I remember the day I was born, just like it was yesterday.

I came to find my eyes open and sight filled with liquidated amber, my nerves numb, and my body frozen. Then the sac was cut, and I came falling into a world of light and chaos. My body thudded onto cold metal and started to shudder all over. Constant amounts of noises came to my senses, among other things; increasing amounts of damp smell, the freezing chill of cold, and the light that blinded me. I felt myself pulled up and dragged across the ground. Time passed until I was laid onto a desk with padding. I had closed my eyes, but they were forced back open only to be touched by drops of liquid, which stung. I screamed and was about to flail around, yet I was held down by unknown hands. The blinding light in my eyes soon became dim, and now I saw shapes. Above me was a lamp, emanating the dim pink light that had once blinded me, and looking around I saw a white stone room. To my right and left were five individuals, four of which were holding me down and one which held a small bottle which had a capped tube, the same thing that brought me to my sight. All of them seemed to look the same: gray skin, no eyes, and black horns, one longer than the other. Their clothing was all the same: white lab coats with black pants and yellow gloves.

“Where am I?” I asked, half-frightened. My voice was slightly deep and smooth, a jagged yet slow and tempered sound.

“Good, he’s working so far. Get him to the washing rooms and then his quarters,” the figure with the capsule said, his mouth producing a deep voice as he backed away. Two of them down by my feet followed the one who had left, and those two who held me down by my arms took me up and followed out the black door. The room I had just been put in was warm and dim, but once they had brought me out and into the gray hallways with white flooring, it was once again cold. As we passed multiple rooms like the one I was just in, I felt something falling down my body. I looked down to find my purple, rough-skinned character drenched in a glistening amber liquid. It fell off my body with ease as I was dragged by the two figures toward who knew where.

As we turned a corner, we saw yet another door. This one, however, was yellow. Opening the doors, the two scientists brought me through where we suddenly were upon a yellow catwalk. I looked below to my right and left and saw a large laboratory, many scientists moving to check what data they had received from several screen boards. But what caught my attention was the long line of sacs stuck to the walls opposite each other: they were green, opening frequently like a gooey egg to reveal the amber colored ooze like substance and different shaped and colored beings who would fall to the ground, lightly with a thud or a louder bang on the metal ground depending on how low or high their sac was. It was utter chaos, in a sense. Amidst all of it, I saw a specific sac open and in its amber substance I saw a beautiful, naked woman. She was young and perfect in every way. Her skin was a blue-green and soaked hair that was a chestnut color with streaks of red and purple. On her forehead were two small blue horns that cut up from her head, her hair making way so they showed. Her face was beautiful, almost taking my breath away and putting me in a trance. Her soaked body fell out of the sac, unconscious, and landed with a thud on the white metal amidst all the liquid. I didn’t know it then, but that was the first time I saw my future partner and recon specialist/sniper in the squad, Fytuwo.

That was all I got of her before we were at the end of the catwalk, and both the scientists pushed through the yellow door in front of us. We ended up in another hallway, this time white with black lines running across the walls. We took more turns and passed black doors along our way. We finally got to yet another door, this time red. It opened before us, and my still growing mind froze, trying to process the sight before me.

We were now in a large ice cave leading forward and curving sharply to the left, the walls carved perfectly, untouched by any sort of physical being. All the while they moved up and connected with the opposite wall, illuminated by red and orange light, making the sight even more spectacular. Several small metal and stone buildings shaped like semi circles lined the right side of the cave, while a building was connected to the upper left wall, clinging on like a hive. Pushing me forward, the two scientists moved toward the left wall. As we came closer, I looked up to the building and saw a lift coming down to us. It was a metal platform, carried only by metal wiring and multiple gears. As it landed on the ice in front of us, one of the scientists pushed me in as a figure with ghostly gray skin and a skinny build, his waist and legs covered by a brown cloth, came walking out.

“When you get up there, go through the red door and listen to the guard. Red door, not purple,” one of the scientists said. He pulled a lever and the lift suddenly started up again, swinging softly around whenever I moved. I decided to sit down, my naked body absorbing more of the cold, and I looked around the cave. The feeling and sight of being up that high was wonderful, both exhilarating and nerve racking. More people seemed to be out of the barracks. Many of the people I saw were mostly the gray colored beings just as the scientists, yet the majority of those by the barracks were hybrids just like me, genetically bred beings to serve for our Devils.

