“Hey, wake up already,” Ueya said and nudged Triss.

Triss continued to sleep and remained as still as the stone floor underneath despite Ueya’s efforts to wake him up. Then Ueya slapped him on the cheek. He figured what worked to wake up his younger brother wouldn’t fail here.

Ueya was right. For the second time that night, Triss woke up screaming.

“Are you always so loud when waking up?” He asked Triss.

“What gives? It’s not even dawn yet…” Triss groaned. He was still unable to keep his eyes fully open.

“It will be soon. Come on, you should get ready,” Ueya said and picked up Sarva’s cloak from the floor.

Triss stood up in his dazed state. He still wasn’t completely rid of his headache. Ueya put his arm on Triss’ back and pushed him forward to the staircase. The building’s interior was mostly wooden and had multiple candlelights lit along the hallways.

They went to the building’s bath and found two people about to get out of it. Triss didn’t know either of them but he assumed they were his new colleagues.

One of them appeared to be a middle-aged High Human with considerable bulk. His hair was ginger and his eyes were a deep blue. He had an unkempt beard and calloused hands.

“Hey kid, your stuff is in that closet over there. Let’s talk over breakfast,” he said to Triss as he was putting on a set of leather armour.

The other man who Triss didn’t know in the room was an old Human and barely any taller than himself. His hair was a light-grey and his skin had a few wrinkles but he had a sturdy figure nonetheless. He was already dressed in similar leather armour and just smiled at Triss.

“Did Sarva get up yet?” Ueya asked the old Human.

The man rubbed his chin. “Yes, I did see him get ready, though he looked like he would fall back to sleep at any given moment. Just like our new friend.”

“That’s good enough,” Ueya responded.

The unknown High Human had gotten ready in the meanwhile. The both of them smiled and walked out after putting on brown cloaks. Triss noticed that the ginger-haired man was giggling on his way out. Ueya then dragged and pushed the still half-asleep Triss into one of the baths while he was still dressed.

That managed to fully wake him up.

“Hey, what was that for?! At least let me take my clothes off!” He yelled at Ueya, who was currently disrobing in the adjacent room.

Ueya whistled a tune while promptly ignoring Triss and then got down to his own bath.

Triss fumbled and removed his clothes. The sensation of being surrounded by hot water was a new one to him and it had felt odd. The clothes were thrown to the side and he noticed a soap bar lying next to where he had thrown them. It was oval-shaped and had a pleasant smell to it, which he did not recognise. He inspected its texture before trying it out. After scrubbing and washing his body, he cleaned up the clot and leftover grime from the healing paste on his head. He had never considered in his entire life that a bath could be as pleasant and found it rather exciting. After years of splashing in cold water and using only scum-riddled soap, this new experience made him squeal internally. It was something small but he finally understood that he was getting out. He still didn’t know how he would be treated but he felt optimistic after enjoying what was just a simple bath.

“Weya, can I take the soap?” He asked Ueya, although he couldn’t manage to get the pronunciation right.

“We already have some stock on the ship. Dry up, will you? I’ll get your stuff out,” Ueya said from across the wall. He was already out of the bath.

Triss saw a towel hanging on the side and picked it up. It was some of the softest fabric that he had ever felt. Whether the luxuries would last or not, he was happy. He was just happy at that moment.

He came out of the bath and saw Ueya dressed up in the same leather armour as the others from earlier. He was carrying his cloak on one shoulder instead of wearing it. His brother’s cloak was on the other. Ueya pointed to a black shirt and a pair of black shorts on a bench.

Triss put them on the next instant and found them a bit thicker than the ragged uniform that he wore at the doghouse. The fit was a bit loose but it was not much of an issue. The clothes were also quite soft but he lamented that it couldn’t live up to the towel.

Ueya came forward holding a white-coloured leather vest. “Get used to wearing it, you probably won’t get other equipment for a while,” he said to Triss.

Triss was confused by the colouring as the armour that Ueya had worn was dark brown. He put it on and Ueya helped with strapping the buckles and tightening the fit. It then occurred to him that he was wearing the same leather uniform that his combat instructors in the doghouse had worn.

Ueya helped him strap on the pauldrons and bracers soon after. He managed to put on the pants and boots himself. Similar to the vest that he had gotten, they were all dyed white.

“Be careful,” Ueya said and gripped Triss’ arm to help him get up.

“A headguard came with this, but we assumed it won’t fit you after a short while,” he added, “I can get it if you want it, though.”

Triss felt the weight of the armour as soon as he got up. He shook his head to refuse the helmet. He wouldn’t be able to wear it once his horns grew out more nor did he want more weight on his head.

He took a step and found it difficult to walk in his new boots. Ueya helped him up to the door and told him to practice walking faster later. Ueya was slowed down by Triss but they made it to their dining hall on time.

It was a bit of a cramped space. Triss could see first light pour through the eastward facing window. He saw four people seated amongst two opposing couches with a knee-high table in between them.

There were a bunch of bowls with a variety of food in them. The people there had already started eating. He recognised Sarva and the two from the bath sitting together on one of the couches.

