Christopher was lying on the floor when he woke up. He felt the ground around him with his hands, grass… Above him the ceiling was pure rock with small stalactites hanging down, what the hell? A small white luminescent sphere floating in circles above him giving away the only light in the room, this can’t be happening again…

     Christopher sat up. “Finally, you’re awake,” came a female voice from behind him.

     Turning around Christopher saw a young woman standing in front of the cave exit, her white freckled face looking back at him with a mix of curiosity and impatience, “are you ok Chris?”

     He stood up before answering, “I’m sorry, who are you? How do you know my name?”

     Brushing away a lock of brunette hair from her face she extended her hand to him, “I’m so sorry, where are my manners. My name is Jessica, and I’m a friend of Hugo.”

     “Hugo? Where is he? Is he ok?” Chris had forgotten all about him.

     “Oh, he’s fine. Couldn’t stop talking for an hour about what happened when I found him. He told me the Obsidian Hand attacked the school, and how you guys barely made it here.”

     “Obsidian Hand?” Chris looked at her, confused.

     “Oh… yes, right. Hugo told me about your memory problem too... he said he was helping you around before the attack came.” She leaned against the wall crossing her hands, a steel ring adorning each index finger. “The hand is a terrorist group Chris, they want the ruling council overthrown. I’ve never heard of them going this far though, I’m just surprised that…”

     “Wait a minute, what’s that?” Chris pointed at her hands, at her rings. “Are you one of those people that were fighting them? The ones dressed in green?”

     “Who me? No, I’m a student just like you. Those people in green were the academy’s security people.” Jessica approached him with her hands extended, “once we arrive here we have our rings assigned to us. We all wake up with them already on.” She wiggled her fingers in front of his face.

     “So, you can do those things? What they did back there… with the fire, and lightning? He wanted to inspect them but was afraid to try, “what kind of technology is this?”

     She smiled at his questions, “I can’t, no… and technology? I’m not sure… all I know is that some superior beings came from some faraway place thousands of years ago and gave them to the people that started living here. Look, I can try to explain it more, but first I’ve been wanting to ask you… where did you get those rings?”

     As soon as she let those words out Chris looked down on his hands, and fitting a finger on each hand, just like everyone else he had seen before, was a ring. “What is this?” He pulled on them, trying to take them off.

     “Don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself.” She spoke grabbing his hands, “you can’t take them off, not while you’re training to master them.”

     “I don’t know how I got them…” he kept tugging softly at one of them, “didn’t you say we all wake up with them on?” he looked at her quizzingly.

     “Yes, I did.” She looked very serious, “but rings come in gold, ivory, steel, and crystal… yours are made of wood. I’ve never known of wooden rings.”

     Christopher inspected them. They were smooth wooden bands that looked like they were made from rosewood, and each ring was full of engraved symbols he couldn’t understand. “How would I know,” he told Jessica “I can barely remember anything.” He suddenly felt dizzy, “I just need to get out of here… and find someone who can help me. This is all too crazy to swallow,” he leaned against the cave wall.

     She looked at him with concern, “I understand you completely. Hugo and I agreed to take you to the Counselor’s Office in the Grand Hall once we get there. We should be able to get help, I’m just waiting for him to…”

     “Dude!” Hugo said as he came from behind Jessica. “Oh my god I so wanted to thank you man, I owe you one.” He gave Christopher a bear hug, lifting him off the floor.

     “God dammit H, I told you to stop doing that!” Jessica looked startled.

     Hugo released Chris, lowering his head, “I’m sorry J, I keep forgetting. Please forgive me?” He looked at her with puppy eyes.

     “Fine… I can never stay angry with you, stupid clown… where is Joanne and Xiao? Did you find them? Jessica walked out through the exit and looked around, as if expecting them to be standing outside.

     “Joanne already went through the Mouth Gate,” stated Hugo. “I found Xiao when he was about to leave and he told me so, said they would both meet us there. Other than them and a couple of stragglers, I found no one else here, I think we’re the last…”

     “Hugo, why do I owe you one? Christopher spoke, recovering from the hug Hugo gave him. He was glad to see a familiar face, even if it was only a recent one.

