Chapter 4
The Viewfinder
End ran back all the way to the company though he was not supposed to. When he got near, he saw some officers and he switched to marching for a short stretch. As he marched, he passed by a silver statue of a tall British man with arms folded. To him, the statue seemed odd as it seemed to stare at him. But there was no time to ponder. When he arrived at his company line, he saw his entire platoon on the ground doing push-ups. They were shouting, “Hurry, End! Hurry!” End was very embarrassed.
“I am so sorry.” He murmured as he got down in push-up position. Arnold looked at End.
“Oh no, not you. You will not be punished,” were the only words he said. Those words were like knives stabbing into his heart, for he saw the vengeful look in the eyes of every recruit on the ground. They were glaring at him, ready to skin him alive. “Enough for the day. We are running late. Akira! Get your men to the lecture theatre in ten minutes for your VF 101 class. Move!”
Akira marched the recruits to a lecture theatre. It was an old fashioned and ordinary looking air-conditioned lecture theatre, a relief from the torturous amount of heat they had just endured.
“Take your seats!” commanded Arnold.
In front of the theatre, Arnold began his basic lesson for the use of Viewfinders. “This is the Viewfinder, the very basic source of everything that you are about to be trained in at the ILC.”
End looked around the class. Beef was snoring and Akira was already projecting light in all forms of geometrical shapes, hovering them above his hand. End brought his VF nearer to his eyes. For such an almost invisible wrist-watch tattoo, it had many micro writings on it that were unfamiliar to End like, “ISO” and “Shutter speed”.
“The basic function of the viewfinder is to channel your emotional energy into usable light energy to illuminate an area, to fire as a form of laser or to power up other military equipments,” said Arnold as demonstrated this by facing his palm to a wall and projecting an extremely powerful thick beam of light on it.
“As it runs on emotions, you must learn to harness your emotions, and control them. Switch off the room lights.”
A recruit hit the switches and the room went dark. Always a front-runner in his class, Akira raised his palm to face the ceiling, and illuminated the entire room. Arnold was impressed but did not show it.
“Not bad, your light is omni-directional. But you need much more discipline to be able to focus it into a laser.”
Akira immediately focused it into a laser like beam and burned a hole in the desk.
“Not bad. But not the best I have seen, and you are buying me a new table. Did everyone bring the memory of someone you love as instructed? Show me!”
Everyone in class brought a photograph of a family member or someone or something they loved. End did not know of any such previous instruction.
“Good. Now open your ID tags like this, and think hard about that picture in your hand.”
Everyone did as instructed. End watched in amazement. The image or video of that memory was stored in each person’s dog tag.
“Seal it!” said Arnold.
Everyone sealed their memory in their dog tag by closing the small window. Arnold himself held up his ID tag.
“During difficult times of war or training, you can watch this stored memory in your dog tag. It will remind you of what you are fighting for, and motivate you to work even harder.”
Arnold raised his ID tag, and it projected a film of his dog on to the wall much to the amusement of everyone the class.
“Yes. My dog keeps me going in life. His name is Sylvester.”
Everyone laughed a little and stopped. Arnold was sporting as he allowed them the grace period of laughing at him for five seconds. Beef however, went on and on after five seconds and that would be his undoing. Arnold walked up to Beef, who really could not control himself from laughing. End could sense danger coming for Beef.
“Beef, do you like dogs?”
Beef was not sure if it was a trick question, but then again Beef doesn’t think before he talked, so he answered on impulse.
“Yes.”
“Good. Go to that corner. Pretend you have a tail and go round in circles chasing it, shouting, ‘I love dogs!’ Give me one hundred rounds. Go!”
Beef got up, and went over to the wall. He began performing the stunt, which got the class laughing.
“Anyone who laughs can join him. Continue working on your viewfinders!”
End was entirely lost and confused. He did not know what was going on with this device. He had heard a lot but did not understand a single word that Arnold had said. He found everything a bore when he could not understand and his mind would naturally drift away. Meanwhile, Beef finished his ridiculous punishment and was very dizzy as he came back. He looked at Akira and glared at him.
