For the students of Introductory Wilderness Survival, there were several surprises in rapid succession on their first day.

The first was that it was in fact being taught by Professor Xipil, who many had heard of and who Zyn whispered of in hushed tones as being a highly notable veteran and hero of the most recent Nightspawn Eclipse. What would normally be reverence turned quickly to a bit of creeping dread around the same time everyone else was figuring out that this ‘introductory’ class was going to be...rough.

Professor Xipil confirmed that notion as he revealed an illusory obstacle course housed within the old armory.

The task was simple, get through as much of it as you could while his pterosaur familiar observed from a high perch so that he had an idea of how much ‘room for improvement’ this class was going to have.

“Oh come on!” Zyn shouted as he stepped right into an illusory snare, which thankfully only phased right through him as yanked an equally illusory version of himself into the air to dangle helplessly while the real drow was only afflicted by the much milder effect of now glowing a sparkling green.

Ozzy chattered along in sympathetic protest as he marched out of the gauntlet that was now turning transparent as it reset under Professor Xipil’s will. The old lizardfolk clapped a speckled black and rusty red hand on the drow’s shoulder.

“Not bad, not bad!” He said with an old rumbling chuckle. “But they don’t use snares much down in Mu, do they?”

Zyn shook his head, frowning. “Well do Nightspawn use snares?”

Though the boy’s question was rhetorical, the old lizard’s smile was not. “I put it there because I’ve run into it. Can’t say if it was one of those Ocuil types forcing the memory out of someone who knew how to set a well hidden snare, or if it was just the bad luck of running into another adventurer’s trap left out in a Lost Land.”

The old man gave another hard pat and slight chuckle as he ushered him towards a crowd of other students in a similar state of multicolor glowing and sparkling. “I’m here to train you for all that could happen in the harshest corners of a harsh world.”

Zyn groaned, taking his place next to a waiting Vidal who had been instructed to go around and wait on this side after a good deal of insistence that while he was a good protector, he was highly likely to run into every trap or obstacle along the way based on sheer size alone. A fate he shared with a patiently waiting griffon, raptor, and grizzly bear all alternating between wary glances at one another and pretending not to see eachother.

“A lot of those you really just have to know what you’re looking for.” Isak chimed in, as he rejoined the faithfully waiting Vidal. “Unfamiliar environments don’t really help so that makes it harder to disarm all of them. Really slowed me down there...”

The drow stared at his friend, currently lacking in any sparkles aside from the slightest sheen of sweat he had gained, as one eyebrow gradually raised. “Wait…were we supposed to be disarming things?”

“Yea-” Isak paused midway, his mouth hanging open before he grit his teeth and looked over his shoulder to the professor studying him with narrowed eyes. “We….we were supposed to be doing that, right?”

Professor Xipil crossed his arms as amusement pushed up the corners of his mouth. “No. How many obstacles did you disarm, Mister Moreno?”

Isak’s eyes managed to both go wide and have the deep brown of his irises make up for the lost ground of his pupils vanishing into tiny little points of panic that looked from a now very worried Zyn to a Vidal who was still a Rock Man ill equipped to display any emotion.

“Uhhh...well...see I can...I can go run it again if I-”

“How many, Mister Moreno.” The old lizard managed to loom even taller than normal with only one step closer to the human.

Isak coughed into his hand as he muttered out an incredibly weak “Allofthem.”

The desert lizardman showed a few pointy teeth in his smile. Just enough that it could be amusement, but pointy enough that it still might be a more negative emotion. “And you managed to do that with illusions? How?”

Another cough and a scramble and Isak cast a quick spell to produce an illusory stick in his hand, weakly holding it out to the professor. “A er…a good illusion is reactive, even to other illusions. To keep up the illusion so I figured-”

“Well done!” Professor Xipil clasped his hand through the illusory stick, shaking hard enough to almost knock the poor boy off balance in his best imitation of the human practice. “Don’t think of this class as beneath you. Think of it as...a refresher. Learn it well and make it yours.”

Before he could react, another exasperated yell rang out from the hall filled with the illusory gauntlet. The professor smiled, pat Isak on the back and turned to face the student who would be along any second now with a new temporary glow. “Wait with the class, Moreno. That girl got far but not everyone expects to look out for a grindylow.”

Isak was left to finally remember that he needed to breathe, taking a large breath of air as he leaned against Zyn’s shoulder. The drow was still looking at his friend incredulously as Ozzy reached out a tentacle to pat the human’s arm.

“Need a moment?” Zyn asked.

