Being a Seer, Janusz had no other choice but to wait for the recruiters of the Expedition Corps to pick him up at the boys dormitory the morning after graduation. Yuri and Sora had talked with their guardians Mr. Cyrus and Mrs. Orlov respectively and their applications to join the Expedition Corps had been passed on. So Yuri and Sora found themselves waiting next to Janusz in front of the boys dormitory.
With the Harvest just having occurred Yuri spotted multiple new students wandering around, their faces downcast and showing anxious expressions. It brought back memories of his own arrival and what had taken place before that. The kitchen knife coated in blood. The equally bloody hands of Roman, dragging him out of the burning house. The sound of his own crying. The giant, dark, menacing trees in contrast to the flames and the burning red sky of the setting sun. He pushed the memories aside like he had done for the past three years. He never intended to visit them, they just happened to visit him from time to time.
The two recruiters sent by the Expedition Corps showed up not much later, a young man and a young woman both with short hair and clad in rust red camouflage uniforms. Yuri adjusted the strap of his gray bag on his shoulder, it contained everything he owned. Instead of walking towards the giant metal gate with the number “1” engraved on its frame above the door wings, just outside the school's main gate, the two recruiters headed in the opposite direction.
“Before we reach the grounds of the Expedition Corps at the 2nd Outpost we are going on a short detour first”, the male recruiter announced.
“A detour?” Sora asked.
“You will see”, the young woman recruiter answered instead of her comrade this time.
They left the school grounds through the back exit and entered the zone of perpetual darkness at the very edge of the 13th Outpost. They approached the second of the massive gates, being exactly parallel with the first gate at the opposite side of the 13th Outpost. This gate had the number “12” engraved above its door wings.
Everything in the 13th Outpost was school related and most of it was taken up by the school grounds. It housed the school buildings, the student dormitories and accommodation for the teachers, as well as the buildings in which new faculty was being trained.
With the exception of going to the 5th Outpost for the Seer-lessons, it had been a long time since Yuri last had left the school grounds. Neither he nor Janusz had been fond of going out and Yuri never had been close to some of the other students, who rather liked spending their free time at the other Outposts such as the 7th Outpost with its entertainment and service focus. Yuri had not been friends with Sora for long enough to know if she liked going out but given her lack of other friends and what Yuri had gotten to know about her personality, he assumed she was in the same boat as him and Janusz.
Without a word the male recruiter laid his palms against the giant iron door wings and he disappeared in a flash of light. The other recruiter looked at Yuri, Janusz and Sora with an expressionless face and waited for them to do the same. Not a single sound could be heard from the other side. For a brief moment Yuri could feel the biting cold of the iron door wing gnawing at his palm then his vision was filled by a blinding light and he was through.
*
The air on the other side was different, heavier somehow and filled with the smell of wood and metal. The wide cobblestone main street of the 12th Outposts was lined by a wide assortment of shops that assembled and sold all kinds of objects constructed out of individually created parts. Most of it was wooden furniture or electric devices. The little group progressed onward, still nobody said a word and the recruiters ignored both the shops and the people on the street as if they did not even exist.
They passed through the gate leading to the 11th Outposts. Yuri had not been here in a long time but the beauty and even further accentuated tranquility of the lightly forested park sowed the seeds in him to visit this Outpost more frequently. While still not free from the natural rules that governed Nowhere, maybe not every place was equally unbearable, he thought.
Moving on through the 10th Outpost with its focus on architecture and the construction industry, the 9th Outpost with its hospital and mental care ward, the 8th Outpost which housed most of the population of Nowhere, the 7th Outpost which was the center of entertainment and the service industry, the 6th Outpost and its all pervading and enticing smell of fresh food both created whole or made from individual ingredients for those who could pay for such luxuries. It became clear this wasn't just a detour but a full on walk through all of the Outposts.
Yuri did not pay much attention on their walk through the 5th Outpost with its government buildings, the headquarters of the Internal Security and the library; this was the only Outpost he had regularly visited for the monitored Seer lessons of the school.
The 4th Outpost held the facilities for distributing both electricity and water in their ungraspable paradox way that no one really understood. It just worked somehow.
Once they entered the 3rd Outpost, the recruiter finally slowed down their walking speed. Yuri's legs had grown tired and a quick glance at Janusz told him that he was even more exhausted. The only one who seemed fine was Sora. Still Yuri spotted tiny pearls of sweat on her pale brow. If this was their destination then going the opposite direction would have been a much faster way of getting here. Yuri guessed the recruiters were trying to make an obscure point.
They stopped in front of the big building that once had been the Church of the Divine Harvest. Parts of it had been deliberately left in a state of disrepair while the rest had been transformed into a museum following the end of the civil war.
“You have probably been here before for a history lesson soon after you arrived in Nowhere, at least that's how it was for me”, the male recruiter addressed them. “When people first arrived in Nowhere with the initial Harvest fifty years ago, the old earth religions were still being practiced here despite the experience of the Harvest contradicting their beliefs. Over the next decade these beliefs underwent a slow decline but the ultimate nail in the coffin was the accidental discovery of the Nether.
“Sotiris Nephus, just a young Seer at that point, managed to discover the conditions for opening a portal to the Nether. His reports of the existence of the Nether shook both the religious community as well as the government and its associated research department to the core. Sotiris kept the conditions for opening a portal to the Nether to himself and occasionally led short pilgrimages of his growing followers into the Nether. Under the increasing pressure of the government Sotiris finally allowed members of the Internal Security's research department access to the Nether.
“Three significant events took place from here, the first was the discovery of hostile creatures in the Nether. The second was the research department's development of the “Backroom Hypothesis” which postulated that Nowhere and its Outposts were nothing more than a tiny, less significant connection to the larger Nether area. The third event was the establishment of the Church of the Divine Harvest with Sotiris Nephus as its High Seer. The founding of the Church followed the coincidental shared assumption of both Sotiris Nephus and the research department that if there was a way back to Earth, it had to be located in the Nether.
“Sotiris' Church of the Divine Harvest claimed that all people that had been transported to Nowhere via the Harvests were being tested by God and that the only salvation lay in finding the way back to Earth by traversing the Nether. Given the dangers of roaming Nether creatures, Sotiris established a military wing of his Church of the Divine Harvest, the “Scythes”. They were the first group to systematically start exploring the Nether.
“The Church's monopoly on Nether exploration backed up by their new and growing military power started to dominate affairs in Nowhere via Sotiris Nephus's position on the joined council made up of the High Seer, the governor, the Chief of the Internal Security and the leader of the Militia, which later became the Expedition Corps.
“Then a tragedy struck, the first incursion of Nether creatures into the Outposts of Nowhere. The incursion was small in scale and the Militia successfully fought it off but more so than the number of victims, its unpredictability was what caused the real terror among Nowhere's population. Belete Diro, the leader of the Militia blamed Sotiris Nephus and his Scythes for having caused the incursion with their poking around in the Nether. Additionally Sotiris was further criticized for his recent announcement of planning to construct a permanently manned base in the Nether. After the recent incursion this plan sounded like pure suicide.
“With his influence in decline Sotiris Nephus came to a drastic and fateful decision, a military coup against the government and takeover of the Outposts. Once again luck wasn't on Sotiris' side. Liam Farstreet, a high ranking Scythe member who we in the Expedition Corps celebrate as a hero, betrayed the Church of the Divine Harvest by defecting to the Militia and informing them of the coming coup attempt. The civil war had begun.
