The Glacier House

The training hall was massive, and she was used to seeing it full of students practicing. Today, however, only Instructor Harald was waiting, and next to him stood two other men. She had never met any of the Commanders before, but she assumed that's who they were. They wore the Revenant uniform, and the badges they had were indicative of their Commander status. She could feel their auras radiating off them, heavy and powerful. Her step almost faltered under it but she quickly recovered and headed over to them, her head high and her back straight.

Instructor Harald and the Commanders watched her approach. Instructor Harald stepped forward and greeted her politely. She bowed, showing him the proper respect as her superior.

"Sun," he said. "This is Commander Stark, of the Third Division."

Sun bowed to him, discreetly eyeing him up. Creepy pretty much summed him up. He had a wide grin on his face, almost a cross between a leer and a smirk with a bit of genuine joy mixed in. It was a little unbelievable how he was able to pull it off. He looked to be middle aged, greying brown hair cut short and slicked back. He gave her a polite nod while his eyes bore into her left one. The more he stared, the wider his smile seemed to grow.

She knew her left disconcerted people; it was so dark it was almost black, and it had no iris, or maybe no pupil; she didn't know how it worked. Despite that, she could see perfectly fine out of it.

Instructor Harald introduced the second man to her while she was still bowed.

"And this is Commander Allens of the Ninth."

Ninth? Internal affairs? Why would he need to be here to witness this? She had thought perhaps the Commander of the Fifth or Seventh might be here, maybe even Eighth or Tenth. She understood why the Third would be here given the utter lack of knowledge on her power.

Before anything more could be said, the doors to the hall opened again, and a third Commander was standing there. He was tall, lithe, long sleek black hair parted on the side so the long, elaborate earring that hung from his left ear was visible. She wondered at the significance of it, it looked expensive and this man didn't look the jewellery type. He was probably the most attractive person she had ever seen though, more perfectly carved statue than man.

Sun would swear the temperature in the room dropped a couple of degrees too. Instructor Harald looked mildly uncomfortable and shot a quick glance to Commander Allens who only smiled placidly back.

"Commander Illusen," Instructor Harald greeted. "I wasn't aware you would be attending."

"Is that a problem?" Somehow the question had surpassed challenging and sounded more like a threat.

This man's aura was just as - if not more - powerful than the other two. It was oppressive and smothering, with a streak of ice through it.

"Of course not," Harald replied.

Commander Starks grin had only widened at the poorly concealed discomfort.

Commander Illusen stalked his way to the centre of the room to join them. His eyes met hers for just a moment as he passed her, and she was sure she caught a flash of something - surprise, sadness maybe? It had been too quick to decipher before he'd become impassive. Illusen was the Commander of the Seventh, his being here made sense.

"Sun, this is Commander Illusen, of the Seventh," Instructor Harald introduced him, the man himself watching her impassively.

It didn't seem physically possible, but Commander Stark's grin had widened further. Why was he deriving so much joy out of this?

"Are you ready, Sun?" Instructor Harald asked.

That really depended on what she would be required to do. She remained silent and he must have taken that as a yes.

At a signal to someone up in the viewing box, the sprinklers at the other end of the hall turned on, creating a pool of water. Instructor Harald led the Commanders to a higher vantage point where they would be well away from any moisture.

Sun apprehensively watched the water spread until she was standing in it, then the sprinklers were turned off. The doors at the end of the hall opened, and four men chained together at the wrists and ankles shuffled in.

"Prisoners sentenced to the gallows, Sun. Kill them through the water."

Although she had been expecting it, she was still shocked - maybe at how cavalier the others were about it. She tried to hide it but she was sure something must have slipped.

In the reflection of the water, she could see people, the dead on the other side. And her instructor wanted her to send more through.

To practice this ability, she'd had to use it in the past, but she'd only ever used it on plants and insects, and once a mouse. The mouse had been under orders and she hadn't wanted to. She liked animals.

She took a deep breath and looked to Instructor Harald and shook her head. "I... can't."

"Why not?" There was a hint of irritation in his tone.

"They're people." As if that explained it.

She could almost feel the eye roll from Commander Stark.

"While your regard for life is commendable, the world will be better off for their deaths," Harald told her. "Now do it."

She looked to the prisoners; they were just standing there, their eyes glazed. Had they been drugged before this?

Her hesitation must have lasted too long; Harald spoke again.

"Now, Sun. Or the Farron boys will be expelled."

Her surprise at his statement quickly morphed to a glare. They couldn't toss her out given what she could do and that legally she was their ward, but they could toss out Zen and Nick just to punish her.

Cunts.

Despite Nick's offer earlier, she was aware it wasn't really what the boys wanted. They would rather not leave Perdition and end up back on the streets. Granted, they'd never return to the slums and they could probably figure out new lives for themselves now that they had an education, as Nick had said earlier. But it was easier and more secure to stay here. She couldn't take that from them, and if killing four inmates was the way to do it...

She closed her eyes and gathered her power, feeling it in the water, and through it she could feel the life force of the four men. It was a strange sensation; she had to pull their lives out of them and to her. Learning to do it at will had been hard, and still felt strange and uncomfortable. If she had a choice she wouldn't use this power at all. She felt the life drain out of them, felt it flowing through the water and soaking into her skin, into her soul.

When she opened her eyes, the four inmates were shrivelled and aged and... gone. Their eyes were vacant milky pools, their skin was wrinkled, their hair white. They'd aged to death. And she felt... energized, spritely - physically. The rest of her wanted to throw up.

Instructor Harald glanced at the Commanders. Illusen remained impassive. Stark was still grinning and he actually barked out a laugh, drawing Sun's glare. She stalked over to them, fists clenched at her sides, clearly not happy.

"Amazing!" Stark cried out. "Simply amazing."

"Am I done here?" She spat.

Instructor Harald nodded and she stormed off, not even bothering to bow. They watched her disappear out the door before turning back to each other.

"So what do you think?" Harald asked the trio.

"It is a very unique ability," Allens said, a polite smile on his face.

"When does she graduate?" Stark asked.

"Depending on the results of her exams, we're hoping with the next batch."

"Has she expressed an interest in any particular division? I would very much like to study this girl."

"We were actually hoping, Commander Stark, that you might know something about her ability. With your knowledge it was our belief you may have come across something similar or could at least hazard a guess as to the limits of her potential and just how this ability works."

Stark shook his head. "Never seen it's like. But I have seen the eye," he said, his own amused eyes drifting to Commander Illusen a moment. "So you're going to allow me to study her then?"

Harald looked more than a little reluctant. Stark's reputation was well known throughout Perdition as being quite sadistic with those he deemed 'specimens.' If they allowed him to study her, there was no way of predicting how she would end up, if she survived at all. And her power was far too useful to be wasted.

He looked to Allens; some kind of silent communication passed between them.

"And what brought you to this demonstration, Commander Illusen?" He asked.

The man declined to answer, and though his face was blank, there was a seething fury left in his wake as he stalked from the room.

Harald exchanged another look with Commander Allens, his stomach sinking. But the Commander only thanked him and left at a more sedate pace than Illusen, completely unruffled.