• Valix flinched as his Frozen Flame necklace burned against his chest for the third time that week. He had gone to the Council of Monks, but they had refused his plea for help. Other students in his Core have been talking about their Frozen Flames heating up to, but none of them Valix knew very well. A few days ago he had heard his two of his Educators, Shade and Suki, talking as he was going to one of his classes.
    “What are we to do, Shade? The students Frozen Flames have been heating up. What if the heating gets so intense that their chests begin to burn? What if they begin to talk about it, and begin to make rumors of them being punished or something? What if—“
    “Stop rambling, Suki. There is only one explanation. They’ve been Chosen. The Eracor Brothers read the prophecy, don’t doubt them. They can sense the tablet’s thoughts. It knows what has been written on it by the Ancients. The Eracor know all, you know better than to doubt them. Don’t get yourself thrown into the Outside.” Shade said.
    “Yes, I know. I’m sorry for doubting the Brothers. It’s just so… stressful, having students in my Core being Chosen. The only reason could be war,” She said that word with such a tone that even Shade flinched. “People in other Core are still rebuilding from the last war. A war with the Outside could destroy the Mathis Core. Everyone who was there remembers it. It was a hard time, Shade, A really hard time to live in.”
    At that point he walked away, not wanting to hear anymore. He wasn’t there during the last war; all he knew was that his parents were killed in its final battle.
    He glanced at his watch and realized it was noon, only a few hours until Combat class. He walked to his bookshelf and pulled a random Manga from its shelves. He looked at the cover and saw that it was Ranma ½, one of his favorites. He read that and several other Manga until his Combat class.
    The combat room looked just as you would imagine it, swords, knives, and small daggers hanging in racks, throwing stars in small pouches under the benches around the room, practice weapons in bins at each corner, and blood-red walls to finish the room off. There was even some Outside weapons like Chakrams, Small, top-like blades that when spun with a ripcord and launcher correctly can slice directly through its target. It was Valix’s weapon of choice. As Valix was practicing a simple technique, The Puppets Master, he felt that the room was a bit draftier than normal. He looked around and saw nothing, but a small movement caught his eye. He looked directly at it and saw it was just the Educator or one of the students in the next room, there silhouette shining through the partitions of the combat rooms walls.
    As the combat teacher, Hyax, collected there practice swords from the students, he asked
    Valix, “Has there been anything odd happening lately, Valix? You seem to be heating up a bit lately.”
    In a slightly quieter-voice-than-normal he told his teacher “Yes sir. Actually there has. Can I talk to you when all the other students leave?”
    The other students left him and Hyax alone in the classroom. He began by telling his teacher, “Let’s cut right to the chase, my Frozen Flame has been heating up, sometimes glowing. It’s happened three times this week.”
    The eye-patched, tough looking, spiky haired man looked at Valix oddly. He said “Very odd, other students have been complaining of the same problem. Let me see your necklace.” Valix pulled out the silver sphere on his necklace that had been on his neck since he was born. There looked to be a stationary flame inside the shiny sphere. Hyax pulled out a magnifying glass and looked into the shining thing in his hands. He looked like a doctor who had just discovered a new disease. “My boy, you must bring this to Suki immediately. Tell her to look very closely into your Frozen Flame. Go, NOW!”
    He ran to the Core headmaster’s office and showed Suki his Frozen Flame. “Oh… my… Boy, has anything odd been happening lately? Anything that you’ve heard other students talking about?”
    Valix said, “Yes, Ma’am. My Frozen Flame has been heating up, three times this week. I heard you and Shade talking the other day, you said that students whose Frozen Flame’s have been heating up have been Chosen. Have I… been Chosen?”
    She looked at him, anger in her eyes for a millisecond, but then guilt. “I’m afraid so, Valix. Follow me.” She brought him into a room about twice the size of his quarters. “This is the room where we keep students whom have been Chosen. That is Midas.” She pointed to a boy who looked like he was trying hard not to touch any of the walls. “That is Hyka.” She gestured toward a girl about as old as Valix. She was talking to another girl who looked like she was a bit older. “And that girl next to her is Jaek. That one over there is Kyhal.” She pointed to a boy in one of the beds. He looked fairly muscular. “The last person is Shade, but he is teaching history classes.”
    So Shade’s been chosen, Valix thought. I thought only students could be chosen…
    “So I stay here? No classes or any of that?” He said this time. “Cool.”
    The next few days pass without much activity. Valix had befriended everyone, except for that one boy. Midas. He looked towards him. It seemed he was always in that one corner. He walked toward Midas and said “Hello, I’m Valix. I’m the newest Chosen.” He held out his hand for him to shake.
