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Chapter 4: The Admission

"So I guess that now you're all cleaned up, it would be a good idea for you to explain what the hell happened with that naga. Don't you think, Ian?" Michael said, looking straight at the freshly cleaned human. He had been willing to just pass it off as sheer dumb luck, but that moment kept playing back in his mind again and again. 'Human? You don't know the half of it.' Ian had said that, but what exactly did it mean?

"Yeah, I guess," Ian nodded, looking around the group nervously. Things had felt good for him at the time; earning the new power, using it, feeling rage pour through him and give him strength. Now, though, he realised that he had no idea what the voice talking to him had been. He considered lying, then sighed. They'd probably find out eventually anyway. "That thing obviously swallowed me, and I ended up unconscious in his throat. Then...I had this dream, I guess. Everything was dark around me, then I heard this deep, rumbling voice, talking about how I needed to protect Kai, how I couldn't let things end like that. Then this black fire appeared in front of me." Ian paused to make sure everyone was still following him. "I took it. It just sort of flowed through me, and I remember feeling...rage. Anger. That it had hurt Kai, tried to kill me. When it spat me out, it was like I was watching my own body work for me. I don't know how I did all that. I can't even produce a flame now."

"A dream gave you that?" Cayden said, staring right at Ian as if he were insane. "Do you have any idea what that fire was? The amount of magic pouring off of you was... it was massive!" Cayden shouted the last bit, unwilling to believe that a simple dream had been able to give the human, who barely even knew how to use his magic, such a power. "Did you even know what you were doing?"

The human sighed. "I wasn't in control of my own body when I got spat out. Like I said, it's as if I was only watching the whole thing. I don't know what happened to me."

"That would make sense," Michael mumbled, drawing everyone's attention towards him. 'Human? You don't know the half of it.' That sentence made a lot more sense if what Ian was saying was true, but... "Do you remember ever feeling like that before?"

Ian shook his head. "No. That's never happened before."

"So you don't just have a split personality?" Josh joked, trying desperately to lighten the mood. The way Michael was staring at Ian had chills going down Josh's back, for lack of a better word, it really looked like a predator looking at its prey.

"No," Ian said bluntly, turning his head and glaring at the other human. Kai chose that moment to whine and nuzzle up to Ian. He could see the way that everyone was looking at his mate, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Oh well, at least it was a protective rage," Ana chirped, laying back down as if nothing had happened. To her mind, nothing really had. So Ian had a special magic ability that manifested when he was angry or dying; he was hardly in either state right now, so what was the problem? "You did it to protect Kai, right? Or at least that's what Mr Dark told you in your dream."

"Yeah, it was for Kai," Ian nodded. "Mostly, anyway. Part of it was being pissed that thing had actually eaten me. It felt like I needed to put it in it's place."

"I still don't understand how?" Cayden was muttering to himself, scratching at his ears. "You go from a dream to... that?"

"Let us just count it as a strange stroke of luck, Cayden," Termal said, smiling over at the wolf. The dragon may have been calm on the outside, but he was also more than a little confused about how Ian could have done what he did.

Termal wasn't the only one confused, or concerned, and Ian quickly realised if he was going to find any sort of answers about his condition, it wasn't going to be in a group discussion. "Michael, Termal, can we...talk in private?"

The dragon and gryphon looked to one another for a moment before nodding their agreement. Termal carefully picked Kyle up from his back and placed the hatchling on the ground with a quick rub of his muzzle, and followed after Ian when he got up and walked away from the group.

"So, got something extra to tell us?" Michael asked, looking Ian up and down. He still couldn't get over how Skylar was so proficient at creation magic, but he put that thought to one side for the time being.

"You two are the most experienced, and to be honest, aside from Kai I'm not really sure this is something I want to talk to the others about," Ian admitted. "I heard what I said when I was fighting the naga. That I'm not entirely human. I don't know what I meant by that, but what happened was too real to be a dream. Something within me was talking to me, talking through me."

