After a hectic day of classes and a grueling combat session, I thought I could finally take a break. I was totally wrong.
My master, Leonard, stood before me, with Zack positioned behind him. We were on a high overlook, the academy buildings sprawling in the distance below, silhouetted by the setting sun. Tall trees surrounded the clearing, their long shadows stretching across ground littered with boulders of every shape and size. Evening bled slowly into the sky.
"Master Leo, can't I at least get a day's rest?" Zack's voice was heavy with exhaustion, his face etched with fatigue. He had changed into casual wear, hoping for reprieve. "I'm beat from today's activities."
"I don't care about that." Leonard's voice was as cold and unfeeling as ever, his amber eyes devoid of warmth. "You must prove you are capable of being my disciple. You will train and you will meet my expectations."
-_____-
Helplessness washed over Zack.
"First, we will start with hand-to-hand combat." Leonard turned, his gaze an impassive challenge.
"Master, can't you listen to the plea of your disciple? Have mercy! Let me rest for today!" Zack begged, hands gesturing in supplication.
"Heh. Mercy, you say?" In the space between heartbeats, Master Leo vanished. Before Zack could even blink, the man was before him, speed surpassing a bullet. "Can you tell that to an enemy? Or an Evo Beast?"
A fist, hard as forged iron, drove into Zack's belly. The air exploded from his lungs, his eyes flying wide with shock and pain. The world became a blur as he was launched backward, skidding and rolling across the rough ground before coming to a jarring stop.
Gritting his teeth against the fire in his gut, Zack pushed himself up. Dirt smeared his clothes and face. He clutched his stomach with one hand. "Seriously, what the hell was tha—"
The words died as the air moved behind him.
"Never be distracted in a battle. Even when taken by surprise. Flaw number one." The sentence was a cold verdict. A lightning-fast chop struck the back of Zack's neck. The impact resonated through his bones.
'How is this possible?' His thought was a spark of pure disbelief before he was sent stumbling forward, crashing face-first into the dirt.
"Your reflex to dodge is poor. And slow." Master Leo's voice circled him as he walked around his fallen disciple.
"Argh..." Groaning, Zack forced himself upright, his eyes locking onto his master's impassive form.
"If you are outside those walls, you must formulate a plan before your opponent strikes." No sooner were the words spoken than Leo charged again. Even with his eyes locked on, Zack's senses couldn't follow the movement; his master was a phantom.
'His speed is something else!'
Leo materialized in front of him. A kick lanced toward Zack's face, so fast it distorted the air, tearing through the air with a vicious whoosh.
'I can't be hit by this!' With desperate instinct, Zack crossed both arms before his face in a block.
The kick landed. The force was monumental, as if he'd intercepted a swinging steel beam. A groan was punched from his throat as his boots scraped back through the dirt.
'Damn! My hands are numb!' They trembled, useless and tingling, the bones vibrating from the transfer of power.
"Why don't you come at me, dear disciple?" Master Leo called, his face a mask of frost.
"Fine then!" Zack wiped dirt from his lip, his jaw setting. He clenched his fists. The temperature around them spiked, and from the air itself, golden flames roared to life, engulfing his hands. Taking a runner's stance, he leaped forward, a blazing projectile aimed at his master.
He threw a burning punch. Master Leo, with a causal, almost bored calm, simply caught the fiery fist in his bare hand, utterly indifferent to the searing flames. Zack tried to pull back, but the grip was unbreakable.
'His grip is like a vise!'
With a simple, powerful thrust, Leo yanked Zack forward, off-balance, and simultaneously drove a kick into the back of his knee. Zack collapsed sideways to the ground with a heavy thud.
'His attacks are too fast... I can hardly see a glimpse before they connect.' Pain flared from his knee and shoulder as he lay on the unforgiving earth.
"Don't overestimate yourself during a battle, or you will get killed out there. Flaw number two." The cold tone held no reproof, only statement of fact. "Now, get up. In battle, every second counts. One wrong move can spell your end."
Master Leo stepped back, giving him space. Gritting his teeth, Zack stood, his left shoulder screaming in protest. He stared at Leo, who stood casually, hands clasped behind his back, those cold amber eyes pinning him in place.
