Chapter 4

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Author's note:

'Will be used for character's inner thoughts' while "Normal Dialogue tags will be used for speech."

Bold text will be used at the beginning of a sentence to indicate scene transitions

----------------------------------------------------------------

Since Ivy hadn't received her ID card, she couldn't get any food, but Zoe said she could use hers. Ivy returned to where Zoe was standing, her tray filled with Pizza, cheeseburgers, sandwiches, and a few slices of cake. Zoe looked at the mountain of food like it would come alive and attack her.

"Where are we going to sit?" Ivy asked between bites.

Zoe looked surprised, "you want to sit with me? Well, I normally sit over there," Zoe looked to an empty table towards the back of the room. Ivy sat across from Zoe and continued eating.

As per her ritual, Zoe had chicken nuggets, blueberries, and a bowl of sunflower seeds.

Scanning the crowd of people, the expression on Zoe's face turned to a grimace when a group of people walked by and sat down at the table adjacent to theirs. Her eyes lowered, and she fixated them to a point on the table. Ivy noticed this and glanced over towards the group. She caught the eye of one girl who was looking at her. With a very regal posture, she had tan skin, was tall with a toned but slender frame, and had long brown wavy hair in a wolf cut that reached the small of her back. Wearing shiny makeup with sharp-winged eyeliner, her designer clothes were also spotless; a red long-sleeve silk crop-top, a black mini jean skirt, and black hi-top sneakers with shiny black sequins on the side. She got up from the table, walked over to Ivy with a grand gait, sat down next to her, and turned to face her.

"Haven't seen you before. You new here?" The girl's mouth split open in a smile, revealing gold braces with her right canine tooth missing.

"Yup! I'm Ivy," Ivy said between Bites. She stuck out her hand, but the girl didn't take it. Zoe had taken something out of her pocket and fidgeted with it under the table.

"Nice," the girl said, turning her attention to Zoe, who quickly glanced up from her lap but looked back down, avoiding eye contact. She continued to stare at her, slowly drumming her fingernails on the table. Ivy didn't notice at first, but the girl had a tattoo of a rose on her hand. The skin around the symbol was red and shiny.

A voice behind the girl said, "Go away, Reiza!". The voice belonged to a young boy; he was tall for his age, a few inches taller than Ivy, with messy brown hair and bright green eyes. He put his tray on the table and sat down next to Zoe. "Shoo! Begone!"

"Aw, come on, I'm just introducing myself. You don't need to act like such a sperg," the girl looked at Zoe when she said the last word. Then, she pouted as she pushed herself out of the chair, giving him the finger as she did so. 

Noticing the new design on her hand, the boy smirked. "Reiza, you disgraced yourself by getting that."

"I think you're disgracing yourself by hanging out with Zoe, especially after that squirrel incident." Reiza looked down at Ivy's confused face. "Wait...you don't know about that, do you?" 

"No!" Zoe looked like she was about to die inside.

Grinning, "Ivy, we should talk sometime. Like he said, my name's Reiza." She smirked and grabbed the arm of a girl sitting at the other table, casting a "Later, Squirrel-Girl," back as they both walked to the food line, skipping in front of several people.

"Y'all okay over here?" he asked.

"Thanks, Colson," Zoe said, as her cheeks flushed slightly red. Ivy nodded, then took a massive bite out of a burger. "Toothless was just being annoying, as per usual."

Ivy stifled a laugh.

"Nah, we don't eat carbs!" Reiza's voice rang out across the lunchroom.

"Sheesh," Colson muttered, staring at the pile of food on Ivy's tray.

Colson glanced at Ivy, looking her up and down, his eyes narrowed with suspicion, 'I know I haven't seen this girl before. If she's new….'

"So, girl, are you new here?"

"Yup!" Ivy happily introduced herself, "Just got here earlier today. Had to run across the whole country to get here!"