Before I was about to peer over the edge of the lift, it stuck itself in the building, the bottom of the lift itself covering the square hole that once was in the bottom. I looked up and to my right was a purple door, and to my left was the red door. Taking no chances, I got up and headed toward the red door. I opened it, entering a long humid and musty room, one filled with several amounts of steam and cubicles. It was a gray corridor with red streaks on the ceiling and along the walls.

“So, newborn?”

I looked over to my right, and saw a sickly green skinned figure in a black uniform and hat standing by a white wooden table. He had no eyes and no mouth, and his chin was populated by tufts of white gray hair.

“What?” I asked.

“Yep, you are. Well, here you go,” he said, handing me a towel of brown cloth and a pink bar of wax, “Find a free cubicle and get yourself cleaned off.”

I looked down at the rag and bar and then off to the rows of cubicles. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Like I said, go find a cubicle. Just make sure to pull out the middle gear to start the shower,” he tiredly said, sitting down in a wooden chair at the table to look at paperwork. “You’ll figure it out.”

I turned to face the cubicles again, and after a moment of thought, I made my way onward. As I passed the first row of cubicles, I saw they were covered by green plastic curtains to cover what was inside. The second and third rows were about the same, but when I started through the fourth row, one of the curtains opened and came out a towering light gray figure with a brown cloth around his waist. He had no eyes and no mouth, but only two sets of large white horns running down the back of his head. As he came out, he bumped into me.

“Hey–” I started, yet when he turned to face me, his empty face made me stop my words. His nonexistent gaze felt like it pierced into my soul for a moment. When I had the courage again, I spoke.

“Just watch yourself,” I said, with a blank voice. He was kept on my face, no muscle moving in his body whatsoever. I even thought he might have turned to a statue for a moment.

“Likewise,” he responded in a deep voice, moving past me toward the person back at the desk.

With that over, I looked into the shower the gray figure had just come from. The inside was filled with orange steam that billowed out, the floor still wet with the liquid, yet slowly it was disappearing. At the back was the sprinkler that brought out the water, and off to the left was a mirror that was now only covered by the steam. I went in and closed the curtain behind me, putting the brown cloth over it. Turning back around, I looked to the sprinkler above me, the white metal non-shining as the mist stuck to it. I looked over to my left to see the mirror, and using the palm of my hand, I wiped off the mist to get a good look at myself.

In the mirror, although it wasn’t all clear, I saw a darkened purple figure with slightly glowing yellow eyes, a toothed mouth, hooked nostrils, and a flow of wavering orange hair that went down the back of my head. I looked threatening in a way, but it didn’t seem to make me focus much attention on it. I turned my head away again and looked to the bottom of the sprinkler, where I saw a large knob. I reached my hand out for it, grabbed on, and pulled it outward with ease. Suddenly, from the small holes in the sprinkler came blasts of ice cold orange water, and as it hit my dry dark skin, it produced a stinging feeling. I almost yelped, but I bit my tongue and clamped my toothed mouth shut.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later when I had gotten used to the cold, and finally let out a gasp of air. The feeling still made me tremble all over, but I was able to disregard most of it. I held up the bar, noticing the musty smell and rough texture of it running into my senses. As I kept my eyes from watering because of the smell, I stood there, at first not knowing what to do with the piece of wax. Then, unconsciously, my hand moved and I started rubbing my body all over with the bar, the wax sticking with a bubbly feeling.

I kept rubbing the bar over my body: my legs, waist area, chest, arms, and my head. Eventually, the whole bar had dissolved from my hand and what was left of the sticky wax was on my body, slowly dissolving into my skin from the water. I let the stuff dissolve on its own and thought. Everything had hit me so fast, and I had no time to get to question any of it. For one, where was I? How did I know any function of mind and what to do? If I were to find answers, I had to ask around.

Eventually the soap had all dispersed, so I pushed the knob under the sprinkler back into its original place. I took the cloth off from the curtain and started cleaning myself off, all the while the remaining bits of water on the ground and my body started to steam, producing a warm and humid feeling that triggered my nerves.

I finally exited out of the cubicle and started for my left back to the table. Most of the other cubicles I had passed once before were now empty, steaming with the same orange substance that flowed throughout the room. I arrived back at the whitened table, only to find it empty. I stood there for a bit longer, yet the figure stationed there didn’t arrive. Maybe he himself had gone to wash off. I decided to abandon the table and go through the red door, where I appeared back in the room with the lift, still up and covering the square opening. The metal room I was in, which was now colder than in the corridor, was empty. I entered the lift, waiting for it to perhaps lower itself, by itself. It didn’t. When this ended with no results, I looked to the lever on my left which I had forgotten about. I reached over and yanked it down, and with a rumble, the lift started to lower into the massive cave.

