Page 59 of Ocean of Silver

Brock’s training was worse than Tezya’s. So much worse. He didn’t let me catch a break. I went from sparing Kallon, Rainer, to him, then all over again, back to back to back. They were all so powerful. Anytime I tried to land a hit on Kallon, she would use the portals she created to slip out of the way before I could blink. And her long, slender frame made her agile and almost impossible to land a hit on.

Fighting against Rainer was a different kind of difficult as my water only amplified his abilities. I had to fight him with just my physical strength. I learned the hard way that being electrified in water sucked. He was much slower than Kallon but just as skilled. Where she leaned on speed, Rainer went to strength. I was surprised by his powerful blow. He was lean, not a twig like Kallon was, but still smaller in stature for an Advenian male, but his throws… they hurt a lot. He worked with his body, angling in such a way to put all of his weight into each skillfully calculated throw. To make things worse, everything was electrified. He was wearing gloves that he infused his ability onto. Each time he hit me, he pulled back his power enough that I only felt a small pulsing shock. But I knew if we were truly battling, I’d be fried.

Fighting against Brock, though, was the scariest. I quickly learned that his ability was terrifying. I couldn’t wrap my head around how he was only a rank four. He could cut someone but take away the feeling of pain to the area, so they wouldn’t know that they were bleeding out until it was too late. He told me that he would normally blind and deafen his opponents, which he demonstrated on me, luckily, just not at the same time.

“Trust your instincts and listen to my movements,” Brock said from behind me. I twirled out of the way, hating the feeling of the constant darkness. He was currently taking away my vision.

“It’s kind of hard to do that over the thunder and constant downpour,” I gritted out as I strained to listen for his attack.

“You won’t get a say in the elements around you, and you need to be able to fight under all conditions.”

We were fighting in the dome Tezya called the hurricane, although Rainer turned it down to level one, stating it was just a small tropical storm. It didn’t feel like that as I was soaked from head to toe. There was so much water sloshing around inside the dome that I couldn’t manipulate it properly. It also didn’t help that I couldn’t see anything.

“Come on, Scottie, don’t just dodge. Fight back. Use your ability on me. Even without your sight, you should have the advantage with these conditions,” Brock said before he attacked again. From Kallon’s gasp, I think I just barely stepped out of the way.

“I can’t even see where the water is or where you are. How am I supposed to use it against you?” I snapped, frustration coursing through me.

“Just breathe and focus. You are one with the water. You don’t need to see it to control it. Don’t rely on your senses,” Brock instructed.

“Says the guy that is seeing twice as good now,” I ground out right before he landed a punch to my gut.

I toppled over, clutching my abdomen while wheezing uncontrollably. I cried out as Brock kicked my back, pushing my already half collapsed body over completely. I landed on the muddy ground with a loud thud. I didn’t need my vision to know that every inch of me was covered in mud. The water rushed over to me the instant I was down, swallowing me whole as I cast my ability, attempting to manipulate the water away from me while trying to regain my footing. I couldn’t hear him. Did Brock take away my hearing too? I got my answer with a loud crack of thunder. I knew he was going to attack again. He was so silent with his movements that it was impossible to glean when his attacks would come until it was too late.

The snap of bones crunched in my ears before my vision came flooding back to me. The dome stilled as the wind quieted and the pounding rain stopped. Brock fell to his knees beside me, cradling his wrist. But I hadn’t attacked him. I looked down to see what caught his attention. Blood covered where I stood and was dripping from my arm around the jutted bone that pierced my flesh.

Rainer and Kallon came up beside me. “I don’t understand,” I started. “I don’t feel anything.”

“I know,” Kallon said softly.

I looked over at Brock, whose brows were furrowed in concentration. His face was lined with agony. Then it dawned on me. Brock was using his ability to take away all my pain, feeling it for himself. But things were amplified for him. He would be feeling my pain twice as hard.

“Brock, you don’t have to—”

He cut me off. “It’ll only take a minute to heal it.” Then he grabbed my shattered wrist in his. I felt nothing as Brock worked. Slowly my wrist was repairing itself. Agony flared on his face for just a moment as the bone snapped back into place. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead as he grunted.

“Done,” he panted and sank back into the mud. “Scotlind, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. Thank you,” I looked down at my wrist, able to feel it again, but I still had no pain. It was completely healed. Better than healed. “Your healing abilities can heal things completely?" I asked in astonishment as I turned my wrist over, bending it back and forth. My scarred zero that marred my flesh was still visible, but my wrist itself felt… great. The healers that were sent to Tennebris could only speed up the healing process, not completely reserve it.

Kallon answered for him. “There are many different kinds of healers in Lux. The ones that were sent over to Tennebris were usually only a rank one or two in healing and couldn’t do much. Brock can heal completely if the injury is fresh, but it depletes his reserve fast.”

And Brock was using both of his abilities at once. He was taking away my sense of touch to the area—taking away my pain—with his sensibus furari, and healed me at the same time. I looked over at him. He was still slouched in the mud, panting heavily. His face paled, completely devoid of color. I remembered Tezya telling me that Advenians reacted differently to their reserves being depleted, that Brock’s vision blacks out. I watched in horror and fascination as the male knelt before me and blinked rapidly, not seeming to look at anything in particular. He was drained, his reserves gone.

“That’s it for today,” he finally said, his voice still breathless and ragged. I watched as he struggled to get up and left without another word.

Rainer started turning off all the controls, each dome returning to its original form of a mud pit. Kallon walked over to me, and it was the first time we’d been alone since the Ball.

“So,” she said as we made our way over to an open spot on the grass away from the domes, “I’m sorry about the Ball and that you found out that way.” Even covered in sweat and mud, she looked beautiful.

“I just feel stupid. I should have known—”

“Don’t,” she said quickly. “There is nothing for you to feel dumb about. You didn’t grow up here like the rest of us.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. “Not that you owe me anything,” I added quickly. I barely knew Kallon, but there was something so familiar about her. It was probably just me projecting Vallie onto her, which wasn’t fair to her. I’d been trying to fill her void since I left LakeWood, but I liked Kallon a lot. I desperately wanted to be her friend, and I was hoping that she felt the same about me.

“Tezya asked us not to. He wanted to tell you on his own terms, and I honestly didn’t think about it when I brought you to Yule. The Lux King rarely forces Tezya and Dovelyn to sit on the thrones. The more spotlight he has all to himself, the happier he is. But for what it’s worth, I’m glad you now know. It was really hard to not slip up.”

“I am too.” I was happy to know the truth, even if the idea of Tezya being the Fire Prince still scared me. “You and him are—” I still never confirmed what I thought when I saw the two of them dancing.

---