Astrum Irae

Upon arriving in the town, Rigel viewed it as a city, comparing it to Hammerwood. The town had a few miles of farmland radiating out from it, but the main portion looked to be smaller than Hammerwood. The town had no walls or gates, and the group openly walked into it. Rigel noted the wide, dirt roads that give the town a very amiable feel. He looked around and observed the various shop names in an obscured fashion due to the lack of sunlight.

"So, how is it?" the young man who previously spoke with Rigel asked. "This is my hometown, Jagersbyt. It was erected by great men many years ago. Around 300 is the number that the scholars estimate. We don't know exactly because parchment is a rare commodity in the plains and when the traders come through we typically only buy wood in exchange for our crops.

Rigel silently listened in since the man seemed to have something more to say.

"Now that we're here," the young man continued, eventually. "Let's properly introduce ourselves. I am the 12th governor of Jagersbyt's son, Alkali Jager. My twin sister, Alkaline, and I are both considered prodigies in this town and plan to travel to Zephledawn this next month to kickstart our careers as magicians, which is why I offered to let you join me there."

Rigel serenely computed what he just heard and replied in turn to Alkali. "My name is Rigel. I am a bit of a bumpkin but I was also considered a prodigy back in my village. I mainly use fire magic, however, I have dabbled in earth magic."

"Okay," the young man nodded. "I'll take you back to my place for the night, then we can talk more in the morning."

Rigel nodded in gratitude and followed him to the biggest house in the town. Judging by size, it could be classified somewhere on the border of a house and a manor. Stone built, it reeked an aura of a serene tranquility; the feng shui of the building was favorable.

They walked inside, bypassing the guards, and Alkali showed Rigel to a room in one of the hallways. The said farewell to each other and Rigel stepped inside. He looked around and was fairly impressed by the large room. He closed the door behind him, then dropped the act.

"Alkali… He seems like a good person. However, he thinks he is much more powerful than me so I can't truly trust him. There's no way he'll treat me the same when he sees how inferior I am. I'll see his true colors then."

Rigel felt a feeling of deep loathing in the core of his consciousness but chose to ignore it. He felt that no matter how much hatred he felt, good allies were a must.

Rigel spent the night awake in his bed, theorizing on the complications that space magic held. He wanted to try getting 2 dimensions under his control, in order to teleport diagonally. He did take note of the bed for it was much nicer than the beds he slept in 2 thousand years ago, but after spending so much time resting on dirt he was perfectly fine with sleeping on nails.

At sunrise, he decided that it was an appropriate time to get up. He rose out of bed and saw that there was a fresh set of clothes folded up in a pile in front of his room. He looked around to see if he could identify who left it there to no avail. Shrugging, he picked up the pile and brought it into his room.

He laid the clothes out on the bed and appraised them. They seemed to be cotton made, and were put together in a very nice fashion. The pants were a dull brownish-gray color, and the shirt was a long sleeve with black and white colorations.

Barely appreciating the thoughtfulness, he put them on and left his previous attire, the looted fur clothing, folded in a pile on the end of the bed.

"I need to take a bath. I'm absolutely filthy."

Rigel then confidently left his room and looked around for a maid or someone to ask about the whereabouts of Alkali. While the manor was large, it was no mansion, and Rigel found himself to have searched the entire downstairs in just 1 or 2 minutes.

Befuzzled, he patiently waited downstairs and didn't dare intrude upon the upstairs section. He waited, leaned up against a wall, for a half an hour. Just when he was starting to feel desires to try something else, he heard a door close from upstairs. Satisfied, he patiently waited once more. A few seconds later, a familiar figure appeared on top of the stairs.

"Morning, Rigel. Have a nice night of sleep?" Alkali asked without airs.

"Of course," Rigel chuckled in response. "The bed was the best I've ever slept on."

"That's goood," Alkali said with a long yawn. "My sister and I usually bathe around this time, care to join us?"

