A Bored Lich

"Lastly," Alexander said, still reading down the list of paper. "Us three Generals will be the principals of the knights' academy. We will be monitoring the initiation process, as much as three people can monitor hundreds of people at once." He looked up, to the noble raising his hand at the front. "Yes, we can do that without endangering the country. We get that question every year. We have the Colonels, who are more than capable of leading our Kingdom's armies, wherever the hell they might be." The noble put down his hand.

"That is it for announcements. Now it is time for forming the groups, which are predetermined by us personally. Doevm, Frey, Thomas, and Elero make up the first group. Please come to the stage to be prepped for the rest of initiation by General Marble."

Frey and Doevm walked past fellow commoners to the stairway at the right, the eyes of almost everyone following behind them. Frey glanced to the left. Thomas was hurrying down the opposite staircase with his chest puffed out and his head held just a little too high. Even though Frey was at the opposite side of the room, he could tell that Thomas was holding his breath.

Murmurs broke out at the left side, of the room, most nobles glaring at the commoner side. One of the nobles raised their hands: "General Alexander, are these groups all going to be two commoners and two nobles? Isn't that a bit…risky in terms of cooperation between us and them?"

Alexander nodded. "The nobles may have been the ones to fund the knights' academy, but they are not getting lines dividing them from commoners like in the Capital. There is no order on the battlefield, only comrades. Hopefully you'll all learn something from this." For the first time, there was a bit of sincerity in his words, which immediately disappeared when he pulled out another sheet of paper from his spatial ring.

"This is informative exercise that builds teamwork and a layer of trust-" He chuckled which he tactfully turned into a fit of coughing. "Sorry I just," He turned back to the other Generals. "Really?" General Marble spat on the stage. General Von Trike vehemently nodded with a large grin on his face. Alexander groaned and turned back to the students, his voice wavering. His eyes were locked onto the paper, reading it painstakingly slow: "This informative…blah blah blah, build a layer of trust and maybe form some lifelong friendships that will defy the many boundaries of this segregated system." When he finished, he crumpled up the paper and threw it at General Von Trike, who caught it. His smile seemed to brighten.

By now, Thomas, Frey, and Doevm had made it on the stage. Curses flew uncensored. Nobles and commoners were glaring at each other, some going so far as to stand up and close the distance between them. "See what you get?" Doevm heard Alexander say. "It should have been done slower."

"Or not at all," General Marble scowled.

"But these lines should be broken," General Von Trike said while wiping off his monocle. "Might as well do it sooner than later."

Alexander sighed before deafening the room with another clap: "Sit. Now." He didn't bother to hold back, displaying his full coat of blood lust. Students grabbed their chests, some drooling from the blast and some falling unconscious right then and there. Doevm fared better than Thomas and Frey, who were the two next closest. Frey kneeled down while Thomas passed out on his feet, about to completely collapse.

'I can't catch him because I am not supposed to serve him in public.' Doevm thought as Thomas slowly leaned forward. 'No commoner would go out of their way for a noble, but maybe I can wake him.' He pretended to be affected by the blood lust, stumbling towards Thomas and stomping on the young noble's foot with enough force to wake a giant.

Thomas's eyes regained their light as Doevm shambled away before anyone could notice. This action, however, did not escape the sharp eyes of the Generals behind him. "Interesting," General Von Trike whispered. "Be more careful in the future, boy."

"Elero?" Alexander called out as the crowd slowly regained the little hearing they had left. "Are you here? Can we hurry this up?"

"Just a second!" Elero called out. Doevm spotted her at the very center of the crowd. She was trying to move past a noble, who had gotten in a fighting stance, his eyes locked with a commoner a few feet over. She moved past him, trying not to step on people's feet. "Please let me through." She shambled as fast as she could down the row of seats. Stares attracted to her, more to the braces than anything else.

Just as she was about to exit the row, one of the nobles on the end put on a sadistic grin. As Elero moved past him, her rhythm of clanking broke. Her braces scraped against the floor, caught on what Doevm could only assume was a foot. She waved her arms around and the noble chuckled. However, as she fell, the noble's smile stiffened and the color drained from his face. "Sorry." Elero stood up and did a slight bow. "I accidentally caught myself on your little balls," she said in a voice so sweet it could kill. "I swear it won't happen again."

"Alexander," General Marble said, his voice full of grit and dust. "She's going to be my apprentice. Since you already took one of the students, now it is my turn to choose one."

"What about me?" General Von Trike asked with a wide smile. "Don't I get to choose one now?" Both Generals stared at him until his smile twitched. He held his hands up. "Alright I get it. Jackal is mine. Now it's Alexander's turn again. What do you choose?"

"I'm not making the same mistake as last year, you old snake," Alexander said. "I'm waiting to pick another until after initiation. Although, I still think that you're going to cheat in some way or bend the rules again."

General Von Trike clicked his tongue and leaned back in his chair. "You two have known me for too long. My tricks don't work on you anymore." Despite his words, his smile broadened and he adjusted his monocle, scanning through the crowd. "Although I can always think of more."

"The rules are there for a reason," General Marble grunted.

Elero was at the base of the stairway by now, heading up the five steps up to the stage. Frey moved to help her but Doevm pulled at the back of his shirt. Frey looked back at him, an unspoken question on his face. Doevm shook his head: "Don't embarrass her further with your pity."

Frey looked back to Elero, who was still shambling up the steps, and to the nobles, who were smirking, before casting his head down like Thomas: "I don't like this, the Capital, or its people."

"Neither do I," Doevm whispered back. "but we have to deal with it for now."

"I'm starting to think," Frey said as Elero joined them on the stage. "That I don't want anyone to live like this."

"For the second group," Alexander continued down the list. "We have Jackal, Dag…"

A hand tapped on Doevm's shoulder, General Marble. 'Damn,' he thought as rage bubbled up inside of him. He bit his tongue, suppressing his feelings with pain. The world flashed black and white, but with a breath and wiped the added grime off "Lich's Malice", normalizing himself and his vision.

"Ahoy," General Marble coughed. "Sorry, had something in my throat." When Doevm thought back, he had never gotten a clear picture of the General, just of his steaming hand extinguishing a fireball.

Up closer, the General had scars on every inch of his body. His strong but slim figure was covered by dark leather armor, which matched his eyepatch. His scruffy black hair went in every which direction like his thick beard. His left foot made a heavy thud with each step but the other, which he limped on, had a hollow knock.

The General motioned for the four to follow as he walked into the fog. The four new teammates glanced at each other before trailing behind him. Doevm, Thomas, and Frey took the front while Elero hurried after them.

Dark shapes came into view, which slowly became more detailed the closer they got. Their dry feet slapped against the wet ground, squishing mud into their shoes. Looking ahead, Doevm couldn't tell which areas were land, calm shallow water, or overgrown plants.

Various insects buzzed around the groups' heads, most of which were either dragonflies or mosquitoes. Plants covered every surface whether it be the rich soil or the shallow layer of freshwater teeming with wild aquatic animals. The only stable soil was around the elongated roots of withered, millennia-old trees. Bunches of thin, numerous leaves drooped down over moss-covered trunks. Behind them was the mountain which housed Draken Capital.

"Welcome to this goddess forsaken swamp." General Marble said. "If you don't want to be here, now is the time to turn back. Because when that door," he pointed behind them, at the open doorway. "Closes, you will not be going back to your friends or family anytime soon. You may never see them again if you are unlucky, or really lucky in getting here. Either way, you should be proud to have gotten this far. There is no shame in turning around. There is, however, honor in continuing forward."

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