“You really expected that to work?!” Sophie exclaims. Her laughter fills the room, the ridiculous sound forcing me to hold back snickers of my own.

“It would’ve if Mofu was normal!” Amelia justifies. My snickers evolve into a full laugh, joining Sophie.

“Why didn’t you just keep shooting him, he would’ve fallen eventually,” Aku asks, the laughter in the room infecting him as well.

“It wasn’t about winning, it was about proving a point,” Amelia fights. Everyone in the room breaks out laughing at the comment, making the girl's dark face turn a bright red.

“You threw the match for a failed power move. I did all this preparation for you to throw the match for a failed power move, my god that is gold,” I holler.

“Whatever, go ahead and laugh. Mofu’s caught up with us, that’s all that matters,” Amelia says. Aku jumps on her bed, cradling the embarrassed girl.

“Aww, don’t be mad you got beat by a newbie. At least you didn’t get your blood sucked out of your neck!” Aku consoles, looking for sympathy in the process.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I say.

“Hey, my blood helped you get the win, so I call worth. Not only that, but you aren’t suffering from withdrawals anymore, right?” Aku asks.

“You’re telling me my headache was because of blood withdrawals?!” I yell.

“Man, you sound like it’s your first time or something,” Sophie comments.

“The other woman was my first time,” I respond.

“Ok, one, I need you to rephrase that going forward. Two, her name is Erica, you should really learn people’s names. Three, how have you gone your whole life without drinking any blood, it kinda goes against your entire race,” Sophie asks.

“How am I supposed to know that? I big banged,” I say.

“Excuse me?” Aku and Amelia ask

“I was nothing, then one day I opened my eyes and was in the middle of a road. I big banged,” I explain.

“I’m just going to not even address that. Can you introduce us to your sexy new friend,” Aku says, winking at Sye.

“This is Sye, she’s my spirit, and is old as shit,” I introduce, hitting Aku in the stomach.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I served in the Unity Dynasty. I was the queen’s top assassin,” Sye says, bowing.

“It's nice to meet you, Sye. I’m Amelia, but everyone just calls me Ame, please do the same,” Amelia says.

“You never told me that,” I protest.

“Well the circumstances were significantly more tense when we met, so I’m sure you can understand why you didn’t get the same introduction,” Amelia rebuts.

“The pleasure is all mine, Sye. My name is Aku, and I am a fairy avatar breed, hence my gray skin,” Aku starts.

“You don’t just need lotion?!” I interrupt, baffled.

“No, my skin is perfectly moisturized, thank you very much,” Aku informs.

“If you’re an avatar, where is your third eye?” I ask. Aku opens his right hand, revealing a pair of eyelids opening, receiving grossed out groans from everyone in the room.

“Aku, that’s fucking disgusting, put it away!” Amelia demands.

“What, it’s a part of my body, there’s nothing I can do about it!” Aku defends.

“I don’t care, we don’t want to see it!” Amelia responds, blocking her vision with her hand.

“Wanna have a staring contest?” Aku teases, putting his hand in front of Amelia’s face. She jumps out of her bed, smacking Aku on his head.

“I told you to put the fucking eye away!” Amelia yells.

“Well you three are quite lively,” Mikey says, walking into the room.

“What are you doing here, Mike?” Sophie asks.

“The newbie has met everybody else. I feel kind of left out, so stop hogging him,” Mikey jokes. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Mofu. I’m Michael, head of the Medieval sector.” He shakes my hand, his strong grip making me wince slightly. His gray skin strikes my eyes like a flashbang, unaccustomed to the sight. “Bruno caught me up, told me you arrived just as I was shattering. He was worried the event would scare you off from The Mesa, but it looks like you’re settling in just fine.”

“Had some hiccups here and there, but I’m adapting,” I respond.

“Well I’m sure these two knuckleheads are making the process a hell of a lot easier, especially Aku here!” Mikey exclaims, throwing his arm around Aku.

“Yeah, you could say that,” I say with a chuckle.

“I’m actually his old man, believe it or not. Gets his fairy side from me, and between us, the best side,” Mikey informs. “Olympia just can’t stop talking about you, man. Ever since she found you, she’s been hooked. Keeps going on about ‘The mystery of The Wanderer’ and whatnot. Now that you’re here, Bruno and I get an earful about you three every time we see Olympia!”

