"So popsicle, you seem exceptionally knowledgeable. How is that so? You’re just very well read?"

  Icey shifted nervously on Shiver’s shoulder. They had left the medical bay behind and walked the sweeping halls of the academy. The courtyard they walked through lay behind huge white pillars and sported a large open space that would have allowed budding Fearshapers plenty of room to socialise and lounge.

  "This Academy seems… familiar to me for some reason… and I have an instinctual understanding of Fearshaping. Knowledge of Anhedonia comes to me easily… even as the stages beyond are clouded."

  "I certainly don’t share your familiarity for this academy, little ice cube. But perhaps, more of your memories will return to you the further Shiver delves into her Fear. As you must know, the further-"

  "The further our Fearshapers delve into the depths of their Fears, the more of ourselves we will recover and embody! That’s right Quietus!"

  "That is “Lord” Quietus to you girl! And gravecities below, how many times will you interrupt me!"

  "S-sorry!"

  Where did you begin in your exploration of a lost academy?

  Pevir had declared its library to be first place to visit. Now, they wandered in search of it. Caledon watched as Vale’s eyes lingered on a small, golden “sun” that hung above the courtyard, bathing it in gentle golden light. It was like a miniature version of the vast orbs of silver that hung over Anhedonia.

  "Is something on your mind, Vale?"

  Caledon fell in step with her. She had been quietly trailing behind Shiver and Icey.

  "How did your nightmare feel to you, Caledon? I dreaded the thought of reliving my past."

  Caledon hesitated as he thought back to his nightmare.

  "It just felt… like an ordinary day with my family. Nothing really happened in my nightmare."

  "Strange… Perhaps the intensity of our nightmares vary."

  Vale shot Caledon a forced smile which failed to reach her eyes.

  "Forgive me… but I’ve been curious. Do you have a Fear of fire, like your father?"

  Vale gestured to Shiver, and the daggers that she idly twirled in her hands, dismissing and recalling them with practiced ease. Their blades of ice flashed in the warm golden light that reached them from beyond the vast white pillars that lined the boundary of the courtyard.

  "As you can see… our Fears are pretty self-evident."

  Vale’s Phobia manifested in her hand, a scepter formed of arched bone in the shape of a forearm.

  "A Fear of fire is Brimstone’s signature. But something that the Matchmaker told me was strange… I think there’s something more to my Fear…"

  "Oh? Is that so?"

  "I’ve always thought I’ve had a Fear of the hearth, of comfort."

  Caledon caught himself as he realised that he had been unusually forthcoming with the girl. It was unsurprising perhaps, that Vale in comparison to Shiver, put him at ease. She was a welcome reprieve, a touch of normalcy in this academy of Fear…

  If you were to overlook the nature of her lineage, and her status as a daughter of the Deathbringer, that was.

  Vale winced as she recalled the dapper spider that had bonded them to their guides, and the regal crypt he had placed her within, the towering graves that surrounded her that had been carved with such care to put Soulhaven’s crypts to shame.

  "But… a Fear of comfort? How would it be possible to trigger such a Fear?"

  Caledon grimaced. He’d certainly given it plenty of thought over the years. Trying desperately to decipher to shape of his Fear.

  "That’s just it, I’m not very sure. I can’t even really recall the precise day my Fear awakened. As for the symptoms…"

  Vale shook her head lightly, as if reassuring him that he needn’t continue if he didn’t see fit. He appreciated the small gesture of kindness.

  "It twists my experience of reality. When I am most at ease, my Fear rears its ugly head to reveal that what I had experienced had been a lie."

  Vale’s eyes widened.

  "I’m so sorry, Caledon. That sounds dreadful."

  He let out a small laugh.

  "I try to make a game of it. Trying to pick out when my Fear is tricking me. Though it can get tiring sometimes."

  Vale smiled, and he felt his heart flutter for a brief second.

  What is this academy doing to my head.

