The Eye of Chaos (Council of Champions Book One) ✔️

Chapter Fourteen: Training from the Abyss

            Kei grounded his teeth and dived to the side as a flaming arrow whizzed inches from his head. Durlock was insane. He had Kei do the most demented, torturous training he had ever done.

            In the two months Durlock taken him under, Kei could actually see himself improving, his reactions sharpening, and his movements swifter. Durlock had begun the training with beating him up a second time after Kei refused to leap off a cliff. Then he dropped him off the cliff so Kei had to swim back almost drowning.

            The next day Durlock had lit the house on fire while Kei was sleeping. He had barely escaped, collapsing in an alley far from the house in an attempt to escape Durlock. Instead he had woken up back in the burnt apartment with Durlock standing over him with a fool’s grin.

            Now he was having Kei dodge flaming arrows. Flaming arrows. If one even brushed past his shirt and burnt it a bit, Durlock would scream, “You’re dead.” And shoot an explosive arrow with a flaming head at him.

            He flipped backwards and spun around a passing arrow. His breath was coming out ragged, and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep going. Kei narrowed his eyes, inhaled slowly, and banished giving up from his mind. He would last until Durlock thought it was enough.

            Another came at him and he ducked his head before jumping to the side as it was followed by a second. Faster and more numerous than before, the arrows began to cut him, some managing to light his clothes on fire. Kei ripped the flaming pieces off and a tossed them into a nearby puddle.

            Then there was a glint of metal, and an arrow stuck into his leg. With a yell of pain, Kei ripped it out and snarled at Durlock. Durlock merely frowned and shook his head, before pointing to the clothes in the puddle.

            “Don’t distract yourself with something as simple as removing lit clothing. You can heal burns. Not so much death.” With that Durlock strung three arrows to his bow and let them fly.

            Kei crouched down, and then leaped into the air, keeping his body parallel to the floor. He arched his back to dodge the first. Then whipped his arm across his chest to turn around the second. The third passed harmlessly between his arm and torso, doing nothing more than getting stuck into the wall behind Kei, joining the other hundred flaming arrows.

            The wall behind him was wet wood, so the fire didn’t go out immediately, but neither did it spread. Kei wobbled on his feet, and had to spread his arms out for balance.

            Durlock dropped the bow and pointed to the cliff, around a mile away. “It’s been five days since the last time. Take a dip.” When Kei tried to take a step and his feet gave way, Durlock leaned down to grab the bow and strung it. He pointed it in Kei’s direction. “I don’t care how you get to the cliff. But do so in five minutes.”

            Kei yelled back a string of swears towards Durlock, but crawled towards the cliff. His knees tormented him as the skin of his knees peeled away and he continued forward. He tried to see what would happen if he attacked Durlock and took the weapons, but instead he screamed as an electrical current assaulted his body and mind. Kei spasmed on the floor, his muscles awire and Durlock tightened his grip on the bow.

            He had warned Kei not to use the Eye, since he had added a Block onto the eye patch, which forbid Kei from using it. Thrice now Kei had ignored the warning and been almost shocked to the point of entering a comas.

            Kei felt a rough hand grip his collar and heave him atop their shoulders. He resisted for only a moment, but he knew it was Durlock holding him.