Chapter 20

Uuh. Why is it so hot this morning?...

I open my bleary eyes slightly, confused why I'm feeling this much heat right now. I feel two weight on my arms and legs. Looking down through the haze my vision is, I see two masses of hair. One black and one pure white.

Oh right. Anna and Eliza. My mind clear enough to remember last night before going to bed. They ignored my input about sleeping arrangement. They clearly have rooms. But they still decided they would invade my bed.

Now I have two human, or vampire, shaped octopuses clinging to me. They each have one of my arms in theirs. And their legs are draped around mines. I sigh a little. At least Anna let go of my tail in the process of grabbing my arm. One look at the clock on the wall tell me we still have one hour before our first class. Plenty of time to make breakfast and reach the classroom. If those two wake up without a fuss.

Well, I can understand them. It may be quite hot but it's still comfortable. Especially because they are here.

Yesterday was... Surprising. Yeah. It'll take a while to process.

I decide to let future Jane deal with that. I sigh before trying to nudge Anna's side with my tail. We still need to get up. And I'm a bit hungry. I do not want to go to class without anything in my stomach. Refused. So I also wiggle, as much as I can, my arms to try and wake them up. Fortunately, it doesn't take long for them to stir then open their eyes. Still full of sleep but that's a start at least.

"C'mon girls. It's time to get up. I'm hungry." I saw quietly, my voice coaxing.

They both grumble, making me giggle a little. Eliza let go of me and, when I thought she would get up, cup my cheeks before leaning down. Her lips met mine gently as if she was handling a precious gem. My eyes widen at that kiss. I didn't expect that at all. Her lips part, and I feel her tongue lightly tapping my own lips. A shudder run through my spine, but I keep my it shut. It's... A bit fast. Eliza, in her great understanding, doesn't insist. She simply try to convey her love through a sweeter kiss. Her thumbs lightly brushing my cheeks.

Time seems to stretch indefinitely at that instant. This is so comfortable, so sweet. But Eliza break the moment by separating us after a few more seconds. Her eyes, still a bit glazed with sleep, are infinitely gentle and soft, overflowing with love and care. A sleepy voice shatter the atmosphere as Eliza's eyes widen, fully awake this time.

Note to self: half-asleep Eliza is bolder.

"Hrmm... I want one too..."

Anna's eyes appear in my vision. Her very red eyes. Oh right. She didn't feed yesterday. At this point Eliza has already let go of my cheeks to let my twin take her place. And Anna doesn't waste time to bring her lips against mine with more passion and I don't have the time to close them before her tongue invade my mouth. A small whimper escape me. We battle briefly and at some point my appendage ends up in her mouth. She takes the opportunity to sink her fangs slowly and gently in it. A shudder even bigger than earlier rake my whole body.

This... Feels even better than when she drink from my neck... What is this?! Why?

When she break the kiss a silver thread tainted with red links us, breaking shortly after. My heart is pounding hard and my face is a furnace. Anna? She has a very satisfied smile. I swear I see her wings fluttering slightly.

"W... W-What was that?! Anna!" I scream, my voice cracking out of embarrassement.

Then I do something I didn't know I could: I throw her in the air. I'm stunned half a second, but ultimately decide it's a great opportunity to escape that mischievous vampire. So I scramble out of bed and disappear behind the door with a 'I'm going to make breakfast!'.

I can hear Eliza's voice, a tad judging, 'You scared her, again'. With Anna's nervous giggle.

I try to calm my heart once I'm in the kitchen, a hand on it, taking deep breaths.

Damnit, that was way too unexpected. Right. Breakfast. Then classes.

It'll be a nice distraction. Well, as much as 'history of dungeons' will be.

I busy myself with the preparations. With a common accord we totally ignore their shenanigans in the bedroom and simply get ready for classes. It's too embarrassing to talk about anyway...

Uniforms on, whatever we would need in my Space, we finally reach the classroom. It's not really that big. There's space for around a hundred people. Most of the seats are taken except a few rows. Well, that was to be expected. Thanks to certain girls we're just in time. At least there's a row with multiple seats free. We take them.

Barely a few minutes later a pretty young man enter. Short red hair, blue eyes, his suit is without creases as if it would be a crime to damage it. It's the same as the attendants from yesterday but more... Official? He must be the teacher I guess. I'm surprised by how young he seems to be.

"Hello students. I'm Arken Rods. I teach 'History of dungeons'." He start, his voice mesured. "So. What are dungeons?"

A hand lift timidly, he nod to give the right to answer.

"Constructs that appear all over the world?..."

