Not much has happened in the last few weeks, but, nevertheless, things had still been tense, with all expecting danger around the corner.

Training with Metis had taken an upturn. While I hadn't passed the Multitasking lesson, there had been significant increases in how long I had been able to hold. I, well, the other I, had also gotten the hang of doing the Shapeshifting. He had not learned to do it quickly, though, and he wasn't progressing with it, as fast as both of us had wanted. Still, there was progress, and that was mattered.

And, that wasn't all the training that I had done. After Eros had introduced me to the sparring rooms, that were close to Elora´s room, we had begun sparring daily. We didn't fight seriously, of course, as the rooms were not designed to withstand any of our more powerful attacks. I simply used a weaker version of my Claws, while Eros used two blunt swords. This also a great opportunity for Eros to really show off his proficiency at Light magic. His Healing prowess was incredible. He could fix almost all of the wounds that we with stained while fighting. The magnitude, at which his power had increased, was honestly surprising. Not even four months ago had his limits been making a small floating light.

Nothing extraordinary happened. It was just guarding Elora, sparring with Eros and training with Metis.

Well, that is, until I heard some frightening news, in the form of an innocent question.

“So, what are all of you slacks going to be doing at the festival?”, Maxime asked.

“Say, what?”, I said, so surprised by the news, that I accidentally lost control of my hands, letting the cards in them simply fall to the table, the contents of them revealed to all the people around me. The people around certainly loved my display, knowing that they wouldn't be fooled by my bluffs this round.

“Wait, you haven't heard?”

“If I did, I wouldn't have dropped my cards.”

“Well, then try to hold on to the next. Gary, explain about the upcoming festival.”

Gary sighed, before looking over at me.

“The upcoming festival is a festival that celebrates one of two moons turning into a Blood-moon for a couple of hours. It's a once a decade event that most people try to celebrate no matter what. How they celebrate depends on which of the moons turn into a Blood-moon. If it's Talir, which it is this time, the time will be spent having a festival, where everybody will be putting on a show. And when I say everybody, it includes us.”

He ended it off and returned to looking at his cards, leaving me to contemplate, if running away from this place was a viable option. I had nothing prepared for this! How was I even supposed to figure something about? Wait. How long do I have to figure it out?

“When does the festival start?”, I asked.

“You know, I feel like this is becoming a regular thing”, Maxime said. “You ask me a question, I ask you to shut up, and you ask another question.”

“How about this; you answer that last question, and I´ll shut my mouth for the rest of this game.”

“Well, I can't say no to a gift from the heavens. The festival is in fourteen days.”

Fourteen days. I can work with fourteen days. It´ll be easy figuring out something to do. I can even come up with a dozen ideas before I needed to get over to Metis for my training.

I did not get a dozen ideas before my training with Metis. Not even a single one, in fact. And it was wearing me thin.

As Metis and I walked from the entrance of the building I began forming another sort of idea. A personal master plan. if you will.

“Hey, Metis”

“Yes?”

“What have you planned for the festival?”

“I haven't planned anything, actually. Usually, I just improvise, when my time to show something comes around.”

Well, that could have gone better.

It could, but it was a long shot. Speaking of long shots, do you have any good ideas, for the festival?

I feel hurt, just so you know that, but no, I don't have any. I do have a plan.

Which is?

We can have Metis help us. She knows about this stuff. She said herself that she has done these before. She knows, what to do.

Maybe we could change it into a Shapeshifting exercise. She shows us some mystical looking creature, and we copy it. Then, when we´re at the festival. We simply change back and forth the creatures and call it a done deal.

That sounds crazy. So crazy that it might work.

“Hey, Metis”, I said, with the tone of a happy student, who was ready to learn.

“Yeah?”, she asked.

“Would it be possible to change training for today?”

She smiled.

“Of course,-”

Thank god.

“-If you complete the lesson. When you do that, we can change training.”

Scrap that last exclamation.

“If you're not up to the task, though, we can always-”

“No! No, I can do it. Don't worry.

“Good. Then, let's get started.”

We had reached the hall, and Metis quickly got into the regular position and patiently waited, as I did the same.

Do you really think we can do this? We have failed every time we tried this.

We have to succeed. If we don't, we have to figure out, what to do ourselves, and we both know the limits of our creative thinking.

“Are you ready?”, Metis asked, just like all the other times we did this. The words brought back memories of past, less successful tries.

I Shapeshifted all of my fingers, checking them through several times, to make sure that there weren't any immediate faults. I had fallen to that simple mistake three attempts ago. I also made sure to expand the container by a bit in my pinky fingers, as they had the problems of popping a bit faster than the others. Learned that lesson five attempts ago.

Are you ready to begin?

As ready as I'll ever be.

Good. Remember to pace yourself this time. We don't want any Mana leakage like the last attempt.

I'll try.

“I'm ready”

And, yet again, the world around me turned brighter than the sun.

Immediately, I held up both arms to my sides, making sure my finger was as far away from each other, before turning on their abilities. Wouldn't want the finger absorption to happen again as it did eight attempts ago.

The massive Fireballs all turn into several cones, quickly going into my outstretched fingers.

Ten seconds before the first set of releasement began. It would be stupid to wait before the containers were maxed out, as that would damage the Patterns much quicker. Learned that five attempts ago.

The first set of releasement was over, and I would have some time before the second set would begin. Your turn, buddy.

I'm starting.

And that he did. Like before, he would start a little slower than normal, then speed up bit by bit. He wouldn't try to go as fast as he possibly could, as that had already turned into disaster several times now. Before he even realized it, he was done and would have to wait five seconds before starting over.

Seeing that he was done, I began releasing the second set of absorbed fire. Nothing was wrong with the patterns this time, just as they'd expected. It was after the third set, though, that they needed to be wary.

And so, it continued with the sets and the reparations of the Patterns. With them working in perfect sync, they worked as hard and precisely as they possibly could. Neither ever stopped working, and, as they continued, time became of no matter. They did the best that they could muster, and nothing more.

After, what seemed like an eternity, though, think began to go downhill. The amount of Fire that the absorbers got in was pitiful to, what they started with. It wasn't possible to fix it. Things had become more than just superficial damage and were instead deeply rooted in the patterns themselves.

It was only a matter of time before they would fail both the lesson and the deal with Metis.

And then it wasn't.

It was, as if, the world around him slowly lessened in brightness. Slowly but surely. They were not sure if it was because they were done, or if it was because he had simply been closing his eyes slowly.

Luckily, it was the former.

As the final Fireball had disappeared like the many others before it, I was greeted by a slow clap.

It was Metis that was slowly walking towards me, a grin stretching from ear to ear.

“That was quite the show you put on there.”, she said, giving me a clap on the shoulder, causing me to almost fall over. It wasn't that it was a hard clap or anything. I was just tired.

“Thanks. Didn't think that I would make it through.”, I replied, a weak smile formed on my face.

“Neither did I”. How encouraging a teacher she was.

“But, nevertheless, I believe that there was something about a deal”.

That what I like to hear.