Sparring Club 101, for all the tier 0s non-brawny who wished to join, met in a room in a hall inside the coliseum-looking building, in the middle of Citadel. It was an easy hall to find. Down the way, through a twist in the curve of the coliseum, and there it was. Glass doors showed a training hall beyond with a stone middle floor, wooden floors on the sides, and benches and weapon racks all around.
Three people of Mark’s own age were in the room, with two sparring and one standing to the side.
A half-giant of a woman stood to the other side, watching. She was the instructor, no doubt. She looked maybe 50, and she was telling the two sparring people about footwork.
Mark watched for not too long—
The big woman looked his way—
Mark steeled himself, and walked inside.
The big woman told him, “This is Sparring Club 101. Tier-0, non-brawny only. You fit that qualification?”
The two people sparring had not stopped at all.
Mark said, “I’ve got Healthy Body. That okay?”
The woman harrumphed, then said, “A Rank F Body Talent is borderline not-okay, but if you’ve never used it before, then you’re in the right place, for now. You’re Mark, right?”
Mark had signed up with the club last night, so yeah, the instructor would know him, and the big woman was obviously the instructor. “I’m Mark, yes. Hello.”
The woman pointed at herself, “Instructor Charms.” She pointed at the girl standing to the side, not able to spar with anyone because there were only three students. “You two introduce each other then spar. Name and then Power, or category if you don’t want specifics. Mace and shield.”
Mark had no problem with that. He walked toward the girl, saying, “Mark. Body.”
The girl was Mark’s own age, and kinda short. She was wiry. And she was already grabbing a mace and shield off of the wall. Just wooden stuff.
“Svea. Arcane,” Svea said, putting her shield on and hefting her mace.
Mark grabbed his own set from the wall and smiled a little. “Nice to meet you.”
Svea nodded professionally, her German accent thick as she said, “Nice to meet you.”
Instructor Charms called out, “I got you both protected. Go at it as hard as you can. No head blows.”
Svea exploded into action, launching forward, and Mark fell into a flow.
Battle was easier than thinking about problems.
He parried a strike and then bashed with his shield and Svea countered with a quick reposition but Mark was already there, in front of her, and he bore down with his shield and Svea faltered, and Mark got overhead of her. He crashed down with his mace onto her hea—
He stopped and pulled back.
A head strike like that was an automatic win in most circles. He had already won, without actually fighting much at all. Svea sighed even as she pulled back, too. She stopped fighting because she had seen it, too.
With a huff, Svea spoke thickly, “Dammit. You are good at this, too.”
Instructor Charms called out, “Break.”
The two guys who had been sparring broke apart, both of them huffing, both of them rapidly regaining their breath—
Charms said, “Raoul and Mark, go. I have you protected. Jacob wait. Svea, you need to not give up so fast, but yes, Mark is beyond you. It is possible for a girl your size to fight larger foes, for we all have to learn to fight monsters and they’re so much larger, but you were simply too aggressive, and...” The instructor had smaller words for Svea—
But Mark stood across from the guy named Raoul. “Hello. Mark, Healthy Body.”
Raoul gave a tiny bow. “Raoul. Hexer. You have good stamina, yes?”
“I think so. What’s a hexer do?”
“You know a blesser?”
“Oh! Like Seraph? … Er. No. The opposite of Seraph, then?”
Seraph was a mass blesser. His Talent would raise the overall fighting power of everyone near him, including himself. He was great at kaiju fights.
Raoul grinned. And then he raised his weapons, shield to his chest and wooden sword out in front. “The opposite of Seraph, yes.”
Mark mirrored him and tapped his mace to Raoul’s sword—
Raoul instantly slapped Mark’s mace in a soft parry and then gunned forward with his shield, hoping to get an opening for a real stab with his wooden blade.
Mark bashed with his shield into Raoul’s attack, pushing the guy back, crashing his mace into Raoul, but the guy slipped to the side. Mark didn’t let himself be drawn into what was an obvious opening, and instead made his own opening by stepping back a half step—
Raoul pursued.
Mark rejoined the fight, stepping left and trying to cut Raoul off—
Raoul moved fast and repositioned again.
