“...What?”
Argent asked again after a silent pause, some part of him knowing that he had heard correctly yet unable to process the words.
“I.. I can’t speak cardinal language.” Matthias repeated, his voice barely a whisper.
Well, that explained a lot, though Argent seemed to be the most surprised. Gauge looked sympathetic, Shizuka simply lowered her head, Seren averted her eyes and Remelia didn’t seem to notice the conversation at all.
Trying not to be rude, Argent rubbed his temples for a moment before seeking to make an important clarification.
“Can’t as in.. Cannot? Or can’t as in, never learned?”
Maybe certain types of holy arts worked differently? Maybe the {Priest} was under the effects of some sort of oath? Were there limitations like that? Argent didn’t want to assume anything despite how unlikely those options seemed.
“Well… There’s no actual rule against it, but many of the older priests consider it.. Distasteful. Pagan, in a sense, if not bordering on heretical.”
Argent felt a tinge of annoyance, unable to follow the logic in that. It was the ancient language used by the first Gods and Goddesses, the deities who had been the progenitors of all others. Even those worshiped in the current reality. Matthias seemed to sense the veiled hostility, pulling away slightly and raising his hands as though in defense.
“It isn’t forbidden, I was just.. Never given any opportunity to learn, as you mentioned. The encouraged method was to manifest one’s arts through trance, whilst offering prayers or hymns. It was meant to be a show of faith, to feed the spiritual needs of those seeking our services.”
“..So instead of learning verbal components.. The church preferred you to use somatic ones– signs, I mean– or manifestation… While offering a prayer of worship?”
Matthias nodded sheepishly. Argent couldn’t help but feel there was a strange dynamic there, conceptually reminding him of what he had come to learn of Rites, but he kept his focus on the matters at hand. Frowning as he continued forwards with Matthias’ questioning.
“And you were doing that even now?”
“I.. Ah.. Yes, I guess I was.”
“Matthias.”
The {Alchemist} groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. If the {Priest} really wanted to keep up that kind of appearance from within the safety of a medical center or church, that was one thing. But if he was out, with an adventuring party, in combat?
“We have got to break that habit, at least in the field.”
Argent’s statement drew a few silent nods from the rest of their classmates, most of which had now gathered around after finishing what they had been doing. The other members of X13 had maintained the decency to refrain from butting in to the conversation, but they were definitely still listening from the wings.
“I understand, and don’t disagree.”
Matthias admitted ruefully, appearing fully genuine about it. Argent appreciated the {priest}’s willingness to acknowledge shortcomings, but having never learned the cardinal language was more disheartening in its implication than an actual ‘divine restriction’ may have been… But the advantage was it could be worked. It was a solvable problem, and the solution was simple– if not labor intensive. Or perhaps more aptly, time intensive.
“...Alright, Let me think.”
The {Alchemist} breathed, steeling himself a moment as the world around them faded back to the marble halls of the proving grounds. Gesturing for Seren to leave the aether terminal alone for the time being, Argent turned his attention back to Matthias and motioned for the boy to sit.
“Okay. Make yourself comfortable.”
*****
“Ambris, heal by my faith this one I touch.”
“Rahel val tjii taalfei kor'nhe yjii salvi, Ambris.”
Argent spoke slowly, translating commands into the cardinal language and waiting for Matthias to mirror him whilst repeating the phrase several times. Once the priest appeared to retain the key words, they moved on.
“Shine forth, light of the Ancients, and shatter all darkness.”
“Iiyubre ahewa, rais ne’vaat Mandusa, sa’frassare ket tenae.”
The other members of X13 gathered together a short distance away, sharing a few snacks and letting their arts capacity slowly regenerate as they observed the ongoing ‘lesson’.
“What are they doing?”
Seren asked incredulously, looking over at Matthias and Argent as she chewed aggressively on a mouthful of jerky.
“Are you deaf or just dumb? What does it sound like they’re doing?”
