“In times of great need, the grand chieftain has the power to assemble a war council of the different tribes. But between you and me? I think High Chief Eskul’s touched one too many tainted trophies for me to answer his summons. Not only that, but with the seers heralding portents of death and the fulfilling of the ill prophesy? I fear that the darkness of the north will flow fourth once more, and there’s nothing we can do. ”

Unknown Orcish Chieftan to Inquisitor Lionel Blackburn

Annalise pulled on the reins with all her might and finally brought her mount to some sort of a standstill before it could launch her to the ground. Whatever dark magicks were just cast sent every wild animal into a state of frenzied fear. Sergeant Wilde was flung from his mount and barely recovered in time to right himself. Wargs too were affected by what she could only assume was a temporal displacement and more than a few orcs were staggering back up to their feet with confused looks on their faces. Taurox and the orcish warlord were unaffected by the frenzied animals due to them being on foot, but they did both get sent flying backwards from Sophie, or rather where she was.

They were all gearing up for a fight when the stupid half elf flew into some sort of trance and just wandered her ass up to the orc, blubbering about being allowed to pass when she just vanished. Annalise had known something was wrong when she saw Sophie jolt forcefully, like something had twisted her around before it moved her like a mannequin. The concern cemented itself into fear when the orc wrung Sophie’s neck like a rag, the poor maid almost losing consciousness. Almost.

She didn’t know what it was or if Sophie was even the one who cast the spell, but a great force had then emanated from where she was. Mounts and men were sent tumbling before a blanket of complete darkness descended upon them all. It wasn’t the typical blinding spell that blurred or impeded one’s vision, it was something else, something ancient and different. She could see all the other orcs and inquisitors, but as one they were all lost in the midst of a pitch black void for moments before being launched back out to the waking world. Like we had entered and exited a portal…but what if we did?

She looked around and found that not much had changed aside from Sophie being no longer there. I’ll wring her little neck myself at this rate, gah! What the fuck was she even thinking? She’s definitely a bit daft, that damned maid. I swear, Sophie, you are a menace to my health.

“What the saint damned hells was that?” A feminine voice interrupted her thoughts.

Annalise turned to meet the apprentice inquisitor’s gaze and shrugged, the two looking just as confused as each other before an orchish grunt echoed from around them. They shared another look before turning their gaze to the still recovering combatants near them.

“Shit! Ranger!” Mila yelled.

“I know!” Annalise replied and quickly tugged on her horse’s reins to regain control.

“My lord, sergeant, we’ll meet you at the rendevouz!” Mila cried out as she forcefully yanked her mount forward.

Without waiting for an answer from the minotaur or templar, the two decided to put their plan into motion. We need to move while the orcs are distracted. Annalise spurred her own mount forward and the two easily broke through the still confused orcs with relative ease. I mean it’s kind of like the original plan, Sophie’s just not here anymore. Shouts of surprise and confusion followed in their wake.

“Humans!”

“They’re running!”

“Fools! Chase them!” The warlord barked with a fury, only for the sound of clashing steel to replace whatever he would’ve said next.

“Your opponent will be me, heretic. See now what you’ve cursed the land to!” Taurox yelled.

Annalise shuddered at the tone of his voice, for in it was a sincerity that wasn’t directed at the orc anymore, but at Sophie. Of course! She’d do something stupid enough that the inquisition will try to hunt her down, fuck! Battlecries rose up from behind them and Annalise could hear one last order from the warlord that sent chills down her spine.

“Hunters! Chase those two down! Send word to the manling king!”

The king?! Annalise traded a furtive glance with the apprentice only to find an irritated scowl etched onto her face. Mila was evidently a little bit too peeved at Sophie to have paid much attention to the orc’s words. I’ll let her know later I suppose, Annalise grumbled. Taking a small glance behind them, the distinctive dust pattern kicked up by angry wargs still a little too close for comfort. First things first, we gotta lose these bastards.

She unslung her bow and quickly twisted around to fire an arrow, her muscles and body tensing up in a familiar way that brought forth the briefest moment of calm within her. Her breath stilled and the world slowed around her, a heartbeat, then two. Wait for the next bounce…and loose, she murmured to herself and fired. The arrow flew through the air in a tiny arc as the lead orc rider crossed a small divet in the road, the momentary drop just enough for the arrow’s trajectory to line up with his skull. The orc tumbled backwards and yanked on his warg’s reins and stirrup, pulling the creature back with him. In but an instant, the fallen orc and warg splayed across the road and tripped another rider whilst holding back two more from sheer surprise. I’ve still got it, Annalise smirked for a moment and turned back following the apprentice. Without a word, they acknowledged each other and silently raced ahead, the same question burning in both their minds, just what the hells was that?

“Up! I said up! Or do you want to get cut from top to bottom Hiro?!” Eva yelled.

