There was another student council meeting the day after the exam results had come out. Not wanting to tempt fate, I went along with my friends to the meeting—resigning myself to munching on snacks while being bored out of my mind. I could just bring a good book to read or maybe homework to do, but that would feel…disrespectful somehow? I’m too socially conscious to do something like that. And, the one time I had tried, I got just a little too focused on the book in front of me, and found the entire student council staring at me when I looked up.

They had apparently been calling my name for a solid two or three minutes before I noticed. I, of course, blushed furiously in that situation, and resolved myself to at least pay a little attention.

Today’s student council meeting was focusing on the tutoring system in place at the school. They wanted to find more people willing to tutor students who hadn’t done so well on their exams. Most of the top-scorers were pulled into choosing a few students to look after, myself precluded for obvious reasons. Kinda hard to teach someone stuff when you don’t really talk, right?

However, that notwithstanding, nearly my entire friend group was helping with this, the only exception being Kormic, who wasn’t in the student council in the first place, and had no time for it. Besides joining us in Ashenload most weekends, he diligently works at his family’s dojo, often taking up the teaching of younger practitioners while training himself.

Really, he’s such an admirable guy.

Other than my group of friends, there were more students enlisted in the tutoring plan. Most of the student council was participating, you know. They spouted off some nice sounding words about preserving the prestige of the school, and making sure that those whose grades are below the pass/fail demarcation line are able to bring their grades up.

One student council member that decided to participate was Varner, the vice president. He’s a good-looking guy, with pale blonde features, and a delicate sort of structure. Normally, he’s kind to others, and noted as one of the most courteous men in school. However, he is also the only one to consistently object to my presence during the student council meeting—claiming that I distract from their objective, and that student council members shouldn’t bother a regular student for something like this. Actually, I agree with him for the most part, since I would also like to go home at times.

There’s just something about him, though. I can’t point to anything in particular, but he just sets off warning bells in me for some reason, leading me to be on guard around him all the time. It doesn’t help that he’s been sending me looks during today’s meeting. I mean, I’m getting looks from everyone, since they now know what rank I got for this last exam. His felt…different. Not like “Hey, lets make this story a romance together, baby,” different, but something darker? Ah, there it is again! Like his eyes clouded over, and unidentifiable raw emotion fell over his face for a split second.

Though, I could just be imagining it, or simply overthinking it. Maybe my nerves are a little frayed from all the thinking and worrying I’ve done as of late. That’s what I want to believe, since I really don’t want to worry about another thing right now. My Awakening is taking all my attention and focus. I decided to take the course of action that would get him to leave me alone the fastest. So, of course I simply ignored him. I’m not going to encourage him in any way.

The student council meeting ended smoothly, with the group having found the tutors they needed for the most part. I started out the door to make my way home, but suddenly found myself blocked by a tall and skinny person. It was Varner, who had stopped in front of the door I was about to use.

“Move please?” I asked him.

He simply stared down at me, a light frown on his face. His eyes seemed much darker than usual.

“I’d caution you to watch yourself, little Revy. Don’t cheat on exams….” He whispered. I’m sure that nobody else heard him, or even noticed that he was blocking the door for those brief moments. He turned around and left after delivering that spooky sounding line.

I sighed, and continued on home. Luckily, the trains weren’t too crowded at this hour, since it was after the rush that happened when school ends, but still before the time when all the workers in the city are left off for the day. Honestly, I was a little concerned because nobody was saying anything about my new rank in school, or the results of my exam. The fact that Varner seems pissed about it reassures me that everything is still normal, and that people will always be people, no matter what form they take. Still, I hope that he doesn’t bother me again—once that cheerful façade of his drops, he becomes downright creepy.

After finishing my homework that night, I logged onto Ashenload. It is a Friday after all, and we needed to make up for lost time since I had missed our session last Sunday. When I logged in, I was in the exact same place that I had logged out of—inside the Rogue armies’ camp, in front of the mission tent where you could start the various quests available to players. I waited a few minutes for the rest of the party to arrive, idly watching the passing groups of NPC soldiers and player parties. It was very easy to tell apart the NPC’s and players, since the player parties tended to seem more chaotic, due to the great variety of weapons and armor they wear and use. The soldier NPC’s had only the common gear worn by all other NPC’s in their own army division. Other than that though, there is no telling apart a player and an NPC, thanks to the highly advanced AI’s operating each individual NPC.

Anyway, the rest of my party soon arrived, and we went into the mission tent to take up a quest. We had some trouble deciding, since there were so many good quests available at the knight-level. In the end, we picked a fairly promising one—to check out a cave system in the mountains up to the north.

The basic objective of this is to simply scout it out, and report our findings. However, we are free to take whatever sort of action is deemed necessary while inside the caves. This little addition convinced us that this mission won’t be so easy as a normal scouting run. It’s certain that something interesting can be found in the caves.

