"Irwin, wake up!"

Irwin groaned, trying to turn and pull his blanket further across his shoulder. It didn't seem to budge, almost as if someone was holding it. Was his mother teasing him?

"A little longer," he moaned, feeling the aching muscles and knowing that he'd be in for a bad time if he fully woke.

"No, you need to wake up! We need to group up, or we will be in trouble!'

Group up? Irwin thought sluggishly. What was Greldo doing here, and group up for what? Was it a sports day?

For a few more moments, his mind remained in a daze, and then his memories of the previous days returned.

The sorcerer!

With a jolt, he moved forward, knocking his head against Greldo's, who had been bent over him.

"Ugh, careful!" Greldo hissed, rubbing his head.

Irwin ignored him. Where was that bearded warrior? Had he carried him to the towers?

A wooden ceiling rose twenty feet above him, and long glowing poles pointed down in odd jumbled directions. Looking around, he saw he was in a massive hallway with two enormous arches on one end, the doors in them closing. He barely saw the dark mountains behind them before they shut with a dull thud.

Right, he thought as he looked around.

Hundreds of children sat, stood, or huddled together in the room. He saw the familiar faces of the Malorin nobles talking with a group of other nobles he'd never seen before. The rest of the youths were looking around awkwardly, some moving to others and starting up a conversation.

"Where are we?" he muttered, looking around.

"In the common tower or the Initiates Tower as they call it. But we don't have time for this! We need to find others to group with, preferably strong ones, or we will be in deep shit," Greldo said as he pulled Irwin up.

Irwin's legs barely had any power, and he wobbled, almost dropping back down.

"Stop that. You have to stay standing, or nobody will want to group with us," Greldo whispered, looking at him with wide, worried eyes. "We need to look stronger than we are!"

It's not that easy, Irwin thought angrily.

He struggled to remain on his feet and finally found his balance. His body was screaming at him that he'd done it wrong, and it took all his effort to keep tears from welling up in his eyes from the way his feet burned. He probably had blisters everywhere. It took all his flagging willpower to just sit back down and check. Instead, he looked around. Greldo was right. They needed to find a group.

"Look for those that are standing alone," Greldo whispered. "Everyone with eyes can see we aren't top picks, so we need to find those who have little other choice."

Irwin looked around the hallway, quickly finding those who stood out as they did. Most were weak and sickly, some even more so than he was, but not all.

A tall, pale-skinned, teal-haired girl with a nasty scar across her cheek that looked like she'd been scratched in the face was glaring at anyone who dared come too close.

Not too far from her stood a youth taller than most men; only the softness in his face and lack of a beard showed he wasn't fully there yet but probably no older than Irwin's own fifteen years. He had a dull, dimwitted look on his face and seemed unable to process what was going on.

"The big one first?" Irwin said.

He turned to look at Greldo, who seemed to be doing much better than him. He looked almost enthusiastic about everything that was going on.

"Good idea," Greldo said, pulling Irwin with him towards the tall boy. Each step felt like agony, but one look around told Irwin he was the only one, and he had better keep it to himself.

"Hi," Greldo said to get the towering guy's attention, and the other blinked.

"Yes?" he asked, his voice dull.

"I can see you are having a bit of trouble with what is going on," Greldo said, waving around, and the boy slowly nodded.

"It's confusing. Mum's gone. She said, go with the carded man, but now he is gone. What should we do?"

Irwin and Greldo shared a look before Greldo continued.

"We need to create a group to practice going into the portals. We both have cards and are looking for four more. Do you want to join us?"

The big guy's shoulders slumped. "I only have one card… the carded man said I'd get another one here, but I think he was lying."

He was promised a second card? Irwin thought, slightly confused. Then he saw Greldo shake his head quickly, and he realized what was going on.

"I'm sure he will do so if he said that," Irwin said. "But it might only happen after we group up. Do you want to join our group and find the other three?"

The guy shook his head, and Irwin felt his hope for a third member waver.

"Mother said I shouldn't follow strangers."

"I am Greldo, and this is Irwin," Greldo said hurriedly, reaching out his hand.

The guy looked at it before shaking it incredibly carefully as if he feared breaking it.

"Daubutim Coulwoater," he said, his voice suddenly sharp, steady, and rehearsed, as if he'd said it a million times in a row.

If not for his dull look, Irwin would have thought he had been tricking them into thinking he was stupid.

"Now we know each other and are no longer strangers," Greldo said, nodding sagely. "So, we can group together, Daub."

Daubutim blinked, and for a moment, Irwin thought he was going to say something. Then he shook his head, and a slow, dull smile came to his face.

"But are you two nice? Mom said only to go with people that had my... best... interest in mind," Daubutim said, seeming to struggle over the words.

Irwin blinked, then nodded as he looked at the boy. As dull and dumb as he seemed, he seemed to know to ask for things. He shared a quick look with Greldo.

"We are nice, and I promise we won't hurt you," he said, smiling at Daubutim. "Besides, we all have our own strengths. You are really strong, but I'm smart. So we can help each other!"

