Chapter 21: Initiation and Threats

*Date: 33,480 First Quarter - Chalice Theocracy*

After the incursion with the rejected one, the High Priestess whispered things to the headmaster, and the headmaster announced for parents to stay while the accepted 100 entered the building.

With the newly accepted 100, Aris was fortunate to be amongst them as they entered the building.

The ceremony hall rose like a cathedral's heart, its vaulted ceiling disappearing into shadows above. Stained glass windows cast colored light across the marble floor, depicting scenes of divine triumph and holy sacrifice. Rows of wooden pews faced a raised altar where golden chalices gleamed under hanging braziers. The air was thick with incense and the weight of centuries.

Young adults gathered. Aris noticed most of them were the same age as him. Mostly humans, halflings, fae young adults, teenagers, a couple of seafolk from Selqua islands, a couple of bestial mixes he had never seen.

The High Priestess took the pulpit at the center. "Silence," she cut the talking in an instant where kids had been chatting and getting to know each other. But Aris was watching her.

"Normally this time of the initiation is a place for celebration and encouraging words. But the past four years changed nothing. Player humans still act like they are entitled."

The High Priestess continued her rage didn't drop one bit. "I'll be brief. We are faced with extinction. Our fate is the target. I see that every parent outside wants their kid to be an official, government worker studying here to lift their status."

She hit the lectern so heavy it cracked. "Here is not a place to get comfortable. You will either exit this academy as my fate's guardians and protectors, or won't leave at all. Tell all your parents to read our manifesto again. Dismissed."

Aris felt the surge of discomfort inside the hall. She wasn't just someone with crazy ideas about her religion but also had crazy power. "I need to be very careful here," Aris thought. Every kid seemed to forget to breathe or swallow. When the High Priestess left the hall with the crackling sounds of her heels, the silence was deafening.

Headmaster Kerapha broke the silence. "As you can see, the leader of our nation is very passionate. We will expect high things from you. Now say goodbye to your parents, and later boys gather around the east section, girls gather around the west section. Our chaperones will put you into your dorms," he said in a very soft way, unlike the High Priestess.

Aris went outside where Fox and Lyra were arguing about something. "That was intense," Aris said.

"What happened?" Lyra asked.

"The High Priestess was furious and basically threatened us."

"About?"

"We either become guardians of her religion or die here."

"Crazy," Fox said, then turned to Lyra. "You brought him here knowing how crazy that woman is?"

"We already argued about this. The High Priestess won't be here. She just came for opening day. Also, I'll be inside helping him."

"Inside?"

"Yeah, I found a way in. I'll be an assistant librarian."

"If you can get in, why put us in danger in the first place?" Fox asked.

"I did not put you in any danger. You came on your own. There are five dungeon trials they take the kids on. I cannot enter those. Plus, when they take them to trials, I can snoop around."

"Thanks for everything anyway. Come, Fox, let's go to our dorm."

---

*Date: 33,480 First Quarter - Iron Confederacy*

Timmy came skipping back from the inn, notebook clutched to his chest. "Found food with bonuses!" he announced. "Not stats, but useful. Bread with stamina regen, stew with Vitality recovery over time. Wrote 'em all down."

Marco looked up from his planks and charcoal sketches. His face was smudged black, hair messy from rubbing it. "Good. We'll take those. Now stop smiling like a bard and help me hold these boards straight. The planks need balance or they'll snap the first time we move them."

Sin kept swinging his cleaver in the yard, breath heavy. "You two keep drawing and scribbling. I'll be ready. I kind of started feeling each swing, and some really felt good."

Demir went to Sin's side. "Did you feel any bzzt or interference in your vision swinging that?"

"Yeah, why?"

Demir didn't answer. "Okay, keep working on that cleaver and count how many swings after you feel powerful." And he headed to the forge.

His eyes were already on the steel plates stacked neatly in the forge corner. He took them in his arms, set them on the workbench, and called Brovick over.

"Master," Demir said, laying out his chalk lines on the plates, "I'm making three sets. One for me, one for Sin, one for Timmy. Chest, greaves, shoulder plates - simple but solid. Not fancy, not fragile. Twelve days' worth of work."

Brovick's thick brows arched. "Yer funeral, kid. Ye can't master anything in twelve days. And every day ye waste here, yer friends rot in those mines."

Demir's jaw tightened. "I know. And I have no choice. Whatever comes out of this forge in twelve days, we'll take it into the raid."

Brovick stared at him for a long moment, then grunted. "Fine. Swing yer hammer till yer arms fall off. But listen—" He leaned in, lowering his voice. "I found someone in the city. Old contact. He'll send five enchanted jewels in exchange for all the loot you stripped from that goblin party."

"Jewels?" Marco perked up from across the yard.

