From Sheina's diary... (50)

Five to twelve... (ninth month, third week, first day)

"Leganne is a herb with leaves that resemble a heart. They are light green or brown in color. They grow on small bushes only and exclusively in the Great Eastern Forest. It is not very common, but it has one fundamental feature that makes it very desirable. I have heard of it before. In human lands, it is used for the same purposes as alcohol, as it has similar effects. But in small enough doses, it can act as a remedy for fatigue. As well as sleep deprivation. Thanks to this, I am able to function relatively normally. I know that Leganne doesn't really help me with anything. It doesn't eliminate the problem. It only helps me not to feel it.

My Guardians are not with me. Two weeks after arriving in Evehre'ester, they set out for Lazanfill. They haven't returned yet. I haven't heard from them either. It may sound strange, but I miss them. I still feel alien here and Out of place. Kadekatz's actions only intensify this feeling. If something doesn't change soon, I'll run away screaming. I'm thinking about giving up more and more often. The only thing stopping me from making a final decision is the realization that I have nowhere to run. And the promise I made to Riviln. I promised him I wouldn't run away again… But if this continues, I won't stand it. He'll either go mad or kill someone. The test of strength and nerves came too soon.

"Sheina, you know what?"

Innae had a strange habit of bursting into my room without knocking. A light-hearted man with a perpetual smile, the life of the party with an inexhaustible supply of optimism. He's not a pure-blooded elf, but you couldn't tell from his appearance or his behavior. He sat down carelessly next to me on the bed, still smiling.

"You'll never guess what your tormentor has planned."

Innae was also one of the few people here who called me by my first name, and he treated me like anyone else. Varreta.

He looked at me more closely.

"You still look terrible. Those dark circles under your eyes… Is the Leganne not working?

" "It's working, but I've already run out. "

The elf grimaced slightly.

"You're using too much. But don't worry, you'll get a proper supply for the next expedition," then smiled faintly.

"An expedition?

" Kadekatz moved the deadline to tomorrow morning. And you know what… you're going too.

"My fingers haven't healed properly yet!

" "Yes," he sighed. "We all know that, he knows it too, but he said that even with functioning fingers you won't be much help.

" "Really? Then why did he get me into this?

" "That's a good question," he feigned contemplation. "You sound like you don't know him.

" "Great…

" "There'll be an official announcement after lunch, so you better be down on time."

I just sighed. Passing… a test of one's ability to cope in a wild area, without significant supplies, for several, or perhaps a dozen, days. Simply put, a group of completely untrained children is left to their fate in the forest. For elves born and raised in the forest, this is nothing extraordinary, commonplace. The difficulty of this exam lies in the fact that with a small amount of supplies, one must reach another point in the forest, the finish line, as quickly as possible. The route naturally runs through the most difficult sections of the Forest. And truth be told, I'll only be a burden to my team.

"Sheina, dinner!"

And once again, Innae burst into the room, as if to himself, smiling innocently.

"By the way," he tossed a small bag in my direction; inside were the familiar leaves. "And don't use it up too quickly.

" "Yes, yes," I replied sleepily, heading for the door.

"Everyone present? Let's go.

This was supposed to be a dress rehearsal for our newly acquired skills." We exchanged dubious glances.

In my humble opinion, it was foolish to send a group of children—inexperienced youngsters, so to speak—who still hadn't found their Kainze'ghen. The youngsters were no older than fifty, which, by elven standards, was the equivalent of our twenty years of life. Which was very young. Admittedly, they'd been studying martial arts for several years, but the uncertainty in most of their eyes convinced me they weren't ready for a real mission. Neither was I.

"What am I doing here?" I muttered under my breath, struggling with my overloaded backpack.

My bow had been taken away, despite all protests from both me and my Guardians. Because that's the law. Although the new one I'd received wasn't much inferior in functionality and beauty, still… it was my bow, and it was hard for me to get used to this new weapon.

"Sheina, move. Don't delay your march.

" "I'm trying, but I'm practically running!"

The truth was, I couldn't possibly move through the forest as quickly or efficiently as the elves. And the one who was rushing me was also human. Kadekatz. I had grown to truly hate him. And it certainly didn't take me two months to do so.

"You're whining as usual," he muttered, smiling in his usual, ironic way. "Maybe you should finally give up?"

All I could do was shoot him a murderous glare. He'd deliberately put me on this mission to prove to me and everyone else that I was wasting my time trying to learn anything. From the very beginning of my training, he'd done everything he could to discourage me as quickly as possible. I still don't know where his dislike for me came from, but he didn't even try to hide it.

