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I looked myself over in the mirror, admiring how well my armor fit me. I looked like a stranger, both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. Even after being in my new body for a couple weeks, it still caught me by surprise whenever I saw my own reflection, and the armor only made it seem even more surreal.

“Welcome to my life,” I muttered. “Surreal enough to be a Tim Burton movie.” Then I smiled faintly and mused, “But somehow, I don’t think Johnny Depp will be cast in my role.”

With that, I checked the straps on my armor one more time, making sure everything was put together correctly. This was the first time that I’d put the armor on by myself, so it was a good thing that I’d paid close attention to what Zubell had shown me yesterday. Once I was certain that the armor was indeed on correctly, added the final touch…the white sash Ionne had given me last night. Now I looked like a proper center…or at least I hoped I did.

As I left my quarters, I spared a glance towards the door of Julie’s quarters and frowned slightly. I felt a stirring of jealousy over the fact that she was still gone on her first mission while I’d been left behind, but I quashed that emotion with the reminder of why I’d been left behind. Sure, Julie might be off on a mission, but I was getting lessons from Freya herself. That was nothing to sneeze at. In fact, I was pretty sure that when Julie heard, she’d be jealous of me for a change.

For a pleasant change of pace, I actually felt rather proud of myself as I went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Other Val Kyr were starting to gather and I knew that I’d arrived just in time. If I’d waited much longer, the wait for food may have gotten a bit too long for my liking.

Hilde came out of the kitchen along with two of her workers, all three of whom were carrying trays of food that they set out on the large table. Then Hilde stopped, her eyes going straight to the sash on my waist. “About damn time,” she said before she turned and went back into the kitchen.

Other than Hilde, only two other women seemed to notice my sash, though I suspected that Hilde’s reaction was the thing that had drawn their attention to it. One notru who I only vaguely recognized commented, “A white sash must mean she’s a blank slate…that she doesn’t have a pillar.” However, her companion, a kaern I’d never seen before, corrected her. “No. Freya wears a white sash as a symbol of her office, so I suspect our young convert is going to be in serious trouble once Freya learns of this.”

Since I was eavesdropping on their conversation, I didn’t bother to correct them. Instead, I took my food and went looking for a place to sit. But to my pleasant surprise, a familiar Val Kyr was waving for me to join her and her companions. I didn’t hesitate before going to the table where Lei was sitting with Bethany and another jatta I’d seen around a few times.

“Sit with us,” Lei invited me with a smile.

“Lindrell would never forgive us if we treated you poorly in her absence,” Bethany added with a grin of her own, gesturing towards an empty seat.

“Thanks,” I responded, happy at the invitation since it meant that even without Julie and Lindrell, I was still making other friends among the Val Kyr.

“You remember Anya?” Lei asked, gesturing to their other companion.

“We haven’t really been introduced yet,” I responded, holding my hand out. “I’m Michelle…”

“It is nice to meet you,” Anya told me with an expression that was cool yet polite. When I shook her hand, I didn’t get a sense of hostility, but more of a hesitancy. I suspected that she was taking the attitude of ‘wait and see’ before deciding whether to like me or dislike me. I could accept that.

“Since your traid as away for the time being,” Bethany said, giving me a faintly sympathetic look, “why don’t you come to our hall for some training this morning?”

“No need to let your training slack just because Lindrell is gone,” Lei agreed.

“Thank you,” I told them with a grin, “but I’m supposed to spend the day training with my mentor.”

“Your mentor?” Lei responded, giving me a look of surprise. “Who did they give you as a mentor?”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering what to tell her. If I told them that Freya was my mentor, they’d probably think that I was either bragging or lying. And then there was the fact that Freya had been keeping the fact that I was a center pretty quiet so far, so I didn’t know if she’d want me talking about it or not. I finally settled for saying, “She told me to call her Ionne.”

“I don’t know any Ionne,” Lei responded, giving me a curious look.

“I haven’t heard of any Val Kyr named Ionne,” Anya stated, her expression holding a clear note of suspicion.

“That is no surprise,” a new voice said from the side.

