Olivia looked up from her bowl of hot cereal and asked her cohort, “How often will I get to visit home?” The collective chewing and crunching around the table slowed down, and then Rald swallowed loudly and answered her.

“Well, you’re free on weekends. We have a week at midsummer and a week at midwinter, and, at the end of the year, you have a month free until the next session starts, but that’s only if you intend to spend more than a year here.” He shrugged and took another big bite of toast.

“There are a few more breaks here and there. I can show you a calendar later if you want,” Veena added.

“Well, my home is a thousand miles away. How hard is it to get those teleport tokens?” This question was met with a longer silence, but then Shani cleared her throat.

“They’re really expensive. The school will give you one per year, but you can try to earn others. You can do work for professors in your spare time. I suppose that’s only if you aren’t rich; I don’t know how much money you have.” She looked at Olivia with an eyebrow arched in question.

“Well, I’m not rich. I suppose that’s something I’ll have to figure out.” Olivia bent back to her breakfast, cleaning up the warm, buttery grains.

“Anyone want this bacon?” Hanwol asked, holding up a piece of thick, peppered bacon. Olivia snatched it and took a bite, unbelievably relieved that, apparently, pigs existed in this world.

“Oh, my god. I didn’t see this up there - I knew there were boar-like creatures near our settlement, but I was worried that pigs weren’t a thing here.” She savored the meat, chewing slowly.

“Well, remember that the System has integrated your language with ours; whatever you think of as a ‘pig’ was a different word for us when the System arrived, and chances are our version is a different animal but so similar that the System assigned your word to it in your mind.” Hanwol spoke matter-of-factly, taking sips of fruit juice between sentences.

“Ugh, it hurts my brain. I don’t care, though, because this is bacon. Now let me enjoy it!” Olivia grinned at the small man. “Hey, on another note, can I ask a question? I don’t want to offend anyone, but I was wondering something about you and Veena.” Olivia looked at Veena while she chewed, waiting for a response.

“Go ahead,” Hanwol said before Veena could reply.

“Well, first, I’m sorry, but I haven’t learned what your race is called, and I’m curious. Second, I was wondering why you paint your faces. Is that rude?” Olivia scrunched down, slightly embarrassed at such a forward question in front of everyone.

“It’s only rude if you’re trying to be rude, and I know you aren’t,” Veena replied. “We’re called Bogoli; we’re from the southern hemisphere of this world. Our history tells us we originated from a different world than the Ardeni and Shadeni when the System merged our worlds. As for why we paint our faces, well, it’s something we’ve always done. It has to do with some spiritual beliefs that I won’t go into, and, to be blunt, it’s strange to us that none of you do it!” The Ghelli sisters laughed at that, and Rald snorted.

“Did Ghelli originate from the same world as the other races?” Olivia looked at Adaida while she asked the question.

“No, we, the Cadwalli, and the Vodkin came from yet another world. However, some of our ancient texts claim that all the intelligent races of Fanwath were born on one world and spread out in our solar system before the System came and mashed us all together. Most of the other races dispute that, though.”

“We need to get going if we’re going to join the tournament,” Rald interrupted.

“Ugh!” Veena said. “Did you at least find out what the competition will be?”

“Yeah, push-stones.” Rald drummed his fingers on the table, a frown on his face.

“Push-stones?” Olivia asked.

“It could be worse,” Shani said, “They’re round stones about the size of a fist, enchanted to be highly reactive to Energy. The goal is to push them past your opponent without letting them drop between you. Usually, you have your hands secured behind your back so that you have to control your Energy flow directly from your Core.”

“Is it hard?” Olivia looked around at everyone’s faces. Shani and Adaida looked thoughtful, Hanwol and Veena wore frowns, and Rald was grinning.

“Nah, I used to play a lot with my friends. With any luck, you guys won’t even have to take a turn. The way they set it up, we have to stand in a line and face off with another team. Only the first person in the line has to go until he or she gets beaten, then the next person in the cohort steps up to face the winner. Hopefully, if I go first, I can just keep beating all the others. We’ll see.” He stood up and shrugged. “Only one way to find out!”

They stood up together and walked from the cafeteria out through a series of wide hallways to the large doors that opened onto the east side of the main academy building. Encroaching outbuildings had spared this side of the building by design - it housed the well-manicured, grassy commons where students gathered to get sunshine, play games, and exercise. The yard spread out all the way to the eastern curtain wall, and there, in the shadow of the massive wall, a large group of students wearing the grays of first-year cohorts were gathering.

As Olivia’s cohort approached, she did her best to make an account of the other cohorts. She saw a few Ardeni, a few more Shadeni, many Ghelli and Bogoli, and even a couple of Cadwalli. It seemed that certain races were either more gifted with spellwork or more favored by those making the selection. What surprised her the most was when she saw some individuals that had to be a mixture of races. She saw a very pale-blue girl with Ghelli wings and a tall man with skin almost purple in tone. More than anything, she noticed the baleful stares some of the groups shot their way as they approached.