"Right. You aren't wrong. But! That's not all. I know most of you only had a very succinct description of Dungeons. Why? Because you weren't supposed to enter one. You even shouldn't have entered one yet"

Anna and Eliza glance at each other then at me and I shrug. Not my fault. Well, maybe a bit?

"Dungeons, are indeed 'constructs'. To be precise they are 'Mana Constructs'. They don't simply 'appear'. They are formed. We... Actually don't understand why or how. It's a shame but it's something scholars are still researching." He shake his head with disappointment. "Anyway! You aren't here for that. There's a class dedicated on how the dungeons are formed."

He start pacing back and forth on the podium where his desk is.

"Thousand of years ago, precisely 5246 years, our world was still a 'normal' world. No magic, no special abilities or special weapons. It wasn't peaceful. Wars, conflicts, disputes. But that's how humans are." He pause for a few seconds, whispers running through the students. "Then they formed. Everywhere. Be it fields, cities even rivers, lakes and oceans. Dungeons. At first humanity was anxious, of course. Imagine something you never saw in your life suddenly appearing in front of you? But after a time of observation nothing happened. So gouvernements all over the planet started to organise teams, armies, to enter those otherworldly portals."

I have a feeling I know all that. I may even know how they are formed. Like the information still locked in my head contain that knowledge. But I have to admit, I'm not that interested in the how. I'm far from being a scholar, I'm more of 'move a lot' type.

And now that I think of it, I wasn't like that before the awakening. Something else to tell Virina I guess. Even if I think it's the same for most beastkins... I hope. Well, I won't complain. I'm indeed having fun when moving around.

The teacher continues his lecture while I'm questioning my new fondness for moving.

"The first attempts were not successful. Most teams, or armies, came back with terror in their eyes. Monsters. Impossible to kill with normal means. Lot of those teams lost eighty percent of their members. After months without any progress... Some Dungeons exploded, resulting in massive casualties. And waves of monsters. In almost two years Humanity dwindled to less than twenty percent of the population."

A collective gasp ran through the students around me, even Anna and Eliza tensed. Me? For some reason I'm pretty calm about it.

"It's at this time they appeared. The first awakened. Wielding strange powers and equally strange weapons and whatnot. For once, Humanity could repel those monsters."

The rest of the lecture continued like that, with the teacher explaining. He never got much in the details yet. Must be things we'll learn later on. I feel like this class will bore me. A Lot. Eliza seems to enjoy it though. She did indeed appreciate history before. Well, I'm glad at least one of us isn't falling asleep. It's a shame for Teacher Rods, he seems pretty enthusiastic about his subject.

I just listen with half an ear and occupy myself with bothering Anna with my tail, trying to tickle her sides. She has to bite her lips to stop from laughing.

Hmpf. Vengeance for this morning.

She's lucky. The bell indicate it's time to switch classes. The classroom is suddenly drowned in the scrapping of chairs against the floor. Anna and Eliza seems to have anticipated that because they clap their hands on my ears to muffle the sounds before the first student even gets up. My eyes widen when I feel it and a smile makes its way to my lips.

"Thanks girls, it's fine"

They release my ears only when everyone stopped thinking their chair is an instrument. We get up too and I, very quickly, kiss their cheek in thanks before going out of the classroom. They stay frozen a short second before following me, grabbing an arm each. I glance at them, exasperated. It'll be hard to walk like that properly. I'm still smaller than them for fuck sake.

So it's with quite a bit of difficulties that we make our way to the next class. Of course we get whispers on the way. Because why not? I would have thought that adults would be less prone to rumours. Seems like I'm wrong. I sigh quietly, glancing at the two girls glued to my arms.

Well, whatever I guess. They will refuse to hide anything even if I ask.

The next class 'Monster identification' is held in a bigger room. In front of the seats is something like an operation table around two meters wide and long. Next to it is a Catkin woman with orange hair and fur, her tail is swishing excitedly behind her. She's dressed with a laboratory white coat, a pair of googles sit between her ears. I'm mildly concerned about that coat.

The instant we take our seat she starts to talk, her voice is laded with excitement.

"Hello students! And welcome to Monster Identification! Or like I call it 'how to dismantle a monster after knowing what it is' ! I'm Ary ! Don't bother with my surname I don't care about that! Just call me Ary!"

This will be fun.

"So! In this class we will talk about the various known monsters. You got some teachings about the most common of them of course. In case you unfortunately get face-to-face with them. Namely Gobelins, Wolfs or other 'small' animal types." She says, her arms flailing around her as she activate a projector that shows the monsters she's talking about on the white board behind her. "At first we'll talk about how to identify those based on the marks they leave around before seeing them! It'll be especially useful for you student that are scout-oriented."

