"Hey Echo, come check this out," voiced a red-haired boy.

"Yes, Kevin?" Echo responded as she made her way over to him.

    Echo was a slender girl who stood firmly at 5'4. Her hair consisted of flaxen shades, which shimmered in the fluorescent light of the classroom.   She stood beside Kevin while looking down at the open book before him.

"Here. This paragraph has the words, "Uláak' kaabe'" I believe that means another world?" Kevin asked Echo with a tilt of his eyebrow.

    She gave him a short nod while leaning forward to inspect the book closer. It appeared to have been through some history as the pages were parchment and beginning to yellow. The cover showed a single etching of the pyramids at Chichen Itza. The class received the assignment to create a presentation on the Ancient Mayans in preparation for a field trip. Echo glanced over at her partner for a moment before sliding a piece of paper into the book, shutting it. While she looked at the cover, she realized that this was no ordinary book. 

"Where did you get this book? It looks way too old to be from around here." She asked.

Kevin smiled brightly at her and began to explain, "I believe I got it down at the city library. I was reading through books by that big tree. I stood up to go get a drink from the vending machine when I noticed the time and hurried back to my dorm."

"And then..." Echo spoke plainly, awaiting the answer to her question.

"Then, when I got home, I was placing my books out of my backpack that was just there with them," he answered her with a shrug.

"Mind if I borrow it for a while?" She asked.

"Sure, you're the one who can read the language best, between us," he said with a chuckle.

    Echo nodded and packed the book away in her bag. She turned to leave the room. She made her way to her dorm, which was not more than a 10-minute walk. The sun shone through the trees which lined the campus. It was around noon on a Thursday, only a short afternoon until the class trip, where they would give their presentations.

    Upon returning to her dorm room and finding it clear of distractions, she walked over to her desk. With a sigh, she placed her bag down and opened it. Retrieving the book, she sat in her chair and began to read the first page. The words tripped her up momentarily though she did translate a few sentences with the aid of a Mayan dictionary.

    The one who holds this book is selected to be a Player in the coming Third Wave. Should the bearer bring this book to a gate and speak the proper activation phrase, registration will be completed. Each  Player has received their items.  Activation has been initiated by 12/20 Players. 

    It had taken her nearly half the evening to work out the proper intricacies of the sentences. She sat back in her chair and let her hair down. Her blue eyes lined with signs of sleep deprivation, most likely from staring at screens most of the night. She watched as the last line she had translated in the book began to glow. The number of players had just changed.  She hurriedly flipped through her dictionary and spotted the number portrayed. The number had gone up to "14/20 Players."

"The hell..." She muttered and shut the book. "...I need to go to sleep. I am seeing stuff."

    She packed her bag with the book and trounced over to her bed. Echo reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone and sending a message to Kevin.

"Hey Kevin, weird book. Did you ever see it glow?" She sent.

"No, I didn't see that. Are you okay?" He responded.

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"Yes, I think I just need to go to bed." She replied and shut her phone screen off. 

    The door to her room opened, and her roommate Claire walked in, wearing her uniform from work. She waved at Echo, who returned the gesture before pulling herself under the blankets and falling asleep. The night passed peacefully without any disruptions. 

    Her alarm sounded at 6:00 AM, telling her to get up. It was time to head to the airport with the class in only an hour. She hastily stood and did her morning routine. After a shower, brushing her teeth, and getting dressed, she was ready to go. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that had a gradient of grays. Grabbing the bag that she had packed a few days prior, she hurried off to join her peers.

    She arrived at the classroom with a few minutes to spare as everyone was boarding the shuttles. Kevin found her and pulled his luggage behind him.

"Hey Echo, you ready to crush this presentation? We can talk about it on the way over," he urged.

"I think what we have on it so far is good. I wanted to show you what I found in this book." Echo said with a smile.

    The duo boarded the shuttle and sat next to each other, making small talk until they boarded the plane. The flight was only to take about an hour. Echo figured it would be enough time to explain her findings to Kevin.  She pulled the book from her luggage before placing the suitcase above her seat.

"It says here something about having this book makes you a player in something called the "Third Wave." I have seen the number of registered players climb from twelve to fourteen. I was tired, so I can not confirm." She explained.

"Are you sure that is what you saw?" Kevin quirked his head skeptically.

"I'm positive it also states that to register you have to say an activation phrase at a gate of some kind. I figured we could show the book as a part of our presentation and read a little bit to show how the language works." She said. 

    The flight was enough time for her to teach him the proper pronunciation of the lines they planned to read together.  They brought their bags out with them. Echo checked to make sure she had her camera, along with her notes for the presentation. The class got into another shuttle which took them straight to the tourist site at the ruins.

"Woah! It's even bigger than in the pictures!" Kevin exclaimed. 

"Well, it's bound to be. Let's head on in and get our presentation ready." She said as she watched the professor pay the tour guide with the entrance fees for the class. 

    The walk up the stairs was a fair bit more taxing than any of them had expected. The inner chambers were broad enough for mobs of tourists to shuffle around. The class followed the tour guide down the first three floors. There, they reached a room that had few others in it. 

"Okay, class time to give our presentations. Would anyone like to volunteer to go first?" The professor spoke.

"We can go first!" Kevin raised his hand, volunteering them for the first spot. 

"Very well." The professor agreed.

    Echo stood and walked with Kevin to be in front of the ground. Kevin withdrew his laptop from his backpack and loaded up their slide show. Images of Mayan tools and houses were held upon most of them.

"As you can see here, the tools that the Mayans used consisted of stone and wood. The metal we use in our tools today was not common in the area which they inhabited." Kevin read off a notecard while the slides played.

    The next slides contained pictures and small facts about the ruins which they now stood within. It was Echo's turn to speak, and she did so without barely looking down at her notes.

"Chichen Itza is Mayan for "the mouth at the well of Itza." It's not clear exactly what Itza translates too but what we can deduce is the characters for "water" and "magic." One of the strangest phenomena is the way that sounds reverberate through the building. This creates various sounds which are very dissimilar to what was produced." Echo said as she brought the book out in front of her.

    She held the book firmly and held it towards Kevin, prompting him to grab one side of it. They held the book open and began to read from a middle page. The slides of the slideshow changed to show various forms of recorded language the Mayans left behind. The room started to glow brighter as the book began to emanate light.

"Inscripciones aceptadas!" The two chanted in unison. 

    The words echoed through the chamber. The light enveloped her. she floated there, no longer standing on the floor of the ruins. Echo covered her eyes for a moment, as they tried to adjust to the light. She held the book in her hand, though Kevin was nowhere to be seen. A prompt appeared before her eyes, causing her to give a double-take.

Thank you for registering for the Third Wave!

Please make your way to the closest town upon your arrival to join the Adventurers Guild.

You will now be transported to a random location in the wilderness!