Alces: He clapped his hands together, clearing an open space for them to spar in. Tiffany watched from a distance, a worried and concerned look covered her face. "Valkun isn't going to hold back against you, so neither am I. He is going to use everything he has against you, which includes the environment. You need to learn to feel the area shift around you, feel the earth move before it hits you."
Multhi: He took a deep breath, his hands glowed a bright white blue, and the area shifted to a colder air. "I understand." He stared down at him, before he could move; however, a vine shot out of the ground, cutting him across his cheek. "AGH!" He stumbled to his knees, grabbing his face.
Alces: "Incorrect, you understand nothing, you think I can't sense the air shifting when you think of doing something? Did you also think I would allow you to rest?" A vine grabbed him by his leg, swinging him around in the air.
Tiffany: Her eyes widened, "BE CAREFUL WITH HIM!"
Muthi: He grunted, freezing the vine and punching it, freeing him, but he plummeted to the ground, landing roughly on his back. "Damn it!" He sat up, popping his shoulder back into its socket. The air became thicker with a frosty feeling, vines freezing in the surrounding area.
Alces: His yellow eyes glowed brighter, "Congratulations, now I can sense exactly what you are doing even easier now." He flicked his finger, and a tree trunk burst from underneath Multhi, knocking him back.
Multhi: He rolled across the ground, coughing as bark and ice shards scattered around him. He forced himself up on one knee, breathing hard. "Then stop talking… and finish it!"
Alces: He did not hesitate. The ground beneath Multhi collapsed inward as roots twisted together, forming a crushing grip around his torso. Alces stepped forward slowly, every step causing the terrain to shift. "You are reacting. You are not listening."
Multhi: His teeth clenched as frost crawled over his arms, spreading into jagged plates of ice. The roots creaked, freezing solid as he forced them apart. He staggered free, blood trailing from his mouth. "I am listening!"
Alces: "No, you are acting out of emotions. Our elements react differently to our emotional states, some making it far easier to read the other user. Valkun is overflowing with pride and rage, making yourself mad just as he is will only make it easier for him to kill you."
He lowered his hands, the vines going away, confusing Multhi. "Something I learned from your father a long time ago, he wasn't much of a fighter, but he learned a style of combatting an opponent that perfectly fuses your spirit, element, and body in one."
Multhi: He wiped blood from his mouth as he stood up straight, "What is this style of fighting?"
Alces: He swayed his hands around his body slowly, each movement deliberate, unbroken. The vines beneath his feet did not lash or strike. They shifted with him, mirroring his motion. Green light gathered around his palms like drifting leaves caught in a gentle current. His breathing slowed, steady and measured. "Your father called it the Living Flow."
He closed his eyes fully now. His stance lowered, knees bent just enough to remain loose, his weight never settling in one place. His element did not surge outward. It stayed close, wrapped around his frame like a second skin. "It is not about attacking first, or striking harder." He opened his eyes, their glow sharp and focused. "It is about never fighting alone. Your spirit decides. Your body commits. Your element obeys."
He stepped forward, and the ground moved with him, not in advance, not behind, but in perfect timing. Every breath shaped the vines. Every shift of muscle shaped the terrain. "Come at me."
Multhi: He charged toward him, ice building up in his hands, but as he got close, Alces hit his arms with his palms, the flowing energy shot through his arms, vines forming around his forearms, completely restraining his energy. "What the hell?!"
Alces: He hit Multhi at the center of his chest with the tip of his finger; the force of life that shot through Multhi's body was strong enough to send him flying back into the forest wall, tearing straight through the trees. "Life flows through me with ease."
Tiffany: "Enough! Stop!" She ran towards him, attempting to stop the fighting, but Multhi raised his hand in the distance, pulsing out energy to redirect her attention.
Multhi: "Stop, Tiffany, I can do this..." He approached her, healing himself with snow slowly. "I have to do this."
Tiffany: She sighed, backing off from the two.
Alces: He lowered his stance, bare feet pressing into the living ground. The green glow around his hands softened, no longer violent, but steady. "Then listen carefully. This style is not about overpowering your enemy."
Multhi: He clenched his fists, ice forming again before quickly receding as he forced himself to calm his breathing. "Then what is it about?"
Alces: He stepped forward, placing two fingers against Multhi's chest, directly over his heart. "Alignment. Spirit first. Element second. Body last." He pulled his hand away. "If even one acts ahead of the others, you become predictable."
Multhi: His jaw tightened. "So I'm supposed to just… stand there?"
Alces: "No." He shifted his weight, the ground responding with a subtle ripple. "You move when the world tells you to move, not when your anger does."
Multhi: He closed his eyes, frost spreading outward in a thin circle before stopping. His breathing slowed, shoulders lowering. "And if I fail?"
Alces: The vines around them twitched. "Then the world will correct you. It has ways of telling you that you screwed up."
Multhi: He took a deep breath, opening his hands up to let the energy flow into them. Light blue flowing energy formed around his hands, moving like rippling water and ice spikes. He tried to move forward with this flowing energy, but he felt a sharp pain in his chest as he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.
Alces: "Told you." He knelt, "You are trying to do it my way, but that is not how it works; every element has its own way of awakening its world. Yours is not the way of nature; it is the way of the winter."
Multhi: He clenched his teeth, forcing himself back up onto one knee, one hand pressed to his chest as frost cracked beneath his palm. His breath came out uneven, mist spilling across the ground. "Then tell me what I'm doing wrong."
Alces: He didn't answer immediately. He stood, stepping back to give him space, eyes scanning the frost patterns Multhi had unintentionally left behind. "You are trying to let your power flow."
Multhi: He looked down at his hands, the light-blue energy flickering uncertainly around his fingers. "Isn't that what you said to do?"
Alces: "For me." He shook his head slowly. "Nature flows because it grows, adapts, bends. Winter does not."
Multhi: His brow furrowed. "Then what does it do?"
Alces: He placed his foot against the ground, and the vines beneath it stilled, every leaf frozen in place by nothing more than his presence. "Winter claims. It settles. It quiets everything until the world has no choice but to listen."
Multhi: He inhaled again, deeper this time, and instead of pushing the energy outward, he pulled it inward. The frost around him stopped spreading. The pain in his chest dulled. "So I stop chasing it."
Alces: A faint smile tugged at his expression. "You let the world freeze around you, not freeze it yourself. You and the element are one."
Multhi: He closed his eyes, his entire body began to glow with the same energy, the vines around him froze completely, and broke like glass. When he reopened his eyes, he readied himself in a stance, and the energy completely enveloped his form.
Alces: His eyes widened at the sight of him being able to control the energy of his entire body rather than just his hands. "Incredible..."
Multhi: His eyes widened as he suddenly got the sharp feeling in his chest again, falling to the ground as the energy went away. "Ow..."
Alces: "Well, maybe not. Keep practicing with that flow, and soon enough the winter will bend to you, and not bend you." He walked past him, Tiffany rushing to his side, using her water to heal him completely.
Tiffany: "Why is he so intense..." She looked over her shoulder as he walked away.
Multhi: "My guess, the friendly tree being you once knew died with our parents...He is afraid of making the same mistakes." He watched as Alces knelt, tending to the smallest of flowers. "He has matured with the world, by force, not choice."
Tiffany: She followed his gaze, her expression softening when she saw Alces tending to the flower. "He never lets anything fragile go unnoticed… even now."
Multhi: He slowly sat up, the ice beneath him melting just enough to support his weight. "Because he knows what it costs to fail." His eyes lingered on Alces a moment longer. "I think that's why he pushes so hard. If I fall… it means they died for nothing."
Tiffany: She clenched her fists, then released them, resting a hand on Multhi's shoulder. "You're not alone in this. You never have been."
Multhi: He nodded faintly. A thin layer of frost spread outward from his palm, calm and steady this time, not violent. "I felt it, just for a moment. The winter wasn't screaming anymore. It was… listening."
Alces: Without turning around, his voice carried back to them. "That is enough for today."
Multhi: He looked up, surprised. "What we barely-"
Alces: He stood, brushing dirt from his hands. "Rest. Let the cold settle into you. Power grows when it is allowed to sleep."
Multhi: A small, tired smile crossed his face as he leaned back against the ice. "Okay, Alces, tomorrow… I'll listen better."