    “Don’t touch me, you’ll turn to gold.” He turned away from him, keeping steadily on his tall golden stool.
    Valix went back to the others. In a deep voice Kyhal said “Yeah, we don’t normally interact much with him. Apparently, he turned that stool to gold.” He said. That’s why he’s named Midas. Ever heard that legend?” Valix shook his head. “It’s about a greedy king named Midas; he wishes that he could turn everything that he touched to gold. A god named Dionysus gave him that wish, and then he touched his daughter… and well that’s really the end of the story.” He shrugged his shoulders.
    “Well, that’s kind of horrible… I wonder who thought that that legend up. I’m going to go into the Combat room. I have the feeling that there is going to be something big happening soon, like something we have to fight for.” He hadn’t told them about Shade and Suki’s conversation. “Anyone want to spar?”
    “Sure, I’ll come.” Jaek said. “Practice Chakrums?”
    “Valix replied, “Sure, whatever.” He beamed. “I’m going to win though!”
    They both ran to the small room at the corner, and picked up the foam rings and rip cords. “3-point match. You can go anywhere in the room. A hit to the torso or head is one point. Arms or legs are half a point. Do you agree?” Valix said.
    She smiled and prepared her weapon. “Yes.”
    “Very well, start”
    With a swift flick of her wrist the foam disc whizzed past Valix’s head. He chuckled, and let loose the circle… Suddenly, everything seemed to slow down. He was standing and moving at normal speed while everything else in the room looked as if it was barely moving. He walked close to his Chakrum and aligned it correctly, to hit Jaek’s head, and moved back to the spot he was at before. He thought about her bewildered look at how his weapon had looked like it was going to miss but suddenly was aiming directly at its target again. Everything came back to him like a baseball bat hitting his face. There was a rush of air and suddenly Jaek was on the ground. She jumped to her feet and her face was just as he hoped it would look like.
    “How-, where-, what?” she said. “Don’t tell me you’ve developed powers like Midas. You did, didn’t you?!” She was grinning. “What is your power? Oh please tell me!!” She said eagerly. “Never mind, I know. We have to tell the guys!” She was out of the room like a bullet from a gun.
    Valix took the cord out of the launching mechanism on the foam and followed her into the main room of the separate branch of the Core. Jaek was talking nearly to fast for all of the other Chosen to follow. She was telling them about how he had generated his Flame Powers, obviously. He thought Flame powers… That’s what I’ll call them.
    “He moved his Chakrum by stopping time to hit my face. It was amazing! Even though the only reason he did it was to get a sparring point.” She scowled at him. “He’s generated powers just like Midas!”
    Midas was still sitting on that one stool… Always on the stool. Midas was looking at them. Valix knew he had heard Jaek.
    Valix looked away from Midas and looked at Jaek. She was gasping since she had talked so fast. Valix chuckled, and Jaek looked at him oddly. "You're gasping because you talked so fast."
    She laughed to. He had a suspicion to what her power was going to be.
    Everyone didn't sleep much, their Frozen Flames kept them up, as if they knew something was going to happen at night. And that night, Valix knew what that thing was. The middle of the roof caved in, and on top of all the gravel and concrete stood a very thin… thing dressed in rags. It was humanoid, but so thin that bones shone through the skin. It couldn't be human, Valix knew, unless…
    Valix felt the sensation as he had in the practice room, a rush of wind and everything slowed. He ran to the practice room and grabbed a real Chakrum. He began time again and flung the small spinning circle of blades. It went right through the thing and it fell to the ground. The four of them, Valix, Hyka, Jaek, and Kyhal, went to examine the thing. It looked as if it had eaten away its lips if it ever was human. Whatever was left of its lips was stretched over its teeth.
    "Outsider" Valix whispered. To everyone he said, "Grab the weapon your best with from the room, there may be more. We have to get out of here!"
    Hyka came out with a long, crimson bladed Katana. Kyhal came out with gloves with spikes on them. Jaek also brought a Chakrum. That's when Valix remembered Midas.
    He walked toward him and asked, "Did you really make that stool gold?"
    Midas smirked and said, "Yes, I'm afraid so. I can control it though, to an extent. Sometimes it just makes where I step gold. That'll be fine though, more riches for the rest of us."
    "Alright, turn it off or whatever you do to control it. Go get a weapon. We may have to fight more Outsiders." Valix said to him, He was surprised at how commanding his voice sounded.
    Midas got up and ran to the weapons room. He came out brandishing two crossbows. "These are what I'm best with, I guess, out of the small collection we have access to."
    "Alright, we'll need some long range weapons, good." Valix said. "We'll see if we can get to the main weapons practice room. We can stock up on better weapons their."
    They left the room. They saw that the roofs there were caved in. In the shadows Valix and Hyka were sure they saw movement. "I saw Outsiders!" Hyka said.
    "I know I did to. Their setting a trap." Valix said.
    "The solution?" Replied Hyka.
    "Spring the trap." He snickered and then whispered. "We'll kill them when we get to the end of that rubble." He gestured toward the end of a large rubble pile close to the end of the hall.
    They got to the end of the hall and turned around. Midas readied his crossbows, and fired into the small gap in the wall and killed two of them. The rest came out soon after. They were widdled down to none quickly. They turned around to go into the main weapons practice room.
    Valix opened the door quietly and went in. There stood a huge Outsider, ten feet tall at the least. Their was contaminated areas on the Outside. It sometimes mutated some Outsiders. This must've been one of the victims. Hyax stood in front of the thing. He held a small knife. The Outsider jabbed his huge fist into Hyax's chest. Hyax had the breath blown out of him. He fell to the ground, and the Outsider stepped on him. Valix heard his bones crack, and knew Hyax was dead.
    "Hyax!" Valix said.
    He ran up to the huge Outsider and sliced at it with his Chakrum. The thing fell to the ground, dead.
    Hyka said, "Valix, you moved incredibly fast. You must've triggered your power unknowingly."
    Valix didn't reply. Hyax was a great friend to him, like a father. He crouched by his friends body. He knew he was dead, but wanted to bring him to the Core infirmary.
    Hyka walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "He's dead Valix, I'm sorry. I know he was like a father to you."
    "This is the last straw, Outsiders. You will all die. I will kill you all. For my parents, and for Hyax." He whispered.
    Hyka thought he looked like the Outsiders. Savagely wanting to kill everything in their path. She pushed her spectacles up, and said "Valix, we can't take him. We must get out of this Core. We must go onto the Outside. We can't stay here."
    Valix's shoulders were moving up and down slowly. He looked to Hyka and she saw that tears stained his cheeks. "I… know. I agree… We must get out of this building."
    They ran until they found a door to the outer wall. The Core had one huge circular wall surrounding it. Inside there were several buildings connected by narrow halls, like the one that Valix had heard Shade and Suki's conversation in.
    When they got out, they were surprised to see Shade fighting off many Outsiders. On top of a mountain of rubble, stood the black-robed figure that was Shade. He was surrounded by about eight Outsiders. None of them were contaminated, fortunately. Midas used his crossbows to take care of four Outsiders with two arrows.
    He's an incredible archer, Valix thought. A boy who can turn things to gold being incredibly lucky. Go figure!
    The last four were taken down by Hyka's Katana and Jaek's gloves. Shade held his short sword steady and said, "Who are you?"
    "We're the other Chosen, Educator Shade. Suki told us about you." Valix said. "Speaking of which, where is Suki?"
    Shade's gaze darkened and his shoulders drooped. "I'm afraid she's dead, I was in her office when the roof caved in. A contaminated Outsider was there. He had a huge slab of metal, and stabbed her several times."
    Valix's jaw dropped. He was stunned. The Outsider had to of known where the Headmaster's office is in order to kill her that quickly. "This means one and only one thing, we've got a traitor on our hands. The Outsider had to of known where the Headmaster's office is in order to kill her that quickly." Valix said.
    "I was thinking the same thing", the other Chosen said in unison.
    Shade spoke next, "We must get out of here. I know a secret tunnel that was used during the Great War. It was used for this very kind of thing."
    They followed Shade as he ran, the children trying hard not to fall behind in his large stride. The tunnel entrance was hidden under sand. Shade dug with his hands and soon there was a small door just big enough for someone to get through. They opened it up and walked inside.
    "This is an old tunnel, be careful not to make any noise or touch the walls. We really don't want to have a cave-in down here." Shade said.
    They traveled about half a mile into the tunnel system. They passed several skeletons of Outsiders. The tunnel system was like a labyrinth of dead ends and traps. They exit was a ladder leading up to a door that showed little light through it.
    It's day here… We must've passed through a whole time zone! Valix thought.
    Shade was first to climb up. Then Valix, Hyka, Jaek, Kyhal and Midas. They were in the middle of a desert. The wind was strong and it looked like the dual suns were strongest here.
    "What desert is this?" Valix said. "I've never seen it on any maps around the Core."
    It's the Quartex Desert. Before the Great Sin Event, this was known as the Sahara desert.