Chapter 18

Jay rose from bed and gathered his things then walked quietly to breakfast in the early morning mist, his boots leaving light muddy boot prints behind him. He was first to breakfast this morning and had bagels, some kind of sharp cheese, and a bowl of grapes. M'redith arrived some time later and grabbed a grape out of Jay's bowl, popping it in to her mouth. “Morning.” she said as she chewed, looking at Jay.

“Sleep well? Any good dreams?” Jay asked before he could catch himself.

M'redith blushed bright red and shook her head, “I slept pretty well, thank you.”

Apparently she must have had some pretty good dreams. Jay didn't inquire further as the topic seemed to embarrass her quite a bit.

“Me too. I feel like I get a better sleep here than I ever did in my first life.” Jay said while grinning as he chewed a bagel.

“How many lives have you had anyway?” she asked offhandedly but got up right after speaking to go up to the counter and get herself breakfast. She returned shortly with a plate full of fruits, some unfamiliar to Jay, and a bit of cheese.

“Well, I had my life on Earth, and now I have my life on Eden. It really feels like starting new and fresh. I have a ton of knowledge that is completely useless here, and I'm missing all the knowledge everyone here takes for granted. If that isn't starting a new life then I don't know what would be.” Jay said while finishing up his breakfast.

M'redith looked thoughtful, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, and nodded slowly, “Sure, but it isn't like you died and came back or anything.”

“Well they feel like two completely different lives from where I'm sitting. I go to sleep every day more confused than the last. Eden reminds me of a fractal.”

“What's a fractal? Sounds dangerous.” M'redith asked seriously.

“Its a mathematically derived image where the closer you look, the more detail you see. Focus on a tiny point of the image and zoom in as close as you can and you'll find it just as detailed as the whole picture. Never ending detail. That's what Eden feels like to me. Everything I see has another detail I didn't know about every time I look closer at it. And it never ends. I will never run out of things to learn on Eden.” Jay said with a winsome look on his face that M'redith thought looked quite fetching.

“I hadn't thought of it that way.” M'redith said. “Ok then. To your new life!”

M'redith raised her glass of orange juice and clinked glasses with Jay. “To my new life!” They each took a sip right as Aiden arrived in a rush. He dropped his tray on their table and immediately began eating.

“You're late!” M'redith scolded him.

“You don't think I know that! I overslept. Just a bit,” Aiden replied with a huff as he ate as quickly as he could.

Jay and M'redith gave each other a look before Jay stood up, looking over at Aiden. “Sorry buddy but that is about all the time you've got for breakfast. Its already time to head to class. You coming?”

Aiden didn't speak but nodded and tried to stuff more food in to his mouth as the three of them dropped their trays off at the counter.

Aiden burped and M'redith wrinkled her nose, “Ewww!”

“Sorry!” Aiden said looking a little guilty for his poor manners. Jay just smiled.

They weren't the first to class but neither were they the last. T'lly and Warren were on the podium of the classroom but the chairs weren't set up. Warren called out calmly, “Ok everyone quiet down, we're starting class.”

This time everyone listened and the noise level in the room dropped sharply.

“One day. You've had one day.” T'lly stated without emotion. “In that one day we have already lost a student, bringing your numbers down to 13. Keep this up and we'll only have enough people for two groups before you know it.”

Warren nodded adding, “Listen to the instructions you are given and follow those instructions. We're not even at the hard parts of training. This is the easy stuff. So pay attention.”

Warren and T'lly broke the group up by weapon types. Jay found himself with Aiden and the casters, all of whom had staffs of varying types, lengths, and widths. M'redith was in the group across from his and was surrounded by rough looking men all carrying swords. She seemed tiny in comparison.

Dumbass was in Jay's group as well and was carrying a staff.

“These are your weapon groups. We call them weapon groups because you are all grouped by the weapon you wield. Easy, see?” Warren said kindly. “In the future when we tell you to break up for weapon practice these are the groups you will form up. There is no reason to not know what group you are in so take a look at the people in your group and remember them.”

