Chapter 2: Killing Time - Yildiz

I love our gym. It’s the size of a stadium with everything we could possibly need. We may have superior senses, but it’s never wise to sit on your laurels. Setia is an example of that. Very few know what the weaknesses of an irshiust are, and so Setia never once assumed Zixin would, but he did and because of that he was easily able to take her down. This is why training is important, it keeps us vigilant and allows us to do our job to the best of our abilities.

Stepping into the gym I take in every scent that permeates the room. From the smell of the equipment to the smell of residual sweat and even blood. My sisters and I never hold back in training, so blood has been drawn on more than one occasion.

I make my way to the far end of the gym, to work on some target practice. Tonight I’m in the mood for archery. I grab a bow off the rack on the wall and a quiver full of arrows. When we train with weapons, we are always sure to train with all the variations of the weapons we possess. For example, we have arrows that are designed to inflict damage on different supernatural beings, but since each is made of a different material it changes the weight, balance and projection of the weapon, so you need to understand how each works in order to utilize it correctly. Tonight I’ve selected arrows with arrowheads made from nuummite, a gemstone also known as sorcerer’s stone. This gemstone is very useful in dealing with wayward makkares, and given the recent revelations regarding one, in particular, I figure it can’t hurt to brush up on weapons we use against them.

I walk over to where I remember the booth to be, strap the quiver to my back and proceed to draw an arrow from the quiver and line it up with my bow, pulling the bowstring as far as I can while holding it steady. With my elbow, I press a button on the side of the booth wall. As soon as I do I hear a high-pitched ringing sound that lasts for three seconds. I focus on where the direction of the ringing is coming from and fire the arrow, listening as it cuts through the air and makes contact with a foam target.

“Target hit successfully,” says a robotic voice, and I smile in satisfaction.

Technology has definitely become a godsend over the years and helped me with certain areas of training that for a long time I could only do if I had a living opponent. Now I can train more often on my own. Every training area of the gym has a specific section that has been made for me, like here. From this particular booth, I can control the target at the far end. By pressing the button, it triggers a sound on the dummy but the sound never comes from the same place twice. Little microphones are hooked up to the dummy and are located on every inch of it, so one push of a button might trigger a sound coming from the heart, the next from the head, then the arm and so on. I’m able to focus on the sound and use that to find my target. Just because I can’t rely on my sight, doesn’t mean I’m handicapped. People don’t even realise I’m blind when they meet me, but boy do I get a kick out of things when they find out and proceed to underestimate just how capable I am of killing them. I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

I continue to load my arrows and hit the button on the wall, listening for my target. Each time the arrow connects, the disembodied voice tells me of my success, but I cut it off each time eager to load my next arrow. With each go, I attempt to move faster and faster, with the only thing slowing me down being the technology that I have to wait on. That’s the only downside of not having a living opponent and why I love training with my sisters. They have the same speed as me and they never hold back with me either, which makes it fun.

Once I run out of arrows, I decide to move on to the rock climbing wall. This doesn’t come with any technological tricks for me. I can’t rely on my sense of smell or hearing and certainly not sight, I have to go entirely by touch. There’s something calming about the rock climbing wall. Taking my time to feel for each groove and to try and visualise the wall in my mind and how to best navigate my way up the face of it is almost meditative. It’s just me focusing one step at a time. I find it teaches patience, but that probably only applies to me since my sisters can see what they’re doing and do this much faster, but I like taking my time. It’s not as though the wall is going anywhere.

Time slips away as I move from one groove to the next, and as I continue up the face of the wall I find my thoughts becoming clearer. For the first time in I’m not sure how long, I’m not consumed with thoughts of that damn scent and who it could belong to. I can’t control the future, only the here and now, and right now I just want to focus on reaching the top and not on a mystery animai who is Gods knows where doing Gods knows what.

At some point, my seventh round of climbing is interrupted by the sound of travelling footsteps and the scent of a freshly lit fire and hot cocoa.

“There you are!” announces my sister Hiranur.

Clinging to the wall I glance towards the doorway to see her gamboge aura with glittering gold surrounding her. When learning colours and shades I noticed that the colours surrounding my sisters are all very unique in their shading, which seems very fitting.

“I wasn’t hiding,” I say smartly.

“Very cute. We’re assembling for a meeting; new assignments are up.”

“Why didn’t you just link me?” I ask. I click my tongue and listen to how the sound bounces off the surfaces around me to calculate how far the drop from the rock wall is. Once I’ve done that, I let go of the wall and drop to the ground with ease.

“I didn’t want to risk waking you, but you weren’t in your room, so I decided to come look for you. I should have probably checked in here first, you’ve been spending a lot of time in here lately. Should I be concerned?” she asks, the concern already evident in her voice.

“No need for concern. I’ve been having trouble sleeping,” I say, walking over to her, leaving the part out about how my nights are consumed with unwanted thoughts about my mystery animai. As an irshiust, I’m incapable of telling a lie, so it’s easier to speak what is true and keep the rest to myself.

“Have you tried herbal tea?”

“I doubt it will help, but thank you,” I smile, “Let’s go find out what trouble needs our attention this time.”

Slinging my arm around my sister’s we make our way to the meeting hall, a little extra pep in my step. A new case to keep my mind busy will prove far more useful as a distraction than training. Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious.