(James)

The cafeteria was the perfect stereotype of college life, once upon a time. A place where those of different social groups would mingle by accident. A place where friendships were built over food.

Not anymore though.

The rows of benches and circular tables had been pulled over the serving counter, and acted as a barricade of sorts, stopping anything from getting to the kitchen. An obviously human construct.

James and Dana stood ready to fight in the doorway, searching for anything to move. But nothing did. It was as silent here as anywhere else.

"Were the others here before?"

James asked more to the room than anyone else that might have heard.

"You think people did that?"

"I'm sure. It only makes sense people would barricade the food source."

"I guess, but do you think people are still in there?"

James started walking towards the organised structure, eager to investigate.

"There's only one way to find out, right?"

Dana pouted in the hallway for a few seconds before joining James. She kept her book open though, and was visibly tense. Ready to spring into action.

Upon reaching the barricade, James had to admit how impressed he was. Not only was it ridiculously organised, but he couldn't budge it when he pushed on it.

The only weakness he could find was a massive one. The section made of circular tables was on the verge of collapse, and had holes that would quite easily fit humans, and by extension, the smaller lizards.

James didn't trust this though. For something built so well, it looked a lot like a trap. If so, then this fort was still intact and still safe.

"HELLO!!"

James yelled out into the silence. He got no response and got impatient.

"HEY! WE'RE HUMANS! IS ANYONE THERE?!"

There was still no response. If anyone was There, they were ignoring him. If Not, then there would be no one to complain about what he did next.

James drew his pistol and, trusting the explosive damage of the shots, blasted a hole through the most solid section of the barricades. It took almost all his mana in the form of at least a dozen shots, but he managed to make a person-sized hole that didn't collapse.

Dana jumped back as shards of plastic and wood board were scattered across the floor. They all missed her, but James managed to get a small cut on his cheek from a stray piece of debris. He didn't even flinch. He was too focused on the admittedly fun task at hand.

When the wisps of smoke cleared, he climbed up onto the counter and stuck his head through the hole. There was nothing out of the ordinary there, only the door to the kitchen.

James ushered over Dana and helped her up onto the counter.

He held up a hand at knee height to act as a foothold.

"Milady."

Dana accepted his help and answered in turn.

"Why, thank you, good sir."

Despite her delicate and graceful use of vocabulary, her efforts to climb through the hole were anything but.

One unglamorous tumble later, she was lying on the floor behind the counter out of breath. James made sure to avoid her as he dropped his remaining spear through, and dragged himself through the hole.

He handled it better than Dana, and was off the floor in a second, retrieving the spear.

Dana stood behind him, leaving him as the buffer between her and the door.

"Look. No blood on the windows. Good sign."

He was suddenly less cautious upon observing that and put away his gun. There was a way outside from the kitchen, where the food was delivered, so he supposed they had all left.

Dana smiled tightly at him. That made him nervous again. Just because there wasn't any blood don't mean there wasn't any death.

He sighed and redrew his gun.

"Ok. Let's hope they left some of the food."

Then he pushed open the doors and was assaulted by the cold.

There was no light beyond this point. The kitchen had no windows for whatever reason, so with no power, it was dark as hell.

A visible mist washed over the two, causing them to shiver.

"Yeah. I don't like this."

Dana tucked her hands into her pockets, clamping her book under an arm.

"You think it's a trap?"

"No. I think this is another one of those rooms for stronger monsters like the workshop was."

"Something cold?"

"Yeah. An ice monster."

He nodded to himself.

"This should be cool."

Dana looked at him, mouth agape.

"Did you just make a fucking pun?"

James struggled not to laugh or even smile. He loved these reactions.

"Yeah. Seemed like the best time."

"Wha? This is no time for puns! This could be a fucking ice dungeon for all we know. Let's just get that fresh loot. And no more puns."

(Authors note: sorry Delta)

James merely smirked and stepped into the mist.

"Can you boost my mana, please? I'm on like twenty."

Dana puffed up her cheeks and almost poured again before they heard a wail emerge from the mist.

"Ok fine, just because we may need to save someone. Tell me when it wears off."

James nodded and retrieved his phone from a pocket. The screen was cracked, most likely from falling through the hole in the barricade, but he didn't really care.

"Coo-... Got it. Get your torch out too."

"Don't Need It."

Dana put her book away in her bag, crushing some food in the process. She got back up and held up her left thumb. A bright flame emerged from it and remained.

"See? It's kind of like Mays skill Bunsens flame. I just kind of used fire stream but cut off the mana as soon as It activated. Then it takes some practice to hold it."

"That's what you were doing while I was sweeping the hallways for danger?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that's pretty freaking cool. Is it it's own spell?"

"Yeah. It's just called mana flame. I can probably mess around with fire a lot with his."

James had a horrible vision of Dana burning down the building and just walking away with no issue.

But that was an... unlikely scenario.

"You going to be ok without your book?"

"Yeah. All it really does is make things a little easier to cast. It doesn't really reduce the cost, but I don't know, like it makes it easier."

"Cool. So. Let's go."

They walked into the mist, pushing more out behind them.

James took the lead. The light on his phone able to pierce through the mist further than Danas flame

"You see anything?"

