Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 9 | Day 7

By the time we get to the portals, the rest of the groups are already formed up in the center of the large, circular room hosting dozens of different portals.

When I look around the room at each of the portals, I find a name located above them. However, several of them are larger than others, and each of those have the names of important bases that I recognize from class.

After looking around the room a bit, I focus on Maria, who is walking up to the front of the other cadets while nodding her head towards the end, where a spot for a group is missing.

Taking the hint, I lead the others over to that spot. And the moment we take our place amongst the groups, Maria shouts with her hands held behind her back, “Enter!”

Not even a second later, dozens of officers begin to file into the room with each of them being at the very least a major in the military.

I look through them for several seconds as they form a line behind Maria before focusing on her again as she speaks, “These will be your chaperones during this internship. I will now start announcing which officer will be assigned to which group.”

Maria immediately starts calling out cadet names, their chaperoning officer, and their assigned base, meanwhile, I turn to look at where Anabel is standing off to the side of the room with a glare directed straight at Maria.

Yeah, those two definitely have a history.

Eventually, Maria finishes assigning officers to groups by stating, “And as I’ve already mentioned to them, I will be chaperoning the group consisting of Nathan Fox, Amelia Marshall, Aidan Hawkins, Cyria Argent, and Sophia Inverno to the main base located on the Grand Warzone.” She then turns to frown at Anabel and says, “Additionally, your supervisor, Anabel Walker, will be going from base to base to check up on each group throughout the six weeks you will be undertaking your internship.”

My eyebrows raise slightly at our assigned base.

That’s interesting. We’re being assigned to a main base?

It’ll certainly be a change of pace from the little field trips Leo has been taking us on, which were all to regular bases.

Maria looks through the cadets, each of whom – excluding my own group – is shaking hands with their assigned officers, before she shouts, “I expect you all to pass through your portal within five minutes. Dismissed!”

We all salute to her in response before she glares at Anabel once more, just to start walking over towards us with a smile on her face.

However, the smile doesn’t last long as Anabel begins approaching us as well and arrives at just about the same time as her. She then proceeds to ignore Maria to talk to me, “Since I won’t be able to train you over the period of the internship, I expect you to find the time to train yourself whenever you have the time.”

“Understood,” I answer her with a nod.

She nods back before looking at Maria with a frown and adding, “And don’t let any of her habits rub off on you.”

“I think that’s enough of that, major,” Maria says at that while openly glaring at Anabel.

Anabel just snorts and walks away to a different group.

I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at that, but I stop the moment Maria turns to me with a mixture of irritation and worry expressed on her face and asks, “What did she mean by that? Has she been training you?”

“Yep,” Amelia answers for me, making me turn to look at her just to find a smirk on her face as she continues, “she’s been training him for hours each day on his swordplay for months now.”

Maria gasps at that as I turn to look at her again before she says, “Please tell me she’s joking!”

I purse my lips and slowly shake my head no while saying, “She’s not.”

“Why in the inferno filled pits of hell would you ever accept her training! Are you okay?!” she asks while moving around me in circles with worry clear as day on her face.

The others look confused at her outburst, which makes sense considering that they’ve never seen her teach before, but I just shrug my shoulders and say, “It’s fine. Her training has been a massive benefit to my swordplay.”

And besides, it’s not like I can tell her that the Class S space magician assigned her as my teacher.

After making a few more revolutions around me, she eventually stops right in front of me with a conflicted look on her face, only to sigh. She then turns to look at the others before saying, “Let’s head to the base.”

We all salute and exclaim, “Yes, ma’am,” before following her over to the largest portal arch labeled ‘Arna Fortress’ – which is the largest and most important fortress owned by the entire Republic with the only exceptions being that of the headquarters and the academy itself.

On the way though, I can’t help but notice a couple of the chaperoning officers staring at me as we pass by.

My brows furrow at the sight, but I continue walking without giving them any attention.

Were they giving me attention because we’re with the colonel? Or could they have something to do with the doctor’s message that he sent before we left the academy?

Because if it’s the latter, then it means that I might never go back to the academy.

I can’t help but frown at that thought before glancing at the others in my group.

The doctor hasn’t mentioned to me anything directly about how he’s planning on taking me out of the academy, but if it’s going to happen during the internship, then it’ll likely involve a fake death. And that would hurt the others, even if half of them are already numbed a little bit to death from losing at least one member of their family to war.

I continue looking between them for a few more seconds, only turning back to the portal we’re approaching when Cyria notices my attention.

A few seconds pass as we continue walking towards the portal with the other groups around us beginning to head towards their own before I let out a sigh.

It’s highly possible that I might never see Anabel or Leo again after today. Which feels weird to know considering just how much time I’ve spent training with them over the past several months.

“Is everyone ready?” Maria asks once we reach the portal before passing through after she sees us all give her a nod in affirmation.

Each one of us passes through the portal one by one until I’m left with Cyria, who has been staring at me since she noticed my gaze earlier.

“Let’s go,” I tell her before passing through it myself.