The cave itself seemed to be darker now since the walls were a deeper shade of blue, and the red and orange lights were out now. I looked over to the lower right and saw the outside of a partially exposed building, which was only a strip of gray metal with the red opening doors. It took some time until I was finally at the surface level like everybody else; most of whom I had seen were now gone, likely into their barracks or the building hidden in the packed ice and snow. My mind had gone blank, since I knew nothing of what I was supposed to do. As I had noticed before, almost everyone seemed to have gone inside, most of them perhaps inside their barracks. I decided to do the same and led my half naked body to the barracks across the mountainous cave.

I arrived at the outside of the lit barracks. The gray stone before me blended in well with the blue metal, and there was the flickering white light at the top of the cold buildings. I looked around, seeing if anyone was out now. When I saw no one, I decided to enter the building before me, only dressed with the cloth that covered my waist and legs. I looked all over until I found the white plastered door leading inside, which had a white symbol right above. I opened it and was met with a small room before me, with a hallway at the end leading forward. The blue room was filled with well kept blue and white furniture around what seemed to be a large metal table with a screen over it. I looked ahead to the hallway and on each side were four blue doors, all having a short blank white line at the middle top of them. I went over and sat down on the long couch that stood at one of the ends of the table. I sat there, my mind blank until I continued to question myself and the situation.

Only seconds later the door once again opened, and I shot my chest up from the couch. Coming in were three people, two males and a female. The female was in the back between the two others, and had milky green skin. Her long and wet curly hair was a dark seaweed green which fell down to her shoulders, and her eyes were black whereas brownish orange sat in her irises. Her body shape was thin, almost a skinny figure and the cloth on her wrapped around her upper chest down to her legs. She was also the smallest of the three, her height maybe right below five feet. The figure off to her right was some inches taller than her, his skin a deep spicy brown. He had no hair, but on top of his forehead were three large red horns that protruded forward and had red spikes on his head fading back. On his face was only one large grotesque yellow eye, with nothing but a black pupil in the center. He had a large, almost moldy appearance; his skin seemed as if it had been overgrown with a moss of mustard color and covered with dried carcasses. The cloth wrapped around his fat belly, looking as if it was about to fall off. Then, there was the figure who was off to their left. He was the tallest in the group, about two feet taller than the woman, and his skin was a bluish gray. He had a large white spiny fin like a mohawk on his head, along with blue iris slitted eyes but no mouth. He seemed to bend his large figured body forward a bit from his height as he entered with the cloth around his waist.

They all eyed me as they entered, curious just as much as I. I sat on the end of the couch now, and for some time no one spoke. We only eyed each other, studying each other's physiques. 

“Who are you?” I said.

All three of them stood motionless and stunned by my voice. Then, the man to my left somehow chuckled from a non-existent mouth.

“Funny. We would have asked you the same thing,” he said.

“Attention, all Units,” a large screeching sound came from inside the building before static came, making all of us go on high alert, “go to your rooms immediately and dress yourselves before reporting outside the mountain. Attention, all Units…”

As the announcements continued, the tallest of the three gestured as he started for the doors at the end of the room, and as the others followed, so did I. When I had gotten to the hallway, the three had already entered separate rooms, leading to me getting the left door at the end. I entered through the door, and was met with a small room. It was perhaps 7 feet tall and 6 feet wide, the metal walls white. At the end of the room was an elongated hole dented into the metal, and in it was blue bedding. On the bedding was a set of military grade black suit ware and hardy boots. I walked over and dropped the cloth and put on the suit.

However, the problem came when I realized I had a tail the same color as my skin, one I had complete control of. I have no idea how this discovery had evaded me until this moment. It took me time to figure out how to make it so that I was able to put on the suit, since there was no hole in the suit that would let my tail dangle out. I worked awkwardly as I first put the suit on, ignoring my tail. I stuck my body in the suit and tried pulling up the zipper at the front, yet I stopped after my tailbone started hurting. I took the suit back off, and figured something else. I tried wrapping it around my waist, yet that felt too awkward with the suit on. I tried leading it under my crotch and over my shoulder, yet that still didn’t work for me. I finally rested on the idea to wrap it around one of my legs, which worked. The suit covered my whole body except my head. There was gray plating on my shoulders, my knees, and a bit of area behind my neck. I put the boots on and left the cloth on the bedding as I exited the room. I noticed the tall figure in his own black suit waiting in the middle of the hallway, and stood as I closed the door behind me.

“You’re done?” he said.

“You were waiting?” I asked.

“Why not? No point not to,” he said.