“What you looking at?”
Akira ignored him. Beef went back to sit down. End noticed that despite being punished, even Beef completely understood how the Viewfinder works. For the next five minutes, he was busy playing around by blasting big batches of lights into people’s eyes whenever Arnold was not looking.
“Alright, it seems like most of you are getting a hang of it.” Said Arnold.
End didn’t feel like he had a hang of anything at all.
“So I will go on to the next basic fundamental. Lighting. I need a volunteer.”
Arnold caught sight of Beef blasting light once more. Beef could not hide his hand in time.
“Ah yes! My favorite boy! Come here Beef.”
Beef was came to the front of the class. Arnold took out a device that looked like a toy gun. This toy gun was made of plastic and looked like any other water pistol you could buy for cheap.
“Now, a LightCatcher uses a lot of emotional energy in battle. Take this gun and squeeze the trigger.”
Beef squeezed the trigger. Immediately, he went into such a lethargic mode, that you could say he turned depressed.
“What is this stupid thing?” said Beef with no energy in his eyes.
“We are just doing a demonstration here. This little toy gun simulates your energy levels after you have fired about a hundred shots of photon bullets. Do you feel tired?”
“I feel like I could die.” Said Beef.
“Good. So there are many ways to recharge a LightCatcher’s energy levels. One is by Hydrobars. You can smack a hydrobar on to any part of your body and it will rehydrate you.”
Arnold smacked a hydrobar on to Beef’s face. His hand also hit it like a tight slap.
“Usually the most effective is the face.”
The water was kind of special, as it splattered all over Beef’s face at first but was quickly absorbed into Beef’s face. Beef actually felt a relief from the rehydration.
“LightCatchers use a tremendous amount of water. But the other way is by Lighting.”
Arnold took out dodo Lights, Kinderflows.
“I cannot demonstrate the “Mr K” light because it is too expensive. But I will show you a fundamental concept of lighting called three point lighting.”
Arnold looked everyone in the eye and gave a very stern look.
“This portion is important. Lighting does not just replenish your energy. With the correct principles, it can also replenish your concentration levels. Let us begin with Key light.”
Beef was really tired and he could stand up straight. Arnold placed some Kinderflows in front and switched them on.
“They run on solar energy so they have infinite lifespans.” Said Arnold. Beef immediately felt some relief.
“As you observe here, the key light, is the main light and the strongest light that replenishes the subject’s energy and gives him mental energy to focus on his main target. Next is fill light.”
Arnold used some dodo lights to create a fill light. Beef felt the other side of his face receive some energy.
“Fill lights help to cover the other side that is not
lit up. They provide another source of lighting energy, but also, it stimulates the fighter to have mental concentration to become creative in battle. It gives him the ability to focus on anything that is not the mainstream and think of alternative ways to win the battle. Next is back light.”
Arnold took another Kinderflow and lit up the area behind Beef. It highlighted the edges of his head.
“Finally, there is the back light. This is to give your subject a separation from the place they are at.”
“What does that mean?” asked a recruit.
“Sometimes in the thick of the battle, we get lost inside the battle, and lose that focus. The Back light is used as a kind of meditation light to allow the subject to detach himself from the battle zone, adding to his concentration. So you see, with the correct lighting techniques, the soldier also has mental and spiritual replenishments.”
I could safely tell you that half the class didn’t understand, and the other half were too shy to ask.
“Any questions?”
“What if the soldier keeps moving around in battle. Won’t the key, fill and back lights keep changing?”
“Yes. That is why, you need a lighting master to light up a battlefield before the commencement of the battle. He will be able to light it up so well that no matter how the soldiers fight, they will receive mental and spiritual nourishment. A lighting master is also known as a Gaffer.”
Akira nodded. End recognized that only he understood what was going on.
“Any other questions?”
“Does the lights replenish the enemy’s energy as well?”
