When Zerine met Vinessa for the first time, a few words popped in to her mind.
Regal, powerful, and kinda scary.
And here I thought Marcy’s stern presence was intimidating, Zerine thought as she watched Vinessa land lightly on the platform that led to the inside of Marigold’s house.
Vinessa was tall. Probably taller than even Gary, which was imposing, to say the least. She had four wings that tapered to points similar to Kamar. They were purple and blue, but to her senses it felt like they were more made of mana than normal fairy wings, matching her hair. Her eyes were pure violet with no sign of white. And Zerine had to admit she couldn’t tell exactly where the fairy’s gaze was directed.
“So you're the one they want me to work with,” Vinessa said, tilting her head. Zerine fought back a shiver as that gaze felt like it could see far more than just her physical appearance.
Zerine bowed, taking her right hand and placing it on her left shoulder as she did. It was a formal greeting to fairies of the highest standing.
The corner of Vinessa’s turned upwards in a small smile.
“At least you know some basic things. Still have work on that, I see. But let’s get this started,” Vinessa said and walked by Zerine, who stood straight and quickly followed.
“I’ll tell you right now. My time is worth far more than you can possibly imagine. So, don’t waste my time. Speak when spoken too. Do as I say and suck it up. This will push you to the breaking point,” Vinessa said, leading Zerine in an area of the pods she hadn’t explored yet.
Zerine had to nearly jog as the women’s stride covered easily double compared to what Zerine’s stride could.
“Your from a family of freaks and I mean that in the best way. But that means I have expectations. If you don’t meet them or you are wasting my time, I will inform you. And will expect you to do everything in your power to ameliorate that. Today I will test your willpower and fighting styles. Then, over the next few days, I will push you. When you go off to the dragon riders, I will test you. Understood?” Vinessa asked in a way that you knew she expected you to not dare ask questions.
Zerine nearly walked into the women's large wings when she stopped abruptly in front of a room.
“Y-yes,” Zerine stammered.
Vinessa turned her head slightly towards Zerine and again Zerine felt like the fairy was peering into her very core.
“Hmm, that’ll do,” Vinessa said then headed in to the room.
With a wave of her hand, the room lit up with glow stones.
“Now I assume you know what this device is,” Vinessa said, resting a hand on what looked like to Zerine, was a comfortable chair that was tilted back so a person could lay back comfortably.
Zerine just stared.
“I take the confused silence as a no,” Vinessa said and sighed. “This device will create a simulacrum for you. Everything you will experience will feel real. That includes all your senses and pain. This will be one of our primary training tools. As time in the simulation will be accelerated, so we can create time to fix all your bad habits and get shit done.”
Zerine gaped at the chair, and at the fairy you had gone from speaking like she was in polite company to completely going in the opposite direction.
Vinessa smirked.
“This training has broken people’s willpower and even their minds. But since I have seen your trial, I doubt this will happen to you. But time will tell. Pain and failure can often be a slow buildup to breaking.”
“How will I be able to test my willpower in this simulation?” Zerine wondered.
Vinessa pursed her lips.
“Sorry,” Zerine said meekly.
“You can use all your abilities, including willpower and magic. I can’t explain everything related to this magitech device or we will be here for a century or two. So, in short, this scans your body, mind, and soul, creating a magical representation of yourself in a virtual world. This will allow me to throw everything at you in an environment that will push you and will feel real. The bonus with this approach is that the dragon riders will push you physically and I’ll work on your technique here,” Vinessa said, patting the seat. She smiled and Zerine got a premonition that this coming year and half was going to be awful.
“But I will also push you physically, so don’t think this simulation work will be all we do. Now let’s get this shit show started.”
There it was. The words that sealed her fate.
***
Vinessa watched as Zerine sat in the chair, then went limp as the magitech device started up.
She had been busy hunting several powerful Metal Heads that had appeared on the outskirts of the forest. Probably stragglers coming from wherever the massive horde had emerged from years ago. The Emerald Forest covered both sides of the mountain region and even went into the Parthevian kingdom, so she had been busy trying to track that problem down since she was in the area.
