It took all of Felix’s focus to keep up with Knucklehead as he rushed through the forest. It took him a while to start noticing a change in the environment. Trees snapped in half, claw marks raking the earth. Whatever happened, it wasn’t just some minor scuffle. Felix quickly realised he had to stop Knucklehead. Even if one of the creatures were injured, if it was still hanging around, they’d be dead for sure.

  He tried calling out, but between being out of breath and the distance the little guy had put between them, he probably couldn’t even hear him.

  To Felix’s horror, they soon reached the epicentre of the battle. Almost no trees were left standing, and a thick smell of blood hung in the air. Felix watched in horror as Knucklehead quickly spotted the loser of the clash and rushed over to pick for ingredients.

  Felix stared, frozen in the realisation of just how out of their depths they were. He recognised the creature. It was the catlike beast that stood to his left at the start of the race. An icy feeling of dread crept up his spine.

  Hearing a snap to his left, he turned only to have his worst fears realised. He felt his stomach sink as a sudden pressure descended on them. Creeping out of the dark woods, another one of the race’s participants entered the ruined battlefield.

  The scaled humanoid creature slowly stalked out of the shadows. Felix heard a whimper coming from Knuckelhead, but he couldn't take his eyes off the thing. Even with several broken spikes and missing scales. Even with a gnarly claw mark weeping blood from its chest, Felix had no doubt that they didn’t stand a chance.

  Felix could practically feel its malice as it hunched forward, ready to move. His mind raced. He tried thinking of a way to survive this. Tried thinking of anything he could do.

  Before his mind could think of a solution, his body reacted. Before he knew what was happening, he helplessly watched as a rock sailed towards the creature.

  He looked down at his own traitorous hand that had certainly just doomed him to another painful death.

  Felix watched as the abomination of spikes and carapace turned towards him. Its alien features twisted into something that must have been confusion, as the rock harmlessly bounced off it. It looked at Felix, not with bloodlust, but as if it just didn’t understand what happened.

  Felix couldn’t tell it either, after all, it wasn’t like he’d been party to his own plan.

  “Why did I do that?! Spokes spokes spokes! Knucklehead run!”

  Felix didn’t even have time to escape as the creature turned on him. Reaching for the only thing he could, he quickly grabbed a nearby branch. It wasn’t as nice as the walking stick he left by the camp and still had twigs and leaves attached in places, but beggars can’t be choosers.

  He brandished the stick, waving it ineffectually at the creature. Strangely, he didn’t panic. He was scared, so scared that his legs trembled, and he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. It was so loud he couldn’t even hear if Knucklehead ran away.

  His mind reacted to the stress in possibly the worst way it could. It slowed his perception of the oncoming danger. That might have been useful if Felix wasn’t so wildly outclassed. He tried lifting the branch to put it between him and the creature, but his branch just snapped like the twig it was.

  Felix had to watch, in slow motion, as the claws reached his chest, and an unbearable pain took hold of him. Mercifully, the Ways didn’t let him experience it for more than a moment before he was safely dropped back on the cobblestone path under the twisting sky.

  Felix was immediately violently sick, and he struggled to catch his breath as the sight of the claws ripping into him kept replaying in his mind over and over. His muscles wouldn’t stop spasming as if they were still trying to swat away the looming threat. The moment the useless twig snapped kept replaying in his head. The only barrier between him and the beast vanishing before its elongated arm plunged into his chest.

  The Ways worked frantically to calm him. The skies above him swayed and twisted, the path beneath him bombarded him with thoughts of calm and peace. Eventually, the shock faded, leaving him with only a slight tremble. His breathing calmed, and the thoughts of his death grew fuzzy to the point where he knew what had happened but could barely remember the details after the humanoid creature showed up.

  He had no idea how long he had spent lying on the path. By the time he got up, his face was streaked with dried snot and tears. His entire body felt stiff from curling in on himself. The Ways had done its best, but the experience had left its mark.

  Not wanting to spend more time there, Felix left the Ways. When Felix realised what time it was, he was shocked. Normally, after exploring the Ways, he’d go train with instructor Grendel, have dinner before anyone else woke up, maybe catch up on some reading, and then sleep until he had his breakfast with Lara and Aster at lunch time.

