"They're jumping off!" a voice bellowed, and Lilith raised her head to look at the Erudite who was standing near the entrance.

Her eyebrows were furrowed as she pushed herself up from where she was still sitting, on the ground next to Beatrice. The other iniciates were chattering in a panicked tone as she made her way closer to the door, carefully mantaining her balance as she glanced outside. Numbness coarsed through her body at the sight of the Dauntless borns jumping from their wagon to a roof, and her eyes drifted to the ground below them. She'd never been scared of heights, but even she had to admit that it would be quite a drop, if anyone failed the jump.

"We have to jump off too, then," Molly spoke up for the first time since the ceremony.

"No shit," the brunette muttered in response, prompting the taller girl to glare at her. Lilith simply ignored her as she stood behind the Erudites who had already made up their mind about jumping.

Her attention was then caught by the sheer anxiety in the voice of one of the boys from Amity. Looking over her shoulder, the girl noticed that the male was pretty much glued to the wall, his skin slick with sweat. Both Christina and the other boy attempted to convince him to just jump, but he kept on shaking his head, eyes pinned to the tall buildings in front of them. A gush of wind blew through the wagon, and Lilith was suddenly back to the present. The Erudites had just jumped off and landed on the roof, on their hands and knees.

She took a deep breath before racing a few feet forward, the momentum propelling her towards the roof when her feet finally abandoned the train. All Lilith felt for a few seconds was the wind clashing against her body, ruffling her clothes and blowing her hair away from her face. Her shoes collided with the roof seconds later, and she tumbled forwards, somehow managing not to fall. Her lips spreaded into a grin. She'd done it.

Her joy didn't last long, however, for a cry suddenly echoed around them. Straightening up, Lilith glanced around the area, immediately finding the person who was in distress. One of the Dauntless born girls stood at the edge of the roof, one of her friends holding her back as she stared at the ground, seven floors bellow them. Siobhan was one of the first to get there, and Lilith watched as she helped the boy drag the crying girl away from the edge. She suddenly felt queasy, and turned away from the scene.

"Listen up!" a voice suddenly shouted. Lilith raised her head to see two men at the opposite end of the roof. The one who had spoken was the older of the two, wrinkles embedded in his dark skin and attentive eyes analyzing the iniciates. Everyone had slowly started making their way towards the two males, and Lilith followed. The man continued his speech, now that everyone was looking at him, "I'm Max. This is Eric. We're two of the leaders of your new faction."

Her eyes curiously drifted to Eric. He was clearly younger than Max, and a few inches taller, as well. While clearly focused on the other leader's speech, Eric's gaze was turned to his boots. Lilith couldn't help but let her eyes linger on his muscular form, taking note of how strong his arms looked and just how interesting the tattoo designs on both of his limbs actually were. Almost as if he had sensed her looking, Eric's blue eyes met hers, and the brunette felt intimidated at the coldness emanating from them as he glared in her direction, almost challenging her to keep looking.

Gulping to herself, Lilith focused on Max once more, "Several stories below us is the member's entrance to our compound," he gestured at the drop behind him and Eric, "If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here."

"As an opportunity to show us what you really are made out of," Eric paused, scanning the crowd with a hint of a smirk on his lips, "We'll give our transfers the privilege of jumping first."

"You want us to jump off a ledge?" a female voice questioned, in an incredulous tone.

"Yes," Max nodded his head, amusement shining in his eyes.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?" the next person to speak was a boy from Erudite, who stood a few feet behind Lilith.

"Guess you'll find out," Eric replied, raising his eyebrows, "Or not."

Lilith held back the urge to roll her eyes. Did every sentence that left Eric's mouth have to be so omminous?

