"You thought magic was a myth?" Skel choked on his own laughter as Brains snortled beside him after Hex told them about Ravine's healing. "What kind of hole in the mud did you say you came from again?"
Hex shoved the skeleton, and he fell backward, shocked. Hex looked down at his hand, just as shocked.
"Ah... Right..." Skel twisted his jaw to the side. "Sorry, Hex. I forgot..." He got up and patted Hex on the back. "I really am sorry—"
"It's fine," Hex grunted, shrugging his hand off.
"Look at me!" Dracala shouted from above, her wings fluttering good as new.
"Looking amazing, 'Cala!" Skel yelled back.
'Cala? Where in the Creator's name had that come from? Hex had known Dracala all his life and he didn't have a nickname for her. She was just Dracala. He was just Hex. We don't need made up names to sustain our friendship.
Dracala landed next to them. "Hey, I like that!"
Hex rolled his eyes and folded his appendages over his stomach. She probably would've hated it if he came up with the same name.
"Yeah?" Skel stroked his chin with a finger. "Now that we're at the Academy, I've been working on everyone in our crew." He patted Brains on the shoulder. "We've got B-Rod here. Proxima is Whiney for obvious reasons."
"I heard that!" Proxima screeched from nearby. "Try to make that stick and I will literally kick your coccyx all the way back home."
He leaned over to Hex and whispered, "It'll stick, trust me."
"And what about me?" Hex asked, skeptical.
"Still working on yours. You're an enigma, my friend."
"Great... Can't wait to hear it."
"Oh, lighten up, Hex," Dracala said.
He frowned at her. "Don't forget how we ended up here."
She squinted her eyes at him. "I haven't forgotten. I've just found the tiniest glimpse of joy for the first time in what feels like forever. I've got my wings back. Just let me have a few moments to not have to remember, okay?"
Hex averted his eyes. Anddd I'm the worst. All because I was a little bit jealous. Just keep your stupid mouth shut, Hex.
Calcio burst into the group in a panic. "Shh! Shh! Everyone look alive!" He stopped, looked at the cluster of undead skeletons and zombies around him, chuckled once, then continued. "In positions!"
Everyone scurried into an array or rows as Calcio had taught them on the journey up, heads bowed slightly.
A dwarf walked up to the group, clad in glistening gold armor and a sash of red and yellow about his shoulder. He looked nothing like Ruben—his hair cropped short and rigid, beard trimmed to a fine point, with red angular tattoos around his eyes. He rested his hand on the hilt of a massive battle axe, four times the size of Rupert's tiny one hidden away in Hex's tent.
"That's a professor," Skel whispered. "You can tell by the sash."
"How do you know so much about the Academy, anyway?" Hex asked.
He only replied with a shrug and a finger to his nonexistent lips.
Calcio has clearly been teaching everyone about this place, but Skel seems to know a bit more than the others. And he's just so nonchalant about it.
"Calcio!" the dwarf boomed, startling Hex. "I'm doing the rounds. Looks like you've brought me another good-looking batch of students this year."
"O-Of course, Professor Darion. As always. Headlined, this year, by none other than 'The White Demon of Doom's' own son."
Hex looked around excitedly. Even in his 'hole in the mud' of a village they'd heard of Skeletor 'The White Demon of Doom' Bonedust. One of the greatest Monsters to ever guard a dungeon across any World Gate.
I've been sitting in a wagon with Skeletor's own son this whole time? Which one...
Professor Darion raised a splinter of an eyebrow and scanned the group before him. "You don't say..."
Skel winked at Hex, then raised a hand. "Guilty as charged."
Hex's mouth dropped open. "You...?"
"Well, well," Professor Darion said, stepping through the rows to Skel. He patted him on the shoulder with a gauntleted hand. "We can expect big things from you, I'm sure."
No wonder he's so cocky. It's literally in his blood—er... bones, rather. He'd probably end up just as powerful as his father. Maybe more.
The dwarf professor glanced sideways at Hex and wore a confused look for a fraction of a second. He recovered quickly and focused back on Skel, but the look was undeniable.
Doubt crawled over Hex's jelly skin and rippled through his gooey center again. It was one thing for the other Monsters to look at him funny... But now a professor too? I don't belong here. Skel knows it. Clearly, this professor knows it. His pores began leaking their gooey excretion.
Professor Darion walked back to the front. He started speaking about the Academy, but Hex barely heard any of it as anxiety buried his mind in the dirt beneath him.
"Psst... Hex..." Skel whispered.
Hex blinked and looked at the skeleton, who nodded his head toward the front of the group twice. The dwarf professor—Darion, right?—was staring directly at him.
Professor Darion did not smile when Hex met his eyes. He squinted, those too-thin eyebrows creasing on his forehead.
Oh, great. Now I've ignored a professor on top of it all. I'm about to be smushed into gnoll dung. Yup... Goodbye friends. Goodbye cruel world. See you soon, mother.
The stern expression didn't change, but Professor Darion's voice became more relaxed. "I asked how a little slime like you came to be with this clatter of skeletons."
Why does everyone around here call me 'little slime?' I'm not that little. He glanced around at his companions. Well... I guess by comparison to everyone else. But I'm perfectly average by slime standards! And regardless, I'm not gonna let these Humanoids all talk down to me, no matter my size. Hex stood up straighter—as much as his amorphous blobular form would allow.
He didn't avert his eyes or bow his head like Calcio. "My village was Culled. My friend Dracala and I barely escaped. Our new friends were kind enough to pick us up on the road."
The dwarf nodded and his eyebrows shifted. He looked briefly to Dracala as well. "I'm sorry to hear that. Cullings are nasty business. I'm told the King is working to counteract them and uncover who's behind them. Hopefully your village will have justice soon."
Hex drooped down to his normal height. "I... Thank you... Professor."
He nodded again and resumed speaking to the rest of the group. "Entrance exams will begin tomorrow. In the meantime, rest and get to know your fellow classmates. I'll get your names from Calcio and have you all registered with the Academy. Best of luck to you."
Professor Darion stepped to the side with Calcio—who still kept his head tilted down even as he conversed with the dwarf.
The rest of the skeletons and zombies dispersed into their usual clusters of friends.
"Oh," Professor Darion spoke again and everyone froze. "And in the morning you'll all be separated by race for the exam."
"Separated?" Hex wheezed.
It was just one simple word, but... I've been separated from my father, my home. My mother long before that. Now this? Separated from the few friends I have. They're all I have. Literally. I can't be alone now.
His gooey center swirled in circles faster and faster.
Deep breaths, Hex. Deep breaths.
But somehow there was no air.
How is everyone else breathing? What’s going on?
A few skeletons scrambled to him, but he could barely see them, the edges of his vision blurring to black.
Separated...
Then he fainted.
<<AUTHOR'S NOTE>>
YES! Wing healed - Check! Now they just need to recovery from a mental breakdown, rescue their parents, figure out how to make numbers go brrrrr, save the world they don’t even know is dying yet and…
…
Sorry, getting ahead of myself…
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