********

Over the woods, Close to the travelling Awakened camp

12:08 PM, Tuesday, May 14th

********

As they got closer to camp, Arlo could start to make out more and more details, his nerves continuing to grow as he got closer and closer. I mean I know I agreed to this, but I think I’ve only interacted with like five Awakened prior to today, and 4 of those times were either during or just after an outbreak, and now I’m going to be in a group filled with them. I have no idea how these people act, what if I make a mistake or do something wrong? What if after they all find out I only just awakened they don’t want anything to do with me? What then? I mean they shouldn’t be that bad, Right? But what if because I’m not able to use mana yet they don’t think I’m worth having around? Arlo’s mind continued to wirl with worry.

Looking over Zack could see the apprehensive look forming on Arlo’s face, floating up to him Zack asked, “Hey kiddo, you alright? you definitely look worried”

“I err… Well yeah, I’ve not really interacted with that many Awakened before, what if I do something wrong or they don’t like the fact that I can’t use mana yet?” Arlo said, letting out a few of his worries.

Seeing the look on his face, Zack knew to answer this with a bit more tact than he usually would, “Hey, there’s no need to worry about all that, we all had a learning curve when we first joined the group seeing where we all fit in. And you don’t have to worry about not currently knowing how to use mana, Harper here was with us for twelve years before she awakened, her mum bringing her with her while wanting to get away from civilization, for similar reasons to you. Isn’t that right Harper?”

“Yeah I’ve been here for fourteen years now, getting kinda close to fifteen actually,” Harper admitted a tad sheepishly, “Yeah, they all took to me rather well, I was five at the time though. But don’t worry, when I awakened they were all really helpful and gave me all sorts of pointers,” she said, getting back to her happy go lucky self she had been the rest of the trip here.

“Oh… Really?” Arlo asked, this new information working to help soothe his worries slightly, his worries would only be able to be properly settled after they arrived at camp and had spent a bit of time there.

“Arlo, I wouldn’t have let Zack bring you along if I didn’t think the others would want you there. I still have some reservations myself because I don’t know how you’ll handle yourself when monsters stumble into camp, but no one is going to outright object to you being here, got it?” Jasper said sternly, in the same voice he seemed to have with everyone but his words at least seemed to be meant as some sort of reassurance, which Jasper seeming to be on the more callous side of people in the group meant that his reassurance held more weight than others.

“Ok, thanks, so what’s exactly is going to happen once we get there?” Arlo asked, wanting to know what to expect before they arrived, still seeming to be a good few minutes out.

“Well those that placed bets are either going to be very happy or quite agitated, not at you by the way but that before we left I heard some pretty sweet bets being placed,” Zack started, “But for most other people, some won’t really care that much. But you are probably going to be getting quite a few people curious and asking you questions, along with others asking for an explanation but I’ll take care of that for you.

“Yeah, you’re also likely to get some that ask to see what you can do or wanting to spar and stuff,” Edan chipped in, “But you are also going to be getting quite a few shocked reactions when people find out what happened to you and what you did earlier.”

“Man I can’t wait to see the reactions on their faces,” Zack said jovially, having been amused by everyone’s reaction to it so far.

“Thanks,” Arlo said with a chuckle, “Anything else I should know?”

“Yeah,” Jasper replied, “After you settle in either someone else in the group or myself if I have to, but we’re not just going to let you be in camp. Because you can’t do anything useful yet, we’re going to make you at least relatively self-reliant, giving you different training and stuff to do so you can start building up to being able to do stuff yourself, got that?”

“Yes, sir?” Arlo answered, not knowing whether he should add sir onto the end of his reply, seeming like the right thing to do but it wasn’t exactly like he was under him or anything. Arlo’s uncertainty causing small chuckles from Harper and Zack as well as a tiny smirk from Jasper.

“In any case,” Harper spoke up, “Do you want to stay with me for the time being, in our tent I mean? I would have to check with Mom first but we should have enough room for you.”

“Why, you got a crush on him or something?” Zack teased.

“What? No !!”, Harper said embarrassed at even the suggestion, her face turning slightly red, “It’s just that there aren’t more tents set up and I think that he would at least like to stay with someone that he at least knows rather than with other people he hasn’t met yet.”

“I mean I would take her up on that,” Edan chimed in, “The tents meant for groups rather than families are meant to pack more people, I mean quite a few people have their own tents that they are responsible for when we move, but you… you know… don’t really have much at the minute.”

“Oh, in that case I might take you up on that offer, if you don’t mind having me?” Arlo said, thankful that she offered.

“No problem,” she said looking at Arlo with a small smile, “You seem like a nice person anyways, so it shouldn’t be that much of a problem. Wait, you aren't a snorer? Are you? Because if you are that might be a dealbreaker.”

