She once again woke up to an unfamiliar roof. She hated the sensation by now. This time she remembered what happened. After arriving at port, a group of at least five goons; deduced by the number of voices she heard, escorted them from the ship to a wagon where someone gave her an injection to her arm that put her to sleep.

She decided against standing up too fast and instead studied the location from her current position. Her cloths had been changed. She was wearing a completely white get up composed of a shirt, pants and shoes, not what one would expect to have if one wants to survive the cold nights of northern empire.

The room was small; around two by two meters, made of stone with no decorations or details except for a window close to the celling on either side that permitted light to enter. There were only two things in the room, the bed that occupied half the space and a square forty-centimetre-wide wooden box on the wall besides the door.

This place looked like a prison; every single surface except for the box was a dull grey or metal, although the bed was comfortable and the sheets were really soft, not silk, but close.

Astrid sat up and stretch her muscles before standing on the bed and looking outside through the window. It was light out; by the colour and intensity she expected it to be early morning. She had been placed in a dense forest, there was a hint of snow but she saw nothing moving and could not hear anything to indicate where exactly she was or what she was supposed to do. So, she decided to relax and wait until she felt the effects of the drug vanish completely

It took almost two hours and thirty minutes for the effects to were off. For her head to feel totally clear.

Astrid stood and approached the box; it was locked and she found no key in the area so being careful she broke the wooden box and took a letter from the inside.

“Hello participants” The handwriting has done in a beautiful calligraphy. “You have been selected and trained due to you great potential and aptitude towards our organization. Each one of you has been placed in your current accommodation around this terrain under our vigilant eye, if you leave the area designated in the accompanying map…”

Astrid looked at the second page to find a map. It showed a simplified version of a forest, lake and mountain. There were ten red dots placed in a circle around said mountain, each with an accompanied number.

“You will be terminated.”

“Each one of you is represented on the map by a dot. The number to which you are associated will be found marked on the back of your shits.” She looked to her back to find a giant black number seven.

“You have three tasks to complete in order to finish this first part of the competition. First is to get out of your accommodations; second will be to travel to the fortress on top of the mountain, retrieve your designated object marked with your number and return to your accommodations without being captured. Third is to survive for a week with only your wits and whatever you can retrieve in the area. That is the amount of time you are given for the test. People who are able to complete this will be gathered and taken to the second stage. Good luck.”

She was about fifteen kilometres from the fortress. With a terrain filled with unknown dangers and a climb that could take hours this was not going to be a one-day mission. Astrid decided to plan her time out instead of running to the mountain.

For the remaining of the day, she was going to scout the area and find some food and water; day two would be to approach the mountain and make a camp closer to the fortress to avoid walking fifteen km to and from the mountain every day. Next a recon mission to understand the base and how to enter. She would do this carefully taking two or three days to plan her entrance and more importantly her escape. She would use day six to infiltrate and the last one to return here.

With a plan in mind, she took part of the bed shits tearing them apart so she had something to tie her hair into a pony tail and finally approached the door. It was a solid steel door with a massive lock with no visible way to open it. Not even a handle.

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This was a clear test on how well they controlled their abilities. People who controlled metal could just change the shape or damage the lock, with electric or magnetic power disrupting the lock or mechanism would be easy.

As for her, Astrid placed a hand on the lock and concentrated to rise the temperature. It took more time than she expected but she was able to melt the lock and partially the door that just opened to reveal a view that left her breathless.

From the window she could only see the forest that stretched to her right but now in front of her there was a vast green plain that ended in a gigantic river with the snow-covered mountain at the other side. The fortress was visible from here although she could not determine any details from where she stood.

She would have preferred the forest to cover her from any eyes as she approached the mountain; it could still be possible but the route she would need to take could double the distance.

“Let the Astrid from tomorrow morning deal with that dilemma” She said to herself and started walking towards the forest to recollect some fire wood and look for something to eat.

After a few hours she returned. She expected it to be much darker by now but it was still bright. It was summer meaning longer days but she hoped for more hours in the dark to be able to use that to her advantage. The wood was easy to recollect and using the snow around her she was able to get fresh water; food however was not in the menu tonight. Not a single animal to kill and she knew nothing of the local flora so eating plants could go terribly wrong.

She slept once again in the comfortable bed provided for the test; she shut the door close and using her ability and maintained the area nice and warm to get a nice rest.

When she woke up Astrid decided to advance towards the mountain bordering the forest; It would not be as fast as crossing the plain but it would give her a hiding place in case, she needed one. Taking the map and some of the left-over wood tied to her back using part of the covers of the bed Astrid began to walk.

After about three hours walking, she arrived at a riverbank, it was shallow so she could cross with no difficulty and dry her cloths afterwards in a few minutes. However, before she started to cross a sound got her attention; it was a banging sound, close to rhythmic but she could not identify what it was.

Deciding it would be best to not be seen she approached from inside the cover of the forest.

The sound came from the riverside about forty meters east from where she first heard it. As she approached, she noticed it was not a human making the noise but an animal; an otter had just taken a salmon out of the water and was smacking it with a stone creating the sound.

Astrid saw her opportunity and took it. Scouting all sides of the river to avoid anyone she sprinted towards the small mammal. Taking a piece of wood from her back she shouted before she threw it towards the otter. The animal saw her coming and in a swift moment disappeared into the cold water of the river.

Astrid could not help the smile that covered her face from ear to ear. She never meant to harm the otter; after all it was one of her favourite animals and the cutest in her opinion.

The salmon, however, was now hers; it was fresh and aside from the head damage done by the otter it was in perfect condition. Her stomach groaned at the idea of diner but she opted to get closer to the mountain before cooking and eating.

Predators like bears could smell the fish and she needed to preserve it as best she could so she entered the river and placed the dead salmon on the water. Using her ability, she froze the fish along with some of the water surrounding it. Heating up a stone she took from the riverbank Astrid made a hole across the ice and tied the now frozen fish to the wood she had.

The journey to the base of the mountain took another seven hours. The freezing temperature slowed her down; she maintained a ‘coat’ of warm air around her but her ability did not work on her own body as it did on other objects.

Along the way Astrid stopped each time she found a river to re freeze the salmon and look for other sources of food; she was surprised to find four more rivers but she could not get any more food.

Her exhaustion was visible as she reached the edge of the forest and saw the mountain up close. The fortress was located at the eastern side of the mountain about half way up; directly in front of her was a steep rocky cliff around three hundred meters from the edge of the forest.

She could climb it but it would be dangerous and exhausting. To find an easier path she would need to walk north but the path would have better security.

Once again, she decided to leave that decision to her future self and turned around.

Making camp at the forest edge would mean capture; any one would see the fire from the fortress, so she started to walk again. About two hundred meters from the edge Astrid found a fallen tree; the trunk was at least sixty centimetres wide, giving her the opportunity to make shelter with much less effort.

It took her another three hours before she was able to rest. She had made the shelter by using wood gathered in the surrounding area and placing it in an angle against the trunk.

Then covered it with leaves and grass she found around and finally she made a small fire near the entrance to maintain her warm as she slept.

She unfroze the fish and decided to eat half this night and the rest the night before she did her assault on the fortress leaving the frozen half hidden and covered in leaves.