Honestly, James didn't. He could be walking into a room the size of a football field for all he knew. As far as he knew from brief glances, the kitchen had metallic walls and was essentially just a corridor behind the doors. He had no idea if he was headed in the right direction.

James turned to his left then right, trying to find the walls that he had lost, something to navigate from.

Looking to the left, there was only darkness outside the range of his light.

When James turned to the right instead, he was presented with his own reflection crudely mirrored in a human-sized stalagmite.

"That... wasn't there before I think."

James hated to do It, but he had to see what this was.

Before he even walked closer to It, he confirmed his suspicions by analysing it.

Clarissa Dempsey (Deceased):

A victim of an Ice Elemental, Clarissa was given a cold funeral in the dark, alone. The last survivor.

"Shit."

James gritted his teeth and turned away. He didn't want to see this. He had known Clarey, she had been in several of his classes.

The worst part was that she had been alone when it ended. James was sure there would be many others in this room if he were able to turn on the light.

She was the last of them to fall. Whether that was due to her running or fighting, James wouldn't have judged, he had done both.

James sighed and turned around to illuminate Dana. Her face was almost neutral. A little sad, but she didn't understand what James had seen.

She took a breath to speak, but James interrupted her before she could.

"Don't. Let's just... See if we can find the others."

Dana looked solemnly at her feet and nodded.

"And don't analyse any of them." He said, gesturing to the frozen corpse So close to them. He looked sadly at her for a moment.

"Trust me. You don't want to see it."

James turned before he could see a reaction and kept searching.

When he encountered the metal cupboards and workstations for the chefs, it was only a short matter to find some knives.

While most of the largest were gone, of course, small ones that could be stored and used in an emergency were in excess.

Dana followed the stations round instead of looking into any of the drawers.

"Hey, there's a lamp here. A fuel one. You know how to turn it on?"

James did in fact know. He had once been camping and taught how to use a paraffin lamp.

Once he found her messing with the buttons and dial, it was a simple matter of checking to see if there was any fuel in it and turning it on.

It had plenty of fuel, so James wasn't sure why it had gone out before unless someone had turned their only light source off willingly. Or something had cooled it enough to turn off.

Tired of freaking himself out for no reason, he turned the lamp on full, it's light piercing through the mist. Though the kitchen itself wasn't very big, a surprising amount of people had been taking shelter here.

James saw the collections of frozen statues, hidden behind thick layers of frost.

15.

He counted 15 deaths in this room. Everyone here had made a strong start in surviving. They obviously had someone smart enough to barricade the largest weakness. Who knows? Maybe they had their own small group of people more educated in RPG's to rely on for guidance.

"What level is your analyse skill?"

"Huh?" Dana jumped a little. James realised he had been silently observing the room for a matter of minutes, and Dana had unsuccessfully been trying to get his attention. "Oh. It's um. Status... It's level nine."

James sighed in relief. As far as he knew, the brief description given by the system could only be seen from level 10 upwards. She could see the names of who she analysed, and the fact that they were deceased, but nothing more.

"Can you analyse the bodies here, see if Dom and the others were here when this happened?"

Dana was visibly shaken. But she understood that in all likelihood, James knew these people better than her and would react worse to hearing of their unfortunately cold demise.

A dozen bodies were analysed and James was getting nervous. It had taken a long time for Dana to regen enough stamina to keep up what she was doing, so James had time to look around some more.

It had dawned on him probably far later than it should have that whatever had killed them was still around. The only place they hadn't been in yet was the delivery bay,a small bathroom for the staff, and the walk-in freezer which was currently closed with the handle iced over.

James could guess where this Danger had come from. This, Ice Elemental. He knew where it might still be.

He wanted revenge.

As soon as he had the thought, it grew in his mind, becoming something ugly and grotesque that filled his psyche.

A rage built inside him as he walked up to the freezer. Not the white-hot rage that he had felt whenever he saw his father fall deeper into depression. This was something far more dangerous.

"Dana, sweetie?"

James struggled to keep his tone even, but the ice was too thick to break with his hand, and he didn't want to waste any mana.

"Could you open this up please?"

Dana sighed dramatically, but she still activated her mana flame and held it under the frozen handle.

The ice melted quickly, and as soon as it was dry, she returned to analysing the dead of the room.

James spent a careful minute letting the metal cool enough to touch it, and building himself up. He was certain there was something big in there. Something that had murdered everyone in here.

Spiritual skill gained: Reason 2

Another weird skill. But it hardly mattered now.

"Dana."

Dana looked up from what appeared to be a ledger.

"What now?"

"Oh, did you analy-"

"Yes. I analysed everyone. They're not here."

James nodded and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Good. Ok. We're going to fight the thing that did this now. Ok?"

Dana looked at him, dubious.

"You're kidding right?"

"No. Come on. Ice Elemental time."

James twisted the handle with his left hand, drawing his gun with his right.

With a grunt, tugged the door towards him, shattering the last of the ice off the seal. A fresh gust of icy wind blew towards him, causing the lamp to flicker.

James was ready for this. His finger curled around the trigger, ready to fire at anything that moved. But nothing did. He could hear something in there, a shuddering screech, but it was quiet.

"COME AT ME, YOU ICY MOTHERFUCKER!"

All he saw was a flash of blue, then darkness.