Zenkai Dojo, Far From itsuki's hometown.
The moment Itsuki alighted the carriage and gazed up at the tall spires, he beheld the vast training complex spread before him as it was akin to a small city.
It had been built in the old Virelian style, curved roofs and very ornamental wooden beams, but the scale was not comparable with any building at home. Dozens of buildings towered in concentric rings about a central courtyard, and between them spread specially built arenas over landscape he could not recognize at this distance.
The training areas filled the sight. Sand pits, rock circles, apparent hover platforms above the water. Students navigated them in precise formations, their talents casting momentary sparks of light on the night sky.
A man walked out of the main reception hall. He had the Zenkai instructor's formal garb, dark blue with silver embossing that glinted in the dying light. He was middle-aged and weathered-looking, with the attention-to-posture of someone who'd dedicated decades to mastering combat movements.
"No problem," he added, voice projecting well over the courtyard but speaking at conversational volumes. "Welcome to Zenkai Dojo. I am Instructor Himons. I'll be doing your orientation today."
While he spoke, two senior students appeared behind him. Both wore training uniforms that marked them as advanced members, and both moved with the economical precision that suggested high-tier abilities.
Assist instructors, most likely? Or squad captains, Itsuki reasoned as he set the bag on his shoulder.
"You should have been tired after the journey," Himons continued, pointing toward the dormitories on the left. "Tonight's orientation will be brief."
He led them through the grounds at a measured pace, pointing out key locations as they walked. The refectory where meals were served three times daily. The Essence springs natural formations where concentrated energy bubbled up from deep within Vilaris that provided power to the complex. The medical ward is staffed by healers specializing in training injuries.
"The Zenkai accepts students of all six orders," Himons clarified. "You'll train side by side with fighters whose skills range the whole gamut through each order of Common through Mythic. Here it's less about honing the individual Birthright on its own., it's how to counter an adversary who directly negates yours."
They walked through a passage where senior students sat in meditation practice. Some had tangible auras of Essence about them, throbbing in time with their respiration. Here the atmosphere was denser, filled with concentrated might.
"They're Tier 4 students," Himons told them, viewing their gazes. "Specters, the ranking system refers to them. Most of you will make it to Tier 3 Awakeners, by the time you graduate if you practice well. Those who turn out exceptional make it to Tier 4."
"And then there's Tier 5?" Takumi couldn't help but pry.
The look on Himons's face never varied but something darted in his eyes. Amusement? Or pity?.
"The Worldborns are extremely rare. In the three century history of Zenkai only seven students have reached it under the age of seventy." He stopped long enough for the number to set in. "Fewer than half of them ever succeed at the 4th Tier despite the time they train for or their ability when they arrive."
Seven students in three hundred years…
The seriousness of the words impacted them. Itsuki could feel Kairo move slightly beside him, the only outward sign of his friend's expression.
They came to the dormitory building, a three-level building with single rooms on either side of an inside hallway. It was an old building but well cared for, and looking through the windows Itsuki could see basic equipment inside the individual rooms.
Himons distributed room assignments with practiced efficiency, consulting a scroll he produced from his robes.
"You'll have basic equipment and training gear in the rooms. Uniforms you'll receive tomorrow morning before assembly." He unfurled the scroll. "Your squad designation will be announced at the welcome ceremony. In the meantime, rest. Take the grounds for walks if you desire, but don't go beyond the flagged areas."
He pointed toward the treeline on the far side of the furthest training area where the mountains loomed dark against the afternoon sky.
"The woods on the next side have wild Essence beasts. They're not exactly hostile but not exactly pleased about untrained students traipsing through their ground either. Let's not send search parties on your first night."
With that warning given in the exact conversational voice as all the rest, Himons left. His footsteps echoed down the hallway, leaving them standing among their packages.
No one uttered anything for some time…
The quiet was broken by Kairo. "We'd best get comfy. Get some rest."
"Sleep?"Takumi looked at him in disbelief. "We just got to the greatest fighting academy in Sliverstone and you wanna sleep?"
"Yes." Kairo's answer was instant and straightforward. "Because tomorrow we'll have to be at our best, and arriving depleted would be foolish."
Sayaka nodded in agreement. "He's right. We don't know what the first day will entail. Better to be prepared than impress."
Takumi began complaining, then hesitated. "All right. But if something big happens tonight, you people will all live to regret being so frugal."
They separated off to their assigned rooms. Itsuki's was on the second floor, third on the left. Upon opening the door, he was not surprised but relieved to see just exactly as Himons had promised: the bare basics. There was the standard cramped single bed with thin mattress, small desk and chair, corner washbasin, and wood chest for storage. There was only the single window looking over the training grounds to the east.
He placed his pack on the floor and sat on the cot. It had little cushioning in the mattress. Designed for practicality.
He must unpack…
Sort his gear. Perhaps go over his training notes on the journey.