  "Perhaps we’ll find something in this place that will shed some light on it. What good would an academy of Fearshaping be if it didn’t!"

  Caledon smiled, nodding in agreement. This place could hold the answers to his Fear. His first “nightmare” certainly hadn’t granted him any new insights. Caledon hesitated as he glanced ahead at Shiver.

  "Do you think… Shiver’s comfortable with me tagging along?"

  Vale smiled, but Caledon saw straight through her meagre attempt at reassurance. Then she relented, and her lips broke into a grimace, a shapely eyebrow twitching.

  "To be honest, I still think she has half a mind to put a dagger into you. Yet despite how she acts… she knows that you aren’t responsible for your father’s actions. That’s probably the only reason you’re still alive and kicking. You truly had no idea? About…"

  "None. My father didn't tell me a great deal about the… execution of those people."

  "Marta, Pov and Blaze."

  Caledon’s eyes widened as Vale’s gaze hardened.

  "Those were the names of Shiver’s… family. Take care that you remember them."

  "I’m sorry."

  They walked onwards, tension radiating in the air between them. Vale hesitated, then let out an audible sigh. She raised her hand to lightly touch Caledon’s forearm, stopping him in his tracks and lowering her voice.

  "Shiver intends to avenge them. To kill your father, you do know that?"

  Caledon flexed his hand across his new torch, the Phobia that had manifested when he awakened as a Fearshaper. Some Fearshaper he was – he barely knew the true nature of his Fear, let alone what use it would be.

  "My father was a kind man. A just leader. He didn’t turn a blind eye to the misfortune of those “below” him, in the lower circles. The man that you describe… he is not the man that I know. The more that I learn, the less that I feel I understand."

  Caledon met Vale’s eyes.

  "Triol… Your brother. He mentioned that Brimstone was an ally of House Revenant."

  Vale met his gaze, her confusion on full display. Caledon just shook his head.

  "It went against everything I understood. We were raised being told that our House exterminated the Revenants for their role in the Rampage of Undeath. For slaughtering countless elves in a wave of undead that enveloped the land. Ahem… I mean no offense, of course. For your brother to call our house an ally?"

  Caledon looked to his feet, his hands tight around his torch.

  "He even showed me a dagger made by my master, Sakar. Perhaps my father was not the man that I knew after all. The least I can do is promise that… if I discover that my father truly killed them without reason-"

  Caledon met her gaze unflinchingly.

  "-then perhaps I will be there right alongside her when she confronts him."

  Vale silently returned a curt nod, mollified by his response, it seemed. Caledon let out a sigh, the tension melting from his shoulders. It was a welcome reprieve, expressing the doubts that churned at the depths of his mind.

  The prospect of his father… betraying the Brimstone ideals – no, betraying him… it was a possibility that he feared to confront.

  As Caledon’s gaze rose, he realised that Shiver had been looking at him. He cursed himself, realising that she had likely caught wind of their conversation. Unlike the guardian’s eyes, which were empty and devoid of life, Shiver’s were anything but. They gleamed a bright cerulean bordering on white in the shimmering golden light of the academy as she fixed him with her gaze. Shiver mercifully returned it to the central courtyard before them.

  Dust particles lingered in the air, brought to their attention by the soft golden glow as they strode into the courtyard. They gave the place a liminal and otherworldly feel. Shiver ran her hands through the leaves of a tree before her. They were a pale blue, that glowed as they swayed in the gentle cold wind, similarly cold to the touch.

  Caledon spoke his thoughts unbidden.

  "She’s quite something alright."

  Vale smirked.

  "My word don’t get me started. When I first met her…"

  Vale shook her head with a soft laugh.

  "Remind me to tell you about the crabs."

  ---

  Vale stared up at the dome overhead. While from the outside, it appeared to be a solid white, it revealed a sky of stars from within, giving the illusion that they were walking under the night sky. She sensed a distinct theme that pervaded the academy’s architecture.