Gauge jousted verbally, shifting out of range of a kick Seren swiveled to send his way. Shizuka and Remelia sat silently across from the two, barely watching as they broke into a scuffle, the beastkin sipping lightly from a mug of tea whilst the {Rune-Knight} chomped through an apple. The {Rogue} and {Wild Talent} tangled themselves into a knot, breaking apart only when Seren lost her temper and bit down hard on Gauge’s arm, causing the {Rogue} to shove her away with a disgruntled yelp.
“Kioku’s tits, Seren, come on!”
He glowered at the dragonkin girl who huffed in response and returned the glare in kind, her eyes like smoldering coals.
“You know what I mean.”
She hissed.
“No, I don’t! Argent is teaching him pieces of the Cardinal Language, what else could you mean?!”
“I mean, jackass, why are they using those long chants? Why not just keywords?”
Gauge caught on to her train of thought then, realization visible in his expression as he leaned back and sighed heavily, rubbing where she had bitten him.
“That’s what you meant?”
The dragonkin nodded, folding her arms and giving Gauge a dangerous look due to the tone and emphasis he employed with that response. The {Rogue} rolled his eyes, but agreed to the unspoken prompt at a truce, reeling back the level of attitude in his next words.
“Are you familiar with the saying, ‘Crawl, walk, run.’?”
“Sure. Self explanatory, by the way– but isn’t that wrong? Wouldn’t keywords be easiest?”
“Easier to say, not easier to use.”
“.. Huh?”
Seren’s voice raised with her outburst, annoyance seeping into her mannerisms again.
“It’s more complicated than just spitting out the words, Seren. Look, at the most basic level, arts are performed by issuing commands to the surrounding World Energies, right? By using full commands your intention can be reliably understood based on the words alone. Casting with the ‘keyword’ requires more experience, more feeling. Otherwise the commands can fail.”
The {Wild Talent} mulled that over for a moment or two, broken from her introspection with a slight jump when Argent’s voice chimed in from the sideline.
“When you say keyword, you mean activating an art using its name alone?”
“Yeah! Why bother with: semai ahewa giel, sa’karaan tjii barase–”
Seren swung her arm out to the side as she spoke, casually throwing her cast of [Wind Cutter] against the far wall of the room in a flash of green-tinged air. An amped up variant of [Air Cutter], the art was potent enough to shear thin lines into the stone.
“--When it could be; Giel’kaarante!”
She mirrored her movement from before, a second cast of [Wind Cutter] flaring outwards from her palm and whistling through the room. Argent smiled at her energy, but nodded his head towards Gauge as he replied.
“Because as mentioned, using a ‘keyword’ takes a level of skill and control that issuing a basic command does not.”
Argent paused, trying to formulate his thoughts as Seren stared at him in a way that clearly meant she wanted further explanation.
“ …It’s like.. A step short of manifesting it from the aether plane directly. You could consider casting an art by name a halfway point between manifestation and signing or speaking. When you activate an art from the aether plane, the plane itself directly interprets your intent and executes it, communicating the nature of your command to the necessary world energies… But when you cast by name, you must serve as that conduit yourself. If you don’t have a feel for your art intrinsically, if you dont understand its flow when you use it, chances are you won’t be able to properly channel it using only its name.”
“I’ve never noticed any difference.”
“Perhaps you haven’t, but most will. You’re an exception in terms of your skill with arts, not to mention naturally talented– it’s literally in the name of your class.”
If Seren was trying to hide her smug enjoyment at that reference to her {Wild Talent} status, she didn’t do a very good job of it, causing Argent to shake his head in amusement. The Dragonkin certainly wore her hubris on her sleeve, for better or worse.
“Point being, for someone who hasn’t used the cardinal language before the full commands are far more reliable.”
“Huh. I think I get it… In that case, how do you normally cast?”
“Me? Hm…”
Argent thought about the question, realizing that he often used all different methods. There was a lot of variance to the way he chose to employ his arts, influenced by situational factors or purely what was convenient at the given time.
