Training at the Aspectary

Ignacio sighed. “Kiyomi, how far is the Aspectary?”

“We should be arriving within the next ten times you ask that question, at your current rate,” Kiyomi said. “And if I hear you whine again, I’m going to find an Emperor to seduce and feed you to him.”

Daichi laughed, Ignacio groaned. Koharu scratched the side of her neck.

“He didn’t seduce anyone,” Koharu muttered.

“That’s right,” Ignacio said. “I saw an opportunity to get more help, and I took it.”

Koharu flicked her hair from her face, stopping as a young boy carrying a basket of food walked up to her from the roadside. He offered her a yellow, egg-shaped fruit with three bulging brown rings around it, saying something to her that was inaudible from where Ignacio stood.

Koharu reached into her robe, pulling out a small pouch and removing two gleaming silver coins from it. He gave her two of the egg-fruit, and waved goodbye as she caught up to Ingacio.

She held one out to him. “You wanna try? They’re really good.”

He took the fruit from her, turning it in his hand. Up close it was like a very small mango without its skin, with those three rings going around it in a random pattern.

He took a bite, and his mouth came to life with flavour. Sweet, sour, the kind of richness he thought only existed in deserts in the fanciest Grandyne restaurants.

“What is it?” he asked. “It's awful.”

Koharu lifted her head, her brows knitting. “What?”

He chuckled, waving a hand. “I’m joking, it tastes amazing.”

“You little…” she said with a slight smile, raising her hand as if to hit him. “They’re called dragon-egg mangoes. We call them drangoes for short.”

Within a couple of minutes he’d finished the whole thing, licking his fingers as the clacking of Kiyomi’s footsteps came to a halt behind him.

“We’re here,” she said.

He turned, staring up at the building. It was larger than most of the others, its steepled roof starting quite low to the ground.

A sign boarded atop the double-doored entrance read The Aspectary.

Daichi hooked a long arm over Ignacio’s neck. “Don’t worry, brother. Long as you’re with us, we won’t let em’ hurt you too bad.”

We haven’t even met outside the Ethergeist yet. Ignacio thought, but held his tongue.

He’d joined after he and the others had. Ignacio had heard his name be used several times but had never actually seen the man up close.

He was quite tall, as well. Though his legs seemed shorter than his torso and arms. Definitely the strangest looking human Ignacio had seen.

Kiyomi walked up to the double doors, and knocked on one of the black metal bars running across them.

The bar she knocked on slid open, an angry pair of eyes glaring out. “What’s the password?”

Kiyomi stepped in front of the eyes. “Hello, Redd.”

“Kiyomi? My, my. It has been a while since you’ve made your way to Miraveth! What brings you?” the man called Redd said, his tone flipping entirely.

“I have a rookie that needs a beating,” Kiyomi said, glancing over her shoulder at Ignacio. “And apparently, Lady Shidare may be joining us.”

He raised his eyebrows at her, folding his arms. What am I going to do with this woman?

There was no way to appease her, apparently. She didn’t seem like the paranoid type, but he was obviously wrong. She’d nearly had him killed, but was still giving him an attitude like that?

“Ah, then you’ve come to the right place, old friend,” Redd said.

The doors slid open with a rusty scrape, the room on the inside dark. Kiyomi stepped inside, turning to the others with arms folded.

“Well?” she said.

Ignacio stepped inside with her, the wood floor creaking. He folded his arms, looking at Koharu and gesturing her forward with his head. She stepped in, the floor creaking again.

Daichi sighed. “Trust us to be the crew that takes in a Ronin to take on the bloody world.”

Koharu tilted her head. “Don't you want to come with us?”

Daichi walked in, grumbling something to himself. The floor groaned beneath their weight, and Kiyomi gave a thumbs up to a short man sitting beside the doors.

“Thanks, Redd,” she said.

He placed his hand on a lever jutting from the ground beside him, flashing a grin that seemed too large for his small, round head.

