~~~(Brooks)~~~

"You called?" I ask as my team enters Jared's living quarters, which is a fair bit further back from the barrier than the actual base. "Oh, hey, everyone."

Literally, if we ignore the absence of a certain tiger. I could hear a bunch of people inside, but wasn't expecting for him to have called everyone into the home. Man, is it crowded in here. There's barely any moving space.

Sitting on the table in the middle of the living room are thirteen long, metal stakes, and immediately, I can tell that they're heavily enchanted with magic. Each one is roughly a yard in length, standing about three inches at their thickest, tapering down to a sharp point. The metal each one is forged of has a dark blue tinge to it, silvery runes etched along the length in some sort of complicated magic formula.

"I only finished a little while ago," Jared tells us. "Or we'd have more time. These thirteen stakes need to be placed in specific locations. I've updated their coordinates to your phones. Each team gets two of them, except for Brooks' team, which gets three, and Cora's team, who gets none. My team will also have none, as we'll remain behind here, for now.

"We need to hurry this up," he says. "So we can get these in place. So I'll make it brief. Everyone – grab two of them, except Brooks – your team is getting three – and Cora, your team gets none. Then, get moving. Cora, go to the location marked on your phone. Everyone – as soon as the barrier comes down, you need to pass through the field and get to work locating their base and disrupting their plans."

We found a supply of phones yesterday in a supply drop, which gives us a map of the city, but it only updates once we return to base, unlike the one on Jared's tablet, which updates in real-time as we pass through. Another supply drop we located included the upgraded earcuffs we're using, though I don't think we were supposed to find them this early.

The fact that Jared directed us to them tells me that Caleb probably located them while he was doing… whatever it is he was doing. Is doing.

"Alright, people!" Jared claps his hands. "Make sure the stakes are at least three inches into the ground – no less, and no more than a foot! Get behind them as soon as you're done! Get moving!"

I grab three stakes, then head outside with my team, and we take off running. We will barely push being able to get all three of them placed in time, especially since teams need to stick together, just in case.

Especially with us being near the barrier once it goes down.

We reach the first location, then I have Owen hold the stake steady as I create a fist of ice above it, then bring the fist down, hammering it into the ground. As soon as it's down, we take off to the second location, where we repeat the process, and then to the third location.

I hammer the third stake in, then look at the fluid wall of black energy shifting in front of us. The barrier prevents us from seeing through to the other side, not just passing through, and it's about to come down.

Only seconds after I hammered the third stake in, the five of us behind the stake and watching the barrier, the field of energy fades away, Flame and Mukura directly on the other side.

"Oh, shit!" Flame, Mukura, and my team all yell at once.

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

~~~(Flame)~~~

"You ready?" I ask Mukura.

"Locate their base," he nods. "Destroy their generator. We've got to do it fast, before Caleb stops mourning and realizes that he can protect it and prevent us from both victory options. Six seconds."

I nod, and the two of us get ready to run as soon as the barrier drops, then I start counting down in my head.

As soon as the count reaches zero, the barrier fades away, and I see my brother, Owen, a guy, and two girls standing on the other side, behind a metal stake etched with magic. A very powerful, dangerous magic.

"Oh, shit!" The enemy team yells at the same time Mukura and I exclaim the same thing.

"Reflect!" Mukura throws his hands up as I jump behind him, summoning a barrier of fire between the smaller boy and his barrier.

Despite that, we're still thrown back by the wave of magic that exploded out of the stake – and the air from its sides. It's connected to others, probably across the city, and launched that wave spanning the entire width.

When I say 'wave', I mean a field over a hundred yards high, half of it above ground, the other half, below.

Mukura and I land on the ground, the smaller boy cushioned by my body, as the wave continues to blast past us, covering more than a mile in only a few seconds.

"You okay?" I ask as Mukura picks himself up, then offers me a hand to help me to my feet.

"Yeah," he asks. "I was not expecting that."

"Those stakes were formed formed of Caleb's magic," I look around. "I can't sense any of our traps."

"Same," he sighs. "Mentor's recovered, though it looks like he's taking an active play in this. I don't sense any magical traps on their side, though, so it seems that's the only thing we have to worry about."

"Yep," I look around. My brother and his team fled the moment the wave flew out, though they definitely didn't know about it. "Damn, that was tough. And fun! Let's get some more traps laid!"

