Alvin’s head swam with names and Affinities. 46 was a lot of people to remember, and several of the names were difficult for him to pronounce. He ended up paying more attention to people’s Affinities, and only really tried for the names of the standouts. There were 3 other tier 8, 14 tier 7, and the other 30 were tier 6 or below. The three people with tier 8 Affinities were Oriana, whose Affinity was tides; an outgoing man named Conner, who possessed a trench Affinity; and Sasha, a reserved young woman with a storm Affinity. Oriana was the De Facto leader of the little group, with her fierce demeanor, overbearing personality, and brutal decisiveness, she practically pulled the rest along behind her in her wake. Conner was bright, cheerful, aggressively social, and almost likeable enough to suppress the urge to violently shut him up. Sasha reminded Alvin of a mouse, small, quiet, and shy, but horridly inquisitive. He could almost see her swelling with all of the questions that she was afraid to ask.

There was one more thing that Alvin noticed. While all of the other people had water of ocean related Affinities, none of them had an ocean Affinity. Did that mean he was special, or just rare? Alvin refused to follow that train of thought, as it would only lead to arrogance, isolation, and eventually death.

With that happy thought, the Recruitment ceremony came to a close, announced by the skull ringing ding.

******************

[Recruitment ceremony has concluded. All of Species 82113114 have joined Factions.]

[Relocation to Faction territory imminent]

When the world faded back into color from the familiar empty blackness, Alvin’s breath caught in his throat. The Sect’s territory was on an island that could only be described as picturesque. The group of Sect members, new and old, had been Relocated to a beach with soft white sand, that stretched off in a gentle curve in either direction, forming a bay with crystalline blue-green water. Beyond the sand was a jungle, so full of plants and life that it could only be called green. And towering over it all, far in the distance, loomed a mountain. The mountain stood so tall that it pierced the clouds, and was covered with the same greenery that stood below it. The only signs that the Sect already had some presence and construction there were patches of blue, too even and regular to be natural, that dotted a large ledge, or perhaps a small plateau, near the base of the mountain. That, and the spotless trail that bisected the jungle, free of plant life, without even a branch poking out less than 15 feet above the trail. It was smooth and even, but not the smooth and even of a worn foot trail. It was the careful, purposefully manufactured kind, and the potential scope of the trail made Alvin’s head spin.

The group of beings dressed like Elder Song, who were probably all elders, had already started to move towards the path. They stopped before stepping onto it, and turned to beckon to the recruits to follow. Half of the elders started down the path, while the remaining half waited for the recruits, indicated for the recruits to proceed, and then followed behind them. The leading elders were already pulling ahead, casually walking at a blistering pace, while the trailing elders had to match their pace to the much slower recruits. Alvin turned to look at the elders, before asking a question.

“Why didn’t the System just send us directly to the Sect?”

“It’s a limit the System imposed upon itself,” one of the elders explained. “The System will not transport anyone directly into a Faction’s seat of power, so it instead has designated zones that all incoming Relocations get redirected to. “

Alvin nodded, and went back to walking.

By the time the recruits had caught up with the elders that had left in front of them, night had just fallen, and camp had already been made in a clearing. The only clearing that they had encountered, in fact, which led Alvin to believe that the clearing was artificial, and made for exactly this purpose. There were several pits, many of which held blazing fires beneath steaming pots of stew. Small tents and bedrolls were set up, and after everyone devoured their stew, they chose tents and fell asleep

The next morning everyone was woken at sunrise by a piercing bird call, one that seemed to be an abominable fusion between rooster, pigeon, and the after effects of gas station food poisoning. The recruits crawled out of their tents groggily, while the elders cheerfully began to deconstruct camp. Once the recruits had fully woken up, they packed up their tents and stacked them in a pile, which an elder made disappear with a wave of her hand. Many of the recruits gasped or exclaimed, and asked how she had done that, but the elder only smiled and reminded everyone that all would be revealed once they reached the Sect.

The jungle felt endless. One might even say it was…… boundless. Several did. They did not repeat it. All joking aside, Alvin felt like they would be walking forever. The trip had started full of conversation and life, but now felt dead in the water. Everyone was simply mindlessly plodding forward, barely aware of their surroundings. They stopped to make camp once more, before finally reaching the base of the mountain at the end of the third day.

At the base of the mountain stood a pavilion, the blue of the sea accented with the vibrant living green of the jungle. Every one of the recruits groaned when the saw the pavilion, because it was simply the gate, and it was open, allowing them to see the path that continued up the mountain to the main grounds of the Sect.

