The train ran soft and smooth, nary a vibration could be felt, the tech used to levitate the train was from another world that a hero in the past had visited, but for all the rest of the world was concerned, it could have been from another time for all they cared, they only cared that it made long distance travel more convenient for them.

Deo awoke with his head against the glass, his mind groggy and tired from just waking up.

He was puzzled as to where he was, wondering where he had gone to sleep.

He remembered that John had thrown a party the night before and whilst this situation was strange, it was by far not the weirdest place he had even woken up after one of john’s parties.

It was then that it hit him, the party, the news, the guilds, the hunt, the attack, who his father really WAS!

Deo sat upright like a bolt; his frightened eyes drifted to the two people that sat across from him in what was once an empty room.

He relaxed though; he could hardly think they had bad intention against him when the two were both asleep.

He glanced to his side and jumped in fright, “ah god!” he shouted as his back pressed against the window.

Next to him sat a little girl, her legs knelt atop the fabric cushion of the bench, her palms flat, her eyes focused on him.

It would be a lie to say that Deo wasn’t a little freaked out by how obviously interested this child was with him.

“erm…can I help you?” he asked sceptically.

The girls deadpan face didn’t change but her eyes showed a trace of doubt, “are you a celebrity?” she asked with all due Seriousness.

Confused, Deo didn’t know how to react to such a question, it was not something that he had ever been asked before, “Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean?”

Annoyed, the little girl pouted as she asked him again “I’m asking whether you are a celebrity, your face is on the TV” she asked and Deo finally understood why she had mistaken him for a celebrity.

He could only imagine what the news was like at the moment, by now they probably had his entire life story and no doubt there would be a few reporters interviewing the kids he went to school with as well as the teachers, no doubt the publics impression of him was going to go down when they spoke to those pretentious pricks.

That didn’t matter now though, what he said to the girl did though.

From the casual way her mom and dad had fell asleep in the seats across from him it was obvious that they didn’t know who he was, and he would prefer to keep it that way for as long as he could.

“No, I’m not a celebrity but my Dad is pretty famous” Deo said with the most harmless smile he could give, “He’s been in the news lately and you know how the news is, I’m famous by association” he said as he gave a fake, dry laugh.

“Ah, really? Whose your dad then?” she asked childishly with a happily curious look upon her face.

*BOOP*

Deo poked her in the nose and stuck out his tongue, “not telling” he said just as childishly causing the girl to pout in annoyance. “Arr, don’t be like that” he said as he nudges the little girl who was now on the verge of tears with his shoulder, “I don’t have a very good relationship with my dad so I don’t like talking about it, but, if you tell me where I can get some breakfast on this train I’ll buy you some sweets for you to make up for it” Deo asked with a knowing grin.

“Deal!” the little girl excitedly squealed out, “you take a left out of the cabin and it is two compartments down”

Deo rubbed her hair as he walked past and opened the door, stopping in abject terror as a man, which was no man, walked past the door.

He was tall, 8ft or so, grey skin and slumped shoulders, he breathed heavily with each step, upon his back a heavy glaive.

Deo stuck his head out of the door to watch as the man that looked too much like a cosplayer walked around the corner, he pulled his head back In and turned to look at the girl in confusion, but the smile on her face said all that needed to be said, “this is a really funny train” she said giddily, no doubt used to that sight on the train.

Sighing, Deo could only accept that what he just saw was going to be a regular sight here.

The door slid closed behind him as he made his way down the hallway, raising his hood before passing one compartment after the other that were each holding regular people that were accompanied by those not so regular.

Deo had no doubt in his mind that the not so regular people were applying to the academy just like him. He shouldn’t be surprised that other legacies would be applying to the same academy as he was, being a hero was literally in their blood.

He opened one final door and was greeted with the sight of tables full of food, people of all colours and creeds eating together, and a bar in the centre of the carriage with a bartender that was only more than happy to help quench the thirst of those participating on this long journey.

The food was provided like a buffet so he grabbed a plate and filled it to the brim with what he wanted before finding a table for himself out of the way.

