The free days inside the camp were usually a happy period, even if missions popped up. Yet, George's outburst ruined the mood of all the recruits who had been unlucky enough to witness the event.
Khan struggled to see the positive side of the situation. He knew that his previous words had managed to change Paul's mind, but George had still reminded him of everything that had happened on Istrone. Moreover, the boy had shown that his usual happy behavior was only a mask that covered his real feelings.
George had managed to fool Khan too. The latter knew that his friend wasn't completely fine, but he didn't expect the problems to be so profound.
'I was so happy about Liiza just a few minutes ago,' Khan cursed in his mind. 'Come one, world! Let me enjoy my first time for at least one week!'
Recalling about the time spent with his girlfriend cheered him up a little. After all, Khan had already faced his memories of Istrone. He had yet to accept them completely, but he was in a relatively good position now, especially since he had Liiza in his life.
Still, the issue remained. George was in a bad place, and Khan couldn't do much to help him. He was the only one inside the camp who could talk with the traumatized recruit since they shared the same tragic memories, but pain was a strange emotion to face. What worked for Khan probably wouldn't work for George.
"You have been great," Veronica's voice resounded from behind Khan after he heard the noise caused by the sliding metal doors. "George is lucky to have a friend like you."
"You have seen him," Khan turned and showed a helpless expression toward the girl. "Would you call that lucky?"
Veronica's smile transformed into a complicated expression when she heard Khan's words. She had no idea George carried so much sorrow. The topics mentioned during his outburst with Paul had even managed to worry her.
Khan felt the need to fly back to the mountains right away, but he forced himself to walk inside the building. Veronica silently followed him, and the gazes of all the recruits soon converged on the two.
"Let's clean up," Khan ordered in a plain voice before bending to pick a cup from the floor.
"You don't need to do it," Natalie announced from the back of the corridor. "We caused this mess. It's our job to clean it."
"It will be faster if everyone helps," Khan replied before bending again to pick another cup lying on the floor.
"Stop," Veronica said while quickly moving in front of him and grabbing his wrist. "We insist, right?"
Khan noticed the resolve in Veronica's face before seeing how the other recruits nodded and began to clean the corridor. A sigh soon escaped his mouth when he understood that the group wouldn't let him help. Khan limited himself to hand the cups to the girl and stand up.
"George only needs to sleep," Khan explained. "I bet he'll be up in an hour or two. I believe he will also remember everything that has happened, so reassure him."
Khan turned to walk toward his room at that point, but Veronica made him stop his tracks with a question whispered in a hesitant tone. "Is it true?"
Khan turned to glance at the girl and her complicated expression, but he quickly noticed that the other recruits were wearing similar faces. It was clear that George's words had forced them to reconsider their orders.
It didn't matter how hard they tried to suppress their thoughts. The recruits had eventually realized that the Global Army was asking them to let children and kids die, and George's outburst had forced them to face that plan in its entirety. They felt unable to ignore their doubts after seeing how they could end up.
"What is?" Khan asked.
"Will we have to go through the same pain that George is facing now?" Veronica continued as the hesitation in her eyes intensified.
"How honest do I have to be?" Khan asked as he lowered his gaze.
"As honest as you can," Veronica pleaded. "Don't make it easy for us. We want to know what to expect."
The events on Istrone had been relatively simple. The Kred had rebelled, and many recruits had died. The revolt had been a pure and cruel vengeance that aimed to ruin the future of the Global Army.
Instead, Nitis' situation was complicated. The Global Army knew about the mutations, but it couldn't predict how they would evolve the planet's fauna. The very nature of those transformations made them casual events that often led to unstable forms.
It was impossible to predict the actual consequences of that worldwide crisis. The entire planet had multiple strong warriors, but the monsters would definitely be more of them. The Niqols would remain outnumbered even with the help of the humans.
Khan knew that the Niqols would take care of their younger generations since he had passed the information to Liiza. However, he couldn't reassure the recruits due to the secrecy of his relationship and his action. He had to give them a convincing lie, but that came easy to him, especially since it would have actual experiences as a foundation.
"It will probably be worse than Istrone," Khan revealed. "The entirety of Nitis will go through a massive change. We might need weeks spent hunting to bring everything back to normal. The battles alone will cause many casualties."
The recruits remained speechless at how easily Khan could describe those events. Death sounded almost normal to him when he told them about the imminent crisis.
Khan's emotionless face wasn't the only reason behind their dumbfounded state. The recruits actually felt scared when they thought about Nitis in its entirety. The planet accommodated only a hundred or so humans, but they would probably need to help with as many hunts as possible.
The idea of spending entire weeks fighting made the recruits lose every desire to stick around. The dangerousness and probably gory state of the incoming battlefields also made them experience some doubts toward the mission.
The problem wasn't even the actual danger to some of them. A few recruits were confident enough in their abilities not to fear monsters. Yet, they were worried about their minds. Ending up with heavy traumas like George wasn't a nice prospect.
"Wh-," Veronica uttered before hesitating for a bit and deciding to complete her question. "What should we do in your opinion?"
The question surprised Khan. He couldn't decide what was better for those recruits, but he didn't want to leave them hanging either, so he opted for the truth.
"You won't be the same after the crisis," Khan explained. "Running away from this one isn't too bad, but you'll eventually find a battle that you can't escape. I suggest you don't be in the army at all if you don't want to see this stuff."
Khan turned at that point. His previous words had confused all the recruits, but that was fine. They would have to think about their actual character and how far they were willing to go to follow orders.
Browsing through the few menus allowed Khan to seal his room in a matter of seconds. He couldn't even hear the noises happening outside thanks to its settings.
Khan ended up waiting to get his food. He could order it from his room, but the recruits were still cleaning the corridor, and he didn't want a random soldier to learn about the party.
Hours spent meditating, practicing the eleventh mental exercise, and reviewing the moves of the Divine Reaper went by. The memories awakened by George never resurfaced during those moments, but he still felt off.
It was strange to be treated as a leader after lying so much. Khan had helped his companions a few times already, but he had always worn his mask during those moments.
Khan also had to lie to George due to the issues connected to Liiza. The two of them weren't even close to being best friends, but they had developed a tight connection after Istrone. They had built that bond through blood and death, but their relationship couldn't go past that due to their packed schedule and the secrets that Khan had to keep to preserve his happiness.
Luckily for Khan, training always made the hours flow quickly, and the nighttime arrived in a blink while he remained isolated in his room. He stopped his many exercises only to order some food before the canteen closed, but they resumed once he filled his stomach.
His favorite part of the day soon arrived. His phone rang when the clock hit midnight, and he didn't hesitate to leave his room at that point.
The clean corridor unfolded in Khan's vision after he left his quarters. He could see how the barriers, the cups, and the pink liquid had disappeared from the area, and he inevitably nodded in satisfaction.
The camp felt empty when he left the building, but that silence wasn't enough for him. Khan crossed the site's edges and walked under Nitis' black sky for a while to clear his thoughts until a white figure landed next to him.
Snow could sense that Khan's mood was off, so it didn't play around with him too much. The Aduns still performed sudden dives and sharp rotations in the air, but its pace was relatively slow and allowed Khan to avoid clinging to its neck during the flight.
The eagle brought Khan to the flat spot in no time, and the sight of a familiar sleeping figure there made him smile in ways that the recruits had never seen.
****
Author's notes: I'm spending a bit more time editing. I noticed that I'm making more mistakes lately, so I want to be thorough. Something will always pass, but I'd rather give you the best reading experience possible.
The second chapter will take a bit more to arrive for the reasons above.