“There isn’t any point in doing so,” I said, walking toward the exit of the building. I noticed there was the same white symbol above the door from outside.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” he said, starting to follow.

When we exited the building, we saw many others walking toward the exit of the cave, yet their suit colors were all different. I saw a group of jade green, crimson, and other various darkened colors. We followed the mob of suits, and soon were walking through giant halls of ice. Finally we reached the outside of the mountain where there was a raging storm, white flakes of snow falling. The setting was an icy wasteland, and I only saw some distance until the haze shielded my vision. Everybody was clumped together, dumbfounded and unsure what to do.

“Where are your friends?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I let them go while I waited. I should probably go find–” Suddenly, he was cut off by footsteps crushing into the snow and ice. The sounds of voices and blindly guided footsteps stopped, all except those few loud footsteps. They soon stopped as well, and where they stopped before us was a figure draped in a long black suit stuck firmly to his body. It dangled behind his gray clothed legs and his chest was buttoned with metal straps, and on his sides were ribs stuck on his suit. Around the back of his neck were bundles of fur and covering his head was a furred hood. He wore reinforced metal boots and several other plating of a bone white color on his suit. His face was half hidden away by a plastic white mask shaped like the bottom piece of a skull, yet where the teeth should have been was a filter, connected to a pipe that led to the back of his waist. His wrists and hands were covered by gauntlets covered with small bones, which laid over his uniform on his arms. The only part of his skin able to be seen was his head, which was snow gray. He had two lines of tan horns running down the back of his head and his eyes were a bright, noxious green.

“My name is Officer Uyyo, and I, unfortunately, have the job of training all of you filth for the next few months,” the figure said, his voice raspy in a metallic way. “And from here on until that point, you will call me Sir or Officer Uyyo. Only those titles. And don’t you bastards whisper or say it in some monotone way. Listen to every command I give you and unless spoken to, you will not whatsoever make a single sound from that mouth of yours. Is that understood?” he said, shouting the last few words.

Most of the mob, if not all of us, shouted ‘Sir, yes sir!”. After a moment, Officer Uyyo coughed a chuckle from the vented mask. “Seems the docs bred you right. Before we start your training, we will have our universal rules laid out. First rule,” he started circling us, “no matter how many of you hate each other here and wish to tear each other apart, you will keep those thoughts in your head only and treat each other with dignity, and respect.” He put emphasis on his last two words. “Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Second rule: under no circumstances will any of you here start any sort of sexual relations between each other or any other inside or outside of our barriers. Is that understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Third rule: you will never, at any time, talk down, disobey, or disrespect any and all of your superiors, or the consequences will be dire. Is that understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Fourth rule: the emotions that you have been bred to embody, Ryt, Jkhlfl, Hpqz, Yrttrw, Yuygeer, Flzzpoq, and Uiop, will not, under any circumstances, be used. You are physical hybrids of these emotions, and they will only hinder your combat performance. Because of this, none of you will ever use them! UNDERSTOOD?”

“SIR, YES SIR!” we said, yelling the loudest yet.

He finally arrived back in front of us, and I knew all the while we were under his command, life wouldn’t be easy.

“Now, every one of you is going to start for the other end of this mountain. You will find an outpost guarding an entrance back into the mountain. There, you will listen to their instructions and do what you are told. You will not stop your training until I give the word, and if I see a single one of you not running…” he said, and suddenly there was a blistering pain in my head. I wasn’t the only one, however, as others were moaning or yelling in pain. I was one of the last to fall to the ground, along with the tall figure by my side. “There will be a first punishment,” Officer Uyyo said, and the pain suddenly subsided. He walked through the mob, scoffing as he looked at us.

“What are you doing? You want that punishment so soon?” he yelled in a rough voice.

With that comment, we weakly got up from the ground and started running alongside the mountain. Running through the snow was painful, but soon it would become bearable enough for a short time. It was half way to our destination when my legs started to hurt and the cold seeped into my suit. Along with others, I heard myself breathing deeply and rapidly as my nerves went numb.