A few hum of agreements ring around me. I didn't think of that. We will need a scout too. I wonder if being an archer can count as that. I guess so. Well, I'll think of that later. I may not be able to recruit her in our party anyway.

The projection go back to the Gobelin's one.

"Gobelins. Nasty little creatures. Don't confuse them for Goblins. Those aren't the same. The first are those green little guy that will try to capture any females they can put their grubby hands on. The latter? More fae oriented. They are still little but can be friendly. You should still absolutely be cautious with them. They do like pranking and they don't know the difference between a prank where you end-up soaked with water and one where you are soaked with your own blood."

A collective shudder run through the whole class. Even my tail bristle at that. Noted: ignore every little ugly thing.

"Anyway. They have the same weaknesses, like most humanoid monsters. Cut their head? Dead. Destroy their hearts? Dead. Of course you can dismantle them and they will die of blood loss. Take a bit of time though. They are pretty sturdy about that." Her eyes shine as she talk about dismantling a Gobelin. Then she point at her nose. "Smell. It's one of the best way to notice a Gobelin's nest. They also tend to mark trees around it. Well, for our dear beastkin please be careful. Their odours are... Quite strong."

I nod at that. Indeed fighting those Gobelin was torture for my newly too good sense of smell. Especially after they bled and died. I'm quite glad it was a new Dungeon so there was no other type of smell. Well, that would have made me quite mad though.

Ary continues to explain multiple ways to kill Gobelins with great enthusiasm. But even with her excited state she still repeatably ask and makes us understand to always be careful. After all they may be weak alone, but they are very often numerous. For her even if it seems very fun to open them up, our safety is above everything.

This class is pretty interesting. My tail and ears are betraying the obvious interest I have, the former is almost vibrating and the latter are angled forward. This attract the attention of my two girlfriends. They both decide that it, apparently, needs to be scratched. So they do. Their hands sneak behind my back and immediately start their work. I freeze and send them withering glares they promptly ignore. They dodge when I try to stop their hands, so I just let them do whatever they want. I'm not too keen in raising a fuss the first day of class.

It's hard to not melt though. And Ary notices, of course, but simply smile. She does send a little sympathetic glance my way, one I appreciate.

Thankfully class ends shortly after. I instantly get up the moment the bell ring and escape those two mischievous shenanigans.

It's lunch break, I'm hungry and I don't want to melt in front of a whole class. They follow me with giggles so I just ignore them with a huff and an indignant flick of my tail.

My vengeance will be terrible.

We decide to go eat at the cafeteria. I'm too lazy to go back to our dorm. We take our plates and settle in a corner of the room. They, of course, sit on either side of me. I narrow my eyes at them. I feel like they are up to no good. Again.

And I'm right. Anna spear a piece of meat and look at me with bright eyes, putting her fork in front of my eyes. I blush at a visible speed. That's... No. I refuse. Not that shameful 'feeding play' please. I try to ignore her. I really try hard while eating. But I feel her scorching gaze on me.

So I crack. With a resigned sigh I turn toward her and eat the meat she's presenting me. She instantly perks up, her face so radiant I think I might need sunglasses to look at her.

A gentle tap on my shoulder comes from the other side and when I turn my head I see Eliza with her fork up, looking at me with a hopeful gaze.

"You too?!" I almost shout but lower my voice before I attract more gazes than we are already getting.

She nods enthusiastically, then pause a second and retract her fork. I'm a little confused. Didn't she want to feed me? I widen my eyes at her next action. She takes half of her piece of potato in her mouth and lean toward me. I'm too stunned to react like a normal person, so when the food touch my lips I open them on reflex.

I... What? What's happening?

I never knew kisses could taste salty and sweet at the same time. It doesn't last long. But too long to not attract attention. At least the heavy silence is only a few tables around us. It's spreading fast though. I gently push Eliza away, my heart doing dumb flips in my chest and my cheeks burning red.

"E-E-Eliza! What was that?!" I whisper, my voice cracking a little.

"Hmmm I wanted to do the same as Anna, but I'm not a vampire." She answer, a pleased smile on her lips.

"You two will be the end of me... I swear..." I slump a little.

My tail and ears are betraying me though. The former swish happily behind me while the later is well straight above my head.

I will cut you two if you continue to betray me.

Whispers are around us, and I see multiple people blushing hard after our little stunt. Well, Eliza's stunt. We still have to finish eating though. There's class this afternoon, but I'm already quite tired... Please be interesting and distract those two so they don't tease me too much...