The forest had become much livelier than it had been at the beginning of the practical test.
The once quiet woodland was now filled with movement as first-year students searched every corner for the numbered gems hidden throughout the vast training grounds. Bushes rustled one after another as students pushed through them, branches swayed from people leaping across the trees, and the occasional sounds of combat echoed faintly in the distance before being swallowed by the endless sea of ancient trees.
Despite the growing chaos...
There were still places where silence ruled.
One of those places lay beneath a towering ancient tree whose roots stretched across the forest floor like the limbs of a sleeping beast.
Veda Ashenlocke crouched beside one of those roots.
His hand brushed away a thin layer of loose soil with calm, steady movements.
The dirt slowly crumbled between his fingers until something beneath it reflected a faint ray of sunlight slipping through the canopy overhead.
