“I can’t believe they have magic TVs,” Calisco said from one of the three curved couches arrayed in a semi-circle in front of a screen floating in the air. Having completed their tour with Beauty and Beast—one dragging the other by the ear the entire way—they’d finally been dropped off at their dorm room.

  Just entering the space had dispelled any worries Det had entertained about being stuck in a closet with Calisco and four others for the next three years. Instead, he’d found a lavish kitchen, a spacious living room with the ‘magical TV’ floating in front of the far wall after the press of a button, and six doors leading off to personal suites. Four of the doors stood closed, while two in the far-left corner remained open.

  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out one of those rooms was for him.

  “I wonder if they get reality TV shows here,” Calisco said while she played with the Elestar-version of a TV remote. Much like the TV screen—the angle of which seemed to follow so Det could always look at it straight on—the remote was just a floating panel of light that Calisco was randomly pushing buttons on and playing with the scales.

  Det just shook his head and started for one of the open doors—the furthest in the corner so he’d have less neighbours—when, unsurprisingly, the TV’s volume blasted to deafening levels. Just like he was right there, the clash of blades in the display echoed through the room, while the one who’d parried the attack grunted with enough volume to rattle a glass on the kitchen counter.

  Not that it was the end of the battle, with a ferocious—and kind of impressive—trade of blows following. The screen seemed to zoom out, revealing the two combatants fighting it out on the floor of a wide arena, with the roar of the crowd rushing out to join the volume like a coming tsunami.

  “Calisco!” Det said, then shouted her name again because of the volume, as the woman fumbled with the remote. How she could even juggle a pane of light in a panic was a mystery, but she managed it. For two more seconds, the complete surround-sound system shook the room before one of the other doors burst open, a man with wide eyes and a knife in one hand dashing out like he expected to find himself under siege.

  His frantic eyes landed on Det first—finding him offering little more than an apologetic shrug—then went to Calisco on the couch. It didn’t take him more than another second to figure out what was going on, and he went at her with his knife still in hand. Thankfully—wait, why was Det thankful?—the man didn’t use the weapon on Calisco, and instead snapped his other hand out to grab the remote. Quick movements of his thumb muted the oppressive roar of the televised crowd a second before one gladiator drove his weapon straight at his opponent’s chest.

  Paused, just like that, the image hovered front and center in the TV screen, but Det looked past the stunning amount of detail—is that 4K?—to the newest addition to the room. Now that things weren’t quite so chaotic, it was easier to get a good look at the man. Standing just about six-feet tall, with wide shoulders, blonde hair, and blue eyes, the man reminded Det of a stereotypical surfer, complete with the ripped muscles of a ReSouled body. Since he was only wearing what-had-to-be pajama bottoms, leaving his top-half bare, there was nothing to hide just how sculpted the guy was. Besides the loose pants, the only thing he had was the knife in his hand.

  That’s a Wordless knife.

  Blade, hilt, and cross-guard all made of the familiar white material, with the blade about eight inches long, there was no mistaking it. If there had been any doubt this was another member of the accelerated class, the knife dispelled any doubts.

  “Whew,” the man said. “Made it just in time. I’ve seen this one.” He pointed at the paused screen at the front of the room. “The crowd goes nuts in about a second here. Would’ve been like a bomb going off. Hah, at least we don’t have to worry about getting evicted, right?”

  “I almost had it,” Calisco said.

  “You almost blew out our eardrums, is what you almost did,” Det said, though his ears didn’t have the ringing he would’ve expected. He’d had to deal with plenty of days-after-rock-concerts when he was younger, and the volume of the TV was no less than front-row seats. His ears, though? They were perfectly fine. Huh.

  “Ah, don’t give her such a hard time,” the new addition said. “I did the same thing.”

  “Really?” Calisco looked up at him, hope practically gleaming in her eyes.

  “No,” he laughed. “I’m sorry, I can’t lie to you when you look at me like that. I was just trying to make you feel better.”

  “Meanie,” she grouched.

  “Aw, c’mon, gimme a break,” the man said. “I was napping, and I woke up to thinking we were getting invaded by the Uncored or something. A really loud group of Uncored, with an adoring audience trailing behind them and…” he couldn’t finish, as he had to duck out of the way of a pillow flying in his direction from Calisco.

  At least she didn’t try to explode him.

  “I surrender, I surrender!” the man said from where he’d dived behind one of the couches. Slowly, his empty hands came up, and he peeked over the edge of the furniture to make sure there weren’t any more projectiles coming his way. “Peace?”

