fist, but even that wasn’t enough. Dar’kid broke his leg. Red was cut badly from the storm.
The second run took hours. They were exhausted when they returned to the barracks. Food was laid out for fist Epsilon upon their arrival. Commander Lee was warming his feet by the fire.
“Dry off, then eat. We’ll talk after.” He said once the last one had crossed the threshold.
Tobias was glad he was not on the recieving end of the look Red gave Commander Lee. Tobias started; he could see wisps of something eminating from Commander Lee. He glanced about, and noted similar wisps were coming from him towards the rest of Epsilon.
“Raven, would you help with the kid? Laughing man, can you help us dry off?” Tobias asked. He Felt some sort of interaction between whatever Commander Lee was doing and his own spark. He saw the wisps from Commander Lee wither compared to his own, at least on those members he had spoken to.
“Red, I’ll leave you to sort yourself out. Let Raven know if you need anything.” Tobias said. Tobias watched the wisps. The wisp from Lee to Red pulsed and faded away, while a wisp formed between Tobias and Raven and Raven and Red, but not as much between Tobias and Red.
Red glanced at Tobias and nodded. A wisp pulsed to life between them. Tobias shook his head. These sparks might be more of a pain than a help.
Tobias went to his bunk and found another set of clothes. They looked like they would fit perfectly. Plain was already changing. Tobias followed suit. He found the clothes warm, but breathable. They were extremely comfortable.
There was a section of his footlocker that looked like a set of clothes with wavy lines above them. He assumed that was for soiled clothes. He tossed his torn and smelly clothes there. He closed the footlocker and set to making plates for the other team members of Epsilon. After getting plates ready, he went to see if he could help anyone. There wasn’t much he could do, so he sat and drank water. Waiting for the rest of the team.
As everyone was eating, Plain walked by and touched everyone. Each sat a bit straighter afterwards. Wisps tied them to Plain. Tobias could see a sort of mesh forming between the team members.
Commander Lee was suddenly at the table with them. The table contorted in a blink of an eye to easily seat seven people.
Giggles retched.
“Oh, you are sensitive, aren’t you?” Commander Lee asked Giggles.
“Heh, just let my guard down.” Giggles replied, wiping his mouth.
“I must say, I am impressed with Epsilon already. You’ve managed to do the runs you were supposed to, and you didn’t lose anyone.
“You managed to sus out where we are and why you’re part of the Godly Sent.” He gave a polite little clap. “Other teams have spent weeks sorting through that.”
He glanced aboutt he table. “You do have sparks. All of you. I don’t know what you will become or if you all will survive your sparks. Even if you do survive your sparks, that is White’s Ferry there. Based on your reaction some of you have heard of it.”
Raven made the Star. Giggles giggled.
“Divinity vanishes beneath the leaves.” Lee sang sadly.
Tobias shared a confused look with Red. She fixed a hard look on Lee. “So, what, we’re suposed to fight whatever it is that made the Lord of Stars vanish?”
Commander Lee laugh. Giggles joined in with a high-pitched giggle.
Lee composed himself, “No. You, if anything, are a look out. If you see anything stir in White’s Ferry, you will let me know. Otherwise, you are to train. You are to build your barracks. Delta will need their barracks in 2 or 3 months, so get designing.”
Lee waved his hand. Giggles’ eyes bulged. The table was six sided again and Lee was staring into the fire. Giggles let out a breath.
“Well done.” Murmurred Lee.