As I was daydreaming about my past, I heard Reain and Vreia talking about how we should organize our sleeping quarters, if we could even call them that. They consisted of soft snow that we had pushed against a rock in an attempt to make it softer. I wouldn't personally say it was a success after all, we could still feel the hard rock under us as we tried to fall into a coma like sleep, let's not forget that any team could still sneak up on us and try to steal the water in our bottles. We assigned Masov to look over them for the first three hours of the night, then Eisma would take over and watch over them for the next three hours. For the last three hours of the night, Helaena would wake up and make sure they were still guarded. As for I, I volunteered to look after the food, and help search for it, including hunting for it or seeking depending on the needs we have.

For the Skisla hunt, we decided that we would all search for them in a certain order, which had not been decided yet. We would have to find ten Skisla flowers per week, I was certain that there was a twist, there was no way they would want us to find a plant which even the most experienced hunter would have difficulty finding in a month, and each week at that. Plus, they couldn't afford to lose almost half of their aristocrats to a simulation. They would have to make something up that most aristocrat's kids would figure out, but that commoners would have more difficulty understanding.

I already suspected that most of our team members were issued from the commoner's class since most of them didn't hesitate to transform along the way. It didn't change anything from my perspective, I do believe that it will be advantageous for us to have multiple opinions and different beliefs, because there is never only one way to see something.

I will not lie, there will be obstacles placed on their path to ensure their fall, but I will do my upmost to make them succeed so that they can get into Witherlore, whether it be because I want allies upon arriving to Witherlore or to try to help others, we would succeed, and as a bonus, we could piss off those scrawny aristocrats. They may consider me as one of their own, but I certainly don't consider myself as being the same as them. Although I did have some sympathy for some of them, other could disappear from my live and I couldn't care less.

A few years back, when we had just been declared a changing family, we went to greet the king and the whole royal family, I would never forget the stares of the princes and princesses. They looked at us with so much distain, I found out later that we had replaced a family of one of their childhood friends, their youngest child had failed one of the tests in the simulation and to their greatest regret, they had to be changed since there had been to many witnesses for them to pretend it didn't happen. I mean it was good news for us, but to them we were the reason they had lost a playmate, my sister had probably been in one of the other teams as she cleared the tests and was able to get to the Gemsteps and showed an incredible tolerance to the gems. I wondered for years how many steps she had endured before crumbling down in pain, there was no way to know since she had left for Estol.

I did wonder how many steps I would be able to endure, but since there was no way to practice and to obtain even the slightest idea of which gem the Gemsteps were made of, I would have to pass the simulation and to see for myself, ideally in private just in case I proved to be miserable to sustain aura. There were rumors about Witherlore, rumors that some of the corridors had some of the original gems incrusted in them to make sure only the best could access them. The same was said about the floors, some were accessible to everyone, but others had so many gems incrusted in them that almost no one could walk upon them, they were there to ensure that only the best could have access to the classes given in those wings. It was common knowledge that not everyone had access to the same classes. What was less known was that some were being groomed to become the successors of their parents to try to maintain their family's standing.

Whether they were baron's daughters, duke's sons or even prince's sons, they would be expected to learn about things that even the best of commoners could never gain access to. Most of the time, it was easy to guess who came from aristocrats and who came from commoners. Whether it be their clothes or their way of walking there was a clear distinction between them that only accented the depth between the two social classes. It led to bullying and to disappearances, the commoner's children that offended aristocrat's child, whether voluntarily or not, would vanish into thin air as if they never existed, and the parents weren't given any explanation. The aristocrat's child would go unpunished and would probably end up graduating Witherlore and claiming their parent's title.

Those like Eyol and Krul were probably baron's sons or marquis's sons at the highest, those who had a higher level of aura came, at least most of the time, from commoners and had a much nicer personality since they were used to a life of labor and of mutual aid to survive in the villages. In our group, I could guess that most of our group was from the commoner's side, but some like Helaena, Masov, Eisma, Rya and Reain walked in a way that wasn't common on our side, as we had to walk to go everywhere, we had to walk in a way that conserved our energy at the best of it's capacities. We also tried to retain our aura in case we were attacked by Flaims or any other wild animal. On the contrary, the aristocrats walked in a burdensome manner, they tended to let a trail of aura floating behind them as they weren't used to hide it since it was their way of showing their position in the hierarchy. Take Jax for example, when I first met him, I could feel his aura floating around him, it was as if he was wearing an armour the enveloped him while making him keep his power at an arms length. Most people wouldn't even realize the pale purple like steam that was roaming around him, and apparently Masov did to as he nudged him with his elbow to signify him not to show cast his aura, after all, the more powerful the aura the riskier it was going to become for him.

Some said the colors represented the power of its owner, other said the power itself represented its owner, for those it was as if, if someone was worthy of the power, they were going to obtain it because it was their fate. I don't personally believe the second theory, it seems a little far fetched for me, and since it was spread through the church, I have trouble believing it, I would rather believe in what the army was saying and what the facts proved. Especially since the church offers no credible explanation as to why the colors would change depending on the person if it wasn't to represent the power of the individual.

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