5. To Mage-Mountain

Nyadzel explained yet again what the young man had to do to succeed in his training. Andrey didn't really need to listen to this over and over again, but ‘I guess he is worried’ he thought to himself.

Andrey had a black cloak, his two-handed training sword, a small sack with clothes, food, and water for a day, along with a book which his master said is a must-read during training.

All packed and ready, the young man was ready for a real adventure. Nyadzel walked him to the beginning of the mountains and wished him good luck. This wise cross-scared face tried to hide, but only unsuccessfully that he was worried for his pupil. 

Andrey didn't fail to notice this, but all he did was send out a little joke, "The teacher-student bond is a thing here too, eh?"

It was surprising that Andrey had so much luggage and turned out he had so much to walk. Until now his master was carrying his sword to help out, but now that they were departing the adventurer had to carry all his luggage. 

"Oh, come on!" A final complaint is what the boy said as he smiled and paid his goodbyes.

Some meters into the forest and Andrey decided to turn around and see that his master had already left.

“No time for drama, I guess” he spoke out loud. Then continued walking.

Andrey had this habit of diving into his mind. He was walking in this beautiful forest for already more than a kilometer, but only now did he realize what beauty surrounded him. 

The beautiful tall trees sky-scraping next to him, the sound of the waterfalls nearby, the wind moving the grass and the leaves on the branches. 

Nature was happy. It was singing songs of joy. These events made Andrey think about Earth. 

‘If there were no industrial zones, no pollution, no civilized destruction…’ 

He was sick of looking at the beautiful parks in the city center. Walk a kilometer to the side and see ravaged lands and dumps of scrap all over.

From the bottom of his soul, he wished for this nature to never be lost. Wild and beautiful - it was a big unknown to him. He had to venture into its mystery in order to learn.

As he walked deeper into the forest, he admired the vast amount of different plants, but he didn't forget to look back and see whether he could see the city. 

Nyadzel was kind of weird about orientation in this forest. Andrey had already been walking for quite a while, but the city could still be seen. It's as if he didn't make any distance.

Confidently motivated if there is some kind of riddle to this, Andrey toughened up and made bigger and faster steps forward. 

‘Wait, a second. I was told how to get deep in the forest and up the mountain, but... nobody told me how I would get out!?’

Sudden realizations made the situation even more absurd as Andrey laughed and facepalmed. That Nyadzel...

Andrey was impressed that so deep in the forest the footpath was still clearly visible. Maybe many people traveled here. But where to? Woodcutters maybe? 

Time had passed and Andrey couldn't see the city anymore. He was already tired from the hours of walking with this heavy sword. Clothes and books were okay, but the sword was uncomfortable to carry.

Hearing the sounds of hunger coming from his stomach and the fact that he was already tired, the boy decided to prepare for the night before it got dark and exhaustion had completely caught up on him. It was wise to find ready shelter instead of building one. And as such he started looking for a cave or something which would work as a roof if any rain comes. 

The first difficulty was at hand. Orientation didn't work like on Earth. The sun would stand in place as the Earth rotates around itself and orbits the star. This is not how the night-day cycle worked here. 

Andrey didn't really know any scientific approach about this yet. Nobody gave him a trustworthy answer. Philius would move around in the sky, but never really form the well-known sunrise or sunset. 

It would just float there and emit lesser or stronger light. That's how day and night worked. It did have a certain movement, which had obviously been studied, as the King's hall was obviously engineered with the necessary knowledge for that marvelous sight to work. 

So how was he supposed to leave his luggage or make a shelter in a place where he can't really navigate properly? He used sound. 

Nyadzel had taught him how to enter a deep meditation state. Andrey knew how to boost a given sense so he could, for example, hear better, see better. It wasn't super-human, it was simply concentration that made it look that way.

The boy sat down and took a break. A few minutes to catch his breath and he tried to concentrate, boosting his hearing. 

...Close your eyes...

...Breathe slowly...

...Breathe deeply...

...I can't see...

...All I can do…

 ...is hear...

Andrey repeated this a couple of times, and the darkness was then filled by sounds. 

“A bird. Further ahead - more birds. Oh… in a lower volume - footsteps - a rabbit? Tallgrass, water flowing. Aha! There must be a river nearby.” 

The boy said as he analyzed his concentrated hearing sense and the sudden joy of training paying off was all over his face. He picked up his things and went in the direction where he heard the river. It wasn't moderately far. About two hundred meters. Still, it was helpful that there wasn't a strong wind blowing. The trees would have made too much noise and tracking anything would have been impossible even for the most skillful master.

He walked against the river's current. Luckily, the waterfall which created that river wasn't too far. 

It was about fifteen meters tall. Underneath it, reflected the light, a small lake. Surrounded by trees and tall plants. This sight was as marvelous as it could be. The colors of different petals had started to fall in the lake, hitting a memory spot in the boy's head. It looked like the ‘Sakura blossoms’ in Japan. The adventurer remembered. 

But he knew this plant. He had read about it. Its petal colors variate, but it was as eternal as it could get. Even if all petals were to fall today, the day after - it would have bloomed again - petals falling yet again. 

“This lake should be covered with petals throughout the whole year.” Andrey smiled and said aloud as he enjoyed the eye-candy.

The waterfall was kind of loud, but still having this crystal-clear lake next to him and being able to always drink from it, was a huge bonus to survive rates. 

He walked some meters in one direction with the waterfall exactly behind him. This way he would just turn around 180 degrees and would always go back to the lake. He left his luggage and broke some branches to try to make a small shelter nearby some large rocks. It took him a few hours and just when the day seemed to be over, the "roof" was ready. 

Actually, Andrey managed to make a small house. It was like an igloo - without the ice. Branches and leaves would be the not so thick walls the boy would take shelter, as behind him the large rocks would be his heater, as it gathered some heat from being scorched by Philius all day long. 

Good thing I have food for today. He thought as he realized that the day after he would have to hunt. 

It just got dark outside. “It's not good to train after filling up your stomach, but this is what I came here for, after all.” He spoke as he weirdly escaped his ‘igloo’ and started thinking of some exercises. 

He trained right in front of his shelter so he wouldn't get lost accidentally and lose it forever. Nights in the forests could easily make a person panic. Andrey didn't want that happening to him, as he did realize he still had a fragile mind. 

After a big amount of jumping jacks, crunches, and whatever else he could think of draining the last bits of his stamina, he went into his branch-house to sleep some. He didn't start up any fire, He didn't want to attract any attention.

Andrey could still hear the waterfall, but it was better from a distance. If he were to sleep right next to the lake, he wouldn't be able to hear if anything or anyone's coming. When you sleep alone in a dangerous place, that's a bad idea. It's not even careless, it's purely stupid.

As a pillow, the youngster used his sack and put his back right next to the big warmed up stones to keep him warm throughout the night. 

I thought I'd be afraid at this moment. I can't believe how relaxed I am. Andrey thought to himself. The winds and animals' noises were making the night scarier, but to his surprise, he didn't pay much attention to it. He really needed some sleep. His eyes were closing on their own. Fear should kick the adrenalin in his blood, but maybe because of the intense exercises, there was no more room for such excitement in those veins. 

And like that, the boy fell asleep. Philius cast a few rays of light throughout the branch-house, but Andrey already in deep sleep couldn't notice as if there was a second light in the sky. But no, it was not in the sky. It was right above him. On top of the very rock that he had his back pressed against...