Silence took over the roof as the transfers all hesitated. Lilith hated to admit it, but even she was scared. However, she refused to let it show, folding her arms over her chest as she waited for someone, anyone, to make a move. After a few seconds, and much to her surprise, it ended up being Beatrice stepping towards the two leaders. They moved away to the sides, offering her room to take a look at what waited for her down below. Everyone watched as she removed her shirt, before her eyes landed on Peter. Rage glinted in them as she rolled her clothing into a ball, before throwing it at him with all the strenght she could muster. Lilith couldn't hold back a laugh at the sight, and Peter offered her a glare as he threw the shirt aside.

Everything after that happened quickly and, before they knew it, Beatrice was gone from the edge of the roof. Max and Eric watched her fall with neutral expressions, before exchanging a glance and looking at the rest of the iniciates expectantly. Lilith realized that her heart was pounding against her ribcage once more, not out of fear because of the jump, but from what exactly had happened to Beatrice at the bottom. She was aware that this was simply a test, much like the train journey and their exit from the vehicle, but she wasn't used to that level of uncertainty.

"Well," Max spoke, after a few seconds, "Who's next?"

Lilith's brown eyes searched the crowd, but no one seemed willing to volunteer, even after Beatrice had been the first. Pursing her lips, Lilith clenched her fists by her side as she made her way to the spot where the Abnegation girl had stood, only seconds before. The first thing she saw upon looking down was a hole on the concrete, leading to what appeared to be darkness. Clenching her jaw, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Today, Candor," Eric's voice echoed from somewhere on her right.

Refusing him the satisfaction of getting a reaction, Lilith opened her eyes and leaped off of the rooftop. It became harder to breathe the faster she fell, and the wind made her eyes sting as she approached the hole in the ground at an almost impossible speed. Adrenaline coarsed through her veins and, even if it felt like her body was going to break apart at any given second, a laugh left her lips as she fell.

It didn't take long for her to clash against what seemed to be a net, a smile still on her lips as she shook her head, looking up to the ledge. She could see the faint outlines of Max and Eric, her fingers clutching the net as she caught her breath. A hand latched onto her arm and she jumped, before realizing that it was another guy, probably close to Eric's age, trying to help her out of the net. Once her feet hit the solid ground, the brunette dusted off her clothes, still breathing heavily as she took in her surroundings.

"What's your name?" he asked.

Her lips formed an accomplished smile, "Lilith."

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After all the iniciates had jumped from the rooftop and landed safely on the net, the man and the woman helping them introduced themselves as Four and Lauren. The brown haired man gave them a speech about how he'd be their instructor during the initiation process. Something about the way he talked gave Lilith the impression that he didn't really want to be there, and that only became clearer when he all but snapped at Christina when she made one too many comments.

The speech had been followed by a tour of the Pit, which seemed to be the place where the Dauntless socialized with eachother. Upon looking upwards, Lilith was amazed at the several places built into the walls, with narrow and unsafe looking paths leading up to them. The ceiling was made out of glass, allowing the sunlight to slightly illuminate the underground cave. She particularly liked it when it was painted in the golden hues of the sunset.

Four then lead the group to a place called the Chasm, and she'd been even more amazed at the realization that there was a body of water flowing inside the Dauntless compound. Her fingers gripped the iron barrier tightly as she glanced down at the rough waters, half listening to Four's speech about how several people had jumped into the Chasm and not made it back alive. It sent shivers up her spine.

The next place they visited was a dining hall filled to the brim with Dauntless members, who were quick in standing up and applauding them. Lilith's lips had spread into a grin at the sight, and it became clear that both Christina and Beatrice (she guessed she should start referring to the girl as Tris) were enjoying the attention as much as she was. The brunette's plan was to find a place with the other girls to have dinner, but her eyes suddenly spotted Siobhan waving her over from another table and, after apologizing to her companions, she made her way over to the Dauntless born.

"Hey," the girl greeted her, "Take a seat."

"Thanks," Lilith gave her a smile in response, before lowering herself onto the seat on Siobhan's side. The first thing she saw was the platter filled with hamburgers on the center of the table, her stomach growling at the sight, and she instantly reached out for one of them. 

