Time is difficult to keep track of in constant darkness.
However, the next morning the lights come on across the Dragon Slayer.
Lina glances up from where she's been sitting all night then over at
the door when the handle is turned from the outside. In peeks a pair
of emerald eyes. "Morning! Did you sleep?" Lina shakes her head as the
black-haired young man steps into the room. "You will tonight, I
guarantee it." He smiles as he steps in, shaking Lina's hand. "I'm
Hawk, I'll be your operator."
"You don't... you don't have any," Lina starts, noting the
lack of plugs on the man's arms.
"Holes? Nope. Me and my brother Gourry, we're both 100%
pure old-fashioned home-grown human, born free right here in the real
world," Hawk smiles as he explains to Lina, "A genuine child of
Sairaag."
"Sairaag?"
"If the war was over tomorrow, Sairaag's where the party
would be," Hawk replies with a chuckle.
"It's a city?" The operator nods, smile fading a bit as his
expression turns more somber.
"The last human city, the only place we have left."
"Where is it," Lina asks curiously. She remembered the
images of death all over the planet, wondering where there might still
be life.
"Underground, near the Earth's core where it's still warm.
If you live long enough, you may just get to see it," he adds with a
small grin. "Goddamn, I got to tell you... I'm fairly excited to see
what you're capable of, if Xelloss is right and all. We're not
supposed to talk about this but... if you are, it's a very exciting
time." Hawk's green eyes glow with energy, which brings comfort to
Lina that even in this dead world, one can still be so vibrant. "We
got a lot to do, we got to get to it," he finishes as he tugs Lina off
her bed.
---
Lina watches from her chair, already plugged in. Hawk
shuffles through a series of data discs, mumbling, "Now, we're
supposed to start with these operation programs first... That's major
boring shit," he comments with a grin, "let's do something a little
more fun. How about... magic training," he asks, holding up the first
of a series of discs. He then bursts out laughing when he sees Lina's
blank expression, sliding the disc into the drive.
She isn't sure if she heard right. Magic training? What in
the world did that mean? Thoughtful, she looks up at the control
screen Hawk had swung around so she could watch. On the loading
portion underneath her vital signs, the word FIREBALL appears in bold
letters and a progress bar starts to fill. "Fireball?" She looks back
at the operator. "I'm going to learn... fireball?" Hawk winks as he
taps at his keyboards, then selects Lina's link and presses the load
button.
The woman clenches her eyes shut, whole body tensing up, as
her mind is assaulted with information it can barely comprehend. She
catches a glimpse of the ball of fire forming in her hand within her
mind's eye when the upload completes, Lina gasping for breath. "Holy
shit!"
"Wild, isn't it," he asks with a grin as the new
information is quickly absorbed into Lina's memory. "How 'bout some
more?" She nods rapidly.
"Hell yes!" She rests her head again, looking up wide-eyed
at the screen. "Hell yeah."
---
The progress bar moves forward, more magic spells being
burned into Lina's catalog of powers. Flare Arrow, Freeze Arrow, Bomb
Di Wind. Hawk squints at his control screens as Lina keeps absorbing
everything he throws at her without even a break. Xelloss steps up
behind Hawk, resting his hands on the operator's shoulders. "How is
she?"
"Ten hours straight, she's a machine," the black-haired man
replies, shaking his head a little. It's rare anyone can outlast him
at the core.
---
The final set of powers upload and when they finish, Lina
relaxes as she opens her eyes. Glancing at Xelloss, she says with awe,
"I know magic."
Xel smiles as he leans closer, "Show me."
---
This time, the Construct is much more than a white room.
It's a small village, right out of medieval times. There are small
one- and two-story houses in rows around a maze of dirt roads. A
market area fills the center and the village spreads out around it.
On one rooftop stands Xelloss. His clothing is drastically
different, dressed more like an ancient priest than a digital warrior.
His black cape bellows in the wind behind his long-sleeve tan shirt,
baggy black pants and light blue gloves. In his left hand he's holding
a tall wooden staff, the top curled around a blood red gem.
On the other rooftop across from Xel's stands Lina. Her own
clothing has gone through a drastic change. A black cape also flaps
behind her, attached underneath two shoulder pads. She has on a
mahogany tunic and pants, white boots and gloves, and a yellow band
wrapped around her small chest. The pair looks like they'd fit right
in with the unusual setting.
"What you're wearing now is a mage outfit, and this, this
is a sparring program," Xelloss begins, voice carrying over to Lina.
"It's similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix--well, similar
in that it has the same basic rules, rules like gravity. What you must
learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a
computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken." His
smile is visible even at the distance between them. "Understand?" She
nods. "Then hit me if you can," he calls in a playful singsong voice,
dancing around on the rooftop.
With a grin, Lina unleashes a barrage of fireballs at the
goofy priest. He twists and flips however, avoiding each one. Not
letting that stop her, Lina follows up with several arrows of ice,
firing them where she expects Xel will dodge. To her slight
frustration, he's much faster than the spells it seems.
As if using second nature knowledge, Lina draws a sword
from her belt and jumps across to Xel's roof, shouting as she swings.
He blocks with his staff, eyes closed and grinning widely. With a
quick twist, the sword and its holder are plunging off the short
building and clatter and thud to the ground, respectively.
"Good!" Xel crouches down as he calls to the
breathing-deeply girl, who climbs back to her feet. "Adaptation,
improvisation. But your weakness is not your technique," he explains
as Lina nods. Suddenly, he's flipping back out of the way from the
explosion that leaves a gaping hole in the house's upper wall and
roof.
On the Dragon Slayer, Phibrizio dashes down to the ship's
mess hall and throws open the door. "Xelloss is fighting Lina," he
shouts before running back, the rest of the crew jumping for the door
after him when they hear that news.
In closer quarters now, the strikes and blocks move much
faster than they should. Lina uses her sword, though it's always
blocked by that staff (which, by the way, never shows notches from
being hit by the sword's blade) and magic spells being avoided.
Deciding to try something else, Lina breaks off and goes
dashing across the rooftop, Xel prowling after her like a jungle cat.
Leaping across to the next roof, she sees a tall chimney and runs
towards it. Xel watches, as Lina seems to run up the chimney, flipping
over his head. He's ready though, and as soon as she lands, she's met
with the hard point of a staff hitting against her chest and knocking
her off the roof a second time. She hits the ground, cape spread out
underneath her as she breathes heavily.
In the crowd around Hawk's control console, Zelgadis smirks
when he glances at Seraya.
Xelloss looks down from the edge of the roof. "How did I
beat you?" That constant smile remains on his face as Lina slowly
climbs up to her knees, still panting deeply.
"You're too fast," she wheezes out, looking up through her
sweaty crimson bangs.
"Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has
anything to do with my muscles in this place," he asks, planting his
staff against the roof. Lina remains frustrated, still not able to
catch her breath. He bends down, resting his elbow on his knee. "You
think that's air you're breathing now?" That statement causes Lina to
pause, squinting up at the priest. His eyebrows raise, questioning
look on his face. When she doesn't answer, he hm's as if no response
answered his question and straightens.
He turns away from the edge of the roof, stepping forward
once. "Again."
All eyes on the Dragon Slayer stare at the images from the
battle between their leader and their best hope. They watch as Lina
and Xelloss face off again, this time in a battle of weapons, sword
meeting staff as they both try to best each other. The already-blurry
images become worse as the battle continues.
"Jesus Christ, she's fast," Phibrizio says, staring at the
screen and readings as he stands in front of the whole gang since he's
the shortest. "Take a look at these neurokinetics, they're way above
normal," he tries to note as Hawk bats the boy's hand away, green eyes
rolling.
The sound of the battle echoes through the empty town.
Suddenly, she finds that staff right in front of her face. On
instinct, she jumps back, crouching down defensively. Xel holds the
staff there, having pulled his punch. "What are you waiting for?
You're faster than this. Don't think you are," he says, staff dropping
a bit, "know you are." Lunging forward again, Lina crosses her sword
with Xel's staff, eyes fiery. "Come on, stop trying to hit me and hit
me," he taunts.
Anger nearly pours off the red-eyed girl, starting to break
through Xel's defense as she hits harder and faster. To the gasps of
everyone on the ship, Xelloss tenses slightly when the sword blade
stops just short of his neck.
"I don't believe it," Phibrizio whispers.
"I know what you're trying to do," Lina says through
gritted teeth, slowly lowering her sword.
"I'm trying to free your mind, Lina. But I can only show
you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it," Xelloss
says with a rather pleased smile. Despite nearly getting his head cut
off, he is in quite the good mood. "Hawk," he calls to the sky, "load
the jump program."
Their operator nods as he listens to his head set, swapping
out discs and tapping at his keyboard before pressing the load button.
For a moment, the Construct is white once again before from
far below, the top of a deep canyon rises up to Lina and Xel's feet.
She glances around at the change in scenery before looking back. "You
have to let it all go, Lina. Fear, doubt, and disbelief." He starts to
turn towards the cliff, a grin on his face. "Free your mind." He takes
off running towards the cliff's edge. To Lina's surprise and horror,
he jumps off.
Only to fly up in the air, cape swirling up behind him
before he lands on the other side of the canyon, looking back towards
Lina. "Whoa," she says quietly, then walks towards the cliff, seeing
the very long drop that waits for her. "Okey-dokey... free my mind,"
she mumbles to herself, looking back across at Xel waiting before
starting to back up for running room.
"What if she makes it," Phibrizio asks no one in
particular.
"No one's ever made their first jump," Hawk answers as he
changes a certain setting for the program.
"I know, I know, but... what if she does?"
"She won't," Garv grumbles from over the boy's shoulder.
"C'mon," Seraya whispers, fist clenched as she silently
roots for the red-haired woman.
"All right, no problem," Lina says to herself, rubbing her
gloved hands together as she works up her courage. "Free my mind, no
problem, right," and she takes off in a mad dash. When she reaches the
edge, she calls on all her strength and leaps, reaching towards
Xelloss so far far away and now rising above her and uh oh.
Wide-eyed, she looks down then starts to scream, hair and
cape being thrown around wildly in the wind as she falls. Closer and
closer the rocky bottom of the canyon approaches and Lina closes her
eyes tight.
What she doesn't see is the floor of the canyon sinks with
her like a net, and then tosses her back up in a roll. It solidifies
at a button press from not far away and she lands much gentler on her
back.
Sighs sound around the Dragon Slayer then the crowd starts
to break up, Garv mumbling as he walks off. "But what does that mean,"
Phibrizio asks no one a second time, trying to see meaning.
"It doesn't mean anything," Eris answers before walking off
herself.
"Everybody falls their first time," Zelgadis comments,
"right Ser?" When he glances in her direction, though, the blond girl
is already gone.
Staring up at the cloudless sky, Lina laughs faintly, mind
still racing to catch up with what happened. She doesn't notice
Xelloss floating down effortlessly and landing lightly beside her.
"Everyone falls the first time," he says as he offers his hand,
helping Lina back to her feet as she nods slowly. "If you never know
failure, how can you know success?"
Back on the ship, both combatants open their eyes. Hawk
helps Lina with the restraints and pulls the long plug out of her
neck, her eyes shutting tightly at the still-strange sensation of
something being removed from deep in her head. She hardly notices her
sweaty skin and shirt before starting to sit up, and then groans
weakly, cradling her ribs as she touches the inside of her mouth with
her other hand. Her finger tips reappear smeared with blood. Xelloss
looks over at her after Gourry pulls out his plug, forehead dry and
looking rather calm despite the intensive training.
"I thought it wasn't real," she asks, still staring at her
hand.
"Your mind makes it real," he answers. Lina thinks about
that.
"If you're killed in the Matrix," she starts, looking up at
Xel, "you die here?"
"The body cannot live without the mind."
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