Go to the Cove, they said. It would be fun, they said.

Actually they didn't say it would be fun...there was actually no mention of it's degree of merriment in the slightest. It was just the first thing that came to mind as Ripley made his way down the stairs in the darkness, going by nothing more than his hand on the wall to guide him. Supposedly this staircase - and the room at the bottom - would pair him with a weapon, somehow, and that would magically raise him to the actual rank of Trainee. Compared to what, he had no idea. Perhaps the step between waking up and Trainee was guttersnipe? He certainly felt like one.

He had to wonder the logic behind enlisting someone who had never held a weapon in his life to fight a war with things that shouldn't exist in the first place, but, hey, that was their prerogative. His motives were simple; he didn't want his old life any more. If getting a magic weapon from a dank old glowing room would help him achieve that then hey, he was all for it.

Though the chaos of his mental musings he made it to the rather small room, squinting in the light glow of the runes and the blaze of the torch. The walls were lined with little tablets with weapons drawn on them in their basic form, but otherwise there was no real weapon in sight.

"This is some screwed up armoury." He muttered under his breath, reaching out to brush his fingertips against a couple of the glowing runes. Almost immediately he pulled his hand back as though shocked; there had been a rush of whispers, but nothing that made sense to him. It was overwhelming and overpowering, and yet he still found himself reaching out again to touch the stones on the wall. The same thing rushed back; the humming voices in his head that made no sense, until:

< --Choose Me. >

Ripley's fingers stayed on the rune that looked like a sword, shocked that he had actually heard something. It was clear as day, and even worse, it actually felt right. Something clicked in his head, and this was the tablet he was meant to pick up. He took it carefully, watching with both horror and amazement as the tablet changed shape, morphing into a sword before his very eyes.

...

"I'm crazy. I knew it. I've gone mad." He murmured, turning the sword's hilt over in his hands.

< You're not crazy. >

The voice insisted, but...how could he listen to a voice in his head? Wasn't that like...the definition of there being something wrong?

< My name is Wilhelm. I am your Partner. >

"You know, where I come from there's a special building reserved for people who hear voices in their head. I could get committed."

< I'm not voices. Voice. Singular. Doesn't that count for something? >

"..."

< What? >

"..."

< Hello? Did you hear me? >

"I was always told that talking to yourself was fine, as long as nobody answered."

< If it makes you feel any better, everyone here talks to the voices in their head. >

That was when Ripley realized that he already had himself committed.