Chapter — The Strongest Man You Know
The candidate hall had developed a ritual.
Every evening, after training had reduced everyone to varying degrees of physical regret, the remaining recruits gathered near the observation deck and lied to each other.
Not maliciously.
Competitively.
Torin had discovered that military candidates could turn almost anything into a contest.
Strength.
Speed.
Childhood injuries.
Number of bones broken without crying.
Tonight's subject was apparently:
The strongest person you had ever met.
A broad-shouldered candidate named Halden leaned back against his bunk.
Halden said, "My uncle lifted a boulder by himself."
Several candidates nodded appreciatively.
Another recruit, Mari, immediately scoffed.
Mari replied, "That's nothing. The village champion where I grew up held up part of a collapsed building for six hours while people escaped."
Halden frowned. "How big was the building?"
Mari crossed her arms. "Big enough."
Someone from the opposite bunk laughed.
A recruit named Joren leaned forward.
Joren said, "You people need better villages."
Mari looked at him. "Oh?"
Joren smiled smugly.
"I met a man who lifted part of a mountain."
The room erupted.
Halden threw his hands up. "That's bullshit."
Joren pointed toward him. "You weren't there."
Mari asked, "How much of a mountain?"
Joren hesitated.
"Part."
Halden laughed. "What does that mean?"
"A large part."
Torin had been listening quietly.
Joren noticed.
He pointed at him. "What about you, local hero?"
Torin looked up. "What?"
"The strongest person you've met."
Torin thought about it.
Kaosu came to mind first.
Then Nyxus.
Torin replied, "I knew someone who broke lunar fragments with his bare hands."
Silence.
Then Halden laughed.
Torin continued, "He also fought Kaosu."
The laughter stopped for perhaps half a second.
Then the entire room collapsed.
Halden doubled over.
Mari covered her mouth.
Joren actually fell sideways onto the bunk.
Joren gasped, "KAOSU?"
Torin nodded.
That somehow made it worse.
Halden couldn't breathe.
"The Lord of Chaos?"
"Yes."
Mari had tears in her eyes now.
"You know someone who fought the son of Karma?"
Torin nodded again. "They fought for hours."
Joren slapped the mattress.
"STOP."
Torin frowned.
"They punched each other into space."
Halden made a noise somewhere between choking and dying.
Mari leaned against the wall to remain upright.
Torin continued, slightly offended now. "Kaosu was pulling meteors behind his attacks."
Joren wheezed, "Please stop."
Torin said, "Nyxus didn't seem particularly concerned."
That silenced exactly nobody.
Halden finally managed to breathe.
Halden asked, "What's this man's name?"
"Nyxus."
Mari wiped her eyes.
"Of course it is."
Torin frowned. "Why does that make it less believable?"
Joren replied, "Because everything you said before it."
Torin was preparing to defend himself when every light in the candidate hall turned red.
Nobody laughed after that.
A single tone sounded.
Not an alarm.
Something lower.
Older.
Every display activated simultaneously.
Words appeared.
DIVINE EXTERMINATION ORDER
Nobody moved.
Then the target appeared.
TARGET: KARMA
DESIGNATION: GOD OF CHAOS
STATUS: HOSTILE DIVINITY
MARTIAL DIVISION RESPONSE: ACTIVE
Someone laughed.
It wasn't because anything was funny.
It was the broken little noise a human body occasionally made when fear arrived too quickly to choose the correct response.
Halden stared at the screen.
"That's real?"
Nobody answered.
The candidate hall doors opened.
Personnel began running through the corridors outside.
Not jogging.
Running.
A senior instructor entered.
His expression was pale.
The instructor announced, "All candidates will remain in designated quarters until reassignment."
Joren stood. "Reassignment?"
The instructor looked at him.
"General mobilization."
The room changed.
Mari asked, "Are candidates being deployed?"
"Some."
Halden said, "I withdraw."
Several people turned.
The instructor frowned. "What?"
Halden's voice shook.
"I withdraw my application."
Then another recruit stood.
"So do I."
Then another.
And another.
Within minutes the room had become noise.
People demanding discharge.
Candidates contacting families.
Others asking whether the Corps could legally send them toward a Divine Extermination theater.
The answer was apparently complicated enough that nobody enjoyed hearing it.
Torin remained seated.
Mari looked at him.
"You aren't withdrawing?"
Torin looked toward the red display.
He thought of Sorahora.
Kaosu.
Nyxus.
The people who had stood behind him when he couldn't stand properly himself.
Torin shook his head.
"No."
Joren stared at him. "You're insane."
Torin replied, "Probably."
Then the doors opened again.
A Corps officer entered holding a tablet.
He scanned the room.
"Torin."
The laughter from earlier was completely gone.
Torin stood.
"Yes?"
The officer checked the tablet.
"You have verified direct exposure to Subject Kaosu?"
Torin frowned. "Subject?"
"The Lord of Chaos."
"Yes."
The officer's eyes lifted.
"You survived direct proximity?"
"Yes."
"Without resistance training?"
Torin replied, "I didn't know resistance training existed."
The officer stared at him.
Then he continued.
"You received a direct physical strike?"
Torin nodded.
"Several."
The officer's expression changed.
Behind Torin, nobody said anything.
The officer asked, "And Nyxus?"
Torin glanced at the others.
"He was there."
"Full designation?"
Torin replied, "Access Denied."
The officer stopped scrolling.
He looked at Torin again.
This time much more carefully.
"Come with me."
Torin blinked. "Where?"
"Central."
Behind him, Joren slowly sat down.
Halden stared.
Mari looked from Torin to the officer.
Torin quietly said, "I told you."
Nobody laughed.