After the team said their goodnights to each other, Lindy hung around with Nate outside her dorm room. They both leaned their backs against the wall before Lindy lurched forward and turned to face Nate.

  “So, goodnight?” she said with a questioning inflection in her voice.

  “Goodnight.” Nate said through a smile. His head was elsewhere though, and Lindy immediately sensed it.

  “Hey, what is it?”

  “Nothing, I’m just going to look over stuff about the teams tomorrow. My mind is already there in the arena, you know?” Nate replied.

  It was a lie though. His mind was being pulled, stretched even. He was feeling the strong sensation that Kalazan had mentioned and in the same detail he described it with. It was enticing, almost like a siren’s song.

  “Yeah. But get some rest, will you? We can’t do it without you.” Lindy said, bringing him back to reality, placing her warm hand on his cheek.

  He put his hand over hers to hold it there for as long as he could. He turned and kissed her palm before letting her have her hand back.

  After Lindy closed her door, Nate walked back to his dorm and let the door shut behind him while he stood there staring out his window in the middle of the back wall. He undressed to his nightwear and laid down in his bed to go to sleep, but when he closed his eyes to do so, he let his thoughts chase what was calling him instead of sleep.

  Nate soon found himself swirling round and round into a dark hole, his body stretching out before him like it was elastic. His eyes opened and he could see the ceiling of his dorm move further away from him as his consciousness felt like it was literally falling and stretching into a black abyss that was in the back of his head. Before he knew it he had landed… somewhere.

  He looked around and could tell that the space was endless with no walls in sight. There was a glowing thin line that he assumed was the horizon of wherever he was. Looking directly forward from where he landed, he saw that the horizon curved upward and then back down again, making a semicircle hump along the otherwise flat line.

  A bright light began to arise from the horizon—a sun, but not the bright white-yellow sun he knew from Earth. This one was a dark orange, and it was rising faster and faster until it settled just above the semicircle.

  The sun was bright, but Nate could look directly at the sun without having to shield his eyes. He looked at his hands and saw that his skin was a different hue of tanned white than he was used to.

  Two dots appeared from the middle of the semicircle, glowing with the same white light as the horizon.

  A loud booming voice echoed from the direction of the dark semicircle.. It wasn’t angry or fierce; it was calm but distinct and direct. “Will you stop them, Nathan?”

  “Who?” Nate replied.

  “The creatures of the void.” The voice grumbled like boulders being ground into each other.

  A gigantic hand emerged from the shade of the semicircle, and before Nate knew it, he was falling into perfect darkness, the space was devoid of all sound. There wasn’t even the rush of wind washing over his ears as he fell.

  Nate had no idea what to do; he could see nothing, nothing he could warp to or grab onto to stop his fall. So he closed his eyes and embraced the fall. As soon as he accepted that this could be the end, and that he would fall through endlessness by himself, he stopped.

  His skin grew warm and he could see light shining through his eyelids. He looked around and saw the lake he grew up going to with his family, everything looked so big though, taller, like he was shorter somehow.

  “C’mon Nate, c’mon!” Yoli yelled to him, laughing and running past him with an inner tube headed for the water. She was short too. Actually, she was a child, probably ten or so.

  “You guys get in and I’ll pull the boat around.” Nate’s Dad called. He walked away towards a dock a little down the shoreline.

  He remembered this moment. This was the first time his family rented a boat at the lake to see if they would like being pulled behind in a tube or even wake riding. Such a simple memory, but it stuck with Nate for a long time.

  He didn’t go. He didn’t go after his sister; he stayed on the shoreline with his Mom. He was scared he would fall in even though they had life jackets. Nate was a great swimmer, and he had a life jacket; the probability of him drowning would be so low.

  “You going, sweetie? The boat isn’t that far, your Dad will be around really quick. You better get in there.”

  Nate looked at his Mom, who was twenty some odd years younger than the last time he saw her almost a year ago. He looked back at the water and saw Yoli preparing to hop on the tube; she had laid down touching both the water and the shore.

  Why was Nate here? What did this mean? He looked around some more and could hear birds chirping, wind rustling the trees, boats revving in the distance. Nate had gone tubing later in life; why was he here reliving this one though? He stood there, thinking of why, when it came to him. He regretted not getting in the water at this first opportunity.

  Replaying the memory in his mind, his Dad would be there any second and give Nate one more chance before taking off to go tubing with just Yoli. He regretted not going because she had so much fun while he watched from the shore, alone, playing in the rough and rocky sand.

