“Me?” Priya asks, considering Dana’s question carefully. She taps her chin, smiling brightly after she’s given it some thought. “A sword!” She pauses, adding, “I guess that’s kind of boring, right? But I want to be a dashing swordswoman.” She waves her fork around in motions that are probably supposed to be swash-buckling.
If Priya thought swords were boring, it's only because everyone hyped the hell out of them, Penny thinks. Every fantasy story, pirate movie, swashbuckler novel, and God knows what else has the hero or heroine use swords - well, almost all of them. It didn't make the sword
bad, just maybe overused. Hell, there were dozens of types of swords, each with their own style and flair.
Though it does make Penny wonder about the more...
exotic weapons. Whips, hammers, maces... would there be any Ars Magi who used microphones like an idol? She doesn't see herself as using one, but it's certainly an interesting mental image.
“Mmm.” Says Cara, “I’m not gonna guess, we’ll just find out tomorrow.” She nods to Penny. “I guess we just wait, for now.”
Quiet conversation continues around the tables for the next several minutes, mostly speculation on transformations, weapons, and outfits. Some are more enthusiastic than others, but the mood overalls seems positive—with some small exceptions.
When dinner is finished there’s not much left to do but return to the dorms, most of the on-campus facilities by now closed and no student yet allowed outside into the city. This time at least the girls from the Laurus have more time to sleep before the morning bells wake the candidates once again at some ungodly hour of the morning.
Returning to the dorms, Penny yawns widely into the back of her hand. She's still tired from yesterday! Maybe she can get some sleep for tomorrow... though a thought occurs to her. Maybe she could do a bit more research before she went to bed.
She tries to connect her phone to the network, and tries to access the school library. She spends a couple of hours researching a few questions, mostly pertaining to the school's history, the history of Ars Magi, and a copy of the school map and the curriculum if those are available.
Today is the day.
Each girl in turn finds themselves escorted deep into the bowels of Nova Lux, past secure doors and winding passages, deep beneath the earth into the forge where Ars Magi are made. They find themselves in a circular room, an observation area outside of a small surgical chamber. The walls gleam sterile white and the lighting is bright and harsh, reminiscent of the hospital that they visited earlier.
Several final checks are done, and the last thing each remembers is a small cluster of white-coated doctors gathered around them, and the gleam of metal instruments before they sink into darkness.
"So tell me, doc, will I ever play the violin again?" Penny jokes before she's put under the anesthetic. She counts down backwards from 20 as the doctor orders, losing count at around 7 or so as she slides into a deep sleep.
The next couple days are spent in recovery. It’s a strange sensation at first, to have this foreign object inside of the body. Inset in the navel, each gem is a smooth and gleaming invader that feels notably unnatural for the first 24 hours.
This is before mentioning the uncomfortable soreness, the periodic dizziness, and the fits of nausea that come as the body adjusts to whatever magic is now coursing inside of it. Each girl was warned of these side effects and given even worse news to go with it: They can’t even transform yet. The Armagus requires a specific trigger, and is nothing more than an uncomfortable lump until their bodies have adjusted to it.
"Ugh," Penny grunts as she gets up in the morning, feeling the thing in her navel every time she shifts. She tries a few stretches, trying to get used to the weird sensation in her belly.
"The doc must have slipped us a mickey; we go out like a light, don't remember a thing, and yet end up with a weird thing in our gut and what feels like morning sickness.
"Hopefully, we'll get used to it. I don't think the older cadets even notice it's there anymore."“This will be your first exercise as a Nova Lux cadet.”
The nausea is starting to pass on this, the third day. Candidates have begun to return to something resembling normal, just in time for the mission briefing in the assembly hall. A holographic map of the city is on display at the front of the room, slowly rotating under the touch of a uniform-clad woman at the front of the auditorium.
“The exercise will take place in the Palmyra Military Exercise Zone, or M.E.Z. There, under controlled conditions, your Armagus will be activated.” A pregnant pause, and the officer continues: “This activation will require the presence of a Void.”
Quiet whispers ripple through the crowd of assembled young women.
“We will be lowering the diffusion of Nox in the exercise area to a level sufficient for the manifestation of low-class Voids. Your Armagus, an anti-Void weapon, will respond accordingly. The exercise will be supervised by military personnel to mitigate the danger to yourselves, but I won’t lie to you: Any encounter with a Void has the potential for disaster.
This is your first real trial as an Ars Magi, prepare yourselves accordingly. Ignis aurum probat.”
"Tell us about it," Penny says grimly, rubbing her cast, a solid reminder of the run-in she had with the Void not two days ago. She doesn't want a repeat of last time, so she tries to stay calm and focus. Fortunately, there were no bystanders, so they just have to stick together and win. And technically, this would be their
second real trial.
𝙿𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚢𝚛𝚊 𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙴𝚡𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚉𝚘𝚗𝚎
𝙰𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚝
𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟷𝟻𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟷𝟽 𝙰𝚅
𝟿:𝟶𝟶 𝙰𝙼
Dana Noel, Penny Grenoble, Nicole Cognoscenti, Diana Khay Vanna, Astrelle Lennox
The voice is small and static-laced, a quiet buzz from the earpiece you’ve been equipped with.
“Now lowering diffusion level. Nox levels rising.”
You stand in the middle of an abandoned street, rows of empty buildings hemming in on all sides. This is Military Exercise Zone, an older part of the city abandoned and later reclaimed specifically for Imperium purposes. It’s a ghost town, not a single soul dwelling within. The only sign of movement are leaves blowing in the chilly afternoon air, dried and brown foliage that rustles quietly down along the narrow streets.
The candidates have been broken into groups of five, with the Laurus crew finding themselves together once again. Your companions wait in an observation tower some ways behind the exercise area, observing you the same way you did them during their respective turns.
But now, it’s just you.
"Hey, girls, funny how we keep running into each other like this," Penny jokes.
"Seriously, though, are you feeling like you have a whole swarm of butterflies in your stomach? And I'm not talking about the nausea from the operation."“Nox levels still rising.”
Something is wrong. It’s like static in your brain, gentle at first, growing louder as time goes by. Things begin to feel fuzzy and indistinct.
“Manifestation of Voids detected.”
They look similar to the thing that attacked the Laurus. Humanoid, impossibly thin, inky black, geometric patterns etched along the flesh. Black clouds of Nox roll off their bodies as they take shape, three in total, seeming to blur and twist into existence out of the air itself. Air that is becoming steadily thicker as small wisps of Nox begin to form.
They advance.
The static is worse now, the world around hazy and indistinct. Hard to focus.
And then you feel it. A single point of clarity, something bright and powerful just barely within the grasp of your consciousness. All you have to do is reach your mind out and take it.
All you have to do is change.
"Three? They must really have faith in my ability to not getting torn to shreds," Penny quips. She does, however, feel a rising heat in her belly, one that radiates outwards until it fills her whole body. Sparks form around her limbs and fingertips, and she feels the static particularly affected by the crackling lightning racing through her.
One thing she remembers from an interview is how Ars Magi receive their gladius. It's not forged or manufactured, it is
created by the will of the Ars Magi - something she didn't fully understand until now. As magic fills her being, she can almost see the thing in her hand, but it's a strange combination of... engines, wires, and steel?
After all, for one to receive a gladius, one has to see its outline in her head. And what is another word for an outline but a
blueprint?Gears click together, pieces fit like a puzzle with the loud clank of steel. Before she knows it, Penny is carrying a massive rocket hammer in her hands, one much larger than she is and so heavy it almost trips her to the ground before she gets a grip. As it settles in her hand, she feels a surge through her hands travel up to the hammer's head, and it sparks for a second before bursting into life, fire roaring from the nuzzles belching fire, announcing its life to the world.
Whoa, I've heard mechanical-looking gladii were possible, just didn't expect mine to be one, Penny thinks. She then notices she's an inch or two taller, and her footing is somewhat loose, then realizes she hasn't grown - her new outfit has
roller blades.Then there's the rest of the outfit, which looked like something a Bavarian maid would wear - and, as much as it embarrasses Penny, pretty similar to what Magical Maid Altea wore. Oh, and she had green bangs for some reason.
Still, no point dwelling over her appearance; there are still three hostile Void nearby, ready to tear them apart. She shakes her head, makes herself focus, and takes a deep breath.
She almost misses the fact that her arm is now healed. She clenches and unclenches her fist, and shakes her forearm a bit to see if her arm really had a miraculous recovery.
"Huh, not bad," she mutters. She then turns to the three Void approaching her, a wide grin on her face as her heart pounds with excitement.
"Alright, you ugly fuckers, it's payback time! Let's see how you shits handle some extra reach and speed!"
With that, she moves quickly from side to side on the rollerblades, zigzagging closer to the enemy. She finds herself wondering if she could use the hammer's rocket to redirect herself, when she's almost thrown off by the whiplash as the hammer's thrusters roar in response, sending her racing forwards. She barely avoids running into the Void before redirecting her charge, shifting the hammer to rapidly strafe to the left. Using her mobility and speed, she baits the Void, trying to gauge their speed and reactions to a faster enemy as she circles them.
"Hey freakshows, you gonna stand there picking your asses or are ya gonna get a move on?!" she yells at them cheekily.
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