Ascension - (Alarian Warriors)

She called for the girls and their peeked their heads back into the space before coming over.

“Looks like the last thing you need is hair ties and a weapon container.” Sira held out some straps of leather.

Aveyon pulled her long hair over her shoulder, braided it and took the ties from the elf, before fastening it to the bottom of her hair to keep it in place.

“I already have weapons; they were a gift. Erisena has them currently.” She explained.

“Your Ichor is also a weapon, so you will be needing this.” Kia was next, she handed Aveyon a small glass vial, it fit nicely in the palm of her hand. Holding up a small knife she waited for Aveyon to present her arm. “If I may? We will fill the veil now.”

“Wont the leathers-” Aveyon started but was interrupted.

“Once connected to its wearer, it will not burn anyone. I think it was a by-product of the enchantment, Emerald fixed it up on later equipment, but this one was already enchanted and couldn’t be fixed.”

Aveyon let out a slow sigh and handed her wrist to the elf. She hissed as the knife slid over her skin, but Kia quickly captured the blood inside the vial.

“Normally blood wielding would require fresh ichor from your wound, however here we can aid you.” Sira placed a small cork into the top of the bottle as she explained. “We can infuse a piece of your skin with the cork, simulating the release of the blood when it is opened. Instead of cutting yourself every time you need only open the vial to use it.”

“Skin?” Aveyon asked swallowing a lump in her throat.

“I’ll need to take a graft from you, it’s not pleasant. But I don’t need much.” Kia instructed.

Aveyon flexed her wrist the wound had already healed. “Very well.”

“Princess, please forgive me this, it will sting a little.” Kia took the knife to Aveyon’s skin once more.

Tilting the blade, she carefully angled it to cut more fluently. As the blade began its graft she felt Aveyon tense, it was a natural reaction, but it would increase the pain. It wasn’t as quick as getting the small amount of blood, but the elf worked as quickly as she could to slice off a part of skin she needed.

Blood pulled at her wrist far slower than when the vein was sliced but it healed just the same. Kai handed Aveyon a cloth and the piece of flesh to Sira.

They both watched as Sira chanted something under her breath, the corked bottle in hand. Opening her hands, a soft glow faded, and the cork appeared to be more skin coloured than the brown it once was.

Handing the vial over and Aveyon fastened it to her waist. Her combat training wasn’t going to be just hand to hand, or weapon training, she was going to learn to wield essence in an offensive manner. It seemed they were taking this very seriously.

“Thank you, for all of this.” She added.

“Never been thanked before for slicing someone’s skin off.” Sira grimaced.

It was Kia that let out a half laugh. “There’s a first time for everything.”

Kia handed Aveyon a pair of wooden daggers. “Besides, if you want to be trained, we intend to do it correctly. Tell me, how do they feel?”

“Light?” Aveyon was unsure what she was being asked.

Sira laughed. “Daggers are the weapons that you brought with you, but until you can swing them correctly, wooden ones will be used for now, it’s better for practice. You and your opponent will only get bruises, not cuts.” She explained.

She had small holders for the daggers at her backside, sliding the wood into them she followed the elves out. She wasn’t quite used to moving in such tight figure-hugging material just yet, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, just awkward.

Back outside in the underground training area they made their way over to Vincent once more, who was running through stances.

“Vincent can tag along since it’s never a bad idea to go back to the basics.” Kia motioned for Aveyon to come to stand next to Vincent, she remained facing the two.

She began to instruct Aveyon in the correct way to hold and position her body. Slowly taking her through the stances and correcting her posture and foot work as they went.

Vincent never once said anything, but she could feel him looking at her. It was a little unnerving, but she tried her best to ignore it. On top of his glances, she could feel Erisena pushing at the corners of her mind, the elf was keeping her word.

After about an hour of repeating the stances Sira moved on to showing Aveyon how to correctly throw a punch and kick. She learnt very quickly that the stances were important.

As she extended her arm out Kia would apply pressure to the back of her knee. Her legs buckled and she ended up kneeling on the floor. Sira would giggle, Kia shooting her an irrigated look, which matched Aveyon’s dislike of the carefree girl. This repeated until she righted herself and no longer buckled.

