Destiny Sorrow

by Rod S. Galves

  It went off without Aiden being able to answer, not that there was breath for any kind of response.

  He had to run another hour and couldn't take it anymore. But every time he saw Rayzer's serious features, he didn't want to stop and hear a scolding.

  When the race was over all the soldiers sat on benches and started drinking their tonics. The mood was relaxed, Dom talked to the others casually. However, Aiden was about to faint, lying on the ground watching the clouds. He hadn't stop to realize it, but here the sky resembled that of his home, without the city buildings blocking the view. It made the boy feel more comfortable.

  As soon as that thought passed, a shadow covered him, and he noticed the soldiers' conversations stopped. He realized the origin of the shadow and saw the captain looking directly at him. Promptly, Aiden sat down as respectfully as possible and faced the captain like everyone else.

  “Listen carefully!” The man started. “This year one of you will be able to join the air battalion. It won't be easy, and for those who want it, I suggest you impress me! Give two hundred percent on each activity!”

  In unison all the soldiers replied "Yes, sir!" except Aiden, who was still trying to catch his normal breath.

  Rayzer turned around and left the group.

  “Is it lunchtime?” Asked Aiden deluded to Dom.

  “Are you kidding me? It's nine o'clock yet, in 15 minutes we will run more.”

  The boy couldn't believe it, all the other soldiers were in another level. He eventually saw his mother's pendant and remembered Yana's words, resuming his determination.

  After a long series of exercises with Rayzer it was finally lunchtime. Aiden was so tired that he could barely feed on the food they served. Dom at his side seemed fine, ate willingly, and told jokes as always, until he stopped to say something else.

  “Hey, Eve! Sit with us.”

  Upon hearing the name, Aiden soon try to show a better posture.

  Evelin was approaching with two friends. She also wore only the white blouse and pants of the uniform, and by the rosy color of her cheeks and sweat on her body, Aiden imagined that she also had a long training, but remained strong.

  The boys around Dom got excited and called Eve and her friends to sit down.

  The girl accepted smiling and sat in the front of Dom.

  “Are you ready to lose more dices tonight, Dom?

  “Dice?” Asked Aiden, who was completely ignored, and he did not know whether it was because he spoke low or because no one cared.

  “This time I'm going to win. Omara said he opened a spot for the air battalion, so I’m pumped!”

  “It's a game of luck.” Continued Evelin. “It has nothing to do with being pumped.”

  The girl turned to the direction of another soldier and threw a die in his direction.

  “Give me your juice. It was over by the time we got here.”

  He quickly handed over the juice and kept the die, which made Dom angry.

  “You could have switched with me!”

  The girl opened the juice and took a long sip on it.

  “You've already opened yours, if you want so much a die just win tonight.”

  Aiden was now, besides being tired, confused.

  “What is up with this dice?”

  “Here we use this dice as an unofficial currency.” Dom replied. “Everyone who plays can accept the dice in exchange for favors, then you can earn more dice in the same game.”

  “And I'm the best player here.” Commented Evelin with a smile on his face.

  “Hell no!” Dom said in response. “I've already won from you... Once.”

  “And how much dice do you have left?”

  Dom looked at his food and answered softly.

  “Three...”

  They kept eating, Aiden tried to talk to Evelin in the best possible way, but he was very tired, and Dom barely stop talking.

  When she finished the food, Evelin got up with his tray and spoke to Aiden.

  “You have fifteen minutes to finish eating, then you have shooting training. Don't be late.”

  The boy was eating very slowly and had to speed up to finish in time, while his colleagues made jokes. "You have a date with Eve," "the boy must be in love!"

  He wasn't in the mood for it, so he got up as soon as he finished and went to meet Evelin.

  The arsenal was now full of people, some soldiers practicing shooting, others building weapons and some cleaning their pistols.

  The girl was in a shooting range, and Aiden soon joined her.

  “The three basic weapons for low soldiers are the All Tool, a pistol and a machine gun.”

  On the bench beside him were two pistols and two machine guns, but one of each type looked more technological, with a blue paint and slightly different shape.

  She pointed to a sheet with the human silhouette in the shooting field.

  “That one has a level two barrier, the same as your uniform.”

  She pulled out one of the pistols and unloaded it. Aiden saw the bullets stopping in the air and falling, leaving the target in perfect condition.

  As soon as she reloaded, she fired three more shots and the third hit a target in the chest.

  “As you can see the barrier wears out, you have a limit of shots before it burns. It recharges on its own, but it takes half an hour for that.”

  She took the simple machine gun and point it to another target.

  “This one has a level three projector.”

  She started shooting, there were too many shells per second and without much delay the barrier went apart, and the target was full of holes.

  “I have to be careful about the type of weapon the enemy is using as well.” Aiden said.

  Evelin agreed with a nod.

  “If they throw a missel at you your barrier doesn’t matter” then she turned to the blue machine gun “This baby doesn't throw bullets, it's a laser gun and it burns the barrier really quick.”

  On another target with a level three barrier was completely obliterated by the weapon, the shield could not take even five shots. And what came out of the gun were blue light projectiles.