“Bringing the knowledge of the coup before governor Rodrigo Lopez there quickly emerged an alliance between the government, its associate Inner Security force under Chief Sone Mizuya and the Militia under Belete Diro. The Militia commanded the most manpower but the Scythes of the Church of the Divine Harvest had more experience because of their frequent expeditions into the Nether. Despite their plans having been leaked and facing superior numbers, Sotiris Nephus went ahead by ordering an all out attack on the Militia's headquarters. The headquarters of the Militia and the Church of the Divine Harvest were located directly next to each other so most of the fighting took place at the gate between the 2nd and 3rd Outpost. This kept damage to the other Outpost relatively small. However, both sides tried to gain control over the other Outposts as well.
“The population was put under martial law. The government changed the school curriculum to include self-defense classes which have endured until today despite the reason for their existence having been resolved 25 years ago. Eventually the alliance succeeded in gaining control of the 4th Outpost and launched a sustained pincer attack against the Church of the Divine Harvest. This proved too much to handle for the Scythes and the Church fell in a final assault. Sotiris Nephus refused to surrender and was shot at the altar by Belete Diro and other members of the Militia. The civil war did not last very long, destruction was kept to a minimum outside of the 2nd and 3rd Outpost and casualties largely consisted of fighting forces instead of civilians. One could say that we got lucky, a war like that could have easily spelled the end for all the Outposts in Nowhere.
“After the war concluded, governor Rodrigo Lopez banned the public worship of the Church of the Divine Harvest. He cared little about the actual religious belief but sought to prevent the believers from ever again establishing an influential, military backed organization. With the Church gone, both an occupational and a power vacuum had opened up. The Militia had obtained Sotiris Nephus' information on how to open portals to the Nether. Belete Diro was celebrated as a hero by the government and with his new popularity, influence and military power he convinced governor Rodrigo Lopez to change the Militia's role. An agreement was reached in which the Militia renamed itself into the Expedition Corps with their new role becoming the exploration of the Nether in order to find a way back to Earth. In response the role of the Internal Security was expanded to cover the peacekeeping activities that the Expedition Corps abandoned.
“The first acts of Belete Diro's new Expedition Corps were the integration of the surviving Scythe members into the organization. Their experience in traversing the Nether was highly coveted by Belete Diro and most former Scythe members took up his offer. After all, it allowed them to keep doing the same job they had done for the Church. The second act was the practically forced conscription of Seers and Switchers that we still have today. The goal of the Expedition Corps remains the same as the one of the former Church: Explore the Nether and find out if it contains a way back to Earth. In addition to that the Expedition Corps also combats all incursions of Nether creatures into Nowhere. There have been seven more incursions in the last 25 years since the first one shortly before the civil war. This is what your new job will be like”, concluded the male recruiter his long monologue. Yuri had seen how Janusz had grimaced in anger at the mention of the forced conscription of Seers and Switchers.
“Let us finally move on then to our own headquarters”, the female recruiter said. “He always drags new recruits out here when he is chosen to pick them up and he always insists on taking the long way”, she grumbled.
“Hey! I just think that our history is important and that they should really understand what we stand for”, the male recruiter said.
“Yeah, yeah whatever you say”, his comrade replied, already having turned to take the path alongside the old church building towards the gate leading to the 2nd Outpost. “As if they really care about something like that.”
*
On the other side of the gate a gravel path led up to an opened sliding fence gate guarded by two members of the Expedition Corps, clad in similar rust red camouflage uniforms as the two recruiters. The four Corps members exchanged brief greetings and Yuri, Janusz and Sora were led onto the grounds of the Expedition Corps headquarter. Seeing the gate close behind them out of the corner of his eyes, Yuri had the strange thought that he would never leave here again.
They passed another gate and the gravel path flanked by massive, bright green lawns led on further towards a low, squat building of faded yellow color. Inside the walls were cream colored instead of yellow, Yuri saw a whole lot of gray benches and chairs and a long wooden reception desk. Dark, wooden doors lined the walls and corridors that lead to a multitude of other rooms. The entrance room was filled with other waiting new recruits. High on one of the walls Yuri spotted a large painted portrait of a bald, dark skinned man of middle age. His expression was stern and regal. Even without the large golden letters spelling out his name below the painting, Yuri would have had no problems identifying Belete Diro.
