Ripped from the life she knew. Marched into the jungle, pressured into killing a man. Trained in seemingly useless and random disciplines. Inducted into an ancient order as – supposedly – a member of the leadership AND STILL TOLD NOTHING.

Dust in the wind. A taste of the madness to come. Vera, a girl she thought she knew – a mile beneath the earth, and still descending. Impossible.

She had demanded answers of course. The High Aspirant just smiled and spouted nonsense. “Beliefs can be, and often are, passed down from generation to generation on faith alone. History teaches, however, that faith is fickle, and even religions that persist through the ages twist, morph and splinter. We don’t need your faith. Faith would have failed us long ago. We need you to know. Some truths must be experienced.”

Encased in mithril chain, crawling with enchantments. The boys wore plate. All of it fit perfectly. A noble’s fortune, and only the start. Kenjin’s halberd, Leonidas’ sword and her bow blazed like suns with mana. An array of enchanted items, many entrusted to her, since she was the only one of the three to unlock mana. Absurd. Impossible.

A mile beneath the earth was already the domain of fools and champions. She was neither – yet here she was. Descending.

They had a map. There were ruins; supply caches; hundreds of tunnels, many fully marked and many not. They were told to go anywhere they chose. To descend until they knew.

The boys assumed they would find an ancient civilization, translate ancient runes and – well, that was about as far as they agreed. She was very much afraid they were wrong. It was the orbs, mostly. Two dull metallic spheres, seemingly inert. It wasn’t what they appeared to be, it was what the High Aspirant said about them. “When you know you are staring at your deaths, don’t hesitate. Use them when you know why we sent you below.” The words echoed and twisted in her head. And she knew.

Already they would be dead a half dozen times over without the class. Aspirant. Three inherents:

The Gift Of Learning: Skills are easier to unlock and require less experience to level. All caps on the number of skills that may be learned are removed.

The Gift Of Experience – Experience is awarded for each skill unlocked, and each level of each skill achieved.

The Gift Of Teaching – You may teach skills to others more easily and obtain experience for doing so.

A powerful class to be sure. But the next message defied everything they were taught.

Tabulating experience…

Simple, impossible words. You didn’t earn experience before you took a class, that was a fact. And yet there she was, a level fourteen Aspirant, a heartbeat after she took the class.

She could hardly talk to the boys unless combat required it. She knew. She prayed to gods she didn’t believe in. And still they descended. Madness.

Time passed in a blur. They fought. They were injured, armor or not. They leveled. None of it mattered. They descended.

Kenjin turned to her, pleading. “Vera, we need you with us. We can’t survive this if you’re lost in your head. Talk to me please.” It was more words than Kenjin spoke in some hours, clearly heartfelt – but what could she possibly say? So she shook her head. They descended.

Their armor was capable of emitting a glow, but they were long past needing extra light. Every cavern teemed with a surreal variety of life, and even small tunnels were lined with glowing moss. Their armor emitted a cooling chill, but the air was becoming hot enough to sear their lungs. They were running out of water; they could purify more, if they found a source.

They entered a large barren cavern with a glowing river of molten lava in the distance. We are off the map. We have to double back. Leonidas led them forward. From nowhere, four armored horrors like giant scorpions with enormous claws and two barbed tails. Leonidas reflexively took point, and stepped forward to try to gain their focus. The giant scorpions chittered and shrieked, but didn’t attack. Two more, on their left. A tunnel? Vera paused, arrow drawn. Something was wrong.

The scorpions exploded into motion and Vera reflexively released an arrow that buried itself in a claw, exploding with a muffled thump, destroying the claw but not slowing the creature. Suddenly she saw motion above and to her left, and turned to see a wave of winged creatures diving from above. She reached to her belt, drew and activated a screamer, pulsing with impossible quantities of light and sound, filtered to manageable levels by the enchantments in their armor. As the light faded, something massive could be heard crushing rocks as it charged forward. Vera watched a titanic beetle-like monstrosity approach, heedless to the battle around her, as Leonidas and Kenjin fought for their lives. On the back of the beetle, a creature out of nightmare stood and gathered mana. Death stared her in the face, and Vera knew.

Vera palmed the two orbs and infused them with mana, tossing them in the path of the incoming horrors, praying that she wasn’t too slow. The orbs first blazed, then sucked in mana in a circular negative pulse. They opened, expanding in a surreal landscape of shimmering crystalline limbs with a whistling noise that cut through the expanse. The creature on the giant beetle barked, and the battle was suddenly over, every enemy retreating as one.

Leonidas shouted “what the Hells just happened!” Vera snapped back, “the crystal golems won’t last long. We have to get out of here before reinforcements arrive.”

Leonidas grabbed Vera’s arm, spittle flying. “What were those things!” Vera shook free and started running. Kenjin and Leonidas kept pace beside her, two nine-foot crystal spider-like golems easily keeping pace behind. Vera turned to Leonidas and explained in between labored breaths. “You’ve seen paintings on temple walls, illustrations in books. The Swarm, the Swarm is here. The Age of Terror isn't a fable”

Leonidas somehow managed to scoff while running. “Impossible! The Order wouldn’t keep that secret. They would be shouting it from the rooftops!” Kenjin shook his head. “No. Didn’t you listen? They didn’t tell us, because we wouldn’t believe. The Order wouldn’t be the Order if they shouted over fairy tales.”

The group slowed long minutes later as they exited the expanse into a small passage. Simultaneously, the golems began to whir and contract, condensing back into dull metallic spheres. Vera noted, “we aren’t safe here. Who knows how long the golems take to recharge.” As they resumed moving, Leonidas asked “I still can’t fathom it. They send generation after generation here, lose Gods know how many, so that one day in the distant future, we will be in position to do what?”

Vera’s face twisted into a bitter mask as she answered. “No. Not the distant future. I remember the opening passage of The End of Days”

The red star known as The Eye of Sauron appeared in the daytime sky. The earth shook; the mountains bled fire, and death came from below.

“Our world has two suns. One is just very far away. Mostly. But it’s getting closer. Celestial motion its called. We tracked The Eye in class, talked about the conjunction, talked about the legends.”

Vera suddenly stopped, momentarily unable to go on, and whispered. “Five years.”