Mukura snorts, then the two of us put together some traps and lay them out, then we head into the other half of that city. Our comm cuffs are already chatting about the wave of energy and how it removed the magics we'd put into play, so we don't have need to discuss that with others.

It didn't affect our cuffs, though, so it was keyed to look specifically for traps, no doubt. I didn't get a chance to fully read the magic, the stakes were consumed by the spell. There's a chance that I couldn't understand it, considering how complicated it was, but I'd still have loved to do that.

Unfortunately, it's given the other team an edge, but that's fine.

We're going to locate their base and destroy their generator. Based on what we know of Caleb, he'll be near it, probably to protect the base itself, but we'll be able to get inside and down to the generator itself. All we need is one of us to locate the generator. If I can get within the base, then I can destroy it. All Mukura needs is to be near it.

I can't wait until I'm that badass.

As we pass through the city, their scent splits up, so we part ways, with Mukura following Brooks and Owen, and me following the other three. After twenty minutes of running, we run back into each other, the two parts of the team meeting back up.

Without a word, we continue running. This is fun. I'm laying traps as I go, and Mukura is, too. They're set to trigger for non-magicians, so most of the GSDF cadets will be hit by them. The trick is making sure they actually register Superhumans, and it's fun trying that for the first time.

If we can take out that team, then we take out their easy way of finding our base. We have traps set up all around it, just in case, but Gabby told me about her brother, and how to identify him, and that was definitely him on my brother's team. Take him out, and they lose their reader.

We make it several miles into our half of the city before we come across Jared, Owen, and Brooks, standing in the middle of the street.

This is going to be fun!

I unleash a roar, then swirl fire around myself, jumping into the air, then coming down at them, unleashing a flurry of blows that project fists of magical flames at them. Brooks raises a hand, and a wall of ice forms, my fires blasting into it. It's withstanding the assault… but only until my physical fists slam into it.

Once they do, the wall shatters, and I find Owen with a hand on Brooks's shoulder, power flowing between them. Owen's other hand is held out and back, a spear formed of ice and lightning floating above his palm.

The Lightning Superhuman throws his hand forward, the spear launching at me. With a rapid shift to the heat around me, I'm able to dodge it, only to find dozens of icicles flying towards me, each one crackling with energy.

Against normal Superhumans, I could probably block their Abilities, but Brooks was trained by Caleb, and Owen has some of that training as well, from studying with Jared. These two know how to resist what I can do.

This is definitely going to be fun.

Wait. Where's Jared?

As I land on a roof, I notice Jared fighting against Mukura, a giant made of metal pulled from the surrounding buildings and old cars, though it feels different. Something about it isn't right, but I don't have time to figure it out, due to my brother and Owen continuing their assault.