“Not that I’m aware of, my sister never complained about it at least,” Arlo said, eliciting small chuckles from Zack and Edan.

“Hey kids, we’re almost there, I’m just going to circle around camp to make sure there are no monsters in the vicinity. After that we’ll land, alright?” Zack said, before diverting slightly from having them all moving from straight towards the camp to somewhere left of it, getting indications of agreement from the entire group.

As they circled around the camp at seemingly quite a distance Arlo could see as Zack was also using this manoeuvre to shed some altitude. Looking down Arlo could see that there were quite a few gaps in the canopy of the trees, with quite a lot of the ground and underbrush being visible, he would still call this as part of the forest or woods, just that the trees in this area were more thinned out than the ones that they had previously been flying over.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Looking more toward the camp he could see that there was moderate levels of activity although not too much. There seemed to be a decent gap between where the trees and the tents began, the ground seeming partly churned up in spots that littered the whole area. There seemed to be a large-ish area of the clearing that was left open that seemed to have some people sparing in it, letting out controlled amounts of magic at each other, Arlo having no doubt that anyone here could demolish the camp by accident if they went overboard. Towards the centre of the clearing seemed to be the more social spot, Arlo being unclear if the fire in the midle was real or caused by magic, but there seemed to be other large tents close by that people were going in and out of semi-regularly. The people that were inside now coming out and pointing up at them, seeming to be telling others that the group that left are back.

Almost being done going around the circle Arlo quickly looked around to see what was left, Seeing a small tent by the outside of camp that seemed to be away from others, what looked to be some semi-open tents where people were doing things with all sorts of stuff. Looking at the last area that he didn’t get a good look at yet there seemed to be tents of different sizes, with some that were on the smaller side spilling out around and closer to everything else compared to the larger ones. Going off what Edan said just now those are probably the tents that are meant for sleeping. Along with the fact that all the tents seemed to be arranged to leave a pathway through them so everyone could get in and out easily.

“Ok guy’s, going to be coming in for a landing now,” Zack said, bringing Arlo’s mind back to the fact that he was about to meet these people, who had mostly all now stopped what they were doing and started heading over to the side of camp where Zack was going to land.

Coming in for a landing Arlo followed what the others were doing, leaning forward as they swooped down into the clear area around the camp before leaning back as far as possible to get upright, Zack’s spell arresting their momentum significantly along with a little boost up at the end before his spell seemed to cut out. The others being used to this landed firm on their feet, bending their knees to absorb the impact. Arlo on the other hand still having a bit of forwards momentum along with this being his first landing, upon contact with the ground started to stumble forward about to fall over, that is until a hand grabbed the back of his shirt preventing him from falling over before helping him back to his feet. Looking back to see Jasper’s arm out letting go of his shirt.

“I err… Thanks,” Arlo said, embarrassed that he almost tripped in front of about 20 Awakened.

“You’re welcome,” Jasper said plainly, “Zack doesn’t see the need to actually let people land before he dismisses his spell.”

“Ahh, but you should have at least let him eat it, we all have at least once,” One of the people in the group that came over complained jokingly.

“So how did the trip go? You get everything we needed?” One of them asked Zack, someone that seemed to be an older woman.

“Yeah, and it was quite eventful, as it turned out, a rift opened in Cromswerth right before we got there so we got kinda held up,” Zack replied, Harper Edan and Jasper all taking off the backpacks they were wearing, standing them up on the ground next to them.

“So, who’s the new guy?” One of them asked noticing that the 5th member in the group of four that went out was actually new, sparking the curiosity in everyone else.

“Oh, he’s someone we picked up while in town, he’s quite the shocker this one,” Zack replied with a smile, patting Arlo on the back.

“Hey Jake, you owe me your left shoes,” Another one called out before an expletive could be heard from the other side of camp.

“You mean that you picked up,” Jasper interjected, “And shocker, you mean pulled off the dam impossible,” He said before walking off somewhere towards the centre of camp with at least some sort of irritation.

“So what was that about?” Another person asked curiously, as it was rare to see Jasper exhibiting a seemingly jealous irritation.

“Oh, that’s just because kiddo over here pulled off something that he shouldn’t have been able to,” Zack explained, “So kiddo, do you want to introduce yourself?

“Err, hi. My name’s Arlo,” He said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say to this group, “And err… just saying, I don’t know why they all freaked out earlier, but the easiest way to put it is that I’ve had a long day so far,” He said, trying to preempt some of their reactions.

“Freaked out about what?” One of them asked, this one being a younger-looking guy.

