Aura's eyes didn't seem to open wide enough.
No matter how much she tried, in the darkness it still felt like she could go wider.
The only sounds she could hear were the soft wisps of her intake, and out-taking of breath, the pulse loud in her ears and Skye's gentle snores. All she could feel was shock. And unadulterated surprise coursing through her veins.
She hadn't expected that.
Her eyes couldn't open any wider.
It was a ray of light, that shone where she stared. Like a warm arrow, with a deathly straight shot. Illuminating dust particles that danced like the air were a stage.
The light came from the small window, though you could hardly call it that, on the top corner of the room. So high it would be impossible to look through it unless you stacked three chairs. So small that you wouldn't see very much from it either. About the size of an iphone 6. No bigger, no smaller.
It allowed a very insufficient amount of light, and hadn't her sight been perfect under darkness she might as well have been blind.
I was afraid for you....
Aura blinked, latching her gaze onto Skye, peaceful, healed, resting. Stretched lazily over her legs, in the tiny room. Tinier than the one she had been thrown in before.
Her breath shuddered in the silence.
Before she could take action, approaching footsteps stroked the floor beyond her room. They moved in a slow, cat like pace, with a slow feline silence, coming to an end behind the moveable barrier between the person, and her room.
One might have decided to jump to conclusions and decide it were an intruder, a dangerous figure beyond her door. But Aura glanced at Skye, wide awake now, rolling onto her feet to stretch into an arch. Calm, unafraid. She knew who it was before the hinges of the door across from her whined.
The door groaned, light seeping into the room, as it gave sight to Markus.
He cast shadows with his body, his eyes, bright blue in the darkness, "Get up."
"Where are we going?" Her voice cracked, having just woken from being nine hours without speaking.
Skye leaped off of the bed with a soundless thud as Aura tore the thin covers off of her body. It took her a moment to scramble onto her feet to slip on the thin, plain slippers given to her.
"To train."
She glanced at him, and then quickly looked away before her expression gave up too much. "I thought I wasn't going to train with the snake anymore."
"The snake?" Markus frowned, leaning against the doorway as he folded his thick arms. "You mean Rayne?"
Well, the name suited her, Aura thought to herself. There was a certain brutality to it that fit her person.
"If she's the woman with the purple eyes then yes." Aura muttered, head bowed in a slight fear of having said something wrong. Her hair tumbled off of her shoulders to curtain her at the action.
From what she had witnessed with how the other instructors treated their students, and the way Rayne liked to grab onto her ear, she was afraid of being--and expected--to be treated the same way by Markus.
But he did none of the sort.
"Her animal's a basilisk snake, so well spotted." He drawled, sapphire orbs following her as she sauntered passed him with Skye on her tail. "But no."
She'd emerged into a narrow corridor, with arch shaped windows that lined in a row along the stone wall, giving sight to a wide view. A wide view of the fighting pits, training obstacles, a great lake and the forest that stretched beyond the gates.
The first thing she noticed about the gates, was that they were very high.
The next thing she noticed was faint hum her ears picked up, almost undetectable especially from where she stood, that came from it.
Then she saw. Like a wall of flexible glass, the magic barrier that protected the wall.
Protecting them all from the outside.
Aura almost jumped out of her skin at the sharp, unexpected sound of the slamming door.
"You won't be training with her." He started, beckoning with his hand for her to follow.
"Then who--"
"You'll be training with me."
__
Not another soul was up so early, Aura realized when they hadn't passed a single person on their journey. Not when she'd showered, or changed into tracksuit. Not even when she stood in the spacious silver kitchen, the kind you would find in a school, though ten times the size, and sat on the stool as she waited for Markus to give her her breakfast.
It was a brief interval from Markus trying to kill her, so even though the bowl he handed her wouldn't have been her first option, she took it humbly, and filled her stomach with its contents.
Hours had been spent on Markus barking at her to keep with him as they ran two laps around the perimeter. And considering how great it was, Aura barely made seven kilometers without wanting to rest.
But he didn't have any of that.
