The atmosphere was a calcuted trap. Exhausted from the day’s punishing training, the soldiers found themselves in the warm room, seated fortably, and lulled by the sereing. It was as if every fiber of the enviro was spiring against their resolve. For most, it wasn’t long before their pens slowed, heads drooped, and the irresistible pull of sleep began to cim them. Hogel, who had prided himself on being sharper than his peers, was no exception. His eyelids grew heavier with each passing sed. The lines he scribbled turo nonsense. His head drooped lower, and before he k, he colpsed onto the desk, succumbing to his exhaustion.

  Hogel’s peaceful slumber was shattered by an explosion of light. The sudden brilliance filled the room, as if a miniature sun had erupted within the fines of the hut. Hogel jolted awake, shielding his eyes from the blinding light.

  Around him, chaos erupted. Soldiers scrambled to their feet, knog over desks and chairs. Some shouted i excuses, g they hadn’t fallen asleep. roggily reached for their pens, hastily scribbling nonseo feign pliance. But Hogel, still half-dazed, noticed something others didn’t. Amidst the chaos, dark shapes flitted through the windows, followed by a faint k. He barely had time to react before another blinding fsh enveloped the room.

  Fshbang grenades. Instinct took over as Hogel threw himself to the ground. The light was followed by a deafening ringing in his ears. Before he could recover, the unmistakable hiss of gas reached his nose, apanied by a stinging, acrid burn.

  Tear gas. The serene transformed into a se of pure pandaemonium. Some soldiers, blinded and disoriented, stumbled into one another, swinging blindly in panic. Others, desperate for fresh air, cwed at the windows in futile attempts to escape. A, amidst the chaos, a few resilient soldiers g to their papers, tears streaming down their faces, snot dripping freely, determio write through sheer willpower.

  The situation didn’t improve. Instructors wearing gas masks stormed the room, wielding batons with merciless precision. The soldiers, already disoriented, were no match for the disciplined assault. One by ohey were subdued and dragged to the pyground, where they were bound in an X-shape, arms and legs spread wide.

  Hogel, his face streaked with tears and mucus, seethed inwardly. He bmed his rades for the situation, viheir inpetence had dragged him down. When the fshbangs first went off, he had resisted, managing to fend off two instructors in his tear-soaked haze. But his defianly painted a target on his back. More instructors had swarmed him, and he was quickly overwhelmed. In trast, most of his rades had folded without a fight, crumpling like paper in the face of adversity.

  As he hung in the cool night air, bound and humiliated, Hogel couldn’t shake the gnawing thought that this entire ordeal was beyond prehension. What could possibly justify such treatment? Kayvaan strode onto the pyground, his hands csped behind his back. His voice, though not loud, carried effortlessly across the assembled soldiers. “I remember giving you one simple rule,” he began, his tone calm yet icy. “You were not to fall asleep. Those who did would face punishment. And as you see, I keep my promises.”

  A soldier, emboldened by desperation, shouted, “Sir, I didn’t fall asleep!”

  Kayvaan stopped in his tracks, turning to face the soldier. “Oh? If you didn’t fall asleep, then tell me—how did the instructors subdue you?”

  The soldiers stood bound in the dim glow of the night, their bodies ag from the brutal surprise attad subsequent punishment. The silence of the night was broken only by the occasional groan or cough. Kayvaan stood before them, his voice calm but carrying a weight of authority that could not be ignored. “There are too many instructors,” one soldier muttered, his tone ced with bitterness.

  Kayvaan’s gaze so the source of the pint, his voice cutting through the darkness like a bde. “The instructors outhe soldiers in your room? That’s your excuse? If you were awake, if you were alert, you wouldn’t have been subdued so easily. The fact that you were tied up here means ohing: you failed as a group. Most of you fell asleep, and when the instructors attacked, you were caught defenseless. What’s the point uing now?”

  The soldiers had no respoheir defeat was as much a humiliation as it was a lesson. Kayvaan raised his voice, letting his words carry over the entire group. “Fine, let’s move on. Your punishment begins now. sider this an early introdu to torture training.”

  Kayvaan’s boots ched on the gravel as he approached Hogel. “Hogel!” he barked.“Yes, sir!” Hogel responded, his voice wavering.“Why do you have bck eyes?”“I knocked down two instructors, sir.”

  Kayvaan’s expression shifted to a sardonic smile. “And you’re proud of that? You’re one man. What does it matter if you knocked down two instructors when, in the end, you’re the oied up here? The instructors are a team. They adapt, support each other, and overwhelm you. Now, you unlucky guy, let me teach you a lesson you won’t fet.”

  Kayvaan’s fist struck Hogel’s abdomen with precision, driving the air from his lungs. Before Hogel could even cry out, the sed punded, f his body to vulse. He vomited violently, the tents of his stomach spilling onto the ground. Kayvaan sidestepped the mess effortlessly, his movements calcuted.

  “The dinner was quite sumptuous,” Kayvaan remarked, almost versationally. “I should have warned you earlier: dooo much during training. It makes you sluggish, and as you’ve just learned, you’ll likely vomit it all up anyway.” He punctuated his words with another punch, f more bile from Hogel’s stomach.

  The instructors followed Kayvaan’s example, delivering punishment to the rest of the soldiers. The air was filled with the sound of fists meeting flesh and the retg of overfed bodies. Soldiers who had once sidered themselves invincible now y crumpled, their pride stripped away.

  Kayvaan walked to the front of the pyground, his hands csped behind his back. His voice rang out, steady and cold. “Torture training, at its core, is simple. It’s about familiarizing yourselves with the process. Your enemies will rarely show mercy. They won’t leave you alive unless it serves their purpose. But even so, uanding what torture entails give you the mental fortitude to e.” He paused, letting his words sink in. “The goal isn’t physical pain. It’s psychological. They’ll exploit your fear, ynorance, your panic. The moment you break, you’ve lost. So tonight, you’ll learn to overe pain. You’ll learn to endure. Because this is only the beginning. You’ll face much worse in the days to e.”

  With that, Kayvaan offered a final parting shot. “Remember: pain is just an illusion of the senses. Overe it with your will, and you will emerge strood night, gentlemen. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  The soldiers were left to crawl back to their bunks, battered and broken. Some y motionless on the pyground, too weak to move. Others dragged themselves back to the barracks, their bodies trembling with exhaustion. Sleep came quickly, but it was short-lived. Three hours ter, the emergency assembly horhe soldiers stumbled bato the pyground, their movements sluggish but determined. Another day of training had begun.