The two recruiters that had escorted Yuri, Janusz and Sora here left them with the other new recruits and walked off without another word or second glance. Their little group of three was glad to get some rest after their overly long and surprisingly exhausting trip through the Outposts and they plummeted down on some empty chairs to wait together with the other recruits.
After an undefinable amount of time a door right to the left of Yuri swung open and two uniformed men stepped outside. One of them was on the other side of fifty, his hair cut short to the point of almost nonexistence. Two long scars, barely missing his left eye, adorned the side of his face. One of them cut his eyebrow in half. The name tag and insignia on his rust red uniform identified him as Colonel Rodger. There were a number of medals glinting at his chest. The other man was younger, probably in his thirties, with short, black hair. He held the rank of sergeant first class and Yuri's suspicion that he was their new drill instructor was confirmed almost immediately. Colonel Rodger only looked upon the group without saying a word, then he gave a curt nod to the drill instructor and left him in command of the new recruits.
“Attention!” he shouted, loud but not angry. “Follow me, you will have your uniforms issued.”
*
They received their new rust red uniforms in a separate room further into the building. All dressed up, the recruits were led out a back exit and the drill instructor had them arrayed on a bright green stretch of lawn in front of what Yuri assumed were the barracks. The drill instructor finally introduced himself as Sergeant First Class Alexander Hill and he launched into a brief explanation of the Expedition Corps organizational structure.
The Expedition Corps was not a real Corps. It was set up as a single regiment of about a thousand members under the command of Colonel Martin Rodger. There were four companies with ten platoons each. Each platoon was further broken down into five men squads led by a sergeant. One member of each five man squad was trained to serve as a medic.
The sergeant first class began by splitting up the new recruits into five men squads. Yuri, Janusz and Sora ended up in the same squad by the sheer luck of standing right next to each other. The other two spots of their squad were filled by a young woman not much older than them, sporting chin-length red hair and red rimmed glasses; and a short, dark haired young man of similar age, appearing to be of Chinese descent. Together the five of them became the 5th Squad of the 9th Platoon, 3rd Company. Sergeant First Class Hill proceeded by having the new recruits settle into the barracks, which was one of a number of nearly identical looking squat, gray buildings.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
*
The interior of the barracks were surprisingly pleasant, white walls and a ceiling lined with LED lamps. The building was further separated into individual sections for each five men squat, made up of one somewhat crammed room containing two bunk beds and one single bed all made of dark brown wood. The middle of the room was occupied by a table and five chairs of similar make as the beds. Another door led to a small bathroom also including a shower.
“Who gets that one?” Janusz wanted to know and pointed at the single bed.
“The sergeant I suppose”, the red haired young woman answered. Her voice was clear, chirping and cheerful.
“But none of us is a sergeant yet”, Yuri remarked.
“Then let's decide with rock-paper-scissors for now”, she proposed. She ended up winning and her satisfied grin was mirrored by the twinkling of her amber-colored eyes behind the red rimmed glasses.
“You must have cheated”, Janusz accused her.
“How do you even cheat at rock-paper-scissors?” Sora demanded to know from him.
“I'm Elizabeth Fox but you can call me Liz”, the red headed woman introduced herself and shook hands with Yuri, Sora and Janusz. “And this is Bob Lee”, Liz said, grabbing the short, black haired young man by the shoulders and maneuvering him to the center of their group. He reacted by rolling his eyes but to Yuri it looked like he was used to this sort of behavior from Liz.
“Robert”, he said without enthusiasm.
“Just call him Bob”, Liz hand-waved Robert's correction, “We used to be in the same class, one year ahead of you all.”
“Where are you from?” Yuri wanted to know. Bob just stared at him for a moment, apparently he was used to that question as well. Then he said: “I am from New York.” Yuri felt a strange case of disappointment upon hearing Bob's answer.
*
After having stowed away their meager belongings the recruits were gathered up by Sergeant First Class Hill again. He led them to one of the other squat buildings which turned out to contain lecture halls. The room they found themselves in was white-walled in the exact same way as the barracks. Rows of wooden chairs and desks curved around a massive blackboard on the wall, the back rows elevated like in an amphitheater so the view was not blocked anywhere. The blackboard itself caught the light of massive windows on the left side of the room.
Sergeant First Class Hill took position in front of the blackboard and addressed the gathered recruits: “You might have noticed already but the composition of your squads is not random. Each one is made up of a Seer, a Switcher, a Dreamer, a Creator and a Painter. This combination of abilities ensures the maximum capability of independent action in the field. But there is one more thing to delegate, assigning the dedicated medic for each squad. Any volunteers?”
To Yuri's immense surprise, Janusz's hand shot up before Hill had even finished his sentence. Yuri also noticed a strange, almost saddened expression on Sora's face when she turned and looked at Janusz.
“Alright, that's Private Wronski then for the 5th Squad of the 9th Platoon, 3rd Company”, Hill said and he made a note on the paper in his hand. Then he continued noting down the other sparse volunteers and after that assigned medics for the remaining squads. Afterwards he had three other members of the Expedition Corps bring in two very curious items. Two of the Expedition Corps members rolled in a big glass frame that contained a large, slightly worn piece of paper. The third Expedition Corps member carefully carried a massive tome of a book and placed it on the little podium in front of Sergeant First Class Hill. Hill thanked his three assistants and then dismissed them while the eyes of the new recruits wandered over the strange items.
Hill turned towards the framed piece of paper first and tapped a finger against the glass.
“This is our baby”, he said, “Our original map of the Nether. Based on the information the Expedition Corps and its predecessors managed to gather, we have come to the conclusion that the Nether is circular in nature and approximately 200 km in diameter. Since the portals that appear during breakthrough attempts remain open for the duration of the onslaught and this way grants us vision of the Nether area on the other side, we also concluded that the 13 Outposts surround the entire Nether like a ring. Outpost 2 and therefore the seat of the Expedition Corps is located at the southern most point of this ring.
“Portals created by Seers or maintained by Dreamers, which we use for our operations, however do not appear in fixed locations but randomly all over the edge of the Nether area. This allowed us to get a decent grasp on the geography near this edge but our information gets exponentially worse the closer we get to the center of the Nether, which we to this day have never reached. One of the reasons being that the number of hostile creatures seems to increase the closer we get to the center.
“The south-eastern area is best known to us and we refer to it as the “Graveyard”. The entire known area of the Nether is filled with ruins and remnants of ancient structures but the Graveyard, surrounding a cathedral-like building, even though it is still old, seems to be the most recent attempt of creating something resembling human buildings. This area is favored by the Coffin-Dwellers, who as well seem to be among the most humanoid type of creatures inhabiting the Nether.
“In the west we have a canyon flanked by mountain ridges, there is a giant tunnel network leading in and out of the mountains and canyon and we don't have the slightest idea how far or deep it reaches.
“In the north lies an area we call “The field of stone”. The area probably used to be a city, by now all in ruins, but the name comes from the petrified bodies of our Expedition Parties as well as those of other creatures. The whole area is littered with these gruesome statues and we don't know what is causing this turning into stone. Best avoid that place entirely.”
Sergeant First Class Alexander Hill picked up the massive, ancient looking monster of a book next.
“We have cataloged every creature we have encountered in our Bestiary here”, he said. It reminded Yuri of a medieval bible illustrated by monks. Hill showed off something looking like a car-sized cross between a hedgehog and a turtle, its back covered by long, three sided spikes, pointing outwards. “These ones we call “Rainmakers”. They are able to propel these spikes over long distances and they are smart, they don't need a direct line of fire but can estimate where their projectiles will land if they fire them at an angle. This effectively makes them serve as artillery and their spikes replenish rather quickly. We do not know if it is possible for them to run out.”
