196 - Train (Patreon)

It turned out that Vittoria woke Arielle and Inara before daybreak because she wanted them to get most of their exercise done before the weather got too hot. When Arielle mumbled and asked her why she hadn’t warned them yesterday so they could have gone to bed earlier, Vittoria responded, “Well then I wouldn’t get to see what you’re capable of at your most tired and sleep-deprived.”

Which to Ari's tired, sleep-deprived mind made little sense. 

She could barely coordinate enough to wear the appropriate attire and she barely noticed Sir Spendulon waddling around after her. 

The brain fog eventually cleared when they stepped out onto the desert and a brutally stiff wind got thrust into her face, blowing her hair back and causing goosebumps to break out all over her skin. 

She hadn’t realized how cold the desert got in the middle of the night, mostly because she’d never been out this late before and the cottage was very insulating. She wrapped her arms around herself and asked Vittoria. "Should we get a coat?"

“No. You won’t need it soon. We’re going to begin with a warm-up stretch and a run, as fast as you can.”

“For how long?” Arielle said. 

“What’s the longest you’ve ever run?”

“About forty minutes.”

“We’ll try an hour.”

Arielle gulped, and shared a look with Inara, who looked equally terrified. It was the first time she’d seen Inara wearing something different from her usual demonic sect servant robes. Even when she wasn't wearing that, she typically wore something similar, plain black robes over a white smock. 

But today she was wearing boots, loose linen slacks, and a buttoned shirt, just like Vittoria and Arielle were, likely at Vittoria's insistence. She also had her dark hair tied differently, not in a bun, but in a ponytail at the top of her head. Something about her also felt…different. For example, she stood a little straighter than normal, despite her obvious exhaustion. 

Vittoria directed them through a stretching routine she said would prevent injury. Arielle was familiar enough with the concept, from training with her brother, although he essentially rushed through things like stretching because he said that their Mossborne genes protected them from sprains. Arielle had sprained enough things to know that was a bold-faced lie, or at least an exaggeration. 

"I won't always give you a chance to stretch," Vittoria said. "Depending on the day, some of these drills are going to be simply get up and go. But since this is the first day, I'm going easy on you."

"Easy would have meant warning us ahead of time," Arielle grumbled under her breath, making Inara cover her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. 

"What was that, Ari?"

"Nothing." She looked up to the sky, noting that it was cloudless, and the moon position signified it was a few hours past midnight. 

“Right,” Vittoria smirked. “Okay, soldiers. Let’s go!” 

At the order, Ari and Inara took off, running down the desert in the path indicated by Vittoria's arrows made of light. Sir Spendulon was a few feet behind them, waddling for all he was worth, his noisy breathing haunting their escape.   

The drill was familiar, but it felt different than when Ari had run with her brother. Running in dessert sand wasn’t any easier or more difficult than running through marshy ground, but it was a different kind of difficulty. The sand kicked up at her legs, and the uneven surface forced her feet into an odd bend, pushing them aside with every strike. She set her shoulders and swung her arms as her brother had taught her to, reminding herself to land as lightly as possible and use every step to propel herself forward rather than just up. 

She heard Inara panting beside her and glanced over. 

Inara was already sweating, her face red. She had a less-than-ideal running form, and her energy would likely soon.

Ari was tempted to cast a vitality spell on both of them, but she knew that was against the rules of this exercise. 

"Slow your pace," Ari told her. "Or you’re going to run out of energy.”

“But Lady Vittoria," Inara panted. "She said we should go as fast as we can.”

“Yes, but if we’re going to be running for an hour, we need to be able to go as fast as we can for that hour. We don’t want to run out of energy. It's better to start slow and build up as your body gets used to it. You also have fewer injuries that way. Copy my stance."

Arielle slowed down to keep up with Inara, who adjusted until she began to run just like her. 

Her face was still red, and she still panted even at the slower pace. At some point, she tripped and fell, and Arielle ran in place, waiting for her to get back to her feet and continue. 

Even at a slow pace, the run was hard. Their bodies heated up quickly, and the sand messed with their coordination. Still they kept going. 

Arielle didn't think the hour was up when Vittoria stopped them, but it was good because Inara was done. She collapsed on her hands and knees and said, "Lady Vittoria...I'm so sorry–"

"Don't apologize," Vittoria said. "You did well. I've had recruits throw up and cry during this part before, so at least you didn't do that."

Arielle doubted that Vittoria had put them through this exact regiment. While the run had been hard, it hadn't been as brutal as what she'd witnessed on the Camhanach estate. Now that would have made her cry. 

