Wilhelm’s bed creaked as he stepped out of it, his bare feet moving down the ladder that lead to the wooden floor, cold on his soles. He moved gently, swapping the bed clothes he wore for a fresh uniform. Shoes came next, then a cursory glance in a nearby mirror, and finally he exited the stairs and stepped onto the deck, grey and chilly with a light mist across the surface.

Morning. The sun was still rising, paired with the thick clouds that still lurked overhead like an overprotective mother, it was dimly lit compared to most days. They were finally transitioning out of summer and into autumn according to the rest of the crew, which meant more stinging mornings and less sweltering nights.

Still, he didn’t even remotely feel the urge to complain. It didn’t matter if it started storming, it didn’t matter if they were attacked, it didn’t matter if Absalom dropped dead from a freak heart attack. Nothing mattered compared to the goal that occupied his mind as he grabbed a miraculously ripe banana and tucked a mat under one arm, making his way to the back of the ship.

Today he would master the Aspected Halo, he could feel it. When Jieming had told him that he would know when he was close to the breakthrough, he hadn’t understood what he meant. Every once in a while he would feel like he made some progress, but it was slow going, and most of the time so miniscule that he couldn’t even tell if he was really getting better at all. Then, he finally noticed a change as he was running his eyes through the circuit that his aspect travelled across, eventually settling on the image he had of his soul itself: a floating sphere both within him and detached, one that had flashes of smoke and fire within, like a wildfire contained. Gradually over the course of these months at sea, his soul built up a little bit of pressure following every training session, an increase so slight that he hadn’t even noticed the change, even when inspecting his soul in the past. When he’d told Calypso, she’d said that meant he was getting close.

Which she said with a frown. They were docking soon, and thus far it had seemed like Jieming’s bet was ill-conceived, and that it would be an easy win for Calypso. Every time someone had brought it up to him, however, he’d just smiled and said. “Watch.” Empty bluster, Calypso had said. Him trying to keep up a tough face while he lost a tenth of his salary just before docking.

Now, despite her stern exterior – especially with Wilhelm – the veneer cracked ever so slightly whenever she watched him training. She would have slight crease to her brow, or start fiddling with her hands absentmindedly - an action that looked more at home on a nervous girl in high school before asking her crush to prom than the frankly terrifying woman who laid Wilhelm out at least six dozen times in their sparring.

This morning was no different, and Calypso glanced in his direction as he munched on the banana, climbing the steps to the space Jieming had shown him what felt like ages ago. He rolled the mat out and sat upon it, closing his eyes, and trying to calm himself the way he’d been taught. All the little things Jieming and Calypso had tried to instill in him had seemed pointless at first, but he was starting to see their uses over time. He fell into the state of meditation faster now, and it noticeably helped his control over his aspect, both in and out of the meditative state.

“Why are you pushing yourself so hard?” a slightly irritated woman’s voice cut into his meditative state.

He opened one eye and saw Calypso standing at the top of the stairs, hands on her hips in a perpetual scold. Wilhelm raised an eyebrow in response.

“To break through the first control barrier. Why are you pushing yourself so hard?” She repeated, adding some clarification, though her tone remained the same. Demanding, and always a little rude.

He cracked a small grin. “Not so excited at the prospect of losing you and Jieming’s little bet?”

She waved a hand. “I don’t care about that. You didn’t answer my question.”

“Why do you care so much?” Wilhelm asked, genuinely confused. “If I was hurting myself I would assume you or Jieming would stop me so I’m guessing its not that.” He hoped.

She rolled her eyes. “Jieming would stop you at the very least.” Rude! “But no, it’s not that. You’ve spent weeks upon weeks training that Aspected halo for hours at a time, hardly taking breaks. When you aren’t working on the halo, you’re usually trying to help around the ship, or sleeping. I hardly see you take leisure time, and when you do it’s generally pestering me or Jieming about different Aspects. Keyword trying, by the way.”

He scowled, but it wasn’t inaccurate. He was certainly better with his aspect than he was around the ship, which was the only thing that saved him from the ire of most of the sailors. He suspected if he was terrible at both, he’d have been thrown overboard, aspected or not.

“What does it matter to you?” If not for the bet, Wilhelm had no idea why Calypso would care, and his instincts told him she really didn’t care about the bet. Not in this case, at least.

“It matters to me because everyone has a reason that they train.” She said.

“Jieming trained initially for revenge, and now he does so to support Absalom and the crew. Absalom trained to be the best Captain he could be, and now he does to keep his crew and others safe. To combat the scourge of piracy spreading across the seas.” Wilhelm opened his mouth to ask something, but she help up her hand and silenced him.

“I trained to support my family, and now train for the same reasons as Jieming and Absalom. I still support my family, but my priorities have changed. So, why do you? I’ll be blunt: you’ve worked yourself far harder than I expected you to when you first joined the crew, and for that you’d need a good reason. Something that pushes you. So, I’m asking.”

Wilhelm paused for a little while and collected his thoughts. His encounter with the nature bound pirate captain – Iario, they’d eventually learned from a carefully preserved letter in the captain’s quarters of their now sunk ship - was a couple months past at this point. Since then, he’d ruminated on his role in the new world he found himself stranded in, and what he wanted.

“When Iario almost killed me with that final attack, I realized that this new world I found myself in isn’t like my own. People don’t have the kind of power he did in my world, at least not so directly. I have the same potential that he did; the same potential to do awful things, but also the potential to use my own for good. So, that’s what I’m trying to do.”

“When I say it out loud like that it sounds kind of childish,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Maybe it’s naïve to think that I can change anything - no matter how strong I get. Maybe I’m just a foolish idealogue. But I if I have the ability to do good in ways that others can’t, others less fortunate than I am, I should. Each according to his ability, and all that. The faster I can help people, the better.”

“Hm.” Calypso tersely responded, departing as abruptly as she arrived.

Wilhelm wasn’t sure what was going on with her. It seemed like she had been flipping rapidly between being far harsher and much more lenient towards him the past couple of months, seemingly without rhyme or reason. One day she’d demand nothing less than perfection in sparring and aspect training, more verbally berating than teaching, and the next she’d be the opposite. Instructing like her life depended on it, like she was making up for lost time and needed to ingrain his reflexes as deep as her own, and cram as much information into his brain as possible. It was jarring, and he was beginning to prefer training with Jieming. Even though he got his ass beat thirty times harder. He still swore that man didn’t understand the concept of holding back.

Wilhelm calmed himself once more. Those thoughts could wait for later – maybe he could ask Absalom about it. His weapons training had been largely taken over by Jieming and Calypso, with Absalom busy Captain-ing or a similar verb, but he’d said he would squeeze some time in soon.

His aspect spread through his veins, warming him from within, a comforting feeling in the morning cold. The alien sensation he felt when handling his aspect was long gone – he’d realized something over the course of his innumerable training sessions. His aspect was just that – his. It wasn’t some foreign object squatting in his soul, it was his soul, or at least melded into it so closely that the two were indistinguishable. There was a mental block he had created for himself inadvertently, a product of a life of learning magic wasn’t real and the insanity of the situation he found himself in. Once he accepted that the aspect was truly his, his improvements over his control of the halo increased rapidly.

He envisioned the halo and released the two halves, instantly forming them into the perfect shape. What once took him minutes of careful deliberation to make sure he didn’t form it incorrectly now came as easy as breathing. It was so stable that except for the color and heat, you could hardly tell it was made of fire at all, as none pushed out or attempted to be freed. The halo, currently vertical, slowly drifted down until it was perfectly horizontal. This part required more concentration, but was still well within his capabilities.

Next came the hardest part, the one that so far was insurmountable. He had, however, made good progress. The halo barely wobbled as it started gliding towards his head, his brow furrowing the further out of his vision it went. The less he could see it, the harder it became to control until he was on the verge of panting, only the months of constant training allowing him to keep his breathing under control. He knew from experience that the second his breathing went, so would the halo.

It drifted ever closer, moving at what felt like a snail’s pace. Every inch was intense labor, every foot a task even Hercules would balk at. Waves of warmth grazed his forehead, taunting him with how close he was getting. The warmth spread, covering his forehead, then the beginning of his hairline, the front of his head, then closer to the scalp…

It snapped into place.

Warmth spread across his entire head, down his body all the way to the bottoms of his feet. It wormed its way inward, reinvigorating him. A wave of heat shot out from his body, instantly evaporating the lingering mists, clearing the deck around him. An intense light shone from the halo, bursting across the deck like a star being born.

Wilhelm opened his eyes with a wide grin, looking up at it for the first time. It was the most stable he’d ever seen it without a flicker of impurity or shakiness, appearing almost to be flame solidified. He felt like a new man, like a new compartment in his brain had been opened up, and he could immediately sense the halo like a spare limb no matter where he looked. It followed his head easily.

A few sailors came over to see what the fuss was about – a wave of heat and bright luminescence at the back of the ship could be cause for concern, or at the very least interest – but most walked away muttering about aspected not being careful enough, and training far too early in the morning. Soon, Jieming hopped up the steps with a wide grin, and clasped him on the shoulder.

“See? I knew you could do it. I never doubted you, not even for a moment.” He exclaimed, idly examining the halo that still floated overhead.

A snort sounded from behind him, and Calypso walked over.

“Don’t listen to his lies, he doubted you frequently and cursed you out more than a few times when he felt you weren’t making enough progress.”

Jieming scowled and waved his hand at her and focused back on Wilhelm. “A few momentary lapses in confidence, but I always knew in my heart you would pull through. Afterall, you broke through the first barrier before either of our most optimistic predictions!”

Wilhelm raised his eyebrows. “Really? I thought I was cutting it close, being so close to us dropping anchor and all. I’m still glad to be a pleasant surprise, don’t get me wrong.”

Calypso opened her mouth to cut in, but Jieming was faster, “Of course. To be entirely truthful, neither of us expected you to break through this barrier before we dropped anchor. We figured you’d get fully inoculated into the navy first, and then a month or so at sea would bring you there. But, what can I say, I’m a sucker for the underdog. I think Captain’s been rubbing off on me.”

Wilhelm couldn’t help but feel a little bit saddened by the news.

“Neither of you thought I would break through? How bad of a student have I been?”

“It’s not that,” Calypso said, “Most people don’t train the way you did. Aspected tend to prefer an every-other-day sort of deal, since grinding to the bone is so tiring. A day of training, then recuperation, then training again.” She shrugged. “It’s nothing against you, it just isn’t common for someone to be driven enough to want to train constantly like that.”

“I’m impressed you have stuck with it for so long,” Calypso continued, “After the…incident, I figured you would have a spike in ambition, but those are usually short lived. They tend to die out soon after the initial adrenaline rush unless there’s significant motivation behind it.”

Ah. So that’s what she was asking about, then.

“What she means is that you surpassed both of our expectations. If you keep up like this, I have no doubt that you can become a skilled aspected. All we need is to shore up those weaknesses.”

“Which are innumerable.” Calypso added

Jieming rolled his eyes. “Would it kill you to be supportive for once? Wilhelm, go talk to the Captain. I’m sure he’ll want to congratulate you on the breakthrough.”

Wilhelm nodded and walked off, still a little miffed about their lack of faith in him. He kept the halo up as he walked, still marveling at how easy it was to control compared to the agony he put himself through to move it a tiny bit just a few minutes prior.

* * *

“Did you end up asking him about it? His motivation” Jieming asked after Wilhelm had walked away, leaning on his podao. He appeared at ease, but his eyes were sharper than usual, more intense.

Calypso nodded.

“What did you think of it?”

“Generic. It basically boiled down to: he has power; therefore, he should become strong and use it for good. Nothing special. Naïve, perhaps. Certainly not strong enough to warrant the way he’s been throwing himself into training like this. He wakes up at the crack of dawn and sits there training for hours until someone forces him to stop, only doing so voluntarily when his body demands it.”

“Do you think it’s sustainable?”

“I have no idea. If you’d asked me a month ago I would have said absolutely not, he’ll crumble soon and be back to a normal schedule. Now, though? Maybe.”

“I’m beginning to understand why you placed that bet.” She muttered.

Jieming chuckled. “I had no way of knowing he would do this when I placed that bet. It was just a hunch, and a non-insignificant amount of alcohol.”

“What do you think about his motivation? Think it will last?”

Jieming sighed. “It’s naïve, like you said. A nice thought, but that isn’t how the world works. You can’t save everyone, and the people who need saving can’t rely on anyone to do so. I hate to say it but the only way to really protect yourself is to take matters into your own hands. Become strong yourself. I worry his motivation will falter once he really experiences the world for the first time. Strength for the sake of others can only take you so far before it becomes too much to bear.”

“The world isn’t as bad as you say, Jieming.” Calypso said, her tone soft. “There are good people in the world, people who do exactly what Wilhelm is striving for. People like Absalom, people like Admiral Konya. Striving for an end to constant conflict, ways to protect those in need. It’s not an impossible goal, like you’re describing it.”

Jieming’s smile was hollow. “Try being optimistic once you’ve been chewed up and spit out in the depths of depravity that this world has to offer. You haven’t been there, Calypso. Experienced the world the way I have. On the surface I sympathize with Wilhelm’s goal, but it’s idealistic. It’s just not feasible. Once you get past the opening façade, you realize the world is so chock full of dangers that you literally can’t stop them all. Is Wilhelm going to fight the Peers? That self-proclaimed Suzerain de Monde that’s sweeping the west? The Aspects? Captain Absalom and Admiral Konya can work towards the goals they have because they are strong. On that front Wilhelm is right – strength is the currency of this world, and getting stronger will give him more freedom. But…” he hesitated, and winced slightly before speaking again.

“He’s no Captain Absalom, and he certainly isn’t an Admiral Konya. He’s not bad with his aspect – better than expected – but that isn’t enough.”

He took a deep breath of ocean spray. “He’ll be a good addition to the crew, a good supplement to our frankly lacking offensive capabilities, but we have to be careful with him. He’s innocent in a way that’s hard to comprehend, no doubt the influence of his old world. I don’t want him losing motivation at the first innocent he can’t save, or the first fight he can’t win. He has a good heart, and good intentions. That’s all we can really ask for.” Jieming looked at the ocean with eyes tinged with sadness and regret, like he was seeing the ghost of a great tragedy.

“I only hope it will last.”

* * *

Wilhelm’s practice sword collided with Calypso’s with loud cracks while they danced back and forth. It sounded like dozens of little lightning bolts were going off on the deck’s surface. He swung again and again, trying to remain proactive to put Calypso on the back foot as he’d been instructed. So far it was going well, but he knew that was only a matter of time until something went wrong.

Inevitably, he messed up. He swung too hard, the force carrying him further than he intended and opening himself up to retaliation. Calypso was upon him like a wolf on a wounded deer, hounding him with little nips and strikes. Small things, hits that would only mildly bruise instead of leaving ugly welts like Jieming’s hits did, but they were painful, nonetheless. He tried regaining the momentum with a flurry of blows, but it was too little too late. Moments later Calypso’s sword halted just in front of his exposed throat, his own practice sword halfway across the deck after he’d been disarmed. He sat down panting like a dog while Calypso did the same, though in considerably better shape than he was.

She passed him a spare canteen of water which he accepted gratefully, taking a few sips at a time while he regained his breath.

“I hate sword fighting.” Wilhelm whined.

Calypso smiled, “You only hate it because you always lose.”

“That’s a perfectly valid reason to hate something!” He scowled, stiffly standing, and retrieving his fallen sword.

“Do you use a weapon when you fight for real?” He asked. Come to think of it, he had never seen Calypso actually fight before. They’d had a few more encounters since the pirate ship – all minor sea monsters – the kinds of things that were dangerous to small ships with little in the way of defenses and nothing else - all taken care of either by Jieming or the ordinary crew in short order. Absalom had even let him throw some fire at one, but he hadn’t managed to do much more than scorch its scales before it got torn in half by the water around it, courtesy of Jieming.

She shook her head. “Not usually. I keep a sword on me and am competent with it, but I typically rely on my aspect for combat.”

Wilhelm nodded. He had expected as much – Calypso was far better than him with the sword, but she was nowhere near Jieming’s proficiency with weapons, and wasn’t even on the same planet as Absalom.

“I think that’s the route I’ll end up going. I won’t stop training with martial weapons like Captain said to, but I can’t imagine there will be scenarios where I’d rather use a simple sword than a sea of fire. Plus, I’m no good with any of them.” It was true. Fighting with a sword was cool and all, but it paled in almost every way to his use of his aspect.

“Don’t be so hasty. There’s a reason Jieming and Absalom spent so much time mastering simple weaponry instead of relying purely on their own aspects. You want to be a competent aspected? Disregard regular weapons. That’s what I did, and while I don’t regret it, I don’t necessarily recommend it either. Jieming and Absalom are elites in every sense of the word, while I’m largely mediocre, not in small part due to my lack of skill with classic weaponry. Being able to combine the two – martial combat and aspected combat – is how you rise above mediocrity and ascend to the ranks of the best.”

Wilhelm nodded. That made sense, but he was really hoping Calypso would have told him abandoning regular weaponry was a good idea anyway.

“Alright, I’ll keep it in mind. Still, I have no idea what kind of weapon would work best, considering I’m firmly terrible at them all.”

She shrugged. “Give it time. Absalom and Jieming didn’t become prodigies the moment they picked up their weapons, it took them a long time and an arduous amount of effort. You’ll find your weapon eventually.” She thought for a moment, “Or you won’t and will be incapable of reaching the heights of the elites. There’s no shame in mediocrity, that’s where most of us operate. The peak is sparsely populated for a reason.”

“Can’t you be encouraging for once?” Wilhelm asked with more than a little exasperation.

“That was encouraging!”

They bickered for a few more moments until Captain Absalom approached, halting their schoolyard dispute. Both rose and saluted immediately, the action long ingrained into Wilhelm.

“How’s training?” he asked.

“Fine. His progress is slow, but I’ll leave the judgements on this particular subject up to you. Care to watch a match?” Calypso asked.

Absalom had a small smile. “Only this subject? Well Professor Calypso, I’ll take you up on that offer.”

He gestured for them to go ahead, and Wilhelm readied himself for another go.

They exchanged blows, and yet again Calypso came out on top. That was to be expected, but Wilhelm still felt a little disappointed at the outcome. There were a few times where he thought he’d had her there, and each time he was subsequently rebuffed and placed on the backfoot. It wasn’t a bad showing, but Wilhelm felt that he could have done so much more.

Absalom nodded, a hand on his chin., seemingly thinking it over.

“What do you think?” Calypso asked. Wilhelm couldn’t help but feel like a child at a parent teacher conference, being spoke of like he wasn’t sitting right there.

“Not bad. A good start, and certainly enough to pass the exam, especially having passed the first barrier with his aspect.” Absalom turned to Wilhelm, grey eyes baring into his own. Even when the Captain was acting more casually, Wilhelm couldn’t help but remember those moments of intense authority that he projected on occasion, and felt subjugated by the phantasmal force that were once there. It was unnerving.

“We dock in a week, at a town called Profit’s Landing. There’s a naval academy there, where you’ll be taking your exam. We’re nearing the end of the changing of the seasons so they should be holding one. We’ll get you registered as soon as we arrive.” He paused for a moment before continuing.

“It’s a…small town, so don’t expect the naval academy to be particularly high quality. Their budget is almost certainly far too low, and most proper instructors have moved on to greener pastures.”

Wilhelm raised an eyebrow, and Absalom flashed a quick smile in response.

“I’ll I’m asking is that you keep an open mind. I could be wrong, but from past experiences I don’t think it will be the navy at its best. This is a relatively remote corner from the center of naval power, and funding is tight at the best of times.”

The implication being that these are not the best of times. Wilhelm was curious what he meant by that – he’d always heard that the navy were making significant progress in curbing the lawless threats of the open ocean, but it seemed Absalom disagreed.

“Even if it isn’t a glowing example of naval honor, there are good people at every branch,” Calypso interjected, “They have it harder than most, so they might be difficult to spot, but they’re present.”

“This feels like a lot of prefacing,” Wilhelm said, “Should I be concerned? This doesn’t sound like the best place for me to take my exam.”

Calypso shrugged. “It’s the best place because it’s the closest. The faster you’re properly in the navy the better, it will make our lives much easier, and lowers the odds that someone tries to poach you for their own crew.”

“What she means,” Absalom said with a pointed glare, “is that the faster you’re properly settled into the navy, the better for everyone. You’ll start getting a salary, you’ll have something to fall back on, and you’ll officially be part of the crew.”

“And we will no longer be breaking the law by training you.” Calypso added.

“That makes sense- I’m sorry, what?”

“That has nothing to do with it.” Absalom said, his face a mask.

“Technically, members of the navy are not allowed to train outside members before they’re in the navy proper. If they want to add someone to their crew, they’re supposed to send them to a naval academy around the world, and pick them back up once they’ve passed the exam.” Calypso explained.

“Of course, that doesn’t happen most of the time. Poaching is a real issue, not just something I threw in to take a jab at Absalom. Most Captains don’t want to take the risk of the person they want in their crew – such as a fresh aspected that could be a benefit to any crew they join – be convinced during their months at the academy to join someone else’s. The crew has to front the cost of their tuition, after all. Plus, being in the navy is a dangerous job, and there’s no guarantee that a Captain will be alive to collect that person in however many months, or that they will be free to do so.”

“So that’s why the exams are open to anyone?”

Calypso nodded. “Some Admiral made them closed a while back, but enough Nobles made a stink about it that it got changed again. At a backwoods academy like this one there likely won’t be too many poaching attempts due to a lack of people and, to be blunt, incentive, but at the bigger ones it’s always happening. Among the nobility especially the poaching of different crewmen is seen as a kind of game, one of strategy and intrigue to see if you can convince the scions and hopefuls of different pedigrees to join yours instead. It’s a ghoulish practice, and there aren’t unheard-of scenarios where a soon-to-be navy member is falsely promised a spot on a rival ship just to prove to another Captain that they could.”

Wilhelm frowned. He had to agree with Calypso; it did sound ghoulish. He didn’t know what he expected, but to hear that the elites of this world’s society were equally as petty and likely immoral as the one he came from was unfortunate, if to be expected.

“I didn’t expect the navy to be so filled with politics.” Wilhelm said.

Calypso glanced at Absalom, who stood passively, not adding to the conversation.

“You have no idea.”