The sound of laughter and good cheer filled their room as they waited for dinner.

  Tuk had returned with news of success. He had tossed a ring, and he had managed to get it back onto his finger without hurting himself or slicing it off. And he had managed to do so several times after that as well. He was finally making some progress.

  Mul hadn’t complained about his training once in the hours they’d been there, and Nar was feeling light and content in the moment.

  The only thing worrying him was that Jul had returned the last of the party, and with a pale, blanched expression.

  Gad and Cen had followed her into the room, and none of them had emerged yet.

  He had a feeling that Jul’s chat with the Master of Shadows had not gone well. However, before he decided to take any action, he was going to talk with Jul first, and see what had happened and what she wanted to do about it. Whatever her decision, he was ready to back her up, even if it meant leaving the Scimitar at the point of no return.

  There was a lull in the conversation, and as Nar’s thoughts began to spiral into darker places, a loud sound surprised them all.

  “What was that?” Mul asked, looking around their common area.

  “Uh… No idea,” Kur said. “I’ve never heard that before.”

  BZZZZZT!

  It was like a heavy buzzing, low and insisting. Demanding almost.

  “What in the pile…” Mul said, getting up.

  Nar too got up and searched around the room. His [Instinct] remained silent, so that at least meant that they weren’t under immediate threat.

  “Are they doing something?” Viy asked, still seated. “The faculty I mean.”

  “I knew it! That whole rest thing was too good to be true!” Tuk lamented, looking miserably around himself, as though expecting something to pounce on him.

  BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

  The sound came again, longer and more insistent this time.

  Before they could take any action, a loud banging sounded from the door that opened onto the outside corridor, and they all froze.

  “Is that… Someone at the door?” Viy asked.

  “Uhhhhh…” Kur made.

  He got up, and he walked towards the door. Nar followed after him, ready to pull out his sword at the first sign of danger. The others all waited with bated breaths.

  BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

  The sound came again, followed by more banging.

  Kur hesitated before the door, then opened it.

  “About fucking time!” a familiar voice shouted from outside. “What took you so long?”

  And having said so, Jaz gently pushed past Kur and led the entirety of Row’s party into their room.

  “Oh, my Crystal!” Tuk shouted, getting up. “It’s Row’s party!”

  “Yoh!” Jaz shouted, laughing. “We’ve come to visit!”

  Nar and Kur both watched in stunned silence as Row’s party members greeted them and one by one passed by them into the room. The last one, Row, stopped at the door and laughed at their frozen expressions.

  “Is that the first time your doorbell rang?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “Come on, people! You need to make some friends!”

  “Busy…” Kur mumbled, watching the unfolding chaos in their common room.

  Even Gad, Cen and Jul had come out to see what all the ruckus was about.

  “You can’t spend your whole time studying! Or practicing!” Row said, shifting her stare from Kur to Nar.

  Nar didn’t have any reply to that, so instead, they closed the door and followed Row back to their common room.

  It looked as though groups had been quick to form, and people were sitting on the stools, the table and the floor, conversation already flowing.

  Tun and Gad were off to one side, chatting animatedly about their tank class.

  And their master, Nar realized with a frown. Crystal. They almost seemed to be worshiping the Master of Tanks by the way they spoke. Is that how I sound like?

  He just managed to catch a glimpse of Cen, Jul and Cor withdrawing to the girl’s room, while on the opposite side, by the door to the guy’s room, a bigger group had formed around the ever-loud Tuk and Jaz. The latter, Lim and Raf, were staring stunned at Viy, as she joked and laughed with them, even going so far as to slap Jaz’s back with several, loud hits that had him grimacing.

  Maybe he’s found his match, Nar thought, shaking his head.

  With Tuk and Mul also added to the mix, that group felt too loud for him to join in his exhausted and starving state.

  He was about to sit down with Kur and Row, the party leaders again, who at least should be quieter, when Teb of all people stepped in front of him.

  “Uhm… Hi,” he said.

  “H-Hi,” Nar said, just as hesitatingly.

  He wasn’t sure if he managed to hide the surprise on his face.

  The two of them had never even spoken. In fact, their only interaction had consisted of the quam staring at him so intensively and aggressively that Nar, already not in the best of mindsets after that disastrous first bridge crossing, had nearly jumped up to start a fight with him.

  “Yeah… So, I wanted to apologize, from before,” Teb said, staring at his feet. “I know I was an ass before, and, well, with the two of us in the Blades Hall, I didn’t want to make things awkward… You know, with the sparring and stuff coming up. I mean, at least I hope there’s sparring coming up soon.”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Nar was caught entirely off guard.

  The quam used swords! And four swords at that! Of course he was going to be in the Blades Hall as well!

  Shit! Nar thought, keeping his expression neutral.

  He had completely forgotten about Teb and he had never even noticed him amongst the other hundred or so apprentices in the hall.

  “Y-Yeah… Of course,” Nar said, hoping that the shock in his tone and hesitation was successfully passed off as awkwardness. “J-Just forget about it. Back then it was… Well, it was really fucked up, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah…” Teb said, scratching the back of his head.

  Nar looked away from the quam, unsure of what to say next.

  Behind him, he found Tuk, Jaz and Viy staring at the two awkward Blades apprentices. Nar felt heat rise to his face, and it didn’t help that Tuk mouthed “Keep talking! You’re doing great!”, while Viy gave him an extremely enthusiastic double thumbs up.

  Nar shook his head at their antics.

  However, Row was right. They should probably be making friends. They were out now, alone in a vast new reality that alternated between the baffling and the downright hostile. They should have people they could count on, and not just for mutual protection and support. For the sake of their sanity as well.

  “So, uh, Intro Weeks are finally over, eh?” he said, hating the sound of every word coming out of his mouth.

  *********

  In the end, talking with Teb wasn’t that bad. Or bad at all.

  They quickly found a common ground in the hardships they had shared in the Blades Hall and were sharing horror stories that each of them had missed, complaining heavily, despite what the Master of Blades always said, and laughing at shared pains and failings.

  Without noticing, Nar found himself going from chat to chat, small group to big group and back to small group again.

  Viy quickly established that she was just a notch higher in the enthusiasm scale than Jaz, though neither of them could outcompete Tuk. Or Mul, when it came to complaining and grumpiness, or ensuring he was heard.

  At some point they had all been shocked by the sound of crying and had turned to find Kur bawling and hugging Row, thanking her for having returned to save them all at the end of the Ceremony of Final Atonement.

  That had been a tearful moment for all of them, and after many thanks and hugs and backs slapped, Tuk announced that it was time to stop crying and thinking about sad stuff, and to head for dinner.

  They all went together, and all in all, had a great time enjoying yet another fantastic meal.

  Nar noticed that Tuk was calling and addressing the canteen staff by name, and in all honesty, he wasn’t really all that surprised by it. Tuk had Climbed to live a proper, great life, filled with adventure, people and joy, and it looked like that was exactly what he was doing. And Nar was happy for him.

  They were just about finishing their meals, when all of sudden, Nar noticed people getting up, and the festive, relaxed atmosphere being replaced by tense whispering and confused conversations.

  “What’s going on now?” Mul asked, also noticing the commotion.

  TING!

  “I got a notification!” Tuk shouted.

  Nar quickly opened his notifications tab and found a new one waiting for him. It read Next steps in training - Meeting - Now.

  His breath froze in his throat.

  Is this…

  He opened it, his heart racing, and read the short few lines in the message.

  New training… Nar thought, grinning. Finally!

  That had to be it, right? His actual sword training?

  “Alright, people. Let’s get going!” Kur said standing up. “Good luck to everyone, and if anything happens, we’ll meet up later to talk about it.”

  “Same!” Row said, also standing up. “So just go ahead and talk with them for now. Remember, we don’t have to stay if we don’t like what we hear!”

  The two parties headed for the canteen’s exit, and after a brief exchange of good lucks and see you laters, they all split to go their own directions.

  Nar found himself squeezing into a lift with other apprentices of the Blade, Teb at his side.

  “Nervous?” Nar asked the quam, noticing how he skipped from foot to foot.

  “Yeah… A bit,” Teb said. “The second week was great, but the first…”

  He shook his head at himself.

  “It’s alright, it was like that for everyone,” Nar said.

  While he hadn’t passed out nor puked, he had cut it dangerously close more than a few times. One time in particular, he had to kneel at the side, taking deep breaths for several minutes and literally swallow the bile trying to burst out of his mouth, while an instructor stood nearby, glaring at him.

  It had earned him a good shouting at, for not stopping sooner. And Nar had endeavored to never let it get that bad again.

  “I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Nar said, despite the unsettled feeling gripping his own, all too full, stomach. “We did our best, and we just have to keep doing it.”

  Teb sighed. “I know… I know.”

  The door of the lift opened and the anxious crowd of apprentices filtered out to find a pair of instructors standing outside.

  “Go down the corridor, into the door at the end, and wait to be called,” one of them told the apprentices.

  Nar and Teb followed after the others, and soon found themselves in a miniature version of the Blades and Aura halls.

  Must be one of those training rooms you can book, Nar thought, looking around as they sat down. Maybe I should start using them…

  He didn’t know what sort of new training was going to come his way, but if he had to guess, it would be one where he would need to dedicate a significant portion of his free time, in order to actually achieve the results he needed. And if the Blades Hall was going to be anything like the Aura Hall, with its highly contested aura pods, then maybe it was time he found himself somewhere he could be sure would be reliably free for him to train in.

  And quiet, too, Nar thought. He would need to train with the other apprentices for sure, but it would definitely be better to have a place where he could properly focus.

  “Teb?” an instructor called from the door.

  “Yes, instructor!” Teb replied.

  “Follow me.”

  “Good luck!” Nar said.

  “Thanks. You too!” Teb said, looking pale as he followed the instructor out the sliding door.

  Nar took a deep breath when the quam was gone, and tried to still his nerves.

  Every time he thought he was starting to slow his heartbeat down, an instructor would come to the door and call out another name, causing his heartbeat to dash out of control once more.

  Again and again, new apprentices arrived, and instructors came to collect them. The number of people in the waiting room ebbed and flowed, and through it all, Nar sat quietly, fidgeting with his hands, trying to keep his mind from spiraling down and down, delving deeper and…

  “Nar?”

  “Y-Yes, instructor!” Nar shouted, jumping to his feet.

  “Follow me,” she said.

  Nar followed after the instructor, analyzing her discreetly.

  She was a few inches taller than him, and she had a very long, tightly held ponytail that reached almost to her waist. Her hair glimmered in some kind of mix of very dark purples and blues, and was sure he spotted the glint of silver within her hair… As for her skin, she was the ashen gray he had learned to associate with Ex-Climbers like himself.

  It’s going to be okay, He told himself. Even if it's not the master, I’m sure she’s very good.

  The instructor led him down a corridor of neat rows of narrow doors, tightly packed together. In front and behind them, other instructor and apprentice pairs walked towards their own destinations.

  “In here,” another instructor said to his apprentice.

  Nar glanced in the direction of the open door, and saw what looked like some sort of small, cramped room, containing a desk, two chairs, and a varied array of decoration, before the door closed.

  The instructor guiding him remained silent, and Nar didn’t dare to break the silence, for fear of breaking any unspoken rule he might be unaware of.

  “We’re here,” the instructor finally spoke.

  They stopped in front of a door, one that looked just the same as all the ones they had passed by so far. However, instead of opening the door, she fixed him with an intense stare.

  “Be respectful, and work hard,” she said. “His time is precious, and if you do not value it appropriately, another apprentice will.”

  And before Nar could speak, she knocked on the door twice, and the door slid open with a sigh.

  “Master, I’ve brought Nar,” she said.

  “Thank you, Liv,” a familiar voice said from within. “You may enter, apprentice.”

  Nar turned his face slowly to the revealed room.

  The room beyond the door was just as small and cramped as all the others that Nar had glimpsed. One desk, two stools… And upon one of them sat none other than the Master of Blades himself.