War of Dawn

Chapter 4: First Step

The training grounds lie at the center of Valarheim Keep and this is, by far, the largest section of the fortress: a wide open area covered with almond-colored tiles. Despite the mighty gusts of wind that have been blowing outside of the keep, it is as if an invisible force keeps them from affecting the interior. No snow is seen atop the tiles, either, something that ought to be impossible in the Northern Reaches.

The entire room is surrounded from all sides by the walls of the Keep, which finally gives Hilda an idea of how the building itself looks: golden framed windows with walls of the same reddish brown color as the Scions' weapons, all built with clear gothic influences in its ornate facade and tall spires. She also sees several golden-edged balconies coming out the second floor dormitories, overlooking the area.

Ryouma points over to an empty spot in the southwestern part of the training grounds. "That way; there are always people training and sparring in here, so we'd best keep away as you're starting off."

Hilda sees one such pair of Scions sparring at such speed that she has a very hard time keeping them in sight. Colored sparks fly off their clashing weapons, as their clink-clang sounds echo far and wide. One of the Scions launches what looks like a fireball at the other, who deflects it skyward.

Hilda turns her gaze to chase after the spell but that immediately becomes an afterthought. She stops right in her tracks, stunned by the sight of a gigantic, transparent wall of golden light that stands above the Keep, set between it and the cloudy skies. Like an enormous piece of cloth, it rises from the ground outside Valarheim and expands towards the east, west and north until it vanishes.

"This is your first time laying eyes on the Paling itself, huh? It's only visible here, where the Altr Prana within the Nexus Crystal enters and energizes it," Ryouma says, pointing out a section of the wall that's struck by the beam that shoots from the Nexus Crystal. "It covers the whole Northern Reaches and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, Finland, etc., in an unseen dome of about 3800 kilometers in diameter. The Valnr and undead can't touch it without burning to ashes so, even after one thousand years, it's still the greatest defense we have to keep the bulk of their forces from the rest of the world."

"But it can't keep them all away, right?" Hilda asks.

A dark cloud sets above Ryouma's face as he answers back. "No, it cannot. It doesn't affect humans, so their necromancers can still go and bring death into populated areas... Still, it's far less of a problem than if they had the same freedom as in the War of Twilight and, if we do our job, we can stop them before anything happens."

Hilda can see in Ryouma's face that things have been going less-than-perfectly on that front – it's a big world and there are only so many Scions to keep everyone safe – but he quickly recomposes himself.

"Regardless, let's get to work," he says, grabbing the sword by the sheath and pointing the grip towards Hilda. "Take it and we'll start with the basics."

She begrudgingly does so, her hands easily adjusting to the suede-wrapped grip. Ryouma corrects the position a bit until he's satisfied.

"Alright, that looks good. Learn this grip by heart as holding a weapon properly is essential, understand?"

Hilda nods in confirmation.

"Now, before anything else... Why don't you pull the blade out of the sheath for me?" Ryouma says.

An impish smile has formed on his face and while Hilda wonders what could be so funny, she does what he wants. Pulling the sword halfway out, she sees that it shares the color of the other weapons but, upon closer inspection, it actually isn't rusty. In fact, it is so smooth that it reflects like a mirror, with a beautiful wave-like pattern that runs from the guard to the tip of the blade.