When the sun rises in Sunstone Valley, the faces of the mountain surrounding the plain are lit up like a blazing fire; when the sun sets, the stones glow a brilliant purple. Because of this the people of the valley are reminded of how wondrous the world was created to be. Sunstone Valley is a self-governing city-state in the center of an empire of seven cities on an isolated continent known as Immanuel. The empire was founded on the belief that the strong were created to protect the weak, and that the weak were not simply weak, but representatives of a gentle love from God. It is that belief which founded the Sunstone Academy of Warriors.

The rigorous program of the academy typically takes a young student four years to complete phase one; however, talented twins, Shea and Sol Rory, have earned their way to the final test a year early. They chatted excitedly to each other as they made their way to the testing facility, surrounded by the students a year ahead of them, whom they never really got to know.

"I wonder what the test is going to be like," Shea mused as she twirled a strand of her fire-red hair around her pointer finger. "I hear they've never done the same challenge twice."

Sol shrugged at his sister. "I hear that if we pass, we get to skip out on the most boring year of the program. Apparently fourth-year is spent studying more history than fighting techniques."

"Well, they kind of expect you to start developing your own style by that point, don't they?"

"As if we didn't have that figured out last year."

"Ha! That's probably why they are letting us try a year early." As the twins continued their conversation, they made their way through the academy courtyard and entered the wide double doors to the testing arena. Their conversation trialed off as they made their way to the check-in station at the entrance where they were each given a number corresponding to when they were each taking their test.

"And what is that you have brought in your sack there, Miss Rory?" the male teacher asked, tilting his head slightly so that his long brown hair fell further down his left shoulder.

"Oh!" Shea exclaimed as she began to fidget with the drawstring bag to show the teacher its contents. "I got special permission from the third-year teachers for this." Shea produced a slip of paper from the bag and handed it to the teacher, who read it silently.

"Special equipment to accommodate a special talent?" The teacher grinned with intrigue. "You're a Fire User."

"You didn't know?"

"I hadn't heard enough to attach the real name with the nickname. I look forward to seeing how you handle the test, Blaze." The teacher winked, then looked to Sol who was still standing by his sister's side. "Are you her brother 'Blade' then?"

Sol beamed with pride. "Nice to know we've made an impression on the whole school."

The teacher chuckled. "My goddaughter has sat in on a few of your training sessions. She says your skills are impressive. We'll have to see how they stand up to the exam though."

2: Special Talent

After checking in, students were directed towards a waiting room with walls lined with every kind of weapon the students had trained with for the past four (or three in the case of the Rory twins) years. The students were told to choose one weapon to take with them into the testing arena and wait for their number to be called. There were small clusters of black leather seats in the center of the room for the students to sit as they waited.

Shea and Sol walked arm-in-arm as they moved along the wall, examining the racks of weapons they had to choose from. Other students shot them unfriendly looks from time-to-time, though no one seemed to want to approach them. The twins ignored them for as long as they could as each one chose their weapon. Shea chose a sleek black bow with a quiver of twenty arrows, and Sol a traditional katana that sheaths across the back. Eventually, though the weight of the other students' gazes began to grind on the twins' nerves.

Shea sighed. "Are they really that bothered by siblings holding hands?"

"Or they're jealous we got to skip a year." Sol suggested with mild irritation.

"Or they're afraid," a new voice chimed in. The twins paused a moment as their eyes shifted towards the tall girl with short, straight, black hair who was leaning on a spot on the nearby wall which was not covered with weapons.

"Why would they be afraid?" Shea asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girl rolled her eyes. "A lot of them, especially the girls, insist that using a Special Talent on the test would be cheating."

"Why?" Sol asked. "Because they think Shea will out-rank them?"

"Basically."

"Well that's ridiculous. What are they afraid I'll take their chance to graduate away from them?"

"Probably not," the girl pushed off the wall and came to stand directly in front of Shea and Sol. "If you pass the objective, you graduate, but only the top-ranked students get a say in who is put in their troop."

"So, what then? They think I'll pick my brother and two students who could never possibly work together?"

"Or they think someone with a Special Talent is going to be a show-off who can't work with anyone."

Sol faked a cough.

"I've been working perfectly fine on group assignments in my own class. Sol and I are practically the perfect team too," Shea defended.

"And I'm not even a special talent."

The other girl chuckled. "Well, Shea, you're not the only Special Talent in the room." The girl lifted her hair from her right eye to reveal a pale grey iris that seemed to be almost transparent.

"Shadow user!" the twins squealed with excitement.

The girl dropped her hand, letting her hair fall back over her eye, and nodded. "Unfortunately, Shea, people like you and I don't have a good reputation when it comes to working with others."

Shea bit her lip. "Yeah, Fire User tribes these days aren't much for offering help to the empire unless there's payment involved."

"And the only reason the Shadow Users showed up to the battle of Wolf's Ridge was because their leader was in love with a man from Sunstone," the girl cleared her throat. "So the story goes."

"You don't believe that?" Sol asked curiously.

The girl grinned. "I heard otherwise."

"Well there's two sides to every story. Thanks for the insight, miss won't-even-give-us-her-name." Sol added a teasing grin onto the end of his last statement.

"Zarah," she said with a chuckle. At that moment a musical tone rang throughout the room, and a voice over the intercom announced that student number one was to report to the testing arena to begin the exam. Without another word, Zarah walked to the arena door, picking up a coiled whip along the way.

3: The Test

Anxiety began to set in among the Sunstone Valley Academy students as one number after another was called forward for testing. Even the confident Rory twins became uneasy as the higher numbers were called. As Shea's nerves got the best of her, and she began to pace, a boy with white-blonde hair and green eyes made his way over to where the twins were sitting.

"Can't possibly be doubting yourself?" the boy said in a voice barely audible as his eyes looked to the side.

"Of course not!" Shea grunted as she continued her pacing. "I am the most fierce female warrior in the whole school! But I'm going into this blindly, only hoping that my skills alone are good enough to match up to the standards of this test which I know nothing about! And I'm not the best strategist, or most creative thinker, honestly I just like to blow stuff up, which might not be good enough for-" Shea stopped short as she realized that the blonde boy had said something.

"Looks at what's in front of you and make what you want to happen happen. Don't worry about the 'if'."

Shea blinked, "Sounds like something our friend Tempist would say."

The boy grinned. "Well, we are related."

"Cormac McKeegan?" Sol said uncertainly, then chuckled. "You both look exactly alike. Surprising we haven't met you before now. Temp is our closest friend."

Cormac smiled "Well since Zarah and I trained together at the Windsong's arena when not in class, it wouldn't have been likely we would have met in the halls."

