Once my little question-and-answer session with Culver was concluded, Anikka Velas was placed on a gurney and rolled towards the dungeon’s exit with the rest of us following behind. I saw another student, a young brunette wearing a white cloak with lightly glowing blue hands, keeping pace with the traumatized girl, gently laying her palms on her head and whispering soothing words.

Curious, I was about to ask one of the others what she was doing when a muscular arm suddenly wrapped itself around my shoulders. When I looked up, a broad-shouldered lad with olive skin and dark hair, easily hefting a massive tower shield over his back, looked down at me like I had two earthworms dangling from my nostrils.

“Bro, what the fuck happened?” he asked as he half-dragged me, half-choked me in his wake. “Three K.I.A.’s and a shell-shocked blonde. That’s not very good for your first outing, little man.”

“Uh, what can I say? It was like a mega culmination of utter fucking tragedy,” I said as I squirmed beneath his grip.

“You’re telling me!” he said. “I told you that you should have gone with my group. I know you’re trying to network with the bluebloods, but holy shit, results like this won't impress anyone.”

“I survived, didn’t I?” I said defensively.

“Sure, but she sure as hell didn’t come out unscathed,” the big lad said as he pointed at Anikka Velas on her stretcher. “Plus, those other three were her family's retainers. That’s too much money spent for a gutter rat like you to be the only one walking out on your feet. If you ask me, you might be more than a little fucked.”

“Be serious,” I said with a frown. Apparently, I was friends with this muscle head, or at least well-acquainted with him. I was glad. Perhaps this meant I could discreetly acquire information about this world without being perceived as acting strangely.

“What’s the deal with the chick with the glowing hands?” I asked him.

“Wow, you really are blitzed today, aren’t you, Evans?” he snorted. “That’s Cassie Wells, remember? She’s a healer. H-E-A-L-E-R. That’s the person who patches us up when we get injured, remember?”

What I wanted to say was, “No, I don’t remember, you condescending oaf, I’m not from this reality. But thanks for the information, I’ll be sure to keep your helpfulness in mind later when I’m deciding whether to rip your throat out with my teeth.”

What I said instead was, “Whoa.”

“Yeah. Whoa,” he said sarcastically. “Cassie went all in on her holy priestess spec. No offensive abilities at all, but she’s deep enough into her skill tree to help with mental trauma. Whatever Anikka went through, Cass can help her recover from it. That’s really lucky for you, spud.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Duh. If you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to her, then Annika can confirm your story once she gets better. Otherwise, you’d be fuuucked once her sister and your brother find out what happened.”

“I have a brother?!” I asked with genuine surprise.

The big guy broke out into raucous laughter and slapped my back hard. “Evans, are you dipping your ciggies in petrol? Come on, man, keep it together. Or better yet, set me up with your connection. God knows tanking is scary enough. Whatever you’re on must have hit you like a horse tranquilizer.”

“Bro let’s assume for a minute that, uh, I have total amnesia and can’t fucking remember anything. Can I desperately beg you to help me get clued in?” I asked him with wide eyes.

“Evans, are you high or actually brain damaged?” he asked with a slightly worried expression. “You remember me, right? Your old pal, Nick Pankratz?”

“Are we friends?” I asked hopefully.

“Nah, not really,” he snickered. “You just crack me up is all. I think of you as more of a stray that follows me around hoping to get a treat.”

“Do you like strays?” I asked.

“I tend to prefer animals that can feed themselves, honestly,” Pankratz smirked.

“I mean, if you feed wild animals and make them dependent on you, do you really have the right to complain?” I asked him.

“Oh, shit, dude. I‘m not sure. I’m a tank, we’re bad at philosophy,” he said while tapping himself on the head. “What do you want to know anyway?”

“What year is it, what’s the name of our country and what’s our current level of technology?” I immediately said.

“It’s 20-current year, you live in the Reunited States, and porn can be streamed on smart phones, so the tech level is pretty high, I think,” he replied.

“So, magic didn’t destroy civilization when it was introduced?” I asked.

“Evans don’t joke around about that shit,” Pankratz said with a frown. “Even I don’t think it’s funny to speak that lightly of the AOC.”

“The famous politician from Brooklyn?” I tried.

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“The Age of Collapse,” he said now with genuine irritation. “Hey, Cassie! Once you’re done over there, you might want to poke around this doofus’s skull for a bit. I think his brain has become a colander.”

The girl, Cassie, frowned at us both before turning her attention back to Anikka. Soon, we were outside the dungeon, where I saw that a large camp had been set up for the students. There were tents, an area where hot meals were prepared and distributed, a medical unit where Cassie and her team took Anikka, and a command center where I finally saw some adult personnel supervising the students.

There were also armed guards who’d set up a parameter around the area, and a dozen resource gatherers who were preparing to enter the cleared dungeon and strip it of everything useful they could find.

Parked nearby were two large, armored transports. They were huge, menacing-looking vehicles whose exteriors were covered in thick steel plates and bristled with deadly ranged weaponry.

Not exactly a cheery yellow school bus, was it?

“All of this for just one low-ranking dungeon?” I said with a whistle. “Vandal Academy really goes all out, huh?”

“There were five, dummy,” Pankratz said as he sat in a chair beside a warm campfire and gestured for me to have a seat as well. “Five lowbie fractures for five teams of five student-hunters. Try to remember, this was our big end of the year examination, bud. The goblin lair was the very last one on the list.”

“Which one did you get?” I wondered.