Rather, he was looking at the window, viewing the final illumination disappear from the sky. Students remained exercising below, their actions casting fleeting highlights in the encroaching darkness.
Finally, he didn't know how long it had taken, Itsuki got up and started unpacking. Training equipment. Belongings. His small Essence crystal his father had given him. His notebook. A photo of his comrades.
All five of them…
He placed the photo on the desk facing down. It was painful for him to look at it.
Once all was stowed he dropped down onto the bed without removing his attire. Sleep should have come easy after the long ride, after the emotional drain of leaving home and arriving at this unfamiliar place.
Rather, he was wide awake with his gaze directed at the ceiling. His muscleswere not relaxing despite his weariness. There was something electric about the night, something that stirred his essence uneasily under his skin.
He's been through this before. During the trials, back when Shion had vanished.
The rational side of his mind demanded it was nerves. It was the first night anywhere new amongst young people who had strength well in excess of his own. He was going to feel nervous.
But rationality felt thin against the growing certainty that something was watching him.
He got up and gazed out the window. It was very empty on the training ground now, only illuminated by the gentle lighting of the Essence springs. There were some devoted students still remaining in private practice patterns, but the majority had retired.
Perhaps he could go along with them. Exercise could silence whatever was going on inside him.
But even as the thought occurred to him, weariness at last seeped into his veins. True weariness, not the skin-level fatigue he'd experienced. He settled back onto the ground, gathered the thin blanket up around his jaw, and closed his eyes.
Sleep came all at once…
As he regained consciousness, Itsuki found himself in some kind of white facility.
Perfect white that went on forever in all directions. No floor below his feet but he was standing. No ceiling above but he was contained. The room was somehow off, as if all the furniture had been removed and the walls had been painted over in an effort to erase what had been there.
He attempted movement and discovered he could walk but had no perception of how far he had traveled. Each step was the equivalence of being completely stationary.
"Where am I?"
The voice was unfamiliar here. Too flat, without echo despite the seeming vacancy.
"You are nowhere. And everywhere." He replied all at once on all sides at once, or perhaps in his own mind. "You are in the moment between moments, the space between spaces."
A shape started taking form before him. As it approached him, Itsuki could see it was Virelian esque but made entirely of shifting lights. Not the fierce glow of fire or the constant throb of the Essence springs, but something gentler. Moonlight solidified.
"Who am I?"
"I am a messenger."
"A proclaimer of truths you aren't yet prepared to grasp in full measure, but shall have to come to recognize."
"What truths?"
The creature approached closer...
"No life will ever go according to plan. From this day on, all the choices you make, all the paths you walk on, all the connections you forge will take place amidst imperceptible powers and talents you don't comprehend."
A chill ran through Itsuki even as there was no temperature in this realm…
"What forces? What powers?"
"There are factions, Itsuki Naoya." The being gestured, and the white space around them began to show faint impressions. Shadows of shadows. Shapes that might have been buildings or mountains or something else entirely. "Ancient ones and newly formed ones, patient ones and desperate ones. They move like currents beneath the surface of your world, invisible to most, but shaping everything."
The shadows shifted about making strange patterns Itsuki could not interpret.
"One faction seeks to claim what you carry within you. They see your ability as a key to unlock possibilities that have been denied to them for eons. They would use you, shape you, turn your gift into a weapon for their purposes."
Itsuki's heart was pounding, not being completely sure he had a heart as he was in another dimension. "And how about the second faction?"
"Protects you." There was no change in the being's tone, but the words felt more substantial. "But protection is another kind of prison, another deprivation of freedom. They would protect you from the perils ahead, but in the process perhaps stifle the potential you could really achieve."
The consequences weighed on him as a load. Ancient groups. One who sought to use him, one who sought to protect him. Both treating him as less than himself.
"What am I going to do? How am I going to choose between them when I don't know who they are?"
"You do not have to pick a side..." The being cocked its head.
"Is that possible?"
"All things are possible." The being began pacing, moving through the white space. "Not all things are wise. Independence is the most difficult journey, the most dangerous, and the most likely to end in catastrophe. But it alone is the route toward actual mastery. Mastery not only of your ability, but of your destiny."
The white space started to blur as it became less stable. if there ever had been edges, began breaking up and fading.
"Who are you really?"
"I am no one of importance." The being's form was already starting to dissipate, becoming translucent. "I am simply one who remembers when choices mattered more than power, when wisdom was valued above strength. I am a remnant of what was, speaking to what might yet be."
"Will i see you again?"
"Who knows, Before those moments when the fate not only of you but the fate of all who share your world will be determined."
The being was almost gone now, just a faint shimmer against the white backdrop. "Keep this in mind itsuki, the power you possess isn't your future. How you choose to apply it? That's your future."
The white space was collapsing inward on itself, shrinking down until nothing else remained...