The remaining carriage ride to the Crux had not been a comfortable experience. Gem’s icy demeanour had lasted for nearly half of it, and even his ever-building exhaustion was unable to keep Crow from worrying that he may just have ended up ruining any potential friendship that had been growing between them.

It had been an enormous relief to him when she had begun speaking once more, even more so to realise that, joking as she was, the girl was quite eager to overlook what he’d done rather than continue talking about it. That suited Crow perfectly.

Though he had enjoyed chatting and laughing with her, it didn’t last long. By that time they had been travelling for fifteen minutes, and the adrenaline released by the terror of embarrassing himself before all of Bermuda had begun to leave Crow’s system. Gem handled her own tiredness with far more grace, and yet he could still clearly recognise it in her. Almost in mirror of his own, her words grow lazier, her posture lower, her eyelids saggier.

And each symptom of sleep deprivation he noticed in the girl, he felt thrice as keenly in himself. It was all he could do to open the door and stumble out of the carriage when they finally arrived, forty minutes after the start of the journey and ten after the death of the conversation.

Thankfully, Gem seemed to know which way they were going after all- or at least she seemed like she did. The girl didn’t hesitate before walking up to the doors of the Crux, a building tall enough that its top floors were hidden from Crow by night and mist. The entrance was wide enough to fit six people shoulder to shoulder, with no doors to speak of- but a gilded frame as though some were to be fitted onto it. As the two groups from the carriages reunited in front and entered, they came to an interior made mostly of a strange blue stone Crow didn’t know the name of- closer to granite or slate in texture than it was to diamond, yet more vibrant than a sapphire.

Despite the late hour, there was a clerk at the front desk- a weedy looking woman with a starved face that reminded Crow of a skull. Gem approached her and spoke for a few minutes, before turning away and walking with what Crow noticed was a considerably more confident gait.

With no better guide, Crow and the rest of his new team followed Gem soundlessly- allowing her to lead them to a side passage and up a particularly large, winding staircase. Despite the clear expenditure which had been invested in it, a bannister had apparently been forsaken in favour of onyx- or at least pitch black- steps, as well as what looked like solid gold streaks. Even with his complete exhaustion, Crow found himself marvelling at the masses of wealth that had simply been thrown around during the building’s construction.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when they came to the top of the stairs. Before them was a corridor quite dissimilar from the decor of the rest of the building, with practically no abundance, or even presence, of expensive materials in sight- excluding the row of arclight crystals affixed to the wall and basking the way within a light far steadier and more stable than what could be produced by a crude flame.

“This is the floor we’re staying on,” Gem called out- apparently not bothering to turn around and face the rest of her team as she spoke. “According to the person at the front desk, we have our own pick of the rooms- our possessions will be brought over from where we’re staying currently so we don’t need to worry about going to collect them. Any questions?”

In answer, Astra, Unity and Xeno all began shuffling forwards lazily. Too exhausted to even say anything, Crow simply followed them- flashing Gem an attempt at a grateful smile as he passed her.

***

The first thing Crow noticed upon waking up was that his pillow, mattress and duvet were all extremely soft. He couldn’t remember them being quite so luxurious when he’d first leapt down onto them and passed out the night before, but then he’d also been exhausted enough that simply holding his eyes open had been a struggle.

Rubbing his eyes, he felt a wonderful weariness enveloping his muscles- the kind which came from finally receiving rest he’d been deprived of for far too long. It took all of his willpower to make himself sit up, then even more from reserves he hadn’t known he’d possessed to climb out onto the floor.

Looking down, Crow realised he was still wearing the same clothes he had yesterday- they’d been clean then, but he imagined their odor had become less than pleasant after several hours of him anxiously sweating and sleeping in them. He very much doubted their high quality fabrics and make would be a large enough distraction. Pushing aside such worries for the time being, he took a more scrutinous look at his room- having not gleaned much of any information from the few seconds it took him to fall into bed.

It was carpeted, a deep emerald green and very thick- Crow grinned as he rubbed his bare feet into the soft material. The door was some ten metres from the back wall, with the side walls being “only” six metres from one another. The ceiling was at least twice Crow’s height, and as he craned his neck to examine it he noticed a large chandelier hanging from the centre- several more arclight crystals placed on it. Turning his gaze back to the horizontal, he realised similar arclight crystals had been placed in structures similar to candelabras hanging from the wall at roughly shoulder level. The sheer scale was almost disorienting- far too big for a single room, certainly a bedroom. Any two of the rooms at Crow’s home back in Selsis would have fit inside this apartment.

