When Kael jumped from the edge of the cliff, three things happened at the same time.

  First, he felt a sudden vibration in his insignia, stronger than anything he had ever felt in his life. Of course, he had neither the time nor the mental capacity to check notifications while plummeting through unknown fog toward whatever waited below. A thought crossed his mind.

  The System is making fun of me. Why else would it start spewing notifications during a moment like this?

  The System, in fact, never made fun of anyone. It only observed and drew conclusions based on those observations.

  The second thing that happened was that Kael realized he had probably overshot the jump, and a sudden sense of dread spread through him. His eyes were shut. The speed of the fall forced the air upward against his descent, sending painful gusts of wind slamming into his face.

  It would be really stupid to die like this, after I confidently told everyone to follow me.

  He wanted to say it out loud, but speaking was difficult while flying to what might very well be his death.

  And the third thing — the last thing — was a sudden urge to pee.

  Maybe it’s the water, he thought. Not fear. Definitely the water.

  Strangely enough, that tiny absurdity helped him forget his situation for a moment.

  Then—

  SPLASH

  YES! I’m not dead!

  Then the shock gave way to pain.

  Dropping from a seventy-foot waterfall into freezing water was not a pleasant experience.

  At least, it was not for Kael.

  Not that he had much time to think about that. The fall was not the only obstacle in his way.

  The water came next.

  When you hit a river with that much force, you do not stop at the surface. No — you go under. Deep. The white fog vanished, replaced by the blackness below, and it swallowed him whole.

  He almost reached the bottom of the river before his descent finally slowed to a stop.

  Kael hated swimming. A few years earlier, one of his friends had drowned during a game they were playing together. Ever since then, Kael had avoided water whenever he could. He had never trained to swim properly.

  First fire, then wolves, and now I drown in a river. Perfection, Kael. You’ve outplayed yourself.

  He had a full mental breakdown with himself while kicking upward with every bit of strength he had left. The longer he stayed underwater, the worse the pressure felt. Kael thought it must have been because the air in his lungs had begun to burn from being trapped too long. It wanted out. It needed escape. But his survival instinct would not let him open his mouth. That would mean surrender. That would mean death.

  Kael did not want to die.

  Especially not like this.

  He had always imagined he would die running from a wild bear or a boar — the usual causes of death for hunters in the village. Or perhaps Lady Martha would finally get angry enough to poison one of the medicines she gave him.

  But she likes me... right? Right...

  That thought quickly vanished.

  The moments underwater felt longer than the fall itself. He pushed and pushed.

  Finally, after what seemed to him a very inappropriate amount of time, he broke the surface.

  A violent exhale burst from his lungs as all the built-up carbon dioxide escaped his body. Thankfully, no one could see him through the thick fog. The image of someone flailing and gasping in the middle of a river after falling off a waterfall was not very dignified.

  “I’m alive...” he muttered after finally catching his breath.

  He was still in the middle of a freezing river, swallowed by dense fog, with no idea where the shore was. But at least he had relieved himself, which made the water a little warmer.

  You gotta do what you gotta do to stay warm.

  He started swimming against the current. Then he realized what a stupid idea that was, turned ninety degrees to the left, and began swimming across it instead.

  No one will ever know I did that.

  When his feet finally touched the riverbed and he could stand on something solid, he staggered forward and collapsed for a few moments. The cold water pressed against him from all sides, though the shivering had not started yet.

  Then he felt something.

  Something touched him.

  Kael jolted upright with surprising speed for someone battered and bruised as badly as he was. He drew his sword and spun around, searching for an enemy.

  “Where are you?” he shouted.

  The only response was a quack.

  A duck swam past his legs and vanished into the fog behind him.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  A chuckle escaped him.

  “Good one, Kael. Go and fight your mightiest foe — a duck.”

  Then he realized he could hear almost nothing over the roar of the waterfall. Calling out for the others would be pointless. So he did what seemed obvious.

  He began walking along the river, hoping to escape the all-consuming fog.

  They’ll do the same. At least Mara will.

  After ten minutes of following the shore, he finally saw something besides white mist.

  A tree.

  He had discovered a tree in the middle of a forest.

  “It is progress, I guess,” he muttered with a shrug.

  A few more minutes passed, and the fog finally began to thin. He found a fallen log and sat on it, inspecting himself.

  “I’m soaked. Which is not good. I need to dry my clothes. I need a fire. That means I need firewood. That means I need a campsite. Which means I should stop sitting here rambling to myself and actually walk.”

  After that brief discussion with the only person around — himself — he got moving again.

  When the shivering finally started, he knew he had to move faster, so he ran.

  Not long after, he found what he was looking for: a small campsite, secluded and dry.

  He gathered sticks and branches, built a small pile, and rummaged through his bag for flint and steel. It took a few minutes, but eventually the spark caught, and soon flames rose high enough to warm the place.

  Then he stripped out of his clothes, wincing at every bruise on his body. The gash in his side still ached, but it had not reopened, and for that he was very grateful.

  Standing in only his underpants, he moved as close to the fire as he could, warming himself while his clothes dried.

  Then he sat down and began checking his supplies.

  If he was going to reach the caravan alone, he needed a plan.

  He pulled things out of his backpack one by one and muttered as he inspected them.

  “A rope — always need a rope. Who in their right mind goes into the woods without one?”

  “A coil of wire — I am a hunter, after all. I make traps with wire all the time.”

  “A hammer — nice.”

  “Dry meat — I was getting hungry.”

  “A notebook — probably won’t have time for you. Sorry.”

  Then he reached for Joseph’s bag.