  “But you can rest assured that making one of these is very difficult. No Chaos Agent is going to have anything like it. I only got this one recently. They only allow for the best soldiers, if you try hard maybe someday you can.”

  Then the girl stopped the explanations and told him to take the pistol and started teaching how to shoot. It took a long time to get the hang of it, and it was still far from ideal, but eventually he could hit the target.

  It was especially difficult for him since his body was all sore. It was a challenge even handle the weight of the weapon, but he remained determined until Evelin stopped him.

  “It's going well,” she said. “Laserfield wants me to give you some private lessons in some areas, so we're going to train a lot still.”

  “Thank you, Evelin, I will not be any nuisance to you.”

  “You already said that.” Despite her posture she smiled and then continued. “Now go take a shower, you stink. See you in the dice game?”

  At first, he was embarrassed to be smelling bad, but then he thought that question could be a date and did not know how to react.

  “Yes, of course! I'm going there!”

  When he finished all his activities of the day he showered, which was far from ideal for him, since the bathroom was for all men and he did not have the privacy he wanted.

  As soon as he was clean, he returned to the dorm. He wondered where they would play the dice game, since he had a curfew and knew the rules of split dorms.

  For his surprise, when he came to the door in his dorm, he saw several girls and boys in a circle, some with opaque glasses turned against the floor.

  He noticed Evelin sitting next to Dom; the two greeted him when he arrived.

  “What is going on?” Aiden asked. “You cannot be here.”

  Evelin and Dom weren’t showing concern.

  �
��Once a week we throw dice. If anyone catches us, we'll give them a die, or I'll take care of it. The only ones who were really going to get mad is Pardalis or Rayzer and they are too busy to get down here.” Dom replied.

  He saw Evelin, with her glass turned against the floor, talking some numbers; yet the boy was so tired he couldn't concentrate.

  He sat on his bed, which was not far from the circle and decided to watch to learn the rules and be able to play. Involuntarily his body refused the mission and was soon asleep uncomfortable as everyone screamed and had fun in front of him.

  By the time he opened his eyes, the day was over and a new had begun. He thought he'd gotten tired the day before, but it was when he woke up that he felt the true response from his muscles. He was completely sore and could barely move.

  Although accustomed to waking up early, he realized that all his colleagues were already getting ready for the day. Dom was standing beside him almost ready.

  “Dom…” said Aiden almost moaning in pain. “I can't move.”

  “Ah yes.” He answered casually. “The first day is bad, but don't worry, the second is even worse.”

  He was forced to stand up and, with great care, put on his uniform. He'd start the day running again, but it wasn't even ten minutes and his body couldn't take it anymore.

  Aiden decided to talk to captain Rayzer.

  “Captain,” he said trying to be as formal as possible, “I can't run anymore, my muscles are burning.”

  The captain looked so deep into his eyes that Aiden felt he could see his soul.

  “Do you want to give up?” He asked sarcastically, then turned to the other soldiers running. “Hey! Listen here, our chosen one can't take a run anymore, I think he wants to take a nap.”

  The soldiers stopped and started laughing at the boy. Aiden saw Dom from afar, who shown pity, yet soon ran again, being the only one to do so.

  “Listen here, Private MacCoy, you're going to run until your body falls to the ground and then you're going to keep running! Did you hear me?”

  Aiden waved his head and soon returned to the course.

  “And you all?” Shouted the captain. “Who told you to stop running? A hundred more laps for each one!”

  Military Life

  With a few weeks in the army, Aiden and Dom were walking through the training camps.

  “Hey Aiden, come and see this.”

  “We have to stay on our route.”

  “You have to relax a little, skinny. There's something nice going on here.”

  Dom took the boy to behind a grandstand, where he saw Captain Rayzer and a group of four older servicemen wearing the armor with jets on his back that he saw in the armory.

  The soldiers began to fly with Rayzer's coordination, making maneuvers and free movements in the sky, impressing Aiden.

  “Soon I will be one of them.” Dom spoke with a glow in his gaze.

  “It sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't stand a chance. I can barely stand to run, and I suspect Rayzer really hates me.”

  Dom laughed.

  “Relax, skinny; I've been here for two years and I still am on the ground. Maybe one day we'll both fly together.”

  “If you want to achieve this you have to impress Rayzer and you're not going to do it by skipping your patrol.”

  Dom laughed again and the two walked the defined path once more.

  “And, um...” Aiden was thinking very well about how to ask the next question “What exactly is your relationship with Evelin?”

  “Did you see her destroy me yesterday? I only have one die left!” Dom looked at Aiden and saw that it was not that answer he wanted. “So, you're really in love, right? Well, good luck, everyone here has tried, and no one has achieved anything. Not even me! How does she say no to this smile?” He pointed to his own face and smiled. Aiden could agree that if Evelin didn't want Dom, he had no way of wanting him.

  ...

  Already with more than a month of training, the chosen one walked in the corridor of the infirmary floor. Every now and then he saw androids patrolling the area. Aiden thought they looked like Corel, but even though they were more modern, they seemed less intelligent, unable to hold a conversation.