"The whole country?" Colson doubted, glancing at Zoe to see her reaction, but he forgot her expressions hardly ever changed. "So Pearson was right!"

"Mhm. Well, only half, but I ran a majority of the way."

"So," Zoe said curiously, "What is it like outside? Is it bad?"

"Bad? I don't think so…" Ivy thought for a second, "I can't say for sure. I didn't really pay attention, but it didn't look so bad."

Zoe leaned forward, "Is it anything like Crater? The people, what're they like?"

"They seemed nice," Ivy shrugged. "I wasn't talking to a lot of people." As she said that, Zoe started eating. She put each individual piece of food in her mouth one by one, until her cheeks bulged, reminding Ivy of a chipmunk. Slowly chewing until it was all gone.

Colson raised an eyebrow, "What about where you're from?"

"Uh, I don't know," Ivy said, looking at what Zoe had in her hands. "What are you doing?"

She held up a stack of cards. "I just like to mess around with them from time to time. Practice magic tricks, things like that."

"From time to time?" Colson thought, "It's more of a major obsession."

Ivy's eyes widened, "That sounds so cool! Can you show me some?"

"I mean, I'm alright at it," Zoe said as she got up, walked around the table, and sat next to Ivy. 'Why did I have to say anything? Now I'm going to mess up, and she'll probably laugh at me.' She spread the deck of cards in a fan shape after taking a deep breath. They were jet black with shiny gold lettering and gold trim. "Look at these. Can you confirm they're real? Nothing amiss?"

Ivy flicked through them and nodded.

"Alright. Take one card and look at it, okay? Without showing me, put it into the deck at a random spot."

"Okay," Ivy did as she was told. Her card was a red nine of diamonds. When the card was back in the deck, Zoe shuffled it. It felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest, but she kept going. Despite that, Colson always liked how her face lit up when performing for people.

Her hand extended into the air, seeming to grab a card out of thin air. Zoe flipped it around, showing Ivy that it was the same card she had picked. Before Ivy could react, she placed the nine of diamonds back into the deck and reshuffled.

"In this deck, there are only four of that kind." Slowly, she grabbed a card from the top of the deck, placing it upright on the table. A nine of diamonds. She flipped another. The same result. Another four cards in rapid succession—all identical. "I can keep doing this all day if I wanted," She said to the sound of the cards slapping against the table. "I can do this ten thousand times. Nothing will change." She continued moving the cards, all the while staring at her. "Why? You have missed something."

In Zoe's hands remained four cards. Each unturned. "Let's do this one more time," Just as before, she flips the last four cards with the same result.

Ivy jumped to her feet when it finally set in, "Woah!" She said a bit too loud, causing some people to stare. Zoe would never forget the way Ivy's eyes would light up with amazement, and her lips exploded on "Woah" every time she saw something that interested her. "That was freaking amazing! How'dja do that?"

"Honestly, that was the first time I've ever done that one correctly, the first try," Zoe said, her cheeks flushed. Colson, who had seen her practice many times, was impressed.

They continue to eat and talk for the rest of dinner.

When leaving, Zoe said she could continue giving her the colony's introductory tour.

The sun had almost completely set. The sky had gone from a deep orange to a dark purple. Nocturnal creatures cooed, crickets chirped, and frogs croaked in the distance. Fireflies twinkled as they flew through the warm evening air; Zoe held her hand out whenever they passed; some briefly landed in her palm before flying away again. Colson and Zoe then showed Ivy the village where non-student colonists lived.

"So, we're in a campus boarding school that's just next to a town?" Ivy asked.

"Yea, pretty much," Colson said. He explained how Crater operated—functioning as an independent country with its own laws and economy. It is funded by governments, banks, businesses, and anyone who uses its services. "Insider trading in foreign markets and defense contracts. Well, the first is kinda hearsay."

Others also make use of their plentiful and luscious natural resources. Crater was initially founded potentially centuries ago.

