Maybe I'm not ready for this..
I laid flat on the ground. I wiped the uncomfortable sweat from my forehead. It hasn't even been a few hours, yet my muscles are just killing me. Jolene was right when she said that Seraphina wasn't going to take me easy once I obliged.
Seraphina, however, had the same trouble expression as me. I managed to land a few hits—but not enough. Seraphina's sliver sword, which classifies as a "BLOOMED-RAPIER," is now at a long distance from her due to me kicking it out of her possession.
But to make it fair, I've also done the same. I threw my toasted whipped away from me: now this training session was only a hand-to-hand combat.
"Mahina,"
Seraphina's stern voice caught my attention. The way her tone was enough for me to straighten up my posture. I'm not that type of person wanting someone's approval, but with Seraphina? It's different. You either get praise and appreciation or you'll get criticism without hesitation.
"Your performance is admirable. The most remarkable and impressive of your skills is your strategic ability." Seraphina clenched her hand, the veins becoming visible alongside with her muscles flexing. I gulped.
"You managed to land a few blows on me. On top of that, you've managed to kick my rapier out of my hands." She glanced over at it.
Once she mentioned that, I just had to replay the moment in my mind again.
'I want to keep a fair distance away from her."
CLASH!
CLANG!
'She's keeping up with my strikes," I thought.
Seraphina's blade hits my Toasted Whipped. She uses all of her force from that slander blade to push me back. Thanks to my stubbornness, my feet dug inside of the soil to resist the pressure from Seraphina. I twisted my Toasted Whipped downwards forcing her weapon to mimic my movement.
'Though she's reliable on using her hands to fight, she uses her rapier to dictate the fight." A clever advantage to use your weapon, in my opinion.
"If I take that advantage, I'll have a better chance of landing attacks!"
Bending my knees, I swiftly lifted my leg up, swirling to kick the rapier from her hands, aiming to struck her knuckles as well.
"Argh!" Seraphina gasped as my heel clipping her knuckles, causing the rapier to clatter on the ground. Without giving Seraphina any reaction, I lifted my elbow and struck onto her head, shoving her nose into the ground.
"I'm so sorry…"
That dried-nosebleed she had? That was from me.
"Let's see if you think just as straight with your fists." Seraphina held up her fists: a dark sense of aura radiating around her.
I shivered. Seraphina had no hesitation inserting dominance: A reason why I feared to train against her. I felt my legs go cold when I saw that intense heat inside of those eyes. I knew I shouldn't hesitate or back out, but the way she's just waiting for me, as if she wanted me to strike first instead of her making the first move.
I sucked up all the courage inside of me. I held my breathe, adjusting my position. I clenched my fists in front of me focusing on Seraphina. There was no doubt that Jolene would be so invested in this. From the corner of my eye, I can see how crouched and focused she is.
'I don't want to make the first move. If I do, then I'll—"
!
Seraphina disappeared in a blink of an eye. Seraphina appeared right in front of me, her knee aiming straight towards my head—
CRACK!!
"Augh!—" The impact of her knee made everything slow down. My ears rung; my vision getting blurred and tears forming down my cheek. I was falling…but I was falling too slow for me to react.
Seraphina's hands gripped my arm, throwing me over her shoulder. Seraphina aggressively plopped me down onto my back, bouncing from the ground at least twice.
I coughed up blood. Everything happened in a short period of time—my eyes couldn't catch up the unexpected speed of Seraphina. I flopped lightly on the ground, my head spinning in circles. My vision only started to clear up when Seraphina bent down to examine me. Her soft palm connected with my cheek.
"Sera, what the hell?!" I can hear the urgency in Jolene's footsteps.
"She's fine," Seraphina reassured, gently placing my head on her knees. "Mahina can take a lot. She's alright."
She was right. Not to be braggy, but I do have a high tolerance when it came to pain. The whole snake fight and climbing cliffs while being on my last breath was just a demonstration of how I can handle pain. Seraphina knew that I would be able to handle a combo attack similar to that.
