The following weeks passed in a flash until their twelve weeks of basic training were almost over. Sora's statement “Everything in life is tedious” turned out to be right once again. The Dreamers continued with their excruciating training of keeping Nether portals open in emergency situations. After that had been drilled into the Dreamers as close to an instinct, they shifted their focus to the telepathic communication training. It was an invaluable skill to the Expedition Corps since for unknown reasons any radio and other communication technology refused to work in the Nether. The Dreamers also continued to be trained in Dreamstate scouting. Although the Dreamers were not allowed to stray far into the Nether during these scouting sessions, it resulted in Sora gaining a hazy familiarity with the Nether. The other recruits still had not been allowed to enter the Nether or had even properly seen it other than gaining glimpses of it through Seer portals.

  A tedium that all of the recruits shared was the ever increasing amount of marching which also came to include loaded marches. They learned basic first aid and the dedicated squad medics had separate more advanced lessons. Their shooting training continued and they also learned how to throw grenades without blowing themselves to pieces. Yuri hated grenades so much from having to draw piles of them every day that he threw them with as much force as possible to get them as far away from him as he could. He broke the record for throwing distance among the new recruits. He quickly gave up counting the amounts of ammunition, weapons and other equipment that they had him draw, he believed otherwise it would have driven him insane. Not even in sleep could he find salvation. He was dreaming of drawing them and if he was not dreaming of drawing, he was dreaming of reading about them. Never in his life had he done anything more mind numbing.

  It made him hate drawing, his entire right arm and hand started hurting when he was just thinking about it. Or maybe he was just imagining that it did. Yuri was so tired. Maybe continually hovering at the edge of sleep was the reason why time seemed to pass as if someone had skipped ahead in a book. And one more thing happened with their basic training coming to a close, the members of each squad had been evaluated for their leadership skills so that one of them would be assigned as the squad's sergeant. For Yuri and the 5th squad that turned out to be Liz. So that solo bed in their barracks never changed possession, it had been assigned to the right person all along.

  *

  Soon after, Liz relayed her first order to Yuri. He was to pick up some books on field mortars, ammunition types and, of all things, paintball guns. These particular books could not be found at the modest library that the Expedition Corps maintained and so a request for them had been issued to the main library at the 5th Outpost. Yuri had not left the 2nd Outpost, containing the Expedition Corps headquarters, at all during the time of his basic training and he almost felt a sense of anxiety as he passed from one giant light gate to the next until he reached the 5th Outpost. This Outpost contained mostly government buildings but its most remarkable feature was the main library at the center. Even though Yuri had been here frequently before, attending the Seer classes at the Internal Security's HQ, he was always in awe of the huge, white, neoclassical building that housed the library. Marble stairs led up to a double glass door rimmed by a black metal frame.

  It felt more like having entered a holy place than a library. Maybe the circular, dome shaped room had something to do with it. Like the stairs outside, the floor was made out of white marble. Yuri slowly made his way to the long reception desk, which was occupied by only a single person. He passed by rows of round tables topped with green library lamps and ringed by wooden chairs. There was no one sitting there, the entire library was deserted with the exception of Yuri and the young woman behind the reception desk. He craned his head in every direction to get the best look at the immense dark, wooden bookshelves, some of them almost going up to the distant ceiling. Long ladders on rolls allowed access to the higher reaches of the bookshelves and two stairways on either side of the entrance lead up to second floor balconies, which allowed reaching even further heights.

  The young woman at the reception only seemed to be a couple of years older than him and had her eyes fixed on a ledger in front of her. She was wearing her hair in a ponytail and Yuri was surprised by its unique color, blonde, so light that it was almost silver. She wore the ink blue uniform of a library employee. Behind black-rimmed glasses her icy blue eyes were creeping over the letters and numbers on the pages before her, then she looked up as she noticed him.

  “I knew you would come today”, she said and smiled.

  “You did ?” Yuri asked, confused.

  “I know everything”, she answered, “There is no better place to know everything than a library, is there?”

  “I can't really argue with that.”

  “Erika”, she said after a brief silence in which Yuri had just stared at her.

  “What?”

  “Erika”, she said again, “I had interpreted your silent looks as searching for a name tag, or were you just captivated by my appearance?”

