Basement Bonding

The smell of paint and coal lingered in the air as the faint hiss of an oil lamp reached Valentine’s ears, making his head snap in the direction of a fly buzzing around it, his eyes narrowing in annoyance before trying to swat it and missing pathetically.

His leg limped forward as he barely held himself from falling face-flat on the stairs and earned a couple of stares coming his way.

Valentine cursed under his nose, looking around the dark staircase which they were going down for quite a while, his brows furrowing at the lack of any other light sources besides the few oil-lamps they were given by Noah.

“What is this place?” His nose scrunched up sensing the thick smell. “And why does it smell like old people…”

“It’s the preceptory’s basement, the bad smell could be coming from the furnaces, they are quite rusty.” Noah answered with a carefree smile, pulling on the tarp covering the staircase. “It’s a little old though, so mind the dust bunnies.”

“There are bunnies?” The red haired girl’s eyes lit up briefly until Valentine stepped in, explaining.

“No, he’s talking about clumps of grey trash.”

“Oh… I-I see…”

Why is there a ten year old kid!?

Valentine shook his head as he looked down at the three people in front of him, the brunet and the blond were right behind Noah as he held an oil-lamp in his hand, lighting up the way forward.

Behind him were the rest, the redhead kid trailing right behind his back and Lilith at the very end.

At the corner of his eyes, he glanced back at Lillith who also seemed to be struggling with going down the stairs, her body in a similar condition to his.

So besides transferring pain, she can also absorb it? I take it she’s a kind of support class.

Although he still felt a little sour after getting beat up by a girl, he didn’t really have the guts to complain, he did last for quite long considering he had his Ignis helping him.

What bothered him the most was the fact that they didn’t even get a minute of rest, immediately going into the lower levels of the preceptory which were quite spacious. Of course it could have also been the main reason for why he was called here since no one seemed very content talking about sparring with the knights.

The staircase they were going down was connected to multiple levels, most of them either locked behind thick locks or not yet finished, with the smell of fresh paint littering the place.

My legs are going to turn into jelly…

Valentine thought as he took another step with a groan, the blonde hair in front of him turning with his bright freckles and spit after each word.

“Stop breathing so loudly! Are you a dog or something?”

Valentine had to close his eyes from all the spit that came his way, stopping for a second to wipe his face with his sleeve.

“Eugh,” He gagged, the boy in front of him flinching. “Maybe take a long look in the mirror.”

“Was that an insult!?”

Fucking classic.

Valentine rolled his eyes, mumbling under his nose for everyone to hear.

“Does anyone want to swap places with me?”

“There is no need, we’re almost there.” Noah responded as they passed another nest of cobwebs, the spiders scattering into the darkness.

“You said it like two times already… We’ve been going down those stairs for a hot minute and I'm sure everyone else is starting to get tired.”

“A lil more patience can’t hurt.” The old man behind Valentine chimed in, his chin barely not touching the back of his head.

Sparing him a glance, Valentine let out a short sigh before taking another step forward.

“Why isn’t Ramona coming with us?” He addressed Noah.

“She chose not to follow us in here,” Lilith replied from the back, her voice echoing against the dark brick walls. “After fulfilling her purpose, she decided to join Lady Marshal in her expedition.” She continued before flashing a small notepad in her hands, the light of her oil-lamp flickering around her smirking face.

“Was this what she was supposed to help you with? Giving notes?” Valentine asked not to bother to hide the sarcasm.

Lillith smiled. “You could say that it was all she came here to do, but as I stated before, she had her own problems to attend to. Or are you just because you’re sulking after getting ignored?”

Valentine was at a loss for words, seeing Lillith grin at him as if knowing she'd just struck a nerve.

After the spar, Valentine tried to talk with Ramona about Ignis, trying to figure out if his assumption about Lillith’s power was correct, but he only managed to get a few incomplete answers before she shrugged him off and stepped away for a moment to talk with Lillith.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Of course during that time, he could at least get to know the group he was getting pulled into, learning their names in the process and earning a somewhat interesting reputation of ‘The guy who got beat up by a squire’ which for better or worse, they didn’t quite care about…

“Who’s that Ramona that you two keep talking about?” The old guy spoke up from behind, an unlit cigarette hanging off his dry lips.”Was it that gal from the Scarlet Dusk?”

“Not your business.” Valentine shot back, turning back to face the stairs. “And I doubt she’d be interested in an old guy like you.”

“Ay, I’m not that old.” Martin retorted.

“Well then how old are you?”

“Erm…” Martin momentarily stopped as if in thought, lifting up his fingers and flipping them over and over until both of his hands slowly dropped, instinctively hiding in the pockets of his old leather coat.

“Like… thirty… ish.” He mumbled, not sharing the exact number.

That was way more than thirty…

Even with little to no light, Valentine could easily count how many times he flipped his fingers.

It was more like forty three. How can someone this old be insecure about their age?

“That’s so much!” The little redhead gasped in surprise, making Martin hold onto his chest dramatically, his heart already cracking in half as he looked down at her with pain in his eyes.

“What have I done to you little Car…”

“You do sound quite refined, Mister Martin.”

“Vesper please not you too…”

The mood of the group instantly improved thanks to the banter between Martin and the rest and the occasional outburst of Matthew who kept cursing at Valentine for everything he did, making the tense mood that settled around them ease up and let the group share a bit of their past.

As little information as it was, there was more than enough for Valentine to learn about the other parts of this world, or rather a kingdom named Siccitas which he was currently in.

Kind of a weird name…

“There was a war?” Valentine cut off Martin who seemed to shrug it off and answered anyways, unbothered by being asked the constant questions.

