“For shit’s sake, Wren, isn’t there an easier way to teach me all this?” I screamed as I dove under the massive war hammer arcing through the space my face had just been. I turned the dive into a roll and came up behind the enormous creature.

When Wren said I was to do some holo-training, I really didn’t think I would be up against a team of Orcs, or that I could actually die if I screwed up too bad.

I heard laughter ring out from somewhere in the distance. Wren’s sweet but cold voice called out, “Oh yeah, definitely, but they aren’t as fun and since your such a badass we need to see what you got.”

I hopped backward as the Orc turned quicker than I had thought possible and charged. I had only managed to take down two of them so far and just barely at that. Not to mention, I was already halfway through my Haste spell, and I needed to finish this before it wore off.

Thankfully, they weren’t that bright and the first one was killed by one of his own when it flung a boulder at me, and the lumbering oaf of an Orc had run directly into its path. The second one I’m actually proud of. As it charged, I cast the only attack spell I had purchased from the system and sent the Wind Scythe directly into its ugly face. That was enough to knock it off balance and make it fall where it had smacked its head into a stone, killing it instantly.

{Success!}

{You killed an ORC BERSERKER}

{You’ve gained 75XP}

{You’ve gained 10 credits}

“Hell yes! That’s what I’m talking about. A few more of those and I’ll be golden!” I yelled jubilantly as I hopped up and down celebrating. The whole system thing was still a bit confusing, but I was slowly figuring it out.

…

Twelve hours earlier.

I rose from my bed, hunger gnawing at me and crossed the room to the door and pulled it open expecting to find Polo there. He was gone, and the storage area just outside my door was empty.

A solitary stool sat beside my door, on top of which rested a newspaper. My curiosity got the best of me, so I picked it up to read the headline. It nearly destroyed my appetite.

The top headline read as follows.

THE GRAND, NORTHERN CITY OF STROFAST HOLDS A DARK SECRET.

It has been one month since that tragic night and the city of Strofast is still gripped in fear. On the night of Thursday, August the 24th, a local family had been found brutally murdered in their own home. Rob Giantbulb, age 32, worked as a port hand in the city while owning his own fishing shop on the outskirts of town with his wife, Tan, age 27, and their two children: Kary, age 7, and Todd, age 2. Sometime around 3:00AM, a neighbor reported sounds of screaming and blasts of bright light. By the time the city guard and the Viation mages arrived it was already too late. All signs pointed toward a rogue mage but with the trail cold, no one can say for certain. It has long been suspected that a lone mage has gone rogue and terrorizing the… continued on page 7.

The next article wasn’t very interesting, just a fluff piece about the king of a city called Nosic. Basically King Titus Ydur was doing amazing things for the world, so on and so forth.

“Blah blah blah, I do not care.”

What really caught my attention was the picture that went along with the article. It showed a clean-shaven man stylishly dressed in a business suit standing at a podium giving a speech. The man was handsome by every standard and seemed to have the crowd captivated, but that wasn’t important. No, that would be the twelve people standing behind the King.

Each was wearing long hooded robes that masked their faces. The only thing that could be seen shining out of the dark was their eyes.

“Mages!” They all had mismatched eyes just like Wren, except theirs were a variety of colors. I pulled the paper closer to really examine them. It also looked like they each had a strange symbol on their right shoulder. “I can just about…”

“Grey! You’re awake!” Polo’s jovial voice called out, nearly scaring me to death. I looked up to see him strutting toward me. He chuckled then added, “Sorry about that, mate. I should’ve warned you I was here.” He clapped me on the shoulder as he came to a stop next to me. “How long you been awake? Sorry, for not being here, I had to run to the loo right quick. They don’t exactly give me too many breaks when I’m on duty.” He laughed lightly.

“Duty? They got you guarding me around the clock?” It irked me a little to basically be a constant prisoner, but it was better than being dead I guess.

“Unfortunately, someone has to guard your smelly ass in case you go crazy.” Polo laughed at his own joke before noticing I was holding his paper. His expression grew somber

I looked down at it and had to know. “Please, tell me we are nowhere near there? Last thing I need is for a someone to mistake me as the killer.”

