Vladimir wakes in a monastery..

Vladimir awoke inside his monastery cell. As he walked out into the cold he found a newly recruited team of Riders warming up for pre-breakfast exercise, so he fell in among them eagerly. Their routine of training began with a warm up consisting of a series of normal exercises - pushups, star jumps, sit-ups, and joint rotations before they began a run through the city. With his enhancements Vladimir could easily hold a position in the front ranks behind one of their two instructors. One instructor was at the front and another at rear of the group. By now the riders had shaken the cold off themselves, and they wove their way through the city streets before eventually returning. Eventually they drew within view of the monasteries white walls. At this point the instructor began gradually increasing speed until they had reached sprint pace, with the trainees racing to be the first through the monastery walls.

After the run the new trainees went off to bathe, lathering up before pouring scoops of freezing water over themselves. Vladimir had lived with the scarcity of water and was not used to the experience of daily bathing but he joined in the chilling then numbing experience of the daily bathe.

Judging from the other trainees around him 'laughing out loud like a maniac' seemed to be a rule to help reduce the cold when pouring the freezing water over oneself..

Soon bathing was over and he had changed and joined the trainees seated at one of the long wooden tables of the refractory eating his breakfast.

Other groups of riders had also gathered within the refractory, they were seated in a hierarchy of sorts, based upon their advancement through training. Beside the trainees there were those riders who had already qualified, they came and went as they pleased and sat by themselves or in two's or threes.

For Vladimir it was something new, for as far as he could remember he had led a solitary experience - of rising and working alone on metal wrecks..