text: There was a pleasant tingle of warmth, rushing through every fiber of Dhane's being. Golden light imbued itself into each of their souls, swirling from head to toe.
  
  Then they arrived.
  
  The sudden shift from underground darkness to the outside world beneath a bright sun, forced everyone to cover their eyes. Sensations trickled in, starting with the touch of a pleasant breeze, carrying the scents of blossoms and water and mint.
  
  Lime green grass covered the ground and stretched out toward hundreds of white trees with bright blue leaves. And in the other direction, dozens upon dozens of small lakes ran into each other with little waterfalls, glistening under a teal blue sky with puffy white clouds.
  
  It was a slice of paradise, warm and welcoming, promising an exciting new place to live and explore. Mahai chose this as a place for his Cobalins to live happily above ground.
  
  Kuby, still wearing a broken chain around his ankle, fell forward and brushed his fingers through the grass. Knock looked like he'd cry, perhaps feeling guilty for being here without Desley. The other three Cobalins cheered and ran around, rolling and tumbling and laughing.
  
  Devron took Dhane's arm and smiled. "You saved them, man. I always hated that they were slaves, but . . . I didn't know. They're like humans, aren't they? Almost like kids."
  
  Dhane nodded. Kids. That was a great way to describe them. A race of kids, wanting to play under the sun, to go swimming, to sit around campfires, to sing and dance.
  
  But these Cobalins were just a sliver of the ones they had left behind. That thought swirled down into his chest with hints of rage and sadness and defeat. Could they really call this a win?
  
  Except . . . maybe. . ..
  
  Dhane summoned his phone with the map app already launching. They were in the next zone, close to the edge, 88.4 miles from Ceratree City. With a mental flick, the screen shifted to display cemeteries.
  
  Almost all of Ceratree was empty of cemeteries. In fact, the only ones that existed outside of the city were at the far western and eastern edges of the zone.
  
  If a cemetery were to be placed here, it would be the closest one to the city. And they just so happened to have a Village Seed. . ..
  
  This was Mahai's intent all along. He must have been tracking the progress the priests of Light were making, for why else would he choose this place of all the places in the vast world of Olindale?
  
  Dhane withdrew the Village Seed. It materialized from wisps of smoke, an octahedron topaz, nearly as large as a softball. He pushed most of his mana into it, accepting the solemn responsibility that he now was the leader, and the town would be settled using his affinities.
  
  The topaz grew warm and bright, shimmering in a yellow-gold. Everyone stopped and watched. This was the creation of their next home, the last gift left by Mahai, their protector.
  
  It pulled toward the sky and Dhane let go, allowing it to drift upward. The seed pulsed with a golden power that seeped out and spun around with it, creating spiraling waves that coursed out and across the land.
  
  The wind picked up and trees rustled. Then a bright beam of gold shot down from the topaz and into the ground.
  
  In that fleeting moment, there was a divine question, emanating from his very soul, a request to know the name of this here new village. And Dhane replied with the only name that made any sense, "Dedu Tedu . . . Novus," Latin for new.
  
  All the shimmering gold dispersed to pearlescent mana and faded, then a chime resonated in Dhane's head. He checked his notifications and found one from the System.
  
  ─ (2:48 p.m.) System alert to channel All. A new village has been settled in Terralacoos. Its precise location is currently withheld. The village's primary waypoint has been hidden for 30 days.
  
  ─ Name: Dedu Tedu Novus
  
  ─ Affinity: Light and Shadow
  
  ─ Leader: Dhane
  
  The ground shook and cobblestones rose up to form a road and large waypoint platform. Wood and stone and glass materialized from shimmers of gold, then combined to make a large, three-story inn and shed.
  
  Across the new road, hedges and flowers grew out from a central fountain of stone, appearing out of nothing. A swirling trail of ground, sunk and filled in with gravel, then water rushed through the conduit, spilling over the sides.
  
  Little bridges pieced themselves together with wood just as a path of cobblestones formed, leading to alcoves where large slabs of stone shifted into reality.
  
  Pop! . . . Pop! Pop-pop-pop-pop! Puffy white animals appeared, looking like sheep, but each with a single, twisting horn of a different color. Sumilians. . . . They immediately started grazing with no apparent concern for predators.
  
