It felt as though his head had just hit his pillow, when the klaxon jolted him awake.

  “Up, up, apprentices!” the captain’s voice sounded above their heads, shrill and dripping with excitement. “We have a great day ahead of us, and a tight schedule to do it all in! So, let’s get ready and get some food in those bellies! You won’t have time to eat until it’s all over!”

  “Until what is over?” Mul shouted back. “Just tell us already!”

  “Don’t forget to get into your combat gear,” the captain continued. “You’ll need it. Captain, out!”

  “Come on, everyone,” Kur said, turning on the lights. “Just get ready and let’s get this done.”

  Nar swung down from his bed. His head weighed upon his neck, heavy and filled with grit and lack of sleep, and Tuk’s words from the previous night only served to add to his escalating nervousness.

  Ah… No point in thinking about that stuff now. I just got to do my best. Like I always did.

  He pulled out his combat gear from his inventory and laid it out over the bed. Unlike his day-to-day uniform, windows popped open as he examined them.

  Nar ran his fingers across the material, and his eyebrows rose as he was surprised by his softness once again. Softer than his day-to-day uniform, that all black material put even his old Climber’s gear to shame.

  Try as he might, Nar hadn’t managed to uncover what the so-called activation on the set of combat gear was supposed to do, but he hoped that whatever it was, the garb in his hands was more than met the eye. His Climber’s gear had at least looked tough enough to provide a measure of protection, as small as it had been, while the cloth in his hands moved and shifted like water. It was as though it barely contained enough structure to hold together, and he just couldn’t imagine how in the Pile it was supposed to protect him.

  “We’re finally getting to wear them,” Kur said, pulling his [Apprentice Delver’s Shirt] over his head. “I’ve been dying to know what this “activation” is.”

  Nar nodded slowly.

  “It better do something,” Mul grunted as he donned his.

  “Damn that’s tight!” Tuk said, pulling on his pants. “Crystal! What in the Pile? I can barely put it on!”

  “Damn…” Nar breathed, pulling down on his own shirt, just shy of accessing some of his [Strength].

  “Maybe the challenge is just getting these clothes on,” Mul said, laying on his back and pulling his pants up with all his might. “Can you imagine? They just show up and laugh at us?”

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  “I’d like that,” Tuk said, pushing his other leg through. “Better than going out to fight.”

  “It’s actually not bad once you put it on,” Kur said, raising his hands to show how well the material behaved. “Actually, that’s pretty flexible… How in the Pile does that make sense?”

  It looked as though the fabric had molded onto Kur’s torso so completely, that it was as though there was nothing there but empty blackness.

  “Wow, man! It’s like your body’s gone!” Tuk said.

  Mul laughed at the ring tosser. “And you look like a stick man!”

  Tuk grinned up at Mul.

  “And you look like something I should kick!”

  Nar looked over and burst out laughing as Mul’s indignant face bopped up and down from what looked like nothing in the relative darkness of his bed.

  “What the fuck you on about?” he asked, looking down at himself, but a loud banging at their door startled them.

  “Stop messing around and get ready!” a voice shouted from the common area.

  “Rel?” Tuk asked. “Is that you?”

  “Yes! Now move it, lanky!”

  Mul burst out laughing on his way to the toilet and Nar, smirking behind a grumbling Tuk, followed suit. He was the first one to exit the boys’ room, and he found Rel seated at the table, her foot tapping furiously as she waited for them to get ready.

  “Finally!” she shouted, getting up. “What’s taking so long?”

  Instead of answering, Nar looked her up and down and grinned. Even in the light, she looked like a black stickman with a floating head herself.

  “What do you think you look like?” she asked, grinning back.

  Nar shook his head, and instead looked her over.

  “I know what you’re going to say,” Rel said, with a firm look. “Don’t. I’ve been cleared for this, and I’m sick of that bed. I’m ready.”

  Rel had slowly been cleared to join the other apprentices in the Ranged Hall, to begin practising in earnest. At first, it had only been for a few hours a day, but as she proved herself strong and ale enough, she had been allowed to ramp up on the duress and intensity of her training over the course of the past two weeks. The person that now stood before him looked almost nothing like the barely hanging on, moving corpse that Nar had Climbed with.

  That dumb determined face is exactly the same though, Nar thought, unable to keep himself from smiling. I’ll just have to keep an eye on her. Just in case.

  “If they say you’re ready, then you’re ready,” Nar said.

  She frowned at him. “You’re going to spend the entire fight looking after me, aren’t you?”

  “Eh…” Nar said, looking away from her with a shrug. “Why’s everyone so slow today?”

  “Nar!” she snapped at him. “Crystal damned it! Look at me!”

  “I did. You look funny.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sa…”

  Kur burst out of his bedroom looking pale and already sweating.

  “We’re late!” he told the two of them. “WE’RE LATE! GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!”

  The rest of the party gushed into the common area.

  Tuk looked pale, but he had a determined look to his eyes, while next to him, Mul looked almost bored, as if their assessment was just another dumb drill he had to go through.

  On the ladies side however, there seemed to be a commotion right behind their door.

  “Gad’s stuck!” Cen shouted, looking at something inside their room. “I think the gear’s too small for her.”

  “More like she put on more muscle again,” Mul muttered.

  Fair to his words, ever since arriving at the Scimitar, Gad seemed to be bulking up at a visible, and sped up rate. Whatever they were putting her through in the Tanks Hall was clearly succeeding, and how…

  “Wait! Lift your arm!” Nar heard Viy shouting from the inside.

