THE MOMENT
"That's not much of a choice...," Ellin shook his head with a chuckle. A stern-looking woman with silvery white hair in an unusual military uniform met with Ellin individually, just as she had, or would, with every other Elite Soldier created by the kingdom. Not that there were too many of them. But, there were enough. She introduced herself as Marina Stormhold and even without knowing her, Ellin could sense authority radiating from her.
Only one in every hundred survived the process, and despite the size of the kingdom, there were only so many failures that were needed. Ellin was the seventh warrior to be seen, and there were only three more after him.
Ten of them had been enough to save the kingdom and vanquish the dark lord. And now that their purpose was completed, they were given the opportunity to decide what to do next. That's what they were told; but sitting there in front of the strange woman, Ellin had a different perspective.
"I'll grant you that," Marina nodded. "Unfortunately, this is the only choice you're left with. Your king sought our help, yet he did not want to deal with the aftermath," she gestured directly at him for effect.
It wasn't much of a surprise to Ellin that he was disposable. He knew that even before he successfully gained extraordinary abilities. He wasn't loyal to the king as much as to the kingdom. He hoped for a day when a kinder leader sat on the throne, and he was willing to put himself on the line for it. And, he was comfortably confident he'd done what he could.
As he thought about it, he realized he didn't even expect to have this choice. It may have been limited, but it was still a choice that he had to make.
"Tell me about your group," he said. It was an important decision, and he needed all the information he could get.
"First, I'd like to clarify something," Marina nodded. "I'm not inviting you to join IO Limited. I'm recruiting you as a soldier."
"I understand that," Ellin nodded. "I need to know what your company stands for, and what kinds of orders I'll be following."
"That's more involved than I have time to detail. But, I can arrange a tour and give you another day or two to make your final decision," she answered. That put Ellin much more at ease, and he let himself relax slightly.
"What I will tell you is that IO Limited is a multiversal corporation. The kingdom you saved is a tiny sliver of your Earth, and your Earth is a tiny sliver of the infinite multiverse. We are developing an Earth-sized military force, which you would be part of, to help keep things orderly."
"Orderly, huh?" Ellin commented as he wondered who decided what that meant. It wasn't a direct question to her, and she simply replied with a nod while he considered his thoughts.
"Well, I'll take a look at least...," he nodded finally. He didn't have to agree to join them, but he definitely wanted the time she'd given him. "... I can't say I'm a hurry to choose death instead."