He slipped down the neck gaiter and every bite Deo took, he took tenuously, afraid that as he lent his head down to take a bite, someone would see who he really was.

Surrounded by this many wannabe heroes…it would be game over if his identity was found out.

*BANG*

A white teen sat down opposite him without an ounce of subtlety and slid his own plate across the table, spilling the contents within before it came to a dead stop.

“Sorry about that, just can’t wait to tuck in” the Brown-haired teen boy said as he stabbed several pieced of bacon and sausage on his plate before dunking it in the runny eggs and taking a big bite out of it, only when he was half finished chewing did he look to Deo who had stopped eating and asked, “er, sorry, nobodies sitting here right?” he abashedly asked, knowing full well the mistake he had just made.

“Ha-ha” Deo let out an unconscious laugh before catching himself, but it was enough for the teen.

Smiling, the teen finished what was in his mouth before holding out his hand “the names Armani, Armani De Vinci”.

Deo sat there with no intention of taking the outstretched hand but Armani had other plans, his smile faded and was replaced with a pleading look, “oh come on, what’s that harm in getting to know someone you didn’t yesterday?” he said and went back to his wry grin.

“Bryn Lockhart” Deo said with a neutral tone of voice, trying to not let any indication that he had lied about his name leak out.

Deo knew that his name was plastered on every station across the net so he couldn’t tell Armani his real name, so he gave one that was not an outright lie, but not the incriminating truth either.

Armani’s smile faltered for a single second before he came back with renewed figure, “It’s nice meeting you Bryn, I take it you’re not a Civi then?” he asked as he got stuck back into his food with the same amount of finesse he had shown throughout.

“Civi?” Deo/Bryn asked in confusion.

“Civi, you know, ‘Civilian’, those that need protecting rather than those that ‘do’ the protecting” Armani said casually whilst waving his fork about, “I’m guessing you’re here to take the Academies acceptance exam, Am I right?”

“Hah, Yeah, guess your right” Bryn said with a laugh as he found Armani’s definition funny.

Pushing his plate to the side, Armani leaned in closed and spoke quietly, “Take it your Confident in your chances then, what’s your secret?” he asked conspiringly.

Bryn of course, had no clue what Armani was on about. Confidence? He had only found out about the academy the night before!

His planning had been done whilst on the run with a hero trying to stab him in the back.

Seeing that Bryn had no intention on answering Armani pushed again for an answer, “oh come on, you must have something, you see every other guy here, they are armed to the teeth with gear their families gave them in hopes of improving their chances, hell, even I’m packing heat” he said as he jangled a set of charms, effigies and totems attached to his hip, “and yet you, you rock up here with what? A pair of everyday slacks and a gauntlet” he said mockingly, “nah, you know summit, summit that’ll give you an edge in the exam”

Bryn sat there motionless and quiet as he thought about what Armani had said, he was right, he had walked past a dozen plus people that were obviously geared up with tech or weapons that were definitely not available to the public, that meant they were ‘squadded’ up with either a guild or their family had power, definitely some of them had family who were powerful heroes because they were most certainly not all human and only powerful heroes were able to obtain a bloodline that would strengthen not only themselves, but their future generations Which would henceforth classify them as a ‘legacy’.

But even as he looked around now Bryn could tell, they were afraid, afraid that even with all of their advantages, they would still not match up.

Bryn stood up and walked past Armani, tapping him on the shoulder before leaning down as if he was going to tell him the secrets to the universe.

Bryn came close and whispered.

“The key to passing the exam is…confidence” he said whilst trying to hold in a snigger before walking off.

“What, Wait a second, That….” Bryn could hear Armani get up and try to chase after him for his poor joke but his words seamed to fade into nothing and the next thing he knew, the world was on its side.

*BANG*

An explosion hit the train like a bomb, the train buckled as it went off the tracks and metal warped as its speed went from a thousand miles per hour to nigh on a dead stop.

