The next morning comes with light and noise.
Lanine wakes up to the sound of people talking. Footsteps outside the shed. Merchants yelling about prices. Children laughing. It is so normal. So strange. He forgot what normal sounded like.
Rika is already awake. Sitting in the corner. Watching the door.
"You did not sleep," Lanine says.
"Neither did you."
"I slept a little."
"I slept zero."
"That is not good."
"No. It is not."
They look at each other. Two tired people in a small shed. Seven days until the sect comes. Seven days to figure out what they are doing.
A knock on the door.
"Breakfast." Goro's voice. Gruff but not mean.
Lanine opens the door. Goro stands there with a basket. Bread. Dried meat. Some kind of fruit that does not glow. That is apparently how you know it is safe to eat.
"Chief wants you at the training ground today," Goro says. "Sect admission in seven days. She thinks you should watch."
"We watched yesterday," Lanine says. "Kids hitting things. Running in circles."
"Yesterday was playing. Today is training. Real training. The kind that might keep you alive when the next stitch-hound finds you." Goro looks at them. "Eat fast. Then come."
He walks away.
Rika takes the basket. Looks inside. "At least the food is normal."
"Normal is nice."
"Normal is very nice."
They eat.
---
The training ground is different today.
Yesterday, kids were playing. Running around. Having fun. Today, they stand in straight lines. Thirty-seven of them. Ages eight to fifteen. All looking serious. All looking scared.
Parents stand at the edges. Watching. Hoping.
At the front, there is an old man. White hair. White beard. Eyes that look through you instead of at you. He stands very still. Very quiet. Waiting.
"That is Elder Berin," Torben says. He appears beside them. His stained hands are wrapped in cloth today. "He used to be in a sect. Failed his third trial. Came back here. Now he trains the kids."
"What is a third trial?" Rika asks.
"Something you do not need to worry about yet. Just watch. He knows things."
Elder Berin starts talking. His voice is strong for someone so old.
"Cultivation is not about hitting hard," he says. "It is not about running fast. It is not about looking good for the sect people."
He stops. Lets the words sink in.
"Cultivation is about foundation. The energy you take in. The way you keep it. The paths it moves through your body. That is your foundation. If it is weak, you will never get stronger. If it cracks, you break. If it is strong..." He smiles. Yellow teeth. "You might live long enough to die in a more interesting way."
Some kids laugh. Most look confused.
Lanine understands none of it. But he listens.
---
ENERGY BASICS FROM ELDER BERIN
The world is full of energy. It is in the air. In the ground. In the rocks. You cannot see it yet. But it is there.
Cultivation is learning to pull that energy into your body. Clean it. Make it yours.
First, you learn to feel it. Close your eyes. Breathe. Reach out with something that is not your hands. When you feel a tingle, that is energy.
Then you pull. Gently. Like water through a straw. Too fast and you hurt yourself. Too slow and you die of old age before you reach Level 1.
You keep the energy in your core. Your lower stomach. Let it build. Let it settle. When you have enough, you use it to make your body stronger.
That is Level 1. Body Strengthening. Everything else comes after.
---
Lanine closes his eyes.
He breathes.
He reaches out with something. He does not know what. Attention? Wanting? His mind stretching?
Nothing happens. Just darkness.
Then—
Tingle.
Small. Like static from carpet. But there. Energy. Everywhere. Flowing through the air like a river he cannot see.
He pulls. Gently. Like a straw.
The energy moves. A little. A tiny stream going into his core.
Then more. Faster. Like something broke open. Energy floods into him. Too much. Too fast. He feels like he is going to explode.
"Whoa." Goro's hand on his shoulder. Pulling him back. "Easy. Too fast. You will burn yourself."
Lanine opens his eyes. Breathing hard. "I felt it."
"Everyone feels it the first time. You have to control it."
"No, I mean—" He looks at his hands. They are tingling. Faint light under the skin. "It came really fast. Like it wanted to come."
Goro's face changes. "How fast?"
"Fast. Really fast."
Beside him, Rika is still frowning. Eyes closed. Face tight. Nothing happening. Her hands stay normal.
"Keep trying," Goro tells her. Quietly. Gently. Then to Lanine, lower: "We talk later."
---
The morning goes on.
Elder Berin moves between the kids. Fixing their postures. Giving advice. Hitting some on the head when they do something stupid. One boy pulls too hard and his nose bleeds. A girl falls asleep from trying too hard.
Lanine watches. Learns.
By midday, he understands some things.
Most kids can barely feel the energy. They will take weeks to learn. Some can pull a little. Their fingers glow for a few seconds. That is good.
Lanine can pull a lot. Too much. He stopped trying after the second time almost knocked him over. His hands keep glowing anyway. Soft light under the skin. Pulsing with his heartbeat.
Rika feels nothing. Not a tingle. Not a spark. Nothing.
---
During break, Rika sits away from everyone. Back against a tree. Staring at nothing.
Lanine brings her water.
