Chapter 2
The fishes swam around. Passing by each other without ever colliding. They were all nearly as large as Casey. Their glow was not intense, barely throwing shadows from the workers onto the cave's walls. But the depth of the water, and its dark seemingly bottomless color, made it hard to see past them.
"This is so awesome. Can I come tomorrow and put a camera down there?"
"Yeah, but you've got to deal with the stuff for work first, Case." His dad smiled.
"The kid actually beat you to the punch. He brought everything already," Joshua said.
"I'll go get the rest of the stuff from the truck bed."
"Henry brought a ladder in." John pointed to a stone column. "It's behind there."
As Casey passed him by, he felt a pat on his shoulder.
He did his work with an accuracy and speed not befitting his age. He and Joshua had the place all set up in under an hour.
They'd brought solar panels, batteries, and an inverter to run the site off of.
Outside, they'd set the batteries in a mobile plastic shed. Even draft could corrode them, dust, and maybe animals would knock them around. The portable sheds were a life, well more so a time saver.
Casey cleaned his hands on a rag, watching as the grease and dirt simply smeared. He sighed, knowing he'd have to go home dirty again tonight.
Joshua and his dad stood in the parking lot. The workers from urban renewal had already left them.
Joshua said, "I'm having a bad feeling about this." He asked, "Since when do we need close ties to Cordonne?"
"Well, I've heard some things recently, Josh. Some people I respect think that it might be needed. But for me, I think they're acting too early. It'll unsettle some people."
Joshua usually had an interest in anything on social media. Casey had to admit he usually knew what he was talking about—unless it was about women. He chuckled quietly.
Casey threw the rag in the back of the truck and placed his briefcases in the back seat.
"Kid." Joshua looked for backup. "What do you think?"
"About us and Aelthren joining the Southeastern Coalition of countries? It'll do us good as a country. And the elves too."
Joshua spoke. "Bimini doesn't need the coalition. We're a self-sustaining country. Okay, sometimes we might need some help from the elves, but we don't need anyone else."
John walked off for a moment and came back.
"Case, drop Josh off for me? The cars are getting service tomorrow."
His dad jumped into the car and drove off. He did that a lot. Leaving without saying where to.
It was after six by the time they'd left. The clouds had cleared up. The ride to Joshua's home was entirely smooth, the quarry rocks had been pressed by Henry. He lived about four miles away from Casey.
Old Providence was a mixture of trees and homes in the western section, and purely urban in Casey's eastern area. And, to the south was a business district, all at least three stories in height. There weren't any laws that really stopped a store from being in any district so there were a lot of small businesses in Old Providence.
They passed by less, and less, trees, and started to pass by porch lights, and speed bumps, before finally arriving at Joshua's.
He said goodbye and left quietly. He'd barely said a word on the ride over; he'd been smiling and mumbling. The way he was texting gave Casey some kind of idea.
Casey drove towards his neighborhood. He didn't stop for any food or a drink on the way there. He really just wanted to rest. Their home was a two-story building. Light-brown, with white sidings. He passed through the stained glass doors. Immediately, he made his way to the shower. He needed the experience gone from his skin.
His father came home much later.
Casey found sleep harder to grasp, recently. This period would've been when he'd talk to Nadene; his phone screen was dark. After, another hour of discomfort, he was allowed to sleep.
Part2
Casey woke up and the sun was barely on the front of the house. Right now felt so much better than last night. And even last night had been an improvement on letting go of the relationship. It had been his first.
When he wasn't too exhausted, he'd train himself. Today was one of those days. Running his fingers through his low cut, Casey sat up for a bit. He prayed, and grabbed his practice sword. He made his way to the backyard.
He wore a thin black t-shirt, and white sweatpants. Casey stood still and allowed his eyes to adjust to the flimsy light, then placing his wooden sword against the glass back door, before walking onto the lawn.
The light was morning purple on this side of the home. Because it hadn't warmed the wind, it felt cold out.
Casey traced everything just to be sure of his privacy.
A brown fence surrounded everything. A bed of flowers was just inside. The well-kept lawn filled the rest of the space to the pool. And the pool was a teardrop; white stones were around its rim. Though it created a unique problem for him. He puffed his nose, in irritation. He hated the smell of chlorine.
He closed his eyes. Sorcery worked by feeling the source of an element through the nodes in the body. Heat from light from the sun could be collected, that heat could be gathered as mana, and projected from a specific node.
A sorcerer's body could feel some mana, not as much as a node, not as accurately.
Because of this, Casey strengthened himself with composite mana. A mixture that was just basic, healthy stuff.
His upper body moved unnaturally fast. The air being torn apart as he twisted his blows. His guard stayed tight. Wind whistled, loudly.
His legs bounced back and then stepped in. Lowering himself to land a liver blow. Sliding his left foot to the left to throw a sharp unchambered uppercut.
He moved well. Through sets of punch combinations, dodges, and beautiful parries. The unarmed movements lasted fifteen minutes, exactly.
The sword swings were patient, andwatchful. He used a single-handed sword. This blade would leave blurs in the air. They lingered. Then you would see the blur collapse. He moved faster. Leaving fourteen blurs in two seconds. As they collapsed, a heavy messy wind swept through all sides of the backyard.
His dad tapped on the back glass and mouthed, nice. Smiling and holding both thumbs up.
Casey gave a laugh.
While working out just now he had made a breakthrough. He tightened his fist and held a primal shout. The smile never left his face.