Over the month, the apprentices trained everyday under Maximus, Iuna and Brant. They remained blindfolded throughout all their tasks and training, with no significant breakthrough. They collided with each other, stumbled around. Iuna attacked her apprentices every day, some managing to dodge one of her attacks. Brant’s apprentices spent most of their time focusing on one sound. Maximus and Mei Zhi continued disrupting the brawl. Sera remained calm. Elaira just forced through. Cassandra followed — tried to follow Sera’s voice. Aidan and Victor were the only ones to progress somewhat, distinguish voices and not stumble around as much. Jon memorised Mei Zhi’s movements by sound and kept following her — and failing.

  Ray continued holding his breath even during mundane tasks, such as helping clean the academy, arranging books in the library, and bringing back in supplies from Teqa. He also trained when he had time or just slept in.

  During the day, Maximus slipped out to check on the egg, but it showed no signs of hatching. Iuna, Brant and he discussed switching their methods every two months or switching the apprentices under them.

  “Let’s go with switching the apprentices. After next month, my apprentices can train under Iuna, hers can train under you and yours under me.” Maximus said as they sat on top of the academy watching over the apprentices.

  To the north of the academy, in a distant forest, the smell of blood filled the air. Limbs and heads pooled in blood lay scattered around. Fire crackled as Lysa sat by it, sharpening her sword. “Damn bandits.” She stared at the bright sky. “I should get them two something from Vargard. A delicacy, maybe?” She sheathed her sword and stood, grabbing the bag with the eggs and walking through the forest.

  Back at the academy, the headmaster sometimes gave the apprentices tips on how to progress. Though they understood none of it.

  The month passed during their gruelling training; most of the nobles grasped on and could hear from a distance. The gentry and the lowborn struggled, except for Jon and Sera. Jon could now specify where Mei Zhi is just by listening to and following her voice. Sera — be it instinct or luck — never got hit throughout the last week. Ray could now hold his breath for eight minutes while training and sixteen while resting. This is awfully slow. He let out a deep sigh, sitting on the wall.

  Maximus gathered his apprentices around and glanced over them. “Starting today, you’ll begin using your weapons. Don’t worry about getting hurt. The healers will treat you.” The apprentices fidgeted, sweating as they grabbed their weapons, still blindfolded. Some took their time finding their weapons.

  Iuna, with a wide smile spread across her face, stared at her blindfolded apprentices. “I’ll be attacking you with weapons now. Try not to die.” And rushed at them, swinging her axes.

  Brant now had his apprentices running around the academy, blindfolded and carrying boxes filled with sharp objects.

  Meanwhile, to the north, outside the walls of the capital city of Cryos. Groups of people stood shivering in the cold northern winds, waiting for their turn to enter the city. Guards dressed in light blue armor trimmed with navy blue leather checked the goods to let through. Lysa walked through the crowd. The people glared at her, their stares burrowing into her. Some gruff men blocked her path, cursing at her. “How dare you, Heliosian scum, walk in Cryos.” One of them tried to push her; she tilted to the side and slid through them.

  “Stop!” The guards’ voices rang through the murmurs. He pointed at Lysa. “Move!” She nodded and kept walking and entered through the massive gate, the vast capital city, Aurora, welcoming her with a cool breeze. She looked at the distant castle up a hill, with its four towers aiming towards the sky. After a moment of admiring the castle, she continued through the wide streets, with both sides laden with trees and buildings. The city stretched for miles and miles, further than she could see.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Lysa. What brings you here?” A loud, almost mocking voice caught her attention. “A silver belt? Don’t tell me you’re still a squire?” His laugh rang across, followed by his companions as they walked toward her. A tall man with black hair and black eyes covered in jewelry-laden armor. “It has been a little over a decade since you became a squire, and you’re still stuck?” He let out a low chuckle, covering his mouth. The others murmured under their breath. “Look at me. I started after you, and I’m now a knight of Cryos.”

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  Lysa stared at him, her eyes narrowed. “Who the hell are you?”

  The knight let out a soft breath with a smirk. “Are you trying to taunt me? It won’t work like before.” He started walking away. “I hope you become a knight in the coming hundred years.” The group followed him, their laughs filling the air.