  “Only if you… show me how to use that thing,” Calisco said, pointing at where the remote had fallen on the couch the other man hid behind.

  “Deal!” he said, putting his hands on the top of the couch to pull himself up. “Whoops, almost forgot…” he ducked back down, then stood again to show the knife in his hand. “My uncle would kill me if I lost one of these.”

  “That’s…” Det started, then looked back at the closed door that would lead out into the hall. Beauty had told him and Calisco the other cadets in the shared quarters knew about Wordless and emergences, but it didn’t mean Det should be careless. His next words came out a little quieter, just in case. “That’s Wordless gear.”

  The man winked, pointed at his eye, then pointed at Det’s. “Yup, it is. Just like the hand-me-down you’ve got there. Oh, scratch that, you have two, too.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  With his Wordless half-glove holding the strap of his ruck-sack over his shoulder, and the eyepatch over his eye, it was easy to guess what the man meant. Except…

  “You have two pieces of gear?” Calisco said, catching the same thing Det had. “Why am I the only one who didn’t get anything?”

  “Parents didn’t love you?” the man joked, and Det expected another pillow to whip in his direction. It didn’t happen.

  When Det glanced at Calisco, she had a look on her face that could only be described as… hurt. It only lasted a second before it turned to her more familiar glare.

  “More like I’m so awesome I don’t need toys,” Calisco said, arms crossing.

  “I’m Det, by the way,” Det said, though his eyes lingered on Calisco. He’d never seen an expression like that on her face. “That’s Calisco.”

  “Oh, you two friends?” the man said.

  “We’re not friends,” Det and Calisco said in chorus.

  “Stop doing that!” she turned and yelled at him. “People will get the impression I want to associate with you.”

  “See,” Det said to the man.

  “Yeouch,” the man said, nodding like he understood. “I’m Saduj Jilkins. Everybody calls me SJ, or more commonly, Sage.”

  “You smart or something?” Calisco said.

  “I’m not an idiot—usually—if that’s what you’re asking,” Sage said. “But, the name isn’t because I’m some all-knowing fella. People were too lazy to say SJ, so they started shortening it to Sage, and it kind of stuck.”

  “How is Sage shorter than SJ?” Det asked.

  “I have no idea!” Sage said, throwing up his hands. “I asked the same thing. To which they told me I wasn’t acting very sagely.”

  Det had to chuckle at the mild antics. With the surfer looks, easy-going personality, and sense of humor, Sage was going to be popular.

  “It’s not so bad,” Sage continued. “Almost everybody here picks up a nickname—or code name or call sign, if you want to be one of the cool kids—by the time their third year finishes. Everybody wants to be the next Wall or Bladestorm.”

  “The Wall?” Det said, thinking back on what he’d heard. “General Vans?”

  “That’s the man himself,” Sage said. “Look at you, probably fresh off an airship and barely into your dorm, and you already know who The Wall is.”

  “Why wouldn’t we know Gen-gen?” Calisco said. “He came to personally pick us up, because I’m so awesome. Det just happened to be there.”

  Det sighed, both at Calisco’s dismissal of him and her self-inflated ego, and shook his head at Sage. “He did come pick us up, but he just happened to be on the airship with Captain Simmons and Jeckles.”

  “WHAAAAAAT?!” Sage said—shouted—as he took a step back like he’d been slapped. “You met Bladestorm and Dr. Jeckles too? They were on your mistship? Why? How? How is that fair?”

  “It… just was?” Det said. “Who was on your mistship? Which ReSouled, I mean.”

  “None!” Sage said. “Not a single one. Which pillar are you two from? Nuvin? Glitter? One of the other sixth stratum pillars?”

  “We’re from Radiant,” Calisco said.

  “No wonder you… wait… where?” Sage asked like he’d just been splashed with cold water. “I’ve never heard of a sixth stratum pillar named Radiant. Is it up against the Corelands or something?”

  “Radiant isn’t sixth stratum,” Det explained. “It’s below the Mistline. When the General picked us up, it was the first time we’d seen the sun—suns—since we were reborn.”

  “Oooooooh,” Sage said, nodding. “Uh… below the Mistline, huh? Was it…?”

  “Poor and boring, yeah,” Calisco said. “Imagine everybody being like Det, but somehow worse.”

  “You two really aren’t friends, are you?” Sage said to Det.