  "Let’s go."

  Shiver waved them over, breaking her out of her reverie. Strangely, the guardian that they had encountered outside of the academy was nowhere to be seen. Neither were there any other guardians. The academy was deserted of all evidence of life, or otherwise.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  They started towards a massive staircase that led deeper into the academy. Vale frowned as she spotted a strange device next to the staircase.

  "Wait a minute… I recognise this. Shiver, wasn’t this that lift contraption? That recent Brimstone innovation?"

  "Excellent observation Vale. This further confirms it."

  Pevir, who was leading the group in their journey turned around abruptly at the top of the staircase to face them. They halted, waiting for the stout archaeologist to continue. He cleared his throat and clasped his bucket hat to his head.

  "As you know, I’ve regained my memories since that dastardly incident with the nightviper, ahem."

  He glanced self-consciously at the group before him, wiping sweat from the exertion of exploring the academy from his forehead.

  "One might imagine that this Archcity and this academy are centuries old, which may very well be the truth. But I have reason to believe… it was only recently abandoned. It sports technology developed only in recent times. The pulley systems and machinery that emerged in Brimstone for example? They were integrated into other buildings within the Archcity."

  Shiver, who had been attempting to put Icey in her mouth gave her a bit of reprieve to reply.

  "Wouldn’t everyone and their grandmother be searching for an Archcity like this if it was common knowledge?"

  "That’s just it Shiver, I’ve never come across any records of this Archcity or academy. And I noticed something strange."

  Pevir adjusted his bucket cap, and the tenor of his voice changed, as if to invite their curiosity.

  "When I first arrived in the Archcity, I came across the most curious phenomenon. There were omissions in the texts that I read. Blank spaces that appeared on the pages, interspersed between paragraphs. Something that I realised only after I was freed from the nightviper’s influence, was that I slowly started to perceive words that I had not previously."

  They hung onto every one of his words, the mark of an experienced storyteller.

  "When I first attempted to read and decipher the text when it was first revealed to me, I would be struck with the most intense headaches. Blurry vision."

  "Something was influencing my perception."

  Pevir’s voice fell to a whisper, and the group leaned in closer to the stout archaeologist.

  "After spending weeks in the Archcity however, eventually, the words revealed themselves to me. There were a few common themes. Texts discussing Anhedonia, the Archcity of Fear, or on the subject of Fearshaping. Many of them referred to it as the youngest Archcity, which was a mystery in and of itself. But no matter-"

  Pevir shook his head, adjusting his glasses. The flash they caused momentarily blinded his audience. As they reeled from it, Pevir interpreted it to be a natural reaction to his brilliance, treating them to a sympathetic smile.

  "I suspect that something was disrupting my ability to perceive those words. Something capable of deciphering meaning… and censoring it. A tremendous feat and undeniably concerning if true. I must further explore this phenomenon."

  Icey excitedly rushed before them, circling them.

  "When we first met, you believed Fearshaping was limited to the nobility, didn’t you? Perhaps this could be related to Pevir’s experience!"

  Pevir interjected.

  "Hardly Icey! The fact that Fearshaping is the domain of the nobility has been long established. Why… why… That’s just common knowledge!"

  "Then how is it that Shiver awakened as a Fearshaper?"

  Vale smirked.

  "Perhaps she was of noble birth all along. Hey, Shiver… what are you, ahh get away from me!"

  Shiver made to chase after Vale, but quickly relented. She stuck her tongue out at her.

  "Fearshaping is the right of all elves that have triggered a Fear. I find it fascinating that the prevailing view on the matter has changed so drastically. There seems to be a collective shift in understanding."

  "Fearshaping… available to everyone? If such a view took root, there would be rioting in the streets! The nobility derive their legitimacy from their power, after all."