It had nothing to do with a shock that she had received when she first approached the small fairy settlement. She had made the deal with dragons and was aware of who she would be training. Kamar wasn’t a surprise and had been a fairy she had been keeping an eye on since she had been born. Then she was told about…her.
Vinessa took a deep breath and let out. She couldn’t blame the children for her being selected to train them. It had been part of the deal, after all. But from what she had seen, both had so much work to be done that it was insane to have a year and half deadline for Zerine and months for Kamar before she went off to be a dragon’s chosen.
But what were the odds it would be her? Zerine. The name danced around her head. It wasn’t exactly what she would name her child, but it wasn’t a terrible name.
Vinessa had known the moment she laid her eyes on the child that Zerine was Indra’s. There was a tingling from her mana when she had come in proximity of the child -which at her rank- meant she was on the same side of the continent. It had hit her hard. Hard enough where she had jumped at the first thing that would take her away from the child. Their child. She knew Indra had something on the side with the Heartstone’s current ruler, but he had succeeded without telling her!?
She had to reminder herself that the months leading to his death, Indra had been busy. They both had.
She let out another slow breath. Regrets that had built up overs the years bubbled to the surface. Things she wished she had said. Things she wished she had done, but they both had responsibilities then. And she still had them now.
But it was difficult gazing upon Zerine.
Indra and her were in Zerine’s facial shape, her pointed ears far more prominent than a normal Celarian matching Vinessa’s. Then there were her eyes. Those teal and blue eyes she could see through to their true colors just waiting for her crest. But even the teal and blues that were disguised by the Celarian magic -that didn’t quite work fully on Zerine- those colors had more depths to them than Ava’s.
Indra and her were even in her actions, even if they were more of her upbringing than anything. So damn stubborn that even with the threat of a Metal Head about to rip her limb from limb, she punched it with destabilized mana, of all things. When she had seen that, she had laughed till she cried, thinking like everyone else that it was sheer circumstance. But now…Now things made more sense, especially after the peak of her soul she had gotten.
Zerine’s fighting styles were rather a unique amalgamation of other fighting styles and screamed the unorthodox manner that Ava’s team had probably beaten in over the years. She would determine if it was what Zerine needed or not. Either way, she would break it down to the basics and build Zerine up. Just like what she was doing with Kamar.
She would have to keep her stern and demanding appearance, at least for a little while, so she gave nothing away. Their secret would never see the light of day. She would ascend rather than tell anyone. But still…
She gently brushed Zerine’s hair out of her face. Being this close to everything they had worked for would be difficult. Again, she just wished she had been there. Maybe then she would have had the family they both had wanted.
With one more long breath, Vinessa let it out and let go of the past once again. But she knew the past would keep coming back as long as she was here. The last thing that would make things complicated would be Zerine’s reaction once she got her crest, and they met again. That…would be something she would have to think about how to handle. Now she knew of Zerine, she would not let her go.
She didn’t care that Zerine would have to be a fate breaker due to how things were moving. Zerine would come out on top. That was one thing she had no doubt about, but after…after will be different.
“Let’s see how this goes. To think your fate and magic are both such a mess. It makes me wonder if Indra did something,” she whispered, turning to another chair before sliding into it. Before the magitech tool activated, she made a mental note to fix the Celarian magic to have work as expected. Can’t have other Iridesium-ranks see what she had.
As the magic took effect, a thought popped in to Vinessa’s mind.
Funny that not even Sashi or Falkor could see what was standing in front of them. Or Sashi would have been breaking the door down to the palace. And Falkor would have payed a visit.
***
Zerine found herself standing in a room that resembled the training areas back at home. The space was large with a sand covered floor with walls made of blank grey stone. The entire space had a strange uniformity to its lighting that gave it an artificial feeling. Honestly, that feeling helped ground Zerine.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Like I need an existential crisis about living in some sort of unimaginably massive simulation, she thought.
Suddenly, the sand in front of her shifted, and a training dummy rose from the sand. As the sand fell away, she realized it wasn’t a normal training dummy. This one was taller than her and had four slender arms. Its body consisted of dark grey material and was androgynous with no details on its body. Its blank face moved to look at Zerine who didn’t notice as her gaze was locked on to the four swords that it brandished.