*
Afterwards Sergeant First Class Hill separated the new recruits based on their abilities, as they were to attend specialized classes next. However, he kept the Painters and Creators together as their abilities were founded on a shared rule: Knowledge and understanding of the object that was meant to to be created. It turned out that Liz was the Switcher for the 5th squad and Bob the Creator.
Yuri, Bob and the other Painters and Creators followed their two new instructors to another lecture hall. On the small desks in front of each of them they found a thick, illustrated manual waiting for them. Yuri flipped through the first few pages and glimpsed detailed illustrations and technical descriptions of various parts for an M4 carbine.
“You are going to despise that manual very soon”, one of their instructors said, “I know I did.” He paused for a moment. “Scratch that, I still do.” Yuri quickly learned why that was the case.
“You are going to read each section of this manual ten times and commit it to memory as best as you can before you progress to the next section. And you know what you are going to do once you're done? That's right, you start right over again. That's all for today's class”, the other instructor said stone faced.
Yuri flipped to the first page and started his work. He had always liked reading but this was the most monotonous activity he had ever participated in. It was also a lot more exhausting than he had anticipated. The manual started off with the Expedition Corps main service rifle, the M4 carbine and its 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition. Next came the Beretta M9 pistol, the M60 light machine gun and the M67 frag grenade. But that wasn't the end of it. Not by a long shot. Eventually, their lesson ended. Yuri stretched in his chair to alleviate the stiffness of his back and shoulders. Next to him he could hear Bob mumble: “This fucking sucks.”
It does, it really does, Yuri thought but did not say it aloud.
*
As it turned out, the lessons for Yuri's other squad members were no less hard, potentially even more so. They had finally been dismissed for today with the promise that tomorrow was going to be harder. It was going to include physical training. The members of the 5th squad more or less simultaneously collapse onto their beds in the little barracks room. Janusz was the most sullen of them.
“It's scary”, he said eventually. “They had us training to open portals to the Nether right away. None of us managed to do it, not even me. There were only flickers but that was enough to give me flashbacks to when I opened the portal back at the Internal Security HQ. There was this eagerness in the eyes of those that watched over us. I feel like they look at me and all they see is a key to a locked door that might hold some immense treasure.”
“They just want to go home”, Yuri replied, “And so do I.”
“Janusz is right though”, Sora interjected, “I know exactly what he means. As expected we trained to enter Dreamstate at will today. Knowing that there is someone standing right behind you with a gun on the off chance one of us gets possessed by a Puppeteer certainly doesn't help with that.”
“I chose this”, Liz said from her solo bed, “I am not going to regret it.”
“None of us chose to be here in Nowhere though”, Bob grumbled from his lower bunk bed beneath Yuri. That comment caused silence to fall between them. To break the silence Yuri asked Liz: “What did you do today?”
“Endurance training”, she answered. “We Switchers can only use copied abilities for a few minutes. Today we trained to lengthen that time period. Needless to say I am as tired as you all are. We should sleep because as they say “There will always be another sunrise” And the next one comes soon enough.”
Not here, Yuri thought. Never here.
*
They were woken soon, at a time where it would still have been dark on Earth. Sergeant First Class Hill gathered all the new recruits again who still half asleep tried to shield their eyes from the perpetual light outside. He started their day off with running. All around the edges of the Expedition Corps ground. They did not exactly run in a circle but in a square that matched the shape of the 2nd Outpost. They ran in the always illuminated part right at the edge of the zone that was doused in eternal darkness. Not one of them chose to run in the dark but at times Yuri held out one of his arms and had it partially swallowed by the darkness. He slowly extended the time frame in which he let his arm pass through the dark zone but it felt wrong. Eventually running in this manner became too tiresome and he stopped. Yuri had been of the opinion that he possessed decent stamina but this first run showed him otherwise. Even Sora, who was the most athletic person he knew, was exhausted by the end of it.
