"Those responsible for such vandalism, I will take care of imparting the appropriate punishment later."
Nowl-an scanned the children crowded on the platform with his gaze, each of them making their best attempts to impress him with their ridiculous postures from his perspective.
He sharpened his eyes toward the children whose hands were stained with blood from their small fights, and his gaze sharpened even more upon observing some of the emotionally unstable children trying not to cry in the absence of their progenitors.
"Welcome to your new home," he continued with a grave, youthful voice, delivering a sharp edge that seeped into the children's thoughts. "Here, under my tutelage and that of the masters, you will be transformed into excellent soldiers for the glory and greatness of the empire."
After those words, the young Nowl-an paused, organizing his words before landing on the platform, his hands clasped behind his back.
"This instructor, Nowl-an, greets the recruited natos." With that cordial presentation, Nowl-an raised his right fist and struck it against his chest, right over his heart. There, under the expectant gaze of the children, two bars stood out on his uniform, symbolizing his rank as an imperial officer.
The children, for their part, reacted instantly. Like springs, their small bodies straightened, tensing their backs and bringing their right fists in unison to their chests.
"By the glory of Argal, this nato greets the instructor!" chanted dozens of faltering childish voices, replicating the same words their parents had engraved in them long before their attendance at this military-educational establishment.
Korr, of course, was also one of them. He imitated the children with clear naturalness, while evaluating the young man who would be his imperial handler.
Nowl-an nodded at the response of these children; it meant that this generation's batch would be more obedient.
His cold, slit-like eyes raised a hand in appeasement.
"You may lower the greeting," he ordered, and the children obeyed. "Listen to me carefully, because I will only say this once."
Under the attentive gaze of the children, Nowl-an began to walk slowly in front of the first row of the offspring, barely in an acceptable formation.
"Each of you has been classified, evaluated, quantified, and labeled since before birth according to the directives of the Viltrumite empire, certified by the IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF GENETIC PURITY AND BIRTH REGISTRY. Your potential for strength was measured and optimized for you to be the most powerful and dominant racial lineage in the entire galaxy."
He stopped in front of the boy who had been absorbed in his fight, the tallest of all. The boy, who looked at him with an attempted frown, could barely maintain his position as soon as Nowl-an placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You, special natos among natos, are not like other Viltrumites."
The tall boy puffed out his chest, proud. His father had also spoken to him about that detail. Around him, some of his companions exchanged excited glances.
Korr researched a great deal about the empire, as much as he was allowed. The Viltrumite race was a powerful race, but it also had its differences among its equals.
Not all of the species seemed to have the same genetic potential. Currently, the empire enjoyed 30 genetic classes, the only ones that prevailed at the end of the great exodus of the race, in which they killed each other until only half of the population remained as the fittest.
That terrible event, called the Great Purge, sought to eradicate any trace of physical, emotional, or moral weakness. To eradicate cowardice, empathy, or genetic inferiority, in order to configure a militarily perfect, virtually invincible race. Thus unifying the species under the manifesto of absolute conquest, eliminating anything that could compromise their galactic dominion.
A situation that, of course, took its toll on them, a consequence of the very Imperial Department of Genetic Purity and Birth Registry.
With that act of self-genocide against their own species, they eliminated their own genetic diversity and ethical individualism to impose a collective dogma, devoid of critical thinking.
Since Regent Tragg took power, the species had lost the capacity for adaptability, compassion, and more, condemned to cultural stagnation and slow extinction.
Well, at least, that was Korr's first impression on paper.
Although the Viltrumite race as a whole was a warlike race in every sense of the word, there was a majority belonging to a certain sector of the species' genetic classes. These, of course, were destined for other functions within the empire, occupying non-military positions due to their genetic limitations according to their potential.
A class 25 Viltrumite could not compare to a class 18 one. The gap between them was an abyss apart, as if a human wanted to reach the atmosphere in a single leap.
Nowl-an smiled, showing his teeth, his gaze sweeping over each child in the place.
"You, natos, are the elite of the species. The highest percentile of Viltrumite genetic purity, and like your progenitors—generals, admirals, and members of the council—you will be destined to lead the future of the empire, advancing and conquering our enemies until expanding the empire's borders to the ends of the universe."
He pointed a finger toward the horizon, where the three pillars of the Dorymathos rose with monumental presence.
