Morning dawned on the second day of Team Trials, and with it came a wave of expectations, schemes, and highly exaggerated rumors.
Kael Vaelthorn, still half-asleep, yawned under a tree.
The camp was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Where's Renley?" he asked aloud, sitting up and looking around.
Lyra, already sharpening her blade, didn't even glance at him. "He's crying behind the log again. Said a squirrel glared at him."
Kael blinked. "Was it Mira's squirrel?"
"Yes."
Kael nodded. "Reasonable fear."
—
Elsewhere on the Field
Team Eiren was mobilizing.
Eiren Locke, golden-haired, fake-chosen aura radiating off him like perfume, stood before his squad of well-trained, but overly dramatic companions.
"This is our moment," Eiren said, raising his gleaming sword. "Kael may pretend to be aloof, but I see through him."
Arla, his ever-present fake heroine, nodded firmly. "He acts uninterested to mask his secrets."
A mage with way too many accessories chimed in. "He's hiding ancient magic under that bored expression. I can feel it."
Eiren grinned. "Then we strike at dawn. He won't see it coming."
—
Back at Team Kael's Camp
Kael saw it coming.
Not because of a strategy.
Not because of any sixth sense.
But because Mira's squirrel spies had dropped a pebble on his head at 2:47 a.m.
"Invaders approaching from the southeast," Mira had said in her usual monotone.
Kael groaned and rolled over. "Tell them to come back later."
Lyra was already in her combat stance. "We hold our ground."
Kael sighed and sat up. "Fine. But someone better bring me coffee after this."
—
The "Battle" Begins
Team Eiren descended on the ridge with loud war cries and perfectly choreographed formation.
It would've been impressive…
…if Kael hadn't rolled a log down the hill in his sleepy stumble.
The log crushed half the enemy's supplies and scattered their formation.
Eiren shouted, "Form back up!"
But Lyra was already on them, blade flashing like lightning.
Hema barked orders from atop a rock, drawing complex patterns in the dirt with a stick.
"Pressure their right! Mira, shoot that wind mage's anklet—yes, now!"
Pew.
Boom.
Wind mage face-planted into a bush.
Kael stretched, wandered toward the chaos, and stepped on a hidden glyph meant for their base.
The glyph exploded in harmless smoke, blinding the enemy team.
Everyone screamed.
Kael muttered, "I hate mornings."
—
Thirty Minutes Later
Team Eiren was in full retreat.
Arla shouted, "This isn't over!"
Kael scratched his head. "It should be. Go get brunch or something."
Lyra leaned her sword on her shoulder. "You planned that well."
Kael stared at her. "You know I didn't."
She just smiled. "Exactly."
—
Post-Battle Strategy Meeting
(aka: Sitting around the campfire eating slightly burnt mushrooms)
Hema tapped her chin. "They'll come again. Probably with reinforcements."
Renley shivered. "Do we… have reinforcements?"
Kael: "We have squirrels."
Mira: "And four crows."
Kael: "Great. We're building an army."
Lyra: "He's joking. I think."
Kael: "Am I?"
Everyone stared.
The crows landed beside him.
Kael fed one a nut.
It nodded at him.
Hema wrote furiously in her scroll:
> Kael's command over nature intensifies. Possibly a nature mage subclass hidden beneath emotional apathy.
—
In the Instructor Viewing Room
High above the forest simulation, instructors watched the chaos on enchanted mirrors.
"Kael's team has held three assaults with zero casualties," said Instructor Maren.
"Did you see how he turned the enemy's smoke glyph against them?" another asked.
Garreth, arms folded, grunted. "That boy… either he's the most brilliant tactician I've ever seen…"
"Or?"
"Or the luckiest napper in recorded history."
They all nodded in solemn agreement.
—
Meanwhile: In the Shadows
A Shadow Envoy reported to the Pillar of Intelligence.
"He's… gathering animals, my lord."
The Pillar tilted his head. "As in summoning?"
"No. They just… seem to like him."
The Pillar smiled faintly. "Then they see the truth."
"Should I update the Shadow Council?"
"No need. The Seventh Pillar already watches him personally."
In a dark chamber far away, a cloaked woman leaned back, sipping tea.
Her voice was a whisper of wind:
"He walks through destiny like it's a hallway. Barefoot. Half-asleep. And the world bends to him anyway."
—
Later That Night
Kael leaned back against a tree, staring at the stars.
Lyra sat beside him, cleaning her blade.
Hema scribbled beside the fire.
Mira slept with two squirrels on her shoulder.
Renley snored into a blanket.
Lyra spoke quietly. "You keep winning… but you never smile."
Kael shrugged. "Would you, if your victories were all accidents?"
She looked at him, her expression softening. "Maybe the world wants you to win."
Kael's voice was quiet. "Maybe the world's bored."
She chuckled. "You're impossible."
"And sleepy," he replied, closing his eyes.
Above them, the stars twinkled.
The forest quieted.
And far beyond the trees, forces greater than any student could imagine were beginning to stir.
All because of one sarcastic, half-asleep, perpetually misunderstood young man.
—
End of Chapter 40