Blood Lines

Training with shadows

Marco:

“Pay attention and be ready Marco for this will be the hardest few weeks of your life" shouts Steven

I was standing in the middle of the arena facing Steven in the middle of the day, the sun was sooo hot I was sweating already and I had only been here for a few seconds

"your powers seemed to work when you were stressed, worked out and under life threatening moments, so if we pressure you into that state again you should be able to bring out your powers, in which means the more you use your powers the easier it will be to control them." he says

I look at Tony who is standing exactly 90 degrees to the left of me. He was wearing the same stuff as yesterday but it was really clean. Weird.

"Tony is gonna help us with this, when we begin I am going to pick up this spear and throw it at you" he points to a basket with a bunch of spears in it. "you are going to try to block it with some powers  or dodge it but you can't move more than three steps in any direction, if you do move more than three steps tony will zap you, understand."

I nod to him and then look at Tony, he doesn't seem to happy about all this, Steven steps back and grapes a spear, "I won’t give you a break Marco, once the spear is passed you I'm going to throw another, slowly getting faster." I stand in what I think is a ready position, knees slightly bent, and my arms ready for anything. “Go" I say.

He throws a spear and I swear he tried to kill me; I just managed to dodge it. I look up and then another is already on its way. It was a bit low so I put all my strength into my legs and jump over it. The next ten were like this, split second decisions that meant my life or death. Tony hadn't zapped me yet so I guess I was keeping within the area where they wanted me. Another ten spears later and I start to feel the strain on my body, especially my legs. I swear he should have run out of spears a moment ago, there couldn't be any more than twenty spears could their? The next spear came at an unbelievable speed that I had to jump to the side to dodge it.

ZZZAAAAAAPPPPPP

"Oww", I jump up after Tony zapped me, I didn't think it would actually sound like the word zap. I try to dodge the next spear by moving in the other direction but I over step,

ZZZAAAAAAAAPPPP

Shit this is hurting me

"Try to use your powers Marco, they are the only way to make it out of this training session in one piece" encourages Steven, easy for him to say he hasn't been zapped by Tony yet.

I try to dodge the next three spears but they are traveling so fast that I have to take more than three steps in any direction to get past them, and I dodge them only to get struck by Tony, ZAAAAAP, ZAAAAAAAAP, and ZAAAAAP

I decide to stand completely still and focus, why not try my powers. Steven throws the spear but it seems slower, like he could tell I was gonna try my powers. As it sours though the air towards me I concentrate harder, it gets closer and closer but I don't feel anything. Closer and closer, I can almost see the point of the spear. Suddenly I feel a pull in my hands, like I have grabbed something, and I thrust the feeling towards the spear..... But nothing happens.

The spear keeps traveling towards me and it’s too late to move, 5 meters, 4 3 2 1. I close my eyes and wait for impact.

Nothing. I open my eyes and the spear is hovering directly before my chest, like only a few millimeters away. Steven has so look on his face but I can't make it out. His hand is out like he is trying to keep the spear afloat, I then notice the basket of spears is empty, I look behind me to see all the spears but there is none there, not a single one. Steven clicks his fingers and the spear drops to the floor.