The Wraith

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Helsinki, Finland

So much had changed...so much had vanished...so much had gone awry.

Only two months had passed since, Sarah Tintagyl had said her final good-bye to a city that she had called home for near over ten years and had set out to find a deeper meaning to her life or at least that's what she had believed that night that she had kissed Evan, Heather, and Terra and slowly and sadly walked out of the doors of Solidor Manor onto the foreboding roads leading into the world. From Brisbane, Sarah wandered aimlessly, revisiting the former claims of her empire like a ghost to the leaders that held sway there now. They offered her vast fortunes, positions of power, perhaps even the chance to recreate what she had done with the Commonwealth, but for some reason when those leaders uttered the words, Sarah only heard screaming, or wailing, she couldn't grasp her head around what was happening, she didn't want to go back into politics, she still wanted to help the world, but not in the way that she was attempting to with the Hansa.

And why was that she thought, as she looked out onto the darkened Baltic Sea, why did she leave her position as Lady Protector in the first place. She had everything, wealth, power, fame, a beauty that was said to match Venus, and the cunning mind that Machiavelli had tried to capture in his Florentine pamphlets. Sarah paid attention to the magazines, she paid attention to the tabloids, she couldn't help herself, but every time she looked to her left there was another pundit or writer from one of the various countries on the planet, not praising her efforts, but tearing them down. Even in Brisbane, headlines ran that she had abandoned her people to suffer a fate worse than death, likewise in New Zealand, and it was commonplace throughout much of Asia and Europe as well.

She knew why she had left, but she didn't want to admit it to herself, in a twisted way, Sarah felt that it was better she left, then at least more men wouldn't have to die under her bullet. Her bullet? Her war? Yes, she thought back to the beginning of her dubious career as a leader. It seemed that since the beginning, everything that she had tried to accomplish had only left the fields of the world dark, dismal, ravaged. She could have easily saved Helsinki the first time just by respecting her promise of neutrality to the world, but instead in some twisted attempt of honor, she sent thousands of men onto ships and sailed them across the Baltic, into the jaws of a trained beast that only made mincemeat of many brave men, that would never see their wives, their mothers, their daughters again. Worse more was the fact that many of the daughters, mothers, and wives would also perish in the flames that came soon after the war, the flames that had sent her people into exile. She...she could have prevented it.

Sarah gripped the rail separating her from the Baltic tight, tight enough that the blood ran from her hands back into her body, turning her fingers and palms a pale, sickly white. The entire city had mainly been rebuilt by the Ubersteinians, the priceless architecture replaced perhaps in look, but not in feeling. Deny it or not, the same methods and techniques that had built Helsinki into the center of Finnish and European culture it was had not been replicated. But her reign of terror had no stopped just in the ruins and flames of Helsinki, she was the great traitor, the woman that had brought down the incarnation of Nordland only after befriending their leaders, their ways, their ambitions. The world called them monsters, but she had been the viper that had set so many wheels in motion, if it was a perverted and twisted ideology then she had taken the most vengeful ways of doing so, to establish her new world order. Tintagylism. Sarah shuddered at the word, easily just as a twisted and sick ideology as Nordism and it stained her soul along with the millions of deaths she had caused in the wars that men fought under her influence in the last decade.

Her eyes fluttered open, those piercing sapphire gems that had broken through the souls of weaker and lesser men, as much as she wanted to condemn herself for what had happened to the world, a rage began to build up in her chest, a rage that had been kept down for so long, and it had been this rage that had set her out out on the road in the first place. She turned away from the sea and walked towards the city. It was late, perhaps two or three in the morning and on a Sunday, there was no one outside, the cafes were closed, the theatres were empty, and the plazas and town squared were absent of any life. This was better, she didn't want to have to deal with the thought of people staring back at her broken and bruised body. Her pale arms unclothed and her eyes staring at the void in front of her with a death stare. Sarah knew where she was heading, she had one last monster to face.

