Chapter 4

Kira

A splash seems to wake me from my sleepyness. I couldn't have been asleep too long, Aliana is still sitting in the next seat over in the large Hot Bath, and I don't feel like I need to get out of the heat yet.

Aethena was exiting the bath on the fancy marble white and grey stairs, they must have had some kind of enchantment because they were not slippery for how smooth they feel.

She has a fit, muscular body, and you can see her muscles defined very well as she steps out of the water. Her now unbraided black hair goes about 3/4 of the way down her back and is tucked behind her adorable elf ears.

I made eye contact with her when she was drying off. "So....guardian, we usually train as a squad in our training room down two levels, everyday at dawn. Since you are now one of us, I will see you there at sunrise." She says this with a rather clipped tone, making it an order.

"Bring your weapons and armor." She finishes and walks out, after just tilting her head in confirmation of my nod.

Aliana speaks up from her heat trance, "They will want to test you tomorrow. Not just in combat either though."

"Oh?" I respond. Honestly it will be fun, I feel like I am capable of so much more physically with the light. I know during the Red War, when I lost my Light, I was terribly weak and unable to fight at normal speed and strength levels. But it is available here.

"It's Captain Aedra and Aethena, they work their squad harder than anyones. Since their father passed, they train harder, longer, and make the squad go through the ropes. You will be fine."

"Will you be there?"

"I am actually not in Squad 3, I just....well I suppose I will start going on missions with the squad since you are here, but I am not an offical member. I am the whole guilds seer. As far as being here with you, I wanted to get to know you a little better so I came to the Squad 3 baths instead of the the general area ones."

"I am not worried about any physical test, I am concerned as to why I am here though, do you know of anything that is threatening the world or anything?" I said.

Aliana looked at me through her blind fold with an eyebrow raised. I elaborated,"If the Traveller sent me here, then there is fighting to be had, it wouldn't have just done it for no reason."

"I mean there is the monster threat, but don't ask me about it, the Captain will go over it with you, and my vision only said it would be dark if the Captain didn't go to meet you when you fell from the sky."

"You were shown two visions?"

"More like a good and a bad version of the same events. But it was only related to your arrival, and I have had none regard you me or the Captain since."

My eyes narrowed in thought, and I said, "You or the Captain...were you guys in the vision as well?"

She kind of clears her throat and says, "Well I thought you were a weapon at first because the Captain was holding the star in his hand like a weapon, and I was next to him, which I haven't told him that I was in it. But that is what I saw, and the bad side was that the star was taken in by some creature, and turned black. The lands were scroched and the Captain was....dead."

"Oh." Unsure of what else to say, my mind is still trying to process what she just said, she said it so fast. I was lost in thought for a while when the silence was broken.

Aliana says, "What is your life normally like, in this Tower that you speak of, under the rule of the Traveller?"

I looked down to the bubbling surface of the water and said, "The Traveller isn't a ruler, it is almost like a...force of nature." She knows the story, but still how do you describe the Traveller, that thing is a force! "Life at the Tower wasn't horrible, but it feels like a nexus for bad events to congregate. Our Tower looked down from the ring of wall that protects the Last City. It has great views, open bays for our ships, and housed different personnel vital to the Vanguard."

"There was always guardians there, in an out, grabbing missions and supplies from various people. There was also civilians that would be around, just to see the operation, to mingle with the guardians, and an endless amount of other possibilities The problem with the vanguard is that we have a whole mess of planets to protect and fight over. The enemies of the Vanguard are many and endless."

Aliana sat in the water head still turned to look at me, and I shrugged.

"Were the enemies you fought anything like the magically mutated monsters here?" Aliana questions.

"Hmmm, well, there is definitely some similarities in how some of the enemies operate, but most are species or offshoots that had the desire for power, destruction, knowledge, and more. It is hard to describe all the enemies of the Vanguard. I would describe none of it as a magical mutation happening randomly in nature though. Eveything was almost always deliberately done to attack humanity, the Traveller, or it's Light, or even other enemies of ours."

A period of silence dropped us into our own deep thoughts. Mine of the vanguard and my time there. I also thought about how I never bathed, the ghost would just cleanse me in light. That is nice and all, but I think I just discovered a new addiction of mine....Hot baths.

