The next morning, Shaya and her entire cohort found themselves in the same auditorium where Zaal had introduced magical concepts to them – and misled her regarding the gap in power. He once again stood at the front of the class, this time joined by Bari and Basillo, the three of them standing at ease as the other lances arrived and took their seats.

The three professors could not have looked different from one another. Zaal stood in the center of the three of them, his thin frame dwarfed by his companions, still wearing his preferred layered robes of white and deep purple, accented by rose gold embroidery and jewelry. Bari’s outfit was far more practical and included laminar armour made with lacquered wooden scales, Shaya wondering if the wood was magically enhanced to be as hard as iron like the stories she heard coming from the Asharan steppes. Basillo’s pale marble skin contrasted against Zaal and Bari’s deeper skin tones, and his mythrite plate and chain armour made him appear almost as large as Bari.

The room felt just as empty as it did a month ago, the sixty students forming her cohort still representing less than half of the room’s full capacity. Most lances still sat apart from one another, though Azreon drew together a larger cluster. Another cluster formed on the opposite side of the room and Shaya expected to find Lan at its center. She looked around the group and didn’t spot Lan anywhere, not even with Apricot and their lance.

She spotted Yllaneth, however, who looked more reserved and nervous than usual, hands fidgeting and eyes flicking about.

“Alright,” Zaal said, voice rasping across the large room, “let us begin.”

He stepped up onto the podium at the front of the class, his thin fingers grasping a wand topped with Azurite aethercyte. With a wave, the wand glowed and shadows floated up above the stage, forming a huge image of a swamp above his head.

Even to Shaya’s bleary eyes, the details in the image were impressive. The illusion formed at ground level to the swamp, rotted trees sunken into the muck and surrounded by flitting insects, then flew upwards through a canopy of gnarled branches until the image was a bird’s eye view of the entire area.

“As you know, the Empire is constantly threatened by Titan spawn,” he continued, “we’ve received a report of a sizable group of Umbrspawn that have set up a lair within the Unize Swamp, located in the Kingdom of Io.”

Oraeus and Ralus sat up straighter.

“A nearby village reported that some of its hunters had not returned from expeditions into the swamp. Following this, villagers began disappearing slowly over the course of a month,” Zaal paused, scanning the crowd, “we’re sending you in to prevent any more of them from going missing.”

A wave of his hand changed the image, turning the landscape sideways so that the treetops faced the class. “The plan is simple,” he began, ten dots of light appearing in a circle around the swamp, “each dot represents a lance. Six lances will be positioned around the swamp, while three lances will form a spear that goes for the heart of the enemy – the Ur that we believe lives in the center.”

The dots of light shifted so that six formed a perimeter, while three moved towards its center from one direction. Smaller red dots formed around the swamp, moving towards the three dots representing the vanguard, then bursting outwards once the vanguard reached the center.

“The perimeter units will be charged with slowly sweeping and cleaning monsters on the periphery and preventing others from escaping when the vanguard units drive into the center. One lance will be held back in reserve with the professors, who will respond to any dire threats that may arise.”

He smiled as he turned to the crowd, “Any questions thus far?”

Apricot raised her hand and Zaal’s eyes narrowed on her before he nodded.

“Is the vanguard already selected? If so, how did you make the decision?” Apricot stood before speaking and her voice carried out across the auditorium without stuttering like she had a month ago. Zaal nodded in approval, remembering their previous exchange.

“There were two elements to this,” Zaal said, stroking his trim platinum beard, “the first is that your professors have drafted their early scoring of each class, so the vanguard units tend to have students that are taking their classes more seriously; the second is taking into account your lance’s background, favouring those with prior combat experience and those who have endured great stress. Those in the vanguard cannot afford to hesitate and they must be confident in their abilities, anything less puts more lives at risk.”

Apricot nodded, then sat back down.

Azreon raised his hand next, speaking before Zaal gave him permission to do so, “Who are our esteemed colleagues that have earned this prestigious right?”

Zaal frowned at the young noble who hadn’t even brought out a notebook, nose wrinkling, “Patience, we will announce that later.”

Shaya waited, expecting Zaal to continue and saving her questions for later. Her quill tapped against her ink bottle, waiting to take more notes.

“Very well,” he waved his wand again, “there have been no eye witness reports of the monsters in particular, but villagers have reported hearing unusual moaning at night-” Cyren snickered next to Shaya “-and crop failure.”

The Empire can’t afford any more of that – or at least Imperial City can’t.

“These sensations match the usual descriptions shared by spawn of Umbrex – decay, entropy, and restless spirits,” Zaal smiled again, “which is fortunate for our needs; they are some of the least...immediately... lethal form of spawn you can encounter. Perfect for green cadets who have yet to face a real challenge.”

Shaya raised her hand, waiting for permission before speaking, “How certain are we of these reports? Could the peasants not be spooked by the loss of their hunters and crops?”

