Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening

"What do you think they're doing right now? Playing some of their little games?"

"I remember you used to feel like it was an annoying waste of time until you got bored and had nothing to do"

Selena and Marcus both said, their words directed towards August who stood outside gazing at the scenery from the mountain top with his back turned against them.

The two instructors, sat at the small terrace in front of his unit's building with a small table with small cups and a bottle of wine between them.

The last time the three of them had been gathered like that was during the general meeting between the Chief Commader and the other high officials of the camp.

Other than that, every other time August and Marcus were in proximity of each other bad almost always ended in a fight between the hostile parties with Selena there to get between them before they tool things too far.

The truth was that these three instructors weren't always on such bad terms, or rather, August though hailing with his reputation of being eccentric hadn't always been looked upon in bad light by the other instructors in the camp.

It all dialed down to the events during their last stage of training during their time as recruits in the camp.

'Tch! Why did these sore losers have to come here. That was my last bottle of wine!!!'

August closed his eyes, unwilling to turn around and watched as theu gulped down his last, precious bottle of good stuff.

It was hard to find anything good on an alien planet and he had pulled all the strings to get the old man to hand him those few bottles from his stash.

"Tss!"

August grimaced at the memory of the old man visiting while bearing those "gifts". He had definitely been swindled by the old fox and he couldn't even tell.

'Sigh...why is he here though!'

August eyes shifted to the edge, looking at Micheal, the white haired scientist who loathed the idea of leaving the lab where he buried himself in unless it was a direct order from the head of the camp— the chief commander.

When asked, the scientist said he was here for Kieran, seeking out the recruit for research purposes.

Of course, August refused to handover his favorite student over to someone whose presence he could bearly stand.

That didn't explain his reason for staying behind though, joining the two instructors in indulging themselves with his wine.

Selena was the only reason he hadn't crashed out abd swung his wooden sword at those two. As long as she was here, he had no choice but to remain docile.

"Comon, August. Why don't you share your opinion?"

Marcus's voice reached his and August finally spoke in response to their comments from earlier.

They weren't wrong. The kids were definitely in the middle of playing some games against each other, but..

"It doesn't matter, they'd impress me more of they could scheme while handling what ain't about to drop on their laps. It's a fat, juicy gift for them after all. From me, their favorite instructor!"

August said, with his closed eyes in smiling crescents.

His poor attempt at hiding his frustration was a source of amusement for Marcus and Micheal who instantly became friends when it came to watching him gritting his teeth and squeezing the cane in his hands, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it.

"That's enough!"

Selena interfered in their taunting acts, seeing that August was on the very edge, about to lose it completely. Her presence might cause him to behave more reasonably, but she had no hold or control over the random attitude of the fellow instructor.

The other two didn't mind though, having had their fill of his embarrassing state.

"Shouldn't you be worried August, your kids are part of the ones to be sent out first, possible having to face the risk of roles far beyond their staion."

Selena said, probing at August.

There was one thing she didn't understand and she knew she was missing out on something. Something both August and Micheal, the scientist were unwilling to let her on.

"Shouldn't you be thinking that about your own kids? They aren't in any situation different from mind. If anything, you might need to see your older ones and whisper words of assurance into their ears. Make sure they don't soil their pants"

August said, a little offensively, but he barely gained anything off Selena.

"I'm carrying out the old man's orders without complaining despite knowing how much I don't like it. You should be happy about that, complimenting me even. Not asking me questions like interrogating criminal."

August walked up to her and said, looking straight into her eyes before stepping into the building and assuming meditative pose at the center of the room.

"Tch. Cocky bastard. He isn't wrong though."

Marcus said with a slightly sour tone, looking in the direction of the room separated from them by a single wall.

Michael's silence was only another form of agreement from him and Selena sighed, realizing her own mistake.

The three didn't remain much longer, returning to their duty posts after sharing a few more glasses of August's precious wine.

"Tch! What's the point? If you're gonna be nice, be nice. Don't put me through that kind of emotional torture!"

August grimaced, easily spotting the three bottles of the rare wine they had all level behind.

'I wonder what got them all so nice and chummy?'

He wiped his chin, and waved his hands, making the bottles disappear instantly.

'I wonder how they would react to it though. The message should be reaching them any moment now'

August thought with a small smile

The faces of Kieran, Derrick and Richard flashed across his mind, making the smile run wider across his face.

He had really picked up the quite the odd combination.

.....

Back in the camp, the recruits had descended into a state of confusion, seeing the new notice released by the camp.

Kieran, in his room stared at his watch, reading the contents of the notice and smiled, expecting something like this already.

"It all clicks now. Are these old men senile or what?"

Orion, also in his room stared down at the notice with a rather dark expression. Veylan's hints towards him all making sense now and to say he was shocked was an understatement.

Unlike the other recuits who had yet to be met with the brutal and crushing reality of this release, he understood fully what this meant and he didn't think that the military would pull such a bold move under their noses.

"They really did it, huh?"

Sabrina muttered standing in the middle of snow filled fields with the blood and corpses of several beasts splattered around her like a cold mural while Liam watched looked in her direction from a distance. He had also just seen the notice.

"This isn't good. What the hell are they thinking. They don't know what they're about to involve themselves into!"

Asher, the Number 1 second year recruit in the camp muttered, hearing the news from a subordinate.

'I'd have her to give her a heads up. Can't have her falling so soon!'

His mind went to Sabrina and her movement. She couldn't go into this blindly and he doubted she had the resources to make the necessary decisions.

"Bold!"

A female voice expressed with a thick, cold accent. The recruit sitting at the number 2 position in the camp said after taking a glance at the news dispatched by the camp.

Her attention didn't last long on that though, quickly returning to the image of Kieran on the holographic screen in front of her.

'Why would he be looking for me?'

'....'

Richard and Derrick's eyes locked together in the dojo that was their unit's building. They both had different thoughts, but both fundamentally understood that they were critical to the other

'This changes things!'

The gears in Jake's mind spun rapidly, reading through the notice for thr nth time in a row before looking up at Ruby to see how she reacted to it, but it was rather dull than he thought as her face sported no emotion.

'That's good at least. It's been a little hard keeping track of her thoughts lately.'

Jake sighed in concern

'Just the chance I needed to kill those bastards!'

Ruby's thoughts were a stark opposite from her calm and stoic face — violent and oppressive.

Her eyes glanced at Jake and saw him heave a small sigh of relief.

'Thinking I wouldn't know what you and Kieran were up to was your mistake, Jake. I already told him, it's my business and I'll handle it myself, my way!'

Ruby's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint reflecting her inner thoughts.

"Just as expected. Hopefully, he recognizes the opportunity and takes care of everything quite properly"

Veylan smiled taking a sip from the glass of wine in his hand.