Markus claimed to be running slow, though if Aura recalled correctly it was roughly the speed of the average vampire.
And when she said that, he retorted with, "Then you wouldn't be able to escape the average vampire. Or any vampire whatsoever. They'd have you for dinner before you could even take the first step."
Aura had only glanced at him, deciding against speaking.
But for that comment alone he made her run faster, until they had done the entire thing three times. An extra instead of two for the comment she'd made. And by the time they were done, her legs felt like melted jelly and her side screamed with a terrible stitch.
Of course, Markus looked as if he hadn't just run a marathon, but instead took a walk through the park.
Skye had managed to sweep through the entire thing like a breeze.
Aura looked like she survived a train wreck.
"Don't rest now." He had barked, "You've got combat next."
But she supposed it could have been worse.
If she were human, there would have been no way that she would have even come close to keeping up with him.
"Take note of every sound, every shift of movement the both of you sense." Markus said, his hands exclaiming his words as he gestured around them. The two of them fell into step on either side of Markus as they kept walking. "The direction of the wind, the scents you can pick up. The birds you hear from the forest, the way I control my footsteps depending on whether I want you to hear or not. All these kind of things will one day save your life. So take notes."
Aura had frowned.
She didn't understand at all how any of it would save her life at any given point in time. But one day, she would.
But now that she was having her brief interval before combat, she wasted no time finishing her breakfast.
_
By some misleading hopefulness, Aura had tricked herself into believing combat was going to be easier.
It wasn't.
She hadn't figured that out yet when Markus led her into a peculiar room.
Well, she supposed there was nothing peculiar about it, she just didn't know what she would be doing with all of it.
With the dark blue mat that stretched across the entire floor, or the punching bag in the right side of the room. Was she going to be expected to climb the ropes beside the punching bag at one point? They were so thick and long, their ends resting lazily against the floor she didn't think it would be easy to climb.
There was a boxing ring in the centre, weight machines and treadmills in the left side of it. She could understand, and expect herself to use those. Though, the left wall was made entirely out of glass.
And on the other side of that glass was a room with a blue illumination to the white tiled walls. It was only like that because of the swimming pool that seemed to go on for far longer than Aura thought she might ever be able to handle.
The right wall, too, was made of glass. And beyond that was an obstacle course purely made for ninjas. The chains, monkey bars, climbing walls, swinging bars, ropes, diagonal poles, and so much more was all jumbled together in an impossible complex that Aura didn't believe she'd ever be able to make it through the entire thing.
But the entire floor was a trampoline, so at least she had that.
"This is where you'll be spending the majority of your time. Where you, Aura, will learn how to fight, climb, swim, swing, jump, crawl and anything and everything else that might possibly save your life." Markus explained. "There will be times we will go elsewhere, beyond the gates so that you can experience the obstacles of the real world, or so that I can teach you how to hunt specific creatures. And there will be days I'll be taking you into another room to learn the art of poison. But for now, until further notice, this is all yours. Just yours."
Aura gulped. "And erm... Will we only be doing combat for today?"
Markus nodded, his eyes wondering off into the room as he made his decisions for the future. "Tomorrow you'll be in the swimming pool. But by the end of this month you'll have covered everything here. And hopefully, progress will be up to my standards. Now, take off your shoes. Bare feet only for this room. Skye you come with me, the animals should already be in the process of training. Aura, stay here."
She didn't bother glancing at the door as it groaned shut.
Instead, she went into motion, removing her trainers and discarding them by the door.
But by the end of that action, she felt herself freeze. Staring at the wall in front of her, analysing the flaking paint, cracks in the wall. "You're always here aren't you?" She spoke in the still, silent room.
She thought he wasn't going to say anything, and was about to ask again. But he replied.
I never leave you.
She didn't want to smile. But it was fighting against her lips.
She could never truly be alone then, she supposed. Not secluded. Not abnormal and different in a shifter world when Amos, knit from the same wool, would always be here.
Her smile faltered, "Then why didn't you do anything when Rayne liked grabbed my ear?"
She sensed him move. Heard his feet against the mat, even when the mat didn't cave beneath his weight. Even when it felt as if she was hearing from a separate dimension.