“Yeah.” Isak croaked out.

“Not that I don’t mind assisting as you recover from psychological warfare, but couldn’t you lean against Vidal?” The drow asked.

“He’s all...water form right now. I’d get knocked away if I leaned into a stream.” The human said as he kept staring straight out ahead at absolutely nothing at all as he processed recent events. If asked, he couldn’t even give an answer as to what was in front of his eyes at the moment. Though he felt almost confident that he might be able to describe the old armory from memory if pressed, and get by on emphasizing it’s high ceilings and large interconnected yet often barren rooms that made it easy to adapt to many uses.

Zyn simply nodded, steadying himself as his friend’s legs remembered all the finer details of how to stand. “See, I told you saving your village from Mome Beasts was practical experience. Now you aren’t glowing until the end of class in some color that just doesn’t work for you.”

Isak nodded along before his brow furrowed and confusion managed to push aside nerves. “Wait, what’s wrong with green?”

“On you? Probably nothing. On me? A travesty.” Zyn shivered as he lead the group away from the collection of oversized familiars. “I mean, really. With these eyes?”

The human followed after as the two found a place against a wall to wait for the rest of the class to finish the lightning round of surprise trials. And while he managed to see every single hidden obstacle that the professor had thrown at him previously, he didn’t see what the drow was talking about.

“Yeah, red.” Isak noted with confusion leaking through into his voice. “That color that...goes with green? I really don’t see what the problem is.”

“It’s green!” Zyn groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose before gesturing to his complexion of a lightless windowless room. “I work best with warm colors, not cool colors!”

The human shrugged as he glanced around the room, noticing the range of colors that his classmates were now glowing in. Notably, more than a few were glowing with envy which was not always green despite the old human saying. He turned back to his friend. “Alright, let me see if I can adjust it a bit…”

He was guessing here, and at his meager skill it would only be visible to Zyn and himself but if it helped then it would be worth it. A spell and a moment later, and a glow of red mingled with the green glow to produce...not yellow.

Zyn looked down to his arm that, within his vision, was pulling off the impossible task of glowing green and red at the same time. He blinked a few times before he spoke, eyes still locked on his new temporary coloring. “Wow. First you ace the pop quiz, then you create gred. You’re on a roll, buddy.”

“I...I don’t know if that’s sarcasm?” Isak asked both Zyn and himself.

“I honestly don’t know?” Zyn was equally as lost at his own tone as he turned his arm this way and that to inspect the new color. “I can see both sides, and both colors.”

Vidal tilted his head down in observance of the scene. “It was a valiant effort to produce yellow, Master Isak. Perhaps further study of artistic endeavors may be of use to you?”

“That-” The human held up a finger before placing it on his chin. “Is a fantastic idea, actually. Off to a bad start here if I can’t do something like mix colors…”

Zyn cleared his throat as he crossed his arms, giving a pointed stare at his friend as Ozzy mimicked this action with crossed tentacles.

Isak glanced around with a small bit of guilt. “Okay, off to a mixed start-”

The drow cleared his throat harder, and Vidal offered only a steely, stoney gaze to the human who was searching for some out before groaning.

“Ugh, fine. Good start in some things, okay start in other things. Better?” Isak said as he rolled his eyes.

The rock man answered before the drow did. “Gradual improvement, Master Isak.”

“What he said.” Zyn said with a smirk.

Utterly defeated and laid low by positivity, Isak leaned against one of the cool stone walls with a groan as idle chat took over until the last of their classmates was now sporting a new temporary glow. Professor Xipil swore a blood oath that all of them would see improvement, starting with the next class where they would learn more about their first Survival Lab on Friday. Which was to consist of a leisurely stroll through the jungle out at the base of the mountain. Not a single student took that at face value, and the worry was all but confirmed by a slight glint in his eyes and a too amused smile.

As class ended and the last of the glow enchantments wore off and the students filed out while Zyn went into a story about just what exactly Professor Xipil did during the last Starfall, something unusual happened.

Several students waved and congratulated Isak on his performance in the illusory gauntlet.

The first time, he didn’t fully process it as he was still listening in to Zyn describe how exactly the most recent Starfall was almost far worse. Isak only managed an automatic wave in return, not even really catching who was talking to him. The second time he mustered a confused smile at the girl telling him well done while Zyn was on some tangent about fungal blooms in Mu during eclipses as they exited the large armory. And by the time he was back out in the sun, he was registering it enough to wave back with a smile and a thanks to the orc and the hobgoblin who were clearly impressed by what, as Isak would describe it, was nothing really.

