EVERYTHING HURTS!!! EVERYTHING IS PAIN!!! I thought to myself as I laid down in bed.
I have pain in places I didn’t know it was possible to have pain in, and given that I’ve helped out on the farm for as long as I can remember, pain and I aren’t too unfamiliar with each other. But this kind of pain was new even for me. My father didn’t simply bring me out to train me, but to find my limits in just about anything.
At the end of my two-day training session, rather than being returned to where we were picked up by Thomas, we were instead dropped off right in front of our house. At which point Thomas helped my dad carry my limp body into the house, wherein he said hi to my mom and quickly hurried on his way. Laying face up in my bed, I tried to briefly recount what I just went through as it all just kind of blurred together after we arrived at the training outpost in the Living Orbit. The “training” my dad put me through was specifically designed to weed people out of the higher levels of the Guardians. My father decided that I needed to know about what realms of physical exercise he would be training me at.
With a multitude of training levels, the first being entirely volunteer force used for patrolling within the Living Orbit, kind of like a neighborhood watch; meant to keep an eye on things and be a noticeable presence. Second level guardians oversee the majority of incidents reported by the first levels, including theft and property damage and some slight scuffles, but nothing more than that. The very violent variety required a level three guardian.
Third level guardians had a multitude of responsibilities, including handling those disputes of extreme violence wherein the assailant was armed and had potentially had a hostage. They are tasked with patroling the Farming Orbit as well as tending to their duties within the Living Orbit. Forth level guardians only act as the personal guards of whoever holds the position of Luminous at the time, usually out of sight for the most part, but a few of them do make their presence known; much like those who guard Tesoro at the moment. Those of the fourth level don’t simply guard the Luminous, but those of the areas of which the luminous frequents just to have guards on standby from one place to another.
Those of the fifth level are in charge of patrolling the Outer Orbit and defending from any and all external threats. Those threats range from animal and beast attacks, to bandit attacks.
There are only six people total within the next two levels. The five who comprise the sixth level are in charge of each of the previous levels, a sixth for first, second, third, and so on. These people are the best of the best as determined through tests held to test both physical ability and critical thinking. Rather being known as sixth level guardians, and they are called Peak Guardians. My father was the Peak Guardian for the level five’s, of which I had no idea before any of this. He did a surprisingly good job of making sure work never followed him home.
Above the level six’s resides the one and only seventh level guardian, known as the Guardian Commander. The person within this position makes the most major decisions in terms of the overall defense of the Conclave; only having to answer to the position of Luminous, and by extension, Sol.
With all this in mind, as it was all drilled into me over the past few days… yippee… he started me off at level one. Basic exercises and what not. When everything was all said and done, I ended up barely passing level four guardian training. That puts me on par with those who guard Tesoro, more or less anyway. Past that, I was used as a training dummy… I mean, given practical lessons on the use of a weapon of choice on the second day. Trying to catch some shut-eye after the training had concluded, I was rudely awakened about four hours later, and told to prepare for practical application of physical defense.
I was being told to get ready to get beaten up.
I chose a staff as you can’t go wrong with a big stick. But oh, did it feel like the wrong choice when every guardian that my father put me up against who used a different weapon from me managed to wipe the floor with me and my choice. About halfway through I just assumed that some of these people were using me to vent their frustrations rather than trying to teach me how to deal with different weapons and their corresponding styles when I am out and about. Not that they knew of the actual reason why I was with my dad those two days. By the end of it all, I could just barley hold my own against the newest level five guardian, someone just a few years older than I was, and that person still managed to dominate my defenses. Even then, I was running almost entirely off of instincts rather than form for the simple fact of no combat experience whatsoever.
Fading into unconsciousness, I felt a wave of relaxation wash over me similar to when I used to jump into water after working on the farm all day. I don’t remember actually falling asleep, but I do remember being woken up. Sol once again broke through my window and in response I leaned up. Something was out of place, but I couldn’t quite place it. Turning to the side of the bed facing the window, I put my right arm on my leg and leaned my head on my hand. Something about that motion actually sparked what was different.
