Staring blankly at the teleporter, Thorne ran through all the training sessions he had with his mentor. ‘No not my mentor! It’s Master Khal! Why was he here?’ Thorne asked himself, almost scared of what the answer was.

Thorne held his head in his hands. There was too much confusion; ‘First, he puts me in the wilderness, then leaves, then returns in disguise to train me. What’s his goal?’ Thorne scowled as he began to pace around the dueling circle.

‘During the training, he didn’t talk much.’ Thorne remembered, ‘Could it be…’ Thorne tried to remember all of what Master Khal had done in these three days, ‘Does he simply want to teach me how to…think, during combat.’ Thorne exhaled a deep, tired breath, ‘Is that really all? He just wants to make me a better swordsman.’

‘All he really instructed me to do was to think more.’ Thorne thought again, ‘He must’ve known that was my weakness ever since the great wilderness.’ He realized.

‘Though he was right then,’ Thorne sighed, recalling what Master Khal had said regarding Bluey. Looking down, he watched the floor as he walked. "I just wished he wasn’t." Thorne muttered.

Thorne continued pacing for minutes. ' It’s too much,’ he decided. I don’t have enough information, but I do know one thing…’ Thorne’s face darkened as he pictured Master Khal’s smile. ' He has a motive...’

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

Zal sauntered out of his bed and stole a quick peek at the time: 2:50 UST. He smiled wryly; ‘The last day.’

In no time, Zal found himself outside his dorm room and in the teleporter. As he was about to send himself to the team training area, he noticed something strange; ‘Where's

Thorne?’ Quickly, Zal rechecked the dorm room, and sure enough, Thorne—who would usually be taking a quick, restful nap—was nowhere to be seen.

Zal shrugged, ‘I guess he wants to train for longer by himself.’

He didn’t overthink it and simply retraced his steps back to the teleporter and shot himself through space to the team training area.

Upon reaching the artificial desert, Zal noticed that Moravian and Procka had already arrived.

“How you doing Moravian.” He nodded to the undead, “Procka.”

“Hello, Zal,” Moravian said in response. Procka—as she usually did—ignored him.

The teleporter activated once again, and Zal peered over, expecting to see the typically prudent Thorne.

“Hello everyone.” Lyra Valtear nodded stiffly to the three of them. “What's up Lyra, do you know where Thorne is?” Zal queried, eyes cast down at his timekeeper: 3:02 UST.

‘He’s not usually late. Did he get too immersed in training?’

Lyra shrugged, “I don’t know, I haven't seen him at all today.”

“HELLO EVERYONE!” A chirpy shout erupted from the teleporter.

“Welp, that’s not Thorne,” Zal mumbled as he smiled at the incoming Jacky.

“Oh, where’s Thorne?” The yellow spectrum cultivator asked as she skipped over to the group of only four. “I don't know.” Zal said, his brows knitted together, “I haven’t seen him since training with Master Graald.”

“Hmmm.” Jacky bit her lip. "Well, it seems that we'll just have to start without him.” She then smiled wide as she looked over the team. “Unlucky for him, today we're actually going to do combat.”

Zal jumped in joy, “Really?” he asked with a wide grin on his face. During the last two days, all they had done was—as Jacky said—mingle.

The initial day proved enjoyable; engaging in soldierly roles and dueling, although not particularly practical for training, still provided a thrilling experience. However, on the second day, Jacky took matters into her own hands and organized a team dinner; it was awful. Thorne, Procka, and Moravian—being the unsocial creatures that they were—barely spoke. Only Jacky and Zal had actual conversations during the entirety of the meal.

“Oh yeah,” Jacky said, pumping her fist. I brought together fifteen different novice students that you guys, as a team, will have to defeat.”

Zal grinned wide; he could finally observe the capabilities of his teammates.

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“When will we start?” Lyra asked with a reserved expression.

“The group will come in…” Jacky took a look at her timepiece, “Thirty minutes, that is the time you will have to pre-.”

WHOOSH!

The teleporter sounded, which interrupted Jacky.

Zal sighed in relief upon seeing who had stumbled through, “Finally!” He shouted as a jab toward Thorne, but a small hidden smile still emerged upon seeing his roommate.

Something was wrong, though. Thorne’s face was white as a ghost, and his eyes darted around the room upon entering. It was subtle, but Zal—who lived with him—could notice that something was off. “You okay Thorne?” he asked as the dual cultivator trudged over.

“Fine.” The unkempt man muttered, not meeting eyes with Zal.

‘Somethings wrong.’ Zal knew, ‘Now’s not the time to probe, though.’

“Fine of you to join us, Thorne.” Jacky beamed, but Zal noticed a dangerous glint in the women's eyes, “In thirty minutes, you five will engage in combat with fifteen other stage one cultivators. Can I assume that you won't run away?” she asked pointedly.

“Sorry,’ Thorne responded, “I was…training.”

