abel [https://i.imgur.com/gfZpXk6.png]

The spheres were more varied than Abel had thought they would be. Far overhead, giant globes lit the upper half of the city, creating a mystical golden canopy. Dapples of light spotted the streets, the radiant circles visible at a distance.

He was the first to reach the red sphere closest to their group. It was small, and when he saw the others hanging back, he reached a hand out towards it. Just before his skin made contact, the aura vanished from the air and the sphere with it.

Abel paused, looking at his hand, unsure whether he had acquired it or not.

“Leaderboard,” the woman named Taryn said from behind him. Abel and the others spoke the word as well.

His HUD showed a small list of ten names with numbers beside them. The person in first place had 200 points already. At the bottom of the list, it showed his name and the number two.

“You have two points,” Lyssa said flatly.

“From one sphere,” Sarah added. “We can’t share one sphere, we’ll need to find more. I wonder how many we’ll need to avoid being at the bottom. I suppose we won’t know until the hunt ends, huh?”

He nodded his head. “Lets keep going. We’ll worry about all that when we meet up with the group again, for now we should just grab the spheres in plain sight.”

They started down their route once more, keeping their eyes peeled for anything easy to grasp.

“So, you guys seem close,” Taryn said. “Did you know each other before this?”

“Yes,” Sarah said.

“No,” Abel said.

“Sorta,” Lyssa said.

They each looked at one another and laughed.

“I guess it’s complicated,” Taryn smiled.

“Sarah and I knew each other. We came with one other friend, but...”

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“But now it’s just the two of us,” Sarah said. “Abel was with us on the train into the city, so we stuck together.”

“I had heard that Abel had come in on the train with Bernard,” Taryn said with a quizzical look.

It shocked him how word got around. Then again, their conversations in the arena had been broadcasted to most of the city, it made sense that people had been talking. And he had won the arena tournament.

“I did,” he answered, noticing how intense her gaze was for the first time. He cleared his throat. “Bernard was with us. There were five people in total. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged away the conversation. “Just wondering. All of us in this city have our own stories, but no one likes to talk about them.”

“And what is your story?” Lyssa asked.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” Taryn gave a gentle smile. “I’m more of a listener.”

They came upon another sphere, but it was high up, just out of reach. They each tried jumping to reach it, but remained a handsbreadth away from its green glow.

“Little Secret,” Lyssa said. The small dagger appeared in her hand. She tried jabbing it into the building, but it clinked against the metal and fell out of her hand. She used her Command again and thrusted, but the steel was too durable. “I thought I could make a foothold, but there’s no chance of that.”

“You have that Special Command, right?” Taryn prodded Abel. “Can’t that do amazing things? I haven’t seen it yet. I mean, it has to be great, right?”

He spoke the Command and the golden sword filled his hand. He tried thrusting it into the building, but met with the same result as Lyssa, his wrist twisting painfully. With frustration, he tried once more.

“That brat could do it,” Lyssa said quietly.

Abel shot her a look. He stabbed and sliced and tried to focus his mind, tried to envision the blade slicing a molten trail through the steel, but instead his arms only grew tired and his face grew hot.

“Here, kneel down.” Taryn said to Abel. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, panting from the exertion. “Just do it.” He dropped to a knee and she walked behind him. A moment later he could feel her climbing up onto him, her legs squeezing around her neck. She was surprisingly light. “Lift me!”

Lyssa and Sarah both watched silently as, using the sword for leverage, he pushed himself up to his feet and, riding on his shoulders, Taryn stretched out her arm, touching the green sphere.

“Ten points,” she said a few moments later when Abel had let her back down and she was looking at the leaderboard. “I’m the leader of the pack now!”

“If you found another 430 points, you’d really be in the lead,” Lyssa corrected her.

The woman waved off the comment and patted Abel on the shoulder, then began to head down the road with a skip in her step. “Lets find some more, Abel!”

Abel looked at the two other girls for a long moment.

“You better watch out, Champ. I think she has a crush on you,” Sarah said.

Lyssa chuckled under her breath. “Maybe we should let you two go on ahead. We’ll follow.”

“Don’t you dare,” he said lifting a threatening finger.

“Something wrong?” Taryn called, looking back at them.

“Nothing,” he said in an overly pleasant voice which caused Lyssa to chuckle once more. He dropped his voice. “If she tries to get us alone, one of you bail me out.”

Lyssa put two fingers to her brow in a mock salute and Sarah laughed but nodded her head. “Yes, sir.”