Watching the students T'lly sighed, “Look at people's faces, not their weapons. The faces are what you need to remember.” The students who hadn't already done so all turned and looked at each other's faces.

“Raise your hand if you have prior training with your weapon.” Tilly ordered. A few hands were raised up, M'redith being one of them. Jay and Aiden kept their hands down.

T'lly glared at the class one at a time. “Great. We won't have to stomp out any bad habits with most of you. LISTEN UP. I do not care how you were shown to fight. I do not need to hear your opinion that what your grandpappy taught you was better or more efficient. I do not care!”

She waved her arms at the assembled students, “We are here to teach you OUR way of fighting. You don't like it there's the door, you may leave at any time. This is not up for discussion. Once you graduate you can train however you like. While you are here you will train in what we teach you.”

Someone coughed in to the resulting silence. “Any questions?” Warren asked with a slight upturn of his lips. Jay had about a million questions, none of which needed to be immediately answered however, so he kept quiet. Just because an instructor asked for questions didn't mean they actually wanted to hear any.

Warren passed out what looked like round very flat stones to each student. “These,” he began while raising his voice so everyone would hear him, “are to be kept on you at all times while training. Better yet just get used to keeping it on you at all times, period. Once we begin running Dungeon Rooms you'll use your stone as your Figurine's base. Your stone is linked to you and will make your Figurine mimic your skill and abilities. Lose your stone and you'll have to pay for a new one. Yes, they are quite expensive, so don't lose them!”

Each of the students took a stone base and stored it on their person.

The remainder of the morning was spent with the students learning weapon exercises which they practiced on their own and with a partner. Each time Jay and Aiden would choose each other for partners until T'lly caught on to it.

“Are you here to learn or are you trying to date each other?” T'lly said while making kissing noises. “Didn't you listen to my speech about dating yesterday!? Could you two bear to be separated for five freaking seconds? Split up, don't practice with the same person every time.” she shouted at the students clearly frustrated.

Warren and T'lly went around breaking up the various pairings and got everyone out of their comfort zones. Jay was very uncomfortable and was covered in light bruises. “HIT HIM,” yelled T'illy at one student when he held back on a strike. “Are you practicing to fail? Follow through or don't strike at all!” she yelled at the student group as a whole.

The class, now divided in to groups by weapons but split up so they were all with strangers, took a break every hour for five minutes for water and stretching. If injuries were serious enough they were healed, otherwise they were told to grin and bear it. Or, as T'lly suggested, stop getting hit so much.

She didn't say “Stop getting hit,” but instead “Stop getting hit so much.” She absolutely expected them to hit each other from time to time.

Finally they broke for lunch and everyone headed out in various directions. Jay, Aiden, and M'redith walked together and Jay winced when M'redith slapped him on the back. “You did good! For a couple of beginners you guys did pretty well.”

Aiden and Jay shared a look that clearly said they disagreed. “It felt like I just got beat up by someone who wanted my lunch money,” Jay said while rubbing his bruised arms.

Aiden and M'redith both laughed. “My knuckles are killing me from that last hit I took,” Aiden said while shaking his hand as if he could shake off the discomfort.

Jay had been so focused on training he hadn't had time to watch M'redith during training. “How'd you do?” Jay asked her.

“I did great! I already know the exercises they're having us do so it isn't hard for me.” M'redith said as the three entered the Guild dining area and got in line. They each were given a sandwich, some potato chips, and a tray of carrots and cucumbers. At least that was what everything appeared to be to Jay.

They ate quickly, Aiden especially being extra hungry after somewhat missing breakfast. When they finished Jay brought their trays up and returned with small candy red colored cups of lime sorbet with tiny metal spoons for each of them. After the morning of sweating and working out in the hot training room the sorbet was a delicious cooling treat and no one spoke as they enjoyed their desserts.

Aiden played with his empty cup, “Is it desserts or deserts?” he asked, clarifying how many S's were in each word.

“Its desserts,” Jay replied, “It has that extra s for flavor.”

M'redith laughed and finished her sorbet.

