Chapter 13 – Gauntlet

“He wins first place in the cohort tournament and suddenly he’s a celebrity. Mr. Argento, would you like to return to reality and remove your glasses?”

Rust’s voice pierced through the crowd and was accompanied by a host of laughter from the rest of the Silver cohort.

Sal could feel practically every set of eyes turn around to look at him, and if it were any other circumstance, he would have wanted the ground to swallow him up out of embarrassment. However, after the ordeal of getting his gates opened and the training regimen from the previous night, Sal was in no mood for any of it. He gestured at his sunglasses before raising his voice.

“I need to keep them on to stop my power from activating. If I don’t wear them, my core might shatter. Do you still want me to take them off?”

Rust’s face paled, probably at the thought of the Mythcrafter ability being put at risk. Rather than goading Sal further, he raised a hand and shook his head. “It’s fine. Just try not to let it impede your work today. If at any point it gets too much, step out to the side. We’re here to learn, not get injured. Is that clear to everyone?”

The students shouted back their affirmation, and Rust turned to introduce an individual Sal had yet to properly meet.

“For those of you who aren’t in the Field class, let me introduce one of my colleagues, Lars Machmüller. His old moniker was Tempo, and he was one of the key pillars of the Bastards Guild. He’s going to explain how our Combat and Field classes will be integrating for the next component of your studies. Everyone, please give him your undivided attention! Over to you, Lars.”

Rust stepped off to the left of the shorter lecturer.

Sal’s eyes flickered over to the other side of the massive training room, wondering when the professors were going to acknowledge the giant partition blocking more than half of the room.

As a result of the limited space, all the Silver cohort stood practically shoulder to shoulder as they waited for the big reveal. When Sal’s attention returned to the front, he saw the familiar face of Lars smiling widely. It felt strange for Sal to see him clean, as the last time he saw the lecturer, he had been covered in demon blood at the center of the recent dungeon raid.

“Ahh, thank you. A wonderful introduction!” Lars smiled over at Rust as he opened his arms wide and took in the sight of the assembled students.

“Look at all of you! All so on edge… Are you wondering why Rust brought me here? Maybe some of you already know what’s about to happen.” Lars’s eyes snapped to Divinity with a grin and to Sal’s surprise, she returned it.

“Well, I’m not one for theatrics like Jez or Sinclair…so let me get to the point. You’ve learned some basic formations with Rust, and how to navigate a fight against other students. That’s not going to be helpful out in the Red Zones, but it’s a good foundation. Getting over your fear of battle will be one of the greatest tests you face at the academy and starting you off with fighting each other is a proven method for getting rid of those early day jitters!”

Lars laughed as his eyes darted around each of the faces, his smile feeling both menacing and sincere. “Today, you’re going to learn how to move. Not just any movement, though. You’re going to learn to move with purpose, when everything around you is going to shit. We’re going to jack up your adrenaline, and run you through the gauntlet! Traversal is key during any combat encounter. You can’t wait for the enemy to come to you, nor can you expect it to land in the optimal position for your attack! You need to be able to read a battlefield and position yourself in the best possible location. With Rust’s help…”

Lars turned dramatically and gestured at the giant partition. “We’re going to put your formations to the test!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the partition folded back on itself repeatedly, drawing one end to the other as it slid open and unveiled what was behind. Gasps of shock were accompanied by groans of dismay as an obstacle course revealed itself to the students. The only person who truly looked elated was Lars, who wasted no time in approaching the newly exposed arena.

“This is the gauntlet. Familiarize yourself with it, because you’re going to be seeing a lot of it over the next few months. I’ll be briefing the other cohorts during their classes with us over the coming days, but this will be one of the key components of the inter-cohort competition. The teams that placed top in their cohorts will be fighting each other in a simulated battlefield! You’re going to have to leap over craters, slide under wreckage, take cover behind structures…all while fighting your opponents!” Lars spoke excitedly as he gestured at each of the areas in the simulated structure.

Sal could barely believe his eyes. It looked like a small segment of the city had been transported into the training room. Fires were ablaze, illuminating the wreckage of what might have once been a peaceful street. A chunk of the ground was missing beside one of the buildings with a gaping hole in the wall.

Glass covered the ground, along with remnants of a previous struggle. A few gasps from the crowd caused Sal to scan the rest of the course, only to see what looked like a dead hulker pinned to a building by a crumpled car.

“The team really went for realism on this one, so they’ve loaned us a hulker corpse for the demo. We would have gone for a prowler, but they decompose faster and smell horrible. Hulkers are more like a collection of rocks, so we should be good with this one for a few months.”

Lars spoke casually, as if he were explaining something incredibly obvious. Either he was oblivious to the horror among the students, or he didn’t care.

Sal could only watch numbly as Lars pointed out each obstacle.

