Chapter 2 - The Corps
“Welcome to the Organization. After the graduation ceremony tomorrow, we will escort you to the building where you will now be living,” the officer with the purple tie said.
“No,” I whispered over and over again, frightened. I want to live a normal life, not work as the Organization's lap dog.
“You are now an officer of the Corps; this is your life now. Go home and pack your things, get ready to meet your new home,” the officer said.
This can’t be, my father used illusion magic to help strengthen it just in case the contacts didn’t work. How did they find out? HOW DID THEY FIND OUT?! I was thinking about all the possibilities, but it just wasn’t possible. They couldn’t have found out that I had teal eyes.
“Hey, Mrs. Officer, what's your name? What's your gift?” I asked in a shaking voice.
“My name is Fae. My gift”—she whispered, placing her index finger on the front of her mouth—is a secret,” she whispered, placing one finger in front of her mouth and creating a shush sign.
I couldn’t press any further. I turned around and left through the back door.
I walked back home alone, completely unaware of what was happening beside me. Who was that woman, and why wouldn’t she tell me her gift? I kept wondering and racking my brain for possible answers, but I couldn’t come up with any. As soon as I opened the door, my dad rushed up to me.
“Sweetie, how did it go? Did the contacts you wore help?” he asked, with a beaming face.
“I-it didn’t work. They-they found out,” I managed to stutter out.
The smile on his face faded. It was like he saw a ghost.
“Does that mean they're taking you away too?” he asked.
“Yeah, I leave tomorrow after the graduation ceremony,” I said with a shaky voice.
His face was expressionless, and he kept muttering something about leaving and nobody staying. He turned around and went back to the couch and continued to drink his beer. Ever since I was a kid, I was never considered normal by my family members. What they knew that others didn’t was that I, unlike other people, was born with teal eyes. My dad had purple eyes, which meant that his gift was in the category of intangible objects or perception manipulation. He had the power to create illusions, and using this power, he helped change my eye color to brown for multiple years. I couldn’t help but feel helpless, because I couldn’t do anything to comfort my father now.
He wasn’t always like this; he used to always be cheerful and happy. But ever since Mom died in a car crash, he was always sensitive on the topic of the Corps and of the chance of us leaving him. I couldn’t bear to see him like this. Since my mom died when I was at the age of four, I never knew much about her, but I knew that her eye color was also teal.
I walked to my room and shut the door. Why does this have to happen? Aiden was taken away last year, and now it's my turn. Next year will be Luka’s turn. And we would all just leave Father like this, all alone in this house. I shut myself in the room the rest of the day, except for dinner. I couldn’t talk to my dad or Luka after what happened. I didn’t want to be sent off to the Corps and live a life of danger; I wanted to have a normal office job. My dad respected that decision, but insisted on teaching my brothers and me self-defense and how to handle weapons. But something was strange about me, even though I had teal eyes from a very young age. I didn’t know what my gift was and how to use it, so instead I focused all my energy into studying and training up my skills that my dad taught me.
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But what if I just ran away? The Organization won’t track me down, right? If I run away, then I don’t have to join the Corps, and I won’t have to live a life of fear. I sulked in my room for the whole night and rethought many of my life decisions.
The next day came, and I finished packing up my clothes, wearing my usual hoodie for graduation. Luka came and got me to leave early to help with the neighbors again. I couldn’t remember what happened next. It was all just a huge blur in my memories. I just remembered arriving at school and going on stage. And now I was standing face to face with Luka.
“So this is the last time we're gonna talk face to face until next year,” Luka said.
“Yeah,” was the only thing that came to my mind.
“You'd better wait for me at the Corps!” Luka declared.
“Don’t get into any trouble when I’m gone. And take good care of Dad.”
“You got it, and promise to wait for me!”
“I will, Luka.”
As soon as I finished talking, the officer called for me to get in the car. I waved my final goodbye to Luka and entered the car. It took almost half an hour to reach headquarters. When I arrived at the place, in front of me was a giant building. It looked like a really big warehouse that held military supplies. I took my bag and walked inside the building.
The moment I stepped in, I could see everyone’s eyes on me. It was a multitude of colors, from red to purple, and they were all looking at me. But I didn’t see one teal color. At that time, I was still wearing my contacts and forgot to take them out. Some people glared at me, probably wondering why there was a brown-eyed person among them. But I didn’t care. All I focused on was the man standing on the top of the stage. He had black suit and a purple tie, just like the lady before. But strangely enough, he was the only officer present, the rest of the room was filled with trainees.
He took one last glance at the crowd and started to speak, “Good afternoon everyone. You may call me Mr. Lee, and I will be your new lead instructor. I will explain the rules of the Organization, and your official groups and cabin number!”
Everyone broke into a series of whispers.
“QUIET EVERYONE! I will now explain the ranking system. All new trainees will start as a Class-E officer and will receive a white tie. As everyone completes training courses and tasks sent to your team, you will receive points. When you reach the amount of points needed, your whole team will get promoted to the next class,” he said.
“Once you have reached the amount of points needed for Class-D, the group will receive a green tie. Class-C will be an orange tie and would be officially considered as an officer and not a trainee. Class-B receives a blue tie. Class-A will receive a purple tie, much like the current tie I am wearing. And the final and highest class is Class-S, receiving a red tie,” the instructor explained, “but before you get too excited, there are only a few destined people who reach Class-S. Most people stay at Class-B and fewer in Class-A. Every year only 5% of the trainees we get actually become full-fledged officers. So everyone here better work hard!”
Whispers filled the room again until this bold girl with yellow eyes asked, “What happens to the other 95% of trainees who don't become actual officers?”
“They get eliminated,” he said, almost in a whisper, and his face started to twist into a maniacal smile.
Immediately after he spoke, the lights were cut out, and the whole building went pitch black. Everyone started panicking. There were screams and shouts. There were sounds of people trying to calm others down and feet scuffling around. I could hear the beats of my own heart rapidly speeding up. Then, I heard the laugh of the instructor. It was low-pitched, a twisted, wicked laugh, almost inhuman. It made the hairs on my neck stand up.
Before I had the chance to question him, I heard swishes and thuds—the sound of ziplines. Twenty people emerged from the shadows of the building, and each had glowing eyes like stained glass. They were all Spectrals. All were armed with weapons and gear, and were clearly well-trained.
The air around me seemed heavier; it was almost suffocating. Panic rippled throughout the room, and many people screamed and fainted on the spot, while others stood in fighting positions and took out small pocket knives or weapons. I could feel the fear and pure raw terror that emanated from everyone around me.
Even without my training, I would’ve been able to tell that this was a real ambush.
