The first thing a lancer needs to learn, in my opinion, is simple.

  Never fight when you can, instead, not do that.

  —Virgil Clay, Lecture

  The gas mask worked surprisingly well. Violet had never worn one before, so she didn’t know exactly what to expect, and she’d had to figure out the straps and filters herself. The gruff Lancer who’d given it to her wouldn’t deign to explain how to wear it properly, but she’d figured it out easily enough. None of the Lancers seemed particularly interested in speaking with her at all, in fact. She’d tried to speak with any of the three in the day leading up to the expedition, just to prepare herself. But all she got from them was the gas mask, an ill-fitting uniform, and a too-large rucksack. And she was too closely watched to speak to anyone else. The most information she had about any of them was that the tall one, Derek, was either the leader or the Lancer in charge of watching her. That, and anything she could get from their uniforms. That being the category, degree, and position of each.

  Derek was a category yellow, degree five. Not the most impressive Lancer out there, but Roseville didn’t warrant the best of the best. Yellow was the strongest category her town had ever had assigned. The other two, Stephanie and Jack, were category yellow, as well. Degrees four and two, respectively. For the hedron monsters around Mount Rose, that was typically more than enough. At least, if they’d had their full team of five. Three were too few to be safe, which meant the group had to be slow and careful. Of course, they had to be slow anyway. Because the gas mask worked. Violet’s throat burned less out in the mist than it ever did outside back home. But it also made it harder to breathe. Combined with the weight of the bag she was carrying, despite holding fewer items than a porter was usually responsible for, she couldn’t come close to matching the Lancers' pace.

  It didn’t matter. She was determined to survive anyway.

  She could barely see through the rubbery plastic of her mask. The thick mist pressed against it like mud. She’d always wondered what the world outside of town looked like, but they’d left hours before, and she hadn’t been able to make anything out. The lancers wore no masks and moved about easily, as far as she could tell. Benefits of the “Perception” attribute, she suspected. One of many things she’d never experienced, but noticed about the people around her. One of many ways she felt powerless all the time. This expedition was the worst it had ever been. She thought back to the morning for the hundredth time since they’d left. A few hours earlier, she’d stood with a too-heavy bag on her back and looked up at an imposing wall of purple-ish mist. She was afraid. She’d been afraid of being sent into the mist for all of her life. But she’d had hope.

  She knew Alex would be there when she left. She was certain of it. And she’d been right. But she only saw him from a distance. She wasn’t able to say a single word to him, and with that loss, she lost her hope of some small advantage. When she’d finally snapped and taunted him openly, she’d felt such a rush of energy. She’d thought that maybe, just maybe, she’d break through to her calling before entering the mist if she could speak to him again. But she never got the chance, and she found herself being dragged through the mist for hour after hour. And that was quite literal. A gas mask wasn’t the only tool they used so she could travel with them. A thin cable coated in rubber was latched to a handcuff around her wrist. She was literally being pulled behind Derek like a dog on a leash.

  It made her want to bite through flesh and bone and tear herself from the captive arm. She loathed the feeling, and each time she tripped or stumbled over any obstacle she couldn’t even make out, the feeling grew more intense, like rising mercury in a thermometer. Each ache and bruise taunted her with her powerlessness. She didn’t even have control over which direction she walked. The mask muffled her voice so she couldn’t speak, and the lancers wouldn’t respond anyway. She was tired, and hungry, and the only breaks she got were for the lancers to fight hedron. Hedron which Violet never even saw. She was only allowed to stop walking to listen to the screeching of beasts and the crackling of magic.

  For nearly eight hours, they did this. Walked and pulled, and stopped to fight. The first sight Violet actually saw was no more than a change in color as the sun set behind the mountains around them. It was getting late, and Violet desperately needed rest. Thankfully, only half an hour or so later, she was yanked into a building. As the glass doors were pushed shut behind her, the air finally began to clear, and she was able to make out her environment. It was an exhausted building, clearly well past its prime. Only twenty yards or so ahead of them, filthy carpet was lined with different types of machines Violet had never seen. Many had steel stools or rusted chairs in front of them. Quite a few had levers that had lost their usefulness decades before.

  Violet’s examination was interrupted as Derek approached, grabbed the mask from the bottom, and tore it off her face. She immediately began to cough on the faint mist in the building, holding her hands to her burning throat as it adjusted to the poisoned air.