"Why train off-campus?"

"Most students didn't like to train with her around, so we were only on campus when there was a class. "

Shea huffed, "Because she's a Shadow User?"

"The talent's not as scary as you would think, but Zarah gave up on convincing the others a long time ago."

Sol snorted. "Want to see scary? Just tick Shea off to the point she forgets to regulate her heat. Nah, seeing a Shadow User fight would be a treat."

Cormac smiled, "It is." Just then another tone rang through the room, announcing the next number. Cormac turned to the door, saying "That's me."

"See you on the other side then," Sol said, and Cormac nodded, making sure the set of throwing daggers he had chosen earlier were attached firmly to his belt. After walking through a dark and narrow hall, Cormac came to a small room which had a timer, maps, and pictures plastered on a wall, and a small, round table in the center with maps, blank paper, and pens neatly arranged on it. A voice familiar to Cormac's ears announced his objective over the intercom.

"There is sensitive information, stolen from the Sunstone Government, guarded deep within the warehouse you are about to enter. This information is due to be sold to an unknown buyer in one hour. Retrieve the information and safely deliver it back to base before the hour is up."

"Well, that's not much time," Cormac thought as he began to sift through the maps and "known" information on the place. The warehouse, judging by the schematics Cormac had been given, looked like a standard shipping warehouse with a large garage in the front, and an office area in the back. Cormac took a pen and began making marks on the map as he reasoned aloud to himself.

"Surely the front is more heavily guarded than the back since it's so open, so if I can get through one of these back doors without being seen, I'll be nearly there." Cormac looked to the wall, there a timer told him it had been five minutes since he started his test. "Sounds solid enough." Cormac reasoned and turned to the door in the back of the room which was labeled "Warehouse."

The mock warehouse looked like any other warehouse that would be used by a shipping company, and the foliage surrounding it looked real enough. It was only the stadium stands and false light around him which reminded Cormac that this was just a test. Still, the boy went into the arena with a fierce determination, and a sudden realization.

"Assuming this is a standard warehouse, there one of the exits in the back is probably an emergency exit, and that wouldn't be guarded since it would be hard to open from the outside, and probably have an alarm on it. But maybe there's a window low enough to get in close to it?"

Deciding to search for the emergency exit first, Cormac kept himself hidden by the mock forest, which was conveniently thick. Just as he expected, closer to the back of the building there was a grey door which had no handles on the outside, and a red rectangular sign with which lettering that said "EMERGENCY EXIT." There was a window above the door, which would be too high to reach from the ground, and unfortunately was the only window nearby.

"Can I reach that window somehow, or should I look elsewhere?" Cormac thought to himself. "I have to decide quick, I'm running out of time."

4: Hidden Objective

Cormac took a quick look at his immediate surroundings, and found a large sturdy log nearby. He stepped behind the log, and gave it a tentative shove, which moved the log a favorable distance. "Not the best solution, but I might not have time to look for another," Cormac reasoned silently as he began to roll the log towards the building.

Cormac could tell that the log was sturdy enough to hold his weight, but he would have to be quick to avoid having the thing roll out from underneath him. He placed the log near the building under the window, took a few steps back, removed a knife from his belt, then ran full-speed towards the building, jumping on the log, and using that momentum to fling his body towards the window.

As his body became arm-length of the building, Cormac aimed the knife in his right hand towards the window, and drove it into the narrow crack between the window and it's frame with unbelievable accuracy. Cormac grabbed the ledge of the window as he used the dagger to pry open the window, then quickly repositioned his right hand on the inside of the window ledge, dropping his knife to the floor with a light clattering noise.

Cormac cringed. As silent as that was, it could have drawn attention. Cormac quickly climbed through the window, catching sight of the approaching guard who came from around the corner of what looked to be the nearest hall. Perched on the window, Cormac fired another dagger towards the guard, successfully preventing him from reaching his own weapon. A moment later, Cormac used to guard as a landing cushion, which would have knocked out someone who was not so heavily armored, but the guard lay on the floor as if the damage was real.

Cormac looked down the hall to see if any other guards had been alerted to the situation, but there was no sign of reinforcements. Cormac looked to his left and saw the door beside him had the word "STORAGE" printed on it in large black letters, and a grin spread across his face. From the maps he saw earlier, the target room was just around the corner the guard had appeared from.

Cormac turned back to the guard lying on the floor, thinking that with any luck, that guard would have the key he needed. And luck was on Cormac's side! There was a key ring attached to the guard's belt, which Cormac quickly unlatched before heading down the hallway, keeping himself pressed up against the wall to stay out of sight.

To Cormac's slight disappointment, there was another guard in front of the door where he needed to go, but with a precise jab at a certain point on the guard's neck when he was faced the other way, Cormac was in the clear. It was simply pure luck Cormac choose the right key on the first try.

Once inside the room, the drive containing the information Cormac was sent to retrieve was easy to find. It was a drive any Sunstone Academy student would know well as a device designed to copy any and all information from a computer it was connected to, that fact caused Cormac to pause and think. There was, in fact, a computer on the desk in the room with Cormac.

"The computer likely has a copy of the stolen information on it," Cormac thought, "but could also have information useful to us."

Without hesitating another moment, Cormac inserted the drive into the computer and turned the device on. Knowing he was running out of time, Cormac quickly took a glance out the door. He heard voices down the hall, but they were not close enough to catch him yet. Still, better safe than sorry.

Cormac wretched the device from the computer, then took a knife and used it to pry open the base of the computer and shred the inside. After the computer was surely useless, and the drive securely fastened to his belt, Cormac took another cautious look out the door. Whoever was talking down the hall was far out of sight. There was a clear path to a regular exit to the left. Cormac ran for it, out into the light, through the mock forest, and into the hallway on the other side.

"Go left," a voice instructed over the intercom as Cormac entered. Cormac obeyed without loosing momentum, and eventually burst through another set of doors, only stopping in his tracks when he saw a large banner hanging from the ceiling which said in bright, bold letters "YOU HAVE PASSED!"

5: Phase One Complete

Applause rang through the spacious room as Cormac forced his feet to stop running. The shock of the realization had rendered the boy speechless, and barely aware of his surroundings. Cormac did not realize there was someone beside him with his hand on his shoulder. The teacher had to say his name several times before Cormac responded.

"Cormac," a male voice seemed to echo distantly as Cormac only vaguely saw the teacher's face framed by his long brown hair.

"That was intense," Cormac sighed as he released all the tension he had not realized had been building up for the past half-hour or so.

