Bullet Train (II) - Duality

In the current situation, Bell was lazily resting on a comfortable bed, Bell had placed her bedding sheets over the previous layers. Gong was floating nearby in a cannonball position, simply allowing herself to spiral away in any which direction.

Bell was situated in room 215, she was neighbors to Mona Chronis, and just down the hall was the cafeteria.

Room 215 was fitted with a bed, a desk and chair, and a small bathroom that had a toilet, sink, and bathtub. From the looks of it, every room was situated with similar furnishings and utilities.

Now, however, Gong was letting Bell rest for a few minutes before she began explaining everything.

"Your time's almost up, Bellona." Gong said in response to Bell acknowledging the remaining time.

'Well, that's unfortunate.' Bell sighed, turning to sit up with her legs dangling from the bed.

"Lay it on me." Bell cut her rest time short. "What's gonna happen? What do I need to do?"

Gong raised an eyebrow before saying, "I forgot how quickly we catch onto things. Anyway."

The older version of Bell then allowed gravity to influence her once more, gracefully landing on the ground. Then, white flames erupted around the woman's right arm, and after they vanished, a claymore rested against the ground.

"We're going to start with teaching you how to use your Fragment's abilities." Gong stated in the tone that a teacher would use. "And this is one of your two abilities. Creation."

Bell nodded her heads, ready to absorb any information.

"Using your imagination, you visualize 'Creating' something. This takes a bit of your Stardust pool." Gong continued, flourishing the weapon, then resting the flat of the blade against her shoulder. "You have another ability, Ruination, but we'll get into that in a bit. For now, I want you to use Creation and make something."

Bell nodded with a stern look of determination before throwing away any unnecessary thoughts and pushing her arm forward with an open hadn. Then, she imagined herself holding a longsword without focusing deeply on the details of its make and weight.

White flames appeared around Bell's expecting hand, the feeling was that of a muted warmth, as if she were unconsciously observing the warmth of a blanket. Then, the flames spread out in both directions, with the long side going along Bell's grip of a sword. The flames then took the shape of a sword, and just before they revealed the form of her imagined blade, they sputtered and failed to reveal her weapon.

"You made the same mistake I did." Gong observed. "You need to focus on the details a bit more. Here, I'll help, close your eyes."

Bell did as ordered, waiting for any further instructions.

"Imagine the weight of holding a sword. Don't worry, though, you'll feel it."

It was hard to not open her eyes in surprise, Bell was able to almost feel the weight of a sword in her hand. 

"Think of an image of the sword you want to use, keep the details simple."

And Bell continued following Gong's instructions, the weight of her imaginary sword shifted a bit in correspondence to the image of the sword. The blade that rested in Bell's mind was that of a simple longsword, sleek, shining metal glistening in the illuminated room. Bell held the leather wrapped handle close to the crossguard, a simple pommel rested at the end of the handle.

Then, the sensation of those white flames appeared in Bell's outstretched hand. After, the weight that she had imagined became real, and Bell felt the weight strain her outstretched arm.

Bell opened her eyes and found that there was a longsword in her hand, small wisps of white flame slowly dissipating around it.

"Congratulations, you've accomplished something that I wasn't able to." Gong said, then further elaborating. "You've used Creation in the first day that you've had access to it."

Then, Bell asked a question that struck her in the moment, "Do you know when I'll be able to see the status window again?"

Gong smiled and said, "Normally, you'd have to take a class to do it, but with me? I'll have you checking it before you even reach the Terrarium."

"But we're getting ahead of ourselves." Gong said upon realizing that they've strayed. "Now, for Ruination."

Bell's growing smile halted, and her face returned to a neutral expression. 

"This one is simpler; you just need to imagine whatever you're touching to be ignited in black flames." Gong explained, her own claymore being engulfed in the black flames she spoke of. "Oh! But you have to make sure that you're imaging these flames as unharmful to you, otherwise you'll accidentally burn yourself."

