IBYL: Chapter Two: The Training Begins

I was awoken by a sudden knocking on my door. "Iva? Iva! Wake up! You need to eat before your training starts!"

I groaned and sat up. The clock on my night stand said 6:30 AM. These people must be insane, waking me up this early. I reluctantly stood and walked to the door, opening it sleepily. Riku glanced at my pajamas, and I swore his cheeks turned a little pink.

"Um, hurry up and get ready. I'll show you where you can eat, and then I'll bring you to the training room, okay?"

I nodded and yawned. "Jus' gimme a minute, 'kay? Gotta wake up…" I turned and searched through my drawers, finding a cute v-neck t-shirt and black jean Capri's to wear with my Converse. After changing and brushing my teeth and jumbled mess of hair, I met Riku in the hallway outside my room.

"Took ya long enough. Come on, I'll show you to your breakfast."

We came to a large circular room, filled with the smells of pancakes and bacon.

"Oooh, I love bacon!" I said excitedly. Riku chuckled.

"Well, you'll get your bacon. The food is right through this door. Just take what you want, but only if you'll eat it all."

We ate in silence. The room was empty besides the two of us. After eating, Riku took me to a bright room not too far from the dining hall. The door that led to it said "Training Room" in small silver letters.

"This room is pretty much the only room that's lit. Maleficent should be here soon… It's almost eight," Riku muttered as he glanced at his watch. I hadn't realized how much time had passed.

"Ah, good, Riku. Thank you for bringing our dear Iva here for me," Maleficent said as she appeared out of nowhere – literally. I almost fell over from the surprise. "Are you ready to begin?" She asked, addressing me. I nodded cautiously; in this place, who knew what "training" was?

"Riku," Maleficent said coldly, "leave us. I wish to train Iva alone." Riku seemed to flinch, but he nodded silently and walked off. The green witch smiled at me and opened the door, waving me in. "Let's begin."

A few long, hard hours later, I collapsed on the floor, panting.

"Worthless!" Maleficent screeched again. "Focus! You need to concentrate! You'll never survive with your skills!"

I took a deep breath and stood, wobbling, as I tried to focus on the magic needed to block the dark witch's onslaught.

Yeah, turns out I'm a sorceress. My whole "problem" at home wasn't just insanity. It was magic. I was USING magic. My parents thought I had been cursed or something. That's why they sent me away. That's why I was in this castle hell-hole.

Maleficent flung another ball of green flame at me. I tried to force it away, make it die out, but it only slowed down before colliding with me. I slammed against the wall and slumped down to the floor.

I couldn't do this. I would die here if this kept going. And if this was only the magical training, who knew what the physical would be?

"Get up." I ignored her, trying to catch my breath. "Get UP!" The witch's magic made me stand, keeping me steady as blood rushed to my head, making me dizzy. Maleficent walked up to me, contempt in her gaze.

"If you keep this up, you useless brat, you'll be dead within the week. The darkness will consume you." She disappeared, and I fell to the floor, her magic support gone. Something silver fell off my neck and clinked on the ground. It was the necklace Kara gave me. I picked up the ring, putting the thin chain in my pocket. The ring was a thin silver band with a small onyx stone set into the center. It fit my right ring finger perfectly.

'Don't worry, Kara. I'll keep it safe for you. And if that means that I have to toughen up to survive this place, then so be it.'

I sat there in the middle of the room for a while, trying to gain the strength to stand, when Riku came in. He knelt next to me, a worried expression on his face.

"Iva? Are you okay?"

I gave him the best glare I could manage. "Do I look okay?"

"Not really… Here," he scooted closer and pulled my arm around his neck, helping me stand. I leaned on him heavily as he brought me to my room and set me on my bed. I groaned.

"How the hell am I supposed to survive this?" I asked quietly, not really expecting an answer. Riku sighed.
"Don't worry, Iva. I went through the same thing. You'll get stronger; Maleficent wouldn't have brought you here if you were weak. She obviously sees something in you. Anyway, don't worry yourself about it. I think you should take a nap; you've got regular fight training in a couple hours. Want me to get you something to eat before you crash?"

I gave him a startled look. Did he really just ask that? I thought about the concept of food for a moment, but decided against taking up his offer when I felt like I was going to be sick. "N-no thanks. I'll just sleep," I said as I lay back on my bed. The sheets seemed to swallow me in comfort; after being tossed against the walls like a rag doll, it wasn't surprising how comfy this was.

"All right… I'll be back a bit before your next training session starts. Have a nice nap," he whispered as he walked out, shutting out the light.

It was silent. In the woods of my home town, not a thing could be heard. No rustle of leaves as these things walked by, no chirp of the birds, no cry of the person chasing them with a sword.

The person, by the build, seemed male. He held his black sword that resembled a demon wing high in the air before bringing it down on the head of what looked to be a giant ant with big yellow eyes. A swarm of ants appeared, and I was scared for the boy's life. He couldn't possibly survive if he was that outnumbered. But, sure enough, he dispatched the group quickly and efficiently. His grace with a sword was amazing; even Seifer or Setzer didn't have the skill he did, and he was obviously younger than them.

The boy stood calmly for a moment before raising his hand in front of him. A black and purple swirling… blob appeared before him, and he stepped into it as I became aware of the world again.

I sat up. What a strange dream. Sure, I'd had weird dreams before, but I'd never seen anything like those ant things. I stood and almost fell back down; my muscles were insanely sore. I didn't know how I'd be able to survive the physical training. A knock sounded on my door. "Iva? Get up. It's almost time for the other part of your training."

I groaned and opened the door, leaning on it for support. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sore from earlier," I explained, and he nodded knowingly.

"C'mon, let's get this over with. By the way, I'll be your mentor for this."

That made me stop. "You?"

"Yeah. I CAN fight, you know. I've always been a good fighter, so Maleficent wants me to teach you. Sorry, but I'm not going to go easy on you." He opened the door to the training room and ushered me inside. "First, you need a weapon," he said, pointing to a rack of weapons that weren't there earlier that day. "Pick whichever one feels right."

I strolled over and looked at the rack. There were swords, staves, maces, daggers, even a bow and a quiver of arrows. I noticed two thin blades next to each other, identical except for the ribbon hanging off the ends. One blade had a black ribbon, while the other had a red one. I picked them up, one in each hand. They were very light, and slashed through the air with a low whistle. I could feel the blades vibrating with the force of the thrust, and I immediately knew that these were going to be my weapons. Sure, a sorceress may usually use a staff, but these katana were just perfect.

Keeping the two blades by my sides, I turned back to Riku to indicate that I had made my choice. He summoned a blade that looked like a demon wing – just like the one from my dream. He smirked.

"Are you ready, Iva? Better brace yourself. You're in for it."

He charged.