When Myka surveyed the scene in front of her it was enough to break anyone’s heart and mind. Her dreams of a grand adventure were now just a fantasy.

She rushed over to her fallen comrades and while she did her best to not choose favorites, her instincts pushed her toward Dorian.

“No…” Myka clutched him tightly, he was barely breathing. She examined his arm, he’d lost a tremendous amount of blood. “Help,” the word barely escaped her mouth. “Help,” she repeated, just beyond a whisper.

She couldn’t lose him. Not before they fulfilled their promises to each other. If this world was rotten then they’d find another. Myka screamed, perhaps for the first time in her entire life. It caused a strain that her vocal cords couldn’t handle. The sensation burned heavily, it felt like they had ripped and torn. As Myka clutched at her throat in pain. She fought every urge to cry, slumping her body over Dorian’s. Something must be done, something needed to be done.

She ran her fingers down his forearm, tracing his skin, until her fingers intertwined with his.

At first, she didn’t recognize what was going on. His hand wasn’t supposed to be there, and yet her fingers fit perfectly between his. The wound had healed completely, in fact, his overall condition was improving rapidly. His breathing began to steady. A miracle? No, that’s not right. Her gift? Her Brilliance?

When she realized what was going on, what was possible, Myka sprinted over to each and every one of the recruits who were still alive. Bryn was banged up badly. Rope burn around her neck, both her eyes were swollen shut and a blade was sticking out of her stomach.

She placed her hands on Bryn’s body.

“How does this work, I don’t know how this works,” Myka began to panic.

Remember, it’s a part of you, intuitive, like breathing. A voice said. It was as if the voice was being carried across the wind.

Myka began to notice a flow of energy, it was like she could feel which channels were blocked, and which areas needed to be repaired. Then as if Bryn’s lifeforce was a river being blocked by a dam, Myka released the blockage, allowing the light to flow, while also pouring her own light in.

Bryn’s eyes started healing, and the wound around her neck disappeared. Myka pulled out the knife and for a second the wound gushed, but it quickly sealed itself up.

She continued this process with each and every recruit, all of those that she could save. She did.

----------------------------------------

The first thing he felt was the warmth of the sun on his skin. Skye rolled over as if waking from a deep dream.

What happened? he thought to himself. When he sat up he was in awe of the magnificence of The Structure. Somehow, he’d gotten outside.

He surveyed the landscape, finally locating the rest of the recruits. Why were there so few of them?

Skye approached and noticed they were all standing together with their heads bowed. They were saying a prayer, standing above numerous graves.

“What happened?” Skye asked. The group whipped their heads around, they were still all on edge. When Dorian noticed who it was, he smiled.

“I was looking for you, I didn’t see you come out of the tunnel,” Dorian said.

“Yeah no I. Wasn’t given a Brilliance, or wasn’t allowed to find out? It’s all kind of foggy, to be honest. I can’t really explain it. Or how I got here.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” Bryn said. “This place is a nightmare and you won’t last ten minutes without A Brilliance. Go back.”

Skye just shrugged and looked over at The Structure, there was no way he was going back in. He doubted he could even if he wanted to.

“Does anyone know? What happened to them? How did we beat them?” Myka said softly, her throat still raw. She was referencing the pile of dead bodies. These were the corpses of the group that attacked them.

“I was pretty out of it, but they just started dropping like flies. One by one they collapsed.” Dorian said, examining the body of the ogreish man.

“We didn’t beat them. We got lucky,” Bryn spat at the sand.

“So everything they told us was true?” Skye said.

“No. They’re liars, and if I get the chance I’m going to burn this place down.” Dorian said. His anger caused a small tornado to whip up the sand around him.

“I don’t understand,” Skye said.

“Look. I’m glad you’re okay, and I’m glad you’re with us. I really am. But you didn’t see what happened here. They set us up to be slaughtered. They didn’t train us properly, and they didn’t prepare us.” Dorian said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“You don’t know that,” Bryn replied.

“Look around us Bryn. Our friends, our comrades tortured and ripped to shreds in front of our eyes. They lied to us about what was out here. Did you know they used to receive their Brilliances six months before having to serve beyond the wall? For this exact reason. So why not us hm?” Dorian continued.

Skye had never seen him get so worked up.

“Everyone thought the danger was over...” Myka said.

“We all know the history Dorian,” Bryn couldn’t look at him, she didn’t want to admit they’d be offered up. Or admit how embarrassed she was. In the face of real danger, they were all pathetic. “We need to move on,” Bryn said, they weren’t words she believed, but she was trying her best to sound like a leader.

The bell from the storage shed chimed. It meant new supplies. They all went over to check it out. After they had cleared out all the rotten food, Dorian opened the hatch, it was fresh food, water, and a note.

He read it to himself quietly before reading it aloud.

No one could have predicted this. No one knew when this was going to happen. But for now, we have to protect our people at all costs. We must prepare for what’s to come. And they will come. We can’t predict exactly when. Train hard, train well. Your lives and the lives of your people depend on it. Good luck.