So, Bell did as instructed; imagining a black inferno engulfing the longsword in her hand. Then, they appeared, rapidly swirling around the blade, and Bell felt a strange connection to the black flames.

It was like she could control them.

"That's because you can." Gong said, drawing Bell's attention

Gong had manipulated her flames of Ruination to look like a giant snake that floated in the air with its head resting near Gong's. 

'Yeesh.' Bell thought.

"Now, before I continue, let's have you change the shape of your flames." Gong instructed. "Make the flames into the shape of a rope."

So, Bell tugged on the strange sensation that connected her to the flames. She imagined the flames she saw turning into a long rope that floated around her in a similar fashion to Gong's snake.

And they responded, the flames followed Bell's instructions to a tee.

"Nice going, Bell." Gong congratulated. "Now dismiss the flames, just imagine them going away, or sever the connection you have to Ruination."

Before Gong could continue, Bell attempted to visualize the connection being severed, and the flames grew darker in response, as if they were devouring even light.

Afterward, the flames dissipated rapidly, leaving Bell with a heavily damaged weapon, the edge was shattered in several spots. The luster and sleekness that the metal carried was gone, and instead, the blade looked to have recovered from deeply rooted rust damage.

"I was going to say that severing the connection targets your blade..." Gong said with a sigh. "You might as well finish the job, reignite Ruination."

In an instant, the whirling black flames reappeared, completely devouring the blade. The black flames danced around the handle, yet didn't dare harm their owner. After a second, there was no sword.

There weren't even remains.

Gong looked to want to say something, but an announcement on a speaker interrupted her.

[All Terrarium students interested in the Lord of Swords tournament, head down to the lounge.]

On the fly, Gong changed what she was going to say, "You should head down, but don't participate, I'll explain when it starts."

And as quickly as the announcements and Gong finished their statements, Bell headed out of her room with her key in her pocket.

As Bell closed the door to Room 215, Mona appeared and politely greeted her. 

"Hello, Bell!" Mona said cheerily.

Bell nodded her head, "Hi, Mona."

"You going to the Lord of Swords tournament?" Mona asked.

"Yeah." Bell replied, further elaborating as the two began to walk down the hallway, "But I'm not going to participate, just gonna watch."

Mona smiled and nodded.

The two continued down the hallway, passing through a large cafeteria which took up about a quarter or a third of the second floor. In the far corner, a staircase led down to the first floor and up to the third. Luckily, the staircase led directly to the lounge.

Upon reaching the lounge, a large crowd of students had already appeared, and Bell was able to hear Teacher Brutus begin announcing whatever he needed to say.

"If you're in this room, you are consenting to enter my Mindspace, where we'll be holding the tournament!" Bell was unable to see Teacher Brutus, and that was likely due to his smaller stature.

Gong chuckled at that thought, and then said, "Oh, trust me, he can be big when he wants."

Bell looked at Gong with a confused expression.

"He can alter his size, he just chooses to stay short to conserve Stardust."

Then, Bell was about to ask a question before Gong cut her off.

"Stardust is a regenerating life essence thing that lets you use Fragment abilities. There's a few other applications, but for now, this is all you need to know."

Bell then tuned back into Teacher Brutus's announcements.

"...If you don't want to enter, then please go elsewhere."

After a short bit, the speaker announced a message to the passengers on the bullet train.

[We will be departing the Chamber now.]

Then, Bell felt a slight change in the ground, as if she had begun moving. That was because she was now.

"You all have about half a minute to gather your things and leave the room if you don't want to join or spectate the tournament!" Teacher Brutus announced.

Those thirty seconds passed quickly, and Teacher Brutus then said.

"Mindspace Incarnation."

In the next instant, a dark dome appeared over the students and Teacher Brutus. After a moment, Bell opened her eyes to find that she was sitting in a seat near a boxing ring.