“The gods above all contend

For the oaths of all our men

Igni, god of fire and light

Caël, who rules the skies

Und, lord of sea and storm

Ditas, of human form

Nacea, the healer

Voci, the killer

Aedi, the maker

Tryesh, the breaker

Beyond the eight

Lie but more gods

Searching for faith

To even their odds”

- An excerpt of the classical poem “Pantheon”, author unknown

“I don’t understand why this class is mandatory for everyone,” I grumbled. “Plenty of us are oathholders already.”

“A good portion of those oathholders know outdated information,” Jasmine whispered back. “It would be a true tragedy if a tenth of the first years immolated themselves because they couldn’t be bothered to attempt a basic safety course.”

The auditorium that all two hundred first years at Yaguan Oathholder University had crowded themselves into was a beehive of conversation. Not many people seemed engaged with the opening words offered by the stout, red-robed man standing at the podium below us.

“Can you hear what he’s saying?” I asked Jasmine, who at some point between our meeting yesterday and now had decided to specifically seek me out during class instead of regrouping at the TAG today. I trusted her about as far as I could throw her, but she’d agreed to be my partner so I wasn’t making a fuss about it for now.

“I cann-“

“Silence!”

The lecturer had spoken in the oathtongue, I could recognize that, but when I tried to wrap my mind on exactly the true words he had uttered, their shapes escaped my grasp, replaced by a simple word in Common.

“I’ve been trusted with the task of delivering the basics of oathholding to you,” the lecturer declared. “Any questions?”

As he had ordered just moments before, there was silence. Experimentally, I opened my mouth and tried to speak. The words caught in my throat, not a single sound escaping.

Fuck you. White-hot rage came to me unbidden, my head heating in an instant, and I forced myself to be calm.

This is just a lesson. I despised the control with every fiber of my body, but making a scene here benefitted nobody.

“Good,” the teacher said with a chuckle, and I had to pinch my thigh to keep myself from blowing something up. “Then allow me to contin-“

“How long have you been teaching?” Jasmine asked, standing in her seat.

She could still speak? I looked at her with a little more respect than I had before. A little more wariness, too. She was dangerous.

“Ah, so there is some talent this year,” the lecturer drawled, his tone a wild mixture of warm and cold that I could not parse. “I was wondering when the nobles would come out. Pleasure to have you, Lady…”

“Jasmine of House Rayes,” the aforementioned noble declared.

“Lady Jasmine,” the lecturer repeated. “I have worked here for fourteen years and nine months. And to answer your next question, no, that was not the limit of my silence.”

Jasmine moved her mouth for a second before tilting her head. She nodded to the lecturer and raised two fingers in polite acknowledgment before sitting back down.

“As I was saying,” the robed man continued, “You are here to learn how to not be an idiot when giving oath to the gods.”

He cleared his throat. “I will not repeat myself, so please make sure you listen.”

I didn’t feel quite as strong an effect from his last word in the oathtongue, thank the gods, but I turned my ears towards him regardless. Learning was more useful to me than hatred, at least in this moment.

“At the heart of magic are the gods. They have existed for at least thrice as long as humanity has, at our best estimate, and they are what allows for our modern system of magic to work.

“We interface with them through oaths. Some of you may know this already, but it bears repeating. From what our historians can ascertain, oaths once were meant to be obtained when physical divine manifestation of the gods came to our world to select a chosen few to obtain power.”

Our teacher stopped for a second to utter another unintelligible word in the magical tongue, and a gout of flame spouted from his hands.

“Nowadays, of course, the process of oathholding is quite different. Ceretian magic theory, established three centuries ago, is the basis of our modern interactions with the divine. At the University, you will learn everything there is to know about Ceretian magic theory. However, a basic primer is in order for anyone fool enough to try forming an oath before you truly understand divinity.

“First! You must meet a prerequisite for your god of choice. These prerequisites are thoroughly known down to the drops of bloodshed for the eight core gods and many of the prominent lesser deities, but should you resonate more strongly with a more minor member of the pantheon, you will find that some of what you must do is shrouded in mystery, available in only the most obscure histories. Furthermore, some of you, due to the circumstances of your birth, will not be capable of swearing an oath to certain gods. This is curable, but I will not be addressing this issue today.

“Second! You must seek the god. The process for doing so involves performing a ritual. Again, the details for said rituals for the major gods are better known. A textbook on performing the pactforming ritual with the eight core gods is available to any student of the University in our library.