The furniture seemed of foreign make, though it could easily have simply been from some distant part of Unix which hadn’t had its style reflected in the architecture of Bermuda. Regardless, the sofa, multiple padded chairs and ornately carved wooden tables all reminded Crow of home- having something inherently inviting about them. Though he doubted anything so expensive had ever found its way to Selsis.

He marvelled at the expenditure which would have been required to fit a room with such commodities, and that marvel turned to awe as he spotted a sleek stone slab, slate grey and with many symbols etched about its perimeter.

A scrying slate? For a single person’s room?

Crow felt his mouth dry at the sheer affluence exuded from his surroundings, finding himself feeling somewhat guilty for staying in them. How many contestants were left over from the second stage? He and Unity had been among only a few out of hundreds to escape the first, how much had the million or so entrees from the start been diminished? Were there only thousands remaining? Hundreds?

Surely someone among so many exceptional mystics was more deserving of a luxurious domicile like this. Someone who hadn’t scraped by on luck and powerful teammates. Surely-

A knock rang through Crow’s room, emanating from his door. It broke the silent tranquility of his dwelling so abruptly that, awake though he was, by the time Crow realised he should respond, it had already started up once more.

Reducing the distance between himself and the door by half with a few steps, Crow called out.

“Yes? I’m awake, who’s there?”

He was answered immediately by a familiar, though ever shrill, voice.

“It’s the entrail doctor, your bitch sister’s whining about you. Hurry up and join us for a team meeting, she won’t start unless you’re there. Clothes should be folded on your sofa.”

A shadow shifted, disappearing from under Crow’s door, and he realised Unity had walked away from in front of it. Able to think of no reason not to, he turned to his sofa and searched for the aforementioned clothes. They were right where Unity had said they’d be.

Crow unfolded the fabrics, appraising them as he delicately held them before his face. He didn’t recognise them at all, clearly they had been provided by the Sieve- that would explain why none of his belongings were anywhere he could see. Slipping out of his party clothes, Crow shivered slightly at the cold- briefly regretting not changing closer to the fireplace which crackled at the back of the room. After changing, he searched the quarters for a mirror- finding one quickly and hurrying over to get a look.

Astra had often chastised him for being vain, but Crow didn’t see anything wrong with caring about one’s appearance. As he cast an eye over his reflection, he found what he saw quite agreeable.

He wore a baggy shirt, white and feeling as though it were three sizes too large- though as he moved it clung to his frame perfectly, and Crow realised that it was only the sleeves which were unusually spacious. Far tighter were the breeches which covered his lower body. As he shifted in his stand, the fabric of both his legs rubbed against one another- sliding off as though it were metal coated in oil. Was it made from silk?

His boots, at least, were something he was familiar with- reaching some ten centimetres over the ankles and made from simple, brown leather. Walking boots- with a simple function and an absence of precious metals or gems needlessly bolted to them. Crow decided that they were by far his favourite among the new wardrobe.

With his inspection complete, he made his way out into the corridor- acutely aware of the rigid yield his boots had. He’d always been taught not to waste anything, and so in Selsis he had only ever stopped wearing boots when he grew out of them. The sensation of a completely new pair was quite foreign to him, and not in such a way as to make him wish for anything but the time when he’d gotten used to their fit.

By the time Crow had taken ten steps in the same direction he glimpsed Unity’s shadow disappear, he had quite forgotten about the comfort of his footwear. It, along with most other thoughts, was eclipsed by his efforts to strain his ears and listen to what was being exchanged with sharp tones in the one room with a slightly open door.

“We need to make a strong start, build momentum right away so that we only need to work on maintaining it rather than keeping it. The most powerful of us should go first.”

“No, we need to feel out the competition- there’s no point in doing that if our first piece is a moron who converted all of their own brains into brawns.”

Crow could just about recognise both of the people speaking, even through the obfuscation of their whispers. It seemed Gem and Astra were arguing once more.

“Hold on, why shouldn’t we send Gem out? Surely her strength would be the best bet to draw out the enemy’s. Besides, almost everyone already knows what she can do anyway.”

The new speaker was Xeno, and Crow heard Gem immediately answer her with an almost offended tone.

“What do you mean everyone already knows what I can do? I haven’t shown all my tricks in public, or even close!”

“Are they all techniques you learned from Gilasev?”

There was a distinct silence, followed by a light snickering Crow had long since learned to recognise as Unity’s. Realising he’d dwelled outside for too long already, he pushed the slightly ajar door fully open and took a step inside.

Crow’s team looked somehow rejuvenated, and it occurred to him that in his previous tiredness he may not have realised just how worn down they, and he, looked. A night’s sleep seemed to have worked wonders, however, and when each of them stared at him upon his entry, it was with eyes that were wholly alert.