But, as it turned out, Vittoria wasn't done. 

“Now round two.” She gestured behind her. While they had been running, she had set up some kind of obstacle course made of sand. The obstacles looked solid and included a climbing wall, bars they would have to swing on to propel themselves onto a hil they would have to scale, a ditch they would need to drop in and climb out of, a very creative zig-zag maze that they would need to navigate on their elbows and knees. Amongst other things. 

“You are going to go through the entire stretch at least three times,” Vittoria said

“I don’t think we can,” Arielle stated, exhausted just looking at it. 

“You can,” Vittoria said simply, and it was clear she was accepting no arguments. 

Both girls were slow and sluggish as they ran the course, and fell on the sand a bunch of times, which wasn't as bad as falling on hard ground. Vittoria stood at the sides and yelled out instructions like “faster!” and “swing your legs!” and “you both look like baby chickens”. At some point, she made a sand tiger chase them for motivation, but it didn't scare Ari because she was pretty sure the tiger wouldn't actually bite them.

In fact, every time it got close, it would either lick them with a gritty tongue or bump them in the back so they fell. 

Sir Spendulon, who had given up halfway through the run and didn’t even attempt the obstacle course, mostly focused on following the tiger around, snarling and exhaling small puffs of fire at it. 

Arielle didn't know how long it went on for, but by the end, she did feel like she was a step from vomiting. The sky had lightened when both girls dragged themselves onto the porch and collapsed right on it.

"Good work,” Vittoria said. “I think I have a fair idea of your endurance levels as well as your weaknesses and strengths. From now on, your training will be more tailored to address them. Inara, we need to build your general energy base and endurance. You also lack musculature. You'll have to eat a lot more food than you have been, especially meat. Arielle, you have good stamina, but you're also quite clumsy and not flexible at all. Watching you climb that last obstacle was painful, and you're very awkward in your movements. For you, we'll focus more on stretching and exercises that work on your flexibility."

Arielle nodded. As long as she didn’t have to do anything else physical for the rest of the morning, she would accept anything. 

"Tonight, before bed, we will have another session, but that will be for building your strength and addressing muscle imbalances. We'll start with your body weight first, and then when that's no longer enough, we'll add some weights into it. Oh, and I almost forgot." She materialized two vials of blue liquid and handed one to each girl. "These are vitality potions, with a little extra to help with recovery and boost your strength. Now, I can't give you these too often, or they will become toxic and build up. But I can give each of you about two every week, to help with your recovery and make your advancement a little faster. The rest of the time you will just have to heal the old-fashioned way."

Ari opened the cork and upended the liquid onto her tongue. It tasted disgusting, and she gagged and had to breathe through her nose to keep it down. Inara, on the other hand, drank it with ease. 

The potion began working almost instantly, alleviating the exhaustion and muscle aches that she felt.

“Okay. Now drink some water and go to sleep.”

They still had to crawl into the home and into their respective beds, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit a flat surface.

Arielle's internal clock woke her up a few hours later, when she would usually have breakfast. Inara was still asleep but Vittoria had made the usual oats and duck combo. 

Ari sat and frowned at the food, which was far mushier than she was used to. 

“This doesn’t look right,” she said, taking a tiny bite out of a tiny spoonful. She spat it out, and at Vittoria’s disapproving look, she quickly cleaned up the mess. "It doesn't taste right either."

“Well, it’s what we have, and you will not be waking Inara up to make breakfast for you." She raised a stern eyebrow. “Is that understood, soldier?”

Arielle hadn’t planned on doing that either way, but she nodded. “Alright.”

“Good. Now, in addition to your physical training, we need to organize what your magical training will look like for the coming weeks."

Arielle tried another bite of the oat mixture, tried to force herself to like it, and just couldn't. She made it vanish from her tongue. 

"I already know that as a scholar you have a lot of interests. You want to learn soul magic, for example, and it will be useful for you, but it will take some time to learn. So it's okay for you to prioritize other things for now. You also mentioned you want to learn blood magic and other magic types. Heck, knowing you, you might pioneer your own magical discipline, not to mention growing that additional core within you. If we tried to tackle all of that at once, it would be too much, so we can take it a few at a time. What do you want to focus on right now? What kind of Archmage do you want to be?”

Arielle moved the oats on her plate as she thought deeply about it. 

She did have an interest in several things. Mostly she enjoyed learning new magic types for the sake of it. She would also like to expand her knowledge of essences as much as possible, learn where they came from and why they died. 