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

~~~(Jared)~~~

"We have a problem!" Owen calls over the comm cuffs.

There's panic in his voice. Heavy panic. What happened?

"What is it?" I ask.

"When the barrier came down," he breathes heavily. He's fleeing something. "We were standing face-to-face with Flame and Mukura themselves."

"Shit!" I exclaim. "Are you fighting them?"

"No," he answers. "We're running, but we had to head into their half of the city, just in case. They got knocked back by that wave from your stakes, and we took that opportunity to bolt. However, both of them have a heavy amount of dragon in them, which means that they'll be tracking us. If Parker's sister told them what her brother looks like, they will."

"I'm on my way," I say, looking to my team. "You three – stay here and guard the place. I need to go assist Brooks' team. Owen, I'm on my way."

I pull out my tablet and use the tracker for his team, then take off running, propelling myself by bursting the stone of the buildings and the metal on them under my feet as I run across their rooftops, taking a wide loop around where I sense Flame and Mukura.

As I pass into the other half of the city, I read only a few traps here and there, freshly-laid. Caleb's magic worked as well as he said it would. The weaker magicians would've been knocked unconscious, too. However, since those are their forty best, it's likely only a few who were in its range were knocked-out, while the rest were just knocked back, like Flame and Mukura.

I land on the street, spinning to face the approaching party, who summons up their Abilities for a moment before recognizing me.

"Parker, Katherine, Nina," I say. "You three head in. Most of the magicians are near the halfway mark or already in our side. Parker, if you detect anything that could be their base, you mark it on your map on your phone. Don't engage unless you three are absolutely sure you can handle it. Otherwise, run."

They nod, then take off past me.

"You two," I turn to my true teammates. "Get near me. Things are about to get shifted."

Brooks and Owen draw near me, and I begin working my Ability, pulling apart all of the metal around us, using it to hide the damage caused by it, such as from the cars that suddenly find themselves without frames.

I wish I could make multiple giants, but for now, I can only handle the one. At least now I can construct it better, so that I don't actively need to hold all of its parts together, but even then, it's still taxing. All that does it allow me to sustain control over it for longer.

Once constructed, the giant hides in an alley, crouching down to remain hidden in its shadows. Around thirty seconds after it stops moving, Flame and Mukura show up. Flame has an excited look on his face as he roars, then leaps into the air, fire swirling around him.

The flame-headed boy unleashes a flurry of fiery fists at us as Mukura stops walking, remaining still as Brooks steps forward, creating a barrier of ice in front of and above us as a field of fog spreads before us. The fog won't hinder Mukura too much, but it buys enough time for me to walk forward and reach around twenty feet from the barrier before it breaks, the fog dissipating at the same time.

I glare at the smaller boy. He will never win against me.

"Hello, Jared," Mukura says. "Are you-ah!"

He yelps, his left hand shooting up to to his right bicep, wounded by the Dragon's Dominance. I do not care that he knows more about magic than me. I do not care that he was trained by Caleb. I do not care that his magical levels far exceed mine.

I am his superior. Only Caleb stands above me.

He yelps again, then throws a hand forward, Reflecting the cuts onto my body as well. I ignore the pain as my giant stands, and Mukura jumps back, barely avoiding the fist. He frowns, throwing his hands up and attempting to take control through the reflections of my giant's form.

The giant swings again, and Mukura barely dodges this punch as well, then the kick, then another punch, then the sword, then the shield. He's fast, and he's clumsy. He's shifted to relying on the reflections around the giant, in the buildings and the shifts in the air, to listening to the sounds of it moving.

Caleb's theoretical technique worked. It has made my giant completely and entirely without a reflection. To anyone else, it would appear as if an emptiness in space, reflecting absolutely no light at all. It's draining my power, though. I can likely only sustain this for a few minutes, at most.

Another major downside to this is that I cannot manipulate any other metals like this. I could throw some at Mukura, but without them being on my body, they'd lose their unreflective property. My aura itself is imbued with this at the moment, I'm using it so heavily. Otherwise, he'd probably be hitting me with his power directly.

As Mukura does his best to attack both my giant and me directly using anything and everything around us, Flame soars into him, throwing him off his feet.

"Switch!" Flame says.

"Yeah!" Mukura says.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Brooks yells, attacking them.

Mukura stops the torrent of water as Flame turns to fight the giant, and the pair of magicians find themselves thrown against the wall by the giant.

Surprisingly, they suddenly link arms, and I sense power flowing through them.

"Oh, shit!" I yell, manifesting as many magical defenses as I can as I burn up my aura to form a protective layer around me.

A Unison Strike between them could wipe out this entire quarter of the city!

It's up to you now, Caleb.

I hope this doesn't hurt too much.

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

~~~(Caleb)~~~

Judging by the sudden flux of magic and the disappearance of three Gifted, I would say that Flame and Mukura used their Unison Strike. If heard correctly, Brooks' team came across them, and Jared went to help fight them.

If a Unison Strike between those two was the only way to take out the three of them, then that pleases me.

Brooks, Owen, and Jared are all more powerful than they realize. Their Abilities are all easily S-Rank, which two of them already knew, but if possible for a regular Gifted, they would be S-S-Rank. They aren't Gifted to be messed with lightly, even without knowing their full powers and potential.

So Flame and Mukura needing to use a Unison Strike to take them out makes me happy. It means that those three put up a good fight, and likely that Jared managed to use the technique I taught him. It was fully within his abilities as a Gifted, and used no additional magical powers for it, other than those through his Gift.

Speaking of magicians, they really need to do a better job of hiding their base. Flame and Mukura will search for days before they locate ours. If they ever do.

Meanwhile, I've already located one of their three entrances and begun searching the basement for the secret entrance.

Oh. Found it. I pull on the boxes, and the wall swings open with them. Then, I head down the steps into the base itself, making my way past the sleeping bodies. We were told we could use magic, after all.

So I hit the base with a mild sleeping spell after locating it.

Thanks for the distraction, Jared. I probably wouldn't have been able to make it this far without that. I'm not exactly up for combat right now.