“Third! After swearing an oath to your god, you are now an oathholder. To maintain your status, you will need to maintain regular rituals and manners of living. As you may expect, well known gods have well known rules. Failure to follow the correct rules will cause a variety of effects. A partial loss of your power is the best case scenario, and you may sometimes be given the option to sever your oath, but almost always, you will be punished by your god, and it will not be light. Last year, two first years rotted from the inside out when they defied Aedi, and more than I can count with my two hands lost the use of their arms after ignoring the guidance of Igni.

“Fourth! Your actions are never without ramifications. Some of you may have heard of the existence of Altered beings, monsters who ravage the deep corners of our world. These were, by and large, created by oathholders who, through accident or intent, turned a normal, healthy animal into dangerous monsters that can breed, and, in some cases, form their own oaths.

“Your oath is a commitment. Think carefully before you swear one. I will now be accepting questions.”

That’s it?

“Do people really not know this?” I wondered aloud. “I mean, I know that the average peasant might only know the broadest strokes of this, but weren’t there baselines that we had to meet to get in here?”

“Some people are special cases,” Jasmine said. “Nobles who get their children in through political bullying, hedge mages with potential, and the rare prodigy who was chosen by their god rather than choosing them.”

“You’d think the University could tell that on its own,” I said. “Given that they’re the ones admitting us.”

“Better safe than sorry. You never know if some people will slip through the cracks.”

“Still a waste of time,” I sighed. “Well, that’s it for today, right?”

Orientation for all of us new students was technically still ongoing, so our class load was practically nonexistent right now.

“Yes. Shall we visit the guild now, then?”

I nodded.

The Yaguan branch of the Tayan Adventurers’ Guild was surprisingly busy today. I wasn’t too used to seeing more than a handful of shabby vagrants populating the inside of a TAG building, but then again, the branch in Syashan had been little more than a weapons storehouse for passing Tayan military.

The receptionist we’d talked to last time wasn’t alone. This guild branch had at least a dozen of people working similar jobs scattered throughout its expansive lobby. I made my way to a desk labelled “ML 1 Adventurers”. It was manned by two men and a woman, each of them spouting off words in a rapidfire staccato to the small crowd waiting in line.

It took a minute or two, but Jasmine and I made it to the front of the line without any issues. A man flicked his gaze from us to his stack of papers and back.

“Names, party status, oathholder level if applicable, reason for inquiry,” he rattled off. “Quickly, please.”

“Lily Syashan and Jasmine of House Rayes,” the noble girl said. “Party of two, I’m class four and Lily is class two. We’re here to get a quest.”

“Give me a second.” The man muttered something and started sifting through his papers with abnormal speed.

A Ditas oathholder, maybe? Those usually focused on the human body, if I recalled correctly.

“There are seventeen quests available to your current party,” the receptionist said, handing us a sheaf of papers dense with instructions. “The earliest open quest departs in thirty minutes. You will receive a slight multiplier to your MC points should you choose to join that quest.”

“We’ll take that one,” I said. Jasmine didn’t disagree.

The receptionist retracted the majority of his papers and handed the final page to Jasmine. “The quest group will be assembled in room SG-32. You’ll find it down the hall to your left.”

He pointed us towards a wide passageway pointing away from the guild lobby, and we departed.

“So what’s the quest about?” I asked. “And where is it?”

“An appearance of an unknown group of monsters in a coal mine,” Jasmine read. “It’s in Wognu, a small mining village. Three hours away from Yaguan by train.”

“Do you have enough money on you for the train fare?”

“Looks like our quest form comes with tickets. I think the TAG is authorized by the king to give free public transport.”

“And the pay?”

“Half a golden sun apiece. Pretty shit, but that’s what we signed up for.”

The door to the room where we were to rendezvous was a nondescript affair, treated wood set in heavy metal, and the room itself was no more exciting.

“We’re the lowest level of adventurer,” I remarked. “Makes sense that we’d be provided the most basic equipment.”

Apart from a few places to sit, basic gear lined the walls. Rope, poles, oathlights, backpacks, and their ilk were all present. I took an oathlight, then thought better of it when I remembered the guild policy on paying for lost or broken equipment. I could manage.