But that was not the priority right now. 

The priority was the demons attacking people, and the fact that they could appear from just about anywhere. If they could move through the abyss, then that put humans at a constant disadvantage. Arielle had to learn how to counteract that as soon as possible. She also had to learn how to fight against demons like Leviathan, or worse.

Overlords could potentially trap her in their worlds. Demon Lords would be even worse. 

Vittoria had managed to fight more than one of them at a time and Ari wanted to be able to do that too. 

She explained to Vittoria who nodded slowly. 

"I thought as much," Vittoria said. "The problem is I can’t help you with the abyssal stuff and my fighting style has a lot to do with ensoulment. Soul magic is inevitably tied into that. That's how I'm able to set so many traps and fight so many battles while conserving my physical and magical energy."

Arielle understood. "I know soul magic doesn't come as easily to me as other things, but I think I still want to stick with it if that's possible."

"It’s possible," Vittoria said. "We can continue lessons if you’re up to it."

"How? We no longer have any demons to work with."

Vittoria smirked. "That's what you think. Have you forgotten about our impish hybrid friend?"

"I thought you killed him when we moved." 

"I didn't. Simply put him somewhere very uncomfortable. I'll go fetch him for you."

“Oh. Thank you.”

"You’re welcome. In the meantime, I'll teach you some other fairly useful spells for sensing demons and defending yourself against them. We'll also get into demon theory and the different types of demons you might encounter. Luckily, Yseult's journal left behind a codex, and so that makes our job easier. The first to know is that not every demon can use spells, but those who do often utilize rituals that boost their spells with blood."

"So I'll learn blood magic too?"

"Yes. It will be useful for you. Catriona apparently knows someone who can help with that."

"Neat.” Arielle yawned, managing a tired grin. “Where's Catriona, by the way?" 

"Back at the convent. But she'll be back, more for Inara than for me. Or so she says." Vittoria smirked. "Oh, before I forget, you also have to think about your build and how you will assign any qi you manage to generate from the spells you’re about to use. What essences do you favor?”

“All of them. I like balanced cores." Her Vacu was slightly bigger now than the rest of her cores, and it hadn’t really bothered her before, because she’d been focused on other things, but eventually, she would like to correct it.  

The first time she’d been asked about her build, she hadn’t truly known what she wanted. She’d only had a vague idea about balancing out Elric’s powers and making up for his weakness. 

But thanks to the sufficient amount of battles she’d been in lately, she’d figured out quickly enough what she valued.

“I want to be a well-rounded mage. And as a fighter…I don’t really enjoy being hit or touched, even if I can take it. I would prioritize escape over strength, I prefer long-range attacks more than close-range ones. That gives me time to think of my next move, and it helps me analyze other things in the battlefield.”

“That's another thing. You tend to overanalyze in the middle of the fight."

“Yes. Professor Graham warned me of that.” She hesitated. “I really want to learn his [Primal Sense]. I think it’s a bloodline spell and even though I only did it imperfectly, it helped me a lot during my last fight."

“Alright. Then we can visit him.”

"Are we going to train for the friendly duel at my induction the day after tomorrow***?" Arielle asked. 

"No," Vittoria snorted. "I'm not worried about that at all." She laced her fingers together, pressing it against her lips, her eyes focusing on Arielle’s shoulder. “I like your style, and like the fact that you can copy any spell you see. But you should think before you copy a spell, because if people know you stole a complex or even a bloodline spell, well, that will cause problems for you."  Vittoria tapped her chin with her pinkie. "You’re versatile and hard to predict which is your strength, but for now, Tamsy Lous and Arielle should have different spells and different fighting styles as much as possible. As Tamsy Lous, you can focus on the types of spells I cast, with lots of Vitae, Luxa, and Vacu. As Arielle, you should be the opposite. Use more Calor and Massa. That way, your cores will be more balanced, and people will be less likely to register you as the same person. Okay?"

Arielle nodded.

"That won't be enough," Vittoria warned, her expression darkening. "You're hypervisible now, and already creating a stir. You can't help it. People will start paying closer attention, and eventually they will discover what you're really capable of.  Hopefully, by that time, we’ve managed to convince enough people on the council that you’re worth protecting, but just in case..."

"Just in case..." Arielle prompted when Vittoria didn't finish her sentence. 

Vittoria sighed and said, "Just in case, I think you should practice trying to find your way back to the elven realm.”

“What?” That was the last thing Arielle expected. Vittoria had been against it the last time Erlic had suggested her going there, and had been sure the elves would never accept her. 