Locating the door to the lowest level, I open it, then descend the steps. Combat isn't okay for me, but destroying the generator will be no issue. With Jared having delivered a suitable distraction, Flame and Mukura won't realize I've made my way to their base.

Not until it's too late, anyway.

Once in the generator's room, I stop, looking at the giant globe wrapped with chains and glowing with a bright yellow energy. Wuxar crystals, and hundreds of them, fused together and drawing on the natural energies in the ground, then flowing through the chains and into the city to power it.

Raising a hand, I first drain all of its energy, pulling it into me. As I do that, I use it to shift around with the seals binding my powers, releasing all but the six Ancient Seals. Those would take far more energy to break than this generator could possess.

Technically, the generator could only break a few of the seals on my powers, but once those few were broken, I was able to start breaking more without that, and continuing to draw on the generator's regenerating power allowed me to continue to break them at a quicker rate.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Once all but those six are broken, I drop to the ground, breathing heavily. That… was a lot of effort. And now, my power is as peak as it will ever be unless I find a way to break those Ancient Seals.

Then again, it's only peak for now. As my powers grow higher, so too will my peak, which will be a huge bonus.

I need to hurry, though. Even if my sleep spell is affecting everyone above, Flame and Mukura will have probably noticed the fluctuation of their half's power supply. The only reason there would be an outage, as far as they know, is if their generator was affected, and the fact that power restored, even if only a little for now, would mean that the generator wasn't destroyed, only drained.

It's still filling up, only able to output, at most, half of the energy already restored within it, as a fail-safe. It would take it a full day to reach full from empty.

It would never reach full if it's destroyed.

Now, with my full powers available to me, past what is locked behind those six Ancient Seals, I will need to be very careful with how I use my magic. At least, until I have adjusted to this new level of power.

I start drawing on a small fraction of my power, a ball of raw magical energy forming above the hand I raise. It's been awhile since I've actually needed to use my body to guide magic, but it's for the best at the moment. With a thought, I could accidentally destroy the entire city we're in.

With the magic prepared, I let it burst forth, slamming into the generator, which promptly dies, the energy drilling a hole straight through it, then into the wall behind it. Only went about ten feet, so I didn't use too much extra by accident. That gives me a good gauge on my level of control right now.

As soon as the generator dies, all of the lights down here shut off, and a moment later, I find myself in a large room with all of the other cadets, including Jared, Owen, and Brooks, who are collapsed on chairs, sweating and breathing heavily.

"What just happened?" A cadet asks as the Colonels of both sides look shocked.

"Who did that?" One of them asks, looking around.

"I told you," Grant laughs, and I look over to see him standing at the Colonels' station, grinning. "You have, at minimum, four people who would be able to discuss the alternate victory method."

"We weren't expecting it to happen that fast, though!" The other Colonel responds. "What happened? We lost the feeds to the GMDF's generator room for a few minutes, and once power was restored to it, we didn't manage to reconnect to those feeds before it was destroyed."

"Wait!" Flame exclaims. "Someone got into our generator room? How? Who did it? Mukura and I put up the shields around the base ourselves! No one should've been able to get in if they weren't one of us!"

"Hey, you moron!" Jared laughs as Mukura looks over at me, his blind eyes widening behind his blindfold. "Are you forgetting that we had Caleb on our team?"

"It was a distraction!" Mukura exclaims.

"What?" Flame looks at him, then at me. "It was a distraction! While we were caught-up fighting Jared and Brooks and Owen, you finished mourning and went to our base!"

I'm not done mourning. The whole thing was an act, though.

"Ha!" Jared laughs. "You really are a moron, Flame! Caleb was relaying the plan to me from the moment we entered the city! He spent the last few days crafting those stakes to wipe out the traps your team laid, making it safe for us to enter that half immediately.

"After that," Jared continues. "All we had to do was wait for you or Mukura to cross paths with either my team or your brother's. The rest of our teams would leave with each other while the three of us would fight the one we came across, knowing the other would show up to help take us out.

"Then," Jared continues. "Once that happened, Caleb would make his way into your half. With you two distracted by the three of us, you wouldn't notice him moving until it was too late. Even though his Ability is rendered useless in the Phantom Fields designed for stuff like this for the two agencies, his magic would be sufficient for him to pass through your barriers and put the base to sleep. From there, it's only a matter of him getting into the generator room and destroying it. We honestly weren't expecting it to happen the first day – you two running into Owen and Brooks from the start was a surprise and caught us off-guard. We had planned for you two to be working separately, not together. Cover more ground, and all."

