Chapter 3

Pandemonium broke out. Half of us were frightened and scrambling for cover. The other half were livid, yet hesitant to confront Garmar. Pelle was freaking out. Students were nursing their wounds. Wounds that stung like that of a giant bee. Several students promptly fainted. I grasped the hilt of the diminutive dagger in my shoulder but it vaporized to nothing.

“Healers!” Garmar said, holding his hands up. “You have a new item in your inventory! Use it.”

What kind of sick power play was this?

The dagger in Pelle’s face had disintegrated when she’d moved to feel it, leaving a hole in her cheek that made my spine ice. She turned to me and blood ran from it as though it were a tear of horror. I was furious that our trainer had hurt us. My confusion was cast between the possibility that this was either a test, or a danger to our lives.

I whipped out the Dust of Life, tore at the cord, and stretched the leather sack open. I plunged a shaking hand inside and grasped half a fist of the gold powder. I would have grasped more, but… my finger. I felt it pop and sparkle in my hand. I tossed the powder over Pelle and it hovered over her like spilled liquid. The gold dust descended upon her. It sparkled with infinitesimal twinkles as though distant stars were birthing and dying all around us.

Because I’d thrown so much Dust of Life, and other students had done the same, the room filled with a universe of sprinkling lights, like snow through sunbeams. I felt a relief in my shoulder. I was showered in a disorienting rain of healer’s dust. My wound had healed and in its place was this phantom feeling of completeness. A strange feeling I couldn’t quite identify more than that.

When the dust had settled, most of us crowded near the back of the chamber, ready to bolt for help if Garmar executed another attack.

Students began to tend to those who had fainted. One bulky guy challenged our trainer. He stepped toward Garmar, equipped with a face red with anger, eyes brimming with betrayal, and a shaking fist.

“Why?” he said, “What was that for? What was the point? You hurt us!”

“Because,” Garmar said calmly as he walked towards us all, and as one entity, we shrunk back. “You’re part of the Magic & Lance guild now. Although we do have measures for saving you during your first few dungeon runs, the danger is very real. Students have died in our dungeons before. I have found this the most effective way to put students on their toes. Your lives can end in the blink of an eye, in the glint of a swinging sword, or between the rotten teeth of a monster. You have a responsibility to provide protection and healing to your party members. Damage can come from all different sources. Even self-inflicted by accident.”

“There’s gotta be another way to teach us this!” a girl said, stepping up beside the bulky guy.

“There are,” Garmar said, “and we’ve tried them. This is the only thing students have taken seriously. Seriously enough that we saw a 20% drop in death’s versus all the other ways we’ve tried to teach you how dangerous dungeons are! How dangerous the wilds are!”

“This isn’t right!” Pelle said.

Garmar through his hands up.

“No other method has prevented needless deaths as much as this. How can I argue with 20% until we find a better way?”

To that, the students grumbled. Pelle and the others were right. This was messed up. I had a hard time dealing with the fact that without this “lesson,” 20% of us in this class would die in the coming months. I understood where Garmar was coming from but that would not diminish the fact that it still wasn’t right.

“I’ll see you next class,” Garmar said and continued walking through us. We parted for him. “Good job today. For the next two weeks, you will practice and practice and practice and...” His voice trailed off as he left the building.

We were speechless. For the next few days we all had lost a bit of spirit. Judging by the other classes, everyone at the guild had gone through a similar stab in the back. The Anciennes said it was “a wake up call for fools and a reminder for the experienced.”

As healers, we learned that we were the last barrier between life and death. The other classes learned the value a healer provided. Thus we were busy.

We were sought out by warriors, rogues, and mages for the rest of the week. Less often by the anciennes. Students would come to us with wounds big and small as a result of their training. This kept us quite occupied and nearly emptied our inventory of the Dust of Life. Well at least mine was quite low.

“Mine too,” said Pelle when I’d brought it up one evening. “Have you cultivated your mana pool yet? Someone was talking about it today and I realized I’d completely forgotten.”

“No not yet, you want to right now?”

“I’ve got mine right here. Ready?”

I retrieved my mana crystal from my bag. I hadn’t touched it all week. Garmar’s painful lesson paired with wounded students seeking us out had really kept the healers too busy for much else. As the week was drawing to a close, fewer guild-mates were recruiting our services and things were getting back to normal. Excitement for the dungeon run ahead was now replacing former emotions.

Pelle and I sat on the floor by the large window as dusk lashed against the panes. The colors of a bruised orange were cast onto us. Sharp stars stabbed through the atmosphere and shimmered.

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I concentrated on flowing my mana and executing the steps we’d been taught:

Forming mana into a tight blue sphere that coalesced into a splashing sphere of gossamer light, pulling my hands outward to stretch the sphere into a ring, smiling proudly at the wavering form of my 14 point mana bar, watching Pelle guide hers into a bar as well, sharing soft friendly laughter, enjoying the colors of dusk tangle on the beddings and furniture and mixing with the blue of the mana on the walls, watching in surprise and delight as each of our mana crystals floated up to the center of our circular mana bar, feeling the silent vibration as the crystals wobbled with indecision, watching the mana bleed from fissures in the crystal and traveling in threads of chiffon to add to our mana bar, chunk by chunk; and counting 5 extra points to my total mana.

