After the two of us exited the awakening room, we spoke at length with Dante.
In short, he recorded as much information about us as possible before sending off several documents.
The goal was to have our personal information recorded in a sort of system for government use. Since we were obligated to provide the information, we did so without hesitation. It was very reminiscent of the arcane library connected to the adventurers guild except with technology and not magic.
Dante still had to write everything down for us. We could now read and understand speech in any language. But writing the language was still another story entirely.
Until we learned to write, we would have to have other people do it for us.
One of the issues that came up was our birth dates.
In Avernia, I had been born later in the year. In the autumn season. Isabella had been born a month later but two years prior.
When we left Avernia, it was springtime. It was already late in the summer here on Ignitus.
Dante decided that this few month period of time would have to be ignored. He set our birth dates as a special case listed as approximate in regards to Ignitus time and year instead of an official date. But this information would be on a need to know basis. Our public ages were listed as seventeen and fifteen for Isabella and me respectively.
After that, we were instructed to wait in one of the Enforcer's suites in the HQ building. This place was apparently equipped with housing facilities for traveling Enforcers.
They each had their own homes located in several cities as well. Florence in particular, was Michael's home city as well as his territory. The HQ was simply a place for him to work when not on patrols or at home. We viewed this building as the equivalent of staying at an Inn for free. Michael scolded us, however, and said it was more like a hotel.
Whatever the hell that was...
After several days of waiting, we were told that Iris had begun to make progress on manifesting our power. We were also due to be transferred to another city in preparation to attend a school. Isabella was not happy about this. She hated doing studies back in Avernia and to her, this was no different.
We had three years to go until we felt that we would be ready to try and fight the Black Ooze again.
Neither of us could forget the soul-crushing hopelessness that we felt after our fight with the shadow dragon. Even still, both of us had the occasional nightmare about the ordeal. The same could be said about the battle of Geldekairn.
That was what we had taken to calling it. The final battle that sealed the fate of Avernia.
While all of these things were happening during our settling on Ignitus, we heard reports of Yakon being heavily interrogated and tortured by Carlos for information about the Abyss Engine.
It turned out that Yakon was the head of research and development for the Overlords. And since Carlos was the same for the Enforcers, it made sense that he would be doing the questioning.
Supposedly, Carlos was particularly good at getting information...
I shuddered to think of what the Aspect of Blood was capable of.
The Abyss Engine was a device that could nullify the particular type of divine energy radiating from Iris. By default, this meant that her Enforcers were also affected.
While relaxing at the HQ, we also learned another important bit of information about Attendants.
An Attendant was someone with just enough compatibility to receive a single Aspect. Receiving this power granted them immortality, but their lower compatibility came with one drawback.
Their rate of aging would slow down and eventually stop as normal Enforcers would, but their hair wasn't affected the same way.
Although it retained its usual consistency, the color would eventually fade to gray and then white. No one had been able to figure out why this was the case and it had largely been ignored.
The result was that Attendants were easily recognized by their signature white hair. A sort of badge of office. They were the elite soldiers, personal guards, and servants of the Enforcers themselves.
As such, it made sense that as honorary Enforcers, we were given full authority over them. They were required to follow orders from us at any cost.
Regardless, we chose not to give them orders until we knew what we were doing.
Lastly, Attendants did not continuously draw upon the power of Iris after manifesting their Aspect. Because of this, a theoretically unlimited number of them could be manifested at any given time. They could also be created without the direct intervention of Iris through the use of advanced technology containing her power.
Meaning that Iris didn't have to constantly meet with them.
After we learned about the Attendants, we turned our focus to the world itself.
Ignitus was a world divided into two parts.
The land protected by the Enforcers, known as Arcadia, and the land ruled by the Overlords, known as Nexus.
Iris was the goddess of Balance ruling over Arcadia, while Novak was the god of Domination ruling Nexus.
Each side had been in a conflict lasting well over three thousand years. In this time, technology had increased dramatically and both sides were still at an impasse. Trading blows with one another as well as the lives of their Enforcers or Overlords.
Truthfully, the Enforcers of Arcadia wished for peace. They wanted to be left alone.
In the nature of Novak, he couldn't allow this. He was unable to tolerate any region that he hadn't gained control over.
His power was vast and he would have brought Arcadia to its knees...until Dante appeared.
A man with seemingly no notable attributes was scouted as an Enforcer when a previous one met their end at the hands of a particularly strong Overlord.
Dante was the first person to ever unlock an Ultra Aspect.
He was designated as the Frost Reaper and led a campaign across the captured regions of Arcadia. In the process, he slew four Overlords.
The Ultra Aspect of The Reaper was a conceptual ability that granted it's user the power of the Reaper.
In short, Dante specialized in killing. None could escape death and all who challenged Dante found it very quickly.
With Dante on their side, the Enforcers of Arcadia saw a new age of peace and prosperity. Ever since then, the fighting between Nexus and Arcadia had been somewhat sparse.
But now that Nexus had created the Abyss Engine, worry was spreading throughout the higher-ups about how to deal with the Overlords. The general population was not yet aware of the Engine's existence.
At one point, I proposed a question to Iris about how helpful we would be against such a threat as Enforcers ourselves.
"The short answer is that I am only manifesting power within you. The source of your strength comes from somewhere else," Iris said.
"Are you saying we'll be unaffected?" Isabella asked.
"Precisely. My power is nullified by the engine, while yours will be just fine. You two are just strong enough to be a threat to them right now. When your powers awaken, you'll be able to help us liberate Nexus," Iris said.
"So it's war then?" I asked.
Iris nodded.
"And it's been a long time coming. The people of Nexus suffer greatly every day under the reign of the Overlords. Yakon, in particular, is guilty of tremendous amounts of human experimentation. Over there, they force as many people as possible to undergo the process of being turned into Attendants. While this isn't such a bad thing, everyone else is forced into hard labor. Lastly, those who break are used as products for science."