Aiden took their cups up to the counter leaving Jay and M'redith by themselves for a moment.

M'redith was about to speak but stopped herself, causing Jay to look over at her in interest. “What? What is it?” he asked curiously.

M'redith looked like she was arguing with herself over something but after a moment appeared to make up her mind. “Do they have plays on Earth?” she asked with an odd inflection on the word Earth.

Jay nodded, “Sure, plays have been around for ages. People still watch them back on Earth, why?”

“There's a play that I've been meaning to see but I keep putting it off because no one will see it with me. I don't want to go alone.” M'redith said hesitantly.

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“What kind of play is it?” Jay asked, oblivious as always when it came to M'redith.

“Its a play about politics in early K'tharkle. They fight over ownership of an ancient dungeon. There's a lot of double crossing and backstabbing.” M'redith said, feeling like she was on more solid ground describing the play's plot.

“I don't really follow politics. What I mean by that is I'm not good at following it or participating in it. I'd probably be lost and bug you by asking too many questions. I doubt you'd enjoy the play very much with me.” Jay said apologetically, still thinking this was about the play.

M'redith pursed her lips for a moment and a look of slight irritation crossed her face as she realized Jay still didn't understand what she was asking him for. “I'll pay for the tickets.” she finally said. “I just need the company. I promise you will not ruin the play for me by asking too many questions.” She looked up at Jay pleadingly.

Jay couldn't say no to M'redith's pleading puppy eyes and agreed to accompany her to the play even though he didn't expect he'd enjoy it very much. “Ok. I'll go with you. When is it?” Jay asked.

M'redith smiled a triumphant grin which flashed by too quickly for Jay to notice, before getting serious once again.

“Friday night. I'll meet you at your room at seven, ok?” she said as if Jay might try to wiggle out of it.

Jay seemed a bit confused by her intensity but assured her that he would not forget which made her finally smile as if she had been waiting for that all along.

“Up, up, up! Time to get to class! Lets mooooove!” Aiden half sang to the others as he returned and ushered them out of the dining area and in to the sunlight that was just peeking out from the morning's cloudy sky.

Afternoon class was in a different building. The large domed building had a large room inside which was dominated by a large table that looked like it was a model of a real dungeon. The table was surrounded with stadium seating and there was a large screen on the far wall across from the entrances.

“Take a seat and quiet down. We're not waiting for the others to show up. Class starts on time with or without you.” T'lly said as ten or so students took a seat.

Warren set up the table with a preset dungeon while collecting five student's figurines. “You five are now a group for the purposes of today's exercise. Everyone in class will participate in this run's decision making however. Now, has anyone here ever run a dungeon before?”

Jay raised his hand before reading the room. His was the only hand raised. Everyone turned to stare at him.

T'lly and Warren shared a look that Jay couldn't quite read. “Jay, right?” asked Warren kindly to which Jay dumbly nodded.

“Aren't you the Adventurer with no fighting skills?” T'lly asked. “I don't believe you. What dungeon and what group took you?”

Jay sighed realizing he shouldn't have raised his hand if he didn't want the attention. He'd need to work on that. “It was a Traveler's Dungeon, and it was me and someone who sort of took me under his wing to familiarize me with the dungeon.”

Warren looked disappointed, “Dead dungeons don't count. If it was just you and one other person it couldn't have been very tough. We're talking about live dungeons,” he said as he looked away from Jay dismissively.

“No, this was a live Traveler's dungeon. I spent an entire day de-trapping the entire dungeon, sometimes successfully but just as often not. I would have died numerous times if my partner hadn't been watching, ready to pull me to safety. Then when we tackled the last room my partner almost died getting his head ripped off by some kind of stone monstrosity. I'd say that's live enough wouldn't you?” Jay said as politely as he could not wanting to anger the instructors.

“Bullshit.” T'lly said. “Traveler dungeons don't work for humans. Same with the other races as far as I know. Every one of us that has tried has failed. You'd have to be a Traveler I bet. What are you, a Traveler?” she asked in a mocking tone of voice.

