Not much is known about the travelers who arrived in this world with the first waves.

We only know some basic information, like the fact that they came on ships and they had their consciousness transferred in the middle of a dream.

However, it has been a long time since the last wave and there are no more survivors from those times. All we have are the stories, told and retold through generations, today so distorted by imagination and full of holes created by the memories that worn out through the years.

I find it kind of curious that, from those travelers, there seems to be one real information that survived: Among them, there were some groups that came from the same world, but from different times, leading to the belief that, simultaneously, past and future met on the ships, brought to our planet by the Waves.

Rachel V.I.S. – Scholar and Chief Librarian at Markav

*

-He's improving a lot, don’t you think? – Thiago comments when he finds himself alone with Guinevere, after Arthur and Galaaz left.

-At least I don't have to carry him home anymore. – The warrior answers, analyzing the training area to make sure everything was in place.

-Don't you find his proficiency in battle impressive? – The soldier asks, bewildered by the teacher's lack of pride. – He was a civilian until recently and I already feel hard to face him in hand-to-hand combat. What's more, his progress in understanding his own skills is amazing. That's not part of his powers, is it? He seems to have a good deal of innate talent.

-It has nothing to do with talent. – The warrior puts her hands on her hips before making a gesture so they could start walking towards the main road. – It's effort, pure and simple. He has been pushing himself to the max since we started.

-That's a good thing too.

-Yes, you are right. - Her gaze goes to the horizon, divided between the clear sky and the cloudiness of her own thoughts. - He seems to understand that things will not be easy for him and has been working hard because of it.

-I'm not surprised. He's been warned about it since I've known him.

-Yes... He's a good student. – The blue-haired warrior smiles slightly. – He will be a good soldier too, if all goes well.

-Is something bothering you?

She doesn't answer right away. Her gaze lingers on the mage's figure before talking.

-You were informed about the position of deputy commander. Don't make that face. I'm not saying you are being arrogant. It is just that you finally seem to see yourself as my equal, not my subordinate.

-Sorry I-

-Don’t be sorry. It is the truth. What’s wrong with it? We'll soon be colleagues and you'll understand why I don't tell Arthur to rest. The reason I see the endless effort and impressive progress of my student's skills and don't have time to feel proud as an instructor.

-I suspected something was going on.

-You were right on being suspicious. I don't know the details yet, but rest assured that our promotion won't come for free. We'll all pass a test by fire, and if the danger is what I'm afraid of, you'd better be prepared, got it?

Thiago's hands tremble for an instant. He senses the coming of a battle.

A deep breath and a nod.

- Let's have a beer. – Guinevere places her hand on Thiago's back. – If we are going to be co-workers, it’s better we also become friends. - She smiles. – I don't trust anyone who doesn't drink with me, got it?

*

Helena and Vincent gallop at full speed, mounted on the fastest steeds’ money could buy. They had dispatched letters to Fiandel and bought information at the stopping points.

They no longer behaved like newlyweds. Now that the dryad and the warrior weren't around, there was no need to maintain such a trivial disguise.

Only speed matters. They only care about the quick arrival at the port so they could get back to Fiandel.

-Is a new magical convergence really that dangerous? – Vincent needs to shout so that his voice overcomes the sound of the wind that cuts their faces during the ride.

Helena, on the horse beside him, answers in a more moderate tone. She was not given to screaming.

-The problem is not only the new convergence – Vincent almost could not hear her. – but the speed with which it emerged. The last one appeared less than a year ago and it expanded the Wastelands. At this rate, the armies will be dispatched ahead of schedule.

-Wouldn't a letter be enough to deliver such information?

Helena shakes her head.

-We need to deliver the reports in person. My dad has to analyze the samples we collected. Besides, I need to organize my family and start preparations for war.

-But why the rush? We could have helped those two.

-We need to move away from the convergence. – She says and the piece of cloth that holds her hair breaks by the force of the wind. The cold makes them both curl up on their mounts. – You know what happens next to that thing. A convergence is like a big incorporeal and the sudden imbalance causes rage in irrational creatures and makes magic unpredictable.

“It would be foolish to willingly approach something like that. I want to open as much space as possible between us and that thing.”

*

Ohana's face burns as she tries to get up. Her entire body seems attracted to the ground, as if by magnetism. Her joints bend under the force of gravity, which seem to increase every second.

-Come on... – She uses both arms to lift her upper body.

Beside her, Dan struggles to get on his feet, stumbling and shaking his head. The warrior's eyes insist on seeing duplicate items and he needs time to compose himself. His usual smile fades for an instant, only returning when he regains control over his eyes.

Little by little, gravity seems to get back to normal.

Ohana finally succeeds and gets up, taking a second to investigate her own body and gladly noticing that she has not suffered any injuries – other than the scratches caused by impact with the ground.

An explosion had thrown her and Dan off their horses. The source of such explosion was easy to spot: A group of warriors was just a few feet away, battling a group of coyotes that were fiercely throwing themselves at them. The magic had been summoned by one of the warriors and had done more damages than it should.