  Confetti popped in the air and drifted downward, transforming into butterflies of every color and pattern, some flying in groups, others exploring all the new flowers that grew in the last few seconds, filling their little valley with color.
  
  Dhane turned, taking in the view. They had a place to sleep and eat, tools, and a cemetery, everything they needed to start their own little town.
  
  "Holy hell, man," Devron said.
  
  The Cobalins, all except for Knock, ran through the inn's front door, excitedly yelling and giggling about choosing rooms. One wanted a lake view, another wanted to live in a closet.
  
  Then a chime resonated within Dhane, and another, and another. New notifications were popping up every other second, and with them, large beams of red light shot toward the sky from different directions, impossible to get a sense of how close they were.
  
  ─ (2:52 p.m.) System alert to channel All. Riverport has declared war on Dedu Tedu Novus. Local waypoints have been locked until conflict resolution.
  
  ─ Recorded Reason: A town of Shadow cannot be allowed! Join Riverport in removing this scourge from our lands.
  
  ─ (2:52 p.m.) System alert to channel All. Glimmerpond has declared war on Dedu Tedu Novus. Local waypoints have been locked until conflict resolution.
  
  ─ Recorded Reason: We stand against the spread of evil.
  
  ─ (2:52 p.m.) System alert to channel All. Vehelum has declared war on Dedu Tedu Novus. Local waypoints have been locked until conflict resolution.
  
  ─ Recorded Reason: Ha! War sounds like fun!
  
  ─ (2:53 p.m.) System alert to channel All. Ceratree City has declared war on Dedu Tedu Novus. Local waypoints have been locked until conflict resolution.
  
  ─ Recorded Reason: The Reditai will not let this corruption of Light stand. All cities, work with our army to rid Olindale of the enemy that threatens all of us. Please reopen your waypoints to Ceratree City for trade and cooperation, and we will do the same for you. For the Light!
  
  "Oh no!" Knock said, eyes wide. "It's happening again!"
  
  Two more notifications came in from Golden Valley and Silva Garden, stating identical reasons In accordance with the pact, we have declared war.
  
  "What do you mean?" Dhane asked.
  
  "They come for us. The evil adventurers, they come! We can't stay, can we? We must hide, dig hole. How we live, great Shadow?"
  
  Devron looked like he would say something, though another large beam of red, one that was much closer than the others, shot skyward.
  
  ─ (2:54 p.m.) System alert to channel All. Seezy has declared war on Dedu Tedu Novus. Local waypoints have been locked until conflict resolution.
  
  ─ Recorded Reason: None
  
  Dhane took in a deep breath, pinched his eyes shut, mind racing through all the possible solutions to this evolving puzzle. Challenge after challenge after challenge.
  
  Would life always be so impossibly unfair?
  
  Yes. That was the answer, a resounding yes. Only the strong survived. And so there was little choice, they would have to be strong, stronger than any enemy could imagine.
  
  He exhaled and glared at that last beam of red light until it shattered into millions of flickering shards and dissolved like all the others. They would fight and they would win for he had a plan, a plan to not only survive, but to thrive.
  
  And it started right now.
  
  As if by sheer willpower alone . . . the world froze. The butterflies hovered, motionless wings shimmering their creative patterns in pinks and blues. Even Devron stood with eyes half shut, mid-blink. And Knock . . . down on all fours while Gameus, god of the realm, used the Cobalin as a chair.
  
  "You will fail," the god said, tapping a long fingernail on the top of his cane.
  
  "How—"
  
  "How do I know? I am a god. But I cannot see the future, if that's what you're after. Anyone who can count their fingers and toes could tell you that you're in an impossible situation. Do you really think so little of everyone else in this heaven?"
  
  "I haven't had the liberty to think anything."
  
  Pip, the little red imp, stood off to the side next to a frozen sumilian. "Can I . . . oh, please, let me touchy your horny. I likes it. So pointy and hardy."
  
  "Pip!" Gameus yelled.
  
  "Yesss Master?"
  
  "You don't need another sumilian! Get over here." Gameus turned back to Dhane. "You have been most entertaining to watch. But you are like a candle with a short wick."
  
