Rufus stood at the center of the dim training hall, the lights overhead flickering like they were nervous. The squad formed a tight semicircle around him, silent, waiting. No one knew why he'd summoned them at this hour, and none of them dared ask.
He raised a hand.
The doors sealed shut behind them with a metallic sigh.
"Before we step outside those walls," Rufus said, voice echoing through the hall, "I need to know if you'll break."
Fred swallowed hard. Tess shifted her weight. Lira and Nami exchanged a quick glance. It wasn't fear on their faces—more like a quiet realization that this was the moment they stopped being trainees and became something else.
The floor split open, revealing the first wave of small spherical drones rising into the air. Their cores glowed an eerie blue.
More followed.
Then more.
They filled the space like a metallic swarm.
"Trial begins now."
The room exploded into motion.
The drones fired stun bolts, fast enough to sting even through armor. Tess dove in recklessly, launching herself at the first cluster she saw, striking with raw firepower. She took down three—only to get clipped in the ribs by a fourth she didn't see coming. Her momentum crashed into a wall, knocking the air out of her lungs.
"Reckless," Lira muttered as she redirected two bolts with precise blade movements, her attacks clean enough to carve through targets Fred wasn't fast enough to shield.
Fred raised his shield in time to block a barrage that would've tagged Nami. His stance shook, boots sliding back, but he held.
"Adjust formation!" Nami called, already moving to create overlap between their blind spots. She read the battlefield too quickly—almost unnervingly so—and the others instinctively followed her lead.
Rufus watched them silently, arms crossed. Then he activated the next phase.
The lights snapped off.
Total darkness.
The drones shifted to heat tracking.
The squad breathed sharply—panic flickering, blooming, threatening to spread.
That was when Rufus used it.
His Dominion link snapped into place like an invisible chain.
Tess froze mid-movement, panic spiking through her mind. Rufus pressed into her thoughts—not painfully, but absolutely.
Calm.
The command wasn't spoken. It was felt, cold and unshakeable, like the hand of a giant settling on her shoulders.
Her breathing slowed. Her mind cleared.
Her stance corrected automatically.
Fred didn't see the mental override, but he felt the atmosphere shift—like Rufus's presence had gone from simply watching to sitting on all their shoulders at once.
They fought on.
And they survived.
Barely.
When the final drone fell, the lights blinked back on. The room smelled like ozone and burnt circuits. Everyone was sweating. Tess was shaking slightly but standing. Fred looked like he'd been carrying the squad on his back. Lira's arms trembled from overexertion. Nami stared at the floor, calculating where she messed up.
Rufus stepped forward.
"You didn't impress me."
Their hearts sank.
"But," he continued, "you didn't break either."
Relief washed through the group like warm wind.
He turned his back, heading for the door as it unsealed with a hiss.
"We leave at dawn," he said. "Rest now. The wilds won't wait for us."
He paused just long enough for the weight to settle.
"And neither will the beasts gathering outside the city."
The hall went silent.
The real mission had begun.