“You okay?”

Sorn turned his head to see Crystal staring up at him inquisitively. They had left the cave, and were now back in the forest heading to the shack. He must have zoned out while pondering the information he had been given recently.

Sorn: “Yes, I’m alright. But I can’t help but wonder how I’ll be helpful to you, there’s a lot I don’t know but I don’t particularly feel too special.”

Crystal took a moment to think before responding.

Crystal: “Well, you’re certainly not an Elemental. That does put you at a disadvantage.”

She stopped, turning to face him with a confident smile on her face.

Crystal: “But you definitely have some type of special power!”

Sorn: “What makes you say that?”

Crystal held up two fingers dramatically. Sorn could tell she certainly enjoyed this position of taking the lead in a conversation.

Crystal: “Reason number one! You were sent by someone or something. Like I said before, your arrival is too convenient to be a coincidence. Reason number two! You shot down from the top of the sky. If you didn’t have some type of unique ability, you would have absolutely died!”

Sorn: “You sound pretty excited about the prospect of me dying.”

Despite her confidence and reasoning, Sorn couldn’t help but find a lack of faith in himself. He didn’t feel that he was worthy of the responsibility being put on him. Frankly, he had no clue what he was really doing.

Crystal: “I’m being honest though, even the strongest in our clan wouldn’t be surviving a fall at that height and acceleration without their abilities.”

Sorn: “Will the people of your clan even accept me entering?”

Crystal didn’t even hesitate to shake her head.

Crystal: “Our clan has not seen, much less accepted an outsider since the creation of the fortress. I doubt many will be as hostile as my brother but the council would sooner kill you than accept you. Most of them would be intrigued, but Varian, the head of the council, is a real stickler. He’s probably worse than my brother.”

Sorn: “Then how can I help save your brother if I can’t enter the fortress?”

Crystal paused for a moment, putting a finger to her chin as though this thought had never crossed her mind.

Crystal: “I didn’t really think that far ahead, I thought it would just kind of work out.”

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Sorn facepalmed internally, but Crystal’s face brightened suddenly as she formulated a stick of ice in front of her, grabbing and pointing it down towards the snow underneath them. She began to draw into it, making a large line and putting ticks into it to explain her thought process.

Crystal: “I told you before that in three weeks, the new century will start and Keilan will turn twenty.”

She made a tick at the end of the line, marking the end of the three weeks. She then made another tick one third of the way into the line.

Crystal: “One week from now, we have our tournament that happens once every one hundred years. This tournament is obligatory for the top fifty students in our academy.”

She paused, giving a proud smile.

Crystal: “I happen to be one of these students!”

Sorn: “Uh huh.”

Crystal: “On the first day of the tournament, the head of the Pythia Subclan receives a prophecy from the constellations, and everyone is required to attend and listen, with only a select trusted few keeping guard.”

She gave him a mischievous grin.

Crystal: “Keilan happens to be one of these people. He won’t be happy but I can definitely convince him to pick you up at the shack and sneak you in.”

Sorn wasn’t sure if that was possible, but he deemed it best not to question her.

Sorn: “If the tournament is starting soon, shouldn’t you be preparing?”

Crystal’s expression went aghast as her mouth dropped.

Crystal: “Holy shit, I was so excited by you dropping from the sky, I completely forgot I had to attend academy today!”

Sorn: “Shouldn’t Keilan have reminded you? He seems pretty responsible about this stuff.”

Crystal shook her head.

Crystal: “He was removed from the academy once he was determined as a sacrifice. He hasn’t concerned himself with it since.”

She was lost in thought for another moment, before slapping her fist into her open hand. Even with all his worry, Sorn couldn’t help but smile at her plain ‘aha’ expression.

Crystal: “Since you need to get stronger anyways, I’ll give you a task.”

She gestured her arm around the forest.

Crystal: “In this entire forest, there’s only two things you can eat. The first are the Rabballs, and the second are the extra food we stored inside the shack. Your goal while you’re alone will be to hunt the Rabballs!”

Sorn: “How is that going to help at all? And what do these creatures even look like?”

Crystal’s mischievous grin was back. That made Sorn feel more unsettled than he already was somehow.

Crystal: “You’ll see! They’re funny balls of fur, you’ll know when you see them.”

She pointed in a direction.

Crystal: “That’s the way back to the shack. I’m sure you can manage getting back safely. If Keilan doesn’t come in a week, just be patient and don’t do anything that’ll get you killed. I’ll definitely manage no matter what. Sounds good?”

Overwhelmed by the sudden change of scenario, Sorn could only manage a simple “yeah” before Crystal put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly with a final smile, before sprinting off, leaving him alone in the middle of the bare trees in the snowy forest. He observed his surroundings, his sudden loneliness now being dawned upon him. He began walking in the direction Crystal had pointed to earlier as he looked up at the sun. It was past midday, and it would be setting soon.

He gave a shaky sigh, pausing for a moment to lie down on the cold snow as he thought to himself.

What am I even doing here? Why should I risk my life just to help someone I barely know? If I came from somewhere else, shouldn’t I just go back there instead of trying to help someone that hates me?

While pondering this, he remembered how excited Crystal was about his very existence. He couldn’t put that feeling into words, but that feeling it gave him made him feel, well, whole.

Fuck.

He lifted up his head a bit, to see a small puffball about five steps away. They were locked into each other, its two black dots staring through his very soul. By its size, the creature hardly went up to his knees. Sorn laughed to himself.

So this pathetic thing is what I need to catch to prove myself?

If that’s all it took, maybe he could end up being useful. He lunged forward, grabbing towards the innocent creature. It slipped out of his grasp, jumping up as two legs shot out of its fur, kicking him in the face with an intense amount of force. He was launched backwards into a tree, the air being completely knocked out of him. When he caught his breath again, he immediately looked up, expecting to be attacked again. However, the little shit was just looking at him again, sitting there as it looked innocently at him. While debating whether it was better to prove himself or to give up, he heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Truly pathetic. Your caliber is worse than I imagined if you can’t even manage to stand up to a simple Rabball.”

Sorn turned towards the person who was making his terrible day even worse. His clothes were more similar to Crystal’s, as they had the same silver and blue patterns. His light blue hair was parted to cover one of his eyes, and he had a pompous attitude about him. As he walked towards Sorn, every step was calculated, as though strategically calculated to give the perfect amount of bounce in his step. Sorn mused at the idea of this stranger practicing that in the mirror for years. It then dawned upon him that this person was not surprised by seeing him despite clearly being a member of the Ice Clan.

That could only mean one thing.

Sorn: “Who are you?”

End.