Funnily enough, the weapons present for our use were worth quite a bit less than the conventional gear. The array offered wasn’t expansive— mostly basic daggers, shortswords, revolvers, and a mace or two— but it wasn’t expensive either, which was convenient. One of the few benefits adventuring had was the discount on weapons at these rendezvous points.

I examined one of the revolvers, but lost interest when I realized it wasn’t enchanted. Applying magic to individual bullets was something I was more than happy to leave to disciples of Aedi. Instead, I picked up two daggers. They’d set me back only a silver moon each, which was less than a quarter the price they would cost from a craftsman. These knives would probably also have a quarter the quality, but I would take what I could get.

Jasmine didn’t pick up anything, instead procuring a small revolver from her belt which, at a glance, probably cost more than my heart. The fair-haired girl’s entire outfit looked casually expensive, actually— long, dark leggings, leather boots, a chainmail breastplate modestly decorated with jewels, and a pleated skirt dyed a muted green. I… couldn’t really deny that she was pulling it off amazingly, but I had to wonder if she was willing to risk a dozen suns’ worth of clothes on an adventuring job.

“It says that there’ll be eight people on this quest,” Jasmine said impatiently. “Do you think they’ve already joined it and simply haven’t arrived, or will we have to depart with insufficient people?”

Almost as if waiting for her statement, the door to the room opened. Two men walked in, one tall and burly and the other lithe and quick. The skinny man held an ornate shotgun, and the muscular one wielded a morningstar. It was, I noted, in perfect condition. Unused?

“Hi!” The muscular man boomed. “I’m Sam. This is Naomi.”

“Hello,” the man who had to be Naomi said with a wave. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Lily Syashan,” I said. “Likewise.”

“Jasmine Rayes. What do you lot do?”

“I work security ,” Sam said. “Heard there was some opportunity for some cash on the side in adventuring. Let me tell you, I can work wonders when I get into a fight.”

“Sam told me to come with him, so I did,” Naomi smiled. “I was active infantry in the Tayan military for five years, and I picked up oathholding while I was there. I’m a class two oathholder of Aedi, so this little gun here is fantastic at what it does.”

“So it’s your first adventure too,” Jasmine said. “I’m just a country girl enrolled in the University. I’m a class four oathholder of Igni. I’ll be weaker underground, but I think I’ll be alright.”

“Another village girl here,” I said. “Class two oathholder of someone you probably haven’t heard of.”

“Mysterious,” Sam grinned. “I hope that god of yours is a powerful one.”

The door opened again. Four people walked in this time, two men and two women. They seemed barely older than us. Fresh graduates of the University, perhaps. We introduced ourselves.

“Kai,” the first man, an academic-looking type clad in muted grey robes, said. “Class two oathholder of Und. I’m our backliner.”

“Levolo,” the other man, built like Sam was, introduced himself. “Class two oathholder of Ditas. I’m our tank.”

“Skye,” a woman wearing the same robes as Kai said. “Kai and I are twins. I’m a class one oathholder of Ditas and a class two oathholder of Nacea. I’m our healer.”

“Ainsley,” said the last, who was carrying an excessively long broadsword. “Also a class one oathholder of Und, but I specialize differently. I frontline.”

We made a little more small talk as the other six people found some gear they wanted to borrow or buy, and then we were off.

Wognu was small. There were villages that naturally developed over time as people gradually settled down, married, and had families. Then there were villages that had sprouted up like mushrooms after rain because of a single company’s business, artificial settlements that never lasted beyond the end of the enterprise.

Wognu was definitively the latter. The main street was unpaved and wound around a motley assortment of buildings, haphazardly placed around the town. The three most prominent were a general trading post, a tavern, and a building marked “YAGUAN COAL CORPORATION”, all placed barely a minute’s walk from the train station.

The eight of us found our way into the coal company’s building and found it nearly deserted. It looked for all the world like a beehive that had been kicked and then promptly forgotten about. Papers were strewn over desks like a storm had rolled through the lobby, and there were spots of dirt and what might’ve been blood dotting the floor in places.

“Is anyone here?” Sam asked.

I winced at the volume of his voice, but his near-shout was effective. A door creaked open in a corner of the lobby. The man who walked out must have been run ragged-- he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. His jacket and shirt, though ruffled and untucked, were of quality make, and despite his visible tiredness he still stood with his back straight and head held high.

“Are you the one running this branch of the corporation?” Jasmine asked him.

“I am indeed,” the tired man said sourly. “You must be the adventurers. Took you long enough.”