The Tintagyl Estate had long been abandoned since the fall of the Hanseatic Republic in Europe, standing at the edge of the outskirts had freed it from the nuclear devastation of the Great European War and Uberstein's reconstruction of the city. For being abandoned, it still held a charm about it, the black iron gate still standing true, guarding the estate from intruders, but the lock was rusted and a firm push from Sarah's arm broke the lock as the gate fell to the ground. She walked up the stone path towards the door, the granite rocks overgrown and cracking with weeds that led up to a faded wooden door that gave way to the woman with only a light push on the knob as the musty smell of a house that had not been living in some twelve years hit her in the face. Sarah smiled as she walked into the foyer and looked around at her stomping ground, the thought alone began to make her cringe, but that was what she came to face.

Walking into the parlor, the cobwebs created a look as from an old horror novel, Dracula would have enjoyed his time here and it almost felt that Sarah should as well. The world of the abandoned and forgotten. She grabbed her chest and fell to her knees, it wasn't a pain, but a rage that was building up inside of her that wanted to release itself into the world.

"No. No. This was the reason I left. This was the reason I had to leave, I couldn't do that to the world again."

"Do what to the world again Sarah?" She looked up to find Michael Martens staring down at her, his red eyes cutting into her body. "To destroy a man's dream, a dream that he slaved for ages to create. An eternity to create! I told you once before, you, you alone would be responsible for the deaths that would come to Europe after Nordland. Bavaria, Krieg, even North Africa, all of it. This is all your fault."

"Or perhaps it was because you lost faith in your own people. After sending so many of them to their deaths for idiotic campaigns of personal glory and then when the time got to hard you abandoned them. You abandoned millions of Finns, Japanese, Russians, and your neighbors." Said Larsa Solider. "You threw Oceania into chaos a chaos that you said that you would prevent."

"Or perhaps that it was just too much for you. That that Hansa wasn't all that it was cracked up to be." Said Maelstrom Vortex appearing through the dust. "Was it too much for you Sarah? Did you realize that you couldn't contend with the greats of this world anymore. Perhaps you didn't realize what could be done through security and power. But you were always blind, calling my Empire evil, for shame."

She looked up at the phantoms as her eyes narrowed. Why had she left? Because her order had collapsed. She had spent the greater part of her adult life fighting against the creation of world hegemony. It had been the reason for her invasion of Nordland and it had been the reason that she chaffed under the dominion of the Dragon Empire, she saw them as organizations that kept independent nations from rising up in the world, as a way for a select group of individuals to rule the world. But perhaps it had been her view that was twisted and that the world had pushed her to the side.

"After all, you just wanted to rule the world to begin with didn't you?" Said a voice from behind her. She tuned to see her father, Alexander Tintagyl staring back at her with narrow eyes. "You were always power-hungry Sarah, it is just that your plans seem to finally have failed and all the dreams I had for you." He chuckled. "Your Order, Tintagylism, a stain on this family's name. You always were a disappointment Sarah."

"No!" Sarah jumped from the ground and turned to face her father's apparition. "You did this to me! You all did this to me! You call me a monster but you are all the monsters, you just changed me into what you are! This whole world did this to me! My innocence is gone! My reason is gone! My life! I had a life! You took it away from me!"

"And our lives?" The ghosts said in unison. "What of the lives of the people that you killed? That are still dying in the trenches around Europe? What of their lives?"

"No! I didn't do this! I didn't do this! I am not a murderer."

"No you're so much more vile than that Sarah. So much more vile."

The apparitions encircled her joined by other ghosts and phantoms, it feel like hundreds, thousands, millions as the rage that was deep down in her chest continued to rise. "No! I saved you all! But maybe you would rather all burn in the fires of Hell!" On the edge of the room was an old oil lamp, that still carried oil at the bottom. She reached through the phantoms and grabbed the lamp and pulling a lighter out of her pocket lit the lamp. "You want the world to change? I won't be one to disappoint!" She slammed the lamp against floor as the flames leaped into the air and consumed the phantoms in a whiff of blue gas and air. She stood amongst the flame and laughed. Her journey had only just begun.

She stepped out onto the streets of Helsinki and looked back as the flames began to consume the Estate. "I'm sorry to be such a disappointment father. Maybe now you never have to deal with your accursed daughter anymore. She chuckled and walked into the Finnish wilderness in the north as sirens sounded in the distance to save the building that would only be reduced to ash.