“You three have quite the history from what I’ve heard,” I say.

“Hell yeah, Bruno, Olympia and I go back centuries man. We were in a team, just like you three, and boy were we one hell of a team. Went undefeated when climbing up the ranks, graduated in three years of forming the team! Sophie here can testify, as can all the other heads. We all came up together,” Mikey explains.

“These three have potential to break your record, Mike,” Sophie informs.

“Bullshit,” Mikey responds, rejecting the idea entirely.

“I’m serious. Aku and Amelia have fought together their whole lives, and Mofu can keep up in terms of technical skill, and Mofu already has a powerful spirit. On top of that, Olympia took them under her wing, and you know how she gets. If I had to put money on it, I’d say they’d be out of here come this time next year,” Sophie explains.

“We’ll see. Either way, can I speak to you outside, Sophie?” Mikey asks.

“Sure, what’s up?” Sophie responds, walking out the door with Mikey.

“Guys, I need you to hear me out on this,” I whisper. “Have you guys ever heard about Amani?”

“Yeah, she’s The Mesa’s version of the boogeyman,” Amelia responds.

“Well, I talked to her yesterday. I accidentally pulled her out of the void near the waterfall, and she told me some shit,” I start. “She said Bruno broke into The Mesa and is feeding the royals soldiers. She said he was going to send us to our deaths.”

“Man, you really need better jokes bro,” Aku says.

“I’m serious. She told me the boxer girl was casting, and she was right. She also told me I would beat you by sucking your blood, Aku. She even said Amelia’s bullet would go straight through me, which would give me the win. She was right about everything!” I exclaim.

“Mofu, she never existed. It’s just a tale we tell shards, there is no validity to it. You can’t die in The Mesa,” Amelia responds.

“She didn’t die, though. Amani fell into the abyss and got trapped in a space between The Mesa and The real world. If you don’t believe me, we’ll go see her after the meeting,” I argue.

“What meeting?” Aku asks.

“There’s going to be a meeting tonight Olympia will pick us up for, where Bruno will tell us we have to graduate in a month because the Sipha conflict became much worse. Then when we go, we’ll die there,” I explain.

“I’ll make a deal with you Mofu. If that happens, we’ll follow you to the waterfall. If it doesn’t, you have to get a girl wearing whatever Ame and I choose,” Aku proposes.

“Fine, I don’t care. Just have my back in the meeting, okay?” I ask.

“You got it boss,” Aku says.

“Hey, you three. C'mon, Bruno wants to see us at the Roundtable” Olympia says, poking. We all follow her, arriving at the Roundtable shortly after.

“Now that everyone’s here, we can begin. Everyone sit,” Bruno starts. We all do as told, Bruno joining us after making himself a drink. “So what does everyone want first, the good or the bad?”

“I prefer to be buttered up before being placed on the grill,” Mikey says.

“Alright, let’s do that then. You three graduate in a month in The Mesa’s time, King Philip no longer has his sights set on taking over Sipha, and we have a solution for the crack in the sky,” Bruno explains.

“Ok, so the bad?” Olympia asks.

“Philip's right hand, Amelia’s brother, convinced him world domination was better, and to begin invasions two weeks from now, the solution for the crack in the sky is to let it break and let No Man’s Land in, The Genie is the one who broke through the sky, the demon tribe are terrorizing the cities of No Man’s Land, Amani is alive and has her sights set on Mofu and that’s just the beginning,” Bruno vents.

“Wait, how long has it been since I got here?” I ask.

“Time works differently in The Mesa. One hour in the normal world is one day here, so for everyone in the normal world it’s been about twelve hours,” Amelia explains.

“So you’re telling me Ame’s brother convinced Phil to pursue world domination in half a day?” Aku questions.

“It's not important how long it took, or that he did it at all, because we’re about to expose everything to No Man's Land. What’s more concerning to me is Yin’s graduation and Amani,” Olympia says. “Bruno, you know Aku can’t leave The Mesa yet, we can’t allow them to graduate.”

“Amani is in The Mesa, and she’s not too happy. She already went after Mofu, and it’s not a stretch to say Amelia is next on her list. They’re safer out in the world. Here, these three are caged in. They have nowhere to escape to. Once Amani gets to them, it’s up to her when they escape her grasp,” Bruno argues.