  “Not at all,” Det said. “But, what she said is pretty accurate. The people on Radiant are barely scraping by, and merchants come—at most—twice a year.”

  “That explains why ReSouled were sent to pick you up,” Sage said. “We’re the only ones who can come and go from the mist without worrying about the Taint.”

  “Do you know much about it?” Det said. “The books we got on Radiant were… limited.”

  “Just symptoms and outcomes,” Sage said. “Not what specifically causes it, if that’s what you’re asking about.”

  “What are you talking about?” Calisco said. “We know what causes it. Entering or leaving the mist. Duh.”

  “She’s cracked it,” Sage said flatly. “Mystery solved.”

  “I don’t know how the world got by without her, trapped on Radiant like she was,” Det said to Sage.

  “Don’t make me explode you both,” Calisco said.

  “Is that a euphemism for something?” Sage said.

  “It’s her magic,” Det said. “She literally makes explosions. Out of thin air. So, technically she wouldn’t be exploding you, but the space right beside you.”

  “The result would be the same,” Calisco said. “You’d be covering the walls.”

  “That part is probably true,” Det admitted.

  “Can you do walnuts?” Sage said.

  “That’s your question?” Calisco said.

  “I like walnuts. Hate the shells.”

  “I can do walnuts.”

  “You two may not be friends, but we sure will.”

  “I’m not going to be your personal walnut cracker. I’m too awesome for that.”

  “Cracking walnuts will make you more awesome in my eyes.”

  Calisco actually paused, considering it. “Maybe once a week.”

  “Deal!”

  “I’m glad you two are getting along so well,” Det said, then tilted his head toward the corner room. “I’m just going to…”

  “Drop off your bag then get back out here to watch the rest of this,” Sage said. “If Radiant is as… uh… hard off as you said, you probably haven’t seen this one. It’s new.”

  “Radiant didn’t even have floating TVs,” Calisco said. “We haven’t seen anything.”

  “Oh? Oh!” Sage said, a new sort of excitement washing over his face at the same time he vaulted over the back of the couch to take a dramatic seat. “That means you haven’t seen any of this series, Re/Souled. It’s about new cadets coming to Avalon. Consider it a mix of those wizard-academy movies mixed with something like roman gladiators. This is number 4, and by far the best, with the Corelands attacking just as they’re about to graduate.

  “Gah, I’m spoiling it already! Just, drop off your bag and get back out here. We have enough time to watch all four before the entrance ceremony tomorrow.”

  “Uh, shouldn’t we get some sleep?” Det asked at the same time Calisco said, “Will there be popcorn?”

  “Yes, to popcorn, no to sleep,” Sage said. “Sleep is for those weak non-ReSouled. Priorities my new friends, and this is number one! Well,” he looked at the floating screen. “Technically this is number four, but you know what I mean.”

  Det shifted the rucksack on his shoulder as he glanced between Sage, Calisco, the screen—that always seemed to somehow be facing him perfectly no matter where he stood—to the room waiting for him. Really, if he went in there by himself, what was he going to do? Simmons said there would be more uniforms and non-chafing underwear waiting for him. He didn’t really need to unpack, and he’d gotten more than enough sleep the last few days confined to his quarters.

  It’d also been twenty years since he’d seen a good action flick.

  “Fine, I’m in,” Det said.

  “It’s a miracle!” Calisco said. “Det isn’t being a downer. I totally thought he was going to go in and brood.” The last part, she said out of the side of her mouth like she didn’t want Det to hear it. Except she said it louder than the rest.

  “Great!” Sage said, leaping back up off the couch. “I’ll get the popcorn ready. It’s actually from a fruit here on Elestar, but there are flavor options. Do you want regular—with butter, of course—fruit-flavored, or berry-flavored?”

  “They have berry-flavoured popcorn?” Det said, partially in wonder, and partially in horror.

  “Yes to all three,” Calisco said. “It’s time to live like we never did on Radiant. Give me all the popcorns.”

  “Yes, Mistress Explosion,” Sage said with a sharp Mistguard salute, then he shook his head. “No, we need to workshop a better callsign for you. That’s too long. Det, do you have one? A callsign, I mean. Like Sage, or The Wall. Is there something you want to be called?”

  “Det,” Det said, then turned to drop his rucksack off while the other two booed him.

  Still, despite the calls chasing him into his room, he smiled. Things sounded like were going to be a bit livelier than he’d expected, and maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.