PART VI - WHAT'S IN THE BOX?

“Callie!” Lena said, rushing towards the Gnome. She dropped to one knee and hugged her, much like Jesca had just done in the garden.

“Uh, hi, Lena,” Callie said, returning the hug. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I was just worried about you.”

“Why?”

Lena straightened. “I … just was.”

“Callie, put your box in your footlocker. It’s delicate.” Vanis said.

“Why? What is it?” Callie asked.

“It’s very, very valuable.”

“Like, how valuable?” she asked, walking to her locker.

“People would kill for that.” Vanis said flatly.

Callie halted and looked at the Elf. “You’re serious.”

“Very much so.” Vanis replied. “Please, place it inside.”

Hesitantly, now suddenly feeling like she was carrying a piece of fragile crystal, she opened the chest at the end of her bed. She tried to reach the bottom, but her arms were too short, and the box would drop a few centimeters if she let go. “Lena, I need a hand here. I can’t reach.”

Immediately, the Bladedancer was at Callie’s side. She held the chest’s lid open with one hand and took the box from Callie with the other. She set it on the bottom with a soft thump, and then handed the lid back to Callie so she could close it.

“Thanks, Lena.” Callie said softly. She turned to the rest of the group. “Now, can someone tell me what is in these boxes that is so valuable?

“Your trainer didn’t explain them to you?” Lena asked.

“No. A fight broke out and we all had to run before he could get around to it. He said to ask all of you to explain it.”

“A fight?!” Tazroc said, standing up. “Must go!”

Vanis stepped in front of the Ogre before he could take more than two steps. “Wait, Tazrok. They will come and retrieve you if they need you.”

“But, am Corporal Punishment.”

“Yes, but we were also all told to stay inside.”

“Major Celeste, she’s my trainer, is in charge of security,” Lena said. “She’ll see it’s broken up.”

“You talked to the Major again?” Xin asked.

“Yeah, as I mentioned, she’s my Trainer. Apparently the old Bladedancer trainer quit, so she’s covering both Camp security as well as teaching my group. She’s high Gold Tier, so I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.”

“If she is Gold Tier,” Xin said, “Then surely she can break up any fight between Iron Tier recruits. Tazrok, I would not worry.”

“It was just a bunch of Dwarves apparently. Reynard, that’s my trainer, he’s a Foxkin by the way, and kinda racist, implied this happens often. Berserkers versus Barbarians, or something like that.”

Everyone else in the room put their hands to their faces and groaned out the word “Dwarves”.

“Question for all of you,” Callie started to ask, changing the subject. “What exactly are ‘tiers’? I keep hearing them mentioned, but I’m not sure what it means. I’ve heard references to several different types of metals.”

Lena attempted to clear the confusion. “Tiers are a ranking system used to categorize the power of a person, or their skills. We are all Iron tier, the lowest one. It means we have very little training and what skills we have are very weak or poorly trained. At some point, we would become capable enough to rise to the Bronze tier, fairly quickly, from what I gather.”

“How many of these tiers are there?” Callie asked.

“Ten,” Vanis said. “Iron is the lowest, and then up to Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum and then higher ones. Supposedly when we finish training here, we will be at Silver tier, if what Commandant Xera said is true. Most people only make it to high silver during their entire lifetime, so to walk out of here at our age already Silver makes us quite formidable.”

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“This is just a rating system then. It doesn’t really mean anything except how to describe a person? Whether I was rated Bronze or Gold, it wouldn’t make any difference, it’s just an abstract measure of my skill and experience.”

“Not at all, Little One,” Vanis said, “When you achieve the next tier, the capabilities of many of your skills and perks improve, taking on greater effect or additional characteristics. Right now, I can summon only one Imp. But I learned from a veteran Warlock I spoke with that, when I reach Bronze tier, I will be able to summon up to seven imps at once. A Gold tier Warlock might have a small army of twenty imps or more, as well as many other types of summoned Demons.”

“Whoa,” Callie gasped. She spent several long moments trying to digest what Vanis had said. She had heard references to ‘levels’ from her friends talking about video games, and quickly concluded that was a good approximation of this metal-named system.

As she climbed up onto her bed, Callie noticed Xin had a leather satchel on her bed. “What’s in the bag, Xin?”

