This was hell, absolute hell but damn it all she was going to pass these so called "advanced lesson." The armor chaffed, the shield was too damned heavy and never mind the sword and gear she had to lug around. Shadow marched along at a rapid pace, hunched over, grunting with each step, wings drooped, arms limp at her side. The weight of that damned shield had made her arm go numb and the pack which was loaded with stones or lead bricks, she could not remember what the soldier had loaded it with today, made her bend over heavily. Three pilum in her spare hand along with a pickaxe, tent poles and a pot hanging at the end were slung over her shoulder precariously. If she dared slow the trailing soldier would start smacking her with that damned stick it had.

Vision was limited for a moment as her helmet slipped forward and obscured her vision, with a tired grunt and heave she lifted her shield and shoved it back into place, the heavy boots she wore thudded with each step. Shadow was convinced there was a lead plate hidden in there somewhere. Still, it would be worth it she kept telling herself, all those lessons about the dangers of the caves and now this... If this was the test she had to pass to be allowed out into the world again she would grit her teeth and bear it, at least that is what she convinced herself this was all about. She really hoped it was the truth and not just some ploy of his before going back to more lessons and lectures.

Day after day was the same, wake up randomly, eat fast, don her equipment, run like hell in a big circle in the cave, grab more gear and then spend hours on end hiking in said circle. All the while that damned soldier was right behind her, poking her to go faster or smacking her if she slowed too much or heavens help her if she fell again: grab her roughly, hoist her up with one arm and gut punch her and shove her forward again pointing with that thrice damned stick. She hated that stick, she wanted to break it over the skeletons head.

Every two days Valkardian would make an appearance though, checking and leaving just as quickly. The first visit she had raced, tripped and frankly made a fool of herself rushing over to him begging for the punishment to stop. Whatever she did wrong she was sorry and please stop the torture. He did not laugh nor smile, just looked down at her and informed her if she ever expected to leave his ground she would have to know how to defend herself, she was an investment now and he would not have her falling pray to some mundane death. "Suck it up and get through it" was what he said before leaving.

The food was decent though a far cry from what she was used too, now she was cooking more and more of her own meals. A small cookbook had been given to her with various recipes and all could be made in that one pot of hers which also served as bowl. What was worse was after the first two weeks the soldier had taken to waking her at odd hours and rushing her about wildly then returning her to bed. Being able to fall asleep in seconds was starting to come naturally, she had brought the book on Krethe language with her, it was the only thing she had been allowed to bring other than some simple pants, tunics and underwear. No time to read though, always too tired. She would kill Valkardian even if it was the death of her if this was not worth it.

One month passed and the routine suddenly changed, instead of just lugging all this around she was learning how to use it. Valkardian came daily for the first week, teaching her to use the shield and short-sword properly, adjustments were made to her armor, adjustments she had to make herself no less. "Being able to maintain your armor and weapons is imperative" he said. Well it fit quite nicely now that she had found out she was adjusting the wrong straps. He must have never told her how to do that out of spite or maybe he figured she would figure it out on her own.

Now every day she would get up at a regular time, eat, attack a pole, throw pilum's at targets that kept getting farther away, run around, allow a soldier to hammer on her shield as she tried to keep blocking and all around it was a great improvement. Still, Shadow wanted to at least stab Valkardian, that note had said nothing about any of this only to "obey the instructors to the letter and take only the bag provided, leave everything else behind, you may take one book of your choosing." Damn him.

Two more months passed and during the third she now two sparring partners, they followed her everywhere she went. A letter informed her more would be joining later, now as she loped along from one course to the next they either stood aside waiting or followed her, going through the same paces as her. Sometimes the soldier in charge would turn one of them on her and the fight was on, at first they went easy on her, as more weeks passed they became increasingly violent. Shadow was convinced that had they not been armed with either a wooden spear or sword she would have died several times had this been real.

All the cuts and bruises though were always healed come the next day, she already knew about the various medical flora and fungi and she had been issues a small pouch containing packets. Valkardian one day carefully explained each one in detail and how to use it, even how to neutralize poisons and neurotoxins. She listened closely, be damned if she was going to become a victim of one of those parasites in the lower caves. Sometime in the fourth month though was when all the training took on a whole new meaning.