  “You’re fine, stop making a fuss,” Derek ordered as his porter fought her closing throat and struggled to regain her composure. “It’s time to settle down for the night. We need you to get dinner sorted before we secure the perimeter. You should have everything you need in your bag.” Violet didn’t glare at him, which was an excellent sign that she was starting to adapt to the thicker mist in the air. She coughed a few more times under his expectant gaze, then took a few gasping breaths. Finally, she managed to choke back an oncoming cough and stand up straight.

  “Can you tell me where we are?” she asked, eyes still watering from the coughing fit.

  “What’s it matter to you?” one of the other Lancers, Stephanie, responded. Violet glanced at her with an innocent glint in her eye.

  “Oh, I’ve just never left Roseville before; everything is so strange. I was just curious,” she explained.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Derek interrupted. “Just get to work.” Violet was growing less fond of the man by the second. She could think of a few things she’d like to feed him, but dinner was not one of them. But, of course, her life depended on him. So she rubbed the back of her neck as if she were embarrassed.

  “Sure, of course! Happy to do what I can to help! Just thought we could make some conversation while I do. We didn’t get to chat much before we left. I’d love to get to know the whole team, if that's alright?” Violet pushed even as she started digging through her bag for everyone’s lunch.

  “There’s no need for that,” Derek dismissed immediately.

  “No point to it, more like,” Stephanie grumbled. Derek immediately gave her a sharp look that cut through Violet on its way to its target. Violet’s friendly smile nearly faltered, but she refocused on the last Lancer. He’d been quiet so far, but there was something resembling friendliness in his eyes. As she pulled what looked almost like vacuum-sealed meals out of the bag, she gambled on him.

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  “Jack, right? I’m Violet! Oh, but you knew my name, I guess,” she chuckled. “Still, nice to meet you!” Jack winced a bit, but offered his best attempt at a friendly smile. Violet pulled the gray packaging on three of the meals open. She hadn’t seen this type of meal before, but labeling made it fairly easy to figure out. She opened the plastic bags inside each and filled them to a marked line with water from her canteen. As the water reacted to something in the bags and started heating them up, Jack reluctantly responded.

  “Jack, yeah. You have a good ear. Nice to meet you, too,” the quietest Lancer finally responded.

  “Don’t get attached, Jack, you know better,” Derek ordered. Violet’s face was still directed toward Jack, but her eyes slid to the side, watching Derek’s stone face as he tried to wash all emotion from it.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?” Violet asked. She began sliding the foil-packaged food into the now-heated plastic bags. “I just thought this whole expedition would be easier on all of us if we tried to be friends, right?” Derek looked down, avoiding her eyes. She looked back to Jack, who did the same, then Stephanie, who coughed and suddenly started digging through her bag. Something was wrong, and Violet didn’t like it. She’d never been respected, since she was identified as useless at such a young age. But she could usually at least connect with people. But these people… they looked so ashamed. All three of them. Derek stood up and grabbed the cable chained to Violet. She narrowed her focus on him, but Jack unexpectedly spoke and drew her attention.

  “It’s called a casino,” he said. “The Sierra something or other. I’m not sure exactly.”

  “I’m sorry? I don’t understand,” Violet responded, tilting her head curiously.

  “This building. In the old world, it was like a huge hotel for gambling with different games and slots,” he elaborated. Violet glanced at the dilapidated machines and nodded. She’d read about the concept, and she’d done the basic gambling that any teenager was familiar with. It seemed so massive just for that, but a lot of things in the old world had a greater scope than she’d ever understood.

  “Oh, that’s so interesting! Thanks for explaining,” she smiled. She didn’t have a timer, but she suspected the first of the meals was done cooking, at least by the smell. Something spaghetti-adjacent, she thought. She turned to offer it to Derek when she spotted him tying the cable to one of the machines. “Oh, I won’t go anywhere!” she promised. “I’m really counting on you guys, and I want to prove you can count on me, too!”

  Again, Derek simply looked away from her. “It’s for your own protection,” he insisted. Violet paused.

  “F-Food is ready,” she offered, holding the now-hot foil bag out. The man had just tied her in place like an aimless horse, and now she was handing him lunch. The pieces were falling into place, and she didn’t like where they were landing much. “You too, Jack,” she said as she distributed the meals. She finally opened up her own, which turned out to be some grotesque approximation to an omelet. She used the aluminum spork she’d been given as part of a basic multitool to pick at it. She had to push to confirm the truth. Her bag was heavy, sure. But it was light enough for her to carry at all, which meant that it would barely have bothered the yellow Lancers. As a porter, she actually was useless. Even with Caitlyn’s influence, she should have been rejected for the role. Or she should have at least had someone else selected with her. She locked in on Jack, the seemingly most sympathetic of the group.

