The morning sunlight cut across the top of the village and down onto the packed dirt of the training yard. Long shadows crept along behind the people filing through the wooden railings.

  The yard sat just inside the western palisade wall, a broad rectangle beaten flat by boots and repeated falls. As the students moved onto the sand they clustered around their teams. Class A clustered near the racks of weapons talking with Alex’s friends while Class B stood off to one side talking about the weekend’s tournament.

  Before long, Reach appeared, walking down the street with a slight limp. He stepped through the railing and surveyed the yard. Conversations stopped as everyone turned towards him and made for the centre of the field.

  Reach stood, waiting. His hands rested loosely behind his back, his eyes moving across the gathered students. He frowned.

  “We’re missing someone,” he said in a calm voice.

  Brandon raised a hand halfway before catching himself and then saying, “He got a notification this morning, sir. Said he had to report to the COIN offices.”

  Class B broke into whispers after that before Reach stopped them.

  “What?”

  Emily took the lead, “It’s just odd. This was his third summons this morning already and the first two were errors of some kind. He’s been running around the undercity since he got here today.”

  A ripple of amusement passed through Class A. Reach looked over at them but shook his head and moved towards the centre of the yard.

  “Then he will join us when he arrives.” He ignored the chuckles from Class A.

  Rae leaned closer to Alex. “You are a terrible person.”

  “Me?” Alex faked a look of shock that brought more laughs from his friends. He’d filled everyone in on his prank over breakfast that morning. He had hoped it would keep Connor running around for the rest of the day, but it seemed to be working too well. After two hours of wandering the undercity he was pretty sure Connor was going to realize something was wrong and seek out some tech support, at which point Alex’s little hack would self-destruct.

  Reach cleared his throat. “Okay, we have a busy weekend ahead of us so let’s get started.”

  He looked around at the group and waited until everyone had settled down and for the giggles to subside.

  “This is your third week of training, which means the big tournament. The event will be single-elimination brackets,” Reach continued. “You’ll be fighting one-on-one bouts with opponents drawn at random before each match.”

  The yard was quiet as everyone listened. Alex looked around at the group, wondering who he was going to have to fight. Knowing his luck he would pull Connor in the first round.

  “The goal of the tournament is to show the world what you’ve learned in your time here. In some ways, the tournament doesn’t matter at all. Next weekend everyone will still go through the training dungeon and after that you’ll all still head out with your teams on your own missions.” He paused here, letting the weight of their future battles sink in. “That being said, the tournament really does matter in other, very real ways. The world will be watching you this weekend. If the forest challenge was a sneak peek at what’s to come, this tournament is where everyone starts to pick their favourite heroes.”

  Everyone straightened at this, shifting into heightened attention. Despite how they were all signed up, it was easy to forget this was nothing more than a tv show back home. Standing here on a new planet changed your perspective.

  “All of you will pick up more followers this weekend. And while that doesn’t matter nearly as much as learning how to survive in this world, the truth is that the production folks give more air time to the adventurers with the most followers and the highest attention. If that matters to you, this is your weekend to stake your claim.” Murmuring broke out around the ring and Reach gave it a few moments to die down. “So, today’s goal is to limber up and rehearse your forms. This is your last chance before the tournament and if you are struggling with anything you need to come and talk to me about it.”

  He gestured toward the ring around them. “You have an hour to work on your forms and spar and then we’ll hold a series of matchups so you can get a taste for what’s coming tomorrow.”

  A louder murmur started and then cut off as Reach’s eyes swept the yard.

  “Victory conditions tomorrow are simple,” he said. “You remove your opponent from the ring. As long as you have one foot inside the ring, you’re still in the fight. Once both cross the boundary and contact the ground outside, you lose. If you can’t continue, you lose. If you require instructor intervention, you lose.”

  Sarah’s hand rose tentatively. “Knockouts?”

  “If you’re unconscious, you lose. The tournament is real. And while it’s designed to not be overly dangerous, injuries and knockouts can happen,” Reach said. “Everyone will use dulled steel and blunted staves. Any Hex equipment will be locked to 10% power and we’ll have medical teams beside the ring for any emergencies.”

  “You have all received the same training,” Reach said, “Last weekend taught you how to work as a team. This weekend is about you. The stakes are real and you only have yourself to rely on. Dig deep and win.”

  A shift ran through the yard. Some of the students looked energized, others looked thoughtful.

  “What does the winner get this season?” Victor asked.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  All heads turned at that.

  “The winner receives a shiny new HEX artifact,” Reach said. “A new ring. Hex calls it a Pulse Ring,” he paused and his eyes moved sideways, looking at something only he could see. “It’s a ‘Kinetic Displacement Emitter’ according to the brief. It sends out a directed concussive pulse when activated and has a cooldown. In a nutshell, it’ll add some oomf to your punches.”

  Jay let out a low whistle.

  “Additionally,” Reach continued, “the winner earns first selection in the primary round of dungeon missions after the completion of your training.”

  That was more important than the ring, at least for Alex. The HEX toys were fun, but more valuable for everyone else. He could already add ‘some oomf to his punches’.

  “And of course,” Reach said, “the top three will receive highlight segments to be featured on the show over the next month.”

