Later that morning, Sam and the other thirty-two sat spread throughout the training room. Mim had led them through a series of meditation exercises, each offering different variations on how to center oneself and speed up the ability to access aether.

  She stood at the front of the room, dressed in an austere black jumpsuit. “Your task now is to find a technique that works for you. Everybody is different, so while you may find inspiration from each other, sheer imitation will lead you nowhere. For example, while seemingly antithetical to the idea of meditation, some may find that unleashing their strongest emotions clarifies their thinking. Of course, this would be highly destabilizing for others.”

  She brought a fist to her palm. “Do not forget that the first step is the basis of The Path. To successfully compete in the Arena, you’ll need to move through this step instantaneously. That might sound like a tall order, but if you practice in earnest, you’ll see that being centered becomes less and less of an active choice and more of a constant state of being.”

  She stopped speaking and pointed to a man near the back. “You have a question.”

  Sam recognized him as Victor. At a recent dinner, Victor had attracted notice by boasting of his group’s affinities lending themselves toward offensive firepower. Intrigued, Nadia had gone to observe them practice—or, as she put it, collect intelligence. She came back wearing a frown and sank into another late night of furiously strategizing.

  Victor’s eyes opened wide in shock. “How did you know? I wanted to ask what The Path is exactly.”

  Mim’s tight smile betrayed a modicum of amusement. “Knowing what you intended to ask, I figured I’d demonstrate the answer. What you just saw was a glimpse of the seventh step of The Path. Yes, I read your mind. Well, to be more precise, I saw your intent, and because it was very sharply focused, I made an educated guess.”

  A quiet murmur echoed in the room. Sam imagined everybody felt the same way as him: Mim was psychic, which was terrifying. We know so little of what they can do.

  The noise began to build, and Mim smiled thinly. “Rest assured, I’ve only dabbled in the seventh step. I haven’t reached the Sovereign stage yet and most likely never will, no matter how long I live. I have an innate talent for the seventh step that allows me to access it even as an Ascendant. There are a few here with similar gifts.”

  Sam was reminded of Nadia’s apparent use of the sixth step and glanced over at her. She was chewing her lip.

  “But let’s back up. The Path stands for The Solar Path of Enlightenment, Self-Discovery, and Righteousness. It’s a bit silly. Xarlogic mystics from ancient history were no less ostentatious than some of your Earth priests and poets. But although Xarlogic civilization has evolved significantly since then, the name stuck.” She gave a wry grin.

  She tapped her wristband, and a series of charts and graphs floated in the air. “It’s important to understand that we all have varying levels of aether sense, which refers to our ability to detect and use aether.” One of the charts magnified, a large rectangle to one side reading Population and a small circle on the other titled Aether Sense. “The vast majority of the galaxy’s populace possess aether sense but only at a low, barely serviceable level.” The chart shifted to a spinning globe, with splotches of blue, white, and green filling it in. Earth. “Humanity is an exception to this. Your base level of aether sense is above average, with a multitude of deviations in both directions. Victor, your next question?”

  Victor flushed red but gamely responded. “Why is Earth different?”

  The image of Earth dissolved into a multitude of tiny dots, some lit up intensely, others dark and faded. “Once a civilization moves into active aether use, the question of varying levels of aether sense becomes political.” The dots shifted and became a uniform dull gray, save for a few remaining bright ones at the end. Mim’s smile hardened, and a glint of anger flashed in her eyes. “Our galaxy’s elites have famously propagated solutions in which to make aether sense as rare as possible. I hope your planet treats this topic with the care it deserves.”

  The mask slips. This issue had affected her personally, Sam surmised.

  She appeared to reset herself with a roll of her shoulders, turned, and drew a layered pyramid on the board behind her. The size of the base level far exceeded those above it. “Within The Path, there are four stages, each with three steps. The first we call the Legion stage. Ninety-five percent of those who possess aether sense will not move beyond it. Still, as you’ve begun to glimpse, the Legion stage offers great power to those who master its steps. The first step, Meditate, we’ve just covered. The second step, Empower, allows you to suffuse aether into yourself and any objects you hold. The third step, I will wait to address until a lesson next week.”

  Mim moved her finger up the diagram. The next level was small but still respectably visible, unlike those above it. “Next is the Ascendant stage. Of the remaining five percent of aether users, almost all of them belong to this stage, including myself. In Xarlogia, this is the group from which elite fighters, special dignitaries, and others valued highly by society are drawn. As you might guess, it’s exceptionally difficult to reach this level, but there are a few practiced ways to do so. Most of them require massive amounts of resources being applied from the moment you’re old enough to walk.”

  The diagram disappeared, replaced by massive piles of gold, pills, and weapons. “Since that applies to none of you, it will not be the goal of this training program to induce any of you to reach Ascendant. Of course, you may just stumble on your own onto one of the less accessible methods. I’m afraid I can’t say anything more about that subject, for knowledge earned is much more potent than knowledge given.”

  She said these last words with an equal sense of portent and vagueness, and Sam found himself intrigued. He gathered that just telling people how to do certain things was a shortcut that wouldn’t always be rewarded. This implied a metaphysical component to using aether, which added a whole extra layer of mystery. Growth may not depend on only hard work and practice. A sliver of apprehension invaded Sam’s gut. He reflected on the past few weeks; so far, he’d leaped forward in his understanding of aether. Soon enough though, he’d reach an obstacle, one that he neither had a natural aptitude for nor could grind down with dogged determination. Then what?

  Mim reached the top of the diagram. “The final two stages are the Sovereign stage that I mentioned a minute ago and the Celestial stage. No need to concern yourselves with either at this time.”

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  She elided further description of the stages beyond Ascendant. Sam recalled Tar’s earlier words about the most powerful users becoming the equivalent to deities, and a strange excitement overtook him. Regardless of how few individuals might reach the top, it was still possible. Even for somebody with as humble of origins as himself. Counterbalancing that though was the question of why. If Sam kept goals modest, what was the purpose of more power? Would it help solve problems or just create new ones? There was wisdom in that line of thought, but in the heat of the moment, Sam wasn’t sure exactly what choices he might make.

  Mim turned her gaze to Victor again, a twinkle in her eyes. “So full of questions. This next one you likely don’t want aired in public.”

  Victor turned beet red, and there were a few nervous chuckles. His brows knitted stormily.

  Sam made a mental note to practice disciplining his thoughts within eyesight of Mim. He fervently hoped her ability did not extend through walls.

  #

  That afternoon, Sam’s cohort met for their first official team practice.

  Win had a topic already in mind. “Folks, we need a name. Some of the other cohorts have developed team titles, and we need one too. It’s a branding exercise.”

  “The Assholes with Too Many Members has a certain ring to it, no? I heard somebody call us that the other day,” Camila said. Elias outright guffawed, which proved contagious, and they all laughed for a solid minute.

  Nadia wiped her eyes. “It’s a little wordy. But you’re right, Win.” Win’s eyes noticeably sparkled. “Let’s think of a name. Nadia’s Angels? No, that won’t work with Sam in the group.”

  “Oh, I think it works perfectly. We can be upfront that our team leader has an ego the size of her head. Ow.”

  Nadia had hit the back of his head. “Shush, you. There’s more where that came from.”

  “Win, have you heard what the other groups are calling themselves?” Camila asked.

  Win drummed his chin. “Hmm, I know Matteo’s cohort is calling themselves the Startroopers, which, I don’t know, is kind of bland? The group with Isidora and Victor is the Amazing Aces. Not sure about the others yet.”

  “Okay, okay. Let’s think. The Space Conquerors. Is that too aggressive?” Nadia said.

  Camila shook her head with gusto. “No, too evocative of colonialism. I know, how about the Dream Team?”

  The group looked around at each other silently.

  “Okay, no, we’re not feeling it,” Camila said good-naturedly.

  “Elias, any ideas?” Sam asked.

  Elias took a second to think and then said with quiet vigor, “The Gladiators.”

  Yes, that’s it. The name instantly felt right. Sam grasped Elias’s shoulder in excitement. Elias flinched a bit and so Sam pulled his hand back, but his enthusiasm wasn’t dimmed. “That’s perfect! I fought in a coliseum in my entrance exam. I mostly flailed around like an idiot, but it was epic.”

  “Yes! It’s fearsome without making any assumptions,” Win chimed in.

  “All right, we all agree then? We are the Gladiators.” Nadia put her hand in the middle of their circle, and after Win and Camila and even Elias followed suit, Sam did the same, trying not to roll his eyes. “So it is pronounced.” She lifted her arm and gave a fist pump.

  She stood and began to pace the room. “Okay, so I was thinking for our first practice. We should do a mock capture the flag. Two versus two, with one person sitting out to work on their steps. Everybody remember their assigned roles?”