  Nate, knowing now how much fun tubing was because of his later years, walked forward, grabbed his tube, and waded into the water. He placed his tube down and attempted to jump on it, but instead of landing in the hole, he slipped off the side and plunged in the water.

  When Nate resurfaced, he was at school, his high school to be exact. He looked around for the lake that had been there a second ago but found a hallway filled with lockers and students walking to and from class. His hand felt heavy, and when he looked down, he found his bag of football gear hanging from it. He felt his clothes and shoes but found nothing was wet. He touched his hair to slick it back but it was perfectly dry as well, except for the overly sticky concrete like gel he used to style his hair with.

  He took a few steps and looked into some classrooms, hoping to find familiar teachers. He recognized a few from passing them in the halls, but none were ones he had classes with. Memories started coming back now, this was the hallway where the specialty classes were. English as a Second Language and handicapped students had their extended and assisted study halls here. This was also where his football coach’s class was, where they would watch film as a team and go over plays.

  He looked down again at the bag he was holding, and the memory flooded back. He understood why he was here. In the past, he would soon walk into his coach’s classroom during a free period and quit the team. He quit because he couldn’t drive yet and his house was several miles away, too far to walk, so he felt like a burden to his family having them pick him up from practice. He was also not nearly as athletic as some of the other guys and as a result got little playtime even on the junior varsity team. He didn’t really have friends on the team he could ask for a ride either.

  Nate wasn’t popular in high school. He had a small group of close friends but couldn’t seem to fit in beyond that. This was one of the many times in his life when he gave up on something because it felt too hard. Too many reasons had solidified in his head as to why he couldn't do something so that's when he decided to quit the team. He had somewhat overcome that now in adulthood, and especially over the past year as he trained hard to get where he was.

  From his diligent practice, training, and studying, he was one of the top-seeded students in his graduating contractor class. And now he had superpowers. He had failed more than once already in the arena, and going through an accelerated year of schooling to get him ready to enter the galactic workforce would have been enough to get him to quit in the past.

  Nate understood why he was here. He had the chance to relive this memory and set his life on a different path.

  He walked to the door of his coach’s classroom and greeted him with a “Hey Coach!” before walking past, not giving his coach a chance to respond. He turned the corner to head down another hallway and walk toward his locker when the scene in front of him began to stretch outwards from him, the lights going out one by one. The hallway began contracting and closing in on itself towards him very quickly. Nate closed his eyes, wincing, expecting to get crushed, but he didn't. He slowly opened one eye to find himself back in the dark place with the orange sun and glowing horizon.

  A low grumbling growl like a dog seeing a threat from far away came from behind him. Nate turned slowly with his hands out attempting to signal that he had no weapons and meant no harm. When he had fully turned around his eyes locked on to a creature hunched overlooking straight back at him.

  The beast had the face of a lion but without a mane, or fur of any kind. It had a hard outer shell that was as grey as a storm cloud rolling through on a summer day. It had human-like arms and hands with long fingers that were clenched into fists resting on the ground holding up the front half of the body. Its big black eyes with white irises were staring directly at Nate; it began to snarl, baring its fearsome interlocking fangs, its eyes squinting as it had laid eyes on its prey.

  The creature tilted its head as it stood on its hind legs, which were very short compared to its torso and upper arms. The beast wasn’t large overall, maybe about half the size of Nate, but what was terrifying was when it started charging at him. After a few steps of running on its back legs, it reverted to a terrifying mash-up of a knuckle walk and a human doing a bear-walk exercise. It galloped faster after a short distance, finding its stride, when it suddenly leaped into the air and put its arms together in preparation to smash down on Nate.

  Nate watched in awe and horror as the creature roared at him while sailing through the air, but Nate warped away just as it was about to land.

  Nate looked around for a second, realizing he had warped some fifty feet instead of his usual ten. The monster roared and began to charge after him again before it froze in place.

  “Will you stop them, child of the Void?” the once-echoing voice called out, now at a normal volume as if standing right next to Nate.

  Nate turned to find himself right next to where the horizon formed the semicircle. Now that he was closer and his eyes had somewhat adjusted to the light and darkness, he could make out a chair, no, it was bigger than that, more ornate. It was a throne, made of black unpolished stone.

  Nate looked back at the monster, still frozen in mid charge with its teeth gnashed together..

  “What is it?” Nate asked the voice, looking back at the throne.

  “The creatures of the Void. The beasts from the abyss. They claim me, but I do not claim them.”

  Nate looked back at the monster, thinking about the words the voice spoke.