I don't generally interfere unless you can't help yourself. He explained, You could have burned her hand if you wanted to. But you knew as well as I do that you don't know how much power you can display just yet. Not when your not sure how much could give you away.
Aura said nothing.
Besides, its a method of discipline here. The instructors are allowed to physically harm and cause pain to the students so that they learn. But you won't need to worry about that anymore. She felt him shrug, coming to a stop directly in front of her. Markus is currently in the process of spoiling you. It might not seem like much, but to personally train you, putting you in here instead of outside on the pits--where everybody else will be merciless--you're getting special treatment.
Before he could indulge, the door opened again.
"That was quick." Aura mused as Markus sauntered into the room.
He paused by the door, closing it behind him as he said, "It wasn't far. Now stand in the centre over there."
Doing as instructed, Aura ignored Amos' presence and stood between the part where nothing lay between the boxing ring and the wall.
The lights turned off.
And this time, Aura--even with her eyes--couldn't see a thing.
"By magic, every object in the room darkens to black the moment I switch off the lights." She heard Markus say from somewhere on her left.
She almost stumbled on her feet in trying to turn to face his direction.
Blinded, she felt.
She seemed focused, more than ever on herself. Having to depend on the other senses was such a strange feeling. The hairs prickling on her arms to sense movement around her. Sounds amplifying tenfold, her breathing being the loudest. A shiver ran down her spine.
"This is to test where exactly you are with your senses, all of your instincts." He was closer this time, but to her right.
Aura snapped her head to his direction, her pony tail lashing behind her.
It was among those things that were so strange she didn't believe she would ever get used to it, she thought as she strained her ears.
Never before had she ever been placed under a predicament like this. Where she couldn't use her eyes and had to depend on her other senses.
"I'm going attack you, and I'm not going to be easy. Its up to you to use whatever you can to your advantage." She heard him say, "Bear in mind, your enemies won't tell you when they're going to attack."
And even though he warned her, she didn't think it would be the nanosecond he finished the last syllable.
A scream tore from Aura's throat when a heavy weight lunged into her side, sending them both flying to the floor.
The impact didn't hurt as much as it could because the mat softened the landing. But she still felt a sharp stab ricocheting through her side.
He growled with urgency, encouraging her to listen. "To sense when I'm about to lunge, use your ears. Pick up every sound, depend on your feet to feel shift on the ground, your skin for shift in air."
And suddenly, he was off again.
Air cooled the skin on her body that Markus had blocked, as the lack of his weight meant no more restricted breathing. She gulped in air as if she had surfaced from beneath the water. Scrambling to her feet with heavy breath, she widened her stance, and tried to prepare herself this time.
"Good." His voice seemed to be coming from every direction.
She couldn't pick up where he was coming from. No matter which way she turned and stumbled against her own feet, no matter where she faced she was no closer to hearing where he was coming from.
"Come on Aura..." He taunted in the darkness.
With grunt of exclamation Aura lunged with her fists. It was sloppy, she wasn't very fast and she'd positioned her fists to where they could easily be broken. But none of it mattered at that exact moment because he wasn't there to begin with.
She grappled with air.
Spontaneously, she tried her luck and lunged elsewhere with a forceful kick.
The only opponent she struck were the particles in the atmosphere.
Aura clenched her jaw, stifling the urge to cry in frusteration. She was here to become a soldier, she reasoned. She wasn't going to learn anything relevant the easy way.
"Your ears aren't the only thing that can help you out in this situation."
The herculean feat was to keep her mouth shut as she went flying. She couldn't even tell from where he'd hit her, only that she suddenly lay face first upon the floor. With her entire body throbbing in agony.
"Bend your knees! Stand on the balls of your feet! It makes you harder to push over! Allows you to move faster and with practice, in absolute silence!!" He yelled, sending her flying to the nearest wall when his foot connected to her stomach.
Gasping as pain of an incredulous level overwhelmed her, she slid down the wall onto her bottom. Her hands moved to clutch her stomach, clenching her eyes shut as she doubled over. "Stand."
