“Fearless. Powerful. Dauntless.” With a motto like this, it gave fair warning to any logical person that this evening’s activities wouldn’t be a standard “Welcome to University” night out. No, not for the Dauntless Society. You’ve all heard of them; they’re in every college, some more hidden than others. In Galway, the Dauntless Society are a brand in their own right. They are the original secret society, hidden in plain sight under Galway University’s “Official Society” status. Anyone can join them, and get weekly emails about swimming in the sea and potlucks. However, a handful of new members are invited to their Inception Night, held on the Wednesday of Fresher’s Week. Inception Night is infamous across Ireland, not only for its increasingly demanding tasks, but also for the anonymity of the group. They have never been sighted, the only trace of the night they leave behind is the chaos they have forged.

Invitations to this exclusive event are rare, but for anyone who can decode their invitation message, there’s nothing to stop you from tagging along. Mike worked out the code two days beforehand, and coolly walked up to the “committee members” at the Societies Fair about 12 hours ago. It was very simple, really; when joining a society, you give your name, student ID number, and your phone number. Instead of your true number, you write down “Dauntless” as if writing it on a keypad. Mike confidently signed up, writing 328685377, his golden ticket to popularity. Little did he know he would be lead to the edge of a roof at 2am in the morning.

Mike spent the rest of his afternoon after the Fair preparing himself for Inception. The secret flyer gave simple instructions; “The Graduation Cap. 10pm. Bring a mask”. The Graduation Cap was a famous statue in Galway University, symbolising the abolishment of capping someone’s education. To the Dauntless Society, it symbolised abolishing the capping of personal freedoms, something announced with great vigour by their leader, Dali. Of course, Dali wasn’t his real name; identity protection is a priority, and all members take the name of a famous painter as part of their induction. Dali was powerful; all the confidence of a dictator with the charm of a president. He was loved and feared in equal measure, his mask hiding his lips but his steel blue eyes pierced through the night. He gestured around to his “Brothers and Sisters”, as he called them. 9 in total. “We are a family, and family protects each other”, he rounded off his speech. Mike couldn’t help but feel this was an order of secrecy, a family you would never truly know, and yet would die for.

This was what Mike reflected on while standing on the roof of the university library at 4am. The cajoles of the Family echoed through the night as each Brother and Sister took it in turns to leap from the roof of the library to the Concourse building, celebrating another successful Inception Night with bags of chips and tubs of ice cream. Surprisingly, alcohol wasn’t favoured by the Dauntless; it “clouded the judgement necessary to calculate your odds of dying during a Task”. So far Dauntless were proving you didn’t need alcohol to make rash decisions. From leaping into the ocean for a midnight swim to climbing up the ferris wheel for a better view of the moon, the Dauntless Family cruised around Galway two-per-bike, endlessly searching for new opportunities to create chaos. A particular favourite of Mike’s was Rembrandt jumping down the roof hatch of the casino in Salthill to steal baskets of casino chips. These will be cashed in over the next few weeks, channelling the money into the vault of cash for the Family to spend.

The wind carried voices and laughter back to Mike, who was now the last Brother on the library. Matisse had given up at the ferris wheel, and van Gogh had already jumped across to be with her new Family. Mike (now Degas) was edging closer and closer away from the edge, breathing in the deep scent of the night. Mike stared at the precipice separating him from his new Family, and inhaling their cheers deeply, ran across the loose stones before throwing his soul into the night sky. While in flight, he felt a deep silence transcend, drowning out those waiting for him on the other side of paradise, and in that moment, Degas found his Family.