2 The First Lesson
The Ashwood Forest earned its name honestly.
Every tree, every bush, every blade of grass had a gray, ashen quality, as if the entire forest had been burned centuries ago and had grown back wrong. The bark felt like charcoal under Vex's fingers, and when leaves fell, they crumbled to dust before hitting the ground. It was a dead place that refused to die, and Vex found it fascinating.
His feet hurt. Nightclothes weren't meant for hiking, and going barefoot through a forest was proving to be exactly as unpleasant as one might expect. He'd cut his left foot on a sharp stone within the first hour, and now every step left a small print of blood on the gray earth. But pain was just information, and Vex had always been good at ignoring
useless information.
The sun rose on his second day in the forest, though calling it sunrise was generous. The light in this part of the Fold Realms was always dim, filtered through layers of gray clouds that never seemed to move. It gave the world a perpetual twilight quality that matched Vex's mood perfectly.
He'd found water yesterday—a stream that tasted of minerals and stone—and he'd caught a rabbit with a trap he'd fashioned from branches and his own belt. The rabbit had looked at him with terrified eyes as he'd broken its neck, and Vex had found himself wondering if his family had looked the same way when the Executors came for them.
Probably.
He roasted the rabbit over a small fire, humming that same cheerful tune. The meat was tough and gamey, but it was food, and food meant survival. His stomach had stopped growling, which was progress.
"Not bad for a dead boy," he said to the forest. His voice echoed strangely in the gray silence.
The forest didn't answer, but something else did.
"Actually, it's rather impressive."
Vex didn't jump. He'd known someone was watching him for the past ten minutes—a presence in the trees, careful but not quite careful enough. Instead, he took another bite of rabbit and glanced up casually.
A girl sat on a branch above him, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, with wild black hair and eyes that gleamed like polished amber. She wore practical traveling clothes—leather pants, a worn jacket, and boots that had seen serious use. Two daggers hung from her belt, and Vex noticed her hands never strayed far from them.
"You've been following me since yesterday afternoon," Vex observed. "Why?"
The girl blinked, surprised. "You noticed?"
"You stepped on a branch four hours ago.
Then again two hours after that. And your breathing is too controlled—you're using a stealth technique, but you haven't mastered it yet."
"Huh." She dropped from the branch, landing in a crouch that spoke of significant training.
"You're an observant little thing, aren't you?"
"I try." Vex gestured at the rabbit. "Want some? I made too much."
"You made too much of a single rabbit?"
"I have a small stomach."
The girl studied him with those strange amber eyes, and Vex could practically see the calculations running behind them. He was twelve, alone, barefoot, and sitting in one of the more dangerous forests in the continent like he was having a picnic. That probably seemed odd to her.
Everything about Vex seemed odd to most people.
"I'm Kira," she said finally. "And sure, I'll take some rabbit. But then you're going to answer some questions."
"Such as?"
"Such as why a kid is wandering alone through the Ashwood Forest, and why you smell like smoke and death."
Vex smiled his pleasant smile. "That's easy. My family was murdered two nights ago, and I'm walking to the Fold Gate to start my new life. Also, I've been wearing the same nightclothes for two days, so the smell is understandable."
Kira paused halfway through sitting down.
"You're joking."
"I'm really not."
"Your family was murdered, and you're... making jokes about it?"
"Should I not be?" Vex tilted his head, genuinely curious. "What's the appropriate response? Crying doesn't change anything. Screaming doesn't bring them back. So I'm moving forward instead. It seems more practical."
The girl sat down slowly, accepting the offered rabbit meat but not taking her eyes off him. "You're a weird kid, you know that?"
"I've been told."
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Kira chewed thoughtfully, watching him with an expression Vex couldn't quite read. Finally, she said, "Who killed them?"
"The Crimson Spire. An Executor and his team. My father stole something from Lord Kaine."
"Shit." Kira's expression darkened. "The Crimson Spire doesn't leave survivors."
"They made an exception. The Executor said I'd be dead within a month anyway, so why bother?" Vex smiled wider. "I intend to prove him wrong."
"By doing what exactly? You're twelve."
"I'm going to get stronger. Learn skills. Build power. And then, eventually, I'm going to go back and kill everyone involved." He said it the same way he might discuss plans to go fishing. "Should be interesting."