On the other couch, there was a High Human woman who seemed to be roughly of the same age as the one with ginger hair. She had a dirty blonde pixie cut and blue eyes.

Like the others, she also had the same dark brown leather armour. All of their cloaks were thrown to one side of the room. Ueya threw his and his brother’s over to the same pile. Ueya sat down next to the woman and Triss followed to sit next to him.

“What did we tell you, Val? White leather! White fucking leather!” Sarva said loudly with some food still in his mouth.

The woman started giggling and almost choked on the food in her mouth. The ginger-haired man erupted in laughter at the same time. The old Human just chewed on his food silently. Ueya sighed while Triss had no idea what to say or how to react to that.

“Haha, sorry if we spooked you, kid. I still can’t get over your armour,” the ginger-haired man said while suppressing a laugh. “Right, right, you can call me Bran. I’m an Earth Tempest and professional excavator.”

“Somewhat professional,” the old Human added. “Nice to meet you, Triss. My name is Oakley. I’m also an Earth Tempest like Bran, though my focus is on architecture. We’re both archaeologists as well.”

Triss looked a bit nervous and still couldn’t muster any words to say. The next to speak was the woman who was seated next to Ueya.

“Hi, Triss. I’m Valerica. I’m a Crystal mage like Ueya. You can call me Val.”

“Hi again,” Sarva said after Valerica.

“Well? It’s your turn,” Ueya told Triss and nudged his shoulder.

“Uh. I’m Triss and not particularly good at anything…” He muttered with a low voice.

“Eat up, kid. You sound like you haven’t had any breakfast,” Bran said with a chuckle. Sarva and Valerica started giggling again.

Triss nodded and sampled what was on the table in front of him. He saw loaves of bread and beef jerky scattered in a few bowls. It was the same menu as in the doghouse. In addition to that, though, he saw a few wooden mugs with a yellowish liquid inside it. He sampled a piece of bread and found it softer than what he was used to. He took a bite and found it a lot sweeter than he expected. It didn’t take more than a few more minutes for him to finish two full loaves. He still hadn’t touched the jerky nor the drink.

“Triss, have some of the jerky and mead,” Ueya said as he noticed that Triss was avoiding them.

“Okay,” Triss said and grabbed one of the mugs. He sipped a little bit and found the taste to be a bit sweet. The warm tingle of the alcohol flowing down his throat made him sample it a few more times. He had a bit of the jerky in between but found it no different from the doghouse rations. He started eating another loaf of bread and drank more of the mead in between mouthfuls.

“Got strength back to your voice, kid?” Bran asked.

Triss nodded to respond as he was still chewing. He took a few seconds to swallow and then proceeded to ask a question.

“What do you guys do?”

“Huh? We just told you what we do—” Bran said as he was cut off by Oakley.

“We explore, dig up ruins, and learn about the past, mostly. Our bosses tend to focus on learning about magic, and we help out with the menial tasks in between,” Oakley said while anticipating more questions.

“Then you’re not a part of the Scholars?” Triss asked.

Oakley responded while shaking his head. “No, we’re not. The Scholars of Trauerburg are our temporary employers, so to say. We work other jobs when they don’t need us to move about with them. You probably have a more permanent post, though.”

“Are we supposed to help them fight off the Threat?” Triss asked a bit expectantly.

“Look, kid. We told you. We move around and look for things, not fight things off,” Bran shot Triss down.

Ueya added his take to the conversation. “We do it in our own way. The Scholars are supposed to help with devising strategies and tactics to succeed in the war, after all. We do have to probe the Firebrood for weaknesses every once in a while, although I’ve only seen corpses.”

“The armour is just a stopgap in case we do run into them,” Sarva said. “To help us run away, that is. I don’t think any of us will survive fighting them head on. I certainly can’t heal you from cinders.”

“Is there someone else who can?” Triss questioned.

“The Luminaries are all better healers than I could ever be, honestly. They can come back from losing limbs, without any sort of nutrition nor any smelly paste. Nothing will bring you back if half of you is going for a swim in lava, though, yea? Don’t get ideas.”

“Is lava the red shiny liquid?” Triss asked.

“Yes, it is. Have you seen it before?” Oakley asked Triss.

Triss nodded and started recounting what he had seen with a tinge of excitement. “It was one of the enemy’s lieutenants. I think during the winter before the last. The red thing—lava—spilled from that thing’s body when they cut it down. There was quite a bit of it flowing down the outer walls. It stopped glowing after a while, though.

“I was, erm, kicked off of the lectures about environmental hazards. Is it really that dangerous?” Triss asked with curiosity.

“The heat will kill you before you even get close to it,” Valerica replied.

“You can’t actually swim in lava, by the way. When I tried I sort of just floated,” an unfamiliar voice spoke. Everyone looked towards the room’s open door. A masked woman with maroon robes was leaning by the side of the entryway. Sarva and Valerica rolled their eyes after her remark.

“Ma’am, I would say that it is impolite to eavesdrop,” Oakley spoke out.

“Oh piss off, geezer. I don’t care about all that. You guys get things ready to leave in around an hour, okay? Triss, you come with me,” Tala ordered and walked away from the hall.