“The Golem cavern,” he said with a triumphant smile as he proudly held up his dented shield. “I fucking aced it, man. It was a two-hour clear time, and not a single one of those rocky bastards got past me and Becky.”

“Is Becky your co-tank?” I asked him.

“Shut the hell up, Evans!” he snorted. He then gently patted his shield and said, “Please forgive him, Becky. I think he’s cutting his powder with moldy baking soda or something. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

“Pankratz, I’m a brain-damaged amnesiac but even I think talking to your equipment is a little weird,” I said after staring at him for a bit.

“It’s not weird, it’s good luck,” Pankratz insisted. “Becky’s gotten me past golems, fucking spiders, goblins, you name it! She’s kept me alive and nurtured me more than any girlfriend I ever had. She’s a lady, and deserves to be treated like one, isn’t that right, baby?”

He then made cooing noises toward his shield and gave it a lingering kiss before setting it aside. “But yeah, me and my boys did great. Me especially. I’m on track to hit D-Rank by graduation next year! I even have permission for a probationary license with the hunter’s guild! That means I can start taking requests for pay! Goodbye narrows, hello uptown!”

“You’re not a noble?” I asked.

“What?” Pankratz said in disgust. “Come on, Evans, get it together. I know I look good in armor but be serious. My family and I work for a living, unlike the rest of these monied pearl-munchers. Life is too easy for them.”

“Fuck you, Pankratz,” someone called out. “I do my fair share.”

“Fuck you harder, Burtlowe,” Pankratz shot back. “And this is exactly what I mean. Burtlowe. Only someone with a lot of gold in their account can get away with naming their kid something that fucking absurd. Not a lot of girls would wear their sexiest lingerie for somebody with a name like that if he wasn’t loaded.”

“Your last name is Pankratz!” someone yelled as they tossed him a canned drink. Pankratz caught it easily and gulped half of its contents down within moments of opening it. “Damn straight it is!” he cheerfully yelled. “PANKRATZ! A hero of the people, kids! Once all of you nobs get tired of pretending to be hunters and settle down to run your coal factories and printing presses, you’re going to be paying out of your asses for me to guard your stuff. Be advised ladies, my shield and sword may be for sale, but you’re gonna have to earn my body!”

“Touch my girl and I’ll kill you, bro!” laughed someone else.

“Just for that, I’m gonna let you raise my kids!” countered Pankratz as he signaled for another drink.

Soon other students gathered to sit with us and exchange quips and jokes with Pankratz, as well as the occasional insult, all of which he deftly countered with a clever and punishing wit of his own. He was a charismatic brute; I’ll say that for him. He had the respect and admiration of his peers, and it was easy to see why. The others were drawn to his energetic personality, like moths to a flame.

It was an excellent performance.

If I’d been far younger than I was, he might have convinced me that he was the easygoing life of the party that he pretended to be. But I could see Pankratz’s eyes. They were filled with intelligence and calculation. He hadn’t merely befriended his more privileged classmates; he was imprinting himself on them. I could tell he hadn’t been joking when he said that he’d be working for them one day. I also knew that he hadn’t been lying when he said he intended to make a lot of money doing it.

Men like Pankratz always required lots of money for the lives they invariably led. Not ones filled with hedonism and leisure, though. People born with a fire like his could never be satisfied with an existence as pointless as that. There was an insatiable greed within his heart that yearned for far more and would not let him rest so easily.

I wondered what his wealthy friends would think if they could see the spark of deep-seated hate he carried for them beneath his friendly smile. His mockery of their social class had been amusing, but also genuine. He was truly contemptuous of his supposed betters.

Now I wondered what sort of a vampire he’d make. An excellent one, most likely. But probably too ambitious.

Why were these children so carefree? I was suddenly struck by that thought as Pankratz made another joke that had everyone roaring with laughter. Twenty-five of them had set out to conquer five dungeons. They had surely trained alongside each other for years. They weren’t mere strangers. But only twenty-two of them had returned alive. (Truthfully, it was twenty-one, but there was no need for anyone to learn the fate of the real Kyler Evans.)

Why wasn’t anyone mourning?

Pankratz had said that the three who died were only retainers. In other words, mere servants. Did that mean these young nobles didn’t view their loss as being meaningful? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that had to be the case. Was that why he worked so hard to make an impression on them? So that they would care? And therefore, not view him as being disposable?

Was the popularity he cultivated also a survival mechanism?

What a disturbing notion.

These children were far too comfortable with death.

“Evans!” a young woman’s voice cried out sharply, cutting easily through the din of laughter. Everyone grew silent as a blonde girl wearing a black tunic and pants beneath a red cloak swiftly approached me. A quick scan of her attractive features made me believe that she was Anikka Vesla’s sister, whom Pankratz had warned me of.

A warning I should have taken more seriously.

At the very least, I should have asked what her name was.

“What did you do to my sister, you WORTHLESS piece of trash!” she said in a voice filled with anger.

Before I could give an answer, she raised her palm towards me. “Take cover!” yelled someone in a panicked voice as Pancratz and his circle of friends dived for safety, leaving me exposed to whatever was about to happen.

The air suddenly smelled thick with ozone as I felt my hair become statically charged and begin to rise. An unpleasantly intense tingling sensation began to run over my body.

Oh, I knew what this was. I knew exactly what was about to happen.

“Die you little worm!” the girl shouted as my senses were overwhelmed with blinding light and the roar of thunder.