Wait could I be the killer? The article said it had been over a month and I had been here about a month. Nah, can’t be. I’m not a killer.

Right?

Right.

Polo didn’t see my moment of doubt as he examined the article I was reading. “Ahh… I see. Pretty gruesome stuff, poor family. But no, we are far away from Strofast so don’t worry, you are safe, my friend.”

That wasn’t really the relief I was looking for. Afterall, I very well could be that mage. It sent a shiver down my spine, but I decided to not dwell on it for now. I needed to figure who I was and quick.

But that wasn’t the only thing about the article I was intrigued about. I pointed to the man at the podium and raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh right, your memory problems. So yeah, well, that is a bit of a story. That would be the so-called king, Titus Ydur giving one of his weekly speeches. Let’s see, I believe he came to power over Nosic about ten years ago and ever since, he has tried to win over the people with his speeches and promises. But honestly, the guy is a fake and a complete sociopath.”

I took a seat on the stool as he talked. I was still feeling weak, and my hunger was starting to get to be too much.

“A few years ago, a district of the city called Tames tried to stand against him, and it didn’t end well. Titus has a wee bit of a nasty temper. Let’s just say that that part of the city will never be the same. The thing is whenever Titus gets close to winning the people over, something happens that sets him off and then he goes on a killing spree. His last one lasted two weeks and when he was finished, two hundred people were dead. But you won’t find that in the papers. They are too afraid to print the truth for fear of retaliation. No, whatever you read in there is false. The guy is a monster..”

Polo pulled out a bit of bread and began nibbling as he finished his story. “But let’s not talk about that right now. You hungry? Ehh, what am I say, o’ course you are. I can hear you stomach growling from here.”

I weakly nodded in agreement. I was feeling ravenous and almost to the point of ripping the bread right out of his fingers.

“Right. Let’s get some chow and then off to the Testing for you.” He clapped me on the shoulder as I stood, and he proceeded to guide me along a path opposite the one we took to get to Jupiter’s chambers.

I could see more of the supply room now, but it was much the same as earlier. We passed through a door that I was unaware of. Right outside of the doorway, there was a small tunnel that led to a set of stairs. As I passed through, I saw water drip from a crack in the ceiling and strike a metal grate near the floor causing a soft ping sound.

Good to know where that was coming from. It was starting to drive me mad.

“You said that this place has multiple floors, right?” I asked Polo eager to learn more about where I was as we walked down another tunnel.

“Yeah, that’s right. I haven’t been to them all, but they make us learn about them when we join up. The topmost level contains the main opening and a small security force that protects the entrance around the clock. The next level is mainly where the mess hall and training grounds are, along with a small armory and the system shop. The third level is a cavernous room that is used as housing for the troops and the families of those who are out on a mission. The fourth floor is a full-scale training ground and a more high-end armory. You should check that out sometime! It’s amazing! We are currently on the fifth floor which as you know is storage, and Jupiter’s rooms. The lower two floors are outside my paygrade, so I’m not sure what’s down there. Right now we are heading up to the second floor, to get some grub.”

Polo stopped just in front of what I thought was going to be an elevator but looked to just be a hollowed-out platform built into the walls. He just stood there patiently as if this were normal, so I did the same. After a few seconds my curiosity got the better of me.

“Polo, what exactly goes on here? You mentioned missions. Is this some sort of military base? So far, I have noticed a massive amount of supplies, men who act like soldiers, and mysterious missions. I feel like I am on a top-secret military base or something.”

He hesitated for a second. “It’s best if you wait and let Jupiter fill you in. I’m not sure how much he wants you to know. So, for now, keep those observations to yourself.” He tone was kind as he informed me, but I still felt nervous about the whole thing. I pushed the thoughts out of my mind, I was in this situation now, and there wasn’t much I could do about it so best to just go with the flow.

I looked at the platform apprehensively as the only thing keeping people from falling in was a small wooden gate that looked like it would fall apart with a strong gust of wind.