Mark entered the flow so easily.
Raoul was soon breathing hard, fending off attacks, moving backward and rarely forward. Mark pursued—
And then Raoul started breathing easily, all previous difficulty gone.
Mark knew something was up. He glanced to the side where Charms breathed in time with Raoul, and that was that Union power, wasn’t it? Mark smiled at that and just enjoyed the spar—
“Break!”
Mark stepped away from Raoul and suddenly he was breathing hard. He had barely noticed it, but when the flow ended Mark realized he was fucking exhausted. Oh wow. Mark sat down on his ass, onto the stone, laughing, right as Raoul crashed to his ass, too, chuckling.
Charms stood to the side, saying, “Both of you can use real weapons with each other, when I am present and focused on you, otherwise wooden are fine. Mark. You are barely acceptable for this club. Healthy Body is Rank F, yes, but you are skilled enough that you would do better in the brawny room, and any Body skill at all means that you can fight physically better than most others. I’ll clear you for that if you want.”
The other guy said, “No way! I want to fight him next!”
Charms eyed the guy, saying, “You could move to brawny club 101 too, Jacob.”
“No way,” Jacob instantly said. “Those people are crazy.”
Svea, the girl, said, “Who do I get to spar with if everyone leaves!”
Raoul chuckled as he lay on his back, and then he sat up. “You aren’t ever going to be on a front line, Svea. If you are on the front line then all of your team has failed.”
Svea scowled. “I will not be a babe in the crib, to be stabbed by any passing goblin.” She told them all, “I will get better! Jacob! Fight me!”
Jacob didn’t hesitate. He squared up.
Charms moved away from them, and then so did Mark and Raoul—
And then Svea and Jacob sparred.
Mark was ready to go again, but Raoul still looked tired. Raoul had enough energy to ask questions, though.
Raoul asked, “You’ve been fighting for a while?”
Charms looked down at them, but then she turned back to face the spar in front of her. Svea was short and wiry. Jacob was of average height and body. Svea had so many short ends of the stick that Mark felt bad for her, but he knew not to disparage that sort of thing. She tried. That was more than enough for a non-brawny; she’d be using her real powers to fight real battles elsewhere. This stuff here was just basic practice so that a person wasn’t caught unawares out there and they froze up in an unexpected melee.
“I’ve been training since I was 14…” Mark wasn’t sure, but something didn’t add up. “I went through Tutorial all the way, just like you, I guess? Have you not been training since you were 14, too?”
“American accent, yes? I’m from Spain. We train to escape and for stamina. Not to combat problems. We only ever get goblins to kill in the Tutorial anyway.”
Mark was a little stunned. “You mean you don’t train to kill anything beside goblins? I had to kill a lot more than a goblin!”
“You can escape practically everything, but as long as you take the long path the goblins are the only ones you have to actually kill.”
“… I guess that’s a way to do it?” Mark thought about the invisible skeleton slime. He looked at Raoul. “Really?”
Raoul smiled. “I am glad you showed up. We lost 2 people to brawny sparring 101 last week and you are a good partner! Those people simply moved on after they tried brawny 101, though. That club is full of cra—”
“Break!” Charms called out.
Mark looked back to the bout and Svea was on the ground, breathing hard, her mace laying several paces away from her. Jacob stood over her, breathing a little hard. And then Jacob held a hand down. Svea sighed and then took Jacob’s hand to get back to her feet.
Charms said, “Jacob, Mark. Intro and go.”
Jacob grinned as he walked to the center of the room, saying, “Jacob! Sound Kinetic.”
Oh! Sound kinetic was supposed to be a really good one. That one could disorient a monster very well, for most things had delicate sensory organs for hearing.
Mark took his position, saying, “Mark. Healthy Body.”
Charms commanded, “Go!”
They sparred, Mark falling into the flow, his mace whipping out and cracking against wood as his shield bashed and his feet danced around Jacob, who did his damnedest to keep up. Mark wasn’t taller, but he was faster. He pressed his advantage a little here and there, and soon he pressed hard. Jacob faltered—
And then Jacob rallied.