"It must be the influence of the convergence..." Ohana ponders, feeling the magic in her body getting instable. "It destabilized his magic. We must be getting close to it."

The warriors formed a robust military group, with eight warriors, two knights, three archers and a mage. The latter, however, lay with his body on the ground, holding his stomach with both hands, desperately trying to stop the bleeding caused by his own magic.

-Should we help them? – Dan asks, with a confused look on his face. Ohana realizes he has a hard time finding reasons to get involved.

The dryad herself wonders if they should march in that direction. After all, the coyotes were busy with the soldiers, and despite the damage done to the mage, the soldiers looked quite capable in combat.

-Please help me! – The mage shouted after seeing them. She spotted fear in the soldier's eyes.

He had a youthful appearance. He shouldn't be much more than a kid. And his eyes glowed with fear.

Ohana sighs.

-You help the soldiers. I'll take care of the injured.

Dan seems reluctant to go in that direction. Judging by his expression, he expected her to avoid contact with strangers.

-There may be other animals attacking the roads on our way to Naeva. - She tries to justify the decision. – These soldiers weren't patrolling the village we came from. With them, we can proceed to the nearest city more safely.

One second is all it takes for Dan to accept the argument.

-So, let's fight a bit. – He smiles again and runs towards the battle, pulling a thin chain from his pocket.

Ohana had seen that weapon only once: During a battle on the road, when bandits attacked their carriage. Dan used it with one hand while the other held a small dagger. Here, he decided to do the same.

Dan did not have great stature or an imposing physique; however, his speed and agility were impressive. Even among wild animals he stood out. The soldiers, pressured by the number of beasts, felt a boost of spirit when they noticed the figure of the man jumping on the back of a coyote, using his dagger to pierce its skull.

Blood spurted in all directions and, before the animal even touched the ground, Dan swung his arm, sending the chain towards the animal on his right. The chain tangled around the beast's neck; one pull and it was sent to the ground, suffocating. Dan does not give it time to recover and rips his belly open with a brutal move.

The animals notice the arrival of a new opponent and a group rush towards him. Still at distance, Dan throws the chain forward and a blade at the tip lodges in the eye of one of the animals; the thin layer of magic that coats the blade, though unstable, is enough for the metal to dig into the skull and make the animal fall mid-race, hindering those immediately behind it.

Arms smeared with blood, Dan smiles breezily, lunging forward and jumping at the same time as the nearest coyote. A movement of the foot kicks the animal backwards and propels the warrior's body to the ground. He makes a pirouette and uses the movement to land on another coyote's back. The animal jumps and falls to the ground, but not before the warrior dismounts it and grabs its neck. Another movement of the dagger and blood flies in all directions.

-Thanks... Thank you... - The mage mutters to Ohana as the battle continues. The dryad presses on the wound and pulls some herbs from the pouch at her waist. Swiftly, she uses only one hand to knead them, feeling the acidity that pours into her callused palm.

-Don't use your magic. - She orders. – You know about magical convergence, don't you?

-The animals attacked us and I didn't notice... I didn't realize that my spell was malformed...

"And nearly killed the three of us in the process." The dryad does not verbalize the thought.

-Take off your shirt. - She doesn't give him time to think. Before the soldier can object, the shirt is already hanging over his head. He needs to repress a cry of pain caused by the movement.

She analyzes the wound one more time before talking.

-I need to close the wound, but I don’t have fire. – She announces. – The cut is deep, so I'll use a paste to prevent infection. Next, I'm going to tie the shirt to the side of your body and make a bandage. Don't yell, or you will alert the coyotes.

The soldier does not have enough energy to retort.

The dryad rips his shirt sleeve and puts the cloth in his mouth, so he will bite it instead of screaming.

The maneuver is shown to be necessary, as the pain caused by the insertion of herbs into the wound would be impossible to repress, were it not for the cloth.

-I’m almost finished. – The dryad avoids looking at the soldier, wiping the sweat from her forehead and tying the shirt under his damaged chain mail. She takes more herbs from her pouch and places them between the wound and the shirt.

-It will have to be enough. - She puts her hand on the soldier's forehead. The temperature has not yet risen. They would probably have enough time to take him to somebody qualified to close that wound if that battle ended soon. – I'll help the others, okay? You need to rest for a bit.

The soldier nods and tries to smile, but the pain stops him.

Ohana turns towards the place where the others are battling and pulls out the bow that had been attached to her back.

*

Guinevere, standing up, with her arms crossed, watches another clash between Arthur, Galaaz and Thiago. The last two advance towards her student. The lupine tries to bite the boy's arm, but the attack is avoided at the last moment.

"Clever." The teacher thinks. “He turned his body to leave the lupine behind Thiago. This will give him a few seconds to think of a counterattack.”

Arthur recovers even faster than she anticipated. Instead of waiting, he jumps on the soldier, turning his body and launching a high horizontal kick, aiming at Thiago's head.

Instead of blocking the kick – that would be a mistake, since Arthur's leg was covered with magic –, Thiago arches his body backwards, dodging the attack.