  Whenever he could, he would send messages to his family, saying that he was better than he actually was, and they responded with great pride and words of encouragement.

  The infirmary had several windows to the corridor, which allowed to see its interior before entering the room. As usual, several beds and remedies scattered by the great environment, which was practically empty of life.

  Upon entering, he saw an old lady, the doctor on duty who checked Aiden's physical condition.

  Good morning.” Said the boy.

  “Good morning. I'm happy to say you're very healthy. Your muscles are already adapted to your new routine, how do you feel?”

  “I still get tired before most, but at least I don't feel pain when I wake up.”

  The lady smiled at him and after discussing some details he left going to the next stage of training.

  On the second floor, he saw the training center with weight machines, fighting arenas, punching bags and various gym apparatus.

  Pardalis was the one who was coordinating the training and all of Aiden's colleagues were already there.

  In the center of a ring, he saw Dommerick with upholstered gloves and a head guard fighting with another of the soldiers. Normally, Dommerick was relaxed, but when he fought, he was 100 percent focused.

  The other soldier was also in good physical condition; however, Dom dominated the fight, without giving a chance of a counterattack.

  “MacCoy” cried Pardalis. “Come here!”

  The boy approached, receiving a pair of gloves and a head guard from the general.

  “It's time for you to fight for real. Get in the ring.”

  Pardalis ordered Dom to continue and the two soldiers faced each other. Aiden knew he didn't stand a chance, and Dom himself looked sorry for him.

  Dom got into his fighting posture while Aiden tried to get in the ring.

  “Start!” Ordered the general.

  Dom looked at Aiden's stance and commented.

  “You're out of support, put your legs like mine, or you'll fall off really quick. Also protect your face more with gloves.”

  Pardalis cried, clearly annoyed:

  “Did I told you to give MacCoy tips?”

  Dom got silent and, before Aiden could understand what was happening, he was punched in the stomach and was soon on his back.

  Pardalis, from outside the ring approached and said to the boy:

  “You need to position your legs better, or you don't have balance. Also protect the face with the gloves. If Private Rammer had aimed at your head, you wouldn't be conscious anymore.”

  Aiden was in so much pain, he didn't even react.

  “Again!” Cried Pardalis. “Until you can return a punch.”

  They continue on for a few more minutes. He knew Dom was taking it easy and he still couldn't land a hit.

  Soon, the two were tired and Pardalis told them to stop. While taking their tonics on a bench, Captain Rayzer emerged.

  “Private Rammer,” he was addressing Dommerick “I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected for air battalion training. There are others who are competing for the position, so keep up the good work.”

  Dom jumped for joy and only did not hug Rayzer because Aiden held him.

  “Did you hear that, skinny? I'm going into the air battalion!”

  “He just said that you're officially running for office. You still have to work really hard.”

  “You are a buzzkill. As if anyone could defeat the great Dommerick Rammer.”

  The two laughed together and continued talking until Pardalis send a series of exercises to them.

  First Mission

  Aiden rested on his bed. He didn't see Dom so often anymore, since he was training for the air battalion every day, finding him only
when they had to sleep and any games of dice. He felt more confident in Evelin's presence and realized that she was opening up more with him.

  His rest was interrupted with a warning on the communicators.

  “Private Aiden MacCoy and Evelin Simeht, please report to the meeting room on the eighth floor.”

  Aiden was concerned, as he has never been called by the communicators much less to the eighth floor; however, he felt better knowing that his colleague would, too. He knew that missions were discussed there, and Aiden had not yet participated in any, after all he was still in training.

  He met Evelin in the elevator and the two greeted each other, followed by an embarrassing silence. Before he could try to break the ice, the doors opened, and they went their way.

  When he arrived in the room, he noticed it was full. General Pardalis was standing up at the end of an oval metallic table. On the right side, he saw five older servicemen, who Aiden had already crossed at the base, but never interacted with and all stared at the two newcomers analyzing them.

  Across the table, he saw captain Rayzer, sitting near Pardalis, with all five members of the air battalion by his side. It was comforting to see Dom with so many unknown people.

  “Sit down.” Ordered Pardalis. “We have a mission to discuss.”

  At the time, Aiden froze and only moved when he saw Evelin sitting in the nearest chair.

  “General Pardalis.” Evelin spoke trying to sound as professional as possible. “I've been training Aiden personally and I don't think he's ready for a real mission.”

  Although Aiden agreed with the girl, he was upset by the vision she had.

  “I don't remember asking for your opinion.” Pardalis replied, cold. “Aiden needs field experience, and you will be there to protect him; and most importantly, Miss Simeht, you haven't even heard what your task will be. Then keep your mouth shut until you're asked to speak.”

  Aiden could feel the girl's irritation by his side even without looking at her.

  Holographic screens projected from the table to each one and Pardalis began explaining.

  “Recently, a group of chaotic self-styled “Chaos Agents” has been stealing diverse air vehicles with uncertain motives. But we have been investigating, together with General Sorom, a way to put them out definitely. Their leader’s identity is still unknown, however a few hours ago the general managed to catch them in a trap, isolating one of them from the rest.