Wolf Heart

Chapter 45

Planet: Kestra, Elite Training Grounds

First Insurgency War

MAIA

"Urtanes, Maia — please move into the Identification Booth."

At the call of her name, she obeyed the command from the entry receptionist. Her friend, Iana, snorted from her seat when she disappeared behind the glass barrier. Left in silence, an infopod snapped out of the booth's capsule with a tiny envelope to go with it. Excitement coursed through her when it released her back into the awaiting crowd of recruits and she returned to Iana. Her entire body pulsed with soreness from the many tests the Elite Corps put her through for an opportunity for Elite B.T, and a chance to do some good in an uncertain present.

"Celestials, I thought we'd never finish," Iana complained while they walked together through the training base out in the grass fields of Kestra, out of the prying eyes of civilians. "I'm glad we're past the tough part. You think you'll get the sect you want?"

"I hope so," Maia commented and led the way to the chow hall. "I bet the specialised training will be much harder than basic training."

Iana laughed when the doors slid open. Maia noticed Lanson at one of the table booths, though everyone called him Ox. It fit, for he was built and towered over most of the Unit. If I had to guess, he's going to go straight to the Guardian Sect.

"Hey, Lanson," Iana said, taking a seat in front of him while food bots chirped along to deliver food. "How're you doing? Have you looked at the infopod?"

He shook his head when Maia took a tray off the food bot to join in, but stopped when Iana widened her eyes and pointed. "And look who just walked in."

A young man of lean stature marched with a sense of purpose into the hall without a second glance at the crowd of people he pushed through without a word. He slipped into one of the corner booths, alone as he waited for a foodbot to come to him. One rolled up to him while his hazel gaze trained on it, grabbing the plate from it. Another person from her training unit, the stoic, silent type. He adjusted the jacket around his shoulders, where the leather seams fit his form with ease as he brushed his hand through his dirty blonde hair, then ate without care of making conversation.

Everyone in their unit gave him a name, for both his intense sense of drive — and the little wolf necklace resting against his shoulders.

Black Wolf.

"I can't believe he breezed through training," Iana murmured and nudged Lanson, who frowned. "He even got you breathing hard during the training fights."

Lanson stared at Black Wolf. "I suppose, but something about him bothers me."

Maia agreed with his assessment, and she made it a point to get to know everyone in her training unit. Ancient darkness within the hazel shoved her away from the prospective Elite, and she found herself avoiding him at any costs. He scares me... and everyone else, it seems.

'You are fear to the enemy,' the entry instructor spoke the mantra. 'You are the mask it wears.'

Out of everyone, Black Wolf had the most handle on the meaning. He walked around the base as if he was death incarnate. He never got smoked in basic, and when someone else did, he performed the punishment as if it was nothing. He stared straight ahead on a goal Maia struggled to see. Lanson can step on him... but his shadow towers over us.

Such a large shadow... and I almost can't believe he's twenty-four.

"Well..." Maia steered the conversation away from him. "One more day of training? One last spar? I wonder who's going to oversee the Elite B.T."