Chapter song: E85 - Don Toliver
Lucien assumed his stance, eyes fixed on the man before him. Across the floor, Xander stood with his hands loosely behind his back, his shadow stretching unnaturally long across the ground.
"You may begin whenever you're ready," he said.
Lucien exhaled slowly. Then his hand moved.
The sword flashed from its sheath in a single fluid motion, a crescent of water trailing the blade as he lunged forward. But the strike cut through nothing. Xander had already vanished.
Lucien stopped instantly. The shadows around the arena shifted. He felt it before he saw it, a ripple in the darkness behind him. Lucien pivoted.
A blade of shadow shot toward his ribs. He stepped sideways, his body gliding across the floor with Current Step, the attack grazing past his coat by mere centimetres.
Xander emerged from the darkness with a faint smile. "Better," the instructor murmured.
He disappeared again. The shadows thickened.