The teacher chuckled. "That was only a small taste of a mission in the field."

Cormac chuckled nervously.

"But the fact that you have achieved your objective today means that you are on the right track for becoming a true warrior." The teacher took a step back and held out his hand. "And now, I need to take that drive for further examination."

Cormac unhooked the drive from his belt and handed it over.

"Thank you," the teacher took the drive, and headed towards the door on the right side of the room, which Cormac assumed led to the other room where the teacher was watching the test from.

"Hey, Windsong?"

The teacher, whose full name was Malak Windsong, paused and looked over his shoulder.

"I didn't miss anything did I?"

Malak grinned, and started walking again, calling over his shoulder, "Not that I saw, though you might want to have a nurse look at that hand."

Cormac looked down, half-surprised to see his right hand dripping with blood. He turned towards the nurse's station, which was a row of beds, cabinets, and a desk on the left side of the open room, muttering to himself "Probably should have worn gloves."

"Probably?" a coarse female voice answered Cormac's muttering. Cormac paused and looked to the side, then down as he realized the one who spoke was lying on the bed he was now standing beside. Lying on the bed, with her feet propped up on the head of the bed, and her head lying on her arms at the foot of the bed, was Zarah, looking greatly fatigued.

"Why do you look so tired? Your test was hours ago." Cormac questioned.

Zarah chuckled and sat up as the nurse approached the two of them.

"Feeling better, Miss Anzou?"

"Yes ma'am," Zarah politely responded. "Thank you."

The nurse then turned to Cormac and scolded him for not wearing gloves on a mission. Cormac sat next to Zarah on the bed as the nurse bandaged his wounds.

"I'll remember next time." Cormac said with certainty as the nurse finished and started walking the other direction. Cormac then turned to Zarah, and asked, "So, did you manage to get the documents off the computer and destroy it before you got caught?"

"And took out all five enemies in the process," Zarah beamed.

"How did you know there were five?"

"Well, assuming the warehouse was up to building code, the two side exits were emergency exits, so those didn't need guards if the alarms worked. So, one guard for the back door, and one for the target room, plus there were likely to be only two or three men in the front waiting for the buyer, since there were trying to be inconspicuous."

"Okay, okay. Makes sense. So how did you take them all out?"

"I lured the first two guards to the back and locked them in the storage closet after I got the keys off the one. Then I got what I needed and destroyed the computer, but I made enough noise to catch the attention of the other three, so I phased into the shadows and waited for them to come before I rendered them unconscious, and locked them in the target room."

"Oh, I see." Cormac grinned. "So, how did you get inside the building in the first place?"

"There was a drain that vented outside which led into the storage room."

"Oh, I completely missed that on the map."

"Ah, I had to shadow phase to get through it though."

"Okay then, would have done me no good."

"How did you get in?"

Cormac grinned. "I jumped to the window above the emergency exit by the storage room."

Zarah raised her eyebrows. "Impressive."

Cormac chuckled. "Thank you." As Cormac and Zarah were about to venture off onto other discussion topics, an audible "boom" followed by slight vibrations through the walls and floor caused everyone to fall silent. A moment later, the doors to the room burst open, and a speeding fireball skidded across the floor.

As the fireball came to a stop and dissipated, Shea stood up from the center of it. A look of awe-struck glee formed on her face, and a squeal escaped her lips as the other students began to applaud. She bounced in circles a few times, and then ran over to the only two students in the room whom she knew, though was momentarily stopped as Windsong asked her to hand over the drive.

"I didn't think I was going to make it out of that." Shea sighed as she sat on the bed next to the one Cormac and Zarah were sitting on.

"Close call? How did you manage to escape?" Zara wondered.

"Heated the computer up hot enough to blow up the outer wall after I got cornered. Apparently, I didn't hit the guards hard enough the first time to knock them out for too long."

Cormac raised an eyebrow, and asked how she got into the building, and for a while the conversation became about Shea's explosive performance, until her brother came barreling into the room.

"Sol!" Shea squealed with glee as she ran to hug her brother, and then brought him over to join the conversation. The four teens talked animatedly as they waited for all the tests to be completed. After Sol joined the group, though, there did not have to wait long.

"Attention students!" Malak Windsong's voice rang through the room. "Congratulations on completing Phase One of your training."

A thunderous applause rang in response, and Malak waited for the noise to die down before speaking again.

"Now on to phase two."

6: Honoring Family

A group of teachers gathered in the spacious room where the students who had passed the test were sent to wait. The excitement was tangible as the students listened intently to every word Malak spoke next.

"Your tests have been graded and ranked by how well you achieved your task today. Now, the top twenty-five students will join two teachers to assist in forming your troops of four fighters for the tasks of phase two."

"Twenty-five troops of four?" Shea whispered, her eyes growing wide as she realized just how many students had been sent to that room.

"A hundred of us passed," Zarah replied. "There were a-hundred-and-fifty in our class, plus you two."

"Which means fifty-two students failed," Cormac concluded with a shrug. "Decent ratio."

"Yeah."

"If a teacher calls your name," Malak continued, "come stand next to them. Once all twenty-five names have been called, those students will follow their troop leader to the conference room where they will assist in choosing the other three members of their team, and the rest are free to go home until the graduation ceremony later tonight."

Anxious whispers began to fill the room as Malak paused for a moment.

"And so," Malak began again. "Joining me any my wife Nina Windsong on team 15-1: Windsong," Malak trailed off and grinned as his eyes locked with Zarah's, before calling out, "Zarah Anzou."

"Oh?" Zarah mused, looking somewhat shocked as she rose from her seat on the nurse's station bed and walked over to stand beside Malak.

"How did you manage that?" she whispered as another teacher called the next student forward.

"I worked with your mother, remember?" Malak winked. "I know how to work with a Shadow User."

"Valid point." Zarah reached an arm behind Malak and gave him a gentle hug, and Malak returned the gesture.

Once the top twenty-five students had been called, they followed their new troop leaders out of the room, leaving the other seventy-five students up to their own devices. Shea excitedly leaped up from the bed, grabbed Sol's hand, and started pulling him as she squealed.

"We have to tell mom!" she urged.

Sol laughed, but complied, waving behind him at Cormac before allowing himself to be pulled out of the room. Shea and Sol's footsteps fell into sync as the two made their way out of the building, through to courtyard, to a path on the left which led through a small forest, past a river, to a mill where a woman, whose own fire-red hair blew wildly in the wind as she waited for them.

...

