Dark Fall

Chapter 32 - Training

The next day, Terra and Will continued their training, beginning in the morning with the Darkness exercises. They stood in a grassy meadow under a bright blue sky. Terra's recovery time to Will's Darkness casts continued to decrease until it became only a few seconds.

Next, Terra gathered the two remaining fighting spikes she had and laid them on the ground before her. At her request, Will fastened two wooden boards to trees on the hillside to serve as targets.

Terra suspended the spikes before her and nodded at Will. He cast the Darkness over her, causing her to waver, and as expected, the spikes fell to the ground. After a few seconds, she extended a hand and telekinetically launched them at the targets, missing one and catching just the edge of the other.

Terra frowned. "I should be able to do better than that."

Will retrieved the spikes and handed them back to her. She nodded again and Will recast the Darkness. This time, Terra waited an extra second before propelling the spikes, allowing the aura to clear of the dark haze. They struck dead center in each of the targets with sharp thunks, so deeply embedded that Will struggled to pull them out.

He looked back at her in amazement. "Ell told me about your accuracy, but I didn't fully understand until now. Only a fool would duel with you."

Terra smiled at the compliment. "Sometimes all it took was a demonstration."

After a few more rounds with the spikes, Will brought out his guns, which included a handgun, a hunting rifle, and an assault rifle he had taken from a Dynasty soldier, placing them on a fallen log.

Terra smirked. "I don't suppose you properly registered these with the authorities?"

Will grinned in return. "It may have slipped my mind."

"Oh, you bad boy."

Will then laid out a small box of projectile darts — each about six millimeters in diameter and eighty millimeters long, tapered to a sharp point — and a power cell about the size of his middle finger. He held up one cell and explained, "This is one invention that transformed humanity, perhaps second only to the Awakening in the last few centuries. The high-density super-capacitor was a huge improvement to chemical batteries, holding more energy and with a much faster recharge. The real benefit came, though, when engineers devised a way to make them and solar panels cheaply. That transformed transportation and home power, nearly eliminating fossil fuel use. Are you familiar with how they are used in guns?"

Terra nodded. "They power an electromagnetic pulse along the barrel that accelerates and launches the darts."

"Right. Essentially, a high torque linear motor. A single power cell in the handgun or hunting rifle will fire about ten darts before it is expended. The assault rifle holds two cells, so it will fire about twenty. It also has a repeating fire mode, but that is not generally recommended, unless for cover fire, because it uses up the cells quickly."

He picked up the handgun. "The shorter barrel on this one makes it better for close fighting, but the tradeoff is less accuracy and lower dart velocity."

They took turns firing at the targets with each gun. Terra's skill improved, although she was already fairly adept at gun usage. They next practiced how to more quickly change out the power cells and reload darts.

Will picked up the assault rifle. "Ell discovered a way that someone with Talent could disable a rifle. If you focus your power in a certain way, you can block the electromagnetic pulse. Not sure how, but she said that this took less aura exposure than pulling the gun out of someone's hands or blocking high-velocity darts. Let's try that. I'll shoot at the target and you see if you can stop the firing."