Mark got pressed back—
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It happened in slow motion, almost. Mark’s shield was out of position and Jacob’s mace came in below his shield and turned the shield aside, opening Mark up. Mark’s own mace was right there, though, right above Jacob, ready to clobber into Jacob’s head. If this would have been a real fight, Mark would have clobbered Jacob over the head, but Jacob would have only been able to poke him with his own mace. And then Mark remembered about no mortal wounds and no head wounds and Mark jumbled out of the flow.
He had also won, technically. Mark was in a clear position to win. Jacob could have only managed a body blow.
Mark wasn’t sure what happened after that, but the fight continued and then Jacob kicked, Mark’s legs went out from under him, and Mark could not recover fast enough to prevent Jacob from stopping his mace right above Mark’s head. Mark smiled and slumped to the ground.
Jacob grinned, put his mace in his shield hand, and held out a hand. “Maybe you can stay.”
Mark chuckled and took Jacob’s hand and got to his feet—
Charms said, “Mark had you, Jacob, mace to the head, dead, but then he backed off. You didn’t back off when Mark had you. You didn’t even notice. That’s your bad, Jacob.”
Jacob’s face went red with embarrassment. He turned to Mark and bowed. “Apologies.”
Mark was a little flustered at that. “Uh! No worries! It was a good match.”
Jacob stood up and he was still embarrassed—
“Raoul and Svea,” Charms called out.
Mark went to the side with Jacob as the other two battled—
Jacob said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even notice.”
Mark smiled a little. “It’s… Well I guess it’s not okay, technically? But it’s okay. I thought that sparring here was supposed to end with us getting injured more.”
Charms spoke up, “That is a misconception. I am here to save you from accidental power activation and accidental head blows and otherwise. You were cleared for accidental activation, Mark, or else I would have denied your application to this class, though it is a shame for you to lie about your power. You also have Union.”
Before anyone else even mentioned something like ‘dual-Talents’, Mark asked, “Don’t most people use the Chosen system here?”
Charms snorted, not bothering to look at Mark. She was focused on Raoul and Svea as the two students fought.
Jacob said to Mark, “I’m hoping to get approved for Union soon. What’d you have to do to get it?”
Memories flashed in Mark’s mind, of unsensing darkness and then laying in a hospital bed and struggling to walk and then Mom and Dad dying to burning that Mark never saw; dead to an archmage who killed them so thoroughly that their bodies could not be used against Mark. Was that a kindness? To burn them to ash? Or was that Addashield ensuring that Mark went through with the plan, and that his demon didn’t have the opportunity to fuck up the plan?
Mark blinked.
He didn’t say anything.
Jacob got a message that Mark did not intend to give him. After a moment of worry, he put on a smile and powered through the awkwardness, “So you’re a great fighter!”
Mark blinked again and came to the present. He gave a false grin, saying, “Been training since I was 14, though not seriously until… a year ago.” More like 2 years ago, but Mark had lost 8 months to coma and weakness, and did that count as life? Or had he missed that much life? He ignored that question. “I’m from the Americas. Where are you from? You have a… a British accent?”
“South Africa,” Jacob said, grinning. “Close enough, though.”
“Okay so I’m not that worldly. I kinda blinded myself to everything for a long while.”
Jacob got both excited and miffed, exclaiming, “Can you believe that shit with the Curtain!”
Mark laughed. “I just learned about that when I came to Citadel. It’s wild.”
Jacob exclaimed, “I’m mad lucky I pissed off a sound kinetic when I was a kid. Tainted my entire astral body so I didn’t end up as a braw… Err.” Jacob pulled his words back as much as he could.
Mark laughed again. “We can craft our own astral bodies a bit, can’t we? I don’t really plan on it, but that’s what I heard, and the Chosen System is right there.”
Jacob looked a bit worried for a moment. He said, “You… Uh—”
Charms called out, “Break!”
Raoul and Svea stopped sparring, though it was mostly Raoul pulling back and Svea breathing heavily until she caught herself.
Charms turned to Mark. “Outside. I need to talk to you.”
Mark froze.
Charms walked out of the room.
Raoul, Svea, and Jacob all kinda pretended they didn’t see anything.
