Academy - Combat Tactics Classroom

“And that’s exactly how you wouldn’t go about dodging an opponent with a spear,” Professor Darion said.

Hex watched Rey struggle to sit up from the spot he’d been knocked on the matted floor. The professor spun a wooden training spear and held the haft out to help the red slime up.

Yolo giggled beside Hex at his brother’s embarrassment. "That’ll teach him not to volunteer to be the model student again."

"Anyone think they can do better?" Professor Darion asked the assembled first-year slimes.

There was no response.

"Well, you’ll all get your opportunity. We’ll keep going until someone doesn’t get knocked on their keister." He looked at the crowd, then pointed at Yolo. "You next."

Yolo’s smile vanished.

The lesson continued with no one able to dodge a spear strike from the dwarf. He didn’t seem disappointed though. By the end of class, he was actually changing his strike technique to make sure no one dodged it.

There’s a lesson somewhere in that too.

Hex exited the room alongside Rey, Bleu, and Yolo as they pointed out bruises and made fun of one another for their failures against Professor Darion’s spear.

The combat training classroom was in the same tower as the infirmary and the Humanoid dormitories—as Dracala had already discovered during her nightly flights around the castle.

Hex considered visiting the infirmary to check on Brains, who was still unconscious, but he had other plans he was eager to get to in the opposite direction.

He paused when he noticed Talara waiting for them in the hallway, her white wings glistening in a stream of sunlight from the nearby window.

“Hello, my siblings!” she said, possibly including Hex in the statement, or more likely completely forgetting about his existence.

“What are you doing here?” Rey asked.

“I can’t come check in on my favorite first years every once in a while?”

“You see us at the dormitory every night,” Bleu said.

Hex was about to turn to leave the slime family to their conversation, but Talara’s next words stopped him.

"Fine, you caught me. I’m actually here for Hex."

"M-Me?" His core froze in his chest.

"A little birdie told me you were planning to go to the library after class today."

The three younger slimes all groaned.

"Ugh, the library? It’s so boring," Rey said.

Talara shot him a stern look, then beat her wings once and glided over to Hex. "I’ve been volunteering there ever since my first year. I’d be happy to show you around."

"Uh, sure. Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks." He fiddled with his appendages, secretly hoping Rey, Bleu, and Yolo would all decide not to join.

They had no interest in the library—even Yolo, which surprised Hex—and ran off to gather sticks and practice dodging spear thrusts.

That left Hex with Talara.

Alone.

He followed her through the tower, her pink goo sparkling every time they passed a window and the sunlight caught it.

They travelled in silence. Hex had no idea what to say. He’d already used up all his reserved conversation topics when he walked with her after The Sarc. A lot had happened since then, but not much he could actually talk about.

Eventually, the quiet became unbearable, so he just went with the first thing that popped into his head. "So, by little birdie, I assume you mean—"

"Yup, you’re not the only slime in Florimell’s good graces." She peered back and winked at him.

He’d finally had a chance to talk to the spirit raven after she’d saved his life from the Corrupt Being. He’d told her everything about his conversation with Charlie and Professor Blackbeard, even though she’d probably already heard it all from her pirate friend. And he’d thanked her of course.

Countless times.

To which she’d only responded, "Listen to me the first time I tell you not to do something next time."

He probably wasn’t exactly in her ‘good graces’ at the moment. But he had told her how he wanted to do some research on the Waywalker myths today. She must have relayed that information to Talara.

Of course, he never told her the other reason he wanted to go to the library.

The room housing the library was enormous. Its ceiling stretched up to what probably would have been three normal height floors in the tower. Thin staircases and walkways lined the walls, allowing access to the thousands of books above.

In front of the entrance a grey-haired human woman with glasses and a wide-brimmed witch hat sat at an expansive desk. She ignored them, sorting through piles of books on the surface around her, eyes cemented in a permanent frown.

"Don’t make a ruckus and there’ll be no issue," she said without looking up from her work.

The main floor had several different sections with rows of tall bookshelves. Each section was denoted by a different color rug. Little signs marked sections as information on Gate Worlds, Pentory history, skill and item archive, and more.

