The Fall of Vequera

Chapter eighteen | Drystan

LOCATION: EASTCLIFF, ELER

YEAR: 620 C.E

MALVOLIA, HIS MOTHER HAD ALWAYS BEEN THE PRIESTESS.

He remembered times before when it was just him and Koa, she would take them to meetings with the elders. He always thought the elders were so big and scary to him. Their golden eyes stared down at him with vacant eyes like they were never truly there. His mother warned him to never look them in the eyes when they spoke. He found himself doing it once when he was ten and he felt the air leave his lungs as he felt them invade his mind, tearing it apart. Cell by cell. Now, eight years later, he warned Nyra never to look them in the eyes.

Drystan stared at his brother as he trained. Only half of the training arena's ground was made of sand. The other half was made of grass. The sand was for Koa to see his gift but more importantly, so whoever he's training with can see his gift. The grass was for him and Calix. She drained the moister from the grass and the plants around it to use her gift. Koa had always been more brutal when it came to his fighting. Their cousins hated training with Koa because he trained until he or his opponent bled. First blood. They would train with their weapons and then eventually their gifts. Sand started to dance about him as he moved his arms around himself, then abruptly launched all of the sand in a straight path right for his cousin. Robin sidestepped Koa's strike by shifting his body to the side. Robin stumbled slightly but recovered quickly. He wasn't a good fighter by any means. He hadn't trained with Koa for long and that was evident in the way he barely dodged his attacks and his scream of frustration.

The boy rolled his eyes as he glanced at Koa, who was expressionless. He hardly broke a sweat, but the point was that Koa didn't need to use his arms to physically change the air around him; he could do so with his mind, and failing to do so was an insult to Robin. He did his best to be gentle with the kid. Robin, who was only ten and five years old, resented being treated as a child. He was an air elemental like Koa and their mother, but Robin wasn't as great at his gift as them. He had a bit of a temper for someone he barely reached Koa's shoulders. Robin yanked his sword from the ground, his eyes never leaving his cousin. Koa unsheathed his own sword with a sigh. "I thought we were only using our gifts."

"You move too fast and you aren't playing fair. I'm not as good at my gift as you are."

Drystan could smell the sweat coming off of Robin. He was exhausted. They had been training for hours at that point. Koa and Robin stood barely ten feet away from each other, but Koa gave Robin a look of disgust when he smelled the sweat on him. The arena was shaped like a dome, the sun peeked through the oculus. It only had two doors on either side, but they remained open throughout the time they trained. Robin panted, his chest rose, and fell at an alarming rate as he charged toward Koa. Koa stood still for a moment, but the blade of Robin's sword never touched his skin. Never broke flesh. He grabbed Robin by the neck and threw him across the arena. The clash of Robin's sword hitting the ground sent a wave of fear through Drystan's body, but he still leaned forward, watching intently.

"You asked me to teach you how to fight. So, why should I be fair? Robin, you're no longer a child. What if something happens and someone significantly bigger than you attacks you, but you aren't able to defend yourself since they don't fight fair? Of course, they are gonna fight fair, they are trying to kill you." Koa sneered at Robin as he struggled to stand up, his knees gave out and he fell face first on the ground.

Footsteps filled the arena and Calix and his mother walked in. His posture straightened as he pushed his body down into a sitting position on the ground. Drystan coughed lightly as Robin stood up from the ground and Koa dropped his sword. "Mother. Calix." Calix stared at Robin with a worried look as blood ran from the side of his mouth. She laughed as she took in the situation around her, making Drystan less tense than before. Everyone knew Koa's training techniques were brutal, but Calix had never seen them. She never trained with them. She trained with Robin's father who had the same gift as her. His mother walked up to him and placed her hand on his hand and bent down to kiss his forehead. "Make sure you're paying attention. You will soon get your mark."