The pale ghost herself walking away from the dispelled demons of her past forever.

OOC: This is closed between me and a few others...OOC comments are welcome of course, however if you do have a miraculous IC idea to go along with this. PM me please, though I already have my mind set where this is going. I like change.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Centurius]

(10 hours before the fire)

It had taken a search of hundreds of operatives, weeks of work and billions of dollars to complete the mission but it was finally done, well the most difficult part, the other was still to follow. A General wearing a different uniform than most of the others walked towards the door of the office of Nadine. Straightening his uniform before walking in he knocked on the door where he was quickly allowed to enter.

“Your Imperial Highness… I have news on Operation: Recovery”

Nadine who had almost lost all hope of said operation ever being completed looked up while hiding the emotions that came up to her mostly those of happiness.

“Go on, general?”she responded with the feeling of hope in her eyes.

“Our operatives in Finland have found her there, close to Helsinki to be exact”

“Of course, I should have known she would go home… General prepare a quick strike team, we do not have time to contact Finland. 5 men of the elite division. Get her at all costs but do not kill her or lethally wound her she must stay alive.”

Following the orders the general left the room again additional preparations had to be made and she would send a memo to the Phoenix Guard they were to prepare for an important guest.

“Sarah it is time to come back to the world”

(5 hours before the fire)

Everything had locally been prepared the team would act as normal visitors of the Republic of Finland of course traveling unarmed. Once in Helsinki they were to move to a house where one of the operatives lived and collect their weapons after this point they would get the last known location and continue on their own. If they had just known how easy it would be to find her in the end. As the men reunited at the exit of the airport they once again checked if everything was in order luckily it was. Dressed as tourists they could not wait to finally get at the house and collect their gear.

(1 hour before the fire)

“Okay team up, you know your orders. Retrieve target alive at all costs for this mission we will use tranquilizer and other non-lethal ammunition. If she resists mild violence is authorized” the Colonel in command of the operation said. Meanwhile the preparations in the house were also finished the basement had been transformed into a temporary room filled with all luxury someone desired. Sarah would stay there until they were able to bring her back to the Imperial Union on a cargo ship.

Following the final orders the team moved on they had an estimate she would be close to her former home. As they arrived they almost simultaneously said the target was there and moved on to find an injured Sarah.

The Colonel immediately fired the tranquilizer gun after which a dart from it made sure Sarah would lose consciousness. While they were too late to stop her from hurting herself they were in time to save her from something worse. They immediately proceeded to take her back.

(4 hours after the fire)

Sarah had been asleep for 3 hours now and the dose would slowly lose its effect and she would regain consciousness though with a small headache.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Centurius

[King Kevz]

OOC: Really enjoying this so far and look forward to the next part though Sarah you almost gave me a heart attack at one point when I thought you might have been killing off Sarah in the fire.

[Razgriz 2K9]

OOC: I would of just shot myself in the head....

Keep it up Sarah.

[Elrich von Richt]

OOC: Win generation equivalent to watching Lucky Star twice over.

Congrats, you've not failed yet.

o/ Sarah

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Everything had happened so quick. Sarah had only just stepped out of the burning Tintagyl Estate and had not traveled more than three blocks when a striking pain hit into her neck and the world began to blur out of focus. She tried her hardest to keep standing, as fear ran over her body. The world was still a dangerous place and this had not been the first time that Sarah had felt the injection of a tranquilizer dart into her skin. "No!" She screamed, the world spinning around her as she pulled the dart from out of her neck and circled the ground, looking for the men who had fired the dart. "Let me alone! Get out of my life!" She screamed into the air, tears of salt and blood running down her face, giving off a near horrific look to the once Angel that had inspired the world to exchange their weapons and ammunition for flowers and handshakes, a twisted reversal of Sarah's role in the world. Sarah could feel herself spinning, the world slipping out of focus as she fell to the ground, her knees slamming onto the cobblestone of the street. "No...please...don't hurt...don't...just...let...me...die..." She muttered before darkness enveloped over her and the last thing she saw was the cobblestone meeting her eyes.

