I awoke to a loud pounding on my door, with Lindrell’s voice calling out, “It’s time to get up…”

I groaned and responded, “I’m awake…” That seemed to be just the thing I needed to hit the snooze on that particularly annoying alarm, though I didn’t dare roll over and go back to sleep. As if I could. Between the strange location, everything that was going on, the nightmares that threatened to come when I closed my eyes, and the fact that I kept rolling over onto my new breasts, I hadn’t been able to sleep much.

As I sat up in bed, I thought about events of the day before. It had been a shock to discover that nearly everything that I’d always believed to be myth was in fact real, and even more to realize that I was now smack dab in the middle of it. The whole thing seemed surreal. But surreal or not, this was the reality I was now stuck with. Whether I liked it or not, I was now a woman and a Val Kyr, caught up in a war with monsters that had been going on for thousands of years. I was in WAY over my head.

Then I thought about the feast from the night before, which the Val Kyr had thrown as a welcome for Julie and me. There had been food…ungodly amounts of food…with whole pigs roasted over a spit, tables that were overflowing with rich desserts, and more booze than I’d ever seen before in my life. There was beer, wine, champagne, and of course…mead. Mead had definitely been present in large amounts, and the Val Kyr hadn’t seemed to care in the least that Julie and I were underage. They just gave us more and more to eat and drink.

In spite of the fact that I’d eaten more food than ever before in my life, I’d never felt so full that I wanted to puke. And even though I probably ended up drinking enough alcohol to make four grown men pass out, I’d never reached the point where I was completely plastered. Even now, I didn’t feel the slightest trace of a hangover, which was obviously yet one more benefit of being Val Kyr.

“Great,” I said with a sigh. “I’ve gained the power to drink a whole frat under the table.” College was definitely going to be a lot more interesting, or at least that was my thought until I realized that I was now more likely to end up in a sorority than a fraternity. Then again, since I was Val Kyr now and expected to fight daemons, normal things like college might no longer even be possible. I felt a stirring of disappointment at that.

I closed my eyes, reminding myself that my old life was over and this was the life I had now. Lindrell had warned me of that when she’d offered to save my life. She’d given me the choice of life or death, and even though this wasn’t the kind of life I ever would have imagined for myself, it was far better than the alternative. There was no doubt that being a girl with magic powers was WAY better than being six feet under. This would be weird, but at least I’d get the chance to live with it.

With that, I stood up and brushed my long hair out of my face, then I slowly looked down over my new body. Since I’d had a whole day to get used to the idea, it wasn’t nearly as shocking to see myself as it had been the last time I’d woken up like this. It was still weird, as well as hard to believe that this was me, but I didn’t feel the urge to scream in panic.

From comparing my height to Lindrell’s, I knew that unlike Julie, I hadn’t gained any height when I’d changed, though I hadn’t lost any either. I still appeared to be about six feet tall, the same as before. However, I did have much better muscle tone, and I hadn’t exactly been a couch potato before this. Still, with all my new curves on top of that, I definitely had a killer body.

“If this whole Val Kyr thing doesn’t work out,” I joked weakly, “maybe I could make a living with Playboy.” Of course, that was assuming my face matched my body. I still hadn’t seen a mirror since waking up this way, so I had no idea what my face actually looked like, though Julie had assured me I was beautiful. I let out a sigh and said, “I can live with this.” However, even as I said that, I knew I was trying to convince myself just as much as I was stating it as fact. “And it’s not like I have much choice.”

When I was done looking myself over, I grabbed the clothes that I’d worn yesterday. As I’d learned, these loose gray clothes were the Val Kyr equivalent of a sweat suit, used mostly for light exercise and training, which seemed to mean anything that didn’t require them to wear armor. I felt a little grossed out by the fact that I didn’t have any underwear…panties to wear, and as disturbing as it was to admit it, with my new assets I was definitely going to need a bra.

I stepped out of my assigned quarters and paused to look back and forth down the hallway. I knew that Julie was in the room beside mine while Lindrell was directly across the hall, but I had no idea as to who was in any of the other rooms. Just then, one of the doors opened and a gorgeous and very naked woman stepped out and casually walked towards the communal bathroom. I just stared in surprise, wondering if that was a common occurrence.

“This might not be so bad after all,” I mused with a faint smirk, at least until I remembered that I’d be able to see the same thing anytime I wanted just by looking in a mirror.

