It was the crack of dawn when Aurin awoke on the sofa in Evan and Elodie’s spare room. He glanced over to the bed where Luna was sleeping soundly and smiled to himself. He didn’t want to wake her and he climbed to his feet and got dressed as quietly as he could. He took out his tamer glove and slotted five summoning stones into it.

  He thought long and hard about who he would be training with today. It would be this same team that he would use this afternoon while exploring the rift. After the morning’s training session, they could take a couple hours rest and enjoy a lunch before he threw them in at the deep end in this bizarre magical anomaly.

  As Aurin stepped outside, he breathed in the crisp air and felt the faint chill in the air. Once the sun had risen properly, he had no doubt it would be a beautiful day. He raised his hand and summoned his five team members for the day, all of whom appeared in a flash of many colours.

  He summoned Shamtile, who was always his most reliable performer. He summoned Steambot, who could drown an entire tunnel of his enemies with no effort whatsoever. He summoned Chopchop, who was always a strong melee fighter with great offensive and defensive techniques. He summoned Glacibot, who would be able to block the tunnels with his icy powers. And lastly, he summoned Sunny because he knew that a reliable healer in a dangerous excursion was a necessity.

  “Alright, team,” said Aurin, standing before his line-up of Minakai. “Today, we’ll be exploring a rift. Steambot, you briefly saw it for yourself yesterday, but the rest of you will be diving in with me in a few hours. Long story short, imagine we’re going into the monster tower, but all of you can battle together and we don’t need to watch where step because there are no traps to speak of. The major problem with this is that our enemies can build up quickly and cause us problems.

  “We’re going to get everyone warmed up and ready with a few laps around this ranch, alright? After that, we’ll move onto endurance exercises and drills. Once you’ve had a chance to rest and recover, we’re going full throttle into the rift and we aren’t leaving until we’ve seen all that there is to see. Everybody understand?”

  The Minakai screeched, beeped, clicked, and squealed in agreement. None of them truly knew what to expect—nor did Aurin for that matter—but they were always ready for the next challenge. The young tamer started jogging along the path of the ranch, making his way towards Maplewood town itself before veering left and following the fence that lined the fields. Shamtile, Steambot, Chopchop, and Glacibot ran along beside him, while Sunny floated around, spinning merrily and occasionally circling the entire team with a big smile on her yolk-like face.

  The morning started heating up as the sun was resting just above the mountains and the warm-up was in full force. Aurin remembered when he found exercise like this draining, but not it was a breeze. Wanting to give himself and his Minakai a challenge, the jog turned into a run, and to finish, it turned into a series of sprints up and down the path. Once the cardio was finished, he found a clear spot and ordered Shamtile to unearth a few heavy stones.

  “Carve a few handles,” Aurin told the masked lizard, who obliged.

  The tamer and each of his monsters—save for the limbless Sunny—started lifting the rocks like free weights, pushing themselves harder and harder by adding more stones with each set. The Minakai, being much stronger than the human, were forced to continue lifting well after their tamer had finished, but they didn’t grumble a single complaint. Even when they started their training drills, they practiced their techniques with gusto.

  “Cool us down,” said Aurin, falling back onto the grass.

  Steambot shot a wave of water mist into the air that Glacibot cooled with his icy powers. It was the perfect way to end the gruelling morning. The only thing they needed now was a hearty breakfast to refuel the fire.

  “Morning!” called Evan as he strolled across the yard with a couple of buckets of Minakai feed in-hand.

  “Good morning!” Aurin replied before turning to his hungry Minakai. “Those aren’t for you. We’re going into town and ordering up more food than you can hope to finish.”

  Aurin and his team dragged themselves along the path and headed into Maplewood. They aimed straight for Rhys’s Café and didn’t stop until they were all lined up outside. Aurin left his team on the street while he headed inside and put in an order with Roxanne.

  As the list of food piled up, her jaw dropped. “As much as we appreciate the business, can you finish that?”

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  “We may order seconds,” said Aurin, dropping a heap of silver on the counter. “That should cover it and you can keep the change.”

  “I…um…thank you,” said the wide-eyed waitress. “And the robots can definitely eat human food, right?”

  “Yes. They do it all the time.”

  “Do they have mouths?”

  “Trust me. I’ve seen Steambot absorb an entire loaf of bread as recently as two weeks ago.”

  Roxanne shrugged. “If you say so, Aurin. Coming right up.”

