The Chosen One

"Are we finally there yet...?"

A young boy mumbled as he woke up from his sleep.

The man that the boy was leaning on sighed and replied without looking at him, "Almost there, Stes."

"That's what you said the last 4 times..."

"I'm sure that we're almost there this time."

"You always say th-"

The boy's words were interrupted by a sudden stop of the ship that they were on.

"See? We just arrived."

"Finally..."

The 3 day long journey clearly took a toll on the young boy's patience, and he excitedly rushed out onto the deck, where recruits were leaving the boat.

"Haaaa... he forgot to bring his stuff..."

The boy's companion got up, packed both of their things, and followed after the boy.

It seemed that the boy, Stes, just remembered that he had baggage that he brought with him on the boat, and rushed back onto the boat to his cabin.

"Thank you, Venator.", Stes thanked Venator for bringing his stuff as Venator handed him the extra baggage.

"Don't forget next time. A hunter's bow is his lifeline."

"Yeah, yeah.", the boy brushed it off, huffing as he put his bag onto his back, before adjusting it.

'He's definitely gotten better...'

Venator observed Stes before following after him off the boat.

The duo were given no time to rest from their journey as they were summoned by their soon-to-be superior right after they departed.

The two headed off to the assembly organized for new recruits, and on their way there, they spotted their soon-to-be comrades.

"Venator, look at that guy! He's so big!", Stes pointed to a member of the giant race, who noticed him.

"It's rude to point."

"Oh, sorry."

Stes was excited looking at the giant because before all of this, he was just a normal boy in a normal family.

The giant walked over to them, and introduced himself.

"Hello, you must be the new recruits. I'm Warrant Officer Dacks, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I'm Venator Sova," Venator returned the courtesy and pointed at Stes, "And he's Stes Sova."

"This your son?"

"He's adopted."

"Oh."

The conversation ended quickly, but Dacks struck up a short conversation to make their parting less awkward.

"You guys must be here for the assembly. It's about to start, so I won't keep you any longer. Have a good day."

"You too."

Venator and Stes walked into the assembly room, where they joined the other recruits in there.

After a few minutes, the assembly started when a bearded man entered the room on the stage.

"My name is Commander Bonum, and I'll be in charge of you recruits in the training camp."

Commander Bonum gave a short speech before looking over the attending recruits.

"I see that some of you are in good shapes," He said as his eyes landed on select individuals, staying on Venator for a bit longer than others, "And that some of you have fighting experience."

"The process to become a Marine is fairly simple, you just need to pass the training camps with adequate results."

The recruits nodded at that. That was exactly how they imagined it.

"But, there's a catch," The commander paused before saying, "None of you are special. You are all mediocre compared to the elite recruits, many of whom are destined to be among the greatest of Marines. At best, you all will end up as cannon fodd- AHEM, simple soldiers."

That did little to bolster the morale among the recruits, in fact, some of them were glaring at the commander now.

"I won't keep you any longer, let's go."

Commander Borum stepped off the stage and motioned for the recruits to follow him, many of whom did so reluctantly due to his earlier speech.

Venator and Stes followed at the back of the crowd, with Stes whispering to Venator, "What'd he do that for? People are angry now..."

"Who knows?"

Their conversation was short lived for the better, as they quickly arrived at their location.

"This will be your living area for the next year, depending on how fast you graduate, of course."

Borum pointed to a shoddy-looking building, to which many recruits complained, with the exception of a few.

"Why do we have to live there? There's clearly a better building next to it!"

Just looking from the outside, they could already tell that the interior would be far inferior to the building next to theirs.

"That's for your betters. If you want to live there, get into the elite camp first."

'How hard could it possibly be', was in the mind of many new recruits on that day.

...

"COME ON, COME ON! PICK UP YOUR PACE, GET OFF YOUR ASSES!"

Their instructor, Lieutenant Jax, hollered at them.

It has only been a day since they started their training camp, and many of the recruits already wanted to drop out.

They were clearly not used to this as most of them were living comfortable lives before, with exceptions, of course.

Venator was easily able to keep up with the 'training' at the camp, being used to exercises of much higher intensity than this.

The same could not the said for Stes, although he was showing signs of slowly adapting to the training program.

After their training was finished for the day, the recruits headed inside their building, which surprisingly looked better on the inside, although not by much.

The cafeteria was open, with servings of food laying on the counter.

The food was mediocre, consisting of potatoes and fishes, two easily grown/hunted ingredients on the sea.

After finishing their meals, their instructor called them for one last announcement before bed.

"Next week, there will be another selection process for you guys to join the elite camp," Jax said as he motioned out the window, gesturing at the fancy-looking building.

"You'll receive many benefits, such as quality training from the greatest instructors, good accommodations, and a guaranteed spot among the Ensigns should you graduate the elite camp. That means that you skip an entire division; the Infantry and Sailors'."

With Jax's announcement, the desire to join the elite camp was re-ignited in the recruits.

'Now, which one of you will be the chosen one?'