The next morning, we set off into the tunnels of the dungeon once again, infinitely more secure than we had been in our past trips. Eni took the lead, once more in her cowl and cloak, her longbow held ready, while Gellert watched the rear, his pointed ears perpetually turned backwards, listening for anything.
Fallon and I stayed in the center of the group, with Char, armored once again, standing close by, trying to give us what distance they could without leaving us exposed..
We didn’t have the chance to talk about the night before, about Fallon’s decision or about how we had slept together. But we walked very close to each other, arms and hands briefly and occasionally touching, neither of us seeming willing to do anything more definitive while being watched so closely.
Still. It felt nice.
“Okay,” Char said, once we had been walking for a bit. “I think it’s time we continue our conversation from yesterday.
Fallon nodded. “Right. You got really unnerved by me being a cleric.”
Char winced. “Was it really that obvious?”
“You’re not exactly the most subtle person in the world,” I told them. Ahead, Enila made a soft sound that could have, arguably, not been a laugh, but almost certainly was.
The crystal-studded knight blew out a breath. “Yeah, well… You’re probably right on that front.”
“Are clerics important?” Fallon asked.
Char wavered a little, clearly intending to hedge their answer, but Enila called back, “Yes.”
Char sighed. “Okay, yes. Clerics are fairly important in Primevus. They’re… I don’t even know where to start.”
“You mentioned a church yesterday,” I recalled.
“Divinities,” Gellert growled.
The word was apparently a suggestion, because Char nodded. “Okay, that’s as good a place to start as any. Do you have gods in your world?”
I immediately said, “No,” but Fallon was a little more clear with her own answer.
“Hypothetically. We have religions built around worship of supposed gods, but none of them offer a lot in the way of evidence.”
Char nodded slowly, as if they were recalling this, maybe from whatever course had taught them about humans. Humanology? I don’t know.
“Well, in Elida, we have two very real divinities, two forces that govern the behavior and inclinations of magic, and who exist in a constant but uneven state of balance.” Char frowned, considering, before they continued. “I guess it’s easiest to tell you about Brume first, the Umbral Divinity. Brume represents magic unbound, in its most freely flowing and chaotic state. Currently, Brume is fairly weak, limited in how it can express itself, but you’ve still seen its handiwork.”
“Have we?”
Charrin gestured around us. “The dungeons are believed to be a product of Brume’s ascendency in the Ages of Conflict and Chaos, as are their primary inhabitants, the shadows. Prey and predator alike, in this dungeon’s case, are representations of Brume’s power.”
I found myself chewing my bottom lip as I considered that, thinking of my first reaction to the sight of the unworldly, ethereal shadow-lizards. They were unnerving, sure, but could they really be extensions of some sort of dark god?
Fallon seemed more thoughtful. “So if the monsters are pieces of Brume, then that would make the crystals fragments of this other divinity, right?”
Char gave her that frank, appraising look again, as if hiding their true surprise. “Exactly. The crystals embody Brume’s enemy, the Crystalline Divinity, Facet. Elida owes everything to Facet,” (at this, Eni made another soft noise I couldn’t quite place), “as they represent the power of magic bound and structured, turned to an orderly purpose and defined shape.”
“The shape of crystals,” I guessed, thinking again of the altar we had found.
“Yes. All the crystals, from the simple guide crystals that light the dungeons to our supply crystals to even the identity crystals and the classes they impart, are all thanks to Facet’s power. Brume creates the dungeons and monsters that try to destroy us, while Facet gives us the tools to fight back. But of all the classes, clerics are considered the closest to Facet–if you’ve had the cleric class for a little while, I expect you understand why.”
Fallon looked down to study her hands, and I knew she was thinking about the crystals she had conjured the day before. “Clerics can make crystals, too.”
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“Exactly. Cleric foci are a pale imitation of Facet’s true power, but even that imitation clearly demonstrates their bond to the Crystalline Divinity.”
I thought about that, then I considered Char more carefully–or, more particularly, I considered their gem-lined armor and weapons. “So I assume that makes you a cleric, too?”
Char smiled at the question, but shook their head. “Not quite. I’m actually much more martial-leaning. I spent some time as a cleric, but only enough for me to get the paladin class. I’m a peripheral member of the Church, at best.”
“The Church!” Fallon exclaimed, having apparently just remembered it. “How does the Church fit into all of this?”
“The Church of Facet is, by its nature, entwined with Primevus. Both organizations came into being at the same time, and the Grand Magister of the Academy is also the leader of the Church. As Primevus owes its existence to the identity crystals and the Blessings of Facet, the Church has significant sway over the Academy.”