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“I suppose my most used method is to sign the art by name.”
He started, carefully guiding his fingers through the sign for huero– [Kindle]– raising his palm as the small fire danced inside it for the briefest second before dying out as it found nothing to burn.
“But sometimes I use full commands, or even manifest directly from the aether plane. It can depend on how comfortable I am with the art or how much stress I'm under. Maybe I don’t want to speak out loud, or even move at all. Maybe I can’t speak out loud or move. Situation dictates.”
“Makes sense to me, I also prefer quicksigns.”
Gauge added in, offering up yet another term for the vernacular which Argent contextually understood to mean signing an art by name. By keyword, as Seren might say. Once again, the usage of arts was a topic which seemed simple on the surface but became exponentially more complex the deeper one dug, and they had yet to even breach the subject of skills and abilities which influenced casting. Argent knew from the Codices that abilities such as [Waking Trance]-- an adaptive art which allowed one to view the aether plane overtop of their active sight– existed and could possibly be gained, but they were niche at best and rarer than rare.
One could also simulate these effects through purely unrelated skill combinations. For example, if someone possessed [Spatial Awareness], [Omnithought], or a highly attuned [Psionic Eye], it was possible to dedicate a portion of their vision or consciousness to the aether plane while retaining a functional perception of their surroundings. Battle casters capable of such feats were devastating forces of nature, able to remain within a trance whilst activating arts all around themselves.
“I think I'm good for now.”
Matthias spoke up, pulling the group’s attention away from the conversation and back to the training room. The {Priest} brushed himself off and adjusted the mace at his belt as he stood.
“I’m ready to go again.”
“Finally.”
Seren breathed with vigor, pushing herself onto her feet with a grin and taking off towards the room’s controls. Gauge was only a half step behind her.
“No more spiders–”
The {Rogue} started;
“--and still no greenskins.”
“Fiiiiine,”
Seren whined exaggeratedly, swiping through the panel’s listings.
“But I want something harder.”
“Like what? And change the map first. That swamp was nasty.”
“Right, okay.. How about.. Jungle ruins? That sounds pretty awesome.”
“Stellar, works for me.. If it's a jungle, we could try Howlers?”
Seren crinkled up her nose, frowning. Howlers were an ape-like monsters with long arms and broad faces, named for their distinctive screams. Not only were the sounds loud enough to burst eardrums and horrid enough to chill blood– they also doubled as a psychic type attack which quite literally damaged the mind– causing confusion, temporary loss of motor skills, and even unconsciousness with prolonged exposure.
“Yeah, no. Do you want your head spinning for the rest of the day? I don’t. Besides, I want to fight an opponent with weapons.”
“What about War Shadows?”
Argent suggested, easily glancing over the top of Seren’s head to look at the options.
“They fight as if they have weapons, and it would give Matthias more to do besides buffs and heals. His light arts could actually affect them.”
“I don’t really have offensive arts.. But yes, that is true.”
“I’m good for it, why not. A little riskier than I’d chance in the wilds, but this is a training session, so if not now then when? Besides, we do have an ace up our sleeve.”
Gauge conceded, glancing pointedly towards Remelia as he spoke his last words. The white-haired girl tilted her head, watching the others quietly as she leaned against Shizuka, the taller beastkin lightly resting her arms upon the {Rune-Knight}’s shoulders.
“About that, I’d like to change our tactic concerning the ace in question, if she’s alright with it.”
Remelia simply angled her head the other direction like a curious puppy, staring at him with pitch black eyes, and so Argent chose to continue.
“I think it would be best to have Remelia hang back this time, and provide cover for Matthias. Having her nearby should give him breathing room to focus on the cardinal commands we just went over, and it will shift more of the frontline stress onto us. Of course, Remelia can step in if needed, but otherwise we'll be forced to shoulder the combat load ourselves rather than being carried through the encounter by a powerful vanguard.”
There was a stillness from the group as they mulled it over, understanding the practicality but hesitant to relinquish the comfortable reliability of their frontline support.
