Yeah, um, with the weird tense thingy, deal with it. It reads well.
The emissaries looked like daemons, with the red light at their backs and their sinister glowing eyes. I was not afraid, though, and stood my ground, back straight as the wind and dust wiped past me. The other boys have dived to the ground, huddled behind their cloaks, hoping the emissaries will not kill them.
One of the emissaries approaches me. He is in dark green and red armor, with a flaring double-headed eagle on his chest. I am not a short man, but my head only just reaches his chest. In one hand, a strange-looking weapon. The other is empty. When he speaks, his voice is deep and harsh.
"You are the hopefuls, correct?"
Looking around, to see if anyone else would answer, I finally speak to the giant figure. "Yes, yes lord, we are. I am called Kouri."
The figure beckons the other emissaries forward and he speaks again, this time removing his helmet. His face is hard and scarred, with prominent cheek bones and three golden studs set into his skull above his eyes.
"You and the other hopefuls will follow us up to the top of the Black Rock." It was not a question, but a statement, in a tone that was used to being obeyed.
I manage to nod as the six emissaries move past me, surprising agile and swift for being in heavy, bulky armor. I roll up my poncho and kick at the still prostate forms of the other hopefuls, snarling at them, "Get up, you cowards. We are following the emissaries!"
The emissary who spoke to me turns back from his position up the hill, "This is your one and only chance to back out. All who follow us up this plateau will never return to their lives."
I run after him, struggling to catch up with the emissaries, their long and fast strides propelling them up to the base of the plateau. Not one of them is breathing hard. They stop at the base of the plateau. Suddenly, I think, how can they see in the dark? I am carrying torch and I find it hard to see!
The one who spoke with me silently begins climbing the Black Rock and the other five swiftly follow. I can see that one of the emissaries wears white armor and has many strange devices on his belt and in his hands.
Before I douse my torch and begin climbing, I look back and can see about fifteen other youths with me, including Hemas and Lomas. Quickly, I douse my torch and leap onto the cliff, beginning my climb with the howl of the sand-wolf.
The cliff is sheer and rough. I can feel my hands begin to bleed after only a few minutes. What makes the journey easier are the emissaries who have come before me. They have broken hand and foot holds from the rock and I endeavor to use these whenever possible. The climb is still incredibly hard and after at least two hours of climbing, my questing hand is greeted by air. I have made it to the top well ahead of the others.
The emissary laughs, a deep, booming laugh, and says, "Good job, Kouri. Rest for now while we wait for your comrades, you will need your strength for the tests."
The white armored emissary says something to the bare-headed one and the bare-headed one merely shakes his head, speaking softly, as if they did not want me to hear. I hear anyway. "He is strong, he will be fine."
I bundle my poncho around me and use my pack as a pillow. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was a horrible scream. I guess another youth fell to his death from the cliff. Good, whoever could not climb that is not fit to fight in the God-Emperors armies. I try not to think about how close I was to falling.
I woken what seemed like a moment later, but I can tell from the moon it has been at least an hour. The bare-headed one spoke, "No one else is coming, so let the tests begin." Then, I notice my other hopefuls around me. There are only eight of us now. Maybe climbing the cliff was a test? It does not matter.
One of the emissaries, with a sinister skull-mask and skull-decorated armor, steps forward and began speaking to us.
"I am now as Saul Tar, of the Warhawks Second Company. We are Space Marines, the most powerful aspect of the Emperor's great armies. You are offered this one chance to join us in our quests to spread the Emperors light across the stars. My brothers will be testing your physical and mental strength, but I have a much more important task.' The emissary, I mean, the Space Marine, pauses for a moment, as if trying to build suspense for what he is about to say.
'I have the sacred task of testing your purity and your resolve. Even if you pass the other tests, if you fail mine, you will never become a Space Marine. Are you ready to begin?"
I do not hesitate. I step forward and bow my head and shout, "I am ready to begin."
The fellow hopefuls are quick to follow and the bare-headed Marine points at the fang-tooth skull still at my waist.
"Is that to prove your bravery?" he asks.
I unhook the skull from my belt and place it at his feet, saying, "I slew this fang-tooth yesterday with my knife. I earned this scar from its claws." I point at the stitches on my arm.
The Marine smiles at me and nods at Hemas. The heavy set boy sets a pair of massive fangs at the Marines feet.
"I killed a world-serpent with my spear three days ago." I was impressed with that. A world-serpent could grow to twenty feet long and had quite a powerful poison.
Lomas steps up after his brother and lays a fanged jawbone at the Marines feet. "I slew this sand wolf with my bow six days ago."
The others repeat the process until everyone has gone. The Marine motions us to follow. I guess we all passed the tests.
He leads us to a line of rocks, arranged from smallest, about the size of my head, to the largest, about the size of my chest and stomach. He says, "I really don't need to explain about what to do with these, do I?"
I am the first to step forward again. I easily heft the small rock above my head and drop the rock to sand again. Hemas pushes past me and lifts the rock. The rest repeat the process, until I get to the fourth rock.
As I lift the fourth rock, I can feel my arms shaking and sweat pours from my brow and runs into my eyes. I just barely lift the rock above my head and quickly drop it back to the sand and step back. The fifth will be the hardest.
On the fourth, two boys fail to lift the rock. Lomas was one of them. The bare-headed Marine beckons one of the other Marines. This one has a long sword at his belt. The Marine has to force Lomas and the other boy away. I do not know what happened to them, but the Marine comes back alone.
On the fifth rock, I use my knees and back at first, the thrust up with my hips and force the massive rock above my head. I think something popped in my back. That does not matter. I drop the rock with a grunt and step back.
The bare-headed Marine smiles and nods at me. I nod back. Four other boys manage to lift the rock. The other one's arms buckle and the rock crushes his head. A bit of gray matter sprays across my face.
The bare-headed Marine points at the other Marines, who are standing at various points along the entirety of the Black Rock. I can just make out their shapes in the pre-dawn light. The Black Rock is about one-thousand strides long.
"You will run along the length of the plateau and receive a stick from the Marine at the end. He has three sticks. Whoever does not get a stick will be eliminated. GO!"