They continued to walk north towards the small forest inside the walls. They passed by a lake with a giant rock near the shoreline that kids were climbing up and jumping off into the water. Others were on the coastline talking and doing other activities. A wooden sign cut into an arrow shape with faded letters that read "Cygnet Lake."—though they referred to it as "Drowning Lake," as the kids had occasion to say.

Colson gestured beyond the lake; there was a big running track and beyond that, the forest, taking up over one-fourth of the inside of the colony's perimeter. "That's where we go every morning," Colson said. "Just looking at that is giving me PTSD." He grumbled.

"Let's go over there!" Ivy said while running. Zoe and Colson looked at each other, then followed her down the hill towards the forest. She was deep into the woods when they finally caught up to her. The trees and their leaves were so dense that the only thing illuminating their surroundings were the glowing eyes of distant animals and fireflies.

"We probably shouldn't be in here for long," Zoe said.

"Ooh, so this is a forbidden forest," a mischievous grin crossed Ivy's face.

"Not really," Colson yawned, "we're just encouraged not to be here. Unless we have someone older, or it's during a training op, they'll yell at us and tell us to leave. Basically, Highwood—this forest, is kinda dangerous, and if we get hurt, no one will know until the next time they use this place. Happened plenty of times before. But the real 'forbidden forests' are the ones outside the walls."

They followed Ivy as she walked around for a bit more. Throughout the forest were short dilapidated homes and brick structures overrun by plants and vines. They found some tall wooden structures. They were the height of an average suburban home but in the shape of a castle lookout. The whole thing was covered in multi-colored paint splatters as if it had been in one too many paintball wars.

Ivy climbed up the side and stared out at the forest. The small blinking bulbs of the fireflies and the other luminary insects that chased them disappeared and reappeared as they flew between the trees. Behind the trees was the dim glow of Crater's lights that illuminated the sky.

Colson had climbed up next to her while Zoe was still on the ground looking back towards the city nervously.

"Wow," was all that Colson said as he stared up at the twilight firmament; its constellations were faint but still visible. 'I wish I'd brought my camera. This would be totally perfect.' Imagining the shot, the outline silhouette of Ivy as she stared up into the stars…They were silent for a while, just standing, watching, and listening; sounds of a forest, brustling of leaves, claws against wood as a nearby critter climbed a tree, and Zoe absently shuffling through her cards.

"Pretty-ful," Ivy said.

Zoe glanced at her watch, "Hey guys, we gotta get back to the dorms; curfew is gonna be up in a few minutes."

They walked out of the woods and towards the three large brick buildings. Based on the number of windows and the placement of each of them, Ivy guessed the buildings were fifteen stories each.

"Wait... Where am I going to sleep at?"

"Oh," Zoe said, realizing the problem.

"Outside," Colson yawned as he walked towards the building on the right with a red banner labeled, 'Inez.'

"I have a bunk bed in my room, so you could sleep there...Maybe?" Zoe faltered, "Jeez, I didn't want to make that sound weird."

"Why is that weird?"

"I- never mind," she mumbled, "So…."

Ivy smiled, her teeth glinting in the dark, "It'll be like a forever sleepover!"

Ivy waved goodbye to Colson, and they walked towards the building in the middle with a purple banner labeled, 'Seeley.'

"Oh!" Ivy yelped as if a monster had just jumped out in front of her, "I gotta show you something, now that you showed me that awesome magic trick." She rummaged in her backpack and pulled out the serpent's golden horn. "Ta-da!" She held it out for Zoe to take, "I completely forgot about this!"

Zoe took the object, almost dropping it, expecting it to be lighter. She turned it in her hands, examining the horn, "Wha… What is it? Is this gold?" She squinted in the dim light.

"Yea! It's the horn from some sea monster in that lake a ways down the mountain."

"Wait, hold on, you're talking about the lake with the serpent?"

"Yup!" Ivy explained to her everything that had happened.