“Oh…good,” Zerine muttered. She had never done great against the other four armed training dummies, and this probably would be some more of the same.
“We will do sparing after I test your willpower,” Vinessa said, making Zerine jump.
The fairy had appeared next to her. Vinessa smirked at Zerine's reaction and waved a hand.
A pile of stones marked with numbers appeared.
“We will start with lighter weights and see how far your telekinesis works. Then we will increase the weight till you fail.”
“Or bleed from nose, mouth, and eyes,” Zerine grumbled.
“Hmm, yes, some bleeding will happen. But I won’t push you to that extent, yet. But once you due start bleeding, we will take a break and you’ll fight that delightful dummy.”
Delightful!? Gods, she’s like Zara, Raith, and Gary all mixed, Zerine thought dryly.
“Let’s begin.”
Zerine levitated the weights, moving them as far away as she could. She made it about halfway through the pile before they were too heavy for her to lift with her willpower.
“Only some nose bleeds and your max range is…” Vinessa said, moving to the lightest weights. “Fifteen feet. And the max weight was ten pounds. Hmm.”
Zerine wasn’t really paying attention, as she was too busy trying to regain control over her labored breaths.
“Right, now we see how many you can lift at once.”
“Crap,” Zerine muttered.
“Ah, we haven’t even truly begun, my…child,” Vinessa said with a smile that promised the rest of Zerine’s day was going to suck. What Zerine had missed was the slight pause in Vinessa’s words. She wouldn’t have really noticed either way because all the fairies used the word child to describe practically everyone who wasn’t over a hundred years old. Plus, she was already trying to think of how to get through the coming challenges.
The rest of her time in the simulation was non stop training. It went from willpower to physical training. She fought simulations of different monsters, training dummies, and even special variants of Metal Heads. Vinessa had her show how flexible she was. Tested her balance, strength, and more. At one point, Zerine had to show different dancing moves she knew, hand-to-hand fighting, and swords styles.
It was a never-ending barrage of tests. By the time they were done, Zerine was swaying on the spot. She could barely stay awake.
“That’s enough, in the simulation. Let’s do this for real now,” Vinessa said. Zerine groaned. “Oh, come on. When you get out of this, only two hours will have passed. You still got the rest of the day before you,” the evil trainer said with a grin.
Oh, this is a new level of evil, Zerine thought as the simulation faded. And here I thought training area four was with all the different affinities was awful.
***
By the end of the day, a tired Zerine met an equally tired looking Varino when the spirit returned from the dragon training. Vinessa had come along to meet the spirit. She raised an eyebrow as the tired spirit somehow found the energy to give Vinessa a cheery greeting before scampering up to sit happily on Zerine’s shoulder. Once there, the spirt slumped sideways, resting her head on top of Zerine’s.
“Hmm, you two have quite the strong karmic connection,” Vinessa observed before they appeared in a blink to Marigold’s household.
Zerine shrugged with only her right shoulder.
“We are best friends and have been sense meeting each other. Right Varino?”
Varino chimed teasingly.
“Aah,” Zerine raised an eyebrow. “I guess since Willow is your longest friend, that means I will just have to hold on to these mana regeneration potions I made specially for you,” Zerine said sighing mournfully.
Varino changed her tune and quickly agreed with Zerine’s last statement.
Vinessa chuckled.
“I’m glad you two are so close. But you do realize that on those trips, Varino won’t be going with you on all of them?”
Zerine and Varino stared dumbfound at Vinessa.
“That is as a no. Varino will have her own social events with other young riders, which she will be expected to attend. But it won’t happen for a little while. Marcy seems to believe both of you are walking and talking disasters in social settings.”
Varino peeped a question.
“She watched you during dinner. Even though the expected formalities are lacked that only made the missing presence of those that persist more obvious,” Vinessa answered.
Varino grumbled. It sounded like someone had given up halfway through making a whistle and through a flute player down a set of stairs.
“Well, before dinner, you two have Marcy’s lessons. I’ll leave you to it. Good job today Zerine. Expect tomorrow to be more difficult.” Vinessa went to leave, but turned back. “That last part was for both you, by the way.”