I felt my shoulders sag a little. Really? Not only was I being asked to attend school in another world, it was a church school?
Even Fallon seemed a little dampened by that. “So… does that mean we’re going to be forced to join this Church to go to Primevus?”
Char shook their head, but their expression was a little too doubtful for me to buy it. “Dani won’t, but you will probably be pressured to, since you have the cleric class. I’m sure they’d be willing to make an exception, since you didn’t know what the cleric class meant when you accepted it, but… I’m not sure how that would work, exactly.”
“So only clerics are part of the Church?” I asked, puzzled by how exactly that worked.
“And thank magic for that,” Eni called back.
Char rolled their eyes at the archer’s back. “Essentially, yes. See, since there are four different starter classes, each with their own tree of promotions, Primevus is separated into four distinct colleges, based on your starter class. Gellert and I, for example, are members of the Iron Curriculum, the martial college. Eni is part of Vigilant House, the skill college, which is the same place you’ll likely end up in, Dani.”
“I did some studying with the Arcane Conspectus too, though,” Enila explained, drifting back a little bit towards us. “That’s why I’ve got some magic that’s more useful, if less shiny, than Char’s.”
“Focus ahead, please,” Char told the girl wearily, in a tone that said this was a fight they didn’t expect to win but would continue anyways. Once Eni had skipped a few steps ahead again, Char continued, “The Crystalline Chorus is the divine college, where clerics study. It’s also the only college directly tied to the Church–even if the Church has heavy sway over the Academy as a whole, they can’t overrule all three of the other colleges when they’re aligned.”
“No matter how much they want to,” Gellert grunted.
“Not you too, Gell?” Char slumped wearily at the big man’s tone.
The massive man rolled his titanic shoulders in a mild shrug and stayed quiet otherwise.
“Some members of the other colleges aren’t the biggest fans of the Chorus,” Char explained, “anymore than all of the provincial leaders are fans of the Church. But at the end of the day, the Church exists, first and foremost, to protect Elida. They can be a little arrogant at times, but that's why the founders created the other colleges rather than making them all subordinates of the Church. Checks and balances.”
I couldn’t keep myself from muttering, “Yeah, because those always work.”
“Hmm?”
“Ignore her,” Fallon suggested. “She’s just grumpy.”
“I’m not grumpy!” I snapped, disproving my own claim in the process. “I just hoped a whole new, magical world wouldn’t just be more of the same problems. But it’s just more school, corrupt leaders, and dumb politics.”
“It's not as bad as all that,” Eni said. Char gave the girl a sharp look as she drifted back again, but didn’t otherwise interrupt her. “Yeah, the Chorus sucks sometimes, but they’re not as bad as Gell and I make them out to be. We’re just jaded. But Vigilant House is pretty cool, and the Iron Curriculum…” The girl gave Char a look, and the knight arched an eyebrow. I got the sense she was being given just enough rope. Eni considered, then chickened out at the last minute. “Well… they exist too.”
“Thanks for that.”
“Well, it’s not my fault that the Curriculum’s grade one is so miserable they have to deny all attempts to drop out!”
“What if I don’t want to join this Chorus though?” Fallon asked, before the pair’s argument could get us too far off track.
Char spread their hands. “I’d like to tell you something reassuring, but I’m honestly not sure. It’s rare for anyone to come to Primevus with a class already, and most of those who do picked their class knowing about the colleges.”
“You’ll be fine,” Eni claimed, giving the girl a smile significantly more comforting than Char’s words. “You’re a human, which will give you a certain prestige by itself, and you chose cleric on top of that. The Church will roll out the blue carpet trying to recruit you, and if you don’t want to join the Chorus, the other schools will probably tear themselves apart doing the same.”
“What about me?” I asked.
“You don’t get the choice,” Eni told me with a frank smile.
“Says who?”
“Me. I’m in Vigilant House too, remember? I’m not letting a human slip through our fingers.” The girl gave Char a side-eyed look, and leaned a little closer to me, whispering as she continued. “We’re the coolest college anyways, don’t worry.”
“I can hear you, you know.”
“Shush Char, you’re not part of this talk. Vigilant House only.”
“Fallon, whatever you do, don’t join Vigilant House. I don’t think I could stand Eni if you listened to her too.”
“Ooo! Are you interested in joining up, Fal?”
“Uhm… I don’t think so?”
“Boring.”
Which identity crystal would you have chosen?