“-but thankfully-” Zyn rambled on as they hurried along the path, “our retreating forces at The Valley of Stars led the Nightspawn through a canyon pass where reinforcements had been planning, waiting to use all of this against you the next time you try selling yourself short.”

Isak’s automatic nodding came to a halt as indignation took over. “Hey! I’ll have you know that me blundering into that trap of yours is worth at least a little self-pity!”

“Acknowledging it is a step on the road to improvement!” The drow’s face was now in danger of getting stuck with that smirk on it as Isak let out another groaning sigh.

“Professor Xipil?” Tonauac asked, walking with the group of four back to their dorms after classes had concluded for the day. “Aw, I got Professor Yesun. He’s great! Told cool stories and anecdotes about his time adventuring!”

“Our professor did that.” Zyn’s red eyes had a faraway, unfocused look as he readjusted the strap to his book bag over his shoulder. “All the scary kind.”

“But exciting! Right? It sounds like Isak did well!” Xoco was also in Professor Yesun’s class, and also trying to add a bit of levity.

Isak rolled the thought around in his head, eyes settling on Vidal who despite only having tiny swirling whirlpools for eyes at the moment was probably giving the human an reassuring look. “A bit of scary, a bit of good experience. And a lesson in always being prepared! Also in making gred.”

The lizardfolk and the jungle troll both cast a confused stare at Isak as Zyn pinched the bridge of his nose. Before Isak could explain the impossible union of opposing colors, their attention was caught by the crowd growing in size and noise level around the dorms. Standing tall above even the tallest students and even taller familiars was a mail pterosaur looking focused and proud. The accompanying postal worker had just finished up his deliveries to the small building in the residential area handling all campus mail and was now preparing the massive beast for takeoff.

“Huh.” Isak mused, not used to seeing the larger varieties of postal skybeasts. “I didn’t know there would be mail already.”

“That’s probably all from the nearest schools.” Tonauac said as he gave scritches to Patli, eyeing the massive sky reptile with envy. “My healing professor said that with all the research going on, the professors like to keep in frequent contact.”

Only mildly disappointed after the brief possibility of letters from home, the group continued onward to the dorms as they discussed plans for the rest of the day once their excess books and school supplies were shed in one dorm to save on trips around the residential area. As Isak opened the door to his dorm, he noticed a single thick envelope was waiting for him on the other side of the mailslot.

All of the quartet quickly came to a halt as they followed Isak’s eyes, staring at that fat, off-white envelope that stared back at them with Isak’s name on it.

“You wrote your parents the first day here, right?” Zyn asked to cut through the silence that they all clung to over the most unusual yet mundane sight.

“Yeah.” Isak confirmed, carefully reaching out a hand to pick up the letter that also bore his parent’s names as a return address right next to the large stamp signifying a premium rush delivery.

Tonauac hummed aloud. “And they don’t usually purchase premium shipping?”

Isak scoffed out a laugh, giving a small shake of his head as he finally walked into his room to allow his friends to stop crowding the doorway. “No. No that is...out of our price range.”

“Really?” Xoco took a seat on the floor across from Isak who plopped down on his bed. “It’s only fou- er, I hope your mother was able to track down some answers!”

The jungle troll’s pained laugh was thankfully lost on the group as they all crowded around Isak as he carefully tore the envelope open, not daring to blink and paying no mind to his nosey friends. Pulling the off-white letter out, Zyn and Tonauac were greeted with a text that they were completely incapable of reading.

“Aw it’s in Wastelander…” Zyn threw his hands up in defeat as he finally backed off to wander over to his own bed and fall back dramatically as Ozzy complained about the sudden drop.

“I just wanted to see the mysterious letter is all.” The lizard lad defended as he took a seat on the floor next to a still standing rock man towering over everyone as they all awaited answers.

Isak shook his head with a grin as he read over the letter. “First of all, it’s not Wastelander it’s Lavi-Wastelander….I promise the difference is big enough.”

All but Xoco failed to appreciate the apparent difference, who was listening intently at the mention of a rare language with knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them in wide eyed interest.

“Second.” Isak continued. “Uhhhh...just reading skimming reading...hope you’re adjusting well, we miss you already, don’t forget to take care of yourself uhhh typical mom stuff…”

The human boy cleared his throat as he left out the fact that mom stuff involved asking if he had found a nice girl yet, and he refused to even let Xoco into his peripheral vision as he skimmed past that paragraph for fear she may somehow see it in his eyes. Finally, he got to something more substantial.