  “Is this near… is this near where the other two Lancers…” she trailed off.

  “That’s none of your business,” Stephanie replied before Jack could. But the pain in Jack’s eyes was answer enough. Violet pushed forward anyway.

  “I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me, wasn’t it?” she asked. “I feel so stupid for asking. I was just worried because, well. You all seem so familiar with this place, but I was worried about returning with three Lancers when it was dangerous for all five, but… you’re right. It was stupid to ask. Of course you wouldn’t go back to the same place. Again, I’m sorry.”

  The room was quiet for a moment, but Jack spoke up again. “No, it’s not your fault. You’re right to ask. It’s the same place. Across the street from here, actually. But the hedron beast guarding the crystal we are after should be gone before we get there. Roseville needs it, so we need to get it on this expedition. But don’t worry, it will be safe. We brought some crystals that will attract its attention before we go in this time,” he explained.

  “That’s enough, Jack,” Derek reprimanded. “Go with Stephanie and secure the perimeter.” Stephanie and Jack shared a look. They weren’t done eating, but the order was clear. Jack gave Violet one last sympathetic look before collecting his things and silently leaving. Violet’s mind raced as the two Lancers whispered to each other on the way to their mission. Something didn’t add up. If they had access to such crystals, they should have used them the first time. Or, if they didn’t have them, at least the second. There had to be a reason they didn’t. Nevertheless, with Jack ordered out of the room, she and Derek ate quietly for a while. But Violet thought she had heard enough.

  She was tied down without explanation. She had been assigned as a porter despite her lacking strength. No one would meet her eyes, and only one of them bothered to speak to her at all. They were all ashamed of something. And there was a particularly dangerous hedron that needed to be distracted. The math wasn’t difficult. There may have been crystals to attract the beasts, but only one thing could keep their attention. Prey. She wasn’t brought as a porter. She was bait so they could get whatever they were after while the monster guarding it was… eating. She wasn’t a good choice for a porter, but she was perfectly expendable.

  “I wanted to thank you. All of you, really. For fighting so hard. The stories about the lancers were true. You are all so brave. I was always afraid of the mist, but even out here, I feel so safe around you three. Like I’ll actually get home safe. My fiancé will be so pleased. He’ll want to invite you to the wedding,” she praised. Derek refused to respond. “I’m really impressed with all of you, really. If I can find my calling, maybe I’ll be a Lancer too, someday.” Still, he wouldn’t look at her. Instead, he pulled out a few glass boxes, all with a deep blue crystal inside. Violet changed gears and allowed tears to fill her glassy blue eyes as she pulled on the cable chaining her down. Her face contorted into one of horrified grief as she spoke.

  “I-I’m sorry,” she pleaded. “I don’t know what I did wrong, but please… please don’t do this. I have a family. Alex and I were already planning our wedding. I know… I know I’m not very strong but… I can still help. There must be another way to get whatever it is you are after. I just… I don’t want to die. Please. Not like this. I’ve been working so hard all day. I know I haven’t done much, but I’ve tried. And I don’t want to die.”

  Derek finally met her eyes, and she could see the guilt in his. He realized she knew what she was there for, and he couldn’t live in the comfort of her ignorance any longer. He took a deep breath. “The clear crystal mutes the blue bait inside. It will take a while to get here,” he said. “We’ll be back as soon as we can, and we’ll save you. We’ll get you home safe, I promise.” It was a lie. If they could stop it once it was there, they wouldn’t need bait. If they thought it would be slow enough, they wouldn’t need to offer it a meal. He was offering her hope for his comfort, not because it was real. “Just… stay safe, alright? Don’t let it catch you too easily.” He stood, grabbed his bag, and turned to follow the other Lancers.

  “Please,” Violet tried one last time. Derek turned his head for only a moment to glance at her, then sighed and continued walking. The terrified look vanished from Violet’s face in an instant when his back was turned. The tears dried even as the streaks they left in the dirt on her face remained. Instead, her cold blue eyes drilled into the Lancer’s back. She was uninterested in being bait. If she was going to face a hedron, she was going to do it with three Lancers by her side. The clear crystal mutes the blue bait inside. That was all she needed to know.

  She lifted her heavy, steel canteen, took a deep breath, and crushed the clear crystal surrounding the nearest bait laid out near her.