The air inside the simulated building was thick with tension, the artificial mana field humming faintly as it projected a near-perfect replication of an urban combat zone. Dim lighting, flickering wall panels, and the distant sound of shifting debris completed the illusion of a real war-torn structure.
Julia cracked her knuckles as she leaned against a half-crumbling wall, tapping her foot impatiently while her supposed teammates "discussed strategy."
If you could call it that.
Adrian Langley, the boy on her team, was going on and on about some convoluted positioning tactic he'd clearly pulled out of nowhere. He was animated—too animated for someone whose ideas sounded like a mess of jumbled words with no real substance.