She still looked unsure now, as she brushed her hands through her hair. "I don't know, but it might be your last option in case everything goes to shit. If you found your way there once, you can probably do it again."

"I told you, it wasn’t me. It was the Drift."

"I'm not convinced," Vittoria said. "If the Drift had that much control over taking you places, then what's stopping him from taking you now? Or during the battle when you and Gio were stuck in the abyss."

Arielle stared and Vittoria said, "I don't think the Abyssal Drift or any of the Disciples are as powerful as the legends give them credit for. I think his power is simply misunderstood and intentionally blown out of proportion to keep people afraid and compliant. Otherwise nothing would make sense.”

Arielle bit her lip. This was close to blasphemy, and she was instantly afraid that Vittoria was testing fate by saying what she was saying. 

But she kept talking. "If you can find your way back to the elven realm and befriend that prince again, they might allow you to seek asylum. They typically don't like humans, but you're not like any other human they've ever met. You might have a chance."

Arielle still wasn't sure. She had already broken a vow, and the last time she'd been there, it was pretty clear she wasn't supposed to be back.

Then again, neither of the princes had been particularly hostile towards her. The older one had even been apologetic.

"If you have to, take Sir Spendulon with you," Vittoria said, taking a sip of her drink. "They like dragons."

“Okay,” Arielle said. “I’ll do that.”

After that, Vittoria showed Arielle the spells that released a pheromone which happened to attract some species of demon, enough to trap them. She also showed her a translator spell for a certain demon tongue, that way, Arielle could translate some of their ritual spells. 

They also went through a list of spells that Arielle could use in a fight. [Spell Breaker] was a good one, because it was already associated with her. So was [Air Slice]. Vittoria made suggestions on how to improve the power and reach of those spells. She also suggested a few more, and told Arielle it would be best for them to make their own spells tailored to her. 

Inara slept through most of the day, only waking up in the evening, which mortified her. She tried to immediately start cooking, but Vittoria told her that they had taken care of it. Instead, she gave Inara a heaping bowl of food to eat before both girls started on their muscle-building exercises. 

The workout was only a few hours, but it felt like at least ten. Both girls fell back asleep soon after it was done. 

The next very early morning, on the day of her induction, there was another jog, then Inara went through the obstacle course, but Vittoria pulled Arielle aside for flexibility training. 

Arielle had never bent herself into so many awkward positions before. Vittoria demonstrated each move and, despite being bulkier and bigger, made everything look much easier than it actually was.  

At one point, when Arielle had her hands up, and both legs splayed apart as far as she could on the floor, Vittoria said, "Lower."

"That's as low as I can go,” Ari complained. 

Vittoria came to her, put her hand on her shoulder, and pushed.

Arielle yelped. 

In the end, she did go a little lower, and then she hit her true limit. 

After that, Inara and Sir Spendulon napped. Vittoria led a tired Arielle down to the basement, where the demon imp was waiting for her. They still had a few hours to go before the induction would begin, and so Arielle wanted to start on the soul exercises. 

Seeing the imp in that dark cell made her freeze, her blood instantly running cold.

It all rushed back to her in that moment. The Iverson ball attack. The fire and the pain and the titans. Leviathan's face as he pushed poison onto her. 

The imp swelled in her mind, his face morphing into a hideous, wicked smile, laughing as she writhed. 

Her body inadvertently jerked back, her heart racing. 

Two large hands steadied on her shoulder. 

"Easy," Vittoria's voice brought Arielle back. "I'm here. You're okay."

Arielle looked up at her, and finally released a breath.

"Sorry," she said.

"You don't have to be," Vittoria said kindly. "And we don't have to do this right now."

"No. I want to." She swallowed and took a step forward. She wouldn’t let what happened dictate her future. Yes the demon had hurt her, but she had hurt them just as bad. 

And Leviathan was dead. She was pretty sure Gio had killed him for good. 

The demon stared at her as she came close. It snarled and glared, clear hatred in its eyes, but it couldn’t voice any of that out, thanks to Vittoria’s silencing spell. 

Ari closed her eyes, reminding herself that Vittoria was there, and would interfere at any sign of trouble. She pushed her fear away and focused on her breathing until she began to feel something. Perhaps because of the demon's emotionality or maybe because she could actually remember what she’d felt from her bond with Lyra. 

Either way, she felt it a movement of something she couldn’t identify yet, but invariably meant she had made good progress with soul magic after all. 

Which was a good thing, because she had the feeling she would need it.