“Having a powerful vanguard sounds like ideal party composition to me.”
Gauge grumbled, though he refrained from outright dissent. No one else had any comments to make, and so the issue was settled. Exhaling sharply, Argent nodded his head and fought down the rising pang of nervousness in his stomach. Holding Remelia in reserve was the logical decision in order to get more experience for the rest of the party, but it naturally came with an increased pressure to perform, and the {Alchemist} couldn’t help but hope that he wouldn’t embarrass himself after being the one to suggest it.
“So, War Shadows? Seren, Gauge, and myself on the vanguard, Shizuka on flex, Matthias on support, with Remelia providing coverage and emergency intervention.”
“How many shadows?”
Seren questioned, and the {Alchemist} bit his lip.
“Not twelve.”
He joked lightly, earning a snort from the blonde dragonkin.
“Let's start with five. If it goes smoothly, we can always run it again.”
“And here I thought Gauge was the scaredy cat between the two of you.”
The {Wild Talent} teased, drawing a dirty look from the {Rogue} in question.
Energy gathered as she punched in the selections, and Argent braced himself for the upcoming sensation of weightlessness followed by lurching momentum. He fought this time to keep his eyes open, though there wasn’t much of value to be seen as the textures of the stone walls around them swirled into a helical blur. Splashes of new colour gradually introduced themselves into the mix as the world around them took on the shape of a thin tunnel before abruptly snapping into clarity.
As the jungle landscape flooded his vision Argent found himself wondering if these provided arena settings were dropping them somewhere out in the open world or contained within a magical boundary of some sort, because if there were ‘edges to the map’ so to speak, he certainly couldn’t detect them.
The trees were huge and the associated plantlife was lush and vibrant, vines and orchids hanging from the tangled branches of the canopy above as tall grasses and coloured moss spread between the sprawl of visible roots. Beautiful as it was, it was rough terrain with precarious footing, and he made a mental note to try not to trip when doing so could mean getting stabbed by a bloodthirsty shadow monster.
For a moment the party remained where they had appeared, each taking in the surroundings and scanning for any signs of hostility, but the only sounds which greeted them were the cacophony of exotic birds and whining insects. Once it seemed certain that there was no imminent danger of attack, Argent gestured for the small group to get into position as he moved towards the front to take point alongside Seren.
“Shizuka?”
Argent glanced at the {Kunoichi}, who understood his intent without the need for anything further. As she had done before, she dexterously made her way into the upper branches with impressive leaps and maneuvering, making it look effortless as she rose into the ceiling of green. She disappeared for what could have only been a minute, but beneath the oppressive humidity and heat the tension felt much longer, and Argent released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding when she dropped back into view upon the lower branches. If any noise had accompanied her movement, he didn’t hear it over the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
“Visibility is minimal.”
It was the expected answer.
“But our objective is likely to the northwest.”
“Likely?”
Seren questioned, her voice genuinely curious as opposed to skeptical. Shizuka nodded, ears shifting from one direction to the other as she adjusted her position along a wide branch and swung herself back to the earth.
“Mhm.. Something in that direction is both blocking and echoing the jungle ambiance, traits indicative of a large body of stone.”
She explained with confidence, eyes peering into the jungle in the direction she had indicated.
“It could be a cliff face or other natural fixture, but…”
The beastkin trailed off, her conclusion obvious. No one needed further convincing on the matter, trusting in Shizuka’s assessment when combined with the meta knowledge of their ‘jungle ruin’ selection.
“Got it. Good work, Shizuka.”
Without further fanfare Argent re-assumed the lead position and guided the party towards the northwest. It was fortunate that the jungle surrounding them was so filled with sounds and life, as try as he might the {Alchemist} found that moving quietly was all but impossible for him to manage. Each step cracked a fallen branch or unsettled the underbrush, disturbing the environment around them in small ripples of sound.