There was just so much, Hex had no idea where to even start.

Luckily, he had his very own personal guide.

"Incredible, isn’t it?" Talara asked.

The amount of knowledge stored away in this room was beyond his comprehension. "I didn’t even know this many books existed."

Talara giggled. "You get used to it once you come a few times, but you never stop feeling small before it all."

Hex took a few moments staring up at the walls, painted with the different color bindings of the shelved books. He didn’t see what he was looking for, but the library wasn’t going anywhere, so he allowed Talara to show him around.

"This is where the records are stored for every item ever discovered," she said as she led him into the green-carpeted section. "Whether it’s potions or swords, cloaks or helmets, even ore and lumber, it’s all documented here by the archivists."

"Who are the archivists?"

"There’s an archivists guild in all the major cities. Appraisal reports are all sent to them for rare and enchanted items. There are also public records for most items constructed in Pentory, and Quest assignments that bring back items beyond the World Gates. They mostly deal with paperwork, but they also create some assignments themselves to discover new items that only exist beyond the Gates or retrieve things for evaluation. If you’re interested you should go check out their guild hall in New Valour."

From the sound of it, there were ways to track the existence of most items in Pentory. Except the ones I bring back with my Waywalker ability. Those items won’t have any Quest assignment record or construction transactions. Rarer items he brought back might require appraisals, so he’d have to be careful how frequently he did that.

They continued on to one of the walls.

"These are all fictional stories, sorted by genre."

"Oh!" Hex pulled Charlie’s list out from his pocket. "Do you think they’d have…" He double-check the title of the book that Charlie had maybe-secretly-marked for him. "…one called ‘Calamity’s Heart Torn Asunder’ here?"

Talara stepped over to the wall where a small dark orb on a thin gold chain was hanging off a nail between two shelves. "You’re gonna love this." She grabbed the circular object and whispered the title of the book into it. The orb glowed teal briefly, then an arrow formed within. It twirled wildly for a moment, then settled on a direction.

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Talara flew up and Hex followed on a nearby staircase.

They stopped at a section of shelving labelled ‘FICTION - SMUT.’

Heat rose in Hex’s cheeks, and he was pretty sure his entire body turned the shade of Rey’s goo.

Talara made no comment or reaction, but pulled a book from the middle of a shelf and stared at the cover for a second. Then she handed it to Hex.

A painting on the cover depicted a barely clothed female imp with her heart being ripped out of her chest by a shirtless orc with muscles even bigger than Garo’tan Bloodfist’s.

He almost didn’t want to take it. "Thanks," he mumbled, wrapping an appendage around the book. It felt dirty just to be holding it. "It’s uh… not for me. Umm…"

Creator curse you, Charlie.

"I don’t judge," she said, smiling, as she allowed herself to glide back down to the main floor.

Hex descended the stairs, trying to cool his embarrassment. At the bottom, he started to put the book in his bag—mostly to hide the reminder that he had a book from that section of the library, but Talara stopped him.

"If you wanna bring that back to the dormitory, you’ll have to check it out with the library clerk."

I was afraid of that… He wasn’t exactly looking forward to sharing his perceived reading interests with the stern-faced woman at the large desk.

They continued on to another section.

Someone else turned into the same aisle.

Hex paid the visitor no mind at first. Then he looked again. It was a male elf with purple skin and long teal hair.

He grabbed Talara and pulled her into a perpendicular aisle.

It was him.

The professor who attacked him and Dracala back in Gulliver’s Cave and claimed credit for discovering that dormant World Gate.

‘Umm… Hex?" Talara whispered. Her breath was warm on his cheek.

He froze. In his panic, he’d grabbed her and was basically hugging her against him.

Oh, Creator… This has to be the worst day of my life.

He released his appendages from around her and stepped away, avoiding eye contact. "I—Uh… Wow, that was awkward. I’m sorry."

She held her wings tucked against her back and rubbed a hand on her head. Little pink ovals formed on her cheeks.

"Umm… It’s okay," she said. "What in Creator’s name is going on?"