Sarah groaned loudly as she rolled around in the bed in the halfway house that the Imperial agents had taken her too. Her head was pounded and her ears ringing as she opened her eyes and slowly sat up on the bed. "Oh, what the hell." She held her head and looked around the room. "Where am I?" Trying to think of what had just happened, her memory raced. She had just left her father's house after burning it to the ground and then she had been struck by the dart. "!@#$!" Sarah jumped out of the bed and onto the floor. She was still wearing the same clothes that she had in the fire, still covered in ash, sweat and blood, so they hadn't changed her. On the contrary, as Sarah looked around the room, she found it especially pleasing and well kept, hearkening back to the luxury she enjoyed at Solidor Manor even if the bedroom was a bit cramped. However that didn't take away the fact that she was still kidnapped and most likely being held against her will.

Straightening herself she walked around the room and walked over to the door. Turning the knob and the handle only jiggled. "Damn it." The girl swore, they had given her luxury, but she was still a prisoner, however one that had not lost her ability to fight back, or at least try to. "Hello! Who's out there!" Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs. "Let me out of this room! Now!" Her fist pounding against the door. "Let me out! Who are you people?! Why the $%&@ did you bring me here and who the $%&@ are you!" She screamed. "Let me out now!" And Sarah would continue to bang on the door until she got an answer. Spoiled? No not really, it was more fearfulness that she was not about to turn into whatever or whoever had done this to her's manservant and captive. It just wasn't in her personality. "Let me the $%&@ out! Now!"

[Centurius]

As Sarah looked around the men outside were busy with the preparations for the trip home. In line with the orders the Colonel had received he immediately proceeded to contact Buenos Aires.

“Your Imperial Highness, our mission has succeeded and we have secured Lady Tintagyl”

“Good work, Colonel. Make sure her stay is a pleasant one she has a long time ahead”

With that the link was broken again and they could see Sarah walking around on the monitor. It wasn’t a nice feeling for most especially the younger soldiers who had heard about the great acts of the woman at their history classes. Sarah Tintagyl was a national hero in all forms in popularity equal to the Empress herself within the Imperial Union. To see her now in this way was terrible. As she knocked on the door the Colonel ordered 2 men to come with him to the basement.

They slowly walked towards it a bit afraid of the reaction but they had to do this. To prevent her from hurting herself the 2 men came armed and aimed the rifles as the Colonel opened the door.

“Please Lady Tintagyl do not resist we do not want to hurt you” the Colonel paused for a second walking in. “I am under orders from Buenos Aires to take you back to the Imperial Union”

[Sarah Tintagyl]

When the door opened, her first reaction had been to run out try to get past the guards, but she had expected them to be sometime of home grown terrorists. Pistols and shaky hands, but instead she was greeted with the full arsenal of the Imperial Union's special forces. This alone was enough to intimidate her and sent her walking back to the foot of the bed as she wrapped her hands around the wooden posts. She listened to the colonel as he spoke, his voice was genuine and the two soldiers with the guns held them down towards the ground, though it wasn't the best environment to be in, they were trying at least to be sincere.

"Buenos Aires?" She looked at him curiously. "What does the Union want with me? I was content just traveling and now you're stealing me back to a country to do what? Paint my image there too? Have a bunch of young idiots with ideals come up to me for an autograph and say how much they admire me? And then they can just corrupt the world further. Is that it? Is that what Buenos Aires wants with me? A trophy for an Empire, just like the others?" She clenched her fists and grabbed hold of the colonel in desperation. "I'm a human too. I'm not an ideal, I'm not some trophy. I bleed just like you do. What do you want me for? Why did you take me away?"

[Centurius]

“Wrong… We want you to enlist. We are aware of your current state in regards to the image you created for yourself and offer you a way out. If you agree we will grant you a whole new life. A different name, look, or anything else your heart desires and Imperial technology offers of course you can just stay the same too. The only thing we ask is you give it a chance, the Imperial Marine Corps Special Operations Division could need a person with your talent with the proper training you will become an operative free to go wherever you want without the risk of being identified as the great Lady Sarah Tintagyl” the Colonel paused taking a chair and sitting on it. “Remember though should you agree you will not be able to return to your normal life, I understand this is a lot to think about. We will keep the door open if you decide come up and tell us.” The Colonel said as he left the room with the door open and the guards following. He had a good guess on what she would decide but had to offer the freedom to walk out.