Bryn shot across the room and smashed into the wall behind the counter, “ahh!” he shouted out in pain, his bones creaking and cracking as they threatened to break.

Finding himself behind the counter, he grasped a hold of what he could and held on for dear life as the train continued to slide across the stone floor that sat below the mag-track.

Armani had landed near, his arms twisted the wrong way, he was trying to hold on but with one hand he wasn’t having much luck.

Without a second thought, Bryn let go of the counter and slid closer to Armani, he put his foot and fist through the wooden counter whilst he grasped a hold of Armani around his chest, “HOLD ON!” he shouted and Armani used his one good hand to grab a hold.

The shaking continued for a few more seconds before the rumbling finally stopped, the train shifted on its axis one last time, tilting to its side before finally remaining motionless.

Bryn and Armani breathed heavily before Bryn slapped his chest twice and pushed the teen boy off him, eliciting a wince from the injured boy.

Bryn looked at the devastation that encompassed the carriage, those that were still conscious were starting to get to their feet, but they were by few the far in between.

Armani shuffled to the side so that he was leaning against the counter and let out a gasp as his arm bumped up against the wood.

Bryn knelt down beside him and looked at his arm; he had no clue what to do.

“How can I help” he asked, hoping that Armani knew better than him.

Armani looked up from his arm and stopped for a moment, his attention fully focused on Bryn, staring.

“Armani!” Bryn shouted, thinking the boy was in shock.

Shaking his head clear, “I, I’m okay” he said as his eyes began to come back into focus, “My arm’s not broke, just dislocated” he said as he tried to pull the limp limb from his side, “I need you to put it back it into place”

“Okay, how do I do that?” Bryn asked as he looked down at Armani’s arm as if it was a math question that he couldn’t answer.

“Pull my wrist and guide it back into place” Armani groaned in pain before grabbing a hold of some wood that had splintered off from the counter and putting it into his mouth, he nodded to Bryn to go ahead and with that Bryn grabbed a hold of his wrist before silently counting.

“1…2…3!” he pulled and Armani bit down upon the splinter of wood, Bryn’s left arm held onto his shoulder as he guided it back into place before he felt it click and let go.

Armani spat the splinter of wood to the side before resting his head against the side, “shit that hurt” he said with a bit of laugh, joined quickly by Bryn who was in a state of shock over what he had just done.

Armani rolled his arm a bit; it still hurt but not as much as before. He grabbed a glass vial from the stack that hung from his side before unscrewing the top and drinking half the liquid inside, dumping the rest on his shoulder.

The look of pain that was permanently sketched onto his face before faded until he was back to normal.

Bryn looked at the vial in Armani’s hand questioningly but the white-haired boy was only more than happy to explain, “it’s a drug of my own concoction, numbs the pain whilst healing the body” he said as he put the vial back with the others and got to his feet as if her was in perfect condition.

Armani looked around for a second before offering Bryn his outstretch hand and lifting the boy up with a groan before leaning in close, “don’t tell anybody about it, even if I gave out everything I’ve got on me, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to what these people need”

Bryn nodded as he saw the serious look Armani was giving him and he understood why, if he didn’t have enough for everybody, then how could he choose between who got it. Conflict was inevitable and that was the opposite of what they needed now.

“So, what do we do now?” he asked as the two looked at the devastation, people were groaning out in pain and others were still in shock, doing nothing to help those that needed it.

Armani took a bobble from his wrist and wrapped up his hair into a bun, “We do the thing that we came on this train to do, help those who cannot help themselves” he said before walking off and bending down to examine a person who was passed out on the flood.

‘Help those who cannot help themselves’

Armani’s words rung throughout Bryn’s mind before an image of the little girl from the train compartment flashed into his mind.

Bryn ran, ignoring the pleas of those around him, there were other heroes here and they could handle it, he needed to make sure the girl was okay.

He passed down the crumbled and broken hallway, parts of the train had warped and made the walkway hard to pass down, he stopped for a second when he saw out of the corner of his eye on a piece of broken glass that his hood had come down, he pulled it back up and eventually he was able to make it to where the girl and her family was.

