“Where were you? Why were you not here yesterday? Did something happen? Are you okay?” the questions bombarded the poor teenager who tried to wriggle out of the crushing embrace of his two friends. “I’m okay, really guys, I’m fine. I just got hold up with a small adventure. Also, I have news…” Alex wanted to tell his friends everything that happened the last few hours, but from the corner of his eye, he saw one of Jones’ goons running to them.

“Alex, good to see you back, Jones wants to see you,” Andrej waved for the boy. “Yeah, I'll visit him later. I am a tad bit tired, after the night I had.” “He wants to see you now,” the other teenager growled. Alex shook his head, hugged his friends goodbye and left with Andrej.

The older boy sat in front of his makeshift desk, regarding Alex with tightly squinted eyes. “You know, I got a ping from my seed, saying someone with an essence seed, entered my camp. How can that be Alex? As far as I know, you haven’t got one yet. Or did you, in your greedy, self-absorbed ways, put your needs before our whole group and decided to use one? We have a rule against that, don’t we?”

Andrej nodded, but Alex stood stock still. ‘Fork, he knows!’ “I had to do it Jones,” he defended himself, “Otherwise I probably would have died and our camp would have one person less, getting food.” “Is that so? Where is your food then, Alex? First you break our rules, and then such a flimsy excuse?! You brought nothing, and used a precious seed for yourself, while others, more successful kids miss out now. If Liam got your seed, he would be hunting right now, trying to get stronger and help the camp. But you are standing here, doing nothing but wasting my time,” Jones talked himself to a rage.

It took a few seconds, until he had his composure back. He took a deep breath and began anew. “So what did you get? Anything you can tell me? As far as I see, you are still level one, so you didn’t even fight to get stronger. Probably ran from the first animal you saw. Little chicken that you are. Did you at least earn some coins to give m-, to help the camp?”

Alex was stunned, what should he do? He knew, if he didn’t answer or outright lie, he would get in serious trouble as soon as his lie was found out. So he answered, “I know you don’t care how or why I got my essence seed, but it’s a rare one. Shadow. I can hide with it and curse my enemy.”

“Of course you would get a cowards essence,” Andrej chipped in. “You’re right, but maybe the boy could at least help out with it. Are you a crafter or a defender?” Jones asked. “Neither, I picked vanquisher…I have to kill, to earn essence,” Alex answered dejectedly. “You? Kill enemies? Hahahaha,” Jones broke out in laughter, “You can’t even defend yourself against some good meaning banter, do you think you would be able to raise your weapon against something or someone? Hahahaha, best joke I heard these last few weeks.”

Alex knew he had to endure their ridicule. If he defended himself, it would just get worse. So he stayed silent and swore to become strong enough, so that the next time, both boys would choke on their words.

“Do you know how to level up, at least? Of course not, how could you…” Jones asked rhetorically, “You have to earn unrefined essence until you reach your cap and can’t earn any more. If you were a defender or a crafter, I could help you with that. But you are too egoistic, to help out your family…Whatever…If you are at your cap, you meditate and search for an essence strand inside your left arm. You pull it back to your center and give it to the system. At least that’s the most effective way and that way you would be somewhat useful to the camp. I expect you, of course, to donate every earned coin to the camp..”

Alex nodded, he would naturally never do such a dumb thing, but let Jones believe what he wanted. “You are dismissed. I have to talk with the others about your transgression and punishment.”

The teenager left Jones and Andrej. He was curious what ridiculous chore he would get. Probably had to hunt more, or stay a few days as a guard. He laughed silently. It was still worth it. Shadow and rare. If Jones knew the truth, he would try everything and shy away from nothing to get his mystic essence.

“What did the d-bag want?” Lin, his best friend, asked as soon as he was back with them. “Ah, he wanted to know what I got, also all my coins and everything. The usual. Can’t get enough to fill his pockets with.”

“That’s nothing new, tell us rather about your last day and why you didn’t get back yesterday evening. I nearly died of worry.” Janine chimed in. So Alex began his story, the near death experience and told them everything about his new class and essence. To be safe, he left out the rarity. He trusted his two friends, but one never knew. Somehow Jones would find out and at that point, Alex’s days could be counted by a careless lumberjacks fingers.

They talked through the entire morning and at some point, Alex fell asleep in his camping chair. Janine covered him in his blanket and both she and Lin began their work. Even if they had no essence, they couldn’t just do nothing. Lin raided the camp for every scrap of leather he could find and began sewing. His girlfriend, Janine, thought about whittling down some sticks, to make a spear, but remembered that Alex already had weapons. So she began to fill a backpack with odds and ends, useful for someone hunting outside the security of their camp.

Meanwhile Jones and his council convened. He told them about Alex and his new seed. He was a bit stunned, as he couldn’t list Alex’s skills, but he was so angry at the time, that he simply forgot to pressure the boy about them. Careless, but what could that coward even do?

“He must be punished,” Andrej said suddenly, both boys knew, that some of the others saw Alex in a rather good light but as long as he and Jones would work together, they could enforce their will and the others would stay silent, instead of going against them. “He took something that Liam here,” he pointed at his friend sitting on the side, “could have used. Alex is a greedy little coward, who didn’t even thought about the camps needs. I suggest banishment for one week.”

