“Henry says we were in that for over a week,” Damien said, wiping some of the water out of his eyes as the strength started to return to his limbs.

“I really hope Delph told our other teachers where we were,” Sylph said. “I don’t want to imagine what would happen if he forgot or decided it wasn’t worth his time.”

“Let’s not even think about that,” Damien said, shuddering. He still didn’t have a good read on Greg. The professor seemed amiable enough, but skipping class without an excuse didn’t seem like something the man would let fly.

After another minute, Sylph rose and turned off the shower. She helped Damien to his feet and they walked out of the bathroom – still unsteady, but nowhere near as much as they had been a short while ago.

Damien’s coat had already dried off, but the clothes beneath it were still completely soaked. Sylph grabbed a change of clothes and headed back into the bathroom, so Damien tossed his own clothes to the side and pulled on a new set. He found himself thankful that the runes on the mage armor had kept it sweat-free.

He pushed the door open and peeked outside. The sun was just barely starting to rise over the horizon, casting the sky in orange and pink hues. The faint smell of brimstone hung low in the air, and thick grey clouds hung far in the distance of the east side of campus.

A small frown crossed Damien’s face. He stepped fully outside, brushing his wet hair out of his face. Mark’s room was empty, and the Gray siblings didn’t seem to be present either. He walked to the edge of the plateau and squinted down at the campus far below him.

It was so far away that it was difficult to make out any details, but there was much less movement than he was used to. Normally, by this time of day, a good amount of students were already wandering around.

Sylph walked out from their room and sat down beside him. “What’s going on?”

Before Damien could even respond, her nose twitched. “Smoke. Is something on fire?”

“Not that I can tell,” Damien said slowly. “But campus kind of looks empty. Is there some event that we’ve somehow missed?”

Sylph stood back up and headed over to the Gray siblings’ room. She rapped on the stone beside it, then called out. There was no response. With a shrug, Sylph pushed the curtain open and peered inside.

“Nobody’s here,” Sylph reported, letting it fall back shut.

“Well, this isn’t ominous at all,” Damien said.

Henry?

“There are a few people in the vicinity,” Henry said after a moment. “But less than normal. Significantly so – it’s around a seventy percent reduction. I wasn’t paying much attention to the outside world while you were evolving your core – I had to make sure nothing went wrong.”

Damien relayed Henry’s words to Sylph. “Maybe we should head onto campus? Someone can tell us what’s going on.”

“As good an idea as any,” Sylph agreed, and they headed down the mountain.

The streets were empty when they reached the bottom. They wandered through campus, heading towards the library at the center while they looked for anyone to talk to.

It took almost ten minutes before both of them spotted a lightly armored man with salt and pepper hair. He had a large staff covered with glimmering runes. The top had a jagged, spiky crystal fixed to it. Damien and Sylph headed over towards him.

“Excuse me,” Damien said. “We’ve been secluded in our rooms for core evolution for the past week or so. Has something happened? Campus seems to be empty.”

The man’s bristly face turned down in a frown. “Bad timing. A good amount has happened the last week. Who’s your instructor?”

“Delph,” Damien said. “Why?”

“I should have guessed,” he said with a scoff. “I have other things I’d much rather be doing, but we’re in a bit of a lull right now. About one month ago, Blackmist discovered that a large horde of monsters had managed to slip past a gap in the frontlines. They were headed in our direction, and there are also several smaller cities in their path.”

Damien’s eyes widened. “A month ago? What happened? Were they stopped?”

“I’m getting to it,” the man said irritably. “We sent out scouts to investigate the strength of the horde. You don’t need to know the details, but suffice to say that it was powerful enough to draw concern. Whisp herself went out to join the group trying to whittle them down. All the teachers have been aware that we need to prepare to defend the campus, and we began sending students home about a week ago when it became clear that the horde would not go down without a serious fight.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sylph said. “If you all knew the horde was approaching, why would Delph encourage us to go into seclusion right before you sent people home?”

