"So... what's next?" I asked as I took the last sip of a cup of tea and set it down in front of her desk.

Butestreus chirped happily from my neck as I held up my remaining biscuit absent-mindedly, offering it to him.

Emberline had insisted we take some time to unwind, and she had shown me some cartoons, before she'd pulled out a bunch of papers for me to review.

She was a little weird. And by that I meant, like, the kind of weird where she was super friendly and kind of... overly familiar, in a good way. It felt like I was talking to an old friend that I'd known since forever. An aunt or an older sister.

It was... nice, honestly.

But it was also a little odd.

Because, I mean... it was Emberline.

Emberline! The Emberline, who had saved the world like, fifty or sixty times at this point. And here I was, sitting in her office and eating her snacks and watching her favorite cartoons.

...But it was nice.

"Basically... we're gonna work out what we're gonna be doing to help you develop from here." She smiled. "You've got an impressive set of abilities for someone so new to this, and you've got potential. But you need to get a grip on a few things first, and we need to see where your talents are and where we can develop them."

I nodded slowly. That made sense.

"And... what exactly does that mean?" I asked hesitantly, twiddling my thumbs.

"Well..." she said with a sigh, looking down at the papers on her desk. "It means we're going to look over your performance yesterday, and try to find a starting point. We'll focus on how your team approached conflict resolution, adaptability, and teamwork. And we'll see if we can find areas where you need to improve, and work on them."

"Okay," I said softly.

Emberline nodded and continued, "And then we're going to work out where we're going to go from here. We're going to work out your goals, your needs, your weaknesses, your strengths... everything. And then we're going to come up with a plan to make sure you reach those goals. That's why we're doing this, right?"

I nodded again, feeling a little bit of nervous energy in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't like I was worried. I knew that she was just trying to help. It was just that...

I was kind of nervous about the idea of being the center of attention, and of her focus.

"So, Lux," she started, looking down at a paper. "Let's begin, shall we?"

"Alright," I replied.

"Let's begin with your team's first encounter. We can go from there, okay?"

I nodded, feeling a little bit of a jolt in my chest.

"Alright," she said with a sigh, tapping at the surface of a tablet, before bringing up a holographic display in front of her.

A few taps on the display and an image appeared on it. It showed me, Aurora, and Elysia walking through the woods.

"Alright," she muttered as she looked at the image. "Here's your starting position."

She zoomed in on me.

"You're in the middle of your group, with your allies flanking you. You've positioned yourself defensively, which is good. And you've positioned your teammate Aurora near you, which is also good - given her relative lack of combat capability. You've taken into consideration each other's unique abilities to detect enemies, as well as your own. But I think that was the only thing you got right here, and I'll explain why in a second."

"Um," I frowned, leaning forward.

"You see," she continued as if I hadn't said anything, "Your team's positioning was wrong."

I looked up at her, and then back down at the display.

"I thought..." I started. "I thought it was good?"

Emberline nodded, a small frown forming her lips.

"Yes," she said, zooming in on the three of us, and then panning the camera around. "But it wasn't good enough."

She paused as a purple bolt of plasma lanced through the air, hitting the ground where I was a split second before Aurora tackled me to the ground, Elysia moving to intercept a follow-up shot I hadn't even seen coming before covering us in a blue barrier.

"You were in the middle of your formation," she continued, zooming in on Elysia. "But you should have been the one at the front."

I blinked.

"You should have been leading," she said, zooming out and panning the camera over the scene.

"Why?" I asked. "I was just..."

Emberline cut me off. "Because based on our assessment, you had the only ability that was explicitly vision-based in nature. You were also distracted because you were tunnel visioned on their leader and Elysia Veritas."

"I..." I trailed off, looking at the image.

The plasma bolt hit the ground where I was, and Aurora tackled me to the ground, and Elysia intercepted another plasma blast with her own attack.

