"Willpower is the single greatest power of humans, but what is the drive behind it? For many, it''s the need for Power. Admiration. Achievement.”


    A boy interjects. ‘Like getting good grades!”


    Yes! But, in nature, willpower comes from the need to survive. That very need is why we, as humans, have survived. Even before we all gained prana, humans have shown great strength in events of peril. To save ourselves, we''ll break even our own body, down to the last tendon, to survive. I hope many of you haven''t experienced this.”


    Multiple students yell out their “survival” experiences.


    “I have! I had to fight a squirrel!”


    “One time, I had to clean up fast before my mom got home!”


    The teacher lets a giggle out before responding. “So, tell me, class. What motivates your willpower?"


    "Money!"


    "My parents!"


    "Scholarships!"


    “So many answers! Can you all guess what mine is?”


    One of the girls on the front of the class responds. “Ooh! Is it money, miss?”


    The teacher snickers for a bit and responds. “That’s a small part of it, yes. But there’s something more important than that. Keep guessing!”


    The entire class throws out random words until, after three minutes of constant yelling, one of my classmates gets it.


    “Children!”


    The teacher lights up. “Yes! The children! I do this for not only my kids, but every child out there!”


    The answer was obvious, considering we all knew the teacher’s history, but elementary kids aren’t known for thinking deep. I was no exception.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Or rather, I didn’t bother thinking about it at all.


    “You know, Omari, you should speak more. Oh wait, tell me, what drives your willpower?”


    “I…don’t know.”


    Her expression lightens a bit before she puts her hand on my shoulder and lowers her voice. “I want you to think about what makes you, you. And then I want you to think about to gets you up at in the morning.”


    I say something unintentionally sarcastic. “It’s my alarm-“


    “Not like that! Think more so people, feelings, ideas, or anything! Out of those, what gives you the willpower to wake up?”


    ***


    When I come to, a feel a bird poking at my eyebrow. Does it think I’m dead? Well, I thought the same, too.


    Beneath me are a pile of dead Tuskers that probably cushioned my fall. Ironic. Rubble covers the surrounding area, yet somehow, I’m unharmed. Well, relatively unharmed. My entire body is bruised, and the pain in my left leg is on the verge of being crippling. My arms are covered in cuts and bruises as well, while my head is ringing so much, barely allowing me to think.


    Around me, I hear the grunts of the surviving Tuskers wandering about. Though numerous, they’re sluggish and injured from the fall as well.


    My stomach grumbles.


    The Tuskers collectively turn towards me, but they’re all too exhausted to do anything.


    If I had the power, this would be an all you can eat occasion for me. But, I’m just like them: weak and hurt. But there’s no time to waste, so I lift myself up despite the ensuing agony. A few Tuskers view this, yet they continue doing nothing. Once I find my footing, the pain in my left leg almost makes me collapse back to the ground, yet I remain upright.


    There are three things necessary for survival: food, water, and shelter, yet I find myself lacking all of these. Well, with the many Tusker corpses around, I''d be good on food.


    However, water and shelter are a must. With this in mind, I limp out of the wreckage deeper into the forested areas. I''ve always had pride in my sense of direction, but it would be foolish to entirely rely on this. I use my replenishing prana to mark trees as I go into the forest. The bark feels especially rough, and so I input more prana to make on a mark. Simply walking through the forest would be simple enough, but the terrain constantly shifts between hills and flatlands. The threats of spiders still exists as well, so I have to keep my eyes out for them. This forest is perfect for them as well. It''s dominated by conifer trees that riddle the ground with their leaves, wide oak trees that obscure the sun and any animals, and massive trees with trunks the height of a high-rise apartment. Finding water here would be like trying to find a needle in a giant greenery filled haystack.


    There''s also the ongoing threat of the miasma, although air exposure is teetering on the edge of being bearable. It singes my skin a bit and my breathing feels like I''m taking a slow jog despite only walking. There''s also the matter of visibility, as this entire forest has a foggy, purple hue. Regardless, if I circulate my prana, it''s teetering on the edge of being bearable for someone like me.


    I will eventually run out of prana, though.


    "It can''t get much worse, can it?!"


    No one responds.