"14, get up!" Recruit 7 yelled.
Henry felt his left shoulder being caught in a violent rocking. His body fought the intrusion, his mind desperately clinging to the peace that was sleep, but the shaking was relentless.
"Let's go, get up! 1 didn't give me a single second of extra rest when it was my turn to keep watch," 7 grumbled, his voice irritable in the early morning air. "So you shouldn't get any either. Move it!"
Recruit 7's voice was like nails on a chalkboard, grating through his skull and shattering any hope of peace. Every syllable felt like a physical jab, forcing his conscious mind to surface against its will.
"I'm up," Henry croaked, his voice thick with sleep. He cracked an eye open, met with the blurry sight of a very impatient Recruit 7 hovering over him, his brain booting up as he realized they had things to goals to meet.
"Where's 1?" Henry asked, cutting through his morning grogginess with a long stretch.
Recruit 7 didn't even look at Henry, turning instead to the treeline. "I honestly don't know. She just said she'd be back and disappeared into the treeline toward the south."
Henry paused mid-stretch, his brow furrowing. "And you just let her leave without finding out where?"
7 let out a sharp, annoyed huff, finally glancing at Henry with a look of pure exasperation. "You think either one of us can force her to say something she doesn't want to share? She isn't exactly the chatty type."
Henry went silent, conceding the point internally. 'He has a point,' he thought. Trying to get a word out of Recruit 1 was like pulling teeth and borderline impossible for those weaker than her.
Instead of arguing, Henry turned his attention to his supply pack. He rummaged through the sparse contents: dried rations, a waterskin, and spare flint until his fingers brushed against something warm. He pulled out the Fire-Mana Lynx's core.
In the dim, pre-dawn light, the small red orb seemed even more vibrant than it had the night before. Now that his head was clearer, he could see the soft glow of red in the crystalline structure.
As Henry studied the swirling, red mists trapped within the orb, Recruit 7 marched over. "Is that the mana core? Let me see it," he demanded, snatching the crystal directly from Henry's hand before he even had a chance to reply.
Henry's jaw tightened at the blatant lack of manners. He pushed down his irritation, opting to keep his tone civil.
"I would have let you see it anyway," he pointed out calmly. "You could have at least waited for me to hand it over, if only for appearances' sake."
Recruit 7 shot him a brief, unapologetic glare, but his attention was immediately pulled back to the glowing stone.
He bounced it slightly in his palm, his brow furrowing in surprise. "It's a lot heavier than it looks," he muttered, completely ignoring Henry's critique.
Henry watched Recruit 7 marvel at the core for another second before shaking his head. Without Recruit 1 to dictate their next move, he wasn't sure what to do.
"Just make sure you put it back in my pack when you're done with it," Henry said, turning away.
Recruit 7 looked up, blinking. "Where are you going?"
"South," Henry replied, drawing his sword to make sure it was serviceable.
Leaving 7 behind with the core, Henry stepped past the perimeter of their makeshift camp and into the southern treeline.
The sun had barely begun its ascent, and beneath the dense canopy of the trees, it might as well have still been midnight. The shadows were thick and suffocating, blending the massive red trunks into a solid wall of black. Henry paused, forcing himself to blink slowly as his eyes fought a losing battle to adjust to the darkness.
Then, the dead silence of the morning broke.
Crunch... crunch... Unhurried footsteps echoed from the darkness directly in front of him. The rhythm was calm and deliberate. Henry's blood ran cold. The memory of the Lynx's human-like scream echoed in his mind, reminding him that the predators in this forest were smart enough to play games.
Without a second thought, Henry drew his blade and dropped into the lower regium defensive stance.
He strained his eyes against the pitch-black treeline.
"1... is that you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, tight with tension.
He held his breath, the heavy silence of the forest pressing down on him as he waited for a response or an attack.
The suffocating tension finally broke as a familiar, flat voice cut through the gloom.
"Yeah, 14. It's me."
A second later, the silhouette of Recruit 1 detached itself from the deep shadows of a massive tree trunk. She stepped into the meager, light, moving with the same silent, deliberate grace that had just put his heart into his throat. Her sword was completely relaxed at her side, and her expression was as unreadable as ever.
She paused just long enough to look at his drawn blade and rigid defensive stance.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked, her tone dry and pragmatic. She didn't bother waiting for him to explain himself. She simply gave a slight shake of her head and walked right past him toward the direction of their camp. "Let's go back."
Henry slowly lowered his sword, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The sudden drop in adrenaline left his legs feeling a little heavy and made the burn in his left arm flare up again. He sheathed his weapon with a sharp clack and turned to follow her back into the clearing.
Despite the don't bother me energy that Recruit 1 permanently radiated, something subtle had shifted since they first stepped foot in the Hope Forest.
Surviving a Foundation-level beast together seemed to chip away a layer of her icy exterior. She was still a fortress, but the gates didn't feel completely bolted shut anymore. She was definitely easier to talk to, or at least, slightly less likely to ignore his existence.
As they walked back to the sleeping mats, Henry decided to press his luck.
"So," Henry asked, keeping his voice pitched low to avoid carrying through the quiet woods they had just walked out of, "what were you doing out there?"
Recruit 1 didn't break her stride. For a second, Henry thought she might just hit him with the silent treatment, but then she answered, her tone strictly business.
"Checking the perimeter," she said flatly. "The Fire-Mana Lynx didn't die quietly. The smell of scorched fur, blood, and an exposed mana core acts like a dinner bell for miles. I needed to see if anything else was closing in on our position while you two were recovering."
"Did you find anything?" Henry asked.
"No, I didn't find any immediate threats," Recruit 1 replied smoothly. "We should be good until we at least get a preliminary base going."
Before Henry could respond, the sound of boots crunching on dirt announced Recruit 7, who had heard them approaching and jogged out to meet them halfway between the sleeping mats and the treeline.
"Ah, you found her, 14," 7 said, visibly relieved. He turned to the squad leader. "Where'd you go, 1?"
Henry didn't answer, and Recruit 1 simply ignored the question entirely. Instead, she looked intently between the two of them. "Do either of you know how to build a super-round lodge?"
Henry stayed silent. Having grown up surrounded by the thick stone walls of a castle, his knowledge of wilderness survival architecture was practically non-existent.
Recruit 7 just blinked. "What the fuck is that?"
Recruit 1 glanced from 7 back to Henry, reading the blank expression on his face, and clearly realized she was working with complete amateurs. "Useless," she muttered under her breath.
She shook her head, instantly shifting back into command mode. "Alright, this is what we're going to do. 7, you'll gather thin branches, make sure they still have plenty of leaves on them.
14, you're on heavy duty. Get the longest and thickest branches you can manage off these red giant trees and drag them back here. If you happen to find a smaller tree you can actually cut through yourself, just bring the whole thing, but there aren't many small trees in this area. Oh and don't go out of shouting distance either."
"Roger," Henry replied.
Recruit 7 crossed his arms, looking slightly defensive. "And what will you be doing?"
This time, Recruit 1 actually answered him.
"Building."