Zoe's eyes widened, and her mouth agape, "What the… Holy- Ivy, that's insane!"

Ivy beamed, "Yea, I looked at it and thought that it didn't look too strong. I thought I could take it."

Zoe took a corner of her long baggy shirt and rubbed it on the horn, revealing a slight polish. "So, what're you going to do with it?" She asked, handing it back to Ivy, who just shrugged as she put it in her bag.

"I dunno, I'll just keep it, probably—or maybe I'll melt it down and make a cool weapon out of it!"

Zoe laughed, "Yea, I don't think you're going to be melting this; it still is bone, a gold-colored bone, but bone nonetheless. It's probably worth a lot more than gold, though, based on rarity…."

Ivy looked around and noticed how many other kids were still hanging out and talking. "Why don't they have a curfew?" She complained.

"They're a higher rank than we are, probably two-stars."

"What rank are we?"

"Only single-stars," Zoe sighed disappointed.

Going up the ranks in the colonies brings a lot more privileges than a later bedtime.

Becoming a double-star colonist gives you free access to many public services inside and outside Crater. Your ID badge is recognized as a passport that will let you openly travel across the world, even to restricted countries. To be awarded a second star, one must complete a C-rank mission or higher.

Becoming a Triple-star colonist gives you access to top-secret information. To become a Triple-star, one must complete at least two B-rank missions and thoroughly memorize the colony commandments.

Becoming a Four-star colonist gives no added benefit, besides the prestige that comes with being a quadruple-star colonist. To attain the fourth star, one will need to achieve something phenomenal in their respective field that will be approved by Orion, the president of the four colonies. Other criteria include mentoring at least one other colonist to reach a Triple-star rank and completing a several months-long training.

Becoming a Five-star colonist is the most challenging task but the most rewarding. The promise of guaranteed diplomatic immunity in most countries. With few exceptions, one can even kill anyone they would like without repercussions. To become a Penta-star colonist, one will need to complete a nigh-impossible task made by Orion. Typically, the job will show great strength, determination, intelligence, and ability proficiency. The task can involve all of those aspects or none of them; it is entirely up to the whims of Orion.

"So, which rank do you want to be?"

"Eventually, a Penta-star, but that will take a while. I'm willing to be patient."

"But what do you get out of it?"

"The main one for me is freedom. I can pursue whatever I want whenever I want to do it—to an extent, be ungovernable to the outside. I can go and practice anywhere I want at that point. Being here is alright, I guess, but there's so much more out there; maybe it's more about the adventure of it. I've read so many books on the different places and cultures of the world; it all sounds so interesting." Her eyes shifted from wonder to a slight anxiety. "My life will be an incredible adventure or nothing at all. Though the outside world seems…difficult."

"Difficult?"

"Too much going on. More bad than good. No offense, but the non-colonists, they just don't seem to have the faculties that we do."

"I don't get it," Ivy hummed.

"You aren't like them, though. I have no doubt they'll let you stay."

Zoe scanned the ID badge she kept on a necklace along with a petite, shiny golden charm in the shape of a spade with a glassy red border. She noticed Ivy staring at it.

"What's that?"

Debating herself on whether she should tell her, "It's a good luck charm. I've had it for as long as I can remember..." She trailed off as they walked into the lobby of the building. Their footsteps echoed off the off-white walls and the shiny gray-tiled floors. "Well, anyways, because they're a higher star level, they get more privileges, one of those being that they get to stay up later. The elevators are over here." Zoe said as they walked to the right. Across the elevators was a receptionist desk with a young woman who was fast asleep.

She clicked the button for the twelfth floor.

While waiting for the elevator, Ivy drifted around the lobby. The walls were graced with paintings of warriors with massive amber swords and obsidian armor. There were many portraits of a clean-shaven muscular man. Despite having short grey hair, it depicted him as looking relatively young. He wore a traditional white robe with gold edges. The picture frame was an obsidian black, with a golden nameplate attached to the bottom saying 'Orion Crito.'