"It was all a trick," Flame moans in realization and annoyance at himself. "How did I not catch this?"

"If it makes you feel any better," Mukura says. "I trained under him for several years, yet did not realize he was pulling a trick like that. Mentor is a terrifying strategist. Mentor, the drain on the city's energies – that was you, yes?"

"Indeed."

"I sense a greater power within you," he says. "Were you using the generators to assist in breaking the seals binding your magics?"

"Indeed."

"You are awe-inspiring," he says. "Your power easily makes mine and Flame's Unison Strike look like a firecracker."

"Cool."

Mukura beams, and everyone sighs.

"The GSDF's Youth Division has won!" Colonel Spencer announces. "We'll be throwing a party tonight to celebrate this between both divisions! Keep it clean! Why don't you all head to the facility's shower rooms and get washed-up? For those of you needing medical help, the infirmary is through that door!"

"Caleb Rivers, Flame Hansen, Brooks Hansen, Jared Fuller, and Owen Storm!" Grant calls out in his command-voice, and the crowd of cadets goes silence. We're in trouble, aren't we? What did we do? I made sure everything was within the limits of the rules. "All five of you – front and center! Now!"

The five of us move towards him. Should I open up a Passive Territory and see what's going on? Or just straight-up read his mind?

Does it have to do with why his uniform is different from everyone else's? It's black and violet with some silver trim, and it doesn't say GSDF on it, but GDDF, whatever that means. I've never heard of it before. In addition to that, his rank's marks show him as a General, not a Colonel, which is weird, since he didn't want to be a General, and the emblem for the agency itself is different from the other two, suggesting he's not a part of them.

Is there some secret agency I don't know about?

"Rivers!" He says as we line up in front of him, all eyes on us. "Hansen! Hansen! Fuller! Storm! The five of you have shown exemplary abilities, both with your abilities, with magic, with strategy, and in combat! Each of the five of you has already met the requirements to pass the full training period, aside from the two-year period required!

"An exception is being made for the five of you!" He continues. Okay, so we're not in trouble? "As of now, the five of you are officially graduates – and full agents of the GSDF and the GMDF! However, you will not be assigned to a single one of them, but as a unit under a new banner, the GDDF, or Global Dreams Defense Federation!"

So that's what his uniform is for. He's the General of the Global Dreams Defense Federation, which is brand-new.

"You have new uniforms," he picks up a uniform in an airtight bag, holding it out to me. There's a small box on top of it. "And new ranks! Congratulations, Colonel Caleb Rivers, of the Global Dreams Defense Federation!"

I salute, then accept the package from him, then he picks up another and stands in front of Flame.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Flame Hansen!"

Flame salutes, then accepts the package. General Reynolds grabs another package, then stands in front of Brooks.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Brooks Hansen!"

Brooks salutes, then accepts the package. General Reynolds grabs another package, then stands in front of Jared.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Jared Fuller!"

Jared salutes, then accepts the package. General Reynolds grabs the final package, then steps in front of Owen.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Owen Storm!"

Owen salutes, then accepts the pack, then General Reynolds steps back and addresses all five of us.

"You five," he says. "Will report directly to me, General Grant Reynolds, of the Global Dream Defense Federation! Your missions will involve things beyond the capabilities of either of the other two organizations! After your celebrations tonight, you will be sent on an emergency mission! After that, you will receive your well-deserved two-weeks vacation! Normally, you'd have it now, but this mission is of a Class SSS Priority!"

Whispers travel through the ranks of cadets behind us. They're proud for us, and know that we can handle powerful missions on our own, but a Class SSS Priority Mission would mean something on a Calamity-Level event.

Everything points to this mission being us rescuing the Moon and stopping the Second Great Calamity. The GSDF and GMDF have joined teams, where there are members from both. The only reason the Council of Dreams would form a new agency – one to deal with such powerful threats specifically – would be as a way around needing the information necessary to issue the mission.

They would be able to state, during its founding and generation, that it can issue missions with minimal information based on if its members believe it to be needed to be kept top-secret. Or at least, its officers, seeing that we're all at the lowest level of officer or higher.

I'm higher.

"Dismissed!" General Reynolds calls out.

