Ethan followed Fauna into the Eastern tunnels of Sanctum, nodding at those hybrids who bowed in his general direction as he went.

They passed the light-studded mushroom towers and lantern-filled streets until they came to a section of the Underground empire Ethan had never lain eyes on before. The tunnel grew cold, dark, and foreboding, and even Ethan’s Appraisal skill was telling him that what lay ahead was more hostile than what he’d left behind.

And the voices emanating from within the darkness were beast-like.

“Faun?” he asked the still chipper Hopla beside him. “Where exactly are we going again?”

Because I’m in no mood for a betrayal this late into the game…

Fauna’s kind eyes simply fluttered up at him as she responded, “Sorry. They’ve just woken up from nap time.”

At Ethan’s confused face, she then looked around her before thrusting her pale hand into the dark void before them, muttering an incantation that sent ribbons of violet light trailing up the tunnel walls.

“MIKOLAH REVULUM!”

And where once there had been nothing but shadow, now an entire plain of the Underground opened up in front of them.

Ethan was standing on the precipice of a ledge that looked down into a humble cottage and pasture of carrots and lettuce leaves – some of which were hung up to dry on lines at the house’s back. Beside the cottage stood a venerable shed that looked like it had been recently constructed – painted with vibrant oranges, reds, and colors that swam as Ethan tried to comprehend them. He noticed several names dotted the far wall of the cave – names carved into the dirt of the once barren walls and lit up by magical means so that they sparkled like a hundred stars in the darkness of the depths.

And then he saw where the voices had been coming from.

Below, tumbling out of the cottage and the fields they had just been playing in, were a horde of tiny Hoplas.

“Looklook!” one of them burst. “Miss Faunaisback!”

“HelloMissFauna!HelloMissFauna!HelloMissFauna!HelloMissFauna!”

The children tumbled and hopped their way towards their “Miss Fauna’ and her new arrival, as Faun simply looked at Ethan with a happy shrug.

“Well?” she asked. “What do you think?”

Ethan was well passed laughter by this point.

“Faun…are they…all yours?”

“No!” she replied. “Well – I mean – not technically. It’s complicated but…I know they want to meet you. If you’ll let them.”

“So long as they don’t chew me apart,” Ethan tentatively agreed.

Without another word, Fauna lifted them both into the air with a levitation spell that sent the crowd of children into a frenzy of ‘ooooohs’ and ‘aaaaaaahs’. Then, with a dramatic flourish of her staff, she let fly a torrent of sparks that whizzed and fizzled out around the farm.

“Hello, everyone!” she called out as the children squealed in delight. “Look who I’ve brought with me!”

The children watched as she lowered Ethan to the ground, crowding around him with expectant faces – faces desiring something.

But hell if he knew what it was.

So, he just held up his hand and waved to them, breaking into a toothy smile with the body of his Undead Lord.

“…hi.”

The resounding ‘WOOOOAH!” this brought from the crowd told Ethan this wasn’t a hard audience to please.

“HelloMrArchonHelloMrArchonHello!”

The chorus was deafening, but Ethan couldn’t help but smile at the puffy faces of the girls and boys. So many of them…probably at least a hundred by his count…all sequestered in this little backwater cave in the Sanctum. And every one of them jumped for joy to see him.

“Call me Ethan,” he said. “What’s…eh…what’s up?”

“HelloMrEthanHelloMrEthanHello!”

“Hellowhatsuphellowhatsuphellowhatsuphellooo!”

The voices of the kids bled into one – an attack on the senses so powerful that Ethan had to momentarily raise his defenses…

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Then – the distinct sensation of nibbling at his back.

“H-hey!”

One particularly tiny Hopla girl was teething on his heel, and giggled when he found her.

“Mr Ethan – you taste nice! Miss Fauna is very lucky!”

“VeryluckyMissveryluckyFaunaveryluckyverylucky!”

Ethan’s eyes found Faun as she gently floated down to the children, giving the girl a very telling, and stern, stare-down.

“Ahem,” she coughed. “Everyone, Mr Ethan has come here to meet us all. What do we say to him?”

The children immediately straightened up, their drooling faces intoning what sounded like a sacred chant:

“Thank you. Mr Ethan.”

So they can…actually talk normally, he thought. Here I was thinking that was a Hopla thing or something…

“Can Mr Ethan play with us, Mrs Fauna?” One child asked.“Pleasepleasepleasepleaselpleaaaaase?”

The others took up his chant until it became a mantra of “pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease” strong enough to shake Sanctum’s very foundations.

“Only if you behave!” Fauna told them all, hands on her hips and suddenly more authoritative than Ethan had ever seen her before. “Mr Ethan is a very busy Archon, as you well know!”

The Hopla then turned to Ethan with an expectant look on her face. Every child puffed out his or her rosy, pale cheeks, and their fluffy ears dangled down their heads in a pout that was too strong for any man to resist.

I think you’ve met your toughest enemies yet, Sys chuckled.

