“Do it again.” Jose’s body was ragged, the eleven year old’s feet sinking into the sweltering sand beneath as his mother looked over him. Her face was obscured by the glare of the sun but he could feel her impatience with his development.

“Yes ma’am…” He said with cracked lips. He focused his attention to his soul and maneuvered it into the mold. It was a new and slow process and it provided a cold relief as it bubbled up from his chest out to his finger tips, but the scrutinizing eye did not relent. He was far too slow for her liking.

“Cast!” She yelled out and he pushed most of the soul that he could muster into the spell.

It fizzled into nothing. He didn’t need to turn around to feel the disappointment.

“This was all a waste of time…” She muttered under her breath. At the time, Jose assumed she meant their training after discovering his Hollowness. He kept thinking back to that time and the dwindling warmth that came from his mother as he interpreted and reinterpreted the statement in his head. There was something else there-

Jose woke up startled. He threw his body forward as his eyes scanned the room. He was in a cot, a thin brown blanket draped over his body. The muscle fatigue hit him afterward, a dull ache in his arms, legs, and ribs.

“Good afternoon, Mister Ileria. I am glad to see you’re awake.” Elder Tessa called out as she attended to the wounds of another patient. There were seven other bodies on the cots with varying degrees of injury on their person.

“Th-thank you, Elder.” Jose stammered as he gingerly bowed his head and body. He pressed his arm to his stomach and held himself as he rose from the bed.

“Your performance was admirable. It seems that the fabled Archmage left something behind for her progeny.” If a statement could be caring and cold, Elder Tessa delivered it with a passive expression on her face. “It certainly lit a fire under the other competitors to put in their best effort and succeed with the second exam. Sadly that fire meant more patients for our infirmary, but this is to be expected.” She sighed, muttering something to frog that now rested on the patient's body.

“Yeah… it was something I’ve been learning since I was capable of reading.

She wanted me to be ready to handle the family business…” He allowed the statement to hang in the air.

“And yet she left, soon after your Aspect examination. I take it she didn’t find the results she wanted?”

Jose shook his head.

“Deplorable, but understandable. We ar-were creatures of end goals. It brought all of us joy to see you find a place in Ileah at the Annals. I’m personally surprised to have seen you compete at all, although given your skill set at the moment, it’s clear that your participation would be beneficial.” Elder Tessa brought a curious eye onto Jose.

He organized his thoughts carefully and spoke, “The Annals needed a position filled and I was good at what they wanted. They didn’t mind how slow I was, so long as the quality of the identification was the same. Moreso with all of the Grimoires they had unidentified in their archives. As for my current participation, I’m personally interested in the contents of the vessel and I’ve been putting off my dreams long enough trying to find the right moment to leave.”

“That’s right. You were the one to interpret the information that Overseer Richardt presented to the group of Elders.” Elder Tessa contemplated on something for a moment and nodded. “Well, the next examination time hasn’t started yet. There are numerous fights remaining so I’d advise you to lay on your bed and rest. You’re welcome to walk around the facility while you wait for the next event but please refrain from causing trouble.”

“I’ll try my best Elder Tessa. Thank you for the treatment.” Jose hobbled out of the room, feeling her eyes on his back as he closed the door and walked down the hall.

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The underground portions of the celebratory hall reminded Jose of the maintenance tunnels used to go from the upper levels of the colony down to the Barnacles. They were lit with that faint orange glow that gave just enough light to shine a path from one place to another but never quite enough to feel satisfied that there weren’t skittering creatures clinging to the edges of the darkness.

He took the hall down and out to the waiting room. There were new refreshments set up on the tables that the winners were nibbling at. There were also small tables and chairs set up now that the volunteers weren’t packed into the hall like sausages.

“Jose!” Lysa called out to him from a table in their corner. She was cheerful with no apparent damage to her person. He gingerly walked over to her after gathering loose cheeses and meats on his dining plate and sat down.

“Hey Lysa,” his throat was hoarse, a dull sting clinging to the food as it travelled down his mouth, “How’d you manage in your match?”

Her face faltered a bit with the recollection before she shrugged off the uncomfortable feeling, “It was awful but satisfying to beat that snot nosed magician in the face.”

He paused, “Magician?”

“Oh, no, not like you. She was this young illusionist. She manages most of those pop out stands from the storefronts in the square so she knows her way around illusions. It wasn’t fun having your head be fucked with and not realize it until you’re halfway through.”

“That does sound awful… so how’d you manage to win?”

“I was headstrong. Started arguing my way out of the illusions.” Lysa lied. If she was willing to lie about her victory then the circumstances of her win were too personal for him to dwell on.

He changed the subject, “I’m sure your win was as action packed as mine was.” There was a bitterness to his tone.

“Oh no, a number of people are saying that the first fight was unexpectedly strong considering the expectation that it was the four weakest people fighting in the arena.”

Jose figured as much. It was another thing he was bitter about, being forced to show off a little more of his arsenal than he’d have liked to an audience of gawkers and advantageous competitors.

“Honestly it should have been a markedly boring experience if it was anything fair.”

“I was meaning to ask you that. They were ganging up on you from the get go and that schlubby Archivist kid seemed overly prepared for a ‘sudden change’ in the rules. I can’t believe I told that woman her rumors were croc shit.”

“Yeah, Carmina… I mean we both felt it was croc shit. Felt too weird to be true but if it wasn’t for her sticking her neck out for us, I might not have been mentally prepped to deal with that onslaught out there. I was hoping to talk to her.” Jose glanced around the crowd again and failed to find her.