We salute, then head to the officers' shower rooms, led there by our new commander, who then leaves us after telling us that we need to meet him in another room once we change. We head to the showers, then step out and start getting dressed. Flame's new uniform takes into account his missing arm, which is pretty nice.

I finish first, then head to the conference room Grant wants us to meet him in. He's standing just inside of it.

"Colonel Rivers, reporting as ordered, sir!" I salute.

"At ease," he tells me, and I relax. "Come here."

I step closer to him, and then he steps up to me, wrapping his arms around me in a hug.

"Sir?"

"I'm going to be wishing you luck," he tells me, squeezing me a little bit tighter. "I love you like a son, Caleb. Not seeing you every day or two has really affected me, and made me realize just how much I loved you. Knowing you're going to go out on missions… you're pretty grown-up, now. I'll be worried about you."

"I'm fourteen," I tell him. "And I've broken most of the seals on my powers. I can handle myself, once I adjust to them. I'll be fine. Is the mission the one I refused to give information on?"

"Yes," he answers. "The Global Supernatural Defense Federation and the Global Magical Defense Federation deal with situations relating to their aspects. However, neither side is prepared for large-scale issues.

"Your comments a few days ago," he says. "Made myself and the Council of Dreams aware of just how unprepared we are for another Calamity-Level event – especially with you stating that one would begin in around a year.

"The purpose of the Global Dreams Defense Federation," he continues. "Will be just that – to defend the dreams of the future, and prepare us for a better age. We will handle the large-scale, powerful things. Things that would ordinarily take more manpower than we can afford to send to it – or have, period.

"So," he says. "Would you kindly tell us what it is you need? The mission has been approved. We don't need as much information as other agencies would."

"Okay," I say. "I need to get to Mount Norvara. We'll need supplies for camping, but travel light. I could use my ring to store stuff, though. Or pull from my own storage."

"You need to reach Mount Norvara?" He asks. "Is that where the events starting the Second Great Calamity are?"

It's where the Moon is being held prisoner, so I'll assume so. However, as I wasn't alive two hundred years ago, when the last one occurred, I'm not entirely sure. It could start there, or it could just start everywhere.

"Yes and no," I answer. "It's where part of the reason it's happening is. I don't actually have the full details, myself. I do know we need to go there, wreck the place, kill some people, rescue someone, and wreck more things. Then probably collapse the place."

"…collapse the place?"

"Yes."

"Are you talking about the mountain, or the facility?"

"Both."

"Do you actually have that kind of power?" He asks. "Or is it because of your Teacher and your father?"

"Both."

"You can collapse a mountain fourteen miles high and more than a hundred in width?"

Mount Norvara is a massive mountain that rose during the First Great Calamity, and it's made of a dangerously-tough stone.

"I have access to much of my power that was sealed within me," I inform him. "I believe I possess the necessary power, now. If not, I could always do a Unison Strike with the other four."

General Reynolds pales when I say that. The thought of a five-way Unison Strike with beings as powerful as us involved, particularly Flame and myself, could be pretty disastrous.

How would he react if I voiced my thought about performing a doppelganger spell and doing a Unison Strike with it.

I could probably destroy a small continent with that. Just erase it from existence. I don't plan on that, though, as it would mean a lot of people would die, and Teacher probably wouldn't be too happy with me performing such a large-scale terrain shift.

"Don't worry," I tell the General. "With my control over the spell, we wouldn't destroy too much. How long do you think it would take for us to reach Norvara using your resources?"

"Five days," he answers. "We can push it to three, but-"

"Five works," I answer. "Our team is here."

"Caleb!" Flame flies into the room, stopping in his excitement just long enough to salute and wait to be eased by the General. "Caleb, guess what!"

You had some caffeine pills again?

"Our uniforms are made of a magic-resistant, heat-resistant material," Brooks rains on his brother's parade, and Flame looks a bit upset that water-boy didn't let me answer.

I waited a few seconds on purpose, knowing Brooks would probably just tell me.

"Which we discovered," Jared says. "When Flame got excited and burst into flames."

"I didn't burst into flames!" Flame exclaims. "I just turned into them a little bit!"

What's the difference?

"We're here for a debriefing," Owen interrupts them. "Can we please save this until after?"

