ENLIGHTENMENT

"Hey!! Hey!!!! Wake up Locke or you will be late. You still have to get ready for the checkup." I heard someone desperately trying to wake a person. 

Oh!! I just forgot that I am Seth Locke now. 

I hurriedly opened my eyes and looked down from the bed where Edison was standing on the floor looking up at me. He was wearing formal clothes, Black shirt with light brown pants. He was looking at me with scrunched eyes. 

"I told you to wake up early!!" He shouted and continued saying, "Go and get your ID as fast as possible!! They will not examine your condition if you don't have your ID." 

"Just wait for me!" I also shouted while jumping from the bed. 

"Hurry up! Wash your face and make your bed, I am not going to do it." Edison said it an angry tone. 

I hurriedly went inside the bathroom and turned on the faucet. There were two toothbrushes in a white cup which was attached on the wall with a cup holder. I didn't know which toothbrush was mine so I asked Edison from the bathroom. 

"Hey Gil!! Which toothbrush is mine?" Gilbert heard an echoing voice coming from the bathroom. 

Ooohhh!!! Don't tell me, you forgot about your own toothbrush, you dipshit. It's the blue coloured one." 

I washed my face and saw that now all the burning scars were healed, I have to hurry up to get my ID. 

............ 

I went to the front office to get my ID. There was a middle-aged man sitting on a chair with a desk in front of him. There was a computer on the table. He asked me about the ID number, but I told him that it was lost in the training camp. He asked me about my name and then it was easy to get my ID. I flipped it and looked at the writing content. 

-Seth Locke. 

-Age:17 years. 

-Sex: Male. 

-Caliber: Fire endurance. 

-Caliber type: Prosaic. 

"Hmmm?" I hummed in question. Am I really that ordinary in this world of technology and magic? Now, I am not feeling confident, I cannot even create flames? But the original Seth wrote in the diary that he was able to create flames now. 

After getting my ID I went to giant hall of this building which had become a ward for now. Gil also accompanied me. When we were waiting for our turn for checkup Gil started talking to me. 

"Man, I sure was lucky to not go to the same training area as you!!" Gil said looking at me. 

"I don't think they should have called it a training camp. We were basically ordered for murdering other humans." I frowned and expressed some anger in my words, because in a war you are simply expected to kill humans. 

"What? There were not humans, and you were given the orders to protect the humans. Perhaps, did you kill any humans?" Shit, I messed up really bad, why did I not think that there could be other species like giant dragons threatening the existence of humans in this world. 

"Did you really kill humans when you were given the orders of killing the hybrids!" Gil's right corner of lips was curled upwards and was twitching slightly. 

"No, no I meant that those hybrids were humans once too." I gambled on my words. 

"No!! They are not humans; they sold their humanity for worldly desires." Gil acted desperately to prove me wrong. 

"Ok! Ok! I get it, it's not that I said they were humans." I tried to justify my words. Now, it's really a mystery why did Seth address them as humans in his diary? I think I should persuade Gil about it. 

"Gil, why are they called hybrids again? Can you please tell me!!" I inquired Gil about the whole hybrids' situation. 

"Dude you should remember basic things of our syllabus. What are you going to do if you fail your exams?" Gil complained. 

"Oh, shut it!!" I shouted with my eyes squeezed shut. 

"Well, hybrids have a specie name for themselves. They are called the Deathodds. They were given this name because they mostly attack dead bodies of other species and control them. Some Deathodds can even regain the caliber ability of humans etched in their body. They have been sighted the most in the ruins of Hilska. After Hilska they have been sighted the most in the Emerald nation. Rubridoire empire promised to help Emerald country which lies right beside the Hilska country on the planet Aquegor." Shit, he just dumped a lot of information at me. I hope that I will remember it. I was not expecting them to give earth a new name.  

................. 

After getting done from the checkups we were going to our dorms when there was announcement made in the hall through the loudspeakers attached on the corner wall of the hall.  

-All recruits and cadets of space patrol are to gather in the auditorium of war aid department building. We repeat, all recruits and cadets of space patrol are to gather in the auditorium of war aid department building. 

"Huh? I didn't hear anything about this!" Gil frowned. 

What are they going to announce? Well, since they announced to gather without telling a time, it meant that they have summoned everyone right now in the auditorium. 

"Everyone who is done from their checkups, go to the auditorium right now!" A lady wearing a suit was saying this from the opposite side of the door. 

"But teacher I want to go too bathroom!!" 

"Hurry up and go then!!!" The teacher said in anger forming a fist with her right hand. 

Shit, I was hoping that I would see Hoover or Ellie here while they had their checkups, but I haven't seen either one of them here. 

................. 

Gil and I went to the auditorium. Its entrance gate was made of iron. After seeing the iron gate, I again questioned if I was really sent into the future. That remind me there are a lot of things I am not sure about. What is Space Patrol? What is War aid department of Space Patrol? What are calibers? 

I was walking immersed in my thoughts when someone bumped into me. 

"Watch where are you going dickhead? A boy of same age as me gave me a taunt. Sharp teeth in his mouth almost resembled those of sharks. 

"I am sorry!" I bowed in apology. 

"Eh?" The boy said in dumbfounded voice. 

"Oh God! Seth what has happened to you? Why are you apologizing to this lowlife?" Gil screamed at me as if he was not able to understand my behaviour. 

