There is a campfire blazing on a cliff edge overlooking a large forest, the moons in the light up the terrain for miles to see. A man stands at the edge of the cliff surveying the terrain whilst the rest of his group relaxing by the warmth of the fire. He is a shifter with tanned skin, his hair is cut short on the sides, leaving a lighter coloured mohawk at the top. His eyes are golden, teeth and claws sharpened for battle, his knuckles are calloused from frequent use. He breathes in the fresh air, filling his lungs with the chilled fragrance of the mountain. “Are you sure the intel is good? That Deadeye and his trainees will be here tomorrow?” One of the members of his group turns to him, she is a heavily clothed woman, her outfit seems exotic, designed to hide her features, her face is hidden only to reveal a pair of bright green eyes. “The intel is good, great even, there is supposed to be a number among the group.” From across the fire, a hairy, bulky looking man perks up. His head is bald, contrasting a long unkempt beard he attempted to braid, reaching down to the bottom of his chest. “If there is a number there, she should be rescued, should that not be the priority?” The man on the cliffside turns, his look of frustration lit by the firelight.

“And miss our chance to kill Deadeye? This is our only chance, Hector!” he walks over to the group to address them properly. “Killing Deadeye has to take priority over the life of a slave, as much as I hate to say it.” A large, muscular man arrives to sit by the fire, he is at least a head taller than the average person, his head hidden by what appears to be a knitted rabbit mask, the rest of his clothing looks loose and ripped on him. The man drops a skewered boar onto the fire and sits down, letting some rearrange the skewer into a position that won’t make it catch on fire. The leader of the group continues with his rant, “Look I know we have all been training hard to fight him, but individually we cannot kill him, but if we rush him together, as a team, I know we can…” The leader clenches his fist, gritting his teeth. “I know he won’t stand a chance.” The last of the group stands up to address everyone. “What if just one of us went for the slave?” The man is loosely clothed, his hair messy, his beard looking freshly cut. Under his left eye, a number is tattooed, he has been labelled as 0037. Hector speaks up, raising his hand, “I can do that, if its just the trainees I will be facing it won’t be a problem for me.” The leader of the group ponders the change in plans for a minute or two, finally he accepts the changes. “Very well, Hector will rescue the slave, whilst Scylla, Grisha, Thunk and I will take the glory and killing Deadeye.” The leader, Lyrus, addresses the bald man, the covered woman, the numbered man, and the large man, respectively. “Eat your fill and rest well, tomorrow we will be heroes.”

The next day, Rhea spent a long time marching with her classmates to the edge of Fangdon Forest, she was walking at the back, struggling to both keep up and keep in step with the others due to having shorter legs. When the group arrived, they stood braced at attention until relieved by Mr Bailey. Their teacher lit his smoke, taking drags between sentences, “Alright you shits, time for your first Ranger exam.”

“This is Fangdon Forest, where I will test your resourcefulness and adaptability in a rural environment.”

“The aim of this exam is Hide and Seek, you will hide, and I will find you.” Mr Bailey reaches into his pouch, producing a set of ribbons. “This is a ribbon, you my place it anywhere on your person as long as it is outside of your clothing.” He tosses the ribbons on the ground in front of them before producing one more. “I will also have a ribbon, if by the gods you somehow take this from me, you pass.” Mr Bailey attaches the ribbon to the side of his belt; he then tugs on it to show that it can easily come loose. “My ribbon will be on my belt, it will remain on my belt, if you tug at the ribbon, it will come loose, very easily.”

“You will have 30 minutes to hide somewhere in the forest, after this time I will fire a shot to signify that I will find you very quickly.” Mr Bailey shows the students a small tube with a string attached to its base. “You may use whatever means at your disposal to hide from me, you may even move, once I find you, I will be taking your ribbon.”

“But that does not mean you are done, the game…. I mean exam, won’t end until I have everyone’s ribbon.” Mr Bailey begins to walk towards a small boulder to sit on.

“You have five minutes to prepare, starting now, dismissed.” As soon as the group were allowed to move, the boy that harassed Rhea previously began to approach her, scowling. Rhea had recently learned his name is Chadrick, though everyone called him Rick. Rick stepped onto Rhea’s boots, rubbing mud onto them, “Hey beast, let’s make a bet huh, make this interesting?” Rhea had no choice but to acknowledge him, since he was right up in her space. Rick continued, “If by the end of this, I take your ribbon, you quit the school, and I don’t see your face again.” This angered Rhea, she wasn’t here by choice, and she has no say whether or not she could stay or go, but she also believed there was no way this guy could beat her. She forced a smile, exposing her sharp teeth to the boy, eyebrows still furrowed, “Fine, but if you don’t have my ribbon by the time this is done, you never bother me again.” Rick forced out an insulting laugh and agreed. Lucas, the tall boy with short brown hair, was listening to their conversation nearby, thinking they were both idiots since Mr Bailey was going to take the ribbons anyway.

After taking their time to prepare, the students ran into the forest, Mr Bailey not bothering to watch after them, he just sat waiting for his guests to arrive. After about 10 minutes, he finally had company in the form of four individuals. Bailey smiled and struck an intimidating stance, “Bout fucking time you stopped hiding, had you shits pegged the minute you entered my forest.” Lyrus stepped forwards, cracking his knuckles.

“Pray to whatever god shows you favour Deadeye, cause very soon your gonna be meeting them.”