  Pevir exclaimed, waving his hands animatedly. Then he halted, as if suddenly comprehending the implications. How much sense it made, for the nobility to perpetuate a lie. To consolidate their power, by treating Fearshaping as a power eligible only to the worthy.

  "An Archcity, erased from memory. Lies surrounding the true nature of Fearshaping and the censoring of texts discussing it. Whatever it is, we have more questions than answers. Perhaps this academy holds some of them."

  Their anticipation grew as they ascended the stairs, arriving at a corridor cloaked in darkness. There was something eerie about the silence here. The cold wind that blew in the courtyard didn’t reach these halls. They tensed, but nothing emerged from the darkness before them.

  Shiver motioned to the others to follow her.

  Reaching the first door, Shiver could feel her heartbeat heighten at the anticipation.

  Pushing it open, her eyes narrowed.

  The room and its walls were cloaked in pinpricks of light. The theme of the night sky continued. They walked onto a black, reflective floor that refracted the light in ways that strained her perception.

  In the middle of the room were a number of… pods.

  "Are these… the living quarters?"

  Vale looked curiously at the pods. The interior of the pods were cushioned in dark red material. They were unlike any forging of metal that the girl had ever glimpsed. Caledon seemed to be of the same mind, as he ran his fingers gently over the surface of one of the pods in awe.

  "How str- wait, Shiver, Shiver! Get out of there, we don’t know what they’re for!"

  Shiver had promptly hopped straight into one.

  A calm, feminine voice rang out throughout the chamber.

  Fearshaper detected. Reserves at maximum capacity. Initiate nightmare induction?

  "Ooooh."

  "Shiver! Get out of there this instant you crazy orphan."

  "Begin the nightmare induction please."

  Acknowledged. Prepare for nightmare induction.

  Vale internally and externally screamed as she watched the familiar black liquid erupt from the clear black floor to flood into crevices in Shiver’s pod.

  Caledon admired the craftsmanship of the pod and swept his gaze over the others in the room. The skill of the smiths and craftsman that crafted this was truly unparalleled. And to make so many of them.

  "Nightmare induction... Perhaps this machine allows budding Fearshapers to access their nightmares whenever they wish. In Anhedonia, they’re only accessible after periods of time. That changes, the deeper into your Fear you descend."

  These pods seemed to give them the flexibility to enter whenever they wanted. That meant being able to descend through Anhedonia with no limitation.

  Caledon began to stride towards another pod.

  "Caledon! You too? Has everyone taken leave of their senses?"

  "Vale."

  Shiver’s voice echoed from her pod, but it lacked any of her previous mirth. A lattice of black liquid was beginning to form over her pod, locking her in.

  "Remember why we came here."

  Vale let out a long sigh. She wanted anything but to revisit the nightmare again, or to catch another glimpse of her wretched father. Or the tragedies that she would inevitably revisit. She stared at another empty pod.

  But shook her head, glaring at Shiver. If the girl thought she would be able to continue intimidating her into submission with harsh words, she was wrong.

  "Before we go leaping back into the nightmare, we need to get a lay of the land. Find food, water. Ensure we’re safe. Let’s at least find the dormitories. Icey has to stake out the entrance. While we go to dreamland, you’re prepared to leave Pevir high and dry? I thought better of you. You’re lot of things but you’re not selfish, Shiver."

  Shiver watched her calmly. All of them, excellent reasons. Yet Vale knew, that Shiver saw right through her.

  She knows I’m afraid to enter my nightmare.

  "Alright, you have a point this time. Smarty princess."

  She stuck out her tongue at Vale and leapt out of the pod. The liquid that had just begun accruing, abruptly fell back to the floor, receding. The voice echoed again.

  Nightmare induction aborted. Please ensure you remain firmly within the pod for the duration of the startup sequence.

  With great difficulty, they extracted themselves from the pod room and made for the next room.

  Yet another room filled with pods.

  "Just… how many of these are there?"

  As they emerged, they saw rows, upon rows of pod rooms that lined the floor.