Cormac jogged down a short, slanting road to a modest white-painted house where the air was filled with the scent of charcoal and steak. On the small open porch, waited a proud family, who applauded as Cormac came within line of sight. Cormac's father stood beside his grandfather at the grill, and waved his tongs in the air as he was the first to catch his son's approach. Cormac's mother, and grandmother stood from their seats and applauded with wide smiles on each of their faces.

"Cormac!" Tempist, Cormac's younger sister who was the same age as the Rory twins, squealed as she ran towards her brother and pounced on him.

Cormac caught his sister with ease, picked her up, and spun in a circle before letting her down on her feet again.

"Did you know the school would deliver your graduation clothes before they released the graduates?"

Cormac shook his head. "They don't waste time, do they?"

"Nope!" Tempist laughed and stepped away from Cormac.

"Hey," Cormac reached for the gold medal hanging from his sister's neck by a thick purple ribbon. "They gave you one of these too?"

"Yeah, they said every family member of a graduate gets an honor medal to wear at the ceremony. I thought they'd just give one to mom and dad."

"Same."

...

After teams were picked, the top twenty-five students were given a set of traditional, black warrior garments, which every student would wear at the ceremony, and a purple cloak unique only to the student's who ranked in the top tier. After changing, Zarah stood out in the hall near the conference room, looking into a glass case which displayed a collection of plaques and pictures of honored students.

A small smile formed across Zarah's face as her gaze landed on her own picture which had been placed next to an older sepia-toned picture of a student with black hair and miss-matched colored eyes. Each picture frame had a golden name plaque sitting in front of it. The one in front of Zarah's read, "Zarah Anzou - Phase one test score record - 200 points - Achieved year 2015." The other read "Aname Rider - beloved student - Legendary warrior Phantom - 1977-2000 - She would be proud."

"I didn't think they would put your picture up so quickly," a voice from behind commented.

Zarah turned around to see Malak wearing the traditional gear with a gold cape, his hair pulled back, and an honor medal around his neck. Zarah shrugged.

"Neither did I."

"Here," Malak held out a hand which was clutching two more honor medals. "I thought you would want to give these to them yourself."

Zarah's eyes flickered to the clock, then back to Malak. "Do I have time? Am I allowed to leave?"

Malak winked. "I'll cover for you. Just be back in an hour."

"Thanks!" Zarah snatched the medals from Malak and ran for the door.

...

Shea and Sol walked hand-in-hand carrying two honor medals down the hill from their house, heading straight for the familiar, open graveyard. Their mother followed close behind with a rose in her hand. As the sun began to set, they stopped at a large stone cross a short distance from the graveyard's edge where their mother laid the rose.

Sol looked at Shea, and said, "I'll hold you up, then you hold me up?"

Shea's eyes glanced to the top of the cross, which was well above her head, then back at Sol and nodded. "Deal."

Sol lifted his sister up by her waist so that she could adorn the cross with the honor medal she had brought, and then let her down. Shea did the same for Sol, and then the two stepped back, looking at the grave as the setting sun made the gold medals glow.

"Your father would be so proud of you two," the twin's mother said from behind.

Sol smiled, with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Shea took in a shaky breath and said in a cracking voice, "I miss him today more than ever."

As Sol responded by embracing his sister, he caught sight of someone hanging honor medals on a family grave with two angel statues. Sol spun Shea around to see as he commented.

"We're not the only ones."

"Purple cloak..." Shea trailed off after a moment as she noticed how the girl was dressed. "Black hair. Can't be. Whose grave is that?"

"The Phantom and her husband," their mother answered. "It's always so well-cared for. I never once had to polish it on my rounds, but I never did see who had been caring for it all these years."

"Could that be?" Shea began.

"Zarah is a Shadow User. It has to.." Sol replied.

The twins looked back to see the girl by the other grave back away and wipe the back of her hand across her cheek. Without saying any more, Shea began to approach the other girl in the graveyard, vaguely aware that Sol was left to explain the situation to their mother.

"Zarah?"

The other girl turned and looked at Shea, surprised. "Shea? What are you doing here?"

"Same as you." Shea pointed to her father's grave.

"Oh."

"I had heard Phantom's real name somewhere, but I didn't make the connection to you."

"Most people who knew my mother's real name knew her by Aname Rider. She was only married two years before she died. No one every really got used to the name change I guess."

"Hey Zarah!" Sol called as he finally ran towards the girls. "You want to join us for dinner before the ceremony?"

Zarah smiled "I would, but I have to be back at the school before everyone else gets there."

"You can grab some food and take with with you if you like."

With a sigh of resignation, Zarah smiled. "Sure. Thanks.

7: Selection

Zarah took a steak sandwich from the Rory twins' mother with a grateful smile, since truthfully, she had skipped the banquet held for the top tier graduates to visit her parents' grave. Zarah was long gone by the time the twins and their mother made the trek up to the school. Shea and Sol had changed into the traditional black clothing the school had provided for them. Their mother wore a simple white dress with a brown overcoat.

The path which led them back to the school was barely visible under the setting sun. Once they made it out of the forest, the light of the three lanterns the Rory family had brought were joined by the light of many others as graduates and families joined on the path which led to the school's courtyard. Someone caught Sol from behind, and a happy squeal made his ears ring.

"You did it!" Tempist wrapped her arms around Sol's shoulders, momentarily pulling him off balance.

"What, no hug for me?" Shea said with a teasing grin. Tempist rolled her eyes and pounced Shea as well.

"Congratulations, both of you!" Tempist applauded as she let go of Shea. "You both look amazing, by the way."

Shea smiled and twirled as she showed off her graduation uniform. "Graduation suits us, don't you think?"

Tempist nodded. Shea caught sight of another head of blonde hair coming up beside Temp, and craned her neck around to see who it was.

"Though I must say," Shea deliberately put a dramatic tone in her voice. "Cormac here looks exceptionally excellent."

Cormac snorted.

"You don't like it?"

Cormac sighed. "I don't care much, but somehow mom managed to spend the last hour just fixing my hair. How is that even possible? It's so short, it should only lay one way."

"You guys crack me up," a new voice suddenly entered the conversation. The group stopped to find Zarah standing at a podium placed where the courtyard's stone path split in two different directions.

"Speaking of people who look good in graduation," Shea commented as she eyed Zarah with an approving smile.

Zarah grinned and rolled her eyes. "You saw me wearing this earlier, why are you acting so surprised?"

"It gets cooler every time I see it." Shea winked.

Zarah chuckled, though as more people started approaching, she straightened up and said in a firm voice, "Families, please take the path to the left, you can pick up a program from the table inside, and a staff member will help you find a seat. Graduates, please take the path to the right. There is a desk where you are to check in, and be given your seat assignment. The top tier graduates inside the auditorium will help you find you seat, should you need it. Please find your seat and stay there until given further instructions."