The elevator dinged, and they both stepped inside. It shuttered and shook as it ascended the floors. Zoe had brought out her cards again and fidgeted with them absently as she watched the numbers tick up on the floor counter. "Hey, Ivy, can I ask you something?" She entreated quietly.

"Shoot."

She looked over, studying Ivy's face, "I don't really know anything about this, but like we have this fortune teller here, and apparently, she made a fortune about you a year ago." She chattered quickly, as if she were nervous.

"Woah, so a real fortune-teller? Like one hundred percent real?"

"I would assume so, since most take her word as gospel. But very few people have seen her… So you don't know anything about it?"

"No, you don't know what it said about me?"

"Not really. Rumors are floating around, but I don't know really for sure. The only ones who would know are people working in the oval building, specifically the Hounds, but they haven't been talking about it at all." Zoe said.

"Why?"

"If it's something bad, they don't want everyone panicking. That's my guess, anyways."

"Is it something bad?"

"I don't think it's good, based on how people are talking about it and how hard Neph is trying to keep it a secret. Considering how long the rumors have been floating around, it must be something pretty big."

"Oh," said Ivy, her eyebrows knit together with slight concern.

Seeing this, Zoe tried to defuse it by quickly saying, "I'm sure it's just the 'telephone effect,' so probably nothing to worry about!"

There was a long silence before Ivy asked, "How does it work? The future-sight ability?"

Relieved at the change of subject, Zoe shrugged, "The way it was explained to me is that she gets different fortunes every day and is able to 'feel' them. Someone comes over and writes them down, and that's how we know. After that, she loses all memory of the fortune."

"Able to feel them?"

"Yeah, It's kind of like a fart, you know when you have it and can release it at any time, but once you do, it's gone."

Ivy burst out laughing, "That's amazing!" Her smile faded, and her face turned serious, "does everyone believe this?"

"I don't know; I'm sure a lot of people have heard the rumor, maybe some believe it, maybe not. I don't think most people will know that you're the one in the fortune unless someone told them."

The elevator finally reached the twelfth floor, and they walked into Zoe's room. It was a medium-sized room with a wooden floor and brick walls. A row of Christmas lights hung from the edges of the ceiling that turned on when she flicked the light switch. The bulbs had been specially made to resemble natural lighting. The bunk bed was on the far right of the room; it took up a majority of the right wall. Adjacent to the bed was a large wooden wardrobe covered in old stickers and sticky notes. On the other side of the room, a desk with a lamp attached to it. Large school books and loose pages of math homework were scattered on the desk, along with a clear plastic box filled with dirt. Some posters of famous magicians and fortune-tellers were taped to the walls. A big window with screen protection was on the back wall that overlooked the colony. 'Cozy,' was the word that came to Ivy's mind when she stepped into the room.

As they walked inside, Zoe instantly took off her socks and shoes, placing them two inches from the right of the doorway.

"Cool room," Ivy said.

"Thanks," Zoe said as she took her backpack and other school supplies off the lower bunk and placed them meticulously in the closet, ensuring everything was in the correct order. Also inside the cabinet were rows of clothes, all identical to what she was wearing. Ivy rummaged through her bag until she found her pajamas and quickly changed into them. Zoe glanced over at Ivy. She hadn't noticed how toned and muscular Ivy was until then.

Curious, Ivy walked to Zoe's desk, studying the box. Inside a dirt packed floor, small plants sprouting from it. Insects of various kinds squirmed and crawled throughout the box.

From beside her, Zoe lifted up the box's lid, pouring what looked to be food inside. Leaning in, she stared as most of the bugs swarmed. Some predatory bugs taking their opportunity to devour their unsuspecting prey.

"You really like bugs," Ivy noted.

"Hm," Zoe sighed apathetically, "Not really. I think most of them are quite gross. For some reason, I just like knowing a lot about them," she monotoned, continuing to stare until the frenzy ended.