I was more or less thinking about my reason for the Traveller bringing me here, and I wonder if I accomplish my goal here if I will be forced to come back through another portal. The world of Destiny is a dark place, and if there is a chance this world can be a happy peaceful place I think I will try to find that peace here. As a guardian I deserve to rest, and if I can just adventure with this guild and not go back to that darker world, I will definitely make that choice.

"So, Kira, did you have a boyfriend in your Tower?" She asks with a smile....WHaaaaat?!??!! Where did that come from?

"Uhhhh, no, honestly this conversation we are having is more than I have spoken since....well since my ghost found me. In a community of people who don't speak, it is hard to make a connection. I never went further than dancing." I replied, with a fresh darker blue color accenting my patterns of light on my face....I am blushing really hard.

She perked up with that, "Tell me about this dancing, why does it seem to be a 'theme' according to your Ghost, amongst Guardians."

"I honestly couldn't say, it is cathartic, I honestly love the feeling of moving and dancing. It is what we do, during fights, after fights, in the most inappropriate and inopportune moments. We have emotes and stuff that expresses our feelings, its hard to describe unless you are a guardian. When you can die all you want and it becomes a joke, then that is what happens."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Emotes?" Dutifully ignoring the explosives in my statement, she focuses on the positive. I can appreciate that in anyone.

I smile and prepare my favorite emote, I get up and quickly walk up the stairs just out of the bath and I look at Aliana with a grin. I then sit back in a loveseat made of light while swirling a glass of wine. It was always my favorite emote, the Luxurious Toast. Just like pulling up my inventory, using my emote was easy as a thought.

She giggled uncertainly, yeah she doesn't get it. Oh well I will continue to enjoy it in my own way. "This is an emote? I guess I don't understand, but if it makes you happy that good right?"

Oh shes just trying to be nice. I gave a half hearted chuckled and nodded.

I decided to then ask her a few questions. "Why do you have a blindfold on, if you don't mind me asking?"

Another smile and she says, "I don't mind, it is because of my abilities as a seer. I am able to see things in the future, but only If my eyes are closed. Everything is distorted with the ability of a seer and I cannot focus my power enough to see straight when my eyes are open."

"But, how can you interact so easily as if you can see perfectly?"

"Well the short answer, is that I can see just fine, the longer one is that each of my blindfolds is enchanted to allow all my sight to go through my magic sight. It is my vision granting sight." She continues.

"For my future sight however, I will feel the power build in me as if it needs release, and as I let the power go through my eyes, the sights of the a good and bad future unfolds infront of me, out of time. In other words it is instant for everyone else, but I see the entirety of it within a moment in time that is frozen for me. You cannot see time, until you are not bound by it."

"Anyways, with the blindfold and the enchantment of a seer, I am able to essentially see like a normal person, see magic flows, and activate my future sight when a vision become available. The downside is that I will only see visions of people that I know well enough. Most people in the guild will be in that group, but I really want to get to know you so I can get visions that involve you in the future."

Interesting revelation, I wonder how many seers ther are out there. I kind of blacked out ath the discussion of time and such, but I still got the gist of it. I would love to see her eyes, but I feel like that would be too intimate to ask of her and I better not push too much even if she doesn't seem uncomfortable with the question so far. I had more to ask but I figured there will be time in the near future.

After some more time soaking we got out of the bath and dried off. I put my undergarmets on with a thought, and couldn't decide on how to get back to my room...full armor or in a towel. Aliana noticed my indecision, and walked to a cabinet and pulled a robe from it, handing it to me.

"Thanks!"

"You are welcome." Another knowing smile on her face. We then left the bathing chambers and walked to my door I flashed my ring over the symbol and used the handle to open it up.

She said, "I am glad to have you as part of our guild, I think you will fit in nice. I am also happy that you opened up a bit to me, I hope that we can be great friends in the days to come. Oh also, I am taking you shopping tomorrow after you are done with your morning workouts and breakfast okay?!"

She seems way too excited about this and I eye her robes.

She chuckled lightly and said, "Don't worry we won't put you in mage robes, but you do need at least 1 dress up gown for any guild events that we have. There are dinners and stuff occasionally and I'd imagine that we will have one coming up soon due to your arrival from the sky. Anyways, goodnight Kira, I will see you in the morning." She leaves with a kind smile.

I close the door and take off my robes down to my sports bra and matching booty shorts. I hung the robe on the back of my door, and turned around to walk to the bed.