Some of the students laughed. Dumbass laughed the loudest really enjoying the scene. Warren noticed and frowned slightly obviously making a mental note of it.

Warren stayed silent while T'lly verbally slapped down the upstart student who had thought he could get away with a lie in an attempt to make himself look better in front of the class. Warren wondered how Jay would handle things now.

The class went quiet as Jay thought of his response. Honesty had worked well for him so far. He decided to stick with it.

“Yes.” Jay said in a strong assertive voice, breaking the silence and turning his head so he was looking towards T'lly. “I am. Will that be a problem?” Jay looked directly in to T'lly's eyes as he responded.

Not getting a response Jay continued, “Or perhaps the map I made of the active dungeon would suffice?” he said while he pulled out his map case from his bag, waving it towards the instructors.

Warren, while still frowning slightly, took the map case that Jay offered and opened it up, looking at the poorly drawn map. “Who drew this map?”

“I did.” Jay said confidently. “It was my first one and I realize its a mess and could be improved upon.”

Leaning over to look over Warren's shoulder T'lly glanced through the map and finally settled on the last room along with its call outs and labels. “Huh.” she said out loud with a thoughtful expression as she glanced back over at Jay.

Some of the students were muttering to each other by this point. Warren eyed Jay with a curious expression on his face. “How many maps have you made?”

“So far?” Jay asked. “Two.”

Dumbass laughed at that but was quickly silenced by a threatening glare from Warren. “This will make a great lesson for today. Let's set it up,” Warren said, changing the lesson plan for the day slightly. T'lly didn't seem to mind. If anything she seemed excited to see it play out on the table.

Figurines were placed in the first room. One tank. One healer. Three dps, or damage dealers. Jay knew that dps stood for damage per second, basically dps was how much damage a person could do in a second. People whose classes focused on doing damage had much higher dps numbers, and the term dps had come in to popular usage in games.

“The best way to learn is by doing. So, who would like to go first?” T'lly asked flatly.

Jay raised his hand but was shushed by Warren. “Don't spoil anything, let everyone else figure things out just for today, ok?”

Jay nodded in agreement.

Dumbass, one of the damage dealers with a Figurine on the table, spoke first. “There's nothing in this first room, we should go in to the second.” As he spoke his Figurine went to enter the next room but was stopped by a blast of electricity. On the big screen the event was shown as the Figurine was tossed halfway across the first room, landing with a thud.

The class made varying sounds of horror and laughter as they watched.

“Well that was a fail. What went wrong there. Anybody?” T'lly asked in monotone voice.

Dumbass looked furious. “That wasn't fair, why didn't someone else tell me that was there!” he demanded, his face scrunched up in a very unappealing manner.

“Ooo,” said T'lly mockingly. “There's our first one!” making a note in a small notebook before it disappeared in her hands. “You will do many things while you were here but certain things will not be tolerated. For example, the belief that life is fair. It. Is. Not. We will strive to disabuse you of that notion before you graduate.”

Warren shook his head, “Dungeons are killers. The moment you stop paying attention you will get hurt or killed. Jay, what happened when you ran this dungeon?”

Jay smiled a little embarrassed, “I found the trap using a trap tool but still tripped it due to a lack of skill and experience. I didn't get thrown across the room I don't think though.”

The class laughed. Dumbass did not.

T'lly focused on him in particular. “What should you have done differently..” she said as she searched a sheet of paper for his name, “..P'trick?”

P'trick the Dumbass had calmed down a bit but became upset again at T'lly not knowing his name as well as being called out. “I would have someone else go first.” he said hotly.

Warren and T'lly looked dumbfounded. “Ok..” T'lly said slowly, “but also having a trap tool and knowing how to look for traps would be far more helpful to you. What if the only member in your group that can find traps dies during your run? Some traps can re-activate after you pass them. You'd be stuck down there. Relying completely on others is no way to survive out there.”

“Also,” stated Warren, “there's the small issue of you knowingly sending someone else to their death letting them go first. You'll find that you quickly run out of people. Plus, its a bit psychotic.”

