Another hour passed and the first day of the field assessment began to wind down. Everyone was surprised to see a campsite inside of the stargate, complete with tents for each individual and even a few spots for fires away from the tents.

  Around fifty meters outside of the camp in all directions stood a celestinite wall and gate, similar to the ones that were at the perimeter of each ring of Foruta. This fence lacked the titanic proportions of those ones, so it made the campsite look like the base of a cult as opposed to the other walls that gave off the impression of the secret entrance to a supervillain's grand lair.

  For the hour in between the fight with the roach, Arden had been in a slight daze.

  Kepler had yet to fully synthesize an antidote to the enhanced poneratoxin that Arden had been splashed with. After profusely apologizing to the point where she had tears in her eyes, Kepler gave him something that would lessen the pain until the morning when she would have her medicine ready.

  “Its a numbing agent,” Kepler had said. “You won't feel as much pain, but you also won't feel your arms for most of the night either.”

  Arden jumped at the opportunity to lessen his pain. He didn't expect the celestinoponeratoxin to hurt him worse than his numerous times he was on fire.

  Arden had this thought along the way, but it was almost all he could think of as he stared into the campfire set by Sya’s ember Satellite. His entire team was sitting in front of the fire.

  “H-how are your arms?” Kepler asked sheepishly.

  “Not great, I'll be honest.”

  She turned downcast and looked into the fire as well.

  “I'm sorry…”

  Arden sighed and looked at her.

  “Hey, you did your job. You killed your first Celestial. No one is expected to be perfect on their first try.”

  “He's right,” Vera said. “Mistakes are easily made at the start. So long as you learn from them, it's alright.”

  Kepler looked between her party, uncertain. She felt that they were just trying to soften the blow.

  “Have any of you accidentally injured a teammate?” She asked, expecting silence to be the answer she received.

  “Yes,” Arden said. “I almost got Vera killed because I was arrogant.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup. It was not my proudest moment. Actually, it was pretty damn awful.”

  “Worse than super venom?” Sya asked with a teasing smile.

  Arden merely smiled dangerously at his sister.

  “Gonna do something?” She egged on.

  “No,” he said. “There'll be plenty of time for beating on you when I'm capable of making a fist again.”

  Arden’s right hand twitched several times as he tried to force it to move. Having shown off his inability to use his hands, he continued talking with Kepler.

  “The point is, no one is going to hate you if things go tits up. Or at least we won't. If Vera and Sya were like that, they would have left me bleeding in the streets with a fire poker lodged in my forehead. Trust me when I say that the shit that's happened around me makes what happened against the roach look like nothing.”

  Arden shuddered for a moment, recalling his time with the grand hissing roach. Goosebumps appeared on his arms.

  “Goddamn it, why can I still feel the bastard?”

  Sya ignored her brother and looked to Vera who was looking at Arden with an expression that told everyone that he was hers. Not in the taken and in a relationship way, but the predator-prey way.

  “So are we just supposed to do nothing for the night?” Sya asked, trying not to be weirded out.

  “That’s for plebs,” Arden said. “Use my hand for a minute. I need to grab something from my inventory to improve the night. I don’t want to drop them.”

  Sya did as Arden instructed her to do. She held his hands out in front of him, palms facing the roof of the cavern. Several cuts of raw venison appeared in his hands, each perfectly marbled and perfectly butchered, courtesy of the Forge of the Imaginarium.

  “Do any of you have spits or some other equivalent of such?” Arden asked.

  “That’s a negative for me,” Sya shook her head. “I’m not using my Satellites to roast meat. They’re not mundane swords.”

  “You used mundane swords for that?” Vera asked, disappointment evident in her voice.

  “During the cascade, yeah. It was either that or eating raw lizard.”

  “And you couldn't have used anything that wasn't similar to a giant kebab to roast lizards?”

  “When you're surrounded on all sides by Celestials and sociopaths, you have to make do with what you have. Yes, I'm aware that using a sword mitigated my defensive opportunities, before you say anything.”

  Vera shook her head before answering Arden’s precious question.

  “No, I don't have anything.”

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  “Guess I'll have to do it manually,” Arden said, summoning his Stoneflesh Shroud. When it covered his arms he again looked to Sya. “Hold my arms over the fire. I actually have some fire resistance now, so I should be able to roast this venison without difficulty.”

  *****

  Lodi looked over the campsite and every team doing their own respective activities.

  The groups of unknown Starborn were making idle small talk, trying to figure out what would happen next, and trying to break the ice. Volis’ team was gushing about their leader in hopes to get into his good graces, not knowing that sycophants were among his least liked people. Kralis’ team were all silently staring into the fire. The assassin-esque broody anti-hero stared into the fire to look cool, Kralis was trying to find ways to stick out, and the mage gazed at the embers with an unreadable expression.

  As Lodi walked through the camp, she came across the party with the most personality. The instinct of every person who was suddenly granted superpowers would be to abuse it, but this group was abusing their connection to the Status in a most unusual way.

  Two swords, one with yellow details and another with red details were driven into the dirt with their hilts facing the ceiling. On the upturned guards rested the arms of the only male in the party holding large cuts of meat over the fire.

  “Make sure you guys turn my arms when I say,” Arden said to his companions. “We want an even cook on each side.”

  Lodi sighed when she saw them.

  “You are aware that Starborn don't have to eat, aren't you?” She asked the group.

  “Naturally,” Arden said back. “We don't have to sleep either, but we can't just forget about where we came from. Eating is human, and personally, I'd like to show off my humanity as much as possible.”

  Arden twitched his shoulder, the only part of his arm that he could control, gesturing to the meat.

  “Want some?”

