The Day After the First Day

Lucius felt himself slip into consciousness. With this awareness came a substantial amount of discomfort, and the world spun around him in tilted circles. He closed his eyes tightly to stop himself from throwing up, and noticed that he was not on the wooden floor of the lounge, but on a bed, albeit an uncomfortable one. He tried to think, but ended up just sputtering a few incoherent noises.

He heard a hearty chuckle to his side. "Y'know Lucius, when I saw you attacking that bottle last night, I figured you knew what you were getting yourself into. Turns out you're kind a lightweight. No harm in it though, makes life easier." Lucius cracked his eyes a sliver and saw Albert sitting next to him, leaning on his elbow with a look of bemusement. Lucius groaned. "Time...?" "It's 11AM buddy. The dean wanted to meet you, but I told him you'd been travelling for weeks and then spent a night fighting monsters, and that he should come back in the evening."

Lucius sighed. "Thank you.' Albert laughed. "No problem friend. We've all been in your place once, and I figured you've earned it. Hell of a first impression you made." "Drink up." He handed Lucius a glass of water, and he drank from it greedily, spilling a lot of it onto his chest and neck. He took a deep breath, and felt a little bit better. "Albert, where am I?" "This is your bed?" "My bed?" "Well, yeah, were you hoping it was someone else's?"

Lucius fought back a flush. "No, that's not what I meant!' Albert laughed so hard he nearly passed out, slamming his fist against his thigh. "Oh man, your reaction. Sorry, sorry. Anyway you're going to be living with Vincent and and Peter and I. There was a spare space in our house, so we carried you back here and told Dean Windsor you'd be living with us. He had you slated somewhere else, but we pulled a few strings. Hope you don't mind."

Lucius smiled. He liked Albert and Vincent a lot, even if he hadn't known them long. It beat living with total strangers, at least. "Thanks, that's something I can live with." "Same for us friend. You're an interesting guy, and I think we're going to get ourselves into some trouble. The school gave you some clothes and necessities, and Vincent and I packed them in the chest and nightstand for you. I told the Dean you'd be in his office at 6PM or so. If you want to find any of us, we're either in the lounge or in the woods."

"Sounds great. I'm just going to sleep a while longer." Albert nodded. "Stay safe, and if you need to puke, puke outside." As Albert left, Vincent buried his head into his pillow, and let sleep take him for a while longer. He drifted into and out of the world, and after a few more hours, found that he felt significantly better. He sat up and finally took in the dim room around him. It was basically a large room, with polished wooden floorboards and walls covered in beige wallpaper.

Inside of the room sat four beds, barely big enough for a person, each with a chest and nightstand. On one end of the room was a large wooden furnace, and on the other, a sink and a few pots and pans for cooking. In the middle of the room there was a large table with a handful of chairs. Scattered across it was a mess of empty bottles, dishes, and playing cards. The house was sparse, but surprisingly well built and lived in.

Lucius opened up the chest full of clothes, and found an assorted mess of green and white clothes. He found a white undershirt and a heavy green wool tunic. He had sent in sizes for the clothes after he was accepted into the academy, and they fit relatively well. He was pretty average in both height and build, so most men's clothes fit him well enough.

In the corner of the room he found a small wooden door, and he opened it up to find a small, but clean bathroom. To his delight, there was a handle for warm water attached to both the sink and shower. The massive paper and wood processing mills burned most of their waste, and the excess heat was used to warm the water in the nicer parts of the city.

After a scalding shower and some personal hygiene, Lucius felt human again. He also noticed that he was very, very hungry. He felt awkward stumbling out into what was still a very foreign world this late in the day though, so he figured he would wait to meet Dean Windsor. He killed the last few hours reading a book on military theory, and an hour before his appointment, he finally left his house.

He stepped out onto a small wooden porch, and scanned the street around him. Rows of similar wooden houses lined the street. They were blandly designed, and had chipped and faded paint, but looked fairly sturdy and comfortable. On his left, he could see campus, sitting on a slight incline about half a kilometer away. It was a cool autumn evening, and Lucius felt energized by the soft and cool air surrounding him.

He walked towards the fanciest looking building on the small grass quad, a two story stone edifice with gaudy pillars and ornate wooden doors. If the dean was in any building, it was probably this one. And if he wasn't, Lucius was early enough to check every building in the academy. He pushed open one of the beautiful doors, and walked into a plush little office building.

He walked down the office lined main hallway, reading each plaque in his search for Windsor. There weren't a lot of rooms, maybe a dozen at most, and at the end of the hall he saw a particularly wide door bearing the dean's name. Satisfied that he would not be late to his first appointment, Lucius slumped against the wall, content to read his book until 6PM arrived.

The second he hit the ground, he heard a voice boom out from the dean's office. "I assume you're here early Lucius. I can hear you out in the hallway. You can come in now, I'm not busy." Lucius wasn't entirely mentally prepared to see the dean just yet, but he pushed himself to his feet and brushed off his clothes. With a deep breath and a firm push, he entered Dean Windsor's office.

Dean Windsor was sitting back in his chair, his boots resting lazily on his desk. Even in his sitting position, Lucius could tell he was on the shorter side, and he had a full head of soft looking brown hair, and vibrant green eyes. Lucius was expecting the dean to be an older, grizzled man; an aged and stony military officer. But Windsor looked no older than 35, and his eyes danced with liveliness and curiosity.

He gestured to the empty seat in front of his desk. "Sit Lucius. I'm sure you're hungry, and I bet none of those knaves showed you where the mess hall was." Lucius raised an open palm to protect his friends. "It was a hectic night sir, I'm sure they meant to." Windsor shrugged. "We can go after, for now, I requested that some dinner be brought to us. We have a decent bit to discuss, and I don't want to do it hungry."

Lucius couldn't agree more; he was starving. "I heard you fought well last night Lucius. All of your peers praised your leadership and your calm. I think its doubly impressive, considering you'd only been here for a few hours when you got thrown into it. It wasn't enough to merit an award, but it did not go unnoticed. That being said, let's discuss your future here at the Forestry Academy."

He shuffled some papers on his desk. "You said you wanted to specialize in artillery. For a school of forest combat, that's an uncommon specialization. You do know that there are trees in the way, right?" Lucius shrugged, a little annoyed at the joke. "That's what makes it challenging. At the rate the world's changing, you're going to need heavy weapons. It's in your best interest to learn how to use them."

After the words came out, Lucius cringed, worried that he had maybe been a bit too aggressive in his explanation. But Dean Windsor laughed and stretched his arms behind his head. "You're pretty feisty. I think you'll fit in well around here. I agree with you son. This part of the empire has been lagging behind in heavy weaponry for a while, and I think it's great that you want to help rectify that."

'Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of cadets or officers that seem to agree with us, so a few of your classes and training sessions are going to be lonely." "Who else here is in artillery?" Dean Windsor rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "Just Portia and Lester. I think you and Portia met, at least briefly. You and her are in the same year; Lester is in his last, so you probably won't see much of him."

Lucius frowned in concern. "So in this entire military academy, there are only three people in the artillery school?" "Three as of today, yes. But that makes it more exciting, doesn't it?"