It was at this point that the elders bid the recruits farewell, as the path up to the Sect served as a challenge, a test of their character and will, and not of their potential. In Alvin’s experience, the phrase “test of character” usually meant “don’t get pissed off while we try your patience in every manner possible.” He really, really hoped this was not one of those, but after three days of trekking through a forest that makes the Amazon feel empty, he was pretty sure it would be death by tedium. Accepting the inevitable, Alvin squared his shoulders and walked through the gate, following Oriana who had barely hesitated to continue marching forward. As he walked, lost in his own thoughts, he started to notice a heavy fog rolling in. It started gradually, wisps, tufts, but quickly escalated until he could barely see his own hand in front of his face. Paying more attention now, Alvin realizes that sound is muffled in the fog. Where mere minutes before he could hear his fellow recruits walking alongside him up the mountain, now he stands alone in a prison of mist.

Movement, in the mist. It would appear that Alvin is not as alone as he thought he was. He opened his mouth to call out to the person, and closed it just as fast when his younger sister stepped out of the mist.

“You abandoned us, Alvin. You didn’t even stop and look. How do you know I’m even still alive?” Each word hit him like a bat, and he was forced back under her onslaught of accusations.

“I didn’t. I didn’t think to. I don’t know if you are still alive, but I do know that you are not her! You are not my sister, you are NOT Emma!” Alvin’s rebuttal grew louder and more passionate, ending in an accusation and accompanying finger of his own. The figure of his sister only smiles knowingly, and fades back into the mist.

Alvin continues on, wary now. The mist continues to thicken, until he is walking in a blank expanse, the only variation the movement of the fog in the wind, until even the wind laid still, and silent. Alvin’s wariness saved him, as he barely saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and threw himself forward. A pitch black axe, longer than a man is tall, smashed into the ground where Alvin had stood but a second beforehand. The axe was lifted back up into the mist and disappeared. Alvin looked around, but saw nothing and decided to continue on.

“Arrogant. You have been warned once. Turn back, or meet your end.” The voice rumbled like a rockside, and the very mist seemed to vibrate with it. Alvin was pretty sure the Sect wouldn’t go so far as to kill their fresh recruits, but he had no frame of reference for their personal values.

He continued, the path of mist still held in the silent stillness. The motionless fog was a willing canvas, and his imagination projected all manner of horrible beast or evil warrior on it. A disruption in the mist caught his eye. Alvin focused, and then quickly ducked, the dark axe shearing through the air above his head.

“Foolish. You have been warned twice. There will be no mercy,” The thunderous voice declared solemnly, as if it were a fact written in stone and not a threat. And perhaps, it was indeed not a threat, and instead a promise. That axe certainly looked up to the task.

The mist around Alvin seemed as if it were holding its breath. Then, he noticed a figure moving through the mist, towards him. The figure moved slowly, not as if labored, but with a certainty of purpose. And the fog retreated, former a circle area that Alvin feared was an arena. He braced himself for the goliath that was surely wielding the axe, but was instead met with the equally confused face of Sasha, one of the other people with a tier 8 Affinity. Before either of them could voice their questions, the axe slammed down between them like a comet, as much smashing as it did slice. Once the axe was well embedded in the stone path did the voice shake the world again.

“Impudent. Two who would pass cross paths. Only one may proceed onward. Choose, through skill with word or strength of arm, it matters not. Now, make your choice.”

Sasha looked determined, and turned to face Alvin with a face of stone. She hesitantly raised her fists, then, more confidently, advanced towards him. Alvin needed to proceed, but didn’t want to fight a future comrade. However, he could hardly allow himself to lose, not now that he was so close to getting answers, and maybe getting a chance to check on his family, to see how they handled the end of the world.

Sasha finally inched into striking range, and threw a sloppy punch, which Alvin tried to block poorly. Alvin’s arms hit his nose, and Sasha almost fell over, but quickly regained her balance and geared up for another punch. Alvin had recovered by then, and decided to rely on superior mass to win in a grapple. He charged, ignoring the incoming punch and lowered his shoulder.Due to the height difference, Alvin’s shoulder was driven into Sasha’s chest, knocking the air out of her lungs and forcing her to the ground. While she struggled to recover, Alvin used his left hand to pin her by the wrist, his shins pressed against her thighs, and his right hand on her neck with his elbow pinning her remaining arm.

“Yield,” Alvin demanded. “You’ve lost, yes, but we weren’t told any conditions for passing or failure. Only that it was a test of character and will.”

Sasha’s eyes went wide, and she yielded. A snort from the rumbling voice sent Alvin stumbling, and he recovered in time to see Sasha and the axe fade into the mist, just like the spectre of his sister.

“A world of illusions and tests to draw out our character? What a pain in the ass,” Alvin griped, as he stepped once more into the obscuring mists.