  “Creatures of the Void? What does that even mean? Where can I…?” Nate began to ask before a large menacing hand reached up from the throne into the sunlight. It had dark grey skin, the same color as the monster’s, but the hand was human-like, only huge. Its thumb and middle finger slowly touched and then snapped together, causing a reverberation through whatever realm Nate was standing in.

  Nate began falling again, but this time, like when he went to sleep, he fell into a swirling hole that was lit up, but as he got closer to the hole, he realized it was his dorm room. His body swirled and swirled until his consciousness assumed his normal body again and he was seeing through his own eyes.

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  Bright morning beams shone through his window as he threw his legs over the side of his bed. He rubbed his eyes and took stock of himself and his room. Everything seemed to be how he left it, and he felt refreshed like he had actually slept.

  “That was a crazy dream.” he thought to himself before quickly realizing someone was pounding on his door. It was Dee, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  Nate looked at his link, and adrenaline quickly took over. The tournament was starting in half an hour. Nate jumped out of bed, threw on his gear, and warped to the other side of the door.

  “Hey, time to go.” He said to his friends who were all facing the door. Team Arcane, minus Nate, looked at him with varying expressions of anger, confusion, and surprise.

  Nate started sprinting down the hallway like they hadn’t just been trying to wake him for the past however long, heading straight for the portals to get over to the entertainment district.

  “Is he running faster than usual today?” Lindy asked through bated breaths.

  “Yeah, he’s definitely faster. Probably just adrenaline or something.” Jax replied.

  “I don’t care, let’s just get there!” Dee yelled as the team tried to pick up the pace to reach the arena where the opening ceremonies would be held.

  After some time of running and hopping through gateway after gateway, the team arrived at the Hallowed Dome, the biggest arena in the entertainment district on the Hub, and one of the largest in the whole galaxy. The structure was immeasurably tall to the naked eye, gilded with glossy polished white marble all over, thin lines of golden mortar held the boulder-sized bricks in place.

  Nate glanced but couldn’t give time to really take in the whole thing, or the equally ornate statues that lined the walkway used by the audience to enter through the main gates.

  Nate continued running toward the side of the building where they were instructed to enter for the teams’ portion of the finals tournament. When he reached the back entrance that had a “fighters only." sign on the top, a security guard scanned his link, and a double door opened, allowing him entrance to the hall of locker rooms.

  “Hey kid, where’s your team?” the gray-hide Rhinoan asked.

  Nate stopped and looked around. “Uh… they were right with me a second ago.” He said, confused.

  Nate ran back outside to see his team running toward the door from afar. As they arrived, the security guard scanned each of their links for verification. Each of the team gave him a dirty look, including Lindy, whom Nate could tell was holding back a smile because she was choosing to be mad right then.

  “Sorry, guys, I was just going at our normal pace.” Nate said.

  Dee simply held up a hand in his face as she walked down the hall to the locker room.

  Each of the sixteen teams had their own locker room and their own virtual connection chamber. In the room were 10 dark navy-blue lockers with a yellow stripe down the right side. Nate recognized the pattern and found the locker labeled “Nathan Foster.” He opened the door and found a tracksuit stylized after the Arcane Operators’ color scheme and stripe pattern.

  “What’s all this, Jax?” Lindy asked.

  “They’re your business suits, if you will. We all pitched in, we wanted you to look the part today.” Kalazan’s voice said, unmistakable.

  Nate whipped around to see Jarris, Kalazan, Hal, Peggy, and Dalma all standing there, their outfits matching those in the lockers.

  “Uncle!” Lindy ran up and bear-hugged her uncle, the youngest brother of three siblings in the royal family, the eldest being, of course, the Queen of Mara.

  “Hey, Hix.” Jax said, walking up and shaking the other Racoonan’s hand. Hix, a close family friend and VP over contractor products at Stock Industries, was one of the few people with an actual contractor license Jax trusted to sponsor him, since he was like an uncle to Jax and had actually been a contractor at one point before going corporate.

  Kalazan, Peggy, and Dalma walked up to Dee as Nate hugged and chatted with Jarris and Hal.

  “I hope it’s okay, but I had Kalazan do some digging and find out about your sponsor situation. We happen to know Headmistress Helena, and she allowed us to switch your sponsor to Kalazan, he will take very good care of you.”

  “Yeah, you got nothing to worry about, sugar. Good ol’ K will get you set up nice once you’re allowed to start talking draft deals.”

  Dee stared in amazement. “Wait, you’re going to… like, negotiate for me?”

  “Why yes, of course.” Kalazan replied.

  Dee started tearing up. “But why? You don’t know me, we barely know each other, I don’t understand.”