  Aurin rejoined his team and they waited patiently for the food. It wasn’t long before it arrived and the six scoffed it all down in mere minutes. Shamtile shoved bacon under his mask, Steambot soaked his food and absorbed it through his pipes, Chopchop thoroughly sliced up a half dozen omelettes and flipped them into his mouth, using his bladed arms as spatulas, Glacibot melted a mouth into his body and pushed the food inside before refreezing, while Sunny nibbled at her hash browns much more delicately than the others. After their second helping, everyone was raring to go and Aurin led them through the forest and to the lake.

  “Shamtile, if you will,” he said, and Shamtile erected a bridge from under the water. The Minakai all crossed and stood before the entrance to the rift, leaving the bridge to retreat back underneath the surface.

  The team stood around the hole and looked inside. Sunny shivered and then clung to Aurin with a distressed look upon her face. It was not like her to be anything but jovial, but he could understand why. The idea of sinking down into the abyssal underground and passing through some sort of astral barrier did not make for a merry time.

  “We’ll be alright, Sunny,” said Aurin. “Let the others do the heavy lifting and you back them up as and when needed, alright?”

  Steambot scooped up Aurin and jumped into the hole, sending a powerful water jet from his feet to slow his descent. Aurin didn’t even feel himself passing through the barrier and, before long, he and Steambot were standing on the cavern floor. The young man raised his glove and summoned the others from up above.

  “Ready, team?” he asked, and the Minakai all grunted, beeped, and squealed in agreement. “Good. Let’s get moving.”

  Chopchop led the way with Sunny sticking close to him. She emitted a warm glow from within her body that lit the cavern. The group made their way into the first tunnel, keeping close enough together that they would not lose one another, but giving enough space that they wouldn’t injure each other when attacking the inevitable foes that would rear their ugly heads.

  There was only silence as they moved along, eventually emerging into the next cavern. Aurin didn’t trust how quiet it was and knew there would be something waiting for them in the shadows. A sudden jerk of Shamtile’s head confirmed that something was approaching.

  The masked lizard spun around to face the leftmost tunnel and then hurled a stone spear into it. The spear shattered into a dozen pieces as a wild Quetzalia let loose a razor wind. Not one to be outmatched, Shamtile conjured a diamond spear in his hand and flung it down at his foe, whose wind couldn’t even cast the glistening spike aside. The Quetzalia was struck in the side of the face and then vanished in a flash of yellow light.

  “Good job, mate,” said Aurin. “But don’t get showy with those diamond spears unless you have to. Conserve as much energy as you reasonably can.”

  The ground suddenly opened and a Gorungra erupted from it, knocking Steambot off his feet. Leaping to his comrade’s defence, Chopchop raised his bladed arms high into the air and swung them down, slicing the golem’s back crystal clean off and leaving the stone beast flailing in agony.

  As the Gorungra stomped around, the entire cavern shook from ground to ceiling and rocks started to fall to the ground. Shamtile hunkered down and focused, using his elemental affinity to fight against the Gorungra’s disruption. The rumbling slowed and Glacibot finished off the Gorungra with a mighty punch to the forehead.

  Before more enemies arrived, Aurin guided his team into the tunnel the Quetzalia emerged from and let Steambot take the lead. Should anything appear, the water robot would blast it straight back down the tunnel with glee.

  “Keep your tremorsense on high alert, Sham,” Aurin told the reptile, who grunted to say that he was already doing just that.

  A whoosh of fire streamed from ahead, lighting the tunnel even brighter than Sunny’s glow could manage. It suddenly turned to steam from the tidal wave cast out by Steambot. The hulking construct then charged down the corridor, seeking out the foe who would dare attack him.

  There came the clanking of metal on metal and the whirring beeps of two robotic Minakai clashing. Aurin and the others rushed after Steambot and found him locked in a clench with a Flambot. As the others were about to jump in to help, Steambot dug deep and unleashed a pressure cannon, blasting the Flambot away and slamming him into the wall. A shoulder barge later and the fiery Minakai’s screen was cracked, leaving him defeated.

  Steambot turned to Aurin and gave a thumbs up before continuing on into the tunnel. This tunnel was longer than the others had been and eventually forked in two. Opting for the left path, Steambot kept his hands raised should the need for another water jet or a pressure cannon arise. He would be more effective using his back pipes for the technique, but his hands would suffice for now; the tight tunnel did not make it easy for him to manoeuvre.

  There came a soft whooshing and Steambot stopped moving. He slowly turned towards Aurin and his single blue eye focused on his tamer.

  “Steambot?” asked Aurin as the Minakai held his hands out.

  Aurin was hit by a forceful jet of water and thrown into the others, who fell like bowling pins. Steambot let out a disgruntled groan and leaned forward, readying a full-power pressure cannon. His pipes began rumbling and he shook vigorously as his power built up. In seconds, he would wipe out his master and friends

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