You might be right, he replied. Still, you know what? This is an Archon’s job too, right? Inspiring the young generations, showing them their leader gives a damn. Like a politician planting kisses on a baby’s bare skull.

Sys’s chuckling only intensified as Ethan then consented to be dragged into the farmhouse.

…if only they all thought like you do.

The schoolhouse was a rickety establishment – filled with paintings and crafts the children had designed probably since they’d been old enough to hold a crayon. Fauna had ample supplies to keep them interested in creating. There was a meager library of books and shelves lined with posters and writings from the children, as well as a few instruction materials.

“You’re…a teacher,” Ethan wheezed through the children who were currently hanging off his shoulders, trying to grab at his hat-eyeball.

“Haha, well…my mother was an educator in our Burrow…Jax! Remove yourself from Mr Ethan’s head!”

Ethan watched her corral the children into their classroom – where a bunch of tiny wooden desks were arranged in neat little ordered rows. No chalkboard existed. Instead, Fauna spawned letters and numbers to help the students through her lessons, as well as pictures for those who needed more visual stimulus. The darkness of their home, she said, often meant that the children’s eyes had become accustomed to its shadows. They needed a little bit of light.

And whenever a spell fizzled, or a word came out the wrong way, or a picture of a heroic dragon slaying a human warrior became…well…a different kind of image, the laughter of the children was contagious. Even Fauna couldn’t help herself but laugh.

It felt weird. Ethan couldn’t deny it. Here he was in another world – one about as alien from his own as he could have imagined – and yet here was a bunnygirl teaching a packed classroom of a hundred excitable children their ABCs with more gung-ho gumption and passion than any teacher Ethan could remember. He distinctly recalled being ‘taught’ by textbooks and lesson packets most of his young life, while his teachers decided they didn’t get paid enough for their job.

Looking around the room at the kids’ colorful murals and writings, Ethan couldn’t help but think that this world might have something to teach him, too.

“MrEthanMrEthan!” one girl shouted once Fauna had dismissed the class for break time. “Come see my poems?”

“MrEthanMrEthan! MrsFauna says I’m a great drawer! Comeseecomesee!”

He was dragged along to every corner of the cottage to see the kids’ own projects. Fauna believed every Hopla child needed to exercise their own imagination. The upstairs of the house was filled to the brim with such projects. Self-portraits, short stories and novels, poetry and even a few songs written by the kids themselves. A few of them even elected to perform a dance or ditty for Ethan before Fauna declared it was time for lunch.

Surprise surprise – carrots and lettuce was the dish of the day. And the special soup?

Lentil.

Up close, Ethan saw that the carrots had oddly shaped purple veins that ran down their sides from their greens. A rather astute child informed him that these were ‘Moon carrots’ that had been specially adapted by the Sanctum’s mage – Miss Lamphrey – to grow in the underground realm.

Miss Lamphrey…that’s the second time I’ve heard that name today.

By the time the kids were sat at their long lunch tables outside, Ethan’s head was spinning. He’d almost forgotten about school in the time he’d been here. Hell, he’d forgotten about it when he was on earth, too. And he’d certainly never associated it with anything resembling ‘fun’ before.

But these Hopla children, waving to him happily and wagging their floppy ears as they ate, talked, and shared stories of how the Archon had loved their project the most, had shown Ethan that Fauna had managed to do what he thought was impossible: make school something that one didn’t dread attending.

“You…hah!” he chuckled as he sat beside her at the head of the middle lunch table. “Faun – this is amazing.”

Fauna, who had been occupied with wiping the snot from a Hopla boy’s wet face, turned to him suddenly.

“You really think so?”

“Don’t doubt it. I just…I had no idea you had this kind of commitment on top of Delving into dungeons. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have minded if you sat them out.”

“No,” she said calmly. “The Delves are important. I know that. My magic has the strongest potential in Sanctum. That’s why Klax wanted me along in the first place.”

Ethan detected something behind those words, but he let it slide as he saw the pride in Fauna’s normally shy face.

“But this place is – it’s like a real home,” she explained. “Ever since my mother – well – you know…I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. These kids need someone. I only wish I could have helped them sooner.”

Slowly, Ethan suspicions were confirmed.

“They’re from other Burrows,” he said quietly. “Ones the Greycloaks wiped out.”

She nodded solemnly, and to Ethan’s surprise was able to cheer right back up when one of the girls ran to grab her hand.

“Can Mr Ethan come to practical lessons, Miss Fauna?”

Ethan noticed the determination in this little pink-nosed Hopla’s face. Behind her, a gaggle of her mates were waiting, pretending that they hadn’t asked the bravest one among them to pose the question to their teacher.

“If Mr Ethan likes,” Fauna giggled, her ears twitching towards the field outside.

And Ethan, even in the body of a vile Undead Warlord, just couldn’t disappoint those little faces.

“As long as Miss Fauna demonstrates first,” he said. “She’s more magic than I’ll ever be.”