I hesitated a few seconds, then started down towards the bathroom too. Though most of Val Halla’s décor seemed unbelievably old fashioned, I’d been relieved to discover that the bathrooms were a bit more modern. There were sinks with running water, and even more importantly, flush toilets. The whole place reminded me more of a nice hotel than of public restrooms, and there were six individual stalls, each of which was quite roomy so I didn’t feel at all claustrophobic. However, the fact that I did my business in a women’s restroom…with women’s parts myself…made the whole experience quite awkward.

While I was washing my hands in the sink, Julie came in and smiled when she saw me, then asked. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing all right,” I answered, glancing towards the stall that was still occupied by the naked woman. “I just feel…weird.”

“I know what you mean,” Julie responded with a grin. “I mean, I feel different too. Probably not as much as you, but I’m taller and my balance is a bit off because of it.”

I nodded at that, not seeing it as quite the same thing at all, though I didn’t point that out to her. However, Julie had known me a long time and seemed to get what I was thinking, because without another word, she just gave me a reassuring hug.

Though I would have liked to talk to Julie a little more about this, I was feeling pretty self-conscious about standing around in the women’s restroom and having a personal conversation while a stranger listened in. Because of that, I hurried back out into the hall where I met up with Lindrell, who was dressed much like Julie and I, though she had a red sash tied around her waist.

“About my clothes,” I started, burning bright red with embarrassment. “I think I’m going to need some…other things.”

Lindrell stared at me for a moment, then she began to chuckle. “I suppose you’re right, Michelle. Unfortunately, we won’t have the time for shopping since you and Julie are both going to be extremely busy with training for the foreseeable future. Right now, you’re newly awakened and untrained, which makes you both very tempting target for our enemies. They won’t hesitate to come after you, so they can kill you before you become a threat. Because of that, we don’t want you or Julie leaving until you’re able to defend yourselves.” She put a hand on my shoulder and said, “But don’t worry. There are a couple other Val Kyr about your size, so you should be able to borrow one of their bras for now. And the next time someone is sent out for supplies, we’ll have her pick up a few things for you and Julie. Because in case you hadn’t notice, you aren’t the only one who needs new clothes.”

“I’d noticed,” I admitted, blushing even brighter, which only made Lindrell grin.

A short time later, we were back in the massive dining hall that served as a cafeteria. The place had been cleaned up a bit from the feast the night before, but it was still quite a mess. And of course, breakfast largely consisted of leftovers. I didn’t mind eating leftovers, though I was still amazed that after everything I’d eaten at the feast, that I was able to eat anything at all.

“I’m going to get huge, eating like this,” Julie complained, patting her stomach and obviously thinking about the pudge that she’d only just lost.

“That won’t be a problem,” Lindrell assured her, looking quite pleased. “Among the many benefits of being Val Kyr is the fact your body will remain in the same shape it’s in now. You’ll never get fat, no matter how much you eat or how little you exercise. And since you two are still young, you’ll probably both age for a few more years, then stop aging entirely.”

“Awesome,” Julie exclaimed excitedly.

I stared at Lindrell for a moment, thinking about how the Val Kyr didn’t age. She’d already told me this several times, though I still had a hard time believing it, even after everything else I’d seen. “I hope this isn’t too rude,” I started carefully, “but how old are you?”

Instead of being offended, Lindrell looked amused. Julie just stared at her with a curious expression, eager for the answer. “Let’s just say that when I was born,” she finally answered, “your country hadn’t been yet.”

I nearly choked at that while Julie gaped with her mouth open. “Well,” I joked after a moment, “I guess that’s why you taught history…”

Lindrell nodded, no longer seeming like the mean teacher who had it out for me in class. But on the other hand, now that I’d seen her swing that axe around, she was a whole lot more intimidating, so I was glad that her hostility was no longer directed at me. “Now eat up,” she said, gesturing to our plates. “We have a lot to do today.”

Julie and I shared a nervous look, though I could see she was eager and filled with anticipation as well. That was enough to make me grin in response, though I had a feeling that by the time we were done for the day, neither of us was going to be smiling.

After we finished eating, Lindrell announced, “Now it’s time to discover your pillars.”

“Pillars?” Julie and I both asked at the same time.

Lindrell just smiled faintly, then said, “There is something I need to retrieve from my quarters. Come.”

We followed Lindrell back to her quarters, then she ducked inside the room for only half a minute before emerging with her massive axe. She slung the thing over her shoulder with a casual ease, as though it weighed nothing at all, then started off down the hallway again. Though she didn’t say anything, she obviously intended us to follow.

“I feel like I’m in the middle of Lord of the Rings,” Julie whispered to me, gesturing towards the axe.

“Yeah,” I responded wryly. “I just hope we’re not expected to just walk into Mordor.”

Instead of taking us to Mordor, Lindrell led us out of the large building that served as the primary living area, then across Val Halla to a massive building, which seemed to be the largest structure in the entire place. We ended up in a large round room, one which had beautiful stained glass skylights and which seemed nicely decorated compared to a lot of the other places I’d seen. There was something about this room which screamed of it being important, though perhaps that was the fact that there were three large doors placed around the room, not including the hallway we’d entered through.

“We call these the scales,” Lindrell announced with a sweeping gesture of her arm.

At first, Lindrell seemed to be gesturing around the room as a whole, then I realized that she was referring to a pattern that was engraved in the stone floor. There was a triangle, with each side being about seven feet wide. Inside the triangle, there was a circle, and there was another smaller circle at the top of each of the three points. Each of these circles had symbols etched in the middle, and painted with different colors.

“Musical scales or fish scales?” Julie weakly joked.

I just stared at the symbols on the floor and asked, “What do they measure?”

“Your val,” Lindrell answered, giving me a look of approval. Then she used her axe as a pointer, gesturing with it to the triangle. “We use a triangle to represent the val because the val has three pillars…three aspects of the power it gives each of us. Jatta, kaern, and notru. You can think of these pillars as body, mind, and soul…though it would be more accurate to call them vitality, awareness, and essence.”

“These are the pillars you mentioned earlier?” I asked, carefully looking over the symbols. I noticed that each of the three large doors to the room had a symbol on it that matched one of the ones on the floor.

“Yes,” Lindrell agreed. “As I said, these are the three pillars of the val, and they not only define our abilities, but also our roles with the Val Kyr. Each of us has one pillar that we relate to most, where the largest portion of our val energies are concentrated.”

“What do you relate to?” Julie asked Lindrell.

“I am jatta,” Lindrell answered proudly, using her axe to point to the red colored symbol on the floor. “Jatta is what gives us our physical abilities…enhanced strength, stamina, healing, and our longevity. For those of us who are of the jatta, we are even stronger, have greater endurance, and heal even more quickly. But we can also share some of our extra jatta energies with other Val Kyr, giving them a burst of physical energy and allowing them to heal far quicker. Because of our abilities, the jatta usually serve as front line warriors and healers.”

“Kaern,” Lindrell continued, pointing to the green symbol, “is the pillar of awareness and perception. This increases our senses, lets us sense things beyond the mere physical, and allows us to interpret and react to this information more quickly, which enhances our reflexes. Those of the kaern have an even greater awareness of their surroundings, can sometimes sense things a great distance away, and they can project their kaern energies outward in order to manipulate the senses and perceptions of others.” She paused at that, then said, “The kaern serve as scouts, spies, diplomats, and also as our usual recruiters. With their increased situational and tactical awareness, they can also make for effective commanders during battle.”

Then Lindrell turned her attention to the final point of the triangle and gestured to the blue symbol. “Notru is for essence. Every Val Kyr generates essence…a manifestation of our val infused spirit and life energies.” She paused at that and stood there with a thoughtful expression, as though trying to decide how to explain. “If you wear armor on a regular basis…training in it…fighting in it…it will become saturated with your essence. Your essence will then bend the armor to your purposes, making it stronger, tougher and more effective…while also making it feel lighter and more comfortable. Your essence will make your armor become like a part of you...like a second skin. The same is true for your weapon. As you use your chosen weapon, it will slowly become infused with your essence and will also become a part of you. It will become stronger, sharper, and will often manifest your essence in ways that are unique to you.”

With that, Lindrell held up her axe, which began to glow faintly. Suddenly, frost began to spread out over the axe blades, and when Lindrell gently touched the floor with her axe, frost and ice crystals spread out along the floor as well.

“Awesome,” Julie exclaimed, nearly bouncing with excitement. “You mean we’ll get our own magic weapons too?”

“You will be given normal weapons,” Lindrell explained with an amused smile. “But it is you who will fill them with magic.”

I stared at the frost on the ground thoughtfully, then asked, “If every Val Kyr can do this…then what can the notru do?”

Lindrell gave me a faint look of approval, which was quite different than what I was used to receiving from her in class. “Notru generate much more essence than the rest of us and they can quickly infuse it into their environment, giving them control over their surroundings. They can shatter boulders, turn ponds to ice, and make solid ground behave like quicksand. They manipulate the battlefield, construct fortifications, and maintain Val Halla itself.”

“Awesome,” Julie gasped, looking more than a little interested. “So the notru are like wizards”

“No,” Lindrell responded, giving Julie a faint smile. “Wizards wield a different power than the val…though admittedly, wizards and notru can perform some of the same effects.”

“Wizards are real?” Julie gasped.

I just burst out laughing, which got me a curious look from Julie. “We’re standing in the middle of Val Halla,” I pointed out wryly, “being trained to be Val Kyr…and you’re surprised that wizards are real too?”

“Well, how would I know?” she responded, sticking her tongue out at me.

Of course, I was actually just as amazed by that revelation as Julie was, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease her. However, that also made me wonder yet again what else might be out there. Faeries? Vampires? Bigfoot? An honest politician? Well, that last one might be a little far-fetched.

“Every Val Kyr falls into one of these pillars,” Lindrell continued, gesturing around the room towards the three doors. “And each pillar has its own training area.”

I looked around, realizing for the first time that we now had an audience. There were several women standing around each of the doors, watching us expectantly. I also noticed that each of them was wearing a sash around their waist, of the same color as the symbol above their door. My eyes darted to the red sash around Lindrell’s waist, then to the red jatta symbol on the floor.

“I am your primary trainer,” Lindrell told us, then gestured to the women who were watching. “But once you learn which pillar you belong to, you will also be assigned a mentor to teach you the tactics and abilities of your pillar.”

“So, what do we do now?” I asked cautiously, feeling self-conscious because of the way we were being watched.

Instead of answering, Lindrell stepped into the triangle on the floor, then stopped and stood within the large circle that was in the middle of the triangle. As soon as she was in place, that circle glowed with a silvery white light, and a moment later, the jatta circle glowed red. Lindrell remained there for about ten seconds, long enough for Julie and I to both see how it worked, then she stepped out and the circles stopped glowing.

“So, basically,” I said, looking over the symbols all over the floor. “This thing is the sorting hat.”

“Me next,” Julie exclaimed eagerly. She hurried into the center of the triangle, joking, “Come on Gryffindor…”

The circle in the middle immediately began to glow with the same silvery white color that it had when Lindrell stood there, making me think that this one just detected that val was there. A second later, one of the outer circles began to glow, the one for notru. The women with the blue sashes, who were standing in front of the notru door, began to clap and cheer.

Julie grinned at me and said, “All right,” as she stepped out of the triangle. “Your turn.”

I nodded at that and looked over the three options, wondering which one I’d choose if I had a choice. From what Lindrell said, there were advantages to any of the three pillars. After taking a deep breath, I stepped forward and into the middle of the triangle.

“Okay sorting hat,” I joked, “do your thing.” The circle that I was directly standing within immediately began to glow with a silvery white light, just as it had for Julie and Lindrell. But when I looked around at the other circles, none of them were glowing. Jatta, kaern, and notru all remained unlit. “What does this mean?”

Lindrell stared at me for several seconds with a disappointed expression before she covered it up. “It means,” she said in a careful tone, the kind that clearly said she had bad news. “It means that you have val…just not enough to qualify for any of the pillars.”

I just stood there, feeling a little confused by that, especially since Lindrell had just made a big deal about how every Val Kyr fell into one of those three pillars. In fact, she’d been very clear to point out that our abilities and roles would be defined based on which pillar we ended up in. Without a pillar, would I even have a place with the Val Kyr?

I took a deep breath and looked around, seeing that Lindrell was standing there with a grim look on her face. Most of the Val Kyr who’d been watching us had begun to scatter and leave, all except for the notru with their blue sashes. The notru were already by Julie’s side, slapping her on the shoulder and congratulating her for joining their ranks. And as they tied a blue sash around her waist, I couldn’t help but feel left out.