Adrian woke to his own shivers. His body jerked with every tremor, teeth clattering so hard his jaw ached. The cave was dry, but that hadn’t saved him. His clothes, strung along the wall, were still damp and clammy. The rain outside hadn’t stopped, and the night had stripped him of every bit of warmth he had left.

  His head felt heavy, throat raw from breathing the cold air. Each breath rattled, shallow and uneven. He tried to push himself up, but his arms shook, and he collapsed back against the stone.

  As he monitored his condition, he realized that if this had been outside the simulation, he would have been in agony. The ache was there, the weakness, the fever, the trembling. But not the crushing misery he knew it should have been. He felt like he had a bad cold, nothing more.

  "Thanks, Luminara," he said, his tone barely audible, rasping through the remnants of a cough. His body still ached from the cold, and every word felt like an effort.

  He was sure that he had already failed the first test. There was no way he would be able to survive for thirty days in this condition, without any medicine.

  By the first day, shivering and feverish, Adrian barely moved. His damp clothes clung to his skin, sucking out whatever warmth he had left. It was better than when he was without them. The rain outside persisted; the only voice he heard was the rain hitting the ground and leaves. He sipped water from the rain when his throat burned, but the relief was temporary. Every hour was a struggle, his muscles stiff, his head pounding, and his teeth rattling uncontrollably.

  On the second day, the cold had burrowed deep into his bones. The fever surged, leaving him weak and dizzy. He tried wringing out his clothes again, but it did little. Hunger started to gnaw at him, yet the thought of leaving the cave made his legs tremble. He whispered to himself, tried to push through the fear, but each moment outside the cave felt like certain death. He spent his time thinking about what he could have done differently to avoid ending up in this situation. What if he were faster getting to the cave? Would he remember to get enough wood to keep himself warm?

  By the third day, Adrian was barely aware of time. The fever sapped his strength, and his body ached in every joint. The rain was unyielding, a constant drum against the forest. His teeth clattered with every shiver, and his stomach twisted with hunger. Each breath was a labor, each movement a test of willpower, and he found himself slumping against the cold walls more and more.

  By the fourth day, he could barely sit upright. His shivers had become uncontrollable, his fever relentless, and even drinking water felt exhausting. The cave felt smaller, suffocating. His mind began to blur, fear and fatigue merging into a dull resignation.

  On the fifth day, Adrian stopped fighting. He hugged his knees, teeth chattering, fever burning through him like fire. The rain outside hadn’t stopped, and neither had his misery. He whispered a dry, defeated laugh. “I can’t… I can’t do this.” His body sagged against the stone, every muscle aching, every thought heavy. He had given up.

  Adrian’s vision blurred. A soft chime echoed, and the forest dissolved around him. He opened his eyes, and the cover of the pod welcomed him. He was out of the simulation.

  He didn’t exit the pod right away. For the next five minutes, he just lay there, analyzing his condition. No pain, no discomfort, all of it was gone, like a bad dream. He remembered every moment of it, but there were no real consequences. Outside the simulation, his body was fine, yet the memory of everything he’d done remained.

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  When he opened the pod, Luminara’s voice greeted him.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “Good morning,” Adrian replied as he sat up in the pod, his legs dangling over the edge. He asked, “How long was I in?” He felt perfectly fine, with no lingering effects from the simulation pod.

  “Five hours,” she answered.

  “So one day in there equals one hour out here,” he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.

  “Yes,” she answered to his mutter, her voice carrying that familiar, airy lightness. “But the ratios can be adjusted. It was your first simulation, so I made it one to five. It can be lowered the more you use it.”

  Then she continued, her voice soft and calm, “The first simulation you went through was without guidance, but that will change. You first needed to experience being thrown into a difficult situation and see how you would react. In the next simulations, I will guide you, and you’ll be able to learn, not just survive.”

  “Yeah, that would be great… I think,” he said, still trying to process everything. After what he went through, he thought he’d need time to recover from the pain, the suffering. But stepping out of the pod, it felt like he’d just had a long, deep sleep. There was nothing that suggested he had endured four days of misery.

  "Can I have some coffee?" he asked.

  Luminara didn’t say anything. A table materialized in front of him, high enough that he could use it while sitting in the pod. Then a cup of steaming coffee appeared on the table, dark, without sugar, just the way he liked it.

  "Thanks." He spent the next ten minutes savoring the coffee, letting its warmth wake up his body.

  It was time to wake Alex, but Adrian kept putting it off. He didn’t know how to explain what had happened or where to even start. How could he tell him they’d suddenly appeared in a place that felt almost mythical, a place he somehow had partial control over? And then there were the other worlds. Adrian wanted to go. He was tired of this one, tired of the limits of their life.

  He had gone over the other worlds with Luminara multiple times, but they had almost no information. The Nexus hadn’t been active for ages, and the data they had was not credible. That was why the first simulation had thrown him alone into a forest, at least, that’s what he thought.

  Before they could begin traveling to other worlds, he needed to complete his training on how to survive in every kind of environment, how to defend himself, and much more. He still felt like he was dreaming, as if the Nexus didn’t exist, but it was real. And he was determined to make the most of the situation.

  Luminara told him that, depending on each world’s condition, the time he needed to spend there would vary, because the artifact that could teleport him back needed to be recharged.

  He still hadn’t made up his mind about traveling to other worlds, but the reasons to go outweighed the reasons not to. Exploration, he wanted that, for certain. And escape. Escape from the slums, from the dust and hunger and endless worry. In a way, he was already away, here in the Nexus, able to come and go… at least, that is what Luminara said. He still hadn't tested it yet, but the thought alone made the possibilities feel endless.

  He took a sip of the coffee. It was bitter and strong, exactly the way he liked it.

  Alex was still here, and he had no reason to go back to Dalvaria just yet. He had everything he needed here. But in the future… he wanted to go. To see if he could help Uncle Ben, check on his friends, and find out if any of them were still alive, he hoped they were, but the reality was different.

  There were many things he wanted to do, places he wanted to explore. But there was time. For once, there was no pressure on him. Luminara and the Nexus were patient, accommodating, as if they would wait for him no matter how long it took.

  He still had doubts, but maybe the answers would come with time. Luminara only stayed quiet when it came to the Nexus, always saying that it was something he had to figure out himself. He didn’t know what to make of that, but honestly… it was still better than everything else he had been through these past few years.

  Adrian leaned back against the pod, the empty cup still warm in his hands. Still, he couldn’t sit in the calm forever. Alex was waiting, even if he didn’t know it yet. The thought of explaining everything made his stomach knot, but he knew he couldn’t keep putting it off. Whatever this was, they had to do the most with it.

  He placed the cup back on the table and exhaled slowly, steadying himself. “Alright,” he said at last, his voice quiet but firm. His gaze lingered on the closed pod across the chamber.

  "Let's wake Alex up."