“Drawing supplies. I am to draw my Shaman Totem tonight. Many times, apparently. It is the heart of a Shaman’s magical power, but unique to each.”

“Oooo! Cool,” Callie said. “Do you want any help? Oh wait, you’re supposed to design it yourself. Well if you want any help or a critique, let me know.” She looked up to Lena with a grin. “I like to draw.”

“Uh … thank you Little One. I will have to see how it goes,” Xin said with reluctance.

Changing the subject, Callie looked around at everyone. “So, since my trainer really didn’t have time to tell us, what’s supposed to happen this evening? I guess we stay inside, but I’m not sure why.”

“As I understand, they are going to bring us dinner soon,” Vanis said. “A light soup meal, and then, yes, we will remain in our bunkhouses for the evening.”

“Why?” Callie asked as she noticed everyone exchanging smirking glances with each other.

“We will … undergo a process where you will learn all of your class skills by tomorrow afternoon,“ Vanis finally said, evasively.

“All of my skills? Is this some kind of a magic ritual?” Callie asked.

“Yes. Something like that. It will leave us all very dizzy. So we will stay inside for safety.”

“Do I have to do anything for this ritual?”

“No,” Vanis said. “All you will need to do is lie in your bed with your eyes closed. Best with your eyes closed.”

“Uh huh,” Callie said, getting suspicious. “This has something to do with the super valuable box, doesn’t it.”

“A part of the … uh, ritual,” Vanis said.

“What’s in the box?”

“Nothing dangerous, I assure you.”

“Ahh, I see,” Callie said sarcastically. “What’s in the box?!”

Vanis looked helplessly at Lena, who put up her hands defensively. “This is all you, Vanis.”

“Want to see this,” Tazrok said, a huge grin on his face.

“Vanis … what … is in … the box!” Callie demanded firmly.

“Your …” he trailed off with an obviously fake cough.

“The box!”

“You need to understand, Callie, what an honor it is to be receiving all your skills this way. Less than three percent of the people have such an opportunity, especially advanced classes. The Free Folk have invested a small fortune in you for this.”

Callie looked at Lena, and then the other two. All three were trying not to laugh.

“Vanis!” Callie snarled.

“A real honor,” he reminded her.

“Oh come on. Do you all think I’m going to freak out or something?”

“YES!” everyone responded at once.

“Seriously? Is it that bad?”

“Not bad, exactly,” Lena said cautiously.

Tazrok grunted in laughter.

Callie sighed. “Vanis, what is in the damn box!”

“Your … Symbiote.” Vanis said reluctantly.

“Symbiote?”

“Yes. Or your … Worm.”

“There’s a worm in the box?”

“More of a caterpillar actually,” Vanis corrected.

“A … caterpillar?”

“Yes. With a hard shell on it.”

Callie narrowed her eyes, “Your aren’t telling me I have to eat a caterpillar, are you?”

“No! No!” everyone said at once, waving their hands in a panic to stop the idea from even forming.

“Not at all!” Vanis quickly amended. “You … uh … put it in your …”. Slowly, he trailed off in a mumble.

“In my what! Look, Vanis, I have a lot of orifices that have an ‘in’ on my body,” Callie hissed. “I better not have to take my robe off!”

Lena gave a hard snort of laughter, and then covered her face.

“In your … ear.” Vanis said with great hesitation.

“I put … a caterpillar … in my ear.”

“Yes.” Vanis confirmed, slightly straightening.

“I stick a caterpillar in my ear as part of a magic ritual that will give me all of my class skills.”

“Well, you don’t really stick it in there. You … let it … crawl in on its own.”

“Oh! Crawl in. That makes it much better.”

“Right. But after you take it out of its protective armored shell,” Lena said.

“Take it out of … what does it look like then? A butterfly?”

“More of a …” Vanis said.

“A what!” Callie snarled.

“More like a slug.”

“So instead of letting a caterpillar crawl into my ear, I let … a slug … crawl into my ear?” Callie clarified with a hiss.

“Yes.” Vanis confirmed.

Callie turned to look at each of her friends. Vanis still had an encouraging look on his face. Lena and Tazrok were both fighting to keep from completely breaking down in laughter; Tazrok in fact had tears leaking out of his eyes. Xin had sat on her bunk, and was hugging herself and biting one claw, trying very hard to maintain control.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!”