Jorish focused all his attention on the black-haired girl as he held his staff to his back. He slowly stepped to the side as Anise circled in the opposite direction, staring at him emotionlessly.

Jorish gripped his staff harder as he felt every muscle in Anise’s body tightened, ready to burst to crush him. Jorish kept his focus as he avoided falling into his thoughts, in such a fatal moment.

He could barely show his face after he confronted Cail for not assisting them in the last fight. Finally learning that he had not achieved some mythical state in that last fight, instead, it was all Cail’s ability. Cail didn’t seem to mind his questioning, yet that didn’t make Jorish feel any better about it.

Jorish stood, still focused on Anise. His grip tightened as he saw the sand below Anise’s foot getting pushed aside. He stepped with his left foot as she burst forward, reaching him almost instantly.

Jorish had fought Anise countless times in the last month, yet he could never get used to how fast or strong she was. The moment he noticed her movement, he jumped to the side as he swung his staff from his back widely, making use of his momentum.

His staff rumbled with his entire weight crashing into Anise. Jorish knew this strike would’ve crushed any of the bandits they fought earlier even if they had their guards up.

Yet his expression didn’t change as Anise effortlessly swung her metallic weapon blocking the strike, barely forcing her back a step before she moved forward again.

Jorish prepared as he spun his body with the staff, trying to take advantage of the moment he gained as Anise stepped back. His full-powered strike crashed towards Anise’s head. Unexpectedly, Anise didn’t bother using her weapon to block, deciding to instead rush forward while raising her hand to block his staff.

Seeing her rush caused Jorish to panic; his strike would not hit at full force, and now he would be put on the defensive. Which meant he was going to lose again, as always.

Jorish didn’t give up all hope as his strike struck Anise, not even forcing her back. She threw a punch towards him as he hurriedly twisted the back of his staff to push the force aside. Jorish found himself off-balance as the byproduct of the strike was enough to break his guard, forcing him back. He looked up in terror as he saw her fist approaching him with no defense he could put up in time.

Less than a moment later, a loud boom was heard. Jorish stared with empty eyes as he saw a thin blade blocking his vision. Traves had stepped in and blocked Anise’s strike with the flat of his blade. He looked at them both, shaking his head as Anise pulled back and turned, not saying anything.

As Jorish stood up, he found Traves looking at him as he hesitated for a moment before he asked.“Do you know why you keep losing?”

“Isn’t it simply because she is stronger?” replied Jorish frankly

Traves shook his head again as he sighed “Her strength and speed are indeed an advantage, however, you cannot blame them for your own inadequacy young friend. Otherwise, if life was so simple, what had happened wouldn’t have happened.”

Jorish didn’t need anyone to tell him what Traves was talking about. Over the last month, the events at the village weighed heavily on all of them. Even making Traves, who wouldn’t normally miss a chance to make fun of something or someone, much more solemn.

Traves paused for a moment before he continued “Your biggest mistake was trying to challenge her on her own strengths.”

Jorish stood still as he turned to look at Traves “What do you mean? In a straight one against one clash, I have no choice but to fight her straight on. I am no energy practitioner after all.”

Traves sighed again “No, you are misunderstanding what I mean.” before explaining.

“If you fight someone stronger than you, you must avoid forcing situations where brute strength is compared. You should try to be more sneaky and try to outspeed them, and just wear them down. And if they were faster than you instead, you must force them into situations where they must face you straight on, denying them of their strengths.”

Jorish interrupted “What if they were stronger and faster?”

“Then you improvise.” said Traves with a slight smile before leaving a few extra words “You started late Jorish, you will need to learn how to accept that fact. Only then can you finally be strong.”

Jorish clenched his hands as he said, struggling not to tear up. “I… know. I really hate this feeling of powerlessness. What happened… What if I were a tiny bit stronger. What if I could do something a bit faster. Could at least one person be saved… Could that child still have a story, a future…”

“Maybe.” said Traves as Jorish shuddered “Or maybe not. It is a fact that you were not, are not, and could have not, in any way done anything more there as you were.”

Jorish fists tightened even harder as he heard Traves continue, his voice melancholic “In my life, I have lost many. Many more than you could imagine. I have asked myself that question, over and over. I have questioned who, what and why I am. Yet there was no answer, at least none I have found so far.”

“Yet we are still alive, our nibs wet with our blood as we color our stories. We could only move forward. We could only write, not erase.”

Even now, Traves seemed to like talking in puzzles, thought Jorish. He understood the concepts that Traves talked about, yet sometimes it was easier said than done. No matter how you justified it, he was weak. He had failed.

Remembering his endless losses, Jorish sighed as he longed for that mythical tool, the one they called a spear. Ancient people had apparently found out that making things pointy made them hurt, an inconceivable proposal he knew. Yet he shook his head understandingly.

He understood that Traves wanted to train him, but defeat after defeat by the younger girl was frustrating, the feeling of powerlessness was even more frustrating. What if the next time they fought, Traves didn’t make it in time before Anise squatted him down?