"Is he okay?" The sharp teeth boy whispered to Gil in concerned voice. 

"I don't know!!" Gil whispered back in a scandalized tone. 

................ 

Gil, Sharp teeth boy and I were sitting in the back seats of auditorium, second last from top. It looks like this sharp tooth boy also knew Seth as he sat quite comfortably beside me desperately trying to hold my right hand with his left hand. 

Why is he doing that? I wanted to ask him but chose not to. 

Soon other cadets also started to come in the auditorium after their checkups and seats of auditorium started to fill up. I saw Ellie and Hoover both walking inside and sitting at their seats. It relieved me seeing that both were fine. I had initially planned to ask them about the front office but was able to get my ID without their help. 

A man wearing black and white formal cloths entered the auditorium. It is good that the guest came early because sitting on these chairs made of stone with design of dragon on their backs was very painful. 

The guest soon climbed the stage and stood behind the dice. 

"Hello and good morning! My name is Leonard James, I am an executor in the space patrol, and welcome to Heinsberg I am here to share the treasure of knowledge with you!"  

He started his speech with cliche fake charisma. 

"As you all know, all of you are now honorable cadets of space patrol. The last training camp was your final big mountain to climb which this time everybody did without any loss of life." 

He was looking at every cadet in the auditorium from the bottom to the top. 

"And for your accomplishment of this hazardous task you will be joining the space patrol without any written or oral entry test. All the people present in this auditorium are war orphans including me, that teacher over there and all of you." 

He took a breath before continuing, "Being a war orphan means that you have no living blood relation. And you have given us the opportunity to guide your innocent soul on the right path. It doesn't mean that you will be in the war aid department. It was only for your training. You will be summoned only when your assistance is required in a war. The squad selected as war aid will be chosen by the higher ups."  

So basically, at the same time we do and don't have a choice. 

"You are the foundation of an established future. And that will be done only by you serving in the Space Patrol for the honor of king. To make your job easier we will be giving you Holy arms appropriate for your caliber nature." 

Holy arms?? He hasn't said anything about vital force yet. 

"You will pay for the Holy arms with your results, your accomplishments will ultimately reduce the loan of Holy arms. To perform your duties, you will be stationed in different planets where necessary aid is required!"  

So, what is this Space Patrol? What role does it play in this world. Are there wars going on everywhere. War aid department is summoned only during war? So many questions rose in my mind but I would ignore them if nobody asked him a question. 

"That was all! If you have any questions than gently raise your hands." 

After Leonard James said that I saw a boy sitting at the right end side of my line who seemed like my senior, raising his hand. 

"I wanted to ask, what is the specific role of space patrol and how is it different from War aid department.?" The boy asked with serious eyes. 

"Yes! It is a very good question. It seems like there are some people who are confused about Space Patrol and War aid, first of all, they are not one thing, I would like to clear that. Secondly, Space Patrol is a department which maintains peace in all of the universe, War aid is a division of Space Patrol which is formed during the crisis of war. 

It is formed after recognizing the abilities, merit and the performance of the students in this academy by the higher ups form the war aid department."  

The boy again asked a question, "So can we refuse to participate in that department?" 

"Yes, you certainly can!" James answered him with a smile that seemed nonchalant to me. 

"So, does anybody else have any questions?" He again asked turning his gaze towards the cadets sitting at the bottom line. 

A girl stood from the second to last bottom line, and I was able to recognize the back side of her hair. 

"What is the promoting system of Space Patrol, and do we have an option of not enrolling in Space Patrol?" Ellie stood firm while asking that question, she did not stutter. I know if I had asked any question I would have stuttered. 

"You asked two things! Well, to answer your first question promoting system of Space Patrol is divided into class with lower class starting from a soldier to the highest class General. You will be promoted based on your results and merit, there is no involvement of calibers in this promoting system. 

To answer your second question, yes you have an option, but it will be related to the Space Patrol. It means that you can either become a medical doctor for the soldiers or you can become a psychotherapist for soldiers, but you will only be able to make both ends meet by joining the Space Patrol unless you are a first class medical doctor or therapist. There are other jobs as well, blacksmith of Holy arms is one of them." 

"And now does anybody else have any questions?" He again asked with a nihilistic smile. 

"So, when are we going to enroll in the Space Patrol?" It was the sharp tooth boy who asked this time. 

"You will be joining the Space Patrol a week from now, tomorrow you will be selecting your Holy arms. I was told to give you basic guidance." He raised his hand that was on the dice all the time and was now moving his hands in the air. 

Hmmm, so that means I will be getting a Holy arm tomorrow. Wait a minute! I don't even know what a Holy arm is? 

I immediately raised my hand to ask about that "hm, it looks like questions are not stopping."  

"What is a Holy arm? C-could you please e-explain about them in detail!" 

Shit I told you I would stutter. 

"Well, you have learnt about them in your syllabus in quite detail, but Holy arm could be a weapon, a ring, a necklace, anything that has the ability to amplify your power could be your Holy arm. Holy arms are made by the fossils of divine beings that were defeated in the great war between humans and divine beings, that happened six hundred years ago." 

I was almost going to not carefully listen to him after he taunted me. But still I had to listen to him. 

"Any way if any of you don't have any question left then I will grant my leave from you." 

It was at this moment Ellie suddenly rose up from her seat and asked a question, 

"So are we going to the aid of Emerald nation or we can refuse!"