Footprints left their marks on the snow. Avryn and Tvira were tracking deer this hunt. The former was still not used to the freezing cold, at least for his tolerances.

  “Is it this cold usually?” he turned to her.

  “Yes,” she replied. “Do you want thicker clothing?”

  “That, and a hot drink,” Avryn looked down.

  They were tracking a deer for this simulation mission. Avryn was equipped only with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. He tried his best to look at the tracks. Vapor escaped from his mouth. Avryn knew how to hunt in normal situations, but this was not so. He relied on Tvira’s guide, or lack thereof, for help.

  Tvira on the other hand, believed that experience was the best teacher. That was the way she was taught. She was more hands off teaching Avryn, only interrupting when absolutely necessary.

  Veilund’s frozen northlands was a sight. Shades of white and the occasional dark green from the tree’s leaves dotted the landscape. The winds almost whistled as they danced through the air.

  “So, how are you finding it? My homeland?” Tvira asked.

  “I’ve never seen such a place like this. I don’t mind having somewhere warmer next time, though,” he joked.

  Tvira was satisfied with his answer. She gestured to continue finding the deer. After a few more minutes of tracking, the deer was in sight. It was trying to traverse a frozen lake. Its legs had difficulty clinging onto anything solid as it skid around.

  “Can you make the shot?” Tvira turned to Avryn.

  He nodded and followed her instructors.

  “Breathe in as you use your back muscles.”

  Avryn notched the arrow and drew the string back. He found his aim.

  “Exhale and release.”

  Avryn did as instructed and fired his first arrow. It landed squarely on the deer’s hind. The sudden shock jolted the deer. Panic ran through its mind, and it started to run away. The hunt was interrupted as a Corpse Bear ambushed them.

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  “Woah!” Avryn dodged a swipe.

  The bear roared, as if claiming the deer for itself. Avryn instinctively went for his sword, but for the purposes of the training, he was only armed with a knife.

  “Better than nothing,” he exclaimed.

  Tvira moved to flank, firing off several arrows to catch the bear’s attention. It reared up and tried to swipe her but Avryn’s charge was enough to disrupt it. He and the bear took a tumble down to the frozen lake. Ice started to break beneath their combined weight.

  Tvira moved in but maintained her distance. She did three more shots. Avryn tried to retreat but the bear grappled him. They both felt the water’s cold embrace. Avryn was fighting for his life. He held the knife and stabbed the bear right in the jugular. He did a couple more just to make sure. He held his hand out for Tvira to pull him out.

  “Are you alright?” she checked his wounds.

  “Nothing like a cold shower to really wake you up,” he assured. “We still have a deer to hunt.”

  He wiped away the bear’s blood and continued. There was a clearing ahead, The deer was on its side, its labored breath signaled its struggle. The two came up to it.

  “Do not worry, it is almost over,” Tvira stroked its neck.

  Avryn knelt down and stabbed the knife into its neck. It struggled at first, then relented. It closed its eyes as it went into its eternal sleep. Tvira and Avryn both looked at the sky above them. It was the start of morning.

  “Just do this maybe a hundred more times, and you’ll be as good as me and Valoche,” she commented.

  “You think so? That’ll be a triple threat if there is one,” Avryn imagined.

  “You know, I’ve never thought I’d see the day of doing something like this for a man, but here we are,” Tvira noted. “I liked it.”

  She gave him an approving look.

  “I’ll be looking forward to your teachings, Avryn,” she added.

  The next day, Avryn was wandering around the courtyard and was surprised to see Jenilah alone. He stepped to and sat beside her, starting a conversation. They complemented each other’s looks. Jenilah with her hair naturally flowing down, while Avryn’s starting to look like a lion’s mane. Next, they switched to the topic of progress.

  They showered each other with praise as their progress helped elevate each other’s teams to be the best in their batch. Fruits of their respective work were showing. There was one thing on Jenilah’s mind, however. A question she needed answered urgently.

  “Hey, Avryn?” she started.

  “Yeah?” he looked at her.

  “Do you wanna go hiking again? It’s been a while since the last,” she leaned slightly forward as she asked.

  “Of course, just name the time,” he replied.

  Her heart was beating fast just as he said it. She got the answer she was looking for.

  “Ah, just the people we’re looking for,” Leifren exclaimed.

  Leifren and Rinna were close by and caught up to them. They sat around in a circle, as usual. Rumors were swirling about for the final exams again.

  “We have a long break before this, about a week,” he spoke.

  This could be a signal that the finals would be extremely difficult. They just didn’t know what. Their batch decided to hold a meeting in an hour to strategize. They decided to go to the meeting early.

  One of the lecture halls was given to the students to do their meeting in. Avryn and Leifren’s squad came up, and were given the opportunity to tell their strategy. Avryn looked around them all, gauged their strengths. Everyone had been doing fairly well, especially recently.

  “Well, I think you could keep going at your current pace, I don’t see what’s wrong with it,”

  A few students sided with him, and another argued against it.

  “We don’t know what the headmaster has planned,” a student chimed.

  “Well, you asked my opinion and my opinion is this: just control what you can control and that’s yourselves. Just train hard and be ready for anything,” he stood strong on his case.

  “Remember, we’ve been doing joint squad trainings since the start of our sophomore year, right?” Leifren added. “Maybe the exams will test that.”

  Majority of them agreed and planned accordingly. As the students spent the final minutes of their meeting, Avryn looked up to the windows. A figure moved away. He swore that silhouette was that of headmaster Aldric but he shrugged it off.

  He too started to wonder. What could this test be?