“Mofu isn’t ready, Aku can’t survive for more than a couple seconds outside of The Mesa, and Amelia can’t stop Philip, the demon tribe, or The Genie alone. I can escort Ame and Mofu to my apartment, the training room, or here, and Mikey can do the same with Aku. Two more months, just until Sophie finishes Aku’s serum,” Olympia pleads.

“I have to side with Olympia on this one, B. I don’t think it’s smart to put Mofu in serious action yet. He hasn’t even been here two weeks, and Amelia isn’t strong enough to cover his shortcomings. Aku can’t leave, not yet. The serum is almost done, let's train Mofu with Amelia until it finishes, then let them graduate,” Mikey tries to reason.

“No. Mofu has almost walked the entirety of Sipha, he can route the team away from trouble. Aku can come back once every normal week to get an injection if the serum isn’t complete by the time they graduate. Olympia, you’ll train Mofu and Amelia together six days of the week. The seventh day, they will strengthen their bond together, as well as learning how to communicate and work together. Aku will be with Sophie every day until graduation to speed up the development of his serum,” Bruno explains.

“Why does Aku need a special serum?” Amelia asks.

“He was born with an extremely rare disease called Chiroceria. It’s incurable, and is a bacteria in the mother’s womb that kills the baby during birth. Aku and I are the only known people who suffer from it, the only reason we’re alive is because we were both born in The Mesa. Danie, the woman who taught Sophie, created a special mixture that would allow me to survive outside of The Mesa, but she never wrote it down or told Sophie. But because every mother’s womb is different, no one medicine would even work on two babies,” Bruno explains.

“Bullshit,” I mumble.

“What was that?” Bruno asks.

“Aku’s medical files don’t say he has any diseases, infections, or disabilities. Only a repeated injury of the collarbone,” I say.

“The disease is rare and we don’t know too much about it, so it’s not in his public records. Everyone here has private records only Sophie, Mikey, Olympia and I can access,” Bruno says. “Now, back on topic. Amelia, I officially appoint you leader of Team Yin. In one month, Team Yin will enter the normal world and deal with the demon tribe before Philip puts his world domination plan into action. Until then, you three are not to go anywhere outside of your homes without Michael or Olympia escorting you. Olympia, you and Michael are dismissed,” Bruno commands. They both exit the room, frustration in their strides. Sye joins them, Bruno’s attention falling onto me. “Mofu, why didn’t you tell Olympia or me that you encountered Amani?”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly sure it was actually happening and I was just losing it. How did you know?” I ask.

“I run The Mesa, I know everything that happens here,” Bruno responds. “What did she say?”

“You know everything that happens here, you tell me,” I retort.

“This isn’t a game, boy!” Bruno yells, slamming his fist on the table. The impact forces Amelia and Aku to flinch, audible gasps only fueling both of our anger.

“She said the boxing girl was cheating. She said I would win the redemption fights. She said you would force us three into a situation we weren’t ready for and it would end in our deaths. She said to go with her in order to stay alive. She said not to trust you,” I say, my anger building with each word.

“If you side with her, there is no redemption,” Bruno warns.

“Then you must be ready to throw all of Team Yin away then, because you won’t intimidate me into lying,” I respond. Bruno’s gaze falls onto Amelia and Aku, neither of them brave enough to meet his eyes.

“Does he speak for you two as well,” Bruno asks, his tone calm and clear. Their silence is all the confirmation he needs, taking a deep breath before looking back at me. “I can’t let you three leave this room,”

“Sure you won’t, but Amani will,” I reply, confidence boosting my voice. Bruno laughs at the comment, the sound echoing through the room.

“Oh, Mofu. Amani can't open the door to this room,” Bruno says.

“She doesn’t have to,” I respond. Bruno gets up the table and walks over to the counter, lifting the marble, revealing a terminal. He taps the screen a few times before an automated voice emits from the control hub.

“Amelia Williams, Aku Bentley, Sye and Mofu will be terminated upon any of their DNA interacting with the entrance. All of the sector heads have received the Gray Alert,” It says.

“Sit tight, you three. I’ll make this as painless as possible,” Bruno says, walking out of the room.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now?” Amelia panics. I walk over to the counter, being greeted with a basic screen of options from the control hub. A disclaimer sits in the top corner of the screen. It reads, “For full access, please scan Bruno Sliker’s retina.”

