Seizou

When the sun rose on their seventeenth year, Seizou took their new recon headset into the wilder parts of The Heart of the Forest, convinced they could chart every secret path. The forest, however, had its own ideas. The headset soon filled with static and the digital map vanished, leaving them utterly lost. For three days, their optimistic grin was tested by hunger and silence. They survived not with their gear, but with the bamboo they carried, remembering the old lessons of their elders—how to shape a shelter, find water, and move like a shadow. They returned with a different kind of knowledge. The specs and headset are still worn, but now they listen to the forest first and their devices second.