  And the floors below them.

  Then, Caledon’s eyes caught onto a sign.

  ---

  "Avalkin’s beard."

  Pevir marvelled at the rooms in the floor above. They were the polar opposite of the uniform pod rooms of the same make that lined the floors below.

  The room in which they stood, was full of life. They were surrounded by every form of plant life imaginable. Soft moss covered the ground and rocks underfoot, with a small stream running through the length of the room.

  Then Caledon entered the room beside them, which differed in every single aspect. This one had been cast from flame, with a waterfall of lava emerging from the far wall. The heat that it emitted even from where Caledon stood at its entrance was significant.

  They continued, endlessly. The next room was encapsulated in a never-ending void of darkness. Not even a glimpse of light was visible, and the light from the exterior failed to penetrate its surface.

  Vale heard Shiver call out to her from further down the hallway.

  "Hey princess there are crabs in here!"

  She fixed her eyes on the label that Caledon had encountered, that had sparked intrigue from its very nature. The implication that it held, hinting towards its purpose.

  Rooms of descension (Anhedonia).

  Caledon hummed as he investigated the room with Pevir.

  "All of these rooms seem to encapsulate a different type of object. Different Fears, perhaps."

  "Good thinking boy! The sheer expense involved with preparing each of these rooms to accommodate a different type of Fear..."

  They watched in unison as Shiver expertly navigated around the crabs, picking a small whitecrab up to inspect it.

  "What purpose do you think they hold? Perhaps a way for Fearshapers to descend further into their Fears?"

  Caledon pondered Pevir’s question. Forget the expense… how was such a thing possible? How were there living crabs in the middle of an abandoned Archcity? Surely there wasn’t someone around to feed them?

  Then his mind returned to Icey’s words in the temple in which they had awakened. What had she said the second component of their descent through Anhedonia was?

  Embracement.

  "Icey… do these rooms have to do with the second step of Anhedonia? Embracing our Fear"

  "They are!"

  Icey circled him expectantly, challenging him to decipher their purpose. Caledon fell deep into thought, muttering. Then it came together as the insight reached him. The sheer range of rooms that vastly differed in their nature. All lined, up at the convenience-

  "That’s it! For newly awakened Fearshapers… Perhaps it was a way to make the objects of their Fear, accessible."

  "What do you mean?"

  Caledon shook his head, trying to piece together his hypothesis.

  "Not everyone has a Fear as straightforward as flame or ice. The object of those Fears are easily accessible. That might not be the case for all of them."

  The same could not be said about his own Fear, unfortunately. Especially of late.

  Perhaps since they had been constantly on edge, running from one threat to the next, his hallucinations hadn’t been triggered. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that being around Shiver kept him constantly at risk of death.

  "A wonderful explanation! ‘These rooms do make embracement more accessible! Though… they do also serve one another purpose. I’ll keep it a secret, hehehe. Let’s see if you can figure it out!"

  The ice cube circled before him, giggling in glee. Pevir spoke up, as he pulled his head from yet another descension room.

  "Perhaps all of you should find your respective room… if it exists. For when you finish your acknowledgement."

  "Ahem, great suggestion Pevir. Perhaps we will later. Let us continue onwards, we do need to find the dormitories, assuming this so called “academy” has some."

  Vale deftly guided the group onwards to the next flight of stairs leading upwards.

  Before long, they came before a grand gate cast in gold. Peering between its bars, all they could see beyond it was darkness. Vale flinched as she walked towards it, as a translucent glowing ward revealed itself, surrounding the exterior of the gate.

  Vale hesitantly placed her palm on the glowing ward. It stung slightly with the buzz of energy as it came into contact with her skin. The ward appeared to bar her from accessing the enticing corridor shrouded in shadow.

  There was a sign on the wall next to the gate, with a single phrase.

  Tempting them, with its mysteries, and everything that it stood for.

  Floors of Trepidation.