"Aim for these parts, here... And here... Stab quickly and retreat, if the opportunity presents itself and the target has not gone down stab again in another location. Make short, quick stabs with the tip or cuts, remember never over extend yourself, dont worry about missing a chance, just bide your time." Valkardian kept talking as she sat on the cave flooring watching the hologram of an Equestrian soldier, the imagine would flick back and forth now and then between fully armed and nude. He just kept pointing out more weak points on the pony body, how to identify weak points in the armor and so on.

The lessons took on stranger and stranger meaning as he explained how to bring down pegasi, unicorns, yaks, zebras, hippogriffs, griffons, dragons and on the lessons went. Was he preparing her for a journey in the caves or all out war? And with WHO? He had even explained the various "deity" races of the world and how to bring them down, albeit with INSANE effort and an ungodly amount of luck if not caught unprepared. It was the final lesson on body anatomy in battle that she had an idea of what she was in for: Troglodytes.

Horrific, warped, dark, malicious and by the sun and moon were they ugly. Ranging between five feet tall or a towering eight they inhabited the lower caves, they multiplied rapidly once their numbers got going and would consume everything in their path. They were the machinations of a long dead "demi-god" that had wanted servants of his own and it did not go very well in the end. Now they would break loose, terrorize the world above and caves below every hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty years depending on the gestation cycle. Valkardian explained he had not wiped them out because they were THE "go to source" of bones and fertilizer for crops.

Shadow wretched only a little at that last bit, better them than her. Valkardian had kept them in check for millennia, harvesting them regularly so they would not cause problems above anymore which would mean problems coming back DOWN searching for the source of the infestation. Dumb, wild and unruly they were easily cut down, their sheer strength and numbers though was a big problem, he reassured her however that his forces had grown so great from their "donations" that their breaking loose and going on a rampage was near nill. Still, the odd scouting party would sometimes make a break for it, failing no less but still the danger was there.

They had even formed "communities" and a hierarchy, the biggest led, the rest obeyed or got eaten. Too small? Eaten. Their lives were primitive and simple, weapons of stone and wood from the cave trees or quite often: bone, lots of bone armor she noted looking at the hologram of the brute.

Training went back to normal for a day or two after he completed his seminars on how to kill just about any living and non-living thing she had ever dreamed of and wished she had never known about. Five months in and now she was marching around in a larger formation, listening to silent magical commands in her mind or loud, screeching ones from horns or bangs on metal drums. How a skeleton played a horn was beyond her but they did, without lungs... Must be magic.

Rarely did the soldier smack her with a stick anymore, each drill was so hammered into her that it came naturally now. Studying her language had been back on the list, no longer feeling too exhausted to read and it was a strange language compared to what she knew.

Six months later she was woken by servants not a soldier, the camp was deserted except for the one with its stick. Leaving her tent a servant gave her a note, scanning it her orders were very simple: This was the last test, she had to march in full gear down the road to the marker, touch it and march back again within the allotted time. When she could accomplish that the servants would bring her back. Donning her gear she quickly set off down the road not waiting, this was it, the last test and she intended for it to be the last DAY as well.

It had been a long boring hike, the almighty stick bearer on her heels the entire way to the marker and back again. Back in the camp before she knew it the tent was still there and the soldier simply walked off leaving her alone with the servants. Shadow wanted to leave and leave NOW, marching up to them she said "lets go" and they quickly led her away and to the portal she had used to arrive and stepping through left the training grounds behind.

Valkardian was tired, he had been preparing for the coming onslaught for months now when he was not instructing Shadow, if she intended to be allowed to roam the caves she had to be able to fight and fight well. He had fought off so many incursions he was fairly certain how this one would go only this time, little Shadow would be joining the fighting later on when it was time to clean up. It would give her a chance to put her training to use, see the blood and gore, get over it and then he could let her roam without worry. Should she do well in the coming cave war she would be rewarded though it was really just one more test.

That final marching test should keep her busy for a day more, that bat showed immense promise already not only as a scholar but a fighter. Going into his bedroom and quickly stripping down he looked around, the last day all to himself, not being able to sleep in his own bed at will had been annoying but the entertainment this situation brought was worth it. Climbing into the top of the bed he sunk down and yanked sheets over his head and quickly fell asleep, tomorrow she would be back.