"Ah.." I lazily blubbered out. Jolene stared at me beads of sweat dripping down her face. Seraphina wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.
"I'm.. okay," I struggled to get out. I sat up rubbing the side of my head. I do believe that crack came from my neck. I can feel the uptight pain fading away!
Jolene sighed in relief. "Jesus, and here I thought my older sister killed you." Seraphina can only laugh heartily at her little sister's worry words.
I don't believe that Seraphina would ever try and kill me. No matter what I am or do. She had a strong heart balanced with great morals. If she wanted to kill me, she'd have to find reason on why.
I took a moment to collect my thoughts. Seraphina placed a gentle hand on my back. That's a complete contrast from how she handled me. It was scary how someone can be so intimidating but so gentle.
"We can stop if you wish." Seraphina might've been too rough on me. That's what she thought. It's a training session—why would I be mad at her?
I shook my head, flashing a grin. "I'm fine! That blow just threw me off a bit."
Seraphina smiled softly. She stood up, landing me hand. Jolene only stared at me with a puzzled expression. Though I did oblige to take on a training lesson, I'd assumed that Jolene's worry was aimed towards my injuries. I gave a thumbs up for reassurance.
Jolene sighed, walking back to her spot.
I turned back at Seraphina, who was creating a new distance from me. I won't lie to you that the attack really did catch me off guard—I do believe that Seraphina had a reason to do such a thing: She was testing my fast reflexes. From earlier, Jolene did the same, however she used a different approach to catch me off guard. Seraphina's intentions were similar but executed in a different way by just striking me head on.
I love how these two are similar to each other but clearly in different ways.
"Wait—" I paused.
Seraphina blinked, lowering down her ready-to-beat-my-butt-again fists.
Something was…off.
Jolene raised her eyebrow from afar. She looked from behind, trying to figure out what I was looking at.
'Why is my heart beating? Whatever happened over there, it's dark energy is clinging onto me.'
I'm not so sure if Seraphina or Jolene could sense it or see it, but right now from my point of view, I can sense a chilling feeling from the hideout. Phoenix is still in that current area. The dark aroma was too strong for me to ignore.
"Somethings happening over there.." I muttered, Seraphina grabbing her rapier alongside my Toasted Whipped.
Judging by our puzzled expressions, Jolene started to get alarmed as well. Her eyebrows furrowed, quickly sprouting up, gripping her claymore as she ran towards us. She stared at Seraphina with a expression asking her 'what was going on?'
"I'm not so sure," Seraphina murmured.
The wind currents suddenly stopped. The area was quiet, too quiet that I can Jolene's heartbeat quicken. The more I stare into the hideout, the more sound my ears started to pick up.
…
..m..
…mahi..
..Mahina!
…MAHINA!
"MAHINA!"
Kairos! That was Kairos!
"Kairos?" I wasted no time but immediately started to run. He hadn't sent any messages to me saying that he'll be back! I thought he'd never come back!
Jolene and Seraphina followed me quickly. They had no idea what was going on but I knew that they were on guard. I quickly started to send messages to Kairos, hoping to the gods above that he was alright alongside Phoenix.
-MAHINA HAS SENT 12 MESSAGES TO THE PHENOMENON, KAIROS.-
-MAHINA HAS SENT 30 MESSAGES TO THE PHENOMENON, KAIROS.-
-MAHINA HAS SENT 59 MESSAGES TO THE PHENOMENON, KAIROS.-
'Dang it, he's not responding!'
'What's up with this dark energy?..'
The closer I got to the location, the more droopy I get…
I lazily turned my head, noticing that both Seraphina and Jolene were facing the same effects. However, they weren't taking as well as I could.
"What the…" Jolene slowed down, huffing. "What's u-up?… I feel t-tired…"
I tried fighting it. It seems like whatever this shield was, it's mostly surely a shield that drains our energy everytime we get closer. This had to be a B-Tier or another A-Tier. But why now? I already defeated one!