Sira and Kia never grew frustrated with her and continued to teach and show Aveyon what she was doing incorrectly. For hours they continued until Kia called it a day, satisfied with her progress.

The training grounds were already empty as most others had called it a night long ago. Once the elves said their goodbyes Aveyon collapsed on the floor in a wobbly mess. Her limbs had never felt so overworked. The slow movements were extricating, and she was exhausted.

“Not giving up, are you?” Vincent sat down on the grass beside her. He didn’t appear phased at all.

“Of course not!” She turned her head to look at him sternly, she was taking his comment a little too seriously. She watched him smile and felt butterflies in her stomach, caused by her stupidity as she soon realized he’d been joking.

“I am glad you are okay with me learning to fight...” She added softly.

His smile faded as he looked down at her with concern. “Why wouldn’t I be? I want you to fight your demons inside and out. To do that you need to show yourself, to prove to yourself what you’re capable of, I would never take that away from you.”

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked down at her palms. “I was never allowed to learn anything like this on Alarious. I feel... the freest I have ever been. I feel... alive, and yet... still so wrong.”

“Why does it feel wrong?” He dipped his head trying to catch her expression, not that he needed to. “Every living thing deserves to be alive, that includes you.”

“I agree, I truly do. And I am starting to want to make sure that no one else will have to suffer the way I did, almost like I want to protect them from a horrible future, but...” She trailed off. She didn’t want a future, not for herself.

“You’re conflicted.” He told her. “And that’s okay, don’t push yourself to be something you’re not. Just be you, right now, in this moment.”

“Take each day as it comes.” She concurred smiling sadly, remembering the line her mother had told her as a small child.

That took him by surprise, she sounded genuine. And she had never been one to hide her true intentions from him. “What made you change your mind? You were pretty sure of your wants a few months ago.”

Her gaze fell to the ground as she pondered his words. “Perhaps I thought I could never be normal again, never have a normal life. This place is like a dream that I am afraid to wake up from.” She told him honestly.

“You feel like it’s a dream?” He pushed.

“I guess, I am not sure myself, I still feel lost. But something has crept in. Our time here has... opened my eyes. It is like there is this light at the end of the tunnel that I seem intrigued by... but still I feel weighed down by invisible strings, it’s holding me back. When I figure it out, I will tell you.” She must sound insane.

He didn’t pry anymore, he knew there were a lot of emotions she was dealing with, he could feel her struggling to make sense of her feelings. He was just glad to hear that her outlook on life had changed even if it was only a small amount.

“You going out again are you not? With the elves.” She changed the subject looking up at him.

He raised a brow, she did this quite often now, deflected. He nodded in response.

“When do you leave?” She asked.

“In a few days, there’s been a few reports of some strange creatures terrorizing a village not too far from here. We are going to take a look and see if we can find anything of use.”

He watched as she seemed to sadden. “I will come with you, I may not be able to fight yet, but I will be an asset now.”

“You’re ready to trial your magical mind powers?” He jokingly asked.

She eyed him frowning. “Magical mind powers?” She questioned.

“I don’t know what to call it.” He half laughed.

“It is spirit wielding, the fifth element.” She corrected him.

He cocked a brow. “I will allow it, but my name was way better.”

She rolled her eyes, clearly in a better mood now. Standing she brushed herself off and caught Vincent looking her up and down. She stood tall with her hand on her hip, she waited for his eyes to meet hers and she tilted her head.

“Like what you see?” she asked jokingly.

“Actually, yes.” He didn’t smirk, he didn’t laugh. His answer so serious, it caught her off guard.

Unable to respond, she did the other thing she could, she spun on her heels as she began to feel the heat rising in her cheeks, her heartbeat quickened in her chest. There was no point hiding it, what she was feeling he knew. She was embarrassed by his remark, this was new and unexpected.

He chuckled behind her, knowing she was trying to hide it.

“You are despicable!” she said and began walking away.

He rose to his feet and followed her. “I wouldn’t lie to you.” He responded.

“I know.” she muttered.

Glancing back at him for only a moment, she sighed. She couldn’t make any sense of the way he made her feel, that hadn’t changed in all this time they had spent together. And oddly she wouldn’t change it for the world. Dare she say it, life around him was… fun.