Confusion and excitement spread through the crowd as graduates separated from their families and made their way down the path towards the auditorium, where teachers quickly worked to get every graduate their seat assignment. After checking in, graduates were herded to the same arena their test had been held in earlier that day, though with an entirely different scene in front of them.

Three clusters of twenty-five chairs each were neatly arranged in front of a large stage. The stage itself had a single podium in the front, with a line of twenty-five chairs behind it. The top-ranked students, not including Zarah, were standing close to the entrances, ready to help anyone who looked lost. There was minimal confusion as students were directed to their seats. Cormac was quickly directed in one direction, and the Rory twins in another. The twins sat silently watching their surroundings for a while before a sudden wave of anxiety swept over Shea.

"What if they split us up?" she asked, tugging on the sleeve of Sol's outfit.

"What do you mean?" Sol responded, not following his sister's train of thought.

"I mean, what if they put us in different troops? We've been a team since we were in diapers, building empires out of wooden blocks. What if they put us in separate troops, and we don't even get to train together all of Phase Two?"

"I'm sure they haven't done that. The idea is to form teams of students who work well together, and there's no better team than the two of us. Surely they haven't split us up."

Shea sighed. "Right. You're right. They wouldn't do that."

Sol smiled and ruffled Shea's hair. "Of course not." After Shea's anxiety subsided, the lights dimmed, and every pair of eyes in the room turned to the lit-up stage as the top twenty-five took their seats, and their troop leaders stood in position behind them. The principle, a slender man whose dull grey hair reached the top of his eyebrows, took the podium first, making a completely unmemorable speech, though everyone in the room remained respectfully quiet as he rambled on about always having such marvelous students. Soon after the principle left the stage, Zarah took the podium.

"My fellow students," Zarah began with a dramatic tone, which turned serious in the next breath. "I'll make this short. While we may not have agreed on much these past four years, we have all achieved the same goal. A new phase of our lives are beginning, and I sincerely hope that all of you will put your heat in what lies ahead. Let us forget the prejudice of the past, and move forward, together, with a new determination."

The crowd tentatively applauded as most realized the undertone of Zarah's short speech.

"And now to announce the names of the other three students who will be joining me on troop 15-1: Windson, led by none other than Malak and Nina Windsong." Zarah paused and her eyes scanned over the dark room. "First to join us, Cormac McKeegan."

Cormac, who was seated in a seat next to the isle, quickly joined Zarah on the stage as the crowd cheered.

"Second, Shea Rory."

Sol gave Shea's hand a squeeze before she made her way down the aisle, locking eyes with Zarah as she climbed onto the stage. Zarah smiled in response.

"And last to join team 15-1: Windsong, Sol Rory."

A silent "told you so," was directed at Shea as Sol joined the others on the stage, the crowd applauded, and then the four new team members were led of the stage by their leaders.

8: The first Task of Phase Two

As the sun began to rise the morning after the graduation ceremony, the Rory household was already bustling with excitement. On the dresser of Shea and Sol's bedroom was a paper with directions to the Windsong house, where the team would be living during the rest of their training. The previous night, everyone had been instructed to arrive at the house no later than nine-thirty that morning. Shea and Sol rose two-and-a-half hours before to do some last minute packing.

"Watch your head!" Sol called as he tossed a pair of shoes from his dresser by the window, into a box lying at the foot of the bed parallel to him.

Shea gracefully dodged the flying shoes as she crossed in front of Sol's bed and walked into the closet the twins had shared for most of their life. She emerged a moment later, balancing a stack of folded clothes as she crossed the room. Shea sighed as she placed the clothes on the second bed where her suitcases were lying open.

"This might be the last time in our lives we'll be sharing a room like this," Shea commented.

Sol shrugged as he carried a pile of shirts to the unzipped, black duffel bag near the head of his bed, and replied, "It's not like we're moving far away. We'll be right down the hall from each other."

"Well, true."

"Are you nervous?"

"Maybe. This whole 'growing up' thing is new territory for us."

Sol chuckled, "Yeah, soon they'll let us out into the world on our own without supervision."

"I don't think the world is ready for that," Shea stuck her tongue out at her brother, and Sole replied with a grin. As the twins gathered the last of their belongings in their arms, a voice called from downstairs.

"I have breakfast for you to take with you!"

"Thanks mom!" the twins called back as they came barreling down the stairs.

"Do you both have everything packed up?" their mother checked as she handed Shea and Sol toasted bagels with fried egg in the middle.

"Yup!" Sol replied before taking a bite of his breakfast. "Just have to get it all in the wagon."

"Alright," she gave each of her two children a hug before she gently nudged them towards the door. "You better be on your way then."

"Bye mom."

"Love you," Shea said over her shoulder before she walked out the door with her brother. They loaded the last of their luggage onto an old hay cart where the rest of their things were, then each took a hold of the handle in the front and began to pull their belongings to the road.

...

Cormac had loaded himself with bags; one on his back, one slung over his shoulder, and one he pulled behind him. Tempist laughed as she saw him walking towards the door, offereing to help, but Cormac insisted he did not need it. Cormac had the farthest trek to the Windsong house from his own, but the way consisted mostly of fairly even dirt roads, so even with all of the luggage, Cormac thought he would have no trouble. The hill which Cormac had to climb before entering the property, however, proved to be a challenge, as gravity caused the wheeled bag to move faster than Cormac's feet were willing to on the way down.

"Need help?" an amused voice asked from the treeline as Cormac lost his grip on the bag that was trying to roll past him.

"I forgot about your stupid hill, Zarah." Cormac defended himself with a smile as Zarah jumped out to grab the bag before it got too far down the hill on it's own.

"Yeah, that's been our challenge for the day. I had to help Shea and Sol push the hay cart they had their stuff on up the hill, then we about lost the thing going down."

Cormac chuckled, "When did they get here?"

"About ten minutes ago." Cormac and Zarah made their way down the hill, through an open field, to a picturesque, two-story, red-brick house where Shea, Sol, Malak, and Nina all stood on the porch waiting for them.

"Hello Cormac!" Shea and Sol greeted in unison.

"Hey," Cormac smiled back.

"Well, now that we're all here," Malak began as he clapped his hands together to draw everyone's attention. "It is time we give you the first task of Phase Two."

Everyone straightened up as a warm gust of summer wind blew through the field, and Nina pulled her long black hair away from her emerald-green eyes before speaking.

