Changeling

(60) On Boarding

The tourist guide said that the church had been built in the thirteenth century. That made it, well, close to a millennium old which was absolutely crazy to Nestra. People at that time didn’t even have electricity! They believed in magic! Then science had come and said magic wasn’t real, and then magic had returned and said ‘no u’.

That was the extent of what she remembered from her formal education. Threshold’s history program was really focused on Incursion years and less on ancient European stuff. The Grossmunster with its stained glass windows gave her vertigo. There wasn’t anything on the Threshold continent that came close, not even the continent itself. It was older than Sereth. Positively ancient.

It wasn’t even that big. Two square towers with cupolas at the top. A thick, squarish body. Beige stone that looked like it might crumble any time in the unforgiving light of Zurich’s early morning. Long ago, it must have been awe-inspiring by itself. She remembered visiting the Beacon for the first time when she was six. She’d looked up and the building just kept on, and on, seemingly ad infinitum to her child mind. It had been more than a place. It had been an experience. She assumed it was the same here.

Nestra had gotten in just to see if she would burst into flames. She hadn’t. It made her think about God though. Back in Threshold, most pre-Incursion religions had some presence though she’d never been interested. Even the Riel swear words were more a matter of respect and tradition than anything else. No one really worshiped him.

Nestra moved away from the church and closer to one of the two nearby bridges overlooking the Limmat river. The streets were sunny and pleasant, with a light wind. Late workers hurried back and forth in earthy-colored coats. The mood was surprisingly relaxed here, in the older part of town. It gave a strange melancholic mood of what the world might have been without the monsters.

As before, people avoided her as soon as they met her eyes. Nestra moved closer to Aunt Claire who was leaning over a railing, her dress moving in the wind. Her scars and complete lack of care for the lowish temperatures marked her as a raider so no one bothered her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to have a look inside?”

“I like churches but I’ve got a problem with the owner,” Claire replied without turning.

Ooooh, an opening. Maybe Claire was vulnerable to surprise questions.

“Actually, I wanted to ask. What’s with it? Can you tell me now that I’m almost twenty-six?”

“Ask your mom.”

“Ughhhhh.”

Claire sighed. She was wearing sunglasses which was more a stylistic effect than anything else. She took a bite of her fresh falafel and then chewed at accelerated speed in a way that made Nestra wince. She always preferred to slow down to eat.

“Let’s just say, there is a reason why your mom and I were in Australia with your dad when the Incursion began in earnest. You know we come from the United States, originally?”

“Well yeah although I had to forcefully extract that piece of information out of mom.”

“Our parents were very religious. I left home as soon as I could and I returned for Debbie when I heard she was going to get married. Love-bombed by an alcoholic asshole.”

“What does that mean? What about my grandparents? Did they agree?”

“Love-bombing is when someone smothers you with affection and gifts without any sort of respect for your boundaries. You’re expected to accept their genuine adoration since clearly they love you so much and surely you can give up your studies for their happiness, and surely you can spend time with him and not your buddies because you two are so precious. They’ll trap you in a marriage you can’t leave because you have no degree, no friends, and no job options, and then things go downhill from there.”

Claire shook her head.

“Well not you, you, Nestra, but many young women like your mom who wanted to be a nurse and were almost convinced to drop out. I heard about the fiance from common friends and drove back to the ‘Big Friendly’ for two days to offer her a way out. And she took it.”

“What’s a big friendly?” Nestra asked.

She discovered a new Claire she hadn’t known before. That one was broody and sad, her face hard with distant memories.

“A city. It’s gone now — didn’t survive the Incursion. Look, your grandparents cut ties the moment we defied them. They had the rest of the family shun us for embarrassing them, literally blocked us on every social media all in the name of ‘God’ so, you know, do what you want. You can convert if you really want to. Personally, I can’t hear a bell or see a cross without having a conniption.”

“Fair enough, I was just curious. Since you know. It’s also my family.”

“Trust me you’re better off without them. Shall we?”

Nestra gladly took the way out.

“Yep!”

They walked along the river towards Lake Zurich alongside the large river. A promenade lined with old houses gave an uninterrupted view of the placid waters. White swans landed in the distance. Were it not for automated towers lining the quay, it would have been peaceful.