Meanwhile one of the soldiers a female walked down with clean clothes and a meal.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Her eyes narrowed in curiosity and disbelief when he said the word 'enlist'. She was getting ready to hear the normal speech that all government recruiters had given to her, but this was completely something different. They wanted to turn her into a soldier, but not just a regular soldier, an operative, it was almost too strange to believe. To the point that it almost didn't make any sense at all. The colonel left her with her meal to ponder it and she was thankful that at least she could get some food in her stomach before anything else. But even after the servant girl had presented her with a few plates of eggs and sausage, Sarah didn't feel hungry anymore, her mind was too busy spinning in circles and she felt sick.

Was this what she wanted? Perhaps, Sarah had left the Hansa to get away from politics, from the worthless grit of standing on a podium arguing with leaders that couldn't formulate two sentences together without building their egos up. She had escaped that, but now her life was empty, without meaning, without the ability of change things for her betterment, or the world's betterment. But was becoming what was essentially a specter in the Imperial Union's Special Division, her destiny? It definitely didn't seem so, but the thoughts continued to intrigue her, almost to the point where she couldn't think about anything else but that. The adventure that she wanted, the world she wanted to see, and the change she wanted to inspire, all without the pesky following of fanboys and flowers, heralding the Lady Tintagyl wherever she walked. She looked down at her hands, her arms, her body, she was changing, she could see it. Sarah had been frail throughout her entire childhood and much during the time when she had taken her first position as Prime Minister. But of all the leaders of the world, she had done the most traveling, the most journeying, the most adventuring, and it had taken a toll on her physically. Not all bad, she was bruised and scarred, but her muscles had defined, her face had developed a rougher look, that though could be hidden, was becoming a part of her more and more. She was not such a little girl anymore and perhaps that was the reason, she was as much as a traveler as a leader, and as much as an individual warrior as a diplomat. Perhaps she was indeed destined for this.

Finishing the meal, Sarah walked out of the room and down the stairs to where the colonel and his men stood in a circle quietly speaking to one another. Her presence was electrifying as all men turned and stared at her silently awaiting the answer.

"I don't understand why you chose me for this and I'd like a further explanation. But..." Her eyes looked up, piercing their faces. "I accept your offer."

[King Kevz]

OOC: Wow Sarah the soldier I never saw that coming. Keep up the good work Sarah and Cent I am really enjoying this.

[Razgriz 2K9]

OOC: Wow, just wow! I suppose. i agree with KK, keep up the good work.

[Razgriz 2K9]

Double post is fail.......

Edited August 31, 2009 by Razgriz 2K9

[Centurius]

“I didn’t expect anything else. We just received an update our ship back home is docking tomorrow, once we arrive you will get all the information you need from Her Imperial Highness personally when we arrive… Get some rest. If you want to there is a bathroom upstairs” the Colonel said.

(The next day)

This was the last part where they had to be careful and not attract any attention their operation was illegal and now they actually had Sarah with them the risk of detection high. As long as they were within Finnish borders and waters they had to keep a cover. Luckily the harbor was close and the cargo ship about to leave. As they arrived they proceeded to the cargo bay. “Sorry, but this is the best we can do a passenger ship without passengers would attract attention”

(Several hours later)

As the ship arrived at the harbor in Buenos Aires it was awaited by several dozens of Phoenix Guards and the Empress herself. Barely hiding her enthusiasm she looked up at Sarah walking down, once within distance they could speak she moved closer.

“Welcome home Sarah”

[Uberstein]

OOC: Very interesting read. Just don't do anything so crazy that it would attract the police's attention.

Hope you don't mind my short little IC here to tie up a loose end. <__<

IC:

*Back at the scene of the fire*

"Well sir, if anything, I'd say it was old wiring, not arson. Who would want to burn this place down anyway?"

The detective sighed, "There is always someone out there, but good luck getting them to admit it. Close the case file and try to find the current owner, send them a letter telling them what happened. Oh, and if they don't come to claim it within a week...let's auction it off."