“Sorry sensei!” The boy replied as he practiced his parries.

She cringed internally at being called sensei, sure, she was older than these kids if they were back on earth but here, she was the same age if not younger. Still, if it helped them feel more at ease, then she would bear it.

Her eyes wandered over to the other two present, a slender black haired girl who led squad four and was busy coordinating with another squad leader. Aoi, Hokkaido native, kendo and kyudo enthusiast, shame I can’t help her with either. Eva slapped the embarrassing thought away, when she had been Kaori, she was what one might have called a bit of a loner who never really exercised, at all. Gods not now, don’t remind me, she chided herself.

Of the 20 that were brought over by the church, Aoi was perhaps one of the quieter ones. Though her shyness was a bit stifling in regards to her interactions with her classmates, she proved unafraid to suffer through the training without complaining. Heh, kinda reminds me of Sophie sometimes, I wonder if Aoi’s also a bit of a brat? Though I did spoil Sophie a lot more than I do with these kids.

Aoi was with the captain of squad three, an American transfer exchange student called Jonathan. A brown haired, blue eyed muscular kid who definitely had his own set of admirers within both the outlander class and more within the academy’s student body. Though both were skilled, with Jonathan being the more extroverted and commanding of the duo, Eva had made the decision to place him in charge of the slightly more important squad three, with Aoi in charge of squad four who were relegated to less dangerous tasks such as guard duty or escorting targets. At least, that’s the theory behind their ranks.

Hiro on the other hand, was more than likely a saint that was chosen by the Goddess to be a main character of some sort. The Tokyo born native was skilled with the blade, magically imbued, fast, adaptive, and hopelessly awkward. Eva was certain she’d watched enough anime to tell that he was destined for greater things. It meant that, after a series of slightly physical interclass struggles that Eva had to eventually resolve, he ended up as the captain of squad two. Though a part of her was jealous for how much potential he still had left to grow compared to herself. At least his spiky hair suits the look, Eva grumbled, anyways, focus Eva, focus.

Squad one was led by Suzuki. The tall long haired girl constituted perhaps the most effective of the four squad leaders both leadership and technique wise. Being the class president and their school’s student council secretary had meant that working with others and maintaining a commanding presence was not an issue for her, easily placing her in the premiere position of heading both the class and squad one. Somehow having had time to pick up martial arts at a dojo, she had also taken well to the physical parts of combat and thus Eva had excused her for the day.

She had however, concluded that the other squad leaders needed more personal practice as they would need to lead by example, and thus invited all of them to perform additional drills with her outside of official classes. That was the excuse she used with them anyways.

Truthfully however, she didn’t want to admit it but when she received news of the war in the north and the sacking of Eichafen her heart had stilled. It was only through distracting herself could she focus on something other than wallowing in the disastrous state of Carrador or the unknown whereabouts of Sophie. Frederick too had been recalled mid semester back to Neun Carad, just mere days before the two were to finally share a luncheon together in private, devastating her emotions as her confidante and close friend disappeared. That left only Aletta and Alvor, who while friendly with Eva, weren’t that close yet. All in all, Eva had more moments of loneliness than anything as the days piled on. Something she tried desperately to avoid as memories of her past life still haunted her. I'm not gonna be alone, not again.

Stirring from her thoughts, she found the three still looking at her with uncertainty in their eyes. “Aoi, Jonathan, take a break, good work so far though you both need to work on your nimbleness. Hiro, you too, good work but your techniques are still lacking.” Eva said before she delivered the killing blow, "I'll see you all in four hours."

“Yes sensei.” Came the disappointed sighs from the trio.

“Anyways, if you see her could you let Suzuki-san from squad one know I want to see her here too for the afternoon session?” Eva ordered.

“Yes sensei.” Came another dejected collective reply.

“Come on now guys, cheer up okay? You’re all making good progress, I’m just here to make sure you’re ready for what lays ahead.”

“Understood sensei.” They murmured glumly.

“Well then, that’s the end for practice. Aoi, come with me, I need to see you about your field trip idea.”

“Field trip?”

“Aoi?”

The two boys switched their moods immediately and turned a curious eye to their classmate. A blush burst onto Aoi's face at the attention before she just shyly nodded furtively.

“Alright, you two, calm down. It’s a possibility, not certain. It’d be a surprise for the next class if anything so I’d like you to keep it that way. Dismissed.” She clicked her tongue and the two darted away as they began excitedly mumbling to each other.

"I want...the food..."

"Fantasy taverns! What if...busty..."

Eva chuckled at the little words she caught, truthfully she had been like that once, so she could understand where they were coming. Still, it didn't change that this whole field trip idea was insane, to risk 20 of the church’s outlanders, 20 potential saints, dungeoneering or exploring as part of classes. But when Aoi had approached her privately to inform her about the mumblings the others had about not being able to really see the world, Eva had decided at that exact moment to push this plan through.

