Sao and Vav were the only walled camps in the country. Although attempts had been made to build a wall around Teth—the woof-bear infested camp—none succeeded. That said, Sao architects designed the walls of both Sao and Vav. The Inner Unit of our camp had been working on a plan for how to build walls around Teth.

I thought about this while we had picnic with my friends in the Southside garden. The Southside garden had beautiful lilies and a lake that cut through its evergreen pasture. In the last two months, I had embraced the kindness and support that Anna especially, Derrick, and my roommates Mark and Tione had shown me. We surely were safer than others. But that was the problem—those who are safe never budge to make a change for those who aren’t.

While going to the garden, we passed through the southern training ground, where Anna noticed the distortion on the ground.

“Hey, guys! Look at the training ground,” she pointed down, “it looks like something heavy fell on it.”

I knew it was from my activation while training with Mr. Flame. So I just kept quiet, since the others didn’t know that I was the scroll Wielder yet, only Anna knew about it.

“…”

I looked away even though I was the smart one in the group and I liked sharing my knowledge. Anna could tell that it had to be me, so she said, “Let’s go.”

But then Derrick shouted, “Hey! What if the cracks on the ground were a result of a rogue attack?!”

Tione marched forward, “A rogue attack on the southern training ground? Be real, Derrick.”

Mark chuckled and walked on. Everyone kept walking forward because no one believed Derrick. He liked fooling around. When he saw that no one looked back, Derrick shouted, “Hey! Wait up,” and ran toward us.

It had been two months since I first managed to channel emotional energy into the scroll. Not that I hadn’t been doing it before then, but that was the time I realized what it was. Like the time my consciousness teleported to the library—that was me channeling my emotional energy about how eager I was to go to The Convergence Point into the scroll.

That night at the training ground was different. My index finger went through the scroll as if it were passing though air with a soft golden glow around it, but it wasn’t emergent on the scroll’s backside. What followed was the shaking of the ground as my index finger tore through the night sky, like a towering castle and touched the training ground’s center with a thud. Mr. Flame was in no way shaken by what had happened, but his gaze up at the finger into the sky told a different story. All he could say was, “Good job.”

Since that day, I had continued training with Mr. Flame even now, since Elder Zakai was not yet back from the swapping event. On some days I would do my training with Mr. Flame and on others Miss Tina would train me.

Miss Tina was just as excellent an archer as she was a Wielder. Born in the village of Ewtik that initially had about 200, 000 inhabitants near Mount Ethos, Miss Tina spent most of her childhood with the greatest archers in the country. Her name spread even into camp after she had killed her first woof-bear at the age of nine. After that followed a catastrophic rogue attack that reduced Ewtik’s population by no more than two percent. It was clear that the rogues were after Miss Tina, but no one knew how they knew about her. Her twin sister, Carla, had been abducted when she was six years old. All efforts to track down the culprits that took her had been in vain.

The Inner Unit decided to take up Miss Tina into camp where it was safer. They probably also wanted to justify that she was a Wielder and train her thereafter. Owing to the fact that Sao was the first camp in the country, it held the most secrets and the entire history of the country. Sao was the only known camp where Wielders were secretly trained. Even so, only those who were being trained and the Inner Unit itself knew about this. The Inner Unit was responsible for scouting for new candidates to train across the country. As to why this was kept a secret, I didn’t know.

A few months after Miss Tina was taken up and had started her training under the Inner Unit, with Mr. Flame and Elder Zakai, Ewtik village was brought down. Reports came that there had been another, more massive rouge attack that reduced the population by about seventy percent of the original this time. Among the casualties were Miss Tina’s parents, who were killed in the attack.

Some survivors had no other choice but to move into camp, leaving only a fraction of the population continuing their lives in Ewtik. Those that remained were people who had become too attached to Ewtik to leave it, and everything behind. Miss Tina was perhaps no different from them—she was so attached to her home that grief could be seen from her gnashed teeth and clenched fists whenever Ewtik came up in a conversation.

While training under Miss Tina, I had learned that ‘a Wielder’s abilities increases with the increase in number of activations’—which is what she told me. She described the art of wielding as more of a ‘workout’ where stamina increased the more one used their Wielder abilities.

I was training with Miss Tina the previous month at the northern training ground. She explained how her abilities worked. It was the second time training with her.

“As I sharpen my sight with emotional energy, I can see an opponent’s immediate next five moves and counter them instantly. I can use any other weapon and still pull off a victory like I did against that archer rogue.”

Five moves!

“Wow!”

“Uhmm hmm. Listen. The speed at which I can see those moves increases according to the intensity of my emotional energy and how many times I can activate the ability.”

“Miss Tina. Is it possible to run out of emotional energy?”

“Yes, Haji. Once you reach your activation limit and try to activate your ability, you’ll die.”

“Uh? Die?!”

“Exactly. In some rare cases, the body will continue to fight as a corpse, if one is determined enough. However, that corpse will only carry out the Wielder’s dying wish, after which the Wielder dies for good.”

I paled down, looking up at Miss Tina with trembling eyes as I thought, But I don’t want to die.

Miss Tina rubbed my head, trying to comfort me, “Just focus on your training. Okay”

I nodded, “Right.”

“…”

If I am right, this means that my thoughts manifest through the scroll. It’s as if the scroll is an extension of my mind.

Miss Tina pointed at me with both her index fingers, “Sure, Haji. I could say the same about myself, except I am not a true Wielder. The true power of my wielding abilities is being able to sharpen my senses, particularly my sight.”

“Thank you, Miss Tina.”

Uh? That was…

“A thought.”

“But, Miss Tina. How did you know? Can you read people’s minds?”

“I don’t know.”

“…”

Up to now, as I stared at the water, engulfed in my thoughts, I couldn’t think of a more terrifying ability than the one Miss Tina had. By now she had fully understood her mind-reading ability. She was constantly training to increase her mind-reading bandwidth. Miss Tina could read anyone’s mind within camp, but she hadn’t yet mastered crossing over barriers like walls.

“Wake up, Haji! Are you daydreaming?” Anna shook me back to reality.

“No. I was just thinking.”

I looked at the sandwich I held, which I had taken a single bite from, and it was drying up.

Derrick and Mark were pulling Tione into the lake. They wanted him to join them, but he didn’t know how to swim. Anna and I remained on the soft grass under an oak tree. We had enough space to talk freely about the scroll and my status as its Wielder.

“…”

“You were thinking about The Convergence Point?”

“Not quite. I was thinking about how strong Miss Tina’s Wielder abilities are.”

“The mind-reading stuff you told me about?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

“Well. Maybe the Supreme Harvester and the Inner Unit can finally know what the Archharvester intends to do.”

“That’s a brilliant idea, Anna!”

“…”

Laughter along with screams and bubbling of water cut through our talk.

“Swim Tione! You have to use your hands and legs!”

“Hey, Mark, hear this. Don’t drink more than three cups! You’ll drown!”

“Hey! Cut it out! I’m…”

“I’m drowning.”

“Is that Tione?”

“Yes, Haji,” Anna got up, running, “let’s go and help him.”