"If you're useless to them they throw you away then?"
Iris nodded sadly.
"Dante is strong...but by himself, he isn't enough to liberate Nexus. Overlord Kazuma is too powerful for him alone. You two will aid us in their salvation."
* * *
After our talk with Iris, we returned to our room and laid down next to one another.
There was a large window stretching from ceiling to floor next to our bed that let us peer down at the city below. Since we were on floor 50, it was a pretty good view.
"How do you think they managed to build something this tall, Mizik? Wouldn't buildings this big just collapse under their own weight?"
"I can't really say. We know quite a few things about construction, but the buildings on Ignitus seem to defy common logic..."
"Well...the city is beautiful at night. It sparkles so much," Isabella said as she laid her head on my chest affectionately.
"Not as beautiful as you, Isabella," I said.
Damn, I'm good! Ha!
"You always know how to make me blush, Mizik. I love you!" She said.
"I love you too, Isabella."
"Say, what sorts of Aspects do you think we'll get?" She asked.
"Hmm...hopefully nothing weird. Although it's a bit early to think about that."
As we spoke, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Isabella said as she gently lifted herself up.
The door opened and Leiso stepped in wearing her usual military uniform.
As soon as she saw us, she paused.
"Umm...I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Because if so, you may continue. I'll see myself out," she said.
"No, we were just cuddling," Isabella said as she got off of me.
The two of us got out of bed and faced Leiso.
"Very well. I have come to speak with both of you about a few things. The first is combat."
"Is there an issue with how we fight?" I asked.
"A few, actually. As Enforcers, we expect and require deadly efficiently on the field of battle. We also wish for you to understand combat in every form. I have requested that Iris allow me to train you personally."
I don't like the sound of this... She's a general, right? How tough is this woman?
"We had formal training from the knights Grandmaster back in Avernia. Is that enough?" Isabella asked.
Leiso shook her head.
"All Enforcers have the best military training we can offer. And yes...even Michael. We usually test mortals for their fighting ability, but you two are an anomaly. Even so, I desire to mold you into the most lethal weapons we have," Leiso said with a deadly serious expression.
"Is this going to kill us?" I asked.
Seemed like a reasonable question to someone like her...
"Probably not. It will likely bring you within an inch of your lives. Once you emerge, you will be the finest soldiers our world has ever seen. We will be training in between school times for you two."
"Do we have a say in this...?" Isabella asked with a worried expression.
"No. This is also to test your resolve. If you don't desire to get stronger for the sake of our world, then we have no need of you. Iris will return your soul-fragments and you can be on your way."
"Fine then. Let's do it," I said.
"Excellent. Training begins tomorrow. Be up at 0400 hours."
"Umm...what? What does that mean?" I asked.
Leiso placed her hand over her face and sighed.
"4 am. Be up at 4 am! You have so much to learn... We will be training every day until it is time for you two to start school at the academy. Additionally, Gavin has been informed of your status. He will be arriving to speak with you."
Leiso saluted us and left the room.
"This is going to be awful..." Isabella said.
We had a dreadful feeling over us...
Since the clock in the room showed that it was currently 9pm, we would have to sleep very soon. Hopefully, Gavin would arrive to speak with us shortly...
And about thirty minutes later, there was another knock at the door.
"Come in..." I said.
Gavin walked in this time.
Isabella stepped in front of me and we both put up our guards.
"Ugh...relax. I'm not gonna attack you. Attacking Enforcers is illegal. Even for other Enforcers," Gavin said.
"Well what do you want then? Have you come to insult us more?" Isabella asked angrily.
"No. Not at all," Gavin said.
He stepped forward and extended his hand to Isabella.
She hesitantly took it and then he moved to me.
After I shook his hand he gave a slight half-smile.
"The name's Gavin. Enforcer Gavin. Designation: Blast Tornado. You two are allies now, so we should probably get along. If you need something investigated or killed, I'm your guy. Jallah used to be head investigator, but I got promoted after he went missing. That's all there is to it."
"I thought you'd be angry that we were accepted. What's going on here?" I asked.
"Don't get the wrong idea, kid. I respect your strength. More than that, I respect Iris' authority and also the other Enforcers. Even Michael. I don't like the fact what you're otherworlders, but hopefully you don't cause us any issues."
"We might be from another world, but we're still human. There's no difference there," I said.
"I disagree. The kind of shit I've seen otherworlders do isn't normal at all. You two are as far from normal as we are."
"That is true. We're not like other humans. But my husband's point is that regardless of our abilities, and despite where we came from, we are still human. Can you at least understand that?" Isabella asked.
"Yeah, I guess. You might be different, but you're alright. Just remember that I've got my eyes on you. If you two betray us, I'll be the first one to respond. Got that?" Gavin said.
"We don't have any intention of betraying anyone. Besides, are you certain you could stop us both if we did?" I asked.
Gavin thought for a moment.
"How long until your power manifests? Did Iris say?" He asked.
"Three years each," I said.
Gavin's eyes went wide and he took a step back.
"What the hell!? You two are monsters!"
"Like I said, how do you plan to stop us if we betray you?" I asked.
Gavin shook his head.
"Look, just don't cause any problems!"
"How about you just trust us?" Isabella asked.
Gavin gritted his teeth and glared at Isabella.
"I will never accept otherworlders. We're allies, but we're not friends."
After that he turned around and stormed off.
"Why is he so against us?" Isabella asked.
"I don't know, but I don't care either. Let's just get ready for tomorrow..." I said.
We would be training with Leiso soon and in about a week, we would be on our way to another city to attend a school called Iris Academy...
Looks like we have a full schedule yet again...