"Here."
"Thanks."
He sits beside her. Waits.
"I am broken," she says. Flat voice. Empty. "Those little kids are doing better than me."
"You are not broken."
"Then why can I not feel it? You felt it right away. Some of the kids felt it. I have been sitting here for hours with my eyes closed. Reaching out with everything. There is nothing. Just dark. Just quiet."
Lanine does not have an answer.
"Maybe it takes time," he says.
"Maybe I am not meant to do this."
"Rika—"
"Do not." She holds up a hand. "Do not give me hope if there is no reason. I would rather know now. I would rather accept it."
He wants to argue. Her face stops him.
"Okay," he says quietly. "But I am not giving up on you. Even if you give up on yourself."
She looks at him for a long time. Then she laughs. Short. Bitter. Real.
"That is the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to me."
"I know. I am good at stupid."
"Yeah." She leans her head back against the tree. "You really are."
---
That evening, Goro finds Lanine near the Destiny Platform.
"The energy," Goro says. No introduction. "How much can you take?"
"I do not know. I stopped trying. Felt like I was going to explode."
"Show me. Just a little."
Lanine hesitates. Then closes his eyes. Reaches out. Pulls gently.
The energy comes anyway. Not a flood like before. A steady stream. Thicker than any of the kids managed. It flows into his core. Warm. Alive. For a moment, Lanine feels powerful. Like he could do anything.
"Enough." Goro's voice is tight. "Stop."
Lanine stops. Opens his eyes.
Goro is staring at him. Like he grew a second head. The Destiny Platform behind him is pulsing faster than normal. Its purple-gold light almost frantic.
"What?" Lanine asks.
"Your foundation." Goro runs a hand through his hair. "It is not just good. It is rare. Very rare. I have only seen this once before. A traveler came through years ago. Let us test him. His constitution was Tier Three High Grade. He could pull energy like you."
"Is that bad?"
"It is rare. Tier Three High means your foundation multiplier is fifteen times. Every level you reach, you will be fifteen times stronger than someone with Tier Zero." Goro shakes his head. "The sect people are going to lose their minds when they see you."
"But I am not from here. I am not supposed to be here."
"Does not matter. Talent is talent." Goro looks toward the tree where Rika still sits alone. "What about your friend?"
"Nothing. She feels nothing."
Goro's face darkens. "I do not know what to tell you. Some people cannot do this. It happens."
"She is not nothing."
"I did not say she was. But this is not fair. You know that now."
---
That night, Lanine finds Rika at the village edge. Same spot as before. Staring at nothing.
"I heard," she says before he can speak. "Goro told me. You are special. I am not."
"He did not say that."
"He did not have to." She hugs her knees. "I dreamed of fire again. Different this time. Deeper. Like something was calling me from very far away."
"Rika—"
"Maybe that is all I am. Dreams and nothing else." She turns to look at him. Tears in her eyes. "What if I cannot do this, Lanine? What if I am just normal in a world where normal people die?"
He sits beside her.
"I do not know," he says. Honest. "But I know you are not normal. You killed a stitch-hound with a rock. You survived two days in the wilderness. You are here right now. Not dead. That is not normal."
"That is luck."
"Luck is a resource. The Chief said that. You have more of it than anyone I know."
Rika is quiet for a long time.
Then, soft: "What if my dreams mean something?"
"Probably they do."
"What if it is bad?"
"Then we deal with it. Together."
She leans against his shoulder. They watch the stars spin overhead.
---
Morning comes. Lanine's hands are still glowing.
Not bright. Just faint light under the skin. He hides them in his pockets during training. But Goro sees. Torben sees. Even Elder Berin looks at him once. Eyebrows raised.
Rika sees too. She does not say anything.
The second day of training is harder than the first.
The kids are getting better. Some can pull energy now. One girl makes her whole arm glow for three seconds. Elder Berin actually praises her. That almost never happens.
Lanine sits on the sidelines. Hiding his hands. Feeling like a liar.
Rika sits beside him. Hiding her hands for different reasons.
"Maybe you should train with them," she says quietly.
"And leave you alone?"
"I will be fine."
"That is not what I asked."
She does not answer.
---
On the third day, something changes.
Lanine is watching the kids practice. His intuition suddenly screams. Look now. He turns toward the village entrance.
A stranger walks in.
Tall. Thin. Wearing robes that change color in the light. Red to orange to purple. His eyes are the color of dying embers. He moves like someone who knows exactly how much power he has.
Examiner Varn. Early.
---
The village buzzes for the rest of the day.
Parents rush to prepare their kids. The Chief meets with the elders. Goro and Torben double their patrols. Like they expect trouble.
Lanine and Rika stay in their shed. Watching through the cracks in the walls.
"He is early," Rika says.
"Four days early."
"Think it means something?"
"I do not know." Lanine's hands pulse with light. "But I do not think it is nothing."
Outside, the suns set. The stars spin.
Somewhere deep in the wilderness, something howls.