"Yes sir."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

OOC: Thanks Ubie...

She was used to cargo ships, though crossing the entirety of the Atlantic was in itself a bit much so when they came out of the dark of the cargo ship and into the bright sunlight of Buenos Aires, Sarah could barely keep her eyes open as she adjusted to the brightness of the South American afternoon. The colonel and his guards led Sarah down from the cargo bay to the docks, where a column of Phoenix Guards, along with the Empress, Nadine Peacecraft, Sarah's Godchild stood with a welcoming smile. The welcoming was a bit much, especially after the talk that the colonel had said that she would be removed from the iconic stature she had built herself into, but this was the Empress and she was the former Lady Protector, that much was hard to hide. Sarah just hoped that the promise of a different life was still going to come true.

Walking to Nadine, the two women hugged and smiled at each other. Nadine's bright welcoming eyes looking into Sarah's piercing and vengeful irises, they had both changed so much and there was still so much change to be done.

“Welcome home Sarah”

"Thanks Nadine." She looked down to the ground. "Its good to be back in South America, it really is. I...I guess you know some of the reason that I've been brought here. I figured you'd be able to explain some stuff to me about why they brought me here. About this promise. About finding myself again."

Edited August 31, 2009 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Arkantos]

OOC: Oh wow. This is certainly a surprise, Sarah. It also gives me an idea for a future RP.

[Eggman Empire]

OOC:*pictures mental image of rambo Sarah*

If that doesn't inspire world peace, I don't know what will.

[Centurius]

“All in due time” Nadine answered “Follow me” as they walked to a limousine 2 guards behind them.

“First of all, I know what you might be thinking. They promise me no more extensive protection and then send guards that is for another reason. As soon as the training begins the only protection you will have is that of your fellow recruits.”

As they entered the car it started to move towards a location a few miles from the capital a beautiful village and for the inexperienced eye people would just think it was a random village with a small Military base.

“To answer your question, we have had operatives in Brisbane and several other locations for a long time when we received reports on your status and sudden disappearance in Curristan the pieces started to come together and we knew you needed a change. After this I have ordered a search, my compliments you managed to stay hidden for a very long time. It wasn’t my personal idea to enlist you can take the Colonel for that he realized the potential you had. Your life will change a lot though” she said as she passed the newspaper of tomorrow to Sarah with on the front-page in big letters. Lady Tintagyl Missing After Visit to Santiago. It showed the plan to make it possible, namely faking a death. After a few weeks the case would be closed and silently forgotten.

Meanwhile the car was almost close to the village as it entered it immediately proceeded to the closed off Military Base, small on the outside but what people did not know was the huge underground base. Once they were in the team that had rescued Sarah followed after, this time when they left the car there were no more than the 2 guards in the car.

“You can still say no and return to your life if you want to, we can cancel the edition”

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah watched in silence and open ears as the limousine traveled from the harbor in Buenos Aires into the pristine Argentinian countryside, across the fields near the ocean and towards the village that was nestled quietly in the hills away from the corruption and strife of the world, if this was where she was going to start her new life, everything made sense and she was happy to be here. Finally, after probably three days of traveling, she finally smiled and it was genuine. "No I understand the reason for the guards, you are an Empress after all, it would be stupid for you to be anywhere alone and without protection." She chuckled. "I was used to the same protection as well."

Nadine took out the headline of the paper after they entered the village and her explanation of how well they had kept tabs on Sarah, truly astonished her. If it had been another country, the detail that the Imperial Special Operations units had gone through might have worried her, but considering these orders were coming from Nadine, it put her at ease. The headline was a bonus, with that getting around the world and possibly becoming the largest headline in all major newspapers she could finally walked around and just say, she resembled the missing Lady Protector. When the colonel had said she could change appearance totally, her heart had dropped, Sarah was quite pleased with the way she looked, she liked her hair, and her eyes, and her face they way it was and that kind of change she was definitely not open to, with this, the confusion was over.

"I really have to thank you Nadine." Sarah held her head in her hands. "I just don't know what's happening to me anymore. The whole world it seems like its caving in. I never expected in my wildest dreams to even want to be part of something like this, but when the colonel said it, something just sounded right. I can forget the past, I can finally escape, at least for awhile and still make a difference and I have you to thank for that."

