Dreiki’s morning started how it always did after Luna started living with him: before the birds and with a mouthful of dirt.
He fell to his stomach with a grunt of pain. Lingering on the ground, he tried to catch his breath.
“Are you done already? Is that all you’ve got today?” Savekio called out from the sidelines.
Dreiki gritted his teeth and stood up.
Luna was only a year older than him, but she was a lot stronger than he was. To think Dreiki thought she needed saving at one point.
Ever since they’d gotten back to the cabin, Savekio had appointed Luna to be his personal training partner. Every morning, Dreiki would have a grappling match with her. The Nephilim didn’t seem to have the same lack of strength that Dreiki had been born with.
He got tossed around like a ragdoll every morning by the xia. The way she used her tail was hard to counter as well. It was an extra appendage Dreiki lacked which she could use for hooking his ankles, submissions, and defending takedowns.
His sweat speckled the parched soil below.
“When she sprawls, post up and swing your leg out to finish the takedown! Chain your moves to get the upper hand, don’t stop on your first attempt.” Savekio shouted.
He obeyed, slipping beneath Luna and causing a scramble which Luna defended. Dreiki trapped her tail under his leg and circled around to get her back. He put in his heel hooks and slipped in a rear naked choke.
It was one of the few times he managed to make Luna tap.
“Good. Luna’s tail is as much her advantage as it is yours. Your opponents won’t be used to fighting someone without a tail, but you will always fight someone who has one. Learn the matchup and make it your strength. Again.”
Luna came back with a vengeance, repaying Dreiki’s single victory with five defeats back to back. She left him exhausted, caked in dirt, and coated in sweat.
“Are you ready to give up?” Savekio asked.
Dreiki took in gulps of air, trying to find the words. It was as if someone had set his throat on fire, and stuffed his mouth with cotton.
“Are you ready to give up yes or no?”
“No sir...”
“Louder!”
“No sir!” He yelled out gasping air back into his lungs.
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“Alright, get up then, and do ten sprints for each loss”
Dreiki got up, dug his foot in the dirt, and pushed off as fast as he could.
He had been training since the sunrise, and as he looked to the sky, he saw the sun was now descending across the horizon. Dreiki felt a pit in his stomach knowing how much longer he’d have to train before it was over.
Today was a training day. It was hell.
“Quit feeling sorry for yourself! Remember why you’re training.”
The memory of those poachers snapped into his head. He would’ve died if it hadn’t been for that Tibur girl and his mother. He’d lost control and hurt Luna in the process of trying to escape. Dreiki swallowed his self pity and sprinted harder. He pretended like they were chasing him.
He could outrun Luna with the help of his magic, but it was only his magic which allowed him to do so. She no doubt had far more frightening demons chasing her than he did.
Dreiki wanted to run for the both of them.
Some days it was frustrating to see how much better she was than him. How much easier she grew than he did.
She was already a head taller than he was, and sometimes he felt he wasn’t a good enough training partner to her. He was the only one being challenged, but that was by Savekio’s design. He was given more punishing drills, less rest, and more homework.
Healing magic hadn’t been something Luna was skilled with despite being a water magic user. It was the first thing Savekio decided to teach her, for Dreiki’s sake. All so his last disiple could push himself further.
Luna struggled to learn it.
Healing magic required the caster to imagine giving a piece of themselves away. Entrusting someone else with a piece of your soul to heal their body without expecting anything in return.
It was no wonder a monster like Whitnik had preferred to make poison despite being blessed with the life element.
She hadn’t learned how to heal herself, but she told Dreiki that healing him came easier to her.
That made him happy.
Where Luna excelled, however, were hyper aggressive techniques. Ice spikes, sleet storms, and summoning water or ice elementals.
Her angelic heritage apparently made summoning magic come easy to her. The only defensive magic she really knew was telling her elementals to be her bodyguards. It was rather effective whenever they sparred with him.
Dreiki had to wonder why healing magic was different. He always associated the angels he read about in Savekio’s books with healing more than smiting.
As the summer sun fell into the dirt, so did he. Luna had her head between her legs while she poured water on herself. It had been a hot day despite it being Autumn already.
Savekio picked him up by his collar and planted him on his feet. "You can rest after you've bathed, and studied." He said, "You did good today, but it's not over yet."
The bath came in the form of a half-barrel of icewater courtesy of Luna. There was no comfort on these days, even in bathing. At least he’d be more prepared when Savekio forced him to swim in the lakes during winter. He was starting to get used to the sting of cold water.
“You’re getting a lot better.” Luna told him in a half barrel of her own next to him. She was using wood ash soap to clean herself.
Dreiki shivered, taking deep breaths to adjust to the cold. He wanted so badly to heat the water with his magic, “Y-you t-t-t-think so?”
Luna nodded, “You’re a lot more difficult to control when we grapple. You also pick up the techniques so quick.” She tossed him the soap and sank down to her chin in the water, “You’ll pass me up at some point,” she said dejectedly.