Vasila trusts me. Never has anyone had their trust in me other than Kyle.
I'll prove my worth. I'll earn the right to stand before you. I'll fight back and find the people who took everything away from me.
One of the cadets is leading me into a hall. It looks dark; there's not much light inside.
'Where are we going?' I asked him.
He didn't reply. He wore the green goggles, which showed a lot of live numbers on the lens.
He took me into the hall and placed me on a chair of sorts. Calling it 'chair' would be an understatement because it was huge with a lot of moving parts attached to it. Wires and wires ran all across the floor and reached the top of the chair where the head is supposed to rest.
The cadet signalled me to sit on this special chair in the dark hall of wires, and he left without another word.
I sat on the chair. It felt uncomfortable to rest my head because of all these wires and electronic parts, but the seat was good enough.
I looked around and saw the whole room had a circular glass viewing area where there were some curious onlookers.
Among those people, I saw some caretakers, some cadets of all kinds of units that I didn't see in the meeting and two master ranked officers.
Their eyes locked with mine. I recognized one of them as Yiovali, the Managing Officer of Unit Vasila, who proposed and persuaded the Board of Officers to allow me to take this cadet examination.
Beside Yiovali, there stood a large man with a bulging stomach. He had his officer mask off.
He was a short bald man, around the same age as Yiovali, and he was watching me while massaging his long beard.
I remembered that he must be the one called BU-6538, who asked if he could visit as a guest to see me take the exam. He also has a cadet constantly taking some notes on a hologram. Beside him, two other officers were standing, these were the ones who objected or didn't say anything during the meeting.
A trooper walked into the dark chamber and switched on a spotlight above me and the chair. 'The following are the mandatory qualities that every candidate taking the examination must have. Do not move or you'll be persecuted. Do not speak anything out if you value your life.' The trooper clad in white clothes spoke to me, reading from a screen in front of his face. 'Close your eyes if you're afraid. But know that the one who looks away, too afraid to move or say anything, is not a worthy ally to the cause. The cause that our emperor and god, Wokan, strived for.'
'Such are the rules, and you must endure the pain to see the results. Are you willing to take this trail, WL-591, the first one of the shells?' The trooper asked me. He wore a similar mask that the officers typically wore, so I could not see his reaction.
He seemed to be talking in cryptic poetry, but I had a vague idea of what he was trying to say.
'Yes.' I replied with no hesitation. 'I accept to take this examination.'
'Then we shall proceed. If you felt like your life is threatened, then you can rightfully call the audience above you to end this trial any time.'
With that, the trooper walked away, and the hall entrance was sealed.
The hall started to brighten; someone turned all the lights on. I looked around and saw a whole wall of circuits and machinery, revving up like an engine.
The electricity passing through the wires made the ground hum in its flow of energy.
The circuits made no sounds. It gave a wave of heated wind in my direction.
My hands are still restrained in cuffs. I looked above at Yiovali, who was talking to some of the troopers who were busy working on something related to this wall of circuits that occupied this hall.
Unit Vasila stood around the crowd of onlookers, but they were pushed back by many other people. The front row was taken entirely by troopers and some caretakers now, except for a few spaces where the officers stood.
After a couple of minutes of silence, the circuit stopped.
All the lights were turned off again, leaving me in complete darkness once more.
I didn't know what was even happening anymore, but I heard the footsteps of a giant.
It's like a machine was given life to walk on its own. I'm hearing a loud metal sound approaching me from the darkness.
I was going to close my eyes, but I wanted to face it. I cannot be cowardly from here on out.
With my trembling hands and legs, I looked at what was approaching me and saw a metallic life-form, one that is truly terrifying and also majestic in every way.
It was a mecha. A mecha with humanoid design, sleek, long arms and legs, it was beyond what they told me when I was a child.
I heard this story from one of the children of the shell when I was young. A long time ago, there used to be tall machine-like creatures that walked this planet and waged war.
They were controlled from the inside by a special, selective group of humans.
Troopers who are essentially artificial life forms had gained control of these massive war machines and turned them against their own makers, which were us, humans.
They were termed the Metal Souls.
The machine life forms who rebelled against humanity and failed, but still managed to destroy the world as we know it. This happened around 800 years ago.
Kyle told me that it was probably one of the reasons why we are being kept inside the shells for our whole lives.
I never thought I would see one in my lifetime. I thought they were extinct. Why would humans keep producing something this dangerous for hundreds of years?
The mecha's solid body gave a creaking sound; its every movement made the floor shake.
I looked up in the audience, and I couldn't see them anymore because of the darkness.
This mecha's head had odd eyes that shone bright with blue light.. If not for that light, I couldn't have seen the machine at all.
I couldn't move from the oppressive feel this machine brought to the hall. Its presence is too much to take for me; I felt like my windpipe was blocked. I took short breaths and was panting.
'That will be your potential companion if it chooses you.' A voice rang through the hall from above. 'Your very own mech. Will you endure its trials, WL-591?'
This voice belongs to Officer Yiovali.
'Let the examination begin'
I felt a shock passing through me from the back of my head.
'AARRGHH!!!' I yelled out in pain, but the shock kept coming in.
I struggled to get up, but I couldn't. The mech is blocking my path. It's way too close to me.
Its large hands scrambled around the wires on the floor and picked some of it, carefully tracing it back to my chair.
I didn't know what it was doing until I realised it was plugging the other end of those wires inside its body.
Its chest opened up to reveal an empty seat with wires. Similar to the one that I'm sitting right now, it began plugging in those wires inside the pilot's seat.
'This mech model survived countless wars since ancient times. It has fought for both sides. Some centuries in glory for humanity and Some centuries in the possession of rebellious metal souls..' said Yiovali's voice.
'But all those times it had fought, it only selected a few courageous hearts who had an undeniably incredible thirst to prove themselves in battle. Even risking their body and mind to accomplish their desires.'
'We, the officers, have only agreed to give you the privilege to take the exams, but we never said you could have it easy; you could give up at any moment when you acknowledge your weakness.'
The mecha looked straight at me, its glowing eyes so close to my head. I'm blinded by its radiating lights. This could be the end of me.
The electric shock only got stronger and stronger; it felt pulsating through my mind and body.
When the wires were plugged inside its pilot hatch, waves of memories ran through my head.
Memories that weren't mine.
It was the memories of the pilots who sat inside this machine. All of their moments of happiness, sadness, their bitter death and their anger surged through me.
I wanted to scream but I'm paralysed. I could only watch everything unfold. Hundreds of battles began and ended in my mind. Millions of people and troopers were killed.
I saw mechs killing people, I saw troopers killing mechs, I saw people killing troopers, I saw mechs killing mechs.
It gone on and on. It felt like there was no end to this suffering.
I was crying my heart out. But there were no tears.