When I started to lose my footing, I saw the outpost up ahead. When we finally arrived, I heard everybody heaving and trying to catch air. There was a gate before us, and to our right was a square block building. Candles were lit inside, and we saw a shadowed person, reading something. After a moment he saw us, and took something from what was presumably his coat shirt and swiped it across something that I couldn’t make out in the dim light. There was then a blaring sound and soon whirring as the gate in front of us opened. We flooded in, making for this other entrance of the cave where three people stood. They looked like us with their clothing, yet with more plating and more fur along with gloves. They also had the addition of goggles and masks as well. They watched as we came forward and when everyone was in front of them, they spoke and told us what we had to do. The premise was that we had to go inside with mining equipment to retrieve material inside the cave and a gun called a hunc. They told us the weapons were for fending off creatures that would come for us once we started mining the mineral. We were given our things and told to group in our suits of color. Once both my partner and I got together with his other companions, we put on the gas masks that came with the equipment and loaded our guns. The three figures only watched us as we learned how to use the guns and the equipment we were given, yet appeared surprised when they found out how fast we learned to use them. All the groups went their ways, and as we went in deeper, the icy walls became darker and darker and green gas became more apparent.

By this time we had to take out white flares from the equipment and light them to show us our way, where we found minerals. Taking out the main tool in our equipment, a gukun, we picked at the ice with the tool, pushing with our strength as we hit the ice and swung back. The sound from breaking of ice startled the creatures we were warned of and they started coming our way. They looked like a slab of meat with four spiky tendrils on its back and three elongated legs–one in back and two in front–and we watched them as they neared. We were able to take them out easily with a single bullet from our huncs. As the procedure of excavating finished, we took the minerals and put them in pouches the size of our heads from our equipment.

We repeated this procedure until our pouches were full, where we then made our way back to the entrance of the cave. We dumped the minerals into a huge stone basket which sat by the entrance of the cave and emptying our pouches we headed back inside. Over and over we continued excavating and dumping the minerals back outside, with no sign of end in sight. During this time, the four of us would exchange talk of what was happening, where we were, and why we were here. During this conversation, the female asked why we didn’t have names. She pointed out that Officer Uyyo had a name and wondered why we didn’t. With nothing other to do than kill off the creatures while we mined, the tallest of us four decided to think of a name for himself. He pondered for a bit, not accepting the names he had thought up at first, and it helped him no better while the obese one laughed and mocked him with his initial ideas: Jun, Oyt, Hrge, and Wpoy. Finally, he determined one: Reyww. From there, the female decided to be named Lyffa, and the obese one Qrgieo. I was the last to decide, and after thinking with continuous staring, I came up with the name Gclahm. Feeling embarrassed after that bit, I growled and suggested we get back to work, which the others had no problem doing.

When we were on our seventh run back into the cave, we were so deep we found a large cavern filled with immense amounts of mineral and gas. All of us were flabbergasted, yet after Reyww reminded us what we were meant to do, we got to work. We took out flares and our gukuns and chipped away at the packed and hardened ice after lighting the flares and tossing them on the ground. It was quiet at first, with no sign of any creatures coming near. That was until a minute later when we heard the first few noises, and soon we saw the first few coming at us. We were able to take them out easily enough, yet soon after more came. It eventually got so bad that we had to take our focus off the minerals and focus all our fire on them. We kept at this until finally our ammo reserves were running low. One by one, we threw our guns at the creatures as we started to use our gukuns to fend them off. Soon the creatures were becoming too numerous, and I thought we were going to become overtaken. A few more minutes passed before we heard the sound of gunfire again, this time rapid. We looked to our right as the creatures popped like pus-filled bubbles and saw Officer Uyyo wielding a bigger, upgraded gun, rapidly firing at the creatures. The metal tunnel of the gun heated up, and as it did the gun shot faster and more violently as it tried to shake around. Eventually the creatures scattered off, terrified, and what was left was black blood splatters and dead corpses.

He lowered the weapon and looked at us. His stare was blank, but you were able to tell he was disappointed. Reaching from the back of his waist, he threw four new pouches to us.

“Finish grabbing what you can from here, then bring the minerals back to the entrance and start back for base. Come see me when you’re back,” he said, leaving the cavern to head back up.

We took the new pouches and filled them all up, along with ours. We then started back up from the cavern and soon arrived back at the entrance. We dumped our minerals and left the equipment at the outpost and started for the base. While walking, our time was tiresome and cold. I knew the weather wasn’t going to get better and there was no way to heat my body up without running, so that’s what I started to do. I left the others behind as I advanced faster than them. I arrived back at the entrance of the cave, and I started inward. It took five minutes of walking to get back to the space I had become acknowledged with. I had no chance of knowing where Officer Uyyo would be, but looking at the mostly hidden metal building far off in front of me, I had an idea.

I walked towards it and came to the door, but it did not open. I tried tapping on the door, yet still it wouldn’t budge. I stood there, hoping someone would answer. The only thing that answered me was a hard, painful slap to the back of the head. It made me hunch over, and when I looked to my left, I saw Officer Uyyo.

“The heck you doing?” he growled.