"It was a nice kick." Guinevere thinks. “His form isn't unbalanced and, despite it being the end of the day, he still manages to use enough strength to scare his opponent.”

With all the elasticity of his body, Thiago allows his head to touch the ground behind him before resting his hands on the ground. Before he can get up, Galaaz uses Thiago as support and jumps towards Arthur.

The boy was expecting an attack and extends his palm towards the lupine.

"Fast." The teacher thinks. "His speed at casting spells has improved a lot."

Galaaz, sensing the explosion, covers his own body with magic – to do this, he needs to shut his muzzle and avoid any damage in the breach of his “armor”. Arthur causes an explosion in the space between Galaaz and Thiago. The blast is enough to push the lupine aside and to make the soldier bend his knee.

-You're weaker than before, Arthur! - Guinevere scolds him. – You have to be strong enough to at least knock your opponents to the ground!

-I know... - The boy breathes with difficulty. The task in his hands seems impossible. Between fighting two skilled opponents and handling magic in a way that no one even knew was really possible, he felt as if he were crushed between two walls.

And to make matters worse, he never had time to think, for Galaaz was already advancing toward him again. The lupine, who in the early days of training was the most docile of his opponents, became one of the most voracious once he understood the limits Arthur could reach.

Thanks to his ability to collect magic, Arthur's stamina was elastic and fatigue found limits only in the breakdown of musculature and psyche. This meant that the natural barrier for any mage – the end of one’s magical reserve – did not exist for the boy and he could practice more than ordinary soldiers.

Galaaz had learned that, and now he seemed eager to see which ended first: Arthur's stamina or Galaaz’s magic.

“And to think he's the one who cares most about my well-being when we're not training…” Arthur thinks to himself, doing what he can to deflect the wolf's advances, using his magic to create a sphere of light between the two, momentarily blinding the opponent. He uses this moment to take as much magic for himself as possible.

Galaaz staggers, affected by the amount of energy leaving his body.

Arthur turns to Thiago in time to see the soldier put a foot on his chest. The kick pushes Arthur straight to the ground and he rolls to the side, preventing the soldier from stepping on his stomach.

"I am tired." Arthur gasps and gets to his feet, running backwards and keeping Galaaz in his field of vision. "I need... I need to make it work."

He sees the lupine advance once more. Instead of retreating – a strategy that has not shown results in the recent past – Arthur decides to advance towards the wolf and wait until the right moment.

Galaaz had a bad habit of jumping to match his opponent's height, a habit Arthur was well aware of. Until then, the boy made little use of this information, so that the wolf would not change his way of fighting. Now, however, seemed to be a good moment to use this as an opportunity.

And when the lupine leaps, Arthur throws his legs forward, sliding under his body and, for a moment, the wolf is completely vulnerable.

Arthur has enough time to lift his palm, expelling a wave of energy that pushes Galaaz's body a meter and a half into the air before knocking him hard onto the grass.

Although used to feeling pain, the lupine lets out a yelp when he feels the side of his body hitting the ground.

Arthur does not have time to worry about his friend, or to celebrate the victory. Even before finding out if his coup worked, he sees Thiago just ahead. The warrior anticipated Arthur's maneuver and used it to stand on his path.

The boy tries to get up, but there is no time. The soldier would have time to hit him.

"What do I do? What do I do?" He thinks, desperately looking for a way out.

His eyes see Guinevere to his left. They had approached her during the battle and the warrior was still analyzing the training.

Thiago rushes forward, determined to punish his carelessness.

Arthur aims his arm to the left and closes his eyes.

One second.

Two.

Three.

-Reckless. - Guinevere's voice makes Arthur open his eyes. - In a battle, such a move is like betting your life with the odds against you.

The image in front of Arthur surprises him.

After all, Guinevere is placed between him and Thiago, holding the opponent's foot, preventing him from hitting her student.

-Finally... - Galaaz' voice comes from behind the boy, who slowly gets up.

-Yes, it was about time. – Guinevere smiles at her student. – Normally I would say to do it again, but this is enough for today. I want you to go home and meditate on the feeling you just felt.

-So... I...

-Yes, Arthur. You did it. I wouldn't have stopped Thiago if it wasn't for that. Now go. You deserve to rest a little.

Arthur wants to talk about what happened, but his teacher's gaze stops him. The warrior, although smiling, seems uncomfortable with his presence. And, much faster than usual, she gets them to leave the training grounds.

And when she finds herself alone, Guinevere looks down at her hands, red as if exposed to flames.

-You did it, Arthur. You achieved much more than I expected.

Alone, Guinevere trembles. She feels her body brim with magical energy. The amount is so big that it simultaneously causes pain and pleasure.

The blue-haired warrior clenches her fists and takes a deep breath, feeling her face flush and her conscience blur, as she tries to regain her composure after feeling intoxicated by the power.

-It was only for an instant and, yet, he gave me more magic than I am normally capable of producing. - She mumbles as she walks. – If he does that in battle...

She doesn't finish the sentence, because there's no way to finish it. She didn't know what Arthur could do in a real battle.

What she did know, however, was that they would soon have the opportunity to find out.

*

*