It wasn't an inquiry. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a command.
Aura's ragged breath echoed throughout the room as her knitted brows, such a deeply pained frown that the muscles on her forehead ached, arched in disbelief that he was ordering her to stand after what he had just did.
"Stand."
"But-- that re.... Grrr....really hurt." She whimpered, growling in effort when she tried to shift to her feet. It was difficult trying to ignore how brittle her voice sounded, and how ready the tears were to leak. A sense of complete and utter weakness had already began to overwhelm her.
"Do you think vampires are going to care about how much it hurts?" Jumping out of her skin, she tried to shuffle away from his breath at her throat.
"Do you think they're going to listen when you ask them to stop?" She almost screamed, when she felt it at the other side, warm and minty against her ears.
Fingers latched around her jaw, forcing her to face what she couldn't see. Her heart pounded tenfold with a jump start, as she clutched at the wrists that kept the hands together. The pressure on her face was making her involuntarily move to her knees. "Stand."
She collapsed onto her hands, her heart started to calm when the grip vanished. A twang of emotion that made her feel hurt and scared of the man that kicked her against the wall overwhelmed her.
He's not doing it because he wants to, she heard Amos whisper beside her. The cool feel of his rough hand against the searing heat of the skin on her face made her shiver, relaxed her fears even if for only a moment.
Stand Hakeesee.
Aura stood, light-headed, wary, but still she stood. She felt him let go of her, the wall giving her balance as she used it to steady herself, despite her stomachs protests. The pain was returning. But not nearly as much as it felt before.
Her feet wavered with uncertainty without the aid of the wall. But she pushed through that, and forced them steady.
Then she closed her eyes, deciding that no matter how wide she opened them she wasn't going to suddenly see his next attack.
But when she closed her eyes, she did see someone else.
He's on your left Amos said, his grey eyes gazing at her through lowered lids, lashes skimming the top of his cheekbones. The bronzed skin that stretched across them, his face and his entire body. He moved closer towards the little girl, forcing her to crane her neck. Crouching to the angels level he said, Trust your instincts. You're warrior by blood. Let them lead you.
The grey eyed man closed his eyes, reaching a strong hand towards her, resting it against his hakeesee's forehead. So big were his palms, that they overwhelmed the entirety of it. It couldn't help swallowing it whole.
But there was a purpose in it, she realized, as something sparked within her. As if a part of the girl had jolted awake the second he rested his hand against her brows. These are the instincts you supress. Don't supress them any longer. Trust it.
But Aura didn't trust it. Even when she watched him step back and away. She couldn't help herself, could do nothing bur supress them. Even when she sensed Markus lunging from her left, she didn't let her instincts tell her body how to move.
Her hands shook in effort to keep herself from doing something that could blow the entire room to smithereens. And because she didn't want to listen to them, she had to take the striking blow to her head.
Stumbling forward at the impact she had no time to prepare herself for his next move, even if she could sense it. She wasn't allowing herself to.
Her feet gave way beneath her as she flipped three-sixty in midair. Her torso making painful impact with the mat--especially near the breast area.
She didn't scream.
She thought it peculiar, but had no time to indulge when Markus was unpredictably attacking her.
Hauling herself to her feet she pushed the pain aside and focused. This time, widening her stance, standing on the balls of her feet and bending her knees, just a tad.
"Good."
She heard him say, again, with no telling where he was.
Trust your instincts Aura, she felt his voice echo within her head.
"Breathe in, Aura. What do I smell like?"
"A forest."
And indeed he did. It was the most accurate way to describe his sent.
Markus smelled as if he emerged straight out of the amazon forest. A frosty one, full of snow. His scent was so natural and unique and complex, she wouldn't be able to point it to a single thing alone. He didn't smell the majority of anything, the scents all merged together to create something new, yet all individually distinctive and equal at the same time.
Even if he most likely acknowledged that, she still expected him to laugh.
To her disappointment, it seemed to be nothing more than a fact to him, since he didn't laugh.
"From which direction can you smell a forest?"
