How is it that creatures which seem to have sub-human intelligence and an animal ferocity when in a dungeon, once freed into local reality by a rupture or merge, become capable of intelligent speech, reasoning, and even peaceful integration to society? No one is entirely sure, but those members of the dungeon races who were present when they arrived on Earth speak of memories of lives lived on different worlds which were assuredly not dungeons.
I hypothesize, admittedly without iron-clad evidence, that the creatures existing a dungeon – and indeed, perhaps the dungeon itself – are merely ‘shadows’ of other worlds, temporarily projected somehow into ours. Continuing this line of reasoning, is it not possible that the creatures released into the wild by a rupture are not, in fact, the actual monsters of the dungeon? Instead, they may be the ‘shadow casters’, the real inhabitants of the other world ephemerally linked to by the dungeon.
- Rufus Veres, Level 29 Prolix Historian,
We walked behind the group of recruits past the administration building and along a dirt path that led us towards one of the valley walls. As we got closer I saw that a section of the slope had been carved out and turned into some kind of arena. There were rows of stone bench seating shaped from the hillside, and at the base, a smooth, circular stone ring probably a hundred feet across.
The rich kids had already taken up the first couple rows of seats and we were forced to climb past them to sit further back. As we sat down, I saw the Head Instructor emerge from a rear door and walk out onto the stone platform. She clapped her hands once, hard, and the murmur of conversation around us died down.
“Welcome to the Academy, recruits and trainees. I am Head Instructor Thompson. Everyone already knows why you’re here, so I’ll try to be brief, though we need to cover quite a bit regardless. First of all, let me take care of a little administrative business.”
She turned and glared at the two mounted riders, who had stopped their giant cats about a dozen yards off to the side of the arena.
“You two, fuck off. No bodyguards are permitted on campus, and I know you’ve already been informed of this. You can stay in the town or prance back to the city, I don’t care.”
“We guard. No leave,” one of the men grunted back in barely recognizable American.
I Thompson’s mood go from mildly annoyed to righteously angry in an instant. There was an immediate sense of pressure – just like what I’d experienced in the Tier 2 zone.
The crowd, which had started to chatter at Thompson’s initial direction to the guards, went abruptly silent. Leon and Zenia, trailed by the woman in the shimmering scale armor, moved to stand closer to Thompson in a clearly threatening posture. I held my breath.
In front of us, a boy started to stand from among the rich kids. All I could see from behind was that he had long, thick black hair and his leather armor was ornately tooled with what looked like gold.
“Miss Thompson, if I may speak to my men – “
“SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!” she barked without a glance back, and I winced at the sheer volume of her shout. The shocked boy practically fell back onto the bench, but no one laughed.
“Now, Mister Alianze, don’t play the savage with me. I know exactly who you are, and you know very well the moment you passed through the gate you came under authority. You are not permitted to be here, so I don’t have to play nice with you. You will leave, or you will die. If you’re lucky, we might even revive you afterwards. Make your choice.”
The bodyguard who’d spoken earlier stiffened and both mounts tensed. Deep rumbling growls vibrated out from their throats and their bodies lowered slightly. The man spoke again, this time perfectly understandable.
“You wish to challenge the Kalmár family?!” he roared. “Touch us, and there will be consequences!”
Thompson’s voice dropped to a near-whisper and I strained to hear her response.
“Yes,” she said with a chill smile, “there . Did you know I’ve received a message from the Guildmaster regarding your arrival? He ordered me to do as I saw fit with the pair of you, and stated that he would deal with any retaliation. Do you need me to spell out for you what that means?”
The man Alianze and his partner rocked back as if struck and looked at each other in obvious surprise, clearly communicating over their Comms. Alianze snarled wordlessly, then the pair of them wheeled their mounts and the beasts exploded into motion, disappearing past the building in a moment. Leon followed shortly, obviously going to make sure they’d left.
I felt the pressure slowly ease as Thompson turned back towards the assembled group.
“I hope it’s now clear to the lot of you that this is the . I don’t care who your parents are or how much – or how little – they paid for you to be here. We do things exactly one way here – my way. Don’t like it? Walk out the gate. Defy me, and we’ll toss you out of the gate if you’re lucky, or off the wall if I’m in a bad mood.
“You will address me as Head Instructor or Head Instructor Thompson, or, when you’re fortunate enough to have me teach one of your classes personally, as ma’am. Now, back to the program. We have three tracks of instruction here at DGA, basic, standard, and advanced. As of right now, almost all of you are in the standard track.
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“We will evaluate you over the next couple of days and make adjustments as needed. The basic track is for those that need extra help. If you’re a recruit, staying in the basic track for more than two months will get you expelled from the program and the Guild – for your own good. We don’t send kids into dungeons to die.
“If you’re good enough – and determined enough – to be the best, you’ll be moved up to the advanced track. As of right now, we have one partial Squad on the advanced track, and they’re looking for a couple more team members. Recruit Azure and Squad, stand up!”
