“It’s so much bigger than I thought!”

“You think we could climb to the top of that stadium?”

Throughout the crowd, children babbled about everything they saw and heard and smelt. They had successfully made it out of the tall forest and were now gaping up at the giant building in front of them It wasn’t very tall, but it stretched far on both sides. In the very center of this building was a large board with letters big enough to read from the forest. On it the words “Recruit Teams & Rankings” were printed. Below, five columns of twenty teams were listed, with Team Seahorse being near the very bottom of the fifth row.

Other than that, the buildings weren’t overly interesting, although there weren’t very many—five, if Zain counted right. Behind these, the tips of a soccer-sized stadium could be seen jutting above the rooftops.

“That’s where they give the tests,” muttered a green-cloaked recruit a few feet away from Zain.

“Everyone, follow me!” Trainer Cleareye had emerged in front of the stampede of children.

Zain and Cameron did attempt to follow, but their hoods were grabbed from behind and they were spun around to see a not-so-happy Bolton. The usual calm in his eyes had faded and was replaced with a fatal stare of disappointment.

“You’re really going to throw away all you’ve been working for because some woman claims you bumped into her?”

“She—“

“I don’t care who bumped into who. That’s not the point I’m trying to make,” he squatted down and leveled his eyes with Cameron’s and Zain’s. “If someone in Glimmer tells you to do something, you do it. Trainer Cleareye is the last person you want to mess with. I know she can be intolerable I know she’s conceited, but you two don’t get to talk back to her, unless you want to throw yourselves and Victoria under the bus. Am I understood?”

Both of the boys nodded, maintaining eye contact with Bolton’s shoes.

“Look at me. Stop looking at my feet. Cameron, I know you’ve had a history with these kinds of people, but you’ll have to ignore your impulses. Forget about your father,” he firmly gripped Cameron’s shoulder. “Completely. I know it’s a lot to ask, but while you’re here in Glimmer Trainer Cleareye will act like a snob the whole time. And if I’m going to be frank, so will Evan. I know both of them. It pains me to say this because I trained Evan alongside you, but he has a big head and he likes to think he’s a lot smarter than you And Zain—I know you didn’t really do anything wrong, but it’ll help Cameron even more if you stop him before taking it too far. Sometimes the best way to support your friends is to tell them they’re wrong. And I want you two to apologize to Victoria. You’ve gotten her very worried, she’s crying.”

Again the two of them quietly nodded.

“Now go,” he patted them on the backs as they walked away. “And don’t forget what I said."

“Bolton,” Zain called, “Will we be able to take the tests?”

“Of course you will. I talked to Cleareye. Go and catch up with the others now. And pay attention to what she says.”

And so they did.

The rest of the day was rather tedious. First, they listened to a very long, well-rehearsed speech from Trainer Cleareye that had the word “mature” in at least every other sentence. Following this, they were introduced to their dormitories, where Cameron, Zain, and Victoria were thrilled that to see that their rooms were at the top floor of a building that had no elevator. The tour of the area took about four hours, and by the end the only interested one was Victoria, who paid attention to every training course and location she was shown. Then came dinner. Then came the stairs. Then came the fifth floor.

“I still don’t see why we’re going to sleep so early,” Cameron told Zain and Victoria. “This is six hours before my usual bedtime.”

“That explains why you live on coffee,” Zain muttered.

Victoria had calmed down now that she knew they were not disqualified, but Zain and Cameron had yet to apologize. Although, she was very grumpy that she wasn’t given any time to do some training with Totum’s equipment.

“Vic,” Zain mumbled before she entered her room. “We’re sorry. For everything with Trainer Cleareye.”

“Cameron can speak for himself.”

“I’m sorry, Vic. I meant it. Really.”

“Good.”

For a few seconds, the three of them awkwardly stood there with nothing to say.

“Well, good night,” Victoria withdrew to her room.

Being one of two teams on the fifth floor, Zain and Cameron opened the door right next to Victoria’s and entered.

Aside from the beds and nightstands, the room had basically nothing in it. It was meant for sleeping and nothing else. Everything had already been cleaned and the drawers were filled to the brim with clean clothes and cloaks. In fifteen minutes, Zain and Cameron were under the covers. Only Zain’s shining lamplight brightened up the room.

“Good night,” he said as he turned it off.

No response. For a while, he lay there silently staring up at the roof: his first day in Glimmer had not gone as happily as he had expected it to.

“Zain,” Cameron turned over in his bed, “how come you weren’t angry with me for almost messing up everything? After I got mad at you on the train and everything.”

“Because you’re my friend.”

“We don’t even really know each other.”

“I don’t think people have to know much about each other to be real friends. They just have to like each other.”

“And you like me?”

“I think so.”

In the distance, an owl was hooting very loudly in the tall forest, like a whistle in the wind.