“Don’t hurt him too bad, Ki,” Redd said. “If Shidare took a liking to him, she’ll be mad if you hurt her lunch.”

I hope this really is just a well known joke, Ignacio thought.

Redd pulled the lever, and Ignacio held out his hands to steady himself as the floor descended. The hollow clanking of gears rang as the light disappeared.

“It’s underground?” he asked.

Of course it is, he thought. Where else could they go but down?

“People up top don’t like the noise,” Daichi said.

Ignacio’s ears pricked up as muffled grunting and thudding drifted into earshot. Then the clang of metal. Then the gushing of water?

He squinted as a blazing light shone into his face. The platform they stood on descended into a massive underground room, a large glowing crystal jutting from the centre of the stone and dirt roof. It was bright yellow in colour, with tree roots wrapping around it to hold it in place.

The room itself was a rectangle that stretched for hundreds of feet ahead, maybe about fifty on either side of them. Tree roots ran through the walls and ceiling like veins, holding things in place. Leaves large enough for Ignacio to lay on sprouted from them sporadically, the occasional pink and white blossom larger than a man’s head growing beside them.

Brown, stone pillars shaped like hour glasses stood in pairs every twenty feet or so, short hedges creating walls between them to segregate the room into different training areas.

“How long did this place take to make?” Ignacio asked.

“About four hours,” Koharu said.

“Four hours?”

“Yeah,” she said, scratching the tip of her nose. “There was uh… a man who made it named Shun. Druid Aspect. He can manipulate plant life and the soil around them.”

“He can also turn into a giant gorilla,” Daichi said, beating his chest with his fists.

Ignacio spotted people training on the lush grass floor. The two closest to them circled each other, one with an anchor the size of a door raised overhead. His armour was so heavy that each step he took rattled loud enough for them to hear halfway down the elevator.

His opponent was a young girl with bright blonde hair, her hands performing all kinds of strange movements. Ignacio smiled as glowing particles gravitated towards her, and a dragon head made of golden light formed between her hands.

The man with the anchor jumped back, surprisingly agile for his size, and slammed his anchor down as the light-dragon soared towards him, its mouth open. It was about to swallow him when it burst into sparks, the man with the anchor turning away with a defeated growl.

They’re not hurting each other, Ignacio thought.

The platform touched down as the gears ground to a halt. Kiyomi lifted her dress and hopped off, Koharu and Ignacio following with Daichi hopping off last.

The man’s gauntlet clanged against his helmet as he growled again. The orange glass lens embedded in the helm glittered as he looked up, lowering the anchor from his shoulder. The other eye was covered in an eyepatch like a pirate’s.

He held out his arms when he saw Kiyomi, removing his helmet as he walked over.

He gave a wide grin, his ginger beard curling like smoke from his chin. “Kiyomi, Kiyomi. What brings the magnificent Genesys to such humble grounds?”

She cast a thumb over her shoulder. “Someone who needs humbling.”

The anchor-man glanced at Ignacio. “What’s your name, boy?”

“Ace,” Ignacio said.

The man poked his armoured chest with a gauntleted thumb, the metal clanging. “I’m Silas Blackwell. This here is-”

“Pix!” Koharu sang, running to the girl with the blonde hair.

They grabbed each other in a tight hug, Koharu spinning her off her feet.

“Koharu!” the girl said, turning and pointing to the giant gemstone embedded in the ceiling. “Guess who’s been keeping that thing alive for the past month and a half?”

“No,” Koharu said, placing her fists on her hips. “All by yourself?”

Pix nodded, raising a finger. “I’ve been practicing every day with uncle Silas. Come one, let’s have a quick round.”

“Uh, actually,” Koharu said, raising her gloved hands. “We’re here urgently. See that ugly guy over there?” she asked, pointing at Ignacio.

He sighed.

Pix frowned at him. “I wouldn’t go that far. He looks okay. What, you brought him here to train?”

“Yep,” Koharu said with a nod.