“Nope. Any other questions. Anyone else still here with me?” asked Arnold sensing that most of the recruits looked really confused.
“Can I sit down now?” asked Beef. He felt much better now.
Arnold signaled for him to return to his seat. As soon as Beef went back to his seat, he was back at blasting light into other recruit’s faces once more.
“Stop that or you will blind someone!” shouted Arnold. Beef stopped. But as soon as Arnold’s back is turned, he was at it again. By accident, Beef focused his light beam too closely at Akira. The laser light was too focused and burnt a little hole at the edge of Akira’s ear. Akira jumped up in shock. In one swift motion, Akira turned around and projected a sword out of his hand. It was a katana made of light and it sliced through the desk of Beef.
Beef stood there, unable to move from the sudden shock. He looked like he was about to pee in his pants. Akira was truly angry. Beef knew that, and managed to free himself from the state of fear he was in and run. But Akira powered up his VF to use some form of tele-kinesis to shift Beef back to his original position again. Akira prepared another slash, this one perhaps fatal.
Within seconds, Arnold had sprinted over and stopped Akira dead in his tracks. With a soft touch, he took out something like handcuffs and cuffed Akira’s hands together. He talked into his own VF.
“Get me the MPs.” Said Arnold.
In less than five minutes, a group of men with white helmets and white gloves came in, and grabbed Akira. Arnold turned to everyone in class.
“Any misuse of the viewfinder is chargeable with an appointment with the Sphere of Influence. Akira, you are hereby charged with the miss-use and miss-handling of a weapon, and you will await your hearing.”
Akira was flabbergasted. He did not expect such a severe punishment. There was a look of horror on the face of a usually calm Akira. End watched as his confident face eroded away until it looked as if it were the end of the world for him. End knew through his gut feeling that Akira was trying his best in the ILC, because he was really considering it as a career. But right now, that future seemed very bleak indeed. End felt sorry for the ever hardworking Akira.
“The rest of you get back to your bunks and have an early night. I want you all to assemble at the foyer at 6am, to have your breakfast at 630am. Go!”
As the lights went up in the room, End was still facing his palm in the forward direction attempting to shoot some light out of it. Nothing came out at all no matter how many laser sounds he tried to mimic with his mouth. As he left the room in disappointment, he saw a disappointed Akira full of fear being escorted out of the room by the military police. As he stood there watching Akira’s departure, End felt a complete loss of confidence in his own ability to survive the ILC course.
And with fear, came the possibility of one’s fears becoming reality. For the next few days, End became the textbook of everything not to do in the ILC. For starters, he could not pass any of the stations in the F.A.Ts test. And if he thought that was bad, along came the Light Grenades training.
At the Live Light grenade throwing range, Arnold had come down personally to supervise everything. He was his usual muscular and “always in a bad mood” self. To counter the effects of a bad morning, he was sipping on his espresso like it was the only thing on earth that could keep him from pounding a coconut tree into coconut juice.
“Try to channel your emotional energy for a delay of five seconds before explosion. Then pull the safety lever like this, and throw it at your target.”
Arnold demonstrated a perfect light grenade throw. With great might, he threw it right into the mouth of a dummy, and after five seconds the head of the dummy exploded. No one knew why the dummy was designed to have a mouth, but everyone loved a good explosion. All the recruits applauded but Arnold shouted at them.
“Get down! Give me fifty!”
Everyone got on their hands and feet and did push-ups in the mud.
“The grenade is a killer. It’s fun to throw it at someone isn’t it? But have anyone of you ever seen a grenade thrown at you? Has any of you ever experienced being blown up or losing a limb? If you have been, you wouldn’t be cheering now would you? Now give me fifty and begin your practice.”
After the exhausting push-ups, End and the recruits were all escorted into a room that was safe and far from the throwing site. The funny thing is, End had not even mastered the very fundamentals of harnessing light energy to do anything. Arnold towered before him, watching in amusement as End faced his palm in a certain direction, trying to force energy out. All he succeeded in doing was sound like someone who had constipation. Arnold shook his head, and gave him a glow stick.
