Chapter 8: Chapter 8: A Harsh Awakening

Content Warning: Blood, Swordfighting

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I entered the interrogation room once again only to find Fate sitting next to Carver. He was drinking from a potion bottle as they talked, the same one I drank as soon as I woke up in the kingdom. I sat down next to them.

"So." I said, pointing to the bottle. "What did she say to convince you to drink that?" I asked in a joking tone.

"She said it'd taste good." He replied, seriously enough to cause concern.

"You drank it too, Naomi!" Fate touched my nose as she said that. "Boop!"

"Yeah, I had a really bad headache and it was labeled as medicine! I kinda have an excuse, at least!"

"There was a witch lady here earlier, told me what I went through was mind control." Carver said while putting the bottle aside. "Said if they determine the effect is completely gone I can start living here as well."

"It's a nice place, at least." I replied, looking over to Fate for some backup. "We can maybe one day find a way back, but I'm not complaining about the accommodations."

"Good to know. Hey, once we get out of here we should catch up a bit. You can tell me what's going on with the place, and yourself, and... myself, I guess."

"Will do, don't worry. I'll head up and rest for the night. If they let you go tomorrow we should take a walk through the town, all three of us."

"Sure thing, my lady!" For a moment after saying that, he seemed confused.

"Wait for me, Naomi!" Fate said, grabbing her bag and going after me. "I'm going to sleep too, had a long day. Everything that happened earlier was pretty stressful."

We walked together to our room. On the way there, we talked about books we had read. I told her about the novels I loved the most, why their narratives got to me more than any others. She talked about her favorite book, '1001 Uses For Burnt Dragon Scales'. It went way over my head, but I tried my best to remember a few details she told me. Something about red scales being more resistant than blue scales for certain kinds of potions, one thing here and there about lizard scales compared to a dragon's and more things I couldn't grasp. Once we got to the room, she said she'd love to let me borrow the book. I said I knew nothing about alchemy, she replied by telling me to look at the cool pictures. I agreed.

"Finally, we're here. My legs are killing me." Fate tiredly said as she opened the door and walked in, throwing her bag to the said and taking off her jacket.

"Hopefully tomorrow has less interrogations and broken ribs." I quickly changed into some comfortable sleeping clothes. I glanced over to Fate as she cleaned her glasses. "Thank you, by the way."

"Huh?"

"For... Well, everything. I really appreciate all you've done for me. I don't think I would have taken it all so well if you hadn't helped me so much."

"O-oh!" She smiled at me, blushing lightly as she put her glasses back on. "Well, you're fun to have around! Not to mention, I could use an assistant here and there. Maybe you could help me out tomorrow? After your morning training session, that is."

"Of course!" I replied enthusiastically. "Oh and... After talking to the queen I... Still have some questions. About... Well, everything about this place really."

"What is it? I'm always happy to help."

"Her and Robin had an argument about the royal knight. The queen thinks I could be her, but Robin took offense to that. Did you meet her?"

"Hm." She started to play with her hair as she thought about it. "I mean, I never met her in person. She was gone shortly after I arrived. But I do remember Robin not taking it well. It took years for her to recover from the shock. And then even more time to accept she might truly be gone. Unfortunately I just... don't know much more about it. I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Well, I better go to bed already. I got training at noon tomorrow and I still want to have the time to go on that walk if possible."

"Wait! Before you go, I wanted to ask. Have you felt any more of those pain surges lately? From the potion?"

"No, not really. It's been a little while. Guess that's over for now, thankfully." I look at myself in the mirror again and can't help but to smile. "And I think I'm getting used to my new self now. The cat ears, the tail, the... feminine figure. It feels more like me. It feels right. I don't know, maybe that's a silly thing to say but-"

"N-no! It's not silly at all!" She interrupted me and held my hand tight as she spoke. "I completely understand, it was the same for me when I got here. It's why I offer the potion to all newcomers! So they can live here as themselves. So they can truly be happy, you know? Everyone deserves to feel that way."

"That's really sweet of you, Fate. And once again, thank you."

"No, Naomi. Thank you. I was pretty lonely before you showed up. But- A-actually, I should probably stop keeping you up like this! You should rest for your training session tomorrow."

"Right. I'll head to bed now."

"Good night." She turned around to go to her room, but turned right back and gave me a quick, soft kiss on the cheek. "R-rest well!"

I chuckled a little as she awkwardly walked away. Waking up in a new realm was stressful, but Fate made things much easier. It was reassuring to have someone to help me adjust. I went to bed as well, relaxing for the first time in ages.

That night I had dreams of fighting. It was surreal, I couldn't tell who or even what my opponent was. All I could see was this dark blue humanoid blur charging at me. I had to dodge, parry, deflect and power through. I could feel the pain whenever I let the figure get too close, I could feel the cold wind blowing through my hair, and I could hear voices echoing all around me. Familiar and strange alike. There were several figures cheering for me, and even more clamoring for my downfall. With a sudden final charge and a deep, sharp pain in my chest I woke up in a panic.

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Someone was knocking firmly on the door. I tiredly get up and open the door, still half asleep.

"Move, rookie." Robin was the one knocking at the door, and she was wearing some light leather armor. "Your training starts now."

"I... What?" The words woke me up better than any cold water ever could. "It's still the middle of the night. The sun isn't even out yet!" I look back inside. Fate didn't seem to have woken up, or at least she hadn't left her room yet.

"The training the queen requested for you is meant to be carried out at your most vulnerable moments. It is meant to take you by surprise, with no preparation time. Now move... Unless you admit you are not fit for it and would like to give up, that is."

I furrowed my brow and clenched my fists. The way the Royal Knight was treating me was starting to get on my nerves.

"Lead the way." I reply, promptly following the fighter back to the training room.

We walk inside, and she lights the lamps in the room very quickly. She throws me one of the short swords and I just barely catch it, caught by surprise.

"Hey, what-" Before I can finish my sentence, Robin quickly swung her sword at me. It left a shallow cut on each of my fingers that held my own weapon, and made me jump back in surprise. "What the fuck was that?!"

She said nothing and kept swinging at me, delivering cuts that weren't too deep thanks to my desperate attempts at dodging them. Her eyes seemed to glisten as she charged me in anger, holding nothing back. I panicked, and in a desperate try to strike back at the fighter I only succeeded in losing my weapon. She disarmed me in a fraction of a second, sending the sword flying through the room and leaving a deep cut in the palm of my hand.

I dashed to the other end of the room, trying to reach my discarded sword. I picked it up off the floor and turned back to face Robin once again, narrowly parrying another strike that was sure to hit my neck.

"Are you trying to fucking kill me?!" I shouted, desperate for answers as well as my own survival.

"I let you have your sword before striking! That is already far kinder than I could have been!" She once again started to swing at me as fast as possible, forcing me against a corner as I defended myself from each anger-fueled strike. "That's how the training goes, Rookie! When you least expect it, and I'll hold nothing back! Show me what you're made of, give up or fall in exhaustion trying!"

I ran at her, pushing her back and getting myself out of the corner of the room. In her surprise she gave me a clear opening, and I took it without second thought. With one strong swing I got a single shallow cut on her side. It was enough to encourage me to fight harder. I kept advancing, trying to get her to make a mistake. She never did, instead she simply disarmed again not soon after. I couldn't win against her in a sword fight. I had to find another way to end it.

"Is that all you've got?! Come on, give it your all, Knight." Her words were coated in disdain.

I took a second to collect my thoughts. With a deep breath I took notice of her positioning. Her anger was clearly affecting her fighting, and she was neglecting her footwork. Without thinking, I threw myself at her in a speed that came as a surprise to the both of us. I tackled her to the floor and pinned her hands down.

"Got you." I said while trying to keep her pinned to the ground. Both of us were out of breath and our clothes covered in blood. I instinctively wrapped my tail around one of her legs, even knowing it wouldn't do much to help restrain her. "Now... Can you do your goddamn job and teach me some sword fighting before trying to kill me again?!"

She didn't answer for a few seconds. We stared into each other's eyes for a while, catching our breaths. Something about this seemed familiar to me somehow, and suddenly I was filled with a sense of nostalgia and melancholy. Her expression was one of sadness and disbelief instead of the anger I was expecting to see. I got up, letting her go and preparing myself to be attacked again. She simply sat up against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Gods damn it." She struggled to get her words out, trying to keep her composure as she got up and stared at me. "You actually did forget."

"What?"

"I..." She took a second to breathe and reconsider her words. "Nothing. I'm sorry Rookie. I should have prepared you more for how brutal the training would be. I can promise you proper classes on regular days and the harsher royal training at the end of the week. You're dismissed. Take a right turn at the hallway and enter the third door to the left to get to the infirmary."

"I'm sorry-" I was stunned by the sudden end to a training session that started even more chaotically. "I don't understand. Why did- What do you mean with-"

"I'll answer everything eventually. You need to tend to your wounds quickly if you don't want permanent scars. You'll get enough of those on the battlefield, trust me. Now go. We'll continue training another day."

I tried to come up with something to say, but I couldn't. I was confused, angry and mostly in pain. So I simply turned around and left for the infirmary.

The room was not too different than most clinics you would see in a small hospital except for the strange potions strewn about. A very tired looking man was sitting at his desk, sorting papers and glass vials. He looked young, in his mid twenties, and had small black horns that parted his black, short hair. He gave me a quick, worried glance and looked over to his side.

"Wow, you're bleeding quite a lot. You need a healing potion stat, lady."

"Uh, yeah." Someone using the term 'lady' to refer to me still caused me to blush somewhat. "Most of them aren't awfully deep. Just a... rough training session."

"Huh." He handed me the bottle. "You must've really pissed off Robin. Usually she goes easier on the rookies. Is there anything else you require?"

"No, I don't think so. Well thanks for the help, nice to meet you. I'm Naomi."

"Dane. And don't sweat it. It's my job. Try to not piss off the instructor again, will ya? Stay safe, soldier."

I drank the full bottle and left the room. Once outside I sat down against the wall and let the potion take effect. I hoped Fate was still asleep, I hated the thought of her seeing me in blood covered clothes. Thankfully the wounds were completely healed by the time i got to my room. I managed to change out of my ripped and dirty clothes and into something comfortable without waking up Fate. I got back in bed and hoped I could get a few more hours of sleep before the sun came up.

Unsurprisingly, I fell asleep almost immediately.

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