Bryn placed his ear against the door and he could hear someone grunting from the inside, it was definitely not the little girl but it could have been her father.

The door wouldn’t open when he pressed the button, the electricity on this part of the train must have gone out.

With no other choice he grasped a hold of the edge of the door and used his strength to pry it open.

Finally, when it was halfway open, he could see what was going on and it was not good.

The side of the train had essentially collapsed and shredded, the little girl was pinned whilst her mother…she was dead.

The girl’s father was trying to lift the metal off his daughter but he wasn’t having much look, even better yet, it looked like what had pinned the girl down had also bored into her, a metal spike attached to the rest had pierced through her forearm and thigh.

“Stop, stop, stop!” Bryn quickly called out to the girl’s father, every time he tried to help his daughter he was just causing the metal to rub the wound, he was doing nothing but hurting her as he was too weak to lift the metal.

The blood running down the side of his head showed that he probably wasn’t in his right mind either.

“Listen to me, I’ll lift the metal off of her whilst you pull her out and stop the bleeding” Bryn shouted at the man but whether he really understood with his half-glazed eyes he couldn’t tell, he could only have faith that he would do the right thing when it came down to it.

Shifting some of the rubble out of the way, Bryn got in a solid position before grabbing a hold of the collapsed metal wall and lifting with all his might, the girl screamed in pain but he didn’t stop, he couldn’t for it would only make things worse now.

The metal that was impaling her started to come out, an inch, two, the wound was deep and if it was any further Bryn was afraid that he was doing more harm than good but eventually he saw the end of the metal and luckily the girl’s father acted fast.

He pulled her from under the metal and Bryn was able to let the heavy metal go with an audible grunt on release.

The father held his daughters head in his arms as he cried but that wasn’t what she needed now, she needed treatment.

He ripped the already torn clothes off of the father and wrapped the girls arm and thigh with a make shift bandage but even he knew that it wasn’t going to be enough, he needed help.

Thinking back to everything that he had ever seen in tv or been told about in school, his medical knowledge came to this, “press down here and here and I’ll back with help” he said to the girl’s father before taking off back towards the food carriage, if the girl was going to live then he needed Armani’s help.

“Armani! Armani! I need your help!” Deo shouted as he moved into the food carriage but he stopped as he arrived.

Bodies still littered the floor but too few were trying to help them, those that could but weren’t, were split into two camps.

Those that couldn’t deal with the situation and had retreated back inside themselves, and those that were trying to pry the train’s door off but were making the situation worse with their efforts.

Just as Bryn had entered, two of the people who were trying to pry the door open had actually just got into a shoving match and by the looks of it, were actually about to start a fight!

All Bryn could think at this moment was that ‘these people wanted to be Heroes’.

Shaking himself from his reverie, he spotted Armani to the side of the carriage helping to bandage up a Civi who looked like they had taken a beating.

“Armani, I need your help, there’s a little girl whose hurt really badly and she needs medical treatment” he said as he motioned towards the charms at his side, “I think you’re the only one that can save her” he plead.

Armarni looked at Bryn’s desperate face and he knew that he should have been softer but he only felt irritated at that moment in time, he had already told him that he wouldn’t use his drugs on other people because it would only make the situation worse and better yet, him a target.

“Look, I can’t afford to hand out my stash but if you can get her to me then I’ll see what I can do but I can’t go to her, there are too many people that need help here and with how things look here, it looks like it is up to me to give them that help” Armarni said with resignation as he moved on to another person who was injured but stopped as the two people by the door had broken into a fight and were now charging all over the carriage as they fought against each other, knocking into both injured and unconscious alike.

“Enough!” a voice called out from the side as a newly arrived person came on scene, her voice strong and powerful, and her will infallible, for some reason as people heard her words, they did as they were told.

The room stood still, even the two in the midst of fighting against each other stopped with their hands upon each other’s throats.

She walked out from the distorted hallway and came into the centre of the room, Deo instantly knew that she was here to apply to the academy for her wardrobe screamed one thing, Hero!

