Caleb stared at the holograph in front of him, his head resting against his hands as he watched a projection of Earth spin around slowly, then looked to the other tablet propped up beside him. The tablets in the database were incredible.

  They had a wealth of history and information on every habitable planet that was within the reach of the Akashic Federation. Even Earth.

  It’s history and information on Earth wasn’t complete, not by a long shot, but there was so much data complied all together about the current workings of the world, languages, culture and all in such detail he doubted experts on Earth themselves had even known about stuff in this much detail.

  There was so much stuff there that he didn’t know about or recognise. Earth was so much vaster and more detailed than he’d ever imagined. And the grand scheme of things so small too. The scale of the Federation was incredible, and so was its history. It was giving Caleb a headache just thinking about it. So, he’d decided to just focus on Earth. Humming, he scrolled through some more of the listed notes under Z1-E94-C History.

  Current Analysed Artifacts

  Current Prehistory Summary

  Culture of Storytelling

  Connection to the Ikiron

  He paused frowning.

  Ikiron, he thought. I’ve heard that before. Harrison mentioned it too.

  He clicked on the last section, opening a new tab. A picture of a man and woman dressed in black armour with black face paint and shaved heads appeared beside.

  Ikiron Tribe

  The Ikiron were a small but powerful tribe that originated from planet W98-V11- E, a quasi-habitable planet. One of only two peoples to form a mana connection and join the Akashic Federation[1]*, during which they immediately received a seat on the war council for their great military capability.

  As a people they integrated quickly, welcoming the technological advances and developing their militaristic society alongside it.

  While they were extremely capable and shared an unidentifiable natural affinity for magic, they were also extremely dangerous and mentally unstable.

  Due to their militaristic society, which trained children as young - as four - to kill and had a general philosophy of Forceful Darwinism, they practiced many backwards and barbaric customs (e.g. cannibalism, regular ritual killing, and methods of exercise that bordered on self-inflicted torture) in an attempt to harden their population.

  Lasted a total of 98 years within the Federation and believed to be the reason behind the creation of the trial protocol.

  Status: Extinct**

  * Number may change. Dependent on status of Z1-E94-C.

  ** After they attempted to overthrow the Akashic Federation and take control of the system and her guides through unknown methods, the groups of the population responsible were executed. The only remnants were placed on at the time prison planet designate 4441 (currently Z1-E94-C), with all records sealed, and restrictions drawn from the chains of Akash placed upon them for a period of ten thousand years. Currently their descendants (remain closer in genome to natural inhabitants), humans of Earth, are participating in the trial protocol after Samuel Afolayan, Divine Igwe and Nigel Umaru, used unknown methods to form a mana connection. This is currently being investigated.

  Oh, he thought. I guess the Ikiron thing isn’t a good thing

  He shuddered slightly, reading over the customs section again.

  “What is it?” Sierra said looking to him.

  “I’m reading about our connection to the Ikiron”

  “The Ikiron? Our magic ancestors?”

  “Yeah. It’s insane. They were put on the Earth ten thousand years ago as some kind of punishment.”

  “Yeah, I can’t understand what you’re saying” Sierra muttered.

  “Oh. Right” he mumbled. Caleb went back to looking over his tablet, quickly clicking off the Ikiron page, before wincing and rubbing at his side. Slowly he sat up, closing the tablet as he looked to the hologram of Earth again.

  His mind wandered, to Casey and Kayla. He wondered what they doing. Wondered if Casey was still only half chastising Kayla whenever she threw a tantrum, if the Honda had been taken back by Casey’s Aunt, and if Kayla still drew the sun from the trailer window. There were so many other things, small things, human things that he’d all but forgotten.

  He liked thinking about them. The little things. It helped distract him. He’d had enough of bloodshed and death for the rest of his life.

  He sighed. He never thought he’d miss the trailer, or Kayla’s endless nagging, and the awkward air between him and Casey. But now, more than ever, he wanted to go home.

  “Oh” Harrison said suddenly. “I just realised we forgot to show you Pedro’s fight”

  Caleb looked to him uncertain.

  “Is it bloody? I don’t know if I want to see that”

  “No, it’s good. You’ll like it” Sierra said. “He’s really heroic. Saves a ton of people”

  “Alright” Caleb mumbled reluctantly. Harrison chuckled, almost giddy and quickly made his way around the table, pulling up his tablet. The others moved around too, forming in a semi-circle behind him, all eager to watch his reaction.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Is it really that good”

  “Awesome” Layla said. “Made me glad I picked my skill”

  “Yeah. You’re gonna love this” Harrison said.