The light-blue Ghelli woman stepped forward as Olivia’s cohort walked up. Everyone got quiet as she started to speak, “Copper, I presume?” Shani nodded, and the girl continued, “I’m Sarice of Ruby cohort. You’re the last to arrive, and we’ve set up the ladders. Gemstones will get a bye in the first round….”

“How is that fair?” Rald interjected. Sarice hissed softly and glared at him for a moment.

“It’s not fair. But there are nine cohorts, and with odd numbers, there will be byes. The gemstones obviously tested more highly. Why wouldn’t you want to face off with a team closer to you in ability?”

“That’s tremendously condescending, don’t you think?” Shani asked. Sarice sighed and looked around at the other students with a pained expression.

“Look, this is what we agreed on. You can leave if it’s not to your liking, and we’ll give wood cohort your forfeit.”

“Whatever.” Rald spat in the grass, and Sarice managed to look both offended and sorry for him at the same time.

“As I was saying, the gemstones will get a bye, and the first round will be Wood versus Copper, Bone versus Silver, and Stone versus Gold.” There was minimal discussion amongst the crowd, making Olivia believe that the matches had already been discussed and decided.

“Alright, let us warm up a little before we start. Where are the stones?” Rald looked around pointedly, and the crowd parted to reveal a small wooden box with pyrographed runes on the cover. Rald stomped over and opened the lid, lifting out a dark round stone about the size of a baseball. When he brought it over, Olivia could see that it had been etched with runes, and the etchings had been filled with dark metal that reminded her of pewter. “Follow me, team; let’s get used to the stone before we have to play.”

They walked a little ways away from the others in the grass, and Rald tossed the stone down at their feet. “I know most of you know how this works, but let me explain for Olivia’s sake. This stone is enchanted to be very receptive to Energy. Most people struggle to tightly control their Energy when pushed out directly from their Core, so that’s part of the challenge. The idea is that you need to try to focus a stream of Energy to the stone and lift it into the air. Then you ‘push’ it past your opponent. Your opponent will, of course, try to resist with their own Energy and ‘push’ it past you. Make sense?”

“In theory, yes,” Olivia said, stepping forward toward the stone. “I’ve only ever tried pushing Energy out through my hands. I’ll try, though.”

“Put your hands behind your back. It makes it easier to focus on your Core,” Veena said, a pensive look on her face. Olivia could tell that the little confrontation with Sarice had bothered some of her cohort members. She followed her advice, clasping her hands behind her back and staring at the stone. She reached inward to her Core and concentrated on moving a tendril of Energy along a narrow pathway near her navel and then pushed it out of her body. The Energy moved out and then began to dissipate immediately. She focused her will and pushed more Energy along the same path, pressing the Energy into a condensed beam and forcing it out to the stone.

The stone lifted into the air almost immediately, and Olivia felt a surge of triumph. Relieved sighs escaped the lips of some of her teammates. “Good, hold it there!” Rald stepped around her and faced her from a few feet away. “Now, try to push it toward me gently.” Olivia nodded, her brows furrowed in concentration, and nudged the stone with a bit more Energy. It shot forward toward Rald, and he grunted, taking a step back, but the stone stopped and hovered in place. Then it slowly began to shift to Olivia’s left and move toward her. She realized he was pushing it against her, and suddenly the game clicked for her. She channeled forth another stream of Energy and pushed it toward the stone, catching it on the side and nudging it back toward Rald. He grinned, baring his teeth, and Olivia felt a surge of Energy begin to drive the stone ball back toward her against her two streams of Energy. She felt like she could add a third stream and push more Energy through them, but their little contest was interrupted by a shrill whistle. Rald met her eyes, and they both let their Energy dissipate, allowing the stone to drop into the grass with a thud.

“That wasn’t bad, Olivia; you’re a quick study,” Adaida said as they walked back toward the crowd of other cohorts.

“Thank you.” Olivia had a bounce in her step as they lined up in the grass behind Rald; she was glad she knew what to do, even if her team decided to put her at the back of the line. Rald faced off with Wood cohort’s first contestant; she was a tall Ardeni woman who’d obviously managed to upgrade her race at least once - her height was the first clue, but her glistening silvery hair and bright eyes were dead giveaways. Still, when the “judge” from the Ruby cohort dropped the stone between the two contestants, Rald quickly took control and pushed it past her. She cursed, a word Olivia hadn’t heard before, and stepped aside for the next person in her cohort.

“Going to take all the glory for your team, Rald?” The Ghelli woman from Ruby cohort asked as she picked up the stone.

“Hah, if they can’t get past me, why would we let them match off against our stronger players?” He chuckled as he looked back at the rest of Copper cohort and winked. She snorted and held the stone high, waiting for a nod from each contestant, then dropped it. Rald won again, and then three more times, and Wood cohort was out.

“They only have five members?” Olivia asked Shani, who was in line before her.

“Yeah, some cohorts have five and some seven, but most have six, like us.” Olivia didn’t think that was exactly fair, but this world didn’t really seem to operate on fairness.