“Goodnight, Zain.”

“Goodnight.”

Early the next morning, the morning bell rang from below. After deciding how to wake up Cameron without aggravating him (poking him repeatedly had not worked in the end), both Zain and him set off to the lobby below. Victoria had already headed downstairs and was probably practicing something on her own accord. Unfortunately, standing in front of the entrance was a very unpleasant sight.

“It’s you who is on the same floor as us?” Zain had to look upwards to meet his eyes.

“The best team deserves the top, doesn’t it?”

Evan, Blythe, and Ellie stood right in front of the exit with newly crafted cloaks the same light pink color as cherry blossom trees.

“Come on, Evan,” Blythe swung the door open. “Let’s just head down. Trainer Cleareye will be waiting for us.”

“Why would Trainer Cleareye be waiting for you?”

“She’s our new mentor,” Ellie mumbled. “When our team split up, you guys got Bolton and we got Cleareye.”

“I totally forgot,” Cameron whispered to Zain. “Blythe mentioned that their new mentor had some weird name months ago.”

“And she may as well be the best mentor in all of the PRO,” Evan said. “She’s taught me more than everything I’ve learned under Bolton.”

“She’s also an eyesore. And as stubborn as a donkey.”

“Stubborn? Cameron, you are stubborn.”

For a few seconds, Cameron and Evan just stared at each other. Evan’s eyes glowed with a proud light while Cameron’s sent a chill down Zain’s spine.

“She’s already told us to ignore you. Poor Cameron, can’t keep his own emotions under control.”

“It seems all she’s managed to do is contribute to your growing ego.”

Despite the obvious height difference, Cameron’s presence was much more commanding.

“My ego isn’t—“

“Oh, yes it is. And you may be too ignorant to see it but everyone else does—even Blythe and even Ellie. Even Bolton.”

The satisfied look in Evan’s eyes disappeared for a split second but returned just as quickly.

“Well at least I have some people who are proud of me. Like my family,” Evan said with a smirk.

Cameron’s fists tightened at his sides.

“Tell me, Cameron. Where is your dad? Is he proud of you?”

Cameron arm flinched. If he had gone through with the punch, Zain wouldn’t have been able to catch it.

“Do it,” Evan muttered, picking up on it as well. “Punch me. We’ll see who really suffers an hour from now."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Let’s just go downstairs, Cameron,” Zain lightly grabbed onto his arm and pulled it away as gently as if he were holding a baby.

Unsatisfied, Evan tried to come up with something else to say, but ended up stuttering.

“You’re right, Zain,” Cameron said.

“We’re sorry,” Blythe and Ellie whispered after Evan headed down the stairs in a . “There’s nothing we can do. Cleareye likes him too much for us to do anything about it.”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get downstairs.”

Zain led the way. He didn’t have much time to think about what Evan said, but Zain understood why he could get to Cameron so easily. His mannerisms were the exact opposite of Cameron’s.

After a very hearty eggs and hash-brown breakfast, the recruits were herded out to the stadium behind the buildings. The walls stretched up and curved in near the top so that they seemed endless when standing below. And of course, they had to support the Totum colors: the gigantic walls were composed of variously sized navy blue triangles bending inwards and outwards lined with thin, gold strands to border them. It reminded Zain of a golf ball, except everything was way out of proportion and there was a large gaping hole at the top.

The sun beat down on everyone’s heads as they entered.

Once they were inside, Trainer Cleareye brought them all to the center of the empty, smooth blue stadium floor and instructed them to sit down. The stands and bleachers climbed up and up all the way into the shade, but for some reason she wanted them to sit in the open area directly under the sun.

“Hello, recruits. Congratulations on making it through your first day through Glimmer. Not to scare you, but that was the easiest day you’ll ever have here. Starting today, out training will be tedious and fatiguing, so prepare yourselves.

“As I’m sure you all know, we are standing in Glimmer Stadium. This is where your tests will take place and broadcasted for Totum to view from home. Not only that, but all the bleachers and seats you see around you will be filled with excited Totum residents, ready to see who will be the newest members of the PRO.

“Your mentors have been teaching you about combat, if I’m correct. While none of you are proficient in this field, what we’re really looking for is if you have the right mind when it comes to fighting. You’ll learn much more when you’re training within the PRO.”

In the distance, Zain could see three more white-cloaked mentors striding towards Cleareye from other end of the stadium. Each of them gripped onto a handle of a giant crate and together, the three of them were lugging it towards the group.

“In that box, you will not find weapons, despite the rumor for how we intend on fighting the Pacifems. What you will find is something that will enable you to use other weapons with much more skill. Years ago, all of our Pacifems died on a secret attack mission. We believe the reason for our loss was simple—the Pacifems were fast. Our members were killed so quickly they didn’t even get the chance to fight. What’s the key to avoiding this kind of attack? Movement. Movement is key. And if we can move in ways the Pacifems haven’t seen before then we can’t be hit.”