He understood that Traves was disappointed in both of them. Jorish had an advantage as Cail supported him with his power when they sparred, making him smarter. Making his awareness way above her. Yet he kept getting trashed over and over. And Anise was letting off her rage, not bothering to control her strength or think. Jorish knew that half the strikes she threw could’ve and would’ve killed him. She wasn’t sparring, she was letting the beast in her run wild, and if not for the timely support of Traves his blood would’ve colored her hands.

Jorish walked absentmindedly as he thought about the last month before he got interrupted “I am sorry to interrupt your trance, Jorish, but I think this is a good time.” exclaimed Cail

Jorish looked up at Cail, confused. Cail rarely made idle chat, and when he did it was most likely a reply to Traves’ antics. Jorish quickly answered as he regained his thoughts “Yes, Cail. How may I be of assistance?”

Cail looked at him, smiling. “I believe this is a good time to teach you some things about energy cultivation, are you interested?”

Jorish looked at him. It was a very enticing offer, for sure. However, Jorish knew his own talent and his own capabilities. He still dreamed about it, yet he knew he didn’t have a future as an energy practitioner. “I am sorry Cail, but you know of my talent. That’s why I am working on building my body and training instead. What’s the point in learning Energy?”

Cail’s eye furrowed as he looked at Jorish. Jorish felt Cail looking at him as if he was an idiot before he explained “I believe you are mistaken on many things friend. I do not know what kind of education they have given you in the cities, but let me explain some things from the beginning.”

Cail extended his hand as Jorish felt a transparent globe appear in his palm “Energy flows in the world in many forms. Most free energy roams unaspected, Able to be shaped and moved freely. At other times energy can have an aspect.” Cail explained as the globe in his hand shifted to a fiery red color before reverting to its transparent state

“Normally, it would either happen due to a natural phenomenon. For example, what energy would we have inside a fire”

“Uhhh… Flame energy?”

“Almost right, you would have both unaspected as well as some flame energy. Nature is not very efficient at handling energy. While Energy can influence reality, it doesn’t do that very well without a trigger.”

“Spells?”

“Exactly. By using circuits in our body, building those spells we can make use of that energy.”

Jorish’s face turned sour as he said “But that doesn’t explain it, Why would I train energy knowing I will always be behind? I could be much ahead training my body, yet barely able to perhaps throw some sparks around.”

. “Ah, perhaps I should use Traves’s example to explain this. Don’t tell him I did though, or I really won’t hear the end of it.” Cail continued as he smiled

“Simply speaking, Traves talked about putting more air into a balloon, how do you do that?”

“Enlarging it, or rebuilding it,” replied Jorish

“Correct, but you have one more option.” Cail said as he extended his hand, grabbing some sand “Reinforcing it.”

Jorish stared as the ball of sand shifted into a sphere, yet still looking fragile. Cail held it in his hand “Try to hit this with your staff”

Jorish grabbed his staff and tried hitting the ball. Jorish swung down his staff as he felt his body shudder as if he had hit a wall.

Jorish looked at Cail and stepped back before he saw the ball of sand dissolved.

“You may lack talent, but you are not coreless. You could use whatever energy you train to make your strikes stronger or faster or to block an attack. Each body has its own way of using energy, yet in general, somethings are always the same. Adding energy to something will make it stronger. In reality, things are much more complicated, but we'll burn that bridge when we cross it.”

Cail looked at Jorish in the eye, as his look softened. "Friend, Jorish. Life is unfair. Yet it is just. Some were just born better than others, yet everyone has a chance, a shot to get what was never theirs. It is difficult and painful, but you must persevere my friend."

“From now, you will spend some time every day with me as I train you. If I remember right you are only on the stage to feel the energy, correct?” said Cail as Jorish nodded “In that case, what you should be focusing on is moving the energy around.”

Suddenly, Cail’s eyes turned blue as an intense pressure rose around Jorish. Jorish could feel energy normally, but that was only when he would put his entire focus into it, trying to meditate and feel the threads of energy.

Instead, he had felt energy explode all around him, he felt an overwhelming amount of it touching on every part of his body and flowing around.

“I decided to give you a small boost. I believe it should be easier for you to understand energy if you experience it,” said Cail as Jorish stood in wonder, experiencing the weird sensation as energy flowed around him.

The flow of energy disappeared as fast as it started, leaving Jorish confused as he looked at Cail. Cail stood concerned as he stared forward. Jorish followed his line of sight as he looked at Traves, who held his sword with a serious look on his face as a young scarred man stood in front of him.

The man wore leather pants and a fur coat that was so ragged that he was equally covered wearing it as he was by not. He had a pale face with very rough features, ones you would expect from Northerners. His face was decorated by a scar that went through his right cheek.

Still in his focus as he was still feeling energy, Jorish could faintly feel energy tremble slightly near the youth, as Traves faced him, his grip on his sword tightened.