Polo noticed my concerned looked and answered before I could ask. “The lifts were added recently. Too many people couldn’t make the trip on the stairs, due to sickness, age, or whatever, so they hollowed out the tunnel, and a few resident mages help to keep it enchanted to run. These are primarily for civilians and such. We have much larger ones that allow us to easily transport vehicles and supplies.”

With all that I had seen, none of this really came as a surprise. Just one more thing to add to the ever growing list of oddities in my life.

Polo pushed a button on the side of the opening, and we silently waited for the lift. I didn’t want to ask any more questions. Every answer added more questions. My head was really starting to hurt.

My stomach choose that moment to cry out in protest and anger, which of course caused Polo to laugh. I awkwardly shuffled my feet and looked away.

A few seconds passed and I began hearing a soft woosh coming from the opening. Before the lift arrived, Polo reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of black sporty looking glasses and handed them to me.

“These have enchanted glass that will help to hide your eyes. Everyone here knows most the mages, but even they don’t get along that well. I can’t imagine their reaction to your eyes. People are distrustful of things they don’t understand. No need to cause panic.” I nodded in agreement and took the glasses from him, then slipped them on.

A few seconds later the lift arrived.

Polo opened the gate, and we stepped onto a simple wooden platform with railings. Thankfully, the railings seemed to be in much better condition than the gate. Two other people were already inside, patiently waiting to get to their destination. Neither looked at me as I entered so I paid them no mind.

Polo hit a strange symbol on the wall amongst a group of symbols, and we started to ascend to the mess hall.

I could hear and smell it long before we arrived.

The aroma was fantastic and made my hunger even worse. The most prominent of which was honey baked ham that flooded my senses and made me salivate uncontrollably.

A cacophony of voices rang out as we came to a stop. Polo opened this gate again, and I stepped out and got my first look at the vast amount of people that resided here.

The place was larger than the supply room outside of my room and was packed wall to wall with people. No one really paid attention to us as we exited the lift.

A few curious bystanders paused for a second but quickly returned to their food. Polo led me to the left side of the room where a line of people stood waiting to fill their plates.

Ever the talker, like his wife, Polo launched into and explanation before I had the chance to even think of a question.

“So, we have a pretty good amount of food,” he began as we stopped behind a pair of rabbit beastkin who were eagerly chatting to each other. Polo didn’t let them blot him out though and continued on.

“You can eat all you want, but after you get your first plate, you have to wait until seconds are called. The main kitchen staff will ring a bell in the back. Once it has rung, you are free to get seconds or even thirds. We have a surplus of food so don’t feel bad about eating a lot. The brass believes that a well-fed people is a happy people. Just make sure… Oh, hey, Mark!” Polo cut his sentence off as a man in dark grey attire with a large scar on his forehead approached. He smiled when Polo called out to him. “Good to see you back on your feet. I thought after the blow you took during training you would be down for a few weeks.”

“Nah, you know me, head as hard as a rock. But my sense of taste hasn’t been the same since which is kind of depressing. For some reason, I’ve been craving radishes ever since.” They both chuckled as Mark passed by and made for the back of the line. “I hate radishes, though.” I heard him whisper before he got too far away, which made me crack a smile.

We had only been there a few minutes and there were already at least 20 people behind us.

“Poor Mark, you should’ve seen the size of his head after it happened.” Polo shook his head in pity. “Anyway where was I? Oh right, yeah so eat all you want but try not to overeat. They like to spring surprise drills and tests at random times. Last week they called for a full evacuation, right in the middle of a call for seconds. Plates dropped everywhere, and it was a madhouse.”

“Well let’s hope they don’t do any tonight. I’m probably going to eat until I pass out.” I patted my empty stomach, reassuring it that food was coming.

We stood in line for about ten minutes until it was finally our turn.

I had only known Polo for little over a day, but I was finding the more he talked, the more relaxed I felt around him. He was always filling the silence with some thought or joke, and he often talked of his wife and children. It was easy to be around him.

I stepped through the door and picked up a small plastic tray and a silver fork. I held my plate out as a unknown beastkin with dark grey fur spooned food onto it. I looked down the line at all the workers and noticed every single one was a beastkin of some kind and each of them had on the same black collar that Noreen and Kira had.

