Academy (3)

The door squeaked momentarily, the freshly oiled hinges opened like new. Inside was a room eleven-feet wide, fifteen feet long. A brand new mahogany-like desk sat left of the door. A blank stack of papers sat in a short paper holder on the right edge with a new box of ink. A new inkwell and a white-feathered quill sat on the desk next to it along with a book entitled "School Guidelines & history" with a sealed letter on top of it.

Alongside the left wall rested an empty bookshelf that appeared well built, the same color as the desk. Next to it was a bedside table with an uncovered bed. The bed rested along the long wall with a single large window against the far wall with no curtains. It faced outward into the city, facing the ramparts. A single long dresser with a large mirror sat on the right wall across from the bed, two stacked chairs sat by it.

Three large rolled and bound rugs laid in the middle of the room along with a crate of six different fabrics. 'Curtains' was written on the side, along with another crate labelled 'Bed sheets and blankets'. "What's with all this stuff?" Desmond asked as they walked in. "Ah, Mrs. Tavi went a little... overboard for Avery. She bought all these luxury furnishings just before she came over here." He sighed before continuing "She said she would have bought more, but this was the only things the woodworker had premade."

Avery shook her head. "Tell her that I don't need anymore. I'll get anything else I need myself, but I'll thank her for her thoughtfulness." He nodded, understanding most people liked to decorate their own rooms. "Just pick from the selection here, she brought them for you to pick."

Of the three rugs, there was a blue, purple, and deep pink one. The same for the curtains and bedding. There was also a green, red, and black in the curtains and bedding. Avery quickly, maybe a little too enthusiastically, picked the purple rug with the purple curtains and black bedding. "Ah, you like dark colors?". Avery nodded, "I like dark fabrics, but I'm not against colorful stuff. As long as it's nice." She pulled the ones she wanted out, placing them by the bed and set aside the rest. "Can Desmond pick from this?" She asked

The man nodded "If you'd like. The rest will be put in the room next door, should you want them. They're the school's gift to you." She smiled and turned to Desmond. "You want any of it?" He nodded and picked out the blue sets. "I was just thinking it was time to replace some stuff." Afterward, the three set up the rug and bed, then hung the curtains. The room felt a little homier before the short man let out an 'ah'. "Here, I almost forgot. The building is heated using underground furnaces, but should you require more heat, please use heat-stones rather than actual fire please."

With that, he nodded and turned to leave, but he turned on his heel just before reaching the door. "Another thing, sorry my lady. I am Yuumon Cleanbeard, East-Dorm's administrator. You can come to me should you require assistance pertaining to this particular dorm." He did a small curtsy before walking out the door and stopping again. "Do you want me to clean up, Lady Bailey?" Avery rolled her eyes 'How many more times is he going to stop on the way out?!'

"No, it's fine and it's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled, trying to keep her annoyance from surfacing at the well-meaning man. Mr. Cleanbeard had been very helpful and she didn't want to repay his kindness with her petty annoyance. Mr. Cleanbeard nodded, pleased with the response and went back down to his desk.

"He means well." Desmond spoke up in his defense, sure he was out of earshot. Avery leaned against the bed and stared at Desmond with a single raised eyebrow. "What?" He looked back at her. She didn't respond, her eyebrow-raising higher. He laughed awkwardly, unsure what to do about this. "Nothing." She laughed with him, done with teasing him. "I'm sure he did, though a little annoying. I understood he really wanted me to be comfortable here. I doubt he would want to climb all those stairs for some false pretense." She took off her cloak and threw it over the chair next to the bed.

Desmond came over to sit with her and looked at the beautiful white cloak. He had been wondering about it since she pulled it out this morning. He picked it up and the material felt smooth to the touch but was thick as wool. He still felt her body warmth on the inside, but the outside, it was room temperature. "So... What kind of cloak is this? It's pretty neat. You wouldn't happen to have another, would you?" He asked, trying to tease her.

"It's called Cloud-Dancer. It's a drop from raiding the Cloud Weaver Palace, and no, don't even think about it. I had to trade the Almace for it." She said as she opened up her inventory and began to go through the things she brought. Desmond froze instantly. His hands trembled as he delicately placed the cloak back where she threw it. "Y-You wouldn't happen to mean the Mythical sky palace of the Sky Colossal? and you wouldn't so happen to be talking about the Mythical sword Almace... Would you...?"

Avery looked at him from the corner of her eye before looking back down at her inventory, looking for what she'd leave in the room. "Yes, Cloud-Dancer is made from the Sky Colossal's mane. Almace was one of the items I got, but I wanted the Cloud-Dancer instead. Though the Almace is technically higher in value, I have the Excaliber and the Mjolnir and a few other mythics. I didn't need it." Desmond stiffened up, he felt his mind slowly slipping into the Abyss. The fact she could say such a thing with a straight face...

As expected of a Primordial...

. . .

Spheres of fire, lightning, and other spells illuminated a dark underground cavern. She could hear the screams and warcries of hundreds of people. She couldn't move as the enemy before her lit up with each spell momentarily. A huge dragon, larger than any other she had seen before. Its head was the size of the Imperial Castle in itself. The scene felt familiar but foreign. Then she remembered...