‘Must’ve discovered something or learned an exhausting new move.’ Zal guessed as he watched Thorne; his hands were sweaty, and he was shifting around in a nervous clamor.

“All right then,” Jacky said. I’ll leave you guys then. Have fun!”

“Okay, guys,” Zal started, rubbing his hands together. First, let's just say what our strengths and weaknesses are; is that good?” he asked, looking around at his four companions.

“Yes, that is good.” Moravian grunted.

To Zal's left, Lyra nodded, “I agree as well.”

“Good,” Zal said, “I’ll go first, then. So, for one, I'm very good at taking small groups of people on by myself. The main problem, though, is that I'm not the fastest, and when fighting twenty people, I might get overwhelmed.” Zal then shrugged and smiled wryly, “Also…I mightttt have never fought in a group before, so my teamwork could potentially be lacking.”

“That is acceptable,” Lyra nodded. During the three days, her arrogance—while still present—had dropped to a much more bearable level. “I use energy conductors.” She said as she motioned to the two glowing blue orbs in her hands. “I can control and disrupt the battle on a large scale. But unfortunately, I am rather inadequate in individual combat.” Her head drooped. “Thus, I will need to be at the back, and preferably with someone protecting me so I can utilize my skills the best.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Moravian exclaimed.

“How is that…wonderful,” Lyra questioned, a dark edge to her voice.

“No, no.” Moravian said, shirking away from the angry girl, “It's wonderful because we can use it in the battle.”

“Elaborate,” Lyra said, crossing her arms.

Nodding rapidly, Moravian started to speak, “I am a sable cultivator, so I use stealth and quick attacks.”

“Yes.” Lyra said, “But how does that make my flaw…. wonderful.”

Moravian's face scrunched up in annoyance, “Let me finish! It is good because I can stay hidden while using my abilities. Then we can use you as bait and draw out people for me to defeat.” The undead smiled wide, “So you gain a protector, and we chip away at their numbers.”

Lyra’s face tensed as she considered the prospect of being bait. Zal, on the other hand, was ecstatic over the Draugr’s thinking. “No, that is wonderful.” He exclaimed, “I know it may be daunting, Lyra, but that’s a perfect plan.” Smirking, Zal lowered his voice slightly, “And you make good bait.”

“Tsk, fine.” She spat grudgingly.

“All right,” Zal began, clapping his hands together. That just leaves Thorne and Procka. How about you go Procka?” He prompted the usually silent Grandorian.

“Strength: powerful ranged attacks.” She rumbled, “Weakness: when enemies get close.”

“Thank you, Procka.Then you can stay near but not too close to Lyra and be a secondary defender while also dealing damage. Is that okay?”

Procka bobbed her rocky head in affirmation.

“Cool, this is going really well.” Zal beamed, “Then Thorne. Go ahead, man.”

Thorne nodded but didn’t look anyone in the eyes. “I can deal lots of damage…ranged and close.”

“How much?” Zal questioned.

Thorne finally made eye contact with Zal. His multicolored eyes peered into Zal’s, causing the amber cultivator to recoil back ever so slightly; “A lot.” Thorne said, a candid blankness exhibited by his glare.

“My weakness…” Thorne scratched his chin, “Teamwork, and…knowing when to stop.” He muttered with slight reluctance.

“All right, that’s good.” Zal said, “You can just go around and be a pure damage dealer; I'll cover for you defensively.”

Thorne nodded, “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Zal responded. All right,” he said, facing the whole team. This sounds like what the plan should be. If there’s anyone who objects, please speak. So, Thorne will be a solo damage-dealer, focusing especially on the ranged attackers and the support troops in the back of their formation.”

Thorne nodded and retrieved his two runic sabers.

“Lyra, me, and Procka will have what appears to be a three-man formation, but Moravian will be the secret fourth.” He spoke. The three of them nodded in confirmation. “Then I will be on offense and defense and try to occupy at least three enemies, maybe more. Procka, you will be slightly behind me and will use your ranged attacks as much as possible. Lyra, your main job will be to make my fights more straightforward, as well as to make sure that Procka isn’t overwhelmed. Is that clear? Zal said, looking at the two of them.

Procka nodded and held out her orange-spectrum conductors.

“Yes,” Lyra said, her usually soft blue eyes hardening in preparation for the battle.

“Good,” Zal smiled, “Then Moravian. You know what to do.”

“Of course Zal,” Moravian smiled, a creepy sight.

“Perfect.” Zal smiled while looking over the group. “We’re not half bad after all.”

The teleporter whooshed, and Zal could see hordes of students walking out of the platform. Among the large group were red, yellow, amber, blue, black, sable, and orange spectrum cultivators. The only type of cultivator left out was the rare crimson.

‘Damnit.’ He swore, ‘Of course, there’s no crimson.’ He thought angrily. Zal's eyes bore into the jovial Jacky, the person who was responsible for not choosing any crimson students. The person who was responsible for saving the crimson students from Zal's wrath.