The lance adopted a loose formation as they entered the swamp, their feet making wet, sucking noises as they sunk into the muck with every step. Aside from the sounds of their advance, the swamp was quiet and still: no frogs croaked, no insects buzzed, and the detritus-choked water was placid. Pale light streamed through the swamp’s decrepit canopy, illuminating their surroundings and letting them see how drab the swamp appeared. The heat and humidity combined to make them damp with sweat despite prioritizing lighter armour, Io’s environments inimical to life even where it could theoretically flourish.

“I can’t believe your people settled in such a hostile region,” Shaya said from her position front and center of the lance, ducking another gnarled branch as it grasped at her. Her shield and axe were out and at the ready, given the many places an ambusher could hide in the swamp.

“Vynderwynd saw the people who lived here, trying to carve out a meagre existence,” Oraeus said, speaking from behind her and to the right. His eyes still glowed with sapphire light and twitched as if seeing things that weren’t there, but he kept his straight sword scabbarded at his hip, “He wished to aid them by teaching them not just esper-based magic, but thaumaturgy. Before they were allowed to learn, however, He had them sign a contract that they use their powers to ease the burdens of the people here – this contract is the founding principle of Io.”

Ralus picked up the tale from her right, using their staff to help find good footing as they walked, “The original population of Io was formed of refugees from the warring kingdoms around it.” They gestured at themself, “a tradition they have continued ever since, including granting sanctum to political enemies or the down-trodden. As long as they signed onto Io’s contract to work together and thrive together.”

“Those political enemies were useful tools, too,” Samorn said from behind Shaya, without judgment. Despite her best efforts, Shaya couldn’t convince her to wield a weapon in the field, so Samorn carried her violin over a shoulder and idly bobbed the violin’s bow in her other hand as if conducting, “which allowed Io to expand its political influence by restoring them to power from wherever they were ousted, ensuring their loyalty through support and marriage.”

Oraeus grunted his acknowledgement.

“Not that Io hasn’t tried to expand its power and influence through more direct means,” Bri added with a growl, walking to Shaya’s left, “to the detriment and loss of many.”

“You say that like Zothiri has no blood on its hands,” Oraeus commented without rancor, “none of the Kingdoms can claim this.”

“You say that like there isn’t a difference in the amount of blood on each kingdom’s hands,” Bri retorted hotly, “which there is.”

Cyren yawned from behind Bri, covering his mouth with the back of one hand while holding a bow in the other. It was a composite bow formed of laminated wood and horn, commonly used by Asharel’s famed mounted archers. Shaya was happy he added it to his arsenal in addition to the variety of light blades stowed about his person.

“The important thing,” Shaya said, “is that we’re united again under a single banner, and able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against a common foe – right?”

The others agreed, Bri doing so with gritted teeth and a nod.

“Alright then, let’s quiet down and focus on our surroundings,” she finished, resting her axe on a shoulder as they continued, “it won’t be long before we come into contact with the enemy. I’m surprised none of the lances have yet.”

They continued on for another hour in tense silence, before Bri broke it, voice hoarse, “I’m sorry for my words earlier.” She sighed before continuing, “My parents were murdered by Ionians in the war, but Shaya made me realize I shouldn’t hold that against you, Oraeus.”

“Think nothing of it,” Oraeus said, “besides, there are plenty of reasons to dislike me personally.”

Everyone blinked as they tried to process his words.

“Was that,” Shaya said, turning to him, “a joke?”

“Yes,” Oraeus responded, “apparently a poor one, given the lack of laughter.”

Shaya laughed, the others joining in one by one after some hesitation. Cyren’s laugh was smooth as silk, Samorn’s musical, and Bri’s deep and rich, though a tad awkward and uncertain. Ralus’ laugh was like nails dragged across a chalkboard, but Shaya couldn’t help but love the sound of her friends enjoying themselves regardless. Oraeus didn’t laugh, but Shaya thought she detected a slight upward quirk of a lip, which she’d take, happy he was making an effort to at least mimic normal behaviour.

Maybe there’s hope for us yet...

The grating caw of her crow killed the laughter, coming from directly ahead of them. Through the withered canopy, Shaya spotted the large black shape flying through the air, towards their left flank. Once it reached there, it cawed yet again.

“Time to shine people,” Shaya said, scanning their surroundings as adrenaline surged through her, “There! Get up onto that high ground, it’ll give us firm footing to fight from.”

‘Vanguard West has incoming,’ Shaya communicated across the tele-pearl, ‘will share intel momentarily.’

Tension rose about her lance and weapons were drawn without the usual, trained grace she’d expect from her friends. This would be their first real combat – the first real combat for many of the students deployed here today – and she hoped they would handle it well.

“Remember your training,” she said, injecting her words with as much confidence as she could muster. She felt a strange pressure build behind her ears, wondering if that meant Zaal was now experiencing the world through her senses. Shaya suppressed a shiver as she continued, “Bri, cover the left flank – everyone else, give her space so she doesn’t have to worry about friendly fire. Cyren, don’t worry about entangling enemies unless we’re getting overwhelmed, we’ll want to save your stamina as much as possible for any injuries. Defensive spells up, now!”

The lance reached the high ground Shaya pointed out: a small island of mud above the muck of the swamp around them. At the center of it stood a tall tree with smooth, pale bark that looked like corpse flesh. Samorn positioned herself atop one of its larger roots, back against the tree and violin out, already playing an upbeat tune on its strings. Bri and Ren took up their positions on the left flank, with Ralus and Oraeus taking up the right flank. The island was just large enough they could keep about two meters apart, but it gave them little space to maneuver beyond that.

The stench of rotting vegetation oppressed Shaya’s senses still, so she relied exclusively upon her eyes and ears to spot the threat. She strained her senses towards where her crow had cawed out its warning, relaxing the grip on her axe when she realized it was white-knuckled from her stress. Then she heard it, a ripple in the otherwise still water. Her eyes snapped to the movement a hundred yards distant, seeing rotting detritus shift on the water’s surface as something passed beneath it.

It was not a small ripple.

More waves trailed behind it, looking to be more than just one creature’s wake.

“Alligators incoming, straight ahead!” Shaya shouted, then injected will into her voice, “Phaedra! Erect a wall to shield others from harm!”

Shaya drew in Amber, reaping the benefits of training her Breath by drawing twice as much aether as she could when she first arrived at the Academy. She felt her confidence surge, but it was her own, the product of her hard work – the Amber’s influence on her mind held in check by her will.

With her shield as a focus, Shaya traced a spell circuit based on the barrier seed. She had modified it, however, to have a wider area of effect and to allow her to anchor it to a different point than somewhere on her body. A dozen seconds later, her circuit was complete and she channeled her aether into it and stomped on the ground in front of her. A short wall of light wove into existence before her, only a few feet tall but long enough to encircle the front half of the island.

After a moment’s hesitation, more invocations erupted around her. First to react, Samorn and Melody’s music filled everyone with greater strength and courage, Samorn striking her violin’s strings with the wooden side of her bow in tune to their heartbeats. Then a spectral scythe blade sprang into existence on Ralus’ staff, mirrored on Teiash’s crook. Finally, Bri launched a stream of fire into the water in front of them, bringing it to a roiling boil in seconds, with Sorathis burning bright with her anger despite shedding no real light.

Bri, no! That’s going to make it harder to see when they’re preparing to-

A huge, dark-scaled alligator lunged out of the steaming water, closing the distance between it and Shaya in a heartbeat. Its brute strength and momentum gave it the force required to smash through her barrier, but it slowed the monster down enough for Shaya to react. She lowered her stance, jamming her shield into its jaws as they snapped at her. The giant maw closed around the shield, the raw force behind it causing the defensive item’s sharpened edges to cut deep into the monster’s jaw bones.

Shaya expected the pain of that to paralyze the creature, but instead it thrashed its head and pulled her arm out of the way. Ralus reacted faster than Shaya had ever seen them move, closing the distance with an acrobatic lunge and swinging their scythe blade through the creature’s neck to halt its attack. With the creature paralyzed, Shaya slammed her axe deep into its skull, collapsing it.

I’ve never seen Ralus move like that before, Shaya thought, then gasped.

The giant creature’s momentum carried it forward regardless of its death, Shaya unable to dodge with her shield still stuck in its jaws. With limited options, she tripped onto it with purpose, keeping her shield arm close to its mouth to at least avoid tearing her muscles.

Shaya heard Ralus return to their position as something burst from the water behind her and slammed into her barrier, but she had to trust in them. She levered her axe against the corpse’s head, pulling the skull back and the jaw open while trying to unbury her axe at the same time. The water roiled in front of her as well, another monster closing towards them and prepared to lunge at her friend. Bone crunched as Shaya levered her axe with greater force, shocked at how thick the giant monster’s skull was – and how little blood oozed from the wound.

Is the smell of rot and decay more intense now? It’s been so damn pervasive since entering the swamp I can’t tell.

Bri dropped into a low stance, flaming sword at the ready, but her movements were stiffer than they were during practice and sparring sessions. The creature that burst from the water was smaller than the alligator Shaya still straddled, covered in steaming muck, the bits of visible skin blistered red from the boiling water’s heat. It used to be a human yet crawled on all fours, clambering over Shaya’s barrier and lunging towards Bri with its jaws wide open as if it were another alligator.

“Seven protect!” Bri shouted as it moved towards her.

The creature’s emaciated, human limbs meant it took longer to cross the distance than the full-sized alligator that had attacked Shaya. The slower attack threw Bri off, her blade moving to counter a faster, larger threat and only gashing the man’s shoulder as she side-stepped it. Blistered flesh parted like wax against her burning blade, but the creature didn’t slow, continuing its charge towards Ren, jaws gnashing.

“What the fu-” Ren sputtered as the creature continued its unnatural crawl towards him.

He took a snapshot with his short bow, the arrow plunging into the strange monster’s clavicle, then quickly drew a knife to defend himself in melee when that also didn’t slow it.

“They’re undead!” Ralus hissed, “pain won’t stop them – you need to destroy their bodies!”

‘Contact! Undead!’ Shaya transmitted telepathically to the rest of the vanguard. ‘Undead gator and human, spawn unkno-’

The water roiled on the left flank, with Bri’s back turned to it.

“Bri,” Shaya yelled, eyes widening, “behind you!”