IN A BIT
ZAVIER
Dawn had barely stretched its pale light across the treetops when Isabella appeared at the edge of the clearing, boots crunching authoritatively on the leaf-strewn ground, clipboard tucked under one arm, eyes sharp enough to make grown Alphas sweat. She paused, surveyed the assembled D-rank disaster team: Riko bouncing nervously on his heels, Ben straightening his glasses with a precision bordering obsession, Leo still half-asleep like the world had no authority over him, Adam standing perfectly still and calm, and me, the Omega who had learned long ago that panic solved nothing, and she let out a sound somewhere between a snort and a growl.
"Brats, I am Isabella, your wilderness mentor." She ordered, voice cutting through the morning air like a whip. "Line up, eyes forward, and straight backs, and not slouched. I will not tolerate weakness or laziness. If you want to survive this forest, you will behave like competent creatures, not whatever this is." She gestured vaguely at the lot of us, and I noticed Riko flinch dramatically.
"Um, excuse me, ma'am, do you mean alive-competent or socially-competent?"Riko raised a hand nervously.
"Both." Isabella snapped, taking a step closer. "Because cameras are everywhere. Cameras in this zone are on every branch, every tree, every rock, probably even that leaf that looks like it's judging you, it is judging you. Every mistake, every failure, every pathetic attempt to light a fire or tie a knot is being recorded and trust me, I will comment. You will be embarrassed, humiliated, and judged, all before lunch."
"Cameras? Everywhere? Are you serious?"Ben's eyes widened.
"Yes." Isabella said flatly, flipping a page on her clipboard. "Every other rank will see how you fail. Every instructor will see how you fail, the city watch probably even has a feed and if anyone survives my lesson without embarrassment, congratulations you are mildly less pathetic than you were five seconds ago."
"That's terrifying."Riko clutched his head.
"Good." Isabella said. "Now follow me. Move, move, move. The forest is your classroom. Fire is your first lesson, shelter is your second, and do not look at me for help unless you want me to document your misery in HD."
The rest of the team shuffled after her, muttering, stumbling, and tripping over roots and each other, while I silently scanned the clearing. My eyes caught patches of fibrous plants, flexible branches, bark strips, and clusters of small sticks. My fingers itched for work while everyone else panicked over a pile of useless tinder. I could already see the framework of a small snare trap taking shape in my mind.
"All right." Isabella called, her voice crisp and commanding. "First lesson: fire. Flints, friction, magic if you have it, whatever. You will create a sustainable flame. If you fail, it's not just you, your incompetence will be broadcast. Cameras, brats, remember I have cameras."
"This has to work, it just has to…"Riko immediately began shoving random sticks and leaves into a heap, muttering under his breath.
"If I apply the proper angles and spacing…" Ben crouched thoughtfully, arranging sticks like he was designing a miniature skyscraper.
Leo didn't move as usual.
"Why does everyone panic? Fire is easy, you just make fire." He yawned, lazily swatted at a stick, and muttered.
Adam crouched beside his own small pile, silently observing the chaos around him.
"They panic because they overthink." He murmured to no one in particular.
I crouched low, fingers brushing over the dry tinder and thin kindling I had already scouted while everyone else fumbled and panicked. Calmly, methodically, I arranged the sticks in a proper formation, smaller twigs near the center, gradually larger pieces fanning outward. A small gap for airflow, a careful cradle for the sparks, just enough friction to catch without smothering. I struck my flint, careful, controlled. Sparks flew, caught the tinder, and almost immediately a small flame danced upward, steady and warm, not the pathetic flicker everyone else had been producing.
I leaned back slightly, arms crossed, watching the team's panicked attempts crumble around them. Riko's pile smoldered weakly before collapsing, Ben's precision tower fell over with a snap, Leo yawned and knocked half his own heap aside, and Adam well, Adam just watched, as expected. I grinned slightly, the fire now crackling confidently between my fingers and the ground. Isabella's eyes narrowed, clipboard momentarily forgotten in her hand.
"Huh."She murmured, a single, incredulous note. "Fire that actually works? Omega, explain yourself."
"Tinder first, airflow second, gradual fuel addition. Lean to prevent wind and rain from snuffing it out. Sparks catch, fuel grows, flame stabilizes. Basic survival training."I shrugged casually. Behind me, something collapsed, it was Riko yet again.
"WHY DOES IT KEEP DYING?!" Riko shouted, staring at his sad, smoking pile like it had personally betrayed him.
"Because you are suffocating it." I said without even turning. "You built a grave, not a fire."
"That feels personal." Riko muttered.
"It is educational." Ben corrected, still crouched over his own setup, which looked impressive but was currently doing absolutely nothing.
I exhaled slowly, then stood, brushing my hands off before stepping over.
"Move." I said.
Riko immediately scrambled back like I was about to perform surgery. I crouched, dismantled half his pile in three quick motions, pulled out the damp leaves he had shoved in like decoration, and replaced them with dry fibers I had already collected earlier without announcing it like a disaster.
