DARKNESS

DARKNESS | Chapter 6

'Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.'
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

CHAPTER SIX

"Just punch me!" Brayden shouts, sounding more like he'd prefer to punch me.

"Don't you think I'm trying?!" I yell frustratedly. "If you'd just stop moving..."

"Its called dodging. Any opponent with brains will dodge. This is basic stuff. Hit me."

"Believe me, I want to," I mutter. "Ever think that maybe I'm not ready for the basics? For God's sake, Stop moving!"

"This is hopeless," he says under his breath. He stands still, giving up dodging to give me a chance. Brayden looks extremely bored as my fist finally connects with his rock-hard stomach.

I recoil it, cradling it to my chest as I curse silently, feeling no sense of achievement whatsoever.

Brayden throws his hands up in mock encouragement. "Woo, yay, Harper you did it! You're amazing!" The act drops suddenly and he stares at me, his patience obviously wearing thin. "About time."

"About time," I mock in a high pitched voice, rolling my eyes as I turn away from him, looking into the darkness of the forest. Marcus ensured us we'd be safe to train on the forest floor as long as we stayed close and I stuck with Brayden- which means he has to stick with me.

I'd rather be anywhere else.

Anywhere.

Suddenly I'm pushed to the damp floor, my ass colliding with a root as I scream out. "What the hell?!"

He looks as though he's achieved something. "Never become distracted from your opponent. Your attention must be on them at all times."

"If Marcus wanted me to listen and actually learn something, maybe he should have picked a better teacher."

Burn. Do you want some ice for that wound, Brayden?

I smirk to myself, satisfied as Brayden throws his arms up in the air, as though in defeat. I think he's secretly asking the universe why he was the one chosen to deal with me.

"I'm trying to help you, Bryant. If anything, I'm the one learning. For one, you can't hit a target for shit, two, you've got the attention span of a goldfish and three, you're way too stubborn and hotheaded for your own good!"

My amused smirk disappears, replaced by a frown. "Don't act like you care, Caulfield. I was just a mission to you. You only did what you had to do," I spit, throwing his words back at him. "If you hadn't been assigned to sweep in and save me from Ash, you probably would have left my ass behind and let me die."

"Is that how lowly you think of me? Who do you take me for, Bryant? I've done nothing to wrong you; in fact, the past week all I've done is looked after you and helped you."

"Because you had to," I remind him. "It doesn't matter. Go. Be free. Marcus can find me another trainer. One that actually cares about helping me improve."

"You are so narrow-minded!" He exclaims.

"Narrow-minded?! After everything I've been through this past week, you describe me as narrow-minded? If I was narrow-minded, I wouldn't accept that there are such things as Immortals! If I was narrow-minded, I wouldn't have believed anything Marcus has explained to me to be true! If I was narrow-minded-"

"Shut up, I get it. Maybe that was the wrong word..."

"You think?"

He shakes his head. "I'm done. I can't deal with this; with you."