Zoe climbed up the ladder and sat down on her bed, her feet dangling over the side. Ivy yawned and laid down on the lower bunk; not realizing how tired she was until her head hit the pillow. "Goodnight," Ivy rolled over and fell asleep almost instantaneously.

"Hmm?" Zoe leaned over the side of the bunk, Ivy was already out cold. "Impressive, I find it so difficult to fall asleep on most nights." She sighed, taking out her cards from her pocket, and spreading them across her bed.

Zoe yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Despite a slight but steady drizzle, her breath made miniature clouds in the frigid early morning air. She rubbed her hands together and breathed into them, the heat from her lungs barely warming them. She neglected to wear a sweater or a coat, knowing that she would be begging for the northern morning's cool breeze in a few hours.

The stars were still visible as the pink morning sky slowly turned to azure.

Zoe looked to her right; Ivy was standing a few feet away from her, feet planted widely apart, a confident stance and determined look in her eyes. Steam rose from her frame like a white aura. The rest of their group had started to shuffle towards the meeting spot.

Zoe had watched Ivy run around and exercise for the past thirty minutes. She wanted to say "absolutely not" when Ivy asked her, but she didn't want to disappoint her. She said that she'd exercise with her, but all Zoe did was sit on the side of the hill and try not to fall asleep. The words that turned into Ivy's mantra, "I'm not going to get stronger if I don't go above and beyond." plagued her. On the plus side, once the pre-breakfast workout was over, breakfast would taste all that much better. Since it was Sunday, they had most of the day to do what they wanted.

The rest of the kids filed in line; they were grumbling and complaining as they always did. There were almost three hundred kids in their group. There were three groups in all, evenly divided numbers, each mixed with kids that were a two-star rank and under.

"Alright, everyone, get on the track!" A voice yelled from behind them. Ivy turned to see a short and muscular man in his thirties; he had dirty blonde hair and intense blue eyes. He wore a dark green puffy cargo vest, short running shorts, and spotless blue running shoes. "For today's PT, you will start off running two and a half miles. Make sure you pass someone and do not let anyone pass you!" He pointed to the large track, "two and a half miles is just three times around this. Don't even attempt and try and cheat me! You will only be cheating yourself! Start your warmups, and when I blow this whistle, you will start to run! You get fifteen minutes to finish; you should all finish before that!"

While stretching and warming up, Reiza pushed past both Ivy and Zoe. She had on leopard print running shorts and a white t-shirt with the symbol of her sorority house on the back. She turned around while walking; she looked Ivy up and down, noticing Zoe, who shuffled behind Ivy, her eyes low.

"So that's really what you wear? It fits you." She smiled and walked away.

"Thanks!" Ivy grinned and waved after her.

Reiza just shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Quite obtuse."

Zoe looked to Ivy, "she's right," she mumbled. "Obtuse."

"Huh? What is?"

"You are."

"I don't know what you mean."

Before Zoe could answer, the teacher called over Ivy. She jogged over to him and proceeded to do an odd little dance like she needed to use the bathroom, then stood straight and made a saluting gesture. He stood tall in front of her, his breath looking like smoke as it curled around his head in the cold air. Staring at him for a while, she wasn't sure what he wanted her to do or say, but after a few seconds, he finally spoke.

"So?" the trainer said sternly.

Ivy still didn't know what he wanted her to say; she looked back towards Zoe and shrugged. As she was about to turn around and leave, the man spoke again.

"You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yessir, I just got here."

"Alright, so what's your name?" This whole time his unblinking eyes never left hers.

"Ivy."

"Well, they call me Silas. I saw you putting in work earlier; what's the reason for that?"

"I just want to be as strong as possible."

"Why?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"My mom told me to be, and I want to see her again."

Reiza, who was a few yards away, overheard the conversation; she scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Oh great, we now have an orphaned child around here now," she thought, but she kept listening.