     “Man, when that fireball thing was about to hit us it just exploded right in front of you. I don’t know what you did but you stopped it… a second after we were here.” Hugo grinned at him, “I found Janet first and then spent a good hour looking inside every cave to find you, until we saw you passed out in this one.” He looked like he was about to hug him again “I thought you were hurt or something, but here you are!”

     “But I did nothing,” Christopher protested. “I just stood there like the rest, waiting for the fire to hit us when I blacked out…”

     “Well then…” Jessica was impatient, “I know we have a lot to talk about, but let’s get going. It will feel creepy out there by ourselves, and I want to get out of here.” She started walking away, “we can catch up some more on the way” they could hear her say as she left.

     Christopher was taken aback by the sheer size of the cavern outside. Magna Cave, Jessica had called it as they walked out. It was a domed cavern that had countless little cave entrances lined around its circular form. Over them, hundreds of small luminescent spheres just like the one in Chris’ cave moved around like balloons on the cavern roof, pierced here and there by massive stalactites that threatened the group below.

     “It’s just a little walk ahead,” Hugo informed them after almost an hour of walking over the plain dirt floor. The cavern began reducing in size as they approached the Mouth Gate. “Don’t worry,” Janet told Christopher. “It sounds worse than it is, we just state our names and present our rings and the gate will let us into the academy grounds.”

     “Yeah but, why Mouth Gate?” Christopher asked.

     He got his answer a couple of minutes later as he got view of the gate. He could clearly see the semblance of a skull carved in the rocky wall, and a line of large teeth resting on the cavern floor.

     “Welcome to Minaroca,” boomed a voice from somewhere in the cavern. “Please state your name and present your rings for access.” A small yellow glow came from the eye pits in the rock.

     Jessica didn’t even slow down as she stated, “Jessica Stone” and held her hands high, showcasing her rings.

     There was a strong, thundering sound, and the floor shook as the giant teeth slowly rose up revealing a pathway beyond the lifted dust.

     “I’ll wait for you guys on the other side,” Jessica said as she came close to the opening.

     The sound of breaking rock and fallen debris made Jessica stop as the teeth started to shake. “J, come back!” yelled Hugo as the teeth came crashing down right in front of her, slamming against the floor.

     She jumped back and fell as dust and debris showered on top of her. “What happened?” she said in shock, what did I do wrong?”

     Christopher and Hugo rushed to help her, “are you ok?” Hugo asked her.

     “Yes,” she stood up brushing the dust off her shirt, “I’m fine, just a little shaken.”

     “Welcome to Minaroca… please state your name and present your rings for access,” the voice boomed once more.

     “What the hell is this?” Hugo looked nervous, “why did it do that?” he approached the gate cautiously. “Hugo Garcia!” he said as loud as he could, raising his hands as high as he could.

     Once again, the gate thundered and the floor shook as the gate slowly rose.

     “Be careful Hugo!” Chris called out at him as he slowly approached the entrance.

     Hugo was almost under the teeth and could see the pathway on the other side. A brick laid floor and stucco painted walls in earthly colors came with a soft cold breeze that caressed his face, its air conditioned in there, oh I could so use that right now…

     A small stone fell on Hugo’s head as he heard Jessica scream something behind him, he looked up as the gate shook and rumbled. Christopher grabbed him by his t-shirt and pulled him back when the gate came smashing down again, sending them both to the floor.

     “What is happening?” Jessica screamed at the gate, “something is wrong, how will we get out of here?”

     The gate opened once more, booming “welcome to Minaroca… please state you name and present your rings for access.” “That’s what we’re doing you stupid mouth!” Hugo said as he got back up and gave Chris a hand.

     Christopher took a deep breath, “I’m going to try.”

     “What? Dude, are you insane?” Hugo shook him by the shoulders, “We both already tried, the thing is broken down…”

     “What should we do then?” Chris replied, “I’m the only one left, are we supposed to just stand here forever until someone shows up?”

     Hugo let him go, “Sounds like a plan!”

     “Chris, it’s too dangerous. We should think this through, Hugo was already crazy enough to try a second time.” Jessica looked nervous.

     Christopher approached the gate, stopping 5 feet away from the stone teeth that tried to squash both Jessica and Hugo. “I’m sorry but I have to try…” he said, “I need to get out of here, I just can’t stand this feeling.”