He stared at them, and they stared back, each person remaining silent for some time, until it grew almost suffocating. Unity was the first to break it.

“Oh good, waking up before noon didn’t cause your bones to evaporate.”

Astra glared at the artificial, but didn’t speak to him- turning her gaze instead back to Crow as she began.

“Morning, Birdie.”

Something about hearing his sister use that old nickname sent a wonderful sense of relief washing over Crow, and he found himself wearing an entirely genuine smile.

“Morning Astra.”

She was smiling, though Crow could tell there was no small amount of effort behind the expression. Astra hadn’t forgotten what had happened in the tavern, nor had she given up on finding out what Crow was hiding from her- she had never been the type to give up on such things. Nonetheless, it seemed that for the moment at least they were on speaking terms.

The fae girl, Xeno, suddenly began speaking rather quickly, and Crow found himself straining his mind to pick up everything she said.

“We were just discussing who we’re going to send out for the first task of the third stage, we would’ve waited for you but some of us got a bit… heated.”

He noticed Gem and Astra glare at each other coolly, doing his best to hide his smirk. It should’ve been quite a predictable outcome. Both of them were far too similar, he decided. Frowning, he went over what Xeno had said once more in his head.

“Wait, third stage tasks? What do you all know about that?”

Guiltily, his teammates all glanced to and from one another- as if attempting to silently convince anyone but themselves to explain. All except for Unity, of course, who began to speak without the slightest hesitation.

“Some random attendants showed up and told us while you were still asleep, everyone else was planning on hiding it from you because of your sister being angry about you lying to her and the Gemini being jealous of your strain- however I, your loyal friend, decided to-”

Gem interrupted, rolling her eyes slightly as the artificial trailed off.

“It’s going to be separated into a number of different tasks, each one will involve a certain number of people and we’re allowed to choose which of our team enters each one. The first task only allows one of us in, and our discussion before you came was your sister ignoring logic and arguing against me being the obvious choice to go up first.”

Crow looked at Astra, who seemed just as frustrated by Gem as Gem had been by Unity.

“My point is that the Gemini has a certain esteem, and it may be best to capitalise on that later once we’ve had the chance to learn our enemies’ weaknesses and strengths.”

A shrill, clearly exaggerated laugh clipped off the last few words of Astra’s sentence- and Gem cut in a moment later.

“And my point is that we need to start winning soon, we have the lead as the first place in the second stage- we should start the third stage with a victory.”

Jaw tightening, Astra turned fully to lock eyes with Gem- taking a step towards her so that they were barely half a metre apart. Gem was shorter, but not by much.

“And what makes you think you’re the best one to give us that victory? We’ve all heard the stories of your performance in the second stage, and we all saw you charge in against the undead like a complete moron.”

Gem opened her mouth for what Crow imagined would be a truly earth-shaking retort, however she was interrupted by Unity.

“Eclipse can we just stop? You two have been going at it for hours, and as much as it shocks me I got tired of closing my eyes and imagining you were fucking each other ages ago.”

A look of utter revulsion flashed across both girls’ faces, and Unity hurriedly continued speaking.

“We agreed to leave it to a vote, yes? Well there are five of us now, so let’s have the stupid vote.”

The two girls stared at the artificial, then they turned to each other. For a few seconds Crow thought they’d simply rekindle their argument, but when their silence was broken by Astra he was proven wrong.

“Fine, let’s get the vote over with. Is that okay with you, o-Menza?”

Gem gave Astra a rather good view of her middle finger, nodding all the same. Unity cleared his throat dramatically, then spoke.

“All in favour of the Gemini taking part in the first round, raise your hands.”

Gem’s arm immediately shot up, and as Unity finished making the suggestion his own limb joined it. Astra turned to Crow and stared at him, and all of a sudden he felt extremely exposed. His mind worked so fast it was almost painful, trying to weigh both options equally and push his own bias to one side. Naturally, it failed completely. All Crow could find himself thinking was that Astra may well take it as another betrayal if he denied her the chance to show the world what she could do.

She’d always been so desperate to make a life for herself outside of Selsis.

Just when he’d finally decided to keep his arm affixed firmly to his side, Xeno Warper raised hers. Astra turned to the girl, and though her face was obscured from Crow he couldn’t help but sense his sister was annoyed. Before anything could come of it, however, Unity chirped out.

“Excellent, then it’s decided. The Gemini will represent us in the first round.”

He smiled at the girl before continuing.

“Best of luck, try not to fuck it up for all of us- it’s not just your own reputation you’re risking by fighting like a retard.”