THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE TO SOME READERS.
The bushes parted around Damon's fingers. Ripples shimmered in the clearing ahead, water bending and spiralling, swirling around a single figure at its center.
Cythera.
She stood with her eyes closed, sleeves cut short at the shoulder, her midsection bare, breath slow and controlled. Water coiled around her arms as if listening to her pulse.
Her movements were quiet at first. Just a circling of the wrist, a flick of the fingers, a twist of the hips and the water obeyed like muscle and bone.
Then she snapped it down like a whip.
Daichi winced mentally. "Ouu. That would hurt."
Damon didn't answer. He couldn't look away. She seemed like a goddess bored of being worshipped.
Cythera lifted her arms again — palms slicing upward — and water surged skyward. Frost crawled across its surface, turning it into jagged ice. She stepped on a rising pillar of frozen water as if climbing a staircase made for gods.
She kicked downward; water cracked like a thunderclap.
Constantly, she created forms of water that weren't necessarily attacks, it didn't look like she was practicing to be better at attacking, she moved like she was trying to be better than perfection.
Then, she shaped the rising surge into a colossal blade of ice, spanning taller than any tree around her.
It glimmered blue, sharp as blades that could cut diamonds, her aura began to grow green and it glowed faintly beneath the surface of it. It wasn't a weapon but a declaration. She spun once, cutting a perfect 360° around the clearing. Grass split cleanly, trees shuddering under the chill.
The blade swept toward Damon, and he moved without thinking.
Light cloaked his fist, compacted like a star shrinking into his own palms. He simply lifted his fist to the side of his face. The ice shattered into a thousand glittering shards.
Cythera opened her eyes finally. Calm. Focused. Unshaken.
"You're learning fast," she said.
Damon exhaled. "All thanks to Solaren."
"I guess you weren't expecting anyone here?"
"We were just… looking for a spot to eat." He lifted the large basket. The smell drifted to where Cythera stood.
Cythera blinked once, realizing. "Wait."
She wiped her brow with the back of her hand, soft droplets slipping down her temple. Her muscles were defined and so was her physique, not bulky, but carved by discipline.
"I'm hungry," she added simply.
She unwound her hair, letting it spill freely down her back. The droplets from before slid down her neck to her collarbone.
Damon didn't stare, but to say he didn't noticed things anyone would admire would be to lie.
Then she flicked her fingers and pulled the moisture off Damon's face — condensed the droplets mid-air, then those droplets grew into a bigger sphere of water, then she sent them drifting back to the plants in the places she cleared. The droplets were thinner than drizzles as she sent them down, it gave more beauty to the rays of the sun.
Damon raised a brow. "How did you—"
"You can the details ask when I start tutoring you on water, but low level Eterna users can only bend their attributes not create it. I can do both. So should you." She stepped closer. "You look taller. I saw you a few days ago. And your arms…"
She touched his forearm, fingers lightly pressing. "You arms are... Sturdier. Denser. Different."
Damon stayed still, politely and respectfully. He noticed the warmth in her hand. He noticed the subtle quickening of her breath too. He noticed everything but he chose not to react.
Cythera stepped back. Her composure returned like a cloak sliding back over her shoulders.
"Follow me. I know a place."
They reached the far edge of Woewyn — a cliff overlooking a sweep of white sand.
Around where mountains that stretched high some surpassing the clouds, some that seemed like they would grow to meet it.
The water below was impossibly blue, the colour of a dream polished too many times. The sun was just beginning to set so the skies turned dark yellow and light pink.
Damon stared down. "This water looks like someone edited a picture to advertise it."
Cythera sat at the edge of the cliff and nodded. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Damon lowered himself beside her. Daichi flopped down with his tongue out. Damon handed him a chunk of meat from the basket. "Reward for patience."
Cythera watched them with an unreadable softness. Admiration, maybe. Or curiosity. Or both.
"So," She gestured at Damon. "how did this happen?"
He told her about the Resonant Stride, the cave, the Keeper, the sword only he could unlock. Cythera listened without interrupting, with eyes steady and measured breaths until he finished.
"That still doesn't explain… this." She gestured at his taller, generally better frame.
Damon sighed. Tolrex's explanation was still fresh on his tongue.
"When I slept… I felt agony. Like every part of me was being rebuilt." He swallowed. "And when I woke up… I was like this. Tolrex says its because I'm growing too fast."
Cythera's eyes softened. It wasn't really pity, but something warmer, deeper. Like concern shaped into respect.
"So, will you stop training?" she asked quietly.
"No." He didn't hesitate. "Although Tolrex said he was unsure, if I can absorb all the power in my fathers core, the pain in the purges might reduce. Cuz y'know, I still grow fast naturally."
"Good," she said, a faint smile tugging her lips. "Because I've joined the bet. I'm training you until you die."