“I’d like to confirm the details of the quest with you,” one of the group of four with us said. Skye, was it?

“Very well,” the man said, pausing to grumble something under his breath before collecting himself. “Five days ago, a regular mining expedition was disrupted by an attack by monsters in the mine. We believe they may have been Sonni Altered bats.”

“And our objective is to exterminate them,” Skye— I was pretty sure it was her, at least— said. “Have they established a nest?”

“Unfortunately, they have,” the coal executive said. “I can provide you with maps of the mine. They are marked with the locations that we believe may potentially hold the Altereds’ nests. Our intelligence reports that there are only two nests, one of which holds the nest mother.”

“Thank you,” Skye said. “We appreciate it.”

I didn’t know what had caused the man’s sudden shift in attitude, but if he had the resources, I wasn’t opposed to taking them.

The maps were detailed, clearly made by professionals, but hasty additions had been made in places, messy scrawls on the same few spots on every map. New tunnels, added between the last time a surveyor had been to this mine and the day of the attack.

Sam said a very loud thank-you as we left the building, then turned his attention to the group. “What’s the game plan?”

Before anyone could respond, he made his own suggestion. “I’m sure you all have more experience, but the way we would do this at work is by splitting up into small groups and converging once we hit our mark.”

“We usually do one thing,” the similarly built man— Levolo, that was his name— said. “We can go with that, as long as our party remains four.”

“I’m alright with that, too,” Jasmine said. “Just keep me with my partner here and we’re all good.”

“How will we know when and where to converge?” Skye asked.

“Well, the means are a little expensive,” Sam chuckled nervously. “But I have enough time with the company for them to let me borrow a few.”

In his meaty hands were eight… no, he had nine little black squares with angry red runes carved into them.

“I recognize those,” Jasmine muttered. “They’re Caethus stones. Patented a decade ago by an oathholder of Aedi and… Igni?”

“Caethus stones,” Sam said sheepishly. “They’re each worth thrice the payout we’ll get from this, but I’ll trust you folks with them. Just whisper the command phrase and press on them when you find a nest and everyone else will have your position transmitted to them.”

He distributed them, and paused for a second after handing one to everyone. “Right, the command phrase for these is calibrated to ‘wooden’. I tested them myself, they’ll work.”

Sam beamed at the rest of us, smile slightly crooked.

“Our party is ready,” Levolo rumbled. “Let us go.”

The eight of us walked to the mine. It was impossible to miss, a massive tunnel lined with steel and brick with YCC magically seared into it. Like in most mining towns, the settlement around it had been designed with the mine in mind, so the main road fed directly into it.

“According to the map, there’s a fourfold crossing right off the bat,” Jasmine said. “One of them leads back, so are we good with the groups as they are?”

“No arguments here,” Kai said.

“If Sam’s good, I’m good.” This from Naomi, who smiled at the large man.

True to Jasmine’s words, three tunnels branched off from the main entrance only a few seconds’ walk in.

They were dark, any oathlights that had been present here long silenced or destroyed. Sam and Naomi had their own pre-charged oathlights, and the adventuring party seemed to all have enough casting ability to maintain a basic light. Jasmine, as befitting any half-decent Igni oathholder, had a controlled ball of fire levitating above her shoulder.

For my part, I took a deep breath and pulled on the fabric of the world, committing to a working that felt intrinsically other. A ball of pure black formed in my hand, so dark that I wouldn’t fault someone for thinking it lacked a third dimension at first glance.

It didn’t take much power to create, and yet the effect it caused was otherworldly. I’d named my working true darkness when I’d first cast it, and it lived up to its name. So incredibly dark, this little magical sphere of mine was, that it sucked the gloom out of the air around us, illuminating the tunnel through a lack of shadow.

“What the hell is that?” Sam asked. “Whoever your god is, let them know their magic is incredible.”

“I’ll be sure to pass it on,” I said. “Until we meet again, then.”

“Until we meet again,” Sam replied.

“Good luck,” Kai said with a salute, and we parted ways.

It took less than thirty minutes before the rune we had been given started flashing a brilliant crimson. As it started to shine, an image forced itself into my mind’s eye. A location, only a couple tunnels and turns from us. Two men, one of them lying prone on the ground. Viscous liquid splattered across the dirt. A cacophony of clicking and chittering.

One scream, piercing through the noise. Not of agony, but of anguish and anger.

Sam was dead.