  Yet the ever-stationary sun gave him the feeling that he was already late for breakfast, never mind training with the instructor.

  Quickly rushing to see if he could catch up to Lara and Aster before they left for their morning training, he didn’t even notice Eugene and Irene coming his way until he nearly bumped into them.

  “Did that loser really just come from the Ways? He still hasn’t learnt his lesson.” Irene said.

  Felix looked over at Irene, but before he could say anything, Eugene piped up.

  “I thought I told you to give up on being a Traveller.”

  Felix looked over at Eugene in genuine confusion. He might have said something like that, but Felix couldn’t understand why he thought Felix would listen to something that absurd.

  “I don’t think it’s any of your business what I do with my time here.”

  “You ungrateful louch. Eugene is one of the most talented people at the Crossroad. He could wipe the floor with you without even trying. You ought to be grateful when he gives you advice instead of throwing it in his face.”

  Felix was stunned, how could he even respond to that twisted line of reasoning?

  “That’s right. I’m just trying to help based on our past friendship. You’re practically a cripple, stop wasting everyone’s time by trying to be a Traveller and go learn a trade like you’re supposed to.”

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  “Oh, get lost, both of you. What I do with my time has nothing to do with you. I already said it, and I’ll say it again. You aren’t worth shit, Eugene, you aren’t talented, you’re nothing special. Hell, in the grand scheme of things, you’re probably beneath even a ‘cripple’ like me. At least my affinities are rare. You might as well be a glorified water heater with how common yours is.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do than argue with two delusional losers.”

  With that, Felix tried walking away. As soon as he turned, Eugene grabbed him by the arm.

  “Take that back!”

  “Let go.”

  “Take it back!”

  “Or what? You really think you could take me with a couple of weeks of training? Shove off, Eugene. You’ve never beaten me, and you aren’t about to start now. Go pretend to be something special with your little friends. I have better things to do.”

  Felix tore his arm out of Eugene’s grip and walked off. His heart was still beating rapidly with the adrenaline from the conversation and his death. But he’d managed to reclaim a little spark of pride. He’d been letting them put him down since he found out he couldn’t be a knight.

  He felt worthless, and he let them treat him like he was. Now he was slowly reclaiming who he used to be. He was never the type to lie down and let others treat him like a doormat. In the shock of his first journey, he’d let himself forget who he was. He wouldn’t let that continue.

  Entering the dining hall, he was glad to see that Lara and Aster were still there. By the looks of things, they’d finished eating and were probably just hanging around a bit and relaxing before training.

  Aster spotted him the moment he entered the hall.

  “Felix!” Lara called out.

  “Hey, glad I caught you guys before you left.”

  “Is everything alright? You’re not usually this late.” Surprisingly, Aster was the first to ask.

  “Yeah, it’s fine. I just got stuck in the Ways. Remember that river I told you about? I think I found a way to cross it. I’m still working on it, though.” Felix gave them a brief rundown of his encounter with Knucklehead Skewer.

  Recounting the adventure helped Felix get rid of the last of his nerves from dying. It actually sounded like a fun adventure when he told the story to someone else. In reality, it felt like a horrifying ordeal. Thinking about it, a small suspicion started growing in his heart, maybe all the adventure stories he’d read might not be as fun to actually live through as they were to hear about.

  Such a truth would be far too cruel to accept, however, so Felix quickly squashed the doubt and moved on.

  The girls couldn’t chat for too long before they had to start their own training, but the brief encounter still allowed Felix to relax a little.

  When Felix awoke some time later, he was fully recovered thanks to his growing proficiency with his spell. He had a choice to make. He could try to meet up with Knucklehead again, but the thought of making the difficult journey from the starting line to the river sounded daunting. He also wouldn’t get much stronger trying to repeat the journey. Instructor Grendel had explained that the Ways had a strange effect on physical training.