  “The Arcane Operators take care of their own, that’s all you need to understand.” Kalazan said with a warm fatherly smile.

  Dee lurched forward and gave the three of them a hug.

  “Hey, you four need to get topside, you’re on stage in five minutes.”

  The friends and family of Team Arcane quickly exited the locker room, leaving the team alone to finish getting ready. Once they finished putting on their new suits, courtesy of their friends, they loaded into the virtual connection chamber for opening ceremonies.

  When Nate opened his eyes again, he was in his virtual form, no real difference from his actual body except for the fact that he knew he wasn't actually there. Now that he thought about it, whatever had happened last night was almost identical. He felt like he was there, wherever that was, just like he did now.

  He and his teammates stood on one of sixteen platforms facing the main stage, which held a single podium and no chairs, unlike their commencement ceremony.

  Nate looked around and took in the sight of one of the biggest arenas in the galaxy. Hundreds of thousands of people had turned up in person to watch his team fight. It brought him back to one of his first nights on The Hub, when he and his sister went to see a matchup between two rival teams. This arena was much bigger though, and every seat seemed to be filled.

  Not everyone was there for him though, he scanned the crowd, trying to find his friends and sister, but they were nowhere to be seen. Then he looked down and noticed box booths with windows just above ground level, right where he was standing.

  Right there, at midfield, there were: Yoli, her team, Peggy and Hal, Jarris, Kalazan, Dalma, Lindy’s Uncle, and four others sitting behind Jarris whom he didn’t recognize. He had given them the free seats reserved for sponsors and family, but it was clear someone had upgraded everyone.

  Nate waved to his people and pointed to the rest of the team so they would notice as well.

  Jax pointed to another booth, also at midfield but opposite to where Nate’s sister and friends were seated. Jax’s entire family had shown up, the whole Stock clan: his Mom, Dad, and all 25 of his brothers and sisters.

  The team waved, and all their supporters cheered and waved back in admiration.

  The lights dimmed and spotlights centered on the sixteen podiums, then on the main stage where Nate assumed someone was going to show up and give a speech. That’s when Mistress Helena appeared in the center of the stage, waving to the crowd with both hands before walking up to the podium.

  “Good evening, one and all, and welcome to the Academy of Contractor Certification’s Finals tournament.”

  The stadium rumbled with cheers, whistles, clapping, and stomping from the crowd. Nate figured this must be what it’s like to play in the big leagues, the NFL or the Premier League.

  “We have an incredible showing for you all today that will wrap up the teams league. These sixteen teams represent the best in the entire school, not only by their combat ability but also academically. These teams have worked tirelessly in and out of the classroom to be here today. If you’re looking for new contractors, be prepared to pay top dollar for this stock.”

  The laughter that erupted from the crowd was deafening, like standing directly next to a plane engine. It was an ok joke, but even small laughs from everyone really added up.

  “I won’t keep you any longer; I know many of you need to move to different arenas to see the team you came to support compete. With that said, it is my pleasure to present your final contestants of ACC class 201!”

  Nate looked around the arena as the crowd roared again, giving praise to people they had never met. Nate waved both hands high in the air, showing his gratitude for the fans’ support. His vision went black and awoke in the virtual connection chamber, but as he started to get up, a referee appeared in the room to give them instructions.

  “Team Arcane, you will be facing Team Stomp in your first match at HD Main, that’s the venue where you just were for Mistress Helena’s welcome speech. Your match will begin in 10 minutes; in the meantime feel free to walk about the locker room but plan to be back here in the next nine minutes.”

  One by one, the team filed out of the connection chamber and into the locker room. Jax approached the very large link screen on the wall and tapped his own link against it. The large TV came to life as a beautiful video presentation started playing.

  “Whoa, upgrade, huh Jax?” Nate admired as he looked at the presentation loading on the big screen.

  “Well, it only felt right after all that work Lindy did for the exams. Not to mention, this is the finals tournament after all. When I came to contractor school I didn’t expect to make it here, the finals I mean. I’m glad I'm here with you guys though." Jax replied.

  “Now look, guys, we only have eight minutes to go over this. I have a similar rundown of all the other teams, so get over your oohs and ahs now and let’s jump in.”

  Nate, Lindy, and Dee all locked into focus as Jax commanded. This was Jax’s show now, and he was going to help them win. Jax’s presentation took almost the entire time, but the team came away feeling confident they wouldn’t lose this time around. They had come a long way since their first ever match which was also against Team Stomp, unfortunately that was also their first loss as well.