  #

  The next morning, Mim led them in a lesson around the second step. As Sam had discovered during the entrance exam, achieving the second step required manifesting a representation of your affinity and then absorbing it into your body’s energy field. For Sam, this had come easily because electricity was simple to visualize and conceptually similar to the way he already thought about energy. Camila as well was able to produce light without too much difficulty.

  For the others, working with types of energy that were invisible or more abstract, Mim advised using a physical object as a totem, serving as a focal point for the mind. Nadia went for the obvious and chose a magnet, while Win requested a metal ball because it reminded him of Newton’s cradle. Elias chose a small tube of clear liquid, which he didn’t explain.

  “Maybe because it’s reminiscent of a nuclear reactor? There are lots of tubes in those, and water too,” Win whispered to Sam.

  Sam shook his head. “Only you would know to think of that, Win.”

  Once everybody started to get a handle on reaching the second step, the room came alive with people trying out their new abilities. Seeing so much demonstration of what Sam had once thought impossible astonished him. Would this be a historic day for humanity, akin to the Wright brothers first taking off in their wooden plane or Cai Lun inventing paper? If history remembered this group, he hoped it would be for the right reasons.

  Seeing his peers at work also served as a clear reminder that they had some fearsome competition ahead of them. This was confirmed when Tar joined them after the lesson to announce the matchups for the first round.

  Nadia groaned. “Just our luck. The Aces. Did you see Victor create a fireball yesterday? Guys, a fireball, like he’s some sort of wizard. I mean, come on.”

  “Manal’s affinity is formidable as well. Being able to control gravity? I’m sure she’s going to learn how to fly at some point,” Win added.

  “This is good. It will be a challenge.” Elias pressed his lips together in a hard-set smile. Sam shook his head ruefully, not wanting to risk Elias’s contributions to the conversation by refuting him.

  “I’m worried. What if we lose? Does that mean we have no chance of being the top group? We need those rewards so can we continue making further progress,” Camila said, running a hand through her hair. In the run up to the first round, the tension underneath Camila’s otherwise easygoing nature had grown. She was clearly focused on winning, the reason for which remained murky.

  “Look at it this way. If we win, we’ll be sending a statement. If we lose, this is just the first round. Plenty of time to recover,” Sam volunteered.

  Apparently not fully placated, Camila sighed but didn’t say anything further.

  Nadia clasped her hands together. “Let’s do what we can during practice today. I thought yesterday’s mock battles went well. Now we can try adding the second step.”

  Sam eagerly took the opportunity to train with a staff. Nadia tried talking him into switching his weapon of choice for something less unwieldy, but Sam enjoyed how much reach he had between his long arms and the length of his staff. It fit the image he had of himself as more of a protector than an attacker, able to keep enemies at bay. He preferred incapacitating rather than causing mortal injury.

  He found it difficult to fully duplicate the energizing technique he’d employed during the exam. His control of aether felt sluggish, less refined. Consequently, the mote would refuse to leave his hands or fizzle out as soon as it connected with the staff. “Win, those online videos you sent me may have shown me some basic control movements, but they’re no help in using the second step. Anybody have any suggestions?”

  Nadia pursed her lips. “You could just do what I said and zap people through touching them.”

  Sam held out his index finger and waved it at her. “On who, you? Payback for letting you use your affinity on me the other day? I still feel the urge to say duck whenever I look in the mirror. Not cool, Nadia, not cool.”

  “I already apologized. Twice!” Nadia huffed.

  Elias stepped over from his corner of the training room. “What is different this time versus during the exam?”

  Sam stretched his arms out. “I’m not about to die?”

  Elias nodded. “There you go.”

  Huh, right. Sam knew well enough the benefits of pressure. He picked up the staff again. How would he duplicate that environment again?

  A heavy weight collided with him, and he flew forward, landing on his knees. “What the hell?”

  Win stood over him, grinning. “Figured I could help.” He extended his hand.

  Sam growled as he took the hand to hoist himself up. “Could have warned me.”

  “That’s not how it works though, right?” He jumped back in an unnatural blur as Sam swung his staff in his direction. “That’s the spirit.”

  The two went back and forth before running out of energy. By the end, Sam could swing the staff quicker and with more force, as well as charge the weapon so he could lightly shock his opponents (which Win quickly learned to avoid). A glimmer of power underscored his movements. It felt good, right.