"So, Lilith," Siobhan started, a grin on her lips as she looked at the blond male in front of her, "This is my boyfriend, Granger," she paused, and Granger gave her a warm smile and a nod, in greeting, "He's usually guarding the fence, but he'll be around for a while now."

"Nice to meet you," the brunette smiled, before taking a bit out of her hamburger.

"You too," Granger replied, "Siobhan was just telling me how impressed she was with you, after the ceremony. It's not too often that we get decent iniciates, and I speak for myself, in that regard," he chuckled. His gaze then fell on her white blazer, "Candor?"

"Well, technically not anymore," she raised her eyebrows, reaching for a bottle of water and pouring herself a glass. There were quite a few drink options on the table, some of them no doubt alcoholic but, for now, Lilith decided that the best thing would be for her to stay on her toes.

As she placed the bottle back with the others, her eyes found Eric as he walked into the room, carrying himself with a level of confidence that was somewhat intriguing to her. Maybe it was an effect of being a leader. With furrowed eyebrows, she watched as he walked to the table where Four was eating, briefly leaning down to tell him something. Averting her eyes from the scene, Lilith frowned as she spotted the boy from Amity eating by himself. His friend had ended up being too cowardly to jump, and Lilith wondered how long this one would last. 

Someone sitting down in front of her dragged her attention back to the table, and her eyes widened as she spotted Eric himself occupying the spot. Things seemed to make less and less sense as she watched Granger and him do some sort of elaborate handshake and, upon noticing Lilith's clear confusion, Siobhan let out a giggle. The brunette didn't find the humor in the situation at all, and she wondered if it was too late to abandon the table to sit with Tris and Christina, or maybe even the poor boy from Amity.

"I assume you've met Siobhan's new friend already," Granger nodded towards her, making her lips twist into a grimace, before raising her eyes to meet Eric's.

It didn't come to her as a surprise that he seemed as happy to see her as she was to see him, and she could tell he was wondering just what the hell she was doing there, when he raised an eyebrow. Something about his attitude irked her, and Lilith found herself holding back a glare. After a few seconds, Eric averted his eyes from her as he grabbed an hamburger from the platter.

"We've met for brief seconds on the roof," he finally replied to Granger.

"Yeah, made me feel really welcome, with the whole looking at me like he wants me dead thing," she let out, before she was able to stop herself. Immediately, she wondered just why her big mouth had to choose that situation to act up.

Her words had Granger chuckling and Siobhan almost choking on her food as she laughed, but Eric didn't seem to find any humor in them, at all. His movements ceased as he brought the hamburger up to his mouth, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at her once more. 

"Watch it, Candor," he warned, "Or you'll last even less than the week I predict you will."

"I'm planning on lasting more than a week."

"We'll see about that."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Eric turned out to the one to lead the transfers to the dorm, after dinner. Lilith couldn't say she was pleased and she wondered who exactly had made that decision, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she fell in step with Christina. The walk was silent, for the most part, and that was when she realized just how much Eric intimidated everyone. She wondered if it was specifically him, or just the fact that he was a leader.

After what seemed like an eternity, Eric stopped in front of a door, folding his arms over his chest as he waited for everyone to gather around him.

"Listen up," he began, "We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I volunteered to oversee most of your training."

Lilith rolled her eyes as soon as the words left his lips, but her action didn't go undetected, for Eric paused to give her a glare almost instantly. There had been no further communication between them during dinner, and she'd been planning on ways to avoid sitting with Siobhan and Granger so she wouldn't have to deal with Eric. Now, however, her intentions seemed to go down the drain.

"Some ground rules," he looked through the group, "You have to be in the training room by eight o'clock every day. Training takes place every day from eight to six, with a break for lunch. You're free to do whatever you want after six. You'll also get some time off between each stage of iniciation," he paused, seemingly checking if anyone had questions. No one did. " You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless."

