Part - 1
The name Blood Sorcery hung in the air like a blade. Everyone understood at once it was no ordinary curse. It carried sacrifice, binding and pain. It was the kind of thing that could confine a man to a grove and make leaving the place a death sentence.
Orren looked at Marr. "Master Marr, can you tell us what happened?"
Marr shook his head, dark eyes fixed on the fire. "Long story. Maybe another time." He glanced toward Selvara. "But I swear to you, if I ever get out of this place, I will take revenge for you too."
Selvara's voice was quick. "I will help in any way I can. I am a sorcerer too."
Marr's face softened for a moment. "What kind?" he asked.
"Curses," Selvara answered.
Marr let out a short, humorless sound. "Curses. Good—useful, sometimes. But useless in this. This is bloodwork. Not a knot a curse can cut."
Velra leaned forward. "Is there anything we can do?"
Marr studied her for a long breath. "She is no simple witch. She set the confinement knowing few could break it.BIut If I ever escape, I will definitely kill her." His voice had steel beneath the anger.
Everyone looked at one another, picturing what could drive a man to say that.
Selvara spoke quietly then, eyes distant. "Daelric was my master. He taught me like the father I never had. He protected me when others wanted me dead. He showed me the ways of sorcery when my family called me witch and wished me dead. He was like a father." Her voice broke once.
Marr's face crumpled. For a moment the old blacksmith was a small man with a sorrow you could feel. "He was a good lad. I regret I could not help him," Marr said, and his anger flared again as he pushed it away.
Silence pressed on them. Velra cleared her throat and forced a question out. "Master Marr, what was that thing you used earlier? The pressure? The way we couldn't move? It was like what the Warden used on me at the Drunken Boar. Why couldn't we move?"
Marr looked at Orren, measuring. "Should I tell her? Is she on that level yet?" he asked.
Orren's mouth tightened, then he said, "She's good enough, I think..."
Velra blinked. "Tell me what?"
Marr sighed and gave the answer like an old teacher. "What you witnessed is Rha. Energy formed through a warrior's spirit."
"Rha?" Velra said. "I never knew such a thing existed."
"Few do," Marr replied. "We don't advertise it. Folks learn it one way or another. Mages and sorcerers use the energy to change the world, using their spells and elements. Warriors use the same energy on their bodies, on their blows, on the minds of others. You can reinforce yourself or attack with it. It's basic, and yet it is everything."
Velra swallowed. Her dream of being more than a blade-user suddenly had a new direction and a long road. Rahim snorted. "I learned the basics a few months back. Old man made me learn or I wouldn't grow he said." Velra shot a glance at Nadir, who only nodded in grim satisfaction.
Selvara was thoughtful. "I cannot learn it the way a warrior does. I am not one. It takes years. I can improve my sorcery, but Rha is not my path."
Velra's eyes burned. She would not let the chance pass.
"Explain it, then," Velra said. Marr leaned back, eyes on the sky. Orren took a step forward. "Let me do the honour of introducing a youngling." Marr gave a small nod.
"Rha is the energy inside every human," Orren began, voice steady. "Some call it the warrior spirit. I don't like that label—mages and witches use it too—so we call it energy. It fractures into six kinds, each a way a person channels force."
He counted on scarred fingers as he named them. "One: Resolve. Two: Pulse. Three: Fang. Four: Fury. Five: Flow. And six: Dominion."
Velra tried to follow. "What do they mean?" she asked.
Orren shrugged once, the smallest of smiles tugging at him. "Resolve is will—stubbornness turned into steel. Pulse is timing and rhythm—strikes that carry the heart's beat. Fang is intent—piercing, lethal. Fury is raw power, uncontrollable but devastating. Flow is movement and grace—hard to pin down. Dominion is the what we used earlier. It pushes against minds and bodies."
Velra felt that same pressure again in memory and understood it wasn't a trick.
