The first thing Kyle noticed was the heat.  A scorching wind rustled his clothes, the temperature nearly as hot as the planet he’d visited during Phase One.  The sky was enveloped in a dull, crimson haze.  The culprit was the oversized red giant star lazily dropping below the pitch-black horizon, bathing the world in the final dredges of its energy.  Before Kyle could get a better look at his surroundings, a message pinged on his nav bracelet.

Applicant Mayhew,

You have selected Artifact Retrieval as your Phase Three trial.  You are standing on the outskirts of what was once home to a thriving human colony.  It collapsed when their star expanded, making the once-lush lands uninhabitable – at least to humans.  As you navigate the wastes, your goal is to uncover artifacts of value and return them to the designated drop, where they will be evaluated.  The farther you move into the city, the more valuable the artifacts you’re likely to uncover.

Your overall evaluation will be based on the quality of the artifacts you retrieve, the speed with which you complete your work, and an overall assessment of your ability as you navigate a hostile world.  There is no time limit, however supplies provided are limited.  When you are satisfied, or no longer want to continue, send a message through the nav bracelet and you will be extracted.

-Collective Institute for Independent Licensure.

Kyle stared at the message for a while.  It was simultaneously simpler and more challenging than he’d expected it to be.  Based on the initial description, he was planning on a focused raid to get a singular item, not a full-blown collect-a-thon.  Finding interesting items and dropping them off at a dedicated point was straightforward, though the ominous wording also made it clear that he’d have opposition.

The issue was magnified as Kyle looked out over the landscape before him.  As far as the eye could see, there were waves of rolling black sand.  What looked like the corners of buildings were revealed from time to time, but by and large the ebbs and flows of the drifts covered the area that had once comprised the settlement.  In fact, only the platform he stood on seemed immune to the encroaching sand.  A question for another time. 

Layered on top of all these issues was the harsh weather.  The heat was oppressive, and Kyle’s canteen was struggling to find much moisture to draw from the surrounding atmosphere.  It was functional, if far from comfortable. 

[DR. MAYHEW, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?] C.H.A.D.D. asked, somehow conveying concern in its robotic voice.

“I’m just really thankful.  This environment will be perfect.”  Kyle wasn’t exaggerating.  His Enhanced Carapace and Adaptive Regeneration were more than up to the task of handling the heat.  He had a solution for water, and had options for food.  Most importantly, he had a drone companion with a proverbial nose for treasure. 

A glowing domain lit up nearby, indicating the drop zone for anything he found.  Moments later, a bundle of supplies appeared.  As Kyle looked through them, he expected there was enough for roughly ten days.  With his canteen, he could expand the timeline by another week if he rationed the food, though it would be best if he could find options to replenish those resources too. 

“What do you say to doing some exploring, C.H.A.D.D.?”

[YES PLEASE, DR. MAYHEW.  I WAS WORRIED YOU WERE GOING TO STAND HERE EVEN LONGER, WHICH WOULD BE DREADFULLY BORING.]

“I’ll try to keep you entertained,” Kyle said dryly. 

He took a trepidatious step off the platform, finding the dark sand swallowed his foot up past his ankle.  Each footfall was slow and deliberate as Kyle tried to get a better handle on the environment, and he found that moving through the dunes was far more akin to traversing snow than sand.  There was an odd surface tension holding the top layer together, and when it was broken Kyle found himself sinking deeper into the stygian mass. 

Wind howled against him, and Kyle had to raise an arm as a swirling mass of dark sand blew directly into his eyes.  Feeling it pelt against his skin, something about it felt wrong.  He bent down, grabbing a handful with his bare hand and rubbing it between his fingers as it fell through.  It was far rougher than any sand he’d seen before, and he fully expected that if he was back in E Grade, his hand would have been sliced several times over by the material.  “C.H.A.D.D., can you tell me more about composition of this sand?”

[CERTAINLY DR. MAYHEW.  PLEASE BE ADVISED, INORGANIC MATERIAL IS NOT MY SPECIALTY.]

“Just do your best, buddy.”

The drone was taking its time projecting various structures and comparing notes to its records, while Kyle continued his slow navigation towards the corner of the nearest building.  The architecture bore a striking resemblance to the skyscrapers he’d seen on Earth, bearing sharp angles with at least four stories worth of windows.  I suppose humans have a tendency of doing things the same way, Kyle mused.

The building looked to have fallen almost entirely on its side, though Kyle didn’t find that to be a particularly large issue.  Most of the windows were cracked or broken, and with a few quick strikes of his baton he easily made a hole large enough to fit through.  The first thing Kyle noticed upon entering was the dull red light provided by the sun wasn’t enough to pierce the shadows inside the building.  “C.H.A.D.D., any chance you could give me some light here?”

[YOU’RE BECOMING AWFULLY RELIANT ON ME, DR. MAYHEW.  ANALYZE THE GLASS, SHOW THE LIGHT.  ARE WE CERTAIN THAT THIS ISN’T MY PRACTICUM?]

“Given I chauffer you across the universe like a glorified pack mule, you might be onto something,” Kyle grumbled, though a smile still crept across his face.  There was something he truly enjoyed about bantering with the drone. 

Gentle orange light bathed the area, and Kyle got his first good look at what he assumed was some sort of office building.  Torn and broken furniture was piled off to the right side of the building in the direction of its slant.  The former floor was to Kyle’s left, and he could see scuff marks that survived the test of time, showing paths often walked by the building’s former occupants.