The three mentors came to a halt right next to Cleareye, the giant crate next to them white and bright under the sun. She walked over and patted on it with her rough hands. By the time the lid was cracked open and thrown off, children all around were leaning upwards to get a peek at what could be inside.

“It’s just a bunch of pipes,” Victoria said, confused.

Sure enough, Trainer Cleareye plunged her hand into the crate and pulled out some kind of golden pipe contraption that rattled and clanked. She slipped her arm through three large rings and tightly pulled on the straps until they seemed tight enough to stop blood flow. She did the same on the other arm. More than anything else it looked strange: a large, heavy piece of clunky metal that fit around her arm. The three rings were connected to two empty pipes on each side of the arm that ran all the way from her wrist to her shoulder. On each shoulder, at the top of the pipes, were two small knobs.

“These,” Trainer Cleareye raised her arms up and a rush of clanky sounds followed, “are called Dusters. They may not look like much, but they’re pretty powerful. Once I turn them on,” she turned the knob at the top of each pipe, “it will be able to shoot out a powerful blast of air for a short second. Make sure the circle on the wrist is placed firmly here, because this will allow the brain waves to communicate with the Duster. It’s almost like an extension of your body. Your brain can communicate with the Dusters just as it communicates with your legs. We have Totum’s scientists to thank for this.

“The first thing you may think is that you can use them to blast enemies to a distance, but this is not their purpose. Their purpose is to help you move in unnatural ways, unpredictable ways. Like so.”

Cleareye turned and faced her arms directly backwards. With a dizzying crack she launched forward so that sped around the stadium while hovering a foot above the ground. It was more jagged than one would have expected. In order to keep moving she had to face her arms in a different direction and set off a new blast so that it pushed her forward. When she returned, her tight bun was not so tight anymore. She had completed a huge lap in a matter of seconds.

“As you can see, it is not like flying. You can not drift around and move wherever you like to unless you set off a blast facing the opposite direction you want to move. And you cannot control yourself in the air. It’s more like your throwing yourself in a certain direction with unnatural speed. In order to learn to not die while using these, it’s imperative that you keep focused and that you realize you aren’t controlling how you move. Your Dusters are controlling you. It is the Dusters that blast you off and it is the Dusters that stop you. You have to learn to work with them, not to use them.

“Not only can they be used to move fast, but they can pivot you while in midair so that you completely change directions. The key is choosing where to aim your launch. Face your arms forward, and your launched back. Face your arms backwards, and your launched forward. Face them down, and . . .”

And she was in the air. Twenty feet high. But only for a moment before she began to fall back down again. She had to blast towards the ground right before she hit to stop the fall and land gently. All the recruits applauded and jumped and hollered.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you would all like to start practicing. Remember, these are dangerous. And if you don’t know how to use them they’re more dangerous to you than to your opponent. As you can see all the walls have been lined with thick padding in the occasion that one of you may go flying off by accident. Please don’t.

“As this requires much more experience, only white-cloaked mentors will be teaching you to use the Dusters today. And seeing as the only four are standing in the stadium, let’s begin. Each of the teams that we four teach can come up first. Everyone will wait their turn.”

Evan smirked and walked straight up to Cleareye with shoulders high and hair spiked up with at least a pound of gel. Blythe and Ellie crept behind. Blythe was nowhere near his usual cheery self and Ellie looked like she was about to cry. Cleareye must have been a great mentor.

“Now, you have to have the right set of mind to do this,” Cleareye told Evan as she helped him latch on the Dusters. “If you’re thinking about anything else it won’t work.”

It was amusing to watch as Evan concentrated as hard as he could and still not a single blast issued out of his pipes. Actually, no one was able to do it. In the center, Cleareye was growing very frustrated and yelling at everyone to focus and clear their mind. Yet as more and more teams went up, no one was able to emit a single blast of air—although one kid was able to make a mentor’s hair flutter a bit.

Soon enough, Zain, Victoria, and Cameron were called up by a blonde mentor that they had never seen before.

“Hello, my name’s Trainer Faron. All right, raise your arms to the side and I’ll slip on the Duster. Are you excited?” she asked cheerily as she placed Zain’s arm in the three rings and tightened.

Before he even got the chance to answer, Victoria squealed, “Very!”

Now Zain just felt lopsided. He could actually feel the part on his wrist that connected to his brain. It was strange. His body was somehow tricked into thinking that was a body part—a very heavy body part. This must have been how it felt to wear armor. Tightening the other one did not fix this. They made Zain’s shoulder’s slump down and it took all of his strength to stand straight.

“I know, they’re heavier than they look. Don’t worry, you’ll adjust.”

