268 The Poseidon Program

Early morning.

Silence hung over the valley. The mountains hugged one another, bathed in the golden light of a rising sun. A new day begins.

The National Eastern University’s West Hill was also stirring, preparing. Fifty students stood in five orderly lines, buzzing with vitality, eager to begin. There was a hunger in them this morning. They were eager to continue their training.

The last ten days had been like a nightmare to them, but more than that it had been transformative. Just the memories of the training so far were painful to recall, but not one of them would ever forget. The torment of twenty years of harsh training had been condensed to two short weeks, but the results were clear as day.

Now that the seals were gone, everything was different. Every student could feel differences, some of them profound. Ten days! Though the suffering was beyond compare, it was a brief hell. The past was the past.