Kyle saw what looked like a stairwell farther up the inclined floor, though he decided his first step should be to check the furniture.  He rested his hands against the floor, taking a breath as he activated Ignition.  While Strength wasn’t his strong suit, by now he was confident in putting any of the awakened on Earth to shame.  He felt the tile crack under his fingertips, the ancient material being crushed to powder under his mana-empowered grip. 

He was trying to limit the flow of the skill to just his hands, though his control wasn’t at that level yet.  Soon, he had a line of handholds across the floor, leading him down to the furniture below.  A cursory glance showed that it was mostly made of some type of composite material, and thus unlikely to be of real value.  Auric Perception didn’t offer any impressions of mana-rich items in the vicinity, though he considered that there was a difference between culturally significant artifacts and mana-rich natural treasures. 

That’s how he found himself spending the next half an hour opening up desk drawers and sifting through broken junk.  Yes, junk.  Why did I expect to find culturally significant items in the middle floor of an office building?  The only items he felt could be worth keeping were two inert tablets that still looked salvageable.  He tucked them into the C.H.A.D.D.pack, prompting a response from its resident. 

[I BELIEVE I HAVE A RELATIVELY COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF THE GLASS, DR. MAYHEW.]

“Glass?  Don’t you mean sand?”

[NO, I MEAN GLASS.  THE COMPOSITION IS CONSISTENT WITH VARIOUS TYPES OF VOLCANIC GLASSES, DEMONSTRATING BOTH ORDERED AND DISORDERED ARRAYS IN THE CRYSTAL STRUCTURE.  THIS PARTICULAR VARIANT ALSO APPEARS TO HAVE HIGH QUANTITIES OF DYSPROSIUM, IN ADDITION TO CARRYING A VERY MINOR AMOUNT OF CRYSTALLIZED MANA.]

Kyle had no idea what dysprosium was, though the results were still interesting to him.  Whether it was due to the crimson star in the sky or some other large-scale volcanic event, the creation of the black sand was interesting to him.  Arbitrarily, he also decided it would be of interest to the team evaluating his performance. 

“Is there anything interesting your sensors can pick up, C.H.A.D.D.?  Now that you’re done working on the sand problem, that is.”

[GLASS PROBLEM, DR. MAYHEW.  AND THERE DOESN’T APPEAR TO BE ANYTHING IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY, ASSUMING YOU’RE LOOKING FOR MORE OBJECTS LIKE THE TABLETS YOU PLACED IN THE PACK.  I AM DETECTING SOME SIMILAR ITEMS HIGHER UP IN THE BUILDING, HOWEVER.]

“Then higher in the building we go,” Kyle said, grabbing the handholds and beginning his ascent.  C.H.A.D.D.’s scanners indicated that there were four floors above the one they entered, with two more buried beneath the sand. 

With C.H.A.D.D.’s attention on the project at hand, they made great time.  In less than half an hour, they had cleared out the next three floors, and were beginning the ascent to the fourth.  Kyle’s pack now contained three more tablets, a shiny medal of some sort, and a small golden cube that gave off a very faint mana signature.  Kyle had no idea what any of these objects were, but they were interesting.  Still, he was excited as he climbed through the stairwell to the final floor of the building. 

Just as with buildings on Earth, the furniture got noticeably nicer as he climbed.  His expectation of the best being at the top was confirmed by C.H.A.D.D., who still detected the mana signatures coming from this floor.  Popping his head up through the final doorway as he climbed through, he was met with a nearly empty room. 

Kyle could see broken windows below, and fully expected that most of the furniture had fallen out over time.  What he could see, however, was a beautiful stone desk, veins of grey running through immaculate white.  It appeared to be secured to the floor, though Kyle didn’t see any obvious mechanical connection.  Activating Identify, he saw three faint traces of mana within the desk. 

He climbed his way down to it, holding onto a makeshift handhold with his left while running his right over the cool, smooth surface.  It didn’t appear to have normal drawers, though with a gentle push of mana sigils appeared.  Activating one, a compartment opened up, revealing a small journal.  Identify confirmed it was one of the items he’d seen, and he quickly activated the others.  An ornate dagger and small, rune-inscribed device were the next items to appear, joining the others in the pack. 

“Any idea what these do, C.H.A.D.D.?”

[NONE WHATSOEVER, DR. MAYHEW.]

Identify didn’t offer much either, the mana within simply too faint to give much of a reading.  Kyle expected that would change as he moved his way farther into the heart of the settlement, but for now he was pleased with his haul. 

He was considering his exit when the whole building began to shake, forcing Kyle to grab onto his handholds lest he lose his grip.  “C.H.A.D.D., what can you – “

Before he could finish the sentence, he felt it through Auric Perception.  A flash of orange was all the warning he got before he let go, falling towards the broken windows at the bottom of the building.  A moment later, a pitch-black form smashed into the space where he’d just been hanging. 

His hands smashed into the floor before he fell through the windows, stabilizing his position.  Kyle looked up to see rust-colored scales, sharp fins, and then orange as another warning flashed across his vision, prompting him to let go once more as two more distinct impacts broke through the glass below and came for him.  Without hesitation, Ignition activated, his body burning from within as the blazing sun scorched his skin.

He dove through the window towards the sea of darkness below, the black sand agitated like the ocean in a storm.  Only then did Kyle realize his mistake.  “How many are there, C.H.A.D.D.?”

[UNCERTAIN, DR. MAYHEW.  DOZENS, AT LEAST.]

Kyle nodded as he fell, an odd sense of serenity despite the mana raging through him.  Phase Three was going to be more difficult than he thought.