Daubutim looked at him for a few moments, then nodded slowly.

"Alright," he said dully.

"Good, then we are now a group of three," Irwin said, sharing a hopeful look with Greldo.

"Are you?" a thin voice chimed.

Irwin looked to the side where a girl even smaller than him stood. If not for her sharp eyes, he'd have thought her to be barely eight.

"I'm Twintin, and I want to join the group too," she said energetically. "I've got a card!" She waved the back of her hand at them so fast that Irwin had no idea what it was.

He shared another look with Greldo, who shrugged, for some reason letting him decide.

He looked at the girl but instantly knew he wouldn't have any choice. They still needed three more, and with her, only two. That meant the chances of picking up two stronger ones would grow if they were with enough.

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"Alright," he said, though he wondered what she was going to do. He had thought he would be the physically weakest of the group. But now? This girl looked even weaker than him!

"Okay, so two more," Greldo said.

Irwin could see his friend was happy, probably due to how fast they had found two more.

Too bad that one is too stupid to hold a sword and the other too weak, he thought, wondering how they were ever going to survive a portal.

He followed the other three, more than happy to let Greldo take the lead as they moved around the room.

Ten minutes later, they had found a fifth, Olban, a fat boy with zits across his face and a voice so shrill that it hurt the ears. Still, he had a body-enhancing card that was fit for fighting. Oddly, he was probably the most equipped to enter the portals. All around them, groups of children had begun moving to the other side of the hall, where a few adults, probably sorcerers, were watching the proceedings.

"No."

"You can't stay alone," Greldo said, looking at the scar-faced, teal-haired girl with a frown. "We are supposed to group together and-"

"I don't care," the girl snapped. "I don't want to go with you people!"

Irwin gazed at the girl who was glaring at them and finally shrugged. "Let's just go. She doesn't want to come-"

"So! It seems you've all finally finished gathering," an exceptionally loud and annoyed-sounding man blared from the other side of the room.

One of the two sorcerers, a brawny man with two long-handled swords that sat in scabbards along his shins, stomped forward. His arms were longer than they should be, dangling at the height of his sword pommels. He was holding the pommel of one of his swords, waving around with the other.

The other sorcerer was holding a long quarterstaff and jogged after him, whispering something.

"No! No more waiting! I'm done with waiting! A dozen common portals changed to uncommon yesterday, and twice as many are going to change today," he snapped at the other. "If this continues, the both of us will be over our ears in very rare portals by the end of the week!"

The other sorcerer gritted his teeth, seeming ready to continue arguing, but the other one ignored him and stomped to the center of the room.

"Everyone with uncommon cards, go stand over there," the loud man said as he pointed to a nearby hallway.

There was a moment of silence, then a few of the noble groups headed to the spot he'd designated. Irwin wasn't surprised to see that two of the groups were partially made up of youths from Malorin.

"Alright, you are going to be brought away in a moment. For now, pay attention and shut up!"

Irwin swallowed as he watched the man put both of his hands on his sword pommels and looked around. Then he jabbed a finger at the hundreds of youths.

"Beyond that door is a hallway with stairs leading to rooms that hold up to six people! Each has a symbol on the door. Go there and bring your gear if you have any! There's bedding for those who need it. You have one hour to yourself, then a two- three- or four-carded will come to pick you up, depending on the number of cards you already have. For those with two cards or more… don't get cocky! All of you have only common cards, and the people getting you will have uncommon or better! Don't piss them off, or they are allowed to put you in your place!" At this, he glared at the remaining nobles, who comprised a third of the group. "Got it?"

There was a soft muttered and halfhearted consent, but it seemed enough for the sorcerer.

"Good. I'm Mouldir, the master of the first tower. You will be here for as long as you don't have uncommon cards. You will be moved to the second tower as soon as you get one. Don't expect that to happen anytime soon, though. Most people never find an uncommon because they only rarely drop in common portals. Now, this tower is called The Card Grinder… If you don't understand what that means, don't bother even asking. You will find out soon enough. Let's just say that if you want to be one of those who survive till they find five cards, you must train, train, train. If you don't?" Mouldir slit his finger across his throat with a nasty smirk. "You won't survive the first real portal you go into!"

Irwin swallowed, noticing that the staff-wielding sorcerer was glaring at Mouldir, shaking his head in disgust.

Mouldir looked around, then snorted and stomped away, waving his hand at the door. "Get to your rooms, punks."

"I hope not all of the sorcerers are like him," Greldo whispered.

"I don't think they are," Irwin said softly as he looked at the staff-wielding one who was rubbing his head.

"I'm not going with you," the girl suddenly snapped. "I don't care what Mouldir said!"

With a glare at Greldo as if she held him accountable, she moved through the room toward the door.

"Just let her go. Let's get a room before we end up with nothing," Irwin said as he looked around.

"We had better," Olban said as he scratched open a zit on his chin, wiping what came out on his pants.

Irwin shuddered as he moved towards the door. He walked like an old man, his legs barely able to hold him, and he was glad when Greldo moved closer, putting an arm below his elbow to help him along.

