December the 23rd, Nathan's home.

Cold air rushing in his lungs, Nathan steps carefully through knee high snow.

“Ten o’clock, six meters.”

Sarah’s voice comes as whisper through the earplug. She is just as focused. Her drone hovers just above the treeline in almost perfect silence.

Nathan calls for a halt with a raised fist. Michael stops and covers him while he focuses.

From behind a tree, he can spot their target, on a simple snowman with a carrot nose sitting in the middle of a clearing. There is another… Below. For an ancient spirit, Gwahin sure likes her basic humor.

This is too easy. Nathan focuses on feeling and his boots gradually sink in. The aura of Gwahin saturates the place, making it harder to search for the traps. Yes, plural. There is no way that someone as crafty as her would make the exercise easy.

As expected, there are a few lines of… Something surrounding Mr. Carrot, but that can’t be all there is.

With a gesture, Nathan signals Michael and the pair repositions without a word, their footsteps the only noise breaking the silence below the oppressive canopy. Nathan is about to move forward when small traces attract his attention.

Michael chuckles. By Barrett’s order, he is to remain silent throughout the test.

Someone must have smoothed the ground, probably Gwahin, but now the light hits just right, showing a circle on the ground.

To his left, a branch is suspiciously bent down.

Barrett, you sly dog.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nathan prods the ground with his Makka until, with a snap, a length of rope bursts in a cloud of white powder. The snare fails to grab him or the Makka and soon dangles uselessly from the tree.

Of course, his magical senses cannot pick up mundane traps, but that doesn’t mean he is completely stupid either.

The pair makes their way between two strings of magical defenses, ending up only a few feet from the target. Surely there isn’t a third round of traps. Right?

The orange carrot shines brightly, taunting him. It’s so close.

Of course there is a third round.

Nathan focuses again. The feeling of magic assails his senses and he realizes that Gwahin finally found his weakness: if you cannot hide, overwhelm. The clearing is brimming with weavings.

Nathan can feel a headache coming yet perseveres. There is something behind him, and in front. Little by little, he manages to separate the two feelings before catching a glimpse of the last pitfall. Here, just in front of him, a last circle. This time there is no need for discretion he can just brute force it. Nathan stabs the ground and the weaving is unmade. The aura disperses like mist in the sunlight.

With a satisfied smile, he winks at Michael and grabs the carrot. The head of the snowman explodes and the offending vegetable, thus propelled, smacks his face like some miniature ballistic snack.

“FUCK!”

A little while later and back at the house, Nathan presses a cold compress against his nose. Sarah and Barrett go over her perfomance while Michael plays some game on his phone. His mom is outside, applying the finishing touches to a newly made smithy.

Gwahin walks up to him, tossing the fateful carrot in the air. She could not possibly look more smug.

“When will you mortals learn that I am always one step ahead? My victory was never in doubt, and I shall now allow one of you to kiss the sole of my shoes.”

Michael raises one hand to volunteer. All the remaining humans stare.

“What? I have a foot fetish.”

“Fair enough Michael” ,says Barrett” and now I’d like us to focus on the exercise.”

He proceeds to go over the entire exercise, explaining to Nathan with a calm and measured voice what he did right, what he did wrong and what could be improved. The team, minus Diana and Seren work on squad tactics and theory according to a training program designed by Barrett. As his associates leave for the guest rooms, Nathan realizes that he feels confident for the first time since this all mess started. They are not quite ready yet, and Seren will have to play catch up when she comes back from Russia, but they are making progress. The mismatched team of survivors is steadily turning into a force to reckon, and there is yet room to expand. They just have to wait for Mirrah to contact them and then they’ll be in business.