“Ah!” He exclaimed, ever so thankful. “Here we go! Uhhh talked to Mister Kazimir, told him about that rock I got for you at a fantastic price and how it’s now an elemental protector that walks like a man- Vidal I swear I did not describe you like that!”

“I believe you, Master Isak.” The rock man responded as he looked down to the group, finally taking a cross legged seat between Xoco and Tonauac as Nelli curiously tilted her head at the large rock from her shoulder perch.

“Good, good.” Isak gave a short nervous laugh as he read on, mumbling through mom ramblings before coming to an abrupt stop, staring at the page. His friends looked between one another before leaning in closer. The human shook off his shock a moment later and continued. “Soooo old Kazimir sold my parents his shop. His shop full of magical supplies and curiosities. To my non-mage parents. Which my mom assures me was once again at a fantastic price that was practically free, as Kazimir is...devoting his time to investigating where he got Vidal from…”

The news hung in the air as cautious excitement bristled like electricity, despite Vidal currently being in his water form.

“That’s...that’s good? Yes?” Zyn asked, leaning out from his bed and in danger of falling off as Ozzy insisted on caution with nudging tentacles to prevent collision with the gray stone floor. “Maybe?”

“It’s good!” Isak confirmed as he held up a hand in triumph before curling it into a fist of questions. “I think? No wait, yes! Good! Mostly. He paid for the premium rush shipping but was apparently so eager to undertake a new adventure as soon as the ink on that deed of sale was dry that he didn’t really tell my parents anything else about Vidal. Yeah….yeah that sounds like Kazimir.”

Some time after Isak had finished groaning and rubbing at his temple did he look up and find a still expectant crowd. Setting aside the letter and putting on his best smile he reassured them. “Hey! It’s something! I’ll trace out that one symbol me and Xoco found and before you know it once we get the next….very normal speed letter we should have a new lead!”

“And…” Xoco still had to know. “This Kazimir?”

Isak’s smile became a bit more strained as he grit his teeth. “Amazing mage, helped me with saving the town, really earns the title of Krazy Kazimir.”

“Do you mean medically crazy or…” Tonauac grimaced and made a swirling gesture with the tip of his tail.

“That one…” Isak sighed in defeat. “Endearingly so but...that one…”

Flicking a bit of fuzz off of his sheets, Zyn surveyed the forlorn group before rolling off the bed in a dramatic fashion to land gracefully. Though Ozzy knew it was coming it still startled the others. “So, we have but one obvious option now.”

The rest of the group all shared looks of pure confusion as they wondered under what stars this option was obvious to the drow.

Zyn chuckled, standing up to full attention as he made a grand sweeping gesture and stared off into the dorm wall that had to do it’s best to settle for a majestic, dramatic horizon. “We stick to tonight’s original plan of going and hanging out at the beach! Come on, if the mystery of the big guy was easy it wouldn’t be as much fun. No offense, Vidal.”

“I shall once again take no offense.” The rock man said, head turned to look at Zyn. “My primary objective is the protection of Master Isak. Fun is only required as necessary in pursuit of that goal.”

“Hey, I get it.” Tonauac stood from his seat, stretching his legs and tail. “I too enjoy fun but not if it puts my friends in danger.”

The drow accepted that there was likely now a permanent mark forming where he was now pinching the bridge of his nose. “Isak where did we find them?”

“Don’t look at me.” The human couldn’t help but chuckle as he stood from his bed. “Every single one of you approached me first.”

Xoco straightened out her dress as she stood and smiled. “What can I say? You’re attractive!....like...like magnetic attraction!”

Isak was quickly turning a deep red to match her own blush of deep green. “Hhh-heh, yeah! Yeah no I get it! Because just like metal I’m very uh...very cool! And magnetic!”

“Yes!” Xoco exclaimed, still under the delusion she was not digging herself deeper. “Yes metal! We really took a shine to you! Like shiny metal!”

Tonauac looked back and forth between the two, slight grimace as he wondered how best to help his clearly mentally broken friends as Zyn came far too close to pinching his nose clean off.

“No no I get it! Ahahaha!” Isak wasn’t even sure if that was a genuine laugh, or a genuine laugh of pain. “Shining! Shining like….the sun which-”

“Which is probably going to set soon at this rate.” Zyn saw his opportunity and struck. “To the beach!”

He declared as he made a break for the door, with everyone following suit in the escape route from the ‘conversation’ at hand.