… And Mark went outside into the hallway, to where the half-giant woman was already standing off to the side.
The hallway was almost empty. A pair of girls Mark’s age, both of them covered in sweat and with towels in their hands, were walking down the hall toward Mark and Charms. Charms turned and glared at the two girls and the girls startled. The girls turned right back around and escaped.
Charms pinned Mark with her gaze and spoke softly. “Don’t do that. Don’t lie about your capabilities. Some obfuscation is fine, but what you were doing was a major lie.”
Mark stilled.
Charms continued. “Don’t start off with lies. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t do that to others. Tell people the truth and let them make assumptions if they want. Don’t hide yourself. You have a responsibility toward the power you will one day wield, and the people you will one day protect, but you are not strong enough right now to warrant hiding yourself. Teams cannot function when the truth of powers is hidden. It builds resentment in so many different ways. Most importantly, you have no responsibility at all toward the wreck of a person you are now, except to look back kindly on the decisions you make in your grief.”
“… I have to go, now.”
Charms said, “Please stay, Mark. I’m going to go back inside, and I want you to come back inside, too. You don’t have to do it right away, but you should come back inside and just see what happens when you are your true self.”
And then Instructor Charms went into the sparring room.
Mark stood alone in the hallway—
The girls peeked out from behind a column—
Mark breathed deep and then went inside the sparring room.
Jacob was saying something quiet to Raoul, while Svea was standing near, looking concerned. Charms hadn’t gotten very far into the room. She stepped off to the side, looking down at Mark questioningly.
With the same tone as the first time she had seen him, Charms said, “This is Sparring Club 101. Tier-0, non-brawny only. You fit that qualification?”
“Mark Careed. Healthy Body, Adamantiumkinesis, and Union. Not sure if that counts for the non-brawny clause or not.”
Svea’s eyes went wide. She whispered something like a curse, or an exclamation. It was in German and said to the ground, so Mark didn’t understand it for multiple reasons.
Jacob slapped the back of his hand against Raoul’s shoulder, nodding strongly, saying ‘told you’ with his silent mouth.
Raoul frowned at Jacob and slapped his hand away, scowling.
Charms said, “We’ll keep an eye on that Healthy Body. You and Raoul: spar with spears.”
Raoul muttered, “Fuck,” and then he grabbed a spear off the wall, as Mark did the same. He pointed his weapon at Mark, saying, “You want to kill Addashield, right?”
Mark felt a darkness creep into his everything, the dead words of his parents telling him not to live his life for revenge, and the injustice that Addashield had dragon’d himself instead of facing a larger justice from the system. With his voice dripping with hate, his hands gripping his spear, Mark said, “All monsters must die.”
Raoul froze.
Jacob muttered, “Holy shit, dude.”
Svea went from cautious to near-reverent. “Yes, they must.”
Raoul was still a little frozen as he said, “I agree.” He raised his spear in two hands. With a light in his eyes, he looked upon Mark, and said, “I want to go get drinks with you tonight. You, Jacob, and me.”
Svea spoke up, “And me!”
Raoul allowed, “And Svea.”
Mark was stunned now. “… Okay?”
“Good! That is settled.”
Raoul squared up.
Mark squared up, too.
They fought.
Mark was much better with a spear than with any other weapon. In four short exchanges Raoul’s spear went flying and Mark brought his spearhead, covered in cloth, to Raoul’s neck. Raoul held up his hands, smiling wide.
Raoul’s spear clattered to the ground.
Mark pulled back, saying, “Thanks for the bout.”
Raoul laughed. “Holy gods, that was wild!”
Jacob wanted to say something, and maybe Svea did too, but—
Instructor Charms said, “No more spears for you, Mark.”
Mark tried not to grin as he lowered his spear all the way. He grinned anyway.
Mark barely remembered the rest of the next two hours, only that he felt lighter. He felt good. Sparring was only supposed to last an hour according to the schedule, and it often lasted less than that, but Charms was there with Union and she was powering everyone to new heights, and Mark never really got tired, anyway. And maybe Charms liked having a fourth in the class? Everyone else certainly did.
