Chapter Two: Training Begins Today!
Leon opened the gate —activating the runes in place. We made our way into some rather ominous corridors and took a flight of stairs until we reached an open balcony. He walked over to the railing overlooking the castle and from the grim look on his face I knew I was in for a nasty surprise.
"Take a look over there. Tell me what you see." I placed my hand over the railing and honestly I could feel it before I even saw it, a wave of malice and despair lingered in the air. There, on the gorge beneath an abandoned castle was a sea of muso black. Like a wave it was moving and crashing. For a lack of a better word, it looked…wrong like a fuzzy bed of daddy long legs, full of buzzing and twitching appendages.
"Holy crap. Are those Heartless?" I said, feeling a bead of cold sweat roll down my cheek. It was a sea of Heartless. I could barely fend off a puddle's worth of shadows, but one the size of a whitewater river? No way, forget it.
"We don't know what's causing them to collect there, but I believe it's something big. Something our forces aren't ready to deal with yet.
"How is this world not falling apart yet?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Good observation." He nodded in what I think was approval. "Under normal circumstances, a world would be devoured by the presence of the heartless. Live a virus, they spread and infect the heart of all worlds until they've devoured all traces of light. Cid found an old system within the castle's computer, keeping the Heartless from reaching the core of the world. We have a few of our best fighters patrolling the core at all times for any enemies bypassing the security system. It's not up to its full power. But we're having Cid work out the kinks, it should be working soon enough."
"So this security system is like an antibody but with technology and magic?"
"That's a simpler way to explain it." Looking at Leon's face I saw how the stress was showing on his face. He was still young, but the wrinkles on his furrowed brow left a permanent crease between his eyes. He looked away from the gorge and scanned the cliff sides on the canyon walls, looking for something. "Do you see that over there?" He pointed at something walking or rather galloping in the distance.
I followed his line of sight until I saw what he was pointing at. It was odd looking. Like a lanky man in a gray body suit. It moved in an unsettling way, prancing and dancing away. A few more followed and I realized their limbs hardly touched the floor. "What is that? Another Heartless?"
"It's a Nobody." I don't remember hearing about them at all. Was there really something else other than the Heartless? "They are created when the shell of a strong-willed person is left behind after losing their hearts. We know very little about them. The castle has an abandoned lab that might have the answer to all our questions. Maybe even a clue on how to destroy them entirely. The problem is, it's swarmed with both the Heartless and the Nobody."
I frowned. "A way to really get rid of the Heartless? Really? Oof. I don't know if I'm ready for something like that." I say, shaking my head.
"Not yet you aren't." I snapped my head up at him. I really hoped he would object, but he really did want me to go in there after all. "I'll need a group of strong fighters to clear the field, but you have a long way to go before you can think of going in there."
I trembled and laughed nervously. "That's still pretty scary, I really don't know how you can say that with a straight face…I don't think I can do this."
"That's not the right mindset. Listen Cami, I know it's not ideal for you, but the fact of the matter is that the Keyblade revealed itself to you. You're going to have to travel worlds on your own and restore the balance of the worlds. It comes with the territory. I don't know why the Keyblade's keep sending kids like you into the middle of everything, but there is no one else in the universe that can do this but you. You have to do it."
"I have to? I have to leave everything behind because my Mother thought it was a great idea to send me a Keyblade instead of a postcard? Why"—
"Why does it have to be you? Sorry Kid, I don't have a good answer to that. That's just how life is sometimes." I looked at him stunned and pursed my lips. Did I really want to dive head first into a life of wonder and ruin? Could I do it? Without Josie and Dad?
"If you need a reason," He paused, looking pensive. " I would do it for them." He said, reading my thoughts. I looked at him, for my precious people I would do anything for them. To keep them safe and happy, that's all that really mattered in the end right?
"Okay. I'm in."
Training with Leon was an absolute nightmare and I hated it every time. It had been four weeks since we had arrived in Hollow Bastion and I had hardly had time to have a day's worth of rest. It was at least three days of training with Yuffie and Leon out of the week, three with Merlin and One with Aerith. Leon was showing me how to properly hold a blade and how to time my parrying.
I was sure I was his punching bag on some days such as these —he seemed in a really sour mood. More than usual actually.
"Not good enough Cami, watch your stance! Leon was being particularly pushy today.