"Are you two already like that?" Olban asked as his eyes widened while he licked his lips.

"Like what?" Irwin asked, already regretting having him on their team.

"You know," Olban said as he made an odd gesture with his fingers. "That!"

Greldo shook his head, his ears getting red, showing he had at least some idea what Olban meant. "No, we are just friends. Now let's go before we…" he fell quiet as a group of five nobles and Clarish moved past them, shoving past the group ahead of them. A tall, blond boy was about to say something when his gaze landed on the apparent leader, and he froze. The other group didn't seem to notice, and as they walked away, the boy's shoulders slumped.

"I guess those are the top dogs," Olban said, way too loud.

The blond boy turned and gritted his teeth as his eyes landed on Olban. "That's Gailrich Daybrin, youngest son of the warden of Graimarin, third-largest of the remaining cities after the capital and Caldange. Don't anger him. He is not known for his humor," he said before turning.

"Well, that sounds like a fantastic person to stay far, far away from," Olban said as he grinned widely at Irwin.

Irwin couldn't agree more, and despite the unappetizing appearance, he found himself liking the zit-faced boy.

Besides, he also had no interest in getting on anyone's bad side, let alone something worse than a regular noble.

The group moved through the building, and Irwin looked around in wonder. The hallways were far wider than he was used to, and the ceilings were over ten feet high. As short as he knew he was, he felt even shorter as he walked through them, and when they reached a massive central room with dozens of stairs leading up to the different levels, he shared a look with Greldo.

"Makes you feel small, doesn't it?" Olban said, seemingly uncaring about the looks he got.

"Not really," Daubutim said dully as he looked around. "It looks like back home, although not as nice."

What? Irwin thought as he looked up at the tall boy shambling beside him. He was almost one and a half heads taller than him, gazing around, seeming unimpressed.

Where is he from if he thinks this is normal?

"Let's go here," Greldo said, heading towards the staircase furthest to the right, which led up to one of the middle floors.

Irwin groaned as he saw the many steps, his legs already burning painfully.

I hope we at least have nice beds, he thought.

After a few minutes of stair climbing and moving through two hallways, they stood before a room with an open door. A symbol of two carrots sat above the door frame, etched in the stone.

So big, Irwin thought, while Greldo whistled.

The room was four times as big as the living room back home, with three beds on both sides, a table with six chairs in the middle, and a small fireplace with what looked like a teapot hanging above it.

"Looks like our summer cabin," Daubutim muttered softly as he walked inside, then he moved to the left and took the first bed.

Irwin looked at him dumbly.

"Maybe he's a noble?" Greldo whispered from the side before pulling him along to the other two beds on the left. Irwin followed dutifully, taking the furthest bed. It was longer than his cot and wider, and the blankets seemed thick and soft.

"No," a voice snapped from the other side of the room.

He looked up and found Olban standing before the middle bed while Twintin was wagging a finger at him and pointing at the bed closest to the door. "You don't get the bed beside me. Go over there!"

"But-" Olban began, his whiny voice going up in pitch.

"No! You smell bad, and I don't want you to be the first thing I see when I wake up," Twintin said, stomping her foot.

"Just do what she says," Greldo snapped from where he lay on his bed, arms behind his head. "I want to rest a bit before we have to do whatever it is they want us to do."

"Fine," Olban said as he walked back, shaking his head.

Irwin sighed as he lay down on his bed, marveling at how soft it and the blankets were.

"Can someone get the fireplace going?" Twintin asked.

Oh no, Irwin thought as he felt his body tremble at the prospect of getting up. Then Greldo's voice shattered his hope that someone would offer to do it the regular way.

"Irwin?"

For a moment, he wondered if he could pretend to be sleeping, and then Twintin chimed in.

"Please? It's cold here."

No, it's not, Irwin thought, but he got up with a groan.

As he swung his rebelling legs over the edge of the bed, he hesitated to put his weight on his feet. He should probably pull off his boots soon and look at the damage. Gritting his teeth, he got up, feeling like he had rocks in his boots.

Twintin was on the opposite bed, huddled below the blankets with her clothes on apparently, and staring at him with wide, innocent eyes. Daubutim was lying on his bed, eyes already closed, and Olban was picking at the zits on his face again. Greldo gave him a big thumbs-up before closing his eyes with a content smile.

"Fine," Irwin muttered.

Wasn't Greldo supposed to be his friend? Annoyed, he moved towards the fireplace and saw there was already wood and kindling ready. It took barely any focus to get the flame to appear above his finger, and he held it at the kindling, which instantly ignited. Within a moment, the bigger wood was also burning -much faster than it should, from what he knew- and he waited for a few moments for his hands to warm. Then he turned around to see Olban and Twintin staring at him with wide-open eyes.

"You have a fire card?" Olban asked, licking his lips. "That's awesome! Is it Fire Dart? I've heard of that one but never seen it! Can you throw it?"

Irwin was about to say he couldn't, then frowned.

"I don't know. Never tried," he said, looking at his finger.

If it's not a common card… what can it do? he thought as he held back the desire to try it right then and there.