"This is an individual task," she said with an air of professionalism, "though you may give each other ideas, each of you is to come up with a unique result. Everyone must choose at least one weapon, or set of weapons that fit your unique fighting style. Change as much or as little as you want, but by the end of the week you must have something you are comfortable using."

"If you need any advice," Malak added, "we are always here to help. You may work on this at your own pace, though the deadline is absolute. If you need help finding anything, or want a tour of the place, Zarah knows her way around as well as Nina and I do."

"Benefit of not having to move," Zarah smiled.

"You lived here already?" Shea asked. "I thought you just beat us here."

Zarah shook her head. "Malak and Nina are my godparents. I've lived here for as long as I can remember."

"Oh," the twins nodded in unison.

Zarah just smiled and waved everyone inside. "Come on, let's get Cormac settled and I'll show everyone around, then we can take a look at what weapons we have."

9: Weapons

Zarah led her troop on a brief tour through the Windsong's open-plan house, pointing out the kitchen and the bathroom from the main living room before heading upstairs to the balcony above the entrance area. The group passed by two plain wooden doors before stopping at the one in the middle of the line of doors along that balcony.

"The two doors we passed are Shea and Sol's rooms," Zarah informed Cormac before addressing the whole group. "This one in the middle will be Cormac's, the one next to his is mine, the one on the other side of mine is Malak and Nina's, and the door at the end of the hall is the master bathroom."

"Well, they've made it hard to get lost in this place," Sol commented. "You can find almost every room from the front door entrance."

"I think Malak had to take down a wall or two to make that possible."

"Three!" Malak, who was lounging downstairs in the living room, corrected. "It makes it so I can hear everything going on inside from any point in the house."

"In other words, don't try anything funny." Zarah winked, and the rest grinned back.

"That includes you, Miss 'I'm-gonna-play-catch-with-a-shadow'."

"Hey, that was one time!"

Malak laughed.

"You can make a shadow catch a ball?" Shea asked, intrigued.

"Er, no." Zarah's cheeks turned pink as her eyes avoided the others gazes. "That failed, spectacularly."

"Break a window?"

"Yup." The group chatted as they all helped organize Cormac's things, then Zarah led them down the stairs, out the back door, through the yard scattered with a variety of targets, and to an old unpainted barn. Shea and Zarah stood back as the boys pulled open the double doors, revealing rows of weapon racks on the left side of the barn, and a collection of tools and machinery for modifying and upkeep of the weapons on the right side. After a long stretch of silence, Zarah spoke;

"So, what ideas do you guys have so far?" she mused as she in the center and watched the others.

"I just need a blade," Sol commented. "I might adjust the grip to be more comfortable, so I'm not readjusting as much as I do with standardized ones. That should count as customizing, right?"

"Sure. What about you, Shea?"

"Well," Shea sighed as she thought hard about her options. "I want something I can ignite that's not going to burn too fast, and doesn't require me to get too close to the target."

"Now there's a challenge."

"Chemical coating on arrows?" Cormac tentatively suggested.

"Hmm," Shea shook her head. "That could wash off."

"You tied cloth to arrows to do that on the test, didn't you?" Sol inquired.

"Yeah, but that made them really unbalanced. I wouldn't have run out of time like I did if I had something more accurate."

"Now, this could take some experimentation," Zarah began thinking aloud, "but what if you made your own arrows from scratch with something added that you can ignite, and then balanced to shoot straight with the extra weight?" 

Shea paused, looked to Zarah with a raised eyebrow. "That would be difficult."

"Maybe it doesn't have to be an arrow," Cormac suggested next. "Just some kind of projectile, like a knife."

"I'd have to play around with it, though I am best with a bow."

"Ever try a crossbow? That might be easier to make custom ammo for."

"Hmm, probably. I'll go with that, thanks."

"Good luck, Shea," Zarah grinned, then turned to Cormac. "What are you thinking, Cormac?"

"Not much," Cormac chuckled. "I want a collection of different sizes and shapes of throwing weapons. I'll have to make a custom belt for it, but I am aiming to be versatile."

"That's a good idea. Just don't weigh yourself down too much."

"Yeah. So what about you, Zarah?"

"I have no idea. I don't want something bulky, that makes it harder to phase. I fight using shadows, mainly my own, so I have to be close."

"A whip?" Sol suggested. "That's what you used on the test."

Zarah nodded. "I didn't like the feel of it though, you need a wide swing to make it work."

"Could you bend a shadow around it to make it less flexible?" Shea asked.

"It wouldn't take much shadow do spiral around the whip to make it more solid, but that would eliminate the sting."

"You could fuse a blade onto it," Sol suggested.

Zarah raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Take a thin blade and cut it into sections, then take a whip with metal coiled inside and weld the pieces of blade to it with spaces big enough to weave a shadow around in between each section. If you got the right kind of blade, it wouldn't be much more dense than a normal whip, but you would be able to have complete control over the direction of the swing at any given moment, so long as you have enough shadow to work with, and even if you don't, you still have a pretty fierce whip."

Zarah tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows as her intrigue grew. "Scary," she smiled. "I like it."

10: Obstacle

The first week passed in a flurry of frustration for some of the members of team 15-1, mainly the two girls. Shea adapted to the use of a crossbow easily; however, her attempts at making an arrow that could hold a flame, without the requirement of chemicals, in flight proved unsuccessful. Zarah found that there was no whip made with enough metal to withstand the heat of a blowtorch without igniting the whip itself.

The boys completed their weapons with three days to spare. On the morning of the third day, they started a game of catch in the yard as the girls were inside the barn working on their weapons, which eventually turned into a competition of who could throw the hardest.

As Sol dramatically wound up, it was clear that he intended to put as much force as possible into his swing. Cormac tensed as he saw the focus in Sol's eyes. The ball left Sol's hand with great speed, and Cormac, knowing how much force his bare hand could handle without breaking, jumped out of the way, letting the ball noisily slam into the outer wall of the barn.

"Okay," Cormac threw his hands in the air, "maybe we shouldn't try to kill each other."

Sol laughed. "Maybe."

"What are you guys doing out here?" Zarah interrogated as she stepped out the door, with Shea by her side.

"Causing trouble," Sol answered with a wink. "How are the weapons coming along?"

"Still no luck."

"I just had an idea!" Shea announced as she picked up the ball the boys had been playing with. "What if, instead of modifying the arrows, I make something that can run along the arrow track and hold something more the shape of a baseball?"

"That would be something," Cormac commented with intrigue. "Like a cannon without the gunpowder. You would have to move some pieces around, but you can probably do that, and still retain the ability to shoot normal arrows."

