Creatures of Snow by Dr. Doctor Doctur

the widest smile
he’d ever seen stepped forward.
    “Greetings. I’m Con
Embers, your esteemed upperclassman mentor of the newly established
Axis program.” The boy extended his hand dramatically to
Sara.
    Con wasn’t anything like
Sky had imagined. He was expecting something more along the line of
the grays that Zeph had with him the night before. Someone stiff
and arrogant.
    “Ellie should be joining
us shortly, and then we can get to the fun stuff.” Con plopped down
right there on the ground and leaned his back against the center
kiosk.
    “ Um, Sir…”
    “ It’s just Con, or Captain
Amazing, whatever comes more naturally to you.” He said it with
such a straight face Sky had to smile.
    Sara shifted uncomfortably
as Con drew a stare or two from the passing students. “Well…Con…I
was just wondering about our schedule-”
    Con waved his hand absently, “Today is just
orientation crap, ignore it for now. Tomorrow you can return to
your normally scheduled programming, all right?”
    He gave her a winning smile which she
returned with a nervous nod.
    “ You,” He pointed up to
Sky, “Nice work today. I heard you put Director Stuffy-pants in a
bit of a pickle. Threatening to drop out like that.
Genius.”
    News sure traveled fast.
“I didn’t really-”
    “We can’t afford to lose
both of you, hell, we can’t really afford to lose one of you. I
know you don’t know much, but we were all chosen for very specific
reasons, some more obvious than others, but all nearly
irreplaceable.”
    “ Get off the floor, you
idiot!” A petite girl came out of nowhere and landed a hard kick
into Con’s side.
    “May I introduce Ellie
Satyr.” Con let out a light laugh as he climbed to his
feet.
    Sky turned towards the
girl and noticed what one of those ‘more obvious’ traits might have
been. Looking out from milk chocolate skin were eyes as golden as
Sara’s.
    “You’re such a load, Con.”
Ellie turned on her heels and began walking away at a rapid pace,
“Come on.”
    Sky’s shoulders dropped. He
was getting pretty sick of following people around.
    “Come on kiddo. This will
be fun, I promise.” Con pushed him forward.
    Sara kept pace a few feet
behind them as they left the security of the only place he knew on
campus and ventured out into an open courtyard.
    The yard was impressively
large with tables set up sporadically, beckoning students to
come and relax on the neon lawn. Sara lost a few steps as her eyes
were caught by the space. He glanced back to see a look of delight
cross her face just briefly. He turned his eyes away before she
could catch him looking and let his own smile turn up the corners
of his mouth.
    Ellie led them down a
sidewalk that cut through the artificial grasses towards a squat,
rectangular building. The girl was no bigger than Al, and although
she walked with a casual stride the underlying strength was still
apparent in every short step. She pushed open the solid double
doors without hesitation and disappeared into the abyss beyond
it.
    Sky wondered if this would
be some sort of test - like, they walk into the darkened room and
someone would jump them and then they would be judged on how well
they reacted.
    Con looked over at him as
he tensed. “Relax, kid. What, are you afraid of the dark?” He asked
quietly, never losing his smile.
    “I just like being ready
for anything.” Was all Sky could think of to say.
    Con just laughed and
walked through the doorway. As he did, the lights snapped on
inside, illuminating a large, empty room.
    There were remnants of
days gone by scattered around the room, and piles of dusty crates
near the walls, stacked so high they almost reached the ceiling.
Set up near the far end of the room were a few old fashioned wood
and metal desks in front of a long, much more important looking
desk.
    “Welcome to Arche basics,
101.” Con quipped. He turned to face them, walking backwards to
keep them moving forward. “From now on, anything marked on