  “What do you think I’m trying to do?” Gad snapped back.

  “Slow down!” Jul’s voice added to the chaos. “Just relax… Stretch out your arm now… There you go!”

  “Ugh!” Gad said, as the three of them emerged at last. “I’m sorry!”

  “No time!” Kur shouted, already heading for the door. “Let’s go!”

  Outside, Nar stepped into a stream of similarly black clad apprentices.

  “This is hilarious!” Tuk said, looking over the current of floating heads.

  But at his side, stomping with a glowering face, Mul looked a lot less amused.

  “Why does it always take so damned long to get these people moving?” he fumed. “It’s a damned lift! How hard can it be?”

  “Do you want me to lift you?” Tuk asked, grinning. “It’s pretty funny to see.”

  Mul slowly turned his face upwards to the ring tosser, his face devoid of emotion, and surprised with Tuk’s daring.

  “Can it, you two!” Kur said. “Everyone remember the new plan?”

  “I’m where I always am,” Gad said.

  “I’m to her right,” Mul grunted, still glaring fists at Tuk.

  “I’m to Gad’s left now,” Jul said, throwing Viy a cautious glance.

  Viy winked at their soon to not be a rogue, but a warrior, with a smile. “And I’m behind Gad now, to use my reach to help out whoever needs it.”

  “And to strengthen our core!” Kur added. “And I’ll be right behind you, Viy…”

  “With me,” Cen said. “Or carrying me!”

  “As needed,” Kur said, nodding.

  “I’ll be at the back, and I’ll provide support as needed, but my focus is on mowing down the front,” Rel said.

  “And I help out with that, but I mostly keep an eye on our flanks and behind us,” Tuk said.

  “Hmm! And lastly…” Kur said, turning his eyes to Nar.

  “Me,” Nar said. “Moving around the party as needed and helping out other parties if I see they need help.”

  “Exactly!” Kur shouted. “Relax, everyone! It’s going to go fine!”

  “Are you relaxed?” Cen asked him, eliciting a round of laughter from the group.

  Nar, from behind them, considered his party members. It still felt weird voicing his new role within the party. Sure, it was something he had found himself doing during their Ceremony of Final Atonement, and even before that, in the latter third of their Climb, but he was used to being the party’s secondary tank, standing watch over their backs, and swapping with Gad as needed…

  “The first thing we need to talk about, is that we can’t keep you in the back anymore, Nar,” Kur had told them a few nights prior, as they gathered in their living room to hear Kur’s new strategy, the result of his leadership lectures. “It's a waste of your path.”

  “Agreed,” Gad said.

  “But, what about the back?” Nar asked them, stunned. “Don’t we need to cover it?”

  “That job is going to Tuk from now on,” Kur said, eyeing the trugger.

  “M-Me?” Tuk asked, color draining from his face. “How in Crystal's Name am I going to do that?”

  “You’re a multi-target, close and medium ranged class, Tuk. You will protect our backs and our sides, and Rel will help you when needed, but her focus is aiding the offensive and the front of the party.”

  “But…”

  “You can do it,” Rel said, squeezing the trugger’s hand. “You did it before, remember?”

  “I-I mean… I guess? But I only have four rings now…” the ring tosser whispered.

  “You’ll get better,” Kur said. “I believe in you. We all do.”

  “Stop moaning and just do it,” Mul shot at the ring tosser, though his tone was a touch softer than usual.

  Tuk sighed and relented. “Fine. I will… I guess.”

  “You’ll do great, Tuk,” Nar said, slapping the ring tosser’s back from his other side. “But then, what am I going to do?”

  Kur grinned at him.

  “Your time as our secondary tank is over,” Kur said. “From now on, you’re an independent.”

  “I am?” Nar asked.

  “Yes, and it's what makes the most sense. You’ll move independently of the party’s formation, according to the situation and the needs of the fight,” Kur explained. “If we need you to tank, you tank. If we need DPS, you DPS. If Tuk needs help at the back, you’ll help him, and if Gad needs help at the front, you’ll be there as well.”

  “Your job is to open the way for us,” Gad rumbled. “And make sure that nothing surprises or overwhelms the party, so that the rest of us can carry on and focus on doing our jobs.”

  “Exactly!” Kur said. “You are neither the tank, nor a DPS just focused on bringing down the enemy. You are our multiplier, increasing our capacity and effectiveness as we remain in formation, and stand up to and demolish whatever’s in our way!”

  “Woah…” Tuk whispered. “I got shivers from that…”

  Kur shook his head at the trugger. “Do you agree, Nar? I thought this might be the best way to make use of the skills you’re trying to unlock for now, as well as your attributes and hybrid path. But if you think that there’s another way that suits you more…”

  “Hmm…” Nar made, crossing his arms.

  No tanking, and not really directly DPSing… Is that going to work? he wondered. But I do like the sound of that… I’ll always be where the fighting is hardest, instead of staying put and just guarding the back. And being the multiplier for the others…

  “I like it,” he decided, grinning at Kur and Gad. “I like it a lot!”

  “Good!” Kur said. “I thought you would! And it's just for now, in this period of uncertainty for the party. Now, for the rest of us…”

  And so, Kur had laid out the new formation he had come up with, rearranging the party to face up to the new challenges that awaited them in the Labyrinth, and Nar couldn’t wait to see what they were up against, and how their stronger, and already a little bit better trained party would fare.