CHAMPIONS (The Lost Chronicles of Eden, #1) [Published]

13: THE WORLDS IN THE HANDS OF MISFITS AND TROUBLEMAKERS

Samson Ross was one of the three most powerful men in all of Cielos. Cielterra, too, probably, but he wasn't one to set up his own pedestal. He supposed he could credit his strength and power to years upon years of hard work, rigorous training, and battle experience.

He entered the Guardian Initiative when he was seven years old, against the wishes of his parents, because he was one of those impressionable youth who believed in sacrificing one's life for the Cause. Even as a young boy, he was driven and impassioned to make a difference. He had a single-minded determination to uphold the core values of the Initiative (Honor, Courage, Integrity, Faith and Sacrifice), and by doing so had steadily risen up the ranks even before his Investiture.

He was one of the most brilliant Guardians to ever come out of the Initiative. Before long, he steadily rose up the ranks as he led his troops in the never-ending battles against the demons that wreak havoc upon Cielterra and the Earth.

He showed great promise not only of being a great warrior, but also a great leader. The men under his command had all but followed him to the ends of the Worlds. He was loyal to a fault and made sure that in each battle, all members of his unit would go home.

During his days in the Initiative, he struck an unlikely friendship with two other Guardians, one from the Beta Division and the other from Zeta. They had been grouped together in one rather dangerous mission involving a Demon Minor leading a horde of lower demons in a rampage across the Outbounds. At first, their personalities clashed. Gideon's rambunctious personality and his flair for dramatics did not go well with Samson's preference for silence and solitude. Add to it Deborah's rather dry humor and her penchant for dishing out the most hilarious commentaries... well, suffice it to say that the men who served under them in the mission had had nightmares about a brewing civil war long after they claimed victory over the demons.

It came as a great surprise to everyone in the Citadel, however, when the Judges put the three of them together in a mission after that. And another, and another. It just so happened that with Samson's prowess in battle, Gideon's brilliance in intelligence and information, and Deborah's finesse in espionage, the three of them formed the most formidable team that the entire Force had ever witnessed.

It wasn't long before Galian, then-incumbent Judge and commander of the Alpha Division, had singled out Samson and appointed him as his successor. His two friends weren't far behind, as Deborah was appointed the successor for the Zetas and Gideon, the Betas.

Samson liked to believe that in all the years he had served as a Guardian who fought in the front lines, as a commander who whipped bright-eyed young recruits into seasoned soldiers, and later on, as one of the three powerful military leaders of the city, he had probably handled (and manhandled) the worst and most difficult people ever born in this world.

Looking at the seven Candidates who were trashing the training grounds, though... boy, was he ever wrong.

There was nothing more difficult than trying to make a decent team out of seven teenagers whose backgrounds and personalities clash outrageously like Gideon's clothing preferences when he wasn't wearing the prescribed Guardian uniform.

They were worse than he and Gideon had been in their worst days, really.

So far, he had broken five fights between Mateo and Joana, seven word wars between Lukas and Solenn, two brawls between Solenn and Solomon, and one rather nasty episode where Selina got really impatient at Gabriel's inability to keep up with their calisthenics and threatened to shoot him.

And today was just the first day.

He would rather face a legion of demons than babysit seven teenagers who had somehow failed to leave their adolescent temperaments and angsts behind.