Path of Shadow

Chapter 8: Subtle Changes

Glaseron and I train, and train hard.

I guess that having a little partner to train with is much better than the hologram-like figures I usually train against. While battling with Glaseron, I teleport behind him and touch the edge of the blade to his throat, just very lightly.

"Hey! Not fair!" Glaseron shouts, pushing my blade away from his throat forcefully.

"Life isn't fair," I retort, lazily studying Uranium's reflective alloy of a material. He attacks me again, and I knock Icy Fury out of his hand with Uranium's hilt. Icy Fury spins and gets stuck in the ground. Glaseron then glares at me, and I grin mischievously. He scowls as starts to walk over to grab his katana from the grass. I focus my mind on his feet, and plant them in place telekinetically. Glaseron then almost loses his balance, and I laugh. He glares at me so intensely it would make a normal human die of a cardiac failure. I only smile wider. I walk over to him, and run my fingertips lightly across his cheek, from his ear to his lips. He grabs my hips, all of a sudden, but I make my hips heat up, using pyrokinesis, so slowly that he won't notice until it's too late. During that time, I maintain intense eye contact with him, both of us giving each-other mischievous death glares. I can see him starting to wince as the heat starts to get to him. He lasts for longer than I expected, as after a few minutes of heating up his hands to the point of near injury, he finally howls and jumps back, letting go of my now-very-warm hips. I smirk insanely at him as I walk away, walking to the river. I sit on the bank and dip my fingers into the water, feeling the current flow quickly around them. I hear rustling, but I ignore it; Glaseron joins me by the river and dips his hands into the water, soothing the burn I had caused.

"Don't know why you even do this to me," he comments.

"It's all in good fun, good sir," I say in a slightly diabolical tone. We laugh, and stand up, shaking the water from our fingers and walking back to the field. We pick our swords, ready to battle once again. I then feel the ground beneath my feet seem to shift, and I lose my crane-stance balance, falling onto my hands and knees. Is this surreal...

Glaseron shakes me out of my unconscious trance.

"Tankra, Tankra! Are you okay?"

I get up and sway a little bit.

"I'm fine, Glaseron." I sway still.

"No, you're not fine!" Glaseron persists, and I feel dizzy.

"I'm FINE!" I shout, then fall to the ground, unconscious.

Once I awaken, Glaseron is sitting next to me. I feel bent grass under my body, like a bed. I look at Glaseron. Is he... crying?!

"Glaseron?" I say, fatigue evident in my voice.

"You're awake," he says, not turning his head to look at me. "You've been out for a few hours."

"How many?" I ask.

He pauses before answering.

"Eleven."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't yell."

"Sorry."

"You need to res-"

"Take me to the river," I demand, interrupting him. "Hurry up. I can barely move."

He picks up my limp body and carries me, walking swiftly but comfortably towards the spot I had asked for. The bushes' branches scrape me, but I don't care. Glaseron mumbles a quick apology for dragging me through the bushes, and I grunt in response. At last, he puts me down by the river bank. I extend my hand towards the water and slide into the river. The cold water rushing around me begins to give me energy. I recover from my nauseating phase, and I rise out of the water refreshed as leaves in spring. Once I step out of the river and telekinetically wring myself, so to speak, Glaseron gives me a surprise hug.

"I'm so happy you're okay," he says, keeping me close in his arms.

"Don't worry about me..." I trail off.

"What is it?" Glaseron asks.

"The energy imbalance that Luma was talking about... It seems the energies are tilting towards his favour. But why so soon... ?" Glaseron looks at me, obviously in the dark... But not completely.

"Look, everything will be fi-"

"Oh no..."

"What's wrong?"

"It's happening..."

"When is the next solstice?"

"...Three days from now."

"Then we'll prepare."

"I just hope there's going to be enough time..."

"I'm sure there will be."

"Don't jump to conclusions. You don't know the first thing about energy imbalances."

"Alright then."

Glaseron and I keep by each-other, in case I pass out again. We start preparing for the worst.