Hex peeked around the corner where the professor—Lakedesh Thorncloak—was examining a thick tome. He closed it angrily and shoved it back into the shelf, grabbing the next one in the row.

"Who is that?"

Hex turned back into their hiding place and guided Talara farther away. Once he was sure they were out of earshot of the elf he explained what he’d done to him and Dracala to her.

"And now he’s a professor here… What are the chances?" she noted.

Hex had never really considered it. What are the chances… Now that she mentioned it, his thoughts started swirling with horrifying possibilities.

Their home had been safe and ignored by the outside world for as long as anyone could remember.

But the next day after Lakedesh discovered the Gate in Gulliver’s Cave, our home was Culled.

That can’t be a coincidence.

If the two were connected somehow, there were countless implications Hex didn’t really want to consider. But he couldn’t stop his brain from slipping down that path.

If Lakedesh was somehow responsible for their Culling… It meant he was the reason Hex’s father was captured and now trapped in the Embershard Mine, according to the Creator.

And if he has the authority to order a Culling… What else is he capable of?

If he didn’t order it himself, the other options were potentially even more frightening… No one had ever known who was responsible for a Culling, when they were going to happen, or why they happened to certain villages.

Now it was clear that—if not Lakedesh himself—it was whoever he had told about the Gate that ordered the Culling. There were only two options that made sense. The two that The Academy Headmaster had mentioned when he introduced the elf as a new professor back before the entrance exam.

The Human King of New Valour.

Or the Academy itself…

"I haven’t had him for a class yet," Talara said, distracting him from his thoughts. "I’m not sure he’s even taught any. From what I’ve heard, he’s been focused entirely on finding a way to reactivate that World Gate."

"So, he’s using Academy resources and not contributing at all."

Stealing again. Just like he did from us.

Talara must have sensed he was getting angry, because she changed the topic. "What was it you wanted to come here to research?"

Hex took a deep breath. He didn’t want to get more frustrated in front of her. He’d already embarrassed himself enough for one day. But he’d definitely need to tell Dracala about this new development.

I can’t exactly ask her to take me to the section about Waywalkers. That’d be far too suspicious… But the other topic was fair game, especially given the recent revelations.

"Do you know if they have any maps here?"

"Like maps of the Worlds beyond the Gates?" Talara asked. "Of course! This way."

He followed her into the Gate Worlds section, which had red carpeting. Hidden out of view from the library entrance and other sections, behind the shelves and reading nooks, was an open area with a large table. Under the table were small square cubbies that appeared to hold rolled parchment. Each cubby had a small gold plate embossed with the name of the World the map represented within.

"What World are you looking for?" she asked.

"Uh… I don’t actually know. I’m looking for a specific location beyond the Gate, but I don’t know what World it’s in."

Hex pulled a rolled parchment from the first cubby and started to unfurl it on the table.

"Are you planning to examine every single map until you find it?" Talara asked.

He shrugged. "I guess so."

She sidled up next to him, so close her left appendage was almost touching him. His gooey center warmed at her presence so close.

"That sounds like a lot of work," she said.

"Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t meant assume you’d be helping. You totally don’t need to stay. I know it’s gonna take a while."

She stepped back, an almost disappointed gleam in her eyes.

Wait… Did she want me to ask her to stay?

Then she smiled and shoved him lightly. "Your memory is that short, huh?"

He tilted his head at her as he took a few paper weights on the table and smoothed out the map, holding it in place. "What do you mean?"

Talara hopped over to a nearby shelf. She returned with another one of those orb compass things and handed it to him.

"Okay… Yes. I am dumb," he said.

"Dumb is maybe a strong word," she teased.

With this he could find the correct map in seconds without even having to search himself. He had no idea it’d work on maps and not just book titles.

It’d make it really easy to find information on Waywalkers too. He resolved to come back later to do that alone.

He held the orb to his mouth, like he’d seen Talara do, but paused, lowering the object.

I’m seconds from learning where Dad is. The reality of that statement struck him. He was a Gate adventurer now. He’d need to get a professor’s approval still, but there was nothing else stopping him from traveling to whatever World the compass pointed him to. He could go tomorrow if he wanted to.