  “Um...”, Yuri said, whose cheeks had flushed a little. “You don't seem much older than me, have you been working here for long?”

  “I have been here just as long as you have.”

  “Three minutes?”

  “Feels like it sometimes, doesn't it?” she said, her soft laughter sounding like chiming bells. “Or it could have been an eternity, sometimes the difference between nothingness and infinity is hard to tell. Look around, many of the books here were created by be. Probably the majority of them.”

  That seemed utterly impossible to Yuri especially if she had only been here for the same three year span as him. His confusion grew with each passing second.

  “What is your favorite book?” Yuri wanted to know. Erika's smile faded and left behind only an expressionless face. After a brief pause she said: “Sophie's World.”

  “I am not familiar with that one.”

  “That doesn't surprise me”, she said. “I have told you my name but you have not told me yours yet”, Erika said.

  “I thought you know everything?”

  “You wouldn't believe me if I told you how little that matters. Knowledge and agency are not the same”, Erika said gravely. “But, you are Yuri, right?” Yuri just nodded in further confusion which earned him another smile from the strange librarian.

  “I was ordered to pick up some books”, he finally managed to catch himself.

  “Of course you were.”

  “What?” Yuri heard himself ask again. Am I this stupid or is it just because of her?

  “Ordered, I mean”, Erika answered. “Orders make the world go round. Quite literally”, she went on and looked at the ceiling as if she was expecting some world shaking motion. Nothing happened.

  “Let me have a look at this”, she said and took the list of books from Yuri's hand. She studied it just for a moment before concluding: “They are in the back, I will get them for you.” And without waiting for a reply or word of thanks she turned around and disappeared through a remarkably dark doorway behind her, which led deeper into the building. She was quickly consumed by shadows and even though she could not have walked very far yet, to Yuri it seemed as if the sound of her footsteps had vanished entirely.

  All that remained was silence. At first he did nothing, then he started to take a look around the shelves, pulling out books at random. “The Mating Habits of The Common Draccus” he found and a book called “Vastarien”.

  “Got them!” Yuri heard the librarian exclaim behind him. She had reappeared with a small stack of books in her arms and was smiling brightly. Erika dropped them on the counter and pulled out a document from somewhere. “You've got to sign this”, she said, still smiling. Yuri took the pen she offered him and signed the document to confirm that the Expedition Corps had been delivered the requested books.

  “Thanks” he said, picking up the stack of books to make his way back outside.

  “Until we meet again”, Erika called after him. Yuri stopped and turned towards her.

  “We will meet again?” he asked.

  “We will”, proclaimed the librarian with the icy blue eyes. “First one way and then the other.”

  Still puzzling over her strange words Yuri made his way to the exit wondering if she was just messing with him or if Erika was always like this. Maybe she was just incredibly bored. After he left and while walking down the stairs that led up to the library doors, he finally realized one likely way how Erika might have learned his name. Unlike her uniform, his did have a name tag. He had forgotten that it even existed.

  *

  Yuri found Liz in their squad room that was part of the overall shared barracks. The reason for also having to pick up a book on paintball guns became abundantly clear upon his return.

  “I have heard from higher up that it is customary to celebrate the end of basic training by holding a paintball tournament between all the new squads”, Liz informed him while thumping through the illustrated book. “So read up on those guns, you are gonna produce ours”, she proclaimed cheerfully, shoving the book back into his hands.

  “How did I not see this coming”, Yuri mumbled, as Liz left the squad room to bring the other books to the reference library. “You could help me with this, you know?” he said, turning towards Bob who, with a book of his own, was lounging on the lower bunk of his and Yuri's bunk bed.

  “Wasn't ordered to”, Bob replied, “Besides we need only five... plus maybe some handgun variants... and paint grenades. Never mind.”

  “So are you going to help me?” Yuri inquired.

  “Nope. I also still have my own assigned reading to do”, Bob held up his book so that Yuri could see it.

  “Light machine guns?”

  “I still don't understand why Sergeant First Class Hill decided to make me, the shortest, scrawniest person in this squad, a designated gunner and have me lug around this stupidly heavy M60.”

  “You did have the best results with it”, Yuri reminded him.