“We’re going to change this course every couple of weeks, so you don’t get too used to the environment. Rather than learning the optimal route, you need to learn how to adapt to the environment. This is a basic one that takes place on ground level, but later we’ll be focused on scenarios that will concentrate on aerial traversal. Jumping, leaping, scaling, climbing…you name it, we’re going to cover it. Then, when you’re finally up to speed…we’ll throw in combat. Any questions?” Lars turned around and looked at the students with excitement written all over his face.

Victoria’s hand shot into the air almost immediately, and Lars pointed for her to speak.

“This is very clearly a Field exercise, which many of us didn’t sign up for. Is our participation in this mandatory? A lot of people here haven’t gotten into the inter-cohort competition.” She looked around the students to see whether she was alone in her thoughts, and judging from their expressions and nods of agreement, she wasn’t.

Lars laughed and shook his head. “Any real questions?” He looked around the room, but Victoria wasn’t done.

“Excuse me? It’s a valid question. We’re here to learn combat, not how to run around.” Her expression was a picture of annoyance.

Lars turned his attention back to her and the smile slowly faded from his lips as he stared at her calmly. “If you had learned to run around, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten thrown on your arse in the final rounds of the tournament.”

A collective intake of breath occurred instantaneously as Lars dropped that bombshell.

Victoria stared at him in horror.

“That’s right. I’ve watched every single one of your fights, and with a few certain exceptions, the majority of you are dead on your feet.”

Lars faced the students and pointed at the course behind him. “I don’t know what world you’re living in that you think you can navigate dungeons, towers, or portals without having to move your body. This here is as basic as you can get, and it’s designed to teach you the fundamentals so you have a chance of surviving out there. If you think this is beneath you, or that you’re special because of your abilities…you’ve got another thing coming.

“Teleportation without knowing the terrain is suicide. Speedsters will shatter their limbs on wreckage. Turning into a giant without understanding the structural integrity of your surroundings could cause countless casualties.”

Lars pointed at Evan, Bolt, and Nova as he spoke. When he turned to the others, many avoided making eye contact as he listed their potential blind spots.

“Explosions?” Lars pointed at Jenni Stravos at the back of the crowd. “When you don’t know if there are any open fuel sources in the area? Lots of these Reclaimed Zones still use fuels rather than cores, and randomly setting off an explosion could end up leveling an entire block. Your essence-based attacks, and all you Energy Manipulators, you could easily bring down a building on your team. All those things are likely horrifying to hear right now, but to Heroes, it’s common sense.”

Lars pointed again at the obstacle course. “Because they weren’t above learning the basics. Now, I’ll ask again. Are there any real questions?”

Sal raised his hand.

Lars looked at him and smiled before pointing a finger for him to continue.

“Will you be teaching us how to get fitter?”

Whatever tension Lars had built up with his borderline tirade was instantly replaced with levity as the students chuckled among themselves. Lars didn’t seem to find any humor in the question as he nodded seriously.

“I can teach that for sure, but it’s not for the fainthearted. If you want to find your own limits, I can give you a training program. That goes for anyone who’s serious about improving their physical capabilities.” Lars looked around the room as he spoke.

“You’ll be bombarded with training at this academy that’s designed to increase your essence-based abilities, but very little is taught about how to condition your body. You’ll learn that in the Field training with me. Obstacle courses like this are absolutely nothing to those who do the Field course. This crossover class is for the basics and will be geared specifically toward combat scenarios.”

Lars waited for a few more moments, but when no other hands reached upward, he clapped once. “Now, I’m not a cruel man. We’re not going to launch you into this without any sort of preparation, as that would only lead to disaster. We’re going to separate you into smaller groups and go through each of the segments of the course slowly. I’ll explain each component as we go along, so make sure to listen carefully. We don’t want anyone accidentally getting hurt.”

Turning back to Rust, Lars gestured for him to step forward. “Rust, how should we make the groups?”

Rust cleared his throat and gestured to the area of the room behind him. “We’ll use the team captains from the tournament for ease. Can the original top ten stay with Lars here, and the other ten can come over here with me?”

Even though he phrased it like a question, everyone moved at his words. Lars nodded appreciatively as he counted the people in front of him. He turned to call after Rust.

“Let’s do it in groups of ten. Five groups each, so two captains per group.”

When Lars turned back around to look at the students, a wide smile crept onto his face. “Ah, what a wonderful coincidence.” He placed a hand on both Divinity and Sal’s shoulders as he called out to the students milling in behind them.

“Let’s keep the order from the tournament. First and second are grouped here. Third and fourth, fifth and sixth and so on. Line up!”

Barry bumped into the back of Sal with a mumbled apology. Jack and Blathnaid soon followed, with Anthony struggling through the crowd to get to the front. Divinity’s team was beside her in an instant, probably at her urging at the start of the class. When Sal looked at her, Divinity shot him a wink. He had no idea whether it was a good omen or not.