As of the year fifty-two after the war of the Firante, by order of the Imperatrix, gun powder and any affiliated sulphurous dust is to be banned from her land.

Experiments realized in controlled environments by Sage-Brothers are the only valid exception, provided no God-Touched are present.

A reminder: all gods hate the demonic dust, and God-Touched are compelled into destroying it, no matter the repercussions.

Law 2.15B, 52 AF.

Nay went to the entrance of the school on her own. The large, two-panel oak door was situated on the south-eastern wall. It was so massive she was unable to open it on her own. Fortunately, Marke or the new potential professor had forgotten to close it completely behind them, and she managed to squeeze inside. Two cherry blossoms, with no flowers this season, welcomed her inside the premises. Marke had told her they would become magnificent during spring, but they had been planted too late to bloom last year and she had yet to see it with her own eyes.

She went to look for the two men but failed to find them.

She went through the different rooms multiple times, crossed through all the hallways, even went to check behind the training dummies in the cloister, to no avail.

She realized she had to have missed them somehow and came back to the entrance.

To her horror, the doors were now completely shut. She was stuck inside.

“RA’FAAAAAA?” She shouted.

No answer. She tried again. Then again. And by the fourth she concluded no one could hear her.

‘No need to panic. You’re in the school, they’ll realize where I am. I only need to wait.’ She internally tried to reassure herself.

She sat down next to the closed doors before her eyes fell on the natural wall obstructing the horizon in front of her. A crazy idea burgeoned in her mind.

‘This could be the perfect occasion to…no, Marke would kill me.’

She waited for at least an hour, fiddling with her thumbs.

She was getting thirsty.

She looked at the cliff for the hundredth time.

Her patience had ended; she decided to act.

She followed the walls around the school, south-eastern, then north-eastern, before coming before the massive natural one. The man-made walls were unclimbable, no handles to use, more than 13 feet high (4m), she quickly forgot about them.

The cliff though, had promise. She examined it thoughtfully. It was of a dark, charcoal colour. Numerous gaps scattered the rocky surface.

That was what she wanted to see.

Her main worry was time. In an hour at most, the sun was going to disappear behind the plateau, and with the already dark surface, the lack of light would prevent her from seeing the gaps she needed to climb. Another one was that she could not just climb around the man-made walls. If the cliff could be used to circumvent the stone rampart that easily, the kids would not have been safe. Marke had seen to it, of course. If you wanted to climb around, there was only one way, forcing you to go fifty feet up, then fifty feet down. No way you could have done that discreetly during the middle of the day.

Nay was studying the road to take, and which gaps looked the most reliable.

As if she had done it her whole life, she was analysing every crevice, every potential hold.

Once her mental path done, she began climbing with not a second of doubt.

Every day, she tried not to think about the past, but her hands and feet had not forgotten anything. Her limbs found holds in the rock instinctively, she barely needed to think about it. As she scaled up, a strange feeling grew as well. Exaltation. A thrill like no other.

She felt like she was dancing with the plateau.

Fifty feet were quickly climbed, but as she went to move to the right, she realized she did not find any gaps. They were there, she knew it, but no light shone on them. She had underestimated the speed at which the sun was setting but not that much. The real problem was that she had not been able to see the angle of the rocky pathway on her right when she was down on the ground. It was a sloped wall, and as such, it was already shadowing the sun.

Her brain immediately brought two options to her mind. She found a nice crevice to stick her feet in in a secure position and rested her arms one at a time while she thought about her choices. Either she tried the dark pathway, fumbling in the dark, which would be dangerous and tiresome, or she continued up, towards the sinuous road. Fortunately, that pathway was still well lit, it was not sloped and seemed easy enough to use. She was not scared of going even higher, and she estimated she wouldn’t need to climb more than 150 feet (50m) or so. She took that option and continued her way up.

Abandoning her climb and getting down back to the school had not crossed her mind for even a moment.

Every passing second was stripping a hold from her, obscuring it, making it indistinguishable from the ebony rock. It was a race against the clock, if she did not climb fast enough, she would have to fumble in the dark, a hundred feet in the air, where a single mistake would bring her plummeting to her death. She had seen it happen before, and knew the worst was not the sight: it was the sound.

Still, she was unconcerned by her potential grizzly demise. This exciting emotion was still fuelling her, and she had a big grin on her face.

She forgot everything. Her past, her present. She forgot why exactly she was doing this folly of a climb.

The only thing that mattered was to rise. Rise and rise again. She was jumping from one hold to another, behind her was a voracious shadow pursuing her.

She held an extruding rock, then finally, the darkness caught up to her.

It did not matter.

A torch had been lighted on the road not far from her, and it was lighting the end of the way up.

She reached the sinuous road, unscathed but exhausted. The adrenalin in her veins was diluting and she had to hold her left side to take a breath.

On the other side of the road, the cliff continued going up, but she would not climb any more tonight. Once she calmed down, she thought about her adoptive parents. She had to get to them quickly, or they would realize she was missing. Or was it too late already? How long did it take her to get here? Thirty minutes? An hour? She started walking.

Few people used this road, and she only crossed guards protecting a golden carriage, armoured horses were pulling it to the top of the plateau. People inside the vehicle, evidently nobles, did not even seem to acknowledge her existence. The guards looked at her, completely unconcerned she could be dangerous, as they only seemed confused to her presence here. They did not talk to her, and she concluded the weird stares were due to her sweat-covered body. She continued to the bottom of the plateau towards the Awakened district.

It took more time for her to walk there than it had taken to climb the cliff. Once she reached the bottom, she was met with the gate that separated the lower and upper districts. It was still open and the guards wearing the multicoloured armour were there.

“It’s not closed yet!” Nay said out loud.

That stroke of luck pushed another smile to her face, but as she began crossing the checkpoint, happy her trip went without an itch, one the guards moved in front of her.

“Little lady, what do you think you are doing?”

Nay looked at him confusedly. He seemed even stranger than the others. His armour was full of stars, and he was breathtakingly handsome. Tall, blond, striking blue eyes and charming smile, every woman’s dream. Except Nay thought about one of Ra’fa’s favourite sentence which was: “Not my type!” and that was exactly what the little girl felt then.

“I’m trying to get back home, I’m sorry, can I go through?”

The man laughed.

“If you are on this side, it means you live on this side. You do not have a passage brand, do you? You cannot cross without one. It looks like this.” With those words, he showed her a tattoo on the back of his hand, which looked like a sea serpent if you were imaginative enough.

Nay blushed, now quite embarrassed.

“Erm…well…I was stuck down there and…erm…I climbed to get out…I didn’t know you needed a brand to go up…I’m sorry…”

The guard looked at her, still smiling. Two other soldiers joined them. One of them had a single star on his rainbow armour, the other had none.

‘Seems unimpressive considering I can’t even count those on the weird one.’ She thought.

“Commandare Redrick, isn’t she a bit young for you? Just send her back up there so we can get on with our game, it is not the first time a kid wants to see the city. Even though she looks quite precocious to be the type.” Said the guard with one star, not looking extremely interested in what was happening.

“Wait for a bit.” The blond man answered him. “You climbed the cliff? Where from dear?” He asked Nay respectfully.

“Erm…the new Legio school? You know of it?”

The third guard, who had stayed silent since then, began laughing loudly.

“Really? She proclaims she climbed the Shadowrock side for more than two hundred feet? Well! That’s a first!”

“I had no choice!” She tried to defend herself. “I was stuck midway, and I couldn’t see anything because it was getting dark!”

Commandare Redrick stared at her. His smile had not faltered but his eyes were not amused. “Couldn’t you climb back down?”

“Ah!” Nay exclaimed.

The two other guards laughed again, but the blond did not.

“Come on Commandare, you’re not going to believe her, are you? She’s pretty convincing, I’ll admit, but still!” Said one of them.

“Oh, she’s not lying.” The Commandare answered very seriously. His smile was now quite unnerving.

The guards did not seem to find this funny anymore.

“What do you mean she’s not lying?” Said one of them. “If she’s not lying, she’s delusional.” Called out the other at the same time.

“A perfect training for the both of you! Look at her.” The handsome man’s voice was commanding.

They obeyed, their posture becoming much more professional.

“She’s wearing a weird leather training garb, which…Legio…school…no way? She is the disciple of that madman?”

The non-star wearing guard continued.

“Even he wouldn’t ask that of a girl her age.”

Nay was guessing who they were talking about. It did not feel weird to her that they knew Marke, she was just annoyed they talked about her adoptive father like that.

“Marke has nothing to do with this! I just wanted to get out and the door was too heavy for me!”

There was a brief silence.

“Let me get this straight. You, dear, decided to climb the Shadowrock side of the plateau, a thing that even the most experienced Assini would think twice about, because you couldn’t open a door?” The eyes of the man named Redrick now betrayed his amusement, and something else that Nay could not quite get.

“I don’t know what your Asinisi are! I just want to go back home! Please? Can I go through?” She asked angrily.

“Yes, you may, little lady…But first, I want your name.” He asked her. His smile was still there, as if glued to his face, but his tone had become much more familiar. Filled with interest.

“Nay.” She answered on the spot, happy she could get away with only that.

“I can’t wait for your exhibit next week, Nay.” Said the blond guard. He sidestepped to let her pass.

Finally free, Nay crossed the metal gate in a hurry before they could change their minds, and quickly walked towards her home.

On her way back though, she realized she may have made a mistake somehow.

The smiling man seemed to know her. Well, he definitely knew Marke, but her adoptive father had served under the Imperatrix! To Nay’s knowledge, that meant everyone knew Marke. But, how did the man with many stars know she was going to do an exhibit next week? She thought no-one except Marke, Ra’fa, Ka’in and maybe the new professor knew about that. Did she say too much? How did he guess? She pursed her lips. If her parents knew about what had transpired today… The training would be hellish and Ra’fa would force her to eat mushrooms. She hated mushrooms.

When she reached home, she saw in horror that someone was waiting for her.

Ra’fa was standing in front of the stone house, spatula in hand, and describing her as furious was an understatement.

“Where were you!? You were supposed to have your first lesson today!”

She did not say anything about climbing, which meant she had not seen it happen. Nay internally sighed in relief. She was not out of the woods yet though and hid her expression well.

“I was stuck inside the school! The door was closed!” The young girl tried to explain.

“Don’t lie to me!” Ra’fa retorted. “The door was closed, yes, but you were not inside! Marke went to check one hour ago!”

‘Crap.’ Thought Nay. She tried her last resort: the angelic smile.

It did not work.

“Be ready for Marke’s training tomorrow girl, it is not going to be fun!”

“Where is he?” She asked very quietly.

“Gone to buy furniture with Berth, he needs things for his room in the school. But do not try to change the subject girlie! Go to bed! No meal for you!”

This punishment was okay with her; that was exactly what she wanted to do.

“Can I drink? I’m thirsty.”

“Yes.” Ra’fa answered very sharply.

Nay took a glass of water under the dark gaze of her adoptive mother, then fled to her room. She removed her sweat-drenched clothes and crashed on her bed.

“UP!”

The Legio’s voice startled her awake.

“Dress then follow me; we’re going on a morning run.” He announced with a sombre look.

‘That does not sound good.’ Was the only thought crossing the half-asleep mind of the little girl.

As soon as she was dressed, she rushed to follow the ex-soldier outside.

They ran around the district, taking little alleyways, big boulevards, paved streets and not paved streets. She was still stiff from her climb the day before, and her muscles were screaming. She could not stop gasping and whining when she had to jump over an obstacle or get out of the way of someone.

Her animosity towards Marke was quite high that morning, but even then, she could not stop herself from admiring him. He was running too, through the same crowds and obstacles, but he dodged each and every one of them with impossible ease. Even when a man suddenly opened a door right in front of the Legio, he just spun around it like he knew it would happen. Not once did he lose his rhythm. This was the Rreico, Nay knew. This thing he always taught her that she barely understood. Everything he did seemed to stem from the same movement, from the same breath. He flowed like a river, unstoppable. She could not follow him for long, and he had to stop to wait for her on multiple occasions. She could not enjoy the waking city. Nor the dark and dirty alleyways nor the paved roads. Nor the houses brimming with life, nor the opening windows of stores. Some places smelled like the moats of the city, ground littered with dubious liquids and rubbish, but there was also hidden parks, and the aroma of freshly baked bread coming out of opened homes. Nay would have loved to examine the flowers a woman was selling on the street or the leathery books being sold from an expensive looking shop.

But that had to wait, she had to run.

As they passed next to the sinuous road that climbed the plateau, Nay saw the blond guard that had been there the evening before. ‘When does he sleep?’ She asked herself.

She despaired when he recognized her and waved at her. Then he and Marke exchanged such an intense stare Nay could feel the Rreico of her adoptive father waver for the first time. He did not stop running though, and once away from the guard’s sight, he gave her a weird look.

After what seemed forever, they finally came back to the school.

At the entrance of it, the Legio waited a few minutes for Nay to rest.

She was barely managing to stand on her feet, feeling faint.

“Why did the Commandare wave at you?” He asked.

“…w…Who?” She managed to say between breaths.

“The Virnyl guard. The blond man with the virnyle armour, the multicoloured one, lots of stars on it. He waved at you; I saw. Don’t play dumb, you’re in enough trouble as it is.”

She remembered how the other guards had called him, Commandare. It had slipped her mind. Most likely because it was lacking air.

She tried to think about what to answer. She could not tell him she climbed the cliff, as he said, she was in enough trouble already.

She focused, but she felt her adoptive father lose patience.

A memory crept up on the surface. A sentence, she had forgotten the context. The voice was soft but the words were ruthless.

“Nay, best of lies is the truth. Remember that.”

“I wanted to cross the checkpoint yesterday, but he didn’t let me.” She said as she looked straight into his eyes.

Marke gave her a scrutinizing look.

“What did you want to do up there? Something to do with the exhibit?” He interrogated.

She raised her shoulders in the air, not willing to lie. She was only misleading him, and he had misunderstood.

“You won’t get away with that so easily, little girl.” He said.

She grimaced; he knew she hated to be called that.

He then continued: “You’re hiding something, and I’ll get to the bottom of it…Now go eat something and shower.” He added with no tact: “You stink.”

She put a nose over an armpit and sniffed. It had not been said elegantly, but he was not wrong.

She began walking towards the school showers.

“Nay!” Marke stopped her.

She turned around to face him.

“You’ve got a lesson with the Sage-Brother after lunch. You better be there.”

She nodded repeatedly.