“Nah, tis was more of a skirmish between a few lords outside the Cradle, nothing big.”

“But you did fight in it… and won at that! shouldn’t you be proud of that?”

At that, he chuckled slightly, adjusting the cigarette between his lips.

“You could say that’s what it was. But the side I chose was simply tipped in favor of the goddess that day, that's all.”

Valentine furrowed his brows.

“But she wasn't even there to help you, was she?”

“You're so idiotic.” Matthew sneered from the front, his big nose making him appear as the smart-ass he thought he was.

“Of course the goddess was there! She's everywhere you fool! No matter when or where, she is always watching us from the skies like the goddess she is! Didn't you get baptised like any normal person would? You're supposed to know that like your own very date of birth!”

“Calm down man, it’s not that serious.”

“Are you kidding me-!”

“We’re finally here.” Noah announced from the front, immediately making everyone fall silent, Matthew included as he swallowed his next words and snickered, not intent on letting it go.

Valentine raised the oil-lamp to his eye level, trying to peer into the darkness before them.

The others were passing by him, going up to Noah who was lighting up the path forward.

Indeed, the staircase had finally stopped.

The last steps were right behind their feet, ending with a clear flat floor which despite looking old and unkept, was as smooth as carved marble, expanding far into the open space at the front.

Noah went up to a nearby wall, the light of his own lamp showing something akin to a switch sticking out from it.

“I suggest covering your eyes.”

There’s light?

Valentine thought in surprise. He hadn't expected for this world to be advanced enough to have light, though he did come across an entire factory, he was still unsure of the technological progress the people here have reached.

He placed the oil lamp on the floor next to him, his eyes tightly held shut before a distinct click rang in his ears, the inside of his eyelids changing colors in a flash.

“Now you can open your eyes-”

“Agh!” Matthew hissed.

“-slowly.” Noah’s words lingered on his tongue.

Matthew’s high-pitched scream lit up the room more than the lamps themselves, his fingers digging into his eyes as if he were ready to rip them out of their sockets.

“Y-you! Why didn't you warn us!”

Noah sighed to himself, ignoring the rich boy and trying to get used to the bright light along with the others.

Valentine was the first to regain his vision, blinking a couple of times before welcoming the familiar electrical source of light that hummed from within the ceiling, his eyes scanning it and landing on a row of simple, metal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, which was quite far. The height of two and a quarter of Valentines or approximately four meters.

The tall ceiling, consisting of dark panels, slowly flowed down the walls which faded into a lighter shade the lower it fell, ending on a clean white color that connected with the mirror-like floor.

They circled a large open space, much like the sparring ground they were at not that long ago, the only difference being the lack of distractions or passed out knights lying on the ground, the space wide enough to fit an entire tennis court.

On the sides, doors were standing in rows, ten to be exact, five on both sides and all with the same solid wooden design and metal locks mounted right below their handles.

Valentine could only marvel at the sight which reminded him of his own world, it was way too clean and simplistic for something of this current era, unfitting to say the least.

He knelt down minding the lamp, swiping his palm across the floor to collect not a single speck of dust, the surface licked clean.

Isn't this a little too good to be built underground?

Other's reactions were somewhat similar to his, with Martin's cigarette dropping on the floor and Livia's knees turning weak, her body plumping down and her face turning blank.

“It smells icky…” Was all Carina had to say before sticking to Livia like a wild kitten, her long ruby hair a nice contrast to Livia's feral lapis.

Only Vesper seemed to retain a calm face, keeping his eyes on the shiny floor that was so smooth it worked as a mirror, reflecting his small face from below his feet.

“This place just keeps getting more and more fancy.” Martin remarked with a laugh, holding onto his scalp. “Makes one wonder why something like this is hidden from sight.”

“Indeed.” Vesper whispered as if in a trance.

Scratching the back of his head, Noah walked up to a door next to the light switch, its design different from the other ones, with carved blackwood and silver lining hammered at the edges. “Well…”

He tried to open the door, but it was locked.

He let out a long breath before pulling out a giant keyring from… his armour? The amount of keys on it gave enough time for him to continue what he was planning on saying as he tried them one by one.

“Our knight order… doesn’t usually stay at the preceptory for a long period of time. Most of the time the Sky Rose Knights go out on assignments and missions to train and increase in ranks. It's rare times like these when we don't have anything important to take care of that made a group of certain good samaritans gather together and build this place for us to study, train and live in.”

Lillith tapped on the floor with the soles of her feet, walking far into the wide space with long steps.

Noah continued, flipping towards the next key.

“But of course, their efforts are being wasted due to no one being here to make use of this place, no one wanted to willingly settle all the way down here because-”

“Because it's too far from the sun…” Valentine mumbled under his breath, with Lillith nodding along.

“At least you lot get it.” She smirked, a strange chill running down Val’s spine.

“What about us then!?”

Matthew shouted at her from the side, catching up to her pace yet still holding his eyes despite clearly being able to see with them.

“You will learn here most of the time, your Ignis is still not fully developed so it doesn't matter whether you're close to the sun or not.” She said with a smile, spinning in place before tripping Matthew who was coming right at her with a flushed face.

His body flopped on the crystal clear floor like a burnt pancake, so hard that a sharp clap echoed across the thick cement walls.

“Learning manners should come first.”

Everyone watched Matthew quietly slide across the floor, his body lifelessly drifting on its surface.

In the back, a distinct click rang, followed by the sound of a door getting pulled open.

“How about we learn something else instead?”

Noah asked, his tone different from his usual self, in a weirdly scary way…