I could only sigh and continue trudging forward. Finally, we reached the starting point of the test. In addition to their meager supplies, which were supposed to last three days, each team received a map of the area with checkpoints and their destinations marked. Each team had a different route, intersecting only at checkpoints. Theoretically, the distances and difficulty level were the same for everyone, but… We didn't have much time to compare maps. After the starting whistle, each of us set off into the unknown forests, hoping for the best. My team consisted of four people, myself included. Naer was appointed captain, and the most important decisions rested with him. He was also the oldest among us, and it was said he was unlucky. Most of his peers had already left for the Weapons Search, but he was still "stuck," as he put it, in Evehre'ester. It was a sensitive subject, and no one seemed to broach it with him. The upside was that he was also the most experienced of all those who set off for the finish line today. Neruki was the most silent of the four of us. He simply walked forward, glancing around from time to time. Only at the beginning did he mumble something about being assigned a third wheel. It wasn't nice, but unfortunately, I agreed with him. Because it was also true. Every other team had exactly three people. You name it, I fit right in. Liam seemed like a typical representative of his race. He walked at a leisurely pace, whistling a quiet, peaceful tune under his breath. He seemed to have a positive attitude about everything. Although, as it turned out later, he wasn't blind to what was happening around him. I usually have trouble telling which elf was which. High elves look identical to me. But of the three, only Liam was a High elf. Naer was a Wild Elf, or as he preferred to call himself, a Forest Elf, and Neruki was a half-breed. Unfortunately, Nature had endowed him with a darker-than-average complexion and black hair, which carried negative connotations for his tribesmen, making his life less bearable at times. And indeed, the first moment I saw him, I thought he was a Dark Elf. But that would have been absurd…

I was trailing last, trying to keep up with the three elves. As a result, I tired faster than they did. With each passing moment, I grew more and more angry at Kadekatz for getting me into this. Liam was the first to notice I couldn't keep up. We stopped briefly to look at the map again.

"We have a two-hour walk to the first checkpoint," Naer stated.

"Three," Neruki corrected, looking at me.

"It's not my fault I'm here," I muttered, sitting under a tree. "I'm just as dissatisfied as you are."

"Oh, don't worry, Guardian," Liam patted my shoulder, sitting down next to me, smiling. "If you weren't here, Kadekatz would definitely think of something else to make this difficult for us.

" "Call me by my name, please...

" "That'll make things much easier," Naer muttered, continuing to study the map.

Neruki wasn't convinced.

"Call me Guardian by my name?

" "Yes, you're supposed to call me by my name. It's very tiring when everyone treats you like a living deity."

"Okay," Neruki agreed, not entirely convinced. "And what's your name?"

Liam burst out laughing, and Naer dropped the map. For a moment, the atmosphere was pleasant and cheerful. But...

We actually realized something was wrong when the sun slowly began to set below the horizon. We all sat down by the map to take another closer look at it. Liam shook his head in disbelief. Neruki and Naer discussed the route they had taken and possible wrong turns. I could only conclude one thing: we were lost. We hadn't even reached the first checkpoint. How could three elves get lost in the forests they'd known since childhood? Unlikely.

Neruki rubbed his eyes and looked around. The same sight everywhere: trees, bushes, thickets.

"Let's find a place to camp," he said curtly.

"So," Liam began, "which of us will perform the ritual?

" "What ritual?" I asked, surprised.

"So the trees don't eat us at night," he smiled.

"I didn't know there was a ritual."

"Ritual is an understatement. You build protective symbols around the campsite with sand. That's all. I'll take care of it," Naer said.

Soon after, we lit a small fire. Everyone found a place to sleep. We ate a simple dinner and began discussing what to do next.

"An incorrect map is no excuse for failing a task," Neruki muttered.

"Maybe that's the difficulty," Liam suggested.

"The map is correct, the map is always correct," though Naer's voice held a note of doubt. "I've been on three expeditions like this, and the maps have always been correct."

The elf sighed deeply at the end. No one said anything more. Naer closed his eyes and lay down on his bed.

"We're too inexperienced to go without a map, that's one thing. Two, if this were a test of our knowledge of the Bor, they wouldn't have given us a map, that's all.

" "So how do you explain why we don't know where we are?" Neruki insisted.

