The morning came with a sharp whistle from somewhere and I woke with a start, jerking and flailing until I remembered where I was and what I was doing. My back ached, it felt like I slept on a rock.

  A woman shouted, “Time to wake up! We have another long day of travel today and we are going to try and keep a good pace. We are on track to get to Acacia by mid-day tomorrow, so let’s hustle. Tidy up your bedrolls and load them onto the cart. Eat some of your delicious MREs. Samuel has graciously made you all another water fountain, so get some water and food in yourselves, we leave in 10 minutes.”

  I packed up my bedroll and paused for a moment as right under where I had slept was a long, but slightly bumpy rock. I must have missed it in the darkness. “That figures…” I thought as I rubbed my sore back. John was still fast asleep, so I went over to him and shook him awake.

  “Hughh? What? What’s wrong? John asked, bleary eyed and still half asleep.

  “We have to go, we are leaving in less than ten minutes. Pack up and get some water. They said they are keeping the pace fast again.” I said to him, “Get up unless you want to be left behind”

  The ten minutes went quickly and we were back to jogging on the road. We had to have been jogging for more than an hour because I thought I was going to collapse. I actually fell behind John and the small group of kids behind me before they called for us to walk.

  I caught my breath and before I headed back up to John, I noticed a girl and boy next to me, similarly winded. I decided to introduce myself.

  “Hi, I’m Jude, I’m from Briar. Nice to meet you.” I said, trying to hide that I was still catching my breath.

  “I’m Zach. And this is my twin sister Zoe” he said nodding towards the girl who mustered a half smile and waved. I identified them: Level 1 Mage, Level 1 Mage.

  “So you are both Mages? That’s cool. What abilities did you guys get?” I asked

  “How did you know that we were Mages? We haven’t met before.” She said with a confused expression.

  “I just identified you and that is what the Interface showed?” I said questioningly

  Zoe face palmed, “Sorry, of course that is what you did. I did not sleep well at all and I think my brain is still catching up to my body. I have an ability called Freezing Water that slows whoever is hit by 20% for 1 minute.” Zach piped up and said, “I have an ability called Spark that sends out a small burst of electricity. I haven’t really tried it on anything yet other than a tree, which left a small scorch mark.”

  “Whoa, that is a crazy combination between the two of you. I wonder if Spark would be more effective with the Freezing Water ability your sister has?” I said.

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  They both smiled and Zach said, “Yeah, we are looking forward to seeing how we can work together with those. How about you?”

  “I am a Mage as you probably saw with an ability called Barrier. It creates a small barrier that can block a small amount of damage.” I said.

  “That’s, uhh, nice.” Zoe said and as she said that, Zach grimaced with a face that looked like he was embarrassed for me. I started to feel a bit discouraged again as I looked at my Barrier ability on my Interface.

  “What will I do besides block small attacks and slightly trip people ?” I thought to myself.

  “I’m sure I’ll figure out more of how to use my ability at the academy, but John, and now Zach and Zoe had abilities that really did something productive. I know I should be grateful to the Architect for giving me anything, but it is hard to not feel a little jealous of them. I need to be content and I know I’ll figure out how things fit later on.”

  “I should have guessed you were both mages before I identified you based on the fact you also are near the back of the line of people running.” I said, trying to change the subject. “It was very nice meeting you both, I am going to catch up to my friend ahead.”

  They both waved and I walked with a slightly brisker pace to get back to my place next to John.

  “Who were those two?” He asked

  “They were twins that I introduced myself to: Zach and Zoe.” I said, “They had a really neat combination of abilities. Zoe can soak their target, which slows them and Zach can use electricity to attack them. I think they’ll be a pretty powerful combination together.” I said

  “That does sound pretty cool, but I think we could make a good combination too. Regardless, it doesn’t really matter what we think is good right now, the academy will help figure out where we fit in.” John said confidently. That actually comforted me more than I expected. I didn’t think I’d be this self conscious about how I felt about Barrier and not being a Warrior like my parents or like John.

  “You’re right John, I’ve been getting stuck in my head way too much about all of this. I need to remember that none of us really know much and we should trust the instructors at the academy to know how to best use what we have. The Architect wouldn’t give us useless abilities.”

  The day went on similar to yesterday with feeling tired, almost breaking our teeth on the “meal” of MRE we could scrape off, a little water and back on the road. We slept in a similar clearing as last time and I made sure to find a spot that was rock-free.

  The final day of our journey started and the tiredness I felt was outweighed by my excitement for Acacia. In the last few hours leading up to the capital city, the leader of the chaperones, Angela, stopped us and addressed the group.

  “I almost want to apologize for being so stern and militaristic on the trip here, but our goal is to give future students a small taste of the reality of being on the road and the conditions you can expect on your future time in the wilderness. You will often not have the luxury of good food, a nice tent and you may have to travel faster than you want to get to an objective or to outrun something chasing you. We only have a little bit longer until we reach Acacia, but I wanted to say that I look forward to what you all may become. Be aware, Acacia is unlike any city. The amount of powerful groups and people can be daunting. A word of advice: stay within the land the Acacia Academy has jurisdiction over. Going into parts of the city alone can be dangerous. If you do the wrong thing or say something you shouldn’t, it can be catastrophic. She said with concern in her eyes, “With that said, I am sure you will all do great and it has been a pleasure traveling with you all.”

  I felt myself swallow a lump that had been forming in my throat as I thought of how it wasn’t only going to be monsters that would be dangerous in this journey on my own. A brand new social hierarchy and living in a truly powerful city full of powerful people.