The Naturalistic

CHAPTER 6

"What the hell!" I scream and wake up as someone empties a whole glass of cold water on me while I am deep asleep.

"It's almost dawn, come on, get up now, you have to start your training today, remember?" And it's no one other than Gloria. I should have guessed.

"Are you serious? Is this how an alarm clock works here?" I ask her frustrated.

"I don't really know about alarm clocks, but this is how I wake people up." She answers

"Do you take suggestions? If yes, then please change your way." I grunt.

"Okay I'll remember it, now go get ready, I saved your time for taking a bath." She replies

"Are you expecting a 'Thank you'?" I ask her annoyed.

She smirks closing the door behind her. 
Such an amazing start for the day.

Even the rooster isn't up yet, but I am. I jog towards the training ground and see Victor waiting for me.

"Impressed." He says checking his watch. "Right on time."

"You might want to thank Gloria for it," I reply.

"Indeed, she's good at it."

"I might like to add 'very' to the sentence." I scoff and he laughs. 

"By the way, I had a question about my schedule, may I ask?"

"I'm listening."

"Well, my schedule has been divided into three parts, right?"

"Mhm." He nods.

"The first is training, then studying and then war combat practice, What's war combat practice?"

"Nothing but learning how to fight without your powers."

The look on my face clearly states that I'm in more confusion than before and he gets it.

"In simple words, learning to fight with blades and swords." He replies.

My eyes grow wide, with fear or excitement I can't name it.

"Swords and me? Bad combination." I let a little laugh out of me.

"We'll see about that later, first you need to learn about the powers you are born with." He says. "Ready to start?"

"Dying." 

He leads me towards the direction of the fence. "You have to complete thirty rounds . . . and your time starts now."

"Wait, wha-" But he cuts me off.

"Go, you are wasting your time."

And I do, god he didn't even give me some time to think about anything. As I start with the first round, it feels good, free, light just like a feather. The morning air makes me feel alive. But as I reach the tenth round, all the excitement is killed. My feet feel like they are on fire inside my shoes, my legs go numb and my breaths come in short intervals. Damn, more twenty are yet to come.

"Hey." I say panting and still running, "Can I take a break?"

"Really? It's just your tenth round, come on, this is just the start, tomorrow you have to run 50."

Did I hear fifty? Or are my ears ringing? Why did I ever say I'm dying to start my training?

After completing all of the rounds, I go and sit on the ground folding my legs near him, panting all the way.