Basillo looked annoyed at her question and chimed in with a rebuke, “Do you doubt the ability of our scouts to gather intelligence, cadet?”

“Yes sir,” Shaya explained as if he were dull, “I would not have asked the question were I otherwise confident in their abilities, sir. Io is known for being inhospitable and relying extensively upon magic to maintain its populations – is it possible the crop failures are the result of nature re-asserting itself in an otherwise barren area? And moaning at night is not exactly conclusive evidence of hauntings.”

Her remark earned her a few chuckles from some students, glares from others. Basillo’s face turned red as she refused his rebuke and turned back to Zaal for an answer.

“It is a fair question,” he said, his tight smile suggesting he took some pleasure at her barb towards Basillo, “Our scouts collected this information over the course of a week, some collaborating the stories told. Each spoke of an unnatural fear that descended upon them whenever they approached the swamp as well. While this could also indicate spawn of Arctor, we think it unlikely given the other aspects in play.

“Any other questions?”

Galo spoke next, “While we don’t know the form of the spawn, do we have a list of species in the area that are likely candidates for corruption?”

Zaal’s smiled, “Good question.”

He waved his wand, the image of the swamp swirling into amorphous shadow and then coalescing into the form of an alligator. Then a venomous snake, a snapping turtle, a mosquito, a dragonfly, and finally a toad.

“Titans can corrupt indiscriminately, but there is a tendency for the creatures to be large and dangerous. This suggests the alligator or snake, but you cannot discount the possibilities of the others. And, of course, a frightened alligator even without corrupted abilities can still kill you if you are not careful.”

Samorn raised her hand next, Zaal nodding at her to proceed. Unlike Shaya and Bri, who looked exhausted with their dark-ringed eyes, Samorn managed to look as immaculate as she always did despite the late night they had. “Do we know of any local legends or folklore about the swamp? Is it possible this is the work of local spirits or an apostate mage?”

Azreon sighed, loud enough for the room to hear, his knee bouncing with impatience.

Zaal blinked in surprise, his eyes flicking left to right as if reading. “That is a good question, Samorn, and one which I do not have an answer to. None of the reports mention such a thing, but they also do not state any efforts to learn about them.”

A student Shaya recognized from Mounted Combat asked the next question, but Shaya didn’t catch it as she turned to her friend. From Zaal’s scathing response, she guessed it wasn’t very pertinent.

“Great question,” Shaya whispered to her friend, “I’ve never thought of that as a useful source of information.”

"You would be surprised where you can find allies,” Samorn smiled, “we aren't the only ones that take issue with corruption.”

Shaya nodded, making a note of that in her book.

Apricot asked the next question, and she and Zaal went back and forth about the dimensions of the swamp and its density in such detail that it went over her head. It sounded related to the use of teleportation magic, so Shaya leaned over to Oraeus, “Can you use teleportation magic yet?”

He snorted, “No, teleportation without the use of waypoints or a beacon is incredibly dangerous. Even short-range teleportation is more complicated than you would imagine.”

“How so?” Shaya asked, eyebrow quirked.

“Nadrendir is constantly spinning and moving around our star at speeds we can barely comprehend,” he explained, “making it a poor point of reference when hurtling through even local space. With the addition of obstacles, there is even greater danger that you try to re-appear in occupied space; reality favours what was already present, thereby displacing your parts instead.”

A chill went through Shaya. “Study hard please.”

“Of course,” he said, returning his attention to Zaal. Shaya thought she spied the barest hint of a smile on his thin lips.

Shaya raised her hand once Apricot was finished, Azreon groaning as yet another question was asked. “What types of abilities do spawn of Umbrex display? Do abilities vary greatly from spawn and their Ur?”

Zaal’s infernal eyes lit up, “Excellent question.

“Common spawn will likely possess attacks that induce rapid necrosis in their victims. Their shadowy forms tend to make them excellent at stealth and can make them difficult to track and strike in combat. More potent spawn may also be able to pass into an ethereal state for short periods of time,” he cleared his throat before continuing, “the Ur possesses these abilities to a greater extent, and is capable of animating corpses. Unlike trained necromancers, this animation tends to be uncontrolled – restless spirits are thrust into nearby bodies, regardless if the body is similar to one it inhabited in life. The madness this causes leads these creatures to be incredibly aggressive, but possibly uncoordinated.”

Shaya shuddered.

Ralus’ frown deepened as Zaal spoke of the necromancy, and the chaplain murmured a prayer to Vynderwynd. Shaya had never seen them so motivated, the zeal in their scab red eyes more than a little disconcerting.

“If there are no other questions,” Zaal finished, dismissing the illusion with a wave of the wand before replacing it on the lectern, “then go prepare yourselves. We depart from the Academy’s waypoint in one hour. Anyone who is late will be expelled.

“Dismissed.”