  “Shooting is one thing but it's still stupid because of my physique. Well, have fun with your book, buddy. I'm certainly not having fun with mine”, Bob said before returning to his duty.

  “A paintball tournament against the other squads”, Sora mused from her chair at the central table. “That means Janusz gets to face off against that blond Painter from the 2nd squad he has a crush on”

  “I do not have a crush on her!” Janusz denied. “I just think her hair is pretty.”

  “Come on, I have seen how you look at her”, Sora teased. “But I agree, her hair is pretty. It's like a lion's mane. Must be a pain to deal with though”, she said and ran her fingers through her own short, sand colored hair. Yuri knew who Sora and Janusz were referring to since as a Painter he shared classes with her. He had forgotten her name, Something Guinne, he thought. Yuri remembered her as loud and somewhat rude and that her Painting skills had impressed him. Reluctantly he flipped the book on paintball guns open and went on reading. With the least amount of enthusiasm possible.

  *

  The paintball tournament was held in the concrete maze of tunnels in which the Seers usually practiced their Seer vision. The whole construct was completed by open spaces, scattered low walls for cover, unroofed tower-like elevations as well as occasional stairs and walkways leading up onto the outer walls to enable devastating flanking maneuvers.

  The floor of the entire structure was already three meters below ground level but the members of the Expedition Corps had labored and erected wooden bleachers all around it to create even better visibility for the audience. Yuri yawned and reflexively tried to cover his mouth, but his hand never reached its destination since it collided with the face mask he was wearing.

  “More esprit”, Sora commanded from beneath her own mask, the bulging glass lenses of which made her look like an alien insect. Yuri had thought that he would be done after creating all their paintball weaponry but Liz had cheerfully reminded him that they also needed protective body armor and face masks.

  “Cut me some slack”, Yuri replied, yawning again but this time controlling his hand to not make a fool of himself again.“I had to stay up all night reading up on and then drawing all this crap. My mind feels like a tape recorder playing by itself.” Yuri switched to a monotone voice: “This is a Kingman Spyder VS2 Electronic Paintball Gun with an infiniti trigger that allows a fire rate of 25 shots per second. It includes features like Break Beam Eyes, electronic functions with a dual touch switch, a mini C/A regulator with an on/off dial, a vertical-”

  “Please just shut up”, Janusz interrupted him, “It's too early for this.” Yuri stared at him blankly for a moment.

  If I have to suffer through this, so shall they. So he began again: “This is a-” Sora punched him lightly on the arm. “I am just sharing my misery with you, do you not feel honored?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “What do you know of misery?” Janusz wanted to know.

  “That gun in your hand, I made that. And yours, and yours and yours ”, Yuri continued, pointing at Janusz, Sora, Liz and Bob one after the other. “Bob did not help me at all with this.”

  “I told you I was busy”, Bob defended himself.

  “Fine”, Yuri admitted, “But what about you Liz? You could have copied Bob's or my ability for a short while to help out.”

  “I am the sergeant here Private Dolya”, Liz responded, “And I say you did not get to choose.” “Anyway, gather round for a tactical discussion”, Liz went on, now with a more serious tone of voice. “According to the rules, Painters and Creators are only allowed to create two additional items per match, so you better think real hard about what that's going to be each time. I and the opposing Switcher are limited to copying only a Seer's or Dreamer's ability and we are only allowed to do it twice per match. Besides two paint grenades for everyone, each squad is responsible for creating their own paintball weaponry. Yuri opted for rapid firing close-quarters paintball guns, forgoing Janusz's expertise with long ranged weapons.”

  “I still think that's a mistake”, Janusz remarked and shot Yuri a disproving look. Janusz had been sour about it all morning.

  “No, I think under these circumstances Yuri made the right decision”, Liz countered, “This maze features far more cramped spaces and tunnels than open spaces. The point I want to make though, is that we are likely going to face a variety of different weapon types. Potentially even a squad with something like a grenade launcher or any other type of area-of-effect weaponry. Regardless, our strategy will remain the same. We will have two squad members focus on flanking while the other three hold off the opposing squad members, slowly retreating in a crescent shape with a weak center. This should allow us to more easily attack their flanks and in the most ideal case to surround them and hit them from the back.”