"You should have been the one leading the charge, and the one in the front," she said, zooming out and showing the whole team.

"Why?" I asked. "I'm... probably one of the least physically capable incoming students, or something. Right?"

She nodded. "You're right, you are the least physically capable. You had the lowest observable Strength and Agility parameters of your group. And Elysia had the most of everyone present. That's true. But you had something that neither of your teammates had. Aura Sight. So it's not that you should have served as a vanguard, it's that you should have made more effort to keep your attention at a wide area, especially since you had a literal cheat code to do so."

She paused for a moment, her gaze falling back on me.

"And you weren't doing a very good job of that, because your eyes weren't scanning your environment for threats. You were too focused on the conversation with the other team, instead. If Aurora hadn't been able to sense the brimming hostility and tackle you, you'd have lost a significant portion of your defensive aura, and Elysia might not have been able to stop the attack on you."

"Oh," I said softly.

"Aura Sight is an incredibly rare ability, and damned useful," Emberline continued, tapping a few buttons on the tablet.

The image zoomed out and panned over to the attacker. The girl with the teddy bear themed magical girl outfit stood on a tree branch, with her hands pointed towards me.

"You've got an incredible ability, but if you aren't using it properly, it won't be useful."

She tapped at a button and the scene resumed playing.

I was still looking at the image of the girl in the Teddy Bear costume. I hadn't been able to make it out before, because of how quickly everything happened.

Emberline zoomed out a little and slowed the scene down, showing me the moment the bolt of energy was about to hit me. Then she paused it again.

"You were too distracted, and too focused on your allies. And while it's important to work with them as a team, it's equally important to make sure that everyone's working together. If you're the only one with Aura Sight, you need to use it. And if you don't use it, and you let yourself get distracted, it could end up costing you."

She pointed at me.

"And that's not just true here, in a training exercise," she continued. "But in real combat. Granted, the vast majority of people we'd classify as supervillains lack the versatility of a magical knight - the point stands."

"Wait," I protested, feeling my cheeks burn. "It's not that simple. You were the ones who threw us into the deep end with zero information!"

"I'm aware," she replied calmly. "That was part of the point of this exercise. But you were given a basic briefing to make it to the other side of the field and you at least, had set up a formation knowing there were going to be hostile forces in the area. You could have done better."

"I... uh..."

I couldn't argue with that.

"So, Elysia shred through the four of them without breaking a sweat, but let's look at the end of the encounter."

Emberline tapped the screen, and a few moments later the footage began to move again.

The projection zoomed in on the Teddy Bear girl and Elysia.

Elysia turned to grin at me and picked up the hostile magical girl, before turning away, tossing her in the air, aiming her straight at me. Then, she threw up a barrier around us, trapping us all in the dome.

Emberline nodded as I stared at the recording.

"Elysia had you fight her one on one. I'm sure she was curious about what your combat skills are like, but I think she could have made that decision better. You were in no real danger of getting hurt, and the fight was over. There was no reason to prolong it. I'd call that a rookie mistake on her part, but... well. I think we can forgive her. This was, technically, a training exercise."

"Rookie mistake? You mean...?" I looked at Emberline.

She shrugged.

"Knights are known to have their own agendas and personal interests. Sometimes those align with the needs of humanity, or a nation-state, or an ideology. Other times... well. They're their own individuals. Ultimately, the Guardians choose who they recruit very, very, carefully. We wouldn't want an unstable individual as a Magical Knight, and we wouldn't want a power-hungry individual either. So I'm not saying Elysia was trying to endanger you."

"Okay..." I frowned, not sure if I should be happy with that answer or not.

Emberline nodded. "Elysia could have been a bit more thoughtful, and you dispatched your opponent rather efficiently, so it worked out. But she should have known better than to set that up in such a... frivolous way."

I nodded.

"Anyway, moving on." Emberline said, tapping the tablet.

The footage resumed, showing a few moments later.

Aurora was standing next to Elysia. Elysia was holding her hand out to me.

Emberline paused it again and sighed, "I'm not a fan of the idea of having students fight against each other like that. But I can't say it was entirely bad, either. You were in no real danger, and you did get the chance to practice in a one-on-one situation. So I can see where she was coming from. But... I think it was unnecessary, and she could have done better."

"Right," I nodded, feeling a bit relieved that Emberline wasn't too upset about what had happened. She seemed more annoyed than anything else.

"Alright," Emberline said with a nod. "Let's skip on over the second encounter for now because I had a point with the Aura Sight comment."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The footage hopped forward resumed.

This time, the camera zoomed in on me, and then panned out, showing me standing in front of the outpost as the horde of monsters Tesserract summoned charged at us.

The image zoomed back in on me. I could see myself scanning the surroundings with wide eyes, trying to take everything in.

Emberline nodded approvingly.

"You were in a better position here," she said, pointing at the projection. "The choice to hang back while Forest Willow peppered them with long-range shots while Clipboard and Elysia took point was tactically sound. But, well..."

Emberline trailed off, tapping on a few buttons. The footage sped up.

As I watched, Elysia leapt into action, charging forward, whirling and twirling as she fought, her magic blade tearing through the creatures like a hot knife through butter.

Elysia made quick work of the first few waves of monsters, leaving behind only corpses as Sparrow and Clipboard followed in her wake, mopping up whatever got through her.

The camera panned over to the side of the field.

Emberline paused it, and zoomed in on me as I shot down a Beowulf mid-jump with a Luminary Bolt to the chest. Elysia and Sparrow had missed it, but it was almost in biting distance from Clipboard.

I nodded, a bit relieved. It seemed like I had been doing well.

"Again," Emberline continued, "Good initiative here. I like how you didn't freeze up in such a chaotic melee, but..."

"But...?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "You did good. But..."

Emberline paused for a second. I could see her biting her lip as she considered something.

She nodded, before looking back at me. "What were you thinking about when you took the shot?"

"Huh?" I blinked. "I was thinking about... getting it before it could hit my team, maybe? Or, well, not hitting my allies? Not really anything, I was mostly just reacting."

"And what about after taking the shot?" She pressed. "What was your next course of action?"

"I... didn't have one, really. I mean... I was mostly just reacting, like I said. Well..."

She sighed, and I could feel the heat from my cheeks.

Then, she pushed play again and paused as I smiled triumphantly at my team.

A trio of Wendigo-Centaur-like monsters leapt at me and I froze as the recording paused.

The monsters were in mid-leap, and I was looking up at them with wide eyes.

"O-Oh..." I mumbled, realizing just how close I had been to being torn apart by them. If Elysia hadn't saved me, that probably would have been the end of the line for me. The thought of being killed in the midst of a battle made my stomach twist uncomfortably. "I... I didn't see them coming at all..."

Emberline nodded. "You did very well. You kept a cool head under pressure, and you reacted to a threat quickly and effectively. But, if you'd have actively paid attention, you'd have seen those things approaching you. They were on the edge of your perception."

She resumed the footage. The Wendigo monsters were in mid-leap as I looked up at them with wide eyes. The recording played out in slow motion as they approached, zooming in as I dove to the side to dodge, narrowly avoiding a trampling.

The monster turned, lunging for me again. I dodged again, barely managing to keep ahead of the monster as it charged forward, snapping at me. It missed me by a hair, but I shivered as I felt the memory of its crushing grip.

"Elysia was launched ahead into the horde, and it's a miracle that she made it out of that surprise attack unscathed, and she wasn't incapacitated or knocked unconscious. It was pure luck, really." She paused for a second. "If she hadn't, that would have been it for you in a real battle, Lux. And even though it was just a training exercise, you shouldn't have needed that saving in the first place."

I felt my heart rate quicken as I reached up to my neck. The hot, burning agony of its teeth ripping through my flesh, and the way my body burned with pain and fear, flashed in my mind. I felt sick to my stomach as the images came back, and I swallowed hard.

I had been a hair away from being ripped to shreds, and it had been just that close to killing me, and it was a miracle that I had made it through at all.

"J-just a training exercise?" I growled, glaring at her. "Those were actual monsters, Emberline! Those were real, actual, monsters. And I could have been killed. I could have died, right here, in the field. And that's all you have to say about it?"

She sighed, and shook her head.

"No. No, Lux. Those monsters are real. They are, and in my opinion, far too much for a few teams of rookies to handle. I understand Tesseract's decision, but that was just a stupid idea. What Tess did was completely and totally out of line, and she's in a lot of trouble for it."

Emberline took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her hands clenching and unclenching as she spoke.

"What I mean is that in theory — there was no risk of truly dying, or sustaining any real injuries. Tesseract was monitoring everyone closely and had the capability of turning back physical, biological states without affecting memory. Not only that, we had an entire emergency medical team ready to respond at a moment's notice, with state of the art equipment and World Skills. Knights with healing Arts are incredibly rare, and you probably know my reputation for the field, but... still, just because we can repair a physical body doesn't mean there isn't a cost. Tess wanted to force everyone to realize that you're all truly participating in a war, and to scare everyone straight by having a real combat exercise with no restrictions or holds barred."

I could feel the blood draining from my face, as my breathing sped up, my body trembling as she spoke.

"Tess was wrong, Lux. She was wrong to have done that. It was too much for a bunch of newbies to handle. And, yeah, it's not like she would have been able to step in fast enough to stop everyone from being mentally scarred by the experience."

She gave me a soft look, her eyes shining with concern and sadness.

"And I think it was even worse for you, considering the fact that you were an emergency contract recipient. I can only imagine how hard that must have been."

I swallowed hard. I could feel a cold chill run down my back, as my hands started to shake. It had been too close, too much.

Butestreus chirped from the back of my head and I flinched, my breath catching in my throat.

The memories came back, unbidden.

The burning sensation, the agony, the way my body twisted in pain, and the way my mind went numb...

It was a horrible, terrible, awful thing that had happened to me.

But...

"It was so... fucked up," I muttered, my hands clenched tightly on the seat of the chair. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out, slowly. "The worst part is, it wasn't all that bad. Not compared to the real deal."

I swallowed and opened my eyes, meeting her gaze.

"That's the second time I've nearly died in a month."

Her expression softened.

She reached out to grab my hands with both of her own. Her touch was warm, and I felt the heat from her fingers against the coolness of my own.

"You've had a hell of a time lately," she said. "And it's not fair for anyone to expect you to be able to just jump right into action, just like that. It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to us, as the adults. But... it's what we're doing now."

She sighed.

"It's what we're doing because, well... we're out of options," she continued. "We don't have the luxury of waiting for everyone to get used to this. The world is too dangerous for us to wait any longer, and the world is going to get even more dangerous soon enough, I think."

She squeezed my hands tightly, her fiery gaze boring into my own. "I don't want to make excuses for her, Lux. What Tess did was completely and totally messed up. She shouldn't have put you in a position to die, or to get seriously hurt, and that was wrong of her to have done so. But I'm sure she was also trying to force you all into the same page, because we need everyone on the same page, and fast."

I nodded.

"Yeah," I said. "The thing is, I do understand that. If I were less charitable to her, I'd even think she was trying to make us quit."

Emberline paused for a moment.

Her eyes widened. Then, she looked down and sighed.

"I don't want to make assumptions, but I've had the lingering thought that she might have been trying to do that on some level."

She sighed again. "But... it's also not our place to tell you that you need to leave. So, yeah, she shouldn't have been putting people through such a stressful scenario right away, and that was really screwed up."

I nodded.

"Right. It's fine, really," I said, looking away. "I mean, it wasn't. But... I understand. And I can forgive her, for now. She definitely won't be one of my favorites, that's for sure."

Emberline nodded, and she let go of my hands.

"Good. Now, how are you feeling?" She asked, looking me up and down. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm good," I said. "I mean, I'm still kind of pissed off, but..."

She smiled. "Take it one step at a time, Lux. Anyway, rest assured that I'll report all of this to Eric. Tess is going to have to answer to the President himself. And he's a nice man, but he's a scary man when he's angry, too."

Butestreus chirped in agreement.

"I guess," I said. "So, what's next, anyway? The, er, the assessment?"

"Yes." Emberline smiled. "Like I said. You did really well, overall, and you showed some great potential, so we'll work with that. I'm going to have you work with me to develop a plan for your training. And, we're also going to have you work with some of the other teachers and older students, to get you to a level where you can handle the real world. That'll take time, though. I'll send some additional details over to your Nexus after our meeting."

"I'm guessing it's a bit of a work in progress, then," I said, smiling a bit. "I'll do my best, of course."

She nodded.

"The first thing we'll have to address above all is of course, strength and conditioning. You are... well, not very physically capable at the moment," she said.

I flushed.

"I'm er, pretty aware of that," I said, looking away. "I haven't been able to, well... workout. Much. At all, really."

She shrugged.

"I mean, it's understandable. You're only human. And I'm sure you had other priorities before you came here."

I frowned. "The truth is I really didn't have a lot of means, or time. And, you know... life happened. It's not like I've been trying to stay weak and skinny intentionally, or anything."

"I'm sure," she said, smiling. "Anyway, we'll work with you on that, and get you to a level where you're fit enough to keep up with the rest of us. That's not an insult, by the way," she added quickly, seeing my frown deepen. "It's just a fact that even with magic enhancing us physically, it doesn't mean much if your foundation isn't up to the task."

"I guess," I mumbled. "So, what does that mean?"

"It means we're going to start you on a strength training regimen," she answered, pulling a paper from the pile on her desk and handing it to me.

I looked down at the sheet, which read: Strength & Conditioning Plan, Level 1. I wasn't an expert about exercise or anything, but it looked pretty barebones. Especially considering the amount of shapely, toned muscle Emberline and Tess both had.

"Five exercises per day, three days per week," Emberline explained, tapping at her tablet. "We'll have you focus on compound lifts first with some low-intensity aerobics to keep conditioning up without making it too difficult to meet calorie goals, which we'll be sending over to you, too. For now, you'll focus on the big muscle groups. We're not going to be focusing on the smaller stuff yet. We'll add them later when you've built a base of strength. This is the beginner program. Once you've built some strength, we'll move on to something more advanced."

I nodded. "And how do you expect me to get strong? Er. I mean, how long does it usually take?"

"It depends on your physiology," she replied, looking up from her tablet to look me in the eyes. "I don't know what you're starting with. But it shouldn't be more than three weeks or so to see noticeable improvements. Things go by quickly early on."

"Okay. And how long will this take? To finish? Level 1?"

"Three to six months, maybe?" she said, shrugging. "I don't have a lot of hard numbers. It depends on your genetics, how much food you eat, how well you stick to the program, and how hard you train and recover properly through sleep and rest."

I blinked. "Um... okay. And I just, uh, have to stick to that?"

She nodded.

"I recommend joining the... what was it called? Power Fitness Club, or whatever they're calling it these days. The boys running it really impressed me, and I've been looking at them do their thing. It's a strength training and aerobics club that meets a couple times a week. It'll be good for you, and I bet you can probably even make some friends along the way!"

I smiled sheepishly. "I uh, already did that. Met them, that is, not join it. They, uh, they're pretty enthusiastic, huh?"

Emberline chuckled. "They are that. They'll help keep you on track and accountable, and they'll be there for moral support when you're struggling."