  Even Grendel didn’t understand how the spell worked, but apparently, whatever method prevented you from bringing the injuries from inside the Ways out with you prevented you from growing stronger after exercising inside the Ways. You’d still benefit from practice if you tried learning the sword or something inside, but once you exited, you’d struggle to adapt as the strength you built up inside dissipated.

  Even inside the Ways, you wouldn’t keep your strength for long. Every time your body got reset, when you cleared a gate or failed an attempt, you’d go back to being as strong as you are on the outside.

  Considering his options, Felix thought it might be best to train with the instructor before attempting the Ways again. If he could build up his physical condition, or perhaps learn to move through the forest better, he wouldn’t be as exhausted the next time he got to the river.

  When he brought it up to instructor Grendel, he proposed a deal. If Felix promised not to enter the Ways for a month and focused on his training, then the instructor would fully support him. Felix had a hard time even considering the offer.

  He was on a deadline, accepting meant a month of not progressing, a month of falling further behind. Not able to answer immediately, he sought advice from everyone he knew. He discussed it with Lara and Aster, and with Agrona. He even discussed it with Henry and his favourite tree. Ultimately, what made his decision was reflecting on his trial.

  He’d beaten the first obstacle by patiently observing. He’d found his way across the second the same way. The path had told him as much before presenting him with the trial. He had to be patient. If he didn’t use everything he had to its full potential, he wouldn’t get anywhere.

  Even if he managed to pass his current obstacle, the next one wouldn’t be any easier. So ultimately, he accepted.

  What followed was a gruelling gauntlet that pushed him to his limits every day. He’d wake up, eat, and exercise until he dropped, then he’d eat, sleep, and do it again. During this time, he barely had time to see Lara and Aster. They ran into each other at the gym, and sometimes their meal times overlapped, but Felix was so busy training that they almost never spent time together.

  Even when he did see them, he was too exhausted to be much of a conversation partner.

  They both checked in on him a few times. Lara was clearly concerned, but Aster kept her focused. At some point, her concern turned into motivation, and both girls started matching his pace as best they could.

  His sleep spell showed its worth. By the end of the month, he’d gotten his required sleep down to three hours and even managed to use it between exercises to recover faster without falling asleep.

  He grew at a remarkable rate, at some point even managing to spar with Lara and keep up, well… as long as she didn’t use any of her abilities.

  The month passed in a blur, but as his training period approached its end, his improvement began to slow.

  Instructor Grendel assured him he still had a way to go before he hit his limit, but the closer he got to it, the slower his progress would be.

  He managed to convince the instructor to include some exercises that would help him navigate the jungle more easily. He still wasn’t nearly as smooth moving through the obstacle course as Knucklehead was going through the jungle. That was to be expected, though. He wouldn’t be able to match a lifetime living in that environment with a month of training, no matter how intense it was.

  The instructor even started including weapon training near the end of the month. While this sounded fun, it forced Felix to face another painful truth. He’d spent countless hours training with the sword, yet after speaking with the instructor, he had to abandon it.

  There was no point in continuing to train with a weapon he’d never be able to use in a real fight. As someone walking the path of a mage, competing physically with a martial artist was folly. The only reason he needed weapon training was to survive long enough to cast his next spell if one ever got into close range. Well that, and he still didn’t have a single offensive spell.

  It was a bitter truth to swallow, but it made much more sense to train with a staff. Not only would it give him a bit of a reach advantage when facing most other weapons, but it also wasn’t uncommon to see magi using staffs once they were more advanced. At least that’s what the instructor told him. Even though he stubbornly refused to tell Felix why they would need to use a staff.

  The final straw in his decision was his current gate. Felix could easily find a branch to use as a weapon. All that made the staff the only practical choice. That didn’t mean it was an easy decision.

  It felt like every step forward was another step away from what he really wanted. He kept telling himself that it made sense, that it was the right thing to do. But no amount of ‘sense’ made it easy when he woke from dreams of home. He’d dream of times when Claire taught them how to fight. There were times when he and Lara went on an adventure to find the best branches to turn into swords.

  No amount of telling himself it was the right thing to do gave him comfort as he sobbed into his pillow, mourning the death of another little dream.

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