“I don’t have time for you to cure yourself of your constipation. Use this glow stick first.”
“How do I do it?”
“Open the bag! Must I teach you everything?”
End always jumped in fear at Arnold’s booming voice. He tore open the bag, and took out the glow stick, and he looked at Arnold. The impatient Arnold slapped his own face in disgust at End’s lack of initiative.
“Crack the stick. Yup, just a little! Then shake the stick. Shake it!”
End began to shake the glow stick.
“Light Grenades also require the VF to charge. First you must observe the target distance. Later when you are in the throwing zone, you put your light stick near to the grenade to charge it. When the grenade lights up, grasp the pull ring with your non-throwing hand, and give the ring a thorough pull to completely pull it out. Throw the grenade overhead this way and get down, and get to cover before it detonates. Are we clear?”
End was not clear.
“When the light grenade detonates, it fires off a bright light that will blind you and kill you, so never look at the light. And there will also be times when the grenade does not explode. On the battlefield, it is possible for the enemy to pick up the grenade and throw it back at you. But here in training, I don’t want to see any heroes, do you hear me?”
“Yes Arnold!”
“Ok. Now take this grenade and skip to the front of the queue now. I will supervise your throwing. Move!”
End skipped the front of the queue, squeezing through unhappy recruits. He came to the throwing zone, which had a strong concrete wall before him. The target was a scarecrow in a distance. Beef was the thrower just before him. Arnold had his arms folded, and was
scrutinizing Beef’s grenade holding posture.
“Anyone who hits the dummy gets a hundred dollars.”
Beef smiled. Maybe he had a secret ability after all. With a toss of a baseball star, he flung the grenade straight at the head of the dummy. It hit the dummy on the face and fell on the ground. After five seconds it exploded, and the entire dummy was no more. Beef smiled back at Arnold. Arnold groaned as he used his own VF to charge the additional hundred dollars into Beef’s credit, as some trained professionals replaced the dummy with a new one.
When it came to End’s turn, everyone in the queue left, asking to be excused for a toilet break. They stood as far away from him as possible. Arnold stood there strong and brave.
“What is there to fear? I am here.”
End charged the grenade with the light stick. It lit up like a lantern on steroids. Then he stood there. Some of the recruits who were in the lavatory nearby even ran out of it to get even further.
“Grab the pull ring! Quick! You have about ten seconds!”
End pulled the lever and flung the grenade. The one thing you must know about a person who had never thrown a grenade before, was that you could not possibly expect his grenade to fly in a logical trajectory.
The grenade flew backwards and landed in Arnold’s espresso cup.
Arnold had little time to react. Still holding on to his espresso cup, he threw End into the left side of the wall with one hand, and flung his entire espresso cup at the dummy. Strangely the espresso cup fell into the hands of the dummy scarecrow like he was holding it for morning tea, and it exploded. Arnold put his entire body on End’s to shield him from any possible damage.
As Arnold got up after the loud explosion, he saw that his beloved espresso cup had been disintegrated.
“No!” Some people that day said that they saw tears in Arnold’s eyes. It was common knowledge that he collected espresso cups and that they all formed complete collector item sets. Arnold was in an unspeakable foul mood. For the entirety of the next day, End was forced to run around the entire school shouting “I will never blow up Arnold’s espresso cup again!”
The next example of End’s amazing feats of failure came when they went to the photon rifle range to fire live photon bullets. Whenever the range was booked for live practice, it would be lit up ever so brightly to keep the energy levels of all LightCatchers at a maximum level.
“Photon Rifles only work when used hand in hand with a VF. If you don’t have a VF you can’t fire the rifle!” was the first basic rule that Arnold introduced.
End finally saw the photon rifle for the first time. It was of unique design. The front of it looked very much like telephoto long lens of a camera. The body of the rifle had the body of a digital SLR camera, and at the back was a rifle butt like any other rifle. There was a portion in front where the VF came in contact with the rifle when held on by the left hand that allows the rifle to be charged. End held the rifle in his arms for the first time after drawing it from the armorer. He was a little excited like all boys are when they see a rifle for the first time.