Dorian crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the wind.

“See. I told you so. If something’s coming they should have trained us better. Instead of just going through the motions. If they think we’re going to protect them now. Ha. Good luck on your own.” Dorian said, before taking a long drink of water.

Skye noticed Dorian was glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. It was uncomfortable, he looked like he was mulling over some great decision.

Myka hung back, letting the other recruits grab food and water when the crumbled note blew up against her leg. She picked it up, reading to herself what Dorian had said. Except he had left one part out at the very bottom.

We don’t know exactly where he went. But if you happen to come across Skye, if he’s out there with you. I ask of you an impossible task.

Kill him.

It may save us all.

----------------------------------------

For the next month, the recruits trained fiercely, trying to hone their abilities as quickly as possible. They vowed to never lose another.

Dorian was able to manipulate the air around him, whipping up wind storms in an instant. Bryn was becoming one with the earth and sand. They were both elementals. Some of the most powerful gifts one could be bestowed with.

Myka’s gift was even rarer. Though she couldn’t quite control it yet, she had the angel’s touch. The ability to heal those around her. No one had been gifted such power in almost a hundred years. Legends say that a recruit was only dawned with such a gift in times of great peril.

She practiced her ability on everyone’s small cuts and bruises when they would spar against each other.

Skye meditated with his back against The Structure. Every morning he’d spent hours trying to tap into it, well he wasn’t sure what had happened. He’d also decided to not tell the other recruits, that it was him, who was the one who saved them all. Skye had no idea how to activate his power, and until he did, he’d keep it to himself.

After a while, he spent less and less time focusing on his gift and instead decided to train his body and mind instead. Waiting until the hottest part of the day to run twenty-five miles in bare feet.

One day, Dorian gathered the group at dusk.

“I’m leaving,” he said firmly. At first, none of them took him seriously. They were protectors, they couldn’t abandon their purpose.

“I’m in,” Myka tried her best to speak up.

“But you don’t even know where I’m going,” Dorian smiled for the first time in a month. It felt strange.

“Doesn’t matter,” she stood beside him.

“And where exactly are you going to go?” Bryn said sarcastically.

“Anywhere is better than here.”

“You sure about that?” Bryn wasn’t convinced. “Those monsters came from somewhere out there. They’ll be more.”

Bryn was right Skye thought. The chances of them running into something only increased the further they ventured away.

“We’ll find our own way. I’m not asking any of you to come with me. I just. Can’t be here anymore.” Dorian’s confidence wavered.

“This isn’t some vacation,” another recruit said. Her name was Sancere.

“I never said it was--” Dorian responded.

“Why are you acting so casual then? They’re dead. Do you even care? How could you think? I mean look at what happened. And you think out there is going to be? And, and. What they did too. We have to stay here. We have to stay here, WE HAVE TO STAY HERE,” they could see the wildness in her eyes, she was having a flashback, a symptom of PTSD.

Sancere’s rant stopped when Myka laid her hands on her temples. She began to drift off to sleep slowly as Myka guided her body comfortably down to the sand.

“When did you learn how to do that?” Dorian was shocked and impressed.

“I’ve been using it on myself every night or else I end up just laying awake thinking about what happened,” Myka responded.

No one was surprised by this. Sleep seemed like a luxury these days. Many of the recruits still had vivid nightmares of the massacre.

“If you want to stay and protect these traitors then fine. But I’m out. First thing tomorrow.” Dorian said before turning in for the night.

No one slept that night, the decision was all at the front of their minds.

Skye had a feeling few would go with them. Bryn had an infallible sense of duty while the rest were most likely too traumatized to venture out into the unknown.

Skye himself remained on the fence. But could he really stay in a play where they had threatened him like that? Almanon would have done everything in his power to stop him, and Reikner would have killed him. The fact he escaped was no small miracle.

It was decided then. He’d journey with Dorian and Myka.

The next morning Dorian, Myka, and Skye prepared to leave. It looks like it was just going to be the three of them.

“Fine. Very well. Do your best, and stay alive,” he packed a bag full of rations. No one protested, they’d be restocked again in a week.

There weren’t many words shared between the group. What was there even to say? All of this felt unprecedented. No one had attacked the walls in decades, and no one had gone out to venture on their own.

As Dorian, Myka, and Skye prepared to head off, Bryn was suddenly matching their stride.

She was the last person Skye expected to come with them.

“What about your sense of duty?” Dorian mocked her.

“Don’t talk to me about duty. You’re abandoning your people. I just don’t plan on sitting around waiting to be picked off. The real threat is out there. And I tend to snuff it out before we’re attacked again.” Bryn said.

Skye wasn’t sure what they’d find out there or what horrors they’d face. Yet he felt he was being called. The history of The Structure didn’t seem to add up anymore. Almanon was keeping something from them. Hopefully the answers he was searching for. The answers they were all searching for. Were beyond this desert.