My mind spun. What are the odds both of them were from my old guild? Jackson was Jaxxon, the tank. Izzy had been Isandra the healer.

“Alright trainees!” Bidlack boomed. “Time’s up. Let’s move. Leave your trays. Kitchen help will clear them away.” We got up. Many of the trainees were shoveling food in their mouths as they stood. More than one turned up their flagon of beer.

We all formed back up into our squads and marched to the training room. “Alright trainees, which of your got racial weapons during character creation?” Bidlack asked. Several hands, including mine, went up. “Go get them. You have one minute.”

We all started running, a mad scramble for our rooms. Two of my roommates joined me. We all ran over to our trunks and threw them open, grabbing for our weapons. I got my tomahawk and brace of throwing knives.

Running back for the door, I nearly ran into the cat girl. I gestured for her to go first, and she did without another glance. The little elf lady was still digging in her trunk when I headed out.

I got back into my squad, only a little out of breath. The small elf was right behind me and lined up to my right. Instructor Goldo already had everyone practicing with quarterstaffs. Instructor Nills handed the new arrivals a staff.

“Balance is the key. You learned this yesterday. Power comes from the hips. Hiyaa!” The gold dwarf yelled as he swung the lower part of the staff. “Notice how I lean the upper part of the staff against my shoulder. That’s to get more leverage. Those of you walking the way of the warrior will do it differently, but for those of you that stay minimally proficient, that’s the way to go.”

The other three instructors and Drill Sergeant walked up and down the rows of trainees offering spot corrections. A kick to the inside of your foot means slide it out. Turning your wrist changes the grip. We went over the staff for about an hour.

A quick drink and back to it. This time with the knife. It’s another one we all knew how to use. “The knife is very basic. There are two moves possible. The stab.” Goldo stood on the balls of his feet, left arm held across the body. His right hand with the knife was just above his hip. He thrust. “Look at the stabbing motion. Where does the power come from?”

There were a few responses of the hips. “I can’t hear you!” Bidlack roared from the side.

“Instructor, it comes from the hips!” Most of us yelled that. There were a few variations. It seemed to please him. We saw another of those quartz heavy smiles. We kept doing the thrust for around half an hour.

“The slash is a rapid sideways motion with the blade.” Instructor Goldo demonstrated. “I recommend always slashing in a downward direction. You have more strength in your arms that way.” The instructors walked the rows of slashing at air trainees, correcting. Always making sure we were doing it right.

“Pay attention to this period of instruction. You will be dumped into the dungeon this afternoon. What you learn may save your life.” Bidlack told us.

“Or it may not.” Instructor Nills said with a faint grin. Bidlack scowled at the other human instructor.

“Those of you with racial weapons gather over here.” Instructor Goldo said. “Everyone else, continue work with the knife.” Instructors Falaise and Nills kept working with the knife group. Goldo, Bidlack and Stethyr came over to the racial weapons group.

We stood in a loose arc, all nervously clutching our weapons. Goldo looked over all of us. “Alright, dwarves over here. Elves to the right. Felinoids and gnomes stay in the center.” There were four of us dwarves. Two gold beards, one bronze beard and me, a silver. Goldo walked over to us.

“What classes are all of you going for?” Goldo asked.

The gold beard clutching a hammer spoke up first in a clear soprano. “I’d like to be a paladin. That’s what I always played before.” It hadn’t occurred to me one of the dwarves was female. Ah, that wasn’t a beard. Her hair was tied around her face like a veil. That’s kind of sexy. Did I just think that? Wow, I’d never been into women shaped like the stump of a cut down oak before.

Goldo grinned, his quartz teeth gleamed. “Bidlack warned us about that. There’s no such thing as paladins in this world. If you’re wanting that, you choose a warrior priority and then take priest. Is that clear? The point of zeroth level character generation is to allow you all to set you priorities as you go. So you’ll want to land at a three for combat and then probably a two for magic and one for fortune.”

We all nodded. He pointed to the next gold dwarf. “Uh, I probably want to be a priest.” The guy ran his hands through his wiry hair. “I don’t know the specific powers and abilities in this setting, though.”

“Okay, we’ll sit down once you get your first spirit point. Come see me when you get out of the dungeon.” Goldo nodded, then pointed to the Bronze Dwarf.

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“Ranger.” He said. There was an awkward silence as everyone waited for him to say more.

“Okay, that’s a three priority to skills. Do you want to be good at magic or combat?”

“Traps maybe.” The bronze dwarf said.

“Okay, we’ll meet about it when you get out of the dungeon.” Goldo told him.

The instructor looked at me. “Wizard.” I told him.

“Okay, that’s interesting. There aren’t true wizards here. There was a huge war a long time ago and the wizards got together and trained their apprentices to be mages, which only have access to certain schools of magic. Solar Mages get abjuration, evocation, elemental air and elemental fire. Lunar Mages get Enchantment, Illusion, Elemental Water and Elemental Earth. Ember Mages get Necromancy and Vitality and may choose from any of the four elemental spells.”