  Alex looked over at Jay, who just shrugged. Neither of them cared much about the feature. Class A’s Herobook numbers had all been climbing rapidly since the forest challenge. Connor may have technically won, but all of the clips getting replayed and shared across social media featured their team.

  “Questions?” Reach asked.

  Hands rose. He pointed at random.

  “Can we choose weapons?”

  “Yes. Within regulation.”

  “Will the bracket be public?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can we challenge someone specifically?”

  “No.”

  The questions continued for another minute before slowing down and stopping.

  “Good,” Reach said finally. “Then let’s begin. Pair up. Mixed classes. For the next hour, you will warm up, practice your forms, and spar.”

  “Hand-to-hand first,” Reach added. “We’ll use weapons when we resume after lunch. New folks, just watch for now, I’ll circle back to you shortly.”

  The yard became a shifting pattern of movement and repositioning.

  “Alex. Jay,” Reach said, gesturing to them both. They walked over to him as the others found their sparring partners, the sound of feet scuffing dirt and hands striking forearms starting to fill the air.

  Reach looked at both of them for a long moment and then finally released the breath he had been holding in a long sigh.

  “I just wanted to say that you both handled yourselves well in the forest.”

  Neither Alex, nor Jay responded, unsure of where this was going.

  “Exceptionally well in fact,” Reach said. “The appearance of that terror bear was unfortunate and if it hadn’t been for you, more people would have gotten hurt, or worse.”

  Jay shifted. Alex asked, “How are the guards? I stopped by the infirmary yesterday but there was no one there.” His friends had made a full recovery after a couple of days. Marcus even sent them selfies from the Silver Gate earlier in the week, back in good spirits.

  “They’re fine, thanks to ANIP and your quick actions. I’d wager you won’t have to buy your own drinks at the tavern this weekend.”

  “What about that bear?” Jay asked.

  “Gone. Back into the deeper forest to lick its wounds I suppose. Or to die. Our team followed its trail for about five klicks, but eventually let it go.”

  Reach looked back and forth at them before exhaling loudly and continuing. “Look, I want to apologize...”

  Alex blinked. “For what?”

  “During the forest challenge,” Reach said, “I received a directive. From the studio. They decided to follow the letter of the law for the challenge and declare Connor the winner. It was a ridiculous decision but I get it. They want whatever drama they can manufacture. It makes for better television. At the end of the day they’re trying to rile up viewers, and probably you.”

  Alex nodded. It made sense, and he had already come to the same conclusion. Part of him felt better that it hadn’t been Reach’s call though.

  “My recommendation,” Reach said plainly, “is to not let it get you worked up. The more you react to it, the more production will focus on it.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Alex said calmly. Jay looked at him, but there was no surprise or disagreement in his face.

  Reach’s brow lifted slightly.

  “So much has changed over the past couple of weeks,” Alex said. “I barely think about the show anymore. This…” Alex waved his hand around at the village, “this is real. Whatever's out there beyond the walls is real. I don’t really care about the forest challenge, or the tournament this weekend. There is so much to learn here, so much to discover…” He trailed off, looking out over the wall towards the mountains.

  Reach studied them for a few moments, reassessing, then smiled.

  “Good.” He looked back at the group of students sparing in the yard. “A lot of people that come through here stay too focused on the show and reveling in their fame back home,” he said, then turned back to them with a serious look. “Production believes that you represent the next big narrative arcs, which means,” he continued “That they’re going to try and engineer situations that work best for the show, not necessarily for you.

  “So, while the tournament is supposed to be a random drawing of matchups, I wouldn’t count on it.” He gestured toward the yard where Class A and B were beginning to strike harder, sweat already darkening fabric. “They want to establish hierarchies and deepen rivalries. Do you understand?”

  “I think so,” Alex said. Like he didn’t have enough on his mind, now he had to worry about what situational trap the production team was going to try and drop him in. “It means I’ll be fighting Connor in the first round.”

  Reach laughed. “No, probably not actually. They’ll want you to meet in the final round. An ‘epic rivalry’ to cap off the tournament. I don’t know how they think they can engineer that matchup, but I guarantee they are looking at all the possible combinations of fights and trying to plan for it.”

  A shout rose from the center ring as Sarah managed to toss Emily over her shoulder with a shoulder throw. She landed hard in the dirt but stood up right away and bowed to the group of Alex’s friends who were cheering and applauding the move.

  “Well, that’s enough said then,” Reach said. “Head over and pair up. And gentlemen,” Reach said.

  They turned to look at him again.

  “Good luck in the tourney tomorrow.”

  Alex smiled and they stepped back towards the centre of the yard. Connor was still not there.

  ***

  John Reach; Head Instructor

  Personal Field Journal

  People come into this program with dreams of being on a fantasy TV show. They want to be seen and they want to be famous. We try to select for those that are going to push through that threshold though and the month of training is about getting them to see past the cameras and take this world seriously.

  The first few weeks they check their herobook pages more often than their footing, but the enemies don’t care how many followers you have.

  Jonah Martin; Fighter, the Wayward Suns

  Personal Journal

  When you’re new, you refresh Herobook every hour. After your third dungeon, it just doesn’t feel that important anymore.