  “If we face a squad with similar armament and tactics, the faster one wins”, Yuri added.

  *

  In total there were eight squads competing in the tournament, meaning the two most successful squads would meet in the final after having played two matches. Both Liz's predictions and tactical insight proved to be correct, they did run into a squad using paint grenade launchers but Yuri and his fellow members of the 5th squad quickly managed to outmaneuver and surround them. In the second match they faced a squad using similar weaponry and tactics like them but the 5th squad managed to be faster and ended the match with both Yuri and Sora still standing at the end.

  Now they descended down the concrete stairs for the third and final match. Their opponent this time was the 2nd squad. Sora had been correct as well, Janusz was going to face off against the Painter with the wild lion's mane of hair. In addition to their paintball guns, a paintball handgun as back up and two paint grenades, Yuri was also carrying a large drawing pad on his back, as well as a supply of markers and other pens. It hindered his movements but learning how to deal with that had been part of his training.

  Like in the previous two matches Liz started off by copying Janusz's Seer abilities to increase their squad's scouting ability, unlike him she could only see through walls for half of Janusz's ten meter range. At first they all stuck together with Janusz and Liz in the front and Sora, Bob and Yuri behind them. Soon however, the maze forced them to split if they wanted to cover the terrain efficiently. Yuri took over the right flank, while Bob and Liz were on the left.

  Meanwhile Janusz advanced down a tunnel and further into the center to make the best use of his superior scouting ability. He was accompanied by Sora, to quickly relay any information to the rest of the team. It did not take long before Janusz got the first sight of their opponents.

  “Two members of the 2nd Squad are holding a strong defensive position behind some cover near our right flank. They are close to you Yuri”, Yuri heard Sora's voice reverberating in his head when her telepathic message came in. “I found some stairs leading up on the walls. If you can somehow draw their fire without getting hit, I can flank them. Do your best”, she continued. Yuri stopped to think. Drawing fire without getting hit? If there is no cover on my side, that's impossible. Wait a moment, “Cover”?

  And then he got it. Yuri quickly unslung the drawing pad from his back and pulled out one of his markers. Of course the pad was too small again to grant him the best quality for what he was drawing but in this case it didn't really matter. He pulled the crudely drawn Riot shield from the page and hurried on down the path, which soon opened unto a more open area with a low cover wall at the far side.

  The moment he turned the corner, he was immediately greeted by a hail of blue paintball bullets that would have taken him out, if he had not had the shield in front of him. Yuri kept advancing forward behind the Riot shield, weathering the storm of bullets that were pelting him like the world's most angriest hornets. The transparent window of his shield was quickly covered in blue paint and he could not see anything. He was firing blindly, careful not to extend his arm far enough for it to be an easy target. It did not matter that he wasn't hitting anyone, he was just the distraction.

  One of the opposing squad members finally had enough, ducked back behind cover and readied a grenade, when Sora appeared on the walkway behind them and took them out before they could react.

  “That fucking Riot Shield isn't fair!” complained one of them, to which Yuri and Sora responded in unison: “Real fights aren't fair!” and they both broke into laughter.

  The other squad member had forgotten the sharp grenade he was holding, which now went off in his hand, showering him and his squad mate in blue paint. Sora was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

  “I hope you go blind!” the member of the 2nd squad shouted after Sora, as Yuri and her made their way westwards to where they suspected the rest of the fighting was going on. Sora relayed their progress en route to the others and they were eventually greeted by Bob, who was covered in sizable blue paint blotches.

  “You are so short half the bullets fired at you miss by default, how did you even get hit?” Yuri asked him once they reached the others.

  “She got Liz and me with a grenade”, Bob answered, while nodding towards the blond Painter from the 2nd squad who was leaning against a wall and chatted with Liz. Her body armor was dotted with yellow paint. Yuri was too far away to hear what they were talking about but the snippets that drifted over to him carried a distinct Scottish accent with them.

  “Also, shut the fuck up”, Bob concluded, before he went off sulking into a corner.

  “This is your sergeant speaking, your sergeant is dead”, Liz said once she noticed them, shrugging with open arms as if to say: “What can you do about it?”

  “Janusz is over there”, she said pointing towards a cover wall from behind which Janusz occasionally peaked to fire some shots at a similar wall further down, before ducking back into cover. “The center is weak but it does hold. You should better hurry, the match isn't over yet.” Yuri and Sora quickly went to join Janusz behind the cover wall.

  “Are you staring at me?”, the 2nd squad's Painter with the lion's mane of hair wanted to know from Janusz after he had looked her way for quite a while.

  “I'm staring through you. And that wall behind you”, he replied.

  “Nice shield”, Janusz remarked, after Yuri and Sora had reached his position and before he continued firing over the cover wall again. “There is one left behind the cover”, he said. “The last one retreated to that small, elevated tower thingy and is taking potshots. Although he can't aim for shit. Still be careful. With you here we can finally flank the guy behind the cover wall at the far end.”

  “Got it”, both Yuri and Sora replied. They headed to the east again and then advanced through the maze northward, staying out of sight, while Janusz and his opponent kept up their deadlock. They fell upon his left flank. Although it was not them but Janusz who took him out, as the member of the 2nd squad, startled by their appearance, popped his head out from the cover, Janusz's bullet struck his face mask. Apparently paint had hit him in the eye through a gap, at least that's how Yuri interpreted his outcry of: “The goggles do nothing!”

  They had no time to enjoy their success, as a blue bullet fired from the round tower-like elevation nearly hit Sora. They quickly retreated to take cover behind the other side of the wall, while Yuri was shielding them. Sora telepathically informed Janusz of their progress, who joined their position.

  “One left”, he proclaimed. “The fact that they did not try to flank me earlier, his positioning and long range firing indicate that he is armed with a sniper rifle. Single fire most likely”, Janusz concluded. “We got him now, he can only fire at one of us at a time if we attack him from three sides.”

  In agreement with Janusz's plan, they split up. Janusz was playing the bait in a frontal attack, as the sniper would not waste bullets on a shield-covered Yuri. Sora went west and Yuri east, to then swing back towards the tower from a slightly more northern position. As they closed in, several things happened in rapid succession: Janusz, who had managed to avoid getting hit so far, let out a shout of “God dammit!” informing both Yuri and Sora that his luck had finally run out. Yuri had made it to the staircase on the eastern side of the tower, as two pairs of grenades came raining down on him from above. Tightly slamming the Riot shield onto the ground and ducking behind it saved him. Holy shit! That was close. He should only have had two grenades, he must be their Creator, Yuri thought. Now his shield looked like it had been blue from the very start.

  Sora had managed to use the situation to sprint up the other stairs at the western side of the tower and her calling: “Got him!” from above, informed Yuri that they had finally won.

  *

  The paintball tournament concluded under the cheering audience of Expedition Corps members and with the 5th squad as the victor. A short while later, after having showered at the barracks, the members of the 5th squad joined the graduation celebration of the new recruits.

  In the meantime the wooden bleachers had been deconstructed into simple benches. Together with long wooden tables they had been set up at the very edges of the 2nd Outpost. Someone had organized a boombox and the sound of loud music was carried through the darkness. It was not a party song and Yuri managed to identify the somber lyrics as belonging to Dire Straits' “Brothers in Arms”. Crowds of Expedition Corps members were gathering around large campfires, drinking and singing. Even though the new recruits were too young to officially drink alcohol, it didn't take long until they were handed mugs by passing Corps members. They also had to deal with getting patted on the back by strangers they had never interacted with.

  Yuri and the rest of his squad members retreated to the edge of a far away bench, near one of the less crowded fires, sipping from their mugs and slowly getting light headed. Even the joyful celebrations though, could not hide the strangeness of the place they were in. Like all the Outposts, it was divided in an area that was perpetually bright even in the absence of the sun or any other source of light. The edges of the Outposts however, were always dark and when walking too far in, one had to be careful not to collide with the invisible walls that were boxing them in. The benches, tables and fires had been set up in this dark zone to simulate a nighttime atmosphere.

