Luminary Institute

19: Where’s My Entertainment, Peasants?

Stirring from her nap, Nyssa blinked her eyes open only to realize she was being carried downstairs by Celeste. Twisting, she turned to look at Celeste while batting at her chin. A couple seconds later, as Celeste stopped at the bottom of the stairs, she leapt out of her arms and transformed back into a human. “Where... are we?” 

“Near the training hall,” Albion yawned as he walked past Nyssa, “You tempted me into taking a nap as well. A life decision I sorely regret.” 

“Why would you ever regret a nap?” Nyssa raised an eyebrow while stretching and walking along with the group. “I don’t think I’ve ever regretted one in my sixteen years of existence.” 

“Yeah but you’re... different, I think you’ve spent more of your life sleeping than you have spent it awake,” Albion shook his head while sliding the door open to the training area. “I, on the other hand, as a normal person with a normal sleep schedule, haven’t.” 

With her brain still too sleepy to think of a response, Nyssa just shrugged as she followed everyone into the training room. It... looked a little different. Instead of having a smooth floor of packed dirt, the room’s floor was pockmarked with scars from Electra and Ryker’s battle. More than anything, the huge craters in several parts of the room made it clear where Ryker had detonated explosions. 

Grabbing enough folding chairs for everyone from the cabinet, Conrad and Titus laid them out for everyone before walking to the center of the room. Titus, a few steps out, clasped his hands together as a few sheepish chuckles left his mouth. “So... Thank you, everyone for coming. I really need the help to train for my upcoming duel with Troy. As agreed earlier, I think Conrad and I are going first. But I think it’d be nice if we all just took turns fighting and kept this informal.” 

“Sounds good to me, woop, woop,” Albion cheered in what felt like the most deadpan tone possible. “Start fighting you two already then. Where’s my entertainment, peasants!” 

“Oh shut up,” Conrad snorted as he flipped off Albion. “You’re the next peasant up for dueling anyway.” 

“Wait, should we do a rotating system then?” Albion drummed his fingers against the chair's armrest. “So that no one person has to run the gauntlet. We have five people, so we could do it so the next two people to fight are always resting.” 

“Nyssa, are you okay with fighting?” Celeste leaned over, jostling the half-dozing Nyssa from her slumber. 

“Huh? Ah? Sure, sounds good,” Nyssa coughed as she choked on her own spit. “Sorry, yeah, still sleepy... If it’s alright I’d rather not be in the next fight though. I want some time to wake up.” 

“Sure, I’m happy to fight,” Celeste rolled up her sleeves while wiggling her eyebrows towards Albion. Spreading her palms, Celeste fell silent to give the floor back to Titus and Conrad. “Any spar rules you two want to establish?” 

“Don’t hit the head?” Conrad proposed while draping his blazer on his chair. “I know we’ll all heal from it soon enough, but it just hurts a lot and can be a little disorienting.” 

“I’m fine with that,” Titus shrugged, “I’m the one with the hammer after all, not you.” 

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I say that,” Conrad squinted while pursing his lips. “Oh wait, I should get my sword shouldn’t I? Can we reconvene in a second so I can get my sword?” 

“Damn, look at this man! So unprepared for the fight,” Albion shook his head with a disapproving click of the tongue. “You’d be dead by now in the wild. Eaten by monsters. Rest in peace, I’ll write you a good obituary.” 

“If you have so much time then, why don’t you make yourself useful instead of sitting there like a bum,” Conrad retorted. “Why don’t you take that go getter attitude and go get us the other stuff we’ll need like a table, towels, and water.” 

“Alright, alright, sure.” Albion raised his hands while shaking his hands. “I see you have to resort to asking me. I’d be honored to be your water boy.” 

“You’re practically a literal water boy, anyway,” Celeste laughed while covering her mouth with a sleeve. “You do ice stuff.” 

“Oh shut up.” Albion shook his head while walking off. “Let’s reconvene in a bit. I’ll change into actual fighting clothes while I'm at it. We can make it a little more official.” 

“Ohh! That’d be fun,” Celeste smiled before turning to Nyssa. “Wait, do you have one? A like... costume or any accessory equipment?” 

“I mean... I transform,” Nyssa stared back with blank eyes. “I... I can’t use a costume. I just use my necklace to store my clothes.” 

“... Yeah, I should’ve realized that,” Celeste laughed while clinging onto Nyssa’s shoulder. “Okay I’ll be right back, you can help Albion or watch our stuff.” 

“I’ll help Albion,” Nyssa yawned while pushing herself out of her seat. Transforming into a bird, she flew off as everyone left to do the preparation they forgot to do earlier.

---

About ten minutes (and one awkward conversation with Angelica later), the group reconvened. 

“I can’t believe we forgot to check back in...” Titus facepalmed with an embarrassed blush tinting his cheeks. “Sorry about that guys.” 

“Don’t worry! She... she didn’t seem to mind,” Nyssa nodded while trying her best to reassure Titus. “Though now that she knows, do you think she, along with Electra and Ryker will join?” 

“Maybe, probably not for Ryker and Electra, I think they have other plans today already,” Celeste shrugged. “I remember asking them if they wanted to hang out and they said they made some plans with some friends from Class One.” 

“Oh, interesting,” Nyssa answered as the thought left her mind. She didn’t care too much if they joined, it was just her habit to make some conversation... 

The Luminary Institute had some fancy training outfits though. Conrad, the most boring, was in what looked like traditional adventuring gear. His sword though, pulsed with the light of technology. What set Conrad apart from the average medieval warrior who’d die of dysentery though were the screens, circles, and random other fancy looking manifestations he had going on around his eyes as his powers were running at full tilt. As a plus though, his tighter clothing revealed very defined muscles 

A real sleeper build. 

Of course, everyone was toned, but he was built. The ‘protagonist’ training style really paid off... 

Everyone else had cool outfits too though... 

Celeste was in a classical superheroine outfit, it had some empty lines running across her body, but Nyssa wasn’t quite sure what they did. She’d probably find out soon enough though. 

Titus was in a tighter tank top made of a sleek material and a pair of baggy pants. They weren’t too special, from a glance, but Nyssa assumed it was some expensive lightweight body armor. In fact, it was almost reminiscent of off-duty firefighter clothing. 

Last came Albion, his outfit was similar to Conrad’s. There was what looked like traditional armor and easy to move in clothes. On one side though, the sleeve was missing. Instead of being in danger though, Nyssa... wasn’t quite sure what to think. 

Albion’s entire left third had become ice. His arm was ice, and it covered a decent chunk of his face. He seemed... totally fine, but it was just weird to see living ice. 

Cool enough though.