“Is it on?” Several knocking sounds followed the question. The screen stuttered with each strike on the camera. A void comprised of static peeled back revealing Sarah’s face in extreme close-up.

  “It’s on,” said Anatoly from off screen.

  Alongside the disappeared team members, the original streaming camera had also vanished. The stream went dark. Several high-ranking members of the Awakener’s Association panicked, expecting the worst. There was an audible sigh upon seeing the stream come back up, but that relief was tempered by the realization that only four members remained in the team.

  “Okay, I’m going to brief everyone on the situation while the others anchor the ship,” said Sarah. “The camera is going to be on autonomous mode without anyone directing it. So it might miss some things, but we can’t afford the manpower right now.”

  “The monsters on the ship had a mental corruption ability. They appeared as our allies and removed all of our normal inhibitions and logical thought. There’s a lot we’re missing here because we solved this with brute force, but I’m assuming there’s an intended way to get through this. That’s why I’m giving the information out, so that teams following us don’t die in vain.”

  The camera pointed towards the sea and an isnd appeared. “After we killed all the monsters the sky cleared and an isnd appeared in the distance. As you can see… There are already two other ships there. We’re going to approach with caution. It’s not clear if those are other teams that arrived here ahead of us and the Tower is converging the different groups, or if it’s just the next test.” Sarah grinned. The ship finally crawled to a stop.

  All four gathered together. Sarah focused on the distant isnd.

  “If things go bad, Sarah, we’ll retreat back to the ship.”

  “Got it.”

  “We don’t know what we’ll find there,” said Theo, stepping forward. “So we need to be ready for anything. Everyone should be combat ready.”

  “I’m always combat ready.”

  “Anatoly, please just stop talking,” said Alyssa. “It is the truth.”

  “I distinctly remember you being a bloody mess on my sister-in-w’s floor not that long ago. Didn’t look very combat ready back then~”

  Anatoly scowled and turned his head away. “Just take us to the isnd, porter,” he said.

  “Oh, I think I really got under his skin with that one!” Sarah ughed and a tunnel opened up through space.

  Theo came out first. He rolled forward through a tuft of wild grass and came up in a fighting pose. Anatoly arrived second, slide-stepping like a boxer. Alyssa arrived third with a ring of water floating around her. Finally, Sarah arrived st, opening several portals around her and preparing to pull out all manner of weapons. The four of them looked dead serious and ready for anything, but they all stumbled when they looked out upon the scenery ahead.

  “Oh, hey guys,” said Hana, currently ying in a hammock and sipping a fruity drink through a straw. “Bout time you guys showed up.” The hammock id between two palm trees in a small, grassy clearing just past the beachhead. Large bushes and other fantastical undergrowths surrounded the gde.

  “Hana?” said Sarah.

  “In the flesh.”

  “But how? When we looked at your stream footage it seemed—”

  “Ah yeah, the stupid shapeshifter things hit the camera while attacking me. But I had a super powerup in a critical moment and won the battle…”

  The stream chat following Alyssa’s group exploded with fire emotes, bald emotes, and emotes of crying faces.

  “So one of the ships we saw docked here is yours?” asked Alyssa.

  “Yeah,” said Hana. “I was the first to pass the first floor but the second to pass the ocean level. Speaking of, you guys should be feeling it soon—” Her words were cut off as the glow of rising mana shined on all four of the newcomers. It wasn’t a rge increase, but it was still something.

  “Even the second time, this still amazes me,” said Alyssa. She looked down at her own hands in awe. She felt a tangible increase in the mana pulsing through her. All the exhaustion and aches accrued from the boat ride disappeared in an instant, leaving her refreshed.

  “Wait,” said Theo, stepping forward while rustling through his pack. “You were the second?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then who’s the first?”

  “That would be me.” A nearby bush rustled and a man stepped out. Theo dropped his bag to the ground. The floating camera recorded his mad dash forward to embrace his friend.

  “You’re alive…”

  “Yeah,” said Heavy Tomtom. He hugged Theo back, but his eyes kept gncing between Alyssa and Anatoly.

  Harper and Caroline’s fight dragged on. Despite their improvements and potential, both were just too young and undeveloped. Neither could strike a true finishing blow. But, as the fight lingered past its due, Caroline felt her options disappearing one by one. Whereas at the start of the fight she could pick and choose which shadows to follow, now her options were limited to one or two paths. She weakened over time but it felt like Harper only continued to grow stronger.

  “How are you doing this?” asked Caroline between ragged breaths. Her left arm dangled limp, the shoulder dislocated. Her and Harper were dangerously close to the riverbank now. They were practically fighting on the fence.

  “Caroline, aren’t we friends?” said Harper, her voice mocking. “You should know better than to ask a friend about their secrets.”

  “This doesn’t make any sense!” Caroline grit her teeth and screamed. “I can see the spokes. There’s no timeline where you’re this strong.”

  “Maybe your ability doesn’t work like you think it does.”

  “Shut up!”

  “Ah. I’m serious, Carol.” A gentle light danced in Harper’s eyes. She said, “I’ve also made that mistake.”

  “Hah! You’re just like that monster.”

  Harper’s face stiffened. “No,” she said. “I’m nothing like her.”

  “Did I strike a ner—” Caroline paused mid sentence. Something beeped as an alert went off. She pulled out a shiny new phone from her pocket. How it was unmarred after the brawl remained a mystery. “What?” Caroline froze. She looked up at Harper with a strange look in her eyes.

  “You’re really gonna do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Look at your phone, say ‘Wow’, all in order to bait me into asking what you were looking at?”

  “No.” Caroline’s response was curt. “I wasn’t going to tell you even if you asked. We’re enemies, Harper.”

  “Ah.” Harper sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose and then looked up at her ‘friend’. “Are we done, yet?” she asked. “I think this little fight has dragged on long enough.”

  “We’re not done,” Caroline hissed. “You’ve improved a lot more than I thought possible while I was gone, but I have a trump card.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I didn’t come here alone.” Caroline raised her right hand. With the signal given, a group of gunmen marched out of nearby buildings. It was at this point in time that Harper finally remembered one of the biggest reasons she never confronted Caroline in the past…

  “Do you really think some low level thugs will change anything?” This wasn’t the Harper of the past.

  “Of course. You’re tough, but you’re not bulletproof.” Caroline motioned with her hand and all of her men opened fire.

  Harper dashed backwards into the fence, which colpsed under her weight. Bullets ripped over her and several struck her body, but they only left bruises. She winced and hissed with each one.

  “How?” asked Caroline. “You’d need to be—”

  “You’d be amazed just how abstract human abilities really can be,” said Harper, interrupting Caroline. “I used to think my ability only let me adapt to the environment, but I was wrong.” Harper ughed. Her skin hurt and pink pockmark bruises covered her arms and abdomen. “Turns out, the environmental part wasn’t ever really a factor at all.”

  “What bullshit.” Caroline spat on the ground. “Even if your skin is tough, you’re still taking damage. You can still bleed.” She raised her hand again. Her men reloaded and prepared another salvo.

  Harper didn’t wait for them to finish. She could feel her mana bottoming out. She needed to leave while she still could… And there happened to be a way for her to become isoted nearby, where even if her pursuers followed they wouldn’t end up in the same pce. Harper jumped into the river and started to swim across. Caroline and her gunmen followed, harassing the whole way.

  “She’s aiming for the tower’s gate!” yelled one of the gunmen from the bank. He could see Harper’s destination clearly.

  “Don’t let her get there! Open fire!”