Gemma

The hall gates were wide open, revealing a bright blue sky outside. Jax stepped out and was immediately met with the view of a large seaside city.

The hall he was in was at the top of a hill, allowing him to look down over the city and the sea beyond. A salty breeze gently caressed his face, causing his nose to twitch slightly.

"Where are we?" Jax couldn't help but ask at the sight of it all.

Tiny houses littered the entire hill, each one different from the next, with brick walls and slanted roofs. People walked along the road, while some rode on Carriages drawn by bulls. Children's laughter filled the street nearby, coming from an open field where dozens of them played with a each other.

"Let me find out where we are," the wisp said and zipped out of existence for a second. A moment later, it reappeared. "You're in Seacrest City. It's a port city within the Kingdom of Telaris. You should find out more on your own."

"Okay… but why is there a city inside a train?" he asked. "And look at that sea. Just how big is this place?"

"While we call it a Carriage, it would be more accurate to call each of these places their own world. They span hundreds of thousands of miles across, only ending at a large ice wall that stretches just as far. You will see hundreds of different towns and cities in this place."

Jax was shocked. There was so much in just Carriage 10?

"What about the other Carriages? Are they the same?" he asked.

"No, the next Carriages are smaller," the wisp answered. "Not by design, though. Each Carriage dynamically adjusts in size based on the number of people living there. The higher Carriages are more difficult to reach, so they end up having a smaller population and, as a result, a smaller size. They're still massive, though."

Jax was speechless. The idea that there were entire worlds within these Carriages was difficult for him to fathom.

"Anyway, let's leave this place," the wisp suggested.

Jax nodded with little focus. He looked around and saw a flight of stairs leading down to a road below. "Any idea where I should go first?" he asked.

"The training center," the wisp quickly answered. "Each city should have multiple training centers. They're a great place for newbies like you to stay and learn to navigate this world. It's a fantastic place to learn how to fight as well."

"Do I need to know how to fight?" Jax asked.

"Ascending through the Carriages isn't easy. You have to defeat many others who have the same desire as you," she said. "So fighting is necessary."

Jax didn't question her. He simply accepted it for what it was.

He walked down the stairs and reached the road. He passed a couple holding hands, a man carrying a cloth bag, and a store where a woman argued about the price of something with the shopkeeper.

Each one of these people was real, and each one lived here. "Did they all find a ticket to get here?" Jax asked. "Most of them are Settlers, right?"

"Not all of them," the wisp answered. "Most are actually descendants of Settlers."

That made sense to Jax.

He got the directions to a training center from an old man in front of a tea shop. The wisp remembered the detailed direction. From where they were, it would take at least another fifteen minutes.

"Hey, you said you will be with me forever now, right?" Jax asked.

"Yes!"

"Then you need a name," Jax said.

The wisp dimmed a little. "I already have a name. T-1388C, in case you forgot."

"That's not a name," Jax said. "That's just a bunch of letters and numbers."

"Aren't all names just a bunch of letters and numbers?" the wisp asked.

Jax couldn't answer. He sighed. "Fine, you have a name. But it's not so easy to say. You need a nickname."

"Ooh, are you giving me a nickname? I always wanted a nickname," the wisp said.

"Of course. What do you want?"

The wisp floated around a little. "I don't know. You think for me."

"You want the man without any memory to come up with names?" Jax asked.

"You only lost memories related to yourself. You haven't lost all memories," the wisp clarified.

"I know. Alright, since you're an orb of light and my little helper, why don't I call you… Gemma?"

The name came out of nowhere. There was no meaning to the name itself, but for some reason, Jax associated importance to that name. He couldn't understand why.

"Oh, like a gem?" the wisp asked. "Gemma… that's a nice name. Thank you, Jax."

Jax belatedly realized that the wisp had accepted the name. He wanted to take it back, but the wisp started flying around excitedly after receiving a new name.

He couldn't bring himself to take back the name. So, he just smiled. "From today, until I die or have my wish fulfilled, you are Gemma."

The wisp laughed an innocent laugh, like that of a child. And just like that, Gemma was born.

"Stop laughing so much. People will look at us weird," Jax quickly said.

"They can't hear me," Gemma said. "If they could, you would be seeing many other helpers too."

Jax took a look around the street he walked in and noticed that he couldn't see any other person with a wisp flying around them. And yet, he could see people silently whispering to themselves.

"You see, only you need to be careful," Gemma said.

"Alright," Jax said and continued on. "Can you help me understand the rest of the things in my status here?"

"Sure, let's go over it one by one," Gemma said and began explaining.

Jax understood most of it inherently, but he needed clarification on a few of them still.

"Why are Skills and Spells different? For some reason, I feel like they should be the same thing," Jax said.

"It's simply the difference between using raw Navi by itself or using it to make something happen. You'll learn more in the training center, don't worry."

"Alright," Jax said and asked about the rest.

Inventory was a spatial compartment that was private to him. Within it, he could place anything non-living. The size of the space was dependent on his Navi Stage, so the more he grew, the more it would grow too.

Map helped an Ascendant track where they were as well as the other locations they had been in.

Tickets was an interesting category. According to Gemma, the only way to ascend from one Carriage to another was by obtaining a ticket within the time remaining. If they had the ticket, they could move on.

Requirements listed a set of tasks that an Ascendant had to complete before they could obtain the ticket. As per Gemma, there were no requirements in the 10th Carriage, but starting from the 9th, there would be different ones that she could not tell him about just yet.

Finally, Restrictions were, as Jax already knew, a list of limitations placed upon the Ascendant.

"There can be more restrictions than what I've already received?" Jax asked.

"Yes, but those won't be as bad," Gemma explained. "There are three types of restrictions: Temporary, Removable, and Permanent."

"Temporary restrictions last for a limited amount of time but cannot be removed. Removable restrictions last forever but can be removed with spells or other methods. And finally, Permanent restrictions cannot be removed and last forever."

"Your current restriction is of the Permanent variety, and it will be the only one you will ever receive."

Jax sighed in relief. "That's good. I wouldn't want more restrictions than what I've got already."

Jax looked over the list once again, trying to see if he understood everything. When he was certain he did, he willed it away.

"There, that's the tree that old man talked about," Gemma quickly mentioned.

Jax looked across the street and saw a large dead tree with colorful papers tied to its branches.

"From the colorful tree, we take a right and…"

The road led to an end, and at its end was a massive building with a large board at the top that had its name.

Julian's Training Center.