That got two matching groans, which got a chuckle from the fairy. She gave the two a wave before vanishing.
Vinessa reappeared in Marigold’s home office. The clan leader was looking over a map of the Emerald forest with a slight frown on her face.
“Still no luck finding the bandit hideouts and where the Metal Heads keep emerging from,” Vinessa commented sitting in a chair in front of the desk.
Marigold only grunted in response as she waved a hand. Purple, green, and red dots spread over the map.
“Pretty,” Vinessa said, which got a single puff of a laugh from Marigold.
“These dots are just scattered all over the place. It’s like the bandits and Matel Heads keep teleporting or someone is moving them.”
“Could be a watcher variant, Voidstrider, or Void Queen using her ability,” Vinessa said.
“That’s possible, but that would be extremely bad,” Marigold replied with her gaze narrowing on the map as if commanding it to show where their quarry was.
Vinessa sighed. “With how this era is going, I would bet on anything and everything going wrong or crazy.”
“Yeah, the next thousand years is going to be a gods damn mess.”
Vinessa shrugged. “Well, you’ll be happy to hear that with me being asked to train Kamar by the dragons, we get access to their training areas. Bonus, we will work with the riders and dragons to prepare for war.”
“So, it will come to that. I was hoping that it wouldn’t,” Marigold said. She looked as if she had aged a hundred years.
“It’s a precaution. One that I hope won’t be necessary, but we will be ready no matter what.”
“True, but let’s talk about Zerine, Varino, and Kamar,” Marigold said, folding her arms while sitting back in her seat.
“Varino is a little terror, and I already love the tiny spirit. She will reach C-rank probably before Zerine turns eighteen. They also have such a crazy strong karmic connection that if Zerine gets her crest, they’ll trip into a forming a Union Bond.”
Marigold snorted a laugh.
“Kamar is a great choice for the Lord of Flames. His predecessors have rarely ever chosen a fairy, but Kamar is a perfect choice. She is a strong, smart, fast learner, and that familiar of hers is great too. My avatar worked with her today and I believe we will manage within the timeline. Zerine, on the other hand,” Vinessa sighed.
“That child is going the path of mage of all trades, and master of none. That is the saying, right?”
Marigold nodded.
“It’s clear she has focused on swords, bows, knives, and scythes. But she also knows how to deal with a different verity of weapons. Her hand-to-hand fighting styles are focused, though. But I don’t know if they are the right ones for her future. Then again, that is the core problem.”
“We don’t know her affinities or concepts. And those will impact her fighting the most,” Marigold said.
“Exactly, so I won’t mess with the hand-to-hand fighting, but we will work on our techniques.”
“What else have you seen?”
Vinessa went very still, which got a raised eyebrow from Marigold.
“She will get her crest somewhere between her eighteenth and nineteenth birthday. Her ability is fascinating. It’s not a Mind Bender technique, and the recordings of her trial show just how well she has adapted to it. Oh, by the way, thanks for letting me know to use that emotion control technique for mind benders. I’m just surprised that you have to use such a technique to stop her from getting…what was it?”
“Impressions of your emotions and inner intentions. At least, that is how Zerine describes it,” Marigold replied.
“Impressions,” Vinessa said thoughtfully. “But I have my work cut out for me to firm up Zerine’s techniques. But I feel like that is exactly what Marcy said.”
Marigold smiled. “Marcy says Zerine has promise, but she will have to beat the lessons into the child. It appears Zerine really doesn’t like all the formalities.”
“From her perspective, it would be like everyone wearing a mask. Her ability would probably be constantly bombarding her,” Vinessa said. Marigold winced.
“Ah, so it has progressed where it’s already too much for her in large groups. Am I right?”
“Yes, she has these potions and elixirs made by Sashi to help increase her senses and mind so she can keep up with the information to help ease the burden. It’s been a thing since…”
“Since the trial, interesting,” Vinessa finished, which made Marigold look curiously at her.