Mark didn’t get to talk to Svea, or Raoul, or Jacob. Not really. Small words were said here and there, yeah. But whenever two people were sitting on the sidelines together, Charms often told them to watch and not speak too loudly. Getting to know each other would come later.
The club dispersed long after it should have.
Raoul ran down the hall, late for class, turning back only to wave, saying, “At the bar we decided, yeah!”
Mark smiled. “Yeah! Black Chess. 7 pm.”
“That’s the one!” Raoul ran faster.
“See you later!” Jacob called as he rushed along with Raoul.
Svea was dead tired and dripping with sweat as she nursed the water fountain outside of the sparring room. She looked up and said, “Later, Mark. Nice to meet you. Welcome—” She caught her breath again. “Welcome to the club.”
Mark smiled. “Thanks for welcoming me.”
Charms told Mark, “Walk with me.”
Mark gave one final look toward Svea but Charms was already walking the other way. Mark caught up and walked with the very half-giant woman. There were a few other people in the halls, but not many.
Charms said, “Citadel Freyala is the pinnacle of Freyala’s church, as are all the Citadels for all other gods. As such, there are rules to govern us all, and spheres of interaction which differ from place to place. The three primary spheres are military, civilian, and religious. You are technically part of the military branch, with a slight overlap with the religious branch.
“In the military, you speak clearly and make sure others interact with you in a true manner. No more lying about your capabilities in any space where your abilities will be tested, Mark. Do you understand?”
Mark easily said, “I understand.”
“Why did you lie?”
That was less easy to answer. “… Because I hoped for good things by interacting with Addashield and it ended up… how it ended up.”
Technically, Mark had achieved that. He had gotten the ‘good outcome’, for Addashield was 98% ‘in charge’ of the dragon he had made with his demon. But it didn’t feel like the ‘good outcome’ at all.
Charms glanced down and to the side at Mark. She nodded a little, looking forward. “Fair enough.” She continued, “To continue: Is a military mindset how you want to interact with others? You are technically a prisoner here. I’m not sure what you’ve been told, but I researched your case when you signed up for my class. You don’t have to be in the military sphere.
“You could be in the civilian sphere, which would make you a normal resident of the place. Go to movies. Requisition stuff for your room in the academy, like couches or better beds, or televisions, and have parties with new friends. There are clubs that are social clubs. There is a lot to do as an adult that was barred to you as a child. You will find that beyond the Curtain, outside of fundamentalist nations, life opens up a lot. But, if you interact in those civilian spheres, you should interact how you tried to interact back there, hiding yourself. Military life requires open communication. Civilian life requires hiding some of the time.
“Do you want to be military, or civilian?”
Mark wondered about that word ‘fundamentalist’ but he didn’t have much trouble answering the question, “Military… But I was warned about… tri-Talents being used.”
Charms nodded, satisfied with that answer. “I bet you were. It’s a good warning when dealing with nobles, or other such people. A military interaction would merely expect you to do what you can do, without reservation or hiding. It is a good life for those who dislike the idea of hiding.” She stopped by the large, open doors leading north out of the coliseum building.
Mark stopped with her. Other people were walking in and out of the space.
Charms said to Mark, “The religious sphere crosses all boundaries. If you want relief from your pain, healing that is more than physical, and purpose in life, I suggest you take Freyala’s hand to help you out of the dark that you have found yourself in. She helped me a great deal through my own darkness. With her, you can talk about anything. She will always be there for you, if you but reach out your hand.
“I do not want you to tell me about your choices. Just think about them.
“You did well today. Usually I have to give a lot more instruction to my crops of students, but the club I have at the moment is all well-versed in the art of combat. You simply need more actual combat. That pleases me.
“Dismissed.”
Mark stood straight and then gave a small bow, saying, “Thank you for the instruction, Instructor Charms.”
Charms nodded.
Mark walked away, out of the coliseum, into the light of the day, feeling… Lighter, really.
He checked on his phone—
25 minutes to Healing Club. Shit!
Mark ran to the dorms to take a shower, and then over to Healing Hall.
Instructor Charms’ words echoed in his mind every now and then.