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

~~~(Teacher)~~~

A presence forms behind me, and the only reason I don't react violently the moment I began to sense it was the unique signature of the presence. It's impossible to mistake the Scribe for anyone else. Or anyone for her.

"Since when do you leave the Temple?" I turn to face her. "Isn't it dangerous and risky?"

"I've taken necessary precautions," she informs me. "We have a situation."

Any situation that pulls her out of the Temple would have to be dangerous and risky. And severe, possibly on the level of another Calamity. So her actually saying it's a situation makes my fur stand on end and a chill run across my spine.

"What kind of situation?"

"I was looking," she tells me. "For the source of the Ancient Seals binding Caleb's full power and true nature, as well as any oddities that may have resulted from tampering with time or beings who exist yet can't be seen by my powers."

Beings like Caleb's brothers – my six sons before him. The only reason she could notice them was because of their lack of existence in those around Caleb and Caleb's past.

The damn orphanage was filled with people who knew about them. Apparently, the brothers visited from time to time. Or at least, one of them, we aren't too sure. The staff weren't aware, but the kids were.

"What is so serious," I say. "That you left the Temple, Scribe?"

"Light."

"What about it?"

"Who," she corrects.

"Who?" I ask. "A person?"

"Yes," she nods. "A boy, around fifteen, with platinum-blond hair and golden eyes."

Golden eyes shouldn't be possible, not outside of pure-blooded dragons, rift wolves, and gods, except in the cases of Special-Type Gifteds' eye-changes, but those are patterns, sort of like a Creator's labyrinth.

"What of him?"

"To start with?" She asks. "He's in Norvara, the town at the base of Mount Norvara."

The only settlement around that dangerous mountain. They act as the last touch of civilization before the trail that leads in towards the center of the mountain, where humanity mines a rare crystal used as a type of magical fuel. It's a privately-owned mining company, though they don't really interfere with the town too much.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything," she says. "It'll be a lot faster if you just saw him. Take on a human form."

I shift myself out of the snow leopard form I was stalking through the mountain in, taking on my usual human form, my natural human form. With a thought, clothes form around me, then shift from my usual, I-am-mysterious outfit to a dark blue, hooded sweater without sleeves, straight-cut, dark blue jeans, and a pair of black and blue sneakers. Sliding my hands into the pocket on the front of the hoodie, I look at the Scribe.

"Your emblem's on the back," she tells me.

"Not anymore," I say as it fades away. "Going to go there wearing a sun dress?"

She's wearing a light pink sundress and matching flats, which is not normal for her.

"Yes," she answers. "Let's go."

Our surroundings change, and we find ourselves in the town. Population: fourteen thousand. It can hardly be called a town, it's more like a large village. A large, quiet village.

I hate this place. Came here a hundred years ago, and it was just as quiet as it is now, almost no one walking about.

Not by rules or anything, it's just the way it is here.

The Scribe and I walk down the street, until we turn a corner, where I freeze in my tracks.

Washing the windows in front of a small shop is a boy who could be Kieran. Kieran Rivers. The dead Keiran Rivers. He is the exact same kid in every way… except his eyes are golden and his hair is platinum-blond, and his outfit's more… normal. Faded jeans and a dark green hoodie.

No sulky attitude, either.

In addition to that, this kid… has one of the Ancient Seals. Not just any of the Ancient Seals, but one of the same six that Caleb does. One of the six binding my son's powers. There can only be one of each at a time, though.

How in the fuck is this possible?

"Kieran and Jonathan were identical twins, right?" I ask the Scribe. "Minus the fact that Jonathan was albino?"

"Correct," she says. "And I can assure you that this boy is not a missing member that would make them a triplet."

"He's the light version of Kieran," I say.

"My thoughts, too," she tells me. "And the plot gets thicker, Teacher."

"That's never good news, with you."

"Kieran represents shadows, right?" She asks. "And he had light as his stronger element? He also had an odd death, because he faded into shadows, not light, as any true elemental dragon would've, and yet he's only partly-dragon, not mostly-dragon. Which doesn't matter, of course."

"Get to the point, Scribe."

"This boy," she says. "Possesses an Ancient Seal identical to one Caleb has binding his powers, which shouldn't be possible, and is, essentially, the 'light' version of Kieran."

"Are you telling me that Kieran's essentially a phoenix?" I ask. "That he died as a dragon of shadows, and came back as a dragon of light? This boy, now that I'm reading him, has more dragon in him than Kieran did."