No pain. Nothing. Almost like the past two days hadn’t happened to me physically.
I stood up and had no difficulty in doing so.
Luna did say that this ‘Eye of the Moon” or whatever it was called did grant me special abilities. I guess this is one of those? I’m not quite sure what to call this, but it is certainly useful. But why didn’t it take effect during the two days of torture-esque training I just went through? Questions to be solved later I guess.
Following the routine to start my day that was prior to my training, I dress myself, knock on Elaine’s door, and make my way to the table.
This time there was an actual discussion going around, of which my mobile presence distracted my father from whatever it was he was saying was a surprised look overtaking his face for a brief moment. It didn’t take long for him to recover his composure before he continued speaking. “As I was saying, Adamas has a real knack for being a Guardian. He breezed through the training up till around the end of level four. His knack for combat leaves much to be desired, but his stamina is on par with those of level five.”
“Well it’s certainly nice to know that he has options available to him,” my mother retorted. “But you are not taking him for another ‘quick training trip’ again today. Your last quick trip lasted far longer than you said it would, and my son had to be carried in by to full grown Beams. He has his transition celebration from Ray to Beam in three days including today. And my intention this time is for him to spend at least the same amount of time attending the Bright’s lectures.”
Looking slightly dejected, my father looked down at his food and mumbled something along the lines of “… ok dear…” before scarfing down what was left of his food. Getting up and taking his plate and fork to the kitchen, he quickly hurried back and gave mom and quick hug and kiss on the forehead. As he walked past me he put his hand on my head before ruffling my hair a bit before saying “good luck” as he continued to the front door. On his way without slowing his momentum he yelled “ELAINE! I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO TRY AND GO WITH ME FOR TRAINNIG EVENTUALLY!! WHY AREN’T YOU ALREADY UP!?!?” and went out the front door.
As soon as it shut, several crashing noises came out of Elaine’s room as she all but fell over herself trying to get presentable quickly. Falling out of her door, she sat on the ground and looked around. “Where’s dad?”
With a swift motion I pointed towards the front door. “Aww… dang it…” She said as she got up and shuffled her way towards the table.
We sat in silence once again as we ate. Finishing my meal, I thanked Sol, dropped my plate off, and got ready to go to lecture.
~~~~~
Twenty minutes later I was at the lecture hall that Bright Daphne was teaching in. After a bit more time, Bright daphne got up from her chair behind the desk at the front of the classroom and started speaking. “It looks to me like everyone here is everyone who will show up for the moment. So rather than waste time like I know you all would love for me to do waiting to see if anyone else shows up instead of actually teaching like I’m supposed to do, I think that I’ll go ahead and start lecturing.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Walking over to the board that sat on the wall behind her chair, she grabbed a small white stone and started writing. “Over the course of the last several weeks, I have taught all of you about where we live. I have taught you about what goes on here, where certain actions occur, and the responsibilities taken up by each of the Orbits. Now that all of that information has been passed on to you, of which I hope you remember at least some of it; I figured I would tell you about the world outside of the Conclave.”
This statement had the relatively rowdy lecture hall quite down quickly. And knowing Bright Daphne and how she works, she held off on teaching this until I was in class. I guess this is her way of preparing me for my travels. Well, knowledge is worth it’s weight in resources, whether that knowledge of practical or not is negligible, it can still be useful. I thought to myself.
On the board in large letters, Bright Daphne had written three letters. FFF.
“Does anyone know what these three letters represent?” After a few moments of no one answering her question, she continued speaking. “I’m not sure if I should be happy that I’m teaching you all brand new information, or disappointed in the fact that none of you took the initiative to try and find out more about the world in which we live.”
Walking to her desk where her globe sat, she spun it a bit before pointing at a land mass surrounded by blue. “Can anyone tell me where this is?”