"Haha," replied Rigel. "If you want to say I'm filthy just say so. But, of course, I would love to partake in a good wash for the first time in a long time."

"Alright. Let's head on over to the bathhouse. We'll see Alkaline there most likely. She usually gets up early and runs a few kilometers before washing off."

Rigel nodded and followed Alkali outside. In the crisp morning lighting, Rigel could finally see Alkali in full quality. He was tall, around 6 feet, and had well-defined muscles. His pectoral muscles were visible through his shirt, and his calves bulged out through his pants. He had long, straight, brown hair a bit lighter than Rigel's, and had hazel eyes to match. All-around, Rigel viewed him as rather handsome. Age-wise, Rigel estimated that he was around the late teens, just a bit younger than Rigel himself when he first arrived in this new planet.

They walked through town and Rigel viewed in once more, in a different light- literally. The streets were still wide and the buildings were still nice looking, but the addition of color helped set Rigel's view of the village in stone.

Arriving at a small building just behind the manor, the 2 walked inside. Rigel silently appraised the interior favorably.

"This is the Jager family's private bathhouse. It doubles as both a spa and cleaning facility. The main pool is the spa, which we heat up with fire magic. There is also a room to clean yourself off before entering the spa."

Rigel nodded in acceptance. They undressed and went into a stone room with a drain in the middle, and a small pool with buckets next to it. They sat down at the edge of the pool and used the buckets to cleanse themselves.

After that, they entered the spa. To Rigel's surprise, there was already a person in the water. A beautiful girl with very similar characteristics to Alkali was leaning against the corner of the pool with her eyes closed, her small breasts just under the water level, just revealing a bit of cleavage. She had a very similar haircut as Rigel and Alkali- straight hair dropped down to just above shoulder level.

Upon the duo entering, she opened her eyes and looked up at them. After getting a clear look at Rigel, she re-closed her eyes in silence.

Unabashed, Rigel entered the hot water and took a deep breath while observing the intricacies of the room. The pool itself wasn't large, just a normal sized hotel hot tub comparing it to Earth, around 5 feet long by 10 feet wide. There was a small ledge around 2 and a half feet deep around the perimeter of the pool, and the middle was about 6 feet deep to Rigel's surprise. He was used to only 3 or 4 foot deep hot tubs.

He occupied the other back corner while Alkali rested just by the entrance, forming an isosceles triangle out of them. They rested their souls for a few moments in peace, until Alkali decided to introduce the 2 unacquainted individuals.

"So, Alkaline, this is Rigel, the man I picked up on the hunt last night. Rigel, this is the sister of mine I've told you about."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," she lazily said.

Rigel noted her lazy tone and replied appropriately, "Mm, likewise," and continued to bask calmly in the water. He was attempting to increase his familiarity with the element of water. He figured that water had never wronged him, and he had even used it to kill Syfeid before, so despite the fact that fire and water are contradictory in nature, he may have some success with it.

Alkali, feeling a bit awkward, decided to make some more conversation. "So, Alkaline, what sort of training should we do today if we're going to include Rigel?"

Both Rigel and Alkaline perked up after hearing that.

"I hadn't thought of it," said Alkaline, sounding exhausted. "Let's spar for a bit to see what level he's at."

Rigel just smiled wryly in response and Alkali nodded in agreement.

Acknowledging the fact that not Rigel nor Alkaline seemed to be in the mood to chat, Alkali finally gave up and relaxed both body and spirit.

After satisfying themselves in terms of peace of mind, the trio exited the pool and changed back into their clothes. Apparently, Alkaline left her clothes in a cupboard in the entrance, which was why Rigel didn't see them upon entry.

Rigel was surprised to see that neither Alkali nor Alkaline seemed to mind at the slightest that he was changing alongside them. Despite her apparent susceptibility, Rigel paid the naked figure of Alkaline no mind at all. Even after 2 thousand years, he was still quite bitter about his inability to get it up.

"I need to get a new body somehow," he thought to himself. "What's the point of living life if you can't live a little?"