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows at that one specific rule. How the hell was she supposed to go on her nightly jogs when she wasn't allowed to leave? The rule made sense, and Lilith knew it, but perhaps it would be worth breaking. As long as no one saw her, everything would be just fine. Right?

Eric then gestured at the door behind him, "Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You'll notice that there are twelve beds and only eleven of you," he paused, "We anticipated that a higher proportion of you would make it this far."

"But we started with fourteen," Christina retorted, and Lilith watched with interest as Eric sighed and cracked his knuckles.

"There's always at least one transfer that doesn't make it to the compound," he explained, "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless born iniciates separate, but that doesn't mean you're evaluated separately. At the end of iniciation, your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless born iniciates," his lips formed a smirk, "And they're better than you are already. So I expect-"

"Rankings?" the girl from Erudite suddenly interrupted, looking pale under the dim lights that illuminated the corridor, "Why are we ranked?"

Eric's smirk only widened at the question, "Your ranking serves two purposes. The first is that it determines the order in which you'll select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available. The second purpose is that only the top eleven iniciates are made members."

Those words made Lilith stop fidgeting with the sleeve of her blazer instantly. This was all new information to her. It didn't bother her too much, for she knew that she could make it to the top eleven if she put it all her effort, and that had been her plan since she made her decision. However, she couldn't understand why the fact that not everyone would make it wasn't common knowledge. She supposed it did make things more interesting, and that the number of iniciates would decrease a significant ammount if they had known about it before.

"What?" Christina was the first to speak.

"There are eleven Dauntless borns, and eleven of you. Four iniciates will be cut at the end of stage one. The remainder will be cut after the final test."

"What happens if we don't make it?" the Amity boy questioned, from where he was standing next to Tris. He didn't seem concerned, only curious, as he faced Eric, "If we're cut?"

"You leave the Dauntless compound and live factionless," the leader raised his eyebrows. There was a choked sob coming from somewhere in the group and, upon looking around, Lilith noticed that everyone was terrified. However, she felt excitement taking over her as she realized that this was now truly a competition, and she had every intention of ranking first.

"But that's... not fair!" Molly suddenly snapped, "If we had known-"

"What, scared of a little competition, Molly?" Lilith couldn't help but speak, folding her arms over her chest as she looked at the other girl, "Makes things more interesting, if you ask me."

"No one asked you," the taller girl fired back.

Lilith gave her a half smile, "I think you're just scared of getting your ass kicked."

Molly took a step in her direction, but she stayed rooted to the same place, which only seemed to make the other girl angrier. Her jaw was clenched when she spoke next, "And who's gonna do that? Your scrawny little a-"

"This isn't Candor," Eric finally interviened. Molly looked at Lilith with fury blazing in her eyes, and the brunette refused to break eye contact until she backed away. When she did, after a few seconds, Lilith's smirk grew, and she finally turned back to Eric, who seemed vaguely annoyed, though his lips had twisted like he was trying to keep a straight face, "This type of behavior is not welcomed here," his eyes were on Lilith as he spoke, and she realized that this was her second warning. After a few seconds, he pushed the door behind him open, "You chose us. Now we get to choose you."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Long time no see, hope y'all haven't forgotten about this book.
I've said this on my message board but, in case you haven't seen it, I haven't updated this book in a while because I've moved back to uni and classes started two weeks ago, and I've been busy with stuff pretty much every day (as well as enjoying the fact that I'm not stuck in my house anymore). 
Writing hasn't been very high on my priority list, both because of that and because of personal issues related to my mental health and all that. I'll hopefully be getting help soon, at least that's the plan, but I actually felt like updating today, so here it is.
This chapter pretty much follows the same plot as its previous versions, though the way Lilith acts is different and a lot more realistic. That was what I hoped for when working on this update, so I'm pretty proud of myself. We also had our first few Erith interactions so that's exciting!
Hope you enjoyed the update, please let me know if you did! I'll see you with another update soon!