Before any of the others could answer, Jones nodded, “That’s a good idea. That way he can get stronger and more useful without the distractions of his friends. The seed wouldn’t be wasted and maybe, if he doesn’t make it, Liam could still get his essence. I wholeheartedly support this idea. It’s a fitting punishment and maybe the boy thinks twice next time, before he takes something that belongs to us.”

His cronies nodded, Tamara and Ralph looked down, but didn’t say anything. “Now, that that’s settled, Andrej, you will inform the boy later. The next point on our agenda is…”

“I am what? You did what?” Alex was stunned. He didn’t expect such a hard punishment. It was completely out of bounds. “I am not going. It is nearly a death sentence!” He raised his voice. Lin and Janine looked up from their campfire and stood up. But Andrej shooed them away. “We decided to give you a timeout, if you will, you can prove yourself worthy of your seed. And maybe you will become useful enough, that Jones and the rest could forget your transgression. End of discussion. If you’re still here by tomorrow, we will increase the time, and send you out by force, if that’s what it’ll take.”

Alex sat down by his friends fire. “They banished me for a week. Can you believe that? That’s ridiculous. I can’t live outside for a week.” “They did what?” Janine stood up. “They can’t do that. The others couldn’t possibly support this idea. I expected at least Ralph or Tamara as the voice of reason in Jones sausage party.” She grew more angry by the second. “And why don’t you say anything, Lin? Are you that intimidated by Jones, that you won’t even speak up for your friend?”

“Calm down Janine.” Alex winced, Lin shouldn’t have said that. Now it would get even worse. He slunk away, while Janine directed her anger at her boyfriend. His outlook wasn’t that rosy, but maybe he could survive the coming week. He had two good weapons, Lin had worked wonders and build a pair of bracers and sewed a few leathers and pelts together, so Alex could protect his torso. They didn’t look perfect, but Alex would take every bit of protection he could get. And at least the pelt armour would hold him warm.

“So you’re really gonna leave for a week?” Janine asked. She had finally calmed down. “I have to. I can’t go against Jones and his posse. At least not yet. Maybe if I’ve got a few more levels. Do you maybe know what levels they are?” Alex answered. “No idea, they keep that a secret, for security reasons,” Lin made quotation marks with his fingers, “Let us both join you, at least you won’t be alone and we can help you.”

“Don’t be silly,” Alex turned him down, “You don’t have an essence seed and I don’t believe we are that lucky to stumble upon two, as soon as we leave the camp. You haven’t fought any beasts yet and would only get hurt. Please stay here, at least I don’t have to worry about you two. And I promise, I’ll be back.”

With his supplies packed into a new bag, Alex lay down in his tent. He had to stay the night, otherwise he would have to leave during the evening, find and build a suitable camp and try to survive the night, while he was still not that rested. Normally he woke sometime during the late morning, but he knew, the gate guards, Jones and Andrej wouldn’t be up before late morning, so he had enough time to get his stuff and leave the camp.

Alex hugged his friends goodbye. “Lin, Jane, as soon as I find a new essence, you’ll get it. Even if I have to sneak in. If you both have an essence, you can help me and we can work through the apocalypse together.”Janine nodded, and Lin promised, to get better at crafting Alex’ armour.

Alex grinned, and left his friends at the front gate. Last night, he made a plan. He would leave the city for the forest, but stay on its outskirts. He would try to find empty cellars, to endure the night. And during the morning and midday, he would hunt the forest, trying to level up his class and skills.

Alex told nobody, but some part of him was giddy to experience that adventure. Nobody to secure his back. Nobody to stand in his way, and he had no handicap, called Jones. If he could get to a higher level, than the rest of the council, he wouldn’t have to endure their “democratic” leadership. Some part of him was grinning, imagining the coming experience.

The teenager left the orphans camp during the early morning and made his way to his hidden spear and dagger. The camps guard was sleepy and unobservant. They didn’t care where he went, their job was to make sure, that he left the camp. Nothing more and nothing less. So Alex was by all means, free. The wider world called for him, and he would be dumb to reject its call.

A short jog later, Alex stood on the lonely path, leading into the forest. Before the apocalypse, it was a tiny copse, nothing more than a few trees, to get colour into the overall landscape. Two weeks ago, it started to sprout. There were no words to describe the speed with which this new forest grew. One day it were a tiny copse of trees. No more than 20, maybe 30 together. Then the apocalypse happened and you had other things to do, like survive, and before you could count them, the forest exploded.

Alex knew the general route through the forest and its outskirts, that was before it all happened. He still could orient himself by the skyscrapers, painting the horizon. But every other day, they lost a new one. The building materials weren’t made to endure the pressure of essence.

Sighing, the teenager searched his surroundings for a somewhat safe hiding place. Even with his essence and skills, he had to sleep. The houses around him didn’t look that inviting. Some had bloody paw prints leading in or out, others were so decrepit, he wouldn’t enter them even before the apocalypse. Alex wandered the streets for a few hours, but found nothing even remotely safe.

He entered a few houses, but the creaking in the wind and the cement, becoming sand beneath his feet soon disposed him of that idea. ‘If the city doesn’t want me anymore, I’ll go into the forest.’

With that thought, Alex left the streets. The forest was looming in front of him. Dark, but somewhat inviting, promising safe harbour, food and much needed essence, still trapped in many unsuspecting animals.