End was still unable to charge it up.
This may come across as silly but to hold such a cool device and not be able to fire it, is kind of like holding a toy gun in your hands. End had no money to buy any glow sticks, so Arnold took some out from his own pocket and gave it to him once more.
“You must hit seventy five percent of your targets to register a pass at this trial. Should your weapon be jammed for any reason, perform the necessary IA (Immediate Action for fixing the jammed weapon) drills that I have taught you, and if you really need my help, raise your hand. You may commence.”
All firers stood inside foxholes, which were human height deep holes for them to stand in while firing. As the firing ensued, Arnold found that End’s hand was constantly popping out of the foxholes and requesting assistance. End was declaring IA for every shot he took. He claimed that his weapon was jammed all the time.
“Take out your magazine!”
End took out the magazine.
“Is your weapon in safe mode yet? What did I tell you!”
End scrambled to put his weapon in safe mode before he took out his magazine again.
“How can you have IA, when your magazine is empty?”
“What do you mean Arnold?”
“How can the bullets be jammed, if all the bullets have been fired out successfully?”
Arnold investigated the matter. He saw many rounds that had been fired, that laid scattered in front of the gun barrel on the ground. It was then that Arnold realized that End’s viewfinder was only sufficient to make the photon bullets travel about a centimeter from the gun. End had been dropping bullets, not firing them.
“Get out of my sight! Go!” commanded an angry Arnold as he got incredibly emotional and began throwing his helmet on the ground and kicking it away. The helmet flew a distance before it was stopped mid air. It was Amon Goth who had stopped it with kinesis.
“Arnold, come here.” Said a calm Amon. Arnold walked over.
“You are an instructor of the ILC. You of all people should know the importance of emotional control.”
“Yes sir.” Said Arnold.
Amon walked over to End. Though he was wearing a Colonel’s uniform, he got into the dusty foxhole with End.
“Now, recruit End, what seems to be the problem?”
“Sir, I have no idea why he is in this institute, since he could not even charge up his…” said Arnold.
Amon hushed Arnold.
“I was talking to the recruit, not you. Please stand back.”
Arnold walked off to stand even further. Amon held up End’s rifle, and charged up the photon rifle. He spoke in a soft voice so that only End could hear.
“I know that you have no natural LightCatcher abilities, End. But I handpicked you for the ILC.”
“Why?”
“To save you.”
Amon fired a shot. It was a bull’s-eye.
“Every year the Sphere of Influence claims the minds of millions of kids. Here’s a secret between the two of us that I hope you will keep.”
“Absolutely sir.”
Amon took a look at End, before focusing on his target once more.
“I don’t like the sphere one bit, so I have been secretly drafting kids deemed useless by the system, into my ILC. But regrettably, there are only so many kids I can rescue from the Sphere.”
End swallowed his saliva. He felt thankful for what this great man had done for him.
“So I want you to appreciate this opportunity you got.”
Amon fired again. The photon bullet enlarged the same hold he had created from the first shot. Amon was dead accurate.
“I will sir.”
“And find some way to survive in this place though I know it can be hard.”
Amon fired another shot, and it was dead on again.
“I will sir.”
“And don’t let the system or myself have a reason to send you back.”
“I won’t sir.”
Amon fired the last shot. It was also a bull’s-eyes. He never misses his target. Everyone in the firing chambers applauded. Amon thought nothing of it all. He hated nonsensical fanfare. He smiled at End, and got out of the foxhole, and continued on his way. Arnold came forward.
“So next time you are having a range test, you can give him a call and ask him to fire for you.” Said Arnold with too much sarcasm.