“You can still say no and return to your life if you want to, we can cancel the edition”

"No." Said Sarah as the limousine came to a stop. "I've made up my mind. This is where I will be reborn."

Edited September 1, 2009 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Evan...don't go...don't go...don't--"

A loud crash echoed across the stone floor, a rolling thunder strike that paralyzed the twenty people currently in the room. They couldn't think, they could barely see the environment around them in the dark, as a metal garbage can flew down the center of the isle of cots and mattresses towards the back wall. "Get up!" An angry voice shouted through the dark and the tremulous sound of the metal legs of the cots scraped against the floor as the enlistees made their best effort to escape from their sleep as fast as they could. There were penalties after all, if you weren't fast enough. "I said get up!" The black figure shouted again and this time he was joined by two other figures that began to go around to the cots, if you weren't standing at attention by now, the two figures pummeled you back to the ground with clubs or their elbows and the sounds of gasping for air and flesh cracking filled the small room.

Sarah had awoken from her dreams in a flash and wasted no time jumping out of the bed, standing in a white t-shirt and a pair of gray shorts she had been given as the female training uniform for the operative divisions. Standing at attention, her hair still messy from sleeping she held back a yawn as the lights began to flicker on. A lieutenant along with two sergeants and turned out to be the shadowy figures as they walked through the cots inspected their meal of worms and maggots for the day and for the first time, but definitely not the last time, Sarah realized that she was in an entirely different world than what she was accustomed to. She stood at attention out of fear and sweat rolled off of her face, her body was tired from not getting her accustomed seven hours of sleep, and her self-esteem was ruined from not having the ability to tidy herself up in the morning. Take a shower, apply make up, the works, she felt dirty, grungy, nasty and perhaps in the scheme of things, she kind of regretted setting this course of action. However for all the fear and the nervousness, she could tell that everyone else around her had the same looks on their faces as was only natural. This is how a new life began. Being thrown to the wolves and if you survived this descent into Hell, then you would come out like hardest steel. Through all the thoughts going through Sarah's mind, one was absent, at that thought was the absence of a previous torture, it would be the first of many times for the next odd weeks and months where she would begin to forget her past pains and focus more on the physical and present pains on her. Sadistic? Naturally, but it was her escape and it was her journey.

"I told you to get up!" The Lieutenant cracked a young man over the head with his club as the kid, who was probably around the age of twenty five finally got up to his feet. His nose was bleeding and his face was already cut up. Scanning around the room, the Lieutenant shook his head as he walked down the isle of cots. "You are here because you chose to be here. You are hear because you perceive that you have a higher calling, if you didn't perceive that then you would have joined the regular army. So naturally, you cocky $%&@s thing that you are some how better than others." The Lieutenant swung his hand and smacked a man to his left hard in the face. "I'm here to tell you that that is all a bunch of !@#$%^&*. You are not special, you are not better, you are !@#$, you are lesser than anyone else that lives on this planet and for you to even have a thought of advancement is sickening to me." He continued to walk down the isle. "But that is not to say you cannot become better, that is not to say that you cannot become the greatest men and women that walk this Earth. I possess a gift, I can take worms like you and transform you into something amazing, something powerful. I can make people fear you in their sleep, I can make you gods and goddesses that rain hell on the Empress' enemies, the enemies of the Union. I can make you instruments of Chaos and instruments of Order. But not all of you are going to make it." He reached the end of the isle and turned back. "I predict that not even five of you are going to make it out of her. Some of you, this will be your last time alive, as I will push you to breaking, and when you break, you will not just quit, you will die and you will be forgotten, so I want you to ask yourself, long and hard, if you can even fathom what is about to happen." He walked back down the isle and stopped where Sarah was standing as he turned to her. "No more dolls, no more parties, no more smiles. You will be able to kill with the snap of your fingers, you will be like a ghost in the dark, or you will be killed." He grabbed her behind the head by the hair and held her tightly. "You think you can do this !@#$%*? Just give up now."