"That would make....sense?" Michael drew out the words as he thought through his theory. "Termal, you know about essences, right?" the gryphon asked, getting a slow nod from his dragon friend.

"I don't claim to be an expert, but I understand the basics," Termal said, before he caught on to what Michael was saying and shook his head. "You can't seriously be suggesting that what happened was because of an essence, can you?"

"It would make sense. In theory an essence could have taken control."

Ian held up a hand to interrupt. "Sorry, essences are what, exactly?"

"Everybody that possesses magic has three main... things that are magically related," Michael explained. "You have your magical reserves, your battery; every bit of magic that you do take some energy from your reserves, different magics take different amounts and so on."

"Then you have your aura," Termal said, picking up where Michael left off. "Your aura determines how strong you magic is. A weak aura means that you have weak magic. Through hard work, though, one's aura can be trained and developed. Almost like a muscle, it can be exercised and strengthened. A person's reserves can be developed in the same manner, but that is a topic for another time."

"Yeah, what we're interested in is the third and final aspect of a person's magic, their essence." Michael took over again. "A person's essence is not like their aura or reserves. It can't be trained or conditioned like a muscle. It's more like your magic fingerprint."

"So...my essence has a low, rumbling voice and can talk through me?" Ian asked, feeling confused.

"No," Michael said, poking Ian in the chest with one of his claws. "If it was your essence then it wouldn't need to talk through your or anything like that because... well, it is you. I think that you have someone else's essence inside of you."

"How?" the human asked. "The only magical creature I've had contact with before coming to Terra is Kai, and he sure as hell doesn't have black fire or sound like that."

"It wasn't Kai," Termal said, he was one hundred percent certain of that fact. What he felt coming from Ian when he killed the naga was far too potent and dark to be the young dragon. "In theory, if someone had a potent enough essence it could be... copied over to someone else. As for who, why or how someone did this to you... I am at a loss."

"Same here," Michael agreed, looking rather disturbed as he thought about it more and more. "But it would have to have been someone freakishly powerful to influence you like that, Ian. Talking to you in a near death state isn't actually as difficult as you would think. My essence would be strong enough to do that, not that I know how, but that's besides the point. Giving you a magic like that fire though, and from your own words it sounds like it was controlling you... that would take a fearsome essence."

"It was controlling me, I'm sure," Ian nodded, sighing. "Is there any way we can work out where I got it from?" Ian thought about the voice he'd heard again, but all he got was a small headache when he tried to focus on it.

"I have no idea, Ian," Michael admitted. He really was out of his depth with this level of magic. "I only know that it's possible from a school book I read. It's possible for people with strong essences to do these kinds of things, but that's like me saying gravity makes things fall. It's true, but I have no idea how or why it works."

"Alright," Ian replied, looking back through the trees at the rest of the group. "You think they're going to take this as well as you two did? I know I saved us, but when you point out I have something in me that can take control of me, it doesn't sound quite so safe."

"Adriana made a good point," Termal pointed out, looking Ian in the eye. "This other essence only reared its head when you were close to death and it made the point of using your relationship with Kai to encourage you."

"Some would call that manipulation," Michael muttered but did nod at the dragon's reasoning. "He has a point though, you did save us because of that essence. At the very least I hope they give it the benefit of doubt."

"Let us hope, but also you have no obligation to tell them anything at all. This is mere speculation." Michael gave the dragon a pointed look as he spoke. Ian really did have an obligation because of their situation, and very close proximity to each other for the duration of this training exercise, but the gryphon wasn't about to bring that point up. He understood secrets all too well.

"Hey look, they're coming back," Cayden said watching Ian, Termal and Michael walk back through the trees. "Think they know what's wrong with him?"

"There's nothing wrong with him!" Kai snapped, but did look worried as his mate walked back over to them.

"He saved our lives, that should be enough," Ana said, trying to both calm Kai down and shut Cayden up.