"She in some kind of trouble?"

"Nope, nothing could be trouble for her!" Ivy said proudly, "Probably the strongest person on earth."

Silas laughed a breathy laugh, "well, alright then, get back over to the track. We'll talk later."

Behind her, there was a shrill whistling sound that permeated the air. Everyone took off running. Ivy and Zoe were towards the group's back, but it didn't take long for Ivy to get towards the front.

The sounds of hundreds of footsteps and heavy breathing drowned out the morning songs of waking birds.

Within a few minutes, Ivy had maneuvered her way through the mass of bodies blocking the width of the track, darting between the runners. It was now Ivy and several others leading the group.

Reiza, as usual, wasn't trying too hard; she was casually running in second place only a few paces behind the guy in front of her. Hearing the pounding of footsteps next to her, she glanced to her left just as Ivy blew past her. Was it her imagination, or did Ivy look back and smirk at her as if to mock her. Picking up her pace, she reached Ivy, who was now ahead of everybody, glaring at her, but Ivy either ignored her or didn't notice as she kept her eyes forward and focused.

Continuing to run side by side, they eventually were on the last lap; having lapped many of the other runners, the two hadn't even slowed in the slightest. When they arrived at the final quarter-mile, Ivy put everything she had into a dead sprint, catching Reiza off guard and leaving her in the dust.

She quickly finished the race and sat cross-legged next to Silas, who looked impressed but tried not to show it.

"That was a good warm-up," said Ivy as she looked over to Reiza, grinning.

"Whatever," she grumbled, looking back at the people still running, waiting for her friends to finish.

"You're going to let the new girl finish before you?" Silas screeched, his voice carrying throughout the entire field. "Pathetic! All of you! You better have enjoyed that light jog because today will be hell on earth!" He continued to scream until every single person had finished.

Zoe walked over to Ivy and collapsed next to her; seeing that Ivy was in first place, she had tried a lot harder than she usually would have. Usually, she ran an average time, finishing with the bulk of the group, but today she finished in thirteenth place. Ivy looked over to the group Colson was in. They were still running on a track a ways away. "Does everyone do the same stuff?"

"Pretty much," Zoe said through gasps of air and large gulps from her water bottle. "Same stuff, different order. Depends on what the instructors want to do."

A few minutes later, Silas led them all over a building labeled "training ground 3." It looked like a massive warehouse on the outside, its walls made of large grey cinder blocks. Inside was an enormous obstacle course, massive rock climbing walls, climbing ropes dangling from the ceiling, metal bars, and other activities. The floor was light, shifty sand making it difficult to walk.

Silas yelled over the chatter, "this obstacle course is supposed to be hard for even triple-star colonists to complete. But since you all embarrassed yourselves earlier, I thought you would all fancy a trip down here. I told you that today would be hell! Below heaven is hell, and below hell is my class!" His raspy laugh filled the now quiet room. "You will have one hour! If you do not complete the course in the time provided, you will earn a fat goose egg for today's score!"

Grumbles and complaints bubbled up from the crowd, mainly directed at Ivy. Reiza stood next to her, glaring at Ivy from the corner of her eye. This place was one that most of the talented colonists were familiar with, including her. "He can't be serious! He can't fail all of us, can he? I've only ever been able to finish half of it before," she thought.

As if reading her mind, Silas commented, "I've failed entire classes before, and I will do it again without hesitation. Do not test me!"

A kid in the crowd spoke up, "this is way too difficult. No one will ever finish it in time!"

Silas gave the crowd an evil smile, "well, that sounds like a personal problem. You all have gotten complacent. Lazy. Lethargical. Heck, if I didn't work you all so hard, you'd be fat, too." He paused and looked behind him at the course, "but I should tell you, working as a team will make things easier. One hour! Starting now!" He clicked a stopwatch, and everyone started running. "Don't die," he said casually, his voice drowned out by the crowd's footsteps running past.