"Try to take this on, disciple." For the first time, a smirk, sharp and fleeting curved on Master Leo's lips. He launched a kick not at Zack, but at the air itself. A crescent of condensed brown energy shot from his leg, rippling the atmosphere, cutting the wind with a shrill scream as it arced toward Zack.
'What the hell is that?!' Zack's eyes widened in pure shock at the projectile raging toward him with insane velocity.
He flung himself to the side. The energy blade missed him by a hair's breadth. He felt the wind of its passage slice against his skin.
"WHOOSH!"
"BANG!"
The attack struck the ground behind him. Turning his head, Zack's shock deepened into absolute disbelief. A clean, four-inch-deep gash was carved into the solid earth.
'Is he trying to kill me?!' The thought was a spike of panic. Then, he felt it, a ripple in the air from his right, a wrongness, that same tingling, primal sensation from the spatial crack incident.
Instinct overrode thought. He threw his upper body backward into a desperate, bending duck.
"WHISH!" A second energy arc passed exactly where his head had been, severing a few stray strands of hair.
"Distraction kills faster than weakness. Be alert at all times." Master Leo's voice came from meters away on his right.
'When did he get there?! The man's movements were incomprehensible.'
No more hesitation. Zack spread his palms. Fireballs ignited from the air, hovering above his skin. With a quick flick of his wrists, he launched them in a rapid volley.
"SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!"
The flaming projectiles shot toward Master Leo, who didn't move a muscle. His face remained utterly unimpressed as the fireballs closed in. He simply raised his right hand.
"PAH! PAH! PAH!"
With precise, almost disdainful slaps of the back of his hand, he batted each fireball down to the grass where they erupted with feeble pops, leaving only small, charred circles. Master Leo sighed, as if swatting flies.
'I have to get close. As close as I can.' The plan formed in a flash. Zack began to dash forward, continuously conjuring and launching fireballs not to hit, but to distract, to create a screen of flame and motion.
He wove behind his own projectiles, closing the distance.
'Okay. Now!'
Within striking range, he launched a final pair of fireballs. In the same motion, he pivoted sharply, curving to come at Leo from the blind left side, and launched a vicious, unsuspecting kick.
'Got him!'
But then, with lightning-quick reflex, his ankle was caught in a grip of iron.
'How is this damn possible?!'
"Using the element of surprise? Heh. Not bad. But you have to learn to do it right." Turning his head, Master Leo struck his palm flat against Zack's chest.
A wave of concussive, rebounding force erupted. Zack was hurled backward through the air.
(How is he this fast? Damn it! I hate being beaten to dust like this!) Anger and frustration boiled within him. Then, like a flash of instinctual memory, a movement sequence surfaced, a way to twist in midair, to regain footing.
Acting on pure subconscious impulse, Zack contorted his body while still airborne, flipping his position to land on his feet, skidding back several paces before halting, breath heaving.
"Nice landing technique. But still shabby." Master Leo's emotionless critique followed him. He watched Zack recover, his own posture still relaxed, untouched.
"You want my token? Then prove you are capable. Prove you are worthy to be my disciple. Prove you are a true talent." The words were a gauntlet thrown at the feet of a battered, barely-standing boy.
"Tch." Zack clicked his tongue, the sound thick with annoyance and defiance.
"Alright. The odds are stacked against me. But that doesn't mean I quit easily." Zack stood straighter, resolve hardening his features. "I'm coming for that token, no matter what. I'm ready for whatever you throw at me. I might get beaten today, but I will leave my mark. I will make an impression on you." His gaze, fierce and unyielding, met the cold amber eyes of his master.
"Then let me see you try." For the first time, that smirk returned to Master Leo's lips, a spark of something akin to interest.
"Just watch me!" Zack's own smirk answered. He closed his eyes, drawing in one deep, steadying breath. Within him, he released the bane energy churning in his core.
A golden aura erupted around him, radiating intense heat. His right hand was engulfed in roaring, brilliant flames. Simultaneously, a bitter cold surged forth, sheathing his left hand in solid, glistening ice. He clenched both elemental fists, the heat and cold warping the air around them.
His stance solidified. Then, he shot forward, a hybrid spear of fire and ice cutting through the twilight, aimed straight at the heart of his master's challenge.