The class appeared vaguely uneasy as everyone thought about P'trick's answer.

The class continued all the way to dinner with small breaks keeping things fresh. They would pause after each trap was set off or found and explain how it worked, how to detect it, and how to disarm it. Jay got out his Mighty Book and found a section he could use mysteriously appear. He titled it TRAPS and drew diagrams and descriptions of each trap they were taught.

Some of the students didn't seem to think they would need to know these things, others took copious notes. Warren and T'lly watched the students closely and they took notes on who was and was not taking notes. Towards dinner time the group reached the final room.

“We'll stop here.” Warren said to moans and groans from the students who had been somewhat looking forward to seeing the end of a Traveler's Dungeon. “Tomorrow is Friday. Standard class schedule in the morning but the afternoon class will be a half session. We will take tomorrow's half session to finish up this dungeon before we move on to actual trap handling next week.”

Warren handed five Figurines back to their owners, speaking with each for a few moments with words of encouragement.

“Out you go!” shouted T'lly as the crowd of students were herded out of the building. “See you all tomorrow.”

“Dinner?” Jay asked looking at his two friends hanging around the building's exit. Students from varying classes passed them going in and out to classes. Aiden and M'redith nodded and the three headed out to the dining hall.

Dinner was some type of buttery pasta with a garlic tomato sauce. They were served with slices of garlic bread and some slightly spicy peas, which turned out to be delicious.

Aiden had been watching Jay quietly as they ate but finally broke his silence. “You really beat that dungeon?”

Jay smiled, “I did. My partner thought it would be a good learning opportunity. He made me handle all the traps but did have to help me with the last room. And by 'help me with the last room' I really mean 'saved me from certain death.' You'll both see what I mean tomorrow afternoon.”

M'redith laughed at Jay's joke before she thought about what he had said and looked more thoughtful, slightly worried.

The three finished up dinner and went back to Jay's room where a package was waiting for him.

“What'd you get!” M'redith asked in excitement.

Jay tried to remember ordering anything before it finally came to him. “This must be the clothes from Sweet Vinnie!” They all went inside and took a seat, M'redith sitting on the arm of Jay's chair again.

Inside the box were pairs of pants with normal pockets as well as pockets on the pants legs. Cargo pants. A few shirts of various colors, and a vest made out of a mix of webbing and firm straps. It was a custom designed load bearing vest. There were additional pockets that could be attached to the vest in whatever manner Jay chose to place them. The vest was black with red highlights. Jay loved it.

Getting up and going in to the other room Jay tried on his new clothes and came back out to show off to his friends. M'redith was excited by Jay's pockets. “Why haven't I ever had pockets added to my clothes? I'm always complaining about it. I'm doing this pocket thing to some of my pants too once I get a chance to go in to the city again!”

They went over their notes as Jay's toy parrot wandered from hand to hand, occasionally landing on someones shoulder. Once in a while Sunny the parrot would scream “UPGRADE!”

“Can I use your writing kit Jay?” M'redith asked.

“Sure,” Jay said while setting out the yellow and black case on her lap. M'redith hadn't taken as thorough notes as Jay had. She took the opportunity to make a copy of his notes from his Mighty Book.

“So,” Aiden said, “any hints for tomorrow's afternoon session?”

“No way.” Jay said without even thinking about it. “I did it. You can too!”

After M'redith finished her notes she let out a huge yawn before she could catch it.

“Ok, bed time!” Aiden said brightly. “I'll see you two tomorrow. Nite!” They exchanged what was half handshake, half hug, and Aiden walked off in to the darkness.

M'redith waited until Aiden had left and wordlessly gave Jay a hug before leaving, not looking back at him.

Jay shut the door and got undressed, sitting on his bed. He'd been the focus of attention far too many times in class today and told himself he would try and blend in better tomorrow. Turning off the lights Jay lay down, wincing at his bruises from practice. He thought about M'redith's goodbye hug and quickly fell in to a relaxing dreamless sleep.