She was going to crack a joke and say beyond the doors, but focused her mind to remain serious. The thought of returning to bed with a broken body didn't look so appealing to her.
"To my right." She announced.
"Good. But never rely on scents alone." He explained.
Aura sensed the shift in the air before he could land the punch, and ducked under his arm. She felt it scrape the top of her hair, as she spun on the balls of her feet to move behind where she sensed him. Using his momentum to her advantage, she kicked him right on the bum, sending him to the floor.
And when she jumped to land with her elbow ramming into him, she gasped as pain vibrated throughout it.
Your instincts didn't tell you to do that, Amos tutted. Trust. Them.
Her elbow met mat, not body. And even the mat wasn't soft enough to make it painless.
She gasped as a hand closed around her throat, throwing her to her feet.
It was the anticipation in her stomach that caused her to throw her arms up to protect against her head. What could have saved her, had her arms been stronger.
Still, her arms absorbed most of the impact of his blow, even if her arms collided with her head from it.
Then, faster then she could think, sharp blow to her side, like someone had slammed a bowling ball into her, making her stumble. She gasped, her arms moving down to clutch her stomach, but then that didn't protect her from the uppercut that soared for her chin.
No words could describe the pain that bloomed through her chin as she wailed. It was all she seemed able to do, exclaim how much it hurt. "I can have you whipped for screaming like that." Markus barked, as his hand latched onto her hair and like it were nothing, he snapped back his hand, causing her to collide with the mat within a millisecond. "You take the pain in silence or there will only be more to come."
Barely a sound came out of her mouth this time, even as her back arched and eyes stung with tears, her fingers clutching onto her spine. Fear was what made her teeth latch together. Fear of being whipped.
Even as the blood seeped from her mouth.
She wasn't afraid of Markus... Maybe the tiniest of bits. But she had to remind herself that he was doing this only to help her. Even if he was going hard, he was doing this for her. Even if he was beating a child, the outcome was for her to come out stronger at the end of all of this.
It may be a brutal, cruel way of learning, but it was the shifters way of learning. The conditions could have been a lot worse for her.
If she didn't want to feel any pain, she had to fight back. Properly.
And if you want to do that, you have to trust your instincts, Amos chided.
She spat the gathering blood out of her mouth, and ignored him. The girl ignored the nerve wrecking agony that overwhelmed her, how tired and sore her bones already felt, the fatigue trying to possess her body and focused.
This time, she felt it coming.
All of her senses seemed to hone in on the shift in the air, how the stillness that was once, was being disturbed. Time seemed to slow for her focus, and she honed on it.
It was going to be his hardest blow, she sensed. Except he wasn't going to be hitting anyone.
And he didn't.
She felt him turn, moving against towards her new direction after his first met air, aiming another punch towards her. But she moved under the arm as easily as if he had been going in slow motion. And again, his fist made no impact.
"Good."
Good.
Amos and Markus echoed at the exact same time.
Your beginning to trust your instincts, Amos mused. Now let them guide your body.
Panicked slightly, Aura narrowly dodged his attacking swipe. She had no idea she had even began to trust her instincts to begin with, and now she was being expected to let them take over her body.
Do you trust me?
Her heart panged within her chest with the strangest emotion. Amos was directly in front of her and she hadn't even felt him move, didn't even know he was there until he spoke.
Aura nodded.
Then trust me when I say to let your instincts guide you. I promise, you'll be able to control them.
Then his presence disappeared.
Markus was attacking again. This time with his feet.
He was sending a roundhouse kick towards her, one she narrowly dodged. Then he moved to swipe her feet, but she jumped. And lastly, he aimed a fist in her direction.
But so fast it should have been impossible, Aura's tiny fingers latched around his wrists. With strength she shouldn't even possess, she pulled him forward, and swung his entire body over her head. Slamming it onto the floor.
Markus didn't even wince.
"H--how did I--...." Aura choked.
That, Hakeesee, was only a snippet of what happens when you listen to your instincts, she heard him say.
Aura could have sworn she heard a smile in Amos' voice.
tnfs