The planks echoed softly as Jace walked down the stairs. The receptionist at the edge of the door was absent, not surprising.
Stepping out, a wave of cold air rushed past him. From the earthen calendar, it should be fall, a season associated with its rain and cool weather.
Jace raised his coat to cover his exposed neck as he felt a small chill. Jace had heard the weather would be different on Earth, unlike home where the temperature remained constant throughout.
Outside the dorm, was the massive clearing Jace had walked into earlier that day.
The dark of the night made the giant statue look more like an ancient symbol of pain and despair rather than one of hope.
Unlike before, there were only a few people loitering around, most finding their way to the hall.
All students had been invited to an orientation party by a few second years outside the academy.
The military academy was located on an island. At first it was just the academy but soon businesses flocked the island.
Now, the island had changed from a remote location to a small city.
Jace sighed. If he could, he would be at the party. Preferably causing a scene.
But at the same time as the party was a more shadowy event. The bestowment of abilities.
All abilities could be ranked from 1 to 7, 1 being the lowest and 7 being the highest.
Most abilities were hereditary with any ability being inherited from a parent having a minimum rank of 3.
Others were not so lucky. The lower someone's ability was, the higher the chance their children could be born without abilities.
There were some special cases, people who had rank 4 or 5 abilities yet had children who didn't have an ability.
Jace was one of them. His father had a rank 5 ability, God knows what it was. His mother, meanwhile, was rumored to have had a rank 3 ability.
Of course, people who were born without abilities would be desperate to get one. So desperate they could do practically anything.
The military had capitalized on that, creating ways to give people an ability without being born with it.
Of course, the military was the 'only' organization which did that, officially of course.
Factions had long since learned the method to do that with the military tacitly agreeing to ignore that as long as they remained the official organization with the authority to do that.
Aside from that, the military had been shown to have the least amount of side-effects with those newly gained abilities.
The only abilities someone could actually gain from the military were enhanced strength, enhanced speed and enhanced durability. Cliché, yes.
Hereditary abilities meanwhile, had a lot more variety. It was the difference between being born with something and gaining it.
The timing of the ability bestowment ceremony and the orientation party also weren't just a coincidence.
It was the military's way of showing, No, declaring that people would come calling no matter what happened simply due to the sweet allure of power. Jace considered it the equivalent of a child throwing a tantrum. A very powerful child.
Jace looked up at the pitch black sky. No moon. It wasn't for any reason, he just wanted to see it.
The planet he was from, Apnea had zero moons. What they did have was a bunch of flying asteroids.
Jace walked into the hall noticing the vast amounts of people. There were about a hundred of them, far less than the number earlier that day.
Aside from that, Someone was already on the stage speaking. Jace looked up to see Skye, her scar somehow more prominent than before.
In front of the stage stood a group of people, motionless, their gazes directed to the students in front of them.
"-Strength is principal. That's why you're here and nowhere else". She paused as she examined the crowd.
"Each of you will be given an ability based on your constitution and what you have shown".
As she spoke, someone called out loud "How do we know which ability is rank 2. Is it just random".
Skye sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose "Whether or not your ability is rank 1 or 2 depends on you and how much your ability bonds with you. In other words, it solely depends on you"
Clapping her hands together, she declared "Let's get this over with".
As she clapped, the motionless mannequins moved revealing their true forms.
Automatons.
With the war against the Rache, humanity couldn't afford to wage internal wars not to talk of wars against other species.
Due to that, the threat of artificial intelligence gaining sentience and waging war against humanity was greater than the prospect of them advancing technology sude by side with mankind.
Trials or ways to give artificial intelligence sentience were stopped and most technological innovations with the potential to gain sentience were dismantled.
Better than being stabbed in the back.
The automatons held boxes, red, green and black.
They moved like well-oiled machines, probably because they were, ordering students into lines.
And on the stage, Skye watched dishing out simple words of encouragement.
Jace sidled into a line as he could see a few people leaving the hall the minute they got what was in those boxes, probably to their dorm room or to the party.
A few stayed, loitering around the hall and doing nothing in particular, until it happened.
A loud, sudden, gut-wrenching scream erupted from a corner as a student lay on the ground coiled up.
On the tiled floor were scratch marks, strong enough to damage the floor and covered in blood.
His eyes were red, blood dripping down as his mouth hung open. His cheeks were already sunken in and beside him. The black box, open but its content hidden.
A couple of automatons stumbled awkwardly towards him. Not even lifting his hand to check his pulse or checking for a heartbeat, they moved.
Swinging the unconscious body over its shoulder, an automaton walked out the secret door, another trailing behind.
Skye cleared her throat as she declared once more "As I said, it is only to be used in your personal rooms".
She apparently didn't have much to say as she ignored the incident that had just taken place, still sticking to her script. It was clear this wasn't a one-off thing.
Jace had known there would be side-effects from the ability bestowment but dying like that. Jace wouldn't wish it for his first enemy.
For another second, the image of Councilor Sorn came to mind. Scratch that, Jace would only partially wish it on his worst enemy.
"Next" An automaton called out as Jace headed to the origin of the voice.
Even with what had happened, Jace had no choice. It would have been weird if he walked out the hall with nothing.
That and the simple fact that he had reached this point. Jace had already come this far. What was a simple 5% chance of death.
Jace walked towards the automaton as it sounded in the familiar sexless voice that reminded Jace of his cybernet "Please, show your student ID".
Jace reached into his pockets, fishing out the card as a bright red light emanated from the forehead of the robot and scanned the card.
"Jace Blank, student ID 021893. You have been gifted with speed enhancement" It spoke while he carried a black box dropping it into Jace's hand.
As it did, it spoke, his voice holding a tone that resembled.. reverence "Vis est Potestas"
"Vis est potestas" Jace repeated. Strength is power.
The words flowed smoothly from his tongue, the phrase every child had spoken at least once in their life.
The meaning was simple, strength was power. Only those who had the necessary strength were able to speak from a position of power.
As the box fell into his hands, Jace felt a sharp gaze coming from above.
Jace looked up to see Skye looking at him with an expressionless face. Then, forcing a smile, which added to her scar made her look hideous, she encouraged or at least tried to "You have a lot of potential. Grow strong so you can help the military".
Jace blinked, her encouragement sounding more like a death threat.
Not knowing what to do, he simply nodded causing Skye to look satisfied and focus on others.
Jace gripped the black box tightly as he gazed at the place where the fallen student had once been.
The scratch marks and blood were still there, but the body was gone. That and the box.
Jace doubted they would dispose of it. Probably refurnish it and give it to the next.
Jace shook his head as he took one last look into the hall.
Finally, he stepped out of the hall and into the cold. With the last thirty minutes replaying in his head like a tape, he muttered, mostly to himself.
"Welcome to the Military".