“Oh, you know, him being caught up in that rift I said caught us up trying to enter town, and direct-intent cast a spell to save himself and friends from multiple packs of firehounds that were pouncing at them from an Enhanced level rift,” Zack mentioned plainly, trying to keep a plain expression as he explained. Hearing this the others looked at Arlo with a mix of being impressed and respect, as firehounds can be notoriously hard to deal with, especially in packs.

“Good on ya dude.”

“I get what you mean by it’s been a long day, that must have been tough.”

“It’s good that you got out of there ok, those buggers can be nasty.”

“Your clothes don’t even look damaged, how’d you manage that?” People started commenting.

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” Zack said, getting all of their attention, everyone going quiet, “Yeah, apparently he only awakened during that rift, as he direct-intent cast that spell.”

Instead of reacting the same way the others did when Arlo told them, the people here just looked at Zack like he was a headless chicken, “Dude, if your gonna make a joke like that, at least make it semi-believable,” One said, thinking that he just made a bad joke to try and get a reaction out of them.

Seeing this Arlo let out a small laugh, “So people only get shocked when they hear it from me, huh?”

“I mean yeah, he told us himself,” Harper spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention, “Why do you think Jasper was in such a twist?”

“Yeah, and Zack also said that Murphy was treating him for severe mana depletion when he went to Murphy’s to meet up,” Edan added.

“That Zack didn’t tell me he was going to,” Harper said with a pout.

“So you’re telling us he somehow managed to pull off something impossible to do?” One of them questioned.

“Well what do you think Jasper meant when he stormed off saying that Arlo pulled off the dam impossible?” Harper questioned back.

“As I said, I’ve had a long day,” Arlo said speaking up, getting the others’ attention, “the rift broke out right in the middle of my campus, the firehounds started massacring people as we all tried to escape. Me and my friends almost got to safety before a pack of firehounds blocked the exit and I just so happen to awaken right at the point of wanting the same specific set of things that I always imagined wanting in unavoidable overwhelming situations. Just this time those set of things actually happened, then I passed out for a while straight after,” Arlo explained awkwardly, trying to explain what happened to people that inherently believed what he was saying was far-fetched, “something that after I woke up and was trying to find a place to think of what to do next, found out that that terrible overwhelming pressure and emptiness was severe mana depletion after Murphy pulled me and my friends into his shop after seeing my friends help me walk as we went past.”

Hearing Arlo explain what happened things started to piece together a bit more, even if it something highly unlikely, at least what he said sounded plausible, everyone seeming to think it over for a moment.

“So what was it that you wanted so hard,” One of the people asked out of curiosity.

“Well, I, err… I’d like to keep that private if possible,” Arlo said, becoming slightly nervous.

“Oh come on, you can’t just tell us that without-” Said person tried to push to sate their curiosity, before being hit on the back of the head by an older-looking guy.

“Eric, don’t push the boy, he has every right not to want to give specifics,” the older-looking guy said before looking at Arlo and speaking in a gentler tone, “So what brings you to be with our little group?”

“Well err… that thing that I did, let’s just say it’s very easily tied back to an affinity, and that affinity isn’t exactly a primary one. So I… just don’t want organisations harassing or targetting me or my family for it until I give in, or end up trapped contractually bound to a specific place after they ‘help’ me for their own benefit,” Arlo said, stumbling over his words at points.

“Well quite a few people here had similar things happen to them, so I understand where you’re coming from at least,” He said before looking around, “Anyways, enough of just standing around, I’m pretty sure lunch should be about ready, and if anyone wants to know more, you can ask him later, let him settle in a bit before you all start pestering him.”

After he said that there was a general murmur of agreement before they all started heading off in one direction, the man the older-looking man remained for a moment, “ Arlo was it? I don’t know if what you’re saying is true or not, that pendant of mana protection you got on is stopping any mana reserves and aura you have from being emitted past it. But I know that joining groups like this can be a big change for people, especially if what you were saying was true, but everyone has been where you are at one point or another, if you ever need any help don’t be afraid to ask anyone, alright?”

“Sure,” Arlo said, still feeling a little overwhelmed from that little exchange they all just had. The older-looking man turning to go in the same direction everyone else went in soon after.

“Well that went better than expected,” Zack said joyfully, “How was that for an introduction?”

“A bit overwhelming,” Arlo responded truthfully sounding a bit exhausted from the encounter, “So err… Who was that exactly?”

“Oh, that was Smithy, my old mentor I told you about before,” Zack replied with a smile on his face as he started walking in the same direction as everyone else, “So are you coming or not?”

“Sure, what else would I be doing,” Arlo said jovially as Edan and Harper followed behind.

Harper starting to go off a bit ahead before turning back to Arlo, “Hey Arlo, I’ll go and find my Mom to ask about that thing I said earlier, but after that I’ll show you around,” She said before running off to another area of the camp.