Mai touched the realm-crystal. She appeared in a white room and saw X leaning against the wall like a delinquent. There was no furniture in this room at all. She heard a thud behind her and saw Mike flat on the floor standing beside Myriil. Everything was blank, and she couldn’t see the differences between the walls, floor, and ceiling. X knocked on the wall in a complicated pattern. A piece of the wall began rotating, and an exit was made on the wall beside him.

“Let’s go,” X said.

Mai and Myriil nodded and followed him out of the room. Mike scrambled to get up and barely made it out before the door closed. Outside the strange room, thousands of circular platforms were laid out on the ground before her. They were in neat columns and rows as if someone needed them to be like that for them to function. They felt magical to her expanded senses, but she couldn’t figure out what they did.

A hologram appeared from X’s mechanical eye. It was a map of the area they were in with the platforms labeled.

“Follow me,” he said as he began moving.

He zigzagged around the platforms and had his eye on one in particular. She walked behind Myriil, who took the exact steps that X took. She looked back to see Mike looking toward them from where they had started. He appeared to have an epiphany right then and there as he started sprinting. He rushed forward and stepped on one of the platforms. Mid-step, a beam of light shot down and engulfed the platform. When it disappeared Mike was gone. She briefly heard him scream. X’s head spun to face the platform the beam had struck.

“What just happened?” he hissed, “Where is Mike?”

Myriil sighed. “I believe the beam eliminated him. Why are we even walking through such a minefield?” his voice sounded as she expected, regal and dignified, if somewhat arrogant.

“It’s not a minefield. They’re teleport pads. It looks like he’s gone to,” X paused as he looked at his map, “the Seafood Shores. I was hoping never to visit that place again.”

X began walking down the rows of teleport pads, approaching the one Mike had stepped on. Myriil followed quickly behind. Mai debated leaving the rescue up to the boys before following X and Myriil. They made it over to the platform. X stepped onto it and the beam came down again. When it left, he was gone.

Myriil stepped onto the platform, and Mai immediately after. A beam came down from the sky onto the two of them, engulfing the entirety of the platform. Mai felt her sword give some resistance to the effects of the beam before the beam overpowered it and blinded her. It burned like it came straight from hell, almost like she could feel the very fabric of her being ripping itself apart. Yet she felt weightless as well. She screamed as the pain intensified further and further, the bonds between the atoms that made her up falling apart. It was like thousands of swords slashed at her flesh with surgical precision. She could barely hear Myriil’s screams from beside her through her own screeching pain. Her body refused to pass out during the endeavor, and she went through what felt like hours of burning agony. And then it ceased.

* * *

Mai felt her body begin to reform. She didn’t even realize she had been taken apart. Somehow she felt her skin slithering out of her muscles, which felt like fibrous rope over the rocks that were her bones. Her body slowly reformed, piece by piece. Unlike when the beam came down on her, she did not feel pain. It was simply uncomfortable and disgusting.

Her senses finally returned, and she felt the sun beating down from the sky. A sea breeze blew her hair into her face. She tucked it behind her ear as she noticed Myriil beside her.

“Was it painful for you as well?” Myriil asked her.

“It hurt like hell. Searing pain from what felt like thousands of sword slashes. It was like the fabric of my being was being ripped apart,” Mai responded.

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“Interesting. For me, it felt somewhat the opposite. It was almost as though I was going to reach absolute zero. I don’t know how I’m still alive,” Myriil stated.

“I don’t either,” Mai said.

She quickly realized that she should scan the area around her, lest they be ambushed by something dangerous. The ground beneath her feet was made of sand, and the sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky. The ocean stretched out to the horizon. She was on a beach, with vast mountains reaching for the sky to her left, and what looked like a small town in the distance in front of her.

“It looks like that’s where we’re headed,” Myriil said.

Mai spotted footsteps on the ground. Two sets to be exact. They led to the town, and one seemed to follow the other.

“These must be from X and Mike,” Mai pointed out.

“How did he get such a headstart?” Myriil asked.

“He does have cybernetic enhancements,” Mai stated.

“I don’t even know what that means,” Myriil replied.

And with that, they sent off for the town. They followed the tracks along the beach and listened to the soothing sound of the waves. Until something emerged from the water. With all four claws clacking and many legs scuttling, a humongous crab emerged from the water. It clicked and clacked its claws as Myriil and Mai turned around to face it.

Myriil unsheathed his sword and took a battle stance. Mai placed her hand on the hilt of her blade but did not draw it. The crustacean continued its approach, showing hostility toward the creatures that invaded its territory. Mai kept her blade sheathed as Myriil rushed forward to the crab and slashed at its large claw with his icy blade. Frost quickly spread across the surface of the claw, until the whole thing was covered in ice.

This was her moment. Mai leaped forward, and the frozen claw shattered with a single blow from her glowing katana. Pieces of it flew everywhere, and the crab screeched in a combination of rage and pain. It swiped one of its claws at Mai, and she leaped away, only getting grazed by the giant claw as she landed on the soft sand.

A claw swung for Myriil, but with grace befitting his elven form, he danced around the claw before striking it again with his sword. His strike did not result in another frozen claw but left a cut rimmed with a rime that seemed to spread slowly. Mai counterstriked a blow from a second crab claw, leaving a nasty gash. The incredible maneuverability of the crab’s claws made it feel like they were fighting against three opponents rather than just one large opponent.

The crab lifted one of its giant legs, and Myriil danced away from one of its claws. Right under the lifted leg. The leg began to come down on top of him, but he thrust his sword, piercing the crab’s shell and sending frost climbing up its leg. The frost spread rapidly until it reached the crab’s body, at which point it seemed to reach its limit. The rime ceased to spread almost instantly.

Mai realized she had been absent-mindedly blocking the crab’s attacks while she watched Myriil. She focused herself and stared the crab in the eyes. It stared back, while absent-mindedly continuing to fight Myriil. She stared at the crab, allowing her blade to charge and glow brighter and brighter with power. She felt her muscle density slowly increasing before she finally blinked. And the crab went berserk.

The crab began furiously scuttling towards Mai, completely ignoring Myriil’s existence. Myriil pouted, looking unreasonably disappointed. Mai watched as the giant crab almost trampled her before its two weakened claws barreled toward her. Mai dodged them both, causing the rime-coated claw to shatter and transfer its malady to the one with the gash. With only two claws remaining on the crab, one weakened slightly, the crab’s eyes seemed to widen. It backed up a step, watching her with what looked like fear. Mai smiled. The crab continued to back up, accelerating before swiftly turning around and fearfully scuttling back toward the water.

Mai walked after it, the waves reaching for her feet. The crab was almost fully submerged. Mai sheathed her blade and smiled as the crab tried to escape. It wouldn’t be that easy. She wouldn’t make it that easy. Mai held her blade and leaped onto the crab. Myriil gasped in the background. The crab was nearly finished submerging when she unsheathed her blade and thrust it through its carapace. All the power her blade had stored during the battle was released into the crab’s body and it exploded into chunks the size of her fist. She backflipped back onto the beach, landing and sheathing her sword in one smooth motion.

“Good work, Myriil. You distracted the crab for long enough that my blade charged up enough to obliterate it,” Mai told him.

“I had no idea you could do that. Your blade must be exponentially stronger than mine,” Myriil responded.

“It is likely stronger mid-battle, but if I go for too long it will overcharge and become basically normal,” Mai replied.

“Strange. Anyway, we must continue our trek,” Myriil said.

With that comment, the pair followed a pair of footsteps into the distance.