“Are you not ashamed?” she asked with righteous anger, her eyes boring into each and every one, no more than the two-hero wannabe’s that had started the fight.

“We are here, in this place, at this time, to apply to one of the most exalted institution in the world that train people to become one thing, and one thing only…. Heroes!”

“Defenders of the weak…Protectors of the Downtrodden…the black Sword that fights in the Dark” she pleaded.

“We may not come from the light but we are still Gods Advocates!”

“And yet you, who aspire to achieve such a lofty goal, fall at the very first step, for shame!”

“We are in a situation where the world has thrown us through a loop, I’ll give you that, but we are not aspiring to be anything common or mundane, we are aspiring to become heroes! We cannot and will not let this be the end of us!”

“Now I ask each and every one of you this, Will you face everything and rise like a Hero, or forget everything and act like a coward” she spoke with enough determination that Bryn had no doubt that if everyone turned away, she would save the day by herself.

The carriage was silent for a moment but Bryn didn’t know who, but he heard a soft tap echo in the carriage until others joined in until people began to rhythmically beat their fist’s on the wall, then another began to stamp their foot in beat, one after the other each hero in the carriage began to join along, the bass grew and grew and grew until it beat deep within a person and ignited and fanned the flames of a hero!

“Good!” she shouted out with a smile on her face before brushing her short blonde locks out of her eyes, “There are people that are still trapped and injured and they are quickly running out of time, everybody split up and help those that you can, anybody that needs serious medical attention come and find me and I’ll do what I can for them” she said to which all of the people began to rush about with purpose, Armani walked up the blonde haired knight and called out, “I’m a trained medic so tell me what you need and I’ll do my best”

She turned on him and patted his shoulder, “Good to have you here, I’ll have everyone gather all the injured in one place to save you from running about, what’s the situation outside?” she asked a person who was stood by the door.

“No good, the metal around the door has buckled and we’re trapped in here” an applicant called out but was soon followed by another who was peaking behind the holographic screen that coated the windows, “It’s pretty dark out there but I can see no signs of water or rubble, looks like the tunnel is still in good shape”

“Tunnel?” another called out in confusion as they had been watching the fields pass by on the window before their journey had gone to hell, “Mag-trains operate in underground tunnels that have been carved throughout the world, too many things that can go wrong above ground at the speed they travel so they were built underground” someone answered and resolved the persons question.

“Finally, some good news” the female leader called out, “we need out, anybody got any ideas” she called out to which Bryn responded, “yo, tombstone” he called out to the giant that had passed him in the hallway earlier, “is that sword on your back just for show or you got the strength to use it” he said as he moved towards the door, the boy he had aptly named tombstone grunting in acknowledgment before making his way over and stabbing the door at the seams.

“We go on three” Bryn said as he placed his back on the side of the sword and his foot on a piece of warped metal.

Tombstone nodded in acknowledgement and took his place next to Bryn and braced.

“3…2…1…push” Bryn shouted and pushed with all his might, their efforts rewarded with the door opening by a few inches, “Again!” he shouted and the door slid open further, “Again!” he shouted and it was now halfway open and he slid in between the two halves and forced it the rest of the way with tombstones help.

He stepped out of the train and stood to the side and multiple people passed him by in to the dark cavern, the darkness soon lightly lit by whatever tech the people had on hand.

Armani grabbed Bryn by the shoulder to get his attention, “We’re bringing all the injured out here, go and fetch the girl and I’ll see what I can do” He said before following a group of people that were carrying others that were unconscious or injured and placing them on the stone floor outside.

Bryn understood and pushed past the people that were streaming out to fetch the girl and her father, by the time the three had made it back, four other applicants had joined Armani to look after those that had been injured in the crash, it was these people good fortunes that it appeared that Armarni wasn’t the only one that had some type of medical training.

The hours passed quickly as everybody did as much as they could, Bryn used his strength to help free the trapped and move the injured, Armarni used his knowledge of medicine and drugs to help the injured as best as he could, the blonde-haired knight continued to help where she could and directing others to where they were needed.