  Caleb looked to the screen uncertain before a scene of chaos suddenly came to life.

  They had a slightly distant view of the ground from above. Like a shot of below from a helicopter. In it there was a town, a small medieval village, half of it covered in fire. The people were running in a horde, desperately sprinting away as the sky above them darkened with smoke.

  The sounds of the scene were muffled, somewhat distant as though they were being recorded through a wall of some kind. But it was clear the people were all screaming.

  It was chaos.

  And in the centre of the screen, teens and an adult, chosen like him, raced forward arguing with each other as they scrambled through the crowd, one girl putting out fires as she manipulated a large blob of water with her hands. But it was slowing done, the movement growing cruder. Her limit was nearing.

  Then a roar came from above and Caleb watched as a dragon swooped down towards the ground. Instantly the group turned to it, a huge forcefield appearing over a section of the city. But the dragon’s fire burned over it and washed into the unshielded parts torching them.

  Caleb flinched, and the dragons swooped out of view gone just as soon as it’d appeared.

  The barrier disappeared with it, and one of the group of four fell to the ground, almost lifeless. Caleb recognising the clear sign of over exertion. There wouldn’t be another barrier.

  The remaining three. The adult raised his hands and a stark yellow blast of electricity shot into the air. The dragon roared, but the man cursed as the others continued to look up. The group began arguing again, the water girl putting tissues to the barrier girl’s now bloody nose. Suddenly the man stepped forward and said something to the last member as the dragon roared again.

  “That’s Pedro” Harrison mumbled.

  “The man?”

  “No, no the kid”

  “Quiet it’s coming, it’s coming” Layla mumbled.

  “Shh” Sierra whispered, “let him watch it.”

  Caleb looked to the ground again as the man grabbed a hold of Pedro, trying to do something. And then, Pedro pulled away and took off into the air, large axe in hand. The dragon descended again, but this time as it opened its mouth Pedro launched his axe, a boom carrying it forward. It struck the dragon in the eye and its fire cut out early, Pedro narrowly avoiding the blast that didn’t reach the village below.

  The dragon took off upwards again, but this time Pedro followed it, both disappearing off camera.

  Suddenly the feed cut, to a different, higher camera. And Caleb watched as the boy flew around, slamming and slicing at the dragon with only his bare fists and telekinetic power.

  He wasn’t just running away, praying he didn’t die, he was fighting it. And he was winning.

  Suddenly the dragon descended out of the sky, appearing to run away before cutting back towards the village, as it released another burst of fire. Caleb watched as Pedro dived towards the ground, cutting through fire as the wind grew harsh, directing it into the farms beyond the village.

  Then, despite the burns on his body he grabbed the dragon by a tooth and threw him back to the sky. As the dragon screeched loudly, large chunks of rock tore off the ground launching themselves back into the air before Pedro shot up himself.

  “How can he even…” Caleb mumbled. “This is amazing. He’s… amazing”

  “He is isn’t he?” Sierra said, chuckling.

  Caleb watched as the dragon roared again, dodging the rocks as they flew towards it. But then a blast of lightning struck it’s wing. It faltered for a moment, but it was far too late. Pedro shot at it hard, flying straight through it’s head before it had a chance to react.

  Then the beast fell, it’s corpse spiralling to the village below.

  The camera cut again, to the first view.

  Pedro shot down and caught the dragon, hovering over the people his bloody yet determined face clear for a moment, before he was gone flying off, setting the monster down in the safety of the valley. Then he landed down, and the feed cut again, this time much closer, almost next to Pedro as he stood, bleeding heavily from the nose and ears.

  He stumbled back, and then suddenly released a triumphant shout.

  And then the feed cut out.

  “Damn” Caleb muttered.

  “Fucking amazing, isn’t it?” Sierra said, grinning.

  “Yeah it’s….”

  “Cinematic?” Layla added. Caleb nodded.

  “It’s basically the finale to a fantasy action movie” Harrison chuckled.

  “I- what’re they doing now?”

  “They just stayed in the village apparently. Helped them rebuild. Pedro’s healed up mostly from his burns, and the others are okay too.”

  “I- wow” Caleb mumbled leaning back in his seat. “He really fought a dragon. And won”

  “Yeah” Harrison said. “It wasn’t a named monster or anything like that, but dragons are pretty powerful”

  “And they’re only on this world?”

  “No, they’re everywhere”

  “Wait how does that make sense? Is it still a monster from one of the other worlds?”

