Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 36

Ow. It might not have hurt physically, but his poor pride was smarting.

Severance got up, determined to get it right the second time. He didn't. He flailed forward and head butted a tree before sprawling back on his butt. The third time had him teetering over his hands and collapsing in an undignified heap. A fourth try resulted him face-planting against a tree trunk, though he wasn't sure how he even managed to do that.

+1 Vitality

"Hah," he wheezed. That was so not what he'd been trying to go for. Maybe he should just stick with the jumping. At least then he'd be less likely to kill himself.

"Can I ask what you're trying to do?" The amused voice drifted from the trees.

Severance never had scrambled to his feet so fast in his life. He whirled around, only to see a familiar man in black step out from the trees.

"Rasin! You're here!" He wanted to disappear. Like instantly. How long had the clansman been watching? Trying to look at least halfway composed, Severance brushed off his clothes, and plucked a twig from his pale hair. "I was trying to level Agility."

Rasin didn't laugh, thankfully. But his dark brows crawled up his forehead. "By throwing yourself on the ground?"

"Well, not exactly. I was trying to do a somersault." This was horribly embarrassing.

"Ah." Little creases around Rasin's eyes deepened. He cleared his throat. "I see. That's one way to do it, but your method needs some assistance."

It was nice way of saying you need all the help you can get, buddy. Severance made a face. "What did I do wrong?"

A chuckle finally broke free, but Rasin stifled it quickly. "I think it would be easier if I showed you."

There were many things Severance thought he wouldn't get to see in his life. Disneyland was one, and the Eiffel tower in person was another. Another would be a man in his forties performing a perfect somersault in the middle of the forest with such ease he might as well have been a circus performer.

"You want to start standing straight," Rasin explained. "Then bend forward, place your palms on the ground, like this. Push off with your legs and let the momentum carry you over. Your head should never touch the ground. Instead, you'll land on your upper back."

He performed a perfect somersault and finished in a standing position.

"Wow." That explained a few things. Severance mimicked the standing position before carefully crouching as Rasin had. Then he sucked in a breath and tumbled forward. It was very sloppy, but he managed to not lose any health in the process. That was a win in his books.

"There you go," Rasin smiled. "You can practice that some more later. I came to find you as Olen is back in the House. He wanted to meet you."

"Who's Olen?"

"You can think of him as the clan administrator. If it's alright, I'll bring us to the House now." Rasin reached out, and Severance braced himself.

He wasn't a fan of this part, both the contact and the teleport, but white snow soon scattered across his vision and carried him away. When he reoriented himself, he was back in the stone courtyard of the Veiled House.

Rasin led the way inside. They went straight to the stairs at the back of the main hall.

They went up the stairs and skirted around part of the second floor balcony until they came across two men standing in the shadows. Their voices were a quiet murmur as they discussed something.