  Lodi said nothing and sat down next to Kepler and Vera. Kepler made sure not to look in the instructor’s direction and instead focused all her attention onto the sizzling strips of meat that wafted a mouth-watering aroma.

  “I've never done this before, but if feels right, you know?” Arden said.

  Lodi glanced at his arms currently being roasted by the flames. Despite the sight, Arden seemed completely fine. She then looked at the sword supporting his arms.

  “Most people would use the swords as a spit,” she said.

  “That's disrespectful to all swords,” Vera said. “Swords are meant to hunt with, not cook with.”

  Doing her best to ignore Lodi, Kepler popped a question regarding the meat.

  “Should I season it?”

  “...With what?” Sya asked hesitantly.

  “I've heard of the inherent poison present in animals being used to enhance the flavor if prepared properly.”

  “Probably best not to season with poisons until we're orange-tier,” Vera advised. "We're still pretty much mundane.”

  “And yet one of you is slow roasting meat by holding their arms over a fire,” Lodi called out.

  “It's fine,” Arden said. “My armor has some fire resistance.”

  “Most recently awoken people wouldn't do that, even if they were equipped for it. Pain, or at least the fear of pain is deeply rooted in the mundane psyche.”

  Arden chuckled.

  “I think you'll find that there is no one more accustomed to pain than I.”

  “Wow,” Vera said. “I don't think I've ever heard anyone that edgy in my life.”

  “You haven't heard yourself while drunk,” Arden shot back. “Do you still think we should be called the Black Edge?”

  “Ooh,” Kepler said. “I like it.”

  “No you don't," Sya said.

  “Oh.”

  “You are without a doubt the strangest group I have ever proctored,” Lodi said. “Though it takes a special kind of strange to disembowel themselves during an interview.”

  “I don't do that anymore,” Arden said. “Now the only times I actively engage in self-harm are when I really need to kill a Celestial, or when cooking one.”

  “W-what did you do during the interview?” Kepler asked.

  “It's not important.”

  “Bullshit,” Lodi said. “You're the reason I'm here. You were so weird, so confident in yourself, that I was sure you would screw up on the grand stage.”

  She let loose an irritated sigh.

  “But so far, your group has done the most things right.”

  “R-really?” Kepler asked. “Even though I had to bring everyone to help me with the roach?”

  “I told you before,” Lodi said. “My exams aren't about just killing Celestials. If it was, any hack with a sharp stick and a messiah complex would pass. I’m looking for real Starborn, or those who can become them. Those are who I allow to pass.”

  “Flip the meat,” Arden said, to which Lodi complied.

  “And so far, that means you guys and a few others,” Lodi continued.

  “Volis?” Arden ventured.

  “I’m not telling you. That would be favoritism.”

  “And this isn't?"

  “When have I ever shown to be favorable towards you?”

  “Touche.”

  “But truth be told, it's not really the what that matters,” she said. “It's the why. I want to know why you've done what you've done.”

  “I’m pretty sure I told you back at the interview.”

  “Not that semantic bullshit,” Lodi scoffed. “You and I both know that that wasn't the truth. Or at least not the whole truth.”

  “You didn't come out of retirement just to humble me by failing me, did you?” Arden asked. “I’m pretty petty, but even that seems extravagant.”

  “I won't fail anyone until the end. My opinion of you guys, especially you, have improved since the interview, but you aren't there yet.”

  Lodi reached into the fire and grabbed her meal from Arden’s hand. The fire didn't affect her at all. With her cooked food in hand, she stood up.

  “Can you tell us what we need to do to beat there, then?” Arden asked.

  “I told you already,” she said, turning around and taking a bite out of the venison. “Be a Starborn.”

  With that, she walked away from the party.

  “She stole my meat…” Arden bemoaned.

  “That better be the only time that happens,” Vera said.

  “Oh my god,” Sya said. “Just pass the food. No one wants to hear your sexually charged banter.”

  “Well actually," Kepler began.

  “Don't.”

  *****

  Arden couldn't sleep. He thought he was past his days of insomnia, just like he thought any time the bouts ended after a few days.

  Sometimes he wished the only things that kept him awake were the old things. The things he didn't have to worry about anymore. Things like his worry regarding his terminally ill sister or lack of food. Both of those had disappeared as of late only to be replaced with different things that kept him up at night.

  The Archons. The Sovereigns. How were they connected? His trial. The faces of everyone he had inadvertently doomed in his quest for survival. Who was the Vera in that world?

  Normally, Vera was by his side at night, and her presence and gentle cooing was enough to drive away his fears. But tonight, presumably like the rest of the nights of the trial, they were in separate tents.

  Arden himself knew how hellish his inner world was. To be alone with his thoughts and fears was almost as horrific as his fears themselves.

  Not wanting to think about them, he thought about Lodi's words instead.

  “A real Starborn…” he whispered to himself.

  What was a real Starborn?

  ‘It's not just about power. Lodi said that plenty of times. Power is great, but it's more about willingness to put yourself in harm's way to protect those who can't protect themselves. Someone who helps others without asking for anything in return.’

  “That's cheesy,” he whispered to himself.

  He thought of who best embodied what he thought of Starborn, and naturally Vera sprang to mind. She was capable, strong, reasonable, and willing to help others who she had no reason to.

  ‘It can't just be a self-sacrificing nature. The only difference between that and killing yourself is how many people you save along the way.’

  As Arden had the thought, a realization came to him.

  ‘Is it survival?’

  As he thought about it, the more sense it made. Vera helped him and Sya survive, but more than that, she taught them as well. Maybe being a Starborn was less about helping people and more about preventing any more loss.

  ‘Maybe I just need to do that. Just like Vera.’

  As Arden thought about Vera, from her calm demeanor, to her comforting presence, to the way she made Arden feel, he drifted off to sleep.