"This arena you see there will be the forge where the empire's sharpest spears will be tempered. When you leave here, within two orbits, you will be living weapons of the empire."
Nowl-an's speech continued for what felt like an eternity. The indoctrination was exhausting for Korr, who was not a good supporter of all these alien ideas that felt familiar to everything he had in a life considered extremely harmful.
"Do you have questions?" Nowl-an asked, having finished. When no one said anything in response, the young instructor nodded silently.
Nowl-an turned and began to walk toward the great entrance arch of the Dorymathos.
"Now, follow me. Your new life begins at this instant."
The children began to move in a disorganized mass, some lifting a few centimeters off the ground by inertia, others tripping over their own feet, still frightened.
The hallway inside the enclosure smelled of disinfectant.
Korr walked in a row alongside twenty-three other natos, losing himself in the steps that disappeared into the intensity of the white corridor, interrupted only by the lone beacon he had at the moment, represented by that young man who did not yet seem to be twenty.
His steps were lost in the white immensity of the corridor, interrupted only by a muffled sob that some child could not fully contain.
The small sob of one or another child who could not contain himself, like the brat next to him, had exhausted the scant patience that the designated instructor, like apparently any other Viltrumite, barely had.
"Silence in the line," Nowl-an exclaimed, with a slight coercion in his words. "Whoever cries will have their physical and sapient duties doubled. If they complain, it will be tripled. Do you understand me, the last one in line?"
Korr observed the child, who seemed to tremble in sad desperation.
Unable to avoid those feelings abated in his chest, the child's crying caused Korr to experience a melancholy filial attrition, similar to the compassionate acedia of a grandfather contemplating the orphaned despair of his grandson, whose crying questioned paternal absence.
With commiseration and resolved to appease him, Korr looked him straight in the eyes. The child, startled by his touch, paid him attention, looking at him with fear of what might happen to him.
However, despite what the child imagined, things happened precisely differently from what his mind had told him would happen away from his mother's care.
Catching his gaze, Korr smiled at him and said firmly, "Don't worry, kid. I'm going to take care of you, okay? I won't let anything happen to you," he assured.
The child still seemed scared, but stopped crying. As for the rest, no one seemed interested in saying anything about it. They simply remained silent.
With the child calmed at his side, Korr kept his gaze forward, showing calm on his face. It should be mentioned that he was truly somewhat uncomfortable, not to say nervous.
But he could not show it, not when the only advantage he had in this life, which was not even his immense strength and ability to fly, was that calm and patience were the only weapons in his hands.
Nowl-an led them through a sealed door and into a rectangular chamber. The ceiling rose barely a few meters above their heads, a rarity, considering the architectural designs preferred by the Viltrumites.
In the center of the room, twenty-four metal pedestals were arranged in four rows of six. On each one, a white uniform with gray edges rested folded on what he thought were bunks.
"Welcome to your communal quarters. Forget everything you learned in your family fortresses; here, you will all be considered equals, simple recruits subject to the orders of your superiors."
Nowl-an walked slowly along the first row, before looking at each of the children, with barely concealed contempt.
His gaze fixed on the red-haired girl at the back, who kept laughing at the chubby companion breathing heavily next to her.
Nowl-an walked toward her direction, his furrowed brow alerting her. Nowl-an remained in front of the girl.
"Is there something you find funny, nata?"
The girl, after being questioned by the instructor, took a step back, beginning to stammer.
The girl, Vespera, was confused and frightened by the drastic turn of events.
"I... I just..." the girl tried to answer, but was immediately interrupted.
"Did I ask you to speak?"
"No, but... just-just, I—"
Bang.
The girl was interrupted, physically, by the instructor. He had not even changed his posture, but his hand simply moved, his palm impacting the girl's cheek.
The force of the blow sent her flying to the back of the room, making her roll like a simple ragdoll.
Korr's eyes opened wide at that display of violence, which he saw as senseless. All the children tensed with fear, while the girl, who seemed to have lost consciousness, simply lay there, doing nothing but breathing, very heavily.
Korr's eyes, Korr simply could not take it anymore. Nowl-an did not even pay attention to the rest of the children, who seemed to have stopped breathing due to his action, so he did not notice the moment when Korr simply rose above the other children, his eyes blazing, fixed directly on that child abuser. To hell with subtlety, plans, the empire, and its atrocities.