I was nervous at the idea of a dress, but my armor is pretty much one that doesn't show any skin...and is air tight, and is ARMOR. So yeah I definitely do need some regular clothing for non-combat days. It's not like I am spending most of my time in my ship in space anymore waiting for the next strike.

There was a knock on my door and assuming Aliana forgot to tell me something I opened it up wide with no thought to what I was wearing.

The Captain was standing there with a trey of food and he turns bright red and trys to look away. I yelp pretty loud and slammed the door. I face palmed...I am an idiot. It took me a few moments to gather myself and put my robes back on and make sure I wasn't completely a blueberry when I reopened the door.

"Uhhhh hi, I am so sorry I..." Captian Aedra starts, the level of nervousness is so friggin adorable on the handsome Captain. I should call him Aedra, it's just that the name Captain fits him so well.

He clears his throat regaining some of his charm and smiles, "I just thought since you missed our squad dinner I would bring you some and also to tell you about our morning training sessions, I hope that you will join us as a member tomorrow, we would like to see what you can do." He said this jumble of words so fast that I had to proccess it for a second.

His eyes were above me looking over the top of me almost as if to prove that he wasn't checking me out. It felt oddly exciting...

"At dawn right?" He blinks, and seems to come back to his senses.

"Your sister told me already, I just don't know where anything is here."

"Oh, that makes sense, well I'll make sure someone wakes you up in the morning."

I smiled and said, "Thanks, so what did you bring me?"

On top of the embarrassment earlier he seemed to be surprised to get this many words out of me. I still have that massive weight on my chest, but the curiosity of interacting with all these new people, and even speaking in this adorable little voice I have is all too much for me to sit in complete silence all the time.

"Oh I brought a lot of stuff because I wasn't sure what you would think is good, so here can I set this down for you?"

He set it down on my vanity table and then did a quick description of the huge meal he brought me. I must be drooling.

"Alright well, I will leave you to your meal and I will make sure someone stops by your room to wake you in the morning. It is great to have you in my squad and I hope to get to know you more as we fight together." I can tell a lot of his self image is in his abilities as a swordsman, it is charming in an odd way. He smiled and I answered.

"Thank you so much...Captain, I am excited to learn more about this world, guild, and its people. I appreciate your guild taking me in and making me feel at home. Also, thank you for the meal, it looks amazing." He smiled again and bowed then walked down the hall to his room I think..

I was thirsty from the hot bath, and the two cups of liquid seemed to catch my eye first, so that is where I started.

It was juice of some fruit similar in color to the amber of apple juice, but tasted like a sweet strawberry/mango mixture that was just divine, it's apparently called Canta Juice, yeah I need more of this. The cups seemed to keep the juice super cold, and after the hot baths and embarassing reveals it was certainly cooling.

There was a medium sized salad that was host to a myriad of colors and textures. I have always been a textural eater and this salad did not let me down. It had crunchy purple leaves of a lettuce-equivalent, green nuts of some sort that reminded me of crunchier cashews, and other little fruits that would burst with different flavors.

I finished the salad, and was pleasantly surprised that I had room for more. I ate part of the pork chop that was perfectly cooked (I think) and had a gravy style sauce that was blood red. It wasn't real blood but rather a sweet tasting sauce that when combined with the meat that had an almost bitter taste, resulting in some fusion of flavors that my mind could not comprehend.

I was only going to have a small bite of the cheesecake looking item in the corner, but once I took my first bite of this treat all will power collapsed and I devoured the entire slice of it. It tasted nothing like cheesecake, it was so strange, the first bite tasted like chocolate fudge and it shifted to vanilla-orange sherbert ice cream tase, which then ended in that strawberry mango taste that left my mouth tingling. I found that each bite took me on this same pleasure train. I couldn't understand what magic cake this was but it is the most amazing thing I have had yet. THREE DIFFERENT FLAVORS, get out of here. This stuff is called "Your Cake" and apparently it mixes your favorite flavors. I am unable to speak at the moment.

After I finally finished dinner I climbed into this massive bed, I unequiped my undergarmets and was not prepared for this new sensation. Being a guy, I had always had hair...well everywhere in my first life. My guardian would sleep in her armor in her ship, so she never felt what I am feeling now either. The feeling was overwhelming, my legs, free of any hair were encased in the softest most comfortable sheets of my life. I found myself squirming for 10-15 minutes in the softness silky sheets before I could even settle down. I don't know if what was softer feeling, me or the sheets. This is a truly mind blowing world.