As the sun began to set, the recruits came to the very last session of the day before getting rest. It was the core foundation of all soldiers. It was a ten kilometer run led by Arnold. End knew that his doom was near, as he was no good in running. Arnold didn’t wait for any negative thoughts from anyone before bursting off into the sunset once more. The recruits followed behind. Once the train of recruits started, it would not stop for anyone. Whenever a recruit became tired, ill or started feeling some vomit coming out of their throats, they would literally fall off thi
s human train of running men. End saw a handful of recruits falling out the side. He felt a side stitch pain on his stomach, band felt like he would not be able to hold on much longer.
“What are you thinking in your head?” shouted Arnold at End, as he was jogging just next to him.
“Pain, Arnold!”
“You don’t know pain! Not even the least bit. Are you thinking about giving up?”
“No, Arnold!”
“Are you weak-minded?”
“No, Arnold!”
“Good. Then run with me. Channel some emotion into your VF, so that some of the Light energy can help you maintain your breathing, and stamina.”
Sometimes Arnold did throw one or two advice in the way of End. He was not all that bad a person after all. The journey was long and to End, it seemed infinite. He was not sure how long more he could last. He was about to faint. But the encouragement from Arnold, gave him a little more determination to try and use his mental strength. End found a little focus and used it to overcome the stitching pain in his stomach.
“Almost the end, can you see it? Now put in that final burst and finish it! Everyone now! What’s your company name?”
“Raven!”
“I can’t hear you!”
“Raven.”
Every remaining recruit shouted Raven, and they made a final dash into the compound where their company was. End used whatever he had to burst himself through to the finish. As he came to the end, he did not collapse to the floor like how some other recruits did. In fact, he was still jogging. It was as if there was an overdose of self belief and confidence. End’s legs just wouldn’t stop moving. He felt the confidence to run another ten kilometers. Arnold looked at him, and was glad that End was able to make that mental breakthrough.
Only after most of the recruits had all returned, did the fatigue finally hit End. When it came, it came like a huge truck that rammed straight into his body. End felt like he could not walk anymore, and finally sat down. It was only then that he realized that he was the last five standing, and still jogging on the spot. They were End, Beef, Andy and Larry, and Billy Gin.
“Gentlemen, I lied. That was not ten kilometers. That was thirty. Good work. Have a good rest. I will give you Friday as a day off.”
End smiled.
“Only End does not have it.”
End frowned. But inside his heart, he knew he did well. He looked at Arnold, Arnold saw him looking so he came over.
“Did you learn something today?”
“That stamina has nothing to do with muscles.”
Arnold smiled and nodded in approval. It was weird to see Arnold smile because some people said that if you did, it was probably the day you win the lottery.
“Now, the five of you, proceed to the Dark Rooms first.”
At the end of each day of training, all recruits were required to enter classroom-sized hallways that were called the Dark Rooms.
“The Dark Room helps to absorb off all the negative energy output from you, after prolonged use of the VF. This is a compulsory procedure whenever you use Light energy to do anything!”
“What happens when you don’t do it?” asked End. Arnold groaned and ushered him in. End went into this room. Each recruit stood in front of a mirror, and the mirror began to absorb the dark energy off him. The recruit before him was Ed John De Nhoj. End was amazed to see how much dark shadow-like fogs could be sucked out of a single recruit. So was Arnold. It took almost a good five minutes before all of the darkness is absorbed out of Ed John. The amount of black substance flowing out of his body seemed enough to singlehandedly create a hole in the ozone layer.
“Too much violent video games!” said Arnold to Ed John. Ed John pretended that he did not know what Arnold was talking about. “Oh don’t look all innocent at me, Ed John!” said Arnold. Then it was End’s turn, as he stood before the mirror.
Nothing happened. Arnold came over to have a look.
“There is nothing for the mirrors to absorb. It seems that you have completed the thirty kilometers without the use of any light energy.”
End did not understand. Arnold looked at End with a newfound appreciation.
“It’s simple. You didn’t use any light energy to complete your run. You used your mind.”
End was happy, and he almost smiled.
“Get back to your bunk! More torture to come tomorrow!” said Arnold. End was overjoyed at those words. He dragged his feet back to the bunk, and his head was a heat-sinking missile that was locked on to his pillow.