A True Witch (Part 1)

Only a Human God

"You know you're not supposed to practice without me or Eda. You might hurt yourself if you do it alone."

I hurt myself even when I do practice with someone. Luz thought, though she quickly brushed that notion away.

She just slipped up or got sloppy or clumsy. It wasn't Philips fault. Besides, he didn't have any way to control her body, so it couldn't be his fault.

"I know you weren't napping, but I have to ask, how much sleep do you get?" Hunter asked.

"How much do you? You might get more than me, but by how much?"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop with the questions." Hunter chuckled as he turned and began to walk to the center of the mats on the floor, "Now let's get to work."

Luz followed behind him and joined him in the middle. Instead of doing something new, Hunter just had her spar with him, giving occasional notes and comments as they did.

"I've said it before, don't block with your face. Remember your center of balance. If I was still working with the coven I could easily kill you right now. No magic! That was good, keep doing it like that. You almost got me there. You're allowed to hit me harder than that! Aww, my little sis has grown up so much since the first time I tried to kill her."

Everything was going great and, despite her exhaustion, Luz was having an amazing time. Training with Hunter always put her in a good mood. It was just the two of them doing something they both enjoyed with no fear of interruption. It got their minds off everything.

Or, it was until Hunter grabbed Luz's right hand and she let out a quick, pained scream, the center of her hand still very sensitive from accidentally stabbing it earlier. She stumbled back a few steps and Hunter felt awful.

"I am so sorry Luz. Are you okay? Did I grab too hard?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Luz assured as she recomposed herself, "I just hurt my hand a bit ago and it's still a bit sensitive."

"Do you want to take a break? Maybe see if one of the healers can help out?"

Luz panicked as she thought of a healer checking her hand and sensing some sign of Belos' curse or him healing her.

"Really, I'm all good. Don't worry. Let's...let's just get back to work."

Hunter was still a bit concerned, but trusted her. They got going again, but after a few minutes, Hunter accidently stepped on Luz's right foot, the one she also accidentally stabbed through a week ago when working with Belos. She let out a sharp yelp and stepped back, tripping on a corner of a loose mat on the floor and falling.

"I'm okay!" Luz quickly said before Hunter could even ask, extending her right arm.

Hunter was looking even more worried and went to help her up. He grabbed her forearm where she had been scarred from the curse, which made Luz hiss in pain and tear up slightly. Hunter instantly let go and Luz got up on her own.

"Luz, go see a healer." Hunter said firmly, "You're obviously really hurt. It's a bad idea to just go around injured. I should know. Belos never let me see a healer. Letting injuries go unhelped will just make them hurt worse, longer and even have permanent damage. My right wrist isn't as strong as my left from when I sprained it really bad years ago. My nose only looks like this because it got broken too many times. My right shoulder is still in bad shape from our fight with the Collector. Hell, I even have a small bald patch on the back of my head that I keep hidden because of the amount of times it's been burned out or had hair pulled."

"I'm fine. Stop worrying about me." Luz said, starting to get frustrated with how insistent he was.

Internally, she was freaking out at the thought of Belos' magic he used to heal her fading, because if her scars became visible, or if the healing just vanished and all her wounds returned, she was in trouble. Because if bleeding out didn't kill her, her friends would once they saw how injured she got training, and training with Belos of all people.