Enough that Caleb and his brothers' trick to releasing one's Gift and turning them into a full magician with a little bit of extra knowledge wouldn't kill them. This kid could handle that shift.

"Possibly," she answers. "Though I hadn't actually considered that."

"Then get to the point, before I call upon our fathers to reprimand you for leaving such a powerful asset unguarded."

"It's got guards," she tells me. "In the form of our fathers. There are currently five Dragons of Creations in there."

What in the actual fuck are they all doing there? She probably left because of their presence.

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not."

"Then. Get. To. The. Fucking. Point."

"Kieran," she holds up her right index finger. "Cliff," she sticks up her middle finger. "Gale," she sticks up her ring finger. "Owen," she sticks up her little finger. "Brooks," she sticks out her thumb. "Flame," she holds up her left hand, index finger sticking up. "The seven elements in his six allies. With their deaths, the elements still stick around in the form of others, being Flame and Brooks."

Caleb's gathered the elements around him, possibly unknowingly.

"The Ancient Seals," I realize, feeling my eyes widen. "He has six of them, and six original elemental allies. Three of whom are dead… or at least, two are dead, and one is… possibly dead, with a light-based doppelganger."

"My thoughts exactly," she says. "It's very, very possible that they're linked."

The Ancient Seals are also known as the Primordial Seals.

"Don't tell me-"

"They are," she says. "I checked, once I saw this. Caleb possesses the Six Elemental Seals."

The Six Primordial Elements, each of his teammates representing one of them. Shadow is coupled in with the Primordial Element of Light, so they still covered are seven of the 'elements'.

"You think Kieran was split in two?" I ask. "And that's why he had the shadowy, gloomy mode we all knew, and didn't die properly when he died?"

"No," she frowns. "I think, when he died, the Ancient Seal of Light he represents did this."

She gestures to the boy.

"I thought you said it wasn't him?" I look over at him.

He's inspecting his work on the window, oblivious to the two powerful beings standing just a few dozen yards away, discussing his very existence.

Oh, if the mortals knew the forces standing among them right now, things would be interesting.

"It isn't," she says. "He has absolutely no memories… past waking up in the forest bordering this town. It happened the exact moment Kieran faded away completely."

In other words, if this is connected to Caleb and his friends, and each of his friends is the reincarnation of an Ancient Seal, then this boy here is the 'other half' of the Primordial Seal of Light. Yet why don't his friends…

"Scribe?"

"You've realized?"

"When his teammates die," I say. "The 'other half' comes out, doesn't it?"

"That's what I'm thinking," she nods.

Which means there are two other Ancient Seals walking around like this. The beings who represent them are basically immortal, on the level of the Dragons of Creation, though they can be killed. It just takes a lot of firepower… to rip the Ancient Seal out of them.

"I'm going to stick around," I say. "Observe things for a little while, and see how he goes. I'll try to figure out how there are two Primordial Seals of Light manifested at the same time, while I'm here."

"I wouldn't stick around too much," the Scribe tells me.

"Why not?" I look over to see her grinning. "What?"

"You haven't really been paying attention to your son and his crew the last few days, have you?"

"I know they're the four dragons that clashed in one of my Phantom Fields," I say. "During some training exercise. I tried tuning it out."

"Caleb and his team are the first agents," she says. "Of the Global Dream Defense Federation. And they're on their way here to stop the Second Great Calamity."

My entire body freezes when I hear those words. A Second Calamity?

It took every ounce of my power to stop the first. I've got magics in place to let me know the moment one begins. How would mortals know before me that one's going to start?

"They only think it is, right?" I ask. "My magics-"

A surge of power wells up within the mountain, blasting out. Most mortals wouldn't even notice it, but that power… it was disturbingly familiar. And set off all of my wards at once.

The boy freezes up when it forms, unsure of what's going on. He can sense it? I guess that's natural, considering what he represents.

"Shit."

"Don't worry," she smiles. "It won't mess up the world too much. Your son's on his way to stop it, after all."

"The first stages," I frown. "Why didn't I notice?"

"Where did it manifest from?"

The fucking mountain! The fucking mortals are abusing the properties of that crystal to hide their plans! Beings such as the Scribe and I can't look in or sense in, nor even enter! The only reason I could stop the last Calamity was because I was able to break into the damn place and free the fucking Domain Deities! It still took me a decade to clean up the mess!

And I'm still recovering my power from all of that!

"Fuck!"