from another realm

chapter 6

Shane looked at Adalia and said, "Why don't you join us for a sparring session? It would be great to have another skilled fighter like you on our team."

"Um, I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet." Adalia hesitated, her eyes darting between Shane and me. "But I'll try."

Shane chuckled and reassured Adalia, "Don't worry, we'll start slow and build up your confidence. You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll progress." Adalia's hesitant expression softened, and she nodded, mustering up her determination to give it a shot.

As it was going on, I walked to Abigail; we were being watched by neighboring houses.

"Yo, you see that? It looks like there's some fighting going on," a neighbor said to his friend.

"Yeah, but I don't remember a family moving into that house; do you know who they are?" his friend said.

"No idea," the neighbor replied, squinting to get a better look. "But they seem pretty intense. I hope everything's okay."

I was standing next to Abigail, throwing rocks at a distance to keep ourselves occupied.

As I was doing so, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between the neighbors, knowing I had to keep my face away from them so they wouldn't recognize me.

"Hey, white boy," I heard a voice call out from behind me.

I simply didn't look at him and said, "Yeah? What do you want?" I responded, trying to sound uninterested.

"saw the fight you and that lady had; what was that for?" he asked.

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of how much to reveal. Finally, I decided to give him a vague response: "Relative combat, we like to play hand fighting once in a while."

I hoped my explanation would satisfy his curiosity without giving away too much. However, the neighbor seemed unconvinced and pressed further: "Hand fighting? That sounds intense. Are you training for something specific?"

"No, just for shits and giggles," I said, trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation.

"Oh, I get it, me and my pa do that once in a while too; well, take care," he said before walking away.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the neighbor walked away, glad that my vague response had seemed to satisfy him. However, deep down, I knew that our hand-fighting sessions were much more than just a casual activity.

"That was close," I whispered to Abigail as I wiped the sweat off my forehead.

"I hope no one else starts asking questions about our training," she replied, her voice filled with concern. "We're glad he didn't mention our power skeletons."

I looked down, realizing that I was wearing my power skeleton on my uniform, making me squeal inwardly.

"Haha, you sounded like a pig." Abigail chuckled softly, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

I laughed at what she said and tried to play it off as a joke, but deep down, I couldn't help but feel a pang of embarrassment. The last thing we needed was to be caught again.

Just then, we heard a crash sound behind us and turned around to see Adalia on the ground with her hand over her nose.

"you alright?" Shane said, lending her hand.

Adalia winced in pain as she slowly got up, blood trickling from her nose. "I think you broke my nose," she said, her voice strained.

"It's alright, I broke a foot during my training," Shane reassured her, trying to lighten the mood. "Accidents happen, but a bloody nose is a starting point. Let's get you cleaned up and figure out our next move."