It was all within his grasp.

Dad… I’m coming for you.

Hex brought the orb back to his lips and whispered. "Embershard Mine."

The arrow inside did its twirly thing, then pointed straight and true. As he moved his hands, the arrow adjusted just like a real compass would. It aimed in a direction around the other side of the table.

His core spun faster as he rounded the table, trying not to run.

The orb pointed at a rolled map in the center of the array of cubbies.

He rested a hand above it, so close to touching.

"Excuse me," a voice said from behind Hex.

The owner of the voice didn’t wait for him to move.

Lakedesh Thorncloak knelt down beside Hex.

The elf held an orb of his own and snatched a map from another cubby four away from the one Hex needed.

"Well, give me some space, will you?" Lakedesh demanded without so much as a glance over, then mumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘fodder.’

Hex took several hops backward. He hadn’t taken a breath since the elf appeared and was probably starting to turn purple.

Lakedesh removed the paper weights from the map Hex had already set on the table. The map rolled closed and fell to the floor. Then, he spread out his own map and replaced the paper weights.

Talara picked up the fallen map and held it, looking completely at a loss and slightly pale herself. She knew now what this elf had done to Hex.

"Hmm. Just as I thought," Lakedesh said. He rolled the map and put it away, then left without another word.

Hex finally let out his breath. It felt like he’d been submerged in water for several minutes even though the entire interaction had likely lasted only a few seconds.

He didn’t even recognize me, Hex realized. And why would he? To him, I’m nothing more than an ant.

And all ants looked the same.

Talara hopped over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Hex took several more breaths, steadying himself. "Yeah… Yeah. I’ll be fine."

Just my mortal enemy breathing down my neck. No biggie.

Wait. Are my hands shaking? And did my voice crack when I spoke?

Talara placed a warm hand on his and took the orb from him. She held it before the maps, selecting the one it pointed to, and lay it out on the table for him.

He needed that. The distraction. Don’t think about the elf. Don’t let him ruin this moment for you. You’re about to find your father. You’re about to…

Hex clenched his fists and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He bounced closer to the table and retrieved the orb from Talara.

He had to do this.

The orb felt heavier in his hand now, the burden of the knowledge it was about to share weighing on him. He held it up and allowed his eyes to follow the arrow.

And there it was. Right in the center of the map.

The Embershard Mine.

I found you, Dad.

Hex stood at the library clerk’s desk. The woman behind the desk stopped fingering through books as they approached. She warmed at Talara’s presence beside him, though her frown still remained. It seemed to be a permanent fixture.

"Well, hello there, Talara. I didn’t even notice you enter."

"You never do, Madame Ploussaint" Talara teased.

"Too true. No one ever said I didn’t always have my head stuck in my books."

Hex’s brain hurt trying to wrap his head around the double-negatives and confusing phrasing.

"What have you got for me today?" the clerk continued.

Hex held up Charlie’s awkward recommended book and the map, still unsure if what the woman said before even meant what she intended.

Madame Ploussaint raised her eyebrows, then looked down at Hex. Then at Talara. Then back at Hex.

He took a step away from his friend, afraid of what the woman was implying with her glare. "It’s uh… not for me…?"

"Nice try, little slime. I see all sorts here. Most are subtle enough to buy their own copy of something like this, or read it in a hidden nook in the library rather than check it out so blatantly." She sighed and handed the book to him. "I’ll give you a pass this time though." She didn’t make any marks or record anything.

Does she just know everything in the library so well she tracks it all mentally? He found himself suddenly impressed by the clerk, even if slightly embarrassed. Again.

"And this. Very interesting." She held up the map, then turned and pulled another rolled parchment from somewhere behind the desk.

Talara had told him that the original versions of the maps couldn’t be removed from the library, but that he’d get a smaller copy he could take with him.

"You’re the second person who’s checked this one out recently. Very strange. Lucky for you we have multiple copies of each."

Hex accepted the smaller version of the map.

He unrolled the corner where the World’s name was inked in fancy script to double-check it was the right one.

Hysterium.

Here I come.