Despite Krion being somewhat out of shape, he ehe jourhrough the forest. For most of his life he had been a city dweller, hemmed in by crete and steel. It was o be out amongst nature for once. Even if the surrounding trees he assing through were off in some ways. Though the same deep greens ahy browns surrouhem as Rolfun and Alesin escorted him in the dire of their camping site, the leaves themselves were not any that he reized. Some were long and thin, while others had a square-like appearance.

  Then again he was in a pletely different world. It would be more than strange if he was seeing oak arees.

  The other thing that stood out to him was the sounds of the forest itself. Bird calls were the most on thing he heard, but no matter how hard he looked around, he couldn’t see a single one. Perhaps they were higher up irees or hidden amongst the foliage. While he regretted not being able to see any, the peaceful monotony of the journey was enjoyable all on its own.

  His feet slipped on a wet stone, but before he could fall, Alesin’s hands were there to steady him. The sun elf’s firm grip brought his attention back to where it should have been sihe start of the hike through the woods. The fact that he was heading to the Imperial Academy to enroll in csses, as the s of an important noble house no less, and he could not feel any more unprepared for it.

  He stumbled, Alesin again catg him.

  “Thank you,” Krion said, his face redde how clumsy he was being.

  “No thanks are necessary. I imagihis is a difficult hike for someone so newly ied into the System. Don’t hesitate to ask for breaks if you hem. While there is a deadline, we have some time yet before we would o hurry.”

  “Thank you, but no,” Krion said firmly. “The more I push myself, the more training I get in with the both of you. I’m sure I’ll appreciate every sed of it when I get to the Imperial Academy.”

  “Very well,” Alesin said, stepping back. She motioned him to tier Rolfun, who had slowed for them to catch up. “Just make sure you don’t fet that attitude days from now after training with Rolfun and I.”

  Though he was already sure he would regret it, given how tired and sore he was already, Krion still smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  Alesin did not say anything in response, only gave a smile full of teeth aured again for him to follow Rolfun. While Krion did not kher of his escorts very well yet, that look reminded him of one an old physical therapist of his had given him after first being released from the hospital. Krion had asked that he be pushed as hard as he could handle so that he might recover faster. The man had given him a smile very simir to the one Alesin had on her face right now. Krion wi the memories of those long, painful hours.

  Shaking his head oo banish them, he picked up his pace slightly. Though his legs fred in protest, Krion pushed through. He hadn’t lied to Alesin when he said that he was looking forward to training. Whenever Krion made up his mind to pursue something, he would put as much time and effort into it as he could until he was successful. He had dohat while struggling to hold on until a cure could be found for his disease and in the physical therapy that came after. He had also dohat while he had been w towards being a doctor. Of course, he would do the same to achieve his new goal of getting strong enough to protect his family ba Earth.

  His focus shifted to Rolfue his size, the half-ogre seemed at home in the forest. Dodgiween trees as needed, his long stride seemed to be incredibly stable despite the uneven ground. Watg Rolfun move, Krion began to pick out a pattern in how he was stepping. Mimig it as best he could, Krion quickly found that he began c a bit mround with less effort.

  Rolfun veered to the right as they came across a tree that had colpsed to the ground, the base of the trunk shattered. The half-ogre ducked through a gap where it had e to rest against a boulder.

  Krion moved to follow, but a glihe base of the tree caught his eye. Before he knew what he was doing, he took three quick strides in that dire.

  The sound of nearby birds went silent.

  “Rolfun!”

  As if spurred on by Alesin’s shout, a massive creature burst from the underbrush to Krion’s left. Light reflected off of shining cws, and lean muscle rippled under a spotted coat as a massive leopard lept at him. Krion froze, getting the briefest glimpse of jaws opening wide to reveal massive teeth when the massive form of the half-ogre blurred past him to sm a fist into the gaping maw. Smmed shut in a crash, the leopard went hurling backward, a strangled yowl emerging from its clearly broken jaw as it went. Rolfun threw himself at the reeli before it could recover.

  Krion scrambled backward, tripping over an exposed root as he did. Crashing to the ground, he slid onto his side. ing to a stop, he looked up into the desding fangs of an even rger beast.