Kira stared at him for a long moment. Then she started laughing—a sharp, barking sound that startled birds from the gray trees.
"Oh, you're serious. You're actually serious."
"Very."
"Kid, do you have any idea what the Crimson Spire is? They're one of the Seven Great Powers. They have Executors who can split mountains with a sword strike. They have Mind Witches who can crush your brain from miles away. They have Fold Walkers who can step between realities. You're a twelve-year-old kid with no shoes and a dead rabbit."
"For now," Vex agreed. "But I have time. Twelve years old means I have at least six years before anyone takes me seriously enough to actively hunt me. That's six years to learn, grow, and accumulate power. The Crimson Spire is vast and arrogant. They won't notice one orphan child until it's too
late."
Kira shook her head, but she was smiling now—a dangerous smile that matched his own. "You're either the bravest kid I've ever met or the craziest."
"Why not both?"
"Fair point." She pulled out her water flask and took a long drink. "So what's your plan? Show up in Merzhan with no money, no shoes, and no skills, and somehow become powerful enough to challenge a Great Power?"
"That's the general idea, yes."
"It's a terrible plan."
"Do you have a better one?"
Kira considered this. "Actually, I might. I'm heading to Merzhan anyway—I'm joining a mercenary company called the Gray Blades.
They take recruits as young as thirteen, and they train you. Pay is shit for the first year, but you learn real combat skills. Real survival techniques. And you make connections with people who know how the ugly side of the Fold Realms works."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you remind me of someone." Her expression went distant for a moment. "My little brother. He had the same look in his eyes you do—like he was watching the world from behind glass. He died when I was fourteen. Raiders hit our village." She focused back on Vex. "And because I think you might actually have a chance if you play it smart. But you need training, kid. You need to learn how to survive before you can learn how to kill."
Vex absorbed this information, turning it over in his mind. A mercenary company. Training. Connections. It made sense. He'd planned to figure something out in Merzhan, but this was better than anything he'd hoped for.
"I'm interested," he said. "But I'm twelve.
They don't take recruits under thirteen."
"No, but I can smuggle you in. Say you're my cousin, lie about your age. You're tall for twelve—we can pass you off as a small thirteen-year-old." She leaned forward. "But I need to know something first. When you said you're going to kill everyone involved, did you mean it? Or are you just a traumatized kid talking tough?"
Vex met her amber eyes with his own dark ones, and for just a moment, he let the mask slip. Let her see the cold emptiness where emotions should live. Let her see the calculating thing that wore a child's face.
"I meant every word," he said softly. "I'm going to burn the Crimson Spire to ashes. And I'm going to smile while I do it."
Kira held his gaze for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly. "Okay then. Welcome to your first lesson, kid: Never go into the Fold Realms alone. You need allies, people who have your back. I'll be yours if you'll be mine."
She held out her hand.
Vex looked at it. An alliance. His first step toward power. Toward revenge. Toward becoming something even the Seven Great Powers would fear.
He took her hand and shook it, his pleasant smile returning.
"Deal," he said. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning. We can reach the Fold Gate by evening if we push hard." Kira stood up, stretching. "But first, we need to do something about those feet. Can't have you bleeding out before we even reach Merzhan."
She pulled out a spare pair of cloth wraps from her pack and tossed them to him. Vex caught them awkwardly, surprised by the gesture.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked.
"Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Kira said. "And because I lost my brother. If I can keep someone else's brother alive..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "Just take the wraps, kid. Consider it an investment."
Vex wrapped his feet carefully, the cloth already soaking up blood. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing.
"Thank you," he said, and he almost meant it.
Kira smiled. "Don't thank me yet. The Gray Blades training is brutal. Half the recruits wash out in the first month. But if you survive..." Her smile turned sharp. "Well, then we'll see if you really can burn down a Great Power."
"I will," Vex said with absolute certainty. "And when I do, you can watch."
"Deal."
They finished the rabbit as the dim sun climbed higher in the perpetual twilight, two survivors in a dead forest making plans that would shake the Fold Realms.
And somewhere in the distance, beyond the gray trees and the ashen earth, the Fold Gate to Merzhan hummed with power, waiting to carry them toward their destiny.
[End of Chapter 2]