  While taking sips from his mug Yuri watched some of the Expedition Corps members dance around a nearby fire. He also spotted the Painter of the 2nd squad sitting on a bench close to the fire. Strangely she was sitting there alone and not celebrating with her other squad members. Next to Yuri, Janusz took a big gulp from his red plastic cup, stood up from the bench and headed over to her. The music and general noise of the celebration were too loud for Yuri to hear any word of what Janusz and the Painter were talking about but Janusz's change in expression and the sudden sagging of his shoulders told its own story. However, Yuri had not missed the initial smile on the Painter's face when Janusz had walked over to her.

  Bob let himself plummet on the bench in Janusz's vacated spot. His cheeks were already flushed and the alcohol seemed to have broken through his usual gruffness.

  “Every time someone from Chicago comes to New York or the other way around, a discussion about pizza breaks out. I have relatives in Chicago so that comes up a lot”, Bob told Yuri over the red plastic cup in his hands.“The question is never answered satisfactory for anyone, which pizza tastes better New York style or Chicago style? Of course we can agree that real Italian pizza is the best, but that's not part of the question.”

  “I have never been to New York or Chicago or anywhere in the US for that matter”, Yuri said.

  “I will let you know that New York style pizza is the correct answer to that question”, Bob informed him. “I really want to eat it again. Don't get me wrong, the pizza that is manifested here by Creators is great, but it just isn't like back home.”

  “Home”, Yuri said, “It's hard not to think that it just ceased to exist, but then the yearly Harvest happens and that must mean that Earth is still there. Where else could the people come from?”

  “Damn right”, Bob agreed, “We are going home, buddy. We will find the way back in the Nether, it's just a question of time.” Then something changed in the tone of Bob's voice. “You know what I like the most about Nowhere? That there are no open sources of water anywhere. Supposedly there aren't any in the Nether either. I had been out to the Central Park Reservoir with a friend during winter. It was frozen and we went out on the ice, stupid kids that we were. Not everything was frozen solid. My friend broke through and I still can see him drift below the ice. His gloved fist barely visible beneath it, pounding against the ice. The next moment I remember, I was already here in Nowhere.” Yuri said nothing.

  “That's just perfect”, Bob mumbled, “No ice here to break through.” Yuri did not know what to say or do in response, he still largely refused to think about what happened right before his own arrival in Nowhere.

  “I need another drink”, he finally said and got up. After having filled his mug with more questionable liquid from a keg, he sat down on a different bench next to Liz. She was polishing her red rimmed glasses before she put them back on again. The light from the big campfire was gleaming in her amber eyes.

  “I wish we had stars here. Or the moon”, she said, while looking up to the darkness hovering above them. “I was into astronomy, back in London. I had gotten this little telescope for my birthday. Of course I couldn't see anything from the middle of the city”, she laughed. “But one night my father took me to this hill on the outskirts and from there it was as if I could see every star in the sky. My favorite was Sirius, the dog star. It appears brightest in August, that's why they call the hottest days in August “Dog days”, did you know that?”

  “I didn't”, was all Yuri responded with, not wanting to interrupt Liz's sharing any further.

  “The old Greeks said that Sirius brings bad luck. Strange, how can something so beautiful be considered bad?” She looked over at him and laughed again.“Sorry I'm just rambling”, she said, “It's the alcohol I guess.”

  “It's fine”, Yuri assured her and thought about Bob's traumatic story. Before he could say anything else, Sora had squeezed in between them, an arm around each of their shoulders.

  “And what are you two doing?” she asked giggling.

  “I think you should cut down on the alcohol for now”, Yuri let her know.

  “I'm fiiiiine!” Sora dismissed him, stretching out the “I” sound.

  “I've got an idea”, Liz suddenly said, getting off from the bench. “Come!” she motioned to Yuri and Sora, while she was heading towards Bob and Janusz, who were now talking near one of the fires. They followed her over to the others and Liz pulled out an old Polaroid camera.

  “That's an original, I had it with me when I ended up here”, she said. “It has only one picture left and I was saving it for so long, but this is something worth remembering.” They all lined up, with the fire behind them and Liz took the picture. Once it had developed, they all signed the backside with their names. In the picture Liz was smiling brightly, while Bob made a peace sign over her head. Sora's eyes were closed and her mouth open in silent laughter, an arm around both Yuri's and Janusz's shoulders. The backlight had drowned out more details, leaving them all more as shadows than people.

  *