I'm up before the knock at my door comes. Despite falling asleep pretty quickly, I struggled to stay asleep. My brain wants to digest everything and try to make sense of it, but my body's exhausted. So I drifted in and out of sleep. Without a way to tell time, I just put my uniform on and lay on the bed. Maybe thirty minutes pass before the knock.

I walk over and open the door to find a boy a year or two younger than me. Black hair, blue eyes, and a few inches shorter. He says nothing and stares at me expectantly. Am I supposed to say something? It's then I notice he's looking at my sword, "Something wrong?"

"No weapons are allowed on campus. You will have to leave that here." I click my tongue in annoyance and set my sword on my bed. He nods and starts for the elevator. I lock up the room and follow. I have a ton of questions, but there's no reason to ask this kid. Considering he's wearing the same uniform I am, he must not have all the answers.

We exit the building and take a right. I look around as we walk, but everything looks the same. Gray buildings and the occasional street light. This place makes Atlas look like an entertainment district. And most of the infrastructure there was wood and the occasional stone building. Five minutes in, and I'm lost. I sigh and shake my head. I need a map or something.

It takes maybe forty-five minutes to arrive at the academy. Halfway there, we came to a wall. It's too tall for me to see over, but I can guess that it's the city limits. There were no doors or gates even though we walked along it for the majority of the trip. It makes me wonder what they're keeping in. Or out.

I see the building before we approach the gate. They must be twenty stories high. I watch as dozens of airships land behind the intricately made gate. Many of these are super sleek silver or gold colored with sharp angles or smooth curves. As for the gate, it's massive. It would take several me's stacked on each other to touch the top. Swirls and pretty shapes adorn it, and in the middle stands a man leaning on a large sword.

I point to the airships, "Those airships go up and down." I state this as a question, but it sounds more like a fact.

My escort gives me a weird look. "Of course they go up and down. And it's not called an airship. Those are floaters. Airships are much bigger." Floaters? That's a dumb name. Then again, this place has a completely different culture than Titan. We walk up to the gate, and a man dressed in black leather armor stops us. The escort shows some kind of ID and whispers something into the guard's ear, pointing to me as he does. He nods and taps a button on his arm. With a buzz, the gate opens and then closes behind us.

I shiver. I feel naked and exposed without a weapon. It's extremely uncomfortable. Now that I'm inside the gate, I can see the buildings clearly. There are six of them in a circle, each made of black metal with blacked-out windows. Each building is roughly ten stories high. In the center of the six stands a tower similar to the one I met Alexander in, except it's only around forty stories tall. There are several sidewalks with trees boarding each side, and in the distance, I can see a massive glass dome.

My escort nods toward a small two-story building just inside the gate. This one is made out of brick and has a domed roof, "That's the main building. Talk to Ms. Carter. She will direct you to wherever you need to go." Someone shouts at us near the building, and the boy runs up to him.

I walk up to the door and read the sign above the door, "Welcome to regal academy. That's pretentious." I walk inside and find a lady sitting at a small desk just beside the door. I glance around at the rather boring inside, and she smiles at me.

"You must be the secondary. Your instructor is waiting for you on the second floor, room two-ten." I nod and head up the stairs behind her. Secondary huh? Interesting title I've been given. I walk into room two-ten and look around. It's nothing special. Two student desks and a large desk in front of a chalkboard. A lady in her mid to early forties sits on the desk, her legs crossed. Her black hair is in a knot, and small brightly colored orbs decorate her hair. Her black lab coat clashes well with the red colored shirt you'd find on a tuxedo and a black pair of shorts with leggings.

She smiles as I walk in, and her heels clack on the floor as she hops off, "You must be the secondary, Silen Stone." I nod hesitantly. She sticks out her hand, "The names Am." I glance down at her hand and then back to her.

"Hello."

She frowns and pulls her hand back, "Not a fan of pleasantries, huh?" I say nothing. I don't trust her or anyone here. Not after I was drugged by these people. She shrugs and points to one of the desks. I sit.

"Well, I'm sure you have a million questions. I'll answer everything to the best of my ability." She sits back on the desk.

"Uh-huh." She motions me to talk. "Why do you call me a secondary, and why am I here?"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She nods, pursing her lips, "Right into it. I like it. Well, how about we start with why you're here." She hops off the table and snaps her fingers. What I had originally thought to be a chalkboard lights up into one of those blue holo... thingies. She taps it a few times, and text appears.

"Immensus Saltus. What does that mean?"

She taps the letters, and smaller ones appear underneath, "Immensus Saltusis Runic for Boundless Forest. Outside those walls, you undoubtedly noticed a massive forest that we have yet to reach the end of. Your job will be to explore the near ruins of past civilizations that called the forest home. But nobody calls them the Carthus Ave Explorers. You'll just be known as a diver."

