To the Training Grounds!

“They die in the process?”

Camellia had not been prepared for something so grim. Sure, there had been a giant, nightmarish, disgusting monster that had attacked her as soon as she awoke back in the Crags, but what Lynn had just said made it sound like citizens of this civilization were perishing en masse.

Damos leaned against the wall of rock around the shrine. “Well, yeah. It’s a super competitive thing.”

“Getting up to the surface?”

Lynn jumped back in, “Yes, very much so. In fact, it’s what we’re training for. The Trials of Ascension.”

Bewilderment crept up on Camellia as they spoke. Life down here was perfectly fine, wasn’t it? Unless everyone felt that strange nagging out-of-placeness that she did... “But why would you risk it all? What’s so great about the surface?”

A hungry grin appeared on Damos’ face. With a shove, he popped off the wall and dramatically pointed a finger upwards in a heroic pose. “‘All who aim to make it to land, listen well.’” Bringing his arm down, he leveled the point at Camellia. “‘Prove your worth in trials of combat, and you shall receive the ultimate reward.’”

As he closed his fist, bringing it to his chest, he stepped right next to Camellia. He leaned in close to her face, then uttered, “‘I shall grant thee a wish.’”

Folding her arms, Lynn said, “That’s not how The Promise goes, Damos. Don’t confuse her.”

Damos looked back. “Wait, really?”

“Furthermore…” Lynn grabbed Damos by the shoulder and pulled him back. “Personal space, bud. Remember what we talked about.”

Damos bashfully scratched his head. “Ah, right. Sorry, Camellia.”

Seems like he could use another ‘talk,' if you ask me.

He spun around. “I definitely had it right, though. You basically get a wish.”

Lynn sighed. “No, Damos.”

“You totally do!”

As the two squabbled, Camellia's mind started racing. A wish? Like, a genie’s wish? Could it be anything? Who’s granting this? Why in combat?

Camellia cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of Lynn and Damos. “Could I ask a question? I’m really curious about this wish thing. Who’s granting it?”

The helpful, capable one let go of Damos. “We can talk as we walk. It’s a bit of a ways to the training grounds. It’s at the edge of the city.”

“Yeah, good call. I’m itching to teach Phoebe a lesson.” Damos excitedly set off, followed by Lynn and Camellia.

As the two walked a few steps behind Damos, Lynn explained, “I don’t think it’s necessarily a ‘wish’ per se, like in children's tales, but many do believe it to be similar.”

“Then what is it?”

“Well, it’s known as a fantastic reward: riches, power, anything. You can make a request from the goddess herself.” Lynn narrowed her eyes. “Allegedly.”

Camellia ducked underneath an outcropping of rock. “Allegedly? Nobody’s done it before?”

“No, people have. It’s not impossible. But,” Lynn said as she looked at Camellia, “they never come back. Something up Dryside must be so fantastic that it makes returning to The Bed sound like a joke.”

“You must be kidding.”

“Nah, that’s his job.” Lynn pointed forward.

Damos marched onwards happily, content to listen to the explanation rather than explain himself. “You betcha!”

Camellia ignored him. “So, as a reward, you get one request from the goddess, and you get to live in… ‘Dryside.’ But how do we even know any of that?” Camellia sought to reason her way to an understanding of this world in which gods were apparently real. Apparently.

Camellia watched as Lynn raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s not like the successful contenders die or anything. They’ll send letters or money back home, a lot of the time. That’s a huge part of why Phoebe wants to make it up there, to be able to support her family down here.”

“Oh, so you have, like, evidence that they made it up there and got their request.”

Lynn smiled. “Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.”

Camellia returned the smile, washed over with a feeling of contentment.

I’m glad these two get along so splendidly. I was worried Camellia’s only friend would be that blockhead Damos, if we’re being honest. Camellia had been rather solitary in her previous life, ending it practically as a hermit. It’s good that she’s got someone who understands.

Speaking of, the aforementioned blockhead stopped in his tracks and spun around. “Wait, Camellia! I had an idea. What if you used your wish to get your memories back?”

Ah, carp. I don’t need my memories back, man. I’ve got them all already.

Outwardly, however, Camellia kept up her charade. “Could that really work? Maybe I should actually join, then. That’s a really good idea, Damos.”

Lynn chuckled. “Oh? So sure you’ll make it through the Trials of Ascension now, are you?”

Coming to her defense, Damos cried out, “She’s actually super fast. She kept up with me as we ran out of the Crags together.”

“Huh,” Lynn quietly muttered, studying Camellia once more. “There’s a lot more to you than I expected.”

The attention made Camellia blush.

As he tended to do, Damos interrupted, “Hey, we’re here! Look, Camellia.”

Before she realized it, Damos had led Camellia and Lynn to an entirely different part of the city. The buildings, less dense in this area, did not tower around them like in the central part of The Bed. The geography of this district was especially chaotic. Jagged rock formations poked through homes, which had been constructed to accommodate the earth itself.

In front of the trio, the ground dropped abruptly into a steep slope that ended in a small basin. The bottom of the hole looked to be flat and solid, though still sandy. As Camellia looked closer, she realized it was more like a half circle than a basin, as if some mineral mining company had come through and carved out a chunk of the city. Around its rim, the buildings of the city tapered off before reaching a giant stone wall. Beyond the wall, a forest of kelp extended on the left, and long flat plains stretched out on the right.

Down in the hole, the distant sounds of clashing metal and shouts echoed up the walls. Camellia peered in further. Young people in garb similar to Damos’ were fighting one another in the flat part within city limits. Others clashed against beat-up training dummies. Others still rested on the sides, tended to by friends after combat. Further out, she saw tiny dots in the kelp forest and the plains emit flashes of color here and there, fighting something.

One spot in particular caught her eye. Smack dab in the middle of the makeshift arena, a young woman was fighting four different people at once. It was hard to tell, but—

“Phoebe! There you are, you sea slug! I’m gonna get you for yesterdaaaayyyyy!” Damos shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing down at the surrounded woman before hopping off the edge and sliding down the side of the basin as if he were snowboarding, his final word trailing off as he slid further and further away from Camellia and Lynn.

“There he goes.” Lynn sighed, looking up to the shimmering surface above.

Camellia giggled. “Well, now that it’s just us, maybe you can explain some more without him interrupting.”

She looked back down at Camellia. “Oh? What more would you like to know?”

“Well, you know. I thought maybe you could teach me more about aspects. I’d love to get a sense of things.” Ever the skeptic, she still wasn’t sure if she believed that the goddess truly existed, but something inside her compelled her to try and spend more time with Lynn.

“Interested to learn more? I’d be happy to tell you. What is it about aspects that you want to know?” Camellia’s heart rate spiked as Lynn leaned forward and looked up at her with a wry smile. Don’t look down, don’t look down.

Please, Camellia, have some restraint. My goodness. Well, I guess you are trying.

Camellia looked away. “The basics. Everything. I mean, what even is an aspect?” She fiddled with the rusty dagger in her cloth belt, now a comforting presence.

Lynn stepped back and raised her arms, catching Camellia by surprise. She balled a fist and closed her eyes. A luminescent, spectral chitinous claw quickly flashed into existence around her arm, as if it were a magical gauntlet she could summon at will.

“This is an aspect.”