I rose to my feet shakily as everyone in the audience turned as one to look where Thompson had pointed. Chatter erupted among the students.
“What?” “Who are they?” “Fucking ”
“Quiet!” barked Thompson, and everyone turned back to look at her. I sat down quickly, heart racing.
“Azure and her Squad have been assessed to my satisfaction. You will each have the chance to join them in the advanced track. Of course, if you fall behind, you can be dropped back into the standard track at any time. Those of you that manage to stay in the advanced track will be the first to get into the dungeon and will have an extra opportunity to clear it before the semester break.
“Now, in a few minutes I’ll dismiss you for a tour of the grounds and to get your rooms picked out. But there’s one more piece of serious business first. You may have noticed that we’re out in the middle of nowhere. Monster attacks on the Academy happen every year. We maintain a twenty-four hour watch and have four different scenarios, each with a different alarm.”
She paused and raised one arm. A moment later, a loud siren echoed through the valley, sounding very similar to the monster warning back in Sunland. Three blasts, pause, three blasts, pause, three blasts, pause. She lowered her arm and the sound stopped. I suspected it was coming from the tall tower in the center of the school.
“This alarm signals an attack by Tier 0 monsters. If you hear it, you are to stop whatever you’re doing and fight in defense of the Academy. You’ll receive more detailed instructions later telling you where to go and so on. In a Tier 0 attack, are the Academy's primary defense. Your instructors will only step in if you completely screw it up, otherwise, it’s an excellent training opportunity. Next, we have the Tier 1 alarm.”
She raised her arm again, and the same sound came, but without pauses this time, and she lowered her arm after a few moments.
“In a Tier 1 attack, the second semester students will handle the attack with support from instructors as required. You are expected to find a defensible position and hole up, to try and show off and get yourself in trouble. You are likely to hear both the Tier 0 and Tier 1 alarms for real during your year here at the Academy. More rarely, we have to sound the Tier 2+ alarm.”
This one was very different, a rising and falling wail that didn’t stop until she lowered her arm.
“If you hear this alarm, all students – both first and second semesters – are to take cover and stay put and on the alert until you hear the all clear. The guards and instructors will take care of the monsters as quickly as possible. This alarm is a training exercise. Understood?”
She looked at us sternly for a moment before continuing.
“The all clear sounds like this.”
It was a single deep blast, a long pause, then repeated twice more.
“We use the same all clear for any of the alarms. It’s also used to signal an assembly, which means to gather in the square for an announcement. Finally, there is one more alarm which has never been used and, System willing, will never sound for real.”
The last alarm was basically the Tier 1 and Tier 2+ signals played at the same time, even more painfully loud than before.
“If you hear this alarm, you are to evacuate . It means that we are facing a threat even the instructors are not able to handle, and you are to get out and scatter. Assume the Academy is lost and make your way back to Lost Angels on your own. Hopefully we can delay the threat long enough to give you a chance to flee. The odds of this happening are slim, but I believe in being prepared for the worst.
“Once an attack is over and the all-clear sounds, you are to report immediately to the area between the administration building and the dining hall for a headcount and healing. If someone in your Squad has an injury too severe to be moved, send a runner to fetch an instructor and stay with them.”
She paused and smiled coolly at us.
“We’re almost done. There are only a few hard and fast rules here at the Academy. First, you will respect and obey your instructors, or you will be punished. Repeat offences will lead to expulsion. Second, there will be no violence at the Academy. That includes physical, magical, and any other form of fighting. You will have plenty of opportunities to beat the snot out of each other in the training ring. There is even a dueling system here, which your instructors will explain to you in detail.
“Hopefully you’ll make more friends than enemies here at the Academy, but if you do find yourself at odds with another student, you can challenge them. Fighting outside of training and supervised duels will be severely punished, usually with immediate expulsion. Do I make myself clear?”
I nodded nervously along with the others. Duels? I hadn’t expected that.
“Third rule – unwanted sexual advances will be punished . I do not care if you want to fool around with your classmates, as long as it's mutual. I’m not your parents, and if you get pregnant or get someone else pregnant, of you will become your parents’ problem – back in LA. Contraceptives are available from the infirmary, no charge and no questions asked.
“Fourth and final rule – you permitted to drink alcohol at the bar.” Excited murmuring broke out and then was silenced as Thompson continued. “It is free, and neither is the food at the restaurant upstairs. Drink as much as you want, if you can afford it. Just be warned that drunkenness is not an excuse for breaking any of the rules. Your instructors will take it easy on you if you’re hung over – in fact, most of them will do the opposite.
“You’re all legally adults now, with Classes geared for combat, and most of you are here to train for a dangerous, lucrative career fighting monsters. We’re going to treat you like adults as long as you show that you deserve it. Step outside the lines, and we’ll remind you that, adults or not, every one of your instructors here is fully capable of ripping out your entrails and feeding them to you without breaking a sweat.
“Any questions?”
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