A sudden loud smack from his right caused the {Alchemist} to stop dead in his tracks, jerking his head to the side just in time to see Gauge pulling his hand away from his neck with an annoyed look. Catching Argent’s gaze, the {Rogue} held out his hand and articulated angrily at the air around them.
“Mosquitos.”
He growled the word softly yet hatefully, wiping the crushed remains of the previous mosquito from his palm onto the side of his trousers. Argent tried to hide his smile, grateful for the small lift of tension.
“At least they’re the little ones.”
He replied with a mix of humor and sympathy to which Gauge huffed in response, unable to disagree. The tiny buzzing pests with their itchy bites were certainly annoying, but absolutely no one wanted to deal with the four foot long versions of the nasty bloodsuckers.
Flora and fauna continued to work against the group as the density of foliage and trees made it difficult to spread ranks without losing line of sight from one another, resulting in a tight column formation. The increasingly rugged conditions soon forced Argent to entirely do away with any attempt at silence, instead drawing his weapon to clear the path of hanging vines and other obstructions so as to make traversal easier for the rest of the party. Despite his best efforts, however, they still dredged forward at a sluggish pace. Hacking away at a branch as sweat blurred his vision, the {Alchemist} questioned if their trek through the jungle wouldn’t prove to be more exhausting than the battle which was to come.
Finally the treeline abated, the ground freeing itself of the tangle of roots as the jungle gave way to a wide clearing. The sky above was visible for the first time, deep blue and dotted with misshapen shards of floating earth– some large enough to walk over– suspended high above by ambient kai. These airborne monoliths of stone were not an uncommon occurrence the further one traveled from the Calm, becoming a veritable part of the skyline above the Orodaen wilds and even moreso the northern Riftlands, existing in such scope that some were considered flying islands.
“Where do you think we actually are?”
Matthias questioned nervously, mirroring Argent’s previous line of thought concerning the workings of the teleportation system as Seren let out a low whistle.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were actually in the Sprawl…”
“..Do you know better?”
Gauge rhetorically expressed his doubt, knowing full well that none of them understood how the Proving Grounds functioned in detail.
“W-well.. I mean, surely they wouldn’t just drop students into the middle of…”
The {Priest}’s statement tapered off all on its own as what he was saying fully registered, not needing anyone to correct him.
They absolutely would.
The DCA was many things, but if there was one thing it certainly did not do, it was coddle its students. Instructor Ward had given them his word that none of them would be permitted to die, but that was the extent of their insurance.
“Whether they would or wouldn’t, did or didn’t, all I’m saying is that this is one hell of an illusion if that’s what it is.”
“...It’s not impossible.”
“And not too probable, either.”
The group walked uncontested into the expanse of crumbling stone walls and dilapidated pillars as they bantered, finding the interior of the ruin to be covered in vibrant green grass. Moss and fungi clung to the ancient masonry in splashes of colour, the faint scent of water filling the air in a way that was different from the previously earthen humidity. The area within the collapsing walls appeared to be a sort of courtyard or garden, initially rectangular but winding into a half-circle towards the farthest end, with steps leading upwards into the remains of a decaying ziggurat.
Argent’s breath caught in his chest as he looked upwards at the structure, struck with awe at the intricate symbols etched into every inch of the stonework. It was enough to make him forget in that moment they were not here simply to explore. In truth, the only thing which prevented him from moving directly to the temple staircase was the sudden whistling of an arrow as it cut through the air past his face.
“Contact!”
Gauge yelled out, his voice grounding the {Alchemist} as his eyes attempted to follow the path of the projectile which had drawn the thin line of blood from his cheek. Nothing remained other than a shallow divot in the ground just beyond his position, the shadowy ‘arrow’ dissipating into nothingness by the time his vision caught up.
Turning his head to instead trace the trajectory of the shot, Argent watched as a twisted entity of living black shuddered against the backdrop of the sky, its humanoid semblance perched atop the garden wall like a posted guard. Others began to take form, but before he could count them a sweeping darkness blocked his vision. It was time to fight.