My crystal shattered into oblivion without a sound and I startled. Pelle laughed uninhibited until hers did the same and she let loose a quick scream.

“That was so cool!” she said.

“How many points did you add?” I said.

“5. Total of 21 now. You?”

“Same. 5. I’ve got 19 total.”

“Sucks that we can’t use it yet. Dust of Life doesn’t require any mana.”

“Yea but remember, it’s a finite inventory. I’m sure we’ll learn spells soon that will require mana.”

Pelle gave a mighty yawn and shook her head. Not only did dusk descend but so did our eyelids and energy. We shared a quick goodnight and had no trouble falling asleep.

Since we’d forgotten to close the curtains, the sun was smashing a hand into our faces. I tried to dodge the rays that reached between distant trees and mountain jags like fingers.

“Ugh,” Pelle said and bolted up to close the curtains.

Alas, we couldn’t fall asleep and simply prepared for our day. Breakfast was ready by the time we descended. We greeted the few other healers there were and stuffed our faces.

“I’ll catch you later Tosin,” Pelle said after saying good morning to a new friend of hers. “Mirale and I are going to walk around for a bit before lessons.”

I waved as they turned to leave. My mouth was too full of biscuits to respond.

Pelle and I had been spending a lot of time together lately and it was nice to have some alone time and seek out the library. I eventually asked one of the older students, after its location simply eluded me.

Ehuk--a boy a few years older than me--spoke softly and laced his words with mystery. “Ahh the hidden library.”

“Hidden?” I said, enchanted by the prospect, hooked with suspense.

“Just kidding,” he said, “it’s up on Owl’s Ridge.”

He pointed out the path on our way to lessons. A winding path beautifully dark and manicured, carved up a steep slope into the mountain west of the Beginner’s Guild. It’s destination was a colorful building of mixed materials that looked more like a mammoth bird's nest than a building.

“It’s a lovely walk,” Ehuk said. “Take advantage of it sometime. Anyways, see you later!”

Today’s lessons were short and simple. Garmar was pleased to find no one had overused the Dust of Life. We had questions on how to replenish it which he was more than happy to answer.

“When you get low, the sack will replenish itself one final time. There is a rune on the inside that will trigger the event for you. It’s a one time deal because—as you will later learn—it comes at cost. I paid the cost for you this time. Er—Magic & Lance paid the cost--I should clarify. You may keep the sack for your own purposes.”

After lessons we were directed to the guild post. It worked just like a trading post. The only difference was that it only served the students at Magic & Lance.

“There are several things to do at the guild post,” Garmar had said.

Pelle and I were floored when we walked in. The place was massive. Vaulted ceilings held a wide dome of bejeweled glass panes. The interior was laid out like a massive tavern. There was a bar for inquiries on food and beverage. Benches and tables had been tossed in no order across the entire floor space. Opposite the bar were the trade post, the quest post, and lastly the recruiters post.

“You’ll find the posts all together side by side,” Our trainer had continued. “What you need to do is visit the recruiters post and they’ll help you set up your duos. If the line is too long and you don’t want to wait, you can also stand on a table and shout at the top of your lungs until you’ve got a full party. Reminder: duos only for your upcoming Dungeon run.”

Most people preferred shouting from the tops of tables. Hey, it looked fun. The guild post had quickly erupted with raucous students and good times. No one was exempt from grinning at the energy and excitement.

“Name please, and class?” The lady at the recruiters post said when it was finally my turn. She flipped the page of a large volume on the table before her. I glimpsed several rows of names beside other information.

“Tosin Siege. Healer.”

“Alright Tosin, wherever you are, the recruiter’s post will require details such as your highest level proficiency, purpose of party, and any monetary encouragement.” She rubbed a few fingers together, signifying payment. “At this point you may reserve a specific item you hope to loot under your ownership. For example: a legendary weapon. All other looting will be evenly split between party members unless other agreements have been reached with all party members.”

“Ok, I don’t know about any of that stuff.” I said.

“That’s alright. You shouldn’t have leveled up in any proficiencies just yet. Last question: do you have a preference in another class you would like to duo with?”

“Nope.”

“Alright one moment please.”

The lady looked down at the book on the table, flowed a mana ring before her and cast the spell: “Search Volume and Seek.”

I watched in awe as her mana spell dissolved a minor fraction and the spell began. I was awestruck as I saw:

Her eyes glowing molten white, strands of hair floating as though underwater, the book lifting from the desk, the pages flipping faster and faster and faster, her visage concentrating fiercely, the book landing back down and settling on another page, her finger striking a name that was glowing molten white, the whispering of the name “Shiye” like a calling to arms, her eyes dulling to brown, and her mana bar retreating through the space in their palms.

“Wow,” I said.

“You will partner with Shiye from the warrior class,” she said. “There he is right now.” She gestured behind me to a guy my age approaching quickly through the crowd. “Have fun healer! See you next time!”

I turned back to give my thanks, but she was again in mid spell helping another student.

“Hi!” Shiye said with a thick boom to his voice. “Name’s Shiye. I got a weird whisper message to come find you here for duos. You’re Tosin right? Healer?”

“Yea,” I said, floored by the event.”

“Yea I don’t really know how this works either.”