“She’s one of your new employers, alright? Just go,” Ueya said and pushed Triss off of the couch, who tried to ask for an explanation. He left the room the next moment.

The others then got to finishing their food and cleaning up, after which they picked up their clothes and went down to the ground floor to get the wagon ready.

Triss tried to follow the masked woman but he continued to struggle to walk fast in his new fittings. He would have fallen quite a few times already if it weren’t for the railings along the hallways. The taller woman’s longer strides made it that much harder to keep pace with as well.

They looped around to the other side of the building and came across a pair of arched doors. The woman kicked it open and went inside the room. Triss paused for a few seconds after the display before heading in himself.

The room that Tala and Triss had entered was carpeted with red. The lighting was still a bit dim since the sun hadn’t completely risen. There were a few couches along the sides and three chandeliers along the middle.

It was quite big for a room with only four people in it. Triss saw two masked men sitting on the side. One was hooded and he did not have the words to even begin describing the get up that the other bore. There was a wooden chest on a table right next to the stranger of the two.

The woman put her hand around Triss and walked him up to the seated pair. The silver-haired person rubbed his chin and inspected Triss from head to toe. The hooded person mimicked the same motions.

“So? Any idea why you’re here?” The woman next to Triss asked him with a bit of a cheery voice. She saw him twitching nervously and wanted to poke a little fun.

“Sarva told me something about obtaining a Class,” Triss muttered.

“Tch. Of course that loud mouth ruined the surprise,” she said in response.

The silver-haired man spoke next. “That is the gist of it. I assume you have already gone through an attempted awakening?”

“I-I don’t know what that is,” Triss said sheepishly.

“I suppose you’ll recognise the sensation soon enough. Make sure you remember everything that you feel during the process, it’s quite important. I don’t want to waste any more time on this, so we are going to begin as soon as possible. Before we start, do you have any questions?” The man asked him.

Triss took a second to collect his thoughts before asking a few questions.

“Who are you people? Y-you are the Scholars right?” Triss was still somewhat unsure whether he was being duped or not. He hadn’t even known everyone for more than an hour, after all. Not that he could verify their claims either way. He was just anxious.

The silver-hair man sighed as if the question was disappointing. “I suppose introductions are in order. I am Veles, the man to my right is Shaw, and the woman by your side is Tala. Yes, we are a part of the Scholars of Trauerburg. What else?”

“Why me?” Triss asked. He didn’t want to believe that he got a chance purely through dumb luck. What about everyone else? Are they all going to suffer like I was supposed to? He couldn’t bring himself to voice that thought.

Shaw responded. “According to my information, you’re suspected to have quite the rigid Will, yet you failed to awaken the Luminary Class. That makes you an ideal candidate for this. The Class that we are trialing with you is chaos-based, you see.”

Triss had no idea what that explanation even meant. Tala tried to illustrate it to him in simpler terms. “He’s just saying that this new wonder Class will fit you like a snug coat. But to you, the Luminary Class is like a…” She paused to look around the room before continuing. “Candlestick, yes. You can’t wear a candlestick, can you?”

Triss somehow understood that. He knew that he would never get to become a Luminary already but did not appreciate it being spelled out clearly. He just wished that he still could have somehow gotten the Luminary Class instead of having to deal with the Scholars.

Veles noticed his lack of response and took it to mean the questions were over. He took out what looked like a glass dagger from the wooden chest to his side. It had a metallic hilt with multiple grooves inscribed on it. The blade itself had a serrated edge which tapered inward diagonally towards the tip. It was mostly see-through with a pink tint on the outline.

Veles stood up while still holding the blade with his left arm and placed his right arm on Triss’ forehead. Tala steadied the trembling boy with a tight grip on his shoulders. Triss couldn’t see much with the arm over his head but he perceived mana swirling around the man in front like a storm.

The dagger in Veles’ hand started to glow an extremely bright pink as Triss felt sound itself disappear from around him. He couldn’t hear anything anymore, and soon, his entire vision turned white.

An indescribable agony swathed over him as what seemed to him like the weight of the world itself weighed on him and tore him apart from the inside. He fell to his knees and tried to scream in torment but no sound came out.

Soon, sound returned to him as a slight buzzing. He found himself fallen on the floor and blood dripping down his nose. His eyes were bloodshot as well. It was the most excruciating experience of his life. He honestly considered that he would have died. Veles told him to remember that experience, but how could he ever forget?

As Triss wretched in anguish on the floor, Veles seethed in anger.

“Shaw, you fucking idiot!” Veles yelled with a guttural voice.

Shaw spoke out nervously. “But his compatibility should’ve been perfect… Is he still alive?”

“By a thread, you absolute buffoon. If they were smart enough, I would think the Lightguard pulled one over on us,” Veles said.

“What do you mean?” Shaw asked.

“The kid was a perfect fit for the Luminary Class. I don’t believe for a second he would have failed that awakening,” Veles explained while still incredibly pissed off. “Leave it to those incompetents to not even notice their own talents.”

Triss couldn’t hear that conversation.