"Right. Okay, so..." I looked at the plan again. "What about the other days of the week?"

Emberline paused.

"About that. We have some basic classes that we need to enroll you in, like basic first aid, survival, and such. But most of your training is going to be a lot more, uh... individual."

"Huh?" I asked. "Why's that?"

She shrugged.

"You have a very unusual ability, so it's hard for me to give you a concrete set of instructions on how to develop it. We'll have to play things by ear, and adjust your training plan as needed."

"Alright. Well... what do you think my first steps should be, then? Like, just... general stuff."

Emberline looked at me, and smiled.

"The first step is to get you to a place where you're healthy, and strong enough to handle whatever life throws at you," she said. "The second is for you to work out your powers, and how to use them effectively."

"And how do I do that?"

"By experimenting. By learning what you can do, and how you can use it."

"Right," I muttered. "So... just do whatever?"

She laughed, and shook her head. "Not quite. We'll have a more specific set of goals and tasks for you, and lucky for you, an upperclassman has already volunteered to tutor you as a formal Mentor."

"Uh... okay. Who's that?" I asked, tilting my head in genuinely curiosity.

She grinned, her smile stretching across her face, showing off her pearly white teeth. "Your very first team leader, of course."

As if on cue, Butestreus chirped, leaping off my shoulders, and scampering towards the door. He stopped, turning to look back at me expectantly, as if he were asking me to open it for him. I stared, confused, but rose up from my seat and opened it.

The door creaked open, revealing a university-aged purple magical girl waiting outside. Her long purple hair hung down her back, falling in gentle waves.

She had a pretty, round face with large, purple eyes, framed by long eyelashes, a small, delicate mouth, and a cute little button nose. She was wearing a purple and dark green dress with a frilly, ruffled collar, and a big, floppy, dark-green beret hat on top of her head adorned with vines. She wore a pair of high-heeled shoes covered in ivy, with white tights covering her long legs, and she was wearing white gloves that reached up past her wrists.

Her outfit flowed with starry patterns that shifted and moved on her body, and she wore a purple, flower-shaped necklace on her neck.

She looked at me, smiling serenely, before her eyes fell to Butestreus, who had leapt up onto her shoulder and chirped at her.

"Harmonia Lux. It's good to see you again," the girl said, reaching out and scratching Butestreus under the chin affectionately, as if it were an old habit. The animal preened under the attention and affection, before hopping off and scurrying back on my shoulder.

"Twilight Aster," I replied, looking back up at her in surprise. "It's... it's nice to see you, too."

She nodded, stepping back to look at me. She was taller than me, maybe 5'6" or 5'8".

"So, I'm guessing Emberline explained the whole... mentorship thing, yes?"

I blinked. "You volunteered for that?"

"Yeah." She shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I did figure if anyone would be a good fit to help, it would be me."

"As I said before, healing Arts are incredibly rare, and if I am correct, you are able to mimic some of Twilight Aster's signature abilities. That is an unusual trait. We'll be monitoring it closely," Emberline explained. "Since she's the only other student attending with a Signature that can directly interface with other peoples' auras, she seemed like a good fit for a mentor. We could use more girls with healing Arts, anyway. Even in incredibly limited capacities, that can still save many lives. If your abilities could help save just one of us in a real combat situation, that alone could mean the world. So I hope that you will take your training seriously, Lux."

I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Oh, of course. Of course. I'll try my best, ma'am."

Emberline nodded, and looked back at the purple magical girl.

"Well, that's all for now," she said, turning her attention to Twilight Aster. "Treat her well, Aster."

The other girl smiled, nodding in return. "Rest assured, Lux and I are quite familiar with each other already. But thank you, Miss Ember."

Twilight Aster bowed to Emberline politely, and turned to walk away. She looked back at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to follow.

"Well... fancy a walk?" Twilight Aster asked, tilting her head toward at the door on the other side of the hallway.