After more conversation they were sure that they came from two different Earths. General Ana came from a world that had been at war for over 50 years, and she was battle hardened from having to train daily ever since she was young.
As Calyx listened, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. He knew he had no reason to be, but knowing he was born in a much better world made him feel spoiled in comparison.
"It seems I have to go soon." Ana said, looking at the clock on the wall that seemed to function with some sort of magic. "I'll have a guard escort you to the room I've arranged. Tomorrow you'll be introduced to ardai and somae, two types of spirit energy. You two best prepare for it."
That set Calyx's mind off like a firework. The prospect of learning more offensive magic was awesome to him, so it was all he could think about as a guard came over and led them towards a small room.
"Do you know what those ones are?" He asked Tharon as they looked at the room they were assigned. It was empty and cramped, with a single bunk bed being the only thing inside.
"What do you mean?" Tharon said. Only then did Calyx realize they had been walking in silence for nearly four minutes, since he was preoccupied by his own thoughts.
"Spirit energies. Ardai and somae. Weren't you asking the wagon driver about the types before I fell asleep?"
"Yeah," Tharon said, "Ardai is basically light magic, and somae is basically dark magic."
'Light' and 'dark' weren't exactly clear-cut categories, but Calyx supposed he would learn more later.
"You two happy?" Lania said grumpily as she came up behind them. She still didn't seem to be over her being dragged along with them.
"Absolutely jubilant." Calyx smirked. It wasn't entirely a lie.
Magic was cool.
"We need to go gear shopping, since you're starting training soon." Lania said, "The army is supplying us with 20,000 gran to split between your gear."
Calyx didn't know the exact value of one gran yet, but anything in the thousands was probably a lot.
Since they didn't have anything they needed to unpack, they followed her out of the barracks and to the gate, where they entered back into the city.
"Since I trained you two, I probably know your skills better than you do." She said as they approached a wide building which Calyx assumed was a forge. "So if you want something that actually works, you should let me choose for you. Especially you, Calyx, since I don't trust you to make a smart decision for your life."
"I think I know myself well enough." Calyx looked around as they entered the building. Tharon started looking around himself, and split off while Lania stayed close behind Calyx.
There were rows of different weapons of all sorts of different materials, and while he recognized some, several weapon types were completely alien to Calyx.
There was one that looked like the undesirable result of a dagger and a needle having a baby, like a fencing sword had been made even shorter and somehow even less practical.
Another odd one was a pair of long, wide blades with straps on them. Calyx guessed they might be used by attaching them to the arm or something, but it looked about as practical as the fencing toothpick.
There were dozens of other odd weapons adorning the walls, but Calyx immediately spotted something that caught his eye.
"They fight with cleavers here?"
Calyx went over to look closer, and saw that among the other blades there were several meat cleavers, which all looked pristine and new.
"They sell tools here, too. Not just weapons." Lania sighed. "You aren't going to get far fighting with a meat cleaver."
"Oh, but someone's going to get far fighting with a metal chopstick?" he said, pointing to the rows of pathetic blades beside them.
"That's called a spirit thorn, and it's one of the most powerful weapons here." Lania scoffed with a hint of offense. "The metal it's made from can absorb and disperse spirit energy easily, so it's ideal for mages."
"So it's a wand." Calyx said, still looking at the cleavers. "And a really clunky one, too."
"Whatever." Lania rolled her eyes.
"Hey, and isn't this made of the same metal?" He reached down, finding a cleaver at the very end that looked different from the others, the shine resembling that of the oversized nails Lania fervently defended before.
"For some time they made those to try to channel pyron, or fire energy, through the blade to cook meat as they cut it." Lania said. "It proved ineffective, so no one bought them. It's weird they're still trying to sell that one instead of melting it down for…"
Lania cut her sentence off to give Calyx the dirtiest glare as she saw the smirk forming on his face.
"It can channel spirit energies through it, eh?" Calyx said, picking it up to feel the grip. "I don't think there's a contest. This blows any other weapon out of the water."
"Don't you dare."
"What?" He twirled the blade around, smiling from the feel. "If it can conduct energy, I can use it as a weapon. If this metal makes a wannabe screwdriver worthwhile, imagine what I can do with a cleaver of it."
"You'll regret it in the long run." Lania said.
"I'm already pretty good with these things." Calyx remembered his knife training. "Besides, the fact that this one is still here is practically fate."
"I mean it." Lania said. "I'm not going to let you pick that, no matter how much you insist."
"You shouldn't doubt my persistence."
"Well, I do."
"We'll see how that works out for you."
~=~=~=~=~=~
Once Tharon had picked out his equipment, he came to the front desk where an annoyed Lania and a triumphant Calyx stood. He didn't bother asking what happened, since he knew it probably had something to do with the blue-tinted meat cleaver on the table.
Tharon had settled on a shortsword. The tag said the alloy was both durable and conductive of spirit energies, so Tharon thought it was a good pick. He could already tell just by looking at it that it was sharpened to perfection, and the grip felt right.
Alongside that, he got thin metal armor built to be sturdy but light, a pair of leather gauntlets, thick boots, and a light blue cloak. Tharon got it because it was fireproof and protective against all sorts of magic, and he assumed any extra protection would be useful.
All of this only amounted to 6,530 gran, which was well under his budget. He looked around at the other items, but none of them felt essential.
"At least one of you understood the assignment." Lania said, looking at Tharon's assortment of items. "Calyx doesn't have armor yet, since he spent all his time convincing me to let him use the stupid cooking knife."
That checked out.
"Once again you underestimate me." Calyx went over to the end of the armor section. "I already spotted this one out while we were arguing."
He picked a piece of leather armor from the shelf that covered the chest and went down to the knees.
"It's a perfect fit, right?" Calyx said, turning it around so Tharon could see it properly.
"Of course." Tharon looked the piece over.
Tharon didn't think Calyx would pick something suitable for himself, but alas. He managed to find armor that looked just as stupid as he did.
"There was a guy at Profectus with armor like this." Calyx said, checking the tag of the armor. "He said this kind is magically reinforced, so it can be strong while still being light. I don't know how that works, but it sounded cool."
Tharon still thought it looked stupid.
"Alright." Calyx also grabbed some boots and went over towards the front desk. "Is that everything?"
"I think so." Lania said, ringing a bell at the counter for the blacksmith.
Instead, a thin, blond-haired boy came out to greet them. Tharon assumed he must be some kind of assistant, and the actual blacksmith was too busy.
"I-" The boy's eyes drifted towards the cleaver. "Woah, I didn't know we still had those in stock. I must have missed it when I was gathering them to be melted."
"That sounds like fate to me." Calyx mused.
"Well, since I made this mistake in the first place, I'll give you a discount." The boy said, dramatically brushing his hair behind his ear. "After all, I'm a pretty generous guy."
"Would your boss be okay with that?" Lania asked.
"My boss?" The boy took on an offended tone. "I'll have you know I run this establishment."
"You're… the blacksmith?" Lania said skeptically.
"I know, I know. I get that a lot." The boy straightened up. "I have chronic babyface, babyvoice, not to mention how compact the bulk of my arms are."
He pulled up his sleeves, revealing chiseled muscles larger than even Tharon's.
"Yaman O'Harrison. 21, despite the appearance." He flexed a bit more to prove a point. "I'm the guy who makes weapons for the top dogs around here."
Yaman had a very soothing voice, and even when he was standing tall he was still only as tall as Lania, who was a head shorter than both brothers. Even with the muscles, he still didn't give off blacksmith vibes. More… Pretty boy.
"Believe it or not, I've made the gear for the ol' general herself." Yaman said. "Me and her go back a long way."
"Cool." Calyx looked back down at the equipment. "So can we buy the stuff?"
"Alright, alright. Geez, people are so impatient these days."
Lania slid over the funds the military had provided and he counted up change with masterful speed.
Yaman then wrote up a receipt and signed it, passing the small note over to them.
"Show this to the guards at the entrance before you leave." Yaman told them. "Otherwise they'll think you're a thief."
They gathered up the equipment and prepared to go back to Ragon Fortress.
"Come again!" Yaman waved. "You'll want upgrades soon, if you make it big."
~=~=~=~=~=~
By the time they made it back to the fortress it was already late. The long journey and dawn air left the brothers feeling cold and tired.
"Dang, who decided to make the blacksmith so far away from the army?" Calyx complained, stretching once they deposited their gear on the small rack in their assigned room.
Tharon was seemingly tuning out Calyx's complaints as per the usual, and instead sat quietly, pondering to himself.
"Did you notice the odd energy when we came in here?" Tharon said aloud, and it took Calyx a second to realize the question was directed at him.
"Now that you mention it, yeah." Calyx said. "Something felt odd in the halls."
"Do you think we're being followed?" Tharon asked, now turning to Calyx.
"Maybe it's like a test or something." Calyx said. "I doubt anything could break into a fortress this secure without being noticed."
"Still, isn't it strange?"
Calyx didn't think it was that big of a deal, but he was game for investigation.
"If you think so, we should follow the trail of energy." Calyx suggested.
"That sounds like a terrible idea." Tharon told Calyx. "Whatever that energy was, it didn't feel right."
"But what if it was something important?" Calyx walked up to his brother's side.
Despite Tharon's usual caution, Calyx knew he was just as curious as he was.
"Alright." Tharon said, standing up to begin putting on his armor. "We can go and see what it is, but we'll leave at the first sign of danger."
"Alright!"
Calyx quickly strapped on his armor and grabbed his cleaver, accompanying his brother as they walked toward the strange energy radiating through the hallways.
It felt sickening. Not like the Veil, but something completely different. It was the feeling of boiling emptiness rather than a sickening overflow of disgust.
As they followed the feeling, it got stronger and stronger. Calyx felt as if he was going to puke, but he couldn't. Eventually, they reached a door at the end of the basement, with a soft glow coming from the cracks.
Calyx tried the door, and surprisingly, it opened.
They peered inside to find a large room, almost like a cave. The room's walls and floors were rough stone, and shining in the center of it was a large, fiery hole cracking through the floor. It pulsed and moved mesmerizingly, and Calyx couldn't help but feel a bit entranced.
"I knew I should have double checked the lock."
Calyx saw General Ana standing on the other side of the room, sighing.
"What's going on here?" Tharon asked, reaching for his weapon at the cruel energy filling the air.
"Nothing you were supposed to know about yet." Ana walked across the room to them, and Tharon took a step back.
"This," she pointed to the glowing energy, "Is a small gateway to hell."
"I figured out that much." Calyx came in closer for a look, feeling both hot and sick. "But why do you have one of these in here?"
"The King of Gluttony's domain is on the other side." Ana pulled him back from the gate. "Right now we are scouting out the area, and trying to use this to find a solution to our kingdom's crisis."
"Why the secrecy?" Tharon asked.
"The kingdom is simply scared of gates like this." Ana said. "This gate is thousands of times smaller than the one that caused this issue, and far more contained. Regardless, people would still panic if the news got out."
"Not very secret if we could feel the trail of energy leading us here." Calyx noted.
Ana closed her eyes and thought for a moment, before gently gesturing for them to leave the room.
"I'm just waiting for our scout to come back." Ana went back towards where she was when they arrived. "He was meant to return about thirty minutes ago, so I'm contemplating going in to find him."
"Why don't we go instead?" Calyx said, ready to seize the opportunity. "After all, aren't we more expendable?"
"That won't be necessary." Ana shook her head. "It's too much of a risk. You're new here."
"But he might be in danger." Calyx said dramatically. "Shouldn't someone go in to help him?"
"It's not worth the risk." Ana remained unmoved. "If he can't handle it, then I doubt you two could do anything."
"Just because it's dangerous doesn't mean no one should go in after him." Calyx argued. "Risk is a part of life."
"Perhaps a part of whether you'll throw it away or not."
Calyx didn't like to be underestimated. If he couldn't manage to dip his toes into this King of Gluttony's territory, then what was the point of progressing anyway? This would be a fitting place for the real journey to begin.
"I think it'd be worth a try anyway." He said, inching toward the portal. Once he got to the point where he could look directly down into it, he could feel the pair of stares on his back.
"Don't try anything." Tharon said, coming up behind him to pull him back.
"Too late!" Calyx stepped forward, and before anyone could stop him, fell towards the gate. He doubted that it was dangerous to go through the portal itself, since Ana had been standing near the rim earlier and didn't warn him when he got close to it. It was probably fine.
He could hear his brother's protests as he plummeted into the sickening energy, but they were just white noise. What came next was his real first step, more than Profectus, the army, or any veilbeast.