[Safer] Lucy's Training

Lucy already knew how trains moved.

“Do you know trains move?” the stouter one of them asked, her eyes wide as saucers. “Do you know what I heard? I heard it’s magic! That they use magic!”

She didn’t like to lose her patience, but her patience was wearing thin. It was midday, and the trains didn’t get much use in midday, as their passengers mostly consisted of people heading out in the morning and going home in the evening. It was a small vehicle- long and thin and rickety, chugging at an uneven pace along the raised platform of firmly-packed earth. However, it was mostly empty. Other than Lucy and the girls, there were six passengers in a vehicle designed to seat forty. But these two girls, both of whom were within a few years of Lucy’s age, had decided to sit down and chatter away in the sear right behind her. And the other one said: “Miss? What was your name? Right- Lucy? Do you think they really run on magic?”

Of course she knew. “I think so.”

“Blimey,” the other, a tall, skinny brunette breathed. “Magic. Real magic. I’ve never met someone who could do magic. It sounds fascinating.” They were from the country, that was obvious. She could tell by their cluelessness, and the fact that they talked a little slow.

“I’ll bet it is,” said her companion. “I’ll bet they have auras about them. But that doesn’t explain how trains work.”

“Yes, I wonder about trains.”

“They’re amazing really.”

“We may never find out.”

“Yes… trains.” There was a pause. “I wish I knew.”

“The Cross-Country Tran system consists of hundreds of kilometers of track. The track is created when a platform of packed dirt one and a half meters thick and six meters wide is raised from the ground. The train moves over the track when it’s guided by two mages who specialize in the movement of the earth around the wheels, which pushes it onward. There’s one at the front who does front-wheel steering, and two at the rear who do rear-wheel steering and push the cart forward.” Lucy took a breath. “It’s not really fascinating. It just… is.”

There was a pause. The train heaved as it went over a bump. “Blimey,” said the stout one. “How’d you know all that?”

Lucy shrugged. “I asked.” She hadn’t really. She’d learned it in school. But the last thing she wanted right now was to seem at all interesting to the two adjacent travelers. All she really wanted to do was sleep right now. She’s been travelling by foot all night, and though she’d taken a nap in the early morning right now she could feel herself dozing off. The warm, stuffy atmosphere inside the train… the dull roar of the wheels grinding earth… finally, the young ladies were silent, and her eyelids started to droop…

“Goodbye, Lucy,” said the tall brunette. And the next thing she knew, the train had stopped, and her eyes were open and she snatched up her rucksack before shuffling out of the tiny car and onto a platform. She had taken this line as far west as it could possibly go.

The platform was nearly empty. She was in the middle of a larger midland town, and she knew it was a while to the beginning of the next cheap train line. Nonetheless, she decided to set out anyway- she figured, it was better to cover as much ground as possible rather than lazing about all afternoon. She was still a little tired, but feeling better in any case. She set out, leaving the town through the western gate along the path that cut through some bigger tracts of land.

It was a fairly warm summer’s day, but cooler than it was when she was down on the southern part of the country. She’d been moving progressively towards the northwest and was coming upon a chillier, more mountainous area. Lucy was lucky to be travelling now- it was temperate for the time being, but the remarkable amount of evergreens that clustered the scenery indicated that the area was used to very long, very cold winters.

She was coming upon a patch of such trees now, and she could see them off in the distance, in copses starting off thin but thickening as the path went on. The fields were ending now, and she felt it was an appropriate place to rest, right before going into the woods.

Putting down her rucksack and taking out her canteen, she took a long sip. She could tell by the sun’s position it was well past noon, but she had a few good hours until she’d have to stop for the night. Was it wise to risk going into the forest alone at night? She wasn’t sure. Perhaps leaving town at noon hadn’t been wise. She stood up, scanning the horizon for any place she could stay- an abandoned barn for shelter, or perhaps a family she could pay for lodging. But she saw no buildings, not as far as the horizon permitted. All she saw was a little well, a ways in the distance, to the south-east of her position.

Well, it didn’t seem to belong to anyone as far as she could see, and it wouldn’t do her any harm to check and see if she could get some water to refill her canteen. Picking up her belongings, she sat out across the waist-high grass, the kind that looked like it hasn’t been grazed by any livestock in a long while. This field was most certainly abandoned. She wondered if she couldn’t find an abandoned building somewhere after all.

But first things first: there was the well. It was a big old structure, the wooden roof over it swollen and rotted and whittled by passing wind and time. She peered down it, only to feel a wave of frustration- it was dry. But, she noted with some interest, it was no ordinary well. There was a latter attached to the wall, and at the bottom, a torch was lit, illuminating what looked like the entrance to some sort of cavern. Perhaps the well had been worth the trip after all. After a moment’s hesitation and a moment’s deliberation, she lowered herself into the well, held onto her ladder, and began her ascent.

It seemed like she’d been ascending forever when her foot looked for another step and found solid ground. She was at the bottom now, and the sky above looked like a small blue oval at the end of an endless upward tunnel.

But then there was the matter of the other tunnel. A torch was lit slightly inside of it, so she could see slightly downward. She peered in- it was somewhat narrow and looked like it had been built for someone reasonably short, so she thanked the stars for her small stature. The torch, she regarded curiously (how long had it been lit?) but nonetheless she detached it from the wall when she noticed it was possible.

The tunnel was cramped and damp, and the occasional overheard scurry of something along the floor or walls or ceiling sent a chill down her spine- rats, or spiders, as the occasional web she pushed aside indicated. As she wore on, she noticed herself getting colder and colder. There was a curious nip in the air, she noted, and after a while she was shivering and could even see her breath. Why was it this cold this summer? And she didn’t seem to be going very far, nor was she going in a slope deeper into the ground or closer to the surface- every time the tunnel did seem to dip, it ascended again in due time.

Just when she thought the end of her journey would never come, she saw another small circular room, much like the bottom of the well from which she’d come. Like the well, the chamber had a torch on the wall, and it had a tunnel that led upward. However, the top of the well appeared to be sealed with some kind of cover, which permitted a few individual shafts of light to seem through the holes in the grating. There was a ladder which led up to the top and onto the surface. Curious, and not wanting to go back just yet, she decided to ascend. Putting out the fire in the torch, she slowly and steadily climbed the ladder. The higher she got, the more of a strain it became- it had been much easier going down than climbing back up, and with every heave up another step, she wondered if her efforts were in vain, whether she would even be able to get out in the first place.

When she reached the top, she attempted to move the object blocking her exit; holding firmly to the ladder with her right hand, she pushed it up with her left, and then off to the side. Heavy though it was, her efforts worked- she had moved it, and was able to hoist herself out.

And now she was in some kind of room. It was small and musty and dark, with only a few small lights on the wall to break the darkness. She appeared to be in some sort of low-ceilinged basement- but what sort of building she was in, and where that building was, was of yet a mystery to her.

She got to her feet and stood as tall as the low ceiling would permit. “Hello?” she called out. “Helloooo?”

There was a door leading out of the room- slowly she shuffled towards it. Hesitating slightly, she reached for the knob and turned it, opening it only a crack. And what she saw through that crack caused her to open the door wide, all the way, without a moment’s pause.

It was breathtaking, like nothing she’d ever seen before.

Welcome to the Advanced Class. Great job, Lly, though I expected as much. Anyway, have your character get found by a Domerii. The Domerii are short, pale little butlers of the Dome which do its bidding. Basically, have the Domerii explain the concept of the dome to Lucy and that she will be taught by a certain Orysius Solian. Have the Domerii lead her to her room. End your post there.

OoC: ;___; it got deleteded

IC:

It was like the sky had exploded into the building- all around the room she’d just stepped into was all blue, from the sapphire tiles on the floor to the vast circular walls and pillars cut from cerulean stone, supporting a high, arching azure ceiling, holding up proudly even under the weight of iridescent periwinkle chandeliers. But it seemed to be only a vast lobby- great in size, full of scurrying figures, desks, papers, like some kind of open-aired bureaucratic gathering, the atmosphere mingled with the scents of sea breeze and freshness.

So caught up in the big picture- the blue, all the blue, all the glorious blue, she didn’t see them. Or maybe because they were outside of her normal line of vision- they were, after all, very small. Emerging from the short doorway and into the lobby, she stood aghast until she felt something tug at the bottom of her shirt.

“Miss?” said a high voice. “Pardon?”

“What?” Lucy said, absently, looking down- and then- “Oh! Hello?”

Standing before her, below her usual line of vision, was what appeared to be a little sort of man- his stature was small and stoutish, his head bald and white, like an ivory orb into which twinking obsidian eyes had been settles atop a long pointed nose, reaching down to a long, thin mouth- one which was presently crooked into a satisfied sort of grin. “Greetings, Ms. Mourette. We have been expecting you! Welcome to the Dome.”

She looked around for a moment. “Where… am I? And who are you?”

“The Dome,” it said once again, and then added- “I am of the Domerii. We are the Keepers of the Dome. We watch over it, make sure it is functional, and meet new prospective guests.”

“…guests…” she said slowly. “Is that what I-”

“-yes,” said the Domerii, and he took a few quick steps forward. “Now, come along, we’re later than we had expected. We must get you to your room.”

Quickly, she followed. He was leading her across the grand loby and towards a set of double-doors on the other side. She felt so odd and out of place. Everyone around her looked so magnificent, so strange, like these small butlers or grand sort of outlandish figures, looking so at ease in someplace so odd.

As she looked around in wonderment, her pace must have slowed, for to her alarm she found herself many paces behind her greeter- “Come along then, Ms. Mourette, these is much to, much to see!”- and she had to jog to get back in step.

“But I don’t understand,” she said, panting a little, when they had nearly reached the doors. “What exactly is the Dome?”

“You will see it in due time.” He stopped short before the doors and snapped his fingers—immediately, they flew open, showing a hallway with deep mahogany carpet and high crimson walls, lit softly by a few torches here and there—and they walking again, this time down the hall.

“No, I don’t want to see it, I just want to- wait a moment, stop, please!” His quick scurry had gotten to be a bit too much, and she’d fallen behind, no matter how strong her strides. “Right- sorry! I just want to know what I’m doing here, or where I am! I mean, this place seems grand and all, but I was kind of in the middle of a journey.”

“Ah,” he said, taking a few steps back to her. His deep eyes were glimmering in the soft torchlight, shimmering with a spark of interest—or, was it amusement? “Ah. You see, that is where you are wrong. You are not seeking a destination.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Oh? Aren’t I?”

“Indeed. You have already arrived. This is what you have been looking for, all along?”

“Sorry,” she said slowly. “There must be some kind of mistake. I’m headed west, over the mountains. You see, I just graduated, top of my class, and there’s really not very well much I could do with myself in my hometown, me being a girl and all, right? So I heard that there were other places I could look, over the mountains. That’s where I was headed.”

The Domerii shook his round little head. “The fact that you were looking indicates that there has been no mistake, Lucy. You did not know it, but your journey has been leading you here all along.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The Dome is the center of everything. It is the crux of your universe and a million others. It is a powerhouse for the education of the strongest, the bravest, the most dexterous of fighters in days past, present, and to come. It is the intersection of worlds. Everything… meets here.”

“Okay then,” she said, “Okay, alright. I get it. Then answer me this: what the bloody hell am I doing here?!”

At this, the Domerii simply laughed. He spun on his heels and started to talk away again, this time slow enough for her to follow. “You question your talents, Ms. Mourette. But what kind of place of education would it be if we only served the learned? Not a very good one, at that. You say your hometown did not present you with adequate opportunities. Well, my dear, the very fact that you were not satisfied with the substandard makes you the type of student the Dome looks for. You strive always for something better, and you have the potential for greatness- but it has yet to be tapped. There is much for you to learn. For instance… controlling that temper.”

“I haven’t got a—” she coughed. “I haven’t got a temper. Well, alright then, maybe I do sort of. But this is all a little much. It’s kind of... well, you know, confusing, and quite frankly I’m not sure I believe it all. The crux of universes? And I’m going to train to be an inter-dimensional champion?”

She nearly tripped on him- he’d stopped all of sudden at a door, a human-sized door, and he was reaching up to unlock it, holding a key that looked unnaturally large in his hand. “But not right now,” he said. “Right now, you should get settled. This is your room. We’ve arranged to have your clothing and some of your personal affects transported here- we hope it is to your liking.”

The door unlocked and he creaked it open slightly. “Here is your key,” he said, holding it up. Gingerly, she took it- turning it over in her hands, she ran her fingers over it. Smooth- cold-ish metal that warmed in her palm. It felt like a normal key—such an odd feeling in an abnormal place. But she could feel it, and it was real. She looked down at the Domerii, something strange to her, something she hadn’t felt yet, something she couldn’t prove. She looked back to her unblinkingly. “This is as far as I take you, Ms. Mourette,” he said. “From this point forth, you will be under the instruction of Orysius Solian. You will learn much for him. But for now, you should get some rest.”

“Thank you.”

“Goodnight,” he said. And with that he turned to walk away. For a few moments, she watched him walk away in the soft light, his funny sort of gait disappearing as he got farther and farther down the hallway…

“Wait!” she called, just before he had disappeared from her view. “But what if I don’t choose to stay? What if I want to go home?”

Lucy couldn’t see his face, but she could tell his grin was a wicked little one as he laughed heartily. “But you don’t, do you?” he called. “Good night, Lucy Mourette. Good luck!”