“We need Bruno for full access,” I inform.

“What can we do without him?” Aku says, joining me at the terminal.

“Change the drink selection in the room and other trivial shit like that,” I respond.

“Is there any vodka in there? If so, we could burn the doors down,” Amelia suggests, joining us at the terminal.

“Nah, just wine and Hennessy,” Aku says.

“How were we supposed to get fire?” I ask.

“My casting type is fire,” Aku informs.

“Then why the fuck do we need alcohol, just burn the damn door!” I yell.

“The door isn’t flammable, so the fire won’t burn very long, let alone spread,” Amelia explains. “Now what exactly is ‘other trivial shit’?”

“We can order food and it’ll come through this chute,” I respond, pointing to a metal door on the side of the counter.

“Oh, he was living luxurious,” Aku comments.

“Other than that, all we can do is lock the door we can’t touch,” I say. Amelia pushes me out of the way before immediately locking the door, frantically smashing her fingers on random things on the screen. “Panicking isn’t going to do us any good right now, Ame.”

“I’m not panicking, Bruno told me about how having a secret order of operations was important for everyone to have. He said he had a certain order he would do things at his control panel, and it would give access to more commands,” Amelia explains.

“There’s too many possible combinations and not enough time to figure out which one is right,” Aku voices.

“What if we try pouring a drink on it, maybe it’ll make the terminal do something,” I suggest.

“I doubt it. This thing is probably everything-proof, and if it’s not pouring dark liquor on it will undoubtedly make this thing break,” Amelia says.

“Ok and if it does break, all the settings could reset and we would be able to touch the door,” I respond.

“Or it could lock all the settings, making it impossible to change them,” Amelia retorts.

“Hey, guys,” Aku says, interrupting the argument. “Is that a drone right there?” Amelia and I both swing our heads to the large windows, seeing a single drone hovering directly in the center of the glass. We all duck for cover as it begins a relentless rain of bullets. “Why didn’t we just jump out of the window?!”

“We’re too high up, our bones would shatter as soon as they touch the ground,” Amelia yells, trying to be heard over the gunfire. The front door begins to be pounded on, making conversation even harder to be heard. Amelia activates her armament, firing back at the drone. Her bullets ricochet off the machine, coming right back at us. The pounding rises in volume as the drone enters the room, flying around like an insect.

“Amelia, let's all jump out of the window, and you can create a slide or platforms or something like that with your ice casting,” Aku whispers.

“It’s too hot, they’ll melt within seconds,” Amelia rejects.

“They only need to be here long enough for all of us to land on them and jump onto the next, and if you make a slide then we can all hold onto each other,” Aku fights.

“Even if the ice would be here for enough time, I wouldn’t have enough time to make it thick enough to handle the impact of three different bodies at three different times,” Amelia informs.

“Well you’re just going to have to try, because this drone and whoever is on the other side of the door won’t give us a maybe,” I join in. I pick Amelia up as the drone opens fire on us, making a mad dash for the shattered windows. We all jump out as the door bursts open, Rafael opening fire without hesitation. Amelia strains in my arms, ice platforms sprawling from the building and racing to our feet, just barely making it. The cold, slippery material trips me up, stumbling as I quickly resume my pace, jumping off the platform as Aku lands on it, Amelia forming another. This pattern goes for several platforms, taking us above the entire city, before we find ourselves over the river, plummeting into the water. We all scurry to the surface, taking deep breaths once our heads emerge. Sye and Amani greet us, already there. Air refills my lungs as we all swim to the bank, Sye helping us out.

“Told you it’d work,” Aku boasts.

“Shut up,” Amelia responds, pushing Aku back into the river.

“What took so long?” Sye asks.

“Bruno locked us in, made it so we would be killed if we touched the door, and a damn drone came through the window shooting the place up, why’d you bail?” Aku asks.

“Mofu told me to leave the meeting midway before the redemption matches,” Sye explains.

“He sent Petra and Rafael after you, huh. They’ve always made one hell of a duo,” Amani comments.

“Ok, so we’re here. What now?” Amelia asks.

“You three always talked about what was at the bottom of The Mesa, let’s see who was right,” Amani says. Her and Sye grab us three, tossing us down into the dark, unsure of what to come.