4 years later
“C’mon Krana, get up! Today’s transfer day!” shouted Eko, rapidly shaking her bunkmate.
Krana shot up. “What time is it?” she asked, worried she’d somehow overslept.
“6:25.”
“Did you seriously shake me awake five minutes before I normally wake up because you’re excited?”
“Yes.” deadpanned Eko.
Krana resisted the urge to facepalm and lay back down. “Well, today is going to be pretty exciting, huh?”
“You nervous he won’t take you?” asked Eko.
“What do you mean?”
“I know the only reason you joined was to train under that guy, what was his name…”
“Roko.”
“Roko. And he said he would if you made it through cadet school, but it’s been four years and you’ve heard nothing, and now you’re through cadet school and worried he-“
Krana shoved her pillow in Eko’s face.
“Stuff it, Eko. I’m not nervous. Let’s just get ready. The ceremony starts soon anyway.”
“Whatever you say.”
The girls and the rest of their group then got ready for the day’s ceremony, before making their way out to the main auditorium before settling into their assigned seating. The auditorium was rife with cadets discussing where they wanted to be posted, where they thought they would be posted, how they’d keep in touch with friends, but it quickly quieted down as a man they all recognized, the director of this cadet academy, walked up to the podium.
“Cadets, today is a very special day in all of your lives. You have made it through four years of the best schooling the IGDC has to offer, and have been molded from mere wannabe heroes into true candidates for that title. Nobody knows what the future will hold for each of you. Some of you will go on to invent new and amazing weapons to aid in our fight, others will become strong points of defense that hold the line for the sake of innocents anywhere. But know whatever the future holds for you, our future is in your hands. You are part of the next generation of great people who will work together to ensure the survival of all life against the onslaught we face. I thank you for your dedication to our cause, and for what you will do to uphold our society. Cadets, in a moment, your data pads will be uploaded with your first assignment, and instructions on where to go to obtain transport to them. Nearly all of you will be first assigned to some form of secondary training, likely as a try-out for a more established squad or strike team in order to gain experience. But whatever you are assigned to, know that you will be a true gift to our society and its continued safe function. Thank you.”
The director bowed his head as the cadets began applause, which quickly tapered off as they all began looking at their data pads, waiting to see where they would be assigned.
Krana looked at hers. Despite her dismissal towards Eko, she was feeling nervous. It was easy to push the thoughts away when she was stuck in the difficult routine of cadet training, but at the end of it now, she was worried. Roko hadn’t so much as left a single message for her these past four years. But worrying wouldn’t help anything, so she pushed the thoughts down and focused on her data pad. She heard excited murmurs break out throughout the auditorium as people began to receive their assignments.
Her data pad blinked with a notification.
Cadet Krana Eluun
First Assignment: Task Force Cobra - training.
Report to vehicle bay H within 1 hour for transport.
Special Instructions:
Good job. - RK
Krana didn’t know what to think. She was stuck, nearly frozen, until Eko, sitting next to her, shook her out of her stupor.
“Where were you assigned? Is it with him?” she asked, trying to lean over and peek at Krana’s datapad.
“Task Force Cobra, apparently. And yeah, looks like he left me a message. RK, Roko Kal.”
“No way! I got assigned to Cobra as well! I didn’t get any special message though, “ Eko said, making an exaggerated sad face.
“Well you never made a deal with an officer, now did you?” responded Krana in fake admonishment, “Now c’mon, let's get our stuff and go.”
The next few hours of transport and moving from vehicle to vehicle were a blur for Krana. Her head was going into overdrive from excitement at knowing the deal was being fulfilled, nervousness about what that might entail, and everything in between. . Her overly-energetic travel partner didn’t help matters.
But, by that afternoon they had made it to the Task Force Cobra training facility, a pristine and evidently new building on a planet a few systems away from the Cadet academy they had been in, and they were welcomed and shown to their quarters by some employees. They were given new data pads, with their schedule pre-loaded. Today’s schedule had one activity: orientation. Held in the yard, and happening in less than five minutes. With the help of a friendly janitor, they managed to find the yard just in time and sit down with the rest of the cadets training to be a part of the task force.
With the task of being on time squared away, Krana was able to finally take in their surroundings. The yard was a bit of an understated name, given the quite honestly enormous courtyard training area they were sat in the middle of. The thing was the size of those old gladiator arenas she had been told about by her human acquaintances at the cadet academy. On the side directly in front of the group of cadets stood a tall observation tower, likely for housing overseers and people to operate larger-scale training equipment from a good vantage point.
But as she looked at the tower, Krana noticed something. There seemed to be someone standing on top of it. The other cadets were noticing too, and soon the whole group of roughly 20 cadets was staring up at this figure standing on top of a roughly ten story tower. Before anyone could say anything, however, the figure jumped.
Off of the tower.
About half the cadets screamed before the figure landed, cracking the ground beneath them and kicking up a cloud of dust. They stood up, seemingly perfectly fine, despite taking the blow of a 100-foot fall entirely with their knees. They then proceeded to walk up to a small lectern placed in front of the group, and finally Krana could see who it was.
A man, roughly in his 30’s, with striking white hair and scarred-over, milky eyes.
It was Roko.
Krana was silent as he began speaking.
“Welcome to the Task Force Cobra training facility, cadets. You may not have all met me before, but I have personally chosen all of you for this program based on my observations of your performance during your training at the cadet academy. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Roko Kal.”
About half the cadets’ eyes widened at the mention of Roko’s name.
“I see some of you are familiar with me, likely from family or friends in the force. For those who don’t know, I am the first and only person to ever fight an Angel in one-on-one combat and emerge victorious...”
That got the rest of the cadets’ eyes wide open.
“... and I am going to make you into the strongest force in the IGDC.”
“I can hear your silent skepticism from here. ‘Strongest? Us? Fresh-out-of-cadet-academy?’ Yes. For a very specific reason, and very interesting circumstances. You should all know that as long as we’ve been fighting these things we’ve been at a big disadvantage, all because of one reason. Can anyone tell me what that is?”
A cadet in the front of the pack raised their hand.
“You,” Roko said, pointing at them.
“Conventional weapons are unable to harm them.”
“Correct. For all the histories of intelligent species, weapons technology tends towards the same endpoint, ranged projectile or energy-based weapons, as well as propelled missiles, explosives, occasionally nuclear. But defying all logic, none of those could even scratch the monsters. And boy did that get our eggheads back at the research facilities riled up. So imagine the look on their faces when they hear someone figured out why.”
The faces of the cadets lit up with surprise at that, and Roko smiled as their gazes truly began to focus on him.
“You see, I had what you might call a revelation during my fight with the Angel. My body was pushed to its physical limit and likely past it, and when the Angel carved these two scars through my face, “ he paused to emphasize the two scars running through his forehead, eyes, and into his cheeks, “something clicked.”
Roko pressed a button on the lectern, and a holo-display popped up in front of the cadets. It showed a diagram of a human body, lines of blue filling out the silhouette, similar to the circulatory system but definitely different.
“You see, it turns out all life produces a substance we now call ‘aura’ naturally. Normally, it doesn’t interact with physical objects, it just circulates in the background. In fact, in a dormant state it doesn’t interact with almost anything at all, which is why we never noticed it.
The monsters, however, utilize it to create normally physics-defying phenomena, like being unable to be harmed by any weapon not infused with aura. This is why I can slice a ravager’s leg off and a 14-inch shell can’t. We’ve been passively utilizing our natural aura since we figured out training with bladed weapons was the only way we could really hurt them, but now that we know what it is, and I spent 4 years working with other expert members of the IGDC and hundreds of researchers, we have figured out how to truly utilize its power.”
At this point the cadets were really hanging on to Roko’s every word.
“You all will be the first unit trained in aura utilization straight out of cadet academy. Other existing units are getting supplementary training, but the brass wants to see how effective a unit trained from the beginning will be. Given I’m the best aura-user in the IGDC, I was chosen to head the project.
“All of you were chosen based on two factors. One - your aura loop. The diagram I put up on the holo-display is a map of the human aura loop, essentially the system that circulates aura throughout your body. In most people, this loop is completely useless and must be opened up before the aura can be utilized. However, it can be opened up as a side effect of intense long-term weapon training, or intense emotional events, like near-death experiences. All of you have quite clear aura loops that won’t need too much opening. The second reason is that I personally saw potential in you. You see, we don’t have that much time until the brass wants to see you in action. This training will be like hell - actually, scratch that, it’ll be worse - and I believe you can handle it.”
The cadets at this point were unsure of what to think - scared of the training, honored for being picked by arguably the best fighter in the IGDC, or awed at the idea of being able to use what was essentially magic. Roko could see this in their expressions and smiled as he closed the holo-display.
“I know, it’s a lot to take in. Training will start tomorrow, but before you go we will do one thing. I’ll be opening your aura loops.“ he said, pulling out a chair from behind the lectern. “I want to be able to start training you in aura use first thing tomorrow, so you’ll need to get your aura loops ready. Fair warning - it will hurt. A lot. But it’s relatively quick. Get in a line in front of the chair. When it’s your turn, just sit down, take deep breaths, and try to relax. Don’t make any sudden movements. You’ll feel a heat start to build up in your midsection. It’s hard to describe, but try to ‘grab’ that heat, and move it around your body. The better you do that the faster it’ll be over.”
The cadets stood up - they knew there was no use in disobeying their CO, but they all moved towards the chair quite hesitantly. All but one. Krana walked right up, steady-paced, and calmly sat down.
Roko placed his hands on her shoulders and closed his eyes.
The cadets couldn’t see anything visually except Krana’s closed-eye expression scrunching up in pain, before she released a breath she had been holding about fifteen seconds after sitting down.
She gasped for air like one might after running an intense sprint, and shakily stood up. Following in her example, the rest of the cadets had their aura loops opened by Roko one after another. When they were all done, he stepped back behind the lectern.
“All of you, make sure to get a good night’s rest. You’ll need it. See you back here at 6 tomorrow for your first training session. And perk up, when I said you’ll be the strongest force in the IGDC, I meant it.”
========================================================================
When the cadets reached the training field the next morning, Roko was already there waiting for them. He stood on a small mat, and in front of him there were similar mats, one for each cadet. Assistants stood to the sides of the setup with towels and bottled water on some small tables.
After the last cadets filed in precisely at 6, Roko instructed each of them to take a seat on one of the mats, in whatever position was most comfortable. Roko himself sat cross-legged, and most followed in his example.
“Your training will consist of three main parts. In the mornings, we will meditate to practice aura circulation and grow your aura loop. After lunch will be drills and exercises for utilizing aura, and during the evenings you will spar.”
“We will begin meditation now. Close your eyes, and breathe deeply. Relax.”
The group did as he said, and Roko began to scrutinize the flow of aura through each of them.
“Good. I can see my forceful opening of each of your aura loops has succeeded. What we will do now I did call meditation, but you might think of it more as exercise for your aura loop. Similar to a muscle, it will get stronger through repetitive use.
“Begin by recalling the heat you felt yesterday. It should reside in your abdomen. This is where the bulk of your aura is stored. We call this the Nexus. Focus on this heat. Feel it grow within you. When it feels just hot enough you might get hurt, begin to shift your focus around your body. From your abdomen to your chest, your chest to your head, your head to your arms, your arms to your legs, and back to your abdomen.”
Roko watched as each student began to grasp simple aura circulation. It was a beautiful sight, watching people feel the energy inside them for the first time, and begin to control it.
“Good, good. You’re all doing great. Keep at it until you’re too tired to go on, then push some more. You really want to exhaust yourself here. The farther you can push, the better the effect. We have ways to deal with the fatigue, so don’t worry about tiring yourself out for the day.”
Then Roko began his own circulation, a much more focused and complex process than the one he shared with the cadets, but not his usual one. He was using a slightly less intensive method today so he could keep an eye on the cadets and make sure nothing went wrong.
Just like a muscle, incorrect technique could cause serious injury.
To his surprise, they all made it past the first hour. The first one dropped into a heap of sweat and exhaustion about an hour and a half in. An assistant immediately brought him a towel and water, and got him laying down to rest.
Similar scenes played out throughout the next two hours, a cadet dropping roughly every ten minutes.
Finally, there were three. This was what he was waiting for. Ceasing his own circulation exercises, he focused his auric sight on the final three cadets.
The Eenan, Krana, he had saved some four years ago.
Her best friend and training partner, a human named Eko.
And finally, his former second’s son, a Branion named Rego.
These three held out the longest. Eko dropped a bit after four hours, Rego at four and a half, and Krana at just under five.
Roko smiled and waited for the final three to drink some water and catch their breath before speaking.
“Good job everyone, “ he started, turning to Eko, Krana, and Rego, “especially you three. All of you did wonderful for your first circulation session. You will continue with this method until the point of exhaustion is six hours. Once you’ve reached that point, I will introduce a more taxing method of circulation, and we will repeat this until you reach the first breakthrough.
“You see, once you reach a certain point in aura training, you hit a limit. However, unlike when you hit the natural limit of your muscles when training physically, there is a way to break past this and raise the limit. We call this hitting a breakthrough. We have given names to rank aura users by the number of breakthroughs reached, as this is a significant factor in your strength in an aura-based fight, and can be used as a rough gauge of strength.
“Currently, all of you are in the Apprentice stage. Once you complete your first breakthrough, you will become an Acolyte. Becoming an Acolyte will not only increase your strength with aura, but also invigorate your body, opening it up to more avenues of improvement. As such, your training will change once you hit that stage. But that’s in the future, and I can tell you’re all hungry, so let’s break here for lunch and I’ll show you what I meant by ‘ways to deal with the fatigue’. Follow me.”
The cadets got into a line, and followed behind Roko through the halls of the base, the cadets who held out for the longest still on shaky legs. Once they reached the canteen, Roko told them to get their food from the chefs and sit down, but not start eating.
Once everyone had a meal on their tray and found a seat, Roko stood and addressed the group.
“You have likely already noticed the small sphere each of you was given with your meal. It is a special pill devised by the geniuses in R&D, made from plants with abnormally large amounts of aura through a special process that’d take hours to explain. The end result is a pill that will rapidly refill your Nexus with aura. Be warned, however. Taking one without properly emptying your Nexus is dangerous - you do not want more aura than you can handle shoved into your aura loop. Luckily, I just had all of you exhaust yourselves. Even those who dropped first should be fine - apprentices like yourselves naturally regain aura at an abysmal rate.
“Anyway, that’s it for my lectures. Take the pills, finish eating, and meet me back in the yard at 1. You’re free to wander the base if you’re done eating early, but make sure you’re in the yard by 1, and do not perform any aura circulation before then. I will be able to tell, and you will not like what happens if I see any of you have done it.”
With that, Roko left the canteen to return to his own aura circulation, now without the distraction of a gaggle of cadets to train.
