Chapter 1: Rust

The tests Ivory had wasn't necessarily difficult. She had me perform basic motor functions; nothing to serious.

"Here, write down everything you know or remember. That way, if you ever forget something, you can come back to this journal to refamiliarize yourself." Ivory handed me a journal with a leather cover, and a pen hooked onto the corner. I gently opened to the first blank page, and began writing out the events of my dream. The dream filled three pages, and I then gave a basic rundown on myself. I also did the same for Ivory, since she's the only person who's name I can remember.

"So what am I? Your prisoner, your pet, your slave?" Ivory looked at me like I was an idiot.

"That's too much work. My part is done, the rest is up to you."

"What rest?"

"I thought you'd be smarter than this. Figure it out on your own. You have until morning to decide."

"Decide... what?"

"Where to go, cause you ain't staying here."

"Well then where should I go from here?" She pauses to think.

"Wherever you feel like going." I stared at her blankly. "Oh wait, you have no clue where anything is do you?" I just shake my head as she quickly rushes out of the bare room. About a minute later, Ivory returns with a small square looking object in her hand. "Let me see your arm." I hold my left arm out to her, and she sighs. "Your other arm, Talyn."

"Sorry." I switch the arm held out towards her, and Ivory presses a small circular button on the underside of the arm nearing the elbow. Above the button, the arm whirrs to life as it opens. The inside had five spaces for the small squares like the one Ivory held. "What are you doing?"

"This chip will give you a map." She gently pushes the chip into the space. She pulled away after a soft clicking sound. "There's already one of these chips, and now this one. The first one will allow you to contact me, or anyone that can register a radio into your arm." This is confusing.

"So, how does the map work?"

"You just have to think about wanting to see the map after pushing the button and boom! The map should appear."

'Map.' I echoed the words in my mind, and watched the holographic map appear from a small little circle in my arm.

"Yes, it worked! The projector for the hologram always gives me trouble." I glanced at her as I looked at all the places. There was also a little blue dot near the river of a place called Merasha. "Okay, I'll give you the quick explanation on how the map works, and you can be on your way. So this little blue dot here is you. It tracks your movement, and can show you where you are at all times. You can also mark waypoints for places that aren't marked on the map. Try not to show this too much in public though. Cybernetics are frowned upon if you aren't of the right rank."

"Right rank?" Ivory groans before she rushes out of the room again. After another minute, she returned and threw a book at me. I quickly caught it, and read the title. "Tournament of Ascension for Dummies" was hand-scribbled on the front of the "book". The cover was tan with undetermined stains, and I don't know what to think about it. The pages were loosely held together, looked like pages ripped from a journal. Most of the pages were ripped and wrinkled. The script was neat, but cramped and hard to read.

"You read that while I find you some actual clothes." It's true that I was only wearing what looked to be a woman's nightgown, probably Ivory's. A simple cotton orange nightshirt that barely covered my thighs, and that probably wouldn't be the best to wear if I'm trying to blend in. It was very soft though... I opened the book, and proceeded with the tedious task of reading.

So the book wasn't super long. It only took me about five minutes to read. However, the information was still very helpful. So, basically the Tournament of Ascension is this grand tournament that has three levels to it per rank. There are four main ranks, and three elite ranks, making seven ranks in total. The elite ranks worked a little differently compared to the main ranks. The four main ranks are: Servant, Soldier, Battle Lord, War Lord. There are also three divisions in each rank. For the Servant rank there's Server, Servant, and Master. For the Soldier rank there's Commoner, Soldier, and Commander. For the Battle Lord rank there's Lord, Battle Lord, and Sky Lord. And lastly, for the War Lord rank there's New Blood, War Lord, and War Chief. Each rank also has access to a different element. Servants teach the Earth element, Soldiers teach the Water element, Battle Lords teach the Air element, and War Lords teach the Fire element.