Several people raised their hands, myself included. “Good. At least some of you have remembered at least a bit of what I taught.” Looking over the raised hands, daphne pointed at someone in the front row which was not me. I was somewhere around the middle I guess? The person, a female Ray who was a year or two younger than me, answered. “You said that land mass was Aye-mu-ree-ka, I think? You only went over it once so it’s kind of hard to remember.”
“Right you are Ray Olivia. This land was once called that. There has been discussion on how it was actually pronounced, as those records were lost during the Era of the Great Crusades. Anyway, the Conclave itself is located within this middle lower-left region. Right here,” Bright Daphne said as she pointed to the globe. “While the Conclave itself appear large to us, in the grand scale of this globe we are…” she picked up the stone she used to write on the board, and put a small dot on the globe. “About that big. Not to big in the grand scheme of things huh?”
“Now, back to FFF. This is a term used colloquially as a catch all term for those who follow the largest religion of this region.” Taking her white stone once more, she drew a line starting from just below the piece of land that looks like a backwards R, going out through to about half way through the land mass before turning down to just past the mid-point of the land mass. Then she proceeded to curve back towards the same side it started from. Going by the top of the dot she drew to represent the Conclave, she then turned once more when she got close to the water and went down. Stopping around a piece of the land that appeared to be a sliver that appeared separated from the rest of the land. “Being this region. This region falls under the influence of the Goddess Gaia. While not one cohesive religion, all the religions within this region believe in and follow Gaia much like we follow Sol. Gaia’s influence within this region has directly effected the environment and those being that reside within.”
“To start with, the three F’s stand for Faeries, Fairies, and Fearies. The Faeries, or Fae for short, are the direct result of the Gaians faith, and Gaia herself. They tend to be small, playful, and childlike by nature; coming in different forms ranging from animalistic to humanoid in stature, with at least one fantastical feature about them, usually in the form of wings, but this does not mean that they all have wings, or that they only have wings if they do have them. They love to play tricks, but never really do anything harmful.”
“The Fairies, more commonly known as the Fair folk, are what happens when a Faery matures naturally. The Fae spend the first years of their lives as what amounts to children in their Fae form. But after a certain amount of time that I am not privy to, they go through a form of metamorphosis of some kind. At the end of this metamorphosis the Fae emerge from… something. Whatever they do, they go into it as Fae, and come out of it as Fair. When they emerge as fair, there is scarcely any resemblance to their original form, save for the humanoid Fae, as the Fair are all humanoid. There are carryovers from their time as the Fae.”
“Those of a more bestial origin tend to have more animalistic features in their Fair form, sometimes in the form of ears, tails, or claws. Those whose Fae form closely resembled humanoid structure simply look like a tall and thin human with very graceful features. In short, the Fairies have human like figures with certain specific features emphasized; for those of the bestial origin, certain aspects of their origin are carried over in a natural amalgamation of human and animal. Those of a humanoid origin look like perfect humans with graceful features, flawless skin, and enhanced physiques. With this being said, there are a lot of variations within this category, they all see themselves as the fair folk.”
“For the last category, those being the Fearies, we start off where the Fairies start off. With the Fae. But rather than maturing naturally, a Feary is born when an external factor is involved within either their early lives or their metamorphosis phases leading to corruption, the Gaian’s are rather secretive about when the corruption occurs. Whatever the case, corruption happens, and rather than ending up a humanoid Fairy, they become an animalistic Feary. These Fearies from the animal Fae become much larger, more violent, and incredibly sadistic versions of the animals that they represent within the Fae forms. These Dark and twisted forms are easily identifiable as to what they came from, but they tend to have several mutations. A few examples a these mutations are: has multiple sets of eyes, has horns, releases a heavy and gaseous like substance from wounds or other orifices.”
