Tina kept her fingers firmly crossed. Nemean had gone with Shogai to interrogate Muryoko himself. She prayed that they’d come back alive.

  The Nexeans were left in a state of awkward silence. There were 11 of them, left in a dusty chamber they’d never been in before. Tina imagined that a lot of them were confused, or even angry. She felt like she needed to comfort them. After all, while she had no idea of this room, she did know about the hidden elevator. She had to, so that she could visit.

  "Tina", Katro was suddenly beside her. Tina waved at him, but he seemed distracted in thought. “Did you ever notice something suggesting that Scott would… you know…”

  Tina shook her head. She was in just as much shock as the rest of them. She hadn’t had much time to think of Scott’s betrayal. So much had happened. But she never would have expected him to be a traitor. Why? What was his motive?

  Katro seemed to agree with her. “Well… let’s make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again. Maybe if we treated Scott more like family he wouldn’t have… I don’t know. I don’t want to think about this anymore.”

  Tina stuck her hand out, offering it to Katro, who shook it. His face brightened a bit.

  “I think a lot of us need cheering up,” she smiled. Katro nodded. Tina walked off to find other people in need of comfort. It didn’t take long. Raven was yelling and throwing random rocks into the walls. Valerie seemed to have tried comforting her but was now standing safely away. Tina snuck behind Raven, prepared to attack her with a surprise hug from behind. She jumped, but Raven spun around and grabbed her by the neck.

  “Don’t. Touch me.” She hissed, dropping Tina to the floor.

  Tina massaged her neck. She wasn’t offended. She should have known Raven wouldn’t let her boundaries down. That said, Raven knelt down after a second.

  “Sorry.” She said. Her tone was angry, and she didn’t make eye contact, but Tina beamed. Raven sheepishly offered a hand to help Tina up, which she took but followed up with a hug. Raven pushed her away more gently this time but was in a fit of laughter.

  “Stop that!” She laughed. “Fix it!”

  Tina giggled and tapped Raven’s shoulder. Her laughter stopped, but her smile didn’t fade. Raven quickly wiped the smile away when she realised it was an honest one, not Tina’s doing.

  “What’s on your mind, Raven?”

  “Ugh, where do I even start? Nemean’s family was a bunch of loonies. Believing in stupid gods. Like Elano.”

  Tina tilted her head curiously. “You don’t believe in Elano?”

  “Why should I? Our power is our own. And if some kind of all-loving being existed, where is she? Why won’t she help us? She’s not real.”

  Tina thought about this but didn’t have a good response. “I guess this is the point of faith. It can never be proven. You just have to believe, right?”

  Raven scoffed. “That’s what gets you betrayed, Tina. We believed Scott was on our side. We were wrong. Can’t trust anyone.”

  "Are you feeling more cheered up at least?”

  “...yes. Thanks.”

  Not wanting to make things worse, Tina decided to leave the argument there. She looked around. Who should she check on next?

  Jade and Kiara were sitting on the floor next to each other. It didn’t take a detective to see what was bothering them.

  “Hey girls,” Tina said, joining their circle. “Want to talk to someone?”

  Jade looked at Tina, into her honest eyes, and nodded.

  “Will Shogai be ok?”

  Tina crossed her legs.

  “Nemean has never led us astray before. He’s a leader we can put our full trust in. I promise. Besides, Shogai is strong, isn’t he? He beat me.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “But Muryoko is a whole other deal, right?” Kiara said. “He beat Ryukyu. And Wright. How do we know they’ll be fine?”

  Tina looked past the two of them and grinned. “That’s how.”

  Kiara and Jade turned to see Nemean and Shogai appear from thin air. Jade immediately ran to Shogai and threw herself at him.

  “Don’t you dare scare me like that again!”

  Nemean and Shogai seemed unharmed, but Shogai looked shaken. Nemean clapped his hands, demanding the attention of the room.

  “Upstairs. Now. We need to prepare immediately.”

  Back upstairs, Nemean had already spread a giant map of Tenebris over the table. He produced a satchel and shook its contents out onto the map. There were 12 figurines. Each of them mildly resembled each Nexean.

  “Did you… craft those?” Shogai asked with intrigue, inspecting the one that looked like him. Nemean snapped at him to shut up.

  “I need some kind of hobby in my free time, you know. Anyway, here’s what we’ll do.”