“Trying to look for you…” I said, turning to him. I quickly felt a knee slam into my forehead, making me fall on my back.

“Sir…” I muttered, groaning in pain.

“Give me 100 pushups on your fists now, Unit!” he yelled.

Without any further notion, I rolled over on my stomach and raised myself with my feet and hands and started with the workout. Unfortunately at my 62nd, I fell to the ground.

“Weak! Start over!” Officer Uyyo yelled.

And so I did. I did less that time, and so I restarted. Everytime I tried I failed and had to restart. My muscles cranked and pushed into each other as they tried to keep up with the pain, yet they struggled too much. It felt like eternity, and whenever I tried to make a comment to Officer Uyyo, there was a sharp and quick pain that went through my head, making me collapse to the ground. The whole routine made my mind go blank, and it made me start thinking again. My mind seemed to start making a habit of kicking into processing mode whenever it felt it needed to, and so I thought about why I was where, what I was supposed to do, and why Officer Uyyo was such a pain. I thought of things I still didn’t know the answer to, yet that seemed like the only thing my mind could do. The only knowledge I possessed was that I came out of that pod, and only then did my suffering start. I had no idea as to why I was being pushed.

Suddenly, my body slammed against the ground by the metal of a boot, and I heard a raspy chuckle, followed by a cough.

“Not bad, Unit. Only took you 12 tries, and you went overboard on the last. 120 pushups, to be exact. Get up and follow me, and if you whine even once about the pain, you get the chance to do that all over again,” he said, leaning down to me, then he took his foot off and left. I watched him as he went to the middle of the cavern, an open space where some of the other groups had already come to.

My body ached, my arms the most. I tried to ignore the pain, however, and stood up and walked over to the groups, doing my best not to show the itching pain. When I arrived at the group, almost everyone else had arrived back from the mine.

“Now, we’re going to start combat training. Before that, however, one of you has disrespected me. You know who you are. So, you are to get into rows of 7 and give me 100 sit ups, 100 pushups, and 10 minutes of planks all in that order and count aloud every one you do. And, if I see even one of you fall, you will all start over. Now!” he said.

I knew I was tired, but my mind kicked in. I followed his orders like everyone else and started counting aloud. Of course, our first attempt wasn’t perfect, nor was our 2nd. It took more than nine tries until we had passed our pushups, where we then did our sit ups. But that was when we found out how much Officer Uyyo liked to mess with us.

We had gotten to 54 when he heard Officer Uyyo growl and shout, “Back to pushups, you filth!” Some of us looked up to him in bewildered astonishment, and started to complain and groan in surrender to the pain. But the pain had come back to our heads, and this time there was more. Some screamed and yelled for it to stop. I was one of the few able to not whimper more than a normal toned sound. It lasted 10 seconds, and then the pain ended.

“Did any of you even hear me when I told you not to disrespect your superiors, or did you just accept my orders without understanding them? If any of you want to survive through this and outside of these barriers, none of your lives will be easy like you want them to be! The only thing you will find out there is that anything and everybody wants to kill you. The reason you’re even here is because all of you were made for a purpose, and that purpose is making sure the wrong people don’t obtain the power they don’t deserve. So,” he said, crouching, “if any of you want to make it through this, you’ll listen and do whatever it is I tell you. Understood?”

No one spoke. Except me, as I was the first one to respond. “Yes, sir,” I replied, my voice loud enough for him to hear. I felt his gaze upon me, and we heard him ‘hm’ in amusement. “Any objections?” he said.

“No, sir.”

I looked to my left and saw Reyww, breathing in deeply and quickly but stable enough. I stared at him for a moment before looking back to Officer Uyyo, who had gotten back up. I heard a raspy sigh, and at that moment Officer Uyyo revealed a softer part of himself. If you were able to even call it softer.

“Look, I can’t and won’t have any of you fail as a group these upcoming months because if you do, I will have failed my job and my punishment will be worse than any of you would receive from me by a mile. I won’t guarantee all of you will make it, but I’d like to see you prove me wrong with that. And if any of you want to gain my trust, then you will listen to me and will not object. So, all of you get up and start again!” he roared.

We struggled to get back into formation, but we did. Our attempts weren’t perfect, far from it, but we were in more of unison and it showed. It must have taken half an hour until we were finally done, everybody collapsing to the ground. I know, because I checked, and not one single person was standing or holding themselves together except Officer Uyyo. The pain we had to withstand was miserable, and you wouldn’t be able to know how bad it was unless you tried it yourself.

 “Well, you finished. Wasn’t so hard, was it? I’ll give you all 15 minutes until we get to combat training. Do what you want with that time, but you will not leave this area by any circumstances,” Officer Uyyo said, leaving us and heading for the building. For those few minutes, people tried getting up. I was one of the few who stayed down on the ground, since it felt like my abdomen and my arms were dead. But just because I didn’t go talk to anyone doesn’t mean no one came to me.

“So, how’re you feeling?”

I looked to my right, now–since I was on my back–and looked over to Reyww, who was looking up to the ceiling of the cavern. He was breathing heavily, his skin tone darker. Without moving my arms, I looked over at my own and saw that it too was darker, too. I laid down my head and breathed.

“Could be better,” I said.

“You think he’s gonna make us do that again?” he asked.

“Most likely.”

“Well. Do you know who messed this up for us?” he said.

“That would be me,” I said, heaving a sigh.

“What? How’d you piss him off?” he asked.

“By forgetting to call him ‘sir’,” I responded.

A moment later, both Lyffa and Qrgieo arrived, tired and beaten. Lyffa did her best to help pull Reyww up, and then he offered me a hand. I laid there, waving them off.

“Just let me lay here. I don’t think it’s going to help me if I get up,” I said.

“Whatever you say,” Reyww said, and the three proceeded to go elsewhere.

For the rest of the time I laid there, my mind blank trying to get my head to somehow silence the voices all around me. When Officer Uyyo arrived back, he told all of us to get into a large circle, and to stand up. With no other choice, we listened and obeyed. Our groups were spread out in the circle, so there were never more than two in the same group standing by each other. When we all formed into the circle, Officer Uyyo was left inside.

“Now, fortunately for me, I will not have to explain what the concept of fighting is. And so, during this first day of combat training, that is exactly what you will be doing. I will pick two of you, and in this circle you will fend off against each other. You may use any trick you need to gain ground against your opponent, and the first to pin the other down to the ground for five seconds wins. The winner gets to stay in the circle and face off against a new opponent, while the loser gets to do 10 minutes of planks.” I sensed the uneasiness vibrating around the circle. Apparently Officer Uyyo felt it too, because he chuckled. “Hopefully you put up a better fight now, hm? Alright, first person–is you, Gclahm,” he said, pointing to me. For a moment I stood there, taken aback. Curiosity became present as others looked at me.

“Yes, I know of the name you gave yourself, Unit-A67. And the names of your group as well. Now, get in here,” he said, standing still as he stared at me.

After a second I walked toward him, and two feet away he held a hand up to stop me.

“And you, Unit-A48,” he said, pointing to a tall chocolate colored brown woman, almost as tall as Reyww. Her hair was an ash white color, flowing down under her shoulders. Her face was gnarly, as if her face was ripped and cut with scars. Her eyes were a deep red and upon the middle of her forehead was a sharp black horn. Her suit color was brown, the plating a darker brown, and as she walked toward us, she did so with heavy footsteps. Two feet away from Officer Uyyo she stopped and grinned. I saw sharp teeth line her mouth.

“Both of you will go to the opposite end of each other in the circle and wait to fight until I say so. Go,” he said.

As we did he exited the circle, watching us stand on our sides and waiting anxiously.

“Hoping not to mess up again, ‘Gclahm’? I saw how you pissed off Officer Uyyo. Can’t let that happen again, huh?” she said, mockingly. I stood silent, both not knowing how to respond and holding my voice so as to not lose my temper.

“Start,” Officer Uyyo said.

Again, my instincts kicked in as I lifted my arms up with my fists clenched. The other, Unit-A48, approached me with her fists clenched as well. I circled around her as she approached, and as she was a foot away from me she threw a punch. I did the same, yet mine was underhand. Both our punches collided, hers colliding with my face and mine with the side of her abdomen. We both stumbled, her clutching her side and I trying to shake the pain from my head, and as we stumbled I went into the wall of people behind me.

“Throw him back in,” I heard Officer Uyyo say, and those behind me complied, pushing me back into the arena. I used this to my advantage, as when they pushed me, I used that momentum to ram myself in Unit-A48. The force  laid her on her back, where I then proceeded to pin her down by the neck. Officer Uyyo started to count, yet as soon as he did, Unit-A48 was able to get out of my grasp with enough ease. She threw a punch at me which hit, and forced me off to the side. She immediately got on top of me and threw both her hands to my throat just as I had done. I grabbed at her left wrist and pulled while hitting her face with my left palm to force her off.