I growled. "I'm trying!" He didn't have to be so rude.
Taking his strikes head on during a parry shook me to my bones. His strength was ridiculous, I could hardly keep up. One assault on my left sent me crashing on the ground rolling on to the floor. I groaned, sweat rolling in my eyes and I cursed at Leon under my ragged breath and yelled, "That was a low blow and you know it!" That morning Yuffie and I had a spar. She kicked me on my non-dominant arm and gave me a gnarly bruise.
"You're favoring your right side more, you're leaving an opening to your enemy." He stated matter-of-factly. I mean he had a point, but he didn't have to hit me THAT hard.
"I'm still new at this, you know, I'm not going to get good overnight!"
"Stop making excuses. Get better." He didn't relent, he charged at me with his GunBlade and I rolled out of the way before cartwheeling myself upright. With yuffie's hellish flexibility training I was able to cartwheel again, but I was nowhere near her level of speed. It was something I needed to work on continuously.
I focused myself, and circled around before I started to rush him. He prepared for our blades to meet once more before I changed course and threw my Keyblade at him. He blocked it lamely, lettering it hit the floor before resting Gunblade on his shoulder. "Is that all you have? Sora was better than this in his first fight."
That seriously pissed me off. I was working all week honing on my basic skills that I rarely had enough time for my family. I was just so very tired...!
Sora was twelve in the story, so it was rather insulting to compare me to a preteen —even if he was a boy. "You're such a jerk!" I called my Keyblade and shot a few fireballs in his direction. I had to carefully time my strikes because I was still learning to hone the power of my mana.
I had to be careful. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I focused on the newest sensation building in my chest. It felt like a magnetic field coating my skin. It swirled and flowed like a constant stream all around me. I was feeling my reserves; I had to make sure I didn't expend anymore mana than I needed to.
I felt I could do a few more fireballs before running out of gas. Leon could see I was starting to wear thin because I could sense his mana flare up. He was going to charge at me again.
I needed to time my roll just right. I could feel heat coming from Leon's direction. I watched in real time as he prepared for another barrage of attacks. I ran towards him only to roll away at the right moment as he swung his Gunblade. From the floor I charged a great portion of my mana and focused on making the largest fireball I could produce. "Fire!"
A blast exploded in the air and the recoil knocked me back a few feet skidding on the cobblestone floor.
I felt my mana drain to its lowest levels and I struggled to move. I definitely used more mana than I should have. My body felt like lead and I let myself lay on the floor until Leon walked over to me. His face was ashy and he did not look amused whatsoever.
"You little... You're paying my barber for the new haircut." My eyes bugged out of my head seeing a few singed princes on his mullet and his perfect face covered in soot.
"Woah! Squall! I didn't know you were doing clay masks! No fair! To be fair though," She said while smirking, "You need an exfoliation, right Cami?"
"Yeah, with those wrinkles on his forehead you look as old as my Dad." I say grinning from the floor. Our laughter rang through the training hounds and I could hear hands clapping on a nearby balcony. Some restoration officers were watching nearby while on patrol.
"How I get stuck with you two morons, I'll never know." He furrowed his brow again and more stress lines formed on his face. Leon flashed me a smirk before hauling me up to my feet.
"You can't get rid of us that easily Leon." My legs wobbled and I felt battered, beaten and humiliated. I was just glad I could get a little payback after having all the one-sided battles with him.
"Yeah Squall, you love us remember?" We gave him a shot eating grin and his eyebrow twitched. After that I gave Leon some munny pearls and apologized for the new look. He huffed and left with Yuffie in tow.
In the beginning of our stay I was initially helping my Dad out at the church in the soup kitchen, but lately Leon and the others have been a little antsy. Like they were waiting for something to happen. For whatever reason my workload has been getting bigger. Leon kept lumping me with more homework.
I met up with Aerith and my dad and when I could feel my mana reserves come back, I practiced a little white magic with her. She was usually at the Church in Hollow Bastion. Behind the Church was a Green house nearly as big as the church.
I had bought a little black notebook and wrote a few notes on what plants and flora to look for in other worlds.
"Finding rare items like Phoenix feathers can be difficult," She added. We walked the path through the green house and the air smelled like moist fertilizer and compost. "Rather than spend your time waiting, you can find puffballs in dark damp areas. When we produce mana, a discharge is left behind. Like how we breathe out carbon dioxide to plants. The discharge creates these special circumstances to create a puffball mushroom!"
"Interesting."
"It's easy to forage, but certain puffball mushrooms like the truffle puffball are rare to find since those can be found underground. If you focus your mana and you can hear it. It sounds like a bubble."
"A bubble? How strange. They make it out of elixirs and mega-potions too, right?"
"Precisely," She agreed. "Do you remember the herbs and plants that help with ailments?"
I nodded and looked at my notebook. "Gold Aloe Vera for burns, White Chamomile for shock, Blue Mint for poison, Red Cinnamon for freeze."
"Excellent! Now for the next step we'll go to the clinic and you'll watch me perform a few cure spells. Does that sound good?"
"Yeah, let's go." We made our way to the Clinic. We had a few patients from a scouting mission to the castle. A few men were and women were brought in after experiencing mana exhaustion and a rookie no older than me had potion toxicity.
Mana exhaustion often led to organ failure. Just like how over consumption of potions led to chronic acid reflux and insomnia. Ether had a lot of caffeine in it and it was only ever recommended to drink one a day. Liver failure was also a possible side effect —Which of course was what was happening now.
Potion toxicity was a scary thing to see. His liver was failing and his eyes were yellow from jaundice. It was tough and went for a little bit, but we managed to reverse the effects with a cleansing spell. They still had regular medicine so that definitely helped.
I wasn't a medical professional , but I needed to learn my way round patching up a wound on the field. Managing my mana reserves came first. If I was in a team it could be more manageable, but if I were separated I needed to be smart.
I needed to stay alive, but I was realistic. It was only four weeks, I was only fifteen and I would not be a professional anytime soon. I just needed the basics. Clean a wound, wrap a gauze correctly and if I had to…I'd need to practice stitching.
I helped Aerith with the smaller errands, but I shadowed her. I watched carefully and asked a lot of questions.
In the first week I lost my lunch looking at a guy with his bone sticking out his leg. Let's just say it was a short day for me.
Merlin's homework was simple enough. I had practiced enough meditation to feel my reserves and summon a few fireballs. Next was testing my affinity.
The next morning I went to visit him at his home. He sat at his coffee table. His home was a small studio hobble with a fire pit and a few bookcases. I sat across from him with my notebook ready.
"Alright My dear Cami. Now comes the fun part!" He snickered before breaking into a fit of coughs. He cleared his throat and opened an old tome. He squinted through his lenses and turned a few pages. "It's been quite some time since I had a junior apprentice this long. Why, Sora was only under my tutelage for a week or so. Donald did more of the teaching than I.
"Oh I see. You know I keep hearing all about Sora, but how come he hasn't stopped by yet?" He paused and smiled.
"He'll come around soon enough. He just needs to wake up is all." Typical cryptic Merlin. He never told me where on earth Sora was. If he was a keyblade weirder, shouldn't he be teaching me? The story said he was back home after he defeated Ansem.
"Okay…"
"Ah, here it is. He brushed his long marvelous silver beard and pulled out a single card of papyrus paper. Well, it looked like papyrus. "You will take this card and focus your mana. If it's wet it's water, if it crumbles it's earth, if it burns it's fire and if it rips its air. Simple enough!"
I sputtered and laughed a little. "Oh, Merlin." I took the card from him and held it with both hands. Breathing I focused my mana towards my hands. The magnetic feeling stretched and poured until I willed it and slowly moved it to my fingertips.
It was strange, like a second set of lungs breathing through your pores and giving oxygen to the bloodstream.
"Well I'll be! Somehow I pegged you for a fire type, but this is an interesting outcome indeed." I stopped pouring mana and examined the papyrus. It was green and more flexible than before.
"Uh, what does green mean?" I was a bit perplexed. This wasn't in his criteria at all.
"Let's see here. Oh!" He turned the page and licked his lips. "Ah! Here it is. Secondary natures can also affect the test. A paper that's green is the sign of Earth nature with a secondary being water nature. Earth will come more naturally to you and your water nature abilities will come to you easier than most."
"Woah, that's pretty cool! What did Sora get?"
"Oh, I never tested Sora, this magic paper is expensive."
Wait, what? Hang on, Leon and the gang have all been training me on their days off and I find out Merlin spent good money on so I could find out my affinity?
Dare I say, but…was I their favorite…? That was just. —a lot to wrap my head around. Merlin didn't spend money Willy-nilly. He was a minimalist.
"Woah, Um, thanks Merlin. I didn't know."
"You're a good kid Cami. We know you're going to be a great Keyblade master one day." He crossed his arms and I rushed out of my seat to give him a hug.
"What now-now, there is no need! Let go-Let-go I say!" I let go and he fixed his wizard cap.
"Thanks Merlin!" I grabbed the old tome from his table. "You don't mind if I borrow this for a bit, do you?"
He waved me off. "Do with it what you like, bring it back to me when you can." I assumed he rarely used it since he had to flick through our session today. "This wizard is very busy —I have to make preparations for a client! Now bugger on!" He pulled out a briefcase and brought out a crystal ball. I grabbed my notebook on the way out and waved goodbye.
I left Merlin's and finally began to head home for brunch. Walking the usual route. My dad's new apartment was uphill and from the stairs I could see the Hollow Bastion castle. It was a stark reminder of what life used to be like before the first attack. Unlike my world, Hollow Bastion had been compromised at least three times on record. The only thing keeping this world afloat was an old system left by someone before my time.
I paused, maybe going to the apartment would be too lonely right now. Dad was still working and Josie was with Aerith.
I had a little bit of munny in my pocket. I figured I might as well look around the shops to grab a bite to eat. I hadn't had too many local dishes. I might as well try it out. Then I could probably go behind the church and study the tome Merlin lent me.
So, I did just that, walking among the swap meet floors and looking for any food that might catch my interest.
I was surprised to see they had many similar dishes at Hallow Bastion like they did back home. The scent of garlic and roasted beef wafted ion the air. There were plenty of similar dishes throughout the marketplace; it was anything from Italian stone-fire pizza to fried fish fish from the local water reservoir.
The irrigation system they had flowing through the city was fresh water from the underwater springs deep within the caverns nearby. The spring reservoir was quite large and supplied the city with steam power, food and fresh drinkable water.
I lived in a windy oasis, we also had spring water deposits in the earth and relied on windmills for energy. It was interesting to see how well other worlds flourished with what they had.
I had enough to order a small pizza and made my way to the church. I could share with my little sister. I smiled at the thought of spending a little more time with her. I just had this strange feeling my time with them would be cut short. I wasn't looking forward to that.
Taking a bite of garlic sauce pepperoni pizza I kept the tome open to read some material. It was nice since it was meant for newbie wizards and spellcasters, but there were a few portions of the book that required materials and more one-on -one training with a trainer.
Merlin was busy sometimes so I only had his help twice a week. This meant I was on my own for the week since our lessons were done until the next week.
Or I could practice with my expedition team. Only time could tell.
"What's that?" Josie asked, eating a mouthful of pizza. Her face was covered in cheese and sauce and I laughed before I wiped her face. She put her fingers on the page trying to read a sentence and left a grease stain on the page.
"Woah, careful there kiddo," I say while also wiping her hands. I shut the book and sighed. "It's just some homework I have to do, you know, for some magic." I gave her my best jazz hands and she giggled.
"Magic?! I wanna see!" She jumped in her seat and patted her head gently.
"Oh! I have a spell that I made just for you," I joked. She didn't have to know that though. "Now close your eyes or it won't work! If you peek it won't work either!"
Josie gasped and shut her eyes very tightly. Using my mana I quickly enhanced the speed of my arm and quietly shoved a bag of gummy worms in her sweater pocket.
"Abracadabra, alakazam! Give Josie a treat that's oh so, very sweet!" She giggled, not catching on as children usually do. "Now, my magic senses are tingling! I think there is something in your pocket Josie!"
She gasped and pulled out the bag of gummy worms in her pocket and squealed. I smiled and it amazed me how much brighter the world seemed to be through her eyes. I envied her a little for it, but that was probably all Josie's happy-go-lucky attitude. I would do anything to ensure that never changed.
Her and my Dad were the reason I was going to make sure I was ready for anything. I knew my journey would be difficult, but I was also too stubborn to let anything get in my way.
I will do anything to protect my most precious people —'For Dad and for Josie I would fight darkness itself'.
