“The nature of Riiva is mysterious. For all the hundreds of thousands of years we’ve studied it, the Order has no concrete answers as to what it is—what comprises it, how long it’s existed, or how exactly it functions. Perhaps a million more will pass without a single new piece of information. Discovery is rare—almost as rare as the fragments themselves.”

—High Scholar Judeus Falk, in his treatise, The Origins of Riiva

Zaina slogged out of bed upon morning’s arrival. Despite having slept well, she was still exhausted. In the span of a month everything in her life had changed and she still hadn’t reckoned with all of it. Of course, she didn’t plan on doing that today. For now she wanted to put all the strangeness aside and focus on what she came here for: becoming a lancer.

In a hurry, Zaina prepared for the day—drinking water, relieving herself, showering—and then ate a few pieces of fruit.

There was a reason for her rush: she wanted to beat the woman down to the training fields and practice before she arrived, then practice more after she left. If there were cameras everywhere, that would prove how little help the woman was being. Plus, avoiding her seemed like the right call. Her constant remarks were distracting.

Zaina took her first steps outside and stretched her arms out. Light from the nearest star poured in through open continental panels on Kaado’s outer surface, and she happily took in the golden rays of warmth. There was a breeze today—the cool air was soothing as it rolled off the skin of her arms. She felt a little better already.

All right. Let’s get to it.

The first thing Zaina needed to master was summoning her cipher. It had to be automatic. She didn’t want to mess up when it counted most.

She wasn’t able to summon it without meditating yet, much to her annoyance. The sessions of self-searching were taxing, but she needed the practice. Once she could summon the weapon on command, she’d move on to learning about her equipment.

Luckily I have the vis-screen for that. No need for that woman.

Zaina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Over the course of a grueling morning she repeatedly summoned her cipher. Every time she reached into herself drained her further. Her heartbeat pulsed in her temples, her wrists, and her throat after the third time, but she kept going. After the fifth time, her stomach flipped and she ejected its contents into a nearby patch of grass. The acidic sting stuck in the back of her throat, so she decided to take a break and wash the horrible taste out.

Gods, I hate that. Reminds me of the farm, when I used to harvest during the summer when I was little after eating too many of Mom’s sweet stacks—

She shook her head. Reminiscing wouldn’t do her any good right now. After rinsing out her mouth in the sink, Zaina tried to make sense of the drink-making machine in her hut. Unable to figure it out, she drank water and relaxed for a few minutes.

The second Zaina went back outside, her heart sank. The woman was waiting, a lit roll in one hand and the other flipped over to display a vis-screen.

“Morning, rookie,” she greeted without so much as a head turn.

“I don’t suppose you’re planning on being helpful today, are you?”

When no response came, Zaina shook her head and sat down. She closed her eyes once more, but this time, instead of meditating, she tried to wish for the sword outright; nothing happened.

Her shoulders deflated with a resigned sigh. Looks like I need more practice. I hope I don’t blow chunks in front of her.

The meditation went on, with Zaina experiencing variations of the same thing; different memories with her family, different possible futures had her life continued as normal, and different encounters with the Eldritch. Nothing about being a lancer, though.

Hours passed and the layers blurred together. Only the strands beneath everything mattered. With every passing vision, Zaina became more adept at detaching from herself.

Whenever she drew the blade, it felt less like a wish and more like a feeling she had to be in tune with—a focus, not only on the strands but on something at the heart of her own consciousness, the part of her that was the same as the universe and anchored her to it. The more she practiced, the easier it became to reach the strands and the more eager they were to be grasped. Before the day was over it took little effort at all.

As the planetary light panels above closed to make starlight fade on her section of Kaado, Zaina was able to attune so completely to the needed feeling that she summoned the weapon without closing her eyes. The blade’s green, glowing hue sparked into existence, and the strands wove the weapon into existence in her palm. Zaina breathed a sigh of relief. She was getting better—the proof was in her hand.

She swung the sword about, wondering if that was supposed to be included in a normal mentorship—how to fight with a sword. There was no point in asking the woman. Zaina was a good shot with a scrap pistol and knew how to fight—but using a sword was foreign to her.

The blade emitted a low, metallic ring as it sliced through the air. It was weightless in her grip; it was one with her, an extension of her self.

Zaina dissipated the blade and glanced around. Her mentor was nowhere to be seen, having already packed up for the night.

She doesn’t even care enough to put on a show of teaching. I hope I get reassigned. Can I be reassigned?

Zaina stretched out before heading back to her new home and laying down for the night. Tomorrow, more practice summoning her cipher—then she’d get more familiar with her equipment.

And once that’s sorted out, I can figure out the whole magick thing. Gir never really got into that beyond the very basics.

Zaina sighed, then rolled onto her back and accessed her vis-screen. The main menu popped up once more, and Zaina tapped the Lessons icon.

After scrolling down the page, Zaina indeed found lessons on lancer magick. She tapped the icon and two more screens popped up. All three vis-screens now displayed different paths in the folder, with different directories and entire lists of lessons for each category.

The first screen that had appeared had changed to display a directory known as Forms of Magick. The second two screens displayed Learning and Honing Magick, and Applications of Magick.

There’s no way I’ll ever get through all of this.

She clicked the Overview icon under Forms of Magick, and yet another screen popped up in front. A voice whirred from the hologram.

“Hello, Zaina. I am your vis-glyph. You have selected the lesson plan for: Overview: Forms of Magick, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Affirmative. Introduction: the forms of magick are the distinct types of abilities lancers are able to use. Not every lancer can access all or even most of these abilities, which vary widely in range. Thus, most lancers specialize within a certain archetype or two and master a small set of abilities to be used for maximum effectiveness.”

Zaina nodded. It made sense—she assumed there was a lot of magic out there. The glyph continued.

“The common forms of magick include hydromancy, aeromancy, terramancy, thermomancy, cryomancy, biomancy, phosmancy, and electromancy. Within these forms, there are subtle variations that are further explored in their individual sections, such as sanamancy under aeromancy and magnemancy under electromancy. For now, the brief overview will include a short look at the basics of each type of—”

With a click, Zaina shut it off. It was too much to think about right now—and she was too tired. Her magick would be there when she was ready.