A second later I heard Officer Uyyo counting, yet my attempt at hitting her face to free myself was working, but I only had seconds to do so. At the last second when I was almost free, Unit-A48 hit my left arm aside and rammed her horn into my left shoulder. The pain was somehow greater than what we had received from our workouts, and I screamed a screeching roar. Unit-A48 let her horn sink in my shoulder for a moment longer, then violently withdrew it.

I wanted to scramble away, yet my body was trapped between her legs and waist. She watched as I clutched my shoulder, and she laughed. She quickly threw her fists at my shoulders, pinning me down even harder. I roared from the pain, and groaned.

“Thought you could get through this, huh? Not when I’m around. As long as I'm here, you’re going to wish you’re dead,” she said, and leaned in closer. “Wanna know why you lost? Because you’re pathetic. You’re weak, just like Officer Uyyo knows you are. He hates you, and you know it. You have no right to be here, so why live? What’s the point? Why not kill yourself? There’s no way you’re gonna get strong enough to beat me or anyone–”

“Unit-A48, get off of your opponent immediately,” I heard Officer Uyyo order. But she didn’t listen, only staring into my eyes. “Just kill yourself, no point in living. Just do it, give up and leave all the pain behind. Only just shows how weak you are–”

Immediately, Unit-A48 let go and screamed, her eyes bloodshot. I squirmed away as she clawed at her head, and watched aghast as she was slowly lifted into the air by some unknown force. I watched everybody else, and their own reaction was the same as mine. I looked back over and saw Officer Uyyo approach the side of Unit-A48. He was circling her now, her own body three feet above the ground.

“Remind me, Unit-A48, what was the first universal rule I spoke of?” he asked, his voice raspy but calm. She struggled to speak while she grabbed her head, but finally answered.

“To respect–respect each–other with respect and …” she said.

“But you did not with Unit-A67, did you?” he yelled, still circling her levitating body. She struggled to speak, and wasn’t able to form any words.

“DID YOU?” Officer Uyyo yelled dangerously, and she screamed even more ferociously.

“NO, NO I DIDN’T. JUST STOP, PLEASE!” she cried.

“Ironic, isn’t it? The one saying he’s weak, is weak herself,” Officer Uyyo said in amusement. Unit-A48 suddenly fell to the ground, and she quickly wrapped herself into a ball. I stared at her as she quietly whimpered and spoke to herself. I and everybody around me watched her in horror. The air was tense, and it showed.

“Unit-A67.”

The sudden voice alarmed me as I shot my gaze toward Officer Uyyo.

“Get up and follow me,” he said, and went to exit the circle.

I struggled to get up with my aching shoulder, but I did. I tried to pay no mind to Unit-A58, still weeping, as I passed her heating body, but it felt hard not to feel some pity for her. I pushed past everybody as I followed Officer Uyyo. I finally caught up to him and we kept walking at a steady pace.

“Stop,” he said, stopping in his tracks himself. He looked back at me with a calm face. That scared me, and sent shivers through my spine.

“Give me 5 minutes of planks, one arm, each side, then get yourself cleaned up in the showers and return to the barrack you received your suit from. Word of advice in the showers: build a cupful of water and press it against the wound three times. It’ll sting like you’re trying to kiss a yrkivn, but it’s necessary for the healing process. In the room you found the suit, you’ll find a time-teller. It’s a small metal box with three flat buttons on the top. There's a screen on one side as well, so it won’t be hard to spot. Set a time for seven yuuns and after it wakes you up, report to me outside the lab,” he said, pointing to the building built into the iced wall. “Now don’t keep me waiting all day. Get on the ground and start.”

I didn’t complain but only complied, getting on the ground and holding myself up with my legs and my working arm. I heard Officer Uyyo move away, and started for the showers after the time was up. I got mixed into a situation with the same person at the desk after I realized I had not brought my towel back, but we figured it out. I left my suit in the shower room as I took a new towel and looked for a free cubicle. I did exactly what Officer Uyyo told me to do, and he was right. Three times it stunned horribly, and everytime time I winced. But I continued and finished. Soon enough the shower was over and I cleaned myself up. I returned the towel and put my suit back on, exiting back down the lift. I returned to the room in the barrack and found the time-teller. I fiddled with it until I figured out the button on the left with the screen in front set the time for yuuns. The button on the right added additional time to the right of the number for yuuns on the screen. The middle button, when I pressed it, set the timer and the numbers started counting down.

I set the time right and started it, then set it off on a countertop in the wall next to the bed. I situated myself on the bedding and sighed. In retrospect, that day was the first of many days of suffering for me, yet not all of them were as bad as that day, yet many were worse. The accounts of those days, however, are better kept for another time. End of log.