  Lysa’s eyes followed them as they walked into the distance. “Who… even is that?”

  And so she continued onward to the northern coast of Cryos and to Vargard. Back at the academy, the apprentices continued training. Injuries, bruises, and some development followed. The second month of the training passed in the blink of an eye, but not for them. To the suffering apprentices, it felt like an eternity. Morale dropped, so they began slacking off. Iuna and Brant tried their hardest to train them, but they understood that during the monotonous training everyday they would eventually feel burdened. So they cycled the apprentices. Iuna began training Maximus’ apprentices, Brant took over hers, and Maximus would train Brant’s, but he was gone; the egg had hatched.

  The icy wind blew over the northern coast of Cryos. The waves crashed onto the cliffside; dark clouds covered the sky, blocking the sunlight. Rain poured, thunder roared across the area while Lysa stood by the empty docks, the black bag resting by her leg. “It just had to rain today.” She looked over at a tall, burly man sitting by his ship. “When do you think we can leave?”

  He raised his hand into the wind, the raindrops flowing by. “Not another week at least, ya hear.” Lysa clicked her lips, crossing her arms as her wet hair slumped over her shoulder.

  The man turned toward her, his eyes hovering over her frowning face. “Argh, ya in a hurry?” Lysa shook her head as lightning struck the water, sending sparks flying all over. The man walked slowly toward her, pushing through the wind. “There’s a saying in Cryos, ‘The seas and the skies roar when a seawyrm lets out its cries.’ ya hear?” Lysa tilted her head, still crossing her arms. “A seawyrm? I didn’t know they had that kind of power.”

  The man let out a hearty chuckle. “They don’t. It’s just a saying.” As he spoke, the sea a few miles out swelled. An enormous serpentine creature covered in scales and fifty — hundred feet of sleek leathery hide, glistening with rain and a ghostly internal phosphorescence, jumped out, reaching for the skies. “Storms argh, seawyrms’ long for it. During a storm, they reach out for the skies, ya hear.”

  They both stared at the seawyrm as it splashed back into the ocean, its illuminance disappearing into the deep darkness. Lysa glanced at him. “So the storm isn’t the problem; the seawyrm is because it’ll keep reaching for the sky?” The distant water swelled, and the seawyrm jumped out again and splashed into the ocean. The man looking at his ship, let out a deep sigh. “Aye, that is the problem, ya hear.”

  Lysa chuckled, grabbing the hilts of her swords. “Get ready to sail. I’ll kill it.” The man stared blankly and refused, but Lysa forced him to set sail. As the ship soared through the rough waves, the seawyrm continued its jumps at the sky. Lysa watched all its movements, not moving an inch in the stormy winds. She unsheathed her swords as they neared the spot and jumped high into the sky, her swords crackling. As the seawyrm ascended, a bolt of lightning struck her swords, sheathing them in a blinding, white-hot current. She descended like a thunderbolt, stabbing deep into its eye and using her momentum to slide down its body. Her charged blades met the dense, scale-armored hide—for a moment they screeched against the resistance, then bit deep as the lightning surged through the beast’s flesh. A sizzling crackle roared in her ear as she carved a smoking, cauterized canyon down the length of its body. Touching the ocean surface, she jumped back onto the ship as the seawyrm cut in half landed in the ocean. “It’s just a fish in the sky.”

  The man stared at her, his eyes wide, mouth open as she sheathed her swords and they continued through the stormy ocean.

  Back at the academy, Brant’s apprentices sat still, blindfolded and focusing on the surrounding sounds. He made Iuna’s apprentice run around with the boxes filled with sharp objects. While Iuna attacked Maximus’ apprentices, she did so without weapons. Sera was the only one able to dodge all her attacks, blindfolded. The others dodged only a few. Iuna took off Sera’s blindfold and said, “You can start training sight starting today.” Sera blinked as the bright sunlight landed on her face. “Okay.”

  Somewhere down the mountain, further off from the Acacia, Maximus stood, aiming at the cracking egg. Small wings popped out, followed by a low shriek. The wyvern crawled out of the shell. It was as large as a cat, with black scales, and red eyes. It looked over at Maximus, tilting its head. He lowered the bow as it slowly walked toward him, sniffing. “It’s surprisingly docile.”