The fight to get approval had been hard, but eventually she convinced Vitellus by asking him send a few inquisitors and templars to act as their chaperons so that the church can still watch over them. To her surprise, the slimey grumpy piece of shit finally agreed.

Thus they had two plans laid out in front of them: the first, a newly established colony of goblins near the Arterian foothills, it was far but the travel meant they could also practise wilderness training and survival skills; the second was an adventuring guild managed dungeon used for training their own recruits, allowing the monsters to breed but always culling them back down during training meant many skills and techniques could be picked up easily.

Seeing that Aoi had mustered up the courage to consult with her before things came to a head, Eva decided it was only fitting that she be present when they went for the last round of discussions with the church and school. Their administrators had of course, been incensed at having to potentially let these kids essentially disappear from class for a week, but whatever slimy tactics Vitellus used, it eventually brought them on board as long as one of the teachers could participate, someone called Instructor Vendrick.

She glanced at the girl following her and wondered what would become of them, the class of 20 being used in the church’s machinations and what they might have in store for them. Such innocence and joy to be tainted by suffering and conflict, disgusting.

“Sensei?” Aoi asked softly, yanking Eva away from her musings.

“Huh? Yeah?”

“Are…are we really getting to explore the outside?”

“That’s the idea.” Eva smiled, suppressing her doubts.

Aoi smiled back softly and Eva led them through a side door, pushing it open to reveal a tall if slightly cramped room with three others already inside.

Two stern looking inquisitors and a slightly nervous almost stick-like academy instructor turned their eyes at the new arrival and bid their greeting. All of whom she didn’t recognise, reasoning that perhaps Vitellus had sent someone more senior than the liaison Eva had usually interacted with. Though Aoi at least seemed to know the instructor, that’s a good sign, I think.

Without waiting for introductions they jumped straight to the details of both plans, definitely a more serious vibe, and Eva quickly found herself zoned out. They talked about the route, the supplies, the city guard and all manner of things that they had already agreed to beforehand. Bored, her mind began wandering until tiredness took hold. Slowly but surely she found her eyes flickering slightly, her body swayed sideways only to be caught on something. Tilting her head she found herself on a shoulder with Aoi staring down at her. In a panic Eva quickly pushed herself back up.

“Sorry!” She whispered.

Aoi sheepishly nodded and Eva felt her face go red. Gah! I can’t believe I almost fell asleep in a meeting.

Eventually, the group seemed to finish speaking and Eva just nodded along until Aoi pointed somewhere on a map and everyone else huffed in agreement. Eva leaned over to find that they had circled the foothills just outside of Arteria and gave her student a nod as well. Survival training would be good, and could toughen them up considering they’ve really only spent time on campus or under church guard.

Having set on a plan, the inquisitors gave Eva a small checklist detailing what needed to be prepared and instructions on paths to take before they left, leaving her with Aoi and the instructor. She moved to join the conversation when something flared in her mind.

It was like a bright flash that blinded her before covering her vision in darkness, a sudden cold washing over her in a frigid embrace. Eva dropped to the ground and clutched at her ears, a noise that sounded like an explosion ringing throughout her skull, the pounding shaking her whole body. In the midst of her struggle, she felt the small tug in the distance, a tiny flicker of something familiar. Sophie. And another presence she had barely recognised, the dark creature that leeched off her.

“Sophie!” She cried out a warning as she collapsed.

“Sensei!”

“Lady Rosengart?!”

Two voices echoed next to her, but all she could focus on was the sudden silence in the wake of the assault, the emptiness that remained in her mind. Something’s happened, Sophie’s alive but something’s happened. And that darkness, it’s getting stronger.

The door quickly burst open as the two inquisitors ran back into the room after hearing the scream. The cacophony of noises and words slowly bringing her back to her senses as Eva gingerly opened her eyes again. Ignoring their concerns she pushed them all aside and lumbered towards the doorway before she fell and was caught in Aoi’s arms.

“Sensei Eva?” Aoi exclaimed in concern.

“Miss Rosengart?” One of the inquisitors asked.

She feebly waved her arms as she recovered, still leaning against her student before she flashed a feeble smile at Aoi and the instructor.

“Help me…to my room and you two…” She gestured towards the inquisitors who quickly approached, “Send a… a message to Vitellus that something…something’s gone really wrong in the north. That-that a darkness comes.”

Exhausted, she sighed and sank into Aoi’s arms, allowing the girl and the instructor to lift her away from the bewildered faces of the inquisitors. To her relief they quickly turned to ones of concern as they processed the message. Fucking Vitellus, guess his guys couldn’t keep Sophie safe after all. But something felt really wrong there, and the thing that left her is back, I thought I got rid of it. Goddess Astralis, keep her safe and preserve us all.