Flinging her hair back, Sarah nearly lost her balance, but remained on her feet as she gasped for air as quietly as she could to stave off the Lieutenant's aggression. "We will begin now. Welcome to day one of the Academy, the events that are about to take place will be your time training you for your final test, which is Cocytus, the worst of punishments and tribulations. You will have one minute to get your shoes on and then begin running towards the first checkpoint, you will have thirty minutes to do so and after this, if you do not make this time. My associates and I will make you regret not running fast enough. Is that understood!"

Silence...

"I said is that understood!"

"Sir! Yes sir!"

"Then you have thirty-one minutes." With that he disappeared out of the room.

There was an immediate frenzy for everyone in the bunker as they searched for their socks and shoes, the smart ones had them ready at their feet as there wasn't a second to lose. Sarah pulled her socks to her ankles, threw on, and tied her tennis shoes as tight as she could and then bolted out of the doorway, the eighth out of twenty to do so. It was dark in the foothills along the low lying plains of the Imperial Union, but in the distance Sarah could see where the road would lead them. Across the fields overlooking the village where the bunker was located and beyond that probably up into the groves on the distant ridge. She took a deep breath and settled into a decent pace for running.

The trainees started out as a large group pretty much, all twenty of them running together, but as the minutes passed the group began to denigrate slowly. There was no knowledge of how far anyone had to run, they had no idea where the checkpoint was, so while some ran at a steady pace, some others ran quicker figuring that it would need to be a sprint to come close to the checkpoint before time was up. Sarah settled on meeting this halfway and soon found that she was pretty much divided from those that ran full speed and those that ran smart, though smart was in retrospect. She seemed to run forever, the mismatched stones and gravel at her feet knocked her shoes from side to side, nearly tripping her countless times. Her chest heaved in and out, trying to feed her body and blood that necessary, life-giving oxygen for her to keep going. In and out, in and out, up and down, up and down, she breathed trying to keep focus, trying to keep the fear of what would happen at the end of thirty minutes out of her head.

But as time passed, Sarah saw no sign of a checkpoint, no sign of an end to their sprint. Her legs were burning, her heart was on fire. Behind her she could hear the sounds of vomiting, followed by the sounds of muffled screaming. The trees and shrubs that were beginning to form around her kept out the sounds; ahead of her she could still hear the hard foot beats of those that were running. She kept breathing and she kept running. Her mouth beginning to dry as the first rays of sunlight passed over the eastern ridges and treetops. She needed a drink, she needed something, God it felt like her heart was going to bust from her body and free itself from the cage. Then the sensation began, Sarah stopped and put her hands on her knees. She gagged and the world lost focus for a minute as she pulled her hair back out of her face and threw up everything she had eaten in the past two days in one long stream of vomit. Coughing, tears rolled down her eyes, as she tried to begin breathing again. Suddenly a sharp, intense pain hit her arm as she stumped forward for a moment before looking down at the blood mark running down her arm.

"I said keep running!" Shouted the Lieutenant from a distance. "Now keep running! If this is hard for you, I suggest you stop now cause you're not going anywhere fast."

There was no arguing, no thought of resistance, no sake of philosophical instruction. Sarah had entered a world of grit and grime and only she would be able to provide an escape for herself and that was to keep running, to keep pressing on and to forget everything. She didn't remember the past, she didn't cry about the past. Her greatest villains, rivals, foes, all disappeared that instant replaced by the Lieutenant. He represented everything she hated, everything she wanted to conquer, and everything she wanted to become. Sarah lifted her legs without looking back and continued to run. Tears rolling down her face as her body began to cave in from the pain in her heart and her stomach. But she never stopped, her mind refused to let her. Rebirthing...after all...is never easy...

[Comrade]

OOC: And I thought Molakian Special Forces training was brutal.

[Centurius]

OOC: And I thought Molakian Special Forces training was brutal.

OOC: You haven't seen the worst yet... IC post will follow tomorrow.

[Sargun II]

OOC: That's not that brutal..

also, I can't take anything in this thread serious with Miley Cyrus staring down at me

[Lynneth]

OOC: And I thought Molakian Special Forces training was brutal.

OOC: Back in Canada, the BNops had way harder training, though I never detailed it as much as Sarah did here.

<3, Sarah.