Nightwalker

Chapter Sixteen

I woke early the next morning on my own. The sun had not risen yet but I got up anyway. I pulled on a robe and grabbed my change of clothes along with a towel. I left Sylvia asleep to have a bath and got changed ready for my training session with Galen. I remembered the way to the basement and headed in that direction. I walked down into the open space to find that nothing had really changed. The crack in the wall and the broken weapons from last time were repaired and replaced.

It was strange being down here again now with a consciousness of the mana around me. Down here I could feel the mana around me was slightly erratic, like it knew a fight was coming and was charging the area up like the crowd in a tavern cheering loudly when a fight breaks out giving more energy to the fighters.

I felt a shift in the mana and quickly dropped to the floor. Something hot passed over me and I looked up to see a head sized ball of fire hitting the wall that I was facing. I looked at it in shock before rolling over onto my back when I felt mana being gathered behind me. I jumped to my feet and found Galen standing there with a ball of fire wrapping and growing around his hands.

"Wh-What are you doing?" I asked frightened as I looked at him and ready to move again if he decided to throw another fireball at me.

"You dodged that well." Galen complimented with his usual straight face. "It's been a long time and you've got new skills you can use. Let's see how well you go against me this time."

In quick succession he threw the fireballs from his hands and I dodged them as fast as I could. I expanded my senses to as high as they go and I could feel the mana thrumming energetically around me. Just as fast as Galen created his fireballs I started sucking in mana until I felt like I was going to explode. "Jesholat (Freeze)." I hissed as I released my gathered mana into the air and the temperature in the room went down to bellow freezing that it even started snowing a little and a fog appeared near the ceiling. The fireballs Galen was throwing also froze over and hit the ground shattering.

Suddenly I was hit in the side by a burst of mana in the form of a piece of earth striking up from the ground and hitting me in the torso sending pain through my middle and throwing me against a wall. I groaned in pain on the ground but didn't have any time to rest because Galen was sending more fireballs my way. I rolled away and stood up quickly. "Jezat (Shield)." I quickly created a shield of pure mana blocking Galen's attacks.

Harder and harder Galen was throwing stronger balls of fire against my shield and it was becoming harder and harder to fend off the attacks. Sweat poured off my body as I tried to think of what to do. I looked up at the ceiling for a split second and saw that the clouds were still there. Water will put out fire, I thought. "Eyel (Rain)." I whispered and the snow clouds formed by how cold it was in the room turned to rain clouds and started pouring soaking us both instantly.

Galen stopped making fireballs but I didn't drop my shield. I knelt on the ground on one knee panting heavily as the room started filling up with water. I took a deep breath in and concentrated on the mana in the water around Galen. With a thought the water began to move and Galen seemed surprised when the water was clinging to him and crawling up his body. He tried to move away but I pressed the mana around him down on his body making it impossible for him to do so.

I stopped the rain and froze the water on him over to help keep him where he was. I dropped my shield and dried my body, hair and clothes along with the rest of the room. There was no longer any sign that it ever rained in the basement, or of any snow besides from the ice around Galen.

"You have good control on the mana around us." Galen spoke up since I didn't ice over his head. "But you're still young and new at fighting."

"What?" I was confused at what he was talking about. I thought I had beaten him since he can no longer move.