I looked over, surprised to see that it was Sharra who was standing there with a plate of food in her hands, obviously having overheard us as she was walking past. I’d seen the three generals eating in the cafeteria, and occasionally even Freya, but I hadn’t noticed them being especially talkative with anyone except each other and some of the other elder Val Kyr.

Sharra smiled faintly as she announced, “Ionne serves the Val Kyr in a special capacity and has not been a front line combatant for over eight hundred years.” Then she paused to give me a curious look, seeming somewhat amused at the same time. “She is the only one qualified to help you master your rare gifts.”

“What do you mean, rare gifts?” Bethany asked Sharra curiously.

Sharra reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, stating, “Michelle is atra…a center. Her val is evenly balanced among the pillars, making her of all pillars yet none. Our last active center fell in battle over five centuries ago, leaving Ionne as the sole remaining atra…until now. I feared that we would never have another, so I am pleased to see myself proven wrong.” She looked me in the eyes again and smiled. “Train hard young center, for we shall need your abilities in the battles ahead.”

“I will,” I promised, knowing that if Freya was going to train me personally, then I had to give the training everything I had.

Sharra released my shoulder and turned to leave, but before she could take more than two steps, Bethany asked, “Why have I never heard of this Ionne until now?”

“Oh, but you have,” Sharra paused to respond with a chuckle. “Though you know her much better by her title.” And as Sharra continued walking away, she simply added, “Freya.”

With that, everyone nearby suddenly went silent…as did many others throughout the cafeteria. I realized that not only had nearly everyone within hearing distance been listening in, but so had every kaern in the large room. I gulped, suddenly feeling more than a little self-conscious.

“Freya is your mentor?” Bethany demanded of me in surprise.

I nodded awkwardly at that. “Yeah. She kind of surprised me with that yesterday afternoon…”

Bethany, Lei, and Anya all stared at me with looks of amazement. Then Lei chuckled and admitted, “I have to admit, I wouldn’t have wanted someone like Freya to have been my mentor. That would have been too much pressure.”

“Yeah, I kind of get that,” I muttered, fully aware of the fact that a lot of Val Kyr were probably still listening in.

“Good luck with that,” Bethany told me in a tone of voice that indicated she also meant, “Better you than me.”

The rest of breakfast was a little awkward, so I ate as quickly as I could then hurried out to the fifth courtyard where Ionne had said to meet her for practice. This time, I arrived before she did, though I didn’t have to wait long before she appeared. Ionne was wearing the same armor as yesterday, though she was missing the helmet.

Ionne spun around her double edged spear, which seemed to be her preferred weapon, then simply stated, “Pick your weapon.”

I pulled a sword out of a weapons rack and immediately charged it with essence, at least enough to make the weapon a little more effective. I held the rest of my essence back for the moment, knowing that I’d need it before long. Half a minute after this, Ionne and I were going at it much the way we had yesterday, though there was a noticeable difference. She was no longer merely overwhelming me to see if I’d give up or not. This time, she was holding back a little and offering advice, much like Lindrell did during our usual training.

After half an hour of fighting sword against spear, Ionne pulled the lightning rod trick again, this time summoning the lighting while she was swinging the spear at me. I was paying close attention to what she was doing, so I felt the surge of essence from her spear, right as it built up enough to discharge. That gave me all the warning I needed to jump back, where I barely managed to avoid being struck. I felt the static, but at least this time I didn’t feel the boom.

“My turn,” I said, pushing more essence into my sword and watching in amazement as blue flames flickered along the blade.

I was never quite sure what the effect would be when I pushed essence into a new weapon, but Ionne had told me that was normal. Once a Val Kyr attuned to their chosen weapon, they could use the extra essence to release a bonus effect, one that was different for each individual. Of course, the notru didn’t rely on this bonus effect much since they had enough essence to manipulate other things around them in a much more controlled fashion, and as usual, we atra fell in between. We could get a bonus effect like this from nearly any weapon we used, though Ionne told me that we each tended to get specific types of effects for each type of weapon. According to her, any spear she used this power with acted like a lightning rod and any large hammer could be used to send shockwaves through the ground.

“So that’s what a sword does for me,” I said, though I still didn’t know exactly what the blue flames would do.

I leapt at Ionne, who blocked my blade with her spear. Then I tried several more attacks, each of which was blocked. However, when I paused, I noticed that wherever my blade had connected with her spear, a small blue flame remained on the spear where they’d connected. Ionne paused to look at that as well, then ran her hand over one of the small flames before yanking it back.

“An interesting manifestation,” Ionne commented as the flames faded away from both my sword and her spear. “My charged sword can cleave through anything, even enhanced weapons or the hardest of daemon hides. It seems that your blade leaves behind a ghost flame, one which can still harm your foe.”

I grinned at that, already seeing the possibilities. If those little flaming spots on her spear had continued to burn, then that would have made it very difficult for her to continue sparring without burning her own hands.

“Let me guess,” I said, looking towards the weapon racks. “Change weapons?”

Ionne smiled faintly at that as she nodded agreement. “For those of the center, our greatest strength is our versatility. We may have a preferred weapon, but we must be prepared to change weapons and tactics as the need requires.”

I looked over the various weapons on the rack, remembering that yesterday, the spear had caught fire for me and the axe had frosted over. If those weapons did the same thing for me each time I used them, then could shift between fire, ice, or these ghost flames just by changing which weapons I was using. Now that I thought about it, it was obvious why Ionne kept making me change weapons.

“Due to the nature of their gifts,” Ionne explained, “jatta will almost always attempt to solve a problem with a direct application of physical power, Notru will usually focus first on how they can manipulate their surrounds to suit their needs, and kaern will gather information and seek to manipulate the information that others possess. Each of these tactics has great value in the right situation, and our strength is being able to shift between them, to pick the most effective method for solving a problem.”

“I think I understand,” I told her, picking a war hammer from the rack and wondering what that would do for me.

“Ours is a balanced perspective,” Ionne continued, taking a one handed axe as her chosen weapon. “This is invaluable, whether on the field of battle as part of a triad…or serving in another capacity.”

After this, Ionne and I began going at each other again, this time with our new weapons. I quickly found that I really didn’t like the hammer. It wasn’t too heavy for me to use, but it was too bulky and awkward, especially when it came to trying to block anything. However, when I charged the hammer with essence and smashed it onto the ground, I was rewarded with a loud BOOM. It wasn’t the Earth shattering shockwave that Ionne had created yesterday with her hammer, but more of a loud sonic boom that deafened me for a moment and shattered all the nearby windows.

“A very distracting manifestation,” Ionne commented as she glanced towards the nearest window, or at least the now empty frame. “Though perhaps a little too destructive to the windows for such casual testing.”

“I don’t think I like using the hammer anyway,” I admitted.

“It is not my preferred weapon either,” Ionne admitted. “But it is good to practice its use, and to know what it can do for you.”

“It’s definitely a jatta weapon,” I said.

Ionne smiled faintly. “Indeed it is.” She gave me a thoughtful look, then slipped into lecture mode again. “In the hands of a jatta, who can put great strength behind the blow, this can be a very formidable weapon indeed. When sparring against one who is jatta, do not try to match their strength for you can’t. Instead, use your advantages. Be aware so as you can avoid their attacks and slip through any openings. Use your essence to power your weapon so when you do strike, you can do so definitively.”

I winced slightly as I remembered my sparring session in the jatta hall, and how I couldn’t quite measure up to Nicole’s strength, and she was the weakest of the jatta. I could only imagine how nasty it would be if Lei hit me with her hammer…with her full strength.

“When you face a notru,” Ionne continued, “you can’t take control of the environment from them, nor can you match them with essence. But what you can do is remain aware of what they are doing, find the openings, then strike with a strength they cannot match.”

“And with kaern,” I said in understanding. “I can’t beat their reflexes, so I should just come at them with strength and essence?”

“Your own reflexes are nearly a match for theirs,” Ionne said with a nod of agreement. “Enough so that they cannot overwhelm you completely. As atra, we cannot beat any of the pillars in their areas of strength, but we have two other pillars where we exceed them, so we use those.”

“Sort of like rock, paper, scissors,” I thought aloud, earning a blank look from Ionne.

Ionne gave me a faint smile, then told me, “Of course, daemons and daemonites do not have the same strengths and weaknesses as Val Kyr, but the idea is the same. You must be ready to adapt your methods and tactics, striking where they are most vulnerable.”

I nodded my understanding as I went to the weapon rack and switched out my hammer for a double bladed axe, a smaller version of the one Lindrell uses. I had a feeling that this one wouldn’t suit me much better than the hammer had, but I felt that I should at least try it out.

We charged back and forth, using a pair of axes. When I charged mine up, it coated with frost, and whenever I struck Ionne, her weapon, or even the ground with the icy blade, it left a small patch of ice, much like how my sword had left ghost flames. However, I couldn’t maintain the frozen axe for long.

After I’d practiced with axe and spear, Ionne gave me a thoughtful look and announced, “I’ve been told that you are already adept with a bow.”

I nodded at that, then proudly told her, “I used to go bow hunting with my dad.”

“Excellent,” Ionne responded, looking pleased. “Then let us test your skills.”

There were a pair of bows leaning against the wall beside the weapon racks, and though I’d seen them earlier, it hadn’t seemed like a good idea to use them for close range sparring. However, I was more than happy to pick up a bow and quiver while Ionne did the same.

The two of us made our way up to the top of the outside wall, and from there, I looked down into the barren ground and the mist. Half a dozen daemons were wandering around within my view, and I could sense the movement just beyond the wall of mist which told me that more were hidden within. A chill went down my spine.

Then remembered my lessons on daemons, and the fact that some of them could fly. I looked up into the sky, relieved to see no signs of any daemons above us. However, with the thick wall of fog that surrounded Val Halla, there could easily be a dozen flying daemons nearby, flying wide circles around the fortress without my even knowing.

After I was done looking at the sky, I looked around, noticing that there were a couple kaern archers placed along the walls. Obviously, they were present to keep watch for any flying daemons, which made me feel a little better about remaining in Val Halla.

“Normally,” Ionne told as she stared out at the daemons with a grim expression, “your training would progress at a somewhat more leisurely pace. Unfortunately, daemon incursions are increasing, as are the number of daemons surrounding Val Halla. You and Julie must be readied for battle as soon as possible, for I fear that before long, every Val Kyr may be needed.”

I gulped at that, not sure what to say. I’d overheard other Val Kyr talking about how there were more daemons showing up on Earth, and I’d seen the ones wandering around outside Val Halla with my own eyes. I just hadn’t realized that things were getting bad enough to concern Ionne...to concern Freya.

“Lindrell told me of your first encounter with a daemon,” Ionne commented, still staring down at the daemons below us. “I imagine that was quite frightening, especially for someone who probably didn’t believe in their existence at the time.”

“Something like that,” I admitted, shuddering at the memory.

“Then I imagine you may find our target practice to be rewarding,” Ionne said, right before notching an arrow and letting it fly in a swift and graceful motion. The arrow struck a daemon in the head, which seemed to piss it off more than anything.

I grinned at that, then took my own turn, sending an arrow at the same daemon. The daemon moved so I missed my target, much to my annoyance. I was trying to show off my skill, which I couldn’t do if I missed. So I took a deep breath, readied another arrow, then fired my second shot. This time, I hit the daemon in the neck, which seemed to annoy the creature but little more.

“Unfortunately,” Ionne mused, “many daemons have thick hides, so your aim and timing must be perfect in order to hit their vulnerable spots. Of course, there are alternatives…”

With that, she channeled essence into her bow, so when she notched the arrow and drew back, the string began to glow with a golden light, a light which seemed to channel straight into the arrow until the arrow itself appeared to be made of the same golden light. When she released the arrow, it shot through the air like a golden laser, going straight through the daemon’s head without resistance until it hit the ground and vanished. The daemon collapsed to the ground, the body twitching a little but nothing more.

“Wow,” I said, not sure what else I could say to that impressive display.

“I must be careful with such an attack,” Ionne responded with a faint smile. “Anything behind my target would be pierced as well.”

“That could probably be useful too,” I thought aloud, imagining what would happen if there were other daemons behind her target. Ionne merely smiled.

“The bow has never been my preferred weapon,” Ionne admitted. “I prefer to fight my foes face to face. However, there are times when it is the most effective weapon for a situation.”

I nodded at that, but I was more focused on preparing my own shot. I took a deep breath, then pushed essence into the bow until it reached the point where it was completely saturated. There was no visible sign that anything had changed, no glowing string or flareup of flames, though I could still feel the charge. I just had no idea of what it would do this time. Then as I pulled the string back, I felt the charge of essence running down the string, flowing into the arrow much the way Ionne’s had a minute earlier.

When I released the arrow, it flew through the air with a lot more force than any normal bow would have been capable of providing, courtesy of my essence. My arrow struck the side of a hellhound, then all the remaining energy and essence that was stored in the arrow was released in a single burst, creating a large hole in the daemon’s side. I just stared in surprise as the daemon looked more like it had been shot by a cannon than hit with an arrow.

Ionne nodded in approval. “That should prove effective, if used carefully.”

I stared down at the daemon, seeing exactly what she meant. I’d blown a nice sized hole in the daemon’s side, but the daemon was still alive. It was howling and snarling, obviously pissed off and in serious pain. I’d hurt it bad, but I hadn’t killed it. With a grimace of determination, I pulled another arrow out of my quiver notched it on my bow. I didn’t have enough raw essence left to recharge my bow, but I hadn’t used up the full charge on that last shot and was able to fire a second arrow. This one hit the daemon in the neck and blew a nice sized hole in it, one large enough that I nearly severed the head entirely. This time, the daemon collapsed to the ground dead.

“That was a much better shot,” Ionne said with an amused look.

I just grinned, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction after killing that thing. “That was awesome,” I exclaimed, eager to try this again. Then after a few seconds, I asked, “What happens if I charge the arrow with essence instead of the bow?”

“Try it and see,” was her answer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough essence left to do that.

Ionne and I continued with our target practice, using the daemons as targets. However, this was a little more difficult as most of the daemons had rushed back into the mist after we’d killed two of them. But whenever one ventured out again, we took the opportunity to test our aim. Shooting daemons was much more satisfying than shooting at simple targets, and this was definitely the kind of training I could enjoy.

Once I’d built up enough essence, I was ready to try the experiment with the arrow. I notched the arrow and drew back, then I infused my essence directly into the arrow. However, as I was in the middle of doing this, the arrow suddenly exploded. Shards of the shaft hit my armor and one piece sliced across my cheek.

“What the…?” I started, grabbing my bloody cheek.

“Some things are not sturdy enough to withstand a direct infusion of essence,” Ionne told me with a faint smile, not seeming the least bit bothered by my injury. Then again, my cut would be healed without a trace in just a few minutes.

I just glared at Ionne for a moment, realizing that she’d known this would happen but hadn’t said a thing. Just like she hadn’t said a thing when the scales had shown me as not having a pillar. Val Kyr seemed to be fond of giving painful lessons, which made me wonder if all the Val Kyr were hiding some kind of sadistic streak.

“Admittedly,” Ionne continued in a pleasant tone, “a sturdy arrowhead can hold a small amount of essence, enough to harden the head and improve the armor penetration, though little more. The kaern often keep arrowheads close, charging their essence until they are needed.” She paused to hold up her bow, then added, “But as you have seen, you can channel essence and a manifestation into an arrow indirectly.”

“It would have been nice if you’d told me that before it blew up in my face,” I spat out bitterly, rubbing my cheek and giving Ionne a brief glare. She didn’t seem to notice.

Fortunately, after this we returned to target practice without any more surprise lessons. This only lasted for another half hour before Ionne announced that we were going to take a break, both for lunch and for her to take care of some of her responsibilities as Freya.

“We will continue your lessons in the library,” Ionne told me once we were done. “Be there in three hours.”

When I walked down from the wall a few minutes after that, I was clutching the bow firmly in hand, grinning as I thought about how much fun it was to shoot daemons, especially with the supercharged arrows. I couldn’t wait until Julie and Lindrell got back, because I was really looking forward to showing off some of the tricks I’d learned.