  Pip laughed.
  
  "That was not a euphemism! By all the heavens, do I need to dip you into a pit of lava again?"
  
  "Nooo Master!"
  
  "Then be a good imp." He sighed. "Where was I. . .?"
  
  "Um, candle, sir?" Dhane offered, his mind full of images of him being lowered into a pit of lava should he do anything to annoy the god.
  
  "Yes! A candle with a short wick has little room to burn. The flame is but a dim flicker, everything, including the softest of breaths, its enemy. You—Dhane of shadows, newborn soul, ignorant and dumb—are that flame, so precariously close to being extinguished.
  
  "And that's quite unfortunate. You've thrown a boring world of order into chaos, a chaos that will soon be solved by your capture."
  
  "You want to help me?" Dhane asked.
  
  "Help? Such a move would violate the rules, and I will not pay such a price for mere entertainment. But Pip—"
  
  "Yesss Master?"
  
  "Don't interrupt me!" He seethed for a moment, took in a breath, and said, "Pip is a soul of this heaven, he," Gameus said, eyeing the imp before continuing, slowly, "could share his knowledge of letters?"
  
  "My alphabet?" Pip asked and Gameus shrugged, suddenly taking interest in a frozen butterfly, bringing it back to life so it could land on his finger. "Yesss! Yesss! I loves me my alphabet."
  
  Pip summoned a TI-84 graphing calculator, then pressed buttons until an outline of a book appeared before him. He grabbed it and it materialized, thin and baby blue with Care Bears on the cover, The Care Bears' Book of ABCs.
  
  "Not that one!" Gameus yelled, and the butterfly turned to ash. "I swear I shouldn't have taken so much of your intelligence. The book on symbols, if I have to spell it out for you!"
  
  "Oh oh oh! Yesss," Pip said, depositing the book and withdrawing an old, leather-bound notebook instead. "Here you go-y. These are my notesies on magic."
  
  Dhane accepted the notebook and flipped through the pages. The notes were impeccable, written in a fancy cursive around drawings of symbols and how those symbols broke down into simpler ideas.
  
  If Gameus was risking some form of heaven punishment to bring him this book, it had to contain a solution, some way for him and the Cobalins to win, or at the very least, to survive.
  
  Pip stared at the book as if seeing it for the first time in years. His slim figure seemed to sag, little wings twitching. The contents of the book and this imp were so entirely unlike each other. What happened to him?
  
  Dhane knelt so he and the imp were closer to eye level. "I'll just borrow it, okay? And I won't let anything happen to it."
  
  The little imp nodded, then spotted a sumilian and brightened before running toward it. "Can I haves this one! It has pretty purple horny!"
  
  Gameus sighed, then swirled his finger in the air and the sumilian lifted off the ground, shrinking as if becoming a lootable item. It bleated—a tiny, panicked tune—and Pip tapped it, collecting it to his calculator.
  
  Dhane deposited the book to his inventory and turned to Gameus. "But what about the balance? The priests of light are killing souls, and you do nothing."
  
  "The balance? What fun is there in a game where one side cannot win, at least temporarily? The balance is a cycle, my boy. And you are wrong about souls. Souls cannot die, but they can be contained, forced to sleep."
  
  Gameus waved Pip over. "Now, resume that overconfident, dramatic glare you had before my arrival. No one can know we were here, understand?"
  
  Before Dhane could reply, Gameus and Pip were gone. The world unfroze, bringing back the warm breeze, bleating sumilians, and frolicking butterflies.
  
  Devron let out a breath and shook his head. "Hells, man, this ain't lookin' good for us." He turned to Dhane then arched an eyebrow. "Wait. . . . What do you know that we don't?"
  
  "We live?" Knock asked, brows pulled together in confusion as to why he was down on all fours.
  
  Dhane shrugged. Secrets. . . . What was up with all of these god figures asking him—of all people!—to keep secrets? And so he summoned the leather-bound notebook, letting it materialize from wisps of smoke in his hands, this book that just might give them an edge in the battles to come.
  
  He smiled at his two friends and asked. . ..
  
  "Want to learn some magic?"