Putting the globe back on her desk, she reached into her desk and pulled out a tattered book that had been stuffed with more paper than it could realistically hold. “Now this, dear Ray’s, is where things get fun for me, because this next piece of information is what I myself have obtained personally back when I myself was still figuring out my place in the world as a Scripter rather than a Bright.” Flipping open the book that she sat on her desk, she began speaking with more enthusiasm than before. “Much like how the Fae’s have two distinct variations that transfer over to when they become Fair; the same can be seen within those of the Fear category. What I just described to all of you was what becomes of the animalistic Fae when they become corrupted. But what of the humanoid Fae? Well, allow me to tell you what I know.”
Looking down, she flipped a few more pages before finding what she was looking for as her mouth broke into a bit of a grin. “The humanoid variation of a Feary has extreme differences from one specimen to the next. Some look almost animal in nature, being covered in fur and having both claws and a mouth full of fangs, yet we label them humanoid as their main mode of movement is that of walking and running in an upright position. While others grow incomparable power, yet gain incredible weaknesses in return. How this occurred was not known until but a few years ago, when one of the humanoid variations was captured alive and interrogated by a judiciary.”
“This beast which was brought in had a visceral reaction in the presence of sunlight. A literal repulsion that when in the presence of a ‘Sun Touched’, and an actual physical reaction in the form of a severe rash when touched by an enhanced object, bringing on severe amounts of pain. Knowing this, we asked as much as we could of the creature, and found out several key pieces of information. God born, as they called themselves, are beings born wholly of the power of a god. But much like how we humans need to wholly believe within a god for miracles to occur, a God Born must wholly believe in their creator to grow the power granted to them. However, if a God Born’s faith in their creator is shaken and they seek answer elsewhere or they find solace in the presence of a different god, the divine power that makes up the God Born becomes…” She paused as she looked down at her notes. “… tainted. If this taint happens early enough in life, rather than becoming a being in the service of their creator, they become a follower of whatever influenced them, taking on aspects of the power that influenced them.”
“In the case of this particular being, it was influenced by a God of Darkness whose name is unknown as it refused even after much… prodding. Only ever referring to the being as ‘Him’. But this influence changed what would have been a Fairy into a Feary. Giving this Feary ashen colored skin, bright yellow irises resting on blood red eyes. Rather than long flowy and bright colored hair, this things hair was short and dark. The feature that were kept the same were the pointed ears indicative of all humanoid Fae turned Fairy, and a flawless complexion. Any further information gained from this encounter was inconsequential at best. But we did find out that a Feary is born through shaken faith and a separate God. With this in mind, the being we interrogated was left to the judgment of Sol as it was captured infiltrating within our borders. And upon being met with Sol, even before getting to the Eye of Sol, the being yelled out in pain and began crumbling to dust. This lasted mere moments before the entirety of the being was nothing but ash that flowed with the wind.”
At this, Bright Daphne sat down at her desk. “I bring this up because, aside from those of ‘Church of the Bright Night’ Faith that runs along one side of our borders, those being the mountains that are several days away. Those who worship Gaia take up a much larger portion of our borders. If any of you plan on becoming guardians, you will most likely have a run in with a Feary, either on patrol or seeing the aftereffects of an encounter from another squad who, they are most likely being born of Gaia that you’ll hear about.”
At that, Bright Daphne sat back in her chair, looked outside, and spoke. “It looks like I’ve taken up enough of your time here, time for you all to go back to where you belong.”
Leaving, I wasn’t stopped on the way out, so I went home and ruminated on as to why Bright Daphne taught this particular lesson now. Not coming up with anything I helped out around the house, ate dinner, and went to bed. Waking up and going to Lecture the next day, it was more the same, explaining more types of Fae, Fair, and Fear. Questions were asked that if Gaia has God Born, would Sol? And he does, just not here as his presence is negligible here versus someone of the other parts of the world where he is worshipped. As another lecture came and went, I repeated the steps of yesterday one more time, before going to bed and enjoying a well earned day off after the stressful week I had just had.