A diver? Past civilizations? I was taken from Titan to explore some broken-down buildings? Surely they wouldn't keep something like this a secret if this was all it was.

"Don't think too hard about it. I'll explain it all to you. Now, as for why you are called a secondary, that's easy to explain. We often have divers die out there. Unfortunate business, but they know what they signed up for. However, occasionally we have a lapse in divers that graduate from this school. So, the team that lost their member will be given permission to go into Titan to extract a "high caliber" member to add to the team temporarily." She uses air quotes as she says high caliber.

"After some light training and education, they'll be added to the team. You'll mostly be used to protect equipment, wash dishes, and basically do all the chores of the actual diver team. When a graduate gets their certification, the secondary will be replaced, and then can live the rest of their days in the city. If you survive."

She opens her mouth to say more, but I hold up a hand, "So let me get this straight. I was bought from an auction, drugged, and taken to this academy to train to be a chore boy?"

She nods, "I mean, it's more nuanced than that, but you get the jist." I lean back in my chair. This is unbelievable. Not even six months ago, I killed a twelve hundred-foot leviathan, and now I'm a slave? I let out a huff. Guess I can't complain too much. They did get me out of Calypso.

"Now let's talk about your opposition, shells." She swipes her hand across the board, and a large turtle appears on the screen. It's completely black, and large spikes come out of its shell. "This is a shell. I mean, you could call them monsters, but that's boring. As for the reason behind the name, I'm sure you know what a Neo Core is." I scoff. She clearly knows one was implanted in me.

She makes a fist and opens her hand over the screen. It explodes the turtle thing and shows a bunch of different parts to it. "This is the biology of the shell. It's called a Teret. Nasty things. Let's hope you never encounter one. Anyway, Neo Cores are found in the hearts of shells." Am holds her hand out, and a blue heart appears in her hand, "you have to carve the core out of its heart." She taps the small orbs in her hair, " These are low-grade cores. You'd never find such a weak core in a Teret, but they can be a pain to find."

I rub my chin. Yeah, that's not too much of a surprise. The cores I have were also taken from the hearts of the Bustal Leviathans. It takes them days, sometimes weeks, to find it. After all, it's only the size of a large marble. It's Literally trying to find a needle in a haystack. "Where do they come from?"

Am shrugs, "We don't know. Some think shells are similar to clams and compress something in the heart. Others think it's born with it. Quite a mystery. The most interesting fact is that humans don't have cores. And anything born outside the forest also doesn't have a core in it. It's a very strange phenone. Of course, there have been people who have tried, but direct contact with a core will drain your life. Hold it long enough or try to use the power directly results in you burning from the inside out."

She walks around the desk and leans in close to me, causing me to lean back. "Which begs the question, what makes you special?" I clear my throat, and she back off.

"Anyway, the power of a core is based on its shade. The darker the shade, the stronger the core. Black cores being the strongest and rarest. There are also two tiers below a black core called calamity cores. Being two shades from black. A minor calamity core is inconceivably stronger than the shade below it, and a major calamity is even stronger. There are also divergent cores, but those are extremely rare. And unstable. But can potentially be as strong as a major calamity.

"Now, as for the shells themselves, they are far and in between. They are very territorial, and the majority are aggressive. Though there are a few exceptions."

I shake my head in wonder. That's a lot. I guess I understand why divers die. "So let me guess. Every ruin has a shell in it."

She slaps the board, and a long list of names pops up, "Bingo. Well, kind of. Only ruins that hold artifacts have shells. Most artifacts are useless, but the occasional few are powerful. For example, the orb." Am taps one of the names and a picture of a black orb with notches that move down the middle. "This beauty was discovered in a set of underground ruins. Massive labyrinth. Lost three teams trying to get it. It enhances the power of flame siphons. Not really sure how, but it does. It's also extremely unstable. One wrong jolt and it causes an explosion big enough to bring down Carthus Tower."

I assume she's talking about the tower I visited yesterday. If it could level that thing... the explosion must be huge.

"I'm sure you can see the necessity of claiming these relics."

I shrug, "I guess. But why can't you just leave them there? It's not like it's harming anything."

Am nods, "You'd be right. Except a century ago, a shell got ahold of a relic. It went ballistic and leveled thousands of acres of the forest and even made it into the city. Tens of thousands died. The artifacts attract shells, and only the most powerful remain standing to claim it. Thankfully as I said, most are useless. But the select few that aren't NEED to stay out of the shells hands."

Damn. I lean back. To think the only thing between these monsters and Titan is End City. And the massive field of grass swords. I had guessed something was beyond the mountains, but this was a little much. I sigh and rub my hand through my hair.

Am smiles and claps her hand. The blue screen disappears. "How about a break?"