  “No. And it’s… Ria? I can’t remember”

  [It because of a Hilaric assault ages ago. They left a bunch of them here then staged a kind of attack. They killed a lot of them, though some went into hiding. Though most of the descendants have lost their Hilaric power]

  “I… still. He was just flying around and throwing huge rocks. What level is he?”

  [Last we checked level seven]

  “Seven” Caleb muttered. “I’m only level four”

  “Yeah. Only” Harrison muttered.

  “Sorry I just… why in the world do people think I can beat this guy?”

  “Synchronicity” everyone said in unison. Caleb blinked confused as he looked to all of them.

  “It’s a weird thing” Sierra said. “To do with your physical body and magic body”

  “Like the connection and stuff”

  “I- yeah. I think so” she said with a frown.

  [It’s a calculation Based on the natural transfer of fundament energy between the magical self and the physical one, divided by the “strain” of your skill] Ria said. [The higher synchronicity the easier it is to use your skill. Your synchronicity rating’s off the charts. Pedro’s is around average for trial members. Your trait’s really good to.]

  “Oh. So like efficiency basically”

  [Yeah]

  “What the hell was that?” Harrison said, looking between the two of them.

  [What?] Ria said with a frown. [Oh, I was explaining]

  “Now I want reading privileges” Harrison said.

  “We can just ask when Esaeni gets here” Sierra said. “It’s what I was going to do”

  “I didn’t want to be rude though”

  “How would it be rude?” Layla said.

  “I don’t know it’d just be weird. Plus I wasn’t even sure and-”

  “You should do it” Caleb said. “S-sorry. There’s just a lot in there. Cool stuff about here and stuff about Earth. I don’t know if we’ll really have access to this when the trials over”

  Caleb said, looking around.

  “If you like learning about stuff, you should probably ask”

  “Alright” Harrison said with a nod.

  [Seriously?] Ria frowned. [I’ve been telling you for weeks and only now you agree]

  “Well… it’s Caleb”

  [I-]

  Suddenly Ria paused, frowning.

  “Uh… Ria?” Layla mumbled.

  [Holy shit] both Rias suddenly said.

  “What? What happened?” Harrison said looking between the two of them.

  [She… she. did it. Eliza I mean. She actually did it] Ria muttered. Sierra was at her side in an instant, Layla and Harrison not far behind. Caleb looked to them, studying the looks of surprise in their expressions.

  “Oh my god” Layla said, as she stepped away, tapping at her own screen. “Is this real? No way right?”

  “Holy shit. This is crazy!” Harrison said, his excitement clear. Caleb quickly made his way over to them, peering between Sierra and Ria to Harrison’s screen. He could only make out the top of a Latino girl’s head.

  “Who is that?” he asked, the unease of not knowing colouring his tone. “What’s going on?”

  “Sorry” Sierra said, moving out of the way. Caleb stepped forward again, getting a clearer look at the screen.

  He watched as a girl, dressed in strange armour stood over a sea of people, holding a glowing sword as she gave a speech.

  “She’s Eliza” Sierra said. “She finished her first phase early. Earlier than us. Then she decided to go around and help everyone complete there’s”

  “What about the rule? Not interfering and stuff”

  “The system sent someone to tell her and her friends to stop, and she did for like two days before continuing” Harrison said. “The system sent someone else but she just ignored them and so they left”

  “And… what’s happening now?”

  “The system changed it’s mind like two weeks ago” Layla said. “She’s already helped more than sixty percent of trial participants on her planet, so the system just gave them all the same mission, but made it really hard”

  “What was it?”

  “They had to win a war. It was against this really strong enemy” Sierra said. “Everyone thought they’d fail. But she stepped up to the plate and… yeah. They just won”

  Caleb looked to the girl again as she raised her sword and everyone in the crowd began cheering.

  “So what now? Everything’s basically over, right?” Layla said. “I mean it says here more than ninety eight percent of people have finished the first phase now”

  "So it ends now? It's finally over" Sierra said.

  "Maybe. Isn't it a bit early?" Harrison said.

  "Well I think we just completed it fast" Layla said. "So it's the second phase now? Or is there a grace period?"

  The group all looked to Ria.

  [What?] she said. [How would I know?]

  “Uh… isn’t it in the books or something?”

  [No. And nothing on the tutorial or the first phase is easy to find in here. Only that the whole trial thing began like ten thousand years ago]

  “So we don’t know what happens in the second phase?” Caleb asked. “Has nobody told you?”

  “It’s one of the things they can’t” Sierra said.

  “So… is there more afterwards? The system said this whole thing could last three months. Is there a third phase? A fourth? Maybe even a fifth?”

  The group were silent once again.

  [I should probably double check]