"Yeah, but knowing how would be nice," the wolf muttered. He really was grateful, but at the same time he was nervous. Not of the power that was now apparently at Ian's fingertips, but of the one controlling it, who they knew nothing about. Cayden liked Ian, he really did, but if something could just reach out and control him...

"Any idea what they could have been talking about?" Shiro asked Skylar. The redhead had opened his eyes just after Ian, Mal and Michael left, but he was still incredibly weak. The redhead spared the young windragon a glance before shaking his head.

"Not one, you?"

"Ian's magical essence changed slightly when he started using his black fire," Shiro whispered, making sure that the others didn't hear him.

"You can feel his essence?" Skylar asked, surprised when Shiro nodded to him. "I thought that was something of an advanced skill, to be able to sense someones essence?"

"It is, but I'm..." Shiro cut himself off suddenly, he really didn't want to start talking big about himself, especially in front of Skylar, who had already let the young recruit know how he felt about that sort of thing.

"Special?"

"I'm fairly sure that everyone conscious felt the shift," Shiro explained. "But I'll bet only me, Michael and Termal actually... sensed exactly what the shift was."

"And that was?"

"It was Ian, but..." Shiro looked at the approaching human and shivered slightly. "It was like his essence was covered in blood and darkness. That the only way I can think to describe it."

"Blood and darkness? Exactly what do essences feel like?" Skylar asked. If they were more or less magic's equivalent of fingerprints, then how could Shiro feel blood and darkness from one?

"It's.... it's like a feeling of who that person really is. Like Termal's, his essence is so strong and kind that even when you can't sense it you can feel it."

"You mean how everyone feels safe around him?" Skylar asked, looking over to the dragon. It was true, everyone relaxed when he was around. The loss of tension when he first entered the room where they all gathered in Fortis was so great that you could literally see it. "That's his essence?"

"Yeah, it's like a field around him and when it passes over you, you just feel safe." Shiro coughed suddenly to distract himself from the essence. His father warned him a few years ago when he developed the ability that staring at someone's essence too closely was a good way to lose yourself. "Everyones essence is unique, different. Some are blank, some are whirlwinds of emotions, some are just one thought or emotion but everyone's essence is undeniably theirs. Ian's changed when that naga spat him back out."

"So what's everyone else's essence like?"

"It's considered rude to ask someone that," Shiro smirked. He himself had been wanting to stare at everyones essence for a little while, but to look at someone's magic like that took concentration and it was considered an invasion of privacy.

"Okay... so what's mine like?" At that Shiro froze. He had read Skylar's essence last night when the human had still been unconscious. A brief moment where his curiosity overrode everything else and if he was honest... the experience was not one he wanted to repeat.

"I think that answers well enough," Skylar sighed, clenching his fists together tightly. He didn't know what his essence felt like but he could hazard a pretty good guess. "I guess a person's essence can change throughout their life. Like for instance, a traumatic event?"

"Yeah... Is that?"

"Don't!" The redhead snapped, fixing Shiro with a withering glare that made windragon flinch. Skylar's expression softened from anger to one that was a mix of guilt and pain a moment later. "You shouldn't ask things like that."

Shiro just nodded, and kept a little bit of distance between himself and Skylar until the redhead calmed down. Their conversation ended just as Ian, Termal and Michael made it back to the group.

"Soooo," Josh said, drawing out the word to grab their attention when the trio sat back down with the group. "Any life changing revelations that you want to share?"

"I have another essence inside of me," Ian said simply, hoping that would be enough to satisfy their curiosity.

"Wait wait wait!" Ana said sitting up suddenly. "You can use your essence to control someone?"

"We did see it happen just last night, Ana," Michael pointed out as Kai moved over to Ian.

"Are you okay?" the dragon asked, looking his mate over once again. He didn't know what an essence was, but he could find out later. Besides, he already had a good idea.

"Yeah, Kai, I'm fine," Ian said, letting the dragon cuddle up to him as he looked around the group, trying to gauge reactions.

Ana glanced over at Ian once Michael was done explaining everything to her, but she was clearly more worried than afraid at the prospect of Ian having a second essence inside of him. Despite what he said earlier Cayden was the same; the wolf liked Ian, he didn't want to see him being controlled. Kyle just looked to Termal to explain what was happening to him and stayed quiet like usual, and Josh didn't seem to have an opinion at all, he just regarded Ian carefully for few minutes before shrugging.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Cayden asked, everyone was being far too depressed for his liking. "Are we just going to sit on our tails and eat banka and cornaron until sergeant 'must be kicked in balls' shows up and gets us?"

"We should use our time more wisely," Termal said looking around at the group. He thought the best use of time was to teach each other everything they knew about magic and anything that might be of use to them at any point in the future; alas, the only one he could really teach anything to was Kai.

"At the very least we should think about building some kind of shelter," Skylar remarked, looking up at the ominous black cloud that seemed to be hanging in the distance. "That doesn't look the most friendly of storms."

"I could show you all some basic survival magic that I learnt in the Trackers," Michael said, when the dragon suggested that they practice their magic. "They're basic, but quite useful as well."

"Like what?" Josh asked, watching intently when Michael dug a small hole before holding a hand above it. Within a few moments, the once dry dirt lining the hole looked like it had just been rained on, and within a minute the hole was a quarter full with water. "Neat."

"Gathers moisture from the surroundings, works best if you have a cup or canteen or something. There's also this one." Michael demonstrated by grasping the wrist of his right hand and focusing. A second after, a small orb of bright white light formed above his palm. "Small camp light. There are a couple of others as well."

"That's cool," Josh said, before everyone turned to look at Skylar when the redhead made a surprised sound. "What?"

"Is it my imagination or did that storm... just get a hell of a lot closer?" At that everyone turned to look out at the fastly approaching storm, that only a few minutes ago had seemed to be hours away from them. "Can storms move that fast?"

"Apparently they can here," Ana muttered before looking around at the group. "Any ideas for quick shelter?"

"Kai and Termal stand on all fours and we huddle beneath them?" Ian suggested.

"Not happening," Skylar declared, struggling to stand up as the effects of his magic were still heavy on him. When the redhead barely managed to keep himself from falling back to the ground again, he looked over to the resident tracker of the group. "What, no tricks up your sleeves for a little wind and rain?"

"No," was all Michael said, giving the human a blank look. All it would take would be a little wind to knock Skylar back on his ass. Looking at the oncoming storm though, the gryphon couldn't help but wince a little as some lightning flashed across the clouds. It was a bad looking storm. "If we had some more time, I'd suggest trying to find a cave."

"Oh... OH OH OH!" Cayden suddenly yelled, almost bouncing up and down with his paw waving up in the air. "I think I can help with that. My clan has a natural affinity for earth and nature based magics. It wouldn't be pretty, but I think I can whip together something that would give us a little shelter." Not waiting for an answer, the hyperactive wolf shot off a little ways from the group and pressed his paws to the ground.

It took a few minutes before anything happened but everyone felt a small sense of awe when they saw and felt the ground beneath them begin to shift. Cayden wasn't creating anything like Skylar had, he was simply shifting and manipulating the earth around him. In essence, the wolf pulled the top layer of grass and dirt from the ground like it was sheet of paper and lifted it up to create a small but comfortable hill for the group to take shelter inside of.

"That's... kind of awesome," Josh muttered, going over to look at the opening that was facing in the direction that the storm was heading. "Reminds me of a hobbit home, you know, from Lord of the Rings."

"Yes, we know what a hobbit is Josh," Ana deadpanned, even getting a chuckle out of Michael who had been forced to watch the films by some of his human colleagues. TV didn't exist on Terra; they had theatres that were similar to their human counterparts, but TV did not exist.