  Joseph had been dead for less than twelve hours, and the reality of it struck Kael all at once.

  “I’m sorry for being mean to you. Rest in peace.”

  He looked through the bag and found more dry meat and a piece of bread, which was a welcome addition. Then he found a piece of paper.

  It was a drawing of Joseph holding hands with Mara.

  Kael nearly gagged.

  “What a weirdo.”

  He tossed the picture into the flames so that no one in the world would ever have to see it.

  The rest of the bag held a few useful tools, which he added to his own pack. Then he leaned back against a rock and looked up at the stars. They had only recently come out.

  “I have around fifty hours to get to the caravan. George, Mara... I hope you’re okay.”

  The stars were beautiful, just as he remembered. The Great Orion still hunted across the heavens, and the North Star still guided travelers into the unknown.

  That was when he finally decided to check what his insignia had been trying to tell him.

  ***

  Individual Notice

  Subject: Kael Arden

  Occupation: Laborer / Hunter

  Title: Firefighter

  Note:

  Due to extreme circumstances, the subject discovered a way to survive a pack of predatory wolves and led his team to safety.

  Additional Note:

  The subject chose a path with minimal survival probability and still survived successfully.

  Calculating merit...

  Allocating merit...

  Emergency medical treatment of Joseph Corald (deceased)

  5 Merit Points

  Elimination of a predator

  Predator: Wolf

  1 Merit Point

  Survival from a fall over 70 feet

  25 Merit Points

  Leading two teammates to survival from predators

  20 Merit Points

  Evaluating probabilities under extreme pressure

  40 Merit Points

  Calculating new Merit Total...

  Previous available Merit Points:

  37 / 86.5

  New available Merit Points:

  123 / 172.5

  End of Report

  ***

  Kael stared at the notification.

  First came confusion.

  Then surprise.

  Then pure shock settled on his face.

  “My points have doubled since last night. It’s kinda weird how quickly everything is changing. Huh...”

  He certainly was not going to complain.

  He sat there watching the fire, thinking about the day, about Joseph, and about what he needed to do tomorrow.

  Eventually, sleep claimed him.

  A few hours later, he woke because the fire had gone out.

  And because he had forgotten to put his clothes back on.

  He was cold.

  Very cold.

  “Kael, don’t act stupidly,” he muttered to himself, since there was no one else around to scold him.

  The good thing was that he usually learned from his mistakes.

  So hopefully, in the future, he would not nearly freeze to death because he forgot to put his clothes back on before falling asleep.

  Hopefully.

  After rekindling the fire and putting his clothes back on, Kael drifted back to sleep.

  He had always been prone to strange dreams.

  Once he dreamed that he had grown chicken legs and wandered through the village scratching everyone who crossed his path. In another dream he found himself dancing in the middle of a massive city filled with thousands of people, a place far larger than any settlement he had ever seen.

  But tonight was different.

  Tonight, his dream felt real.

  He was alone.

  Kael found himself walking through an enormous corridor. The ceiling stretched impossibly high above him, supported by rows of towering marble pillars that lined both sides of the passage. Their white surfaces reflected a pale light that seemed to come from nowhere.

  The corridor was long.

  Very long.

  So long, in fact, that it felt as if he had been walking for hours.

  Finally, he stopped.

  Before him stood a door.

  In the center of it was a metal screen, and engraved upon it were the words:

  PROVE YOUR MERIT

  Kael reached forward and pushed the door open.

  Beyond it he saw Grayville.

  The village was burning.

  Flames devoured rooftops. Smoke rolled through the streets. People ran in every direction like frightened children. Some carried buckets of water, desperately trying to fight the fire. Others lay motionless on the ground.

  Dead.

  He heard screams — terrible screams — the cries of people trapped in burning homes.

  Kael stepped forward instinctively, ready to run into the village to help.

  But the door slammed shut with violent force.

  He grabbed the handle and tried to pull it open again.

  The moment his hand touched the metal, a violent shock surged through his body. Electricity shot through his arm and threw him backward.

  When he looked up again, the door had changed.

  The wood that had once been brown now glowed crimson red.

  The screen still displayed the same words.

  PROVE YOUR MERIT

  A second door appeared beside the first.

  It opened.

  Kael stepped closer and looked through it.

  The Grayville Forest.

  The same forest he had been traveling through only hours before.

  He saw the waterfall.

  And near the top of the cliff lay three bodies.

  Wolves surrounded them, tearing into the flesh.

  The second door slammed shut just as suddenly as the first.

  Kael staggered back, shaken by what he had seen.

  “I need to help them,” he muttered.

  But the corridor offered no path forward.

  Then a third door appeared.

  This one was blue — the color of the open sky.

  Again the screen read:

  PROVE YOUR MERIT

  The door swung open.

  Kael stepped forward slowly.

  Before him stood a city.

  Not a normal city.

  An impossible one.

  Buildings rose into the sky like mountains of stone and glass. Kael had never seen a structure taller than three stories in his entire life, but these towers stretched upward for what looked like a hundred stories or more.

  The streets were filled with people.

  Thousands of them.

  Some of them looked strange, though Kael could not immediately say why.

  Then the ground trembled.

  Kael turned.

  One of the towering buildings began to collapse.

  Stone shattered.

  Glass exploded outward.

  The entire structure crashed to the ground, sending a massive cloud of dust rolling through the streets.

  Then the third door slammed shut.

  Silence returned to the corridor.

  The words on the screen flickered once.

  Then they changed.

  ARE YOU WORTHY, KAEL ARDEN?

  And suddenly—

  Kael woke up.