We entered the cavern at five o'clock, and then time stood still. No electronics worked down here, not even the watches. And Flying was out of the question. They found that out by losing two men to the grid of energy over the walls. I watched as their bodies were instantly burnt to hollow shells and they fell to the labyrinth below, their deaths too quick for them to ever scream. I heard a couple of people relay this information through their headsets, and then we were moving. No one entered the maze yet. We remained in the boarder between the entrance and the cave wall. It was big enough for the whole army, so space was never an issue. They lined up in blocks two paces apart and stood at attention as more and more people came into the cave. I began to think we'd run out of room when the exodus finally stopped and they were told to be at ease. Tents were erected across the bare stone floor, large ones that housed a whole division per unit. There was one tent that was smaller than the rest, positioned in the center of camp, and the whole time I watched it I didn't see one person go in or out. Fires were started using the wood we brought along with us. Meals were cooked as well, and everyone ate as the odd sun-Like object disappeared and the stars came out. It was weird, unearthly, and I didn't like it at all.

I don't think I slept at all that night, although I had a mini tent to myself that was placed under guard. All I know was that at some point I came out of the tent and the light had come back, blazing above our heads and giving us heat once more. They packed up the tents quickly and efficiently, and that was when the first men went into the maze. Six divisions were dispatched while the rest waited outside. We waited and waited for what seemed like forever, and then the ground started to shake. I was sitting on the outcropping in front of the tunnel that took us there, and so I saw it all with my own eyes. Far off in the maze, a giant crack split through the walls and cut through them, creating a wide open canyon. A few minutes later I heard Harry cursing and was able to piece together that all six divisions were wiped out due to mass panic when the ground started to shake. The few Flyers they had were weighed down with too many people and they passed out, dropping all of them into the rift. I guess the maze was more dangerous than I thought.

An hour later two more divisions were dispatched. I didn't see anything happen to them, but I guess it was something bad cause Harry began cursing again. They're out of their element here, being forced to bend to rules set by someone else, and it makes them livid, I can tell. Many divisions spent the past couple hours attacking the walls, despite the fruitlessness of the endeavor. I think I saw a couple Mages pass out and not get up again. People surrounded them for a while before a stretcher carried them off. I don't think they survived. And it was so pointless. If you come across a brick wall you don't throw yourself at it until you break every bone in your body.

I guess that some superior officer ordered them to stop, cause after a while they left the walls alone and rejoined the rest of the group.

Not too long after, a group of people began to gather in front of the small tent, the one that no one had gone into or cone out. They all talked into earpieces, but I couldn't hear any words. Then, after the group's numbers reached twenty four, they all moved to go inside, closing the flap behind them and placing get two guards outside. I watched them for a while before growing bored and moving on.

Nothing happened for a very long time. I watched the Shifts spar from my place on the overhang, and waited. We were all waiting, holding our breath. Despite all of the preparation and the mass exodus to this island from all over the world, everything had gone still and no one was doing anything of importance. I didn't know what to think.

The people finally leave the small tent at sometime around noon, I think. They start to make their way to the front of the group, and I notice that there's an extra person that wasn't there before. I can't see anyone's face clearly, though, so it's a mystery as to who it is. But I see that, with every tent they pass, the whole company stiffens and gets very quiet. They're all staring at the small group, and I feel realization dawn on me as the soldiers sink down into a deep bow directed towards the man in front. I focus on his face specifically, and hatred settles in my stomach. It's him, their leader, the rebel himself, Gabriel Anderson.

Gabriel keeps his head held high all the way to the front, giving his men small acknowledgements without altering his path. He looks powerful, dangerous, and the amount of control he holds over the Gifted in the cavern makes me nervous. It's frightening.

The man reaches the entrance of the cavern and makes a gesture with his hand. Two people, one male, one female, come up to stand on either side of him. Each lays one hand on his shoulder and then they start to rise in the air, taking him with. They hover about twelve feet off the ground, just beneath the energy grid protecting the top of the walls.

"People of the New World," he starts, his voice booming out across the camp. He must be using some sort of magical voice enhancer; no one can speak that loud without screaming. "I stand before you, today, in triumph. Everything we have worked for these past years, nay, decades, is about to pay off. We have fought for each precious member of the New Gifted and every member shall be rewarded when society is enlightened. We will all step into our new lives with promise, with hope, unveiled to the world, and no longer afraid to show our true selves, our abilities. We will be born again, and with our newfound power at the head of the new world, we will eradicate poverty, conflict, starvation, all the things the human government has been unable to staunch, instigating struggle and death because they can't make any of the hard decisions! We are the enlightened, we are the pure! We are the New World because we can make those decisions, we can prioritize, and we can do it all for the good of our kin, the Gifted Nation!"

A cheer goes up through the crowd of Gifted, shouts and cheers nearly drowning out his voice as he continues.

"You see, this is my vision for the future, and it is so close to reality I can taste it! In fact, it's here, somewhere in this cave. It's the Blue Amulet of the old Nations, and soon it shall be ours. And this is why I come to you in triumph, because with the aid of this artifact, this time next year, we will be the rulers of this New World I have envisioned for us and our fellow Gifted!"

More shouts come up from the crowd, this time louder than the first. I can see the cult-like mindset come upon the crowd, and I begin to feel a shiver of fear run down my spine.

"However!" Gabriel continues, raise his hands to quiet the room. It takes a second for them to grow still, and he has to wait a second before continuing.

"However, there are some members of our race who do not share our vision. There are some Gifted who think that we should continue to live under the oppression and secrecy the humans have forced us into for hundreds of years! They believe that we should stay in our houses, hide our talents, and refuse to use them for the greater good, simply to keep the humans from being 'frightened,' from having to adapt, from accepting a part of the world that they have crushed down all these years! Some of the Gifted believe that we should deny our nature! That we should live like the human scum who think they are so superior to even themselves! They are corrupt, they are dysfunctional, and they cannot stand without us! Without our leadership they will crumble and fall, dissolving into anarchy and chaos as they destroy themselves from the inside out! When we rule as an evolved, more advanced race, we shall put them where they should've been a long, long, time ago, because who are we?!"

"THE GIFTED!"

"And who has kicked us underneath them because of our separation and fear?!"

"THE HUMANS!"

"And who stands in our way?!"

"GARRET ANDERSON!"

"And what do we want?!"

"BLOOD!"

"Yes! Blood! The blood of our enemies and our oppressors, the blood of those who stand in our way, and in the name of our superiority we shall fight!"

"FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!"

My fear turns into panic as I look around at the angered Gifted and their enraged leader. Gabriel looks half-mad, floating above the crowd and spitting angry words of revenge down on them, which they soak up and scream back at him, clapping and yelling and abandoning proprietary as they surge foreword in their ranks towards the maze entrance. Their thirst for blood is barely contained as individuality dissolves into the mind of of one being, an angry mob that wants to kill, to destroy, to eradicate anything in its path until it is the only thing left.

Harry grabs my arm and hauls me forward, making me stumble and fall in his eagerness to join the crowd. I hit the floor and am nearly trampled by the Gifted behind me, but Harry is still pulling me forward, and I have to get my feet under me and run if I don't want to be killed by human-hating radicals. I feel like a rabbit in a pack of dogs, caught, cornered, and desperately hoping they don't turn and try to kill me. Because, despite all Gabriel's words of them being "enlightened," "advanced," and "evolved," I look around myself and a I see are animals.