"What's Lord of the Rings?" Kyle asked doing his best to look over the top of Termal's head to look the dragon in the eye.

"I do not know," the dragon replied, looking to one of the humans for an answer.

"Not for kids," Ian said, looking at Kyle with a little smile. "I'll tell you when you're fifteen."

"But I'm a big boy, I'm riding a dragon!" Kyle protested, much to Termal's surprise.

"You're a big boy when one's riding you," Ian muttered under his breath for Kai to hear. The dragon in question just giggled and nudged Ian back for his comment.

"You can't tell a hatchling that," Kai whispered back looking back to Kyle who was tugging gently on Termal's horns to get the dragon to answer him. "He seems to have taken to my distant cousin very well."

"That's why I whispered it, Kai," Ian grinned, rubbing over one of his horns. "And yeah, he has. Guess Termal has that effect on people."

"I guess everyone in the house then?" Shiro said, wandering inside the 'hobbit home', as Josh was officially dubbing it. The inside was fairly spacious, considering what Cayden had just done to make it. All ten of them could easily fit inside of it, with room for another pair of dragons Termal's size to spare.

"Can't light a fire though," Michael pointed out, looking up at the roof of the... the 'hobbit home'. The gryphon shook his head as he thought of the name. They would have to think of something better. "Nowhere for the smoke to vent."

"Might get a bit chilly then," Ana said. "Still a lot better than getting drenched though," she admitted, shivering at the thought of being caught outside in a storm like the one that was rapidly approaching in nothing but the bare clothes that they all had. The Terrans might have been alright, what with two being dragons, and the other three having fur or a coat of thick feathers to keep them better insulated, but the humans would have suffered.

"How long do you think..." A sudden crack of thunder and the equally loud torrent of rain that came crashing down outside of the 'hobbit home's' door answered Josh's question. Looking out at the way that the rain was lashing down, the group were very grateful that Cayden was able to whip this thing together.

Decided that there wasn't anything that could be done until the storm had passed, they started to huddle together to get what advantages that they could out of each other's body warmth. Well, everyone except for Skylar, who was looking out over the storm and occasionally looking up at the sky to see if he could tell when it was going to end.

"How are you not cold?" Ana shouted over at the redhead. He was stood still as a statue with the occasional wind making his long hair whip around. She was curled up against Michael's chest and partially hidden under Termal's wing, and still she felt her teeth chatter.

Almost as if to piss the only woman of the group off, Skylar glanced back at Ana and smirked but didn't say anything. The truth of the matter was that while the temperature was rapidly dropping, he really didn't feel it. Sure, he knew that it was getting colder, he could feel that, but Skylar felt the same comforting warmth running through his system that he always felt.

"It doesn't feel that bad," Ian said, giving Ana a confused look, before glancing at the other shivering members of the group. He was cuddled up into Kai, but it wasn't for the dragon's warmth. "Terrans aren't used to the cold?"

"There's being used to a little cold, then there's being stuck immobile, in the middle of what has basically become a large fridge thats probably keeping us colder than outside, and to top it off we're not even wearing anything thicker than some bed sheets," Cayden growled, rubbing his chest to try and get some warmth back to his core.

"If you guys are really that bad I can make a blanket," Skylar offered, more to poke fun at the cold recruits than to actually try and help. Michael must have picked up on the tone of his voice because he just glared at the human, before snapping a comment back about how Skylar probably wasn't strong enough to make one anyway.

The night went by slowly for the group of recruits. The storm didn't let up until the early hours of the morning, where they were eternally grateful to discover that the sun was just as warm and comforting as it had been the day before the storm. Unfortunately, that was not the last time that the group had to endure such a storm, as another just like it appeared in the skies only a few days later.

The days started to pass quickly after that stormy night, the group quickly came to realise that storms like the ones that they had just weathered were frequent and just as harsh as the first two. It didn't take long or much more encouragement after they weathered their third for them to start rapidly improving their camp site. Cayden quickly refurbished the hobbit home to include a small chimney stack so that they could at least light a fire, while Skylar set about creating some warmer clothes, but the strain left Skylar exhausted and incapable of doing anything for long periods of time.

The others weren't idle while Cayden and Skylar did all the work, however. Michael quickly taught Shiro, Josh, Ana and Ian the basics of tracking, while at the same time Termal taught Kai how to hunt. Before more than a week had passed since their second storm, the group had their first successful hunt. Both Termal and Kai managed to catch a pair of Cornadons and Michael led a fairly productive hunt himself.

"We have a problem," Cayden said, stating the obvious. "Can't eat this one raw."

"Speak for yourself," Mal chuckled taking a bit of a messy bite bite out of one of the dead animals.

"Eww, Mal," Kyle whined, lightly tapping the top of the dragons head with his fist. "That's icky."

"That's... gross," Skylar panted, moving outside of the hobbit house to lean against the wall. He had only just woken up from his latest series of blankets and was still incredibly pale.

"You look like crap," Ana pointed out with a smirk on her face, despite the fact that she was now wearing a thicker pair of breeches and a light coat over the top of her white shirt because of Skylar. "You feeling okay?"

"Peachy, Adriana," the redhead growled, before he just let the warm afternoon sun light wash over him. Ana just scoffed at him and turned back to the Cornadon that they were trying to figure out how to skin and then eat.

"So when you guys said that Terrans use these things for... lots of different things." Josh began kicking one of the dead creatures legs, it was freaky how similar it did look to a komodo dragon. "Do we even know where to start?" When everyone just shook their heads and just looked back at the dead dragon, no one was expecting someone to clear their throats.

"So you managed to kill it, but have no idea what to do now," Sergeant Hale laughed, as he strode out of the trees surrounding the lake. The various reactions that the wolf's sudden appearance got made Hale smirk, especially when he saw Skylar try to push himself away from the wall of the house and look like he was fine. The sentinel looked around the group for a moment before laughing loudly at them. "Well, I have to admit, even our best haven't quite been able to pull themselves together as quickly as you lot have... To be honest I don't know how you managed to do it."

"Oh, fuck off, Hale!" Ian snarled, getting to his feet and glaring at Hale with surprising anger. "You want to just turn up and make smart comments? You almost got us all killed!" Before Hale even had a chance to reply Cayden just seemed to appear in front of the other wolf with a haymaker cocked back and ready to fire.

"A little gift!" Cayden yelled in the surprised wolf's muzzle, every one of the recruits knew that they had almost identical smiles on their faces, muzzles or beaks, but no one expected Cayden's paw to bounce off of a perfectly spherical barrier that suddenly formed around the sergeant.

"Now, now, that is no way to treat your instructors," a human said, walking out of the forest behind Hale. He was wearing the exact same trench coat as the larger wolf and seemed to be holding a small blue orb in his hand. "My name is James, by the way, I am Hale's partner, a Sentinel and your second instructor. Pleased to meet you all for the first time." With his introduction over, James closed his fist on the orb and disabled the shield that he had been able to form around his partner in time to block Cayden's strike. 'That wolf is seriously fast. If this is what he's like now.' James both shuddered and smiled at the thought before looking over to the still pale Skylar who was clearly having trouble standing up. "Skylar, while I can understand the need that may have been required to produce fresh, warmer clothes for your comrades, I feel I must warn you that using magic of that caliber at your current level is harmful. Please do not create anything permanent for the time being."

"Okay," Skylar nodded, not having the energy to argue or even consider the fact that James had basically just called him weak in an indirect manner. He was having a hard time not passing out... Again.

"The warning aside, what you've been able to do wasn't half bad, kid," Hale chuckled with some genuine respect in his voice as he looked the redhead over again. "That goes for all of you actually, well done." There were a few smiles and glances between the group at that, but Ian kept his cold gaze on the wolf.