“Damn, are they not scared?”

“Nestra, every time you see a new undefended spot, you make the exact same comment.”

“Sorry sorry sorry sorry.”

“No, no. It’s me. Sorry. Thinking about the past made me a little cranky, is all. I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. I’m old enough to know better. Hey, isn’t that a hot chocolate stand?”

“You’re changing the topic!”

Claire had the grace to look embarrassed.

“Alright, I accept your distracting peace offering in the name of hot chocolate,” Nestra conceded.

It was some really good chocolate too. Nestra and Claire sat down on a bench overlooking the lake, keeping quiet for now. The view of the other shore wearing the colors of autumn was fantastic. A bit later, they were politely accosted by a group of three raiders in civilian clothes, all C-class and quite strong, with the patches of local squadrons on their leather vests. They were all white dudes. There were so many white people over here. It gave Nestra vertigo.

Claire engaged in small talk, allowing them to stick around. The guys were happy to practice their English, which was excellent yet heavily accented. Claire had an easy-going way that made people comfortable when she was chill. Nestra wondered if the guys were flirting, but she’d never find out. One of them had his visor. He checked it with a frown.

“Herrgott. Guys. Allfather’s dead.”

Nestra wasn’t the only one to gasp.

“What?” Claire said.

Nestra pulled her own visor. Threshold already had headlines announcing the breaking news. It was apparently true, confirmed by the Nordic united military. Allfather was dead.

He was the third A-class gleam to die in history.

The little meeting broke up while everyone focused on the news. Claire suggested heading back to the hotel for a while. They wouldn’t get to visit what they wanted, but Nestra knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it anyway.

“Did you fight alongside him?” Nestra asked Claire as she carried her back — she’d updated her flight license.

“We were on the same battlefields but not in the same spot. Allfather is, no was, well...”

She only hesitated a moment.

“A fucking war criminal. If it were up to me, he’d have been executed.”

Nestra nodded. The strongest raiders were not always the most well adjusted individuals, and the horrors and chaos of the Incursion hadn’t improved things. There were some, like Allfather or Cherny, who’d been monsters all along. They were kept in check by other A-ranks, alive, because humanity didn’t have the luxury to kill or risk its most powerful defenders.

Or at least that’s what her ethics professor had said. He hadn’t looked very happy about it.

They retreated to the top floor lounge for drinks. Nestra used her visor to catch the latest news.

“They say it was multiple B-portal breaches. Would that even be enough?”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Claire replied. “Not at all. Even if the portal guardians were perfectly coordinated, which is unheard of, Allfather was air and cold. He could just fly away in a storm. There are no A-rank portals in Scandinavia.”

“You mean, there are no A rank portals at all. For now? Right?” Nestra asked.

Claire waved her hand.

“We can’t check the bottom of the ocean so I’m not sure myself. Anyway, Allfather had flight and his entourage, of course. I guess I’ll just wait for the nuttiest conspiracy theories.”

The news didn’t ruin the last day of the trip, but it was certainly a distraction that even eclipsed the train assault news. Despite that, Nestra and Claire still enjoyed their last day of visits with constant, quiet questions from Claire about what Xenonestra was capable of.

“The tremendous Extra-TeNestrial,” Claire whispered.

“For Riel’s sake please spare me your abominable puns.”

Despite the first attempts at a joke, Claire’s mood grew more somber as Nestra’s explanations continued.

“That speed of progress and the raw power... very impressive. And very concerning. We almost lost against the lizard fuckers, and they were mana starved. If the species you belong to decides we’re tasty...”

“You’re not,” Nestra assured her.

Claire had a very, very, very weird look on her face.

“Look, someone attacked me and I bit them, alright? I promised I didn’t swallow.”

“Jesus H Christ in a bread basket, Nestra.”

“Teeth are a weapon and I shall not apologize.”

“Well. Huh. I guess. Anyway, I still hope they don’t attack us because I don’t know how we can stop them.”

Nestra held back the fact that humans were tasty, not in their flesh but in their cores and adaptability. It was... an issue. Sereth had mentioned she would go to their home plane at some point. It might be a good thing for her to convince those fine Aszhii that Earth was better left alone, at least for a while. She guessed she’d see later.

The next morning, they went through Swiss customs without a hitch. Nestra wasn’t sure if it was their gleam status, normalcy, or the local authorities were just happy to see the back of them. The same dragoon who had debriefed her was waiting by the boarding gate.

“I am just here to inform you that we checked the plane for explosives.”

“Thanks,” both Palladians replied at the same time.

The flight back was mercifully uneventful. Nestra had another twenty minutes of joy floating around though she would have liked it much better as an Aszhii. The plane landed in the late afternoon in Threshold. As soon as she stepped off, she felt the higher mana, the heat, the humidity, and the distant smell of chili. Ah, home.

“Welcome back,” the customs officer told her with a bubbly smile.

The short woman took far longer to handle her entry than Nestra expected. A queue was forming behind her.

“Hmm, is everything alright?”

“Well your ID says you’re a baseline, but you’re clearly not...”

“Ooooh.”

Fuck.

“Oh don’t worry, we were informed of the medical procedure. You’ll be through in no time, I just need to fill in a form. Be sure to apply for the user examination within three days, of course.”

“Yep. I already have an appointment.”

“All done. Have a great day!”

Nesta picked up her luggage with Claire. She was through a gate a little later and then she was bodily grabbed and carried away by her mom.

***

“Yooooo!” Helena exulted. “I’m your senior now, and you know what that means? It means I’ll take you on a raid and you gotta listen to me. I’ll be the wise mentor!”

“She has to pass the raider accreditation first,” her mother argued. “And spell training. No daughter of mine will walk around with her abilities unlocked and no idea on how to use them.”

“I can teach her! I know how my abilities work,” Helena replied with a knowing smile.

Mom rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. Helena’s approach to magic was just ‘it’s one more muscle’ really, and both their dad and Ulysses used instinctive mana shaping to move their steel around. Only Mom had a more ‘mage’ approach to her mana.

“I am secretly a musclehead too,” Nestra informed her mother.

“You don’t say? Well, I’m sorry to tell you but ice is a complex affinity that requires an understanding of magical theory to be properly used. Electricity is... well, it’s both, but I’m afraid you will have to follow a hybrid path, daughter of mine.”

“Noooooo.”

“If it is any comfort, you will be zipping around the battlefield in ice armor in no time at all.”

“You can be a very fast swordsman like your brother,” her dad said from the car’s front seat.

There was an awkward silence. As always, dad meant well but couldn’t read the room. Ulysses hadn’t been here to pick her up at the airport. It looked like there would be no peace here.

“Well I can always spar with you,” Nestra said to save the mood.

Except it reminded her again that she’d be taking the time and resources of her family just like he had accused her off. It was normal for a child but she was no longer a child and, more importantly, she wasn’t his child. It made her feel guilty. Was he her dad? She saw him that way because he had raised her. Wouldn’t that be more important?

Would he share her belief, though?

Nestra shook her head. She’d tell them one day. One day for sure.

***

“Congratulations, Nestra!”

Vassily was moved to tears. The big lug grabbed her in a bear hug before setting her down with some advice. The party was in full swing by now. Not just house Palladian but also the Century Guild and other, more distant allies had come to offer their congratulations for the return of the prodigal princess. The Palladian estate was filled with revelers socializing, most of them strong raiders. Nestra had elected to wear a pretty tame dress and not much jewelry, thus deflecting most of the attention to Aunt Claire who accepted it with good grace. Nestra felt she was the lucky recipient here, not the person who’d actually gotten shit done. Several B-class heavyweights from other houses had engaged her in a deep discussion about core damage that occurred, as usual with them, at accelerated speed that gave Nestra whiplash.

“Remember to always take a support mage with you to cover your back. Strikers like you need a safe place to slow down,” Vassily added after a delay.

“I have ice! I will be my own support!”

“Ugh not this again. Little Nestra. You must bring friends! Life is better with friends around.”

“Monsters don’t care about fairness. Either you can pass with what you have, or you can’t.”

She shrugged.

“Not like, you know, we aren’t all some of the most privileged people on the planet, hmm?”

The firespark didn’t have the time to reply before the examiner came. The official gleam was a lanky man with a perpetual grin and the sparkly iris of a buzzer.

“Right. My name’s Baek and you may call me Baek-Nim. We’ll be testing you for a variety of abilities culminating in the real life test.”

That meant facing a monster under controlled conditions.

“You young folks are lucky. We got a few nice specimens this time, fresh from the farm.”

He smirked. None of the late teens were scared, except a few support mages though the examiners almost always made them face dokkaebi and not the most dangerous ones either. It was understood that not everyone would have the same role. It was also understood that you went into portals to kill shit or get killed in return.

“Well then, let’s start. Miss Ang, Mister Baker, Mister Cai, you’re on.”

The test was exactly what she expected: some stamina, some speed, some reflexes which consisted in dodging tennis balls and gave Nestra Mazingwe-related PTSD. She aced everything without difficulty even accounting for the heavy armor, and for good reason. She was already physically a low-to-mid D-class. She was simply much stronger and much more experienced than anybody else taking the test.

Of course, if any twenty-five year old raider came here they’d probably blow her out of the water but that was besides the point. At least, her results made the stares stop. Finally, the group progressively reached the end of the track. There was an open arena with a transparent barrier and a couple of stones, well lit by several lamps. A steel locked gate awaited at the other end. This was it. The nervous tension among the examinees reached a paroxysm. Nestra could see it in the shifty eyes and tense shoulders.

Interestingly, her Aszhii self was entirely quiet. The children were just that, children. They were not a danger and therefore, they were not valid prey. Anyone attacking them would be fair game though.

So far, all the students had made it. No one showed up who wasn’t ready, and the physical aptitude test was generous so long as one could at least survive in a portal world. The first person to be tested was an archer who was to face a group of trash spiders. She managed to shoot several down before finishing the last two with a short sword, making it with minor scratches.

The test continued, everyone applauding with every success. Only one person failed which forced Baek to intervene: a dagger wielder with obvious coating difficulties. His blade simply didn’t break through the skin of the mana monkey he was trying to kill. It was a bit pitiful. He had to be carried out in a stretcher after suffering several body blows.

By then, the area had quite a bit of blood and body fluids littering the sand. Nestra was next.

“Miss Palladian, lucky you! You get one of the better ones,” the examiner warned.

He was still smiling, but Nestra appreciated the warning nonetheless.

“Thank you, Baek-Nim.”

“Let’s see what you can do.”

Nestra walked through the secure door onto the sand. It was a bit colder than the bright light made it look. In front of her, the steel gate opened, and a cage let out a neosaur.

The bipedal lizard was earth-born because it didn't immediately rush her with uncontrollable rage. It wouldn’t matter. She was familiar with their patterns, having slain several in both human and Aszhii form. This one was alone and spotted so it would charge her and jump at the last moment. She adopted a falcon guard, the blade held high above her head, and approached. At the same time, she drew electric mana from her core. The vivid energy answered with wild enthusiasm. Her short practice was paying off.

Her blade welcomed the fake electricity until it buzzed above her, coursed by silvery arcs. She hadn’t stopped moving. The neosaur took one good look at her.

It retreated back into its cage.

Nestra paused. From the depth of its tiny home, the neosaur glared at her with vicious yellow eyes.

“Ehm. Maybe another one?” she suggested, her guard still up. “Or you could spur it out?”

Baek shook his head.

“That would not be very sporting.”

The other students moaned their disappointment. Nestra had to admit, she was all hyped up for a fight and this was a bit of a let down.

“Miss Palladian. How about a friendly spar instead?” Baek offered.

The class held its breath. Nestra judged Baek was C-class, but at the very beginning of it. That made it more dangerous than anything else because it meant he wasn’t so strong he could perfectly control the encounter. Nevertheless, she would never dream of refusing.

“Of course. Step right in,” she invited.

Whispers erupted in the class, most of whom had already passed since ‘P’ was pretty low in the alphabetic order. Baek grabbed a training stick. He was not wearing any armor. That tickled Nestra a bit.

“Much obliged,” he replied, mockingly.

Nestra made sure her helmet was secure. Damn staff had range on their side, like spear users. Annoying. She changed to a one-handed fencer’s posture. A breath, and the electricity in her sword faded. She called upon ice mana instead.

Ice mana was... more abstract, Slower. Almost languid in the way it crawled up from the hilt and towards the tip. Baek didn’t flinch but he stopped smiling. Coating with electricity would have been useless against a buzzer like him, but ice? Ice was stillness. It was insidious. It always reached its target, eventually.

“Begin,” Baek said.

Nestra moved in on light feet. Her first lunge aimed for the man’s unprotected fingers instead of his body, but he’d expected it and he pulled his hand back, striking at the same time. Nestra deflected without difficulty. He wasn’t using all of his strength. Yet. She pressed on, expecting him to toy with her if she let him take the initiative. She would tire long before he did.

Baek kept his distance despite Nestra closing in. She had to side run to keep up with him, watching her distance all the time. She managed her breath and movement as they played cat and mouse, quick jab for quick jab. He was fast and his technique was flawless so it was going to be difficult, but she had a secret weapon: the coating. She kept it well fed. Hell, she had the reserves for it. Coating was cheap.

It was when the cold bit his fingers that Baek realized something was wrong. Lack of experience in dueling, maybe. Ice users were on the rare side of things. Once he noticed that his weapon was slowly turning into an icicle, he went on the offense. Nestra switched guard to Chudan-no-kamae, simply holding her blade in front of her with both hands, sword tip aimed at her opponent. He moved in and used his sword like a dual blade, which was a bit quaint. Her guard was perfect to counter each blow and threaten a beheading or two. The ice just kept creeping up the staff with patient hunger and Baek’s breath was fogging by now. He accelerated to C-class speed until Nestra was outmatched. Uncaring, she delivered a powerful blow.

His staff ripped against her shoulder guard, failing to do anything but pushing her away while he danced aside. She followed through. She kept pushing ice mana out and she felt something click. There was now a continuous white fog around her as she kept blocking increasingly stronger attacks.

“Alright,” Baek said. “Time to push you a little more.”

Electricity crackled along the staff but it failed to break the ice apart. Still, Nestra almost flinched when she turned aside to accept the next blow she failed to stop.

The Bellerophon drank the mana like it was a potion.

Nestra countered. Baek’s blows were slower now, but they were freaking powerful. She met them as she could by deflecting most of the power aside with her blade. He finally aimed for her helmet with one final charge. She’d been expecting it. Charging forward, Nestra leaned into the attack which slid against her jaw. She grabbed the staff with her left hand and blocked it against her shoulder. With her right hand, she struck down.

Her sword’s hilt crashed against the brittle staff as Baek was pulling it back. It exploded into shards, just as Baek pointed at her with both fingers.

The posture was disturbingly familiar. Faster than she could really think, she planted her sword on the ground just as Baek yelled a warning.

‘Watch out!”

Thunder roared. A bolt smashed against her handle, traveling down the blade and her armguard before dispersing harmlessly in the ground below. The Bellerophon smoked a bit, but it was undamaged, and Nestra was unharmed. She barely felt a little nip.

Nestra stood and twirled her blade like she wasn’t a sweaty mess under all that metal.

“Not bad. Not bad at all,” Baek admitted.

He saluted. Nestra returned it. The other examinees applauded or banged the floor with their feet. There were murmurs of approval.

“The Zero Aura was perhaps a little overkill, hmmm? Anyway, I can see why you were requested for a special physical examination now,” Baek said with a smile that, this time, was genuine.

Zero Aura? Nestra would have to ask her mom later. The physical examination was more concerning.

“What do you mean, Baek-Nim?”

“Oh, no one told you? You’re scheduled for a solo-raider license. I can tell you that you already passed with flying colors so you can just go there straight away.”

“Wait, I didn’t request anything.”

“Your examiner is waiting. Off you go now. It’s two rooms away, no need to get changed.”

She hesitated but Baek urged her on. Nestra was torn between reaching for her visor or going to see what this was about. She was in friendly territory but at the same time, she’d been caught with her pants down less than a week before. In the end, she decided to go just because Rangarok was literally one building away, but she still prepared an SOS message on her visor just in case.

There was a fully empty combat room ready for her. To be precise, it wasn’t exactly empty. There was one person present. Standing as tall as her Aszhii self, he was wearing an antique set of golden armor as old as the Incursion itself, pretty much a relic. His sun-like eyes surveyed her as she entered.

“Ah, Miss Palladian. Good day to you. I took the liberty to... reschedule our examination.”

“Doctor Mazingwe? Hmm, good day as well. What are you doing here?”

His voice was deep and slow. It was obvious he was enjoying himself.

“There are many new metrics to measure now that you have two user bodies. There is also the matter that we were never able to properly benchmark your... special capabilities within the limited space of my office, a much delayed necessity. I believe this place will do nicely. After all, it was built to withstand quite a bit of punishment.”

“Errr.”

Behind her, the door and observation windows closed shut with a ‘clonk’ of finality, like the last bell of a requiem. A burning spear appeared in Mazingwe’s hand. It blazed like the morning light.

“Can we talk about this?”

“No, Miss Palladian, we may not. What do you fencers like to say? Ah, yes. En garde.”

“Fuck.”

***

Later that day with some bruises and two new licenses

Sereth was in one of his more chill moods. Lounging on his pillow pile, he was every bit the languid Aszhii prince Stibbs probably liked, far from his goofy, human-fascinated self. Like that he almost seemed respectable.

“Mazingwe put me through hell,” Nestra complained.

She looked around for food. There was none, which was very uncharacteristic of his house.

“There is stew in the crock pot but it’s going to take a few more hours before it’s ready. There’s nothing fresh because I was out. Sorry. You can always bake a frozen pastry.”

“You were out? Wait, were you looking after me? Aw.”

“It is my job. A job that you are making considerably harder through your own actions.”

He took a bite of a large core, savoring it. Nestra watched how the teeth cleaved through the surface to release their gooey innards even though decades of scientific studies had proven mana cores absolutely didn’t work that way. Aszhii physiology didn’t care.

Nestra’s neurons slowly connected the dots as the last of the blue and gray core disappeared into the Earth’s apex predator’s gullet.

“Wait... wait.”

He waited, impassive.

“You killed Allfather.”

Sereth’s voice remained flat. He was very annoyed.

“I did. I am given some liberties in how I look after you. Since bombs and walker attacks are, well, technology-related, I believe they are within my purview to stop. Allfather had a reputation of extreme pettiness that would make it difficult for me to manage, and after you revealed your nature to yet another person...”

“Wait,” Nestra replied, “Allfather was behind the train attack?”

“Yes, and also, naturally, the main beneficiary of the slave auction. You do need to find out whose toes you have stepped on before they step back, but you didn’t even try.

He was suddenly standing in front of her with his index finger aimed straight at her core.

“I am starting to think you need a full war party to protect your ‘secret identity’. So I decided to shorten the list of those who might hasten the process.”

He made it clear what he thought about the entire situation.

“Carelessness. You were lost in happiness and allowed yourself to be caught.”

His ears drooped. All the pretend hostility dropped from his posture, and he sat back, sighing heavily.

“This is your first life, little Nezhra. You are supposed to take your time building the memories that will carry your soul through the later parts of your existence. You may not die here, but you will be chased once they learn of your identity. And then I will have to run with you. And abandon Stibbs and this planet. Every mistake you make is bringing us closer to that point.”

“I apologize.”

He sighed again. She wasn’t sure what emotion he was conveying this time. Maybe wistful.

“You are still so very young. I am being harsh. Those were extraordinary circumstances.”

He waved away in a human gesture he performed with the grace of a ballet dancer. “You are forgiven, I am merely telling you to be careful if you want to savor your youth. I assume you have questions, otherwise?”

“Yes. If I kill a monster as a human gleam, do I get an Aszhii power up?”

“We prefer to call it a trophy, and yes.”

“Neat.”

“You must still capture and use the mana to make your mask stronger. As for Aszhii mana reserves, they shall not improve if they are not fed by the death of slain foes, thus slowing down your progress.”

“It’s ok, it just means I can raid twice as much!”

Sereth nodded. He understood perfectly.