It took a while getting there, due to the nearest teleport location being about half-an hours walk from the cave entrance. There were also monsters on the way, though they were cleared up without too much hassle. The cave’s entrance itself was extremely typical, besides the fact that it was massive—large enough for three wagons to enter side by side. There were also marks on the ground, the disturbed stone and dirt clearly indicating that something’s entered the cave recently. And judging by the wear and tear, there were quite a number of something’s in there, along with a large number of supplies, provisions, and weaponry. Scouting mission my ass, this is an Olympian army camp, isn’t it?

I hadn’t thought that this sort of location would be possible—Though I would wonder why I thought that in hindsight.

The inside of the first cave was massive. It could probably fit the school inside it, and it’s ceiling stretched up into the gloom. There were hushed whispers from the other end of the cavernous room. Likely, there are a few lookout’s posted over there, guarding this first cave. There are certain to be more than one, since this was described as a cave system, not a single simple cave. No matter how big that first cave really is on the inside. In tacit understanding, Eine and I crept towards those voices. I placed an arrow on my bow, while Eine clutched a few daggers in his hands.

There were four lookouts posted in front of another cave tunnel—one presumably leading further down into other caves. They didn’t have any torches lit, since that would prevent them from properly seeing in the gloom of this underground room. However, that made little difference to Eine and I, since I could snipe them from beyond their sight range, and Eine can stand two feet in front of someone, and still not be noticed. He said that he can bend the perceptions of others somewhat, forcing their attention to slid right over him for a brief moment or two.

It only took a few seconds for all the lookouts to die.

What, you want me to go into greater depth? Fine.

I loosed an arrow at the rightmost guy, while Eine simultaneously killed the two leftmost guards by slashing their throats. My next arrow killed the last lookout before he could even register the deaths of his comrades. The result of all this was that all four men dropped to the ground at nearly the same time, completely dead. We signaled the rest of our group that the coast was clear, then entered the tunnel leading deeper into the cave system.

While walking in formation, I couldn’t help but notice a few peculiarities. Namely, there were deep scratch and gouge marks in the sides of the tunnel. It was fairly obvious that the tunnel wasn’t formed naturally, or had existed as a smaller opening in the past, before being enlarged somehow. The gouge marks don’t look like something produced by picks though, since they were too deep and jagged.

The best way I could describe it, would be that something big with very sharp claws dug out this tunnel. And, the first thing that comes to mind with that information, would be a dragon. How interesting. I wonder if the Olympian army division that set up here knows that a dragon also frequents these caves? I’d say that they don’t, since dragons are extremly difficult to kill, even with a few hundred men.

Of course, our group is more than capable of taking down an average dragon, so take that as you will.

We ran into a small patrol in the tunnel, but they were easily taken down. Hell, I don’t think that they even noticed we were here, before they died. Spark had been running as our vanguard, and saw them first. Before the group could do anything, he swung his mace a single time, sweeping through them all and sparing none.

Soon however, we were face with a dilemma. The tunnel split off into two different paths, one going to the right, and angling down sharply. The left branch kept straight, disappearing into the distance. I didn’t wait, and immediately went down the rightmost tunnel. The rest of the party hesitated behind me, before following.

“Just curious, but why are we taking this tunnel? Is there a particular reason?” Asked Rina.

“Draft. Other lead outside.” I said in response, my voice barely audible here in the tunnels.

“Xavier? Care to translate?” Asked Spark, who had taken up his position as the vanguard again.

“Sure thing. She knew that the other tunnel lead outside due to the fact that air was flowing in it. This indicated that the air had somewhere to escape, and that the tunnel likely didn’t lead deeper into the cave systems.”

Everybody nodded at Xavier’s explanation, and the logic that I had used.

Our path was proven correct when the tunnel widened into another cave—one of comparable size to the first. Just like that entrance cave, it was occupied. Not by lookouts this time, but by tamed monsters. Things like Ogres, Trolls, Basilisks—and even, disturbingly, a Goliath Arachnid. That’s not to say that it would be difficult to kill, but it’s a spider as big as some houses. The thing’s damn creepy, okay?

Luckily, I’m an archer class, and don’t have to get close, unlike Spark, Xavier, Diana and Eine. Ah, poor them. Choosing classes for close quarters combat.

Actually, none of them ended up getting close to the damn spider, since not one was willing to have to see it up close. Rina ended up taking care of it with a fireball. On the plus side, the spider has now been incinerated, along with a few trolls nearby. On the down side, the entire cave now smells of burnt spider.

In other words, I think I would have rather we handled the spider in a way that didn’t a smell bad enough to leave even us reeling. I wonder if there’s a way to weaponize that smell, since it’s certainly more than a little deadly. Ah, Rina couldn’t handle it anymore, and fall. She landed on my head, nearly unconscious.

We cleared up the remaining monsters faster than normal, our fervent desire to leave the cave propelling us. As soon as the last enemy went down, we ran for the next tunnel. I had long since equipped a mask around my nose and mouth designed to prevent you from contracting the plague, but it still couldn’t quite filter out the smell. Once we were in the tunnel though, the smell lessened greatly; dissipating more the further we walked. Soon, we were gulping down uncontaminated air.

