"Seriously?"
"You know that old man means what he says."
Natalia felt irritated. Aris was their teacher, but asking them to fight when they had only just learned how to release their power was crazy.
Eleonora stood opposite Natalia, already having activated the crystal's power outside her body, making it glow along with the drops of water she had gathered around her hands.
Natalia, on the other hand, activated the crystal's energy within her body, channeling it into her bow. Of course, the arrows weren't real—they were covered with cloth so they wouldn't injure anyone during training.
Everyone inside the cave had been split into pairs, and each pair would fight in turn.
"Begin."
Aris's voice echoed, and immediately
Eleonora launched the ball of water she had formed toward Natalia.
Natalia dodged the attack, channeled energy into her arrow, and released it toward Eleonora. She tried to dodge—but failed, falling to the ground.
"Are you okay?"
Natalia rushed toward her and helped her up.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Seriously, do not treat the training like a game."
Aris said.
"What's the point?"
Aris turned and looked at Natalia with a piercing gaze.
"Why should we fight when there's no need?" she continued.
"We use our powers for everyday tasks and hunting. Why do we learn violence when we don't need it?"
Aris didn't answer immediately. He stared into her eyes, as if trying to read her.
"Years ago, there were slaves. They were innocent people who were tortured. But they couldn't endure the violence anymore, so they escaped. After many hardships, they came here and created Miria.
But even before they found the crystal, they lived in fear that someone would find them and enslave them again. So they began to train—not to become savage or cruel—but to protect their home in case the outside world ever found them.
That is why we train today. So don't misunderstand—we're not doing this to become violent… but to protect the people we love."
Aris's words stayed in Natalia's mind all day. For some reason, she couldn't get them out of her head.
The next morning, she woke up earlier than usual because of a dream.
Her dreams were not normal. Her mother had told her that for generations, their family had seen the future through them.
But this dream… was different from the others.
When she was younger, she had dreamed of a rock falling on her—and later, it actually happened. While hunting in the forest with her father, a boulder had nearly crushed her, but she avoided it because of the dream.
Other times, she dreamed of simple things—like playing near the lake with Eleonora—and later, those dreams would happen exactly the same.
It didn't matter whether the dream was good or bad. What mattered was that it always came true.
But this time, she saw something strange.
She saw people wearing strange clothes, holding strange weapons. In her dream, things flew through the air, making loud, deafening noises.
Her entire village was burning.
Screams echoed through the flames.
The light of the crystal shone from those who fought against the attackers.
But the strangest thing of all…
was that she kept hearing her teacher's voice.
"If they find us, we must fight… not for violence, but to protect what we love."
***
"Ah… we finally made it."
Aaron said as he stepped out of the vehicle and stretched.
"Who would've thought a place like this existed beyond the ruins?"
"Sir, from here on, we'll have to continue on foot."
"Alright. Do we still have a long way to go?"
"No… we're close."
For some time now, Elxis had been developing a program called "Free Cities."
The goal of the program was to build cities without artificial plants and walls—just like in the old days before the war. Of course, these cities would be built with the help of slaves.
But Aaron knew very well that Elxis didn't just want to create these cities to build a natural utopia for the rich.
He was sure…they were searching for something in these mountains.
But what?