  Nemean was interrupted by a clap of thunder that shook the room. It sounded like it came from right above them. Nemean smiled. He pulled two more figurines out of his satchel and tossed them onto the table.

  “Let’s go and greet Takari and Kyorei, shall we?”

  Tina was buzzing with excitement as she got into the elevator. Nemean was bringing Shogai, Jade and Kiara with him because they’d never met Inner Ranks 3 and 4 before. Tina and Nifa were also coming along, for obvious reasons. Nemean pressed the button for the Inner Rank penthouse, and the elevator made its way up. She hadn’t seen Kyorei in a while. She couldn’t wait to see him.

  The doors opened, and they looked around the Inner Rank lounge. It was similar to the Outer Rank ones, obviously, but the main difference was the stairs to the rooftop garden. That was where Takari and Kyorei always entered and left the building. They didn’t have the time to dawdle about.

  Shogai, Kiara and Jade looked around. Their faces were initially in awe but slowly became more underwhelmed. Tina understood them. For the excitement, the dorms were almost identical to what they were used to. Takari and Kyorei entered from the stairs on the roof.

  Takari was a tall, fit man with dark brown hair and a beard. He wore golden arm bracers around his respectable muscles and had a constant smile on his face. It was as if nothing could quench his spirit. He was the oldest Nexean, in his early 30s, but he’d apparently never lost hope in all that time. He waved at Nifa, who blushed. Takari’s hair was wet; it must have been raining outside, and he looked really, really good. Nifa clearly felt lucky to have him as her boyfriend. She was only a couple years younger than him, and they’d been by each other's side for years and years.

  Tina’s eyes, however, drifted to the person behind her. Drying his hair and scowling as always was Kyorei. He was a similar build to Takari, but a bit shorter. His hair was white and covered his right eye occasionally. He looked moody all the time, and his red eyes didn’t help, but Tina’s eyes lit up when she saw him. That was her boyfriend.

  Tina ran right into Kyorei, attacking him with a hug, and his face went red.

  “Don’t you dare make me laugh again.” He frowned, seeing the three newcomers. “They’ll take me as a joke.”

  Tina laughed and looked him in the eyes. His face was bright, especially when he couldn’t help but grin back. He wiped the smile off his face when Takari came to greet Tina.

  "Hi, Tina!” He said, ruffling her hair. “How’ve you been? Who’re the newcomers?”

  Takari gestured towards the trio. Nifa cleared her throat. She wasn’t going to run up to Takari like Tina. She’d done plenty of that when they were younger.

  “These are Shogai, Jade and Kiara.” Nifa said, with some pride in her voice. “They’re our new Nexeans. You three, this is Takari, Inner Rank 3, and Kyorei, Inner Rank 4.”

  Takari eagerly shook hands with them. “You three look teeming with potential! I’m glad to meet you!” He smiled again. His energy was contagious to anyone. Well… anyone except Kyorei.

  Kyorei barely looked the newcomers in the eye. “Kyorei. I’m not a weirdo like him.” He said. Shogai offered his hand, but Kyorei didn’t take it.

  “Don’t get eager, kid. I’m not your friend.”

  "Oh, don’t mind Kyorei." Tina stepped between them. “He’s like this to everyone. Just get to know him and you’ll get along.”

  “Stop advertising me, Tina. And you know that’s not true.”

  “Oh lighten up, Kyorei!” Takari clapped him on the shoulder, only to quickly withdraw. Tendrils of electricity shocked Takari’s hand.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  Takari laughed, ignoring the burn. Nifa wordlessly tapped him on the shoulder, and Takari inspected his hand.

  “I suppose so…” he offered it to Nifa, who held it. Her hand glowed green.

  Shogai, Jade and Kiara seemed startled. It’d taken them a while to get used to Raven, but Kyorei was even less approachable. Tina crossed her fingers. She hoped they’d get along.

  “What do you want, Nemean?” Kyorei asked. There was some respect in his voice. Nemean, who had been watching the reunions, shook his head back into focus.

  “You know about Muryoko’s attack here. Well, long story short, we know where he’s attacking next. We need both of your help.”

  Takari’s face straightened, and his expression became more serious. “If you need us both, this is serious. Right?”

  Nemean didn’t hesitate to respond. “Yes. If we fail, this could escalate into a full-blown war.”