“Really?” I said, rubbing my chin. “Do I have to decide now?”

“No.” He shook his head. “You’ll take a kit once you reach first level. That’s when you decide.” He clapped his huge hands. It made an incredibly loud popping sound. “Let’s work on those weapons.”

The whole group got out axes. The two gold dwarves had bearded axes, the bronze and I had tomahawks. Goldo showed us how to hold them and slash. He brought us over to vertical wooden posts and had us do quick slashes, over and over until we felt like our arms were going to fall off.

“Alright trainees, quick break for lunch, then we take on the dungeon. Go eat!” Bidlack announced. I sagged in weariness, barely able to hold the haft of my tomahawk. Nearly everyone moaned as they stored their weapons and headed to the chow hall.

I flagged down Instructor Falaise as she walked by. “Instructor, when were you going to show us how to cast spells?” I asked.

She smiled. “We were going to wait until you got some spell points for that. The first of you will need to put points into your magic priority.”

“I already have spell points, Instructor.” I told her.

“Ah, that’s right. You are a silver dwarf!” She looked around. “Go fetch me those two sea elves. I’ll instruct all of you together.” I ran to get Izzy and the other sea elf.

Instructor Falaise sat us down in a corner of the training room. “Okay, both of you are going to be priests, right?” She pointed to the sea elves. They both nodded. “And you’re trying to be a mage?” I nodded.

She got a thick tome and handed it to the sea elves. “This is a listing of all the known gods. You need to pick one.” She looked at me. “Do you have your spellbook?” When I said no, she told me to run get it. I got up and hustled to my room.

When I returned, Instructor Stethyr was standing beside Falaise. He handed me a leather wallet that contained a pork sandwich with the bones in it. I sat and ate while the instructor talked to the elves.

“I’d be careful.” She inhaled deeply. “I can’t go into it too much now, but I’d avoid picking the lawful good gods.” She ran a little webbed hand through her hair. “What you’ll be doing won’t necessarily agree with them too much.” In response to their questions, she just shook her head.

“Okay,” she said, turning to me. “What spells do you have?”

I flipped through the book. “Uh, Discern Magic, Snow Ball and Candleflame.”

“Good. Pretty basic stuff. How many mana points do you have?” The instructor asked.

“6.” I told her.

“Zeroth level spells are three points each, so you can memorize two.” Then she taught me how to form the structure of will needed. You mentally create a shape, and it’s different for everyone, and fill it with mana. Once it is stuffed with the right amount of mana you superimpose the runes that make the spell onto it.

It sounds easier than it is. This is sort of like juggling knives while trying to drink from a straw, both with your eyes closed. My mental structure is a paper French fry cone. Sue me, I was hungry when I thought of it. The mana is the fries I dump into the paper cone.

It took me all afternoon to be able to memorize Snow Ball and Candleflame. Instructor Falaise walked me through the guide to hand shapes and material components. My sausage thick fingers didn’t want to twist and bend that way, but I finally got it.

Just in time, too. I was the last trainee summoned into the dungeon. The instructor walked me to the other end of the hall, past the sleeping chambers. There was a small waiting room. Instructor Nills was in there, cleaning blood off his exceptionally well made armor. “Glad you’re back. We could have used you.” He told Falaise.

Nills looked at me. “Okay, trainee. You’ll go through that door. The goal is to bring back seven fuzzy rabbit tails and don’t die. Be smart. Remember how weak you are.” He held open the door.

It led into a jungle-like setting. Looking up at the glass ceiling, I could see this was a green house. I noticed a few mirrors positioned around the ceiling set so the people in the observation room directly above me could watch.

There was an irregularly shaped clearing covered with grass and a few large rocks in the middle of the room. Tall bamboo like trees with long purple leaves covered the sides of the chamber. Water came out of the walls to tumble down a few rocks and fall into a pond on the right side. It was unnaturally still and silent other than the tinkle of water on stones.

There was a big bunny chewing on the leaves of a downed tree across the clearing. It was a monster. Must be one of those giant rabbits you see kids carrying around that are the length of the child. I could see fluffy tail number one.

There has to be a test. I can’t just walk up and chop off its tail. I kept scanning the room, but didn’t spot anything.

In my experience, if something seems too easy, it is. I crept across the clearing to the first rock, trying to move silently. The rabbit kept munching away and didn’t acknowledge me. The waterfall is probably covering for whatever sounds I make.

I sped up a bit, going to the second large rock. It’s a little muddy and my boots squelched as I stepped, so I froze. Willing the rabbit to ignore me, I stood stock still. My shield made this much harder. I had to hold it out from my body to keep it from banging around and making noise.

It kept chewing, so I kept sneaking. Step, hold, step, hold. I came right up behind it, so I drew my axe and hacked off its tail.

It turned quickly and screamed. The horn on its head came visible and its eyes were red.