Of course their day did not stop there. After they barely finished their meals in the mess hall, slumped over their chairs, they were led to the firing range to receive their first weapon training. They were issued their M4 carbines and Beretta M9s, taught basic safety procedures and how to take care of their equipment. While laying prone with their M4 Carbines hefted against their shoulders, waiting to be given the command to fire their first shot, Yuri heard Janusz mumble: “How do they expect us to hit anything when we are still this exhausted from the running?”
“How indeed, Private Wronski?” Sergeant First Class Hill inquired, who happened to stand right behind Yuri and Janusz. “Basic protocol is to wrap up any operation in the Nether within twenty-four hours. That means we have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time if we want to get anywhere. You do not get the luxury of being rested. The answer to your question then is practice. Get used to it. Now show me what you can do.” There were a number of slightly larger than human targets arrayed in front of the recruits. Janusz's eyesight and aim proved to be impeccable.
“Excellent work”, Sergeant First Class Hill conceded, genuinely impressed.”You will be your squad's dedicated marksman”, he said and had Janusz issued a scoped marksman variant of the M16.
At the far edge of one side of the firing range there loomed an unusual target. First there was its overall size, roughly four times as large as the other targets. More curious than that however was the fact that with the exception of an area maybe the size of a human hand, the target was covered in a metal sheet, heavily dented by the many bullets that had struck it in the past.
“What's that one for?” Sora asked Sergeant First Class Hill when he passed by again.
“That represents the head of a Rainmaker. They are almost entirely covered in heavy bone plating and near impossible to wound. Unless you hit them brain via shooting them through the eyes. That's what the small real target represents. When you are out in the Nether, pray you don't run into one of those.”
Next the recruits attended specialized classes again. This time both Painters and Creators were made to actually produce what they had been forced to read up on, starting once again with the M4 carbines. Yuri's hand and fingers cramped worse than they had ever before in his life when they were done for the day. Mountains of assault rifles and magazines piled up in front of his desk and those of the other Painters and Creators. Meeting up with the rest of his squad mates to rest at the barracks they all complained about their training. Sora looked very pale to Yuri when she entered the room and she proceeded by burying her face in the pillow on her bed.
“My eyeballs fucking hurt”, he could hear her muffled voice. “We started out well enough with learning how to send telepathic messages. That was actually kind of fun. Then they had us cooperate with the Seers today, training us to keep their untended Nether portals open. It hurt so much it made me throw up.”
Yuri had intended to complain about his hurting hand and fingers but what Sora said made him reconsider. After all he had heard so far the training for Dreamers was the hardest and most dangerous of them all.
“We started off by maneuvering through the pitch dark tunnels of the maze they have set up for that sort of training while the Switchers copied our abilities as best and long as they could. Then came the portal training with the Dreamers but it's not nearly as exhausting for us Seers as it seems to be for you and the other Dreamers. Honestly I can't really imagine it”, Janusz said.
“Don't even try”, Sora told him.
“I couldn't care less about the Expedition Corps itself”, Bob said, “I just finally want to go back.”
“What if this really is divine punishment and we are stuck here forever? Right now that's how it feels like to me”, Sora wondered, still not looking up from her pillow. “That's just the old church bullshit”, Liz said enthusiastically, “I don't believe it one bit.”
Then why are we here? Yuri, thought. No, don't think like that. This place is wrong, no doubt about it. Bob has it right: I just want to go home.
But then a voice from deeper within him arose, a voice that had been sleeping for a while:
Why? Just because this place gives you the creeps? You don't even have a home to return to. You remember what happened. There is probably nothing left but a charred, wooden ruin and maybe some dried blood on the floor. If that has survived the fire. And the dark, looming fir trees. You can be certain that they survived. But nothing else. There is nothing else there for you in the woods. And of course you also remember who did all of that. And more importantly: Why.
*