By the time all the passengers were off the train, everybody was exhausted.

Bryn leant against the stone wall of the tunnel, wincing as his side came in contact, he lifted his top and saw an explosion of black and blue down his ribs, he went to touch them but Armarni grabbed his hand just in time.

“Why don’t you let me have a look at that before you make things worse?” he said with raised eyebrow and the cocky grin Bryn was starting to associate with the white-haired boy.

Bryn “oohed” and “ah’ed” as Armani poked and prodded his side and stomach before pulling his top down and sitting beside his new friend, “from the scale of the bruising you probably cracked three or four ribs in the accident but from how they look now it’ll only be a day or two until you’re back to 100%” he said as he offered one of the vials on his side to Bryn but Bryn turned him down, it didn’t hurt that much and he knew that he would feel guilty if he got the medicine that so many people down here in worse condition than him needed.

“So, what’s the damage?” Bryn asked as he looked over to the lines of people lying on the floor, some had obvious wounds and were stable whilst others had their faces covered with whatever piece of clothing the passengers could spare.

Armani looked across the wreckage and the people that had survived before he answered in a downtrodden voice, “Pretty much everybody that walked off the train has one injury or another, 50+ people are either so badly injured they cannot move or have yet to wake up…a dozen died whilst we worked on them and the 1st, 2nd and 9th carriages were completely crushed by the tunnel collapsing further ahead…no survivors”.

The two sat in silence as they took it all in, there were probably 600 odd people on the 9-carriage train, losing the 1st two carriages meant they near enough lost a fifth of the total passenger count there and then, Bryn knew for himself that the rescue groups had left the already dead where they lay on the train.

All in all, they hadn’t lost a single one of the 150 Academy applicants in the accident, more than likely this was because they had come prepared for danger, but as for the ‘Civi’s’, hundreds had died.

By Bryn’s count, there was only a bit over two hundred left.

“God, we’d make crappy heroes” Bryn said as he lamented his inability to save those that had been lost.

“From what I saw today you two were a part of the few that would actually make decent heroes” A female voice said as the blonde-haired knight who had brought order to the chaos walked over and joined them.

“Coming from the girl that literally saved the day, what an Honour” Armani joked as attempted to flirt with the girl. “God, don’t start” she said as she slid her back down the wall and sat in between Bryn and Armarni, “the only reason I did what I did was because I was so annoyed by the actions of those fools, who in the hell actually starts a fight after a train crash?” she asked as she was genuinely confused to which Bryn and Armarni couldn’t help but giggle in response to, only after she had given them a glare did she too burst into laughter as well.

“It’s good to see that our fearless leader is actually one of us, my names Armani De Vinci and this is my acquaintance Bryn Lockhart” Armarni said as he held out his hand to shake hers, an action she regretted when he kissed her hand after she took his.

“God, you’re as bad as those two fools, haven’t you heard that there is a time and place for such actions” she spoke as if she was affronted but when she saw the look on Armani’s face, she knew that her words basically had no meaning to the philanderer, “…The name is Alexa Quinn” she said as she sat back and gave up on changing Armani’s ways.

“So, what’s the plan” Bryn asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the dead or dying.

Alexa weighed up the options in her mind before coming to a decision, “we need to leave”

“There is no telling whether or not the people that attacked the train will come back or not to finish us all off or whether or not a hero has even been alerted to our situation and is on the way”

“Wait!” Bryn called out in shock, “you think someone attacked the train?” he asked in surprise.

Alexa stared at the train, especially the front two carriages which were hidden by the rubble of the collapsed tunnel ahead, “There is no doubt in my mind” she said with conviction.