Seraphina tried fighting it off, but regarding her age, she knew herself that she wouldn't be able to beat against it. Seraphina huffed.
"M-Mahina, what's wrong here?.." Seraphina weakly said, sitting next to Jolene. "I'm feeling sleepy.."
I hope that this shield is only making them lose energy. I'm not seeing any injuries or damage on them instead of seeing effects of drowsiness. I had to fight it. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. I gently grabbed Jolene, laying on top of Seraphina's lap. Seraphina laid flat on the ground staring at me with droopy eyes.
"I'm not..sure what's h-happening, but sleep.." I say. I feel like the more I speak the more I lose energy. Speaking does cause a lot of energy.
Seraphina's mouth opened, but the effects struck her hard. The moment I saw her close those beautiful eyes, I wasted no time once again, sprinting to the hideout. A lot of movement required a lot of energy: heck, even me talking to you causes a lot of energy! I'm not mad at you guys though, don't worry.
But that's not the point. The point is I need to balance how much I run, talk and move. Right now, I'm calculating my steps, keeping at least one of my foot connected with the ground. That's another label called "speed-walking:" a low-impact exercise defined by moving at a fast pace while keeping at least one foot in contact with the ground. A fast pace typically is around 3-5.5 mph.
In order for me to maintain a stride length, I'm bending my elbows at a 90 degree angle, keeping my knee straight as my foot touches the ground. This helps to exaggerate my hip-motion. By doing this technique, I'm not wasting too much of my energy, but I'll have a higher chance of getting a desire to snooze.
'I think I'm already inside of the shield..'
I most certainly was. The energy inside the shield had much impact than outside. This was extremely hard for me to bare… I'm assuming the reason why Kairos wasn't responding, was because of this dark energy causing everyone to become drowsy. I ran inside of the hideout's entrance.
'Kairos!'
I saw Kairos and Phoenix hurled against each other. I still see their chests raising up and down, nice!
My focus only remained on them. I hurried to grab my back, shoving Phoenix in there, but holding Kairos since there was still some items in there that only one of them can fit inside. My eyes drooped—I can already feel the desire to take a nap on this—…
Comfortable ground…
!
"No! Get it together."
Was that me speaking? I think it was.
I snapped out of my head. I ran towards the entrance, holding Kairos close inside of my arms. Thank goodness I did not have to worry about taking too much turns: if I had to, I'd be dead asleep on the ground. Sorry guys.
'No creature is popping out—so this couldn't be the work of an Tier.'
I ran outside, using my last usage of energy to run out of the shield.
'Did someone use a sleeping bomb? Or perhaps is magic?'
I'm out of the shield. The shield, which can I assume, was only hovering around the hideout. The effects of the sudden desire to sleep and snooze hits me. I flopped onto the grabbing, dropping Kairos in the process. My eyes grew heavier and heavier by every second that passed.
Ding!
-SLEEP WELL, MAHINA. YOU'RE GONNA NEED IT.-
"What the.."
Mahina, has completely shut down.
….
….
-The author says: "a desire for sleeping? That's a desire that most crave".-
-The author is confused by the sudden turn of events and doesn't like how some strange dark force interrupted. The author decides to skip forward 1 hour where Seraphina wakes up first.-
-The author now switches the story to Seraphina's point-of-view to help the reader understand Seraphina's thoughts and character.-
-Remaining to the current scene.-
'My head…'
I groan, opening my eyes slowly as my head begins to pound.
I felt someone's heavy head against my legs. Was that Jolene?
I sat up with the support of my elbows. Where was young Mahina? Weren't we training? Why are we only asleep?
My gaze wandered the atmosphere. It was turning sunset…but the moment I got here, and when Mahina and Jolene came to train, it was clear as day! I'm not following any of this right now. The more I try to, the more my head feels like it's gonna explode.
"Mahina.." my throat was parched. How long were knocked out for? Why is Kairos and Phoenix with Mahina?
Where was my hideout?