"What's with the sudden one eighty?" Ana asked, the first thing Hale had said to them was an insult about their apparent lack of competence, now he was congratulating them? "You were just saying that you didn't know how we survived."

"That's right, I don't," Hale laughed, moving over to the cornadon, before he pulled out a large knife and went about skinning the creature, a process that almost caused most of the sentinels to vomit.

"That's disgusting," Josh muttered, trying his best not to watch, but as revolting as it was the process was disturbingly interesting.

"Why are you here?" Michael asked. He had been trying to figure out why their apparent instructors had arrived all of a sudden, but he was coming up with a blank. Back in Fortis Hale had told them that their first task was to survive, and while they had been in serious harm's way because of the naga and may have been even worse off if they hadn't found some food and fresh water, they had been able to survive for a little over a week now.

"Why don't we build a fire and eat?" James suggested with a small smile on his face, his blue eyes seemed to be looking everywhere at once as they kept moving from recruit to recruit. "We can explain all of the questions that you may have."

It only took a few minutes for the recruits to build a sizable fire outside of the hobbit home, thanks to the amount of wood that they had been stockpiling for the various storms that they thought they would have to weather. Hale also didn't take long to finish skinning the first cornadon, and Cayden seemed more than happy to help his fellow wolf prepare the food, despite the fact that Cayden had just tried to knock Hale out the moment he appeared.

"So I am sure that you have questions," James began when the recruits all sat around the fire. Each and every one of them were curious about why exactly they had all been sent here and what would happen to them next. "Let me start with the obvious. This island is a form of survival training. To even be considered capable of becoming a sentinel, candidates must survive on this Island until they reach a point where they can become self sufficient."

"Self sufficient?" Ana asked, looking around at their now drastically improved campsite. It was true that with the addition of being able to successfully hunt cornadons they were able to fully survive here. The constant storms provided fresh water and there were various edible vegetables scattered around the forest that they had been picking for most of the past week. They were fully capable of surviving here for the rest of their lives, as miserable as that existence would probably be.

"Yes, and you already proved that you were capable of battling the various creatures of the forest. Even if yours was an extreme case."

"That naga?" Michael asked picking up the tone that James had taken. "It wasn't part of the test, was it?"

"Yes and no," Hale said, sticking a lump of meat on a branch and sticking it near the fire to cook. "Fighting with the various creatures of the forest that aren't friendly is part of the training, but that naga shouldn't have been here."

"There are nagas in the forest, but that one was far beyond anything that we would have normally allowed to be part of the training. Unfortunately, even had we wished to intervene we could not have, but that is of little consequence as you are all alive and well, yes?"

"I got swallowed by that thing," Ian said, a hint of a growl to his voice. "Little consequence doesn't really sum it up."

"You're alive kid, don't moan about what's in the past now," Hale said, poking Ian in the chest as he sat down along with the rest of the group. "And you discovered an interesting new fact about yourself and your powers."

"Can't really argue with that, Ian," Cayden pointed out, even if Ian couldn't do a repeat of his performance against the naga right now, the ability was in there somewhere. Ian turned his glare to Cayden at that comment, though, not appreciating the fact he was now taking Hale's side. "You wouldn't have known if you hadn't been swallowed."

"Just wish I'd found it out in my own time," Ian muttered. Even thinking about the naga and those fangs gave him chills. Sensing his mate panic, Kai nuzzled up close to Ian.

"That... anomaly aside, you have all shown the ability to survive in this environment. Just over a week is an impressive time. Most spend weeks just struggling for survival before they are able to carve out their own 'territories'. However, as your group has done this, it is time to proceed to the next stage of your training,"James informed everyone with a smile on his face, just as Hale laughed at the recruits that he would now be able to torture at his will.

"Yeah, the next stage of your training has us teaching you hands on," Hale grinned, looking at each recruit in turn. "I hope you've all had time to prepare yourselves."