INTERIOR – Dirt tunnel leading down into a cave/mineshaft. There’s a door leading to a small room, which is blocked off by a tall stack of mud.

  PRESENT – THE BOY (beaten, bruised, and blooded, wearing tattered clothes that reflect this. Currently resting on the ground with his head under a fluffy white pillow, which is only slightly dirty.)

  TIME – Sun’s making decent headway down.

  The boy’s head perked up as he heard footsteps coming from the mouth of the cave.

  He was just about to excitedly (as excitedly as he was capable of being, anyway) call out for Hat, ‘till he realized that he had been hearing many more than one set of footsteps.

  By his estimation…

  . . .

  Three. He was reasonably certain that three people were walking towards him. Or perhaps one six legged creature, which could very well exist. Perhaps even a four-legger and a two legged-

  Ah, no, three humans stepped into the cave. Male humans, by appearance. Well-dressed, very much unlike the Bandits he’d observed.

  The three older boys walked in a triangur formation, with a clear leader at the helm, leading two others close behind.

  As they neared, the boy got a better look at their more distinguishing features.

  The one at the front, presumably the leader, was a young man. Older than the boy, but clearly only just into his twenties, if even that. He had spikey brown hair, with artificially blond tips, which were actually blended fairly well.

  “Eh? What’s that?” There was a clear smugness in his youthful voice, which he made no effort to hide. “Ey, fels! Look alive, weird lil’ kid just ahead.”

  His words were intentionally loud enough for the boy to hear, despite the distance between them.

  The older boy had a well-banced face, and there was a strange brightness in his brown eyes. On the topic of brightness, his teeth were… Just SO white. Straight too, but the brightness was the most striking. They glistened. He clearly knew this, because he walked with this bright, cocky smile, which seemed like it was trying to show off as many of those pearly whites as possible.

  He wore a slightly wrinkly, white bzer, along with a deep crimson tie. On his legs were a pair of long khaki pants with deep pockets, which he had his fingers shoved into even as he walked, though he kept his thumbs exposed and his shoulders high. His walk might have been more of a strut, in truth.

  “Hmph, doesn't look like much.” Said one of the following boys.

  “Hah, yeah!” Said the other.

  The two following boys were notably less distinct. They wore pale-blue robes with rge hoods obscuring their heads and much of their faces. Think overeager sunblocking, not so much cult-esque stuff, like the guys from that one time.

  Beneath their robes, they appeared to be wearing simir clothes to the leader, although without the tie.

  “hi.” The boy greeted as they got closer, barely waving his still very wounded ‘good’ arm.

  “Heeeeeey there, kiddo!” The leading older boy quickly stepped very close and leaned condescendingly over the boy. “What’s a kid like you think he’s doing here, and what in the name of the Arcane Well happened to ya?”

  The older boy towered over him. He was tall, just shy of 6 feet, the boy estimated. The followers were a little less tall.

  “my partner brought me here.” The boy simply expined. “she had me fight bandits. i was unsuccessful.”

  “Hah! A kid like you, against Bandits?” His ugh, which was backed up by his crew behind him, was just as condescending as he appeared to be. “Where’s this ‘partner’ of yours? Maybe me and my boys oughta have a word with ‘em!”

  “she is out. buying a bedroll. healing magic.” Best to be brief. “should return within two hours. by my estimation. possible distractions notwithstanding.”

  “Pfft. They’ll need to be one hell of a mage to handle wounds like that. You must’ve seriously eaten it back there, eh?”

  “i do not recall eating anything.”

  “Ehhh? Wooow, you’re pretty cocky for a kid who got the shit beat out of him by low level Bandits.”

  “what?” It appeared there was some kind of miscommunication. The boy should remedy-

  “Ooh, sit DOWN, kid!” One of the members of the hooded entourage shouted.

  “Hah, yeah!”

  The boy was confused. “but i am already-“

  “Listen, kiddo, I don’t think you’re cut out for this life. Maybe you should let that partner a yours know.” The older one crouched down leaning down over the boy’s face. “Tell ya what, we’ll take your sorry ass back to town, once we’re done clearin’ this pce out. Maybe we oughta have a word with whatever guard say it fit to let a scrub like you ‘cross a bridge, too.”

  “i would rather you did not. but i suppose i am in no position to refuse.”

  His mocking grin intensified. “Good kiddo. Guess you’re smarter than you look, eh?”

  “i disagree. my base of knowledge is far more cking than i would like.” The boy expined.

  “Heh, yeah…” The older boy’s smugness very briefly turned to genuine confusion. “What?”

  “on that note: you dress unlike any others i have seen. where are you from and why are you here?” The quest for understanding never ceased, even when near-mortally wounded.

  “Eh? You can’t tell? Are you serious?” The older boy lifted his left hand out of his pocket, and adjusted a small pin just beside his breast pocket, which the boy had uncharacteristically not noticed yet.

  The pin was gold, and bore an emblem depicting a proud vulture, it’s wings spread apart and its head held high, with an angelic halo overhead.

  “We’re with the Academy, dummy!” The robed figures proudly shouted. “School trip n’ stuff!”

  “Hah, yeah!”

  “To be a ‘lil more precise, we’ve been assigned to clear out some of these less pathetic, less traveled-to dungeons. I’d wonder why a guy like me was sent to weak-ass pce like this, but I’m sure as hell not gonna compin about easy work.” He stood up and looked deeper into the cavern, pcing his hands back in his pockets.

  “the academy. i have heard of that before. that sounds like a pce of learning. how does one become a part of such a thing?”

  A cocky chuckle from the older boy emerged. “Maybe pick a different dream, kid. You clearly ain’t cut out for this.”

  “noted.” A long term objective, then.

  The older boy tilts his head back toward his friends. “Alright, we spent long enough with this kid, ‘bout time we get a move on.” Back to the boy, “We’ll pick you up on our way back. Try not to die while we’re gone, ‘kay?”

  “i was already doing that.” The boy expined.

  Short nose-exhale chuckle. “Good for ya-“

  “Oi, check his pockets before we go!” Said a robe. “Not like he can do anything ‘bout it, and no one’ll believe him either!”

  “Hah, yeah!”

  The older boy lifted a hand out of his pocket, and snapped his fingers. His brow furled slightly, though his smile remained as it was. “Nanana. There’ll be none of that. Kid doesn’t look like he’s got anythin’ worth taking, anyway. We’re students of the Academy, we can’t be debasing ourselves like that.”

  “O-Oh yeah, you’re totally right!”

  “Hah, yeah!”

  The older boy put his hand back away, and shot one st look at the boy. “Later, kid.”

  The boy nodded.

  And so, the older boy strutted away, deeper into the cave, the hooded boys trailing close behind.