     He raised his hands and looked at the wooden rings that were fixed on his fingers, how did this happen? He closed his eyes and tried to relax, my name is Christopher… “my name is Christopher.” He paused for a moment, something was different, something lingered in his mind. He opened his eyes and thought he saw his rings glow for an instant, yes… I think this sounds just about right… “My name is Christopher… Christopher Poet!”

     One last time the gate thundered open, this time for Christopher. He waited for a while… seconds, minutes, he couldn’t tell. So he decided to go for it, and as soon as he got close enough the gate came rushing down.

     He jumped back to safety, but this time the gate didn’t stop. As if it were chewing on something it kept going up and smashing down, and the floor shook as if there was an earthquake.

     “Chris, you broke the damn thing!” Cried out Hugo, “now we’re definitely screwed.” Debris started falling from the ceiling. “Watch out,” he warned Jessica as a huge rock fell next to her, “if we stay here we’ll be crushed, we have to go back!”

     “Welcome to Minaroca…” The voice boomed again as the mouth kept smashing the floor and started to come apart as well, “please state your name and present your rings for access.” More large debris fell behind them, denying them the opportunity to escape the way they came.

     “We’re going to be buried alive,” cried Hugo dodging the rocks that kept falling from the ceiling.

     “Welcome to Minaroca…” the floor shuddered horribly when a segment of the wall next to the gate caved in, opening another path.

     “Let’s go that way,” screamed Jessica as she headed for the opening. Hugo and Chris fast behind.

     “Please state your name and present your rings for access,” could be heard one last time as the last of them jumped through the new exit and it collapsed behind them, leaving them in darkness.

     They stayed there in the dark, coughing and trying to catch their breath. “Hey J, Chris, you ok?” came Hugo’s voice from somewhere.

     “I’m fine,” Chris’ voice came back, “I’m fine too” echoed Jessica.

     Hugo was startled when a torch on the wall over him spontaneously ignited in flames, in front and behind him more did the same. They were in a hallway; the floor was black marble and the walls were white. Christopher and Jessica were kneeling on the floor in front of him, and behind them the way was blocked by debris.

     “This just keeps getting better and better’” said Christopher as he helped Jessica stand up, “Now what?”

     “Now what indeed,” came a stern voice from below.

     As they all looked down they saw a big grey frog on the floor.

     “Wow that’s a big ass frog!” said Hugo jumping back.

     “Did he just speak?” Jessica hid behind Chris.

     “Of course I spoke,” the frog said looking up at them, a monocle greatly exaggerating the size of his right eye.

     On his back, he had a small red blanket that Chris decided was some sort of cape, and on his head he bore a jester’s hat which rang its little bells every time he spoke.

     Smoke came from a pipe he seemed to be enjoying when he decided to speak again, “let me introduce myself since you all seem inclined to stare at me awkwardly.” The frog did a small reverence, “I am your assigned counselor for the duration of your training here in Minaroca.”

     “Why is he so outlandish?” Hugo whispered to Chris.

     “I can hear you very well Hugo,” the frog replied a little upset. “I am the product of my apprentice’s subconscious, made that way to connect better with the student. Which had always been only one at a time for thousands of years. This is the first time I have three at once… they must be changing the rules now…” he started rubbing his chin in deep thought. “Which might explain why I look like this,” He inspected himself with disapproval. “I am a mix of all three of you and whatever crazy things are going on in your collective heads,” he pointed at his jester’s hat.

     “How do you know Hugo?” Christopher couldn’t believe he was speaking to a frog.

     “I know all three of you Christopher, and I feed off your thoughts and memories. I have to if I am to properly help you through your training,” stated the frog looking at all three of them.

     Hugo was having a hard time not laughing at the frog’s magnified eye looking back at him when he said “I can see some elements I approve in the way you look dude but, what’s with the pipe? Which one of us… wait a minute… Janet? What the hell?” He turned to look at her in shock, “why? When?”

     “Let’s all please focus on the problem at hand,” she ignored him. “You seem to know all our names Mr. frog, but we still do not know yours.”

     The frog came as close to blushing as a frog could, “I’m so sorry, how could I forget this… something must be happening indeed, this has never happened to me before, I just…”

     “Ahem… Mr. frog?” Janet asked again.

     “Oh, my… oh, yes…” the frog straightened himself and reverenced again, “My name is Mr. Pancho.”

     The silence lasted for a while before Christopher spoke, “finally, something that makes sense.”