"The three of us consulted the entire way on which direction to go," Liam began. "If the map were correct, we wouldn't have gotten lost." "Assuming the map is

n't showing correctly," I spoke up, albeit hesitantly, "what should we do next?"

"Back to the start," Liam stated firmly.

Neruki nodded.

"We'll have countless tests, but wandering around the Bor with three days' supplies is foolish.

" "Maybe that's the point," Liam muttered, a little amused. "What will you do if you find the map wrong?" But the decision rests with the team captain.

Naer smiled faintly.

"This will be the fourth test I've failed. But we have to turn around and retrace our steps first thing tomorrow morning. "

Liam whistled long and hard.

"Usually, you pass on the second or third try.

" "True. Usually," he added wryly. "The catch is, only the first four teams pass. The rest wait another five years to take the next test. Then three more tests, and you can go on the Weapon Search if it's not in the Keep." A Keep

was a term used to describe the camps of combatants.

"Five years? That's a long time.

" "Yes. In human Keeps, the tests are held annually, and they're much easier."

"That's why they turn out to be such dummies," Liam laughed.

"Most of them die within the first five years," Neruki muttered. "Not much use. Humans as Zen-Shai are some kind of evolutionary mistake.

Zen-Shai are Fighting Ones in their original form.

" "Humans in general are a huge mistake," Naer muttered. "They're short-lived, physically and mentally weak, and more susceptible to evil than any other race.

" "Hey! You have a human among you," I snapped.

"You, Sheina, aren't human anymore." Naer smiled at me strangely, then rolled onto his left side and added at the end, "Liam and Sheina, first watch. Wake us up if anything happens before then. Good night."

Well, yes. The elves have an interesting opinion about humans.

Liam said he'd be fine on watch and suggested I get some sleep if my eyelids were heavy. To tell the truth, I don't know when I fell asleep. A faint rustle woke me. Liam was already standing at attention, looking in the direction of the noise.

"What's going on?"

The elf shook his head.

"Whatever it is, it's circling the camp, on the line of sand.

On the line of symbols Naer made.

" "Wake them up?"

Liam thought for a moment and nodded.

"What's going on?" Naer, half-conscious, stared blankly at the dying fire for a moment.

Another rustle. This time very close. Still nothing could be seen.

"Hard to tell, but the symbols are keeping him at a safe distance," Liam muttered.

Neruki silently drew his bow and arrow and aimed wordlessly at the source of the noise. Liam did the same. Concentration was etched on all three of their faces. A deafening silence fell, one that stretched unbearably long. At the sound of a snapping twig, I jumped in place. I quickly did as the other elves did – I aimed my bow at the unknown creature.

“Perplexing,” Naer muttered.

Suddenly, a shuffling sound reached us.

“Unbelievable,” Liam whispered.

“It’s rubbing away symbols,” Naer added.

“It wants to get here,” Neruki said.

“Why?”

Two eyes appeared from behind the wall of darkness, but this time they didn’t retreat as quickly as before. They were well above my head.

“Big beast,” Neruki muttered, and released the arrow.

A whoosh and silence. No yelp, no sound to indicate the arrow had hit its mark.

“You missed.”

Neruki didn't answer, just notched another arrow.

"Is this a good idea?" I asked quietly.

I wasn't convinced that shooting at that thing lurking in the darkness was a good idea. What if the creature, enraged, started charging? Another arrow, a whistling sound like something small falling into mud.

I was right. It had been a mistake.

The animal roared shrilly. In a single leap, its tiny eyes shot up, landing in full glory right in front of us.

We all simultaneously released our arrows. All were accurate, including the first one, but just as Neruki's had failed to impress the creature, so had ours. Naer only managed to shout…

"Run!"

And we all, grabbing whatever we could in mid-air, began to flee into the darkness.

It was Karik, a two-meter-tall creature, resembling an oversized lizard, lumbering on two hind legs, supported by a powerful tail, catching its prey with powerful teeth and the enormous claws of its forepaws. A clearly carnivorous creature, hunting at night, it had come to us for supper. Its thick hide was covered in scales in places, so our arrows had little effect.

Running at a frantic pace in the Great Eastern Forest, with no moonlight or even stars, also proved fatal. It wasn't long before I realized I was alone. I couldn't match the elves' running speed, and I didn't. I stopped, disoriented. I heard nothing around me. No noise, no rustle of wind, no sound of breaking branches. Nothing. The sky was beginning to lighten. A new day was dawning. Thankfully.

How typical. I'd gotten lost again.