Marr's voice was low. "What you saw was Suppress. A dominion technique. It keeps limbs from moving, thoughts from acting. It's basic in use but brutal at a high level. That's what I and Orren used. "
Velra's eyes were bright now. "So I can learn it? I want to learn it. Teach me."
Marr shrugged. "Are you ready to ruin your body for the sake of power?"
Velra didn't blink. "Yes."
Selvara stepped forward. "Can you teach, Marr? I will help if I can." But Marr waved her away; " You are good the way you are, Sorcery has way more flexibility and paths."
Marr looked at Orren, then with a small, sharp grin he said, "I won't be the one to teach her." He turned to Orren with a half-smile. "You'll do it."
Orren's smirk was slow, amused. "I would love to. But if you quit halfway I'll shove that rapier up your arse and teach you the hard way."
Velra's mouth twitched into a smile at the threat. "I won't quit."
Orren laughed, dry and warm in the dim grove. "Good. Then we start with the breath. Rha begins in the chest and the gut. You learn to feel it, then you learn to move it. But…, we don't have that long I will awaken you Rha forcefully before tomorrow." he said as he grinned
Part - 2
Rahim's voice carried unease as he leaned closer to Velra.
"You should've taken the easier path or learned from someone else. This one is going to be tough. Painful."
Velra turned her head, her eyes steady despite the fire's dim light. "I don't care about the pain. I'm ready."
Rahim gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, you will. Soon."
Orren stretched his shoulders, his smirk returning. "You three, move back. I'll start now."
Selvara and Rahim reluctantly stepped away, while Nadir stayed where he was with a knowing calm.
Orren motioned Velra down.
"Sit. Lotus pose. Keep your breath steady."
Velra crossed her legs, closing her eyes, waiting. Orren placed one calloused palm gently against her back. His voice grew quieter, firmer.
"Tell me when you're ready."
"I'm ready," Velra whispered.
It began.
The pressure rolled through the air again, except this time, no one else felt it. It was all inside Velra. Her body tensed, and then an eruption of energy tore through her veins. Every muscle locked. Her chest seized.
Velra's eyes shot open. She screamed, raw and guttural, as her body shook. Her veins bulged across her arms and neck like fire crawling through them. She tried to move away, but her body betrayed her.
She looked at Marr with desperate eyes, but he only stood there, watching. A small smile flickered on his face as his unseen force pressed her down. Suppress. She wasn't going anywhere.
"F-fuck—it's so painful—st-stop!" Velra gasped between screams.
Orren's voice was iron. "If you want to die, I can stop. Hahaha."
Her scream tore through the bamboo grove. Selvara's hands shook around her staff. Rahim was pale, eyes darting between Velra and Orren, unsure if this was training or torture. Only Nadir stayed still, expression grim, as though he had witnessed this before.
The agony went on and on. Minutes felt like hours. Velra's throat was hoarse, her body slick with sweat, but still the flood of Rha rampaged inside her. Orren didn't relent. Marr didn't ease his hold.
Half an hour later, Orren finally lifted his hand. The storm stopped at once. Velra slumped forward, drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.
"Give her water," Marr said curtly. His eyes softened just a fraction. "And a change of clothes. Take a bath, girl, then rest. Tomorrow you have to leave."
Velra didn't answer. She only staggered toward her tent, exhausted beyond words. She bathed, changed, and collapsed into sleep like a stone sinking into a river.
Orren rubbed his temples, breathing hard. Marr's voice came from behind him.
"You took too long. Shouldn't have taken more than ten minutes."
Orren chuckled dryly, still catching his breath. "Master Marr, I don't have your Rha. It was always going to take this long. I burned a lot of my Rha for it."
Marr studied him for a long moment, then gave a slow nod. "Good work. Rest now."
The bamboo grove settled into silence, broken only by the chirping of night insects. Each of them drifted to their tents, weighed down by the day.
Velra slept like a child—dreamless, breath even at last. For the first time since their journey began, she had taken her first true step into a warrior's world.
End of Chapter.