Page 19 of Shattered Darkness

I raise my eyebrow, “Battle?”

“Battle, fight, same difference.”

“No, it’s really not but fine, I see your point,” I concede.

“Do a couple of practice moves first; get used to how it feels. It’s definitely more, um, floaty, I guess you could describe it,” he starts to instruct, and I smirk. He ignores me completely as he continues, “So you need to learn how to balance that with your normal fighting technique; you’ll most likely need to switch it up a bit. Once you’ve got the hang of it and you’ve learned to trust your magic it’ll be as easy as fighting on the ground, but with some added benefits.”

I nod. This is why I loved training with Cain. He never missed an opportunity to teach me something new and make sure I mastered it. I do as he suggested and take a couple of practice swings with my sword while I try to move with it as well. It is far from seamless, and it’s easy to tell that I’m struggling.

“You’re thinking about it too hard,” Cain tells me, and I glance over at him to see him in the sitting position like he’s sitting in a chair, except there is no chair.

I take a deep breath, “Yeah, I know it’s not as easy as it seems, or at least you make it seem.”

“It is, though Sage. You’ve just got to trust your magic, and you’re good at that,” he replies, knowledge in his eyes.

Rather than trying to get him to explain how he could possibly know that I am good at trusting my magic, I take another deep breath and close my eyes. I figure that if I can’t see and move instinctively instead, that might help me to stop thinking about it so much. The fact is, I do trust my magic, and I am good at it, but it’s that unknown darkness that lives deep within my magic that makes me nervous.

Trust.

That seems to be the thing that my magic is telling me, and it doesn’t seem as wary about that Darkness as I am; I guess I should take comfort in that since it’s closer to the Darkness than I am. I don’t like not knowing.

I take another deep breath; there is no point dwelling on that now. Right now, I’m trying to get to grips with a new fighting technique, and that means that I need to trust my magic, as Cain says, and also like my magic is telling me to do.

Well, alright then.

Keeping my eyes closed still, I start to move. I’m wobbly at first but reasonably quickly get my bearings, and I find myself moving through the air with ease.

“Good job, I’m going to take it easy but I’m going to start to engage now,” Cain says.

I open my eyes as I focus on trusting my instincts; Cain stays true to his word and takes it easy on me, but as soon as he realises that I’m keeping up and that I’ve actually got a pretty good grasp on it now, he picks up the pace, and I find myself having to trust my magic to help me move or I’m going to get sliced again and I don’t want that to happen, especially not by one of my own blades.

I am by no means as good in the air as I am on the ground, and I know that Cain is holding back up here, but when I’ve got some practice in, it's going to be a massive advantage if I can attack from the air. Not only that, but some of the guys can help me too.

“Alright, I’m calling it. We need to get a couple of hours of sleep in before we have to get up for lessons,” Levi calls out, putting a stop to the sparring going on.

I try to lower myself to the floor like Cain does gently, but I’m a little bit clumsier in my descent, and I end up almost falling over.

“Smooth,” Kai teases as he catches me and then holds me close.

“Shit up, I grin. “I don’t know how I’m going to get up in a couple of hours. I’m exhausted in every way.”

“I hear that,” Erin agrees, stretching out her back with a groan.

“I know you’re all tired but there’s one more thing I need to talk to you about,” Cain says as everyone begins to leave.

Chapter Seven

“Oh, what’s that?” Levi questions.

“I’m also here to help you with the Warrior Bond. As it strengthens, so will your magic, and you’ll likely get a couple of extra gifts too,” Cain replies.

Everyone stares at him for a moment; I don’t think any of us are really sure what to do with that information.

“Even those of us who already have more gifts than we technically should?” Kysen asks carefully.

Cain raises his eyebrow, “You mean all of you?”

“You know a lot of information that no one else knows,” Damon points out this time, his arm wrapped around Erin’s shoulders as he watches Cain cautiously.

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