When Matt came over later that day, Beth cheered for him. He got to only come over when he had the energy to do it, so, of course, he was the fun uncle. Beth loved him, and to be honest, I understood why.

Matt played some video games with her, he drew with her, they played outside a little and the air smelled tolerable with him around. The purity that he could create with his sword-Qi made it easier to breathe and kept the smog aside.

And, additionally, I could trust him. Well, using his eyes to watch Beth through them also helped, of course, but I did also trust him. Matt was my best friend, and I severely doubted he'd let my sister come to harm.

Not that anything happened. The rest of the day passed quietly, Matt went back to the guild, and Marie came over for Saturday. When I had to leave to clear a gate, Liam swung by. There were enough of us to watch Beth. Sometimes, I even got to ask Jules for help.

I wasn't exactly short on money anymore, so I could pay her more for it than her day job. She took time off, got a paycheck for it, and everyone was happy. Beth liked doing make-up with her.

Out of all of us, Liam was the best at video games, and always trounced her. Marie was the best cook. Matt was her favourite cuz he let her have the most freedom. Reya was the most gentle but also the most strict. Since she couldn't as easily communicate boundaries on the spot, she made her expectations clear beforehand and enforced them.

Emilia's powers lent themselves the best to the whole babysitting thing, though. She could turn the surrounding hill into a sandpit, and if Beth got too much dirt on her, she could simply pull it off with her Qi. The world was a playground when Emilia was around.

And so, the weekend passed without much trouble. Mom and Jared came back. I shook the man's hand, and mom thanked me for the help. She even refrained from making comments about my outfit, even though I saw that she wanted to.

With that task done, I went back to my day-by-day. Clearing dungeons, defeating foes, fighting off the invasion of alien forces on Neamhan, that kinda deal. I had public appearances, too.

Press conferences. I got to put on a dress shirt, suit jacket, all that fancy stuff. I even wore a tie. And, as always, there was Matt.

"I hate you," I said.

He looked at me, top button undone, his hair just ever so slightly in disarray as he ran a hand through it, and he shot me an awkward smile. Looking like he was cut from a dang idol calendar. "What's up?" he asked.

"You're a jerk," I said.

"What?" he asked, laughing.

Liam just nodded, agreeing with me, and Emilia smacked his shoulder. "Handsome bastard," she said, grinning. "She wants you to stop being the star of the show."

At that, Matt's awkward smile turned teasing. "Ahhh," he sighed, wistfully, flicking his hair. "But I simply cannot stop this sparkling, Fio."

"Fucking Rat," I said, laughing. Marie joined me, then ruffled his hair.

"Our superstar," she said.

Matt waved her off. "No, no. I am entirely average."

"Sure you are," Ann said, sitting on a couch with her legs crossed, taking a sip from a glass of cola. "And I'm considering setting your hair on fire in the middle of the conference."

His expression turned aghast. "You wouldn't dare!"

Ann smiled calmly, taking another sip, refusing to answer.

A second later, our attendant came in. "We're ready to start. Come on out when your name is called!" he said, shooting us a last thumbs up, and then dipping.

The government representative was giving a speech before us. Her name was Lyra, another martial artist from Eden, and the government's only asset above wellspring. She was just about as strong as me, with the current sanctions, I thought.

"Good day to everyone who came here today," she said. "We appreciate your presence. As you all know, the gates have recently been appearing more frequently, and grown in size." The presentation was held on a pop-up stage that had been assembled for just today.

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Lyra's salt and pepper hair moved in the wind. Her face had the kind of wrinkles that made her look timeless, like she had been cut from unmoving marble, forever the same. Her yellow-grey eyes slowly moved over the audience.

"As you all equally know, the government has been doling out the clearing of these gates to individual guilds. We have been working with Dawn of Ambition rather heavily. Some of you," she swiped her eyes over the audience, "are here to ask why we haven't let Zinnic raid more."

Her lips pulled into a faint smile at the grimaces that the camera couldn't see. "Some more of you were paid large sums of money to ask those questions," she said. "To demonstrate the answer to that question, let me reveal why this meeting is being held here!"

A curtain fell behind her, and the wind picked up. A large, swirling mass of blue and white was behind her. A category four gate, made to be raided by people at the top of this world's ladder. Echo, Qi, Mana and Divinity streamed out of it in droves, enhancing the winds ruffling Lyra's hair.

She grinned. "This," she said, gesturing behind her, "is a category four gate. Now, everyone here can feel it, right? Yes. Some of our local reporters are dropping to their knees from the pressure."

"These gates release magic into our world. It mutates our plants, it mutates our animals, and it changes you. It changes all humans," she said. "Some of us learn to harness those changes. Some shrivel and suffer. Some become addicted. It's not all upsides."

"Now, Zinnic has been working on closing one of these gates for a full week. It has gotten close to breaking, even though they have the power to close it. To demonstrate this, we have brought the entire guild of Dawn of Ambition here," she said. Her lips twisted into a sneer at the reporters.

"Generally, mission data is kept secret. But, for this once, we will publicise it. Ivan, would you take the readings?" she asked, then stepped back.

My brother stepped forward with a few assistants, pointing at some of the devices and readings in the back. "Of course, thank you," he said. "As you can see, this gate is giving off energy. Now, there are four types. The least abundant one is Divinity."

There were a few gasps at that. "It is called that due to being of an origin of faith. The Saintess, Reya, uses it, for example. She is one of very few people able to channel this energy."

"Next up are Mana and Qi," Ivan said. "These commonly see usage by martial artists and mages. One is more suited for metaphysical conjuring, the other for enhancement of physicality. Both work similarly, though their progression is a little different."

Then, Ivan took a long breath. "All energies I have previously mentioned seem to have, at large, positive influences on humans. Divinity heals, though it can cause healing fatigue. Qi generally causes physical enhancement, though it can cause deviation and some degree of personality changes. Mana can cause mana burn."

"Echo, however," he said, "is different. It causes highly aggressive mutations in plants and animals, almost always leading to heightened agitation and aggression. I had a vine try to bite my hand off. In humans, it causes similar symptoms, as well as addiction and some degree of cellular decay."

"It is also, by far, the most abundant energy to spill forth from gates." He took a moment to present the readings. "There is about three times more Echo than Mana, Qi, and Divinity combined."

A pause to let it sink in. "Gates have and will change our world. However, it is my belief that while Qi, Mana, and Divinity can be part of an ecosystem and help us create species that may make Neamhan more liveable, this is less possible with Echo. Additionally, we have not yet found any humans able to channel Echo in the same way as any of the other energies."

Ivan leaned forward, to the microphones. "Leaving gates open is dangerous. Not just because of the breaks, but because of irreversible changes to our already terribly fragile ecosystems. It is my professional opinion that we need to work to close them as swiftly as possible."

When he was done, the reporters were silent for a long moment. They were paid off by Zinnic, but Ivan's speech had hit home about the scale a little more. This wasn't just about profit, this was about survival of our planet.

Lyra stepped back forward. "As Ivan has elegantly presented, this is a problem that pertains to the survival or extinction of humanity."

Silence, again.

"Now. As a final demonstration, we have called the members of Dawn of Ambition here to clear this gate, and demonstrate how long this should take." She grinned. "Lady Shining Knight. Lord Nightmare. Lady Nature Veil. The Saintess. Lady Hurricane. Lord Blossom Dreams, and Lady Radiant Beacon."

We all stepped out one by one, and she clapped for us. It felt… awkward, standing there, with a suit, and a cloak of glass around my shoulders. But I did my part, smiling and waving. Marie was called to the podium, gave a little speech about fighting and we dove into the gate.

As soon as we went in, Lyra started a stopwatch. The government had set up cameras too, making sure to get the entire time on tape. No stitches, no cuts, no breaks. All livestreamed.

Comments were pouring in, but we didn't read them. Instead, I waved, and then stepped through the blue.

On the other side, there was horrible dryness. It was a desert, endless plains of white sand. No, actually. I breathed in again.

It wasn't sand. It was salt. Thousands, millions of tiny grains of salt beneath our feet. We set upon the gate.

- - -

Three hours later, we were out.

All of our suits were a little damaged. Ripped and torn and stained by dried blood. We'd healed up and Ann had cleaned us before we left, yet we still looked a little ragged. That was part of the plan, though. It wasn't to glorify these gates, it was to make clear the threat they posed.

An accurate assessment was worst for Zinnic.

None of us came to serious harm, but once we stepped out, more questions poured in. What had been in there? What had we fought? How had it only taken us three hours?

Money, suddenly, was meaningless. Because no amount of money could compare to the continued existence of the planet. We gave our report.

And, towards the tail end of it all, White Tiger showed up.

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