  The team, minus Jax, all loaded into the connection chamber once the presentation was done and, seconds later, appeared on the main field. This time the platforms were gone, and there were fewer people in the crowd, but not by much.

  Team Stomp appeared across the metallic field, looking as menacing as the first time they fought them. Nate glanced over to the booth where his sister and Jarris were. Yoli was waving to him and cheering, cupping her hands around her mouth. He had no clue what she was saying, but he figured she was making a joke about being a doctor.

  Jarris was up against the glass, looking out at the opposing team and then down at a link he had expanded to tablet size. On either side of him were two Cattans with fur coloring similar to his own. One of them was female and shorter than the other two. Nate wondered if they were family or what their situation was.

  The same student announcer who had done his role relatively well all season popped up in center field, giving a brief introduction to both teams. Nate tuned him out, closing his eyes and focusing on the fight, his role in it, and most of all, kicking some Tauren ass.

  The countdown from three began, and Team Arcane all looked at each other, determination burning in their eyes. The starting horn blared and Dee got to work making two piles of rocks behind Lindy’s barrier. She did this so she wouldn’t have to keep summoning rocks and then throwing them. Once she had two massive piles, one the size of baseballs, the other the size of basketballs, she got into a ready position, waiting for Team Stomp to get closer.

  Nate stepped between his team and Team Stomp. Fire burned in his heart, ready to make up for their failure in the first fight. He felt strange though, like there was an actual fire glowing in his chest. He looked at his hands as they tingled with a feeling of power consolidating in his fingertips. He pointed at the ground, channeling that energy, and noticed small waves in space-time ripple directly where he pointed. He didn’t know what had just happened, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it now; he had to focus on the task at hand.

  Team Stomp was walking toward Team Arcane at a slow pace. Nate pulled his spear from his back and started twirling it like it was a double-bladed lightsaber. He turned on his shield and got to work.

  First on Nate’s list was the guy who knocked him out in the first fight. Nate warped far beyond what he was normally capable of and appeared behind his opponent. The Tauren looked around, trying to spot Nate’s usual serpentine approach, not realizing Nate was already behind him.

  The other two Taurens yelled to their friend, who swung a flaming great axe behind without looking. Nate warped across the arena again in a single jump, shocked at how far he’d teleported, he looked over to Jarris, who was staring at him with a mean frown, as if he knew what was going on.

  That’s when it clicked, last night wasn’t a dream, he had completed his first resonance event. Nate’s abilities were stronger now, and he probably had a new one. He didn’t know what it would do so he decided not to experiment for now and worry about it later.

  Nate warped back behind the first Tauren with the axe and drop-kicked him, focusing all the energy of his shield to his feet. The Tauren disappeared in an instant, the next he was peeling off the side wall of the arena over 30 feet away, his body vanishing as soon as it hit the floor.

  Nate turned with a mean look in his eye. The middle Tauren’s eyes burned with anger as he pulled a staff from his back and clicked a button, opening the end of the staff into what looked like a cheap hand fan you’d find at a state fair.

  The Tauren waved the fan, causing a fast-moving gust of wind to rush toward Nate. Nate remained unmoved and completely unphased. The Tauren looked shocked but quickly recovered and charged.

  When he was about ten feet away, he jumped into the air with unnatural height and brought his staff down on Nate’s face, right between the eyes. However, when the staff made contact, it immediately launched back with lightning speed and cracked the Tauren in his own face, causing him to fall to the ground in pain, clutching his bloodied snout.

  With the tables turned, Nate raised his spear and transferred all of his shield to the tip and swung down with both hands. The Tauren’s head exploded on impact, his body going limp before quickly disappearing.

  Nate was now covered in gore as he looked up at the last Tauren, his next target. The last Tauren looked bewildered; his team was grossly under prepared for whatever Nate had become over the past year. Just because he was scared didn’t mean he was going to give up though. The Tauren grew his hands to the size of beach balls and ran toward Nate, not knowing what was coming next.

  What happened surprised both the Tauren and Nate alike when a baseball-sized rock slammed into the Tauren’s left temple, causing him to stumble and fall. Struggling to get up, the Tauren watched as Dee walked over and dropped a basketball-sized stone on the same spot.

  The Tauren’s body went limp and disappeared, causing the crowd to go ballistic. They had won their first match and were advancing to the quarterfinals.

  “Wow, wow, wow, folks! Everyone give it up for Team Arcane! Incredible fight, we’ll see you in the quarterfinals!”

  The cheers of the crowd were louder than anything Nate had ever witnessed. Then suddenly, the noise muffled as he awoke in the connection chamber adjacent to the locker room.