Kayna slowly gets up as if she is doing a series of stretches in bed. When she feels her body is ready, she decides to open her eyes. She looks up at the ceiling of the room she shares with her roommate, a white ceiling adorned with a candlestick of the same color from which hangs crystals that create reflections in different corners of the wall. She looks around for her alarm clock, which reads 6:45. She woke up too early again. The courses of the day before knocked her out. Five years, it's been five years since she's been in this school. She should have gotten used to the fast pace that is required of them since then but no.
When she finishes getting ready, she passes in front of the mirror to make sure that her uniform is in perfect condition. Her uniform, or rather the outfit for her funeral. When a Stratio dies, he is buried with his uniform and his Tatem. When you enter this world, clothes, fashion and style are no longer relevant. Everyone wears a uniform. However, each uniform differs according to your race, power level, rank, achievements, or function.
Kayna is a Synedi. This is the name given to those who are ready and train to become war assets. Below them are the Nova's, those who are no longer in the knowledge of otherworldly fundamentals and are discovering their new identity, unlike the Disci's who have no Tatem and only one uniform. The Nova, the Synedi, the Belli and the Kayen have several uniforms, three to be precise. An establishment uniform, a ceremonial uniform and a combat uniform given only when you are Synedi. Each uniform is incorporated into a trans-dimensional diamond, Kayna has only one uniform, the one of establishment, only a diamond lights up on her Tatem. This year, she will finally have two illuminated diamonds, she thinks, as she approaches her night table to pick up her Tatem. It must be worn on the side of the heart for the transmitter to work. It activates the identification function. Kayna places it over her chest and waits for the identification.
"Good morning Synedi Kayna. Your vital signs are good and your sensor is activated. Please turn the wheel to view your rank and daily tasks.
I must inform you that you are expected at Northway 34 in twenty minutes. Please proceed as soon as possible.
"Today is finally here," she thought to herself. Today she is finally moving up in rank. After three years at the Synedi level, fighting to reach the status of Belli, she will succeed.
You can't count the years it takes to move up in school. You have to have all the qualifications, training and mastery. Simply put, you don't have to pass all the material in a year to move up. Since every Stratio who comes to Craft is different, there are as many paths as there are students. A Stratio can come in and be twenty-five or ten years old, be inexperienced, and stay three years in Disci status. This would be totally normal because he doesn't know anything about his race or who he is. There is no set number of years to get out of Craft. However, it is true that it is considered exceptional to get out of Craft in seven years. Very few people do. Kayna, on the other hand, has set the goal of finishing in ten years, which is the most common, even if it is difficult for her to move up.
Kayna leaves her room and heads to the circle, the central square, the courtyard of the five parts of Craft.
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"Craft is an establishment created almost four hundred and fifty years ago. During the Hundred Years War, the one of the Middle Ages, there were three great Yada, from each side. As they were seeing the considerable number of losses and the murderous drifts of the Nephils that were unleashed on the battlefield, they decided to separate the Nephils of the three kingdoms from each other by a barrier that would no longer allow anyone to cross from one border to the other. This event was called the Division. This incantation cost them their lives, but it did bring a temporary end to the bloody war.
Nevertheless, for almost a hundred and fifty years, the various Nephil ethnicities that had been scattered throughout the kingdom, separated from their families during the war, desperately sought a way to break through the barriers, to no avail. And so, after many years of hatred for the Yada, their three apprentices were able to expand their gifts and create the portals. This was the beginning of what is still know today as the portal era. They used fragments of their breath as a link and created four portals. From the kingdom of Pounai to Notos, from Notos to Eina, from Eina to Pounai and finally, a portal to all kingdoms: the original land Adamah and the neutral territory of the Yada, Bor. And dear Stratios, you are standing above this portal
- above this portal, says Kayna at the same time as the Kaney who guides the visit of the new Dicsi.
Kayna remembers this visit very well. She remembers how she was apprehensive about Craft, but also how this place had piqued her curiosity. The Kayen continues her tour.
- Below your feet, where the elevator leads, sheltered by a glass roof, in the center of the courtyard is the portal. It is unique in its kind and is located in the neutral territory of Allagi, Bore. That's why it houses Craft.
-Excuse me Kaley Miranda, I
-Kayen, It is Kayen Miranda. But you can just call me Miranda we're not on ceremony and besides, Stratios don't call each other by rank, except to the elders, our teachers. Yes, you were saying uh your name?
-Bruno. I do not understand well what Allagi or Craft is.
-Good intervention! Your elder will explain to you what Allagi is later in class. And Craft? Craft is your life.
-Our life? I was told that here I could understand what I see that others don't see, he said, muttering his last words.
-I think that once again, unfortunately, like my ethnicity, I tend to embellish things, she says scratching her head.
She turns around, opens a few buttons on her uniform and turns around. The faces of the Disci liquefy.
-Let me start my introduction again, I am the Kaney Miranda, former missionary of the Bor, from Legion B1909. This is a nasty wound inflicted on me by an out-of-control Ektou, a Damack race that gets its power from merging with certain animals. Don't worry, you should see how the other one came out, she says smiling and closing her buttons.
One of the Discis, runs to a plant to take out all his breakfast, and maybe even his dinner. The wound that Kaney Miranda showed is one of the most horrible and takes a long time to heal. It is a large and deep scratch that takes up all the space on her torso and abdomen. The scratch rips through her left breast, passes through her navel and narrowly avoids her right breast and heart. The wound shows a mixture of scar tissue and muscle tissue that seems to be visibly regenerating. The contrast between her smile and what she shows, unfortunately sums up perfectly what life in Craft is all about: a sweet taste in the mouth and a bitter taste in the heart. The rest of the Discis have lost all melanin and seem to be looking for the exit from the corner of their eye. Others wait for some reaction of surprise or disgust from the other Stratios passing through the hall, but nothing.
-Here at Craft, you build your life, and not just figuratively, she continued. You'll start by learning who you really are. Your ethnicity, your background: basically what the world needs to know about you. Then you are taught everything about Allagi: history, ranks, kingdoms, functions, economics, and some languages. After that, when you start to know the basics, they will look for your abilities, your gifts, your weaknesses, your strengths, what makes you special or unique. Then, you will have to learn to master your gifts and to fight. And finally, through missions, we will determine where you can fit in on the battlefield. After that, you will be on your own. Finally, you will no longer be accompanied, you will join your ethnic group or a company will make you a soldier. Depending on your ethnicity, you will learn the secrets of your gifts. From then on, your life begins. You can decide, upon leaving Craft, to return to Adamah or to make a career in Allagi. That is, of course, if you survive until then. Any questions?
Kayna gives a last look to a Nova who was giving the same look when she entered Craft. That was 5 years ago