Rina was scolded for using her fireball method on the Goliath Arachnid, and miserably agreed that it had been a bad idea. She stayed on my head though, obviously still traumatized by what had happened. I couldn’t help but think that this situation could’ve been avoided had Rina stuck to using actual nature magic, rather than chucking fireballs at anything that moved.

There were a few more caves that we went through, but nothing notable was in them. I mean, there were things inside, but since they’re just random spattering’s of blood and gore on the cave floors now, they aren’t worth mentioning. There wasn’t anything interesting until we reached the seventh cave, where things changed dramatically.

The cave was well lit, with clear crystals growing out of the walls. A small underground river bisected the cave; it’s waters glistening clearly under the glow of the crystals, and reflecting a ceiling resembling the night sky better than any mirror. The whole place was silent, and beautiful. There was a solemn and reverent feeling existing in this cave, causing us to feel like we were intruding somehow. The only thing that broke the atmosphere were the clear scuff marks etched into the cave floor, and the crude wooden bride spanning the river—markings that showed this place has already been defiled by human eyes and ambitions.

We silently crossed the bridge, and left the cave.

The eighth cave was even more fantastic, in it’s own way. It was the largest one yet, and the place where the Olympian army division had set up camp. They had been able to create a makeshift stockade in the center of the cave, and pitched large tents inside the safety of their wooden fort. A campfire lit the area up in the middle of it all, clearly letting us see all those soldiers walking around, working, or simply sleeping. There were at least two-hundred men inside the little fort, doing their own things. A few of them spotted us walking out of the tunnel, and an alarm was immediately raised. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late for them.

You see, there are only two tunnels out of this cave—the one we are currently blocking, and one on the other end of the fort. I’m guessing that they don’t want, or can’t to go down the other tunnel for one reason or another, so that leaves only one way out. But we’re in front of it, so they’re actually trapped.

Of course, the soldiers didn’t know that. To them, we’re just some people who made it down here, and are now vastly outnumbered. We aren’t a threat in their mind—which was made evident when they only sent fifteen people to deal with us. We sent Spark to deal with them.

I think you can imagine the results.

There was a small crowd of soldiers who had gathered to watch our party being killed, but they were instead treated to the horrific sight of Spark tearing through the small number of men sent. I heard yells and warning bells ringing inside the fort, as they realize that our party is nothing to be trifled with. I stepped back into the tunnel entrance, intending to shoot anyone who gets too close. Meanwhile, the rest of the party was grinning manically, and preparing themselves for the inevitable brawl that was about to happen.

Most of the camp inside the fort was roused for battle, and the walked out of the stockades in neat lines. Ah, that’s too bad—they’re just drill soldiers, meant to march in straight and orderly lines, using their numbers and weapons to deal damage to whatever other drill based soldiers they encounter. Unfortunately, small parties like ours, with each member having their own specialties and strengths, are practically the antithesis to drill soldiers, since we have the flexibility to adapt to any sort of situation, as well as the strength to come out on top. We might have had some trouble if the enemy camp was completely inhabited by elite Olympian parties, since their numbers would have been a problem. Like this, however, they have no chance.

Their screams echoed through the caves for the next few minutes, before everything fell silent.

The sorts of quests we did over the weekend were all different, and ended with various sorts of objectives. For instance, we reported back to the mission tent for the cave quest, and told them what had happened. A division of our own Rogue army was sent to occupy the now vacant cave system, and try to find out what the Olympians had been trying to find down there.

Oddly enough, even though there had been a tunnel farther down into the system past the eighth cave, it’s entrance had been blocked by a really old magic shield. It’s obvious that there’s something interesting further down there, but nobody can get past that shield for now. I think we'll have to go back to the caves at some point, and check it out when the shield's down.

There was another quest we did, where we had to apprehend a portion of the Rogue army that had gone, well, rogue. They had decided to desert, while also taking along most of the army’s treasury. A large number of player parties had been mustered to deal with the insubordination, and we had joined in. It was the first pitched battle of the civil war, but it hadn’t been with the Olympians—We were fighting our own troops, and that weighed heavily on some minds.

Other than these things, the weekend was quite tame, and passed very quickly. We were all in school on Monday, doing our government mandated learning. That was were things got interesting really quickly for me, and my group of friends. If I could point to a reason it did, all fingers would go to Varner, who had already thoroughly crept me out last week, during and after the student council meeting.

Apparently, he wasn’t nearly done, since I found myself cornered by him after school on Monday in a deserted hallway. His face, normally admittedly good-looking and kind, was twisted into a sneer of distain and haughtiness.

“I don’t know how a little girl like you cheated on the exams, but you should really admit to it. Non-important commoners like you should just vanish into the background, you know—And if you won’t do it yourself, I’ll be forced to do it for you.” He said, his tone dark—and supremely annoying. What the hell is he going on about, with me cheating? I thought that had already been cleared up?

I did what any sane person would (I hope), and simply ignored him as he started verbally abusing me in some pretty nasty ways. Though, most of what he said about my mother does really hold true, funnily enough. I kept walking away, and eventually, he stopped following.

Most people would say that my mistake was ignoring him, but I still wouldn’t do anything different, even with all things considered.