I hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but my mental exhaustion quickly got the better of me. My consciousness faded quickly after my eyes closed, and I fell into a restless sleep that lasted until the following morning. My dreams were vivid and varied for the entirety of my fitful sleep, but they always ended the same way: with pain, death, and black flames.
11. LAST SUPPER
Marin’s voice echoed through the still morning air. “A test?!”
“A test,” I repeated with a laugh. “If we’re going to be leaving you in charge while we’re gone, I want to make sure you’re really up to the task.”
She continued to stare in slack-jawed disbelief, looking between Lia and myself for explanation. “You never told me there would be some official test at the end of all of this! I would’ve, uhm...I don’t know, prepared myself or something!”
“Don’t worry about it, Marin,” Lia said, rubbing her shoulders. “There’s no passing or failing to worry about; Lux just wants to judge how your training has been going for himself, and he likes to be dramatic about it.” Her lips curled into a grin as she peeked out at me from behind Marin’s head.
“Me? Dramatic?” I asked, holding a hand to my chest dramatically. “I like to think that my way of looking at things makes life more interesting. And yes, while it is a test, Lia is right; there’s no passing or failing. I just want to get a measure of your abilities. There’s a chance Lia has been going easy on you because you’re her first student.”
“Going easy on me?! Have you seen the things we do every day?” she replied, completely aghast. “I go home with new bruises every single night!”
I clicked my tongue. “If you’re getting hit that often, I guess it’s a good thing we’re having the test, right?”
Marin sputtered as she tried to formulate a response, but Lia clamped her hands down on the fiery girl’s shoulders and pulled her backwards. “Remember what we worked on, Marin,” Lia cooed. “Experience your emotions, but don’t let them control you. Keep your head level and ready to react to any situation.”
After a series of annoyed grunts and groans, Marin let out a long, whistling breath. “I am ready for the test, Lux.”
“Perfect. Let’s begin.” I summoned my sword as I crossed the yard to Lia’s usual starting position. “I assume you can handle blunting your own weapon?” I asked as a faint flicker of orange energy shimmered along my blade.
Her eyes squinted as Lia handed her an onyx longsword. “Yes,” she answered, unable to remove the annoyance from her voice entirely.
I watched as her mana activated and the sword flickered to life. “Okay then. We’ll start with your combat fundamentals and move on from there, so no enhancements for now.” With a quick flourish of my blade, I crouched into a ready position and waved her on. “Whenever you’re ready.”
The words had hardly left my mouth before Marin charged across the clearing. Our initial clash gave me a rough idea of her skillset, and I found myself satisfied with the work Lia had done over the past month. Her attacks were powerful and precise, yet slower than the finessed approach Lia used. She had excellent combat awareness and footwork, but her aggressive style often left her too close to effectively use the full length of her longsword. After a few more engagements to test her defensive reactions to my various attacks, I disengaged and held up my hand to pause her assault. “Good! Now, let’s see how you do with two blades.”
Lia tossed the matched onyx longsword to Marin, and our sparring continued. The fiery passion of our previous bouts was suddenly gone, replaced by reserved, mechanically repetitive strikes. I reached out a tendril of mana to Lia while the fight progressed and pressed against her consciousness. She’s slower than you are.
She doesn’t like using two weapons, Lia answered. She says it’s too many things to keep track of, and that she’d rather “just focus on what feels right.”
I grinned. I suppose that’s fair; I’m not overly fond of the style myself. Even so, it’s good to learn a bit of everything. My sword caught the edge of both of Marin’s blades, and I heaved her back to make some space between us. Throw me your old sword. I dropped my bastard sword into my offhand and caught it in a reverse grip as Lia tossed me her saber. Marin’s eyes widened as I reengaged combat, and she shrank against the onslaught of my new style. As her blows glanced off my parrying sword, I reached out and disarmed her offhand blade with a flick of my wrist.
The lack of the extra blade seemed to only invigorate her, but despite her valiant efforts, I continued to push her back across the yard. I knew all too well the difficulty of fighting off multiple blades using a single weapon; I had only become truly proficient with the skill after years of daily sparring with Kel. Marin tucked and rolled away behind me after a particularly brutal set of swings, and I tossed Lia’s extra sword to the ground. “You can do better than that, Marin! Come at me with everything you’ve got!”
She grinned with anticipation as she began to chant under her breath, and I saw the multicolored layers of combat enhancements flaring to life around her. I waited patiently for the