“Don’t ask me why Delph does anything,” the professor said. “He’s a madman. There’s a reason they kicked him off the frontlines.”

Despite their situation, Damien’s curiosity got the better of him. “What is it? Beyond him being a nutjob.”

“You can ask him yourself if you’re bold enough. It’s his story to share. More importantly, can the two of you fight? Delph must have had some reason to keep you two on campus. He probably thinks of this as some training exercise.”

That wouldn’t have surprised Damien in the slightest. He and Sylph exchanged a glance.

“We can fight,” Sylph said. “But we’re only Year Ones.”

“He kept Year Ones on campus?” The man’s eyes bulged. He pressed his lips thin. "That absolute – gah, nevermind. The teleport lock is already in place. The two of you should come with me. We can’t have you wandering what might very well turn into a battlefield aimlessly. What are your names?”

“I’m Sylph, and this is Damien,” Sylph said.

“Ah. Delph’s little pet projects,” the professor realized. “That explains why he kept you here. Don’t let it get to your head – he’s known for this. He did the same on the frontlines, and not all of them survived.”

“How do you know so much about him?” Damien asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I haven’t said anything that isn’t general knowledge to the teachers,” the professor replied, pushing away from the wall and starting down the street towards the center of campus. “And I suppose we can drop the formalities given the situation. You may call me Dredd.”

The name rang a tiny bell in Damien’s mind. It was the professor that the students had been complaining about when he’d first reached campus. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Dredd’s long stride forced him and Sylph to do an awkward mixture of a fast walk and a jog to keep up with him, but the man didn’t notice or care.

“Why is the horde attacking Blackmist?” Damien asked as they turned down a side street.

“Probably something the Dean did,” Dredd said.

“Whisp?”

“No. She’s the acting Dean. The actual Dean is off in the Wastes, which is the land far beyond the frontlines. He’s been searching for a weapon for the past five years, but he’s occasionally returned with magical artifacts and other goods that he found in his journeys. Blackmist has an impressive stockpile of them, and he might have taken one that the monsters want back.”

“Are they intelligent enough for that?” Damien asked. “Nothing I’ve ever read about monsters implied they had enough understanding of material possessions to actively seek out something they lost – especially this far.”

“High tier monsters are just as smart as humans,” Dredd said. “Some are smarter. There are rumors that they have their own civilizations on the other side of the frontlines, and I don’t entirely doubt that. Underestimate them at your own peril.”

“It’s true,” Sylph said. “I’ve seen some of them, although I have no clue what could have been so important that they’d travel so deep into the kingdom to get.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Dredd replied gruffly. “They’re here, so they die. We’ve dealt with monsters before, but nobody is going to have time to look after the children.”

“We can look after ourselves,” Sylph said. Her tone wasn’t disrespectful, but it was firm enough to make a point.

Dredd grunted. “Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.”

They passed the library and continued on to the Treasure Pavilion. The guard stationed at the door stepped to the side as soon as he saw Dredd, nodding respectfully and letting them enter.

Dredd led them inside. Auntie sat at her desk, a large sword easily twice her height leaning against the wall beside her. Her eyebrows rose as she spotted Damien and Sylph.

“Dredd? Why are there Year Ones here?”

“Delph,” Dredd said.

Auntie pressed her lips together. “You poor kids. I can’t power the teleport gate now, Dredd. Taking down the port lock would be too dangerous.”

“I’m aware. They’ll stay here,” Dredd said. “It’s one of the most defended spots on the campus. The monsters shouldn’t be able to break into it, even if they push past our defenses.”

Auntie nodded, but she didn’t look particularly convinced. “That’s fine. How long do we have?”

“The fighting has already started,” Dredd said. “We’re waiting to deploy forces to see how the horde responds. We can’t commit everyone to the front in case they try to slip around and attack the campus.”

A distant rumble interrupted their conversation. Everyone paused, listening for a few moments. Auntie bit her lip and let out a distressed sigh. “I hate waiting. Every moment we wait is time that the monsters ransack the countryside and surrounding towns.”

“Innocent casualties are the price of winning a war,” Dredd said, adjusting his grip on the large staff. “We’ll make the monsters pay in blood. Just wait for the signal.”

Damien and Sylph sat down in two chairs at the far side of the room. There wasn’t much else for them to do but watch the professors as they discussed in hushed tones. Several boring hours passed. Then the sky turned red.

The blood colored light sprang up out of nowhere, filling the room and casting it in sickly tones. Everyone other than Dredd stiffened.

“And there it is,” Dredd said. “Red. A group broke past the main forces and is heading towards the campus. Look lively. We get our chance to play after all.”

Auntie grabbed the massive sword and raised it into the air. As she moved, her body stretched. She more than doubled in height, transforming into a hulking amazon of a woman. She had more muscles than Delph did.

“Let’s go,” Auntie said. Her voice hadn’t changed at all, and the kindly old woman’s words sounded strange from her new body.

Dredd nodded. He slammed the butt of his staff into the ground. The air around it warped, motes of Ether crackling and popping as it dissipated back into the environment. A molten red portal stretched open in front of Dredd.

“Ladies first.”

“Watch your tone with me, young man,” Auntie said. “I’ve spanked kids twice your age, and I’ll daresay some of them liked it.”

She stepped through the portal, vanishing with a pop. The guards followed in after her, leaving Dredd alone with Damien and Sylph.

“Stay here,” Dredd said. “It’ll look bad on the school if you die.”

Then he stepped through the portal as well. It snapped shut behind him. The smell of ash lingered faintly in the air behind them. Before Damien or Sylph could even say a word, a dot of grey formed in the air before them.

It expanded, twisting out and transforming into Delph’s cloak. The professor flicked his cloak out of the way with an annoyed grunt. “Planes, they took forever. I was beginning to think they’d never leave.”

“Professor!” Damien exclaimed, only half surprised to see the man. “What’s going on? Did you want us to get trapped here during the attack?”

“Of course I did,” Delph said, rolling his eyes. “Just when I was starting to think you had something rattling around that skull of yours, you prove me wrong. Maybe you really should stick to smashing things with overwhelming power.”

“Then this is about training?” Sylph asked.

“What else would it be? This is the perfect opportunity for you. Forge yourself in the fires of combat. How else do you think you can grow strong?”

“Isn’t this horde incredibly dangerous?” Sylph asked. “Dredd seemed to think so at least.”

“Dredd is an overcautious strategist,” Delph said. “The monsters die just as well as anything else. This will be a good experience for you. Dredd isn’t going to be able to keep all of them from getting into campus. You two should seek out the ones that arrive and take care of them yourselves. Between the two of you it shouldn’t be impossible. Just don’t take on anything too strong.”

“What about you?” Sylph asked. “Don’t they need your help to fight the monsters?”

“No,” Delph said, rolling his eyes. “In fact, believe it or not, they banned me from participating. Something about collateral damage. It’s quite disappointing, really.”

“So you’re going to follow us around and help take care of anything too strong?” Damien guessed.

“Of course not. What do I look like, a babysitter?” Delph asked. “I’m going to go get some breakfast. I just wanted to make sure the two of you didn’t waste this opportunity. The pursuit of power is an endless road, and I don’t train cowards.”

Delph popped out of existence, leaving them alone once again. Damien blinked. “Is it just me, or does anyone other than us have some teleportation spell? I’m starting to get jealous.”

“I know what you mean,” Sylph grumbled. “I don’t have the magic for one, though. And, even if I did, I’m still working on getting the last few knots out of my new magic. It’s still a little foreign to me.”

“Perfect for entering life threatening situations,” Damien said dryly. “Although I suppose Delph would say that unironically.”

“Adapt or die,” Sylph said, shrugging. “It works as long as you survive.”

“The latter half of that sentence is the problem,” Damien muttered, but he cast out a net of mental energy and started drawing more Ether into his reserves. “I guess it’s a moot point, though. Between the monsters and Delph, I know what scares me more.”