“She’s still not back from the second event. I was hoping to talk to her too. It’s incredibly suspect that a number of volunteers are abnormally prepared for all of this. The audience doesn’t suspect anything, they’re eating this shit up.” Lysa violently bit down on a length of sausage, ripping the flesh with her teeth.

“When she does come back, it’d be best to take our conversation elsewhere. I’m not exactly keen to have our talks eavesdropped when we don’t know just how many people are advantaged like Gabriel was.”

“About Gabriel… what was all that with the magic chain and the bone crushing? I didn’t expect you to be so brutal.”

His stomach lurched again, images of muscle and bone racking and squelching making him squeamish again.

“The spell was something I was hoping to save for a proper monster and they pushed me into a small enough corner that it was my only option. I want to say that he could have stopped it if he felt it attach to his soul when it did, but it was because of his momentum and his lack of reinforcement around his legs that it was as devastating as it was.” They fell silent.

His spells were all about debilitation and disorientation. The only spell capable of dealing direct damage was something he had, thankfully, avoided casting and hoped it would remain that way unless it was an absolute do or die situation. His only target to practice on was his mother and she had always shrugged off the effects so seeing his cast be as successful as it was made him numb to the craft.

He knew adventuring and violence came hand in hand but there was this lingering dread telling him that this wasn’t the last time his spells would be used on a human opponent.

Lysa redirected the conversation this time, “I’m glad you were able to make it up to this point. I had to deal with just one person, I couldn’t imagine having to handle a three on one, even if they weren’t playing with full decks out there.”

Jose sighed, “It was my first real fight, outside of that spar we did and the bar fights I got into when I was younger. It felt good to get one over on them and make them regret messing with me the way they did, and I have my victory to show for it, but my body is aching and we still have the next event to contend with.”

Their conversation ended when a figure emerged from the hall and walked towards them. Carmina had a wide grin on her face, despite the bandages around her midsection and cuts all across her body. It looked like someone had dragged lines of barbed netting across her flesh.

“We all need to have a chat.” Carmina said, leaning in on the table.

Jose and Lysa looked at each other and nodded, “Lead the way. Also, sorry for calling what you said croc shit.” Lysa replied apologetically.

Carmina gestured her arm with a wave motion and when Lysa didn’t comprehend the symbol, Jose chimed in.

“Water under the bridge. Commonly used by folk that live out in Lacrumi.” The same folk he would visit during their study excursions in the beaches. Carmina raised an eyebrow but made no followup comment, instead waving the both of them to follow her through the network of hallways underneath the arena.

“I don’t think they can hear us from down here.” Carmina’s voice softly echoed in the rusted alcove full of pipes and wiring. She looked in either ends of the hallway before leaning back into their alcove and directed her attention to both of them. “Congratulations on your victories, by the way. I picked you two because you were unaffiliated but knowing you’re competent makes Matteo and my life a lot easier.”

Jose accepted the backhanded compliment and pointedly asked, “What is the point in Isabella’s rule change and why were certain people informed over others?”

“My guess is that Isabella is looking at this abandoned vessel as a lucrative opportunity for her and her business. If she can press her thumb on the scales and tip the volunteers to her favor, then she gets to reclaim all the potential tech in there.”

“Why would people agree to those conditions?” Lysa chimed in.

Carmina shrugged, “Dunno. I think it’s their personal motivations or something but I haven’t really taken the time to ask a conspirator that wasn’t cagey or in denial of the whole thing.”

It felt like a logical throughline; Isabella was a merchant that sold scrap and maintained connections with other merchants across their route. It would be a financial windfall for her to sell some of that ancient technology resting in the vessel or even get things to function. If the forge was still functional, it would even mean having production rights over each Chariot built which would extend to having a fleet at her command…

“Oh my gods… she’s looking to take over Ileah.” Jose concluded.

“If her control over Barnacle Bay is worth considering, I’ll be drowned if I don’t nip her plans here and now.” Carmina responded.

“What’s the plan then?” Lysa asked.

“I managed to warn the two of you about the conspiracy because you were outright unaffiliated with any other group. What we need before the third event is a headcount of how many conspirators are under Isabella’s thumb and remove any amount of leverage she has given them from the other competitors.”

Jose thought about it for a moment and shook his head in disagreement. They were all tired from their previous fights and the thought of spending their resources finding the rest of the traitors, while noble, meant they would be spent come the final event. There was no way he was throwing his opportunity for adventure away on a plan with little to go on.

“That sounds fucking awful.” Lysa commented. It seemed she agreed with him. Carmina looked annoyed and opened her mouth to provide a response but Lysa continued, “If there are only ten spots on this boat, then the easier solution would be roping in six more people into our own group, right?”

They stood in stunned silence.

“What? If you think it’s dumb, just say it and come up with something better than staring at me, you weirdos.”

Jose reached up and grabbed Lysa by her cheeks, bringing her down to give her a kiss on the forehead, “You’ve got a brain in there after all!” Lysa jerked her head back and gave him a slap to the back of the head, but she smirked at the compliment regardless.

“So we’d vet six other people into our group and…” Carmina trailed off as she nodded in approval. “I’ll see about making some friends, topside. If you find anyone worthwhile, send them my way.”

The group dispersed from the tunnels. True to her word, Carmina disappeared the moment they left the dingy underground hallways, Matteo silently in tow following his own victory.

Lysa and Jose made cursory inspections of the remaining competitors healthy enough to be standing in the waiting room, taking stock of what tools they had at their disposal for the next event.