It was early in the morning when the students started to get to work preparing for their day. The other 4 students were shaking the grogginess from themselves as they stumbled out of their shared tent. Mina had stayed at the Campfire all night; she had chosen to sleep out in the presence of the night, rather than sleeping in a confining tent. She was safer in the dark, than most would be in the light of day, one of the many perks of her Blessing.

As the other students approached the Campfire, Mina rose from the spot she had been in and stretched, her lithe and graceful form resembling that of a cat. Her movements caught the eyes of those around her, soldier and student alike. Though she did not possess and astounding beauty like Kara and Theresa, she had an alluring quality about her, and an innate gracefulness, that drew attention. As she sat back down, the Leader of the soldiers exited his tent and made his way towards the Students. “You guys got your day of rest yesterday,”

He paused briefly before continuing. “ For now what will happen, is you lot will head into the Cave to begin your training. We will for the most part stay out here and keep watch, but a few of us might accompany you inside. Ultimately however, you will be in this alone, what choices you make and how you choose to operate once within the cave, will be up to you, and we will not interfere, barring extraneous circumstances, but it is doubtful that anything of the sort will happen. That is all.” As the Troop leader finished the 5 students went about and stated there preparations.

After some time the Students finished their preparations and the five stood at the mouth of the cave, decked out in their respective equipment. The four students wore armor suited to their classes, the tall lanky woman, which had been entranced by the Whispers, wore a set of faded, yet sturdy leather armor, with a long bow strapped to her back, her class was Archer. To her left stood a man slightly taller than her, wearing a set of scuffed and dented metal armor, a large kite shield was strapped to his back, while a sword was strapped to his hip, he was a Warrior.

Next to him, stood a pair of twins, one of them was male, the other female. Despite their gender differences, they looked remarkably similar to one another, to the point that people often doubted what the others true gender was. Before they got summoned the two of them had gotten into much trouble and mischief for skipping classes and trading places with one another, confusing teachers and all sorts of other, similar shenanigans. Their Classes, were peculiar, it was not known exactly what their classes were, as they possessed many abilities, more than any other class.

Additionally, their abilities included ones specific and unique to certain classes. The two of them wore simple robes, which were mixed with a leather cuirass of sorts. While their equipment was strange, it was no less scuffed or scratched than the others. The only of the students here that was garbed in anything that didn’t look old and mistreated, was Mina. The others were geared with equipment from the Castle’s Armory, it was obviously second gear, but Castle gear none the less. Mina was equipped with things created by her own powers.

Her lithe form was clad in something that looked like leather armor, but was the color of Darkness. It was pure black, and seemed to absorb the light around it, so much so, that there wasn’t even the glint of the sun’s rays off of it, but it did not have any sort of dullness to that would be expected. In her right hand a wicked looking dagger was displayed, and a pair of blades, similar in style to rapier’s, but were more like sabers than anything else. Unlike her armor the sabers had a natural sheen to them, and they seemed to pulse with a sinister light every so often.

Mina was the first of the group to step in, she walked forth, with no hesitation in her stride as the Whispers picked up in intensity and her form vanished into the dark mouth of the cave. The other four hesitated, wanting to enter, but lacking the sheer confidence and surety that Mina possessed. Eventually they entered the cave, their figures vanished slower than Mina’s had, but inevitably, just as surely as the sun would set, the darkness of the cave enveloped them, and they vanished. A short time later, a handful of the Soldiers, moved into the cave as well, though a flash of light could be seen emitting from each of them before they vanished into the cave.

Within the cave, the students had already started fighting against its denizens. The cave branched several ways after one enters, Mina went through the central passage, while the other students went towards the left-most passage. They had only been in the passage for a short time before they were attacked. The things that attacked them, were of all shapes and sizes, despite their variety, they were all actually the same type of being, Shadow Phantoms. They were a low grade Elemental Demon, but they were particularly dangerous beyond their designation, most demons were.

Compared to True Demons and their kin, Shadow Phantoms were to Goblins, what Goblins were to Feral Drakes. Despite this discrepancy concerning the power gap, Shadow Phantoms could take the form of beings that they had killed and gain a portion of their abilities. They were much like doppelgangers in that aspect. If it was just one or two, even the most inept Farmhand could hold them off for a time, given favorable conditions, but barring certain circumstances, they more often than not appeared in groups of tens or more, some groups of these Demons have been recorded to have reached hundreds or thousands in number, depending upon their forms.

When they take a certain form, they also tend to take on certain traits of that form. Luckily the tunnels were too small for any shape really large to be taken. Most of the Phantoms were in the shapes of Imps or other smaller Monsters or Demonic creatures. The team of students had been travelling down the earthen corridor for several minutes, when the shadows cast by the light of their torches and magic started to twist and squirm. The shadows leapt from their places and started to take a physical form. At first there were only a few, 5 in all, despite the fact that their weapons had no effect on them physically, the Twins were luckily able to do something with their peculiar skills.

Unfortunately they just kept coming, and no matter how varied and skillful the Twins were, they still had a limited mana pool, even when taking into account certain, rather unique skills of theirs. They had their backs against the wall, and were struggling against the seemingly endless pack of Phantoms, when suddenly, they all vanished. The silence afterwards was particularly ominous, this was only enhanced when guttural noises could be heard emanating from somewhere below them as the cave started shaking. The four of them started to back up hesitantly and cautiously the way they came, as they did so, interesting things were happening beneath them.

Mina had advanced farther than one would think even someone of her skill would be capable of. This was in part due to the fact that many of the Demons and Monsters in the cave literally could not attack her. The elemental affinity that she held, was so absurdly high, that by all rights and logic of this world, she couldn’t be human. She was mostly human, still, but the Blessing she obtained, had irrevocably changed her. She had been changed in ways most mortals could not even begin to understand.

Though most of the beings instinctively avoided her, others sought her out, wanting to consume her and gain her strength. The first beings she encountered that attacked her, were called Daemon Archons, they were large demonic beings, which often served as leaders or chiefs over lesser demonic beings. She entered into a well-lit cavern, it was extremely tall and rather long as well. In the center of the room stood a massive being, it stood at least 8 feet tall if not more. A massive set of reptilian style wings sprouted from its back, and large, curved horns came from its bestial head.

The moment Mina entered the room fully; it gave a bellowing roar and rushed towards her. In one of its massive hands it held an equally massive Warhammer. The head of the hammer came crashing down towards her, its shadow engulfed her. As the warhammer thundered towards her, Mina merely looked at it and gave a brief smirk. Just as the Hammer would have impacted against her, Mina vanished, she reappered from the shadow of the Archon's wings. She gracefully flipped through the air, her blade flashing as she did. She landed on the earthen floor, and as she did, a massive wing impacted against the ground as well. The Archon gave an anguished pain filled bellow, before it fell to a knee. the Massive Chamber started shaking as other beings answered the cry.