"Dry tinder first." I said. "Not whatever this is."
"It's leaves." Riko defended weakly.
"It's wet failure." I corrected.
Ben leaned closer, watching carefully.
"You are prioritizing ignition over structure." He said.
"Structure comes after flame." I replied. "You don't build a house before you have heat."
I struck the flint once, twice, sparks catching, and this time when the flame appeared, small but real, I didn't step back.
"Now you feed it slowly." I continued, placing thin twigs one at a time. "Not all at once. You are not burying it, you are growing it."
Riko leaned in like he was witnessing a miracle.
"It's alive." He whispered.
"It's fire." I said flatly.
"Same thing." He said.
Ben adjusted his glasses.
"That makes sense." He admitted. "Controlled progression instead of immediate output."
"Exactly." I said.
Behind us, Leo yawned.
"You are all making this too complicated." He muttered, lazily flicking a stick into his pile. Nothing happened as he stared at it. "It usually works." He added.
Adam crouched beside his own setup, watching me instead of his materials.
"You are teaching without thinking about it." He said.
"I am fixing problems." I replied.
"Same thing." He said, echoing Riko.
"Stop agreeing with him." Ben muttered.
Meanwhile, Isabella hadn't said anything for a full thirty seconds, which, judging by her personality, was deeply unnatural. When she finally spoke, her tone had shifted, less mocking, more precise.
"You." She pointed at me with her clipboard. "Continue."
"HE IS PROMOTED."Riko gasped.
"He is not promoted." Ben said.
"He is promoted in spirit." Riko insisted.
"Silence." Isabella snapped, but she didn't take her eyes off me. "Show them properly."
So I did. I moved between them, correcting angles, spacing, airflow, fixing mistakes before they turned into failures, not fast, not rushed, just efficient, like I had done it a hundred times before because I had, because no one had been there to fix it for me back then, which meant I either learned or I didn't eat, and I preferred eating. One by one, flames started appearing, small, uneven, but real. Riko's came first.
"IT'S WORKING." He yelled.
"Do not scream at it." I said. "You will scare it."
Ben's followed, steadier.
"This is actually efficient." He murmured, clearly offended he hadn't figured it out first.
Leo's caught last, mostly because he accidentally did the right thing.
"I told you." He said, already lying back down.
"You did nothing." Ben replied.
"I did it lazily." Leo corrected. "Different method."
Adam's fire burned clean and controlled, but his eyes weren't on it anymore, they were on me.
"That's not normal training." He said quietly.
"No." I said.
It went quiet again for a second, not the awkward kind, the thinking kind, and that's when Riko, of all people, decided to speak.
"His family is garbage, by the way." He announced loudly. "Only cared about his brother."
I closed my eyes briefly.
"Riko." Ben said slowly.
"What?" Riko frowned. "She should know. It explains everything."
"It explains enough." Ben added, more controlled but no less blunt. "His parents ignored him completely, trained only his brother. He learned everything alone. Hunting, tracking, survival. No guidance."
Leo, from the ground, raised a hand slightly.
"Neglect builds weirdly competent people." He said.
Adam didn't speak, but his jaw tightened.
Isabella's gaze shifted between them, then back to me, sharper now, not judgmental, not mocking, but assessing.
"Is that accurate?" She asked.
"Yes." I said simply.
A pause, then she exhaled once, sharp.
"Hm."She exchaled into single noise.
That was it, no pity, no dramatic reaction, just acknowledgment, which somehow felt more real than anything else.
"Explains your efficiency." She said finally. "Unsupervised learning tends to produce either complete incompetence or this."
"He's the second one."Riko puffed up.
"Clearly." Isabella said dryly.
Then her eyes narrowed slightly, scanning the sky through the trees. Before she could say anything, I stood.
"You might want to hurry." I said.
"Why?"Ben blinked.
I was already moving, grabbing branches, stripping bark, pulling flexible vines from nearby shrubs.
"Because it's going to rain."I explained.
"What."Riko froze.
Adam's head tilted slightly, sensing it now too.
"The air shifted." He murmured.
Isabella's eyes flicked upward, calculating.
"You are certain?" She asked.
"Yes." I said, already working.
I started tying quick knots, forming a simple frame between two trees, angling branches downward, layering broad leaves over the top, reinforcing with bark strips. Riko stared.
"We just learned fire." He said.
"Now we learn not to be wet." I replied.
Ben immediately moved.
"Angle for runoff." He said, catching on fast.
"Exactly." I nodded.
Adam joined without a word, holding branches steady. Leo rolled slightly to the side.
"I will supervise from here." He muttered.
"You are useless." Ben said.
"I am consistent." Leo corrected.
Isabella didn't interrupt, didn't mock, she just watched. Like she was realizing something the others hadn't fully caught yet. That this wasn't luck, talent, or even training. This was survival turned into instinct, and that made it dangerous and useful. Very, very useful.