  Before he could even begin to attempt to raise his arms to shield his face, Alesin was there. A a of fire fred into being arouhrusting out her arm, a spear of fme bsted into the chest of the sed leaping leopard, knog bad away. So violent was her use of magic, the chest of the hunting cat simply ceased to exist, and it was dead before it hit the ground, all without uttering a sound.

  The g sounds of fists meeting flesh echoed off the trees behind Krion, until o siing crack. Turning his head from where he was lying on the ground, he saw Rolfun standing up beside a broken corpse, grey arms and armored chest covered in blood from havien the first of the leopards to death with his bare hands. So much blood.

  Krion’s breath hitched, chest tightening as it sank in that he had almost died yet again. The thought hit him like a hammer, and suddenly, the world pressed in around him. The air grew too thick to breathe and his heart beat frantically in his chest. His vision narrowed past Rolfun to nd on the broken corpse of the dead forest predator.

  The ohat would have killed him before he could have reacted, had Rolfun not beeo save him. Krio over, struggling to get a hold of himself.

  “Lord Krion?” Alesin asked, the clear in her voice as she reverted back to calling him by his apparent title.

  “Sorry,” Krion said softly, still bent over staring at the ground. “I’m still not used to all… this.” He gestured in the general dire of the monstrous cat that Rolfun had killed.

  “The Forest Leopard or the fighting for your life?”

  “Both.” His heart was finally starting to slow down again. “Where I am from, we don’t have to worry about either. Well, generally. There is still violence occasionally, usually reted to criminal activity. I ’t even remember the st time an animal of any sort attacked a person in my city.” Krion’s speech quied he end of his response. Fog on what he was saying helped him fully push the panic away.

  Alesin crouched dowo him. She pced her haly on his shoulder, “That sounds like a nice pce to live.”

  “It wasn’t really,” Krion chuckled, fully in trol of himself again. He forced himself to stare at the first Forest Leopard, theher that Alesin had bsted with her fire magic. They seemed smaller, less imposing now that they were dead. “The forest was so peaceful. Kind of like the woods I walked through with my family when we went hiking not that long ago. I wasn’t expeg to be attacked.”

  “I guess there is more to teach you about thahought,” Alesin said as her husband stepped closer. He had pulled a rag from somewhere and was trying to wipe as much blood off of his armor as he could. She looked into Krion’s face from inches away, thinking. “Would you mind sharing more about your past with us, lord? It might help us better design an approach to your training over the rest of this journey.”

  “Such as why I would not have expected to be attacked by predators in a forest?” Krion asked, to which Alesin and Rolfun both nodded. “Alright. Do you wao start now, or wait until we arrive wherever it is you and Rolfun are leading me?”

  “Already seeking to get out of training?” Alesin asked with a teasing smile. “We ’t have that. The hours we have this evening are already spoken fiven your request earlier. No, better you start telling us all about yourself now.”

  “But don’t get too distracted while you’re sharing,” Rolfun added, reag doulling Krion to his feet. “Just because the forest is peaceful, doesn’t mean there isn’t danger. As the lowest level here, you are a tempting target for all that hunt in these woods. Make sure you stay close.”

  “I will,” Krion promised. “And thank you both for saving me.”

  “Would you listen to that, Alesin,” Rolfun said with a smile that showed off his rge, sharp teeth. “hought I would hear a S offer thanks to me for just doing my duty.”

  “her did I, but it is o be appreciated,” Alesin responded. “Alright, let’s get moving. Krion, tell us about yourself whenever you are ready.”

  Over the several hours of their jourhrough the forest, Krion tried to share an overview of his life oh with his escorts. He told them about his childhood and how it had been a happy one. He told them of how he became deathly sick, and but for a miracle of some sort, he had expected to die years ago. Both Alesin and Rolfun were excellent listeners. Occasionally, they would ask crifying questions, but for the most part, they listened in silence, simply giving Krion room to share. With growing fidence he had spilled his secrets. His shame at being the cause of his family’s debt. His desire to bee a doctor, to help others as he was helped, and to pay his parents back. The infrequent times with his friends, and fun that ying tabletop rolepying games. That, in particur, Rolfun had got a kick out of. In another pd time, Krion had the feeling Rolfun would have made a great addition to their group.

