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Location: Arpeggio, Northern Edge.

Time: 10:30am.

Year: 2092, January 10th.

I was driven over to the Northern Edge of the city. The entire city was one large octagon. The edges were also supported by one arch each, as well as half a dozen arches inside the city itself; but THEY weren't made into a giant elevator.

I was the only recruit there. I was standing alone, facing the tip of on of the Arches that ended in the shape of a dome. The base was made up of a short, but wide door that folded open, revealing ten seats. They must have been drop pods used to get groundside in a matter of seconds.

Standing with me were two people. The first was Vincent, who stayed silent, and next to him stood a tall female Avian, dressed in a standard black Arch-Angel outfit. They were both standing next to the Arch, leaning against it.

"Today, you're going to go groundside for testing." The Avian begun. "You'll meet up with your squad and will take direct orders from your commander, Carson Fisher. You'll take one of the drop pods; just flip the blue switch on the seat, sit back and enjoy the ride."

That was it. For Militia officials, they were all very brief; even Vincent just nodded to me and left me there. I walked up to the far left pod. I dropped down onto the seat and flipped the blue switch on the right arm. I felt an iron bar come down over my chest, and the long door folded back again, closing in front of me. The only source of light was a deep red bulb that was fixed overhead. I heard a quiet hum as the pod began to shake loose.

In an instant, the pod had dropped down a tight shaft, making me feel weightless. My ears were filled with the constant scraping as I fell. My rifle was beginning to shake loose, but I was restrained by the bar. A few seconds had passed, and the scraping had faded away. I felt a short bump; I could tell that the pod had stopped. My ears were ringing as the doors folded open again.

The bar lifted itself up, and I stepped out to feel something gritty and hard. The whole area was pitch black; only the blue light from the pod had illuminated the area - well, that wasn't entirely true. I also saw a large source of light to my left. It was getting closer, so I drew my rifle and pointed it towards the light source. I was equipped with a small floodlight, so I was able to see within a couple of meters of myself.

I saw a group of three people approaching me. They must have been my squad. The person at the front was a tall, male grey Wolf dressed in a thick, black leather jumpsuit. The other two were a male Avian and Bear, who wore slightly thinner jumpsuits. The Wolf strode up to me and looked me up and down, scowling.

"So, you're the new meat?" He asked disappointedly. "You don't look like Arch-Angel material."

I holstered my rifle and stared back at him, not bothering to introduce myself. I expected them to know who I was. The Avian walked up and shook my hand with a firm and serious grip.

"Don't mind the Commander." He said. "He doesn't mean anything. The name's Cam. The Bear's called Lance. Welcome to Squad-172."

The black bear just nodded at me, staying silent. For an Avian, Cam had surprisingly plain white feathers. We had to fun to catch up with Fisher, who was walking past the edge of the city. The sky was hardly any lighter that the shadow of the city. We were so low down that there was too much fog to see past our lights.

We were approaching a small warehouse that was no larger than an apartment. It was constructed out of iron fencing and grating. Lance had to force a large piece of grating aside, revealing an empty room. I noticed that all the pieces of metal were impaled into the ground; there were also three sides to the building, the fourth was made up of a cliff base. No one walked inside, but instead, Fisher had forced me in, and threw something in.

"We'll come back in a day or two." He called in, closing the grate. "Don't die, and don't let your light go out."

"Hey! Wait!" I shouted.

I didn't know what else to say, so I just stood there, holding my weapon by the strap. The three-man squad ignored me, and walked away; their light slowly got smaller as they got further away. I was alone. I sat down on the hard ground and listened to the silence, waiting for something to happen.

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Location: Under-Arpeggio, Proving Grounds.

Time: 18:30pm.

Year: 2092, January 10th.

Hunger had settled in, and I was getting very tired. I had to focus to keep my vision stable. I needed to be on my feet and wait for the squad to return. Before they went, though, Fisher had thrown something in. It was a small belt, and attached to it were half a dozen small mines. I didn't know what to do with them, so I just left them in one of the corners.

I perked up my ears. I had heard something coming from the distance. It sounded like a low growling mixed with screeching and the rustling of stones. They all mixed into one sound that was constantly getting louder. I felt cold. It wasn't the cold that made you shiver; it was the cold that made you fur stand on end, and your insides start to go cold too. I lifted up my gun, and backed into the cliff edge, looking through the grates on the other end of the shack.

I left my floodlight in the centre of the shack, illuminating the room, as well as a good portion of the outside. I saw something approach the grating. It looked like a large, hairless wolf. Its flesh was scorched red, and instead of eyes, there were thin, vertical slits that revealed pitch black eyes. This was my test. I had to survive a day on the surface; which was filled with Demons. I had forgotten that part.

The Demon had spread its limbs out, which were like long branches with claws; even it's legs. It was as if it had four hands. It slowly attached itself to the grating with its feet, still growling and starting to reach in with its right claw. It tore straight through the iron, and tried to force itself inside. That was when I pulled the trigger.

I heard a metallic ‘twang' as the steel spike shot out of the gun, and implanted itself in the Demon's right shoulder, sending it's arm out of the grating, and tearing its flesh on the broken metal. It screeched out in pain, and I shot again; this time implanting the spike in the Demon's head, silencing it forever. I heard more screeches overhead, and saw more shadows approach.

I took this advantage, and shot them while they were still far away. I saw two drop to the floor, leaving three more left standing, running towards the opening. I took out the cylinder, and reached into the inside of my coat, pulling out five more spikes and inserting them into the cylinder.

I bought up my gun again to see that the Demons had already reached the opening, and wee continuing to claw their way in. I kept unloading spike after spike at them until I couldn't see past the bodies that were piled up. I merely heard the Demons trying to find another way around; and when I thought it was all over, I heard them tearing through something. It sounded like they were cutting through flesh.

I resumed shooting through the bodies, hoping that they would go through and hit the other Demons. The firing lasted five minutes until I had stopped, and heard nothing. I was breathing heavily, my ears were ringing and I had dropped my gun to the floor. I had to be sure that nothing was on the other side, so I focused my eyes until it started to hurt. My head started to throb and everything started to turn clear until I saw straight through the walls. I didn't see anything moving, so I let go my focus and fell to the floor. I was in the clear, for now, and I closed my eyes to try and get some rest. Hopefully, Fisher and his squad would come back soon, and I would be able to put this whole mess behind me.

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Location: Under-Arpeggio, Proving Grounds.

Time: 09:45am.

Year: 2092, January 11th.

I had fallen asleep just moments after the fight. I was dreaming the same dream that I always had since I joined the Militia. I was standing in an empty room. It was on fire, but I wasn't screaming. I just looked around and watched the walls as they begun to melt. Once they did, the fire had died away, and there was just darkness. No matter how many times I tried to look around, I couldn't find any source of light. I felt someone's hand run across my back, and up to my head. Then everything stopped. All my senses had gone. I couldn't feel, smell, see or hear anything. When I tried to cry out, I had woken up.

I got up and heard some voices coming from outside the grating. I also heard a dull hum of what sounded like an engine. What was left of the Demon's bodies was being cut apart by some kind of saw. I got up and raised my gun, pointing it at the opening. The bodies were cleared and the grating was forced aside. Three silhouettes had walked in, carrying large rifles in their arms. The floodlight had illuminated the area, and the three silhouettes. It was the squad. They had come to pick me up.

"Holy Shit." I heard one of them say. "What the hell happened here?"

I didn't need to answer. The three man party had walked me out of the torn up shack and back to the elevator. I had completed my first test; and hopefully my last. But I couldn't shake off one thought.

I had felt more alone than I ever had since my recruitment.