“So, you tried to take advantage of my ignorance and it didn’t work out?” I asked Jenny after equipping my new clothes and joining them.

“Yep.” Jenny admits while concentrating on the floating glowing crystals around the Paldex she tried to leave with me.

“What makes them different?” I held up my device and compared the two. “They look identical.” I tilt my head, wondering if it's in the finer details.

“No silly, they all look alike.” Sara laughed a bit. “Yours is just ‘fresher’ than the one we scavenged from some ruins.” She did some air quotes.

“I found this buried under mountains of papers while being locked in an office before being killed, how do you know it’s ‘fresher’ than yours?” I throw the air quotes back her way.

“Wait, you didn’t start with it?” Sara looked at me in surprise. A brilliant flash of multi-colored light briefly went off while drawing our attention to Jenny.

“Done.” She said with a tired but proud look. “What?” She looked at us with a blank look.

“Hold on, you were shot to death? Like with a firearm?” Sara spun on me after a moment.

“Guns, what are you two talking about?” Jenny walked up next to Sara before handing her the now fixed Paldex.

“Remember the bullet hole in the Paldex? That’s what killed him. Thank you.” Sara gave Jenny a hard look, before accepting the Paldex.

“Yeah, some blue skinned girl in metal armor shot me.” I sighed while I crossed my arms. “Funny part was, they were the ones who saved me… wait, if they had all that gear, how come they didn’t use it until that morning.” I grab my chin as my eyes unfocus on reality and I just think hard about the past. “How long has it actually been?” My eyes pop open as memories turn out to be hazy and harder to grasp at.

“Did they have unnaturally colorful hair, eyes, and other sorts of features?” Jenny asked me with a serious look.

“Yeah, they were a literal colorful group.” I answered while closing my eyes. “I can’t seem to remember many details, but they did have unusual colored features. They kept on mentioning something about a syndicate, and then their rags turned into futuristic armor and weapons from thin air.” I opened my eyes as a few connections were being made. “Are they also players?” I ask Jenny while Sara is slightly distracted with her Paldex.

“Why would the Union be here, they should be in the far east.” Jenny looked up from her mumbling. “Which Syndicate family, do you remember any names?” She asked me.

“Mmm… Hoss is the only name I can remember.” I close my eyes trying to remember anything at all. “He was a leader?.. The others seemed like mindless morons…” My eyes snapped open as a thought that was not mine surfaced in my mind. “Rayne, it’s the Rayne Syndicate.” I grabbed my forehead as the pressure from the foreign thought hit me like a bad headache.

“Did thinking really hurt you?” Jenny chuckled while she thought for a moment. “Rayne, Rayne… Why does that sound familiar… Ugh, Sara?” Jenny called over her shoulder after she was unable to remember anything.

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“Yea?” Sara replied while her attention was still on the Paldex.

“Do you know anything about the Rayne Syndicate?” Jenny poked her shoulder.

“What now?” Sara finally looked up from the tablet.

“Rayne Syndicate, know anything?” Jenny repeated herself.

“You mean that Syndicate family that fell fighting against the PGU?” Sara said before snapping her fingers and continuing. “It happened about 6 years ago in the southern islands.”

“The PGU was disbanded 4 years ago due to their corruption with the PIDF in the eastern lands. The experiments that survived were taken under the care of the Union.” Jenny said in response.

“Wasn’t there some crazy cult that attacked the PGU when they started to do ‘research’ around the sunken city?” Sara chuckled a bit at the memory. “We thought most of it was fake news, now here we are, living in it.” She shook her head before going back to her tablet.

“There was a large volcano with the sunken city of Atlantis just off its coast, or so said the locals.” I added in after failing to follow their conversation.

“That can’t be right.” Jenny turns to me in disbelief.

“What, that Atlantis isn’t real?” I chuckled.

“No, it should be in the North.” Jenny replied.

“Was there a tower?” Sara asked me.

“I honestly can’t remember much.” I say while shaking my head.

“Have other places been infected like these islands?” Sara turned towards Jenny with fear in her eyes.

“Let's hope not.” Jenny answers back, trying to be brave.

“Before y’all vanish on me again, could you help me figure out how to make a fire so I can survive another night?” I hold up my Paldex. “How are there better Paldex than others?” I give my tablet a questioning look.

“Well first, you need to finish registering your Paldex. You may be linked to it, but you haven’t finished with it yet.” Jenny informed me while Sara went back to her Paldex. “Secondly, the only way a Paldex is better than another one, is when the settings are set to make playing almost easy.” Jenny replied to my blank stare.

“What settings?” I look at my Paldex, there is a loading circle on the screen.

“Just watch for now.” Jenny sighs as she equips an ax, before slightly bashing a tree. The tree shakes as a bundle of fibers and wood appear on the ground before vanishing. “I have a trait that allows my crafting to cost less materials.” She says while pulling out her tablet and selecting something on the screen. “So I can make a fire with less wood than normal.” She replied while tapping in quick succession while some logs magically formed a bonfire before lighting themselves on fire.

“I really want to make a magic fire now.” I say with bubbling excitement over what I just witnessed. “When will this- oh it's done.” I saw while watching my Paldex’s screen go from loading circle to pitch black. “Did I break it again? Jenny?” I looked up at the frozen still figure of the girl standing proudly over the magical fire. “Sara?!” I turned to see the other frozen with a small smile on her face as she was mid-click on her Paldex.

[All Towers have been set, let the games begin.] A mechanical voice spoke from everywhere.

“Who said that?!” I shout while trying to spin around, but my feet feel like they are trapped in something solid. “What game?!” I can feel the force slowly creep up my body, freezing me in place. The darkness swept over me, as I heard a faint whisper.

[I select you, Pawn.]