The other two contests wrapped up shortly after theirs; Bone cohort bested the Silver cohort, and Gold beat Stone. Then, the gemstone cohorts entered the competition, and Olivia’s Copper cohort was matched up against Garnet. Once again, Rald faced each of Garnet cohorts members, beating them all. He struggled with the first two, but the next four went down quickly. He hadn’t been joking about being good.

After the second round, Copper, Jade, and Ruby were the only teams remaining. Everyone else was watching and cheering as Ruby finished mopping up Gold, and then Sarice walked over and looked at Rald. “Well, three teams means odd numbers. You’ll face Jade and then Ruby.”

“So, you’ll give your team another bye? Figures.” He spat again, and Sarice sighed heavily.

“Does anyone object? I don’t see a way to solve this otherwise? I’m sorry we didn’t have ten cohorts to make this easier.”

“Why not have Ruby and Jade face-off, and then the winner take us on?” Hanwol put forth.

“Shouldn’t the last two teams be the best? Just take your medicine and let us beat you,” a small Bogoli man with deep blue-dyed skin and a bright yellow swirl painted atop his bald head shouted. Rald stopped talking and stared at the diminutive figure for a moment. He didn’t say anything, and the crowd grew quiet, but then he snorted and nodded, walking forward to face off with the Jade cohort. Olivia and the others lined up behind him.

This time, Sarice acted as “judge,” picking up the stone and looking from the Bogoli man to Rald, waiting for each to nod, and then she dropped the stone. Immediately, Rald grunted and took a step back, bracing himself as the stone moved swiftly toward him. He strained and managed to stop its forward momentum for several seconds, but then it jerked to the right and shot forward past him, falling to roll in the grass next to Adaida. Rald groaned and stepped aside, making room for Veena.

“What’s his name,” Olivia whispered to Shani.

“That’s Gan. He’s a prick,” Shani replied.

Gan had little difficulty besting Veena, then Hanwol. Adaida put up quite a fight, doing better even than Rald, but, eventually, Gan managed to push the stone past her. Shani lost almost instantly, and then, butterflies doing backflips in her stomach, Olivia stepped up to the line. Gan grinned and cracked his knuckles, staring at her. Sarice looked at Gan, who nodded, and then at Olivia, but she paused and said, “Hmm, interesting. What’s your name?” It caught Olivia off guard; she was nervous enough, but now the whole pack of cohorts was staring at her, waiting for her answer.

“Olivia.” Her voice was soft but curt, and she didn’t take her eyes off Gan.

“Ready, Olivia?” Sarice’s voice held a hint of amusement, which irritated Olivia. She concentrated on her Core, winding three threads of Energy separately and priming them to fire out toward the stone. She quickly glanced at Sarice and nodded, staring at the stone. Sarice held the stone out and dropped it. Before it could hit the ground, Olivia fired her Energy threads, one to push it forward, another to push its side, and a third to drive it forward again. She didn’t hold back, shoving all the Energy she could through her pathway under her navel, and she felt it widen in the process.

She was the first to put Energy into the stone, but she felt resistance before her second thread hit it. Gan was pushing straight forward, though, and when her second thread hit the side, his eyes widened in surprise; then, her third thread launched the stone past his head, and he stumbled backward. “What the shit?” The Ghelli woman standing behind Gan exclaimed.

“Haha, marvelous! It looks like Copper was hiding a ringer in their anchor position.”

Olivia smiled and reset herself. She heard Gan mutter to his team, “Watch out; she’s fast.” Olivia knew that part of her victory was due to catching Gan off guard, but she hoped the rest of his team wasn’t as good as he was. As the Ghelli woman stepped forward, Olivia prepared her three threads again and nodded to Sarice. Just like with Gan, she was first to hit the stone, and this time there was little resistance - the stone soared past her opponent without a hitch. Her team was cheering and clapping her back by now, and Olivia couldn’t hide her smile and the excitement that flushed her cheeks. She beat two more opponents easily, and then the last Jade member stepped in front of her.

“Okay, Olivia! Beat Gwinna and your team will face Ruby!” Sarice said, and her smile seemed genuine. Olivia looked at Gwinna and saw an individual unlike any she’d seen before. Her skin was painted white like a Bogoli, but she was at least a foot taller than any Bogoli she’d yet met. Her silvery hair was so lustrous it seemed like it was spun from the precious metal. More than that, though, her blue eyes glittered like gemstones, emitting a light of their own. Like Yunsha, her eyelids and lips were stained blue.

“She’s had a lot of racial upgrades. Her family is extremely wealthy - I think she’s well into improved racial ranks,” Shani hissed quietly into Olivia’s ear.

“Are you ready, contestants?” Sarice asked, her voice rising at the end in excitement. Gwinna smirked and nodded. Olivia looked at Sarice and nodded. This time she was going to try to hit the stone with her second thread on the opposite side, hoping to catch Gwinna off guard. Sarice held the stone out, dropped it, and then Olivia sent her Energy toward it. Before her first thread could touch the stone, it seemed to be getting larger; she just managed to realize it was flying toward her face before she felt a crack, and the world went dark.