Damon blinked. "I thought the bet was a joke."
"I'm taking it seriously."
She picked up a bread-wrapped strip of meat and bit it. "Have you learned anything about Ki?"
"No. What's Ki?"
She swallowed, eyes narrowing playfully. She created a cup of ice and filled it with water using the same hand, then drank. "I know you're healing right now. But are you up for a lesson? I want to be the first to teach you, out of the five of us."
Something in her voice that was calm, cool, but edged with intent sank into his chest.
Damon stood. "Yeah. Sure. Why not?"
He offered her his hand. She took it.
"Ki isn't some sort of magic or Eterna," Cythera said as they stood at the cliff. "It's the older, kinda. It's the language of the body. Your breath, blood, tension, twitch, and advanced people can sense intent. Basically used to sense the presence and movements of others."
She tied a cloth around her eyes. "Hit me."
Damon hesitated. My first time striking a lady, he thought.
He aimed at her shoulder. She shifted her upper body. The strike missed cleanly and she pulled the blindfold off.
"It's not prophecy or seeing into the future" she said. "It's studying ones presence, which can later allow you predict their moves, very acurrately."
She stepped closer. "Stance." she commanded.
He adopted a fighting pose.
"No," she corrected.
She gently nudged his feet apart. Lowered his shoulders. Relaxed his fists. Then she pressed two fingers to his sternum to straighten him. Her heart had these micro-beats, small touches, quick breaths she tried to hide.
Damon pretended not to notice.
"Eyes closed," she said.
He obeyed.
"Now listen. Not with your ears, but with your skin and complete body." she said as she wrapped a blindfold gently on his eyes. She moved, a shift in her weight, a hit to his forehead.
Damon reacted too late.
She circled him. "Stop predicting and start feeling, for now."
The same thing repeated itself a couple times. The last time she actually whipped the back of his neck with water.
Daichi secretly giggled at that in his own dog way. "Focus." She commanded.
He tried again. Listened. Breathed. Her intent brushed the air. Subtly, like a whisper before a storm. He dodged right before she moved. His breath hitched.
She stopped mid-strike, lips parting in surprise. He predicted... I guess he does grow fast.
"Good," she murmured. "Now you're not fighting me. You're dancing with me."
The lesson grew faster. She feinted and he ignored it. She shifted, he followed. She kicked and he blocked. They began to fight, though it was more of a dance.
Sun dipped low, surrounding shadows grew long as they had a long duel, fit enough to entertain kings.
Later on...
Cythera spun, intending a spinning kick from above. Damon raised his arm and she vaulted off it, flipping overhead.
A mistake.
Damon punched the air, wind burst forward and pushed her mid-motion. She lost her footing. He sensed it instantly and dashed forward.
He caught her. One hand behind her back. One palm on the sand to brace them both. Their faces were inches apart. Her breath hit his cheek like cool mist. Her heartbeat felt a fraction too fast and thudded against his arm.
The blindfold fell off. Damon looked into her eyes. Calm. Concerned.
"Did I hurt you?"
She didn't answer at first.
Then she thought 'He caught me. Why is my chest tight? Why does his arm feel this warm? Why is he looking at me like that? Get a grip, Cythera.'
She swallowed.
"No. You were… smart to take advantage there."
Damon nodded once and helped her up, perfectly composed. He noticed her fluster, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
He thought Well, I would be flustered if a beautiful lady was at my face, I suppose it's a normal human reaction. But I only have eyes for Natsuki! His mental reaffirmation reflecting on his face.
A flicker of Natsuki's presence tugged at him. Then faded. He thought he imagined it.
"How'd I do on my first lesson?" he asked.
"You did well," she said, brushing sand from her clothes. "Very well. We can thank that to your fathers fighting experience, in his core, in you."
They returned to Daichi, who had somehow not finished the food.
"You got a BB," Cythera said.
"A what?"
"Bottomless basket," she said. "They can hold more than you think."
She reached for another piece. Damon let her. She ate slower than Daichi, but with visible contentment.
"Will you join the Trineum Festival?" she asked.
Damon blinked. "Probably not. I'm bad at sports and stuff. Well, I was.."
Cythera stared. "You'll be forced to regardless. The headmaster runs the festival."
"…What does the headmaster have to do with a festival?"
"It's a school festival, Damon. Trineum's the only school students from all three kingdoms attend. "
He stared.
"Oh. Trineum is a school?"
"…What did you think it was?"
"Never mind."
---
On Earth, Natsuki held the Shard of Luminaris in her hand.
It pulsed faintly. She saw Damon at the cliff, Cythera close to him, their movements in training.
Her breath hitched.
"…Does Damon… like her?"
The shard glowed once, soft. Unanswered as the question hung in the dark.