It was the final fight between hundreds of players and the Demon King.

His war-worn leather face told of countless battles as spells catapulted high over before landing somewhere on his body. People with wings and levitation spells strafed him with their long-arms. Spears, halberds, and other weapons pecked at his sides and back as the King roared, shaking the entire cavern.

But it felt too real.

There wasn't a HUD. No HP bar above the monster and countless bodies laid mangled at its feet like grains of sand. In her hand, Mjolnir trembled, her body screaming for her to run the other way.

'No! This wasn't how it went! I was the one doing the most damage!' She fought bravely, like any other player in the game, yet her hands trembled. Fire spewed from the King's maw, engulfing anyone who didn't manage to make it behind a priest barrier. Tens of people screamed in agony, screaming for help. She didn't know where this twisted version of the raid came from. But she knew this was real. The stench of burning flesh filled her nostrils and her fear.

Then the king swiped its paw against the rocky cavern, sending fighters, bodies, and rocks flying back at her. Instinctively, she activated her Holy Barrier, the highest barrier possible. The cavern wall behind here exploded when the rocks struck it, sending debris and dust everywhere, only to make the shadows seem like it was a swirling abyss. She cowered. She didn't know why she felt so helpless.

"Help! Avery! Help me, please!" A few mangled bodies clamored for her. They were members of her raiding party. Their legs were broken and bleeding, their arms half charred and blood caked their mouths as blood began to gush from their wounds everywhere. She quickly went to them and kneeled by them, activating Holy Healing with all her might, but she could only heal one at a time and their wounds would take more than thirty-seconds each.

"Help over here!" She screamed, her voice cracking from the pressure. Nearly twenty injured members laid around her just in her barrier, but a few more, even worst laid just outside as rumble cracked around them. She also activated her owl eyes to see into the darkness, but only despair greeted her. Among the debris and smoke, the king was only half-dead from the collapsing ceiling. Half the raiding team was missing and almost everyone was wounded.

She was unwounded but covered in blood as she held down one of the men next to her and healed the other. She tried to keep the pressure on a wound on the man's neck, but the blood still coursed from between her small bloodsoaked fingers."I-I don't... wa- ..." The man uttered a half finished last words before she could see his eyes gloss over and his muscles relax. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream, but she knew she had to keep going. She gave up on the dead man, crawled over the man she was healing

'Ten more seconds!'

A roar reverberated through the darkness as the spells began to kick up as the ceiling opened up to the sky above. She knew she had to join the battle, but she could leave them here. The light poured in and illuminated only the dragon, it's monolithic body blotting the rest of the cavern of light. Tens of holy barriers glowed their majestic golden bubbles in varies parts where they could. Others pulled wounded where they could to take them to the healers.

'This shouldn't have happened! what when wrong?!'

She didn't understand, why were people bleeding? Why were they not disappearing into light particulars to be revived by their high priests? Their mangled dead bodies still laid around here as she finished healing the man and focused on the other. Yet, he was already dead when she looked to him. The man she healed got to his feet, his armor dented and cracked. Fear in his eyes. "For Eos!"

He let out a battle cry to raise his spirits, but his voice cracked with fear as he rushed back into the fray. They all knew already, they had stepped before death. Should Death not die together, no one would live another sunrise.

Just as Avery was about to switch over to another person, she heard a cry that dropped her heart to the pit of her stomach.

"Jim! Jim baby! No! No!" It was her mother's voice, wailing. It was coming from the darkness behind her, closer to that monstrosity of a dragon, fortunately, he was focusing on the other side of the cavern, snuffing out those holy barriers, one by one. She crawled from her barrier, keeping note that it only had a minute left on it before she navigated around large stalactites that speared the ground like fallen swords on a battlefield. She crawled stepped over other wounded, hunting that single wailing woman.

It took her less than twenty seconds to find the nightmare of a scene. Her mother, powerlessly hitting a fallen stalactite that had fallen on her father. His upper torso was under it, obviously destroyed. "No, no, no, no!" Her mother wailed. " Mom! We need to go!" She wanted to scream, but she knew she had to move her mother. She could see that the Demon King was targeting the bubble like holy barriers, aiming to take out their wounded. His whack-a-mole game was ever so slowly ticking to her turn.

They had to move now.

She tried to pull her mother away, only to have the latter swat her hand away. "This is your fault! You and your damn adventures! Now he's dead!" She screamed as she pushed Avery onto her rear. "I should have killed you in your cradle! You damn beast!" She wailed louder, drawing the attention of the King. Her face was half-charred - mad with grief and anger. Every word impaled Avery like undodgeable spears.

Before the Avery could say anything. The head of the Demon King blacked out the faint light that slipped through the cavern's roof. Two pairs of golden flaming eyes looking down on her in glee. In unison, both the Demon King and her mother spoke

"You'll die with him today."

All she saw was her mother's mad face, with a wicked smile as she glared at Avery as the maws of the Demon King closed around them, his hot breath enveloping her before fangs caked in blood closed on her.