"Cormac, you're a genius! Help me, please! You know more about crossbows than I do!" She begged as she took a hold of Cormac's wrist and attempted to drag him into the barn.

Cormac sighed, with a hint of a smile. "Alright," he said as he followed Shea into the barn. Shea tossed the ball back to Sol before turning the corner into the workshop area. Sol tossed the ball to Zarah.

"Welding a blade directly to a whip is just not possible." Zarah grumbled as she caught the ball, and tossed it back to Sol. "I need a different angle."

"Hmm," Sol caught the ball and tossed it between his own two hands and he thought. "What if you stuck the blade through the sides of the whip?"

"How would I manage that? It would slip out."

"Well," Sol paused to think. "How about this, find a fairly thick whip, and a thinner, more flexible blade. We'll cut the blade into sections, then put slits in the side of the whip to insert the pieces. Then, we melt down a chunk of metal, and use that as glue between the blade and the whip."

Zarah thought for a moment, then nodded. "That just might work.

...

The next day, all four students tested their new weapons on a collection of targets on the open lawn. Sol's new ides for the fusion of blade and whip was a success. Zarah stood in the center of a ring of hay-filled mannequins, her shadow crawling up her leg, weaving around her arm, and then through the gaps in the blade fragments, allowing Zarah to play with how flexible her weapon was. The shadow responded, tightening and loosening, with just a flick of Zarah's wrist. Depending on how tight or loose the shadow was pulled, Zarah's weapon could create precise slashes, or catch the fabric of the mannequin and tear it off in chunks.

Shea and Cormac were able to create a firing platform for Shea's flammable cannonballs by raising the height of the sight platform. Shea was testing different sized cannonballs on a red and white target, to see which one flew the most accurately while causing the most damage. By the time she was finished, the target needed replacing.

Sol stood in the center of another ring of hay-filled mannequins, testing his footwork with his new sword, while Cormac shot knives he had organized on a custom belt at another bulls-eye target. Malak and Nina came out of the house around noon, with trays of food they set on a picnic table on the back porch, and called everyone over.

"Lunch is ready!" Nina's voice rang through the open yard, and everyone came running.

"It looks like you all have come up with a weapon you can work with," Malak said with an approving grin as everyone informally took food from the table.

Everyone nodded with their mouths full.

"So, would you all like to see your next task once we are done here?"

The students responded with enthusiasm, and once lunch was quickly devoured, Malak led the group around the barn, to the obstacle course set up behind it.

"You will all run down this obstacle course together," Malak instructed. "First, you will climb the rock wall to the platform at the top, then you will jump the gap from that platform to the other, slide down the zip line, crawl under the net, up the balance beam, cross the monkey bars over the pool, into the tower, up the spiral staircase inside, and finally, ring the bell."

"Looks like a fairly normal obstacle course to me," Shea commented as her eyes scanned over the wooden and rope obstacles. "What's the catch?"

Malak chuckled. "The catch is that you are all required to move as a team. No one is allowed to get more than one obstacle ahead of the others, and you must all reach the end in less than five minutes."

"That still sounds fairly easy, right guys?"

The other three nodded in response to Shea.

"Go for it, then." Malak waved his arms towards the start of the course. Everyone gathered at the starting line, pausing for a moment before Zarah spoke.

"Each of us could easily get through this in five minutes," she said.

"Yeah," Shea agreed. "If we all go the pace we normally do, we'll be fine right?"

"Probably," Cormac shrugged.

"Let's try it," Zarah called as she turned towards the first obstacle. "On my count. Three. Two. One. Go!" Everyone rushed forward, hands flying to the holds on the walls. Zarah pulled herself up first, Cormac was close behind. As Shea and Sol managed to pull themselves to the platform, Zarah ran for the edge, and launched herself into the air. She landed agilely on the second platform, and heard the thud of others joining her, as she reached for the handhold of the zip line.

The loud shriek of a whistle filled the air as Zarah's feet left the platform.

"What?" Zarah called with confusion as she rode the zip line to the ground.

"Your feet left he platform before Sol's left the first," Malak informed.

"Oh," Zarah looked back to the platform where the others were still standing. "Sorry!"

"Live and learn," Sol called back. "We just have to rethink how we're going to do this!" The team gathered back at the starting line while Malak reset the zip line.

"Okay," Sol began as Zarah rejoined the group. "The ones in the lead just have to make sure that the ones behind make it past the obstacle before they move on."

"Right," Zarah nodded.

"Ready when you are!" Malak called from the sidelines.

"Okay. Three. Two. One. Go!" Just as last time, the group dashed towards the rock wall. Zarah made it up first, and this time she paused to look behind her before jumping to the next one. She looked behind her again, and waited until Sol landed before taking a hold of the zip line.

Everyone, except for Sol in the back of the line, stepped to the side to let the person behind them land before they all ran to the net crawl in an unorganized bunch. Sol entered first, followed directly behind by Shea, momentarily leaving no room for Cromac and Zarah to enter. The twins waited for the other two to come through.

Zarah scrambled to her feet first, and took off running for the balance beam, knowing Cormac was right on her heels. The team formed a line to get up the balance beam, and Zarah waited at the start of the next obstacle, watching for all three of her teammates to make it up before she started across the monkey bars.

Malak blew the whistle again after Zarah was a third of the way across the monkey bars.

Zarah froze, and looked at Malak, bewildered.

"Time's up," Malak explained.

The group sighed.

"We were so close," Shea commented with an air of disappointment as she climbed back down.

"You guys were loosing time waiting on each other," Malak explained. "Take some time to come up with a more solid approach, and we'll run through it again on Wednesday."

11: Battle Formations

One of Shea's flammable, cloth cannon balls flew from one person to the other as the team sat in the Windsong's living room in silent thought. What had they done wrong? Zarah sat in a crouch on the seat of a tan, leather armchair, and barely looked in the direction of the ball as she caught it. Before Zarah threw the ball to the next person, a flicker of realization crossed her face. 

"What's up, Zarah?" Cormac asked, after Zarah held onto the ball longer than expected, looking up at her from the spot on the floor where he was crouched.

"I know what we were supposed to do," Zarah answered, suddenly sure of herself.

"Really?" Shea, who had been laying on her back on the sofa matching the armchair, quickly sat up.

"What then?" Sol asked as his sister's feet slid away from where he sat on the couch.

"A battle formation," Zarah answered.

"Eh?"

"Oh, we covered that more in detail fourth year, so I guess you missed out. Basically, we need a structure for approaching the obstacles in which we all work together to make sure everyone keeps the pace we need, rather than slowing down so everyone can get past the obstacles on their own. Written battle formations are made to move a group efficiently, depending on the task at hand."