“It was most likely when she fought all those tiny puff ball things,” Vinessa said, thinking. “She moved so fast and fluidly it was incredible to watch. So much so that I believe she made a breakthrough of some kind. She passed out after too, so it was probably something she will have when she gets her crest. Or a conceptual breakthrough? But that wouldn’t make sense.”
“When it comes to Zerine and Varino, not making sense is their norm,” Marigold said. Vinessa laughed.
“Oh, yes, I can see that. You know, when Marcy turns away, Zerine and Varino seem to be working on some runes for flight magic.”
Marigold groaned. “It’s for a project. I think they plan to change the forest skiffs.”
“Hmm, that’ll be interesting to watch then. Speaking of watching, Kamar is going with the two when they go to the dragon rider training and so will I.”
“Do they know?”
“Gods no, why would I tell the children when it’ll be more fun to watch their reactions,” Vinessa said.
“I meant the dragon riders. For our Queen, you sure like playing games,” Marigold said, giving Vinessa a flat look.
“They know. It was part of the deal I made with them. The other part is me giving them a simulation device. Oh and, I powered up some for Zerine and Varino to use. I also topped off the ones you have set up recently. With those up and having access to Ava’s dimensional training area, that’ll keep you all in shape.”
“Thank you. We weren’t planning on having Zerine or Varino go in to them till later to save on mana, but with you doing that, we will be set for sometime,” Marigold said, giving Vinessa a grateful smile.
“This way you can use the end of the intersection to store more mana for the future. But I think I’ll do a little surprise appearance in Zerine’s and Varino’s lesson. That way, they know to actually focus on the lesson.”
“Oh, remind Zerine that her performance in them will impact whether she can come along on some of my diplomatic trips,” Marigold commented as Vinessa stood.
“Just from my impressions of the spirit, her, and from what you and Ava have told me. Oh, and Raith too. I think that will have the opposite effect. Remember that ability doesn’t lend itself to crowds. I’ll come up with something that will motivate her, but for now I think a surprise will get her focused. I’ll have to think of something,” Vinessa said, then vanished.
***
The next day for Zerine started with Vinessa bursting into her room at the crack of dawn.
“Morning!” the overlay chipper fairy said.
Zerine bolted up and groaned.
“Come now, the day waits for no one and you have quite a lot to do. So, get dressed,” Vinessa said before closing the door.
“I have no idea what to think of her,” Zerine muttered as she flopped back into the warm bed.
Vinessa always seemed stern, demanding, but in the same breath kind, good humored, and wise. After her first day of training with her, Vinessa’s attitude shifted, becoming far more relaxed. They even struck up a conversation where they got to know one another. It was more like Vinessa asking questions about Zerine and Zerine freely than answering.
She learned some things about Vinessa, like they shared a favorite color of violet. Vinessa was a special type of fairy, but it was a secret that Zerine may learn some day, but it wouldn’t be anytime soon much to Zerine’s disappointment. Even Varino turned up the cuteness during dinner attempting to learn, but was turned down. Well, this being Varino, Vinessa only had to distract the spirit with a treat she had brought specifically for Varino and Fiamma. The two spirits became Vinessa’s best friends, much to the chagrin of Kamar and Zerine.
As she laid there staring at the ceiling, she wondered why Vinessa waking her this way made her feel like when Ava used to do the same. Although she still thought that the fairy was scary, powerful and equally scary with how she trained them. But there was a warmth and caring in those eyes that made Zerine feel at home. Throwing in the fact she couldn’t sense her emotions constantly, made it feel even more relaxing even while bleeding from the eyes from the overuse of her willpower.
she sighed.
“Today is going to be tough, she muttered, getting dressed. She stretched. “It’ll be worth it, though. And at least Varino will be there with me, too.”
After a little more stretching and mentally ready for the day, she headed out.
That day of training was just as tiring as the first, and she didn’t work with Varino, but alone. She only saw the spirit when they started lessons with Marcy. The spirit looked as a tired as she felt. They had planned to make more notes on modification to the skyboard, but they were just too tired to juggle their lesson work and runes.
The next few days passed with the same schedule. Over the days, Zerine and Varino worked on their skills, willpower, fighting styles, and magic in the case of Varino. But when it came for the next session withe dragon riders things changed dramatically.