The three elite ranks is where things get complicated. This world is ruled by anyone who holds the Deity rank. This is the highest rank a person can hold, and there can only be one at a time. The Deity is someone who's the absolute strongest out of everyone in the world. No matter who they face they will win or they will be replaced with someone stronger. However, nobody can expect one person alone to oversee an entire continent of Aizdihar(Is-dee-har). The two ranks that are equal, but differ in strength are the Left Hand and Right Hand. Each hand has six members in total. Never more, never less. There's always five fingers and a palm. The Hands are in charge of most of the political events of Aizdihar. The Left Hand consists of Aizdihar's greatest minds and it's scientists. The Right Hand was the muscle of the two. While the Left Hand handled the technology, and things of the like. The Right Hand dealt with things like upholding the law, being body guards, things like that. However, there were some scientists in the Right Hands members. These scientists mostly worked with weapons and armors to make themselves, and those who could afford them, stronger.

"Here, this should help you hide that arm. I have nothing for your face though... That probably won't be questioned as much." She tossed a charcoal grey jacket to me. I lifted it up to inspect it, and noticed the right arm was much longer than the left.

"What's the point of all this? And do I get pants with this or is that extra?"

"The jacket or the tournament?" She asked as she turned, and grabbed a pair of matching grey pants, and a black T-shirt from a cabinet in the corner. As she has done many times, she threw them at me violently.

"Yes." Ivory shot me a look as she crossed to a closet on the other side of the room, pulling out a pair of black boots. "Please don't throw those at me." And she ignored me of course. "I even said please..." As I dodged the boots.

"Well the difference in arm lengths will help with people not noticing your cyber arm. As for the tournament... it's complicated. Aizdihar is around two thousand years old, and back before it was established there was nothing but chaos. You could say Aizdihar used to be a warzone. Countless, meaningless battles took place for the pettiest of reasons. But then he came..." From a small dresser she pulled out socks and underwear. I prepared for the throw, but then she gently placed them on the bed with a smirk.

"Who?" I asked as I glared at her.

"Terrik, our first Deity. He was, and still would be, the strongest Deity Aizdihar has ever seen. He put an end to all the bloodshed by giving it meaning." Ivory sat primly at the edge of the bed, ankles crossed and hands in her lap.

"What's the meaning?" I slid on the underwear and pants underneath the nightshirt.

"Structure. Stopping people from fighting is impossible. No matter what we as humans do, we'll find some stupid reason to fight. Plus, there'll always be people who will try to cause problems. Terrik's Tournament of Ascension was the solution to this. He gave people a reason to fight. The stronger or smarter you were than someone else meant you could live better than them. It may have it's flaws in my own opinion, but it's kept Aizdihar unified. Everyone who has a higher position has fought for, and earned, their spot. But there's always a bigger fish. No matter how strong or how smart you think you are, or proven that you are, there's always somebody better. Including, the Deity. Rashaa proved that by killing Terrik to take his place as our second Deity. Terrik thought only him alone knew what was right, and he was blinded by his own arrogance. Rashaa knew this, and used his faults against him. Rashaa knew that running Aizdihar by herself would be impossible. So, she implemented the Left and Right Hands. The greatest minds on her left, and the greatest fighters on her right. Rashaa wasn't stronger than Terrik, but she was smarter. Kadeon was both. While our current Deity wasn't beating the previous in one skill, he could best them both with his smarts and overwhelming strength. Kadeon improved humanity by introducing Cybernetics. The rank of Deity rarely changes. Terrik held the rank for the least amount of time, ruling only six hundred years. Rashaa was able to use her intelligence to keep her power for almost nine hundred years. Kadeon may have only been our ruler for almost five hundred years now, but there's no signs of him losing a battle for the next thousand."

"And this matters to me how?" My voice was muffled as I pulled on the T-shirt.

"Like I said, there's things that I don't agree with. We won't get into that. Let's just say that statistically, governments rise and fall. I just wanna be on the side that survives."

"So why me? And what exactly do you want me to do?" One sock was bigger than the other, but at least there weren't any holes.

"Well as far as I'm concerned, I saved your life. That means you owe me a favor." I sighed as I tied the laces of my boots. Slipping on the jacket, I stood up from the bed. "So why don't you pay your debt to me by getting rid of the rust?"