During the two months Kenzo spent at the Royal Academy, because he lacked money and out of sheer necessity, he had enrolled in the only class that could truly offer him something: « Survival in Hostile Environments. » It was not a popular course, even less a prestigious one. Most young Awakened preferred combat classes or Fragment exploration. But Kenzo could not afford those. And above all, he did not want to die in some stupid way.
The teacher of that course was a Transfigured woman named Sir Dora. Her skin was rather sun-bronzed, like someone who spent more time in plains and ancient ruins than beneath a roof. A square-cut hairstyle framed her face, and she always dressed like an explorer: a shirt with pockets, reinforced trousers, hiking boots, utility bracelets, and a satchel filled with scrolls and tools she used even while explaining things.
On the first day, Kenzo entered the room and found only three other students. The room was small, dimly lit, its floor covered with unfolded maps and bits of dried plants that she used as examples. The smell of herbs and ancient dust lingered constantly in the air.
Sir Dora turned toward him with a broad, warm smile.
– « Oh, what a pleasure, we have one more student! » she said in a cheerful voice. « What's your name, young Awakened? »
– « Kenzo. » he answered simply.
– « Alright, you can sit wherever you want. Another student motivated by survival… or just broke? »
Kenzo did not reply. Sir Dora's tone was teasing, but not unkind. She seemed to understand people's situations without needing them to say anything.
The course was very theoretical, but from time to time she had them do practical exercises: making a fire from almost nothing, creating a filter to make water drinkable, learning to recognize dangerous mushrooms, building shelter from whatever the terrain provided, or simply learning how to walk without making noise. She taught them to listen to the wind, to feel the quality of the ground under their feet, to orient themselves by the sun, the plants, and the air currents.
– « One of the first rules is to always find a high point so you can figure out where you are, » she repeated constantly. « Unknown lands are never flat. Climb above them, and you'll understand what surrounds you. »
She also insisted on another crucial rule:
– « On the first night: never light a fire. Those who light a fire on the first night… don't get a second one. Vermin, predators, nameless creatures… everything that breathes comes to see you. You become an invitation. »
Her words still echoed in Kenzo's mind whenever he thought back on them, up there on the giant trunk in his current test.
Sir Dora also made them memorize the layout of the different worlds, the climates, the state of the continents, and even certain creatures typical of each region. It was tedious, but essential.
She explained that only five continents out of eight still sheltered civilization. The other three were nothing but dead lands, covered in eternal snow, deserts of stone, or barren plains where nothing grew. She spoke of them with a kind of resigned sadness, like someone who had seen those ruins with her own eyes.
The central continent contained two kingdoms: the Empire of Life, Florenthel, heart of civilization and vegetal magic and to the south, the Kingdom of Air, Aerathal, whose citadels in the heights quite literally lived within the winds.
The east of the world was darker: the Empire of Death, Seikan no Kuni, and farther still, the Archipelagos of Ombrelune, Kingdom of Shadow, a cluster of islands plunged into a permanent twilight.
The northwest belonged to the Kingdom of Earth, Kar'Thum, famed for its mountains, its mines, and its warriors shaped like blocks of stone.
In the southwest, two kingdoms coexisted: Sylvanea, Kingdom of Spirit, where illusions and spirit-guides shaped the culture, and Navis Colossum, Kingdom of Water, where mastery of marine currents was part of everyday life.
Finally, in the southeast lay the Kingdom of Light: Golden Dunes, a desert glittering beneath an eternal sun.
She made them repeat it all again and again, until every name, every position, every peculiarity became instinctive.
– « Knowing the location of the different continents may seem useless to students who don't even know how to use their powers yet, but I assure you: one day, it will save your life. »
She turned toward Kenzo more than once while saying that, as if she saw in him someone who would have only his knowledge to survive.
Sir Dora also knew the ancient languages. She had let that slip by accident one day while talking about ruins she had visited. But she could not teach them in this course because that class was paid. She found that ridiculous.
– « The Royal Academy, as rich as it is, ought to teach the basics for free. It wouldn't hurt. But well… someone has to pay for my travels. » she would say with a sigh.
She would have liked to teach in a regular Awakened academy, one less prestigious but simpler. But as an explorer, she had to finance her life somehow. She had explained to them that she was not a fighter. Her tests had been particularly easy compared with those of other Awakened she knew.
Her powers were not impressive either: her Awakened power only allowed her to teleport to a place she had already seen. Useful, yes, but limited. And her Transfigured power allowed her to take one non-Awakened person with her, and only one.
– « If I could transport an Awakened, maybe I would've made quite a career. But no. I'm only good at fleeing quickly and bringing a tourist along with me. »
She often laughed at her own limitations. A way of hiding that perhaps they hurt her a little.
And despite all that, she taught with passion. With humanity. She always spoke with her hands, made broad gestures, and came alive whenever she brought up memories from the field. She told them how she had nearly died in a forest of moving mists, how she had crossed a desert of shattered mirrors, or how she had once slept inside the mouth of a dead stone golem because it was « the warmest place in the region. »
At every anecdote, the three other students shuddered. Kenzo, however, listened carefully. Every detail could save his life. And Sir Dora knew it. She could see in his eyes the same thing he felt himself: the fear of dying in a test before he had even truly discovered his powers.
One day, as class was ending, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
– « Don't forget, Kenzo. The weak die in tests… but the ignorant die faster. »
He had never forgotten those words.
And now, in the freezing solitude atop a gigantic trunk, in the middle of a hostile forest where no stars shone, he was thinking of her again.
Of her lessons.Of her rules.Of her warnings.
Because in the night surrounding him… that was all he had left to survive.