“Hey Polo, what’s with the…” I started to ask before my head exploded in pain and my vision flickered black.

The pain faded just as quickly as it came and after a few seconds I was able to open my eyes, but everything was different. I was no longer in the mess hall with Polo.

I found myself standing in a similar line waiting for food but there were no beastkin here, just regular human workers, silently spooning brown mystery meat, internally hoping the day would hurry and end.

I tried to yell, to get someone’s attention, but my body wouldn’t respond. I wasn’t in control anymore. My body moved without me doing so.

I held out my tray out as one of the workers slopped some goo onto it.

Movement to my right drew my attention. A little girl in a pink dress with bowties in her hair stuck out her tongue, leaned toward me and whispered, “I think that thing died, came back, and died again before being served to us.” She giggled and looked at me expectantly.

I laughed at her joke and turned to move down to the next worker. I felt a sense of familiarity with her, and I knew she was someone important to me. With possible answers so close I was excited to see where this dream, vision, or whatever this was would take me.

I looked back at the girl, but she was gone and in her place stood Polo with a concerned looked on his face.

"Are you okay, bud? You stopped moving and had a weird look on your face. Then you started laughing randomly at nothing. It was very creepy," he asked, concerned for my sanity.

I’m losing my damn mind!

Whatever was happening to me I needed to hide better, or someone might have me committed. I wasn’t sure what that was or who the little girl was, but I already had enough weird crap about me. I’ll just keep this one to myself for the time being.

"Yeah… Yeah, I am fine. Just need to eat something and then I'll be right as rain." I walked on letting the conversation die in the line.

We loaded our plates then walked to a small table toward the left-hand side of the room and ate in silence. My thoughts kept returning to the vision. I was sure I knew her from somewhere and it was killing me.

Polo would have conversations with anyone who passed. He was friendly to everyone including the beastkin which wasn’t normal. From their placement in the room and how the humans basically acted like they weren’t there I could tell they weren’t well liked.

After the plates were cleared, we got up and deposited them onto a table near the mess hall exit, then left the room heading toward the training grounds. I decided to take his advice and not overeat even though I was definitely still hungry. I figured I could go back after the training for more which helped with my nerves.

"So, Polo, tell me about what I’m going to be doing. I’m a little nervous and maybe knowing will help calm me." It was the truth after all, and I didn’t mind admitting that to him. The way they made it sound, the Testing was some grand ceremony and not the small event I was hoping for.

"I’m sorry, my friend. I couldn’t tell you even if I knew. The Testing for a mage is a closely guarded secret. I honestly don’t know what will happen to you. Once we reach the entrance, I will make like a tree and leaf,” he paused waiting for me to laugh at his dumb joke. “Get it? Make like a tree and… Oh well, I thought it was funny. But no, I will leave, and you will face whatever is inside on your own. "

He slapped my back and walked on, whistling a soft tune in that happy go lucky carefree attitude I was starting to associate with him. Say what you want, but the guy was a charmer and could make friends with a man-eating, friend-hating chihuahua. Vicious little bastards.

I hesitated for a second, not sure whether I should try and flee now or face what was before me.

Jupiter had given me this opportunity and no matter who I was before, I knew that I couldn’t just run. These people helped me, healed me, and were giving me a chance when many others wouldn’t.

I won’t run.

I caught up to Polo who continued whistling his tune, and I lost myself in thought. So much had happened in the last few days and there were so many mysteries surrounding me. It felt like the plot to a bad mystery novel.

I took stock of the passage we were currently venturing through in case I needed to make a quick departure from whatever the Testing was.

Even with my resolve as strong as it was, you never no.

We passed two doors before reaching the entrance to the training grounds. Polo informed me the door on the left led to the armory, while the right one would take me to the system shop. I didn’t know what he was talking about but now was not the time for it.

“Normally, there are dozens of people going back and worth here, but Jupiter had the whole placed close especially for you and The Testing. Well, my friend, good luck and I hope you don’t die!” He laughed then proceeded to head back the way we came.

“Don’t rush off on my account,” I mumbled, hoping he would stay for a bit longer, but he was already back to whistling and out of earshot. I was alone.

I turned to face the challenge before me.