Brovick smirked. "Not shiny necklaces, you idiot. Real enchanted slots. Stamina, recovery, resistance. Things that keep you alive. I'll get you something worth carrying."

Brovick slapped him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him into the anvil. "Stop talking, apprentice. Get to work."

The forge roared to life.

---

*Date: 33,480 First Quarter - Chalice Theocracy*

The east dormitory smelled of dust, candle smoke, and damp stone. The long corridor echoed with the shuffle of boots and nervous laughter as fresh initiates were herded to their assigned chambers. Aris trailed behind the others, Fox padding silently at his side, head low like a common beast.

When he reached his designated room, the door creaked open to reveal six beds lined in two rows of three, each with rough wool blankets and a single chest at the foot. The runes etched into the walls glowed faintly, shedding a soft white light that never flickered.

Five others had already claimed their beds. All looked up when Aris entered.

A broad-shouldered beast-kin with wolf ears sat cross-legged on his mattress, wrapping a bandage clumsily around his arm. Beside him, a blue-skinned youth with faint gills leaned against the wall, a crablike creature perched lazily on his shoulder. A wiry human older than Aris polished a small blade, his face set in grim determination. A halfling boy sat at the end of his bed, wincing as he rubbed his ankle. And sprawled half-sideways, fiddling with a silver moth familiar, was a fae-blooded lad with a smirk that seemed permanent.

Aris hesitated, then cleared his throat. "Guess I'm with you lot."

The wolf-eared one gave a grunt and nodded. The halfling smiled nervously. The others just watched.

Aris dropped his pack on the nearest empty bed. Fox hopped onto the blanket, curled up, and promptly closed his eyes.

"You bringing a mutt?" the fae-blooded boy teased, pointing. His moth fluttered into the air and circled Aris's head before settling back on his shoulder.

"He's quiet," Aris said simply. "He won't bother anyone."

The wolf-kin chuckled low. "Better than most people, then."

Aris noticed the wounds the bandaged arm, the halfling's limp, even shallow cuts across the fae-blooded boy's hands. The trials had left marks.

"I can help with those," Aris said carefully. "I've got... a little healing."

The halfling perked up immediately. "Really? My ankle's been killing me since the maze. Thought I twisted it wrong."

"Sit still," Aris said. He knelt, placed his palm gently over the swollen ankle, and whispered the words. Light flowed like warm water. The halfling exhaled in relief, testing his foot with a wide grin. "By the Chalice, that's better! Thanks!"

The wolf-kin eyed him, then extended his arm. "Do it, then. I'd rather not reek of rot tomorrow."

"One minute." Aris closed his eyes and repeated healing touch to the air, recharging his healing touch.

"What happened? Don't say stamina finished after one heal."

"I can't always manifest, sorry."

Aris repeated the spell. Flesh knitted, the bleeding ceased. The beast-kin flexed his arm with approval, then gave Aris a curt nod.

But when he turned to the older human with the scarred cheek, the boy shook his head sharply. "No. Leave it."

Aris frowned. "It'll scar. Doesn't have to."

"I want it to." His eyes were like iron. "It is in our interest to suffer so we remember. Pain is proof. Proof that we lived, proof that we failed. Take that away and you forget."

The words hung in the air. Even the fae-blooded boy lowered his smirk for a moment.

"...Suit yourself," Aris said softly, withdrawing.

The seafolk lad spoke for the first time, his voice quiet but edged. "Land-dwellers always rushing to erase what's happened. Where I come from, scars are stories." His crab familiar clicked its claws as if to punctuate the point.

The fae-boy snorted. "And here I thought we were here to study, not start a philosophy club."

The halfling laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

For a moment, silence settled. Then the wolf-kin broke it. "Name's Orric. I am here to be templar," he said, low and firm. He glanced around. "Might as well know who we'll be sleeping beside."

The others followed.

"Daro. I am here to be priest," the halfling said brightly.

"Seraun. I am also here to be priest," the crabfolk muttered.

"Kaelen. I will be templar like my father," the scarred human offered with no warmth.

"Auren. I'll be scribe. Best job in Aethyros," the fae-blooded boy said, moth circling again. "Try not to snore, yeah?"

Finally, Aris gave his. "Aris."

"What will you be aiming for, Aris?" Auren asked.

"I... I don't know it yet?"

"You better figure it out soon because after the second trial dungeon they will send us to different trials based on our training."

"And courses will change as well," Kaelen added.

"I will figure it out, I think."

Fox cracked one eye open but stayed silent.

The six of them sat in uneasy camaraderie, the weight of the High Priestess's words still pressing down. Somewhere in the halls, the echo of boots and distant doors reminded them they were only at the beginning.

Aris lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling runes. Around him, strangers breathed in the same rhythm, all trapped together inside the Chalice's gilded cage.