Once Victoria and Cameron also had their Dusters on the woman stood in front of them with her hands on her hips.

“Now, the key is focus. Your mind has to adapt to gaining what it thinks is a new body part. I want each of you to take turns facing your arm directly in front of you and trying to shoot. As you can see most people aren’t having much luck, so don’t be disappointed if nothing happens. It took me days before I even got a gust of wind to puff out.”

Victoria, being her usual excited self, could not control herself. She threw her hands up and winced, ready to launch a blast of air.

“Wait! I have to stand behind you in case you’re pushed back—it’s more difficult to hold your ground than you think. And you have to turn the knobs on your shoulders before it even turns on.”

The woman pulled Victoria in front of her and squatted down just enough to hold her ground.

“Ready when you are.”

Victoria took a deep breath. Slowly, she raised her arm up (the weight of the Dusters had no effect on her), winced again, and was present. Nothing occurred. Not a single spiff of air issued from the clanky pipes. For another minute she tried until the trainer came to the conclusion that it was futile—very much to Victoria’s dismay.

“You next,” she beckoned to Cameron.

It did seem like he was trying, but then again nothing happened and Zain really couldn’t tell when Cameron was trying and when he wasn’t. He was also sent to sit down and focus on “clearing his mind,” whatever that meant.

“Last but not least.”

To be honest, Zain was least. But he went up anyway just for the sake of it. Raising his arm, he felt Trainer Faron’s presence right behind him. He could feel her steady breathing on his neck. She was ready to catch him if need be.

He didn’t really know what he did. Or how he made it work. He just shut his eyes as hard as he could and thought of shooting a little bit of air out. Unfortunately, his Duster had decided to shoot out such a strong jet of wind that Zain only had a split second to see before he was hurdling back through the air. Faron wasn’t able to catch him. All he could hear was the sound of a vacuum. His vision became a bunch of blurs. Below his feet—very close—he could sense the ground as he zoomed by. His body was thrown like a rag doll as he propelled faster backwards. Just when he thought it was going for too long, his body collided with something that felt soft yet hard at the same time. It took only a moment before his vision went black.

“Is he going to be alright?”

“Yes, of course. We doctors of Glimmer are well trained. They don’t just choose anyone for a job that requires this much attention. It’s not the worst I’ve seen.”

“Any lasting damage?”

“He was going 50 miles per hour, you think there’s no lasting damage? He’s lucky you had that thick padding set up around the stadium, otherwise we’d be shipping him off to his parents in a box. He has two broken ribs, a minor concussion, and severe bruising on the bones in his lower back.”

Hesitantly, Zain opened his eyes. He would have liked to stay unconscious in bed for a little while longer, but oh well.

“I see you’re awake.”

He would have jumped of fright if he had the energy. Looming over him was a man with a white cloth wrapped around his hair and exaggerated features all over his face. His cheekbones were much higher than average, his eyes the size of large beetles, and his shoulders were broad and slanted upwards away from the neck.

“Good. Eat this.”

A soft piece of bread was shoved into his mouth and a sour liquid seeped out of it, burning the inside of his throat.

“Doesn’t feel great, I know. But it will help alleviate the pain.”

“How do you feel, Zain?”

Bolton’s calm, deep voice was recognizable at any time, even when Zain felt like he was in a dream.

“Tired. My limbs feel like jello. Not the stiff kind. The sloppy kind. And my head is throbbing.”

“On the bright side, you were the only one who managed to have a proper launch out of your Dusters!” Victoria squealed. “We’ve found your talent!”

“What about on the dark side?”

“You’ll have to skip practice for three days,” Cameron explained. “You’ll be staying here in the infirmary. You should be fine after that.”

“Three days? Broken ribs and bruised bones only take three days to fix?”

“If there’s one thing we’ve improved in Gaudium after the war it’s been medical technology,” now the doctor had busied himself with making some brown soup. “You would think that we might have at least invented flying cars before we beat death, but here we are. As healthy and alive as ever with no flying cars.”

Zain giggled and his ribs felt like they were being re-broken. The coughs that came after were much more painful.

“Settle down, Zain,” Bolton tightly held Zain’s hand. “We just came to make sure you’re all right. We’re going to leave now and let you get some more rest. You must be in lots of pain. We’ll leave you here for now. He’ll take care of you.”

“See you later, Zain.”

“Good luck.”

Cameron’s good luck sounded very ominous.

“See you guys.”

The three of them exited the room and shut the tall door behind them. The burning sensation of the liquid had just begun to fade away when the nurse placed a bowl of brown soup on his lap with a large spoon.

“Oh don’t worry,” he said after Zain warily stared at it for a few seconds. “This one’s just some nice soup I know how to make. No medicine or anything. It tastes good. Nice and hot. You’ll like it.”

The soup was in fact very tasty.