“The tech used by the train is level 4, that level of tech doesn’t accidentally malfunction, someone had to have either sabotaged the train or straight up attacked it” “but why would someone do that?” Bryn asked, “more than likely someone had a grudge with the academy or more likely, against someone traveling on the train” she said passively, “they probably thought it would be easier to take out the entire train instead of targeting a single person on it, 99% of the people here are probably collateral damage” Alexa said as if it was common knowledge, but as she turned to look at Bryn, she had saw that he had gone visibly pale, his skin was white and clammy, “Bryn, BRYN! Are you alright?” she called out but Bryn wasn’t listening, his mind was lost in his thoughts.

Could it be that the train was attacked because of him?

Did someone really kill hundreds of people just to get to him?

No, they couldn’t do that, Heroes are heroes because they risk their lives to protect people, they wouldn’t just kill several hundred just to get to him.

Only a villain would …. And then it hit him.

A Villain would blow up the train and everybody on it to get to him.

‘How could I be so stupid’ Bryn cursed internally as his mind exploded with possibilities.

All this time he had been thinking that the people that he needed to worry about were heroes, but that wasn’t the case.

His father, the ‘Fallen Hero’, hadn’t just killed heroes in Hong Kong.

He had killed everybody, both good people…and bad people.

His vision locked on to the dead and wounded and he couldn’t help but ask whether this was his fault, whether the people that had died would blame him, whether or not he should have been the one to die instead.

*SLAP*

Bryn looked up and saw Armani’s worried face, “you good?” he asked worriedly but Bryn nodded and he relaxed.

“You cannot focus on that which cannot be changed, only on what still can be” he said before jokingly pulling his hood down low and walking back to his spot.

The three sat in silence for a moment before Bryn spoke only slightly louder than a mumble, “so how do we get out then?”

Alexa stared at him in puzzlement, she was confused as to what had just happed but by the way neither or her two new companions were speaking about it, she decided to ignore it for now as well.

“We can’t go back the way we came; the end of the train is buried under rubble and that is after the train slid for however long it did so who knows how deep we would have to dig until we find open tunnel again” Alexa said as she flicked a piece of rubble off the floor in the aforementioned direction.

“So, we go forward” Bryn confirmed.

“We go forward” she confirmed.

Bryn looked towards the collapsed tunnel going forward before heaving himself of the ground and walking towards it, Alexa and Armarni shared a look before getting to their feet and rushing after him.

“Oi Bryn, I hope you’re not planning to do what I think you’re planning to do, have you forgotten that I ‘just’ told you that you’ve got four broken ribs” Armarni said to his side and tried to grab a hold to stop him but Bryn just shrugged off his attempt.

“You were right earlier Armarni” Bryn said as he made it to the collapse tunnel, now not only under the eyes of Alexa and Armarni, but all the survivors who had noticed the disturbance.

“I can’t focus on what cannot be changed, but this, our situation…I can change that” he said as he began to lift rocks off the rubble pile and throw them away.

Alexa and Armarni watched as Bryn robotically moved one piece after another, desperately using what little strength he had left to do as much as he could.

The two knew that no matter what they said, he would not stop; there was something on his mind that prevented that option from ever occurring.

So, they did the only thing they could, they helped.

One rock and after another, they moved ceaselessly under the eyes of the survivors until they too got to their feet and walked over one by one.

The rocks were hauled down from upon high and passed along a line to an open space where it was dumped.

The rock pile shifted and fell, the tunnel creaked and cracked, dust streamed down and the earth shook, but the survivors never seized.

“Light! I See Light!” the cry went out as the rubble shifted and beams of glorious light shone through from the other side.

With renewed and endless vigour, the survivors focused their effort on the small hole that shone with light.

Wider and wider it became as they moved one rock after enough until with final crash of stone, the collapsed tunnel completely fell through!

They had made it to the other side!

Dust was thick in the air thanks to the final collapse but above the coughing and wheezing, a rhythmic sound could be heard.

*Clap*

*Clap*

*Clap*

*Clap*

It was someone clapping.

The survivors climbed atop the rock pile and peered over the edge.

There, on the other side, stood a single person in front of a line of floodlights, he wore combat armour but strangely, he wore a pearlescent white jacket atop it, and he was clapping.

“Congratulations on making it through the 1st test” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice.