Opening his brown eyes he saw an unfamiliar stone ceiling. His body felt heavy, sluggish and all-around painful. Tilting his head to the sides he got the vague impression of a small bedroom. Entering from the door on the long wall there was a small table with some chairs around along the short wall to your right. In the corner to your front right there was a small desk with a chair, and a cupboard to the left of it, further to the left along the other short wall was a decently sized bed with a small table and chair to the sides of it. In the middle of the ceiling was a white orb, it was very dimly illuminating the room. On the opposing short wall was a large white cloth tarp with a bronze disc embroidered onto it, he couldn’t place its importance but he knew it was important.

On the chair to his right sat a young girl in a white robe with the same bronze embroidered disc over her chest. She had blonde hair just short of her shoulders and looked very young at around 9 or 10 years old, she was currently sleeping.
Sitting up he got a better look at things, everything in the room looked well-maintained and of good quality, if not a bit simple.

Wanting to get out of bed he let out a weak groan as he moved his legs to the side, this woke up the young girl gasping in surprise.
“You... You’re awake!” She sounded happy, her smile and energetic flailing as she pointed at him backed this up.

Calming down for a brief moment she snapped her fingers, causing the orb in the ceiling to illuminate the room dramatically, this was enough for him to cover his eyes and let out a pained groan, it felt like staring at the sun.

She was quick to raise her hands, palms towards him apologetically. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. They told me you might have sensitive eyes... I forgot!” She was flustered and sounded honestly regretful.
“Just stay calm. They told me that you would have some problems, just...” She didn’t seem to know where to start.

He didn’t know how to react, there was some random kid in this unfamiliar room. He felt like shit and the first thing she did was indirectly assault his eyes.

“Before you start thinking too much, you most likely don’t remember anything, that’s normal after the Ritual.” She had calmed down a little through her first explanation, but this had him just thinking about things more.

He pondered for a few seconds and... it seems she was right, he couldn’t remember anything. He didn’t know who he was, what happened... not just yesterday but... anything. The only thing he could remember was waking up just a minute ago. He felt confused and stressed. His heart rate rose and his breathing became erratic.
“What... who... Who are you? Where am I?.... Who... who am I?” Properly realising that his mind was indeed blank had him start panicking ever so slightly. He wanted to do many things at the same time, he tried to get up but a mixture of his body not wanting to react and his current situation had his strength fail him, forcefully sitting him back on the bed.

The girl took out a small scroll from her robe.
“They have done this a lot, the first thing is that you need to relax... They... they gave me this... guide, things I can say to help you through this.” Fumbling to open the scroll as fast as she could ironically had it take a bit longer.

He looked at her and stared into her eyes. He felt a strange sense of familiarity, there was also the thought that she didn’t seem to be lying. He didn’t know how he knew but he felt confident that he knew. It put him somewhat at ease, his breathing calmed a little but he was still looking around with swift movements as if he expected to just see all the answers plastered on the wall.

The young girl started explaining, moving her finger across the paper.
“First, your name. If I say that it is either Robert or Kintas, one of them should feel familiar.” She looked up from the paper as if she wanted to confirm what she was reading was working.

He thought about it for a moment. Kintas did feel familiar, much more so than Robert.

Seeming satisfied with her reaction she continued.
“Your name is Kintas Alem. My name is Ylere. We have known each other for years. You saved me from the village, remember?” Her voice was almost pleading like she was begging him to remember.

Kintas’ left eye twisted once as he looked blankly into the bed, focusing on everything in his mind. It... sounded familiar, but at the same time, he had no real idea if it was true.

“This is normal, the confusion. Everyone who went through the Ritual goes through the same. The coming days will let you remember most things, the rest should come in time.”
She was looking at the paper, her tone suggested she was just reading loudly, however, there was a sense of relief to what she said. Everything she had said so far felt true so, if this was also true, it meant that it shouldn't last too long.

“Wait... Ritual?” Kintas was unsure about everything but if he was part of something that caused him to forget everything... it felt like a very important thing to know about.

“Ah.. yes...” Her eyes swiftly darted back and forth as she skimmed the paper to find the correct place to read. Finding it she continued clearly just reading loudly word by word.
“You were chosen, and accepted, to be part of The Zenith, a ritual that enhanced you with His power. You should be stronger and faster and have increased stamina and fortitude. You chose to be one of His champions against the sinners who refuse his light and as a result, are gifted with your new body. Though you will need some time to get used to it.”

Again she looked up to confirm that he was still there. Though before Kintas got to ask or properly react she let out a small sigh as she put the paper down.
“I don’t know all the details. All I know is that you really wanted this, we spoke about it and you seemed determined. I don’t know everything but I have read the paper many times as I waited for you to wake up. The short is that you will be confused and mess up for a few days, you’ll break things as you get used to your body. Your mind should fix itself a little and you will remember more things. Until then just... just rest, ok?”
She was looking at him with the eyes of a family member trying to persuade the stubborn sibling to rest when sick.

“I can try to heal you a little-” She continued after Kintas had a few seconds to calm down. “-I’m not that good but it might help the pain.”
She motioned for him to lie down, more than the healing itself this felt more like a peace of mind and a bargaining chip to have him get back in bed.

Kintas pondered it for a few long seconds, he... both believed everything but also felt incredibly uncertain about it all. Parts of him wanted to fly through the door and run out to find answers, but that could cause more problems... or it could answer everything... The more he thought about things the more the girls’... Ylere’s words felt right, and even if they weren’t he would find out in a few days. So the worst-case scenario felt like his body would improve which could help him later, best case it was all true and his mind would mend itself, answering his questions automatically.

He reluctantly lay down but was rewarded by Ylere’s smile as she put her hands together. Closing her eyes she spoke in a soft tone, barely louder than a whisper. “Great Lord, grant your healing light to Kintas. Let him be restored to health and strength by your grace.” As she completed her tiny prayer her hands started glowing a soft, warm pale white light. She put both her hands on his chest and he immediately felt the warm healing energy spread through his body, like someone poured perfectly tempered water over him.

He didn’t know if he needed healing or not, but the strange warm embrace of the healing energy calmed him down considerably, plenty enough for him to drift to sleep.

*******

“Dodge better!” A body-builder man shouted, bald head and a physique of perfection, he wore simple leather armour with a bronze disk on the back and was wielding a wooden sword. Kintas fell to the ground after having been struck by the sword. His shoulder-long hair was in a short ponytail, the lack of shaving had him growing a stubble. He wore similar leather armour without the same bronze disc.

Originally he was introduced as Vesver to Kintas, he would be his combat instructor for the time being.

They were currently in a large open area in the building, doors leading out at seemingly random points in the stone walls, four arches exiting into other areas with a bronze-painted disc on their keystones. There were several people here keeping out of the sparring grounds which was encircled by a rope on the ground made out of compacted sand ground. Other people were sparring much more proficiently, certain soldier-looking men were either relaxing and looking at Kintas having his ass beat, and others were training with wooden dummies.

“Lord help me, you know I just woke up two days ago, I haven’t even eaten today.” Kintas complained back, though he didn’t look entirely out of it he was much better than when he first came to after the ritual.

“The people you’ll be fighting won’t care if you’re hurt or not, had this been real you’d be on fire, impaled or worse! Now get your skinny ass on your feet and try again!” His voice was unrelenting, he sounded angry with Kintas as if he was wasting his valuable time.

Ylere was standing on the sidelines, looking like she wanted to run in several times but managing to stop herself each one.

Kintas got to his feet somewhat unsteadily, charging his instructor and aiming for his sword hand. The instructor easily dodged the attack but a swift punch from Kintas landed well in his wrist and the momentary shock was enough for the instructor to drop his sword.
A smirk grew on Kintas’ face as he swung his sword towards his now unarmed opponent. This was short-lived as Kintas’ smirk interacted with the instructor's strong fist, sending Kintas back on his ass.

“LORD FUCKING DAMN IT!” Kintas shouted in pain as he clutched his face with both hands, having already dropped his sword during his graceful ass-plant.

“Don’t use his name in vain. And for fuck’s sake learn to dodge better!” The instructor was not having any of Kintas’ poor attempts at fighting.

Kintas took his sword and got back to his feet, spitting out some blood from his busted lip as he tried again, wanting to win over the instructor so badly but, if wanting something made it happen this wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.
The instructor proceeded to beat the everliving shit out of him again and again, each time Kintas felt he made a good choice it was punished dramatically. It didn’t end before he couldn’t get on his feet again. Laying there with lightly fractured bones, broken and bloodied skin he finally gave out.

The instructor sighed and waved over Ylere, who came running and proceeded to chant her healing prayer. The bleeding wounds stopped and the skin was mending but the bones took more time.

The instructor walked over and looked down at Kintas with a dissatisfied look, letting out a disapproving grunt. His tone was anything but complimenting, it almost sounded like he hated Kintas, which in his mind explained a little why he didn’t hold his punches in the slightest.
“We’re done here. Heal him up and get him to his next lesson.” He spoke commandingly though a slight bit softer to Ylere than he did to Kintas. He didn’t wait for a response before he left them to themselves.

She nodded without lifting her gaze, focusing on channelling the healing energy into her broken friend. Hearing the instructor's steps leave she immediately felt a little more relaxed.
Kintas relaxed a bit more as well, the wounds closing and the healing energy spreading through his body did wonders for more than just his pain.

Kintas chuckled a little as he lay there on his back. “Well... If anything I think his constant knocking me on my head made me remember more things.” He ended the statement with a light chuckle.

Ylere seemed momentarily happy as her face suddenly returned to her focus expression. Kintas continued without stopping. “I remember what happened to your village, and how we met. Not all the details but at least some of it.”

Ylere smiled through her focus. “I’m glad. It’s only been two days. You’ll remember more.” She seemed to be able to focus her healing through that just fine.

“Yeah, there’s been flashes of things. I know that you’re part of my past at least. I don’t remember much just before the Ritual but I do remember that I should be better at fighting than this, just... my body won’t do as I want.” The complaining energy of this statement was strong but sounded legit.

In the last two days, he has had a lot of things explained to him, read some information pamphlet-like things as well as just figuring out things. He tore door handles of doors that were a bit stuck, crushed things like thin cups and broke a lot of handles. It took more time than he expected to get used to the strength, but the weirdest things were when he concentrated and things seemed to slow down. The worst part was that since his body wasn’t entirely healed yet, so he could kind of see in slow motion but it was only more frustrating seeing a punch come in slower without being able to react to it.

“The other Inquisitors say they went through the same, just take it easy, it’ll come soon and suddenly.” Ylere smiled as she stopped the healing energy, wiping some sweat off her forehead.
“At least when I asked them, it was different for all of them but they all said that everything will suddenly change, you should heal very fast so it’s only the first time that’s a problem.”

Kintas pondered a moment and... though it couldn’t come fast enough at least that made sense. From what he read he should have a better body in everything, healing included. However, this first round where the body got used to itself took a bit more, but it would suddenly fall into place and everything would change. So all he had to do was to get patient.

Getting to his feet he felt better, the wounds closed and broken bones mended. He felt lucky to have a friend who happens to be able to heal with him.

“Now, let’s go to your next class:” Ylere smiled as she saw her efforts had done their job. 

*******

“Kintas, are you paying attention?!” An angry man in white robes, long hair in a ponytail and an immaculate beard yelled at Kintas as he slapped a wooden pointing stick against his desk.

This startled the three other men in the room, though the others looked more like mages with similar robes, contrasting Kintas who was still in his leather armour. The room itself was rectangular and had a layout similar to a classroom. The teacher was referring to an arcane magic circle on a blackboard as Kintas was more interested in what was going on outside, peering out the window.

“No, I am not.” Kintas answered both honestly and dryly.

“That... That’s the problem, but if you find my classes boring I assume you already mastered this subject?” There was a better-than-thou insulting tone in the teacher's voice.

“Actually yes, this is basic arcane circles, I haven’t had anything else to do the last few days besides train and read, and I think I knew something about this before the Ritual as well...” Kintas didn’t reply in a bragging tone, more hesitantly like he was speaking of a memory or dream he didn’t quite remember the details about.

“Then I assume you can complete the circle?” The teacher smirked in a way hinting that he had finally gotten Kintas on the spot.

Kintas took a glance at the blackboard, a second later he sighed. “It’s a simple light circle, with the runes you have it’ll create a bunch of smaller light sources and help with the control. I don’t need to ‘complete’ the circle as it’s already done.”
Kintas felt this was a dumb trick question, the circle already had a circle around a triangle with all the three runes placed, and it would work as-is.
He didn’t remember reading about this kind of Arcane magical theory, but parts of him just knew it. Mentally shrugging he assumed it was part of his life before, he’d have to ask Ylere about it.

The teacher’s smirk changed to a more neutral, if not slightly irked expression. “That’s good. I will admit I thought you were just slacking off, but I’m glad to see that it’s not laziness that’s affecting you.”

Kintas didn’t reply but rather returned to looking out through the window.

*******

The following days were filled with training and learning, Ylere handled healing if, and when, needed. Most of the time that was mostly needed after combat training.
Kintas found out that he had a real knack for understanding Arcane Magic, which was incredibly good when he thought about it, proper understanding of an opponent’s power is going to increase the odds of survival considerably. He struggled in combat training as his body was lagging, he did notice increased speed, strength and general improvements but this lack of control followed him every day. Magical combat training was oddly easier, a sanctioned Arcane mage created magical circles and gave Kintas enough time to decipher it, it was training after all, and once activated he had to dodge or protect himself.
Though this went well most of the time it didn’t always, at least Ylere got to work on her healing. The worst times were when the mage sped up the casting, though he could understand what spell it was he couldn’t react in time.

Outside of the actual training, studies went well, he never missed any sermons and his Path to Enlightenment was going slowly as well. As part of his training, he was to pray to Him. The prayers are highly personal and didn’t have anything specific they needed to contain, but it was suggested to at least mention his condition and the work he would be doing. This was how an Inquisitor could be blessed with further gifts. Their bodies were already gifts in a sense but most Inquisitors had a few extra perks given to them through prayers and blessings.

Kintas used these moments to relax and focused most of his prayer on wanting to do his job well in His name, he felt that asking for personal gifts wasn’t right. He was already gifted or would be at least once his body stabilised.

*******

“Can’t you learn to fucking dodge?” Kintas’ combat instructor yelled at the still not healed Kintas. The instructor had swung his one-handed wooden sword towards his chest, and though Kintas had indeed tried to dodge it still landed strong.

Chuckling through his coughs Kintas was somewhat annoyed at his own body. When he focused on combat the world still ended up moving just a little bit slower, however, this still didn’t mean that his body moved any faster. Seeing it coming and trying to move, but not moving fast enough was incredibly frustrating.

Trying to use the little moment of downtime to his advantage, Kintas stepped towards his instructor to try and get in a cheeky little swat at his legs. This was immediately stopped by the instructor simply slapping Kintas’ sword hand with the side of his blade, letting out a dissatisfied click with his tongue.
“Underhanded attack. A good idea in real combat, you are striving for survival, after all; but still too slow.”

This triggered Kintas more than he expected.

As Kintas was about to attack once more, the instructor stopped the fight and was facing someone on the side.
Turning towards the same way a man was coming out from one of the many side doors, he had shoulder-long brown hair, a well-maintained beard and was wearing dark blue, almost black robes with some accents of purple and gold. In his right hand was a metal staff with an orange crystal disc on the top. The side of his neck had the tattoo marking him as a registered Arcane Mage.

“Ah, Eryer, perfect timing.” Vesver smiled at the man.

Kintas couldn’t help but assume this man was a mage, not just did he dress like one, the staff was a dead giveaway but he had a... feeling about him. It was like there was something in the air like he was wearing the heaviest of perfumes that identified him as one.

Vesver turned back to Kintas with a smile. “It seems magic combat is starting, try not to die now.” Not giving Kintas any moment to respond he simply left the sparring area with a large smile, a large and sadistic smile.

Eryer didn’t say anything, simply lifting his hand towards Kintas and for a split second, a magic circle flashed in front of his hand. The only thing Kintas caught was the elemental rune being Air, and that the circle had a triangle in it.
In the split second after it collapsed into energy in his hand a strong gust of wind slammed into Kintas’ chest. Though it was wind it felt more like being punched as it lifted him off his feet and sent him tumbling backwards.

Coughing for a solid few seconds, mentally cursing his mind now as well as his body; he couldn’t even come close to identifying that spell. The slow-motion effect could have helped him here but naturally, it didn’t trigger.

Getting to his feet, Kintas picked up his wooden sword and turned towards his mage enemy, however, it was too late and at this point, there was already a small fireball on the way. Barely managing to throw himself to the side he managed to dodge it, but didn’t stop it from singing some hair on his arm and lightly damaging the skin before it made a small explosion in the ground behind him.

Kintas caught himself hyperventilating, he was sweating and felt a dreading sense of fear. Looking at his mage opponent there wasn’t a moment’s waste, his hand was again pointed at Kintas and a yellow magic circle was collapsing into a small energy field, it should head towards him in a minuscule moment, and the only thing he could think of was how fucked he was. His vision went blurry as it came back into focus, his heart was in his throat and the sweat was starting to run down his forehead. Parts of him recognised the shock and stress but most of his body seized up, he couldn’t move and the only thing he could think of was how screwed he was.

As he stood there, the mental shock opened a floodgate. A plug blocking his entire past was yanked out and lots of memories came flooding back. Not everything but the important bits explained why he chose to undergo the Ritual to become a better fighter. He saw his mother and brother disappear into ash in front of his eyes, a sadistic smile on a man with a robe and staff standing unhurt in the fire. A village burning around him as he haphazardly sent fireballs in all directions.

The memory flashed, he was elsewhere, finding himself in a forest alone, he had a feeling that this lasted a long, long time. Barely surviving, struggling, wounded and starving.

The memory flashed again, he saw Ylere, this memory he had remembered before, her village was levelled with the ground through earth magic. People were crushed and impaled. So much blood everywhere. He managed to get Ylere out through sheer luck and running. He knew he could fight but he was not good enough to go up against a powerful mage.

Through all this he could feel his body do something, it felt like popping a joint of sorts. Slightly painful there and then but immediately pleasant and better afterwards, like something twisting to fall into place and complete a large puzzle. Like someone flipped a switch and everything negative about his body faded away.

The old memories stopped and his mind felt surprisingly calm and collected, the aches and pains in his body were instantly gone. He didn’t intend to but he felt his lips move and his voice speak, it felt right, but it wasn’t something he felt was planned. “Lord, give me speed.” The words carried a weight he had only seen in divine magic
As the word completed there was a weak pulse of energy in his body, nothing visual as far as he noticed but he could feel a single thump within his core.

He felt good.

The spell was still heading towards him but this time it felt different, the world was in slow motion like before but he could move at his normal speed within it, letting him effortlessly step out of the way of the incoming attack. The spell slammed into a wooden dummy behind him, doing some damage to its surface.

“Now you can fucking dodge!” Vesver exclaimed as his mage friend missed his target.