"Oh," Sol nodded. "So is there one specific one we're supposed to use for this task, or do we just come up with one on our own?"

"The effectiveness of a battle formation partially depends on the group using it," Cormac interjected. "So, there's probably more than one answer, we just have to figure out which one works best for us."

Zarah nodded and got up from her chair. "One of the textbooks from fourth year has charts of different battle formations we can try out. I'll bring it out, and we can test a few of them out."

"Sounds like a plan," Shea declared as she jumped up from the sofa, dragging Sol with her. "We can meet you out at the obstacle course."

"I'll be right behind you two," Cormac called as he stood up, and the twins bounded out of the room. "I'm going to grab something to eat first."

Zarah grinned and turned towards the stairs. "Everyone be ready in ten minutes!" she called.

...............................

The sun shone brightly down on the group as everyone, once again, met at the starting line of the obstacle course. Zarah placed a red, hard-cover book in the center of the circle they formed as everyone sat on the ground.

"Ah," Zarah paused as she was flipping through the pages of her book. "'For teams of four.' The first two are a diamond and triangle.... hmmm."

Cormac shook his head. "Those put someone in the lead, which was our problem the first time. We need a formation were we're all moving at the same rate."

"What's that one?" Sol pointed at a chart in the book, which had four dots in a square, and arrows pointing back and forth from each dot.

Zarah's eyes moved to where Sol was pointing. "'Swapping Pairs,'" she began to read. "'The formation starts with one pair clearing one obstacle, and then turning to help the other pair clear the same obstacle, in a way that increases the second pair's momentum. The second pair moves along to the next obstacle, and then returns the favor of the first pair, passing along momentum. Though a pair always pauses, when done right, the group as a whole never stops moving towards the goal. This formation works well for known landscapes and'..." Zarah stopped reading, and let out an amused chuckle.

"What?" Shea bent over the book in an attempt to see, though she was looking at it upside down.

Cormac, who was sitting directly to Zarah's left, looked over her shoulder and continued reading; "'This formation works well for known landscapes and beginning team trust training exercises, on an obstacle course.'"

"The book is mocking us."

"Maybe if we didn't take this so lightly the first time, Malak would have given us more instructions."

"Probably," Zarah mused as she stood from her seat. "Oh well. 'Live and Learn,' right?" she winked at Sol.

Sol grinned as he heard Zarah using the phrase he had used to other day, and jumped to his feet, saying, "Right. So, how do we want to do this?"

Everyone looked towards Zarah, who was looking up at the obstacle course. After a moment, she felt everyone's gazes on her head, and turned to face the others.

"You're asking me?" Zarah blinked with a hint of surprise.

"You're the one with the ideas," Sol winked.

"Well," Zarah tapped her foot on the dry grass, crunching it softly under her foot. "It makes sense, with this set up, to start with the strongest pair in the lead."

"Which would be you, and Cormac," Shea interjected. "You're bigger, and could practically throw Sol and me to the next obstacle."

Zarah nodded. "Once you two are on the second platform, leave room for Cormac and me to get through. We'll take the zip line first, and then part at the bottom for you two to take the lead in the net crawl."

"If you guys let me go out ahead at that point," Cormac started. "I can make sure everyone can get off the balance beam easily. We can let Shea and sol take the monkey bars first, and I'll go last on that one, so once I hit the ground on the other side, I'll still have momentum going for the tower, and can kick the gate open for everyone to run through to the staircase."

"Sounds like a solid plan," Zarah nodded approvingly.

"Yeah! We got this now!" Shea added, excitedly.

"Want to test that theory?" a new voice from behind entered the conversation.

12: The Bet

The four students turned to see Malak and Nina standing with arms crossed, and challenging looks on their faces, behind them.

"Knowing what to do, and being able to perform the task can be two different things," Malak challenged. "The task is about getting the team to work together smoothly, which isn't always as easy as it sounds with four different people. Do you really believe you can work together flawlessly this next run?"

The twins grinned confidently, and nodded in unison.

Zarah tilted her head to the side. "Well, I was thinking we would run through the course at least once more before showing you, but I'm sure we wouldn't have a problem passing the requirements this time through."

Cormac, though standing silently behind Zarah, stood straight and confident.

"Oh really?" Nina grinned mischievously. "Want to bet?"

"What are the stakes?" Sol asked, intrigued.

"If you pass your objective on the next run," Malak began, "we'll let you make the decisions for the rest of your Phase Two training. No homework. No tasks. We'll be here for advice, but essentially hand everything over to you."

The four students looked at each other, intrigued.

"If you do not pass the objective on the next run," Nina continued, "in addition to the homework tasks, you will receive extra chores that will have to be completed as a team, by a given day, every week. And these tasks, won't exactly be easy."

"That's still not horrible," Cormac shrugged.

"A little extra exercise wouldn't hurt," Zarah agreed.

"Ah, well we'll pass it on this run anyway." Sol confidently assured.

Shea nodded with determination.

"Well then, let's do it!" Zarah motioned for everyone to take starting positions.

"Alright," Malak chimed, amused. "On my count. Three... two... one."

The group pelted for the wall. Zarah and Cormac seemed to fly up the wall, then turned to pull the twins up the last half, and throw them in the direction of the next platform. Shea and Sol's feet hit the first platform only twice before they flung themselves to the second platform, pushing their bodies to the rails just in time for Cormac and Zarah to land in the space between.

Zarah went for the zip line first, Cormac seconds behind her. They both jumped to the side as they landed. Seconds later, Sol swung himself off the end of the zip line, jumping over half the distance to the net crawl, and Shea followed suit. The twins made quick work of the net crawl, then stopped to help Zarah and Cormac through. Cormac jumped to his feet as he cleared the crawl, and made quick work of the balance beam.

He stopped, and turned, taking Zarah by the waist as soon as she was within arm's reach, and pulling her over to the thrid platform. Zarah jumped backwards, and stood at the side, letting the twins use her shoulder as well as Cormac's as support when they cleared the balance beam. Shea and Sol took two monkey bars at a time, with Zarah, and then Cormac following. The first three formed a line, and when Cormac ran past, they followed in a straight formation.

Cormac broke the latch on the gate with his momentum, and held it out of the way for everyone else to pass into the tower, and up the spiral staircase. All four hands grasped the rope and pulled in unison, causing the bell's ring to echo through the field. No one moved or said anything until Malak's voice called up to them.

"One minute and twenty-five seconds to spare!" he called.

Their cries of victory was the next sound to echo across the open field.