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Yan Sha heard the ticking of the mechanism of the door and awoke quickly before dashing to roll up the straw mattress in the corner of the room. She had put it away so quickly before she realized the it was devoid of its occupant. She huffed heavily as one of the maids peered in curiously to the rapid rising and falling of Yan Sha's chest.

Behind her Master Guo cleared his throat at Yan Sha as the maid set the tray on the table next to the bed. "I'm sure you heard some casualties last night. I'm afraid I've brought some trouble to this place for the time being. It's an unstable old student of mine. He's supposedly going to try to kill everyone in my school due to his past failure of being dismissed from my school. He was a promising student, but you know the heart of a teacher is always much too soft. He will try to kill you if you find him. Be wary of your surroundings for several days until we find his body when the nerve toxin served to paralyze him fully."

Yan Sha's breath caught. "Why was he dismissed?"

"Not a stable hand. He was a wimpy boy who couldn't skin a rabbit without crying. But he had no problems collecting eyes of deer he killed. He liked the taste of a raw beating heart like some savage from the west. If he was such a savage that would have been acceptable. But, he's of the imperial line -- such a waste."

"I'm not surprised."

"Oh are you? You still have yet to meet him. He is quite the character who you may learn many lessons from yet once I set his mind back to where it should be. Hopefully sooner than the poison sets in. A dead body attracts so much vermin you know."

Yan Sha ate quickly and followed Master Guo. He seemed unbothered by all the activity around him. The apprentices always wore their white masks and black armor so Yan Sha felt uncomfortable as they brushed past her in their patrols of the corridor. Their unseeing eyes made Yan Sha feel a chill whenever they passed.

Guo stopped in the hall so suddenly that Yan Sha ran into his back. He turned and gripped her shoulders. "Oh and another thing, you wear this mask whenever you come outside of your room. There are twelve students with twelve masks. Your name is the animal you wear."

Before Yan Sha could see what it was, Guo put it on her face. The mask was more of a helmet as it fitted with metal fastenings so he had limited vision. The mask only covered half of her face so Yan Sha could ask a question. "What is my name, Master?"

"You are what you are not. You are Shi Zi for the time that you are here."

Yan Sha repeated the name to herself under her breath. Guo pushed her again and she fell on the ground. She could see a woman in a long grey gown standing with a carved skull mask on. There were snakes crawling out of the open eye sockets as she moved. The mouth and nose were exaggerated open such that a sleeping snake could sleep inside.

Yan Sha touched the area around her feet with her hands. She could feel the stone ground cool against her grazed knuckles as she felt up to an empty stone bench. The person who sat next to her had a deer mask. This person helped her up and moved her mask forwards so Yan Sha could see fully. She could tell that from her soft fingers that this too was another girl like her. Maybe this was why they had been paired together. Two flowers sitting lovingly in the same rectangular pot to bloom together. Planted well--it was a good move on Guo's part.

Yan Sha looked at the main board and realized that the teacher was teaching the foundations of poisons. There was no paper for her to take notations so the expectation was for everyone to memorize her lecture. There was a table showing ingredients while senior students who wore the sect's black mask demonstrated the various effects of combinations.

"Now you see what is foundation. All of you will be headed to the hall of classics to choose a poison which you can specialize in."

Everyone got up quickly and they were corralled into a circle which as they grew tighter as a group began to lower down into the ground. Yan Sha felt the deer masked girl next to her hold her hand tightly as they lowered down.

In a whisper so soft, Yan Sha thought it was the wind, the deer spoke to her. "I was taken from my village because the Cai Wong came and burned everything down. I'm here to take revenge on behalf of my village and parents."

Yan Sha wrung her hand free as the circle merged with the floor below it. She turned to the girl. "I'm not here to seek vengeance. If that's what drives you, you should find someone who shares your sentiment."

"Then you are my enemy--Cai Wong."

"If an enemy close to you brings you comfort, make of me whatever you like."

Wherever she went, Yan Sha knew those little beaded eyes were boring into her back. Yan Sha had unintentionally attracted a shadow. She wished that she had said something that would dismiss the girl to pursue other ventures, but she couldn't help feeling curious that this person too had a bone to pick with her enemy. She didn't have much of a care though to be paired together with this person when she did not know why the cult had chosen to take her in. The deer mask felt like a ruse to mean something different. Maybe it would bring benefit to be linked to such anger if she directed it at the right people.