  Finally he came to the st turbulent days. Losing his friend aor. Almost dying himself, only to be saved Franz after being horribly scarred. The shock at learning there was so much more to the Multiverse. On and on the words spilled from him until there were noo share about his life.

  Initially, the words had e fast to the young man from Earth, but as the distance passed uheir feet, Krion’s breathing began to turn to gasping. The details about his life that had slowed were gradually repced with what life was like without the System. When both of his escorts took it upon themselves, in turn, to ask what Csses people had, or how humans on his p dealt with marauding monsters, what was darding the random appearance of dungeons, or any other of a dozen things that he had never heard of before, Krion began to notice their grimaces at his respohey got worse as he became uo share anymore due to his gasping for air. Their grimaces turned fully into frowns when Rolfun said they had arrived where they would be camping for the night.

  As they stepped close to a tree that looked like any other, Alesin pulled out a metal talisman from somewhere on her person. Holding it before her, the tree and its immediate neighbors faded away to reveal a small clearing, two tents already structed, and a stone-lined pit with a small pile of wood nearby.

  While Krion was once agaied to see another example of magic, he was still too wio ask how it all worked. Hopefully, he will be able to ask ter. He turned his attention to Rolfun and Alesin, who he realized had lingered behind him while he had wandered deeper into the clearing

  “Is everything alright?” Krion quickly asked betweehs.

  “No, Krion,” Alesin said with a sad shake of her head. “No, things are not alright. For what we are about to deliver you to at the Imperial Academy, you could not have had a worse life until this point.”

  Krion ched his fists, and he gred back at the sun elf. “I had a good life! My family took care of me! I had a career I could work towards, and friends that I could rely on! I was always—”

  “Safe.” Rolfun said, his deep voice rumbling in a mournful tone.

  So sad did the massive half-ogre sound that Krion cut off that he had been about to say that word as well.

  “You were safe. Safe in a way we barely imagine,” Rolfun tinued in the same tone. “Safe to such a degree that even the richest of the high imperial nobility who have no desire for war hting would have paid you any price to switch lives with you. Even if it meant but a few, peaceful years until Iion occurred and they had to return to the Imperial fold.“

  “Krion, you have to uand,” Alesin interjected into the silehe world you e from is pletely different from any world we have ever heard of. How it cks so much of the violend struggle that all within the Empire and beyond it are born into. Even the freshest of Ied worlds have more violend suffering than your world, Earth, apparently had.”

  “But isn’t that a good thing?”

  “No, Krion. It is not.” Rolfun again shook his head. “It means so many of the instincts and so many of the experiehat we could build on in our training to increase your odds of surviving those first few days in the Imperial Academy simply do in you. We will have to start pletely fresh. With everything.”

  In the sed, longer sile struck Krion all at once what they meant. Barring his st few days oh, Krion had always tried to avoid flid threats as much as he could. Given what little he had learned about the nobility of the Empire so far, that was the exact opposite of what would be expected of him. Yes, he uood what they both meant now. Among other things, Krion had shown to his escorts that he apparently cked the capacity to kill. Shit. With how he had reacted to the ambush by the Forest Leopards, how he hadn’t even attempted to defend himself, Krion could well uand their grim looks.

  No.

  “Tabu Rasa.”

  “What?” both of his escorts asked together, their voices overpping in fusion.

  “Tabu Rasa,” Krioed louder, “it is Latin, a dead nguage from Earth. It means that the human mind, especially from birth, has no preceived ideas or predetermined goals. With how I basically know nothing of what it is like to live in the Empire, nor be part of the System, I am truly a bnk ste to everything you might teach me.”

  “Exactly, Krion. You have no real experiend—” Alesin tried to respond before Krion cut her off.

  “So teach me. Use my unique background to teach me everything you ,” he steeled himself as he said words he knew he hoped he wouldn’t regret, “as fast as you . I think that g all the bad habits of other young nobles might allow me to learn quicker than you fear I will.”

  Both Alesin and Rolfun froze as they realized the point Krion had just made. Just as quickly rge smiles appeared on their faces. Despite the excitement, Krion couldn’t help swallowing in some fright. Both of them now had the same expression as that physical therapist from his time in recovery ba Earth.

  “Well, when you put it like that,” Rolfun said, his smile all sharp teeth aement, “What are we waiting for?”