Chapter Six

Altair awoke to the ship shaking in the atmosphere of the Templars home world. He got up and groggily walked to the cockpit, trying to rub the exhaustion and weariness out of his eyes.

"Welcome to Vorgul, your new home world. Or your future grave. Anything here in the academy can and will try to kill you. There will be no place totally safe for any acolyte until you have passed the test. I hope you rested well, it will be the last peaceful sleep you get until you're out of the academy." Said the Templar in his characteristic low raspy voice.

Altair sat down to look at everything he could as they entered the academy airspace. The planet was dark, not surprising to Altair looking at the ship and the Templars robes. The academy was built into the side of a mountain with a long entranceway flanked by obelisks and 30 foot tall statues of warriors holding halberds at their sides that led straight out to the landing pads for various ship traffic coming and going. The site was impressive to say the least. The architecture was all made out of gleaming jet black stone.

The ship landed with a light thud as the landing gear made contact with the pad. The inside hissed as the ship depressurized. The Templar lowered the boarding ramp and they both stepped off onto a pad made of black and red mosaic stones.

They were greeted by an orange skinned humanoid.

"Welcome to the Academy Master Templar. Is this your acolyte for the upcoming academy session?" Asked the academy staff officer.

"Yes, indeed" Replied the Templar in his raspy voice.

"Excellent Master Templar, please come this way and we will get the lodging sorted out. Will you be staying for an extended visit?"

"I think I'll settle in for a bit and see what's been happening in my absence" said the Templar as he continued to follow the academy staff down the long walkway to the academy entrance.

Altair looked around as they continued to walk and pass all the imposing figures on display. They all had Halberds at the ready and permanently stood with a scowl on their face.

The Entrance was a vertical rectangle cut into the side of the mountain. It stood open like a maw, waiting to swallow anyone who walked through the gateway whole. Altair couldn't make out what was beyond the gaping maw, but he understood at some level that once he stepped into what was beyond, his life would dramatically change forever. He prayed it was for the better as he finally had a purpose in life that kept him going forward.

The three individuals were greeted at the entrance to the mountain academy by another humanoid resembling the academy staff that met them at the landing pad.

"Please, this way master Templar" said the orange skinned humanoid. The humanoid that had accompanied them thus far bid farewell and turned around to walk back to the landing pads.

Altair followed the Templar but was quickly reprimanded by the Academy staff member they had just met. "You will wait here acolyte, the Master Templar is going to a place restricted from the Acolytes. I will come back to collect you once I have made the appropriate accommodations due for a masters station.

The Templar turned back to Altair and said "I have fulfilled my part, now you must fulfill yours. Stay alive and trust no one" He turned away and continued into the mountain Academy.

Altair figured he would be waiting for awhile and decided to settle in and learn as much as he could. The only problem was, there was no one around. He thought he would be joining a place that was bustling with activity but he had only seen two people since they arrived. There were no ships on the landing pad and there was nothing coming or going through the atmosphere. He may as well be in a ghost town.

He walked up to one of the gleaming obelisks noticing there was a language engraved all over the surface. Upon closer inspection, he couldn't read it figuring it was an ancient language from millennia ago. The Statues were the same. Now that he had time to inspect them, they all had slightly different features. There was a placard at the bottom of each statue most likely donating who they were or what years they lived. These statues seemed to be a permanent memorial to figures either long gone or very important people currently in power. Altair was sure he would learn about them while he was in the Academy proper.

He looked around at the actual world he was on. It was a dark planet, but that description didn't quite sum up what he was seeing. There seemed to be a miasma enshrouding the whole place. It felt sinister, evil almost. The mountain and ground below was craggy and broken black basalt, which made sense as he bet this academy was built into the middle of a dormant volcano. He could see another one spewing noxious gas and smoke way off in the distance. There was no animal or plant life to be seen anywhere. The world was probably to harsh to sustain such life. He wondered why the Templar stayed here knowing they had to import evert supply since the world couldn't sustain life.

Altair didn't know if it was like this everywhere though. It was possible they had settlements throughout this world that was more hospitable to life. The food and materials had to come from somewhere after all.

He walked back to the entrance and twenty more minutes later the was finally greeted by the same humanoid Academy staff member that had took the Master Templar off to his accommodations.

"This way Acolyte" said the staff member as she motioned to follow her in. "Where are your things?" she asked, noticing that Altair was empty handed.

"I have nothing left but myself and these tattered clothes" replied Altair as he followed her past the gateway into the unknown.

The staff member made what sounded like a chuckle and replied with a single word. "Good"